“You’re not going to get away with this!” Twilight cried. I laughed my best evil laugh.

“My dear Princess, it’s already too late. I’ve already gotten away clean! Thanks for the help, Starlight!” I cackled. It’s important to thank the little people who served as stepping stones.

“I regret everything,” Starlight grumbled.

“We trusted you, Ranma! How could you betray us?!” Spike bemoaned, grasping his head in his claws.

“I swing into Twilight’s final Yakyakistan territory from my northern Crystal Empire territory!” I declared with a bloodthirsty grin on my face as I rolled the dice and Twilight rolled hers. Finally, after nearly 9 hours, I conquered the last of the Bibliophile Alliance and claimed victory in the game of Risk.

“You people are such a bunch of hams,” Rainbow observed from her seat, sitting cross legged with her head in her hands. Somehow Twilight had gotten her in on the game, but to no one’s surprise, Rainbow had been eliminated fairly early. True to her title of ‘Element of Loyalty’, Rainbow hadn’t seen Twilight’s betrayal coming until it was far too late.

“Half the fun of Risk is pretending to be a mustache twirling dictator,” Starlight commented as we cleaned up the board game. Her face was so straight as she said it, none of us were sure if she was aware of the irony of what she had just said.

“Oh, the Bibliophile Alliance could have done great things! We could have changed the world! Instead you heathens teamed up against me,” Twilight playfully pouted.

“You always win, Twilight. Might as well let the new kid have a shot,” Spike defended himself, his hands raised.

“And it had nothing to do with the fact I promised you immunity for 15 turns and help in that video game you’re stuck on in exchange for helping me drive Rainbow and Twilight out of the Badlands,” I snickered as we walked out of the library and towards the kitchen for a long overdue meal.

“Details, details~” Spike waved me off airily.

“Man, when you can’t even trust your own family,” Rainbow quipped, shaking her head ruefully as Spike flipped her off while Twilight wasn’t looking. The sporty Pegasus just smirked in reply.

“Well, anything’s better than those game nights Spike and I spent playing nothing but two player games. If I have to hear Spike say ‘rook to e5’ again this year, I might have screamed,” Twilight snarked as she pulled out a few boxes of pasta.

“I will beat you at chess one of these days, Twilight! Just you wait!” Spike swore dramatically as he placed a pot of water on the stove to start boiling.

“In your dreams, maybe,” Twilight teased as she pulled out some jars of pasta sauce, “You forget, young grasshopper, I may have taught you everything you know, but I have not taught you everything I know.”

“You should have seen them the first game night after I started living with them. They were just staring at a game of checkers looking absolutely miserable. When I offered to join them for a game of Go Fish, you’d have thought I had just offered to give Twilight sole control over all the libraries on Equuis,” Starlight smiled at the memory as she pulled apart some ground beef to make into meatballs and meat chunks in the sauce.

It was the sign of people who had lived together for awhile that they could automatically go about their cooking assignments without needing to say anything to each other. As someone who had only been living with them for two weeks, I admit I felt a bit jealous of their coordination. Starlight, the next most recent, had already been living here for just over 3 months.

“Well, I’m glad you could save them from the horrors of 2 player games, Starlight,” I quipped as I awkwardly stood there, hoping for some kind of direction. I wanted to help with dinner, but the three of them seem to have it under control and Rainbow was already sitting at the table. Twilight noted my uncomfortable energy and took pity on me, for which I am eternally grateful.

“Ranma, why don’t you get started on the garlic bread? Do you know how to make homemade garlic bread?” Twilight asked as she dumped the pasta into the now boiling water.

“Olive oil, butter, minced garlic in some amount and lather it on the bread. That’s all I know,” I said apologetically, shrugging my shoulders.

“2 tbsp olive oil, 4 tbsp room temperature butter, 3 minced garlic cloves, ¼ cup of fresh chopped parsley, salt to taste,” Twilight rattled off as she stirred the pasta while Spike stirred the sauce beside her and Starlight was on the opposite side of the counter, cooking the meat. Following Twilight’s instructions, I soon had a garlic mixture and was spreading it on two loaves of French or in this case Prench bread before sliding them both into the oven on the top rack and set the oven to broil.

My job complete, I took my place at the table with Rainbow as I watched the other three continue cooking. Starlight was rolling the meatballs with her magic while dumping the remaining small bits of meat and grease into the sauce, Twilight diligently stirring the pasta in what I was sure was the most optimal manner, and Spike casually reminiscing about the highlights of our game while making sure the pasta sauce didn’t burn.

It was strange to me, how even with this current feeling of being an outsider, I still felt infinitely more at home here than I ever had with my flesh and blood family. These people were quickly wiggling their way into my heart and I couldn’t find it in myself to put up the effort to stop them. But I couldn’t bring myself to open up either, damn fool that I am. So I put on the mask that was second nature to me, pretended to eat my fill of dinner, and headed off to bed. My thoughts of family and secrets chased me into a thankfully dreamless sleep.

Sorry this is a bit shorter, but I just couldn't muster the will to write anything heavier. October has not been an easy month for me so when it came time for me to write this, I just had the intense desire to veg out with something almost purely fluff.