It was an ordinary Monday morning at the arcade. Nightmare Moon sat with Ralph, eating her breakfast of power up pie. Once she finished, she stood up and stretched. "Off to see Zero," she said happily, shaking her ethereal mane.
"So, combatant or spectator today?" Ralph asked.
"Spectator," she replied. "Feeling kinda groggy. My horn aches."
"Sounds like a minor code error," Ralph muttered. "Maybe you should go see Wily-"
"No time," she refused. "Got a schedule to keep. The players are looking forward to seeing me."
Ralph couldn't help but smile. Over her time in the arcade, Moony had developed the same dedication to the players most sprites developed, knowing they were here to give the players an enjoyable experience. Reaching down, he ruffled her mane. "Alright. Have fun, but be careful, okay? Try not to exert yourself too much before closing."
Smiling, she nuzzled his hand in return. "Okay, Daddy," she said softly before turning and racing off to the station. Normally, she'd teleport, but the ache in her horn made anything magical seem like a bad idea at the moment.
The train ride to grand central was uneventful, but once there she staggered, feeling somewhat woozy. She leaned up against a column to rest and let her body relax.
"Feeling alright, little lady?" a high pitched, jovial voice asked.
She looked up, seeing a robed, hooded figure in black that clicked as he walked. "Just a little dizzy," she replied. "I can take a nap in the stage background...when I get to today's game."
"Well, you still need to get there," the figure pointed out, chuckling. "Why don't you let me lend you a hand? Where ya headed?"
She blinked up at him. "I...I don't know you."
"I'm from Eye of the Beholder," the figure replied quickly. "My monster design is one of the more...creative ones. I use the robe to keep from upsetting everyone."
Moony nodded. That made sense. Some of the sprite designs in that game were weird. Which was a pity, since if she didn't look so out of place in it, she'd have liked to appear in the game on occasion. "Marvel vs. Capcom 3," she muttered.
"I'll get you there toot-sweet!" the figure promised, scooping her up in red, clawed hands.
Nightmare nodded as she swayed. Those claws looked like they fit in that game. But something about what he'd said seemed...off, somehow. Especially since he was running along the side of the train tunnel...the wrong tunnel. "Hey, this goes to Hero's Du-"
The claws clamped around her muzzle. "If you know what's good for you, gumdrop, you'll keep quiet and behave. That virus I introduced into you while you were here after closing will have made any of your 'magic powers' painful to use. I need you alive. I don't need you in one piece!"
Nightmare whimpered as the thing that had her leapt into Hero's Duty, leaping from rock outcropping to outcropping until he began scaling the outside of the central tower. She shivered in fear as he took her away to do...whatever he had planned.
Daddy...help! she called silently in her mind.
Daddy...help!
Ralph paused as he brought his fist down towards part of the building. "Moony?" he asked, shocked. He knew for certain he'd just heard her voice...but not in his ears.
"Ralph!" Mary hissed from a nearby window as she set out a power up pie. "Get your head in the game! The player is watching!"
"But...but Moony's in trouble!" he growled back.
"Oh no!" Mary gasped, worried. "But...how do you know?"
"I heard her call me!" he snapped back.
"Ralph, we can't do anything now!" Felix hissed as he bounced from one window to the next at the direction of the player at the controls. "Once we finish the game, we can-"
"Forget the game!" Ralph roared back. "That's my daughter!" With that, he leapt from the building and charged back towards central station.
Felix glanced from where Ralph had gone to the building, and then to the player through the screen. "Oh...sugar cookies, fudge, and darling!" he swore - as close as he came to swearing, anyway - and leapt off the building, charging after him to gather the anti-viral squad.
A great many of the squad theorized that Mr. Litwak was more aware of what went on after closing than he allowed. The little script he'd left unfinished indicated that possibility. Right now, Felix desperately hoped they were right.
"Uncle Litwak! Something's wrong with Fix-it Felix Jr.!"
Stan turned as he heard that complaint. "What do you mean?" he asked as he approached the cabinet. "What's wrong?"
The little girl who'd called - his niece, Lauren - pointed at the screen. "Ralph stopped breaking the building and started arguing with the Nicelanders and Felix. Then he leapt off the building and ran off to the left of the screen. Then Felix followed him."
Stan frowned, glancing to the left. That's where the cord went to plug into the right side of the power strip. The explanation for this behavior was a little too obvious, given his long standing theories and suspicions. "Lauren, I need you to do me a favor," he said softly.
She looked up at him. "What's that, Uncle?"
He slipped something into her hand. "Drop this into the toilet and flush it. Then get back out here and complain about the mess."
Her eyes widened. "You're...clearing the arcade?"
He nodded. "Can you do that for me?"
She nodded eagerly, rushing off to the bathroom. Shortly afterwards, there was an explosion, and she came dashing back out. "Uncle Litwak! The toilet went kablooie!"
Stan acted quickly. "Alright everyone, out of the arcade!" he said quickly. "If there's water leaks, we don't want anyone getting electrocuted. We'll open tomorrow as soon as everything's fixed."
As everyone left pouting, Lauren winked at him.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Really the device only made the water fountain out of the toilet explosively - messy, but not harmful - which would give him the day to let...whatever the sprites needed to do happen. Once he'd locked up, he ducked back into his office and tuned into the security feeds.
"I don't know what's going on," he mumbled to himself, "but whatever you guys need to do here...get to it."
He watched in silence as sprites fled their games, leaving the title screens empty. He hoped things weren't too bad...
I love that the arcade owner is in on it.
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN
Damn you, Turbo!
Felix is funny when he swears
Before I eveb read the chapter... oh no
Shit goin' down! More please!
6061339 Like I said: oh no
and add: Oh. Crap
Why do I see the owner somehow developing a digitizer a la Tron and going in to the arcade's digital world to help?
... Siiiigweil... Siiiigwei-
Nah, just kidding. Anyways, it looks like Moony's not doing so hot at the moment. But I'm not worried. There's no doubt in my mind that Ralph'll kick the pants off Turbo, feed it to him, and then UTTERLY DESTROY HIM WITH THE COMBINED POWERS OF HEAVENLY RETRIBUTION AND DIABOLICAL VEHEMENCE!!!!
Aw yeah!
Aw yeah!
yes i broke realality
So the guy who just last chapter began writing the story for FiM... has a niece named Lauren...
You shouldn't have done that Turbo. You won't like the repercussions.
Continue...
images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110213225547/evangelion/es/images/d/d2/Gendo.jpg
*Reads title*
Moony's not going turbo is she?!
*finishes chapter*
Oh shiiiiiit.
6061417
Yeah.
... Can I just say something? By all rights these crossover stories that you keep writing should NOT work at all. I mean, to the point where the mere premise of it makes me wary going into it. (With the exception of Ratchet & Clank and Metroid, 'cuz those franchises are my shit.)
So how the HELL do you keep pulling them off so well? Are you some sort of sorceror? Did you sell your soul to the Devil in exchange for your stories being good no matter the premise?
HOW??
Perhaps "A great many of the squad"?
"Turbo you done goofed."
*the footsteps of every game sprite in the arcade are heard in the distance*
"CHARGE!!!"
new2.fjcdn.com/comments/Mfw+_d37573aa825462655a691146e1fcd208.jpg
6061531 He's that good.
I get the feeling Moony is going to enter her second stage because of this. And then eat Turbo.
6061531 Have to agree with you a good example is how you got Megas XLR to work so well fit so great. As well Team Fortress 2. Thanks again for that Great story and thanks for selling your soul if you did that to bring us these great stories.
6061586 Couldn't happen to a nicer pain-in-de-butt. :D
Lauren?.....
CALLED IT!
Eye of the Beholder? Dang, you're old school. Those were great.
Litwak is aware of the sprites confirmed.
6061709
It's actually canon to the movie. The Beholder from that game is part of Bad Anon.
...Ralph should consider himself lucky that Turbo is an idiot. Had he used MORE his Cybug powers - namely eating Moony now, and him in the movie - he'd be pretty much unstoppable. But thankfully he keeps thinking like a deranged car racer rather than the insectile hellspawn he is now.
Time to save the world!
6061370 i would think that moonie will have a magic surge and apper in the arcade
6061855 Both of you, amazing suggestions.
6061531 Soul writing. it's almost like the Heart songs in MLP:FIM but with writing with great devotion instead of singing. I managed it once with my story "This is bad!" And hopefully my second shorter one for the sequel worked as well. The only way i can explain something like that.
And suddenly Litwack is awesome.
This story is in the feature box. Congrats
I think it's cool Litwak's going to finally know the secrets to his own arcade
I hope Moony's alright...
Oh no! Turbo, you bastard b*tch!! Don't you DARE hurt Moony!!!
Wait wait wait...
She can be affected by code? NOT GOOD.
As a side note:
Turbo, you fucked up. (BROKEN IMAGE)
It seems that Turbo's 'bout to be terminated.
Permanently.
Hopefully.
well, you still need to get there
1. Just forgot to capitalise.
Dun dun dunnnnn!
I guess it's time to SHIFT INTO TURBO.
...Because no one likes Turbo am I right? =D
6062326 I see what you did there
6062326 I really enjoyed Turbo as both a character AND a villain. His motivations were reasonable, he was outright hilarious in both personas, and well, he was just a fun villain to watch talk, race, and get destroyed.
Uh oh, shit's bout to go down son~
Lauren? Oh rly? *pinkie eyes plz*
Nicely done!
I love how the arcade owner is in on this, and helps the sprites, that's so cool of him.
Keep it up!
6061819 Well, Turbo has a very strong personality. It's what allowed him to subvert the Cy-bug that ate him, rendering them "Turbo with bug powers" rather than "Cy-bug with racer powers". But that also means that he can't put aside his deeply ingrained need to be the star, and the methods he uses to get there. The bug side of him just wants to eat and breed, and if he starts resorting to its methods, he might find himself working for those goals instead... or even risk it taking over.
6062443 True, but I'm thinking he's gonna be pissed in this fanfic to the point of I'm gonna kill this baby Alicorn because it's gonna get to my hated enemy who tried to send me to my death. Still fun.
6061337 I have a feeling he's gonna be saying things much worse than "I won't do boo". It's his friend's daughter who's in trouble. And I think that hammer could be useful for more than fixing.
6061365 To quote a popular term, "Shit just hit the fan."
6061370 YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
6061461 No, even worse. TURBO-TASTIC!
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....dge. Thought I was gonna swear, didn't you?
6061777 Yup.
6062616
Actually in the movie (and an earlier chapter) it's shown that you literally can't use the hammer for ANYTHING but fixing things. When Felix tried to hammer open some loose prison bars in the movie they got cartoonishly strong. It also heals injuries if you hit yourself with it.
6062142 ur pic didnt work...
Well, Turbo has probably just pissed off most of the arcade and I can see every hero and villain sprite storming Hero's Duty to get Moonie back. Mr. Litwak is awesome, having his niece sabotage the arcade to get everyone out, but can he log onto Hero's Duty himself and use the FPS to blast Turbo if he's getting away from his righteous beatdown????? Lauren being his niece is perfect, I bet she's best friends with that glasses wearing girl from the movie. Hehehehehe, if FIM comes into being thanks to Lauren, I can just see a bunch of video game characters appearing as Background ponies.
6061331 very true
6061370 It would be awesome, plus if his niece used it after hours to actually play the games....
6061372 AKA go Papa Wolf on him?????
6061421 Yeah, end result is all of Ralph's friends coming to help rescue Moonie. Now, just imagine all your favorite video game characters using iconic moves on Turbo. Then add in the villains from Bad Anon. Turbo is so doomed after they get through the inevitable Cybug swarm to get to him.
6061586 Nah, he'd make her sick. Buck him into the giant glowing bug zapper and make sure he's dead this time.