The Hiatus Zone

by SirWritesalot

Some Minor Inconsistencies

It was almost a shame that they didn’t get to experience it.

As the Mane Seven neared Ponyville, something very strange occurred. For just a split second, it was as if the entire world flickered, the light coming from all around extinguished and replaced with pitch-black darkness, only to be returned to normal almost immediately.

Upon seeing this, the Mane Seven slowed their previously carefree sprint. “Did you see that?” Applejack asked. The Mane Seven (minus Spike) nodded, not sure what to think.

“See what?” Spike asked. He had blinked at just the right moment and thus hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.

“Everything just got dark for a second,” Twilight said. “But it was so quick that I don’t think even Celestia and Luna could have caused it.”

“Maybe it was Discord?” Rarity suggested.

“No, he’s our friend now, remember?” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, it would probably be lazy writing to make him a villain again after everything that’s happened,” Rainbow Dash said. She had rejoined the others after seeing the darkness as well.

“Well, we are about to start season 5,” Applejack said. “Maybe the writers are running out of ideas?”

“No way!” Pinkie said. She was sure the writers could think of lots more great ideas for years to come. “Besides, there’s no chocolate rain!” Pinkie said, looking up at the sky and feeling somewhat disappointed to see that it was clear.

The Mane Seven continued walking toward Ponyville, a little uneasy now but still feeling pretty excited to see what was going to come next. Surely this must simply be going to lead into the premiere episode somehow - it would be starting very soon, after all. However, their doubts began to grow when the flickering happened again, and then continued to occur with increasing frequency as they got ever closer to the town.

Finally, when they were only a few yards away, the periods of darkness were coming so often that they were almost overpowering the periods of normalcy. “After you,” Rarity said, gesturing hesitantly toward the town they could now only see less than half the time.

When nopony else took the initiative, Rainbow Dash drew in a deep breath, then flew into Ponyville. The instant her outstretched hoof entered the town, the darkness became complete. With growing horror, they experienced a peculiar sensation, almost as though they were falling.

“Damn it!” a voice shouted, followed by a bang not unlike that which might have been heard if someone had just hit something in anger.

“Emergency Protocol initiated. Emergency Protocol initiated,” a voice repeated over the loudspeaker.

And then the Mane Seven opened their eyes. Their surroundings were pitch black at first, but after a few seconds, a dim light began to shine throughout the area. But it was not from the Sun, nor from the Moon, but from lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling.

For a moment, none of the Mane Seven could even comprehend what was happening. Where were they?! This couldn’t possibly be part of the season...could it? Why...why couldn’t they move?

The answer to the final question quickly grew obvious as the room became more brightly lit. Each and every one of the Mane Seven was strapped upright into a chair, with all four hooves (or wrists and ankles, in Spike’s case) pinned down. There was also a strange pressure near the tops of their heads, and as they turned their heads to glance at the others, it was clear that some sort of device had been clamped onto each of them. It was also clear that these chairs had not been built with pony comfort in mind - they seemed better-suited for humanoid creatures.

After the initial period of extreme shock and confusion had died down, they began to panic. Whatever was happening to them seemed even worse than being in the Cancellation Zone - at least if they'd been there, they still could have moved around freely. But this...this was just horrible. All seven of them struggled against their bonds, but it was useless. They tried to call for help, but no one seemed to be listening. There was nothing much to do other than surveying their surroundings, which seemed to be mainly made up of walls lined with complicated-looking computer equipment.

Finally, someone stepped into the room, entering through a door that was almost hidden among all of the computers. It was a member of the TV Police. “Well, this is awkward,” he said. The Mane Seven all began to protest at once. After considering for a moment, he said, "Be quiet - all of you! Unless you want one of these." He held up several pieces of cloth which the Mane Seven realized must be gags. Everypony grew silent, but they were still panicking inside. Seeming satisfied, the TV Policeman said, "Twilight may speak. But only Twilight."

After looking back and forth at her friends, who nodded to her, she shouted, “WHAT IS GOING ON?! My friends and I were just going to Ponyville to start season 5! We didn’t do anything wrong! What are you doing to us?!” She was trying to hold back tears but finding it difficult.

The TV Policeman surveyed the Mane Seven thoughtfully, as if trying to decide what to say. Finally, he said, “Could you introduce yourself to me, please?”

Not understanding what this was supposed to accomplish, Twilight complied, crying, “Twilight Sparkle! The Princess of Friendship!”

“And what form of media are you from?” the TV Policeman asked.

“‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic’!” Twilight asserted. “The TV show!”

“Okay, here’s the thing,” the TV Policeman said. “You’re right...but you’re also wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, actually managing to calm down a little. The part of her that was hungry for knowledge was starting to come to the forefront. “Of course we’re from the show!”

The TV Policeman sighed. “You used to be from the show. But it’s going to be cancelled.” Upon hearing this, the Mane Seven struggled even harder against their bonds (with the exception of Twilight, who was merely becoming more curious). Rainbow Dash opened her mouth as if to speak, but the TV Policeman held up the gags and she closed it again.

“Cancelled? But the premiere of season 5 was just about to air! Hasbro even said we’d been renewed for a sixth season! That doesn’t make any sense!” Twilight said.

“What if I told you that you already experienced season 5? That you already experienced the 2017 movie? That, from your perspective, the show has already been cancelled?” the TV Policeman said.

“I’d say what I’ve already been saying,” Twilight said. “That doesn’t make any sense!” What was the TV Policeman trying to accomplish by suggesting things that were clearly not true? Was this supposed to be some kind of psychological torture?

“Okay, maybe I should go back a little,” the TV Policeman said. “You know about the Hiatus Zone and the Cancellation Zone, right?” Twilight nodded. Her friends had stopped struggling and were now listening as well.

“Well, The Hiatus Zone still exists, but we recently got rid of the Cancellation Zone,” the TV Policeman said. Twilight seemed as though she was going to interrupt, but the man gestured for her to be silent. “You see, though they didn’t know about the Zone itself, some fans were unhappy with the treatment of cancelled shows, movie series, and so on. Within the Facility, there were also some internal debates about whether anything should even be considered to be ‘cancelled’ if it had reached its intended completion point - for example, shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender or How I Met Your Mother.” He paused.

“Go on,” Twilight said, intrigued despite herself but wishing that the Policeman would let her friends talk, too.

“Hmm...I believe you know about the Fanfic Division as well?” the TV Policeman asked.

“Yes…,” Twilight said. “The Friendship is Witchcraft versions of us said they had to be there sometimes.”

“Of course. Well, the Fanfic Division was getting a little out-of-hand. There were just too many different canons for us to keep track of. The Development Zone was having a hard time keeping up with the demand for all of the different versions of the characters. There must have been thousands of versions of you alone!” the TV Policeman said.

“Wow,” Twilight said, wondering what they were all like. Then she finally decided to speak up: “Why can't you let my friends talk? I'm sure they have questions, too.”

“Not right now,” the TV Policeman said. “Besides, you’re all going to forget everything soon enough. That’s the only reason I’m even telling you this.”

The Mane Seven started to struggle yet again, but it was still no use. “What do you mean?” Twilight asked, her fear beginning to return (though it had never really left - it had just been subdued temporarily).

“I’m getting to that. Anyway, some of the higher-ups devised a solution that solved multiple problems at once. We would close the Cancellation Zones for every Division and simply reuse the same versions of the characters in the Fanfic Division. In order to maintain canon, we’d just wipe their memories of everything they shouldn’t know before they entered the appropriate fanfic worlds and we’d implant fake memories in their place if necessary,” the TV Policeman said.

“You mean…?” Twilight began. It wasn’t possible. Was it?

“Yes. You’re in a fanfic,” the TV Policeman said. “You’ve been in a fanfic this entire time. We had just retrieved you from the world you were in and were preparing to wipe your minds while running a short simulation of what might have happened next in order to pacify you, when a glitch hit the computer system and you ended up waking up.”

“But...what...how can that be?” Twilight asked. “I...I’d know if I was a fanfic character, wouldn’t I? No, I’m definitely the TV version of me.”

“You were. But now you’re in a fanfic,” the TV Policeman repeated.

“If we’re all in a fanfic, then aren’t you a fanfic character, too? How do we know we can believe any of this?” Twilight asked. She was trying to think rationally, but having some trouble doing so.

“Yes, due to the Emergency Protocol that was activated as you woke up, this room has been designated as a temporary fanfic world and a new chapter is being tacked onto what was originally intended to be the ending of your story,” the TV Policeman said. “So I suppose I am a fanfic character, too. But that doesn’t make me any less real anymore than it makes you any less real.”

“What is that supposed to mean? I still don’t understand how we could have been in a fanfic all along,” Twilight said.

“Think back. Was there really nothing that seemed inconsistent or wrong to you? How about Pinkie’s antics? When could she have taken the other Applejack’s hat? How could she have gotten items from the Cancellation Zone without ever going there?” the TV Policeman asked.

“We thought that was just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie…” Twilight said uncertainly. Pinkie nodded.

“Wrong.” the TV Policeman said. He considered something for a moment. “How about this? Here’s a real doozy: when you met the Friendship is Witchcraft characters, their Twilight was a human, right? Because she and Spike had been in the human world last?” Twilight nodded and the TV Policeman took a dramatic pause, continuing after a moment by asking, “Then why wasn’t their Spike a dog?!”

“He was a drag...he was...he should have…” Twilight was rendered nearly speechless. Now that she thought about it, that really didn’t make sense. Unless… “Maybe that’s just how things were in their world?” she asked weakly.

“Wrong again,” the TV Policeman said. “The author made a mistake. That's the sort of thing that quality control would almost certainly have corrected if it happened in an official form of media, but the only editor the author had in this case was himself. He messed up. Besides, if you were really in the Facility proper at the time, you wouldn’t have had an author at all.”

“But…” Twilight said. Even after this revelation, she was having a hard time coming to terms with the situation.

“How about one more thing?” the TV Policeman said. “If you aren’t in a fanfic right now, then that should mean you’re not currently in any form of media, correct? You’re just in the Facility?” Twilight hesitated, but agreed. The TV Policeman paused again. “Then describe what I look like.”

“You’re...a TV Policeman,” Twilight said. “A member of the TV Police.”

“And…?” the TV Policeman said.

“And...you’re...male?” Twilight said. This finally clinched it. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t figure out how to describe anything else about the TV Policeman even though she was looking right at him. He must really be telling the truth.

“See? The author couldn’t even be bothered to give me or any of the other TV Police a proper description. Maybe he wanted the readers to ‘use their imaginations’ or something, but between you and me, I think he was just being lazy,” the TV Policeman said. “He’s still being lazy now, too. The reason I can’t let your friends talk is simply because the author apparently wants this to be a two-person conversation."

“So we’re really in a fanfic…” Twilight said. “But we used to be the TV show versions of ourselves?”

“Yes,” the TV Policeman said. He was starting to wonder how much longer it was going to be before the system would be up and running again (he hadn’t expected to need to stall this long).

“Then what happened in season 5?” Twilight asked. “And how many more seasons did we get?”

“To be totally honest, I don’t really know,” the TV Policeman said. “The temporal machinations required to get you here must have been a nightmare, but the fanfic you’re in now has actually been written right around the beginning of season 5. Another you - your past self, not an alternate version - just started season 5 this morning. I think there was something about ‘Starlight Glimmer’ and ponies with equal sign cutie marks.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight asked. Even to her, this was starting to get confusing.

“Please don’t even make me think about it. It’ll just give us both a headache. But, yes, you’re the TV show version of yourself from after the show was cancelled, and you’re in a fanfic that's been written around when season 5 started, okay? We’re not going to deal with sending you back, though. Now that you’re in this time period, we’ll just put you into whatever fanfics are being written now.” the TV Policeman said. “Of course, we’ll have to make sure you never come into contact with your past self.”

“But what if I don’t want to have my memories wiped?” Twilight asked. “My friends might not want it, either.” They shook their heads, still wishing that they could voice their own opinions but fearful of what the TV Policeman might do if they did.

“That’s just too bad,” the TV Policeman said. “It’s going to happen whether you like it or not. But I guess we could reinstate the Cancellation Zone just for you if you’d prefer.” Upon hearing this, the Mane Seven felt caught between a rock and a hard place.

When Twilight didn’t say anything in response, the TV Policeman continued. “If the author of this fanfic writes anything else, we’ll probably put you in there first. If not, then we’ll put you in something by someone else. But he’s written two other stories in the past - ‘Pinkie Pie Eats the Moon’ and ‘The Rainbow Pony’ - so it’s possible that he might write another one in the future. As soon as your memories are wiped, we’ll bring you over to the new world and you’ll be just as excited as ever.” He paused. “Honestly, this fanfic was an anomaly. I have no idea how the author knew so much about the inner workings of the Facility. Like I said, the Cancellation Zone doesn’t exist anymore, but the other details were oddly accurate. Although he did miss one thing - even back when it did exist, we always wiped the characters’ minds before they re-entered their worlds. It would obviously be a danger to canon if they remembered the Facility. So don’t worry - you’ve already had this done many times in the past.”

Twilight didn’t know what to say.

The TV Policeman was really getting impatient now. The system had better be working soon… “You know, it’s a good thing you didn’t stray too far away from where you were while you were in the Hiatus Zone. Due to budget and workforce constraints, we didn’t actually put every character whose show was on hiatus or cancelled into your story. A lot of them were just cardboard cutouts.” He winked.

The door finally opened again, and another member of the TV Police ducked in. “It’s ready,” he said.

“If...if we really have no choice in this, then how do we know we’ll actually be put into another fanfic?” Twilight asked, still highly concerned. “For all we know, this machine could do something else and that’s just what the author made you say.”

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to trust him,” the TV Policeman said, and turned to leave. “Don’t worry! You won’t remember a thing!”

The Mane Seven made one last unfruitful attempt to escape as the Policeman left the room. Then the devices on their heads came back on with a loud buzzing sound and everything went black.

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed the story! It would be great if you could give me some feedback, whether good or bad. ;)

This chapter was posted on April 4th, the season 5 premiere date.

Comments

[Tunnelspark]

Boy, that got dark. Not a bad read, but not what I was expecting. Read it all the way through though.

[Just another hoerse love]

This should be a show

[Pankrazius]

This finish was outright evil.

Woah. I am impressed. Yes. This story has earned its place on my Fav-Shelf for sure.

[Imperator Knoedel]

Well, that was meta.

[Bones_]

5826727 Truly.

[theNerdofCAO]

*sirens blaring* What's happening? Bob, report!
Sir, the fourth wall has taken an extreme beating! The rift doesn't like it!
How bad is it?

Worse than when Cam tore open the Rift with the DotD review.

NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*computer explodes*
Ow...

[Lexiebommel10]

U have achieved a evil slow clap of excallance