To Err is Equine

by RLYoshi

50 - The Finale: No Mistakes, No Regrets, Still No Fingers

DATE: March 9th
LOCATION: Ponyville

[Perspective: Arrell]

My ears flicked at the sound of a rapid yet gentle assault against the house as my mind slowly began to reactivate. With a yawn, I forced my eyelids to lift up, greeting my vision with the sight of an adorable pegasus mare asleep next to me.

Smiling, I gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. I then proceeded to slowly sit up, removing her forelegs from around my torso, before turning to look out the window. Sure enough, there was a heavy downpour of rain going on outdoors.

Definitely made the right decision to sleep in a bed rather than on a cloud.

A quiet whining sound brought my attention back to my bedmate. Chuckling, I lowered my body back onto the bed properly, and she wrapped her forelegs back around me with no hesitation. She stopped her whining, and smiled wider as she unconsciously snuggled against me.

...yep. Definitely made the right decision.

I sighed happily, closing my eyes once more to drift back to sleep, continuing to cuddle with Asylum.

I could get used to this…

---

“Wakey wakey, cuddlies! Sun’s been up for hours now! Can’t sleep all day!”

I groaned at the sound of the yelling waking me from a great dream. Knowing there was no point trying to get back to sleep, I sat up, rubbing my eyes. I could feel Asylum shifting around beside me.

“About time you two got up,” Risk continued, standing at the foot of our bed. “It’s half past noon. How can you even sleep that long?”

I shrugged, yawning. “I’m a lazy Windigo…?”

He rolled his eyes. “Tell me something I don’t know. Now get up.” With that, he turned and left the room.

Sighing, I hopped out of bed, turning to see Asylum also climbing onto the ground, though at a significantly slower pace. I chuckled. “Still a little groggy?”

She tried to answer, only to be cut off by a yawn. This caused me to yawn as well, leaving us both temporarily incapable of communicating. Finally, we finished, and she managed to get out her response. “...a bit, yeah...”

I chuckled. “I think we just need a shower or something. That’s always a good way to wake up.” I made my way to the door, looking back at her. “Coming?”

She blinked, having apparently gotten temporarily lost in thought, and blushed a bit. “R-Right, coming...” She trotted hastily over to the doorway, joining me in walking down the hall.

“Lost in daydreaming?” I questioned.

“A-A bit...” she admitted.

I smirked, nudging her. “Did it have anything to do with the shower I mentioned?”

That definitely got her. Her faint blush increased greatly, and she averted her eyes. “U-Um...”

I laughed a bit, nuzzling her. “Oh, relax. I doubt we could even share a shower anyway, unless you’re fine with cold water. A stream of hot liquid isn’t exactly good for me.”

She smiled lightly and giggled. “Well...if you ever decide to give that a try, I think I can handle it.” She winked, bumping her flank against mine before turning and walking into the bathroom.

My face heated up and I facehoofed. Note to self...don’t try to get the last word in. Ever again.

“Well, look who’s finally out of bed.” I turned to see False coming down the hallway, looking about as cleaned up as she normally looked. “You and Asylum have a good sleep?”

I chuckled. “I know I did...haven’t asked her yet.” The sound of rushing water reached our ears. “...she got to the shower before me.”

“Just walk outside. There’s probably enough water out there for you to get one of your own without having to wait for her.”

“Yeah, because that wouldn’t defeat the purpose of an actual shower at all.” I rolled my eyes. By now, the others had learned how to tell when I was actually doing that, despite my lack of pupils, so it didn’t feel weird to do anymore.

She chuckled. “Whatever you say.” She knocked on the door to the bathroom. “Asylum! It’s False! Can I come in?”

I took that as my cue to leave, heading off down the stairs. Judging by the sounds of a door opening and closing behind me, False was given permission to enter.

With a bored sigh, I flopped down onto the couch. My saddlebags had apparently been abandoned right beside it, so I reached down into one bag and pulled out my little Tetris box, which I had taken to calling the DevIce.

Yeah, no one else thought it was funny either.

Rather than starting up a new game of Tetris, I turned the DevIce around so I was looking at its back. I started using my ice magic to deconstruct it when I realized that I didn’t have any extra ice to do what I was planning on. I contemplated getting up and walking to the freezer, but...

“Riiiiiiiiisk!” I called.

The unicorn poked his head out of the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”

“Can you bring me some ice?”

“...can’t you just get it yourself?”

I attempted a pouty face. “I’m comfy.”

He facehoofed, either at my face or my reasoning. “Hang on...” He went back in and came out a minute later, several bags of ice in his magical hold. “What do you need them for?”

I took the bags. “Thank you. And I’m just making some upgrades.”

“Upgrades?”

I nodded, pulling out a small block of ice and beginning to chip at it with my hoof. “Tetris has started to get boring.”

---

Are any of you readers out there game developers? Or, at the very least, do you know the process and work that goes into making a game?

Now imagine trying to recreate that game using blocks of ice.

Yeah, let’s just say it could make Valve Time look like weekly releases.

Tetris had been easy, but this time, I was aiming for recreating Pac-Man. Just carving the ice into a perfect copy of the maze itself took me about three hours. I didn’t even notice when Asylum called to let me know she was done with the shower; it took waving her hoof directly in front of my face to get me to snap out of it.

One cleaning later, I was back to work. Risk didn’t mind relinquishing the use of his horn so I could use the Fine Rock’s magic for myself, so thankfully that wasn’t an issue. Trying to figure out how to make the Pac-Man ice sculpture’s mouth open and close, however, was.

This is a great story to tell. “What did you do when you weren’t collecting articles?” “Oh, I recreated Pac-Man on a block of ice.”

I felt weight on my shoulders and looked back to see Asylum casually resting her forelegs on them. “Whatcha doin’?” she asked in a singsong voice.

I smiled. “Remaking retro human stuff with ice cubes.”

“Like Tetris, huh?” She hopped over the couch and sat beside me. “You’re really bored, huh?”

“Kinda.”

She hummed. “Well...False just got a message from the princess. She didn’t want to contact you directly in case you were still recovering from Cloudsdale, but apparently there’s a new article that just showed up in Stalliongrad.”

I groaned. “We have to go back there?”

“Oh, calm down. It’s not that bad. Besides, it gives us a chance to visit Smooth Grove.” She pecked me on the cheek. “So, how about it? Up for chasing down a glove?”

I sighed, putting the mostly unfinished game back into my saddlebags. “Only because you asked so nicely.”

She giggled. “I’ll let the others know.” She hopped off the couch and went off to find the other three.

I slid the saddlebags onto my back. ...you know what? I still say I could get used to this. As often as it’s all gonna hit the fan, at least it’ll be fun.

---

Mistake
1 - an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc.
2 - a misunderstanding or misconception
3 - me, and I’m damn proud of it!

Author's Note:

That's right, folks; we've reached the end...but, contrary to what Risk and Asylum said two chapters ago, not all loose ends have been tied up.

Aside from the articles still lying around out there, we've still got some things involving our favourite or not-so-favourite characters. Styx is still hanging around; False is still waiting to call in that second favour; Nimble has his own problems and secrets; and, of course, we have the newest OTP between Arrell and Asylum that's bound to have difficulties galore.

The true question is...are you interested in seeing how it all plays out?

If you answered yes, then don't worry; I'm not just leaving all those plotholes unfilled. There will be more...and when more comes, it'll come in a way you might not expect.

It won't be long before you know the future...but the past and present may remain a secret for quite a while.

Prepare for the sequel, to be released within a month.

Comments

[_CheckMate_]

the wait begins...
Buck yeah!! FIRST!!!!

[Everyday We Shufflin]

Oh you're done. Time to start reading.

[FuriousDarkness]

[Steelclaw]

I loved reading this story! I eagerly await more adventures. Could you please post an update here with a link to the sequel once you've started it?

[RLYoshi]

3101859 I plan to!

[starhunter34]

definitely going to follow to get the update on the sequel straight away!

[D-Bence35]

Arrell will return...

[Thethhron]

Added to timeline

[Hirovard]

Tbh it only took 9 others and myself 2-3 days to build a game prototype that was playable

[Literature]

I'm not sure if when he loathed the mention of going back to Stalliongrad, if it was the fault of him killing Cinder, or just Cinder in general.
Probably the latter. Anyone would hate going to a place where they've interacted with him.