The New Gamer

Chapters

The Morning
The Gamer
The Girl
The Rest

The Morning

When Button Mash woke up that one Saturday, it seemed like a normal day to go to the arcade in downtown Ponyville.

Definitely fine with him.

He got out of bed, his white pajama shirt and red pajama sweats crumbled up on his body from tossing and turning all night. Button was just so excited. Saturday was his favorite day of the week. That's because every Saturday was allowance day! Plus, on Saturday, his mom let him go to the arcade to spend his hard-earned pay he earned through weekly chores and helping-outs. To Button, that was heaven!

He got dressed in the normal wear for a Saturday: a white T-shirt with a red button-up short sleeve over it, unbuttoned; jean shorts with big pockets for the change he would get at the arcade: dark brown converse shoes over white socks: and finally, his trademark hat with a spinning top. He got it at a birthday party for him several years ago, and it has never left his waken side since!

He got breakfast quicker than a cheetah, brushed his teeth and combed his ginger hair swifter than a jackrabbit, then, like a banana, split from his nice home on the outskirts of Ponyville, waving goodbye to his mom on the way out. Oh, his blood pulsed with excitement!

The bus stop on the route of the bus that took Button downtown was only a few blocks away from his house. Like always, Button was there minutes before the bus pulled in.

The bus driver recognized Button as he got on. He smiled and waved to him as he got on, with Button doing the same to the driver. It was just a regular Saturday for both of them.

The bus headed out of the stop and went on to its regular route. It usually took about thirty minutes to get to his destination, but Button didn't mind. After all, his favorite game, Pac-Man, would still be waiting at the arcade, like it was years ago.

Button discovered Pac-Man, along with games, when he was seven years old, when his mom, out of boredom, took him to a strip mall that contained mentioned arcade. Button was both surprised and enthralled by the sight of the arcade. Video game cabinets stood all around the location. Darkness nearly enveloped the whole place, with neon lights and video screens taking over the rest. A small arcade eatery, which sold simple burgers, drinks, and candy, stood at the back corner.

Button had gone inside that first day at the arcade, wondering what these video cabinets were all about. After all, he had no friends to tell him about these machines that stood in this neon-lit place. His mother, having seen the confusion on his face, gave him a few quarters, explaining to him what to do with them. Button looked around, but couldn't decide which cabinet to try first. Most of them were occupied, too, which made Button uneasy, as he didn't like to be watched.

Then, one peculiar cabinet caught his eye.

This video game cabinet was mostly yellow. On the sides were colored ghosts with red eyes and a yellow, smiling blob with eyes. On the front, the above sign read Pac-Man, with a picture of a yellow pie without a slice, in his unknowing eyes, about to eat white dots.

This peticular game interested Button, so with his mother's instructions in mind, popped the quarter in.

The game started up, and a small yellow circle popped up in a blue maze filled with white dots, few being larger than the rest. Interested, yet still somewhat confused, Button moved the circle, which started to move and eat the dots inside the maze. It seemed pretty easy, he thought.

Just as he thought he got the gist of it, out of the blue, a ghost ambushes, causing the yellow circle to fade into himself. Button gaped in surprise. He then saw that the center of the maze held several colored ghosts, like on the side of the cabinet.

Button whined in protest, then, grabbing another quarter in determination, started another game.

Since then, Button went to that arcade over and over again, eventually mastering Pac-Man and playing the others as if they were his livelihood, and to him, they practically were! To him, the cabinets were his friends that he always wanted, always being there for when he needed solitude and solace from the outside world which vexed him ever so. To him, video games were all that he had.

Today was no exception.

Button saw the strip mall where the arcade was located. He got off the bus, crossed the street to the arcade, and, with a smile on his face, opened the swinging doors to Nirvana.

The constant smell of snacks and humming of video game noises of the Ponyville Funtime Arcade immediately hit his nostrils and ears. The smells and noises of heaven! Button thought. Yep, it was going to be a great day with his electronic friends, like usual. And, best of all, he would have Pac-Man to himself, like always, because no one here played it, favoring Mortal Combat or Dig Dug to this apparently "cliché" game, which was fine with him.

After getting quarters from the change machine in front, Button walked to the corner where Pac-Man rested, a quarter in hand, ready to start his lively Saturday routine. Maybe today, he could finally pass level 30! he thought, shaking and eager to play.

In the next moments, though, Button saw something that shook him to the core. Level 30 now seemed very far from completion.

The Gamer

Button stood in surprise for what seemed like hours, but eventually managed to assess the current situation that rocked his routine out of orbit:

At the Pac-Man cabinet was a scrawny, mysterious figure. Mysterious was the good word of choice, as this person was cloaked in a dark-blue jacket, with the hood covering his head. He also wore dark-as-night black jeans that were big enough to hide the size of the legs they covered. His face was unable to be seen, as his back was to Button, and the sides of the cabinet covered any hints on the sides of the face.

What is going on here? Button thought. Nobody ever plays Pac-Man, except maybe old people from the 80's. Well, obviously, himself, too, but he always liked the 80's. Plus, it's not like he had friends to be embarrassed by his game preferences.

Button felt himself gasping for air. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't! Button was looking forward to playing Pac-Man first things first today, like always. It was his first and bestest friend out of all the game adventures in this arcade, after all. All the other games were simply games.

But now, it seemed like he would have to wait.

Sighing, Button turned away from the new gamer playing with his best friend and decided to search for a new game.

Finding something else to do at the FunTime Arcade was incredibly difficult for Button.

One other reason he liked Pac-Man was because it was never crowded or busy. He could play it without waiting, neither would he have an audience to bother him or give him annoying advice about the game he already knew. It could be a little lonely at times, but that didn't matter once the game went into full swing for Button.

Almost all the other games in the arcade were almost always packed, and the ones that were free were either broken, in need of repairs, or were more suited for little kids that come in to the arcade every once in a while. Today was no exception.

Button first tried to get on the motorcycle game, but his classmate Rumble and his older brother Thunderlane told him to beat it.

He then tried the Mortal Combat game, but Pipsqueak, the European exchange student, was already there.

"Sorry, mate. Goin' be playin' this game fer quite a jolly good while, Aye think," he said.

Button sighed and walked away. At least Pip was nice about it. Plus, can't blame the binge-gaming. Mortal Combat is pretty cool to play, not to mention addicting. Maybe he could play a round with him sometime. Maybe not. Given Button, probably the latter.

Next, even though he hated sports, Button decided to see if the surfing game next to the snack bar was free. However, he was met with First Base, the young baseball player of Ponyville. He may have been 15, like Button, but was inches taller and much more stronger. Button was basically more of a scrawny string bean than he already was standing next to Base. Button didn't even bother bothering him.

Eventually, all of the games were tried, but in vain. So, out of boredom and sadness, Button had to go to the little games just to be satisfied. The whole time, playing Shape Finder or Math Wiz, little kids, like Carrot and Pound Cake, the little twins from nearby, looked at him with strange looks. Rumble saw Button every once in a while, and chuckled at the sight. Button shook his head in shame. This was not a good day.

After an hour of looks and verbal abuse of giggles from the gamers in the arcade, the frustration inside him grew, until after another hour, having wasted nearly a third of his precious Saturday, Button had had enough.

Button marched back to the Pac-Man cabinet with anger in his eyes and fury in his step. He couldn't believe his Saturday got ruined by a newbie! Well, I'll show him! he thought. Hopefully.

The mysterious cloaked figure was still there, frantically moving the joystick to move Pac-Man to and fro. Button could see he was not good at Pac-Man, because he looked more frazzled and messy in his figure. This was even more confirmed, as Button saw him bang on the buttons in anger and stress.

Now, if this was a usual day and this went well, Button would have walked up to the dude and told him to get lost from his precious Pac-Man. Or he would've most likely at least tried, then chickened out and walked away.

However, this was not a usual day, thus not a normal situation.

As he was about to say something, nearby, two boys were laughing and playing video games together. One was tall, lanky, and orange, with the name Snails. The other was shorter, chubbier, and blue, and holding a banana peel, having finished said banana. This blue boy, named Snips, in carelessness and stupidity, threw away the peel, thinking it would land in the trash can. He thought wrong.

Instead, as if by fate, it landed right where Button was stepping before he was going to speak.

So, instead of "Hey, game-hogger!" like he wanted to say, Button ended up going "Heeeyyywwaaah!" as he tumbled backward.

He fell downward, then, like dominoes, his feet hit the legs of the new gamer, causing him to yelp and fall right on top of Button, face to face. In the commotion, his hood came off his head, allowing Button to see the gamer in the open. Finally, he could see the game-hogging newbie in person! Button thought.

What he saw left his jaws more agape than Pac-Man's after ghostly defeat.

The Girl

The first thing that caught Button off guard were the shining, green eyes staring right into his.

Now, usually, when Button thought of green, naturally, he thought of the Incredible Hulk. Through some reading some time ago, he became a fan of the not-so-jolly green giant and his struggles with his double life and having to be alone so that no one would be hurt. It interested and saddened Button, given Button was pretty familiar with the concept of loneliness.

That aside, from lots of reading of this hero, Button knew that Bruce Banner, the human side of the Hulk, gained pulsing green eyes whenever transforming into his monstrous alter ego. So, normally, Button thought of "brute" and "angry" and "ugly" when green came into his mind.

That particular day, those words and thoughts of the Hulk were not even close to what fell upon him that day. For one, whilst the Hulk was dark green, with black hair, this peculiar gamer had skin white as a ghost, with curly hair purple as lilacs. For another, while the Hulk had square, bulking features, this gamer's face was rounded and smooth, like the top of margarine in a just-opened container.

All of these features in mind then came together, which then formed a realization in Button's mind which completely put him in shock: this gamer wasn't even a guy! It was a girl!

"Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry!" the pale girl said, getting herself back up in a frantic motion. " I-I didn't know you were back there!"

Button just sat there, trying to think of what to say, but this was new to him. Never before had Button seen a girl in here, with the exception of little kids in the kid area, or moms forced to sit and watch the kids revel in their youth. Heck, even his own mom went to the clothing store nearby after a few minutes, so even she wasn't seen in the arcade much.

After a few seconds, Button pulled back to reality and managed to stand up. His foot hurt as he stood, having been twisted and clobbered from the trip and collision. His face grimaced at the pain.

"Oh, gosh! Are you OK? Did I hurt your foot?" The girl saw Button in pain, and frantically looked around and tried to think. She looked at the snack bar tables nearby, and then, with carefulness in her movements, took Button by the hand to lead him over to the nearest stool.

Button wobbled on one leg due to the pain, but that wasn't on his mind. What he was focused on was the fact that this random girl was holding his hand! His fingers have never so much has touched his own mom's skin, much less an actual girl's. But then again, lots of abnormal things have happened today!

She set him down, slowly seating himself on the stool, then she ran to the man running the snack bar at the time. Button saw her pointing to him as she explained what happened. The man then went to the back in a huff. After a few moments, he came out holding a first aid, then came to where Button sat.

The man checked Button's ankle with his fingers, Button wincing with pain each time they moved. The purple-haired girl stood nearby, biting her nails and running her fingers through her hair in worry.

"It's alright, I think," the man said, "just a sprain, though I'm not a doctor, so we can't be too sure." He took some bandage out of the kit, and wrapped it around Button's ankle. "This should help that leg." Then, he went back in the back, and pulled out a pair of crutches. "Some kid left these some time ago. Figured they might be useful for something like this"

He gave the crutches to Button, thanked the girl for telling him, and went back behind the counter to help a waiting customer.

The girl sat next to Button. "Are you going to be OK walking around with those?" she asked, a look of concern on her face.

Button just sat there, looking at the girl with wide eyes, both from pain from the leg, and from the continuing question of what to say. It might have been easier if this was just a normal girl, or maybe a little child. This girl was neither. As a matter of fact, she was pretty gorgeous, when Button got a good look at her. Why a girl like her was in a place for people like him was still a question swimming in his head.

After a few seconds, Button managed to spurt out, "I-I-I'll be fine, I think."

"Oh, that's a relief, at least. You can still move around...just on crutches." She sat there, her face awkwardly rethinking what she just said.

"Well, again, I really am sorry for that. I just"-she paused, looking back at the Pac-Man cabinet-"got a bit distracted."

"O-oh, don't worry," Button said, seeing the sorrow on her face, "you didn't do anything."

"Are you sure? What if I hadn't been standing right here? Would your leg have been OK, or at least not broken?" She started filling with worried energy once more. "What if I had never entered this place? What if I just left this place alone and just went home after what happened?!" Anger started to appear on her face, making Button, with worry, start to scoot back. "No, Sweetie Belle. You just had to cool off somewhere besides home. You just had to let your sister get to you! How was I supposed to know that mess wasn't a mess?! Seriously, can't she ever just chill out with the dresses and just be nice?!?" She then, in a final burst, banged the table, making Button jump two feet in fear.

The look of sadness, after a few seconds, replaced the anger on her face, and she, nearly pouring tears, dropped her head onto her crossed arms on the table.

Well, that's the why is she here? question answered, Button thought as she sat there calming down.

She looked up and saw Button in fear and worry. "Sorry," she whimpered out, a few tears having escaped her ducts, "I got in a bit of a quarrel with my sister. Came here to stew." She wiped her eyes. "I never got your name."

Button snapped out of the surprise. "Oh, it's, uh...Button. Button Mash. A g-gamer."

She smiled. "I'm Sweetie. Sweetie Belle. Teenage girl"-she pointed to her frazzled looks-"and bad gamer."

Button looked at her in curiosity. "Well, h-have you ever played a game before?"

"No, actually. I'm..new." She looked at the Pac-Man cabinet again. "Although I did know that one. I didn't know how to play it, so when I came in here, I decided to try it. So far, no luck at winning. Yet, somehow"-she looked right in Button's eyes-"I like it."

Button's head started racing once again. This girl likes Pac-Man, too! And in basically the same way as he did! What a day this has been, Button thought.

"Well, uh..." Button spurted out, a little bravery spreading into his voice, "maybe I could help you. Teach you how to play."

"R-really?"

"Yeah. I've been playing that game for years." He smiled. "It's my favorite game."

"..Yeah." Sweetie's smile grew. "It's growing on me, too, I guess."

The Rest

After Button and Sweetie sat for an hour, awkward silence abundant, they both walked over (well, Sweetie walked, while Button limped) to the video game cabinet where Pac-Man ate dots and stopped ghosts on a regular basis.

"I've figured out it's a maze game, and that you have to get all the dots," Sweetie commented, "but the ghosts are tricky."

"Well, let me see what you do." Button watched her put a quarter in and start the game. Almost immediately, she was met with ghosts cornering her. She groaned in anger.

"Well, personally, I would avoid the corners and save up the powerballs for when I really need them," Button commented.

"But what do you do when you're cornered or surrounded?"

"Well, the best thing I would say was to avoid those entirely. You see, the skills you need to play this game are two things: quick thinking, and observation skills."

Sweetie scoffed at Button. "I can observe and think fast enough! These ghosts are just too hard to beat." She gave them a mean look as if it would prove her statement.

Stubborn and unwilling to listen. Just like him. Button never knew there could be someone like her that could be as problematic or weird as him.

"Maybe I can move you in the right direction. Start it up again."

Sweetie started another game. The second before it began, Button grabbed the joystick along with Sweetie. From there, he moved Pac-Man along with her through the course of the game, with Sweetie watching the game unfold as he helped. As he played along, he began to tell her of all the patterns he managed to figure out through hours of gameplay and research on the internet.

After a level or two, she began to catch on, as Button had to help move it less and less. Eventually, both were using full force to operate the dot-munching crusader as he wove through the maze, avoiding the ghosts. Also, although he didn't quite realize it, Button was enjoying the game even more than he already did, smiling and laughing as he played with Sweetie, who in turn, did the same.

Eventually, hours had passed before Button and Sweetie began to tire of the game. Finally, after reaching level thirty for the thirtieth time, they let Pac-Man get chewed up on purpose, and let go of the joystick.

Button was sweating a lot. He knew he was out of shape a bit, but this was ridiculous. Sweetie was equally soaked.

"Well, that was fun," she said, panting. She looked at Button. They both smiled at each other. Then, Button realized the position they were in.

Apparently, in the rush of playing and helping, Button had wrapped behind Sweetie Belle, as if he was hugging her from behind. Sweetie saw the surprised look on his face, and looked at the situation. She, too, widened her eyes in surprise, her cheeks blushing red as fire, then quickly escaped from Button's body, with Button taking a few steps back. His cheeks were the same color as hers.

They both stood there, awkwardly standing in silence, when Button looked outside, and saw that the sun was setting soon. He couldn't believe it! He spent the whole day playing with Sweetie!

His entire routine for today, ruined by the new gamer.

However, somehow, that didn't really bother Button anymore. After all, playing with Sweetie wasn't exactly bad. In fact, it was more fun than he ever had.

Sweetie looked outside too. "Uh oh! It's getting late!" She pulled out her cellphone, and typed in a number, walking away to talk. Button watched her go by, still in awe by the day he had.

A half-hour later, a white van came by. Button and Sweetie both walked outside. The window rolled down, and Button saw a white face with darker-purpled hair pop out.

"Sweetie Belle! Oh, my darling sister, so this is where you have been!" the driver said.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I-I just wanted to let off steam somewhere."

"It's quite alright now, Sweetie. Though I was miffed by your shenanigans, I completely forgive you for what happened," the driver said, "Now get in. Let's go home and get some rest."

Button then realized this must be whom Sweetie Belle was arguing with before she got here. He smiled, glad to see they made amends so quickly.

Sweetie turned to Button, looking him right in the eyes. Even though he had been with her all day, he still couldn't believe that a girl like her could become friends with a guy like him. But I guess I was wrong, Button thought. Then he mentally commented, maybe it was because life was unpredictable. Like the ghosts of Pac-Man.

He stood by Sweetie for a few seconds, still remembering the position he was in inside. Sweetie simply stood with him, twirling her hair, a slight shade of blush still in her cheeks.

"W-well," Button said, his hands in his pockets, "Guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah," Sweetie replied, "I will. Hopefully."

She walked slowly to the white car, with Button watching, secretly wishing she could stay for a little bit longer.

Suddenly, she stopped right before she got in. Button looked, and raised an eyebrow in confusion. Then, before another thought was passed, she turned back and ran back towards Button.

Button could only think, "Heeeyyyywaaaah?" before his cheek was met with a single pair of lips.

She kissed his cheeks for a second or two, then grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Thanks for being there," she said, smiling, "for being a friend." With that, she walked to the car, got in, and drove away, waving as she rolled out.

Button simply stood there, waving in profound surprise and growing blush in his cheeks. He looked in his hand. In it was a single quarter.

Button looked at the quarter for a solid minute, then looked back at the arcade, then, shaking his head, put it in his pocket, and walked back to the bus stop, ready to end the confusing, yet glorious, day at the arcade.

THE END