The first thing she experienced was falling on to a hard, unforgiving floor. As she gradually became more lucid (which either took a few seconds or a few hours, it was difficult to tell) she realised she was drenched in a clear liquid. It smelt so strongly like antiseptic that it caused her nose to wrinkle from the stench. A dozen questions were swimming through her head, all of them fighting to be answered first.
Where was she? Why was she lying on the floor? What was her name? She knew she was a she but that's really all she had to go on.
She tried to move one of her hooves into her range of vision and discovered that was quite impossible. Her entire body felt stiff and wooden; like a door that hadn't been opened for a very long time. After a slow and painful ordeal she discovered that her hoof was yellow. She assumed the rest of her was too. She tried to get to her hooves, slipped on the puddle of liquid that had been building up underneath her and fell on to the hard, unforgiving floor again.
"Do not attempt to get up," A voice said. "You have hibernation sickness. Symptoms of hibernation sickness may include nausea, stiff limbs, short term memory loss, temporary or permanent blindness -"
Fluttershy let the voice rattle on. She didn't seem to have most of those symptoms. The memory loss being the obvious exception. That voice seemed familiar to her –
Wait a minute.
Fluttershy.
That was her name.
Well, it was a start.
After a few more minutes or hours (it was still quite difficult to tell) Fluttershy got to her feet. Her pink mane was soaked. Was she the type of pony to care about the state of her mane? She wasn't sure. The room she was in was dark to the point where Fluttershy couldn't see past her nose.
"Um…..hello there?" Fluttershy called out uneasily. There didn't appear to be anypony else in the dark room.
"Hello, Fluttershy."
That voice was definitely familiar to the yellow pony. Yet, at the same time, it seemed eerily…off.
"You have been in hibernation for eighty-seven years, nine months, three weeks, four days, twelve hours, forty-two minutes and ten seconds. Please try to take it easy."
"Um….that's very precise. Thank you."
Eighty-seven years. She'd let the weight of that sink in later. She wouldn't let it now.
"If you wouldn't mind me asking, why was I in hibernation?"
"Because you asked to be," The voice said in a 'that answered everything' way.
"Who are you?" Fluttershy asked in the bravest tone she could muster.
"I am TWI. I run and maintain this facility."
Fluttershy's heart almost skipped a beat, but she wasn't sure why. That name must mean something to her.
TWI.
Twi.
Twidark?
No, that's not it.
Twidusk?
No, that's not a name.
Twilight?
Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight Sparkle had been one of her friends back in Ponyville! Wait, one of her friends. She had more? And what on earth is a 'Ponyville'?
"Twilight!" Fluttershy said, ecstatic. All she wanted to do right now was hug her friend and find out what was going on.
"Yes, my magical print is based on the consciousness of Twilight Sparkle."
The voice certainly sounded like Twilight but Fluttershy thought it still sounded…..off. It was monotone, with none of the bubbliness of endearing grumpiness of Fluttershy's friend.
"Explain!" Fluttershy yelled, her usual shyness gone. This imposter might have hurt the real Twilight. Nopony hurt Fluttershy's friends. Nopony.
"I am an artificial intelligence created from a combination of unicorn magic and griffon technology. I have run the Ponyville hibernation facility for the last eighty-seven years, nine months, three weeks –"
"Yes, yes, I know. Skip that bit!" Fluttershy put on her best assertive face. Twilight needed her.
"A magical print was needed to complete my construction. The consciousness of Twilight Sparkle was chosen due to her intelligence as well as the emotional attachment Princess Celestia, the head architect during my construction, had for her."
"So…..you're some sort of machine with Twilight's mind?" Fluttershy looked uneasily into the darkness. She didn't want some scary robot sneaking up on her.
"A copy of Twilight Sparkle's mind, yes."
"Then where's the real Twilight?"
"Twilight Sparkle has been deceased since before your hibernation."
All of the assertiveness drained out of Fluttershy's face. "W-what?"
"She passed away after contracting the plague. My memory files say you were there, Fluttershy."
"I'd remember if my friend died!" Fluttershy shouted. Tears ran down the yellow mare's face, "It can't – I mean I'd remember….."
"You're memories shall return in time." A door swung open and flooded the dark room. It stung Fluttershy's eyes. "Now, Fluttershy, I suggest you leave this facility in twenty minutes."
"Why?" Fluttershy said, her head hung low.
"Because this facility will explode in twenty minutes."
Fluttershy's head immediately strung up. "What?!"
"The reactor that powers this facility has worn down over the decades. I woke you up so that you might escape the blast radius."
Fluttershy considered just staying put. Twilight was gone…..
No. Her other friends might still be alive. She wouldn't give up that easily.
Wiping away her tears, Fluttershy got to her hooves and ran out of the door towards the light. She found herself in a sterile, stark white corridor. The corridor to her right was shrouded in darkness, her left was fully lit. It seemed Twilight was guiding her.
No, not Twilight. TWI. Just some machine.
Fluttershy galloped down the lit corridor, passing many doors. She glimpsed through a few of them, there were liquid filled tubes with ponies inside them. Fluttershy immediately came to a halt.
"Wait, we have to save these ponies!" Fluttershy said to the ceiling.
"We cannot save them," TWI responded in the same cold monotone.
"But, Twilight," Fluttershy protested.
"I am not Twilight Sparkle. I am a magical print of her consciousness."
"I know, I know," Fluttershy shook her head. She had to stop thinking that the machine was Twilight. "But we can save them. There's time –"
"It is not a matter of time. They are dead. As the reactor broke down, many hibernation tubes failed. Your's was the last to survive. You are one of only two survivors in this facility."
Fluttershy looked into the room again. The dead pony floated in the tube.
"Oh. That's….that's terrible."
"I did everything I could to save them."
"Yes, I'm sure you did." Fluttershy began running down the corridor again. She would properly morn them and Twilight when she wasn't running for her life.
"TWI," Fluttershy said while running, "You said there was another survivor? Who?"
"She is in the room you just passed," TWI said.
Fluttershy came to another halt.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She said angrily.
"My mission is to save all surviving ponies. She is not a pony anymore."
Fluttershy pushed her increasing dislike of the callous machine to the back of her head and pushed open the door.
"Hello?" She called into the dark room. She guessed TWI was trying to save power by only lighting the essential areas.
"Hi, Fluttershy!" A high-pitched, excitable voice called out from the darkness. "Long time no see! Boy, it's been almost ninety years now since you came to one of my parties! It's also been ninety years since I wiggled my hooves or scratched my nose! Boy, is it itchy! Let me shake your hoof, friend. Oh, wait, I can't!" Whoever it was burst into laughter.
"Light the room, please," Fluttershy said uneasily.
TWI lit the room up. The fully lit room was still very dimly lit; it was also very cramped with dirty shelves and rusty surgical tools strew around haphazardly.
There was also the severed head of a pink pony on one of the shelves.
Fluttershy screamed.
"Oh, are we having a screaming contest?" The severed head spoke. "Awesome!" It screamed too. "Did I win?"
Fluttershy took a few deep breaths. This day just kept getting worse and worse.
"What the flying feather is going on?!" Fluttershy yelled.
"Watch your language, missy!" The pink pony head said in a mock scolding tone. It giggled, "Only kidding, Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy felt a memory coming back into focus. "Pinkie Pie?"
"Well, duh. Who do you think I am? Princess Luna?"
"W-what happened to you, Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked, her shyness creeping back in. "Do you need a doctor?"
"Well, the doctors said the plague had spread to my whole body except my head. So they amputated my body to keep me alive. Oh, a side effect of the operation is that I'm now immortal. Simples! I've been in this closet ever since."
"The tubes were reserved for ponies," TWI chimed in.
"Duh, Twilight, I know that!"
"I am not Twilight Sparkle. I am a magical print of her consciousness."
"Stop being so silly, Twilight! Anyway, I used to get movies magically beamed into my noggin but that stopped around forty years ago. Since then I've had to make my own entertainment!"
Despite being a severed head, Pinkie hadn't changed a bit. Fluttershy found that oddly reassuring.
"This place is going to blow up, Pinkie. You're coming with me," Fluttershy hesitantly grabbed the pink earth pony's head with her mouth and balanced it on her back.
"She is of no use to ponykind," TWI said. "She cannot work or breed."
"You're not Twilight," Fluttershy muttered. "Twilight would care."
"Besides, if I met a nice stallion I'm sure we could still have a love life!"
There was an awkward pause.
"Too much information?" Pinkie said.
"Um….yes." Fluttershy said as she blushed.
"Facility will explode in six minutes," TWI announced.
After a minute or so of galloping through the white corridors with Pinkie on her back (who seemed to think she was on some sort of roller coaster) Fluttershy came to yet another halt as TWI spoke up.
"I have a request. My magical storage centre is to your right. I would much appreciate it if you were to download me to a portable device and take me with you."
There was a slight pause.
"I will be a very useful resource."
"You don't have to give me a reason," Fluttershy said simply as she walked into the magical storage centre. It was a large room with a purple hue and a many flashing, beeping lights.
A see-through image of Twilight Sparkle was floating in the middle of the room. It seemed to have streams of zeros and ones running through it. Fluttershy had no idea why.
"Flip the download switch to begin. It will transfer my magical print to a portable device," The pseudo-Twilight said without moving its lips.
"Hi, Twilight!" Pinkie said. "Fluttershy, your back is really comfy, by the way!"
"Um….thanks Pinkie."
Fluttershy moved to where the image of her friend had begun to gesture. She flipped the switch using her mouth.
The see-through image of Twilight disappeared and all the lights in the room stopped flashing and bleeping.
"Download complete," TWI said a split second later.
"Really? That was quick," Fluttershy said.
"Time is of the essence. Please acquire the portable device. This facility will explode in three minutes."
Fluttershy picked up the portable device (it looked like one of those wrist watches that rich ponies wore) and strapped it around her right foreleg. With TWI around her hoof and Pinkie Pie on her back, Fluttershy galloped out of the magical storage centre. She didn't stop until she reached a window. There was a small, quaint looking town outside. They seemed to be quite high up.
"I greatly recommend that you use this window to escape, Fluttershy," TWI said. "This facility will explode in one minute."
"But it's so….high."
"Fluttershy, it seems you are a pegasus," TWI said in an almost sarcastic tone.
"Yeah, use your wings! Duh!" Pinkie said.
"I have wings?" Fluttershy looked at her back. "Oh, I have wings."
She opened the window and jumped.