//------------------------------// // Game Over and Rebirth // Story: Life is a Game // by Cirrus Dash //------------------------------// It's quiet in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, deep in the Everfree Forest. Peaceful, scerene as the featureless night didn't reveal anything. The flickering lights of torches can be seen through the broken windows and collapsed walls of the once magnificent castle. Then a flash of light, the crackle of electricity and the muffled screams of a young colt can be heard faintly from inside. Inside the building was a semi-formless entity, tall and lean, from what can be seen of it, with what seemed to be magic in its hands. It's body seemed to be made up of smoke, dark enough to barely be seen, even with the glowing energy in its 'hands'. And it spoke, its voice seeming to echo and glitch, as if it were multiple voices, hesitant to speak in unison. "Ah, poor little colt. How much longer can you hold out? As much as I love torturing you, I really wanna get to your beloved Princesses..." it said, directed to the small form suspended in air by chains connected to the low ceiling. Said form would usually have a dark brown coat, as of made from oak, a reddish-brown mane and tail, as if made from acacia, and orange eyes that always shined with a happiness and joy that made anyone who knew him happy. Now his mane and tail were dirty, some of his coat singed from where the electricity entered his body, along with various scars that have been healed slowly and painfully, blood matting his fur and mane. His eyes were now broken, full of tiredness, but somehow with some passion and ferocity in them. This was Button Mash, the young colt from Ponyville who is very passionate about video games. He chuckled, his voice almost gone from the months of muffled screaming. He kept chuckling, to the point that his torturer pulled out the leather that was gagging him. He looked up at it, orange eyes ringed with red, nose bleeding, along with some teeth missingand smirked. "I can do this all day" he muttered, as his voice couldn't go any louder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Princesses, Celestia and Luna, bound and helpless with rings around their horns and wings, which were enchanted to cut them off painfully if they tried to use them. He could see their tear streaked cheeks and red eyes at having been forced to watch the one of the most innocent colts they happened to know be tortured before them. He silently wished that help could come soon, as he felt far too weak to go any further. The form before him seemed to lose its smirk, bristling with anger a bit before calming down. "Oh, is that the case? Then I'll have to go further" it purred, before it shoved its hand into his chest. His eyes bulged as he felt it clench onto his spine. He tensed and squirmed as he felt its cold touch seep through his body. He had to close his eyes and clench his teeth as electricity jolted up his spinal column, setting his nerve endings alight with a new pain be never thought possible. As soon as it began it was over. He panted as the thing pulled out its hand, his body smoking a bit from the volts of energy that coursed through his body. "Ya got balls kid, I'll give you that," the figure said, walking around him, observing the damage that it had done to the young male that would break a normal pony within the first couple days. His back was red and bloodied from when he was lashed with a barbed wire nine-tail whip. His hips, where his Cutie Mark would appear when he earned it, was branded with a name; Legion. Various words were carved deep into his skin, such as 'worthless,' 'nothing,' and 'unwanted'. And various bones were healed improperly after being broken multiple times, as shown by some deformations underneath his skin. He seemed to wince whenever he breathed, and his body was extremely thin and malnourished from months of dehydration and starvation. "And a willpower that can rival even the gods. But in the end you'll break. You all will" it said as it then rushed to him, its smokey form entering his mouth and nose forcefully, causing the chains to snap. Button fell to the ground with a grunt as his body started to convulse. His orange eyes flickered from its original color and a strange yellow, before settling on the unsettling secondary shade. His body, now under control of the entity, stood up without using his hands or any other bodyparts. He had no horn or wings to do so. It was unnatural. A too wide smirk split across his muzzle as he stretched, the badly healed bones creaking in protest. "And there we go! A body of my own. Well, for a while at least" he spoke, his voice a cold, emotionless mockery of the lively colt the body belonged to. His head turned and he saw the Princesses. "Ah, now its time for even more fun.." it purred as it stepped forwards, only to find it couldn't. It tried again and again, grunting as it tried to move the body's feet. Only to double over as if his body were punched. It coughed up black ichor, the yellow flickering a bit. "What's happening" it asked before retching, even more of the disgusting tar-like substance pouring out of his maw. ~~ In his mind, it heard the voice of the colt, as strong as ever. "I will not let you hurt anyone ever again" he growled from inside his mind, going to war with the parasite in his slowly dying body. His willpower alone was what was keeping him alive and the creature captive. He barraged it with everything he had; punches, kicks, headbutts, all in the styles of various characters he saw from video games. And it worked. The creature was forced from his weakened body, leaving him to collapse once more. ~~ He watched, vision blury as the thing tried to escape, only to disappear with a spine chilling scream in a flash of rainbow light. He was far too weak, far too tired to go on. He smiled weakly as he saw six figures rush to the princesses and ungag them, knowing he did well. His eyes dulled as he let go, the ghost of his last smile on his face. ~~ As soon as Princess Celestia was ungagged, she shouted at the Element Barers. "Forget about us! Go to him! He needs help. He gave far too much to protect us, go to-" she started, only to cut herself off as her eyes watered. Her lip quivered a bit as she took in the sight of her and her sister's savior, his body lifeless. "him..." she finished, tears rolling down her cheeks. The Mane Six looked over and seemed to deflate a bit at the sight. They thought no one was hurt. They thought that they saved everyone from harm. But they were wrong. Twilight went to walk over, but was stopped by Pinkie and Fluttershy. Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack moved forwards and lifted his body gently, as they knew him the most, as he was friends with their younger sisters. The other three helped the weakened Alicorns out of the Everfree and to Ponyville, where they would rest before the funeral. ~~ Button opened his eyes as soon as he closed them, the pain gone from his body. He blinked a bit and seemed very confused. "Where am I...?" he muttered, seeing only darkness. He heard a chirp, like a notification on one of his video games. He looked to the sound, and saw a tansparent window of blue before him, with words on it. GAME OVER Continue New Game Options Quit It was like a menu screen from a video game, the largest words - game over - blinking at regular intervals, with the Continue option greyed and striked through. He blinked in confusion before curiously selecting options. There he saw a lot of things. Audio Visual Gameplay Achievements Back Curiousity peaked even more, he reached forwards and pressed a finger to Audio. Background Music: 0/100 Custom Background Music: None Master Volume: 50/100 FX: 0/100 Voice Volume: 50/100 Back He raised a brow and slowly turned up the FX and Background Music up to 50. The Custom Background music option was greyed, but not striked out, so maybe he couldn't use it yet? He shrugged a bit. He then clicked back and went into Visual. HUD: Invisible/Opaque/Bold Subtitles: On/Off Mini-Map: On/Off Achievement Display: On/Off Brightness: On/Off Back He furrowed his brow and slowly turned everything on, but leaving the HUD as opaque. He could change it later if he wanted to, he hoped. He pressed back and then went into Gameplay. Difficulty: Very Easy/Easy/Normal/Hard/Very Hard/Hardcore/Insanity Leveling: On/Off EXP Gain: On/Off Loot: On/Off Achievement Gain: On/Off Back It was as if someome was setting him up to fail, let alone not know that his life was a video game! Curious, though, how the Achievement Gain was on permanantly... he shrugged it off and switched everything on, and changing the difficulty to Easy before hitting the Back option. He then hit the Achievements option. Congratulations! It's a...: Start the game Friends!: Have two or more friends Incorruptible: Become a Hero Savior: Save two or more very important characters Damsel(s) in Distress: Save one or more Princess Others Before Me: Commit a truly selfless act The End: Complete The Game on any difficulty Straitjacket Fun!: Complete the game on Insanity difficulty Black Umbrellas: die in any way possible Inception: Play a video game inside The Game Bullies? No Problem!: Don't let bullies get you down Destiny...?: Gain your Cutie Mark My World Now: Become a Villain Thougher than Diamonds: Complete The Game on Hardcore difficulty Stoneskin: Complete the Game on Very Hard difficulty Tough Hide: Complete the Game on Hard Difficulty Casual: Complete the Game on Normal difficulty Puppies and Kittens: Comlplete The Game on Easy difficulty Sunshines and Rainbows: Complete the Game on Very Easy difficulty Emo: Gain depression Cloak and Scythe: Kill a sapient creature (self-defence, accident or otherwise) Romance: Gain a special somepony in your life (any species or gender) Alpha Male: Gain a herd Royalty: Become a part of royalty through marriage or ascension Rebirth: Start a new game after your first Game Over Do-Over Button: Reload a Save File on a Game Over screen Rift: Go to another dimension Phoenix: Start The Game on all difficulties Deja-Vu: Complete the Game on all difficulties Skinchanger: In New Game+, start a new Game as different versions of yourself Masqurade: Play as all versions of you Hornless: Gain Magic without being a unicorn Grounded: Gain Flight/Weather manipulation without being a Pegasus Care Package: Find the package meant for you Hidden Achievements: ??? Go Getter!: Gain all Achievments Back He looked over the Achievements, his eyes darting across the words as he does. He assumed the green ones meant that he already earned them, while the red meant he hadn't yet. He flushed at the mentioning of a herd and romance. And after a bit more looking, he got two notifications. One was light grey bar with white words in it, saying Skilled. The other was a light blue window. Through constantly looking at what's before you, you have created the skill Observe! And as soon as he finished reading the last word, the window dissapeared. He blinked a bit in shock before shrugging it off. He was excited, though! This means that his life might be a video game, something he had wished for most of his life! But then that excitement turned into a sort of... speculation. Like, it was too good to be true. So there's a possibility that he might either be dead or the last couple months were just some crazy nightmare. He sighed and finally clicked New Game. It gave him only one option - Start Game - as the other - New Game+ - was greyed out. He shrugged and clicked Start game. And there showed a small outline of himself, standing straight with his arms out in a sort of T, fingers splayed. Below it was a basic summary of himself. Name: Button Mash Title: The Gamer Nickname: None Job: None Gender: Male Age: Newborn Level: 1 HP: 10/10 SP: 10/10 MP: ??/?? ~~ Str: 2 Vit: 2 Wis: 5 Int: 5 Agi: 1 Luk: 7 ~~ Skills Gamer's Mind (Makes you immune to psychological attacks and substances, as well as keeping your emotions in check) Gamer's Body (Makes it so that you don't take damage physically, instead to your HP bar) Observe (Allows you to see objects a bit more in depth) He blinked at the screen before him. Well, Gamer's Mind explained why he wasn't freaking out. He saw that he had many unspent skill points and decided to keep them for the time being, as he didn't know if he would need them or not. When a screen popped up, asking if he was sure that these were the stats he wanted, he clicked yes. When asked to save his game, he clicked yes again. And then was consumed by darkness, the notification of him getting the Achievement, Rebirth, popping up going unnoticed as a bright light blinded him, causing him to cry out...