The colt looked up at the blood-red sky, with dangerous meteors crashing down, the whole ground shaking underneath him. "Ha... it's not just a game after all." He weakly laughed, shaking with fear. As he narrowly ran into a cave, he breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing down, remembering about how he had ended up here.
It was merely one day ago when Button was still blissfully in his sweet home, without a worry. "Yeah, flank that guy! Shoot him in the chest!" Button Mash yelled out to his team. He had been playing the hottest VR game around, going day and night trying to achieve a top rank. But he didn't realize that he was so exhausted he was just barely hanging on. As the title showed the words "VICTORY", Button closed his eyes, still muttering: "wait... just one more game..." and succumbed to his sleep.
Next thing he knew, Mash saw himself in front of a train car. He thought he had mistakenly clicked on something in his dreams. Still not quite thinking, he slowly trotted into there, excited about more inventive games, finding himself in a brand new level. Or so it seemed. As he glanced around the grassy field, he tilted his head, interested in what was going on. "Welcome, passenger!" A voice stated, with a black and white round robot on the screen, "My name is One-One! I'm here to show you how to..." but he was already off himself to find out this game. He hated tutorials and how they guided you hoof to hoof. He was a hardcore gamer through and through, and he was not about to give up despite the strangely realistic interface. As he tapped everywhere, struggling to bring up the menu, he rolled his eyes and reluctantly focused his attention back to the screen.
"...on your hoof, you'll find a number," the robot continued, "you want that number to go down to zero!" But then contradicted itself immediately with a sad face, "or you can just make your number go high to stay on the train..."
So the end of the demo/game is having your number be zero? Interesting...is it a reverse score system? As Button glanced down, he saw a "452" glowing in green. Well, if this game is fun, I guess I'll stay on here for longer. And so Button looked around his surroundings. A decorated garden made way for a pavilion, where butterflies flitted about and a stone chair invited him to sit there and appreciate the view. The trees were magnificent, as Button noted he would have to give well-deserved praise for the graphics of the game. As he looked left and right, he could've sworn he felt the slight warmth of the sun on his back as he trotted forward. Even for an action-oriented gamer like him, he admitted, this was a great beginner area. Especially to introduce movement. He nodded, opening a red door and barely glancing back.
He blinked in confusion as he saw the outside of the car. This was a unique transition system -- presenting level as train cars? That was a first. Not to mention he couldn't hear any foreshadowing from within the car. But Button supposed the creators must've had a reason for this design. He didn't like how narrow the walkway was, but he suspected that the next levels' walkways might be a crucial place for rest or a dangerous intersection, should something chase you outside of the level. He shrugged and moved on to the next train.
The wind blew around the dust, making it hard to see anything. The red ground endlessly stretched on, and the sky was a scarlet color. Various caves lied in the barren landscape, with glints here and there lighting up the dark, hinting at a reward. Being a fast speed-runner who loved efficiency, Button immediately went for the exit. But as he tried the red door, he found that it was stuck. Worse yet, in front of a locked red door was a countdown. And so Button decided to go into the caves instead while complaining: "Ugh! Exploration missions. These are the worst." As Button wandered into them, he found fireflies that lit up the path, a helpful guide for his way through. With some seemingly magical fountain gatherings, he heard an ominous sound. Indeed, as he continued through multiple caves, he found the number consistently going down. "Too easy!" he remarked, still mildly annoyed at the count-down.
But as Button walked to the last cave, bored out of his wits, he saw out in the sky, multiple lights falling directly towards him. An earthquake begun, nearly offsetting his balance, with the wind only making things worse. As he tried to dodge out of the way in instinct, he hit the ground, bruising his sides. "Ouch!" He yelped out, then slowly realized something was wrong. Games didn't make you feel pain. And he was getting a bit tired from all this walking. "No..." he said, his face paling at the possibilities. As his pace sped up, he grew more nervous and the meteors almost landed right beside him. He hated to admit it, but now he wanted to go back. As he desperately looked at his number, he was crestfallen to see that it was even higher-- "496".
"Ha... it's not just a game after all." He had said a few minutes ago. As the meteors subsided, tears began falling down Button's face as he realized his terrible mistake. Just how was he going to get back? Why didn't he pay attention to the surroundings more? Was every single "level" of this insanity equally dangerous and painful? He laid there for a few minutes, still thinking about his parents' previous warnings and how gaming was bad for him. As he stumbled out of the train, he hesitated before going into the next car. But he knew that he had to find a way out of here, video game or not.
As Button walked with his head drooping onwards to the next car, still trying to figure out how to get his number down, he noticed that this one was far more dark, cool, and sleek. Even with his lowered mood, he had to admit that the cyberpunk design of the metal platforms was incredibly well done, as the walls stretched beyond his vision, even while simple and straight for the most part. He continued on, stepping on taller and taller platforms, as he recalled his past experience with playing VR platformers. In a way, it was exhilarating to do it for real. He wasn't truly into parkour, but as he lightly jumped from one platform to the next, he felt free for the first time in ages. Turns out his mother had a good point after all that being outside could help you sometimes. Feeling the wind against his mane, he sped up, running from one to the next, each spin and stop trickier than the last. He was so absorbed that he didn't notice as he ran into another pony.
"Ouch!" The ... mare? Stated, goggles on her face, her frizzled mane covering her ears. She carried a pack on her back, and her cutie mark seemed to be some kind of machine. She seemed to squint at him in the dark, and looked behind his shoulder to see if any other pony was following. "You're a fast one, I'll give you that."
Button shook himself off as he sheepishly grinned. He wasn't certain how to interact socially; it had been quite some time since he had needed to in real life. As the mare glanced at him, seeming to judge him, she offered her hoof to shake. Button wasn't certain how old she was. He recalled his classic hoof bump and executed it, though the mare raised an eyebrow, clearly not up to date on the modern standards. "Huh. I guess that's what colts are up to these days, inventing new ways of shaking hoof. Anyways, my name's Willow. What's yours?"
"My name's Button," he said, still feeling a bit awkward, but remembered his purpose. This mare seemed to have a better experience than him. "any idea why we're on this train?"
She seemed to think about it for a while, then responded: "Did you not hear the robot's introduction?" She sighed at his shaking of his head. "Alright, so... it seems to me that your flaws and troubles are represented by the number on your hoof. Once you resolve your inner turmoil, you can get off the train."
"Well that certainly makes things clear..." Button said, hope ignited, "but if you know this much, why are you still stuck on the train? Is your number really high?"
As Button looked down, he noticed the mare had a glove covering her left hoof. Seems like his suspicions might've been correct. "Yes..." Willow responded slowly, her face darkening, "many ponies like me have a lot of problems that are much harder to solve. " As she walked down one of the slopes, Button realized that his number might've actually been low in comparison to those with true problems. Well, as long as he could help her, he figured that he might also find a way off the train himself.
As the dark platforms shifted, surprising Button and unsettling his balance, Willow supported him with a hoof. "Ah, I probably should've mentioned some of these trains shift around a lot. It can be pretty unpredictable."
Button laughed, puffing his chest. "This amount of RNG is nothing!" He said, referring to the popular game mechanic of randomizing events and enemies. As Willow blinked blankly, he coughed as they continued on to near the end of the train car.
"Well, I'm getting a bit tired. This seems like a good train to sleep in," Willow remarked, unpacking her backpack, which luckily contained two sleeping bags, as Button reacted wide-eyed, "the next one's a bit bright."
"The next one?!" Button asked, astonished that Willow had returned to this train.
But Willow was already dozing off, dismissing his exclamation with a mere: "Ah, yes... I had to return. This train has much resources for... extraction."
Did she mean archeology? Button thought, as he laid in the blanket. Why would a pony with a machine for a cutie mark know how to "extract resources"? There must be more to her than meets the eyes...
As Button laid in his bag, absentmindedly glancing at his hoof, which read "476", he scratched his head, trying to remember if his number went lower or not. He only just realized, the magnificent white blocks resembling stars scattered across the sky, the platform ceiling that extended across the entire landscape. Such a mystical car, and yet, the pony beside him was arguably even a bigger mystery. He was excited for the next day.
