Legendary Artifact-quality character sheets. They menace with spikes of paper.
It was decided - quite a while ago, in fact - that Celestia and Luna could no longer go without some R&R time.
The method, however, left a lot to be desired in Celestia's eyes. Guilt-tripping her ponies, not exactly something she liked; nonetheless it was extremely effective in curbing the onslaught of ludicrous requests and requests that did not even need to be announced to the local mayor, much less the princess.
Like 'OMG look at this, I can make more profit by opening fifteen minutes early!'. Celestia was happy that they found a better way to conduct their business, and happy that they wanted to share with her... but it seriously ate into her time.
Aether's humble home in the Collective, being more or less outside of time, allowed them some additional slack in their schedules.
Not him, though, not exactly. While in there, he didn't get 'chaos hungry', but his powers still 'itched' to be used in a meaningful way; he could squeeze a few 'hours' a few minutes each couple of hours, but he had to go on a binge each time. Luna helped coordinate them, and they had allowed him to jump ahead on his own research... but it was disorienting at times.
This was not one of those times.
This is the game described in passing here.
"I have a setting in mind." Celestia smiled - while in the Collective's "summer home", she was simply 'Celestia', refreshing and relaxing.
"Um... don't we need to read the books some more?" Fluttershy asked, kicking a dirt clod off her little floating island.
"We can help you build some characters on the go." Aether offered, tapping the book on the table. "I wanted this session to be as spontaneous and improvised as possible... I'm ready to take your suggestions."
Rarity tapped a pencil to her lips, sinking into the luxurious fainting couch not dissimilar to her own.
"I cannot decide between sorceress and rogue... although rogue has its appeal. Perhaps if I boost my interaction-related abilities..."
Rainbow Dash wanted to be a ninja (there were some good builds), Applejack cleric, Luna sorceress, Pinkie...
"I want to help everypony smile." She smiled, but not in her usual exuberant manner, it was... more mature-looking than her usual smile. "The world is a bleak and dangerous place, and I want to help everypony know that things are going to get better, that the good times are worth remembering."
Aether chuckled and returned the smile, ruffling her mane affectionately.
"Pinkie, you are going to be a natural bard." He said, and she nodded. She was going to take her role more seriously than most 'crazy, spoony bards' of a usual RPG, because she knew that her antics weren't appreciated by everypony, and she didn't want to give too much trouble to the GM... Celestia deserved to smile just as much as anypony else. "Fluttershy? What kind of character do you want to be?"
She lowered her sight and frowned in concentration. Just what did she want? Who did she want to be?
"Well, um... I-I want to protect the ones weaker than I am, keep them safe, and-and I want them to be able to feel hope. I want everypony to know that I will fight for their safety with everything I have, and that I am not going to let them suffer any abuses." She gave a start, realizing what she had said, and shrunk a little. "I-I mean..."
"Fluttershy, that is the example of what any paladin strives to be." He gave the blushing pony a warm hug, making her giggle and return it.
Twilight had researched a good build that allowed for some rather fantastic magical adventurer, and was about to say so, but Rainbow Dash beat her to it.
"A wizard, d'uh." She made a face, and the others nodded. "Or a sorcerer, I dunno. I bet it's going to be egghead-ish and magical. Lawful good-ish, and she's going to nag us to follow the rules at every turn. And have something sun-related as religion."
Twilight was dumbstruck as the others agreed with Rainbow unanimously, even Fluttershy and Topsy - who was merely looking out for Aether. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, and Celestia chuckled nervously.
"You have to admit, Twilight." Aether wrapped an arm around her. "You do get a little predictable at times, and the way you follow Celestia's every word is a little uncomfortable."
Celestia winced; she knew it was true, but she wanted Twilight to do something about it on her own...
Twilight had a small flash of inspiration, which Aether caught in the way she suddenly stood completely straight.
"Of course, if you want to prove otherwise, I will be more than happy to help you." He said, his normal, kind smile turning more... mischievous; Celestia recognized it as the kind of smirk that promised something entertaining, yet incredibly confusing and perhaps even frustrating enough to want to pull hairs, but not enough to actually do anything about it.
"I have an idea." It was still, as Dash said, 'egghead-ish', but she...
"Let's crank it up to eleven." Aether said, walking her over to another table.
"I don't know..." Celestia hated uncertainty; keeping Aether close was all she could do to reduce the anxiety of knowing just how much damage and alterations he could cause.
"Twilight overthinks everything." Topsy nuzzled the sun princess, wearing a blouse and skirt combo from Rarity. "She overprepares and works herself into a tizzy if you don't take care of her. She needs to be pushed into things - that is where she truly shines."
Celestia sighed sadly, and nodded.
"He is going to do what he does best. Mixing things up." Topsy continued, watching in amusement as Twilight's table was covered by an increasing number of books. "He's giving her all of the material she could possibly need, then pushing her along while nonetheless giving her time... like sitting her in a wheelchair, then making her roll off an incredibly long hill."
Everypony could see that Twilight had... she had gone into a strange mood. They had seen the pictures of Vinyl and the like, when they entered 'the madness place', where they got their more... extravagant ideas or their most intense inspirations.
And Aether seemed to have been taken by that same fey mood. Or maybe he had been the first to fall, then started dragging Twilight with him?
Everypony completed their first character sheets, but Twilight and Aether seemed to keep at it intensely. It was decided then that they would give them some 'time'. They merely exited to Equestria, informed of the situation to everypony else, then came back 'conveniently just in time'. Curiously enough, Topsy followed them, stating that she wanted to be surprised just like them by whatever they had cooked up.
Aether was giggling perversely, and Twilight was rubbing her hooves together with a gleefully mad grin on her face. The place looked no different from any library, and frankly that was just as much cause for concern, given that 'this' was Aether's place to just kick back and enjoy having videogame-stage-like spaces without having to bother with sustaining them.
It meant that whatever they were going to reveal merited more attention than the scenery, and floating landscape might detract from the effect.
Aether snapped his fingers, making the gaming table appear. Another snap, and a neat stack of paper held together by a ribbon appeared next to a similar one held together by hemp twine.
"This... this..." He patted the silk ribbon stack, chuckling darkly. "This is Flowy, slime pony Waveblade. It's a masterfully crafted character sheet, it is decorated with silver, it is encircled with bands of silk, it has an image of itself in coal - the character sheet is laughing maniacally, it has an image of a slime pony in granite - the slime pony is talking to a stuffed raven, it has an image of Twilight in black bronze - Twiligh is laughing maniacally, it is studded in amethyst, it menaces with spikes of rutile, it menaces with spikes of pitchblende, it menaces with spikes of adamantine."
"This is Renard, kitsune illusionist." He patted the hemp-held stack; Twilight giggled as if she had done something naughty yet managed to stay in Santa's 'Nice' list. "It's a masterfully crafted character sheet, it is decorated with hematite, it is encircled with bands of hemp, it has an image of itself in ash - the character sheet is high, it has an image of a multi-tailed fox in malachite - the fox is dancing, it has an image of Aether in lay pewter - Aether is laughing maniacally, it is studded in sapphire, it menaces with spikes of cobaltite, it menaces with spikes of bauxite."
"I suggest not using a plot you are particularly invested in." Aether concluded, handing both stacks of paper to Celestia. "We are going to mix improvisation with preparation."
"Um... I see you have been busy." Celestia eyed the stacks warily; they were thick for something meant for a game. Three pages into Renard's story, Celestia decided to simply let them be - after all, what kind of trouble could Twilight cook up? Her character was still lawful good...
Renard simply came across as a crazy traveler who cannot keep his own memory straight, but so long as Flowy stayed around him he should be manageable.
Celestia changed her setting and plot anyways; Aether had been one of Discord's choices for a reason, something he proved time and time again. It was a setting closer to actual Equestria, and the plot... she would give them something small and improvise from there - in fact, she was already thinking of something!
"I have the feeling Discord would approve." Twilight said, giggling again.
Celestia shuddered.
"His approval fills me with dread." She said. Topsy gulped nervously; Twilight nodded in agreement.
"I know." Aether grinned, even though he shuddered himself. "It's awesome."
As a side note, he does approve.
Everypony else decided to store their character sheets for when Twilight wasn't feeling like breaking the plot. They quickly rolled some other characters and decided to make their stories on the go from even smaller outlines than before.
The opening plot was something simple, elegant, even.
Hoofington had had a strange streak of disappearances lately, and animals had been acting strangely. Folks were starting to notice and worry, some others behaved... weirdly.
Rarity's character was a mare of rising reputation on the social circles, while at night she 'liberated' some 'assets' from their less-than-reputable owners. She had come across some notes from one of her targets the previous night, shadier stuff than what she was used to in her victims. She could not let that fly, no sir, not on her town.
Dash's character was playing pool at the local tavern. Applejack's was walking around the market.
Rarity's character and her main contact, Luna's character Selena, learned of a smart slime pony with detective abilities (guess who).
Flowy... Flowy was busy turning Tobias's neighbor into something for a quick trip while she waited for the next lead to cross her path. Tobias is a mushroom, by the way, that had grown in a terrarium that Flowy carted around.
Celestia's jaw dropped, nopony minded or even noticed the break of her composure, since they were making a similar face themselves towards Twilight.
Said player was colored baby blue via magic and pretending to watch a glass breaker change colors, eyes wide in anticipation.
"Twilight Sparkle, you mean to tell me that your character partakes of illicit substances?" Luna voiced the question Celestia could not. Luna had her coloration similarly altered to fit her character.
Twilight made a character that does drugs?
"As a slime pony, Flowy is immune or resistant to most poisons and can regenerate from their damage, while her biology ensures she would not become chemically addicted nor have their potency reduced." Twilight explained, cool as a cucumber and breaking character. "Since slimes are biologically protected and in a legal grey area anyways, it's not illegal for her to make substances inside town limits so long as she only uses them on slimes and uses her own body."
(She picked all the right biochemistry feats from level one, at the expense of becoming a little slow on the start of the power curve).
By the time they found her, she was high.
"Look Lenore, a walking marshmallow pony!" Flowy smiled, poking Selena - whose description marked her as being totally white from albinism, with milky-white pupils from a lunar blessing, with gray irises from a similar moon-based magic effect. "Are you here to see Tobias? I'm afraid he isn't feeling talkative right now."
"Tobias?" Rarity asked.
"Yes! Tobias!" Flowy cheerfully replied, pointing to the mushroom. Lenore was perched on the side of the cart, immobile as always.
"Aye me wee lass." Renard said in a thick faux-Scot accent, because he once was in Scoltland for a couple of years and loved the hooch - he spoke like that whenever he had some, like the bottle currently in his grasp. "I couldn't help but smell yer lovely concoctions, and help meself to some."
It was then that the rest of the players got the icy feeling that the simple plot would not be so simple anymore.
Author's Note
Any further additions to this side-story series will be labeled by means of having LAqCS on the chapter name.
Black bronze is indicated by purple in Dwarf Fortress, as are rutile and pitchblende (which is an uranium ore, BTW). Both of the stones are magma-safe. Pitchblende is the fourth densest stone in the game.
Things with adamantine spikes have been referred to as 'menacing with spikes of badass'; it is particularly funny if the object/artifact itself is made of some crummy material (for its purpose) like a char bone ax (how does that work I mean I don't even).
Ash the tree, not ashes, and definitely not the protagonist of the pokemon cartoon.
Cobaltite is represented in blue, and is very dense - the fifth densest stone in the game.
Bauxite is magma-safe.
