Geyser Rock proved to be an informative tutorial for the players. After fanning out to explore the immediate vicinity, Samos spoke up over the communicators, the spherical devices each member of the party carried that orbited around them, explaining the value of the various items they’d encounter, how to jump, hit, and so on.

Now that the game had properly begun, sensations had become much more pronounced. The grass was soft and cool beneath Thomas’ feet and the sand on the beach was almost as squishy as he remembered. However, as he interacted with the world around him, there was still a vague dullness to it all. Sure, the world itself had a majesty and wonder, but it still felt lacking in places. He asked Luna and she informed him that besides dreams lacking the substance of reality in general, the spell of the engagement book worked under similar principles. It was a safety mechanism to keep ponies from becoming addicted to the fantasy over reality, much to the human’s relief. He didn’t want to risk such a temptation.

Picturing himself pressing the buttons as the screen held his attention; Thomas punched with all his might. The force actually carried his body forward a surprising distance, nearly costing him his balance. The mares also experimented with the moves at their disposal, finding particular amusement in the double and triple jump.

“Hoo. Heh. Hya!” Honey cried out as her punches sent her forward, only to rocket herself up in a devastating uppercut. “This is great!”

“So what’s our plan of attack?” Moonlight asked as she jabbed at a dummy, testing how her physical strength had changed. “Set up a perimeter to defend the village?”

“The lurkers won’t invade until they get the order.” Crouching as he spoke, Thomas felt a surge of power rocket through his legs, propelling him to ridiculous heights, only for his feet to find the ground again with the grace of a cat. “It’s our job to stop the bad guys before that happens.”

“Even so, we should try to weaken the enemy’s forces where we can,” Moonlight added. “That way they don’t have their full army at the ready once we attack their main base.”

“Just for the record,” Luna began, “these dark sages we’re looking for; they’re also the ones leading the lurkers, yes?”

Thomas ceased in his punching to meet the ottsel’s gaze. “How’d you guess?”

Luna paused and shrugged between jabs. Being tiny wasn’t going to stop her from fighting for her right to be tall again. “You said this was an older game from your childhood, but that games had come far since then. I figured a less sophisticated story would have villains with rather obvious appearances and motivations. There is little quite as obvious as those who study darkness being corrupted by their research.”

“I was thinking the same,” Surprise chirped as she spun around, attempting to achieve perpetual motion. “You know, if we figure out what those meanies have over the lurkers, we might be able to convince them to change sides.”

“It wasn’t an option in the game,” Thomas pointed out. “But I guess anything’s possible if we put our minds to it.” The notion of injecting choices and consequences into his old favorite was exhilarating for the young man.

Meanwhile, a predator was lurking just on the outskirts of the grassy area where the group was training. This predator kept to the shadows, making no noise as it crept through the bushes, inching ever closer to its prey. Night had fallen ridiculously soon, which the predator knew would grant her the advantage. Step after careful step, she neared her prize. It lacked the supple figure she was used to and the fur was on the coarse side, but that mattered little. The prey was cute, and it would be hers!

Silver lunged from the underbrush with a triumphant battle cry. “Mine!”

Despite her seemingly harmless shape, Luna maintained the warrior skills she’d honed over the ages. Having known she was being stalked from the beginning, she effortlessly rolled out of the way. This unexpected turn, alas, meant that Silver lost her balance and skid to a halt along the dirt. She was ass up and face down in a crater of her own making.

“Next time, Mistress,” Luna teased with a salute.

Silver spat out a clump of dirt and grass. “Next time,” she vowed.

Their warmup complete, the group set out to begin their exploration of the island along the set path. After begrudgingly admitting that her little legs simply wouldn’t carry her fast enough, Luna agreed to ride on Thomas’ shoulder, mostly because his knowledge of the environment usually put him in the lead. Collecting the Precursor orbs proved immensely satisfying, especially because of the charming jingle they made each time one was acquired. It was interesting taking the football sized objects and watching them shrink down as they were stored in the party’s pockets, Thomas’ pack, or Surprise’ mane. They jumped over spike pits, broke many boxes, and enjoyed the adrenaline rush that came with using blue eco. Kiera sounded especially grateful once they’d rounded up all her scout flies, which caused the women to exchange knowing smiles. When it came time for the power cells, they took it in turns to collect them and stash them away while the others performed the obligatory celebratory dances. With training complete, they returned through the teleporter.

Samos welcomed them back with his personal brand of condescension, but thankfully Thomas managed to anticipate enough of the old man’s dialogue that it was kept relatively short, freeing the group to start exploring. Naturally, their first stop was with Kiera in the open workshop of the hut’s first floor.

“Hey there, sugar,” Honey greeted confidently as she moseyed up to the woman who was currently bent over inspecting some circuitry. Unable to help herself, she gave the sage’s daughter a firm slap on the behind.

Yelping, Kiera turned around, brandishing a wrench in preparation to strike. She relaxed at seeing who it was. “Oh, Honey,” she exhaled in relief. “You gotta give a girl some warning before you do that.”

“Don’t worry, sugar.” She reached under Kiera’s chin and tilted her head up. “Ah trust you.”

Kiera blushed and pulled away. “You know I’m busy working. Plus you guys have an adventure to go on. Can’t you keep it in your pants for, like, five minutes?”

The former mares all looked down at their pants, wondering what it was that the woman meant before the dream explained the idiom to them. Thomas rolled his eyes as he watched the confusion turn to realization in their expressions.

“Oh come ooon,” Surprise whined as she draped herself around the smaller woman, pressing her breasts tightly against Kiera’s back. “We’ve got all day to go adventuring. Why don’t we slip off somewhere to have a little… fun?” She licked her lips sensually.

Teasing Kiera, it seemed, was proving to be an irresistible pastime, as even Silver felt the call of temptation.

“You should come adventuring with us,” the former bat mare purred as she took Kiera’s hand and began nuzzling her fingers. “A strong, strapping young lady like you could be of big help out there.”

“B-but I gotta do the… the shield thingy,” Kiera protested weekly.

“Is this normal?” Thomas asked the ottsel on his shoulder. “I know ponies are more flirty, but this seems a little too fast.”

“Except it is not,” Luna countered wisely. “You might not have noticed, being familiar with the game’s story, but the rest of us have been informed of the nature of this girl’s affection for us.”

“Dream logic?” Thomas asked.

“It’s more like the writer speaking directly to his reader,” Moonlight answered. Being the only full sized woman to resist the call to tease, the unicorn seemed quite content to watch the show from her spot beside Thomas. “There’s what we see in the character’s actions, like the way she looked at us earlier. But there’s also a subtle element to it. If I had to compare, it would be like reading the line: she winked playfully at her crush.”

“Precisely!” Luna agreed, sounding much less sour than before.

Thomas smiled at the former alicorn’s improved mood.

“The dream tells us of her affections, and while I would not go so far as to call it a compulsion,” Luna offered, “there is a certain inclination to reciprocate and follow what the story intends. As for that,” she gestured at the woman being assailed by the three players. “The point of an engagement story is to delve into a new world and do as you please within it. Ponies might want to go on an adventure with Daring Do, but they also want to play around with the setting a little.”

“That’s… wow,” Thomas replied, agreeing that if humans had the ability to safely enter a story, most would probably end up just sleeping around with their favorite characters. Even so, he considered the ramifications of the changes to this world. Jak and Kiera’s early relationship had always been left a blank, up to the player to figure out through their interactions. But this world was meant to adapt around the players’ new decisions. There was no real Daxter, and the role of Jak as Kiera’s crush was divided among one man and five other women. This meant that Kiera’s character had been altered to accept the pony’s polyamorous standards of a relationship. “I wonder how that worked out.”

“We can ask her later,” Moonlight answered. Stepping forward, she clapped her hands and got the other players’ attention. “For right now, we’ve got questing to do!”

“Party pooper,” Surprise mumbled with a pout as she and the others abandoned their posts around Kiera.

“We was jus’ having’ a bit o’ fun.” Honey slipped her fingers into her pockets and kicked at a tuft of grass.

“I, for one, cannot wait to see what else this world holds,” Silver declared. She reached for Luna, but the ottsel just scurried over to Thomas’ other shoulder.

Kiera was left with flushed cheeks and burning hot ears. She braced herself against the zoomer to keep her balance. Her clothes were ruffled in several places and her hair was a mess. The hand that was placed on her hip also looked like it was twitching in the direction of her groin. She also muttered in a whisper, almost too soft to hear, “stupid sexy adventurers.”

Almost, but not quite.

“Later, Kiera.” Thomas waved goodbye as he and the others turned to leave. “You’ll see us again later.”

“I’d better,” the green haired woman muttered as she tried to resume her work.

Thomas smiled to himself as he crossed the bridge connecting Samos’ hut to the rest of the village. Hey, Luna, he mentally reached out.

Yes.

Between you and me, I just remembered Kiera is only 15 in the game. Would you mind if we turned her eighteen real quick? I don’t want things getting weird about her age.

Luna’s eyebrow rose inquisitively. Why didn’t you say anything earlier?

Thomas shrugged. I kinda only just now remembered. It’s not like it was made obvious. The designers just made her young and hot.

Then there is no need to fret, Luna informed with a nod. The young lady is as the others imagine her, legal and fully capable of offering consent.

Thomas nodded appreciatively and the group continued on their quest.

At Thomas’ direction they split up to talk to everyone in the village. Although none of the other villagers were attractive enough for the same degree of fondling as Kiera, the women still took advantage of flaunting their smoking hot bodies. Even Thomas got in on the fun, pulling his pants down just far enough to tease at what lay within to the old bird woman. It was hilarious to watch her stutter, her emotions warring between telling him to get dressed and her blatant desire to see more. With new quests attained, Thomas led the way to Sentinel Beach.

Upon entering the beach’s main area, Thomas decided to withhold instructions unless specifically asked, granting the women the chance to figure things out on their own. His only word of warning was to not swim out too far from shore. That was a bit of sphincter clenching terror he wanted to hold off on until later. Their first step was to clear the beach of all hostiles, granting them free reign to move as they pleased. The relative openness and size of the beach allowed them to split up and pursue orbs and power cells at their own discretion.

Honey actually managed to intimidate the dogs into behaving, leading them against other enemies as she focused on orbs and scout flies. Silver had dedicated herself to defeating the wretched winged beast known simply as ‘that alicorn damned pelican’. Surprise went straight for the large bird egg and went through the unnecessary labor of rolling it down to safety rather than punching it off the cliff. This left Thomas, Moonlight, and Luna to explore the far end of the beach where three stone temples stood. Once they’d sufficiently harassed the seagulls to cause an avalanche, Thomas felt a wave of relaxation wash over his being and found a nice, warm spot on the sand to lay down and rest.

“This is nice,” he sighed contentedly. His relaxation was promptly broken by a discontented cough from Moonlight. She was standing over him, arms crossed and looking quite upset with her man. Thinking over what he might have done to earn such a foul look, he turned to Luna. The ottsel wordlessly answered by pressing her hands together and rested her cheek on them like a makeshift pillow. “Oh. Sorry.” He smiled meekly and propped himself up on his elbows. Beaming, Moonlight immediately darted down and place her lap directly below his head.

“Shame on you for forgetting something so important,” the orange woman teased.

“Yeah. Shame on me,” Thomas agreed as he allowed himself to fall back and rest his head against her comfortable thighs. He was joined by Luna who curled up beside his head.

Moonlight’s lap pillow held a dangerous power that, under normal circumstances, was more effective than the strongest sleep medicine. However, since they were all already dreaming, they were merely brought into a state of mildly blissful relaxation, hampered only by the periodic yet distant explosions of the lurker’s bombardment of the main beach. It wasn’t long before the other women, having cleared everything they could find, snuggled in to join them. Tragically, Moonlight was the only one who was not able to rest her head in Moonlight’s lap pillow, but she seemed more than pleased to be of service to those she treasured most.

“We should go to the beach someday,” the former unicorn said. “A real beach with real sand and real seagulls.” Her statement was met with a round of relaxed affirmations from her lovers. The vow made, no more words were spoken as the group just relaxed and listened to the ambience of the fake beach. Even the lurker on the tower seemed to grow a sense of propriety and held off on chucking bombs at the sand for a little bit.

Thankfully, the coming of night and the subsequent drop in temperature made things just uncomfortable enough that the group was motivated to resume their adventures.

Next on the itinerary, after Honey had rounded up the farmer’s yakows with a single shrill whistle, was the Forbidden Jungle. This environment was much less conducive to relaxation, forcing the party to stay on high alert at all times. They were also much less prone to free exploration and stuck close to their leader. Thomas didn’t mind, though. It was nice being in charge when there weren’t any real stakes involved. The former mares could handle themselves in a fight, the winding paths were familiar enough that he had no trouble navigating from memory, and it was an endless source of amusement to watch the women repeatedly try and fail at the various jumps in the area.

More interestingly was the way they all adapted to the more malleable environment. The swinging spiked logs were cut down so that they would no longer pose a threat, except when Honey threw them at anything she didn’t like. While Luna’s declaration of fair play still held, the other women held no such qualms, especially when it came to the fisherman’s challenge, where Surprise went upriver to deter the eels while Silver and Luna each used a net. Moonlight was really getting a knack for fighting lurkers, learning how to beat them into submission without killing them. They became much more docile afterwards, so she sent them back to the beach to deal with the lurkers on the canon.

It was about a half hour into the jungle when the heat and humidity started to take their toll, despite the lack of fur. Moonlight was the first to strip, relieving herself of her top and bottoms, which she stored in Thomas’ pack. In the end she wore only her boots, having no underwear to speak of. With ponies being herd animals, it wasn’t long before the others followed her lead and started stripping as well. Despite being well accustomed to the women’s naked bodies, Thomas couldn’t deny the way they were stripping to their bare, furless forms was having an effect on him. Even so, he remained the only one wearing his full gear in the end.

The nudist women immediately began to regret their decision once they actually entered the jungle temple. The inside was cool to the point of chilling and there was just enough wind blowing through the corridors to add that extra bit of shiver. Thomas could have done the gentlemanly thing and returned his friends’ garments, but he decided instead to go full tyrant, abusing what power had been bestowed on him and forcing the women to snuggle up for warmth against him. The velvety furless skin was a treat he felt no shame in enjoying, especially when he saw the way they were smiling between each other when they thought he wasn’t looking.

“You would make a terrible Princess,” Luna informed flatly from his shoulder.

“Noted.”

At last, after entering the power chamber and activating the eco vents across the world, as informed by Kiera, the group finally made it to the boss room. At the far end of the considerably large chamber sat the massive plant monster. It’s massive, blue, bulbous head opened into a mouth of jagged teeth and two yellow stalk eyes gleamed menacingly at the group while it swayed a little on its vine-like body.

“Now that’s the second meanest weed Ah ever did see!” Honey exclaimed.

“Second?” Moonlight asked.

“Trust me. You don’t wanna know,” the green woman cautioned.

“So how do we fight it?” Moonlight asked, looking around the room from across the gap that kept the monster and its giant bugs at bay. “Is there some secret switch?”

“See that ring in front of it?” Thomas pointed to the metal floor. “That’s the range of its bite. Stay out of there and let the bugs come to us. We kill them once their spikes retract, then we’ll get an opening.”

“Sir!” Moonlight and Surprise affirmed, leading the charge over the gap.

The instructions were about as easy to follow as they were given. Mindful of the giant, bear-sized bugs while their spikes were out, the players split up to opposite ends of the room. They attacked when the spikes retracted, jumping back in the nick of time as the plant was too confused to pick who to attack. In that frustration it retracted its mouth bulb and stood perfectly still as a number of leaves grew out around the main stem, creating a perfect stairwell up to the bulb. The players attacked, retreated, and repeated the action until the plant was killed.

Even after the power cell was retrieved, Honey insisted they stay a while longer to burn the remains in case it tried to resurrect. Thomas would have argued that it never did in the original game, but figured her suggesting the possibility automatically made it probable. Thankfully the room was well insulated, allowing them to burn the abomination without risking the rest of the jungle.

Returning to the warm embrace of sunlight, something even Luna was happy to do, the group made their way along the jungle path until they were approached by a group of lurkers. Thomas tensed, ready for a fight, but Moonlight approached without fear, recognizing them as some of the ones she’d beaten into submission. They bowed their heads submissively and offered the power cell and orbs the group would have gotten from the cannon.

“Good boys,” Moonlight congratulated, scratching the lead lurker behind the ears. When the others started whimpering in protest, the remaining harem joined in the deliverance of scratchy scratches. Lurkers, as it turned out, could be trained.

The party made a quick pit stop at the Precursor Oracle, who offered up vague words of wisdom, before heading for the village to trade for any power cells they could.

“Oh thank you, dear ladies,” the mayor said as he heard their footsteps. He was too busy looking in awe up at the turning gears, but decided it would be more polite to face those who had saved his job. “You’ve restored power to the-ya hoo!”

“Hi, Mr. Mayor!” Surprise chirped happily. She held her hands behind her back and swayed her body in the way she knew would give her breasts the best bounce. She giggled at how the mayor was watching her chest melons swing with the attentiveness of a cat. “See something you like?”

“I, uh, ahem. That is to say…” the mayor stuttered helplessly before such a display.

“You can touch them if you like.”

“I, uh, I wouldn’t dream of, uh…”

Eventually Surprise decided to have mercy on the little guy, giving him the orbs and taking the power cells.

“Hey there, sugar,” Honey greeted as she threw an arm around the nameless uncle’s shoulder, pressing his face against the side of her breast. “Got them orbs ya asked for.”

“Well now, I say, good lass,” he stammered. He tried pushing away, but dared not lay his hands on the woman’s bare form.

“Gosh, yer cute,” she cooed and tightened her grip.

“Having fun, are we?” Thomas asked from the doorway.

“Thomas. Don’t just stand there. Save your dear uncle!” the uncle pleaded helplessly.

Thomas just stood there, ruminating on what he was looking at. On the one hand, there was really no way to describe this scene other than sexual harassment. Then again, he was just a fictional character. As if to affirm this, the uncle’s protests quickly died down as he came to accept his fate against the woman’s cleavage. It put Thomas’ mind at ease to think about how this person, real or not, wasn’t really all that bothered. Besides, he’d laughed at worse in watching various anime depicting this very scenario.

“‘Bout what ya’ll were sayin’ with us bein’ free ta do whatever we wanted,” Honey began. “Does that mean anythin’?”

“That it does,” Luna affirmed. “Why? Does his moustache make you curious?”

Honey snapped up to face the ottsel and gave her a smirk. “Get out o’ mah head.”

Thomas decided to leave his friend and the nameless character to their own devices and left the house. Looking around the quaint scenery, he gave voice to his thoughts. “Think there’s a way to make the village bigger?”

“How so?” Luna asked.

“Well, if this world is ours to pretty much mess with as we please, I was wondering if we could add some houses with whole new characters.” He looked up as Moonlight jumped from roof to roof, enjoying a bit of parkour. “Really expand and flesh things out.”

“And maybe add a few females to the mix?” Luna suggested as she elbowed Thomas.

“Well there is only one other female character in the whole game,” he conceded. While he did find the geologist cute, he had a feeling her looks alone would not be enough to satisfy the former mares, especially with how few characters there were in general in this game.

Luna attempted to fold her arms in thought. It was an awkward motion, as she was used to having to work around the twin masses that were notably absent. “It would be difficult here, as this setting has already adapted to serve our presence, but perhaps more could be done for the next village before we venture off.”

Thomas blinked. “Can engagement books really do that?” he asked, thinking about what other games, movies, books, and shows he might want to visit.

“To an extent, but dreams are far more flexible,” Luna answered. “The dream pulls from the conscious and subconscious thoughts of the dreamer. As when we entered the houses you never visited, the dream pulls on what you believe to fit this environment and makes the changes accordingly. All magic has intent behind it, but my dream spells have a special quasi-intelligence behind them, actively working to shape reality to whatever the dreamer desires.”

Thomas grinned. “But I’m not the only one dreaming, am I?”

Luna giggled and looked around the village, listening to the sounds of his favorite ladies playing with NPCs from his childhood. “That you are not.”

Once everyone had had their fun, they all regrouped and headed for the speedboat. The return trip to Misty Island was significantly shorter than the first time around, but no one was complaining. Moonlight took the lead this time, showing the others how to subdue lurkers without killing them. The blue, armored variety seemed to have nerve enough to fight to the last, but the more common variety were relatively easy to domesticate.

When it came to the sculptor’s muse, Silver declared that she’d learned her lesson from the pelican and was willing to accept help this time. However, the cat-like creature ultimately proved ‘more slippery ‘an a greased up pig,’ as Honey so eloquently put it. The creature was not bound by any set pathway, freeing it to evade any and every strategy thrown its way. In the end, it was neither power nor cunning that felled the sadistically playful beast, but raw animal hormones. Luna just had to present herself for mounting and the shimmering cat creature, which was apparently a lesbian, was easy pickings.

Unfortunately, the island was home to more than just lurkers. There were large frogs that made themselves home in the mud, reptilian tripods that scurried into holes in the rock whenever someone approached, and so much more. The worst of it, however, were the dark eco abominations. Hulking grotesques that lumbered through the muck, spewing out of at least a dozen orifices at a time as they let our pained, skin crawling screeches. They’d even beheld the birth of one such creature.

Spying from around a corner, the party bore witness to a group of lurkers hauling a load of dark eco crates. One lurker lost his footing, causing the crate to shatter and its contents to spill out in an explosion of violet mist. The other lurkers looked on in horror, backing away or readying weapons as they stared into the cloud. The creature that emerged was vaguely insectoid with a giant pincer where its right hand used to be and a face that looked half melted. It let out a pained cry, yipping and snapping at its fellows as they began circling. With its good arm, the horror clawed desperately at the good side of its face before reaching out, beseeching its kin to end its pain. Weapons raised, they complied.

“Disgusting,” hissed Luna, the sight of such substance being handled so recklessly bringing up bad memories.

“Luna?” Silver asked worriedly.

“I care not for eco or whatever else the locals might call it. That, my friends, was dark magic.”

The former mares and even Thomas all flinched at the malice in Luna’s tone, all having a good idea of what she was thinking.

“Such recklessness cannot be allowed to continue. The lurkers and their masters must be stopped before they destroy themselves.”

The next and far more pleasant obstacle, after navigating the hazardous crevices and mud pits that made up the landscape, was the arena. Lurkers of the two main varieties descended down the walls and charged. Again the women tried to form a protective ring around Thomas, but the man was insistent on fighting with the rest of them.

“Leeroy! Jenkins!”

When the players put up a solid defense, the remaining stalled. Far from mindless beasts, the lurkers were smart enough to tell when bum rushing a foe wasn’t the best strategy. So they waited, stalking along the outer area of the arena, looking for an opening.

“How many of them are there?” Silver asked.

“At least seventy by my count,” Luna answered. “Maybe more waiting to see how things play out.”

A lurker on the wall roared as loud as he could, causing all eyes to fall on him. He looked down at the party assembled in the middle of the area, and tossed down several red canisters near their position. They shattered on impact, revealing clusters of red eco.

“Strength booster!” Thomas called. “Boo-yah!”

The remaining lurkers of the arena, having more intellect than most would give them credit for, knew a losing battle when they saw it and retreated before the intruders could massacre them. That left only the lurker who’d helped the ponies. He hopped down and lumbered up to the players. Thusly he was rewarded with scratchy scratches for his bravery.

Lurkers, as it turned out, not only respected strength, but were highly susceptible to affection and positive reinforcement. After following the helpful Lurker, who Surprise decided to name Shaggy, they came upon an area Thomas had never seen in the original game. It was a cave full of lurkers, predominantly females and younglings. Most looked underfed. Shaggy pulled out a strip of meat from his loincloth and handed it to a female, who nuzzled him in appreciation. Shaggy then looked at the newcomers and waved his hand across all the lurkers present.

“We should go fishing again,” Thomas insisted. “I bet Gol and Maia are offering to feed them in exchange for their services. If we can provide a new source of food, they’d probably follow us instead.” It made sense as the sort of thing that would go in a story like this. Lurkers were subhuman brutes who raided rather than produced for themselves, earning a bad reputation among humans. Appealing to their sense of self-preservation, the bad guys had rallied the poor, misguided creatures with promises of a better future. This would lead to a backlash in the future when their kind would be enslaved.

Shaggy grunted his affirmation.

Afterwards, the party made the quick boat trip back to Sandover and headed for the fisherman with their proposal. He was aghast at first, loath to do anything to help those ‘blasted monsters’. He didn’t even show any signs of discomfort at the women’s nudity. Thankfully Silver, armed with impassioned words and feminine wiles, was able to convince him otherwise. The fisherman would teach a handful of volunteer lurkers how to fish, granting them the ability to be self-sufficient and no longer need to raid human settlements just to survive. In exchange, the lurkers offered the party all remaining items of value on Misty Island. Inspired by the return of his muse, the sculptor even crafted a large lurker statue as a gift of good faith for the new friends.

“They remind me of diamond dogs,” Luna said, her expression sorrowful. “They have such potential, the ability to form a civilization all their own that could negotiate for what they lack without force. Yet even when presented with the option, the dogs who accept are few and far between.”

Thomas said nothing, remembering the episode where the dogs had kidnapped and enslaved Rarity.

“Perhaps that is why this strategy works so well here,” Luna continued. “I had quietly compared these brutes to the dogs, and my own wishes warped their perception of themselves.”

“You didn’t do it alone,” Moonlight added. “I admit I’d also made the comparison. When I was little, I’d always thought all those bad dogs needed was a good spanking to turn a new leaf.” She laughed weekly. “I guess I finally got my wish.”

Thomas nodded his understanding. As Luna said, the spell was pulling from not only his subconscious to shape the world, but everyone’s. It drew from the women’s pony desire to help, rather than hurt. And as much fun as he’d had putting the kibosh on the monsters, he had to admit that the solution his friends, perhaps instinctively, sought out was terrifically admirable.

With that sobering thought, the party readied themselves to proceed along the next leg of their adventure.

A bit of light world building of an old classic as our leads take advantage of manipulating the world around them. Everybody’s having fun playing with the scenario, but none more so than me. The whole point of video games is escapism, so it’s been pretty fun exploring the idea of taking that to the next level, of making your own decisions of how the story should go and obstacles be overcome. In this case, it quickly became self-evident that the more peace inclined ponies wouldn’t be all that comfortable with killing their enemies, and would seek out a peaceful solution. The diamond dog comparison sort of tacked itself on at the end, but I may explore that idea in some future story.

Also, Kiera was originally meant to start as being fifteen, with her blurting out this fact causing the mares to jump back in fear of assaulting a minor. Thomas would then laugh at the mares’ expense, having known from the start and later conspiring with Luna to age the girl up. But as funny as that was for me, I think this way works better. I actually wouldn’t mind either way, as Kiera’s body makes her look perfectly legal and I wouldn’t even know her real age if I hadn’t looked it up, but I gotta be wary of the site’s rules on underage humanoids.