A/N: Hello, all. Hope you enjoy the result of a slightly insane mind combining two of my favorite things, role-playing games and ponies.

"Let's go through the list one more time!" Twilight said, taking a slow walk around the library's floor, nodding to the baby dragon that was dutifully riding on her back.

"This will be the -last- time, right?" he responded meekly, gripping a little quill in one hand and a scroll in the other, "I don't think I can feel my fingers anymore."

"Come on, now, Spike. It wasn't -that- much copying..." she said, rolling her eyes before looking at the various stacks of custom-made character sheets that were neatly placed around the table in the center, "Well, I'll make it up to you! Okay. Library set up to provide a comfortable gaming environment?"

Spike sighed and looked over the library. In the center of Twilight's room was a table large enough to accommodate all six of the ponies. At the edge was a few bean bag chairs for sitting on, creased slightly from use, but entirely comfortable. Character sheets, all blank, were collected in the middle, accompanied by a few diamonds that were shaped into make-shift dice, each bearing a number in a stylized design.

"Check!" Spike chimed in, marking the box on his list.

"Refreshments prepared to keep us awake and peppy throughout the night?"

Sure enough, a small area was set up by the table where an array of food and drinks were displayed. A selection of cupcakes from Sugercube Corner were there, freshly made a few hours before, along with a few flowers and a punch bowl, complete with floating ladle and cups.

"Check!"

"Good. Let's see... Sheets, dice, and rulebooks?"

Spike looked over the fruit of his labor with a weary glance. It wasn't enough that he had to copy the intricate sheet from the back of the rulebook onto a sheet of paper by hand, but he had to do it five times in total! To add insult to injury, the poor baby dragon had to spare a few of his gemstones to be made into dice for the night's festivities.

"Check..." he mumbled.

"Great! That's everything!" Twilight announced, trotting over to the head of the table, "Isn't this exciting, Spike? We're going to be the first ponies in all of Equestria to ever play Dungeons and Dragons!"

"Exciting for you, maybe," Spike yawned, hopping off of his friend's back and wandering up the short flight of stairs to his little basket, "As for me, well, I'm going to try and sleep this writer's cramp off."

Twilight looked up at him and tilted her head slightly, scrunching her face in gentle confusion. While she did feel bad for making her little dragon do so much work, it didn't seem right to her that he should miss out on everything just because he was tired. Getting a little idea, she turned back to the table, using her magic to bring her notes over to the table.

"Aw, that's too bad," she commented, trying to look busy, "Rarity told me she was really looking forward to seeing you. But, if you want to sleep..."

"Rarity's coming?!" he exclaimed, immediately leaping out of his covers and dashing back down the stairs to Twilight's side, "Me? Sleep? Oh, no! Just needed to rest my eyes for a moment or two, is all, Twilight. When are they gonna get here?"

Twilight smiled, seeing that her little white lie was effective. She looked over at her clock and nodded, noting that it was almost six.

"Two more minutes exactly."

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"Why in Celestia's name are we doing this again?" Rainbow Dash grumbled, floating above the rest of the group, arms crossed with a bored expression on her face. Below her, the rest of the group was casually walking towards Twilight's library as the last peals of sunshine made their way across the sky.

"We promised Twi that we'd be there," Applejack said, leading the group in front.

"But it sounds so BORING!" Dash exclaimed, zooming up into the Southern pony's face with a pleading look of displeasure, "Besides, we've fought dragons before. Why do we have to do it in some egg-head game?"

"...Dragons?" Fluttershy whimpered, lagging behind.

"And dungeons! Don't forget about dungeons!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully, hopping back towards her timid friend to give her a little support. A frightened yelp from Fluttershy was the only result of her efforts.

"We've been through those too!" Dash sighed, drifting towards Pinkie to emphasize her point, "This is, absolutely, going to be the worst night of our lives."

"Rainbow Dash, please," Rarity said, turning her head back to look at the three ponies who were clustering up towards the back, "Even if this seems to be a horrid way to spend the evening, complaining about it is going to do us no better. So, I suggest we put our best hoof forward, and at least give it a chance. For Twilight's sake."

Defeated by majority opinion, Rainbow Dash scowled. Running through her mind were a good number of things she'd rather be doing: practicing tricks in the night sky, reading the latest adventures of Daring-Do while snuggled up in her bed, or even just sleeping! Anything except fighting dragons and going through dungeons in some imaginary game. Regardless of her own thoughts, she did have a promise to keep. She wouldn't let Twilight down that easily; it simply wasn't her style.

"Well put, Rarity," Applejack responded, smiling to the unicorn, " 'Sides, it may not even be that awful."

"Do any of you have any idea of what exactly we do in this 'Dungeons and Dragons'... game? It is a game, yes?" Rarity asked, pausing for a moment before the group got any closer to Twilight's library.

"Ooh! Twilight said it had something to do with rolling gems around the table, catching it with paper, and being a party!" Pinkie Pie said, grinning from ear to ear.

"How do you -be- a party?" Dash asked, floating in the air as the group circled to discuss what they were about to embark on.

"Easy!" Pinkie exclaimed, shooting a small pile of rainbow-colored confetti into the sky out of nowhere, standing on her two hooves, and throwing her arms into the air, "PARTY!"

"Oh, so it -is- a party game. Surprised that it is so rare," Rarity nodded, tilting her head to the side as she tried to recall its mention in any of the many parties she had attended in Canterlot, "Twilight could have simply mentioned that we were attending a party instead of putting the activity as the main attraction. I would have thrown something together."

"See, Rainbow?" Applejack said, looking up at the frustrated pegasus, "It's not goin' to be that bad after all. Shoot, Ah'm sure we're goin' to have a great time."

"Yeah, whatever," Dash said dismissively, still not entirely convinced.

"It's a really weird invitation system, though!" Pinkie added, scrunching up her face with a sliver of doubt, "Like some sort of spooky Twilight dragon and dungeon cult meeting party! Ooh, I hope she doesn't mind if I throw one too. That sounds like fun! Why didn't she ask -me- to throw the party? I'm always throwing parties! Well, maybe she wanted to try it out for herself. Good for her! I'm sure she did great! She had plenty of great examples to learn from!"

While the others were discussing the party to be, Fluttershy kept to herself, staring down at her hooves. While the prospect of a party seemed like fun, the title 'Dungeons and Dragons' just sent a shiver of fear down her spine. It was like two of her great fears combined into one horrid, looming monster that was ready to scoop her up and devour her. She couldn't help but shake a little bit as she looked up at Twilight's tree.

"...I think I'm just going to watch, if that's okay with you all," she whispered, taking advantage of the little lull of conversation that presented itself.

"Hey, don't chicken out!" Dash said, looking over to Fluttershy as she shuddered, "If we have to sit through this, you do too!"

Fluttershy whimpered and closed her eyes in distress as Rainbow loomed over her, but a friendly hoof on the back from Applejack was enough to help her open her eyes and settle down just a bit.

"Ah'm sure Twilight wouldn't mind if you just enjoyed the party an' didn't play the game," Applejack assured her, casting Rainbow a dirty look.

"Well, ladies, if we are quite finished delaying, I'm afraid we are going to be a few minutes late. Perfectly acceptable, as far as parties go, but you know how punctual Twilight likes to be," Rarity said, starting the walk fresh and making her way to Twilight's door, prepared to ring the bell. As soon as the other ponies caught up, she jangled it a bit with her magic.

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"They're late! They're not coming!" Twilight exclaimed, going over to her clock in desperation.

"Don't be silly," Spike said, pointing to the minute hand, "It's only a few minutes after six. I'm sure they're just lagging behind."

"But I told them six, Spike! Not six'o'five, not six'o'two, but six!"

The sound of the bell jangled through the small space of the library, causing Twilight to leap up in the air, sending her mane slightly out of place from excitement. As an immediate response, she galloped over to the front door, skidded slightly, and opened it up wide. She was greeted by the nervous smiles of all of her best friends.

"Glad to see you girls made it!" she beamed, "Prepare for the greatest adventure of your lives!"           Next Chapter: Character Creation Confusion Estimated time remaining: 12 Minutes