I was born to hover. That is my purpose in life. To hover across the checkerboard plains, making funny faces to all the people I see. That was it. I had no qualms against it. However, as I hovered, a bright flash of light entered my eyes. In a moment’s notice, my world was destroyed.
I did not know how long I was asleep for, but when I woke up, I saw another pony with a yellow coat and brown mane.
“Are you alright?” He asked me.
“I... guess so...” I replied.
“I think you should see a doctor. You look a little... gray.” He told me.
“G-gray?” I asked. Last I recalled, I had a pink coat. I checked my hoof to make sure; however, I saw a dull gray color on my hoof, like all the color was sucked out of me. I then fainted...
I awoke on a bed facing the sand yellow-coated pony and another pony, with a darkish brown coat and a brown spiky mane.
"Ah, she's assumed consciousness," he said.
“What... what’s happening?” I asked him.
“It seems you’re all gray. I haven’t seen any illness with symptoms like this before. I doubt that this is even an illness.” He said. He then showed me a mirror and I saw myself. He was right; I was gray from head to toe. My curly mane, my swirly eyes, my coat, everything was gray.
“This can’t be right! Something changed! My coat was pink! Pink!” I told him.
“Hmm... I’ll look into it. For now, just resume life as normal.” He said. I considered his words and nodded. I then leaped off the bed, but after a few seconds in the air, I hit the ground with a hard thud.
“What? I... I was supposed to hover!” I said, getting up from the fall.
“Look, only Pegasuses can hover. You’re an Earth Pony. How is that your life?” The brown-coated pony asked me.
“But... that is my life! Hovering!” I told him. My heart began to beat rapidly. The yellow coat pony then began to look at my flank.
“Your Cutie Mark... I’ve never seen two different Cutie Marks on the same flank before.” He said.
“Cutie Mark?” I asked him.
“Yeah, you know. Your special talent or your unique characteristic. Didn’t you go to school and learn this?” He asked me. I shook my head.
“Strange. A pony who doesn’t know a lot about being a pony. This is very interesting.” the spiky-maned pony said.
“I didn’t even know that I had a... Cutie Mark until you pointed it out!” I told the yellow-coated pony.
“So, she has amnesia? Well, that settles it. Caramel, I will recommend that you be her caretaker until she regains her memory or until I say otherwise.” the brown-coated pony told the yellow-coat pony.
“Okay. Thank you Doctor Whooves.” Caramel said. He then turned to me. “Come along, I’ll show you to my home.” He told me. We both walked out of there.
The sun began to set as me and Caramel walked from the Doctor’s office to his home.
“So, do you know your name?” Caramel asked me as we walked across the grassy plains.
“No.” I told him. Ever since birth, I was never given a name. I was just told “go act stupid” by an odd figure. Caramel then looked up.
“So... What to call you... Well, most ponies name themselves after their Cutie Mark so... how about... Screwball?” Caramel told me.
“... That’s a good name.” I said. I then looked at his flank. There were three blue horseshoes. “How come you’re named Caramel instead of say, Horseshoes?” I asked him.
“Like I said, most ponies name themselves after their Cutie Mark. Those names are applied after they receive the Cutie Mark. Some ponies, like me, don’t change our names after getting one.” Caramel said.
“Earlier, you told me that Cutie Marks represent a talent or a personality quirk. Mind if I ask what yours is?” I asked him.
“... Yeah. No, it’s okay you asked, but it’s embarrassing. Horseshoes are supposed to represent luck. However, Lady Luck doesn’t seem to notice. In fact, she’s mostly absent with me. I’m perhaps the most unluckiest pony around.” He said.
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“I keep forgetting things, and I keep trippi-“ He said, suddenly, he crossed his legs and tripped, falling down a hill. I ran after him and caught up with him. “...tripping. See what I mean?” He said, getting up.
“You hurt?” I looked at his wobbly legs.
“Nah. I’m fine.” He said. Suddenly, I saw one pony running with an old worn out doll. Before I had time to think about what was going on, a herd of other ponies chased after the sole pony. Caramel also looked, but his eyes were wandering off to somewhere else. I’ve noticed as well that his eyes changed from a normal pair to large hearts.
“Caramel? You alright?” I asked him.
“I... got to have... THAT DOLL!” He said, running after the crowd. I looked at the ensuing chaos as the ponies dog piled each other. The dust caused from the fighting obscured my vision. I gulped and then dove right in to the big cloud of fighting ponies. I barely had time to see the doll everyone was fighting over before it was thrown out of the fight. I tried to push the others out of the way, but then this big red pony pushed me and a bunch of other ponies out of his way. I got up and saw that same pony from before running off with the doll. I looked for any other people chasing the doll. No one seemed to be chasing her. I then began to gallop. I slowly began to want the doll myself, just so I could do something with myself. However, I saw a gray blur fly towards the pony and tackle her. The blur turned out to be a winged pony, a Pegasus. I tried to chase after them, however, a bright flash of light burst out. The two ponies suddenly stop fighting and the doll dropped to the ground. I looked around and noticed other ponies losing interest in the doll now. I took my chance and ran to the doll, but then the big red pony from before came and snatched it, whining as he ran off. Caramel then came to me.
“What just happened?” He asked me.
“I should be asking you that!” I told him.
“We should head home... It’s getting dark.” He said, pointing out to the starry sky. We then trotted to where Caramel’s home was.
I entered Caramel’s home as he told me to make myself at home. He then sighed and looked at me.
“Listen, Screwball, I didn’t know what came over me. It was like the doll was telling me to want it... to need it.” He told me.
“Caramel, don’t worry. Everyone else seemed to be crazy over that doll as well... I don’t really know what stopped it though.” I told him.
“Well, we don’t know what caused the commotion. Conflict rarely happens in Ponyville. We have more natural disasters than we do devastating conflicts. But... it’s over now. We don’t have to worry now.” Caramel said. He then trotted to his room. I began to follow him.
“Caramel... What do you think my purpose is?” I asked him.
“... I’m not sure. The Cutie Mark indicates that either your talent involves screwballs, or you have a trait that best revolves around screwballs. I don’t think it’s the latter. I haven’t seen you act all that screwy. So it must be a talent.” He said. He then went to his closet and got a red blanket. “You should rest however. Tomorrow, I’ll try to have one of the ponies in this town to throw a party for you. That way you’ll get to know some of the ponies.” Caramel said. “Night, Screwball.” He said.
“Night, Caramel...” I told him as I drifted off to sleep.