“Gem… Matrix…”

With a shake of his feathered head, Gallus pulled himself out of his stupor and immediately started firing out questions.

“Okay, how old is that thing? And how long have you had it for?”

“I’ve only had it for a good year now. As for its age, I have no idea, but I do know it was made long before I was born.”

“You know, those things have been out of everyday service for like, what, thirty years now?”

The griffon looked around for affirmation, and he received a few nods from those that were more accustomed to older machines.

Smolder was the next to chime in. “Those things aren’t cheap, either. I think that when they were new you could buy a huge home with a large hoarde for about the same price.”

“Well, we didn’t really pay for it.”

Nobody missed Ocellus’s shift to a more somber tone.

“What do you mean, Ocellus?”

The changeling would have liked the luxury of telling only Yona what she had meant, but the four other sets of curious eyes watching her made that an impossibility.

“Well, I suppose I should tell you the story of how the hive got a hold of it, so here goes.”

When Queen Chrysalis was still our ruler, she forced us to conduct many raids into Equestria for love.”

“So? Isn’t that like, normal for changelings. Ow!”

Gallus rubbed the back of his head where Smolder cuffed him, looking her direction and mouthing a silent what as Ocellus continued her story.

“We were looking for… other things as well. The queen not only wanted to feed our subjects, she wanted whatever edge so could get on Equestria. Weapons, magic, technology, everything that could aid in a future war was fair game. But we could only hit targets that were either easy to get at or lightly defended, lest our cover be blown.

“That’s where we get to my Gem Matrix. Like I said, Chrysalis wanted the latest technology, and when she found out about that Equestria possessed the most powerful supercomputer in the land, and that it was portable, she quickly put a plan into action to steal it. I believe it was featured in a newspaper or something. But It was kept in a heavily guarded location that would have been next to impossible to infiltrate.”

“Then how did you get it out of there?!” Silverstream almost shrieked as she hovered excitedly above.

“A frontal assault would have been out of the question. Luckily one of the scouts watching the place got wind of a plan to transport the computer from the base in the San Palomino Desert to Canterlot for further study, and that scout was able to get ahold of the schedule as well. So it was decided that the best option was to steal it in transit, when the risk of detection would be at its lowest.

“Once the train had departed and was miles away from civilization, changeling commandos led by Chrysalis herself stormed the train and subdued everyone onboard with non-lethal spells and sleeping gas. By the time those ponies came to, the computer was already at the hive, and the spells used made sure that they had no recollection of the event. That’s the origin of the mainframe you see here.”

The lingering silence made Ocellus briefly reconsider telling her story. Even though it had been over thirty years since the incident, her machine had still been stolen from its creators – stolen from Equestria – and she had no idea how that would affect things going forward.

“Alright! I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but that story was awesome!”

“Yaks agree! Best origin story for computer ever.”

“Gotta admit, I was a little ticked about all the secrecy, but I’m liking what I’m seeing.”

Ocellus’s eyes jumped from Silverstream to Yona to Smolder, but instead of any form of disapproval, she only saw looks of admiration on their faces.

“You guys really don’t mind that it was stolen?”

Gallus’s unrestrained laughter filled the crowded room. “Are you kidding me?! This is the first time In my life I’ve seen one of these, so forgive me if I don’t give a shit that it was stolen. Besides, If Princess Egghead had any issue, she wouldn’t have let you bring it in, amirite?”

“Huh, I never thought about it like that before. Thanks Gallus.”

“It’s what I’m here for.”

As everyone else examined the big machine further, Sandbar held his head low in deep thought. Once he got his mind in order, he looked up and spoke.

“I can’t help but remember hearing about something like that even though I wasn’t born at the time either.”

Silverstream landed in front of him and smiled. “Don’t worry yourself over that too much, Sandbar. What’s in the past should stay there. What matters is that we’re here now, and right now we’ve got a game to play!”

With a cheer, the gang got down to the business of moving the Gem Matrix from its current home to the place it would inhabit for the night.

“Alight, how much of this stuff can be moved to my cart?”

Ocellus pointed her hoof at the desk. “The terminal and everything else is all ready to go.”

“Alright then, I’ll move the biggest thing first.”

Sandbar wrapped his forelimbs around the terminal and attempted to lift it up, only to set it back down with a huff.

“Um, a little help here.”

“I got you!”

Silverstream hopped over, and with two sets of forelimbs the hippogriff and pony were able to ferry the heavy terminal out to the cart. As the two of them came back in to move more stuff, Ocellus squeezed by with a mouse, floppy drive, and a bundle of cables in her hooves, bound for the cart. They went back to the desk, where a pair of speakers and cassette deck were the only items remaining. They were grabbed up by Silverstream and moved out.

“Sandbar!”

The pony looked to the doorway where his name had been called from. “Yeah?!”

“In my filing cabinet there is a bin full of tapes! Can you grab it?!”

“Sure thing!”

He reached down under the right side of the desk and pulled open the bottommost – and biggest – drawer. He figured that a bin full of data cassettes would be in the biggest one, and he was summalarly rewarded with the sight of a blue rubber lid sealed onto the same opaque container that one would store their leftovers in. He lifted it out of the drawer and held it up in view of the door.

“Ocellus, is this it?!”

The little changeling poked her head around the door frame. “That’s it!”

As Sandbar moved the container to his cart, the changeling came back in and approached the others who were gathered around her monstrosity of a system.

“Okay,” she began. “Everything is set. We’ll need the strongest creatures to help pull it out and push it, and the rest to guide it.”

“Smolder and Yona can help with that!” the yak bellowed as she and the dragon got into position to begin pulling.

They started by unlocking the casters and pulling the front of the unit away from the wall. Then, they pulled it forward enough to allow Smolder and Yona to fit behind and begin pushing it along. Sandbar trotted on ahead to reattach his cart and move it out of the way as Silverstream and Gallus guided the mainframe through the doorway, and Ocellus kept her eyes open for any dragging cables.

Once outside of its cramped quarters, it was much easier to guide the massive computer – only requiring a few inputs here and there to keep it on course. Everycreature still kept their eyes peeled for any debris that could get bound up in the wheels and kill their momentum. A few turns later and they were back at the chosen spot, ready to locate a good place for Ocellus’s machine.

“Alright, you guys get Ocellus set up. I’m gonna find us some network ports.”

“Well, since all the musclework is taken care of, how about we join you?”

“Yona agrees! With Yak on the job we’ll have internet in a jif!”

Gallus and Smolder flew of in their search and Yona galloped along as the others situated the system. After a brief back and forth about the ideal placement, the other three pushed it directly behind the table and up against the wall.

Sandbar dragged a foreleg across his brow. “Wow, that thing is even heavier than it looks. How the hell do you manage it all on your own, O?”

The changeling giggled. “It’s not that difficult. All I ever really need to do is pull it out slightly to vacuum every now and then.”

The two in conversation went over by the cart to retrieve the terminal. The pony feared that he and the diminutive changeling wouldn’t be able to manage the heavy device, but they were able to get it on the table with little issue.

“Yeah, but you had to get it from your home to the dorm somehow.”

Ocellus plugged the video and power cables that she had brought along into the back of the terminal. “Oh, Thorax handled all of that. He always wants me to have all the comforts of home, and he said I could bring whatever I wanted with.”

Sandbar came back a second later with the other peripherals and set them on the table. “So what you are saying is you sweet talked your king into bringing that monster here even though he could have bought you a basic system that would run circles around it.”

Ocellus’s tone was unsure. “Well, when you put it that way it sounds kinda shady. I hadn’t even touched a computer until Chrysalis was overthrown, and once she was, Thorax let me use the computer that he was once tasked with maintaining. He gave me all the books he had about it, and once I learned the ins and outs of operation, he let me inherit it. I would like to have something modern and hassle-free, but the Gem Matrix is my first computer, and I don’t want to upgrade until it’s absolutely necessary. Plus the hive isn’t exactly brimming with bits, either.”

Silverstream peeked her head out from behind the big machine, where she had been plugging in its multiple power cords into the outlets. “Wow, and I thought Gallus was the only one who loved old tech!”

A strange tapping sound drew their attention to the window, where they could just make out a hovering creature who was rapping a claw against the glass. As Sandbar trotted over to investigate, he was able to see that the mystery individual was a griffon, and a familiar one at that.

“Come on, don’t leave leave me hanging dude!”

The muffled cry from the other side forced Sandbar to conclude that the griffon was indeed Gallus, and the pony fumbled with the window latch. After several failed attempts, he finally got it release, and was rewarded with a blast of subzero air that stung his nose and ears – forcing him back severals paces. The griffon wasted no time racing through the opening and landing near the battlestation.

“What were you doing out there, Gallus?” Sandbar inquired as he shut the window.

“Well, we were looking for ports, and we found a few in the area, but not enough for us all. So I decided to take a quick flight outside to see if there were any out there, and I’m sure glad I did.”

Gallus went back to the window, end of a network cable in his claw, and the rest trailing behind. “There’s a jack just outside this window for some odd reason – but it only has one spot to plug in – so Yona will be getting it since her system is closest.”

The griffon lifted the window open and leaned out to blindy reach around for the exterior jack. After a few seconds of hunting, he came back in and passed the cable to Sandbar.

“Take this. I’ll be back.”

He leaped out the window this time and took wing into the twilight. After a quick turnaround, he came to a hover outside the window, where Sandbar hoofed over the plug and he plugged it into the socket.

Once he was back inside, he reached up for the window and pulled it down, slowing for the last bit so as to not damage the cable he was closing into it. With the task complete – and the window shut as much as possible – he stepped back and followed the cable that snaked under the window and across the floor to its origin – Yona’s computer.

“Something tells me you were out there for more reasons than one.”

Gallus looked back at his smirking friend and grinned back. “Well, I figured there was just enough light left in the sky for a nice flight – and I didn’t want to be stuck hunting down sockets – so I offered to look around outside. I honestly never expected my excuse to pay off, though.”

“But, you’ve always told me flying at night is dangerous for griffons.”

“Flying at night is a bad idea, but like I said, just enough light. Not to mention the light spilling out these windows lights the whole place up like a hearth’s warming tree set on fire.”

The heavy, but muffled thud of hooves on carpet drew their attention to the returning duo of Yona and Smolder – the latter plodding along behind. The dragon took one look at the cable running out the window, then looked at Gallus in astonishment.

“Really?”

The griffon was smug in his response. “Well, you know me. Best eyes in the land.”

“Was that the only one out there?”

“Unfortunately, yes. How about on your end?”

“Like we already know, ports are scattered around the place. I just hope we have enough cable to reach the ones we need.”

“Kinda ahead of you there. I used the shortest one we had for Yona’s, and saved the longer ones for everybody else.”

“Yeah, speaking of that.” Smolder went over to Sandbar’s cart and returned with several bundles of network cable they had brought along. “Since you flew off on us, you get to help us hook up.”

While Gallus and Smolder laid out and connected cable, the others finished setting up their individual machines. Peripherals were placed, and computers were plugged in. The end result was a veritable rats nest of thick power cables, but it would do for the session.

Once everything was set and everybody was present and accounted for, it was time for the moment of truth. One after the other, switches were flipped, buttons were pressed, and a din of mechanical noise filled the area. Then the monitors received video signals, and they lit up with splash screens for the particular machine and operating system of choice.

The boot sequences completed in due time, and the desktops appeared with personalized backgrounds. Yona’s was a low resolution image of her and her immediate family standing in their village center. The big yak that the gang all knew and loved was with her two younger sibling, and they were absolutely small compared to the older family members that towered over them, and the snowy mountains in the background towered above them all.

Sandbar’s background was a pixel art of a beautiful tropical beach of white sand and gray rocks, with palm trees in the background, and lapping waves in the fore. Upon one of the rocks was a dark green sea turtle that had pulled itself out of the ocean to sun itself under the cloudless sky.

Silverstream’s wallpaper was another pixel art piece, but instead of some locale in the tropics, it was of a pathway of ivory, floating stairs that meandered from its start in the immediate foreground to where it disappeared into the puffy clouds. And Smolder’s was pixel art of a gigantic hoarde of gems.

“Is there a problem, Ocellus? You haven’t booted your computer up yet.”

The changeling was away from her terminal, flipping switches on the main unit. “I’m sorry Silverstream, but my startup is a bit more involved. Just one… sec… alright, here goes.”

Ocellus reached up for a big switch labeled Main Power and flipped it to the on side. The usual fare of beeps and spinning of hard disks was what initially came from the machine and it didn’t add much to the ambient volume. But once all the lights on the first cabinet hed changed from red to an affirmative green, the opinion changed.

The vacuum tubes in the second cabinet began to glow, starting out as a dim orange that kept increasing in brightness as the filaments in the tubes warmed up. Once they reached their peak, the tape reels started to spin up, and a cacophony of ticking and clicking as the reels started and stopped drowned out any other sound.

There was one more cabinet to go. With a muffled boosh, magical capacitors released their stored energy, which ran through the spiderweb of tubes to the gem containers. The gems themselves lit up with different spectrums of color, and were suspended in place as the now multi-colored mana was piped into the central focusing crystal.

With all the components working in concert, Ocellus retreated from the computer and sat down in the one of the six armchairs that had been pilfered from the local area for seating. They were nice and comfortable, but were lacking in height compared to her own office chair, making it a bit difficult to reach her screen and controls, but she managed.

The terminal was powered up, and instead of a wallpapered desktop like the others, she was greeted by a command line interface in amber. GMS ver. 2.3 was spelled out on the first line, and the text cursor blinked on the next lime down in anticipation of more commands.

With all machines now up and running, the next logical step was to install their software. A quick look around on Ocellus’s part revealed that all the others had already started to do so, with Spell Questing packaging opened up at everybody else’s station. So she got out her own boxed copy and pulled open the top to carefully hoof out its contents. Everything came out in one big stack, with the game’s instruction manual on top. To her delight, the book was quite thick, and would make for some good reading during the installation process.

Under that were several paper pouches, each bulging with gigantic black diskettes that the changeling flipped through until she found the first in the series. That disk was pulled out fully, and gave it a little flip in her hooves like a DJ might do with a vinyl record. Once the proper side had been selected, the disk was inserted into the drive and she typed in the drive letter and pressed enter.

The mechanical scratching of disk drives and hard drives hardly added to the already impressive sound of the Gem Matrix processing the installation, but it was enough to let everybody know that things were going fine. They passed this time by either reading little snippets out of the manual in between disk or CD swaps, or gabbing about other activities they could do over the break besides Spell Questing. Eventually, most of the installations had completed, leaving Ocellus to swap in the final disk and wait for that process to finish.

"You guys ready!" Gallus shouted excitedly as he moved his mouse cursor to the newly acquired shortcut on his desktop.

“Yona is ready to loot every dungeon she comes across!”

The griffon laughed. “Not if I get to them first! My characters are built for speed!”

The tables shook slightly as Yona brought her hooves down onto her peripherals, and Smolder steadied the can of soda she had just opened a second ago.

“Yak will build strongest character in game and flatten puny griffon!”

Gallus’s was going to continue, but his expression paled when he saw little puffs of steam wafting up from Yona’s corner of the table. I probably shouldn’t egg her on this early in the game. But that doesn’t mean I won’t bring my A-game later.

On the other side of the table, Smolder took a sip of her soda.

“We’re all good to go dude!”

Silverstream added in. “Yeah, hit it!”

“Wait!” A small teal hoof waved around in the air frantically. “I need a second yet!”

Sandbar retained the same pose he had been holding for the past five minutes – slouched down in his chair and forehooves behind his head. “Let’s just chill for a moment guys. Give Ocellus a moment to finish her install.”

“I need just… one more… Alright, I’m ready!”

At Ocellus’s shout, they all double-clicked on their icons – or in Ocellus’s case – typed it into the command line and hit enter. Their monitors snapped to black, and after a few long, tense seconds, the game’s introductory medieval theme song that they all knew by heart began to play through their speakers. As soon as the familiar tune hit her ears, Silverstream turned up the volume on her bookshelf speakers, to both hear her favorite piece of music and to drown out the noise of all the computers.

The video component of the experience was next, but instead of familiarity, they were greeted with an intro that was completely new. A planet was the first image shown, with terrain features, bodies of water, and bits of cloud cover. The camera than flew down towards the world’s surface, going under the clouds and flying over all the known lands of the game. It eventually came to a stop above a rocky precipice where a massive gathering of creatures was taking place. The attire they wore and the weapons they carried were as varied as the creatures themselves, but they all had one thing in common; the scrolls that were held in hoof, claw, or hand.

Spell Questing: Online exploded onto the screen in a shower of sparks, and the rest of the main menu text followed soon after – along with a squeal of delight from Silverstream.

“That intro… Ten out of ten!”

Smolder leaned forward in her seat. “I have to agree, it was pretty legit, and that’s coming from a dragon who loves movies!”

As the gang adjusted their graphics and control settings, they were unaware of a small crack beginning to form on one of the tubes in the gem matrix. As processing load was placed on the machine, the crack spiderwebbed around the base and each pulse through the gem caused the cracks to spread further up the tube. All it would take is one more pulse of energy to…

The instant Ocellus clicked New Game, a loud pop echoed throughout the room, and her screen went dark. For a split second, the changeling thought that the noise and issue had come from the terminal, but the green standby light in the bottom left corner did nothing to alleviate concern, instead filling the young operators heart with mounting apprehension.

Then the light coming from behind her flickered out of existence, and the loud sounds of the machine ceased almost as instantly, being replaced by an angry sounding alarm klaxon from the digital controller. She practically leapt out of her seat, almost tripping over loose cables as she half galloped, half flew to her system.

Under normal circumstances, the array of red lights that had lit up on the controller would have easily been deciphered by the changeling, but under the stress that was bordering on panic, just getting her thoughts in order was challenging.

“Alright…” Ocellus gasped out. “A solid line on top with dashed lines below and a pulsing line on bottom means disk failure, but that can’t be, it wouldn’t have popped like that… unless…

“Oh shit, dude! Look!”

The changeling averted her eyes from the diode readout to look back at her friends, one of which was pointing at something frantically with an extended claw.

“Yak smells magic smoke… and not good kind either.”

The claw pointing at the far end of her machine – along with Yona’s admission of smelling smoke – forced the pit that had already formed in her stomach to grow even bigger. Now knowing just what had failed, but not quite believing it herself, she went over to the gem matrix.

It was indeed smoking lightly, the stench of burnt electronics with a hit of ozone hitting her senses as she looked for the failure. Of all the seven different gem tubes that fed the matrix, one of them near the four o’clock position had blown completely, leaving behind only an empty stump. Shards of glass and crystal had most certainly been thrown around inside the cabinet, causing untold amounts of unseen damage besides the initial.

All Ocellus could do in that moment was put her hooves on her head and wail.

“I blew a gem tube! I don’t have any spares, and all replacement parts were discontinued years ago! Why!”

As she went through her crisis, a depressing silence befell the rest of the group – their game completely forgotten – and none of them able to come up with anything comforting to say.

Once the initial shock transformed into sorrow and regret, Ocellus found her voice again.

“I was so close. I thought my old rig could handle modern games, but I was wrong.” She sniffed loudly. “It looks like you g-guys are gonna have to go on without me.”

The sight of a changeling on the verge of tears spurred one of the others to action, and Smolder was at her side in an instant.

“I may not be the most, um, qualified to speak on this matter, but I promise that we’ll do whatever it takes to fix this.”

“But I blew a tube! They’re not something that the regular computer store carries, and I’ve looked!”

“So we go secondhand, er, hoof. There’s no way you’re the only one with a system like that in the world.”

“And if that fails, what then?”

The dragon shrugged. “Make one, I guess. I mean, you already have half the library in your room. Maybe you could put that knowledge to use.”

Ocellus was no longer on the verge of tears, but she still sounded unsure. “Even if I could find glass strong enough to contain the energy, and was able to craft it into a perfect shape, I would still need a crystal that resonates at an exact frequency, and it would need to be completely pure!”

“I saw your books on gems, and I know you know what would be needed, but you should let me take care of that.”

“If I told you, how would you find crystals like that?”

Smolder winked. “I’m a dragon, I have my sources.”

Away from plans to fix the broken system, Gallus desperately wanted to offer something better to his crushed friend then simple condolences. Finding a replacement tube and crystal for a rare and aged system could take weeks. Just sourcing replacement parts for his system would take about that much time – and that was for one of the most popular machines ever produced.

He wanted to offer something quicker than that, something better, something…

There was something that shifted slightly in his pocket, and the griffon reached his claws in to grasp his wallet where Twilight Sparkle’s stolen credit card was residing...

“Now, we could go on a wild hunt for a component that probably no longer exists, or we can use this.”

All heads swiveled towards the griffon, who was holding a red debit card in his claws. He flexed it slightly for added emphasis before continuing.

“I recently got a holiday boost to my allowance, thanks to my guardian. It’s not that much, but if we all pool our resources, we could buy Ocellus a new system.”

“What?!”

If the computer blowing up and almost catching fire hadn’t already been enough of a shock, the words that had come out of Gallus’s beak left them completely wide-eyes and aghast.

“Now hear me out,” the griffon countered. “I have a bunch of bits that I’m willing to throw into the hat for this. All we need is for everyone to pitch in just enough to buy an entry level machine, so… uh… everycreature cough up?”

His resolve faltered when he looked over towards Ocellus and Smolder standing before the now inoperable mainframe, where the former met his eyes with a look of awe and hope.

And the latter met him with absolute fury.

Smolder could not believe what she had witnessed transpire. Not only had Ocellus’s pride and joy kicked the metaphorical bucket, but one of her friends was using that to pressure her other friends into replacing it with funds that none of them possessed. But that wasn’t what truly set her thoughts ablaze.

She had just vowed to do whatever it took to find the necessary parts to fix what was broken, but Gallus’s short-sighted, greedy, and borderline scammy offer completely eclipsed her own attempt at charity. But when she met the glistening eyes of Ocellus, and saw that little bit of regained hope start fading away, she considered other options to solve the new problem – something that didn’t involve screaming every expletive she knew.

We have to knock some sense into that griffon somehow, but not in front of Ocellus...

There was only one solution that she could implement before all tartarus broke loose, and she hoped to both Torch and Ember that it would work.

Donning the fakest smile ever, she enacted her plan. “Hey, Silverstream?”

“Mmmyes?”

“I know that being a student isn’t exactly the most profitable, and that being away from home isn’t helping that, but you wouldn’t have a few bits to spare?” Smolder did everything she could to suppress the bile that was creeping up her throat. “For the sake of our friend.”

Silverstream appeared to mull over this in silence, frown on her beak as she wrung her claws. She then bounced back into her normal, cheery self.

“Of course I can spare a few shells, erm, bits for a friend in need!”

Making sure not to sigh in relief and advertise her true intentions, she moved on. Knowing Silverstream was playing along – she hoped – gave her the confidence necessary to convince the other two that still needed it.

Just by looking at Sandbar, she could tell the he was onboard as well. That left Yona, who was a bit slow at these things, and who didn’t look too happy about current events.

“How does big talking griffon expect yak to fork over coin to p-!”

Smolder was prepared for belligerence from her yak friend, and had quickly soared over the table to land between her and Silverstream. She then grabbed Yony by the neck and dragged her head under the table for privacy. It was hard work the keep the thrashing mass of muscle under control, but the dragon managed.

“I need you to play along with us, Yona,” Smolder hissed into the yak’s left ear. “I promise you won’t have to spend a single bit on this insane idea.”

“Come on, Yona!”

Silverstream’s head joined them under that table. “Surely yak could spare a little bit of money for a good friend!”

Yona tremored slightly in Smolder’s grasp. “One says I don’t have to give money. Other says I should. Yak confused!”

Smolder quickly pushed Silverstream’s head out of the picture and leaned in close to Yona’s ear. “Play. Along.”

They both came back up, one smiling toothily, and the other sheepishly rubbing the back of her head with a cloven hoof.

“On second thought, yak has plenty of coin floating around to spare.”

“What about you, Smolder?”

The dragon looked at the pony across the table from her, and watched him casually blow a lock of his seaweed mane out of his face.

“How much can you spare?”

“Well, you see, I’m not quite sure how much I have. How about this, we all take a hike back to our dorms, figure out exactly what we can spare, and meet back here. Sound like a plan?”

The chorus of cheerful yeps and uh huh, told Smolder that her gambit had worked for the most part, with one possible issue.

“R-really! You would do this for me?!”

Silverstream took off out of her seat and into a hover above the table full of systems, and did a stationary backflip for good measure.

“Are you crazy! Of course we’d do that for you! But we do need to find out what we all have in our piggy banks first.”

“Wow guys! Thank you! Thank you so much!”

“Come on everyone!” the hippogriff flew towards the door. “We have a friend in need, there’s no time to waste!”

Griffon, dragon, and yak also made for the door, but Ocellus was barred from following by a lime furred leg across her chest.

“Hey Ocellus, um, seeing as your system is… out of commission, how would you like to try out my EDM for a bit. “You seemed pretty stoked about it in the cafeteria – t-thats if you want to of course, eheh…”

She considered the offer. “I… might. I need to head back to my dorm and grab some books first for…”

“I could stop by your dorm and pick up some things for you.”

“Really? Well in that case, I think I will take you up on the offer.”

“Awesome! There’s also this website I’ve been dying to show you, I have it up on screen already.”

Sandbar led Ocellus away from the oldest system in the room to the newest and most powerful system, and the changeling clamored into the all to short chair.

“I give you The Interactive Museum Online. Came across it a few weeks back while studying up for midterms, but I kept forgetting to show you it. It has voiced narrators and video playback to show what’s going on with some games too. Not that you can’t play some of my personal games either.”

“Come on Sandbar, you’re holding up the show!”

Gallus’s frustrated shout forced Sandbar to stop giving a guided tour of the website and back up towards the waiting friends.

“Anyway, gotta go. I’ll be back soon. A-anything you want me to grab from your room?”

Ocellus mulled over what she actually wanted Sandbar to grab out of her dorm, and then pulled out her keyring and passed it to him.

“Can you grab my owners manual for me. It’s that giant book in my filing cabinet you might have seen-”

“Yeah, I know the one. Anything else?”

“No, that’s it. I can get more books on my own if I need.”

With that, Sandbar trotted towards the door and followed the rest of the group to the atrium. Gallus took the lead, a notable spring in his step. Both Yona and Smolder were right behind him, fanking each side.

Once they reached the skylight. Gallus turned around and addressed the rest with a crooked grin.

“I knew you guys would com-”

Gallus was suddenly grabbed bodily by Smolder and slammed up against a nearby wall, the impact driving the air out of his lungs and cancelling his self-congratulatory remark. With one arm holding down the shocked griffon, she used the other to backhand him across his beak. Just after, Yona’s hoof was driven into his ribs, making him groan in pain. The dragon switched arms, getting ready to smack him the other way when the griffon was finally able to get his talons into play and parry the incoming blow.

He wasn’t actually able to block Smolder’s claws – just deflect it somewhat. Using all his strength, he was able to push the irate dragon away and give himself a little breathing room, which he gladly used.

“What the fuck, guys!”

With shaking breaths, Gallus took in the sight of two snarling faces literally in his face. Just behind them, he could see that Silverstream and Sandbar wore less angry versions of the expression, but were keeping distance from the scuffle – neither being the fighting type.

“That was for forcing us all to pitch in for a new computer that none of us can afford!”

“Yak no like shifty deals! Admit your fault now, or yak get rough!”

Smolder squeezed a little harder on his shoulder. “I prefer the term dick move, which it truly was. Admit it.”

“Alright! Alright! It was a dick move, okay! Can you let me go now!”

Knowing that Gallus had learned his lesson for the most part, and knowing that that his pleading was as close to an apology that they would ever get, Smolder relaxed her arm and stepped back as the griffon slumped to the floor.

He rubbed at his bruised rib with one claw, and his cheek with the other, groaning as he did so. Once the pain had subsided enough to no longer require attention, he got back onto his paws and quipped. “Seriously, what the fuck is this, international beat up the generous griffon day.”

“No, its save our bits from the greedy griffon day.”

That griffon chuckled mirthlessly. “You really should hear yourself right now, Smolder, The first thing you did when that thing blew was make a monster promise that you had no chance of keeping.”

She was back in his face. “And how would you know that!”

“Because my system is constantly crapping out on me. I know what it’s like to visit store after store without result. I know what it’s like to purchase components secondhand through shady griffons, the kind that would shake you down for every bit you had before letting you fly off with the part.

“Even if you were lucky enough to find that gem tube, it would probably cost at least twice as much as a new computer, and that’s before any haggling.”

“Those are your experiences, Gallus. There’s no saying that the same would happen to her.”

“And there’s no saying it wouldn’t.”

The griffon screwed his eyes shut and slowly exhaled. “Look, I truly wanted to help, and I’m truly sorry that I let it turn into something that looked a little scammy.”

“That’s putting it lightly.”

“But my offer still stands. I’ll be putting forward my bits, even if none of you can spare any of your own.”

After all that, Gallus could now see that the others no longer had any anger in their faces, just mild disappointment, and Silverstream even smiled slightly. What he didn’t expect was for Sandbar to come closer, wallet in hoof.

“I don’t think you should be let off the hook that easily,” the pony stated as he rifled through its contents. “But the bottom line is that our friend is in need, and who would I be if I left her hanging. I can only spare about a hundred bits, though. My parents are riding my ass as it is about my spending habits.”

Yona was the next to throw in. “Yak has forty bits to offer, no more.”

“Two-hundred.” Silverstream added.

Smolder was the last to make a donation. “One hundred and fifty. If I added all that up correctly, that give us roughly five hundred bits to work with. If I find some good gems to flip, that might get us a little more, but that could take time.”

“The only thing we can do at this point is take the bits we have and see what we can get.”

Smolder rubbed her temples as a migraine started to form there. “Silverstream, have you seen the prices of computers these days? We’re going to need double that to get something decent.”

“Forgetting about someone?”

Everyone brought their attention back to Gallus, who was now carrying himself normally and pointing a wingtip towards his head.

Smolder shook her head. “Kinda hard to when you’re right there. Anyway, what is your offer.”

“Plenty. Oh, and you guys don’t need to bleed yourselves dry for this, just a few bits here and there. I have more than enough to cover the rest.”

Alarm bells tolled once again within the dragon’s head. The shuffling of wings and hooves behind her made it known that the others with them were also uneasy. Being exposed to many different species allowed her to learn how to read others intentions. She was no Applejack, but she could still feel that Gallus was only telling a half-truth. The fact that he didn’t give out a number, or at least a rough estimate only furthered her case.

But the migraine was really starting to get to her so she resorted to asking him straight up if he could handle the expense. “Really? Are you sure about that?”

“Uh, yeah. My guardian gave me a nice serving of bits so I could get a new rig, and I am willing to give that up for her. I know where my spending limits are, so don’t worry about that either.”

Everybody’s eyes had bulged at the idea that Gallus, one of the least financially secure students at the school, now had enough bits on him to purchase a new computer while most others had to make due with used at best.

“Wow Gallus!” Silverstream exclaimed. “I didn’t know that you had enough for a new system! And you’re willing to give it all up for Ocellus…”

“Hey now, can the sap, there’s no need for it. Besides, we don’t need anything fancy, just something good enough to run the game. If it can run on a thirty year old Gem Matrix, than it can run on anything modern.”

It was true that he intended to buy a new system for Ocellus, but not with his money. The debit card was a good distraction, but why use that when he could use Twilight’s card. She was a princess, and princesses make lots of money. She probably had three of those cards, and wouldn’t miss a few bits dedicated to a good cause.

“Alright then, Gallus,” Smolder crossed her arms. “We’ll get our money together and buy a new computer.”

“I don’t know if now’s a good time.”

“What do you mean?” Smolder asked Sandbar.

“Well, for one, by the time we got our shit together, the store would most likely be closed for the night. And there are still makeup classes going on. We wouldn’t want to disturb them, or risk running into Garble’s crew in the halls.”

“Eh, good point. With the way my emotions are I wouldn’t want that, might end badly for them.”

“Yeah, how about you all chill at our little spot for the night. I’d love to join in, but I’m needed at home.”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan,” Smolder agreed. “It would be too much of a pain to haul everything back just to repeat the process tomorrow morning.”

Silverstream lept into the air and took wing, barely able to contain her excitement, or her decibels. “Yay! A sleepover!”

Smolder rolled her eyes in mild irritation, but managed a small smile nonetheless. “Yes, a sleepover. I think I’m gonna grab my T.V., there’s a marathon of hearth’s warming movies that runs through the weekend. It’ll be a good way to unwind, even though I’ve probably seen everything several times now.”

With the small scuffle over, and a new goal in mind, the five departed to their dorms to retrieve whatever was needed for an extended stay at the library, with Sandbar going back to both retrieve his cart and inform Ocellus of the change of plans before heading out. It only took a few minutes for the others to return with pillows, blankets, some clothes and something to keep them entertained.

Smolder found a small, short table for drinks and placed her entertainment on it. She found a nearby socket to provide power, and switched the small television on. Blaring white noise was what almost instantly greeted her ears, but a turn of the volume dial brought it down to an acceptable level. The static filled blank screen told that the rabbit ear antenna that was taped to the top of the set needed to be readjusted.

She did so, tuning it to the desired frequency and wiggling the antenna until the picture began to clear up. A few more tweaks and the picture was as good as it would get. As the movie marathon played along at low volume, the friends all set up their bedding for the night in view of the T.V. Once Smolder had laid out her own bedroll, she laid down on top of it and rubbed her forehead, trying to process everything that had happened in the last half-hour or so.

Whatever other activities her friends were doing before bedtime faded into the background as she tried to focus on the red-nosed reindeer on the screen, hoping that would take her mind off of current events, despite the fact that she had probably seen that movie a dozen times before.

Down at the local computer shop, several employees were going shelf to shelf, restocking the ones that were depleted, and replacing the price tags with ones that were severely marked down. As they tended to their closed store, the music playing upstairs rumbled softly through the ceiling in tune with every beat. Unlike the computer store, which closed after nine, the internet cafe stayed open throughout the night to cater to those who were nocturnal – whether that was biological or by choice.

In the back storage room, the staff had set up a small break area complete with several mismatched and unwanted couches that had seen better days, a table in between them with a deck of cards and an ashtray in the middle, a T.V. cabinet up against the wall with a large thirty-two inch unit housed within, and a small kitchenette in the corner that had a fridge/freezer that looked absolutely archaic along with a small sink and microwave on the counter.

Done with his task of conducting an inventory of remaining stock, a pegasus stallion wearing a blue jumpsuit and with a clipboard tucked under a wing, trotted over to the fridge and pulled out a Hungry Stallion TV dinner. After peeling back the cellophane wrapper slightly so that his meal wouldn’t explode, he placed it into the microwave and set the timer. With the microwave now humming away, he went back into the fridge and grabbed a can of Ponyville’s best hard cider.

With his future meal only requiring a few minutes to heat through fully, he popped the top of the can and took a long sip. As he enjoyed the tasty beverage, he made a mental note to only have one drink for the evening. Just because the holiday passed didn’t mean they could just dial back their business, and sobriety would be essential come tomorrow morning.

Two of his colleagues – a purple unicorn and black earth pony – chose that moment to trot in from the storefront and come over to the kitchen, no doubt wanting to prepare meals of their own. The purple unicorn stallion, who also was the pegasus’s boss, approached him directly.

“How are we doing, inventory wise?”

The pegasus held out his clipboard in his wingtip so his supervisor could see. “The holiday shoppers cleaned us out good, but we still have a lot of product to move.”

“So, are we ready for tomorrow’s Hearth’s Warming eve The Fire of Friendship Fire Sale?” the black stallion asked.

The boss took his eyes off the clipboard and glanced at his other employee, who had also raided the fridge for a cider and TV dinner.

“Most definitely. With the way we gouged our prices, I wouldn’t be surprised if everypony in town winds up with a new computer once everything is said and done.” The purple stallion then brought his attention back to the pegasus. “Did you remember to put flyers all over town, including the bars and shopping areas?”

The pegasus brought his free wingtip up to his forehead in a mock salute.

“You know it, boss!.”