//------------------------------// // Just one fateful snap // Story: Broken bridge to Chaos // by LindenDragon //------------------------------// Just a snap. That’s all it took.  Just one ill-timed snap. He had only popped in on Twilight for a visit. He’d done it before. He didn't even get to look around at what he had interrupted before he just caught a glimpse of a beam of magic hitting him head on.  It was as if his entire being was a piece of metal someone had hit with a mallet, the resulting chime resonating with his very being to the point it was rending all it touched apart.   Then, finally, the tension reached its peak, and with a resounding snap, it was gone, but that didn’t mean it was over, because so was something else. And his body took note of the newly created nothingness. It was as if his entire body was collapsing in on itself in order to fill the vacuum, creating the feeling of being stabbed through by thousands of fine needles, and the tension he felt prior was replaced by burning.  An even bigger pain blooms on his underside and entire chest, knocking the breath out of him, and it takes him a while to understand he somehow fell to the floor during all this. Everything hurt. His breaths felt like he was setting his throat and lungs on fire. The floor pressed against him and contact with it hurt. Not even the feeling of the mere air on his skin was much better due to how it stung.  Attempting to snap to use his powers or even curl up his body only made him jolt in agony, mouth open in a gasping, silent scream. Something else touches him, and he flinches away, the movement causing even more pain.  He manages to look at the source of the contact- Twilight. She has to help him. He desperately tries to say something, but he can barely breathe, let alone speak. He pushes through the pain to weakly reach out, at least he thinks he does.  It's all too much. He needs it to stop.  Then finally, the pain dulled- no, it was still there, he just couldn't feel it that well anymore. His vision was going dark, his hearing had become muffled and distant. Even his awareness had dwindled to the point he couldn’t even take notice of any of it, couldn't think on what it all meant. Soon, he couldn’t think at all. Then, finally, a coldness settles over him right as he falls into complete unawareness. . . . It's cold. He’s so cold.  Curling up his small body barely helps, and his differing arrangements of furs, feathers and scales do not help how different each part of him feels the cold. A bit away, there’s a dwelling, warm light escaping its windows, but he already knows he is not welcome in its warmth.  If only he had his own place.  A place where he’s safe. He was told he can mold the world to his liking once he’s at full power, he thinks. It’s worth a try.  He tries to use his powers, he tries to imagine his own house, a fire, anything. Nothing happens. He can barely move or feel his claws anymore. He doesn’t have much time.  In a desperate bid, he presses his digits together in an attempt to better focus that power into something, using the last of his strength to reach out to… somewhere.  And that somewhere reaches back. Right in front of him, something, a window, a doorway, opens up. It looks nothing like the light of the houses, yet it looks so inviting, almost beckoning him. And he follows. Just stepping inside as he leaves the cold behind revives some of his strength.  Suddenly, everything he imagines comes to him much more easily, literally manifesting right in front of him. It made no sense, but who cares, this was so much more fun.  A feeling blooms in his core, not the kind of superficial warmth he was initially seeking, but something that soothed a deeper part of him.  He has his own place now. A place where he’s safe. He was home. And all it took was just a snap.