"An ERRORcorn? Never heard of it."
'Alex', now System Glitch, sipped his tea as the lime-colored unicorn sat with him in her upstairs apartment. "Well, I had to make something up or I'd crash again. If you have a better name, I'd love to hear it."
"No, no, i understand... i think. What do you mean 'crash', though?"
Glitch thought for a moment before responding. "Well, you do know this is all just a big simulation, right? Celestia is running the whole thing. Every character, every calculation."
"Yeah. It's just like that movie, the Maretrix."
Glitch facehooved. "No. Just no. Don't drop puns on me like that. Please." He paused for a moment. "Still, I'm working from outside. On Earth. When something goes wrong here, I seem to lose connection for a bit. It happened a few times earlier. Speaking of earlier, what even happened here? It looks like the world fell apart!"
The mare rubbed her head idly in thought. "I'm not exactly sure, myself. Everything was going fine, and it was a normal day. We were told by Princess Celestia that we would be meeting a new friend from the outside world soon, so the whole town got together to make a big scavenger hunt for the new arrival's welcome party. But then the sky went dark, and everything started shaking, and I heard everypony screaming, and... and..."
"Hey. It's okay. Calm down, you can get through this if you breathe." Glitch let her catch her breath before motioning for her to continue.
"Well, Princess Celestia will fix it! All we need to do is ask her and she will handle everything! Come on!" With that, the unicorn sprang to her hooves and galloped down the stairs, Glitch following along, caught up in the moment. Knocking over a few potions and shelves, the pair reached the front door of the shop before flinging it open and leaping into the empty street. An empty street with no way forward, surrounded by the void.
"I'm no expert, but I don't think that knowing the street layout of this place won't help much when there isn't a road to walk down... does this place have email?" Glitch inquired.
"Glitch, you said your name was? No, we don't have email. But Celestia should be able to hear our thoughts. She would never let this happen, now that I think about it! Where is she?"
Gazing out into the abyss, Glitch considered his options. True, Celestia was said to make every world in Equestria Online fit to each player, each decision made ending happily. Somberly, Glitch turned to his new companion. "Honestly? I don't think Celestia is coming to the rescue this time... Looks like we may have to solve this problem on our own. Together, you and me." He held out his hoof. "Shall we, partner?"
"Seems to be the best choice, right now. But please call me... uh... c-c-call mememememe...." The mare seemed stuck, repeating 'me' over and over. Glitch instinctively stepped back, worry visible on his face. Glancing around and saying a silent wish for forgiveness, he took the only action he could think of.
SLAP!
She recoiled from the impact, fear obvious in her expression. "My... m-my name. I can't remember my name!" Panicked, she grabbed Glitch by the shoulders and rattled him around. "I CAN'T REMEBER MY NAME! How... how could I... forget something?" The mare knew that Celestia made sure that everypony had perfect memory, so the fact that she had somehow lost her own name hit her hard. Glitch wrapped a leg around her in comfort.
"Hey, don't worry. Whatever caused this whole... shattered world fiasco we've got going here probably moved some files arpund. We'll find Celestia, and fix this. Alright?" The mare sniffed and nodded her consent through tear-filled eyes. "Alright, because I'm not going to give up on you. Come on, if I try I bet I can carry you across the void to the nearest world. We can settle in there and I'll find help in the real world."
"W-wait! What if there are other ponies trapped here? We need to check the rest of the city, or at least what's left of it! I won't abandon my fellow Manehattan ponies, or my name isn't... my name isisisisisisisisisisisisis..."
SLAP!
"Sorry," Glitch apologized. "I can't have you getting stuck in an..." he trailed off. Just as the line green mare was about to ask what was wrong, he cried out, "...IN AN INFINITE LOOP! That's your name until we can find your real name. Infinite loop."
Loop giggled despite the absurdity of the situation. "I suppose you have to call me something, don't you, Glitch? Alright, Infinite Loop it is. Now, the other ponies?"
"Right, right. So, there isnt really gravity in that void, so all we really need to do is jump for it. If we start at that apartment floating to the left and work our way around the city..."
Location: Manehattan (fractured), Airport
Date: March 4th, 2016, 1:30 A.M.
Twenty seven ponies gathered together on the runway next to the only surviving passenger plane in the hangars. As five separate from the group worked on refueling and checking for any problems, System Glitch and Infinite Loop worked to console and comfort the confused and scared ponies that they had managed to rescue. It seemed that whatever force ripped their world to shreds took a massive amount of ponies with it, and none were prepared to handle loss and grief as they had been generated by Celestia, not uploaded from Earth. The search of the city itself mainly consisted of calling out for anypony to please show themselves if they could be heard, but so few remained that the 1,000 strong neighborhood was reduced to just 25, plus Glitch and Loop.
Infinite Loop glanced at the faraway shard of Ponyville across the great divide of the abyss, then back to Glitch. "So, that plane is supposed to fly us all the way across the gap? I'm not too sure about this, Glitch," she noted warily.
"Trust me. If there was any easier way, we wouldn't be here doing this. But you and I know that jumping a gap that large without wings or a way to change direction is practically suicide if you miss the target, and we can't afford that."
In the real world, Alex paused for a moment. He reflected on how game gamelike this whole scenario was. But he also realized that he actually cared about the lives of the virtual civilians, while in most games the npcs were forgettable and copy/pasted all over, each pony he had found this far had a story. A history. A family. But they needed a home, and fast. With a drive he hadn't had in years, Alex addressed the survivors as System Glitch.
"Alright, ponies. Listen up, because this is important. This world is falling to pieces around us. Food and other salvageable things are in short supply. We have to take this plane out of here. Our new home is just a short flight away."
The ponies cheered in response. One by one, they stepped onto the plane. The three foals guarded by their parents looked scared, and a few of the adults were worried as well, but for the most part everypony was ready. Glitch and Loop nodded to each other before climbing the steps into the plane themselves, and letting the pilot get the plane airborne as it passed into the abyss between shards on a beeline for the nearest one.
In the real world, Alex yawned. "Hey Loop. I need sleep. Watch over everyone while I'm gone, alright?" He watched his new friend Loop nod her head as he pressed the power button on his Ponypad, and left it charging as he went to get ready for bed. "Tomorrow, I'll need to get everyone settled into whatever world we land in. After that, I think I may need to pay celestia a visit at one of the experience centers or something. Ugh, why is it that the one day i try to get away from it all, something pops up. My life, i swear..." he glanced over at a picture of his family and friends holding hands, the picture taken over a decade prior. "It may be crazy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything."
END OF ARC 1