It happened again. I was too late, too weak, I couldn’t stop him and all my friends, all my family are dead. They always die no matter how much I try. Rubbing the tears from my eyes, I looked up to see the one thing I’ve always hated, the one thing that made this unending cycle of death the one thing that was supposed to help save everyone that I love but never does. The blue screen that is apart that is forever apart of my cursed life.

You have died

Load Save

Quit

For who knows how long now, my life has been centered around this screen and what it meant and I just can’t take it anymore. Instead of pressing the obvious choice of Load Save and continuing the cycle of death one more time in a feeble attempt to stop what will always come I chose Quit. With the expected ping of my game like ability activating once more, the ruined landscape around me disappeared only to be replaced with unending darkness and a glowing blue sign hanging from invisible strings. On the never before seen sign was a picture of myself as a young boy standing next a version of myself that I was much more familiar with, surrounded by glowing jewels in the form of the elements of harmony. Those elements were supposed to be the key to every problem the world could throw them but even they couldn’t stop the villain who destroyed both them and the bearers of their power. Below the lying picture of happiness and peace was something I expected but still found surprising.

Spike’s Adventures in the land of Equestria:

The Game

Load Game

New Game

Options

Extras

Reading the title, I couldn’t help but laugh at the ironic simpleness the sign tried to convey when my game, My life was anything but. Seeing no reason not to mess with what was essentially mine, I started from the bottom and worked my way up through to the top. In the Extras were hundreds of items, costumes, weapons, and even cherished scenes I had collected from my many runs through the demented gauntlet that was my life and each one simply made me remember both the good and bad memories of what I went through to obtain them all such as the time I helped Twilight organize her entire library three times over without complaint only to receive a simple pair of glasses that could let me read any book at blinding speed without the threat of headaches or tiring my eyes out, or the time I helped appleJack buck apples from her entire field of delicious apple trees to gain a farmer's outfit that gave me the green thumb skill or the time I had to save sweetie bell by distracting a fully grown manticore as the CMC ran away in fear only to get a knife coated in an unending supply of the beast’s venom. All the possible Extras were mne to use as I wished whether they be for bad or good as I found out, all except for one. The final Extra the one with no requirements on how to gain it, was completely blank as if mocking me for my inability to do anything right and funnily enough, I agreed with its sentiment. Closing the window of memories and empty promises, I selected Options next. It was filled with multiple screens that affected how I could see and hear and even it my words became physically present in the world but that was all. Next was New Game; unable to stand the thought of What it meant, I simply skipped over it and chose the final option from the menu, Load Game. 1 screen popped up but in it were thousands of what I learned were called save file. Little checkpoints I had created to capture moments of triumph or simply start over from scratch to help defeat any opponent who was too strong for me to fight as I was. For the most part it, worked but every time I thought everything would go right the final villain appeared. No matter how much I studied, how much I trained, how much I collected to finally defeat him, it was never enough so everyday one the day of my 18th birthday my life was over for another try to defeat him only to fail. After all, how can somebody defeat them-self.

To think, that before I gained this curse, my life had been that of a normal boy dragon raised by ponies. I would spend my days reading comic books, helping Twilight by assisting her with whatever she and the rest of the Mane six needed, and fantasizing about having Rarity, the most beautiful and sweetest mare in the world, be my special somepony. But after gaining this curse I realized the truth, no matter how strong I thought I could become, how great my life could become, I was till a dragon. A being whose sole purpose is to hunt, steal, and destroy. Most dragons as I learned experience what is known as “The time of purpose” a biological event that usually happens on the day of a dragon’s 10th birthday to determine if they knew what they were to become in life or simply succumb to their draconic urges to become unthinking shells of their former selves. For some reason unknown to me, my “Time of purpose” came late and always will no matter what I do. This means that no matter what skills and weapons I own, My draconic side does too but with the added bonus of it’s draconic nature helping surpass me no matter what I do to become stronger.

Sighing to myself, I tried to only think about the good times my life as a ponyville resident lead too not what I always became. Funnily enough, no matter how much I tried to think of everything good, my mind only wandered back to the day I gained this curse, the day I was just a weak little baby dragon with no idea that I could become strong enough to rival all powerful alicorns like Celestia, Luna, and even Twilight when the time came for her ascension. I wished I could back to that time but my earliest save is 2 years after my discovery of this curse I now bear when I was on the way to becoming the god that I would become. If I could just go to before then, then everything could be different maybe even safer for my friends and family with only a weak dragon to worry about.

It was then that I realized that maybe I could. Going back to the main menu, I stared at the New Game option as I weighed the pros and cons of doing so.

‘If I do this then all progress i’ve ever made will all be for nothing, but my friends and family will be safe.’

Stealing my nerves, I selected the New Game option and was brought back to the load save menu though more slots with open vacancy were now visible for use. Selecting the next open slot directly under my latest save, I Pressed next. Once pressed, 2 new screens appeared.

Would you like to use the tutorial?

Yes No

Remembering the days where I was fumbling around to try and figure out the mechanics to my game of a life, I couldn’t suppress the shiver from those dark days. Selecting yes for no other reason than my own paranoia, the first screen disappeared leaving behind the second one. Reading the final box, I couldn’t a toothy smile from appearing on my face.

For creating a New Game, you have unlocked the final Extra.

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter fellow MLP lovers. I know it's very sparse in terms of actual events but I just wanted to get the idea started before blasting straight into the story so as to help set up the real plot i'm going for. So in a sense, you could consider this the prologue to the real story.

Anyways, if you liked or disliked the story then leave a comment of what you thought and why so I can figure out how to make it even better for everyone.