Twilight looked up from her book. For once in the past four years, she was finally taking a break from the endless drivel she'd been writing. Not that that was really a problem, but still. It was nice to take a break every now and then.
A bookshelf sat directly opposite her. Maybe she should reorganize it. It'd been a while since that particular shelf was reorganized, right? She frowned. Did she really just forget when she last reshelved her books?
The door clicked open. Twilight turned her head, greeting Spike with a smile. He didn't respond.
No matter. She turned her attention back to her book. It was one of the few things left in this mortal world that held her fragile sanity together. If anything were to happen to it--
In a surprising burst of sound and movement, Spike abruptly materialized on the opposite side of the room. He had one claw pressed onto her bed, apparently in an attempt to climb on top of it.
Twilight raised a brow and cantered toward him.
Except... he wasn't there anymore. He was at her desk, where she'd been moments earlier. His mouth was open.
Sighing, Twilight sat down again. He probably convinced Starlight to teleport him around the room again. This wasn't the first time he'd gotten that mare to help out with a prank.
And then it all came crashing down.
The pages of the book in her lap grew blurred and distorted; words became nothing but flecks of black on the cream-colored paper, and the gentle curve of the page had been replaced by a sharpened edge.
"I--" Twilight turned to Spike. Just like last time, he wasn't there anymore. "--Spike?"
She yelped as the room turned awash in a checkerboard of black and magenta. The strange pattern vanished as soon as it came, now replaced instead by smooth, colorless grey.
The walls, the floor, the ceiling--and for that matter, everything else in the room, save for herself--began to disintegrate. Flecks of indistinguishable particles drifted up all around her. What remained of the sunlight streaming through her window began to flicker erratically.
"Wha...what?" Twilight stammered. Spike was still nowhere to be found. "What's going on?"
And then it was dark.
"Timeout error." A large, flashing text blinked before her eyes. "Please reconnect to continue."
"What." Twilight deadpanned. "What kind of joke is this?"
She waved a hoof past her face. The text seemed to follow wherever she looked. It felt like a strange weight was beginning to materialize over her eyes.
Slowly, she brought her hooves to the bottom side of the weight and pushed. Her eyes widened.
This... wasn't her world.
She turned her gaze upward. There was indeed something that'd been over her eyes, but it wasn't like anything she'd ever seen before.
And she had hands?
Her breathing grew frantic. Why was she human? Where was she? What--
Her eyes landed on the tag dangling on her wrist. Then to the name molded into it.
It wasn't hers.
"...What?" She repeated again, staring back at the headset. She could just make out some of the engraved text.
Twilight felt her heart sink with every word she read.
"Pony-Me... Experience?"