"It's simplicity itself," Flim was saying while Flam buckled AJ into a bright green vest; he'd already got Dash fitted out with a similar outfit, and AJ had just grinned all over watching Dash trying so hard to hold still.
"At your right shoulder"—Flim's words made AJ look down at the circle of silvery material on the right side of the vest's chest piece—"you'll see the tracer. Once you enter the game, a blue arrow will appear floating above that circle and point unerringly toward the race's goal line. There will certainly be obstacles to overcome—hills to climb, lakes to traverse, windstorms to avoid—but for as long as you're in the competitive arena, the arrow will be your guide."
"Awesome!" Dash breathed the word, and while AJ had been hearing her say it for more than a dozen years now, it still gave her a sweet little shiver every single time.
"And on your left shoulder," Flim continued, AJ shifting her gaze to the red circle there, "is the forfeit button. Should anything go wrong—"
"Not that anything will," Flam piped in.
"Or if you find that the game has set you too difficult a challenge—"
Dash snorted.
"Merely touch this red spot to be whisked immediately back to the here and now—"
"Hold up." As much as AJ wanted to stuff a couple hooves into the slickers' snouts to make 'em shut up, she was trying real hard to be neighborly for Dash's sake. "Don't your sign say something 'bout us never leaving this here booth?"
"It does indeed!" Flam waved at the big box with the flashing lights. "The Portal Popper XTE utilizes the latest in magical technology to sweep you into an alternate world that exists only within the confines of its dedicated system."
"What?" Dash leaped into a hover. "You mean it's not real?"
"Of course it's real, Captain!" Flim pressed a hoof to his striped vest front. "Once you've entered the Portal Popper XTE, its world becomes your world and your world becomes its. My brother and I could attempt to explicate the complex array of spells necessary to achieve the effect if you'd like, but—"
"You said portal?" Swooping over, Dash squinted at the big black box. "Like that mirror Twilight's got? Or the ones Starswirl's always fooling around with?"
"Precisely!" both the varmints crowed together, and Flam went on. "This device builds upon the principles first discovered by the great Starswirl the Bearded and greatly expanded upon by your dear friend and our dear princess, Twilight Sparkle! So, while the world away to which you will be whisked is entirely a magical construct, it will be every bit as real as, say, the course through Ghastly Gorge or the training ground at Wonderbolt HQ. A true test of skill, luck, speed, and endurance."
Dash's head swiveled from him to AJ, her grin again practically swallowing all her other facial features.
Consarn magic... It took AJ a little effort to keep her voice steady. "Sounds like a mighty tall order for ten bits."
Flam's magic doffed his straw hat. "We aim to please!"
A good, solid glare, though, took no effort at all. "Well, I aim to hit, something y'all might wanna keep in mind." AJ shifted her shoulders inside the vest. "So how 'bout we get this fiasco started, huh?"
Her grin curdling, Dash got a little glary, too. "Are you gonna keep on being a sourpuss during this whole thing?"
AJ took a deep breath, blew it out, let herself smile, and said the most honest thing possible. "Long as I'm with you, Honeycomb, I know I'll be having a good time."
"Off you go, then!" Flam's horn started wavering with green light, and over on the other side of the box beside Dash, Flim's horn did the same. "Remember: follow the blue arrow on your right shoulder to reach the goal, and use the red button on your left should you need to end the game prematurely!"
"But—" AJ began, more questions coming up her throat about what exactly was likely to happen here. But before anything had a chance to reach her lips, both brothers were firing beams of magic at the black box, and white light flooded everything around AJ.