Celestia's Finest Power Ponies: When Worlds Collide

[Miltonian]

Spoiler

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We're doing sheets now? Should I make one for Fluttershy? Which system is this?

Discord: (1d6)[2]
Fluttershy: (1d6)[4]

In the short space of time they've been around, the coins have had their pre-society barbarism, banded together into a tribal society and warred for different portions of the room, and have now created a grand council to try and address 'the Drex Problem'. The strongest coins are training in warbands, building the bonds that will one day destroy 'the great demon of dinosauriness, Drex'. They have little silver weapons and everything. None of this is any threat to Drex.

Discord blinks at Matterhorn. He chuckles. "And that works? Hmm." He snaps his fingers and a pair of Groucho Marx glasses appears on his face. "Oh no! Where did Discord go? I mean, he can't be here! I'm wearing a mask." He cackles and floats towards the door. "Oh this world is going to be fun."

"Oh," his head pops back around the corner, "And if we're going in for superhero names, dibs on 'Sheogorath'!"

"No offense, Mr. Matterhorn," Fluttershy says, "But I will pass on the mask. I wore one once. It was a...different experience."

[D.KnightSpider]

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Ach. Yeah, I didn't expect Fluttershy. I'll send you a link shortly.

Elbeyon, that looks fine by me.

Matter-horn waved away the difficulty. "Think nothing of it, dear. Not everyone is capable of wearing one. Despite what some think, it takes more than a costume and an attitude to do this job."

She looks toward the door. "Discord, might I suggest you stay-"

And that's when everything goes haywire. Fluttershy is mercifully spared the coming storm. Discord, however, feels some mental force poke him in the brain as some pony attempts to get a look at his thoughts. Of course, trying to peek at the Lord of Chaos' mind is a bad idea under the best of circumstances and these are far from the best of circumstances.

The mental force ejects from Discord's mind so fast that he can almost feel the intruder getting sick.

Love then feels a poke in her mind. Whatever Drex did to cross the dimensional divide and connect her to the LoveBot does a sufficient job of scrambling the mental intruder six ways from Sunday. It gets so bad that Love gets a glimpse of the female earth pony on the other side: Perfect Shot AKA Mistress Mare-velous.

A pained look crosses Matter-horn's face. She shakes her head ruefully. One hoof massages her temple.

"Well... Congratulations, every pony. You've just given our resident psychic a hangover. You should hear the mental earful I'm getting."

[Miltonian]

Digging through Discord's brain when he's prepared for it and has had some time to make it 'presentable' is traumatic enough. But entering it without permission is equivalent to sticking your head in an 10' by 10' echo chamber where a military marching band and a heavy metal concert are competing to see who can drown the other out. The end result amuses him more than is strictly necessary. He cackles. "Well, I could have warned her if she'd only asked. Feel free to tell her I said so. She's got only herself to blame."

Fluttershy glances around, confused. "I didn't feel anything."

[D.KnightSpider]

Matter-horn tilted her head up provide a visual indication that she was listening to some pony.

"I'll have to beg your pardon for our rudeness. Forewarning you would have undermined the point as needed to verify that you were telling the truth. It's standard operating procedure as any Jumper can claim anything and we can only be fooled by shape-shifting aliens so many times. We use our team's psychic to take a peek at visitor's minds."

The Masked Matter-horn paused for a moment, listening to some inaudible comment. Then she looked at Fluttershy..

"I'm sorry for the deception. Mistress Mare-velous, our psychic, managed to glimpse your moral compass without troubling you. Discord and Love's minds proved to be much more... conductive to mental feedback and caused Mare-velous some distress.

"As Discord said, we brought this upon ourselves." The Masked Matter-horn-face twisted as though something repugnant was happening. Whatever Mare-velous was going through had just taken a turn for the disgusting.

[Miltonian]

Fluttershy's mind, on the other hand, is a wellspring of love and kindness towards all creatures, pony and non-pony alike. She always thinks the best of others and, though some might think it naive, a firm belief in the goodness and decency of all ponies, though sometimes they need a reminder of it. Just touching her thoughts gives an uplifting and warm feeling, giving the poor mare on the other end some solace after touching Discord's mind.

"Yes you most certainly did," Discord says, full of righteous self-indignation, "And so your tea better be the best I've ever tasted, or so help me I will..."

"Discord," Fluttershy says quietly, "When you're a guest in somepony's home, it's nice to be polite."

Discord stops short, rolls his eyes, and sighs. "Oh very well. I'll be..." The last word comes through clenched teeth. "Polite. And boring. But mostly polite."

Fluttershy beams at him. "Thank you."

[Elbeyon]

Spoiler: OoC

Show

My sheet checks out, awesome! I was a bit worried my mind trait would be too general. P:

Love shivers as Perfect Shot pokes her mind. The pony will even get a greeting inside of Love's head if she can even decipher that. "You have a psychic!? That's amazing!" Love starts prancing around the room. "I want to meet her! I want her to read my mind. I've been waiting for a mind reader for such a long time! Do you have a neural interface device!? I want to read her mind too!"

"I understand the security measures! We just entered your home! It's perfectly acceptable and approved by me. The reason for the subtly is perfectly accepted as well."

[D.KnightSpider]

Matter-horn politely laughed at Love's antics.

"You are enthusiastic, aren't you? Very well. I'll let Mare-velous know that you're interested in a meet and greet.

"Thank you all for your understanding and I'll attempt to make it up to you in the future. Now, then, let's get you some of that tea." Matter-horn began flying to the doorway. She stopped, abruptly, and turned around to find their pre-occupied raptor. "And, Drex, of you're not going to join us, remember that there are no fireballs allowed in the lab-- not even if you're playing Godzilla."

"Drex remember!" The great demon of dinosauriness shouted back, completely undaunted in his efforts to accidentally and inadvertently destroy all coin civilization.

Matter-horn sighed. "I hope so. Now, if you'll follow me?"
------

A short walk later and the off-worlders were shown to a rather dining area. Whoever designed the space had gone out of their way to make it feel like home. Oaken furniture provided tables and chairs while group photographs of the Power Ponies decorated different walls.

A dash of greenery appeared sporadically and haphazardly enough to give away its 'put in place ten seconds ago' status. Some pony must have been trying to put Fluttershy at ease.

"And here we are!" The Masked Matter-horn led them to a table, upon which rested three separate teapots (labeled Green, Hearthswarming and Chamomile) and an assortment of additives and condiments. "The finest tea in Maretropolis!"

She stopped to take a look around. "Goodness, what were they thinking with the shrubbery?"

A new voice answered from the other side of the room. It belonged to a young earth pony with dark purple body, green mane, who also wore a black cape and mask. He carried a fourth teapot.

"We tried to make it feel more like their hone. Hello, lobot, pretty rady." The young one's words were jumbled, but his smile was all innocent acceptance. Then he saw Discord. His jaw dropped and eyes widened. "and... are drew a yagon?"

[Elbeyon]

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Matter-horn is a unicorn, right?

Love smirks at the question. She raises her hoof into the air with a cheer! "Yes! I've been looking for somepony to swap memories with for a very long time. I've even sorted some of my memories in preparation for the grand old memory swap. I have so many wonderful experiences to share." She puts a hoof up to her mouth. "Mwhaha." "They're going to positively explode when they feel me discovering the internet!"

Love follows after Matter-horn, walking under her, gaining ground and falling behind, and jogging from one side of her's to the other as she studies her.

-----

"You have a beautiful home. It reminds me a bit of my old house. The shrubbery is beautiful", she comments.

When they arrive at the table, Love simply can't contain herself any longer. She tilts her head and curiously asks, "How are you flying?" She stands nearby waiting to seat herself.

"Hello, stranger." Love puts a hoof to her chest. "My name is Love. This is Fluttershy." She gives a soft wave of the hoof to introduce her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

[Miltonian]

"I, for one, happen to like it," Discord says, "It gives the room a nice 'unplanned' look, if you catch my drift."

Fluttershy giggles at the colt's compliment. "Thank you. And hello to you too. What's your name?"

Discord's ever-present smile widens. "Draconequus, young colt. Though I can..." He snaps his fingers and turns into the skinniest and silliest looking dragon imaginable. "Turn myself into one with a snap of my fingers!"

[D.KnightSpider]

Spoiler: OoC

Show

From Love's perspective, Matter-horn is a neocorn. The wings are natural, but if she looks closely there's something off about the horn.

"Oh," Matter-horn sounds amused as she explains the origin of her powers to Love. "it's nothing too special. We were working on a science fair project in my father's lab when a stray bolt of lightning hit my younger brother's plaster volcano. The explosion threw me into a shelf of chemicals. The chemical bath brought out some latent unicorn DNA and here I am."

He words and on a strange lilt as though this sort of thing happens to every pony.

"I bo gy 'Humdrum'." The colt says with a happy smile. "I hom't dave super powers."

"Some rather oafish colts gave him the nickname as an insult." Matter-horn explained. "Humdrum made it a badge of honor when he saved our lives. He has a heart that keeps us all going."

Humdrum's eyes go wide in response to Discord's dragon appearance.

"A shape-shifting super-hero! We gon't dave any on the team yet. You're fe thirst!" His voice is full of awe.

[Elbeyon]

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Ah, I thought she was a unicorn. That's why Love was checking her out so hard.

Love bursts out laughing and starts rolling on the floor at the explanation for her powers. "This place is awesome!" She jumps to her hooves and wipes her tears away. She coughs. "Excuse me. I lost control of myself there."

Love smiles and nods as the colt introduces himself. "It's a fine name." So many questions, so little time.

"Super powers? How rare is magic here?"

[D.KnightSpider]

The Masked Matter-horn flit over to the treatable and gestured for the others to join her.

"Rather rare. There are a few super-heroes with magical abilities and natural unicorns have some limited telekinesis, aside from that, none, really.

"I'm the interest of full disclosure, Mare-velous is linking up the Power Ponies so you don't have to worry about introducing yourselves or introducing yourselves multiple times."

Matter-horn looked to Love and Fluttershy.

"Your world seems particularly interesting. You have knights, Elements that correspond to virtues, CEOs who also function as army officers, infrequent time travel... It's quite the veritable hodge page.

[Miltonian]

Discord is thoroughly delighted by the Matter-Horn's origin story. He giggles. "Hmm, oh I am remembering that one."

Though pleased to have a fan, Discord does not shy away from the blunt truth. "Well, I won't be staying long. I do have business back home." He snaps his fingers and a Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses, and straw hat appear on his form. The smell of the ocean fills the room. His chair turns into a beach recliner, made especially long to accommodate him. "But I don't see why I couldn't take a short vacation."

Fluttershy, for her part, manages to ignore Discord's antics. She sits, accepts her tea, and smiles at Matter-Horn. "Is it? It doesn't seem too strange. I suppose the Everfree Forest is. Oh! That's a large, beautiful forest where all sorts of creatures live. It's strange, though, because the weather works on its own without, um, pegasus control. Yes." She sips her tea. "And yes, I am an Element of Harmony. Kindness. I take care of all sorts of animals. They're just so cute and snugglely. Rarity is Generosity, Rainbow Dash is Loyalty, Applejack is Honesty, Pinkie Pie is Laughter, and Twilight Sparkle is Magic. Er, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I guess. She wouldn't be very happy to live in a world without much magic. She's also the Princess of Friendship, though, and you all seem very friendly. So she wouldn't feel too put out."

[D.KnightSpider]

Matter looks askance at Discord's Beach attire but says nothing. Instead she continues talking to Fluttershy.

"Ah. I intended no offense." Matter-horn said in a fashion that spoke of only half understanding. She did smile as she continued. "You're inter-dimensional visitors who haven't tried to take over the world or pick a fight. We have every reason to be friendly.

"From my experience, unless a universe specifically forbids it, an ability or talent works in any dimension. While not many of our world are able to harness magic I suspect that Princess Twilight Sparkle could use her talents without issue.

"I do hope you can forgive my ignorance. What, exactly, is an Element of Harmony? Some courtly title perhaps?"

Humdrum took a place at the table next to the lounging Discord. He picked up his own tea and sipped it, never losing sight of his newfound idol.

"At least you're here for vacation." He said. "Can do yew anything?"

The tea is very good, but Fluttershy and Discord can tell it wasn't brewed by a pony with two centuries of practice.

[Miltonian]

Fluttershy giggles. "Oh no. Well, Twilight does because she's a princess, but Celestia and Luna are the real leaders. The Elements of Harmony are...or they were, artifacts that Celestia and Luna used to defend Equestria. They take the power of our friendship and, um, Rainbow Dash calls it a 'Rainbow Death-Beam of Awesomeness', but it's never killed anypony! It purified Princess Luna, sent Tirek back to his prison, and..." She glances over at Discord. "Turned Discord into a statue. But only until we reformed him! But they, um, broke and now we, I guess, are the Elements of Harmony. In the same way that Princess Celestia and Luna are the sun, the moon, and a ponies."

"A thousand years as a garden gnome gave me plenty of time to practice my comedy routine," Discord says with a wink to Humdrum, "And yes. I can do anything, anything I like! Whenever I like." He opens his mouth and the tea pours itself down his throat.

[Elbeyon]

Love sits across from Matter-horn. Love takes the kettle of chamomile that Humdrum so kindly provided and pours herself a cup. A drink of soothing tea to help settle her down. Her mom usually had a bag hidden away for that rare occasion. Love deeply smells the aroma and snuggles into the chair. Matter-horn's questions interest her more than her own now. She sits there sipping away while listening to Fluttershy speak about herself and the elements.

[D.KnightSpider]

Humdrum watches Discord's display and then quickly put more tea in front of the draconequus.

"Cool! You're like the freed gat thenie from the movie without le thimetations?" He asks.

Meanwhile, Matter-horn is contemplating the ramifications of the Elements' existence upon a reality of existence. While the other Power Ponies provide their input, she sips her tea.

"The physical manifestation of a virtuous concept... that's fascinating. And it creates an interesting dynamic juxtaposed with a pony embodying such physical constructs as the sun and the moon. I can only imagine the impact that must have on your world. As you can tell, we don't have anything such as the Elements around here. That's a good thing, I suppose," She laughs lightly. "that's why they need the Power Ponies."

[Miltonian]

Discord snaps his fingers and turns into a genie, looks down at himself, and shakes his head. “No. Too blue.” He transforms back. “And Celestia forbade me to hand out wishes after I met a certain pony named Caps Lock.”

Fluttershy’s smile droop. “If only we were enough,” she says, “But we’re only six and Equestria is...very large.” She nods at Love. “She’s one of the ponies who has to help because we’re not good enough to do it ourselves. She, um, actually saved us from an old enemy.”

“If you don’t mind, Ms. Matter-Horn, ma’am, are you an alicorn now?”

[D.KnightSpider]

Matter-horn's lip twisted in thought. "I can't say one way or another as I don't believe I've heard the term 'alicorn' before now. To my knowledge, I'm the only pegasus/unicorn hybrid there is (if that's what you're asking). Although, I'm sure there's a mad scientist or somesuch out there trying to create one. They always seem to be up to something insane such as that.

"I can sympathize with your land being too large for six ponies to safeguard. There are only seven Power Ponies, counting Humdrum, and we're all private citizens using our personal funds to provide aid where we can. There's only so much that can be done." Matter-horn looked at Love and her expression lightened. "But it appears that you have some reliable help in Love. Is that why you hold a military rank? To provide aid to the Elements of Harmony?"

Meanwhile, Humdrum is contemplating the bits and pieces of information being provided by Discord.

"So 'Celestia' is bour yoss?" He finally asked. "Is she the colice pommissioner?"

[Elbeyon]

Love is in a bit of a stupor digesting Fluttershy's words, but she cracks out of it with a smile when questioned directly. "That's part of it. I'm in the military and hold a rank because I want to help Equestria." Love holds back from telling the whole truth. There are plenty more reasons than that. "The guard was only a job for me at one point, but now, I do it to help ponies. You mentioned it was odd that I'm a CEO and military. That's true for our world too." She sips her tea.

"I'm very good at multitasking. I can control more than one computer at a time." Love motions to her LoveBot. "I try not to mix service and civilian life too much, actually. I've so far have mostly failed that goal. The majority of my time is spent being a private citizen, and a much smaller fraction of it is spent being a Lieutenant. I help in different ways with both of my lifestyles." Love vaguely motions to the spot near Matter-horn. "It'd be nice if masks were an option back home."

[Miltonian]

“Oh my,” Fluttershy says, “Mad scientists making alicorns? That sounds scary.”

She listens to Love’s speech and a little sadness enters her eyes and smile. The edges of her mouth droop a little and her eyes stare into her cup of tea. “Yes. She’s very good at both her jobs.”

Meanwhile, Discord very, very amused by Humdrum’s question. He laughs so hard he literally shakes himself apart and splits into a dozen different copies of himself. After a few moments, they link paws and swirl back into one. “Sorry, had to pull myself together there,” he says, “No, no, she’s not the commissioner. She’s the Princess of the Sun! Every morning she raises it and every night she lowers it again. Her sister, Luna, does the same to the moon.”

He leans in close and whispers conspiratorially, “Luna’s a little unnecessary. Celestia can do both by herself and did so for a thousand years after Luna had a little…” He blinks. “Oh! This has to be terribly confusing. Let me put it like this.”

He snaps his fingers and the lights dim in the room. With an explosion of smoke and lights, he appears by the head of the table, dressed in a tweed jacket and wearing reading glasses. A stage swirls into being out the smoke, one made for ponies about Humdrum’s size.

Discord clears his throat. “And now for the official history of Equestria, as presented by yours truly.”

“Since time immemorial, the two alicorn sisters, Celestia and Luna, have watched over ponykind.” Two puppet-sized versions of the alicorn sisters step onto stage, surrounded by all sorts of smiling ponies. “Immortal, but benevolent (if a little unimaginative, but we won’t hold that against them), they defended Equestria from all sorts of threats.”

The ponies quail in fear as a massive, horned centaur charges onto the stage from the right. “Tirek the Devourer.” Celestia and Luna take to the air and blast the ground underneath him. He falls, shaking his fist, into the smoking depths. “Sombra, the King of the North.” A black unicorn with glowing eyes surfs a wave of jagged crystals onstage from the left, an army at his back. Celestia and Luna touch horns and he and his army disappear with a very out-of-place ‘pop!’ “And of course, yours truly.”

A tiny Discord appears in a flash, giggling and laughing. The stage turns into a patchwork of crazy colors and twisted beasts charge out of the wings. Celestia and Luna summon six crystals of different colors and zap them all with a rainbow beam. Discord falls, frozen in stone, still laughing. The real one picks it up and sighs. “I was a bit of a wild child back then.”

“But then! Horror of horrors, Princess Luna fell into darkness.” Dark smoke pours out and consumes Luna while Celestia reaches out to her. “Angry that her sister’s sun was adored while her night was ignored, she turned into the dread, the villainous NIGHTMARE MOON!”
With the sound of thunder, a dark alicorn takes the stage. Imperious, commanding, and with an evil glint in her eye, she raises a hoof and declares, “PONIES OF EQUESTRIA! SINCE YOU CAN BUT LOVE ONE PRINCESS ALONE, HEAR ME! I WILL NO LONGER YIELD THE SKY! THE NIGHT. SHALL LAST. FOREVER!!!” Lightning cracks and thunder rumbles, making the princess’ evil cackle all the more ominous.

The ponies cower before her while Celestia spreads her wings protectively. Nightmare Moon leers at them and begins to sing.

“What is wrong, my subjects? Is the moon not to your liking?
Perhaps you just don’t see,
The endless sea of black. And all of the stars so striking.
Do you dare to anger me?

Well no more! Unleash the whelming storm!
Let darkness flood the morn,
And swallow every wayward light!

Lay the seas and mountains,
Under blackened heavens,
Bow now citizens,
Unto the throne of night.

Rise now, regal moon,
All the world consume.
Tremble at the sight,
The eternal night!

She lowers her horn and charges. Celestia meets her and they clash in midair. In an explosion of light, Celestia falls back. Nightmare Moon laughs victoriously.

“But,” Discord broke in, “Her would-be-reign was cut short. Princess Celestia use the Elements of Harmony and sealed her inside the moon itself!”

The six stones appear again and unleash a rainbow beam that carries Nightmare Moon screaming offstage. The moon lowers in from above, an image of the princess stamped onto its face.

“And so Celestia reigned alone for a thousand years until her sister returned for the greatest grudge match in the history of the world.”

The moon shatters and Nightmare Moon descends upon the Celestia with a scream. Her horn comes down and Celestia vanishes in an explosion of sunlight.
Six ponies trot onstage, each one looking worried and confused. One looks very much like Fluttershy. “All seemed lost! But, Celestia’s student, Spotlight Twerkle…” Fluttershy clears her throat. “Ugh. Twilight Sparkle and her friends found the Elements, unlocked their true power, and used them to defeat Nightmare Moon. But this time, it did not banish her”

The six ponies face Nightmare Moon. Together, they unleash the rainbow death beam onto the corrupted Princess. The darkness washes away and a young, scared looking alicorn is left behind. Celestia reappears and they embrace while the six ponies crowd around, happy smiles on their faces.

The stage rolls up like a scroll and Discord snatches it out of the air. “And so Princess Luna returned, was reunited, blah, blah, blah. I got out of my stony prison, caused chaos, got reformed, and even helped save my old enemies, blah, blah. They had countless adventures, etc, etc, etc. And now the Elements are immortal and Twilight has single-hoofedly kept Equestria on par technologically with this place.”

He leans forward with a grin. "Any questions, Humdrum?"

[Elbeyon]

Dang it! Love should have just kept her trap shut! Love locks onto Fluttershy's sadness like a snapping turtle onto a fish. A bit of anxiety and empathetic sadness touch upon her own features. Love lowers her volume down and ask, "What did I say that upset you? I'm sorry, Fluttershy."

[Miltonian]

Fluttershy looks up and meets Love's eyes. While the performance is still going on, she says, "Oh, it's not you. It's...something else. Something about you and the rest of the EDF." She bites her lip. "I'm...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

[Elbeyon]

It's not her? That's a bit of the load off her shoulders, but she still spiked Fluttershy's happy mood with something. "I'm an open book.", she says in a submissive tone. "What is it about the EDF and me? I want you to feel comfortable around me", she tries to reassure her. "I am worried. I could say something that upsets you again on accident... but I understand if you want the subject to be changed."

[D.KnightSpider]

Matter-horn is silent as she takes in the production. Even when it's concluded, she says nothing. From the look in her eyes, it appears as though the conversation is all mental instead of verbal.

Humdrum, however, is spellbound throughout the entire production.

Humdrum thinks for a moment about any potential questions before admitting that there is one: "How did gou yet to be so creative? It's kind of cool."

[Miltonian]

Spoiler: Nightmare Moon's Song

Show

In case you all are curious.

Fluttershy sighs heavily and sinks down into her chair. "I've sat in on the strategy meetings between the High Command. Nopony ever asks me to do anything, so I sit and listen. You're..." She chokes. "Expendable. That's what they call you. If...if the mission's dangerous, they don't want to risk us. So they send you instead."

Discord chuckles and floats up towards the ceiling. "Natural charisma and brilliance, I suppose. But recently, practice. I do make video games, you know. Top-sellers, even."

[Elbeyon]

Love smiles and gives Fluttershy a pat on the hoof. "You do you. You have my support."

She takes a deep breath. "I won't try to speak for others. I'm not being forced to do anything I don't want to do. I do choose to do things I don't like doing though. I have trouble imagining a life where that isn't something that happens. I realize I put my life at risk. I realize that I offer myself up as a pawn in a much larger game than I. I'm not on the top level. I do risk my life to help ponies. I'm alright with that."

"A pony might spend forty years making ponies happy through pastries. I might spend five years making ponies happy through safety. They are both good lives to live even if mine ends up being shorter. Some pony has to do what I do? It turns out it's me. There are a billion different ponies living their lives. I'm living mine. I want to help ponies, and that's what I'm doing."

[Miltonian]

Fluttershy shudders. "But you're still a pony. Not a...log of firewood or a kitchen rag to be..." Her face twists, pained by the mere word forcing it's way out of her mouth. "Used and then discarded. I-if you're lucky, they might give you a statue."

She looks up. "Just because you made your choice doesn't make you less of a pony."

[D.KnightSpider]

Even behind his mask, Humdrum's amazement is palpable.

"Dou yo? What games yo dou make?" Realization and horror prompt Humdrum to then lean closer to Discord. He whispers: "Should you te balking about sour yecret identity like this?"

[Miltonian]

Discord is more amused than annoyed at that. “Ah Humdrum. I am, and always will be, just Discord,” he says and bows with a grand sweep of his mismatched right arm. “I never hide who or what I am. Well, not for along anyway. And even then, only to pull some prank or the other on dear, old Sunbutt.”

“As for games…” He holds out a claw and, like a dealer fanning out cars, a whole collection of boxed discs appear in his grasp. With an eager grin, he says, “Take your pick.”