//------------------------------// // Game Night // Story: Friendship is Epic - Book 2: Dat Mareami Heat // by FlareGun45 //------------------------------// Ahhh, Game Night! So many games, yet so little time! I'm hosting Game Night at my trailer tonight, with board games, video games, bottled games, imagination games, sports games, relationship games, dare games, dare-DEVIL games, games with games in them, and even games that are too manly for Psyche! I invited my friends Crystal, Blaze, Engineer, Psyche, Aqua, and Spike over for Game Night. I got my place ready for the occasion! Blaze knocked on my door, along with my friends beside him. "Ahhh, Game Night! So many games, yet so little time!" Crystal mimicked me, because I just said that in the beginning. "Ah got mah trusteh controller that can be connected to any game console, and any vending machine or microwave." Engie said, holding his controller up. "Ah made this myself!" "And of course, all of Engie's inventions are bound to go wrong sometime." Spike teased. Everypony laughed. "Shut it, Spike!" Engie said, slapping in the back of the head. "OW!" Spike yelled. "What does everypony keep slapping there?" "That's what she said!" Blaze commented. "INAPPROPRIATE, Blaze!" Psyche said in shock. "No, I'm saying that's what Crystal said just five minutes ago." Blaze said. My Jabba's palace eyeball pops out near the front door. "BOOOO! I'm a giant eyeball! Fear me!" I teased them in a spooky tone. Crystal screamed. "Flare, please let us in?” Blaze asked. "If proceeding inside is what you seek, you must answer me these questions three, and the other side ye see!" I said in a spooky tone. "Flare, we don't have time for this!" Blaze complained. "What is your name?" I asked in the same tone. Blaze just sighed. "Blaze Goldheart.” "What is your quest?" I asked. "Going inside your trailer." he said. "What is your favorite color?" I asked. "Blue." he said. "Alright, off you go!" I said, opening the door. "Thanks?" he said confusingly. Once he got in, I shut the door before Psyche was able to get in. "STOP! Those who wish to proceed must answer me these questions three, and the other side ye see!" I said. "Fine, ask away." Psyche said happily. "This may seem fun!" "What is your name?" I asked him. "Psyche Illusion." he said. "What is your quest?" I asked. "To go inside your trailer." he said rolling his eyes. "What... is the capital of Tootsinberg?" I asked. Psyche was confused and nervous. "I... I don't know that." Then a trap door opened below Psyche, but since this is a cartoon, he was standing in mid-air, then he looked down, held up a sign that said 'help', and then his body fell, but his head and the sign stayed floating, and then his head and the sign fell like the coyote from Looney Tunes when he falls off a cliff. Engie stepped forward to the door. "What is your name?" I asked. "Red Engineer." he said. "What is your quest?" I asked. "To go inside that trailer and kick your flank at video games!" he said mischievously. "What is your favoirte color?" I asked. "Blue." he said, but then he got nervous. "No, oraaaaaaaaaannngggeeee!" he said as he fell beneath the trap door, and then Crystal stepped forward. "What is your na..." I was about to say, but then Crystal pokes my eyeball camera and it really felt like she poked MY eye. "OW! What was that for?" "For being an idiot!” Crystal said. “Ok.” I said as I opened the door for her and the others. "Ow! Did you have to be such a plot about it?" Crystal, Aqua, and Spike all walked inside and stepped into the hallway. "How did that hurt him? That was just a camera, not his eyeball." Aqua asked. "It's Flare, what can you expect?" Blaze asked him. "I can expect him to shove garlic rolls in our mouths." Crystal said. "Welcome!" I said, opening the door to my lounge. "Welcome to Flare's Game Night! I am your host, Steve Harvey!" "You can't be Steve Harvey, you're not bald, and you don't host Family Feud." Crystal corrected me. “I used to.” I mumbled upsettingly. Just then, a door opened on the floor, and Engie and Psyche came up. "When did y’all get a basement, Flare?" Engie asked. "And when did you get all those barrels full of cream soda?" Psyche asked. "I like cream soda. That is my soda cellar." I said as I helped them up. "You live in a trailer and move it from place to place. How can you have a cellar in general?" Psyche asked. "Because I can't have a cellar in corporal, or sergeant, or even lieutenant.” I said. "Look, it's no use arguin’, let's just get started with Game Night." Aqua suggested. "You, me, Fallout: New Vegas, now!" Spike ordered me. "Nope, I hate Fallout.” I said. “C’mon please?” Spike begged. “Ok fine, but I’m gonna use cheats.” I said. “You have that game on the XBUCKS. You can’t use cheats on there.” Spike reminded me. “Oh I’ll find a way.” I said. "Ah gotta really try out this new controller, Flare!" Engie said excitedly. "Hang on, brah I just wanna get through this part with Spike." I said. "Look out for that mutant!" Spike yelled. "Wait, what mutant?" I asked. "Ah, no, I got it! Saved your life!" Spike smirked. "Nooooo! I don't want to owe you!" I whined. “Wait how did we start playing Fallout right away? Weren’t we just standing over there? Also the XBUCKS takes a long time to start up. This is illogical.” "Too bad." he said mischievously. "Time for me to save your life. I'm gonna lure another mutant over to you, then save you." I said. "No, that doesn't count." he said. "Does not!" I argued with him. "Does too!" he yelled in my face. “Wait… we did it backwards.” “Yeah let’s start over.” I said. “Does not!” he yelled at me. “Don’t be so childish, Spike.” I advised him. Meanwhile, Aqua went into my bedroom to find the board games. My fish then spotted him. "THIEF! THIEF!" Piddles yelled. "That's no thief! That's Aqua!" Darrel said happily. "I suppose he's here for game night." Rainbow assumed. "What makes you think that?" Dorthey asked. "It says on the calendar." Rainbow said, pointing to the calendar on the board near my dresser. Aqua kept looking around for my board games as Blaze waited over at the door for it. "Did you find a game yet, Aqua?" Blaze asked. "Well... how about Monopoly?" Aqua asked. "Monopoly? Oh yeah right. All we do is go through the spots a million times until somepony loses all their money. It's gonna take forever to complete!" Blaze said. "Life?" Aqua asked. "Stop, get a job! Stop, get married! Life card, life card, life card! Useless game." Blaze complained. "Anything else?" "Shoots and ladders?" Aqua asked. "And that's all it is. Where's the fun in that?" Blaze asked. "Now that, I agree with!" Dorthey said. "Chess?" Aqua asked. "Chess is for nerds!" I yelled out from the other room. "Candy land?" Aqua asked. "That will go in maybe." Blaze said. Just then, Aqua found a little note under Scrabble. "Hey what's this?" Aqua asked as he looked at the note. "What is it?" Blaze asked. "Uhh, I just asked that." Aqua reminded Blaze. "Looks like some sort of... riddle game." "Scrub scrub spree, scrub scrub a-roo?" Blaze asked, reading the note. "That's what it says first." “What could it mean?” Aqua asked. Meanwhile I was still playing Fartout... uhh, I mean Fallout in the other room with Spike, and just then Aqua and Blaze came in with the riddle. "Hey Flare? What's this?" Aqua asked. "Not now, Aqua, Spike's under attack by one of these lizard things." I said. "I keep telling ya to avoid them, brah, they're a waste of your time!" "But they might drop something expensive." Spike said. "Your inventory is already almost full!" I reminded him. "I dunno why they added the limited inventory system in here. It's such a pain in the flank to use!" Spike complained. "Move it, little man." Engie said, pushing Spike over and sitting next to me. "It's mah turn!" "You could've just asked you know." Spike complained as he sighed and leaned his head on his hand which was on his arm which was leaning on his leg which was on top of the floor. "Yeah Engie, you could've asked him you know." I advised him. "Yeah Flare, ah could've asked him you know." Engie mimicked sarcastically. "I just have one thing to say that." I said. "And what is that?" Engie asked. "HAY... BACON.... STRIPS!" I said as I poked his nose during every word. Engie just looked at me confusingly. "Alrighty then." "Flare, what is this?" Aqua asked again. "What is what?" I asked as I was concentrated on my game. "This." Aqua said, putting the game card in front of my face. "Hey, don't my view while I'm playing a game, brah!" I complained at him. "Alright, alright. Sorry!" Aqua said, moving the card away from my face. "It's a riddle game. It gives you riddles." I said. "You don't say!" Blaze said sarcastically. "It would've been funnier if you that said with the meme mask on, Blaze. I keep my meme masks right over there." I said, pointing to one of the cabinets. "Anyways, you have to follow the riddles, and each riddle will take you to another riddle. Once you solved all the riddles, there's prize in end. It's really fun, I wanted to play that in a couple of hours, but you can play it now if you want." "Hmm, riddle games do sound like fun." Aqua said. "YEAH THEY ARE!" Crystal yelled in excitement. "I feel like playing this!" Psyche said excitedly. "So do I!" Spike said. "Not me; ah wanna try out mah new controller!" Engie said excitedly. "I second that!" I said. "It's a good thing ah made two!" Engie said, giving me a spare one. "PRAISE THE FLIPPIN WIZARDS!" I yelled, grabbing it with my unicorn magic. "Are you sure you two don't wanna play?" Blaze asked. "I made the game, I already know where everything is and what the prize is, silly little Pooh Bear!" I teased. "And riddle games make mah head explode unless it has to do with machinery." Engie said. "Suit yourselves." Blaze said. "My suit is at the dry cleaners." I said. "So let's find the first riddle!" Crystal yelled in excitement, hopping in place. "Alright! So the first riddle says: 'Brush brush re, brush brush a-roo." Blaze said, reading the card. "That sounds like a Bear in the Big Blue House song." Crystal said. "You know that show, Crystal?" Blaze asked. "Of course! It was one of my favorite shows when I was a filly! It was when Disney Junior was Playhouse Disney." Crystal explained. "So brush-brush-re, I think has something to do with brushes, and where does Flare usually keep his brushes?" Psyche explained. "Ah'd say in the bathroom, but Flare's a random one, so I doubt he'd leave his trailer organized." Aqua suggested. "I DO SO KEEP MY TRAILER ORGANIZED! You jerk." I corrected him angrily. "And for that, ya just told us where the first riddle is." Aqua said mischievously. So the five of them all went into my bathroom but I stayed in the lounge with Engie to test out his controllers. "So which one of yer games should we use to test out these controllers?" Engie asked. "I got this new game: Mystery Scape!" I said holding the game case. "Sounds amazin’, partner! What's it about?" Engie asked. "I dunno.” I shrugged. "It's not called Mystery Scape for nothing. It's one of those games of random things happening. The story changes at random times; it's so mind-blowing, brah!" "Sounds awesome! Let's give it go!" Engie suggested. "Ok but only because I want to; not because you suggested it.” I said as I inserted the game disk into my XBUCKS. "Alrighty then, it's loading! Hey, Engie? What do these controllers actually do?" "Well, ah haven't really tested them yet." Engie explained. "They're supposed to connect to any gaming system, microwave, vending machine, fridge, lights…." Meanwhile with the others, they're in my lavatory looking for the next riddle. It's kinda confusing calling this a lavatory when there's no lava, and a lavatory kinda sounds like a coffee machine if you ask me. "Did anypony find the next riddle yet?" Blaze asked, looking in the cabinet. "I'm not a pony." Spike corrected him while looking in the bath tub. "Well every..... whatever." Blaze said, as he continued looking. "I think I found it." Psyche said, finding another note on one of my toothbrushes, as he accidentally stepped on Blaze's hoof. "Ow!" Blaze yelled, and then he bumped his head on the sink pipe. "OW!" "Sorry." Psyche said as he started reading the next note. "You may call me the Crystal Empire in a box. Ice, ice, baby!" "Ice, ice, baby?" Crystal asked. "Oh! I think I know what it's talking about! Follow me!" Spike said, as he exited the bathroom while stepping on Blaze's hoof. "OW!" Blaze yelled as he bumped his head on the pipe again. "OW! Spike!" "You were in my way, Blaze." Spike said. Blaze just sighed. Back with Engie and me, Engie continued explaining what else his controller connects to, “…treasure chest, window, book, and a plate full of nachos.” Engie then leaned over to me and whispered, “With jalapeños in it!” "Alright well… ready to do this, Engie?" I asked. "Ah was born ready!" he said. "Press start! Press start!" I kept pressing start but nothing was happening. "What are ya waitin’ for? Press start!" "I am pressing start!" I yelled. "Is this part of the game?" Engie asked. "No, something starts when I press start. These controllers are broken! Angry face!" I yelled. Engie checked on the controllers to see what the problem is. He opened the battery compartment and saw the problem. "It seems there's a problem with the batteries." Engie said. "What's wrong with the batteries?" I asked. "Its empty." he said, showing me the empty battery compartment. "Well why are you sitting around? Go get some batteries!" I ordered him. "This is yer trailer, y’all go get 'em!" he said. I yawned. "Yeeeeeeah, I'm not gonna do that." "Why not?" he asked. "Too much effort!" I whined. "Where do ya keep yer batteries?" Engie asked. "In the kitchen." I said. "It's too much effort to just go into yer kitchen and get 'em yerself?" Engie asked. "Uh, duh!" I said. "Well, which drawers are the batteries in?" Engie asked. "Lazy face." I said. "You won't even tell meh where the batteries are?" Engie asked. "Didn't you just hear what I said? LAY... ZEE.... FACE!" I repeated myself. Engie sighed. "Fine, ah'll get 'em, but dibs on player one." He said, walking out of the lounge and into the kitchen. "Oh, and don't forget the hay bacon!" I yelled out. "Didn't take you much effort yell across the house!" Engie yelled back from the kitchen. "It all depends on my mood, my friend! MAGIC LAWS!" I yelled. When Engie went into the kitchen, Spike and the others were there too. "Still playin’ the game?" Engie asked them. "Spike has the feeling the next riddle is in the fridge." Aqua said. "Yes, I think the next riddle is in the fridge." Spike said, opening the fridge. "Uhh, I just said that." Aqua said confusingly. Crystal opened up the fridge to find the next riddle. "I don't see anything." she said. "No, it said, ice, ice, baby. Which means it must be in the freezer." Spike advised her as he opened the freezer. Engie looked through all the drawers in the kitchen to locate where I keep my batteries. "Hey where does Flare leave his batteries?" Engie asked. "Fourth drawer to the left of the oven, where the blender is." Blaze said. Engie looked into the drawer and found them. "Ah! Here we are! Much obliged, Blaze!" Engie said, saluting him. "Not a problem, Engie!" Blaze said, saluting back. “Wait how do you know and not us?” Crystal complained. “You were the last to join the Noble Six.” “I guess I’m the better friend!” Blaze said as he smiled at her and let out a squee. "Did ya find the next riddle yet, Spike?" Aqua asked. "Nope. I had the feeling it would be under the ice packs, but it wasn't there." Spike said. "Did you look in the ice dispenser?" Psyche asked. "Yeah, check the ice dispenser." Crystal repeated him. Spike checked the ice dispenser, and he found the riddle inside. "Well, what do you know? There it is! Nice work, Crystal!" Spike said to her with glee. Crystal smiled and let out a squee and Psyche had a big confusing look on his face. "Uh, I'm the one that hinted that the riddle is inside the ice machine!" Psyche complained. "Yeah, that's nice, Psyche. Let's just continue." Spike said, walking towards the dining room table with the others. Psyche just facehoofed himself and joined them. Engie had no idea of which batteries to use so he just took all the batteries and rejoined me in the Lounge. "What took you so long? Where's my smoothie?" I asked. "Ah had trouble findin the batteries, and why do you want me to get- Wait, ya asked for hay bacon, not a smoothie." Engie corrected me. "Or did I?" I said smirking at him. "Did ya?" Engie asked confusingly. "I dunno." I said, shrugging. So Engie places in the triple A batteries in the controllers, but I stopped him. "Dude, are you stupid? Most game controllers have double A batteries inside, not triple!" I corrected him. "But ah made these controllers." he said. "Ah programed them to power on triple A." "Look, it's bad luck to put triple A batteries in a game controller, brah. I'm telling you, don't do it! Bad things will happen!" I warned him. "What kind of bad things?" Engie asked me sarcastically. "Just.... bad.... things." I said, holding a flashlight under my face. Engie just rolled his eyes at me, and then inserted the batteries inside anyway. "Engie!" I yelled. "It's not bad luck, we'll be fine, partner." he said. "Fine, but when something happens, don't say I didn't warn you." I said as I crossed my arms. "Now press start." he instructed me. "You're player 1, you press start!" I whined at him. Engie sighed. "Fine." He then pressed start, but just then the TV suddenly went blank. Engie just stared at the TV for around 20 seconds. I did too, but with a boring look, and leaning on my bean-bag chair. I facehoofed and said, "Way to go, Engineer! You just broke the game!" "How was ah suppose to know?" Engie complained. "I told you putting in Triple A Batteries was a bad idea!" I corrected him. "Shut up! It's not the batteries!" he corrected me. "Just you wait, maybe it's loadin." "And maybe it's not." I added. "And maybe it is!" "And maybe it's not!" "AND MAYBE IT IS!" we argued. "AND MAYBE IT'S NOT!" "AND MAYBE IT IS!" "AND MAYBE IT IS!" I told him. "AND MAYBE IT'S NOT!" he yelled at me. "Well, I'm glad we both agree on something." I said while giving him a teasing look. "Wait what?" he asked confusingly. I then turned around, and walked towards my vending machine. "Well, how about some hot fries, man? If you have a quarter I can get some for ya. They're really good and spicy; you'll love as they tingle in your mouth and all that salt too!" Just as I was talking, my TV lit up as a big bright white light (ooo rhyme). I didn't notice because I was inserting the correct change in the vending machine to get the hot fries, but as I was doing so, Engie stared at the TV and his eye pupils grew. Eventually, a vortex appeared and it sucked Engineer right inside the TV. Engineer screamed, but he wasn't quick enough to call my attention and then he got sucked right into the TV and vanished in mid-air, not necessarily in that order. "Engie? These vending machine snacks aren't free, I need a bit if I were to get you one." I said, but I wasn't aware Engie was there. "Dude, don't let me buy you stuff all the time." I turned around and saw Engie wasn't there. "Oh... where did he go? Must've gone freeloading inside my fridge. Oh well." I shrugged as I walked over to the TV. "I hope he doesn't eat my leftover egg roll from lunch. That's what I'm really afraid of. He can take the Chinese noodles if he wants, but NOT the egg roll!" I looked at the TV and it was still black like I remembered. I just sat there on my bean-bag chair waiting for Engie, but little did I know that he was inside my TV. Meanwhile, in the video game universe, Engie appeared in the middle of a big green checkerboard box room. "Huh? Where am ah?" Engie asked himself. "Is this Nickelodeon? Because Nickelodeon is pretty green. It ain’t easy bein’ green. Wait, ah’m not in Nickelodeon; am ah... inside the game?" Engie looked around, and there was nothing interesting to be seen. "Howdy? Anypony here? Hello?!" Engie looked up and saw something floating on his head, he screamed, and started running around like a maniac, but it didn't take him long to realize that those figures above him was a 'P1' symbol saying he's Player 1. Engie thought to himself for a second thinking of what to do next and how to get out. He saw at a western wall that there was a vortex that said 'Level 1' on top of it. “Mama always said it’s never a good idea to go into a wormhole, but since ah was the one that programmed her and thus her advice is invalid to me, what do ah have to lose?” So he walked inside the vortex and he suddenly disappeared. Meanwhile, back in real life, I was just sitting there slurping on a smoothie. I was getting curious because Engie was nowhere to be found. "Hiccup. How dry I am?” I sang. Afterwards, I said in my normal voice, “Gee, I wonder when Engie's gonna get back? I'm starting to wonder." I looked over at one of Engie's controllers and I saw a few electric sparks on it. "Forty-five degree angle mouth face." I said as I then cautionly picked up one of the game controllers and took a look at it. "What kind of controllers are these anyway? They seem to have that one third handle on the very bottom like I have a third hoof to use. Stupid Nintendo." Just then, my TV started lighting up again. "What in the Wizard of Hope's name is this? ENGIE'S GAME CONTROLLERS BROKE MY TV AGAIN!" I yelled, and slammed the controller on the floor. Just then, a 2-D pony hoof that looked like it game from a drawing popped up out of the TV and it moved around as if it was asking me to come in. I was really confused. "Hey! GET OUT OF MY TV!" I yelled trying to pull on the hoof, but the hoof was stronger than mine was, and it just pulled me right in. Right after I was pulled in, it looked like I was in a drawing sketch pad universe. The song 'Take On Me' by Ah Ha was playing in the background and some pony dude with a black leather jacket and a white shirt started dancing and singing. I just looked around and I was really confused, but then I just shrugged and danced with him. Eventually, a couple of pilots appeared carrying pipe wrenches, and they looked pretty mad at us. The pony in the black jacket started running and I started to follow. The two pilots began chasing us through the 2D drawing sketch world and we ran from corridor to corridor, corner to corner until we wounded up at a dead-end. The pilots just glared at us and they wielded their wrenches up and ready. The pony in the jacket started pushing at the wall, and I just started pushing the wall on the opposite side. After I was able to break through the wall, the song stopped I was no longer in a 2D drawing sketch world (you know what I mean). I then suddenly appeared at a room that had a pink floor, green walls with yellow stripes, and a tiffany light hanging down on the ceiling. "WHAT IS GOING ON?!" I yelled. “I mean I feel very sad about my drawing sketch friend because he probably got attacked by those pilots but may turn real later on and I wouldn’t care why, I’d just be crying tears of joy, but WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Meanwhile, back with Engineer, he appears in the middle of a big white room with lots of colorful squares. He walked forward curiously, holding his wrench close to him. As he was walking, he suddenly heard an echo the background, and Engie held his wrench out, defending himself in case something came out to attack him. Engie then crouched down towards the floor to look under one of the colorful squares, but when he lifted the square, it floated up and disappeared. He got back up and started to sweat. "Nopony's here. Ah'm stuck in video game land… No more Flare… No more! Ah found a place where ah'm gonna stay all.... alooooooone." he said, when a giant colorful bubble that said 'alone' appeared out of his mouth, and then lots of voices started echoing in the background saying 'alone', with lots of word bubbles that say 'alone' suddenly appeared all around one by one. Afterwards, all the 'alones' started shrinking and all the voices kept saying 'alone' over and over again until the words shrunk down and vanished. Engineer was really scared. "AH GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" he yelled as he started running in one direction (not referencing the band), but obviously he wasn't going anywhere since he was in the middle of nowhere. He just ran in an infinite loop. He suddenly stopped eventually and he started yelling, "WHERE'S THE EXIT?! WHERE'S EVERYTHING!?" He then started stomping on the ground and started shouting, "WHERE?! WHERE?! WHERE?! WHERE?! WHERE?!" After that fifth 'where', the stomping caused a hole on the ground and he suddenly fell into the room where I appeared in the first time right after the drawing sketch world. "Engie! There you are!" I said excitedly as I helped him on his hooves. "Flare? You’re trapped in this game too?" he asked. "Trapped in a game? I thought I was trapped in a Ah-Ha music video?" I asked. Engie just looked at me with a straight face. "No comment. Let's just find a way out." "Hey check it out! You got a 'P1' floating on top of your head." I said as I pointed towards his Player 1 symbol. "Well you have a 'P2' floatin’ on yer head." Engie said as he pointed to my player 2 symbol. "Player 2? Aw man! I wanted to be player 7!" I complained. "But there's only two of us playin’ and the XBUCKS only allows 4 players." Engie reminded me. "Maybe somepony else got trapped in the game. I hope it was Spike." I said. "They're probably still busy on your scavenger hunt game." he reminded me. "Heh!” I chuckled. "What's so funny?" he asked. "Yeah, it's gonna take them forever to finish that game. I assure you that, Engie." I said with a mischievous look on my face. "C'mon, there's the way to Level 2." Engie pointed to a vortex that leads to Level 2 right behind me where I fell into this level the first time. "Level 2? What was level 1 then?" I asked. "Ah was just in the middle of nowhere." Engie said as he started walking towards the vortex. "I didn't think that music video was level 1." I said confusingly. So wee both walked into the vortex and we both vanished; I’d say we teleported to the next level. Meanwhile, back with Spike and the others, they were looking all around my trailer for the next riddle. "I really don't get this." Spike said. "What did the riddle say again?" "Look for a pearl in a box, I'm right next to her." Aqua said as he read the riddle. "This is getting stupid." Crystal complained. "Flare doesn't have any pearls; unless we check his personal chest." "Trust me, Crystal. Flare doesn't want us going into his personal chest." Spike said. "Yeah, I strongly doubt the riddle would lead to there." Blaze agreed. "But a pearl in a box? I didn't know Flare even owns any pearls." Crystal said. Everypony noticed Psyche started laughing in my closet. "What's so funny, Psyche?" Aqua asked. "I'm reading Flare's personal diary!" Psyche said as he laughed even harder. "Look at this! Yesterday I noticed my employees found my hoof-nail collection, and now I'm really angry face at them for that. Can you believe this?! Flare collects his hoof-nails! That is so gross!" Psyche laughed even harder. "Psyche, please don't go into Flare's personal belongings!" Aqua advised him. "Keep reading, Psyche! Keep reading!" Spike instructed him as he sat next to him. "Alright! I went to deliver a pizza to Cranky Doodle Donkey, but he keeps telling me he didn't order a pizza, but when he finally blew a fuse, he smashed the pizza on the ground, and stomp on it. That was why I was crying all that day, but that would be embarrassing if that was the reason, so I lied and my reason was that Fluttershy's pet toad died." Psyche and Spike continued laughing really hard after he read that. "I don't believe you two." Aqua said, shaking his head. “Why would you two laugh over at a pet toad dying?” Crystal asked. “That’s sad, not funny!” “Don’t worry, Crystal. I doubt Fluttershy’s toad actually died.” Aqua assumed. "Wait! I think I found the next riddle!" Blaze said, standing near my fish tank. "The riddle said a pearl in a box; I'm right next to her. Flare's white molly is named Pearl, and she's inside a fish tank which is shaped like a box, and there's the riddle right next to her!" "FINALLY! It's about time you found the riddle! I'm getting tired of swimming at the same spot for the past 40 minutes!" Pearl complained. "You're really impatient, aren't you Pearl? Rainbow and I can float in place for a week if we wanted to." Dorthey said. "Then how would you eat?" Yoyo asked. "I just hope the flakes float down towards me." Dorthey said. “Oh snap, Blaze! That is pretty clever.” Crystal said. “Thanks!” Blaze said as he dumps his hoof inside the tank to grab the next riddle. “So what does that one say?” Crystal asked. “I don’t know. The paper is all soggy from the water.” Blaze said. “Here, I can help.” Aqua assisted as he uses his magic to dry up the little piece of paper and now it is no longer soggy. “Nice, Aqua! I didn’t think you could do that!” Blaze said. “I can do almost anything water related, mate. Either dry or wet, I can do it.” Aqua said. “That… doesn’t rhyme.” Crystal pointed out. "Get out of my trailer and go have a snack while you swim." Blaze said as he read the next riddle. "So, we have to leave the trailer to find the next riddle, huh?" Psyche asked. "But how we suppose to know where the next riddle is?" Aqua asked. "There's the lake outside of town near Everfree and there's the town pool." Blaze said. "Well the pool seems to be a good place to go first since there are more likely snacks there than the Ponyville lake.” Psyche suggested. "Too easy. He only EXPECTS us to find it there." Crystal said. "We should split up. Crystal, Aqua, you head to the lake. The rest of us will go to the town pool." Blaze instructed them. "Who elected you team leader?" Crystal complained. "Look there's no time. Let's just win this thing!" Spike suggested. So then they went out of my trailer to look for the next riddle. Back in the game, Engie and I reached level 2, which looked like ctf_2fort on TF2. "Hmm, this place looks like the spawn area for ctf_2fort when ah do mah matches." Engie said. "Looks like we're playing a little TF2, huh?" I asked. "Ah believe so." Engie said. "You already picked your class, I wanna be Pyro!" I said. "Why ya wanna be pyro?" Engie asked. "Uhh, they don't call me 'Flare Gun' for nothing you know!” I teased as I held a flare gun on my hoof. “Oh wait, I mean… Mmm-mmm-mmm!” "C'mon, let's go!" he said. So we opened up the spawn menu door and we started walking out, but in slow-motion as Also Sprach Zarathustra plays in the background. We keep slow-mo walking out until I gave out a little fart, and it cuts off the music. "That’s 2 bits a gallon.” I blushed. "Way to ruin the moment." Engie complained as he facehooved himself. We peeked over at the battlements but there were no other classes around. "Wow, the area is as empty as... ummm... my refrigerator after a Monday." I said. "That's the best ya got?" Engie asked. "Pretty much. Wow, this game lacks enemies! What a rip-off! I paid 4 whole bits on this game!" I complained. "4 bits ain't alota money, Flare." Engie corrected me. "Says you! You don't own a famous pizza joint like I do! So I make like thousands of bits per week and 4 bits..... hmm... you got a point there, Engie." I nodded. "C'mon, it's all clear, let's just go!" Engie instructed me as he ran outside into the open, but then something exploded and he suddenly flew against the wall where I was. He was all burnt up as he laid against the wall. "MAGIC LAWS! MAGIC LAWS! MAGIC LAWS!" I yelled really fast. "Ow!" Engie yelled as the red bar on top of him started to lose its red. "Hey check it out, Engie – You lost health." I pointed out. "Yeah no kiddin’! What was that anyway?" Engie asked. "Soldier? Demostallion?" I helped him up. "I-D-K, brah. Maybe you stepped on a mine." "There are no mines in Team Fortress." Engie corrected me. "Yeah, well, this isn't Team Fortress. It's Mystery Scape." I corrected him. "Yeah, ya do got a point there." Engie nodded. "Of course I got a point there! 'Cause I'm smarter than you, fool!" I taunted him, as I started shaking my head around as the We No Speak Americano song played in the background. The song cuts off right after I stop shaking my head. "Just keep your voice down and be careful. There might be more explosives out there." Engie advised me as he peeked over. "It's all clear. So slowly... follow me... and..." "FOR GREAT JUSTICE!" I yelled as I started running through the battlements. "FLARE, NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Engie yelled out at me, but just like that, I was already at blue base. "Ah don't believe it." he said in shock, shaking his head. "There! You see? No harm done!" I said. "Well in that case..." Engie suddenly started running through the battlements until another explosive hit him but fortunately I had a better view of who was spawning those explosives. It looked like something green and square that ran towards him and blew up. Engie suddenly flew right over to me after the explosion hit him and his health meter went even lower right after he lands on the wall next to me, laying upside down against it. "Y’all have it easy these days, partner!" he complained. "'Cause I'm better than you, fool!" I taunted as I started shaking my head again to We No Speak Americano. I helped Engie get up and we continued to walk. "I think I had a clear visual of what attacked you." "Oh? Do tell!" Engie said. "Well, not completely, but it was green, and looked square, and it disappeared just as the explosion occurred." I explained. "You have any idea what I'm talking about?" "Ah think ah might have one idea." Engie said. ”Is it a good idea?” I asked. “It’s definitely a better idea than a snowpony baking a cake.” Engie said. A cutaway shows a swowpony reading a newspaper on his dining room table, and his wife comes in with a big cake and sets it on the table. “Here you are dear! Happy birthday! I baked it myself!” the wife snowpony said as her nose was missing. “Oh boy, I’m starving!” the husband said excitedly as he took a bite of the cake. “Enjoying it, dear?” the wife asked. “It tastes like boogers.” The husband said. “Well IT IS carrot cake after all.” The wife said. The cutaway ends there. Just then, we saw more of those green box things running towards us again. "WHOA, SWEET ANNOUNCER!" Engie yelled as he used his shotgun that he found from spawn and blew up those green blocks. "Oh now I know what they are! They're molotov Sprite cans that turned square!" I said. "No you idiot!" Engie said as he slapped the back of my head. "Those are creepers from Minecraft!" I then smacked Engie on the back of the head as well. “STOP WITH THE VIOLENCE!” I yelled at him. "Whatever, but what are they doin here?" Engie asked. "Two words: Mystery Scape." I explained. "I played this once before; anything can happen, and I mean ANYTHING!" "Uhh, can ya not say that while standin’ so close to mah face?" Engie asked, so I backed-away from him. "Now, ah don't really know how this game works, but ah'm assumin’ that our way out is in the Blue base's intel room." "So we're going in the sewers!” I said. "No, we're goin to the intel room; that's in the basement of the base." Engie explained. "Basement of the base; really, Engie?" I asked, giving him a funny look. "Let's go." he said. So we both walked into the courtyard, but just as we were about to go up the stairs, we were surrounded by more creepers. "IT'S A TRAP!" I yelled in Admiral Ackbar's voice. "We can do this! Just watch mah back!" Engie instructed me. I looked over at his back and said, "Your back isn't very entertaining." "Just help me fight these blockheads!" Engie instructed me. "Right ahead of ya, brah!" I said as I activated the flamethrower that I found from spawn. The creepers screamed and started charging at us. We screamed and then started charging at them as well. Engie shot some creepers and they exploded, and I used my flamethrower to light 'em up! Some were able to damage us but we were holding up all right. Engie had me take most of the damage since his health was already low, but we did find a couple of health items and ammo on the way to the intel room. A creeper jumped on Engie's back, but he was able to throw it off him before it blew up. We made it downstairs to the basement but I was out of ammo once I got there. "Sigh! I'm out of ammo!" "Well yer pyro class, use yer fire axe!" Engie suggested. "What this thing?" I asked as I held the axe grasped on my hooves. "This thing is only good for chopping down trees, it doesn't do damage to anything else." I then threw the axe on the wall, unaware there was a creeper there and it blew up. "Forget it, I'm using my magic. Flamethrowers are over-rated anyway." "How about the flare gun ya got from spawn?" Engie asked. "I already have the flare spell, dude." I reminded him. "Look, whatever, we're so close to the briefcase room, and..." But before Engie can finish his sentence, a couple of creepers walked up towards us, and both of our healths were like at 1%. "You kiddin me right?" "Yay! This is fun!" I cheered clapping my hooves. "We're only on level 2!" Engie yelled. "Outta 10 levels!” I added. Engie facehoofed himself. "We're doomed." "No we're not! Look, the intel room is right there. If there was something big in there, there would be health items nearby, we'll be fine." I said. "Now where's the quick-save feature, just in case?" A tip notice suddenly showed up below us and it said: 'No quick-saves are available in this game.' "D'OH!" I yelled. We both snuck over to the intel room and saw the briefcase right there on the table. "So... we have to get the briefcase and bring it back to base right?" "Ah dunno. Let's just grab it and see what happens." Engie said. "Alright... but if a giant ball chases us, I'm whacking you with a broom." I warned him. "Fair enough." he said. So we both walked over to the briefcase but first we took a look around to see any visible security systems. We both lifted our hooves and was about to grab it, but our hooves touched together. "'Ay! Careful, partner!" "Hey! You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!" I complained. "Wait what?" Engie asked. "Reeses puffs cereal! Part of this good breakfast!" I said holding a Reeses Puffs box. Engie just rolled his eye, and just as he was going to pick up the briefcase, my hoof was in the way again. "Flare!" he yelled. "Are you picking it up or am I? Because you just told me I was going to be the one to pick it up." I pointed out. "Fine! You pick it up." Engie said angrily. "No, not with that attitude I'm not." I said, facing away from him. So then Engie just shook his head, and was about to grab the briefcase, but then I placed my Reeses Puffs box in front of his hoof. "FLARE!" he yelled. "PART OF THIS GOOD BREAKFAST!" I screamed. Then I just smiled at him and let out a squee. He just stared at me for a sec and then he looked at the briefcase, and was about to grab it, but before I can block his hoof, he blocked mine. He chuckled at me mischievously and then was about to grab it with his other hoof, but I used my other hoof from the other side of him to block the way. "Wait... what the?" Engie was really confused because I was standing to the right of him and one of my hooves was blocking from the left of him; however, he couldn't give up, so he used his tongue to reach for the briefcase; although half-way there he stopped and looked at me. "What?" I asked. "I'm not gonna block with my tongue while your tongue is out! That's disgusting!" He looked back at the briefcase and just took the handle by his tongue and lifted it and then he grabbed it with his hooves. "See? No giant ball." he said smiling. "Aww, I really wanted to use the broom!" I complained. Suddenly, just then, the area started shaking, like an earth quake. We nervously looked around, waiting for something to happen, although it was nothing because a small health kit fell out of a vent and landed in front of us. Engie quickly pushed me and grabbed the health, healing himself. "HA! I am in full-health, and you're still in low-filth! HA HA HA!" Engie teased me and started rahfulling (rolling on floor laughing). I just glared at him and then I shot my laser blast at him, and then whacked him with my hornsaber spell, and then shot a flare at him, and cooled him off using water squirter. "OW!" he yelled. "What was that?! Now ah'm low on health again!" "Well that's you get for teasing me like that!" I yelled. "You tease me like that all the time!" Engie reminded me. "I only do it for fun; that was just rude!" I said. "What's the difference?" he asked. "Look, we'll find more health later, but for now we should be heading to the next level." I said, pointing to the vortex that leads to the next level. "Thank Wizard of Hope we don't have to fight those creepers-sneepers-beepers-neepers-cheepers-meepers-MEEP-MEEP-MEEP-oh listen to me I sound like an anchovy, meep meep meep-anymore.” "Right, let's just head to the next level." he said as we both walked into the vortex to the next level of the game. Meanwhile, back in our world, Blaze, Psyche, and Spike were at the town pool, looking for the next riddle. "Ah, the swimming pool at night. Can't think of a more relaxing time than this. If only I bought my water-wings." Spike said. "Get out of my trailer and go eat a snack while you swim." Blaze repeated the riddle. "We have to look for something 'snack' related." "I'm way ahead of ya, Blaze." Spike winked at him as he then started crawling and sniffing at the ground. "Heh! Wow! Look at this! I saw the mayor shaving her legs and it turns out her real color is pink." Psyche laughed as he was reading my diary still. "Seriously, dude?" Blaze asked curiously. "We gotta look for the riddle. Put that diary back where you found it!" "No way, man! This is hilarious!" Psyche said. "By the looks of, the mayor, she might be Pinkie Pie in disguise, just like Photo Finish is Rainbow Dash in disguise! HA! And look at this! The mayor wears make-up to bed! Why would Flare write this?" Psyche started laughing real hard but unaware that Mayor Mare was standing right next to him, glaring at him, and cleared her throat. "You should watch your mouth, Psyche." Blaze advised him. "Ha ha ha! What do you mean?" Psyche asked embarrassingly as the mayor wacked Psyche with her towel and walked away with a pout. "Ow! Why didn't you tell me she was here?" "I was going to but what's the use? I wasn't fast enough I guess." Blaze shrugged. "Wow, Blaze Goldheart not fast? That's a first!" Spike teased. "Hey, Spike, how about you go back to sniffing for the snack, boy? Go on boy, fetch the snack!" Blaze instructed him. "I’m not a dog you know!” Spike corrected him. "Not yet, but you have the makings of one.” Crystal said as she and Aqua step over to the pool deck after searching the lake. “I wouldn’t be surprised you were a dog in an alternate universe.” She chuckles. "We had no luck at the lake." Aqua said. "All we found was this gem and a coupon for Porker's BBQ." Spike suddenly grabbed the gem out of Aqua's hoof with his tongue like a fly and ate it. "I was actually savin’ this gem for the app. Ya know how rare it is to get earn a gem? I’m still tryin’ to buy a Rarity.” "How about you guys? Did you find anything yet?" Crystal asked. "No, not yet, but I suppose there's something to do with snacking around here, and then we'd find our riddle.” Blaze said. "Hey guys, I found a Cheese-It box!" Spike said. "Yeah, and that's mine." a light blue pony with a blond mane and a music note cutie mark said. She's a really good friend of mine, a new friend actually, her name is Spark Note. "Hey Spark Note!" Blaze said. "Hey, what's going on?" Spark Note asked. "We're playing a riddle game that Flare made for us and we're trying to find the next riddle." Blaze said. "And we have the feeling it's in this Cheese-It box." Spike said as he peeked inside inside. "Why would there be a riddle inside my Cheese-It box?" Spark Note asked. "Hey, ya know how Flare is." Aqua said. "HA! Flare sometimes eats his hoof-nails! That's even more disgusting!" Psyche laughed as he continued to read my diary. "Will you quit reading that Psyche?" Blaze asked him. "No way, this is funny!" Psyche said. "Hey I found the riddle!" Spike said, holding the riddle in his hand. "I hope you washed your hands before reaching in there." Spark Note said. Blaze grabbed the riddle and read it. "Something poundy with a pumpkin in a sweet place; a place that AppleJack talks about all the time. I... I don't get it." "Me neither, that's a toughie." Crystal said. "Havin’ problems there, sugarcubes?" AppleJack asked while relaxing in the pool. "Oh hey AppleJack! Well, we're trying to find out what this riddle is. Flare gave us a riddle game to play." Blaze explained. "It talks about a place you talk about alot, a place with something poundy with a pumpkin in a sweet place." "Sorry, sugarcubes. The only places ah talk about mostly is my farm, but ah don't think Flare left anything there. Ah’d know, believe me.” "I see. Well thanks anyway, AppleJack!" Blaze said. "Not a problem, sugarcube!" AppleJack said. "Wait... I got it!" Aqua said. "Did you get another gem?" Spike asked really happy. "Uhh, no." Aqua said. "I think I know where the next riddle is. It’s at Sugarcube Corner." Aqua said. "That's right! A place where AppleJack talks about all the time!" Crystal said excitedly. "Ah don't talk about Sugarcube Corner that mu- Ooooooh, ha ha ha! Now ah get it! It's because ah say 'sugarcube' alot! Ah see what Flare did there!" AppleJack laughed. "Makes sense to me! Let's head over to Sugarcube Corner!" Blaze said. “Wow Aqua, you sure figured that out quickly. Usually it takes me a while to figure riddles out, like the joke that Yoda said recently.” Crystal said. A cutaway shows Yoda at a stand-up brick wall comedy club. Yoda (who’s sitting on a stool because the microphone is too high for him) suddenly said on the microphone, “Ok, listen to me you all must do. For a joke, I have in stock for you! Why is five afraid of seven?” “Why?” Crystal asked in the crowd. “Because five seven eight!” Yoda said and the crowd started laughing, but not Crystal. “I… I don’t get it. Why is five afraid of seven, because six seven eight? I don’t get it.” Crystal said. You’ll get it. Trust me, get it, you will. Wink, wink. The cutaway ends. Meanwhile back in the game, Engie and I made it to the next level. Our objective was to get to the top of a pyramid without getting killed by the Boomers from Gears of War guarding it. Engie and I split up and tried to evade all the Boomers. One of them shot down a column and it was about to fall on Engie; however, I saved him by using my magic to turn the column into a toolgun from Garry’s Mod. Engie nodded at me thankfully and ran off, but I wasn’t doing it for him. I was disappointed that I still couldn’t use my magic to turn anything into something I really wanted, and all the toolgun did was the no-collide function which was useless. So Engie and I started running again to the top of the giant drinking-fountain, which was the Aztec pyramid, but it looked like a big drinking fountain to me. We climbed to the top, evaded the remaining Boomers, and grabbed the treasure on top, which was..... an ice cream scooper. Hmm, well then. Meanwhile, Blaze and the others went to Sugarcube Corner to look for the next riddle. Spike was looking in the fridge of course, Blaze checked at the pick-up counter, Crystal was looking in the toy trunk in the baby's room, and Aqua was looking around Pinkie's room as Psyche was reading my diary to Pinkie, and they were both laughing. Aqua just rolled his eyes and continued. Crystal eventually found the next riddle in Pumpkin Cake's mouth. Pumpkin looked like she was about to cry because she was using that, so Crystal gave her a pretzel stick to put in her mouth. Pumpkin then takes out a lighter and was about to light the pretzel stick’s end but Crystal takes the lighter away from her and shakes her head. Pretending to smoke can encourage some to smoke for real, so don’t be a bad influence. Don’t smoke. Find out more on smokefreeequestria.com. Crystal yelled out that she found the next riddle, but it woke up the Cakes and they saw my friends downstairs and thought they were robbers since the lights were off. The Cakes started attacking my friends until they ran out and then Pound Cake hit Crystal in the head with a frying pan. Back at the game, we went up to level 4. We were about to race against some soccer moms in the mall and the mission was to get the most items in our budget. Engie pushed a shopping cart, I rode in the basket, and we waited until the light went green. When it did, we raced through the mall against the soccer moms and attempted to buy the most stuff. I pointed to the clothes and saw there was a pair of socks on sale, so we went over to get them, until I saw a pillow case 80% off, so we went to get that. The soccer moms were really a problem. One of the ugly old ones had spikes on one of the tires of her shopping cart and started scrapping those spikes towards one of our wheels. I took Engie's wrench and I was about to do something about those tires, but then her infant son popped up from the shopping cart with his toy sword. I had a little duel with the baby until I eventually pushed the sword out of his hooves. I stuck my tongue out at him, and then he spit his binky out of his mouth and onto my eye. I took out a garlic roll and shoved it in his mouth. The soccer mom suddenly stopped the shopping cart and took out some mouth wash to fix up the baby's breath. That will keep her busy. I high-hoofed Engie as we rode on to the check-out line and finished the level. Blaze and the others were continuing their scavenger hunt at Rarity's shop. Blaze was looking in the dressing room, Aqua was looking in Rartiy's clothes, Spike just stared at Rarity as she slept, Psyche was reading my diary to Opal and they were both laughing, and Crystal looked in Rarity's wardrobe. The main reason Crystal looked in the wardrobe is to see if there was a magical land on the other side, like Narnia, but all she saw was a dark alley on the other side, full of trash, hobos, and a black cat. Crystal was confused because is that what Narnia looks like? Pound Cake then crawled over to Crystal and hit her in the head with a frying pan again. Eventually, Aqua found the next riddle on one of Rarity's dress ponikins. Those ponikins kinda freaked Spike out a bit after a previous encounter with them. Engie and I finally made it to level 7! We were under attack by sock monkeys wearing Indian clothes. I told Engie to just go get the treasure while I keep the monkeys busy. Engie did a flip over the monkeys and ran to go retrieve the treasure which was a blender. The monkeys were about to pounce on me, but luckily for me I turned on my armor lock spell just as they land on me. I deactivated my armor lock, which caused a chain reaction for the sock monkeys to fly across the room and they were stunned. Engie grabbed the blender, although it created a trap. A giant ball appeared and it started rolling down towards us. Engie and I started to running so we could escape the ball. We eventually made it out, but just as Engie was wiping his sweat, I started whacking him on the head with a broom. When I say I’ll do something if something else happens, I mean it. The scavenger hunters rushed over to Fluttershy's house to find the next riddle. Aqua was looking in the chicken pen but he ran into a little trouble in there as the chickens were throwing their eggs at him. Why murder their own babies just to keep out an intruder? Oh wait, they were just the egg shells, nevermind. Blaze looked in the beaver dam but while he was looking, they were whacking him in the face with their tails. Psyche was reading my diary to Angel, and he was laughing, but Angel wasn't. He just slapped Psyche in the face and shook his head. Crystal was searching inside a Hairy the Bear's mouth, and the bear roared at Crystal, but didn't attack. Instead, Pound Cake popped out from the bear's mouth and whacked Crystal on the head with a frying pan, and then the bear and Pound Cake bro-hoofed. Eventually, Aqua found the riddle inside one of the eggs. Engie and I eventually made it to level 10! The final level! The treasure was simple. All we had to do was cross the large gap by jumping on the floating plates. We jumped on one, then another, then another, then another, and everytime we stepped on a plate, it sounded like Also Sprach Zarathustra, but just then, that last plate triggered a trap and all the plates started falling, including us. Engie grabbed my hoof, and he took out a pen with propeller was on it, and then Engie and I floated to safety. “Too infinity… and beyond!” Engie yelled. When we got to the top, Engie was just about to grab the battery on the pillar, but his hoof just went right through it like a hologram. The battery then disappeared. We looked back and saw Emperor Zurg coming up to us with a big gun in his hand. "So, we meet again players, FOR THE LAST TIME!" he said. "Not today Zurg!" I taunted. "What in tarnation is this?" Engie asked. "Isn't it obvious? This is the same area as the beginning of Toy Story 2." I said. Zurg started shooting tennis balls at us with his gun and we dodged out of the way. "Not giant balls, but small balls. It still counts." So I took out my broom again and started whacking Engie on the head with it, but more gently since the balls were smaller. "GIMMIE THAT!" Engie yelled as he grabbed my broom and snapping it in half. "You mad bro?" I asked him. "Prepare to die!" Zurg said as he continued shooting at us. Engie grabbed one of the plates that followed us when while were falling before and shielded us from the tennis balls that Zurg was shooting as us with. Engie then threw the plate at Zurg's head. Zurg yelled because it hurt him. I did a back flip over Zurg, and I was about to fire my SHOOP DA WHOOP at him. "SHOOP DA WHOO-" I said, but Zurg shot first! Wait, no he didn't. Han shot first! HA! I'm joking, but I did get shot, and died. My whole top body vanished. "FLARE! NOOOOOOOO!" Engie yelled as he saw my vanish before his eyes. Engie ran over to me and saw my torso was completely missing; it was just my legs. Engie was really upset and a tear fell from his eye. Zurg started was laughing evilly. Engie growled, his anger rose, and then he screamed. He was about to charge at Zurg and finish him, but just as he was charging, he vaporized Engie with his gun. Zurg chuckled and we were defeated. Was the game over? No, of course not! We just respawned right back to the beginning of the level. Both of us. "RAAAAAAAAAH!" Engie yelled, but then he realized we were back at the other side of the floaty plate bridge. "Wait. What in the livin’ hay just happened?" "We lost, brah! Now we have to do the whole level all over again!" I complained. "Way to go, Engineer!" "Flare?!" Engie cried in excitement. "FLARE, YOU'RE ALIVE!" He gave me a big hug. "Ah thought ya died, partner?" "I did die, but thanks to you losing the fight against Zurg, we have to do the level all over again." I complained as I rolled my eyes. "Ah.... ah don't understand." Engie said confusingly. "Ya died. Ah died! How did we.... this game has a respawn?" "Well, yeah kinda." I said. "Do we have limited lives?" Engie asked. "Quite frankly, no." I said. "This game has unlimited lives. We just have to start the whole level over if we die. I always get stuck for hours and hours at the last level. I never seem to defeat it." "Well.... not alone. Ya have me now! There's two of us and one of him! He doesn't stand a chance!" Engie said. "You do have a point there, brah." I nodded. "So why didn't ya tell me we didn't have lives?" Engie asked. "Remember that level when we both were low on health and we were under attack by those fighter planes?" "Well, it takes teamwork, man! If you knew this was an unlimited respawn game, then our actions might've been a little more unrealistic." I explained. "If we thought we'd just die for real if we die in the game, then we'd work harder to win!" "Ya are such a troll, Flare." Engie said shaking his head. "Nah, I prefer being a gnome. They have really cool food and cocktails so I heard; plus I’d love to wear one of those pointy hats.” I said. "Ready to win this thing, partner?" Engie asked with his hoof out. "Ready as spaghetti, brah!" I said as I punched him in the face. "OW!" he yelled, holding his nose. His health bar then reduces a little bit. "Oh woops, I think missed your hoof." I said. "UHH, YA THINK?!" Engie yelled at my face. "Ow, that was loud!" I complained as I held my ears, and yes that reduced my health too. Anything that hurts will reduce your health. Meanwhile, the scavenger hunters were walking across town and were about to find the next riddle. "So what does the next riddle say again?" Crystal asked as she held an ice pack on her head. "It just says: Go to Filthy Rich's house." Blaze said, reading the riddle. "This ain't much like a riddle if you ask me." "How long will it be until this hunt is over? I'm getting so bored right now!" Spike complained. "Probably not much longer." Blaze said. "Not much longer? Ya know how long we've been doin this for? FOUR HOURS!" Spike complained. "Well, if that's what that means, then we might not be too far to finished. Ain't I right, Spike?" Crystal asked him in a squeaky voice, close to face and booped him in the nose. "Well then...." Spike said, rubbing his nose. "I need some amusement. Psyche, did you find anything in the diary worth being amused about?" Crystal asked. "Not really. I'm in the part of the diary when Flare keeps writing down how much he hates Nickelback." Psyche said. "I wouldn't blame him." Aqua said. "Nickelback's a great band! Why would anypony hate his type of art?" Crystal asked. "You call that art? It's full of depressing rock music. Not really my thing.” Aqua said. "I don't mind depressing rock. I just don't think his music is that good." Psyche said. "How can you not like something and not have a reason for it?" Crystal asked. "Might be just a habbit." Aqua assumed. "Actually, everypony has a reason for not liking something, they just don't it yet. Probably something to do with my past or maybe it's a family thing, I have no clue." Psyche said. "Well that's a fist- I mean, first." Spike said as he he slapped his forehead. "Why did I just say fist? Why in Celestia's name did I just say fist instead of first?" "Well, here's Filthy Rich's house." Blaze said as they walked over towards the mansion. "Wow! This place is cleaner than I thought." Crystal said. "What made ya think it wasn't?" Aqua asked. "His name is 'Filthy' Rich? Duh!" Crystal pointed out. "Oooooook then." Aqua said confusingly. Blaze then rang the doorbell next to the front door, and a brown pony with a shaggy black mane, some square glasses, a pink maid outfit with a white apron, and some yellow gloves on her front hooves answered the door. "Miser Rich no here." the maid with the Hispanic accent said. "Yeah, well we need to go...." Blaze was interrupted by the maid. "Ehh, no, no, Miser Rich... he no is here." the maid said. "Yeah, well, did a red pony happen to come here and leave any riddles?" Blaze asked. "No, no, you trespassing. I call cops." the maid said. "That won't be necessary." Blaze said nervously. "We'll just be going." "No, no...." the maid said and closed the door. "Was that Consuela?" Psyche asked. "Who?" Blaze asked. "Consuela. She was that maid that I saw when I was in a town hall meeting back in Trottingham." Psyche said. A cutaway shows Consuela on a court stand with a stallion talking to her. "And what are your demands?" the stallion in the suit asked. "We need more lemon pledge." Consuela said. "You need more lemon pledge." the stallion repeated. "Si." Consuela said. "We're not responsible for that. You should just bring it from your own home." the stallion suggested. "Nnnoooooo." Consuela said. The cutaway ends there. Back at the game we just finished defeating Zurg. "Nooooooooooo!" Zurg yells as he falls down a pit. "YEAH! THIS.... IS... SPARTAAAAAAAAA!" I yelled. "We did it Flare! We finally finished the game!" Engie said excitedly. "Well, I couldn've done it without you, brah! We finished the game, and now we can return home, and finally play some games that makes my armpits sweaty a different way! Not including using the Wii or the XBUCKS Connect." I said. A vortex then appears right after Engie picked up the real battery treasure. "This is it! We ready to go?" Engie asked. "That's a stupid question, if I still had my broom I'd hit you with it, and I don’t care if there's no giant ball around." I said as the two of us walked inside the vortex. We then appeared right back at the trailer lounge. "Phew! I'm parshed!" "Yeah me too. How about we finally get some of dem hay bacon ya wanted!" Engie suggested. "I said I was parshed, not hungry." I corrected him. I inserted a bit into my soda machine, and pressed the Parasprite button, but instead of the lemonlime soda, an actual parasprite pops out and eats my entire soda machine. “HEY! I did NOT pay for that you piece of garbage!” I yelled. "What happened?" Engie asked, inserting a bit into my vending machine and then he presses C-4, which is suppose to get the Cool Ranch Doritos, but instead the whole vending machine blows up and Engie gets pushed back, and his health meter goes down. "OW!" "Wait! Did I just see a health meter?" I asked. "What?" Engie asked. "Oh my Luna, I think I left the water running in the bathroom!" I freaked out. "No... ah think we're still in the game!" Engie said. "Impossible! We just finished the last level! If we were still in the game, we'd probably be hitching a ride on the end credits." I said. The walls in my trailer started fall over like this whole place was just a whole cardboard box, and it turns out we were in the middle of a burning Ponyville. "HOLY WIZARD OF WIZARDS!" I yelled. "What happened to Ponyville?" Engie asked. "Forget about Ponyville! Look! That's Carrot Top's house across the street! I did not move my trailer here recently; I left it next door to Carrot Top's house! Somepony didn't make this map right." I complained. Just then, we see a group of ponies walking towards us. They look like the Mane Six. "Hey look! It's Twilight, Pinkie, Flutters, AppleJack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash!" I said. "Uhhh.... ah dunno, partner." Engie said. The Mane Six started walking towards us, but they look like they have yellow and red eyes, their manes messy, and they have a big red S scar on their eyes. "Flare, who gave ya this game?" "I just got a package from the mail. It said it was from 'An Old Friend'." I said. "Well.... ah think yer old Doctor friend made this game and planned this all along!" Engie said. "But when I played this, it seemed like a normal game. Why would the doctor just give me something that I love?" I asked, but then it hit me. No, really, the corrupted Fluttershy threw a squirrel with rabies at me, and it hit me. But then something popped my mind! Ow, my brain was cramping and it popped! But then, I had an idea! "Engie? Who gave you these controllers?" "Ah made them mahself, but.... the parts to make them were delivered to me by mail." Engie said. "Well, it looks like we got ourselves into a trap." I said. "What do we do now?" Engie asked. "We fight of course! I'm sure if we finish the game, we'll be outta here!" I said, but then a bunch of more corrupted pony folk joined in and were about to attack us. "On second thought.... RUN!" So we both started running as the town folk started chasing us. "What do we do?" I asked. "Ah think ah have one idea." Engie said. When the pony folk caught up to us, Engie and I disguised ourselves as merchants and we were selling torches and pitchforks. "Torches! Get your torches here!" I yelled. "Can't be an angry mob without torches!" "Pitchforks! Get yer pitchforks!" Engie yelled. "No! Get your torches! Torches are hot, they're on fire! Fire burning on the mob floor!" I yelled. "Pitchforks can be good for stabbin and cookin’ yer pray!" Engie said. "NO! GET YOUR TORCHES!" I yelled. "NO! GET YER PITCHFORKS!" Engie yelled. "TORCHES!" I yelled in Engie's face. "PITCHFORKS!" Engie yelled in my face. "TORCHES!" "PITCHFORKS!" "TORCHES!" "PITCHFORKS!" "COTTON CANDY!" Pinkie yelled. Engie and I just looked at eachother for a second. "Ya know, this is really goin’ nowhere." Engie said to me. Back with the four members of the Noble Six that aren't trapped in a game, and Spike, they were standing outside Filthy Rich's house and sat on the curve, because they couldn't get the riddle because of Consuela. "Well, what are we gonna do now?" Blaze asked. "We can't get the riddle with that maid guarding the front door." "Well, that's a wrap. I bet Flare and Engie are missing us back home." Spike said. "Now hold on a second, we ain't giving up yet!" Crystal said. "That maid won't let us in. What else can we do?" Aqua asked. "Did you find anything funny yet, Psyche?" Spike asked. "Nope, I'm at the part where he wrote a list of the ponies he shoved garlic rolls in their mouths last Friday." Psyche said. "C'mon guys! Let's not give up so easily! We have a game to win! Let us prove it to Flare that we can master his riddle game! And there's nothing, no obstacle, no Hispanic maid, no guard, or dog, that can stop us from winning Flare's Scavanger Hunt!" Crystal said as Spike held up an Equestrian flag and waved it in the background, and freedom music was playing on his radio. "You know what? Crystal's right! We can do this! I mean, Flare wouldn't give us this game if he thought we couldn't do it!" Blaze said. "Would he?" "Well, I have nothing better to do, so I'm in!" Spike said. "Sure, why not?" Aqua said. "This book is really starting to bore me, so sure." Psyche said. "Alright! Here's what we're going to do...." Crystal explained the plan to them. Back at the game, we continued running from the corrupted ponies. "How do we win this, Flare?" Engie asked. "I have no idea! I never made it this far!" I said. "The game said there would be 10 levels. This is the 11th level." "Are ya sure?" Engie asked. "I kept count on all the levels, so yes I'm surely sure, Shurley Temple!" I said. "Well, this is Mystery Scape after all. Ya said anythin’ is possible." Engie said. "That is true, but I never thought like this." I said. The town folk still kept chasing us. The corrupted AppleJack started throwing flaming apples at us. "AAAH! How do we lose them?" I asked. "Quick! Head to Town Hall!" Engie instructed me as we both ran inside Town Hall and barricaded the door. The town folk tried to get in, but they couldn't. We started breathing heavily and held the door shut. "Phew! What a work-out!" I said. "It won't hold them for long. We need to think of somethin’." Engie said. "I-D-K, man." I said. "I don't have the prama guide with me." "Wait, there's a prama guide?" Engie asked. "No and I dunno why I said that." I said. "LET'S SHAKE UP THESE CHOCOLATE CREAMERS! BLEND THEM UP, AND SERVE THEM WITH A CHERRY ON TOP!" Pinkie yelled. The crowd cheered and continued trying to get the door opened. "Wait! Ah got it!" Engie said. "It better be a winning lotto ticket." I said. "Nope, but ah got an idea." Engie said. "Well, we're screwed anyway, so it can't get any worse." I said. "Remember all those treasures we got from the past levels?" Engie asked. "Yeah, we got a briefcase, an ice cream scooper, vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, whip cream, a package of cups, a box of straws, a blender, a license to make milk shakes, and a battery." I said. "RIGHT! So put those together and what do we get?" Engie asked. "AN ELECTRONIC CHOCOLATE CREAMY ROBOT THAT HAS A LICENCE TO BLEND IN MILKSHAKES TOGETHER THAT CARRIES A BRIEFCASE FULL OF STRAWS, HAS A CUP FOR A HAT, AND IT DRINKS JUICE FROM BATTERIES!" I said with a big smile. Engie just looked at me really confusingly. "Uhhh, no." Engie takes the blender, opens it, he scoops out some ice cream and puts it inside, he squirts in chocolate syrup, and puts the top back on. "What are you doing?" I asked. "What do ya think?" Engie asked. "Is this how we make the robot?" I asked. "We're gonna feed the townfolk some chocolate milkshakes." Engie said. "Alright, but one problem..... it requires milk." I said. Engie thought to himself, and then he opened the briefcase and saw there was a carton of milk and a cherry inside. "Well that solves our problem." Engie said. “That milk was in a briefcase; it should be stale right now.” I said. He didn’t care though, so he puts the milk in the blender, closes the top, and presses the button to turn the blender on, although it wasn't turning on. "What's going on? Why isn't it turning on?" I asked. Engie thought to himself for a second, and then turns the blender upside down, opens a little slot, and puts the battery inside. "That better not be a triple A battery because that's how we got in this mess in the first place." I said. Engie turned on the blender and it started blending. "It's done!" Engie said excitedly. He opens the blender, pours the shakes in the cups, places some whip cream on them, and cherries on top, and then he places a straw inside each shake. "This is it, Flare! This is how we win the game!" "This is the weirdest looking robot I've ever seen." I said. The pony folk continued on banging on the door. Suddenly, Fluttershy started charging at the door and it bursted opened. "You're going to LOVE MEEEEEEE!" Fluttershy yelled. "NO PROBLEMO!" I yelled. The pony folk started charging at us, but then they stopped when Engie held one of the chocolate shakes up high. "Behold, citizens in Ponyville! Ah give you, the best chocolate shake in the history of Equestria!" Engie yelled. The pony folk just looked at eachother confusingly. "What? Don't y’all want the shakes?" "No we just want you dead!" Rainbow Dash yelled out in the background. "Ah..... ah don't understand! This should've worked." Engie said. "Let me take it from here, brah!" I said. I used the remaining ingredients that Engie didn’t use to build that giant chocolate robot. It roared at the pony folk, and then they all screamed and ran away, and then the chocolate robot started chasing them out. "But... but...." Engie studdered. "See? SEE?! I told you it was the giant robot! But did you listen? Oooooh nooooo!" I said sarcastically. "You always think too hard. That's why you always build machines to protect you, instead of defending yourself. You see? That is why you're the lowest class. I'm smarter than you fool!" Then I started waving my head around as We No Speak Americano is heard in the background again. "Shut up, Flare!" Engie said. We were both walking out of town hall, but then the doors slammed shut. "HEY! What gives?" "Final boss? What do you think?" I asked. The roof opens on top of us, the wind started blowing, the sky was cloudy and lightning struck, and a giant bright light, descends from the sky. "Red Engineer, Flare Gun, you have done well! You have finished the game." the light said. "Aww, I wanted a final boss." I complained. "You have done well in beating the game. You are strong, wise, and Doctor....." Right after he says doctor, his voice goes staticy. ".... the creator of this game, has one message for you: This game is a virus and now it'll spread across your trailer, hacking your security system, and I will ruin you......" Just then, the bright light started studdering, flickering, and then it disappears, and everything in the background goes blank. "Wha.... what just happened?" Engie asked. "Virus protection program.” I said. “My trailer mainframe is protected with Avast. It detected the virus before it could spread across my security system. The game is shut off now, and we won!" I said excitedly. "We won, huh? But there's nothing around us! How do we get out?" Engie asked. Just then, I opened a short metal exit door that was just there in the middle of nowhere with an exit sign on top. "We just take the exit! Duh!" I said. "How long as that exit been there?" Engie asked. "It's against the law of video games that if you ever make a program that makes you trapped in a video game, there is always an emergency exit!" I said. Engie slaps himself in the head. "Ya tellin me, THIS WHOLE TIME, WE COULD HAVE JUST EXITED THE GAME BY TAKING THE EMERGANCY EXIT?!" he yelled at me. "Hmmmm." I thought to myself, and then I nodded. "Pretty much, yeah." "Yer an idiot." Engie said. "Hey, I had a fun time, and thanks to you, you're a winner!" I said. "But you made the robot!" Engie said. "Actually, you made the robot." I said. "Ah don't remember makin’ it." Engie said. "I kept bragging about the robot thing to you, so I just confused you, and you just made it!" I said. "Well then..... ya know what? Yer right, Flare! Ah did have fun! Teamwork is the best solution to every problem! Even if you don't need to use teamwork, it wouldn't be hard. Even if ya don't need help, ah guess it wouldn't hurt if ya helped anyway." Engie said. "I'll be sure to remember that when I write to Princess Luna." I said. Engie and I then smiled at eachother. "Well, I'm bored here, let's head on home!" He nodded, and we both entered through the exit and teleported back to our world. Back with the Scavenger Hunters, they ran out of Filthy Rich's house and jump over the fence, running away from some greyhounds that were chasing them. "Release the hounds!" Filthy Rich yelled as he stood on his front porch, and then he clinched his hooves together and said; "Excellent!" Like what Mr. Burns says. My friends all hid in some bushes and the grayhounds just ran pass them. My friends started breathing heavily. "I… I think we lost them." Aqua said, catching his breath. "Well, at least we found the riddle!" Spike said as he opened it and started reading it. "Well, what does it say?" Blaze asked. "To win the game...." Spike started. "To win the game this must be the last one!" Crystal said. "... Go back to... where you started." Spike said with a glare. "You are kidding me right?" Blaze complained. "I'm not going back to where I was born!" Crystal freaked out. "So let me get this straight. We just wasted our time, hunting for useless riddles, when they're just tellin us TO GO BACK TO START?!" Blazeyelled. "How ironic, isn't it?" Aqua asked. "C'mon! We're gonna have a word with Mr. Unfair Riddler!" Blaze angrily said. Back at the trailer, Engie and I just popped out of the TV, just like that! "Phew! Thank Luna that's over!" Engie said. "What? You didn't think it was fun?" I asked. "Ah didn't say that." Engie said. "But ah was tired anyway." "So, I guess we both can agree that this was a successful game night?" I asked. "Ya can say that again!" Engie said. "So, I guess we can both...." I was about to repeat. "Not really." he said. "All this time, I still didn't get mah bacon!" I complained. Just then, my friends suddenly marched on inside my trailer and angrily walked into the lounge to meet with us. "Oh sup brahs? How was the scavenger hunt?" "It was awesome!" Crystal said happily. "You think that was funny, Flare?! Giving us a riddle game like that?!" Blaze angrily asked. "We nearly became dog food, we were attacked by the Cakes, and chickens...." ".... and I was hit on the head by a baby multiple times!" Crystal yelled. "Yeah, dude! Why did you get us to play that game? If we would've known that the riddle after Filthy Rich's house tells us to come back here, then we would've just grabbed that other riddle and just skip a load of difficult riddles!" Blaze complained. "Who said anything about the Filthy Rich riddle taking you back here?" I asked. "The riddle specifically says to go back where we started!" Blaze said. “Why did you make us play that stupid game anyway?" Spike asked. "For the record: I did NOT force you to play it, you had the choice to- IS THAT MY DIARY, PSYCHE?!" I yelled at him. Psyche immediately closed it and hid it behind his back. "Well, uhhh.... yes." Psyche said. “I could’ve said no but there’s no fooling.” "HOW COULD YOU STEAL MY DIARY?!" I asked angrily. "I'm sorry! It was just so funny, and entertaining!" Psyche said. "Why would you hide it behind your back and say you do have it?” Crystal asked him. "Wait, you found it entertaining?" I asked. "Well, yeah." Psyche said. "I found it entertaining too! It was pretty funny, Flare!" Spike said. "Pinkie liked it too, and Opal!" Psyche said. "Well then.... if I would've known my diary would be so amusing, maybe I wouldn've kept it a secret." I said. "So how was your day staying in and playing video games, guys?" Blaze asked. "Well.... let's just say.... we won't be playin’ that game ever again." Engie said, and winked at me. "Why are you winking at me?" I asked him. "I loved that game! I'm totally playing it again!" "So what was the next riddle?" Aqua asked. "It was actually the riddle to take you all back home, where your prize is. I got you each some prizes." I said. "Well, that was some game night! I'm gonna get myself a snack!" Crystal said. She inserts a bit into my vending machine, presses C-4, and guess what happens? No, it doesn't explode, what gives you that idea? Pound Cake pops out and whacks Crystal in the head with a frying pan........ ..... and then the vending machine explodes.