The Gamer's Game

by Chrome Masquerade

Chapter 4: Getting Into It

(Tiu's Day)

The next day, Sweetie Belle and I went over to the arcade after school to have a bit of fun, like we do now and then. Taking our bipedal forms as we went in, the very first game machine we used was the skee-ball game.

(Accuracy check (Dexterity + Thrown) DC 5, 3 times: 6 successes, 5 successes, 4 successes)

(1)

With my boosted Dexterity (also making a note to invest a few points into Thrown), I easily earned us some tickets. Next, we went to a Whack-a-Croc game. A bit like Whack-a-Mole, but with crocodiles. Giving Sweetie a couple of coins, we picked up the mallets and waited for the game to boot up.

(Player 1: accuracy check (Dexterity + Melee) per 15 seconds, DC4: 8, 6, 5 and 6 successes)

Player 2: accuracy check (Dexterity + Melee) per 15 seconds, DC4: 9, 8, 6 and 3 successes)

Wait, what?

At my incredulous look, Sweetie smiled smugly at me.

I glared at her halfheartedly. "Observe."

Name: Sweetie Belle
Calling: Player 2
Nature: Trickster
Relationship: Best Friend/Destined Lover
Lv: 4

Continuing her smug look, she turned to the side a bit. Right there on her flank was a Neighstation 2 controller with a "2" above it. How had I not noticed?!

She said, "Did you think you were the only Gamer here?"

"Oh, now it's ON!" I said, smiling in earnest at the last bit. Now I knew that this would be an actual challenge! "There's only one way to settlle THIS!"

"Yeah! No quarter asked, none given." she replied.

"Give me a quarter." I half-joked.

The next machine was up: A shiny new unit that was currently unoccupied. Across the top was Prance Prance Revolution.

Sliding a couple of full bits into the machine, I gave Sweetie the 'after you' gesture, saying "Apres tu, mon cher."

Sweetie was pleased by both gestures. "Been actually working on your Prench too, I see?"

This machine worked a little differently from your typical DDR machine. This one also takes into account Ponykind's propensity for musical numbers. Yes, this one lets you sing, too! Booting up the game, we selected the obvious choice for a warm up.

(2)

By the end of the song, we waited for the scores to add up. To our great surprise, our scores were exactly the same! At that, we realized that the challenge was pointless, really. In fact, this was a GOOD thing! Nevertheless, we earned an extra play, so Sweetie said, "One more before the next game?"

"Your pick." I agreed.

So she picked a new song. A bit faster, this time.

Not caring what score we got at this point, we laughed and moved on to the next game.

This too was a shiny new one, Painted across the top was Ninja Baseball Bat Mare.

Sliding some bits in, I had an idea. "Hold my hand for a moment. I have an idea."

Pressing my other hand to the screen, I felt a pulling sensation and for a moment, everything went dark.

---

You have entered an instant dungeon!
(Ninja Baseball Bat Mare)
Party automatically formed.

Sweetie looked more thn a bit nervous before Gamer's Mind took effect and she calmed down.

Briefly, the game went through the Character introductions.

Captain Jose
Speed: OOOOO
Swing: OOOO
Power: OOOO
Reach: OOOOOO
Special: Dynamite Dance

Twinbats Ryno
Speed: OOOOOOOOO
Swing: OOOOOOOO
Power: OOO
Reach: OO
Special: Thunderbolt Kick

Beanball Roger
Speed: OOO
Swing: OOO
Power: OOOOOOOOO
Reach: OOOOO
Special: Foil Buster

Stick Straw
Speed: OO
Swing: OOO
Power: OOOOOO
Reach: OOOOOOOOO
Special: Royal Stinger

Seeing the Character Selection screen, Sweetie walked over to Stick Straw, who had more range than the others. I chose Twinbats Ryno, who was faster and wielded two shorter bats.

Suddenly, two more ninjas joined us, both fully garbed in the proper outfits. Clearly these were game sprites. "Glad you could join us." Jose said. "We have work to do."

Captain Jose and Beanball Roger joined the party!

(3)

---

The game over, we leapt out of the machine. Sweetie laughed joyfully. "Ha ha ha! That was a kick!"

"Wasn't it, though?!" I agreed. "Whew! We'll have to try that more often."

We managed to gain several items, which were stored in my inventory. We'd split the 'winnings' later. For the time being, we exchanged the tickets we'd gained for a few little prizes, then left the arcade.

Sweetie turned to me and said, "Button... I had a great time today. If you want to do this again, call me. Maybe bring Bloom and Scootaloo with you. But if you'll be my Player 1, I'll always be your Player 2."

She surprisingly gave me a kiss before leaving me stunned and slackjawed.

You have gained 1000 xp, 200 GB-

I swiped the notification away. "Not. Now."

Fine. Be that way.

Author's Note:

This arcade is based partially on the Midway that I used to go to as a kid.

1: Forgot that he had Epic Dexterity points, did you?
2: If you want a challenge, see how many characters you can pick out.
3: I don't have the skill to describe this properly, so I'll let you use your imaginations. Sorry.

For those who are wondering, I am treating Equestrian money much like that of Dungeons and Dragons, with a touch of the currency system where I come from (Canada), from Bronze 'pennies' to Electrum, worth 100 gold coins. The most commonly seen are the gold 1 bit coins.

Comments

[Guardian Talon]

you used the wrong version of that song. It should have been this one.

[Chrome Masquerade]

9562303
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/008/608/caf.jpg

[Flame Heart]

9562303
honestly I prefer the original

[Chrome Masquerade]

9989779
Apologies; I'm no Tatsurou.

[jen_lee_hattie]

The next machine was up: A shiny new unit that was currently unoccupied . Across the top was Dance Dance Revolution.

One of the games of ending friendship.