Of Moms and Video Games
This is a tale of forbidden love between a mother and son. A tale of Button Mash who delves into the new Virtual Reality game world of Pony Blade, but unbeknownst to him, so does his mother; their characters meet online, love and lust blossoms. But then they decide to meet in real life; imagine their shock... This... is a tale of a love that blossomed despite society's views.
***Disclaimer***
I do not own MLP FIM nor do I make any money off of it or have any connections to it, its producers, or benefactors. This is a work of fiction meant for entertainment.
***disclaimer***
***Warning***
Swearing.
Clop.
Drama.
Angst.
Mother/son incest.
***Warning***
OK. so basically the dozens of Button/Milano short story one shot clopfics inspired this along with that hilarious and cute fan-made episode of Button.
I searched a lot for some hot Mommy and Button action but came to find nothing but 1-7 thousand word single chapter one shots! And while yes they were very nice and well written and very very hot... I found the sheer short length... irritating...
And thus I decided to jump on the Button-Mom-Wincest band wagon with my own fanfiction; but i wanted to make a decent sexy/romance/drama that managed to drag out for at least 20,000 words minimum (as I personally don't consider a fanfiction to be a 'normal length' story unless it reaches the 20,000 bear minimum word count.)
And I wanted not only to have a bunch of dirty incestuous mother/son smut, but to also have a genuine plot (no pun intended) as well as an actual sense of mature romance; and of course, what good medium length wincest story doesn't have some drama and angst thrown in there?
As such, I decided to write Of Mothers and Video Games.
Enjoy.
..
...
...
...
Chapter One, Of Dreams and Reality
-Reality is what you make it. Such a common and Clichéd term, but it holds more truth and virtue to it than most would care to admit. After all, isn't a dream reality? Whilst we dream we take everything that happens to us to be the simple truth of reality; that is, until we awaken and suddenly say 'it was just a dream' So then, what is a fantasy if not another reality? Perhaps our reality is merely what we choose it to be. So given the choice between a dream, a fantasy, and reality, what would you choose?- Excerpt From The Secret Book of Bemnal The Fallen.
Milano Mash entered the Ponyville apartment complex. Ascending the stairs she approached her and her son's simple two bedroom apartment. They'd been living there ever since she'd kicked her husband out of their old house. With a single mom's paycheck supporting two foals they simply couldn't keep up with the mortgage.
With a sigh, she pondered over the events upon recent years. They used to be so happy together... a lovely little family, husband, wife, two sons... big house, even had a dog. Just one big happy family.
But then she'd filed for divorce... it wasn't that she necessarily hated her ex husband, she just... wasn't happy with him anymore. That's normal right? Right?! Milano wasn't sure anymore... her eldest son certainly guilted her enough about it. Oh that wretched day... the argument to end all arguments. Days had passed by as Milano fell into a fit of depression; her husband, no... ex husband owned a carpenter company, they mostly fixed up old houses or built additions like decks and new basements.
But sadly, the old stallion wasn't very good at managing his business, he was lazy and had poor scholar skills, he'd meeked his way through high school before getting married, only to divorce five years later leaving a single mom with a son behind. Then he met Milano. Originally they were supposed to be a one night stand, just a simple bit of stress relief for the both of them.
Well, unfortunately, 7 ciders tended to make one less conscious about birth control, 5 months later Milano showed up at the stallion's door step with a swelling tummy. Guilted, the stallion married her and they settled down in a nice quaint little house. The colt was born, 4 years later they had Button Mash. They were actually a nice family for a few years...
But the stallion's poor business management began effecting their financial status. He got old and lazy, the jobs he did manage to get a hold of brought in a few thousand bits but such jobs were too few and far between. In the end Milano grew weary of her husband's foul attitude, anger issues, and in general, being a hopeless slob of a stallion. Their fight waged on for hours. Milano screamed, her husband yelled, she cried and he broke a few pieces of furniture. In the end they both slumped to the ground in the basement with tears in their eyes.
Hoof steps form above caused them to look up and spot their two foals. Button was crying while his brother silently glared.
A few days later the divorce was set into motion; eventually Milano's husband left. And there she was... a single mom raising two foals, the eldest of which blamed her every day for breaking their family apart, and he made sure that she knew it.
Constant bullying from her son mixed with the bills piling up pushed Milano into a fit of depression. They stayed with a family friend for a couple years during which Milano went through her midlife crisis. She wailed and cried nearly every day at how much she hated her life; she found solace in food; eventually packed on quite a few pounds which only furthered to lower her self esteem.
Button's older brother grew to the age at which he became an independent stallion and immediately left the household, refusing to take even a single bit from his mother to help support his new life. It was blatantly obvious that he never wanted to see her again.
Milano blamed herself for everything... her financial crisis... kicking her ex husband out... even her oldest son's brutish attitude...
Milano was forced to file for bankruptcy.
Things got somewhat better after that though, Milano and Button moved into a fourplex apartment. A large building set up with four cozy apartments all stacked together like a giant house. It was surprisingly nice, the neighbors were kind and polite, and thankfully quiet much to Milano's relief. She got onto a diet plan and dropped a lot of pounds, though she still kept a bit of a pudgy stomach and just the slightest bit of a jiggly rump much to her dismay.
As for Button, he hadn't changed much; though she did finally convince him to stop wearing that silly hat. Button always took so long to learn real life skills... he didn't know how to operate a pony bike until he was ten, and didn't learn how to swim until he was twelve. Although Milano was fairly worried about his athletic health due to the ungodly amount of junk food he ate as he wasted away in front of that 'idiot' box as he'd come to refer to his large game system as. But those were somewhat sated when he took up quite a few athletic classes in school for his electives, she was honestly surprised at how much he enjoyed sports; though Button himself attributed it to himself simply being overly competitive due to his years of gaming. He didn't like to lose. At anything.
At this revelation Milano was somewhat relieved, perhaps her son was't as hopeless as his father after all, he certainly had the drive to get off his lazy flank and do stuff; by the time he was 16 he was elected as both the vice president of the Martial Arts club in his high school as well as a team captain in the Dungeons and Ponies club.
All in all, Button was taking on responsibilities in his life and giving honest effort to them; sure the actual responsibilities themselves may have been immature by Milano's reckoning, but still, it was good to see him growing up.
Though some things never change... he still spent 100% of his free time in front of that 'idiot box' playing games that she was sure weren't even written in Equestrian. This was obviously cause for concern, he never spent any time with his 'friends' which she was about 80% convinced didn't even exist. Sure he knew ponies from the clubs he was involved in but he never brought them over other than for some drawn out D&P meetings, and he didn't spend any time with them. He never went to a friend's house, he never had any sleep overs... she was beginning to wonder if he was antisocial...
Now at the age of 17, the only pony he really spend any amount of time with was Sweetie Belle, but that was mostly spent at the arcade or in SCC getting brain freeze. Still, at least he had a genuine friend whom he genuinely hung out with on occasion.
Milano sighed as he trotted up the stairs to her apartment door NO. 3.
Sliding her hoof into her 'pocket' on the side of her flank, she pulled out her key and unlocked the door. It still amazed her sometimes at how she could manipulate objects without strait up touching them.
All of the three pony races had their own special brand of magic. Telekinesis was the universal ability that tied all the races together. Unicorns could channel it through their horns in a whip-like tendril that could causally move around multiple objects. Pegasi could use it to allow them flight despite their weight and walk on clouds or even manipulate the weather. As for Earth Ponies? Their telekinesis lied within their hooves; they could channel it out from the edge of the hoof to form invisible 'fingers' as Lyra so aptly named them. Though all ponies had this ability, none rivaled the skill of the Earth Ponies, their 'fingers' were the most dexterous and strongest; they could also seep the magic from their hooves into the earth and sort of pour their live force into it to grant the soil heightened fertility and even make plants grow at an accelerated rate with much more nutrients and flavor than they'd ever be capable of on their own.
Unlocking the door; she made her way in and took note of her son dominating the living room area with his Game Station 2000. Why on Equis did she buy him that thing? 'Oh ya, because I'm a push over who can't say no, that's why' she thought bitterly to herself. She'd been so authoritative when she was younger. But after everything that happened...
"*sigh* there's just no motivation anymore..." Milano mumbled.
It was true, she'd become somewhat complacent and rarely said no to any of her son's requests. He wasn't spoiled though, he rarely asked for anything and when he did it was always the same thing; a game. Or a game console, though he usually only asked for those on birthdays.
It was as if he purposely spread out the space between requests specifically so that it wouldn't seem like she was spoiling him. And Milano was about 75% sure that this was intentional. Button was a lot smarter than ponies took him for; especially when it came to strategy and manipulating other ponies. Bit of a dark talent but he merely waved it off as 'charisma' And while it was true that he didn't have many close friends, he had become fairly popular.
Well... as long as he kept his grade up she supposed... which he did; despite his obsessive gaming habit, he always made sure to get his homework done and study just enough to slide by with a 2.9 GPA not terrific but not bad either.
Button himself sat in the living room holding his controller with an earpiece headset. Sometimes the sheer speed at which he pressed the buttons amazed Milano, he never once paused to look down at the controller just to check if he was pressing the correct button corresponding to the command he sought. The hoof eye coordination required for such a feat baffled Milano. She'd tried playing one of those things with him once. Monkey Kong if she remembered right; but it was a much different version that what she remembered, this one wasn't a 2D plat-former, this was a 3 dimensional free roam and she was immediately overwhelmed by the complexity.
"HOW DO YOU EVEN HOLD THIS THING?!" she'd yelled as she stared at the five handles sticking out from the base of the controller. Honestly, why would you need five handles when you only have two hooves?!
Milano shook her head with a silent groan. The apartment was a fairly nice one; once you walked in from the front door; you entered the living room. To your right would be the TV plus two couches. A large double window and a soft carpet.
If you continued forward you'd see the dining area with a hardwood floor, a nice sizable dining table that Milano's mother had left her. Going into the dining room you could turn left to see one of those tiny little apartment kitchens, you know the ones with hardly any space between the fridge and sink? At least there was a window... there was also a double window and an AC unit on the was on the wall opposite the entry way.
Turning way from the Dining area and walking back towards the Living room, you could turn right to see a short hallway leading to Milano's room, the master bedroom. Standing in front of the door you could turn left to see another small hallway attached to the previous forming and "L" at the end of which was the small and simple bathroom with a shower/bathtub hybrid. To the right was Button's room, and to the left was the universal closet with a sliding wooden door where all their coats were stored.
Milano sighed yet again as she opened her son's room up only to be hit with the musk of teenage colt; a mixture of sweat, B.O., and ejaculate all coalescing into a single scent that was identifiable uniquely as Button's. "Ugh! Button! I told you to clean your room! It stinks in here!" she chargined as she stomped in and picked up random bits of clothing before tossing them into Button's hamper. It was the middle of Autumn and the air was beginning to fill chill; and with the cold came the necessity for clothing.
Looping her tail through the handle holds on the hamper, she dragged it out of her son's room.
"It's gonna smell like that no matter what I do!" Button yelled back distractedly.
Milano scowled at the far wall end of the hallway as she made her way towards her own room, "not if you actually CLEAN it once and a while and let it air out!" she shot back before entering her own room and dumping the clothes into her own hamper. That task done, she took her own hamper and dragged it out into the living room; "and I'm missing some silverware, do you have any in your room?"
"No, I don't eat in my room." Button grumbled back as he began mashing one of the buttons on his controller; he was currently in a four way campaign online with Sweetie Belle, Pip, and Scootaloo as they did their best to fight off the swarm of Taekerack Daemns from the nether realms of Karashtz. Playing for 9 hours straight they'd at least put a minor dent in the quest line of their fantasy game. At last they killed the last of the Taekerack Daemns only for the floor boss Kiritotsu to appear.
"Yes! We finally made it!" Pip exclaimed; it was true, they'd lost their entire party at least... what... four times on this quest?
Milano rolled her eyes as she headed back to the hallway to fish around in the closet for the laundry soap and washer machine card. She idly wondered how much money was left on he card; it would certainly be annoying to head down to the laundry room only to discover that she had less than a bit left on the card.
"hmm..." she headed into her room and tossed 20 bits into her flank pocket just to be on the safe side. Heading back out she heard her son barking orders to the other players as he set them up for what he called, 'attack formation Beta' whatever that meant. During which she gave a sad smile at his voice; no longer the crackly high pitched tone that it used to be when he was younger. When he hit puberty... well... he hit PUBERTY! His voice dropped at least an octave and carried a lot of deep vibration to its tone, it sounded strong mature; it actually reminded her a lot of his father. Sadly he was also growing up to look like his father as well, she at least hoped he wouldn't start acting like him too; that certainly wouldn't be acceptable.
As she was about to leave the room, Button's character attacked Kiritotsu with a confuse spell only for it to bounce off with a notice popping up saying '95% immunity to magic'
"BULLSHIT!" Button screemed at the top of his lungs.
"Button! language!" Milano chastized, but her son ignored her.
"What the hell is that! What's the point of being a Wizard if the only time you actually need Controller spells the frickin' boss is immune to everything?! This is Bullshit!" she took his headset off and tossed it at the TV.
"BUTTON!" Milano shouted with a deep scowl on her face.
Button crossed his arms and grumbled as he fumed. Through the TV Sweetie's voice sounded out, "Raaage quiiiit~" she sang out mockingly.
"Shut up!" Button yelled back in a comedic none serious tone.
Milano sighed, she didn't have time for this; she'd had a stressful day at work. Without another word, she left the apartment and headed downstairs to the laundry room; within she tossed the clothes inside and stuck the card in; luckilly there was still 7 bits left. She sighed in appreciation.
This was really the only usefulness she really contributed anymore or so she felt. She remembered back when she used to make home cooked meals for the whole family... now she was on her special diet food while her son lived off of microwaveable crap like frozen burritos, pizza rollers, and PB&J sandwiches; and he was starting to form a pot belly of his own from his poor eating habits despite the exercise he got from sports classes and the martial arts club.
But... what could she do? As unhealthy as those foods were, they were cheap and Button wasn't complaining about them so... yet she could pay a little extra for her own diet food? She gave yet another sigh; heading back upstairs she found her son laying back against the couch as she stared blankly at the ceiling.
"You know, you still could've healed us; you didn't have to just give up."
"Wizard healing spells are nothing compared to a Cleric's I wouldn't have made a difference believe me I would know..."
He rubbed his face with his hooves as Milano walked by, "hey mom? Can you take me to the to Joystop? I have to pick up something I pre ordered."
Milano inwardly grumbled and thought about her answer... oh who was she kidding, it's not like she had anything better to do. What? Go online to the dating site to look for somepony only to find 50 year old fat ugly stallions looking for a one night stand? Go into her room and do crossword puzzles for three hours?
"Dear gods I need a life..." she whispered to herself.
"What?" Button's ears perked up.
"Oh nothing... yes sure, just let me get dressed..." Milano replied before heading into her room and slapped on a thick brown turtle neck and some jeans on her hind legs. Button was already wearing grey plaid pajama bottoms and a black zip up hoodie around the upper half of his body.
Milano frowned when he stood by the door ready to go. "You're not going out in your pajamas, put some pants on." she said sternly with a deadpan.
Groaning, Button trudged into his room and slipped into some black jeans before meeting his mom looking like a goth colt; only adding to the effect were the thick dark circles around his eyes which had only grown in circumference since his foalhood due to a fierce lack of sleep. He tended to be play until 12 or 1 in the morning before getting around 4-6 hours of sleep pending.
Speaking of sleep, as they hopped into the Wyvern drawn carriage, Button gave a long loud yawn before blinking in a daze.
"Button, you should really get some more sleep."
"mmm." was his only response.
Eventually they arrived at the Joystop store and immediately Button hopped out and rushed into the store; Milano followed behind in a lazy gait, inside she saw a few other mothers with their foals rushing around the store; particularly there was a large group of young stallions crowding around the register along with Button, presumably picking up their own pre ordered copies of... whatever it was they were getting.
Milano sat down on a bench nearby along with a trio of other mothers who looked just as depressed and bored as she did. 'Well... consolation points for not being the only one I guess' Milano thought with a rueful smile.
Either way, Button got his game along with a rather large box that she needed to help him carry into the carriage; "what IS all this?" Milano asked as they finally got the box inside the cart.
"The pre-order came with all of the hardware needed to play it. You need virtual reality helmets to play it."
Milano frowned, "that sounds expensive..."
"OH ya, like 2,000 bits I think." Button said with a coy smile.
"WHAT?!" Milano exclaimed while jumping into the air and falling on her tummy with her legs sprawled out.
"Hahahaha! Ohhhh that was great..." Button laughed, "no I won a raffle for beta-testing, I got all the equipment for free and the game itself. Anypony who got to level 75 or higher before the beta-testing was finished got a free copy of the finished version plus the new edition of the helmet compatible with any game system." he explained.
Milano didn't look amused at the prank he'd played.
Groaning to herself; Milano hopped into the carriage and grabbed the Wyvern's tethering. After a few minutes they arrived at home. Once inside, Button immediately began setting up his new game system. Now that Milano got a good look at it, she noticed did take notice of the vast similarity between the two virtual reality helmets; both the one her son was currently setting up and the one in front of the computer.
"Hmm, but do you really need two Button?" she inquired.
"Naw, that old one only works for computers, this one's convertible to all game systems; I can just sell the old one on F-Bay or something." Button replied as he fumbled around with his new device.
"Hmm." Milano responded before heading out the door and down into the laundry room and pulled out her laundry card as she dumped all the clothes into the drier and started it up.
Heading back upstairs she saw her son sighing as he headed to his room, "what's wrong honey?"
"I forgot that it takes like 8 hours to calibrate to whatever system it's connected to." he responded making no effort to hide his agitation.
Milano shrugged, heck, when she was a filly it took several hours just for a computer to turn on!
After sitting down to watch TV she stared at the loading screen of Button's game, "Button! You're thing's still on!"
"USE THE REMOTE MOM!" he yelled back from his room.
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT BUTTON TO PUSH!" she yelled equally as loud. And she wanted peace and quiet...
"UGH! VIDEO INPUT, HDM2!"
Milano stared blankly at the remote control... The only buttons she understood were channel up, channel down, volume, power, and channel numbers. yet collectively those didn't even make up half of the buttons on the remote.
"... W-WHERE'S 'INPUT'?"
"Oh for Luna's sake..." Button mumbled as he marched out of his room, into the living room and snatched the remote from his mother before stetting the TV from AVI to Cable. "You should really learn how to operate this thing." he chastised as he handed the remote back to a frowning Milano, "don't get smart with me." she warned.
"Gee, thanks for the appreciation for helping you out! I see how it is, just a slave driver huh?!" he said jokingly and they both began to laugh.
After an hour, Milano took the laundry out and folded it up. Button ate a frozen pizza while Milano had her regimented diet food which always left her hungry afterwards. She hated it when Button asked for treats and snacks since Milano would always eat them up if he didn't hide them. She just couldn't resist! The chocolate called to her like a hypnotic spell...
The next day came; Button got up and headed to school, Milano headed off to work... oh yes... boring... simple... monotonous work... There was a time that she'd loved such things but now... she didn't know... it just... lost a lot of its flare.
Now a days it seemed that the only reason she went to work was to keep the bits rolling in. She worked at the Ponyville hospital in the maternity ward as a nurse tending to newborns as well as caring for sick hospitalized foals.
Milano went through the motions but she didn't put her heart into it like she used to. Was this really her life now? Was this her reality? Get up, go to work, care for sickly children, go home, yell at Button for playing games too much and swearing, check her profile on the dating site, do some crosswords or laundry if it piled up, and go to bed. Wake up, rinse and repeat.
The only breaks were holidays and family member birthdays; aside from that the only breaks she had in her admittedly boring life were dates set up from the site. She headed towards one such date after work. Ah yes, meeting with a stallion outside a restaurant; at least the weather is nice... Ah and here's the prestigious Caramel now... hmm, at least the profile pic was acurate this time...
Introductions were pleasant enough, then they ordered food; he ate like a slob which was rather off putting but Milano was more than used to poor table manners credit of her son. They had some idle chat about their jobs and a few hobbies. Then somehow the topic trailed to ex's which was a topic singles should never tread upon. Yet here they were! And apparently Caramel's bisexual! Well, isn't that interesting? Certainly didn't put THAT little detail in your profile...
The conversation went south as he broke down crying, apparently distraught over his ex coltfriend dumping him. Milano sighed in annoyance, sometimes the ponies on those dating sights weren't really looking for a new companion, they just wanted somepony to talk to. Well Milano already had one colt to fuss over, she sure as Tartarus wasn't going to be this stallion's shoulder to cry on!
Milano idly called for the check and left in a foul mood. She walked aimlessly around town before finding herself in front of a random store. Hoping that some random shoping would take her mind off things, she headed inside to see that she'd walked into Joystop.
"Oh great..." Milano sighed, just a giant reminder of her game obsessed son. How did her life get to this point? Single mother living in an apartment with all mirth drained from her life?
...
...
"Hello miss? Can I help you?"
Milano jumped at the voice, she turned to see one of the store keeps, "oh, um, sorry, I was just thinking..." she trailed off.
"Oh well, if you need any help finding anything, just let me know!" the stallion chirped before trotting behind the counter.
'Can you help me find my purpose in life?' Milano thought melancholy. And here comes yet another fit of depression; 'stupid pills... instant relief my ass...' her thoughts omited forth her grouchy demeanor upon her apparently useless medication. Milano was on at least three different emotional disorder pills; an anti depressant, an anti anxiety, and finally a mood stabilizer.
Milano's eyes fell upon one of the many games in front of her:
PONY BLADE! Become another pony, take your life into your own hooves and forge your own reality of excitement and power! Be whoever you want to be and live whatever life you want to live!
Milano chuckled, 'if only.' she thought as she picked the game up in one hoof. The cover held pictures of various different anthromorphic ponies wielding unrealistic weapons or hurling spells at monsters; flipping it over, she saw the back of the game giving details:
Utilizing the new Virtual Reality Helmets of Lunar Gamer Inc. Pony Blade allows you to immerse yourself in a new world enjoying all the sensations of the real pony body, smell, sight, hearing, taste, touch, pleasure, and pain. Set up in an AD&P combat system with 21 available classes. Experience what it's like to be another pony race entirely! Fly through the skies as a Pegasus or cast magic as a Unicorn or wield the physical might, speed, and endurance of an Earth Pony!
Milano recognized AD&P from her son's club, Advanced Dungeons and Ponies. According to Button it was an ironic name since it was apparently simpler than the original editions as it played more on realism rather than sheer power.
For a moment... Milano vaguely understood her son's fascination with video games. Wouldn't it be nice to live in another world? To be somepony else? To have a different reality?
...
...
To have a different reality... one where you weren't a single mother living paycheck to paycheck... one where you didn't have a mediocre job with which you'd grown weary of... one where you weren't constantly sifting through horrible dates and false profile pics... one where you could be whoever you wanted to be. And best of all, one where you actually had some control over your life for once...
...
Admittedly... it did seem tempting...
"You finding everything alright?" The stallion from before asked.
Milano didn't quite register what she'd said next until she'd spoken it, "is there a computer version of this?"
"Oh absolutely!" the stallion walked over to the PC game section and picked a copy of Pony Blade off the wall, "here you go, do want me to ring it up?"
Milano stared silently at the game for a few moments before slowly nodding, "ya... ya..."
And so Milano drove the carriage home with a coppy of Pony Blade wondering what she was thinking... When she arrived at her apartment, she entered to see that Button hand't come home yet, probably at one of his two clubs still, it was Friday after all.
Heading into her room, Milano tossed the game onto her bed before heading out and grabbing the older VRH (virtual reality helmet) from the dining table as well as the laptop and bringing both into her room; she hooked up the charger to the wall since she predicted that this would undoubtedly be a huge drain on the laptop's battery.
"Honestly... 49.99... where do they get off charging that much for a game? And you still have to pay a subscription of 24.99 a month! Grumbling to herself about 'this better be worth it' Milano thought bitterly before loading everything up. Thankfully the VRH had already been calibrated for the laptop so alls she had to... do... was... hook... it... up...
Milano stared blankly at the dozens of cords.
"... ... ... ... ... I don't get it... ... ... ..."
Two hours of reviewing the manual later...
Button stepped through the front door of his house and flipped his game on; he fished around his saddlebags for a slip of paper and a pencil which he knew he'd bee needing. Thankfully beta-testing let him know everything he needed to know. He revved up his Game Station and popped Pony Blade in. After logging in he opened up the start menue and blazed through all the tutorial menue help until he arrived at the character screen.
He'd already decided on what race and class he wanted, and he DEFFINITELY wasn't going to be a mage. What's the point of being a magic user if a boss can just 'suddenly be immune to magic! Surprise!' Frickin bullshit is what it is... not to mention enemy mages were damn near invincible while his own magic user could hardly do anything before he got skewered and died.
Well not this time!
XXXXX
After finally getting through the tutorial, Milan was ready to make her character, she chose her race as a Pegasus, wondering if she truly could experience flight in this 'virtual reality' game. As for a class... she had no idea what to do so she just randomly selected Samurai.
XXXXX
Button thought long and hard about his class choice, he was having trouble deciding between Kensei and barbarian... hmm... super offense or supper defense?
hmm... choosing one's class was no small matter, this choice would determine the career path of one's entire character and in some cases was the most important aspect of who they were, not to be taken lightly. After all, it's not like you'd just randomly pick a class right? That'd be silly.
Button laughed as he chose Kensei. For his race he'd decided to go with Earth Pony for the strength and constitution bonuses.
XXXXX
Milan reached the stats menu, from what she gathered, you clicked on the dice roller and all your stats were randomly rolled, if you didn't like them then you could reroll however, this would cause every single stat to be re-rolled. Shrugging, Milano rolled and went with the first set of stats that popped up, 16 Str. 15 Dex. 10 Con. 9 Int. 15 Wis. 9 Cha. Milano had no idea what constituded as good or bad stats so she shrugged and clicked 'OK'
XXXXX
Button grabbed the slip of paper, ah, here was the second most important part, one's stats. The major determining factor in one's abilities until they reached particularly high levels. Deciding that he wanted to go pure offensive he wrote down 18.50 Str. as a bear minimum followed by an 18 Dex since he was of course a Kensei, and then a 16 Con for some nice hitpoint bonuses; the rest he could care less about.
He rolled the stats, a 14 Str? No thank you! 17? Not high enough. 18. 55? Hmm... 15 Dex? Eenope! 18.87 Str?! 17 Dex... 18 Con!
Hmm... sure he didn't have the 18 Dex but still... 18.87 strength was nothing to laugh at... plus with 18 Constitution he'd get a +4 to hitpoints per level! Ya... this might just work!
The rest of his stats were 10 Int. 15 Wix. and 7 Cha. Ouch... even if Cha. wasn't important for anything other than interacting with NPCs... still... that was almost embarrassing...
"Oh well, NPCs can kiss my overpowered ass."
He clicked 'OK'
XXXXX
Milano sifted through the rest of the pre-requisites, some non-weapon proficiencies which Milano had surmised were basically non-combat skills like wyvern riding, smiting, and such. Then there was her weapon selection. Looking for the highest numbers she found the 1d10 weapons. Two such weapons available were the Katana and Naginata.
From what she remembered of world history class, the female samurai generally used Naginata right? Or was it females in Samurai clans? Oh who cares, Katanas are over rated anyway! She clicked on the Naginata.
XXXXX
For weapon selection, Button knew he was going to go for a one handed weapon if only because it would allow dual wielding. Granted with dual wielding you had to have a smaller weapon in your off hand, however! Kensei, Samurai, Monks, Rangers, and Barbarians could dual wield two weapons of the same side provided they're one handed.
And here's the wonderful thing about katanas... they deal the 1d10 damage of a two handed weapon but can be used in either one or two hands. Ya sure with a 17 Dex he'd have to pay a -1/-2 dual wielding penalty but as he leveled up that'd hardly make a difference.
If you were any of those classes, you'd have to be an idiot to turn down a Katana.
XXXXX
Then came the character design... as well as her name... Milano actually took the time to think this one out... after all, wasn't the whole point of this to be who you wanted to be? Well then...
After some consideration... and some good long hard thought... she decided upon a character name: Amaterasu. Once again thinking back to her old studies from school; in ancient texts form the ruined cities of the now extinct Humans, there were tales of various different religions; many of which didn't make sense to ponies such as a god that held no physical form and existed within everything and nothing. Then there were the scary incestuous and blood thirsty gods that ruled over the sky, ocean, and underworld.
And then there were the mysterious ones like Amaterasu. The texts of the Shinto religion were nearly burned as they spoke of her as 'the goddess of the sun' being that Celestia currently held that position they texts were regarded as blasphemous. But they were still preserved as historical documents of a long since forgotten era.
But the tales of Amaterasu always fascinated her; the goddess of the sky, a scion of fertility and motherhood; loving and kind yet stern and strong willed; compassionate but not afraid to raise violence to protect her children. Surrounded by her powerful fanatic zealot divine war hounds, the Ókami who protected the Humans from the demonic beasts of the wild and the servants of her brother Tsukuyomi and acted as Amaterasu's personal bodyguards.
For her appearance, she chose her coat and mane to be snow white; her mane's style held long thick waves and a few slight curls hanging around her head and shoulders with the bangs parted in a wavy style trailing back and down the rear of her shoulders.
Eyes of pure crimson lacking any differentiation between pupil and iris.
It was strange looking at this anthromorphic version of herself with different colors and flaring white wings...
black samurai splint mail was provided for her with a kimono covering most of it up. She played with the color scheme of the robe and made it pure white with red trims and flaring red lotus blossoming along the material with a red belt keeping the kimono secure. Satisfied, she gave a smile and got ready to enter the game.
XXXXX
Button pondered over his name before deciding on something apparently bad ass by his own opinion. He figured he'd role play as a mercenary for hire, acting as a sort of bodyguard to any party that wanted to take him on.
Thinking on significant guardians throughout mythology he took a few minutes to ponder. Creating a character concept was always very important to Button and was not something you just randomly decided on. At last something stuck in his mind. The Ókami. Ya... Ókami.
He typed that in as his name and set about making his character design. Sticking with the concept, he gave his Earth Pony a snow white coat and a sleek long silvery mane hanging in a long curtain down his back with medium bangs reaching to just above his eyebrows. He then edited in a long red streak from the tip of his left bang back to the back of his head and down to the tip of the curtain of mane.
Staying in the spirit of the wolf, he gave himself a golden amber eye color with dark black pupils and finally got himself a snow white kimono with a red trim. But then he thought on it for a while he decided to opt out for the kimono and instead chose to go bear chested with a pair of thick baggy hokaima pants.
Being a kensei, he didn't need armor as he received natural bonuses to AC as he leveled up.
Setting the two Katanas on his hip, he got ready to enter the game.
Both Button and Milano put their VRHs on and activated the link start.
A bizarre rushing feeling flooded their senses as they were sent forth into the gameworld.
XXXXX
Milano opened her eyes slowly and blinked as the sound of chirping birds caused her ears to twitch, she realized then that she was lying on her back; sitting up she looked around... she was nearly overwhelmed at the realization; this really was a whole other world! Looking down, Milano frowned a bit at her hands; the feeling was bizarre, sure Earth Ponies had their telekinetic fingers but having solid flesh was... weird...
Milano then stood up shakily; she hadn't walked around on two legs since tennis in high school. But fortunately for her, this new body was designed especially for bi-pedal movement and allowed her muscle memory to quickly adapt.
Soon she was walking around on her new hooves; it felt strange seeing the ground so far down from her face; she felt like a giant! Opening her nasal passages, she inhaled the flower pollen and fresh grass scent around her, amazing! Milano was utterly baffled by how much realize this video game could capture!
Studying everything in sight, she idly felt the pole-arm in her right arm, turning she saw the long red pole with it's curved sword upon the end and a tied on red sash flowing out along the hilt of the blade. Milano frowned slightly, she'd never used a weapon in her life nor had she so much as held one...
Taking it in both hands, she gave a few experimental swings, it felt heavy, very heavy but at the same time she felt like she could put out more than enough strength to swing it as much as she wanted...
Shrugging, she walked on until she encountered a wild boar... it spotted her and snorted before scuffing the ground threateningly.
"Huh?" Milano furrowed her brow. Suddenly a giant screen popped up informed of her scaring the daylights out of the poor mare: ENCOUNTER! WILD BOAR LV. 1 HP:2 AC: 10 ATTACK: ?
Milano blinked... "... ... ... I don't get it... ... ... ..."
AMATERASU'S TURN!
Milano blinked, "o-oh right! Um..." Not knowing what else to do, she lifted her weapon and charged at the thing with an inexperienced war cry that would make a pacifist facehoof in shame. Her blade landed on the pig only to bounce off "bwuah?!" Milano exclaimed. Being forced back a few steps from the recoil, another screen popped up: ATTACK ROLL= 7 MISS!
Milano once again blinked, "... ... ... ... I don't get it.. ... .. ..."
WILD BOAR'S TURN!"
"W-wait what?! I-I'm not ready!"
The pig charged at her squealing as it bared its tusks. Milano tried to move but found her hooves literally frozen in place, a warning window popped up in her field of vision: IT'S NOT YOUR TURN!
Milano blinked yet again, "SO WHAT! I DON'T WANNA DIE! WHY CAN'T I JUST RUN OR SOME-EEP!"
Milano was tackled to the ground, another window popped up showing her stats: HP: 5/8 AC: 5 ATTACK: +0 1-10 +1 1/1
Milano didn't really understand any of that except for HP: and sort of AC:, she new HP was hitpoints so she was injured, but AC Armor Class confused her, wasn't she supposed to have a high number? OH right... in AD&P a lower AC is better than higher cause it counts down instead of up... what jerk invented THAT logic?
Milano shook her head and stood back up. AMATERASU'S TURN! Milano rushed forward this time trying to stab the thing, it merely side stepped causing her to trip and land in the grass.
"Wha?! That's not fair!" Milano cried dismally.
WILD BOAR'S TURN!
Milano panicked as the pig tackled her prone body, "What?! I can't even get up?! Ack!" the pick slammed into her but was knocked back. Milano blinked, her hitpoints were still the same but the pig hadn't missed so...
"It... bounced off the armor I guess?" Milano shook her head and got back up as it was her turn again. Turning to face the pig, she glared, now she was downright angry... she lifted her naginata and ran at the creature with a genuine roar before bringing her blade down on the Boar's head and splitting it open. Milano cried in shock and horror as the blood and brain matter spewed forth onto her blade and a tiny bit onto her kimono.
"W-w-wha?!" her hands shook, "i... I... k-killed it... I killed it!" she confirmed in horror. Her vision shook as she stared at the bloody gore on her weapon... this... this game was too real... too realistic... she wanted to have fun and adventure, not murder animals!
Suddenly the pig exploded into a burst of crystalline shards and with it, so did the blood leaving her as clean as a pure lilly.
Milano's eye twitched in incomprehension, "I-buh-gwah-alright..." this was more confusing than when Button's toy train had spontaneously burst into flames.
CONGRATULATIONS! 80 XP!
Milano still stared at where the pig's copse had so recently lay...
A slow mocking clap caught her attention, she turned to see an ivory Earth Pony, shirtless with two Katanas with their sheaths attached to his hip situated through the cloth belt.
"Wow... bravo... I have to say, bravo... I don't think I've ever seen a more pathetic sight in all my years of MMORPG and that's saying something, bra-vo!" he chided as he walked up to Milano.
The mare glared at the stallion, "I'd like to see you do better asshole!" she shot back. She'd just hat a traumatic experience and now this jerk had the gall to make fun of her?! FUCK him!
The stallion shrugged before pulling out one of his Katanas and looking up at the sky. As Milano followed his gaze, she spotted a bird of prey, it looked so majestic, flying gracefully through the skies aaaaand he just threw a Katana through its skull, is that even a legal move in this game?!
Milano huffed, "realistic my ass..." she crossed her arms in indignation.
The stallion laughed and shook his head as he walked over to the Katana and picked it up from the now exploted glittery non existent bird and wicked it before sheathing the weapon. "I'm guessing your a noob huh?" he said before turning to Milano.
Milano blinked, "a say what now?"
The stallion blinked, "...a... a noob... oh please don't tell me you don't know the difference between a noob and a gamer..."
Milano stared blankly.
The stallion facepalmed, "laaaaaaaame! OK, a Noob is a 'newbie' somepony who's got little to no experience in a particular game and tends to die quickly and die a lot. Wow you totally destroyed my joke there..."
Milano puffed her cheeks out in foalish anger, "tch, what joke?!"
The stallion rolled his eyes, "because you would've gotten your ass kicked even if you weren't a noob, at level 1 you're at the mercy of the die roll. You don't have any bonuses other than your physical stats. Now me, I made sure to get an 18.50 or higher strength so that I'd have bonuses to hit and damage for melee since I'm a Kensei and therefore rely on a single specialized weapon, you see; opting for the Kensei's dual wielding feat at 7th level allows them to dual wield their specialized weapon without any penalties and ergo, I went with Katanas since they do 1d10 even though they're one handed-"
Milano one again blinked in complete incomprehension, he might as well have been speaking Manderine or whatever language is native to those spa ponies to her.
"-and so, by dual wielding with the Kensei's ability to dual wield two weapons of the same size I admittedly have the penalty based on my dex with a -1 to my on hand and a -2 to my off hand I make up for that with my 18.87 strength giving me a +3 to hit equaling out to a +2 to right hand and +1 to off hand along with a huge bonus to damage; furthermore, as I level up I get the natural fighter's bonus to hit to further increase accuracy and of course the Kensei's natural-"
Seriously... this is like... not even a pony language... is it a pony language? It sounds like an alien trying to make first contact...
"-bonuses to hit and damage with their specialized weapon; oh plus once I reach seventh level I'll get the dual wielding specialty for my main weapon allowing me to dual wield the Katanas without penalty; and then of course there's the Kiai ability of the Kensei, sure I can only use it a number of times a day equal to my level but you know, still, I can do maximum possible damage so with a 1d10 weapon I do an auto 10 damage plus any bonuses of which I'll have a lot by that level... uh.. yoohoo!" he waved his hand in front of Milano's face who looked like she'd completely zoned out and even had a little bit of drool trailing down the corner of her mouth as if she were in a coma.
Milano snapped out of it and shook her head, "huh, wha?"
The stallion frowned, "geeze, just freaking ignore me why don't ya?"
Milano glared, "says the jerk who made fun of me ten minutes ago!"
The stallion shrugged indifferently, "meh, whateves..."
Milano ground her teeth, never had she met such a crude, and repugnant ass as this.. this... "what's even your name?!" she demanded.
The stallion blinked, "... Ókami and don't you mean 'what's your name?' There's no need for the 'even' in that sentence-" "DON'T CORRECT MY GRAMMAR!"
The stallion waved her off nonchalantly, "whatever you say 'mom'." she retorted mockingly.
Milano felt her eye twitching sporadically; never had she been so tempted to hit another pony in her life... well she did have this big deadly weapon at her disposal...
"Anyway you could have just opened my cursor to check my name out, like this... Amaterasu... cute, it suits y-OH MY GODS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" he yelled as he narrowly avoided her Naginata.
Button's screen filled with a challenge menu: AMATERASU WANTS TO DUEL YOU, DO YOU ACCEPT?!"
Button blinked as he looked at Milano's seething bloodthirsty form, "GODS NO!" he hit the reject button. Just then Milano's hacked the blade into his head clonking him but drawing no blood and dealing no damage. "OW! Stop it!"
AMATERASU WANTS TO DUEL YOU, DO YOU ACCEPT?!
"I said no! OW! Stop hitting me you crazy bitch! OW!"
AMATERASU WANTS TO- AMATERASU WANTS TO DUE-AMATERAS-AMAT-
Every singly time she clobered him another challenge window popped up.
"STOOOOP! I'M SORRY!"
Milano finally relented in her divine justice as she stood there panting.
"Geeze... you've got one hell of a mean streak.. ouch..." Button rubbed his aching head.
"Ya well... that's what you get for being a jerk!" Milano shouted immaturely while waving her hands erratically in the air.
After a few minutes of bickering, a couple more boars wondered by the two were forced to fight side by side. After which their agression had been all but spent leaving them somewhat bored... They made their way towards the nearest town in a silent gait.
"Hey, you wanna see something awesome?!" Button suddenly asked with excitement clear in his voice.
Milano frowned, 'what's he up to...' she was thoroughly convinced that this was yet another cruel prank that he was playing on her. She'd discovered quickly that this Ókami like to mess with ponies and push their buttons just to get a rise out of them; although her vengeful fits of clobbering taught him to quickly tone the pranks down a few notches.
Eventually Button lead Milano to an open meadow filled with the most beautiful assortment of flowers she'd ever seen.
Button enjoyed watching Amaterasu's eyes go wide as she explored and frolicked within the fields like a little filly.
Milano hadn't felt like this in decades! She now 38 years old and such things as frolicking through flower fields were beneath her by society's standards... but here? Here she... here she was Amaterasu and she could do anything she wanted!
Milano paused and blushed...
...
...
Ya... now she really was starting to see why her son loved these games so much... they were... liberating... they were amazing!
Milano felt a small smile tug at her lips and despite herself, she began giggling like a little filly.
"I'm glad you like it."
Milano jumped at the voice and turned to see Ókami smirking. "L-like what?!"
"The game." Button responded.
Milano blushed.
"I can tell when somepony's enjoying a game, and you my dear, are loving Pony Blade." he walked past her and stared up at the sky, "that's what's so awesome about an MMORPG... or any video game really... it's a chance to live another life..." his smug smirk disappeared in favor of an emotionless contemplative face, "it's another reality... one where you control you're own fate. In the real world you could be a clerk stuck behind a desk, or an unpopular looser at school... but here? Here you can be a hero, here you can be the most powerful fucker on the face of the planet. Here you actually have some control over your life for once..."
A wayward breeze blew past billowing through their manes.
"hmm..." Milano pondered that statement, "but... still... it's not real."
"Isn't it?" Button turned around to look at the mare with an uncharacteristic expression, a calm serene but focused look, with eyes like a philosopher holding the inner truths of the world.
"Well... no... I mean... this is still just a game... and you can't become too absorbed in it or you start to forget about real life... I mean..." Milano sighed and crossed her arms, "what happens if you start to love this fake world more than the real one?"
Button smiled, "maybe this IS the real world. And that other place is the game we all play every day and night."
Milano gave a mirthless laugh, "d-don't be ridiculous. I know the difference between fantasy and reality."
"Oh?" Button walked over to the mare and without warning, he leaned in and kissed her.
Milano's eyes widened in shock and she shoved him away sputtering, "N-nani?! What the hell was that?!" she shouted as her mind overloaded and began sputtering some of her foreign culture class's language teachings.
"Did that feel like a fantasy?" Button asked with the same mysterious expression as the wind blew sakura blossoms through the air around them causing their manes to flow with the current.
Milano's face was completely flushed, "D-da fuq does THAT mean?!"
"Did it feel like just a game? The softness of my skin, the warmth of my mouth, the taste of my lips, the smell of my mane, did any of that feel like 'just a game'?" Button continued.
Milano gulped, "Watashina... Atashi..." she shook her head furiously, "THAT DOESN'T MATTER!"
"Doesn't it? Have you ever had a dream so real that you thought mistook it for your 'reality'? A dream where you got up, got ready for work," he began closing in on her causing Milano to back up. "ate breakfast, left the house; saw your friends, had lengthy conversations, and done everything that you'd normally do?" Button now had the mare backed up against a sakura tree and placed a hand on the tree trunk on either side of her head.
"Weren't you so surprised to find out that it was only a dream? Didn't it make you question if you were still awake?" he continued.
Milano swallowed as her heart rate increased and her breath caught short as Button gazed intensely at her as if his eyes were boring into her soul.
"I... I..." Milano's speech failed her.
"Welp, I guess it doesn't matter." Button said as his mood did a complete 180 and he locked his hands behind his head as he turned around.
"H...huh?" Milano blinked.
Button laughed, "I guess reality is what you make it!"
Milano's earlier meekness bubbled over into annoyed rage, "KKGRRRGGGKKK BAAAKAAA!" she ran up behind him and kicked his ass, literally.
"YIEP! Again with the abuse?!"
Milano chased the annoying stallion around the field practically foaming at the mouth as she raged after him for a few minutes until she got tired.
"Well anyway..." Button laughed as he scratched his nose with his index finger, "it was fun... meeting you I mean; you're a cool chick, if a bit maltempered." he chuckled.
Milano shot him a warning glare making him hold his hands up in surrender, "I mean that in the most flattering way ofcourse! Eheheh..."
Milano 'hmphed' before sitting down with her legs and arms crossed while she closed her eyes and puffed her cheeks out immaturely, "poi poi!"
Button laughed, "well, I got to get going, it's getting late and I've got stuff to do tomorrow."
Milano's eyes snapped open, "wait!" then she blinked as she realized what she'd just said.
Button turned around with the most slimy grin conceivable on his face, "oh? Missing me already?"
"SHUT UP TEME!" she cursed at him.
Button sat down next to her and hooked an arm around her, "ya welp, don't feel bad, tis a rare sight that a mare can help but fall for my resistible charms. Don't beat yourself up over it kiddo, nothing to be asha-URK!"
Milano slammed her fist into his crotch cutting off his speech.
Button fell over clasping his jewels, "that... was... uncalled for..." he wheezed out.
Milano turned away crossing her arms and harrumphing, "as if I'd be attracted to a snot nosed brat like you! You're probably just some 12 your old loser you can't get a marefriend!"
Button pushed himself up as he recovered, "you don't know that... maybe I'm a thirty year old fat guy who still lives with his mom."
Milano glared at him, "that's even worse."
"Or maybe I'm a hot young stud looking for a damsel in distress to swoop off her hooves." he said as she shimmied on next to her and looped an arm around her shoulders once again.
Milano's fist of justice flew up and slammed into his face knocking him backwards.
"You're hopeless is what you are. And I'm no damsel dammit! I am Amaterasu, goddess of the sun and mother of all!" Milano puffed out her chest in pride.
"That's blasphemous..." Button commented as he rubbed his aching face and once again denied the dual challenge notice.
"Your MOM is blasphemous!" Milano yelled back at him.
...
...
...
No, no, take you time to process that...
...
...
"Well anyway..." Button sat up, held out his hand and swiped down with his finger calling forth a menu. Milano watched him press a few buttons before a menu popped up on her own screen saying: ÓKAMI WANTS TO FRIEND YOU, ACCEPT?
Milano blinked, "... ... ... ... ... ... I don't get it... ... ... ..."
Button facepalmed, "ugh, it's so that we can get back in contact whenever we sign in again." he explained.
Milano glared, "and why would I want to contact YOU again?!"
Button shrugged, "'cause I'm the most interesting guy you've ever met."
Milano's jaw dropped as her eye began twitching again, 'the NERVE! Why I ought a...' "Hmph!" she smashed her finger onto the 'accept' button. "This does NOT mean that I want to see you again! I just want to make sure you're not traumatizing any innocent fillies that you stumble across in your unholy prowling."
Button once again shrugged with that cocky smile that just made Milano want to punch him again, "meh, it's a start." he said still smiling coyly at her.
Milano ruffled her hands through her mane, "GAAAAAHHH YOU'RE IMPOSSIBLE!" she swiped her finger though the air summoning the menu mashing her finger on the loggout button.
XXXXX
Milano's vision returned to her natural body, she yanked the VRH off and tossed it over the bed, "UGH! Fucking... stupid... jerk... pervert... friggin... stupid smirk... jggrrsst... GAAAAAHHH!" she flopped onto her back with her forelegs spread wide with a sigh.
Milano stared silently at the ceiling for a while unthinking... until the memory of Ókami kissing her flooded her mind, the sound of the rustling leaves... the smell of cherry blossoms from both the trees and his mane... that soft touch of his lips...
Milano gave a start when she came to consciously realize that she was thinking of him, her face flushed red and she grabbed a pillow slamming it over her face and screaming into it, "BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKAAAAAA!"
"Mom? You OK?" Button asked as he knocked on her door having just logged out of his own game.
"GO TO BED!" she shrieked at him.
"Yikes! Sheesh, sor-ry!" Button mumbled as she made his way toward his own room, rather dejected at having been yelled at by not one but two mares in one day.
Milano released her pillow and shut the laptop down, placing it under her bed. She stared at the RVH for a few seconds before turning her lamp off and sliding under the covers... "... stupid... idiot..." though his words still rang through her head 'does it feel like 'just a game'?'
Milano stared pensively at the darkness of her silent room. "I guess... maybe... maybe... not... just a little not... just a little though... I'm not saying he's right... and I sure as hell didn't like that... that was NOT OK... you don't just... you don't just kiss somepony out of the blue like that!..." she rolled over trying to get comfy.
She was definitely not admitting that he was right... and she was definitely not remembering how good to finally have a stallion's lips on her own again... and she was most certainly absolutely and definitely not going to dream about him that night...
Meanwhile, Button clambered into bed, he was hungry but.. too tired to make anything, besides, it was already 12:30 in the morning... ya... food could wait until tomorrow... besides he was supposed to meet with Sweetie at SCC tomorrow for milk shakes.
Button idly raised his hoof and stared at it, remembering the feeling of fingers extending from his avatar's hand... and the feeling of that crazy mare's soft lips... and that unique taste... the smell and sound of the wind... who was to say that isn't real?
Button lay on his back and stared at the ceiling, "if it looks real... if it sounds real... if it smells real... if it tastes real... and if it feels real... then..." he lifted his hoof into the air, "who's to say it isn't?"
...
...
...
...
"Or maybe the better question is... if I want it to be real..."
...
...
...
"Who's to say it isn't?"