//------------------------------// // ==> Computerificate. // Story: Horsetangled: Act 0 // by dawnbreez //------------------------------// It took at least an hour for Twilight to work out exactly how to make the 'computer' do what she wanted it to. Most of this was consumed by learning how to use a mouse and keyboard. Plugging the thing in was the easy part. "Spike! Have you finished documenting my adventures in computerizing?" "...I threw up and the letter got burned. I think it went to the Chaos realm." "Very well! Take another letter!" "uuuugh" We will observe the sun horse as she observes the letter: Dear Princess Celestia, I have finally worked out how to use the 'computer'! It is a fantastic contraption. Have you played 'minesweeper'? I find it enthralling. It is as if some arbitrary Conundrum Counter is incrementing every time I find new puzzles to enjoy! Truly this is the best thing you have ever revealed to me. On that note: I tried to start the 'game' which was contained on the disc. It currently wants to know who my 'server player' is. As I understand it, this means that I must find another player! How many copies of this disc are in existence? Surely there must be a way to contact these other players. -- Twilight Oh, right. Celly's copies of the game are still...in a vault...in Canterlot... FUCK. She'll have to teleport back there. It's sure to cause a panic, which is pointless, because the meteors will cause a panic anyway. She just has to tell Luna where she's going so the poor thing doesn't panic. In the next room, we will consider the blue horse with the sparkles in her mane. Her name is Luna, and she is not a morning pony. Indeed, she was just winding down from a long night of surfing through the Ponynet, which is the only thing that she really does now. Her sleep schedule leaves no time for gallivanting about in the daylight, and beside that, she gets migraines anyway. She doesn't technically need to remain nocturnal, but it's comfortable and familar, and it makes it easier to browse hay621, wherein she can peruse images of ill repute for her own amusement. This process tends to produce large piles of tissues which she insists are not her own doing, because that would imply untoward things. She tends to be A message blips up on her laptop. hey luna i gotta go to canterlot real quick twi found the sburb, it's a long story, cadance can suck my fat sunny ass don't panic or anything, we don't want a repeat of what happened last time i left without telling you Luna heaves a great sigh as she considers her options. Not replying would be rude, would it not? But replying and accusing her sister of being irresponsible would risk putting dear Celestia off, and getting Celly off was the last thing on Luna's mind. Wait, go back. Forget that sentence. Let's just reply. WE EAGERLY AWAIT YOUR RETURN, DEAR SISTER. PLEASE DO NOT TARRY. WE WISH TO SAY GOOD MORNING TO THEE BEFORE WE SLEEP. VERILY, NOT IN A CREEPY WAY OR ANYTHING. There's still one horse we have not considered, and she's the most oddly-colored of the bunch. Bright pink like cotton candy. Her name is Cadance, and she is the Princess of Love. It is her job to love everything equally and very gently guide ponies to what they want, even if those ponies don't really want to admit what they want. Due to settling down with her dear husband, Shining Armor, she's not been as productive in this endeavor, even if her husband is smoking hot. Her baby, Flurry Heart, is currently sitting on the ceiling, because she just does that sometimes. There are piles of baby toys everywhere because they're trying to teach Flurry to clean up after herself, and sometimes you just gotta let them learn on their own, though it doesn't seem very practical to Cadance. She speaks And just now, she has pulled her ancient 486 out of storage. This thing has so many memories on it. Like that time Shiny convinced her to try DUNE II. It was a lot for her to manage, but once she got the hang of it...it was just like running a kingdom, and she was already doing that, so she stopped playing. But Shiny was really excited for a little while! Today, she's gonna play a different game. She only sent Twilight one of the disks, after all; she still has the other three. Twily will need the server disk later, but for now Cadance needs to boot up her own client instance, so that when Luna inevitably loses her nerve, Luna can become her server player instead of Celly's. Then she can become server for Celestia, while Twilight hooks up to Luna, and the whole thing can be achieved without any pesky mobius reacharounds. She tried a mobius reacharound with Shiny once, it didn't work very well at all. "shiny~" "Yes, dear?" Her hubby stands at her side in moments. It's honestly the most adorable thing she's ever seen. She'd call him every minute of every day just to see him rush to her aid, but she knows he has needs too, and she doesn't want to interrupt unless she needs it. "honey~ things are going to get a little confusing soon~" she whispers, pulling him close. "there are things i didn't explain when we got married~ things that relate to the universe we live in~" "O...kay?" Shiny tilts his head. "Why do you always use all those tildes? You don't have to make your voice pretty for me." Cadance giggles, and boops his nose; he scrunches his face up in that cute way he always does when she gets affectionate. "what you need to know is this: the world is endng soon~ and i promise to protect you~ okay~?" He shakes his head. "Aw, honey, you know I don't need protecting--" She shuts him up with another boop. "then we'll just have to keep each other safe~ how's that~?" He sighs, and nods. "Whatever you say, honey. I hope the world doesn't end." "i know~ but i'm afraid all we can do is prepare~" She smiles softly, and turns to the computer. It has already booted into SBURB, running at a graphical fidelity far beyond what the original hardware was ever capable of. This is merely part of the magic. Shiny watches in awe as Cadance starts setting up, and shoots a message to Luna... Luna blinks as another notification appears! Why, this is the most attention she's received in millennia! Surely today is a blessed day, even if Twilight has truly kicked off the next round of that accursed game. She opens the message: hey woony~ what you've heard is true, twilight has a copy of the game~ it's going to start very soon~ i bet celestia's already gone off to pick up the disks that you two left in the canterlot vault~ i also know that you're going to get very nervous about being celly's server player~ so if you feel like you can't do it~ you should be *my* server player~ Luna was not considering serving Celestia. Certainly not. It would be Improper. There are no such thoughts on her mind, and if there were such a silly thing as an Arousal Approximator, it would not be inflating at the moment. Indeed, it would be deflating! She closes several hay621 tabs, to punish them for the insolence of implying that Luna's base desires might ever get the better of her. That having been taken care of...she wonders what she'll do now. Will she get the same role she did in the previous session? Perhaps she will keep all of her progress. That would make the session far more acceptable. It would not be unpleasant to go back to decapitating imps with her Waxing Crescendoblade. She hums to herself as she composes a message to Celestia...