//------------------------------// // The Chapter Where We Find Out What's Eating Joystick // Story: Ultra Combo: Brother, Gamer, Pony // by UltraCombo //------------------------------// "Spike, have you seen that copy of 'Flora and You'?" "Did you check under F?" "...Be right back." Twilight felt silly. Ever since she moved to Ponyville she had lived in this library, yet she always seemed to forget the alphabetical ordering of the books. She trotted over to the F section, and after scanning over it for a second, she used her magic to slide the book out of the shelf and levitate it over to her desk. "I found it, Spike!" Twilight called up to her faithful assistant. "You were right! Again." Spike leaned over the railing. "'Flora and You', huh? You suddenly develop an interest in gardening?" "Oh, no. I'm keeping the book on hold for Junebug. She's coming to pick it up today." "Oh. I see." Twilight put the book in the section marked "Reserved" and resumed reading her own book. Not five minutes had passed when Twilight heard quickly approaching hoofsteps. Then, all of a sudden, the hoofsteps stopped, and were replaced by heavy breathing and speech which Twilight could not understand from inside the library. All of a sudden, the door swung open and standing in the doorway was a young, blue stallion pegasus and a small, red pegasus filly. "-are you talking about? I was way ahead of you the whole time! Plus, you cheated! You got a head start!" argued Ultra playfully with Joystick. "Oh, don't make me laugh." "What? You wanna rematch? I'll take you any time, any pla-" "SHHHHHHH!!!" Twilight shushed. She hated it when people barged in and started being noisy in her library. However, Twilight realized that she may have acted a bit rudely, so she cleared her throat and started again. "Welcome to the Ponyville Library. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Is there anything I can help you with?" Ultra walked up to Twilight and offered her a hoofshake, which she accepted. "Hi. Ultra Combo. This is my sister, Joystick." Joystick gave an adorable face, smiling up at Twilight. "Hi!" "I'm actually just wondering if you've got any books on home improvement and development." Twilight set her book down. "Oh! Certainly! Right this way." Twilight began to lead the two siblings to the section of the library reserved for manuals and instructions. "So, do you mind my asking what you are building that you need books like these?" Ultra opened his mouth to answer, but his words instead came from behind him. "He's building a house!" Twilight's eyes widened. "A house? Wow, that's a lot of work." Twilight stopped in front of one of the shelves and began pulling books off of it. "SPIKE! Could you come here please?" Spike quickly showed up. "You called?" "Hold these, please." "Oka-WHOA!" Twilight dropped a tall pile of books into Spike's open arms, and Spike attempted to balance it while Twilight continued to add to the towering pile. "So, have you started building yet?" Ultra nodded. "Yup. Actually, I've been working on it for a while, just as a solo project. I'm actually just around the corner." "Ooooh. You mean the big, shiny house without a door?" "Yup, that's me. Been working on it for 3 years now." "And you never thought to stop in here to get some instructions?" "Naw. My parents..." Ultra looked down at Joy, who was preoccupied helping Spike balance the ever-growing tower of paper and cardboard. "...were really good with their hooves. Taught me everything I know. I've only just run into major complications recently. So, here I am." "Probably for the best." Twilight also looked over to Joy and chuckled as she watched her help Spike. "Your sister is adorable. Does she live with you?" Ultra was a bit caught off-guard by this sudden change of conversation. Still, he felt more comfortable with ponies after talking to AJ today, so he kept going. "Oh, no. She's just visiting here for a while." Ultra took out a can of soda from his saddlebag, and was about to drink it, but first, he turned to Twilight. "May I?" Twilight usually didn't let food or drink into the library during hours of operation, but she could tell he was definitely parched from the run here. "Of course, go ahead." "Thanks." "So, if she's not from here, were is she from?" "Oh, she's from Fillydelphia, same place I grew up." Ultra took a big drink from the can. "Fillydelphia? That's great! I've only been there a few times, and that was on royal duty for Princess Celestia." PFFFFFT!!! It could not be more comically timed. Ultra was so surprised he did a spit take, spraying fizzy soda all over Twilight. Twilight was not amused. "Oh my gosh!" Ultra exclaimed. "I am sooooo sorry! I have a tendency to overreact a little bit." Meanwhile, Joystick and Spike were rolling on the floor laughing at the sight, books strewn about from Spike falling over. "Spike, could you get me a towel please?" Twilight said in a monotone voice. "O-O-Okay...pffthahahahahaha!!!!!" Spike was still gripping his sides laughing as he walked off. Ultra looked at Twilight, dripping wet with soda, and a smile curled on his face. He couldn't hold it any longer. He began laughing hard, and eventually, even Twilight caught the giggles from the silly nature of the situation. After drying off, Twilight brought all the books over to a table, and laid them out in front of Ultra. "Okay, now just take your time and decide which ones you want to take." "Which ones?" "Yeah. You weren't thinking of taking all 24, were you?" "You bet I was!" Twilight's mouth hung open in awe. "I have a lot of stuff to finish, and I need all the help I can get!" "Well, okay!" Twilight began opening the covers of each book, signing in the numbers on the top right-hand corners into the sign-out book. "Soooo....you said you work for the princess?" Ultra was still very curious. "Oh, well, I'm her personal protege from her school. I'm here in Ponyville researching the magic of friendship!" "Wow, that's pretty heavy stuff. So, you're from Canterlot?" "You bet! Born and raised. Although I feel much more like a Ponyville pony." Hmm... Ultra thought, She's from another town. Well, at least we have something in common. Ultra was about to say something when Twilight finished signing in the rest of his books. "Well, there we go!" Twilight looked at the tower of books before her, all of them very thick. "That sure is a lot. You sure you can hold all these? I can get Spike to help you if you want." Ultra split the pile of books 75:25, giving the smaller pile to Joystick, who held them up quite well for her size. "I think we'll be alright. It's not too far." Twilight helped him Ultra place the larger pile on his back. "Thanks again, uh..." "Twilight." "Yes, yes. Twilight. Thanks! I promise, I'll get them back to you in no time." Ultra and Joystick exited the library, and Twilight stood in the doorway waving them off. "Come back soon!" Twilight watched until they were out of sight and returned to her reading. --------------------- THUD! THUD! Ultra and Joy dropped their respective piles as soon as they got through the doorway. "Sheesh!" Joy gasped, "Maybe we should've let that dragon help us." Ultra was breathing heavily. "No.....problem.....not that......heavy....." Ultra eventually caught his breath and walked into the kitchen, while Joy looked around the messy construction area he lived in. "Wow. Under construction, much?" Ultra walked out from the kitchen, holding two apples under his wings. "Yeah, just watch your step. Not everything is....structurally sound. Just enough to keep a roof over my head." Joystick took the apple and took a bite. "Mmmm...wow! This is amazing! Where did you get these?" "I know, right? I got them from the farm a little bit outside town, Sweet Apple Acres. I'm friends with one of the workers there." Ultra smiled. Friend. A word he rarely used those days. He was glad to be able to again. Joy was still hungrily gnawing at her apple. "Really? What's he like?" "She." "She?" Joystick smirked. "Big brother o mine, did you actually manage to find a filly that can actually stand to be around you?" "Well, I guess I...HEY! I'm a perfectly tolerable pony! And it's not like that. We're just friends." Joystick laughed. "Relax! Don't get your wings all ruffled up! I'm just joking around." Ultra shoved his sister playfully. He looked out the window, seeing Celestia's sun slowly set to make way for Luna's moon. "Well, it's late. I think we should hit the hay." "Awww. But I don't wanna!" Ultra gave a stern look to his sister. "Come on, Joy, don't be difficult with me. How about we strike up a deal? What do I have to do to make you go to bed?" Joy got a grin on her face at the thought of being able to control her brother this way. "Hmm..." She brought her hoof up to her chin, pondering. "How about...you introduce me to your friend over at Sweet Apple Acres? Will you do that?" Ultra nodded. "Sounds good to me. Tomorrow. Right NOW, you will go to bed." Joy sighed. "Oh, alright." Ultra and Joy scaled the creaky stairs and went down to the guest bedroom. Ultra opened the door, revealing a blandly colored room with a closet, a dresser, and bed. "Nice room." Joy said sarcastically. "Hey! This room wasn't even done, but when I heard you were coming, I worked double time to finish it so you could stay here. Have a little respect." Joy didn't say anything else. She trotted over to the bed and got under the covers. Ultra then came over to her, tucked her in and planted a kiss on her forehead. "G'night." "G'night." As Ultra left the room, he turned, took one last look at his little sister, his best friend, and closed the door, making his way to his own room to get some shut eye. --------------------- Creeeeeeeeak... Ultra was never a very sound sleeper, so even the slightest sound, like a door slowly opening, could wake him from his slumber. He opened his eyes and looked at the opened door, seeing a figure in the doorway but unable to focus to see what it was. "What? Who's there?" is what Ultra meant to say. However, his consciousness had yet to be retained, so it came out sounding something like, "WHA.....WOOZE DUR....." Ultra shook his head and rubbed his eyes, desperate to see something, when a tiny, sad voice rang through his ears. "U-U-Ultra...." At that moment, everything came into focus. Joystick was standing in the doorway, eyes red and flowing with tears. She was shaking, scared and saddened at the same time. It broke Ultra's heart to see her like this. It was even worse then her breakdown after his big news three years ago. She was sliently sniffling and sobbing and Ultra couldn't bare to look at it. And yet, he knew Joy had every right to cry. After all, her parents were gone. Who wouldn't act like this? Joy ran up and jumped into bed, burying her face into Ultra's side, her sobbing much louder now. Ultra cooed and petted her blue mane, now damp from her tears, just as he did five years ago upon his mother's disappearance and upon his leave three years ago. "He-he-h-he w-was all I h-h-had!" Joy struggled to say through her tears, "Why'd he have t-t-to go?!" Ultra felt a tear run down his own face. "I'm not sure, Joy. I'm not sure." Ultra pulled her off his body and looked into her bloodshot eyes, rivers of tears coursing down her face. "Listen, Joy. Things are going to get better. I swear. Things may not be looking up for us. Hay, things never really seem to look up for our family. But I promise, as Celestia as my witness, I will make sure that by the time you leave, you'll have a great life. You'll have great friends, you'll have a great house to live in, everything will be wonderful." Ultra stopped to wipe away his own tears. He brought Joy into a hug and put his muzzle close to her ear. "So..." Ultra whispered, "if you're gonna have such a good life, do you wanna start it crying? I miss them too, but there's nothing we can do about it. Hay, Celestia wouldn't be able to do anything if she tried! So, we just need to keep them in our memories. Never forget them, okay baby?" Joy hated when he called her that, but it felt good to her this time. "O-Okay." Joy wiped her face. "No more tears, I-I promise." Joystick looked at him and smiled. The two sat there for a while, just looking at each other. They were so incredibly bonded that Ultra felt as if he could feel every bit of agonizing grief Joystick went through, and the pain was immobilizing. "Well...good night." Joy turned to go back to her room. "Hey." Ultra said, stopping her in her tracks. "Where do you think you're going?" "Umm...bed?" "Uh, uh. No way. Not in your condition." Ultra scooted over and patted the space next to him. "Get over here." Joy chuckled. She ran up to the bed and jumped in. "Have I ever told you that you're the best brother a filly could ask for?" Ultra brought his hoof to his chin. "Hmm...yes I do recall hearing that." Joy laughed. "Good night, best brother ever." "Good night." After Joystick fell asleep, Ultra gently wrapped his hooves around her in a tender hug, just enough to not wake her up, and had a good, long, silent cry for his orphaned sister.