//------------------------------// // Nightmares in Punyville. // Story: Button Mash! Master of the Arcade Arts! // by Clockworklich //------------------------------// Level Up! Class Level Up! Again? Button thought as he got another level up. In the library dungeon, he only gained one level-up and even then it was only after killing the boss. Now he got two level-ups in two waves and those are just the normal mobs. Wow, nightmares are great for XP! I wonder how much XP the bosses give. Button thought as he watched the last pony in a doll mask break down into black sand. The pony with the buzzsaws in his head had already been taken out by Spike and the two were working together on the doll masked ponies, and now the two were rushing over to help the three fillies take on the ballerina with the mouthes for a face as it danced while fighting the three. "How in tarnation is this thing able to be more annoying than the real Diamond Tiara!?" Apple Bloom demanded as the nightmare danced around another shot from the punch cannon. As soon as the punching glove retracted back into the weapon's barrel she fired it again, the nightmare dodged it by giving a graceful bow towards Apple Bloom, as if thanking her for the compliment. "I'm out of ammo! Hold her off while I reload!" Scootaloo called out as she started running around the room to collect baseballs. As she was doing this, Sweetie had given up on her first weapon and just planted herself where the weapons were piled. She would pick up one weapon, give a few shots to see if she'd like it, then toss it aside to find a different one. Taking aim, Button fired at the dancing nightmare only, much to his surprise, he missed! This was the first time he missed a shot thanks to his DEX stat. But the nightmare hadn't looked like it had any trouble dancing out of the way. "Sweetie, use the big blue one that looks like a cross between a water gun and a cannon! When she fires, every creature else back off!" Button called out. Looking around Sweetie found the weapon and with a grunt, lifted the gun that was almost as big as she was. When she pulled the trigger it started sucking in air from some vents in the back and fired off a wave of- "Bubbles! What in the hay are bubbles going to do to it!?" Scootaloo screamed when she saw the large wave of bubbles overtake the nightmare. Any further criticism was cut off by a bone-rattling shriek from the dancing nightmare. "Well, for one I bought the hottest peppers I could find and left them to soak in the bubble solution for a few days," Button called out over the racket the nightmare was making. "And another thing is when enough bubbles pop in one area, it covers that area with small amounts of the bubble solution, and on a smooth floor like this..." Button let the sentence trail off when the dancing nightmare slipped and fell to the floor. An opportunity that all with a ranged weapon took advantage of to bombard the nightmare until it joined it's comrades as black sand on the ground. "Is everypony alright?" Spike asked the others. "We're fine. Every time it tried to attack one of us the others forced it to back off by shooting at it. I think it needed to hold still a sec to attack and we didn't give it one." Apple Bloom replied. "Can I get one in pink with hearts on it?" Sweetie Belle asked as she hugged the bubble gun like it was a favorite stuffed animal. "Can I get some answers now?" Scootaloo asked while giving Button an accusatory look. "Well, I should start with the fact that I have video game powers." Button began. "Okay, that is really cool," Spike said aloud. "Which includes quests like this one where I have to stop ten waves of nightmares, one mini-boss, and one boss." Button continued. He let that sit for a moment as he tightened his grip on his weapon. "And we've defeated two waves," Spike said in fear as he looked at the sleeping ponies. The others looked as well and sure enough, they could all see more of that black sand falling out of the tossing and turning ponies. Black sand that was starting to take on several forms. The first monster of wave three was a lycanthrope that was killed by Scootaloo getting a lucky shot, getting a baseball lodged in its throat. Not to be outdone by Button's earlier one-liner, she gave her best cool pose and said, "Go fetch, now play dead." Then there were two unicorn doctors, one with bloody surgical tools in its magic and the other with a needle that was bigger than it was. Spike went after those two and used his fire breath on them. "You two are needed in the ER stat! For some forth degree burns!" A mummy that Sweetie defeated by shooting at it with random guns from the pile seeing as the bubbles didn't appear to have any effect. "And that's a wrap." A group of scarecrows that Apple Bloom took down by just running around them while pounding them with the punch cannon. When the last one went down she opened her mouth but paused. "Dagnabit! I got nothing!" And the last of the third wave was a horde of zombies that Button handled by baiting them into the slick floor where the bubble gun was used on the dancing nightmare, and when they all fell to the floor he took out his old spiked bat and started smashing their heads, waiting till they started turning back into black sand before giving his line. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." "I beat the stuffing out of them!" Apple Bloom shouted out excitedly but her face fell at the looks the others gave her. "...too late?" She asked getting nods from the others. "Don't worry Apple Bloom, we still have seven waves to beat up!" Sweetie Belle assured while patting Bloom on the back. Two waves, one level up and several puns and one-liners later the room started filling with ominous music. Tension rose as the light started to dim and the sleeping ponies had a spike in fear causing more black sand than normal to come out and concentrate in one spot. "Here comes the mini-boss. Get ready." Button warned though it was not needed. "No way," Scootaloo said when the nightmare took form. "It's him." Apple Bloom said with wide eyes. "It's a bunny rabbit." Spike deadpanned. "It's angel!" Sweetie exclaimed. "I think that the nightmares get stronger the more scared the ponies are of the form they take. So the two bosses probably take the form of something the entire town knows could show up for real." Button theorized. "It's a bunny rabbit," Spike repeated in exasperation. 'Angel' apparently took offense to that as it turned to face Spike with a murderous glare and crouched down before jumping at the young dragon with enough force to send him crashing into the wall behind him. He didn't have time to recover before 'Angel' was on him again, clinging to Spike's arm and biting into it with sharp pointy teeth. Screaming in pain, Spike started desperately swinging his arm around in an attempt to dislodge it. He tries to smash the little nightmare against the wall only for it to shoot across his body and start chewing his other arm by the time the first arm struck the wall. "Help! Get it off!" Spike cried out as he stopped, dropped, and rolled but the 'Angel just wouldn't let up. "I'll save you!" Sweetie called out as she took aim. "No! Not the bubbles!" Spike cried out in fear but Sweetie fired anyways. A wave of bubbles bombarded the baby dragon making him cover his eyes and keep his mouth shut in hopes that the burning juices wouldn't get to him. But thanks to the wave of bubbles being so thick when he took in a breath some of the smaller ones went up his nose. The burning sensation caused him to open his eyes wide and his mouth to open to let out a scream. The consequences of which were easily predicted. At the very least the bubble attack had the desired effect of making 'Angel' give up its attack. The little nightmare gave off a demonic sounding wail from its eyes getting blasted as well as chewing on an extra spicy dragon with soapy seasoning. Now blinded and gagging the nightmare hopped away to escape the sadistic bubbles, allowing the others to attack it without worrying about hitting a comrade. Ears twitching at the sound of the attack it jumped away in time to avoid the attack. "Hold still ya varmint!" Apple Bloom shouted as she continued to fail to land a single shot. "Well, I was saving this for a boss." Button said as he pulled a large weapon mounted on a stand and attached to a large container filled with golf balls. Turning on the motor he took aim and pulled the trigger causing the four barrels to rapid-fire the balls at the rabbit. The widespread fire and high DEX of the one shooting made it impossible for the blind nightmare to dodge them all. As 'Angel' started taking large amounts of damage it started hopping towards Button as the bombardment didn't allow it to charge up a cannon jump. Once it was close Button reached into his inventory grabbed onto his spiked bat. Using its ears to pinpoint its target 'Angel' jumped at Button just in time for Button to swing the bat with every point of STR he had. HEAD SHOT! Level Up! Class Level Up! Level Up! Class Level Up! With a sigh of relief, Button looked towards his comrades to see that apparently the waves didn't wait for one fight to be complete as they were fighting off a fresh wave of monsters after seeing Button had the mini-boss. Quickly Button rushed over to his friends to do battle for five more waves. Once that was done Button passed out health and stamina potions before taking some himself to be ready for the boss. "If Button is right, then whatever shows up will be the thing the town fears most. So what is that?" Spike asked the others causing the ponies to scrunch their faces in thought. "We're about to find out," Scootaloo said as she pointed to the sleeping ponies that were now flailing and whimpering in their sleep as large amounts of black sand fell from every sleeper and pulled together and took on the form of one of the ponies from town. One eye showing looking at them as the other was covered by her long pink main. "But she's so nice," Sweetie said in confusion. "Why would ponies be afraid-" Sweetie Belle was cut off as the boss did something none of the other nightmares before did. She spoke. "You..." She said as her other eye came into view as she moved her strait main out of the way, her face contorting in rage. "You broke a Pinkie promise... NOPONY BREAKS A PINKIE PROMISE!