A Tear in the Fabric

by Cold Bolt

02: Seeing Stars

The first thing Sunset Shimmer noticed as she awoke was the dull ache that seemed to permeate every muscle in her body. Flat on her back and eyes still closed, she wrestled with her frazzled brain to take stock of the situation.

A cool breeze blowing by and the texture of earth beneath her suggested she was very likely outside. With a grunt of effort, Sunset propped herself up on her elbows and opened her eyes, which spent several seconds focusing in the dim light. A cursory glance around revealed that it was night, briefly giving her pause to wonder how long she had been unconscious after getting dragged into the portal.

The portal…

She shuddered as the memories came flooding back all at once. It happened so quickly, too quickly for her to process, and thinking about it was making her already aching head hurt even more. What made it go berserk like that? Why didn’t it send her to Equestria like usual? Where were -

“Twilight!” Sunset scrambled to her feet, blood going cold as the realization hit her. “Rarity! Pinkie! Applejack!”

Her cries were met with silence.

Sunset’s mind raced. If she was alive, the rest of them must be too, right? Granted, that was assuming this wasn’t some sort of afterlife, but she certainly felt alive if the soreness was anything to go by; it felt like she had run a marathon right after bench-pressing twice her weight.

In an effort to stay calm, she distracted herself with taking a moment to properly examine her surroundings. She had awoken in what looked like a small impact crater several feet wide, loose dirt scattered about its edge. Beyond it was a field of tall grasses stretching as far as the dim light let her see, interspersed with the occasional cluster of trees. High above, set in a sky dotted with stars, an object that looked something like a glowing white ring cast a gentle light over the landscape. In one direction, she could just barely make out the outline of a jagged mountain range on the horizon; in the other sat a plain dirt road on which tire tracks were visible.

A road! Her heart leapt - that meant this place was inhabited! With any luck, she could find a way to get the locals to help her find her friends, assuming they had a way to communicate; it seemed unlikely she would be able to just talk to them. Perhaps Fluttershy’s ability would help? Assuming Sunset could find her, that is…

She shivered suddenly, her train of thought derailed as the strangest sensation struck her. It was subtle but still distracting, like the fusion of a pinched nerve and a spine chill, causing her mind to concoct the image of a bug carrying an ice cube up her back.

Before she could deduce the origin of the sensation, however, it faded just in time for her to catch a glimpse of headlights from an oncoming car somewhere down the road. Her heart skipped a beat - should she hide? Wave to get the driver’s attention? Hold her ground and wait to see what happens?

The car slowed to a stop on the far side of the road, giving her a better look at it - it reminded her of military vehicles she had seen in documentaries of an old war from over half a century ago, but it bore no obvious insignia. A moment passed before the door opened, a humanoid figure barely visible within.

Sunset stood still, watching the figure suspiciously. Even as they leaned out of the door, only their outline was visible in the shadow of the car; despite this, she could easily tell they were paying her rapt attention. The figure hesitated for several seconds before fiddling with a small object in their hands: a flashlight, judging by the audible click and the beam of light now aimed directly at her.

Sunset squinted at the sudden brightness, shielding her eyes with her hand. “You want to point that somewhere else, maybe?”

The figure lowered the flashlight beam… and spoke.

“Well, I dunno what I expected, but I don’t think this was it.”

The figure climbed the rest of the way out of the car and approached slowly, finally giving Sunset a better look at him. He stood marginally taller than her, with dark hair, light skin, and a strange-looking scar covering his cheek, but what stood out the most was his outfit: a tunic of medieval-looking armor covered in metal scales, with accompanying gloves, boots, and even a cape. It contrasted rather bizarrely with the car behind him, giving her the impression that he had just left some sort of Middle Ages reenactment.

Sunset shook her head to get her thoughts back on track. “Expected from what?”

“A red light visible from the next town over just shot out of the mountains and landed… well, probably about here,” the man explained, gesturing at the shallow crater in which Sunset now stood. “Wouldn’t have guessed it was gonna turn out to be a teenage girl with furry ears and weird clothes. That’s a new one on me,” he added with a smirk.

“Furry - ? Wait…”

Sunset reflexively reached atop her head, where sure enough, her pony ears sat proud and true. A quick check over her shoulder confirmed that her hair was now past knee-length, tied at the end in a cute little ponytail. “But… how did I pony up while I was out cold? I didn’t know that was possible… and how has it not worn off yet…?”

“Uh. ‘Pony up’?” the man echoed. “Yeah, I feel like I’m missing some context here.”

Sunset gave an impatient huff. “Sorry, I don’t have time to explain. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I need to find my friends as quickly as possible. Have you seen anyone else around here?”

“Uh… right.” The man stared a moment longer as if to process this. “Alexander Abrams. Call me 'Tank’ though; it’s easier.” He put a hand on his hip and leaned slightly. “As for your question, there’s no one out here at the moment but us as far as I’m aware. Are there supposed to be more of you?”

Sunset sighed. “Yeah… yeah, there are. I guess I should’ve figured the portal would separate us just to make things more difficult…”

“Wait, so you did come through the portal?” Tank’s eyes widened as he glanced backward. “You know, if that’s true…”

“I mean, more accurately we got pulled through it against our will, but yeah.” Sunset leaned to one side, looking over Tank’s shoulder suspiciously. “Does that mean something to you?”

Tank turned back to face her and jerked his thumb at the car. “It means I know someone who just might be able to help you, if you’ll trust me.”

Sunset hesitated. Could she trust him? It didn’t take long for her to recall a way to know for sure. “Take off your glove and give me your hand for a minute.”

Tank looked perplexed for several seconds, but shrugged as he pulled off one of his gloves and held out his hand toward Sunset, who stepped forward to take it in hers with no particular ceremony. As she did, her eyes took on a magical white glow.

“…”

The spell lasted for only a moment, but it was all Sunset needed. Satisfied, she let go of Tank’s hand. “Well, it doesn’t seem like you have any ulterior motives, so I guess it’s safe enough to believe you.”

“Uh.” Tank scratched at his scarred cheek with his ungloved hand. “So was that a spell just now, or what? What did it even do?”

“Oh, not much.” Sunset crossed her arms. “Although now I know that you’re talking about a girl named Penny Richter and her uncle Darian Mobius who work at a research facility called Event Horizon specializing in portal study and extradimensional theory that’s about an eight-hour drive from here, but you don’t really mind because you were on your way back to your home town anyway to visit your folks and say hi to an old friend, and this place is only a short detour.”

For several seconds, all Tank could do was stare incredulously at the bizarre girl before him. “…Uhh?”

“My magic lets me read people’s memories,” Sunset explained. “It’s pretty handy for knowing when they’re telling the truth.”

“…Huh.” Tank continued looking entirely unsure of how to react. “Okay, so. 'Sunset,’ was it?”

“Yeah?”

“Let me be real with you for a minute here. This whole thing is pretty compelling so far, but I’m still not totally convinced it’s not some kind of prank.” He scratched at his scar again. “That said? Whether this 'mind reading’ thing of yours…” He wiggled his fingers to emphasize the point. “…is real or fake? It was pretty impressive either way. Like, credit where it’s due and all.”

Sunset smirked, chuckling to herself. “Well, the honesty’s nice, at least. Reminds me of - !”

Stopping mid-sentence, Sunset’s heart tripped on a beat as a familiar tingling-chilling sensation struck her… and this time, she knew instinctively what it meant.

“Uh. You feeling alright there?” Tank quirked an eyebrow. “I’m no expert on alien teenager biology, so…”

Sunset’s voice was barely above a whisper. “We’re being watched.”