//------------------------------// // Fillydelphia // Story: Ultra Combo: Brother, Gamer, Pony // by UltraCombo //------------------------------// "KO!!! YOU WIN!!!" The familiar sound echoed through Ultra Combo's ears. "Child's play." he thought to himself. "Whoever programmed this thing had no idea he'd be dealing with me." He had a right to feel confident, video games was his special talent, sported by his cutie mark of a controller. It was just another day for Ultra, sitting in his still-unfinished house, playing some Pony Kombat. That's all he ever thought he needed, besides the house being unfinished, of course. However, Ultra was starting to doubt his old dreams he had as a colt. --------------------- Ultra grew up in the city of Fillydelphia. As a colt, he had thought that the city was the perfect balance of everything he needed: Ponies to talk to, and things to do. However, as time went on, Fillydelphia went further and futher from what he originally loved it for. Over the years, more and more new ponies moved to Fillydelphia, while all the old ones Ultra called his friends began to move away, and eventually, he would lose contact with most of his friends. Fillydelphia also began to lose stuff to do. Playgrounds and arcades where he and his old friends used to hang out were demolished to make way for factories and plants. Fillydelphia was quickly becoming an industrial giant, and Ultra didn't want ANY part in it. Ultra quickly decided that, when he was old enough, he would move to a small town, one where this industrial revolution wouldn't take over and take away everything he loved about a quiet city. So, three years ago, at the young age of 19, Ultra decided to leave home for a little town he heard one of the locals talking about: Ponyville. In the month he took to prepare for his move, his family life wasn't the greatest. His father, a single parent for Ultra and his younger sister Joystick after his mother's disappearance, had assumed Ultra would stay in Fillydelphia and work with him at the steel mill, so this news came as a great shock to him. Still, he let Ultra choose his own destiny, though Ultra saw the disappointment in his father's eyes. Because of this, he decided to limit interaction with his father. Ultra's sister, Joystick, on the other hand, was devastated when she intially heard the news of Ultra's departure. One of the few things Ultra remembers vividly was walking into Joystick's room and seeing her sobbing loudly into her pillow. "...Joy?" he said softly. He knew she didn't want to talk to him. While all of Ultra's friends moved away from Fillydelphia over the years, his little sister remained his best friend. Joystick looked up at him, her eyes red and her cheeks drenched in tears. "What do YOU want?!" she managed to scream through her tears. She didn't even wait for an answer. She just buried her head into her pillow again. Ultra sighed and sat down on the edge of Joystick's bed, giving her space. "Look, Joy, obviously you aren't happy about this. I understand that, but I really don't want to remember my last month living here as the week I couldn't even TALK to you." Joystick quickly rolled over to look Ultra in the eyes, tears still erupting from her eyes. "I-I-It doesn't have to be! Just stay here! You don't have to go! You don't!!!" "It's not like you'll never see me again." "B-B-But-but....I NEVER WANT YOU TO LEAVE!!!!!" Joystick flung herself into Ultra's hooves. She started bawling even harder. Ultra began to stroke her mane. "Shhhhhh..." Ultra whispered gently. He backed up and looked into Joystick's eyes. "I can't stay here. This isn't where I'm meant to be. I'm meant to be in Ponyville. I've seen it, and it's perfect for me. Nice and quiet." Ultra brought up a hoof and wiped the tears from Joy's face. "I love you. You know that. But this is my destiny. This is what I was meant to do. So, please, Joy. Give me your blessing to do what I'm meant to do." Joystick had stopped sobbing, though silent tears began to stream down her face. ".....Okay." Joystick hugged Ultra as hard as she could. "I have a proposition for you." Ultra said in a more cheerful tone. Joystick looked up at his big blue eyes. "What?" "How about this: If you wanna be with me so bad, you can visit me some time. You can stay as long as you want. And..." Ultra's conversation with his father after Joystick had fled to her room flashed through his mind. "...I talked to Dad, and he said that, when you're old enough, you can move in with me in Ponyville. Joystick lit up like Celestia's sun. "R-r-r-really?!" Joystick began jumping up and down on her bed. "YESYESYESYESYES..." Ultra could remember it like yesterday. The moment he left Fillydelphia behind was one of the most sorrowful moments of his life. Sure, he would be seeing his sister on her visits she had every once in a while, but... "Oh, horseapples." Ultra snapped back to reality. Joystick. He darted into the unfinished kitchen of his home to check the clock. 2:30. Ultra breathed a sigh of relief. Joystick's train wasn't showing up until 7:00. He still had time. While Ultra was in the kitchen, he decided to check the fridge to see how his food situation was going. It wasn't going well. He had barely anything, definitely not enough to feed a himself AND Joy for the whole week. He sighed. "Whelp," he said to nobody in particular but himself, "guess I'd better go shopping before she gets here." With that, he went outside and made his way out to down to the market. Upon arriving at the market, Ultra looked around to see everything just as usual. The mailmare flying through the sky, all the vendors in their usual places. Everything was normal, that is, except for the big, red stallion setting up a sign by entrance to the market. The sign read: SWEET APPLE ACRES BEST APPLES IN ALL OF PONYVILLE "Apples, huh?" Ultra pondered. "Joystick likes apples. I bet she'd love to have some. Plus, I keep hearing great things about this Sweet Apple Acres place." Ultra shrugged as he began to make his way down to Sweet Apple Acres, unaware that, there, he would meet one of the closest friends he would ever know.