Malfunctioning

by Buttonous

Rating: teen
Tags: Horror, Twilight Sparkle, Dark, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 2732

Twilight wakes up on a perfectly normal morning.

Twilight had a nightmare last night but can't seem to remember it. All she knows is that its a perfectly normal morning and she should be enjoying it.

So why can't she?

Now with an audio reading by The Pessimistic Fool!

Published 2020-06-21 15:30:00 UTC
Last updated 2020-06-21 15:30:00 UTC

A Beautiful Morning

The sound of birds chirping filled the room with a warm and inviting cadence. Warm sunshine poured onto a lump underneath the covers. The lump appeared to move as awareness filled the mind of the pony under the covers. Twilight groaned and twisted deeper under her blankets. The fight to remain asleep and ignore the beautiful morning interrupted by a shout from downstairs.

“Twilight! Breakfast is ready!” Spike shouted as the sound of frying pans and other kitchenware echoed throughout the room.

Twilight groaned again at the thought of getting up. She slowly, as if in a daze, raised her head out from under the covers. She quickly tensed as trace memories of her dream filled her mind. Her eyes swept around the room in a quick motion to check for anything that might have invaded her chambers while she slept. Twilight quickly lit her horn and assembled multiple defense and offense spells as she wracked her brain to remember more of the dream. Just as quickly as the memories of her dream came however, she quickly could not remember why she was so scared.

Twilight chuckled a bit at the momentary fright she had experienced and slowly got out of bed and trotted to her bathroom.

Hoping to make it down in time for her food to still be warm, Twilight proceeded to go quickly through her routine. Magic lazily grasping her toothbrush and toothpaste she noticed that her toothpaste was once again empty. Mentally swearing, Twilight sighed and quickly trotted out to see if they had any toothpaste in the guest bathrooms. She left her bedroom and walked down the crystalline hallway past Starlight’s bedroom. Twilight pricked her ears and turned her head to the bedroom she had just passed.

Twilight furrowed her brows in confusion and opened her mouth as if to ask the universe whose bedroom this was supposed to be. Shaking her head to dismiss the thoughts she continued to the guest bathroom and looked at the crystal sink.

The sink was oversized, all of the sinks in the house were, and right on the lip resting gently was toothpaste. Twilight smiled in triumph and gripped the toothpaste in her magical grip. Quietly she walked back to her bathroom and resumed freshening up.

Twilight left the bathroom and continued on her way to the stairs. The sunlight from the windows was catching the crystal of the walls and made Twilight smile at the rainbows produced from the light. Just as she entered the kitchen from the stairs Twilight smiled and greeted Spike at the dinner table.

“Sorry if the pancakes are a little brunt, Twilight,” Spike said sheepishly rubbing his head in embarrassment. “I was a little distracted this morning.”

“It’s fine Spike,” Twilight replied grinning at what could have made the young drake so embarrassed about burning the pancakes a little.

She hopped up onto the crystal chairs and bit into the warm apple-flavored pancakes. Twilight made a hum of appreciation to Spike and continued to eat her breakfast in peace. Twilight made a quick glance at the clock on the wall she gasped and quickly finished her breakfast. Spike raised a brow at her to which she replied, “I’m going to be late to help Applejack, she asked me for help with something at the farm. Heh, guess it’s a good thing Starlight insisted we put up more clocks around the castle huh?” Twilight said sheepishly sliding off of her chair and making her way out of the kitchen and into the main library of the castle.

“Whose Starlight Glimmer!” Shouted Spike from the kitchen, “Is she new or something? Also, what do you mean she insisted on the clocks, I’m the one who told you to put more up!”

Opening the door Twilight paused and was briefly confused about what Spike meant. She turned around and apologized to Spike. “Sorry I meant to say you. I guess I’m still a bit fuzzy from waking up today.” With that said Twilight continued out the door and onto the streets of Ponyville.

The warm sun quickly chased away her thoughts as they stood and appreciated the baby blue skies and the sounds that bubbled up from out of the Townsquare. She was drawn from her lull with a loud bang followed by some annoyed grumbles.

“Look out folks!”

Redirecting her attention to the bang she saw Applebloom and Sweetie Belle running down the street at full sprint. Applebloom appeared to wave a bit at her before dashing around a street corner followed closely by Sweetie. Twilight rolled her eyes but frowned when she noticed someone missing. She was relieved when she spotted Twist cruising down the street on her scooter, taking the same route as Sweetie and Applebloom had.

Even though her morning had started a bit hectic, Twilight shook her head and started down the street to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight picked up the pace as she knew Applejack would hate to have to wait so long for her.

Arriving at Sweet Apple Acres Twilight was quick to wipe her hooves on the mat so as to not drag in unwanted mud. She looked around Applejack's home only to not find her anywhere in the entrance or living room. Twilight heard the sound of pots and pans from the kitchen and quickly trotted over. “Sorry for the wait Applejack but I was-”

“Hmm?” Granny Smith replied looking over her shoulder at Twilight. “Oh! Applejack is out in tha fields taday.”

“Oh, sorry Granny Smith I thought she told me to meet her at the farmhouse to help her with something, do you happen to know which field she's at?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Ah sure do! She's at tha west field, tha trees needed some water so she left ta get some clouds.”

“Thanks, Granny. I appreciate the help.” Twilight said warmly as she left to go find Applejack

Trotting out into the of the house Twilight quickly set on her way to the west field. Twilight hummed a tune as she walked and fell into a lull. The green of the orchard with hints of red proved a beautiful country scenery with the sun surrounding her with a blanket of warmth. In no time Twilight had trotted out to the west field and looked up at the clouds.

“Applejack!” Twilight shouted and waited for a response. As she waited Twilight slipped into a trance with her trying to remember the walk over and only receiving blurry memories in turn. A familiar shout quickly roused her from her thoughts.

“Over here!”

Twilight smiled and quickly walked to the sound of the shout and came across Applejack trying to wrestle some clouds in submission.

“Sorry, Twilight but I don’t think Ah’ll need your help today.” Applejack said with a sheepish smile, her wings keeping her at a hover a bit above the trees. “Tha orchard really needs some water and Ah think it's gunna be a while before ah can do anything.” She rubbed her eyes a bit and resumed her fight with the clouds.

Twilight sighed and after a few departing words left for the town.

Twilight hummed as she worked her way through the town square, she felt her stomach grumble and made her way to a cafe close. She looked for a free seat outside when she spotted a familiar face sitting at one of the tables alone.

“Rarity!”

Rarity snapped her head in Twilight's direction with a smile and waved her over. “Darling it's good to see you!” Rarity said with a smile as Twilight sat down. Steam drifted out of Rarity’s tea and she had a perfectly golden croissant on a plate. Twilight smiled and told Rarity about her day as she waved down a waitress. The waitress quickly noticed the alicorn and worked her way towards her.

“Good morning! What would you like today?” The blue mare asked.

Twilight smiled and said, “I’ll have what Rarity’s having please.”

The waitress looked at her in confusion for a few seconds and Twilight felt a hoof on hers. She looked over in Rarity’s direction and saw her light green eyes look at her in confusion. “Whatever do you mean dear? I was going to order after you.”

Twilight looked at her in confusion and looked down at the table. The tea and croissant were gone with no trace as to their existence. She frowned and looked up at Rarity.

“Rarity where did-” Twilight's eyes filled with fear and confusion as she looked at an amalgamation of red, blue, white, and purple. The world seemed to shift with it in a pulsing dance. The colors were trapped inside an outline of an earth pony and seemed to have a heartbeat. She could see colors dancing and twisting in the sides of her vision.

“Twilight? Is everything alright darling?” Rarity asked with concern in her baby blue eyes.

“Yeah Rarity just thought I saw something- just- nevermind…” Twilight trailed off.

“Nevermind it dear, I’ll just order for us,” Rarity said, winking and turning to the waitress. “We will have some…”

Twilight drifted in and out of consciousness her body seeming to disappear and reappear at random. Her thoughts tumbled and slithered over each other and she could feel the warm sunshine on her back turn into an artificial mockery of itself, desperately trying to be something it was not. She looked up and could see the colors of her friend flickering in and out of perception with each new second bringing fresh new errors for her to notice.

She thought about Starlight and how she could have sworn Rarity was a unicorn before- no. Rarity was not a unicorn, a voice seemed to whisper in her mind before she could register the words, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up into the comforting gaze of Rarity and felt at ease.

“Now dear, would you mind telling me what's on your mind?” Rarity asked smiling warmly in Twilight’s direction.

“It’s nothing, Rarity I just have a big headache and I thought I saw something,” Twilight answered nervously.

“Nevermind it, dearie, would you like to talk to me about what you remember from yesterday?” Rarity asked with an aloof air to her.

Twilight furrowed her brows and looked at Rarity with confusion and decided to humor her friend. “Well, we girls went out on a mission for the princesses about… i-i-it was something they wanted us to look at…” Twilight looked away in confusion and for some reason could not remember what exactly had happened yesterday.

“Oh think nothing of it Twilight, I was just wondering something and wanted to see what you remembered. Anyway, would you like to hear about my day? I had the most awful dream..” Rarity seemed to lose herself in her story.

Twilight frowned and looked closer at Rarity and wondered what was wrong with her. She could tell it was the same Rarity but something was different. It nagged at her and she could swear there was something but not sure exactly what. It was the same Rarity with light green eyes, same purple hair, same white co-

Light green eyes.

Twilight looked at Rarity- no an imposter and felt fear and anger for what this thing could have done to her friend. She decided to play its game and looked at it.

“Rarity have you done something new with your eyes?” Twilight asked coyly.

The imposter paused and looked at her in confusion, “Whatever do you mean dear? This is how I always do my eye makeup-”

“Oh, nevermind it then- hey do you remember that one time when you went running with Sweetie Belle for the Sisterhooves Social? I’m so glad you were able to make up before the race and run together.” Twilight said with fake relief. “It would have been just awful for you two not to run together.”

The imposter paused and seemed to buffer for a bit before responding with a cheery grin.

“Why of course darling it was good that we were able to make u-”

Twilight didn’t let the creature finish and with her rage bubbling up she tacked the creature to the ground and pinned it with her magick.

“I know you are not Rarity you imposter! Where is she? What have you done to Applejack and where are Scootaloo and Starlight and how many of my friends have you messed with!” Twilight looked at the creature with a dark rage and murderous intent. She wanted to know where her friends were.
The creature smiled coyly and asked a simple question, “What do you remember about yesterday darling?” The creature winked, “I’m sure it would be of great use for you to remember”

Twilight angrily responded, “I don’t know we were just on a mission for the princess about some dimensional portal opening up.” Twilight’s eyes widened as more and more memories came back. “The princess was letting me examine it when something went wrong. It opened and oh goddess the creatures on the other side they-they...”

“They what dearie?” The creature asked with false concern.

Twilight closed her eyes and could feel her emotions rise to the surface with anger, worry, and fear being the most prominent. She could feel a dark and murderous rage within her and snapped her eyes open.

“Where are my friends!” Twilight asked slamming the creature into the ground over and over again.

“I want to know where they are you-”

The creature began to distort and it seemed her entire reality followed. The sky became a kaleidoscope of colors and ERRORS flashing in the mix. The ground felt loose and uneven with it eventually tumbling and turning over itself. The sun was nothing more than a sick distorted blob on the horizons and the ponies- if you could call them that were-

Twilight slowly opened her eyes and looked around her environment.

She seemed to be trapped in a cocoon of glass and liquid was all around her. She looked down and saw wires and tubes running in and out of her body. She was missing one foreleg entirely and her cutie marks had been skinned off. She only felt a sharp pain where her horn was supposed to be and she looked out of the cocoon and couldn’t understand what she saw.

There were wires everywhere and glass screens with words and pictures on them with strange shadow-like monsters manned them. She seemed to be on a balcony made up of metal. The building they were in seemed to be an amalgamation of metal and glass. She with horror heard one talking with another one.

“Dammit you idiot, why did you wake it up?”

“It was an accident it somehow managed to break out of the simulation, I don’t understand how it could disrupt the-”

Twilight let her gaze drift away from them and out over the balcony. She at first only saw blurry cocoons with blueish liquid in them and with despair realized something. The cocoons each had a pony shaped body in them. She could just make out some of her friends mixed in with others, but this wasn’t what horrified her.

The cocoons each housed a pony. There were millions of them.

Twilight felt a buzz begin to surround her thoughts and felt a pressure on her head.

“There it should hold now, don’t worry it won’t even remember..”

Twilight drifted off.

The sound of birds chirping filled the room with a warm and inviting cadence. Warm sunshine poured onto a lump underneath the covers. The lump appeared to move as awareness filled the mind of the pony under the covers. Twilight groaned and twisted deeper under her blankets. The fight to remain asleep and ignore the morning interrupted by a shout from downstairs.

“Twilight! Get up!”

Twilight groaned again and lifted her head up. Her eyes quickly sprang open and she felt trace memories from her dream invade her head. She quickly looked around the bedroom but could find nothing.

Twilight quickly shook her head and laughed at her fear and got off the bed to get ready for the day ahead.

Oh well, It was probably nothing.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading! I hope it was enjoyable and leave any feedback you have in the comments please!:twilightsmile: