Author's Note

The following chapters are all collectively part of Project Emphenom #16 and #17. They are story pitches in various stages of completion, ranging from little more than a re-hash of a previous experimental chapter to a complete first chapter/prologue that can already stand on its own. Some of them are written using Twilight and Gadget as the main duo of characters, while others use Lisa and Zoey.

All of them revolve around the same inciting incident: a mysterious "hole" opens up nearby on an otherwise normal day, threatening to (and later succeeding) at swallowing them in some way or another.

These Project Emphenom chapters are meant to pitch a full launch of Fractures here on Fimfiction as an independent story running alongside PE chapters here in What If.

Its continuity is part of a separate AU from the rest of Project Emphenom, so this is a completely new Twilight Sparkle and Gadget compared to the ones from previous chapters.

These pitch chapters (and whatever associated full story that may result) exists within the following hierarchy:

1. Fractures (original fiction)
2. Fractures (Fimfiction)
3. Project Emphenom (Fimfiction - What If)

That is to say, Fractures here on Fimfiction will be derived from Project Emphenom's experimental chapters, and in turn, will itself serve as the basis for an eventual original fiction version of Fractures that I hope to someday publish!

Accordingly, you probably noticed that this chapter is a bit of a re-hash of previous PE chapters. I wanted to start things off with some slice-of-lifey character interactions to fully establish Twilight and Gadget's relationship with each other, as even though Twilight's a canon character, I'm approaching the writing of this like I'm already writing an original fiction piece.

Starting a new fic, of course, is one of the hardest parts of writing. Any and all feedback is encouraged here! I have no idea what I'm doing.

With that, let's kick things off with the very first pitch. Sitting at over 3k words alone, it is by far the most complete of the Twilight/Gadget pairing pitches (at least, as of the time of writing), and is ready to be continued at a moment's notice.

Twilight, Gadget, and Spike were displaced into an alternate universe? (PE#16)

“Okay, now brace yourself. It’s important to remember that when casting spells, there’s always a little bit of backlash you have to account for. Especially with more volatile spells like this one, you can easily end up on your behind.”

She nodded, planting her hooves firmly in the dense soil around her. The wind was blowing away from her face, tugging at the tight bun she’d tied her mane into probably for the first time ever.

She momentarily turned her gaze to her mentor, expectant eyes peering through the darkened glass of her sunglasses. Of which sat over her safety glasses. Of which—she paused, pushing the sunglasses up a little. “Twilight, don’t we have any safety glasses that are already darkened like sunglasses? I don’t think stacking them like this is very safe…”

“Not from what I could find,” Twilight lit her horn, repositioning both pairs of glasses. She frowned at the awkward angle the sunglasses sat at before pulling them off. “Alright. Maybe just close your eyes when you cast, that okay with you, Gadget?”

Gadget nodded.

“Alright,” Twilight stepped back a little. “Now then. I want you to take a deep breath. Feel your mana flow in you. You remember what we’re about to do next?”

“Breathe in, feel the flow…” Gadget muttered something under her breath before again turning to her mentor. “…release, right?”

“Release, and?”

She frowned, lowering her head a little. “Spark?”

“Bingo,” Twilight pat her on the head. “And remember. Control is everything. Spells like this where you’re releasing raw mana from your body make it very easy for backfire to happen.”

“Right,” Gadget widened her stance a little. She’d done this plenty of times now… well, mentally, at least. She knew all about how fire spells worked thanks to Twilight.

Now it was time to put that knowledge to the test.

She clenched her eyes shut, feeling for that pool of energy residing in her body. Letting it flow up to her horn was supposed to feel sort of like a trickle of warm water running through her. Or like the feeling of blood rushing to her cheeks when she blushes. Or both, maybe.

Slowly, that expected trickle worked its way up.

Control is everything.

Just a month ago, everypony told her that she was too old to learn fire spells because her lack of experience combined with her age meant that one little mistake could blow up a whole room.

Control is everything. Manage the surge.

A sudden rush washed over her as she felt a surge of mana pressing up into her horn. Even with its expected arrival, she grit her teeth. Just like in the books, she diverted the excess energy into a weak, localized spell. In other words, dump it into the aura around her horn.

She didn’t have to open her eyes to tell that it was probably blazing with energy right now. The heat was all she needed to feel.

Next step, ignition.

This part was why she was wearing safety glasses. And why her mane was tied up in a bun instead of her favorite ‘roostertail’ style. And why she was currently bundled up in a heat-resistant coat.

One little modified light spell.

Apparently, flame and light spells weren’t all that different at their most basic. Just that light spells ‘burnt’ mana within the surrounding aura of one’s horn, while flame spells…

The building pressure in her skull tore her thoughts back to reality.

Think later. Fire now.

Gadget let loose the floodgates holding back her mana, simultaneously setting off a pinprick of a light spell at the very tip of her horn—anywhere else and she’d risk burning herself.

Even through her closed eyes, the bright flash of orange and red was all she needed to see to know she’d done it.

Also the heat. Wow that was hot.

“I did it!” she opened an eye, blinking at the dissipating smoke plume in front of her. She pivoted towards Twilight. “Twilight, how was that? My first ever successful fire magic!”

“Just like the textbook demo,” Twilight clapped her hooves. “Might want to release a little faster next time to prevent the ignition from traveling up the stream, but well done!”

“Woo!” Gadget tore the safety glasses from her face. “That took so long to figure out.”

A pink glow enveloped the glasses, lifting them from her grasp.

“I hope this means you won’t be attempting to build anymore flamethrowers, by the way,” Twilight waved the safety equipment in the air. “Spike’s been complaining about you leaving scrap metal on the floor.”

“Yeah, but it’s on the floor on my side of the room,” Gadget blew a raspberry. “You use your bedroom like a workshop too!”

Twilight snorted. “Alright, you got me. Just keep your workspace a little cleaner at least, ‘kay? I don’t want anyone in the castle getting themselves sliced open by some piece of metal left out and about.” She paused, staring up at the sky for a moment. “It’s getting dark out. You know what I liked to do when I was a filly learning this sorta stuff?”

Gadget paused her little personal celebration. “Hm?”

A grin spread across her mentor’s face. “Ice cream. Especially after using spells that give off a lot of heat. You remember that one ice cream shop we went to a few weeks ago? The one where they—”

“Put chocolate syrup on grape ice cream?” Gadget cut in. “Oh yeah, I definitely remember that one. Are they even open this late?”

Twilight shrugged. “’Dunno. Either we can go check, or we stage a raid on whatever flavors I’ve got in the castle. Your pick, miss ‘I just made things go boom’.”

“Mmmmmmm… let’s see what there is in the freezer then.”

“Oh hey, Twi,” Spike opened the door. “You two are back late today. How’d magic practice go?”

“I finally cast a fire spell!” Gadget cheered.

Spike raised a thumbs-up, smirking a little as he let a flicker of flame escape from his mouth. “Nice. Actually, Twilight—”

Twilight jumped a little at the mention of her name.

“—Do you think it’d be possible to teach Gadget how to use her own fire magic in a similar way to my dragonfire? The whole ‘sending stuff by burning it up’ part, I mean. Not breathing fire.”

“Mmm…” Twilight hummed, scrunching her muzzle. “Maybe. I’ll have to look into what sorta enchantments Celestia uses on her side of things. I haven’t really thought about even doing that myself this whole time.”

“Right, right, ‘cause I’m the mailbox,” Spike opened the door wider. “Alright you two, get in here.”

“You want any ice cream by the way?” Gadget paused beside him as they entered. “Twilight said we’re gonna eat some since I was practicing fire magic today.”

“Only if we’ve still got ruby dust to put on it.”

“Gotcha,” Twilight’s voice responded from down the hall. “Gadget, sprinkles for you?”

Gadget glanced for a moment at the darkening skies outside before scampering after her mentor. “Yup! What sorta flavors do we have again?”

“Last I checked, I know for sure that we’ve got stuff like vanilla and chocolate. I haven’t really kept track all that well of what flavors Celestia keeps sending us without warning, but there were some odd ones I think.”

A heavy boom echoed down the corridor as the doors closed behind them.

…A second boom came from somewhere below them. A shudder tore across the floor and rattled up into the ceiling.

“Twilight, what was that?” Gadget pressed her lips flat, eyes darting about. Did one of Twilight’s experiments explode again? It wouldn’t be the first time—but it’d never shaken the castle like this before.

She turned her head just in time to catch Twilight vanishing in a puff of light.

“Maaaybe we should stand somewhere that isn’t below a chandelier,” Spike tugged lightly at her coat. “C’mon. We’ll stay closer to the door for now.”

Another, more violent shudder rocked through the structure. A dull creak groaned through the air as Spike tugged a little harder.

“Gadget, let’s go. Twilight will take care of it.”

She stepped back, leaning away from the apparent source of the noise. “Y-yeah.”

Twilight will take care of it.

The two retreated to the doorway. Gadget warily eyed the swaying light fixtures lining the ceiling. Maybe it was an earthquake instead? It’d explain the shaking, though the boom from below… gas leak?

Hopefully, Twilight was okay.

She glanced over at Spike. He was writing something out. Probably a letter to Celestia.

The creaking noise grew louder. She could almost feel the swaying of the floor beneath them now. And if not that, then she could at least see it in the walls. Polycrystalline—or whatever it was that Twilight called it—walls were not supposed to be moving like that. Even if the whole ‘poly’ part was talking about how the crystals weren’t actually a singular giant crystal.

Walls should not be wobbly like that.

“We should go outside,” Spike pushed the door open behind her. “I don’t think the castle’s safe to be in right now.”

“Yeah.”

They stepped outside. From here, it was even more obvious that something was happening beneath the castle. The entire building groaned with the sound of crystal grinding against crystal, its starburst spire swaying precariously in the air.

Hushed voices whispered amongst themselves behind her. Gadget looked over her shoulder, peering at the Ponyville residents that’d gathered over the commotion. They must’ve felt the trembles as well.

“Woah,” Rainbow Dash yawned, dipping down from above. “What’s going on?”

“No idea,” Spike idly tapped the scroll he’d been writing against himself. He looked down. “—oh, I should probably send this real quick.”

He sucked in a breath.

“Get away!” Twilight blinked into existence, flaring her wings. Her coat glimmered with crystal dust in the dwindling light of day. “Something’s opening up under the castle. I don’t know what, but there’s a good chance that it could swallow both the castle and the surrounding area. Spike, I want you to—”

Spike coughed, spurts of smoke still streaming from his nostrils as he held up the still-unsent scroll. “Was going to right before you teleported in front of me.”

Twilight grimaced. “Sorry. Er, Rainbow? What are you doing up so late?”

“Same as everypony else,” she finally touched down on the ground. “What the buck is going on in your castle?”

“I don’t know how to really describe it in full. It’s like…” Twilight’s brow furrowed as she glanced back at the castle. “It’s like a hole of some kind. I can’t see into it at all no matter how much light I shine. And rather than being a hole in the ground, it’s more…”

She sat back on her haunches, tracing the shape of a sphere with her hooves. “Ball of darkness-y. Like the hole opened mid-air, somehow.”

“I can go—”

“No,” Twilight stopped Rainbow before she could take off. “I’m not risking anyone here but myself. Spike, is the letter sent yet?”

Spike popped a thumbs-up.

“Alright. Rainbow, in the meantime, you and Gadget can help set up a perimeter around the castle. I don’t want anyone getting too close while whatever’s happening down there plays out. Mayor Mare should have some caution tape that you can use.”

“I don’t know—” Rainbow lifted off the ground, hovering just above eye-level. “Twi, are you sure you should be bringing a filly along with you for something like this? Like, I get that I should help, but I don’t think that she should be hanging around so close to danger.”

Twilight glanced at Gadget. Then back at Rainbow. “She can direct ponies away from the area then while you work. I’d rather be able to keep an eye on her in a time like this given what’s happening. She’s both my student and my responsibility while her parents are away, and I—”

“I can do all of that,” Rainbow scooped Gadget off the ground. “Gadget’s going to Sugarcube Corner. I know you want her to learn and whatever by helping out, but this is not the time for that. I can get the rest of the gang here if you need me to.”

Gadget wiggled her legs aimlessly below her. It was weird seeing Rainbow Dash being so protective like this.

Twilight let out a sigh. “Right. Okay. Yes, please, keep Gadget safe in the meantime. I—”

The ground rocked as a wing of the castle teetered, then crumbled into the lower floors.

Silence hung in the air following the collapse. Rainbow Dash lingered for a little longer before taking off with Gadget in tow.

“You think Twilight’s gonna be okay?” Gadget watched the rooftops pass underneath them as they flew. “She looked kinda beat-up when she teleported out.”

“She’s tougher than she looks. She’ll be alright.”

Gadget stared back at the castle as it shrunk into the distance. A crackle rose from behind them as the main spire fell.

“Spike already wrote to Celestia and Luna, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

They landed in front of Sugarcube Corner. “You stay here with Pinkie and the Cakes. I’m going back to help Twilight, ‘kay? If I land on the roof later, then that’s your signal to tell Pinkie to come over. If anything else happens, then I want you to run.”

Gadget nodded.

“Good,” Rainbow took back to the air. “I’ll let you know if it’s safe to come back.”

Gadget sat on the doorstep, cradling her chin in her hooves. It’d been a while since Rainbow left. Pinkie also went out to help earlier as well, so somehow, she was now the one in charge. Over the Cake twins, at least. Not that that really meant much since they were asleep anyway.

A few times now, she’d seen Royal Canterlot Guards land somewhere near where the castle was. She couldn’t quite tell for sure where they were landing given the whole ‘the castle’s falling into a giant hole’ thing, but they were probably sent thanks to Spike’s letter. In fact, even Celestia herself showed up. It was a little hard to tell given the distance, but her being bigger than everypony else did make her easier to notice.

Maybe she could sneak off and check what was going on?

No, she mentally scolded herself. She had to stay here where it’s safe.

Her ears perked at a distant rumble coming from the castle’s direction. Either the castle was collapsing even more now, or maybe Twilight and the rest figured out a way to stop it and start putting things back together.

She yawned, leaning back against the door behind her. Maybe she should just go to bed and hope everything was better by tomorrow.

The moon hung high in the sky.

Gadget stared at the distant ball of rock. To think that Luna not only managed the moon, but the stars as well…

A ray of darkness shot across the soft glow of the moon. Then another. And another one after that.

Her eyes shot to their source.

The castle.

“Uh—” she stood up, pressing herself against the door. “Mister Cake, we might want to move a little further away. Just in case.”

A muffled voice came from behind the door before it opened. Mr. Cake peered out, his attention also quickly drawn to the growing spiderweb of cracks spreading across the sky.

Another tendril of darkness raced mid-air past their eyes and down the street, widening a little before closing itself up like a zipper.

“Alright, yeah, we need to move, now—” Gadget pulled the door wider open. “Go help Missus Cake get the twi—”

Mr. Cake had already disappeared back into the house. The clatter of furniture from inside was all she needed to hear to know that her message came across.

Her gaze shifted back to the cracks. The ones that hung over the moon were already dissipating, though every few seconds another black line would race across again to replenish them.

Whatever the heck was happening right now, she didn’t like it one bit.

Mister and Missus Cake both stumbled out, each one with a twin in tow. Mister Cake grimaced at the sight surrounding them, glancing for a moment down at Gadget.

She pointed a hoof away from Twilight’s castle; away from the source.

Mister Cake gave his silent acknowledgement before fleeing. Gadget lingered at the doorstep for another few seconds.

She should go with them.

She should check on Twilight.

She had to run.

She should stay back and help more ponies flee.

She needed to get away.

She should—

“Gadget!” Twilight burst in with a flash of light in front of her. She was even more disheveled now than she was before. “Gadget, we need to go. Now. The hole’s spiraling out of control now. Celestia’s doing everything she can to hold back its growth in the meantime, but she won’t last forever. I’m not sure how big it’ll grow to, but right now all that matters is that we get ourselves to safety.”

“I—” Gadget looked between Twilight and the writhing mass of darkness just visible from over the rooftops now. “What about Rainbow Dash? Or Pinkie? Weren’t they helping?”

“We’re going and that’s final,” Twilight lit her horn, scooping Gadget up onto her back. “They did what they could.”

…Could?

A distant crash rung through the air.

“Twilight, I’m scared.”

She felt Twilight’s wings fold over her.

“We’ll get out of this,” Twilight stepped back, “We can retreat to the Crystal Empire for now. Figure out what’s happening from a safe dist—ack!”

Gadget tumbled down to the ground, eyes wide with horror as her gaze latched onto the widening strip of darkness that Twilight was now ensnared in.

“Bucking—Celestia—stars above!” Twilight seethed, pulling against the foreleg sunken into the darkness. “It’s not coming out!”

“Twilight…”

Twilight craned her head as much as she could in her current position.

Gadget’s gaze drifted downward. To that same inky darkness that surrounded her own hooves.

“Twilight, I can’t feel my hooves.”

Twilight cringed. She lit her horn, tugging Gadget as hard as she could against the encroaching darkness.

“Ow…”

Twilight released her grip. The darkness was up to their flanks now. Or rather, they’d descended down to their flanks.

“Twilight, I’m scared,” Gadget repeated. She held her head as high as she could above the darkness. “Are we going to die?”

“No we aren’t,” Twilight snapped back.

“You’re lying,” Gadget wheezed, her breaths growing shallower. “I can hear it in your voice.”

The last thing she saw was Twilight lighting her horn one more time.