Fractures

Caleb stared at the murky streak of void that’d swallowed his sister.

Stared at the place where, just seconds before, she’d been standing with Zoey.

His sister was gone.

Like, gone gone.

He lowered his eyes to his still-trembling hands.

“Caleb, I—” he felt Emily’s hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“They’re still out there,” he muttered under his breath. “I know they’re still there. Everyone that this… this thing has eaten. My sister, my friends—until I see their bones,” he wrenched himself free from her grip. “I’m not gonna say they’re dead.”

He stormed off toward the house. Or at least, what was still visible of it.

“Caleb, where are you going?”

“To find my sister and my friends, that’s what,” he stopped in front of the rippling blob of darkness. “Tell my mom and dad that I went in after Lisa.”

“Cale—”

He clenched his eyes shut.

Emily’s voice faded into nothingness the moment he stepped into the void.

“Well hello to you too,” a new voice echoed from somewhere in the darkness. It sounded like a girl’s voice, though with how hushed and hoarse it was he couldn’t be completely sure. It was definitely not Lisa’s, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t Zoey’s. He tried not to think about it in the meantime. He wasn’t one to believe in ghosts, and now was not the time to start hallucinating voices in the dark.

Not to mention that Lisa would never leave Zoey in a place like this.

He kept walking. Somehow. To say it was weird walking into an endless expanse of black like this was an understatement.

He opened his eyes, steps slowing a little as countless dots of light entered his vision all around him. The ‘ground’ beneath him was as smooth as it was featureless. Like walking on perfectly flat obsidian. He couldn’t tell if the lights below him were simply reflections or if they were their own individual points.

“Not gonna say anything?” the disembodied voice asked. “You and the others that came through here are interesting. There was this huge boom, and then a pair of holes tore open! I couldn’t reach the first two groups in time before they went out the other side, but now with you here, I—”

Others. That had to mean Lisa, and his friends, too! He quickened his steps, searching for something among the lights. There had to be a way out of here.

“Mmm, can’t hear me. Alright then,” the voice hummed. “I’ll be here still if anyone finds a way in again. Like I always am…”

He did feel a little bad after that part for ignoring the voice.

Still. Priority number one now that he knew that it was possible to survive going through that thing was finding his sister. Maybe if they all had to pass back through here to get home, he’d stop and say hi to whoever else was here.

A glimmer caught his eye. Like a pinhole poked in a box. It wasn’t quite like the other points of light around him—this one was smaller. Dimmer.

He slowed his steps, gaze fixed on the new dot.

“Same direction as the others I see,” the voice hummed. “See ya ‘round, I guess. Maybe.”

That was definitely where his sister went then. Nobody else besides her, Zoey, and his friends were swallowed by the darkness.

He broke into a sprint, muted taps against the glassy floor ringing in his ears. The lights around him flew by in clusters with every thud of his shoes. Under different circumstances, this would’ve been so cool to just sit and watch the scenery.

Now was not that time.

“Almost there. You’d better hurry, some of these things have been closing up on their own. Should’ve seen what it was like when these first opened up. There was just this huge boom like I said—like someone shot a cannon or something—and then these crazy lines flew out like lightning all over the place and started shredding up the void! Like, it was the first time in ages that I’d seen light in here that wasn’t just from one of these little orb thingies or the weird grass and stuff that sometimes grows—”

Almost there.

Almost there.

There.

He stopped in front of the dim hole.

It was quite a bit bigger up close than he’d expected.

“There you go, now go find your friends,” the voice echoed again. “If I could, I would’ve gone with you. Who am I kidding, I’m just talking to myself, aren’t I? Man. And I got myself all worked up over this too.”

He turned his head. Now that he was here, maybe he’d give a little attention to whoever it was in here with him.

He waited for the voice.

Nothing came. If anything, it sounded like there were footsteps running away from him.

“Hello?” he called into the darkness. “You still there?”

No response.

He glanced back to the hole—that sounded weird to think about—the portal in front of him. Whatever lay beyond it was where his sister and everyone else went. At least, that was if the voice from earlier was to be believed.

Caleb stepped back, inspecting his surroundings. The voice said there were multiple portals around here, and that some of them had already closed up on their own. At least from where he stood here, none of those other ones appeared visible.

He refocused on the portal in front of him.

Hopefully, this one was the right one.

He placed a hand against what semblance of a surface it had. Just like before, it sunk in with minimal effort.

Just like before, he couldn’t pull it back out.

He took a breath, clenching his eyes shut once more and stepping in.

“Oi,” something nudged him in the side.

“Y’sure he’s alive?” another voice opposite the first asked. “He’s been laying face-down in the mud for who-knows-how-long. Between that and this weird uh—wreck he’s laying next to—"

Caleb gasped awake, lifting his face from the ground.

“And there’s your answer,” the first voice quipped.

Caleb looked up as a dark silhouette filled his groggy eyes. Since when was it so bright? It was almost midnight when he’d stepped in!

“Hey little buddy,” a… face entered his vision. It was a little too hard to tell at the moment what kind of face he was looking at. Big cat, maybe? It didn’t look quite human regardless.

He rubbed his eyes as he sat up.

“Woah woah woah, hold on a minute,” the second voice began again. “This kid’s the spitting image of Spike. Get him to the medbay, Flintlock. I’ll let the higher-ups know about this.”

“On it,” the first voice—Flintlock—drew closer.

“Gwhuh?” Caleb blinked.

“What’s the last thing you remember, kid?” a… hoof pat him on the shoulder. “What happened to Twilight?”

He brushed away the hoof. “What are you talking about? Where am I?”

“Nowhere,” the voice coughed. “—Sir. We’ll bring ya somewhere safe in the meantime. I think you already heard my name from my friend back there.”

Sir?

Caleb swung around to come face to face with a grey stallion.

His vision drifted upward.

“Something funny on my helmet?” the stallion lowered his head.

“Waaaaait wait wait wait wait,” Caleb scooted away. “You can talk?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” the stallion held out a hoof. “Come. We’ll get you someplace to rest while we figure things out. A lot has happened recently, and it seems you and the Princess have been caught in the middle of it.”

Princess? What?

He placed a hand on the stallion’s hoof, pulling himself up.

Something wasn’t right. As if that wasn’t obvious already. He retracted his hand, staring at the scaly purple surface.

“Follow. We’ll getcha full checkup done. Might take a little longer than usual since we’ve had to resort to alternative measures in the meantime, but feel free to help us out if you’re feeling well enough. The sooner we’re done the better.”

Caleb pushed the thoughts on his new bodily features aside, running after the stallion. “Alright, catch me up. What the fu—”

“Magic’s gone,” the stallion cut him off. “The unicorns can’t do anything, the pegasi can’t fly, and me?” he stopped, holding up a hoof again. “I honestly don’t know what I’ve lost. Hooves feel tingly and that’s about it. And I think you already know the other major event that brought our little camp out here.”

He spun back around, stumbling over some loose rubble. “Matter of fact is that whatever Blueblood ordered the Canterlot Lab of Magical Research to do, they screwed it up big time. Anything more specific than that—” he grunted as he flung open the flaps of a tent for Caleb to enter. “—is classified beyond what I’m allowed to see. Hop on that cot for me, wouldya? I’ll get the doctor in.”

Caleb climbed onto the cot. Emphasis on climbed. It seemed like everything here was built for these talking horses, and not so much something…

His eyes fell again to his scaly hands.

Then to the mirror sitting to the side.

It was a little hard to see himself in full at the angle he sat at, but that was very definitely not him in the mirror.

He lifted a hand to one of the bright green flaps that apparently now sat in place of his ears.

Leathery.

Same went for the ridges that ran from his head down to the tail that he only now noticed.

He was some kind of reptile for sure. Nothing like any of the ones he’d read about at school though. The shape of this body was far more similar to a human than anything else he could think of.

“Spike?” another stallion poked his head into the tent. “Ah, there you are! Heard they found you in a ditch, yes?”

Caleb gave a slow nod.

“Ahhh, no worries!” the stallion stepped into the tent, the bulky fabric bundle strapped to his back teetering as he entered. He swung his body to the side, letting the bundle tip and fall to the floor. “I will make sure you are in tip-top shape, sir.”

He hoofed through the contents of his bundle, grumbling something under his breath.

“So,” Caleb swung his legs over the side of the cot. “How come everyone’s calling me ‘Spike’ and ‘sir’?”

“Why would they not?” the stallion set aside a triangle hammer thing. With his mouth. “Your name is Spike, and as an honorary member of the Equestrian Royal Guard for what you did at the Crystal Empire, we call you sir!”

Riiiiiight. Okay. Alright. So this is very much not his body then. Sucks to be whoever this Spike guy is if he’s stuck in the reverse situation then.

“I… think I’m gonna lie down a bit then,” Caleb huffed. “I don’t remember any of that.”

His parents always said not to lie, but in a scenario like this? Playing the part of Spike was probably his best bet to survive. At least until he finds his sister.

Actually, come to think of it, she’d be like him, too, wouldn’t she? Or would she also be a horse? The former would make things much easier since it didn’t seem like anyone else around here was whatever he was.

A mechanical clunk drew his attention back to reality. In front of him now was some sort of contraption that looked vaguely like one of those eye inspection machines at the optometrist’s place.

“Stay still,” the stallion rolled the machine closer. “Taking a look at your eyes. Keep them nice and open for me, yes? Laying face-down in the mud is no way to keep those blinkers clean and healthy.”

Well whaddya know.

He leaned in closer to the machine, letting the stallion peer into his eyes.

“Nothing wrong, no-thing wrong,” he pulled the machine away. “Any bruises? Cuts? Bones jutting out where they should not be?”

“…No?”

“Excellent!” the stallion pulled out that same little triangle hammer before. “Watch my face now, I’m going to stand aside and tap your knees with the hammer. I’m sure you understand what will happen.”

The rest of the checkup came and went uneventfully. Slow at times thanks to the medic stallion stopping to write things down, but otherwise it was a bog-standard thing. A little part of him did want to see how terrible the writing on that notepad was, though. A doctor and writing using a pen in your mouth? That couldn’t have done any good for readability.

“You are in perfect condition my friend,” the stallion dropped the pen from his mouth. “Feel free to leave. Or,” he hopped off his stool and made his way back to his bundle, which by now looked like it’d exploded on the floor. He sheepishly turned back to Caleb. “Help me put things away?”

“Spike,” the stallion from earlier poked his head in. “The brass wants to hear from you. See if you’re the real deal or an imposter. Doctor?” he turned his head.

“Go with Flintlock, the medic horse shooed him off. “I can take care of it myself. You are a very busy dragon, after all.”

Caleb drew a breath.

“I’m not Spike.”