Rainbow rubbed her hands together and blew into her palms.
"This sucks."
"I told you to bring a coat and gloves," Twilight scolded, "but did you listen? Nooooooo."
"Can we discuss what a horrible person I am when I'm not freezing to death, please?"
"Um...I brought a spare set with me," Fluttershy offered. She handed the warm garments to her friend.
"Thanks, shy."
"She came prepared because she's actually considerate, unlike some people," Twilight reprimanded.
"Lighten up, will ya'? We're about to pick up one of the most anticipated games of the last thirty years. I'd say things are looking up on our end."
"That's true," Twilight acknowledged.
A large crowd had gathered across the sidewalk leading to the doors of the appropriately named Nocturne Games. Teens and young adults alike clamored together with vigor for the midnight launch of the new Sailor Moon RPG. From April right up to launch day in November, the game promoted itself as a faithful yet creative reincarnation of the beloved television franchise. It boasted the strategic and tactical elements of old turn-based combat games while drawing players in with its unique, fleshed out world, an engaging shop and upgrade system, and never-before-seen skills exclusive to the game itself.
"Is it true all the DLC will be free," Fluttershy asked.
"That's what it looks like," Rainbow confirmed, "I should actually message Usagi and let her know we're here."
Rainbow sent a text to the creator of the series, Usagi Tsukino.
"Yo, we're at the game shop on our end."
A bubble indicated an imminent response.
"I think you'll like it. We put in a few cheat codes for you."
"For real!?"
"I'll send you a list soon."
"Are they menu codes or...?"
"Uh-uh. Konami style."
"Sweet!"
She showed the screen to her friends.
"Yo guys, check this out!"
"Give me that."
Sunset snatched the phone from her friend.
"Cheats!? For real!?"
"This really is a throwback to old school gaming!"
"Cheating is so uncouth," Rarity sneered.
"Relax, Rar. We're gonna' play it fair first."
"Was never one for magical girl stuff myself," Applejack admitted, "Still, show's a classic. May as well give it a go."
"I'm just ready to get home so we can chow down and fuck up queen Beryl's day."
"Honestly, Rainbow," Rarity sighed with agitation, "That vulgar mouth of yours makes it nigh impossible to bring you anywhere."
"Well, pretty soon I'll be stuffing myself, so that won't really be a problem for a while, will it?"
"Time can't fly fast enough."
Twilight led the others back to her place in the outskirts of town. Once they were inside, Rainbow held the game up for everyone to see.
"Ladies and germs, feast your eyes upon the majestic, magnificent piece of artwork before you, ever so masterfully crafted to fulfill the needs of RPG nerds everywhere. Everything from the hot pink plastic to the amalgamation of heroes and villains: absolutely, unquestionably flawless."
"Would you like to do the honors," Twilight inquired.
The group circled around the couch. Rainbow opened the case. The first thing rainbow noticed was that there was an actual booklet inside the case detailing the game and its mechanics.
"Remember when people thought these were obsolete?"
"Dark times."
Rainbow removed the disc from the casing. Again, she raised it into the air.
"And now, the piece de resistance."
She inserted the game into Twilight's brand new PlayStation 5 console which had just been released a few days before.
"Should we check out the the DLC first?"
Her friends nodded. She selected the PSN store. She hadn't played the system herself until now, but the controls felt reasonably smooth and responsive.
"All they've got right now is a wallpaper. Mind if I download it, Twi?"
"Sure. I needed to change the background anyway."
Rainbow's phone went off.
"Must be Usagi."
"Here are the codes."
"She sent the cheats. Max level is Square, Circle, Triangle, X, L1, and R1. Max stats is L3, R3, L1, R1, L2, ans R2. Max Items is L1, R1, L2, and R2 simultaneously. Ultimate weapons, armor, and accessories is X, Square, Left, Right, L3, and R3. The last one is for the Goth costumes. It's Down, Left, Up, Right, L3, R3, L2, R2, L1, and R1."
"Hey Rarity," Twilight wondered, "can we use the last code? I want to see what they look like."
Rarity pondered this request.
"I suppose it wouldn't do any harm. The culture is quite fashionable."
"I'll go wake up Spike."
"He's sleeping?"
"He wanted to stay up late with us, so he took a nap while we were gone."
"He's always been pretty cute, but he looks so much more badass with his longer hair now," Rainbow commented.
"I agree," Fluttershy remarked.
"I'll be sure not to cut it for a while, then. We'll make the food in a little bit. Go ahead and start the game."
Rainbow selected the icon.
"I wonder what the graphics will look like," Fluttershy spoke.
"They probably had to tone down the graphics for the sake of the gameplay. That's fine by me. Hyper-realistic graphics are overrated anyway. This is fantasy we're talking about."
"Do you think they'll have any references to the original English version?"
"I dunno'. I'm hoping it's got all the uncut content from the Japanese version though. Some of the translations were cool, but others were just flat-out lame. Even the new dub skated around calling them soldiers, but since Usagi and the others were behind this, I'm guessing they've preserved the spirit of the original story to a T."
"That's true."
"Huh. That's weird. There's no opening demo. They must've wanted to build the suspense."
"Hey guys," a young male voice yawned out.
"Wazzup up, man?"
"You guys about to start playin'?"
"Yep. Looks like you took a page from our book and got some rest."
"I've been looking forward to this ever since the freakin' thing was announced."
"Check this out."
Rainbow executed the costume code input. A short jingle played.
"Press combination codes!? For real!? I haven't seen those since the PS2 and GameCube!"
"All the DLC will be free when it comes out too."
"There's no dumb website crap we have to do to get everything, right?"
"Not as far as I know."
"Finally! Gaming's actually gonna' be awesome again!"
"We're playing on normal mode. If we're doing this with the goth costumes, we should throw in a little bit of a challenge."
"I'm guessing senshi mode is this game's version of very hard?"
"Yep."
Rainbow pushed start.
"No way! They even brought back the option to name our characters! That hasn't been a thing outside the Persona and Star Ocean series' since Shadow Hearts and Final Fantasy ten!"
"Can we do it with all the characters, or just Usagi?"
"Knowing her, I'd say all."
"I'm calling it now: this game is gonna' kick major ass."
"It's looking promising so far. We're going with Fluttershy's idea and naming them after the original dub."
"Noice!"
