> The YouTube Bug > by PegasisterTheBrony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue - You're Gonna Have a Bad Time > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Fischbach sat down at his desk in his office with a sense of lightheartedness; a mug of coffee in his hands, headphones around his neck, and the sound of the Cyndago guys fooling around in the kitchen... No, nothing was quite like being a YouTuber. Already, he knew that he would have to play a game that he quite enjoyed, but also dreaded - the latest trend in horror, Until Dawn. Mark was nearly finished with the game, of course, and was used to the way the game operated, but a small feeling of resistance had long since settled in his stomach, as the gore and static figures were nothing to look forward to at all. Shaking his head, Mark pulled himself back into reality, readying his controller and monitor for the gameplay. Gameplay was something that he loved, and no stupid jumpscare was going to keep him from recording for his subscribers. Leaning forward, he started up his webcam. After a quick double-check to be sure that the screen recording software was running, he took a deep breath for his intro, beginning the trademark words. "Hello, everybody! My name is Markiplier, and welcome back to-" He was cut off by the sound of a plate clattering to the ground in the kitchen, along with abrupt silence. Forgetting about his Let's Play for a second, Mark leaned back in his chair, calling out to the kitchen. "Guys? Everything okay?" Still, silence followed. Removing his headphones, he called out to them again, curious and slightly worried at the lack of a response. "Guys? Are you in there?" Once again there was no reply, and this was the deal breaker; quickly, he removed his headphones and rose from his chair to investigate, swiping away some stray pink strands of hair as he did so. Before he could take a step, Mark's world suddenly went black. The camera was still recording. _____________________________________________ The only thing that Matthias first felt was the sensation of falling. A heavy, vague, unconscious falling, in which he could not stop, so he was forced to let it happen. The YouTuber was completely numb to his senses, as he saw only darkness, felt only the air whooshing past him. For a brief moment, he considered that he could be dead. No, that can't be it - I'm not dead... Am I? Matthias' mind began to race as he considered where his life had been. His family, his friends... His wife whom he loved so much, Amanda. If he was really dead, where they all mourning for him now? It seemed unlikely, as it was difficult to imagine the his life without himself, but Matthias knew that life always moved on, regardless of who left and who stayed. Continuing to fall, Matthias slowly became numb to his own thoughts as he fell for minutes, and then hours. He was beginning to feel as if he was ebbing away to nothing... But then the first dot of light began to shine. The first little ray of hope became visible. As he began to near it, an overwhelming sense of joy began to fill him from head to toe, and he stretched his arms out to the light, desperate to reach it. Slowly, the light began to expand, and Matthias got closer and closer still, until at last, he passed through the opening in the abyss, crossing into the daylight at last. However, after he continued to plunge through the air even when he was past the eternal blackness, Matthias felt true panic surge through him as the ground rushed towards him at a terrifying speed. Gulping, he braced himself for death. Before he impacted, though, Matthias felt two strange-feeling arms cross underneath his back, hoisting him midair almost unnaturally. Jerking his head from side to side, Matthias saw one of the strangest sights he had ever seen; to his left, a bright yellow pegasus, with a highly contrasting blue mane, smiled at him, as if she were unsure of what to make of the situation. To his right, a smokey gray stallion, with a mane that was a combination of light blues, stared at him with a blank expression, clearly analyzing him. Before Matthias could say anything to them, however, a demanding voice sounded from above. "Thunderlane! Raindrops! Get that unicorn to the ground, we've got to keep going!" It was at this moment when Matthias finally looked upon himself... And screamed. ____________________________________________ Jack McLoughlin was simply astounded. He was watching a bright cyan pony, with wings and rainbow hair, zip through the sky left and right, directing even more pastel-colored winged-ponies to carry yet another variety of ponies; some winged, some horned, some just ponies, but all of them continued to be multicolored. Jack was also confused that he, too, was a brightly colored horse. He seemed to have a coat that was a slightly darker shade of green, with well-kept brown hair, and a tail to match - both his mane and tail also sported his trademark shock of lime green, the recent results of a charity livestream that had been hosted by Markiplier. On Jack's head rested his trusty gray newsboy cap, and his headphones, now wireless, were still looped around his longer and thicker neck. Possibly the strangest thing about his new form, however, was the rather strangely placed, cartoonish image of Sam the Septiceye that was set on his rump. Sam the Septiceye, right on his butt. To be honest, he couldn't think of anything stranger than that. Realizing that he had been staring rather intently at his own rump, Jack ripped away his gaze, deciding to once more contemplate why in the heck he was here. With a quick look around, he saw that several of the Equines around him were dazed or panicking, a clear sign that they were just as new here as he was - already, Jack knew that these ponies were not the ones to ask. (That is, if course, if he can still talk.) Marching up to a rather neutral-looking pony, a slightly teal unicorn with golden eyes, Jack reaching out to poke her, feeling rather awkward using a hoof. Making contact with her shoulder, the pretty mare turned her head to face him as the YouTuber quickly pulled his hoof back. "Did you need something?" She asked politely, tilting her head a bit towards the earth pony who stood before her Jack's face almost instantly contorted into an awkward expression, as he was inwardly trying to convince himself to openly talk to a horse. "Ah, yeh... I just wanted to ask..." "Are you a human?" "Well, yeh, I guess... What I wanted to say was-" "I knew they existed!!! YES!!!!!!" "Wha?! Listen, could ye just-" "Oh, please, tell me EVERYTHING. Do you have cars? Do you eat meat? How do you sit on benches? Are you-" "WILL YOU PLEASE JUST TELL ME WHERE THE BOCK I AM?!?!?!" Jack's eyes widened in shock. He could have sworn that he intended to say... "Bock. Bock. Bock. Bock. Why can't I say bock? Why can't I say bock?!?!" The strange unicorn simply watched his mental breakdown, clearly amused at what she was seeing. "You humans are used to cussing, aren't you?" Turning around to walk away, the pony quickly called a few parting words over her shoulder. "You're gonna have a bad time!" > Chapter One - So Kawaii! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For once, Twilight Sparkle had some free time; being the Princess of Friendship took quite a toll on your hobbies, and soon after her coronation, the alicorn quickly realized that the time she originally spent going through her books was very much so reduced to zero. So, whenever her duties were unexpectedly completed ahead of schedule, the first thing that she did was call for her number one assistant, Spike the Dragon, with plans to reorganize her library. Partially pushing open the door to her main hallway, Twilight poked her head through the crack, her deep purple eyes searching for any sign of the little dragon. Seeing nothing, she then proceeded to push the door open all the way, beginning to walk down the crystal hallway in order to locate Spike. "Spike?" She called out, peeking inside of several rooms to see if he was hiding from her. Not long after starting her search, the purple pony heard a very distinct voice belting out a song from the security of his room. Tiptoeing up to the door, Twilight eagerly pressed her ear up to the door, straining to hear Spike as clearly as possible. Quickly, she recognized the soundtrack from the hit movie "Pitch Perfect Ponies," a film in which she had gone out with Rarity and Fluttershy to see a few months back; the fact that Spike was now singing the songs at the top of his lungs greatly amused her. "I saw the signs, And it opened up my eyes! And I am happy now living without you; I've left you all alo-one! I saw the signs, and it opened up up my eyes! I saw the si - GAH! " At this moment, Twilight had pushed open the doors, startling the dragon out of his wits; he was in some of the most ridiculous getup which she had ever seen, and the alicorn was certain that Rarity would've had a fit if she had seen his pink boa, sparkly tiara, and plastic microphone. Almost as soon as Twilight entered, Spike leapt at least three feet into the air, struggling to shed his garments as efficiently as possible. Upon landing back on the ground, he reached out with a claw and paused the CD, blushing profusely as he did so. "Erm... hi." Rolling her eyes, Twilight plucked his discarded accessories from the floor with her magical grasp, neatly placing them into an open bin that laid on the ground nearby. "Oh, relax, Spike, I've seen you doing worse... much worse." She added, tossing him a smart look as she closed the bin and levitated it over to the wall causally. Ignoring Spike trying to hide his face with his hands, Twi didn't waste any time in handing him a scroll of paper and a quill, marching out of the room as urgently as possible. Spike, clearly eager to forget his - ahem - moment from earlier, quickly followed suit, his quill at the ready. "So, Spike, I have some unexpected free time today, and I plan on going through the books in the library, doing a bit of light studying, (three hours at the most) and then rereading my old friendship letters as a brief review. Once this is done, I would like to add more of the Pegasus Jackson series to the shelf. Furthermore, I want to see to it that-" Mid-ramble, Twilight was cut off by the sound of doors slamming open, and a very familiar chorus of voices call out out to her. "TWILIGHT!!!!" Snapping her head around, Twi spotted four of her friends galloping towards her at top speed. (Well, Pinkie Pie was skipping at top speed, but that wasn't the point.) Spinning around almost instantly, Twilight starting rushing towards them in order to meet them in the middle; something was clearly wrong, and it needed attention now. As soon as Twilight was able to, she flared up her wings in an authoritative, take-charge pose, standing at attention and meeting all of her friends eye to eye. "What's wrong?" She demanded, sweeping her purple gaze over them worriedly. As she did so, the alicorn quickly realized that Rainbow Dash was missing from the group, and it only quickened her heartbeat even more; did something happen to her pegasus friend? Her own stance drooping a little at the lack of a response, Twilight tried again, her voice a bit weaker than before. "Well...? Anything?" All sets of eyes seemed to land on AJ, which obviously made the farm pony uncomfortable; she glanced down at her hooves for half a heartbeat, shielding herself from their urgent eyes with her hat, until she felt the guilt settle into her stomach. "Aw, shoot! Fine." She sighed, tilting her hat back into it's usual position. "Ah was outside, selling a few apple bushels that we had just harvested, and the next thing ah know, a pony who ah had never seen before just plopped into the center of mah cart, hollerin' like he was bein' chased by a timberwolf." Twilight's ears perked up upon hearing this; she almost felt like she had come across the mystery in a Prancy Drew novel, and now she was preparing to begin solving. "Go on." She urged, her hoof striking the ground impatiently. "Spike, could you write this down?" No response followed, and Twilight looked back down the hall to see that Spike had dropped his paper and quill in the center of the hallway; undoubtedly, the dragon had escaped the situation as quickly as possible in order to sing even more of the Pitch Perfect Pony soundtrack... oh, well. With a small sigh, Twilight swept up the materials in her magic, deciding to write it all down herself. "Alright, Applejack, continue, please." The orange earth pony squeezed her eyes shut, wracking her brain to remember what had happened. "Um... I asked his what the hay he was doin', but he just looked at me and passed out - I'm not sure why. But I looked up to see where he fell from, and there was this gaping hole in the sky. In fact, as ah was watching, I saw a different pony fall through the hole, as if he were travelin' through time or somethin'..." Applejack took this moment to glanced over at Fluttershy, whose eyes were wide in sheer awe. "Ah saw the pony fallin', and then Dash raced out from the clouds and caught him midair. Fluttershy joined her up in the air, and helped the pony down... As she was doin' that, yet another pony fell through. Ah'd never seen anythin' like it." Nodding her head to signal that she was done, Rarity quickly joined the conversation. "We all saw the falling ponies, and we all thought to come to you... we met up outside." The beautiful pony proclaimed, nodding to the group of ponies. "Do you have any idea what this could be, darling?" Finishing up her scribbled notes, Twilight poofed the paper away, putting it into safekeeping. "No... but I need to try and figure this out." Marching for the door, Twilight narrowed her eyes determinedly. "Fluttershy, is Rainbow Dash still catching ponies?" "I-I think so. She told me to come back and get you, though, so I'm not sure..." "Do any of you have a guess as to how many ponies are out there?" "Oh, a guessing game! I LOVE guessing games! Ummm, forty-two. No, wait, fifty-six! Oh, eighty-three, eighty-three!" Rolling her eyes slightly, Twilight sauntered up to the door in a casual manner, lighting up her horn to pull the door open. "Oh, Pinkie, I'm sure it's not that much; we might just be overreacting a bit." The purple pony chuckled as she swung the doors open. "See, look, I guarantee you that what you're seeing is not eighty-three poni-" Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, was rendered speechless, because the amount of ponies in the Ponyville Square was not forty-two, fifty-six, or eighty-three. In fact, if she herself had to guess, Twilight would say that there were approximately one-hundred-fifty-ponies, all of whom were in states of panic. Rarity, seeing her friend's state of shock, stepped forward and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight, dear, are you okay?" She asked her gently, her face clearly showing concern. Twilight shook her head multiple times, making an attempt at clearing her head enough to think. "Um, er... Yes, I'm fine. " She sputtered, putting a hoof to her head. "Okay... Fluttershy, I'd like you to fly up and see if there are any more ponies coming in." Nodding her head quickly, the butter-yellow pegasus began flapping her wings gently, heading up to the skies to locate Rainbow. Next, Twi turned to Pinkie Pie, who was busy counting the ponies to see if her guesses had been right. "Pinkie Pie? Pinkie? ... Pinkie!" The bubblegum-pink pony perked up upon hearing her name, turning her attention to Twilight. "Yeeeeeeees?" She drawled out happily, trotting in place as she did so. Twilight sighed in slight annoyance - now wasn't the time for any antics! "I need you to find Spike for me; tell him that it's important." Twilight urged, lifting up a hoof in an antsy panic. Pinkie gave the alicorn a tiny salute, shouting a hearty, "Yes sir, ma'am sir!" Within a second, she was gone. At last, Twilight faced Applejack and Rarity, letting out a sigh or relief. "Okay - I'm going to need the two of you to help me out here, if you don't mind." She murmured to the pair, making sure to be discreet. Both the earth pony and the unicorn nodded in understanding, their eyes shining with authority. At last, Twilight felt as if she could properly handle the situation... Once Pinkie Pie was trotting back through the doors with Spike, and Fluttershy returned with Rainbow Dash trailing behind her, Twilight shared a nod with the others before flapping her wings, rising up so that she may be seen from all angles by the newcomers. Clearing her throat, she summoned a megaphone with her magic, took a deep breath, and began to speak. "Um, excuse me?" She called out experimentally, her voice unsure. Below her, the large mass of ponies jerked their heads towards her, all of their attention focused on the magical, flying purple pony. Knowing that she had their attention, she continued what she was saying. "Now... I know you're all afraid and curious as to where you are, but I need to ask that you please just stay quiet until I finish. It will make this process easier, and we can begin to sort this out sooner, rather than later. Is that understandable?" Several nods followed, with a couple of cries of protest. But, Twilight wasn't angry - she was just relieved that they were trusting her. "So... My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. I'm one of the four alicorn rulers of Equestria. Below me," she added, waving with her hoof towards her friends. "Are my friends and companions, also known as the Elements of Harmony. Whenever I say their name, they will step forward in order to introduce themselves. "First, I would like to introduce Applejack; she is an earth pony, and she currently manages Sweet Apple Acres." Upon hearing her name, AJ stepped forward, waving her hat in a friendly way. "Howdy!!" She called out, wanting to look as friendly as possible to the strangers. Everypony seemed to visibly relax at her easygoing nature, and the farm pony nodded to the crowd once more before stepping back. "Next, I'd like to introduce Fluttershy; she is a pegasus who is the caretaker for most of the animals in Ponyville." Fluttershy, obviously surprised at her name being called next, let out a small Eep! of shock. Rainbow Dash, fed up with Fluttershy's timidness already, pushed her to go forward with a tiny kick to one of her friend's trembling legs; this did the trick, and Fluttershy jumped into the air, a sharp yelp sounding. This action alone was met by many coos from the crowd below, and Fluttershy found herself blushing as red as a tomato before shrinking back down to the ground. Wincing a bit, Twilight found herself wishing that Fluttershy hadn't been so afraid, but she had no time to mull over that; quickly, she moved on. "Next, we have Pinkie Pie, an earth pony as well. Now, she can be a bit-" "Welcome, welcome, welcome, a fine welcome to you! Welcome, welcome, welcome, I say, how do you do? Welcome, welcome, welcome, I say hip hip hooray! Welcome, welcome, welcome to Po-ny-ville today!" Breathing a sigh of relief now that the song was over, Twilight opened up her mouth to continue reading off the names when, almost like impending doom, Pinkie's voice rang out to them all. "Wait for it...!" A few seconds later, an extremely loud and unexpected blast of confetti boomed from her little welcome wagon, showering over Everypony in the crowd; Twilight wasn't positive, but she was pretty sure that she saw a few ponies faint in the front - Pinkie Pie and her antics. Lightly shaking her head, Twilight raised the megaphone to her lips once more, trying desperately to keep her friend from terrifying even more newcomers. "Everypony, I'm so sorry about-" "Hey! You're all invited to my official Welcome-to-Equestria party!!!! Or maybe it should be a You're-A-Pony party? How about -" Clearly fed up with Pinkie's constant interruptions, Rainbow Dash flew up to where Twilight was hovering, snatched the Megaphone from her, and shouted into it with all her might, ready to just get the introductions over with. "I'm Rainbow Dash, and that's Rarity. Any questions? No? Okay, then let's move on!" Shoving the megaphone into Twilight's chest, the pegasus narrowed her eyes at the silent crowd as she fluttered back down; it was so quiet, you could even hear the quiet murmur of Rarity's voice, "That was rather uncalled for..." Using a hoof, Twilight took a moment to massage her temples, groaning a bit in frustration. It's almost over, it's almost over... "So, ponies!" Twi exclaimed, her sudden cheerfulness obviously forced. "We're going to need somepony to speak for you, so that we may better understand the current situation; from there, we can address everything in a calm, appropriate, and organized manner." Twilight decided to break there for a second to let her gaze sweep over the crowd, looking for any questions that might have needed to be answered. When no one piped up, the Alicorn called into her megaphone with a question of her own. "Anyone?" Finally, she got some sort of a response - the ponies in the crowd began muttering, just a little at first, but the mumbles slowly became more audible... Eventually, Twilight was able to pick out what they were saying. "Where's PewDiePie?" "Anyone seen Pewds?" "Just look for a brofist on someone's butt!" "Shut up, Wade!" "Wait, I think this is him!" "Say something!" "Uh... No?" "It's him! Get him up there!" "No, bros, you don't understand! I don't wanna be near the magical flying horse! She could zap me! SHE COULD MURDER ME MUCHACHOS." Twilight Sparkle's eyebrows slowly began to raise as she spotted commotion in the crowd. From where she was, she could see that a pony was being pushed to the front, where Twilight and the rest of her friends stood in waiting. Descending to the ground, she could her his calls of protest get louder and louder, until, finally, she was muzzle-to-muzzle with a light blue pegasus stallion, with a loose and casual sandy-blonde mane. Stealing a peak at his cutie mark, Twilight spotted a... Fist? Brofist? She had heard the term widely at Canterlot High, and had even participated in one or two; the fact that this pony had a brofist as his cutie mark was extremely confusing, but she had no time to dwell. Later, she thought to herself with a small smirk. Catching back up with reality, Twilight handed her megaphone off to Applejack before speaking to the pony before her. "Hi. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and you?" She introduced herself, offering a hoof for the stallion to shake. He stared at are hoof in mild confusion for a second, clearly not knowing what to do - after a little bit, though, his eyes sparked with recognition, and he rose unsteadily to his rear hooves, gripping her hoof with both legs and shaking twice before dropping on all fours. "My name is Felix Kjellburg, but you can call me PewDiePie, too." His nerves beginning to fade, waving and smiling at the other five, he greeted them with a hearty, "How's it going, bros?" Rarity scrunched up her nose in distaste, gently flicking her mane from her face. "Sir, I am a lady, and I would like to be treated as such; please do not refer to me as a," she shuttered a bit. "'Bro.'" The pegasus - Felix - sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. "Alright... Geez." Twilight nodded a bit, feeling like she was finally doing well, and flicked her ear in slight impatience. "So, how about you gather up a few more ponies, and we'll talk inside of the castle?" She suggested, tilting her head towards the large crystal structure. Felix visibly gulped, his knees knocking, before nodding quickly and scooting into the crowd, calling out a few names that Twilight didn't recognize. Turning around to begin her walk to the castle, Twilight beckoned her friends with a flick of her tail. The Alicorn had barely taken three steps, however, when she heard a loud gasp from behind. Spinning around abruptly, her horn charged and ready, the Princess prepared to battle a creature from the Everfree Forest. What she saw, however, was not what she expected... Felix was gawking at himself in the reflection of a puddle; his eyes slowly grew wider and wider, and his jaw slowly dropped more and more, until he gather up the strength to speak. "I'm... I'M SO KAWAII!" ... Kawaii?