Away From Home

Friendship, the warm that embraces us in a sunny day, the wind that covers our body with the fall of winter, the one that cleans our tears when the horrible happens. A friend can be a mother, a father, a brother or sister, but not a lover...

Sometimes we deny ourselves from the arms of love, apart our bodies from the kisses of eternity, and live like it´s not worth it. We may think it´s just a stone in our uneven way, a distraction; but sooner or later, love finds its way to us, whether we want it or not, and when it finally arrives... we embrace it.

Light illuminated her body as she finished the battle, it was a tickling sensation running down Twilight´s body, but she didn´t care, all that mattered was that Tirek had been defeated, the kingdom had been saved, and the princesses had returned to their rightful places. Peace would continue as long as it could.

Lord Tirek had caused so much destruction, broken bonds, created disharmony, but at last it was finally over. The spell that was casted using the power inside the box had done it´s work, as the ruthless centaur was brought to his knees, and returned to the deeps of Tartarus.

Some of the Elements never noticed their smiles, their satisfaction. Soon enough the feeling ends, there is something off but they don´t pay much attention to it.

The mares descend to the floor, their bodies once again brimming with excitement, as they prepare to repair Equestria. Their ears prepare to hear the all familiar voice telling them to finish unleashing the magic across the kingdom, but it never came.

The five Elements turned their heads, searching for one mare, the one that had joined them, bond them together, made them friends. Twilight was nowhere to be found.

"Have any of you seen Twilight?" Applejack asked, her worried expression matching the rest of the Elements. Seeing her friend´s head shakes, Applejack screamed to the air. "TWILIGHT!"

"Wow! What happened, she was here a second ago!" Rainbow exclaimed, flying a few steps away from the farmer.

"Did you see her land with us?" Applejack asked, getting a negative as a response.

"I don´t get it, how could she vanish all of a sudden?" Rarity asked, walking towards Applejack, suddenly from the top of her head, a pink mare appeared.

"Maybe she´s at Ponyville waiting for us to party!"

"Pinkie, this is serious!" Applejack replied, getting her pink friend off Rarity, who was the next to speak.

"You think she´s already out helping other places?" Her assumption was highly unlikely, but it was possible, better than nothing at least.

Applejack placed her hoof under her chin, thinking about it for a few seconds, until Rarity talked again. "It´s worth a try."

Applejack sighed, lowering her head for a second. "Alright, but if we don´t find her, that could mean problems." With that, she turned to face the rest of the group, who where looking around for Twilight. "Come on everypony! We have to clean up the mess Tirek made, we will search for Twilight on our way, so let´s split up!"

"Wait! AJ" Rainbow placed her hoof on Applejack´s right shoulder, with the intention of stopping her. "And if we don´t find her?"

The farmer turned to face her her friend. "If we don´t, we´ll talk with a certain centaur."

With that, the five Elements traveled to the other parts of the kingdom.

Towns, cities, castles, each place in Equestria was cleansed from the disharmony created by Tirek, but there was no sight of Twilight, no matter where they went. With each place they went, their faces melted more and more, and soon their smiles where nowhere to be seen, the hope in their was vanishing faster.

Uncertainty kills, that much is true, and for the Elements it is no different.

Finally they reached Canterlot, and once again the group was reunited, their faces holding grim expressions, expressions instantly spotted by the princesses.

Celestia had walked towards them, Cadence, and Luna on her side. The princess of the sun saw Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.

Celestia saw something was wrong, and not just because of the Element´s faces; she could feel an empty spot in the air. Celestia felt a hole in her stomach, her chest got agitated.

As Celestia got closer to the already sad ponies, Cadence and Luna stared at each other uneasily. Something bad had just happened, something maybe irreversible, something that would mark everypony for the rest of their lives.

The princess of the sun tried to hide her uneasy breathing as she asked.

"Where is Twilight?"

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious—the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.
— Albert Einstein

Bright lights shined through the immense vortex, consuming anything from being watched. Across galaxies, across time and space, she felt her being being separated into millions of pieces, then being reconstructed again. Desperation began to consume the young princess, who was struggling to understand what exactly was happening, but funny enough, her mind wasn´t with her. It felt like a dream, or worse, a nightmare.

In not a moment too soon, the madness ended.

Twilight´s vision was fading, the only things visible in her blurry sight were vasts landscapes illuminated by a full moon, but all was not peace. Suddenly a loud explosion was both heard and seen by the fading Twilight, followed by multiple screams, it all seemed like a complete war zone.

The young princess was too lost to even think about what was happening, and seconds before her vision went dark, she could hear voices amongst the chaos, and getting closer to her, after that, Twilight passed out.

"What have you found about her?" A tall man, wearing a high ranked military blue uniform, asked. The man had received news from his men on the battlefield about an unusual rainbow-like light just behind one of their tanks, what followed after that, set them on the edge.

Just at the middle of the anomaly, lied an average stature woman, with sapphire blue hair, a small pink streak was also visible. That wasn´t the weird part, the strange thing was her skin, with it being purple, from feet to head, and they were certain of it, as she was found completely naked. This woman looked like she was in her twentys.

The two men instantly notified their superiors, who were ordered with taking an evac-chopper and bring the woman with them. The girl was taken into a facility and placed inside a white chamber, which only had a small bathroom and a bed, it was clean at least.

Scientist immediately dressed the woman, and began to study her, seeing if she had any kind of connection with the invaders, but there was nothing to confirm the theory, even less from the fact she appeared out of a rainbow light.

Three hours had passed, and the investigation gave absolutely nothing, everything seemed normal with the woman, with the obvious exception of the skin and the strange energy which caused some anomalies with the equipment inside the base.

"Nothing general, the subject seems completely normal" One of the scientists spoke, pushing his glasses with his middle finger. The old man addressed as the general placed his closed fist under his chin, deep in thought, suddenly the door opened, giving way to a you soldier.

"General, she´s waking up!" A soldier informed the old man, instantly getting his attention, and without any other word, he headed out and towards the chamber.

We have enough with this war to handle another problem. The general thought as he made his way towards the room, his pace was a fast one.

From within the containment chamber, low moans could be heard coming from the young woman, as she began to wake up. Everyone was waiting expectantly for her to be awake.

It wasn´t long before the general entered the room, his expression matching the rest of the soldiers and scientists behind the glass of the room, none of them expected what came next.

Twilight felt her head being crushed by pressure, it was a horrible headache. She started to remember what had happened, from the finality of Tirek´s battle to... the place she saw, the fire, the voices.

Feeling the pain intensifying, Twilight proceeded to grab her head, until she felt something weird, unsettling. From the several reactions the princess could have, only one would summarize her ´condition´ pretty well.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

From behind the mirror, everyone could witness the scene, as Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs.

The princess used her wrists to try to take off the weird appendages on her now hands, obviously it was all rather pointless. Twilight tried to regain her composure, until she noticed her legs, then everything exploded.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The now human Twilight crawled to the corner of the small room, as if she was trying to escape from her feet, her screams became each time louder, until a scientist decided to step in, only to be stopped by the general, who placed his arm in front of him, while shaking his head in a negative; the scientist complied and proceeded to take sit again.

Twilight found herself hyperventilating, her vision becoming blurry because of it. Her body tried more and more to back away, with the wall behind her stopping the advance.

"What is this!" She finally spoke. Twilight raised her head and screamed at the ceiling. "Rainbow! Applejack!" Everyone at the other side of the room watched quietly as the scene unfolded. "Pinkie! Rarity!" Finally noticing how worthless it was, she finally lowered her head and broke into tears, whispering the name of her remaining friend. "Fluttershy..."

The young princess tried to place herself face down on the floor, laying down like a pony would, but her new body wasn´t designed for that, and soon changed her position. What came next was sobbing, as Twilight placed herself into fetal position while grabbing the legs with her arms, and hiding her face between them. Her reaction was completely interesting, especially for the general, who had his hand under his chin, thinking about it, It was then that the man decided to enter the chamber.

The door slowly opened, Twilight didn´t care though, as she simply remained with her face hidden.

The general made a few steps, stopping right in front of the sobbing woman, then cleared his throat to speak. "Excuse me miss." Twilight didn´t answer. "I said, excuse me miss!" His voice now sounded tougher, without being rude, but giving away authority.

Twilight slowly raised her head, her eyes making contact with the old man, then backed away after watching a tall... thing walking in two legs; His hair was short and gray, as well as his mustache; he had what looked like a militaristic blue uniform. The man´s voice didn´t scare her, but his body did.

The princess´ eyes shrank down in fear, as she spotted the man getting closer to her, then kneeling down on the floor. Although his voice was rough, his face demonstrated the warm look of a worried father. "I´m not going to hurt you, I only need to know your name."

The princess took all of her courage to speak, trying not to tremble too much. "It-it´s T-T-Twilight. Twilight S-Sp-parkle."

"A pleasure meeting you Miss Sparkle." The general said as he stretched his arm to shake hands with her. Twilight took notice of his intention, but she was not sure how to use her new appendages. "Just stretch your arm." Twilight did as he said until her hand made contact with his, then noticed how the man closed his hand around hers, causing the princess to flinch. "Easy."

Finally the two shook hands, and Twilight began to feel more comfortable, the initial scare still being felt in her chest. The general stood up.

"Twilight Sparkle, that´s an odd name." The man offered his hand to the young woman. "But I have seen enough things in one life time for it to make me loose my sleep." Twilight took his hand, and tried too get up, only to stumble a bit, she obviously wasn´t used to her new body, a fact that was noticed by the general. "You act like this isn´t your body."

"I-it isn´t!" That definitely got the man´s attention.

"What do you mean it isn´t"

"Where am I?"

"you´re in the pentagon, Virginia." The general answered.

"Where are my friends!" Twilight exploded.

"I beg your pardon?" The man took a step behind, immediately after witnessing her reaction.

"My friends! Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack..." The general observed as she finished mentioning the names she screamed before, with some new ones such as a ´princess Celestia´ and a ´princess luna´. It all seemed like a fairy tail, and the man seriously considered the woman was nuts, but the way she was found, and her skin color and unusual reactions spoke against his thoughts. Finally, Twilight broke into tears, making her wrap herself around the general, who embraced her as she felt the sadness drowning her entire body.

"Where do you come from?" The general finally asked.

From between sobs and tears, Twilight spoke. "Equestria."

Equestria? Now it definitely sounded like a fairy tale, and that certainly didn´t sound like anything on the planet.

"Did you come with the invasion fleet?" The general asked, causing Twilight to release herself from the embrace, and proceed to watch at the man with watery eyes, confusion clearly visible on her face.

"Invasion fleet?"

Instantly realizing the new guest had a deeper mystery, the general spoke. "Forget about it. It seems there is more to you than meets the eye." The general placed his arm on Twilight´s hip, to give her walking support, then offered his free hand so that the princess could hold unto something. "Come miss Twilight, there is much to discuss if you want to return wherever you come from."

As the two walked out of the room, Twilight couldn´t stop thinking about her current situation, where she was, where her friends where, how could she return? At least she was about to get help, to learn about this new place, and deep inside her she could feel she was in for a huge adventure.

Six years later

The enormous hall housed hundreds of people, each one working inside the facility, it was a huge place where scientists worked day and night, researching, and inventing new ways to defend their country, some areas were used for intelligence against the enemy, others for weapons development. Suddenly the entrance opened, giving way for a feminine figure to enter the place, a young woman sporting black heels, a white scientific coat,and a pair of black glasses. Her face showing a clear smile, as she entered the place where the woman could give everything she had to offer. The young lady walked across the room, getting several smiles from her co-workers.

"Good morning miss Sparkle." One of them said, getting a smile in response.

"Good morning Claudia."

"Good morning Twilight." Another one greeted her, naturally she answered back.

"Good morning Jack."

Like that one after another greeted Twilight Sparkle, head of the science committee, as she wondered through the place´s walls, and towards her office, ready to continue her job.