"Are you okay?"
I tried to regain consciousness. What just happened? Where am I? No, WHO am I? Of course, I didn't know it at the time, but I was suffering a bad case of amnesia. Then, it just seemed like being born knowing how to speak and think. Honestly, I'm quite surprised that I managed to save that knowledge.
"Are you okay?" The same voice from earlier, except easier to hear, repeated its initial inquiry.
"I think I'm fine," I uttered. How I didn't notice the oddity at first still befuddles me.
Standing over me was a pony. Yes, it may sound odd, but I swear that's what it was.
"Come on inside, I can help." I then saw something else interesting - she had a horn! My God, I thought, [i[Where in the hell am I to be seeing that?
She opened a door on a large tree - which seemed like a house or a library or something, it had windows and books and a bed - by some sort of force involving her horn and, well, nothing else. Inside, she set a bed in the center of the room, laid out blankets and a pillow, looked at me, and said, "I'll be back with a doctor. Stay here."
"Yes, ma'am." I managed to slide myself between the makeshift bed and the multiple layers of blankets which she had provided. The pony left swiftly, and I was to myself.
It was then that I attempted to inspect my hands.
My hands were gone. Where were they?
In fact, where were my feet? Why is my head shaped oddly?
Then, it dawned upon me: The entire time I was headed to the home, I was being levitated by some sort of force. Now that I was on my own appendages, I was able to notice that I too was a pony. On my sides, there were wings, feathery and light, but alas, I had no horn. Probably can't have both, I pondered.
Suddenly, some fragment of my existence faded back into place: My training. What I was trained for, I had not remembered yet, but a portion of it did resurface: observe your surroundings. Following this guideline, I scanned the interior of the tree. Bookshelves lined the walls in a central, near-circular chamber; an elevated level stored a bed and a window, and another level contained a desk and another window. Yet another level held a fireplace and a third window. Wouldn't a fire inside a tree be dangerous? I decided not to dwell on my thoughts.
A muffled voice suddenly faded into hearing distance at the door. The pony, along with a doctor, also a unicorn, entered the house.
"Hrm," the doctor said as she inspected my injuries. That seems... familiar, I thought. I doubted it as quickly as I surmised it.
"Looks like he'll be fine. Let him rest for a few hours," she told the unicorn. "If there are any complications, find me." She left the house.
"Okay, so," the purple pony said, walking past me, "I'd like to talk to you."
I decided not to resist. "Okay," I responded.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?"
Goddamnit, she caught me in a trap, I thought.
"I don't think I recall..."
The unicorn, "Twilight", which seemed like an odd name to me, looked downwards.
"You must have forgotten a lot..."
My ears perked, which annoyed me because I used to be incapable of such a strange motion. "Do you know what happened?"
Twilight looked at me. "Well, when I found you, you were knocked out on the grass," she explained. "There were pieces of metal in the grass, too, metal I haven't seen before. Also, I found this," she said, revealing a silvery rod with a light on the end. "Maybe this is something...?"
I looked at the rod. Something came back. A memory. Fleeting, short, but vital. It was almost a flashback.
I reached for a lever. A dark panel lit up, displaying numbers and dials that seemed to be there for no reason. A silver-coloured rod lay in a compartment inside the wall.
"Whatever I was in, it was cramped. Then, there was a bright white glow," I remembered, looking at Twilight. She brought a hoof to her chin, trying to make sense of my memory.
"I can't think of anything. In the meantime, I'll check through my books. Also, I'd like to know if you remember how to read," she stated, sliding a book towards me.
I flipped it open to the first page. The title was in bold, and it read, "A Study On Pumpkins". Why Twilight had a book on pumpkins, I don't know, but at least reading it removed my sudden and abrupt lack of knowledge about orange gourds.
"Hah," I said, reading, "It says that pumpkins are sometimes made into small lantern-like objects called 'jack-o-lanterns'. Neat, huh?"
"Good, you still know how to read. Have you never heard of a pumpkin?" She cocked an eyebrow at me.
My eyes went from hers, to the wall, and back to the book about pumpkins. I looked at her again. "I must have forgotten."
She went back to searching through a section of the library. "That's one bad case of amnesia," she muttered. "Hmm..."
Turning back to the then-interesting tome about pumpkins, I delighted in reading about the different cooking uses for pumpkins. There was even a section on potion-making. I assume that's medicine, I thought.
--(%)--
"Good morning, er... I still need a name. Remember anything?"
Everything faded into vision quickly. The light from the windows, the brown wood of the house... and Twilight standing over me, still worried, as if this morning was the same as last.
I tried to think. "Can you think of anything?"
Twilight blinked. "Well, from what I've seen, most ponies are named off of appearance. You have wings, a grayish pelt, and a white mane. Does that sound like anything?" She looked at me, her head tilted to the left a bit.
"Hmm... isn't there a cloud that's darker at the bottom...?"
Twilight's eyes lit up. "Aha! I know!"
"What?" I smiled a little. Maybe I'll remember my real name eventually, I hoped.
"Stormfront! Like when a storm's approaching. That sounds good, right?"
My smile grew wider. "Yeah... better than nothing." I got out of the bed, and stretched my back. There was a small piece of metal stuck in my pelt. I swatted it out with my wings.
"Want to come meet my friends? I'm sure they'll be glad to meet you!" Twilight trotted to the door, excited as ever.
"Sure. I'm looking forward to it," I responded.
--(%)--
We approached another house that appeared to be built into a tree. It stood on the opposite side of a stream, and a bridge cut over the stream to the town road. Twilight knocked on the front door.
"Just a moment," rang a light, quiet voice. I looked towards the door, smiled a little, and tried to make myself look better than I felt. The amnesia still annoyed me; I still had no clue where I was.
The door opened. A yellow pony with a pink mane walked out. "Good morning, Twilight. Who's that?" she inquired, looking at me.
Twilight smiled. "Fluttershy, meet Stormfront. I found him asleep on a hill outside Sweet Apple Acres. He has amnesia," she explained.
"Oh dear! Is he hurt?" Fluttershy asked.
"I had a doctor look at him. His only issue right now is amnesia. It's pretty bad," she assured. "Stormfront," Twilight inquired of me, "Come say hi to Fluttershy."
"Morning, Fluttershy," I said, approaching her.
"G-good morning," she replied. "Are you okay?"
My, she must really be worried, I thought. "I'm just fine, don't worry about me too much," I responded.
"Okay... Wait, Twilight, did you say he was outside of Sweet Apple Acres?" Fluttershy looked at Twilight, then past her.
"Yes, why?"
"Maybe you should ask Applejack if she saw anything. That might help with his amnesia," Fluttershy suggested.
Twilight beamed. "Thanks! That sounds like a great plan!"
I looked at Twilight. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to see Applejack."
--(%)--
"Who again?" I asked. We had just left the town, and I could see a barn ahead.
Twilight sighed. "Applejack," she repeated, "she's my friend. She works here at Sweet Apple Acres, her family's farm."
I looked around. Along both sides of the road, apple orchards were surrounded by a wooden fence. I then looked back forward, where the barn was much closer than before, and I could also see a house and some small animal corrals.
An orange pony was sitting under a tree, wearing a straw hat. I then noticed something I hadn't caught before: she had a mark near her tail, sort of like a brand, of three apples.
I glanced at Twilight's sides as I trotted alongside her. She had a star-like insignia, with several smaller stars around it. What are those even for?
I decided not to bother thinking about it, as we approached the pony, who I assumed was Applejack, and stopped in front of her.
Applejack stood up from where she was sitting. "Howdy, Twilight! Who's this feller?" She gestured towards me.
"That's Stormfront," Twilight said. "I found him near your farm, and he seemed to be hurt. Did you happen to see anything two nights ago?"
Applejack shook my hoof, gave me a "Howdy, mister Stormfront," and went to answer Twilight's question. "Ah think ah saw a light, like a shootin' star, but I didn't go to see. Ah just went back to bed."
"Which way did it come from?" Twilight was genuinely curious.
"Uh, ah think there," Applejack said, pointing a hoof.
"Okay. South-southwest. Thanks," Twilight said. "Now, was there anything else that night that seemed off?"
Applejack pondered for a minute.
"There was a star ah ain't seen before," she recalled. "It was bluish, but it looked like a regular star to me. Still," she looked at the sky, then back at us.
"Never seen it before that night."
"Hmm..." Twilight looked up. I did as well.
The light blue sky was clear, except for a small cloud. I had a feeling that there was something I was supposed to be looking at, something familiar about the sky...
"Okay, thanks. Have a good day, Applejack!"
"You too, Twilight! Same fer you, Stormfront! Goodbye!" Applejack set us off.
"Okay, Stormfront, we're going to go meet another pony. Please, don't be so quiet this time, okay?" Twilight looked at me.
"Sorry, I'll... I'll try. I was just thinking," I assured.
"Okay, thank you. It scares me, makes me feel like there's something worse than amnesia that's going on in your head," Twilight replied.
"I hope not," I said.
We were just about to re-enter the town when I heard a sound from above. I looked up and saw a blue pony flying about.
"Hey, Twilight! What's up?" She stopped and sat on a cloud just above us. How in God's name is she doing that? I tilted my head.
"Rainbow, come down here, please."
"Okay," the rainbow-maned pegasus agreed, floating down to the road before us.
"Hey! Who're you?" She looked at me, inquisitive.
"I'm Stormfront. Just, er... woke up here yesterday," I said.
Rainbow Dash scratched her head. "I thought I saw something... was that you?"
"It could have been." Probably was.
She looked at Twilight, then back at me. "Yeah, whatever it was, it came from up there," Rainbow said, pointing at a spot in the sky.
"Can we talk to you again tonight, Rainbow?" Twilight kept looking up at the sky. "That way, I can look for something odd."
"Okay! But first..." She looked at me. "How's about a little flying contest?"
"Hah! I can beat you," I boasted, a bit less modest than I wished it had been.
"Excuse me? I'm the best flier in all of Equestria!" Rainbow scoffed.
"Care to challenge that?" I smiled.
"You're on!"
We reared back, our wings jaunting outwards, and took off.
Rainbow was ahead of me, moving faster than I expected, but I caught up quickly. She looked back, beamed at me in a sort of hostile way, and sped off. I mustered all my energy to catch up.
All the while, I felt a feeling which I hadn't felt for a long time. I knew I'd felt it before, but I couldn't remember at the time. It was a feeling of power, of happiness... it was a feeling of freedom.
Before I knew it, we had finished. Of course, Rainbow won, but we were both aware that fun was what mattered. When I touched back down on the surface, I was greeted by yet another pony.
"Afternoon, miss..." I hoped it was safe to assume her gender. After all, she definitely seemed like it.
"Such manners," she remarked, "I'm flattered. My name's Rarity. Twilight told me about you while you and Rainbow Dash were off flying."
Her mane was purple, with curls. It reminded me of something similar, but I couldn't quite determine what, or who. However, that wasn't what my attention was focused on.
"Dear, would you like a hat? You seem like a hat kind of stallion," she asked.
Lucky for her, one of the few things the amnesia didn't erase was my dep admiration of headwear. "What do you have?" I didn't think I could be anymore excited.
Well, in fact, I must have been beaming, because Rarity was also ecstatic. She gestured towards a building. "Follow me, and I'll show you," she suggested.
--(%)--
"Welcome to the Carousel Boutique," she said, introducing me to her store. "I make and sell all sorts of apparel. Typically, I do fitting, and then make the clothes based off of the customer's desire. However, I have several pre-designed hat choices you may peruse." She looked at me.
"Shall we begin?"
I smiled. "Where are they?"
She levitated a bunch of hats. I don't mean bunch as in "a lot"; these were bunched together and consecutively stacked. There were all sorts of hats. Ball caps, beanies, fedoras, and many more.
"Pick one. Don't worry," she assured me, "I won't charge you anything."
Two hats in particular caught my eye: A plaid deerstalker, and an ascot cap. It took a while to decide, but I eventually chose the ascot cap.
"That looks great on you. Good choice!" Rarity restocked the remaining hats.
I turned to Twilight. "Do you like it?"
She grinned. "Of course, it looks great on you. Now come on, we need to meet somepony else."
"How many after this one?" I inquired as we left the Boutique.
"None. We'll be done then," she replied.
That's too bad, I thought, I'm starting to like meeting all these ponies.
We approached what appeared to be a bakery of sorts, named Sugarcube Corner. Twilight opened the door, and I followed her in.
"Afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Cake," she bellowed. "Is Pinkie Pie here today?"
A tallish orange stallion, who I presumed to be Mr. Cake, responded: "Eh, yes, she's upstairs; Pinkie, there's somepony here to see you!"
"Okay!" rang a voice from the upper floor.
A pink pony, with a mane resembling cotton candy or something similar, bounded down the steps. "Hi Twilight, hi mister!" She greeted us equally.
"Come on outside, Pinkie," Twilight said, "so we don't interrupt anything."
We all exited the bakery and stood outside.
"What's up? Can we play? Who's he? What's his name?" The pink pony, who I recall being named Pinkie Pie, seemed energetic as could be. Hopping in circles around us, she bombarded me and Twilight exorbitantly with all manners of inquiries, from a simple "how are you" to the far-reaching "who is he". Before I could even begin to respond, Twilight started for me.
"His name's Stormfront. He has amnesia," she uttered, causing Pinkie to cease her orbital hopping.
"What does he remember?" Her left eyebrow jutted upwards, and with her hoof to her chin, she pondered over the situation.
I then decided to start talking. "Not much. A memory, pumpkins, and a name..." Earlier, when I was speaking with Rarity, a name came to mind: Clarice. I didn't know why, it just surfaced out of the opaque ocean my mind had become.
"Oh. Well, since you're new," she said, "Do you have a place to stay?"
"I spent last night with Twilight," I uttered.
"Oooooh." She looked at Twilight. "Can he stay somewhere else?"
I coughed. It'd be nice to have my own home for the time being, I told myself.
"Well, there is a house available..."
I looked at her.
"...but it's one hundred and five thousand bits, with a mortgage of..."
I stopped listening. If "bits" were their currency, I surely didn't have enough.
"...though there is an inn down the road..."
I started listening again. "That'd work," I interrupted, attempting to exercise my authority.
"Oh, okay. Want to go see it? It's just up here," she explained, looking up the cobble road to a two-story cottage.
I glanced up to the inn, then back to her.
"I'd love to."