Ponies Play Among Us
Admiral Biscuit
Chapter Title: They’re bad at it
Ten ponies waited in the dropship. Despite it being a computer game, most of them were actually close together—one of the large rooms in Twilight’s castle was a logical place to gather and experiment with video games.
They’d gone through dozens and dozens of titles, many of which weren’t all that interesting. They were versus games, or they were solo games, and neither seemed to offer valuable friendship insights.
Among Us, at first glance, did. The crewmates would have to work together to get their tasks done. Working together was an important aspect of friendship, of tribal unity and while the game required that they play on ten different computers, most of them were close.
Not all of them, though; that was one other thing the game offered, a chance to be with friends who were far away.
“Um, my screen says that I’m an imposter,” Fluttershy said. “What does that mean?”
“It means that you’re supposed to prevent us from doing our tasks,” Rainbow offered. “Sabotage the ship, or kill crew members so they can’t complete their tasks.”
“I couldn’t do that.”
“You don’t have to,” Twilight explained. “There are some helpful things you can do, like fixing oxygen or opening doors if you want. The game’s about working together.”
“The saboteurs won’t win if they don’t kill crew.”
“Why should they?”
“That’s literally how the game’s supposed to work.” Rainbow turned to face the other girls. “The imposters win if they kill enough of the crew members or break the ship.”
“I couldn’t hurt my friends.”
“It’s just a game.”
“A game that encourages you to have unponylike thoughts,” Applejack muttered. “Just like every other game humans invent. We couldn’t run an orchard if somepony was trying to sabotage it, best that everypony does her chores.”
“Last game the crew won,” Twilight said. “Maybe we should try it with the crew not winning, which I guess means that Fluttershy is going to have to kill us.”
“And there’s a second imposter, too, remember.”
“It’s me,” Pinkie Pie cheerfully announced. “Me and Flutters are teammates. Promise not to vote us out, and we won’t hurt anypony.”
“That’s not how the game works,” Rainbow muttered.
“So who’s got what tasks? How fast can we get them done?”
“I’ve got wires,” Rarity said. “And samples, and a scan.”
“I’ve got scan, too.”
“Wanna be scan buddies?”
“Sure.” Applejack reached out a hoof and Rarity bumped it.
“Can I stand on the scanner, even if I’m an imposter?”
“Don’t see why not.”
•••
Victory, the screen proclaimed, showing the avatars of the ten ponies. The tasks had gotten done, and nopony had gotten ejected.
Ha! Very Sus.
(I hadn't played Among Us until last week. Five friends, still friends when we were done. Karl was constantly picked as the imposter because he's such a... well, we expect it from him. He can't lie worth a hoot either.)
Among Us would work if they where about Changeling impostors before they reformed. Find the infiltrator.
Dunno, kinda sus to be outright saying you're the imposter... 😇
Yeah, it's kinda hard to novelize Among Us, even worse to do so about ponies playing.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned how important it is to separate gameplay and real life. It is perfectly okay to try your very hardest to kill your friends in a game and still remain friends in real life even if Rainbow is still bitching because I sniped her but it was her own fault for choosing a poor spot for cover while my spot had the higher ground and the higher caliber of my bullets and the angle and the wind speed were perfect for when she foolishly stuck her head around the corner for a perfect headshot. Boom, chunky salsa all over the place!
But we're still friends.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
10572441
I’ve never played it and probably never will, but I’ve gotten lots of enjoyment at watching other people play it.
10572522
Oh, yeah, the general concept could be turned into something that ponies like, but as the game is framed, the ponies would generally want to help each other out; they’d need a more specific motivation than ‘you are the bad guy,’ I think.
Maybe not . . . but I can say that I did one training exercise with cops where they hired us to be the bad guys and civilians, ‘cause any cops in that role would think like cops and act like cops, whereas we were terribly unpredictable.
10572885
Well, maybe. I’ve seen a playthrough of a game where an imposter won the endgame doing just that.
I kind of ran into that problem with Gamer Girl Shiroi as well, although the majority of the story didn’t focus on the game, and I think if I had tried to fully flesh this one out, that would have also been the way to go.
10573828
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Seriously, though, never play a shooter against a unicorn. And never mind Twilight, imagine how well Rarity could finesse a shot. Sniping is essentially distant sewing.
It is interesting to think about what concepts stumble at the starting line when faced with the psychology of a different species. (Meanwhile, in the Griffonstone division, everyone votes for whoever owes them the most money.)
Psst. Let us all make a pact, here and now, to NEVER tell Applejack about Farmville, or we'll never see the mare again. I could see her getting hooked.
11076974
Sure, until she figures out that you can’t plant crops under your apple trees, then she’d give up on it as being a poor substitute for reality. While they don’t show it in canon, historically mixing crops in the field (especially orchards, where there were plenty of crops you could plant where the trees weren’t) was a great way to get more use out of your land.