Marble Pie, youngest of four sisters, was happily relaxing on a Friday evening watching a game show that happened to be on, as her sister Limestone opened the door with a smirk on her face. She sat next to her younger sister and pulled out her bag.
"Guess what I picked up today, Marble!" Limestone exclaimed, taking out a little cartridge. "This game's got your name on it!"
Marble took a look at the cartridge, the words 'Marble Madness' printed on the cover, which she giggled at, smiling at her sister.
"Well, let's give it a go! Hope it doesn't make you mad!" the older sister chuckled at her own pun before getting things ready while the younger went to fetch some snacks for them. Once everything was set up, Limestone turned on the console and plopped on the couch next to her little sister, both ready to play.
The first course showed up: an easy, short run ending with a slightly twisted half-tunnel. Both sisters' marbles got easily through it, Limestone silently chuckling to herself. "She's so going to lose it at the tricky levels, can't wait to see her face!" she thought. Marble just peeked at her older sister curiously, but shrugged it off, didn't really mind the odd expressions she sometimes makes.
Up next, they started the second course, going down the first small slope and through a ramp, and again both marbles went through the first part, however, an accidental bumping between both marbles sent Limestone's straight to a green worm-looking creature that was standing on the next part, which ended up devouring the orb.
"Oh... I'm sorry, sis... didn't mean that." Marble apologized, her voice soft as ever.
"Don't worry, Marble, it's okay." Limestone laughed, patting her sister on the back. "Just be careful, 'kay?"
The younger sister nodded with a quiet 'mhm' as they went back to the game, getting through the rest of the stage, past a handful of ramps, twists and turns. There wasn't much trouble in that part, save a few falls from both sisters.
Once the third stage came up in the screen, Limestone's grin grew considerably, earning an "are you okay?" from the darker-haired girl, only answered by a "yes, just get ready" between muffled laughter. Marble just shrugged her sister's odd behavior off as both sisters' marbles started to roll once again.
Limestone tried to go as hastily as possible through the first section of the course, consisting on various narrow turns, quickly overtaking her sister as she reached the next part: a wider space with a group of moving enemies resembling green puddles. She felt her own smirk grow as she proceeded to speed through the puddles...
...only to hit one on her way out, taking her back to the beginning of the opening.
Two failed attempts later, and Limestone's smile fading, both orbs met right before the group of puddles.
"It's okay, she won't get through those before I do. Just relax and try to beat this part, then I'll zoom past her and get my laughs." the shorter-haired sibling thought to herself, grabbing a handful of chips as she watched Marble fail on her first try, getting her hopes up to see a priceless reaction from her little sister.
What she didn't notice, was that Marble actually went through the obstacles in her second try and advanced a little further into the level, going down a tube and making Limestone's own sphere get off-screen. The moment she actually realized that it was too late, as the marble went completely off-screen, respawning next to her sister's, showing a message of '-5 seconds' above it.
"WHAT?!" Limestone's scream shocked Marble, eliciting an 'eep!' from her. "I didn't even have that much time to begin with, come on!" She took a deep breath and made a last effort to finish the stage in the few seconds left on her timer, but much to her dismay it just wasn't enough, making her marble disappear and leaving her sister to finish the trip through the steep ramps that made up the last part of the level.
By the fourth course, Marble's orb was alone and didn't have a lot of time left to go far through it, and unsurprisingly, time ran out before she was able to advance too much, making her shrug and let out a little 'mhm' before the next screen popped up.
Which showed a list of high scores, awaiting both sisters to put their names on it. Marble couldn't hold back a smile after seeing herself a few places above her sister; Limestone, on the other hand, was trying her best to suppress an amount of grumbles, seeing how her attempt at a prank just failed.
After putting both names on the list and Limestone grabbing a handful of chips to furiously stuffing her face with them, her eyes met her sister's and the older sibling took a deep breath.
"...alright, sis. You won, fair and square." Limestone sighed, giving her sister a little smile. "Hey, how about we go for another round? We still have plenty of time!"
A nod from her younger sister was all she needed to start the game once again. Both sisters had a bunch of laughs and intense moments from the game, usually ending with both running out of time by the same stage where the younger sister first ended. After a few more runs, Limestone actually reached the next stage, earning some rather adorable cheers and a round of applause from Marble, clearly excited about the fact.
After a few more rounds, they put the controllers aside and Marble felt her older sister's hand on her shoulder. Limestone was giving her an apologetic look.
"Hey, sis, I'm sorry." the shorter-haired girl told her little sister. "I actually got this game as a prank, just wanted to see you get mad at it... and look who got beaten!"
"...it's okay, Lime." the younger sister replied. "Didn't we end up having a lot of fun, anyway?"
Both siblings smiled at eachother and giggled, being interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. Maud walked into the living room and looked at the screen, showing the game's title and a bunch of 'marbs' and 'limes' in the high score list. Her gaze went to her sisters and joined them on the couch.
"Mind if I give it a shot, too?" Maud asked, with her usual unchanging expression.
Limestone handed her a controller and felt her grin come back, expecting to get an actual reaction from the usually stoic girl.
To her surprise, she easily breezed through every single stage in one run with an unfazed expression, reaching the last course's goal with still quite some time left, both Marble and Limestone stared slack-jawed at how easy Maud made the game look.
After putting her name on top of the scoreboard, Maud turned to her sisters and blinked.
"Well, that was fun." the purple-haired girl nodded, standing up and putting her controller aside.
Limestone was at a loss for words, muttering "I, uh... I'll just go for a bit..." and walking out of the living room. Before she actually left, Maud suddenly spoke up.
"Hey, Lime... don't lose your marbles, now."
The only reaction to that was a really loud groan from Limestone as she stormed to her room while Maud herself had a little hint of a sneer on her face.
Author's Note
Well, that has been my first story ever on Fimfiction! Had a lot of fun writing this cute little short and I'm satisfied with how it came out.
Hope you enjoyed reading, or at least got a chuckle out of the ending!
Little fun fact: I actually played a few versions of Marble Madness several times to get inspiration and a bit of material for the story; but the idea itself didn't come from playing the game, that was just my pun-loving mind.
