Consciousness did not return easily. My eyes refused to open, and my body was seemingly paralyzed with the stiffness of not having moved for a number of hours. An audible groan escaped me as I attempted to reach an upright position. Every muscle ached, and every bone felt bruised. The only respite from this world of discomfort was the warm, soft grass beneath me.
Though my eyelids were heavy, I slowly opened them, only to find myself squinting against the intense glow of the sunlight. The world was little more than a white haze for the first few moments. Despite my previous experiences, I found myself silently wishing for the darkness of night. Or, at the very least, some sort of protective eye-wear.
I moved to stand, shakily lifting myself from the ground as though I had an elephant or other similarly heavy creature strapped to my back. The surrounding area was beginning to reach a bearable level of brightness, but I was too focused on preventing my legs from buckling under my own weight to notice. It didn’t seem as though I had previously been this heavy, but my recollection left a bit to be desired, so I ignored the thought.
“Walk it off...” I said aloud, pacing in a small circle for a few moments. The more I moved about, the more the stiffness subsided. Before long, I found myself jumping up and down and trotting around, vigorously fluttering my wings in the cool breeze and breathing in the fresh air. I closed my eyes and raised my nose to the sky, basking in the sunlight. I felt strong. My body was overflowing with energy. For the first time that I could remember, I felt alive.
My eyes eventually adjusted to the light, and I was finally able to adequately observe my surroundings. My first glance out into the world was completely overwhelming.
I found myself standing in the dead-center of a staggeringly expansive meadow, surrounded on all sides by a variety of deciduous trees. The sky glowed a deep blue with a few billowing clouds scattered throughout, and the sun radiated vivid, golden light out over the world. A slight breeze traveled softly over the landscape, visible only by the waves flowing across the grass field.
The entire scene was far more beautiful than any words could substantially describe, but there was something else that caught my eye. From the grass, rocks, and leaves all the way to the distant mountains on the horizon beyond the treetops, the world was illuminated by an ethereal glow that couldn’t be entirely excused by the rays of sunlight. The more I tried to focus on it, however, the more I was convinced that it was either a trick of the light or of my own imagination. Regardless, I felt as though I could sit back on my haunches and admire the landscape for the rest of eternity.
* * * *
It wasn’t long before I grew bored of sitting around and staring into space with a dumb look on my face. I began to wander and explore, though every venture that led away from that tiny hill in the center of the meadow always led me back there a short time later. Before long, it began to sink in that I was not simply lost; I was very lost. Not only was I severely lacking in directly applicable geographical knowledge, but I had no recollection beyond a particularly harrowing encounter with an unknown force the previous night. At least, I assumed it was the previous night.
I sat down once again and scanned the edges of the meadow for anything unnatural. Unfortunately, there was no indication that anypony had previously encountered this particular meadow, though I had high hopes for the meadow next door.
I gave a dejected sigh, slightly disheartened by my own sarcasm, then raised my head and shook away the negative thoughts. Logic dictated that the forest couldn’t possibly be infinite, considering that I’d already been to at least one village. If I began walking in one direction, I would eventually have to find something, right? I interpreted that thought as less of a hope and more of a challenge, rearing back and then galloping onward. I would leave that small hill in the center of the meadow and never look back.
Suddenly, I came to a stunning realization. I had wings! Finding civilization just got about twenty percent easier, I thought to myself as I spread my wings and got ready to lift off. I already had a good running start, so it was just a matter of launching myself into the air and soaring into the sky. Without hesitation, I jumped with all of my might and began beating my wings against the air around me.
My vision became filled with green and brown textures as I slammed face-first into the ground. I was torn between frustration and embarrassment, despite there being nopony around to witness my failure. Of course I would turn out to be a pegasus pony who couldn’t fly. Aside from the whole accosted-by-darkness-then-falling-off-of-a-cliff-and-somehow-still-being-alive thing, I had been unimpressed by my luck so far.
I jumped to my feet and frustratedly shook the dust from my feathers. Something about the idea of a pegasus pony walking any substantial distance rubbed me the wrong way. It wouldn’t have bothered me as much if I hadn’t had access to a better means of travel. But in this case, the problem was my own inability. I couldn’t just let that one go.
I braced myself in a stance that served no particular purpose and once again unfolded my wings. I raised them as high as I could, bringing them down lightly on either side of me in a brief effort to practice the motion. Then, with as much effort as I could manage, I flapped them powerfully and jumped into the air, rising for only a split second before falling back to the ground.
I had made progress, and somehow I was already exhausted.
* * * *
My perception of the passage of time, which had already been severely distorted to begin with, was nonexistent as I wandered endlessly into the forest. As my mind jumped from one subject to the next, unable to concentrate on any single idea for more than a moment, I found that the slightest details of nature had become increasingly apparent.
I had initially awakened in a simple, sensible place. There had been a ground with some grass on it, as well as some trees. Above that, there was a sky with some clouds in it, though that part seemed more like a two-dimensional backdrop than any legitimately existent feature of the scenery. Around me were hints at wildlife, including the sound of chirping in the distance, or berries that had been eaten off of certain bushes. All in all, I was in a fairly average forest.
But without any memories to become lost in, I found myself constantly on the surface of my own consciousness, absorbing every aspect of my surroundings and weaving them into something surreal. The bright green grass beneath my feet harmonized flawlessly with the darker leaves above, beginning a vivid visual orchestra that the universe's greatest musicians couldn't even dream of. The clouds in the sky provided a deep blue melody to accent the greens, and with the curtains of golden sunlight piercing the canopy and billowing with the leaves in the breeze, the whole forest became a colorful symphony playing along to the metronome of a thousand songbirds.
The dreamlike world, however, was as fragile as a world can be. Just as quickly as I had imagined this reality, I began to pick it apart until nothing was left. Most were subtle, but certain details didn’t make sense to me. Despite that my idea of how the world should be had no recognizable basis due to amnesia, I still found myself recognizing errors all around me.
Lush, beautiful grass appeared to flourish on the forest floor, despite most of the sunlight it would need to grow being blocked by the trees above. The birds were not just plentiful, but it sounded as though there were many more than there should have been. I couldn’t even begin to explain how I might have known how many birds was normal for any given area, but that knowledge as well as a number of other random bits of information was somehow floating in from the void around my fragmented consciousness.
Another error; for someone with amnesia, I sure seemed to know a lot. Not just a lot, but I could feel a vast wealth of information looming just beyond my reach. I couldn’t access this knowledge consciously, however. It needed a trigger to break free, such as the grass and the birds. I glanced about, torn between wanting the world to remain as perfect as possible and wanting to find more irregularities that would drive back the darkness in my mind. Something else distracted me from this conflict, however. Something that doesn’t seem to matter at all most of the time, but seems like the biggest problem in the world when it becomes apparent.
Thirst... All at once, I was severely dehydrated. It was not a problem that became gradually more noticeable with time. I couldn’t think. I didn’t know how to react. I just frantically looked and listened, searching desperately for a water source, which I had yet to encounter. I forced myself forward, pacing myself to prevent the dryness in my mouth from becoming any worse.
My head pounded, and my body felt heavy all over again. The sound of the birds was no longer beautiful music. Rather, it was an incessant noise that served only to worsen my headache and make it difficult to listen for water. What does water even sound like? I thought. I could vividly recall the sound of rain against wood and stone, but the memory of water running through a stream or calmly lapping against an ocean shore eluded me. It was a strange feeling, knowing that I should remember something, but finding myself entirely unable.
Then I heard it: the unmistakable sound of a ferocious river pouring out into the air and slamming against the rocks and water below. A waterfall, and quite a large one at that. I wondered how I could have ever forgotten that sound.
* * * *
The following moments seemed to drag on endlessly. I chased after the sound, every sign indicating that a massive waterfall was just a stone’s throw away. But no matter how far I travelled, the sound never seemed to get any closer. Despite the burning in my throat, I found myself galloping through the forest, ducking beneath low branches and dodging tree trunks. The desire to quench my thirst had overcome rationality, and I would not be able to stop until I had reached my goal. I abandoned caution at this point, diving headfirst through a bush that obstructed my path.
Leaves and sticks rushed through my field of vision, until suddenly they were gone, and I was faced with only the sky. For a fraction of a second, everything became quiet. The sounds of wind in my ears and my hooves against the ground were no more, and the sun had once again managed to blind me, though the effect was slightly less pronounced this time. I continued to flail my legs in a vaguely-running motion before realizing that I no longer felt the ground beneath me. And then the wind noise returned.
Just before panic managed to take shape, logic and realism manifested for a brief moment to criticise my apparent affinity for falling from high places. They almost immediately gave way to fear, however, which accompanied me the rest of the way down. I frantically flapped my wings in vain, momentarily appalled that the action had literally returned no result, whatsoever. I opened my mouth to about to verbally complain about their uselessness, but no words escaped me, for my world yet again changed entirely in that moment.
Hollow sounds echoed from all around me, though I could still hear the waterfall in the distance. It was different now, though. Louder. Almost as though rather than hearing it, I could feel the sound in my entire body. I tried to move, but each movement was met with unexpected resistance. I opened my eyes (which I didn’t remember closing), but my vision was blurred. The sunlight from above was now uneven, shaking back and forth with... The waves.
There was an explosion of sound as I broke through the surface, splashing about and gasping for air. I couldn’t very well observe my surroundings at the moment, but I knew that the waterfall I’d been seeking was right next to me. I could feel the cold mist washing over me, and I could hear the thunderous roar as the falls came crashing into the pool at their base.
My ability to swim returned more readily than my ability to fly, assuming I had it to begin with. By the time I had gone half of the distance to the edge of the pool, panic had subsided and I was easily able to paddle my way there. I finally reached an area where the water was shallow enough to stand in, and the ground sloped the rest of the way to the surface from there. I waded over to dry land and immediately dropped to my side, exhausted. I had ingested enough water that I was no longer thirsty for the moment.
The waterfall was a sight to behold. Shooting out into the air hundreds of feet above, the water had cut a massive hole into the solid stone ground below. The bottom of the hole was brilliantly smooth, rounding out to create a pool that could have easily been mistaken for an artificial one. The side opposite of where I rested was where the pool spilled out over the lowest wall and created a river that continued off into the distance.
Trees reached outward from the top of the falls, and the ones growing all around were easily twice as tall as those I’d seen before. The sun only shone upon the innermost part of the circular pool, as the rest of the sunlight was heavily filtered by the leaves once again. I was beginning to notice a pattern. The darkness created by their shadows could not rightly be referred to as such, however. I had already accepted that wherever I had ended up, the entire area, or possibly even the entire world was illuminated by a soft light from some unknown source, and for that I was grateful. If there was one certainty among all of the confusion and mystery, it was that this was not a realm in which I would encounter the darkness from before.
I sighed deeply. This had been the most physically and mentally taxing day I’d had since before I could remember! I rolled my eyes at the thought, then dragged myself over to the edge of the water for another drink. It was not cold, but it was ridiculously clean. From the edge, even through the disturbance in the surface, I could see all the way to the bottom, which was illuminated by an ever-shifting web that formed beneath the single patch of sunlight on the surface.
As I rolled over onto my back, I could feel my eyes closing. Was this really the best place for a nap? With wet hair, no less? Though I figured that the air was more than warm enough to keep me from catching a cold, I really didn’t care to give it more thought than that. The smooth, stone surface was more comfortable than it had any right to be, and I was more tired than I had ever been, though there wasn’t much to compare to. Either way, this would be the first time I had voluntarily fallen asleep. I’d likely wake up in the middle of the night, but I was already too far gone by the time I considered the possibility. Within moments, the world faded out entirely.