The Deadly Arcade

Once they stepped outside of the TARIDS, Button immediately noticed that the room on the other side of the wall was much darker and larger than the arcade reminiscent to that of a nightmare he once had after Scootaloo told him a ghost story about some kind of special Pegasus factory.

The Doctor took notice of this and reassured the young colt.

“Don’t worry, stick with me and you’ll be safe, so long as you don’t wander off…bad things always happen when people wander off…”

His train of thought was interrupted as an ear-piercing screech filled the air as they looked up to see a griffon with grey battle armor diving towards them swinging a flail.

“GET DOWN!” The Doctor shouted as he dove to the side, pushing Button out of the way.

The spiked ball crashed into the ground, creating a large crater in the dark tiled floor.

He quickly pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver before turning around and aiming it at the creature as it once again flew towards them when it froze in mid-flight.

“Hey, that’s Gryfor the Crusher!” Button announced excitedly.

“Who?”

“He’s the first boss in ‘Alicorn Assault’!”

The Doctor gave the colt a quizzical look before stepping towards what was apparently ‘Gryfor’ to scan it with his Screwdriver.

“What are you doing?”

“Imaginative name for a video game character,” The Doctor deadpanned before the blue node at the tip once again lit up with the same whirring sound as before when he waved it over the griffon; “My Screwdriver should only work like this on electronics or those powered by magic.”

“So it’s not real?” Button asked curiously.

“Well, yes and no.” The Doctor replied gesturing to the crater that the flail had made. “He’s definitely dangerous, but he’s also not living-at least not in the sense that you and me are.”

“So he’s a zombie!?” The colt shrieked with fear and a twinge of excitement.

“No.” He replied, examining the readings on his Screwdriver.

While he was relieved to hear this, Button was also just the slightest bit disappointed to hear the news.

“It’s-”

“A series of small machines, magically powered to form an intricate synthetic life form.” A female voice explained.

They both looked up to see a familiar young mare emerging from a passage that led up from underground.

“Nano-technology, right.” The Doctor confirmed watching Light approach them. “Or, Nanites to be more specific.” He added to button.

“Light!” Button exclaimed excitedly before stopping. “Wait…how did you get here?”

“There’s a secret passage my friends and I would always run through to play when we were kids back when this was my granddad’s shop before we renovated the place in my office.”

Button turned back to The Doctor with his mouth agape.

“You told me there was no other way to get in here!” he shouted.

“Yes…well, just because I know about that at the time doesn’t mean I was lying to you.” He countered.

“Then why couldn’t your magic flashlight find it?” he asked suspiciously.

“He probably just wanted to show off that fancy blue box of his.” Light commented smirking.

“The trapdoor must have been made of wood!” he replied defensively, looking to Light for confirmation. “My Screwdriver doesn’t work on wood!”

“Yeah, right.” Button scoffed. “You’re a big liar.”

The Doctor pulled Light over to the side out of earshot from Button.

“Do you have and idea what’s going on here or who’s behind this?”

“Yes, there was an employee that worked her named Eight-Bit we were friends since we were kids, so when I spruced the place up and found that I couldn’t take on everything myself I gave him first dibs on a job opening I had repairing the arcade machines, he was a genius when it came to building and fixing electronics but….”

“But, what?”

“But, he became a little too obsessed with these games talking about actually placing someone in a game.”

“Virtual reality?”

“No, he said real games with real stakes-pain, hunger, thirst, death-all of it was real, of course at that point I realized he had gone of the deep end and fired him, he had more that a few choice words for me which I won’t repeat in front of Button along with a few death threats before he was arrested for disturbing the peace and after a full psychiatric evaluation-it turned out he really was insane-I hadn’t heard of anything from him since then.”

“What did he look like?”

“The last time I saw him? Very bony, with dark circles around his eyes…I think he was also an insomniac, so he never really complained when something would break down at odd hours of the night over the weekend, he’s a unicorn-so he’s got a horn obviously-made kick-starting the machines easy, since all it took with him was a single magical spark. He’s eyes are grey and his coat is a pale yellow and he has a greasy black mane that would always be curtained over his face on one side or another…he also had a large amount of stubble on his chin, no matter how many times I asked him to shave.”

“Other than that did have any disciplinary problems, causing disruptions at school or at work, inability or unwillingness to follow directions, issues with authority-those kind of things?”

Light put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully.

“Well, now that you mention it…he never really said or did anything to anyone before that, but he was always giving customers dirty looks, we had other friends when we were younger but as we grew up, we sort of just…drifted apart.”

“Have you had any issues of harassment with him?”

“Well, I-” she stopped before giving him a look. “Just what does that have to do with anything?”

“Everything, I want to know exactly who and what were dealing with before we head any further and I don’t want any nasty surprises or have you or that little boy’s life put at risk and why he decided to abduct that poor boy’s mother-now, please answer the question.”

She averted her gaze.

“Yes, two weeks before I fired him I caught him stalking me.”

“Why didn’t you fire him on the spot?”

“Because I gave him a warning, telling him that if I ever caught him doing it again that would be the end of his employment and our friendship.”

“Did you tell the authorities when they arrested him?”

“OF COURSE NOT!” she shouted, causing Button to glance back at them before returning to his inspection of the dark floor.

“Sorry.” she sighed, running a hoof through her mane. “They could tell I was hiding something, but for whatever reason they decided to leave it alone-I guess they realized it had to be something really embarrassing to keep my mouth shut through hours of interrogation.”

“I don’t understand, why would anyone think any less of you for being stalked?”

“Because I work at an arcade parents trust me and believe in my moral character enough that they’re willing to leave their children alone with me to watch over while they run errands or work late…if they found out I was being stalked, they would start second-guessing me; thinking that I’m fooling around with colts when I’m supposed to be looking after their children or even in front of them-”

“Light,” The Doctor put a hoof on her shoulder. “Take a deep breath, relax. I promise I will never tell anyone your secret without your consent.”

“How do I know you’re trustworthy?” she asked, suspiciously.

“You’re just going to have to take that on faith, but I’ll have you know that I myself have many secrets; including one which I plan on taking to the grave.”

Any doubts she may have had at that point evaporated once she heard his solemn tome and saw the deadly seriousness in his tone.

“Okay…”

“HEY! GUYS! I FOUND MY JOY BOY!” Button exclaimed, waving the portable gaming console in the air to show the two adults.

“Button, where did you find this?” asked The Doctor.

Button pointed to the floor.

“Right there, in my Mom’s purse!” he stopped cold. “But, I thought I left it at home…”

His thoughts were interrupted at the sound of static as a holographic image appeared matching Eight-Bits description, only he was wearing a filthy, shredded straight-jacket with the Cutie Mark of a few black, brown, red, orange, and yellow pixels on his flank, his tail was as greasy as his mane, his fore hooves where concealed in the loosened sleeves of the jacket, dragging along the floor as he walked, and his hind hooves were chipped, cracked, and covered in filth.

Despite this being just a holographic projection, The Doctor could swear that he could smell grime on this guy (wherever he was) just from where they were standing.

“Well, well, well, it’s about time your miniscule brains started to figure things out.” He commented, condescendingly.

“And this boy managed reach level twelve?” he shook his head while chuckling darkly.

“Hard to believe a twerp like this is my intellectual equal…” the one visible eye that was un-curtained by his mane glanced towards The Doctor and Light before cryptically adding; “Almost.”

“Eight-” Light began before The Doctor cut her off by stepping in front of her.

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? WHY HAVE YOU TAKEN THIS BOYS MOTHER? AND WHY HAVEN’T YOU COME DOWN HERE YOURSELF?” he shouted furiously.

“Simple enough; ‘Alicorn Assault’ is the greatest, toughest arcade game currently in existence, no one has ever beaten in the game, not creator and not the original beta testers, I myself have worked tediously, day and night after Light’s rejection to achieve the goal that would make me a legend-but, once I was fired, arrested, and banned from the arcade for my revolutionary ideals, I had hoped to complete my Augmented Reality masterpiece, confident that none would reach level thirteen before I finished my magnum opus…but, then this little brat came along!” he snarled, with spittle flying from his mouth.

“So that’s what this is all about?” The Doctor demanded. “You’re going to abduct a young boy’s mother to lure him into this room so you can kill him, so he can’t what-beat your high score?”

“Of course not, there’s more to it than that.” He growled.

“Then by all means; enlighten us.”

“I designed this Augmented Reality room, but it hasn’t been properly tested.”

“Then why don’t you do it yourself and leave innocent people out of this?”

“I’m trying to tell you it’s not that simple!” he replied, with his voice rising in volume. “I created it and I know all of the Ins and Outs, it would be no challenge for me to play, but I need to see if the setup is correct for the uninitiated, for someone to challenge my intellect in a winner-take-all battle for supremacy…but, it has to be fair so there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that I’m the superior gamer!”

“We’re not playing your twisted game.” The Doctor replied, venomously.

“If you don’t the boy’s mother dies.” He stated simply.

“How do can we even be sure you still have her? How can we even be sure she’s still alive? Or even if she was ever here at all and you just stole her purse along with Button’s GameBoy?”

Button was about to correct him about the name being ‘Joy Boy’, but Light wisely slapped a hoof over his mouth and shook her head when he looked up at her curiously.

“You will play my game. You will play by my rules. Or she will die!”