No real author's note this time. Just keep giving me that C&C, because It's extremely helpful! Y'all really make me feel good merely by reading this!
Twilight’s question was an interesting one. It took me only a few moments to answer it, but it nevertheless made me think.
“All I remember is my name. The rest is a mix of colors flying by and sounds. There will be a small moment of clarity in the sound or sights every so often, but nothing that jumps out at me.” I spoke dejectedly. I was disturbed by the fact that I knew nothing about myself. I’d essentially lost my life, or at least my identity.
“Well, I could try a spell. I don’t know how well it would work though.” Twilight suggested. Her tone unnerved me a bit. She was unsure and nervous. I looked to the others to see what their thoughts were. Fluttershy was still staring at her hooves. Applejack was thinking. Rainbow Dash seemed bored. Pinkie was still bouncing up and down without saying anything, and Rarity eyes were wide.
“Twilight…Do you mean the memory spell? Could it really work?” Rarity gasped her questions out. Her tone seemed exaggerated, but this may actually have been a time where it was necessary. Then Applejack nodded her head.
“It seems like the only option to me.” She said in approval of the idea. Well, she was right. There was no other option, so I decided I was going to let her try.
“Okay…It can’t hurt to try.” I agreed with them. With that Twilight stepped towards me and her horn started glowing. She touched her horn to my forehead, and suddenly memories went flying by. A black mare with a flowing starry mane and tail being struck by a rainbow of magic. A similar rainbow hitting a Draconequus and turning him to stone. Many images of the six ponies in front of me flashed by in all sorts of events. I understood the context of each and every memory.
When it finally ended my head hurt immensely, and Twilight anxiously asked, “Did it work?” I could feel the apprehension in her voice. I couldn’t respond at first though. It was too much, too fast, and I had to let my brain catch up. Once it had I responded.
“It worked, but not how you intended. None of the memories I have are mine.” The faces of all the ponies in the room fell a bit at the news. I felt Twilight needed a better explanation though, “You actually gave me all of the memories of your friendship. I saw all of you fight Nightmare Moon, and Discord. So many other scenes were there as well.” I paused for a second trying to collect my thoughts. Once I figured I knew what to say I continued, “I saw Rainbow Dash perform the Sonic Rainboom. I watched as Applejack tried to harvest an entire orchard of apples on her own. There are others, but my mind is having trouble processing it all.” Twilight was even more concerned after listening to me.
“I was worried it wouldn’t work. I must need to have memories of you to remind you of them. That was the only way I could think of to help revive your memories.” Twilight didn’t let her unhappiness show on her face, but it came through in her voice just plain. I didn’t want all of them to be disappointed in the fact that they couldn’t revive my memories. I shook my head, as if that would bring my memories back, and it obviously didn’t. All I managed to achieve was making myself unsteady. This caused me to lay down on the couch. Fluttershy jumped up and ran to my side as it happened.
“Oh…he needs his rest. He’s still weak….and we don’t know the last time he’s eaten.” She told the others as she put one of her hooves to my forehead. The cooling touch felt good. “He has a fever too. I-I need to get him some ice.” She hurried out of the room and came back with a pack of ice. The site must have been a familiar one for the others to see, because they all smiled a bit as she yellow Pegasus took care of me.
“Thank you Fluttershy.” I spoke up to her as she situated the pack on my head. She backed up a step as soon as she was satisfied with the placement of the pack.
“You’re..um…welcome.” She replied softly before turning around and going back into the other room.
“Is she always as caring as this? For that matter are you all always like this? Y’all are helping a complete stranger.” I asked the rest of them when she was out of the room. Pinkie was the last one I was expecting a response from, but she was obviously busting to speak, and speak she did.
“Silly Waya! You’re not a stranger! You’re a friend we just met!” Pinkie chimed as she continued to bounce. Her excessive energy was quite astounding, what seemed even more surprising was she wasn’t tiring at all. Twilight smiled at Pinkie’s answer and then offered one of her own.
“Pinkie’s right...whether you think so or not, you’re now our friend, and friends help friends. So, to answer your question, yes, we are all normally like this. Fluttershy is usually shyer, but you’re hurt and as I said before, she dislikes seeing others hurt.” As she finished the others nodded their agreement. I smiled at all this attention. I couldn’t pin down why, but this felt different, as if it was something I hadn’t experienced before. Fluttershy came back into the room with a sandwich. It looked to be dandelions and lettuce, and it smelled so good.
I sat up, holding the ice pack so it wouldn’t fall, as she approached. I smiled as she handed me the sandwich. She really was a sweet pony, and I appreciated her taking care of me. “Eat all of that…if you can that is.” She had tried to be assertive, but she lost her confidence again for some reason. She was taking care of me though, so I would listen to her. I probably would listen to her even if she wasn’t taking care of me. I would have felt bad otherwise.
“We’ll leave so you can eat without us watching. I know someponies don’t like to be watched as they eat. Come on guys.” Twilight left the room and the rest followed, except for Fluttershy. She stayed to make sure I ate all of the food, and I did. It was good, and I was starved.
“Thank you for the food. It was really good.” I told her. She smiled a bit, something she hadn’t done yet, but it was only a quick smile, and it faded even quicker than it appeared. The food had relieved my dizziness, and with it I felt strong enough to stand. As I started to stand, Fluttershy’s eyes widened.
“Oh…no…please don’t. You need your rest.” I stopped halfway between standing and sitting as she pleaded with me to sit back down. If I didn’t sit down she was likely to have a nervous breakdown, or at least that was the way it seemed. Maybe she was just acting. If she was, she had an amazing talent for it.
Either way, I ended up sitting back down. “Oh…good. You really do need to be careful.” She told me. It was as if she hadn’t expected me to sit back down. I was stubborn, but I wasn’t about to give her fits just because I wanted to stand. We sat in silence for a few minutes. The others were surprisingly quiet in the other room. That made me think they were eavesdropping, but I let the thought pass. It didn’t matter if they were, because I was the one they were helping. I would let Fluttershy get mad if she wanted to, but judging from her behavior so far I doubted that would happen. Fluttershy finally spoke again, “I guess I’ll go tell the others you’re done eating now.” There was a flurry of movement in the other room as she said this. That assured me the others had been listening in on our conversation, and it even made me chuckle a bit.
She left the room and returned with the others. They stood quiet for a few moments, but I had to say something. “Fluttershy?” I turned to her as she lifted her head
“Um…yes Waya?” She responded timidly. I almost felt bad that I was going to ask her what I wanted to, but I had to.
“Would you be willing to let me stretch my legs and walk around the room?” I wanted her permission, because I didn’t want to distress her anymore than she already seemed to be. She was quiet for a minute, but responded.
“If you want to…I guess it would be okay, but you…um…you should have someone help you.” She assented. I was happy she did, because my legs were tight. Applejack came forward to help.
“Ah’ll help him. He’s no bigger than Big Macintosh and I’ve had to keep him from falling before.” She told everyone. I didn’t know who Big Macintosh was, but if he was around my size than me I trusted her. I stood up slowly, my legs were wobbly under me. It was as if I had to relearn how to walk. Slowly, and with plenty of pain, I put one hoof in front of the other and started to walk around the room with Applejack at my side. “There you go. Now you’re movin’.” She said as she smiled. I looked at her and noticed she had a lot of freckles, more than anypony else in the room. It was such an ordinary thing to notice, but I was still struck by it. As I did this, however, I stumbled. She quickly moved in front of me to keep me from falling forward. I didn’t quite fall, but I came close to it. “Whoa there…Ah guess Ah spoke a bit early.” She laughed softly. I could feel my face start to darken from embarrassment. We took one last lap around the room before I sat back down on the couch.
“Thank you Applejack. I feel much better now.” I told her, and she tipped her hat. It made me smile, I don’t know why, but it did. They were all so kind. I knew that whatever happened from that point on, I would be indebted to them all, especially Fluttershy, Twilight, and Applejack. Those three seemed the most interested in helping me. This isn’t saying that the others weren’t interested in helping, but the first three seemed the most distressed over my current state.
I was about to say something else when Twilight suddenly raised her head. “I know…We’ll take you to Princess Celestia. As soon as you’re better we can go. If anypony knows what to do it’ll be the Princess!” She was obviously extremely excited over having thought of this new idea, because she started to bounce almost as much as Pinkie was still managing. That pony didn’t seem to run out of energy.
I smiled to Twilight and said, “Well if you think it’ll help, then I’m all for it.” Then I thought about Celestia. That name was so familiar. I saw an image of the Princess from the memories Twilight had given me. She looked so familiar too, but it didn’t seem to be from what Twilight had shown me. It went further back than that. I crinkled my brow trying to figure out how I knew the Princess before that, but I couldn’t. I snapped back to attention as soon as Applejack noticed the expression on my face.
“Is there somethin’ on your mind sugarcube?” She asked in her friendly accent. I smiled and shook my head. There was no need bothering them with something that they would put off to the Princess being the Princess.
“Yeah I’m fine. Just a little confused.” I told her. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t a straightforward answer either. I wasn’t comfortable with it, but it looked as if I’d be doing a lot of it if I was going to keep them from becoming worried about me. Twilight had been deep in thought during this exchange. That was obvious by the expression on her face. She snapped out of it and her eyes widened.
“I hope the Princess will be able to see us…I can’t believe I forgot about her talks with the Lupine and Griffon leaders.” This made my eyes widen. That name, the Lupine, was familiar as well. It was so familiar it hurt not being able to remember. I had to ask to keep myself from going crazy.
“Who are the Lupine? I know the Griffons, but who are the Lupine, and why is the Princess speaking with both groups?” I asked Twilight. I knew if anybody had the answer it was her. She thought for a moment before answering. I could only guess she was trying to figure out how to best put it.
“The Lupine is what the Wolves of the North named themselves. They’re a very war-like race. They bow to Celestia’s rule, but it hasn’t always been that way.” Twilight started and I could tell this was going to be an interesting and extensive story. “You see, the Lupine worship the moon. It is key to their way of life. When Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago and tried to steal the throne from Princess Celestia, the Lupine rose in rebellion as well. To them Luna was the Princess they worshipped, because she controlled the moon, and they would follow her anywhere.” Twilight obviously knew this story well. Maybe it was because of her involvement in stopping Nightmare Moon when she returned, but the reason didn’t matter. All that mattered was she knew the story.
“They are a very loyal race. Even though they love Luna better, they have always fiercely protected Equestria whenever it has come under attack during Celestia’s rule. However, with Luna’s return there have been rumors…” Everypony in the room was silent, captivated by the tale she was telling. “There are rumors that the Lupine might be ready to rebel again. You see, when they rebelled the first time, Celestia did not take kindly to it. She forced their leaders into exile, and required the rest to accept her reign. It wasn’t something she wanted to do, but something she was forced to do.” This story was so familiar to me, but it felt wrong as well. I could almost tell the story along with her.
“ They accepted her rule, and those who didn’t were exiled. But being the war-like race that they are, they have almost always been fighting one race or another. Their current war is with the Griffons over a dispute about land ownership. The Lupine believe they are entitled to the land that was stripped from them after the first rebellion. This land was given to the Griffons for their loyal service to Celestia in putting down the rebellion.” Her explanation of the conflict seemed wrong to me for some reason, but I let it pass without comment.
Twilight continued explaining it after a moment’s pause, “This fight has been going on for centuries, off and on. Mainly small fights here and there, but they are still fighting. Now however, there has been an escalation in the amount of fighting. This type of chaos is something I thought only Discord could sow, but apparently the Lupine are capable as well. So, now the Princess is trying to resolve this dispute diplomatically, just as she has every time in the past. Only this time the Lupine aren’t as willing to listen.” Everything she said about the Lupine made them out to be rather vicious. I didn’t know if it was true, but I felt as if I needed to know a Lupine before I could accept her word. As I was thinking, Twilight seemed to have some sort of revelation of sorts.
“Your name is Peaceful Wolf. Your cutie mark is a paw print” Twilight stated simply. I thought about it, it seemed too big a coincidence, but I didn’t know anything about the Lupine.
“I don’t know why my cutie mark is a paw print, and I can’t tell you why I was named what I am, but I still remember nothing. Everything you tell me…everything seems familiar, but at the same time none of it does. I can’t pin anything down in my mind. It all moves too fast, none of it slowing enough for me to recall.” I spoke the truth. It hurt me to admit all of it, but I still knew nothing of my past. Rainbow Dash surprised me by speaking next.
“Maybe he’s a wolf in disguise.” She suggested in a half-hearted tone. Pinkie couldn’t resist replying to that comment.
“Waya’s not a wolf Dashie! That’s just his name! First you think Fluttershy’s a tree, and now you think our new friend is a wolf!” She giggled as she spoke to Rainbow Dash. She obviously found it extremely amusing. I raised an eyebrow at the part about Fluttershy. Twilight shook her head and spoke.
“Don’t ask. And she’s right…He’s an earth pony, not a wolf.” Her tone gave me the feeling that she wasn’t all too sure of her statement, but she had to accept it, because there was no evidence that said I was a wolf. Besides I knew in my heart that I was a pony. My heart couldn’t be wrong.