HyperSpace HyperWars 2

>Be Mayor Mare
>It was a boring Tuesday afternoon
>You were doing your best not to fall asleep in your chair as you looked over some paperwork
>It wasn't anything important, just some grants that needed to be filled out and sent to Canterlot
>You yawned into your hoof, pushing your glasses up your muzzle before dipping your pen into your inkpot
>Things had been relatively boring lately
>Which was wonderful
>Perfect even
>You'd take a million boring days over watching the town getting destroyed by some supervillain
>Still, you couldn't help but want a little excitement...
>At least a visitor would--
>There was a knock on your door
>Huh...
>Look at that...
>You sat up in your chair
"Come in."
>The doorknob to your office turned and the door was opened
>To your surprise, you saw Anonymous standing out in the hallway
>The colt was all dressed up, with a mountain of paperwork tucked under an arm
>"Morning, Mayor," he said politely. "May I come in please?"
>Always one of the more polite stallions this colt was
>You don't know why Twilight thought he was Triek returned...
"Of course. Come in, come in," you said, beckoning him toward you. "How can I help you today?"

>"I actually just bought some land, and I was wondering what I needed to do to get some permits for tearing things down and building other things up."
"Well, first things first, congratulations, Anon," you said with a smile.
>"Thank you very much."
"Can I ask you where this land is?"
>"In the middle of town, on the other side of Rarity's boutique."
>Your ears perked up
>Those buildings had been run down for years
>It was nearly the whole block
>The various monster attacks hadn't helped them either; most buildings were ready to collapse
>A lot of ponies complained about them, but nopony ever wanted to do the work that would repair them
>Rarity in particular hated them with a passion, and had petitioned that they be torn down
>Sadly, you just didn't have the budget to do anything like that
>Not after rebuilding half the town last year
>In fact, you had thought it would take a miracle to get rid of them
>Until now
>It seemed like today had just gotten a heck of a lot better
"Really?" you said, nearly leaping out of your chair in joy. "That's wonderful, wonderful news, Anon. Did you buy up the whole plot?"
"Yep. The entire block. I wanted to build a shop from the ground up and that location seemed like the best place to do it."
>A grin broke out across your face
>You weren't even going to question here he managed to get the bits for something like that
>You didn't even care what type of shop he wanted to set up either
>You, and Ponyville as a whole, would take anything over condemned buildings
>Hair salon, dance center, colty gossip house; whatever it was ponies would be excited

>Heck, they might be so excited that this might help you with your reelection
>Sure, nopony other than you wanted this job, but you weren't taking the chance
>You reached into drawer, pulling out various documents
"I'll tell you what, Anonymous. Not only will I tell you what you need to do I'll help fill out the paperwork!"
>Anon smiled
>"Thank you very much, ma'am."

~_~_~_~_~

"Two tickets to Canterlot please."
>"For what time sir?"
"The ten o'clock, ma'am."
>"That'll be ten bits."
>As you handed the train horse her bits, you could hear Discord scoffing behind you
>"A train, really? Why in Chaos would you want to ride in something so... normal?" the draconequus said, sticking his tongue out
"I like train rides. They're relaxing. They give me time to think too. Oh, thank you very much, ma'am. You have a wonderful day."
>Tickets in hand, you made your way onto the platform
>Ponyville Train Station was tiny, not even bit enough for two benches to sit on, but you didn't mind
>Arms crossed, Discord floated over to you
>"You're aware that I can just teleport us there with a snap," he said, looking at you out of the corner of his eye
"I don't trust that teleporting stuff."
>"We could fly?"
"No, you could fly. I could fall."
>"At the very least we could go in some STYLE!"
"No thank you."
>Discord made a show of throwing up his hands and scoffing
>His eyes rolled out of his head, bouncing off the ground and landing on his shoulders to look at you
>You patted his side

"You can pick where we sit. How's that sound?"
>He snorted, swiping a ticket out of your hand
>"Don't patronize me... but we'll be sitting in the front. If we're going to spend all day in the train I want to be in the most advantageous place to bother ponies."
>You both made your way over toward the other side of the station
>You checked the suitcase in your hand, making sure everything was in place as you stuffed your ticket in your pocket
"You excited? I'm excited."
>"I don't understand WHY we need to bring anypony else for this," Discord grumbled. "I could make whatever we needed with a snap of the claw."
>You were quiet for a few seconds, thinking over what you wanted to say
"This whole thing is like a sandwich."
>Discord looked over at you, eyebrow raised
>"Pardon?" he said, floating onto the ground
"A sandwich needs a bunch of stuff before it's a sandwich, right? Bread, cheese, lettuce, meat, maybe relish and mayo. That's what we need here."
>"That is a horrible analogy."
"Exactly. I might have a pretty good idea, but I'm admittedly not the smartest guy in the world. I set up a the beginnings of the world, even have a skeleton of a rule book, but I can't balance anything, or make mechanics. Well, I CAN, but they probably won't be any good, and why even do this if the game isn't fucking good?"
>"Which is why we're going to Canterlot?"
"That's exactly why. We need a nerd. The second biggest nerd to ever come out of Canterlot."
>Far down the track, you could hear a whistle
>A moment later, you could see smoke, and a few seconds after that the train was stopping right in front of you
>A train horse hopped out, ringing a little bell
>"All aboard to Canterlot. Excuse me, gentlecolts, your mares wouldn't happen to--"

>Discord floated over the mare
>You stepped over her
>Both of you placed your tickets on tip of her little conductor hat
>Her muzzle scrunched up in irritation
>"Bucking sassy stallions..."

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

>Be Moondancer, nerd extraordinaire
>You were in your house, bored out of your mind
>You had already finished a weeks worth of rune work for your job
>Nothing but simple protection craftwork
>Again
>The last two weeks have been nothing but protection runes
>The week before that were some runework to automatically open and close business doors
>Boring, mind numbing work
>You couldn't remember the last time you had needed to think out of the box, DO something with all of your power and knowledge
>It was worse than being bored
>So there you sat in your office, every book in your house already read through five times, trying not to beat your head against a wall
>You had a pen balanced on your muzzle, staring at your ceiling, as you had for the past two hours
>Celestia, mother of all, let a meteor fall on your bucking house to end your misery...
>There was a knock on your front door
>Your head immediately swung around, sending your pen flying
>Guest!
>It was probably your friends wanting to see if you wanted to go out tonight or some dumb horse apples, but who cares?
>You might even go this time
>Anything to get out of the house for a bit!

>You leapt out of your chair, trotting open toward your door with a smile on your face
>Without a second thought, you threw open the door
>Not to your friends, but two... things
>One was obviously Discord, Spirit of Chaos
>The other thing was...
>A minotaur?
>Whatever it was, it was holding a suitcase
>You also had to admit that it looked pretty dapper in its suit
>"Hello," it--he-- said. "Is this the residence of a Moondancer, professional dork?"
>Your smile disappeared, a frown replacing it
"Did Minuette send you up here?" you demanded
>The professional dork thing had her filthy hoofprints all over it
>This was only cemented when both colts giggled
>If she hired these two are strippers or something you were turning her coat pink the next time you saw her...
>"She did," the minotaur said, taking off his hat. "My name is Anon. The good looking fellow right next to me is Discord. Do you have a few minutes, we'd like to take to you about something."
"I don't wanna buy anything," you said, trying to close your door
>Discord snapped his fingers, and your door leapt off its hinges and ran down the street
>You and the two stallions watched it crash into some poor mare's fruit stand before disappearing into an alley
>Both colts looked calm and collect, while you were regretting getting out of your chair
>"We'll only take a few minutes of your time," Anon said, placing his hat back onto his head
>You took a deep breath before exhaling explosively

"Fine. FINE. Come in I guess."
>"Thank you very much."
"You're paying for that door. I don't know if this is a prank Minuette put you both up to, but next time you see her let her know I'm kicking her butt."
>The minotaur smiled
>"Thank you very much."
>You motioned them inside, grumbling under your breath
>As much as you didn't want them in your home, you got the two something to drink since you were a gentlemare
>They thanked you for the tea
>Discord even used his magic to have a plate of cookies appear on your table
>Chocolate chip
>They giggled whenever you bit into one, but other than that they were pretty good
>As you helped yourself to another cookie, you watched as the minotaur opened up his suitcase
>"Your friend Minuette is a pretty interesting mare," he said.
"Yeah, you could say that," you said
>As you talked, you spewed out a mouthful of cookie
>It was pretty rude, especially in front of stallions, but this was your bucking house, and your dad wasn't here
>"She has a thing for predator teeth, really fascinated with canines and the like," he continued, pulling back his upper lip with a finger to reveal teeth that definitely didn't belong to a minotaur. "She gets real chatty when I come in."
"I bet she would," you replied, tossing another giggling cookie into your mouth
"If you'd believe it we're kind of friends. I spoke to her about a business that I'm in the middle of setting up, which is why she sent Discord and myself up here. She told me that you were the mare to speak to about board games."
>You raised an eyebrow
"Board games?"

>"Yeah. Board games, role playing games, she said you loved all kinds, especially Orges and Obelisks. I was told that you really liked to play and tweat with the rules."
"Make them better you mean," you quickly corrected. "So what, do you colts need tips or something for a game?"
>"Actually, I'd like to play a game with you right now," he said, reaching into his suitcase and pulling out a small binder. "Do me a favor and leaf through that. Minuette also told me that you were a quick learner, but if you have any questions just let me know."
>You have him a look, using your magic to take the binder out of his hand
>While still suspicious that these two were just strippers, you had to admit that you were... intrigued
>Not a lot of stallions cared for O&O
>They liked dolls and gossip and... other stallion-y stuff
>Still, you weren't going to be the one to deny help to a fellow larper
>You opened the binder and began to read its contents
>After the second page, you realized that this wasn't O&O at all
>It wasn't TOO far off from a creature sheet, so you were able to get the gist of it
>There were three stat lines for three creatures
>One was a "hero"
>Two of them were "unit support"
>There were different weapon lists for each, the damage they could take, and so on
>You had to reread everything twice before you were confident enough to look back up
>Your coffee table had been cleared
>Two dozen wine corks sat in front of you, with one of them colored with what was most likely a red marker
>Beside them was a hoofful of dice, and two little cardboard cones and one smaller cardboard circle
>Anon had the same set up as you, but with one of his corks being blue

>He was looking at you with an excited smile, a single dice in his hand
>"Do you have any questions, or would you like to get right into it?" he asked
>You looked over everything, curious
"...No. Let's play."
>The game was relatively short and very one-sided
>You could tell that Anon was trying to go easy on you, but this was his game
>...Whatever it was
>You picked up a few things by watching him, tried to flank his unit of Servinators, but the dice weren't in your favor
>"My Magi uses Mind Flay. You need to roll a three, otherwise your unit is taking d6 damage
>You cursed under your breath, tossing your dice
>That mutter became an audible 'BUCK!' when you got ones and twos
>All but two of your Marines "had their skulls crushed by the powers of the warp" as the text stated
"I concede," you said with a shake of your head, knocking the last of your corks over with your hoof
>"Good game," Anon said. "That was great for your first time. If you had brought another flamer you might have beaten me on the second turn."
>You ignored the compliment, staring hard at your character sheets
"This is... interesting," you said. "I've never need anything like this before, and I've run a LOT of campaigns."
>"Is it fun?" the minotaur-like colt asked
>You were quiet for a good minute
"It needs work," you said. "The rules, these battle traits, all of it, but there is one heck of a game here."
>You looked up to see that he was smiling
"Minuette sent you up here because she thought I could help you with this?"
>"Yes, she thought you'd--"

"I can, and will. This can... this might..."
>You scratched your chin
>Rough as it was, just this thirty minute game had your mind racing with possiblities
>Cover fire, range penalities, bravery
>There was so much you could put in here!
>But not too much
>Too much would make it complicated
>While you liked complicated, you weren't most ponies
>It had to be fun, easy to learn but hard to master
>Competitive if that was what somepony wanted, but also casual
>You found yourself grinning
>This was exactly the sort of challenge that you needed!

~_~_~_~_~_~_~

>Be Fresh Coat
>Otherwise known as the Bane of Manehatten, the Spray Can Sister, and the biggest pain on the flank this side of the Unicorn Mountains by the MHPD
>You were in jail
>An elderly stallion called the ponice on you when he saw you painting a mural on his building
>It was a shame, since you nearly done with the thing...
>The buckers would probably paint over it before you were let out too, since you didn't have any bail on you...
>The sound of a club hitting iron bar made your ears perk up
>You lifted your baseball cap up a bit to see Officer Cuddle Hooves
>You'd had run-ins with this mare since you were little
>She didn't like you too much, especially when you put cunts all over the side of her apartment complex
>Sweet Luna, the look on her face was AMAZING...

>"Coat, quit your grinnin' and get your flank up," she said
"Breakfast time already?" you asked
>"Ha, you wish. No you made bail."
>"You did?"
"I did?"
>"Yep, somepony was dumb enough to pay it," the ponice officer said, unlocking your cell and throwing the door open. "Now get up and get out before I charge you with lottering."
>Know that she actually would do something like that, you leapt to your hooves
>"I catch you spray painting anything else this week I swear to Celestia I'll throw you in the hole for a month, bail or no bail. You got it?"
>Usually, you'd have "accidently" smacked her muzzle with your tail as you walked by her, but your mind was elsewhere
>Who the heck would bail you out?
>The bail wasn't THAT much, but a couple hundred bits was still a couple hundred bits
>"Hey! All that spray paint kill all your brain cells or are you just deaf? Do you hear me?"
"Hmm? Oh, sure. I'll see you next week, Cuddle buns."
>"CUDDLE WINGS, not get outta here."
"Wait, before I go. Do you know who bailed me out?"
>"Two weird lookin' colts. They're actually waiting outside for you. Now get."
>You were then smacked with the mare's club, causing you to speed it up toward the door
>Throwing it open, you saw ponice milling around, chatting, eating donuts, sucking the air out of all of creation
>You looked around, breathing in the free air
>You probably shouldn't push your luck, but you COULD go back to finish your mural...
>"There you are. Hope we didn't wake you or anything."
>A cup of coffee was shoved under your muzzle
>You looked at it, then at the claw holding it

>The creature holding it was Discord
>Fucking DISCORD
>Oh shit, oh, damn, oh you were in some shit now...
>Somepony cleared their throat
>You didn't glance at them, too terrified at the monster in front of you
>Discord looked amused, blood red eyes twinkling with mischief
>"What's the matter, young filly? You look like you've seen a ghost," he teased. "I know prison is very shocking, even to big, tough mares like yourself. Would you like a hug?"
>Before you could spin around and bolt back toward the safety of your cell, a hand pushed Discord
>A weird minotaur now stood in front of you
>He took the coffee away from the chaos demon and squatted down
>"Mrs. Coat. My name is Anon. You might not know me, but your cousin Coco has told me a lot about you. Would it be alright if the three of us sat down and had a conversation? I'm sure you'd like something to eat after being locked up for who knows how long."
>Your eyes darted toward Discord, then back at him
"...What for?"
>"You have a passion for painting, but from what your cousin said that it's your special talent. Your cutiemark has to do with creating paints, yes?"
>It did
>The problem is that paint creation was a shit talent
>The paint companies wouldn't let a small fry like you onto their turf
>They didn't even want anything to do with your specially designed spray paint
>It was kind of the reason why you liked to paint your murals
>To show not only your skills as an artist, but how durable and vibrant your paint was
>Anon leaned forward
>"What if I told you my associate and I might have need for your special talent?" he asked
>You blinked before grinning
"You know what? I could go for a hayburger right now."