//------------------------------// // Chapter 24: Remembering // Story: Le Retour // by k12314 //------------------------------// CHAPTER 24 I know this is a bit short, but... I promise that everything will pick up in the next chapter. So just bear with me. (Third Person) Rainbow Dash was talking with Twilight in the Library. It had been a day since Kyle had gone to the hospital. "He's been in the hospital for a day, Twilight! Why not make that a week, or a month, or a YEAR?!" Dashie was freaking out due to the stress she was under. "I know, Rainbow Dash, but he'll be fine! He's been through worse, after all. I'm sure he just needs time to recover." Twilight put her hoof on Dashie's shoulder. "I know that he'll pull through. You've just gotta wait, OK?" "... He loves to keep me waiting, doesn't he?" They both laughed a bit. The mood had definitely lightened a bit. "It sure seems like it. Now come on, lets go get the girls, and have a girls only day? It's been a while since we all hung out without any men around." Rainbow Dash nodded, and hovered out the door with Twilight. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (First Person) "... And then he called the cops. I never found all of those chickens..." Just take a wild guess at what story I told Lulu. "That was... Incredibly amusing." She was giggling uncontrollably, and I had to stifle my own laughter. "Yeah... I was always getting into trouble. Until I started writing... What was it that I wrote about anyways?" I leaned my head back and tried to think, but any memory of my stories that tried to surface was shoved away by an unknown force. "Huh... I remember it being about a TV show, but..." I put my hands on my head, and ruffled my hair. "GAH! Stupid forgetfulness..." I looked at Lulu, and she looked very guilty for some reason. "What's wrong...?" "Oh!" She quickly changed her expression to an obviously forced smile. "Nothing!" I could see right through her lie. "Don't lie to me Lulu, please. You can tell me anything, I won't be upset or something like that. I promise." Lulu let out a long sigh, and then took a deep breath, looking me right in the eyes with a very serious expression. "'Tia and I are the reason you can't remember." I blinked. "What?" "Yes. When you first fell through the rift and came here, we sense the disturbance, and we noticed that you were a human, so... We erased any prior knowledge you had of this world." I scratched the side of my head in confusion. "Prior knowledge? How could I POSSIBLY know about this place beforehand?" "Well... You know the television show your stories were based off of?" I nodded. "I just can't remember the name, is all." Lulu took another deep breath. "It was called 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.'" I felt something in my mind click, and all the memories slowly began to unfold. I remembered all of the episodes, the fan art, the fanfiction, my own stories, the few friends I managed to make due to it. "W-Wait... But this is all... It's real! How could it be a TV show?! I... How is this possible?" I put my hands on my head and tried to gather my thoughts, but I felt myself tearing up because of this new knowledge. "Please, Kyle, calm down! I understand that this may be stressful, but you have to listen to me!" I shook my head, and tried to ignore all of the memories flying through my head. "Now, even though this is all supposed to be fictional in your world, as you know, it's real. 'Tia and I were shocked when we first learned of the show, but we didn't think any humans would be coming back, so we let it be. When we found out about you, we were worried you would do something dangerous, but instead, we got a wonderful person. Just... Don't let this get to you, OK?" I didn't know what to think. "If this is all a TV show, is this even actually happening? What if this is all a dream? What if I'm actually in the hospital back on Earth, in a coma or something? Wait... Dashie was one of my favorite ponies... Is that the only reason I'm so close to her? Have I just been leading her on all of this time, without my feelings being more than just love for a favorite character?" I was feeling every emotion at once. My mind and my heart were both racing, and I felt like I was going to pass out. I put a hand on the side of my head, and I felt myself swaying back and forth on my feet, until Lulu supported me with her magic. "I think you need to rest. I haven't much more time to speak with you anyways. I'm behind on my royal duties as it is. I will speak to you soon... And don't let this get to you, OK?" I nodded my head, and she let go of me, and everything faded to darkness. I started to remember when I first watched the show, going on an all night binge watching it, becoming a writer, gaining fans that cared about me, talking and laughing with other authors on Skype, and meeting Rose because of all of it... I decided then that even if the ponies were just a TV show on Earth, they were real to me. I knew it. I wouldn't let myself go nuts just because of some little revelation. I watched all of the memories whiz by, and I felt a smile across my face. The show had been the one bright thing in my dark life. And I was living it as a reality now. "I'm the luckiest guy ever..."