Posey and Sassaflash stared each other down, Sparkler a sad distant third. They were nearing the endgame: ten questions left.

Posey smiled. Victory was in sight. "Yes, Al Extra Bucks, I'll take 'Famous Last Words' for three hundred, please!"

Alex groaned and rolled his eyes. "The eeeeevil queen Chrysalis had this to say as she was blasted away by love. Ughhh, who writes this stuff?"

Sparkler buzzed in, desperate. "What is 'Bwahahaha, you foolish ponies!'"

"Sorry, Sparkler, that is completely, totally, super-duper WRONG!"

"Well you don't have to be a meanie about it," the filly mumbled.

"Sassaflash: do you have an answer?"

"Uhhhhh, what is, ummmm…"

*BEEP BEEP BEEP!*

"Sorry Flash. Posey?"

Posey beamed triumphantly. "What is 'NOOOOOOOOO!!!'?"

"That… that's actually correct. Three hundred points to Team Posey. Posey?"

"I'll take 'Famous Last Words' for four hundred, please."

"' This is not my fault! And don't call me Mama!' is uttered by this evil witch as she's dropped in a volcano."

Sparkler again buzzed in before anypony else. "I just watched this! Who's 'Hydia'?!"

"Wow, good job." Alex confirmed. "Only two thousand dollars behind now."

Sparkler beamed, but her smile soon turned mischievous. "But what's this? It turns out it was a Double Jeopardy. Sparkler shoots back to second place!"

"What! No! You can't just say it's a Daily Double!" Sassaflash complained.

"Yes I can! Sparkler gets Double Jeopardy and bets allllll her money and gets it right!"

"That's not how the game works you dofus! Do you even watch the show?!" Sassaflash replied.

"Well, it's how it should work!" Sparkler countered.

Posey started to cry. "Moooom, tell Rachel and Ashley to stop fighting!"

A slender off-beige alicorn sighed from the other room where she was paying bills. "Girls, the game host has final say. Please try to keep it quiet. Mommy's working."

Al Extra Bucks smiled. "I'm the host, and I say we settle this the way they did in the old west: with a duel!"

"No!" Posey, Sparkler, and Sassaflash yelled simultaneously.

"Fine! Alex doesn't even want to play this stupid game with ponies. He's gonna go over here and fight dinosaurs!"

"Mikey, you can't quit! I need to beat Posey in the Final Jeopardy round!"

"Run your own stupid game. I'm done!" said the game show host, in fact a young hairless ape. He knocked over the Jeopardy board and ran off in a huff, taking the "G.I. Joe" action figure with him.

"Mom! Mikey took our question guy!" Posey yelled.

["Mom" sighed and trotted out from the other room, revealing herself to also be a strange bipedal creature like Mikey.

"Mikey, are those your Transformers toys on the Dream Pony Princess Castle, fending off plastic dinosaurs?"

"Well yeah, but…"

"And the girls let you use it?"

"I mean, I guess, but…"

"No 'buts'. If they let you borrow their castle, it's only fair they get to play with some of your toys too. Now, I believe you have some more homework to do before bed, so get going young man."

"Ughhhh. Yeees mooommm."

"Mikey" obediently marched up the stairs. Lauren turned to the three girls. "Rachel, Ashley, I think it's time to go home. Megan, go get ready for bed please."

"Awwww. But we gotta find out who wins!"

"You can find out tomorrow. Get."

The precocious little human wrinkled her face and bounded up the stairs after her brother. Rachel and Ashley dutifully grabbed their toys and walked toward the door. "Bye Megan's mom!"

She waved "bye" back, stifling a yawn as the door slammed closed. She walked back to her study, narrowly avoiding stepping on a Lego. "Kids," she said warmly. "Some things don't change."