4. The Devil You Don't
“Stand in the fire until
there is nothing left to burn away.”
—Mantle of Efrideet
Everypony was staring. Except this time, it totally wasn’t at me.
Well, okay. It mostly wasn’t at me.
“She what?!” yelled Rarity, and I flinched as several ponies in the park turned their shocked, curious gazes towards us.
I couldn’t really blame them for staring either. It wasn’t often you saw one of the town’s local heroes rampaging through Ponyville Park, shouting her head off like a crazed madmare at the town’s equally-beloved schoolteacher.
“Miss Rarity, please,” beseeched Miss Cheerilee, trotting a little faster to put herself in front of Rarity. “You need to slow down for a moment. This matter is already very delicate—”
“Absolutely not!” Rarity yelled again, whirling on the teacher. “That scoundrel tried to attack my sister! How could you be alright with this, Cheerilee?! You’re her teacher, you should be looking out for her—”
“Sis, don’t you dare blame Miss Cheerilee,” I interrupted sternly. “It’s not her fault she can’t control the school or the Headmaster. She’s just a teacher.” Miss Cheerilee gave me a reproachful look at that, and I realized how powerless I had just made her sound. Sorry, teach…
“Well, then, I’ll just have to find somepony who can!” declared Rarity, striding forward again and muttering to herself. “Ergh, if only Twilight and Spike weren’t out of town. I could just have them fire off a message to the Princesses—they’d deal with this in no time.”
“Rarity, you can’t just go to the Princesses for everything,” I said, catching up to her again. “They already have enough on their plates with running Equestria and dealing with the gryphons and stuff—”
“And why are you so dismissive about this?!” she spat, glaring at me. “You’re the one suffering in the first place! Don’t you want to resolve this?! Why are you letting her just trot all over you?!”
He bribed me.
I bit my tongue. If Rarity knew I had taken that money, she would never let me hear the end of it.
Before we left, I had seriously considered leaving the bag behind completely, but had ultimately decided to sneak it into my saddlebags while Rarity hadn’t been paying attention… which elicited no small amount of intense shame for letting him buy me out so quickly.
But then again, he probably wouldn’t have taken kindly to me leaving a pile of his bits on the floor for anyone to find. Better to make him think I accepted his bribe instead.
Still, it elicited a lot of questions, even more than before I had chased him out of the Headmaster’s office. Why did he even have a bribe on him to begin with? Had he planned on giving it to me, or somepony else, maybe the Headmaster? Why was he so desperate to control my actions that he was willing to go that far?
His voice echoed within my mind. “It’s complicated.”
I imagined that strained smile on his face. There was something Mister Rich really didn’t want anypony knowing about.
My sister’s angry venting intruded upon my hearing as my mind zoned back into reality. “...tempted to just take a chariot to Canterlot and storm the Princess’s throne room—” WHAT?! Uh, whoa, how about no?!
“RARITY!” I yelled sternly, jumping in front of her and bringing the entire party to a halt. “I need you to stop, right now, and do what you told me to do.”
Boom. The shock of me reversing her own phrase at her caught her completely off guard. Commander Shepard would be proud.
“Sweetie, I’m—”
“Do it,” I demanded, stomping a hoof. “Or Miss Cheerilee and I are ending this conversation and leaving.”
Her mouth hung open. I stood with as much confidence as I could muster... which would be easier if my heart weren’t beating madly like a jackhammer.
A few moments passed.
Then Rarity snorted.
What.
Suddenly, she burst into laughter.
What! “What’s so funny?!”
Miss Cheerilee snorted too.
I whirled on her. “Seriously?! You too?!”
This only made her burst into laughter.
WHAT THE HEL! “You guys!”
“Ahahahaha! Oh goodness,” my sister managed amid her fit of giggles, leaning on Miss Cheerilee for support. “Oh, I’m dreadfully sorry, dear, but that was delightfully adorable.”
The heat rose to my cheeks. “Sis!”
“It was!” giggled Miss Cheerilee. “Did you see how she puffed out her chest?”
“Miss Cheerilee!” I flushed in embarrassment. “Ughhhh! I hate both of you so much right now.” But I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face.
“Oh, goodness!” said Rarity finally, her laughter coming to an end. “Oh dear, I needed that. Oof. Forgive me, Sweetie. I don’t know what came over me.”
“You were just angry,” I said, waving her off. “I don’t blame you.”
“I was indeed, but that’s no excuse,” she said with a meaningful look, her eyes now somewhat glossy—whether from the laughter or otherwise, I couldn’t tell. “I apologize, dear sister, but you must understand that I’m simply worried for you.”
“I know you are, sis, and I really appreciate it.” I trotted up to her and gave her a hug. “But seriously, we won’t get anything done by bickering in public like a married couple.”
“Er… of course, you’re right,” she said, looking around a little anxiously—most of the bystanders had returned to their previous business. Rarity coughed as a light blush adorned her cheeks. “Oh dear. That was, er, rather unbecoming of me.”
“We all have our moments,” said Miss Cheerilee, putting a comforting hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “Especially when it involves somepony we love.”
My cheeks flushed. “Sorry for worrying you two so much.”
“Alas, worrying is just what sisters do,” said Rarity simply.
“And teachers,” Miss Cheerilee added.
“And friends,” I said, smiling up at both of them.
Wow, that was so full of cheese.
But Miss Cheerilee positively glowed in response. What could I say? It got results. And Paragon points.
“But your sister’s right.” A serious look overcame Miss Cheerilee’s face again as we continued walking through the park. “Sweetie Belle, things can’t go on like this.”
“Well, what are we supposed to do about it?”
“There are a lot of things that we can do about it, Sweetie,” she said plainly. “Do you know why I was gone for so long during lunch today?”
“Didn’t you have to grade my… um, extra credit?” Yeah, let’s not tell Rarity about my late homework…
Miss Cheerilee blinked at that. “Err… well, yes, there was that,” she coughed. “But I was actually in to see the Headmaster as well.”
“Why?”
“To explain to her what happened this morning regarding the flower pot,” she explained. “The administration may look the other way when it comes to verbal abuse, but that was assault, plain and simple. I told her we needed to contact the authorities immediately.”
“And what did she have to say about it?” asked my sister.
Miss Cheerilee gave a heavy sigh. “She told me not to start any trouble with Diamond’s family, or I would face ‘disciplinary action’ with the school.”
“What?!” we both yelled, then quailed when we realized we had caught the attention of the park-goers again. Lowering my voice, I continued. “What did you end up doing?”
“I ignored her, obviously,” she said. My stomach dropped like a rock as I realized how much Miss Cheerilee was putting at risk. “Rarity’s right. I’m your teacher. I’m supposed to protect you, no matter what it costs me. You could have been seriously injured had Pinkie Pie not been there. And so I called Filthy Rich in, demanding Diamond be held accountable for her actions.”
“Yeah, because that went totally well,” I blurted before I could stop myself. I smacked my forehead and sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I understand. And you’re right. The Headmaster just had her own head up— er. Ahem.” She coughed. Pfft. What was I, thirteen? ...Oh wait, I totally was. “Obviously, if she’s unwilling to do anything about it, then we’ll just have to take it up with the Town Guard.”
“Absolutely,” agreed Rarity instantly.
“Wait, wait, hang on,” I said, stopping the party again. “I like the idea, a lot, but would they even believe us? You heard Mister Rich. We don’t have any evidence that she did it.”
“Well, since you need to stop by Featherweight’s home to drop off his homework, why don’t we talk to him?” Miss Cheerilee said. “If he can testify against her, and if his parents can confirm she was in the house at the time, then it has to mean something to the Guard.”
...Could it be that simple? “Are you sure it’ll work?”
“Sweetie, honestly!” piped Rarity, resuming our trot. “Have some faith in the Town Guard!”
I blinked again, then looked at my hooves as we stepped out of the park and back onto the cobbled streets beyond. Weird. Why is this so hard to believe? For such a long time I had almost completely given up on ever being able to make Diamond Tiara face justice. And yet, here was a solution, one so obvious I felt dumb for not even realizing it all day.
“I guess I had tricked myself into believing it was impossible,” I said out loud.
“Sweetie, nothing’s impossible,” said Miss Cheerilee. “Well, mostly. But there are avenues we can take. They’ve mostly been unavailable to us before, but now that Diamond Tiara’s escalated it to this point, we must simply escalate it further.”
“Indubitably! So, to that end, where does this ‘Featherweight’ live?” Rarity asked as we rounded the corner.
“It should be just around the—” she stopped suddenly mid-answer, staring. What was the hold up? I turned the corner with her to look, and…
“Oh. Huh.”
Standing in front of Featherweight’s door was Pinkie Pie, speaking frantically to two of the Town Guard—both of whom I recognized immediately as Captain Romana and Guardsman Bulwark—while a gargantuan white stallion looked on in bewilderment.
“Err, what’s going on?” asked Rarity. “Is that Featherweight’s home?”
“Yeah, it is,” I said, striding forward. “C’mon, let’s go find out what’s up.”
“…And then, just like that, my tail started twitching!” I could hear Pinkie Pie exclaim as I galloped towards the gathering in front of the door. “Can you imagine? Right when I mention my tail! I mean, that must be some kinda super cosmic koinkidink or something!”
“Erm, yes, Miss Pie,” said Captain Romana, frantically trying to re-rail Pinkie’s train of thought. “So, your tail twitched, which I should assume means that something fell from the sky?”
“Yepperoni!” she exclaimed, pointing up. “A flower pot, from that window, right above Sweetie Belle’s head! And now right above yours, too! Neat!”
They followed her hoof up.
“…Perhaps we should move, Captain,” said Bulwark, stepping aside.
“…That seems prudent,” agreed the Captain. As they did so, they caught sight of our approach. “Hmm? Isn’t that the little Belle herself?”
“Loudest of gasps!” Pinkie Pie literally exclaimed. “It totally is!”
“Captain Romana,” I said as I approached, panting from the gallop. “What’s going on?”
“Stellar timing,” said the Captain, glancing up. “I see you’ve brought company?”
“Yes, hello!” said Rarity, also huffing from the jog. “I’m Sweetie Belle’s sister and guardian, Rarity. You probably already know Cheerilee, a teacher at the school.”
“Hello, Captain,” said Miss Cheerilee, nodding, “and hello, Mister Heavyweight.”
“Miss Cheerilee,” replied the huge white pegasus at the door, who I recognized as Featherweight’s father, Heavyweight. Really, how could anyone not recognize him, with muscles that massive?
That being said, I noticed a subtle twitching of his comically-minuscule wings—the muscular stallion seemed anxious by the sudden presence of the Town Guard at his doorstep. I marveled at how such a powerful stallion could ever be made to feel apprehensive. Sun, if I hadn’t known that he was actually a pretty chill guy, I’d have been scared out of my horseshoes right now.
“Wow! All of us here at once? This is totally just the weirdest of coincidences!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “Unlike the flower pot,” she scowled, rounding on Mister Heavyweight, who instantly quailed. Yeesh. Well, if anyone could intimidate Ponyville’s strongest weightlifter, it was Pinkie Pie.
“Pinkie, it’s alright, it’s not their fault,” I said, putting my hoof on her side. “But… how did you even know it was dropped on purpose?”
“Aw, c’mon, Bellie Boo, have some faith in your ol’ Aunt Pinkie!” she said, booping my nose. Really, Pinkie? Bellie Boo? “I know an assassination attempt when I see one!”
“…Assassination attempt?” asked Mister Heavyweight, quirking a doubtful eyebrow.
“Okay, maybe that’s a biiiiit extreme.” When were you not extreme? “But it was totes McGoats most discernibly a deliberate deed of destructive delivery, definitely done by devilish dudes!”
“Or dames,” I added.
“Please elaborate,” Romana ordered.
“Hokay! So!” Pinkie bounced over to a patch of grass that was slightly darkened by spilt soil, leaning down to stare at it closely. “Here’s some earth, chillin’. Dayme, that is some sweet earth you might say. Grouuuuuund!”
She stood up again suddenly. “Alright! Ruling out the ice caps melting, meteors becoming crashed into us, the ozone layer leaving, and the sun exploding, there is no way that flower pot could have simply dropped over here—” she pointed down again, “—from there—” she stuck a hoof out at the window sill, “—because the distance is approximately three meters, give or take a few hoofsies, and the angle at which the flower pot fell would have required an incoming force to provide enough lateral velocity to propel it over the three-ish meters between the window sill and here!”
...What just happened.
Everypony was stunned silent… which Pinkie naturally took as a sign to continue.
“So now the window’s like, ‘buck, we’re dumbasses,’ Sweetie Belle’s like, ‘what’s going on, eh?’ I’m looking at the window and going, ‘dubya tee eff, mates!’, and the window’s just like ‘well buck that’ and doesn’t answer. Which meeaaaaans—” she whooshed across the distance between herself and the guards in an instant, “—that somepony tried to nuke Sweetie Belle with a flower pot and doesn’t want us to know!”
A moment passed.
Rarity spoke first, turning to Pinkie. “And... you saw all of this happen?”
“Well duh! Otherwise I wouldn’t have needed to bust out some totally awesome mathy terms to explain it!”
“You didn’t need to in the first place,” I heard Bulwark mutter under his breath.
“That was actually rather helpful,” said the Captain, who nodded at Pinkie. “Thank you for your testimony.”
“You got it, sister!” She hoofed the stoic Captain in the shoulder, who took it without complaint.
“Well?” she said, turning to the pony in the doorway, who hadn’t moved a single inch. “Mister Heavyweight, I’m afraid to ask, were you or any of your children responsible for this?”
“Errrr…” said the stallion, clearly nervous from the sudden accusation. “This is all rather sudden…”
“Captain Romana, if I may,” said Rarity, stepping forward. “I have discussed this thoroughly with my sister and her teacher-confidant.” She gestured to myself and Miss Cheerilee. “We have reason to believe that a Miss Diamond Tiara was responsible, and that Mister Featherweight was merely an accessory to the act. I’m sure Mister—ah, Heavyweight, was it?—can verify her presence this morning.”
“I can,” he said. “A pink filly and her friend stopped by, saying they wanted to walk to school with Featherweight. It was the first time I had ever met them.”
“Any specific reason you let them in, Mister Heavyweight?” asked Miss Cheerilee, stepping forward. He appeared to relax upon her approach, finally having a familiar face to speak to.
“She said that her little gray friend had a crush on him, and wanted to introduce the two.”
“Charming,” muttered Rarity.
“Did you notice anything suspicious about them?” asked the Captain.
“They looked like they were in a bit of a hurry,” he said, his face scrunching as if drawing from memory. “I just assumed they didn’t want to be late for school.”
“I see.”
“Is Featherweight home?” Miss Cheerilee asked.
“I am,” he squeaked, peeking out from behind his father’s substantial bulk. Had he been there this entire time?
“Hello, Featherweight,” said Miss Cheerilee, approaching the little colt. “We just wanted to confirm what we asked you this morning. Is it true that Diamond Tiara goaded you into pushing the flower pot?”
“Speak freely without fear,” said the Captain. “Your testimony will appear anonymous in the public report.”
He paused for a moment, considering this, then finally nodded.
“Can you explain in more detail?” asked Miss Cheerilee.
“It happened really fast, so I don’t remember much,” he said. “They just… they kinda barged into my room while I was getting ready for school. Diamond told me to push the flower pot out really hard.”
“And?”
“I asked them why at first, and she told me to just do it. Otherwise she would… she would…” He shuddered.
“She would what, Feather?” I asked.
“She just said she would make my life worse at school,” he sniffled. "She didn't explain how. I don't know how to either."
“You don’t have to,” the Captain assured him. “Go on.”
“Well, I… I went up to the flower pot, but then saw Sweetie Belle outside. I didn’t want to h-hurt her, so I was about to step back and tell Diamond to go away… but she pushed me in the back.” He looked down at his hooves in shame.
“Thank you, honey,” said Miss Cheerilee.
“Well there you have it!” exclaimed Rarity. “A testimony has been wrought, and I believe you two have a culprit to bring to justice! Now, if we may step over here a moment… ah, Miss Cheerilee, would you care to join us…?”
As Rarity led my teacher and the guards off to the side, I approached the door with a smile. “Hey, Feather. You alright?”
“H-hi, Sweetie,” he replied, his voice shaky. “I… I think I am now. Sorry for… this morning. You’re not mad at me, right?”
“Of course I’m not mad at you,” I assured him. “It wasn’t your fault or anything.”
“O-okay. Thanks. Sorry.” He hid his eyes behind the bangs of his mane. Really, he didn’t need to be so shy…
“It’s always a pleasure to see you passing by every morning,” Heavyweight said, trotting over. “Hate to hear that we almost got ya bashed on the head for it.”
“It’s alright, you couldn’t have known,” I replied, sighing in relief. “I’m feeling much better now that we’re close to getting it resolved.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said with a gruff nod. “I hope this ‘Diamond’ girl gets what’s comin’ to her, ’specially if she’s been taking advantage of my son.” He laid a hoof on Featherweight’s head.
“Daaaaad,” he grumbled.
I giggled. “I certainly hope so.” I pulled a stack of papers from my saddlebags. “Here, I brought you a copy of my notes from today. Do you need me to walk you through them?”
“That… that’d be nice,” he murmured. We looked up at Mister Heavyweight.
“Heh. Sure, go on. I’ll talk with the Guard for a bit, make sure everything’s squared away. I’ll let your sister know what you’re up to.”
“Much appreciated as always,” I curtseyed at him, which he returned with a slight nod of his head before joining Rarity. I turned to Featherweight, smiling. “Well? Shall we step inside?”
“…and a legion is split into ten cohorts, each of which consists of six centuriae,” I explained, drawing diagrams on the paper that I had placed on Featherweight’s edge of the dining table.
“How many soldiers are in a centuriae?” he asked, scooting forward in his seat to better see the diagram.
“Eighty soldiers per.” I drew a number on the paper.
“So that’s four hundred and eighty per cohort?”
“I… think so?” Seriously, Feather, don’t rely on me for math questions.
“Wow,” he said in awe, tracing his hoof along the diagrams I had drawn. “That’s almost five thousand per legion. And if they have over a hundred legions…”
“That’s over four hundred thousand soldiers in their entire army,” I confirmed, remembering the count straight out of the lecture. Suck it, math.
He gaped. “How do they even get that many soldiers?”
“Mandatory conscription,” I explained. “They draft citizens from the populace during wartime.”
“Mandatory? You mean, like, without permission?”
“They don’t need permission. It’s part of their law. Every gryphon is trained to fight when they start school, knowing that they might have to serve in the army someday.”
He looked pretty horrified at the prospect. “That’s nuts…”
“Yeah. That’s what happens when your country is built on military tradition. And that’s why we really don’t want to go to war with them. They’d run us over.”
“Wow.” He traced his hoof over the diagram and the staggering size of the forces it represented. “Say, how do you know so much about this stuff, anyways?”
“You mean aside from the lecture?”
“Well, yeah.” He started shuffling through the notes I had taken for him. “I don’t see anything here about gryphons learning to fight in school. And besides,” he said, smirking to me, “usually you don’t pay attention in class, and I have to teach you.”
“Gee, Feather, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I teased, giving him a light hoof to the shoulder. “If you must know, I have a gryphon friend named Freya that I play video games with. She’s a legionnaire in the Gryphosi army, and sometimes we like to talk about what life is like there.”
“Huh. That’s pretty cool, I guess.” He sipped from his water and pondered for a moment. “If she’s in the army, how does she play games?”
“They have a lot of free time when they’re off-duty, and she’s probably on deployment somewhere close enough to the border for her to get Stratonet access.” I wracked my memory for the conversations I’d had with Freya. “I don’t remember what city. I think she gets moved every few months?”
“Really? She’s a soldier, and still has time to play?”
“Well, yeah. They’re not fighting, they’re just garrisoned.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Errr… they’re standing guard in the city, in case we attack.”
In the distance, I heard the front door open and shut. Wow. That only took, like, an hour.
“But… we won’t attack them, right?”
“I don’t think so,” I said, then tried to remember what I could. “At the very least, I’m pretty sure we said that we wouldn’t.”
“Then why are the gryphons guarding a city?”
“It’s ’cause they don’t trust us not to,” came Mister Heavyweight’s voice from the archway leading into the dining room as he walked through. “Just so you know, kiddo, we’ll need to head to the station later tonight to offer the Guard an official written testimony.”
“Alright, dad,” Featherweight replied.
“Thanks again for this,” I said to Mister Heavyweight. “I didn’t mean to inconvenience you.”
“Justice isn’t an inconvenience,” he replied, smiling to me as he went to the fridge to fetch some water. “What’cha kids talking about the gryphons for, anyways?”
“Political science,” Featherweight answered.
“Yeah, we learned a lot of interesting stuff today,” I said. “We’re getting started on the Gryphosi Cold War.”
“Interesting, huh.” Mister Heavyweight trotted over to the table. “You into studying warfare?
“Err, kinda?” I answered, unsure of exactly what to say to that. “I just want to understand why gryphons and ponies are so angry with each other right now.”
He grunted and sat down with us. “Mmph. Not a fun subject.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s ‘fun’, no,” I said thoughtfully. “But it’s certainly important and interesting.”
He grunted again at that. “Hard to be interested in the prospect of death and destruction.” He glanced at my flank with narrowed eyes. “Though I guess that’s all you do in video games these days, so I bet you’re used to it.”
Huh? That came out of nowhere. “…Sir?”
The heavyset stallion furrowed his brow. He leaned against a kitchen counter. “Can I be frank with you?”
I leaned back in my seat. “Certainly.”
“You’re a real sweetie, Miss Belle,” he said, grinning at his own pun, but a frown quickly retook his face. He swirled some of the water in his cup, apparently working out his words. “So know that this comes from a place of love when I say that I worry about what these video games are doing to you.”
I blinked. “…Sorry, I don’t think I quite follow. What are they doing, exactly?”
“Trainin’ ya for war.”
…What. “Mister Heavyweight, I appreciate your concern, but these video games are nothing like real life,” I explained before he could get the wrong idea. “I couldn’t gain any actual fighting experience from them if I tried.”
“I’m not saying that they’re training you to fight,” he said, his eyes wandering as he tried to find the right language. “They’re training you to get used to fighting. So that death don’t mean much to you when it happens, or when you’re handing it out yourself.”
I blinked again, trying to process what he was saying.
“When you play these games, the goal is to kill more than everypony else. You get points for killing ponies and extra points for shooting them in the head and such. And when you get killed, you just come right back up and kill some more. That about right?”
“I… suppose?” I thought about it a bit. That only really applied to the Crucible, where players went to fight each other—but the rest of the game was about playing through a story, exploring lost worlds, and fighting together with friends. “But that’s kinda just like hoofball, right? You compete against other players and try to earn points.”
“But earning points doesn’t involve killing ponies, Miss Belle.”
“I… I guess it doesn’t.” I looked down at my hooves. It sounded really morbid, when he put it that way.
“All I’m saying is,” he continued, breaking me from my reverie, “ponies don’t just come back to life, Miss Belle. And that includes you and anypony you might fight. I just hope you remember that if things get rough. I don’t want you thinking it’ll be fun to treat war like one of your video games.”
For some reason, I couldn’t look him in the eyes. Prior to my hobby going public, I had never been challenged about it on this level before, never thought about what it was that I was doing. Not even Rarity had questioned me this much.
I breathed in, and breathed out. Then l spoke.
“I don’t want to fight anypony—or anyone, Mister Heavyweight,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “And I don’t want to go to war either.”
I thought about all the blood I had spilled for sport, all the enemies I had slain. And I thought about how, even though I had been the one to gun them down, the bullets weren’t real after all.
“I wish the war could just be inside the video game, where I could play it for fun without anyone getting hurt—not in real life, where I have to hurt ponies for real.”
I thought about Legionnaire Freya of the Gryphosi Army, standing guard day after day, dreading our aggression, watching our borders for any sign of attack… only to return to a world where she fought by their side instead. A world that didn’t really exist.
I looked up at him again. “I just want us to live in harmony, like we always have.”
He studied my expression for a moment before nodding his head. “I’m glad to hear it. Don’t ever let go of that.”
This time, I spoke with confidence. “I never intend to.”
POW.
“Hah! You’re crushing them! Send them home crying!”
Loading fresh rounds into my Hawkmoon, I stepped over the body of my fallen opponent and popped my head over the low wall he had been hiding behind, only to see two enemy Crusaders waiting a dozen meters away on the other side. They both immediately turned to face me—horseapples!—and I ducked just in time for a surge of enemy fire to sail over my head. “Shadow, a little help?!”
“I gotcha covered!”
I peeked around the corner and saw the stallion emerge from a hole in the side of a burnt-out building. His sniper rifle rang out thrice—two rounds impacted one of them, taking him down immediately; another shot barely managed to skim the second as she slid behind a low wall.
“She ducked out of my sight!”
“I’ll deal with her,” I grunted, emerging from cover and training my hand cannon on her head. She turned to face me, and her eyes widened—POW. A single shot pierced between her eyes and her body crumpled to the floor.
“Way to steal my kill, Dove,” he said, ejecting an empty mag from his rifle.
“Pfft, whatever,” I replied, waving at him in thanks. “You got a kill and an assist, quit complaining.”
“Yeah, well I’m only two away from— BEHIND YOU!”
I whirled around, only to get a rifle butt to the face. “OW!” My energy shields flared out of existence and I staggered back as a gryphon leveled her assault rifle at me. “Aw, c’mon—!”
Pssssschew!
Several balls of glowing energy burst through the gryphon’s chest, instantly disintegrating her into a fine powder. As the dust cleared, I saw a unicorn standing on the other side, holding a smoking fusion rifle. She trotted forward and stuck a hoof out to me.
“Thanks for the save, Stranger— horseapples!” I fired a few shots between her legs from my position on the ground, and an enemy Crusader slumped to the floor behind her.
“I suppose that’s one for one,” said Stranger, grabbing my outstretched foreleg and pulling me up to my legs.
“Hah!” I dusted off my legs. “Like we last long in here anyways.”
Bratatat! Bratatat! Bratatat!
I twirled around towards the source of the noise, only to catch the sight of Shadow’s lifeless body falling out of her spot in the building.
“I see what you mean,” Stranger said behind me.
“C’mon!” We leapt over the cover, and she ducked behind it to cover our flank while I approached the opening, priming a grenade and tossing it in. One bright flash later and a second body came flying out.
Then, oddly enough, a third head peeked out. “Was that your grenade?” asked Zaid.
“Yeah. Sorry, did I steal your kill?”
Zaid’s ear twitched—he whirled around, drew his shotgun and fired twice into the dark interior before turning back to me. “Nah, it’s good.”
I laughed. “C’mon, let’s go find Mash.”
He jumped down, and we entered into a tunnel on our right, with Zaid taking point—CRACK! BLAM! Zaid bashed an enemy standing right outside the tunnel before pumping him full of buckshot and sending his body flying. As we emerged, we were met with the sound of gunshots, explosions, and nasally maniacal laughter.
“Well, we found Mash,” said the Stranger dully.
He stood on the husk of a busted truck, firing potshots in seemingly random directions. “Hahahahaha! Ten kill streak! C’mon, who wants some?!” A stallion jumped onto the truck, snarling only long enough for Mash to send a knife sailing from his hoof into the stallion’s forehead, knocking him off the truck. “Booyah!”
“Twenty seconds left!”
“Looks like the kid’s having fun,” said a voice to our left, and Freya emerged from behind a wall, favoring a wing.
“Yeah, he’s on a kill streak, by the sound of it,” I shrugged. “Think he’ll be able to overtake me before the match is over?”
“Nah, he still needs three kills to beat ya,” she said, casually leaning on her Thunderlord. “I mean, unless his Golden Gun is ready—”
“SUUUUUPER!” Mash screamed in the distance, glowing with solar energy as he whipped out a glowing hand cannon from his hip with a twirl and pointed it into the distance. POW! “One!” He turned around. POW! “Two!” He turned around again. POW! “SERIOUSLY?! How’d I miss that?!” As he dropped the empty revolver and drew his scout rifle, a grenade clinked at his feet. “Awww, you gotta be kidding—”
BOOM. His body went sailing through the air, and my teammates collapsed into a pile of laughter. Oh, if only I could save the look on his face—oh wait, I could!
As the match ended, my vision flashed, permanently recording the sight for all time.
“A single victory doesn’t win a war, but it’s a start. Good work.”
“Aww, c’mon!” Mash grunted, hiding half his face behind his rifle. “This isn’t funny.”
“It totally is!” I giggled. “Look at your face!” I showed the photo to the rest of our squad. Zaid snorted, Stranger smiled softly, and Shadow all but burst into laughter.
“You guuuuyysss,” he nagged. “Ugh. And I was so close to finally taking first from ya too, Sweetie!”
“Not todaaaa~y,” I sing-songed. Unfortunately for Mash, I had always been the better gamer.
He stuck his tongue out at me. “Whatever! I’m gonna go check out what the Gunsmith has in stock today. Be back in a bit.” As he departed, I leaned back to relax before the magnificent view of the City from the Tower’s balcony.
Suddenly, an armored gryphon flew over the edge, perching softly on the railing. “Hey guys.”
“Hey, Freya! Nice cape you got there,” said Zaid, noticing the flowing silks that now adorned her back.
“Thanks. Finally had enough to get it. Man, that took a while to save up for.”
“Quit complaining, you have more free time than I do,” I said.
“That’s funny, coming from the schoolgirl,” she grunted in response.
“How was it you described deployment, previously?” asked Shadow. “‘Long stretches of utter boredom punctuated by intermittent moments of sheer terror’, or something to that effect?”
“Yep. I mean, the off-days are real quiet and boring and all, but those few moments tend to be pretty terrifying.” She shivered a bit, visibly ruffling her feathers.
“Did something happen?” I asked.
“Yeah. We traded fire with the border yesterday afternoon for a few hours.”
I jolted at that. “Wait, seriously?”
“I heard,” said Stranger as she relaxed placidly upon the edge of a planter. “No casualties, I hope?”
“Nah, nothing new. Just some mortars and small arms fire into the DMZ,” said the gryphon, preening at a wing. “I’m honestly not too worried, our defenses are pretty rock-solid. But… well, let’s just say I’d rather not.”
“Sounds like the mighty Gryphosi legionnaire’s afraid of a few little ponies,” said Zaid with a smirk.
“Shove it, Arabian,” she said with a grin, but her expression softened. “You don’t wanna know what it’s like standing on those ramparts, wondering if there’s a sniper scope trained on your head.”
Sun above, that did not sound pleasant.
I glanced at my clanmates, and noticed the mood had noticeably darkened.
“Hey,” I said, walking over to sit next to the gigantic gryphon. “I’m sure it won’t get bad. We’ll find a way to fix things. Our Princesses will make sure of that.”
She sighed in response to that, but gave me a wan smile. “Yeah, let’s hope so.”
I grinned back. “If all else fails, I’ll go over there myself and give ‘em a stern talking to.”
“Hah! Dovetail playing diplomat? I could see that,” she chuckled. “It’ll be like one of those cheesy Applewood movies where the little girl runs into the middle of the battlefield, screams ‘stop fighting, can’t you see you’re tearing us apart’, and everyone puts down their guns and hugs the enemy with The Heart Carol blasting in the background.”
“Pfft! Nah, nothing dramatic like that. I’ll just drag you out to the border, set up a few stratoscreens, and we can play some video games together.”
“Yeah, uh, might not wanna do that. We kinda put down some landmines between us and Hoofington. I’d rather not have bits of dead filly on my wings.”
“Hey, don’t underestimate me!” I boasted. “Check the Kill-Death Ratio.”
“Already did, actually,” she noted. “I looked at the Crucible leaderboards on the way here. Dovetail jumped a hundred places just from today’s fights. I think her KDR's, like, one of the top fifty in the world now or something.”
“Quite the achievement,” said Stranger in admiration.
“Eh, it’s just a video game,” I shrugged.
“‘Check the Kill-Death Ratio,’” Freya mimicked in a screechy voice.
“Oh, shove off,” I hoofed her in the side. “I do not sound like that.”
“Actually, you kind of do,” quipped Zaid. I gave him a flat look, and he grinned with a helpless shrug.
“Seriously though, kid, you’re a monster,” Freya continued. “I’d hate to be on the other end of your hand cannon.”
“Today I learned the real reason why Freya doesn’t want to go to war with Equestria,” teased Zaid. “She’s scared of Dovetail’s KDR.”
“I vote we stop talking about how I have no life,” I grumbled.
“And how!” exclaimed Shadow. “I don’t think anyone in our clan has topped you in a match before.”
“There have been occasions,” hummed Stranger, “where I have out-scored her.”
“That’s because you have space magic,” muttered Zaid. “Wooooooo.” He wobbled his hooves. “Four guys trying to capture a single base? Just Nova Bomb ‘em from range.”
“Perhaps you should switch it up a bit, hmm?” she suggested. “Try playing as a Striker, like Dovetail. You may perform better if you play offensively with melee attacks, rather than defensively with bubble shields.”
“Have you seen him play Striker?” chirped Shadow, who had somehow become engaged in a spirited tic-tac-toe match against Freya on the floor. “He dies in, like, two seconds without his defensive spells.”
“Even Strikers have to play defensively,” I said. “Listen for footsteps, wait behind corners. Attack as they emerge.”
“Sure thing, scamp,” he said, tousling my mane. “I’ll just magically acquire your legendary sense of hearing.”
“Just play with headphones on!” I exclaimed, straightening my mane.
“I can’t help but be amused,” said Stranger, “that a majestic Saddle Arabian stallion is being given combat advice by a filly that’s literally one-third his size.”
“Shut up, Stranger,” we both responded in tandem. She chuckled at that.
“Hey guys!” yelled Mash from a distance. He appeared to be followed by an… unarmored civilian?
“Mash?” I sat forward.
“What’s up with the plus-one, kid?” Freya asked. Everyone looked up at that.
“So, uh, yeah this dude randomly just came up to me while I was shopping and asked for an interview,” he explained, indicating the pony, a fedora-topped unicorn in a pressed suit.
“Howdy!” he said cheerfully. “Y’all part of Sanctuary?”
“Yeah, that’s us,” I said, hopping to my hooves and approaching him. “What can we do for you?”
“Nice ta meetcha! You must be Dovetail.” He grabbed my hoof and started wildly shaking it. “Though, if I’m being completely honest, I kinda expected you to be taller.”
“Careful now!” Freya chortled. “Kid’s the meanest shot in the Crucible these days.”
“I’ll bet! I saw the leaderboards!” He grinned, then took off his hat. “I’m Noteworthy with the Ponyville Press, and I wanted to interview you folks about your World First clear of the Citadel of Infinity!”
“Hey, I’ve met you before!” I exclaimed, recognizing his name, even though he wore a different body. “Didn’t you work with my sister on that Fashion Week article last year?”
“I did! Then that must mean…” He blinked. “Miss Sweetie Belle?!”
“Hah! Small world,” chuckled Freya.
“You’re Dovetail?” He chortled heartily. “Wow! That’s magnificent! And… wait a minute, didn’t you just get your cutie mark yesterday?” Everyone suddenly looked at me, wide-eyed in surprise.
Uh, horseapples.
“Wait, what?!” exclaimed Zaid. “The scamp scored her cutie mark?!”
“Yep!” nodded Noteworthy enthusiastically. “I saw her with it just this morning! My editor already has you lined up to be listed in the Cutie Mark Chronicles for tomorrow!”
“She didn’t mention it at all!” said Freya.
“Oh… right! Well, uh, that happened!” I grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of my head. “Surprise?”
“What did she get it for?” asked Zaid.
“For video gaming!” Noteworthy exclaimed before I could say anything. “It’s a dove with a video game controller in its claws! Wow— a dove, Dovetail, how did I not see the connection?!”
“Fascinating,” said Stranger. “Didn’t we clear the Citadel the evening before?”
“Wait, waitaminute,” interrupted Freya. “You got your tramp stamp for clearing the Citadel of Infinity?!”
“Oh shut up, you guys!” I buried my face in my hooves. A round of awed chuckles was shared by the group.
“I believe congratulations are in order for our young Dovetail,” said Stranger. “That’s quite the achievement.”
Déjà vu, much? “Didn’t you just say that, like, ten minutes ago?”
“This is much different, Dovetail,” she said, stepping off the planter. I was wrapped in a hug. “You’re becoming a mare. I’m so very proud of you.”
Suddenly, I was awash in a sea of hugs.
“Yeah, kiddo. Congratulations.”
“Glad I was there to help you get it!”
“Congratulations.”
“…Thanks, Stranger.” I grinned. “Thanks, you guys. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
A shutter clicked. I looked up and saw Mister Noteworthy holding a camera up to us, grinning mischievously. “Heh, sorry, couldn’t resist! This is a great scoop, you have no idea. With this and your cutie mark, I’m sure to get a story onto the front page. Err, well, if you guys are still interested in the interview, at least.”
“Sure, I’m down for one!” I nodded.
“Oof, sorry, I’ll have to ditch,” said Freya, looking at her watch. “It sounds like fun and all, but I’m on guard duty tonight.”
“I must depart as well,” said Stranger, standing up. “It is that time of night, after all. I wish you pleasant tidings.”
They both blinked out of existence.
“Well, looks like it’ll just be us four!” I kicked back, smiling pleasantly at Mister Noteworthy. “So, what’ll it be?”
“Excellent! First thing’s first…” He whipped out a notepad. “How much time do you spend playing this game per day?”
...Welp.
I strode downstairs for dinner.
The lights were off. I could hear frantic whispering, the telltale scratching of a chair, a slight brush against carpet. Sometimes I wondered if the grownups actually thought this stuff worked.
But I put on a smile and stepped onto the landing of the showroom.
Here we go.
“CONGRATULATIONS!”
All the lights came on at once. Streamers flew everywhere, everypony popped out of their obvious hiding places, and in an instant I was swarmed with hugs and kisses and ew, dad, put on some deodorant, you smell hardcore.
“We’re so happy for you!” exclaimed Rarity with a brilliant smile.
“Proudest moment ever!” cheered father.
“Our little baby’s growing up!” cooed mother.
“Way ta go, Sweetie!” cheered Apple Bloom.
“Grats, egghead!” exclaimed Scootaloo.
“You’re the first Crusader to make it!” grinned Button Mash.
Despite nearly suffocating on my father’s foul fumes, I grinned like an idiot. Dad, and mom, and big sis, and even the other three Crusaders... all here to celebrate this moment in my life. After the day’s events, it was the greatest feeling in the world.
“Now!” I felt myself being lifted up by my father. “Let’s see what mark decided to adorn my magnificent daughter—” he paused mid-sentence, staring at my flank with a strange, stupefied look… the same one I had seen on Rarity’s face yesterday.
Did she seriously not tell them what my mark was before they came here?!
“Is… is that a bird?” he asked with a quizzical expression.
“Holding a… video game?” said my mother with a similar look.
“Y-Yeah?” I replied, not quite meeting their gaze.
“No, a controller!” Button corrected like an idiot. “For video games!”
“Err, yes! Uh, that’s remarkable. A cutie mark for video games!” said my father again. Mother glanced sideways at him. I broke into a cold sweat, turning to Rarity in panic.
“Er. Oh, yes! It’s rather fetching, no?!” she exclaimed. “Look at the gracefulness of the dove’s flight! Clearly it speaks of her elegance.”
“And I heard doves are super smart!” added Apple Bloom, catching on. “Just like Sweetie Belle!”
“It seems quite... graceful and keen, I suppose,” said mother in hesitation.
“And doves are super agile, too!” chimed Scootaloo.
“Yeah, she’s got super-amazing motor skills to prove it!” proclaimed Button.
“Hah!” said father. “I’ve always been proud of her steady hooves. Just like her sister’s!”
Within moments, the tension lifted, and everypony was all smiles and happiness again. Despite the momentary awkwardness, I couldn’t help but grin along with them as we celebrated my coming-of-age.
For much of the night, everypony was in high spirits, and I nearly forgot about all of my embarrassment, my self-doubt, and the scrutiny of the rest of my schoolmates. All that mattered at that moment was that the ponies I loved were happy for me.
Well, okay, that and they were more than willing to stuff me silly with my favorite foods to prove it. Always a plus!
Yeah, a plus indeed. To your weight.
Shut up, self.
“See, I knew it was a good idea to give that ol’ Marendo to her!” said dad, pointing a potato-laden fork at me.
“I can still remember you picking up that toy as a little foal,” mom said, looking upwards with a wistful expression. “She used to chew at the buttons like it was a rose-leafed cookie!”
“Hah! A rose indeed, Primrose,” exclaimed father. “She was stepping into shoes you couldn’t fill.”
“Indeed?” she hummed. “I’m curious to know if it was to fill my shoes or yours.”
“Ooh, that sounds like a family challenge!” exclaimed Apple Bloom.
“HAH!” he slammed his fork into the table. “GAME ON!”
Of course, we had busted out the old Marendo and brought down the stratoscreen from my room. Soon enough, crammed in front of the game were four family members piloting four racers and their four karts around a road of rainbows, with the other Crusaders cheering us on as my entire family fought for first. Naturally, I decimated them all—this game was foal’s play compared to the stuff I’d been playing recently.
“Unbelievable!” panted father as I sped past him. “How are you so good at this?!”
“Sorry,” I said. “I just kinda worked out the most efficient way to drift-boost.”
“I don’t even understand how you can have that sense,” my mother said. “You have absurd timing.” She had already set down her controller long ago, and was simply watching my screen as I deftly maneuvered around the track.
“If dancing and fencing have taught me anything,” I said as I sped through the finish line, “it’s that timing is extremely important.”
“Well!” She fanned herself. “Consider me impressed that you managed to somehow integrate our instruction with your games.”
“I learn from the best,” I said happily, smiling at Rarity, who barely noticed as she—
“Oh I give up!” said Rarity exasperatedly, dropping her controller. “I keep falling off! What kind of absurd pony decides to construct a positively garish rainbow racing track in space?!”
“I bet Dash would,” snickered Scootaloo.
“I can’t imagine what kinda funky ‘shrooms Rainbow must have been on to come up with somethin’ this loony,” commented Apple Bloom.
“Oh, she’s definitely on something alright!” growled dad, who followed suit with the rest of my family. “Sweetie must be some kind of savant to stay on course. No one can ever catch up to her!”
“I bet I can!” exclaimed Button, leaping forward and snatching up the controller.
“I’d like to see you try,” I said with a grin.
“You’re on!” he shot back.
“Hey, me too!” exclaimed Scootaloo.
“I am so gettin’ in on this!” said Apple Bloom.
The other three Crusaders took their places to my right, all with manic delusions of glorious victory gracing their expressions. Oh, how ready I was to wipe the smirks off their faces.
“First one to beat Sweetie Belle gets a cutie mark!” exclaimed Button.
“Oh heck yeah!”
And so, the Cutie Mark Crusaders began their life-or-death struggle against me, Sweetie Belle, undefeated champion of the Rainbow Road. The excitement was enough to even get the rest of my family excited, and they cheered us on with great vigor.
As we raced along the track, I spared a look to the other Crusaders, all intensely focusing their utmost effort towards defeating me as if it were the most important thing they would ever accomplish in their lifetimes. A warmth surged forth in my chest—only a day ago, I had been so worried that they’d resent me for being the first to get my cutie mark. But as we all competed against each other, I felt an incredible sense of unity with them. Not only were they happy for my ‘victory’, they wholly supported its nature.
It was in that moment that I felt, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my bond with these three—my fellow Crusaders, my very best friends—was the strongest it had ever been in our entire history knowing each other. And I vowed to never doubt them again, to never allow this incredible friendship to falter.
“BOOM!” shouted Scootaloo with glee. “Sonic rainboomed!”
My eyes shot back to the screen. Scootaloo had ferociously blasted me off the track and zoomed past. She stuck a tongue out at me.
I took it back. These scrublords were going down.
About half an hour later, we all relaxed in Rarity’s living room parlor upon its various sofas.
“Hah. Sweetie Belle. A video gamer!” dad said, basking in the pride of having witnessed his daughter achieve a string of virtually-unchallenged victories. “Never would have guessed.”
“Indeed,” said the mother. “I’m surprised that she can find so much joy in these things.”
“Yeah, they’re kinda awesome,” I said, smiling. “Rarity helped me get a Hoofbox a few weeks ago after I showed her my report card.”
“Oh really? One of those newer advanced machines, eh?” said father in a curious tone. “I’m tempted to take a look.”
“You definitely should, it’s amazin’,” agreed Apple Bloom. “We were watchin’ her playin’ it when she first got it. I didn’t really know what was goin’ on, but it was real pretty. S’almost like yer there.”
“That sounds rather impressive,” said mother. She glanced at Rarity. “How did you two afford it? Aren’t those usually a couple thousand or so?”
“Well, err, Sweetie Belle saved up quite a bit.” Rarity chuckled. “Though I did help out somewhat, taking a few extra contracts to cover the cost. I figured I should reward her for doing so well lately. It’s certainly been rather, ah, busy, but I have no regrets.”
Despite the gratitude I felt for my sister’s generosity, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret. She had been working non-stop since we bought it…
“Hey, if it got her a cutie mark, I’d say it was worth it!” said Scootaloo, smiling at me. “How’d you get it anyways? I mean, did you just, like, play the game really well or something?”
“‘Really well’ is apparently quite the understatement!” Rarity chuckled. “She apparently played so well she was the first in the entire world to beat it!”
“Heck yeah! I was there to see it too!” Button was suddenly standing on the arm of the couch cushion next to me, his voice taking on a dramatic tone. “The glorious Dovetail and her finest Everfree Crusaders, marching into the Citadel of Infinity, fusion rifles raised, launchers primed! They shattered the veil, fought through space and time, and finally toppled Theralon, the Confix of Time—”
“Conflux,” I corrected, giggling at how awfully dramatic he was making it sound.
“Err, yeah, Conflux of Time! Only after hours of battle did he finally fall at our hooves!” He grabbed my hoof and lifted me up so I was hanging from his grip, my rear legs barely touching the couch cushions. “And our glorious leader, Dovetail, led us, Sanctuary, through to that fateful victory!”
His rousing story was met with a blush from me and a round of applause from the room, though Scootaloo looked like she was struggling not to burst into laughter at such an overt display of complete and utter nerdiness.
“That’s rather… fanciful!” said mom, leaning back in her seat. “It sounds very intense.”
“Oh, it totally is!” exclaimed Button. “There’s lots of explosions and guns and shooting stuff! It’s wicked. You should have seen her when she saved me from getting pummelled by Theralon. Fired a few shots into his head, totally threw him for a loop. Man, I tell ya, that Hawkmoon may shoot true, but only if you know how to wield it, and no one in the world knows how to as well as Sweetie Belle!”
“…I see,” she replied hesitantly, sipping at her tea and turning to Rarity with pursed lips. “And… you helped her purchase this, er, shooting game?”
Uhh, horseapples. I felt my stomach drop as I remembered my conversation with Mister Heavyweight.
“Er, yes! Yes, I did,” Rarity replied. “I checked the game’s age rating, and made sure it was appropriate for her before moving forward with the purchase. That, and I figured Sweetie Belle was mature enough to deal with the intensity.” She nodded quickly, then suddenly her eyes lit up. “And to be frank, even I was rather captivated by the story! They do seem to spend a great deal of time discovering and exploring lost lands and worlds. It’s all rather romantic, if I do say so myself!”
Omigosh thank you Rarity you are the bestest most wonderfulest sister ever. You get extra snuggles after this is over. And maybe breakfast too.
“Yes, it certainly seems like it. And all this about time traveling, and citadels, and confers…”
“Conflux,” I corrected again with a grin.
“Er, yes, that,” said mother, leaning back in her seat. “These video game stories certainly are getting rather complicated, aren’t they? What’s the history behind this, er, ‘Dove Talon of Sanctuary’?”
“Oh, I came up with those!” I said, happy to help divert the conversation. “Dovetail is the name of my character—she’s a Titan, a warrior who wields lightning fists of justice in battle! And Sanctuary is a guild that I run. It’s like an organization in the game; we have a lot of players from all over the world in it, so I named it as a way to tell anyone they were welcome and safe in my guild—”
“Hang on,” father interrupted. “Anyone? Do you mean other characters in the game?”
“…No, actually real ponies,” I said, my smile faltering. “I play with them over the Stratonet. You know how that works, right?” …Right?
“Yeah, we actually know some really cool people too!” Button said. “There’s this pair of ponies that are all super mysterious and stuff, a stallion from Saddle Arabia with a funny accent, and we’re even friends with a gryphon!”
Father’s face grew more and more pale with each addition to the list. “I… I see…” He gave an uneasy glance to mother. “I didn’t actually realize the Stratonet could be used for such a purpose.”
“And I didn’t realize… gryphons and Saddle Arabians had access to it,” she added.
“Yep! Though sometimes it’s tough—our play sessions can get really long, and it’s kinda difficult to synchronize everypony’s— uhh, everybody’s work and school schedules between timezones—”
“Long, you say?” dad quirked an eyebrow. “How long, exactly?”
“Hush, Button,” Rarity interjected before he could open his mouth again.
“Rarity, dear?” asked mother. “Exactly how much time does Sweetie Belle spend playing video games every day?”
Rarity’s smile faltered. So did mine. This was… not going well.
“Er… usually it’s around three to five hours a day,” she explained hesitantly.
“Usually?”
“It… occasionally exceeds that amount.”
“I… Is that so,” said father haltingly.
An uneasy silence followed this proclamation.
“Rarity, dear,” mother said, “may we speak to you in the kitchen for a moment?”
“C-certainly, mother…”
They stood up and trotted out of the room. I was left alone with Button, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo, who had silently watched the ordeal with uneasy looks on their faces. A heavy stillness pervaded the room.
It was a few tense moments before they emerged again, Rarity looking somewhat frazzled, and mother and father with strained smiles on their face. They all took their seats again.
“Ahem,” said father. “Sweetie Belle, your sister has informed me of your rather stellar school record over the last few years. And, of course, we wouldn’t want to hinder her attempts to reward you. But, ah…”
“We’re a bit worried that… well, you’re doing something rather unsafe, dear,” interjected mother. “These… strangers? A stallion from Saddle Arabia? A gryphon?”
“And the amount of time you’ve been spending on these… video games!” continued father. “Over five hours a day? I mean, I can certainly understand two at most, but… do you intend to fry your own brain? What if it starts to get in the way of school?”
I found that I wasn’t quite able to answer.
“You’ve seen her grades,” said Scootaloo, doing so for me. “They might have been really bad before, but they’ve improved a lot. Even way back when, she was always one of the smartest ponies I knew. Now, she could probably get into any academy she wanted.”
I gave Scootaloo a weak smile, which she returned.
“I… suppose,” he conceded. “But is she staying healthy?”
“Of course!” exclaimed Apple Bloom, joining her friend. “I mean, sometimes she’ll kinda… well, she’ll wink out for a couple days at a time so she can focus on her, er, ‘raids’? But even then, I’d be okay with her usin’ her free time however she wants, ’cause she still spends a lot of it with us, and we’re always out and about! It’s not like she’s some kinda changeling or somethin’ that hides in the dark all the time.”
“That’s… refreshing to hear, I suppose,” said dad, easing back into his seat. I felt my confidence flare.
Thanks, you guys. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Yet, be that as it may,” coughed mother. “This isn’t exactly… ladylike behavior.”
I quirked my eyebrow at mom, daring her to continue… but fearing what she would say if she did.
“We’re just… worried that you might be doing something, er, unusual, dear,” she continued. “I mean… I used to dabble in these games in my youth, but it was never more than a few minutes at a time…”
“What your mother is saying is that, generally, girls your age don’t exactly, er… play video games, especially not to your extent.”
“That’s not fair,” said Button, standing up. “It’s what she loves. It’s her cutie mark. It’s her destiny.”
“I’m not quite sure this is what I want for my daughter’s destiny,” mom blurted out.
The statement slammed into my face like a sledgehammer, and all of the fears and memories from today came rushing back to me.
“Look,” said Apple Bloom. “We already told you, she doesn’t do that all the time—”
“It’s still far too much. There are many other hobbies that are certainly far more wholesome,” she interjected again. “Why not master sewing, like your sister? Or perhaps refine your voice? Something more… befitting a young lady!”
I felt myself shaking in my seat. Why here? Why now? Why them?
“Primrose, dear—”
“No, sit down, Magnum! This has been bothering me this entire evening. I am going to have words with my daughter.” She stood up and walked straight up to me, putting her hoof under my chin. “Sweetie, is this what you plan to do with the rest of your life? To hole up in a room and play with your toys for the rest of eternity?”
I looked up at her, speechless.
“What would other girls say about you? What would the colts think? What of your future husband? And your future children?”
“Hey, that’s not fair at all!” interjected Button angrily. “I’m a colt, and I think she’s perfectly fine!”
“Yeah!” joined Scootaloo. “Sweetie Belle might be a huge egghead, but she’s still a totally normal—”
“Be silent!” she shrieked at the two, throwing them a nasty glare. “This is my daughter and you would do best to stay out of our family matters! Especially on the topic of normalcy, you garish little scoundrels! I have something to say about your little ‘crusader’ business, and you will have your turn soon enough!”
Within seconds, she was back on me. “To say nothing of the fact that you’ve chosen these miscreants as company, you’ve also thrown strangers from the Stratonet into the mix! Dangerous stallions and beastly gryphons! Sun only knows what kind of thoughts they’ve been indoctrinating you with, what kind of danger you’ve been putting yourself in! Do they know your name? Do they know where you live?”
“Mom…!” I couldn’t look at her anymore. I couldn’t show her my tears.
At this point, she was pacing the room angrily.
“How would this interfere with your academics, your career? What would your superiors think of you? If you were to choose a life on the stage, performing for crowds of thousands, what would your fans and contemporaries see in your little hobby? Have you ever considered exactly what kind of image you might be projecting to the rest of the world? A beastly, abhorrent little mare who shoots ponies for fun and befriends the enemy?!”
I grit my teeth and shut my eyes, but that didn’t stop red from tainting my vision.
“That’s quite enough!” Rarity interjected. “I believe this has gotten far out of control—”
“O-ho-ho!” she laughed viciously. “I’ll tell you what’s gotten out of control! Such irony, when you have enabled all of this! I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to allow Sweetie Belle to live with you, that I should have sent her to a proper finishing school where all of this barbarity could have been squashed out of her! Instead you’ve let her fester into this barbaric little monstrosity—”
“SHUT UP!”
CRASH.
I found myself on my hooves, breathing heavily, my heart thundering like a storm. It took a few moments for me to realize that I had just flipped the coffee table on its side. Shattered glasses and spilled beverages lay splattered everywhere, some of which were dripping from my parents’ shell-shocked faces.
But I didn’t care. It had the effect I wanted it to have—everypony in the room was stunned into utter silence.
“How dare you,” I snarled. “Say whatever you want about me, but do not talk to Rarity like that.”
“How…” she stammered angrily, finding her words again. “How… how dare I—”
“Yes, how dare you!” I shouted over her. “Rarity is the most supportive sister in the world, and you dare to speak—”
“She is my daughter and I can speak to her any way I wish!” she retorted angrily. “After all, she is the one responsible for… this!” She waved her hooves wildly at the mess that now covered the living room. “For this, and for you!”
“Yeah, she is responsible for me, and I’m damn glad for it too.”
She stepped back, aghast at my language.
“Rarity was the best thing that ever happened to me,” I continued undaunted. “You know, I used to always be excited about coming here on the weekends, because it meant that I could be with my friends, do the things that I loved, and be surrounded by ponies who loved me. And when you sent me to live with Rarity instead of finishing school, it was the happiest moment of my life! Somehow I’m surprised you had even considered the notion of finishing school, because living with you might as well have been the same damn thing!”
I started pacing back and forth, just as my mother had been moments before.
“Decorum, art, music, manners. Day in and day out, it was just ‘learn this, sew that, sing this, dance to that!’ I’d sit there, repeating these same chores over and over and over again, not once ever feeling like I was alive, that I was anything special, that I even felt happy. It all just felt like vapid nonsense—”
“It is not vapid nonsense!” she interrupted.
“You’re right, it’s not!” I shouted over her. “Dancing is fun, tailoring is interesting, fencing is awesome, and classical music is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever listened to! Yeah, this ‘barbaric little monstrosity’ who apparently ‘shoots ponies for fun’ likes the symphony! Just like you always wanted, right? But you know what? Learning it from you made me miserable! Somehow you managed to suck the life out of all these things. Probably because you don’t even like them yourself! Probably because the only reason you care about them is because they’re ladylike!”
The many years of my early childhood spun around me like a tornado. For more than half my life, she had boiled every single day down into an endless routine—school, home, lessons, studying, training, sleep. I had become a robot, programmed to follow and listen and do.
“You crushed the life out of everything you forced down my throat, you took away all the things I wanted to love, and you kept me from my friends, all because you wanted to turn me into your perfect little Princess. And you almost managed it too, until three years ago, Rarity decided to save me from you.”
When they had begun dropping me off at Rarity’s to go on their vacations, I had finally been given a tantalizing taste of life beyond the confines of their rigid programming. When the decision was made to leave me indefinitely in her care… my entire world changed.
“She was the one who taught me to appreciate these things that I hated. She was the one who convinced me that there was some beauty, some magic, some artistry to it all. She appreciated them because they’re beautiful, not because they made me ladylike for doing them. And that’s on top of everything else. Etiquette, formal demeanor, court manner, she taught me all the things you couldn’t.”
As I began walking up to my mother, I could feel all the anger from the events of the last two days roar back to the surface like a blazing fire. I embraced it and used it to fuel my fury.
“But most importantly, she taught me that being a lady isn’t just about following some strict set of rules. She taught me that I had to find beauty in the world on my own, to discover the things that made me happy, and to never let go of them. She taught me that in order to be a ‘lady’, I must be my own lady.”
Rarity, Ponyville, the Crusaders… they had changed everything. They had shown me what it was like to pursue my own destiny. They had shown me what it was like to be alive.
Staring my mother straight in the eyes, I spoke with cold finality.
“She’s a far better sister than you’ve ever been a mother.”
She started quivering at my final utterance. It was clear she was trying to figure out how to respond, but I wasn’t going to hear it. Turning around, I angrily righted the coffee table with my magic with a loud thump and stomped off towards the stairs, content to let her stew in her silence. As I approached the landing, I heard her finally speak.
“S-Sweetie Belle, I am not finished with you! Do not walk—”
“Enough,” Rarity interrupted her. “I believe it’s time for you to go.”
“No! I demand—”
“I am not giving you a choice,” she said, her voice stern. “This is my home, our home, and you have overstayed your welcome. Please leave.”
“Prim,” said my father, “we should really go.”
“Fine,” I heard my mother reply. “Fine!” I turned around to watch her depart, my father scrambling to follow her. “Very well! I can’t believe this is what has become of my children.”
As she opened the door, she turned around. “But as of today, expect nothing more from me, Rarity. I will no longer be paying you a single bit to help care for Sweetie Belle. If you want her to be your responsibility, then so it shall be!”
She slammed the door so hard that it rattled pictures in their frames. As they came to rest, a chill overcame me as my mother’s parting words sank in.
“...Rarity?” I ventured into the silence. “They were still paying you to take care of me?”
She turned to me slowly, a grimace overcoming her countenance. “...Yes, Sweetie,” she replied shakily. “Yes, they were.”
I sat down on the floor, staring at my hooves. Helping me buy the Hoofbox set her back so much that she had to accept extra work to make up for it. But would we even have enough to survive now?
“Can we cover our living expenses?”
“...I’m sure we can—”
“Please just answer me. How much longer until we can’t pay for stuff anymore?”
“Well, err… I’d say we have enough for…” She stopped for a moment. I imagined bills, the mortgage, groceries for two, electricity, tailoring materials, my schoolbooks, her upcoming trip to Manehattan, all sweeping through her head like vultures, snatching up bits as they went. “P-perhaps around… three, four months…?”
My mind was buzzing, trying to comprehend the gravity of what had just happened.
What had I just done?
You messed things up, obviously. Just like usual.
“I’ll… I’ll go apologize to them,” I said, standing up on shaky hooves.
“What?!” everypony shouted, all jumping to their hooves and making me jump a little bit.
“You heard me,” I said again, steeling myself as much as I could as I walked towards the door. “I’ll go catch up to them and apologize.”
“Are you nuts?!” yelled Scootaloo, who jumped in front of me.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” said Apple Bloom in agreement. “I just sat here watchin’ her tear you apart like a street rat in a trap! And yer just gonna go out there and—”
“Move,” I said. “There’s more important stuff than my pride.”
I put a hoof on the earth pony’s shoulder and gently pushed her aside. She was stronger than me, by orders of magnitude, but she did not resist, merely only staring at me with giant orange eyes.
“You should really listen to your friends, dear,” came my sister’s voice from behind me.
I spun around, on the verge of tears. “Rarity, I did this! I started this fight. If I had just shut up and not said anything, none of this would have happened. It’s my fault.”
“No it isn’t, it’s theirs,” she countered. “Why are you blaming yourself for this?”
“Because I screwed up!” I shouted, tears blinding my vision. “I… what I did, it’s gonna hurt us! It’s gonna hurt you! I’ve seen how much you’ve been working lately just to make up for my Hoofbox! I had no idea they were helping you in the first place! How much harder will it be for you if they aren’t?!”
“I… well, it certainly won’t be easy—”
“Then I’ll go talk to them and apologize—”
“That’s not necessary, Sweetie—”
“Fine!” I shouted. I felt like I couldn’t even breathe, my throat felt so tight. “Then I’ll look for a job or something, so I can help out! Or ask mom and dad to take me back, have them send me to finishing school, so you don’t have to worry about me! I need to do something, anything! I can’t just let them put you through this! I just…! I need to—”
“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity stomped a hoof. “I need you to calm down, right this instant, and do as I instructed.”
There it was. The Phrase.
”Stop everything.”
I was shaking. My heart ached so much. My head felt hot. My ears were ringing. My throat felt dry. I could only see red.
”Drop what you’re doing.”
All the pain that I caused everypony, all the guilt from me screwing up all the time, all the work that I put everypony through just for my sake…
”And breathe.”
I closed my eyes. In, out. Just like Rarity taught me.
My breath came in hot and rough.
“Ready?” I heard Rarity venture cautiously, her voice coming from right behind me.
“I… I don’t think so.” I turned around to face her, choking back a sob. “I’m sorry, sis. I’m sorry for… everything.”
She didn’t respond to that. Instead, she held out a foreleg. I slowly walked towards her, planted my face into her neck, and promptly burst into tears.
“Shh. It’s fine. It’s okay. It’ll be okay, Sweetie,” I heard her whisper as she caressed my mane.
I didn’t know how much time passed as I sat there, crying into her coat. The whole while, memories flashed through my mind. Report cards overflowing with red ink. An angry blue mare dragging me to the barracks, yelling at me all the while. An exhausted Rarity hunched over her sewing machine in the dark of night.
As time went on, I felt more hooves wrap around me, more bodies pressing firmly against mine as the other three Crusaders lent me their warmth and presence.
Slowly, I felt the pressure of my tears let up. As I sniffled and rubbed my eyes, everypony let go.
“I’m sorry I’m such a mess,” I finally spoke. “I’m sorry all of this has been happening.”
“It’s fine,” said Apple Bloom, wiping a tear I missed with a hoof.
“You’re fine,” agreed Scootaloo, who then promptly blushed. “Err, I meant, ‘you’ll be fine’, not, uh… oh mare…”
I couldn’t help but crack a smile at that. Everypony giggled slightly.
“You are perfectly fine indeed,” said Rarity. “And you know I will always stand by you to fight for you.”
“I know,” I said. “I just… wish it didn’t cost you so much.”
“Sweetie, listen to me,” she said, holding her hooves up to my face. “It’s been three years since you moved in with me. And throughout that time, we’ve… been through a lot together.”
She paused for a moment, a flurry of emotions flitting through her expression. The past few years were probably floating through her mind, reminding her of our trials and tribulations, of struggling to improve my grades, of teaching me how to survive adulthood, of working extra hours to help cover my cost of living.
“But I don’t regret it. Not for a moment.”
She looked back to me, smiling.
“The Sweetie Belle that I see before me is far different than the one that I took in three years ago. I’m so incredibly proud to say that you’ve grown magnificently into the fine young lady I always hoped you would be. I’m sure your friends will agree with me on this.”
They all nodded enthusiastically.
“It wasn’t ever easy, and it’s not likely to be now,” she continued. “But no matter what challenges we faced, we always came through. Every time. And I have no doubt that we’ll make it through this as well.”
“Yeah! Don’t listen to your parents,” joined Scootaloo. “And don’t let what they said get to you.”
“Even if they won’t be here fer ya,” said Apple Bloom, “we will. Always.”
“We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” agreed Button Mash. “Nopony gets left behind.”
“I’m may not be a Crusader myself,” said Rarity, “but know that I am with them on this. We are all here to stand behind you, one hundred and twenty percent.”
I gazed around at the smiling faces of my sister and my friends. In my mind, I imagined more faces, of Featherweight and his father, of the stern Captain Romana and Guardsman Bulwark, of my wonderful teacher Miss Cheerilee… all of the ponies who had sacrificed so much just to help me succeed.
“T-thanks, Rarity,” I said, sniffling. “Thanks, you guys. You’re the best.”
I stepped into my room and closed the door softly. It was mostly dark, with only the soft light of the moon filtering through my bedroom window to light the way. I trotted cautiously through the twilight to my stratoscreen, putting a hoof to the glowing green On button of my game console… but stopped short as I glanced at the box of a game resting on top of the machine.
A trio of armored ponies stood on its cover, one holding a large revolver to his side. The glint of my silver Hawkmoon flashed through my mind.
“I worry about what these video games are doing to you.”
By the time my mind had been cleared of the memory, the room had since been bathed in darkness as clouds shrouded the moon. I walked blindly towards my bed, but tripped over my saddlebags. A soft crunch came from my hooves. I looked down and saw a piece of paper with dozens of math problems scribbled on it. It looked like a piece of my late homework—I must have forgotten to turn it in along with the rest.
“I’m supposed to protect you, no matter what it costs me.”
I picked up the paper and opened my saddlebags to put it away. A soft clink reverberated through the darkness as a brown pouch fell out—the thin rope tying it closed had come loose, and a single silver coin had tinkled to the floor.
“P-perhaps around… three, four months…?”
Staring at the Lunar coin, I realized that I still hadn’t examined the bag’s contents. What if it was enough to help with our expenses? It wasn’t a huge pouch, by any stretch of the imagination, but this was Filthy Rich we were talking about—what if there were golden Solars in there too? I reached out with a hoof to open the bag.
“Consider this a warning, from stallion to mare: Nothing good can come of this.”
My vision pulsed with red. I kicked the bag—it sailed into my closet, smacking into a crimson cape before falling to the floor. The cape fluttered around, revealing the pony-adorned blue shield embroidered onto the back.
“I just figured we’d be together when it happened.”
I gritted my teeth and stomped towards my bed, collapsing into its covers. As I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, a single red word invaded my memories, floating above me in the darkness.
GAYMARE
I did not sleep well.
“HEY SWEETIE BELLE LOOK YOU’RE IN THE MORNING PAPERS!”
“I’m handing you the truth on a shiny silver spoon.”
“Even Snips and Snails know they’re just breeders.”
“Guzzle this.”
“I’m tired, Miss Headmaster. I’m so very, very tired.”
“Diplomacy is obviously a foreign concept to you!”
”We’re clearly past a point of no return, Miss Belle.”
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Considering what happened in Sisterhooves Social when you made breakfast for your sister, Rarity would thank you for not making her breakfast tomorrow morning!
Damn it, Roarke, go back to Yaerfaerda before Imploding Colon notices you're gone.
(Reserving first chapter comment for an appendix thing. Except not, because fuck you 5155385.
)
5160447 By the way, if Sweetie doesn't want that brown pouch, I'll take it. Commenting prior to publishing ain't cheap.
Hmm. Well, things certainly happened. I can't really shake the feeling that so much of this drama is manufactured rather than feeling natural. When I read this chapter, I really felt like pretty much every scene had been built by you sitting down and thinking "what could I do to make Sweetie's life just a little worse?". I was annoyed by Sweetie's refusal to turn to Deus Ex Princess because that is a logical plan, but the inclusion of the guard mostly made up for that. On the other hand, I don't really feel like Sweetie's character matches up with how she should be acting. She has stresses and problems, obviously, but we the way things are going it either feels like Sweetie has some major issues that are not being medicated or that it's simply a way to insert a massive amount of drama into the first person point of view by having her act more like a shell-shocked veteran than a thirteen year old girl.
Admittedly I thought the title was a crossover of No Game No Life.
The was intense, and beautiful, not only in the way it depicted common misconceptions gamers deal with, but also in how real certain parts of it felt to me. What I especially enjoyed was how small you made Sweetie feel in real life, as opposed to online. Whether or not that was purely intentional is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that I enjoyed reading this chapter, and look forward to more. I can only hope that she and Freya can stay friends; although I doubt their friendship will last, due to the war.
You go girl!
Oh, sure. Update while I'm gone.
Anyhoot, I'm glad to see the chapter's up, and I look forward to rip apar--I mean read the next chapters.
This story... my God...
I have no words... this is beautiful. I can't wait for the next chapter.
Not to take away form the what I personally think is brilliant drama in this story, but when I saw
I immediately thought of sweetie bot and proceeded to imagine the entire scene in tinny robot voices, which made me giggle when i really shouldn't have as that was really emotional part.
I'm a terrible person
Dude, this is my third favorite story now! This is tight as hell! This story is going alot deeper than I thought it would. Please, continue.
I would never has expected the reference "That's a sweet earth you might say" etc.
Holy shit I'm going to go watch that right now.
"Shit guys, the Guardians have reached our fortress."
"Fire Our Shit!"
"But I am le tired."
"Well have a nap, THEN FIRE THE MISSILE!!!"
I just gotta say, well done with Sweetie's parents. Though I hope to see that Magnum ultimately takes Sweetie's side. It seems that that would be a possibility, seeing as it looked like he was all for Sweetie's destiny, and was just cowed into silence by Primrose.
if I'm wrong or had missed something about that, please tell me. Thanks
The problem here isn't that sweetie belle's parents are bad people, but that they don't realize that their children are people too. They know it on an intellectual plane, but deep down they don't truly believe it. It's something parents are pretty susceptible to. They watched you grow, from a little baby who wasn't really a person yet, no hopes or dreams, no personality, no desires beyond food, they see you get older, truly becoming a person, but they may miss it. The parents who are too protective, who try to shield their children from the world rather than helping them explore it, guides to help them shoulder the burden, won't watch their kids grow up. Because those kids won't grow up, not until they leave the nest and are forced to figure it out on their own. Rarity taught Sweetie Belle about the world, she helped her make it through the dark parts, gave her the tools to fight her way through. In many ways, DT has actually helped Sweetie, providing the dark and revealing that the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. This is where Sweetie and Rarities parents are in the wrong. They don't see the person that Sweetie has become, all they can see is the little baby unable to fend for herself. Because they missed it when it happened.
edit: wait, thats all there is! Crap! I guess all be playing the waiting game now, don't you dare give up on this brilliant story.
Thank you very much.
In retrospect it would have been quite easy to come up with a reason that wasn't ridiculously contrived, unlike some other stories I've seen. *shudders*
-Spirit
........It hurt me to read this, honestly....not because it was bad or inaccurate....no, it was exactly the opposite and Sweetie's mom acting like that brought up old memories of my own involving my mother and just how convinced she was that I'd End up shooting up a school, or rob a bank, etc...Her reasoning?
"Vidya Games are the root of everything wrong in this world. "
Because apparently playing pokemon was no different than shooting up malls, or jacking cars(GTA). I know from experience, Primrose won't change her views anytime soon.....if ever.
get killed
_______________
needs end " marks.
_______________
End " marks.
_________________
This was an interesting chapter. Maybe Sweetie Belle should pull a Samantha Smith * and go to Griffosi, and show both nations that they can be cool together. Maybe even have Sweets and Gilda game irl to build public relations.
*: #4 on the list.
Oh my sweet Celestia. Primrose is Esteem! All she nees is a freaking love for blade cast.
Holy shit this story rivets me way more than it has any right to.
This made me cry a little and touched my heart
please do not give up on this story
5147139
It's gonna go exactly like this.
5146299
Filthy Rich is actually The Boss.
5145650
To be honest, I sincerely doubt I'd be able to invoke those feelings at allif I hadn't experienced them myself. I appreciate the compliment though.
5148355
Spoiler alert: Snape kills Sweetie Belle on page three hundred and ninety-four.
Spoiler alert 2: nothing of value was lost.
The categories have actually been really divisive for me, because half of them don't really express traditional genres. If "Drama" existed instead of "Sad", it'd be far more appropriate, but of course, it doesn't bloody exist.
After slapping Slice-of-Life on it, I had to pick either Sad or Comedy, and I ended up picking the Sad category because 1. I felt like the drama would be more important than the jokes, 2. I have absolutely zero confidence in my sense of humor, and 3. according to Fimfic, "A sad story can end in a happy note."
P.S. I have "Hope" listed as an extra category in the description for a reason.
5153334
Don't make me turn you into a panda.
I swear on the Sun and Stars I'll do it.
5155385
thatsthejoke.jpg
Diamond Tiara is channeling Roarke? Ruh-roh, better prepare the Friendship Cannon.
5160482
Sorry, I called dibs already. I need another RAID array for all my Rarijack pr0ns.
I'm surprised how well thought out this story is, obviously the events are unfolding based on a very well planned concept, kudos to the author.
Damn... That was fantastic, this story is a lot better than I thought it would be. You're an amazing author.
Well, this is starting to get pretty intense.
>Next chapter's name is Up the Ante.
i.imgur.com/NnoGhN1.gif
(Also, I can't stop watching 'Ze End of Ze World', so thanks for that.)
5161911
Such is the power of an author.
The previous chapter left me with a bitter taste in my mouth about Filthy Rich but this one just makes me proud for Sweetie Belle.
Now we only need a videogame contest to magically appear and have her win the prize money.
Though sadly, I have the feeling that's not the case, and I also feel that things are about to get much worse...
5161908
I love being a fabulous flamingo.
Anyway, thanks for taking the whole thing in stride. With a little work and fleshing out, I think you've got a legitimate story here, and a lot of the flaws could be smoothed out primarily by showing more of the world. Like I said, showing the warped gender roles in action, perhaps through mysandrist humor?
"Colt bumps into a mare while she's dancing, who's at fault?"
"I dunno, who?"
"The mare. What was she doing dancing out in the fields?"
*laughter*
(Forgive my attempt at reversing the motorcycle kitchen joke, but it was all that came to mind.)
As for skub, I literally made the word "skub" a link to the article describing what skub is, but I'll reiterate here. Skub is nothing. It is an imaginary substance without taste, texture, or other quantifiable quality. It exists only so people can have pointless arguments about it. Hence, when I talk about skubtastic arguments, I'm talking about arguments that are largely pointless, such as "Who's cuter, Aloe or Lotus?" It's such a personal preference thing that you will achieve literally nothing by arguing about it, except perhaps starting an argument.
Also, interesting that you haven't heard arguments about Destiny. In some of my chats we had to ban talking about it because it always started fights. (I admit I participated in those.) Really, you've got two camps, the "It's fun" camp, and the "Bungie made bad business practices and deserved to be shunned and punished for them." Naturally, since they both value different things, they never agree and always fight.
I suspect they won't be quite as bad off as they expect. Primrose might have cut them off, but I don't think Magnum agrees.
I must say this story that this story turned out to be a lot... more, and better, than I ever expected
I found it by chance and thought it was a little cute story I could read before I went to bed
Glad to say I was wrong
This is my favorite thing ever! Not really because its good, though it is really good, but because I can relate so well! Reading this, I don't feel like I'm reading a story, I feel like I'm living in equestria, playing destiny with button mash and a griffon. In this, I'm not a reader, I am sweetie belle. I didn't even have to read through what was going through her head, because thats what was going through mine. Thank you for making this, its perfect! (There are some parts where it was a little different, like I would never take a bribe, and I'm a dude, but still amazing!)
Great chapter, the family scene was very personal to me as well, mother always thought that I'd end up becoming a violent thug, but how could I do that if I'm inside playing video games at home? Enough about me, this story is very good I enjoy it a lot keep up the amazing job.
sorry if this is a bother for you but in this section :
I believe you meant to have sweetie say "SHE would what"
Holy fucking shit, this was hardcore. So many facepalms were given today...
A tear shed for all the desks who have fallen to their owner's faces.
liek if you cri evrytiem
Wow this is amazing. Added to favorites.
5160577
A lot of it has to do with the fact that I've actually not done a very good job of expressing the negative stigma society has about gamers, so a lot of these kind of come out of nowhere. It's something I'm hoping to address moving forward.
Unfortunately, that also means things aren't going to get much easier for Sweetie Belle, at least not for a while. She's going to struggle more and more as time progresses--there's a Sad tag for a reason, after all. It's going to get worse before it gets better.
But it WILL get better. This is part of why I've been very adamant about building up her support group as quickly as possible--in every chapter, a good thing happens to offset the bad, or some character restates their dedication to Sweetie. This one practically ends with her being surrounded by love and support.
I want to make sure readers realize that, while she does have to deal with a lot of shit, she's not alone, and there is a way out that she just has to find and fight for.
Partially copypasta'd from another comment:
There's a bit of a Santa Claus paradox here. The Princesses are not the Mane Six's babysitters. If everyone simply went to the Princesses for everything, it'd be a massive disrespect of their time; they have an entire nation's worth of problems to deal with.
Pony society should operate autonomously without the Princesses' influence. This is why they delegate their powers to municipal governments in the first place.
5162922
Yes, and I said that I had read the page multiple times. I was operating on very little sleep at the time, so it took me a few tries.
To clarify, I've seen plenty of arguing about Destiny, just not here on my story. In fact, I think you were the first one to raise any immediate concerns about its presence. Which means you are much more guilty of debating over skub than I.
5166379 5161514 Thanks so much for the corrections! They've been implemented.
5161514 5161020 It's tough to imagine Equestria accepting Sweetie Belle as a diplomat once they find out that she virtually spends all her free time shooting people…
5161261 Yeah, it's something I took extra effort to acknowledge after concerns came up last chapter.
5161218 Agreed. I don't regret any of the hardships I had to deal with growing up, because they helped me become the person I am today. Unfortunately, some of these cruelties can end your journey before you can continue it.
Hope you enjoy playing that game of yours.
5161209 Well, there was the Grimoire… too bad it wasn't better integrated. :P
5161189 He was excited enough that she got her cutie mark to not care too much. But he raised a lot of the same concerns as his wife. He simply didn't express them as vehemently.
5161159 Nor mine. MOBAs, RTSes, and fighting games are some of the most competition-oriented games, and I'm horrible at all of them.
5161146 5161136 Yeah, I'm not really sure what led me to throw that reference in, but I love it nonetheless. :D
5161096 5160985 5160978
Thanks for your kind words!
5161016 I've actually thrown a couple Sweetie Bot references into various places. Chapter 1!
5160882 That's what makes resolving this difficult. Even if I did introduce a hypothetical e-sports league of some sort, there's no guarantee that Sweetie would go very far. It demands so much of its players, and if you aren't absolutely, positively the best, it won't get you anywhere.
5160833 Yeah, and beta testing is positively grueling.
Gaming is inherently complex, and each game is so different from every other that I don't know if it's even possible to turn it into a mainstream spectator sport that people who don't play games can enjoy.
Sure, the more mainstream games become, the faster it'll grow, but e-sports is fighting an uphill battle.
Also worth mentioning that ESPN actually did feature the LoL World Cup on their front page, so it's not like NFL overall actively harbors negative feelings towards e-sports. Don't feel so antagonized.
5160871 After the grueling edit session that was last chapter, I'm actually surprised you're still down for more. Check your inbox!
5161375 5160774 5160630 I went through a lot of these problems growing up as well, so a lot of this come from the heart. That might be why it resonates with so many people.
5160591 Loved NGNL.
5167329
Do you really think I'd skip the chance of tear your story apart and find out what happens before anyone else?
Dammit Sweetie's mom, I liked you.
I feel like mentioning that as I still don't know what Atheon, the Conflux of Time looks like, I basically picture the Technodrome every time the name pops up. I don't care how inaccurate it is, I will not be dissuaded of this.
I did get a little taken out of the story during the in-game conversation, simply because I wasn't expecting that much development into a non-combat setting. Up 'til now I'd been picturing basically an updated Halo clone, leading me to wonder what combination of button presses leads to "wobble hooves mysteriously". With all the accurate facial expressions and physical interactions and seemingly lifelike field of view it borders on virtual reality, which is a significant step up from Pony Kart downstairs. And is playing as an unarmed civilian even an option? What possible gameplay purpose could that serve? It threw me for a loop, and even if it were fully integrated and explained, I'm not sure that I'd buy it.
Good call on not bringing the Princesses in, though. Any "Twilight's friends get special treatment" fix has never jived well with me, doubly so in that applying it to a social situation doesn't really make sense. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a simple solution to a complex problem.
5167580
He's a giant robot that's very tall, very pointy, and very purple.
Which brings to mind my previous response to you:
/ My third thought (and I might do this anyways regardless of what I do above) was to write the entire game world in first-person instead of have readers experience it through a screen. I'd write it kinda like how the Rugrats (if you've ever seen that show) would always imagine their adventures playing out before them in real time. This would help ground readers into the alternate universe a lot more strongly, and make in-game scenes more immersive and exciting (especially multiplayer matches). But, it would create a disassociation from the controller+screen approach I'm using now. /
There's gonna be a fair amount of scenes in-game, both socially and action-wise, so I wanted to bring them to life such that they won't feel like a total warp-out. There's already one fourth-wall between Sweetie and the story--I don't wanna force readers to deal with another between Sweetie and the game.
I mean, I could totally just retcon it into a Sword Art Online dealio by making her wear a neural data transmission thingamajigger of some sort that transmits 1:1 control over her character. Hell, I might actually do that. It's motherfucking magic, after all.
It's actually an MMO as well as a first-person shooter. There's a non-combat area called The Tower where you can relax, manage your gear, and hang out with other players in between expeditions.
This is where I imagined them to be sitting at the time.
It's also got a phenomenal view.
There are emotes.
You can dance.
No, seriously.
I actually had a line explaining this, and I completely forgot why I removed it (might have been too wordy). Noteworthy had fired off a message to the company that makes the game, and they granted him a "press pass" that lets him access the social area on his personal home console.
Your mom's a complex problem.
I'm sorry. I'll talk to you again
ifwhen I grow up.5167361 Now I'm tempted to call that post a grimoire.
I actually might.
Fuck it, I'm doin' it.
5167351 I guess it helps that you're actually a fan of the story. Still hard for me to wrap my head around that concept.
5167748
Why? Your story is not bad and you're a decent writer.
And getting to mess with you is just a plus.
*finishes reading chapter*
*turns off TF2*
*plays Wait For The Story To Be Updated game*
5167329 I'm glad you listen to the commenters.
5167329
Ah!Ah!Ah, Free time gaming
. Which after the news article is printed, the Princesses will know includes a griffon. While most non-rulers would see that as a potential problem. That right there is PR gold. You got the Stratonet, that both sides have access to, a game that while it does have animated violence, has beings of multiple nations on at a time. And Sweetie's team not only is famous, but has a Saddle Arabian and a Griffosi that not just are part of a team. But are friends.
With friendship is magic being a major part of Equestrian culture / history, and the threat of war looming overhead. While unorthodox, showing that even when at the threat of war. Showing that friendship between ponies and griffons is not only possible, but productive.
While Griffons getting to see that ponies and griffons aren't that different, and don't have to fight one another. Which from the sounds of it, both sides fear. Would be amazing. Well that and I want to see Gilda and Sweetie meet in the flesh, and griffs seeing the awesome friendship between the two.
5166498
poorly worded
On a more serious note, I am really enjoying this story, the "cold war" dynamics is interesting, and well I don't care if Rich has the best of reasons for protecting Diamond Tiara. Horrible enough when abuse is verbal, but one it goes to attempted assault, it goes to far. I do personally think that the drama so far has been a bit to strong though, but I am really interested in your portrayal of the characters, so I can forgive that.
All in all, it has been enjoyable
5167329 so he's pretty much in the same boat as Primrose.
ah well, still a good job on the two. hopefully, they have SOME redeeming factor. or not. 
5170127 I actually think the Grimoire is really solid. The Codex from Mass Effect and Dragon Age feel kinda like textbooks, while the Grimoire is more like a bible, conveying information through in-universe passages and quotes and teachings.
The only two real weaknesses about the Grimoire is that 1. it's clumsy to browse, and 2. it's not actually in the game. But judging from the quality of the Grimoire's writing iself, as a standalone product, it's extremely well-written.