Leaning back, Spike looked over at the other three lawn chairs sitting under the early evening sky behind Applejack's barn. "This is so great!"

Shining Armor nodded from the chair nearest Spike. "I'm glad I could finally get down here for a session." He grinned at Discord coiled around his own chair. "We couldn't've dreamed of this playing Ogres & Oubliettes back in Mom and Dad's basement, huh, Spike?"

"That's me." Discord blew a glowing yellow smoke ring, everything suddenly smelling like bananas. "Making dreams come true everywhere I go."

That got a snort from Mac. "Regular Tooth Fairy, ain'tcha?"

A tiny tiara appeared between Discord's antlers. "I also collect horn shavings, hoof trimmings, and shed feathers." Putting his lion paw to his snout, he said in a loud whisper: "I'm trying to make new friends. From scratch, I mean!"

Spike couldn't help swallowing at that, but Mac gave a laugh, Shining Armor joining in. "[i]Really[/i] glad," Shiny went on. "Especially after the week we had up north!"

"Oh?" Glad to change the subject, Spike sat forward. "What happened?"

"Ice worms!" Shiny held up his front hooves, barely any space between them. "They're usually this big, and they dig around in the glaciers. But Monday?" He waved his hooves. "Worms bigger than ponies busted up through the fountain in West Park, flopping around and smashing the gazebo! Me and a brigade drove them back into their hole, but, well, somepony had to go down and see what was going on."

Mac nodded. "Meaning you."

Shiny grinned. "Gotta earn the epaulets." He tapped his horn. "So I light up, march in, zap the things till they're thundering off in the other direction, and what do I find?" He held up his hooves again about the same distance apart. "Another sliver of Sombra's horn! I mean, every time I think we've rounded up the last slice of that thing..."

Spike had to do some more swallowing. "So whadid you do?"

"The usual." Shiny settled back in his chair. "Cady showed up with her containment squad, then the troops and I had to stomp around in the snow for a couple days with amulets to dissipate the residual dark magic." He blew out a breath. "So I was ready for a weekend off."

"Same here," Mac said.

"What?" Spike blinked. "You had ice worms?"

"Dust devils." Mac gestured to the orchard. "Dang things was charging around the rows, shaking the apples off the trees afore they was ready. More solid'n any I ever seen, too: head, tail, four legs, the works."

"Wow." Shiny looked from the trees to Mac. "There a spell for that?"

"Just rain." Mac grinned. "Course, after the pegasi push the storm back out, we gotta slog through the mud and gather up the clumps of hair and bits of hoof that dust devils form around, so yeah." He gave Spike a nod. "Nice idea, having Game Day after all that."

"Wasn't me." Spike waved to Discord, eating little colorful umbrellas like they were popcorn. "Discord brought it up, and after the week [i]I've[/i] had..."

Shiny laughed. "Twily running you ragged?"

The memory made Spike's shoulders tighten. "I was restocking our alchemical reagents when I noticed the jars looked weird. They all had this, I dunno, fluff inside: not mold but more like that stuff you blow off dandelions." He rubbed his forehead. "And reagents're so sensitive to magic, I had to open each jar, pull the fluff out, then use the passive scope to make sure the chemicals were okay! Took me three whole days!"

"Fluff?" Mac was looking at Discord. "Like feathers?"

Spike blinked, but Shiny was narrowing his eyes at Discord, too. "Huh," he said. "So what did [i]you[/i] do this week?"

"Me?" Discord touched his claws to his chest. "Nothing to speak of, I assure you."

Things clicked in Spike's head, and he sighed. "Discord, if you want us to get together for Game Day, you don't need to do anything crazy! Just ask!"

Discord put a talon to his chin. "I [i]could[/i]." He snapped, and glasses of something sparkling and orange appeared in the cup holders of all their chairs. "But I've noticed you ponies always enjoy a day off more when you think you've earned it."

Spike wanted to scowl at him like the other two were, but the glass smelled like liquid citrine. "Fine," he said, picking it up. "But [i]I'm[/i] organizing the next one."