Billiard Player
"He cursed like a billiard player, his walking stick upon the ground, and she would ask him, she was young and she didn't know"
Princess Twilight Sparkle was an avid billiards player. It was a game she'd picked up playing in the human world. Visiting Sunset Shimmer for her 22nd birthday (in human years), she'd visited a bar with her friends, one which happened to have all manners of cue games. She tried it out, and even though none of them had played the game before, she liked the skill and physics involved, and they'd all had a good night. That was a long, long time ago now, but the game had stuck with her, Carom Billiards being her particular game of choice. Celestia had her chess (which Twilight still enjoyed), and Twilight had her billiards, another thing she'd devoted a great deal of time and energy to.
It was a brilliantly simple game. There were two cue balls, one for each player, and a red ball. The object of the game was to shoot one's cue ball in a way where it makes contact with both of the other balls. If she was feeling particularly devilish, she'd play a game of three-cushion billiards, where the cue ball must hit three of the table cushions before reaching the other balls. It was a very difficult game, and she seldom had a chance to play it with many other ponies, as most considered it a very, very dull game. Twilight preferred the term 'nuanced'.
Princess Twilight Sparkle was known to be an avid billiards player, having popularised the game many decades ago. Long enough ago for the game to have fallen out of fashion. This didn't bother Twilight, she was happy just as long as long as she had somepony to play against.
Princess Twilight Sparkle was known for being many things. The Princess Of Friendship, former Element Of Magic, hero of Equestria, principal of the School Of Friendship. And yes, billiards player. However, it did irk her to no end that, even more so than being a very high level billiards player, she was known for, and credited with creating that gesture. It didn't really have a proper name. It was sometimes known as 'the hoof', 'the buck', and (much to Twilight's chagrin) 'the Sparkle'. Indeed, it seemed that even after all this time, she couldn't escape it. It had become permanently ingrained in Equestrian culture.
She supposed it was ironic that her exercise in exploring another culture had such and impact on her own. It was even somewhat amusing that even without fingers, the gesture carried the same message as in the human world.
But it was annoying that it still overshadowed things she was more proud of. 'The gesture' had been around long enough now that the ponies who had seen Twilight's outburst first hoof were all now long gone, but still the gesture endured. Perhaps it was the combination of the simplicity and the intent that kept it in the public consciousness. Either way, it was now a part of the Equestrian language, much in the same way the middle finger was part of the human's language.
Twilight sat in her den room in the Castle of Friendship, gazing out the window. She'd grown so much since that day, seen and done incredible things, performed amazing feats, and indeed been a co-ruler of the nation. And yet, collectively, Equestria still remembered her as the Princess who invented a silent swear.
She smiled a small smile. Thinking about it now, was this not exactly what she was attempting to do in the first place? To take an idea from the human world and introduce it to Equestria. She quietly chuckled, if she thought about it that way then she'd achieved her initial goal in spades. It might not have been the greatest or most important idea to introduce (Twilight still stood by her belief that billiards was the best thing she'd introduced), but it was one that had withstood the test of time, that had overcome social divides, and was understood by all residents of Equestria.
It was interesting, to say the least.
There was a knock at the door. It was one she was expecting. Six o'clock on a Friday evening.
"Come in." She called, turning to face the door.
A pegasus walked into the room. A mare with a sonic blue coat with a three-tone blue/green mane, carrying a long, slender black case under a wing. Cloudy Clamour, Rainbow Dash's great granddaughter. She closed the door behind her and walked over to a cabinet on the far end of the room, helping herself to the fine alcohols Twilight kept there.
"Well, make yourself at home why don't you?" Twilight chastised lightheartedly.
"You know it, T. I'll need something to drink while I'm wiping the floor with you, I've got to get you back after the last game!" She replied, cockily grinning at the Princess.
Cloudy hadn't inherited her great grandmother's speed, but she had her competitive nature almost tenfold. Twilight rolled her eyes at her friend's words.
Twilight had made a great effort to keep in contact with all of her friend's descendants, and befriend them in turn. She liked to keep close with the families, as they meant a lot to her. Cloudy however, was a particularly good friend, as she was the only pony Twilight knew who took billiards as seriously as herself. Rather than sports, Cloudy was much more of a games mare, something that in Twilight's book was a very good quality to have. And of course, that competitiveness meant that she was always in for a good game.
Cloudy trotted back over to Twilight, carrying a small glass on each wing. Whisky, on the rocks, something of a tradition on their games nights. Twilight took a sip from her own drink as Cloudy set her glass down on the side of the billiards table, before trotting back over to where she had left her case.
She undid the latches, opened the case, and began to assemble her cue. It was a beautifully crafted thing, built from the finest woods by one of Applebloom's descendants. Twilight similarly had her own cue, built to incredible standards with the most ornate materials. It was a work of art. A functional one, but art nonetheless.
"Alright then, hotshot." Twilight spoke, setting the balls up on the billiards table. "I'm feeling like playing a three-cushion game, I hope you're ready to get decimated again!"
Cloudy simply looked Twilight in the eyes, and raised her hoof. The rude gesture.
Twilight sighed.
They both laughed.