CELESTIA'S GAME

CHAPTER ONE: Press Start

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Princess Celestia watched as she slowly lowered the sun towards the horizon. She looked out to the quiet hamlet of Ponyville, catching a glimpse of the ponies still going about their business in the late evening. It was a serene picture, and one that she loved to share with...

"Good evening, sister!" A quiet, but cheerful voice came from behind her.

Celestia turned to find the darkened alicorn walking into the room.

"Well, good evening, Luna," Celestia smiled. "I see you are all ready to bring the night."

The younger alicorn laughed a little and took her place beside her sister. "Of course I am, Celestia. I am always ready to bring the beauty of the night."

Something caught her eye, and turned to a pile of packages sitting near a table near the window.

"Um, Celestia, what are those packages? I don't recognize them."

Princess Celestia looked to see what her sister was referring too, then resumed her view out of the window.

"Those packages contain special machines that were... *ahem* ... discovered last month."

Luna gave her sister a dubious look. She could see the smile playing on her sister's lips, and felt curiosity bubble up inside of her.

"That was oddly vague, even for you, sister."

Celestia laughed, walking towards the table. "You see, one of these machines was discovered when Ditzy Doo made a... rather large detour on one of her deliveries to Manehattan. She had managed to somehow end up in another world."

"Isn't that the pegasus known as Derpy Hoo-"

"Come now, Luna," Celestia cut her off. "You and I both know not to talk about other ponies that way."

Luna still giggled at the mental image of the grey pegasus managing to transcend interdimensional borders by accident.

"So, I asked her to return with some more of the devices. The lab stallions have been examining them for about two weeks now."

Luna ran a hoof over a machine that was sitting in one of the few open boxes. "They are very sleek and modern looking. ...What do they do?"

"They play games."

Luna gave Celestia her patented dubious look again.

"Games."

"Yes, Luna. Games."

"These don't strike you as a little, oh, I don't know... overkill?"

Celestia ruffled her wings and looked out the window once more. The sun was just disappearing under the horizon. She returned to Luna.

"They are not the same games you are familiar with, Luna. These games are actually like adventures into unfamiliar and fantastic worlds."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Interesting..." The scientist inside of Luna desperately wanted to give one of the machines a spin, but she suddenly felt Celestia's hoof on her shoulder.

"Soon, you shall be able to try one for yourself," she looked at Luna with knowing eyes. "However, I wish to test these with a different audience." Her gaze lingered once more on the window.

"Ahh, the Elements of Harmony," Luna smiled.

Celestia nodded. She began to pack up the boxes and move them into saddlebags. The saddlebags she placed on herself.

"Luna, may I ask a small favor of you?"

The young alicorn was a little surprised at hearing this question. "Of course, sister. What do you need?"

Celestia smiled. "Make tonight the most beautiful night possible. I need Twilight to be awake when I arrive in Ponyville."

Luna laughed as she remembered Twilight's bookish tendencies. "Absolutely, Celestia."

Princess Celestia nuzzled her sister's snout with her own. "I will be back soon, my shining comet."

And with that, Celestia was off to Ponyville.

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True to her nature, Twilight was still up, one eye in her telescope, horn causing a quill to fly furiously across her star charts. She had to hand it to Luna; she knew how to make a night something to stay up for and gawk at. A series of short, sharp knocks came from her front door. Twilight frowned and looked down the steps towards the door. If Pinkie Pie was disturbing her again at this hour...

She trotted down the steps and opened the door.

"All right, Pinkie Pie, what do y- PRINCESS CELESTIA!"

Completely oblivious to the fact that her scream woke up likely most of Ponyville, Twilight stumbled into a hasty bow, mentally kicking herself for being so ignorant.

Celestia gave a warm smile to her pupil. "Rise, my student. I come at this late hour bearing gifts."

"G-Gifts?" Twilight managed. Why would the Princess of Equestria be giving her gifts? The thought of it made her head swim, the late hour not helping her comprehension at all.

Twilight shook her head, Princess Celestia was no longer in front of her. Turning around, she saw the grand princess placing a large television in the corner of the room. Once that was in place, she took a myriad of devices out of her bag and began attaching them to the television.

"Umm, Princess Celestia..." Twilight found her voice once more. "If you don't mind me asking, that is, if it's all right by you, what, um... what are you doing?"

Celestia finished attaching the last few wires. "These machines will help you in your friendship studies, Twilight Sparkle. With your friends, these machines will teach you valuable lessons about teamwork, competition, and furthering your understanding the Elements of Harmony."

Twilight glanced at the machines. They were nothing like she had ever seen before.

"What do they do?"

"Well, they are used to play games."

Twilight shot a confused face at her mentor. "Games? I love fun as much as the next pony... except Pinkie Pie... but how will these help?"

Celestia turned and began to head for the door to the library. "Tomorrow, gather your friends. You will see what adventures await you then."

Twilight's head tilted slightly to one side.

Ok, I know the Princess can be a little cryptic, but this is a bit much... even for her!

"Oh, yes, I mustn't forget," Celestia muttered. "I do believe some enchantments were attempted on these by the laboratory stallions before I had a chance to examine them myself. It should be nothing serious but... oh, what am I saying. Tomorrow, you will see. I hope to see a detailed report of your findings! Have fun, my student!"

Celestia spread her wings and took off into the night air. Twilight slowly shut the door and headed back to her telescope. Yawning, she realized that the conversation with the Princess had kept her up later than she had expected to be.

"Tomorrow... I'll worry about all of this tomorrow..." she murmured as she drifted off into dreamless sleep.

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It wasn't long before Princess Celestia made it back to Canterlot. She was greeted by her sister, floating some star scrolls with her horn.

"Oh, that was rather fast," Luna said, a little surprised.

"Yes, I delivered the packages. Now, I need some rest."

Luna watched her sister begin moving down the hallway. "Oh wait, sister!" she called.

Celestia turned. "What is it?"

"When I went down to the laboratory to check on one of my experiments, one of the stallions said that their captain had gone missing."

"Their captain," Celestia said, thinking back to who worked in the lab. "Argon Lux?"

"Yeah, dark gray with brown mane? Light bulb cutie mark?"

"That's him, the captain of Canterlot Laboratory."

Celestia was clearly troubled over this new information; Argon was one of the last ponies to examine the video game consoles before they were turned over to Celestia. She hoped he did nothing rash.

"Well, I shall see you tomorrow morning, my little star."

Luna loved the little names her sister kept coming up with for her. With that, she began working her way back to the observatory, hoping to catch up on her star charts.

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