A Gamer's Journal

Button Mash sat on one of the couches within the Ponyville courthouse, tapping away at his joyboy as he waited. They were all supposed to meet at ten, and it was already ten past that. He didn’t expect more of them though, and could feel his blood boil with each passing minute. For once, he found it as a good thing.

His eyes flicked up as the front doors opened up. Not that he couldn’t see them out of his peripherals anyways, not when the courthouse was so small. One of the nice parts of living in a small town, at least, so Button thought. He didn’t properly look up though, deciding not to give them the courtesy yet.

The thinner, gray stallion glanced over, and Button saw a long grin spread along his face. “There he is, pops. Playing his joyboy, as always. I bet it’s even something like pokemon, or Puyo Pop.”

Button forced himself not to roll his eyes as the black stallion that was his father began walking over. He remembered when he was smaller, and the fool had stayed in shape, tried to be there for all of them. Then, his brother found that he could be a gaming pro, just like his dad was as a poker player, and the two took off. Sometimes for business, mostly not.

Button still jumped as his father tapped the device in his hand. He had closed his eyes to control his anger, and felt a bit of heat rise to his cheeks. “Come on, Mash. You can’t be like Twitch and simply get consumed by your video games.”

He looked up to his father, Stacked Deck, and the bright red hair that adorned his black head, and narrowed his eyes. Like a bad original character, he looked and acted like he was far more important than he was. Button would not cause a fuss though, not now, and stood in the tight tuxedo. “I noticed you guys walk in, and was just finishing up. Promise.”

A chuckle came out of his brother, Twitch, his muted brown hair that almost matched Love Tap’s coat shaking as he did so. “I wonder how many ponies have had to hear that, especially mom. I remember when she would freak out because you would keep saying that, over and over again.”

Button grimaced for a moment, before his brother’s cocky smile faded, and he glanced away from the brown colt. It warmed Button’s heart for a moment, and he let out a small sigh. While their father’s sons, neither were their father, otherwise, Love may have left him. Button forced a smile on. “I also remember during your early days when mom would find you at your computer, and drag you to school because you literally hadn’t slept.”

Twitch smiled back, but then looked to his father, and coughed. Stacked nodded, and turned to Button. “Unfortunately, Twitch needs to get to a plane in a few hours for Rainstorm’s training grounds, so if we could speed this along, that would be much appreciated.”

Button didn’t even look towards Stacked, but kept his eyes on Twitch, who had never been great at lying, and from how he looked to the floor, he knew it was just an excuse. I know you guys don’t like facing reality, but you could put up with it for at least… Button grit his teeth, and turned to Stacked.

“Button!”

Button stood frozen as the two other stallions looked over his shoulder. There, three mares walked out of the broad stairwell, along with Fair Trial. Sweetie, the one who had shouted, almost skipped over, seemingly oblivious to the mood the others were in. While her black, satin dress, probably made by Rarity over the last few days, hugged her ever so well, the only thing that passed Stacked’s or Twitch’s heads were how well Button’s childhood friend had filled in.

The other two were a whole different case. Dia opted out of a suit for the occasion, and was whispering something to Fair Trial. While not the most attractive mare, to them, out of the three, she wore the black and gray well, and everypony knew about her connections. The other one was more expected out of Button, but for him to still have managed to get an Apple here too, especially one to put on a dress with a split up the side, was unimaginable to the two. This is exactly why Stacked walked right past Apple Bloom.

The large stallion walked up to Fair Trial, and tilted his hat, before taking Diamond Tiara’s hand and giving it a small peck. “I must admit that you have good priorities, to prioritize such a pretty thing over my son.”

Fair stood there, stunned. Diamond Tiara seemed to be unaffected though, and leaned in to give him a peck on both cheeks, before leaving her hand on his neck. Apple Bloom meanwhile was looking between Button and Twitch, somewhat wondering how the foot in height difference had happened between them. Sweetie held her face in her hand, and Twitch was groaning.

“Now, Mr. Deck, while I do enjoy the flattery, I must put a stop to it now. Not only is it insulting to your late wife, but if you continue such manners, I will not be able to hold back on the fact that every fiber of me wants to punch you right now.”

All of them stopped what they were doing now, and stared at Diamond Tiara, who was now turning on her heel. Button had spent yesterday venting to the pink mare about his aggravations with his father, but he hadn’t quite expected that. Once she was a few steps up, Diamond Tiara looked back at them, and asked, “Well, don’t we have a will to read?’

Slowly, each of them recovered from their stupor, and one by one, they began to trudge up the stairs behind her. Stacked now had an almost permanent scowl on, so long as he was looking at Fair Trial’s back at least. When he had to look back, his inner sleaze ball kicked in, and he smiled at Button, trying to engage in small talk with him. While Button was set on not talking to the fat man anymore than he had to, Twitch was actually the one to touch his back and whisper, “You don’t need to talk to him.”

At the top, Fair Trial sighed, and adjusted his glasses. “Now, ladies, I’ve already gone over the rules with you, and while I know you’re almost family to him-”

Apple Bloom held up a hand. “Even honorary, we ain’t family yet. We understand. If I hear Button crying though, I will come in.”

Fair smiled to the country mare, before nodding and turning to the three stallions. “Now, will you three follow me?”

There was no need for words, but Twitch, with his hands laced in front of him, chuckled out, “Before I have to start making you play Supermare 64.”

Buttons eyes widened, remembering the times that she had to make Button, Twitch, and Thunderlane get out of the house for one reason or another. Someday, it had changed to Thunderlane’s younger brother, and then Sweetie instead of Twitch. He looked to his brother, a small smile on as he said, “Then we’ll beat it like the rest.”

Stacked glanced back, and Fair Trial could tell that he was holding back some sort of comment. It was funny to the proper stallion how much one’s treatment to their son could change when they had an in to a wealthy family. It only made Fair smile brighter as he opened the door to the room. “Please, come in.”

The three shuffled in, and while Twitch offered him one of the two seats in the small office, Button turned it down, and instead decided to stand. This caused the gray stallion to pause, studying his younger brother’s face, before his eyes, and he slipped into the chair. Fair smiled as Button placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder, and remembered all the times Love Tap had hoped her children would never truly separate. “So, while there is a lot more to this, I thought, since I know how busy a professional gaming life can be, that we would simply cut to her will and testament. How does that sound to you all?”

Button fidgeted for a moment, but the memory of yesterday was still very clear in his mind. He was ready, he was certain of it. “Yeah, I think I would like that myself.”

Fair nodded, not even waiting for the others to respond as he pulled out a single piece of paper. He then cleared his throat, and began to read. “This is the Last Will and Testament of Love Tap. I am happy to say that I was always a family mare. When I chose not to follow my family’s business, they still accepted me. When I married a wanderer, and showed more interest in gaming, they gave me the funds necessary. Hopefully, even with my early passing, these gifts will help those who need it most.”

Twitch glanced up, his ears twitching as he blinked. “Early passing? Did mom mean to make a new one?”

Fair Trial nodded, but before he could speak, Button spoke flatly, facing none of them now, even as his body shook. “M-mom was always smart, and wanted to be prepared. This is just like her.”

A small sigh escaped Fair as he turned back to the paper, surprised that the colt wasn’t crying already. Love Tap had always told him he was stronger than he looked though. “Ahem. Sorry, but I must continue.” He waited for them all to nod, and spoke again.

“To my first born, I give my best wishes. While I know you’re not perfect, I know you can grow and be the stallion you want to be. You’re one of the best gamers I’ve ever seen, and when you win first place in one of those tournaments, know that I will be watching proudly. Until then, I hope the Tap’s family plane can get you to where you need to go, and a small fortune of two hundred thousand bits, paid over the course of twenty years, will help fund your future. When you wish to settle though, there is a small lot of land with good internet connection by Manehatten that I think will suit you well”

While Stacked smiled, and laced his hands, Button and Twitch were just… staring. Neither knew what to say, as neither knew what in the world was going on.

“As for my other son, my dearest Button Mash, I give to you what you gave to me. No matter when I needed you, what I needed you for, or what it would take to make me happy, you would always do as asked. You are the best stallion I ever met, and I know that one day, you will be able to show Equestria the joy you’ve shown me. For that dream, and all you gave me, I leave the rest of my possessions to you.”

Twitch looked behind him as silence filled the room, and he could see his brother silently crying against the wall. He stood to go to him, but instead felt a hand thump on his chest as his father used him to help him up. One of his fists slammed onto Fair Trial’s desk, who had just picked up his coffee to avoid it spilling, and screamed, “What about me?”

Fair sipped his coffee, and kept his eyes over it as he said, “As she said to me when I asked her, she claimed that you were nothing but a parasite, and that she would have taken you out of her family long ago. So no, there is nothing for you.”

“That’s perposturou-”

Crack!

The two younger stallions looked to their father as a red aura dissipated from before him, and blood streamed down from his broken nose. Soon, the large stallion crashed down, sending a chair clattering onto the floor with him. Fair Trial paled, at the back of his seat, before Button saw a red glow around his eyes, as well as his brothers. A smile opened on his face, and he thanked Kiara for choosing such an eloquent way to stop him from starting anything.

Twitch blinked a few times, before he turned to Button, and swallowed hard. “He… isn’t going to be happy about this, but, even if he kicks you out of his house, I would be happy to let you stay at the house mom left me. That’s… that’s what brothers would do, right?”

Button sighed, before putting a hand on his brother’s arm. “How about we wait for the competitive season is done, and then we’ll hang out like brothers do? Because…”

“We need to remember that mom never played favorites until I fucked up and said bye to everypony with dad?”

Button smirked at the remark. “That’s surprisingly deep for someone normally so thickheaded.”

Twitch knocked on the side of his head as he tried to smile, but failed, with tears coming out instead. “Well, when you find out your mom died almost a month ago and you didn’t know, you… you start thinking about shit like this.”

“Speaking of things you should be thinking about,” Fair Trial said as he pulled out two sheets of paper. Each brother received one, and both were the deeds to some sort of house. “I do believe you have something to ask me.”

Both of them looked up, and said together, “How does mom own all of this?”

Fair smiled wider. “You really thought your dad had all the money? He is an okay poker player, but nothing special, especially past his thirties. Now as a hint to why your mom has all of this,” he cleared his throat and stated, “To have the future at the tips of your hand with internet, phones, and even telegrams, all you need is Tap.”

Both of them simply blinked a few times, before Twitch looked to Button. Both of theirs heads had pretty much started shutting down at this point. The smaller of them tilted his head, and asked, “So, does Smash sound good before we think too hard about just how much mom had?”

“How about how much you-”

“Smash Brother’s it is!”

And Smash Brothers did not stop until Apple Bloom threw him into bed. There, he could hear Twitch go to his own room. His ‘dad’ wasn’t there. No, while Button had started trying to learn to breathe again, Twitch and Fair Trial had put Stacked onto the plane that his brother was supposed to be on now.

Not that it mattered now. Twitch had his own plane, and from just how big the communication’s industry had grown underneath Tap…

He shut his eyes, before his phone buzzed. The text was from Kiara, and it simply said, Why do you need to change, just because you can retire?

Button put the phone beside him, and reached for the journal. Maybe Kiara was right. That, or Celestia knew he could use a sillier wish right now, before his brain truly melted.