“Oh, thank you.” Twilight smiled as she levitated the mid-sized box from the mail pony's mouth. The mail pony waved goodbye to the nearest tree, then continued along her route.
Spike walked up as Twilight set the package onto the nearest table. “What's that Twilight? Did you mail order something? It's not the result of another of those magic mail order auctions again is it? Because we don't need another Colts of Hazard lunchbox.” Spike eyed the box as Twilight closed the front door.
“Now Spike, I told you how easy it is to get carried away in those things.” She inspected the return address and then smiled. “But no, this is something I've been waiting to arrive for quite some time now. It's something very special from Princess Celestia's research and development team in Canterlot. Before we came to Ponyville, I saw the progress they were making in some of their magical education and training devices. You remember Flame Screamer, right?”
“You mean your 'special friend' from the east wing of the castle?” A smirk spread across his face as he held up his fingers to apply quotation marks into the air.
Twilight shot him a disapproving glance before continuing. “As a matter of fact, she's a genius. She and her team have made breakthroughs that will advance the field by thirty years, at least. I only saw her latest designs in the planning stages, but I must say it was impressive even then.”
She levitated a pair of scissors to her side and began cutting the twine around the package. “I asked a favor of her the last time we saw each other. She agreed that I could help in the preliminary testing phase once the device was relatively stable.”
“Oh, so it's a test? I don't really like tests.”
“No, Spike. I will be testing her findings, not the other way around.” Twilight had finished ripping the paper wrapping off to reveal a metal case beneath. She pointed to a numerical key pad near the top segment. “She sent me a letter last week telling me to expect its arrival. She wrote down the key code too.”
“Um, so what is it exactly? I mean, this looks like it's pretty important and secret stuff to just be sent off to somewhere like Ponyville.”
“Don't don't worry Spike.” As Twilight punched in the key code, she gave him a reassuring look. “Flame Screamer has always been on the cautious side. This was just to make sure it doesn't get damaged or lost in the mail. I'm sure that if the research was anything REALLY important then she would have kept it back at the lab.” With this she pressed the 'open' button at the top of the case causing the upper half to open at a vertical seam down the center. A pneumatic hiss released a rush of cold air, as the two halves of the top of the case folded open to allow a pale green light to emanate from the opening. A slight hum reverberated through the room.
“Is it gonna explode?” Spike poked his head out from his hiding place in the closet.
“What? No! Well, I don't THINK it will. She's always enjoyed dramatic presentation. This is typical of her style.” Twilight cautiously moved back to the case and peered inside.
“Well, it looks similar enough. But this part here is different. Hmm. Oh, a letter!” She levitated the note out from the side of the case and read out loud. “Greetings Twilight. This is, as per your request, one of the latest training and simulation modules my team has been hard at work to develop. We've gotten the bugs mostly worked out, so there shouldn't really be many problems. You know I wouldn't normally allow something like this, but since the Princess herself has given permission I was more than happy to treat a friend. Besides, I know you're more than capable of handling something like this in a mature and responsible manner. Maybe the next time we see each other again you can handle my-” Twilight stopped reading suddenly.
“What? What's it say?” Spike was now near the case looking down at the devices inside.
“Uh, it goes on about some things, and then gives a description on how to use all of this.” Twilight quickly lowered the letter and turned her attention to the device. “Spike, I think we should go find our friends. This is going to be fun.”
*****
An hour later Twilight and her friends all stood around the metal case as she explained what it was and what it would do.
Applejack was the first to chime in. “So this here do-hicky fakes out your brain? Like yer in a dream or something?”
“Yes. That's very close to what happens, supposedly. Only with this you can control what you do, and what is happening around you. You see the black box in the center stores the information and provides the power source to the helmets. We put them on, and they create the illusion that we're in other places.”
“Oh, those helmets looks absolutely dreadful darling. It looks like something one would wear to go on an expedition to smash rocks with one's head. Not to mention that it would absolutely RUIN my hair.” Rarity was frowning as she bent down to look inside one of the head pieces.
“HA! Don't be such a scared wuss, Rarity. I bet this is gonna be AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash flew up and did a small loop in the air before landing near Twilight. “You said we could go anywhere and do ANYTHING?”
“Well, anything that's programed into the main unit.” Twilight pointed at the black box sitting in the center of the metal case. “Evidently, the programing team finished testing most of the standard magical educational programs a while ago. Lately they've been creating simulations of various events. From what I've gathered they're meant to train different sections of the the Equestrian army in various types of tactics and situations. In addition to those, there are also several scenarios that were made purely for entertainment. Regardless of what they were meant for, most of the simulations present themselves as a type of game or-”
“A game! OH BOY! Let's goooooo!” Pinkie Pie jumped up and down before grabbing one of the helmets and shoving it onto her head. “Let's DO this like no pony else can! It's gonna be a super fun time! Come on Twilight! Let's GOGOGO!” She stood on her hind legs and hopped back and forth from hoof to hoof.
“Heh heh. OK, Pinkie. We'll start now, but every pony has to keep in mind that this is still an imperfect type of magic. So don't get your hopes up really high. You may very well be totally disappointed.”
“Oh, don't worry Twilight. I'm sure we will all have a wonderful time.” Fluttershy smiled at her friend gently as she approached the machine. “After all, we are all having fun together, right? That is what counts.”
With this the ponies all agreed, and they all sat down on blankets and pillows laid out on the floor. Twilight walked around and lowered a head piece onto each of them, as Spike attached a cable from the back of each helmet into the side of the machine. “Spike, you'll have to sit this one out for now. We need you to activate the machine, and to turn it off when we're done. You remember what I taught you, right?”
“Yeah, I remember. It's too bad that this wasn't built so that you could play with it while operating it's actual control functions at the same time.”
“It was made primarily as an instruction and training tool. I get the impression that there was intended to be another pony outside of the system evaluating the students, maybe even a whole team of ponies maintaining the machine itself, in the case of bigger classes. But you're right. We will have to include this in our report back to Flame Screamer. I think it's safe to say you can shut the device down after an hour. That should be enough time to test it out.” Twilight put a helmet on her own head, as she settled down onto a cushion on the floor. “Ready when you are Spike.”
“OK. Here we go.” Spike reached over and hit a few buttons before pulling the lever on the side of the machine. There was a low hum and a brighter shade of green light emitted from somewhere inside the device before spreading to the helmets each pony wore.
*****
The blackness gave way to a vast open space, seemingly endless, with no landmarks as far as the eye could see. There was no sky that was not the same color as the ground, and both were equally sterile. The ponies looked around in awe.
“Now, every pony just stay calm. The instructions told me all about this. This is the staging area, where we choose what activities we want to do. First I need to give the verbal pass code.” Twilight stood up straight and tall, and shouted, “Menu activate!”
A menu list as big as a wall suddenly appeared, floating in mid-air. Twilight moved toward it, and read. “Make your selection here.” She read a few of the items on the list. “I don't understand. What do any of these things mean?”
“OH! I know! I know! These are the names of games! Lets pick one, NO! Lets pick two, or ALL of them!” Pinkie hopped up and down as she read over the list.
“They don't appear to be in any order. Twilight, you simply MUST inform your friend about this.” Rarity looked up and down the list as it began to slowly scroll upwards. “ It's too bad there aren't any descriptions for any of them, either. Are we supposed to know what they all are simply from reading the titles?”
“Don't be silly Rarity. Of course you can tell what kind of game it is from the name. It's just like 'pin the tail on the pony'. You do what the name says. Like this one here.” Pinkie pointed towards a selection of the list. “Heavy Rain. It's obviously about a nice relaxing day inside on a rainy day. Hmm. That doesn't sound very fun.”
“OH MAN! I see the one I want to play!” Rainbow Dash rushed towards her selection. “This one here. 'Totally Rad'. How can you go wrong with that, I mean honestly?” She looked at it for a moment. “Hey Twi, how do we get it to work?”
“Ah, that's right, I nearly forgot. The commands. When you want to play a game you just shout 'activate' and then the name of the game.” Twilight was about to say something else when Rainbow Dash interrupted her.
“Activate Totally Rad!” With that Rainbow Dash vanished in a bright flash of light.
“Wh- What happened to her?!” Fluttershy sank to the ground and covered her head with her hooves. “She was vaporized! I want to leave!”
“No no, Fluttershy, she's just fine. She … here let me help you up.” Twilight reached down to struggle bringing the cringing pegasus to her hooves again. “Once you choose what scenario you want, the machine sends you immediately into a sub-section specially made for what you selected. I was hoping that we could all go into the same simulation together for the first time doing this, but maybe it's best that we explore on our own for now. We can always come back and do a group activity later.”
“OOOHH! Look at this one. 'Stallionhunt'. I bet it's a scavenger hunting game. OH! Or hide-and-go-seek!” Pinkie clopped her hooves together as she looked up at the title. “I'm gonna go do that one. You can all join me if you like.” With that, Pinkie shouted the activation phrase and vanished.
“You see Fluttershy. You just pick a , uh, a game then you go and play it. It will be fun.” Twilight tried to make her smile appear reassuring. She was pretty sure it was working. The timid yellow pony had stopped shaking. “Here we can pick one together. How about this one. 'Little Big Planet'.”
“No. I don't want to go to a 'Big Planet'. That sounds scary.” Fluttershy watched the list panning up for a moment. “Oh, look at that one. 'Silent Hill'. That sounds like a good game. I mean, what could go wrong on top of a nice, quiet, silent hill? Oh, I hope it has a tree on it, and maybe some birds or other critters too.”
“Good choice. That wasn't so horrible, now was it?”
“No. Thank you very much, Twilight. This should be fun.” Fluttershy stepped toward the menu and said the command as loud as she dared. “Activate Silent Hill.”
Twilight turned back to her two remaining friends. “Have you decided yet on anything? Um, is something wrong Applejack?” She walked over to her friend who had a confused look on her face as she stared up at the scrolling menu.
“Twi, Ah' can't really make heads nor tails of any of this. It's just all too strange. And all these here 'games' just sound like things I wouldn't know nothin' about.” She kept staring up, and suddenly her eyes went wide. “Apples! Look!” She pointed towards the menu.
“What? Really? I guess they really DO have something for every pony here.” Twilight looked to where Applejack was pointing. “There's a lot of them too.”
“Yeah, who would have thunk it, that those fancy schmancy ponies in Canterlot would enjoy apples so much.” She smiled at this, then looked closer as her smile faded slightly. “It seems they only like McIntosh apples though. Too bad they spelled it wrong every time. Twi, I really would have expected better from ponies who were educated like you said they were. You'll have to put that on the list of stuff to fix too.”
Applejack looked closer at the list. “OK, since I don't really know what any of these are, I'll just pick one. Activate Apple McIntosh Quicken.”
“And I think I've found mine as well. Have you chosen yet?” Rarity looked over to Twilight.
“I was thinking of trying out 'Starcraft'. It sounds like I could learn a lot about the various constellations and planets. I've been wanting to see the latest theories from the Canterlot scholars on the cosmos and it's formation. I just hope it's not too much a review. Which one will you try?”
“Oh, darling, isn't it obvious? Bejeweled, of course. I think it will fit my style quite nicely. So then, you said we have about an hour to enjoy ourselves here?”
“Yes. I just hope that is enough time for every pony to have some fun, and learn a little bit too.”
*****
“OK, that should do it.” Spike pulled the lever into the 'off' position and looked towards his master. “How was it Twilight? Did you all have fun?”
Twilight reached up to pull the helmet off, and stared at Spike. “That … that wasn't instructional at all … and if it was, then we have some MAJOR problems to consider! I mean it was fun, but not at all what I thought it would be.”
“What the HELL was that crap! It wasn't 'totally rad'. It totally sucked!” Rainbow Dash pulled the helmet off and dropped it to the ground. “Did every pony else get ripped off as badly as I did?”
“Oh my, darling, no. I mean, it certainly wasn't what I was expecting, but it was good fun to say the least.” Rarity pulled off her head piece and sighed. “But my hair must look a fright now. What about you, Applejack? Did you enjoy yourself?”
Applejack pulled her head out of the helmet and stared at Rarity. “Well … Ah' can't say that Ah' had fun with it, but Ah' got good idea on how to commit tax evasion now. And Ah' think the budget for Sweet Apple Acres will be in better shape this year than it's been in a long time.”
“Pinkie? Why are you looking at me like that? Did … did you have fun?” Rainbow Dash was getting a bit nervous under Pinkie's gaze.
“Of course, Dash. Oodles.” She stared unblinkingly toward her friend before a large odd smile cracked across her face. “You know what we should do tomorrow Dash? You should help me with my baking. Wouldn't that be fun?”
“Uh, sure Pinkie. Sounds … sounds great. … YOUR FREAKIN' ME OUT!! QUIT IT!!”
“Wha- … oh, OH my. HA HA! Oh, silly me. I got caught day dreaming, I guess. But, Twilight, that was fun. I mean, I had fun. Did you have fun? Because I had fun. FUN FUN FUN!! HAHAHA!” Pinkie jumped forward and hugged Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack in one tight swooping hug.
“AH! Well, yes.” Twilight choked a bit as she pulled out of Pinkie's grasp. “Yes, I did. So I guess next time we can go in and do this togeth-”
“NO!” Pinkie riveted her eyes to Twilight's, her smile suddenly gone. “No 'next time'. There can't ever be a 'next time'. “ Then she smiled again and her voice sounded a bit too perky. “I mean, it would just ruin the whole experience of THIS time, you know. Hee hee hee. HAHA! … heh heh ...”
Twilight could do little more than stare, as her shoulder began to hurt under her friend's iron grip. “OK Pinkie. No 'next time'.”
The smile on Pinkie's face took on a more natural look as she released Twilight. She suddenly looked around the room. “Hey. Where's Fluttershy?”
The rest of the ponies glanced around the room. Then toward Spike. “Spike, you were right here the whole time. Did she just get up and wander away?” Twilight frowned at her apprentice.
“Well, I did leave a few times to grab a snack at that new shop down the street.” He looked sheepishly towards the floor. “I didn't think it was a big deal. I mean, you didn't tell me to stay here and keep guard over every pony the whole time. I thought it would be alright.”
“Look.” Rarity pointed towards the length of cord that lead from the main device and strung itself backwards into a seldom used corner of the library. The ponies followed the cord into one of the library's alcoves and around the bend of a bookshelf. There they saw a writing desk laying on it's side, covered partially by curtains that had been ripped down from a nearby window. The cord they had followed connected to one of the chunks of smashed helmet that lay scattered through the alcove.
“UG! Twilight when was the last time you cleaned back here? It smells like some pony emptied a toilet into the books!” Rainbow Dash held her nose as they approached the mess.
Pinkie's eyes suddenly shot open wide. “Oh no. Ohno,ohno,ohno.” She repeated the phrase as she ran to the opposite side of the desk. Her friends quickly joined her as she lifted the damp reeking curtain from across the desk. “Oh … oh no ...”
“Fluttershy?” Twilight cautiously approached her friend. “Are, … are you ok?”
Rarity whispered harshly into Twilight's ear. “Of course she isn't! Just LOOK at her.”
“I know that. I'm trying to do this as delicately as I can.” Twilight's own whisper held a sharp edge to it as well.
“Th- ...” The ponies all froze as Fluttershy's words, now barely audible, began to crumble out of her cracked bleeding mouth. “There were … critters …”
*****
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that while it is fun to fantasize and play make believe games, we must always remember to keep our hooves firmly planted on the ground. To allow ourselves to become too wrapped up in a situation that isn't real, can cause some serious problems, both for us and our friends.
However, if problems do occur, we can always count on the help of our friends to make it back to reality. This process may take a little longer for some than for others … or a lot longer in some cases.
On a side note, I would like to arrange for my friends and I to visit the R & D team headed up by Flame Screamer. We would all like to thank her properly, face to face, for the fun little excursion she provided for us, and I know that you can make this happen. I eagerly await your reply.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
P.S. If you would also get me in touch with the research division team that specializes in psychiatric medication, I would be very appreciative.
