//------------------------------// // What's in a Name? // Story: Luck from a Horseshoe // by my_little_medic //------------------------------// Twilight trotted out of the hospital with Spike jogging beside her. Twilight had a look of contemplation on her face as she trotted back towards the center of town. "What is it Twilight?" Spike asked as he caught the look on her face. "I don't know what to think of this Spike... He said he didn't think he ever had a name!" She answered. "Wait a minute Twilight!" Spike said as he stopped jogging. Twilight came to a quick stop and turned to look at him. "What about that memory spell you used on your friends when Discord got inside their heads?!" He said with a triumphant smile on his face. "Couldn't that bring his memory back?" Twilight gasped and a huge smile came to her face. "Spike, that's a great idea! You're a genius!" Spike put a cool look on his face. "Well, above average anyway." He said as he blew on his claws and wiped them on his scales. Twilight playfully rolled her eyes at him. "Come on! Let's get to Sugarcube Corner to meet with the others!" She said. Spike hopped up on her back and she took off at a gallop into the center of Ponyville. She slowed down as she approached the bakery where everyone was waiting and trotted inside. There around one of the tables inside the bakery, the whole gang was waiting. They were all talking amongst themselves as Twilight and Spike wandered inside. "Hi everypony!" She said in an excited voice. They all turned and greeted her as she came up and took a spot around the table with Spike still on her back. "Okay!" Pinkie Pie started. "The reason you're all here is so you can help me plan out this pegaus' surprise party since he's new here in Ponyville. Normally I'd just plan and stage the party myself but I want this party to be SUPER special because it'll be a 'congratulations for getting out of the hospital party' also, which I've never really thrown before but since it's gonna be a 'welcome to Ponyville' party and a 'congratulations for getting out of the hospital' party it needs to be BIG!" Taking a breath as she finished rambling. "That's all fine and good Pinkie but, we don't even know when he's getting out of the hospital yet." Twilight interjected. "Hmm...That's true." Pinkie said as she appeared deep in thought. She suddenly sprang into a large grin. "Well, we'll just have to ask the doctor when we go see him today!" "Not too bad an idea there Pinkie Pie! Why don't we all mosy up there now and see how he's doin." Applejack added. "Oh... ummm...I seem to remember that I've got some...a...bunnies that need fed soon..." A quiet Fluttershy said as she slowly turned from the table and headed to the door. In a flash Rainbow Dash was in front of her blocking her path. "Whoa now! You said you were going to go with us!" She said in an accusatory voice. Fluttershy lowered her head some more. "Yes...but...I forgot about the bunnies..." Fluttershy said with a shaky grin. Rainbow Dash pushed her out the door of Sugarcube Corner and up into the air until Fluttershy took over with her own wings. "Your, bunnies, will be just fine for a little while. Now come on!" Rainbow told her with a smile. The others exited the bakery and all began the trek back to Ponyville Hospital to visit the stallion again. The ponies without wings watched and giggled from the ground as Rainbow Dash curbed a couple more escape attempts from Fluttershy to try and fly back to her cottage. The hospital was soon within view and they entered again through the front doors and made their way to the stallion's room. This time the door was wide open and they could see the stallion lying in bed. The stallion heard hoofsteps coming into his room and his left ear twitched a bit as he looked to the group of ponies, and dragon, that were herding into the now tiny hospital room. A smile came over his face as the other ponies came trotting in to see him. He recognized all but two of them. One of them was a unicorn with fur as white as his, and she had a dark purple mane and tail that looked as if they had been professionally styled at a salon. The other was hard to see for certain because she came in behind the others and tried to keep herself hidden from his view. Through the gaps of the others he could see that she had cream colored fur and what appeared to be a pale pink mane and tail. "Hello again!" Twilight Sparkle piped up! "Hi! It's nice to see all of you again. Just checking up on me?" The Stallion replied. "Of course sugarcube! We told ya we would didn't we!" Applejack answered. "We brought a couple more of our friends with us too." She motioned to the white unicorn. "This here is Rarity!" The white unicorn gracefully crossed her front legs and took a small bow. 'She must be a very proper lady.' He thought to himself. Applejack then motioned towards the cream colored pony who was exposed when the ponies she was hiding behind stepped aside. "And, this here is Fluttershy!" 'Oh! She's a pegasus too!' He thought as he saw the wings that matched her fur. "Umm......... Hi." Fluttershy said as she blushed and backed away behind everypony again. 'I can definitely see the shy part.' He thought as he watched her cower back behind the others. "It's very nice to meet you both! Thank you for coming to visit!" He piped up. The stallion smiled. He watched as Twilight Sparkle took a step forward towards him. "Umm..." She said. "I have something I'd like to try..." "Okay... What?" The stallion returned. "I think I may have found a way to restore your lost memories." Spike interrupted by loudly clearing his throat. She turned to see him giving her an annoyed look with his arms crossed. "I mean, Spike may have found a way to restore your lost memories." She corrected herself. Spike immediately held his chin up with a huge smile on his face. "Umm... Sure. What do i need to do?" The stallion asked. "Well..." She answered in an awkward tone. "OOHH! There's the doctor!" Pinkie interrupted, making everypony in the room jump. "I'll be RRIIIIGGGHHHTTT back!" She said as she hopped out of the room. Twilight let out a frustrated sigh as she turned her attention back to the stallion. "I need you to lean down so I can touch your forehead." She said showing a strange grin afterward. The stallion raised an eyebrow at her with his smile fading slightly. "My forehead?" "Uh huh. Trust me, I won't do anything that will hurt you." She said with a sincere tone. "I suppose..." The stallion said. The stallion threw off the covers and started to roll onto his belly when he heard a loud gasp and looked up to see Rarity standing there staring at his flank with her eyes huge and mouth open. He looked down at his flank and then back to Twilight before he heard another pony chime in. "Oh my...." The soft voice announced. He looked over to see Fluttershy had peaked her head in between Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She was staring at his flank as well. "What?!" He asked in a worried tone as he check himself over. "I've...just...never seen any pony reach your age without their cutie mark!" Rarity said still dumbfounded. "Their what...?" He replied in confusion. Rarity looked up into the stallion's eyes and you would have thought he had just dropped a swear at a fancy dinner party from the look on her face. Twilight chimed in finally to break the uncomfortable silence. "Umm... you know... The mark everypony gets on their flanks when they find that something that makes them special!" She ended with an uncomfortable smile. She turned to the side and pointed at the purple star that adorned her flanks. "But, I thought those were just tattoos everyone chose to have..." The stallion said, frowning now. "No darling! They magically appear when you find that special something that separates you from all the others. It most certainly isn't a.....tat too! Whatever that is!" Rarity said in a concerned voice. "Why do you think I don't have one then?" The stallion asked with worry in his voice. The majority of the group either shrugged or raised their front hooves in the air. "I'm hoping I can help you find an answer to that." Twilight interrupted. Vince looked back to Twilight and nodded at her. He repositioned himself on the bed so he was laying on his stomach with his head at the foot of the bed. His right foreleg was tucked underneath him in his sling and his wings were sticking out to his sides. He leaned his head over to the side of the bed for her. "Okay, here it goes." Twilight said as her horn began to glow a dim lavender. She took a few steps closer to the stallion and touched her horn to his forehead. She closed her eyes as she began the spell. He felt her horn touch his forehead. It was an uncomfortable feeling at first but soon he could feel a warm sensation that began to spread from his forehead down to his hooves and he closed his eyes. The feeling lasted for maybe a minute, then it slowly began to dim and then totally faded away. He opened his eyes to see Twilight staring at him with a look of pure panic on her face. He immediately sat up with wide eyes. "What?!" He said in a panicked voice. "I.....uh....I...I don't....." She stuttered. "Come on Twilight spit it out!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "There's nothing..... No memories! The only thing I saw was your crash into Sweet Apple Acres!" She told the pegasus with a dumbfounded look on her face. The pegasus once again dropped his gaze. "So, what does that mean...?" He asked in his solemn voice. "It means.... that I have no idea who you are or where you came from..." She answered in a voice just above a whisper. "Well... That makes two of us then..." The stallion said as he repositioned himself on the bed so he was once again lying on the pillows. He laid down so he was facing away from the others and covered himself back up. The others shot each other glances shrugged shoulders and shook their heads. None of them knew at this point what to say or do. "I'M BAAAACK! Did ya miss me!" Pinkie shouted as she came bouncing back into the room. "Ah, is he sleeping?" She asked in a sad voice as she looked at the stallion hiding under the covers. "That's too bad... I had some really great news for him..." She added as she plopped down on her rear and pouted. Twilight leaned over and whispered in Pinkie's ear. "I think he could probably use some good news right now." "OKAY!" She shouted and immediately jumped up with a huge smile on her face and pounced the stallion's shape under the covers. "OOF!" The stallion let out as the pony landed on his side, thankfully it wasn't onto any injured parts. The covers were ripped away from him by the pink pony's mouth and she stood there wearing an enormous smile. "GUESS WHAT?!" She said without losing any of her smile. The stallion raised an eyebrow and shrugged a shoulder at her. "I talked to the doctor and he said that provided you get enough rest he's going to let you out of the hospital in TWO MORE DAYS!!!" She said then letting out a bubbly laugh. "Which means that all of us can show you around Ponyville since you haven't gotten a chance to see it yet!" A bland smile showed on his face as he repositioned himself under her weight and took a deep breath. "OH! Sorry!" She said as she jumped back down off of the bed and landed with a clop of her hooves. "That sounds great... but how am I supposed to go forward here if I don't even know my own name?! Let alone where I'm from?" The stallion said in a depressed tone. There was a moment of silence before Applejack broke it. "WELP! I reckon that if you don't have any memories of what your past was. That means you oughtta start over!" The stallion raised his head to look at her with an eyebrow raised. She returned the look with a very warm smile. "Ain't no reason to lie there in bed and feel sorry for yourself cause you ain't got no past sugarcube! What ya oughtta be doin' is getting out there and making new memories! Give yourself a chance to discover who ya are! Ya know?" "Yeah! And, you couldn't have a better group of friends in Equestria to start with!" Rainbow Dash added as she raised her hoof to her chest proudly. He looked at each and every pony, and dragon, in the room. They all looked so nice and caring. A feeling of happiness began to bubble up from inside him and a huge smile came over his face. He sat up in his bed and met each of their gazes. "Thank you all! You've been nothing but kind since I've ended up here. Let alone the fact that three of you saved my life the night of my crash!" He said in a cheerful tone. Twilight and Applejack blushed a little, while Rainbow Dash put a proud expression on her face. "I want to move forward! I want to discover that something that makes me special!" He said as he uncovered his blank flank. The ponies at the foot of the bed cheered and stomped their hooves for him. Before the nurse came into the room and sharply shushed them all that is. "This is a hospital you know!" The nurse said in a very cross voice as she closed the door after her. They all looked back to the stallion who seemed to be contemplating something. "What should I call myself?" He said as he turned back to the others. "OOH! Cloud Burner!" Spike blurted out enthusiastically. They all shot him a confused look. "What?! He's a pegasus, and look at the colors of his mane! It's perfect!" He defended. There were several 'nahs' from the group and Spike once again put on his annoyed look and crossed his arms. "Besides Spike, there's already a Cloud Burner living in Cloudsdale." Rainbow Dash added. "Well I've never heard of him..." Spike said in a quiet voice. "What about, FIRE CHASER!" Rainbow Dash said, trying to come across in a macho tone. Several of the group looked at her with raised eyebrows. "What?!" She answered defensively. "He's a pegaus! So he's got to have a cool name! Plus, check out the shades of red and yellow in his mane and tail! They scream something that has FIRE in it!" She said as she flexed her forelegs and flapped into the air. "Hmmm....." The stallion said as he squinted his eyes and put his hoof up to his head. "OOOOOH! OOH! OOH!" Pinkie pie interrupted. Everyone looked over at her. She was bouncing up and down on her back hooves with her front hoof raised in the air. "OOOH! OOH!" She kept up as she looked at the stallion like he was a school teacher. "Ummm....Yes?" The stallion said as he looked at her in confusion. "How about Falling Star?" She said with another toothy grin. "It sounds like a pegasus' name and you came to Ponyville by falling right out of the night sky! It really suits you!" The group shared confused glances with each other before turning their attention to the pondering pegasus'. The stallion let out a short laugh and looked over at Pinkie Pie. "It's perfect! 'Falling Star....' It really is appropriate isn't it." He said with another laugh. "Falling Star it is!" He said excitedly to Pinkie. "YAY!!!" Pinkie yelled excitedly. "HOOFBUMP!" She yelled as she put a forehoof up to his face. He looked at her in surprise but easily caught on to what she wanted. He raised his unbandaged forehoof up to meet hers with a 'CLOP.' The rest of the group huddled in around the bed and excitedly started to talk to him about things he was gonna have to try and do when he got out of the hospital. With a huge smile on his face he joined in on the conversation.