Final Boss: Sweetie Belle

by Blueninetails

Chapter 7

As the hours ticked by, and the afternoon sun had already set over the horizon, allowing the moon to rise into the sky, granted it wasn't that late just yet, both Button and Sweetie could still be found playing Minecraft; or, at the very least, Button was still playing.

Button hadn't seen Sweetie's character, nor has he heard her voice, in the last hour or so. Sweetie had gone off somewhere after telling Button if he did decide to build a house on the map, to build it close to her's so they could be neighbors in that sickeningly sweet voice of hers, which of course annoyed the young stallion but obliged since that'll make it all the more easier for him to show Sweetie that he was better at this game.

Button was just finishing up installing his own secret room below his house, it lacked the overall complexity of Sweetie's 2-by-2 doorway as it was only 2-by-1 where the top and bottom blocks pulled into the ceiling and floor respectively, but it was functional.

"Now to just test it and make sure I didn't damage the lines." he remarked to himself as he placed a lever on the wall and clicked it on, causing the passage to open, then off again, causing it to close, "Perfect. Now to just put in the windows and I'll have finished building this dumb house."

Overall he was rather proud with what he had built. It was a two-story home with all the basic rooms: kitchen, living room, closet, and bedroom; and, of course, the basement where he put his own secret room.

Just as he returned to the first-floor of his character's home on the map, he noticed Sweetie Belle's nametag moving around through the wall of his house. It looked like she was just outside his house and it appeared she was doing something, maybe some gardening, planting those red and yellow flowers around the perimeter so it would match the exterior of her house.

"What's she doing? She better not be planning to mess up this house." Button asked himself, before making his way out of his home. Upon getting outside and looking where Sweetie was, his eyes went wide as he noticed that Sweetie had set up a line of 5 blocks of TNT against one side of Button's home, and her character was already holding a redstone torch in her hoof.

Sweetie's character briefly stopped to look at him.

"Sweetie, what are doing?!" Button shouted into his microphone, just before Sweetie placed the torch down igniting a block of TNT.

Too late, better to run and avoid getting killed in the blast.

"What in Tartarus is Sweetie up to?!" Button angrily thought to himself as he and Sweetie's character's bolted, just before the five successive explosions that blew a hole in Button's home, including the basement, and soil around the area. He growled to himself as he pulled out a stone sword and quickly started pursuing Sweetie's character.

She didn't have much time to acknowledge that Button now had a sword, before getting hit once with the blade. Lacking any armor at the moment, and a weapon, she couldn't do anything to defend herself other than to run.

Just before the blow that killed Sweetie's character, and dropped all her held items onto the ground, Button heard a familiar voice call out while laughing, "Stop, stop, stop."

That voice didn't belong to Sweetie, it sounded more like Rumble.

"Wait..., Rumble? Is that you?" He asked outloud.

"Yeah...Hey there, Button." Rumble greeted him.

"Figures," Button thought to himself, "Sweetie's too much of a casual to care about being hostile." He then gave a sigh and asked, "What are you doing at Miss Rarity's place, Rumble? And, where is Sweetie Belle?"

"Thunderlane had to ask Rarity for some advice. Said it couldn't wait till tomorrow." He responded as Sweetie's character respawned in her home, "Sweetie left to grab something to eat, so she asked me to fill in for her and keep you company."

"And somehow, blasting a hole in what I've been working on for at least an hour now counts as 'keeping me company' to you?" Button asked in an annoyed tone.

"Nah, that was just a perk." Rumble responded in a cocky tone and with a chuckle, earning what sounded like an growl from Button, "Besides, I kinda wanted to see how you'd respond to Sweetie busting a hole in your house. Clearly, violently."

Button rolled his eyes, "Rumble, I've been at this for at least an hour. You really thought I wouldn't be pissed off?" He asked as he watched Rumble, as Sweetie's character, this time wearing diamond armor of all things, come out of her house and rush over to pick up all the dropped items.

"I knew you'd be mad, but I didn't think you'd immediately go for the kill, especially since I didn't say anything so you'd believe Sweetie was to fault at the start. I mean seriously, aren't you her coltfriend or something?"

"I'm not her coltfriend. I'd rather get eaten by a hydra before ever calling myself her coltfriend." Button mumbled silently to himself.

Button groaned loudly before sighing, then got started on repairing the damage, starting with the damaged soil, "What exactly did you expect me to do? Just look at her blankly in annoyance? Maybe some shouting?"

Despite the damage from 5 blocks of TNT, it seemed like none of the blasts damaged or exposed his secret room, fortunately.

"Hm, shouting might've been funny. Sweetie has a pretty decent pair of headphones though, so maybe not. I'd like to be able to keep my hearing, thank you very much." Rumble chuckled, "Honestly though, I figured you'd just get back at me yourself later after I revealed that I was the one who blew up your house. Maybe push me into some lava, or said something nasty, again, that you know would tick me off. Perhaps even gotten into a war with some TNT. I do have a house on this map too you know."

"Maybe, you're a little thick skinned though. So it's kinda hard to piss you off without calling you a 'turkey'."

"For the last time, only domesticated turkeys can't fly." Rumble remarked in annoyance, "And for the record, I'm a great flier."

"I know, that's how I know it works." Button replied in amusement, "Also, how do you have a house around here anyway?"

Rumble then joined Button in repairing the home, "Scootaloo invited to me play after the last team project we had to do. Sort of to pass the time. Sweetie didn't mind, said it made the map feel less lonely."

"So, where is your house then? I haven't seen any houses around here other than Sweetie Belle's and mine."

"Just a little ways off from here. It's in the same area as Scootaloo's on this map."

"You mean near the initial respawn area? Where Scootaloo apparently blasts holes everywhere with dynamite?"

"Okay, so I maybe don't know if my house is still in one piece, but I'm sure there's still part of it there."

"Well, why don't you go check on that, and I'll just keep myself busy for now. Thanks for fixing some of the damage by the way."

"Hey, I'm not a total jerk you know. I didn't plan on leaving you high-and-dry after blasting your house." He remarked, Button can practically imagine the young pegasus smirking as he said that, "Anyway, what were you doing? Sweetie said you were down below your house. Have you been down there the entire time?"

Button hesitated at first, not really wanting to spoil the fact he installed a secret room adjacent to his basement, but the prospect of having something to brag about seemed like a nice change.

"If you really want to know, I'll tell you, but you can't say anything to anyone, including Sweetie Belle."

"Sure, I guess." He sounded a little unsure.

"I was putting in a secret room below my house so I can hide away a few things."

"Oh, cool! Scootaloo tells me that Sweetie does that once in a while too. I guess you two do make a good pair. Great minds and all that."

"Please do NOT compare me to her."

"Right, right. I almost forgot how competitive you can get. You still at war with Princess Luna over that match on 'Call of Cutie: Griffon Front' a couple months back?"

"I guess... I mean, I haven't had much time to jump on and see how Princess Luna is fairing on the game these days."

"That's alright I guess." Rumble then gave a pause, "So, is there anything else you planning on doing? Getting into a TNT fight with you might be fun, but I'm probably not going to be on long before Sweetie comes back, so I probably won't have much time to rebuild if my house is wrecked on this map before we start fighting."

"I don't know. I guess we could go to the Nether, since Sweetie apparently has diamond armor."

"She doesn't have a weapon though. Plus, you're probably gonna need protection too, and that's gonna take some time."

"Right, right..." He stated then paused as he thought of what they could do, "Say, Rumble, how is Sweetie on this game?" He asked, deciding a little knowledge of Sweetie's play style might be useful for him in his approach to out-do her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Sweetie doesn't seem like the type to run off fighting all the mobs. You mentioned she let you jump on once. That is true, right?"

"Well, yeah, of course it's true. It was when Scootaloo and I were paired off to work on that history project together. You know, I told you about it, it was the one about Cloudsdale's founding." Rumble replied.

"Yeah, I think I still remember that."

"Scootaloo thought it'd be a great idea to come here to talk about it, so we could play to pass the time between our conversations, and for after we finished it up. It was only that once though, but Scootaloo's had me come over a couple times just to show off something they did or just have someone to give them a second opinion about stuff as they play."

"So how does she play on this game? Does she adventure at all in this game? Does she turtle up at night in her house?"

"Sort of. Why are you asking anyway?"

"Oh, just...personal interest."

"Wait. You're not planning on treating this as a competition, like you usually do, are you?" Rumble asked in a disbelieving tone, feeling he already knows the answer, "You're seriously going to compete against Sweetie Belle? Against your own marefriend?"

Button didn't respond verbally, but smirked in response, which was unseen by Rumble, who assumed the silence was a confirmation.

"Jeez! You really like taking your gaming skills that seriously, huh?" Rumble responded as he scratched the back of his head, which Button could just barely hear though his headphones, "I'll tell you, but just a fair warning between us pony buds, don't go pushing her too hard. If you do, there's no telling if she'll break things off with you."

That only fueled the flames of Button's determination even more to prove he was better at games than Sweetie.

Giving a wide grin, he responded. "I'll accept that risk."

Button heard Rumble sigh as the other young stallion hesitated for a moment, "Alright, just don't say I didn't warn you if she does."

Another pause before Rumble continued on.

"You're right. The good news for you, Mr. Competitive, is that Sweetie is practically dead-weight as far as her combat skills in this game goes. She hardly survives accidentally mining into areas with spawners, and is heavily reliant on having someone watching her back lest she get's killed by some mob or another." Rumble explained, "If anything, she typically asks Applebloom or Scootaloo, when they join through their systems, to hunt down mobs for her whenever she needs their drops for something, or...you know, the number of farms and traps she has set up in random areas to quickly and easily kill them."

"Figures. This game is wasted on somepony like her." Button thought to himself in annoyance before addressing Rumble again, "And? I'm assuming there's some bad news too."

He heard Rumble force a chuckle from his end, "Yeah. The bad news is, bud, is if you want to compete on her terms though, you may be out of luck there, pony."

"Explain?" Button replied, genuinely curious what Rumble could possibly mean.

"Sweetie may not be a fighter, but she's a great builder. From what little I know, she has a thing for looking for diamonds in her free time, so she does a lot of poking around and normally has a lot of material to work with. A lot of the area, including this spot, was built -actually, is 'terraformed' a better word?" A pause, "Eh, probably not, but yeah, she built this area."

Button raised a brow as he looked around. Granted he hasn't really gone off anywhere far in the world, he hasn't seen a single thing that looked like it was built, except maybe the home of Sweetie's character.

"What exactly has she built? All I've seen is her house and that tunnel over there." Button then looked towards the tunnel that contained Sweetie's hidden area from earlier.

"It's not just her home. Didn't you notice this area is completely flat for more than a few blocks worth of distance?"

Button was about to say something, when the noticed that Rumble was actually right. The area at first doesn't actually suggest any alterations, but now that Rumble pointed it out, it was obvious that a bit more of the area was actually level compared to what would be normal for a randomly generated field.

"Sweetie used some dirt she got from digging around and leveled the area to plant some of these trees and install a path to help us get around." Rumble continued, "It's way more than her house though, she actually does have some larger projects here and there if you know where to look."

"So a tower then? Or a small village?" Button asked, trying to gauge where Sweetie's skills could possibly be.

"Um, here, follow me." Rumble remarked before he took off down a path.

Button followed suit, "Where are we going?" he asked as the pair briskly ran down the path, occasionally jumping a hill where there wasn't any stairs or slabs to run over.

He got no response as Rumble just kept going.

After about a minute of running down the path, Button noticed a mountain start rendering into view, and the path was leading towards a dug out tunnel about 4 blocks tall and 3 blocks wide.

"Not very far now, it's just past this tunnel." Rumble voiced in as he didn't stop and entered the tunnel.

Button wasn't far behind. The tunnel was well lit as they passed the occasional glowstone inbedded into the wall, ensuring no mobs spawned inside.

"Well, she was able to remember that part at least." Button thought to himself, "Still, why the hay did she decide to build whatever it is this far out? What could it possibly be that she couldn't build next, or closer in general, to her house?'

Upon reaching the end of the tunnel, Rumble stopped to look back at Button, "Here we are."

Button stopped next to Rumble as his jaw dropped at what he saw. In front of him was what looked like a life-sized build of the Crystal Empire, or at least part of it.

Rumble chuckled, "I can practically imagine the look on your face right now, Button. Don't worry, I kinda had the same reaction when I noticed that Applebloom was helping Sweetie level this entire place down. Of course, most of it wasn't here last time I saw this place."

The entire area had clearly been leveled to accommodate the build, as Button took note of smooth stone and colored wool to replicate the recognizable, snowflake-like path of the Crystal Empire. A number of buildings had already been built, using blue and red wool on the exterior walls, and half the Crystal Castle was already completed.

Button never would've expected this is what Sweetie was building! Not in a million years.

"S-She built this...?!"

"With a little help of course, but, yeah." Rumble replied, "She's pretty much built almost everything you see here. The only main exception was part of the roadways, and the two crystal spires that act as the welcome gate. Scootaloo and Applebloom put those in. I think Scootaloo mentioned that they built those on the other side from this tunnel. The buildings and what's already there of the castle though, that was all Sweetie."

He couldn't believe it. He can't believe it! Sweetie's skill level was this?!

"Admittingly, she did cheat in the materials for the castle, and went into creative mode, but from what I've heard from Scootaloo it was because she got tired of accidentally falling off once it got high enough to kill her. Still, not a bad job, don't you think? So...yeah, if you're really that serious about competing with her, this is what you have to top. You better start practicing."

Rumble was right, he really did have to start practicing. To top this...he...he didn't even know what he would have to do. He'd really hate having to admit this, and he'd especially really hate to have to admit it to Sweetie Belle, but he was beyond impressed.

"Rumble! What are you doing?!" Both young stallions heard Sweetie's voice shout, snapping Button out of his trance.

"Huh...? Oh, Sweetie Belle!" Button heard Rumble state over the microphone, followed by a nervous chuckle, "Yeah...I-I was just showing Button around a little."

"You weren't suppose to show him that! It's not even done yet."

"He thought it was cool...Hey! Quit pushing!" Rumble stated before hearing some sounds as if Rumble had dropped the microphone on the ground, "Gotta go, later, Button!"

There was a brief moment of silence as Sweetie corrected something on her end before Button heard her voice again.

"Hello again, Button." Sweetie greeted after a brief moment, "Sorry about disappearing like that. I was getting hungry."

"That's alright. Is Rumble still there?"

"Yes, Rumble is still here. He's sitting behind me watching us now. I still can't believe you brought him here."

"Hey, it's still pretty impressive despite not being finished." He heard Rumble faintly remark.

"You really built this? Like, really, really?" Button asked, still not wanting to believe Sweetie was this skilled.

"I had some help, but, yeah, I did. I thought it'd be fun to do something large, and I always remembered how the Crystal Empire was such a fun place to visit over the years." Sweetie admitted in an embarrassed tone, "It's still not done though, I still need to finish the upper half of the castle."

Button remained quiet, his mind still trying to process that Sweetie Belle of all ponies had managed to build this.

"I started it several months ago. It's kinda embarrassing, I bet you probably would've finished something like this a long time ago." Sweetie remarked

Button thought he heard Rumble attempting to stifle a laugh, but failing to do so, though he couldn't quite tell for sure. If he had though, Sweetie didn't act like she had noticed and had her character look towards the semi-built Crystal Empire in front of their characters.

"Y-yeah, I would've totally finished a build like this ages ago." He nervously lied, "And, it's not completely embarrassing. You're off to a good start at least."

"You think so?" Sweetie asked.

"Yeah... You're just taking your time, no big deal."

"Then, would you like to help?" She asked, her voice making it obvious she was really hopeful that he'd agree to help.

"Uh, well- M-maybe not today, Sweetie." Button responded, "I still have some things to do before I can help."

"Oh, alright." Sweetie sounded like more sullen.

"Some other time, Sweetie." He added quickly, silently hoping she eventually forgets, "I still have to eat dinner and get started on my homework."

"Oh, right." She responded in a tone suggesting she was once again embarrassed, this time for forgetting that Button probably hasn't eaten yet, "So, are you going now?"

"I probably should. I did finish what you wanted me to do anyway."

"You built your house!" She cheered, "Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay, Button."

Button groaned a bit, "See you tomorrow." He then looked towards the build one last time before leaving.

Finally off the game, he let out a loud groan as he fell back and onto the floor of his room.

"Seriously?! Sweetie can build stuff like that?" He shouted putting his hooves over his eyes, "This shouldn't be happening."

"Oh, good, are you done playing, Button?" His mother asked him as she walked into his room.

"Yeah, I'm done playing. For now." He replied.

"Good, your Mommy wants some game time before the night is over." She didn't wait, as she pulled the headset off of her son's head and putting them on.

"Mom." He complained.

"Oh, please, you just said you were done for now." She rebutted, "Besides, your dinner is getting cold. Go to the dining table and eat up."

"Yes, Mom." He then took his leave as his mom started up another game.

As he ate he couldn't quite shake his thoughts about learning that Sweetie was apparently an expert builder in Minecraft. It just didn't make sense. How could Sweetie Belle of all ponies have actually been able to surpass him in something in his domain: video games? Where had she learned to build like that? He had built the occasional thing, sure, but something as grand as replicating the entire city-state of the Crystal Empire, he'd never thought of doing. Just the idea of burning that many hours just to level an area sounded like a bore to him.

"Go figure the one mare in class with the least amount of brain power could stand do something something so incredibly tedious." He muttered to himself with a sigh.

"What kind of aim is that?! You missed me 12 times!" He heard his mother shout in a semi-taunting tone from his room.

"I wonder what Mom is playing?" He pondered to himself before putting it aside for now, he can figure that out later.

Still, he gave a nod, as he came to accept the fact that Sweetie had surpassed him in one way, and that was a way he was sure he was going to try learning so he could top her. It was going to be a challenge for sure, but what good gamer would back down from a good challenge? Besides, the bigger they are, the more satisfying the fall.

For now though, he was gonna eat and figure out what he was going to build to top Sweetie Belle; and, maybe wonder what other very impressive builds Sweetie could have possibly built on that map he has yet to see.

"Wait- No! I should NOT be feeling impressed!" He mentally berated himself before shaking his head to rid of those thoughts.

Author's Note:

Took a while, but it's finally done. Hope you guys like the idea of where I think Sweetie's skills in games might be. Until the next chapter.