Author's Note

Born of Tragedy

Rainbow grabbed a two-liter bottle of Mr. Pibb and a box of Cheez-its from the counter. Twilight had been hinting at a new project since January. Now was the time to see it come to fruition.

"So what's the story behind this, anyway," Rainbow asked, "I haven't read the comics yet. Wanted it to be a surprise."

"Spike started writing the story when I was in college," Twilight explained, "We pretty much kept to ourselves the entire time. We were both in the throes of a major existential crisis. We couldn't figure out a reason to keep breathing knowing our lives didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. I struggled with suicidal ideation on a daily basis, but I didn't tell him about it for a long time. I hatched a plan to go through with it after I made my fortune, that way I knew my family would at least be taken care of."

"Damn. That's heavy."

"Spike came up with the concept of a human teenager named Maria Drake, a reference to his own state of being. The series started off as two completely separate stories that had nothing to do with each other. They sort of merged together over time as they matured. Part of the reason was because he wanted to write a longer story. Once they came together, it evolved even further from there."

"The whole thing's about evolution, right?"

"In literature, modern humans are referred to homo sapiens. They're descendants of the hominoid family much the same way we are to equines."

"So there's legit evolutionary theory behind it."

"Yeah. We never gave this new phase of evolution a name. There aren't any noticeable changes to the body. The only difference is that Maria and the rest of your party members have full control over their energy. The horror and dark fantasy influences revolve more around the environments, the music, and the enemies."

"It's not very often you see a main character who loves extreme metal, that's for sure."

"Spike took a lot of inspiration from our own lives while he was writing. By the time he drew the actual comics, he had a solid idea of who the characters were, what they looked like, and how they'd cope with the insanity around them."

"That's badass. Guess it didn't take him long to put everything together from there."

"He revised everything a few times before we moved. He wanted to make sure it was deep and complex, but also easy for the average reader to digest."

"Makes sense. Hard to build an audience if they don't understand what you're saying."

"Yeah. Anyway, you ready to test this sucker out?"

"You know it."

Rainbow followed Twilight to the Pegasus's room. They shut the door and turned on the heater to enhance the atmosphere.

Twilight inserted the disc into Rainbow's console while the Pegasus inspected the case. The manual contained information about the characters and combat system.

"You don't have to read over that. I put in a tutorial option so you can learn as we play."

"I'm just checking the character bios. They look really cool."

"Spike wanted them to wear casual clothes to contrast the big-name comic companies. He didn't really like the leotards and latex suits, especially the older ones where they used to wear their underwear on the outside."

"I don't blame him."

The title screen appeared. A portrait of Maria stood next to the title. The background was covered in dark clouds. Heavy, metallic hardcore played through the speakers. When the vocals kicked in, Rainbow noticed they weren't the usual screams and growls she was accustomed to, but a loud spoken word style. She listened carefully to the lyrics.

"What are my feelings of despair!? In silence, I'm dealing, well-prepared! Mind or machine programmed to see - facing which way I need to believe!"

The tempo shifted, slowing down slightly, but the breakdown maintained the pace of a normal riff.

"You've managed to forget what life has meant!"

"These guys are badass! Who are they!?"

"Hand over Fist. They were part of the transitional period between regular hardcore and the heavier metalcore stuff that came later. They had two albums that came out the same year as Life. Love. Regret.."

"Awesome!"

"I put a few codes in. We can use one of them now if you want."

"What are they?"

"Max Level is Up, L1, R1, L2, R2. Max Stats is Square, Circle, Triangle, Left, Right, Up, L1, R1, L2, R2. For 99 of every item, press L1, R1, L2, and R2 simultaneously. The last two codes are costumes for Maria. I set it up like Mega Man X6 where you can only use one per playthrough. The first costume is her Halloween costume from some of the early custscenes. It doesn't change your stats at all. It's just for aesthetic effect. The second one wasn't in Spike's comic, but I added it with his permission. It's called the Azazel costume. Her lips and nails are painted like the Halloween one, but her hair turns light blonde like Emily's and she gains 30 points for all her stats."

"Kinda like a super saiyan."

"Yeah. Kinda."

"What are the codes?"

"The Halloween costume is just circle ten times. The Azazel one is X, Up, Down, Left, Right, L1, R1, L2, and R2."

Rainbow entered the Azazel code. A wind chime jingled for a brief moment, letting Rainbow know she'd entered the code correctly.

"Press start and go to Options."

The Pegasus did as she was instructed.

"You can configure the controls and toggle tutorials. I made the sound effects and music separate from each other so you can control them individually. After you beat the game, you'll unlock sound test mode. Each number is a complete album from the bands that show up in the game."

"Guess I'll have plenty of music to keep me occupied for a while."

Rainbow set up the controls to her liking and returned to the main menu.

"There are four difficulties: Dream, Grind, Strife, and the last one you'll have to unlock. It's called Empathy mode. If you read the description in the manual, it says 'a difficulty for those with a heart of gold and a will of steel'."

"I say we skip the baby steps and jump straight into Strife mode. Knowing you, I have to beat Empathy to get the real ending."

"Ya got me."

"Watch me get murdered."

"At least you can save as many times as you want unlike Resident Evil."

"True. You said the save points are the same as the ones in that Powerpuff game, right?"

"Mixed shades of blue light with spirits floating around them."

"All right! Let's do this!"