Fates of the Fractured

"There must be something behind this!"
"Or somepony."

Applejack's look of suspicion was cast up at the door behind her, and not to her friend Twilight Sparkle, who she was responding to. The elements of harmony were sat awkwardly on the dusty floor of a Ponyville basement, Rarity of course looking the most uncomfortable about that fact. Twilight was leading their meeting, but found herself at a loss. Circumstances had degraded quickly, and she still had no idea why.

"It's like everypony just forgot about friendship, all at once," Twilight mused, wearily.
"Not everypony!" chimed in Pinkie Pie, her voice still holding most of its usual chipper tone. "Those unicorns sure seemed chummy with each other!"
"One look at my wings, though, and it was like I was a cockatrice!" reminded Rainbow Dash.
"Well, perhaps if you didn't flap them about so obviously?" suggested Rarity. The irritation was obvious in her voice.
"Not use my wings?" Dash immediately became defensive. "Yeah right, Rarity."

Twilight sighed, heavily. "Girls, girls. We're on the same side. If we ever forget that, we're no better than them."
Applejack nodded her head slowly, adding, "Twilight's right. Y'all cool yer jets."
The two mares continued to argue, however.
"I'm just making helpful suggestions."
"And I was just making sure I was ready to move if things got dicey!"
"More like making things dicey!"
Applejack snapped. "I said cool it!"

Twilight sighed again, more heavily now. This wasn't the first fight that had broken out between the six of them. "Perhaps whatever's affecting them, is also affecting us..."

A quiet washed upon the small basement room as the ponies all took that in, a few nods here and there as they all tried to calm themselves. Eventually, the silence was broken by the quietest of them, the pretty pegasus mare with fur of pastel yellow.

"I hope Spike is okay."
"Me too, Fluttersh-" Twilight didn't finish speaking her name, as a jolt of inspiration shifted her focus. "You're right! Spike!"
"I... am?"
"If we can find Spike, we can contact the Princesses! Assuming he hasn't already had the good sense to."
The other ponies began to smile. "Right you are, Twilight!" agreed Applejack. "Gives us somethin' better to do than holin' up in here, at least!"
Pinkie Pie agreed. "Fiiiiiinally!"
"Actually doin' something?" Rainbow Dash raised a hoof energetically. "Now we're talkin'!"

Twilight's eyes slowly swung around the room, meeting those of her five closest friends in turn. Each showed a look of passionate resolve, the same energy she'd fed off many times in the past when she'd had to go up against things she'd never have believed she could. "Girls, we're going to get to the bottom of this."

*knock knock*

There came the sound of a hoof rapping against the front door of the house. The six young mares all looked at each other in surprise.

"We do NOT want to be in here when a bunch of unicorns come busting in!" Pinkie Pie stated the obvious.

*crash*

The unmistakable sound of the door being destroyed, wood falling upon stone. Pinkie clasped a hoof up to her lips, and lowered her volume. "Me and my big mouth!"

"Stay here. Hide. They won't do anything to me." Twilight Sparkle had already begun ascending the stairs, and the clop of hooves upon wood signalled the house's newest visitors moving to meet her. She tried to swallow her nerves, willing herself to be strong as she emerged out into the main part of the house, and saw three unicorns approaching her. Two mares, and a stallion.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle!" one greeted her with an automatic bow.
The other two remained stood upright. "Careful. She fled with the others. Pegasi and earth ponies."
Twilight's heart jumped, but she kept herself calm. She'd been in worse situations than this. "True. I couldn't bear to see them as prisoners."
"Why are you still here?" the wary stallion asked.
"Ponyville is ours now, is it not?" came her answer.
"The earth ponies have formed a base at the farm, Sweet Apple Acres," said the other stallion.
"She's an alicorn!" the first cut in angrily. "How can we trust her?"
"Because before I was an alicorn, I was a unicorn first," Twilight replied, the answer technically true, even if not in spirit. She hardly felt aligned with these ponies who sought to drive unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies apart, but she'd pretend if she had to. "This house is clear."
"Princess." The less trusting of the two stallions, and the mare, now both gave their own bow to her.

The young alicorn trotted her way out the front door, the unicorns following her. "Girls? Now's your chance." She didn't know how to communicate telepathically, but she pretended for a few seconds that she could. "Get out of here, and go find Spike!"

They couldn't hear her. But if she'd learned anything since coming to Ponyville, it was that she could always trust her friends.