The Game Changer

Jaden took a drink of Coca Cola and resumed playing through the Halo 3 Campaign on Legendary difficulty, sure it was extremely difficult when a Grunt could take down your shields and almost kill you with a Plasma Pistol but the reward was much greater, the respect you get on completing such a task from other great players like Skullkruncher13 and so on. He came into a large desert area where a scarab dropped down and fired its plasma beam, killing him instantly.

“Damn scarabs and their OP plasma beams.” Jaden muttered, shutting off his Xbox 360 and turning on his computer, responding in the chime of Windows.

He logged in and went on YouTube, checking his inbox. There were dozens of spam videos and friend requests, but one message caught his eye. It was labelled ‘Need help’, his cursor hovering over the link that was in the message, it could be another virus to infect his computer.

What's the worst that could happen?

He clicked the link and his monitor screen turned into a black hole, sucking him into whatever trouble he had got himself into. His world spiralled so quickly it made him want to puke, but his intention to throw up was halted when he fell face first in a
maroon rug. He got up and dusted himself off, coming face-to-face with Princess Celestia.

‘Are you the one called Gamer X?” She asked politely.
Gamer X? She must be thinking of my gamertag...

“Yes, I am Gamer X.” Jaden said proudly like his gamertag actually meant something, adjusting his headphones.

“I have summoned you here to help my little ponies defeat Discord, but he is in the cyber world and I have summoned the best human gamer to counteract him.”

Best human gamer, I‘m very skilled in gaming but that’s pushing my ego too far.

“One does not simply ask for Gamer X’s help…” Jaden said, making that LotR meme so worth it.

“But-“Princess Celestia interjected.

“Chillax, Tia. I’ll help you.” Jaden said.

Princess Celestia was delighted by Jaden’s answer and took him to a conference room with a large metal compartment near the wall. The Mane 6 and Princess Luna were waiting for them, Rainbow Dash looked him up and down like he was less than she expected.

“This is Gamer X?” She asked no-one in general.

“In the flesh.” Jaden said.

“Has my sister informed you of the problem?” Princess Luna asked.

“Discord is wreaking havoc in cyber space and you need my experience as the best human gamer to help you defeat him, correct?”

“Basically, we’ve assembled the Mane 6 and me to aid you in aiding us.”

“And if I fail in said task?”

“Discord will corrupt the outside world of Equestria and Earth if he succeeds.”

“That’s quite the risk but I accept the task and its burden.”

“That is excellent news, any questions?”

“If Discord is packing heat in the virtual realm, I want to know who has the most experience in gaming in general and what genre of said game.”

“Well, I am most experienced in all types of games.” Princess Luna said.

“An all-rounder, that’ll come in handy.” Jaden said.

“I prefer the more intellectual genre, RTS and puzzlers to be exact.” Twilight said.

“I bet you play a mean Age of Mythology, welcome aboard.”

“Name’s Rainbow Dash, shooters are my game.” Rainbow Dash said, putting on her sunglasses.

“Cocky, I like that.” Jaden said.

“I don’t mean to interrupt introductions but Discord could be doing damage to the virtual realm as we know it.” Princess
Celestia said, nodding towards the machine.

“Right you are.” Jaden said, turning on his Walkman and putting his headphones on.

The six ponies, the alicorn and Jaden stepped into the apparatus and a tingling feeling coursed through their bodies, making them fade to unconsciousness. They reawakened in a black and green square endless room, finding themselves disoriented for the moment.

“Where are we?” Applejack asked.

“We are within the very encryptions of virtual reality, AJ.” Jaden said, smelling the non-existent air.

Discord appeared out of nowhere and startled all seven of the ponies, making them rear up in confidence. Jaden stayed perfectly calm, gazing at Discord.

“Why are you not trembling in fear, human?” Discord asked.

“Please, I’ve seen worse creatures made from pixels to the likes of you.” Jaden said, standing strong.

“So we’ve called in the dimensional cavalry, have we Luna?” Discord snickered.

Rainbow Dash flew at Discord but was stopped by Jaden grabbing her tail. “What’s the big idea?”

“We’re in cyber space right now; neither we nor he can harm each other.”

“But I can just beat him up!”

“Not so easy, Dash.”

Jaden walked up to Discord and said “Do you mind?”

“Mind what?

“Demonstration.”

“Go ahead, humans cannot harm me anyway.”

Jaden threw his arm into Discord’s head, only to have it penetrate nothing but pixels. “See?” Jaden removed his arm from Discord’s head, letting the pixels reform his face.

“I don’t understand this…” Princess Luna said.

“We’re in neutral territory right now; our existence is put down to avatars, nothing more.” Jaden replied.

“Are you here to stop me?” Discord asked.

“No, we’re here to watch you destroy cyber space as we know it, of course we’re here to stop you!” Jaden ironically said.

“Well, I arrived first so I choose the genre and the game…” Discord said.

“Get behind me…” Jaden said to the seven ponies and they complied, stand near him.

“What shall I pick, the choices are endless…” Discord said happily.

“I don’t think so, ‘cord.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I’m Gamer X and every human and pony knows that Gamer X is legendary, so you may as well pack up your stuff and go back into your little stone prison.”

“But I can tinker with the rules so I win…”

“Do all your fancy tinkerin’ magic, but I have this…” Jaden said, holding up a metal device.

“And what pray tells is that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing special; it’s just my little game changer.”

Jaden brought up the device and entered codes into it, then casting the information in front of him.

“I, we challenge you to a game of Halo Reach.”

“Challenge accepted.”

“We’re going to kick his digital rear, X!” Rainbow Dash said strongly.

Jaden turned to Rainbow Dash with a look of surprise, “You play Halo too?”

“All the time, X.”

The encryption floated down into the floor, making a wormhole to Jaden's selected game. The eight of them jumped into the wormhole, feeling the strange tingling feeling again as they passed through it, followed by Discord.