> Sunset Plays Cuphead
>  by MorbidTheBrony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Getting the Basics Down
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday evening. Everybody was going home to enjoy the weekend. Some were planning to go out with their friends to places like the movies or a local fair. How was Sunset spending her weekend? In front of a TV screen playing video games.

Sunset had just got home after a little visit to the games store. In her hand, she held a small green gift card with a game put onto it. She got down in front of her TV unit and switched on her TV and her Xbox One. The startup screen had shone as a small ball with an 'X' carved into it.

She signed into her Xbox Live account with the name, "Sh1mmerC0de". After she signed in, she noticed that two of her friends were online. Their names being, "Dashie_Gir7" and "queencake". 

They were both in the same Xbox Party and clearly queencake had noticed Sunset had just signed in because before she knew it, Sunset's inbox was full of party invites that had been sent from two seconds ago to one minute ago. The invites kept on coming and coming. Sunset laughed for a bit and shook her head slowly as she accepted one of the already over one hundred invites. 

"Pinkie, what have I told you about blowing up my inbox?" Sunset scolded.

"Sorry!" came a rather annoying and high pitched voice. "But I REALLY wanted you to join Dashie and me," Pinkie had said.

"You do know you can just send us one invite, right," now said Rainbow.

"Well yeah, but what if you don't see it?" asked Pinkie. 

Sunset and Rainbow weren't going to start an argument. Pinkie breaks logic beyond impossible so there wasn't any reason to argue with her in a situation such as this.

"So... I bought the game you told me about, Pinkie," Sunset announced.

"You did?! Finally! You've been telling me you'd by it for weeks now!" exclaimed the bouncy haired girl.

"Well sorry but I had more important things to deal with!" retorted Sunset. "I had tests, I had to work and I had to help Applejack at the farm." 

"Wait. Why did you have to help Applejack?" Rainbow asked. 

"Big Mac broke his arm and since AJ can't really rely on Granny Smith or Applebloom, I volunteered to help her until Big Mac gets better." Sunset explained.

"You didn't know that, Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie asked.

"Well, no. No one brought it up and I haven't seen Big Mac for a while now."

"Why do think that is?" Sunset asked.

"I don't know, I just haven't seen him as much. That's all!"

"Okay, okay! So Sunset, are you sure you bought the right game?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes, I bought the right game," Sunset replied.

"Are you sure you're sure?" she asked again.

"Y-yes, I'm sure."

"Are you sure you're sure you're sure?"

"Oh my God. Yes! I bought the right game!" Sunset was starting to get annoyed.

"Are you sure you're sure you're sure you're su-?"

"Pinkie!" Rainbow raised her voice. "I'm pretty sure she bought the right game!"

"Yah never know, Dashie!" she said back, "She could've picked up the wrong game!"

"I don't see how I could've picked up the wrong game," Sunset said, "It's all you've been talking about since you first started playing it."

"But what game is it, Sunset?" Pinkie was demanding for an answer now.

Sunset facepalmed. "Cuphead! The game is Cuphead," she finally told the bouncy haired girl.

"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Pinkie teased.

Even though Pinkie Pie was one of Sunset and Rainbow's closest friends, they knew whenever Pinkie had crossed the line. But, like previously stated, arguing with Pinkie is not a good idea because she will always win so Sunset just blew off her steam and changed the subject.

"So Pinkie? What exactly do you do in this game? And no spoilers!" Sunset asked as she began the installation.

"Well, basically the game is a huge boss rush. The game has like twenty boss fights but only five more normal levels," Pinkie explained, "Oh yeah, and you should never let your guard down once because this game is blood boiling!"

That left Sunset a little uneasy. 

"How difficult is this game?" she nervously asked.

"Y'know that game 'Dark Souls'?" Pinkie asked Sunset.

"Yeah?"

"Then take Dark Souls... and throw it out of the window, because this game is now it."

It was clear that that was just a joke but neither Rainbow or Sunset found it very amusing. Not even a giggle was heard, except from Pinkie.

"Seriously though, this game is hard. Like, very rather pretty hard," Pinkie went on. "Even the tutorial will test you."

"Wait, the tutorial?" Rainbow finally decided to join back into the conversation.

"Yep. Apparently some critics gave Cuphead a lower score than it deserved because they suck at tutorials."

"How hard was it for you, Pinkie?" Sunset asked.

"Oh, I completed it within the day I got it," said Pinkie.

Pinkie had literally just told them that this game was very difficult and now she's telling them that she had completed the game during her first day of playing? 

Upon hearing that, Sunset was both confused and amazed. "Wow, I'm- uh... I seriously don't know what to say to that..."

"Meh, what can I say? I guess I'm better than most critics," Pinkie shrugged. 

"You guess? Pinkie, completing a game like Cuphead is no small feet!" Rainbow announced, also amazed at Pinkie's achievement.

That didn't make Sunset any less nervous. Sure, she didn't feel more nervous but she didn't feel any less nervous. Then the notification had appeared on Sunset's screen. "Cuphead is now ready to play" and somehow Pinkie was able to hear it through Sunset's mic.

"Did I hear the notification? Is the game installed?!" Pinkie asked very excitedly.

"Uh, yeah. The game just finished installing," Sunset told Pinkie.

"Play it! Play it play it play it play it!" Pinkie rushed Sunset.

"Alright! I'm booting it up now."

With the game now installed, Sunset hovered over the game and pressed A. The title card appeared, showing the game's title, "Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil". Then after, the game developers logo appeared. Studio MDHR, the developers were called. Then old style music started playing and the title screen appeared. 

"Well Cuphead and his pal Mugman. They like to role the dice," Pinkie began singing with the music. 

Rainbow started snickering at Pinkie while Sunset was admiring the effort and detail that had been put into this. And she was only on the title screen. 

The title screen showed a looping animation of two cup people who looked like they were showing off in front of a crowd. Even though it was only a looped animation, Sunset had already thought the style and animation looked incredible so far.

"Wow. If this is how the title screen looks, then I can't wait to see the rest of this game!" Sunset announced as she pressed the start button.

She selected one of the three save files and began her adventure into the hell hole that is Cuphead.

The game started with a book with a cover  that read, "Studio MDHR Presents - Cuphead "Don't Deal with the Devil"". The book opened to it's first page revealing some dialogue.

Sunset read aloud the dialogue being shown on screen to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, "Once upon a time, in a magical place called Inkwell Isle, there lived two brothers named Cuphead and Mugman-"

"By the way, Cuphead is the red one and Mugman is the blue one," Pinkie had interrupted.

"Thank you, Pinkie," Sunset said with slight aggravation as she continued, "They lived without a care under the watchful eye of the wise Elder Kettle." The page turned over and Sunset continued to read, "One day the two boys wandered far from home, and - despite the Elder Kettle's many warnings - ended up on the wrong side of the tracks and entered the Devil's Casino."

Sunset continued to read the pages of the story while Rainbow and Pinkie had sat there and listened to her. The reading went on for quite a while (From RD's perspective that is), but they both barely remained patient as Sunset had finished with her reading.

"...We have to find the Elder Kettle. He'll know what to do!" Sunset finished.

"Is it over?" Rainbow asked.

"Yep!" Pinkie announced. "So? What do you think so far?"

"Well the story isn't very complicated, it's actually a really simple story, but the artstyle really makes up for it. It is amazing so far!" Sunset said enthusiastically.

After the intro, the game loaded up with the small and bendy-strawed cup boy inside of an amazingly styled cartoon house. Across the small living room stood a grey and fragile kettle man. 

Sunset moved Cuphead towards the kettle and more dialogue appeared, which Sunset read for her friends while trying to impersonate an old man, "What a fine pickle you boys have gotten yourselves into-!"

"What is that voice?" Rainbow almost burst out laughing at Sunset's horrible voice.

"Shut up," which was all she could retort with as she kept on reading with the voice, "I know you don't want to be pawns of the devil! But if you refuse... I can't bare to imagine your fates! You must play along for now, collect those contracts! And you'd best be ready for some nasty business...! Your debtor 'friends' won't be very friendly once you confront them!"

Sunset could still hear Rainbow and Pinkie trying to contain their laughter but she tried to just ignore them.

"In fact, I expect they'll even transform into terrible beasts! Take this potion so they won't hang you out to dry. It will give you the most remarkable magical abilities!" Cuphead jumped up as though he was now full of energy. "Now go to my writing desk and use the mystical inkwell there. You need to prepare yourself for a scrap!!" Sunset had finally finished.

Still, Pinkie and Rainbow could be heard on the brink of laughter. 

"S-So, you s-see th-at p-pad of pa-paper on the t-able?" Pinkie tried to say inbetween intense giggles.

"Yeah?" She moved Cuphead towards the paper. It had appeared in a text box that this was the tutorial that Pinkie was talking about. "Oh, I see."

She pressed A and entered the tutorial. The tutorial looked quite nice graphic wise. The controls that were shown weren't anything too special: You had you're typical move down to crouch and press A to jump, or hold it in to jump higher. Then she came across a wall she had to pass. The controls instructed her to jump and press Y to jump midair. 

Sunset gave it an attempt and failed to make it over the wall.

"Okay. Let's try that again," she said.

She tried again, still couldn't prevail. Then she tried once again, and failed. Attempt after attempt, she still couldn't win. Sunset growled and gave it one more shot. She failed.

"Dammit!!" Sunset shouted in rage jumping to her feet off of her couch.

She became quickly aware of her sudden outburst and sat herself back down onto her couch.

"Yeesh Sunset. I never took you as the one to rage over a game," Rainbow said.

"Yeah! Especially this early in the game," Pinkie extended Rainbow's words.

"There's a whole load of stuff you two and quite literally everyone else still don't know about me," Sunset admitted calming herself down.

Sunset got herself ready to try it one more time; she kept herself focused on her game, trying to find out where she would have to press the dash button. She jumped... she dashed... and she finally made it!

She felt victorious, like she could take on a dragon right here, right now. But then she realised that she isn't finished with the tutorial. 

Next up was the controls to descend; down and A the controls were. It wasn't really anything which Sunset was okay with, maybe if the creators had extended this section somehow, it could have been better.

Next, Cuphead's ability to shoot and lock. To shoot, the control was X and locking in place was RB. Sunset practiced this ability on a target ahead. She held in the lock button and pointed Cuphead's finger to the target and held in the X button for rapid fire. Doing so, Cuphead shot blue magical pellets from his fingertip. After only a few bullets, the target disappeared in a puff of smoke and Cuphead pressed on forward.

Now Sunset was to learn how to use Cuphead's ability to parry. Ahead was three floating dots with a platform to high to jump upon. One of these dots were a bright shade of pink while the others were coloured grey. The instructions said to press A while mid-jump to perform a parry to pink objects or projectiles.

Sunset took in what lied ahead. From how it looked, she thought that this part would test her skills on timing. And judging by her time with the gaming community for the past few years, she believed that she was pretty good when it came to timing. So she took her first try. She managed to parry the first two dots and just dashed over the third one because that's possible to do. Sunset managed to make it and she was surprised by how long it took her to make it past the part where she had to use the jump dash, while she managed to beat this part on her first attempt. 

Sunset noticed that at the end of the instructions, only recently stated, that using the parry slap would build up her super meter. She was confused at this.

"Hey, Pinkie? What's the 'Super Meter'?" Sunset asked.

"You see those playing cards at the bottom left of the screen?" Pinkie also asked.

Sunset followed what Pinkie said and she saw the playing cards. Two of them to be specific.

"They're there to show how much your super attack has built. Once they reach an amount of five you'll be able to unleash an extra awesome attack!" Pinkie explained, "But, if you have less than five you'll be able to shoot something called an EX move, which is just a better version of your finger gun. You're special attack takes up all five of your cards while the EX move only takes one."

"Huh, okay. But how do you do it?"

"You're about to find out..." Pinkie said in quite an unnerving manner.

Now Sunset was going to learn how to resurrect another player. This was only available in 2-Player mode so she didn't bother with that one.

Now she could learn how to use her EX move. All she had to do was press the B button. She gave it a press and then Cuphead shot a giant version of her peashooter. 

"Woah-ho-ho! That looked awesome!" Sunset cheered.

"Did you use the EX move?" Pinkie wondered.

"Hell yeah I did!" Sunset said excitingly.

"There's no way it looked that awesome," Rainbow said unconvinced.

Sunset saved the last thirty seconds of what had just happened and sent it to Rainbow Dash. Yes, it's possible.

After sending Rainbow the video, Pinkie Pie and Sunset waited for her reaction. They didn't get one though. She was still in the party but she made no sound. Then they heard a sigh and Rainbow's voice.

"Okay, that was pretty cool," she said defeated.

Sunset cracked a smug face and pressed on to see what else awaited her. She ran into a gold coin. 

"Huh, I think I made it to the end," she said.

"That means you will now have to face the true horrors of this game..." Pinkie with the same unnerving manner as before. "And take it from me, you will be given one hell-of-a hard time..."

"I think I got this," Sunset said trying not to sound nervous.

"This oughta be good," said Rainbow Dash cracking a smile on her own face.

She walked a little further and found a door which lead out of the tutorial. She pressed A to leave and with that, her adventure officially began.
> How hard could it be?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Sunset now being finished with the tutorial, she felt she could now take Cuphead head on and see if it's really as hard as Pinkie keeps making it out to be.

Cuphead stepped out of the Elder Kettle's little home and Sunset was met with a beautifully designed over world.

Sunset stared at her screen in awe. "Woah! This looks beautiful!" Sunset cheered.

"It's just the style of old cartoons," said Rainbow Dash. "I don't see how that could look 'beautiful' compared to video games we have now."

"I guess it's because of the frame-by-frame animations running at 60fps and how it captures almost exactly how the old cartoons looked that make this game as great looking as it is," rambled Pinkie.

"Overdoing it a bit but she does make a great point, Rainbow. I mean, have you seen this game?" Sunset asked.

"Well... no. I haven't..." Rainbow confessed.

Upon hearing that Rainbow Dash hasn't seen anything about this game, it had sparked an idea in Pinkie's overly complicated head.

"Hold on, everybody!" Pinkie shouted. 

"Jesus, Pinkie! Don't shout so loud!" Sunset now held her headset away from her head.

"Sorry but Dashie just gave me an idea!" 

"Wait, what?" Rainbow wondered.

"After Sunset is done with Cuphead we should totally have a slumber party at my house and let everyone play it on my Xbox," explained Pinkie.

Sunset and Rainbow Dash both thought about it for a minute. 

"Huh, that's not a bad idea. It'd be fun to see everyone's reactions," Sunset said.

"I can imagine Twilight making a plan of attack," Rainbow said before laughing.

"Then it's settled. We do this thing the night Sunset finishes the game," said Pinkie Pie.

That surprised Sunset. "That soon? Seriously?"

"Something wrong?" asked Pinkie.

"There's nothing really wrong but-"

Pinkie interrupted her,"Great! Then we have our plan."

Sunset just accepted it and continued wih her game. She travelled through the over world until she came to a wooden bridge. On this bridge sat a little man with an apple for a head.

"Am I able to interact with the NPCs?" asked Sunset.

"Yep, sometimes you'll be given goodies or you'll be told a hint to a secret," Pinkie explained.

Sunset approached the apple man and pressed A to talk to him.

Lines of dialogue appeared once again, "Hey, fellas! Looks like you're in for it now, eh?" Sunset read the dialogue again, "Well, I used to be-"

"Again with the voices?" Rainbow Dash said coldly.

"Shut up." She continued reading, "Anyway. I used to be the same way, always gettin' into trouble... runnin', jumpin', shootin'... But now I prefer just strollin' around and goin' to the pictures! But hey, let me give you a hand! Take this!"

Then three golden coins appeared on her screen, showing that this man had given her some spending money.

"Aww! What a nice guy, giving me some free coins," Sunset smiled. "What am I able to do with this money though?"

"You can spend them in the shop just up ahead," Pinkie answered.

Sunset moved a little further until she saw the shop. It was a small cart with an opened curtain revealing a window. She took a peak at what was inside. Porkrind's Emporium, the shop was called. As she looked inside she was greeted by a large pig man.

"Welcome!" the pig man boomed.

He had caught Sunset by surprise with that voice. "Good God, that's a hell-of-a voice he's got there," Sunset said.

"I know right!" Pinkie sighed dreamily, "I love that pig."

"Huh?" Rainbow raised her eyebrow.

"Uh, nothing."

"Okay... let's see what he's got for sale," Sunset said turning her attention back to the game.

She scanned through the many items that were up for purchase. Most of the items were different shots, the other items were different upgrades for Cuphead. One of the shots was a homing shot. The upside was that it, obviously, targeted enemies. The downside was that it was very weak. Another weapon was a spread shot. The range was short but it was pretty powerful. The last shot that was there was a boomerang shot. The name was self-explanatory and the damage was nothing much different than from her Peashooter.

Now the upgrades, one of them added an additional hit-point to Cuphead's health. Sunset knew that could be very useful when playing. That was until she saw that equipping the additional hit-point would weaken her attack power. The other upgrade was called the Smoke Bomb which would turn Cuphead's dash into an invisible and invincible dash. Now that would be very useful. Her only problem was, what was she going to buy?

"Uh, Pinkie? Do you have any recommendations for Porkrind's?" she asked.

"Hmm, well I'd either choose the Boomerang bullets or the Smoke Bomb," Pinkie answered. "Sure, the Spread shot is powerful but at least you can look in any direction and still be able to hit the boss. And with the Smoke Bomb, you can dodge attacks much easier."

Pinkie had narrowed it down to two items. One she would get great use out of but she would still have a basic finger gun. She had to choose between defence or power. Defence or power?

"Well I think power is what I need," Sunset moved her selection to the Spread shot. "So I'm going with the Spread."

"Suit yourself." Pinkie was pretty surprised Sunset didn't take her advice despite her clearly being a pro Cuphead player.

Just like that, the four coins Sunset had been given were gone. After purchasing her new gun, another item appeared in place of the Spread shot. It was another shot called 'Lobber'; it had good damage, a medium range but a slow rate of fire. She didn't know if she would find much use of the lobber gun. Guess she'll just have to wait and see. She felt happy with her purchase and left Porkrind's Emporium with a new weapon. Porkrind waved her goodbye.

Once she left the shop, Porkrind began talking in even more dialogue. Like before, Sunset read it aloud, trying to imitate the shopkeepers grumbly voice.

"You gots to equip those-"

"Enough with the voices already!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "God, you're being almost as annoying as Pinkie during a sugar rush."

"Hey!" Pinkie took Rainbow's words offensively.

Sunset let out a sad sigh and her smile faded away. "Alright, fine."

Sunset read the rest of Porkrind's dialogue in her head and, as commanded, she pressed Y to load her menu. She could now select her different weapons, a charm (Or character upgrade) and a super attack. Obviously she only had one other item she had other than the standard Peashooter so she equipped her new Spread shot as her secondary weapon.

She explored as much of the area as possible and came by three levels. One of them was indicated as a red target on the ground while the other two were part of the over world but they stood out more with their brighter colours. One was a plain old tree and the other was a vegetable patch.

She selected the target level. The level was called 'Forest Follies' and it was known as a Run & Gun stage. 

'Where these the more normal levels Pinkie was talking about?' she thought.

She pressed the select button and began her first level. Once the level loaded, the words Run 'n Gun appeared on screen and the voice of an announcer spoke, "And begin!"

"Alright! Time to finally get into this!" said Sunset now getting her game face on.

"Good luck!" Pinkie and Rainbow said in unison but Rainbow being less enthusiastic.

Cuphead started to run forward. Everything was fine for like, two seconds before he ran into the first enemy; a flower man heading straight for him. The flower man managed to catch Sunset by surprise and the result of that lost her a health point. Cuphead turned back around and shot the bugger to death before running again. But just as he was running again, another two flower men came for Cuphead. One from behind and one from the sky. He dealt with the one behind him and then targeted the floating one. This time he was successful but that surely won't be the case for very long now. Another flower man came jumping over a tree stump just ahead of Cuphead.

"Why are there so many of these flower things?!" Sunset asked.

"When I say this game is hard, I mean it," said Pinkie.

"But this is only the first level!" Sunset was now dealing with a flower army.

"I know." Pinkie's now monotone voice nerved Sunset more.

Cuphead now entered a forest and this was the moment where all hell broke loose. Flower men charged from every side, small mushrooms shot pink clouds (Possibly parrable), purple roses spat out seeds, little blob men ran back and forth and black with yellow polka dotted piranha plant based creatures jumped from bottomless pits in attempt to eat Cuphead. There were now so many enemies that Sunset was having a hard time keeping up with everything on screen and before she knew it, Cuphead had died.

The death screen displayed a message for Sunset. 'Nowhere to run, nowhere to go - this forest is yer foe!' it read.

"Oh yeah? Well I'm not giving up that easily!" Sunset said to her screen.

Spoiler alert: She failed again and again. She was getting a little further every turn but there would always that one thing that would screw her over and ruin her attempt.

She gave it another go and this time she was going to try to pay full attention to everything around her. She killed every enemy in sight and collected some of the five golden coins. When enemies crowded around each side of the screen, Sunset would switch to her Spread shot and eliminate enemies faster than Smash's Sudden Death round.

Unlike her previous attempt, Sunset was doing fairly well. She killed almost every enemy in sight, collected every coin within reach and only lost one health point through all of it. That was until she came by this large machine being operated by a flower man. 

"What is this machine?!" Sunset quickly asked.

"Quick! Shoot it! Kill it!" Pinkie answered.

"I'm shootin' it!" Sunset hasn't come as far as this so she was losing her sanity fast.

The machine shot out flying acorns that would crash down on Cuphead whenever he was under them. 

Sunset was panicking. She moved Cuphead left and right hoping she would win this way. Instead she got herself hit again, now being left with one HP. Now Sunset was in full panic mode. She was so scared of dying that a drop of sweat ran down her face. She thought this was the end but she actually managed to destroy the machine.

"YES! I FINALLY DID IT!" Sunset victoriously shouted.

Sunset began breathing heavily to calm herself down, since she was now finished. Or so she thought.

"There's still more to the level," said Pinkie.

"God DAMMIT!!" Sunset screamed with fire in her eyes. She didn't care that she was shouting anymore, she just wanted this to end already.

Sunset travelled further to see what still awaited her. The last stretch was filled with piranha plants with the addition of the blob men and one single mushroom. She passed each jump with care, as to not waste her last health point. She made it to the last jump. She took her final leap. And apparently her luck ran out at this moment as a piranha plant came out of nowhere and ended her turn.

Sunset dropped her controller onto the floor with utter disbelief written on her face. She then dropped to her knees and her arms fell to her sides.

"Uh... Sunset?" Rainbow called.

Sunset's fist clenched up and her face turned from disbelief to pure rage.

"MOTHER FU-!"



 

10 Minutes Later

Sunset tried the last jump once again, this time making sure she timed this right. She jumped, dashed and made it to the end. Sunset was happy that she finally bet the level but her face just wouldn't show it. Instead she let out a long sigh and smiled only slightly.

The ranking screen showed up and gave Sunset her rank.

Time - 02:12
HP Bonus - 1/3
Parry - 0/3
Gold Coins - 5/5
Skill Level - ⭐⭐
-------------------------------
Grade - C

She didn't care about how low her rank was, she was just glad she bet the level. The first level. The first of the many others. Yeah, she wasn't excited for what else she had face against.

Back on the over world, Cuphead jumped up and down victoriously and a wooden bridge appeared, opening up more of Inkwell Isle. Sunset wasn't going to cross the bridge though, not yet at least. 

First she wanted to visit Porkrind again to purchase a new charm. She made her way towards the shopping cart and was greeted, once again, by Porkrind. This time she knew what she wanted so she made her purchase and was on her way to next level but not before equipping her new charm, the Smoke Bomb.

Sunset let out another deep sigh. "Okay, Pinkie, what boss do you recommend first?" she asked.

"Will you take my word on it this time?" Pinkie wanted to make sure this time. 

"Yes."

"The Root Pack; the boss at the vegetable patch. Most players, including myself, think it's the easiest boss in the game."

Sunset made her way towards the vegetable patch and was going to choose easy mode, but not before Pinkie spoke again.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot, you can't go to the next isle of you beat a boss on easy mode; it has to be on normal mode."

Sunset’s face now showed slight sadness. "Aww what?"

"Yeah... This game pretty much wants the best from you."

"Guess this is why a Cuphead slumber party is a great idea," Rainbow snickered.

Pinkie began laughing, "Ya God damn right it is!"

"Dammit!" Sunset started the boss as Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were talking and had already died.

"What happened?" Rainbow asked.

"I died to a freaking crying onion," answered Sunset. 

Rainbow began laughing her tomboy ass off. "What?! An onion?"

"Yes, an onion!"

Rainbow laughed harder.

"You think I'm crazy? Wait 'til you play it!"

"No, no. I'm sorry." Her laughing began to calm down. "It's just... An onion..."

"What's your point, Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie asked.

"Uh... Nothing. Just continue."

Like the Run 'n Gun stage, a death quote appeared on screen. It said, 'Hey little guy, it's O.K. if you have to cry.'

Unamused, Sunset tried again. First she faced off against a potato spitting either dirt or worms which are possible to parry. A key feature of the boss fights is that they have a number of phases; the first phase of this boss was the potato, the second was the crying onion and the third and final phase was still unknown to her.

The first phase was easy for Sunset so she managed to beat it without losing a HP. The onion however, it required more quick reactions as it attacks by raining large tear projectiles only a few feet above Cuphead. Some of it's tears can be parried but that's hard enough as it is.

Anyway, back to Sunset.

Sunset made sure her Spread shot was on as it will do much better than her blue pellets of almost nothing. She had too many close calls but she managed to kill the onion still with two HP. The third and final phase appeared to be a carrot with psychic powers. The carrot shot smaller homing carrots to target Sunset which she took out easily with her Spread shot. However, the boss carrot had another attack and that was mind beams being shot out of his head. This only added a little more difficulty to the boss but nothing too much. She kept her focus on the projectiles rather than the boss itself which she thought was a good idea. Sure, it would take longer to kill the boss but she couldn't care less; she just wanted to beat this thing. She jumped, she dashed and she shot her way through the homing carrots, only to find that she was successful on beating the first boss.

"Yes! Second try baby!" Sunset sighed in relief, "Whew. That wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be."

"Yeah, but remember, that was only the first boss... There is a lot worse still to come..." Pinkie's monotone voice returned.

"Pinkie, can you please stop talking like that? It's making me very uncomfortable," said Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry! I'm only trying to add some more seriousness to the story."

"Not like that though, please."

"Okay fine," Pinkie said huffy.

Sunset's rank:
Time - 01:56
HP Bonus - 2/3
Parry - 1/3
Super Meter - 2/6
Skill Level - ⭐⭐
-------------------------------
Grade - B

More of Inkwell Isle opened but there was still one more boss she wanted to kill before she moved onto the new areas.

"You ready for hell, Sunset?" Pinkie asked.

"No. Let's do it," Sunset answered.

Sunset continued her journey over to the next boss named Goopy Le Grande. 

"This match will get red hot!" said the announcer guy.

It can only go so well from here on out.





3 Days Later

"Come on! Come on! Almost there!" cheered Pinkie Pie.

It has already been two days since Sunset bought Cuphead and boy, has she been having a hell-of-a time. Her skills had drastically improved and she had a fine set of weapons and had still had the Smoke Bomb equipped, as she found the greatest use out of it. 

Currently now, Sunset was facing against the final boss, the Devil himself and Pinkie was there with her to cheer her on. Sunset was on her last legs as she was now left with one HP but the Devil was on his final phase. The only land there was to stand upon was one large casino chip but from time to time, a flaming chip would fall where she stood so she had to somehow jump around it while also avoiding the Devil's tears, which are parrable. 

Sunset was focused more than ever now as she was very close to killing the boss.

"Now! Use your super now!" Pinkie shouted.

Sunset jumped off of the platform again and used the five special cards she had been building up. Once she activated Cuphead's super attack, he spun around in the air while a giant beam of milk rained on the Devil. And there it was... The moment she had been waiting for... The announcer guy cheered, 'BRAVO!!!' as the Devil was finally defeated.

"Y-You did it! Sunset, you DID IT!" Pinkie cried.

Sunset laughed while tears of joy streamed down her face. "I DID IT!! HOLY CRAP, I DID IT!!"

Pinkie and Sunset both hugged eachother while they both laughed loudly. The ranking screen showed one final time and gave Sunset her final rank:
Time - 02:46
HP Bonus - 1/3
Parry - 3/3
Super Meter - 6/6
Skill Level - ⭐⭐
-------------------------------
Grade - B+

The final cutscene played and Sunset was now more than happy to read it, "The brothers had triumphed over the demon, forcing him to finally give up. "We shall accept you're surrender, Devil," Cuphead laughed. "But we're not done just yet!""

The page turned and Sunset read on, "And with that, Cuphead and Mugman destroyed all of the soul contracts, releasing Inkwell Isle's residents from eternal servitude to the Devil."

It turned again. ""Gosh, I can't wait to tell everybody!" Cuphead said. The boys set off for home, and at top speed. "C'mon, last one there's a leaky cup!" Mugman teased as they ran.

"Once home, the brothers gathered everyone together. "You're all free from the Devil's debt!" Cuphead announced. "And that fiend won't bother us again!" Mugman added.

"The Elder Kettle was literally brimming with pride as everyone began to cheer: "Let's hear it for Cuphead and Mugman!" "Hip-hip-hurrah!" "Hip-hip-hurrah!"

"As an all day celebration began, the brothers promised to never wander off into trouble again. And they didn't - until the next time! But that is another story..."

The book finally closed with two final words, which Pinkie Pie read, "The End."

The credits finally began rolling and Sunset could finally relax.

"So that was Cuphead. Whaddya think?" Pinkie asked.

Sunset sat up on her couch. "Graphically: this game is beautiful. Bright and vibrant colours and amazing animation," Sunset began. "Difficulty: This game was a bitch to beat. Yeah, I know it was intentional but... holy hell."

"But do you like it?" was the answer Pinkie really wanted.

"Like it? I freaking loved it!" Sunset ended.

"Great! Guess you know what this means?" Pinkie smiled widely.

Sunset looked at her friend confusingly, clearly she didn't know what this meant.

"CUPHEAD SLUMBER PARTY AT MY HOUSE TONIGHT!!" Pinkie very enthusiastically announced.

Sunset had forgotten all about the slumber party. She wasn't entirely happy with the idea of playing a hard as hell game once again on the night she had just beaten it.

"I'll still come but can I at least, y'know, not play it while I'm there?" she asked.

"It's alright, I get it. You're stressed out because the game. The least I can do is give you time to relax and away from it."

"Thanks, Pinkie." She hugged her friend once more.

Pinkie stood up, ready to leave. "Right. So I gotta set things up and tell everyone about the slumber party. See ya there!" 

"See you, Pinkie." Sunset waved Pinkie goodbye before she left. She laid back down on her couch, relaxing. 'Everyone's going to have a bad time,' she thought, smiling.
> Everyone Plays Cuphead
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset may now be done with Cuphead but that sure as hell doesn't mean that's the last she'd see of it. Sunset was making her way towards her bouncy haired friend's house for her Cuphead slumber party. The plan for tonight was that everyone (With the exception of Pinkie and Sunset) will get a chance to play Cuphead and have a gay old time getting mad over little failures. Yes, tonight was going to be a good night.

She rang the doorbell to Pinkie Pie's house and was almost immediately greeted by Pinkie. "Sunset!" She pulled Sunset in for a big hug. "Glad you could make it. Everyone's already waiting for you in my room." She allowed Sunset to walk by her into her home.

Sunset made her way upstairs and through the hallway leading to Pinkie's room. She opened the door and was once again greeted. This time by the rest of her friends: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight.

"Hey girls!" Sunset waved. "Everyone ready for tonight?"

Everyone, except Rainbow Dash, nervously nodded their heads. Sunset took notice of this.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

Applejack opened her mouth to speak but Rainbow Dash had beaten her to it, "Pfft! Nah, this is going to be easy."

"You oughta hold that tongue 'til you actually play it," Sunset said.

"I've played many hard games in my life. This one will be no different."

Sunset smirked. "If that's how you feel then I know the perfect boss for you to fight first."

Rainbow looked up at Sunset. "Name it."

"Dr. Kahl's Robot."

She got up from Pinkie's bed and stared at Sunset directly in the eye. "You're on, Pony-girl."

They both stared sharing the same smirk until Pinkie finally showed up with bowls of crisps, marshmallows and any kind of sweet you could think of and a large bottle of Cola with a bag of red party cups.

"Whah Ah mish?" Pinkie asked with a mouthful of marshmallows.

Applejack spoke, "Rainbow was feelin' quite confident 'bout tonight so Sunset over here decided on who she's gonna fight first."

Pinkie swallowed the whole thing down and smiled excitedly. "Oooh! Who?" 

Sunset turned to face her pink friend. "Dr. Kahl's Robot."

Pinkie's smile did a 180°. "Oh, um... Yeah, I don't-"

"It's fine, Pinkie. I'm pretty sure I can handle it," Rainbow said confidently.

"Well okay then," Pinkie shrugged. She walked over to her TV and switched everything on. She placed the snacks on the table only to the left of her TV unit. She signed into her profile and booted up the game. "Be prepared," she said with her oh-so-famous monotone voice, "For this game will test your limits of reaction and your sanity."

Everyone (Except Sunset) stared at Pinkie with the same blank expression.

"What? You think I'm joking?"

Sunset stood up. "This is a time were you should take her word for it, guys," she said. "Going by my own experience, you'll all because having a difficult time. But that's what's gonna make this a fun night, right?"

Everyone murmured agreements which Sunset was happy to here. 

"Great. Now I'm going to get changed so start without me." Sunset walked out of the room with her pyjamas in hand.

Pinkie clapped her hands together. "Okay! So who wants to go first?" she asked. 

Nobody's hand raised.

"Come on, guys. Where's your Cuphead spirit?"

Twilight now spoke, "We don't really know what Cuphead is about."

And now Rarity, "And with you and Sunset making it out to be very difficult doesn't make this all the much better, Darling."

Pinkie crossed her arms. "Fine. Then it'll be Rainbow Dash then."

Rainbow shot up and stared at Pinkie in surprise. "What?! Why me?"

"Well you seemed to be very confident that the game isn't that hard, so how bad could it be, hmm?" Pinkie explained.

"W-Well yeah. But that doesn't mean I want to play it first."

"Ah come on, Rainbow. Jus' play th' game," said Applejack. "Show us yer 'pro gamin' skills'."

Rainbow looked at the controller that Pinkie was trying to hand her. Sure, she loved to show off - especially in front of her friends - but she usually wasn't first up when it came to that. With Rainbow being clear that this won't be one of those times, she took the controller from Pinkie.

"Fine, I'll play it," huffed Rainbow Dash. "But you're playing next, Applejack!"

Applejack rested the back of her head on her arms at the top of Pinkie's bed, grinning. "A'right. Ah will," she said.

Rainbow Dash wandered around Inkwell Isle III in search of the level Sunset had set for her. 

"What was the boss again?" Rainbow asked.

"It was... that one right there," Pinkie pointed to a large junk pile on the screen. "Dr. Kahl's Robot, it's called."

"Okay, I got this," Rainbow said barely confidently. 

"You need a run down of the controls?" Pinkie asked.

Just as Pinkie finished, Rainbow had already loaded the boss. "Uh, no need. I-I can do this. Heh-heh," Rainbow laughed nervously. 

The fight began and it wasn't a running stage like she expected. Instead, Cuphead was sitting in a small plane. The boss was a mad scientist (Who could only be Dr. Kahl) controlling a giant robot which looked all too familiar to Twilight.

"Hey, wait a second... Isn't that the Iron Giant?" Twilight wondered.

Pinkie answered, "Oh yeah. This game is filled to the brim with references." Pinkie laughed at her own joke along with nobody else. "Filled to the brim?" She still got confused glares. "C'mon guys! Because Cuphead is a cup?"

A round of 'Ohs' were heard, obvious that now everyone gets the joke. Still, no one laughed.

Sunset came back now changed into her magenta pyjamas with her cutie mark symbolised in the middle of her shirt. She noticed that Rainbow Dash was first to play and that she was fighting the boss Sunset had told her to fight.

"Is this still your first attempt, Rainbow?" Sunset asked.

"Yep! And I'm kicking this guy's ass!" Rainbow confidently said.

Sunset looked at the screen, then looked over at Pinkie and mouthed, 'No she isn't' to her. Pinkie returned that with a nod of her head and a large grin.

Rainbow had eventually died to a laser that was shot from the robot's head. "Dammit!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I was so close!"

"Yeah, no you weren't," Sunset told her.

"What are you talking about?"

Sunset pointed at her progress. Apparently Cuphead hadn't moved a single inch from the start. Rainbow then gave a shocked look.

"W-wh... How is that possible?! I was damaging that thing!"

"Yeah, this boss is a little weirder than the others," began Sunset. "There are a number of things you have to destroy before moving onto the second phase, like: His head laser, his bomb shooting stomach and his chest heart."

Rainbow's shocked face changed to one of annoyance. "That's just taking the piss!"

"You wanna try again?" 

"Yeah, I'll try again." Rainbow Dash reloaded the boss for a second time, hoping to do better this time.

"Heh, fun fact: This boss is based off of-"

"The Iron Giant, we know," interrupted Rainbow trying to concentrate. She kept her eyes glued to the screen, trying to block out any surrounding distraction, even Fluttershy, despite the fact she hadn't spoken a single word since Sunset arrived.

Everyone watched as Rainbow was playing. Sunset had to admit, she wasn't doing so bad. Especially for her first time playing and the fact that Sunset challenged her to fight what was said to be the hardest boss of the game. Rainbow managed to destroy the stomach of the robot, which was already further than before. 

"Heh. I got this," she said. 

Fluttershy reached out for her drink as quietly and as quickly as possible as to not distract Rainbow Dash. She brought the cup to her mouth and took an audible sip. It was that exact moment that Rainbow once again died.

"No!" Rainbow cried. "Fluttershy, you distracted me!"

"I did what?" Fluttershy finally spoke.

"You were slurping too loud!"

Applejack jumped up to calm Rainbow down. "Relax there, Rainbow. She did nothin' wrong. Jus' enjoyin' her drink."

Sunset also stepped in, "Yeah. That and I also set you up to fight one of the hardest bosses of the game."

"I hate you, you know that?" Rainbow said, scowling at Sunset.

Sunset winked at her, "Love ya too."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and handed Applejack the controller. "Here, you play it now."

"What, yeh givin' up already?" Applejack asked. "We only jus' started th' night."

"I'll play it again later," Rainbow said defeated while laying back down on Pinkie's bed.

Applejack took Rainbow's place in front of the TV and made her way to explore Inkwell Isle II.

"I-I'm sorry if I messed your turn up," Fluttershy put her hand on Rainbow's shoulder trying to apologise.

Rainbow waved her hand away and sighed. "Don't be," she said. "I should've known I'd lose to a game like this."

"You can have my turn if you want? I don't play a lot of video games."

Rainbow adjusted herself to sit upright next to Fluttershy. "No, no. You have fun, Fluttershy."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks though."

They both shared a smile and watched as Applejack was trying to pick a level to play. She travelled around the second Isle to see what boss spiked her interests. She eventually came around a large roller coaster. "Is this a boss fights?" she asked. Pinkie nodded and Applejack moved over to the boss. "Beppi th' Clown? Man, Ah hate clowns."

Pinkie gasped at that. "Why would you hate clowns?!" 

"Ah dunno. Jus' somethin' 'bout them gives me the heebie-jeebies," Applejack explained.

"I'm with you, Applejack," Twilight said.

Pinkie now looked at Twilight in surprise. "Wh- wh-... Okay, who else here hates clowns?" 

The hands of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy shot up into the air.

"Okay, Fluttershy I think I understand but you, Dashie? Why would you hate clowns?"

Rainbow Dash didn't respond at all. Instead, she had a traumatised look on her face. Fluttershy poked her in hope that she would respond.

"Okay... What about you two?" She pointed to Rarity and Sunset.

"Meh, clowns are alright," was all Sunset could say. "Although I've seen most clowns in my life here from crappy horror movies."

"I saw clowns all of the time when I used to take Sweetie Belle for a day out. Sure, I wasn't very fond of them at first but I learned to get used on them," Rarity explained as she painted her nails a bright new coat of pink.

"Okay, so three of us have a sense of humour," Pinkie said quickly before turning back to face Applejack. "How about it, AJ? Wanna fight Beppi?"

"A-Ah guess... Can Ah play it on easy mode?" she asked sheepishly.

"Well you can but where's the fun with easy mode?"

"Th' fact Ah could actually beat it."

"But tonight isn't about winning. It's about having a gay old time getting mad at a game we've never even played!" Pinkie through her hands up enthusiastically. "Except for me and Sunset."

"Sunset and me," Twilight corrected.

"Whatever." Pinkie shrugged her off. "Oh, Applejack, you need help with the controls?"

"Eeyup."

Pinkie took a deep breath. "A to jump, X to shoot, B to use your EX or special move, Y to dash, RB to lock on and LB to switch weapon. Ya got all that?"

"Uh..."

"Great! Let's do it!"

Pinkie selected normal mode for her, giving her no time to react, and was met with a clown with a face that was half red and half white, a nose that could challenge Squidward's and a bumper car that would be used to mow Cuphead down. 

Applejack casted a glare at Pinkie but was immediately pulled back into the game as Beppi was charging straight at Cuphead. Cuphead jumped over in time but only barely. She pressed the X button to shoot, a small orange flame shot out of Cuphead's finger.

"No, no. You gotta charge this gun to do real damage," Pinkie pointed out.

Applejack did just that and this time, the small candle bullet turned into a meteorite. Though it did look powerful, Applejack wasn't the biggest fan of weapons she had to charge before firing so she switched to see what other weapon Pinkie had equipped, which was the Boomerang shot. Now Applejack put her thumb on X and didn't let go, finishing Beppi's first phase in just under a minute.

"Now this Ah can get behind." She grinned confidently as she fought Beppi's next phase.

Beppi now arised as a balloon man, blowing balloons that took the shape of a dogs head from either side of the screen while an oncoming roller coaster train headed for Cuphead. That's a lot to pay attention to, right? For Applejack though, that wasn't exactly the case as she took out every balloon that appeared while also attacking Beppi, and it was all thanks to the handy-dandy Boomerang bullets. She made great use out of her shot even while running from cart to cart on the roller coaster whenever it appeared. Applejack was doing so well that it even left Pinkie baffled. She eventually made it to the third phase while still holding strong with two HP.

"Wow. I didn't even do this well when I first fought Beppi," Sunset said. "How are you so good at this?"

"Ah really don' know. Ah barely play video games all too often with all th' chores Ah'm havin' to do. 'Specially with Big Mac breakin' 'is arm," Applejack explained. "Thanks a ton by th' way, Sunset, for all th' help."

Sunset smiled sweetly. "Ack, it's no big deal. I love it down on the farm so I'm always happy to help whenever it's needed."

Applejack turned back to the boss. Beppi was now riding on a carousel horse either coloured yellow or green. The horse would spit out horseshoes, differently depending on the horse's colour. The yellow horse would spit horseshoes which would travel to the other side of the screen similarly to a low frequency wave. The green would spit out horseshoes that would remain at the top of the screen to eventually rain down on Cuphead with only one opening that would keep Cuphead safe from harm.

But Applejack, like most players, stayed under the bastard and shot upwards. 

"Hey, isn't that cheating?" Twilight pointed out.

"Well, kinda. But everyone does it so..." Sunset shrugged and continued to watch her stetson wearing friend. She was still doing very well. Boy, wouldn't she be in trouble if she got hit now-?

"Watch out for that horseshoe!" Pinkie warned. 

But it was too late. Applejack was so caught up with killing Beppi that she somehow didn't notice the horse's colour had changed back to yellow. Her expression changed from confidence to now worry.

"I-It's fine. You can do this!" Pinkie said almost as worried as Applejack.

She continued her cycle of staying under the horse until she was able to finish the phase.

"Is it over yet?" Applejack hoped.

"Nope, but you've only got one more phase to fight!"

For the final phase, Beppi no longer stole from a carousel. Instead, now he was the carousel. From the umbrella roof came down platforms that would circle the once-was-clown.

Applejack wasn't feeling so confident anymore. She had come so far yet she felt as though she was about to lose. Then she remembered something Pinkie had told her.

"Hey Pinkie? What does B do again?" she quickly asked.

Pinkie looked down at Cuphead's special cards and instead of telling her what they did, she just kept shouting, "Press it! Press it!"

Applejack did just that. Cuphead rose up from the ground and shot his giant milk beam in Beppi's direction. Applejack hoped that was the end of it but apparently not, he was still alive. Cuphead fell down below as there was no platform to stand upon as he was finished with his super attack, and immediately died as there were small enemies that would shoot baseballs at him.

Applejack stared at the screen as if she just got slapped by Applebloom. She read the death quote. It read, 'What do you call a cup that falls of a swing? A tumbler!' And her progress meter was practically on the end. She now looked as though she wanted to punch right through the screen, which was easy enough for her to do.

"Are ya kiddin' me?!" She walked towards the screen. "Tha's on the end! How's that fair?!"

Twilight and Sunset tried to pull her away. They both told her to calm down and that it was just a game.

"It's fine, Applejack. You did great," Sunset calmed her down. "Better than what I did for my first time, actually."

"How were you so good?" Twilight asked. 

"Ah really don' know." Applejack scratched the back of her neck. "Ah... Ah just was."

"Heck, you were as good as me for my first time," Pinkie said.

"Ah was?"

Pinkie nodded in response.

"And we all know if it's coming from Pinkie, that's saying something," Rainbow spoke up.

Pinkie turned to the rest of the girls. "Okay, who goes next?"

Fluttershy slowly raised her hand. "I-I'll go... If that's okay?" she said very quietly.

"Alright then, Fluttershy's turn!" Pinkie announced.

"Here ya go, Sugarcube," Applejack said passing her the controller.

Fluttershy took a seat in front of the TV. "Can... Can I have a partner to help?" she asked. "I don't think I can do this on my own..."

Almost immediately, Twilight volunteered to help. "I'll help you. How hard could it be when there's two of us?" Pinkie handed Twilight another controller. 

"Some say it's just as hard, while some others say it's even harder," Sunset explained. "I wouldn't know, I haven't tried 2-Player mode."

"Could you give us a simpler boss to play?" Fluttershy asked. 

"Yeah, we aren't really gamers per se," Twilight added.

"Neither is Applejack but she still kicked ass," came Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, even non-gamers can have much more skill than those who play games like, like... Crash 1 or Dark Souls or Breath of the Wild or Kaizo Mario or Super Meat B-" Sunset put her hand over Pinkie's blabbing mouth.

"What Pinkie was trying to say is that you'll be fine," Sunset said. "Losing is very common with this game. Take Rainbow for example-"

Rainbow shot up. "That's because of you!"

"Anyway, I still want to give you two a challenge, so I'm recommending Ribby and Croaks in the first isle."

Twilight joined the game and was playing as Cuphead's brother Mugman, who had a straight blue straw, blue shorts and eyes that weren't attached to the top of his cup head.

They both wandered the isle but were completely lost due to them literally knowing nothing about the game. They both got help from Pinkie and Sunset who took the controllers and lead the brothers back to Isle I. They journeyed the small forest until they came across a large boat. They entered the level, which was called, 'Clip Joint Calamity'. Pinkie and Sunset both gave Twilight and Fluttershy their controllers back and wished them both luck. 

The boss contained not one, but two enemies, perfect for two player. 

Twilight looked at Sunset, rather un-surprised, we'll say. "You did this on purpose, didn't you?" she accused.

"I can neither confirm or deny that," replied Sunset, grinning.

One enemy was a fat, green frog and the other was a brown, taller frog, both of them wore boxing gloves. 

Almost immediately, the girls were thrown into action as Ribby (The green frog) began firing flaming fists towards the cup brothers and Croaks (The brown frog) began spitting literal fireflies. Literally, they were on fire. The girls reacted to their attacks as best as they could but barely succeeded. Twilight was constantly firing no matter what direction she was facing while also avoiding Ribby's fists, while Fluttershy was only avoiding the attacks, panicking because she was scared of dying so early in the boss fight. Twilight eventually found Mugman dead as his ghost was now slowly rising into the heavens or in this case, off screen.

Pinkie quickly jumped up. "Quick, parry the ghost!"

"How do I parry the ghost?!" Fluttershy panicked.

"Press A while midair!"

Fluttershy did what Pinkie commanded but found that she was too late to save her buddy. Fluttershy's stress levels now rocketed as she was now on her own. She continued to jump while also trying to kill the fireflies. Unfortunately, she didn't last very long as she was too busy avoiding Ribby's fiery fists o' pain. The death quote read, 'We've had fightin' souls since we've been tiny tadpoles.' 

They restarted the level in hopes of doing better. Since they now know how to parry, they might live to see the next phase.





15 Minutes Later

They were still at it. Even though they should've given Rarity her turn quite a while ago, Twilight and Fluttershy were still fighting Ribby and Croaks. They were very tempted to finish this boss and will stop at nothing until they were done. Their skills had improved during the fights but it wasn't enough to get them past the final phase, which was a giant slot machine.

Rarity tried to snap them out of their insanity, "Twilight, Fluttershy, darlings, I-I think you two have had en-"

"Must fight! Must kill!" Twilight interrupted, not taking her eyes away from the screen.

"Alright, fine. Be that way," Rarity decided, double checking her makeup. 

Everyone just watched as Twilight and Fluttershy were doing literally all they could to ensure they passed the boss with flying colours. Getting close to finishing, yes. Doing it with great skill, no not really.

They made it to the final phase once again. The slot machine let down a parrable lever that would indicate whatever doom was about to arrive for them.

Fluttershy parried the lever and the slots had three bull symbols. "You ready, Sparkle?" she asked trying to contain herself from blowing up.

Twilight didn't respond. Instead, she gripped her controller tighter.

The slots represented three animals: A bull, a snake and a tiger. Whatever one was chosen would be the frog brothers next plan of attack. The machine would shoot out spiked rings with a different formation of attack depending on what was chosen. The bull had red rings that would fly from right-to-left directly in the middle of the screen. The rings would shoot out a flame from either the top or bottom of the ring. The objective is to either travel through or jump over the rings depending on what side the flame is on.

The snake had green rings that would, once again, travel from the right side to the left but this time, only on the ground. The objective here was simply to either jump over or onto the rings, as it is possible to stand on them.

The tigers had orange rings that would work just like the snake but only this time, balls would bounce up and down onto their ring. The objective now here is exactly the same as the snake, the difference being how now reactions have to be quicker.

Something about the slot machine itself is that it is invulnerable to damage while it's only attacking with coins, during the lever stage.

And now back to the girls. They managed to pass the bull stage fairly easy but they were on edge the whole time as Cuphead and Mugman only had one HP left. They parried the lever once again and now the slots had the tigers on them. This got the girls even more scared as this phase was the death of them too many times now. The rings came flying out of the machine and only after two jumps, Mugman had died. Fluttershy did whatever she could to revive him but she lost him. 

It was now up to Fluttershy to finish the fight. Only she now was the one to stop Ribby and Croaks right where they sta- and she's dead.

"SON OF A BITCH!!" Fluttershy cried, immediately slapping her hands in front of her mouth and blushing furiously. Everyone stared at Fluttershy in shock as she was never one for swearing.

"I think you've had enough tonight, Fluttershy," Sunset whispered to her, walking her away from the game.

Rarity sighed, "Pinkie, why did you invite us to this?"

Pinkie shrugged. "I though it would be fun. That and I was hoping to see reactions like this and..." She broke into fits of laughter. "And holy hell am I glad I did!"

Sunset slapped Pinkie on the back of the head. Pinkie rubbed the back of her head and looked sadly at Sunset.

Now Sunset sighed. "You still up for playing, Rares?" she asked. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to."

"Well, despite all of the reactions everyone has given so far, this game does look quite fun, so why not. Pass me a controller." Rarity put her hand out for Sunset to pass her Fluttershy's controller.

After doing so, Sunset turned around to see Twilight was still playing the game. She lifted Twilight from under her shoulders and dragged her away.

"C'mon Twilight, you've had enough too," she told her. "Go on, Rarity, before she gets back."

Finally, Rarity sat down on the now gaming spot and exited the level. She wandered around Inkwell Isle I to look for another boss but none really stood out for her. She then explored Inkwell Isle II. Still nothing. Then to Inkwell Isle III but thought about how much harder the bosses were here, so she went back to the other isles.

Rarity moaned. "Not one of these bosses please me." She handed Sunset the controller and closed her eyes. "Surprise me."

Sunset had the power now. She could make Rarity fight the absolute worst of all of the bosses, whoever that was. But she didn't deserve that. That, and she already made a certain Skittles haired individual play what was probably the hardest boss of the game. Sunset guided Cuphead to a candy store that was shaped like a cupcake and selected the boss that took the name, 'Sugarland Shimmy'. She quickly handed Rarity back the controller before the boss started. 

The screen loaded a large and pink candyland along with a cake castle with eyes and a sweetie princess called Baroness Von Bon Bon. She was immediately swallowed by the castle and the fight began. Out of the castle came a Pac-Man inspired red jawbreaker with an even smaller blue jawbreaker trailing behind it.

"Ooh!" Pinkie clapped her hands together. "This is my favourite boss!"

"Of course it is," Rarity said. Because why would it not be? It's a candyland! What's not to love about it? 

"Took the words right out of my mouth, dear sir." Wait, what?

Everyone (Except Rarity) looked at Pinkie confusingly. No one said anything, they all just stared. Who was she talking to was what they were all thinking. Pinkie gave an embarrassed smile and slowly walked out of the room.

Rarity began circling the Pac-Man jawbreaker- forget it, let's call it Pac-Jaw. Anyway, she was circling Pac-Jaw while spraying the Boomerang shot in every direction. The phase wasn't anything too bad. All it was was a circle floating around the place. She managed to kill it relatively quickly with still all of her health. 

"Sheesh, Sunset, when I gave you the controller, I didn't expect you to go so easy on me," said Rarity.

"Oh, I wasn't going easy on you," Sunset smirked.

The next phase, a flying waffle with syrup wings and a small block of butter on it's head came out of the castle. After a moment of flying, it began charging an attack. Rarity thought nothing of it as it looked very simple.

"Whatever do you mean, darli-" Rarity didn't finish. The waffle had split apart it's body into nine squares and shot the outside eight outwards in all directions. One of which hit Cuphead in the process. Rarity cleared her throat. "Still, it's not too much. Nothing even I can't handle, that is."

Sunset patted her on the shoulder. "Keep telling yourself that."

Rarity shook Sunset’s hand away. "I will and I will show yo- oh come on! What damaged me there?" Cuphead was suddenly now left with one HP.

"Jelly bean knight," Sunset said pointing towards a tiny pink man running across the screen. "This thing riiight here."

"How easy is it now, Rarity?" Rainbow smugly asked. 

Rarity tried glaring at her without actually looking at her. "Oh be quiet, you..."

"Still doin' better than you'd done," Applejack finally spoke again.

"Again! Not. My. Fault!" Rainbow emphasised each word.

"You were lookin' for a challenge, though."

"Yeah, not the hardest boss of the entire game!"

"You didn't make that clear," Sunset said still grinning.

"Hush everyone, I'm trying to focus," Rarity sternly said focusing.

Pinkie finally came back after when she walked out of the room for no reason at all. "All right girls, I'm back. I just had to- ooh, candy corn!" She smiled with delight.

"Will you all be quiet?! I'm doing very well right now!" Rarity was now on the third phase, which was a giant candy corn with large pointy teeth. Once again, it was floating around the level with a smaller version itself running wild. She had many close calls, especially with the smaller corn. The only problem was that she had already forgotten about the jelly beans. And the result of that was another death. She sighed sadly. "At least I was pretty close." She then looked at her progress and apparently her being 'close' wasn't the case, she was only around halfway through Baroness and her minions. "Oh, that dreadful piece of... *Sigh* It's fine. I just have to try this again." She pressed restart.





"You blasted pile of filth!" Rarity cried. "I hope your sweet teeth decay and fall out!"

Everyone became very surprised by Rarity's sudden outburst. But then immediately started laughing, and they were laughing hard.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

Pinkie tried to speak, "I-It's j-just... how y-you ins-sulted Bon B-Bon!" She continued her huge fit of laughter.

"W-Why would you say that?!" Rainbow managed to get out. "I-It was so st-stupid y-yet it was so GOOD!!"

"Well, I for one don't find it very amusing; it's very frustrating having to lose to the ruler of diabetes land!" Rarity shouted at the screen.

Somehow, everyone started laughing even harder and having realising everything she just said, Rarity began laughing too. They all laughed for a good few minutes until Pinkie got up, wiping away a tear that was forming from her eye.

"O-Okay," she began, still giggling. "I think we have time for one more game. Sunset, grab a controller, your doing this with me!" 

Sunset  sat up right. "But Pinkie, I said-"

"C'mon! Just one more game?" Pinkie made a sad puppy face while she held up the second controller.

Sunset sighed, "Fine. One more, but that's it." She sat beside Pinkie. "So, what level are we going to play? King Dice? The Phantom Express?"

"Nope! None of those guys." Pinkie travelled back to Inkwell Isle I and walked under the path leading to Hilda Berg. Pinkie smiled as she selected their final level...

"Fandom Frenzy!"


THE END