Hex-It Twilight

Chapters

New Game at the Litwak Arcade
Game Hopping
Underwater Rescue With No Air Bubbles
Calamari Conundrum
It's all In The Code

New Game at the Litwak Arcade

Hex-It Twilight
Chapter 1: New Game at the Litwak Arcade

There was a huge crowd of grown men, women, and children inside the Litwak Arcade who kept visiting everyday for nearly a week, and the reason why was tucked into a corner. It was an all new video game cabinet for Hasbro’s latest My Little Pony video game, and ever since it first arrived, bronies and kids had been lining up in front of the cabinet, playing the game for hours on end. The bright pink and purple video game cabinet stood out amongst the black and warm colored consoles that stood beside it, the title My Little Pony: Arcades Are Magic written in bright pink letters above the screen. Amongst the noise of other video game machines were the sounds of the My Little Pony theme drowning out the noise of gunfire, engine motors, explosions, beeps, and chip tune music from other games. The line of spectators cheered and groaned as they watched whoever was playing the game win or lose as they cross from level to level battling various villains and creatures from the show.

As the closing hour drew near, a 12-year-old boy was playing Twilight, a character that was harder to play than the other Mane 6 thanks to her more complicated controls and abilities that used a lot of bits to power. The boy was blasting away swarms of changelings as they crowded around Twilight. With the joystick in hand and his other hand flying on the buttons, he jumped, flew, and blasted his way through the various obstacles in the game all while colorful music rang in his ears. He was eventually cornered by a manticore, but realized he was all out of bits to use Twilight’s magic. As the manticore chased him down, he directed Twilight along the grassy fields of the game’s version of the Everfree Forest, searching frantically for a bit lying on the ground for him to pick up. He saw one spinning in the tree branches, resembling a large gold coin in the game. He frantically hit the jump button to fly up to the bit, but the manticore flew after Twilight with a roar. It dove down upon Twilight, and pounced on her, taking the last of her HP. The boy and the watching audience let out a cry of disappointment as the screen went black and the words Game Over appeared.

As the next person in-line stepped in, way in the back, struggling to see behind the crowd was a girl—mostly known as Moppet Girl to her classmates—standing in the back, hoping for a chance to play, but with the long line in her way, she finally gave up, and searched for a new game to play. As she looked about the arcade, she found a game with the title Sea Bottom written on the top of the cabinet. The cabinet had several drawings of sea life floating amongst a cartoony depiction of an ocean floor. Moppet Girl felt tempted to play, but then she noticed an Out-of-Order sign taped to the screen.

“Mr. Litwak,” said Moppet Girl, “what’s wrong with this game?”

Mr. Litwak was standing nearby when Moppet Girl called him. He turned around to see the Sea Bottom game and said, “Oh yes, sorry about that. I’ve had problems with this game for a while, and it looks like it has finally given up the ghost. I’ll have someone come by to throw it out tomorrow. If you want, you could try Hero’s Duty.”

“No, that’s all right,” said Moppet Girl. “It’s getting late anyway.”

Mr. Litwak looked at his watch. “Oh, you’re right.” He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, “Everyone, the arcade will be closing in 10 minutes.”

As the sun went down, the gamers slowly left the arcade for closing time. Several disappointed gamers who had been waiting outside of the My Little Pony cabinet had to leave and try again tomorrow morning. As the gamers filed out of the arcade one by one, Mr. Litwak did some last minute clean up before activating the security alarm and closing for the night.

Within the My Little Pony arcade cabinet, the world of Equestria as presented in the cartoon came to life. Every location from the show was reconstructed by programmers and populated by NPC’s based on background characters from the show along with the game’s avatars. As the game’s external servers shut down for the night, the characters in this digital version of Equestria took a break for the night. The NPC of Princess Luna had already raised the moon, leaving Equestria in the dark underneath a digitally created sky.

Applejack, who was the last avatar to be played, pulled herself out of the pit the player had accidently fallen her into.

“That gamer clearly needs to practice on some NES games before trying a 3D platformer,” said Applejack.

The timberwolves that had been chasing Applejack scampered back to the Everfree Forest now that they were done for the day.

“Thanks for your help,” said Applejack, sarcastically, as she watched them go.

Applejack cantered along the gravel roads where the remaining avatars were waiting at the entrance to Ponyville. Although the arcade was closed, some NPC’s as well as bits still remained alongside the road, mostly animals and background ponies. Thinking she might need some, Applejack collected some of the coins, each one disappearing with a soft ring with her touch.

“Hoowee,” Applejack as she stretched out her legs. “That was certainly a rough play through.”

“Although, that little girl who was playing me was really cute,” said Fluttershy.

“I don’t know about you girls, but today’s play through has left me parched,” said Pinkie. “I’m going to Tapper’s for a drink. Who wants to come along?”

“We’ll catch up with ya later,” said Applejack.

“Okay, but don’t keep me waiting long.” Pinkie skipped along toward the exit, humming merrily.

“Sooooo,” said Rainbow, “I could really go for a root beer float from Tapper, too. Do you girls want to join me?”

“I’ll catch up with you later,” said Twilight. “I want to finish a little magic experiment I was doing this morning.”

“Great, have fun with that, Twilight,” said Spike.

“Hold on, I need your help, remember?” said Twilight.

“Aw, but I want to go to Tapper.”

“It won’t take long, and if you help me, I promise to get you the biggest root beer float Tapper has. How’s that sound?”

Spike licked his lips with glee before eagerly climbing onto Twilight’s back.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Twilight opened her wings. “Don’t wait up for me, girls.”

“We’ll see you later then, Twilight,” said Fluttershy.

Twilight and Spike soared over the streets of Ponyville. Aside from the digital cell shading, it looked little different from the show it was based on. Several familiar background characters lived in the surrounding houses, waving and greeting Twilight and Spike as they traveled to the large castle outside of the town.

Within the alchemy room of Twilight’s castle, a lone figure was tampering with beakers full of chemicals. The figure was a mermaid, or at least some programmer’s distorted idea of a mermaid. He was dwarfish in size and had a body covered in grayish-green scales from his tail fin up to his scrawny upper man body. His clawed hands fiddled with the beakers, putting small doses of powders into the beakers. His fork tongue hung out of his frog-like mouth as he giggled with glee. His coal black eyes darted from left to right as he worked.

“Oh, this is going to be so awesome.”

An identical mermaid NPC hovered outside of the window, staring at him, impatiently. “Hurry up, the princess is coming.”

“All done.” The mermaid—programed to levitate off the ground when out of water—flew up off of the table and out the window.

Twilight flew through the window on the other side of the room, landing gracefully next to the table.

“So what’s this experiment for, anyway?” asked Spike as he climbed off of Twilight’s back.

“I’m trying to make a potent sleeping potion that will sedate some of the more overly aggressive timberwolves.”

“And what do you need me for?”

“I need you as my test subject.”

“What? You’re not going to use me as a Guinea pig.”

“Don’t worry, I’m actually using you to test if my potion won’t work. I’m trying to create sleeping potions that only affect different creatures, and this potion is designed not to affect dragons.” Twilight used her telekinesis to mix the chemicals together in mid air. She placed the beaker of the potion onto a Bunsen burner, and with a twist of the nob, the burner hissed as gas escaped. Twilight lit the burner with a spark from her horn.

As Twilight worked, Spike noticed traces of the powder the mermaid left behind on the table. He ran a claw along the table’s surface and sniffed the powder he collected.

“Hey, Twilight,” he said, “what’s this?”

Twilight knelt over the powder. She cast an identification spell, and as the glow of the spell left her horn, she concluded that... “This is a combination of gunpowder and dry enchanted drought mushrooms. In other words, it’s evaporation powder.”

“What’s evaporation powder?”

“It’s a joke powder used to cause potions to explode into steam. I’ve seen foals use it to tamper with potions as part of a prank.”

“How does it work?”

“Easy, you just sprinkle a little into your potion and it explodes into a large mist.”

“If that’s what the powder does, then why was it on your table?” Spike leaned aside to see the beaker on the Bunsen burner begin to rattle as the potion inside bubbled and fizzed. “Uh, Twilight...”

In a loud pop followed by a fizzling sound, the potion exploded into a white cloud that filled the room.

Twilight coughed as the spicy scent of the potion wafted into her nose, but the potion’s effects were already working into her system. She wobbled to one side as her legs could no longer support her. “Spike...where...?” Twilight toppled over, asleep on the floor.

Spike yawned as he too swayed from side to side. “Twi...?” He lay down beside her, sleepily closing his eyes.

“Ha, it worked,” said the mermaid as he poked his head through the window. “Now, let’s hurry up and get her out of here.”

One of the mermaids scooped up Twilight in both arms while the other collected her equipment and stuffed as many as he could into his backpack.

Meanwhile, as the potion began to fade from Spike’s system, he opened his eyes to see the mermaids leave with Twilight through the window.

“No...stop...” he watched helplessly as the mermaids flew off.

Spike climbed onto his feet. “At least the potion doesn’t entirely work on dragons. I better get the others for help.”

Twilight groaned as she regained consciousness. Her vision was blurred as she opened her eyes, seeing nothing but gray granite everywhere she looked. She got up from the cold stone floor.

“Ugh, where am I?” she asked as she looked about the empty dungeon cell. Her hooves were bound in thick iron manacles. She used her magic to teleport, but her magic fizzled as it left her horn. “Celestia damn it! I forgot to collect more bits after the arcade closed.” As she talked, she noticed air bubbles rising from her mouth with each exhale. She moved her head and legs about, and noticed how her movements were slowed and her hair waved about weightlessly. “I’m underwater? But how can this be?”

She leaned over to a nearby rectangular window too small for her to squeeze through. From the distant objects she could glean through the tiny window, she could see that she was high up from the ground, locked on the top of a tower. Through the haze of the light filtering through ocean bottom, she could see a vast underwater city made up of corral and stone structures. Although Twilight could barely make out the visual details of the world outside, she could tell right away from the low resolution appearance of the world as well as its darker colors that she was no longer in her own game, but instead she was in a much older and bleaker colored game.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in my game, Princess Twilight.” The door to Twilight’s cell slid open, and in drifted a seahorse no larger than Twilight’s petite body. He had sea greenish-blue scales as well as large pointed scales along his head and spine. His body was made up of polygons crudely textured with smaller colored pixels, giving him the appearance of a digital representation of a sea crystal.

The seahorse drifted over to Twilight, his long mouth moving as he spoke. “Don’t worry about drowning. The water effects in Sea Bottom have been programmed to allow game avatars and NPC’s to breath in it.”

“Sea Bottom?” asked Twilight. “That’s the game across from the My Little Pony cabinet. Why’d you bring me here?”

“Because you’re here to help me. My name is Trojan Seahorse—Trojan for short—and as I assume you’re aware, my game is going to be unplugged in the morning and I need your help, for I am in a dire strait.”

“I can’t do anything to save your game. You’ll just have to move elsewhere.”

“My game is beyond saving, I concede. It is destined to depart its mortal coil and meet all the other lost games in the hereafter. Alas, the game threatens to whisk away my soul along with it.”

Twilight glared at Trojan with her mouth agape. “Uh, what’re you talking about?”

“Oh sorry,” said Trojan, waving his tail about. “I was never programed with a personality or a backstory, so I’ve been experimenting with some identities for me and this time, I decided to become a poet. As it turns out, speaking in iambic pentameter is harder than I realized. Of course, it would help if I knew what iambic pentameter was.” He stroked his long snout with his tail as he thought. “Oh, I know. I’ll go back to being a mad scientist character. But first, I should practice my evil laugh for a second.” He coughed to clear his throat. “HaHaHa! That was okay. How about...hehehehe! Oh no, that won’t do at all. Ho ho ho! Now I sound like Santa. Mwahahaha! A little better, but now I sound like Lex Luthor. I know I said I wanted to be a mad scientist archetype, but I don’t want to sound too corny. What do you think?”

Twilight gawked at him. “What in Tartarus are you talking about? I don’t care what personality you’re trying to rip off. I just want to go home.”

“Not until you help me first. For you see, the reason why I’m not programmed with a personality or a backstory is because I’m a glitch and a glitch can't leave his or her game.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but what do you expect me to do about it?”

“You are programmed with powerful magical abilities. If anyone can find a way to enable me to escape, it's you.”

“And if I refuse?”

Trojan hovered over her, glaring down upon her. “This game will be unplugged in the morning. If I’m not out of this game by then, neither will you. Get it?”

Twilight frowned angrily. “Got it!”

“Good! And don’t even think about escaping. Neither your hooves nor your wings will get you very far underwater, and I know you don’t have enough bits to teleport.”

A group of mermaids swam into the cell, carrying spell books, crystal balls, dowsing rods, jars of various alchemy ingredients, a children’s science kit, and a treasure chest filled to the top bits collected from the My Little Pony game. All of the objects were laid out before her with the exception of the bits, which were placed behind Trojan out of Twilight’s reach.

“You should have all the equipment you need and if you need any bits to power your magic, I will give you some, but not enough for you to teleport out of here. Now, you start working on getting me out of this game while I practice my evil laugh. Mwahaha! That one sounded better.”

Game Hopping

Hex-It Twilight
Chapter 2: Game Hopping

Pinkie happily skipped along the massive walkways of Game Central Station, singing to herself as she passed all the video game characters going about visiting friends in other cabinets. The station was filled with dragons, goombas, medieval mercenaries, rolling geometric shapes, robots, and all manner of creatures, and Pinkie bounced alongside the commuters, greeting each one she passed.

“Good evening, Princess Peach. How’s it hangin’, Solid Snake? Looking as good as ever, Samus. My, you’re looking very cheerful today, Kratos.” Pinkie suddenly stopped in mid-skip. “Oh, my left ear is tingling. That means there’s something really sweet nearby.” She turned her head up to the outlet port nearby, and she could see the words Sugar Rush written over the entrance. “Well, I can’t ignore my Pinkie Sense, especially if there’s sugar involved. Lalala!” With a skip and marry hum, Pinkie entered the tunnel.

Upon exiting the other side, Pinkie was hit with a surge of joy as she saw before her a delectable land of sweets as far as the eye can see. Molten milk balls stuck out of the ground like boulders, forests made of candy cane trees, rivers of chocolate flowed between them, and liquorish vines hung from branches.

Pinkie looked at the land before her, rubbing a hoof on her chin in thought. “It looks nice, but all it’s missing is—“ There was a flash of lightning and up above, she could see a cotton candy cloud raining chocolate milk on her. “Now it’s perfect. Weee!” She charged toward the nearest candy cane tree, and devoured its trunk clean through in seconds, causing the tree to topple over with a loud crash.

“Oh, that was so good.” Her ears perked up when she heard the sounds of cheers coming from far off. Nearby was a road. She followed the road with her eyes to see decorated stands where spectators sat watching. Several race carts were lined up in front of a finish line and she could barely make out a group of racers standing before the crowd. “I wonder what could be going on over there.”

Suddenly, from out of the trees rang a voice. “Hey, what did you do?”

Pinkie turned around to see two cops in the shape of doughnuts hovering over her with large sneers on their faces. Unbeknownst to Pinkie, the two doughnut cops were the security team of Sugar Rush. The long éclair-shaped cop named Wynnchel was branching his baton at Pinkie.

“What’s a pink pony doing here?” he asked.

“And more importantly, did she just eat one of the candy cane trees?” said Duncan, the ring-shaped doughnut.

The two cops hovered over Pinkie, prodding her with their batons as she stood there staring nervously like a child in trouble.

“Well, say something,” demanded Wynnchel.

“Uh!” Pinkie dashed off.

“Hey, get back here,” shouted Duncan.

She ran through the trees toward the stands. As she got closer, she could hear a voice over the loud speakers.

“Attention, the race to determine tomorrow’s avatars will commence.”

As Pinkie cleared the trees, she could see the racers were all standing in front of the crowd of anthropomorphic pieces of candy cheering them on. Thinking fast, Pinkie noticed a red and white striped peppermint candy imbedded in the ground. She bucked the candy with her hind legs, freeing it from the ground with a soft crack. She dove into an empty seat of the stands. She licked a flat side of the wheel-shaped mint and stuck it to her muzzle.

By the time the two cops arrived, Pinkie had settled into the seat, resembling one of the candy themed members of the audience.

“Where’d she go?” asked Wynnchel, shouting over the noise of the crowd.

“She can’t have gotten far,” said Duncan. “You go that way and I’ll go this way.”

Out of the corner of the mint candy, Pinkie could see the two cops split up in search of her. Deciding it was safe to escape, she squeezed her way through the crowd.

Meanwhile, the voice over the speaker continued to speak. “As you all know, all racers must submit their coins to the pot and the winners of the race will get to be tomorrow’s avatars.”

There was a loud ching sound as one by one, the racers placed their coins on a catapult that launched the coins into the giant trophy cup. However, Pinkie couldn’t see what was happening because of the giant mint stuck to her face. She heard the audience members yelp in surprise and anger as Pinkie pushed and bumped into them while fumbling to find her way. Not wanting to go near the cops, she continued blindly upward, her hooves outstretched to feel her way.

“Now that the coins have been put into the pot, the winner will get the coins once the race is over. Now, everybody, we should start the race and—what the...?”

The mint on Pinkie’s face fell off at last and she realized that in her blind search for the exit, she had accidently found her way into the announcer’s booth. Standing before Pinkie with a microphone in her hand was Vanellope who stood there staring dumbfounded at the intruder.

“What the heck is a pink pony doing in my booth?” asked Vanellope over the microphone. “Is she a marshmallow?”

Pinkie glanced over the edge of the balcony and saw the two cops glaring at her from the foot of the stands before frantically looking for a way up. She spun around to run, but Vanellope teleported in front of her in a bright flash.

“Hey, where’re you running off to?” she demanded, glaring at Pinkie.

Pinkie spun around and dashed the other way, but Vanellope once again teleported into her path. She frantically kicked the mint she left on the ground, sending it flying toward Vanellope who caught it in both of her hands. With that distraction, Pinkie leaped over Vanellope and onto the head of a large chocolate bar.

“Hey!” shouted the chocolate bar as Pinkie leaped off and landed on the stairs. She galloped down to the road, but the Wynnchel and Duncan were already there.

“You’re not getting through us,” shouted Duncan.

Pinkie leaped through the air with her hooves outstretched. She sailed through the hole in Duncan’s body and landed behind him.

“Gang way, coming through,” shouted Pinkie as she charged through the crowd of racers as she pushed passed them.

“Come back here,” shouted Wynnchel.

Pinkie galloped into the open road, heading off toward the Gumball Mountains. Just when she thought she was free, in a flash of light, Vanellope teleported from the stand and appeared right before her.

Pinkie slid to a stop, the two doughnut cops gently bumping into her.

“Oh, who’re you?” asked Pinkie.

“My name is President Vanellope von Schweetz, and I want to know what you’re doing interrupting my race?”

“I don’t know. I was just minding my own business snacking on some candy cane trees when all of a sudden, these two doughnuts tried to arrest me. Normally I don’t see something like that unless I was getting drunk on apple cider.”

“It’s true,” said Duncan, “she ate right through the whole tree.”

“I saw it too,” chimed Wynnchel. “She’s under arrest for vandalism.”

Vanellope glared at Pinkie with her arms folded. “Is this true?”

Pinkie submissively lowered her eyes to the ground. “Yeah, I’m sorry.”

“Well, if all she ate was just a candy cane tree, it’s not that big of a deal,” said Vanellope. “It will regenerate by the time the arcade opens.”

Pinkie immediately perked up. “Oh good, for a second there, I thought I did something wrong.”

“Who’re you, anyway? I’ve never seen you around her before.”

“My name is Pinkie Pie and I come from My Little Pony. I’m the excitable one with all the cool weapons and power-ups.”

“Like what?”

“Like my trusty party cannon.” Pinkie pulled out her party cannon out of nowhere and fired it into Vanellope’s face, covering her in confetti.

Vanellope laughed as she wiped off the confetti. “Not bad, but can you do this?” She teleported behind Pinkie and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Oh, that’s so awesome,” said Pinkie as she spun around. “You can teleport just like my friend Twilight.”

“Yeah, and I can even teleport through walls.”

Pinkie hopped merrily. “Oh wow, I want to see that up close.”

“Sure, you can race us and see all of our moves up close.”

“Uh, but Miss President,” stammered Wynnchel. “If the pony wins the race, won’t she wind up as a playable character in the morning?”

“Of course not, she didn’t pay to get in the race, so she’s not on the roster. Besides, she’s certainly got some moves and good reflexes if she could get away from me like that. I would like to see what she could do behind a wheel, that is unless of course you’re chicken.”

“I’m not a chicken. Scootaloo is the chicken.”

Vanellope gawked at her. “Okay...Then let’s get out King Candy’s old cart and get this race started.”

While Pinkie was borrowing a racing cart, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow were at Tapper, sitting at the counter on bar stools as they waited for their root beers. However, the bar was particularly busy that day, leaving Tapper to scramble about sliding root beers and ice cream to his patrons and keeping the four mares at the counter, tapping their hooves.

Rainbow leaned over the counter with her chin resting on her hoof. “Ugh, what’s taking Tapper so long?”

“I’m sure he’ll get to us once he’s served every pony else,” said Fluttershy.

“I’m curious as to where Pinkie went to,” said Applejack. “Where in the hay is she? I thought she went ahead of us.”

“Don’t worry about her, darling,” said Rarity. “Knowing her, she’s probably off hoof-wrestling Ryu and Ken again.”

Tapper appeared by their counter and slid four root beer floats to them.

“Oh finally.” Rainbow reached for her float, but her hoof would not slide through the handle designed for fingers. “We need to get Tapper to make us some pony sized mugs.” She leaned over and slurped the root beer through the straw.

The front door to Tapper’s bar swung open as Spike charged inside and ran into the ponies. He waved his arms frantically, hopping up and down as he tried to draw their attention to him.

“Guys—Twilight—mermaids—help!” screamed Spike.

“Is this a new word game?” asked Fluttershy.

“No, Twilight’s been kidnapped,” shouted Spike.

“Good heavens, who was it?” asked Rarity, leaping off of her stool, the others joining her on the floor.

“I don’t know who it was. It was this strange looking mermaid who just grabbed her after a failed magic experiment. I don’t know where he took her.”

“This is serious,” said Applejack. “If we don’t get Twilight back to her game before the arcade opens, we might get unplugged if Mr. Litwak notices Twilight is missing.”

“But who knows where Twilight could be?” said Rainbow.

“Yes, we need to find more information and I know who to ask.” Rarity turned around and called out to Tapper. “Excuse me, Mr. Tapper.”

Tapper was busy tossing mugs of root beer to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles seated in a booth.

Rarity got up onto the stool. “Excuse me, Tapper.”

Tapper continued tirelessly handing out root beers, not once acknowledging Rarity.

With a huff, Rarity’s horn glowed with her magic. Tapper let out a yelp of surprise as a magical blue haze lifted him off the floor, leaving him flailing as he was suspended off the ground before plopping him onto the floor before Rarity.

“Jeez, lady, you don’t have to be so pushy,” said Tapper, brushing off his suit.

“Sorry, but this is an emergency,” said Rarity. “Our friend has been kidnapped by a mermaid. You know everything about the games in this arcade, so where can we find a mermaid.”

“A mermaid, eh?” Tapper put a hand to his chin in thought. “The only game I know of that has mermaids is the game Sea Bottom, but that game is going to be unplugged at dawn so all the inhabitants have already left the game.”

“Oh dear,” said Fluttershy. “Where did they go?”

“Here at the Litwak Arcade, whenever there are characters who are homeless, they always go to one game, a place where the locals there have opened up their game to the homeless.”

“That’s so nice of them,” said Fluttershy. “Where’s this game?”

The five of them followed Tapper’s directions through Game Central Station to a game on the far side of the station.

“Are you sure this is a good idea,” said Fluttershy as she swerved around sprites from Marble Madness. “Perhaps we should go to Princess Celestia for help.”

“We don’t have much time,” said Applejack, “and this is our only lead. We should at least check it out first.”

Rainbow flew ahead of them, hovering in front of the entrance to the game they were looking for. “Hurry up, I found the entrance.”

The five of them gathered outside of the entrance. Over the entrance were the words Fix-It Felix Jr. written in large red letters.

“So this is the game where the mermaids went to?” asked Rarity. “I’ve never been here before. I hope they’re a little more accommodating than those badniks from Sonic the Hedgehog.”

“Well, if Twilight is there, I’ll fight my way through if I have to,” said Applejack.

“Me too,” said Rainbow, “let’s go in there.”

“Well...maybe we shouldn’t...” Before Fluttershy could finish, the others dashed inside.

Underwater Rescue With No Air Bubbles

Hex-It Twilight
Chapter 3: Underwater Rescue With No Air Bubbles

Although Twilight’s TV show counterpart could do amazing feats of magic, as a video game avatar, she was still bound by the limitations of her programming. At first, she considered teleporting Trojan out of the game, but she’d never successfully teleported out of a video game cabinet, and even if she could, she wasn’t sure if Trojan could escape that way at all. Her second idea was to open a portal through the barrier. Through her research, she knew that the reason why glitches cannot escape their games was because there was a barrier that kept corrupted programs from leaving the cabinet and potentially infecting other games. However, she had no idea as to how to fix the problem since she knew nothing about how such programs work or how to change them. Her third idea was to try to change Trojan himself so he was no longer a glitch. However, doing so would more likely destroy him than fix him.

As she sat on the cold dungeon floor deep in thought, she glanced at the box of bits behind Trojan. She used her magic to gently levitate the box off the ground, pulling it toward her.

If I just had enough to teleport...

Trojan’s tail whipped out and struck Twilight’s horn, interrupting her magic and causing the box to sink to the floor with a soft thud.

“Don’t even think about it, Princess,” said Trojan.

Twilight let out an irritable huff while flipping through the pages in her books. She did not know what time it was outside the cabinet. All she knew was the arcade would be open soon. As she worked, her mind drifted to her friends, hoping they would come to her rescue.

As the tiny train carried the ponies and Spike into the game Fix-It Felix Jr., the first sight that caught their attention was the shine of the buildings amongst the empty black void of the game. While they came from a game that was colorful and had fully rendered and well designed 3D backgrounds, the large empty space that made up Fix-It Felix Jr. felt empty around the few buildings that existed. A large apartment building, known as Niceland, was placed in front of the screen, revealing the view of the arcade outside. The rest of the buildings were off to the side and ran along a single street. Various game sprites from many different games were in the buildings or out on the street, going about their lives.

The group stepped out of the train and wondered out into the street, observing the sights around them.

“Ugh, this must be one of those ancient games with 8-bit graphics,” said Rainbow with a groan.

“I think it looks quaint,” said Rarity, “although the buildings could use a few cosmetic changes.”

“Now’s not the time to be admiring how the game looks,” said Applejack. “We need to find where the mermaids are.”

From out of the front entrance of Niceland, they saw Felix exit with some of the Nicelanders giving Felix their nightly shower of praise and admiration and Felix humbly responding with gratitude.

“Who’s that?” asked Fluttershy.

“He’s Fix-It Felix,” said Rarity.

“How can you tell?” asked Spike.

“Those blue shirt and pants, that hat, that utility belt, I can identify a handyman by just his clothes.”

“Rarity, I don’t think...” Before Applejack could finish, Rarity cantered off to Felix.

“Yoohoo, Mr. Felix! Could you spare us a minute of your time?”

As he waved good-bye to the Nicelanders, Felix gawked out of surprise to see a white unicorn approach him as well as a group of ponies tailing behind her.

“Excuse me but might you be so kind as to give us your assistance,” said Rarity.

“Hello there...uh, talking horses. My name is Fix-It Felix. What brings you to our game?”

“We are in big trouble and we need your help,” said Spike.

“Not to worry,” Felix pulled out his hammer and held it out like a sword, “I can fix anything you need repaired.”

“No, that’s not what we need help with,” said Rarity.

“Oh, I’m sorry but I can’t do much else besides fixing things. What do you need me for, anyway?”

“Our friend has been kidnapped by mermaids from the game Sea Bottom and we were told that the mermaids live here now,” said Applejack.

“Mermaids?” Felix put a finger to his chin in thought. “Yeah, I think there were some mermaids that moved into our game recently. However, I’m not in charge of new tenants. That’s Ralph’s job.”

“So where can we meet Ralph?” asked Rarity.

“Just follow me and I’ll introduce you to him.” Felix led the ponies to a small cottage built right next to a pile of rubble where Ralph used to live. The house was small and crude with bricks poking outward as well as the walls slightly leaning to one side.

Rarity looked up and down the building, wondering how it was standing.

Felix knocked on the door as it swung with each tap of his hand, the door held in place by a piece of string.

“Just a minute,” said Ralph from behind the door.

The door swung open, and Ralph stared down at the crowd of ponies and a baby dragon standing behind Felix.

Ralph scratched his head, curiously. “Hey Felix, are you giving guided tours?”

“No, we need your help to save our friend,” said Fluttershy, hovering off the ground to meet him at eye level.

Ralph squeezed his way through the small entryway, knocking the door aside as it flapped on its flimsy hinges. “What can I do for you?”

“Twilight was kidnapped by mermaids,” said Spike.

“Ugh, mermaids,” groaned Ralph. “Don’t remind me of the mermaids. I try to be hospitable to new arrivals, but those mermaids are just the worst. They insisted on moving into the pool, and now all the tenants are complaining they can’t use it with the mermaids hogging it. Felix can’t decide if he should build a new pool or an aquarium, and in the meantime, I’m stuck listening to all the complaints—”

“Uh, not that we don’t sympathize,” said Applejack, “but we’re in a hurry.”

“Oh right, sorry. I didn’t mean to ramble there. So you think these mermaids kidnapped your friend...Twilight, was it? I haven’t noticed them taking any ponies here.”

“Regardless, we have to look into it,” said Rarity.

“Fine, I’ll take you to the pool.” Ralph led the ponies and Felix down the street. As he walked, he glanced over his shoulder and said, “So, where did you ponies come from?”

“My Little Pony,” said Rainbow as she hovered over Ralph’s head.

“Oh yeah, that girly looking pony game that was plugged in last week.”

“Girly?” Rainbow hovered in front of Ralph’s face, angrily glaring at him. “Would a girly game have so many grown men playing it every day?”

Ralph rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t know. I’m always working on my game on the other side of the arcade.”

“Oh yeah...but still, would a girly game have an avatar as cool as me?”

“Uh...”

“Just ignore her, Ralph,” said Applejack. “She’s programmed to have an inflated ego.”

Rainbow folded her hooves across her chest with a confident smile on her face. “I’m true to who I am.”

Ralph nonchalantly circled around Rainbow as he led them to a pool constructed on the far side of the road. A chain-link fence with a sign that read Private Property on the front surrounded the pool. Inside the pool, they could see the mermaids as well as several other sea creatures splashing about in the water or lounging in the pool chairs as if they were having a party.

Rarity watched the mermaids, staring at their strange dwarfish bodies and their frog-like mouths. “Ugh, those are the ugliest mermaids I’ve ever seen.”

“Hey,” shouted Ralph, cupping his hands over his mouth, “could one of you guys come over here. I’ve got some talking ponies here to see you.”

One of the mermaids hovered out of the pool and flapped his tail as if he was swimming through water despite merely levitating in the air. He flew up to the ponies, an irritable scowl on his wide face.

“Yeah, what’s it you want?” he said, irritably. “I was just about to relax.”

Rainbow hovered over him with an angry glare. “All right, what did you do with Twilight?”

“Who?”

“Twilight, our friend you mermaids kidnapped from our game,” said Applejack.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said the mermaid. “I moved in this game yesterday and haven’t left it since and neither have all the other mermaids with me.”

“You liar!” shouted Rainbow. “I’ll beat you into deletion if you don’t tell us where Twilight is.”

“Ha, I’ve wrestled whales 10 times bigger than you are. I can take you.”

“Oh yeah, bring it!”

“Whoa whoa, simmer down!” shouted Felix. “Look, it seems to me that these are not the mermaids you’re looking for.”

“I agree with Felix,” said Rarity. She approached the mermaid with a wide smile and a seductive flutter in her eyes. “Now, if you would be so kind as to help us. Our friend was kidnapped from our game by a group of mermaids from Sea Bottom. If you’re not the mermaids we’re looking for, then can you tell us who it might be and where they might have Twilight?”

“Well, before we moved out, there was a group of mermaids who stayed behind to help Trojan Seahorse.”

“Who in the hay is Trojan Seahorse?” demanded Applejack.

“He’s a glitch who lives in Sea Bottom,” said the mermaid. “Although he was often ridiculed for being a glitch, he managed to befriend some of the mermaids. Last I heard, they stayed in the game with him, hoping to help him escape before the game is unplugged in the morning.”

“But why can’t he just leave his game?” asked Fluttershy.

“Because glitches can’t leave their game,” said Ralph. “Is there any way that...ugh, what’s her name?”

“Twilight,” said Fluttershy.

“Is there any way for Twilight to possibly free a glitch from his game?”

“Are you kidding me?” said Spike. “Twilight is an alicorn princess. She can do anything.”

“What’s an alicorn?” asked Felix.

“We’ll explain later,” said Applejack. “We don’t have much time until the arcade opens, so we best skedaddle to save Twilight.”

“I’m coming with you,” said Ralph.

“Why?” asked Fluttershy.

“Because my best friend was a glitch,” said Ralph. “I know what Trojan Seahorse must be going through and perhaps I could help him or at least reason with him.”

“Well, if Ralph’s coming along, I want to come along too,” said Felix.

“Aw, you boys are so sweet.” Fluttershy hovered up to Ralph and gave him a kiss on the cheek followed by a kiss to Felix. “Thank you both so much.”

Felix and Ralph blushed.

When the group arrived at Sea Bottom, even before they left the train, they could smell the sea air as well as hear the crashing waves on a sandy shore. They came out of the tunnel to see a vast ocean before them. Although the water effects were crude thanks to the pixelated look of the water and the jerky movements of the water, the programmers had managed to include a fair amount of detail into the back and forth movements of the crashing waves. Each wave would crash into the shore, sending out pixelated foam to wipe the digital sand clean.

“Oh great, I don’t suppose any pony here knows how to swim, do they?” asked Rainbow, glaring at the water.

Felix fiddled with his magic hammer, nervously. “Well, there’s no water in our game, so...”

“Wait, ya’all here that?” asked Applejack, cupping her hoof over her ear.

Amongst all the sounds of crashing waves and the screech of NPC seagulls, they could hear a man singing in the distance.

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me. We pillage we plunder, we rifle and loot. Drink up, me hearties, yo ho,” rang the voice.

“It’s coming from over there.” Rainbow soared ahead.

She flew up over the sandy beaches and behind a rocky cliff to see a man sitting on a dock. Tied to the dock was a large submarine with its orange coating rusted and peeling. The man was wearing a yellow raincoat and hat with black boots. He was sitting on a rickety lounge chair on the docks that squeaked with every rock of his body. He was drinking moonshine from a clay jug, spilling some of it on his long brown beard. He tapped the balls of his black rain boots against the deck as he sang, his voiced slurred.

“We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot. Drink up, me hearties, yo ho.”

As the group approached him, the man barely noticed he had visitors as he sang merrily. “Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me. We extort, we pilfer, we pillage, we sack. Drink up, me hearties, yo ho. Maraud and embezzle and even highjack. Drink up, me hearties, yo ho.”

“Excuse me,” said Rainbow as she hovered over him.

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s—“

“Hello, we need to talk to you.”

The man looked up at Rainbow and gawked at her. “Oh...I must have had too much moonshine. I’m seeing a flying horse.”

“We’re sorry to bother you,” said Fluttershy as she cantered up to him.

“Arh, and there’s another one. Maybe I need to stick to good ol’ fashion rum.”

“We’re not hallucinations,” said Rarity, trying her best to hide her disgust. “We need you to help us find our friend. Could you please be so kind as to accommodate us, Mr...uh...?”

“Captain,” snapped the man, spitting a little as he said the P. “Captain Gaff. I’m the playable avatar of Sea Bottom.”

“What’re you still doing here?” asked Rainbow. “Did you forget that your game is going to be unplugged in the morning?”

“Arh, I know that. It’s just that this game has been my home for so long. I wanted to spend my last few hours here before I move out.”

“Aw, you poor thing,” said Fluttershy.

“Sorry we have to rush you,” said Applejack, “but we don’t have much time left. We need you to help us find our friend. She’s been kidnapped by mermaids.”

“Now that you mention it, I did see something odd while I was out here. There were these five mermaids who entered the game carrying what looked like a purple horse.”

“That’s Twilight,” said Spike. “Where did they take her?”

“Down there,” said Captain Gaff, pointing at the ocean with one finger.

“Oh great, how are we suppose to rescue Twilight if she’s at the bottom of the ocean?” asked Rainbow.

“Not to worry, lass, I can take you all down below with my trusty submarine.” Captain Gaff chugged down the last of the moonshine and threw the jug into the water.

“Thank you,” said Fluttershy. “I hope we won’t be too much of a burden.”

“Nonsense! I could use one last adventure.”

Rainbow took one whiff of his breath, and fanned the smell away from her face with her hoof. “Are you sure you’re sober enough to drive a submarine?”

“Of course I am. However, I can only fit four passengers as well as myself on board. Well, that tiny salamander might fit.”

“I’m a dragon, not a salamander,” said Spike.

Captain Gaff continued talking as if he did not hear Spike. “Also, that fat guy can’t fit.”

“I’m not fat,” said Ralph, defensively.

“Isn’t there any way Ralph can come along?” asked Felix.

“Oh sure,” said Captain Gaff. “He just has to cling to the side of the submarine, is all.”

“But won’t I suffocate?” asked Ralph.

“Not at all! The water in this game is programmed to be breathable and you don’t have to worry about water pressure either.”

“Uh, do all of us have to go?” asked Fluttershy, skittishly.

“There’s not enough room for all of us,” said Applejack, “So you can go back out and find Pinkie Pie.”

“But how do I find her?”

“Just ask the Surge Protector. He might know. Now hurry!”

“Okay, I will.” Fluttershy flew off toward the exit.

“Now, everyone else, all aboard,” said Captain Gaff as he opened the door to the sub.

From the moment the door flung open, the odor of alcohol and body funk wafted into the air. The ponies let out whines of disgust before stepping into the submarine, one by one.

Calamari Conundrum

Hex-It Twilight
Chapter 4: Calamari Conundrum

Twilight held her horn level with Trojan’s chest as she generated her magic. Her horn glowed as she cast her spell, shooting a beam of magic. In a flash of purple light, Trojan disappeared, letting out an energized buzz echoing through the water, only to immediately reappear beside Twilight.

“You’re spells are lacking and your techniques are lame,” said Trojan as he swam back tot he box of bits. “Either you help me or you won’t leave this game.”

“I’m trying, but I just don’t know of a way to change the programing of a glitch.”

Trojan picked up three bits from the box and tossed them to Twilight. The bits disappeared as soon as they touched Twilight with a soft ching sound as it became a part of her.

“Perhaps more bits will increase your magic. Keep at it, or else your fate will be tragic. The arcade will open in only two more hours. Only you can save me with your alicorn powers.”

Twilight gawked at him. “Why are you rhyming?”

“In my quest for a personality, I thought I could become a poet. With this new identity, I could...uh, what rhymes with poet?”

“I don’t know. Listen, I keep telling you there’s no way I can get you out of this game. Why won’t you believe me?”

“Because I have no hope without you. Now get back to work.”

Twilight groaned as she powered up her magic again.

Ralph clung to the side of the submarine, his hair flowing wildly in the current. He gasped and choked as he slowly got used to breathing the water. However, the current was strong, forcing him to hold onto the sides of the sub with all his muscle.

“Hey, slow down!” he shouted. “I’m about to be swept off this sub.”

While inside the sub, Captain Gaff could barely hear Ralph as he operated the rusty steering. He happily sang to himself as he drove the submarine deeper into the murky depths of Sea Bottom’s oceans.

“Um, Captain,” said Felix as he was pressed against the metal walls of the sub by Rainbow’s flank, “I can hear Ralph telling you to slow down.”

“Arh, a big guy like him can take on a little current,” said Captain Gaff. “Besides, we don’t have much time left.”

“Well, are we almost there because I can barely move,” whined Rarity as she was pressed in the back alongside Applejack.

The sub was crammed full of ponies who were all squeezed together like sardines in a can.

“Ow, Rarity, stop stomping on my hooves,” said Applejack.

“I will if you get your tail out of my face,” said Rarity.

“Actually, that’s my tail,” said Rainbow.

“Then whose tail is poking me in the leg?” asked Felix.

“That would be mine,” said Spike. “Are we almost there yet?”

“Arh, don’t fret, my little sea dragon,” said Captain Gaff. “The mermaids should be congregating in the castle at the center of the game. It’s their typical hideout. Be patient and we’ll be there in no time.”

The submarine came to a lurching halt with a loud screech, sliding the passengers along the cramped interior. The motors hummed as they worked, but the submarine would not move.

“What was that?” asked Applejack.

“Arh, I forgot to mention, one of the obstacles in this game is the kraken who is programmed to grab the sub and hold it in place,” said Captain Gaff. “Funny, I thought it would have been sleeping in its lair at this time of day.”

From outside of the sub, Ralph could see a huge, red octopus tentacle wrapped around the sub. It’s suction cups held it in a firm grip.

“Oh no you don’t.” Ralph punched the tentacle with one fist, causing it to painfully let go.

A single suction cup ripped a piece of the sub off with a loud screech that echoed through the water. The ponies gasped in alarm, expecting water to gush inside, but instead, the water seemed to suspend over the hole like a bubble.

“Hey, what gives?” asked Rainbow.

“Not to worry,” said Captain Gaff. “This sub is programed not to allow water inside.”

“That’s great but what are we going to do with that hole?” asked Applejack.

“I can fix it.” Felix pulled his arm free from the ponies pressed against him, and with a wave of his hammer, the hole was repaired.

The sub lurched again as more tentacles reached out to grab it.

Ralph batted away the tentacles while keeping one hand on the rudder of the sub. A single tentacle grabbed Ralph by the midsection and pried him off.

“Let go of me, you oversized piece of sushi.” Ralph struggled to break free from the kraken’s grip, but the suction cups bound his arms together.

Rainbow saw Ralph being pulled away, kicking and fighting against the giant beast.

“Oh no, we have to save him.” Rainbow pried open the exit door and leaped into the water. She flapped her wings wildly, but the water was not conducive for flight. With every flap of her wings, she was sent flailing through the water, helplessly drifting off.

With the water congealing around the exit to the submarine, Spike leaped out into the open water. Below, he could see the kraken with its tentacles waving around from a large beak that could swallow him whole.

Rainbow flapped her wings desperately. “Spike, help me!”

“Why don’t you use your special abilities?”

“I can’t use any of my special moves unless I fly, and I can’t fly underwater.”

“Well, let me try.” Spike inhaled and fired a ball of flame with a muffled bang, sending out wisps of smoke. “Uh, it looks like my fire is no good underwater either.”

Two tentacles reached out and grabbed Rainbow and Spike. The two kicked and squirmed in its grasp to no avail.

Applejack leaped out into the open water, but her body also drifted out of control in the water. She kicked her legs, trying her best to remember the strokes Granny Smith taught her, but she was moving sluggishly in the ocean water.

“Rarity, don’t you have anything?”

“My special abilities are predominantly defensive,” shouted Rarity from within the sub. “I can’t fight off something this big.”

“What about you, Felix?”

Felix was also looking out at the water, perplexed. “All I can do is fix things.”

Applejack let out a groan of irritation as she turned to Captain Gaff. “Isn’t there anything you can do?”

“Arh, I can,” shouted Captain Gaff, “but first someone needs to free the sub.”

“All right, I’m on it.” Applejack swam out to the tentacles holding the sub. With a few swift bucks of her hind legs, the tentacles let go of the sub.

With the submarine free, Captain Gaff steered the sub around and aimed its torpedoes at the kraken.

“Swallow some torpedoes, you oversized calamari.” Captain Gaff fired the torpedoes and they hit the kraken in the beak with a muffled explosion. The kraken let out a screech of pain before diving back into the murky depths, leaving Spike, Ralph, and Rainbow to drift in the water as they were freed from the tentacles.

“You three okay?” asked Applejack.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Rainbow.

“After today, I’m never going to eat sea food again,” said Ralph.

“I bet I could have taken that kraken if I had a closer shot,” said Spike.

“No, we should save our special moves for when we find Twilight,” said Applejack. “We only have a limited amount of bits left, so let’s save them for when we need them. Come on, let’s get back into the sub.”

Twilight built up her magic, her horn glowing as she fired a spell at Trojan. However, as soon as the spell hit him, it suddenly fizzled away, leaving a tingling sensation around Trojan’s scaly body.

“That hardly did anything,” complained Trojan.

“I’m doing the best I can,” said Twilight. “I just can’t get you out of this game.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate for you then,” said Trojan. With his tail, he scooped up the box of bits and gave it to a nearby mermaid. “Take this box downstairs where she can’t find it.”

“Yes sir.” The mermaid swam off with the box in hand.

“And once you’ve done that,” called out Trojan after the mermaid, “you and the others will leave the game and save yourselves.”

Twilight gawked at him. “Hey, you’re not going to leave me here, are you?”

“I told you that you’re not going to leave this game if you don’t free me too. Since we only have about 30 minutes before the arcade opens, then I have no choice but to honor my threat.”

Twilight angrily fired a magical blast at Trojan, but he saw the blast coming and he swerved out of its way.

“You better save what little bits you have remaining if you want to get out of this game alive,” said Trojan. He put his tail to his chin, deep in thought. “Now I’m sounding more like a Bond villain. Maybe I’ll try that again. Mwahaha! Now Princess Sparkle, get to work freeing me from this game or else we’ll get deleted like yesterday’s e-mail. What do you think? Did that sound like what a Bond villain would say?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Twilight rubbed her forehead as a headache began to form.

Before Trojan could respond, the wall to the side of the dungeon suddenly exploded in a muffled crack of broken stone, spewing out large chunks of bricks that sank to the floor beside where Twilight and Trojan were.

“What in Tartarus...!” exclaimed Twilight.

Trojan swam up to the large hole created in his dungeon wall. He saw Captain Gaff’s submarine with Ralph and Applejack riding on top with their hands (or hooves0 held up like cowboys riding a bull.

“All right, release our friend Twilight right now before I have to ruff you up like an ornery hay stack,” shouted Applejack.

“So you’re here to save your princess,” said Trojan in a grandiose fashion, still trying to be a Bond villain, “but you are in our game meaning if you take one of us down, we’ll just come back immediately.”

From out of the castle emerged six mermaids who swam out to the sub armed with tridents. While they drifted like overweight ghosts on land, the mermaids were fast and agile underwater, able to dart around the intruders like angry hornets.

“Ralph, you take on the mermaids while I go get Twilight,” said Applejack.

The mermaids charged toward the sub, and Ralph swatted them away with his large hands. He batted the mermaids that came near, but with each strike, his fists were slowed and the mermaids harmlessly rode each punch as they were tossed away.

Applejack swam out into the open sea. However, despite her swimming proficiency, the mermaids were far faster than she was and they got in front of her, blocking her path.

The remaining mermaids were charging at Ralph, this time aiming for the sub, and with their strength and speed, they plunged the spears into the front of the sub, breaking the glass and the engine with a muffled screech. The water congealed around the damage like Jell-O.

“Arh, they’re trying to tear my ship apart,” shouted Captain Gaff.

“I can fix it.” Felix struck the glass with his hammer and the damage was instantly repaired.

With a loud screech, another trident pierced through the hull of the ship. Felix hit it with his hammer and the damage was repaired.

“Ralph, can’t you do something up there?” shouted Felix.

“I’m trying,” shouted Ralph as he swatted away a mermaid, “but they’re too fast.”

He let out another cry of alarm as a mermaid punctured a hole next to Ralph’s foot.

Rarity cried out as the trident nearly hit her, stopping an inch away from her flank. She clasped Spike to her chest, yelping in surprise.

“Oh, don’t these mermaids know how to treat a lady?” Rarity’s horn glowed as she conjured a blue force field around the sub. The mermaids stabbed at the force field with their tridents, but the attacks bounced off the force field. They continued to pierce into the force field, causing it to flash with every strike. Rarity kept her horn glowing as she struggled to maintain it.

“Rarity, how long can you hold up that force field?” asked Spike.

Rarity twisted her face into a grimace as she tried to maintain the spell. “I don’t have enough bits to hold it much longer.”

Meanwhile, Applejack tried desperately to get passed the mermaids, but they effortlessly blocked her back, acting like a moving wall.

“If that’s the way ya’all want to play it, then take some of this,” Applejack spun around in place as part of one of her special moves: the Hoedown Spin. The mermaids let out yelps of surprise as they were knocked aside with one swift spin of her hooves. With no one to stop her, she dove down through the hole in the wall and landed onto the stone floor.

Trojan glared at her. “You shouldn’t have come here. The game will be unplugged soon and you’ll all be deleted with me.”

“We’re not leaving without Twilight.” Applejack bucked at Trojan, but he easily swerved away from her kick. She tried to strike him again, but with every thrust, he glided aside, dodging her attacks.

“Nice try, but we’re programed to operate at pique efficiency underwater, even I,” said Trojan. “Which means we can outrun all of you.”

Applejack, activated her spin kick move, but Trojan, having seen her use it before, dodged out of the way. Applejack leaped toward him and used her spin kick again. This time, however, a magical haze surrounded Trojan, much to his surprise. Twilight held him telekinetically, and Applejack’s spin kick connected, knocking him into the wall with a loud smack.

“Nice going, sugar cube,” said Applejack. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, just get me out of these cuffs.”

Applejack fiddled with the cuffs. “Dagnabit, where’re the keys?”

“Right here,” said Trojan as he got up, clasping the keys with his tail. From where he pulled out those keys, Applejack and Twilight could not tell.

“Applejack, you knock those keys off of him with your spin kick while I slow him down,” said Twilight.

“I can’t, I’m all out of bits. How about you blast him away with your magic.”

“I don’t have enough bits to do any more spells.”

Trojan chuckled. “Looks like you’ve wasted you’re trump cards. Now it’s time for me to use mine.” He wrapped his tail around his mouth and let out a loud honk.

From out of the depths, the kraken appeared again. With a single tentacle, it reached out and smashed through Rarity’s force field with a loud sizzling sound and grabbed the sub, crushing its midsection.

“Abandon ship,” shouted Felix. He opened the door to the sub, and everyone leaped out into open water. Immediately, more tentacles reached out and grabbed Felix, Captain Gaff, Rarity, Spike, and Ralph.

“Rarity, do something,” shouted Spike.

“I can’t, I used up the last of my bits to erect that force field,” said Rarity.

Rainbow swam up as fast as she could as the kraken reached for her.

“Celestia damn it,” shouted Rainbow, “if only I could get to the surface so I could use my special abilities...”

Several mermaids quickly swarmed around her, leveling their tridents to her and blocking her path to the surface.

Trojan watched the others struggle helplessly in the grasp of the kraken. “Sadly, it seems we’ll all die together.”

It's all In The Code

Hex-It Twilight
Chapter 5: It’s All in the Code

Fluttershy always felt nervous about entering a game she’d never been too, especially after she was nearly mauled by zombies in House of the Dead. She hoped that Pinkie would have gone to someplace familiar and safe like Tapper or Sonic the Hedgehog, but instead, when she asked the Surge Protector where she had gone, he led her to the entrance of Sugar Rush. Taking a moment to gather her courage, Fluttershy entered the game. When she came out on the other side of the tunnel, she was relieved and surprised to see a colorful world before her. Sweets of all shapes and sizes were around her as she cantered along with no explosions, gunfire, or undead monsters in sight.

“This isn’t so bad,” said Fluttershy with a smile. “I could grow to like it here.” She came to a stop beside a road, “Where do I go to find Pinkie?”

She yelped out of surprise as a white car drove passed her. Inside the car was Pinkie, giggling with joy. Several other cars were trailing behind her.

“Pinkie?” Fluttershy spread her wings and flew after her, following the sound of revving motors.

Despite the fact that she never drove a car before, Pinkie handled the steering like a pro, even managing to get passed Vanellope and take the lead. The cars were swerving along the roads around Milk Dud Mountains, occasionally dodging around falling milk duds like they were boulders. Despite the added danger, Pinkie dodged every milk dud with ease.

Taffyta was glaring at Pinkie from behind in her car. “How does that pony manage to steer so well? She doesn’t even have hands.”

Vanellope was close behind Pinkie, gaining ground on her. “Not bad,” she called out. “I was going easy on you because you were new, but you really know your stuff.”

“Thanks,” said Pinkie, waving behind her.

“But now that we’re close to the finish line, I’m not going to hold back.” In a flash of light, Vanellope teleported passed Pinkie and sped off. “See ya!”

“Hey!” shouted Pinkie, getting annoyed. She was just about to hit the accelerator when she suddenly felt a strange sensation: her mane and tail went stiff and spread outward like quills on a porcupine. Even in the game world, Pinkie retained her Pinkie Sense abilities, but this sensation was uncommon. The last time she felt it was when she sensed that Gummy’s lost comb was found in a toy chest where Pumpkin Cake had hidden it. That was when she realized that when her mane and tail stood up on end, that meant that something important was hidden nearby. As she looked around to see what it was she was sensing, she saw a giant mug of apple cider nearby. Drool dripped from her mouth as she absentmindedly drove off the side of the road, kicking up chocolate powder in the process, and landed on the ground near the apple cider with a loud thud. She drove toward cider mug and saw two candy canes arched over each other beside the mug. Pinkie drove in-between the candy canes and she vanished into thin air.

Fluttershy followed the road to the audience of anthropomorphic candy people, cheering for the racers as they crossed the finish line and came to a stop on the side of the road to wave and greet the audience. The crowd went wild, cheering the names of their favorite riders. The roster board revealed the winners of the race who will be the game’s avatars for the day. Sour Bill stood at the podium with a megaphone situated before him.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the race has concluded,” said Sour Bill in his usual dull voice. “Today’s avatars are...Vanellope von Schweetz, Swizzle Malarkey, Adorabeezle Winterpop, Taffyta Mu—“

“Um, excuse me!”

Sour Bill gawked at Fluttershy, not expecting to be interrupted by a flying pegasus hovering over him.

“Could you help me? I’m looking for my friend.”

“Do you mind?” asked Sour Bill, monotone. “I’m busy.”

“Oh sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. It’s just that I’m in a hurry and I thought I saw Pinkie here.”

“Huh?” Sour Bill just stood there with his mouth lazily hung agape.

From the finish line, Vanellope teleported onto the platform. “Okay, what’s going on? What’s this pony doing here?”

“She says she’s looking for her friend,” said Sour Bill.

“Oh, you mean Pinkie Pie?” asked Vanellope.

“Yes, we need her to come home right away,” said Fluttershy. “Where is she?”

“She was participating in the race, and I lost sight of her at Milk Dud Mountains. Here, I can help you find her. Just follow me.” Vanellope teleported back into her car and started the engine before zooming by the other racers without another word.

Fluttershy hesitated. “I’m not a fast flier, so I might get lost. Do you mind helping me?” She looked at Sour Bill with her wide, puppy dog eyes.

Sour Bill let out a sigh. “All right, I’ll come along.” He climbed onto Fluttershy’s back, riding her as she flew off after Vanellope.

The two of them searched around Milk Dud Mountain, coming to a stop at the giant mug of apple cider.

“Where is she?” asked Fluttershy, feeling Sour Bill tugging on her mane as she landed.

Vanellope was standing outside of her car, her eyes darting about for any clue of Pinkie’s whereabouts. “This was where I last saw Pinkie.”

“Here I am,” said Pinkie, her head phasing out of thin air between the two candy canes.

“Pinkie?” shouted Vanellope, jumping in surprise.

“I found a hidden place,” said Pinkie. “Come in, you have to see this.”

They followed her through the portal and wound up in a long white tunnel with a car blocking the hall where Pinkie parked it. At the other end of the tunnel was a door with an old NES controller on it.

“What is this?” asked Vanellope. “It doesn’t look like an unfinished level.”

Sour Bill stared wide-eyed at the controller. “This is the doorway to the game’s programming. This is where King Candy reprogramed the game.”

“What?” said Vanellope. “You mean the access to the game’s code was here this whole time? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Sour Bill climbed off of Fluttershy’s back. “King Candy would always blindfold me every time he would take me to and from this place.”

Fluttershy’s eyes drifted along the metal hallway before letting out a gasp. “Oh Pinkie, I forgot to tell you that Twilight was kidnapped by mermaids. She’s being held hostage by a glitch in a game called Sea Bottom who is trying to use her magic to escape the game before—”

“Wait, did you say the game was called Sea Bottom?” asked Sour Bill.

“Yes, why do you ask?” said Fluttershy.

“Both Sea Bottom and Sugar Rush were made and distributed by Neisyd Games Inc. If the same company made both games, then the code in both games might be accessed the same way. If Vanellope could get into the code of Sea Bottom, maybe she could help your friends...”

“And possibly the glitch,” said Vanellope. “Being a former glitch myself, I understand what it must be like for him. How do I get inside the code?”

“You just enter up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, and A,” said Sour Bill.

“Well write that down,” said Vanellope, “and make it fast.”

They arrived at Sea Bottom to find the game deserted aside from the cries of seagulls and the sounds of waves.

“Where did you’re friends go?” asked Vanellope.

“A friendly captain offered to let them ride his submarine to a castle underwater where Twilight was held,” said Fluttershy.

“I forgot this was an underwater adventure game,” said Vanellope. “Oh! I just realized, how are we going to find the door to the code?”

Pinkie felt her Pinkie Sense acting up just like when she found the giant mug of apple cider. “It’s that way.” She skipped merrily to the left, humming to herself. She came to a halt next to a giant boulder.

“Uh, Pinkie, what’re we doing here?” asked Vanellope, following behind alongside Fluttershy.

“According to the backstory I was programmed with, I was raised on a rock farm,” said Pinkie. “Since I know all about rocks, I can tell this is no ordinary boulder.” She reached for a long, thin rock jutting out from beside the boulder and pulled it down. The boulder slid aside with a loud rumbling, kicking up dust and revealing a door with an NES controller on it hidden behind the boulder.

“How’d you...?” said Vanellope, dumbfounded.

With a singsong voice, Pinkie hit the code on the controller. “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, and A.” The door swung open, and right before their eyes, they could see streams of data contacted by long, white cables suspended over darkness.

“I have to remember to invite you over the next time I lose my car keys,” said Vanellope.

Pinkie leaped into the void, spreading out her hooves and screaming “whee!” in a high pitched voice as she weightlessly sailed off, no longer bound by gravity. Vanellope and Fluttershy hesitantly entered, flailing with alarm as they felt themselves drift off. After some trial and error, they figured out how to swim through the void as if they were underwater.

“What’re we looking for?” asked Fluttershy.

“There’s got to be a place where we can access the glitch’s data,” said Vanellope. “With so much here, I’m not sure how we’ll find it or even recognize it when we see it.”

“Oooooo, so shiny,” said Pinkie as she played with a flat rectangular screen.

“Pinkie, don’t you think we should be looking for Trojan’s data?” asked Fluttershy, tentatively.

“But this could help us,” said Pinkie. “It’s a viewing screen that is connected to the projector, and we can use it to see anything in the game.”

“How do you know all that?”

“Lucky guess.”

“Can it show us where our friends are?”

The screen activated in response to Fluttershy’s question. Right before their eyes, they could see their friends struggling against the massive tentacles of the kraken and surrounded by mermaids.

Vanellope drifted up to them.

“Oh no, Ralph,” shouted Vanellope, watching him struggle against the kraken’s grasp.

“Isn’t there something we can do?” asked Fluttershy.

“We can’t dive down and go after them,” said Vanellope.

“Is there something we can do to save them from in here?” asked Pinkie.

Vanellope looked about the miles of code everywhere, dumbfounded. “I...I don’t know...but we can’t sit here and do nothing. Everyone, spread out and find anything that might help us.”

Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Vanellope scrambled to find Trojan’s data, but through the huge mesh of digital wires, it was impossible to tell one bit of data from the next. Fluttershy tried to fly through the wires, but her wings got in the way every time.

“We have to hurry,” said Fluttershy, struggling to pull her wings free from the wires.

“I’d go faster if I knew what Trojan’s data looked like,” said Pinkie.

Vanellope was teleporting from wire to wire, searching frantically. “I don’t know what to do, either. There’s got to be something here that can help us. Pinkie, does your Pinkie Sense tell you anything?”

“Nope, I’ve got nothing. Fluttershy, have you found something?”

“Um, I seem to have found the programming for the fish sprites.” Fluttershy hovered over a pair of data with fish printed on the sides. “Does that help?”

“Ugh!” Vanellope rang her hands through the coils of wires, pulling them apart in desperation. That was when she saw one piece of data that caught her eye. It was suspended on a wire like all the other data, but this one had a single drop of water printed on the front.

“Did you find something?” asked Pinkie.

“I just found the data for the water affects,” said Vanellope. “Nothing important.”

“Nothing important?” shouted Pinkie as she zipped to Vanellope’s side. “I think you might have discovered what we need.”

“What in Bowser’s volcano castle are you talking about?”

“I’m saying you should disconnect it.”

“Pinkie, are you crazy? We don’t know what will happen if we did that.”

“Well, my grandma used to put me on her knee and tell me, ‘Pinkamina Diane Pie, always trust your gut and when it feels right, just grit your teeth and hang on.’”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“My gut is telling me that pulling those wires is what we need to do.”

“Are you sure?”

“That or I’m feeling hungry.”

“Pinkie!”

“Just trust me and pull it.”

“All right.” Vanellope nervously grabbed the coils of the data, and she yanked them apart, sending out sparks from the disconnected water data.

There was sudden rumble through the ocean.

“What was that?” asked Trojan, looking about. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

All around them, pockets of water disappeared into bubbles as the water evaporated into tiny pixels of data. The bubbles slowly expanded from random places of origin, multiplying and merging as they grew around them. The watery environment dissolved away into thin air, leaving the entire sea environment dry and exposed. The mermaids were programmed to levitate out of water, but the kraken was not, causing it to crashed onto the ground with a lout smack, taking the submarine with it as it clattered onto the ground out of the kraken’s grasp.

Ralph clung to the side of the submarine as it crashed onto the ground. He could feel his teeth clatter as he made impact. He rubbed his sore jaw.

“Is everybody okay?” he asked, rubbing his sore jaw.

Rarity poked her head from the submarine, rubbing her muzzle with one hoof. “Ow, I think I have a nose bleed.”

“I can fix it,” said Felix as he held out his golden hammer. With a wave of his hammer, Rarity’s nose was back to normal.

“Why thank you, Felix.”

Feeling the pull of gravity, Rainbow had to flap her wings to keep herself airborne. “All right. Now to show off my moves.” She soared into the air, rocketing up into the sky faster than any of the mermaids could keep up, then came down toward the ground. She launched a Sonic Rainboom, and the force knocked all the mermaids out of the air in one large Technicolor blast, and they crashed into the ground with a thud. The mermaids lay there, dazed with their tridents strewn around them.

Trojan looked on with bewilderment. “It seems I have lost.” He pulled out the keys and handed them to Twilight. “Very well, everyone may go now and leave me to die in peace.”

Twilight telekinetically lifted the keys to her handcuffs and unlocked them. With her hooves free, she tossed the cuffs aside.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking at Trojan with pitty, “but I don’t know what else to do.”

“Well, to be honest, I would have released you and your friends by the time the game was unplugged, I just hoped that if I put pressure on you, you would have found a way. The box of bits should be in the room down below. You can use them to teleport your friends and yourself to the exit. Also, please take the mermaids with you, too. They served me well and they don’t deserve to die with me.”

“Trojan...” Twilight wanted to say something encouraging, but nothing came to mind.

“Just go, save yourselves.” Trojan turned around and drifted off, his head bowed in shame.

“Hey, what’s that?” asked Rainbow, hovering outside, as she looked out in the distance.

She could see Vanellope as she teleported across the land, zipping from place to place in a quick flash of light. Vanellope appeared beside Ralph and the damaged submarine.

“Hey Ralph, are you all right?”

Ralph gawked at Vanellope. “I’m fine, but how did you know I was here?”

“Fluttershy told me. She and Pinkie are at the entrance to the game.”

Captain Gaff took a long and drawn out swig from a flask. “Aye, I must be dreaming for I’m seeing a young girl with candy in her hair.”

Vanellope rolled her eyes. “Do any of you know where Trojan is?”

“He’s in the top of that tower,” said Spike.

“Thanks!” Vanellope teleported through the wall and glitched her way up the stairs and into the room where Applejack, Twilight, and Trojan stood.

“Are you Trojan?” asked Vanellope.

“I-I am,” said Trojan, surprised, “but who’re you?”

“My name is President Vanellope von Schweetz, and I just came by to tell you that I understand how you feel.”

“How could you know how I feel, and for that matter, how do you know who I am?”

“Because I once was just like you. I too had to live my life as a glitch. If it weren’t for Ralph, I would have spent my whole life as a glitch. That’s why I’m here to help you.”

“How?” asked Twilight. “I’ve tried every bit of magic I have, but I can’t get him out of this game.”

“That’s because glitches have incomplete data and Game Central Station rejects avatars with incomplete data. All we have to do is complete his data.”

“And how do we do that?” asked Twilight.

“Easy because I found his code.”

With the box of bits, Twilight teleported everyone to the exit of Sea Bottom. As the rest of the Mane 6 and Spike led the mermaids to Fix-It Felix Jr., Vanellope led Twilight into the game’s code and with Twilight’s dowsing spell, she was able to find Trojan’s data. It was just a large square of data with wires running out of it and the name Trojan Seahorse written on it.

“Okay, so we found Trojan’s data,” said Vanellope, “now what’re you going to do with it?”

“I don’t know,” said Twilight. “I’ve never done anything like this before...you know...rewriting somebody’s code like this.”

“Well, the arcade will open in 5 minutes, so you better think fast.”

“I’m not sure how I can fix Trojan. What do you know about glitches?”

“I became a glitch when King Candy separated my data from the game. Trojan’s data looks like it’s still connected, so the only other reason I can think of for why he’s a glitch is because his data is incomplete, like maybe he was an unfinished character.”

“That would explain why he feels he has no purpose, so all I have to do is give him a purpose by replacing the missing parts with something else.”

“What do we fill it with?”

Twilight looked about, and that was when she saw a block of data with a musical note on it. She telekinetically drew the data close to her and pulled the music data from the cords.

“What are you doing?” asked Vanellope.

“I’m going to combine Trojan’s data with this music program using my Create Chimera spell.”

“Are you sure that’s going to work?”

“I don’t know but I’ll try.”

Three days had passed since Mr. Litwak removed Sea Bottom from the arcade, and ever since the game’s removal, bronies who came to play the My Little Pony game began to notice changes. Mostly that the background music for each level was different every time they played. One minute it was the same generic and cutesy music that came with the game, then the next it sounded like a rap song, or a country song, or classical, etc. Nobody complained, but it did make some wonder why the sudden change.

As the arcade closed and Luna raised the digital moon in the sky, the Mane 6 visited Trojan who had made his home near a lake on the edge of the Everfree Forest.

Trojan was hovering over a podium with some sheet music he wrote opened before him and a baton clutched in his tail.

“So, how’s it been going?” asked Applejack.

“Oh, just wonderful,” said Trojan. “At long last I have a purpose.”

“I’m glad for you,” said Fluttershy.

“So why did you bring us here?” asked Applejack.

“Because I want to show you my latest creation, and I want your opinion of what you think.”

Trojan tapped on the podium with his baton and six mermaids rose out of the lake dressed in seahorse costumes with large pony heads on top. The mermaids started singing.

“Shoo-bee-doo-shoo-shoo-shoo-shoo-bee-doo.”

The Mane 6 gawked as the mermaids sang in their high-pitched choir. Their costumes sparkled in the moonlight.

“Rarity, did you make those costumes?” asked Rainbow.

“Why yes, of course,” said Rarity. “Don’t you just enjoy seahorse costumes with sequins?”

“Not when they have pony head on them,” said Rainbow.

As Trojan waved the baton, he turned to the ponies and asked, “So, what do you think.

Rainbow facehoofed.

The End

Author’s Note: The name Neisyd is an anagram for Disney. :-3