It was nearly midnight. The moon was radiant, shining its matte white beams, reflecting against windows and leaving just enough light outside to observe Ponyville's surroundings. The spring breeze whistled quietly, pondering outside, following lonely wanderers and whipping around, doing somersaults in the air. The stars twinkled like identical ornaments, strung together - the sky was the Christmas tree.
Twilight Sparkle sat in front of her desk, yawning, her jaw flying open like a hungry lion, and leaned back in her seat. It was Christmas Eve and she had been writing Princess Celestia a late-night letter in honor of the festive holiday. She was rather tired and wanted to go to bed, but wanted to send it before heading to sleep.
She thought sending the letter to the Princess early was so substantial because she was going to attend a Christmas ball (held by Rarity, of course) tomorrow at ten o'clock sharp. She'd have to wake up early, get changed into a dress (a custom gown designed by Rarity - who else?), wrap all of her presents, and gallop to Sugarcube Corner all in one morning. She didn't want to miss it for the world.
Rarity had decided to let Twilight give a Christmas speech to everyone before the ball began. Twilight was much, much more than ecstatic. Being the apprentice of the most powerful alicorn of all time for what seemed like an eternity, she had always longed to be admired. She longed for power, to be considered beyond intelligent. She wanted to mean something, to have something other ponies couldn't - of course, other than her skill in magic.
Twilight yawned again and looked down at the letter sitting on the hard wood surface before her. Reading over the parchment again, she made sure that there were no spelling mistakes, grammar errors, incorrect punctuation use, you name it - before slipping the letter in a crisp, vanilla envelope and setting it next to Spike's bed. The dragon was already sound asleep, and he promised he would send it first thing in the morning.
Twilight put her quill and ink bottle away, climbing onto her rather comfortable bed and clambering under the comforter. She yawned again, her eyes fluttering closed like a butterfly's wings. Hopefully, she would wake up to a snowy winter morning - the Christmas of her dreams. Although Shining Armor was off with Cadence and couldn't make it to the ball, she was sure her friends would make it up to her.
Slowly, Twilight Sparkle drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep, thinking the next day was going to be absolutely perfect - then again, that's what Cadence thought the day of her royal wedding. The young, magical pony had no clue what was coming to her, and if she had known, she most likely would have done anything to live in the meadow of her past.
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When Twilight woke up, she inhaled the scent of cocoa beans. Rich, caffeinated cocoa beans. She wasn't sure why - coffee was very rarely brewed in Equestria - and Spike had no clue whatsoever how to make it, anyway. Her vision was blurry and she couldn't see much, so she decided to sit up and try to snap herself out of the dizziness she was trying to overcome.
And that's when she realize she was strapped down to a cot with velcro in the middle of a coffee-scented hospital and that there were tubes up both her front hooves and that she was wearing a really heavy metal helmet.
Struggling to sit up, her vision began to focus and she noticed two nurses - a turquoise blue unicorn and a velvet red pegasus - hovering over her. "Stay down," the turquoise nurse muttered quietly. "The tubes will move and possibly paralyze your hooves completely." And so Twilight Sparkle stayed down.
"The Doctor will be in to check on you soon," the velvet red nurse mumbled under her breath before letting go of Twilight and adjusting the helmet. "Don't touch the helmet. If you try to pull it off, it'll electrocute you and you'll be dead." And so Twilight Sparkle didn't try to pull it off, either.
The purple unicorn tried to speak up. She had so many questions ("Where am I? Why are there tubes up my hooves? What does this metal helmet do? Why are you doing this to me? Did I slip into a coma in my sleep or something?") to ask these nurses, but soon she realized she hadn't the energy to do so.
The turquoise nurse took a small cup and poured a thick, pink mixture past Twilight's lips. Twilight swallowed reluctantly. It tasted...unique. Solid, but not solid. Sweet, but sour. Salty, but bare. It made her mood change as well - she was happy, yet so uncontrollably upset. She was excited, and at the same time, ultimately bored. She felt hostile and aggressive, yet so pacified and peaceful.
Twilight Sparkle, unsure of the dilemma ahead of her, closed her eyes and took long, deep breaths. In, out, in, out... She tried to reassure herself that everything was going to be just fine. Just fine...Just...fine...
She heard the clicking of hooves bashing against the tile floor, the quiet mumblings of what she guessed was a group of doctors and nurses, and the rumbling and beeping of a hospital monitor beside her. Dunu...beep...dunu...beep...dunu...beep..dunu...beep...
Twilight Sparkle didn't open her eyes for a rather long time. She tried to think of reasonable conclusions. She could have gotten sick or had an alarming fever while she slept. She could need more blood and they were just making sure everything was all right. Then again, that didn't explain the enormous metal helmet and the odd concoction she was forced to drink.
The aroma of coffee roamed in the air of the hospital room. It wasn't very calming, but at least she knew she was still in Equestria. She was still in the real world, the world she had grown up in, the world she had come to know and love.
The doctor came trotting into the room - Twilight could tell it was him when all the muttering came to an abrupt stop. Twilight pretended she didn't notice and continued to rest her eyes. What made her open her eyes, however, was the unbelievable remark the doctor made that was "welcome to the future!"
