//------------------------------// // Season 3 Part 4: Disconnected // Story: Button Mash: High School Life // by rock4u7 //------------------------------// Stare into the abyss and eventually the abyss stares back. Reach into the abyss and essentially the abyss reaches back. Button sucked the last shallow dregs of smoke from his cigarrette as he sat leaned against a brick wall, infront his vision the flurescent antiseptic lighting of the late-night Canterlot burger joint. Button flicked away the crumbling ashy filter and took another bite of his vegeburger, the taste revolting him as it swirled in his mouth with the smoke and poisened saliva. Soon he could hear echoed steps coming his way, looking towards who they belonged too Button saw nothing more than two mean-looking colts staunching in his direction. “Hey kid, this is Wardogs turf you know that, why you standing around acting like you got something to hid” questioned the shorter one of the two street urchants. “...” Button didn't say anything, in all reality he barely saw them as a threat, Button knew these colts wouldn't be able to do shit to him, they were just figments of his mind like everything else, they couldn't kill him, nothing could. “What are you, some kind of spy for the highrollers huh, thinkin' you can patrol our streets taking names huh...huh?” the second colt spat, his ear half shredded with an black apple-sead tattoed under his eye. “...Got a stick?” Button asked, eyes almost falling asleep, his hot breathe turning to white smoke in the cold air. 'What?” Muttered them both almost simultaneously. “got a stick, a fag, a ciggy...Ive burnt through my whole pack already, I really need one...got any?” again asked Button Mash, sizing up both of them with a citrusy stare. “you think your a smart ass or something” the shorter crook spat, Button rolling his eyes and the weight of the words. “No Im just asking if you've got a smoke don't need to get fucking prissy about it” Both of the hoodlems taking exception to that. “You trying to be a big mouth huh, well we know how to deal with smart ass big mouth wannabe's like you” The second colt pulled out a switch-blade and waved it around with a smile. Button returned with a smile of his own, turning his head slowly and revealing the fresh burn on half his face. “Careful bucko, you might poke your eye out with that thing” He joked. “Fellan, grab this fuck-tard, I want to send him straight to the ER”. The brown colt didn't even flinch as the larger colt aproached him parading around his letter-opener of a knife, dancing it about through the midnight air. “Really, did you even think this plan through, you really think I'm just going to stand here and let you try and play GTA gangsta with me, You really have no Idea what I'll do to you if you touch me do you”Warned Button Mash with a straight (if somewhat amused) face. “Whats the little baby gunna do...throw a punch?” Goated one of the two crooks. “Na....Im going to tear a fucking chunk out your throat with my front teeth...really go to town on you ya know, that little butterknife ain't gunna do shit once Im peeling your face off with my bare hooves, wiping your shit-stain of a life off the face of existence” Grimly explained the brown earth pony, his eyes glinting bright yellow in sheen of distant streetlights. The knife-equipped colt began to slow down his advance on Button, the realization that things may get gruesome if things are left to play out. “you talk big don't ya kid, but words aint shit-” “Them come at me, do it...I'll outlive both you morons, go on FUCKING DO IT! you'r not real...you'r nothing but character's in my head...you all are!, Who cares about anything...ain't no one gonna bother crying when you street urchins die!, I'll gut both you nags right here on the cold cement” bellowed Button, a strand of stray drool streaming from the side of his mouth, his eye's wild and lost. The teenager despite his wiry frame and skinny build looked absolutely ragged. Dry blood stained his face and his right eye was wholey blood-shot compared to the left, his eye-sockets were deep and baggy while his hair was a mess of dirt and leaves. He had a hyena's look about him, like a psychotic jackal. The two colts didn't move anymore forward, the first gang member backed off after Button flared his nostrils and snarled with a mouth full of jagged teeth. “Come on...Do it...fucking do it...stop backing away you cowards!” Button spat, stepping forward. “Oh we will...but uh, w-we don't have time to deal with some mental-case like you at some burger shop, you best watch yourself ki-” “FUCK YOU!”, the brown teenager hissed,lunging forward at the knife-wielding colt and latching his teeth hard into the poor crook's arm, tearing bits of skin off as he dragged his jaw along the colt's forearm like a fillet knife across fresh scales. “Oh Shit, OWWW, get it off get it off, Ouch FUCK!, my arm!” The second colt picked up Button with all his strength and threw him forward, sending with him flying with a trailing paint-splatter of his friend's blood. “Fellon, C'mon let get out of here!, His kids fucking pycho, OUWW...oh gods look at my fucking arm, sweet Celestria I can see my veins!” “C'mon you little shits, stopping running away!” Growled the brown colt, spitting a mix of blood and saliva onto the cold black Canterlot concrete. Button charged forward for a second time but both gang members bolted in the other direction, making it quite clear that they didn't want any more trouble, Button almost caught up with the wounded colt before the low-life threw his switch-blade at Button and clipped him in the leg, giving both thugs time to escape the creature that was Button Mash. With a slight hobble Button made his way back to the Burger shop where he saw a pale white Mare standing in the middle of the parking lot, a bright red hoody wrapped around her. “Hey” called out Button, causing her the jump back in fright by his startling entrance and appearance. “Jeez Button what happened to you, did Scarlet do this too you...you're all kinds of fucked up” Ghost asked, staring up and down at the teenage colt. “I'll be fine, nothing a good time can't fix eh, so where are we heading?” Button told her, his front right leg dripping blood from his fresh knife wound. “Well uh...It's kinda a secret, c'mon Ill drive ya there, I've got my scooter right round the front, I just need you too close your eyes for the trip there, for safety reasons you know”. “You got to be kidding me, Im not riding bitch” Button moaned, wiping his hooves through his greasy hair. “Excuse me macho man but last time I checked you barely know how to drive four wheels let along two, so hop down off that cross, use the wood to build a bridge and get the fuck over it!” “Oh Ok fine, ….ouch!” Button cooed, taking a stride toward and latching at his wouldn't limb. “you might want some bandages for that B” Ghost stated, noticing the weak beads of blood dribbling down the colt's arm. “It's uh fine, here pass me your neck-band chocker you've got on....please”. Ghost shot him a confused look then reluctantly un-clipped her Gothic accessory. The colt covered his arm in burger napkins and wrapped it tight with the neck-band, Ghost began to feel uncomfortable around this twisted shadow of Button Mash, to her he seemed more bitter and nihilistic...well way more than usual. Ushering him over they hopped on the jet black scooter and rode off into the Canterlot streets, Button feeling the frosty cold winds pelting his face as he tightened shut his eyes. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Both the two teenagers rode in awkward silence, Button's eyes shut tight and Ghost feeling somewhat jittery do the the large assortment of narcotics she was smuggling in her back-pack (strapped firmly to the side of the scooter). Button didn't really mind, all the cold air whipping through his mane cooled his head, somewhat numbing a migraine that didn't seem to leave, like a large white tick buried under the skin. “Hey...Button?” Ghost asked, loosening her tight grip on the handlebars. “Are you familiar with Macbeth?”. The colt was confused by her literary question. “sort of..we read it first term” He told her, bright beams of yellow street-lights running over his eyelids. “We'll you can see parallels can't you?” The colt was still very confused by what she was say (or implying more likely). “Parallels with who...me...what am I Macbeth or something..oh...hardy harhar...look let's just go OK...Once this night's over I can just chill for once and forget all this shit” Ghost wanted to break the thick wall of ice that hovered over tonight so she did the only thing she knew how, be aggressive and blatant. “I know this is gonna trigger you but, come on it... was only a break up jeez” The bike began to slow down and stop at an intersection, light webs of water spitting down from above, only seen briefly by the glow of the street-lights in the blackness of night, as if white tiny crystals dancing in the breeze for a short second before dying against the black roads below, neither of the two ponies noticed as they rode more into the darker parts of Canterlot. “It's not just the break up...It's everything” Button exhaled in a brief moment of understanding, “It's all the ….the heat in the air, all the blood being spilt, all the moon-watching and all the fucking Loneliness at night , I...I don't feel like me anymore...I feel like I'm ... wrapped up in someone elses skin...or there wrapped up in mine, I dunno, I'm scared of what's going to happen, ya know?” Button finished, his sentence sounding delusional to Ghost but still containing a sliver of genuineness from the brown colt. “What's happening to you?” She asked in a concerned tone. “I'm taking control” Coldly said Button with an almost foreign look about him, his brief show of humanity now wiped off by that same poisonous migrain that crept around Button's head. Ghost raised an eyebrow, though she couldn't see him she could feel his grip on her change. “Are you sure B?, it kinda seems the exact opposite” “I don't care Ghost, I don't care” He told her, his demeanor turning from cold to distant. “You're not acting normal B, you're acting weird” “And how do I normally act?” Button quipped at her. Ghost ignoring the snide remark and telling him anyway. “you know,Happier, quirkier...not so....dark, it's like you've been infected somehow man” Button gave a half-hearted chuckle. “hmm, maybe your right...” he whispered to himself. “what?” “I said...hold on tight, your getting a bit shaky on your turns” “Hey! Keep your eyes-” “Yeah yeah I know, eyes closed” Button could tell she felt uneasy, he wanted to break the icey mood so he did the first thing that came to his mind...a really.....really bad joke. “Hey Ghost?” He asked in a more playful tone than the bittern one he had adopted. “hmm what?” She replied, trying to not pay attention to him, rethinking whether she should have even made him the offer of tonight at all. “what do dwarfs and midgets have in common?” “what?” She replied again, grouchily. “...very little” suddenly the bike shook as Ghost started un-controllably giggling, Button latching on tight as she tried to steady herself whilst holding back her gleeful chortle. “s..sorry about that” Ghost apologized, locking her hooves tight against the handle-bars. “All good, all good, you know you're the first pony to actually laugh at that stinker of a dad joke” Button told her, feeling her body relax slightly in his arms. Ghost gave another giggle as rode off down the streets. The tension was finally beginning to break if minutely, But felt a little bit more warm inside, then immediately cast out a stray thought he had and turned his attention elsewhere. *DADMMM* *DADMMM* Button held on tight as he felt the bumps and potholes of the road, not wanting to admit it Holding Ghost's hips so tight made him slightly aroused, thankfully not enough for the white mare to notice. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ “Ok, were here, watch your step” the mare told him, Button mash opening his eyes and hoping of the back of the scooter-bike, stretching his arms and legs with snaps, crackles and popped vertebraes. The seemed to be parked in a dark alleyway, the only real lighting coming from a street-light far off. “I hope your not planing to kill me here, it's a pretty shitty place to die” Joked Button, hacking some flem and spitting it into a pile of black garbage bags. “Eh maybe later, well let me show you the 'Chateau de la drogue'” the white mare replied, unzipping her red hoody and walking over to a large frayed cardboard box box suited for a fridge. His a light heave she pulled it aside and revealed a doorless doorway leading to a black abyss. “That's the secret spot is it?” the Colt asked, cocking an eyebrow at her as she beathe hot white smoke into his hooves. “Well it's not exactly the grand galloping galla...c'mon Ill show you around, not much to show though” Ghost remarked, leading him into the blackness, his only real thought being the delicious taste of those drugs she had. Button reached out into the darkness and traced his arms along the wall, feeling his feet crunch against plastic bottles and unwrapped wrappers under his hooves. Vision only coming back once Ghost took out her phone and set it on 'torch mode', illuminating the room in a blue and white glow. It seemed they were in some sort of abandoned storage room and an old one at that, between the entrance and turn to one singular room were old blankets and refuse strewn out across the floor, old cigarette butts and disintegrated condom wrappers filling the sides, this place was a drug den plain and simple, the door entrance a cardboard fridge box and the door to the one room a nailed up pleat blanket with a cut running straight down the center. “Nice Place eh” joked Button, opening his smoke package but finding not a single one inside. His smirk slightly dropping as he paced around the cramped hallway and into the blanket-covered room. Inside was nothing But a large block of mattress bedding foam,a two by four block of wood, some bean-bags, two milk-crates and a plethora of graffiti littering the walls. It's not anything special but in terms of getting fucking lit it's as safe as it gets, Bones and I usually come here when we find ourselves with some harder stuff rather than the usual green bud, the place won't be winning no awards but...It has a certain poverty-esc charm to it” Ghost acknowledged, stretching her body out as she walked around the room like it was hers. “well I'll go get the goods from my bike, just sit down and make yourself comfortable, Ill leave the torch on if you need it, back in a jiffy” “I thought we'd be somewhere...alittle more...inviting” “we'll beggars can't be choosers” “And what are you” “Oi, Shut it” Button sat down on the large rectangular sheet of foam, the thing was caked with alcohol stains and cigarette ash all topped up the pungent aroma similar to sweat and vomit, Button instinctual gave a throaty gag as the scent struck his nose. Looking around the cramp burnt out room, the colour at least by what Button could guess was a heavily faded milky green though years of age and decay and turned it into a soiled white with only the ghostly tinge of a green hue, as well on the walls were thousands of names, sentences, quotes and tags in inked or painted graffiti, the most resent a lip-stick drawn love heart with 'Ghostly Bones' written within. The ground was worst then the walls, it was a cracked and stained slab of concrete with a spectrum of multi-colored juice stains splattered around, to anyone this hovel, this warren of fifth and debauchery was unbearable...but to Button it was like any other box, a place to waist a bit more of his life. Footsteps could be heard clipping down the hallway entrance. Ghost lifted up the drape and put down on the floor a shabby school bag full of clinking glass bottles, Button gave his lips a smack as his heart-rate begin to increase at the thought of this smorgasbord board. The mare then unzipped the front pocket and took out a zip-bag of apple slices. “What are we baking a pie or something” scoffed Button as he eyed out the fruit. “There zap-apples you dumbass, you eat these if you wanna stop the high, it's kinda like drinking coffee to fix a hangover, also if your fucking while juiced up and you chew one of these right at point of climax you'll have something like a monolithic orgasm that lasts five whole minutes, Bones and I creamed for like...” “Ok I get it can we begin already, you said they'd help, lets just do this” “Oi, I know your got your sorry ass turfed but it doesn't mean you can just talk shit on me, I'm doing his out of the kindness of my goddamn heart so show some graduate ok!” Ghost snarled, Button's face going soar like a child being told off. “ok...ok Im sorry, I...I just feel...like I need this” Ghost began to hesitate, scanning Button's face with stern eyes, he didn't look...like button, his face looked longer, mangier, broken and beaten, his eyes where like sour yellow lemons dully glinting in the cold whites of his eyes. “are you...sure you want to do this Button?” she asked him, slowly and hesitantly unzipping the bag. All Button did was give a simple nod, his face smelling faintly of milk and black tea. The white mare took out a red bottle 4 long tubes labeled 'Red planet', an onion shaped bottle with a tag reading 'midnight black', 8 different viles of varying colors and a short glass skull shape with a copper engraved labeled proclaiming itself as 'Delight of the Green Stranger', a red waxy seal melted over the lid with an imprint of a coconut. Button's eyes immediately darted to the stubby intricate bottle, reaching out his arm like an old spider he attempted to latch onto it but was denied his prey by ghost who wooshed his hoof away. “Hold on, this one we'll save till last, It's my own private one I've been saving, 12 times more potent than normal green stuff. Button almost hissed in spite but kept a cool face as instead he grabbed one of red viles and popped the stopper. Ghost did the same, unclogging the tube and letting the concoction breathe, the cramp room filling with the pungent inebriating scent. Button's mouth was salivating as he stared into the pinkish red liquid, itself glowing brighter and brighter like a burning metal coil, the drug den glowing both a beautiful pink and a visually arousing purple from both the viles, the fumes dancing like swingers as they mixed and merged into an intoxicating aroma more satisfying than sex and more fulfilling than food. Ghost and Button felt there minds beginning to buzz and the drugged cloud swimming in and out of there nostrils, licked there parched tongues with teasing vaporous particles. Both looking to each other through the glow of the narcotics, they smiled and gave a celebratory clink of both viles, pouring the fantastical goo down there throats and falling back in a pool of estacy and euphoria. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^_^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ “Hey Button” Asked Sweetie belle, laying curled up against the young colt on her sister's couch. Chin resting on his chest and watching him stare at the joyboy screen. “Yeah Sweets” He replied, still glassy eyes fixed on the pixilated platforming within his grasp, attention split between her and his game. “What do you wanna be when you like...you know, grow up” the pearly white filly put forward, watching his face slowly contemplate the question, the last licks of afternoon light dying through the blinds of the boutique window. The colt though hard on that simple almost basic question, never really going over it himself. Sweetie belle still looked up and stared at his face, riddle with the heavy burden of thought. The afternoon sun outside finally sank into the endless sea of night before Button gave her a reply. His mouth pursed a the right side like a weak smirk, a crooked almost sad smile. “I think I'll be a clown when I get grown” Button finally spoke, quoting the current book him and Sweetie belle were reading in class. Sweetie's eyes rolling as he told her. Button continued, his smile slowly fading more and more. “Yes Sir, a clown. There ain't one thing in this world I can do about folks except laugh, so Im gunna join the circus and laugh my head off”. Sweetie giggled slightly and began to play along, unaware of how serious Button's face was becoming. “You got it backwards, Dill. Clowns are sad, it's folks that laugh at them” Quotes the white mare, her smile immediately disappearing when she saw that Button's face was deathly serious, unaware if even the colt knew it or not. Button without a smirk, a smile or even a twitch, with a face dead-panned and cold looked up through the window in front of them, beyond the TV, beyond the blinds and even beyond the mountains far over. “Well...Im gunna be a new type of clown. I'm gunna stand in the middle of the ring...and laugh at the folks” “Button can we not play this game anymore please, your scaring me, I don't like it” Like the flick of a switch Button cracked his sullen face into a wide smile and ruffled her hair. “Sorry Sweets, I was just...acting you know, um...a game maker, I like video games...so a game maker I guess, do what I love right” he told her happily, like a parent scaring their child and immediately trying to console them. Sweetie Belle gave a sigh of relief as Button gave her a kiss on the horn and returned to his game, his innermost thoughts still beyond TV, Blinds and mountains. “Laugh my head off” “Laugh at the world” ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^______^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^_^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^_^__^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^_^^^^^^^^^^_^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Button wiped his chin as he downed his third vile, the blue liquid spiraling down his gullet and turning his vision a distorted rainbow, the dull paleness of the room now ablaze with swirling vortexes of star and planets, Button's tongue feeling like jello in his mouth. Ghost just moved onto her second vile and drunk the drug in two sips, her body feeling like tingly kisses molesting her entire body, moaning croaks coming from her mouth as she rolled her head around and around in circles. Both Ponies were drunk of the narcotic, both giggling and groaning, slurping and drooling, there heads drowned in the hallucinogenic haunt of the zebra-manufactured juice. The room to them was now a playground of monolithic cerebral architecture and spectral oceans of rainbow waters. The dingy and cold hovel was now the womb of there mind's exploration into the truly maddening and fantastical. “So...B..Button, what gunna you d..do now Scarlet's ….poof, out of the picture” slurred Ghost slapping Button's theigh and falling backwards. The Colt swayed back and fourth as if his head was filled with heavy lead. “Who cares anyway...pffft....psshhtt, I don't needing no partner to make me feel like anything, all I need is...numero uno , yes-sir-e just me, it's all petty anyway...relationships don't mean nothing, either way they end...that's life” Button babbled, raising another vile up like a goblet and toasting to nothing. “you know...me and scarlet used to go out the dam and stare out at the town...thinking what if the wall...cracked open or something and swallowed the whole place up...all those ponies, all those fillies and fowls...all gone in an instant, it's like our lives are so … insignificant in the grand scheme of...stuff, that...we...pffftt hahaha what are we talking about man” “I don't need no one...I don't need not one person but me....I don't need....need....anything” “dude I'm so fucking horny right now...hope you d-don't mind if I step out for half an hour...I would ask you if you wanted to have some 'fun' but I'm a c-committed mare ya now, Bones is my baby boy, OH!...we should get b..bonsy here, eh...where's my phone, shit never m..mind, Fuck man your so fucked eh...haha..well Ill be in hallway...n..no peaking ...ya perv haha”. With that the pale white mare grabbed one of the empty tubes and hobbled out of the room, Button not listening to a word she said as he poured down his throat another poisonous toxin, causing his eyes to again explode in a psychedelic whirling pool of new ideas and senarios, new non euclidean cities and new interpretations of how gravity should work. “BEHGLL...BAHAHA” Gargled Button as he rolled around freely on the disgusting foam mattress. ^^^___^_^^^^^^^^^^___^_^^^^^^_^^_^_^^^^^^^^^___^^^^^^^^^^^^^^__^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^___________________^________^___________ “Hey...man, do you ever like...wish you had a kid” Asked Button, lying in his sleeping bag facing up at the top of the tent, his arms folded behind his head. Rumble pondered it carefully and gave an almost scholarly 'hmmm' as he thought about it. “I sometimes kind of think it would be cool if me and Scoot had a kid, a little filly or colt, you know a little extenuation on your own genes, they get to grow up and learn stuff from you...ya know, I'm 15, I should probably be seriously considering it...but....That's a big burden for me and Scoot to bare, a kid aint cheap....ya know” “I honestly don't want to have kids....they piss and shit and vomit and cry for no reason, and you cant tell them to stop pissing and shitting and vomiting because they won't understand...and even if they do they just start crying and shitting and pissing even more because you told them no, it's like a constant cycle of piss and shit and vomit and crying, then they grow up and yell at you that you didn't do a good job teaching them not to piss and shit and vomit and cry, na man, kids ain't for me” Button Admitted. “true, but it's embedded in us to make kids, that's life” “well don't you find that weird that we feel lonely if we don't have a partner and then we get lonely as a couple about not having kids then you have kids....and complain about how shit it is having kids and how you just want to be alone, then when the kids leave you get lonely all over again” A cool silence fell over the two colts. “Button your dropping some heavy shit for two in the morning, I guess my only reply would be that I'm no philosopher but I do enjoy spending time with Scoot and if she want's to have a little rumble/scootaloo cross-over baby to cuddle than that's fine by me, I'm a simple colt Button” The blue pegasus assured, rolling over and tucking deep into his sleeping bag. “But...what if you think you wouldn't be a good father” asked Button Mash timidly. “Then just think of what a good father would do and do it, it's parenthood not rocket science” “yeah I guess your right” Button acknowledged, pulling up the lip of his sleeping bag as the cool air nipped at his shoulders. “Hey Rumble” “Yes Button” “What would you do if Scootaloo broke up with you tonight?” “Why did she say something to you!” Quickly asked Rumble, spring up and eyes going wide in fear. “no no, just another hypothetical question is all” Button Mash re-assured. The blue pegasus sunk slowly back down into his covers. “Well....I guess I'd just...move on, is there any other real option there?” “Would you be sad” “I guess I would be” “How long before you wouldn't be sad...when do you think the pain would go away” “...” Rumble went quiet. “my brother left yesterday, he moved off to phillydephia with his band” “Sorry B-” “can you answer my question, please...because I don't know” “jeez um, way to load it on eh..heh....um, well I guess it comes down to....pre-ocupying yourself with other things...ya know” “like games?” asked the Brown colt. “yeah, like games, if your feeling sad just...play a game, flick on your console and just tune out eh?” “ok...I will...I just...don't want to feel the hurt anymore, I want to forget it” “come on man your acting weird” ^^^^^^^^^^^^____^^^^^_^__________^______________^___^______^^^__________________________________^____________________^________________________ “ARRRHHH!” yelled the brown colt as a burning rush came to his head, dropping the empty vile which smash against the weathered concrete floor. Button's vision was a mix of throbbing red veins and blurry purple clouds, his heart began to accelerate like a jack-hammer, Button launching himself towards the shabby map toar open the zip-lock bag and crunched up the zap-apple slices in his mouth, the sweet juices flooding down his throat and immediately calming him down, again and again he jammed the magical fruit pieces into his gullet trying to stop what seemed an almost inevitable overdose it wasn't till the colt had eaten every last slice did he fell his brain finally start to cool down and heart begin to thump at a slower rate. “ah...ah...uh...ah goddess...” huffed Button, beads of sweat flooding down the sides of his face and neck. The room began to turn back into the dark dingy and dank hovel it truly was, making Button somewhat uneased by the silent hill-esc transition back to reality. Sitting himself back down he crossed his arms over his head and harshly gasped for air, his lungs feeling clogged with some invisible sickness. “Ok...ok...no more, I'm done, I wanna go home...gods get me the fuck out of here!” he cried to himself, ruffling again through the shabby school bag he took out Ghost's phone, he hoped that she hadn't password locked the thing and with a quick press of a button Button hoped to call someone to pick him up and take him home. Button Ashley Mash...never made it home. When the cellular device lit up Button saw the lock screen but even worst...he saw the picture accompanying it, a single image of Ghost and Scarlet, smiles on there faces and mounds of white snow sitting on there heads, Button saw how happy Scarlet was, how Beautiful she was in her scarf and face reddened by the cold...her bright magnificent blue eyes staring back at him, judging him, screaming at him to leave her alone, to die, to cease, Button hissed at the phone and threw it across the room, as if his anger was once again refueled by something as insignificant as a lock-screen image. “Fucking Bitch!, Fucking Sweetie, Fucking Scarlet, Fucking Fuck them all, Fucking FUCKERS” Screeched Button in a guttural tone, his tone loud enough to end the pleasuring moans of Ghost and cause her to peek her head through the draped blanket. In a fantastically stupid and idiotic move worthy of the highest fools and morons, Button in a brutish and violent fit lunged again at the bag, this time popping of every vile cork, stopper and lid, the 'Red Planet', the 'Midnight Black' and even the 'Delight Of The Green Stranger', the small drug den filled with a blinding irradiation of spectral colors. Ghost screamed out 'Stop' as she tried to grabbed button, the harsh illumination blinding her and her still inebriated body limiting her movements. It was too late, Button in a final act, Poured down his throat all at once the liquid narcotics, his bright yellow eyes now rolling into the back of his head as the shear chemical flood stopped his heart instantly. ^_^_^____^_________^__________^__________________________________^____________________________________________________^__________________________ Ghost yelled out hysterically as she preformed CPR on Button, Each thump she gave him sending a sea of frothy foam out his mouth, each dim attempt of his body trying to fight back to life shown only by the violent twitching of his limbs. Ghost began to cry as she tried with all her heart to resuscitate Button, his twitching and frothed gurgles the only indicator that he wasn't dead. “Sweet Celestia don't die, don't die Button, oh fuck oh fuck!, please just stay with me, don't die” she blurted, her red-ringed pupils now drowning in tears. Button's eyes were white as the moon and a flurry of multicolored foam and vomit arose from his mouth like floodwater. “Don't die please...oh Goddess...stay awake please!” Button wasn't responding...he was gone. __________^_____________________________^__________________________^______________________________________________________________________________ Button Mash awoke inside a hellish nightmare, a tormented realm of darkness, of horrific sights. He tumbled down staircases of broken spines, fell a thousand feet from rectangular black monoliths and looked up to the blood red sky too see a bleeding eyeball staring back at him like a gorrish moon. Around flames burned and sirens and yelling and grotesque groaning screeched out from beyond the darkness, Button wondered if he had died...if he had finally made it to hell. And Hell if was, a un-consivable dimension of horror and sadness, looking around Button saw nothing But tall black rectangular monoliths that stretched up like skyscrapers, interpretations of tar roads and streets spewing along threshing torrents of crimson blood. Above the sky was a bold bright red that harbored only that abominably large eye, a large knife-like slit-wound from top to bottom of the circular ever-staring eye that flooded a nightmarish waterfall of black and scarlet blood onto the wasteland below, Button tried to run but he couldn't move, his body was firmly planted in spot like a rooted tree. The sounds were unbearable, screams of all kinds could be heard accompanied with the sound of roaring fires, screeching sirens and deafening distant gunfire. The smell was uncomprehending, stenches of all kinds spewed from every square inch around Button, congealed blood, rancid meat and sulfuric aromas flooded Button's nose, Wet shit and decomposing matter, hot vomit and bubbling putrid acid. Button tried to scream out, not for anything in particular but just more as a way to put into some form the inconceivable eldritch horror he was witnessing, but the scream was silent, overpowered by the cacoffiny of audible torment. Soon a faint sound of crushing, screeching, waning Metal began to draw in, from the heavy black fog just in-front of Button 'it' came nearer and nearer, each metallic hiss tearing at Button's eardrums, cutting them to shreds, jerking side to side Button couldn't do anything but stand as a ghoulish gelatinous shadow approached him, it hobbled painfully closer and closer, as if it was broken. Button at first thought it was some large blob of undefinable matter till two large gibbous white eyes opened up and stared back. A bloodcurdling sway to the abomination as it moved with a swagger, a horrific wide gaping mouth appeared from below the white eyes, shaped as if like a gaping vagina. The slug-like creature's genital-shaped orifice slowly protruding out like a snail's eye and began sluggishly navigating itself above the brown colt, dripping black putrid juices onto the boy and vioently pulsating like a lung, the gaping mouth began more and more engorged. Suddenly and horridly the orifice engulfed button in sea of hook-like teeth and rubbery lubricated black flesh, an overpowering scent of rotten fish filling Button's nostrils as the creature swallowed him whole, His feet however still rooted to the ground. feminine moans and wails began to elate from the black abominable moving nightmare. Button felt each hook-like tooth latch onto his body, pulling at his skin as it convulsed madly, a thick pungent gruel spewing over Button's body and he was being forcefully jerked up and down within, the heat inside an unbearable boil. His skin burned, his body seared as the fleshy walls gaped and tightened in rhythmic movements, sliding Button up and down, up and down, drowning him in a tar-like secretion that felt unholy to the touch. Soon the convulsions became faster and faster till in a intense and abrupt wail Button was spewed out from the creature, his body stuck in place whilst coated in a thick pool of reeking sludge. Then as if satisfied the grotesque lumbering creature trotted off, swinging it's weight side to side like bloated hips. In a weak and disheveled state Button angled himself back up and spewed from his mouth a thick syrupy mass of fish-scented secretions, shaking and crying as she felt his body freeze up. “Was It good for you Button?” came a devilish voice from behind, Button Mash feeling a firm grip on his shoulder colder than ice ever could be. Jerking his head backwards Button saw...a haunt, some sort of creature that made Button's heart go cold. It was ... Button Mash, But taller and with a more muscly figure, a mix of smarts, seduction and swagger encompassing his presents. The brown colt had a cocky nature too him as he wiped the thick black slurry from the tormented brown prisoner's face and shoulders. “Haha, you like her, she's a real cutey isnt she?” the imp joked. “W-What is that, what are you, where am I, gods help please..help me” Blurted out Button (the real Button) as he tried to lift his hooves but again realization came that he was firmly planted to the ground. “Oh shush, whingeing ain't gunna work were you are, to answer your question, that lovely creature you just interlocked with is a personification of one of your thoughts, a sexual desire maybe, a deep truth about you that you lock away and try to hide...hmmmm....actually I'm somewhat curious,tell me does she remind you of anyone, a friend, a lover...maybe even your own mother, eh it doesn't matter because here is where all your machinations fester young Button, where everything that lurks around that head of yours lives, Welcome to the party” “WHERE AM I” the brown colt yelled out in terror. “Your own mind, where else would would look this insanely fucked up, to help you understand think Silent Hill...the second one, basically the exact same scenario as that, does that put things into perspective?” “Am I dead, is this hell?” asked Button Mash (again, the real one), his eyes darting around the red tinted hell-scape. “I dunno, I suppose it is, Honestly I'm not qualified to ask that question, I'm just another personification of you roaming the endless cease pit that is your brain, I'm the part of you representing the you that you want to be, call me Lenin, I'm you....but better” the snide colt affirmed, Giving Button a pat on the back. “What's...what's going on!” “I'm not sure why your asking, you already know why, it is your brain after all, not some mystery novel, figure it out yourself, it's not my job to interfere...though watch out...that new fella that moved in has turned this place something nasty, twisting mental screws and polluting brain waves, I'd stay away from him if I were you, oh...and remember Button, do try to stay safe, because I think...you may....be...slightly...dead, brain dead that is, kinda sucks for all of us actually living in your brain, guess your body's still shutting down or something, anyway enjoy what time you've got left, adios mi amigo”. With that Lenin walked off into the blackness, just as abrupt as when he entered, his hoof-steps sloshing and splashing in all the blackish blood. Button was still terrified, he still couldn't move his legs, all he could do was listen to the ungodly noises coming from the dark fog beyond, mad jibbering, sexual moaning, crying, screaming and the sounds of things heaving themselves through the foot high blood that flooded the ground. As far as Button was concerned he was in hell, but even here....in the blighted depths of hell...things got worst for Button Mash. A breeze, a strange unnatural and foreign breeze blew between the monoliths and cut through the sulfuric stenches and bloody torrents like a knife, wrapping it's cold tendrils around Buttons body in a constrictive black tornado. A wispy femine voice came from the breeze, a face to the voice indeterminable but somewhat similar to the higher pitched tone of Sweetie Belle. “Close you're eyes Button...the sleeper and the dreamer are on equal footing for tonight, it's OK I swear, please Button...close your eyes, for me” “waa...whhhh” Button felt his head go woozy as the breeze flooding down his nostrils and into his body, blackening his vision and leaving a final syllable on his ears, that of a malevolent faint laugh. His feet soon felt loose, un-rooted and free, he felt …. different, the same but...different. He felt that he was no longer in that red and black nightmarish world...but he did feel...that he was going...deeper....deeper into hell maybe, like a child descending into the basement of an old abandoned house. Deeper down the dreamer dives, the sleeper emerges from the trench he hides. ^_____________________________________________^________________________________ “What the hell, why isn't he waking up, you fed him zap-apples right?” Asked the spikey haired colt, taking his ear off Button's chest, his eyes still white balls in his skull. “He ate them all before he OD'd, please just give him more of yours Bones, please!” cried out Ghost, shaking Button violently. “Ain't no use babe, I've put six in him already, it's not working...he's....er...he's gone ok” The Colt gave her a grim. “Oh goddess...he's... dead isnt he...oh shit oh fuck , what am I gunna tell Scarlet..oh celestia!” Shrieked the mare, clutching at her chest. “Ghost...does anyone know you were here with him?” “Wha...no....no your not even considering it are you Bones?” “Please answer me, I need to know, is there anything tracing him to you” Questioned Bones, scanning every inch of the derelict room. “N-no” “Ok, babe....I know you don't want to here this, but he's fucking dead, I can't hear any beat...He's dead” “Don't say that” She barked back. “Ghost go get in my coach and turn on the radio, Ill take care of him” Her eyes became wide and frightened. His face still the same look of calculation and grimness. “Bones, please ...we...we can just ditch him at the hospital” “We can't risk camera's....Ill put him in the dumpster just up the alley, remember babe..you were with me tonight, same as when we sneak out, same excuse as always got it?” She gave him more more pleading look, staring at the lifeless brown colt than back up to him. “Bo-” “Got it!?” He affirmed, more fear than anger in his tone. the terrified white mare gave a nod and ran out of the burnt out building and sat inside Bones's Coach, panicking as she lit up a cigarette and turned on the radio. The metal-pierced colt picked up what was left of Button Mash (as well as any evidence) and carried it all towards the dented rusty dumpster up the dark alleyway, Button's lifeless head bobbing back and forth like a lifeless bag of meat. Heaving open the metallic box of putrid watery garbage he tossed the shabby bag, empty viles and the remains of Button Mash into the Dumpster, THUD!, and ran back to his coach, Bones and Ghost like scared children driving off into the night. The alleyway was now silent, a concrete cemetery with a rusted metallic grave. No moonlight but only the distant illumination of streetlights to act in it's wake. Button...had come to his final rest, after so much had happened and so much was so dearly achieved, Button Mash died in a drug Den and was buried in a metal coffin of three month old food scraps and broken alcohol Bottles, of cigarette butts and brown garbage water, around the corner of a brick-work-wall with an unlit neon sign proclaiming the abandoned building the 'Crimson Hearts Club'. ______________________________________^__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Button Mash sank deeper and deeper into the blackness, not one weak drop of light to point him in the direction of the surface, he descended, right to the bottom of the ocean that was his mind, so black, so lifeless. The sinking felt as if it went on for infinity, eternity and evermore on-wards from that, ever so picking up more and more momentum as he sank deeper. Soon the voice returned, But no longer was it the alluring and warm sound of Sweetie Belle, this time it was Deeper and more Throaty, and wholly more terrifying and familiar than even Button's own voice. Like a leach the words latched at him and seemed to weigh him down even more. “Feel my pain dreamer, feel my fear...feel what it feels to die Button Mash, no more head games and coxing...no more distant whispers...now...dreamer...ya meetin' face ta face....with da boogy mon”. Button opened his eyes, he felt his whole body falling faster than before, not sinking but falling as if he had broken through the oceans depths and right down into the core, his stomach churning like waves against rocks, around him was blackness and fire then as he looked forward he saw something truly horrifying, he saw himself, eyes torn with fear and face purple and beaten. There was a screeching whistle in Button's ear that blocked out all noise, all he could do was turn his head down to see were he would land. And then it hit him, and then he hit it. The dumpster. Button was reliving the last moments of...the zebra...of Guy. SNAP Both Button's legs snapped like bamboo, every rib cracked in two and his spine indented into the metal container. Things Became Blurry. Using all the strength he could, Button released a blood-gargled croak of pain. He could feel blood bubbling up from his punctured lungs. As if like a reflex Button Mash twisted his head and shot an eagle gaze at a brown frightened colt lying confused on a pile of crushed boxes. A deep primal feeling of hatred Taking over Button's body. “YOU!” Button spewed out, launching himself of the twisted metal dumpster and onto the hard concrete ground, his body slamming against it with a thud. Above Button Mash could hear the sound of metal waning. “LEAVE ME ALONE” Cried out the teenage colt, unable to move, his expression that of pure fear. Button had never felt so much deep hatred for another creature before, he wanted to peel away that young colts flesh, to pull and snap every organ and bone the child had. In a contorted and ghastly heave Button Mash clawed His way towards the colt, blood and vomit oozing from his nose and mouth, his vision filled red with blood and concrete dust. “I...AINT GUNNA DIE!” Spewed Button, his face snarling, his lower spine protruding from his back like a gorish stegosaurus, he using all the strength he could scrapped his useless meat-sack of a body towards the terrified child. SNAP.......*SLAM*. Button Mash stopped, his entire body went completely still, his heart went silent. Red, red , red blood everywhere. His vision returned, Button looked forward at the colt but couldn't move his head, he was completely paralyzed, through the bottom of his vision he could see a metal rod protruding from him,spitting out red streams of blood everywhere like bursted balloons, he knew there were others, other metal bars, impaled all the way up his body, the blood was now pooling black in the nightmare. “Blllgggg” gargled out Button, his tongue feeling like a numb wet bit of rubber. The colt in front of him stood tall now, his hooves being swallowed up by the black unending blood. He seemed to be smiling, grinning, his mouth upturned as if in a state of nihilistic laughter. Button weakly gargled out for help, nothing but more blood streaming out his mouth like a tap. More and more the black nightmarish blood flooded the floor, it's form congealing at the young colt's legs and climbing up his body like tiny webs, engulfing the Brown colt in a black and red layer of gore. There was now only the impression of a pony in front of Button Mash now. Then...the blood stopped, it began convulsing and churning like a horrific black sea and set itself ablaze in yellow ashy fire, burning up the colt's legs and engulfing him alive. As the black form burned away Button saw who the colt now was, In front Button Ashley Mash now stood the insidious shape of Guy Bartholomew Tiberius Guangee , his eyes glowing a nuclear yellow, his teeth smiling with a ghostly white shine. “Hello once more, Mista Mash” He crowed, lowering his head to eye-level with Button's, whose body was nothing more than a tragic heap of broken bones and leaking external bowels. “I know, I know....what's going on ya thinkin', ya supposed to be dead, well let me tell ya mon, my body's as dead as doornails boy, but muh mind...lived on through you.... you maga hat glamity” Button tried to scream but again could only gargle and drool stupidly. “ah ah, don't be sayin' noothin' boi, I'll answer ya question anyway, I know you're.... dyeing to know how I'm here right now.... see a Boy like me learns imself a few tings growing up, little spells, little sayin' says from old muddas witches. Zebra juju don't work like Pony juju, it has to stew about for a while, like cancer.”, Guy's body was emitting a black and yellow fog from behind, it smelt like burning wooden houses, as he spoke Button could hear faint screams in his voice, women, children, crying, screaming. “See I was knockin' about ya brain-pan for a good long while before I could start growing strong, thankfully ya started to loose ya mind, half my doin' but non the less enough ta be letten me start mah my climb up ya psychee, took a lot to get you weak enough, get you were I needed ya, but well...here we are, I'd say give yaself a pat on tha back...but, doesn't look like you'll be doing that right now hehaha”. “wha..t...y'gone....do...t'me” spat Button, his head feeling like a smashed blender,tearing up his brain. “Well, can't let you come out of dis alive now can I, if I wan't total control of ya bod then I'll need to seal up all loose ends....and you Button are as loose and end as any, sad to say I'll be killing you right quick pretty soon now”. “N..no...nnnnnnoo” Mumbled the colt, his body getting weaker and weaker, “You...cant...no”. “Ha...oh I will mah little man, ta be honest your getting the best deal outta this, a..... well 'moderately' quick death, tell ya once I'm walking about out there Ill be making changes, taking back my city, taking back mah empire, killing those leeches calling themselves gangsters, hell ...Im even planning on fucking that mommy of yours, she right good twat ya know, I'll fill er up good and blow her brains out of er skull, maybe do the same with that little Sweetie thing of Yours, gods she was a right good fuckiddy fuck wasn't she, tight and warm...don't makem like that anymore haaah”, the Zebra laughed on, ruffling his silver platted hoof through Button's matted mane. “Well I've had mah fun, let's not be postponin' it no longer little bandulu, I've got me a big comeback ta make out there in tha land of tha livin'...just stay right here hmmmm”. with that the tall Zebra got up and walked out of Button's limited view, hearing him whistle 'Don't worry be happy' as he picked up something made of stone. Button tried to moved, Button couldn't move anything other then the muscles in his face, he knew what was going to happen next, flinging and jerking his head back and forth he tried tragically to escape. “Poetic ain't it Mista Mash, Im gunna kill you same way you killed me...With a good old brick to the brain, try not to squirm, Imma only take a bit off the top haha” Button tried to escape, he thrashed and screamed,yelled, cried and pleaded with tears flooding down his eye's as the Zebra took a stance in front of him, lifting up with two hoofs the stone red brick, a disjointed masochistic smile on his face. A guillotine ready to drop. This was it. This....was it. Button closed his eyes tight, his eyeballs burning, tears flooding and saliva dribbling down his lip. He thought of his friends, his family, Rumble, Sweetie, Karen, Scootaloo and Applebloom, Manga, InkSpot and 8Bit, Ghost and Scarlet...His brother, His bus driver, His grandparents and his teachers,The Moon he would gaze at on sad nights, the warm hum of his PC in the middle of the night, the soft seats of the school library and the warm hug of Sweetie Belle when they would lye in bed together. All those little moments...gone....like tears....in the rain. “Time to die” Accepted Button, the Brick coming down and cracking Open the young boy's skull, he flinched up and saw the evil in Guy's eyes as he again brought a blow down on Button's head, destroying any top skull left and turning all vision in the left side of Button's eye off, Everything was now blurry, like staring through ocean water, just like at the beach...the swimming....the friends....the love. CRACK CRACK … .. . CRACK “haha it's Game over Mista Mash!” CRACK!!!!!1!!!1!!!@#$%^&*()_+ 01000010 01110010 01100001 01101001 01101110 01100100 01100101 01100001 01100100 Player one has disconnected, please input player two. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “ARRRHHH!!” Screamed out Button as he shot awake inside the dumpster, foam thick on his lips and garbage water now soaked through his hair. “wha...what..where...am I?” He clumsily asked himself, banging his head on the metal roof and eventually heaving it open. The brown colt stumbled as he hoped out and onto the cold ground below, his body still violently twitching and shaking. Looking around Button soon found out exactly where he was, he could see the unlit sign, the dingy back-alley and the police-tapped doorway. He wiped his hooves through his mane as he took a deep breath in, the distant city smell of distant fire and sulfuric gunsmoke filling his nostrils. “Hhmm..hahmmmm....ha..haha...HAHAHAHAHA...HAARAAAHAAARUHAHAHAHAHAUHA!” Violently Laughed the colt, doing a small jig as he breathed in mountains of the thick air like it was alcohol, getting him drunk on the chaos. “Well...ain't dis a funny turn of event eh” He joked, scrambling through his mane and taking out his wallet, pulling out a single golden bit and going to the nearest payphone. RING RING RING RI-”Canterlot Waste Management center, how may I take your ca-” “The beetles are flying everywhere I need them removed, Mr Refusus, Urgent” Button told the receptionist. “Hold on Sir, Ill buzz you in right away” On the other end came a tired disheveled groin of a voice. “Ermm...who is this calling me this late?” “Franky...It's Guy, I need a pick up, Im at da club”. “What kind of shit is this!”. “It's all gud mon, Used the final flight spell Franky, I'm ere now, get me...we've got to snub out this rat race, I'll explain ta ya the whole situation soon”. “Listen bloke,I ain't got time for-” “Franky, if you cook peppers in the tomato paste the flavor-” “Enhances the dish...look I have no idea what's happening but If that 'final flight' magicians act of your did work....err....fuck ...ok, Im sending a truck out to your location, fuck Guy if that is you...shit's gotten bad”. “Relax, I'm back, Tell ya driver to look for a young brown earth pony, that'll be me, I'll tell ya about it when I get ta ya....oh and get ready Franky boi, were gunna end dis pissy gang war, I've got me a plan, a grand...grand plan hehehahahahaha!”. The brown teenage colt cackled like a gluttonous crow as the city of Canterlot prepared to burn, the flames would soon engulf the streets and the roads would run red with blood. Hell on Equestria was about to began, lead by a zebra in a brown colt's coat. The Sleeper now roams the waking world. in the Dreamer's flesh now flayed unfurled. the Dreamer forgotten, submerged and dead. buried at the bottom, no tears to shed. Who can now fix what has come to plague. Cometh an inevitable war of blood and rage. follow the final steps of how the dead martyr's fell. Learn of him, return for him, player two; Sweetie Belle.