After months of waiting for its launching, Sunset Shimmer finally buys the latest Hinobi console. But when Equestrian magic gets involved, the console start to glitch. It is time to call tech support, it is time to call... the Glitch Techs.
Hinobi, the greatest videogame company in the world. A perfectly normal company that sells games for all ages and platforms.
But after witnessing a monster coming out of her new console and the Hinobi employee erasing their tracks Sunset is convinced that Equestrian magic is involved. The girls would have to find the truth about Hinobi as the avoid their memories being erased by the Glitch Techs.
Sunset Shimmer yawned a couple of times on her portable chair, but she quickly stood up and shook her head. She had to keep it together. If she fall asleep now she would lose her place on the line and the whole night would come to a waste. She looked at her cellphone, five more minutes and it would worth it. She arrived early and was able to secure the third place on the line, that was incredibly long. It was five blocks long already.
The store was in a relatively small mall complete with a pharmacy, a grocery store, a pizza chain, a small bank and even a small karate dojo. But the store itself was the main attraction. The largest local, with a great H on the center and crystal doors exposing the newest consoles, games, controllers, and merchandise. The Hinobi store, every gamer’s paradise.
Sunset stretched, as everyone else in the line began to worry and mumble among themselves. She noticed that an old vehicle has parked right in the employee’s only parking lot and a forty-something year old man came out of the vehicle; a bit fat, with light brown hair and hairy arms. He was wearing a gray polo shirt, a black tie, and a white and blue vest with the H monogram from Hinobi on it. He looked at the line and made a dismissive gesture toward it.
“We open in three minutes; our customer support agents would distribute bracelets to the first twenty people in line. If anyone starts making a fuss, we’ll send you right to the end of the line!”
No one dared to contradict the store manager who opened the door, and three employees came out starting to give bracelets to everyone in line. A young girl with darkish skin, black eyes and a hijab wrapped on her head took Sunset’s arm and put on the bracelet.
“Thank you for visiting Hinobi, I hope you enjoy your console.”
“Thanks” smiled Sunset.
And finally, it was time. The store manager turned around the sign from CLOSED to OPEN and the crystal doors finally opened.
Everyone in line prepared for the stampede but the manger raised both of his hands to stop them.
“We’ll attend people with bracelet first! If someone breaks in forcibly I’ll send you back to the end of the line!”
His words made everyone to calm down immediately and began to enter to the store one by one. Sunset smiled happy that she was lucky enough to get the bracelet and took the console from the shelf and went to pay.
A young man with dark skin, dyed blond hair, that looked horrible; and a bored expression scanned Sunset’s console and charged her. Sunset was tired but happy, she finally had the newest Hinobi console.
Then she realized who was behind the register.
“Hey, aren’t you Mitch Williams the Hinobi videogame champion?”
Mitch shrugged. “Yes, you’re not?”
And turned his back on her as he ran more customers with an arrogant attitude.
Sunset glared at him. “Jerk.”
But she didn’t mind, she had the console, and she was happy with that.
Since the Hinobi store opened early in the morning, classes haven’t started yet so she could go to school without a hurry. She managed to sleep for five minutes before her friends started to arrive one by vone.
“Hey Sunset! How was your night camping in front of the Hinobi store?” greeted Pinkie Pie.
Sunset smiled at her showing Pinkie the box of her newest console. “It was boring but worth it. Here it is, the Hinobi S(H)witch. Hinobi’s latest console, ultra-limited edition with all Hinobi classics pre-installed.”
“Good for ya’ partner! A’ just hope losing all that sleep doesn’t make ya’ miss something’ in class.” said Applejack joining the girls.
“I’ll ask Twilight for her notes. Right Twilight?” said Sunset, greeting the purple girl.
“Sure, no problem Sunset!” shrugged the girl. “So, is that it? The newest Hinobi console?”
Rarity smiled at them as she approached to look of the console.
“Good for you darling. Glad that you were able to get what you wanted.”
“Yep, the S(H)witch.” bragged Sunset. “I can’t wait to play it!”
“So what are you waiting for? Turn it on! Turn it on!” cheered Rainbow Dash along with Fluttershy.
“Of course not!” said a voice behind the group.
The girls turned, only to see the Principal and Vice-principal right behind them.
“Sunset Shimmer, can you tell us why did you brought that thing to school? You know that videogame consoles and toys are forbidden in campus.”
Sunset apologized.
“I am sorry Principal Celestia. Is just that I just bought it, I spent the whole night camping in front of the Hinobi store and you know, I didn’t have the time to go home and leave my console there and then come back to school so I had to bring it with me.”
The principal chuckled.
“Yeah, I’ve done that too when I was young. Okay, do you mind if we keep your console in our office until the end of classes?”
Sunset smiled.
“Sure, I’ll feel better if you do.”
The two sisters smiled happy that the girl was so reasonable. Sunset handed the console over to them when she slipped, and the box went flying form her hands. It opened in the air and the console was about to fell on the concrete and break.
Twilight stopped the console from falling right on time with her telekinesis.
“Ufff! I owe you one Twilight!” sighed Sunset.
The purple girl nodded.
“Just put it on the box and be more careful next time.”
Fluttershy gasped when she noticed that the console started to glow, and the screen turned on by itself and started to glitch out.
“WHAT IS HAPPENING?” asked Twilight when the glow forced them to cover her eyes.
Finally, the console stopped and fell on the floor as nothing happened.
“What was that all about?” asked Rarity looking at the console.
“I don’t know, let’s just put it back on the box and in the principal’s office!” complained Sunset.
Then it happened. A hand emerged from the screen followed by the rest of the body of a large man in a black armor, a kabuto helmet and a large katana.
Fluttershy gasped.
“Hey! Isn’t that Ryo Busayaha from Samurai Gaiden?”
“What?!” shouted the others.
The samurai aimed his katana to Sunset and jumped over her.
Sunset screamed in fear when Applejack ran to tackle the rouge samurai and sent him flying to the walls.
Samurai Gaiden then focused on Applejack and tried to cut her in two with his katana running to her.
“What the hell?!” said the cowgirl starting to run.
“I got you covered!” jumped Pinkie Pie shooting confetti to Samurai Gaiden. It was annoying but not enough for him to change his target.
Rarity created a forcefield to block Samurai Gaiden.
He tilted his head in confusion and then started to attack the forcefield with his katana. Small cracks started to appear on the forcefield, as Rarity was struggling to keep it.
“I can’t hold him for too long! Someone do something!”
Twilight levitated several rocks and sticks aiming them to the samurai, but she was unsure of this would work. Applejack then took a big rock and was ready to throw it.
“We look like cavewomen; you know it right?” said Sci-Twi.
“Do ya’ have a better idea?”
Rarity finally released the forcefield and the two of them started to throw everything they could to the Samurai. The warrior cut all of the rocks and sticks in half and jumped over the two girls who could only run for their lives.
“We really need to think in a plan!”
Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna ran and trapped the Samurai’s legs.
“We won’t let you touch our students!”
Samurai Gaiden then raised his sword to decapitate the two nuisances.
“No, wait!” cried Sunset Shimmer.
A white van with the H from Hinobi parked in a corner, and a young boy jumped out of it. It was the same cashier who ran Sunset earlier but he was dressed differently than the last time they saw him. He was wearing a black and white armor with the H from Hinobi all over. Blue glasses, giant headphones and a strange bracelet on his right hand. On top he was wearing a blue trench coat.
“Mitch Williams, the Hinobi champion?” asked Fluttershy in awe.
Mitch smiled.
“Want my autograph? Ten bucks!”
Samurai Gaiden looked at the newcomer, who smiled at him and host a small beam with his bracelet.
The beam created a hole on the Samurai’s chest, making him furious.
Now he had a new objective.
Samurai Gaiden aimed his katana to Mitch and charged against him.
Mitch smiled and generated a huge weapon from his bracelet. It was a plasma cannon from the Hell-O games.
“Sorry dude but only an idiot brings a sword to a gunfight!”
He shot.
A banner that read CRITICAL HIT appeared over the Samurai’s head and he was gone. All that remained was a strange-looking creature made of electricity only 15cm tall that started to shout at Mitch.
Mitch Williams extended his bracelet to the creature, and it was absorbed. A mechanical voice said GLITCH CONTAINED. With that his job was done.
Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna approached to the young man.
“Thank you so much! How can we pay you for protecting our students?”
Mitch shrugged.
“Nothing, all Glitch Tech support is covered by Hinobi subscriptions.” said Mitch aiming his bracelet to the sister duo, and shot a white light.
The two sisters stared blankly at the space as Mitch approached to the girls.
“Let’s forget about everything, okay?”
Rarity gasped as she created a forcefield by reflex, blocking Mitch’s attack. He stared blankly to the wall, just as the two sisters.
“What was I doing? Oh right, glitch attack. Whatever.”
He jumped to the van and drove away.
“What just happened?” asked Sunset Shimmer.
But then a gentle hand placed on her shoulder.
“Sunset, your console please.” asked Principal Celestia.
Sunset blinked surprised why they were requesting the console again out of sudden right after Samurai Garden started his attack, but quietly obeyed. After making sure the box aas sealed again.
“And never bright that thing again to school. Understood?” added Principal Luna.
Sunset nodded, still a bit confused why they were acting like nothing have happened.
“Sure, sorry. As I told you I just brought it here because I just bought it. Normally I wouldn’t.”
Luna nodded.
“We know, and this is why we are keeping it just for today and not for the rest of the semester. Now go to your classroom. Classes are about to start.”
And they left with Sunset’s console as they did not remember what have just happened. But that could not be the case. Right?
Right?
“Did that guy just erased their memory and tried to erase ours?” asked Pinkie Pie.
Fluttershy scratched her head confused.
“I always knew Mitch Williams is kind of infamous around the gaming world for being a jerk but this is in a whole new level.” mumbled Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash crossed her arms frowning.
“That Samurai-dude came out from your console and right when we were about to be turned into a sushi by him, a Hinobi tech shows up out of nowhere and takes care of him and then tries to erase our memories. It’s clearly a conspiracy!”
Sunset nodded.
“Yes this can’t be a coincidence. And it happened right after Twilight used her magic on the console.”
“So you think that Hinobi may be involved with Equestrian Magic?” asked Sci-Twi.
Sunset nodded.
“I am seventy percent sure. But what I know is that something really strange is happening with Hinobi consoles and we must put an end to it!”
After the incident in the morning Sunset Shimmer could not stop thinking about her console on the principal’s office. She was afraid that it would start to act strange again and summon another monster from the videogame realm.
The whole situation was surreal, but all things considered, this was not the weirdest things she has lived before. And Sunset and her friends were pretty much used to weird things, but this time something was different. Sunset had a gut feeling that maybe she was wrong, that this whole console thing had nothing to do with Equestrian Magic.
But it was not possible that the monster from her console was created by something else than magic, right? There could not be anything else capable to summon a creature from a videogame to reality.
It was absurd. Right?
At lunchtime, everyone gathered at a table as they looked around. No one noticed what just happened in the morning, and the principal and vice-principal were acting like nothing happened. Only the girls had any memory of the incident.
“You know? If it wasn’t that all of you remember as well, I would be wondering if everything that happened on the morning was a dream.” said Fluttershy.
Sci-Twi smiled at them as she pulled her laptop out of her backpack and opened it.
“Well, I was wondering the same so I started to investigate. It’s all over the internet. Reports about Hinibi consoles losing control and summoning creatures from videogames to reality, destroying everything around them.”
Rarity examined the site and couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Sorry darling, but this site looks like it was made by someone on his thirties who still lives with his parents and uses tinfoil hats on the daily basis. Like the guy who posts stuff about that alien race of living jewels and their hybrid leader.”
“Hey Renaldo’s blogs are funny and always make me go to sleep with a smile on my face!” said Twilight defending her favorite blogger, a random dude from Beach City. “But you’re right, I made my antivirus scan my computer after visiting these sites. However, back to the videogame creatures, I’ve been crossing the information from these blogs with newspapers and even CNN. All of the reported incidents coincide with gas explosions or electric poles falling and causing a mayor power outage.”
The girls approached to the computer screen, as they examined Twilight’s crossed references. It was a very well-done job.
Sci-Twi crossed her arms very proud of herself.
“But this alone is not enough evidence, and then I started to notice a pattern. Most of theses sites included a video link or photographic proof. But when I tried to open them, I came across this message.”
She showed them the screenshot she took.
This video was reported for copyright infringement by Hinoby corporation.
Everyone was in shock.
“WHAT?”
Sci-Twi nodded with a frown as she kept showing them the results of her investigation. “As a matter of facts, most of these blogs were shut down by Hinobi a few hours after I visited them. And is always the same excuse, copyright.”
Rainbow Dash was very excited.
“So, this proves it! It’s a conspiracy! Hinobi is using magic from Equestria and this is causing their consoles to glitch so they send their agents to cover their tracks!”
“Then what should we do?!” cried Fluttershy eating her fingernails.
“We have to go to the Hinobi store!! If theyr’ playin’ with Equestrian magic, we have to stop em’ no matter what.” said Applejack punching the table.
“But how? According to this, they are experts when it comes to cover their tracks!” said Rarity looking at Twilight’s research.
“We’ll think on something on the go, but we have to go to the Hinobi store to get more clues.” declared Sunset.
“Sounds good to me!”
After that, they felt pretty confident and spent the rest of the day without incident. They only picked Sunset’s console from the principal’s office and then they headed to the Hinobi store.
…
As usual, the store was full of activity with clients coming in and out of the store over and over. The line from the morning was long gone, right after they sold out all of their newest consoles.
“And how are we supposed to get some information?” asked Rainbow.
“Yeah, we have to be careful, or the would erase all or our memories!” added Applejack.
Pinkie Pie quickly jumped very happy.
“No worries! I, Pinkie Pie, have a plan. You wait here, I’ll get the information for you!”
The girls raised an eyebrow.
“Pinkie, are you sure?”
“Yeah, we don’t know if this is going to work!” said.
“Come on girls, trust me! I have this covered!” assured Pinkie Pie. “But I’ll have to go alone.”
With that, Pinkie proudly marched to the door with a confident smile, but Applejack grabbed her by the wrist.
“Pinkie wait a darn minute! Ya’ know this is dangerous! At least let me go with ya’ as backup!”
“It’s okay, it would work. My Pinkie-sense is telling me everything would be alright!!” said Pinkie. “Sunset, I’m counting on you when they erase my memory.”
“What?”
Ignoring her, Pinkie went through the crystal doors and walked proudly to the register. The girl with the hijab, the same who gave Sunset her bracelet on the morning, greeted Pinkie with her best customer service smile.
“Hi, thank you for visiting Hinobi today. What can I do for you?”
“My Hinobi console is giving me some problems and I need some help.” said Pinkie Pie.
The cashier, named Zahra, nodded in understanding.
“Oh, I am terribly sorry you’re experiencing issues with your Hinobi console. What seems to be the problem so we can help you?” asked Zahra. “Or do you have your console with you so in can take a look?”
Pinkie Pie practically jumped on top of the counter and approached her face to Zahra’s. She was centimeters away from her nose.
“You see, a videogame character, Ryo Busahaya from Samurai Gaiden came to life and attacked me and my friends at school! And you know what happened later? A guy who worked for Hinobi came out of nowhere and destroyed the monster and erased everyone’s memories! That’s not cool! We deserve an explanation!”
Zahra was about to say something when a hand placed on her shoulder.
“Zahra, why don’t you take your break now? I’ll take it from here.”
The girl smiled at her boss.
“Thanks Phil, going on break!”
The fat manager then turned to Pinkie and happily showed her his shiny identification badge.
“Hey Miss, can you please take a look at my badge?”
Pinkie read out load.
“Phil. Okay Mister Phil, are you ready to give me some answers?”
Phil’s badge shot a flash and Pinkie stood on the counter disoriented and confused.
“Huh… what was I doing?”
“I don’t know Miss, but I would appreciate if you get down of my counter and accept this coupon!” said Phil crossing his arms and offering the small coupon to Pinkie.
“Uh-huh! A coupon! Great! Now I can buy that game I wanted! Thank you Mister Phil.”
“Don’t mention it.” said Phil relieved.
With that, Pinkie went to buy the latest version of Candy Smash and then reunited with her friends outside the store.
In the meantime, Zahra had exited the store on the employee’s only entrance. An alley that separated the Hinobi store from the pizza place. She adjusted her hijab as she started to think.
“She was talking about glitches, right? But how?”
She looked at the right, to the end of the alley where a group of girls were waiting for their friend. Finally she appeared, the same girl who have questioned her about glitches.
“Hey girls! I’m baaaack! You’re not gonna believe this! I was given a coupon and bought that game I wanted. I don’t know why they gave it to me but is very appreciated!”
Everyone facepalmed.
“Pinkieeee!” they shouted.
“What?”
“What about your plan?” questioned Rarity.
“Plan? What plan are you talking about?” asked Pinkie.
Then Sci-Twi understood.
“Sunset! Use your empathic powers! Maybe you’ll be able to recover Pinkie’s erased memories!”
Sunset Shimmer blinked surprised and smiled.
“Pinkie Pie, that was a great plan, congrats!”
Pinkie smiled proudly. “Thanks, but what plan are you talking about?”
They looked around to make sure no one was watching. Especially no one from Hinobi.
Zahra have hidden behind a few trashcans already. She had to see this.
Without warning, Sunset took Pinkie’s hands and let her magic flow over her as she connected her psyche with the pink girl’s. Soon enough Sunset gained access to the repressed memories, and she released them.
Pinkie was in shock as the minute erased by Phil came back, but then she smiled proudly.
“See? I told you guys to trust me!”
“So, what happened?” asked Rainbow.
“The usual, you know. I came and started to make the uncomfortable questions. Then before I noticed the manager came and erased my memories.
“So, this proves it! Hinobi is hiding something, this is a conspiracy!” declared Rainbow Dash.
Sunset agreed.
“Indeed. Let’s move, is not safe here. I don’t want to think what they’ll throw against us if they know that we know. We have to plan our next move very carefully.”
The rest of the girls agreed and they moved pretending everything was normal. When they left Zahra came out from behind the trashcans and looked at them leaving.
“She undid the reset? But that’s impossible! The only one who is supposed to do that is Miko.”
But no. If she thought about it, Miko simply could not reset. But this girl Pinkie Pie was resetted and then this other girl came and undid it. She had to tell Phil.
“Or maybe not, this may get interesting.”
The Mane 7 finally arrived to a different mall where Sunset examined her new console.
“I thought I was going to spend the entire afternoon playing Hinobi classics, but instead I get videogame monsters who come to life and a big company conspiracy. Is just me or the day got more interesting than I thought it would be.”
“But we still have to think what we shall do with Hinobi.” asked Twilight.
“Maybe summon more of those videogame monsters to see how they react? If that’s okay with you…” suggested Fluttershy.
“Is not a bad idea but how do we do it?”
Sci-Twi raised an eyebrow.
“Last time it happened when I used my magic on it. Let’s try that!”
Sunset shrugged.
“Yeah I was thinking about the same thing. We can’t lose anything by trying.”
After taking a deep breath, Sunset let her magic flow from her hands to the console.
It glowed, started to spark and then it happened.
A giant brain with one eye and a large mustache came from the console and started to laugh evilly.
“Father Brain? Aw come on! Barney’s relative is way cooler!” complained Rainbow Dash.
“Barney’s relative?”
“A purple dinosaur that when he’s tall is what we call a dinosaur sensation. Unlike his uncompleted clones”
“Huh… fair enough.”
As Father Brain was staring at them, they heard a van coming at full speed toward the mall, and then they came.
An Asian girl with purple hair with pink lights, and a latino boy with darkish skin and curly black hair.
“Hinobi Tech Support!”
“Time for Me-K.O. and High Five teach this glitch some manners!”
Father Brain’s sinister red eye scanned the terrain. Most of the visitors from the mall have escaped running and shrieking. A few of them tried to take a picture before running away. Only nine people remained to face him. A group of seven girls and the two newcomers wearing Hinobi uniforms.
Father Brian looked at the two groups and finally lots of tentacles emerged from his body and he sent them to the two groups trying to get them.
The two Hinobi employees exchanged an excited smiled and each generated an energy sword from their bracelets. When Father Brain’s tentacles tried to get them, they agily jumped away and destroyed their attacker’s weapons with a single move, making them disappear in an explosion of pixels.
“Good job Miko! You remember how to defeat this boss, right?” asked the boy.
“Well, duh! I played Red Droid like a million times! Let’s do this!”
Father Brian squealed in irritation and sent more tentacles against the Techs, who agily cut them away as small scores appeared on the air as they destroyed them: 500 +
“Heeeeelp!” cried one of the girls, reminding the Hinobi employees that they were not alone.
Seven girls were being attacked mercilessly by the glitch too.
The boy nodded.
“Miko, go help them, I’ll take care of this side!”
“Roger partner!” said the girl. “Keep it together guys, Me-K.O! to the rescue!”
In the meantime, the girls were doing their best to defend themselves from Father Brain’s tentacles. Rainbow Dash used her super speed to grab several and with well-practiced moves she tied them up together as they were shoelaces and ran to help her friends.
Pinkie managed to shot confetti explosions against the tentacles make them move, as Sunset and Applejack managed to jump out of their range. Some of them charged against Rarity, but she was able to repel them with her diamond forcefields.
However, two of them were not able to get away on time. sci-Twi and Fluttershy were trapped by their ankles and Father Brain started to drag them toward him. Fluttershy started to cry as she tried to hold on to something.
“No please! I’ve read enough hent… I mean manga to know where this is going! Help me please, I’m not ready yet!”
Applejack hurried to take both of her friends’ hands and to pull them with her super strength, but couldn’t help by chuckling at her friend.
“What in tartation’ had you been readin’ with the manga club, Flutters’?”
Fluttershy’s face turned red as Applejack started to pull her and Sci-Twi.
“A’ got ya’, A’ got ya’!”
“Here I come!” said the Hinobi girl cutting the tentacles off, freeing the too girls as Applejack pulled them and they fell over her.
“Ups, sorry!” apologized Miko, extending a hand toward them. “Are you okay?”
“Yes thanks!”
Miko was helping them to stand, when Five interrupted them.
“Miko look!”
The have focused on the group as it started to gather energy to shot them a powerful laser.
“Is about to make his second attack. Your turn!”
Miko’s eyes sparkled in joy. The glitch was about to expose his weak spot.
“Give me some height, partner!”
The latino boy put his two hands together to create a small step. Miko ran toward him and jumped over the improvised step. Five pushed her up, as she jumped giving her enough height to face Father Brain’s eye.
She shot an energy beam with her bracelet, hitting him right on the eye.
Father Brain howled in pain. When he recovered he created more tentacles and generated small versions of himself that he sent against the group.
“Run while you can!” shouted Five as he started to destroy the small brains, and Miko took care of the tentacles.
“No, we’re not going anywhere we have to contain that thing before it cases more damage!” assured Sunset.
Five was about to say something, when noticed that Father Brain’s eye have turned red and was blinking.
“Oh Nerd! Look out, that attack is his most powerful one!”
“Everyone under the brain, now!” commanded Miko.
The girls did as the techs said, gathering right under Father Brain as he shot a new beam from his eye, and destroyed everything around him. But they were safe under him. Then, his eye moved and focused right under him, where the group had hide.
The eye turned red one more time gathering energy for a new destructive beam, but once again Miko and Five shot an energy beam from their bracelets before he could do anything.
The combined attack hit him right on the eye, who squalled in pain. He started to fall, and both girls and techs jumped away to avoid being crushed.
Before Father Brain could recover, Miko and Five generated the energy swords and jumped over him stabbing it on the eye.
Father Brian squealed for the last time as he disappeared in a explosion of pixels. All that was left was a small creature made of electricity about fifteen centimeters tall that Five captured on his bracelet.
“Glitch contained,” said a mechanical voice.
Miko and Five made a quick high-five before turning to the girls.
“Uf, that was fun. Is everyone okay?” asked Miko.
“Yes, thanks to you.” said Sunset. “But do you realize how dangerous it was, right? Magic is not a toy! What is Hinobi thinking by using it on their videogame consoles?!”
Miko and Five tilted their heads.
“What you mean by magic?” asked Five.
Miko agreed.
“Magic? What are you talking about? Oh, you mean what just happened! Nah, I know it looks like magic but it was just a glitch. But don’t worry, let me reset you and you can go on with your day as nothing happened. Keep enjoying your Hinobi console!”
Miko extended her hand with the bracelet toward them, as Sunset gave a small nod to Rarity. Rarity nodded back and she created the diamond forcefield right when Miko shot them with the white like.
Miko lost her balance, getting dizzy and confused. Five hurried to catch her.
“Hey Miko, are you okay?”
“Five, they’re cheating! You’re a bunch of cheathers, you know that?!”
“Huh?” asked Five.
Recovering with a comically energetic jump, Miko pointed a finger to the seven friends.
“They are cheating! They blocked the reset!”
Five scratched his head. “What are you talking about Miko? You are the only one who doesn’t reset. I bet they don’t remember anything.”
Sunset crossed her arms as she glared at Five.
“Oh, but we do. The videogame monster who came out of my console, the two of you fighting it and then trying to erase our memories.”
“Yes, every single detail!” said Sci-Twi.
The Glitch Techs gulped. What was going on here.
“Oh, you know… this was a test! Yeah, the new Hinobi VR. A very realistic experience right? So real that you forgot you volunteered to test it!” tried to say High Five.
Miko nodded as she gently placed her hand over Sunset’s shoulder. “Yeah, what Five said. It was just a game, you tried it and now you know what Hinobi is preparing for the next two years! You’ll enjoy every second of this new console! You can go home now and tell everyone how awesome Hinobi is!!”
Sunset took her chance and grabbed Miko’s wrist.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Ignoring her, Sunset activated her empathic powers and allowed her magic flow through Miko. She would get some answers. The girl was not at fault, and Sunset knew that, but Hinobi was playing with Equestrian Magic and if they didn’t stop them they would be facing something more dangerous that videogame monsters coming to life.
But before she could access Miko’s memories, a strange interference blocked her by creating a small energy explosion that threw each of them backwards.
“Sunset! Are you okay?” asked Pinkie Pie, as Five helped Miko.
“Miko! What was that? Are you okay?”
Sunset shook her head. “Did you blocked my magic?”
“Where you trying to read my mind or something?!” protested Miko.
“What?!”
The two groups stared at each other.
“Firs the reset and now this. You’ve been clearly affected by a glitch. Let us take you to the store, we’ll fix you and you can live your lives as usual! We’ll not harm you; I promise!” said Five.
Pinkie Pie shook her head. “Fix us? What you mean fix us! Magic is part of us, if you take us to your store you’ll unfix us, not fix us!”
“What Pinkie said! Hinobi is the one playing with forces you don’t understand! We need our magic to stop them before anyone gets hurt!” added Sunset.
Miko gasped horrified.
“Stop Hinobi? But if you do it, who would make our favorite games? A game without videogames is a world unworthy of living in! Like a circus without a clown… or a donut without a hole!”
The girls had to use all of their self-control not to chuckle, but they stayed firm.
“We do not want to harm your precious videogame industry, but Hinobi clearly have some Equestrian Magic on their hands and we have to stop them. You don’t know how dangerous magic can be if you don’t know what you’re doing!”
“And there you go again! This is not magic, glitches have nothing to do with magic. And no one is in danger, if a glitch escapes we deal with it and that’s it. Hinobi had been doing this for ages now!”
Miko and High Five aimed their bracelets to the girls.
“This is for your own good.”
Sunset frowned. “If this is how you want it. Pinkie!!”
The pink girl smiled and shot them with a confetti explossion.
“Hey!”
They coghed some confetti, as the girls took their chance to run away. They weren’t escaping, this was a strategic retreat.
“Wait!” said the Glitch Techs chasing after them.
Rarity then turned back and created one of her diamond shields to block them.
“Rainbow your turn!”
Rainbow Dash started to run in circles to create a dust cloud to block their vision as Sci-Twi pushed them away with her telekinesis. When Miko and Five got back on their feet, the girls were nowhere to be seen.
“Oh Nerd!”
They stood where they were thinking of what to do next.
“They saw us, they know about the glitch and they can be glitch themselves! Don’t panic, don’t panic!” said Five, walking in circles.
“Easy Five, if they are infected by a glitch all we need to do is track their signal, right?”
“Oh right!”
They started to track any glitch signal on the area, but it was clear. It was like…
“So, they don’t have anything to do with glitches?” asked Miko.
Five scratched his head. “Now that I think about it, they were mentioning magic overand over…”
They exchanged a look.
“Naaaaaaaah! That’s impossible right.”
“Right, there’s not such thing as magic!”
They started to think of what to do next.
“Shall we tell Phil?”
“Are you crazy? After the incident with B.I.T.T. we are on his bad side. If we tell him some witnesses escaped… WE WILL NEVER BE GLITCH TECHS AGAIN!”
Miko started to shake High Five in desperation, until he agreed.
“Okay, okay I get it! Tell Phil is a bad idea, now what?”
“We’ll take care of this as we always do! No problem, we’ll think in something!”
Speaking of the devil, their bracelets started to vibrate.
You have an incoming call from… Your Boss.
“Hi Phil!” said Five answering the call.
“What is taking you so long? Bergie needs support and you two are the only ones free.” said their boss.
“Sorry Phil, this glitch was a final boss who summoned minions and we had to get rid of all before moving. We just finished.”
“Great. Now go help Bergie.”
“Yes ssssir!” said the two of them.
With that they jumped on the van and fled the scene. After they finished their round, they said goodbye at the Hinobi store.
“See you tomorrow morning Five?”
“Not until the afternoon, I promised Papi I would help him during the morning. See you after lunch!”
“Bye-bye Five!”
At the next day High Five woke up early and joined his grandparents at their food truck. They sold Mexican food. Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, etc.
It was a repetitive job but Five really enjoyed since he loved to spend time with his grandparents. Also it gave him time to think. And considering all that happened yesterday, he had a lot to think about.
As he was repeating the events on his mind, his grandpa put his hand on his shoulder.
“Héctor, don’t you need to go to your other job?”
“Oh, right Papi. Thanks.”
“Just run this customer before you go, okay?”
“Sure thing!” said Five smiling. It was a regular that he have befriended during the last months.
“Hey Five! The usual please!” aske the girl with a smile as she handed him the money.
“Al pastor tacos with extra hot sauce. On it!”
Five made the girl’s food with quick and well-practiced moves and gave it to her with a smile.
“Here you go. Now if you excuse me, I have to go to my other job!”
The girl nodded as she stared to eat the tacos with delight.
After escaping from Hinobi, and making sure no one was after them, the girls reunited at Sunset’s apartment. They had put the console in the coffee table and were looking at it without knowing what to do.
Sunset have imagined already that they would end up gathering around her new console after school ended, but the circumstances couldn’t be more different. Instead of enjoying a fighting or a racing game, they were looking at the console as it was some sort of bomb.
“Okay, what shall we do now?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Twilight shrugged. “Well, evidently we can summon a new monster, but we already know that the only thing that it would do is to get Hinobi’s attention.”
“Not to mention the monster would destroy the whole place.” added Rarity.
“And those guys from Hinobi can catch us and erase our memories.” said Fluttersy. “Maybe Sunset can help us, but if Hinobi gets her, it would be the end for us.”
Sunset nodded thoughtful.
“We have to carefully think our next move. What we have to know what we’re dealing with. At least we know where to start.”
“The HInobi store!” said the girls in unison.
Sunset nodded, as Twilight pulled her laptop and showed her the pictures she got from her quick search. It were a bunch of gray and white vans with the H from Hinobi on them.
“Also, look at these vans. I’ve seen them all over the city, but paid no mind since I thought they were just delivering products to retail stores. But the more I think about it, how many vans does Hinobi needs for only one city? Also, I’ve seen them every day. Normal companies deliver products only once a week. Twice if they have too many retail partners.”
“And that Mitch Williams dude came out from one of those this morning!” reminded Rainbow Dash.
Rarity started to take notes. “Okay, we have to keep an eye open for any Hinobi van, easy enough.”
“But what if they catch us watching them and erase our memories?” asked Pinkie.
“We have to divide in small groups. If they get one, the rest of us can help to recover their erased memories.”
“And it wouldn’t be easier if you use your power?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“What if I am the one who gets caught? We cannot depend too much on my power. Luckily, Twilight thought in a solution.”
Proudly, Sci-Twi showed her the articles she printed, along with the pictures they managed to take from the Hinobi employees. A bit blur since they took them in a rush but it would still work. They even managed to take a couple of pictures of the monster who came out of Sunset’s console.
“Also, I’ve wrote down everything that we’ve been through so far so we can make a scrapbook. Even if they get Sunset and erase her memories, we will have the book as backup so we can remember.”
“But let’s try to not to get our memories erased, okay?” added Sunset Shimmer.
The girls nodded, and after putting together the scrapbook, and organize the groups for the surveillance, they went home.
And just to make extra sure, Sunset put her Hinobi console on a drawer under lock and key. She didn’t want to accidentally touch it and summon another videogame monster.
…
Five arrived to the Hinobi store as usual and went inside to start his shift.
“Hey Miko! You didn’t wait me for long, right?” the boy greeted his teammate.
Miko shrugged.
“Nah, it’s been a slow day and spent most of the day playing Duty Call. Wanna try? It is good for stress.” smiled the girl.
“Thanks, but I spent the day with Papi and Abuelita. More than enough to deal with stress.”
“I get it, good family vibes. Don’t think it would work for my family but whatever, if it works for you, good for you partner!”
Then the two of them went to the locker room and approached to an empty one. They opened the locker, revealing the portal that transported them to Tech Central. Where Glitch Techs prepared themselves and went to action.
Phil, the store manager, greeted them with a bored look over his notepad and sip his coffee.
“Hello Five, nice to see you. Ready for your round?”
“Sir, yes Sir Phil! All set!” smiled the kid.
“Good, now keep working.” he said, looking at the Tech Bot floating at his right. “What’s on my schedule, B.I.T.T.?
The Tech Bot made a quick nod.
“You have an incoming call from Corporate programmed in exactly three minutes.”
Phil’s jaw dropped and looked at his shirt stained with coffee, mixed with crumbs from the donut he ate fifteen minutes ago.
“What?! I barely have the time to change into a clean shirt! Why didn’t you tell me earlier B.I.T.T.?!”
“Sir, I tried but you were too busy watching Pasión de Albatros in streaming.”
Phil mumbled something as he headed to his locker for a clear shirt. Luckily he had a spare one for situations like that; as Five and Miko giggled and went to their van.
“Hey noobs! When a glitch gives you a hard time, don’t hesitate to beg for my help.” said another Tech as he gave them a condescending smile.
“In your dreams Mitch!” said Miko, as Five started their van.
The portal generator on the van activated as soon as the engine was warmed up, and Miko and Five disappeared inside to start their daily round.
It was an uneventful round for Five and Miko. Minor glitches created by a wet phone with a Hinobi app; or from a disposed Hinobi console exposed to the elements. Pretty normal and boring day for the Glitch Techs team.
Miko sighed.
“What an uneventful day! Come on, I would do anything to meet the girls from yesterday again. Imagine the amount of Experience Points they would give us!”
Five frowned. “Well, after how they reacted when we tried to fix them yesterday; I don’t think they would be dumb enough to show up again.”
“But they declared war to Hinobi, Five!” protested Miko. “I am sure they are watching our moves carefully waiting to get the evidence to destroy us!”
Five chuckled at this, but didn’t say anything.
In the meantime, Miko was distracting herself by looking around the streets trying to get any evidence of surveillance.
“Have you found something interesting Miko?” asked Five.
“Well… there’s an unusual amount of birds flying in circles over the van.”
“What?”
Five put the vehicle aside and watched by himself. As Miko told him, there ware a lot of colorful birds flying in circles and chirping as they were calling someone.
“Shuuuuu! Get away from our van! Come on, go!” said Five waving his arms to make them leave.
Miko groaned as she didn’t want to clean the van if one of the birds do its business on it.
She took a rock from the ground and was ready to throw it to the bird when a girl came stomping at her.
“YOU! DON’T YOU DARE TO HURT MY FRIENDS!”
“Fluttershy wait!” called another girl, trying to stop her friend, but she was too angry to listen.
Five tried to intervene, but Fluttershy pushed him aside to face Miko.
“Drop that rock now.”
Miko did as she was told.
“Now, what are you trying to do?” asked Fluttershy.
Miko gulped. “Ehem… I was…”
“Were you trying to hurt my friends?” asked Fluttershy.
“What? No! I was aiming to the rooftop, you know. The noise would scare them away and they would stop flying over our van! Would you mind stop looking at me like that? You’re giving me the chills that only the final bosses from Black Souls give me.”
Fluttershy relaxed, but just a little.
“Still, you could hurt my friends. Apologize now.”
Miko moved backwards, what happened with this girl? But Fluttershy kept glaring at her.
“I am waiting. Apologize.”
Miko ended up giving in.
“Fine! Sorry birdies, I didn’t want to hurt you but you were distracting us while driving. You could make us crash or worse!”
Fluttershy nodded satisfied.
“Okay, she’s saying she is sorry and never wanted to hurt you. Also, I must apologize too, I told them to let me know when a Hinobi van come across and show me where it was.”
“What?” asked Miko.
“Yes, they are very helpful.” said Fluttershy.
Miko shook her head. “Wow, wow, wow, wow… are you telling me they can understand you?”
“Yes, and I understand them too.”
As the two of them were discussing, Rainbow Dash put the hand on her back pockets and took her phone and covertly started recording.
Not noticing what the rainbow-haired girl was recording, Miko turned on the bracelet and activated her Glitch Tech equipment.
“Okay, now I definitely have to take you to the Hinobi store to fix you. Five, you know any game where you have the power of speaking to animals?”
“RPGs? That power is very common for Druid-type-characters.”
“Huh…”
Then Five turned to Rainbow Dash, who was recording everything, as he activated his Tech equipment.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”
Rainbow gave him a playful smirk. “Recording the evidence of course! Soon everyone will know the truth behind Hinobi.”
Five aimed his bracelet to her.
“Let me guess, you have a plan.”
“Of course!”
And with that she accelerated and ran as fast as she could.
“Great, Miko!”
“On it!” said Miko pressing a button on her bracelet, summoning her pet, a large red bird with blue legs.
“Ally!”
The bird chirped happily, as Miko jumped on her back and started running after Rainbow.
“Five, you take care of the other!” she said as she made Ally go faster.
Five and Fluttershy exchanged a look, as he aimed his bracelet to her.
“Do we have to actually fight? There’s no other way?” asked Fluttershy.
Five sighed. “To be honest, I don’t know. I’m starting to think this is just a big misunderstanding.”
“What do you mean?”
Rainbow was running, happy that there was no way that the Hinobi people would get her, but out of sudden an energy blast exploded right in front of her and she almost fell.
“What?”
She turned around, but there was no one to be seen.
“How?”
A shadow passed right over Rainbow’s head, and then the girl from Hinobi landed right in front o her, riding a giant bird.
“This is the end of the road, speedy!”
“In your dreams, Hionbi! You have me as your opponent, are you sure you wanna race me?”
Miko smirked.
“On your marks, ready…”
“GO!!” shouted Rainbow as she started to run away from Miko.
Miko petted Ally’s head, and the bird started to chase Rainbow as Miko tried to hit her with an energy blast from her bracelet.
“Wait, let me fix you! You don’t know how dangerous it is to be infected by a glitch for too long! The longer you have this glitch, the most you’ll become the videogame character. Your real self would be lost forever. Let us help you!”
Rainbow looked back at the girl chasing her.
“I don’t need your help, I’m not sick! It is you who doesn’t know how dangerous the game you’re playing is. Equestrian Magic is no joke!”
Miko continued to shoot at Rainbow, trying to read a pattern but there wasn’t any. Rainbow was dodging the attacks or deflecting them with agility, and from time to time turned to make a mock face.
“Is that everything you have, Hinobi? I was hoping for a real challenge!”
Miko frowned as she indicated Ally to go faster.
“I can’t read any patterns… what is going on here? Which type of game is this? Time to change strategy!”
She switched her energy blast to a white liquid that she shot right in front of Rainbow, making her to stuck.
“Hey! Come on, seriously?” she said trying to get free.
“A glue trap from School Rampage 3. Now be a good girl and let us take care of that glitch!” said Miko jumping from Ally’s back.
“Have your bosses brainwashed you, or you’re only plain stupid? Hinobi is playing a dangerous game by using dangerous forces to something as stupid as videogames.”
“Forces? What kind of forces?”
“Magic from Equestria. But you wouldn’t get it.”
Miko shook her head.
“Okay, I hate to be the one who pops your little bubble, but we all know that magic isn’t real! It may look like magic, but in reality is only Hinobi tech having some issues. Come on, let us help you!”
Rainbow kept struggling trying to get free from the glue trap.
“No! I won’t let you erase my memories! Don’t you dare!”
Miko approached to Rainbow aiming her bracelet at her.
“This is for your own good. You can trust us, we Glitch Techs are here to protect the public!”
Rainbow looked around, trying to see what she could use. There wasn’t much, just a pile of dirt from a construction nearby but nothing that she could use to defend herself from the Hinobi girl.
Unless…
Rainbow quickly took a handful of dirt and threw it to Miko’s eyes.
“Hey! What is wrong with you?” protested Miko, covering her eyes.
But when she removed her hand she realized that Rainbow Dash have restarted her escape, running as far as possible from Miko.
“YOU OWE ME A PAIR OF SNEAKERS HINOBI!!” shouted Rainbow as she was running farer from Miko.
“What the…?”
Miko looked down to see that the girl’s shoes were still stuck on the glue puddle. Only her shoes.
“Oh nerd!”
Five looked at Fluttershy as he lowered his Hinobi bracelet, and a bird stood on Fluttershy’s shoulder.
“What do you mean with misunderstanding?” asked Fluttershy.
Five showed her his Hinobi bracelet.
“Look at this! It is designed to detect glitch signals, you know, what happens when Hinobi tech fails and creates a monster. Or affects an area, or a person. The closest signal I am getting is two blocks away, despite having you in front of me.”
“What does that mean?”
“You are not showing in my radar, even if you have the ability to speak to animals. Something that can only be caused by a glitch… or something else. I don’t know, since our last encounter I am beginning to think is the second option.”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“It can’t be! Sunset says Hinobi is playing with Equestrian Magic. That explains your strange weapons and the monsters that come from the consoles.”
Five looked at her.
“Tell me, do you feel this ‘Equestrian Magic’ on me?”
Fluttershy closed her eyes, trying to focus on feeling the magic coming from Five. Or at least form his equipment. But…
“Nothing! I don’t feel anything!”
The two of them exchanged a look unsure of what to do now. But then, Miko’s voice came from the transmitter.
“Five! Speedy ran away. Tell me that you were able to get the Disneigh Princess!”
Five looked at Fluttershy and smiled at her.
“No, sorry. She sent all of her bird friends right to my face and couldn’t see where she escaped. Sorry, I don’t want to create a huge scandal because of this!”
“Oh nerd! Again? How many times are those glitch-girls going to outrun us?! At least do you see them on your radar?”
“No Miko, just like the last time they vanished.”
“Nerd… but I told you so! They declared war to Hinobi! We’ll get them next time! Just hurry and don’t let Mitch get them first!”
“Sure, sure! Anyway, let’s go back to headquarters.”
“Fiiiiine…”
Five cut communications with Miko and looked at Fluttershy.
“Miko would be here any minute now. It is your chance to leave.”
She nodded. “Thanks, I’ll speak with my friends.”
“And I’ll try to speak with Miko.”
“Just… one moment please…”
Five stood there confused, when Fluttershy sent her bid friend to flap its wings over his head, messing with his hair and covering it with feathers. “There you go! To make your excuse a bit more realistic. But I’m not a psycho who sends her animal friends to chase my enemies!”
“Sorry, I was improvising. Anyway, leave now and I’ll deal with Miko.”
When Miko returned, it was clear she was annoyed because the girls ran away, but that was what Joystick Junior’s was for. She would kill a few monsters at the arcade, or in her console and she would be good as new.
“Easy Miko! What about a few rounds of Smash Cousins, or Alley Fighter at the arcade? I pay the first round!”
Miko groaned. “Maybe.”
“Come on, you said it, they declared war to Hinobi. We’ll see them again, and I need you to be your usual self if we want to have a chance against them!”
Miko smiled.
“You know what? You’re right! We just have to be more aware now!”
“That’s the attitude!”
After going back to headquarters and exchange their experience points, they went to the arcade to kill time and Miko to relax.
At the next day, Five had to work at his grandparents’ food truck during the morning, just like the day before. But Five didn’t mind, it helped him to relax and to think as he cooked. The pink-haired girl and he were able to talk a little, which was a start. Now he only had to convince Miko that they were not dealing with glitches so they could find a good solution to the situation with the girls.
The main problem was that he didn’t know what he was actually dealing with. Supposedly it was magic, but he wasn’t sure.
“Where to start?” he asked to himself.
“Héctor, one last order before you go.” said Papi Nieves with a smile.
Five nodded, and after finishing with his last customer, Five went to think as he ate the lunch Abuelita packed for him, before going to the Hinobi store. He chose a bench on the park near the mall so he could eat in peace.
“Hello Five! What are you doing here?” greeted someone.
He turned around and smiled.
“Hi Sonata, nothing much. Eating lunch before going my other job.”
“Oh, do you mind if I join you?” she asked, showing him the order of Al Pastor Tacos she just got.
“Sure, take a seat!”
She sat aside him, as she enjoyed her tacos.
“Those are great! I love your grandpa’s touch for tacos, but yours is a little bit better. I always enjoy when you make my order, but today I missed you for just a bit!”
Five blushed and chuckled.
“Well, thank you Sonata. Better luck next time!”
“I just have to go earlier!”
Then Sonata looked at him.
“Is something on your mind, Five? You look worried.”
Five shrugged. “Not worried, just a big thoughtful.”
“Oh, wanna tell me? Only if you want, of course.”
Five sighed.
“I don’t know if you believe me Sonata, but let’s just say I always thought the world worked in one way but out of sudden something happened at my work. Something I can’t explain, that could be magic. But you may think I’m crazy.”
But Sonata just smiled warmly at him.
“Oh, just that? Yeah, first encounter with magic is kinda hard, but you’ll get used to it soon. And, the good news are that nothing have really changed. You’re just a little more aware now.”
Five looked at Sonata.
“What do you know about magic?”
“A lot! In my school magic is very common, and all sort of crazy stuff happen all the time. But we get used to it.”
“What?!”
“Yup! I have a few friends who know all about it. If you have some problems with magic, they can give you a hand. They are really good at what they do and are always willing to help. If you have some time, I can introduce you to them!”
Five considered it for a few seconds and shrugged. He had nothing to lose.
“We can try, I just have to tell my boss I’ll be a little bit late. This won’t take long, right?”
“That depends on the emergency, but no. I don’t think so.”
Five nodded and after texting Phil that he would be joining Miko on route, he followed Sonata to a cafeteria.
“The girls use to hang out here. I hope we can find them!”
“Okay… ‘Sugar Cube Corner’? Not my kind of place, or do they have a videogame machine?”
“I don’t think so.” said Sonata. “Oh I see them!”
Sonata waved her hand to the girls as she approached.
“Girls, girls! I’m so glad I found you! a friend of mine have some problems of the magic kind and he may need your help.”
“What happened?” asked Sunset.
“He says he came across magic on his job, and is giving him a bit of trouble. You may have an advice for him, right?” asked Sonata.
Twilight took a sip of her drink.
“Depends, are you sure is magic? Can your friend give us some detail of what’s going on?”
Sonata nodded. “I brought him so he can explain.”
She called Five.
“Girls, this is my friend High Five!”
Five and the girls stared to each other for a fraction of a second.
Sonata smiled proudly as she gave Five some friendly pats, but the boy could only smile awkwardly to the girls glaring at him.
But, oblivious to the tension between the Rainbooms and her friend, Sonata explained the situation.
“Alright, so Five works at his family’s taco truck, and believe me. Not even his grandpa makes Al Pastor tacos as tasty as he does! Anyway, he haves another job at… where you work at, Five?”
“He works at the Hinobi store.” said Sunset crossing her arms, and advancing toward Five.
“Eh… hi?”
“Thanks Sonata, we’ve met already. So, what happened Five? One of your videogame monsters finally went completely out of control and made you realize that you shouldn’t play with Equestrian Magic?”
Five raised both hands trying to calm her down and explain himself. But before he could say something, Sonata jumped between him and Sunset.
“Hey! You’ll talk my taco friend with respect! Do you understand, Sunset Shimmer?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes.
“Tacos, really? Working at Hinobi is not cool enough for you, Five?”
“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with help with the family business on your free time! And yeah, working at Hinobi is cool and all, but nothing compares to spend some time with Papi and Abuelita!”
Applejack had to agree with the boy. She gave him an understanding smile and he smiled back at her.
Simset groaned.
“We don’t have the time for this!” protested Sunset Shimmer. “He says he haves a problem with magic. Obviously this ‘glitch’ stuff got out of hand for Hinobi, right?”
Five opened his mouth and was about to explain himself, but Pinkie Pie took Sunset’s hand and calmed her down.
“Come on Sunset don’t be so harsh on Five. He only works part time for Hinobi, he have nothing to do with what the company is doing.”
Sunset frowned but nodded and smiled to Five.
“Okay, you’re right. I am sorry, you are not at fault for what your bosses are doing. My name is Sunset Shimmer, nice to meet you High Five.”
Five smiled and shook Sunset’s hand.
“A pleasure.”
Sonata smiled proud at them.
“See? Isn’t everything when we’re all friends?”
The two of them giggled at Sonata.
“So, what happened with the glitches that you need our help?” asked Sunset a bit more calmed.
“Well, this is why I’m here. We need to clear this misunderstanding, so I came here hoping to learn a bit more about magic. To be honest I never expected that the friends Sonata was talking about would be you.”
Sonata nodded.
“See? I told you I know the greatest magic experts in the whooooooole world!”
“Thanks Sonata! Okay, so I was talking with… sorry what was your name again?”
“Fluttershy…”
“Thanks. So, I was talking with Fluttershy and the two of us believe that this is just a big misunderstanding. Magic and glitches are completely different from each other.”
Sunset frowned. “Really? In my experience the only thing capable to summon creatures from a completely different world to ours is Equestrian Magic. I admit this is the first time I see videogame creatures instead of actual Equestrian monsters, but that’s irrelevant.”
“Is it? Your so-called magic can only summon creatures from that world, right? Is the same with the glitches!”
“But if is not Equestrian Magic, what else it could be?”
Five activated his equipment and showed his bracelet to Sunset and the others.
“I don’t know, but just look at this! This is the lastest piece of Hinobi Tech, designed to locate and neutralize glitches. You… at the beginning I thought that your powers were coming form some sort of glitch. But my equipment does not react to you. This doesn’t get any reaction from you.”
“What do you mean?”
“This wouldn’t make any sense, unless your powers are not glitch-originated.”
Fluttershy joined Five.
“Is like Five says, you showed us how to feel Equestrian Magic, but I don’t feel anything coming from him or the equipment he is using.”
“Their ‘glitches’ are…”
“Physical manifestations of a computer program that escapes to the world when the hardware is damaged. I don’t know why Hinobi Tech reacts like that but is not magic from Equ-whateever. If they were, my equipment would be reacting to you.”
Sonata raised her hand.
“Five… sorry I’m lost. Glitches? What are those?”
Five scratched the back of hi head.
“Oh about that…”
In a nearby table, Rumble and his friends were talking about certain game, when he accidentally bumped his glass of milkshake with the back of his hand. He was able to grab it on time but still a small portion of the liquid spilled over the table. But he didn’t realize until the liquid touched his smartphone.
The phone started to generate some sparks until a creature made of electricity emerged and took the form of a small knight armed with a hoe.
“Hoe Knight?!”
Following its program, Hoe Knight started to dig on Rumble’s cake with its little hoe looking for treasure.
Rumble looked at the Rainbooms asking for help.
“Girls look! A magical incident! Some help, please?”
Five smiled at Sonata.
“That’s what I call timely! See Sonata? That’s a glitch!”
Five advanced toward Rumble’s table and hit a single laser to Hoe Knight. Luckily it was a small one, and it was too busy digging for treasure to pay attention to the Glitch Tech.
The boy destroyed the little knight and captured the electricity creature inside his bracelet.
“Glitch contained.” said the mechanical voice.
He then turned to the Rainbows.
“Well? Could you feel your magic coming from that?”
Rumble jumped excitedly.
“Hey that was so cool! What was that all about?”
Five extended his hand and shot the white light to the little boy. Rumble stared to the wall blankly until he shook his head and looked at his friends.
“Hey, what was I doing?”
They were about to answer but Five erased their memories too, before going back to the Rainbooms’ table.
“Well?”
“Whaaaat?”
Sunset was really confused, they were less than five feet to the creature but as Five said, they weren’t able to feel anything coming from it. All of them were trained to feel magic signatures no matter how weak. But this time, nothing.
“It can’t be…” mumbled Sunset.
“I highly recommend we do some testing before coming to any conclusions!” suggested Sci-Twi.
“Oh come on!” complained Rainbow Dash.
“We don’t have any choice parner’” said Applejack.
They looked at Five who nodded.
“I would speak with my partner and when we finish our shift…”
The door of Sugar Cube Corner opened out of sudden and a girl with purple hair entered aiming her bracelet to all directions.
“Hinobi Tech Support! Have you seen any glitches around?”
“Miko just in time!” greeted Five.
“Five! Oh do you have the glitch already?”
“Yeah, contained!”
Miko smiled.
“Great job partner, now let’s go to the van and finish the round before…”
Then she noticed the girls behind Five, and she aimed her bracelet at them.
“And you captured the Glitch Girls! Prefect, now we can fix them. Come with us to the Hinobi store. Now!”
“Hey! What’s going on in here?” asked Mr. Cake walking to Miko and the girls. “Is this girl bothering you?”
Five hurried to fix the situation.
“I’m terribly sorry mister, my friend and I are going to a convention and she’s already in character. Sorry!!” Then he looked at his friend. “Miko, calm down! We’re going to talk things out as civilized people, okay? Just calm down!”
“But Five, the glitches…”
“Your friend talked to us and we decided we’re going to clear things out!” said Sunset looking at Miko.
“What?”
“I’ll explain you later!” sighed Five. “Now, can we met in front of the store when our shift is over, in about four hours?”
“Sounds good to me!” agreed Sunset.
She and Five shook hands, and Five dragged Miko before she made a scene. But before he exited the store, he looked at Mr. Cake.
“Hey, can I have two chocolate milk shakes to go?”
“Sure kid but be careful with your friend. The last thing she needs is more sugar. But is up to you!”
With that the two techs were back on their van and drove away with Five on the wheel and Miko taking sips from her shake.
“Five, you have to try this! Is the best thing ever! Next time I would bring Lexi here, I’m sure she’ll love it!”
Five smiled and tried his own milkshake.
“Wow you’re right! I bought them because I felt bad for the fuss we caused, but now we know! They have the best shakes in town!”
They continued with their round, but Miko was thoughtful.
“So Five, how did you find the Glitch Girls?”
“Long story, but Miko. Are you sure they are glitches?”
She took a sip of her milkshake.
“What do you mean? If they’re not glitches what else could they be?”
“That’s what we were talking about before you arrived. I don’t know, I have the feeling that their powers have nothing to do with Hinobi Tech.”
“Then what? Magic?”
“I’m starting to believe that that’s the case. This is why we need to clear things out.”
“Okay, you have my support partner. Wow, these shakes really are the best in town!”
After their finished capturing some minor glitches, and exchange their experience points at Hinobi headquarters, Miko and Five walked to Sugar Cube Corner where the Rainbooms were already waiting for them.
“Hey girls! Are we late?”
“No, we just arrive!” said Sunset taking her S(H)witch from her backpack. “I bet we’re going to need this, right?”
Miko and Five nodded.
“Question, what are we supposed to do? I’m new to all this!” said Miko.
Five nodded. “Yeah, I have no idea how to start. You?”
Sci-Twi smiled proudly.
“Of course! I’ve dedicated two whole years of my life to study Equestrian Magic. I’ve designed all kind of equipments that would help us to get to the bottom of this!”
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” cheered Sonata.
Five blinked surprised.
“Sonata? You too?”
She nodded energetically.
“But of course! Don’t think you’ll get rid of me now that things got this interesting. Besides, believe it or not I’m actually a magical creature from Equestria. In my true form, I’m a big scary dragon. An aquatic dragon, a Siren. Grrrrrrr!!”
Five laughed at this, but the Rainbooms exchanged an awkward look.
“You must be really scary Sonata!” smiled Five.
“I am, but don’t worry Five, I would never hurt you. Taco friends forever!”
After the small exchange the group went to Twilight’s place.
“My lab is on the basement. This way please!” said Sci-Twi.
Spike ran downstairs waving his tail happily.
“Twilight you’re home! And you brought the girls!”
“What? The dog spoke?!” gasped Five.
But Miko only got excited.
“Hey, you have a glitch pet too!”
Spike tilted his head.
“What’s a glitch? Twilight, who are they?”
Ignoring Spike, Miko activated her bracerlet and summoned Ally, who chirped happily and playfully pecked Miko’s head.
“This is Ally, an NPC from Bravestone. Which game are you from little buddy?”
Spike hid behind his owner.
“Twilight…”
“Leave Spike alone, Hinobi girl. He is not a glitch and didn’t came from any videogame. He was a regular dog until he was affected by Equestrian Magic and gained the ability to talk.”
“For real? A Possessor-type glitch or something?”
Five put his hand on Miko’s shoulder.
“Miko, I don’t think they have anything to do with glitches! Let’s huyrry up and clear this out, okay?”
“Okay, okay! Ally come back… Ally?!”
The red bird was chocking with an apple she took from a shelf.
“Ally!”
Miko ran to help her bird, putting her hand inside the bird’s beak to reach the apple.
“Bad Ally! You can’t do that at other peoples’ home!”
“Not to mention those were wax apples. Just for decoration.” giggled Applejack.
When Ally finally released the apple, Miko called the bird back to her bracelet.
“Sorry about that, Ally gets excited very easily.”
Sci-Twi nodded as she looked at Spike, then back at Miko.
“Interesting. Do you think we can replicate that? imagine a way to carry around Spike whereve I go and summon him whenever I need! It would be such a huge help!”
Spike hid behind Fluttershy, who petted him.
“Easy, she’s not being serious. Okay?”
“Twilight, focus please!” asked Sunset.
She regained composure.
“Ehem, yeah. Let’s go to the bottom of these glitches! Time for testing girls!”
“Okay Sunset, put the console on the scanner please!” said Sci-Twi as she turned on the lights of the basement, revealing her lab.
Miko and Five dropped their jaws as they saw all the equipment Twilight had downstairs. Mostly computer monitors all over the room showing different kind of data. Diagrams from several magical creatures, a monitoring system for magic signatures, and even one dedicated to Spike’s neurological activity.
Miko and Five exchanged a look, all of this reminded them of their first encounter with Ridley. The only difference being that Twilight’s equipment wasn’t connected to a Hinobi console. At least that they could see.
But the girls weren’t surprised at all. They had been here already and Sunset even helped build most of the equipment there.
And, at Twilight’s sign, Sunset went to a corner and took a small metallic table with wheels that she dragged it to an X marked on the floor. Then put her Hinobi console on top of it.
“All set, scan it Twilight!”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” said Five. “Are you sure this is safe?”
“Don’t worry, since the Memory Stone incident we’ve been scanning every Magic Artifact that come to our hands. Don’t worry is completely safe.”
“Eh…”
Twilight turned her computer on and started the scanner, as Miko and Five activated their Tech Equipment. Just as a precaution.
Twilight’s scanner analyzed the console as Sunset and the others looked at the monitors.
When the analysis was over, they looked at the results. No magic signature was detected.
Twilight frowned. “I’m not getting any readings. Most likely because the console is turned off. Sunset, turn it on!”
Miko and Five prepared for a glitch to appear. Luckily nothing happened. Neither a glitch or a reading of Equestrian Magic.
“Still no reaction… A I thought, we need to create a glitch!”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, annoyed. “As you though? Seriously? Then why we didn’t do that on the first place?! Seriously, what’s wrong with you eggheads?”
“Hey science is a process! Every step is important!!” said Twilight.
“It may be important but is booooring!” complained Sonata joining Rainbow Dash.
“It’s okay you two, the ‘interesting’ part comes now!” said Sunset.
She turned to Miko and Five. “What is the best way to make a Hinobi console to glitch?”
Miko and Five shrugged.
“Most of the time you have to damage the hardware. You know, the usual. Make it wet, crack the screen, use damaged cables to charge it… you choose.”
“Like that dude who had a glitch infestation because he wasn’t using an authorized Hinobi charger but a generic one. What was wrong with him? I mean, chargers are not that expensive…”
“Also you can create them by messing with he software. Not like a professional hacker, but by doing more common things like downloading an illegal copy of a game or trying to install unlicensed mods”
Sci-Twi raised an eyebrow, it was like any other computer. She was starting to figure what was going on but she had to make sure.
“Okay we’ll do it our way. Sunset, use your magic.”
“On it!”
Sunset activated her empathetic powers and touched the console. This time it finally happened.
The console started to create sparks until the little creature made of electricity manifested. Then it started to take form of a cat, but not a regular one. It was bigger than normal, with green fur and purple stripes. However the strangest thing about this cat were his eyes. Big and round and a huge smile.
Spike couldn’t believe it, a cat appeared out of nowhere but not only it looked strange, he was not able to smell it. It was like it wasn’t a real cat.
“What?”
Miko and Five aimed their bracelets to the cat.
“Chomp Kitty! Why is it always Chomp Kitty?!”
The two of them were about to destroy the glitch when Fluttershy jumped in front of them.
“Wait!! He may be scared. Hello kitty, my name is Fluttershy. How are you? let me help you!”
Fluttershy smiled, approaching to Chomp Kitty trying to calm him down. But the virtual cat seemed unaffected by her powers. Instead of communicating with her, Chom Kitty jumped over the trio and then ran upstarirs.
Miko and Five quickly recovered and ran behind the cat.
“Hey you! Get back here!” shouted Five.
“Kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty…”
Fluttershy was shocked, and then ashamed.
“I am so sorry… I thought that…”
“No one is blaming ya’ Flutters’, none of us were expectin’ that yer’ powers wouldn’ work.”
They heard something really heavy falling followed by the sound of something fragile turning into pieces.
“Eh… shall we go give them a hand?” suggested Pinkie.
Upstairs, something else broke followed by Five’s shouting.
“I have it, I have it!”
― CRASH!!! ―
“Okay I don’t have it…”
“We better… before they destroy Twilight’s entire living room!” said Rarity.
Sonata was already running upstairs.
“I’ll help you, taco pal! Siren Powers activate!!”
Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity ran upstairs too, as Sci-Twi, Sunset and Spike stayed on the basement.
“Twilight! We have to stop them before Shining Armor comes home or he’ll get really angry! Twilight!”
But she and Sunset were already on ‘the zone’ studying the results.
“It can’t be! It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I don’t want to believe it neither, but the results are irrefutable. We must accept the truth.”
………
Chomp Kitty was running all over the Sparkle’s living room, jumping over the walls, furniture and even people to get rid of their pursuers.
Sonata and the Rainbooms were running after the cat, in an attempt to lure it to Miko and Five so they are able to destroy it with their bracelets.
Chomp Kitty had jumped over a shelf and was carefully watching his enemies, when Sonata charged against the wall, making the shelf to fall.
Chomp Kitty jumped just in time but the Sparkle family’s porcelain broke into pieces when the shelf reached the floor.
The glitch jumped over the dining table, where Applejack jumped making the cat to turn and run to the window. However, his escape attempt was blocked by one of Rarity’s forcefields.
From the other side of the room, Miko prepared her bracelet to shoot.
“Quick! Send him here!”
“Got it!” said Pinkie running towrd the cat.
She used her confetti explosions to scare the cat and make it run straight to the purple-haired girl, when the main door opened out of sudden.
Shining Armor’s jaw dropped when he saw the whole mess all over his house.
“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?”
His shouting froze everyone, except for Chomp Kitty who took its chance and ran to the door. However, Miko recovered quickly and shot.
“Oh no you won’t!!”
The energy shot destroyed the cat.
All was left was a little creature made of electricity that was quickly captured by Miko.
“Glitch contained!” said the mechanical voice.
Everyone sighed in relief. But Shining Armor was not amused. Luckily, his girlfriend Cadence was with him and she was able to calm him down by holding his hand.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
She then turned to the teenagers. “Okay, what happened here? I want the truth.
Shining was very upset, but he managed to breath and calm down until he noticed the newcomers.
“Hey, who are you supposed to be?”
“Ehem…hi, Hinobi Tech support!”
“Yeah… we received an alert regarding a glitch, and we took care of it.”
Once again, if it wasn’t for Cadence, Shining Armor would start shouting.
“Breathe… breath…”
Then she turned to the girls.
“I’m still waiting for an explanation.”
It was at that point where Sunset and Sci-Twi excited the lab ready to share their discoveries. But Spike preferred to stay on the basement since he didn’t want to face the anger of Shining Armor.
“We got the results!” said Twilight too excited to notice his brother… or the disaster left by the Chomp Kitty chase.
Sunset was about to add something when she noticed Shining Armor and froze on the spot as her best friend started to check on her notes.
“It was hard to admit it, but Five and Fluttershy were right. Glitches and magic are not the same. As a matter of fact, all this happened because magic is not compatible with Hinobi Tech. When the two things came together the inevitable happened.·”
“What? So, you guys are not glitches? Not even a possessor-type?”
“No, and you aren’t magical either. What is happening is that, magic is basically an energy source of all things. But is not compatible with Hinobi Tech. And, like any other piece of technology, if you overcharge it with an outsider source of energy you’ll eventually create a system failure. That would end up creating a glitch. However, once free from the system, glitches are perfectly able to decompose magic as additional energy to feed from.”
Sonata raised a hand. “Now in English, please!”
Sunset made an exasperated sigh.
“Basically, Magic and Hinobi Tech do not mix. We still don’t know where glitches come from, but is not Equestrian Magic.”
“Awesome, so we don’t have to worry about Hinbi anymore, right?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I mean, don’t get me wrong but we already have our hands full with magic. We don’t have to worry about glitches, right? Hinobi can take care of them themselves!”
“Sure thing! This is what Glitch Techs are for!” assured Miko.
Twilight took a look around her living room.
“Yes. As much I want to investigate further about glitches, I have a feeling that Rainbow Dash is right. We better fix this before me brother comes and let Hinobi take care of Hinobi problems…”
“Ehem!” coughed Shining Armor.
Twilight gasped as she jumped backwards.
“Shine… Cadence… when did you arrive?”
“Just a few moments ago. Now, would you be so kind to explain what is going on here?” asked Shining Armor.
“We’re sorry!” said Sunset. “An experiment went out of control, and we ended up trashing the place. I am sorry, so this is why we’re going to clean all this mess…”
“What are you waiting for? START CLEANING ALL OF THIS!” shouted Shining.
The girls started to go for the cleaning supplies, as Miko and Five shrugged.
“So what? Is all clear now?”
“Yeah, we would keep our distance from Hinobi from now on!” saqid Sunset.
“Thanks, and we’ll make sure we don’t interfere with anything that is not showing on our systems. And will make sure other Techs do the same!” said Five with a smile.
Then the two of them shook hands. At least this was the end of their misunderstanding.
Miko stretched out.
“Okay, cool! Now we know there’s something more than glitches in this world. Wanna go to Joystic Junior’s?”
“Great idea! Sonata, are you coming?”
“Of course Taco Pal! Let’s go!”
Shining Armor blocked their way out.
“No one leaves until this mess is all cleaned. Did I made myself clear?”
Miko simply raised her hand and shot a white light to him and Cadence. Before they could react, she took both Five’s and Sonata’s hand and ran as fast as she could.
“A pleasure to meeet you! See you!”
“Wait!! You cannot leave us like this!” shouted Sunset.
But it was too late. They have gone, and Shining and Cadence were recovering from the memory reset.
“WHAT HAPPENED HERE?”
“Twilight, you promised you would be more careful with your experiments!”
The girls groaned.
“I think we all agree never to get in volved with Hinobi again…”
“Hey girls! How’s your afternoon doing?” greeted Sonata after an exciting day with Five and her new friend Miko.
Adagio and Aria turned their heads to see Sonata entering the house, but shrugged and turned their attention back to the T.V.
“Weren’t you just going for some tacos?” asked Adagio, annoyed.
“Only you are able to get lost on a three blocks trip!” complained Aria.
Sonata smiled apologetically to her sisters. They may sound like they were mocking her, but she knew they were genuinely worried about her. Of course they would never admit it, especially to Sonata.
“Yeah, sorry I’m late girls. But I bumped into my friend Five; you know, my Taco Pal. And he told me that he had some problems with magic on his other job so I introduced him to the Rainbooms. But they already knew each other. It turned out that the Rainbooms were his problem!”
Aria groaned.
“We do not mention the Rainbooms in this house, idiot. How can you get along with them after what they did to us?”
But Adagio was interested in something else.
“Wait! You said that they were the problem? What happened?”
“My friend Five works for Hinobi, and it seems that Hinobi consoles do really weird stuff when they interact with magic. You should be there, it was awesome!”
Adagio raised an eyebrow. “Hinobi? Those are videogames, right?”
Aria nodded. “Yes, the largest videogame company in the world. But anyway, magic does weird stuff in this boring world.”
Sonata nodded excitedly. “Yes, but Hinobi takes the prize! You can summon videogame stuff to come to the real world. It’s really cool! Miko and Five call them ‘glitches’. They are so interesting, and you don’t even need magic to make them appear. All you need to do is damage your Hinobi console!”
Adagio and Aria groaned and raised the T.V.’s volume. This was what they got for paying attention to Sonata’s nonsense.
Sonata only shrugged with a smile and went to her room. She had a very good day, but she was exhausted and needed to sleep.
However Adagio was not able to pay attention to the show. Her mind was somewhere else.
“Videogame monsters…”
Aria rolled her eyes. “Don’t take her too serious. She may had too much sugar; or that many tacos finally affected her brain. Besides, we only have a tiny bit of magic left. We cannot afford to waste it in one of Sonata’s nonsenses.”
Adagio looked at the drawer locked with a key where they kept the last fragment of their gems with the last of their magic. They have sworn that they would use it to get revenge on the Rainbooms no matter what. But they hadn’t come with a plan that would work. They could not underestimate their opponents or they would lose everything.
Adagio sighed.
“You are right but is worth a test.”
Aria raised an eyebrow. “Did you hit your head or something?”
Adagio grinned. “Don’t get me wrong. I would never risk our magic for something like that. But think about it, Sonata spent the afternoon with those Rainbooms so there’s a chance she is actually onto something. We just have to make them think we are going to use our magic with a Hinobi console to see how they react and see if we can try it for real in the future.”
Adagio shrugged.
“Fine, as long as we don’t waste our magic I guess it’s fine. I think I still have my 3HS with a game I never was able to finish. We can use it to make the test.”
Adagio grinned. She still didn’t like that her sister befriended the Rainbooms but she had to admit that ‘that’ friendship was useful from time to time. Sonata’s carefree and naïve nature made her easy to manipulate; but also, easy to trust. She was far too innocent for her own good.
At the next day:
Adagio and Aria came to the school as usual. But this time they had Aria’s 3HS and a fake crystal on their backpacks.
“Now we just have to wait until they’re all together!” said Adagio.
“Yeah… whatever!” said Aria. She wasn’t convinced that this would work but it was worth a try.
The only problem was that they had to wait until the end of the day since the Rainbooms had different schedules, and the only time they were together was after classes. They liked to hang out for a bit before going to their part time jobs or other extracurricular activities.
Then after a boring day, it was finally time for them to try Adagio’s theory. Adagio and Aria waited for the Rainbooms at the lockers while Sonata simply ran to get her daily dose of tacos from Papi Nieves’ truck.
Finally, the seven girls appeared. Aria was sceptic but decided to tag along.
“Hey Rainbooms!” called Adagio walking toward them.
“Hey Adagio, what’s up?” greeted Sunset.
“What’s up? I don’t know, some revenge perhaps?” said Adagio frowning.
The Rainbooms sighed.
“Seriously Adagio, that was like months ago! How can you be still mad?” asked Pinkie, much to Adagio’s irritation.
“Months? Shall I remind you that we used to be immortals?! We are hundreds of years old, months are like nothing for creatures like us. Or they used to be until you turned us into fragile humans.”
Aria nodded. “Only Sonata is able to forgive and forget. We are not as innocent.”
“They you should learn a thing or two from her!” said Fluttershy
Applejack only rolled her eyes. “Okay parner’s we have things to do. Out of our way!”
Adagio put her hand inside her backpack and took the console and the fake crystal.
“Or what? This is the last of our magic and this is a videogame console. A Hinobi console.”
The girls’ eyes widened much to Adagio’s delight. So Sonata was actually onto something. She would reward her later, now she had to think on a plan with Aria.
Aria giggled. “So it wasn’t just another Sonata nonsense?”
“Yeah, I told you we should give it a shot!” grinned Adagio.
The girls started to move backwards, but Sunset Shimmer tried to approach to the Dazzling sisters.
“Adagio, put that down! We can talk about this, just put that down before something bad happens!” said Sunset trying to mend things.
The two sisters were laughing happily, when out of nowhere vice principal Luna came from behind and tried to snatch the 3HS from Adagio’s hand.
“Adagio Dazzle, you know is forbidden to take videogames to school!”
Adagio gasped and tried to pull the console from the vice principal’s grip. “Give it back! Is mine, I need it!”
“Actually, is mine.” mumbled Aria.
Vice principal Luna pulled harder.
“Give it to me, rules are rules!”
Adagio pulled it back. “No, no!!”
Finally, the console slipped from both of their hands in the middle of that tug war, and went flying and crashed to a wall. The screen cracked.
“No!” cried Adagio.
But Vice principal Luna was very upset, and grabbed Adagio by the wrist.
“To my office. Now!”
The Rainbooms sighed in relief, when Fluttershy noticed that the console was trembling and generating sparks.
“Uhm… girls?”
Everyone gasped.
“Did you actually used our magic?!” shouted Aria.
Adagio shook her head. “Of course not! You saw I left our crystal at home!”
Sunset groaned. “Damn it, I forgot magic is not necessary.”
Finally, the console let escape a green energy field that started to change the school into a colorful town in the middle of the woods, with lots of tiny houses painted with vibrant colors. But also it brought to life horrid pony-like creatures made out of bones with the remaining of their flesh hanging. And red eyes.
A big bright sign appeared in the middle of the school, not the town center.
WELCOME TO SUNNY TOWN
Sunset facepalmed. “Adagio, you are a goddamn moron!”
The nightmarish ponies turned their heads to the girls and started to walk toward them.
“Come with us, we’ll protect you from the mark… from the curse. We’ll be together and take good care of each other… come with us…”
Rarity made a barrier to keep the creatures away from them.
“What we do now?!” cried the girls, as the creatures continued to try to get them.
“Use your magic! Purify whatever these things are!” cried Adagio.
“I have news for you, magic would only make this situation worse!!” shouted Sci-Twi.
The skeleton ponies started to scratch the barrier with heir hooves. “Come with us! Come with us our dears!”
“What can we do?!” cried Fluttershy hiding behind Applejack and Pinkie.
As usual, Vinyl Scratch was in her own little world dancing around with her headphones and her glasses, when she finally noticed what happened with the school.
She gasped in surprise and wanted to know what was going on, when one of the skeleton ponies got her from behind.
The effect was instantaneous, her skin melted, leaving only the bones and a few scraps hanging from them. And even if they were covered with sunglasses, the red eyes were still visible.
More students went out of their classrooms only to be met by the horrid creatures that were slowly turning them into their kind.
Behind Rarity’s barrier, the girls screamed horrified for what they saw. More and more students joined the creatures’ forces.
Aria shivered. “I hate this game, I really do!”
They turned to her.
“You know what’s this all about?!” asked vice principal Luna.
“Yes, I mean no. Is a game I rage quitted years ago! But I don’t know what’s going on!” said Aria.
“This is a glitch, basically this is what happens if you mess with Hinobi Tech.” explained Sci-Twi.
“Can you fix it?” asked Adagio trembled in fear.
Sunset’s eye twitched and punched her on the head.
“No idiot! Magic is not involved in this! There’s nothing we can do!”
Rarity was sweating. “We better think about something because I don’t know how long I can hold them!”
Applejack turned her head to one of the houses that popped out right behind them and lifted it with her super strength. She raised it over their heads.
“Rares’!”
Rarity nodded and released the barrier, and Applejack threw the house over the horde of skeleton ponies making a breach that allowed the girls to run away.
“Okay, where to?” asked Rainbow Dash as they kept running.
Sci-Twi turned to see the creatures resuming their chase. She frowned, she may not be able to touch them directly, but she could throw objects at them to slow them down and that was what she did. She used her telekinesis to lift fences, mailboxes and such to put as many obstacles as possible on the skeleton’s way.
Aria looked around until she spotted a path on the forest.
“There!”
“Are you sure?” asked Pinkie.
“I may have not completed the game, but I went this far! Come on!”
They kept running as Twilight and Applejack were using the trees to hide the path.
“There’s a cabin at the end of the path, we’re getting closer!” said Aria.
Finally they saw it, an abandoned cabin. It looked sinister and lonely but it was their only chance.
They closed the door behind it them.
Adagio was breathing heavily, and her heart was a thousand miles per hour.
“What was that all about? I didn’t even use magic I swear!”
Rainbow and Sunset punched her again.
“Shut up! This is all your fault!” said Rainbow Dash.
Adagi groaned in pain and turned to vice principal Luna. “Hey, you’re a teacher! Do something!”
The woman glared at her. “I would, but then I would lose my job.”
Adagio and Aria groaned.
“Okay, yes I messed up and I’m sorry! I didn’t know this would happen. I thought if I didn’t use magic nothing would happen! How was I supposed to know that magic isn’t necessary?” tried to explain Adagio.
“Well, Sonata did tell us!” reminded Aria.
The girls groaned in annoyance.
“Now that I think about it, why didn’t those idiots wiped Sonata’s memory too? That would have saved us this problem!” complained Rainbow Dash.
“Well, Sonata is a friend so they may have thought that if they do, we would have restored her somehow.” explained Fluttershy.
Sunset nodded. “Yes, makes sense. Now I kinda wish we would had let them wipe our memories too.”
The sound of hooves walking toward them reminded the girls that they weren’t completely out of danger.
“Aria, now what?” asked Pinkie Pie.
Aria pointed a finger to a corner of the cabin, to a pile of bones.
Fluttershy shrieked and the rest of the girls prepared for the worse, but Aria calmed them down.
“This is not one of them, relax! This is our guide!”
“What?!” asked Fluttershy.
The bones started glowing, and finally a figure raised over them. It was a semi-transparent pony with blonde mane and bright yellow lights as eyes.
She made the girls a sign for them to follow her, as she went through the wall.
“There’s a secret door, we just have to find the hidden mechanism!” said Aria.
They began to look for it all over the floor as the ponies were coming closer. They didn’t have much time.
Finally, Fluttershy accidentally stepped on a misplaced tile, revealing the secret door.
After a quick congratulation session, the girls ran as the skeleton ponies broke into the cabin.
In the distance, the yellow-eyed pony was waving at them, urging the girls to follow her,
“And this is where I couldn’t continue! I’m sorry!” apologized Aria.
The path was guiding them deeper into the forest, and finally they realized they were a the edge of a very tall cliff.
“Where are we going?” asked Sunset.
“To a dead end!” said Aria. “Keep an eye open to anything that may look like an alternate route!”
They finally reached the end of the path. At their left, they had an old wooden bridge, but it was rotten and there was no way even one of them could cross it. At their right they had a very thick forest and a huge rock. And in front of them the path was blocked by an even bigger rock.
And, the horde of skeletons were right behind them.
They were trapped.
The yellow-eyed pony was waving at them from the other side of the bridge, like telling them to hurry up but it wasn’t possible. Applejack could be able to make it by jumping with her super strength, or Rainbow could cross the bridge at supersonic speed and make it safely to the other side but neither of them were willing to abandon their friends.
Vice principal Luna walked toward the skeleton ponies as she opened her arms,.
“Quick! I’ll buy you some time, just find a way to escape!”
And she closed her eyes, resigned to her fate.
Out of sudden, an explosion of blue light reduced many of the skeleton ponies to a bunch of pixels as two kids walked toward the group.
It was a tall young boy with brownish skin, and curly black hair; and a girl with purple hair and a playful smile. Both of them were dresses in white and blue uniforms with a black armor and blue visors.
“Hinobi Tech support!”
“Did someone report a glitch?”
Sunset advance toward them.
“You!”
Miko and Five recognized the girls and greeted.
“Hey, hello again! How is it going?” smiled Five.
Applejack just groaned. “A’ don’t know, kinda’ in trouble!”
“Really? But you made it this far without any help! You’re about to finish the game!” said Miko.
“Really? I always got stuck at this point and never found the exit!” said Aria.
Miko and Five smiled.
“It’s okay, we’ll take you out of here. I’ve played Story of the Blanks thousands of times!” said Miko. “Hey Five, give me a hand!
The two kids from Hinobi went to the rock of the right and began to push it. Applejack hurried to help them as she saw a second horde of skeletons coming.
A new path was revealed.
“This way!” called Five.
There was no need to repeat it, they ran for their lives as Applejack placed the rock back to its first position to avoid the skeletons to chase them.
“I can’t believe I never thought that you could just push that rock and escape!” said Aria.
“It’s okay, everyone panics at this point of Story of the Blanks. Most people fall for Ruby’s trap over and over until they figure what to do!” said Miko.
Finally they reached to a clearing with a single skeleton pony on the center.
“What are you waiting for? Blast it with your bracelets!” said Pinkie.
Miko shook her head. “Easy. Unlike Ruby, Mitta is a friendly NPC.”
The skeleton pony aimed a hoof Norwest, and they were able to escape to a paved path in the middle of the forest.
Miko jumped excitedly. “We did it! We escaped from Sunny Town!”
“Great, now what?” asked Sunset Shimmer.
Five shrugged. “Now we wait. These type glitches fixes themselves after you finish the game.”
“Good! I don’t want to go through something like this ever again!” cried Fluttershy.
“So how long until the game ends?” asked Pinkie.
Miko happily pointed at the sky where some letters were appearing over their heads.
“Not so long, since the credits are already displaying.”
Vice principal Luna raised an eyebrow. “What on earth? Really, what’s going on here?”
Finally when the last name disappeared from above, a new shockwave shook the town, and the school went back to normal. The converted students returned to their normal selves before they fainted.
And finally, the broken console stopped to shake and went back to normal.
Five took it. “Alright, we’ll take this to the Hinobi store for repair, and return it to the owner. Who’s these?”
“It’s mine!” said Aria.
“Ok!” said Miko writing a ticket and giving it to the siren. “Come to the Hinobi store by tomorrow and we’ll have it ready for you. Just make sure to take good care of it so it doesn’t create any more glitches.”
Five turned to Sunset.
“So, why this happened? You said you wouldn’t mess with Hinobi tech anymore!”
Sunset pointed a finger to Adagio and Aria.
“Tell that to Sonata’s sisters! Why didn’t you wiped her memory too, huh?”
Five scratched his head. “I thought she was your friend… and since you have prevented us to reset your memories, I thought it would be the same with her.”
“Told you!” mumbled Fluttershy.
“Not to mention she said she was a magical creature and we made a vow to not to deal with your magic anymore!” added Miko. “Or is she not?”
Sunset sighed.
“Yes, she is. And these two are as well. But their powers are sealed so it’s safe to wipe their memories.”
Adagio and Aria crossed their arms.
“Yeah, right! As if we could forget something as big as this! A power as big as magic is inside Hinobi? Too good to forget!” said Adagio with a grin.
Aria nodded. “Yeah, Sonata did good by informing us about something this good! Now we’ll…”
Five simply aimed his Hinibi bracelet to the Dazzling sisters, and shot them with the white light as Miko did the same with vice principal Luna.
The trio stared to the wall as the Rainbooms and the Glitch Techs exited the school.
Five smiled apologetically at the girls. “Sorry for all this trouble! I’ll reset Sonata’s memory as soon as I see her again, okay?”
“That would be great, thanks!” said Sunset in a bad mood. “But I understand that this was our mistake too. Thank you for saving us!”
“Just doing our job!” said Five.
He and Sunset shook hands as Miko checked on something on her Tech bracelet.
“Hey guys! I think one of the monsters escaped! I am still detecting a glitch sign on the area!”
Five and Sunset turned to her.
“What?”
Sunset shivered.
“Is something wrong, darling?” asked Rarity.
“Is just that I have a very bad feeling about this…”
Miko started to look for the glitch sign, until her bracelet gave her a result. Right on the main entrance of the school.
Miko smiled triumphant.
“Found it! Is… inside the horse statue?”
She scratched her head in confusion as Sunset facepalmed.
Sunset looked at the horse statue then back to Miko and Five.
She took a deep breath and looked at the Techs again, focusing on their bracelets.
“Okay, this is fine. It doesn’t have to become a crisis. Not yet. But first things first. Hey guys, do you need your fingers to operate those things?”
Miko smiled. “Well, yeah. I mean, we can operate the basic cannons without them but we do need our fingers to activate them!”
Five was checking on his bracelet, when gasped. “Miko!! The glitch signals is multiplying! What’s with this statue?”
Sunset groaned.
“It’s a portal, not a statue! And, is it multiplying? Great! Just activate your ‘cannons’ and follow me. And for Faust’s sake, keep what you’re about to see as a secret. Please!”
“Understood!” said Miko and Five in unison, as they activated their weapons.
With that, Sunset Shimmer rushed into the portal leaving Miko and Five dumbfounded.
“Did she just… jumped into the statue?” gasped Five.
“Whaaaat?” said Miko as her jaw dropped.
Sunset’s upper half appeared on the portal and grabbed the Techs’ hands.
“Come on, God damn it!”
And she pulled them inside.
Miko and Five felt dizzy and disoriented for a few seconds, but then they looked around. They were in some kind of, crystal hall? There was a crysal bookshelf with lots of books, a crystal table with pieces of paper spread all over, an inkwell and several quills and pens.
Then they took a good look on themselves. Miko have turned into a white pegasus. Her purple-dyed hair remained the same, but now she had a matching tail. Her Tech bracelet remained on her right forehoof along with her glasses, but the rest of her clothing have vanished. And now she had a sky blue H tattooed on her flank. The H from Hinobi.
Five have turned into a sky blue earth pony with black curly hair, and a matching tail. And just as Miko, his clothes vanished except for his Tech equipment. And he also had the white H from Hinobi tattooed on his flank
“Fiiive! What happened to us? We turned into horses!”
“Horses! How are we suppose to hunt glitches now?!”
Sunset sighed.
Ponies, not horses. Ponies. This is why I told you to summon your weapons on the other side, ponies don’t have fingers.”
Then they noticed the scandal on the background.
A unicorn was desperately fighting one of the monsters from Story of the Blanks. She had pink fur and purple mane with aquamarine strips.
The Shadow Pony was stilly trying to get Starlight Glimmer who could only use her magic to get rid of it. She shot a magic blast to the creature, but instead of getting rid of it or actually hurt it the monster seemed to feed on the energy itself, and divided in two equally frightening creatures.
“What are you?” asked Starlight, trying to get away from the creature by throwing the crystal table to the monster.
“Now do something!!” commanded Sunset.
Miko and Five balanced as they could on three legs and aimed their right forehooves to the creatures.
“Quick question! How are we supposed to shoot now?” asked Miko, shacking her hoof.
Finally a blue blast came from her bracelet destroying one of the glitches.
The other one turned to the new menace and attacked, but it was quickly disposed of it with a blast of his bracelet.
Only the two electricity creatures remained, that they quickly absorbed inside their bracelets.
“Glitch contained” said the mechanical voice.
“Okay! You’re safe now!” said Miko with a smile.
Sunset approached to Starlight and helped her to get back on her hooves.
“Sunset! What was that thing?”
The yellow unicorn was about to explain what was happening, when she heard the scandal from the other room. Somepony cursing, and dragging heavy furniture in order to fight the creatures. Something that was not going to end well.
“Nevermind, you can tell me later! Now we have to help Twilight and Spike!”
They could hear how the fight got more intense.
“Hurry!”
They ran through a small hallway to the main dining room, but their way was completely blocked by glitches. Miko and Five raised their forehooves and started to shoot to clear the way, making the creatures to focus on them as the only known menace.
Starlight looked at the crystal table, and used her magic to put it at the front of the group. The glitches had no choice but climb over the table where they became easy targets for Miko and Five.
Starlight looked at Miko. “Hey! Can’t you fly over them and destroy them from above?”
“I just figured how to walk in fours, give me a break!”
“What?” asked the pink unicorn.
Sunset just placed her hoof on her shoulder.
“Starlight, they’re humans. Don’t be so hard on them!”
Starlight did not say anything and focused on making an opening through the hallway to get to Twilight as soon as possible. For what they could hear, she was having a really hard time getting rid of the glitches.
Finally they made their way to the dining room, where Spike and Twilight were battling the digital monsters.
Spike have created a barrier using chairs, shelves. Anything he could get on his claws as Twilight have made a force field to repel the creatures. She figured that using magic directly on them was a bad idea, but she was perfectly able to keep them away.
Then she noticed Starlight, and Sunset?
“Sunset Shimmer! I really like when you visit but we have a problem right now!”
Then two ponies jumped over the table Starlight and Sunset were using as a shield. A pegasus an earth pony.
“Miko, I go left you cover right!”
“Roger partner!”
They started to shake their hooves shooting blue blasts to the creatures.
Twilight panicked. “No wait! You’re going to make things worse!”
But much to her surprise, instead of multiplying the creatures were reduced to small green monsters made of electricity that disappeared inside the ponies’ bracelets.
“Glitch contained.”
“Are you okay?” asked Five.
Twilight and Spike nodded. “Thank you. What were those things?”
Sunset sighed and smiled apologetically to Twilight.
“I am sorry Twilight. Today, instead of a monster from Equestria making trouble in my world, we had a monster from my world causing trouble in Equestria. I lowered my guard and here we are!”
“Yeah before we realize, we ended up with a glitch infestation! At least we arrived just in time!” smiled Miko proudly.
“Sorry for the trouble that Hinobi caused in your beautiful world. Hopefully this would be the end of it!” apologized Five.
Twilight sighed. “We may have to talk about this later, but for now thank you for your help. I don’t want to imaging what would have happened if one of those escape to Ponyville.”
“At least we took care of Adagio and Aria who started this problem!” said Sunset. “But it’s all over now! Thanks Twilight, I’ll explain everything soon, I promise.”
“Thank you Sunset.” said Twilight.
But then the group heard several screams from outside the castle, followed by the sound of poines running for their lives.
“No, no, no, please no!” pleaded Twilight as she opened the main door to see the chaos spreading over Ponyville.
Ponies were trying to escape the shadow ponies, doing everything in their power to defend themselves. Vinyl Scratch gasped and shot a magic beam to the nearest one but it only made to multiply and now she had to enemies to escape from.
Finally one of her pursuers touched her, turning the DJ into another shadow pony.
“Please don’t tell me one escaped!” said Five.
Twilight and Starlight exchanged a look. They didn’t know what to say.
Spike only scratched his head.
“Well, we were too busy protecting ourselves to actually notice if some of them escaped!”
Miko raised a hoof. “Hey guys, how many of you ponies is able to perform this ‘magic’?”
“About a third of the population.” said Sunset Shimmer.
The Glitch Techs facehoofed.
“Oh, for nerd’s sake!”
The whole group stepped out of the castle, to help the ponies escape from the shadow ponies. One of the ponies have fainted as she mumbled ‘the horror, the horror’ as the inhabitants of Sunny Town jumped over her, making her one of them.
Miko gasped and shot, turning her back to normal.
“Rose, run!” warned her cousin, Daisy, as she was running from the monsters too.
The monsters were about to get them, but Five destroyed them on time and captured them on his bracelet.
“Glitch contained.”
He looked at his partner. “Miko, we need help! We cannot deal with these many glitches on our own!”
“But you see how fast they spread! How can we prevent them to get out of town!”
Twilight and Starlight exchanged a look and nodded.
“Starlight and I can make a barrier to prevent them to leave the Ponyville!”
“And we can host the ponies inside the castle for their safety!” suggested Spike.
“Great! Now we have a plan, let’s move!” said Sunset.
Five started to run back to the castle. “Miko, keep them busy! I’ll get some help!”
“Hurry Five!” said Miko as she keep shooting.
Five returned to the portal, as Twilight and Starlight prepared their horns and created a barrier that surrounded the whole town. Not a magical barrier since it would be far too exhausting for them but dirt walls, trapping creatures and ponies into the town.
The monsters howled and started to walk toward Twilight, Sunset and Starlight as Miko keep them busy destroying or turning regular ponies back to normal, that were lead inside the castle by Spike.
“Is this the only thing we can do? Really?” asked Twilight.
“It seems so. Magic is not the answer this time…” mumbled Starlight.
Fortunately, due to the fact that they lived in the same town as the Elements of Harmony, the ponies have developed an emergency protocol that was pretty much go inside the castle for safety. And when the ponies infected by the glitch were cured, they went to join the others inside Twilight’s castle as they waited for the problem to solve.
Sunset kept the castle safe by throwing every object she could to the creatures. They had to keep them away from the castle.
“Why if Five taking so long?” complained Miko.
In the meantime, on the other side of the portal Five was trying to get some help.
“B.I.T.T.! I need some backup, there’s a huge glitch infestation and Miko and I are not enough to contain them! There are too many of them!!”
“Thank you for your information High Five! Sending the nearest free Techs to your location. Zahra and Haneesh are on their way!”
Five was biting his nails waiting for his backup hoping they arrive before Miko got overwhelmed by the glitches.
“How long until backup comes?” cried Spike fighting a glitch with a sweeping broom.
“Yeah! How long you have to wait to get some decent tech support?” complained Sunset.
At the other side of the portal, a Hinobi van finally parked in front of the school, and two Glitch Techs jumped from it with their cannons ready.
“Hey rookie, where’s the glitch?” asked Han as he gave Five a friendly slap on his back.
Zahra blushed when she saw Five and greeted him with a small nod. “Hey Five, I heard you need some help.”
Five smiled relieved.
“Great, you’re here! You have your cannons ready? Perfect, let’s go!”
“Easy Five…” tried to say Han, but he have grabbed their wrists already and pulled them inside the statue.
The first thing they needed to get used to was to walk on fours on their new forms.
Han was a dark gray pegasus with the H of Hinobi tattooed on his flank in white. As for Zahra she have turned into an earth pony like Five, but she was light gray fur with the H of Hinobi in light blue as Cutie Mark. Most of their clothing have vanished but Zahra kept her hijab.
“What kind of glitch is this?!” asked Zahra.
“Believe it or not, this is not the glitch.” said Five. “ Follow me!”
They ran after Five, through a big room full of ponies of all colors and sizes.
“What is going on?” asked Han.
Ignoring him, Five went to open the door.
A pony tried to stop him.
“No! You’re going to let them in!”
Five pushed the pony and opened the door only to be greeted by one of the zombie ponies from Story of the Blanks.
Five disposed of him, as he ran outside followed by the other two Techs.
Miko smiled when she saw them.
“Five! You brought Zahra and Han, great! I was worried they end up sending Mitch.”
Zahra and Han joined them as they continued started shooting destroying the creatures.
“Are those the monsters from Story of the Blanks?” asked Han. “I remember doing a streaming playing that game a couple of Halloweens ago!”
Starlight glared at the newcomer.
“A game? Is this only a game for you?”
Zahra shrugged. “Hey, I don’t know which type of place is this, but yeah. We’re dealing with videogame monsters. Don’t you have videogames around here?”
Sunset shook her head. “Nope, videogames are not a thing in Equestria.”
Miko froze in shock.
“Miko?” asked Five.
She started to tear up, as she put her left forehoof over her heart, and her wings covered her eyes dramatically, trying to hold back her crocodile tears.
“A world without videogames? How can you live such an empty and boring life?!”
They all sighed, when one of the zombie ponies was about to get her but Han got rid of it quickly.
“Focus Miko! There are too many of them to fool around!” scolded Han.
But Zahra noticed something else.
“Miko, what were you doing with your wings?”
The purple-haired girl tilted her head, as she scratched it with the tip of her left wing. “What you mean?”
“Miko! You can use your wings as hands!” said Five.
“I can? I can!! Yeah!”
Zahra turned to her partner. “Han, try it!”
The boy tried as well, and much to his amusement and relief, he was perfectly able to us his new wings as they were his hands.
He smiled.
“Okay, time for the big boy toys! Miko, give a wing.”
“We’ll keep them away from you!” added Zahra. “Five!”
“On it!”
The two earth ponies jumped in front of the group, shooting over and over as the other two went through their weapon catalog to get what they needed. Miko grinned as she found what she was looking for. A weapon made specifically to destroy infernal monsters.
“BFG? Seriously?”
“Hey! I’ve been dealing with them the entire afternoon, and I’m sick of them!” said Miko.
She put the weapon on the ground, since it was as big as her pony form and she pulled the trigger with her wing.
The effect was devastating, the explosion took care of a third of the monsters. Reducing the glitches to their basic form and releasing the ponies who had been possessed by them.
Han smiled and selected a couple of bombs, metallic spheres. He threw them to the remaining glitches, and Five and Zahra shot to them with their canons making them explode, taking care of more glitches.
Once they contained the glitches only a few remained.
“We reduced their numbers enough to separate! Let’s finish this!” said Five.
Zahra nodded. “Han and I would take left, you go right.”
“Okay, let’s go Miko!”
She smiled. “Okay, Ally and I have you covered!”
Using her wing to manipulate her Tech bracelet, she summoned her red bird. Ally seemed puzzled to see her owner like a pony, but Miko hurried to jump over the bird’s back and smiled.
“Come on girl, let’s do this! Let’s get rid of some glitches!”
The bird chirped happily and the two of them began to run around the town taking care of the remaining glitches, followed by Five.
In the meantime, Han and Zahra finished with the glitches at the other side.
Starlight, Twilight and Sunset watched them getting rid of the glitches as they felt relieved that the nightmare was over.
“I never thought I would see the day that magic was not the answer in one way or another.” mumbled Starlight.
Sunset sighed. “Sorry Twilight, I let one of those things cross the portal and you ended up with this problem.”
“It’s okay Sunset. Most of the time is the other way around. Like the Sirens…”
“Who also are partially to blame for this disaster!” sighed Sunset.
The girls shared a chuckle, when the last glitch was took care of.
“Glitch contained.”
Everyone sighed in relief.
“So that’s all of them?” asked Five.
Han nodded. “Yeah, that was the last glitch signal. We’re clear!”
One more time they sighed. On the bright side, they got a lot of experience points in only one mission. But it was exhausting. Things had gone too far in too little time.
“Seriously, how do you end up with an infestation this bad?”
Zahra agreed. “And now that we took care of the situation, care to explain what’s going on here?”
Miko and Five didn’t know what to say.
“Well, that horse statue is not actually a statue but a portal to another dimension.” explained Five.
Miko extended her wings dramatically as she showed the surroundings. “And in this dimension they like real magic. Magic, you know? Buuuut, it turns out that magic is incompatible with Hinobi consoles, and when you put the two together. Boom! You get a glitch!”
The two veteran Techs exchanged a worried look.
“And how on earth a glitch made its way all over here, and ended up becoming an infestation?” asked Haneesh.
“A couple of idiots called Adagio and Aria provoked a glitch and one of the videogame monsters made its way here. And for what we observed, glitches use magic as an energy source.”
Starlight nodded. “When we hit them with magic, they seemed to absorb it and multiply. Unicorns instinctively use magic as defense, and not knowing this creatures the result was this infestation as you call it.”
Twilight nodded. “Makes sense, this is how one became many. How do we prevent this from happening again?”
Zahra and Han nodded.
“I don’t know about you, but we will have to contact our bosses.”
“What? No!” said Sunset. “No one is suppose to know about Equestria and magic!”
“Neither about glitches, but here we are! We have to contact them in order to make some damage control. Today we were lucky and contained on time, but there’s no guarantee we would be able to do it a second time.”
“Sunset, she’s right.” said Twilight.
Sunset Shimmer sighed.
“I guess you’re right. Okay, we better go back home. Hey Twilight, let me know when you speak with the Princesses. I owe them and you a detailed explanation.”
“Of course, thank you Sunset.”
With that, the five of them crossed the portal back to the human world.
“Hey I know you!” said Zahra once Sunset returned to her human form.
“What? Hey, you’re right. You are the cashier who sold me the console that started all this!”
“Yes, and also you’re the one who undid Phil’s reset.”
Sunset’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Zahra gave her a smirk.
“Your hyperactive friend, remember? She began to ask too many questions about glitches, and my manager erased her memory. And you used… I think magic to undid what we did.”
Sunset frowned, but then Miko patted her back.
“Oh you can undo the reset too? That’s so cool! Me too!”
“No Miko. You do not reset, that’s a whole different story.” said Zahra. “She took her friend’s hand and using her magic made her memories come back.”
“Unbelievable. I thought nobody saw us.”
Zahra laughed.
“Easy, I haven’t tell anyone… until now. To be honest, I thought things may get interesting and I wasn’t wrong.”
“You really need to check your priorities.” sighed the yellow girl.
In the meantime, Haneesh indicated them to be quiet as he just contacted Phil.
“Hey Phil!”
“Han, what’s going on?”
“Miko, Five, Zahra and I ran into a rather unusual situation. Is hard to explain but we’ll send you a video file.”
“Okay go on.”
Han turned to his partner and the rookies.
“Miko, Five, send it!”
The four Techs hurried to send the video files. They could hear Phil watching at the footage, followed by some silence.
Finally, he spoke.
“Return to headquarters immediately. We have lots to discuss. I’ll get in touch with corporate.”
“On our way!” assured the four Techs.
They rushed to their vans, but Five stayed behind with Sunset Shimmer.
“I am sorry. Miko and I really wanted to leave this behind but seems that thing spiraled out of control too soon. Most likely we’ll see each other again.”
“Yeah, seems so. Anyway, thank you for the help. I owe you one.”
“Take care.”
They shook hands, and Five hurried to the van where Miko was patiently waiting for him.
At the Hinobi Store, Phil was waiting impatiently when B.I.T.T. floated toward him.
“You have an incoming call from… Inspector Seven.”
Mitch was at the employees room, combing his hair with a smug smile.
The doors opened; and Zahra, Haneesh, Miko and Five came in.
Mitch grinned at the newcomers.
“Where were you, losers? While you were stuck helping this noobs to clean their own disaster, I went ahead and took care of all the important missions.
The four of them were too tired to argue with him. Instead, they just put their bracelets on the machine to exchange their experience points.
Mitch’s jaw dropped when he saw the tremendous amount of EXP that each of them had. And his score dropped from top performer of the day, to the very last.
“What?! How is this possible? Where did you get all of those experience points?!” shouted Mitch without believing it.
Zahra gave him a condescending smile. “Being nice have its reward Mitch. You should try it too. Now, if you excuse us, Phil is waiting for us. See you later!”
Mitch stayed behind, mumbling something about how they just were lucky as the four walked to Phil’s office. But he showed them the way to the conference room. He seemed a bit more serious than usual, and that was a bad sign.
They just hoped they were not in trouble.
Barbara, or the Inspector Seven, was already waiting for them looking as serious as Phil.
“Are those all the Techs involved in the incident?” asked Barbara.
Phil nodded. “Yes.”
“Good, please take a seat.” said Barbara.
The four did as they were told as they exchanged a nervous look. But Barbara gave them a calming smile.
“It’s alright guys. First of all I would like to congratulate you for how you handled the situation. If it’s true that things were already out of control you were able to contain the glitches in one place.”
The guys sighed relieed.
Phil took a sip of coffee.
“However, we still have to talk about this energy source that you came across. You called it ‘Magic’, right? We have to do something about it.”
Barbara nodded. “And believe it or not, this is not the first time Hinobi faces a situation like this, and this is why we called you here. Before we give you the details, I want to be completely clear: what you are about to hear is highly classified. If you reveal this information to anyone, you’ll be immediately fired and your memories erased. Am I clear?”
“Understood!” said the four Techs in the unison.
Barbara looked at B.I.T.T.
“Project File BC-8402 please.”
“Understood, projecting video file!” said the Tech Bot.
He projected an aerial view of what it looked like a peaceful beach town, with some strange ruins at northeast.
“This is Beach City. A small town at the state of Delmarva. Looks like a regular town, right? We thought so as well. But the problems started at the very first moment we sold our first Hinobi games to the owner of the local arcade, Harold Smiley.”
The video showed an amusement park under attack by Chomp Kitty, Funky Kong, Asteroids; and of course, a Team of Glitch Techs trying to control the situation.
Phil rolled his eyes. “We checked the machines, exchanged them more than three times and the problems continued. There was nothing on the hardware or software that could cause the machines to glitch out but almost every day we had to go back to the town to take care of the glitches. And they weren’t just three or four, but dozens each time.”
Barbara nodded. “But we had some bigger problems to deal with.”
The video changed to show four strange women fighting against the Glitch Techs. They were armed with a pink sword and shield, big gauntlets, a spear; and a whip.
“Cool design! Which game are they from?” asked Miko.
Phil shook his head. “No game. Apparently, Beach City is built near an alien settlement.”
“Wait, wait, wait…!” said Haneesh. “Are you telling me that aliens are real?!”
Zahra shrugged. “We just were in a dimension where magic is real. This sounds less weird.”
“Not to mention we hunt videogame monsters for living.” said Five.
“One day when we were taking care of the daily glitches, they attacked us. At firs we thought they were glitches too but when our weapons didn’t do anything but make them mad, we started to think they may be something else.”
Miko and Five exchanged a look, this sounded familiar.
Barbara continued showing clips of the Glitch Techs from that time shooting blasts to the aliens, and they responding with blasts on their own, or crossing swords and using their forcefield to block a powerful attack from the one with the gauntlets.
“It was a massive fight, but we ended up realizing that their tech was the source of all the problems. Alien tech and Hinobi tech are not compatible and when you put them near each other you’ll end up creating a glitch. And if the aliens try to defend themselves from the glitches with their tech, the glitches would take it as an energy source and multiply.”
Phil then showed them a clip of a Hinobi employee shacking hands with the woman who had the sword and shield.
“In the end we were able to talk things out. Apparently they thought Hinobi was misusing their tech, as much as we thought that they were glitches. But we realized we were dealing with two different things.”
“Yup, that sound familiar!” commented Miko.
“After clearing the misunderstanding, the alien leader and Hinobi executives ca,e tp am agreement, and the entire town of Beach City was permabanned.” finished Barbara.
Miko gasped.
“What? No! what about all the online accounts and saved games? So unfair!”
Phil sighed.
“Those were the early eighties, so no online accounts. The only person who had access to Hinobi games was the owner of the arcade, but we wiped his memory. It was for the best in the long run. Nowadays if you go to Beach City and you have some Hinobi Tech with you, it will automatically die. Disable, finished. But it would work again as soon as you leave Beach City. It is for the best.”
Barbara then showed some pictures of different places around the world. “Unfortunately this alien race have tech settlements all over the world so Hinobi International had to intervene to permaban every single one of them. It was a long process, but we managed to control the situation.”
With that Barbara finished the presentation. “I think you see where we want to go, right? We would have to permaban the school and all the areas with magic influence to avoid an infestation for happening again.”
“But what about the online accounts? Saved games? Think about the children!” cried Miko dramatically.
“Accounts and saved games are perfectly safe!” explained Phil, patiently. “But if one of the students bring their consoles to school, it would be automatically disabled as soon as they are at school. But once they leave, the consoles will be back to normal.”
“Oh, just the school? It’s okay then!” said Miko.
Phil sighed.
“Now, the difficult part. We have to talk with the magical creatures in order to make the proper arrangements. But we have to bring them here, I don’t want to take the risk that their magic messes up our tech again.”
“Oh, what we can do is talk with the magical girls we met the other day.” suggested Five.
“Magical girls? Inhabitants from the other side?” asked Barbara.
Five shrugged. “No idea. I only know that they have magic powers. We met during a glitch attack, and when we tried to erase their memories, they used their magic to block the memory reset. Then they used their powers again to escape.”
Miko nodded with a smile.
“Yeah, what a crazy couple of days! We tried to chase them thinking they were affected by a glitch and wanted to bring them here to be cured but they didn’t show up in our radars and, you know; one thing led to another and we learned that magic and Hinobi Tech don’t go well together.”
Barbara frowned, and went back to the video files Phil sent her. She finally found the one where the Glitch Techs and some girl came back to the human world through the portal, and freeze the image on Sunset Shimmer.
“Is this one of the Magical Girls?”
“Yes, but she has some other friends.” said Five.
Barbara smiled.
“Good, since you already know them please contact them and explain the situation. Tell them about the Hinobi resolution, and please; ask them if they know another area that may have magic to permaban it as well. Let’s make today’s incident a one-time incident.”
“Understood!” said Miko and Five in the unison.
With that, the they were sent home. The Techs were relived that no one was fired, and that they found a solution for the magic stuff.
When they left, Barbara smiled also relieved.
“Perfect! A possible crisis was avoided, thank you for telling me so quickly Phil. I’ll take this under consideration for your next evaluation.”
“Hey, don’t be so harsh. You know I only did my job as a manager.”
Barbara gave him a friendly pat on his shoulder and the two of them shook hands and went home.
Inside her car, Barbara opened her laptop and videocalled her superiors.
“The situation is under control. The subject and her partner have made contact already, so they’ll take care of the next part of the process. In the meantime, I sent a team to put the school under the strictest surveillance.”
“Good. We cannot lower our guard now. This so-called ‘magic’ would definitely catch Bolypius attention. Keep your eyes open, Seven.”
The next day:
Miko and Five were in the middle of their round, driving around in their van. But before start chasing glitches, Phil have gave them an especial mission. To find the Rainbooms and tell them about the situation.
“I knew we should ask for her phone number!” complained Miko. “Where are we suppose to find them?”
Five pulled his phone. “I can ask Sonata for their phone numbers. Give a moment… oh wait! What about the cafeteria we met them the other day? Sonata says they use to hang around in there all the time!”
They parked in front of Sugar Cube Corner, and went inside. If they didn’t find them, they would just grab something to go.
Luckily they found them at the same table from the last time, chatting.
…
In the meantime, Sunset have finished telling the girls about her little adventure in Equestria.
“And then the other Twilight and her student created a dirt wall to trap the ‘glitches’ inside Ponyville, much to everypony’s horror. But we could not stop to calm the ponies down, we barely had time to warn them about not using magic. It was a nightmare!”
“And then they came with the backup?” asked Fluttershy.
“They did. Other two Glitch Techs. On the bright side, the infestation didn’t left Ponyville. But on the other side, the Glitch Techs had to tell their bosses all about Equestria to take further action.”
“But Equestria is a secret! They can’t do that!” complained Applejack.
“That’s what I told them, but the other two told me that they had to or we would be risking to have another one of those glitches entering into Equestria. And there’s no guarantee that they would be able to contain it a second time.”
“And, think about it! They erase memories, meaning that Hionbi doesn’t want anyone to know about glitches either!”
“Still A’ don’t like it!” said Applejack.
“And what do you think Hinobi would no now?” asked Sci-Twi.
“Permaban the school and the surroundings!” said something behind the girls.
The Rainbooms turned, only to see Miko and Five approaching.
“Hey, mind if we joing you?” asked Five.
“Oh, sure come on!” said unset.
Miko turned to Miss Cake. “Hey! Two chocolate milkshakes to go please!”
Miss Cake smiled to the girl. “Sure! One moment please!”
Then Five proceed to explain everything about the plan to permaban the school and any place that may have some magic influence. Also he had especial authorization from Phil to tell them about the situation at Beach City as a reference.
“Wait a second! Are you telling me that all the nonsense from that blog Twilight likes to read is actually true? Is there an actual alien colony at Beach City?”
“Amazing!” cheered Sci-Twi. “I have to go to visit as soon as possible!”
But Sunset’s attention was focused on the resolution.
“So permaban the school? Sounds reasonable, yeah reasonable. So, no Hinobi Tech would work inside the school? That would be great!”
“We should also permaban Camp Everfree” mumbled Fluttershy.
“And your home!” added Rainbow Dash.
“What? No! I paid good money to have my games, and all I have to do is to remember not to touch them with my magic. And believe me, I haven’t do it until now!”
“That’s the spirit sister! Gamer girls forever!” said Miko making a high five with Sunset.
“Great! So Camp Everfree and the school? Is there somewhere else we should now about?” asked Five.
“Not for the moment, but will let you know as soon as we find a new one.” said Rainbow.
“Great, s now we’re ready to leave all of this behind!” cheered Sunset.
The only thing that worried her was that now Hinobi knew all about Equestria and Magic. At least they took action to prevent for a Glitch to go to Equestria again, but she better warn Princess Celestia about it.
“Yeah she can keep an eye open in case Hinobi try to use or abuse Equestrian Magic.” mumbled Sunset to herself.
In the meantime, Sci-Twi finished sending Five the geolocation of Camp Everfree, who forwarded it to Phil.
“Okay, is all set! We’ll permaban your school and this place, and we won’t have any issues with glitches and magic ever again!”
“Hopefully!” said Sunset.
Miss Cake brought the two shakes, and they closed the deal with a toast.
“Hey, wanna join us at Joystic Junior’s when we end our shifts?” asked Miko.
“No, we’re too old for that place!” said Rainbow.
“Okay, hey Five why don’t you invite your friend to come? She’s the heart of the party!”
“Sure!” said Five texting to Sonata. “Anyway, it was a pleasure guys. We’ll see you on the next glitch attack. But hopefully not!”
“Yeah, hopefully!” said Sunset, ready to get all of this Hinobi issue behind.
Gloriosa and Timber were at Camp Everfree working as usual. Gloriosa was inside the office busy with accounting and managing the expenses of the camp; as Timber was sweeping the main entrance after he finished with the cabins’ general maintenance.
Timer’s phone rang, and he smiled when see the caller’s name. It was Twilight.
“Hey Twilight! What’s up?” smiled Timber with a dreamy smle.
“Timber, are your sister and you available? We have big new for you!” said Twilight.
“Sure, what’s going on? Are you girls organizing a new camp? Because we would be more than happy to give you a discount after everything you did for us!”
Twilight smiled, imagining how Timber would react at the big news.
“No Timber, not for the moment. But guess what? The girls and I found a company that is more than willing to become a sponsor for Camp Everfree!”
Timber’s jaw dropped. “What? A s-s-spon-pon-sor? What you mean? Like a real sponsor?”
At the other side of the line, Twilight smiled happy that she made Timber happy.
“Yes! Have you heard about Hinobi, the videogame titan? They’re willing to subsidize the camp’s expenses in exchange for you to allow them to put advertisings of their company and products around the camp.”
Timber could not believe it. “What? But how?!”
“Lots of things happened Timber. Believe me, you don’t wanna know. The important thing is that we told Hinobi about Camp Everfree and they are more than happy to help! Do you think Gloriosa may be interested?”
Timber didn’t answer. Instead he rushed inside the office.
“Gloriosa! Gloriosa! You’re not gonna believe this!!”
She raised her head from the pile of paper looking tired. “What? Did we get a two-week reservation by any chance? Because without that, I don’t think we would make it to the end of the month.”
Timber sighed sadly. Even with all the help they received from the Rainbooms back at that occasion, keeping the camp open was a month-to-month struggle. And deep in the bottom of their hearts, everyone knew that all the girls did was to delay the inevitable. And if they needed to sell, Filthy Rich would offer them a lesser amount.
But he smiled at his sister, as he put Twilight on speaker.
“I have great news! Twilight and her friends found a sponsor for the camp!”
“WHAT?!” said Gloriosa, jumping out of impression. “It can’t be! I’ve been looking for a sponsor for years! How is that they…? Oh, never mind! That’s great, if we manage to make a deal it would be the end of the camp’s problems! Those girls are wonderful!!”
Timber smiled, and turned to his phone. “Hey Twilight, Gloriosa loves the idea! A sponsor is just what we need.”
“Perfect, we’re on our way. See you in twenty minutes Tinder!”
And just as she said, twenty minutes later three white vans with the Hinobi logo arrived to the camp. The doors opened and the Rainbooms and a few Hionbi employees came from the vans.
“Welcome to Camp Everfree!” said Gloriosa with a bright smile.
“Twilight!” said Timber, running to hug Twilight.
Twilight blushed and hugged him back happily.
Giggling at the teenage love, a woman in a beige suit walked to Gloriosa and gave her a business card.
“Hi, nice to meet you! I am Barbara, a representative from Hinobi International. I guess you’re already aware of the reason of our visit, right?”
Gloriosa shook Barbara’s hand and examined the card.
“Hinobi, aren’t those videogames? Sorry for my confusion, but it doesn’t seem that your brand fits with a Camp in the middle of the woods.”
Barbara laughed. “I know, but as you know during the years Hinobi has been criticized over the years by people who keeps saying we encourage social isolation and child obesity. So we’re looking to promote physical activity by sponsoring schools’ sports teams, and camps.”
Gloriosa nodded in understanding. “I see, public relations. Well, I can’t complain. Thank you so much for taking us in consideration.”
“Of course! So, would like to discuss the details about the sponsorship?” asked Barbara.
“Absolutely! Timber, show the surroundings to the rest of our guests as I talk to this lady.”
“Sure thing!” said the boy.
He and the Rainbooms proceeded to show the camp to the Hinobi employees. And as they were on the hiking paths, when one of the employees turned to Twilight.
“Okay, where’s highest concentration of magic?” he asked with a map on his hands.
Timber raised an eyebrow. “Magic, what are you talking about?”
“They know Timber.” explained Sunset Shimmer.
“What?” asked Timber.
But the employee came and activated his Tech bracelet and shot him with a white light erasing his memory.
“Hey, that was uncalled for!” protested Twilight.
“The less people know about the operation the better, and you know it. Let’s get over with this! Last thing we need is another glitch infestation either here, or in your magical world of horses.”
Twilight sighed, knowing he was right.
“I’ll take you, but you have to leave that thing here!” said Rainbow Dash pointing at the bracelet.
“Of course, we’re not going to take any unnecessary risks.”
They needed to be extra careful in that area, if the barrier surrounding the camp went down by any reason; Hinobi would make sure that the cave would always have its own backup Anti-Hinobi-Tech barrier working no matter what.
In the meantime, Gloriosa and Barbara finished working with the details of the sponsorship and sealed the deal.
Gloriosa was worried that they would install arcade machines, TVs or gaming consoles inside of the cabins. Anything that would ruin the camping experience. But Barbara assured her that they wouldn’t do that since it would go against the image Hinobi was trying to spread.
All Hinobi wanted was to put banners on the common areas, sport fields and in the main entrance. Also all the camp employees would have to wear the Hinobi logo on their shirts. Basically, they were going to put their logo wherever they could but that would be it.
Everyone left very happy, especially Gloriosa.
Once they were on their way home, Twilight turned to Barbara.
“Thank you for what you did for Gloriosa and Tinder. Camp Everfree means everything for them!”
Barbara nodded. “We didn’t do it from the goodness of our hearts. We needed a believable excuse in case someone spots Hinobi employees on the surroundings. And also, it was true that we would take the chance to rebuild our image to the public eye so it’s a win-win situation.”
Twilight nodded, but Barbara winked an eye at her. “And the girl and your boyfriend are nice people, and I think they deserve it.”
Twilight smiled and didn’t say anything else during the rest of the day.
When they arrived at Canterlot High, Barbara waved goodbye at the Rainbooms.
“The school zone has been secured, and the Camp would be soon. From now on, if you see a Glitch Techs team please stay out of the situation and we would do the same when it comes to magic. I hope we don’t have to cross paths again, in a good way.”
Sunset nodded.
“Same here. Thank you for everything, Hinobi.”
Barbara smiled and drove off along with the rest of her people. It was over. Almost.
“Okay, I just have to go to Equestria to explain the situation to the Princesses and we can finally leave this problem behind!” said Sunset Shimmer.
“Do you want us to go with you for support?” asked Fluttershy.
“No thanks Fluttershy. This time I asked someone else to come with me.”
Two kids came around the corner and waved at them.
“Hey girls! We’re ready to meet your Princesses!” said Miko with a smile.
“Here we are without our Hinobi equipment as we promised!” said Five. “Is not like it would work now that the Anti-Tech-Barrier is up, but still.”
“Thank you for coming.” said Sunset. “Once we finish with the Princesses, we can leave all of this behind.”
“It’s a shame we cannot see more magic, but I guess is for the best. Let’s go to horse world!” said Miko happily.
Sunset smiled at them and then they crossed the portal.
At the other side, the Princesses were already waiting for them.
“Thank you for coming, Sunset Shimmer and friends.” greeted Princess Celestia. “Sorry, I don’t know your names yet.”
“Hi, I am Miko Kubota! Nice to meet you!” smiled Miko.
Five nervously bowed. “Hi, nice to meet you. My name is Héctor Nieves, but everyone calls me High Five.”
“Nice to meet you, Miko and Héctor.” said Princess Luna.
Twilight greeted them as well.
“Welcome back to Equestria. Now, first of all I wanted to thank you all for helping us during the Ponyville crisis. The ‘glitch’ attack was unprecedented and if it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t be able to control it on time.”
“We also have to thank you for taking preventive measure to avoid this from happening again.” added Princess Luna.
“That’s the most important!” said Five.
Then, over tea and pastries, they told the whole story. Sunset was who told most of it. Of how it all started with her newest console being accidentally touched by magic and releasing a ‘glitch’ and that’s how she met the Glitch Techs.
Miko and Five told them about their encounter at the mall with Father Brain and how they thought the powers of the Rainbooms came from some sort of glitch; as Sunset and friends thought Hinobi was misusing Equestrian Magic.
Then they told them about the tests they ran with Twilight’s counterpart and their conclusions.
“So, in the end glitches cannot use magic as such, but they are able to turn it into an alternate energy source that allows them to multiply.” finished Sunset Shimmer.
Princess Twilight nodded. “It’s a shame we cannot study more this Hinobi Tech and see why magic reacts this way when they get in contact. But I guess we cannot study it without endangering everypony.”
“Yeah, last time we tried it was a disaster!” said Five. “We were lucky we only trashed a living room, but still it was very dangerous.”
“Yeah, a disaster and all but at least it was fun!” said Miko.
Sunset glared at them. “What reminds me, you left without helping us to clean everything up! Shining Armor was furious!”
Miko and Five looked the other way. Twilight really wanted to ask what happened, but she decided she better not know.
“But everything went well in the end, and the zone was permabanned and all Hinobi Tech would stop working as soon as it enters the school surroundings so no glitch would enter here!” assured Five.
“A relief.” said Sunset.
Celestia and Luna nodded in agreement.
“The most interesting thing about this whole thing is that Hinobi Tech and Equestrian Magic have coexisted for a while, but never crossed paths until now.” said Princess Celestia thoughtful.
“Is like Twilight Sparkle says, we may need to study this Hinobi Tech in detail but that could endanger our little ponies.” finished Luna.
“Yeah please don’t!” said Sunset. “We made peace with Hinobi, and I think we all had enough.”
“Agreed!” said Celestia. “We understand, and this is why we’re here today. Miko Kubota, Héctor Nieves, as representatives of Hinobi I want your word that you’ll stay out of Equestrian Magic from now on. I know it was an accident, but in the end it was very dangerous for everyone involved.”
“Of course, Your Highness!” said Miko. “Our bosses already agreed.
“And you can count that from now on, if we see a strange creature that doesn’t trigger our systems we’ll step aside and let the girls handle it!” finished High Five.
With that Princess Celestia was happy with the agreement, and the Glitch Techs were dismissed. Sunset was about to join them but she was stopped by Celestia.
“Just a moment, Sunset Shimmer. Tell me one thing, do you think we can trust them?”
Sunset frowned.
“Yes and no Princess Celestia. Miko and Five are innocent. They’re just children working part time at a videogame store. Their intentions are pure, but that’s just them. I don’t think Hinobi actually let this go that easily.”
The Princesses agreed.
“Keep your eyes open, Sunset Shimmer. If you need help with Hinobi, let us know.”
“I will. Thank you, Princess Celestia.”
With hat she crossed the portal back to the human world.
Back at the school entrance, Sunset joined her friends and said goodbye to Miko and Five. Then the two groups split to Sugar Cube Corner and Joystick Junior’s respectively.
Location unknown; Hinobi International Labs:
A white van parked in front of the giant building, and a woman dressed in a beige suit came out of it, carrying a metallic box under her arm.
She placed her ID and eyeball on the scanner, and the doors opened.
“Welcome, Inspector Seven.” said the technician in charge.
She smiled. “Thanks professor. Here you go, fresh from Camp Everfree.”
The doctor received the box and opened it. An aquamarine crystal glowed from the inside. They could feel the energy flowing from the crystal.
The technician placed the crystal on an analysis table in the center of the facility as he and Barbara took a safe position behind a bulletproof crystal wall.
At his sign, an assistant turned un a switch and a machine started to feed electricity to the crystal. The idea was simple, if feeding magic to a piece of Hinobi Tech could provoke a reaction of creating a glitch; feeding a magic item with their tech would create a similar reaction.
The crystal started to tremble.
“Glitch Techs, take your positions!” commanded Barbara.
Several Techs assigned to the facility prepared their weapons to fight whatever shows up. But the crystal exploded in a million pieces before it could create a reaction. Or to summon a glitch.
“We need to find a larger concentration of this energy source if we want to get definitive results.” said the main technician. “But if we do so, we would need a bigger and safer space. Remember the incident with the corrupt gem?”
Barbara shivered. “Don’t remind me! You are right, however we got what we needed for the preliminary tests. I’ll try to get a larger sample of this so-called magic. In the meantime, shut down all the equipment and clean this up. Keep the fragments, we may need them for future tests.”
“Hey! You look terrible.” said Rainbow Dash as she looked at her friend. “Did you stay up all night?
Sunset nodded tiredly. “Yeah, with all this I realized that I haven’t actually played with my new Hinobi console, so I stayed up all night playing classics.”
“Haven’ ya’ get rid of that thing yet?” asked Applejack. “After all we’ve been cause’ of them, wouldn’t be better just forget about the damn console?”
“Hey, I paid good money for it, besides everything is fine now. If I don’t use my magic while playing, I won’t have any problems”
Applejack and Rainbow seemed doubtful at first but decided to shrug it off
“Come on girls, Sunset is right!” intervened Twilight. “What’s the worse that can happen? A glitch would appear, and the Glitch Techs would take care of it. Nothing to worry about.”
“I guess yer’ right…” said Applejack, not very convinced.
They arrived to school at the same time as the school bus.
Snips was playing with his Hinobi S(H)Witch when out of sudden the screen went black. The boy raised an eyebrow in confusion, and then he started to smash buttons in frustration.
“Oh come on! I was about to beat the boss!”
“Maybe you forgot to charge it?” asked his friend Snails, who was watching him playing.
“It was full charged this morning!”
On the sit right behind them they could hear someone complaining after her mobile game crashed and did not allow her to reopen the app.
“Hey! What happened with Candy Smash?!”
The girls who witnessed everything could not help but laugh a little at the situation. The situation may be annoying at first but they would get over it. Not able to play videogames at school was no big deal.
And not only at the bus.
Rumble and Pipsqueak liked to play a game of catching creatures from an anime/videogame franchise in their phones on their way to school, when out of sudden the screen went black and the app crashed.
“NOO! It was a SHINY! A shiny! Why life has to be so hard?” said Rumble.
“Whoa dude, you really got a shiny? Now I feel a little better. Still, what’s going on?” asked Pip,
They tried to reopen the app, but instead of the music of the game they got a notification. “THIS APPLICATION IS NOT RESPONDING. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER OR VISIT OUR HELP PORTAL”
The two kids exchanged a look.
“So, we just delete the app and reinstall it?” suggested Pip.
Rumble shrugged. “Works most of the time.”
“Sorry guys!” said Sunset placing her hands on their shoulders. “The whole school have been permabanned by Hinobi. Your little game would work as soon as you leave the school.”
“Permabanned?!” gasped Rumble. “Like permabanned-permabanned? But why? What happened?”
Principal Celestia walked toward them with a calm but sterned look in her eyes. “Well, starting with the fact that videogames are forbidden on campus. But I am curious Sunset, do you have any idea why a big corporation like Hinobi decided to permaban the school? Did something happened between you?”
Sunset nodded. “Yes principal. You see, we accidentally found out that magic from you-know-where and Hinobi tech do not mix well. We had a few problems, but to make long story short, Hinobi decided that to avoid further problems, they better turn the school into a Hinobi-free zone.”
Celestia nodded. “Okay, not the weirdest thing that have happened with you guys. Anyway, you know the drill. I want a complete report of what happened on my desk by Friday. From each of you seven, please.”
“We’re just ahead of you!” said Sunset happily as she opened her backpack and handed Celestia seven folders.
“Oh thanks! I’ll check on them later. Thank you!” said the principal.
With that, Sunset joined her friends, and the principal went to her office.
In the meantime, Rumble and Pip took on their hands to tell everyone about the school being permabanned and how any Hinobi game or console would no longer work on the school premises.
There were a few complaints, but in the end everyone accepted it. Especially after learning that it had something to do with Equestrian Magic.
Nothing else happened during the day, except that at certain point Principal Celestia decided to relax with a game of Solitaire after updating the grades database but the game was not opening.
“What? What’s going on? Oh, right. Hinobi.”
The principal sighed and she was too lazy to download a different version of the game not developed by Hinobi, she decided to read the girls’ reports.
“Luna, help me with those please!” asked Celestia.
The vice-principal smiled and took one of the reports. After they finished, the two sisters exchanged a confused look.
“Glitch Techs?” asked the two in the unison.
But in the end, they shrugged it off.
“Not the weirdest thing we’ve heard or witnessed.”
“I guess you’re right. And it seems that it´s all been resolved now so let’s not think too much about it.”
Kubota residence:
“Aw but is not fair!” complained Miko. “A whole weekend without videogames. I work at a videogame store, why do we have to do the opposite to play videogames?”
“You mean real physical activity?” mocked her sister Lexy as she read a sports magazine. “Seriously, you’ve been complaining since yesterday. I mean, just don’t go if you don’t want to!”
“Is mandatory.” sighed Miko. “I can only imagine, a whole day with no signal or anything to do except just… enjoy nature.”
“So what? You always manage to sneak a videogame or two.” said Lexy. “And you’re always saying that you don’t need to be online if you want to enjoy a good game. Just choose one of your offline titles.”
“That’s the problem! The whole area is permabanned!” complained Miko.
“Permabanned? What’s that?” asked Lexy.
“I think I said too much!” said Miko covering her mouth.
“Don’t worry, I don’t really care!” said Lexy going back to her sports magazine.
Miko sighed in relief, when her mother called her.
“Miiko, it’s time to go!” called her mother from downstairs.
“Coming mom!” said Miko as she took her luggage. “Enjoy your weekend, Lexy.”
“You too Miko, you too!” said Lexy. “Try not to suffer too much for staying away from your videogames for too long!”
Miko sighed as she dragged her feet downstairs.
“I’m ready mom.”
“Come on Miko, don’t put that expression. A weekend away from your games is just what you need. You’re not going to try to sneak a videogame, right?”
“Don’t worry mom. It won’t work this time.”
Miyami Kubota raised an eyebrow but shrugged and let it go as her daughter entered the car, and she drove her to the service station at the side of the road.
Everyone was already there, happily chatting among themselves except for Mitch who was playing with a 3HS in a corner.
“Take care!” said Miyami as she dropped off Miko.
“Thanks mom!” said Miko as she joined the other techs. “Hey guys! What’s up?”
“Hey Miko, ready to go camping?” asked Zahra.
“I guess! I can’t believe they are making us go camping for a whole weekend. And just for what? Promote balance between videogames and physical activity.” complained Miko. “The worse campaign ever!”
“Come on, is only one weekend and all the Hinobi stores have to do it!” said Han. “Besides, you know this is just a cover for you-know-what.”
Miko sighed. “I know, I know! Just when I thought we were done with the talking horse dimension, they come and cause more problems for us!”
“Come on Miko, camping is not so bad. I used to go camping all the time with my dad, then with Papi and Abuelita. Is great, a few days away from phone notifications is all you need to relax!” smiled Five.
“If you say so.” sighed Miko.
“Yeah, I don’t have any problems with camping! And remember, if you need sunblock, repellent, an aspirin, or band aids, I’m your man!” Smiled Bergie.
Mitch groaned, but kept his attention on his game.
“Yeah, a weekend in the middle of nowhere just what I needed. At least I can practice offline.”
“Pst, no one told him?” asked Miko.
“No, we wanted to see his face.” said Han with a smirk.
Miko and Five giggled as a big yellow school bus parked in front of them. It had a giant banner that read ‘Hinobi’. The bus opened its doors and Phil and Barbara came out and greeted the techs.
Phil cleared his throat and yawned. “Alright Techs, as you know, this weekend is part of the latest campaign to promote exercise and outdoors activities. A few days in nature would also help us bond to do a better job working together.” He groaned. “I hate this as much as you guys but is only for a weekend.”
Barbara joined, showing more enthusiastic than Phil.
“That’s right! And as part of our new campaign, Hinobi sponsors Camp Everfree, and we would take some pictures of us having a good time in their facilities. Now, hop on the bus everyone! We have a great weekend ahead of us!”
The glitch techs followed their bosses and put on their seatbelts as Phil started driving to Camp Everfree.
Mitch continued to play on his 3HS as he noticed everyone staring at him.
“What are you looking at? If you don’t have your consoles is your problem, not mine. I’m not sharing.”
“It’s okay Mitch, enjoy your game.” giggled Miko.
“I plan to. Losers.”
They were on the road for an hour and a half when they noticed a sign.
CAMP EVERFREE 50 METERS
Everyone exchanged a look, and started to record Mitch with their phones.
One minute later, Mitch’s console died.
“What?! I just put new batteries on this thing!”
Phil shrugged. “Mitch, in order to promote a real camping experience, the whole area is permabanned.”
“What?! That was never part of the deal! I have to spend my precious weekend talking with them?!”
“Rules are rules Mitch!” scolded Phil.
The tech frowned. “No, something else is going on here. Permaban the whole area just because of a stupid campaign? No, something else is going on here!”
Phil sighed. “Yes Mitch, but if you don’t want to be resetted you better stop asking questions. The higher ups have decided that only them and the people involved in the incident can know what’s going on here.”
Mitch crossed his arms angrily as the others shared videos of his little tantrum.
“This is worth millions.” giggled Zahra.
Mitch turned to them. “You knew?!”
“You didn’t get the memo?” asked Bergie.
“Yeah, everyone got the message!” said Han showing his phone to Mitch.
“But I didn’t!” protested Mitch.
“My bad, sorry Mitch.” apologized Zahra.
Mitch rolled his eyes as he put the console on his backpack. “See? This is why I didn’t want to talk to you!”
And with that, they finally arrived. Camp Everfree.
The techs were received by Gloriosa and Timber, who were wearing a Hinobi t-shirt and shorts.
“Welcome to Camp Everfree! We are your counselors. My name is Gloriosa Daisy and this is my brother Timber.”
“If you need something, don’t hesitate to ask, we’re here to help you!” added Timer.
Mitch facepalmed. “Counselors? Seriously? Do we look like four graders for you?”
“Please ignore him, he is just angry that he haves to separate from his precious videogames for whoooooole weekend!” said Miko.
Gloriosa smiled, ignoring Mitch’s attitude.
“It’s okay, I know that the world ‘counselors’ doesn’t feel right but we won’t interfere with you or your activities. We’re here mostly for maintenance.”
Timber nodded. “Exactly, if you need something, anything, we’ll be at reception. There’s a vending machine there and also we sell any supply you may have forgotten. Toilet paper, repellant, water bottles, and a phone line for emergencies.”
“Restrooms are at the right of the receptions, and at the cabins. Also, there are a couple of dressing rooms on lake area. Hope you have a great time at Camp Everfree!”
Barbara smiled. “Always a pleasure to work with you, Miss Daisy. Now everyone, follow me to the cabins!”
The techs did as they were told and walked to the cabins. Phil yawned as he walked to the cabins.
“Boys go left, and girls right. We have fifteen minutes to change, and we’ll meet at the basketball field.”
When they entered their cabin, Mitch smiled and put his stuff at the upper bunk bed.
“I take the top!”
“Do as you please, there are plenty of bunk beds here!” said Han as he threw his backpack to an upper bunkbed too.
Five picked an upper bed too, but Bergie and Phil preferred the lower beds.
And after everyone changed to a pair of shorts, they reunited at the basketball field as they were told.
“Okay guys let’s have some technology-free fun!” said Barbara. “We have a day full of fun activities to do. We’ll start with a friendly basketball encounter, followed by a tug war contest and then we’ll swim at the lake. And then we’re going to end the day with a bonfire!”
“Yes! That’s the best part of camping!” said Five.
“That’s the attitude I like!” said Barbara. “Come on, let’s have some fun!”
The others’ response was less than enthusiastic but they ended up organizing he teams and started with the basketball match, as Barbara and Phil took pictures of them to upload to Hinobi social media later.
In the end they spent a pretty good day with Mitch being the only one who still complained.
Tired of his sour mood, Phil gave him the camera.
“Here, you take pictures of us. Seriously Mitch, is only a weekend!”
Mitch accepted. “Okay, better than nothing I guess. Okay losers, smile to the camara an said Mitch!”
With that, the rest of the day passed without any incident.
“The bonfire is ready!” announced Gloriosa as the techs were having dinner.
“Aw, I thought we were going to do the bonfire!” sighed Five.
Gloriosa smiled at him. “I know is disappointing, but for security purposes, Timber and I prefer to do this ourselves. We don’t want the fire to spread.”
“I understand.” said Five, as he shrugged.
“So, you know how to make a bonfire?” asked Zahra while blushing.
“Yes, my dad taught me how, but my grandad helped me reach perfection.”
She smiled. “Interesting, and tell me Five, do you go camping a lot?”
Five blushed too and smiled awkwardly. “Yes, it is our family tradition.”
Zahra smiled. “Oh, interesting. Tell me more
She and Five started to chat happily, when it was time to sit around the bonfire. Timber received them with his guitar.
“So what? Are we going to sing now?” asked Mitch, annoyed.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this but Mitch is right! Are we really supposed to sign as we were little kids!”
Timber shrugged as he played his guitar softly. “Is part of the camp experience. Come one, no one knows a good song?”
“Come on Techs, show a bit more enthusiasm!” said Barbara. “Anyone?”
Everyone exchanged uncomfortable looks when Five had an idea.
“Hey what about this? Duuuuu du-du toot-toot tooooooot…”
Everyone chuckled.
“Isn’t that the Legend of Link theme song?” whispered Han.
Miko laughed and she joined Five. “Pam-pam parapam-pam-papam!”
“Pam-pam pararaaaaan!” continued Zahra.
Timber raised an eyebrow like asking ‘seriously?’, but he shrugged and joined in playing the game’s theme song with his guitar.
Bergie, Han and even Mitch decided to join to the humming chorus, and they spent an hour a half humming all the theme songs of their favorite games.
“Hey Mitch, you got some real talent there!” congratulated Miko.
“Thanks. I have to admit this part wasn’t as awful as I thought it would be.”
“That’s the spirit!” congratulated Barbara. “Now, who wats a marshmallow before bed?”
Finally they went to bed.
Or at least they tried. Miko was moving in bed trying to fall asleep but could not fall asleep.
“Hey, are you okay?” asked Zahra from the lower bunkbed.
“Yeah, is just that I always play a little before bed. I can’t sleep without a good gaming session of anything. But nothing works here so I can’t sleep!”
Barbara looked at the girls from her bed. “Hey, if you can’t sleep how about you go for a walk? It always works.”
“Is it safe?” asked Zahra.
“Yes, Camp Everfree is a private area, and Hinobi helped to make it as secure as possible. As long as you stay on one of the trails, you’re safe!”
“Are you sure?” asked Miko.
Barbara nodded. “Absolutely. I’m not your mom, neither your actual boss. And I don’t think Phil would mind”
“Thanks!”
Miko and Zahra put on a sweater, their shoes and went to find the boys.
“Hey, do you want try to find the source of you-know-what?” asked Miko.
“What?”
“You know. The reason why the whole area is permabanned!”
A smile crossed Zahra’s face.
“You know what? Sounds good! Let’s go!”
They arrived to the boys’ cabin where they were received by Five.
“Hey girls, what’s up?”
Miko shrugged.
“You know, the usual. We couldn’t sleep so we decided to go for a walk. Barbara says it’s safe so why not? And we’re going to try the source of you-know-what! Wait, did I spoke too loud?”
“No, Phil’s snores got you covered. I can’t understand how Bergie can sleep with this scandal.” said Han joining the conversation.
“What about Mitch?”
“He went to the bathroom. So, night walk?”
“As long as we stay on one of the paths, Barbara says it’s okay!” announced Miko.
“I guess we have nothing better to do. And since we have Phil’s boss permission, let’s go!”
They went inside to put on their jackets and shoes and joined the girls. But just when they were leaving the cabins area, they were stopped by Mitch.
“Hold on losers! Where do you think you’re going?”
“Well, without videogames we can’t sleep so we’re out for a night walk. We don’t have anything better to do.” explained Miko.
“Is just that you’ve been complaining the whole day!” said Han.
“Yes, I admit I would prefer spending the night with my 3HS but a walk is better than nothing.”
With that, they decided to go into the forest and follow the trails. Gloriosa and Timber have made a great job taking care of the trails by installing fluorescent signs, a small pole every few meters for the trails to be spot from a distance, etc.
They continued to walk for a while, when they noticed a mysterious glow on the distance.
Miko and Five exchanged an excited look.
“Do you think that’s the magic?” asked Miko.
“Only one way to find out!” said Five.
Zahra and Han exchanged a look and nodded with a smirk.
“Hey what are you talking about? Magic? Are you crazy?” asked Mitch.
They ignored him and approached the glow. Luckily it was bright enough so they wouldn’t get lost.
They approached to the glow, only to notice they were not alone. A large van with the Hinobi logo was parked in front a cave where the mysterious glow was coming from.
“Hey!” called Mitch.
“Pst, Mitch, shut up!” said Miko covering his mouth.
He tried to fight, but then he noticed the van too. He frowned, understanding they found the real reason why the area was permabanned.
When he relaxed, Miko released him and they approached to watch closely, but try to stay hidden behind the trees and bushes. They could not risk getting caught.
Two men exited the cave carrying a big box full of glowing crystals of all shapes and sizes.
“Okay let’s go.”
“Wait, I hear something. Who’s there?”
The techs ducked when he pulled out a flashlight from his pocket and aimed it to the bushes. Luckily the light woke up and scared a fox who was sleeping nearby.
“We’re in the middle of the forest, don’t be so paranoid!”
“Okay, okay. Sorry I feel a little nervous without my gauntlet.”
They loaded the two boxes on the van and drove away.
The techs stayed down until they could no longer hear the van.
“What was that all about?” asked Mitch.
But one more time he was ignored.
“I can’t believe that they lied to us! What are the higher ups thinking?!” asked Miko in shock.
“This is serious, if things go out of control, who knows what can happen!” added Zahra.
“But I don’t understand, they told us they are going to leave the whole magic thing alone! Why would they lie to us?”
Mitch shook his head. “So you are the ones involved?! Okay, listen, I don’t know what’s going on but come on, don’t be so naïve. They told you what you wanted to hear. I don’t know what is in this place but the higher ups think is worth to investigate.”
“They may think they could use this magic to fight glitches” reasoned Zahra.
“Still, we have to tell those girls!”
“But I don’t have signal!”
“They said there was a phone line on reception. Let’s go!”
…
Sci-Twi was busy on her lab, doing some experiments when Spike approached carrying her phone.
“Hey Twi, call from Camp Everfree.”
“What?” she answered. “Hey Timber!”
“Is not Timber, is Five. From Hinobi!”
“Five? Why are you at Camp Everfree?”
“It’s a long story! Just listen. We saw some personnel from Hinobi carrying some boxes full of crystals. I don’t know what they want but I have a feeling it won’t end well!”
Sci-Twi nodded.
“We were expecting something like this, don’t worry we’re prepared. I’ll tell the girls immediately!”
