Bright Nights Ahead

The two sisters eagerly trotted towards the arcade and the awaiting sounds of wurring machines that occupied it. The clanking of the one hoof bandit’s, cheesy Japony music and the inevitable shouting of ponies swearing filled the air.
After gawking at the scene for slightly longer than was socially acceptable, Celestia nodded her head toward a cramped booth with just the one pony occupying it. Although to say he was occupying it was barely true, surrounded by newspapers, magazines, comic books and the pile of tokens needed to exchange for bits to work the machines, there was only enough room for him to sit on his haunches with a small pillow for comfort.

However Celestia realised on the way over to the booth that she hadn’t brought any saddle bags with her, and therefore no way of paying. She couldn’t magic any purses up because they were disguised as pegasi, and even if she did, how would she transport the suddenly conjured bits? Then it struck her – a coughing fit – or at least that’s what everyone would think... Stopping and turning her body so that only one side of her faced the booth attendant she bent her head down to meet her right-front hoof half way. Whilst coughing manically to disguise the inevitable *pop* of magic and choosing her right wing as a suitable place to summon the purse, she concentrated her will to summon the bits whilst keeping her horn and any visible trace of magic invisible. Feeling a sudden weight in her wing she knew that she was met with success and let out a relived sigh at her impromptu plan.

“What in Tartarus was that all about?”

“Well I-uhh... forgot to bring any money...”

“Typical, well are you done? Because people are looking.”

“Very much so.” Celestia said whilst giving Luna a bashful smile.

“Good.”

Quickly coving the remaining distance to the booth whilst at the same time doing her hardest to not meet any of the eyes shooting curious glances at her, Celestia picked up the bag of the bits from her wing and drew out roughly a quarter of them on the top protruding from the booth to give to attendant.

“Hello sir. May we trouble you for some of your tokens?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here...”

“Oh good, how many will this buy us?”

Clearly not used to customers having no idea how many tokens they wanted, he counted them up before stating “Well since the exchange rate is 1:2 that would make 40 tokens, or 20 each?”

If you would, thank you.”

“You’re welcome” Said the attendant before nudging over two transparent plastic pouches to Luna and Celestia respectively before they walked off down the aisles towards an area with the pinball machines.

“Well Lu, what do you think so far?” They were forced to use their mental communication due to the bags of tokens they were holding in their mouths.

“It’s great! I can scarcely believe that they can even fit the sheer amount of machine into a building, and even more surprised that they could make them make so much noise.”

“Oh yes, they really pull out all of the stops to make it as stimulating as possible don’t they... No doubt all the flashing lights and sounds draw all the foals here like moths to a flame. “

“True, but school won’t be out for about another hour, so hopefully we won’t have many running around manically like a pony possessed.”

Reaching the pinball machine they picked one at random, the machine was yellow and fiery orange with a bi pedal creature with flaming hair (Rapidash) underneath a title named Poképony: The Island.

“What’s this mummy?”

“Well this is a pinball machine I believe, you insert your token and you get three balls, although you can get bonus balls by hitting certain markers. Then after you put your token in you pull the lever here which springs the ball up to the machine, the aim is to shore as many points as you can with all of your balls and to not let them drop down into the bumpers there. The button on the rights controls the right bumpers, the left button the left bumpers.”

“Ah I get it, do you mind if I have a go?”

“Really Autumn, this is your day out, of course you can...” Despite not being her true mother Celestia gave her little sister a look of mock exhaustion only a motherly figure could. “And now you will excuse me I’m going to go on the one hoof bandit because you aren’t old enough and I want to annoy you.” Hopefully I won’t empty the treasury in the process...

Celestia poked her tongue out at her sister playfully before turning around and hiding behind one of the machines nearby in the hopes of fooling her sister, because truth be told the true reason for her excusing herself was to spy on her sister a little, maybe she will adorably stick her tongue out like she did when they used to play chess – oh yes, there she goes, and over to the corner of her mouth goes the tongue. At this point Luna’s brow was furrowed in concentration , she’s holding that token like it’s a surgery scalpel, although she probably hasn’t used her hooves for much in well — ever... Finally Luna managed to get the token into the machine, when she did all the gismos inside lit up and bleeped loudly shocking Luna slightly *eep!* before looking around bashfully and returning to her original look of concentration, as if she couldn’t get any more adorable... Carefully Luna placed her weight on her hind legs and flayed her wings slightly to aid in her balance. She pulled on the lever and sent the ball flying up into the machine, but what must come up must come down, and her technique to operate the bumpers was less than elegant. For the most part it consisted flailing at the buttons with a lot of enthusiasm but little accuracy, which resulted in letting out annoyed grunts every time the ball dropped, which it inevitably did.

Up until this point Celestia managed to keep her giggles stifled, but a particularly exasperated grunt was too much to bear, even for a sun goddess. Celestia betrayed her position with a slight but clearly audible giggle, one that didn’t go unnoticed by her younger sister, turning quickly she just missed Celestia as she pulled her head back behind the machine, phew, that was close, better get to a machine so I have an excuse... Looking around nervously she luckily found one and rushed over to it before Luna could explore the source of the giggle. Even more fortunate for her it never came; with a quick mental probe that went unnoticed by her younger sister due to her concentration she determined she was still by the machine. Good, down to business, prepare for destruction old foe! Celestia gave the one hoofed bandit a challenging look and slotted her first token into the machine with vigour.

“Damn you infernal machine, damn you to Tartarus!” Celestia had lost all but five of her tokens with no return. You win this time, but I’ll be back, I can assure you that much! Thankfully she was brought out her ravenous gambling cycle with a desperate mental cry from her sister, unhoof me you scoundrel! Celestia’s maternal instincts kicked din and she rushed toward the source of the cry.

(Elsewhere)

Oh no I can’t let them any closer, and I’m on my last life! Those ‘grapplers’ are too quick, got to step up your game Luna! Having gotten board with the pinball game, Luna decided she would look for entertainment elsewhere, and given the amount of time she had spent on Castle of Ponystein: Dead Alive she was successful. Die you Discord worshiping zombies, I’ll show you what for! And there goes your head exploding again. Luna was on a roll, she was just about to enter the final stage when — *BAM*, she was tackled by her sister.

“What the buck are you doing?!”

“Saving you of course.”

“From what exactly?!”

“From the — oh...”

“From the non-existent zombies that my character is currently getting torn to pieces by, thanks to you?”

“Yes?”

“Well thank you my noble saviour.”

“Well there’s no need to be smug about it”

“Yes there is.”

“Oh and I don’t think many mothers go around tackling their daughters to the ground this age, unless I’m mistaken and it’s now in fashion? Because it wasn’t a thousand years ago...”

“Ha ha, you’ve made your point. I think we should move off, people are looking.”

“Yes they are, again, and you have the most adorable blush as well. I thought I was supposed to be the socially awkward one? The smile Luna gave emitted so much smugness that one might even be able to taste it if they tried hard enough.

“Point proven...” Celestia looked down bashfully at this remark.

“Oh sister, I didn’t mean to offend... You’ve really taken this ‘motherly’ role to heart haven’t you? You know, not many sisters care for their siblings as much as you do, even some mothers don’t... I’ve never have a moment when I’ve doubted your love Celestia, truly I am lucky to have you.”

“And I you dearest sister.” For the third time in the day they shared a love filled nuzzle before moving off to another area to avoid the other customer’s curious gazes.

Before long they found an area of the arcade dedicated solely to driving simulators, picking one called Ponycart they decided to spend the rest of their tokens in two-player mode after discovering they both had five tokens each.

Despite Luna being a novice she certainly had taken a shine to these games, if she didn’t already have her cutie mark she might have gotten hers at the point where she beat Celestia five times. In. A. Row... Much to her sisters annoyance Luna gave her sister another of her practised smug smiles after the fifth and (thankfully according to Celestia) final victory.

From where they were standing it was a short walk to the exit, not having to exchange any tokens back for bits the two sisters settled to a polite nod to the attendant at the booth, which he half-heartedly returned. Once outside they realised they spent a little too much time in the arcade and according to Celestia’s magic, dusk was fast approaching.

A/N: This chapter I decided to get up today as a display of thanks to all those who are supporting this story in its early stage. In all honesty I don’t know how long it will go on for, but I won’t sacrifice quality for quantity.

Also I will be changing the story to be marked for ‘teen’ from now on, the themes described here were a little borderline and I want to be safe a curious to those who read this.

Oh and THE PUNS, OH THE TERRIBLE PUNS!

Once again, feel free to leave ANY feedback.

Thank you.