Chapter 1: The Grand Opening
Ponyville. Such a peaceful town, filled with the happiest of ponies! The sun was shining, birds were chirping away, ponies going about their day, and a crowd of young ponies just trampled the market district, destroying everything out of their path to make way to perhaps the biggest building Ponyville’s ever seen!
The children of this town would usually be as docile as they come! But no, all of them seemed to try to kill each other, just to head to “The Retro Stable Arcade”. The building itself was as tall as the City hall. It was painted a bright red, a color you would have to be blind and/or stupid not to notice from afar. The giant neon sign that stayed atop the huge structure, spelled out the name of this establishment, with a horseshoe to fit as the “A” in the word “Stable”.
All of them pushed and shoved as they made it to the end of their destructive journey. All of them were quiet until one pony pipped up.
“It’s even bigger than I imagined it!” One colt shouted, a bag full of bits in his mouth.
"This place is supposed to be the biggest Arcade in Equestria, and it's supposed to add more games soon!" Another chirped.
“From what I heard, it even has a cabinet for Fighting is Magic, and it isn’t even out yet!” A small pegasus filly shouted from behind him as she flapped her wings as fast as she could to hover.
“Pfft! Screw that game, I can’t wait to try Mortal Kom-buck!”
“That game’s lame, Cider Tapper’s the way to go!”
"Are you stupid? Aren't we forgetting about the Maria Sisters Game? That's like, the best game ever!"
It seemed like each pony had their own game they wished to play, but they would have to wait until the arcade was officially open.
Beyond the locked doors were three floors of arcade games. All of them lined up beside each other, just waiting to be powered on and used by the masses of ponies that eagerly waited to play them. Each floor’s walls had a different decoration theme on them. The first being some sort of childlike fantasy. The walls were painted to look like some sort of field, with a castle in the background. On one wall, a pony with armor on seemed to look towards you with a smirk, and an ego to match. It fit quite well for the first floor, since the games were more for kids anyway. You would find adventure/platforming games, puzzle games, role playing games, as well as small carnival games for the younger kids that came in with parents.
The second floor was more for the older customers around the teenage variant. The room had a “Haunted” theme with violent games, like “Mortal Kom-buck” and “Chiller”, a game one would never find in an arcade anywhere else. In fact, some of these were actually banned from most of Equestria! But thankfully, not here. The best part of the room, was the “mist” that would fill the room, making you really feel like you were in a graveyard. You’d find horror-themed games of any kind, Music-themed games,and even shooter games. How ponies who weren’t unicorns used the crossbows to work with their hooves, is a mystery indeed.
The final floor was a “Mystical Dojo” theme. It had red painted walls what was plated with a gold “eastern” dragon on one side of the room, gold flooring, and a empty “Hall of fame” listing, digitally showing the top score, along with the initials of the players for every game in the building. The room was dark, but the screens of the games would give it enough light. You would find fighting games, side scrolling Beat-em-up’s, trivia, and many simulator games such as “Super Buck-Out!!”
The doors to this seemingly magical place were closed shut. The neon lights were off, but inside, a lone pony was working silently, fiddling with the wiring and other sorts of things that powered these wonderful contraptions.
This pony was a unicorn stallion, colored a dark grey. His eyes were a jade green and had himself a small black beard on the bottom of his chin. His hair, which was the same black as his beard, was combed back and had a light grey stripe running down. His tail was bushy, unkempt, and even had the same stripe running through the middle.
He wore what looked to be an orange jacket. The last piece of identification adjourned his flank in the form of a cutie mark, which was a rectangle video game controller colored black, grey, and had two red buttons visible.
As soon as he was finished fixing what looked to be a copy of “Manti-Kong”, he trotted towards the locked door. He looked to his left, and flipped the arcade-wide activation switch.
Outside, the neon lights sparked to life, attracting the eyes of the young ponies towards the doors, which opened as if by magic. The grey stallion walked outside, and gave them a big smile. With a young and strong voice, he spoke.
“Thanks for waiting, my little colts and fillies! Today’s the grand opening of my arcade, and I hope you have as much fun as you possibly can!”
And with that, the young kids flooded the Arcade. Looking at the amazing decorations, the disco ball in the middle of the ceiling, and the toys that were lined up on the shelves behind the counter made them want to squeal with joy, but the most amazing thing that their little eyes almost popped out of their sockets, were the games.
Each of them ran towards the nearest cabinet they could find, and just started having a blast. Literally all of the games were taken over by two or more ponies as they played their favorite games.
From such timeless classics as “Pac-colt”, to games that used hoof-drawn animation like “Dragon’s Den”, it seemed like everypony was having a blast!
Arcades weren’t the only thing in this amazing place, oh no. The owner even made a small rest pit for his customers. A door that was on the east side would take them to a room with chairs, long tables, and even vending machines for food and drinks.
The grey pony, content with his work, simply sat down behind a counter, ready to let the arcade reel in the dough. As soon as he sat down, a lone earth pony walked up to the counter.
“Excuse me, Mr...um...”
“Just call me 8-bit, little stallion. Wassup?” The arcade owner replied. Looking down at the colt, noticing it was a chubby one at that.
“Um, one of the games isn’t working...” The kid pointed towards the cabinet with the title “Mega-Mare: The Elements of Power”. The screen was flickering, and was giving off smoke.
“OH DEAR CELESTIA!” 8-bit cried out as he instantly jumped over the counter, running over the colt for no reason other than to attend to the smoking cabinet.
The poor colt was instantly smashed onto the ground by the heavy adult; his body sprawled on the floor in a dizzy heap.
8-bit, on the other hoof, was galloping as fast as his legs could carry, knocking anypony that was in his way out of it. He quickly reached his destination, and pulled the plug with magic.
The machine quickly turned off; the buzzing stopped, and the smoke seemed to have calmed down. After a breather, he opened the hatch, and took a look inside.
“Oh that’s it! Just a wire loose.” The stallion chuckled as he used his magic to fix the problem. The hanging wire was consumed by a red aura as it was then put back into its place.
As soon as he made sure no other connectors were out of place, he plugged the cabinet back in, the machine sprung back to life! The arcade game started up, showing the RAM and the ROM startup screen, and then...
It showed the logo, and the game started up as normal, showing the title “Mega-Mare: The Elements of Power”.
“Alright kid, you’re all set, and have a free game on me.” He said as he dropped a bit into the coin slot. The game responded with “MEGA-MARE!”.
“Thanks mister!”The colt said as he walked over to the cabinet, and hit the start button with a hoof.
8-bit chuckled, muttering the words “You’re welcome” as he walked back to his post. Just looking at how many kids were there, on the first day, no less!
“And mom said that video games don’t pay the bills.” He laughed as the day went by, the machines getting filled with bits by the minute.
By the end of the day, the colts and fillies took what little money they had left and began to trek back to their houses to their parents. As the last of them left, the doors closed for the night, as 8-bit was left to pick up the bits from each machine. Even though the process was long and tedious, to him it was worth it.
Every last bit.
Chapter 2: Beat my High Score!
The next few days were just like the first. 8-bit, Ponyville’s own arcade owner would walk to his arcade, open the doors, and would get run over as children of all ages would gallop to the nearest game they could find, and just play away.
8-bit would fix a game every once in awhile, and even give a gift to a few lucky kids who would save up enough tickets from the small carnival games he had installed in the corner of the first floor.
Soon, the days found themselves to be almost eventless. About a full week passed by when kids slowly stopped coming in. Only a few of the loyal customers would come by, but only for a few games.
“I don’t get it...” He pondered to himself out loud. “Last week, this place was booming, and now it’s as empty as my bank.” He sighed depressingly, until he looked over at a kid giving him the weirded-out look.
“...What? Never saw a pony talk to himself before? Get!” He ordered as the little ball of fluff ran off from the building.
He needed to think of something. He needed a gimmick to bring them back in again. Was it the games? Were they getting old? It could’ve been anything!
“What would kids like...” He sat around the desk, playing with a spare feather he had for writing notes with. After a few moments of silence, a idea grew in his head.
“Kids like free stuff. Contests give out free stuff. If I can....yes....it’s perfect!” He shouted to nopony in the building. With a beaming grin on his face, he began to work on his magnificent plan.
***
The next day, the little colts and fillies came by the herd full. They had themselves a bag full of bits on each of them. They all gathered ‘round the machines like normal, but something was wrong...
“Hey, my high score’s been beaten!” One chubby pony said, looking up at the high score of “Trot: Deadly Discs”
“Mine too!” A filly said in the back. All of them seemed to be saying the same thing: Their high scores were not only beaten, but they were replaced! All across the board of each game, stood one name...
“8bit?” A small pegasus asked out loud. “Who’s...”
“Oh, you mean me?” The owner of the arcade announced. The faces of the ponies were just priceless.
“You? How did you--”
“What? Never saw an arcade owner actually beat his games?”
They couldn’t really objectify that comment. They never saw him actually play the games, let alone beat every high score!
“I got something to say,” Exclaimed 8-bit, after clearing his throat. “I have beaten each and every one of your high scores. Each and every game! Why did I do this? I’ll be giving away a special prize to whoever can beat my top score first!”
The kids muttered to one another. They bickered to each other, saying it was too hard. The high score was 3,333,360 on Pac-Colt alone. Nopony could beat that!
“What do we even get if we win?” One colt shouted from somewhere in the crowd.
8-bit smiled widely. “If you win? Well, if you ever-so-happen to beat any of these high scores, You’ll receive your very own...ARCADE CABINET FOR HOME!”
As he shouted into the air, he trotted towards a door, and opened it. Inside, the lights flickered on, showing a machine that could only be described as beautiful.
The machine itself was held up from a hexagon base by six columns of what seemed to be flowing rainbows. The entire construct was painted a dark blue, lightening to a sky blue close to the respectably-sized HD screen. Images of six mares were plastered on the sides of the machine, three on each side. Three speakers stood out from the cabinet, one on top and one on each side. The screen of the cabinet suddenly came to life, displaying the words ‘Fighting is Magic’ onscreen as an rock n’ roll-themed tune started playing.
“This magnificent piece of art is called “Fighting is Magic”! Whoever beats the score wins it, as I stated earlier. BUT! Everypony has to play or the game is over. And I win...”8-bit smiled evilly and chuckled to himself, but nopony noticed.
The kids could only gasp in awe at the sight of the machine. Each one of them wasted no time to grab a machine they were good at, and start playing.
And it was all going according to 8-bit’s plans...
***
About six hours passed by, and not a single filly or colt has beaten any of the high scores. They were growing tired, and would eventually have to stop. One by one, they let go of the controls, and peered into their bags, upon expecting to find little to no bits left.
“I...I can’t do it!” A Pegasus filly screamed. The rest of them started complaining that they wasted their time. They all decided to take their losses and just go home.
Of course, 8-bit was laughing his tail off at the whole scene. He just got them to waste more than what they normally would, and kept his copy! He was gonna roll in the money! Loads o’ money!
“I beat it!” Suddenly was heard in the back. The laughter stopped altogether, 8-bit’s eyes shot out. He bolted towards the back to see a older pony, around his age perhaps, next to Pac-Colt.
He was a unicorn with a tan coat, with a black mane and tail. He wore a blue-green hoodie, with a purple controller as his cutie mark. His mane was unkempt, with hairs in the back of his head standing straight up. His eyes were a royal purple coloring. He was slightly taller than 8-bit was by a inch or two.
He was leaning next to the machine, With the screen flickering with the sound of victory, however it would sound, in the air. The high score on the arcade stated...
“4,831,620 points!? B-b-but...HOW?!” 8-bit yelled in shock. He couldn’t believe it, his best possible score...beaten!
All the fillies and colts stopped in their tracks. They started muttering, then they started cheering. All of them ran towards the unnamed winner and surrounded him, asking how he did it.
8-bit pushed the little runts to the sides and stood in front of him. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you in here before.”
The stallion looked towards the owner and gave a little smirk. “I’m the guy who made this game.”
“Very funny, now tell me who you are--” He was stopped short with a card. It stated the name of the pony before him, along with the name of the company.
“Hoof-co?” He asked confused. He looked at the credits that were rolling on the screen, where he just happen to see the words, along with the executive producer.
“Y-You...you really are the pony who...” He stuttered.
“Why yes. Yes I am. Name’s Natural Glitch. Nice to meet ‘cha.” The newly-named stallion chuckled.
“How did you beat the highscore?”
Mr. Glitch smirked away. “I’m the guy who made this game, remember? I know how to beat it! So I heard you’re giving away a prize now?”
As much as he hated it, he was right, he beat the score. He had to give the game away. He put it on a platform with wheels, and pushed it towards him.
“Why, thank you very much, mr...”
“8-bit. It’s 8-bit. And before you go, I have one more thing to say.”
Natural Glitch stopped at the door, and looked behind him.
“I have one more challenge for you. I hate losing, and I certainly hate losing my possessions. I’m gonna give you a chance at another arcade. If you win, you get one of my other games: Pony-Kart! All you have to do, is ante up Fighting is Magic. The winner not only gets the games, but he’ll receive a party in his name, along with the title: “King of the Arcade”! The loser will have to pay for everything, of course...”
“Hmm...I dunno...”
“DJ Pon3’s gonna be here. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Vinyl Scratch, eh? Deal.”
Both of them spit on their hooves, and smacked them together, staring into each-other’s eyes with determination. The kids around them started bolting outside. They started to holler everywhere they went...
“There’s a contest going on! King of the Arcade! DJ Pon3's gonna be there!!”
The contest would start tomorrow. Both contestants would have to bring their best forward if either were going to show the other one up. Who would win? This contest was going to be the biggest thing since the Running of the Leaves!
