Gunshots and explosions. These two wonderful noises combined into a chaotic chorus of destruction that drowned out anything and everything. The calls of my injured teammates were hardly audible but were ignored regardless. I had a mission and I wasn't going to stray from it just because a rookie got a couple of scrapes. I knew what I needed to do and anyone would be insane to think I wasn't going to follow through with my goal.
A sniper far in the distance took his shot on me. His bullet bored straight through my armor and buried itself deep in my right shoulder. I cringed in pain as I threw myself into the cover of a nearby building before the sniper could line up a second shot.
Millions of thoughts raced through my mind. How much longer do I have to live? Can I still complete the objective? In my split second of decision making I figuratively bit the bullet and pushed on, doing my best to ignore the searing pain.
Cautiously, I peered out over my cover. The sniper was distracted by one of my teammates on the other side of him. Right then was my chance to strike. I sprinted out of cover, with my last grenade in hand.
I gracefully swam in between flurries of bullets and broken barricades. This is what my life had been building up to, this is what I was meant to do. In one swift motion, I gripped the pin in my teeth and pulled. Positioning myself into a throwing stance, I lobbed the grenade high above the buildings and right into the snipers nest.
Ding dong!!!
The doorbell echoed throughout my small apartment, breaking my concentration as I looked towards the door. I turned back to the screen just in time to see my own frag grenade detonate in my face. My glorious kill streak was obliterated in a single moment of fiery death.
The sniper victoriously mocked me shouting, "Cook your 'nades before you toss them, noob!" before laughing maniacally and snorting occasionally.
"You got lucky," I retorted spitefully, "I'm going AFC, cover me."
"Rodger that," replied my friend Andy who came running up behind my newly re-spawned character.
I strategically placed a claymore in the doorway of the small office, stood my character in a corner and let him idle in the menu.
Taking my controller along with me, I checked the peephole of the door. There was no one there at all. Confused, I opened the door, thinking that maybe somebody was just doorbell ditching me or something. Instead, however, I was greeted by a small white box.
"Well, I think you might be at the wrong address," I grinned as I reached down to pick up the cute little cube.
"What is it?" inquired Andy through the cheap headset.
"It's a box, but if you give me half a second to look at it I might be able to find out what it is," I huffed.
"Well then get on with it, I can't stay here forever," moaned Andy, who was impatiently pacing back and forth.
I sat myself back down on the couch with the box in hand. I then placed the controller down on the couch to better examine the box. After looking at it from multiple different angles, I was unable to find any clue as to this strange box's origins or why it happened upon my doorstep.
Through my headset I heard my claymore detonate followed by a final kill-cam signifying that the match had ended.
"Nice!" I rejoiced as I continued to play with the box, "This box isn't addressed to anyone... Should I open it?"
There was a brief pause before Andy replied, "How big is it?"
"How does that matter?" I asked looking down at the box, "It's about three inches cubed, why?"
"No reason..." There was another slight pause, "You should do it. Because, who knows? There could be a treasure map or something inside."
"Alright," I said holding the mysterious cube, "I'll open it but I'm going to exit out and then invite you into a private match after I open it."
"Aw, come on, man! You can't just leave me out of this!" whined Andy.
I sighed and rubbed my temple, "Fine, but you're in charge of making the match."
"Deal!" cried Andy right before disappearing from the lobby. Seconds later his invite notification popped up on the screen. I unconsciously accepted his request and joined him in an empty room. "Alright, you can go ahead and open it now."
I held the box in my palm. Carefully pulling off the opaque plastic wrapping, I revealed the soft pink writing beneath that said, 'Pinkie P.A.I., Your New Best Friend' and smaller words '(Pony Artificial Intelligence)' in parenthesis underneath it.
"Well... Uh... There's some writing here..." I muttered contemplating what the cryptic title could have possibly meant.
"What does it say?" asked Andy eagerly.
"It's got something to do with ponies," I warned. Luckily, Andy knew of my obsession with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and grew to accept me for it, even though he still thought that it was pretty weird.
"Well, this is you we're talking about. What kind of pony stuff is it?" inquired Andy.
"It says something about it being an AI, but it's weird because I haven't ordered anything like that."
"That's even more reason to open it! Now I need to know what it is!" begged Andy sarcastically.
"Okay, okay, don't get your panties in a twist. I'm opening it," I sighed with a dismissive smile.
Slowly, I removed the top half of the cube to reveal an alien looking disk. On it, there was a glass hemisphere in the center and a single pink button on the side. Not finding anything else of value inside of the box except for a silky cushion, I placed the box and its lid down on the coffee table. For how small the disk was, it was surprisingly heavy. It weighed at least a pound but was only about the size of a half dollar.
"You should get over here, Andy. This is pretty cool," I murmured before exiting out of the room. A sigh of relief escaped my lips. Andy was a great friend, but sometimes he could be quite smothering. However, he was loyal and honest, which was probably why he stuck around.
I rolled the disk around in my hand. The button was so appealing but at the same time was very unnerving. "Might as well push the button just to see what happens. It might be something pretty cool," I said halfheartedly optimistic.
I placed the disk down on the table next to my controller before cautiously pressing the button. A soft glowing pink erupted from the glass hemisphere the moment my finger made contact with the disk. It made me stumble back slightly but I was immediately pulled back in as a delicate form began to take shape in the air above the disk. Starting from the bottom grew four beautiful hooves and into slender legs. Then came the sleek body and bouncy pink tail. The incomplete entity began to stretch its legs as if it was preparing to run a race while its neck took shape. Finally, formed the head and cotton candy mane of the mare that I knew all too well.
The pink hologram pony yawned and then smiled cheerfully. "The booting process is now complete!" she cheered gleefully. She blinked her bright blue eyes excitedly as she looked around at her new surroundings before focusing on me. "Hello, there!" she smiled.
"Uh... Hi?" I said awestruck.
The pony giggled and said, "My name is Pinkie P.A.I., what's your name?"
"M-My name?" I stuttered.
"Of course, silly. What else do you think I meant?" she teased.
"My name is James, James Grove. Most of my friends call me Jim though," I said staring down the strange pony AI hologram thing. "What exactly are you?"
"I just told you, I'm Pinkie P.A.I.! But you probably meant something more literal, right?" she asked with a cute tilt of her head.
"Yeah..." I nodded.
"Alright! It's time for an explanation," a holographic chair and owners manual instantaneously materialized and Pinkie sat herself down opening the pamphlet. "I am a highly advanced AI appropriately named Pinkie P.A.I. - P.A.I. meaning 'Pony Artificial Intelligence' - based off of the beloved character known by many as Pinkie Pie. However, I do host a few deviations from Pinkie Pie such as vocabulary and general knowledge. A fun way to think about it is as if you took Twilights' smarts and combined it with the body and personality of Pinkie Pie, that's what I am!" Pinkie said tossing the packet in the air which disappeared as quickly it had appeared a moment earlier.
"That's... Wait, what?!" I stumbled, "You're telling me that you are an AI that's years ahead of current technology based off of a TV show character? A character that I just so happen to be particularly fond of? Seems too good to be true."
"Don't be so flattering," Pinkie blushed, "But simply put, yes. That is exactly what I am."
"Well, I -"
"I understand you probably have like a ton of questions you want to ask right now but could you please help me out with a little introduction survey? It'll only take a teeny tiny minute or two," she requested sweetly with a clipboard now in her hoof.
"Sure, I guess," I agreed.
"Alrighty then, first question, how old are you?" Pinkie asked, now wearing a pair of hot pink librarians glasses.
"Right now, I'm Thirty-two, but in three weeks I'll be turning Thirty-three."
"That's good to know..." Pinkie mumbled through a pen as she furiously scribbled down notes. "Okay, next question," she said with the pen still in her teeth, "Are you currently employed?"
"Self employed, yes."
"That's interesting, what kind of self employment?" Pinkie asked peering over the glasses.
"I mostly design software but I sometimes repair computers on the side. How is this relevant, if I might ask?"
"It's my way of -"
Ding dong!!!
"Eep!" shrieked Pinkie before her hologram dissipated.
"Don't be scared, Pinkie," I said trying to console her, "That just means that someone is at the door, it's probably my friend Andy."
"You should go see who it is," said Pinkie through the lightly glowing glass, "I'll just stay here and keep the table safe."
"Okay then, I'll be right back," I said standing up. It's kind of weird that Andy would be here so soon because he lived at least an entire county away. I again peeked through the peephole and saw nothing, just like before.
'Is there a chance that there's another package?' I thought to myself.
I swiftly pulled the door open expecting another box at my feet. Instead, there stood a twelve year old pony-tailed girl with a stuffed backpack and suitcase in tow.