Twilight used video games. It's super effective!
Twilight Plays Some Video Games
by Firebirdbtops and Merlos
It was late.
So late, that for Twilight Sparkle, it was actually early in the morning. One similarity that still held true between both Equestria or Earth, was a twenty four hour day, along with the day and night cycle that accompanied them.
The clock had recently struck five a.m. and Twilight was still in her computer chair, wide awake. Actually, since it was one of the human’s digital clocks, it didn’t so much strike as it did flash, but the point still stands.
Twilight stayed up to this hour merely so she could continue to search the sleep-depriving content put out by the amazing human invention named; the Internet. Copious amounts of bitter, yet effective human coffee assisted in propelling her through the night to continue her nightly browsing and research. Her hands moved rhythmically, moving her with grace from pages of advanced physics to those pertaining to something of a lighter topic, such as the intrigue of robotics.
Twilight was very much stranded on Earth, and in a strange, human body no less. Worse, she had no horn to speak of, and therefore no magic. Still, she made good use of her time by looking into alternate ways of getting home; all thanks to the various types of technology humans had.
That isn’t to say, however, that she had found much.
It had taken her months just to graze the surface of it all. During those months, she had of course had little time for much else that wasn’t strictly business. She took a few, small concessions to have fun with the two human mares she spent some time with—Jo and Alice—but those were rare, and there wasn’t much else she did.
Getting home to Equestria was too important for Twilight to allow herself to become distracted.
Twilight sighed, then leaned back in her borrowed swivel chair and stretched her muscles. Especially her arms and hands. I hope that ergonomic buttonboard and mousepad Jo ordered for me arrives soon. Ouch. She winced at the things that had replaced her forelegs, then refocused on the computer screen.
Twilight still wasn’t entirely used to having hands; magic didn’t exactly suffer from carpal tunnel, nor did hooves. Her sore hand clicked back to a tab she hadn’t checked in at least five minutes, curious about what might have transpired there while she had perused various schools of thought elsewhere. She had always loved the way computers acted as libraries, but tiny, and more manageable; of course her library would never leave its special place in her heart.
The new tab blinked open.
One of Twilight’s preferred sources of information, due in part to the interactive nature of it, was a tech forum website. Being able to speak to experts and hobbyists alike helped give her great insight into Earth. They had been very helpful in that regard, but not in helping her get home, much to her dismay. In truth, they did more confusing than helping at times.
One interesting function of the website’s was a chat room, which Twilight had begun to frequent recently in her quest. The humans inside were sometimes, though not always, helpful.
For instance, Twilight was currently surveying the lot of them talking about something called a ‘video game’. I really wish the guys in the chat would stay on-topic a bit more. What the hay is a ‘zergling’!? Talk about relevant science, please! She had some general knowledge about video games, but they weren’t exactly on her list of things to do or research.
They certainly couldn’t get her home, after all.
Still, while eying the scrolling words on her computer’s screen, Twilight considered how the chat’s tangents did give her more to think about. Not all of it she really wanted to ruminate on, admittedly, but it was very fascinating getting to know ponies, or people, rather, that hailed from another world and culture. The culture on Earth was fascinating to her, overall.
Less fascinating, was that some of the chat members made sure Twilight became well acquainted with certain aspects of the internet, such as its thirty fourth rule, much to her chagrin. She reflected on her misfortune, unable to rid her mind of those pictures made by humans that included herself and her friends alike. Thanks for that, guys. I swear to Harmony, if I never hear the word ‘shipping’ again, I will live life as a happy, happy mare.
She idly watched them discuss an apparently ancient game called ‘Hay-low’ and ‘Half-life’. The latter of which sounded a bit depressing and sad to Twilight, just going by the name. It was tempting to ask about the topics, seeing as the conversation seemed to have lasted for three hours by this point, but she stayed out of it. They seemed to think the games had something to do with space, though Twilight couldn’t figure out why.
Most of the excitement seemed to be over something called ‘Half-life Chapter Three’ coming out soon. For some reason this seemed incredibly important to the chatting humans, all of them exclaiming over the apparent relevance of the current year.
Twilight tilted her head in the cool light of her monitor, the rest of the room dark. Why does it matter if it’s the year 2023? Is it a special year for that game? They seem to think it’s really important… and fun. It was surprising, but the humans often seemed to take their fun almost as seriously as Pinkie Pie did. Their culture was filled with strange concepts like ‘name brands’ and other means of organizing forms of entertainment on a wide scale. Perhaps it has something to do with how many of them there are. She hummed, considering the thought.
A moment later, and an exasperated sigh escaped Twilight. She broke eye contact with, and closed the chat window, not quite ‘getting’ it. She put the distracting thoughts out of mind and managed instead to refocus back on an article covering astrophysics.
For just a second, Twilight read on in relative peace when suddenly, some inner voice of sleepiness whispered in her ear.
The girl who had been glued to her screen for almost the entirety of the past twenty hours, stood, almost against her will, then let a powerful yawn break past her lips.
Twilight finished, shaking her head quickly in order to remain awake. “Oh, wow. Alright then...” Almost drunkenly, she reached a hand over and deactivated her borrowed computer with a few clicks of the mouse. “I get the hint, me, time for-” she was only just able to stifle another yawn. “Time for me to go to bed.”
This was the third night this week Twilight had been awake at this hour, and she had been finding her daytimes to be more and more difficult to remain awake through, but she couldn’t just stop. Not when there was so much information to sift through; there was almost too much.
Twilight emitted a short grumble as she stumbled past the staircase towards the bathroom. From the top of staircase came the usual amount of racket that the house’s actual owner created on a daily basis. Twilight ignored the sounds of digital explosions coming from the stair’s peak; she was used to them.
A few more minutes, and a hot shower later that was never not at least a little upsetting given her body’s condition, and Twilight was all for going back to her warm, inviting bed. She could almost hear an audible call in the air, overtaking and sending her to sleep right there on her feet. The song, however, was put to an abrupt coda.
Another salvo of noise from atop the staircase ended the melody and stole Twilight’s attention. She looked up, then noted that her host’s own bedroom light was still on.
In Twilight’s current state as a refugee on Earth, she had been forced to seek shelter. Originally, it had been in the ‘garage’ of a random, nearby human’s home. The human turned out to be a young woman named Jo; who was a bit of a grump and a loner, admittedly. Still, she proved to be a good friend, and a kind enough sort of creature in the end; something Twilight had been glad for.
The sounds from Jo’s room crashed again, and Twilight felt that if her ears could twitch like her old, pony ones used to, they would be right at that moment. Her tail might be flicking in irritation too, for that matter. Also accompanying the crash, however, was the manic laughter of a certain human, along with outcries and what sounded like a very vulgar taunt.
Twilight scrunched her face in thought and mild intrigue. Alright, what are you doing now you silly filly? It sounded to her as if Jo was playing her strange ‘video games’ again, something that she’d glanced at before, but hadn’t done much more than entertain some idle speculation over. The majority of them had appeared violent in nature in a worrying sort of way.
The stairs climbed, Twilight poked her head through the door and into the loudness saturating Jo’s bedroom.
Now, Twilight had become much more accustomed to the wardrobe related habits of her human friends, but just because she was used to it, didn’t mean it wasn’t still confusing at times. According to her studies, humans, especially the mares, layered their clothing at all times of the day, regardless of the warmth, except when swimming, when they still insisted on keeping the under-most apparel for each gender respectively.
The human girl she stayed with, Jo, was the one that had instructed Twilight on those customs, which were so important that publicly, they were law. For the most part, any attempt by Twilight to remove the bulk of her own garments had been met with swift reprimands, lectures and requests to ‘put on some damned clothes’ right away by the shorter girl.
Now was such a time of confusion concerning those rules, though. Humans were odd, there always seemed to be times, such as now, when Twilight saw circumstances which completely contradicted what she was told.
For example, at the moment, Jo currently appeared to be dressed in only the scantest amount of her normal garb, consisting of only the lowest layer of clothing she had worn that day. She was also shouting obscenities into something called a microphone, obviously unaware of her volume.
Twilight continued to watch the fascinating movement on the screen from a distance. The technology that had been wrought by man was fascinating, if a bit disturbing at times. One of those disturbing things included the games Jo liked to play.
“What the #$@* was up with that shiiii… ning example of bad play?” Jo trailed off with her cursing after she caught Twilight’s reflection in her monitor. “One sec guys, I’m going AFK.”
Taking off her headset, Jo mirrored Twilight’s earlier yawn and stretch. “Hey, Twilight, what’s going on?” Once kinks had been removed from her small frame she faced her lodger, who had been standing at the door-frame in what looked to be the daze of a mind addled sleep-zombie.
Twilight was undeniably staring at Jo’s screen. The hours had been similarly unkind to Jo, and she felt nothing but sympathy as Twilight started from her sudden movement. Still, this was hardly the first time that this meeting had occurred this late, and, Jo reflected, it probably wouldn’t be the last.
“Twilight, you there? What’s up?” A frequent opener, and although it prompted a reply indicating their own state of awakeness, Jo didn’t find the saying tiresome. The pause for understanding was expected, late nights tend to slow even the fastest of minds.
Twilight shook slightly and looked over. “Oh, uhm, hey Jo. Sorry, I got… distracted.” Her eyes flickered back to the paused video game.
One of Jo’s eyebrows raised and she looked back to her monitor. On it, hung the spinning emblem of the game she played, a spiritual descendant of the old ‘Battlefield’ games that had become popular a long time ago.
“What, by this?” Jo chuckled and tabbed out of the game to get it out of sight. “Sorry about that, I know how much you hate these things.”
Twilight frowned slightly and looked away from the now blank screen. “I don’t ‘hate’ them, Jo. Hate is far too strong a word. I just… really, really, really, really dislike them. Plus, I don’t strictly agree with the fascination humans hold with killing, destruction,” she said, ticking the words off with a finger each. “Not to mention how angry you and your friends seem to get at each other every time you play them.” She picked up her arms and crossed them.
“Oh that’s just us having fun. I guess it might seem a bit strange but it is a lot of fun to sort of… let go like you do when playing these games. Also, they aren’t all violent, Twilight.” Jo shrugged and offered Twilight a chair, which the other girl accepted. “They’re a great way to unwind and have fun.You have a point; I won’t deny that, but they’re a good way to relax.” She smirked, and added, “You know, there are a lot of puzzle games that are purely challenges for the mind, too.”
Twilight stared with a frown at her hands. “Oh, I know.” She responded a little absently.
Jo put on a frown to match, thinking hard and noticing her friend’s behavior. “So, you didn’t answer my question, Twilight. What’s up?” After the once-unicorn, now refugee looked up, she put on a friendly smile.
Twilight searched her memory for a moment for what she had been thinking earlier. Staying up late to get into really deep science always put her out of her own natural state of mind. She replied to her friend a little slowly. “I… was just doing research, again, and talking to ‘the nerds’ as you call them.”
Jo laughed bitterly at that, but kept the comment she had about them to herself. “Did they have anything important to say? Any new developments? Good news… any news?”
Twilight shook her head. “Not so much.”
“Oh, ah, sorry to hear that.” Jo hummed a moment. After a bit of thought, and coming up with little to say to the ex-pony, she added, “Anything else?”
Twilight responded, still staring at her hands. “I’m just tired, I guess.”
Jo leaned over in her chair onto the desk and rested her head on one hand. “Well, duh.”
Twilight put on an indignant look for a moment, then sighed and flopped back in her own chair, arms thrown to either side. “Okay then, well… I also heard your game, then came upstairs.” She pointedly looked away towards the ceiling
Jo, ever tactful, groaned at yet another evasion of the topic that was really bothering Twilight. “That’s it? Or are you trying to make me guess?”
Twilight chuckled internally at her friend’s taciturn method of showing thoughtfulness.
“No, I’m not. There’s nothing, actually.” She sat up and scanned the ground with her eyes for more to say. “Well… I think maybe I’m getting too stressed out from my studies.” Even looking away, she could see the flat stare of disbelief she was getting after saying that.
Twilight harrumphed and crossed her arms, finally meeting Jo’s gaze. “No, really, Jo. I mean, I love studying, and I used to do it all the time back home, but even there, I took a break every once in awhile. A lot, actually, Ponyville always had something going on, big or small. Here, it’s all I do, and the amount of what I could still learn is staggering. I haven’t even scratched the surface, and I’m so worked up from realizing how much it is that, I don’t know... that I can’t even enjoy all the new things I keep finding out about!”
Twilight gave a rueful grin to the wall, and laughed bitterly. “The other day, I had forgotten something that I had just read that morning. Only just!” She furrowed her brow, frowning slightly, then added, “I think I might be overdoing it…”
Jo’s eyes bugged for a moment. She managed to relax again before the other girl looked up. After hearing the admission from Twilight, though, Jo was surprised. She had never expected to hear that from the former pony; who seemed dedicated enough to study for days in hopes of even a slight chance to get home.
“So you’re burnt out.” Jo smirked friendlily. “So maybe you need to relax or take a break.” She gestured with her hands to punctuate her words. “Twilight, the human world has been here for millions of years. You’ve been here for what, about two months? You should take some time off, and de-stress. It’s been a few weeks since our last outing, maybe we could do something?”
Twilight nodded in understanding to that. “The Halloween party.” Their last big outing had been a fun night, she considered. They had taken a night recently to watch the entirety of the tv show humans had made based on her and her friend’s adventures, too; however, both of those things were several weeks past now.
Twilight sighed and rested her head on the arm of her seat. “Maybe, Jo, that’s a possibility certainly. We could invite Alice and go bowling like she suggested? I’m not overly eager to try bowling without my magic, but maybe...”
“Right, Alice… maybe instead we could-” A few particularly loud battle sounds reached Jo’s ears from the headset she had laid down earlier. She glanced over to her monitor and grimaced. Her Abrams tank had been discovered from its underground garage and obliterated. Great. Then, another thought came to her, one that seemed promising.
“Or,” Jo began, leaning forward towards Twilight with an enthusiastic grin.
The girl facing her widened her eye’s slightly, possibly in worry.
Jo continued. “You could try some games? Video games. I bet you’ll find them a lot more fun than you think.” She folded her hands between her legs and smiled encouragingly to her mostly purple-headed friend.
Twilight answered the look by narrowing her eyes and drawing her mouth into a look of consternation. “I… don’t think that’s a good idea, Jo. Unless you want to play Monopony again with Alice?” She smiled weakly after offering the suggestion.
Jo growled at the mention of that night immediately. “No, no, definitely not. That’s not even a video game. Besides, Alice cheats. It’s the only explanation for how she got Boardwalk up to hotels the turn before I landed on it.” She shook her head. “Come on, Twilight, live a little and try something new.” She smiled, showing that the irony of her statement was not lost on her. “At the very least give it a chance. You don’t have anything to lose just by trying, after all.”
Twilight reclined in her chair, thinking hard over the suggestion. Well, Jo does have a point. For the most part, Twilight had only studied since getting established on Earth; it was her only hope of getting home. But, she supposed she did want to find another outlet. I guess it wouldn’t hurt.
Still, Twilight decided to tread lightly. “Okay…” She began slowly, looking up at Jo with a slightly downtrodden expression. “But nothing too… intense? I don’t know the first thing about ‘video games’, Jo.”
“Great. Fantastic. I’d get started on it right away, but there’s this small problem.” Jo wiped a hand down her face, stopping briefly to stifle a yawn.
Twilight tilted her head slightly. “What’s wrong, Jo?”
Jo quirked an eyebrow and deadpanned at the other girl. “Well, it is nearly six in the morning, Twilight. Go to bed, and we’ll talk about this more when I’m awake, whatever time that is.” She smirked at the sheepish look Twilight gave back to her.
The time turned out to be just after noon.
Twilight was the first to wake, bright and chipper with happy thoughts of a study-break. Jo ambled out later, and the two of them brunched upon croissants which Twilight had picked out, while coffee brewed on the near counter.
“The key to finding a good game,” began Jo, who enjoyed the benefit of years of firsthand experience, “is figuring out what genres you enjoy. Now, I’m an aficionado of FPS, or ‘first person shooter’ games.” She caught Twilight’s immediate frown and swept past the topic. It was clear from the start her favorite games wouldn’t ever be an option for her friend. “But, I do have a few other games that I’ve kept tucked away. I’ve always been fine with sticking to the one thing, but I used to try others.” She glanced at the other girl, who was now listening with rapt attention, a pastry hanging from her mouth, and notes already being written in her notebook.
“Gowf on, erm ‘istening.” Twilight’s pen rapidly scratched the paper.
Jo rolled her eyes while the other girl was distracted. “Right, would you like to start with a really involved game, lots of math, maybe? There are tons of strategy games, and I was thinking that you might enjoy how in depth they are. There are plenty of those that are low on the violence, too.” It was something else, to consider what kinds of game Twilight Sparkle would actually enjoy.
Twilight took a deep breath, but surprisingly gave the table a slight frown. “Well, maybe... Actually, that might be like jumping into the deep end of a pool before you can swim. I think I want to ease into this a bit more, and take some notes along the way, too. So let’s play something… easier?”
“Fair enough, fair enough. Maybe puzzle games then, something that you would find more familiar...” Jo nodded to herself, thinking. “Let me see if I’ve got anything good still lying around. I have an idea or two about some possibilities.” She went over to her closet, a few odds and ends spilling to the floor when she opened it.
Jo grimaced at the closet. I’d been meaning to clean that up… Ah, who am I kidding? I never clean. She did some rummaging, Twilight curiously standing over her, and came up with an old console she had grown out of using.
A spray of dust rose into the air as Jo blew gently on her old gaming device. It had been made by Nintendo, so anything wrong with it had just been fixed, despite sitting at the back of her closet for several years.
Twilight began to choke and cough on the cloud of accumulated gaming history that was now airborne.
When the air cleared, Jo held up a round disk for Twilight to take hold of. “Twilight Sparkle, welcome to the shallow end.”
The label on the nearby case proclaimed that the game was called Tetris.
It had taken a while to set up, and a bit longer for Twilight to get used to the controls. She had a bad habit of looking away from the screen to see what she was doing on the controller.
Jo reclined comfortably beside the hunched over Twilight, watching the former pony’s manipulation of the controller with interest. I guess hand/eye coordination is more difficult when you’ve only had hands for a few months.
Jo sipped absently on a mixed drink, and very much tried to remain the quiet observer, rather than side seat drive. She had also declined Twilight’s request to take notes for her, as well.
Twilight, meanwhile, concentrated on the developments of her foray into video gaming. She found it pleasant, thus far, if different.
This ‘Tetris’ game really is relaxing. Jo was right when she said this was easy. I have plenty of time before each block lands to move them, so that’s nice. The puzzle solving aspect is simple, but charming, too. I can see the appeal for anypony who likes organizing, like me! Although I’ll need to ask the relevance of this ‘high score’’. Is there a scale? Or perhaps the goal is simply to have the highest score?
Regardless of her initial difficulties, Twilight felt she was starting to get into the game. She spoke aloud occasionally while moving the controls to position blocks correctly. “Okay, this block goes here, and this one turns around, and fits in on this side.”
More blocks continued to drop from the top of Jo’s television in indiscernible patterns to the tune of catchy sounding music.
After a few minutes, Jo excused herself to sort through the rest of her collection of retro games, because, as she told Twilight, “Watching tetris is about as fun as getting your hand caught in a blender.”
Twilight couldn’t recall what a blender was, but it sounded dangerous to get your hands caught in anything, and hands felt a lot less resilient than hooves. So, she was left alone with her new entertainment for the time being.
A smile played with the corners of Twilight’s mouth as she maneuvered an L shaped piece into place. Yep, I could get used to this. I don’t quite understand how these could be ‘addicting’ though. Humans are silly…
Twilight’s peaceful pace in the game began to slip away slowly, enough that she barely noticed.
All too soon, the blocks began to fall faster, ever so slightly, and Twilight began to make mistakes. “Uhm, this is… Is the game broken?” A block moved just a bit faster than the last, and threw her off. Her brow furrowed in irritation.
Undeterred, Twilight kept at it, trying harder and harder to concentrate. Despite her tireless efforts, the neat and tidy work she had been doing, keeping the blocks to only the bottom two rows, began to suffer.
Eventually, Twilight had her tongue stuck between her teeth as she concentrated on matching the shapes falling from the sky to her mental plan for them. Two lines of blocks at the bottom of the screen became four, and four soon became eight. “No, no! Darnit, that one goes there, this one goes here! Augh. Okay, keep it together Twilight. Keep. It. Together!”
Twilight’s frantic attempts to correctly place the onslaught of strange shapes became less and less effective. Every so often, a block would line up perfectly, and a row would disappear, exciting her, but it was always short lived.
Faster and faster they piled up, and soon, only the top row was left to her. Twilight scanned the layout as fast as she could. There was still hope. The past few blocks had been obliging enough. She only had to fill a single space to remove the row. Adrenaline coursed through her while her eyes flicked to the corner of the screen where the next block was revealed. If it were a two by two square, or something similar, she was done for. It was a z shaped one, which was not the best, but if she turned it correctly, she would still be safe. the block descended, and Twilight mashed her sore fingers against the button that would change its orientation.
Outside of the room, Jo and another friend who had arrived, Alice, were chatting and walking upstairs to Jo’s room.
“So, Twilight’s really trying out video games? Hah, that’s incredible. What’s she playing?”
Jo shrugged, one hand guiding her up the stairs by the railing. "Well, she's just playing Tetris," she stated while escorting Alice up the stairs. "Of course, that doesn't mean she wouldn't get really into it if she tried."
“Oh geez, I can only imagine-” Alice cut off, hearing something, and turned her head to look wide eyed up the stairs along with Jo. “Uhm?”
Both girls heard the same thing echoing down the hall, namely, Twilight’s voice.
“Yes yes yes yes yes…! NOOOOOOOOOO!”
Alice and Jo turned to face one another, already drawing conclusions in their heads over the sounds they were hearing.
“So, Twilight, you were really getting into that game, huh?” Alice wore a huge grin; eyes held open in an exaggerated fashion.
“Alice…” Jo said warningly, knowing full well where the inappropriately minded girl was going with that. She covered her face with a hand a moment later, sighing. “Nevermind. Anyway, you were saying, about the game, Twilight?”
“Hold on a moment, I need to jot these notes down,” Twilight said without looking up. Madly, she scribbled in her notebook. "I got a lot of interesting thoughts from that, and I don’t want it to go to waste.”
“Heee. You really are an egghead.” Alice walked over to where Twilight was writing and quickly snatched away her papers, eliciting a loud squawk from the studious one. “Twilight, games are meant to be played, not analyzed. You’ve got to experience them for what they are.”
Twilight sighed, eying her stolen papers. “Well, it’s not just about the games. It’s about people, too. You all are a hooffull to understand. But about the video games, I know, Alice, and I’m trying.”
Alice smirked, then handed back the notes, which Twilight gratefully accepted. “Tell you what, why don’t Mrs. Grumpypants and I join you for a game? We’ll multiplayer it up!”
A small glare from Jo shot her way. “Excuse me-?”
An exclamation from Twilight overrode Jo. “You can play Tetris with three people?!” She felt amazed at human ingenuity. “Incredible,” she murmured appreciatively.
Alice giggled again, before shaking her head. “No, not tetris. I don’t think anyway… but I know Jo’s got some games around that all of us can play.”
Jo begrudgingly abandoned her glare towards the bubbly blonde girl and looked back to Twilight. “Yeah, I found a few when I looked through my things. I got some Rock Band, a copy of Rabbids; I think you left that here ages ago, Alice; that old golf game, a scratched up super monkey ball, Mario Party 13-”
Alice had been listening intently, and threw up an arm the second she heard a title that was appropriate to her plans. “THAT”S IT!” she exclaimed to the sky, then stood close enough to Jo that the other girl’s face filled her field of view. “Jo, get Mario Party. I’ve got a frying pan with your name on it.”
Jo winced, leaned back a little, and bit back a groan. She had almost forgotten how competitive Alice could get, especially at that game in particular. The number of times she had been about to win a game, and Alice came out of nowhere to mess her up was a big one…
Alice smirked over at at Twilight. “Ready to try a party game, Twilight?” She cracked her knuckles.
Twilight felt mixture of interest and mild curiosity. “A party game? That sounds like something Pinkie would love.” She laugh and smiled around at her two friends. “Well, sure, let’s give it a try, girls!”
“Left! Left! Right! Right!”
The shouting echoed in Twilight’s head like a drum. It felt like it had been hours since the start of the game, and she was no closer to grasping how it worked other than the basic controls. In truth, it had been only minutes; all she knew for sure, was that they were moving around a game board in a turn based system, which resembled some of her foalhood games. However, instead of relaxing her with the slightly random financial management of Monopoly, every time she landed on a square, something completely different would happen.
Twilight’s expression had been locked into a look of constant, deep concentration. The jostling from Alice on one side of her, and the distracting curses from Jo on her other, did little to help her odds against the other two girls. Both of them seemed to be far better at the game, which was very unsettling given how carefully she was approaching every aspect of the tournament.
Twilight gritted her teeth and tried desperately to keep dodging the bizarre creatures attacking her from all sides. Part of the issue is that everything, changes, constantly!
Vine climbing, rolling, guessing puzzles, games where nearly everything could shoot fire, none of it quite made sense. Odder still, there seemed to be a sort of ‘boss’, a strange cross between a dragon and a turtle…
Twilight resisted the urge to groan as she once again lost a round of the things Alice called ‘mini-games’. It also doesn’t help that, unlike my attempt at tetris, I can’t concentrate! Another game began quickly.
“Bwahahaha! Your stars are mine, Jo!” Alice called out for possibly the hundredth time as her green hatted avatar ran after Jo’s turtle skeleton with a hammer.
Twilight suspected the only reason she was even close to the other two girls in score, was in part because Alice seemed to focus solely on Jo. She had been told that it was all part of the game, but even still, the manic fervor that her friend used while performing an, admittedly zany, act of violence on her housemate kept sending shivers down Twilight’s spine.
To top the experience off, Jo herself seemed caught between a chuckle at Twilight’s poor controller manipulation skills, and the eye twitching face of annoyance that Pinkie Pie had told her often cropped on her own face. Come to think of it, Pinkie probably would love this game.
Alice leaned in front of Twilight. “Want to try something else, Twilight?”
Twilight must have looked out of sorts as she was thinking that, though nopony but her had any way of knowing that it wasn’t because of the lit explosive that Alice had lobbed at the princess character she’d insisted Twilight pick.
Twilight looked away from the television, making sure to pause it just in case this was another trick. “Uhm, what?” she asked, still in the world of the game.
Alice grinned and her eyes slid over to Jo. “Well, your expression was starting to match hers over there…”
“Oh, well, it is fun. I really like the colors and the, uhm… interesting world.” Twilight scratched the side of her head and reached for compliments she could give the game. It was violent, but in such a cutesy way she could hardly even call it that.
Jo harrumphed. “Maybe it’s time we switch to another game.”
Alice pouted immediately. “Aww… I didn’t really mean I wanted to stop. I was winning! Can we finish this round and then-?”
Jo interrupted the blonde girl sitting on the other side of Twilight. “Yes, Alice. We know. You’ve kept telling us since the round of pushing each other into the lava.”
Twilight blinked. That lava seemed a bit unrealistic. Can humans survive high temperatures like dragons? I hadn’t thought to look into that… She hummed and put a hand to her chin, thinking over the curiosity.
Jo continued to berate her other human friend from the opposite end of the couch. “Give it a rest. I think that was why I buried this game in my closet, because you got so into it that you started getting on everyone’s nerves. More than usual, anyway.”
Alice flinched down and hid behind Twilight. “Uggh, you hear that? She’s so mean to me, Twilight.”
Jo rolled her eyes. “I doubt Twilight wants to hear that from someone who knocked her into the chainchomp while shouting ‘Not even princesses are safe from my skillz!’” She set down down her controller and stood up in a huff. Admittedly, she felt a little bad from going so harsh on Alice. The puppy dog face the other girl was shamelessly giving her now didn’t help, either. “Alright, look, if you’re going to moan about it, why don’t you pick Twilight’s next game?”
Twilight looked up at Jo.
“Really?” Alice and Twilight spoke in unison, Alice’s eyes shining, while Twilight simply seemed shocked.
Jo frowned slightly. “Yes, though I regret it already. Just try to pick something that's more, I don’t know…” She looked at the Equestrian, hoping to find the right words. “More Twilight?”
“Oh, very descriptive, you master of the English language, you.” Alice chuckled, but held up a hand to show that she understood what Jo was getting at. She looked around the room for inspiration, finally settling her gaze upon Twilight who was scribbling away in her notebook again. “Let me see, something sciency, with a hint of strangeness. Yessss, I think I might know a game.”
Jo initially had reservations on Alice’s choice, but after some consideration, and much more begging from Alice, she relented and turned the game over to Twilight. Surprisingly enough, Twilight actually recognized it. Apparently her science-nerd friends had been talking about the game at some point.
Twilight was also a little surprised that she felt eager about investigating the title. The game in question was touted as a puzzle solver by everyone she had spoken to, though, and one which was intended to challenge the mind of the gamer, as well as their creativity.
Jo was still hesitant about the choice, but deep down, though she wouldn’t admit it if asked, she too was interested in Twilight’s inevitable reaction to the game ‘Portal’.
Twilight waited patiently for the game to load.
Alice spoke up in the relative quiet of the room. “So, Twilight, would you like a brief summary of the game… or…?” Alice was on the other end of the couch, while Jo was entertaining herself with one of her horrible ‘alcohol’ drinks in a chair across the room.
Twilight raised an eyebrow at Alice. “Didn’t you girls already explain the game to me?” she asked plainly.
Jo and Alice, strangely, looked at each other, as if having a silent conversation. Twilight tilted her head at the oddity. Am I missing something here? she thought to herself.
Alice readdressed Twilight. “Well, we told you about the gameplay, but not the narrative or the story elements of the game… you see…”
Jo spoke in a low, gruff voice to Alice. “I hope you didn’t just suggest this game for Twilight to troll her…”
Twilight reacted to Alice first, and oooed in understanding. “So it’s like a book! The game is going to tell a story as I play it; fascinating. Oh, Alice, don’t ruin a good story for me.” She chuckled and leaned over to pat her friend on the shoulder.
Alice laughed lightly, but was beaten to answering the purple-haired girl by Jo.
“Just take the game for what it is, Twilight. It will tell a story, sort of, but it’s… well, you’ll see. Just know it’s all for fun and to laugh at, and maybe think a little about the underlying message.” Jo then went back to sipping her drink.
Alice hummed. “There’s an underlying message to Portal?” she asked, then lit up. “Oh right, the cake is a lie.” She grinned at her two friends.
Twilight scrunched her face up. “The cake is a lie?” she repeated back.
Jo answered the purple-haired girl first. “It’s not a super deep game, Twilight, it’s mostly about the puzzles. You can interpret the message, if there is one, however you would like. Just have fun and if you get stuck we’ll help you out.”
Twilight straightened up, and put on a determined looked. “Ohho, no way, Jo. This is a battle of the mind.” Her eyes narrowed. “And I can’t say no to a good challenge, and it would be cheating to let you help me… So no help!” Her grin was very confident.
Jo and Alice could feel the determination and chipper spirits from their refugee friend, and smirked. “Alright, Twilight, gooood luuuck,” Alice replied in a sing-songy voice.
Twilight nodded, then noticed the game had been loaded. “Alright, girls, here we go, then.” I know the controls, how to jump and move stuff… if the game is all about rudimentary physics puzzles this should be cake!
The game began, and Twilight found herself in what appeared to be a plexiglass room, filled with a slightly cheerful sort of music. Outside of her small cubicle, was a room that wasn’t much larger, and what looked to be a camera with an eerie design. She felt her eyebrows raise, and glanced at Alice an Jo. Neither of the other girls seemed to react.
Twilight shrugged and began investigating the game. The was a coffee mug, a clipboard, and a strange looking radio. “Are there going to be instructions or-” A robotic sounding voice, vaguely like a mare’s, crashed noisily into the room.
“Wah!” Twilight recoiled, then settled again once she realized it was nothing.
“Easy, Twilight.” Jo chuckled, then turned the TV down some.
“Right, sorry.” Twilight grinned sheepishly, then listened intently to what the speaker was saying.
"Hello and, again, welcome to the Aperture Science computer-aided enrichment center."
Twilight spun her first person view in the game all around, but couldn’t find the speaker.
"We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one."
Alice chuckled a bit. “This is just the start, Twilight, the tests come soon, and get harder quick. What you’re seeing is supposed to immerse you in the story."
Jo spoke up with an encouraging voice. “Just keep going Twilight, it gets better and more involved, you’ll see.”
Twilight nodded and ahhed in acknowledgement, but kept her attention mostly on the speaker.
"Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper. Before we start, however, keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of all enrichment center activities, serious injuries may occur. For your own safety and the safety of others, please refrain from-" Twilight jumped again as sparks flew out of the strange looking bed that shared her chamber space. Odder than that, the robot-mare seemed to malfunction. "Por favor bordón de fallar Muchos gracias de fallar, gracias-"
What in Equestria’s name- Twilight blinked, confused, but normalcy returned quickly and the robot-mare’s voice went back to speaking Equestrian.
"Stand back. The portal will open in three, two, one."
Twilight eyes widened, and she quickly began studying the ‘portal that had opened up before her. “Oh my goodness.” She held a hand up to her mouth and looked at the digital thing as if it were something unbelievable. Being that it was in a game though, helped some.
Twilight began moving her character in and out of the portal, glimpsing at another character model on the other side. “Oh,” she came to a realization. “That’s me!” She giggled, grinning. The human mare she saw was in fact her own character.
Jo spoke up from her chair. “That’s Chell, you play as her in the Portal games.”
“Most of them.” Alice added in, before taking in a mouthfull of potato chips.
“Ah.” Jo nodded. “Right, two, four and five had different characters you could play as. Mostly it’s just Chel though.”
Twilight barely paid attention to her human friends. Instead, she was busy thinking of real world applications for the game. Already she wanted to drop the controller she held and go run numbers, or talk about the real world possibilities with the scientists she had met.
Imagine, if I could recreate an instantaneous wormhole to Equestria… then.. Twilight was shaken out of her daydream of science abruptly.
“Twilight? You there?” Alice was leaning right in front of her face. “I’ma tickle you if you don’t answer meeee.”
Twilight blinked and met the blonde’s stare. “Oh, sorry, I’m here. No tickling required thank you. Pinkie does that enough…” she grumbled. Alright, focus Twilight. Fun now, real science later. Besides, this is just a game. I doubt a portal like this is easy to make…
The next room was hardly worth mentioning, merely being a simple two step puzzle. “That was… really simple, girls.” Twilight frowned at its ease, carrying the cube that had dropped from the device in the ceiling to its obvious destination.
Alice crossed her arms. “Hey, it gets better!”
Twilight smiled up at her. “Well, okay. Jo did say it gets hard, fast, after all.”
For some reason Alice began giggling uncontrollably, and collapsed back onto the couch, gasping for air. Jo was groaning and taking a deep gulp from her glass.
Twilight had long ago noted to not try and make sense of Alice; Jo had said about the same more times than once. She manipulated the controller, a bit clumsily, and dropped the cube on the pad, then found her way to the exit.
The mysterious voice called out once again from the television screen.
"Excellent. Please proceed into the chamberlock after completing each test. First, however, note the incandescent particle field across the exit.” Twilight did just that, and looked at the interesting ‘field’ that seemed to block her next destination. “This Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill will vaporize any unauthorized equipment that passes through it - for instance, the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube." Huh, that mare sounds kind of spooky, now that I think about it. Something about the way she phrased ‘vaporize’...
Alice chirped in, still giggling somewhat from… whatever it was she giggled about. “That voice is Glados by the way, she is the gatekeeper. She is guarding all the doors, and holds all the keys.” She grinned over menacingly at Twilight, at least until Jo swatted her head. “Ow!”
Jo scowled. “Let her play the game. Also, the Matrix, really?”
Alice grinned at Jo for a second, then continued. “Twilight, if you had clicked the toilet before you left that room, it would have said, ‘Your feces is appreciat-’”
Jo swiped another hand at Alice, who laughed victoriously and ducked away.
Twilight, for her part, barely noticed. She was used to the two’s antics, and behavior just like it from two other friends of hers; friends from Ponyville. For now, the game in front of her commanded her fascination for the time being.
The Glados in the television spoke again as Twilight entered the next room. "Please place the Weighted Storage Cube on the Fifteen Hundred Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button." She harrumphed in response to the unnecessary instructions. The next room and puzzle revealed themselves to be simple enough, as well.
After Twilight watched for a brief moment; she saw it was merely a timed cycle of the two differently colored portals in a basic, linear pattern. Once she placed the cube carefully onto the obvious, big red button, Glados spoke up again, annoyingly enough.
"Perfect. Please move quickly to the chamberlock, as the effects of prolonged exposure to the Button are not part of this test."
Twilight’s eyes narrowed a fraction. “Oh, is that so…” She continued on with the game, moving into the next elevator that moved her onwards.
Glados spoke up, once again, the moment she stepped out of the elevator into the next chamber. "You're doing very well!"
Alice pointed a finger out in front of Twilight. “Look, there’s the portal gun!”
“Oh, great!” Twilight brightened at seeing her primary tool of science for the game. “Maybe now it will get interesting, right?” She laughed along with Alice, while Jo stayed quiet.
Glados spoke up though, interrupting them. "Please be advised, that a noticeable taste of blood is not part of any test protocol, but is an unintended side effect of the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grill, which may, in semi-rare cases, emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth."
Twilight tilted her head, half studying the puzzle in front of her, and half at a loss as to what to say. “Wait, what?”
Twilight studied her controls one more time, certain she understood now. “Ok, so I use this button to send out the orange one when I ‘unlock it’ later on, and this button to send out the blue one.” Beside her the other two girls gave their affirmations of the summation. “I think I can do this, especially if it’s as simple as you said. I used to do calculations for movements in non-linear space for teleporting back home, after all!”
Jo chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll be a natural at teleporting,” she said encouragingly.
Twilight beamed at the television screen, moving onto the next challenge the game offered. “I get that feeling, too.” Neither of the other girls were sure if it was because she learned the button configuration, or because she was proud of being able to teleport. Somehow, both options seemed like big achievements for Twilight.
Glados continued the monotone speeches of instructions she gave without fail. "Do not touch the operational end of The Device. Do not look directly at the operational end of The Device. Do not submerge The Device in liquid, even partially. Most importantly, under no circumstances should you (static, slows to a stop)"
Twilight listened a moment longer for the end of the message. When it didn’t come, her eyes widened worriedly. “Under no circumstances should I what-?” She faced her friend “Jo, what was she supposed to say? How am I supposed to follow the safety instructions if the end of them is cut off!?” She paused, then spoke again. “Is there a written manual I could look at?”
Jo smirked and leaned back in her chair. “It’s just a game, Twilight, and that was supposed to happen. That was just a joke.”
Twilight frowned worriedly, then shrugged. “Well, alright then.” She continued on with her experience with the game. Overall, it hadn’t been challenging yet, just odd, and different. Glados especially personified those aspects well. What did Glados mean by ‘enhancing’ the truth? Any questions Twilight asked about her were met with encouraging remarks to just keep playing with her friends.
It seemed like they were both really hoping she would enjoy the game, but that seemed odd. Games were made to be enjoyed, after all, and she doubted that she would be too difficult to please with them. Portal was only the third or so one she had ever tried, after all.
The energy pellet in one of the upcoming rooms had worried Twilight, briefly. It wasn’t clear if the pellet was actually something that could harm her, in the game anyway, but she decided not to risk it. After all, ‘Glados’ was basically her instructor and guide, it seemed.
"Please note that we have added a consequence for failure. Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an 'unsatisfactory' mark on your official testing record followed by death. Good luck!"
Twilight proceeded into the room the same as the others, before realizing what the voice had proclaimed to her. “Wait. An unsatisfactory mark on my record!? Nonnnono!” She whirled towards Jo and alice. ”I can’t get an unsatisfactory mark here! When Princess Celestia finds out, I’ll have to take remedial courses!”
Alice snickered, and Jo smirked before answering her friend. “Twilight, it said followed by death. Isn’t that a bit more important?”
Twilight refocused on the game. “Jo, this is my permanent record we’re talking about. Little things like that aren’t important-” She furrowed her brow a moment, then sighed, replying back to her friends. “Right, just a game… sorry, girls, I guess I got too into it.”
Alice, meanwhile, was hoping that the phrase busting a gut laughing wasn’t an actual medical issue.
Twilight continued on with her gaming experience, which was admittedly, getting more interesting. The puzzle was promptly solved now that she had regained focus.
"Very impressive. Please note that any appearance of danger is merely a device to enhance your testing experience."
“That was easy!” Twilight exclaimed, grinning over to her friends.
Glados’ dull sounding voice interrupted the happy looks Twilight received from her two other friends. "The Enrichment Center regrets to inform you that this next test is impossible."
Twilight’s expression sank into disbelief and fear immediately.
"Make no attempt to solve it." Glados continued.
Twilight swallowed, then exclaimed, “What!?” Her only clue to what was happening now was more snickering from the other end of the couch.
Once Twilight had completed the puzzle, which wasn’t nearly as ‘impossible’ as Glados had stated it was, she was rewarded with more of the strange mare’s dourly toned speech.
"Fantastic! You remained resolute and resourceful in an atmosphere of extreme pessimism." Glados said from inside the television.
“Well that was obnoxious of her.” Twilight tried to snort, but found once again that humans didn’t quite work the same as ponies physiologically. “Is Glados acting that way and doing this on purpose?” She looked over at her friends for guidance. “Is she broken?”
Jo and Alice hummed thoughtfully and looked at one another, as before, then faced Twilight. “Do you want us to just tell you? Or let your experience the game?” Jo asked.
Alice spoke up. “We could give her a little hint, maybe?”
Twilight looked over thoughtfully at the next puzzle for just a moment, having to wait for the platforms near the ceiling to move appropriately, first. Glados was also busy speaking once again.
"Momentum, a function of mass and velocity, is conserved between portals. In layman's terms: Speedy-thing goes in, speedy-thing comes out."
Twilight understood that, as she did most of what was told to her, and resolved to continue. “I’ll wait a bit… this game is very odd though, girls.”
Jo smirked where she sat. “If you want to stop playing just let us know, Twilight.”
Twilight shook her head. “I can ignore the weird dialogue if I must, it’s just odd. The puzzles are what interest me.”
Alice cheered from her seat. “That’s the spirit! You get uhm, girl.”
Twilight smirked at the human, just as Glados’ mechanic tone piped up again. "The Enrichment Center promises to always provide a safe testing environment. In dangerous testing environments, the Enrichment Center promises to always provide useful advice.”
Twilight’s forehead and face both scrunched up, paying close attention to all the instructions she was being given, even if they were getting… strange. Now wait, she just said about the Enrichment Center doesn’t make sense. Do they promise to always provide a safe environment? Or are some of them dangerous- Before she could finish the thought, Glados spoke again.
“For instance, the floor here will kill you - try to avoid it."
Twilight recoiled slightly, then looked at Jo. She hunched slightly, feeling a little worried by the game. “Uhm…”
Jo coughed, returned Twilight’s look, then looked at Alice.
Alice shrugged. “What? It’s just a game.” She gave Twilight an encouraging look again.
“Well, okay…” Twilight sighed and faced the game again. “I think I’ll take the hint, though.”
Alice chuckled. “Lets say that yeah, Glados is broken, then.” She grinned then, maybe a bit too suspiciously.
Jo sighed and excused herself, claiming to return in a little while.
Twilight blinked, then continued on with her interesting puzzle game. “Well, okay then… I’ve gathered that Glados is a machine, I think, so that makes sense. All those sparks must have been indicative of something wrong… hmm…” She simultaneously tried to solve the next puzzle, which involved a good amount of coordination and planning, alongside figuring out what might be going on in the game. It seemed ‘Portal’ as it were, was more than just a game, but a story she was a part of.
“Yes! Hah.” Twilight completed the latest puzzle, and proceeded to the next elevator. “So, Alice, besides these tests… is there a goal?”
Alice looked up from her snack. “What? Oh, well, get to the end of the game of course. The story ends then and you find things out. Of course, the game has a lot of sequels, so the story goes for a while.”
Twilight nodded, fascinated. “These video games are more interesting than I thought. Maybe I should apologize to Jo for drawing conclusions too soon.”
Glados spoke up, and Twilight eagerly listened for the next list of instructions.
"Due to mandatory scheduled maintenance, the appropriate chamber for this testing sequence is currently unavailable. It has been replaced with a live-fire course designed for military androids. The Enrichment Center apologizes for the inconvenience and wishes you the best of luck." The mysterious machine’s voice faded away, no more interested sounding or emotional than ever.
Twilight’s mouth opened slightly, still looking at the glass panel within the game depicting aspects of the next test. “Wha- what?”
Twilight steeled herself as she again attempted one of the final tests of the infuriating game ‘Portal’. Most of her difficulties were coming from the enemy, Glados, who had made herself obvious as such some ways into the game. She was evil, there was no doubt about that.
Twilight had wanted to stop playing at that point, but… she kept at it, somewhat driven to end the run-away thing’s reign of chaos over science. It had been in that moment, that she thought she understood what video games were all about. To game, just like reading a good fictional work of literature, was to leave the realm around yourself for an impossible story-like experience.
It was very clever, in its own way, to explore the things that you never could realistically, in such a visual medium. Humans really did push the envelope for what Twilight might consider, ‘acceptable’, though.
It had been a straight five hours of gaming without any rest for Twilight, and dinner had far gone by.
Naturally, Alice was the first to feel the hunger setting in. Her midriff had ached after loudly whooping every time Twilight finished a puzzle, and laughing hysterically every time Twilight made a blunder. It was hard to say which she had been doing more of, mostly because she was out of breath, but in all honesty, Twilight had grasped the puzzle solutions remarkably quickly. Most of her deaths had been the fault of her unfamiliarity with control manipulation, or Glados’ intentional misdirection.
Regardless of Twilight’s progress on the game, three neglected stomachs had eventually demanded attention other than snack food.
Jo ordered out for dinner, seeing as Twilight, the cook, was indisposed. She bought Italian food, with cake for dessert; the cake had been Alice’s idea of a joke. Twilight, zoned out as she was with her game, had wanted extra mushrooms on her pasta. Jo was absolutely certain that subliminal messaging had nothing to do with the food choices.
For now, Jo sat idly by, watching as Twilight fought to finish the final stretch of the game; the showdown with Glados. Both she and Alice had tried to talk Twilight into pausing it earlier, but it seemed that the unicorn’s infamous ‘obsessive personality’ had bloomed in the face of adversity.
Jo watched as Twilight dumped another personality core into the incinerator. Thank goodness we didn’t show her something like Cookie Clicker. A snort of laughter escaped her, despite the fact she was trying not to distract Twilight; the sooner the other girl finished Portal, the sooner she could stop.
On the television, Glados was still busy verbally abusing Twilight. Altogether, the experience had been harrowing, for Jo, and especially Twilight, it seemed. It was a little difficult to tell if she was actually having fun, but she definitely wanted to win.
"You're not smart. You're not a scientist. You're not a doctor. You're not even a full-time employee. Where did your life go so wrong?"
Jo warily watched as Twilight’s left eye began to twitch erratically again.
At first, Twilight had spoken at length with Alice, and Jo, trying to figure out Glados, why she was acting violent, and constantly trying to trick her or lie. Strangely enough, she hadn’t seemed all that effected by the game’s taunts and dialogue, at least after being reminded it was just a game.
Jo looked over at Twilight. She was holding onto the last personality core, hesitating from activating the switch necessary to destroy it; she looked like she was upset. “Twilight? Are you okay?”
Twilight sniffed, and nodded, then stood up, tears glistening from her eyes. “I’m sorry you became so corrupt, Glados...” The controller was held off to her side while she addressed the television.
Jo watched, at a bit of a loss for words.
Twilight continued. “If only I had the elements of harmony with me, we might have saved you from becoming a deadly killing machine. I truly hope that despite our differences, you considered me a good test subject. I will never forget you, but, I mean it when I say I hope we do not meet again.” With that, the Equestrian solemnly moved the remaining core into the incinerator.
On the screen, Glados began to go haywire, and the odd phenomenon at the chamber’s ceiling began to destroy the room. The final cutscene played after Chel was shown ascending up into the light, and showed the outdoors of the Aperture science laboratory.
Twilight let out a shuddering breath and fell back onto the couch with an audible pomph. “It’s finally over,” she mumbled.
Jo rolled her eyes, and looked towards the doorway expectantly for Alice; the other girl was nowhere to be seen. Looks like she missed out on the ending. “Yeah, well, we both tried to get you to stop playing after Glados started… upsetting you. You really could have just stopped, Twilight.”
Twilight frowned. “Well, you were right though, it is just a game. This one was a medium for a very serious story, too. Everything from the way Glados threatened us, to her claims that we were killing her towards the end was part of that story… I’m really glad this was just a game, Jo, because I couldn’t have done this for real. I think Glados actually was alive, after all.”
Twilight continued, peering up at the ceiling interestedly. There was a sparkle in her eyes that hinted at some captivating, realization that she may have just had. “In fact, this game makes me wonder a great deal about what constitutes as ‘alive’. There are plants in Equestria that can talk, did you know that? But are they intelligent? As far as I know, yes. I haven’t studied the subject… In fact, I’ve never considered the possibility that certain creatures weren’t self aware; rather than merely less smart.” She looked at Jo. “Fascinating, isn’t it?”
Jo listened, a little humbled by Twilight’s words. Still, she wondered why the ex-pony had to take everything so seriously. “Well, that’s all a little bit over my head, Twilight… But as for the game, you could always play the sequels if you want to know mo-”
“No.” Twilight straightened up and responded quickly. “Ahem, well, maybe not right now… Anyway, I did like those puzzles. Though, once I realized that the methods of solving them extended past the parameters initially given, they weren’t that difficult.”
Jo rolled her eyes. “Oh, well then, I’ll just have to find you a more difficult game, won’t I?”
Twilight finally set down the controller in her hand and smiled over at her human friend. “I think I’m good for now, Jo. Where’s Alice? Maybe we could watch another movie or something before she leaves…” She trailed off slowly, then stared wide eyed out the window; it was dark out. “What time is it!?”
Jo almost rolled her eyes again. Instead, she stood up and patted Twilight’s shoulder. “It’s seven at night, Twi’. You’ve been playing for like, six hours and your food’s in the fridge, waiting for you. How about you eat, first?”
Twilight blinked in disbelief, but the rumble that growled up at her and shook her form was undeniable. “Oh, wow,” she muttered, completely surprised that the gaming experienced had captivated quite so much.
Well, Twilight began to think, I guess I was definitely distracted from worrying about home, alright.
Jo yawned, freshly awakened at the early hour of just past noon. She typically slept in when she didn’t have work, which she rarely did these days. A couple times she had thought about getting a second job thanks to her lightened workload. Twilight certainly made herself useful, if nothing else.
Quietly, she pushed open the door that led to the office which Twilight used, that then led on to Twilight’s borrowed bedroom.
However, the ex-pony was in plain view, in the office, and seemed to be awake already.
Jo blinked in surprise. “Oh, Twilight, good morning. Eh, afternoon, you wanna go get some food?”
The other girl continued clicking at her keyboard, not answering.
“Uhm,” Jo began, then tried again. “Twilight? You in there?” She put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Still, the unicorn made human did not react. Okay, this is weird- Wait a second.
On the computer screen, which Twilight was leaning entirely too closely for it to be considered even remotely healthy, were shifting blocks in several different quadrants, all designated by a different color. The subtle beeping and booping of noise filled the room, and the blocks falling on the screen were doing so in such an incredibly rapid fashion, Jo would have suspected it was a recording were it not for the lightning fast movements of Twilight’s hands.
“Twilight…?” Jo was promptly interrupted.
“Jo,” Twilight began warningly. “Not right now, please, this is- the final round- busy- must concentrate.”
Jo frowned at the game on the screen. “Were you up all night… playing Tetris?”
“Multiplayer Tetris.” Twilight answered, her voice flat and emotionless.
Jo blinked. “Seriously, Twilight?”
Twilight didn’t answer Jo in any way, instead, she continued to click away at the computer.
Jo sucked in a breath, then heaved it out as a sigh. “I’ll make some coffee.”
Twilight called after Jo, not daring to take her eyes from the screen. Too much was at stake. “Extra sugar, please! Honestly, human coffee is much... too... bitter…” She trailed off slowly, eyes glued to the screen. Block after block soared from the sky, and without fail, slid each into their rightful home. The last several rounds had been ties against her worthy opponent, who was apparently from a place called Korea, but she could tell she had him on the ropes.
Just… One… More… Round… Twilight’s eyes remained as wide as they could, refusing to blink even once, lest she fail.
In the kitchen, as Jo brewed a fresh pot, she heard a loud, excited voice nearby.
“Yes yes yes yes yes…! NOOOOOOOOOO!”
Author's Note
A big Thank You to Merlos, who is the progenitor of the Madverse, and whom all the credit belongs to.
