//------------------------------// // Button Party! 2 // Story: Button Mash! Master of the Arcade Arts! // by Clockworklich //------------------------------// "I really need to get her to tell me where she gets all the parts to build this stuff... and how she could afford it all." Button said as he looked up at the corn shaped volcanoes, each the size of the schoolhouse. However, that would have to wait till later as he had games to win. "3...2...1... GO!" The volcanos erupted with baseball-sized pieces of popcorn. Eyes narrowed, Button jumped to his left to catch a piece in the see-through plastic bucket strapped to his head. He then hopped left and back, catching another popcorn with each bounce, then moved again to avoid the falling ball that had been painted to look like a hunk of volcanic rock. "HEY!" Button looked over towards the shout just in time to see Twist take a headshot from one of the falling balls and the laughing duo of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as they ran away from her. Eyes narrowing, Button watched as they moved in on Featherweight. "Griefers!" Button exclaimed in outrage as he turned to intercept the two bullies. Having shouted this out loud he drew the attention of the other players in the game, including the two trouble makers. "Wow!" Silver exclaimed as he got in front of them and braced himself for impact. Not wanting a head-on collision the two bullies turned and just barely managed to avoid him. "Since when has Button been able to move that fast?!" "I don't know." Diamond replied as she looked back at Button with a glare. "But he just lost his guest of honor pass." Slowly, the three circled each other, Button still managing to catch every piece of popcorn that happened to get close. Raising an eyebrow at the fact that he was still playing the game even as they were having their standoff Diamond whispered something to Silver and they split up, planning to come at him from two sides. As soon as the two charged in, Button jumped forwards, catching another piece of popcorn while the two bullies crashed into each other. The two shouted in protest as their popcorn went flying, leaving their buckets empty. It didn't take long for the two to get up and try again. Moving in on both sides once more the two tried to attack in waves. First Diamond rushed him to try and knock his bucket off, and when he dodged Silver took a turn trying to knock it off, giving her friend time to come back around for another shot. The two didn't want to give him a chance to catch his bearings, making sure that one was working to take his popcorn while the other took the needed time to come back around for their turn. The fact that Button was able to dodge every attempt frustrated the two, but the fact that even then he was still collecting the falling popcorn while doing it infuriated the two. "You know if you don't do a better job of collecting popcorn you two are going to be stuck in last place," Button called out to the bullies as he managed to catch two pieces of popcorn in one go. His words were further rubbed in by two things. The first was that because she was so focused on Button, Diamond was unable to dodge the ball that nailed her in the face. The other was the buzzer signaling that the game had ended mear moments after, giving the two no time to get back any popcorn, giving both a score of zero. All of the others cheered for Button for not only getting the most popcorn, but also for managing to put the bullies in their place. Something that all of them had wanted to do but never had the courage to do. "This means war." Diamond said through clenched teeth. Button smiled as he took a moment to decide on his next game. It had been decided that, outside of games that required teamwork, none of them would play any games at the same time as any of the other party members. This was done because they weren't sure if placement had any effect on the prizes so they all wanted to place first in each game they played. Well, at least first on the ones that aren't decided entirely on luck. So he looked around for what was free. Apple Bloom was in line for the chain-chomp cake eating contest, and Scootaloo was already at the air pumps trying to pop her Bowser balloon faster than the others. And those were the only ones that he could see with his party members. Locking his eyes on the next game he moved into line, keeping track of the bob-omb as the players tossed it around. From his count, the thing beeps 27 times before going off. The children quickly stood in a circle for the game with smiles on their faces, some less friendly than others, and waited for the game to begin. "3...2...1... GO!" The bob-omb was tossed to one of the kids in the circle who quickly tossed it to another like it was going to explode on him. When it was tossed to Silver Spoon she tossed it to Diamond Tiara who tossed it back to her. Button gave a deadpan as all of the others looked on in confusion as the two school bullies just ignored all of the other players and just tossed it back and forwards to each other. When the bob-omb started beeping was when they changed targets. Smerking, Diamond tossed the thing at Button who easily caught it. Button held on to it for a moment until he counted 25 beeps before tossing it back at Diamond. Eyes widening in shock, Diamond reacted by swinging her hoof to try and knock it away only for it to go off right in front of her. The loud pop startling her into falling onto her rump, she sat wide-eyed as a white napkin with the word 'BOOM!' written on it in bold letters floated down and landed on her muzzle. Button whistled to the music he turned on in his music menu. A shame he was the only one there that could hear it though. He stopped to give a sigh as he tossed out his line and grabbed a small treasure chest as it floated by. It was obvious at this point that the bullies were following him and going out of their way to try and sabotage him. In this case, they're trying to latch on to the good stuff that he caught as he is reeling it in and work together to pull it away. He would be a bit upset at this if they actually had any talent. At least he could admit the two came up with acceptable strategies for each game they try to ruin for him, considering the short time they have waiting in line for his chosen games. He could at least be impressed with that. Not threatened, but impressed. After thinking about it he decided to just go with it. He could always enjoy the extra challenge and if they're too focused on trying to ruin the games for him then they're not trying to do it to the others. Button smirked as he pulled his fishing pole left then right, causing the bullies to miss each attempt at stealing his chest. From the sound Button was hearing from Diamond's clenched teeth as he put his latest chest with the others he figured that she was going to need a dentist when this was through. "Hi Diamond! Hi Silver! I chose a game where you're supposed to sabotage me this time!" Button called out to the two with a cheerful wave and a happy smile. "You're welcome!" Both fillies glared up at him, waiting for the game to begin. At the signal, Button walked out on the giant rope that had Button scratching his head when he first saw the thing, wondering what a rope, which was thick enough to be a bridge all on its own, could be used for. "Take this blank f- oh." Diamond began but stopped herself when she realized the embarrassing mistake she just made. "Nerd?" Silver suggested as she shot a dodge ball out of an air cannon in an attempt to knock Button into the water. "I don't need help insulting ponies." Diamond said as she began shooting at Button. Meanwhile, the colt was having some fun, not just dodging but dancing... attempting to dance across. There is a good reason that prance-prance revolution was the only game at the arcade he didn't have a high score on. "Hey, you guys going to get in on this or what?" Button called down to the two colts sitting at the other two cannons that had yet to take a shot. Blinking owlishly, the two colts looked towards each other, then between Button and the two fillies, wondering what was going on between the three to have gotten the two bullies so worked up. One of them just shrugged to the other before looking back up at Button, a sinister grin growing on his face. Taking careful aim, he fired his cannon showing that he had more skill than Diamond and Silver as his first shot managed to collide with his target's face. "Ouch! Hey! Watch where you're aiming that thing!" Diamond shouted at the colt on the other side of the pool. "I am!" The colt shouted back. He let loose another shot, hitting her on the left foreleg. "Ow! Stop that!" Diamond shouted as she returned fire only to get shot in the head by the other colt. "Ow! Why are you two only shooting at me?!" Diamond demanded. "Because neither of us can shoot at Silver Spoon! She's wearing glasses!" The 2nd colt called back. Diamond just gave a scream of rage. Meanwhile, Button was sitting at the finish line, watching the two sides firing on each other while wishing he had some of that giant popcorn right about now. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you Button! Come quick, you have to come see this! At the chain chomp cake eating mini-game, Pinkie Pie versus Princess Celestia! It's the match of the century!" Spike called out to Button as soon as he found him. Looking back at Diamond and Silver he figured they would be preoccupied for a while so followed the young dragon to see what the big deal was. Cut Strings hummed happily as he left. The party was amazing, more akin to visiting an amusement park actually. It even had souvenirs! As he was playing with a wind-up King Bob-omb toy his attention was drawn to a tiny pink pony that was sniffing at one of his bags. Cut Strings froze in shock at what he knew to be a nightmare giving him puppy eyes while pointing at a pouch. He knew what she wanted from that pouch and was all too happy to supply. Looking around to make sure that there were no witnesses, he took out a jar and poured some black sand into his hoof before holding it out to her. like lightning, the little nightmare lept forwards and scarfed down the offered treat. Cut smiled at this and watched as she waved him goodbye and took off. His jaw dropped in shock when she ran up to some kids, including the colt that the party was for. He never would have expected the kids to welcome the nightmare, or for her to jump up onto the colt's head and hide herself under his hat. As he watched the kids leave a grin grew on his face, for in his mind there could only be one explanation for why a nightmare would be friendly with those kids and vice-versa. They must be followers of Nightmare Moon too! He wanted to go up and talk with them right then and there but a large crowd was coming so he figured it should wait. He had a lot of work to do anyways. Once Button and his party members were in their underground lair Button turned to the others with excitement. "Guys! The gift Snips gave me! You have got to see this!" "It's just a book, calm down." Apple Bloom said as she pulled a little pet carrier out of her inventory. "Oh neat, my class lets me make it a battle pet... Hey, that's not a pet it's a weapon!" At Apple Blooms's complaint, she grabbed the chain. "Chomp chomp chomp chomp." "Ak! What the hay?!" Apple Bloom cried out as she dropped the chain and jumped away. "A chain chomp! That's so cool!" Button gushed. "And perfect timing! You'll need a pet. Check this out!" Button exclaimed as he threw the gift Snips gave him onto the table. "Go on! Touch it!" Spike walked over and placed a claw on it and his eyes widened at a popup that the others couldn't see. This piqued the interest of the fillies who all surrounded and placed hooves on it. All of them now seeing the same popup. You have found an 'Enchanted Comics' dungeon! Issue #132 Mane-streaming! Would you like to enter now? Yes/No (omake) "Woooooooooooooooo! Come on Luna, it's more fun if you raise your forehooves up like this!" Celestia said to her sister. Luna's only response was to cling even tighter to the rollercoaster's holding bar while turning greener. Celestia was blissfully unaware of the vengeance Luna was planning on her for making her get on this crazy thing. She was just barely able to hold on to her lunch. And then they reached the loops and what little control she had over her stomach was lost. Turning her head outwards she barfed. Seeing this, Celestia used magic she hadn't used in generations to amplify her voice. "Look out below!" "...Can we just let him have this one? I like my figure the way it is." Silver Spoon asked her friend when she saw Button go up to a game where you had to find a picture under a giant pizza by eating a path while others did the same. "I think we could give him a quick break." Diamond Tiara agreed while giving the game a disgusted look. "Look out below!" Turning to look at whoever was shouting they saw something flying towards them. "What is-" 'Splat' The entire town was filled with the screams of two fillies.