Chapter 1: Meet the Button (Normal)
Quiet.
If this day could be described in one word, it would be quiet.
The sky was completely clear, save for a few wispy clouds that the Weather Patrol missed their first time around. The sun was beaming down, not uncomfortably hot, but just enough to remind you of its presence. The blue of the sky was perhaps the purest blue it has been in ages.
As one pony might say: everything was perfect, cheer was filling up the place | And I saw that everypony had a smile upon their face.
And it was true.
This was one of the happiest days in a long time. The Elements were resonating with their bearers, no ponies were going through heartbreak or anger… Even Princess Celestia rose the sun with a spring in her step.
Truly, this was a perfect day. Surely nothing could go wrong, right?
"ZEYKAMIFF!!"
Wrong.
Button Mash, soon-to-be savior of Equestria, was busy slamming his head into an old arcade machine. 'PAC-MARE' was shown on the top of the screen, and the word 'READY!' flashed around the middle. There were four extra life signs at the bottom left of the screen. He slammed his head on the machine again and yelled out, to nopony in particular, tears in his eyes.
"I WAS SO CLOSE! I WAS ON LEVEL 255! TWO LEVELS AWAY!! JUST TWO LEVELS, AND I WOULD HAVE HAD A PERFECT GAME! AGGGHHHHH!!" He unplugged the machine to hard reset it and replugged it in.
"Would you like to play?" a calm female voice asked.
Button sniffed, and quietly whispered "uh huh." He slipped another bit into the game and started back up. There was about 20 foals behind him and a few full-grown mares and stallions too, although none of them objected at Button playing again. When Button wanted to get a high score, you did not get in his way. Not only would you see his well-practiced pouty face, but you would have to live with the knowledge that you had blocked history. That's what Button was in the Ponyville gaming community: living history. And it was an honor to watch it unfold before them.
Like all examples of history, it took a few tries to get right. Button had been trying for... Let's just say more than a 'few' times. To be specific, he had been trying to get a perfect game for about two weeks now, with an average of 10 hours per day, 2-3 hours per attempt. Maybe 4 and a half hours if he had a good run. He had to grab every single fruit that spawned, eat all four ghosts with every Power Pellet available (until the point where they no longer turned blue), and only then collect all the regular pellets to move on to the next level. If he lost a single life, he would lose his chance at a perfect score. His goal was three million, three hundred thirty three thousand, three hundred and sixty points. The highest you could ever get. Perfection in the gaming community. And he wasn't settling for any lower than perfection.
Adjusting his signature propeller beanie, he put on his game face once more and settled himself down to a comfortable position. He was gonna be there a while, but he felt confident. This is the one. I'm really feeling it this time... I'm not stopping for anything. It's time to finish what I started.
Four hours later.
Level 256.
He had almost made it. The crowd had stuck with him, and everypony was holding their breath in anticipation.
Collect every pellet on the left side.
3,332,820 points.
Collect the nine invisible pellets on the glitched right side. He had their locations memorized.
3,332,910 points.
Once he did that, he just had to commit Pacicide.
Run into a ghost and respawn.
4 lives left.
Collect the nine pellets on the right side again, which respawned upon death for whatever reason.
3,333,000 points.
Run into a ghost again.
3 lives left.
3,333,090 points.
2 lives left.
3,333,180 points.
1 life left.
3,333,270 points.
No extra lives; final stretch.
Button could feel it. Everything he had fought for, was about to come true.
9 more pellets. 9 more, and he would become a legend.
8 more pellets. 3,333,280 points.
Nothing could stand in his way.
7 more pellets. 3,333,290 points.
Everything was as it should be.
6 more pellets. 3,333,300 points.
He could hear his victory theme already; an impromptu symphony of background noises, cheering him on.
5 more pellets. 3,333,310 points.
A bird was chirping.
The wind blew gently.
4 more pellets. 3,333,320 points.
The crowd's muffled breaths and coughs.
Pac-Mare eating the pellets needed.
3 more pellets. 3,333,330 points.
The sounds of fillies and colts playing, laughing and crying.
Hang on... crying? ...W-wait, that sounds like...
The sound of the ghosts moving.
2 more pellets. 3,333,340 points.
A filly crying.
The dreaded and familiar call of "blank flank."
The crowd's hushed whispers.
1 more pellet. 3,333,350 points.
A foal crying.
Another ghost moving.
Something hitting the ground.
A lonely blank flank crying.
A chair being pushed back from the ground.
The crowd's confused mumbles.
The sound of Pac-Mare losing her last life.
The crowd's surprised and horrified gasps.
Somepony that used to be him crying.
Button got up, and ran toward the sound of the crying. He knew what he had abandoned, but he didn't care. He could try for the perfect score tomorrow; him losing his progress was just a wound. Wounds healed, but scars didn't. He didn't want anypony to have the same scars he had.
He couldn't say he was entirely surprised at what he saw, but one thing about the scene before him was puzzling.
A filly his age- white coat, kinda floppy light purple mane, she looked a lot like one of his favorite characters- was lying on the ground, quietly whispering "please stop" between tears. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked around her, obviously enjoying what was going on.
In his experience, Diamond Tiara was always the tamer of the two. Silver Spoon was the one who said everything to him, and Diamond Tiara kind of tagged along and watched, occasionally nodding and mumbling something. She spent most of the time staring at the ground, however. She was always so reluctant to join in on teasing me... Why is she so enthusiastic about this?
"...But really, getting your Cutie Mark should be the last of your worries!"
"At least with your Cutie Mark, you might have at least a chance of finding something later on."
"But what about other ponies? You know being the charity case of that chicken and farmer isn't going to help you later on."
"P-Please... I..."
Why is she being... so mean? That's not the Diamond Tiara I've seen...
"It's amazing your sister even puts up with you."
"I bet she's paid to take care of you, and wouldn't give you a second glance were it not for the bits."
"That actually a good idea for you! Why not go pay somepony to hang out with you?"
If anything, she's even worse than Silver Spoon right now...
"That way you could pretend somepony loves you!"
"No... P-Please..."
"You should go pay Snips and Snails for a visit! I'm sure they could use some extra cash!"
I can't take this anymore...
"Ahahahahaha!"
"LEAVE HER ALONE!!!"
It took Button a few seconds to realize that was his voice.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon looked up at the sound of his voice. Diamond's eyes widened, if only for a second. Silver Spoon simply smirked.
"Well, well, well!" Silver exclaimed. "It looks like we have another blank flank who's come to save the day. Is this your fillyfriend? Aww, Sweetie Belle's coltfriend has come to save the day! You two are adorable together..."
"Adorably sickening!" Diamond taunted. It was probably the first 'mean' thing she'd said to him. I guess Sweetie just brings out the worst in her... or maybe it has to do with the group Sweetie's in. I know they're not on the best of terms.
Button took a step forward, staring them straight in the eyes. Silver looked indifferent, but Diamond took a step back; whether from disgust or intimidation, Button didn't know. "Listen. I don't care who you are, you do not tease other students for no reason! You don't! If this is the high point of your day, you're disgusting!" Diamond flinched at that. Scowling, Button continued. "Seriously, who died and made you two queens of the world? Even better, who taught you to do these things?!"
Silver surreptitiously stole a sidelong sight at Diamond, who was looking to the side 'casually' and drawing a circle in the dirt with her hoof. She wasn't paying too much attention, and the circle came out more like a deformed heart-shaped tornado with lines protruding from the sides. If Sadness were a pony, that picture would have been her Cutie Mark. She took one look at it, sighed and turned to Silver.
"Let's go, Sil. These two... aren't worth our time."
"Agreed," Silver agreed. They began to walk away, to Button's disappointment.
"Wha- hey! I wasn't finished with my cool speech yet! Come back!" He watched them trot off and sighed. "Tee ni ektum kais..." he muttered in a low and guttural voice, then turned to Sweetie Belle. "Hey, you alright?"
Sweetie nodded, accepting his hoof to help her get up. "Thank you," she whispered.
Button merely sighed. "I know what you went through... Nopony deserves to go through that, and I still don't know what drives ponies to do it."
Sweetie had started to walk away, but stopped when she heard him say that. She turned around, curious. "How do you know about it? Do they tease you too?"
"Somewhat," he admitted, "but it's mostly from my past in Manehatten... And Baltimare... And pretty much every place my family moved to, except Vanhoover." Best place I've lived, asides from maybe here... Nah, this place has Silver Spoon. ...This is the longest I've been in one town without moving, though... It's got that going for it. "Whether you have your Cutie Mark or not, what your favorite hobby is... why do ponies feel the need to bring other ponies down because of it?"
Sweetie Belle nodded, but then stopped. There was something strange about what he just said... Moving, Baltimare, hobby, bringing other ponies down- wait! Hobby! "Why mention your hobby? You wouldn't have any reason to bring it up unless you were teased about it as well..."
"..." I've gotta be careful talking with her... She can catch onto things pretty well.
"So? What is it?"
He could tell she was asking about the hobby. "...Video games."
"What's a video games?"
Button sighed. This was the problem. Everypony he knew, asides from the few rare ponies he met at the video store and at competitions (and those who recognized him somehow; he still didn't understand why he was so famous as a gamer), either didn't know what video games were or assumed they were stupid. But, he figured, this filly deserved an explanation. "You want the long or the short version?" he asked.
"Long version, please."
"Short it is, the- WAIT, WHAT?!" Nopony had ever asked for the long version. Finally, a chance to gush about video games! He was doing a really bad job of holding back his face-breaking smile, but he didn't care. "Okay, it's like this..."
"...So what if your sister can buck every apple off a tree in a single buck? Rainbow Dash can clear the entire sky of all clouds in ten! Seconds! Flat! That's WAAY cooler!"
"No way! Rainbow's nowhere NEAR as cool 's Applejack!"
Sweetie Belle, the other crusaders and Rarity were busy making their way over to the video store, at Sweetie's insistence. She didn't want to admit it, but the idea of video games was rather appealing to her, after the two hour long explanation. It would have been shorter, since she tried to cut him off, but she had backed down when she saw the dejected look in his eyes. Along the way, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had, as usual, started up one of their friendly arguments. They bantered back and forth a lot, while Sweetie was content to sit on the sidelines and watch everything unfold. However, today she was feeling confident about this argument; moreover, she wanted Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to see the truth.
"You're both wrong!" she interrupted. "Rarity's obviously the coolest! She ca-"
"NO!"
"...She can find any dress," Sweetie continued, not letting her irritation at being cut off show, "in her huge backroom storage in three seconds flat! Twilight said so!"
"Bo-ring! So she can find a dress. How is that in any way cool? And it was Twilight who organized everything in the first place!"
"Cooler than prancing around in the air, destroying condensed water particles! And Rarity's still the one who finds the clothes!"
"*Ahem* So, why are we coming here again, Sweetie Belle?" Rarity desperately wanted to change the subject before she had a hole bored into her chest from Scootaloo's gaze. However, she was more excited to hear of how that colt had defender her honour and knew the subject of these 'video game' thingies would get her talking about him. She was already imagining scenarios between them, the setting sun in the distance, them slowly leaning towards each other...
"Like I said, I just want to at least try a game," her sister said, shaking her out of her trance. "It's the least I can do after he saved me like that. ...No, Rarity, not like that like that." Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. She saw the look Rarity had, which screamed 'my sister has a coltfriend.' She was a hardcore shipper, and you had to stop her before she got on a roll. Apple Bloom got like that sometimes too, but she wasn't anywhere near as bad. At most, she would just give a raised eyebrow and a smirk... a lot like the ones she was wearing now.
"Alright, alright. I won't dwell on that too much." Like hay you won't. You're imagining up FriendFic material as we speak. "And what exactly do you mean by 'a game?'"
"Well... Very long story short, a video game is like watching TV, or reading a book. The only difference is that you can control what happens."
"Should I be worried that I don't know what you mean by 'TV?'"
"Big box with a flat-ish screen. The screen makes colors and the box makes sounds."
"Ah, okay. Carry on."
Sweetie shook her head at how Rarity accepted this explanation, and how she didn't know what TV was in the first place. How did she end up with a sister like this? There's a TV in the living room, for Celestia's sake! Did she really go through her entire life thinking that was a black mirror or something?
"Anyway, it's your job to make sure things work out as they should. Your job to rescue the princess, your job to make it to the league, your job to prevent Mr. Big the weird leaf-loving fillynapper from blowing up Equestria with a death laser from the moon with magical dance moves... Yeah, that one's pretty out there. Basically, you're the hero and you're the one in control."
She finished her explanation neatly right as they walked in, the bell chiming as they entered. Rarity was somewhat disappointed that the conversation didn't get to turn to the colt, but she shrugged it off. Another time.
"Ooh, Pony Hawk! He has a video game!" Scootaloo excitedly shouted, rushing over. All the regulars at the store rolled their eyes at this; every good gamer knew that Pony Hawk was a fictional character and some deadbeat just changed their name to Pony Hawk to ride off the game's glory. There really ought to be a copyright law against that or something.
"Ah'm not quite sure Ah like the idea of this 'ne," Apple Bloom said, holding a copy of the new Call of Cutie game. "It kinda makes Cutie Marks look like a bad thing. And what're those... stick thingies those ponies are holding anyway?" All the regulars facehoofed; she really was a newbie.
Sweetie Belle opted to say nothing, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Most of the regulars shook their heads at this in disappointment; she had such a perfect cosplay of Treblemaker, but she had the act all wrong. Everypony knew Treblemaker was a motormouth, or at least always humming.
Eventually, Sweetie Belle found something that caught her attention, in a display case. 'Super Smash Bronies Brawl' for the Neightendo JoyToy. Of all the games there, it was the most intriguing to her. It was one of the newer games, so she was lucky it was still in stock. She carefully picked it up in her mouth and carried it over to Rarity.
"What do you have here, darling?" Rarity asked. She picked up the game with her magic and looked at it. When she saw it, her muzzle instinctively scrunched up. "Oh dear, this looks rather... violent. Do you maybe want to... Er..." She faltered in her words, shrinking under the withering gazes of every regular (and Scootaloo) at the word 'violent.' Nopony there liked that word; for employees, it was the word that killed sales, and for gamers, it was the word that killed other gamers. Scootaloo just didn't like the idea of Rarity not thinking ponies punching each other in the face wasn't cool.
Pretty much the only pony who didn't react was Sweetie Belle, since she was already on the other side of the store. She picked out a small box labeled 'JoyBoy,' trotted over to Rarity, took the game back and made her way to the cashier. She placed the game and the handheld on the counter and looked at the cashier, a grey unicorn stallion with a coat, a pair of sunglasses and an uninterested facial expression. He looked over the offering, and scanned the game. He was about to scan the handheld Sweetie brought when something stopped him.
Ringing in the famous 1-up chime that it only did for him, Button Mash stepped into the store. All the regulars immediately stopped their conversations and turned to look at him. Rarity also turned to see him as well, but more out of curiosity than anything. The cashier immediately straightened his back and moved the scanner away from the packaged JoyBoy, grinning sheepishly.
Well, he thought. It happened again. Why does everypony stop whenever I enter? Do they expect me to be all cool and mysterious and stuff? ...Well, hate to disappoint them. But there is one thing I really have to say...
Without saying a word, Button walked up to the cashier, looked at what was on it and placed a bag of bits on the counter. He then turned around and got a big box labeled "JoyToy + SSBB Pack" from the shelf, pushing it over. Even for an Earth pony, JoyToys were heavy. Plus, Button wasn't the most 'fit' colt in Equestria. He was too busy stewing to think about the weight, however. I can't believe him... Taking advantage of new blood like that.
"You've gotta be careful," he said seriously to Sweetie Belle, without looking at her. "That game's for the JoyToy. You tried to get a JoyBoy. Two different things. Confusing, I know. Point is, Nylon Tights here-"
"I've told you," the cashier interrupted, "the name's Neon L-"
"NO." Button let the words drop out of his mouth. "You almost just scammed a new gamer. Not only is that morally unjust, this despicable act would have turned her away from the gaming scene and caused her to spread negative things about it, thus vastly hurting us in the long run. When you do things like that, you do NOT get real name privileges, Nylon. ...As I was saying, he would have scammed you. He's not above that. Amazing he hasn't lost his job yet." All the regulars in the shop started booing him.
Button ignored them and continued talking, still staring at the games. "There are exactly 115 bits in that bag. Exactly enough for the JoyToy and Brawl wombo combo. Don't ask how." If they knew I had a 'Button Sense,' I'd NEVER hear the end of the conspiracy theories about me and Pinkie. I've had more than enough of those to last me a lifetime... Eurgh. For the first time since he stepped in, Button actually looked Sweetie in the eyes. "I can see it in you; you have potential. Don't let anything stop you, be it bedtimes, thunderstorms or jerkish cashiers. *Ahem* Good luck, Sweetie Belle."
With that, he trotted out, not saying other word. The chime played the classic game over sound when he left, as if disappointed about him leaving. He walked away, not paying attention to the ruckus behind him in the store where all the regulars crowded around Sweetie Belle and started excitedly talking about how the legendary Button Mash had actually spoke to her.
A pair of eyes, spinning in a way that eyes were decidedly not supposed to spin, watched Button from a nearby bush. She had watched him generously pay for the fillies game himself, and watched him defend her from Neon Lights and his scams, fighting for honesty. Her mind flashed back to him loyally defending her from the two local bullies, even though he had never met her. A little further back, and she saw him playing Pac-Mare. She noted the firey determination in his eyes, mixed with the laughter he felt inside from what he enjoyed most... And then his kindness give it up to help somepony in need. There was no doubt about it; he was the one.
Nodding in reassurance to herself, the Earth pony floated up, traveling toward Canterlot to tell her father of the news. Equestria's newest hero had been chosen.
Stats
Page generated in 0.063 seconds
Total duration
975 users online
2,124,272 hits today, 2,139,894 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.®
I'm glad this story is progressing, but what is Humgonian, and what game is it from?
7238022 Humgonian is a made up language from Button's Adventures. I suggest you check it out. (Then you'll also know what "zeykamiff" means.)
7238341 Ok, got it.
Sweetie bell plays cod
Button plays battlefield
I'm gonna kill sweetie bell