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Vinylquest

by Aiyonbeam

Chapter 1: Main Menu

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Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Boop.

"A-ha!" Tavi called, her voice ringing across the arcade over the sound of the storm outside and the random sounds of the machines beeping quietly to themselves. "I scored a goal!"

I roll my eyes and chuckle, disengaging myself from my session of Pony Fighter II and walking over to her, bending over the machine she's playing and looking at the screen over her shoulder.

"First of all," I said. "goal!?"

"Hey, I'm not quite into your video game jargon just yet, Vinyl." Octavia shot back, giving me a quick glare before getting back to her game.

"Second of all," I continued. "You're playing Pong. Literally the first - and the simplest - video game ever. In the history of all video games."

"So?" Tavi said, scoring another point. "Everypony has to start somewhere. Didn't you start out playing this?"

"No." I said, pointing to the Pac-Pony cabinet. "I started with that, got bored after five minutes, and moved on to Dance Dance Evolution."

I swept my hoof across the empty arcade, indicating the machines.

"I then moved on to Element Command, then Moon Invaders, then Ponaga, and then to Pony Fighter, and then-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Tavi said, scoring yet another goal. "Showoff."

"Hey, it's not like you can't get to my level." I said, leaning casually up against the Pong cabinet. "All you need is years of practice, an arcade, and the ability to use video games as a coping mechanism." I said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Octavia said, glaring at me. "Set Pony Fighter II up for me."

"You think you can handle it?"

"If you can master it, how hard can it be?" Tavi said, grinning.

As we walked to the Pony Fighter machine, I ran my hoof along the machines I passed, each one an old friend to me.
Every single time something bad happened to me, the arcade was there for me. I grew up in here almost as much as I did in my own house. The original Pony Fighter had gotten me through my parents' divorce. Shaftbuilder had helped me cope with the fallout from my first gig, where I'd gotten stage fright and dropped the record I was supposed to play. Chance of Storms, brutally hard as it was, had helped me build the persistence and confidence to ask out my first date.
I knew all these games by heart; there were a part of me.
I snorted. And ponies say gamers have no lives.

The voice of Soldered Circuit, the owner of the arcade and one of my best friends since elementary school, cut through my reverie.

"I'm closing the shop now! You've got the Master Key?"

"Yep!" I called back at him, holding up the key which, when turned, would allow the arcade game it was placed in to run for free.

"Lock the doors when you're done!" he calls, exiting through the front door as I levitated the key into the coin slot of Pony Fighter II

As I turned the silver key, the words at the bottom saying Insert Credits. disappeared, to be replaced by the words Free Play.

"Remind me to buy Soldered Circuit a hayburger tomorrow." I said, stepping back and gesturing for Tavi to take the controls.

Suddenly, before either one of us could react, an electrical noise filled the arcade, and the screen flashed blue, then green, then yellow, then purple, then black-and-white, all in less than a second, before returning to the usual title screen of Pony Fighter II.
The sound of thunder ran through the arcade.

I turned to Tavi.

"I wasn't the only one to see that, right?" I asked.

"No, you weren't." Tavi replied, taking a hesitant step towards the machine.

I followed her, noting as I did that the words at the bottom no longer read 'Free Play'.
Instead, they read Ready to begin, heroes?

"What the heck?" I said, stepping in front of Tavi and looking at the screen.

"Ready to begin?" Octavia asked. "What in Equestria does that mean?"

"I dunno." I said, tapping the screen with a hoof. "Maybe it's broken?"

As we stared, the words at the bottom of the screen disappeared again, to be replaced one very unsettling word.

Ouch.

"Okay, this is getting freaky." I said.

The words changed again.

Press Start.

"There isn't even a 'start' button." Tavi said. "How can we-"

Suddenly, one of the buttons on the cabinet lit up. Upon further inspection, I realized it was the A button.

"Tavi..." I began.

"No, Vinyl." Octavia says. "You are not pushing that button."

"Of course not!" I said. "You are!"

Wait, what!?" Octavia said, right before I pushed her forward.

"Come on!" I said. "I thought you said you could handle it."

Tavi turned around and glared at me.

"That was before the arcade machine obtained sentience." she snarked.

I rolled my eyes.

"How is this different?" I asked. "Just press A, and then try and beat it."

"Vinyl..."

"I dare you to do it."

"Vinyl, do you seriously think I'm going to-"

"What if I quintuple-dog dared you to do it?"

Octavia gasped.

Every town in Equestria has its own unique promise that it keeps. Ponyville has the now-legendary Pinkie Promise. Baltimare and Las Pegasus share the infamous 'Griffin Gamble Swear', and Manehattan has the somewhat outdated yet still tried-and-true 'Ever-Binding Hoofshake'. But of all of them, Canterlot's own quintuple-dog dare is the most binding.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would."

"Can't we talk this out? I mean, we're both reasonable mares."

"Of course we can, Tavi. It's simple, really: You press the button, play a few rounds, and then leave."

"But the machine-"

"Probably glitched out. Come on! You're never gonna be a real gamer unless you take risks!"

"No. I'm not doing it. I'm going to go back home and finish my book, like I'd planned to do before you dragged me to this stupid arcade."

You leave me no choice, then..."

"Vinyl, don't you dare!"

"Octavia Melody, I quintuple-dog dare you to press the A button on the Pony Fighter II machine!"

Octavia scowled.

"Sometimes," she said, turning to the machine and pressing A. "I really hate the fact that I know you."

Then everything went blue, then green, then yellow, then purple, and faded to black.

Next Chapter: Zone 1 - Level 1: Terra Firma Estimated time remaining: 28 Minutes
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