//------------------------------// // What Really Happened? // Story: False Memory // by TypewriterError //------------------------------// “Ashlyn.” I hear while something presses down on my right shoulder. I blink my eyes carefully in the bright room. It’s the woman in light blue clothes who woke me up. My stomach is incredibly uneasy. “What...” I begin before my eyes slide closed and I roll over onto my side. Now my stomach is not only threatening to explode but it is also eating itself alive. Groans erupt from me without my consent. “I’ll bring you your painkiller.” she says and leaves my bedside. My clothes swaddle me. Why did she have to wake me up? Sweat has obviously been my constant companion for a while. The clothes on my bed and my body cling to me uncomfortably. The nurse enters the room again with gloves on and a capped syringe. I push against the mattress but the blankets hold me back. “No, I don’t...” “It’s for your own good...” she says, approaching me. “No...No, get away from me!” I have no idea what is in that needle but I don't want to find out. A woman, slightly older than the nurse slinks into the room. She doesn’t say anything. She just stares at me with ice gray eyes. Her lip bends somewhere between a sneer and rage. “I can hold her down if you like...” she says deliberately, taking her time picking each word. The nurse looks back. Her voice shakes when she addresses the other woman. “No, thank you. Why don’t you find Dr. Cruebel?” A scream travels from my body to my mouth and pulls tears from my eyes as it escapes. I have no willpower to push off the nurse who injects me none too gently. I have time enough to clasp my eyes shut before I realize the pain is quickly dissolving. Oh wow. This is wonderful. My eyes open again. The pillow beneath my head is as soft as the Cloudsdale ground. Everything is so bright and sleepy. I’m floating. The nurse and the other woman move slowly. A choreographed act where the nurse throws the needle away as the woman leaps towards her, her teeth showing. “Dad!” I hear her screaming as the woman’s teeth clamp on her neck. Am I dreaming? Everything is so beautiful. Colors...I’ve never even seen these colors before. The agony caused by their beauty rips at me. Other colors I cannot name mix and play like butterflies in a shifting sky. Green flocks by and red buzzes past. the sky turns a more uniform blue... Not blue... Please, not blue. Too late. The blue is glowing thicker with white scrambling around inside, trying to escape. It needs to help me! Come back! I can’t breathe! Somepony help me! I’m drowning! I sit up in a dark room, cold. Yes, this is my room in this...whatever this place is. I’m shaking off some sort of temperature. My stomach is sore and gurgling and a sharp smell warns me that I have thrown up. The room is not entirely dark. A carpet of light is rolled out from the door to show a patch of yellow roses... Roses don’t grow on tile...unless someone powerful puts them there. My blanket slides to the floor as I carefully stand on my hooves. This is most likely a trap, but it means Discord wants to talk face-to-face. It can only mean that. Perhaps I can try to find sense from this. I’d rather not hide anyway. I don’t know what is coming over me but I’m suddenly self-conscious about my stench. I see a dresser in the room I had not paid attention to. Examining the drawers' contents gives me a fresh set of clothes that I change into. I pull a thick sweater on and climb into a pair of pants. I suppose I would feel odd in pants if I had not been wearing a pair for the past...who knows how long? Days? Weeks? I slide the drawers back into place and exit the room cautiously. The hallway is clear of any living thing outside of the roses and another type of flower called bird's foot. Of course, I cannot blame any living thing for not wanting to be here. This place is in shambles. Paint and wallpaper pull away from the wall leaving cracks and chalky residue behind. Spider webs curtain the walls and drape from the ceiling. But, I follow the roses and yellow bird's foot, careful to not step on the thorns or petals. “I do not approve of this, Discord.” I say boldly, keeping my arms to my side. I cannot let him see me as a frightened little filly. My steps falter only for the flowers. My heart is stopped as the nurse seems to appear from the wall. She walks past me. “Excuse me...” She grabs my wrist by surprise. “This is all your fault...” she spits out before tossing my hand away from her and walking away. “Wait! I want to talk to you!” I call and take a step after her. A door appears between us and slams shut. I control my outburst to be nothing above a deep sigh and turn to follow the flowers. “I suppose you find this amusing?” I say, finding the halling the nurse had appeared from and turn to enter it. A door peeks open in front of me. Light flows from an office where soft movements and shuffling whisper to each other. I know this is a trap. I can’t let him know I’m afraid. I straighten my shoulders and stride forward, pulling the door back. Stems of flowers snap and pop as the room beyond the door opens Chaos. Nothing less than chaos. Books, knickknacks, candy, and crates are piled from the hideously carpeted ceiling to the floor, which is covered in metal ceiling tiles. Figurines of ponies and humans stand in cages made of feathers, shaking angry hands or hooves. The so-called “doctor” sits behind the desk made from what looks like muffins and toast. I enter to him taking a bite out of his desk before noticing me with delight. “Ah, Celestia! So good of you to finally show up. Grab a marshmallow, have a seat, help yourself to the desk. You’ve eaten nothing for far too long,” he says with a generous wave of his hand towards a marshmallow that comes to halfway up my leg. “I prefer to stand. What is this all about?” “Oh, Celestia, let’s not be so formal...” he laughs. A chair hits me in the back of my legs and I collapse into it as it locks me against the desk. “This isn’t funny. Why are you doing this to me?” I demand, pushing against the desk as it crumbles onto my lap. He smiles as he rolls his eyes. Why is he still bothering to keep a human form? “Oh, Celestia, isn’t it obvious?” He chuckles before wiping crumbs from his face with a napkin that flaps away like a bird. “You’re stealing Equestria from me again?” I sit back in my chair and cross my arms. “Oh, stealing now? Stealing?” his laugh was a little less carefree, his smile a little forced, “Don’t you remember who ruled Equestria before you and your little sister came?” “Ponies were miserable under you!” I shout, leaning forwards, “Nothing was permanent. Everything was destroyed so easily without any reason...” “There was no need to be permanent. Permanence is predictability. Predictability does nothing. At least nopony starved under my reign...” “Because so many ponies never survived! Hundreds died daily as a result of your chaos...” “It’s unfortunate, really, because if they had learned to embrace the chaos they would have had fun with it instead of complaining about every misunderstanding.” he says before taking another undignified bite of the desk. I shake my head in disbelief. “It’s all a game to you...isn’t it?” I say in disgust. His brown eyes turn to me above his smirk as he abandons eating his furniture to sit back. He snaps his fingers and the desk turns into a regular wooden desk which he rests his elbows on. “Of course it is, Celestia. What else would it be?” I look away. All this for some fun... My poor ponies. Has he taken over Equestria yet? Or have the Elements of Harmony been keeping him at bay there? Luna... I keep my eyes open as pressure builds inside of my chest and my eyes cloud over. No. I will not cry in front of Discord. He cannot have that satisfaction. Luna is a smart pony who can handle herself. “I hate you...” is all I am able to get out before I almost lose control of myself. “How rude...” he says in an incredibly annoying defensive tone, “And after all I haven’t done to you. Of course there could be...an agreement.” I conceal enough disgust to remain dignified. “No!” I say blinking my eyes to the ceiling of the room I came from. I'm back in my bedroom. It’s morning. My door is open. I rise from my bed carefully and realize I’m wearing my pajamas from the day before. But...I changed out of my clothes. Didn’t I? There is a courtesy knock before the familiar nurse lets herself in. She’s not the angry woman who grabbed my arm last night and said this was all my fault. What could she have even meant? Now she wore a patient smile. “Good morning, Miss Ashlyn.” “You were...angry at me last night.” The nurse acts surprised of course. “About what? What reason do I have to be angry with you?” “You tell me...” I demand and feel liquid trace my cheek. Where did that come from? I wipe it off. “Miss Ashlyn,” she says after a slight pause, “Why don’t you change out of your pajamas and get some breakfast? Your medication is there. It’s not as much today...” “Just awhile ago you were so...” “Now dear...” she says, taking both my hands and leaning to look into my face directly, “You had a bad dream with me in it. These dreams are normal. You don’t want to be here and you act that out by believing that we’re keeping you here to hurt you. But, dreams aren’t real. If you look hard enough and think about it you can tell what is real and what isn’t. We’re doing what we can to help. You’ve already made progress.” she says, letting go of my hands and leaning back. “How long have I been here?” “Have you forgotten? You’ve been here almost a year...” I choke inside. But...had I really been gone from Equestria for a whole year? Had they put me to sleep all that time? “But...I...” I scratch away a tear following the trail down my face in frustration. “Why don’t you get changed?” she suggests with the gentleness of Fluttershy, “You’ll feel better. I’ll come back later to give you your medicine if you feel too sick to eat.” I couldn’t say anything more before she left. I close my tears inside until my body shakes. I am a Princess of Equestria. Not a fragile human who cries at everything. I stand, waiting for the tears to dissipate. I don’t know how long it is before I move again. All I know is that I’m hungry. The dresser is in the same spot as before. I sigh as I open it, looking for the outfit I remember from...just moments ago. The burgundy sweater...the dark denim pants...I need socks too. My hooves are freezing. I pull open the drawer under where my pants were and my mouth falls open. The drawer is filled with notes. Familiar notes. Notes that carry a trace of smoke with their scent. Each is rolled up with a broken seal. My hands shake as I hastily open one up. Dear Princess Celestia, I am writing to you from the most delightful party. I'm not only having a great time with my friends, but also was given the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson about friendship. Always expect the best from your friends and never assume the worst. Rest assured that a good friend always has your best interests at heart. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. I blink at the letter in my hands. As if traveling from the paper, relief flows into me and then shakes me as I laugh. I laugh in short gasps of release. I hurry at putting the letter back into the drawer with its companions and shutting it tight, allowing my hand to rest on the painted wood. My letters. My letters from home. My letters from my brilliant Twilight Sparkle; my world in this drawer. I lean against the dresser and continue to laugh. I know that letter. It is an old one I sent Twilight to help her defeat Discord. One of many from Twilight and her friends...the Elements of Harmony. There is a way out of this. There is a way for them to get to me. I pull myself up and hastily open the door before the nurse can come back and discover my secret. I realize something as I stare at pristine tiles in a sterile corridor leading where I walked...what seems like moments ago and yet days away. If the notes are real, and I’m really Celestia and not some mad human, what really happened before I woke up?