//------------------------------// // This Game's Lots of Fun // Story: Freddy Fazbear and Friends Presents: ...Equestria? // by Shadowflame //------------------------------// As Noon drew closer, the activity in Ponyville’s local arcade increased more and more as little colts, and the occasional filly, found an opportunity to leave home and come here to satisfy their ‘Inner Gamer’. Of course, it was an entirely different story for any colt who also had an ‘Outer Gamer’ too. Button Mash had been sitting on the stool in front of a particular arcade game for at least the past four hours, hoping to be able to beat the latest high score on the machine. He knew it would take him at least another hour of straight playing to be able to reach his goal, but he had prepared accordingly; doing his chores early, finishing what little homework he had leftover from yesterday, and leaving for the arcade as soon as the games’ power came on; all so his mom wouldn’t come interrupt his conquest for digital glory. Button bit his lip as he quickly tapped the buttons and moved the joystick with frantic precision. He had always hated this particular level. As his character got hit again by one of the monsters he fought in this encounter, the single strike taking out a fair bit of his health, Button cursed under his breath, “For the love of- dumb flying cinderblocks!” He turned back towards the action of the game, but not before hearing a distinct, “Hello?” coming from his right. “Huh?” Button glanced towards the voice, keeping watch out of the corner of his eye on his game. But as he looked, he found another colt, probably around his same age, standing next to him. This new kid was an alabaster earth pony, and he had a messy blonde mane and tail that looked like it hadn’t had intimate contact with a comb or brush before. His cutie mark looked like a single yellow balloon with a horizontal, red stripe on it. To Button’s surprise, and satisfaction, this new guy was wearing a propeller beanie just like him, except his was colored blue and red. All the while, he had been staring right up at Button with a pair of large, blue eyes. Button blinked in surprise, “Um, hello?” He took another quick glance at his game to make sure he hadn’t died. The new kid perked up, “Hi!” “Hi!” Button replied nonchalantly, keeping his focus on the game, “Look, I’m gonna be playing for a while, so find your own game, okay?” Button was greeted by silence and the sound of his game. With no response from the white colt, Button figured he had left and continued to play. That is, until his screen suddenly turned black as the power was cut off. Button gasped in wide eyed horror as he frantically mashed the controls, as if it could make any sort of difference, “What? No! NO!!!” A giggle from his right caused Button to turn his head, only to see that white colt from before holding in his hoof the bane of gamers everywhere: an unplugged power cord. The colt giggled again, and Button felt his eye twitch. Button screamed to the heavens, “NO! Why’d you do that?! NOOOO-Ho-ho…” The brown colt flopped down on the dead arcade game, face-first as he quietly sobbed, “No… four hours! Wasted!” But as the new colt watched Button begin to cry for the loss of his soon-to-be victory, his giggling ceased as his smile vanished, only to be replaced with a look of sorrow. This hadn’t been the reaction he was expecting. Button silently mourned for his high score that was apparently never to be, but his ears perked up as he heard sniffling from his side. He glanced over towards the white colt, his eyes wide in surprise as he saw the perpetrator of this event actually beginning to sniffle and cry. His head was facing down towards the ground, away from Button, the unplugged power cord dropped to the ground, forgotten. Button stared for a moment in surprise, muttering silently, as he hadn’t quite grasped the concept of not speaking his thoughts out loud, “Whoa… he looks kind of… guilty.” He stared warily at the white colt standing there, sniffling at the ground. Button quickly cleared his throat, “Um, dude? You okay?” The white colt stopped sniffling for a moment, looking up at Button with wet eyes, before slowly nodding. An awkward moment of silence passed as neither said anything, the white colt wiping his eyes with a hoof. “Uh…” Button gave a confused look, “Look, I’m not angry with you, okay? I’m just…” The brown colt shook his head as the emotional capacity of an eight year-old capped out, “I’m Button Mash. Who’re you?” The white colt paused for a moment, as if he were trying to process the words, “I… I-I’m… Balloon Boy.” Button Mash raised an eyebrow, “Balloon Boy?” Just when he had thought he’d heard the strangest names in Ponyville already. Balloon Boy nodded, “Yeah… but my friends call me BB.” He gave a tiny smile at the end of that, which was reassuring to Button. Button felt a smile come to his face, “Cool. I like your beanie!” BB grinned, “Hey, yours too!” Feeling like he had made a good friend at the moment, Button fished out some bits from his bit bag, “Hey, you wanna play a game? I’ve got a few extra bits, so we can do co-op or versus.” BB perked up, “Really? Sure!” He grinned, “I’ve never played an arcade game before!” Button blinked in surprise, “Seriously?” “Yep.” Button got off his stool, leading BB off to another game that was actually two players, unlike the Tales of Zillia game he had been playing before. “Well, let me show you the ropes to these games!” “Awesome!” As the two colts trotted up to another game, a two player RPG, sitting down on their respective seats. Button hoofed over a bit to BB, and both inserted their coins to play. As the opening sequence began for the game, Legend of The Four Swords: Mask of Death, Button glanced over towards BB and asked, “By the way… er, I’m not angry at you, but why’d you pull the power on my game back there? You didn’t seem happy about doing it.” BB bit his lip, ashamed, “I… Back home, every night my friends and I played with this guy that came around to watch the place. It was a game where he’d try to keep us out of his room by shining his flashlight at us.” A small smile came to his face, “It was fun. I’d sneak into his room through a vent, and then pull the power on his flashlight. Then after that, either Foxy or Mangle would jump on him, and then pull him out of the room to win the game.” BB sighed sadly, “I pulled the power on your game because I thought you’d like it. Foxy always liked it when I pulled the man’s flashlight power, so I thought you’d like the same.” His ears drooped, “But when you started to cry-“ “Hey! I didn’t cry!” Button exclaimed in defense, “I was just… er, mourning my lost score! Yeah! That’s it!” BB just blinked in confusion, making Button sigh and roll his eyes, “Whatever. Let’s get to the game!” He proclaimed with a grin on his face. BB’s expression brightened, “Righto!” And so, the two arcade colts began their multi-player journey through Termina Field, on a quest to save the world from the nearing apocalypse of the moon destroying the planet. All was well and normal in the arcade… well, save for the moment where the arcade owner couldn’t help but think Button Mash had somehow gotten a twin brother somewhere and confronted them about it. Apparently, he was afraid they'd to make double the amount of noise Button usually made with his screams of gaming conquest. Yup, just a normal day… Balloon Boy’s first ‘normal’ day. ____________________________________________________________ “Cutie Mark Crusader Apple Buckers! YAY!!!” “Golly! Why didn’t we think of this in the first place?” Applebloom wondered as she and the other crusaders trotted through Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo replied, “I think it might have been because of that whole fiasco when we tried to pick those zap-apples too early.” She winced, “Getting flung across the field by a tree wasn’t a highlight of mine.” “But seriously, why didn’t we think of this?” Sweetie Belle asked, “Applebloom’s family all have their talents in apples, so why not her too? Even if Scootaloo and I don’t have a talent for this, Applebloom might.” But oddly, her face flickered slightly with a bit of guilt. Even though it was brief, Scootaloo still noticed it, “What’s up, Sweetie Belle? You seem…” She trailed off as the right word failed to come to mind. Sweetie just shook her head, “It’s nothing. It’s just that before I came over, Button Mash invited me to go to the arcade with him. But we had already planned to do some crusading, so I had to say no.” “And?” The white unicorn shrugged, “He said it was fine, and he just went alone.” She grimaced a bit, “I still feel bad about it though.” “Meh, I wouldn’t.” Scootaloo replied, shaking her head in bewilderment, “Honestly, doesn’t Button play arcade games for six hours straight to beat it?” “Hey, that was only once!” Sweetie Belle defended. Applebloom raised an eyebrow at her, “Weren’t you the one who wasted his six hours during your Perfect Stallion song on Hearts n’ Hooves day?” The three of them glanced upwards as a collective flashback scene appeared: Sweetie Belle chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “Er, it was an accident!” She squeaked. “And let’s be serious,” Scootaloo added, “This is Button Mash we’re talking about. I bet he’d play a game six hours straight to beat it in a ‘hearthbeat’.” “It’s ‘heartbeat’.” Sweetie corrected her, pouting slightly, “And-“ The unicorn filly’s speech trailed off as her eyes spotted something. It had been one of the apple trees on the side of the path, or rather, Sweetie Belle had spotted something behind it, but only just a moment. She thought it had been someone peering at them around it, but they were gone before she could really see who or what it was. “Um, Sweetie Belle?” Applebloom asked, noticing the odd glance the unicorn was giving towards one of the trees, “Y’alright?” Sweetie nodded, “I thought I just saw… something.” Scootaloo quirked an eyebrow, “What?” Sweetie Belle paused, nodding her head towards one side of the tree, signaling for Scootaloo and Applebloom to go around that side, before quietly walking around the other side. The three crusaders quietly circled the tree, creeping as lightly as they could with their hooves. Sweetie Belle felt a pang of uneasiness as she rounded the part of the tree she had seen that… pony? She wasn’t sure what she was going to find on the other side. But as she reached the back of the tree, she found… nothing. Just patches of grass growing beside the tree. Applebloom and Scootaloo rounded about on the other side, looking a tad bit confused. Sweetie Belle, however, felt a bit more relief than she did disappointment. She had been scared what she saw was a bear or a fox, and then what would she have done then? Run screaming for her life, probably. The unicorn filly sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, “Um, I guess I just saw nothing. Sorr-“ Suddenly, she was cut off by the sound of rustling leaves above her, as well as the shrill shriek of a filly falling from the branches, “AAIIIE!” Unfortunately, Sweetie Belle found herself just beneath where she was falling, “AAA- oof!” “Oof!” Immediately, Sweetie Belle found herself in a tangle of limbs with the poor filly who landed on her. Applebloom and Scootaloo gasped as they quickly ran to help them off the ground. Scootaloo winced slightly as she helped pull Sweetie Belle up, “Ow, that looked like it had to hurt.” Sweetie Belle shook her head to clear the fuzzies in her vision. She quickly glanced up as Applebloom helped the filly who had fallen on her back up to her hooves, finally able to get a good view of her. She was about their age, standing only about three hooves tall, and just like Applebloom, she was an Earth Pony. Her coat seemed more dusty with its pale tan color, and a brown, matted mane hung down at her shoulders. Her tail was done in the same fashion and length, and there wasn’t a cutie mark adorning her flank. This new filly silently glanced about the three crusaders with violet eyes, and strangely enough, she wore a blue and purple propeller beanie on her head, despite having just fallen out of a tree. Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow after seeing that. Almost nopony wore a propeller beanie… except for Button Mash, but still. A few awkward moments rolled by, without this new filly even speaking a word. She just blankly stared at the three of them. Finally, Applebloom approached her, “Um… howdy!” She tried to give a smile, but an odd feeling mixed visibly with it, “Y’alright there?” The filly remained silent, paused as she stared at Applebloom. But finally, she nodded. Sweetie Belle let out a breath of relief, “Well, that’s good.” She still found this new filly odd, but at least neither she or herself got hurt, “What’s your name?” The unicorn asked. The filly seemed surprised by the question, giving Sweetie Belle an uneasy look. But after a moment, her mouth quivered open, and she spoke with a weak, almost hollow voice, “Ball… Balloon… Girl.” “Balloon Girl?” Scootaloo asked. The filly nodded, looking less uneasy. Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. This was an odd, silent filly, who happened to have an odd name… how, er, odd. But Applebloom smiled at the new filly, “Well, howdy, Balloon Girl! Are you new around here?” Gingerly, Balloon Girl nodded. But she looked… frightened. Sweetie Belle caught onto the look, “What’s wrong? Are you lost?” She nodded again. “Well,” Scootaloo tapped her chin with a hoof, “Why don’t you hang with us? We were gonna go crusading for our cutie marks,” Her eyes glanced towards Balloon Girl’s blank flank, “And since you don’t have yours, you could come along with us. We might even take you somewhere you recognize along the way.” Balloon Girl tilted her head in confusion, a silent question on her face. “Oh, Ah’m guessin’ you’re wonderin’ what crusadin’ is, right?” Applebloom asked, to which Balloon Girl nodded again. “Oh, well, we just go around trying new things to see what our special talents are and get our cutie marks!” Balloon Girl looked a little less confused, but only slightly. However, a small smile did appear on her face, no doubt because crusading for cutie marks sounded fun. Sweetie Belle asked her, “So, do you want to come with us?” A bit more excited, Balloon Girl nodded. The crusaders grinned, and Applebloom spoke, “Cool! Ah’m Appleblom, this is Scootaloo, and that’s Sweetie Belle. We are-!” The three crusaders shouted with hoof bumbs to the sky, ”THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” Balloon Girl was startled by the sudden shout at first, but a silent giggle to herself later, the tan filly joined with a hoof pump of her own. Seeing it, Scootaloo gave her a wry smile, “You don’t talk much, do you?” Balloon Girl paused, tapping her chin with a hoof, before shrugging. She simply shook her head. “Alright, whatever, let’s get goin’!” Applebloom replied, before she started back on the trail through the orchard, with the other crusaders and Balloon Girl following beside her. The yellow filly glanced towards their newest companion, “Hey, Balloon Girl, mind if we call ya BG?” Balloon Girl smile, shaking her head. With her quiet voice, she replied, “B… G…” “Great!” Scootaloo grinned as she took off ahead in a gallop, “Last one to the clubhouse is the rotten hay!” “Hey!” Sweetie Belle shouted, racing after her, “First one’s got to eat it!” Applebloom glanced back at Balloon Girl as she chased after them, “C’mon, BG!” With a wide grin, BG galloped after the crusaders. For once in her life, she was having… fun.