“Rrrgh!” Diamond Tiara growls, smashing the rotate right button as her field again explodes into a thousand gray pixels. “Again!”

Unbidden, her muzzle contorts to a deep scowl. It isn’t fair! How can this, this, this cutie-markless colt be good at anything, let alone this good? He’s beaten her every single time they played, no matter how many nudges her cutie mark gave her about what piece goes where. Listening to it always paid off, but she just isn’t fast enough. This next time, though? She has a plan.

“Maybe,” Pomarbo ventures hesitantly, “we can try another game? Road Jousters looks fun, they have the new one with Luna-”

“No.” To Diamond Tiara’s surprise, both she and Button Mash object.

The game dutifully resets, restoring the clear field on her side. Button Mash again goes for that stupid four-wide strategy, the one that takes a while to get rolling but steamrolls her no matter how many four-line clears she gets. She plays much faster than normal, but sloppily, intentionally leaving gaps in her field. She can hear Pomarbo’s confused murmurs to Cozy Glow, which makes sense: her play is atrocious, which is exactly what she’s going for.

Because as soon as Button Mash reaches the top of the screen she yells “Switch!” and smoothly slides over to his side of the game, roughly shoving him and his stool to what used to be her side.

A grim look comes over Button Mash’s face, but the command in her voice overcomes whatever resistance he might have had. He quickly sets to work dismantling the wall of junk in his way, one mistake from losing.

“Hey!” Pomarbo objects, though faintly; her focus is on the game.

All she needs to do is keep this ‘combo’ going, which will send more lines of junk the longer it is, until ablating a single line is as effective as ablating four. O piece here, Z piece standing, hold the S until it fits, L upside-down in a way that looks like it stops her cold, and sneak in that S with a rotation that really ought to be cheating. At first it seems like she’s losing, because her stack keeps rising as he sends lines of junk her way. But then the lines stop coming, and whatever progress he’s made on downstacking gets reversed as her combo gets bigger. His gray field grows closer and closer to the top…

And then she runs out of lines to clear, stuck with an open field. As far as she can get from losing, and yet just as far from winning. She can only watch with horror as he converts what seem like misdrops into those forsaken T-spins, an inexorable gray tower building before her eyes.

The scoreboard blinks 1-24.

“That was great practice,” Button Mash comments, cracking his neck. It makes her feel like a well-trod whorse, waiting for the next mare to mount. “Wanna do it again?”

Diamond Tiara feels like crying, but she won’t. Not for some stupid game that taught her stupid words like ‘combo’, ‘downstacking’, and ‘T-spin’.

“How?” The word comes out soft, yet no less a demand. “How are you so good?”

Button Mash offers her a faint smile. “Practice?”

His smile meets her scowl, and quickly fades. For a while he just stares at the screen.

“You’re asking the wrong question,” he finally says, barely audible over the happy beeps of the game and the strike of pins on the nearby bowling lanes.

Carefully curled eyebrows mash together, her hackles raising. “What’s the right question?”

“Why.” Vermillion eyes wander around the arcade before coming back to meet her blue. There is a steel behind them she doesn’t expect. “Do you know what my name means?”

“When you press buttons.” Diamond Tiara rolls her hoof between the four buttons on the left. “Really fast.”

“If pressing them fast was all it meant, then this should have showed up by now, right?” Button Mash’s stare becomes more and more uncomfortable the longer she holds it, even when it flicks to his flank. “I think it means something else. Pressing the buttons unskillfully or randomly.”

“Err,” Diamond Tiara stalls as her mind goes to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They had tried all sorts of different activities in a ‘quest’ to get their cutie marks. Then, one day, Starlight Glimmer removed (partitioned? It was hard to get a straight story out of them) the chaos magic their hybrid bodies had stored after an incident with the Everfree Forest. Their marks had immediately appeared, shields they claim represent helping other ponies with their own cutie mark problems. She doubts he has a similar block, unless a mental resistance counts. Does mental resistance count? “I guess?”

“Look at you.” His gaze flicks to her rump, the dark blue tiara stark against her pink flanks. Her hoof unconsciously goes to the silvery twin atop her wavy mane. “Your name’s Diamond Tiara. And what do you have as your mark? A diamond tiara. Same thing’s true with your sister. Silver Spoon, and a silver spoon.”

“Golly, but that’s not true for everypony,” Cozy Glow pipes up, displaying her cutie mark of a red chess piece, the earth pony. She giggles to herself. “Hard to construe that as cozy or a glow.”

“That’s right,” Button Mash agrees with a firm nod, returning to staring at Diamond Tiara with an even more formidable intensity. “And I fully intend to get a cutie mark that has nothing to do with my name.”

Suddenly it clicks for Diamond Tiara. Her Harmony-bestowed cutie mark is of a tiara, a crown. As far as she can tell, it represents leadership and the ability to command others, to slot them into the places where they will do the most good for her and for others. She sees that manifesting with the hints it gives her about her fellow ponies, the best levers to pull and places to prod. And that is something she always knew she was destined for. “Because you don’t want to be a button masher.” She says the word with the derision he seems to believe it deserves.

Again he nods, solemn and daunting. The icy coldness he gives off, the stone visage, sends chills down her spine. She finds such a harsh demeanor repulsive, with respect to such a Harmony-blessed topic. But why? The best she can come up with is that her cutie mark wants to know what he is good at, and a blank flank isn’t - or shouldn’t be - good at anything. There is potential, but potential is wasted if not improved upon, and what better indication than a pony’s mark? Did she always have such an attitude towards others? Or did it come about when she got her cutie mark?

“If I got my cutie mark in button mashing,” Button Mash portents, randomly waving his hoof at the game, “I’m afraid that I could beat you with my eyes closed.”

Diamond Tiara snorts. “You mean like when Cozy Glow beats me blindfolded?” She turns to grin at the chess-marked mare, but the agonized look on the pegasus’ face leaves her stupefied. What did she do wrong? Cozy’s really good at chess, her mark says so, and she’s proven so at the chess club meetings they’ve attended. Sure, she has something similar with reading ponies, knowing their insecurities and the pony to whom they least want them told. But she always chalked that up to listening between the lines, of asking the right questions and what answers they or their friends didn’t give. She shakes the thoughts about herself from her head. “Hey, how come you aren’t competing for Ponyville? Isn’t chess one of the events?”

“Cozy Glow’s from Hollow Shades,” Pomarbo comments, as if she doesn’t know that already.

“I could compete here.” The chess-marked pegasus bashfully smiles to herself. “I’m actually writing an essay for your dam about where my Loyalty lies.” She bashfully scratches at her curly blue mane. “I, uh, don’t know which one I’ll pick.” She stays silent for a few seconds, then seems compelled to continue. “Because Ponyville has a much better chance of winning the most medals. And, um…” If there was a window to stare out of, she’d be staring out of it, but the best she can do is the arcade monitor. “I-I’m not terribly close to my sire.”

A few seconds pass before Diamond Tiara’s tail flicks Pomarbo’s rump, as covertly as she can.

“Ya’ve got a home here,” Pomarbo says as he stumbles forward, giving her a fond smile. He chuckles as he regains his balance. “Plus, with you on our side? Ponyville’s got a much better chance of winning the most medals.”

Cozy Glow gives Pomarbo a cozy glow; Diamond Tiara has no doubt if it were winter she would be snuggling up next to him by the cozy glow of a fire and going as far as he wants. The exact same words had gone through her mind, but if she said them it would have come across as calculated and self-interested. But she can’t let the pegasus edge her out in the colt’s mind; how should she best assert herself as his to-be lead mare?

“Argent was incredibly demanding,” Cozy Glow continues as Diamond Tiara thinks. “He pushed me really hard, harder than I thought I could take. He was happy - a-at least, I think he was - when I got my cutie mark. Jeepers, not that he let up on me, it just got worse.” She snorts as if in disbelief. “And then, when Princess Twilight opened her school, he pulled every string he could to get me in. Like it’s some sort of grand test before he lets me in on the family business.”

Diamond Tiara knows the feeling; neither of her parents let the tiniest thing slip, and it takes all her effort to meet their high expectations.

Wait.

If she deigned to drink anything in this establishment she’d be spitting it out. If true, Cozy Glow would jump about several dozen places in her mental rankings of social standing. “Your sire is Argent? As in, the Argent Silverhoof? Owner of Argent Endeavors?”

Argent Endeavors is one of Barnyard Bargain’s main competitors in the shipping business, though their sires maintain a good relationship. They have operations in crystal, gem, and silver mining; fabricating and augmenting magical armors; and crafting enchanted jewelry. Her dahm Silver Set is one of his (many) offspring, though that’s a point the silver mare almost never brings up. Even though they were once Nightmare Moon’s most ardent supporters, the Silverhoof family tree frequently intertwines with Prince Blueblood’s, but not only: like silver metal it is best alloyed, studding with those of every breed and station, though rumor has it he paints silver the coats of those with insufficient luster.

She needs to reevaluate Cozy Glow’s intentions, as well as her prospective placement. And soon. She knew there would be competitors after her dam’s announcement, but Cozy Glow?

The pegasus in question shrugs with a little half-scowl that lets on far more than she likely wants. “He doesn’t like it when we talk about his work.”

Now it’s Diamond Tiara’s turn to scoff. “Please. What’s the point of having a reputation if you don’t use it?” She rounds on Button Mash. “Just like, what’s the point of having a cutie mark if you don’t use it? If you’ve got it, flaunt it!” She shakes her flanks for emphasis, happily noting Pomarbo’s leer.

“Flaunt what?” Button Mash demands. “How I can beat you without trying? Is that supposed to prove something?” He answers his own question with a sharp shake of his head. “I want to solve the puzzle of the game.” He stares up at the blinking lights with a reverence normally reserved for Princess Celestia. “The min-maxing, figuring out build varieties and compositions and every nuance and trick. And I want to be the one figuring it out, not just having it hoofed to me by my cutie mark.”

“But your cutie mark is a part of who you are,” Diamond Tiara argues back. “Not using it, denying it, that’s just… wrong. I mean, Who would you rather see race? Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane, or Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps?”

“Exactly my point,” Button Mash says. “Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane have an unfair advantage provided by their cutie mark.”

“Rainbow Dash was fast before she got her cutie mark,” Pomarbo claims. “Plus, wouldn’t they be on the same team?”

Diamond Tiara ignores the colt, maintaining her gaze on Button Mash. “But a pony is more than just their mark, and a game is about more than just one aspect. Rainbow Dash is fast, yes, and so are most ponies with a lightning bolt as their mark. Who can say if the cutie mark caused that, or if those are the ponies that get one? But being fast isn’t all there is, or she’d be a Wonderbolt already.”

“But it’s a big part,” Button Mash spits out. “How is somepony else going to make up that difference? It’s not like you can train speed like you can train wingpower, or whatever other benefit your mark gives you.”

“Oh?” Diamond Tiara points at the arcade cabinet next to them. “You want to compete at the Equestria Games, right?” Button Mash nods, smoldering. “Are you going to whine when those with a gaming mark beat you? Or are you going to prove to everypony out there that you can become a Master Ablater through hard work and dedication?”

Cozy Glow snickers, unable to contain her giggles even with a hoof covering her muzzle, and it doesn’t take long for Button Mash to join in. It takes her a second to realize why, leaving her exasperatedly rolling her eyes as Pomarbo remains oblivious.

“Oh, come on!” Diamond Tiara scolds, but this only sends them into a second round of tittering laughter.

Next Chapter: Ch. 154 - Brawn, Part Three Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 40 Minutes