"Can we go home now?"
"Almost, honey," Filthy Rich replied, "I just need to pick up a few more things."
Diamond groaned, looking around at the different stores littering the area. "Well, I'm already done, so can I go home?"
Her father chuckled a little. "Sorry, but there's no way I'm letting you ride a train back to Ponyville all on your own."
"Hmph. Should've brought Randolph," Diamond muttered. "Then I could just ride home with him. Why didn't we bring him, anyway? We could have been finished an hour ago."
"What, you don't like spending time with your old man?" her father asked with a crooked smirk.
"Not walking around in some stupid, boring mall."
Her father sighed, trotting away toward a storefront. He stopped, however, and turned to look back. "You coming in with me?"
Diamond turned her eyes upward to see where he was going and shook her head in response. "Yeah, no, you can go ahead and buy toasters without me." Her father watched her for a few more seconds before turning and going into the store.
Great. Just great. Now what was she supposed to do, just sit around and wait? She'd already hit every store she cared about, so what else was there do to?
She was about to head to a bench when a familiar set of colors caught her eye. She paused, tilting her head a little as she gazed at the object, then trotted over to get a closer look. She hopped up, putting her hooves against the little window and looking in at the pile of plush animals inside. There, nestled between an orange bear and a purple rabbit, was a Power Ponies plushie. It wasn't just any Power Pony, though, it was Diamond's favorite: the Masked Matter-Horn. It even had removable goggles!
Needless to say, she wanted it, and what Diamond Tiara wants, Diamond Tiara gets.
She dropped back to the floor to get a better look at the big, blue, windowed box that contained her precious prize. There were four metal walls, each containing a window, and it only had one door she could find. Sadly, the door didn't seem to really lead anywhere when she pushed it open. Closer inspection indicated that one of the windows had hinges, but it also became apparent that it was tightly locked shut. Diamond put a hoof to her chin as her gaze fell upon the little ledge sticking out from one side of the container. Stuck into the ledge was a short, black stick with a little red button on it. She reached over, tentatively poking her hoof against the stick. It wiggled, but nothing else happened.
She moved her gaze to the inside of the container again. Suspended above the various toys and dolls that littered the box was a three-pronged, claw-like thingy made of metal. The claw was hanging above a big hole that seemed to lead to the little door she'd already spotted. Diamond hummed to herself as she scanned the machine for some sort of clue. Sure enough, plastered to the front of the container was a little yellow sticker brimming with words. She leaned in to read it.
Insert coins to play
Move the stick to move the claws over a prize
Press red button to lower claws and get prize
It seemed simple enough, so Diamond dug a silver bit from her bags and slid it into the little coin slot located under the ledge. As soon as the coin was in, the device suddenly sprang to life. Lights flashed and danced before her eyes, and tinny, annoying music starting coming from the machine. Not letting herself be distracted, Diamond Tiara grabbed up the joystick in her hooves and started pushing on it. Unsurprisingly, the crane that suspended the claws moved in the directions that she pushed the stick. So far, so good.
After repeated nudging, Diamond pressed the little red button. The three-pronged claw lowered itself on a string, landing right next to the Masked Matter-Horn plushie. It rested there for a moment, then slowly moved back upward as the three metal prongs closed around nothing. "Dang it." Diamond pushed on the stick to adjust her aim, but the crane wasn't responding anymore. Instead, the claw moved itself back to where it had begun and opened up. After that, the music and lights went dead.
Diamond put a hoof to her chin again, contemplating how the machine worked. After another glance at the instructions, she pulled out another silver bit and slipped it in. The box came alive once again, and Diamond gripped the stick. She took her time during this second attempt, tapping the stick carefully into position before even putting her hooves close to the red button.
"Wha— hey!" Diamond shouted, punching a hoof against the glass as the claw started dropping by itself. "I didn't push the button! What gives?" She scanned the machine again, her eyes coming to rest on two little windows built into the ledge near the stick. She squinted to read the writing above them as the machine went quiet again. One simply said, "CREDITS." Diamond scratched her head a little at that one, but then just shrugged and moved on. The second window had the words "TIME LEFT" written above it.
Diamond put in another coin and watched the little windows. As the music came on, the two tiny windows lit up with red numbers. The "CREDITS" window read "01," while the "TIME LEFT" box read "15." Diamond experimentally popped another coin in, and the first box changed to read "02." The second box remained the same. Keeping an eye on the numbers, she pushed the stick around a little. The second box began counting down to fourteen, then thirteen, then twelve. When it reached zero, the claw dropped on its own and came up with nothing.
Diamond scoffed, turning away from the stupid machine. She could see her father still shopping across the hall, browsing through a selection of toasters. She groaned, turning back to the machine. That Masked Matter-Horn plushie was still there, staring blankly at her from the pile of toys. The second box had reset to fifteen, but the first box now read "01" again, so she must still have a chance left before she'd have to put in another coin. Might as well give it a shot, right?
Two minutes and seven coins later, Diamond was growling as the claw missed its mark yet again. Another coin was fed into the frustrating device, and Diamond was halfway to the plushie when her ears were assaulted by somepony who sounded like their total body mass consisted of at least 34% nose.
"I don't think you can get that one."
Diamond gritted her teeth, ignoring the voice behind her as she slapped down the red button and dropped the claw. To Diamond's increasing annoyance, the claw just gave an ineffectual tug on the stuffed toy and came up empty again.
Her blue eyes swiveled as the source of the voice stepped up next to her. The brown colt stepped around the machine, looking in through the side as he said, "Why don't you go after that green lizard? He's definitely gettable."
Diamond rolled her eyes and inserted another coin. "Because I want that one," she replied as she guided the crane to the Masked Matter-Horn plushie.
"That goober is wedged in pretty deep," the colt commented, adjusting the propeller beanie resting on his head. "I don't think you can get it out." He watched for a few more seconds as the claw started to drop. "You should really check your angles, too. It's hard to judge distance and everything when you only look through the front— hey! You got one!"
Diamond's muzzle scrunched up in rage as the claw reset itself. Victory music blared from the machine as an orange bear fell into the prize chute. She glared at the claw, muscles tensing and nostrils flaring as her left eyelid started to twitch. She huffed once, then popped in another silver bit.
"Aren't you gonna get your prize?"
Diamond didn't even turn around, going right for the stick again. "No."
"But—"
"I don't want the bear," Diamond growled through her clenched teeth.
"It's still better than nothing, though, right?"
Diamond reached through the little prize door and pulled out the stuffed bear. "You think this is a good prize?"
The brown colt nodded.
"You like it?" she asked mockingly.
The colt nodded again.
"Then you can have it!" Diamond raised the bear high and smacked it down on his head. The colt covered his muzzle and beanie as Diamond unleashed a plush hailstorm upon his wailing form. He turned and ran, screaming as she chased and pummeled him with the stuffed bear. She skidded to a stop, slinging the toy down the hall for one final strike. The orange plushie hit him square in the back of the head, sending him tumbling end-over-end and right into a potted plant. Diamond Tiara trotted back to the claw machine with a satisfied smile.
She reached the detestable device just in time to meet with her father as he walked out of the toaster store. She paid him no mind, tossing another bit into the coin slot and hopping up to grasp the joystick in her hooves.
"Alright, honey, I'm all finished up." Her father stood for a moment, watching as Diamond failed to attain her prize. "Honey?"
"In a minute, dad," Diamond said dismissively, feeding in another coin and directing the claw to the object of her desire. She smiled and put her hooves to the glass as the claw wrapped around the plushie's head and started to pull it up from the sea of toys. When the claw reached the top, however, the stuffed pony tumbled out and fell back to the pile. "Ah, come on!" Diamond seethed for a second before feeding the mechanical beast another bit.
"If you really want one of those, we could just buy one."
"I want that one," she grumbled.
"Diamond, honey, it's only a toy."
"Do you want me to make a scene?" Diamond waited a few seconds, but her father didn't reply. "Then let me concentrate." She turned back to the infernal machine, taking a long, deep breath to steady herself. There was the Masked Matter-Horn doll, staring back at Diamond with her removable goggles and brushable mane. It was so close, and yet so far. Diamond had wanted to go straight home only a few minutes ago, but she couldn't do that now. She had come too far to walk away. Diamond put her hooves on the stick.
She pushed and nudged sideways, moving the crane until it hovered right above the toy's head. She pushed forward, hopping around the box to line up the claw from the side of the machine. Her father raised an eyebrow as she leaned over to poke at the stick a few more times. Finally satisfied, she shifted back to the front just in time for the countdown to end and the claw to fall.
She watched the three-pronged contraption descend, breath held and eyes unblinking, but her ears fell flat as the claw hit the doll's head and tilted sideways, falling down among the rainbow of assorted stuffed animals. She was about to scream in frustration when the Mask Matter-Horn began to shift as the claw ascended. Seemingly by magic, the toy was floating just below the claw as it reached the top and started moving toward the chute. Diamond squinted, and a wide smile spread across her face as she noticed that one of the claw's talons had managed to hook itself through the little string that held on the toy's cardboard tag.
The claw was almost to the prize chute when the jostling of the crane dislodged the string, releasing the plushie. Diamond gasped as the doll bounced against the edge of the opening, hit the glass, and finally fell into the chute.
Her father's ears flattened against his head as he was assaulted by both the victory music of the claw machine and by Diamond Tiara's joyous squealing as she retrieved her prize and held it to her chest. He couldn't help but smile as she embraced the plush pony. "Ready to go, honey?"
"Yes, daddy." Diamond was positively beaming as she put the plushie on her back, nestling it between her saddlebags before the two trotted off for the train station. "Let's go home."
