The sun was high in the sky and Twilight's friends were having breakfast at her castle. However Spike was busy playing with his VR machine to be eating at the table with the others.
"Spike, your pancake is getting cold," said Fluttershy.
"Hold on, just let me beat this level," said Spike swinging his claws.
"What are y'all even playin?" asked Applejack.
"I'm practicing my sword fighting skills," answered Spike.
"Oh is it for the new game!?" beamed Rainbow Dash.
"Yep, I want to make sure I know how to use a sword when I get the game," answered Spike.
"Spike darling, you do realize that the game doesn't come out until tomorrow," said Rarity.
"Yeah, but here's the thing I pre ordered a copy and asked the post office to deliver it, as a matter of fact it should come today," said Spike. Rarity was about to say something when something knocked on the front door. "That must be it!"
"I'll get it!" said Rainbow Dash flying towards the door. Spike happily ran after her, leaving the others behind.
"Ain't they gettin too worked up over a game?" asked Applejack.
"It is his first game ever, just let him have some fun," said Starlight.
"Hey where's Twilight?" asked Pinkie munching on her pancakes.
"I'm right here," Twilight groaned. Her friends watched as Twilight dragged herself to her seat.
"Sweet Celestia you don't look good, did you sleep well?" asked Starlight.
"No, as a matter of fact I feel strange, almost as if somepony was touching me in my sleep," answered Twilight.
"Oh, that sounds disturbing," whimpered Fluttershy.
"No kidding, where's Spike?" asked Twilight.
"IT'S HERE!!!!!" Spike announced busting in. Excitedly he held up a small package with the words Sword Art Online written at the top.
"Huh package looks small," said Pinkie. "But whatever, just hurry up and try it!" Pinkie squealed. Smiling, Spike opened up the package and pulled out small cartridge.
"That's it?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I guess," answered Spike with a confused look.
"Why don't you read the instruction manual?" suggested Starlight. Spike looked down and pulled out a small booklet.
"Ok let's see," Spike said flipping through the pages. "Starting your game, insert the cartridge into your visor and say Link Start,"
"Hey that's easy enough!" squealed Pinkie.
"Alright I guess this is it?" Spike said flipping the visor onto it's side. Sure enough a small opening was engraved in that was big enough for the cartridge to fit. Spike inserted the Cartridge and placed them over his eyes. "Ok now what?"
"Just say Link Start," said Applejack.
"Link Start!" shouted Spike. However nothing happened. Spike repeated the words but once again the game didn't respond.
"Well how does it look?" asked Pinkie.
"Strange it must be broken," said Spike pulling off his visor.
"What come on!" groaned Rainbow Dash.
"You did everything the manual said right?" asked Fluttershy.
"Yeah, but maybe it's just lagging or something," said Spike. He tapped the cartridge with his claws when his visor suddenly began to vibrate.
"Uh Spike what did you do?" asked Twilight.
"Nothing!" Spike yelped dropping his visor. Suddenly, without warning, the visor began to float as a white light shot out and formed a giant portal.
"What in Equestria!?" yelped Rarity.
"Uh girls what's happening to me?" asked Twilight. Her friends looked over to see Twilight's body changing into pixels. "Spike turn it off!!" Twilight ordered. Panicked Spike grabbed his visor and attempted to push the power switch but to no avail. Then before anyone could say anything, Twilight's pixelated body was sucked into the portal.
"Twilight!" Spike yelped. Then one by one, all of Twilight's friends began turning into pixels before Spike.
"Spike do something!!!" Rarity yelped. Panicked, Spike ran out to find help. With nobody in the room to help, the remaining six was sucked into the portal.
Nico sipped his cup of coffee not showing any interest in the conversation Koharu and Lisbeth was having. Next to him Klein was sloppily eating a slice of pizza.
"Geez man, can't you eat more like Kirito?" asked Nico.
"I would if this pizza wasn't so good," said Klein munching.
"You boys have no manners," groaned Lisbeth.
"Hey don't put me with this goofball!" objected Nico.
"She's joking Nico," giggled Koharu.
"Well I don't find it funny," said Nico setting down his cup. Lisbeth was about to say something when a flash of light caught their attention. They looked out the window as seven figures crashed onto the sidewalk outside the pizzeria.
"What the hell was that?" asked Klein.
"It's worth checking," said Nico setting down two 1,000 yen. He jumped up and walked out the door followed by the other three. What they found was seven multicolored ponies lying on the ground.
"Ponies?' asked Koharu. The purple pony with wings groaned as she got to her feet.
"Ouch," she murmured.
"Hey you alright?" asked Nico.
"Yeah I'm fine," she groaned.
"What the, they talk?!" yelped Lisbeth.
"Yeah we talk," groaned the orange pony. Nico bent down and helped the ponies while the other three watched.
"Are you gonna help or what?" asked Nico turning around. The three quickly recovered from the shock and helped the others stand.
"Hey thanks," said Rainbow Dash.
"Who are you and where exactly did you come from?" asked Koharu.
"Well it's a long story but-," The purple pony's statement was cut short when something shot past them and struck a nearby car.
"What the hell!?" yelped Klein. The eleven turned around to see a pony resembling the purple unicorn with wings. The pony was glowing in a dark purple tint and it's eyes were glowing in a white light. Several black, white, and blue boxes flashed around the ponies body as if it was glitching.
"Uh Twilight why is there another one of you?" asked the orange pony.
"But that's not me!" Twilight exclaimed. The purple pony's body continued to glitch as it smirked.
"Purge the errors," it sneered.
"Um she doesn't mean us does she?" Koharu asked nervously. Then without hesitation the glitching pony lunged at the group.
"Shit, get out of the way!" exclaimed Nico. The four quickly moved to the right while the seven ponies moved to the left. The glitching pony landed in between and fired a stream of black energy towards the seven forcing them to split up.
"Hey you'll pay for that!" sneered the blue pegasi. She flew down only for the pony to glitch and disappear. "What the?!" The pony suddenly reappeared behind her and knock her into the ground.
"Hey!" Klein hissed. The pony turned it's attention towards Klein. "Uh oh," said Klein. The pony lunged at him only for it to tackle Koharu who stepped in front of it. Koharu was knocked back into the restaurant through the window.
"Koharu!" Nico called out to her. The pony jumped in through the broken window and stood above her smirking.
"Purge the errors," she sneered. Her horn began to glow in a black light as she charged up an attack. Koharu shut her eyes as tears rolled down her cheek.
"Please don't," she whimpered. The pony's attack was interrupted by the sounds of police sirens in the distance. The pony growled as it looked down at Koharu before jumping out the restaurant and running off.
"Holy crap," said Lisbeth.
"Koharu!" Nico exclaimed running into the restaurant. He quickly ran to her side and crouched. "Koharu are you alright?"
"Nico," she whimpered. Nico helped her up as she hugged him.
"It's alright I'm here," cooed Nico stroking her hair. "Can you walk?" he asked. Koharu nodded and attempted to stand but winced as she placed her hand over her left leg. Nico pulled away her hand to find a glass shard sticking out. "Shit," Nico cursed. He gently helped her up and carried her out of the restaurant where they were greeted by Lisbeth, Klein, and the seven ponies.
"Is she alright?" asked Fluttershy.
"Afraid not, that damn pony who is that pony?" asked Nico.
"She looked like Twilight," said Starlight.
"Who?" asked Klein.
"Me," answered Twilight stepping forward. "But I don't get it, she looked just like me but something didn't seem right,"
"Yeah she was weird," said Pinkie.
"Almost looked like she was glitching," said Klein scratching his head.
"Well, well it seems like Virus got to you too," a voice spoke up. The eleven turned towards the right to find a man wearing a brown coat and a black hat with two officers standing next to him. A single cop car was soon joined by two more that drove up and parked off to the side behind the first. Four officers got out of the two cars and began approaching the group. "You four go on in, I'll deal with these folks," said the man. The four nodded as they walked into the restaurant. The man approached them with the two officers. "It seems like your friend there needs some assistance," said the man pointing towards Koharu's leg.
"Will you please?" asked Nico. The man looked back at one of the officers and nodded. The officer ran back to the first police vehicle and later returned with a first aid kit. He walked over to Koharu and began treating her wound.
"Now then, while my officer is doing that let's talk," said the man.
"Wait, wait just a moment, who are you?" asked Twilight. The man pulled out a small badge from his coat pocket and held it up.
"Name's Randell Merlin, Randy for short, police officer and investigator," answered the man. "But you know, just call me whatever's easy for you,"
"Right, Officer Randell, do you perhaps know who that pony was?" asked Nico.
"Can't be a 100% positive, but if I were to guess, then that would be one of Virus's," answered Randell.
"Virus?" asked Applejack.
"You mean like a computer Virus?" asked Klein.
"Yes and no," answered Randell.
"What's that supposed mean?" asked Lisbeth.
"Yes as in yes, a computer virus be a good analogy, and no as in no that's not what I meant," answered Randell. "You folks heard of Virus Incorporated?" The eleven shook their head.
"Well then allow me to explain, but not here, follow me to my station," said Randell. He walked back to the police vehicles. "Well come on!" Randell called out to them. The eleven quickly ran over and crammed into two of the vehicles. Lucky for them, the station wasn't that far. When they arrived at the station, the eleven were led to Randell's office. "Please have a seat," said Randell. The eleven each took a seat in a chair as Randell settled down in his own.
"Now please explain to us what that was about," Nico demanded.
"Very well," said Randell leaning back. "So as I was saying, Virus was a electronics company that was well known for repairs, when the SAO crisis first started, Virus Inc. hoped that the government would turn to them in hopes of freeing the trapped players. Instead they ended up getting blamed, people started saying that Virus Inc. had joined forces with the creator, Kayaba Akihiko, and that they had purposefully trapped the players for their own selfish reasons," "Because of this, people started losing trust and faith and the company began to fail,"
"Oh god," gasped Koharu.
"The president struggled to find a way to return the company back into it's original state, but the more he tried it only seemed to make it worse," explained Randell. "Unable to take the stress, the president took his own life,"
"He took his own life!?" gasped Koharu.
"Oh no," whimpered Fluttershy.
"The company was left without a leader and eventually the company went bankrupt," said Randell. "Eventually the employees lost their job and eventually became homeless," "Virus Inc. had been gone for a long time now, but I believe that they have something to do with what happened with you folks,"
"What do you mean?" asked Rarity.
"You ponies aren't from here, it's obvious that you were brought here," answered Randell. "It's that game isn't it?"
'How did you know!?" gasped Starlight.
"I had a feeling, but anyways, that game wasn't originally supposed to do that, someone had planted a virus and had somehow made copies of familiar faces and are using them to attack and terrorize the innocent," answered Randell.
"Making copies?" asked Klein.
"That's right, this wasn't the only time this has happened either, as a matter of fact this has been going on for almost a week now," answered Randell.
"A week!?" asked Nico.
"That's right, I've been tasked by the government to try and figure out what's going on, but so far I haven't found any clues, it seems that whoever is responsible for this is the hard to catch type," said Randell. "Either way, I'm not letting this go unchecked," Randell got out of his chair and began walking towards the door.
'Please officer let us help you," Nico said.
"What?" asked Randell.
"After hearing about this, we can't just sit around," said Lisbeth.
'We'll help as well," said Twilight.
"I appreciate your will, follow me," said Randell opening the door. The eleven, without hesitation followed him out. Whoever was responsible for this surely was going to pay.