//------------------------------// // Retail // Story: The Last One // by computerneek //------------------------------// Those pursuing entities- headed by Nurse Redheart- had been completely baffled when Rainbow jumped into the air to avoid them.  They hadn’t even seemed to notice her. In the time since Rainbow’s arrival, she’s participated in another part of the party.  The pink one had covered her eyes again, given her a stick, and told her to swing at a semi-solid object hanging from the ceiling.  She’d swung at it but, being too far away, hadn’t actually made contact until someone- the little one with the bow, she thinks- told her to hit it.  She had stepped forward and made another swing, slashing right through it. She hadn’t expected it to be that easy to destroy…  But who cares- all the entities around her had seemed either overjoyed- mostly on the part of the ones her size- or impressed, mostly on the part of the larger ones. Now, she’s been asked if she wants to try “apple-bobbing”.  The orange one with the hat had demonstrated how, and Rainbow just pulled her head back up from the trough, demonstrating that apples aren’t the only thing waiting to be caught.  The pink one had affirmed the demonstration, declaring the presence of far more than just apples.  She runs right up to it, nodding and smiling. They smile, motioning for her to take her turn- so she does.  She pokes her head up over the edge of the trough, peering in. It’s…  Quite the busy trough.  She searches it for something that her new friends- being this entire room of entities- might find amusing.  Finally, she spots it. Right on the bottom… She tilts her head slightly, examining it from a different angle.  She estimates its size, shape, and mass. She clenches her neck muscles briefly, runs through a few more estimations…  It’s a bit big, but she can get this. She hops her front legs up onto the side of the trough, plunging her head under the water’s surface.  Apples, among other things, skitter out of her way- and she even deflects the little creature with a momentary twist of her neck, turning it to face the other way.  Finally, nearing the bottom of her path, she opens her jaw for just a moment, closing it on her target, and pulls. It’s about as hard to pull upwards as she imagined.  She uses her legs more than her neck, pulling her targeted object up out of the water.  Once she pulls it free of the surface, she plans to twist her head to pour the water out, vastly reducing the load before she will turn to place it on the floor next to her. Of course, this doesn’t happen.  The water very quickly ends up all over the room as it twitches in her grasp, sending a burst of not just water but more fragments- and streams- of color out the open end.  Nevermind the strange noise it makes. All the entities blink and stare at her for a second, while she turns to put it down, no longer needing to pour the water out.  The pink one recovers first. “Wow!” she calls out.  “You’ve found the grand prize!”  She seems to scowl, raising a leg to tap on her chin.  “It was supposed to be hard to reach…”  She shrugs. “Whatever!”  Another blaze of noise and flying color comes from someplace- and unless her eyes are failing her, three more cakes just appeared on tables around the room. And that’s not even counting the enormous one now being placed on the table in the middle of the room.  She smiles, and tries her best guess at how to make her voice. It works.  She instantly converts the momentary oration into a giggle. That worked too!  Only, now everyone is looking at her.  She didn't step on anyone’s foot… leg…  thingy… did she? …  apparently not.  The green one is talking. “You have a beautiful laugh,” she states. She takes a deep breath.  She’s only ever been called ‘beautiful’ immediately before the terrible. She lets it go.  The terrible is gone.  She doesn’t need to worry about it. “You okay?”  She opens her eyes to find another entity, colored similarly to her hair, crouching in front of her. Off to the side, she sees the green one look at the cream one.  “What’d I do?” Her answer seems to be a shrug. She focuses on the yellow entity in front of her, and draws her face into a smile.  “I’m okay,” she manages. It sounds better than she had expected.  As a matter of fact, she decides, she nailed it; her oration had been at least as clear as that of most of the entities around her. Everyone has stopped moving again.  They seem to be staring at both her and the yellow entity- who is staring at her. Then the yellow entity’s pupils shrink to pinpricks and track their way across the crowd, before she slips backwards, muttering.  “Um, if…” She tilts her head, looking right back at the yellow entity’s distracted eyes, ignoring the pink hair attempting to insert itself between the entity and the crowd around them.  The mumbling seems to have devolved into stuttering nonsense. Then someone steps in front of her.  It’s the green one. “You can talk!” she says.  “Do you want to do something?” She tilts her head.  Does she want to do something?  She doesn’t know. Though, that purple entity- Twilight- had bothered everypony else by using precise measurements in that tail game.  She doesn’t know why that kind of thing would be a problem- but apparently, it is. She pulls her mouth into what she hopes is an evil grin; she wonders if Twilight can handle being on the receiving end of that kind of instruction. A short period of time has passed.  She’d made her request- and Twilight had complied readily, if confusedly.  The pink one declares that she gets to be first. She draws her mouth into her evil grin again while Twilight spins in circles, eyes wrapped tight.  A quick glance up the path locates the drawing. She traces the path back to Twilight, and smiles. She has it planned. “Aaaand, Begin!” the pink one calls. She starts talking immediately. “In a three-dimensional plane rotated seven point nine one three degrees to starboard where the origin is on the tip of your right ear and a unit size of zero point nine seven three centimeters, the target is at the ordered triplet seven point nine one four comma three point one seven nine comma six one three point nine four seven.” The entire room goes silent.  She smirks. Twilight turns her head.  “Wait, what?” The room breaks out laughing. She giggles, and repeats the instruction- with updated numbers; the tip of her ear had changed position, and so had the angle of her body changed.  She also uses a slightly different unit size this time, of one point zero one three centimeters. “So…  Hey, those were different numbers!” “You moved.” With a huff, Twilight turns ten point three one seven degrees to port- the second angle measurement had been five point three one nine to starboard- and begins her course.  As she goes, her path curves ever so slightly to starboard- but not enough to get her in even the same ballpark as the drawing. She smirks, and leaps into the air, winging overtop to place herself by the wall, in Twilight’s path- and holds up her hoof. Twilight stops right in front of her, muttering.  “Then seven to the right and three up…” Twilight positions her hoof, moves it, and places the pin in the guest of honor’s outstretched hoof- which hadn’t moved since she’d landed. “Thank you,” she says- earning a yelp and backwards jump.  “But it’s now one-three-point-four-seven-one degrees to starboard, the origin on the tip of your nose, with the ordered pair-!” “Please,” Twilight yelps, interrupting.  “Normal instructions!” She continues as if she hadn’t been interrupted.  “-seven three point four one seven comma one one point-!” “Please!  I promise I won’t do that again if you give me normal instructions!” She chuckles.  “Turn right.” With a sigh of relief, Twilight looks briefly to her right before asking, “How far?” “Nine eight point four one nine degrees.” Twilight facehooves, but makes the prescribed turn…  plus some. “Next!” she pleads. But the whole room is laughing. “Nah, I’ll let her take my turn too!” the second in line announces. “Seconded!” the third in line, the green one, calls. “Thirded!” the fourth, the cream one, announces. The fifth tilts his head.  “Fourthed?” And so it goes down the line, leaving her as the only participant. She smirks.  “Forwards!” Rather than asking how far, Twilight starts moving. “Aaaand…  Stop!” She freezes. “Right turn!” She tilts her head.  “Right?” “Yes, two five three point one seven nine degrees.”  The room laughs again. She hangs her head and turns. “A little more…  There. One step forwards.  Ready to pin.” Twilight holds the pin up with her hoof. “Right…  Stop. Up…  Stop. Too far, down a touch.  Eh, right a half-centimeter. In a centimeter.  Up a quarter. Left a hair. In a dozen… Down a hair.  And in.” Twilight finally pushes the pin in- and the pin goes in quite easily.  Easier than it’s supposed to, she’s pretty sure. She finally lets out a deep breath before lighting her horn and removing the blindfold.  She then glares at the picture in front of her; the tail is in the wrong spot. About two centimeters off, as a matter of fact. She watches Twilight glare at the drawing.  Eventually, Twilight pulls the pin out a touch, peeking at the paper behind it- then shoves it back in and facehooves.  “Really?” She nods.  “Really.” She’d guided it back into exactly the same spot she had stuck it in earlier.