A pony wakes up in an unfamiliar forest, unable to remember anything about himself.
Our story begins in the middle of a forest located on the eastern side of Equestria. It was currently night time among the land. The sky was dark, the stars were shimmering like little lights in the darkness, and the moon was raised high above as a much bigger light. The inhabitants of Equestria have their Princess of the Night to thank for such a lovely night sky, as well as a good night's sleep. Animals both big and small, from the chirping birds and the chittering squirrels to the screeching eagles and the roaring grizzly bears, slept in their respected habitats as the night continued on both peacefully and quietly.
In a small clearing in the forest, in addition to all of the wildlife that lived around there, a small quadruped creature with an equine appearance laid unconscious on the ground, his upper left limb resting on his chest while his other limbs simply were splayed out on the slightly damp grass. None of the animals dared to go near the equine, believing that it was some kind of trap meant for them.
However, there was one animal that wasn't scared as it was quite familiar with who the ponies are.
A curious little bird decided to see who this pony was and flew down to him. The fact that his chest was slowly rising up and down indicated that they were still breathing and alive, making the bird chirp with delight about the fact that he wasn't some poor soul that met his end. The little bird then proceeded to move next to his head and chirped at him politely to wake up, causing the pony's ears to flicker. All of a sudden, the bird flew back a bit when the pony stirred and started to wake up.
"Urgh...wha...what happened?" the pony thought to himself as his eyes slowly fluttered opened. The first thing he saw when his vision fully came back was the beautiful night sky as well as a few trees looming overhead, "Where am I?"
The pony then proceeded to sit up in order to look around. He hissed and laid back down, however, as his head suddenly ached with pain. He tightened his eyes shut and started to rub his head in an effort to soothe the splitting headache.
"Ah jeez!" he seethed.
When the pain finally subsided, he opened his eyes again and started to sit up slowly this time. He looked around in confusion and saw nothing but grass, trees, bushes, and a few boulders.
"Where the heck am I?" he asked out loud, "Hello!"
To some, waking up in the middle of a random forest at night would've caused a panic to occur. To the pony, despite the fact that he was panicking on the inside and that he was breathing a little bit faster than normal, he overall managed to keep a calm and collected demeanor. The reason for that, however, was the part that was unknown.
He looked down and proceeded to inspect his body for any injuries. His light gray fur contained no signs of injury. No scars, no bruises, not even any scrapes or scuff marks. Besides the slight headache that he had, the pony was completely fine. This made him slightly relieved as he now knows that he wasn't kidnapped and dropped off here.
But that brings up the question.
How did he get here? In fact, where was here exactly?
CHIRP CHIRP
"Gah!" the pony yelped at the startling noise.
He looked to his side and started to calm down as he saw a little bird waddling up to him. It had a pretty thick neck, a solid black head and back, a breast and outer tail feathers that were a nice flame-orange color, a greyish beak and talons, and a white bar that ran across its black wings.
"Phew. Hello there, little fellow. You gave me quite the scare there," the pony chuckled as he continued to calm down. The bird tilted its head before it chirped happily when the equine wasn't mad at it for accidently scaring him. The pony then held a hoof up horizontally with a smile, prompting the bird to fly up a bit and perch on his hoof, making them at eye level with each other.
"Would you happen to know where I am little one?" he asked.
The bird wasn't exactly sure what it was about this pony, but for some reason it felt...safe and at ease around him. As in he wasn't going to hurt it. Although that was probably because a lot of ponies that it met were kind and caring. Curious to know more about this stranger, as well as being glad that it's able to help him, the bird chirped in response and nodded its head.
"Really?" the pony smiled at the thought of getting out of this dark forest, "Mind showing me the way out?"
The bird chirped with a nod once again. It knew that quite a distance away from here, probably about a 1 or 1 and a half hour hike depending on how fast you go, there was settlement that contained lots of pony. It should know as it has traveled there many times and only twice has it encountered a pony that chased it away. The other times it was greeted with smiles and kindness.
Before the bird could fly up and lead the way, however, something caught its eye in its peripheral vision. It turned and tilted its head in confusion at the strange object that laid less than a foot away from them. It got off of the pony's hoof and flew towards it.
The pony was at first confused at what the little bird started to peck at after flying off of his hoof. He then noticed that it was pecking at...a rock probably about the size as the bird's head and beak combined. And a strange looking one at that.
"What is this?" he questioned as he picked up the light rock, and then realized as it was also a necklace as a thin chord of string went through a hook on the top of the rock and was tied together at its ends.
The first thing he took note of was its oddly, almost perfectly spherical shape. Its surface was perfectly smooth so the possibility that this was some kind of debris from a mountain was out. Not to mentioned the professional looking crystal pattern that was decorated into it. It was eight lines originating from a center point and spreading out in a radial pattern. He turned the the rock around and saw that the crystal lines all had arrows at the end of them and were pointing at a circular hole. He looked closer and saw that there was another crystal.
"Whatever this stone is, it must've been made by a professional um...rock...decorator," he surmised as he continued to stare at the strange object, "There's no way that a rock this intricate and detailed could've just come straight from the land."
He decided right then and there to hold onto the stone. He was unsure the reason for doing so was either that it was lost and had to be returned, or that it just gave a sense of...importance. It didn't really matter to him in the end.
The pony placed the stone over his head and around his neck before he started to get up. After a few seconds of trying to gain his sense of balance, he stood up proudly on all four hooves.
The bird chirped and flew up into the air just a few inches higher than the pony. It chirped again as if to say "follow me" and proceeded fly away from the clearing, the pony immediately walking after it.
"So...I suppose I should give you a name," the pony said after almost a half hour walking in silence, the only other sounds being the leaves and bushes swaying in the wind, as well as the sound of flapping wings from the bird and its occasional chirp, "Unless you're willing to just tell me what it is?"
The bird, in response to the pony's, simply chirped in an almost deadpan tone.
"Heh. Yeah. I figured," the pony chuckled, knowing that it couldn't speak actual words but still found it amusing to hear it chirp in such a way, "But should I call you exactly?"
He figured that he should name the bird based on its appearance, but then realized that names such as "Phoenix," "Flare," or "Orange Puffball McGee," while they were all nice and cool, didn't seem quite fitting for such a helpful companion. It could've just leave him be to find a settlement on his own, but the bird decided to be nice and guide him to safety.
"...Hmm...Oh! I got it!" the pony resolved after a few seconds of thinking as a particular word came to mind, "How about I name you...Willow? Yeah. Willow. I think it's a nice name."
The bird seemed to think about the name before it chirped in a way that the pony could tell that it was satisfied with it.
"Well Willow. It's nice to meet you. I'm...uh...M-my name is...is..." the pony trailed off in his greeting before his eyes widened as he started to slowly come to a stop as he realized something.
The newly named Willow, still waiting for the pony's name, turned around at the silence and saw that he was now sitting on his haunches and was looking...distraught. It flew closer to the pony and chirped in a confused and slightly worried tone, wondering what was wrong with him.
"I don't...remember my name," he responded in a sad tone. In fact, now that thought about it, his name wasn't the only thing he couldn't remember about himself. Who he was, where he came from, what kind of life he lived, everything. Everything from before he woke up in that clearing, he just couldn't remember. It was like it was all just erased from his mind.
The pony felt tears starting to form as he looked to the side and saw a small pond. He walked over to it and looked at his reflection for what he believes is the very first time.
The reflection that stared back had light gray fur as he saw when he inspected himself earlier, but now he was viewing himself in so much more detail. His black mane that reached down to his neck had a spikey style to it, as well as a drooping fringe that very slightly covers his left eye and has two streaks (one being blue and the other being pink) running through it and to the back of the mane. His eyes had slitted pupils to them and were colored brown. Two ears sat on the top of his head with tufts of fur at the end of each one. Finally, two small fangs were jutting out of his mouth.
His face looked quite young, yet mature at the same time. He guessed that he was probably about 18 years old.
The pony then proceeded to check out the rest of his body.
The first thing he noticed were the leathery appendages that were draped across his back. For a while he wondered what he was feeling on his back. He tried moving around the extra appendages, and to his surprise, they spread out to reveal that they were wings! Their appearance were akin to that of a bat's and the boney part were the same light gray color as his fur, while the membranes were a solid black.
He looked further back and saw that he had a tail that had pretty much the same appearance as his mane. Black, spikey, one streak of blue, and one streak of pink.
The pony couldn't help but think that he saw something colorful on his flanks. Struggling a bit, he lowered his wings back down and confirmed that there was something on both sides of his flanks. It was some kind of smiling face, with X's to act as the eyes and the mouth looking stitched up with vertical lines in the middle and more X's on the sides. The face was accumulated of the colors blue and pink, the same colors as the streaks across his mane and tail. At first, he thought that it was paint, but after rubbing the smile a bit, it seemed to blend into his fur.
The pony looked back at his reflection, tears now falling down his cheeks as he sniffled a bit.
"Who am I?" he asked somberly. Just the thought not knowing his own identity simply scared the pony. He could've been part of a sweet and caring family for all he knew. If that was the case, then he wouldn't be able to remember their names and faces while they're off wondering where he was at the moment.
A few seconds went by before he heard the familiar flapping of wings and saw Willow perch on top of his head in the pond's reflection. He heard Willow give a few chirps in what sounds like either a sympathetic or apologetic tone. Who knows? It might've been both. But the tone alone was enough for the equine to understand what Willow was trying to say.
"It's...it's sorry?" he wondered, surprised by Willow's tone. Once again, the pony was practically a stranger to the bird, and yet it was showing sympathy for him. That fact alone managed to cheer him up a bit. Now he knows that even if he doesn't remember any friends he had, he has one right by his sight at the moment, even if it's just a bird.
"S-sorry you had to see that Willow," he sniffled as he rubbed the tears away. He then looked up and just stared blankly into the night sky and all the shimmering stars that were up there. The pony then started to feel something else as he shut his eyes and took a deep breathe. Determination. Hope. Whatever the feeling was, it drove him to the realization that despite the upsetting fact of memory lost, there was only one way he can go, "Well...even if I don't remember who I was...I can only mo—...no...I have to move forward!"
Willow chirped in delight, glad to see that the pony was choosing to stay positive and push forward.
With a face of determination, the pony got up from his haunches, prompting Willow to get off his head and flap in the air.
"Well Willow..." he said with a smile as he looked at his little bird companion, "...lead the way!"