Repairing Harmony, Book 1: Twilight Sparkle.

by twow443


Thinking With Reality

Chapter 2- Thinking With Reality

“Woooow,” Derpy said in awe.

“Yeah.” I said, not quite as amazed. “Is this what Ponyville's supposed to look like?”

Derpy frowned, then adopted a sad look on her face. “No Hope. No it's not.”

Derpy and I had emerged from the house into a slum. There were no roads, unless you wanted to call muddy pathways roads. We turned and looked at the houses and buildings. There were in various stages of bad, but I wouldn't call any of them adequate to live in. As the two of us started to walk away from the library, I turned to look at it. The tree had no leaves, and the bark was very old.

I took a glance at Derpy, and saw that she had a tear running down her face. “What happened to Ponyville?” She whispered. “This isn't supposed to be how it is.”

I reached over and wiped her tear away. Stepping back, I said, “Remember Derpy, this isn't your world. The only thing that comes close is Twilight, and we still need to find her. Try to focus and tell me about this-LOOK OUT!”

I rushed at Derpy and slammed into her, knocking us away. A giant tree limb crashed down right where she had been standing. “Keep moving!” I yelled. The two of us ducked and weaved as more tree limbs fell.

When I judged that we were far enough away, we turned to look at the library. “Oh, no.” I softly said. The library that was supposed to serve as Twilight’s home crumbled to dust in front of us. When the dust cleared, all that was left was a big pile of wood.

I turned Derpy away. Dwelling on it would do nothing but bring her more pain. “Come on Derpy. Let's see the rest of town.”

. . .

Some fillies ran in front of us as we continued to explore. Derpy started to use her gift that the princess gave her, telling me all she knew about the dimension.

“Okay, so apparently when Twilight took over, she had two things on her mind.” Derpy said. “Order and technology.”

“Like that machine in the basement?” I asked, skirting around a mud puddle.

Derpy nodded. “Everything is on a strict orderly schedule. Nopony is allowed to veer from it, or...”

“Or?” I asked, tilting my head.

Derpy shook her head. “I don't know. The princess's gift isn't working.”

“Or we aren't allowed to know that yet.” I guessed. Derpy frowned, but she kept walking.

“Look up there, Hope.” I followed her pointed hoof to see a very large purple bubble. “That's Canterlot. Apparently it's the most advanced city in the dimension.”

I nodded. “That's where Twilight is. But why isn't Ponyville like that? Instead it's all...run down.”

Derpy didn't have an answer for the question, but we stopped at a taller building. The outside of it was a faded light blue, with pink and purple on the roof. Two rusty metal horses adorned the roof and the flag at the top was full of holes.

“This place had seen better days.” I commented. “Where are we?”

“This is the Carousel Boutique.” Derpy said. “Rarity's home. I'd be delivering packages and letters to her all the time. I was Ponyville's official mailmare.”

“No kidding?” I asked. Derpy just nodded. “Wow.”

The two of us walked up to the front door and I banged on it. “Come on in!” A weary sounding voice called. After exchanging glances, the two of us entered.

We made our way into a large room that was rather clean. In fact, it was a little scary. There were cloths neatly stacked up in a large bookshelf like object, and ten mannequins that were all lined up. There were two desks in the room, one had sewing utensils on in and the other had a sewing machine, where a white unicorn was hard at work.

While Derpy went over to see the unicorn, I moved closer to check the sewing table, where all the sewing tools were. And that's when I got a major shock.

Every single thing on that table was stacked in a neat vertical line, down to the needles.

“No way.” I thought to myself. “This is impossible.”

“But it isn't.” I slightly jumped as I heard Luna's voice. “This is a different place from the Equestria that we know. Never forget that.” Her voice left my head as quickly as it came.

I flinched as I heard Derpy yelp. “But Rarity, it's me! Derpy!”

“I'm sorry dear, but I've never seen you before.” Rarity responded to her. As Derpy was about to retaliate, I walked in front of the two.

“Excuse us a second.” I said to Rarity, who returned to her sewing.

Derpy looked like she would cry at any moment. “Why doesn't she know me?”

“Remember Derpy, this isn't where you're from.” I said. “You don't belong on this dimension, and I don't have a place on any of them. These aren't the ponies that you know. They are a part of the dimension.”

“They...were created with the dimension?” Derpy asked.

I nodded. “We need to pretend that we belong, such as this.” I turned back to Rarity and tapped her. “I'm sorry about that. My friend thought that you were somepony else.”

“It's okay dear.” The unicorn said with a sigh. “So, who are you?”

Derpy sat next to me as I explained. “My name is Broken Hope and this is my friend Ditzy Doo. We are travelers.”

Rarity sighed again. “I wish that I could help you two, but I can't. My schedule is strict that from now until seven that I must work on clothing.”

“Schedule?” Derpy asked. “Don't you ever do anything different?”

Rarity slightly nodded. “Sometimes, but we rarely ever receive a break from our schedules.”

“How do these work?” I asked.

“We have a set time in the day, mine is from twelve to seven to work on a designated task sent from Canterlot.” Rarity explained. “Every day, some of the Metal Ponies will go to every town and perform a roll call.”

“What's that?” Derpy asked.

“It's a way to ensure that we are doing our tasks.” Rarity said. “It must be a certain spell, because I don't understand how they know if we are, or aren't doing our jobs.”

“What if you aren't doing your job?” I softly inquired.

Rarity turned and looked me dead in the eyes. “Then we get taken to...Her.”

“Her? Do you mean Twi..?” Derpy's voice was cut off as Rarity placed a hoof over her mouth.

“No. Don't say her name. They'll know.” Rarity was about to say more, but we all winced as a loud screeching noise started. “Oh! It's the roll call! Come along!” She dropped what she was doing and made a mad dash for the door. Not having any other choice, Derpy and I followed.

. . .

When we burst though the door, we saw everypony in town lined up in a straight line. Not wanting be singled out, Derpy and I dashed to the end of the line, next to Rarity.

“That was a close one.” Rarity whispered to us. “You don't want to know what happens if you aren't in line.” I was about to speak but Rarity hushed me. “Shh! The Metal Pony's are here!” As we heard a whirring sound, we looked up.

Four pegisi landed on the ground, and looked up and down the line. One of them said, “All residents are here. Begin scanning.”

“They sound like, robots.” I quietly told Derpy. “Could Twilight have created robot ponies?”

“She was the strongest unicorn in Equestria, Broken.” Derpy replied. “What do you think?”

I didn't say anything as the strange ponies started staring into the pony's eyes. A blue light came from the metal pony's eyes into the other pony's eyes. After a few seconds, the light went away and they moved on.

“What are they scanning for?” I asked Derpy. “Can Luna's gift tell you?”

Derpy's face scrunched up in thought, until she smiled. “They're making sure that everypony is doing their job.”

“Derpy.” I said. “We aren't a part of this dimension. We don't have a job.”

Derpy lost her smile. “Uh-oh.”

We hushed up as the metal pony scanned Rarity's eyes. “Everything is clear with this one.” He stepped in front of me and said, “Keep your eyes open.” Then he scanned me. I disliked the feeling. It felt like a cool rod was placed into my mind and given free roam. After a few seconds, he stopped scanning.

He stared at me for a minute, then started freaking out. “Pony with unnatural magic power! Must bring to Princess!”

Another of the metal ponies shook his head. “The great Twilight must not be disturbed! Eradicate magical spike!”

Derpy nudged me. “What does “eradicate” mean?”

“Well, it means to destroy.” I said. “We should probably start running.” Quick as a flash, Derpy shot up in the air and I took off, hearing a buzz as two of the ponies gave chase.

. . .

Derpy and I ran as fast as we could, well I was running. Derpy was flying and trying to distract our pursuers so I could get a little breathing room. Though alleys, jumping in and out of ruined buildings, nothing would shake them.

I glanced up towards Derpy and saw a blue flash. She landed next to me and ran. “They're shooting at me, Hope! Must be some sort of a spell!”

I risked a look back. On each side of the metal pony's, where their wings were was a small metal cylinder. Blue lasers came firing from them and slammed into the walls and ground by us, causing explosions.

“Wonderful.” I groaned. “Somehow, they attached lasers to their sides!” As Derpy and I turned another corner, we saw a building that looked like it was covered in desserts.

“Broken, that's Sugercube Corner!” Derpy gasped out. “Could we hide in there?”

“It's worth a shot!” I felt my hair tingling. “Duck!” The two of us hit the ground as a magical laser shot over our heads and into the shop. The entire inside of the shop exploded.

A rush of heat rushed at us, scorching my face. “Plan, plan!” I thought. Then, out of nowhere, I felt a warm glow deep in my body. I looked up and the entire world except Derpy seemed to shimmer. “Follow me!” I yelled, and the two of us ran towards the building.

“What are you doing?!” Derpy yelled to me.

“Using my gift.” I responded. Even though we were still getting shot at, I focused. I concentrated on the fire.

“I'm not a part of this world. It's not real. My gift. Bend. Bend reality to my will.”

I gasped as the fire rose. But it didn't just rise, it floated. I levitated the fire out of the shop and in front of us. I turned to look at Derpy and her eyes widened at the sight of me. “Get down!”

As she ducked, I consolidated the fire into a spear of sorts. Then I turned and flung it at the oncoming ponies.

BOOM! With an explosion that knocked me off my feet, the metal pony went up in flames. I skidded on my side as metal rained down.

“Broken! There's still one more!” Derpy cried. I looked up and saw that the remaining pony had a large cylinder like object with a place to hold it on it's back. It was connected to the pony's back by a metal rod.

“Derpy!” I yelled. “Have you ever played Frisbee?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but why?”

“Get ready to show me what you got!” Looking around, I saw a large chuck of rock from where a laser had blasted the ground. Casting out with the warm glow still within me, I took the rock and flattened it. Then I made certain parts of the rock extend and sharpen, so it was like a buzz saw. “Now, Derpy!” I picked up the rock frisbee in my mouth and launched it to Derpy. She caught it and spun around and around, until she let go. It was flying so fast that it sheared clean though the rod that connected the device to the pony's back, sending it towards us.

The pony looked ticked and started to run to us. I didn't have the warm feel anymore, so I kicked the device to Derpy. “Use it!”

Derpy looked at it in a panic. “I don't know how!”

I picked it up and pressed into Derpy's hooves, but I didn't let go as he moved closer. “Maybe you go like this, and then I'll move my hoof here, and you put yours there...”

“Hey, what's this button do?” Derpy said.

“No! Derpy wait!” Just as I uttered those words, she pressed whatever she found. A blast from the device sent it flying from our hooves and both of us slamming into the side of the burnt out Sugercube Corner. I looked up just in time to see the blast slam into the metal pony's head, reducing it to nothing but metal and wires.