Sunset Shimmer arrived a tad late at the cafeteria table today. Her frustrated expression suggested that something was bugging her, quite badly. She abruptly sat down, causing her seat to creak loudly. There was only Rarity and Fluttershy sitting at the table for the time being. They both looked at each other, silently asking who should break the ice.
“Uh, Sunset? What’s wrong? You look a little angry.” asked a concerned Fluttershy.
In response, Sunset pulled out her console and began playing, taking a bite out of her lunch while she was focused on the game. Hacking and slashing sounds came out of her console all the while she was eating “I must beat my previous high score and get back my position on the leaderboard.”
“Oh? So it’s about a video game.”
“Not just any game, Fluttershy. It’s Tirek’s Revenge! You know, the game I practically mastered. My high score was stolen by some edgy unknown in the community! I can’t let them be the best! I mean, who in their right mind would call themself ShadowLord87?!” specified Sunset Shimmer.
“Darling, don’t you think you’re taking this a tad too seriously? It’s only a game.” Rarity said in a disapproving tone.
“So? It’s a hobby, much like your love for fashion.”
Rarity shook her head. “It’s also my profession. Gaming isn’t a profession, darling. At least, I don’t believe it’s one.”
Sunset didn’t back down. “Pff, tell THAT to Micro Chips. He won a gaming tournament last week and earned the first prize of 10 000$.”
“10 000$?!” nearly screamed Rarity.
“Yeah, being a gamer can be profitable. Not that I’m saying I’ll be a professional player myself, I’m just making a point here.”
“I suppose I may be slightly out of touch with the online world. He he.”
The conversation then stopped, as more hacking and slashing sounds erupted from Sunset’s console. All her focus was directed at the game. She wanted to take back her crown in Tirek’s Revenge and nothing was going to stop her mission.
“Hey! You’re playing Tirek’s Revenge! Mind if I join in? I’m down for some co-op.”
Sunset flinched. Rainbow Dash came out of nowhere, at least from her point of view. Sadly for her, that small moment of surprise was enough to get her killed... in the video game of course.
“Oh come on! That’s just cheap design!” she shouted.
Rainbow Dash glanced over at the two girls sitting on the other side with a worried expression. “Did I do something wrong?”
Rarity smirked. “Some would say yes, Dash.”
“Oops! My bad Sunset!” She took a seat next to her, console in hand, and opened the game. Taking a quick look at the time, she gauged that they had more than fifty minutes to eat and then play their video game. More than enough for a simple run in Tirek’s Revenge. “Say, how long have you three been here? I arrived later than usual.”
“Oh, um, I believe we were there for just five minutes.” Fluttershy responded.
“Five minutes? Why, it feels like we’ve been here for longer than just five minutes!” Rarity said as she looked at the time displayed on her phone.
“There she goes again...” Dash grumbled; her attention now directed at her console.
Rarity sighed. “Come on, can’t we just have a conversation instead of shoving her faces down our gaming devices?”
“Gaming device? Rarity please, that is such a cringy thing to say. Only old people who know nothing about technology say this kind of thing.”
“What?! Are you comparing me to old people?! I’ll have you know that I, have a healthier hobby than you at the very least, Dash.”
“What a petty thing to say to the leader of the soccer team, Ra-ri-ty.”
Sunset’s eyes winced at the sight of the game over screen. “Son of a- Both of you shut up!” she screamed, slamming one hand on the table. “I’m trying to beat a high score over here! So please keep it down!”
Fluttershy lowered herself while her eyes nervously darted around. “Uh, girls? I think you’re being too loud.” she pointed around the cafeteria.
Sunset looked around and noticed that a lot of people were now staring at her. Her so-called “gamer rage” had caught their attention. The same could be said for Dash and Rarity’s argument. All three girls lowered themselves, preferring to avoid any eye contact as it was embarrassing enough already.
“Anyhow... I’ll beat this high score before the bell rings.” claimed Sunset Shimmer as she got back into her game, cheeks still red with shame.
“Hey girls, sorry I’m late.” Twi joined the four girls, quickly taking a seat next to Sunset. “I see you’re still playing Tirek’s Revenge! Mind if I-”
“-Join? Maybe later, I’m beating my high score.” she rapidly responded, leaving almost no pause in between her sentences.
“O...kay then. Dash, wanna play with me?”
Rainbow Dash peeked over Sunset with enthusiasm. “Sure thing! Let’s do a co-op run!”
So... the bell rang, and Sunset still didn’t get her high score, so it was time to go back to class. Normally, you’d just focus on the lesson at hand and then play some games once the classes were done. Sunset, however, decided to do a little multitasking.
Today’s history class was easy; she already knew all about Canterlot City’s founding, so she chose to play a bit in secret. Already a master in the art of cheating (a by-product of being the school bully for quite a while), she knew just how to avoid getting caught.
Cranky Doodle was, on top of that, not a teacher that seemed to care much about getting every student attentive on his lessons. In fact, some would say he looks unhappy to even be here, though it’s just a rumor but that wasn’t really important to Sunset. Getting that darn high score was all that mattered.
Incredible, a rare power-up! This was an amazing run so far; tons of great power-up, easy bosses to fight and lots of money to buy items. This could be the run that’ll get her place back as number one on the leaderboard! Heh, too easy. I’m number one in Tirek’s Revenge, and I’d like to keep it that way, ShadowLegend87.
“Mister Doodle!”
Cursed! Twi just raised her hand! Being right next to her means that Cranky will have his eyes on the both of them or worse, Twi probably saw her playing games during class! Sunset quickly hit the pause button and tried to look not suspicious.
“What is it, Twilight Sparkle?” the teacher asked in a disgruntled voice.
Sunset was hiding her nervous sweating as her eyes darted back and forth from Twi to Cranky, and so on. Please don’t rat me out. Please don’t rat me out. Please don’t rat me out.
“Bulk Bicep is playing on his console during class.” she stated while pointing an accusing finger towards the poor guy.
Cranky’s eyes winced. “Bulk Bicep; pay attention to the lesson please or else I'll confiscate your console.” Wow, most teachers would have confiscated it already, but it seems like Cranky just doesn’t care much.
So, the class continued on, but Sunset didn’t resume her game, too scared that Twi would call her out.
Speaking of her, she leaned closer to Sunset and whispered. “Can you believe that? Some students would rather play games instead of listening. It’s disheartening just how many bad grades can be solely attributed to laziness on the student’s part.”
Oh, so she isn’t aware. Good, Twi is the kind of friend that puts her duties above her friends sometimes. Mostly when it’s about school.
“Yeah, h-how sad. I sure can’t imagine you being this irresponsible.” responded Sunset before letting out a nervous giggle.
“I can say the same about you.”
D’oh! She really needs to get this high score asap before she ends up making a fool of herself.
Walking down the hallway during recess, Sunset was adamant about getting to a quiet spot as fast as possible. The less noise there is to distract her, the better. Suddenly, she stopped herself once she passed by members of the gaming club.
One of them dared to utter the cursed name “ShadowLord87”.
“I heard that ShadowLord87 earned the high score blindfolded!” exclaimed Micro Chips to his fellow club buddies.
“I heard that ShadowLord87 earned her high score through sheer skill alone! The items she had obtained during her run were decent at best!” said another club member.
“She? How do you know that ShadowLord87 is a girl?” Sunset said as she popped in unannounced.
Micro Chips turned around, surprised to see her here. “Well, a student said that this new top player attends our school, and that it’s a girl no less. Of course it can’t be you, since your previous record had been overtaken.”
Sunset gritted her teeth. Her reputation was tarnished by this edge lord, and she wasn’t having any of it. “And let me guess... You’re going to find out who it is so you can give her a special prize or something?” Hold on, how can they be so sure that it’s actually a girl? A student's word isn't definitive proof. She didn’t think to ask in the heat of the moment.
Micro Chips nodded. “Yes! We are going to give her a title that only she can claim. She shall become; Gamer Girl Queen.”
“Ain’t gonna happen! I’ll be Gamer Gi-” Gamer Girl Queen, that’s such a lame title. Why would she even want to claim that? No wonder she quitted this club after befriending the Rainbooms. “I mean, I’ll get the high score and be number one again!”
On that note, she stormed off to get back to work, I mean gaming.
“... So do any of you know if ShadowLord87 eats Cheeto puffs? I’ve been thinking we could give her some as a token of our appreciation for her mad skills.”
“Sunset Shimmer. Please meet vice-principal Luna in her office.” the voice on the intercom spoke, causing Sunset Shimmer to freeze in place.
Oh no... Do they know about what happened in Cranky’s class? Sure hope not, nobody in class seemed to have noticed.
Not knowing what to expect, Sunset sluggishly made her way over to Luna’s office, taking a deep breath before opening the door and entering.
“Uh. H-hi, vice-principal Lun-”
She stopped mid-sentence. Luna was holding a console in her hand. A console!
The vice-principal noticed her and quickly put the console away, pausing her game in the progress. “Sorry Sunset; I didn’t hear you coming. Now... I wanted to talk about the science club’s project. You said you needed some equipment, right?”
Oh, yeah... I forgot about that.
Feeling more at ease, Sunset sat down on the chair in front of Luna’s desk. “Yeah, I did. But before I go into detail, I didn’t know you played video games too.”
Luna glanced over at her console. “Oh, well I suppose it must be unusual for adults my age to be playing video games.” she said, sounding almost embarrassed to admit it.
An awkward silence filled the room, before Sunset broke it. “Mind asking what game you were just playing?” she hesitantly asked.
“What game?” Now Luna was sounding hesitant. She looked at her console briefly before responding. “It’s just a little game called... Tirek’s Revenge.”
I don’t like where this is going! “O-Oh, so you’re a fan too? I didn’t know you were into these sorts of things.”
Luna pulled back into her chair. “W-Well, it certainly is very addicting, I must admit. It’s really... um, fun.” Now she was nervously avoiding eye contact.
Sunset was also getting anxious. I gotta dig a little deeper. “Do you play a lot? N-Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I, uh, play this game a lot and I'm a model student.”
Luna’s legs started to move on their own. Repeatedly tapping the floor. “That’s reassuring to hear. I’ve gotten quite good at this game myself if I do say so.”
No... Don’t tell me.“Have you heard these rumors running around about this ShadowLord87?”
Luna visibly reacted to that name.
Come on! Seriously!?
“Why y-yes. It certainly is quite a bizarre name for the player with the best high score.”
“No way. Don’t tell me you’re ShadowLord87!”
Finally admitting defeat, Luna buried her face into her hands. “Please don’t tell anyone, especially ‘Tia, that I'm ShadowLord87. It’s embarrassing enough that you know...”
Sunset sighed. “What a lame reveal...”
The next day, Sunset was called once again to see vice-principal Luna. She didn’t know why she had to go to her office yet again when the talk about the science club’s project was done. Perhaps the Cheeto puffs on Luna’s desk and the words “Gamer Girl Queen” written on a makeshift trophy were a good enough indicator as to what this was going to be about.
“I know you tattled on me, Sunset Shimmer.”
Oh no...
Author's Note
I seriously wonder why I even wrote this. Maybe I just thought that Gamer Girl Queen sounded funny and I made a whole fic about it.
