//------------------------------// // The Sparkle // Story: Foggy Memories of a Human // by cccvvvttt //------------------------------// The Sparkle The creature's eyes suddenly shot open as he sat up with an audible gasp. He pants for a moment, catching his breath and touching his sweat-converted head. He must have had a nightmare, one he didn't seem to be able to remember; he was, however, able to recall what had happened to him before. Memories of a giant wooden creature chasing him through the colorful yet dark woods he'd found himself in, him attempting to cross a ravine, walking and trying to keep his balance on a fallen tree, and then he fell and passed out. He thought he was going to die. Yet, at the moment, at least, he seemed to be very much alive, though the place he was in was different. Instead of being in the forest, or what would make more sense, the bottom of the ravine, he was in a room. Looking around gave him an odd feeling. It seemed to be made out of wood, though not planked, just as if it was built with regular logs, or by the looks of it, with the walls not being entirely flat, the inside of a tree. Though that couldn't be, could it? He didn't know. Everything that happened to him ever since he woke up has been a strange mystery he was aching to solve. Despite the odd feeling this room gave him, something about it also felt homey. He didn't know how to describe it other than that. At least it felt safe to be there, far safer than being out in the middle of the woods. However, there was one question the creature had to ask himself. "... Where am I...?" While the new location did feel rather homey, it lacked any indication besides the obvious someone's room in what probably was someone's house. Besides the bed in the room was a bookshelf packed with various novels from the looks of things, but like everything else, they looked cartooney. There was a door without any visible lock on it, though maybe it was locked from the other side so that he couldn't get out. He goes over to the door handle, attempting to open the door. Try as he might, though, it wouldn't budge. "Oh, come on..." He groaned, trying to push his weight against the door, yet it refused to budge even slightly. With a defeated sigh, he stepped away from the door. Whoever locked him in here did a pretty good job at doing so. Then again, he wasn't the strongest, so maybe his strength wasn't enough for the door. No matter. There had to be another way out of there. It didn't take him much looking to find another potential exit, the window. Maybe he could crawl out, and it was worth a shot after all. He rushes up to the window and immediately encounters a few issues. For one thing, it was locked, which he should have seen coming. If the door was locked, the window probably would've been too. Secondly, it seemed he was on a higher floor, so jumping out the window would most likely result in injury. Injury? At this point, he looked over himself and realized that he didn't have any significant wound on him, which was odd. How could he not? He fell into a ravine. How was he not severely hurt? He shakes the thoughts away as he considers other ways to escape the room. However, he doesn't see any directly. He goes up to the bookshelf and tries to push it out of the way. After a few pushes and grunts, he manages to move the bookshelf, hoping that there is anything to help him. However, it seemed that all of his work was in vain, as there was nothing of value behind the bookshelf unless you count more of the wooden wall as being such. "Dammit..." He groans, rubbing his head with a sigh. "I can't get out of this room... Not good... Maybe I can try breaking down the door again?" He thought it over while looking at the said door. It wasn't like he could lock-pick it; he didn't have anything to do so, and he didn't see anywhere on the nob where he could even attempt to do so. The window wasn't an option either, so, with a sigh, he decided he had no other choice. He got into position and readied himself. "Okay... With enough force, hopefully, I can break out of here... One... Two... Three!" He rushes to the door as fast as he can, trying to use his shoulder to burst through it and hopefully escape, though his efforts are quickly stopped when the door knob starts jiggling, forcing him to stop in his tracks rapidly. Still, with the speed he was going, he could not stop himself in time entirely, so he tripped, quickly falling over and onto the ground with a thud as the door opened. "Ow..." He groans, his face planted on the floor; as the sounds of something stepping in could be heard, it sounded like hooves against the floor. "Um... Are you okay?" A feminine voice asked as the creature moved his head up to look at whoever was talking to him—a horse. A horse was talking to him, a very cartoony horse that seemed to fit with the world around them. Her glimmering purple eyes stared back at him, which worked with her light purple, soft-looking body. Her mane was made up of mostly a dark color, with streaks of dark purple and light pink in there. There was also a horn on her head. The creature's jaw dropped as he quickly realized he was looking at a unicorn. A talking unicorn nonetheless. He quickly scrambles to his feet, making the pony back up slightly; she seemed untrusting of his presence, as if she hadn't seen anything like him before. Once he's back on his feet, all he can do is stare momentarily. They awkwardly keep eye contact until he finally says something. "Did you just... Talk?" He says, his voice filled with curiosity mixed with amazement. The unicorn nodded slightly, unsure how to feel about the creature. However, deep down, the booked worm unicorn was excited to see something so unfamiliar, something she could learn about; it was even better that he could talk. "Yes, I did. It looks like you speak my language." She replies. The creature, now standing up, could tell that he was far taller than she was; the unicorn also had a tail with the same color scheme as her mane, and there was also a particular mark on her flank. A pink star with five smaller white ones around it. He may not remember much, but he did remember horses, which were not supposed to look like this. "Um, yeah... I guess I do..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I've never seen anything like you, and you're... a unicorn." "And you're a weird tall thing." She replies, looking up at him. "A weird tall thing that I hope isn't dangerous?" Suddenly, the creature felt threatened, so he quickly nodded. After all, a unicorn could probably blast him to oblivion, and he wasn't willing to find out how painful that would be. "That's good." "Yeah, but um... How did I get here? Were you the one that saved me from the ravine...?" She nods again. "I did! I saw you fall, so I used my magic to save you after you said a peculiar phrase I've never heard before; I think it was shi-" "Um, don't say that!" He quickly cuts her off. She looks at him with a sense of confusion. "It's not a very nice phrase... Anyways... Why did you lock me in here? I guess because you thought I was dangerous." "Well, I just had to make sure. I've never seen anything like you before." "Well, I'm pretty sure I've never seen anything like you either, ms...?" The unicorn let out a slight laugh and a smile, and she became less tense. "Twilight, Twilight Sparke, and you are...?" The creature frowned slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I uh... Actually don't remember who I am..." Twilight tilts her head slightly. "Heck, I don't even think I'm from anywhere around this place... Everything looks so different and feels so... Odd... I only have slight memories, but everything else is so... Blurry... But I know that there weren't any talking horses back from where I come from... Or that anything was supposed to look like... This..." "What do you mean exactly by looking like this...?" Twilight asks. "Where do you come from? How much can you remember, oh! I should get my notebook to write everything down!" She uses her magic to levitate a notebook and quill from another room, and the creature stares in awe. "Wow... That's pretty cool!" Twilight sits down, still levitating the notebook and quill. "So, you just want to ask me some stuff then?" He tilts his head and asks after getting over the magical feat he just witnessed. "Well, yeah! I just said that!" Twilight chuckles slightly. "Though I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. Um, I didn't even ask if you were hungry or anything, or needed anything to drink, or if you're okay or if-" "Eh, don't worry about it." He cuts her off slightly. "I'm alright... Well, besides the whole, I can't remember anything, but yeah... If you want to ask me some questions, go for it. I don't mind." He sits back down on the bed, a new sense of calm washing over him. Despite not knowing much about the pony, he felt he could trust her for some reason. She hadn't tried anything yet, after all. Twilight's face beams up just ever so slightly more, excited to learn about whatever this creature was. "Great! Well, I'll start with a simple question. What are you, and what do you remember?" The question seems to make the creature ponder for a moment, thinking about his answer before he shrugs slightly. "Well, I do remember some things... Mostly how everything is supposed to look and my vocabulary... And what things are." He points to the bed and bookshelf. "Like how what I'm sitting on is a bed, and like that over there is a bookshelf... Unless you ponies call them something else." "No, you got that pretty spot on." Twilight nods, scribbling some stuff down on a piece of paper. "How old are you?" "... I think I'm around 20, I want to say...?" He thinks for a moment. "Though I'm not entirely sure... Again, foggy memory." "Right..." She also scribbles that knowledge down, making him tilt his head. "How come you wanted to know my age?" The creature asked, sporting a curious look as they did. The pony looked up at him after writing the information in her notebook. "Well, I wanna know stuff about you, of course! Age included. Would twenty be considered young or old for your species?" "Young, though still considered to be an adult." The creature pauses for a moment. "I think anyways..." The pony gave him a slight nod, scribbling down in her notes; the fact that the pony could use magic from her horn still impressed him. "Alright... Well, I know you can't remember your name. Is there anything we should refer to you by?" The question caught the creature off guard, mostly because thinking of a name for himself was the last thing on his mind. Considering the near-death experience and now a magical talking unicorn asking him questions, it made him think for a brief moment. What should he be called? "Um... Caleb..." He almost regretted the suggestion right away, as it was a name he immediately realized he wasn't going to like the name, despite that it seemed that Twilight at the very least did. "Caleb, alright! Well, Caleb, if you wouldn't mind, I think I would like to run some physical tests on you as well. There's a lot I would love to learn about you, and not all of those things can be answered through questions... Though I'll probably still ask some more." Twilight chuckles slightly; Caleb, however, adorns a somewhat concerned look. "Physical tests? Like what?" Twilight turned her attention towards him after once again writing something down in her notes. "Oh, you know, how much you physically weigh, your height, some blood tests. That sort of stuff!" Caleb seemed to freeze slightly at the mention of blood tests, though I couldn't place a finger on why exactly. Twilight seemed to notice straight away, however. "Um... You okay?" "Yeah! I mean... Yeah, I'm fine..." He exclaimed before talking in a slightly calmer voice. "Sorry, I don't know why I froze like that..." That was weird... He thought to himself. "Maybe it's because you have a fear of blood? One you don't realize you have or one you simply don't remember?" Caleb sighed slightly. "Yeah, it could be. I wouldn't know what else it is..." Caleb rubbed his arm nervously, turning away from the pony, who now wore a concerned look; despite not knowing the human for very long, she still felt a tinge of worry for him. "Well, we don't have to today if you don't want to, buuuuut I would really like to get a sample from you sometime." Caleb shook his head. "No, no, we can today. I just may be a little nervous when we do..." He admitted. Despite being nervous and not completely understanding why he was, the look of excitement from the pony seemed to wash some of that away. At least he was making someone, or somepony else, happy by agreeing to this. "Excellent! Well, you can follow me down to the basement; I'll ask you more questions and do some tests there!" "Sure..." Twilight smiled adorably, the kind of smile one a kid would do if they were about to get candy at the store, though this was different, a smile knowing that she was about to learn some more stuff about the human in front of her. "Follow me!" With that, she opened the door back up, leaving the room as the sounds of her hooves hitting the floor echoed, and Caleb followed silently.