Happy Valentine's Day, you beautiful bastards.
Here's to hoping we all get a waifu to build little kingdoms with.
There are some 4x memes and references in this story, but you don't need knowledge of any specific game to understand them.
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Kingdom for Two
I glower at the notice presented to me by my minister of foreign affairs, the contents as simple as they are damning.
The English, French, and Spanish have all declaired war on us.
It's no surprise coming from the French, they've been a thorn in our side for ages and we already saw their naval forces approaching.
"Why the other two, though?" We had good public relations, is it just opportunism?
A firm velvet hindhoof taps the back of my head "Because you've been spamming missionaries to convert their cities to Scientology 2: Electric Jewgaloo."
I look back at Morning Dew, the undying queen of this and every other nation I've lead to glory and/or ruin.
The dim light of the television barely illuminates the mare's slate-grey form as she lounges in a downright scandalous position on the livingroom's plush throne, making the annoyance in her scarlet eyes stand out all the more.
I, of course, am on the floor, as is inevitable when I get too comfortable and slide off while playing.
Looking back at the television, the fate of our fledgeling kingdom certainly looks grim.
But we've been in much worse positions. What's a bit of self-inflicted challenge when we have the experience to overcome it?
I start moving our units around and set more to be made in our cities before addressing my wife again.
"Of course I have. If we don't show these heretics the light of Scientolojesus," I gesture to national income on the UI, "then who will pay us tithe?"
"And besides," I tilt my head back at her and wink, "it's fun. What's the harm in sprinkling some memes on a playthrough?"
Morning Dew, sovereign of wet blankets, shifts her position so that her head is resting atop my own.
"Mmh..." I can faintly feel the humming of her speaker on my skull "you always get sick of the jokes halfway through."
Though we have this argument from time to time, I never feel mad about it because it shows just how seriously she treats our relationship.
I still vividly recall the first months after I built her, when she could barely think in a stright line or recall what happened the day prior.
Sinking years into gradually upgrading her and more headaches than I'll ever count migrating whatever data and half-baked memories she saved.
"Come on," I tease, reaching back to play with whatever part of her my hand finds first, "I know you can compute fun."
Nowadays I don't even notice her synthetic nature unless I focus on it, in these little moments.
I reach out to a hoof that I know is reaching over my shoulder -the little buzz is the givaway, even when I'm not paying attention- and gently grasp it.
After how far we've come, everything before now almost feels like a fever dream.
"Do you remember..." my love continues "when we played as Rhodesia?"
I feel my face heat up at the memory.
We played as them several times, but I know exactly which game she's talking about.
I'll probably never live down how invested and emotional I got over that one game.
For reasons I'll probably never know, I was incapable of grasping what the game's AI was thinking at any point.
Even when I tried to pick it apart logically, by thinking about what I know of the AI's behaviour, the map, and the civilizations, none of it made sense.
There were so many twists and betrayals, both in and against our favor, and we nearly lost more times than in any game I've ever played in my life.
"You cried when the USSR turned on us in the late game, neither of us knew what to do" the plush mare chirped with rare mirth.
It was right after her final major upgrade.
When the long nights of patching and trying to recover from memory loss finally came to an end, and Morning Dew became the sharp-witted beauty she is today.
"You really saved us then," I reply absentmindedly as I stroke that stray bit of fluff behind her frog, "we just barely scraped by with that culture victory."
Right when we got that victory screen, the first one we truly earned together...
"You swept me right off my hooves," my love whispers into my ear "and promised we would take on the whole world together."
And take it on we have.
Each passing day, outside our ramshackle home, the world itself seems to reject our very presence.
Even my normally insular lifestyle has been encroached upon more and more by everyone with an opinion, saying that a man can't make house with a machine.
My expression sours at the uninvited thoughts of the assholes I had to deal with today, and the ones I'll have to deal with tomorrow.
Well before I realized it, I've set down the controller and taken to nervously tousling Morning Dew's fur and mane, as if doing so will keep the world from taking her away.
It nearly has before, and I'm sure it will try again.
"We will," I croak out.
"Even if it takes years,
"Even if we never see the end of it,
"Even if we lose,
"I won't let that promise die."
My eyes meet her cameras and screens full of life as she slides off the chair to join me, and we hold eachother posessively.
"A little kingdom for the two of us," my queen rubs her snoot against my nose.
I nod with finality "Scientolojesus wills it."
The game sits idle as my mare chases me around the room, threatening capital punishment to my overture of cackling.
She really does get too serious sometimes.
After all, what's the point of a kingdom with no fun?