//------------------------------// // 198. Button Mash and Burn - Part 3 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// A torrent of cursed flames poured down like a crashing waterfall upon Button’s shield, as the young warrior steeled himself against Erebus’ wicked might! He felt the pressure cease and heard the monster’s disgruntled growl, prompting him to lower his shield and gaze up defiantly at the wicked lord of Tartarus! “YOU CANNOT HOPE TO DEFEAT ME, BOY!!!” Erebus snarled, his wings beating with the force of a gale! “We’ll see about that, foul beast!” Button retorted bravely as he drew his sword with his hoof (the fact he wasn’t wearing manipulation shoes never coming to mind) and let out a battle cry as he galloped forward, his heart beating with the thrill of the fight, his shield at the ready, his blade poised! Nothing could stop him now!!! *CRA-SNAP* Button froze at the sight of his broken sword. It had cracked and snapped when the tip had barely touched Erebus’ scaly hide, and now laid on the ground between them. Once a fine and mighty weapon, now nothing more than discarded scrap metal. “HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!” Button felt his heart skip at Erebus’ mocking laughter, each ‘HA’ rumbled like the earth. He gazed up ever so slowly, his coat slicked with cold sweat, as the demon sneered, “AND HERE I THOUGHT YOU WERE BRINGING ME A CHALLENGE; INSTEAD… YOU BROUGHT A SNACK!!” EEYAUGH!!!” Button screamed and dove out of the way of Erebus’ claws as they came smashing down. But instead of hitting the ground from his diving dodge, Button hollered in horror as a murky abyss opened beneath him, sending him screaming down its darkened depths! It was bone-chilling cold, the wind howling around him, his hooves thrashing about, attempting to find something to grab onto and stop his fall. They found only empty air, Button screaming “HEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPP!!!” All of a sudden, Button felt himself going down a slick and slimy slide-like structure, veering left! A sharp right! Loop-de-loops, for GODDESS’ SAKES[/ui]! Finally, he yelped as he apparently reached the end of the wild ride, and was sent for a long head-over-hooves tumble in the dirt. Groaning, Button shakily stood up on his hooves, and looked around to find himself in a desolate wasteland! Miles and miles of barren black dirt, the bones of creatures long dead littered the ground. Including ponies! Dead and gnarled trees stood here and there, their branches completely bare, looking like twisting claws. The sun did not shine. Instead, the sky was gone and in its place a roof and ceiling of brooding smog and miasma! “Wh-wh-where am I…?” Button whispered, frightened and alone. An ear-splitting shriek shattered the dismal silence, the little colt jerking in fright as he turned in the direction it came from, and felt his blood run cold! Appearing from over the rises of hills, descending from the clouds of smoke, coming out from behind large rocks and boulders, even erupting from the earth itself! Hordes of monsters! Fiends and terrors and beasts and horrors of every inconceivable shape and size! Tooth and claw, wing and tail, scaled, furred, some of rotting flesh and bone, others had no corporeal form at all! Just masses of shadowy darkness! But all of them, all of them glaring at the lone and helpless colt with hungry red eyes! “AAAAAUUUUUUGGHH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!” Button wailed in sobbing horror as he quickly turned tail and ran! He heard them, howling, roaring, snarling, shrieking, as they gave chase! “MOM! DAD! CHEAT CODE! SOMEPONY! ANYPONY!! HELP ME-HE-HE-HEEEE!!!!” Button sobbed and ran. The horde of horrors behind him grew louder and louder, closer and closer…! But wait! What was that ahead?! Button could see it, a castle! Hope made him smile through the tears, and spurred him to run faster! Safety was within reach! But as he grew closer, he felt his heart sink when he saw there was no door! It was just a curtain of high stone walls with turrets on each end. But rising up in the middle, stabbing towards the sky like a stone dagger was a high tower, with a steeple and banner of white and soft purple and pink… and a balcony, upon which stood a filly wearing a gorgeous gown of pink and white, looking out into the distance, as though she were waiting for someone. But wait! Button didn’t know how, but somehow, despite how far up she was, he could see her perfectly and he recognized her! “SWEETIE BEEEEEELLLLE!!! HELP ME!!” The filly looked down and noticed him, her brow raised, her expression unfeeling. “Who art thou? And how dare thee address I, a princess and your better?” “SWEETIE BELLE, LEMME IN! THE MONSTERS ARE GONNA GET ME!” “I cannot possibly let you in, peasant,” Sweetie Belle said coldly as she returned her gaze towards the land surrounding her castle. “I stand here, waiting for a hero to rescue me and away me from this dismal place.” “Uh, I’ll rescue you! Just LEMME IN!!!” Button wailed desperately. “You?! Ha! You can’t even rescue yourself,” Sweetie Belle scoffed. “I wouldn’t stick around much longer, were I you, knave, and I thank my lucky stars I am not.” Seeing her point behind him, Button gulped and turned around and all but fainted to see the monsters surrounding him, fangs dripping, eyes hungry, snarls low and threatening they were about to strike! Button stood there, alone and afraid. He was surrounded, no way out, and as the monsters crouched down, ready to pounce, he closed his eyes when- *KRASHLAM* The ground shook with a mighty rumble and Button and the monsters all looked and saw him, “Erebus...!” Button watched in horror as the towering demon stood right in front of Sweetie Belle’s tower, as the filly screamed and backed up against the door to her chambers. She turned and tried to go inside, but the door wouldn’t open! “Sweetie Belle!” Button whispered in horror as he realized what was about to happen! “YOUR HERO ISN’T COMING TO SAVE YOU!!!!” Erebus sneered as he raised his terrible claws. “NOOOO!!!!” Button wailed helplessly and watched as Erebus slashed lean through the tower, and Sweetie Belle screamed more as the fortress started to topple. Button started to run for the castle, only to be barred by the monsters still surrounding him. “SWEETIE BELLLLLLLLEEE!!!!!!” Button cried out and watched as his poor Sweetie Belle fell and vanished into the dust and rubble. Button fell onto his knees, sobbing, the realization that Sweetie Belle was gone breaking his heart- “YOU SEE, NOW?!!?!?” Button jerked his head up and saw Erebus sneering down at him, “YOU ARE NO HERO! ALL YOU ARE IS A SAD LITTLE FOAL SO AFRAID OF FACING YOUR PROBLEMS THAT YOU TURN TO YOUR PITIFUL GAMES AS THOUGH THEY WERE YOUR SAVING GRACE!! WELL, IF YOU WOULD RATHER PLAY WITH YOUR GAMES INSTEAD OF YOUR FRIENDS, LITTLE PONY, THEN PLAY!! PLAY FOREVER AS A PART OF IT!!!” Suddenly, all the monsters leapt into the air, Button screaming and holding his hooves over his head as they came down… At first, Button felt nothing but a whooshing of air, as though he were in the center of a tornado, but as he opened his eyes, he screamed in terror! The monsters were merging with him!! His left forehoof became a scaly dragon-like claw, his right forehoof the hairy hand of a gorilla! His body fattened up to the size of an elephant with the ugly scales of an armadillo, his neck lengthened like the neck of a flamingo, his tail stretched out into that of a scorpion, metal wings spread behind back, and the horn of a rhino sprouted from his nose! But wait! He saw some kind of window nearby, shining with a white light! It was warm, beckoning, it felt safe! Even as more monsters merged with his body, Button lumbered towards the window, hoping, praying it would lead him to safety, only to feel a wall of glass barring him and he gasped at what he saw through it! “Ugh! That is one ugly monster!” “Maybe it’s the boss?” “No way! A game boss is always scary an’ awe-inspirin’.” “Yeah, this one looks pathetic.” Button could see them; Scootaloo, Twinken, Applebloom, and Rumble, sitting together on a couch, each of them holding a game control, and looking back at Button with competitive looks that promised no mercy. Button then realized he was becoming a part of the games he had loved so much he’d allowed them to distance him from his friends, that he’d let Sweetie Belle down after he’d made a promise! A promise he had broken. “No… No! NO-HO-HO!!!!” Button cried, “IT CAN’T END LIKE THIS! I WANT ANOTHER CHANCE! I DON'T WANNA BEA MONSTER!! I WANNA PLAY WITH MY FRIENDS, I WANNA BE WITH THEM! I-I… I WANT SWEETIE BELLE-HELL-ELL…!!!” “IT’S TOO LATE, FOOL!” Button turned from the screen and looked up in heartbroken terror as Erebus loomed over him, oddly speaking softer now as he snarled, “From this moment on, your life is no more! WELCOME TO MY NIGHT-AAAUUGGHHHH!!!” Erebus was cut short by a lapis blade erupting from his chest, and Button watched in awe as the demon dispersed into ashes, and in his place stood… “Princess Luna!” Button gasped! Princess Luna stood there, clad in armor made of a metal similar to her crown and regalia. A round helmet over her head with a silver horn-like blade in front of her real horn and her gorgeous nebula-like mane tied back, her chest and neck well-protected with black armor and her moon cutie-mark on the chest, and in her aura she wielded her sword, a fine and mighty weapon, the guard resembling black wings, a silver moon set above the handle, right where the blade connected. “BEGONE, NIGHTMARISH-SCUM!” Princess Luna bellowed as she waved her sword at Button, and he screamed, covering his eyes. He felt a mighty wind blow over him, heard the dying shrieks of monsters, and felt his body become lighter than it had been just moments ago, as a chill fell over him, and he shivered in fright, too afraid to move his hooves and see what had happened. Then, he felt a hoof kindly rub his head, and heard a voice, “Be not afraid, child, you are safe.” Button finally moved his hooves out of the way and saw Luna looking at him kindly with a warm smile. Wait… my hooves! Button realized his dragon claw and gorilla hand were gone, his hooves were back, he was a colt again! Not a freakish abomination! “P-P-Princess Luna… You saved me!” Button sobbed thankfully, and felt Luna hold him with her wing. “You are fine, Button Mash,” she assured, “for you were never truly in danger. After all, no matter how bad they seem, dreams can’t hurt you.” “HUH?!” Button gaped up at her with a ‘for real’ look, “This is a DREAM?!” “Of course, little one,” Luna couldn’t help but chuckle at this little colt’s drama. “I am the Princess of the Night and among my duties is to watch over my little ponies and be certain they have peace of mind while they sleep.” “Whoa…!” Button looked around and reached out with his hooves, feeling like he was touching some liquid membrane that rippled at his touch. He then heard Luna clear her throat, and looked at her, seeing her smile of sympathy. “However, while defeating nightmares is a worthy role, it is far better to help ponies defeat their own inner turmoil and prevent them from happening in the first place. With just how detailed and intense your dream was, Button Mash, it is clear to me that your subconscious is filled with trouble. Speak with me, child and tell me of your fears.” Luna’s heartfelt words and the warm gaze she had on him seemed to act like a truth serum, and within moments, Button found himself spilling out the events of the past day. Luna never said a word, listening intently as Button described his failure to fulfill his promise to Sweetie Belle and just what had caused him to do so. “Ah, the new digital devices my sister spoke of. I have yet to sample them, but they do intrigue me so. It seems they have a large influence on you, Button Mash, so much so that you seek to delve into their realms of fantasy and leave your reality behind .” Button hadn’t ever truly thought about what had him so fascinated by video games, but when he heard Luna put it like that, he couldn’t help but agree. Escaping the troubles and bothers of real life and being swept away into a fantasy world, where he could be anything, do anything, it appealed to him greatly. Luna could see the thoughts going through the young earth pony’s mind, and so with a wing, she guided him alongside her and they began to walk. “I may not have much knowledge of video games, but I know what it is like to let yourself become consumed by something, to avoid the unpleasantness of the real world. Dreams are very much the same thing, Button Mash. When we sleep to rejuvenate our bodies, we also dream to take a break from our real lives. But the troubles of life find us even in our sleep. You go from feeling ignored or unimportant or just plain ordinary, into something strong and powerful and something far more. However there is a price for such escapes.” Button looked up at the Princess as she went silent for a moment, a past demon lurking through her thoughts, it’s echoing laughter as chilling as that day centuries ago. However, she banished those dark thoughts, focusing on the young colt beside her. “What you must understand, Button Mash, is that, no matter how far we lose ourselves in fantasy and imagination, reality doesn’t just cease to exist. It will always be there, waiting for your return, and when its call is ignored, it soon demands your attention to such an extent where it can be damaging.” Button let her words sink in, the memories of how he had allowed himself to let his games overrule his promise, and the horrible consequences that followed. It was only when Luna nudged him, that he looked up to see that, the dark void around him had changed, and now he stood looking over Ponyville, in front of his school, where he saw himself and his friends all laughing and running and planning their next cutie mark crusader ideas. The image brought a smile to his face, as he saw Sweetie Belle smiling at the other version of him, and giving him a hug. “Look at the life you lead here and the happiness it brings you. Escaping from reality can be a pleasant feel, but does it truly compare to the joys of friendship that reality can bring?” The scene began to change, showing windows of different events Button shared with his friends in his time in Ponyville. The scene of Rumble and him deciding to give Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle a Hearts & Hooves day gift, only to have to deal with the shenanigans of Twilight and Midnight stuck on a love potion. The memory of their Hearths Warming together after the play in Canterlot. Memories of just having fun together, trying to get their cutie marks, enjoying each other's company. “I’ll admit that sometimes, life can, as some say these days, suck, but simply delving into fantasy won’t solve anything. Instead, we find others who care about us. Look at all the memories you have, of all the fun and joy you have experienced.” Her wing wrapped tight around Button, and the colt felt the warmth and care the princess had for him as she smiled down upon him. “You have a strong friendship with Sweetie Belle, and it is clear that you both care for each other deeply.” Princess Luna smiled while Button blushed, as a memory of Sweetie Belle giving him a kiss on the cheek after he gave her a lovely necklace for her birthday, appeared on one of the windows. “If she appreciates your friendship as much as you do hers, then I know you can make things right with her. You just need to remember to switch off the games every once and a while and appreciate what you have, and the ponies who are there for you, and love you.” By Luna’s words, Button saw them all, his parents, his big brother, his friends, his teachers, everypony he cared about and who cared about him. In the center, smiling that adorable smile that never failed to make him smile back, was Sweetie Belle. The dreamscape started to blur and tremble and Button realized he was starting to wake up. He felt Luna releasing him from her grasp and starting to float off, her duties calling her away. “Thank you, Princess!” he called out to her, waving goodbye to her as she floated away, “I promise, I’ll make things right with Sweetie Bell. I’ll show her just how much I care, and that I won’t let video games take over my life.” Princess Luna nodded a farewell, a smile on her muzzle, as the dreamscape disappeared and Button opened his eyes. Love Tap hummed a tune to herself as she started to prepare breakfast. She had just got the pan cooking, when suddenly, Button raced through the kitchen , a rapid, “SORRYMUMNOTIMEFORBREAKFASTIHAVETOSPEAKTOSWEETIEANDMAKETHINGSRIGHTPLEASELEAVEMESOMEHAYBACONTHANKSBYE!!!” shouted in his wake. The older mare blinked for a moment, letting his words sink in, before a smile graced her muzzle. She winced slightly as the front door slammed shut in the colt’s wake, but she could help but feel proud. “That’s my colt.” Button made a wild dash to the Carousel Boutique, dashing passed the store vendors setting up their market stands, and the up n’ early ponies, getting in a morning jog or enjoying the weekend morning air. He raced as fast as he could, not even sure why. Sweetie wasn’t going anywhere as far as he knew, but it didn’t matter. He would run and run until he had found Sweetie and made sure she knew he was sorry. Finally the boutique was in sight, and the young colt barrelled up to the door, hammering it to wake up anypony sleeping within. However, after a few minutes of no response, Button started to worry. What if Sweetie Belle wasn’t there? “Oh hey there, Button. Sorry to tell you but nopony’ home right now. Rarity told me yesterday she would be leaving early to get to Canterlot, so I was just supposed to put her mail through the mail slot for her.” Button’s turned to see the friendly mailmare Ditzy Doo, the mother of his friend Dinky, standing behind him, her mail bag slung over her side and a bubbly smile to match her cutie mark. “Hi Miss Ditzy. I didn’t need to see Rarity, I wanted to speak with Sweetie Belle. I made a mistake and I really want her to know how sorry I am.” The pegasus mare gave a parental smile at him and gently patted him on the head. “That’s sweet of you. You must be really good friends to come over so early in the day just to apologize. Unfortunately Sweetie Belle isn’t here either. I saw her heading to the train station as I was flying my route. If you’re quick you might still catch them.” With a nod of thanks, Button tore off towards the train station, hoping that wherever Sweetie Belle was going, he wouldn’t be too late. “Almost there… YES! There it is!” Button panted as the train station was just up ahead. Unfortunately, as he got closer, he saw crowded it was, which made sense. It was a weekend, when everypony was more likely to take the train. He squirmed and squeezed past multiple ponies, muttering excuse mes and coming throughs, when the train whistle made him jump! “ALL ABOARD!” The conductor’s call made Button all the more desperate as he started yelling, “SWEETIE BELLE! SWEETIE BELLE, WHERE ARE YOU?!” Finally, the crowd thinned out just enough, and Button felt his heart jump into his throat when he saw Sweetie Belle board the train on the far end of the platform. Panting with worry, he hurried over, only for the conductor to bar his way. “Sorry junior, can’t let ya board without a ticket.” “But my best friend’s on that train!” Button begged, “If I don’t stop her from leaving, I’ll lose her forever!!” The train whistled again, and the conductor gently pushed Button away from the edge of the platform, saying, “Sorry, son, but we’re pullin’ out.” Button felt the tears well up when he saw Sweetie Belle through one of the train windows. As the train pulled out of the platform, he hurried, trying to keep up with it, yelling, “SWEETIE BELLE! SWEETIE BEEEELLLLLLEEEE!!!!” Sweetie Belle never even looked out the window, and Button skidded to a halt, almost falling over the edge of the platform, as he watched with a broken heart as his best friend sped away along the railroad. He watched until the train was out of sight. Until finally, he broke down into sobbing tears.