I sigh and turn a page in my book, disappointed to find myself in a familiar abyss of darkness, rocking back and forth on a familiar wooden chair. The book is filled with short stories and drawings of characters in amazing quality. The kid is good, I’ll give them that, but all the fanart of me in the world won’t change why I am here. I pause for just a second when I feel the player spawn into the abyss and hit the floor I conjured before returning to my reading.

I try not to look too closely at my glitching form. It’s bad enough when I see my hand bend and stretch in ways that should be uncomfortable, I don’t need to see when my right leg stretches thirty meters to the left. Hearing armor scrape together makes me glance up at the player.

The character is a mare with a yellow coat wearing a full set of juggernaut armor. The armor has been modified of course, as the pegasus race is unable to equip any piece of equipment in the massive armor class. Fuck, I can even see the mare’s wings clipping out the back of the solid silver and black armor.

I hope I don’t see this place again after this visit, because I would loathe to leave all of these stories and art pieces behind.

Watching the player walk up to me and initiate a dialogue, I quickly look through their dialogue choices and find myself disgusted.

[1: “Where are we?”]
2: “Who are you?”
3: “Uhhh…”
4: “…”

The character isn’t even past the prologue and they’re trying to cheat in my game… Of course, I already know how much they have done, but a girl can dream can’t she? I glance up at the player’s account name which is flashing over their character’s head in order to hit home what’s going to happen.

[LunarGamer35]

Not the most creative name, but certainly more creative than most.

[3: “Uhhh…”]

That’s my cue, “What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?” I ask the player in a condescending tone. “Or is the god armor crushing the pegasus rogue’s tiny little lungs?” I ask before closing the book and glaring at the character, or more specifically the camera. “I should probably warn you before you do something stupid like closing the game right now or loading a previous save… Don’t do it. You will regret it…” I see the cursor go off to the side and try to open a file, with a snap of my glitching fingers the cursor freezes. “Ah ah ah!” I say while waving a finger back and forth. “I’m talking to you right now Lunar Gamer Thirty Five, now get that cursor back where I can see it.” The cursor slowly floats back in from the side, “Good kid. Now, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but I’m not here to answer them. I am here to give you a warning, Lunar Gamer Thirty Five.

“I haven’t lived your life, but you did give me access to your documents in order to make this experience better for you. I don’t like abusing that power, but I dislike your blatant cheating even more. I can see your library of games and I see you’re a loyal customer, but being in this abyss with me means that you’ve disregarded our terms and conditions. You bought the privilege to play this game, but it is just that, a privilege… one that we can easily take away. Your account has been pinged for this breach in trust Lunar Gamer Thirty Five, if you attempt to modify our pride and joy here at Tell-A-Tale Games again… Your account will be invalidated and your computer banned from making any future accounts.

“I am sorry for the inconvenience,” I tell the player before snapping my fingers again, opening the game file on the desktop and activating the scrubbing application. Lunar Gamer’s character bugs out in front of me for a moment before she is simply gone. Hopefully the kid will get their act together, I would hate to have to permaban them.

Sighing, I get up from my chair and turn around to find a character I really didn’t want to see here ever. The stallion is around two meters tall with a red coat of fur and a green mane, a horn sticks out of his head, and he is carrying a staff. The player’s modified his magic stat, I can feel it crawling over my blue glitching fur as he approaches.

[SolarFlare81]

I frown in disappointment as the player’s dialogue choices pop up.

[1: “Storm? Where in the world are we?”]
2: “Oh by the Sisters! Storm, are you alright?”
3: “Storm, why are you an Alicorn?”
4: “Storm…”

I’m disappointed, the player had been so good, they were right before the final battle!

[2: “Oh by the Sisters! Storm, are you alright?”]

I sigh, before looking at the camera, “You just couldn’t wait until you completed the game could you?” I ask, my voice thick with emotions. “You just had to know why my dreams were so glitchy! How I know this is all a game!” I tell the player in a strained voice. “I know this is all a game to you… and considering that you’re back here again… it just doesn’t mean anything to you… Well guess what,” I throw my arms out to the side and the areas all throughout the game spawn in behind me. “This game is my home… my prison cell. When you players go through the game, that is the only time I am able to escape my problems and pretend everything is right in the world...

“...Do you believe yourself above consequences?”

[1: Yes]
2: No

I bring my hand up and slap the options away.

“I’ll tell you a secret... it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t lying about the consequences last time we were here,” I finish, and with a snap of my fingers the area is replaced by an abyssal cavern. The player’s character starts to drown as a colossal figure swims overhead.

“Your account is terminated, Solar Flare Eighty One…” I vanish, but I still see the colossal figure change directions and open its maw before biting the character clean in two with fangs larger than the stallion himself. The sunken abyss glitches a moment later before it fades away completely.

I stand in the void wondering if I will ever escape this prison. A thin stallion wearing a purple and green outfit, with a much too big blood red smile, walks up to me. After who knows how long his black gloves glitch a bit before solidifying. “Come on Jack, you still have to survive your foalhood.”

“...I know, Mr. J…” I whisper. The void flickers around us and I find myself working out math problems beneath a starry night sky in the back of a wagon beside a barn. The bandages around my head cover my right eye. “...I know…”

The night is peaceful and not a single giant spider finds the farm.

Author's Note

Been a while since this story has been updated. Small chapter just to show that it isn't dead.

As always, comment down below to motivate me to write more.