Prologue
Awakening
Where...Am I?
That’s the question I find on my mind. Where am I? I sit up to look around, and find it more difficult than anything else. The sheer act of standing on my hooves feels like more work than anything else I’ve ever done. Wait...What am I? That question shoots through my head quickly. I have hooves, so I must be some kind of horse, right? I bring a hoof up to my face, and yes, it seems that I’m a horse. One with a red coat, in fact. Have I always been a horse? Or was I something else before? Can one spontaneously change species? It seems like I would remember whether or not I was a horse.
There’s another question on the list. Why can’t I remember anything? I feel like I was doing something important, but when I try to remember, I keep on drawing a blank. What happened? Do I even have a name? I...I do, but...Oh no. I can’t remember my name. This is bad. Very bad. Something important was happening, and I needed to go...somewhere...dammit, why can’t I remember anything?!
I look around, trying to get a bearing on my surroundings. There’s trees and grass, everywhere. Am I in some kind of forest? It’s a clearing. Was I supposed to come here? I take a step forward, and immediately collapse. That’s funny. I know I learned how to walk, that’s something that sticks with you, even through amnesia. I still can, and it feels natural, but it just seems more...difficult. I struggle to get back up, and focus on moving. “Alright...whoever you are.” I tell myself. “You can do this...just take it slow.”
I slowly bring one hoof up, and put it in front of me. Once I’m sure of my hoofing, I bring the back hoof up on the opposite side, and put it down forward of it’s position. Soon enough, I’m slowly walking around the clearing. I have to will myself to stay awake, however. Something’s telling me to go to sleep. That everything will be alright. That I don’t have to do anything.
No.
I refuse to listen to that voice. I was doing something important! I...don’t quite remember what it was, but if I don’t get it done, then so many lives will be lost! Oh, Celestia! Why can’t I remember anything?! It’s so upsetting! I just wanna kick something! My legs buck back, and the air behind me feels the full force of my feeble buck. I wanna cry, but there’s no point to it. I know I can’t remember anything, but that’s not important right now. I need to ignore what I can’t control, and think only on what I can. I shake my head to clear it, and return my focus.
I know I’m in a clearing, I know I’m in a forest. What was I doing here? Perhaps an inspection of my surroundings would reveal something to that effect. I start walking around, looking down on the ground. I stop, discovering several sets of hoofprints. I put my own in them. Some of the hooves are bigger than mine, which means there was somepony else here. And judging by the pattern the hooves are in, it looked like there was some sort of tussle. Did I get in a fight with somepony?
“Mr. Stallion?!” A sweet voice calls from the darkness. I turn my head in the direction of the voice. Whoever the owner of that lovely voice was, she was looking for somepony, possibly me.
“I’m over here!” I call back.
“Mr. Stallion?! Where are you?!” The mare called again. As I watch, a pink Earth Pony appears from the rustling bush. Her fuschia mane curls and bounces in every direction as she moves from the bush. Her sparkling blue eyes scream that she’s in a panic. Whoever this pony is, she’s clearly worried for somepony. I see her look at me, and I wave a hoof.
Her expression doesn’t change, as she looks around the clearing. I cock my head towards her. “There’s nopony else here except me.” I tell her. She ignores me, looking all over the clearing.
“Mr. Stal~lion!” She calls, almost frantically. I see tears begin to well up in her eyes, as she starts to shiver. “This isn’t funny! Come on out!” She cries.
“Hey, I’m right here! I’m not that unnoticeable, am I?” I ask her, trying to grab her shoulder. But my hoof touches nothing, and I fall right through her. What the hay?! I take another look at myself in shock. I seem to be a red stallion with a brown, curly tail. I probably have a similar mane. I seem normal, I feel normal. But I just phased through her. Why can’t she hear me? Why can’t I touch her?
I see her rub her eye, as she begins sniffling. “Where is he? He said he’d be here...” She mumbles to herself.
“I am here.” I try to tell her. But it seems like she can’t even hear me. I watch her, as she lays down on the ground, silently weeping to herself. I groan in frustration, as I walk over to a tree. I don’t understand. How can I tell her I’m right here if I can’t get her attention? Those are my thoughts as I lean against the tree. After all, I can’t touch her, she can’t hear me, and apparently, I’m supposed to be here. After all, who else would she be meeting in this Celestia-forsaken place?
Wait. Am I leaning on a tree? I look back, lo and behold, I am. I may not be able to touch her, but maybe, just maybe, I can touch trees? I reach up to the branch above me, and shake it. When I do, I hear a small gasp. “Mr. Stallion?” She asked. I pump my hoof back. Yes! She heard it. I wiggle the branch again, and I can see the look of relief on her face. “Oh thank goodness!” She calls, in a delightfully cheery tone as she trots over. “I thought I was all alone. I thought maybe something had...” She blinked as she realized I wasn’t there. She could see right through me. “Mr. Stallion?” She asked, rubbing one of her eyes.
I watched the pink mare as she looked around the tree. Of course, she wouldn’t find me, of that I was certain. I had her attention, but now I needed to let her know that I was here.
As I pondered my next move, I heard a deep gasp. I looked over at the mare, and saw her hooves covering her mouth. “No...Nonononono...” She took off at a gallop, heading directly to a small area outside the clearing. I was quick to follow her. What we both discovered left me in shock.
There was a small patch of grass next to the clearing, and in it was a dead stallion wearing the armor of a guard. His coat and mane matched mine to a tee.