//------------------------------// // What kind of game? // Story: My Very Little Ponies // by Yonah21 //------------------------------//      (So everyone knows, the link I put in later is not needed for understanding the chapter. It is there for those who don't know the game that well. Also, there is swearing in that link, a lot of it. And, yes, I reacted just like those two in the video when I first played games like that. I am a wimp.) “Make sense? Oh what fun is there in making sense?”      Cue collective gasp from everypony around me.      After we finished our hug, everypony and I went back to the bedroom. While every one of them is still understandably unnerved by what they have seen, they all want to see more. A lot more. Each and every episode that they can, to be exact. So, yeah, we have been at this for a while now.      I have also been learning about their world in reality as opposed to the show. While the events happen similar in the show as in reality, there are some differences. For one, they spent a fairly long time in the Everfree Forest the time they went against Nightmare Moon. It wasn’t short as portrayed in the show.      Though funnily enough the funny moments happen almost the same in the show as they do in reality. I have to say that bit is not that surprising.      “Discord was one of the worst creatures ever to roam Equestria”, Twilight says as she sits on my shoulder, her eyes glued to the computer screen.      “I imagine so. A foe with Discord’s power would be most frightening.”      “He was. I am just glad we were able to defeat him.”      “That you did indeed, Twilight. You are a tough little pony after all”, I say with a smile, scratching her behind her ears with my finger. She and all the others do definitely seem to enjoy it when I do that, enough that they all lean into my finger when I do so.      “He was such a brute. The way that he changed us into the opposite of who we truly are was… Ugh, I loathe the memory of it”, Rarity says, sitting on my knee.     Hm… Idea! She will probably be upset at me for bringing this up, but I just have to. I have to know if this one particular event happened. I absolutely need to know.      Leaning forward, I move the episode farther ahead, to when they are already all in the maze as I say, “One moment ladies, I am going to fast forward to a certain part.”      Where is it, where is it…. Ahah! Yes, exactly what I am looking for!      “Why did you skip so much Micah? Why are we watching- OH NO. No, no no no please tell me we are not going to see what I fear we shall see!”      Instead of showing the six of them the part with Celestia and Discord in the castle, now it is showing Rarity. Specifically, Rarity when she walks straight into a wall of stone with three gemstones on the surface of it. Hehe, I wonder how upset she will get.      “Hm, Ah reckon that we’re ‘bout to see you findin’ Tom, Rarity”, Applejack says with a snicker.      “Oh this is so embarrassing! Micah, darling, can we please not see this?”, Rarity says pleadingly. “I don’t want to ever be reminded of this moment!”      “Rarity, I am sorry, but I won’t skip this. I for one can’t help but find it hilarious!”, I say, and start laughing as Rarity on screen starts digging out the boulder from the stone wall.      “Look Rarity, there’s Tom!”, Pinkie Pie shouts, giggling at the sight of the now dirty Rarity and grayish on screen.      Rarity face-hoofs before looking up at me. Her eyes narrow as she glares, and her horn glows. Quickly my shirt collar is enveloped by her magic before being yanked down. Or, rather, before Rarity tries to yank me down towards her.      “Never, ever, speak of this again”, Rarity says, almost in a growl. “Not to us, and not to anypony else.”      “Heh, I give no promises Rarity. Something like this is far too good to never mention again. Oh, what’s her name um… Sweetie something? Maybe I should tell her?”, I ask, not quite remembering her sisters name.      After a short gasp from Rarity, I see her right on my face, her hooves grabbing my cheeks as she stares straight at me.      “Don’t you ever mention this to Sweetie Belle! Ever! She must never, ever know!”, Rarity yells. “Never speak of it again!”      “Um, Rarity, maybe you should calm down a little bit”, Fluttershy says to Rarity as she flies up to her and I.      “But what if he tells Sweetie Belle? Honestly, I will never live that down!”      “Rarity, I was joking. I wouldn’t embarrass you like that”, I say with a chuckle from the amusing sight.      Rarity’s demeanor changes almost instantly, as she raises an eyebrow in confusion. As she loosens her grip, I place a hand underneath her to catch her as she slides off of my face. Once she lands on my hand, she moves her hoof into her mane, smoothing it out.      “Um, my apologies, Micah. I just truly don’t want Sweetie Belle to know about that. Oh, that was so embarrassing for me! Carrying around that huge ugly boulder, thinking it was a gem. A big, shiny, beautiful gem”, Rarity says, grinning, seemingly recalling that time.      Or, she does for a little while, before she realizes that everypony around her is staring at her.      “What? It’s not as if I want to go back to that. But… It did seem like a beautiful gem at the time.”      “Um… I have an excellent idea, everypony! Let’s go back to watching the show!”, I quickly say.      Thankfully I get words of affirmation from everypony assembled, and we go back to watching the show.      I’m not surprised at all that Rarity was upset, but it was still pretty funny to see her act like that. I wonder what it would be like if I did tell Sweetie Belle about that. Oh, the look that I bet would be on Rarity’s face when Sweetie finds out and tells everypony else, that would be hilarious! I’ve got to say I am somewhat tempted to do that.      Though… I can’t do that. Or at least I probably can’t. After they go back to Equestria, will I ever see them again? Is whatever magic they used to get here easily controlled, or is it a fluke that they are here, a mistake or happy coincidence? I don’t think I ever asked them that.      And what would happen when they go back? Would the show end up showing a bit of what happened here, would their being here change things? Or will this not show up at all? Will they tell anypony else about me? I mean, sure, they will tell Celestia about me, that’s a given, but is she the only one?      To add on to that, what the hell am I going to do when they are gone? It’s not like I will be able to tell anyone about this. Even though my family, Leah, and myself are all close, there is no way they will believe me if I tell them. My family would have to see all six of the ponies themselves if they are to believe me.      And if it was a mistake, or fluke, or if it is simply difficult to transport to different worlds or dimensions or whatever the hell it is… I probably won’t see them again. The time that they have here with me is probably it.      “Micah, you okay there?”      “Huh? What?”, I say, looking down to the pony who spoke.      “Ah said, ‘you okay there’? You seemed kind of zoned out there partner”, Applejack says, looking up at me.      “Oh. Yeah, I’m fine Applejack, don’t worry”, I say, trying my best to put on a reassuring grin. “My mind just wanders at times, that’s all.”      Applejack glares at me for a while before turning back to look at the screen. Thankfully however nopony else says anything. Whether it is because of them not really caring or not wanting to continue the matter however, I do not know.      Though I bet that Applejack knows something is up. If anyone can tell when someone might be lying, it would be her. Maybe after we watch this for a while, she will forget about it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------      “Alright ladies, I think that is enough for now.”      “Oh, Micah, can we watch a little more please? Just a little bit?”      “No. That’s enough for today Twilight.”      Thankfully while we were watching more of the show, Applejack didn’t bring up what happened earlier, when I was lost in thought. She didn’t actually say much of anything. Well, at least she isn’t mentioning it for now. Though with my luck she probably will mention it at some point.      But for the time being I can’t watch anymore of the show. Don’t get me wrong, at this point I am starting to like it more and more as I watch it with the six of them, but after hours and hours it gets tiring.      “Micah, what else can you do with this machine of yours? Can it only show images like the ones we’ve already seen, or can it do more?”, Twilight asks as she jumps from my shoulder onto the bed.      “It can do a lot more than that. This thing right here can do quite a lot. Thanks to something called the internet it can allow me to access any information I want with just the push of a few buttons.”      As soon as those words left my lips, Twilight has a huge grin that could possibly even make Pinkie Pie jealous. And it would seem that everypony else notices it at the same moment I do.      “Twilight, don’t do anything crazy now, alright?”, Skittles says, her eyes locked on Twilight as the purple pony looks at the keyboard, while still grinning.      Of course however, Twilight doesn’t listen for even a second. She dashes at the keyboard, her hoof moving over the finger pad to move the mouse on the screen, while another hoof presses against the different keys on the keyboard.      “Twilight knock it off!”, I say, and quickly grab her as she opens something on the screen, not letting go for a second as she continues to try and squirm out of my grasp.      “But I just want to learn! I just want to see what’s on this internet, that’s all! Let me go!”, Twilight says as she squirms, getting a hoof loose.      “Later, not yet! You are a little overzealous right now Twilight”, I say as she continues to squirm, and I just now see what it was she opened on the computer screen.      Slender. So that’s what she clicked on. I haven’t played that game in a while. Better get out of this, I don’t think that anypony would want to try this thing out. I can only imagine what would happen if Fluttershy watches one of us play this.      Or I would have if Rarity did not get in front of the finger pad.      “Micah, what is this?”, she asks as she looks at the screen.      “It’s a video game. A horror video game, to be specific”, I say, and hear a very quiet ‘eep’ from Fluttershy.      “A, a horror game? Why would you play that?”, she asks softly, partially hiding behind her mane as she looks at the screen.      “Well, scary things sometimes can be fun. I don’t know exactly why, but that is why I like them. Now, if you don’t mind, I am going to turn it off for now. We can look again later, but I think the computer has been on long enough for today”, I say, and move my free hand down to the computer to turn the game, and the computer itself off.      I don’t want them to be playing this. Fluttershy would flip out, Twilight would ask more and more questions, and Rainbow would play for a long time until she was able to beat it.      “Hold on a second!”      As soon as I hear those words two blue hooves slam into my hand right before I placed the mouse on the ‘exit’ option. She might be small but dang it that still hurts!      “Geez Skittles, what the hell was that for?!”, I say, snapping my hand back, rubbing the spot where she kicked. “You didn’t have to kick me.”      “You said it was a game. What kind of game?”, Skittles asks as she looks at the screen.      “Ugh, it’s a horror game, like I said. You walk around collecting pages while a monster of sorts is after you. You have to collect all the pages before he finds you, otherwise you lose”, I say to her.      For a while, Skittles looks at the screen, until eventually she turns back to me, and says, “I want to try it.”      “Say what now? Skittles, I think that the computer has been on for enough tonight. Tomorrow maybe we can have it on again, but-”      “Come on Micah. Just one game? That won’t take long”, Skittle says. “Please? I know it won’t scare me.”      “... One game? You promise? Just one?”      “Yep, just one. Please? After that I’ll be done, promise!”, Rainbow says with a smile.      Oy vey, I hope I won’t regret this.      “Just one. Though you will probably need another pony to help you play, as you will need to push many buttons to do so”, I say, looking at everypony else.      “Ah’ll do it! Ah ain’t scared of this thing!”, Applejack quickly says as she walks next to Skittles, and looks at all of the keys.      “Alright, alright. Just let me explain the controls for you before you actually start playing. Trust me, you will want to know how the whole thing works. Oh, and Fluttershy?”      “Yes?”, she asks in her always quiet voice.      “I think you should leave and maybe be with Bonnie and Clyde. I think you would probably get too scared from watching this. I will let you know when we are done though”, I say to her as she takes flight.      “Thank you for letting me know. You are right, I, I probably shouldn’t watch that”, she says, and leaves the room quickly.      “Um, Micah, aren’t you forgetting somepony?”      “Oh… Heh, sorry about that Twilight”, I say as I put her down on the bed.      “It’s alright”, Twilight says as she gets comfortable, and sits next to Applejack. “Now, I do have a question. How would collecting simple pages be difficult? That doesn’t sound all that difficult to me. Unless it was in a full library of course, now that would be quite challenging”, Twilight says, a hoof underneath her chin, seemingly pondering that.      “Ah. Good question. It is because the game is set in a forest, and the pages are scattered all throughout the forest. It took me many tries to complete the game.”      Many tries being about twenty. I was rather poor at it when I started. Not to mention how much Slenderman creeped me out when I first played. Nowadays he is not so scary at all, but when I first played…. Ugh, that was one creepy creature.      “Hm. That could be quite challenging. Would you mind if I take some notes while they play?”, Twilight asks with an eager grin.      “Go ahead. Now, Applejack, Skittles, let me explain the controls to you.”      As Twilight goes to get some paper and a pencil, I explain what each button does what to Applejack and Skittles. After I do so, Skittles decides she will be the one who makes the character look around and such and control the flashlight, while Applejack will push the buttons that make them walk, run, and pick up pieces of paper.      “Now, are you two ready?”, I ask, about to start the game for them.      “Darn tootin’ I am!”      “Yeah! Let’s go!”      And with the click on the play button, it begins.      “Alright Applejack, let’s go… This way”, Skittles says as she points the character into the forest.      With the click of a button Applejack sends them on their way into the forest. The only sound that we hear is the footsteps of their character on the forest ground, and the sounds of crickets. Just as it should be.      “Where is the monster? Shouldn’t it be here? I don’t see it”, Skittles says as they walk.      “Oh, trust me, you will find it soon enough. Or it will find you”, I say with a grin.      “What?”, Rarity asks, one trimmed eyebrow raised. “How so?”      “You shall see Rarity. You shall all see. And you know what? We need to add a little atmosphere to this”, I say, and get off of the bed, and move towards the light switch on the wall.      Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity look at me, confused, with Twilight saying, “What are you doing Micah?”      “Oh, just going to make the lighting in the room fit with the game”, I say, and flick the light switch to ‘off’, shrouding the entire room in darkness.      “Ah, mimicking the game's lighting! That would definitely add to the experience”, Twilight says with a smile as I sit back down next to them.      “Hah! I’m not scared! Oh, Applejack look! A page!”, Skittles says with a wide smile as she points them towards a tree with a page on its trunk, which Applejack picks up.      “Yeehaw! One down, now let’s go round up the rest of ‘em!”      Skittles’ enthusiasm definitely meets that of Applejack.      “Awesome! How many more are there Micah?”      “Hm, if I remember right there should be about eight of them spread throughout the forest”, I say. “Some of them however are in a small hut, on tankers, or such things as that.”      “Micah, how many of them do you think they will get?”, Twilight asks.      “I think they will probably get about three. At most.”      Though it is possible they will do better. With how good Skittles did with Worms, she might very well surprise me again with this. I wonder if she has a natural knack with video games as she does with sports?      “RD, Ah think we oughta go lef-AH! WHAT IS THAT?!”      And there he is. I was wondering how long it would be until he found them. Once they just took a turn, there was the fellow, Slender. A tall, pale faced, very thing creature in a suit. Oh, that reaction they are having is one so many people have had as they first play this game.      “Holy horseapples what is that?!”, Skittles says as she freaks out, her hoof moving all over the pad and therefore making the camera go all over the place.      Applejack starts hammering the different keys on the keyboard, their flashlight going on and off and running into a wall from Skittles making the camera move around. “RD stop moving the camera like that! We need to run! RUN!”      “Then run! Ah, there he is again, hurry!”, Skittles says once they turn a corner, and he shows up once more.      Rarity and Twilight quickly move behind me, with Pinkie Pie joining them very shortly.      “Sweet Celestia Micah, what is that thing?!”, Rarity screams.      “It is Slender. And he is after our two ponies that are playing the game”, I say, as my lips form a grin.      “Why is he such a meany? A nice pony wouldn’t do that!”, I hear Pinkie say.      “He’s the bad guy, Pinkie. Sort of his job.”      And it would seem he is doing a really, really good job of it. They repeatedly try to run away, though of course he always catches up to them. And each time he does both of them let out a scream which makes me grin more and more. I know I shouldn’t, but it is just funny to watch them freak out like this.      “Rainbow, stop shakin’ the camera, we keep running into trees! Ah, what’s that sound?!”      “Shut up and keep running! Maybe there’s a page over-”      Once again, they have been found. However, I do not think they will be able to get away this time, for one specific reason.      “AH! HOW’D HE GET IN FRONT OF US?!”, Applejack and Skittles scream in unison at the sight of Slender’s face engulfing the camera. However, that is not the best part.      They grab onto each other. Skittles and Applejack actually grab each other, and hold each other as close as possible. As cruel as it is, I can’t help but laugh at the site of those two actually being so terrified and hugging each other so.      “AAAAAAH!”      “Ok, ok I think that’s enough of that now!”, I say through my laughter, and quickly pause and exit out of the game before looking down at Skittles and Applejack, who are still embracing one another.      The two of them glance at each other, and seemingly only now realize the position they are in. Upon realizing it, they let go of each other at once and quickly back away from one another.      “Um, Ah don’t think we need to play that again anytime soon”, Applejack says, glancing at the computer.      “Yeah… Yeah I think we had enough for tonight. But I wasn’t scared though!”, Skittles says as she looks up at me.      “Oh, of course not. The two of you were just screaming like little fillies out of joy. Right, little scaredy fillies?”, I say with a smile as I am able to stop laughing.      Skittles glares at me, and quickly flies straight up at me, stopping right in front of my face.      “I’m no scaredy filly!”, she says with as much bravado and gusto she can muster.      “Well you didn’t exactly exude courage while playing, Skittles. It was pretty hilarious to see you get so scared from a game.”      Applejack speaks up next, before Skittles has the chance to. I notice that as she is the element of honesty, she is really bad at lying. And by really bad, I mean just awful. I’ve seen grade schoolers who are better at lying than she is.      “Well, uh, Ah wasn’t scared none. Ah only grabbed Rainbow ‘cause Ah thought she was goin’ all crazy like!”, Applejack says, trying to smile confidently.      “Oh my goodness… Applejack, you have the worst poker face of anypony or any person I have ever seen. I pray to G-d you never try playing poker or any sort of card game, you’d lose everything in a few hands! Or hooves, as the case may be.”      “We’ve played games like that before! Every time we play Applejack tries to bluff but she just can’t do it right because she always goes ‘I have a great hoof of cards!’ but then she always has that face and everypony around goes ‘Oh, she has a bad hoof’ and every time she loses and-”      “Pinkie, darling, please do calm down”, Rarity thankfully says, and covers Pinkie’s hoof with her mouth.      However, even though Pinkie for now is silent, everypony else starts chatting once more. Twilight starts asking me questions about the game, like how it works and if there is anything more to it. Rarity, thankfully, spends her time trying to restrain Pinkie who continues to try and speak up again. Skittles though spends her time speaking to everypony else about how she wasn’t really scared, to which I call bullcrap.      I notice that Applejack is the only one who stays quiet. All she does is look up at me, and motions with her hoof for me to come towards her, which I do. Enough so that my ear is right by her.      Whispering in my ear, Applejack says, “Ya should know, Ah know you were thinkin’ bout somethin’ earlier. Ah know you were lyin’, and Ah think ya should tell me what you were thinkin’ bout.”      Dangit! I was worried she would be bringing this up again. Yeah it is something I want to ask, but I don’t want to bother everypony here at once with it!      “Micah? Applejack to Micah, do ya hear me?”      “Right, sorry about that. You are right, I was thinking about something earlier, something important. But, I really would prefer not to talk about it with everypony else here. I wouldn’t want everypony else to deal with it after what happened with Twilight earlier, when I told her about the show.”      “Tomorrow then?”      “Tomorrow it is.”