Live a Little Bit

"I think I've got time for one game." Spike flipped his quarter up into the air as he strolled into the large, darkened room, the sound of coins clattering, and digital noises sounding. He strolled past the games, his disappointment increasing with every one he passed. I have NO idea how to play these!. He groaned and rubbed his head. Looking at the games he passed, he grew into more and more unfamiliar territory. Mule Kong? Sure it was famous, sure he had heard of it, but he'd never played it. Same thing with Steer Fighter. And Castlemania. However just as he was about to insert his coin into a Pac Stan, a commotion drew his attention.

"Come on Barney! Givit' back!" A thick accent sounded from over near the far end of the arcade. Looking over, he saw a group of about fifteen kids, some who looked his age, others that looked younger than him surrounding a quartet of children and even some that looked older. Three; one a short, lanky, purple-haired girl, with an orange shirt that had rainbows all over it was baring her teeth. Another, a petite girl wearing a cream white dress, covered in frills and light-purple borders; her bobbed hair two separated colors, was also glaring harshly at the offender. The third, a brawny girl with syrupy red hair that sort of dripped off her head, was wearing a cream t-shirt covered by jean overalls as she grabbed at a pink bow held in another child's hand. The fourth, the child in question, was a boy with brown hair under a ball-cap with a small propeller attached to the head. The boy, most presumably Barney, held the pink bow out of reach of the overalls girl, her red hair bobbing as she jumped up and down to grab the bow.

"Hey Barney!" The orange clad girl shouted, balling her fists, "You give that back, or else!" She made a lunge for the bow, but it fluttered out of reach as the boy danced away from her hand. Barney laughed,

"Or else what, Serena? You gonna get it from me? Can you even reach it?" Serena's cheeks turned red, and several of the kids in the audience laughed quietly. The ginger growled and backed up next to Serena. The last of the trio, the purple and pink haired balled her hands at her side,

"Why can't you just give it back?" Her voice was high-pitched and broke in the middle of the sentence.

"Hmmm... I'll make you a deal." Barney tapped his chin, Barney grinned at Sally, who shrunk back, "If you can beat my high-score on any game in this place, and put a new name there, then I'll give you the bow back. If not..." He paused and glanced evilly into the corner, "I'll throw it in the claw grab!" The entire place went silent. Apparently this was the worst kind of threat.

"But you have the high-score on every game!" Sally whined. Sally and Serena turned to the redhead,

"What should we do, Abigail? We don't any money left!" Serena asked. The girl shrugged and sighed despondently, and Spike could see tears moistening her eyes and her jaw chewing on her lip.

"Look don't worry 'bout it girls... Ah'll... Ah'll just... git a new bow..." Sighing he looked at his quarter I shouldn't get involved. This isn't my problem.

"No! we have to try!" Sally said, hugging Abigail tightly, "That bow was Granny Smith's, wasn't it?" Barney pulled back a tiny bit at that,

"Well... Maybe I'll cut you some slack. If you don't have any quarters..." Barney said, tauntingly, the three girls looked up hopefully, "I'll give it back... If Sally agrees to go out with me. Spike snickered quietly at the cliche demand. The other three girls, were not amused, however. Sally hung her head.

"But..." The crowd was getting restless, some, like a girl with blue glasses, were goading Barney to throw the ribbon into the claw machine, some were telling him to give it back.

"Tick tock Sally!" Barney winked at Sally, who cringed and glared fiercely at him. 'One game. I DID say one game.'

"All right." Sally said quietly, "I guess have to do it." Barney grinned a bit wider, and the propeller on his cap spun,

"No! Does anybody have a quarter?" Serena called out, looking around desperately.

"Why borrow a quarter?" Barney jeered, "All Sally has to do is say yes." Serena continued to ask around for quarters, but Sally put a hand on her shoulder.

"Even if we did have a quarter, we can't beat him. He's the best!" Serena sighed and moved back to Abigail's side. Sally looked at her friend, and she gave a wavering, but reassuring, smile, "I'll get it back for you, don't worry." Abigail shook her head,

"Nah.Ya'll... Ya'll can't do that fer me."

That was when Spike chose to step forward. 'I'm going to regret this. This is a huge mistake.'

"I've got a quarter." Everybody in the room swiveled their heads to look at him, "All I have to do is beat your high score to get her bow?" Barney looked at him in astonishment, then back at the three girls, who also seemed to be surprised. Now that he looked around, so did everyone else. 'Yep. Mistake.' Whispers spread out like fire through the crowd,

"Who's that...?"

"I've never seen him."

"Me neither." Spike ignored them and walked through the crowd to Barney, nudging some people and squeezing past others. He could feel many pairs of eyes focused on him, and he nervously ran a tongue over his teeth, poking at his sharp canine. Barney looked at him, with a irritable look in his eyes.

"You? You think you can beat my high score?" He asked incredulously, and some of the kids in the crowd murmured among each other.

"Yeah." Spike lied, before he could even stop himself, "Yeah I do." 'Oh man, what am I doing.... Barney, obviously not expecting anybody to stand up to him, laughed.

"Well you're welcome to try. Hell, I won't even need to work to crush you!" He gave a wide sweeping gesture behind him, "Pick your poison!" Serena glowered, while Sally had an arm comfortingly around Abagail's shoulders, who timidly spoke up,

"Please don't do that fer me." But Spike didn't seem to hear her, as he walked father into the back. Everybody behind him followed, the crowd, the girls, and Barney. Eyes glinting left and right, he fingered his only quarter and he was becoming more and more discouraged. The games seemed to grow older and more unfamiliar the farther he went. Personal Space Invaders? That sounded like a game dedicated to molesters. Fast Racer 2001? He couldn't even drive. Nightmare Moon's House didn't even have a joystick, just plastic guns, and remembering the time Flinn had taken him to the gun range (where he had come back to the dorm with a black eye, bloody nose and not even a single bullet hole in the paper to show for it), he was pretty sure he would suck at that. And at the top of every high score list, there sat three ominous letters; B-A-R, which no doubt stood for Barney.

However it was then he saw it. Though the walls around it could only be made out faintly, he was positive it was the machine exactly like the photo on the front of the building. This was the first game here. And, he soon realized, the last one. He'd seen all the others, and with his limited game knowledge, couldn't play any of them. He looked at the top of the overhand above the screen. It was the most familiar symbol in his entire life. It was the GameDragon logo. And, on the screen white and black blocks fell, automated, into place. Tetris. Walking forward, he stopped in front of the machine, old and faded now, but still no doubt any different from the portable version he had. At it's head, the letters B-A-R flashed mockingly.

"This one." He said with an air of finality, "I pick this one." Barney shrugged,

"Sure." He grinned, "You won't even make it past level four." Spike grabbed the joystick with his right hand and hovered his left over the two buttons. Giving the coin a final rub, he slipped it into the slot. The start menu jumped to life. The crowd moved in directly behind him, about ten kids jostling for a position to see the screen. Abigail, Serena, and Sally were huddled together on his left and Barney watched confidently on his right. Clicking the button he began the game, and the ever-alluring tune began mechanically playing, as though a music box was cranking out old dilapidated notes. Spike hummed the tune quietly as he placed his first block.

~ Little while earlier~

All they had done was come to the arcade to play a couple video games, which was reasonable. It was an arcade, after all. They'd had six quarters, two for each of them. Or three for Serena and Abigail, because Sally had decided that the only video game she was good at was Prance Prance Revolution, but she refused to play the one at the Ponyville arcade on account of it being 'broken'. Neither Serena nor Abigail had the heart to tell her she was just bad.

Serena had burnt through her three on the racing games (all three of which she had come in last place, which they unanimously decided was because of her crashing.) and the two had watched Abigail play Steer Fighter. Of the three, Abigail was the best at playing at the arcade, due to her softly calloused hands that were more or less used to work. She was on her second quarter and Steeru was beating the stuffing out of M. Bison(the 'M' stood for 'Minotaur'). Just as she lost, however, a slight tug came from the back of her head, and she felt her red hair fall from it's place. Reaching up to the back of her head, she felt her around for her bow, which had mysteriously gone missing from her hair. Twirling around she saw Barney Matt's face grinning smugly in front of her. Sally rolled her eyes and Serena scowled at him.

"Hey!" Abigail cried, making a grab for it, and attracting the attention of some of the other kids in the arcade, but she tripped and stumbled forward a bit.

"Nice fall, Abigail!" A high pitched voice sounded from her left, and a girl with a pair of blue glasses and braided silver hair waltzed up on her right, "You take lessons or does that come naturally?" Some kids laughed while others grumbled at her.

"Shut up, Silvia!" Serena snapped at her as she and Sally helped Abigail to her feet, and Sally stuck a tiny pink tongue out at her.

"Give Abigail back her bow!" Sally said sternly to Barney and holding out her hand for it. Barney shook it out of reach,

"Ah-ah-ah!" He sang, "You didn't say the magic word!" Sally looked confused,

"Please?" Barney thought for a moment before laughing,

"No, not magic enough!" Sally squinted at him and pouted, Abigail crossed her arms, defiant.

"Whatta' Ah need ta do ta git mah bow back?" Barney contemplated that question, before turning to her,

"Just beat me in Steer Fighter." He smiled,

"Fine, Ah'll take you on!" She spun around to the game and threw in her last quarter. Barney swaggered over and dug a quarter out of his pocket.

A few minutes later she slumped to the ground, slack-jawed.

"B-but... Ah... Ah... What just happened?" Barney smiled,

"Up up double down left right A B up." He recited flawlessly,

"So what about Abigail's bow?" Serena interrupted, and Barney looked at them,

"Well she didn't win, now did she?" The girls gasped, and Silvia snickered quietly.

“Wha- Barney!”

“Come on! Givit back Barney!”

~The Present~

Spike was in the metaphorical ‘Zone’. Never before had he had such reason to play. For once, he, Spike, was the hero. Not some fantasy character who he read about in some comic book. Not a television show character. Not his genius older sister. He was the hero. The blocks flew down, smashing into the black bottom, and disappearing in a burst.

‘LEVEL 7’ flashed across the screen. He grinned. As hard as it was, he’d seen much worse. Sure the old games were hard, but nothing compared to the Japonies. His finger clicked rapidly over the button, his other hand shifting the joystick. Row after row exploded in a glorious shower of black and white pixels, the number in the corner shooting upward with every one. The crowd behind him watched on in amazement, now completely silent and awe-filled as Spike smashed block after block into row after row. Abigail, Serana, and Sally were by far the most enthusiastic.

“Haha!” Serana jeered at Barney, who’s face had paled considerably (or at least more, considering the fact that he had managed to spend most of his time in the arcade) and looking at the screen with a sick expression. Sally was smiling ear to ear and skipping in place, her feet bouncing her up and down, obviously overjoyed at the fact that she wouldn't have to go on a date with Barney.

“You just give us back that bow!” She sidled up next to Barney and yanked the red bow from his slack hand, running a hand along his chin as she did so. Returning to Abigail, she quickly knotted the bow tightly, giving it an extra tug for good measure. The three girls pulled each other into a hug and began squealing. Spike cringed at the sound and decided that it was his time to sneak out. 'The best hero is an unknown hero', as Flinn had said to him once when they were watching Fatman (the comically overweight superhero), 'If they don't know you, they can't get you back for whippin' their ass.'. Spike smirked as he slipped by Barney who was watching the girls with the rest of the establishment. Jogging out of the arcade, he glanced up the road towards where he was pretty sure he'd seen Tori go off to.

Walking a little farther down the street, he once again admired the small town that surrounded him. Sure it was nothing compared to Canterlot, with it's all class and superiority, but Spike could never really enjoy Canterlot. It was never really his thing to be uptight and classy, more scruffy and, well, downright rude. He swung his hands behind his head. Maybe this could be his thing. Leaving his initials in videogames as he saved helpless girls. He laughed, 'Yeah. Right, like I could ever be the hero.' that was a job better left to his sister. He blinked, before looking around, as he realized that he had no idea where the library was.

“Shit.”