Waking up sucks...

"Ugh, my head..."

That was all she could think. What the hell had just happened? One minute, she was talking with her friends in Fluttershy's house, and now....

"Now" was a mystery. It was a joke, almost. Her senses seemed non-existent for the longest time, only seeming to sharpen when the sound of a pony pushing a heavy cart went by. "Where the hell am I..?" She struggled to move her body, but wasn't surprised to find that it wasn't very cooperative...

This has to be a dream... a lie... Words that kept repeating themselves in her mind, struggling to find a place to settle. After a while, though, even those thoughts were gone.

And so she lay...

There it was again, that sound... The cart, the hooves... She struggled to open her eyes, and for the first time, succeeded. Though, what she found wasn't exactly what the lavender unicorn had expected.

Mainly, because she wasn't "the lavender unicorn", anymore. Gone was her luscious lavender fur, replaced with a dull grey color. It was matted in some spots, and it looked like her fur hadn't seen water in months... But for all she knew...

"So you're awake?" was the sound first audible to the rather confused pony. Hooves clopped next to her, and she could slightly make out the frame of a very familiar princess. "Well, 231, how was your sleep? You've been out for a while."

A while? A while? Something was wrong here.

The white alicorn chuckled, as if remembering a joke. Her wry grin the only distinguishing feature... other than her mane. That mane... The one that twilight had looked up to her entire life. That long, flowing, paled rainbow mane.

"Pr-princess?", was all she was able to choke out. Her mouth felt dryer than the badlands, and the back of her throat felt raw. She held back the contents of her stomach, fighting with all of her might not to throw up. Now her senses were back, and things were certainly different than at first glance...

Needles. Tubes. Wires. Stitches. Wounds. All of them decorated her soft grey hide; simultaneously mimicking a bad horror movie, and a decorated soldier. She could feel the contents of the tubes, rushing through the needles and flowing through her veins. While not an unpleasant feeling, it was certainly not one that the bound pony was fond of...

Bound? She struggled against whatever was holding her down, though she saw no restraints. It didn't take long before she realized that whatever was in the tubes was somehow responsible for her inability to function. Noticing the small pony's realization, the alicorn spoke up: "Well 231, it looks like you're right on time. Today's tests are just about to begin."

231? Who was this "231", that the princess kept mentioning. She was Twilight Sparkle... At least, that's all she could remember herself as. The memories of her friends, the memories she had of ponyville... They seared her head like a red iron. While she tried her best to put them out of her head, they still disoriented her...

"Wait... Tests? What tests?" she questioned. Looming like a shadow, the princess merely grinned and stood over her. Before long, a white unicorn in a lab coat knocked on the door. Celestia ushered the pony in through the door, welcoming him as "Dr. Standard". He ran his hoof through his greasy black and purple mane before starting to fiddle with the tubes and needles that riddled her dirty hide. Sliding out needles, and pulling off wires, the doctor seemed very gentle in his motions, even if his blood-stained clothing told a much different story...