//------------------------------// // 23: Let the Games Begin // Story: The Games We are Forced to Play // by Kablam Pony //------------------------------// Connor It’s never the actual show that gets to you; it’s always the waiting that kills you. Connor saw one of the ponies get up from the table and walk away for some reason while Pinkie Pie exited the line with a downtrodden expression. While he was several places back behind Pinkie, he had no idea how long that other pony was going to be gone before it was his turn to step up to the table. He leaned to the side to see who was still at the table. The dark yellow unicorn mare was still sitting there as she levitated a quill over the note pad that was laying on the table top. The line barely moved one step at a time while the next pony stepped forward to show case his idea for a game. After some time, the stallion at the table turned away with a saddened face as well. Time after time, ponies left with worried or dissatisfied faces as Connor slowly moved closer to the table. He bounced lightly on his hooves in trepidation. Now that he was closer and could see the pony sitting at the table clearly, it looked like the mare was some kind of secretary for the other pony that left. That probably meant if there were any good games that came before Connor, they would only be written down for future reference. That meant Connor would be competing with a list of ponies, and the only thing that would be going for him was whether his game looked good on paper. There would be no opportunity to tip the odds in his favor with face-to-face interaction and cunning word positioning. He assumed if the other pony did not return before he had to present his game, his chances of being picked were pretty slim. He felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of his head and he wiped it way with a hoof. The wait was killing him and he needed to calm down. He tried to close his eyes and slow his breathing in a meditative manner hoping it would calm him down. It only seemed to help slow the pace of his steadily growing nerves as the table was only a couple of spots away. If only he could just get up and do it right now, he would be fine. It was always during this waiting period that he would most often psych himself out and would have to spend a few moments trying to calm himself down and reaffirm his confidence in his own abilities. He was now second in line and the pony from before still had not returned. The pony at the table began talking to the secretary who gave a bored look at him. But the voice was a mindless drone in Connor’s ears while he waited. He glanced around praying that the other pony would be back any minute now. If he wanted any chance in being selected, he wanted to speak to the actual pony judge rather than this substitute. His eyes brightened as Connor spotted the pony return from wherever he went and took his seat again behind the table. He leaned over to his secretary and whispered to her. She showed him the note pad and he gave a short nod before looking at the stallion standing at the table. He shook his head and the stallion's head fell with disappointment. He stepped out of the way for the next pony to approach. “NEXT!” Finally, it was Connor’s turn. He steeled his eyes and face in preparation. It was finally time for him to show off his game that he made and he doubled checked his bag he was carrying to make sure he had everything ready. With all items set, Connor stepped forward to the table. “Good afternoon,” Connor spoke with confidence in his voice as he stepped up to the table and made eye contact while he presented a hoof shake, “My name is Connor. It’s nice to meet you.” The tan stallion with a navy blue business suit stood up to exchange a sturdy hoof shake with Connor, “Likewise; my name is Sportsen. So what kind of game do you have to show me?” “It’s a unique game that is rather exciting and could easily grab the attention of any pony,” Connor rummaged around in the bag with him and began laying out several items on the table. The first thing was a small stack of papers with the title 'Game rules' written on it. Beside that, he set two balloons the size of small apples next to it; one red and one blue. After setting the balloons on the table, Connor finally put a pair of saddle bags next to the balloons. The stack of papers were from the afternoon Connor spent with Spike while they were making the rules and guidelines of his game. The saddle bags actually belonged to Applejack and he convinced her to lend him a pair for his demonstration. The balloons he managed to snag on his way to the field were from Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie Pie was still filling the balloons when he came in and took two of each type. He wanted to test each one to make sure they worked the way he wanted them to when thrown. After a successful quick test, he stored the last two of his four balloons in his bag to show. Sportsen scanned the items in front of him with a discerning eye while he asked, “What is all this for?” “They are the gear needed to play my game. I have called my game, ‘Paint Wars’ until I can find a better name for it.” Connor picked up the stack of papers and hoofed it over to Sportsen to flick through while he gave a brief explanation. “Here is how the game is played: each player starts off with two saddle bags of red and blue balloons. The red balloons I call ‘Markers’ as they are used to mark a hit on the opponent, while the blue balloons are called ‘Chaff Balloons’ and are used as a defensive measure. The markers need to be in the right hoof bag while the chaff balloons need to be in the left hoof bag. However, they are limited to a total of eight balloons they are allowed to carry at once, so each opponent has to decide how they want to play. Whether they want to be trigger happy and throw a lot of markers in the hopes that they will be lucky and one of them will hit, or they want to play it cautious and carry more chaff balloons and pick a single opening to throw their limited number of markers is up to the player. “In one-on-one matches, each player has to carry at least one marker. But in the two-on-two or tag team matches, players can carry any kind of loadout they choose and are able to exchange balloons with teammates. However, one particular rule that I want to bring your attention to is that a player is not allowed to come to a complete hover in the air while playing or risk disqualification. To win the game, one side must eliminate the other. A player is eliminated when they are hit with a marker balloon.” Sportsen nodded along as Connor explained how his game worked while he flipped between different pages of his makeshift rule book. He tossed the packet on the table with a soft thud and looked Connor square in the eye. “It seems like a pretty solid game. But it sounds like it’s a game designed for pegasi only. What about earth ponies or unicorns? What if they want to play your game?” it felt like his eyes were boring into Connor’s brain as he stared back at his vibrantly blue eyes. Connor quickly glanced to the sky in thought as he adjusted his game for other ponies, “Now that I think about it, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to adjust the rules for earth ponies and unicorns to play. The balloons can be picked up either by hoof or by magic and instead of the sky being the playing field, we could design a playing field on the ground with obstacles for cover.” Sportsen nodded and hummed in agreement, “Mmm. Well, you had my attention and now you have my curiosity. I want to see a match of your game; do you think you could give a little demonstration right now or do you need time to make enough balloons for two players?” Connor’s face lightened in surprise, “I-I can definitely do that for you! I already have plenty made up for a match right now if you would like to see one. If you give me a minute, I can have my partner and I ready to go.” “Go ahead then,” Sportsen smiled with subdued excitement, “I can wait while you get ready.” “Thank you!” Connor beamed, “I’ll be right back!” Connor grabbed the saddle bags on the table while he left the rules and example balloons on the table. He turned and rushed over to Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and the rest who were gathered in a partial circle around a couple of bags filled with balloons. He skidded to a stop just outside the circle before joining it. “Good news! Sportsen wants a demonstration of my game!” There was a chorus of excited voices mixed in with some sour tones. “Lucky…” Rainbow Dash muttered aloud. “Now Rainbow, don’t be too upset just because Sportsen wants to see more of his game,” Applejack said. “I know; but I wanted my game to be picked as the winner,” she whined. “I haven’t been picked yet,” Connor corrected with a stern look while he started fastening the saddle bags he was carrying on his sides, “He wants to see a demonstration of my game before he makes a final decision. And besides, you get to help out with the demonstration! You get to show off your skills on how good you are at flying again. Hey Applejack, can you give me a hand with getting these bags on?” “Sure Connor,” Applejack stepped over to help out while Rainbow brightened a little. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Alright then! We’re going to put on the best show he is ever going to see! We’re going to show him moves he never even dreamed of seeing!” Rainbow gave a hoof pump. Connor turned to Pinkie Pie while Applejack finished synching the bags to his sides, “Hey Pinkie, are all the balloons ready?” “Yep! Actually, there is one thing I should tell you. I know you wanted these balloons filled up with what you gave me, but I kind of ran out of it, so I sort of, kind of, teensy weensy, had to use some other things to fill up the balloons. Hope you don’t mind!” She gave a small bounce of energy at the end of her confession with a sheepish smile. “What?” he gave a quizzical look, “What do you mean, ‘Other things’? Actually, no; never mind. We don’t have time to argue.” Connor thrusted a hoof into each bag on the ground and loaded his right saddle bag with four marker balloons and his left saddle bag with four chaff balloons. With his loadout set, he looked up at his partner and opponent for the first match ever of his game. “Are you ready Rainbow?” “Yep! All set and I have my balloons ready to go!” She flashed her saddle bags at Connor. “Great,” he smiled, “Just remember, we are trying to show as much as possible here. Which means try to use both types of balloons.” “Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow waved a hoof in dismissal, “Don’t worry, I got this.” The two trotted over to the more open side of the field to play. Sportsen paused in his reading of the papers on the table to watch them. Rainbow Dash moved to one side of the field while Connor trotted over to the other side. They stopped to face each other with a good fifteen meters between each other. They stared each other down for moment as they set their stances. Everypony around them seemed to hold their breath waiting for the two ponies on the field to make the first move. The tension in the air rose until it was taut like a cello string. “Okay, are you ready?” Connor nearly hissed in a low tone that was barely audible to everypony. “Yeah,” Rainbow hissed back, “Ready…” “Set…” They both opened their wings in preparation. “GO!!” Connor kicked off the ground with as much force as possible and took off for the sky. The tension in his body unsprung itself like a compressed coil as he could finally let his actions speak for themselves. But his relief was short lived as a red balloon marker went whizzing passed his head and his mind came rushing back to the present. He looked at Rainbow Dash who was giving him a devilish grin and was digging back into her bag for another balloon to throw. Connor quickly forgot about his other worries as his mind focused on calculating, understanding, predicting, and defeating his newfound opponent. He gritted his teeth and flapped his wings harder to gain more altitude. If he wanted to win, he needed to start with a good bit of altitude. But it was a different game now and he wasn’t playing tag with Rainbow Dash. She now had projectiles to throw at him. As he climbed, he spiraled upward changing directions in a seemingly random pattern hoping to keep his pursuer off his tail. He glanced back every so often to keep track of his target while he tried to shake Rainbow. After climbing a good distance, Connor pulled back at an angle and looped over to level off heading into a different direction. Simultaneously, he stuffed his own hoof in his left bag to pull out a blue chaff balloon. He crushed it his hooves and let the obstructive cloud of blue powder trail behind him before yanking back to loop over the top. He glanced back as Rainbow Dash rocketed through the cloud disorientated and with a confused look on her face searching for her target. He smirked and banked hard to his left to come back around to chase after Rainbow Dash. The roles had been switched and now Connor was on the attack. Rainbow spotted him and shock replaced her confusion as she made her own attempt to out-maneuver Connor. She turned away from him putting Connor in a lead pursuit. It was the perfect opportunity to throw a marker and score a hit. He dug into his right bag and pulled out a marker balloon. It was an awkward position trying to reel back and prepare to throw his marker, but he managed and threw it at a spot slightly ahead of Rainbow. If everything went as planned, Rainbow would fly right into the path of the balloon and Connor would score the hit. He watched the marker streak to his target as Rainbow came closer. Suddenly, a blue cloud exploded in front of Rainbow Dash as she and the marker disappeared in the cloud. He cursed as his marker vanished from view and he passed by the cloud desperately searching for a rainbow haired pony. He looked left, right, down, and around the blue cloud but couldn’t find anything. Eventually, he squinted and looked up into the sunny day looking for his opponent. A shadow danced across his eyes and realization hit him in the gut. Rainbow Dash had somehow used the blue cloud and timed herself perfectly to fly above him and hide in the sunlight. He squinted again and saw a figure above him lift an arm above them. He panicked and made a quick inverted dive while pulling out another chaff balloon and popping it behind him to hide in as another red marker zipped by. Connor altered his dive into a late lag displacement roll flying to the right from his original flight path. A pair of wing beats other than his own caught his ear and he twisted around to see Rainbow tailing him again. He pulled back again into a barrel roll hoping to force her to overshoot past him. But she followed suit and went into her own barrel roll after him. They spun perpetually around each other through the air trying to bleed off air speed faster than the other and put them into an advantageous position to go for the score. But the tree line blocked their way and the two of them had to break off in separate directions to avoid a crash. Connor and Rainbow Dash craned their necks around trying to keep each other in view. She gave a grin while Connor frowned. Both were surprised at each others' prowess of combat flight. Connor had hoped that Rainbow’s stunting and showy mind set of flying would be a disadvantage in the serious nature of combative flight while his experience of combat flight through his video games would give him an advantage. The reality was, the stunts that Rainbow preformed were the exact same maneuvers used by combat pilots from Connor's world. The only difference was a stunter preformed the moves with the intent of entertainment and putting on a show while the combat pilot preformed the moves with the goal of getting the hit in mind. Connor frowned more as his mind came to this conclusion and he discovered that he had a new disadvantage against Rainbow; her experience in flight. Rainbow had years of experience in actual flying while Connor had only flown in passenger planes during his travels around his world or piloted virtual jets in his video games. In conclusion, Connor was rookie fresh from training while Rainbow Dash was the seasoned veteran rethinking old tricks into new ones. ~~~ Back on the ground, Sportsen watched the game with raptured attention. His eyes darted across the sky watching the two pegasi dance back and forth trying to get an upper hand on one another. His heart raced with excitement as he silently cheered for one Pegasus to achieve victory over the other. The two dove for the ground and made a high speed pass just feet over them. The air gave a low rumble as they passed overhead and Sportsen whipped his head around trying to keep the ponies in his sight. But a roar of cheering ripped him from his engrossed spectating and he turned to gaze over the ponies who were still waiting in line. Ponies of all ages including elderly earth pony mares, unicorn fillies, and fellow pegasi screamed and cheered in encouragement for both fliers as they fought for air superiority. Despite the crowd being outdoors, it sounded like Sportsen was standing the middle of a stadium during the major play of a game. He looked back to the sky and even spotted some pegasi from the airways stop in their travels to watch the fantastic display of skill and give their own cheers of encouragement. Sportsen noticed just how involved the ponies were while they watched the match. They were practically entranced with watching the match overhead. Sportsen bowed his head in concentration as plans began to formulate in his mind. Advertising campaigns, equipment marketing, the formation of competitive teams, sponsorships… This was more than just a game here; this was a competitive sport in the making! It would be easy to make this a wide spread sport; and with the reaction he was seeing from the ponies here as well as making even passersby from the airways to stop and watch, he knew that this was the game he was looking for. “Yes, this will fit perfectly for my plans,” he thought to himself. He fixed his attention to the match again and smiled to himself. It looked like he had found his winner. ~~~ Meanwhile, back in the air Connor was struggling with Rainbow Dash with a lot of difficulty. He had wasted two red markers and another blue chaff balloon in a futile attempt to displace Rainbow Dash and score a hit. This left him with one marker and one chaff to use. He looked back and could see Rainbow getting really close to him. He stuffed his hoof in his bag again and pulled out his last chaff balloon for one last ditch effort to gain some space and make one last plan. He rolled onto his back in the air and held the balloon in front of him. He crushed the balloon in his hooves again and was going to throw more blue powder at Rainbow. However, the balloon exploded in his hooves in a shower of confetti, streamers, and the sounds of noise makers going off. He stared in bewilderment at the oddity that happened mere inches away from his face. His mind raced as to how this could have happened, but quickly stopped as he remembered what Pinkie Pie had said earlier before the game. “So that’s what she meant by ‘Other things’” he growled under his breath. Another marker zoomed past him and grazed the hair on his chest wrenching him out of his harsh mental scolding of Pinkie Pie and back to Rainbow chasing after him. He cursed himself again and rolled back over. He started to bank to his right hoping that Rainbow would fall for his ruse. He rolled right like he was going to turn before flipping back and rolling to his left in a snap roll to force another overshoot. But Rainbow Dash simply rolled underneath into a barrel roll of her own and came up on the outside on Connor’s left wing while he was banking right again. She pulled out another red marker and lined up the shot against her slow moving opponent and fired. The balloon flew true and hit her target squarely in the left side of the face knocking him silly and sending him into spiral towards the ground. Connor felt a heavy impact against the side of his head that dazed him and sent his mind spinning. He couldn’t tell what was going on, but his wings went slightly limp sending him into a downward spiral of confusion as he fought to regain his bearings. He could see the ground approach in a dizzying manner and he tried to level out his crash landing approach. But one final roll made one of his wings catch the ground sending him to cartwheel wing-over-wing on the ground in a spectacular crash landing that kicked up grass and dirt in the air while his limbs flailed about. While Connor was busy with his crash landing, Rainbow was in the middle of making victory passes over the spectators and posing while she let the praises wash over her. Ponies rushed over to congratulate her while another set of ponies ran over to help Connor out of the dirt and give their own approvals to him for putting on an amazing show. Connor groaned as dull pain covered his body and dirt clogged his mouth and nostrils. He slowly righted himself spitting out dirt and grass from his mouth and lips and brushing himself off. He sat up and reached up to touch the side of his face that got hit with the marker. He smeared some of the red off his face and brought it in front of his eyes to glare at. But his clogged nose picked up the faint smell of something sugary. Now that he thought about it, the red paint was unusually thick on his hoof and sort of clumped together. Connor furrowed his brow in confusion and brought it to his nose to sniff. It definitely didn’t smell like paint; it smelled like sugar. He tentatively stuck his tongue out and brought the red substance to the tip of his tongue. Sure enough, it tasted like sugar frosting that was put on top of pastries or cakes. He looked at the frosting in bafflement and turned to yell at Pinkie on the other side of the field. “Hey Pinkie! Did you fill these red balloons with red paint like I asked you to?” Pinkie Pie gave him her own look of confusion, “Red paint? Oh!” she gasped, “I thought you said you wanted to have those red balloons filled with red cake! So I thought, ‘What could he mean by red cake’? And then it came to you me that you must have meant to say red cake frosting! So then I was like, ‘Oh! He must have meant to say red cake frosting!’ and then I asked, ‘Why does he give me this can of red paint?’, And then I realized that you must have given it to me for painting Applejack’s barn again! Teeheehee!” Pinkie Pie giggled and laughed to herself while Connor groaned and threw his arms to the sky and fell back down in his crater. He laid there for a second while ponies finally reached him and started congratulating him on a great show and helping him stand up. He let the extra hooves pull him up to a sitting position where he slowly pulled himself out of the dirt and started walking back to the table. Rainbow Dash had finally landed and was surrounded by several ponies and friends. Connor could spot Scootaloo gushing over how awesome Rainbow had been and could imagine what kind of night he was going to have when to two of them headed back to her home. But he refocused his eyes on Sportsen who had stood up to approach Connor. He quickly tried to rub off more of the red frosting off his face to make himself a little bit more presentable before Sportsen would arrive. “That was an excellent show, kid!” Sportsen slapped a hoof on Connor’s back and pulled him closer, “Where did you ever come up with such a brilliant idea?” Connor chuckled a little, “Well, it sort of just popped into my head.” There was no way Connor was going to reveal exactly what influenced him to create such a game. He did not want to share the fact that he was from another world and had pulled most of his inspiration from it. The rest of the crowd was slowly congregating around the two with Rainbow Dash, Twilight and the rest coming to the front of the circle. There were a few more shouts of excitement and praises coming from the crowd while everyone wore a broad smile. “Is that so?” Sportsen gave a whimsical look and Connor chuckled again, “Well, I like what that brain of yours has come up with. This game you have here; it’s exciting and energetic. It really gets your heart pumping with the danger of making one wrong move and being taken out of the game!” “Thank you,” Connor gave a shy smile, “Um, did you have any questions about my game would like to ask me?” “Yes I do,” Sportsen poked Connor in the chest, “How would you like to make your game into a sport?” Connor studied Sportsen’s knowing smile and raised his brow in excitement, “I would love to!” “Excellent, kid! Now, tell me what the name of your game was again?” “Paint Wars, sir,” Connor offered. “Paint Wars, huh? I think we can work with that. And you can drop the sir’s, we’re all friends here. Actually, I haven’t fully introduced myself to you. My name is Richard Sportsen; CEO of Sportsen enterprise. My friends like to call me ‘Rich Sports’ as a bit of a joke.” Sportsen laughed at his funny name and Connor politely joined in while he shook Sportsen hoof for the second time. “My name is Connor; creator of the game ‘Paint Wars’.” Sportsen laughed again at Connor’s own little joke. “That’s a very interesting name, kid. But I like you; you seem like one of those ponies filled with ideas in their head. Ms. Note Pad! Will you please set up a meeting for Mr. Connor tomorrow after lunch? We’re going to have to discuss dealings and contracts with this fine gentlecolt now that we have found our game and our winner!” There was a roar from the crowd as Sportsen announced the winner of the search for the next big game. Connor beamed with joy and looked at Twilight and the rest standing by. All six of them were cheering for Connor’s victory; well, except Rainbow Dash who was pouting and giving a very unenthusiastic clap. The crowd slowly calmed down for Sportsen to be able to talk again. “Now that the main business is out of the way why don’t you tell me about yourself, if you don’t mind. I want to know what kind of ideas ‘Pop’ into that head of yours.” “Not at all! Uh, hey Twilight! Do you think we could talk afterwards when I’m done?” “Sure Connor!” she waved goodbye as Sportsen walked Connor away while striking up a conversation with him. She smiled as she watched them head off around to the front of the school house then disappeared around the corner. She turned back to her friends who were talking excitedly with each other. “That’s so cool that our Connor got picked!” bounced Pinkie Pie. “Sure does, sugar cube! That show they put on was something fierce!” she swung a hoof in front of her. “Oh come on!” Rainbow exclaimed loudly, “It was only thanks to me that he had such an awesome opponent that he got picked as the winner!” Rainbow folded her hooves as she pouted some more. Everypony around her laughed. “Oh come now, dear. I don’t think ‘Extreme Kick Ball’ or even ‘Musical Fun Games’ were going to win.” “And what about your game, Rarity?! Your ‘Battle-istas’ didn’t do too well either!” That got Rarity to purse her lips and Twilight stepped in before things escalated. “I think we all had good chances at winning. Connor’s game just seemed better for what Sportsen was looking for,” Twilight gave Rainbow a stern look which quieted her down, “But you still did an amazing job helping Connor. I’m sure you played a big part in helping Connor being selected.” Rainbow gave Twilight a tired grin, “Thanks Twilight.” Twilight returned a sympathetic smile, “Come on, why don’t you help clear the field with me?” There was a chorus of agreements amongst the friends as they started picking up food and drinks and disposing them in the trash.