Of Friendship & Shadow Games

If one were to ask her, Sunset Shimmer would freely admit to feeling rather giddy this particular Sunday noon.

Because she was currently wandering down the streets of Canterlot City with her six best friends, on her way to the local game store and pick up her new, special-ordered video game. Sunset had ordered it herself precisely three weeks earlier and this day she would finally get to play it along with her friends. Life couldn't get much better.

The conversations on their way the game store was rather animated with varrying topics, Sunset mostly stayed out of it, her mind mostly focused on her game. She was brought out of her imagenings of the exciting new gameplay by Rainbow Dash who was in the middle of another one of her extravagant tales.

"And there I stood," The athletic girl continued, Sunset not really understanding the context due to her thoughts having been elsewhere. ", face to face with this enormous, huge- YOUCH!" As Rainbow Dash had gestured wildly with her hands to describe the size of whatever it was she was talking about, the rainbow haired girl seized her movement and rubbed her right wrist, clearly in some kind of pain.

"Are you alright, Rainbow Dash!?" Fluttershy asked, voice filled with concern as she hurried closer to her friend, the other girls doing the same.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Rainbow Dash placated her friends, now sounding more annoyed at the pain than anything. "Urgh, all that wiping and mopping at Ryou's place really took its toll on my wrists."

And just like that, Sunset's earlier excitement for her game and the brief worry for Rainbow Dash quickly went away and was replaced by a sort of mental cloud on her mind. After all, the subject of Ryou Bakura was still somewhat unsettling to the fiery-haired girl, for reasons she kept from the others.

"Now hang on." The voice of Applejack spoke, sounding both somewhat exasparated and amused as she adressed her rainbow-haired friend. "Hehe, Y'all tellin' me the 'awesome' Rainbow Dash, sports star of CHS, got a little sprain from some good ol' fashioned cleanin'?"

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Rainbow Dash muttered, which Applejack and the others promptly proceeded to do.

"Even though I can agree with dear Rainbow, I must say that whipping that old house into shape felt rather satisfying." Rarity commented, a sentiment shared by the other girls.

"Definetly agree with you on that, Rarity. I can't imagine how Ryou would've gotten the house clean in time by himself." Twilight's words got her thinking of something else. "His stuff was supposed to show up today, right?"

"Eeyup." Applejack's affirmed in a similar manner to her brother. "As a matter of fact, Ah saw moving trucks by the Blackwood house this mornin', gettin' all the furniture in. Didn't see Ryou, though."

While the other girls smiled at her words, thinking of how their new friend wouldn't have to sleep in an empty house anymore, Sunset asked, somewhat curtly, "Did you see what kind of stuff they were moving?"

Blinking in slight bewilderment at the inquiry, Applejack answered nonetheless. "Nothin' out of the ordinary. Some cabinets, a table or two, a TV, Ah didn't see much of it... Why'd you ask, sugarcube?"

"... No reason." Sunset didn't want to tell them that she wanted to know that she still was suspiscious, because that would probably not go over well with her friends. Now, Sunset didn't have anything against Ryou, far from it. She had honestly quite enjoyed hanging around him the other day, finding his love of games to rival her own.

And yet, the fiery-haired girl couldn't shake this constant nagging feeling in the back of her head. This feeling that Ryou was hiding something behind his smile, or the feeling that getting close to him would somehow spell trouble for her and her friends. Sunset knew that it wasn't really fair of her to think this way, but she hadn't managed to surpress her suspiscions no matter how hard she tried.

Luckily for her, none of the other girls could dwell too much on her behaviour. For as they were walking down the last bit of the way to the game shop, Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, letting out one of her trademark gasps. This caused the entire group tp stop, looking at the pink-skinned girl questioningly.

"Um, you alright there, Pinks?" Rainbow Dash asked with a raised brow. Pinkie's only answer was a wide grin before pointing excitedly to across the street. Obliging their excentric friend's behaviour, the girls followed her point and looked over the street, where Canterlot City's best game shop just happened to be. All of the girls let out small gasps as they saw a familiar blob of white heading into said shop.

"My, looks like we're going to meet dear Ryou sooner than expected. Though I suppose it does make sense that we would meet him in a game shop." Rarity noted with a smile on her face. Applejack nodded from her side.

"Ah'll say, Rares. Well, what're we waitin' around here for? Let's go get Sunset's game and say 'Hi' to 'im!" Their minds now made up, the girls hurried across the street, eager to complete their objectives.

As the girls entered the store, Sunset beamed at the sight of the familiar interior. As usual, the Dragon's Lair game shop was filled to the brim with all things gaming. The shelves were filled with figurines, board games, card booster packs, consoles, puzzles, posters, elaborate dioramas, and all sorts of things related to nerd culture.

Seeing the white haired boy standing by one of the larger displays, the girls moved over there, taking a closer look at the set up that had gotten Ryou's attention.

The display itself was a rather large table with elaborate models of things ranging from medieval-looking villages to full-blown castles. Spread across the table were also small figurines meant to be the inhabitants of the little world, all clearly made from fine-quality wood. Hanging aloft the table was a banner that read out 'Monster World' in a large, gothic font.

"This is the game Ryou was talking about..." Fluttershy said mostly to herself as she and the girls looked over the table set up. All of them certainly got a small idea as to why the white haired boy was so into the game, as the girls themselves couldn't help but admire the little wooden fantasy world.

"Amazing, isn't it? It reminds me alot of my own set up back home."

At the sound of the familiar, soft voice, the girls lifted their heads simultaneously, only to see a smiling Ryou standing on the other side of the table. The boy was examining the table fondly, enthusiastic eyes roaming over every inch of the gameboard, taking in the details of every model and every figurine.

"So this is that Monster World-thing you went on about yesterday." Rainbow Dash remarked, looking over the board with an intrigued gaze. "Gotta say, I can kinda get where you were coming from now. This set up looks awesome!"

"Do you get your supplies from stores like these? The boards and characters and the like?" Sunset asked with her arms crossed, her underlying wariness making way for her love of games. As she asked, Fluttershy was admiring the little creature figurines on the board and Pinkie was playing around with two figurines, mashing them together and making her own sound effects.

"For the bigger or more exclusive pieces and materials, yes. I do prefer to make the characters myself, though." He replied, his gaze now fully leaving the display as he straightened himself up. "I think it's way more fun to play when you have a piece that you can really call your own. That's why I always try to make them look like whoever is playing them."

"Golly, you must've got lots of pieces then." Applejack noted and Ryou gave her a nod.

"Well, yeah, but my own gameboard is also a lot bigger than this one. I've also put up display cases in the game room to store all the characters not currently in use." The girls could only stare at Ryou for a moment before their collective gazes dropped to the relatively large table. Their new friend had a gameboard bigger than this!?

"Oh my..." Fluttershy said quietly to herself.

"Wowza! Your board must be super-duper big!" Pinkie exclaimed, smiling.

Ryou returned the smile before giving the Rainbooms a questioning look. "What brings the seven of you here today? After yesterday I'd thought you'd rather relax a bit."

Twilight answered, "Sunset's new game's finally here and we're just stopping by to pick it up. After that, it's hours of gaming entertainment ahead of us for the rest of the day."

Ryou looked interested now, looking at Sunset. "Really? What kind of game are we talking about here?"

As the fiery-headed girl met Ryou's warm, brown eyes, she realized it was another one of those moments that made her feel truly horrible inside for her inner throughts and wariness of the boy. None of this inner turmoil was visible to the outside world, though, as she responded enthusiastically. "It's the limited special-edition of the 'Champions Of Legend 3' game, with 13 new exclusive playable characters, 10 extra stages, and 46 new bonus combos!"

Ryou was clearly impressed, his eyes widening as he let out a low whistle. "Now that is a rare find. I heard that game was completely sold out world wide a mere hour after being officialy released. I'm guessing you special ordered yours just in time, Sunset?"

"Yep! And now, after two long weeks of waiting, I can finally enjoy all that special-edition goodness! But what about you, Ryou? Did you come here to buy some new Monster World stuff?"

The white haired boy just shook his head, "No, I mostly just came here to see what kind of things this shop had in stock, and I have to say that I wasn't disappointed. I was conscidering maybe picking up some of the latest Duel Monsters booster packs, but I think I'm just going to head home instead. I'll see you girls at school tomorrow."

Before any of them could say anything, Ryou had given them a small bow and headed towards the door. He was just about to step outside when a lightbulb went off in Pinkie Pie's head. "Wait, Ryou! Wanna play the game with us!?"

The boy froze in his tracks, turning around and looking at the pink girl with a questioning look, "I beg your pardon?" Ryou asked softly as if he'd misheard her, but Pinkie just kept smiling at him. The other girls looked at Pinkie with similar expressions, suprised by her straight-forwardness. Though their surprise made way for optimism at the idea.

"Yeah, c'mon, RB, it'll be fun. You can watch me kick AJ's sorry butt for the umpteenth time- OW! Hey!" Rainbow Dash rubbed the spot on her arm where a peeved Applejack had punched her, much to the others amusement.

"I don't know..." Ryou muttered, looking away uncertainly, though the girls could all see how his eyes seemed to have lit up at the invitation. "It feels sort of wrong of me to intrude on you girls like that."

"Darling, you wouldn't be intruding!" Rarity was quick to assure him. "If anything it will be a welcome thing to have a knowledgeable game enthusiast like yourself joining us."

Ryou blushed at the praise, scratching the back of his head and averted his eyes. "Still... this is Sunset's game and she should decide who gets to play it."

"Sunset doesn't mind. Right?" The fiery-haired girl felt a little uncomfortable being put on the spot like that by Twilight, as all of them were now looking at her expectantly. Still, even though Sunset felt small doubts when it came to associating with Ryou, she couldn't really say 'No' in this situation, not that she really wanted to.

So, giving Ryou a smile she responded, "Well, I do have eight controllers, so the more the merrier, I say!"

The white haired boy looked uncertain for a moment, almost looking as if he desperatly wanted to say something. Before any of the girls could lay too much thought on it, Ryou had apparently thought better of it and gave them a grateful smile. "Well, in that case: Yes. I'd love to join you."

"YAY! HAPPY-FRIENDS-GAME-TIME!" Pinkie exclaimed while wrapping her arms around Ryou in a brief, but fierce embrace, causing the other girls to chuckle lightly. The only boy of the group looked momentarily frozen in shock at the pink girl's actions before finally smiling after she let him go.

After that the now group of eight made their way to the counter where Sunset at last got her copy of the long-awaited game. Sunset had practically been drooling it as it was handed to her. After having to almost physically drag Ryou away from a particularly rare Duel Monsters card displayed (something he described as a "first-edition ultimate rare Crush Card Virus", whatever that was), they all headed out of the store and began their trek towards Sunset's house.

The conversation on their way there was pretty much focused on the game itself, ranging from the different stages to what character each and every one of them wanted to play as. Though the only ones who were really knowledgable about the characters were Ryou and Sunset.

They were all nearing Sunset's place when Fluttershy noticed something that she could've sworn looked just like gold glimmer by Ryou's chest. Blinking in confusion and intruige, the quiet girl asked, "What's that by your chest, Ryou? I-if you don't mind me asking, of course..."

Ryou tilted his head at the inquiry, looking confused until he looked down at his chest and noticed the familiar piece of jewelry. "That's odd. I could've sworn that I left it at home..."

Their words caught the attention of the others, who turned their gazes towards the strange golden pendant hanging from Ryou's neck. "How in the heck did we not see that before?" Sunset wondered aloud what everyone else was thinking.

Applejack, quick to dismiss the accessory's strange appearance, chuckled to herself. "Ah never pegged ya for the bling-wearin' type there, Ryou." Despite the odd situation her comment brought about a fair amount of light chuckles.

Pinkie Pie, ever so curious, got quite close to Ryou while doing what looked like a staring contest with the eye of the pendant. "Oooh, shiny..." She reached out as if to touch it, but just as she was about to Ryou flinched back, gripping his jewelry as if he thought that Pinkie was about to steal it. Seeing the looks from the others seemed to snap him out of his trance-like state, though.

"Sorry about that, Pinkie. It's just..." He trailed off, looking down at the pendant with an unreadable gaze. "This was a gift from my father, and it means a great deal to me."

"It looks like some sort of antique." Twilight remarked, adjusting her glasses while looking it over with analysing eyes.

"That's because it is." Ryou confirmed with a small laugh, "It's called the millenium ring and it's an artifact from ancient Egypt. My father almost spent his entire career trying to find it until he finally discovered it in a tablet in the Valley of the Kings five years ago."

"Valley of the Kings?" Fluttershy repeated, looking somewhat spooked. "Isn't that that place where all of those egyptian kings were burried?"

Ryou gave her a nod, "They were called pharaohs, but yes."

"Cool." Was all that Rainbow Dash said.

"Wait a minute! Darling, are you telling us that necklace is made out of actual gold!?" Rarity now looked at the artifact with newfound interest. She had honestly not thought much of it upon first viewing, thinking it looked like some sort of tachy fake-gold jewelry you could get at a gift shop, but kept quiet since Ryou obviously was quite attached to it. But now, as she took a closer look at the ring, knowing that it was truly something remarkable, the fashionista found herself having a new appreciation for it.

"Yes, it is." Rarity practically didn't hear Ryou's confirmation, her mind at work speculating designs that could look good with the artifact.

"It feels like that eye is watching me..." Twilight muttered to herself in quiet voice that went unheard by everyone else. Indeed, it felt as if that eye-thing on the center of the millenium ring was glaring into her very soul, making her feel all sorts of unease. It quickly quenched much of the enthusiasm she had for seeing such a piece of ancient egyptain history.

The only one who hadn't spoken up so far was Sunset who, much like Twilight, found herself staring into the eye symbol of the millenium ring, getting the uneasy feeling that something was staring right back. But at the same time, the ring's appearance also felt strangely familiar to the interdimensional girl. "It feels as if I've seen this things somewhere before..."

"Well, it is from ancient Egypt." Fluttershy quietly, but audibly remarked. "Maybe you've just seen it in a history book or something."

"That's most likely it. After all, the Eye of Wdjat was a very common symbol in the days of the pharaohs. Maybe you're thinking of some other item?" Ryou offered helpfully, though Sunset only curtly nodded.

"Yeah, maybe..." She murmured to herself, her gaze still transfixed on the millenium ring.

Sunset was brought out of her brief trance by Rainbow Dash, who, with a tone of impatience said, "Look, not that Ryou's ancient egyptain bling isn't cool and all, but weren't we on our way to play the best video game ever? So what's with the hold up?"

Realizing that the athletic girl had a point, the subject of the millenium ring was put aside at the moment as all eight of them went over to Sunset's place rather quickly. Once they had all gotten inside, everyone one of them took a seat in Sunset's living room, where a fairly large TV as well as multiple games and consoles were placed.

While Sunset was infront of the TV and setting up the game, Rainbow Dash had raided Sunset's fridge with said fiery-haired girl's permission. She came back from the kitchen carrying eight bottles which she promptly handed out to everyone else. While the girls quickly opened theirs up, once Ryou had recieved his and said his thanks he took a look at just what kind of drink it was, seeing that it said Fizzy Apple Cider from Sweet Apple Acres.

"Sweet Apple Acres? Isn't that your family's farm, Applejack?" Ryou asked the country girl.

"You betcha!" Applejack stopped drinking from her own bottle, now giving Ryou an encouraging smile and her full attention. "Now, c'mon, have a sip! I wanna know what'ya think."

Blinking twice, a little embarrassed at being put on the spot like that, as the other girls now also looked at him, wating for a reaction, Ryou decided to humour them. Opening up his bottle, the white-haired boy tentaviley took a small sip. However, once the fizzy drink landed upon his tounge, overwhelming it with a sweet and refreshing flavour, his eyes widened almost comically.

After having a swift gulp, he brougth down the bottle from his lips, showing an awed smile. "This is amazing! I've never tasted apple cider this good! Your family really knows their craft, Applejack!"

As he eagerly gulped down some more, the other girls laughed lightly at the reaction while Applejack blushed lightly. "Aw, shucks..." She was quick to defelct the praise with a chuckle.

"Alright then, I got everything set!" Sunset suddenly called out happily, backing away from the TV and joining the others on the seats. The games menu was displayed on the screen, filling all eight of them with a feeling of hype.

"Man, I've waited so long for this!" Sunset exclaimed excitedly, similar feelings being apparent on the other's faces. Handing out controllers to everyone, she then asked, "So, which ones wants to play first?"

"It's your game, Sunset. You should decide who gets to play the first round." Ryou said kindly.

"Alright then. How's about... you and Rainbow Dash?"

"What!? Me?" Ryou looked at Sunset as if he had just grown two heads, while Rainbow Dash seemed open to the idea. "Don't you want to play first?"

Sunset just gave a small smile, once again finding that his kind behaviour made her question why she decided to be suspiscious of him in the first place. For having such thoughts about him, she figured that she would let him go first. Of course, she didn't voice any of these reasons, instead merely shaking her head at Ryou's question.

Ryou continued to look at her as if quesitoning her sanity for a brief moment before he gave her a truly grateful smile, "Thank you, Sunset. That's really kind of you."

The other girls watched this interaction with smiles, as they all knew Sunset's initial doubts about CHS' new student. Hopefully, to them this was a sign that their interdimensional friend was coming around to him.

As that was now decided, Ryou and Rainbow Dash wasted no time in chosing their characters. Once everything was set up, Ryou gave his opponent a friendly smile, "May the best player win."

Rainbow Dash was looking at him with an almost predatory grin, gripping her controller as if it were a weapon. "I'll take you on, RB. But word of warning; I never loose!"

"Thanks for playing, Rainbow."

"Bu- Wha-... How the heck did you beat me!?"