A rushing sensation swirled about the girl. All at once, she was stretched, bent, folded in half, stretched some more, only to find the chilling darkness of the headset's lenses meeting her vision as her mind adjusted once more to its simulated environment. A chill ran down Lisa's spine as her mind struggled at first to compensate for the strange sensations that she experienced. Slowly, however, her vision began to brighten once more, her real-world body once again paralyzed in slumber.
All at once, everything rushed back to her. Lisa Garnet-- Twilight Sparkle materialized exactly where she had been; In bed, refreshingly rested, and ready for a weekend of book reorganization.
Except... The mare thought to herself, staring down at her shaking hooves, It's not that time anymore, and I'm hardly rested at all.
"Twilight!" Called a voice from beyond her door, "You back yet?"
Twilight remained silent, her hooves shaking more and more the longer she stared. "I... I don't know..." She stammered, glancing up to her surroundings, "...Am I?"
Spike kicked the door open, a plate of eggs and hash browns in his grasp. "I thought I heard something when I heard the bed creak." The dragon mused, holding up the plate. "Breakfast? I mean, sure, it's early enough still in the morning that even Applejack is probably still asleep, but we've both been through a lot lately. Y'know what I mean?"
The mare nodded silently, taking the plate up in her magic as she turned her attention back to her hooves. The shaking had since stopped.
Twilight and Spike sat quietly in the library, the former studying a spellbook on the uses of arcane magics in the field of reality manipulation, the latter chuckling over a worn Power Ponies comic.
A knock sounded at the door.
"Come in!" Twilight shouted, never taking her eyes off the pages.
"Twilight, darling..." Rarity began, opening the door with a hoof as the rest of the mares joined her, "Welcome back to Ponyville!"
Spike glanced up from his comic book for a moment, his face contorted in a strange mix of confusion and utter admiration before returning his attention to the comic.
Rainbow Dash landed beside Twilight, the rush of air sending the loose note papers scattered across the desk flying. "So," The mare teased, "How'd that surprise visit to Sunset Shimmer go?"
"...What do you mean, Rainbow?" Twilight asked with a sigh, collecting the papers off the floor, "I never--"
"SHHHHH!" Pinkie hushed as she emerged from the desk drawer, grabbing the mare by the ear, "Just go with the excuse I made up for us!"
Twilight nodded slowly as Pinkie slid back into the drawer, reappearing moments later behind her friends. "Um..." Twilight began, mentally scrambling to scrape together a story, "Well, for starters, Pinkie and I crossed over through the mirror portal early in the morning so that we wouldn't disturb anypony... And then, uh, we met up with Sunset in front of the mirror portal's exit on her side of the portal, and--"
"Y'know, sugarcube, y'don't have ta make up a story." Applejack deadpanned.
Twilight grinned awkwardly, shrinking back behind her desk. "You... you saw through that, didn't you?"
The earth pony nodded. "Clear as glass, Twi. You're not exactly top-notch at lyin', especially when you're panicked."
Twilight shrank further back.
"Girls?" Fluttershy peeped, "I think we should give Twilight some space. She looks really uncomfortable."
A wave of approval spread over the mares as they left one-by-one, leaving only Pinkie in the room with Twilight and Spike.
"Did... did I do it?" Pinkie whispered, staring straight into her friend's eyes, "Did I?"
Twilight raised a brow. "What are you talking about, Pinkie?" She asked, returning the gaze.
Pinkie's image wavered for a brief second, almost as if she had turned to jelly. "I... I'm not Pinkie. I was only acting the part."
"...Samantha?" Twilight whispered, leaning towards the mare.
Pinkie nodded, her ears flat against her head. "I'm not gonna say that I'm proud of it, but breaking the simulation's physics was the only thing I could think of to convince the others that I was actually Pinkie. As for her, I have absolutely no idea where she's went, Lisa. For the first time in years, I can't hear her voice panging through my head..."
"I--"
"Lisa, I don't know how much longer I can keep up the act. You remember how I barely passed my theater class, don't you?"
Twilight sighed. "I don't know what to say, Samantha." She began, glancing to Spike for a moment. "Honestly, I still don't remember very much of my past. In fact, I don't think I was even ready myself to return yet. Being back in here so soon, it just feels--"
"--unnatural." Pinkie cut in, "All these years, this body belonged to Pinkie Pie. Yet now, in a painfully ironic take on reality, I'm in control over it now, just like Pinkie was over my body in real life."
Twilight returned her eyes to her book, flipping a page before looking back to Pinkie, or as she was now, Samantha. The mare stood completely still, distress scrawled all across her face as she continued staring. "It's just not fair." Pinkie spat, collapsing to her haunches in a fit, "I had my chance to be myself again, but no matter what I tried in order to keep control over my own body, Pinkie always managed to steal it away from me. And now, against my will, mind you, Pinkie's brought me back to this place, crammed me into her own body, and pretty much just upped and left."
"Well," Twilight thoughtlessly flipped another page. "At least the Professor told me that he'd make an exit route of some sort?"
Pinkie's face softened as she let out a deep breath. "Thanks, Lisa." The mare whispered under her breath, "I needed to hear that... the sooner I'm out of here, the better. You might enjoy this place, but I've never personally felt a connection to this place we've created-- Equestria. The... the only person I could even consider as a friend in here would be you."
The mare turned to leave without another word, disappearing behind the heavy library door seconds later. Twilight blinked once. Twice. Three times. She stared back to her book in irritation; It no longer looked appealing.
"Spike?" She began, glancing towards the dragon, "Do you mind watching the library for me?"
Spike said nothing in return, replying only with a thumbs-up as he continued reading.
A rolling breeze whispered through Twilight's mane as she stood atop her castle balcony, scrutinizing the vibrant scenery that lay before her. Straining her eyes, the mare squinted, mentally leaning towards the image, but never moving physically.
And when she looked hard enough, she could barely, just barely, see the pixels of the headset's display.