The Deadly Arcade

“Let me get this straight…” The Doctor began, massaging the bridge of his nose exasperatedly.

“You are threatened by having your high score on some video game-”

“Alicorn Assault!”

“Right, whatever-to the point where you’ve abducted his mother to lure him here so you can beat him in a video game to prove the superiority of your skills in a room completely isolated from the outside world to the point where you’re willing to kill to prove it-aforementioned room being isolated from the arcade with only one entrance which said young boy, may or may not have ever found, let alone known about the abduction of his mother.” The Doctor continued.

Eight’s eye twitched as he glared at The Doctor.

“What’s you point?”

“My point is that none of this makes any sense, I realize you’re completely mad, but someone who has designed all of this couldn’t possibly be this stupid.”

Light gave him a quizzical look.

“Doctor, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that Eight-Bit either has some ulterior motive he’s not telling us about, or he’s actually what he seems; just a two-bit wannabe criminal mastermind who has read far too many comic books.”

“ENOUGH!” Eight stomped his hoof. “Are you willing to play the game or not?”

“W-what are the rules?” Button asked timidly.

“There rules are simple.” He replied, grinning sadistically. “I’ll allow all three of you to play against me simultaneously since you two seem to be in the mindset that someone of my tenure battling an eight-year old prodigy alone is ‘unfair’.”

“Against all of us?” Light replied, smirking. “Well, well, looks like someone’s gotten cocky from the last time we met-before you couldn’t even beat me in a simple Pong match!”

Button looked up quizzically at The Doctor.

“What’s Pong?”

Eight merely smirked back at her.

“We’ll see. The game has an advanced piece of technology which I was able to scavenge which I like to call the ‘Telepathic Circuit’ we summon creatures from our minds-real or fictional-to battle each other.”

“Alright, this might actually be pretty fun!” Light commented optimistically.

“Yeah!” Button added. “That sounds cool!”

“And when one has no creatures remaining; their lives will be terminated by the opposing player’s creatures.” He finished.

The positive attitudes of the two gamers disappeared and their faces dropped at this revelation.

“B-but, you’ll still let my mom go-right?” Button stammered.

“Ha, ha, no.” he chuckled in response.

“But, you said-”

“I said I’d release her if you win; if I win then that means that all of you die and I know what happens when someone gets between a mother and her child-could you imagine what a mother whose Cutie Mark is a heart and a bottle of formula would do to the murderer of her child?” he asked rhetorically.

While Button could only stand there horrified, the two other adults shot him a death glare.

“No, I think I’ll just let her rot…unless of course you win-in that case I’ll release the mare-and one of you may be lucky enough to experience the joy a taking a life.” He continued flashing a toothy grin.

The Doctor regarded him with a dirty look before gesturing for his two companions to follow him into the TARDIS.

“Are you running away?” Eight asked condescendingly.

“On the contrary; my associates and I are going to have small group chat somewhere free of prying eyes and any possible bugs.” The Doctor replied.

“Are you calling me a cheater?” Eight replied, feigning offense.

“Not at all.” The Doctor replied coolly. “I merely implied it.”

And with that the three of them entered the TARDIS.

“It’s…bigger on the inside!” Light exclaimed in awe upon entry.”

“Thank you, Light!” The extremely pleased Doctor replied before turning to Button. “At least someone is willing to humor an old man.”

“So what’s the plan?” Light asked.

“Yeah,” Button added. “And why are we back in here?

“I’ll explain in a moment, but first give me your Game Boy.”

“WHAT? NO!” Button shouted, holding the portable gaming device away from The Doctor as if he were a bully on the school playground trying to take a piece of candy from him.

“And it’s called a ‘Joy Boy’!” Button corrected in an annoyed tone.

The Doctor merely rolled his eyes at this before gesturing for the duo to follow him the lower level of the TARDIS.

“Fine, we’ll do this the hard way then.” He replied, pulling a large black wire out of a ceiling console with a small gold prong on the end.

“Give me your hoof.” He instructed.

“Why? Button asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

“I’m going to patch the two of you into the TARDIS telepathic circuit… midway through the game I’ll sneak off and see if I can find and save your mother-that is if he is telling the truth about her still being alive.” He added which earned him a disapproving look from Light.

“I-is it gonna hurt?” Button asked timidly, fortunately seeming to be more focused on his anxiety toward the sharp, pointed foreign object The Doctor wanted to put in the bottom of his hoof, rather than the comment of his mother possibly being deceased.

“Not one bit.” The Doctor replied confidently as the colt gave held out his hoof as instructed before feeling a sharp prick.

“OW!”

“See? I lied.”

Light was leaning against a wall with her legs crossed in a manner reminiscent of Twilight Sparkle’s friend Applejack.

As Button moved aside, massaging his hoof-Light gave The Doctor hers as he repeated the process.

“So how will being telepathically linked help us?” she pressed.

“For centuries I have traveled through time and space-in all of that time I have seen things more wondrous and horrifying than most people could ever imagine-and they are going to help us get out of this.” He replied, narrowing his gaze at her.

Before she could ask The Doctor what he was talking about images of strange creatures began flashing before their eyes.

A strange metallic bi-pedal creature with vacant, hollowed out sockets where its eyes should have been-marching toward him.

Light saw what appeared to be some form of short potato creature wearing blue armor and a carrying some kind of weapon.

They both snapped back to reality as soon as The Doctor pushed the door of the TARDIS open, to see Eight still standing in the exact same spot, still wearing that malicious grin.

Appearing before them was a grid of dark red panels, Light stood on the far right of the panel on their side, while The Doctor took the far left, and Button stood between them.

“So how exactly does this work?” asked Light, examining the grid before them. “I mean, how are we supposed to get these things on the field? Who goes first?”

Eight-Bit’s gaze shifted over to The Doctor.

“I think it would only be fair if we let the old man, go first.”

The Doctor scoffed at this, “Be careful, with age comes wisdom-and I’ve lived hundreds of you lifetimes.”

Appearing before him at this statement was a very odd and obscure creature that neither Button nor Light had seen when being integrated back in the TARDIS.

It was a bi-pedal humanoid with suction-cups covering its head, arms, and torso, and deeply inset face.

“What the hell is that!?” Light demanded, noting the barbs on the creature’s palms.

“It’s a Zygon.” The Doctor replied casually, “Amphibious, metamorphic humanoids from the planet ‘Zygor’.”

Button and Light exchanged glances before looking over at Eight, who merely shrugged.

Button picked up his Joy Boy to see a character roster on the screen of the creatures that had flashed through his head back on the ship-one in particular caught his eye-it gave him a creepy feeling, but at the same time it looked kind of cool.

It was yet another bi-pedal creature that appeared to be completely made up of some type of shiny, silver metallic armor with hollowed-out eye sockets and a glowing blue plate on its torso.

“Cool!” Button exclaimed as the creature stood there motionlessly, staring blankly ahead.

“That’s it?” Eight asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “A suit of armor?”

“Negative.” The machine spoke in its traditional monotone. “We are Cybermen.”

It looked directly ahead at the stallion.

“You have been designated a ‘rogue element’ by the Cyber Planner-all rogue elements shall be DELETED.”

It recited.

“Cyber Planner?” Button repeated, looking up at The Doctor.

“The leader of the Cybermen,” he explained. “In this case-that means you.”

“Awesome!”

The closest anyone could come to describing the creature appearing before Light was a baked potato with legs-its features were also deep set with three digits on each hand (two fingers and a thumb)-it was wearing blue combat armor and wielding a Rheon Carbine sidearm.

“What-” Button began before The Doctor cut him off.

“Sontaran, militaristic clone batch-they live for war and victory takes precedence above all else for them-even their own lives.”

“So I chose well then.” Light grinned.

“That’s it?” Eight laughed. “A Starfish, a walking, talking suit of armor, and a baked potato with legs? Child’s play!”

A five headed creature with snake-like necks leading down to a large dragon-like body and two stubby legs towered above the trio.

“It’s…” Button began.

“A Hydra…” Light finished as they looked up at it in horror.