New Game

I could barely feel anything... and my surroundings were bright, much too bright. I looked around and found I was sitting over a small coffee table, with a nice looking old man on the other side. He seemed to be drinking a cup of tea, but I didn't get the chance to ask what it was before he noticed me and spoke.

"Ah hello! You're finally here, wonderful! Er.. not so wonderful..." As he said that, he looked down and frowned, seemingly discontent with something. He took another small sip of his tea and continued. "Well best not to dawdle, you are... quite dead i'm afraid."

I just stared with a look of disbelief and confusion he seemed to pick up on, "Yes, i'm so so sorry, I accidentally filed some paperwork wrong and... the world took you too soon i'm afraid..." It didn't make any sense, wait a second, was this God?!

"...wait... just a sec here, are you God??" I managed to choke out, at this point the confusion on my face must have been ludicrous. "A-hah, yes that's me! And like I said i'm really quite sorry..."

"It's uh... okay? Can I.. go back?" I asked, realization dawning on me rapidly that, holy fuck, I am dead! Like, pearly gates, dust in the wind, POOF! "Again, no i'm afraid... But! I can resurrect you in another world, and as such, I found another world to send you to, a world I happen to know you quite enjoyed in your time on Earth." He finished with a small smirk and a wink.

"oh... well that doesn't sound so bad... where will I be sent?" I asked, genuinely curious as to my fate. "Equestria of course! You happened to be quite the fan of the realm so I figured what a better way to repay you than to send you to it!" He smiled, took another sip of tea and waited for my reaction patiently.

I gawked, very excited at the prospect "seriously?! oh man i've wanted to go there for years now! wait... what about my family back on Earth?" I was suddenly hyper aware of my life on Earth. I really didn't like just leaving my parents like this... but I just wanted to know if they would be okay.

"Ah human compassion, a wondrous thing indeed. Yes, yes, they will be quite okay. I made sure to have them mourn you healthily. If it's any consultation I made it seem like you went peacefully in your sleep." He offered genuinely. "thank you... that's a load off my shoulders at least..." I put in almost silently.

"Think nothing of it, son. Now of course ill be giving you some special abilities, what would you say about video game powers, hmm?" As he concluded, I felt my smile somehow return to me.

"this is... of course! that sounds amazing! and... thanks, for giving me another opportunity." I concluded as we both stood up, a swirling purple portal opening just behind me. "Of course, now please, enjoy life again!" I barely heard him as I stepped through the portal, and consciousness left my body.

When I was conscious enough to form thoughts again I was in a black room, in-front of a glowing white video game like main menu screen. It had all the standard options, New Game, Load Game, Cheats, Quit, wait... cheats?

As my mind hovered over the 'Cheats' option, the button clicked and a new menu opened, listing all kinds of options to be enabled and disabled. "Enable unlimited mana? Enable console commands? What does any of this even mean?" I said to no-one in particular.

I pawed through a few more options before deciding it best to not mess with any of them, and returned to the main menu screen. The next menu I accessed was 'Load Game' in which I found a couple of old saves, all corrupted. I stared at them, realizing that in all likelihood, these were my old life's saves.

I really don't know how long I stared at them before once more retreating onto the titular, boring main menu screen. I accessed the 'New Game' option, and the room I was in spun to reveal a blank character sheet. After gathering my senses I noticed a new menu wanting something.

[Enter Name]

Oh... right... I would need a new name. I thought back to my many OCs, but none seemed right all of the sudden. And so I sat, creating a new name for myself until I finally found a somewhat decent fit. I entered 'Dawn Twinkle' into the sheet. Yeah, yeah, know. But pony naming conventions are stupid anyways.

[Enter Character Stats]

Before me laid a Fallout style S.P.E.C.I.A.L menu, where I currently had five points in every category. The menu said I had 15 points to divide, so I put five points each into Luck, Intelligence, and Charisma. The menu seemed to accept this, and a pop-up menu alerted me to a new perk.

[New Perk Added: Studious. This Perk gives you +2 to Intelligence and Luck in the presence of more than 15 books.]

Huh... that seems oddly specific for a perk... whatever, i'm certainly not complaining! As the pop-up menu disappeared, a new menu grabbed my attention.

[Create Character Appearance]

As I looked through numerous options, I couldn't help but laugh. "So life really will be just like a video game now? Right down to a custom character? Wow... can't say i'm not excited." The first option that the menu asked me was Male, or Female. I figured I might as well try new things, and picked Female. Next on the list, basic appearance like coat, mane, and eye color.

For coat I went with a light purple fading into a light yellow towards my... hooves... yeah, MY hooves. Oh man that's seriously weird to say. For MY mane, ugh again that's weird, I went with a medium length kind of cut, with a dark blue color streaked with gold highlights. Lastly, eyes. I chose golden eye color, like a rising sun. Damn that was cheesy.

The next question gave me pause, Pegasus, Unicorn, Earth Pony, or Alicorn. The smart thing to pick would have been Alicorn, but then again that might have caused some undeserved stress to the Equestrians... so I decided against it. I picked unicorn, and went on my way to the next menu.

[Choose A Start]

[Daughter Of Nobility: Be born into a wealthy canterlot family, and become part of the Elite.]

[Discorded Reality: Start the game as the infamous Discord, right as he escaped from stone. !Warning, high chance of GAME OVER!]

[Siblings To Harmony: Become the twin of a main character, and possibly upstage them, or take their place entirely.]

[Natural Born Alicorn: Automatically chosen if picked Alicorn, this option will find you in the care of Celestia and Luna.]

[More Options Below]

Wow... that's alot to consider... But I reckon i'll take Siblings To Harmony. I've always felt a connection to Twilight, she's always been my favorite, so i'll be twins with her. As soon as I thought that, the menu accepted my unspoken answer alerted me to another new perk.

[New Perk Added: Sibling To Magic. Will learn magic 125% faster, Mana pool increased by 75%.]

Whelp, i'm gonna be OP as all fuck. But then again, who's complaining in the volatile world of Equestria? Being over-powered is better than being under-powered... right? Ah who am I kidding, I just like cheating in video games.

[Create Cutie Mark]

Oh. This is slightly unexpected, I figured that it'd just show up at some point because of destiny... or something. Oh well. I drew an Asclepius staff on top of a purple six pointed star with wings in my head, and a vision of the mark appeared in-front of me. Perfect.

[Complete Character?]

Before I finished I quickly reviewed my character. Dawn Fade, a unicorn mare with Twilight 'Friggin Sparkle as a sister. Ah jeez, my life is about to get weird. I mentally prepared myself to click 'Yes' but I hesitated. If I click this my old life is really gone... but I'm still me... hopefully.

With that worrying thought, I quickly shoved anything darker from my mind, and I once more prepared myself for whatever was waiting on the other side of the button. I clicked 'Yes' and instantly a white light engulfed me, and a system notification came up.

[Old Save Corrupted, Delete Old Save?]

I clicked 'Yes' before I could really think about it and then I started to hear a baby cry... wait that was me! Why was I crying? And then I heard a masculine voice. "It's another girl? Uhm... Congratulations Mrs. Velvet."