//------------------------------//
// Prompt #330-Behind the Curtain 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
//------------------------------//

Behind the Curtain

“Twilight’s out again!”
“Get the orderlies! And some tranquilizers!”
“How did she get out again?”
“Don’t know, don’t care! Just get her back in!”

~~~

Twilight Sparkle giggled as she looked around Ponyville. She had found a spell recently that would apparently ‘Allow the caster to see through the hidden’ At first, she had assumed that this meant she’d be able to see if a pony was keeping a secret, or lying to her. Unfortunately, the spell was far more than she expected. It had peeled back the very fabric of the universe before her eyes. At first it seemed like nothing had changed, but then she saw a pony brought into being from nothing. Well, that wasn’t quite accurate. It had began as what looked like a drawing, a simple sketch, but then lines had solidified, the pony filled up with color and life, and just like that, there was a new pony in Equestria. Another one had been created with just words tumbling down from the sky. And then, Twilight made the mistake of looking at herself in the mirror.

~~~

“Where did she go?”
“She’s around here somewhere. We can only hope that she isn’t causing too much trouble. One of you, go check the security cameras for her. Come on, kid. Let’s check the grounds.”
“Yes, doctor!”

~~~

There, in the mirror, were hundreds of different Twilights, in hundreds of different Equestrias, more being brought into existence every second she kept staring at the mirror. She saw countless different relationships, innumerable friendship lessons, and an infinite number of ways to die. She couldn’t take anymore, and ran outside. Entire buildings formed and vanished in the blink of an eye, words fell from the sky, into ponies’ heads and then came out of their mouths as they spoke. Even great swathes of the very background came in and out of reality at a moment’s notice. Twilight’s mind, unable to take in the idea that the world was so transient, so impermanent, shattered into a thousand pieces.

~~~

“Doctor, I found her! She’s on the western side of the grounds, near the forest!”
“Nice work, kid. You two, with me. I’ll see if I can talk her back inside. If she decides to struggle, you’ll need to act quickly though. Tranquilizers first, then put the jacket on her.”
“Yes, Doctor.”

~~~

“Nothing matters,” giggled Twilight, “we’re all just constructs of ink and paper, in a town of dust and cardboard. Nothing we ever do is our own idea.”
A few meters away, the other Elements of Harmony watched their friend continue to laugh and talk to herself. They too were coming to a realisation.
“She needs help, dears,” said Rarity, as they watched Twilight lift a rock, break it in half and put it back together with a look of absolute wonder on her face, “We should take her to the hospital, make sure she’s looked after, and then inform the princesses.” The four others agreed with the white unicorn, and they began the process of coaxing Twilight over to the hospital.

~~~

“Twilight? You need to come inside now.”
“NO! I’m trying to tell my friends that I’m not insane! They’re the ones who are insane! I’m the only sane mare in this whole world!”
“Come on Twilight, they’re serving dinner now. You want to eat, right?”
“I have to make my friends understand! We’re being controlled by these invisible puppetmasters, so I’ll just have to break their strings for them!”
“Tranquilizers, NOW!”
“Rarity, don’t you bother protesting, we both know that...I’m, ooh, pretty lights...”
“Get her back inside, orderlies. I swear, that girl is by far the most troublesome patient here.”