Rara's New Life

"SCOTT DIXON COMES OUT OF THE FINAL CORNER, HE WINS THE DETROIT GRAND PRIX!!!"

"P13."

"Not our greatest showing, but still, great effort guys."

A week has passed since that hectic IndyCar race in Detroit. Mike and Rara were back in Nashville packing some of Mike's old stuff into moving boxes in preparation for their upcoming move to Miami. However, not only were they packing stuff, they were also selling some old stuff that Mike didn't need or want anymore, which actually earned them some much needed money.

One night as Rara began laying down on the bed in Mike's bedroom, she suddenly heard some strange sounds coming from the living room. Wondering what it was, she got up and walked to the living room. As she did, she noticed light coming from the TV. Rara walked into the living room and saw Mike holding what appeared to be a controller. She then looked at the TV and saw something strange. It appeared to be some kind of arcade game, complete with pixilated sounds and noises that would normally be heard on an arcade console. Rara then looked at Mike. "Uh, Mike. What are you doing?" She asked.

"Oh, hey Rara. Just playing," Mike replied.

Rara sat down next to Mike. "What... are you playing? What is this?"

"This, Rara, is a video game," replied Mike. "A home version of the arcade games back in your world. You can pick whatever games you want and play it whatever time you want."

"How does it work?"

"You take something known as a cartridge and put it in a console. The console then plays the game on the TV in front of you. There were many different consoles, but the one I'm playing right now is the Atari 2600 and it defines the word classic."

Mike then paused the game and stood up before turning on the lights and showed Rara the console. Rara looked at the Atari 2600. It was a boxy looking contraption with 6 switches on the top with a cartridge in the middle. The cartridge had a title, which read 'Space Invaders'. In front of the console was a wire that connected to the TV. "Once the game is up and running, you take the game controller and start playing it," Mike explained as he showed Rara a black square controller with a joystick in the middle and a big red button on the top-left corner.

Mike then turned the lights back off, sat back down on the couch, and went back to playing the game. Rara sat down next to him. "These games may look outdated, especially with how today's video games look like, but these old games are still fun to play. Especially when it's the middle of the night. Sitting in the glow of the TV with the sounds of crickets outside."

"Well, I would like to try it out sometime," said Rara.

"Yeah well it's just past midnight, so maybe not tonight," said Mike.

Rara just smiled and laid back on the couch, watching Mike play his video game.

The next morning, Mike and Rara were packing some more stuff. They were packing everything in Mike's bedroom. As they packed, Rara noticed the Nintendo Switch that she saw when they first arrived in Nashville. "Hey Mike."

"Yeah?"

"You wanna play a game?" Rara asked as she pointed to the Nintendo Switch.

Mike grinned. "Are you challenging me?"

Rara grinned back. "Well, you did promise we would try it out sometime."

Mike put down the moving box and went over to turn on the TV in his room. He then made sure that everything was plugged correctly. Once he saw that they were, he turned on the Nintendo Switch and gave Rara a controller. "How about a game of Mario Kart?" He asked.

"Mario Kart?" Rara replied, looking confused.

"It's one of the most popular multi-player racing games," Mike said as he grabbed a video case and opened it, revealing a cartridge. He then put the cartridge into the Nintendo Switch before taking the controllers off of the console. Mike took the blue controller and gave Rara the red controller.

"I don't even know how to play something like this," she replied.

"Here, I'll show you."

Mike then instructed Rara to sit on his lap. Once she did so, he showed her the button combinations on the controller. "In order to properly play a video game, the D-pad controls your movements, while the buttons perform actions," Mike said. "As for how to play something like Mario Kart..." Mike then wrapped his arms around Rara and held the controller with her while she was looking over her shoulder. Rara started to blush with how he was holding her.

"Alright, you got it?"

Rara still felt confused. "I think so?"

"Don't worry. We'll use a simple test track so that you can get the hang of it."

Mike started to show Rara how to play the game, explaining how it works and how to control the movements. After a few runs, Rara got off his lap and sat next to him, exchanging controllers so that Mike was player one.

"So, you're going to go easy on me, right?" Rara asked.

"Hey, we fucked in the shower during our time in Belgium, so don't think I'm gonna go easy on you just because you're a girl. But since this is your first try at a video game, I'll go easy on you."

Rara's face went crimson red at the memory of her and Mike's shower sex session in Belgium. She then realized that he had indeed went hard on her as evident by the anal sex. Rara then shook the thought out of her head to keep herself from getting aroused.

Mike and Rara then spent their time playing the game. They didn't know it, but they went on it for a couple of hours, which felt like time flew right by them. It was then that Mike tossed his controller onto the TV counter.

"I can't believe it! That's the 12th time you beat me!"

"Well, I thought you said you were gonna go easy on me," Rara replied.

"Yeah, but that was only for the first few races. That's when I decided to get serious when we went through those tracks again."

"And I still won on those tracks and the next four on the next level, which I thought was more challenging."

"And then we went with the harder levels, and you still beat me. You even blasted me with a couple of blue shells that time."

Rara stared at Mike and said, "Maybe I was lucky."

Mike stared back at her. "Or maybe you were just a natural in this."

Both of them stared at each other before smiling and sharing a laugh. Mike then realized they spent so much time on the game. "We should probably get back to packing."

"Oh, right. How much time did we waste?" Asked Rara.

"5 hours," replied Mike.

"Oh, sweet Celestia!" Cried Rara. "We need to get back on track right now!"

"Easy, Rara. It's just 2:00 in the afternoon," said Mike.

Rara sighed. "Yeah, you're right."

They then began to pack up their stuff into moving boxes. As they packed, Rara went into Mike's closet and discovered some other video game consoles. "Hey Mike, what's this?"

"What's what?"

"This," Rara said while pointing to the old consoles.

Mike let out a very frustrated sigh, which surprised and somewhat scared Rara. "Shitty consoles that we should sell."

Rara was shocked at Mike's sudden swearing. "What do you mean by that?" She asked.

Mike then sighed. "Can you show me the consoles?"

"Sure."

Rara picked up a rather large console and gave it to Mike.

"Remember the Atari 2600 that I showed you last night?" Asked Mike.

"Yeah," Rara replied.

Mike then began explaining. "Well, the Atari had the longest lifespan of any video game console. And when people say Atari, their usually referring to the 2600. This is the Atari 5200. It was meant to replace the 2600, but ironically, it failed and faded into obscurity while the 2600 lived on."

"Really, why?" Asked Rara.

Mike then put the Atari 5200 close to his face before giving it an intimidating but rather funny looking glare before looking at Rara and going full on Angry Video Game Nerd. "BECAUSE IT'S A PILE OF FUCKING SHIT!!! Why? Well, just look at it."

Mike turned the console around before setting it down on the ground. "Look at how huge this beast is. It's ginormous and why is there a door on it? Is this a video game console or a fucking closet? Even the AC adapter weighs a million tons."

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad," Rara said before picking up the AC adapter only to the be surprised by how heavy it was. "Never mind."

Mike then showed a controller. "Also look at this controller. This is the reason why the 5200 failed! It's got the joystick but then there's all of these numeric buttons. Like what the shit is this? Is this thing a phone?"

"I don't know," said Rara.

"Yeah, well, I'm getting rid of it," Mike said before tossing the large console into a box loaded with stuff they intended to sell.
Because of it's size, the console made a crashing sound when it hit the other stuff that was in the box, which surprised Rara.

"What else is in there?" Asked Mike.

Rara went back inside and grabbed something that looked more like a contraption than a console. "Well, there's this."

Mike's face deadpanned. "Come with me," He said.

Rara followed him with the little console to the living room. Mike then pulled something out of a cabinet, which was a SEGA Genesis. "What is that?" Asked Rara.

"That is a SEGA Genesis, one of the most popular video game consoles of the 1990's," explained Mike. "This thing hooked up to it is called the SEGA CD. It had it's place in history. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a piece of shit, but it has certain appeal, as one of my favorite Sonic the Hedgehog games, Sonic CD, is on it."

Mike then grabbed the thing Rara was holding. "This is the SEGA 32X. It is the real deal. It SUCKS. Oh god, it sucks."

To Rara's surprise, Mike plopped the 32X on top of the Genesis with a click before he continued explaining.

"You plop it on top of the Genesis like they're mating. God, do you think that's enough add-ons? It doesn't even look aesthetically presentable. I mean it's just like an ugly tumor. I mean, did they really need all this bullshit leeching on the Genesis? It looks like it's getting gang-raped. Both of it's slots are getting penetrated at the same time."

"But what does the 32X do?" Asked Rara.

"Well, it's compatible with 16-bit Genesis games. But it also has it's own library of 32-bit games," Mike said before ranting on something else. "Oh, you gotta love this. No end labels on the cartridges. May I ask why? Back in the early 1990's, video game companies, such as Nintendo, Atari, and SEGA, got rid of end labels on cartridges because they thought it was obsolete."

Rara was stunned. "How can something of simple convenience become obsolete?" She asked.

"Don't ask me, because I don't know what they were thinking. Now, about the 32X, hooking up this bastard is just INSANE. Believe it or not, like the SEGA CD, it has it's own fucking power adapter. That's great. I mean, now you got three. And trying to hook 'em all up at the same time is a freakin' nightmare." Mike then grabbed a power strip and began plugging the three adapters. "Here goes the Genesis, the SEGA CD, and... bullshit. What a load of fucking bullshit! How did they fuck this up so bad? I can't even turn it the other way because it doesn't fit. Why can I only plug in 2 power adapters? Why can't these go sideways? Or better yet, why the hell do they have these box things? Why can't it just be like this?" Mike then showed Rara a normal ending plug.

"Even the Atari 5200, with it's hugeass box, still ends with a normal plug. You know that really pisses me off. That camera, that Coco is using for our blogs in our upcoming tour, has a charger. And said charger has a box like that. We live in the year 2024, and they can't figure out that shit like this takes up so much space? These fucking things should be outlawed! Have these! Not these!" Mike then calmed down with a sigh.

"Also, there's another cable, which connects the Genesis to the 32X. Isn't it enough that the damn thing is inserted on the top of the Genesis? Why does it need another connector?" Mike then moved the Genesis back a little bit to show Rara the wire build up. "Look at this. It's a fucking mess! And what a perfect visual analogy. SEGA created the 32X to increase the lifespan of the Genesis. And that's exactly what the freakin' thing looks like. It's on life support."

Mike then moved the Genesis back to it's spot. "The bottom line, the 32X sucked. And it was one of the biggest video game failures of all-time. And just to celebrate their failure, or just for shits and giggles, they released a few CD 32X games, which required both the 32X and the SEGA CD! So if you happen to own both this pile of vomit and this piece of shit, you can mix the two together!" Mike then unplugged the 32X before taking it off of the Genesis and placing it on top of the TV counter.

"So you can clearly see, Rara, the 32X was just not worth it. And gamers were too smart to be suckered in, because they knew that this piece of junk would be abandoned shortly, because the SEGA Saturn was on it's way. Hell, it was already out in Japan, so nobody gave two fucks about this beast. It cost about $150 when it first came out. And the only people who bought it, said that they had mechanical problems, so, on top of that, there were rumors that the 32X could damage Genesis games. Though, it was never known if that was true or not. The SEGA Saturn was released here in the United States about 6 months later. Only about 40 games or less came out for the 32X before it bit the dust. I mean, what kind of marketing was that? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?! And on top of that, SEGA had yet another console planned in between, called the Neptune, which was scrapped pretty quickly. All it was gonna be was a standalone 32X anyway. WHICH WAS WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE FUCKING BEEN IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! So not only was the SEGA Saturn on the way, but so was the Sony PlayStation, and the Nintendo 64. Gamers knew it was better idea to just wait and stores were selling the 32X for about $20. I got mine at a flea market for 2 dollars and 50 cents! I'M DEAD FUCKING SERIOUS!!!"

Rara looked at Mike with a shocked look. 'How can something so expensive be re-sold for a very cheap price? That's almost unheard of in Equestria,' she thought.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta send this shit back to the fires of Hell," Mike said as he stood up, picked up the 32X, walked back to his bedroom, and tossed it in the same box as the Atari 5200. He then looked back at Rara and sighed. "We should probably get back to packing," he said.

Rara nodded in agreement before they grabbed another box.

New York City - JFK Airport

A few days later, Mike and Rara hopped on a plane to New York City. In New York, they got on a connecting flight to Paris. They were heading to France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After they got on an American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, they walked back to their seats and placed their suitcases on the overhead bins. Mike then sat down on the window seat while Rara sat down in the middle seat. Fortunately, no one was expected in the aisle seat, which meant Rara wasn't going to feel cramped. As they sat down and waited for the other passengers to board, Rara noticed the TV screens on the front of the seats, something that she didn't see the last time she was on an airplane.

"Hey, Mike," said Rara.

"Yes?"

"You didn't tell me there's TV's on airplanes."

Mike saw what Rara was talking about and said. "Well, some airplanes have these TV screens, which are known as InFlight Entertainment Systems, while others don't."

"How long is this flight?" Asked Rara.

"7 hours," replied Mike. "Meaning you have 7 hours of entertainment on these screens to keep you entertained."

Rara looked at the IFE screen. If the flight from New York to Paris was really going to take 7 hours, then at least there should be some movies to keep her entertained.

As the plane continued to sit at the gate waiting for it's passengers to board, a very familiar voice called out to them. "Mike? Rara?"

Mike and Rara looked over and to their shock they saw Coco who was with Rarity. They were getting the seats just across the aisle from them. "Coco?! Rarity?! What are you two doing here?" Asked Rara.

"We were here in New York for a fashion show," Coco replied. "Rarity asked me to help her with some of the dresses."

"Well Coco, it seems like Rarity did want to take you on some of your business trips," said Mike.

Coco looked away shyly while Rarity helped with her suitcase. "Well, I see your off for Le Mans," said Coco.

"Yeah, we are."

"Darling, are you sure you're up to take on such a race. From what Rainbow Dash told me, it's one of the most grueling sporting events on Earth," said Rarity.

"Well, with the amount of races I'm doing this year, and with the tour starting at the end of this month, we're gonna need the extra paycheck," replied Mike.

"I see," Rarity said before she put her and Coco's suitcase in the overhead bin before she and Coco took their seats.

"So, what's bringing you two to France?" Asked Rara.

"Oh well, darling. We've been entered into another fashion show in Paris," Rarity announced proudly. "And what's even more exciting, at least for me, is one of the ponies who'll be modelling one of my dresses."

"Wait, wait! Let me guess, Fleur de Lis," said Mike.

"EXACTLY!!!" Rarity cried before calming herself down.

"WAIT! You know Fleur?" Rara asked Mike in shock.

"Yeah, Rarity invited me to a fashion show she held in Seattle and Fleur was one of the models," explained Mike.

Rara smiled. "Well, I know Fleur too. I got to meet her several times during some concerts I had in Canterlot."

"But it's not just Fleur de Lis," said Coco. "Photo Finish will also be there, and meeting her is what I'm looking forward to."

"Really?" Asked Mike. "Well then, I guess this is going to be an interesting flight for all of us."

Just then, the PA came to life. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be pushing back very shortly. Please make sure to listen to safety instructions as we taxi to the runway."

"Well, here we go," said Mike.

After taxiing to the runway and taking off into the late evening sky over Long Island, the plane began crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. Around halfway through the journey, the food service began. As the flight attendants walked down the aisle, one of them, a pegasus mare, recognized Rara.

"No way," said the mare.

Rara looked up at the mare with confusion.

"Countess Coloratura!" Cried the mare.

Rara looked away shyly. "Yeah, that's me."

The mare regained her composure. "Wow, I can't believe it. You're actually touring both Equestria and Earth. I've heard of what happened with that old manager of yours, good riddance I'd say."

"Yeah," sighed Rara.

"So, you want anything to eat?" Asked the mare.

"Sure," Rara said before placing her order.

After a few minutes, the flight attendants came back around handing out food to the passengers. "You know if it wasn't nighttime, I would be asking for scotch," Mike joked. The flight attendants chuckled before handing out Mike's drink of water.

Rara was then handed out her food. "Thanks," she said.

"Care for coffee with that?" Asked the flight attendant.

"Oh, yes please," Rara replied.

After a few more hours of flying the plane finally landed at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport the next morning. Once it parked at the gate, the passengers began to disembark. As they made their way through the terminal, Mike and Rara stopped to meet up with Rarity and Coco. "Well, it was nice running into you two," said Mike.

"Same here," said Rara.

"Thank you, darling," said Rarity. "It was nice running into you two as well."

"Well, we should probably head off to Le Mans," said Mike. "Good luck in the fashion show you two."

"Thanks, Mike," said Coco. "And good luck at Le Mans."

And with that, they all waved goodbye and parted ways.

To Be Continued.