The Battles of Blue and Red

It was a great day to be lazy. The skies were clear, the weather was warm, and there was absolutely nothing important that needed to be done.

For most of the ponies in Ponyville, this would be an excellent day to go outside, take in the warmth of Celestia's Sun, perhaps hang out with friends or family.

But not Rainbow Dash.

While the pegasus wunderkind would usually do similar things on such a day, recently she had been too engrossed to do so. Engrossed by what, you may ask. Engrossed, totally consumed, by a video game.

It wasn't until recently that Rainbow had discovered the form of entertainment known as video games. Sure, she had been to arcades, taking particular joy in flight simulators and the like, but that was only temporary. This was much more than that.

The events that had led up to this discovery had been quite serendipitous, similar to when Twilight had introduced her to the series of Daring Do novels and gotten her hooked on the tales of the great adventurer.

She and her friends had been at the castle in Canterlot, visiting Princess Celestia. The first night there, Rainbow was having trouble sleeping, mostly due to the fact that the bed was not a cloud like she was used to. In her state of restlessness, she decided to wander the halls of the castle for a spell to see if she could tire herself out. During this little trip, she heard quite a commotion coming from one of the other bedrooms, one with two guards posted outside. Coming to a halt, she realized that it was indeed Princess Luna's room, and the one making all the racket was the princess of the night herself. Intrigued, she asked for, and was granted, access to the room.

Inside, she saw Luna sitting in her bed, her back against the headboard. She had her two eyes so glued to the glowing screen of the laptop sitting on her lap that she didn't even register Rainbow's company.

"Come now," Luna was half-yelling into some kind of microphone which was attached to a pair of headphones sitting on her head, "watch thy flank!" The princess' fingers rattled away at her laptop's keyboard while she used her magic to work her wireless mouse.

"Uh...princess?" Rainbow asked hesitantly, "What are you doing?"

"Colt of a whorse!" Luna yelled, yanking the headset off and looking at Rainbow for the first time, "Oh, we are most sorry, we didn't hear you come in."

"What were you doing, Luna?"

"Ah, we were just playing a spirited round of our new favorite game. Come, we will show you."

Rainbow made her way over to the bedside and looked at the laptop screen. On it was a picture of nine men in various outfits carrying all sorts of various weaponry and other devices. Above them, in blocky orange lettering were the words 'Team Fortress 2'.

"I overheard somepony in the market talking about this game the other day," Rainbow said, "he said it was really good."

"Indeed it is," Luna replied with a big grin, "I've spent every night for the past week playing nothing but this game. It is very addictive."

"What is it about?"

And so, Luna explained to Rainbow the point of the game, the backstory of the war between the Red Squad and the Blue Squad, and about the various characters, or classes as Luna called them. Rainbow was particularly taken by the description of the Scout, the fast, spry, cunning man behind the scenes who every once in a while would crack somepony's, or somebody's skull with a baseball bat.

"Oh my gosh," Rainbow breathed once Luna's explanation was over, "this game is awesome."

"Tis indeed. Perhaps thou should play it for thyself. Do you have a computer, the game is quite cheap to buy."

"No, I don't."

"Fear not," Luna said with a wave of her hand, "we will take care of it for you, if you really want us to."

Rainbow grinned so wide that she literally make a squeaking noise.

Not a week later, Rainbow got a sizeable package delivered to her house above Ponyville. It was sent Express Mail from Canterlot, Princess Luna to be exact. Opening the box, Rainbow found inside not only a note from Luna, but a brand new laptop, a headset similar to the one Luna owned, and a wireless mouse. Included in the note was a code she could use to buy TF2, as Luna abbreviated it, for free online.

Since that day, which had been about three weeks ago at this point, Rainbow had completely immersed herself in the game, playing whenever she had the chance. Naturally, she usually played as the Scout, but not at the exclusion of learning all about how the other classes played.

So it was once again a beautiful, lazy, day, and Rainbow was indoors, playing TF2. Her fingers literally flew across the keyboard as she played one match after the next, never getting bored. She was just in the middle of a round of Capture the Flag, when she heard something unusual, and unfortunately familiar, in her ear.

"So this is what the speed demon does on her down time."

The voice, which didn't come from any of the other players, made Rainbow nearly jump out of her fur. The sudden shock also had the unfortunately consequence of getting her killed, and she had been so close to bringing the flag home, too!

A sudden puff of white smoke appeared in the bedroom, and out stepped Discord. The mangled mess of animal parts, with his black hair falling slightly over one of his golden eyes, smiled knowingly in Rainbow's direction.

"I didn't take you for a--," but he was cut off by a hand wrapping around his scrawny neck.

"Discord," Rainbow seethed, having slipped her headset down around her own neck, "what in Celestia's name are you doing here!?"

"Well," Discord tried to speak, but wasn't having the best of luck. Eventually, he gave up, and simply snapped his fingers, teleporting himself a few feet away and out of her grasp, "Better. Now then, I was merely bored and decided to see how all of my favorite Ponyville ponies were doing."

"Well then go bother Fluttershy," Rainbow raged, "You got me killed."

"You seem in perfect health to me," Discord mused, before spying the laptop, "Oh, what do we have here." He snapped his fingers again, causing the laptop to appear in his paw and claw, "Hmm.. Team Fortress 2... I've heard this game is quite good. Wait, don't tell me Luna got you hooked on video games.

The look on Rainbow's face was all Discord needed in answer. After a moment, he began laughing uncontrollably.

"Hahaha! Would you look at that? The wanna-be Wonderbolt has turned into a gaming nerd! HAHAHA!"

"Quit it, Discord," Rainbow reached out to reclaim her computer, but she was stopped.

"Oh wait until the others find out about this. I hope they find it as much as a riot as I do."

"No!" Rainbow's toned suddenly changed from anger to worry, "Don't you dare! They cannot know!"

"Oh, what is this now?" Discord mused, cocking his head so far that it came off his shoulders and came to rest perpendicular to his neck, "You're not embarrassed about a little game, are you?"

"I'm not embarrassed," Rainbow snapped back.

"Oh come on, it's not like you read that gag-inducing clopfiction."

"Not the point, Discord. Give me my computer back."

"Well, since you're my friend, I'll be happy to give it back. Unfortunately, I feel like being a dick today." Discord once again snapped his fingers, teleporting himself, Rainbow, and the laptop out of the house.

*--*--*--*--*

Applejack and Big Mac were in their big red barn, just about done fixing the broken axel on their wagon, when they heard seven little pops behind them, like little firecrackers. Spinning around, the Apple siblings beheld many faces in their barn, namely, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Twilight, Spike, and Discord.

"What is the meaning of this," Rarity questioned, her eyes immediately landing on Discord, "Did you do this?"

"Who me," Discord said innocently, a halo appearing above his head, which promptly shattered, "Yeah, it was me. But I have a good reason."

"Well you better."

"I just wanted you all to know about a little secret your friend Rainbow here has been keeping. She's --,"

Rainbow clamped both her hands around Discord's mouth and neck, rendering him once again unable to speak. With a roll of his eyes, he snapped his fingers, which magically made his mouth appear separate from his body.

"Like I was saying," the disembodied mouth continued, "Rainbow Dash is a gamer now! Please tell me you all find that just as hilarious as I do!"

"That's what you interrupted all of our days for," Twilight deadpanned.

"Well I thought it was funny." At this point, Rainbow defeatedly released Discord, allowing his mouth to rejoin his face.

"OK, fine," Rainbow said with a sigh, "Luna introduced me to this game called Team Fortress 2, and now I'm totally addicted. I know I shouldn't feel embarrassed about it, but I do, OK?"

"Why would you be embarrassed, Dashie?" Pinkie said, sliding right up to Rainbow.

"'Cause I'm supposed to be this badass athlete, and I've spent every spare moment the last three weeks sitting around in my room."

"C'mon now, sugarcube," Applejack chuckled, "this is Daring Do all over again. You think we really care what you do with your own time?"

"Oh bother," Discord muttered, "this isn't the laugh riot I was looking for."

"Um... Discord," he felt a tap on his shoulder, to which he turned and saw Fluttershy standing there with a surprisingly serious expression, "I believe you owe Rainobw Dash an apology."

"Ohhhh, do I have to...?

In response, Fluttershy raised on her eyebrows and leaned in a little bit.

"Oh, OK. I'm sorry Rainbow Dash," he said with just a hint of sarcasm, "and now I'll send you all back on your way." He raised his claw hand to snap his fingers once again, "Syke!"

*SNAP*