(35) Point of Exhaustion
Rarity’s POV
Sweet Apple Acres
Sunday, 4:02PM
Out of all of us, Applejack and I were the only ones with cars. So when I got a call from Applejack giving me a summary of Story and Sunset’s argument, I told the girls and we took off immediately.
As we arrived, I didn’t really park in the ‘driveway’ area. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t let me. The moment I slowed down enough, Rainbow tore off her seatbelt and flung open the door before I could park.
“Applejack! Sunset, where are you at?!” Rainbow shouted as she jogged out of my car, slamming the door behind her.
I let out a sigh and simply parked where I was. “At least she closed the door.”
The rest of us spilled out behind her and right as Rainbow tossed the front door open, Applejack was right there with a scowl.
“RD, give it a rest, will ya?” She asked. “What’s howlin’ at the clouds gonna do exactly?”
“Where is he?!” Rainbow ignored AJ entirely. “Where’s Story? He’s got some explaining to do!”
“He went home,” AJ told us. “He left when Ah called y’all.”
“What?” Rainbow’s fists tightened even further. “He calls Sunset crazy to her face, tries calling the cops, and runs away?!” She fished out her phone and started dialing. “Who even does that?!”
“Rainbow, now hold on for a moment.” I walked over and tried lowering her phone but she pulled it away and kept tapping away. “Now’s not the time to be brash. We hardly know what happened.”
“What happened was Story screamed at our friend! Why aren’t you angry about that?!”
“Of course I’m upset things escalated. And normally, I would be as furious as you are. However, Applejack said Story tried calling the police. That makes this much more delicate than some high school gossip.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes and tapped her foot as she pressed call. It rang maybe once before instantly going to voicemail. Rather than give up, Dash growled, hung up, and tried again.
Fluttershy stepped forward next, as did the others. “Applejack? Can you tell us what happened?”
Applejack gave Rainbow one more look and huffed. “Not everythin’, but, Ah think I know the jist. After the three of us finished up Platick n’ Stostine, Story thought it’d be wise ta call Ms. Cheerilee and catch her up.”
“Makes sense.” Twilight nodded. “If anyone can corroborate what may have happened with Principal Celestia in the real world, it’d be her.”
“That ain’t all.” Applejack frowned. “Ms. Cheerilee’s leg’s all better now. Said her ankle fixed itself sometime last night.”
“Probably when we fed Sildar that potion,” I realized. Then I realized something else. “Hold on. We gave him that potion. I thought everything we did didn’t connect to something in the real world.”
“Not directly, no.” Twilight shook her head. “But Sunset said we could indirectly. We didn’t heal him. The potion did. If we used healing magic or made the potion ourselves, it probably would have done nothing for Ms. Cheerilee.”
Again, Rainbow Dash growled and glared at her phone. “It’s no use. He must have it off or something.”
“Maybe ‘cause he don’t wanna talk right now,” Applejack told her. “If you’d listen ta the whole thang, maybe ya’d get why.”
Begrudgingly, Rainbow Dash followed the order and shoved the phone back in her pocket.
Unfortunately, Applejack didn’t have much more on the matter. Ms. Cheerilee apparently knew something about Principal Celestia, but Applejack left when Cheerilee told them not to tell anyone. Not even the rest of us.
When AJ left, she saw Applebloom listening in. She already heard that Ms. Cheerilee had her ankle broken and that something magic had gotten into the game we played. If that wasn’t bad enough, Applebloom also heard that something was wrong with Principal Celestia.
Applejack dragged her out of the barn but Sunset and Story stayed. She didn’t know what caused all of this. But as Applejack returned, she saw Sunset closing the barn doors and using Story’s phone. Then she bared the barn from inside.
About a minute later, the screaming started. Before Applejack could knock, one furious Story threw the door open and stormed for his car while a distraught Sunset kept trying to convince him to stay.
Applejack had no idea what was said aside from what Story said on his way out. The first was that he wanted to pretend ‘unicorns’ didn’t exist. That told us Sunset must’ve ended up telling him about the other Twilight’s world. Something we didn’t have much knowledge of ourselves.
The second was how Story tried calling the police. We assumed that’s why Applejack saw Sunset with Story’s phone. For whatever reason, Sunset had both of them lie to keep the police away.
“And then Story got in his car and went home,” Applejack concluded. “Sunset just dropped, mutterin’ to herself. Haven’t said much since.”
“But where is Sunset?” Pinkie asked. “Did she go home too? I don’t see her anywhere.”
“Ah brought her indoors.” Applejack pointed at her home behind her with her thumb. “Story wasn’t too pleased when he left, but Ah don’t think that’s what’s gettin’ to her. She keeps mumblin’ on about lettin’ her down again.”
“Is she talking about Principal Celestia?” Twilight frowned.
“Ah think?” Applejack shook her head. “Honestly, Ah’m not sure what ta make of it. Sunset ain’t sayin’ much and if what Story said was true, Ah don’t know where mah bet’s at on this race.”
“What? What are you talking about?” Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “Obviously, we side with Sunset! It sounds like Sunset tried telling him the truth and he acted like a total jerk!”
“I, um. I-I don’t think that sounds like Story at all,” Fluttershy spoke up for him. “It sounds like Story got overwhelmed.”
“Perhaps,” Twilight said, adjusting her glasses. “But maybe he should have thought about that before trying to get the police involved with a magical problem.”
“Ah’m sorry.” Applejack shook her head. “But Ah draw the line at that. If y’all heard how the talk wit’ Ms. Cheerilee was goin’, you’d see that no one was in their right mind. Sunset was actin’ all iffy, Story was crazy ta get answers. Even Ms. Cheerilee was acting outside her kernels!”
“I’m not saying Sunset was in the right here,” Twilight frowned. “It sounds like no one was. But it seems like Story escalated things by calling. He was in the wrong the most.”
“Uh-huh? Well that’s a shame. Cause Ah’m thinkin’ that’s exactly what Ah woulda done.” Applejack glared down at Twilight, who stared right back. “All this time, we’ve been dealin’ with magic on our own. The Fall Formal, Battle a’ the Bands, Friendship Games? All them times, we dealt with the problem ourselves ‘cause it never got worse ‘til it was too late.”
“And you all always came out on top,” Twilight insisted. “That’s what I’ve heard.”
“Well, doiy!” Pinkie gave Twilight a look. “By the time the real problem showed up, we only had fifteen minutes left! Just enough time to fix the problem, save the day, and learn a valuable lesson!”
“But this is more than one big fight.” Applejack looked over all of us. “This is gonna keep goin’ at least ‘til the end a’ the week. Maybe longer! An’ so far, we got a Principal in danger, honest folk gettin’ extorted, and a mom and twin daughters missin’! Speakin’ of, did y’all manage ta track down any a’ that?”
The question brushed past us like a dry wind. We spent all day searching for answers, but we hadn’t found any leads for the big issues. Only smaller connections.
“W-Well, yeah! Course we did!” Rainbow straightened up. “We figured out Pinkie’s family is connected to the silver mines! And-And they heard creepy noises at a watch tower on the edge of their land! That’s probably connected to the zombies I heard about!”
“We didn’t check much further than that,” Twilight revealed, making Rainbow shrink back. “But we also looked into the mayor. You see, the town hall's website has a link to reserve time to talk with the mayor. She makes multiple times in her day so that people can talk with her about issues. It was an entire sticking point in her campaign. But, suddenly, the link to reserve time is disabled. She's not accepting visitors.”
“Yes, that was not suspicious at all.” I rolled my eyes. “Then we went to the mall. Everything seemed normal but Fluttershy noticed all the crossbows in a hunting store were recently purchased.”
“The store owner said that a group of hunters ordered them all for a trip,” Fluttershy explained.
Applejack slumped her shoulders and shook her head at us all. “A haunted tower, the mayor in distress, and a bunch a’ fellas buyin’ up crossbows? Tell me somethin’, do y’all think were at all in a position ta deal with any a’ that? If anythin’, the cops sound like the perfect folk fer that.”
“I agree.” I nodded, watching Twilight and Rainbow Dash stare at me. “Girls, you cannot seriously expect us to do anything about that, can you? Criminals with crossbows and missing persons? We are seven high school girls. A Fall Formal gone wrong is one thing, but this?”
“But if magic is causing this, how would the police stop it?” Twilight kept arguing. “You heard Sunset. Everything that happens in that game will happen. Which means it can’t be stopped by normal means.”
“Is yer solution ta turn a blind eye ta callin’ the authorities? ‘Cause ya think they can’t help? Twilight, do ya know how plum crazy that sounds?!”
“Not as crazy as doubting your own friend!” Rainbow returned.
AJ narrowed her eyes. “So Story ain’t our friend now?”
“He ditched us, didn’t he?”
“When the alternative was havin’ all his friends screamin’ at ‘im? Yeah! An’ Ah don’t blame ‘im!”
“Well, it’s his fault for screaming at us first!”
“Ah don’t think you were listenin’ when Ah said why he was screamin’!”
“Like that matters!” Rainbow roared. “He turned his back on his friends! Far as I’m concerned, he wasn’t friends with any of us!”
“Jus’ like that?! Need Ah remind you, he got ya back in touch with yer friend Gilda? Even after he remembered who ya were?”
“I—W-Well, I..." Rainbow’s voice was caught in her throat for a second.
“I think you’re right, Applejack.” Twilight took a slow breath, earning a double take from Rainbow Dash. “I don’t think Story meant to be rude here. But I’m standing by what I said. Him calling the police was careless. He should have at least waited until everyone was here.”
“But Applejack said he and Sunset made a promise to Ms. Cheerilee.” Pinkie hugged herself out of discomfort. “If they promised not to tell any of us, how would he tell us why he wanted to?”
“Pinkie Pie, I’m sorry.” Twilight shook her head. “But if a promise is something important like this, people should know when to break one.”
“But. But it was from Ms. Cheerilee,” Fluttershy said, miraculously finding her voice. “She’s our teacher. What if Story thought that Ms. Cheerilee knew best? Would he tell us then?”
“Exactly!” Pinkie nodded rapidly. “Even if it wasn’t a Pinkie Promise, if Ms. Cheerilee asked, then it has to be something huger than huge!”
“It cannot be that hard to figure out,” Twilight droned. “Obviously, it’s something to do with Principal Celestia. And we already know she’s in danger. What else could there be?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
Everyone watched as Sunset closed the front door of Applejack’s house. Her eyes and cheeks were red from tears and she looked visibly exhausted, but still, she walked outside with us.
“Are you alright, darling?” I asked her. “Are you sure you shouldn’t lie down a little longer?”
“No. I’m fine,” she said levelly. “I just...I don’t think it hit me just how much this mattered to me until now. Same for Story, I’m guessing.”
“Speaking of, what’re we gonna do about him?” Rainbow said venomously. “He ran off before anyone could do anything.”
“Nothing.” Sunset shook her head. “He doesn’t want to be a part of this? Fine. It’s my fault for throwing this at him so much. Maybe he was right. Maybe keeping him unaware was smarter.”
Applejack grimaced while I gave her a soft look. I know you don’t think so, Applejack. Just leave it be.
“He won’t say anything. I texted him asking him not to. He said he wouldn’t before blocking me.”
I took in a sharp breath. That’s not good. “Sunset? What did you say to him?”
She just shrugged. “I told him I wouldn’t bother him again. Just as long as he promised not to tell anybody about anything that happened this weekend. He said he won’t.”
“That’s. What ya texted?” Applejack sounded like she was about to lunge at the poor dear. “Everythin’ that just happened, and you decide ta ask more of him?”
“He said it himself.” Sunset kept her voice the same. “He wants to go back to pretending none of this exists. I get that.”
“Uh oh. He blocked me too!” Pinkie Pie held up her phone, showing her text to him was suddenly in a green bubble than the usual color.
“He probably blocked all of us,” Twilight answered. “Which means he really is done.”
Most of us checked our phones just to make sure. None of us were left unblocked.
“He did ditch us. Which means he’s ditching Principal Celestia too,” Rainbow nearly crushed the phone in her hand. “Great. NOW how do we save her?!”
Well, he still goes to the same school, I remembered. We’ll speak to him there. Maybe try and move past all of this.
“Our only option is playing the game ourselves,” Sunset explained, taking me aback. “It’s the only way we can progress now.”
“What?” “Huh?” Fluttershy and I blinked, taken aback for a moment.
But Applejack took it further. “Now, hold up. Yer tellin’ me we’re gonna take a game that changes real life n’ run it ourselves? When we got no clue how ta do that?”
Sunset gave her a look. “It can’t be hard to run. Story mentioned the magic acted like a personal assistant to him. That means it’ll be the same for—”
“Yer missin’ the point!” Applejack cut in. “If we make even one mistake or we hold back on each other, that game’ll chop us like a wood chipper! Stostine? Rava?!” She looked over to Rainbow who looked like her heart stopped for a moment. “What happens if we get ‘em in real trouble?! Then we’re really swimmin’ deep in the mud! You really think that’s a better plan than just apologizin’ ta Story?!”
“Apologize?” Sunset’s face finally showed an emotion. Frustration. “For what? I told him not to stay for Ms. Cheerilee’s promise. He stayed. Then, he wanted to know the truth when I tried to keep it from him. So I told him. I did what he wanted, and then he got mad at me.”
“Yer forgettin’ the part where you coerced him into lyin’ ta the cops!”
Twilight stepped forward again, steeling her nerves. “The police would have prevented us from actually helping Princi—”
“Uh-uh! Ah ain’t taken that answer anymore!” Applejack tore off her hat, holding it in a death grip as she pointed at Twilight. “Ah refuse ta believe there’s a reason ta excuse yerself fer lyin’ ta police! Y’all know that’s wrong!”
“Regardless, he made his choice,” Sunset tried to rein it in. “This is the only way to save Prince—Principal Celestia.”
“It ain’t, and you know it.” Applejack walked past Sunset, who watched her pass. “And if yer refusin’ ta admit that, then that means ya lost yer rogue.”
That made Sunset break her wall. “Wh-What? Wait, Applejack, you can’t jus—”
“Ah can and Ah will.” She made it to her porch and turned around. “If you wanna make this personal, fine. But Ah’ve seen scarecrows with their heads more attached than yers right now.”
“Y-You can’t just..." Sunset took a few seconds to steady her breath. Then she shook her head and turned around. “Rainbow Dash, help me out here.”
Rainbow snapped out of her thoughts, suddenly reconsidering all of this. And when she looked up at Applejack, she let out a shaky breath. “I’m...Actually, I think Applejack’s right.”
“What?” The wind in Sunset’s sails died there.
“Other than Story, I’m the only one who’s used that screen. I barely knew what I was doing. I don’t want to let our characters down." She focused up to Sunset. “I’ll give Story a chance to explain himself. But if he doesn’t apologize too, all bets are off!”
“Yeah,” Pinkie cheered. “Story’s our friend too! And we shouldn’t let him stay upset without at least talking to him.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I added, with Fluttershy happily nodding beside me.
“Girls. I understand Story didn’t do this out of spite, but how much time would this take?” Twilight asked. “Gundren had ten days in the game. Principal Celestia’s on the same timeline! We’re risking Story coming to his senses on her time!”
Sunset stared at the ground. “We can’t take that risk. We need to help her now.”
“Ah understand where yer comin’ from,” Applejack admitted. “But its much safer if we have someone who knows how ta run things.”
Twilight shook her head. “Alright...How about this then? All of you try to talk to Story. See if you can get him to come back. While you do, Sunset and I will look into finding another option.”
I sighed. “Splitting up? Is that really the wisest choice?”
“He doesn’t want to talk to me,” Sunset said stoically. “And, honestly? I’m the same. I’d prefer if he didn’t come back.”
I gave her a stunned look. Sunset...There’s more to this, isn’t there? What aren’t you telling us? And why don’t you want to?
“Well then you can leave it to us, Sunset,” Pinkie cheered gleefully. “By the time ol’ Pinkie Pie’s done, we’ll be back to having fun like we did before the magic even showed up!”
I let myself smile a tad. As did the rest of us on our side of things. “If anyone’s up for the task, I could think of none better. Pinkie Pie? We’re at your disposal.”
Story Spinner’s POV
Monday, 6:30AM
It was weird. The night before, after the bombshells dropped and I literally entered a world of my own design, I fell asleep in seconds. I guess my brain was so thoroughly fried that it didn’t bother keeping me up.
Now, it wouldn’t shut up.
Mom let me sulk in my room for the rest of yesterday. The only time she came to talk with me was when she dropped off some dinner. Dinner which I barely ate. I pecked off pieces of bread from my burger and a few fries but that’s all I bothered with.
She wanted answers to. She wanted to know why I came home without a backpack. Or where all my D&D stuff was since I was as obsessed with it as my brother was with video games. Or, most of all, why I was acting so miserable. I was almost miserable enough for Mom to forget about me spending the night at a farm with little to no warning.
And what was my answer to all her worrying? If you guessed ‘more lies’ then congrats, you either know me or you’re as terrible a person as me. And of course, she didn’t believe me. Not completely. She was Mom for a reason. But she also realized I wasn’t in a state to tell her the truth. So, she let me have my space.
Cut forward to now. My alarm clock was blaring on my nightstand and my eyes stung from staring up at my ceiling. I didn’t feel like getting up. I was half tempted to skip school altogether. I mean, after all, it wasn’t like Mom would get a call from the princ—
...
I made myself sit up, forcing that messed up part of my mind back into whatever pit it crawled out of so it could die quicker.
Shower, I thought. A shower will make me feel like a human being again.
Normally, my mornings went by on a solid schedule. I would wake up at 6:30, run through the shower, throw on some clothes, devour a single cinnamon stick with a glass of milk, then drive to school. My car was the whole reason Mom let me transfer schools.
But somewhere among all of that, I would find time to add something to my world. I’d make up a holiday or invent some antagonizing force. Maybe draw part of a map or figure out the population of a town.
It adds up over time. If you did something even once every other day for several years, you’d eventually have an entire world. When I was as old as my little brother is now, I had all these big picture ideas for what my world could be. Maybe someone would make it a movie or video game or something. That was back when I came up with the ‘cool’ stuff like how the world was created or what the magic looked like.
What the magic looked like? Huh. Ironic, isn’t it? I asked myself as I turned on the shower. While the water heated up, I turned on the sink and tossed a huge splash of water into my face.
COLD! Cold, gah, that was cold!
I shook my head, looking at myself in the mirror. My eyes were bloodshot, I was breathing heavily, the frozen winds of Upane whipped around me, my hair was soaking wet in the front and sticking up in the back, and you could almost see my brain booting up in real time.
Hold on. I blinked, staring at my reflection. Frozen winds? Why are there...N-No. Nuh-uh, no!
My reflection wasn’t that of me in my ugly tiled bathroom. Instead, I was looking out on a continent from my own world. Upane. It was a continent far west of Se’Quona where the girls were based.
When I was a kid, I modeled Upane to look like a giant South America. Since then, I made it a harsh tundra and it has been untouched since. I had vague ideas. Tribes of nomadic races, a harbor town, an Ice Giant threat. Nothing concrete though.
But as I stared into the moving image of the snow powdered, blistering winds, I dove my hands back into the sink’s water and soaked my face and eyes once more. It wasn’t nearly as cold this time, and after a good eight seconds of rubbing my face, I peeked up at the mirror again.
“Gone,” I said in a heavy breath. I leaned myself against the bathroom counter. “Okay...It’s okay, Story. You didn’t sleep! You’re just tired. D-Don’t freak out, alright?”
I was telling this to my reflection, staring at it as though expecting it to respond. It didn’t— thank goodness! —but that didn’t stop me from staring at, well, me.
I looked terrible.
Still, I forced myself to go back to my morning routine. I took my shower, first letting myself simply exist in the hot water for the first couple minutes, and got dressed. When that was done, I got back to my room and looked at my clock. 6:54AM.
Took that shower longer than I thought, I realized.
“Story! Button!” My Mom yelled from elsewhere in the house. “Come to the kitchen! Pancakes!”
Pancakes? I stared off down the hall. My house was two stories and my and my brother’s rooms were upstairs. As was Dad’s office, but that door stayed closed.
“Mehhhh..." I could hear my brother’s quiet groan echo down the hall. Then he shouted. “...What kind?”
“I got apple cinnamon, and then I got chocolate chip,” Mom replied. Neither of them minded shouting across the house. After a pause, Mom shouted again with a full mouth. “M’okay, Ah go’ ome less choc’late!”
“Ah! No, wait!” I heard the familiar thump of my brother falling off his bed paired with the yelp of our pug. She loved sleeping in his room despite the fact I took care of her. Maybe it was because they were both so lazy.
“Story?” Mom shouted after swallowing her food. “You up yet?”
I sighed and started walking out my room with a stack of school supplies and books under my arm. “Yeah, I’m up. One second.”
Mom was a critical care surgeon, meaning she couldn’t always be there for us in the mornings. She would either already be working or sleeping in from the sometimes twenty-plus hour shifts she had the night prior. On top of that, there were days where she needed to be in-house at the hospital, on-call, for a full twenty-four hours.
My brother and I were used to it. Maybe that was unhealthy, but we understood what Mom’s job had demanded. All we could do was try and be good when she came home to pass out in a bed that had something more than ‘legally’ a blanket.
My brother was already in the dining room by the time I got downstairs. He had four pancakes stacked up on a plate and they were drowning in syrup. He didn’t even bother with a knife, he was just stabbing a fork and twisting until the pancakes tore apart in a fluffy glob around his utensil.
“Guh mor’in Sturry,” he said with way too much food in his mouth.
“Button Mash,” Mom said in a warning tone. “Eat first. Then talk.”
“Su’ry!” Button did just that, swallowing most of the chunk of food and nearly choking on it in the process. “Sorry Mom!” It was short lived as Button went right back for another glob of chocolate chip pancake.
“Didn’t you talk with food in your mouth like a minute ago?” I asked, my sarcasm breaching through my exhaustion.
Mom only smirked. “I’m a doctor, not a lawyer. I’ll contradict myself if I want.” Then her expression softened. “I didn’t let Button touch the apple cinnamon. How many do you want?”
“Uh...I-I’m good, actually,” I told her, shaking my head. “I’m not really that hungry.”
Mom opened her mouth to talk, only to stare back at me.
Button wasn’t paying too much attention. “Does that mean I can eat his pancakes too?”
“...Button,” Mom said calmly. “Go eat in the living room.”
Button Mash stopped his fork inches away from his mouth and looked back up at both of us. When he finally realized the tension wafting from both of us, he dropped his fork down, picked up his plate and glass of milk, and shuffled past us.
“Good luck, bro,” he half-whispered as he walked past me.
“And play Tirek’s Revenge,” Mom called after him. “Level fourteen. It has louder music.”
Uh oh. I sighed. She doesn’t like Button playing the console before the bus comes. He gets too distracted. Not a good sign.
We spent another half minute standing around as Button powered up the game. We heard the deep, rumbling laugh of ‘Tirek’ that came with the music and the sounds of Button quickly dancing around the menu.
When the level started up, the sound of demonic screaming and the sound of blasters and lasers leaking out of the living room, Mom finally spoke.
“Story.” That was somehow more foreboding than the opening hum of Tirek’s heavy metal opera in the background. “You haven’t eaten since you got home. You look upset and you’re not telling me why. What is going on?”
I grimaced while my stomach churned. Which, unfortunately, felt worse since there was no food in there to help keep it stable. “I-It...I told you, Mom, it’s nothing. I’m dealing with it.”
“It’s nothing, but you’re also dealing with it?” She crossed her arms. “Story, enlighten me. How do you deal with nothing?”
“With great difficulty,” I muttered, realizing how little sense I was making with my sleep deprivation.
“Then let me help,” she told me, easing off the sarcasm. “You just need to tell me and I’ll listen. You know that, right?”
Funny, I thought. I wonder if Mom would still say that if I really did tell her. I wouldn’t even blame her for not believing me.
“I know. But, I promise, it’s fine. I just..." I have to tell her something. But, what do I... “Uh...Hey Mom? What if I, erm...I-I think...Do you think I’m obsessed with D&D?”
She didn’t answer right away. Mom fell into this silent, neutral expression. Her eyes slowly grew dark as it felt as if she was staring straight through me.
“Erm...Mom?”
I suddenly felt really self-conscious. For a moment, I thought my senses were fading away because the heavy metal music from Button’s game was getting quieter. It took me a second to realize Button just turned down the volume on his game to eavesdrop.
Before I could backpedal what I said, Mom took a step forward and clasped her hands on my shoulders, making me flinch as I suddenly realized Mom’s entire expression had darkened.
“Uh oh. Hyper Mom Mode,” Button murmured from the dining room entrance.
Instantly, Mom turned her head and focused all her ire and fury at Button, startling him so much he scrambled back for the couch and turned the music back up to full power.
Then Mom looked back at me. That dark madness had me regretting saying anything as the pitiful screams of Tirek’s army accompanied her expression quite well.
“Story Spinner..." She said, purposefully using my full name. “Who.”
“Who, eh. U-Um...W-Who?” I stammered.
“Who messed with my son?” She clarified. “I want a description and a name. It’ll be done by nightfall.”
I stared into my Mom’s inhuman gaze, watching as it grew emptier with each passing second. Sh-She...I can never tell if she’s serious when she does this...
I licked my lips and cleared my throat, forcing myself to dig deep to find a way to respond to that. “M-Mom?”
“Yes?”
“It...Is fine,” I told her. “I took care of it. They won’t bother me again. I blocked their numbers. I’m just reeling a little bit.”
“Numbers? Plural?” Her eyes narrowed as I shut my mouth good now. “There’s more than one?”
With trembling hands, I got Mom to let go of my shoulders and I backed up. “Mom...If I eat a pancake, will you calm down?”
“Oh, happily,” she said, all the darkness and hate vanishing from her face and swept her hair back behind her shoulder. “I want you to at least eat something before you go to school.”
My brain took a few seconds to render what she just said as my fear switched gears to a glazed look of unamusement. “Huh. So that’s where I get my acting from.”
“Had to come from somewhere.” She rolled her eyes. “Besides, you told me all I needed to know. I know who my quarry is now.”
I blinked. “What?”
“What?” She fluttered her eyes innocently. “Anyway, your pancakes are in the microwave. I already put syrup and butter on for you. Eat fast so you can make it to school.”
She glanced down at the books and supplies I put on the edge of the table and frowned. “Where’s your backpack?”
I grimaced again. “Don’t you remember? It got ripped up.”
She gave me a blank look, chewing lightly on the inside of her cheek as she waited for a punchline. “...Alright. Button?!”
The music stopped when Button paused the game. “Yeah Mom?”
“You kept your old backpacks in your room, right? From elementary school?”
“Uh, yeah? Why?”
“Get one for Story. He lost his new one,” she said, looking back at me and putting air quotes around the word lost. She even managed to do it without enunciating the word. It was almost impressive.
“Already? That thing was so big, how’d you lose it?” He asked me before heading back upstairs.
Mom gave me a look, also expecting an answer.
“I, erm...I didn’t.” I clammed up beyond that.
Mom gave it a few more seconds and sighed. “You know. For what it’s worth? No. I don’t think you’re obsessed with D&D. You have other hobbies. You love being in theatre. You go to the movies often. You’ve proved that your games don’t get in the way of school or your future. You’re not obsessed. You just love what you do. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
She pulled me in for a hug, which I was happy to give back. I didn’t think she was going to press it any more. That alone made me feel like I had less on my shoulders.
When we were done, I smiled back at her. “Thanks Mom. I, uh. I think I needed that. I’ll be okay, I promise.”
Love Tap’s POV
I watched my son walk into the kitchen. He was still tired and depressed but he at least looked better now than he did yesterday.
“I know you will,” I told him. “Just get through today and take it easy when you get home. I’m not working but I have a couple of errands I need to run. I won’t be back until a couple hours after school’s done.”
He opened the microwave, revealing the five apple cinnamon pancakes I made for him. My boys would never admit it, but my pancakes never looked good. They always looked a little burnt. But I made up for it with the chocolate chips or cinnamon applesauce I mixed into the batter.
As he went to the table, I glanced over in the direction of the stairway. “I’m gonna go check on Button. Get ready to go once you finish your pancakes, alright?”
“Got it Mom,” he told me as he walked back to the dining table with a fork and knife at the ready. He can say he wasn’t hungry all he wants, he was eating those pancakes before he left.
Especially since I parked my car behind his, I told myself as I walked to the stairway. Oh! That reminds me, I’ll need to move it when he’s ready to go.
I made it to the bottom of the stairs right as Button Mash was coming down at the same time. He had two backpacks with him; one in each hand. The first was Tirek’s revenge and the second was some...kiddy looking game with a cutesy squirrel on it.
“Okay. I’m gonna ignore the fact they made an elementary schooler, mature-rated game backpack.” I pointed at the Tirek one first. Truth be told, I don’t know what I was thinking, buying him that when he was eight years old. I must’ve finished an in-house shift when I did that.
Then I pointed to the squirrel. “And what in the world is that thing?”
Button looked at it. “Nutty the Squrrel’s Collectathon,” he said with no awareness. “It’s a kaizo game. Only pros know how to play that thing.”
“I do not remember you ever wearing that to school,” I told him.
He shook his head. “I never did. I think Gran got it for me for Christmas once.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. Mom, sometimes I wonder if you do these to mess with them. “Can I see it for a second?”
“Sure.” He passed the squirrel pack to me, to which I promptly tossed it aside.
“He’ll want the Tirek one,” I told him.
“Yeah. I just wanted to give him the illusion of choice.” Button hopped down the rest of the steps and toward the dining room.
“Hold on a second.” I lightly pinched the propeller of his beanie, having him stop before he got too far. Then I proceeded to speak to him in the only way he would take me seriously.
In Humgonian. “Kisha eth rhellaya yeri gaezo.” ‘We must help your brother.’
Button’s eyes widened for a second. Then he slowly earned a look of solace himself. It wasn’t nearly as grand as mine, but he was learning.
“Fin mae mori?” ‘Who are they,’ he asked.
“Ektums.” ‘She-Devils.’ “Felk.” ‘Seven.’
“...I-It’s Fekh, Mom,” Button corrected me.
Crap, I was doing so good. “Vo zhokwa.” ‘No matter.’ “Aqqisat vitihirak…erm, y-yeri gaezo.” ‘Keep watch…erm y-your brother.’
I frowned. I tried. At least he’s on board.
Button nodded. Then he gasped. “Does that mean you can check me out of school early?!”
“Not a chance.” I shook my head. “Keep him busy after you get back home. Take him to the movies or something. My treat. Just try keeping him off his phone and let me know if he’s on the move.”
“You got it Mom! Mission accepted!” He marched forward, ready to bring Story his backpack.
Then he gasped and ran into the living room, where our pug was happily licking his plate clean “Puggles, no! Stop licking my plate!”
I facepalmed. “Button Mash! How many times have I told you, don’t put your plate on the couch.”
“I’M SO SORRY! IS SHE GONNA BE OKAY?!”
“Button Mash, calm down! It’s maple syrup,” Story called out from the dining room. “And it’s natural. Puggles is fine.”
I let out a small groan. “Take the plate to the kitchen Button,” I told him. Both the pug and the couch now had syrup everywhere. Great. Now I gotta wash the dog and the furniture. This better not stain.
However, despite it all, I couldn’t help but smile. Even if this was my only day off for a while, it was still a day off. Still, I sometimes wonder how these two get through school without burning it to the ground.
Suddenly, a sharp Crash! sound echoed out from the kitchen, making me flinch.
“I’m okay,” Button shouted.
I lowered my eyes, letting out a huff as I glanced at the TV. The menu had Tirek’s silhouette at the top of the screen with his piercing yellow eyes. “Gonna be one a them days, huh Tirek?”
As if he heard me, Tirek’s dull chuckle echoed out my TV speakers. It was a loop that played every, what, twenty-ish seconds?
That didn’t stop me from sticking my tongue out at it. “Oh shut it, ya dumb centaur. There’s a way to cheese you and I know your creator. You mean nothing to me.”
Ever so coincidental, Tirek’s laugh came to a stop and the glowing eyes flickered out.
That’s what I thought, punk.
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Wow.
It's really gotten serious, huh?
I think everyone knows who Button Mash is.
11189837
Probably, yeah. I've just seen/heard some fans of MLP that came later and missed the Button Mash Adventures completely because it was C&D. Figured it'd be worth bringing up because that character deserved so much more than he got.
Dang. This has definitely been interesting.:D
11195123
Oh WOW, that is a mistake!
It's supposed to say, "I felt something in my brain crack." How did I miss that?! Thanks for pointing it out, that probably ruined the scene a little bit.
Just got caught up with this. I can sympathize with both Sunset and Story here. Sunset on one hand, is dealing with Trauma(tm) and Story is so out of his depth it just isn't funny anymore.
Also, the reveal of Story's family is both unexpected yet unsurprising.
11177359
* raises eyebrow*
* looks at the word count for each chapter*
Maybe it's because I've read Fallout: Equestria five times already, but those don't seem like long chapters to me.
....I think I have a problem.
Do you have any siblings? I'm not trying to be critical, but I've never called my sister 'sis', 'little sis', or any variation there of nor heard anyone refer to their actual siblings like that.
11259793
I have siblings and, yeah, I don't call them anything like that. I put more because it was Button Mash saying it. It just seemed like something he'd say.
Great story man l just caught up to this chapter please continue the story is really good
11265900
I plan to continue it! Life's just been proving it exists for a while. The next chapter's done but I wanted the one that follows it done as well.
11178594
I can't believe I missed that! I edited that both chapters with Cheerilee now so there's no repeat except Story reacting to it since he wasn't there the first time Ms. Cheerilee revealed it. Thanks for pointing it out, I'm gonna be kicking myself for a while on that.
I just now saw your edit and ah!
Hi, I am DMing my first campaign next Saturday, August 27th, and I am in need of Players. It's a MLP campaign using the Pony Tales: Aspirations of Harmony system set at the School of Friendship. Here's a link to the forum where you can download PDFs of the system, Pony Tales. If anyone's interested, please DM me on Discord and I'll send you a link to my gaming group's Discord. My Discord username is ChaosStar0#4541.
I got permission from 4428Gamer to make this post.