Level 1
No! Earth Flower! How could Life Tree just kill you like that after he tried to make Cloudy Strife do it? Then he secs Cherry Nova Life on us after he does it? That's just mean. HEY! Give my game back! THAT'S MINE! I'm gonna tell mom!
You want me to talk about myself? Will you give me my Gamecolt back? You promise?
My Name is Button Mash. I'm in grade school. And I like video games. There, can I have my Gamecolt back now?
You want MORE? That's not fair!
You asked me to I talked about myself and I did!
...
Give it! Give it! Mom!
...
For my own good? I play too many video games? That's not nice. No my mom would never set all my video games on fire! She'd never do that! That's not nice to say about her! You should be ashamed.
Mom gets me all these games because she loves me, she'd never do anything mean to me. Of course I love my mom! Dad too, even if I don't see him a lot cause he's busy.
...
About time you gave it back, you shouldn't take things that don't belong to you. Hey, why is the boss asking me all these questions? And it's using my real name? Hey! No fair! What'd you do my video game? You big jerk!...It'll be fine? You better promise! A Pinkie Pie Swear? That'll do I guess.
Is that a limited edition Alpha Gold Banished Or Alive?...Yes I know fillies don't have tails that long in real life like in the game, I'm not stupid: except for Miss Fluttershy.
Okay okay, I promise to behave if you hoof over the video game after. You think I should play more Dragon Knight? I should play more Dragon Knight. Okay. These aren't the golems I'm looking for, uh, what?
Can I go back to playing my video games now? No? Please!
Get a life? You're not my mom! You don't get to say that!
Life outside my games? Why should I need one? The future? That's for later! I'm a grade schooler!
Everypony knows that video game addiction is a bunch of hooey! Do I need to play games? Yes! The Princess isn't going to save herself and those alien invaders aren't going to blow themselves up!
Besides, real life is boring, and they keep changing all the rules! Don't they know it's bad game design to change the rules in the middle of the game and not even tell you?
You know all those 'Try Actual Reality' public service posters are a totally bogus! It's not -really- free to play, the character generation is completely random, there's no save feature, and only getting one life? How is that fair?!
With video games at least you know the rules are gonna be consistent, and you can always start again if you mess up. Again, and again, and again, until you get the results you want. So the only way to REALLY lose a game is to give up.
It would be awful if real life was like that? Whaddya know?
My family is descendant from the Ponies of Paradise Estate? I've never heard of that video game before, what system is it?
So my great ancestor, from the age of...what did you call it? Myths? Sorry, I think I was playing Legend of Cadence: An Armor Of Two Worlds during that class, I really liked the twist at the end where the weird little pony selling you adventure items was really-- Age of Myths? My great ancestor?
So my great ancestor, the Big Brother Pony Slugger, went up against an evil witch who stole ponies' youth, and rescued the love of his life, the unicorn, Buttons? I guess that's kinda cool.
...
I'M NAMED AFTER A GIRL!?!? Ahhh!!!!
So is Lickety-Split? From a pony who was alive at the same time? I didn't know that.
Do I know Lickety-Split?
Well, mom asked me to try and make friends with him. She said our families both have a long history and we'd have a lot to talk about.
"So you wanna play ball?" I heard Lickety say.
"Uh-huh." Dang this boss was tough.
"So mom says you family is from Dream Valley too?"
"Uh-huh." Dang, how am I supposed to memorize this attack pattern?
"I've memorized a lot of stories my mom and grandma told me from then."
"Uh-huh." Maybe I needed to level up more.
"Would you like to meet Speedy Delivery, Lyra, Bon Bon, Moth, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle at our next story meet?"
"Uh-huh." Fifth time I died, I'll grind some more.
"...Did you know that a pony with a name a lot like yours in one of my family stories got their youth stolen by a witch who presented her a happy illusionary world?"
"Uh-huh."
But uh, nothing really clicked.
Though I do kinda think that story would make a cool setting...would make a cool video game. Like William Wombat And The Kingdom Of Illusion for Mega-Genesis!
When did my family move to Ponyville? Well, most of my family did. My dad runs a game store in Canterlot. He isn't home much. But he sends me lot of video games!
Do I miss my friends? Of course not, I brought my copy of Animal Town with me, Kittenrina even planted flowers in front of my house.
....
REAL friends? I...didn't have any.
So why did mom decide to move here? Well, we moved here last year, just after...just after...the big glitch thingie UnknownNumber glitched up the whole world.
So I was playing video games, when it began to rain chocolate milk outside, or that's what mom said, I...didn't notice, or the cotton candy clouds, or the soap roads, or when our house started floating upside down...
(It was a lot like when Nightmare Moon attacked, mom just let me play my video games, she didn't want me to get scared, and she knew I lost track of time when I played anyway, so I didn't notice the sun should have been up already. She pretended everything was fine. I . . . I don't blame her.)
Then I think I heard somepony next to me saying....
"You'll never amount to anything in your life."
"Uh-huh."
"You'll have thrown away your entire foalhood away on mindless illusionary fake achievements."
"Uh-huh."
"I'll trap you in your own video games, for all eternity!"
"Really?! Sounds fun!" No school. No bedtime. No having to take bathroom breaks. I looked up at...a big glitch thingie dressed up like the Super Ponario Brothers. "Uh. Who are you? What are you doing in my bedroom? And were you serious about letting me be in my video games?"
He groaned like mom did sometimes. "You're more dense than that spawn of Galaxia's. Never mind about the 'live inside a game' thing. Normally I like the 'reject your reality types' but you're just annoying."
"But you just said-"
"And I said never mind!" he said, kinda reminding me of...well, me when a game was getting on my nerves. "Sigh. Okay. Let's try this again. Here's a nice new video game for you. Unless you don't think you're up for it. It's only for REAL hardcore players!"
"Of course I'm up for it! I'm the hardest hardcore gamer there is!" I said proudly.
"Alright." He gave me the game.
"Dark Spirits?" The game simmered with some kind of 'black light', like its very existence was an antithesis to all that Equestria, to all the world believed in: cool. Huh?
"Uh, the rating is all smudged. Mom won't let me play anything rated too high."
"And you listen to her?"
"Dad says playing a game that I'm not ready for could really screw me up and he knows a LOT about video games."
"Fine, it's rated E, happy?!"
"You bet!" I loaded it up and started playing!
Wow! The graphics, sound, music, and everything is super realistic! Wow! What an epic opening! So the sun is fading, and it's my job to save the land! Let's do this!
'To enhance gaming experience, we suggest you select nothing, or the pendant as your starting item? Okay.
....
What? The pendant is a joke item!? That wasn't funny! It has to do with the back story of the Fugitive Horsey?...Fine, I guess that works.
-You Died-
Ugh! Is this thing set on super-hard? There is no difficulty setting?! Don't lose it Button, you've tackled super hard games before, remember Ninja Gai-Pony? And everything worked out in the end and it was worth it.
Wow, I bet this guy will be my friend for this whole adventure, he died?
-You Died-
Why is this other guy so depressed?
Two bells to ring? But I was told there was only one. It's early in the game, your quest turning out to be bigger than expected is okay.
-You Died-
The boss I killed was only taking care of her little sister?!
-You Died-
If this big bony pony is one of the guys who defeated the dragons, then why do I need to kill him to progress?! What is he doing that's evil?!
-You Died-
Why is everypony attacking me if I was sent here by a friend of the king?
-You Died-
Don't attack me! I was sent here to see the princess! Why can't I just explain myself?!
-You Died-
The Princess is an illusion?! The sun is an illusion!? The sky is an illusion!?
-You Died-
Why do my mentors keep going crazy and trying to kill me? That's only supposed to happen once in a video game! Not multiple times!
-You Died-
SUN BRO! You were the only GOOD GUY in the whole game! Why did I need to kill you too?! I didn't? HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO FIGURE THAT OUT?!
-You Died-
Why did I need to kill that big doggie?! Couldn't I explain to him I needed the ring to save the land?!
-You Died-
Why would the flame of life going out of control create DEMONS!? Aren't they supposed to be the opposite of life or something?
-You Died-
Wait...that's it?...My character burns up? I don't get it. Extend the age? What age?! Everypony's dead now! I killed all the rulers and all the ponies' living here! There's no ponies to have an age! Is there some weird grown up complex moral I didn't get?!
....Maybe the other ending is better?
Cut content?...If that friendly guy at the start had lived he'd have challenged me to a fight to the death at the finale no matter what ending I chose?!
-You Died...A Lot-
WHY ARE THEY SO MUCH TOUGHER ON THE SECOND PLAY THROUGH!? Calm down Button, that's normal for a video game that wants to give you a really big challenge right? And...and that's what this game is about...the challenge, not that...everything you're fight for is hopeless....
And why is the screen going all swirly? Better hit it! That did it...I feel weird...
-You Died and lot and a lot-
THAT'S IT?! That's the other ending?!
I'm now the Dark Lord? The Dark Lord of what!? Everypony is dead! The land is dead! The world is dead! You don't help anypony! You don't save anypony! Everything is completely pointless!!!
What's the point of anything? We're all gonna grow old and die. Then everypony who knows me will grow old and die, and everypony who knew them will grow old and die, and it'll be like I was never born! Equestria will fall one day like every country in the world before in history did. My town will be abandoned and be forgotten. Ponies will go extinct or evolve into a new species and forget what old ponies looked like. The sun will burn out some day an the world will get eaten up the sun or freeze. And it'll be like ponies never existed. There's no point to anything!
All fires burn out, and the fires of friendship will turn to cinders too eventually, everything stops, dies, and turns to ashes. The more beautiful the flame, the more quickly it dies.
--
What happened to me while my son was being brainwashed by that beast?...I'm sure you can guess the part where he appeared as my cutie mark, a heart and a baby bottle floating in the air around me. First it heaped on the praise, buttering me up, and I won't say I didn't drink it in, I won't say raising Button Mash hadn't been a challenge.
That thing had a puppet show with himself, saying how brave, determined, and self-sacrificing I was to be a mother, and to have nurturing as my special talent. I've done it all, been a foal sitter, a teacher's aid, ran a day care before moving, I even substituted for kinder garden and pre-school teachers. Handling young foals is what I do and I'm proud of it.
I'd...I'd rather not quote what that thing said using my cutie mark to speak to me....
Then my son came in, saying he was scared and hungry. I tried to hug him, but he bit me! And then he revealed fangs like a vampire. Then a dozen more, completely identical to the first came charging in, fangs bared, saying they were hungry. They on marched me, eying me like I was food. I ran.
"Come on, isn't a mother supposed to provide for her foals? You're being selfish...." I heard that thing looking like my cutie mark laugh.
I fled out the door...only to find myself on a tight-rope with a pole in a circus. And below...on one side, were screaming babies that nearly pierced my eardrums wanting food, video games, and diaper changes. On the other were the most punkish, ugly, and delinquent looking teenagers you'd ever seen, telling me to go to Tartarus and that they needed money for a chariot, and that I was cramping their style. Some of them were even on witch weed and other things. And all of them wore my Button Mash's face.
And on both ends of the tight rope, the little cannibals were crawling on towards me!
"A parent provides, but what does a child give in return? A parent sacrifices, but what does the foal ever give up? You provide, but all you're raising is a parasite. It's a parasite the moment the infection takes hold in your body, and it just gets bigger and bigger, and it continues to feed off you until you have nothing left. How noble of you."
The rope broke and that horde descended upon me, looking at me with swirling eyes. And in that moment, I felt what I never had in my entire life, even when dealing the most spoiled brats or surly youths: I hated kids. I hated the sight and smell of them, what had the little parasites ever done for me? No better than leeches. The pole became a baseball bat, and I smacked up the horde until they stopped moving, and then hit them more for good measure.
I tossed aside the baseball bat, and not giving a buck about anything, I went back inside the, turning upside down with it, not caring about anypony around me. They were all parasites who feed off their parents until their kids began feeding off of them. The world was better off without them.
The inside of my house was now a twisted maze...I didn't care about my son, or the rest of the world. Or that stallion who had cursed me with that vile creature that had stolen my body from me. They were all filth.
I found my child, my real one, thank you Celestia I had tossed aside the baseball bat back in the circus tent. I remember being annoyed that I had missed one. He was just staring at a video game's title screen. I didn't even SAY anything to him. I just hit him. And told him how he was less than zero, he was a negative on the world's sum total.
I smashed the machine to get a reaction out of the spoiled brat, he didn't give any, he just sat there. He told me I could hit him all I wanted, there wasn't a point in ANYTHING. How dare he think I needed his PERMISSION to smack his worthless face?
I hit him again, and he didn't even react, at all. Saying how me hitting him didn't change anything. The little brat!
Then...then I...oh Celestia...I...please...give me a moment...Thank you...
The rainbow came...and in a flash I was back to my senses. I'd pretend it was a nightmare, but my son was...I broke down crying like a little filly myself, hugging my baby boy and shuddering as I held him, I got red on my coat, forcing myself not to let him go.
I calmed down enough to take my bundle of joy to the hospital…there were many pregnant mothers and other parents with their foals there as well. So many ponies...how many foals and ponies had that devil hurt? It made me angry too.
I couldn't stay in that house after that, I just couldn't.
We moved to the home town of the heroes who defeated Discord, being in sight of Princess Celestia's capital city made it even more ideal, I only found out later that, that beast had used it as his personal throne space and that the monster was petrified and sealed up again in Canterlot itself. Why didn't the Princesses just take a sledgehammer to that thing?
My son wasn't playing his video games. You think I'd be happy. But he wasn't going outside either. At dinner he only spoke if spoken to, and rarely more than a couple words. His grades were dropping, not from too many distractions, but like he wasn't even trying. Button didn't smile.
That beast meanwhile had trapped my husband in his own video games, but not as the hero, but all the rest. The monsters the heroes destroyed without a second thought for gold and experience, the identical faceless NPCs who said the same lines over and over as the hero ransacked their house. The bosses who just sat waiting in their rooms for the hero to come and kill them. My husband was made to be them all. With a clear view of that thing on the other side of the screen, playing the game. Discord had apparently said something about 'I wanted to play this game with your son, but he wasn't interested.'
My husband was jumpy around anything that went 'beep,' and he didn't open his shop for weeks, and he stayed away from our son's video game collection like they were cursed and never once went into his design room.
...Ironically Ponyville was also closer to where my husband worked. We never moved before, Button was born in my home town after all, he had moved to live there for my sake. But those memories had been tainted, and far more important, after Nightmare Moon and now that thing, I felt being closer to Equestria's heroes who had defeated both monsters was a safer place to raise my family. Yes, near the dreaded and unnatural Everfree Forest...I never said it was a rational decision. At least Button wasn't one to wander off.
I was more concerned about my little foal, and what that monster, and what I had done to him.
One bonus about moving to Ponyville, was the vast collection of psychologists and counselors that Princess Celestia had sent to Ponyville to help that beast's victims, so my family wasn't alone.
Many ponies kept to themselves what that beast had done to them. Hurt and ashamed, like what he had done to them was their fault...I knew how they felt.
I loved my son and my husband: and all it had taken was lies and some sick magic to reverse what made me proud. Was my love not strong enough? I thought of all the times I was frustrated or angry with my husband or child, had that beast brought to the surface how I had really felt all that time?
Names weren't given, but I was told I wasn't the only parent who had been made to hurt their foal...and their own foals were now scared of them. Foals, scared of their own parents, that wrongness of that made me ill. They were treating GOOD parents like they were abusers (which I PRAY Equestria has the lowest population of possible)...Yes, you're right, it is an unnatural fear that shouldn't be.
Button Mash....
--
I didn't really care when mom hit me, I didn't care about anything. Everything was dumb, everything ended, everything was pointless, everything flickered out when you pulled the plug. I...I didn't care when she hit me a lot more.
The big rainbow washed over everything. And I really cared I hurt all over. I was really dizzy.
I'd never seem mama cry before. She was crying so much I saw it even though my eyes' vision was blurry.
Mama hugged me. I was having trouble staying awake on the way there. I still hurt. I couldn't walk straight. Mom took me to the doctor.
....
I...I...mom was really sad. Dad was really scared.
That was when we moved to Ponyville.
Mom took me to this nice pony in an office, told me she was going to help me feel better. The nice pony told me how I had to understand that mom really loved me, that the glitch thingie MADE HER do those things, just like it had MADE ME not care about anything.
But I remembered playing the game (I couldn't find it later), I remember how no matter what choice I made, the land was doomed, that nothing me or any of the characters did had any meaning.
Did...did that mean the glitch thingie convinced mom I was a bad pony? That I wasn't a good boy? ...That mom shouldn't care about me?
They say grown-up say a lot of things through stuff they make that they can't say straight up for weird grown-up reasons...did that mean....
"Mom, the sky isn't an illusion is it? The princesses don't create a big mirage above us so we don't realize the universe is dead do they?"
-
I wrote an angry letter to that game's producers, and what I thought of their nihilistic story setting. The wall-eyed pegasus promised she'd deliver it...but she had me pay extra postage for non-domestic time/space travel.
I was told by her eldest child that I was better off not getting involved in wondering how that worked. I've told Button Mash to stay away from the weird pony with the blue shed.
And I had more important things to think about, I actually sent a letter requesting an audience for myself and my son with Princess Celestia... Yes, I dared ask to be in the presence of the goddess of the sun for the sake of my foal. Did you think I was going to do less?
I was honestly surprised when I got a reply letter saying my request for an audience was granted! Given all Princess Celestia had to be dealing with after what that beast had done, I wondered when she found time to sleep! Did she sleep?
At least it gave me a chance to see more of the stallion I had promised to share my life with. No, I've always been faithful to him, as I've always known he's been faithful to me. We don't see each other as much as we should, but the moments we can share are beautiful.
And yes, we have played O&O. I was a gamer geek when I was younger. How do you think we met? Shadow Dancer/Paladin Half-Dragon/Flutterpony. My Dungeon Master screamed when he first read my character sheet.
I'd been to Canterlot before, so had Button Mash, it was where my husband had his business after all. There wasn't much call for expensive and new video games in the town we'd lived in. Canterlot was a city where ponies had deep enough pockets for the newest toys for their foals (though admittedly, not all spoiled rotten, I've met some in my time, maybe it just came to their parents simply having more to share with their children). We hadn't moved to Canterlot because -I- had wanted to stay in the comfort of our hometown with my foalhood memories. Now I'd left it behind anyway.
But, in all those visits, we had never had an audience with or come face to face with the Alicorn of the sun herself. We'd seen the People's Princess Cadenza, but never the Alicorn whose crowning happened when myth and history blurred.
The castle was much larger than it first looked. Due to social norms in Canterlot, I made sure to put on a good dress and Button on a nice shirt even if he complained that it itched.
"ANNOUNCING MRS. MATERNITY LOVE-TAP, AND MASTER BUTTON MASH!"
"Master?! Cool!"
"It's just a traditional way of saying you're not old enough to be called 'Mr.' dear."
"Ah nuts!"
I swear I heard The Princess giggle at Button Mash's antics.
In retrospect, I should have included honey in the request for an audience, Button could have used the support.
We stood in awe of her presence, even if Button Mash was playing his GameColt I think he'd have stopped playing.
We didn't burst into flames in her presence, that's always a good sign.
We trotted up to the throne, and I prostrated to Her Highness, and push down Button to do the same.
"Welcome my little ponies, please, what do you wish to converse with me?"
"Your Highness, I only request you answer my son's questions truthfully."
I admit...I felt so strange asking the ruler of Equestria to listen to the questions of a young foal...it just made me wonder how she'd react. I hoped if she was angry she'd show it at me and not Button.
The Princess smiled. "Of course I can."
I blinked. "R-Really?"
"Yes, I love speaking with my little ponies," she said, keeping a warm smile. She made me think of my own mother...so warm and inviting.
"You Pinkie Pie promise?" Button asked.
I'm proud for not wetting myself.
The Princess looked at my son, staring into his soul! I don't think Button realized what he had done as he innocently looked up at the sun herself.
We're doomed.
"Cross My Heart, Hope To Fly, Stick a Cup Cake In My Eye. I promise to answer your questions for this audience truthfully."
What?
It's a miracle I didn't dislocate my jaw it dropped so hard.
The Princess chuckled. "I know Pinkie Pie quite well."
She pointed to two stained glass windows, depicting the defeats of Nightmare Moon and Discord.
"She's a joy to know, really. I don't believe I've ever met a pony like her...well, maybe one other time."
The princess seemed a little...wistful.
"Button Mash, ask your questions. I promise I will be completely truthful."
Now Button Mash DID look worried, this wasn't the look of a foal worried about Santa Hooves not being real, this was my son terrified that the world itself was more fake than his make believe worlds.
"...Is the sky an illusion? Is the sun an illusion? Are the moon and stars illusions? Is it a big magical canopy or something so ponies don't realize the universe is dead? A clever deceit held up you and Princess Luna? So Equestria can just go on and most ponies don't need to know?"
"Mrs. Love-Tap, I'd like to give your son the answers he seeks hooves on, I give my word he shall come to no harm. Would you concede?"
I blinked. I...wasn't expecting that. "I...Can I see it as well? With him? Is that possible? I just..."
The Princess looked very much like she wasn't expecting that answer either.
She sighed. "Very well. Guards, we will be going on a brief leave, we will be back shortly, do not worry, do not cancel my other audiences, we shall be back shortly."
Mom wanted to come along with...whatever it was that The Princess wanted to show me? I didn't see that coming.
"Mrs. Love-Tap, whatever happens, you must stay close to me."
Mom bowed her head. "Yes Your Highness."
The Princess' horn glowed, and me and mom were covered in a pretty gold aura like an invincibility shield. Then everything flashed gold and we were outside above Canterlot!
What a view! Cool! Wyvern-Born has nothing on this!
Heh! Mom screamed a little boy foal and hugged me.
"Don't worry," The Princess said, letting mom calm down. "You won't fall. Now pay attention. You won't see a view like this again!" And we zoomed up really fast! The Princess carrying us up with her! Canterlot got smaller and smaller, we flew up past Cloudsdale and kept going, I could actually see the stars in the middle of the day!
WOW! I THINK I CAN SEE ALL OF EQUESTRIA FROM HERE!
Mom won't stop hugging me!
Then...when we were way above Equestria, no, I think we were above the whole world!
There were stars everywhere! I could see the moon too! It looked so big! Like I could reach out and touch it!
I admit...while that moment was frightening, the look of awe on Button's face again...
"I shall now answer your question. No little Button Mash: the sky is NOT an illusion, nor are the stars, the sun, or the moon. If our sky was an illusion, would it make sense that the stars would be here when it's day time in Canterlot?"
"Uh...." I felt like I was in Miss Cheerilee's class. "I dunno."
"I suppose this COULD be just a more elaborate illusion," The Princess said, giving a smile that reminded me of mom sometimes. "Or just be how the illusion works. Let me challenge that as well."
Everything flashed gold again, it didn't seem to last longer, but it FELT like it lasted longer. Uh, I dunno what I mean either. This gives me a headache.
Mom's grip on me loosened some.
Wait a sec'...is that Earth super far off? The stars are everywhere in the sky, the ground is all gray and rocky and dusty and..."Are...are we...are we-" I stuttered. This was too real!
"We are on the moon little pony."
The jumping physics in the Moon Level of Pony Tales weren't exaggerating! I'd never jumped so high in my life! Whoo-hoo! I ran super fast. The Princess stayed close to me no matter how fast I went.
"Button be careful!" Mom shouted super jumping after me too. Wow! So this is what the Ponario Brothers feel like!
Everything was so gray...the place has so many big craters everywhere....I floated down and took a bite. BLECH! The moon is NOT made of cheese!
"Do you like it?" The Princess asked.
"Tastes awful!"
"Well, I guess your family are not rock farmers then." The Princess smiled. "Luna wants lunar rock farmers to exist some day, and I would see nothing wrong with it. If you wish, you may take the rock with you."
"REALLY?!"
"I am sure my sister would not mind. After all, there is nothing my sister desires more than for ponies to love her night and her moon. And take it as proof forever that the moon is real. Subject it to any test you can think of to any alchemist you can find, and they will tell you that rock did not come from our world."
Wow?! Really?! Yep! I'm the only foal IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD TO OWN A PIECE OF THE MOON! YIPPIE!
"Heeeeeeeyyy!" I pointed at a cliff face with a big fancy drawing of an owlbear on it. "What's that?"
Did The Princess just blush? "That's...an expression of my sister's creative side. Few ponies realize it, but Luna has always been the more artistic of the two of us."
"Uh, yes I can see that," Mom said like she wasn't sure what to say. She was looking at some drawings on another cliff. It had a picture of a cartoony Princess Celestia with x's for eyes and her tongue sticking out being danced on by a cartoony Nightmare Moon and the words 'DIE CELLY, DIE!' scribbled above it.
The wall was covered in creepy scribbles like that. Including one with a super fat Princess Celestia saying, 'I'M A BIG FAT STUPID HEAD!' And bat-ponies dancing happily under the moon on top of a grave that read 'Here's Lies Princess One-Star-Butt.'
I tried to read another one, but mom covered it with her hoof. "That one has words I'd rather you not know exist, dear."
"...I can't entirely blame Luna..." the Princess muttered. It was weird seeing her look sad. "Do remember my sister was... Not quite herself at the time."
The Princess cleared her throat. "And that does bring up another flaw in the lie you were fed, my little pony: the legend of my sister's fall specifically said 'the stars will aid in her escape.' If the universe was dead and there were no longer any stars, then how did she escape?"
"Oh... I didn't...I didn't even really think about that part," I admitted. I didn't really pay attention to that part of Nightmare Night, I was in it mostly for the free candy, even if you had to give up some at the end just to keep Nightmare Moon from eating you, a big ponies in my old class said it was just so we didn't get fat.
Then The Princess flew and she carried us off with her magic again, and she carried us over the moon, sure it was all cool and everything, but so much of it was just gray! Hey!
"What's that!" I pointed.
Mom pushed my hoof down. "Not polite to point dear."
There was a castle right there on the moon! With lots of crescent moons and big tops like those castles in Saddlerabia have!
"That would be my sister's...vacation home...it became a more permanent residence for the thousand years she remained here."
I pointed again. "Who are those guys?!"
"WHAT are they?!" Mom gasped out.
There were a bunch of rabbit shaped puffy clouds or something, cleaning and stuff the little castle. They were really far away. I don't think they saw us.
"Those are...the Moon Tribe...they are...my sister's story, not mine. This moon is their native home, or perhaps been their home so long that they themselves have forgotten where they came from. I repeat, I'm not the one to tell their story."
"...I thought the moon was supposed to be home to some nasty dark magic things..." I replied.
"No, those don't exist. Since Luna has been...freed of Nightmare Moon, she's recently returned here at her full glory to undo the lies Nightmare Moon had spread about the world below, and helped them let go of their dark magic Nightmare Moon had taught them."
"I guess they're...sort of cute," I heard mom say.
I looked around a bit and blinked. "Uh, what's that?" I asked, pointing to a weird flag that kinda looked like something I'd seen in a videogame based on some lost civilization.
The Princess gave a chuckle. "That is proof, my little ponies, that you are capable of great things when you are united in your hearts and dreams.
"Come...." Celestia said. "We have one more stop to make." Sun glasses appeared on us. And the big 'everything was gold' flash happened again, for a lot longer this time, but at the same time, the same as before. Blech! How do unicorns not go crazy from this stuff?
Now there was a big sea of fire beneath us. It's so hot and bright! The aura around us is sure a lot thicker than before.
"Are we in Tartarus?" I heard mom asked.
For the first time, I think The Princess actually looked insulted. Mom whimpered.
"No. This is not Tartarus. This is the closest star to Equestria, my sun."
"You have a son and he's a star?!" I gasped.
"No no no!... The SUN, the big yellow thing that I am and it is me, is a star."
"But how is that possible?!" Mom gasped. "It's so big and-"
"I really need to get Lulu to encourage more astronomy," I heard The Princess say under her breath. "No. They only LOOK smaller because they are so far away."
"But...but that means-" Mom was stuttering.
"Yes. The stars in my sisters' sky are all suns as great and powerful as mine. And each one that has planets circling it is me."
"Circling the sun? But...how can..."
Birds, made out of fire, flew towards Mom and started hugging her. Only stopped from touching her from the gold glow that was surrounding us. Mom was sweating like a pig though.
"Shoo-shoo!" The Princess flapped her wings and the flaming birds scattered. Mom's aura got bigger and it looked like she a soft breeze going inside it. "Forgive them, I'm normally the only visitor they get and I am . . . able to accept their affection."
"W-what are those?!" Mom gasped.
"Sunbirds."
"What are those?" I pointed at the surface of the sea of fire.
"Those are sunflowers."
"Ooooh," I said, understanding.
"There's life on the sun?" Mom asked, looking really surprised.
"Of course. Life persists and survives everywhere, my little pony. Though these specific creatures are...my children so to speak. At least in the sense of they are creatures of the sun. They cannot survive anywhere else."
"Can we see some sunfish?" I asked.
"Sorry, it would be, too uncomfortable for you, I apologize. They're far below the surface normally. Whenever I've had convicts here, as part of their rehabilitation, they often take part in sunbird raising and sunflower farming...and feeding the sunfish."
"You've banished ponies here?!" Mom gasped.
"Not any ponies, thankfully. But I have had others reside here for a time over the eons, trust me when I say that they were not creatures in your worst nightmares you'd want to meet. I would explain more, but…"
Celestia gave me a look. "You know how in the Legend of Cadence, Tirek does very bad things?"
"Yeah! Especially in that bad future in one game!"
"...That is the kind of creature I send here."
"I'm . . . surprised you know about that sort game Your Highness, I'm sorry, I'm stupid, you know everything." Mom said.
"Not quite actually . . . and I actually was a quality consultant on that game since it involved my niece. They didn't want to accidentally insult me."
"I see...Is there anycreature here now?" Mom whispered.
"No, thankfully. The last one was over a thousand years ago, but he emerged reformed about...750 years ago. He went on to be the favorite caretaker Philomena has ever had."
"Who?" I asked.
"My pet phoenix. She is very picky about...well, everything."
"I know how that can be," Mom said. Mom and the Princess whispered a couple things and giggled hey no fair! Then Mom gasped and blushed postrated. "I'm sorry Your Highness! I shouldn't speak of such things to you!"
"Oh it is quite alright, I enjoy speaking with my little ponies. To be honest, this is the most fun I've had all day," Celestia replied. "Oh, and watch this."
Celestia whistled and the sunbirds flew back up. She whistled again and they started singing along with it! It was cool!
Huh? Vacuum of space how did we hear them singing?...I dunno...But it was fun!
Mom clapped her hooves. "You . . . have them very well trained Your Highness."
Whew it was hot.
"Not so much training as understanding. But I believe it's best we make our departure now. I'd give you a trinket to take home...but everything here is 9 million degrees and radioactive, so I hope you understand."
"Radio what?" Me and mom asked.
"A word I hope you, my little ponies, never have to learn."
The birds whimpered.
"I'll visit again some other time," she promised 'em. I wished I had a camera! This place totally cool! . . . Eh, totally hot!
Then a big golden flash, and we were above the world again, and we went into the longest, coolest, most awesome skydive ever! Okay I've never BEEN skydiving, but I've played plenty of characters who have!
Mom was screaming for the first minute, (we were REALLY high up), hugging me super tight, but then she calmed down and opened her eyes, and slowly loosened her hold on me just a tiny bit.
There was no background music, there were no score highlights to tell you how good you were doing, no distance meter to tell you how close you were to the ground. No I couldn't feel the wind flapping in my face. I think it had something to do with the golden glow around me and mom.
"Princess Celestia?" I asked.
"Yes Button Mash?"
"Can you...can you please...let me...feel us going down?"
"Do you still think all you've seen is a false image fed to your mind?"
"No. I just... I just wanna."
We were getting close to the clouds now.
"...Very well, brace yourself."
And suddenly I could feel EVERYTHING! My beanie went flying off, "HEY!"
Princess Celestia caught my beanie with her magic with a grin. "I'll hold onto this for the moment."
I hope mom doesn't think I need a hair cut! And yes, my cheeks did get blown back like in the comics! It was cool! This was why they made so many skydiving levels!
The ride down was AWESOME! I could feel the wind on all of me! It was wet, cold, noisy, and felt like I was getting hit by a wet blanket, but it was so cool!
I could see all of Equestria! (Again, only this time I actually was taking everything in.) Yes, I know what Equestria looks like! I've played lots of games with maps of it!
Down we went, everything coming up closer and closer, everything getting bigger.
"Hey! I can see where dad works from here!"
"Forgive me if I slow down our ride now before we come back in for a landing."
And the Princess' magic surrounded us again, and we got moved slower and slower as Canterlot kept getting bigger, until...until we landed softly on a big pillow next to a fancy looking table on balcony.
"I felt us teleporting back into the throne room would be a rather lackluster way to finish this excursion...Have I answered your questions fully, Button Mash, to your satisfaction?" She put my beanie back on my head. I realized it still had my new moon rock in it.
After that big ride...all I could really do was nod. It was like I had so many words I wanted to say, that they couldn't get out. Okay, one did.
"Can we do it again?"
"NO!" Mom shouted, she was hugging the floor. "I mean...m-maybe some other time."
"You flatter me Button Mash, but I hope you understand I must look after and help all my little ponies, little colt. It would not be polite to everypony else if I did this every day for you. What I showed you was to help you, not entertain you, though I hope you look back on this as a happy memory."
I nodded. "I promise."
A light flare was sent from the Princess' horn into the air making fireworks. A few seconds later a pair of pegasi dressed up a lot like the Golden Age version of Fillisecond zoomed to the balcony pulling a chariot with a wind screen and seat belts.
"Princess Celestia! How may we serve you!" They said with faces so straight it actually made me giggle.
"Please escort Mrs. Maternity Love-Tap and Master Button Mash to anywhere in Canterlot, or Ponyville they wish to go."
"Wow! So not only did I get to go on a really awesome trip with the Princess, I get to be escorted by superheroes?!" I asked, wondering when I'd stepped into the coolest adventure ever!
"Oh they are not superheroes, not anymore than the rest of the Royal Guard of course. They are however my best messengers and couriers when other magical or physical methods cannot pull through."
"Oh...do they still have superpowers?"
"Climb into the chariot, tell them where you wish to be dropped off, and find out. Unless you have anything else you wish to discuss with me first."
"Your Highness...." Mom said, "Thank you for....for helping my son."
"It's my responsibility as your Princess to help all my little ponies. Including you and your son. Think nothing of it."
"This is the first time in a long time I've seen him excited over something other than his video games."
"I take it he likes them?"
"He lives for them...or did before...you know..."
"Interesting. If you will excuse me, there are other ponies of mine who desperately wish to speak with me before the day is out. Good-day my little ponies." She nuzzled me, and then mom, then she turned around and vanished in a big golden flash of light.
We just stood there for a bit then mom said to the two superponies,
"Can you...please take us back to Ponyville train station?"
"Ma'am yes ma'am!"
Mom picked me up in her mouth, and put me in the chariot and buckled my seat belt.
Mooooom! I'm not a baby! I can do it myself.
She buckled herself in.
"Are you secure madam?" Said one the super guards.
"I believe so, yes, and so is my son."
"Are you sure madam?" Asked the second one.
Mom tightened my seatbelt a bit, ick, and said, "Yes."
"Then hold on and remain calm."
And ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Me and mom both screamed! This was way faster than the train! It was like we were fallin' forwards! It mean it was super-duper ultra-fast! This must be what Rainboom The Hedgemouse feels like!
Yep, they definitely had super powers. Huh? Yeah, I guess that means Miss Rainbow Dash does too, but that's so awesome! Why isn't there a video game about her yet? That's what she said? Huh...well she's right. I'd play it.
It was over way too soon. They neatly parked the chariot right there at the train station. Why do they have a pig pen here?
They told us bye bye and zoomed back to Canterlot.
"I...guess we won't be needing those return tickets," Mom said. "I will be needing a new dress though."
"Why?"
"...Reasons..."
So that was my trip to Canterlot! Pretty cool huh? Can I have the limited edition Alpha Gold Banished Or Alive now? OH COME ON! You want more?! Huh? The wait will make it more satisfying? I am satisfied! Why can't you be? You still want more?...Geeze, you're worse than Miss Cheerilee.
Mom keeps lookin' up at the sky since our trip to the moon and sun sayin', "Suns...like ours."
And I still have my moon rock. I keep it under my bed next to mom and dad's Pong machine.
Dad? Well, I told him all about it, and so did mom. He believed us sure, and I had the moon rock to show 'em. Mom said she as all sorry for not bringing him with us. I mean, really sorry. I guess it really was too bad. It would have been fun for him to see all that too. Dad said he forgave her and hugged her.
Did I tell the other kids at school? Well, yeah. I even showed them the moon rock.
The first foal I told was the unicorn filly with the weird-eyed mom, she said the pony who lived in the blue shed had taken her to LOTS of moons...I slowly backed away.
The next ones I told were...well, that pretty silver filly with glasses and that pink filly with the crown (like a princess). They both kinda told me the same thing.
"You needed PRINCESS CELESTIA to TAKE YOU to the moon and sun just to prove to you that the sun and moon are REAL!? What kind of pathetic paranoid conspiracy nutbag are you?"
I...Kinda didn't talk to many foals about it afterwards. The rest I told? Well, I think they saw all the video games being moved into our house and thought I was talking about one of the games I owned....I just wanted to share.
I never really was interested in being popular anyway. What? No no no no that wasn't ironic! I really AM not interested in being popular! I like my alone time! Yes I know what ironic means, I'm not stupid!
But...I still didn't feel like playing any of my video games...or any games for that matter, or reading books, or seeing movies or plays. I mean...it was predetermined how it was going to turn out. What was the point in any of it? There were a dozen foals out there playing these games too, saving the same worlds...what difference did it make if I saved them too or not?
Mom got something in the mail, she said something about 'freight for crossing time and space again' or something.
"It's for you honey," she told me.
It was a video game. I hadn't gotten any new ones since the day the world got glitched.
"O-Celest?" Okay, I sound this sounds weird, but I swear it kinda glowed.
Sounds familiar, but I can't remember where I'd heard of it.
-
It said that the postage had been paid by the Canterlot Royal Treasury. I'll admit, I'm happy my son has gotten over his irrational fears. But...he still had this sense of, disinterest around him, not just about his video games but...in doing anything. The psychologist said he was having trouble seeing the point in doing anything. Foals were entitled to have that sense of awe and wonderment about the world, it felt so wrong.
As addicted to video games as my little boy was, he's been surprisingly diligent most of the time when it comes to being ready for school (often waking me up early just in case I was trying to sleep in). I remember one time he'd been so excited for the first day of school he woke me up on SUNDAY. Now...he was going through things simply because he was told to do it.
That...adventure with Princess Celestia had helped more than I think I could ever imagine. But it hadn't fixed everything. My son didn't have the joy back for the thing he loved.
Why was that so important? You need to ask? I am NOT having my little boy grow up with the object lesson that 'because something awful happened to you related to something you love, you should give up that thing you love to avoid being hurt again.' Never!
-
Mom told me I should give it a try. Somepony she said wanted me to have it, so it would be rude not to just try it out.
-
I never thought I'd have to ENCOURAGE Button Mash to play a video game!
-
I thought of what happened when I played the game the glitch-thingie had given me...and I shuddered. Mom hugged me.
"Look, I'll sit and be with you while you play, all right? I'll be there in case it's not a nice game."
-
My husband, he was still seeing the psychologists. It was safe to say what happened to him was worse than what happened to me or our son. One thing was kind at least, he never once blamed Button Mash for it, regardless of what that beast said.
His life long friend, Gaffer told us that beast had stuck him as Dungeon Master with the most abusive, spoiled, disruptive, 'kick in the door' style players who couldn't have cared less about the story world Gaffer had made. "They were worse than Poindexter's robot!"
It made him say he HATED fantasy, and HATED games, HATED story-telling, that all players wanted was a sense of POWER, and began destroying his own shop. The 'due to rampaging deity' clause that mysteriously began to appear on insurance policies just before Nightmare Moon's return was still valid thankfully.
He began to become OCD in trying to craft a perfect game world, and wouldn't stop or let anyone see it until 'it was done.' We all had a feeling that time was going to be 'never.' We talked with his psychologist, and we conspired and unleashed a small raiding party of foals on him wanting to play a SIMPLE game of O&O.
Gaffer had to teach them the basics from square one. They were mostly foals from Canterlot, who also wanted an escape of what that beast had done to them (that beast spared nopony, let alone foals). And...it was wonderful seeing him rediscover his love of the game through their eyes. By helping them with their baby-steps, he was able to take his own and remembered what it was about the game he loved so dearly. And it gave the foals a sense of rules and choices again. The best part I think for him was foals LOVED adding to stories they were told and games of make believe. They just had such a PASSION and imagination for playing, but still respected HIM as a grown up. They both had fun and loved it.
Why did I go off on a tangent like that?
Because deep down, I was hoping that this could do the same thing for my Button Mash. And maybe, just maybe, seeing his son love games again, would inspire my husband to embrace what he loved again in spite of that beast's best efforts to destroy his love for it. And so my son played the game.
-
The art style was weird. It wasn't super realistic, it all looked like one big drawing. The music wasn't an orchestra like I'm used to hearing in these big games. There wasn't any voice acting, just different mumbling sounds for the characters. Though that was more than some games that just used text. In Dark Spirits they used lots of voice acting.
And then we started the game's intro.
...Somepony pulled a sword out of a stone, and unreleased a big nasty super hydra or something and ran away. Then...the world got destroyed, and was all black, dark, and empty.
....
But this time we weren't fighting to kill the hollow remains of Princess Celestia, while Princess Luna created an illusion of the sun in the sky...
We were...WE'RE PLAYING AS CELESTIA?!
The spirit of a crystal tree woke up Princess Celestia, who was either sleeping as a statue for a hundred years, or called back her spirit into her statue, or something, I wasn't sure, she was given the Element of Magic and the statue turned into the flesh and blood Princess Celestia.
Sort of...she was smaller than the Princess Celestia I met, and she had a big pink mane instead of lots of colors.
A little bug pony called a breezie was acting as the game's hint giver and narrative guide and Princess Celestia's constant companion. Thankfully he wasn't one of the irritating ones.
Celest went inside the crystal tree, and got a new power from another Alicorn, which she used to cut open a fruit on the crystal tree that restored the world...but not the sun.
And it turns out that Celest had the power to restore the sun from the very beginning of the game! I figured it out in a minute.
And it turns out ordinary ponies couldn't see she was an Alicorn somehow. And they couldn't see the imps and other monsters either. So Celest had to take care of them.
And beating up monster only gave you money. You got experience by helping ponies and restoring nature!
Okay okay I'll stop gushing! Gushing? I'm gushing!
So she goes finding the other Elements of Harmony, gaining new power from her fellow Alicorns. To completely heal and restore the world and the ponies in it.
She's bringing LIFE back to the world!
Geeze…this game sure is long...it's like an entire book series or something. I think mom got a little bored at a couple points.
There's so much to talk about, WAY too much stuff! Please please please please please please please don't make me go over ALL OF IT!
You won't? Thanks!
The pony who's a descendant of Luna pulled out the sword sick of hearing about his ancestor defeating the big dragon, but finding out it was true decides to act brave and save his girlfriend and help Celest beat the big dragon. And he REFUSES to become a Nightmare at the big dragons offer? He shattered the barrier that was making the dragon invincible!
And that magic potion his girlfriend made can now affect the dragon! Huh? Mom said it was a magic potion...Don't think about it? Okay!
The Sword Of Luna glows than to Celest and cuts off the dragon's heads! Wow! He slices the last one in half right down the middle! Awesome!
We saved the world!
But I don't have all the Elements. Or the special pony tribe power. The game isn't over yet?
Two more big adventures? Alright.
The big water dragon monster we were fighting was the seapony king gone nuts by the villian and we killed him?! But his spirit is THANKING US?
The earth pony queen is dead!? But she uses the last of her power to show us where the villain's island is going to appear next.
The seapony queen chooses to continue to lead the seaponies in her husband's memory and become the NEW water dragon to help protect them and help us reach the bad guy's lair? She's bad flank.
The big fox monster dresses up like an Alicorn to mock us and what he thinks of the Alicorns.
Let us show 'em what a REAL Alicorn can do! Hi-yay!
One last adventure. Geeze, who'd have guessed our Breezie companion would have such a deep story behind him. He's the Alicorn's messenger? Normally the little exposition fairy thing is just a plot device...except in Rainboom Unleashed, that was actually pretty cool.
That time travel quest sure dragged on, but we got to help our past incarnation and ... Now our past incarnation is helping us in the present?! But she take a blow meant for the guy who was trying to beat the monsters all on his own ...This gets him to see a hero's first duty is to protect the innocent, not just go beat up monsters, and his magic sword awakens. I'm...I'm not crying. Mom was though.
I don't...I don't feel like it's all hopeless like I did with Dark Spirits...not at all...
Last of the evil spirits spawned by the hydra are history, and I now have all the Elements and all the magics of all the pony tribes!
Time to say goodbye? Joined up just to learn the special powers? Okay the breezoe said that at the start but...onto the big ship to face the final boss. He wants to come along after all? He can't enter because he spent his life running away from his responsibilities?
All alone now.
A typical boss rush.
Final boss.
A solar eclipse? He takes away the Elements and our tribes magic?!
Get them back one by one!
Go through all final boss forms, typical!
The spirits of the ponies who died are here to help too!
Beat'em!
Victory whinnie! Yeah that's the-
He was playing possum?! The magic of the different tribes, the Elements, this time he didn't take them, he DESTROYED them!!! The world turns black.
Our Breezie companion...he going about below telling everypony about us!
"We shouldn't pray just when we WANT something! We should stop and think how the gods themselves feel sometimes!" He's telling them.
Everypony is praying, and we shine with a bright light and… that's the form of our old incarnation, that's the Celestia everypony knows! The Elements and our magics are restored!
The symbol for 'God' flashes on the screen.
The world is all pitch black again. He's invincible. Is this another pointless ending? A hopeless fight right at the end?
What's been the entire point of this game? What message has it's been trying to say this whole time?
Even when those ponies died, their loved ones kept going, not because they were forgotten, they fought all the harder because of them . . .
The...sun...will...rise!
I cue the sun, and he's not so invincible now is he? En garde!
Take that! And that and that and that!
We did it! I did it! The final boss goes all sparky and implodes! It...it was fun.
We get to say goodbye, and it's off to the heavens to restore them to their former glory. And it was being recounted by our breezie companion all along? That's cool.
Nice song at the end too. The imps are now just partying? Guess they're not so bad without their bad boss around maybe. Ah who cares, it's the ending, let's all have fun!
I... I did enjoy it. The graphics weren't super realistic. The battles weren't super hard. There was no voice acting. But...it was wonderful.
I got to experience the story. I...I'm happy. It doesn't matter how many others are out there playing the game, it doesn't matter if we all end up in the same place at the end, it doesn't matter if the game ends eventually, it was a great story, and I loved being able to move it along.
"OH MY CELEST!"
"What is it dear?"
"I haven't spoken to my neighbors in Animal Town in forever! I hope they're still my friends! I might have to write them all apology letters! What color hats does Kittenrina like? I can offer her one as an apology gift!"
Mom laughed.
"It's not funny!"
Mom hugged me. "No dear...it's just...it's wonderful to have you back!"
--
I had my son back to normal. And I never dreamed I'd be so happy to see him wasting his foalhood away on video games. He's a child, he has a RIGHT to. Little ones shouldn't need to worry about things like when they're going to die.
Foals should get to enjoy their innocence while it lasts...and despite what a lot of other adults say, they don't need to lose all of it as they grow. I think the fact that if I didn't believe in keeping a little bit of your foalhood alive, would I still know Humgonian, or be married to a game designer?
Stats
Page generated in 0.029 seconds
Total duration
1,049 users online
1,990,102 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
This is easily one of my top ten favorite chapters from your series so far! :D
I see what you did there... the blue shed is obisuly the tardis the stailion the doctor and dinky the doctors daughter has been to alot of moona because space and time travel also fees for needing to use it....
...Not to be rude, but you might want to add some tags.
I like how this chapter harks back to the earliest chapters of the story, not least in showing us how twisted and sadistic 'your' Discord can be.
5055961
I agree.
The problem is that the first one has adventure, but the second one is slice of life, but they're conflicting categories.
The first part is sad, but the second part is comedy, but they're conflicting categories.
5056896
Yes, and Discord is a sadist here in what he did to ponies on the day of chaos, no two ways about it, it wasn't about what was the most ironic or fitting, it was whatever entertained him the most.
5055497
Happy to know I can still entertain the readers with the original flavor this fic verse had before I got trapped in the epic stuff.
5055945
Happy you noticed. :-)
5057037
What can I say, I'm a sucker for classics. :p
5057025 ... Maybe just add the tags in brackets next to the title(i.e. Level One[Adventure, Sad])? Hope this helps.
Epic story, but im positive most players simply said "why the fuck am i on fire?" At the end of dark souls. Actually im amazed he beat it on NG+. also amazed an 8 yr old figured out that no matter how much you play the game, all your choices in dark souls ultamately dont matter, its either the cycle in witch everything withers away into nothing only to be reborn again, only to cuase more pain and suffering and force yet another poor sap to go on a quest similar to yours: kill stuff for souls to get stronger then choose to light the flame or abandone it. Or the straight line in witch everything withers away into nothing. Either way someone, in some other reality is still continueing the cycle in thier world.
5057173
Remember Button Mash was being Discorded at the time too, so of course he came to that conclusion that would take away his energetic personality and eagerness to live.
And this is Button Mash, he could beat the hover bike level in Battletoads.
Hey, it's a valid coping mechanism, given that there's not much Button Mash could have done about Discord or Nightmare Moon anyway. Mind you, it's kind of hilarious to consider that he's escaping a fantastic reality into another fantastic reality -- but then, hunkering down when something like Discord or Nightmare Moon attacks is more like a horrific reality, if you're nothing but a potential victim.
Oh, well in <i>that</i> case ... hey! ... Discord's fibbing!
Discord Games, Inc. produces mostly unrated games anyway.
Oh no, it's rated "N" for "Nihilism."
Too bad -- he could have instead learned how to design new kinds of video games. The Civilization series came from something like this, sans Discord. Sid Meier was working on an airstrike game and made a country-generator to produce terrain to fly over and attack, and suddenly he realized that the country generator was a far better and more interesting game.
Wait ... Derpy can deliver to Discord? I mean to him, in his interior mindscape, when he's a stone statue?!!!
I don't put it past her. She's Made of Awesome.
D'oh!! I just realized what fanwork you're referencing! That comic strip in which the Earth was the only living world left in a dead Universe.
I loved the Lunar and Solar sequences.
Oh, he was in that gaming group!
Celestia's game was way cool. And incorporated some good game design techniques.
5057173
Wait, there really is a video game that nihilistic?!!
5057330
Ok, i guess discord being a dick explains it.
hmm... do you think if he wasn't
mind rapeddiscorded and was a teen that his his second playthrough would be like This?5057721
THAT is who Derpy delivered to.
Dark Souls. The game DIscord showed Button Mash.
Okami. The game that used to cure Button Mash.
5057724
You'll find out soon enough. Stay tune for the second half.
5057757
Wait, they're both real?
5057759
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Souls
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōkami
Button's Mom, was a gamer, and his dad, is 8-bit, Shining's old friend. *mind screeches to a halt* That is absolute genius. I swear in a roundabout way everyone knows everyone in Equestria, or everyone knows a badass, Button Mash's dad is 8-bit, a friend of Shining Armor, who is badasss, married to a badass and is the brother of an even bigger badass, who both work for a badass who comes from a family of badassery and they've all had to deal with a badass (still monstrous) villain. Equestria is made of awesome, it's official. Or at least Pony POV's Equestria. Rainbow would probably find it quite amusing to see Button gushing about how awesome radical and cool she is. I really need to organize my thoughts more. Oh well. This is fun, it's reminiscent of the original Pony POV oneshots before that started off all of this. Also, TO THE MOOOOOONA! (Couldn't resist.)
5058547
Thanks. Before we dive back into all the epic crude I got myself into, I wanted to get back to the Pony POV Series roots one last time before we dived head first into the finale arc.
And yeah, everypony is connected. THAT IS LIFE. :-) So stop killing each other already! We're all friends of a friend or related if we go back far enough! Sorry, don't know where tat one came from.
5058684
It's OK. Surpising hw badass a show about colorful ponies whose main value is friendship can be, I mean, Rainbow Dash can casually shatter the sound barrier, Applejack and Big Mac (and presumably a lot of other Apples) are incredibly strong, Twilight has insanely strong magic, can copy virtually any spell she sees, same with Trixie who is also a skilled illusionist and trickster (pun intended), FLuttershy has the Stare, and Fluttercruel is generally awesome, they all know some form of martial arts, Pinkie Pie, well, when she's around, physics and logic look the other way, and the CMC, well, they made a time machine that went sideways in time and to the now erased G3. It's a sobering thought what they can do when they try to cause trouble as shown in the Wedding Arc. The rulers of the nation are living embodiments of the Sun and Moon, SHining can crush anyone with his shields if you tick him off enough, Cadence is Harmony, and considering how ponies usually live in harmony, while maybe not as strong as Celestia or Luna, she is an alicorn for a reason, and then there's the Draconequui. Even without their powers, they are chimeras, there are actual chimeras, minotaurs, centaur/minotaur hybrids, yeah. Point is, Equestria is made of awesome, it took them a long time to get to this level of awesomeness, but boy is it worth it. Oddly enough, completely off topic, I'm imagining Rainbow lecturing Twilight on the difference between something being awesome, radical, or cool and her actually taking notes. Considering all that's happened in Pony POV, it wouldn't be all that wierd.
5058704
Heh. I sadly couldn't write something like that. But it would be a fun piece of fluff to read! :D :D :D
5060041
True, true. Pretty sure anyone reading it would get at least a good chuckle out of it. If well written.
That gorgeous line by itself was enough to get a like from me! Now let's see if you can get a favorite.
The Okami part at the end made me shed tears. Simply beautiful.
Button's Discording was so traumatizing that I had to add him to the Straw Nihilist page and its quote page on TV Tropes, and Straw Nihilist to his character page.
Their journey to the moon and sun was glorious. And Button rediscovering his passion for life was too.
Congratulations. You inspired me to go back and play Ōkami again.
Someone is afraid of heights.
Man.............this was wonderful. I liked this.......a lot.
So I read part 1 and started part 2 until I reached the words 'princess Gaia' and realized this is meant to be read later. However, part 1 definitely seems like it was safe to read, and good thing, since I did, obviously.
'I know nothing about Dark Souls except that You Die. A lot. But...
I...well then. Is the implication here that all those characters Button Mash was killing were...?
That...that is...this version of Discord is a lot worse than in canon.
...but on a brighter note, congrats on being a fellow fan of Okami!
7193748
Thank you so so so so so so so so so much for all your comments!
9673218
I actually never considered that fridge horror!!!! 0-0
Also, I ironically never INTENDED for this Discord to be worse than PRE-REDEMPTION Discord... just pre-redemption Discord with the veneer stripped away.
Thanks for the comments!
9673218
I always felt retcons to having Discord as just a misguided prankster before Fluttershy forced him to grow a conscience instead of a sadistic bully just trivializes the redemption. (Much like the idea that Luna was possessed trivializes her redemption!) Crusaders of the Lost Mark as a great episode, the last great one perhaps, but I think it tried a little too hard to shift all the blame onto Spoiled Rich having sculpted Diamond Tiara into a little monster, standing up to your emotionally abusive controlling mother is one thing, but it isn't redemption.
I hope I haven't alienated you with these words. This is just my opinion on the franchise and storyline.