The Trouble With Time Travel

by Mike the Red

14. Guitar Hero?

The night ended with Luna so completely engrossed in the video game that she very politely asked Amethyst to allow her to keep the entire setup in her bedchamber, to which the dark purple mare humbly agreed, with the stipulation she be allowed to satisfy her hunger. Luna commented that Celestia had nearly demanded she keep a close eye on Amethyst's diet to ensure she did not gain more weight, and that she maintain a regular schedule of exercise so she could return to her original weight.

"Verily, Amethyst, I can use magic to reduce thy state of largeness, thus," the Alicorn said softly and enveloped the dark purple mare with an indigo aura. Seconds later, the mare was returned to her original sleek and slender form and her height increased a bit more, all four of her legs became longer and slightly more slender as well. She now stood just half a head shorter than the Alicorn and a full head or so taller than her daughter.

"Thank you so much, Luna! This is ... amazing!" she exclaimed in joy as she examined herself in a mirror. Galaxy simply gawped in astonishment at the change as Amethyst proceeded to gallop around excitedly, just barely able to contain her euphoria. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" she shouted gleefully as she jumped around in a very animated fashion.

"Mama! Please control yourself!" the librarian implored impatiently.

"I feel like a brand new mare! This is fantastic!" she chirped. "You have no idea, Galaxy! I never thought I'd be like this again!"

"We are pleased to see thy happiness, Amethyst. Pray tell, what other games dost thou have for this console?"

"Guitar Hero," she stated, a big grin plastered on her face. "I think you'll really like that one! It requires a different controller, though." She then reached into her pocket dimension to summon a guitar controller and a copy of Guitar Hero 2, placing it into the console for the Alicorn's edification.

"What are all these buttons on it for? There are different colors," mused Luna.

"Please allow me to demonstrate for you," the purple mare stated confidently. "I used to be able to do quite well on the expert difficulty level." The game started up and she used her telekinesis to press the green button on the neck of the controller to start the game. She selected Pandora for her player character, the explorer guitar, then the difficulty level of hard, just to get warmed up.

"The songs in the first set are pretty easy, but as you progress through the game, they become increasingly more difficult," Amethyst explained as she began manipulating the strum button in time with the music, pushing the corresponding buttons with the colors on the screen.

"Thou makes it look so easy," Luna mused. "We wouldst like a turn with that."

"I recommend you start on the easy level -- that's how I started out. It takes a lot of practice to get good at it -- so if you fail a song, don't get too upset. Go back and redo some easier ones to build your skill." She proceeded to set the game up on the easy difficulty for Luna. The Alicorn's first attempts at playing this game tested Amethyst's ability to control her amusement.

"Luna, you have to push and hold the colored buttons on the left and simultaneously push the white bar on the right while holding the colored buttons down, otherwise you will miss every note," she explained.

"Mama, can I give it a try too?"

"We can take turns, though it's getting rather late. Luna, I will retire to my room now. You're welcome to continue playing -- but please allow my daughter to take turns playing."

"Good-night, Amethyst. We look forward to our meeting with thee the morrow's night," the Alicorn smiled softly. She continued playing the guitar game, allowing Galaxy a turn every so often. The night grew very late and Galaxy trudged her way through the hallways to the room assigned to Amethyst. A certain teal stallion had made his way to the room and was curled up beside the purple mare. She silently closed the door and returned to Luna's bedchamber, where the Alicorn was still practicing with the guitar controller. She could hear the Lunar Princess complaining as she had trouble with some of the harder sequences of notes, then knocked on the door.

"We art busy, Tia! Please returneth later!" the Alicorn nearly shouted at the closed door.

"Luna, it's me, Galaxy! I need somewhere to sleep for the night, please!"

The Alicorn opened the door with her magic, still engrossed in the game. "Verily, Galaxy, this game confounds us greatly! We desire to become as proficient at it as thy mother!"

"Perhaps you should ask her how much practice she put in before she became good at it -- it seems to task the telekinesis quite a bit as well," the librarian mused. "But Luna, please, I need a place to rest! My mama's got somepony in the bed with her already."

Luna dropped the guitar controller as she whirled around to face the medium purple mare. "We thought Amethyst would sleep alone. Who is the insolent pony who would dare sleep with her?" the Alicorn asked in indignation.

"Looks like a stallion named Right Face, I think. I was hoping to share the bed with my mama, but I guess we stayed up too late playing that game."

"Very well then, Galaxy -- thou may sleep in our bed, though we request that thou not speakest of that matter."

"How much longer are you going to continue playing that game? I cannot sleep with lights and sounds."

"We shall dismiss our playing of this game until the morrow. We shall join thee in thy quest for sleep, Galaxy."

"Luna, it is an honor to receive such a blessing! Thank you!" she chirped.

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The bright morning sunlight woke Amethyst from her slumber, though she couldn't clearly remember somepony joining her the previous night. When she turned to see who had snuggled in the bed with her, she let out a scream.

"AAAAHH!!" she cried. This woke the teal stallion who shot to his hooves with a start.

"AAAAAHH!!" he yelled as he noticed a big difference in the dark purple mare. "Who are you?"

"What are you doing in my bed?! Get out of my room! Right Face! I told you you could see me whenever you wanted -- but I didn't give you permission to sleep with me!"

"But ... but ... I thought ..." he stammered.

"You thought wrong! Get out! NOW!!" she screeched. She used her telekinesis to grab a vase off the dresser and hurl it at the stallion, who made haste to leave her room. The vase impacted the wall next to the door, shattering into hundreds of pieces as he hurriedly exited. "And DON'T come back! EVER!"

"Hmph. Who does he think he is, sneaking in here in the middle of the night and cuddling with me?" she said aloud to herself. She trotted to the bathroom to take care of some necessary business and shower off to get ready for the new day. Galaxy trotted to her room to meet up with her and waited on her to finish her shower.

"Mama, did you let him in last night? I wanted to sleep with you, but he had already snuggled up to you."

"Galaxy, I did not let him in. He must have a key to the door since I locked it last night. I will inform Celestia about this."

A bright flash of light and a POPping sound alerted the two unicorns to somepony teleporting into the room. "I believe I already do, Amethyst. He will be reassigned, you have my word on that." She paused for a moment to see what changes had occurred. "Amethyst, I didn't think diet and exercise worked that quickly," the Solar Princess mused, chuckling slightly.

"Your sister did this for me last night, your Majesty -- trust me, I did not ask her to do this for me."

"To be honest, I don't really mind what she chooses to do, especially when it has such a beneficial result. Your restored figure is ... quite attractive, I must say. Perhaps I could invite you to attend the private lessons I provide my student Twilight," she mused, grinning ever so slightly.

"Your Majesty, I would be honored to meet up with your student once again, and I appreciate your generous offer," she stated reverently, bowing deeply before the Sun Goddess.

"I will still request you refrain from offering her any knowledge of future events, though. I might also remind you to behave yourself."

"Yes, your Majesty. I would like to request Galaxy's presence when you give Twilight her private lessons -- perhaps all three of us may take part in this learning process," she mused thoughtfully. "By the way, I believe we were off to get breakfast, weren't we, Galaxy?"

"Yes, mama -- that's why I came here in the first place, though I also wanted to know why Right Face was sleeping with you."

"You need not worry about him any further, Amethyst. His mistake will cost him."

"Please don't be too hard on him, your Majesty."

"Did he do anything harmful to you last night?"

"No, he just snuggled against me, that's all. I initially thought it was my daughter who had finally decided to join me, so I was quite stunned to see that it was him instead."

"Then I shall be ... somewhat lenient with him," she replied flatly. "However, I would request you try to avoid him in future. Please accompany me to the dining hall for breakfast."

It was more of a command than a request as she wrapped her wings around the two and teleported them and herself to the dining hall. Amethyst was presented with a stack of four hay pancakes and a large glass of orange juice, for which she was quite grateful and gave a sincere thanks to the Alicorn for her generosity. Galaxy was given a similar portion, though she could not eat all of it. She offered one of her pancakes to her mama, but she refused it as well.

"Thank you for the offer, Galaxy, but I'm not that hungry. Four pancakes seem to have filled me up," she noted.

"Amethyst! We art pleased to see thee once again! Thou must assist us in the practice of the guitar game!" Luna exclaimed. The Solar Princess turned her head and raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"What is this ... guitar game?" she asked.

"Here, let me show you," the purple mare replied, pulling another complete game setup from her pocket dimension and proceeding to play the game for their edification.

"How are you so talented with this game?" asked Celestia, who expressed astonishment at her proficiency. Luna expressed similar astonishment, even though Amethyst simply shrugged it off.

"When I was a human, I played this game for ... I don't remember how long, just that I had played in on average ... perhaps two or three hours a night, five nights a week, for about two years or so, I think. Once I got good enough on easy, I worked my way through medium, then hard, then expert. I wasn't able to strum fast enough or move my fingers quickly enough to get really good on expert, though I was able to get through quite a few songs on that difficulty level."

She continued to play a few more songs as the Royal Sisters and her daughter watched with rapt attention. Celestia seemed to object to some of the music choices, though she liked some of them as well. Luna teleported the other setup and began playing hers as well. She complained about the guitar controller not working properly.

"Here, let me switch them," Amethyst offered, unplugging her controller and Luna's and exchanging the controllers. Upon plugging in Luna's guitar controller, she noticed it had been damaged. "Did you drop this guitar or fling it in anger?"

"Verily, Amethyst, thy daughter informed us of thy night visitor, surprising us, which caused the accident," the Lunar Princess said softly, her head bowed a little.

"I believe I can fix it, though," the purple mare mused, enveloping the broken controller with a light purple aura, mending it and the electronic circuit board inside the controller. She tried playing again, smiling confidently at having successfully repaired the broken controller. "Galaxy, would you like to play for a little while? I'll change the difficulty to easy for you."

The Solar Princess cleared her throat to get their attention. "I believe you have other work to do, Luna. You should not waste your time with such frivolities."

"Tia, we sincerely request that we be allowed to retain possession of this game so that we may play it in our spare time."

"You should ask Amethyst -- I believe it belongs to her."

"Your Majesty, I gave it to her last night -- it's quite all right with me if she keeps it," she offered.

"Very well then, Amethyst. Luna, I don't mind you playing this game every once in awhile, though there are more important matters to attend to. Are you following the itinerary I provided you for teaching Amethyst new magic?"

"Tia, it has only been two days since we were assigned the duties thou has requested of us. We felt it necessary to discover more about our new students."

"So you are taking Galaxy as a student as well? Excellent, Luna. Just remember, their studies are more important than your proficiency with that game."

"We will keep this in mind, Tia."

"Please do so, Luna, for my sake. Amethyst, Galaxy, I have to attend Solar Court. I suggest you use this time to return to the Archives so you may continue your research." She then teleported to the Throne Room to proceed with the day's business, though her weariness at having to carry out these obligations had become evident.

Luna teleported herself and both game set-ups to her bedchamber and resumed practicing as Amethyst and Galaxy trotted back down to the Archives for another attempt to find that elusive time travel spell.