//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: The worst that could happen // Story: Golden-O-Seven, Double Eye // by Trigger_Finger //------------------------------// They all just stood there in shock and disbelief. “Okay… well that was weird” Twilight muttered. The others nodded but then the explosion from a grenade launcher broke the silence. “Hey, I wasn’t playing!” Dash exclaimed but Discord only snickered. The two began to furiously battle again in the game, with Spike slithering around killing off whomever crossed his path. Spike got the jump on Discord but the draconequus surrounded Spike with a wave of explosions from his grenade launcher. Spike grumbled to himself, he had the perfect jump on him yet Discord had effectively countered him. Rarity turned to Twilight who had also started playing. “Twilight darling… how long have you all been playing?” she asked. Twilight thought about the question for a moment but Discord answered the question. “Over seven hours and counting” Discord replied and Rarity’s jaw dropped. Okay Goldenpony was a fun game and all but they had pretty much wasted the day away doing nothing. “Twilight darling, I know you’re the princess and all but you should really think about doing something other than playing videogames” Rarity told her friend but she just waved in response. Rarity let out a sigh and sat down on the chair beside the couch. The violence made her look away in disgust every time someone would die and, in her words, the TV would play that awful tune of music. The rain continued on for another few hours, which the group passed by playing videogames, and finally Rarity got up to leave. “Well Twilight, thank you for the hospitality but I really must be going” Rarity said then got up and walked out but not before giving a nod to everyone. As she left she saw a soaking wet Fluttershy dragging away the bunny known as Angel. “Precious… please… give me my precious” Angel gargled as Fluttershy pulled him along. Rarity rushed up to Fluttershy. “Dear, do you think I could have a word with you?” Rarity asked and Fluttershy stopped then nodded. “Do you agree that that game may be getting a little out of hoof?” Rarity asked and Fluttershy nodded again. “Perhaps we should write a letter to Celestia. Come Fluttershy, let us make haste” Rarity said then led Fluttershy to her boutique. Meanwhile at the library the group continued to play Goldenpony. “AWWWW YEAH” Dash cheered as the match ended with her in the lead. Discord let out a disgruntled sigh. “Indeed… I do believe a rematch is in order” he challenged and the group started a rematch in the map ‘Library’. Whether that was a personal thing for Twilight or just coincidence is unknown but the group started the match and began to run around blowing each other apart. After the set duration of twenty minutes the match ended with Twilight as the victor. “Yes, looks like intellect won this match” Twilight cheered. Discord mumbled to himself. “I have a better idea… who wants to play for real life?” he asked and everyone’s eyes went wide then he face-palmed. “I didn’t mean actually kill each other. Use pillows for weapons. You know, like pretend that you are your favourite character” Discord offered. They all though about the possibilities. “Alright… just try not to break the pillows” Twilight said and Discord nodded. “I’m totally being Stallyan” Dash called out then Discord clapped his hands together and Dash was transformed into Alec Stallyan. “Oh… this is so cool” Dash commented though her voice was different and sounded more like a stallion’s. Twilight trotted up beside Discord. “Can you make Spike James Pony?” she asked and Discord once again clapped his hands. Spike transformed into the devishly handsome James Pony. “Whoa… hey cool I’m taller” Spike commented. Twilight smiled to herself and Discord clapped then became the small character known as Oddjob. Oddjob err Discord looked to Twilight. “I’ll just stay the way I am” Twilight told him and he nodded then they all zoomed off around the library in search of pillows to use as weapons. Meanwhile Rarity sent the note off to Celestia then sighed. “Hopefully she responds quickly” Rarity prayed. Fluttershy was hard pressed to keep the squirming Angel from breaking free from her grasp. In Canterlot, Celestia received the note from Rarity. After quickly reading it over she rushed off to find Shining Armor. “Shining!” she called out and the stallion known as Shining Armor turned and gave a salute to the princess. “Captain, would you happen to know anything about a certain videogame called…” Celestia trailed off and read the note again. “Goldenpony?” she asked and Shining raised an eyebrow. “Yeah… it was the coolest thing I had as a colt growing up. I never stopped playing it… well until I met Cadence I guess” Shining replied. “Would it be something you would let a child play?” she asked and Shining chuckled. “Well… I was seven when I started playing but if I had kids I don’t think I’d let them play it… it was a little addicting” he chuckled with a blush. “What ever happened to your old Nintendo?” Celestia asked and Shining thought to himself. “Well… when I met Cadence I found it a little hard to stop playing. I always liked to screw around and do fun things but when I realized that I had better things to do, I had Cadence pack it up so that I wouldn’t be tempted to bring it back out” Shining chuckled. “Well… it seems that your sister has found that old Nintendo of yours” Celestia informed him and Shining shrugged. “Well… she’ll know what to do with it. She’s a smart mare” Shining said but then Celestia levitated the note over to him and he read it over. “Uh-oh” he muttered then they both galloped off towards the nearest carriage. Back in the library the group battled it out with each other. Twilight flew through the air and did aerial combat with Rainbow Dash while Discord and Spike duked it out on the ground. Dash smacked Twilight across the head with the pillow sending her tumbling to the ground but she stopped just before crashing into the floor. Though it was a fight it didn’t hurt anybody, just a simple play fight. Discord whacked Spike over the head with a pillow and he whacked Discord back. Twilight threw her pillow at Discord and the pillow puffed as it hit Discord in the side of the head. Dash went to strike Twilight but Spike threw his pillow at Dash which knocked her away, crashing her into the couch. Discord tossed a pillow that collided with Twilight’s face. The alicorn princess chased the draconequus down to the basement where she threw several pillows at him, one bursting apart as it hit him. They all continued to laugh and have fun when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Twilight rushed upstairs while the others continued to ‘do battle’. As Twilight answered the door she was greeted by the sight of both Celestia and her brother Shining Armor. Suddenly her senses flared and she ducked. A pillow flew over her head and collided with Celestia’s face. Discord, who still looked like Oddjob, laughed hysterically at Celestia’s unimpressed face. Shining Armor was taken back in shock. “Gah… it’s… Oddjob… and James Pony… and Alec Stallyan” he commented, remembering all the old faces of the videogame characters. “Hi princess… Shining” Twilight greeted them but they both had looks of worry on their faces, Celestia’s face changing from her dire expression into that of a worried one. “Something wrong?” she asked. “Twilight… may we come in?” Celestia asked and Twilight nodded then led them inside. “Alright, more enemies” Dash called out and tossed another pillow directed at Celestia. Celestia caught the pillow and tossed it back playfully, catching Dash and knocking her back. “Twilight… I have… that game of yours, how much have you been playing it?” Celestia asked worriedly. Twilight thought to herself then shrugged. “A lot” she replied casually and Shining sighed. “Twily, the reason that N64 was boxed up was so that I wouldn’t play it all the time. When I was your age I was hooked and when I met Cadence I knew I had to get rid of it. I had her box it up in hopes of getting rid of it and that’s why I asked you to sort through all my things. I was hoping that you’d get rid of it for me” Shining explained. Rarity and Fluttershy entered the room. Angel finally broke free of her grasp and literally lept through the air and cuddled up to the N64. “Precious… my precious” he gurgled. Everyone’s look was priceless, their mouths were slightly opened while their eyebrows were raised. “I don’t think I really need to explain further… I mean look at you all. You’re dressed like 007 characters” Celestia commented and Discord clapped, returning them to their regular state. Twilight realized to herself how much this had gotten out of hand. “Wow…I uhh… never knew how much this had gotten out of hoof” she said but Celestia rested of hoof on her shoulder. “No Twilight. It wasn’t out of hoof, not yet. But it could have gotten out if hoof if it continued on” Celestia said and Twilight nodded. Dash walked up with Spike and Discord. “So what happens now?” Dash asked, wondering what exactly they were going to do about this whole predicament. “Are we going to… destroy it?” Twilight asked, not really wanting to break the game console. Celestia laughed. “No-no, not at all. All we need to do is give it to some-pony who can put it away and only use it when it’s appropriate, such as friends over and what not” Celestia told her. Twilight thought to herself. “Oh I know. We’ll give it to you princess” Twilight offered and Celestia once again laughed. “That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. I was thinking more like… Rarity” she said and Rarity gasped. “Princess… you can’t be serious… why would I ever need that wretched thing?” Rarity gasped and Celestia giggled. “For that reason exactly. Your life will not be a decision about whether or not to play it. You have no liking of the game console so it will not be a large part of your life. And for that reason it should be you who take this machine under your watch” Celestia informed her and levitated over the entire console. Twilight was sad to see the Nintendo-64 leaving but knew that she could probably go over to Rarity’s if she really wanted to play it. In a way Celestia was right, things could’ve gotten out of hand if they went any further. Rarity took a hold of the game console in her magic and nodded. “I shall take good care of it and make sure it is always functional” Rarity said. They all nodded and conversed a while longer before all going their separate ways. Twilight looked to the time to realize it was almost ten o’clock. “Wow… we should really be going to sleep, eh Spike” Twilight commented and he nodded. Twilight proceeded to turn off all the lights in the home before trotting up stairs to her bed. She’d never forget that N64, not for as long as she lived. The videogame that had such a large impact on her in such a little amount of time. She tucked herself in before looking out her window and to the stars. She whispered a quiet prayer then quietly fell asleep, dreaming of James Pony and herself in a romantic getaway. Elsewhere at the boutique Rarity closed shop. She yawned to herself and began to put away the videogame console that had caused so much commotion. ‘I wonder why Twilight liked this game so much anyway. What could be so fun about a simple videogame?’ she thought to herself. She was about to put the game console away when she glanced over to her television then back to the clock. It was only 10:15pm. She could just hook it up and have a little peek. She took the videogame console out of the box and hooked it up to the TV then turned on the game console. A small smile crept across her face as the beginning cinematic began to play.