It was middle afternoon in Ponyville and in the corner of town was a bar. Inside the bar a group of pones cheered as the final dart hit a dartboard. A small violet pegasus was keeping score on a tiny notepad. She announced that the bigger, burgundy pegasus has won the game. In the middle of all this commotion an orange pegasus with a mane that resembled the hair of famous video game icon; Link from The Legend Of Zelda series stood up.
"Nope. Not doing it."
"But YOU agreed to the bet!"
"Don't care. Still not doing it."
The burgundy pegasus; Solar Flare, and the orange phoenix pegasus; Golden Fox, were going back and forth and to and fro. Arguing with one another. It was Golden against his peers. The ponies he's come to call his friends. Trying to pressure him into going though with this. Even if this is all Golden's fault. Well... that wasn't entirely true. Much like Discord, Domino, the milk chocolate colored earth pony with the spiky black and white mane, has planted the seeds of chaos and was patiently waiting for them to sprout. Domino was the one to come up with the heinous stipulations of this bet. He made sure that whichever pony won, the other pony would lose in a very big way.
The stipulations were as followed:
- Golden losses = Call Keyframe 'daddy' for 24 hours
- Solar losses = Change his nickname from 'Dick Kicker' to 'Dick Sucker Extraordinaire Number 1™' for 24 hours
"Do it!" Solar ordered.
"No." Golden firmly protested.
"DO IT YOU WIMP." Domino yelled from the other side of the bar, stars in his eyes like a goddamn anime character.
This assemble of pones consisted of Golden Fox, Solar Flare, Domino Effect, Aether; a dark ash colored unicorn. And Nightfall; a small dark violet pegasus. (who happened to smuggle herself inside one of Domino's travel bags as soon as she had the tiniest suspicion that Golden would be there.) She was contently sipping from a juice box while most of the other ponies had a few alcoholic drinks in their systems. A certain orange kitsune fox named Felix was holding a drink in his paw, joining in on operation: Peer pressure Golden into doing something dumb and stupid.
"Bruh, just do it. What's the worst that could happen?" The orange fox inquired.
Before Golden could answer, Aether spoke up.
"This is so dumb." Aether deadpanned. Domino dramatically gasped. "BETRAYER!!" Domino shouted while pointing an accusing hoof. Seeing as Domino's hoof was inches away from Aether's face, he slowly lower it and continued. "Guys, don't make him do this. I feel like this'll cause some problems if he goes through with it." Aether, being the voice of reason, was another pony (aside from Nightfall) who didn't partake in drinking alcohol that afternoon.
"But HE AGREED to the STIPULATIONS!!" Solar retorted.
"Yes. But he's drunk as shit! In fact, you're all drunk as shit! Haven't you ever heard of not making decisions while drunk off your asses?"
There was a short pause before Solar spoke up again. "But HE STILL SAID YES!!"
Although it was Solar's only point, it WAS a good one. If you go back on your word, you dishonor yourself, your friends and your family. And Solar was not about to have any of that. Not in his presence at least. However Solar felt like he was losing his mind by how many times he's repeated himself. Golden can be just as stubborn as Solar when he wanted to be. They're both bull-headed when they're angry. In the midst of all this back and fourth, Felix finished his drink, walked over to Golden and puts his arm around him. Felix pulled him in close for a little pep talk between buds.
"I don't care what you're gonna say-" Felix shushed him before he could go off on a tangent. "Shut up and watch." Felix instructed. All of a sudden Felix began to glow. He was activating his kitsune magic. He moved his paws in a pattern in front of Golden as his tail twitched. He finally slammed has paws down on the ground, and in that instant, a brand new computer appeared before both of them. Golden paused as he observed the new PC. It was so pristine Golden started marveling at it.
"Woah!" Golden exclaimed. He still didn't know all of Felix's abilities so this had Golden speechless.
"Alright bruh, how about this..." Felix began to propose a deal. Golden was still very cautious but he decided the least he could do is hear this orange fox out.
"I'm listening." Golden replied.
"If you can call Keyframe 'daddy' for a full 24 hours, I'll use my magic to conjure up a brand new PC for you.
Now on paper you would still expect Golden to say no. But with the alcohol in his system, it made this offer a little too enticing. Golden put a hoof to his chin and thought for a moment, then he glared down at the PC. Hearts began to form where his pupils were and he could have sworn he heard a cheesy love song plaing in the background. Which wasn't his imagination. Domino just decided to pull out a boombox from nowhere and started playing I'd Do Anything by Simple Plan for this exact moment.
"Dating Pinkie for so long has some really good perks." Domino thought to himself.
As expected, he's never called Keyframe anything but her name. So he couldn't predict what would happen if he started calling her 'daddy' out of the blue. But in the midst of him pondering, he stalled on Felix's previous question: "whats the worst that could happen?". (Fun fact! 'Whats the worst that could happen' is a common thought most pones have right before they die or fall victim to some sort of terrible fate they can't escape from.)
Golden considered what the worst possible outcome could be. It goes without saying that Keyframe has been mad at him for some stuff before. Real big shocker considering that any other stallion with a marefriend could say the exact same thing. There was no such thing as a relationship without a few squabbles. But would Golden potentially bring on another squabble? For what? A shiny new PC? Was this really worth it?
"Hmmmm.... I really don't kno-"
"AND-" Felix cut him off "I will change the critic rating on Rotting Tomatoes for The Lion King remake to half a star."
Golden didn't miss a beat.
"Okay. I'll do it."
Felix blinked. Make no mistake, Felix was trying to persuade Golden. He didn't know that the Lion King would be the straw that broke the camel's back. But whatever. He finally said yes. And that was the important part.
Felix and Golden turned back to the rest of the group after their little huddle.
"He said he'll do it!" Felix proclaimed to everypony else.
"Finally!" Solar cheered.
Nightfall jumped for joy while Logic just shook his head from side to side in pure and utter disappointment.
Domino however was rubbing his hooves together like an evil villain who has just caught the good guy. Looks like those seeds of chaos will be sprouting in no time soon.
It was getting pretty late in the night so before long it was time for everypony to say their goodbyes and return to the homes or realms they came from. As Golden went to say his farewells to Solar, Solar pulled him in close and put his mouth right up to his ear.
"Remember: Death before dishonor." Solar whispered.
"Yeah yeah I get it." Golden dismissively said as he pulled away from Solar to go say goodbye to the others. Felix shot Domino a knowing grin before he opened a portal, stepped into it and disappeared on the other side. Hugs were exchanged as well as the details of the bet before Golden started making the long journey home. Thanks to the alcohol that was still coursing through his veins he couldn't fly home or else he'd be slapped with a FWI (Flying While Intoxicated).
Solar was traveling alone and Aether had to escourt Domino home to make sure he didn't do anything dumb along the way. And since Nightfall smuggled herself inside of Domino's bag, by proxy, Aether had to escourt her home as well. Her parents were probably worried sick about her whereabouts anyway. "Great. Now I have to make up a lie." Aether thought regretfully.
The remaining pones watched as Golden made his way down the street. Aether waited for him to get out of ear shot before turning to the other three.
"You've doomed him. All three of you have doomed him. You know that right?" Aether asked. Totally done with the events of this afternoon.
"Oh, clam down Aether." Domino responded. "We did not 'doom' him.
"Oh no, we totally doomed him." Solar spoke up. "Keyframe might actually kill him. We won't see him again until the wake at the funeral." Solar stated.
"Nuuuuuu!" Nightfall was waving her tiny hoof at Solar in protest. "Keyframe won't hurt him, Keyframe loves him!" Nightfall countered.
"Oh poor innocent Squeaklord." Domino said as he put a hoof on the top of Nightfall's head and gave it a few condescending pats.
"Love is a very... complicated emotion. But all is fair in love and war. So whatever happens I'm sure it'll be fine." Domino sounded like a complete jackass but inside his head he sounded like the smartest guy on the street. Even though nothing he said had anything to do with the situation. Nightfall scrunched up her snoot and let out a small ree.
"Just ignore Solar." Domino continued. "He's just being a dick."
"I mean I'd stop, but I'm really good at it." Solar responded.
And with that, the trio shared a chuckle as Golden disappeared over the horizon.
