Connor
“So, I have seven days to create any kind of game, huh? What the hall do I want to make?”
Connor casually strolled through the streets of Ponyville Wednesday afternoon with his head bowed down in concentration while his eyes gazed into space. He had spent most of that late morning and lunch time wandering aimlessly down main streets, back roads, and everything in between. Since Rainbow Dash was extremely hyped about this little competition, she had rushed through their cloud busting job before most ponies finished their morning routines and had given Connor the rest of the day off while she tried to come up with ideas for her game.
Connor didn’t mind having extra free time, as he was entering in the competition as well. The spare time would give him room to think about what he wanted to. He casually maneuvered through a crowd of ponies down the main market street in his never ending walk around town. When Connor had free time back in his world, he would usually go for night time walks with his dog off leash. The calm night air and quiet surroundings as he walked down the forested back roads of his home town watching his dog explore the nooks and crannies had a special calming effect on him that allowed him to think a little more clearly.
Since his mind never completely stopped moving and coming up with random ideas, the exercise and subconscious focus of tracking his dog helped distract and occupy part of his brain while his cognitive side was allowed to formulate plans and schedules. Even though he didn’t have his dog with him, Connor could still let his subconscious eye focus on the ponies around him while he pondered and waited for inspiration to come.
Connor knew that he didn’t really have that much time to make this game before this Sportsen guy came to town, but he had two options available to him that other ponies didn’t have. One path he could take was to create a whole brand new game from scratch and present that to Sportsen at the presentation. It was possible to complete such a task in such a short time span and Connor was capable of it, but it didn’t seem like the most enjoyable route.
The other option Connor could do was bring a game over from his world into this one and present it that way; with a few modifications to make it more accommodating to ponies. It would be a little bit easier that way as Connor would already have complete knowledge of the game and he could easily modify it for the pony world. However, the knowledge that some things from his world, like certain cities, have bled into this one would imply that even sports and other games would have already made the conversion into the pony world as well.
It was a difficult decision for Connor to make. He didn’t want to take the easy way out and bring a game from his world over to make a few small changes then call it good, nor was he creative enough to choose the second option and make a new game that was unique to both world. He had his moments of creative inspiration and would think up something new, but even the things he thought up were still based off of others’ works or used others’ ideas as a foundation to build off of; it could be a song that he heard and wanted to make a music video to or saw a video of someone preforming impressive feats and wanted to make his own version of them. In short, Connor was more of a modifier taking ideas that were good to begin with and seeing what he could do to improve upon it rather than being an inventor of something completely new.
Connor frowned to himself more as he side stepped another pony through the main market street. There were so many ponies in town that it was starting to annoy him. Usually, there was about half as many ponies on the street as today. Maybe he could think better if he headed out of town for a while to think. As he replotted his course out of town, his vision was filled with a surprising, familiar pink pony in front of him.
“Hey Connor!” Pinkie shouted.
Connor started in surprise before relaxing when he saw it was just Pinkie Pie, “Hey Pinkie Pie, how’s it going?”
“Not too bad,” she answered, “I’m just taking a break right now from the shop. Aren’t you excited for this whole ‘Show and tell’ thing, next week? Look how many ponies are out here making their own unique game!” she pulled Connor beside her to point out all the ponies discussing and experimenting with new game ideas.
Connor wiggled himself free, “Good to see that you’re still doing okay. Have you made anything yet with your game?”
“Kind of,” she put a hoof to her chin, “I was thinking of using some tubas and a tennis racket for mine but-”
“What were you going to use a tuba and a tennis racket for??” Connor interrupted and did a double take as his brow furrowed in bafflement.
“Well, I was going to have a pony play a song on the tuba while trying to play tennis with another pony playing the harmonica. But when I had a filly test it out for me, it didn’t go so well…” Pinkie Pie lowered her head in shame while Connor let out a laugh.
“Yeah,” he agreed, “I don’t think that would have been the best choice of instruments,” he laughed again.
Pinkie giggled along, “What about you? Have you made anything yet?”
Connor’s smile dropped a little, “Not yet; I’m still thinking on what to make. I’m not sure where to begin with my game. I don’t know if I should make a brand new game or if I should try using something that’s from my world.” He started walking again on his path out of town with Pinkie following beside him.
“Oo! What kind of games do you have from your world? Are they fun, exciting, strange?”
“Well, they’re fun to me. But I don’t think Sportsen would be looking for video games.”
“Plus, I doubt this world would be interested in war-like games either,” he thought to himself.
“I don’t think he would mind something with a little more punch to it,” Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes and flashed a dangerous smile and threw a few quick jabs, “Something with a bit more edge and danger than what’s already in Equestria,” Connor stared at Pinkie who was giving him a mischievous grin and an adventurous glint in her eye.
“You know what I mean?!?” she bounced back to her energetic and happy self like her slip into daring Connor to be a little bit different was just a normal thing.
Connor was rattled by the sudden change in tone by Pinkie Pie, “Uh, are you sure? I mean, this world seems pretty peaceful and it doesn’t look like competitive fighting is a popular thing.”
“Did she just read my mind as well?”
“Don’t worry about it Connor; just do what you do best and be yourself. That’s the best anypony can ask of you,” she poked Connor in the chest encouragingly.
He eased himself from Pinkie’s reassurance and slowly smiled, “Alright then, I think I can do that. Thanks Pinkie, I think I know what I want to do now. I’ll see you around!” he waved goodbye to Pinkie as he trotted off to leave Ponyville.
Pinkie smiled and waved after him, “Good job Pinkie. Another frown turned upside down,” she took a few steps in the opposite direction when she realized something, “Oh my gosh!! I completely forgot to ask him if he could help out with my game and now I have no idea what I want to make!!!”
She whipped around and bolted after Connor at top speed.
~~~
Thursday was very similar to Wednesday for Connor. Rainbow Dash rushed through her work and let Connor go early by late morning while she rushed off somewhere to continue working on her project. He wasn’t sure what Rainbow was working on, but he shrugged and decided he didn’t need to worry about it.
After Pinkie Pie flagged him down and had him babble off a few random musical instruments, Connor was back to wandering the streets again except for a few differences. This time, he was wandering around the less crowded streets of Ponyville. Secondly, he had a direction for what he wanted to do for the tryouts. He was going to use something from his world to base his game off of and build from that point forward.
Unfortunately, there were probably the same number of games available as there were different shades of color. There were thousands of possibilities flying around in Connor’s head from things as easy as ‘patty cake’ and card games to complex like designing video games. Most of the sports from his world he quickly dismissed. He enjoyed baseball when he was younger, but it required quite a bit of gear to play. Football was just a mindless show of muscle in his world with a lot of extreme, and sometimes violent, fans; but he did like joining in on the overall excitement when he felt like it.
[Shots fired!!]
Most of the other sports from his world he dismissed because he didn’t have any experience or seemed too easy to recreate to some degree of accuracy. His mind slowly drifted over to some more obscure sports and games. Things like racing, swimming, and airsoft floated through his mind’s open window. All had their pros and cons, but he eventually dismissed them for one reason or another. So he returned to wandering the streets waiting for his mind to ping off in a direction with a new idea.
He sighed to himself as he took a step back in his thinking. He needed to stop thinking about what he didn’t have and start thinking on what he did have; or what was easily accessible to him. He was a pony now, a Pegasus no less, and that had to have some kind of advantage to it. He glanced back at his wings and ruffled his feathers slightly. He had wings so he could use them in his game; maybe make a Pegasus specific game?
What else did he have access to? There wasn’t much he had to use. He still had that one saddle bag that Applejack loaned him, but he still needed to return it. Bags are useful for carrying anything you can think of. He could use the bag for something, or he could use the leather material for something else. He shook his head and tossed the idea of taking apart the bag for resources; he would only have a mess on his hooves and Applejack would be furious for destroying something of hers.
His martial art skills bubbled to the front of his mind. Connor considered just starting martial arts as a competitive sport in this near idealistic world, but he didn’t want to do that. Something told him it wouldn’t work as it would be too direct in its aggressive nature and would not work in this world. But he did want something that required some kind of skill and aggression.
He glared at the imaginary table in his mind filled with everything he could think of using and stared at it waiting for something to happen.
“HEADS UP!!!”
Connor’s head shot up in time to see an object sailing through the air headed straight to him. He dodged and made a quick sidestep to his left to avoid the object as it splattered on the ground. Water splashed onto his legs and he growled at the inconvenience. He looked up to search for the pony responsible and recognized three particular fillies with a knack of getting into trouble running up to him.
“Sorry Connor!” Scootaloo yelled as the three crusaders came to a stop in front of him.
“We weren’t trying to hit you with our water balloon; we swear!” Apple Bloom pleaded.
“It was an accident!” Sweetie Belle added.
“Calm down you three!” he raised his hoof to ease the fears of the crusaders before him, “You didn’t hit me, so you are fine. Just tell me what you were trying to do right now.”
The three perked up, “We’re trying to design our new game right now!” Sweetie Belle bounced with energy.
“Yeah! And we’re in the middle of testing our water balloon catapult, too! It’s going to be awesome!!” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed and she pumped a hoof in the air.
Connor gave a stupefied look, “What in dog’s name are you going to use a catapult for in your game?!”
“We’ll show you! Come on, follow us!” Apple Bloom took off with the other two giggling behind. Connor shook his head in disagreement but trotted after them nonetheless.
A little ways away on a small hill was a miniature catapult not unlike a medieval catapult from his world. It was a little bit bigger than him, but it was perfect size for the crusaders’ use. Near the catapult sat a small pile of water balloons ready to be fired from the ballistic weapon. He stared dumbfounded at the weapon wondering how such a thing could be present in this world.
“So, how exactly are you planning on using this thing?” he frowned at Apple Bloom.
“It was going to be one of the positions you could play as in the game. We have the catapult shooter, the ballooner, the water ninja, and the long thrower,” Apple Bloom counted off a few roles in the air.
“And we’re thinking about adding more roles too! Like the flying dropper, the trap setter, the-”
Connor put a hoof to Scootaloo’s mouth, “I think that is good, Scootaloo. I don’t need to here anymore,” he lowered his hoof, “So what are you calling your game?”
Sweetie Belle was happy to answer this question, “It’s an amazing name that I came up with while I was sitting in our thinking spot in the Crusaders’ Headquarters!”
Connor’s mind flashed back to when the Crusaders were recruiting him into their group and were giving him the tour around the club house, “Oh yeah, I remember that. That one spot that had a bullseye target painted on the ground.”
Sweetie Belle continued, “We’re going to call our game, ‘Ultimate Balloon Battle’!”
“I added the ‘Ultimate’ part in the name,” Scootaloo commented.
“Cool,” Connor said.
“So have you made anything yet?” the Crusaders asked in unison.
“Not yet, but I’ll get there.” The Crusaders’ faces fell a little in disappointment but quickly rebounded with Scootaloo shouting an idea.
“Guys! I just got another awesome idea for our game!”
“Really? What is it?”
“Trust me, you two; this is going to be awesome! All we need is a couple of shovels!”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shrugged and all three fillies jumped up together to scream, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS GO!!!”
Connor could feel his ears ringing as the three fillies took off again to find some shovels in town. He shook his head clear and looked out after his fellow Crusaders.
“What do they plan on doing? Adding trench warfare to their game?”
Suddenly, a familiar pinging sensation of his mind shooting off into a random direction went through him and he eagerly awaited what the results of this new random thought would be. The thought ran through his head and he scrutinized his face in deciphering the idea. His eyes widened and he smiled his crooked smile in excitement once he finished processing.
“Ooohhh, this is an awesome idea. Oh my fog, this is amazing! It’s so good, it has to work!!” Connor bounced on his hooves in excited anticipation as the puzzle pieces fell together in his mind.
“Oh my log! I have to go get things started, like, right now!” he looked up into the waning daylight, “Argh! I’ll have to do it tomorrow! I’m going to need Twilight’s help for this one…”
He galloped down the small hill and spread his wings taking flight, angling himself back into town. His mind was racing with ideas like the wind was racing past his ears. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow to get these ideas down on paper.
~~~
Friday was a bit of a poor start for Connor. Last night, he had spent most of sleeping hours lying awake in his makeshift bed at Scootaloo’s house planning out different things for his game. If he had his watch, it probably would have read 3:52 in the morning before he could quell his excited mind to get some sleep; even then, he still tossed and turned in his sleep.
So when he finally woke up, it was already late morning. He cursed himself for oversleeping and rushed to get some food before heading out to see if there was still work to be done with Rainbow Dash. To his dismay, the sky looked to be in order for today’s weather schedule and Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. He cursed himself again for oversleeping as he grudgingly stepped out into the day. He was going to have to apologize to Rainbow about this later, but it was going to have to wait until tomorrow.
As he began his walk down the road again, he refocused his thoughts and planned out his schedule for today. He already had a plethora of ideas for his game ready in his head to be made a reality, but he wanted to have them written down so he could see them and not forget them. If he had everything written down in front of him, it would be easier for him to spot flaws and make changes. He couldn’t think of any other way of holding a pen or pencil other than in his hoof but he didn’t have any fingers to grasp a pencil or pen, nor did he have that fancy magic that every unicorn around him had. His hoof dexterity was still not good enough to grasp anything smaller than a kitchen dining knife, so he needed to enlist somepony to help with writing.
Or maybe some dragon…
An idea sprung into Connor’s mind and he quickly formulated a plan around it. The first step was finding Twilight.
By the time he made his plan, Connor was already trying to filter his way through the hordes of ponies crowding the streets of Ponyville. Now that he had a purpose for being there, the constant flow of ponies were beginning to irritate him for impeding his progress.
“Bog, so many ducking ponies,” he grumbled to himself.
Movement overhead caught his eye and his eyes quickly darted up to catch a Pegasus flying overhead. It struck Connor in the face as he glanced back at his wings that he didn’t need to be on the ground anymore and was only here out of his habit of politeness. It was sort of similar to how he rode his motorcycle while on the roads. He only acted like a car on the road out of politeness; he could have easily split traffic lanes any and everywhere he went when there was traffic.
“I forgot I had these,” he chuckled to himself as he spread his wings and pushed off into the air.
“Despite how I have been using these wings almost every day for over a month now, I can’t believe I forgot that I had them,” he half scolded, half chuckled to himself.
His take offs were becoming a lot more consistent now with all the work and training he had been doing with Rainbow Dash. It no longer took him a couple of seconds to become stable in the air and fly off. Now, it only took him a second to push off the ground and fly off.
“See you later, yuckers,” he said to himself as the annoying crowds of ponies disappeared below him.
Now that Connor had room to breathe, he began scanning the crowds for a familiar purple pony. The pony sea below him churned and shifted, but did not reveal Twilight to him. So he moved his search onto different parts of Ponyville. After an hour or so of searching, Connor finally spotted Twilight.
Twilight was standing in one of the fields surrounding Ponyville conversing with Rainbow Dash.
“Ah ha! Finally found you,” Connor aimed himself towards the pair and landed on the edge of the field to approach on hoof.
When he touched down, the sounds of a heated discussion could be heard from Twilight and Rainbow. It didn’t matter to Connor as he had other things that were more important to worry about.
“Hey Twilight!”
Connor called Twilight’s name to get her attention as he slowly approached the pair. Twilight turned to look at him and smiled.
“Hi Connor, how are you?”
“I’m doing fine. Listen, I was wondering if I could borrow Spike for a little bit; is that alright?”
Twilight tilted her head, “Sure, he’s in the library right now. What do you need him for?”
“I was going to have him help me write a few things down for me, that’s all. It’s for the game that I have in mind.” Connor threw a hoof over his shoulder as if implying it wasn’t anything bad.
Twilight bobbed her head in acknowledgement, “All right then, good luck with your game!”
“Thanks, I’ll see you later!” Connor waved goodbye and he trotted off back into town. When he was a good distance away, he spread his wings and took off for the library.
A few minutes later, Connor pushed the library door open and entered the tree house. The outside noise was reduced to a deafening silence as the door closed behind him to be replaced with the calm and serine quietness of a library.
Connor glanced around the main room looking for spike the purple dragon.
“Spike!” he yelled.
“I’m up here!” Connor looked up to see the purple dragon doing some dusting on a window seal with a ladder leading up to the window. The dragon glanced down from his work to spot Connor standing below.
“Oh hey Connor! What’s up?” he finished his dusting before starting his journey down the ladder.
“Not much. What have you been doing?”
“I’ve been doing some dusting around the library,” Spike set the feather duster down on a table and dusted himself off as he stood before Connor.
Connor raised an eye in slight surprise, “Dusting? Really? What other things does Twilight have you do?”
“Let’s see, I do dusting, trash, help with reorganizing books, help with Twilight study, help with her experiments, sometimes make her food…” he continued listing random tasks off on his claws.
“Well don’t you like going above and beyond,” Connor rolled his eyes slightly and smiled jokingly.
“Well I am Twilight’s number one assistant after all,” he folded his arms proudly.
“Sure,” Connor chuckled, “Say Spike, do you think you could help me out real quick?”
“Sure! What do you need help with?”
Connor took a seat on a nearby chair to rest, “Well, I’m trying to make a game and right now I have been trying to make some of the rules for it,” Spike nodded as he listened, “The problem is I don’t have any way of writing them down in a timely manner as I am still learning to use my hooves more effectively.”
“So you want me to help write some of these things down for you?” Spike offered.
“Yes! Exactly!” Connor brightened at Spike, “Do you think you could help me with that? It would be a really big help to me.”
“Sure,” Spike smiled and walked over to a drawer filled with paper, ink, and quills, “I’ve done this hundreds of times for Twilight, so it’s no problem for me.”
Spike brought all the necessary materials over to the table Connor was sitting at and laid everything out in front of both of them. He took a quill and dabbed it in the pot of ink and poised over the parchment.
“Alright, just tell me what to write,” he looked up at Connor with a smile which he returned and bent over the paper before them to begin writing.
“Okay, let’s start with the number of players for my game. I’m thinking of having one-on-one, two-on-two, and tag team. Actually, in parenthesis, put three-on-three next to tag team…”
~~~
Connor and Spike spent the rest of the day at the table until closing time for the library. The two of them had come up with about two to three pages of ideas and rules for the game Connor had in mind. He spent a lot of the time studying what Spike had written down for him making changes, adding some tweaks, or moving around ideas to different groups.
When they were done, Connor had a pretty good idea of what he needed now for the demonstration happening in a couple of days. The gear needed to play his game was pretty simple compared to what Connor had seen from others. Connor already had one of the things he needed or could easily borrow a pair from somepony else for a little bit. The next thing he needed to get was the ammunition used in the game. That meant he needed to find a pony who currently had a whole bunch of balloons on stock for him to use; which means he needed to make a stop at Pinkie Pie’s place.
When Saturday rolled around, the crowds filling Ponyville’s streets were becoming horrendous as the deadline slowly approached on the game designers. Games were littered across the roads like trash on a city street as everypony tried to find any kind of space to start the final testing of their games ideas. On several occasions, Connor had to air-hop over clusters of ponies or games blocking his way.
“Connor! Yoo-hoo!” Connor stopped in his tracks as he scanned the crowds for the pony calling his name.
“Connor! Over here!” he snapped his head around in the direction of the voice to find Rarity waving him down.
“Ah, hey Rarity! What’s going on?” Connor trotted over to meet Rarity who stopped for him.
“Finally! I’ve called your name at least five times now! Did you not hear me?” she gave Connor a pouting face which made him chuckle.
“Sorry,” he laughed, “I was in my own little world. What’s up?”
“I have been looking for somepony to help me with my game all week and you are one of the few ponies who have given me the chance to ask for help at all! I’ve tried asking Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but they’re too concerned with their own attempts at games. I’ve tried asking Fluttershy to give her opinion, but she barely gave any critiques if at all; and don’t get started on trying to have Pinkie sit still long enough watch!” Rarity acted out her frustrations as usual while Connor stood there and listened.
“I’m not sure how much help I’ll be to you, Rarity,” Connor grimaced, “I’ve kind of have my own game that I’m working on and if I get too distracted, I’m going to forget important details.”
“Oh please, Connor! Please just give me a moment of your time to help me! This is extremely important to me! If I fail this, this will be, The; Worst; Possible; Thing; to Ever; Happen!” Rarity to a step forward on each word she emphasized pressuring Connor into helping her.
“Ffffoooot; come on Rarity, you’re going to guilt trip me into doing this?” Connor whined to himself.
He sighed, “Fiiine, I’ll look at your game real quick.”
Rarity squealed in delight, “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Connor!”
“But only a few minutes!” he shouted over her delight, “I still have things to do today.”
“I promise you, it won’t take a moment of your time! But I’ll need you to come to my shop to see it first.”
Rarity galloped off as fast as she could while Connor let loose another exasperated sigh and followed after her.
Once inside the dress making shop, Rarity wasted no time in sitting him down in front of the dreaded raised platform with mirrors surrounding half of it. Connor feared that he would be put through another two hour dress up session. If Rarity came back with a full wardrobe of clothes floating behind her, he was going to exfiltrate the shop in the most violent manner possible.
Thankfully, it was Rarity who came out dressed up in an elegant dress. Connor watched as she pranced around the room with some kind of routine that included twirls, posing, and a few slow moving dance moves. Eventually, she ended her showing off with striking a dramatic pose on the display pedestal in front of him. Rarity smiled at him when she finished while Connor gave a disgruntled look at her.
“What? Is something wrong?” she asked.
“Is this your game?” Connor asked in a harsher than necessary tone.
“Um, yes; it is. I’ve called it ‘Battle-istas’ as a play between the words ‘battle’ and ‘fashionista’. Rather clever if I do say so.”
Connor wanted to just get up and leave without saying another word to express his opinion on the game, but his good nature stopped him from being too much of a jerk.
“Rarity, are you trying to put on a fashion show, or are you trying to make a game?” her expression fell like her hard work was being crushed before her eyes.
When he saw Rarity’s face fall, Connor quickly eased up, “What I am trying to say is, ‘I’m not sure if this game is going to be a big hit’. Some things just don’t sit right with me when I see this.”
“I see. Perhaps this is a game that is not suited for everypony,” Rarity’s saddened face rebounded with new determination, “Even so, I will not give up hope that at least one pony will like it! Maybe I’ll try to get a second opinion…” she put a hoof to her chin in consideration.
Connor shifted awkwardly trying to find an acceptable moment to leave, “Look, I have to go right now. I still have things to do and I need to get them done by today.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. You go ahead and do what you need to do,” Rarity waved a hoof in dismissal.
“Sorry I couldn’t be any of help to you. I’ll see you later, okay?” he shrugged as he slowly made his way to the door.
“Goodbye Connor! And thank you for trying to help!” she waved goodbye as the door closed behind Connor.
He sighed, glad that he was finally out of the shop and able to return to his original task of finding Pinkie Pie. He needed to get to Sugar Cube Corner first to see if she was currently working there. He spread his wings and pushed off into the sky to get to the bakery as soon as possible before the shop closed or Pinkie Pie left.
He landed with a soft thud in front of the bakery as his hooves touched ground again. He hoped that he wasn’t too late as he pushed the door open. A door chime rang above him and he scanned the room for any occupants and his target. He spotted Pinkie a few feet away talking with Twilight.
“Hey Twilight,” he greeted, “You don’t mind if I talk to Pinkie Pie real quick, do you? I wanted to ask her something.”
“Sure, go ahead. I was just leaving. Good luck to you, Pinkie!” Twilight walked past Connor and waved goodbye to the both of them.
As the door closed, Connor focused on Pinkie Pie again as she was heading back towards the rear of the shop.
“Hey Pinkie,” he followed her back behind the counter.
“Hi Connor! Nice to see you again!” Pinkie Pie’s head popped out from around the corner with her usual smile before disappearing again in the kitchen.
“Um Pinkie, I was wondering if I could have something from you. it’s for the game I’m making,” he moved a little closer to the kitchen door way to see her already throwing baking materials and fruit on the counter to make another batch.
“Sure! What do you need?” Pinkie put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl as she used her mane to hold a running mixer.
“Well, I was hoping I could have a few balloons, particularly red and blue, for my game. They need to be about the size smaller than a hoof when filled and I need about two dozen of both colors,” he leaned on the door seal as he watched Pinkie work.
“No problem! I have tons of balloons of every size possible! I think I even have some that you are looking for! Give me one second to check my room and I’ll be back with your balloons!” she stopped her work for a moment to zoom past Connor and up the stairs.
Connor pushed off the door seal and casually walked up to the front counter to wait for Pinkie Pie, who was back in two seconds with two bags of balloons; one bag filled with red balloons and another with blue balloons.
“Here you go! One bag with really, radical, racing, red balloons, and one bag with beautiful, blazing, blue balloons!”
“Thanks!” Connor inspected the balloons, “So what do I owe you?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it Connor; you can keep them. This can be my way of saying thanks for helping me out with my game. Those ideas you gave me really helped!”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Thanks, Pinkie! I’m glad that I could help out. If I need more help, do you think I can come back to you?” he scooped the bags of balloons in his hooves and tucked them under his left wing.
“No problem! You can count on me!” she pounded her chest, “I love helping my friends and I love having fun! And I’ll bet your game is going to be a whole bunch of fun!”
“Great, thanks Pinkie! I’ll see you later!” he walked around the front counter and opened the door before he waved goodbye.
“Bye Connor! Good luck to you tomorrow!” she franticly waved goodbye as the door shut behind Connor.
Connor let out a sigh as he made his walk back through the town with his newly acquired balloons. One thing that did stick out to him as funny was when Pinkie said ‘good luck’ to him for tomorrow, but the tryouts weren’t until another three days. He shook his head. He still wasn’t used to Pinkie Pie’s crazy antics, but he had accepted the fact that he may never be able to understand them. He was just glad that he now had another piece for his game.
~~~
Connor was feeling good about himself the next day. He was getting tasks completed and his plan for his game was moving along quite nicely. After he collected the balloons from Pinkie Pie, the next step was to acquire the substances that were going into the balloons. This would require a trip to the local hardware store in Ponyville.
After a few directions from ponies, Connor found the shop he needed. Despite it being Sunday, the hardware store was still open for business. He pushed open the doors and was given a nod of a greeting which he returned before browsing the shelves of miscellaneous items. The bits jingled slightly in the single saddle bag strapped to Connor’s hip as he walked to the paint section of the store. He made a quick glance at the colors in front of him and grabbed a bucket of red paint and set it on his back temporarily.
He spent a few more minutes browsing the shelves looking for one other thing he needed for his game. He was looking for any kind of blue powder to fill the blue balloons; he was hoping it was the chalk powder kind as he theorized it would give him the best results for its planned usage. However, the shop only had a limited supply of what he needed with only carrying a box or two for carpentry purposes. Nonetheless, he took the paint and chalk powder to the cash register in front and paid for the goods.
Connor exited the hardware store while saying a farewell to the owner. Once outside, he frowned to himself again. The bucket of paint he bought should be enough to fill all the red balloons, but he definitely needed more blue powder for the blue balloons. He took off to head over to Scootaloo’s house to stash his supplies while he thought of another possible supplier for the elusive blue chalk powder. But his contacts were limited in this town, so he could only turn to a select few who might know of another supplier.
He walked inside the house and trotted upstairs to empty out his bag next to his bed before heading back out.
“Maybe Twilight might be able to help me. She hasn’t let me down before, so maybe she might know someone who sells more of that blue powder,” he shut the door behind him with thud and looked up at the tree house standing over the town. Once again, Connor kicked into the air and flew for the library.
He landed with a soft thud and a small ruffle of his feathers in front of the door to Twilight’s library. He knocked twice on the door before pushing it open. Inside, Connor spotted Rarity standing next to Twilight who was sitting at a table covered with neat stacks of papers.
“Hey Twilight, I’ve been looking for you,” he walked over to stand beside Rarity who was next to Twilight’s table.
“Hello Connor, how are you this day?” Rarity politely asked, but Connor could feel a slight undertone of resentment.
“Not bad, and yourself?” he curtly returned hoping to distract Rarity from her grumpiness.
“I am doing well; I was just talking to Twilight.”
“Well is it okay if I borrow Twilight for a minute? I just need to ask her some directions,” He subtly motioned towards Twilight.
“What are you looking for, Connor?” he looked at Twilight who had set her quill down to focus on him.
“I was just at the hardware store looking for some supplies for my game and it turns out that they ran out of blue powder. Do you know where I might be able to find some more?”
“Hmm,” Twilight lowered her head and put a hoof to her chin, “Maybe Zecora might have something that is similar to what you are looking for.”
“Zecora?” he thought, “Now that is an exotic name I’ve never heard before.”
“Great where can I find this ‘Zecora’?”
“She lives in a hut in the Everfree Forest. Spike can help lead you to her,” Twilight turned in her seat, “Spike! Can you come her for a second?”
A few seconds later, Connor saw Spike come bounding down the stairs to join them, “What’s up Twilight? Hey Rarity.”
“Hello my Spikey Whikey,” Rarity cooed as she batted her eyes and brought herself down to cup a hoof under his chin. If Connor found a way to use Spike as a power source, he could have powered a dozen homes with the amount of excitement spike was radiating off himself. Connor rolled his eyes at the ridiculous teasing happening in front of him.
“Spike,” Twilight called bringing him out of his love stupor, “I need you to take Connor to Zecora. He needs to talk to her to find out if she can help him with his game.”
“Sure, no problem. Follow me Connor!” Spike shook his head and snapped a salute before jogging out of the library with Connor quickly following after him.
“Thanks Twilight!” Connor shouted over his shoulder before he was out of ear shot.
The door shut behind them and Connor slowed down to a walking pace. He turned back to Spike who looked ready to go on another road trip adventure.
“So, where are we going?” Connor asked as the two of them started walking.
“Didn’t you hear Twilight? We’re going to the Everfree Forest to meet Zecora!” Spike mocked.
“I know that! But where exactly are we heading?” Connor gave a soft, playful whap to the back of his head and flashed a coy grin.
“Hey!” Spike rubbed the spot Connor hit and chuckled. His eyes told he was displeased with the hit, but his smile said he knew it was all in good fun.
“We’re going to be heading out in this direction to the edge of the Everfree Forest. When we reach the edge, there is going to be a small path leading into the forest and to Zecora’s hut.”
“So tell me about Zecora. Who is she? What’s she like?” the two left the outskirts of town and slowly made their way to the forest beyond the town limits.
“Zecora is awesome! She’s really good at potion making and knows all kinds of things about plants and the Everfree Forest. Like this one time …”
The conversation continued on as Spike recounted moments with Zecora as they walked through the forest. Connor was nodding along and laughed a little at some of the crazy stories, but was more focused on watching his surroundings. The forest seemed like a less-than hospitable place when Connor first encountered it and now it felt like it was waiting for an opportunity to surprise them. But their trip remained calm as they approached a small hut built into a sagging tree.
“Here we are!” Spike announced.
Connor looked around the hut for signs of life but could only see a light coming from inside. But he pushed his doubts aside and readied himself.
“Thanks Spike, I think I can take it from here. Tell Twilight I said, ‘Thanks for the help’.”
“Are you going to be okay getting back to Ponyville?”
Connor scoffed, “Come on spike, it can’t be that hard. If I fly high enough, I should be able to see Ponyville from here. I’ll see you later!” he saluted another farewell and made his way over to the home letting Spike to make his own way back to Ponyville.
He stopped in front of the door, knocked twice and waited. His eye twitched a little but he ignored it.
“Come in!” Connor raised his brow in surprise hearing such a unique accent from inside. He pushed the door open with curiosity wanting to discover the source of this voice. Inside the hut was a curious set of decorations from masks to bottles with unknown mixtures and ingredients set out on a table. Near the tabletop sat a zebra sipping a cup of tea waiting for a cauldron to boil its contents.
“A zebra???” the statement echoed loudly as his eyes finally fell on the single resident of the home.
“Hmm, I have not seen you before; tell me, what is your name, I implore.”
The zebra’s inclination in its use of rhymes stunned Connor even more, “Uh, my name’s Connor. Are you Zecora?” he stuck out his hoof for a hoof shake which she took.
The zebra nodded, “Indeed, that is me,” she smiled kindly.
Connor returned the smile with his own, “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Zecora!”
“The pleasure is all mine,” she let go of his hoof, “So what can I do for you at this time?”
“Well, there is an event going on in Ponyville right now with everypony trying to make their games,” he started but Zecora raised a hoof to stop him.
“I am well aware of Ponyville’s affairs. In fact, the cutie mark crusaders stopped by seeking assistance with their own nefarious wares,” she chuckled at her little joke.
“Oh; okay then. Well, I guess I’m also here for the same reason. I was wondering if you had any kind of blue powder I could borrow for the game I’m using.”
Zecora raised her head like a parent wanting a good reason, “And what task, do you need this blue powder for, if I may ask?”
“Well, the powder I need would be used as like a distraction and to obscure vision temporarily, so I was hoping you might have some that didn’t have any adverse effects.”
Zecora closed her eyes in thought while Connor prepared himself for the worst outcome and hoped that Zecora would be reasonable. After a moment, Zecora smiled and opened her eyes.
“I believe I have what you need; follow me, if you please.”
Zecora turned around and walked over to a cupboard that hung nearby. She opened it and brought out a large jar filled with some kind of blue powder and set it down on the table. Connor watched as Zecora popped the lid off to show its contents to him. He lowered his eyes to get a better look at it and got a whiff of its smell.
“It smells like chalk or charcoal,” he thought.
“I believe this is what you desire. Almost little was done to this powder as it was made from the ashes of fire.”
He nodded in satisfaction, “This is perfect; do you think I could have some?”
“Of course,” Zecora smiled and pulled out a medium sized bag and began filling it with the blue powder.
Connor watched as the jar slowly emptied itself and he worried how much Zecora was going to give him.
“I hope I don’t take too much from your supplies,” he said in a worried tone.
“Do not worry,” she reassured, “This powder is used to cure stomach aches and is not very difficult to make.”
Connor relaxed as Zecora handed him the now full bag of blue powder.
“Thanks Zecora, this should be plenty for what I need. I hope to see you again!” he waved goodbye as he headed for the front door.
“Any time! Please come again! I always enjoy making new friends!” she shouted as Connor exited her home.
Connor stuck the bag of blue powder in his saddle bag and grinned to himself.
“Wow; spike was right! Zecora really is cool!” he thought.
He opened his wings and took off for the skies again. Once above the tree canopy, he spotted Ponyville not far from where he was and flew back to town. His plans were nearly complete for his game and he only had a few more steps to do before he was finished. Connor tried to keep his excitement under control from being so close to finishing, but he couldn’t keep himself from smiling a little to himself and weaving back and forth through the air.
~~~
It was finally Monday and everypony in town was scrambling to make last minute adjustments for their game before Sportsen arrived the next day. There was a nervous air about the town as ponies hurried to finish the final design for their game or started second guessing their final design and going back to make some changes. Connor wasn’t too nervous about his game, but being surrounded by so many scared ponies was starting to rub off on him and his own nerves were starting to spark.
But he calmed himself and went back to his plan. He only needed a couple more things done and then he would be finished. The last things he needed was to have the balloons filled with their respective contents and then set up a partner to help demonstrate his game.
Anypony could fill the balloons up, but they probably wouldn’t be done by the time Sportsen arrived and it was time to present. He needed someone who was fast and efficient and eager to help. Pinkie Pie was one of the first ponies to pop into his head that fit the requirements and he wasn’t going to argue with his mind. Pinkie was somehow really fast and efficient at doing things despite her ridiculous notions and she did say he could come back to her for help; so everything seemed to work out in his head.
The other spot that needed to be filled was a partner to play with. He needed a Pegasus to fill that role and they also needed to be a decent flier too. Twilight could potentially fill that spot as his partner since she also had wings, but he had already seen first-hand how well Twilight could fly; plus, she didn’t quite have the attitude Connor wanted for his game. He needed somepony that was a good flier and had a competitive disposition.
As he finished that thought, Rainbow Dash popped into his head as the pony to take the spot. She was a great flier and loved to compete with others over anything. The only problem would be convincing her to help. She had rushed through cloud busting work that he never had any time to ask about her game or if she would be willing to help him. Well, Connor was just going to have to find out today.
It didn’t help that every pony in town was on the street working on their game. On several occasions, Connor had to take to the sky to get over a large mass of ponies blocking his way then circle back to scan the large group to see if he could find Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash. He tried looking in Sugar Cube Corner, but Pinkie Pie wasn’t there. Rainbow Dash wasn’t in her home either when Connor went to look for her.
When he finally expanded his search outside of the streets of Ponyville, Connor finally found both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie outside in one of the fields again. He spotted them while flying over one of the many dirt roads around Ponyville and adjusted his trajectory. As he landed nearby, Connor could hear Pinkie Pie and Dash arguing with each other.
“Pinkie, when I said ‘Kick the ball’, I didn’t mean ‘Kick the ball half way to Baltimare’!”
“But it’s just so much fun to kick the ball! It’s just so bouncy!” Pinkie giggled.
Rainbow groaned, “Uugh! But I asked you to help me with my game, not slow me down! You already finished your game so you don’t have to worry about anything!”
“But Dash,” Pinkie whined, “Games are supposed to be fun! And I’m having fun right now!”
Rainbow let out another loud angry sigh and Connor took this moment to make himself known.
“Hey you two!”
Pinkie and Rainbow looked up from their argument to see Connor standing there.
“Hi Connor! Rainbow was just asking for my help with her game. She’s not quite ready with it, yet.”
“No I’m not! I have everything under control and I am not panicking right now about how Sportsen will crush my game as inferior and not being awesome enough for him. And then he will show my failure of a game to everypony in Ponyville and maybe even the Wonderbolts, proving just how much of a failure I am and-”
“Rainbow Dash!!!” Connor hollered in his most authoritative voice and grabbed one of her hooves to bring her into close eye contact, “Pull yourself together and chill the puck out!!”
He bored into her eyes with his steely stare until she finally calmed down, “Y-you’re right. I just need to calm down and play it cool; just be awesome like I usually am.”
Connor relaxed and let go of Rainbow who slowed her breathing and frantic flapping to normal rates, “Relax Rainbow. You haven’t even met this guy yet and you are doing what I sometimes do and assume the worst.”
“Yeah Dash,” Pinkie joined in, “Just relax; you probably already have most of your game finished. You just need one good practice round and then you are set.”
Rainbow visibly relaxed even more and took a deep breath, “Yeah, all I need is one good run and then I’ll be ready for Sportsen tomorrow! Okay! Let’s make more try, but this time don’t kick it so far.”
Rainbow flew off a little bit into the sky and got into a ready stance while Pinkie grabbed a ball that was set off to the side. Pinkie turned and kicked the ball high into the air where Rainbow snatched it out of the air and dove back to the ground while preforming a string of air stunts before she blasted past both Pinkie and Connor in a gust of wind.
“Yes!” Rainbow whooped, “That was the one! Now everything is ready to go!” she continued to celebrate.
“Woohoo! Go Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie yelled.
“Great job! Now, I have a few things I need to ask of you two,” Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash settled down to listen to Connor.
“I need help with finishing my game. I need a partner to play my game with me as well as somepony to help make some of the gear needed for the game.”
“I’ll be your partner!” Rainbow stuck her hoof into the air, “Don’t worry, even though your game may not be as awesome as mine when I win, I’ll make sure your game is more awesome then everypony else.”
“Just a minute ago, you were about to have a mental break down about not being good enough. Now, you’re bragging that no one is going to have a better game than you?” Connor gave a deadpan expression.
“Anyways,” Connor refocused on Pinkie Pie, “I wanted to ask Pinkie if she would be willing to help fill some balloons with some red paint and blue powder that I have.”
“Aww, that sounds boring,” Pinkie complained again.
“Pinkie, I really need your help on this. You can probably make a game out of it to make it fun,” he argued, “It can be like, filling your cupcake trays with dough. Just pour the red paint into the red balloons and pour the blue powder into the blue balloons.”
“Ooo, I love making cupcakes! Okay, I’ll do it!” Pinkie bounced at the idea of making cupcakes.
"Great! Can I have ready by tomorrow before I present to Sportsen?”
“Abso-toota-lutely! I’ll even Pinkie Promise to have it done before then.”
“What’s a Pinkie Promise?” he tilted his head in confusion.
“It’s a promise you have to keep no matter what; otherwise you will lose your friendship with that pony foreveeeeerrrrr!!!” Pinkie hissed her last word making Connor retreat a little in hesitation.
“Uum, I don’t think I need that serious of a promise,” Connor said uncertainly.
“Nope, I Pinkie Promise to have those balloons filled by tomorrow before you show Sportsen; cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Pinkie preformed a strange pattern of motions before Connor which just confused him even more.
“Um, great. All the balloons, red paint, and blue powder are in Scootaloo’s room next to my bed on the floor. Just give me a minute and I’ll-”
“Don’tworryIgotitI’llseeyoutomorrow’kaythanksbye!!” Pinkie yelled as she screamed into town presumably going to get the items Connor mentioned.
With Pinkie gone, Connor turned back to Rainbow Dash, “Okay, if you’re going to be my partner you are going to need what my game is and how it works.”
“No problem, I can handle anything,” Rainbow nonchalantly brushed aside.
“Perfect, because it is going to be right up your alley of expertise. So here is how it works…”
It was going to be a big day tomorrow, so Connor wasted no time bringing Dash up to speed on the workings of his game. As Connor explained his game to Rainbow, the two slowly made their way back into town for the end of the day and for the preparation of Tuesday with the arrival of Sportsen.