//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Fracturing Reality // by FaelaArts //------------------------------// Twilight yawned getting out of her bed and neatly making the bed. She glanced over to the sleeping spike and a small smile lit up her face. How lucky she was to have such a reliable assistant. Turning her gaze to the brightly lit sky outside, the morning sun swept over the quiet landscape as ponies everywhere began to stir from their quaint little houses in the town of Ponyville. Stifling a yawn herself, she trotted down the stairs to tidy up before the big day. Putting a book away, she noticed one of the shelves was out of order and frowned in intense irritation. “Darn it spike, it’s Alpha to Omega not Omega to Alpha” she sighed as she pulled out every book from the shelf and sorted them into the right order, and nodded once in satisfaction as her library was once again in perfect order. Pulling a table out to the side, she hummed a merry tune as she prepared to the party that would likely begin the moment Pinkie pie awoke. As she placed down some punch and put up a few decorations, with her horn glowing a lovely purple colour, a peculiar feeling passed through her body. If she had of been more aware of it at the time, she would have noticed her surroundings give a shudder. From her perspective, it was as if for a split second her surroundings changed and a voice echoed around her head. “Is there any chance she will ever wake up?” It sounded almost like her bestest big brother, but that was utter nonsense. She shook it off and the moment passed, and she continued preparing for the big day. She had to force herself not to jump up and down in utter excitement. And then the doorbell rang, and she dashed to the door and opened it, her grin beaming across her face as her friends screamed at the top of their lungs in greeting. “Happy Birthday Twilight!” Pinkie was the first inside, quickly ensnaring the half prepared party and instantly making the library look, much as Twilight would never admit it, quite the party capital. Placing down cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner, she turned and hugged Twilight, causing her to gasp for a moment after being released. As the festivities got underway, a very grumpy Spike walked down to realise he had been missing all the action and immediately got in on the party games. Afterwards, there was cake and it was finally time to open the presents. “Openminefirstit’sliketotallysupercool” spoke Pinkie Pie, causing the other five to laugh and Twilight began opening the present and blinking in surprise to be rewarded with the sight of a brand new telescope. Twilight was touched, she had been longing for a new one after her old one had broken a few weeks prior. She glanced to the beaming Pinkie to say thanks and once again for a split second the scenery changed and a voice spoke. “Oh Twilight, why did you do this to yourself?” spoke Pinkie, sound returning to the library. Shaking her head, she frowned and asked Pinkie to repeat herself. “Oh silly, I said you’re welcome” she giggled and hopped back to allow the others to give their presents. As the party began to wind down, Pinkie promised to throw an after party tomorrow at Sugarcube Corner, everyone was invited of course. As everyone began to prepare to leave, helping Twilight clear up the mess, the two princesses arrived with a quick knock on the open door. “My dear student, I hope I am not intruding by coming and celebrating your birthday.” Twilight rushed up to greet the two, and they quickly caught up before Twilight was given her last present for the night from the two princesses. It was a pendent with the sun and moon Eclipsing, and as she swung it over her neck and glanced down to gaze at it with such warmth, Princess Celestia turned her gaze on Twilight, and concern flitted over her features. “Twilight, if ever you need me or Luna for something, just focus your magic on the seal and we will spring to your rescue.” Twilight paused, struck by how worried Celestia seemed. “Princess is something wrong?” she spoke, taking a step toward Celestia, noticing they were all gazing at her with concern. “Twilight, my ever faithful student; please do not forget about us. We will miss you” with that Celestia closed her eyes and dipped her horn, gently touching Twilight’s. Twilight was panic stricken at that moment and as their horns met she sensed something unravelling, something irreversible. As she gazed at her friends, their faces were washed with tears. Twilight wanted to ask what was going on, but the Princess was sending her pride and warmth through her horn, and Twilight began to cry too. She once again failed not notice the world crumbling around her as everything started to become hazy and her reality swam around her. “Don’t forget us Twilight, we will miss you.” Twilight jerked awake in her pure white room with a single door and with bars that people could look into the room with. The room seemed to be made of a soft material that made the room very cushiony and realised she was being contained by a white jacket designed to ensure she couldn’t move an inch bar her head. Straining her head to gaze at the bars, she noticed someone gazing at her. “My god” the pony then turned and vanished. Twilight huffed in annoyance, just where the hell was she and why was she tired up? What had happened to Celestia, Luna, her friends? Her attention was distracted by the sound of hoof steps and someone glanced through and met her eyes before disappearing, and the door slowly opening. Cautiously, a unicorn colt approached her and gazed at her curiously. “Hello?” she spoke, frowning at the pony. He jumped, surprised she had spoke for some reason, and glanced to the other pony, another unicorn and nodded. She blinked, and galloped away once again, making Twilight get a little impatient, and more than enough enjoyed. “What is going on, where am I?” The colt gazed at her, before finally speaking. “What’s your name miss?” She rolled her eyes, of all the questions he had to ask that one. “It’s Twilight Sparkle, what’s going on here-“she trailed off as another pony walked through the door, accompanied by the other unicorn, but this was once she instantly recognised. “S-Smarty Pants!?” immediately shocked by this pony standing before her who was the perfect image of her toy doll. They all glanced to this gray pony with mismatched eyes and long ears. “Um, yes that’s my nickname Twilight, but what’s my real name?” Twilight frowned, her head tilting in a comical fashion. Smarty Pants gazed at Twilight, and her gaze fell. “She seems to have retained some memory; I think she is as well as she is going to get Mr Sparkle” spoke the unicorn that had asked for her name. Her gaze turned to him, before returning to Smarty Pants. “I guess so, hey Twilight; do you want to get out of here?” Twilight frowned, and replied in an impatient fashion. “Of course I do, but I want to know why I was locked up as well!” They all glanced to each other, and then Smarty Pants smiled. “We’ll talk about that once we’re home ok dear?” Twilight mused for a moment, and decided this was the best option available to her and gave a taunt nod. One of the unicorns leaned over and suddenly the vest was levitated away from her body, and she was free to stand up. Incredibly shocked as she tumbled back onto the ground, she realised she was incredibly weak. Smarty Pants walked over, and with her help she was able to get up and stay standing even when he took a few steps back. “Easy does it Twilight, take your time.” Eventually Twilight was escorted out of the building and to a small rundown house apart from the town she was in. There were plenty of unicorns but she didn’t see any Pegasus or earth ponies, and this confused her greatly but she discarded it for the moment as they entered the small house and Smarty Pants sighed briefly before turning her gaze to Twilight. “I thought I’d never see you again…” Twilight was shocked at the caring tone Smarty Pants had replied in, and turned to look at her. “What’s going on? Where are we? Why was I locked up in there? Why are you alive and not a toy? Where are my friends? Where is-“she was cut off mid speech, something very hard to do. “Twilight, please listen to me. I know you are confused, but you must leave some questions for tomorrow. For now, go wash up and meet me back downstairs for dinner.” Twilight frowned, but decided the best option to get some answers was to obey Smarty Pants, so she trotted up the stairs and into a downtrodden bathroom and took her first glance into a mirror. It took her a few moments to realise that this was her reflection. The ugly purple that was her fur coat was badly ruffled and her hair was badly matted and seemed to be one ugly mess of hair. But that wasn’t the worst bit. When she parted her hair with her hoof, one body part she had lived with for years was vacant from her head. “My horn!” she was so shocked, and so confused that she found herself sitting on her haunches and gazing at herself. And then she noticed the second thing missing. “My cutie mark!” she cried in absolute dismay. Why were the two things that defined her, other than her impressive organising skills, were missing from her body and she didn’t know how to approach the situation. With no other options, she decided after a few minutes of open panicking that the best option was to follow Smarty Pants advice and get cleaned up. After washing the muck out of her fur, brushing all the knots out of her body, she actually felt much better than earlier. Her fur and mane were a darker and grayer somehow. It was as if someone had taken her entire body and washed the colour out of it to some extent. It depressed her how much she had changed from how she appeared back in Ponyville. What was going on? “Ah! There you are Twilight, we don’t have much to eat but enjoy” Smarty Pants replied, smiling gently as she sat down at her end of the table. Twilight did the same, and realised just how hungry she was before digging into the food with relish. Eventually, clean and well fed, it was time to ask her questions. “Alright I’ve got a few questions and I’m not doing anything else until I know what the hell is going on here” she demanded, her gaze focusing on the pony in front of her. Smarty Pants nodded, pushed her plate away and heaved a sigh. “Ok Twilight, I understand. I will answer some of your questions, but not all because we have a big day tomorrow.” Twilight frowned, and paused for a moment to get her questions in order of priority. “Where am I? Why was I in that building? Where is my horn and cutie mark? Who are you? Where are my friends?” Twilight nodded; satisfied she had cut to the main points of her questions before turning her attention back to Smartie Pants. “Ok Twilight, I will answer your questions.” Smarty Pants paused to gather her thoughts, and then began answering Twilight’s questions. “This is the unicorn city of Unicornia, you were in that building because…We will come back to that, I’m Smartie Sparkle, or as you nicknames me Smartie Pants…I-I’m your mother…” her voice broke at the end there, and a tear fell down her face. Twilight blinked, confusion overridden by her desire to ensure this pony before her wasn’t hurting as she quickly rushed around to Smartie and gave her a quick hug, which caused her tears to come more quickly. Smartie turned and caught Twilight in a hug, and began to sob loudly, tears pouring down her face. “Oh Daughter, I’ve missed you so much, I thought you were never going to wake up again” she sobbed, causing Twilight to feel guilty however she could not discern the reason for the feeling. Eventually, Smartie let Twilight go and turned her gaze onto the confuse eyes of Twilight. “F-For your other questions, we have to go somewhere special.” She wiped her tears away, and Twilight was struck by how much she cared for this pony, even though she didn’t understand the reason behind it. “Where are we going?” she asked, her head tilting as Smartie’s face broke into a warm smile. “We’re going home Twilight, home to the Earth Ponies.” Twilight felt a smile come over her face, and excitement over getting some of the answers to her questions arising. “What’s it called?” she asked, getting a small giggle from Smartie. “Earth”