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Scootaloo walked excitedly towards her quaint, little home on the outskirts of Ponyville. Today was her birthday, and as long as she didn’t dwell on being an entirely flightless pegasus, nothing was going to stop her from enjoying it to its fullest extent. Today she would finally get to see the special gift from her father, a stallion whom she didn't really get to see often anymore. She crossed her hooves that she’d get a working pair of wings, since she was too young and naive to understand that she would never experience the ultimate thrill of flight.
Her father was often busy working for long hours, six days a week at the Equestrian Arcane Arts Branch. Scootaloo was just happy to have any time to spend with him at all. Many ponies actually assumed that she didn't even have a father, or that he was abusive if he did exist. Her mother had run away with another stallion, but Scootaloo knew she didn't need ponies like that in her life anyway.
Many were especially surprised that he existed and that was a unicorn as well. How did a unicorn and earth pony create a baby pegasus? They didn’t, and in reality her mother had cheated on her father and he wasn’t really her father, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her.
"Hey, Scootaloo! Hold up!"
Huh? Scootaloo thought, stopping. How dare they interrupt her precious solitude! She turned to face her verbal tormentor. Instead, she came face to face with her best friends, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Her stern visage softened into a happy smile. She was always glad to spend time with her friends; she had just been so excited to get home that she'd forgotten that she'd invited her two best friends to her own birthday party. Mentally, she face-hoofed, and made a note to go see her physician about her short term memory problems.
"Hey, Sweetie. Hey, Apple Bloom. So, you guys ready to have the most awesome birthday celebration of your lives?" Scootaloo asked, smiling proudly.
"Why, we sure are, Scootaloo. Applejack and ah even bought ya a special present! We heard that yer dad was getting ya somethin' mighty special for your birthday this time, so we decided to help him by gettin' somethin' that would go along with it!" Apple Bloom smiled.
Something special to go along with dad's present... What could it be? It could be a helmet to go with my new motorcycle! It could be a butler to go with my new mansion! Oh man, this is going to be so sweet...
"Um... Scootaloo? Are you alright?" Sweetie's concerned voice echoed through her ears, shattering her delusions of grandeur.
"Huh...? Oh, yeah. Was just thinking about how awesome this party's gonna be!"
"Why were you jumping up and down and fluttering your wings so hard?" Sweetie said, tilting her head to the side.
"Oh, no reason. Just really anxious to see what these special gifts are that you guys keep talking about."
"Oh, that reminds me! Rarity and I got you something to go with it too! Although... I don't know if it's quite as cool as Apple Bloom's is," Sweetie frowned.
Scootaloo responded, “That’s okay. So, let's head off to my house and get this party started already!"
The other two fillies quickly nodded their heads, and the three trotted off along the path to Scootaloo's house. The area was a nice, peaceful field, and her house stood alone a mile away from Ponyville, on the outskirts. Scootaloo’s father got a good deal for it because it was built on a buffalo burial ground, and the previous owners thought it was haunted. He had laughed all the way to the bank at the money he saved from the superstitious, ignorant former owners.
This was the first time that her two friends had actually seen her home, since she usually liked to play with them at their houses, rather than make them travel all the way out to hers.
The three ponies stepped into the humble abode, and set their things down on a large table in the center of the kitchen. Scootaloo looked around, not seeing her father anywhere in the house. She assumed that he must have been upstairs doing something to get ready for the party, so she decided to call out to him.
"Hey Dad! I'm home from school! Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are here too! Where are you!?"
"Oh, uh, up here honey! Just getting your super special present ready! I'll be down in a mome- Ow! Why you little... No, it's not supposed to go in that hole... That's- No, that's not right either! Maybe if I plug this in here..."
"Uh, Dad? Is everything alright up there?"
"Oh, ye- Ouch! Who put that shelf there? Oh, that's right, I did... Well, no matter. I think I've got everything setup properly now! Er... Pretty sure. These directions were in Equestrian right?"
Scootaloo stared in confusion at the second story stairs of her home. Her father could be a bit... scatterbrained, at times. He meant well though, even if he was clumsy. Her thoughts were disrupted, as she heard her father grunt and then come sailing face first down the carpeted stairs. She and her friends rushed over quickly to help him.
"Oh my gosh! Dad, are you alright?!" Scootaloo shouted as she rushed up to her father.
Groggily, he stood up, using his forelegs as a prop to help him along. "It's a good thing I put up that shield at the last second! That could have gone very, very badly... What's this thing stuck in my mouth?"
Scootaloo's father sucked in all the air that he could in one breath, and spat out a tooth. "Oh, is that all? Nothing that a little visit to the dentist won't fix... Though it'll have to be a unicorn dentist. Those earth pony ones... Ugh. No hygiene at all. Digging into your mouth with their hooves."
"Uh, Dad..."
"Huh? Oh, right. Yes. Hello Apple Belle and Sweetie Bloom! Are you here for little Scootaloo's birthday party? Hold on, I'll go get the cake." Scootaloo's father rushed out of the room and into the kitchen to prepare the triple-decker chocolate cake that he'd ordered for her. Scootaloo sure loved her chocolate, that much was for sure.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other in confusion for a moment before turning to Scootaloo.
"Scootaloo... Did yer dad just call me Apple Belle?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Oh, yeah," Scootaloo chuckled. "My dad's really cool, but like I said, he's pretty clumsy and gets flustered easily. He just really doesn't like talking to other ponies because he thinks he's too awkward..." Scootaloo explained.
"Girls, the cake is- Oh dear... I seemed to have dropped a piece. Oh well, I guess I'll just eat that one then. Girls, come have some cake!" her father shouted.
"Well, I guess that explains it then. Is he... always like that?" Sweetie asked in a concerned voice, disbelieving that Scootaloo’s father was actually more socially awkward than she was. This was quite a feat indeed.
"Er... Yeah. I'm trying to break him out of it. I'm trying to get him to talk slower, and think more before he says something. He really needs to learn to be less frantic... Anyway, let's go eat some cake! I hope it's chocolate!"
The trio of fillies, rushed into the kitchen, crowding around the legs of Scootaloo's father excitedly, begging him for cake with their humongous puppy-dog eyes. He happily obliged, handing each of them their own slice of cake.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo's father quickly sang Scootaloo a happy birthday song, and then they devoured the delicious chocolate cake with gusto.
“Alright, well, it's present time! Girls, get your gifts and follow me upstairs!" Scootaloo’s father said before leading them up the stairs and towards Scootaloo's room. He stopped and turned just before her bedroom door, stooping to address her. "Now, before you go in there and see your special gift, you have to promise me something. You have to promise me that before you use it, you'll remember to take care of all of your chores and responsibilities first. Okay?"
Scootaloo merely nodded enthusiastically, more than eager to see what all of the fuss was about.
"You also have to promise me that you'll take very good care of it. It's a relatively new product, and it costs a lot of bits, so don't do anything too reckless around it. I'd like it to last for as long as possible!"
This prompted another nod from the little pegasus.
"Alright," he said opening the door. "Here it is! Your new Checkcube720! It comes with two controllers, and a link to the interweb! Two games came with it as well: Lego Daring Do and Crazy Pinata World. The cables and such were a tad hard to figure out, and I had to move some of your stuff onto the nightstand by your bed, but I think it turned out alright. I hope you like it sweety!"
Scootaloo rushed into her room with a huge smile on her face. On top of the dresser sat a forty inch television, which her father had bought for her on her last birthday. Positioned directly to the side of her TV on her rather large dresser was a machine. It was a shiny, metallic grey cube, with a circle on the center of the top side. In it, there was a huge check-mark with the words "Checkcube720" engraved below it. Scootaloo had been wanting one of these ever since they had been released about a month earlier. The other crusaders could even come over to her house more often and play it with her, or she could even play it with her father when he had the time!
Scootaloo quickly ran over to her father and gave him the biggest hug that she could muster at the moment through her excitement. He simply smiled and ruffled her hair as she hugged him, happy that he could make his daughter happy. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle merely watched the intimate moment between the two before stepping forward into the room.
"We've still got our presents to give ya!" Apple Bloom smiled.
"Cool! And thanks so much Dad!" Scootaloo smiled, tears of joy nearly forming in the corners of her eyes.
Apple Bloom stepped forward, handing her expertly wrapped present to Scootaloo. Through the apple themed wrapping paper, Scootaloo could see that the gift was shaped in the form of a rectangle. Giving thanks to Apple Bloom, she took the present and began to unwrap it. As she quickly tore apart the paper, a box with a picture on the front began to expose itself, and soon she was left looking at the unwrapped gift.
"Call of Duty?" she asked, looking at the picture of a stallion charging through smoke and dust while holding some sort of weapon.
"Well, yeah! Applejack and ah don't know very much 'bout video games, but we thought that maybe ya'd like this one! It's supposed to be all fast paced and action filled, and ya can even play it on the interweb with other ponies! The store clerk told us that it was one of the most popular games on the market, so I'm sure you'll find lots of fun ponies to play with, Scootaloo!"
"Awesome!" Scootaloo yelled, giving Apple Bloom a big hug. "I can't wait to play this! We should all play it together after I open it!"
Sweetie Belle tentatively took a step forward, offering Scootaloo her gift. "Rarity and I got you something to go with it too... It may not be as cool or fun, so don't be disappointed it you don't like it. It just looked like it would be really fun and colorful!"
"Don't worry about it Sweetie! I know I'll love it! After all, it is from one of my awesome best friends," Scootaloo said, ruffling Sweetie's mane and taking her gift. It was the same shape and size as Apple Bloom's gift had been, so Scootaloo automatically assumed that it was another game. She excitedly unwrapped the gift. By the time that she opened it, she was left staring at the cover, completely perplexed. It featured a colorful picture, with blocky figures and structures.
"Minecraft? That sounds like it could be cool..." Scootaloo said, giving Sweetie a hug as well. "Thanks a bunch Sweetie! I'll play it after we try out that Call of Duty game. It seems like this Minecraft game is only single player." Sweetie Belle breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded happily.
"Well, let's go turn this thing on!"
Her father smiled, leaving the room. "Alright, girls! Have fun playing with your new games Scootaloo, and happy birthday! I have to go finish up some work related stuff. Paperwork and all that."
"Alright, Dad! Well, what do you guys say? Let's get started!"
Scootaloo picked up the controller for the console. It was a white piece of plastic with six face buttons, two analog sticks, a d-pad, and a couple of buttons on the back side of the controller. In the very center was a button which looked like a cube, with a huge blue check-mark in the middle. Scootaloo held the button down and sighed with content as she heard her new gaming console purring to life. The sound of the machinery coming to life, combined with the flashing lights filled her with a sense of awe.
On the TV screen, a large blue line zoomed onto the screen, twisting and forming a huge box with a check-mark in it. It was the trademarked checkcube logo, and it filled Scootaloo with a sense of excitement. Before she could do anything, however, a large grey box popped up, obscuring the screen. Scootaloo frowned as the prompt popped up, initially thinking that something was wrong with her system. She squinted her eyes and moved closer to the screen, reading what it said aloud.
"Welcome new user, and thank you for purchasing a brand new Checkcube720. Since you are a new user, you will now be required to create a new checkcube profile to hold your information and allow you access to all sorts of cool online features and play online with your friends! Press 'A' to get the process started!" Scootaloo said, pressing the green 'A' button as she finished reading. "Huh. Well, I guess that means that we make some sort of name that we go by when we play with other people now... What to call it... Oh, I know!"
Another screen popped up, prompting her to enter her new 'gamertag' for her checkcube profile. Without hesitating, she began to type in her new online name. The other two Crusaders merely watched in anticipation as Scootaloo 'typed' away with the virtual keypad, excited to see the new name that she had chosen for herself. This was going to be their online identity for as long as they were still playing the checkcube. Fillies and colts across the world would bask in their glorious name, and tremble when they saw it pop up in the server player list. Scootaloo finally stepped aside and showed the other Crusaders her genius.
"xxX... 1b3... lv1... CanFl1Xxx? What kind of name is that?" Sweetie Belle questioned.
"It's an awesome name, because I'm a pegasus! See! I believe I can fly!" Scootaloo said excitedly.
"What are the x's and numbers for?" Apple Bloom inquired.
"Well, they just make it look cool! It's so original! That way if anyone else had the name, then I'll still be able to have it in a way! Anyway, let's finish this thing so we can try out the games!" Scootaloo finished inputting her new name and a new prompt appeared.
Thank you for setting up your new gaming profile. Your account has already been upgraded with a year's worth of CheckcubePremium! Would you like to enable parental settings?
"Psh. No way!" Scootaloo yelled. She pressed the read 'B' button for the no option, closing the window out. Just like that, she was ready to play her all new video game system. Pushing a grey button on the front of the console, a port shot open, almost as if begging for her new games to be placed into it. Scootaloo quickly ripped the packaging off of her 'Call of Duty' game and popped the case open, removing the game from its holding place with a satisfying 'click'.
The disk tray closed itself with a futuristic whirring sound. Together, the three Crusaders jumped onto Scootaloo's bed and stared intently at the screen. A logo appeared on the screen with the title, 'Call of Duty: Modern Warmare'.
"Okay girls, what do you think we should play first? It looks like there's an online multiplayer mode, a story mode, and some sort of classic mode, whatever that means."
"Ah think that we should start off with the multiplayer! That way we can play with other ponies!"
"Yeah, and we can totally show them who's boss!" Scootaloo said, pumping her hoof in agreement.
"Uh... Girls? Don't you think we should practice first? So that we actually know how to play the game? Otherwise we could end up embarrassing ourselves pretty badly..." Sweetie cautiously replied.
"Nah! How hard could it be? There are only like eight buttons on the controller."
With that said, Scootaloo clicked on the multiplayer option, and decided to search for a 'Team Deathmatch' lobby. Immediately she found a game, and the join countdown timer began ticking down. Wow... This game must be pretty popular for me to find a match so quickly. Kinda nervous... Oh well, let's do this! The screen transformed, now showing an image of a pony dressed in some sort of fabric armor. It displayed a set of five different 'classes' for her to choose from.
Scootaloo tapped her hoof to her chin in thought before picking the class that she thought looked the coolest. It had some sort of shotgun, with a rocket launcher as the secondary weapon. As Scootaloo gained control of her character, she quickly decided to try and figure out how the controls worked. Okay... Let's see here... The stick on the left seems to move forward. The stick on the right let's me look around...
Scootaloo continued to fiddle around with the controls, quickly figuring out how to change weapons, jump, crouch, shoot, aim, and reload. Huh. Wonder what this one does. Let's find out. Scootaloo pressed the right bumper button on her controller. Immediately, her character tossed a small ball at the building in front of her. [i[It... throws a ball? Wha- Scootaloo's thoughts were cut off as her character exploded, giving her team negative score.
"I told you that you should have practiced," Sweetie chastised, Apple Bloom giggling behind her.
"Aw be quiet... Now I know what to do."
Scootaloo rushed out of her spawn point and down a narrow corridor, ready to annihilate the first enemy that came her way. She saw an enemy at the other end of the hall and proceeded to whip out her shotgun, firing an entire magazine worth of bullets into her opponent. They, in turn, simply shrugged off the blows, racing into a nearby room. Scootaloo quickly gave chase around the corner... only to be immediately killed. She watched in frustration as the screen showed the enemy rushing past the corner and implanting an explosive device into the ground.
"That's not fair! I shot him like twelve times and that one little explosion killed me?! Oh, I'll get you!"
She pressed the 'X' button, respawning onto the field. With a new-found confidence, she rushed out of her spawn alongside her team mates. Immediately, she and her entire team were mowed down by a pony on a machine gun across the street. She grunted, facehooving herself before hitting the 'X' button again. She respawned and immediately died again. A quick view of the killcam showed an enemy shooting her in the back with a shotgun right as she spawned.
"That's not fair at all! How are you going to spawn me right in front of an enemy?!" Scootaloo yelled indignantly.
"Maybe the other team had the map locked down, and it just had to spawn you somewhere?" Sweetie suggested.
"No! That's ponyfeathers! I'm not playing in this lobby anymore! I just got put with a bunch of players who are too high leveled or something," Scootaloo huffed, quitting out of the game.
A popping sound coming from her speakers startled her. Voice message from 'Ieatn00bs'. Confused, Scootaloo clicked the open option and a voice began playing from her T.V.
"Lol! You're so bad at this game! I mean, like seriously. Did you just start playing or something noob, cuz you suck. I mean, seriously? Zero and three? Thanks for giving my clan a win, loser. By the way, nice suicide! Catch you later, I have matches to like, win and stuff. Seriously. Who uses a shotgun from across the hall?"
Scootaloo's ears drooped as she yelled at the screen, "Oh yeah?! Well, I'd like to see you do better you jerk! I bet you've never had a marefriend with an attitude like that! You're probably just living at home with your mom and mooching off of her!"
"Uh... Scootaloo. Ya know he can't hear ya right?" Apple Bloom deadpanned.
"Yeah, I know. But that guy was just so rude! Ugh..."
"Well, how 'bout ya let me try it?" Apple Bloom asked, extending her hoof.
"Ugh. Fine. Here," Scootaloo pouted, handing the controller to Apple Bloom and moving aside on the bed.
Apple Bloom quickly found a new match, spawning in. She decided to pick a different class than Scootaloo had, picking one which had a light machine gun and pistol for secondary. Taking a note from Scootaloo's previous failures, she crept slowly out of her spawn. Immediately she spotted an enemy, and instinctively held the trigger down, hip-firing the entire one-hundred round magazine in the enemies general direction. She was surprised when a small pieced of text popped up on her screen, displaying the words 'Headshot' and 'Kill!'
"Ah did it! Ah did it!" Apple Bloomed cheered before promptly getting her skull popped off by a nearby sniper. "W-wha...? Ah didn't see him there!"
"Not so fun when it's you, is it?" Scootaloo said grumpily.
"At least ah got a kill," Apple Bloom snorted.
Turning her attention back to the television, she decided to spawn herself again. This time she took a much more careful approach, going to the spot where she had seen the sniper earlier. Sure enough, he was still there, looking through a small hole in the hedge he was lying behind. Apple Bloom decided to switch to her secondary weapon; a silenced m1911 pistol. She careful took aim, and fired three times. She received three hit markers, apparently barely damaging her enemy at all.
"W-what? Scootaloo! How do you punch? How do you punch?!" Apple Bloom yelled frantically.
"I-I don't know! I didn't know there was a melee button!"
Their conversation was promptly ended by the enemy sniper stabbing her character in the chest.
"But that ain't fair! I shot him three times! That should have killed him! He must be cheatin'! Ah... Ah don't like this game..." Apple Bloom mumbled, backing out of the lobby.
At that very moment, another message popped up in their inbox. Voice message from 'Ilikebewbs'. Apple Bloom knew better, but she reluctantly opened the message and got ready for her verbal beating. The message began to play from the T.V. speakers, with an obnoxiously nasally voice reverberating from them.
"OMC you are such a noob! I mean, my friend Jake told me how bad you were last round, but Celestia you are bad? Spray and pray much? Don't you know how to aim? Oh, that's right, you don't even know how to knife! And tip for next time, never use the freakin' pistols. They're worthless. And click right stick for once. Geesh!"
Apple Bloom felt her ears drooped as she set the controller down. "T-that ain't nice..."
"Not so funny now is it?" Scootaloo mocked.
"Hey, you didn't do any better!" Apple Bloom said, leaving the controller and slowly making her way over to Scootaloo. Together, they embraced and began to cry. They cried tears that only embarrassed online players who had just been chastised for inferior skill by a twelve year old could. Sweetie Belle saw this. How could those ponies be so mean to her friend? She'd show them!
Sweetie Belle picked up the controller with a determined look on her face. She went into the guide menu and set the two ponies had messaged them to preferred player status, then searched for a match. Once again, she found a match right away. She pressed the select button and checked the player list, revealing that she had managed to once again find the 'I' clan. Knowing precisely what she was going to do, Sweetie Belle clicked on the sniper class.
As the game started, this time from the beginning of the match, Sweetie took the time to observe the map around her. It was some sort of high-rise skyscraper. Going into prone position, she brought out her sniper and aimed at the opposite corner of the map. She held clicked in the right stick to hold her breath, steadied her aim, and fired. Immediately white text popped up on the screen, displaying the words 'Triple kill!', 'Collateral damage!', and 'One-shot, one kill'.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom just stared in awe as Sweetie Belle proceeded to get two more kills right off the bat, splattering enemies skulls like they had been pinatas. Immediately Sweetie Belle got friend requests from every single member of her team. Sweetie giggled a bit and walked out of her spawn. Together, her and her team mates wiped the floor with the other team under Sweetie's supreme skills, quickly gathering thirty more kills. Sweetie realized that she was running low on sniper round, and switched to her secondary weapon.
She could see that there was an enemy right around the corner from her position thanks to the U.A.V. that she had called in earlier. Carefully, she tossed a flashbang around the corner. The second it a hit marker appeared on her screen, she rushed around the corner and pelted the unsuspecting sniper with a barrage of pistol fire. The poor enemy never stood a chance.
"And that's why they call them 'secondary' weapons," Sweetie smirked.
She looked at the bottom left-hand corner of her screen and saw it. The team was only one kill away from victory! Sweetie immediately rushed around the corner. Prepping herself for what was to come next, she turned her sensitivity up to ten, closed her eyes, and held the right bumper. As soon as she let go, she heard the satisfying whoosh of a throwing knife gliding through the air, followed by a resounding thud sound as it sunk into her enemy's skull.
She watched the killcam as knife soared through the air, expertly thrown, narrowly dodging fence after wall after pole, deadset on bringing the end to a life. Its shining blade reflected the sun perfectly, the glare of the Reaper held within its mirror surface, as it hunted down its victim. They didn't even see death coming before the steel had pierced their skull, shattered bone only damaging them more, and with a magnificent collapse, they were gone, another point added to Belle's score. It resulted in many pissed-in pants for the opposing team.
"Aw yeah! Cross-map throw knife! Did you see it? Did you guys see it? Tell me you recorded that!" Sweetie said excitedly. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo merely stared, jaws hung open at the sight of their friend destroying the enemy team so badly. Just as Sweetie Belle left the game, satisfied in her victory, she received a message from the clan leader.
"Oh yeah? You think you're so bad? Huh? Well, you're just a hard scoping faggot! I mean, seriously! I'll quick scope your flank any day! Hell, I'll three-sixty no scope you filly! And that throw knife? You must be a lag-switcher or something. And flashbangs are so OP, ugh! I'll kick your flank any day, I just had a bad match."
Calmly, Sweetie pressed the reply button and began to type up a message. First of all, I merely used the sniper as intended. It's meant to be a precision weapon. You're not playing a game of Russian Roulette. Second, don't be jealous just because you've never gotten a cross map throw knife. Thirdly, I don't cheat, and neither do my friends. Finally, twenty-two and three with twelve assists. How did you do? With a satisfied grin, Sweetie sent her delicious victory message.
"Woo... That was fun girls!" Sweetie said, turning to face them.
"Where did you learn how to play like that Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked, amazed.
"Well, I play it all the time with Spike at the library when I go over there. He's really good, but I'm better. I let him win sometimes to make him feel better about his... 'Masculine pride' I think Rarity calls it?"
"That's amazin'!" Apple Bloom added.
Scootaloo merely closed her mouth and headed over to the Checkcube, popping the disk out of the tray and putting it back in its case before turning the system off.
"What are you doing Scootaloo? Why'd you put the game away?" Sweetie frowned.
"Eh... I don't really like it. No offense Apple Bloom... Just... Too many twelve year olds."
"I know how you feel Scootaloo" Sweetie added.
"Well... We could always try out this Minecraft game if y'all wanted..."
The three Crusaders looked at each other before sighing, "Maybe tomorrow..."