//------------------------------// // Video Game Master and Game Master // Story: Equestria's Warriors: A whole new World // by Wildcard25 //------------------------------// One morning in New York, Dustin woke up and got ready for a brand new day. He left his room fully clothed and joined his dad and guests at the kitchen table, "Zyphon, you make the best eggs." Twilight complimented the robot. "My pleasure, Ms. Twilight." Zyphon replied, as he worked. "So what's on our line up today after training?" Wildcard asked his spirit warrior friend. "Well let me think," Dustin began until his cellphone rang, "Right after I take this," he answered the call, "Hello? Hey Zimmer, how're you? Me, oh yeah I'm doing great. Really? Well Alistair and I haven't made any plans today so yeah we could meet you guys there. Ok bye." he ended his call. "Who was that?" Spike asked, as he was fed a dog treat from Fluttershy. "That was Zimmer Mendez, another spirit warrior friend of mine and Alistair's. He invited us to meet him and his group at the arcade at noon." Dustin explained. "Arcade?" Applejack asked in confusion. "A place that's loaded with popular video games that date back to the time of retro games." he explained. "And Zimmer's the video game wizard." Zyphon explained. "He could prove a challenge for even you, Wildcard." Dustin smirked. "Oh really?" Wildcard asked, while sensing a threat in his field, "Well then shall we go to this arcade after training?" "Might as well." Applejack replied. "Yeah, I mean I can't think of anything to do." Twilight admitted. "Cool. I'll give Alistair a message." Dustin said, as he texted the message back. As they were leaving Dustin's place, watching from another roof top was a figure watching from the shadows, "So he's Dustin Bowers? This could be interesting." he said before going off. Soon after their morning training, Dustin, Alistair, Zyphon in disguise, and the pony/humans met outside a place called Cyber Network Arcade, "Welcome guys, to Cyber Network Arcade." Alistair introduced them. "I can't wait to see what games they got in here." Wild said in eagerness. "Well come on." Dustin said as he, Alistair, and Zyphon lead them inside. The pony/humans looked and saw the place was loaded with video games in big type of consoles decorated with designs from the games on the sides and surrounding the screens. In addition to the game consoles there was also a cafe area set up with tables, chairs, and booths. "Wow, this place sure is active." Muse said. "That it is, it's a gamer's sanctuary." Alistair explained. "Hey guys over here!" a voice called out. Dustin, Alistair, Zyphon, and the others looked over and saw three boys about Dustin's and Alistair's ages were over by a fighting game console. The first one had long brown hair, and blue eyes covered by glasses. His outfit included sneakers, jeans, a white shirt with a familiar video game Italian plumber dressed in red and blue, while holding a mushroom and posing in a jumping position, and a blue baseball cap that he wore backwards. The second boy had short brown hair that looked gelled and green eyes. He wore brown shoes, tan shorts, and a black shirt with a white spider web like design front and back on it. Finally the third boy had long black hair and brown eyes. He wore black sneakers with steel padding on the front tips, black slacks, a blue short sleeved shirt with a red short sleeved open shirt over it, and hanging around his neck was a necklace with an Anubis eye symbol. "Z, Toph, Thatch, how're you guys doing?" Alistair said, as he and Dustin high fived the three boys. "Doing great. Glad you could come." the boy in glasses answered. "Where's the rest of the gang?" the brown haired boy asked, while noticing the others weren't with them. "They said they'd catch up with us later." Dustin explained, as the three looked past them seeing who was accompanying them. "So who's this entourage?" he asked. "These are the friends we once told you about from the other world." Alistair explained. "Oh the world of horses?" the necklace wearer asked, while rolling his eyes. "That's ponies, Thatch." Dustin corrected him. "And you can ask them yourselves." Alistair said, as the girls and Wild approached. "So you're three more of Dustin's and Alistair's friends?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, I'm Zimmer Mendez the video game wizard." the one in glasses introduced himself. "I'm Topher MacLeoud the artistic one." the brown haired boy said. "Artistic?" Pinkie asked. "Topher's great at drawing and painting." Dustin explained. The final boy with the medallion spoke, "And I'm Thatch Cragger. I study Egyptian history. This necklace I'm carrying is my prized possession. My dad got it for me when I was in Egypt two years ago." "Zimmer's a spirit warrior, and Thatch and Topher are dark warriors." Alistair explained, signaling that the two dark warriors like himself were using cloaking on their bodies to look like average boys. "So who are these special ponies?" Zimmer asked. Twilight approached, "Well guys, my name's Twilight Sparkle..." she saw their eyes were widening and cut them off, "Don't laugh!" "I wasn't laughing..." Topher began, and muttered, "Openly." "Continue." Alistair instructed. Applejack approached and shook their hands, "Howdy do yall. Name's Applejack." "A pleasure." Thatch replied. Fluttershy approached meekly as she rubbed her foot on the floor, "My name's Fluttershy." Topher spoke to Zimmer and Thatch, "And I thought Alice was shy when we first met her." Thatch nodded in agreement. "I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm awesome." Rainbow gloated. "And with a large ego to boot." Zimmer muttered. Rarity shook their hands, "I am Rarity, charmed and delighted to meet you three." 'Whoa this one's hot,' Topher thought with a blush, 'I'd love to paint her picture.' Spike peeking his head out of Twilight's backpack saw Topher blush at Rarity growled a bit, only for Twilight to hush him. Pinkie shook their hands, "And I'm Pinkie Pie, if you want a party I'm your girl!" "We'll keep that in mind." Thatch replied. Muse approached, "My name's Muse, and this is my boyfriend, Wildcard." she introduced them. "Nice to meetcha guys." Wild fist bumped with the three. Twilight seeing the boys noticing Spike in the backpack decided to introduce them, "And this is Spike, my dog. But in our world he's a dragon." "A dragon?" the three asked. "Yeah. I can't help if this world turned me into a dog." Spike barked softly. The three boys jumped in shock before calming down, "Warn us that your animal can speak." Thatch said in shock. "Now do you believe us?" Alistair asked, while crossing his arms. "Ok, you got us convinced. So what's this all about?" Topher asked. "Let's take a seat at a booth and talk." Dustin suggested as they did so. After a brief explanation, the three others were surprised, "Whoa! So Felix has a boss?" Thatch asked. "I never thought he'd resort to taking orders from someone else." Zimmer added in surprise. "I doubt he's taking orders," Twilight injected, "I think they're in an alliance that's bonded by getting what they each want as long as the other holds their end of the bargain." "And this Ebon wants to regain his bodily form?" Topher asked. "Unfortunately." Muse answered. "But we're combating Felix with the elements of harmony that are leveling up." Applejack noted. "And how powerful are these elements?" Zimmer asked. "Super-Duper-Duper Powerful!" Pinkie stated. "And they're our only chance in combating Ebon and Felix's combined forces." Dustin explained. "Especially now that he's incorporated others like Clyde and that Chaos Duo." Alistair added. "Sounds like you guys need all the help you can even with our senior students helping you." Zimmer noted. "Tell me about it." Dustin sighed. "So can we help?" Topher asked. "Huh?" the pony/humans asked. "Well come on you think you can have all the action to yourselves?" Thatch asked, "We all learned under Darius, Burai, Xever, and the others. So shouldn't we all help?" "You do bring up a point," Dustin admitted, "And there are strength in numbers as well." "If you guys are up for it." Alistair said leaving it up to them. "Hell yeah!" they called. "Well then welcome to the group sugarcubes." Applejack welcomed them. "Thanks," Zimmer said, as he noticed Wildcard squinting at him, "Something wrong, man?" "You're supposed to be an expert in video games?" Wild asked curiously. "The best," Zimmer answered, while trying not to sound boastful like Rainbow did, "There's not a video game out there that I can't beat, and whenever I come across a challenging game I never give up until the end." "That's awesome," Rainbow admitted, "My cousin here's also an expert in games. Well card games and such that is." "You don't say?" Zimmer looked to Wild. "Yup. In Ponyville I'm known as the Game Master." Wild explained. "Game Master, huh? Well then Game Master, how about you and I compete in a little game brawl?" Zimmer offered, with a challenging smirk. "Name your game." Wild challenged him back with an equal smirk. Zimmer motioned to a game console not too far form their booth, "Storm Fighters, three rounds. Best two out of three." Wild answered, "Game on." The two got up and went to the console to start it up, as the girls rolled their eyes seeing how competitive boys can get, especially how Rainbow and Applejack noticed how they were like them. Fifteen minutes later, Jethro, Ralph, Dean, Jade, Elroy, Aria, Eu, Alice, and Alicia arrived, "Hey guys sorry we're late." Dean greeted them. "Hey Dean, what's up?" Topher fist bumped with him. "Everything's cool. How about with you guys?" he asked the two. "Everything's sweet." Thatch admitted. Aria looked around, "Where're Wildcard and Zimmer?" "Over there." Dustin motioned to the game console, where Zimmer and Wild were still playing. "Somehow this doesn't surprise me." Eu stated. "How long have they been at it?" Jade asked. "Fifteen minutes actually." Alistair answered. "But judging from the sound of Wild, it won't last long." Rainbow noticed Wild was playing like he was desperate to win. "I got ya now!" Wild called, as he was ready to win. "Think again!" Zimmer answered, as he took control of the match and defeated Wild. "NO!" Wild cried, as he saw his game avatar fall. "Oh yeah!" Zimmer cheered. "Zimmer always pulls through." Ralph noted, while unaware of Rainbow Dash looking worried. "Oh this is bad." Wild said to himself in worry. "What it's not the end of the world." Zimmer said, as he noticed Wild looked like he was at his wits end before walking back to the guys. "Rainbow, I lost." Wild panicked. "I know, I know." she answered in worry as well. "What's going on?" Zimmer asked, as he went back over, "I mean it's just a game." "It's not the game, Zimmer," Rainbow began, "You see in Equestria my cousin has this un-explainable gift of good luck. That's why he's so good at games." "So I guess today wasn't his luckiest day." Topher stated, not seeing all the fuss was for. "It's not that simple," Wild continued for his cousin, "I only lose on certain occasions. And whenever I do lose it serves as an omen that something bad's going to happen." "Like my Pinkie sense?" Pinkie asked. "Your what?" Thatch asked her, but before Pinkie could explain Zimmer spoke. "Something bad? You can't actually believe that." "It's true. On certain times he's lost something bad would happen. Like one time after he lost a card match with a challenger, a rock slide almost hit Ponyville." Rainbow explained. "Luckily nopony was hurt." Wild said in relief. "And you think this bad omen applies in our world?" Dustin asked. "It's possible." Wild answered. Suddenly Zyphon started beeping, "Oh dear. I'm picking up a disturbance close to us." "A disturbance?" Applejack asked. "I knew it." Wild sighed, knowing something bad was afoot. "Dark warrior signatures are coming up on my sensors." Zyphon explained. "Could be Felix and that duo." Alistair theorized. "We better check it out." Twilight suggested. "Way ahead of you." Pinkie said as she, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity dawned their elements. "Well guys, you wanted action now you'll get it." Dustin said to the three, who looked ready. "Let's bounce." Dean ordered, as the group took off with Pinkie taking Dean's words a little too seriously and literally bounced after them. They ran down the block, before coming around a corner seeing Felix, Johan, and Omaddon terrorizing pedestrians, "There they are." Alicia stated. "Let's get to it." Dustin said, as they approached. "Felix!" Twilight called. Felix and the Duo ceased their attacks and saw them, "Well nice to see you guys this afternoon." Felix chuckled. "You varmints are seriously asking for trouble." Applejack said getting ready to strike. "Who do you think you are scaring all these innocent people?" Fluttershy scolded them. "This terrorizing is essential for Ebon's rebirth." Felix explained. "Of course," Muse remembered, "He feeds off the fear in others hearts." "Precisely," Felix retorted, "Once we've stirred up enough fear Ebon's gonna be joining the party." "We can't let them do that." Twilight stated to her friends. "Well what're we waiting for?" Rainbow asked rhetorically. "Yeah, let's bust some heads!" Ralph called while increasing the muscles in his arms, and their dark warrior allies revealed their dark warrior appearances. The other warriors summoned their weapons, along with Zimmer, Thatch, and Topher. Zimmer's spirit weapon was a pair of sais, Topher's shadow weapon was a naginata, and Thatch's shadow weapon was a claymore sword, "Shadow soldiers!" Felix called summoning his minions, "Attack!" he ordered, as he and his group attacked their enemies. The pony/humans and their warrior allies plowed through the shadow soldiers and as Dustin, Alistair, and Aria reached Felix and the duo, the real fighting began. Felix concentrated fire in his palms and launched it at Dustin, who jumped to the side and fired a spirit gun at Felix who back flipped away, "Nice try Dustin, but you're too slow!" he launched a shadow shot at the boy. "No," Dustin cut him off, as he flew up avoiding the shot, "You're just too stupid!" "Huh?" Felix asked, as Zyphon opened fire on Felix with his blasters. "Dance cowpolk!" Zyphon said in a western accent. Johan summoned his shadow whip and Omaddon cracked his knuckles, "Let's take them." Johan told his partner. "Works for me." Omaddon agreed, as they attacked Alistair and Aria. Alistair summoned his shadow buster and started striking for Johan who was dodging, while Omaddon was trying to punch Aria, but the girls speed was overcoming his strength, "Girls, now!" Aria called as Alice and Alicia fired a double barrel shotgun blast at Omaddon knocking him off his feet and crashing into Johan. "Omaddon, get off me!" Johan ordered, as his partner was on top of him. Felix who was still avoiding the blaster shots from Zyphon, frowned and fired a shadow gun at him destroying one of his blasters, "Zyphon, pull out!" Dustin ordered, as his robot backed away to repair himself. "Looks like it's you and me now." Felix said, as he and Dustin were ready to square off until a shadow gun blats nailed in between the two. The new blast startled everyone present, and they looked to see who shot it, "Now what?" Eu asked, as they saw someone approaching. It was a boy about sixteen years of age who had the skin color, ears, and eyes of a dark warrior. He had dark hair about mid length and was parted to the left. He wore red sneakers, black pants, a plain white short sleeved shirt, and a black unbuttoned short sleeved shirt over it. He approached both groups who were both shocked and surprised never seeing this dark warrior before in their lives. "Who're you?" Dustin asked the newcomer, breaking the silence. The newcomer looked to Dustin, followed by the rest of the group before smirking, "I'm Blaze Shadow."