Calamity growled and slammed his hoof against the steel door. “We’re locked up like godsdamn vermin.”

Velvet Remedy sighed. “Stop banging against the door. You’re going to fucking shatter your hoof at this rate.”

“Hardly matters, we’re dead anyways.”

“You don’t know that,” Littlepip said. “We’ve gotten out of far worse situations than this.”

Calamity trotted away from the door and shook his head. “Trapped in a prison cell in a Unity compound with no guns or gear? I don’t think we’ve been in a stickier spot than this.” He blinked and motioned towards Velvet. “Well, I mean except for you.” He smirked. “No offense.”

Velvet snorted. “None taken.”

Littlepip ignored the banter between the two heterosexuals and instead moved around the little cell, tapping her hoof against the wall.

“What are you doing?” Velvet asked.

Littlepip shook her head. “It’s hard to explain.”

“Well, explain it anyways,” Calamity muttered.

“Fine.” Littlepip briefly glanced at them before continuing with her work. “When I was a foal, back in our Stable, I remember finding this little broom closet where… reality seemed to be a little bent out of shape. If you ran into its walls, it almost seemed like you could fly into another plane of existence and appear somewhere else.”

Calamity blinked and then shook his head. “That’s it, Littlepip has finally lost her godsdamn marbles.”

Velvet shook her head. “No, I remember that spot, I used it to get out of stable chores.”

With that she also went to the wall, feeling around for this supposed spot.

“Stable ponies,” Calamity muttered before falling to his haunches. “I’ll be over here until you two come up with a sane and rational plan. If you two don’t mind, of course.”

Littlepip ignored him and continued to work, probing and prodding, hoping against all odds that such a spot would rear its head.

Then… her hoof landed upon it. The metal of a specific section felt a little softer, like it was both metal sheeting but also something gelatinous. It felt wrong, like it shouldn’t exist.

“I found it,” she whispered.

“What do you think causes them?” Velvet asked.

Littlepip shook her head. “Maybe the balefire blasts warped reality, like they warped everything else. Maybe it’s a higher power? Who knows?” She looked at Velvet. “I’ll go first, okay?”

Velvet nodded and Littlepip took a step back, breathing in slowly.

“Here goes nothing,” she muttered.

And with that she stampeded forward, throwing herself at full speed against the jelly-like steel. And just like that, she pushed through into a void of solid black. She was floating and as she looked back, she could see the skeleton of the Unity complex, laid out before her. There were patrols and machinery and so much more. All of it stretched out like some kind of map.

A moment later, Velvet popped into this blackish void and Calamity after her. None of them talked, none of them could. This was some other dimension, something that was both real and not real. This was… purgatory!

Then, Littlepip appeared on the other side, thudding to the dusty wasteland ground outside of the complex. She quickly scrambled back, making room for Velvet and Calamity to pop into existence right behind her. Which they promptly did, landing on top of one another.

“What the fuck was that?” Calamity breathed, holding a hoof to his racing chest. “That ain’t right.”

Velvet shrugged. “You learn not to question it.”

Littlepip nodded. “It just works.”

Somewhere, far far away, a man sits at his desk in an office in Maryland.

He cradles his fingers together and smiles along as a junior team member explains his report.

Once this junior associate leaves, the man gives this report a passing glance. The topic is about glitches within their newest IP.

The man chuckles to himself and instantly tosses the report into his recycling bin.

Then, he promptly lights a cigar with a one-hundred-dollar bill.

For, in all of his years of service, Todd Howard has learned one thing.

Glitches save lives.

:)

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