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Chapter 4: Distractions
“Picking Apples” Dinky read out half aloud as her eyes fell on the last task that was part of her homework for today. She smiled, her eyes gleaming at the prospect of being finished soon. Turning her full attention to the task, she continued reading.
“Golden Grape goes to pick apples. She sees two orchards next to each other; the Apple Family orchard and Flim and Flam's orchard. The signs below are at the entrance to the orchards.”
Under the text were two squares filled with text that were supposed to depict the signs. Dinky set her sight on the first one.
“Sweet Apple Acres, pick your own apples! First 10 pounds, 2 bits per pound, each additional pound, 1 bit per pound.”
Easy enough. She shifted her eyes to the second sign.
“Flim & Flam's Orchard of Delicious Apples, 20 bits entry fee, first 10 pounds, 1.50 bits per pound, each additional pound 0.75 bits.”
Dinky furrowed her brow.
“Golden Grape wants to pick 40 pounds of apples. How much does this cost at the Apple Family orchard? How much does it cost at Flim and Flam's orchard?”
The unicorn filly grimaced a little at the task, especially at the instruction “Show your calculations.” under the two questions. But it was of no use. It was her homework and she needed to get it done in order to keep her good grades. Dinky sighed and went to work to solve the two calculations.
The first one was easy. Some simple multiplications later and the right amount flashed up in Dinky's mind. She filed in the number on the line behind the question, then wrote down the steps of the calculation.
10 x 2 = 20
30 x 1 = 30
20 + 30 = 50
The second task was harder and made her head hurt a little. Several minutes passed, the cells of her brain working at their fullest to figure out the solution, then she could finally put down the number, fairly sure that it was correct. Her pencil scratched faster over the paper as she wrote down the steps of this calculation too.
10 x 1.50 = 15
30 x 0.75 = 22.50
15 + 22.50 + 20 = 57.50
As soon as she had written down the last number, the magic around her pencil vanished and her horn stopped glowing. Ignoring the pencil that was now falling down and rolling over the desk, Dinky slumped against the back of her chair and did a big breath of relief. It was only half an hour since she began with her homework and she was already finished! Luckily, she was not interrupted while working on it, Aunt Millie had stayed out of her room for the whole time, apparently busy with baking her “healthy food”. And she had told her that she had a lot of homework to do, which should keep her away for quite a while longer, so Dinky hoped.
Dinky's spirits rose again as she felt the boring tasks swiftly leaving her young mind and even more so as she tilted her head to the left just a bit and her eyes caught a glimpse of the stack of videogames on her table. She grinned, immediately knowing what she wanted to do now.
Quickly, she shut her math book, grabbed her pencil, then got up and dumped both things into her saddlebags, which she then placed on the floor at the side of her nightstand as always, where they would stay until she would visit school again tomorrow.
Her next destination was the big armchair in front of her table. Instead of trotting to the piece of furniture, she jumped over the whole distance and did a dive into it, a happy squeal leaving her lips.
Having arrived in the comfy armchair, Dinky leaned forward and grabbed one of the cartridges, the one right at the top. The picture on it showed a stallion with a bushy, black mustache in dark blue overalls, fleeing from a fire breathing dragon behind him.
Eagerly, Dinky pushed the cartridge into the console in front of her TV, then switched on both devices and took the controller into her magic. The title screen passed by and was replaced by the face of the mustached stallion. As soon as she saw the familiar visuals of the game on her screen, a feeling of happiness was washing over Dinky. This was the right distraction from her aunt. With her games, she would somehow endure her behavior. A smile flashed over her face.
Dinky opened her savegames and chose the latest one. Seconds later, the stallion appeared on the screen again, now standing in a pompous castle. Black and white tiles littered the floor, only occasionally interrupted by a red carpet. The walls were full of paintings, some of them showing beautiful landscapes, others depicting really weird places Dinky had a hard time describing.
Now smiling broadly as she moved the stallion in the plumber outfit through her favourite game, she motioned through a door at the top of a flight of stairs. She was taking a few turns, then opened another door and found herself in a dark corridor. The walls looked moldy and it was flooded with shallow water. Only the flickering red flames on the walls that illuminated the corridor allowed her to see something.
Dinky made her way through it, ignoring the yellow bunny that hopped past her somewhere in the middle. At the end of the corridor, she found herself in front of a huge painting. A terrifying face made of flames smiled at her wickedly, the visage reminding Dinky on a demon. Having made plenty of experiences with the nature of this game already, the young gamer gulped. This world wouldn't be easy.
Deciding to brave the dangers anyway, she let the stallion jump through the painting. The familiar loading screen appeared. The lower half informed Dinky of it that this world was called “Frightening Fire Fortress”. The upper half depicted a grey star with a “1” on top. Beneath it, it said “BOIL THE BIG BULLY”.
While still thinking what these mysterious words meant, the loading screen disappeared and Dinky's character appeared again on a rectangular platform in a sea of lava. A multitude of other platforms surrounded it, yet Dinky had no time to inspect them because a message suddenly popped up on the screen, squeezed into a small, black box:
Don't be a pushover!
If anyone tries to shove
you around, push back!
It's one-on-one, with a
fiery finish for the loser!
This meant lots of fighting, Dinky figured. She shuddered a little by imagining having to fight on tiny platforms surrounded by lava. Carefully, she motioned her stallion over the platform. She jumped over a gap at the end of it, then did a sharp turn to the left through a gate of grey blocks. Red flames danced across the path in front of her as she continued, but they disappeared in the lava again before they could touch her.
As she entered the next platform, which consisted of grey brickstones, a round, black figure ran into her. It had tiny, but sharp, yellow horns on the top of its body and ridiculously small, green feet. Yet the creature itself was anything but ridiculous, as Dinky soon found out. The contact with the black thing pushed the plumber and he got shoved towards the edge of the platform. Before Dinky could react, the creature pushed him again and he landed with his flank in the lava. Painful screams coming from him, he jumped high up into the air, while covering his flank with his hooves. The round power display in the upper-middle of the screen now reduced by almost half of her character's power, he landed back on the platform. Dinky cursed a little, then a shower of fear ran down her back. Reflexively, she looked at the door of her room, but it was still closed. As she returned with her eyes to the screen, feeling at ease again, she saw in renewed panic that the creature had almost reached her again. Pressing the big, green button, her stallion jumped up in the last moment. He touched the creature slightly, causing it to stumble back a bit.
Now a light went on in Dinky's head. The message made sense to her now. Back on the ground, she bumped against the creature again and once more, it stumbled back. Dinky continued in a frenzy. Two bumps, three, then the creature fell over the edge. White smoke rose from the lava as it burnt. A victorious grin appeared on Dinky's face. As she was crossing over a blue bridge to her left, though, the grin was replaced with panic again as the bridge got suddenly split in the middle and heaved itself into the air. Only a jump in the last moment prevented her from making contact with the lava again. It was a mere reflex, rather than skill.
The mustached stallion landed on a large wireframe platform. In the middle of it floated a big eyeball that looked intensely at her character. Not wanting to find out what it could do, Dinky ran past it and down some stairs. She jumped at their end and landed on a grey platform. As she noticed that the lava began flooding it, she gasped and rushed through the yellow coins floating in the air above it and jumped at its end, landing on another large platform. It was adorned with the picture of the big, fire breathing dragon from the game's cartridge, though the picture was mismatched at the other end of the platform.
Now feeling safe, Dinky ran ahead a few steps, then stopped and took a breather. Her moment of rest did not last long, though.
Suddenly, the ground under her stallion moved and was whisked away under him, letting him fall into the lava again. After having just been re-filled by the coins, his power went down anew. But to Dinky's surprise, it immediately got filled up as the stallion was back on the platform! Now she noticed that it was littered with red coins. Each one brought her back a good amount of her power, but she knew there was another, more important purpose behind them. She grinned again. The big bully, whoever that was, could wait.
Doing a careful step to the right, she collected another coin, then jumped in the perfect moment as the tile under her moved. Paying attention to the pattern of the moving tiles, she proceeded until she had collected all of the shiny, red coins. A star appeared in the middle of the picture of the dragon. It flew into the air, then landed on a solid platform at the far right. Dinky let her plumber jump over a gap and he touched the star before his hooves could make contact with the platform. He landed and whirled his body a few times, then stroke a victory pose, his right fronthoof stretched out. “Here we go!” it happily came from him, then the screen went black and he stood in front of the painting again.
Dinky cheered inwardly. Getting the first star of this world was easier than she had thought!
Several options popped up on the screen now. Quickly, Dinky chose “Save & Continue”, then she jumped back into the painting. The loading screen once again told her to boil the “big bully”, but now, there were three stars on the screen, the last one being the one she just earned. Sparkling and bright, it stood for the victory she just had.
Back in the world, Dinky chose the same path again. There were more platforms behind the moving tiles and she was eager to find out what challenges they were holding for her. This time, she ignored the weird, round creature. In all her eagerness, she went a bit too fast over the bridge and her plumber's flank was kissing the lava again. More concentrated after his landing, she moved him over the wire platform, the stairs and the grey platform that got flooded by the lava again, collecting the coins in the process.
As she was back on the moving tiles, her power was full again. This time she got over the tiles without an incident. The next rectangular platform was inhabited by two of the pushy creatures. Her instinct telling her it would be too dangerous to fight them both, Dinky evaded them and jumped on the next platform.
It had the shape of a circle and was constantly turning around its own axis. A device in the center of it shot flames that covered the whole radius of the spinning platform. Dinky squinted her eyes as she ran in front of the flames, constantly moving so that they wouldn't touch her character. In the far distance, she could see a platform with a green mushroom on it. Figuring that it was too far to make that jump with her current speed, she ignored it and kept following the spin of the platform to the other end, where she jumped onto a brown, quadratic platform.
With nothing of interest on it, Dinky proceeded towards another grey platform, once again one that got flooded by lava. Now that she had more time to observe, she could see that the flooding was not permanent. Rather, the lava covered it almost completely in a regular pattern, leaving only a small, safe path in the middle, then retreated again.
Dinky smirked. An easy hindrance, now that she knew how it worked. She waited until the lava was gone, then she jumped on the platform, collected the coins and jumped on another, much larger and much more solid platform. Having been distracted by the joy she felt over figuring out the trick for the last one, Dinky did not notice that she wasn't alone on the quadratic platform she now stood on.
Seemingly out of nowhere, another one of the black creatures, but much larger this time, rammed her plumber, sending it right into the lava with just one, strong push. Dinky yelped in fear and surprise.
“Hi, Big Bully,” she whispered and clenched her teeth, now understanding what the loading screen was talking about.
As she had control over her character again, she went offensive, pushing the “bully” on her own. It barely budged. The impact against his massive body was something he didn't even seem to feel. He pushed back with all his strength and soon, the stallion Dinky controlled was hitting the lava again. Now only two-eighths of her power circle were left. The warning red colors of the display were drilling into Dinky's eyes. She gulped, then rammed against the boss again. He did so too, in the exact same moment and pushed her plumber back. Dinky struggled against the fiend, refusing to allow her defeat, but another strong push brought her close to the edge. Her enemy ran against her once more. “NO!” she shouted in fear, but nothing could prevent the unpleasant outcome of the fight. The plumber fell into the lava again..... An ugly visage appeared on the screen, laughing at her mockingly, then the screen faded to black. Her character was falling out of the picture and landed on his back, then he got up groggily. The power display became refilled, but now she had a life less.
Dinky glared at the screen.
The anger lasted only for a moment. The challenge the boss posed urged her to continue, so she composed herself and jumped into the painting again, determination on her face. As she had reached the first of the little bullies, as she now called them, Dinky decided for some training. She pushed it and it got shoved back a few steps. Dinky followed up immediately and lunged at it, but the creature was faster and pushed her now. While her character was recovering, it did it a second time. Dinky jumped and retreated from the platform, giving herself some room before trying it again.
She waited until the creature didn't face her plumber and was at the other end of the platform, them jumped back on it. Immediately, the creature turned round upon noticing her presence and stormed towards her. Dinky squinted and licked her lips. As the creature was almost there, she jumped against it, once more pushing it back. She let her character move forward a little, then she waited. Immediately jumping at it again was what got her the last time, so she was trying it differently now. The creature stormed at her plumber again. Feeling it was the right moment, she rammed it again, letting it stumble backwards another few steps and bringing it dangerously close to the edge.
Dinky threw a hoof up into the air. This was doing the trick! Having figured out the right timing now, she went over the familiar path, now without getting burnt a single time, and found herself in front of the boss again.
As she had expected, it quickly tackled her again. She was pushed back, but jumped over him then and brought some distance between him and her character. Her breath became more heavy as he lunged at her again, but Dinky remained calm and waited for the right moment. As the enemy had almost reached her, she jumped forward and hit him. An angry groan left him as he was pushed back. Once more, Dinky waited, then she repeated the strategy. She pushed him back successfully and a third, concentrated push brought him close to the platform's edge. Enthusiastically, she jumped at him a fourth time as soon as he moved again. Yet this time, it was too early. Her plumber was pushed to the ground.
As fast as possible, Dinky jumped over the strong boss, now standing at the edge herself. The thought about losing now, with being so close, made her nervous. As he came towards her, she jumped into his direction. Dinky missed him just a tiny bit. Another push against her character and almost half of her power was gone. She ran around the boss, but it moved quickly and rammed her into the lava again. By now, Dinky felt agitated, but she had to try again. She realized way too late that she was trying too hard, though. The third push by the boss brought her efforts to an end. A life less, the plumber was falling out of the painting again.
Dinky slumped back into her armchair in defeat, feeling her own energy getting drained from her. For a few minutes, she just watched her character staring at the painting, motionlessly, a dull expression in her eyes.
As she felt a tiny bit of her determination return, she sat up straight again and breathed in and out a few times. “Okay, Dinky, you are smart, you are strong, you can do this!” she spoke, comforting herself.
Feeling a bit refreshed, she went into the painting again, making her way to the boss once more. She managed to reach him without losing power this time too, but the controller was noticeably shaking in her magical grip now.
As she was only one platform away from the boss, she took a small break. The young unicorn placed the controller in her lap, leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes and breathed calmly for a few minutes. As she could feel inner peace again, she shot her eyes open, leaned forward, grabbed her controller and brought the rest of the distance behind her. This time she would do everything slowly. No rash actions.
Aggressively, Big Bully rushed at her. Dinky followed his movements with full concentration, then jumped over him elegantly and turned around. She was now in the middle of the platform.
The boss came after her. “Wait..... Wait.....” Dinky spoke silently to herself as she watched him coming closer. “Now jump!” She did and the boss stumbled back. Dinky licked over her lower lip. A little bit, just a tiny step, she let her stallion move forward. Then he came again. Squinting her eyes at him, Dinky waited, then bumped into him with full force. He tumbled again.
Feeling more confident, Dinky let her stallion run forward a few steps now. “I'm not as easy to beat as you think,” she muttered, her tongue now permanently sticking out of her mouth.
The boss had recovered again. Her surroundings having completely disappeared for Dinky now, she braced herself for the next attack. “Now come at me,” she said. He did. Another bump and like at her last attempt, Dinky's enemy was now just an inch away from meeting the lava himself. “Just one more.” Dinky felt the excitement raising in her again and her heart was beating faster, but she suppressed it. “Not now.....”
He came again. For a last time, Dinky awaited him. As he was in the right distance, she concentrated her magic on the jump button. “Say goodbye now, you big bully!” She pressed down on the button.
“Dinky! What are you doing?!” a shocked, panicking voice rang out to her from her left.
Immediately, Dinky was back in reality. Startled, she looked to the side, only to realize how foolish this was in the same moment. She returned her attention to the screen, but it was too late, the boss had bumped her back into the middle of the platform.
“I'm just playing a game, please leave me alone now!” Hectically, Dinky tried to save what was left from her triumphant victory, but with now feeling nervous and unconcentrated because of her aunt's presence, she was bumped time and time again by the boss.
“Not something like this!” her aunt exclaimed. “This is not a game, Dinky, this is poison for the mind!” Unpretended shock was ringing in her voice.
Dinky ignored her. Frantically, she tried to still beat the boss, but soon she had to realize that all was useless now. A last push, a last drop into the lava and she was defeated again. And she was so close!
Dinky felt all hope sinking. A few tears began to garner themselves in the corners of her eyes. Weak, she watched her character getting kicked out of the world inside the painting once again, her eyes glistening in utter disappointment and sadness over the lost chance. Then those feelings got replaced by unrestrained anger. She shot around to her aunt and glared at her with hatred.
“Why?” she shouted. “Why did you have to come in and disturb me?! I was busy!” Her voice was a growl.
“Not this tone again, little missy!” Millie answered the upset question of her niece, not any less loud. “You can't talk like this with me!” Furiously, Millie stepped into the room, cantering past Dinky and heading straight for the table.
Dinky jumped up. “What are you doing?”
Millie did not answer. Instead, she bent down, took the plug of Dinky's Neightendo into her mouth and pulled it out of its socket in the wall with full force. Immediately, the TV screen went black.
“No!” Dinky yelped in shock. “Don't do this, you must turn it off first, you break it!”
Disbelief hit Dinky as she heard an emotionless tone in her aunt's voice. “I don't care, Dinky. Those distractions only mess with the minds of young ponies like you!”
The unicorn filly refused to accept it. As her aunt grabbed her console, the game cartridge still inside, she intervened. Swiftly, she tried to grab her beloved Neightendo on her own, but Millie was once again faster, even faster than when she took her muffin earlier. Then she grabbed the other game cartridges and took them away too.
With resolve, Dinky lit her horn and embraced her games and her console with her magic aura. “Stop it! They are mine!” she said agitated, her teeth clenched as she pulled with all her strength to get her possessions out of her aunt's hooves. But like last time, Millie's grip was stronger. Of course this didn't mean Dinky gave up.
“Why are you doing this?” she tried it with words in addition to her physical efforts.
Millie only gave her a half-hearted answer, her face showing conviction that what she did was right. “Dinky, trust me, these things are not good for you. They infect your mind until you become lazy and forget everything you learned.”
Dinky watched helplessly as her aunt moved towards the door, while she was still unsuccessfully trying to get back what was hers. Her face was red now, both from exhaustion and desperation.
“Now go back to your homework, Dinky! You completely abandoned it for those 'games', isn't it?” her aunt said as she was ready to go through the door.
In anger, Dinky smashed a hoof on the ground. “NO! I didn't, I was already finished with it! I always make my homework first before I play!” She tried a last time to free her stuff from Millie, but it was still of no use against the earth pony mare.
As her head started to hurt, Dinky had to stop and released her magical grip. Defeated, she sank down on her haunches, heavily breathing.
Her aunt looked at her as she turned around to close the door. “Then go and read a book, Dinky! This is something that is good for you and will help you.” The door fell shut with a bang.
Dinky winced. Now more tears glistening in her eyes, she looked at the door in shocked disbelief over what happened while she heard her aunt's fast hoofsteps clopping down on the stairs. Dinky tried to get up, intended to rush past her aunt, but had to sit down again as she noticed that she was lacking the strength for this endeavor now, both mentally and physically.
She sniffed and rubbed away the tears with her hooves. As she felt that the headaches were gone, she carefully lit up her horn again and opened the drawer of her desk. Wrapped in her magic, one of the distorted blueberry muffins flew into her hooves. Resignated, Dinky closed her eyes and bit into the muffin. More tears entered her eyes as she started chewing on it.