Pony's Creed: The Mind's Animus
Nothingness. Complete and utter nothingness without any color or shape around me. I wasn't even standing on anything, I was just floating in an empty void of darkness. Not only that, but there was nothing around me either. There wasn't even a sky above me, just blank darkness. Heck, I didn't even have anything with me. My saddlebag, my snacks, my video games, and even the propeller hat was missing. It was just me in Button's body floating in the middle of nowhere, motionlessly. It was as if I was in a powered down television screen.
Then, everything started to fade from my memory. My classes, my family, my life-style, everything started to blur until eventually it was all a scattered dream that was like a far-off memory. I could remember everything that happened yesterday without any trouble though. Waking up as Button Mash, leaving the house, coming to a rancher's home. It was all so easy to recall.
But everything before that, I couldn't tell if my life depended on it. I had a Mom, but what she looked or acted like was dust in the wind. Everything I learned in school seemed even less memorable than it already was. Not even the video games I play could surface in my mind.
What's happening to me?
Huh? Who's there?
That second voice...
Button? That you?
Zeke? What's going on? How's come I'm forgetting everything?
So Button was having the same problem as me. I couldn't remember anything except for a few vague things. I could remember what school and video games were, although I couldn't remember anything about them. I remembered that I at least go to school and that I have a Mom and Dad. Only a few things like that plus common sense was about all I seemed to know.
Other stuff like what foods I liked or hated, if I was allergic to anything, what cars were, or what countries were outside the US, none of that I could remember. Of course, Button didn't know all of that to begin with, so he didn't forget anything about my world.
Although I still remembered a bunch of stuff from his world.
Hey Button? What do you remember exactly?
Not much. Our names, that I have a Mom and Dad, that I'm from Equestria, the Princesses names, what video games are...And just really obvious stuff I guess.
That's everything I remember...
As soon as it all clicked together for me what was going on, a small blur faded into existence. It started as a floating orb, but soon expanded more and more before blending into the darkness around us.
That's when the black void around me started to brighten up with a dull grey, if that made any sense at all. The emptiness I was standing on, or floating perhaps, the blur started to focus on first.. First it surrounded the ground around me in a circular shape and started to alter it. Which in turn made the feeling of gravity a reality and centered me on the now completely grey ground.
That's when parts of the new formed ground started to form two solid colors. Green and light brown. There was no real detail about it, just that the ground directly under me, behind me, and in front of me was brown while the ground to the sides of me was green. It looked almost as if I was in the unfinished beta version of a video game. The colors didn't blend in, it looked like it was a green carpet with a light brown rug going across it.
But soon enough the carpets became a little better looking and realistic when textures started to appear. The green carpet started to have tiny points stick out of it while the brown carpet started growing lumps underneath it. All while both colors started to become 'Earthy' and look more natural.
And as the ground beneath me started to render more and more, I looked up to see that the rest of the blur started to spread around everywhere else. The ground further out and quickly gained its color, as did the black void above me. Showing a blue sky with one bright yellow circle. And as the ground around me expanded even more, going faster and faster in the process, dark brown cylinders started to sprout out from the ground. Branching out with thinner dark brown cylinders before growing brownish-orange colors around them.
It all kept going and getting more and more detailed until it went from looking like a video game to being real. Not one area was left empty as it was so colorful an full of life! Except, instead of being excited, I almost felt...Annoyed. Not about all of what was happening, but something else entirely.
But could you really blame me for being annoyed?! I mean, I had to walk all the way there by myself! I mean, the sun's barely in the sky right now! In fact, if I was a pegasus I could probably fly up to that cloud and see the moon!
And how's come she expected me to be up ten minutes earlier than this?! WHY?! Class didn't start for a good twenty minutes, and all I was gonna do was sit at the swings until the bell rung! There aren't even any tests or anything going on!
Class? Why do I suddenly care about class?
I looked around where I was once again, trying to figure out just why I was thinking like this. Only to my surprise, everything around me was moving. The trees, small patches of flowers that were off to the side, even the tiny rocks around the dirt path I was walking along were all going past me as if-
I'm walking...
What-What's going on?! I'm not walking around! Button, is that you?!
No, it's not me. But this feels so familiar...
Immediately, I looked down out of the corner of my eye and saw my front two hooves going forward with a bit of a groggy pace. As I witnessed my legs moving by their own free-will, I noticed how my eyes were squinted out of both drowsiness and anger. I wore a frown, almost a glare, no matter what I was thinking.
It was as if my body was being controlled by someone else. Not only that, but even though I could still control my own thoughts, I still felt annoyed about the whole thing. Was this how Button felt with me walking around in his body?
Suddenly it all dawned on me. None of this could possibly be real. I may still be Button Mash, and this may all look real, but it couldn't be. I was nowhere near the rancher's house, and this path I was on could not be anywhere near his house. Or anywhere in the state to be more specific.
The path had what looked like acres upon acres of thinned out forests to the sides. Not to mention, there wasn't a road, billboard, or piece of garbage to be seen. Nor were there any car tracks on the ground below me. Only horseshoe prints left in the dirt.
Probably goes without saying, but I don't think we were in Florida anymore.
So as I could do nothing but watch the rest of me walked forward, the blur then started to make one final thing. It formed a 3-dimensional, thin and tall triangular-shaped, red building with a few other colors spread out. The top then started to form a golden bell and the ground around it started to make a few other objects form. Like a swing set, seesaw, picket fence, flagpole, and tons of other playground stuff to go with it all.
And to top it all off, a picnic table formed out of nowhere along with two other ponies that were my size. And when my head took over and turned to face them directly, their names instantly popped into my head. Featherweight and Rumble.
They were my two best friends. Seeing how I was bullied on the first day, Rumble helped me up off the ground and helped me adjust to the school. And because I always had a video game with me, Featherweight, who sat next to me, became instant best friends. Sure we all weren't as close as Sweetie Belle and her friends but...
...Still. Pretty close...Wait. Huh?! They're not my friends!...A-Are they?
"Button? How's come you're here so early?" The blue pegasus colt, Rumble as I was somehow reminded, had asked.
"My Mom told me to or else she'd take my Joyboy away." Another voice said as my body sat down on the same picnic table that these two were at. The voice hadn't come from Rumble or Featherweight, but instead it came from me. I had no control of anything by this point. I couldn't move, I couldn't talk, and I couldn't even control how I felt or all of what I thought.
And after I had said that, memories of my Joyboy came to me all of a sudden. I had a good twenty plus games on it alone, and have even had to buy a few new buttons for it because of the all-nighters I spent playing the mini-games and quick-time events that were on the Daring Do Explorer Series.
"That sucks. Still, maybe it's for the best. At least Ms. Cheerilee's not teaching us today. She said that we're having a class picture today." Rumble went on to tell me.
"Meh. I guess it's better than a math test or something. Still, I was only two levels away from the coolest boss battle in Colt Eastwood 4!" I said in a whiny voice.
"Wait! You mean the one with the Pony Chieftain, levitating cowboy wagons, and the flaming arrows?!" Featherweight yelled out in complete surprise.
"Yes!" I cried out happily. But when I turned to see that Rumble wasn't following what we were talking about, I explained further. "It's the most over the top boss fight in the game because some pony tricked Colt into drinking a poisoned drink. But instead of normal poison, it's poison that makes everything go crazy around you! So after it kicks in when Colt sleeps for the night..."
As the rest of me kept on going on and on, I tried to go over what was happening. I was talking with Featherweight and Rumble outside of what looked like the schoolhouse from the show. And apparently there was picture day today, and my Mom...No, Button's Mom had made me -Button!- she made Button wake up early for it!
Oh yeah, I remember this! I hated whenever we had our picture taken at school! Mom always said waking me up early would help me look more awake in the picture.
Wait a second, how do you remember this?
Before I was given an answer though, I stopped talking and all the noises had stopped. My talking faded away even though my mouth was still moving. All the sounds of the birds or wind had stopped too. Soon enough, I noticed out of the corner of my eye how the sun was moving from just above the tree line to the middle of the sky.
As that happened, almost everything else stayed the same. The schoolhouse stayed completely untouched, as did the rest of the place. But all three of us at the picnic table had faded away. I couldn't feel anything, and I didn't even see my nose or any stray hair from my mane.
Instead, I saw how something else started to appear near the schoolhouse's front door. One after another, separate smaller blurs started to take form from thin air. All of which were organized into rows with the rows in the back on top of small platforms. Then the blurs started taking the forms of ponies that were Button's size. And they were all looking forwards towards a pony that was the size of the mane six or most other grown up ponies.
Then in what seemed like a blink of an eye, I went from being at the picnic table to appearing in the middle of that group. All with my nose back in front of my face and one or two stray hairs in my eyes. But on top of that, there was something else that I couldn't shake off.
Button, how's come I feel empty? I mean, it feels as if a part of me is just...Missing?
Well, Mom told me that I wasn't allowed to wear my hat in the picture. And now that there's no video games or anything to talk about, it's kinda hard to ignore.
...
No matter what thought came to my mind, I couldn't find any way to question him about it. It was probably because I felt upset because of the hat all of a sudden, but I just couldn't bring myself to ask. I didn't actually understand it other than that it was a part of him or something like that, but apparently that was a good enough explanation.
"Okay every pony. Look towards the camera and smile." The photographer announced. Sounding like he obviously didn't want to be here.
Regardless of that fact, every pony and Button's head turned and put on their 'Get this over with already' smiles for their school picture. Because Button wasn't allowed to wear his hat or bring his Joyboy however, he was even more ready to get this over with.
Wow. You can just see how much that guy hates his job.
Huh? What do you mean, it just looks like he doesn't want to be here. How can you tell it's his whole job?
Just by how he acts. He couldn't care less about what you guys are doing in the shot. He's more concerned about location, the lighting, and the background then the actual class! Heck, he has all these other photography tools that he doesn't need stacked in a pile!
Since we both knew how Equestria works, more or less, I could still remember how everything worked here. What you did for a living in Equestria usually had something to do with your talent. And I could see that this photographer had a Cutie Mark that had something to do with cameras. That in mind, plus all the photography equipment next to him, it was a safe bet that he liked more artsy pictures. None of these boring, classroom shots that no one except for the parents like.
"Now every pony say cheese." The photographer said with enthusiasm that was faker than a school play. But all of us just smiled anyway.
Wow, you're right...No wonder I got away with putting on my hat.
Wait, what do you-
Before I could finish, Button then pulled out his hat and snuck it onto his head since Cheerilee probably couldn't see him from the back.
You're obsessed with that hat aren't you?
Well...It was a gift...
"CHEESE!" The entire class cheered as the flash of the camera blinded us all. Which was odd to say the least seeing as it was almost noon and the sun was shining down on us without a single cloud in the sky.
Or rather, it was midnight. With one of those movie perfect starlit skies with a full moon hanging directly in the center of it all.
In that split second of a flash, the world changed again. Except this time instead of being outside in the forest, we were inside the middle of a great city of sorts. Everything was still forming and becoming more and more detailed, and although I could feel my- I guess you could call it presence- I had no body to control. It was as if I was a spirit that could feel what was happening around me.
The city I was around started to finish very quickly. Off in the distance, probably fifty yards away was a giant fairytale castle. Lit up to show every decorative design of it from its tall towers to the white stone material that it was made out of. There were more windows on it than I would dare to count and the towers seemed to be taller than anything else around us.
And although I couldn't feel it, I saw that instead of standing in dirt paths I was on a stone walkway. To be more specific, I was at the front of a plaza with a stone walkway, multiple paths that extended from the sides, and a statue surrounded by a flowerbed in the middle of it all. The statue was all made of the same material, on a stone base.
The flowerbed was protected with a few metal posts and a single chain that connected each of them to the next until it went around full circle around the flowerbed. With plaques equally distributed on four sides that explained just who the two that this statue was representing.
Of course, anyone who looked at this statue would immediately know who it was. They were probably the most famous at what they did, and were the star behind the castle that sat behind the two of them. They ruled at what they did and no one could really ever hate them.
Is...Is that...
Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse.
Directly in front of us sat the two kings of all cartoons. In fact, they were the kings of all of Disney World. Especially Cinderella's Castle and The Magic Kingdom that we were at right now.
Wait a second, how do you know who these two are?
I-I don't!...Or at least! I didn't know who they were until now! The only thing I really know about Earth is the video games that you've played and that it's all humans instead of ponies. Their names just...Came to me.
Like Rumble and Featherweight...
Soon enough, a body started to form. Ending that weird spirit feeling and replacing it with the feeling of having a body. Only this time it wasn't Button Mash who we were walking around in. It was my body instead.
I was in my wedding photography uniform while standing on a step ladder with a camera in my hand. This really big wedding was taking place inside Cinderella's Castle and since my parents and another photographer that worked with them was covering the reception and everything that went with it, Mom had asked me to get some shots of the castle in and outside.
This was all three years ago though. We were hired to photograph the wedding and because it was at Disney World, we got paid tickets for Magic Kingdom for the day. It was the best 'working' day of my life too!
So why did it seem like I was reliving this moment as if it was real?
Hey Button? When we were at the schoolhouse with you taking your picture. Did that happen to you sometime in the past?
It was a few months back. And when we were...Watching that, did you, like, know what was going on?
Yeah. My Mom -your Mom, sorry- woke you up early to have you go to school. Then I suddenly "remembered" a few things about your Joyboy, how you became friends with Featherweight and Rumble, and everything about the Colt Eastwood 2-
Four. Colt Eastwood 4. Don't get those mixed up, four's the worst of them all and two's the best. The only thing good about four is the boss battles.
Right sorry, Colt Eastwood 4. Still, why do you ask? Are you having the same problem right now?
Uh-huh. I remember what Disney movies were, but I can't remember any of the names or anything about the actual movies. But I do remember everything that happened that day. Begging my Mom...No wait, you're mom, for some kind of souvenir, trying to go on every ride there was, the parade, and the best water ride ever-
Splash Mountain!
As I finished taking five pictures of Walt Disney and Mickey in what I could only guess was a dream or a memory, I went over what happened with the Button's memory. I was watching the world through Button's eyes the way he had back then. We were both watching the same memories and it feels like their our own.
That morning with the school picture...It didn't feel like it was a movie or something, it felt like that was me watching a part of my past. No matter what I do, I can't shake the feeling that what happened was my memory. But at the same time, I know it wasn't my memory, it was Button's. Those two thoughts contradicted each other, but my mind couldn't decide.
I guessed that the same thing was happening to Button. He was watching a memory of my own unfold before him. And it was all starting to feel like a past that belonged to him.
It was all like a strange messed up version of The Giver. Where certain people can give memories, but with hypnosis or something making The Receiver think that it's their life.
And something told me that this wasn't going to be a one-time thing.
Button? Do you know what's going on right now? With our memories and all?
I think so. From this one dream-thing alone, I know way more about cameras and Disney World than I should.
Same here. I think if we're gonna get to New York, we gotta work together on this. This won't be the last time something like this will happen.
My memory then picked up the step ladder and started walking towards the path that was on right to get a shot of Cinderella's Castle from an angle.
Okay, so what? Do we go multiplayer mode or something?
Well so far I'm the only one in control of our-err-your body, and you're able to talk to me through my mind. So...How about we try and just figure out everything as we go? Like you be the strategy guide and me the player?
Alright, good idea! I'll try and help you from in here! Just, uh...Promise to look after my hat and my body. I'm gonna need those back when this is all over.
You-
But before I could tell him anything else, memory-me took one last shot. And just as the flash from it blinded us temporarily, everything vanished into pure darkness wants again.
I couldn't hear Button talking to me anymore, and again I could feel myself being a pony instead of my human self. This time however, I could feel a cushioned piece of furniture underneath me.
Suddenly; all the memories of my life, plus a few new memories from Button's life, all came back to me. Not only that, but a new set of sounds started to ring out around me. A few birds chirping, one or two horses running around, and a TV turned onto a football game or some other sport.
And on top of all that, there was something pushing me a little every few seconds. Something that had a voice that went with it. "Hey! Zeke! Come on, we gotta get going!"
"Yeah...Yeah, I know..." I said, very slowly getting up. And beside me I saw all my stuff. The small black saddle bag filled with snacks and random tools. And Button's prized Propeller Beanie.
I stood up on the couch I had chosen to sleep on and stretched a little before walking over to the arm of the couch the hat was resting on. And drowsily, I picked it up with my hooves and inspected it with a tired yet determined look on my face.
"Don't worry Button. We'll get to New York in one piece."
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Haha! Loved the name of this chapter! And considering that I'm playing Assassin's Creed 4 at the moment it makes it even more hilarious.
Great chapter! It's good to see you updating again.
Also, that part about the memory of Splash Mountain. It reminded me about when me and my parents and older brother went overseas to L.A four years ago.
We went to Disneyland but Splash Mountain was CLOSED DUE TO MAINTENANCE.
Long story short, I cried.
I was only ten years old when this tragic event took place.
Can't help but wonder how Button Mash would react to games from our world like Ghosts N' Goblins/Super Ghouls N' Ghosts, Castlevania, and Ninja Gaiden.
Needless to say, it's great to see another update, I love this story
4479116 Dang, I thought no one would ever get that joke
Well done! Here, have a Spike stache!
Have a favorite, kind sir.