Heartbeat. In the beginning... she only heard her own heartbeat. The calm rhythm, in which her heart was pumping the blood through her veins, giving life to the numb limbs. With each passing second, she could feel the warmth of her own body getting stronger, giving her life and power to exist, to move, to breathe.
Breath... She realized that she can breathe... She needs to breathe. She inhaled, feeling the air going down into her lungs, and then exhaled. It felt so good, so... refreshing. The air was stale and dusty, but it would be rude to ask for more.
She breathed for a few more minutes, getting used to the way her lungs increase and decrease in size when she does that. But then she felt tingling in the front of her face. She felt as something flowing and liquid was passing through her eyelids and disturbing the eyes.
Eyes... If she has eyes... Then she can see, she figured out. Slowly, she raised her eyelids, as the liquid touched her eyeballs fully... But it didn't hurt at all. She could see comfortably, even though she was surrounded by water.
She looked around - she was in some kind of tube, floating in the water. The walls of the tube in front of her were transparent, and she could see through.
She noticed that there was something on her face, like a mask. Long tubes were coming out of the mask, and leading up into the ceiling of this water-filled tank. She figured out that was the way she was breathing - the air was transported through the tubes and into the mask, from which she was breathing.
Why is she here? What is she doing in this tank? Who is she?
Her head started to ache horribly, as the torn pieces of memory started coming into her head - pictures, words, names, places, looks. She shook her head, trying to suppress the headache, but it wasn't going away. The visions continued to tear through her brain like knife through butter.
She wanted to scream, but couldn't - the mask was tightly attached to her face, and all that came out of her mouth was murmurous mumbling.
The visions have left, and she finally knew who she was. Her name was Twilight Sparkle, an unicorn. She remembered her life, all of it... except, at one point, the memories just stopped. She has seen the entirety of her life... except the last parts.
Realization of her identity didn't shed much light on this situation, but at least one of her questions was answered. She know who she is, and who she was. It was time to figure out where is she.
She touched the transparent wall of her water-filled prison. From what she can remember, the material it was made from was glass. But at the same time, it was a strange kind of glass - when Twilight tried to hit it, instead of leaving a crack, it bounced her hoof off its surface. She's not getting out of this tank any time soon, it seems.
Twilight looked through the glass and into the room the tank was in. The floor was made of solid metal. The walls were metal as well, but some parts of them were colored, with strange markings painted on them. She looked closely, and managed to read one of the markings.
"PLEASE, STAY CLEAR OF THE REJUVENATION TANK IF THE TEST SUBJECT IS STILL INSIDE. THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY" - it said in big bright red letters.
This scared Twilight - rejuvenation tank? The subject? Was she the subject?
She never suffered from claustrophobia - or at least, she remembers that she never did, but the walls of the tank suddenly felt like they were closing in on her. She was like a little fish in the bottle, and it didn't make her feel good at all. She is a pony, Princess Celestia's favorite protégé - not a fish or a trophy! Not a test subject!
She tried to hit the glass wall again, but it didn't do much. She tried again and again, but all she managed to do was leaving a small scratch. It scared Twilight, the questions and fears filled her head. What if she was abducted? What if her friends are in danger? What if...
She started to freak out, moving rapidly, trying to scream. The mask beeped, letting out the bubbles of unneeded air into the water. Twilight started banging on the glass wall, in hope that somepony will hear her. But the sounds were too quiet for anypony besides her to hear.
In desperation, she tried to push the glass wall out with her back hooves. She leaned back on the wall and kicked this glass wall as hard as she could several times. It didn't do anything. As she returned into her previous position, the fear has completely overtaken her mind - she was afraid of staying inside. Filled with desperation, rage and horror, she continued to maul the glass, when suddenly she felt that the mask, her only source of air, started coming off.
In a moment's notice, the mask disconnected from her mouth, letting out a barrage of bubbles. Twilight was left completely defenseless, and the water poured quickly into her mouth.
She felt the liquid passing through her body and into the lungs. The fear overtook completely, as she started choking and coughing, praying for air. The tank was quickly filled with bubbles of air, as she desperately tried to hold her breath.
"ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! EMERGENCY TANK OPENING - IN PROCESS!" - Twilight heard the monotonic female voice, as the world around her started losing colors and turning black. She could barely move - the strength was leaving her, and her heartbeat slowed down. She felt so lonely when the sound of beating heart got so quiet she could not hear it. Or did it disappear?
Suddenly, the glass wall was raised, quickly moving somewhere up, and the water Twilight was swimming in poured outside. She fell out of the tank onto the cold metallic floor, into a puddle of this liquid. Twilight started coughing, spewing out the water, before she could finally breath in.
Even though she didn't spend that much time choking... it felt so good to breathe!
After taking a deep breath, Twilight got up from the floor and shook off the liquid, splattering it all over the place. Not too nice to do it when you're visiting somepony, but this place didn't seem like a welcoming house at all. In fact, it wasn't even a house.
The room was quite wide. There were lines on the walls Twilight was unable to see from the tank - red, blue and green ones, going through the whole wall right up until a strange door. At least, she thought it was a door - it didn't have a doorhandle, it was made of metal and it really didn't look like anypony could open it. To Twilight's right, there was a strange cupboard - it didn't have any drawers, but instead it had three dark glass panels and lots of buttons underneath them. They were all shining green, and Twilight could hear the beeping noise coming from it.
To her left, there was a table. It was white and had a strange panel on it. The lost unicorn approached it and took a closer look - it was the same dark panel like on that cupboard. There was also a strange notebook, lying on the table - it had a plastic frame, and had a glass panel in the centre. Intrigued, Twilight took it and tried to open it.
To her surprise, it didn't have any pages, and that plastic frame and glass panel was everything this..thing was. A very strange notebook indeed, how do you write in one of these?
"Can anypony hear me?!" - the notebook suddenly emitted strange voice, and Twilight dropped it from fright. The notebook hit the floor, making a screeching noise. For a moment Twilight thought she broke it, when suddenly the voice repeated again.
"Can anypony hear me?!" - it said, and the glass panel on it turned bright. Twilight approached it, and look into the panel, noticing a young mare unicorn. Her mane was green, and her coat was pale brown. Twilight picked up the notebook and looked into the panel.
"I can hear you" - she said in an unsure voice. The pony on the panel suddenly looked frightened, and started looking around.
"You...you woke up?" - she said, and Twilight nod. The pony sighed and turned away for a second, saying something in an unknown language. Whatever it was, it wasn't pretty.
"Well, at least the experiment was a success, after all. Though I don't know if there is any reason for her to keep you alive..." - the mare said, but it sounded just as strange as that language.
"Who... are you?" - Twilight asked, still trying to figure out where she was.
"Sorry... My name is Psi-Crow" - the pony replied.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you..." - Twilight said, and wanted to say something else but this strange pony in a panel interrupted her.
"No, you're not. You are not Twilight Sparkle" - Psi-Crow said, and Twilight looked at her with confusion - what is she talking about? Of course she is!
"What? Are you insane?"
"No... But I wish I was. It's difficult to explain - you just don't have any idea how complicated it is. Too complicated for you to even grasp the basics" - Psi-Crow said, which made Twilight quite angry, adding to confusion.
"Are you calling me stupid?! Listen, lady in a glass panel, you either tell me where I am, or I'll smash you against this wall!" - she shouted at the panel, losing her temper.
"No, no, sorry. I didn't mean it. And I am not inside the panel - the thing you are holding in your hoof is a hologram tablet. It passes the image of you and your surroundings to my computer. It's like a video camera, that's recording live and sends the recording to me" - Psi-Crow said, and Twilight rubbed her head. Video camera? Computer? Live recording?
"Oh, sorry. I forgot that these things didn't exist yet when you were around. In a nutshell - I can see and hear everything using this thing. Whenever you point the front of it - I can see that" - the pretty mare explained.
"So, it's like a magic mirror?"
"Grr...Yes, yes it is" - Psi-Crow said, sounding quite annoyed.
"So, where am I?" - Twilight asked.
"You are in the rejuvenation chamber. The tube you woke up in is a rejuvenation tank - it kept your body preserved and safe. This chamber is one of many in this section - it's called R&LS. Rejuvenation and Life Support" - Psi-Crow explained, but Twilight only looked at her with puzzled look.
"You will not understand anything... Listen - just walk to the green glowing button in the corner of the room and press it. It will be easier for me to explain" - she said, and Twilight looked around. There was a button in the corner, right nearby the wall that was right against the tank. The unicorn came closer to it, with the button emitting green light in this dim lit room. Still a bit unsure, she pressed it.
The wall right nearby moved up with a scary rumble. It wasn't wall at all - behind it, a glass window was hiding. But it was the sight in this window that shook Twilight to the very brim of her bones.
"This is.. Equestria" - Psi-Crow said, as Twilight gazed upon the planet. The white stains on its surface were clouds, and the giant blue oceans were taking up more than half of it. She quickly recognized the shapes of the continents, just like on the maps she saw in the books.
"Welcome to the future, Twilight Sparkle" - Psi-Crow said. "You are on the space station, called FRIEND. It's the biggest space station ever created by ponies - it's used to house many experiments, many supporting systems for the planet to function properly - here, we create clouds, rains, storms and wind, and send them down via special laser equipment. I know what you're thinking - didn't pegasi do this? No, they don't nowadays. It's all automated, and everything needed for it to work is here"
Twilight stared at the planet, drifting in space, then back at Psi-Crow. The pale brown unicorn looked at her with compassion.
"I know this is hard for you to swallow... but you're not Twilight. You are her genetic recreation - a clone. After many years of study and experiments, after thousand of failed attempts, you finally live" - she said.
A...clone? Like those in the Mirror Pool? The fake copy of the original. Twilight started to feel horrible - her eyes started to fill with tears. Is she just like those mindless drones, that once swarmed Ponyville, daring to call themselves Pinkie Pie?
"I am.. a clone? I am... not Twilight Sparkle?" - she said in a trembling voice. "But... why do I remember everything? Why are all these memories inside my head?"
"It's not like Mirror Pool. You were biologically recreated, using the most advanced technology and the techniques we didn't know even exist. You won't believe how many monstrous atrocities walked out of that tank - they were all a failed attempts to recreate you. You are the first specimen to finally work as intended. Please, do not be upset - you're not mindless. You're just an exact copy of the real Twilight, like an extension of her life, if one says so" - Psi-Crow said. Twilight felt a little bit better, but not by much.
"What happened to the real Twilight Sparkle?" - she asked Psi-Crow, and the mare in the panel sighed.
"Four hundred years have passed since she passed away" - she said. "She died in happiness, don't worry - old age"
"Well, that's a relief" - Twilight said. These news brought a little speck of hope - at least she won't have to compete with the real one, and can live her own life.
"Maybe..." - Psi-Crow said. Suddenly, the space station started to shake, and loud explosions could be heard.
"Oh, no. You have to get out of there. I'll explain what's going on later, just get out of there. There is an air vent nearby, use that" - Psi-Crow shouted, and the panel turned dark again. Twilight put the hologram tablet in her mouth, turned round and saw the metal grate, covering a hole in the wall. It was quite small, but a small filly could stand there without ducking. Twilight approached it, and hit the grate as hard as she could. Surprisingly, in this world of future, the grates for ventilation are made quite fragile, since she managed to destroy it with a single blow.
Twilight wanted to talk with Psi-Crow again, ask her what happened, and why does she needs to run. She wanted to ask her what is happening in the world right now, why was she created, and, most importantly, the fate of her friends, but all those thoughts were interrupted when the screeching noise of metal reached her ears. She looked around, and saw the door she noticed earlier slowly getting ripped open. Even though the view was obscured, Twilight managed to see the face of the monster - it was shaped like a pony, but instead of normal frontal hooves, it had long sharp claws, which it used to tear the metal apart. Its maw was filled with razor sharp teeth, disgusting pulsating veins could be seen all over its body, and its blood was glowing green. It had big nasty spikes coming out of its spine, and it seems like every movement caused it pain. It roared like a dragon, and after dealing with the door, it looked around hungrily with its eyes filled with blood.
Twilight wanted to shout, but quickly shut herself up and crawled into the vent. She felt a piercing pain as she cut her belly on the piece of the grate that was once covering the passage. She suppressed it, as the monster seemed quite capable of tearing her into bloody bits in seconds, and it was more preferable for her to cut herself a little bit, than being eaten. She quickly crawled through the vent as far from this room as possible. Though it was more tight than the rejuvenation tank, Twilight didn't feel any claustrophobia - mainly, because there was somewhere she could move.
It was so obscure - knowing that she is a clone, and yet... she is something different. Something more. And her surroundings were weird - everything seemed so alien. Though it should probably be that way - four hundred years have passed since her death.
Twilight still had so many questions to ask, so she sped up, crawling as fast as she could to reach the exit of this vent and get away from the monster. She believed that Psi-Crow will answer all her questions once she gets in the relatively safe place. But what place can be safe when she doesn't know even an inch of this space station? How will she survive in this new world? The questions only increased in numbers.