I AM SO HYPED!!!
"AH JESUS CHRIST! It's the beginning of the chapter. You don't have to blow my fucking eardrums!"
Fuck you man! I have the right to scream like Jrod when he receives his Taco Bell.
"Why are you screaming anyway?"
Because today...is the day. Today...is the day I start playing video games again.
"What do you mean?"
There's a new arcade opening up in Ponyville.
"An arcade? Seriously?"
Yeah. Why aren't you hyped as me?
"An arcade is just so...old school."
Who gives a shit? I don't care if it's an arcade. I haven't played video games for a little over a month.
"Wait, didn't you say you would go crazy?"
Yep. Thankfully school, my job at Sugarcube Corner, and hanging out with my friends has kept me busy.
"I guess that's true. Wait, don't you have work today?"
Nope. It's Sunday. I was now walking to where the new arcade was arcade. I had a bag on me with quite a few bits. I figured, I've been working so hard and I have more than enough to bits, so I thought...why not splurge a little? Once I caught sight of the arcade, I picked up my pace to more of a jog. The words "Wily's Arcade" glowed in bright pink neon lights as I approached.
"Wily's...Arcade? As in Dr. Wily from the Mega Man games?"
I don't know. Just roll with it.
I opened the doors and found myself to what I describe as heaven. All around me where completely unfamiliar video games for me to play. At the back of the arcade I could see a food area, with tables and chairs strewn around. I smiled and waved at the stallion at the front counter, who waved back, and started exploring, wondering what I should play first.
So many games. So little time.
I could see various colts and fillies playing the games, looking as hyped as me. After a few minutes of walking around, my eyes settled on one game that I looked all too familiar. There was a huge screen, two guitars, and the words "Guitar Pony" in the same font from back home.
There was no need for this pun. It would've been perfectly fine to just call this 'Guitar Hero," but fuck it.
Now, I've never actually played Guitar Hero before, but I'm familiar with how to play it. You just press the right button at the right time. How hard could it actually be? I inserted my bits into the game and picked up the guitar. It was a little awkward to hold at first, but it was easy to get used to. Okay, what song should I...um...I don't know any of these songs. Scratch that. I don't any of these artists. 'Serves Her Right' by Sapphire Shores? 'Drop the Bass' by DJ-Pon3? Okay, I actually knew who she is. 'Rainbow' by Songbird Serenade
"How much do you wanna bet that one is the same one sung by Sia back on Earth?"
It's highly unlikely.
I decided to chose 'The Spectacle' by Countess Colouratura cause why not, and picked medium difficulty. I'm no pussy that's gonna chose easy, but I'm also no expert that's gonna chose hard. I took a deep breath and prepared my guitar as the the screen displayed the countdown. As the song began, I immediately got a Lady Gaga vibe from this.
What do you mean?
Here. Let me show you. Just listen.
Okay, I see what you mean.
It's only been 40 seconds into the song, and so far I've managed to hit every single key thanks to my fast reflexes. As the song went on, I could hear the sounds of foals whispering behind. Sounds of admiration to be specific. After the song ended, I put the guitar down and took a breath. I got a high score of...7620? God damn. I could hear the foals' whispering of admiration grow a bit louder.
"Wow, that colt's pretty good," I heard a random filly say.
"What about you Button Mash? Do you think you can play like that?" a colt asked.
"U-um, I don't know. I've never played Guitar Pony before, but I can try," I heard what I assumed to be Button Mash say. A brown little colt walked up beside me and picked up the second guitar. He had red eyes, red mane and tail, and a red, yellow, and light orange propellor hat. The hat suited him pretty well. What caught my attention the most was his cutie mark. It was...a d-pad from an old NES controller. Do you know what this means?
"Holy shit."
This kid's a gamer! Like his special talent is literally playing video games! Sniff. I don't even know this kid and I'm already so proud of him.
"Are you...are you crying?"
No! It's just...liquid pride. Yeah, let's go with that.
"Excuse me, but, how do you play this game? I've never played it before," Button Mash asked.
"I'll show you kid," I said as I showed the guitar to him, "You see these four colored buttons here?"
"Yeah," he said.
"On the screen, you'll see keys of the same color as these buttons going down to circles. When a key is on a circle, press the button as the same color. For example, when a red key is on a circle, press the red button. There could also be a colored line following some of the keys. When that happens, you hold the button down for the duration the line is on the circle," I explained. I hope I didn't just give this kid a brain aneurysm.
"Oh okay. I think I understand. I just hit the right button at the right time?" he said.
Sniff. This kid even thinks like me. He's gonna make an amazing gamer when he grows up. It's a shame though. There's no YouTube here. God I don't even wanna imagine how many videos I need to watch when I go back.
"Pretty much," I said as I inserted some more bits, "I'll let you pick a song this time Button."
"Okay Mr..." he said.
"Legion, and there's need to call me 'mister.' I'm still a teenager," I said.
"Okay. Oh! Oh! This one! I really like this song!" he said to which I chuckled at his enthusiasm.
He picked 'Rainbow' by Songbird Serenade, and-HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK?!
"What?"
Just listen!
...
"Hah! I knew it! It's the exact same song Sia sung on Earth! You owe me $20!"
We didn't even agree to a bet.
...
...
"Damnit!"
We decided to go on easy mode. In short, I hit every single key, and Button Mash missed a few, but did a good job nonetheless.
"This game is so cool!" Button cheered.
"Yeah it is, and look around you. There's still so many games to play, and I just gotta play them all. Sigh. I love video games. I don't know about you, but in the video game world, I know I can succeed and be things I can't be in real life" I said to which Button's eyes widened and he had huge smile.
"Finally, somepony gets it! With video games, I can be things I wanna be, and it just...comforts me," he said.
"I think we just became friends," I said.
Button and Mash I played a whole bunch of other games for the rest of the day. We played a game similar to Street Fighter, with Button winning 3-2. There was a racing game...
"But there are no cars in this world."
...with pegasi acting as the vehicles. Button was focused more on winning that he wasn't paying much attention to the obstacles on the coarse while going full speed, making crash everywhere. There were lots of games we played, but I had a lot of fun with my most favorite game in arcades everywhere. And that game...is skeeball! I loved skeeball growing. Needless to say, I utterly destroyed Button at that game. We eventually went to the prize corner and submitted our tickets. Button got a plush doll of a puppy, and I got one of a turtle, because I like turtles. Turtles are awesome.
We were now at the food area sitting at a table. Between us was a large cheese pizza and a couple of sodas.
"Button, I gotta admit, this was probably the most fun I had in Ponyville. It's been so long since I played any form of video game," I said.
"Well, if you'd like, you can always come by my house so we can hang out some more. I've got plenty of video games," he said.
"Well, I have school and my job at Sugarcube Corner, so it'd have to be next Saturday or Sunday. And we'd have to ask your parents first. But otherwise, I'm down for that," I said.
"Button, it's time to go home sweetie," a female voice called out.
We turned to the voice and saw a mare walking towards us. She had a tan coat, brown mane and tail, blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a heart next to a baby bottle filled with milk. Based on what she said, it shouldn't be hard to figure out who she was.
"Hi mom," Button said to the mare, "Meet my new friend, Legion."
"Aw it's so nice to see that you're making new friends," she said with a smile the turned towards me, "My name is Cream Heart. I hope my little Button wasn't much trouble."
"Not at all ma'am. Button here was well behaved the entire time. You sure raised a good kid," I said as I gave Button a little noogie.
"Mom, is it okay if Legion comes over next weekend to hang out?" Button asked.
"Of course he can sweetie. Now come along, it's starting to get late," Cream Heart said.
"Take the pizza with you Button. Consider it a thank you gift to you and your mom for inviting me to hant out," I said as I handed him the pizza box.
"Okay. Thank you Legion. Bye," he said as he walked away with Cream Heart.
I meant what I said to Button earlier. Video games give me a sense of...comfort. And it helps bring people together through the power of teamwork and competitions. I threw away my soda and exited the arcade, taking to the air and flying back to the school.