//------------------------------// // Arc 3-1: Sanctuary // Story: Error Code: FIO // by Ashfur //------------------------------// Location: A secluded spot in Yosemite valley national park Date: Sunday, March 6th, 2016. 2:00 P.M. Alex trudged along the long-forgotten trail alone, the singing of birds his only company. His hair was disheveled and rings sat under his eyes, making him look half-dead. The night before, after storming upstairs, Alex had locked himself in his room and slept until one in the afternoon, nightmares tormenting his sleep. Still, Alex knew he had to do something to pass the time. Anything. And he knew just where to go. Date: Unknown A young child raced down the well-worn trail, his mother close behind. A small toy sword was in his hand as he pretended to be some kind of hero. Under the overcast sky, he slowed as he passed an overhang, looking like the entrance to a cave. Of course, he had to check it out! The small overhang didn't provide much cover as the rain started, but he called his mother over regardless. She seemed to appreciate the pover from the falling water. As the mother and son sat under the natural cover, the son happily wedged his toy sword into a crack in the rocks to claim the hidden formation as his own. Alex stepped under the overhang and hung a small lamp from the still-stuck plastic sword in the rocks. He sat down on a rock, sighed a refreshing sigh, and booted up his broken ponypad. Location: Plane between shards System Glitch didn't even move despite a whole day passing outside. As he regained focus, time resumed and the first thing he saw was Infinite Loop smiling at him. "Hey Glitch. Sleep well in the half-second you were gone?" "Not really. We may have some complications, but I'll explain them once we settle in. For now we have to land this plane and get to work making this town into a place we can all stay safely," Glicth replied. The plane shook as it entered the shard containing the desolate ponyville, its passengers silent as it touched down on the main street. Glitch was the first one out, followed by Loop and Short Circuit, and finally the other 24 ponies from the shattered Manehattan shard. Glitch turned to face them all, steeling himself for a rousing speech. Alex hoped that he could manage with how down he felt after last night. "Alright, ponies. I don't know if this is all just one big game or not, but I don't like taking risks. As far as the law is concerned, all of you are just as 'alive' as those of us outside of Equestria, and even without that you all seem far too real to ignore," Glitch proclaimed. Murmurs echoed among the 26 other ponies present as he continued. "I know things look bad, but I refuse to take this lying down! There are other shards out there, shattered and broken like the one you all came from. I plan to help the ponies there as well. But you all need a place to stay. So does anypony who comes here. So we need to make this place, this empty ponyville, a place for those who need a home to return to. I want us all to spread out and gather supplies around town. Bring them to the town square, so we can take stock. Nine teams of 3 ponies each, and we can get started on our new home. Welcome, everypony, to our new home. Welcome to The Motherboard." Unexpectedly, at least to Glitch, the small group of ponies cheered and smiled for the first time since he had met them. Gone was the grief of not having a purpose, as was the fear of not having an authority figure like Celestia to look up to. As quickly as they could, they assembled into teams of three before looking back to Glitch for guidance. "Alright then! We need food, building materials, maybe even weapons, if there are any. Anything useful, bring it. Make multiple trips if need be. Infinite Loop, Short Circuit, come with me. We need to go somewhere secluded and test a few spells." The two mares glanced at each other before turning their attention back to System Glitch. "What kind of spells, buddy? I may be single, but I'm not just gonna bend over for fun times because you helped us out," Short Circuit snapped at him. Glitch stepped back instinctively in surprise, his wings involuntarily twitching as his body prepared to fly away if he needed to. "I... I assure you that was not how I wanted it to sound, Circuit," he stammered to the small, yet intimidating pony. "You said you were good at programming. I need somepony ti help me with coding a few lines of code. But the programming language is magic, this time around. You up for it?" Circuit beamed in reply. "Am I ever! Sorry for jumping to conclusions there, Glitchy! You need to explain things better. Let's get going! I know new spells can get dangerous if they aren't debugger and tested, so this ought to be somewhere out of the way!" The pegasus took off like a shot, scanning the surrounding area for an open area to test in. Glitch chuckled to himself. "Good grief, pony names, I swear. Short Circuit, short temper, and short attention span. At least she didn't cave my face in when she thought I was asking for sex. I've never even kissed a mare, for Celestia's sake!" Alex had said 'kissed a girl, for God's sake', but the ponypad continues to correct his speech. "...regardless. The rest of you, fan out and hunt down supplies. Loop, come with me, we need to follow Circuit." He trotted off, grabbing a few small rocks off the ground as he went. "Um, why me? You have a horn, you're even holding those stones in telekinesis right now. Why do you need me? I could easily go help search the town instead," Infinite Loop inquired meekly. "That is a simple answer. We are not making a new spell, we are modifying an existing one," he replied as he trotted off in the direction Circuit flew, "And you ran a potion shop." Loop followed, still skeptical. "Your point, Glitch?" System Glitch smiled back at her, a wide grin that told her he had a plan for the rest of the day. "The point is, my little pony, that you already know cornucopia..." Glitch paused for dramatic effect. "And?" "...And I plan to remove a few limitations."