//------------------------------//
// Day 1 - How It All Began 
// Story: Winds of the Past 
// by Fantasia 
//------------------------------//


What happened today... was truly unbelievable... and I have no doubt that you'll be surprised by what I'm choosing to write to you about. But I'm finding this difficult to keep amongst myself, and Spike insisted I write to somepony about all that's happened today, so... here goes.

I met a pegasus today.

The only problem with that was how we met.

One moment I was going about my usual business in my study, the next, she crashes through my window... the day after our nine-hundred and ninety-ninth Summer Sun Celebration.

Lucky for her it wasn't the day during.

And, putting aside the scarcity of pegasi here in Canterlot... what kind of pegasus just goes and crashes into somepony's home? Certainly not the ones I read about in my books. I mean, pegasi are supposed to be graceful, skilled, and agile! Not clumsy and careless...

Well after repairing any damage done to the room and carefully examining my bookcases and looking ever so closely for any damage done to the books, I insisted she go to the hospital. She refused of course, insisting she was fine.

Stubborn pegasus. I refused to believe she was fine. Eventually I got her to go, though honestly, I was indifferent as to whether she went or not. I suppose I never did care much for the company of others, but the fact remained I couldn't just leave her there, injured on my floor. No, she needed help, and had a home to return to.

And... if anything, she most likely would have distracted me from my studies.

During our short time together, I learned she had apparently lost much of her memory... and as I accompanied her to the hospital, little by little, I started to believe she had. I figured nopony would go through such lengths to fake such a thing. Well I was right of course, as it was soon discovered she had somehow gained amnesia. Now it looks as though I'll be stuck watching over her while she regains her memory... Who knows how long that'll take...

But it seems I'm getting a little carried away here. Allow me to start again from the beginning. It was another average, sunny morning in Canterlot. Ponies were going on with their usual daily routine, as was I, until... well, you know the rest...


"And that takes care of that," a particular purple mare stated with a satisfied grin, to nopony in particular. Raising a quill pen with her magic, checked off another box on her list. "Remove books from shelves? Check." Now with the floors of the tower a cluttered mess, she proceeded on to the next box on her list. Dusting. She looked up from her list for only a moment; a job like this would take hours. Well, she supposed it would take hours, for any old pony. A job like this however, was nothing to a unicorn like herself. She set the quill and list down on a nearby desk to her left, then walked towards the center of the room. Taking a deep breath, she flared her horn causing it to glow an ever so light orchid and unleashing the build up of magic, sent a wave of magic through the tower, rocking the bare bookcases back and fourth, knocking off any dust that may have built up over time. The magic subsided, leaving only a mass of dust clouds now nestled above the room. With another task accomplished, she trotted back over to her desk, and checked off another box. "Dusting. Check—" The mare paused as she felt a sneeze coming on. "Spike!" she called out. Her voice echoed throughout the tower, and on her command, a young purple dragon came stumbling into the room.

"Y-yes, Twilight?" Spike answered, now eying the mare across the room, noting with curiosity that she was holding a hoof over her muzzle. "There was something you needed?"

"Yes. I need you to—" She bit down on her lip. "—need you to open some windows!" At that moment she turned away and sneezed, right into her hoof. "Ew..." she groaned in detest, now with strands of mucus attached to her hoof.

"Is something the matter?" Spike asked, cocking his head in Twilight's direction.

"Oh no, nothing at all, Spike," Twilight assured her assistant, her back turned to him. "Just work on getting as many windows open around here as you can."

"Well alright," Spike nodded as he turned to leave, "if that's all you need..." He had almost exited the room when he heard Twilight's voice speak up again.

"And Spike?"

He paused for a moment, turning once more to face her. "Yeah?"

"Tissues please?" Twilight asked. She felt her cheeks grow warmer saying that. "Make it quick too, Spike..." she finished as she felt another sneeze coming on. Her eyes glared up at the ceiling. Stupid dust...

"Sure thing, Twilight," she heard him say, followed by the sound of fading footsteps. Before even realizing it, Spike had left, leaving Twilight all by herself as she let out another sneeze. This time, all over her desk, but more importantly to her, her to-do list and various other papers she had scattered across her desk.

"Oh no... no no no no no no!" she panicked, hastily wiping her hoof off on her coat, figuring she'd clean it later, as she observed what had become of her papers. "Not good!" Her list of objectives which had needed to be completed today was ruined! Well, in her eyes anyway. To any other pony, it would have looked fine, just what appeared to be a few drops here and there, not affecting the penmanship at all. But Twilight wasn't just any pony. "Great," she huffed out in irritation, "now I'll have to write out everything all over again!" She grumbled, crumpling the parchment with her magic and tossing it all into a nearby waste basket. "Great, now my work will have to wait..." She let out a sigh and turned, frustrated, walking past shelves and furnishings, past the large, golden hourglass filled with a white sand slowly working its way to the bottom, and stopped before a large, gigantic glass window taking up the front wall of the room.

Upon taking residency, she learned that this tower had quite the view of Equestria. Looking out, she could see the majority of Canterlot below, and if she squinted, could see beyond that, to some place called... Ponyville. Occasionally she would catch glimpse of the cloud city, Cloudsdale floating off in the distance, but today she found herself paying little attention to the outside world. "Great, just great... I'm behind schedule now..."

Twilight rested her forehead against the glass, letting out an irritated groan. "Stupid dust," she spat, eying the clouds of it floating above her from the corner of her eye. Her gaze returned to meet her reflection in the glass. "If only this window could open..." she grumbled, placing a hoof against the glass. She sighed, turning around to resume her work. "Well I won't get anywhere complaining. May as well—" She paused mid-sentence. For the briefest second she could have sworn she sensed another pony's presence. She turned around swiftly, gazing out the window...


What happened next? She happened. What I thought was perhaps a rainbow blossoming across the clear blue sky, was actually a pegasus, from... who knows where. I never got a good glimpse at the direction she had been flying from. All I knew was that she had somehow managed to injure herself, blacking out mid-flight and ended up falling right out of the sky, and was falling fast... right into my life.


Twilight let out a frightened scream as the pony drew closer, picking up speed as she fell from the sky. Without thinking, she dove to the ground placing her hooves over her head as the pegasus came crashing through the window, sending shards of glass flying everywhere. Panicking, Twilight conjured up a quick yet unstable force field which she used to shield herself from the oncoming bits of glass. The spell was still in its primal stages, and far from perfect, but it still served its purpose.

She shut her eyes, making it impossible to know what was happening but the sound of glass pounding against her force field like hail and a loud crash emitting from the far side of the room told her everything she needed to know. Her study was getting destroyed...

Eventually the sound subsided and she assumed the worst of it was over. However she didn't dare look... "Please don't be ruined, please don't be ruined, please don't be..." she muttered under her breath as one eye peeked out from under her hoof. Well, minus the gaping hole in the window, a now broken hourglass, and shattered glass and sand everywhere, it didn't look too bad... to any old pony that is. "No," she panicked, frantically looking around and muttering what seemed like a never-ending string of nos, "it's all destroyed!" And books littering the floor or empty bookcases certainly weren't helping the room's image. "This isn't happening! This can't be happening!" she fretted, placing a hoof over her forehead and raking her mane up in the process.

Twilight lifted a cautious hoof and took a single step forward, swallowing down a nervous gulp. With her pupils the size of pinpricks, she hesitantly took another step, then another, and another until she stood at the edge of it all and reluctantly began surveying the damage done, thinking up a way to fix it all... when she remembered the cause.

The pegasus. The one to blame for all this. It was her fault after all. Twilight looked straight ahead and began glancing around the room for the aforementioned pegasus, conjuring up protective shoehorns around her hooves as she walked. "I know you're here!" Twilight shouted, her voice fuming as it echoed throughout the room. The sound of glass crunched under her hooves as she walked. "You know you caused me a great deal of trouble crashing in here like that!" she continued, wandering further into the room, looking for the source of the crash. She was definitely in here somewhere. Twilight cautiously ventured deeper into the study, checking every shelf, every corner and crevice as she walked. "I was behind schedule enough already but it's not like you pegasi type care. Now I've got to repair all the damage your little stunt caused, and I still have to clear away all this dust..." Though unbeknown to Twilight, the window getting smashed open had inadvertently removed all the once-present dust. "Then I have to rewrite new lists detailing my jobs I've yet to complete before I can even get back to work on re-shelving everything. I do hope you realize this is all your fault..." Her voice dwindled, the mare finding herself at a loss of words. She had found the pegasus, and to Twilight's surprise, she was a mare. A... very hoydenish-looking, and sand-covered mare, but nevertheless, a mare.

Slouched upside down against a cabinet, and if Twilight had to take a guess, unconscious as well...


I had found her, and I'm not sure why, or even how, but my sudden rage dispersed. I was still angry with her of course; she had wrecked much of what had been my study. I wanted to yell at her, or at the very least, get her to repair the damage she had caused—well, when she woke anyway. But I couldn't bring myself to do so. I wish I could explain the feeling I felt back then... What happened next? I sat there, for ages it felt like, until Spike returned. I didn't know what to say, or even think around her, and so I just watched, waiting. Waiting until she came to. I just had to know more about her...


"Oh what am I going to do?" Twilight wondered aloud, dropping to the floor and resting on her haunches beside the pegasus. Her eyes rested on the mare. "Especially with you." What had started out as just another work day had turned into an utter disaster. She couldn't possibly be further behind on her work, her study was a wreck, and now she had some pegasus on her hooves as well. Things were not looking up for her.

She sneezed again.

Oh Celestia, not again... she grumbled, wiping her muzzle with a hoof. Then let out an embarrassed shriek when she noticed where she had sneezed. Right into the mare's coat. "Ew..." she groaned, utterly disgusted by the sight. She turned away, turning her attention to the stairs that Spike had proceeded down earlier. "Oh... Where is Spike with those tissues?" Twilight thought aloud, all while wondering, How long could it take to fetch such a thing? After a quick sigh, Twilight turned her gaze back to the pegasus. "Mm, well I suppose I can't just leave you like that..."

Nodding her head and taking a deep breath, she decided on fixing the problem herself. After all, how hard could it be? "Okay, I've got this, I can fix this..." she told herself. She gulped, closing her eyes and doing something she never would have thought of doing. She began wiping away at her fur with her hoof in an attempt to rub her... snot out. Oh Celestia this is gross! She squirmed, squinting her eyes and biting her lower lip. Please don't wake up, please don't wake up...

Thank Celestia she didn't.

"Well," Twilight began, with a shaky sigh of relief, "that takes care of that." She gazed down, satisfied with her job of cleaning up. The pegasus's coat was a bit crusty, and rather messy, but to Twilight is seemed good enough. Wiping her hooves clean, she proceeded to lie the mare down in a more comfortable position. Surely it wouldn't have helped things having her wake upside down, back against a cabinet.

Carefully placing a foreleg around her shoulders and another around her hind legs, Twilight strenuously moved her onto the floor, gently lying her down on her stomach, and in doing so, managed to remove much of the white sand coating the pegasus's body. "Whew..." she let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't used to lifting things, much less another pony. Especially one her size... "And um..." She looked around, trying to spot something for her to rest her head on. It seemed as though a book would have to suffice for the time being. "Ah, here we go!" She spotted one of her... not-so-favorite books and used her magic to lift the pegasus's head and place it underneath. Some spell book on facial hair growth. Spike himself seemed fond of it, but as for Twilight... "I always knew this book would be good for something."

Turning her attention away from the book, Twilight looked over the resting mare. She was an average size, no bigger than herself. Slender, light cerulean coat, shaggy tail and mane—rainbow mane... that wasn't something you saw everyday. A pony with a mane colored six different colors of the rainbow... Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet... She would have to take a look into this later. But now just wasn't the time for such a thing. Still, she couldn't help but feel this pegasus was special. Different than the rest. Twilight leaned forward, brushing away several rainbow strands of her mane from her eyes as she quietly asked, "Just...who are you?"

Even more importantly, was she alright? Nothing was broken was it? The thought had just occurred to Twilight. She had been so caught up in removing the snot from her fur, or gawking over her mane she had completely forgotten to check for any harm done to her body. Her partially sand-soaked body had been left unscathed, save for a few bruises along her forelegs, upper body and the mess she could only assume were once her wings, but as for her insides... She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath before her horn lit up and she lowered it over the mare's body. Slight damage to the foreleg and hind leg muscles... she concluded to herself, breathing out a sigh then moving her horn further up her figure. Almost like an x-ray, with a flare of her horn, she could use it to scan one's body and sense for any problems. "Now for her... oh..." Bloodied and torn, on the outside it looked as if feathers had been plucked straight from her wings, with whatever remaining feathers misplaced and muddled, sticking out every which way from her wings. On the inside... Muscle damage and tendons badly stretched in both wings it would seem... Looks like she won't be doing any flying for a while. Twilight shook her head as the orchid glow surrounding her horn diminished. Still, she couldn't have sustained all these injuries from a simple crash... I wonder what—

"Twilight!" Twilight's head rose up, startled from where she sat as she suddenly heard a familiar voice. "What happened in here?!" From the sound of it, Spike had returned.

"Oh, Spike?" Twilight answered, turning around for a brief moment and waving a hoof in his direction. "Over here, Spike." Before going to meet with her assistant however, quickly turned back to the pegasus and leaning in near her ear, whispered, "Don't move," then seconds later questioned why she even said that.

She's unconscious, Twilight, her conscious reminded her.

"I know that, Twilight—" She paused. Great, I'm talking to myself.

Casting the same protective hoofwear from earlier, she got to her hooves and walked over to where Spike stood. "So what kept you?" Twilight asked, a tad leery as she approached Spike. Her expression quickly became one of annoyance as she continued. "I've been waiting, you know." She noticed as she now stood before him that he clutched onto a packet of tissues in his left claw.

"I was only gone for a few minutes, Twilight," the dragon replied defensively, taking a step back before stopping. He gave her a bewildered look. "What's gotten into you?"

"Well..." Then it hit her. She remembered there remained bits of glass littered all across the floor. "Spike, please watch where you walk!" Twilight cautioned, beckoning the young dragon to stay put.

"I am, Twilight! I am!" Spike assured her. He wasn't blind, it was clear there was glass everywhere. He wouldn't have been foolish enough to actually step on it. "I swear you worry too much."

"Spike... you know I worry because..." Twilight paused, letting out a sigh. She knew he hated to here this. "You're still a—"

Spike gulped, realizing where Twilight was headed. "Don't say it!" he pleaded. But it was too late.

"—baby dragon," she finished, only to receive an audible groan of annoyance from Spike in response.

"I'm old enough, Twilight..." Spike insisted, rolling his eyes with an unamused look. He crossed his arms and gazed down at the blue, shimmering floor. Then he remembered the reason he had hurried back. "Twilight... what happened in here anyway? I mean, I was opening up windows like you asked when I heard a crash, followed by your usual—" The seconds those words left his mouth, Spike noted Twilight's expression quickly grew annoyed, and hastily backtracked. "C-calm and collected, uh... calls for help!" he explained, grinning back at an unamused Twilight. Though on the inside, he couldn't help but think that if only those outbursts had been calls for help, he probably could have made it to her in time before any of this happened. Spike nervously glanced around while maintaining his toothy grin as another thought passed through his mind. She didn't cause this... did she?

Twilight's unamused gaze lasted for a few seconds longer before her head drooped, and she let out a sigh in defeat. "This mess, huh?" How was she going to explain this one to Spike? She glanced back up at the dragon, staring inquisitively back at her as her face contorted into a look of embarrassment and uncertainty, her mind searching desperately for an answer. "Um, well it's eh, sort of a long story..."

Spike, in response, merely cocked his head slightly to the right. "Long... how exactly?" he inquired, stepping forward with a look of worry. "Mind telling me?"

"Well I guess not, but..."

There's no harm in showing him, her inner voice spoke, and Twilight found herself slowly agreeing. It was best that Spike learned what caused this, regardless of how he may react.

So, with her voice brimming with nerves and uncertainty, Twilight said, "Why don't I just show you instead?"

"Show me?"

"Yeah, come on. This way, Spike." Twilight waved a hoof as she turned around, motioning him to follow her. Spike followed, carelessly tossing the pack of tissues upon a nearby desk as Twilight took him to meet their 'guest'.





"Is she dead—?"

"Spike!"

"What?" Spike replied defensively, holding out both his hands before him. She was, right? How was he supposed to know? He looked back at the pegasus. "She looks..."

"Well she's not," Twilight told him. "Just... unconscious at the moment I think."

"So... who is she?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" There was a pegasus in their home and Twilight was telling him she had no clue who this was? Was this pegasus to blame for that giant hole in the window? "Twilight, how can you not know?"

"I just don't know, okay Spike?" she shot back. It wasn't like her not to know things, and Spike pointing this out made it all the worse. "I just... we just need to wait for her to come around."

Both sat in silence for several moments. Spike looked over at Twilight who sat dead silent, her violet eyes fixed on the mare's closed ones. "So she's the reason for—" Spike paused, pointing a finger over his shoulder, "—that?"

"Yeah," Twilight barely nodded, her eyes glued to the mysterious pegasus. "One moment I'm standing by the window, the next... she crashes through it."

"That's crazy!" Spike exclaimed for a brief moment before receiving a glare from Twilight. "I mean, uh... that's, awful?"

Twilight sighed. "No Spike, it is crazy." A pegasus whom she's never seen before, didn't know a thing about and crashed into her life out of the blue certainly wasn't ordinary. "Now I'm behind on my work because of—oh Celestia, my work!" Twilight jolted up, having completely forgotten about her chores she had yet to complete due to one disruptive pegasus. "I need to get back to work! Oh no, where did I leave off? And the books! Oh I'll have to check for any damage done to those..." Before running off, turned to Spike and said, "Watch over her, please."

Spike nodded but soon noticed the pegasus's eyes slowly start to open. "Uh, Twilight..."

"Not now, Spike," she replied, fretfully dashing across the layout of the room. Where to start, where to start... Flaring her horn, and with her magic, picked up individual pieces of glass, using them to rebuild both the window and hourglass. "This will hopefully take care of the window and broken glass situation..."

"But Twilight—"

"I said not now!" she snapped, focusing on the tasks before her, and on fitting the finishing pieces back into place. Once all the pieces were in place, she placed protective barriers around the glass furnishings, hoping to prevent either of them from coming apart.

"Are you sure?" Spike asked. "This is kinda important."

"More important than getting this work done? Oh I'm sure..." Twilight answered, her tone sarcastic. She dashed over to a waste bin, dumping in all the sand she collected. "Sorry, Spike. Whatever it is you want can wait until after this is finished."

Spike shook his head as he shrugged. "If you say so..."

"Man, is she always this uptight?" an unfamiliar, and... scratchy voice asked, stopping Twilight in her tracks and causing her ears to perk up. That definitely wasn't Spike talking... The voice softly laughed as it then proceeded to ask, "How do you put up with a pony like that?"

Twilight instantly turned and locating the source of the mysterious voice, stood there, completely flabbergasted. To her surprise, the pegasus had awoken. That was... fast.


But it wasn't just how fast she had recovered from a seemingly painful incident. No, it was the fact that she seemed completely unhurt by it all! I looked into her cerise eyes and as I assumed, she wasn't just any pegasus. There was something about her that definitely struck me as... different. But as for her attitude, that was nothing new. Carefree, lazy as I soon discovered, quite the jokester, and might I add she seemed to have a hint of an ego. I quickly found myself annoyed time and time again by her, whether it was her pestering me about my work habits, or asking, "what's this?" every five seconds. I tried ever so hard to ignore her outbursts but one fact still remained. I was stuck with her, and that I could not ignore. I had discovered through her constant rambling that she couldn't remember much about her past, where she came from... or even what her name was. I didn't know if she was telling the truth or not, but whatever the case, she was hurt and I couldn't just abandon her. So I was stuck looking after her for the time being, until I could find her the help she needed...


She's... awake? Twilight stood, jaw hanging open. She rubbed both her eyes. She couldn't believe what she was seeing right now. So much in fact, she shut her eyes telling herself this wasn't real, that her eyes were just playing tricks on her. When I open my eyes, she'll still be lying on the floor... Her eyes blinked open, but there she was, on the far side of the room beside where Spike stood. The pegasus, who was unconscious moments ago, was now wide awake, sitting back on her haunches and looked, better than okay! The picture of health even! Well, until she lifted a hoof anyway...

"Ow!" the pegasus cringed as she let out a muffled grumble, placing her hoof back down. "Stupid hoof," she spat, "I was only napping, why is it hurting like this? Must've sprained something..." She shrugged, and shook it off, lowering it carefully back on the ground and began glancing around with a frown.

"Uhm..." Twilight found herself speechless. What did she mean she was sleeping? Did she really believe that? "What... what do you mean you were sleeping?" Twilight asked, slowly approaching the pegasus.

"Huh?" The pegasus turned to face Twilight. She held a foreleg behind her head and from what Twilight could tell, still seemed to be concerned about her hooves. "Oh, well hello to you too," the cerulean coated pegasus replied. Not the response Twilight had been hoping for... "Man, it's all answers and work with you, isn't it?" She smirked as she went on to ask, "Mind at least telling me your name?"

Well if it meant getting answers out of her quicker... "It's... Twilight..." Twilight paused for a moment, leading the pegasus to believe that was all.

"Well hello, Twilight—"

"Sparkle," Twilight continued to say, cuing a confused "huh?" from the pegasus. "My name... it's Twilight Sparkle." The pegasus gave her a funny look, almost as if questioning whether she was serious or not. Then came the laughter... "It's not funny!" Twilight yelled at the pegasus, growing steamed.

"It totally is!" the pegasus replied in between laughs. "Twilight... Sparkle? What kinda lame name is that?" Twilight's cheeks grew red as the pegasus fell over from laughter. "Agh!" the pegasus suddenly screamed out in pain having hit the floor.

Well at least her laughter stopped... "You're still sore," Twilight remarked. "You have several damaged muscles in both your legs and wings—actually it's quite severe in your wings, and it doesn't help that you just fell back on them. Truthfully, you shouldn't even be moving right now, much less doing something like laughing—"

"Wait." She gazed up at Twilight with a look of confusion. "Sore...? Damaged? From... what exactly?" the pegasus asked, now stuck on her back, both of her wings lazily sprawled by her sides. "I was sleeping... wasn't I?"

"What do you mean from what?" Was she serious? She fell from the sky, smashed through glass, and rammed into a cabinet... presumably head first. "You were never sleeping, pegasus! You crashed through my window!"

"I did?"

Twilight gave an annoyed groan. "Yes..." She tilted her head to the side, towards the window. "You may not have noticed but I just finished repairing it. Please avoid smashing through it again, please."

"Wait, you serious? How'd that happen?"

"Argh, I don't know!" Why was she questioning her how it happened? She was the one who crashed through it! Twilight soon fell under the suspicion she was merely messing with her. "You tell me, pegasus. How did it happen?"

"Don't know," the pegasus admitted after a few moments. "I was hoping you could tell me, since you know, you were there when it happened..."

Twilight stared at her, utterly shocked. "Wait...wha, hold up!" There was no way she was telling the truth. "You were up in the sky when it happened! How can you not know what happened!? You were there! Don't tell me you can't remember anything!"

The pegasus remained silent for a few seconds as Twilight waited for an answer. "Well?"

"I... don't."

"You don't?"

"Yeah," the pegasus answered back, "that's what I said, smart one."

Twilight ignored the last remark. "So... you don't remember anything then... Is that what you're saying?"

"Is it? Not sure," the pegasus joked. "My head's aching though, I'm covered in this... sand stuff... and my coat's all crusty for some reason," the pegasus explained, pointing to a particular spot on her upper chest, "and man oh man, am I starving! Got anything to eat around here?"

"I-I'm not giving you anything of ours!" Twilight stammered in response. Not until she got some answers. She was obviously hurt but the question remained whether she could remember things or not, or if she was simply trying to mooch off of her. "Can you remember anything or not? What's your name? Where are you even from?"

"Maybe. Don't know. Don't know." The pegasus tilted her head up at Twilight, grinning. "Maybe if I were to have something to eat it'd help jog my memory..."

"I'm not giving you anything until I know if you're even telling the truth or not!"

"Aw come on..."

"No," Twilight said, easily growing fed up with her presence. "All I'm asking is that you tell me the truth."

"Uh, Twilight..." Spike interjected, entering the scene, "maybe... maybe it wouldn't hurt to give her just... one bundle of hay—"

"Spike!"

"Attaboy, little dude!" the pegasus cheered. "Although hay's kinda... blah." She paused, stopping and questioning what she just said. "Do I even like hay? Blah food? Hm..."

"What do you mean by that Spike?" Twilight asked him, ignoring the pegasus and now focusing on her assistant. She turned and lead him away from the pegasus. Lowering her voice, she added, "We don't even know who she is, Spike. Much less whether or not she's faking all this. I'm not giving up anything of ours to this... this—"

"Thief?" Twilight and Spike turned around surprised to see the pegasus lying before them and looking directly up at them, having scooted closer to the two. "That's what you think I am, right?" she asked, her goofy grin having disappeared. "I'm not you know... at least, I don't think I am..."

"Uh, well..." Twilight found herself at a loss once more. Yeah she thought she was more than likely, a thief. She kept joking around with her and refused to tell her anything. Even more so, she still knew nothing about her, and for all she knew, could have been on the run when... whatever it was happened and she crashed through her window. "How did you even hear us?" Twilight asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

"I could hear you talking from all the way back there," she explained, pointing a hoof behind her. "Just thought I'd scoot closer, didn't feel right being left out. You know, you really should learn to lower your voice," she added. "Right now you're not exactly good at it..."

"Well at the moment, you're not very good at telling the truth... Guess we're both not very good at certain things..." Twilight mused, turning away frustrated. "You know things would go a lot smoother if you were to just tell the truth."

The two remained silent for the longest time. Spike shifted glances between the two, finally asking, "So... are either of you gonna say anything? Are we done here?"

The pegasus sighed. "Okay, fine, Egghead. I can't remember anything, alright?"

"I don't believe you," Twilight said, not bothering to glance back at the pegasus.

Though she did hear a loud "What?!" following her reply.

"How can you say "I don't believe you"?" the pegasus asked her in disbelief. Twilight had wanted her to tell the truth and finally deciding to do so, she did! Only for her to not believe her?

"Easy," Twilight replied calmly, "it's because I don't."

"But I told you the truth!"

"Prove it then," Twilight said. If she really couldn't remember, she'd be able to prove it... somehow. "If you really are telling the truth and you really can't remember anything, then surely you'd be able to prove it."

"But how am I supposed to...?" The pegasus thought on this for a moment. How was she supposed to prove herself? It didn't matter how many questions she asked her, how many times she said she didn't remember, Twilight would more than likely say she still didn't believe her... "How do you suggest I do that?"

"Well..." Twilight soon found she wasn't too sure herself. "Just... I don't know! You're the one I'm asking!" she retorted, easily growing more frustrated. "Just... think of a way, alright?"

"Gee, thanks..." the pegasus muttered under her breath, letting out a deep breath and setting her head down against the marble flooring. Time passed as she lay there, eyes closed and leaving Twilight to question whether she was really thinking, or had simply fallen asleep.

Eventually Twilight decided to speak up. "Well?" she asked. The pegasus blinked her eyes open. "Come up with anything?" The pegasus mare shook her head, letting out a simple "nope," and unwittingly leaving Twilight utterly shocked. "You had more than enough time to... you were just, I thought you were... No!" Twilight snapped, starling the pegasus. "That's ridiculous! How can you expect me to believe that?"

"Look, Sparkles..." the pegasus began. "It's impossible for me to prove this, alright? You can ask me all the questions you want and I can keep saying I don't know, but that isn't gonna get us anywhere, is it? You wouldn't believe me anyway, right? So..." she paused, glancing up at Twilight. "It looks like this is something you're just gonna have to trust me on—"

"Trust?" Twilight cocked her head at her. She had never 'trusted' in anyone before, much less in a complete stranger. Besides, it was the facts that mattered. Facts which she had yet to provide. Maybe it was hard to prove, but how could she believe her unless she knew for certain the pegasus really had lost her memory. "I... can't do that. Sorry."

"Of course not..." the pegasus muttered in an exasperated tone. "What now then, Sparkles? You won't believe me, won't trust in me either..." Her voice began to trail off as she let out a sigh. "I'm hurt too, or so you say... Oh, and I'm still sorta hungry."

"You're hungry, you're hungry; I heard you the first hundred times..." Twilight whispered something to Spike and then proceeded to her desk as he left the room. "Look, pegasus, I still have much work to catch up on from earlier," Twilight said, now looming over her work area and using her magic to lay out a fresh scroll before her. "So here's what we'll do."

"Hey hey, hold up!" she interjected, having paid little mind to what Twilight had been saying and kept her eyes focused on the dragon, pointing a hoof in his direction as he left the room. "Where's he running off to?"

"Firstly..." Twilight began, not bothering to look up from her work station and proceeded to flare her horn. In an instant, a magical barrier formed around the pegasus with hopes it would stop her if she attempted to move. "Stop moving. That's the last thing you should be doing. Secondly, you'll be going to the hospital later. After I finish what needs to be finished, that is."

The pegasus stopped pawing against the barrier as she turned to look to her. "Hos... pital? What's...? That's not gonna hurt, is it?"

Twilight placed a hoof against her forehead. "It's not a thing, pegasus. It's a place. They'll fix you up there," she explained. Was she serious? How did she not know what a hospital was? Either she was a really convincing liar, or she really had lost her memory and it was much worse than she thought. Or she was just simple-minded.

Regardless, hopefully they would take her off her hooves as well...

"Well, thanks... but I think I'll pass," the pegasus replied, rolling onto her side. "I don't really feel like moving much. 'Sides, I'm not even that hurt!" she insisted suddenly, rolling over onto her stomach and jolting upwards, flaring her wings outwards. Or as far out as she could anyway, from within the cramped purple barrier Twilight had stuck her in. "See—" she paused, wincing and retracting her wings, letting out a stifled grunt. "Perfectly... fine," she managed to finish, forcing a fake grin in Twilight's direction.

Twilight watched her from the corner of her eye. Oh yes, very convincing... she mused, holding back a smirk. "You don't have a choice here, pegasus," Twilight replied, returning back to the matter at hoof and picking out a quill pen and using her magic, began to jot down notes onto the scroll. "You're going."

"And just how do you expect me to get there?"

"I don't know... Fly?" Twilight retorted. "You did say you were fine, right?"

"Uh, well I—"

"Was faking," Twilight interjected, finishing her statement. "I get it." She set the pen down for a moment, turning to face the mare once more, now seeing she had collapsed back on the floor. "I'll... think of something, alright?" Twilight assured her, then asked, "You can walk, right?"

"'Course I can!" the pegasus quickly exclaimed in response, once again jolting upwards, but not without grunting in pain as she felt a sudden stabbing pain in her hind legs, causing her forelegs to buckle and bend over, resulting in her losing her balance.

Twilight simply rolled her eyes as she turned back to face her work and as she began to write again, grumbled, "Didn't think so..."

"Hey, I can too!" the pegasus snapped back, lying once more on the floor. She lowered her head. Just not very well at the moment... "Well I sorta can... maybe if I—"

"Take it slow?" Twilight surmised, interjecting and finishing what she had suspected the pegasus to say.

Okay, that's getting annoying... That was the second time Twilight had cut her off, and guessed what she had to say.

And though she hated to admit it, she was right every time... "Uh, yeah..." the prismatic pegasus replied in a muffled voice. "Yeah, actually..."

"Good, it seems like you're actually starting to listen to me. Good pegasus." Twilight smiled to herself as she waved a hoof in the pegasus's direction, as if she were patting her on the head. The cerulean pegasus narrowed her eyes. Listen to her? Twilight just so happened to guess what she was going to say!

But even so, the pegasus thought. Maybe...maybe I should try listening to her. Irritating as she was, Twilight was willing to help and she wasn't exactly in the position not to accept it.

"So anyway," Twilight continued, "as I mentioned before, I do have plenty of work to finish around here. There's lists which need to be rewritten before I can even get back to work, then..." She stopped and pointed a hoof to a random area of the room where piles of books lay spread carelessly about. "See all of these books? I have to re-shelve each and every one."

"That's a lot of books..." the pegasus mused, having turned to look at them. "So... why exactly are they on the floor? Shouldn't they be like, on the shelves? Wait..." The thought suddenly occurred to her. "I didn't cause all this, did I?"

"No, pegasus..." Twilight replied after a moment of writing. "I, before you came crashing through here, decided to do a bit of cleaning around here. This tower—"

"Wait, wait, hold up," she interjected, stopping Twilight mid-sentence.

"Yes...?" Twilight questioned, wondering what she possibly could've wanted to know.

"So... this is a tower?" the pegasus asked. "We're in a tower...?"

That's all she was wondering? "Oh well, yes, we are," Twilight responded. "The Ivory Tower to be precise..." Jeez, what is she going to ask next? What a tower is? Since the pegasus had forgotten what a hospital was, the idea didn't seem too farfetched. Still, the thought of her asking such a thing caused a soft chuckle to slip pass Twilight's lips, which she quickly covered up with a hoof.

"The Ivory Tower... huh." The pegasus grew silent.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked. "Does it sound familiar?"

"Not one bit," the pegasus mare replied, glancing back at Twilight with the same goofy grin from earlier. This took Twilight by surprise. She had certainly sounded like she had recognized the name from somewhere. And why was she so happy about it?

"Say, what's a tower?" she added.

Twilight's jaw dropped. "You... but you said, and I thought—" she continued to stammer, finding this impossible to believe. She couldn't believe it; this was too much. She had found the thought to be a bit humorous moments ago, but never thought she'd actually ask such a thing! Oh, how Twilight wished she really was just messing with her... If she wasn't, this really was worse than she could have imagined.

"Well?" the pegasus asked, interrupting her thoughts. "Gonna tell me, or just stand there stammering to yourself?"

Twilight blushed.

"I-it's sorta like..." she paused, stopping to think about it. She never had to describe what a tower was, of all things, to another pony. "Sorta like... one tall, enormous structure. They're usually thinner than they are wide, and..." What else could she say? Without boring or confusing her by talking about the history, functions, or mechanics of them either. "It's... our home too," Twilight finished. "Mine, and Spike's."

"Spike?"

"The 'little dragon dude'," Twilight explained, cuing the pegasus to let out an "Oh" in realization.

"So that's his name..." she mused. "So like, this isn't my home then, I'm guessing?"

Twilight shook her head, mentally rolling her eyes. Why would she think that? Twilight had already been over the fact she had flown in from somewhere else... "No, pegasus, it isn't," Twilight replied. "Why would you think such a thing?"

"Dunno," she answered as she lazily shrugged. "Guess my mind's not in the right place at the moment what with all the stuff that's happened..."

Twilight supposed that was understandable. After all, the chance of her faking was still there, but if she really was telling the truth then memory loss, mixed with multiple injuries, and an unfamiliar setting and surrounded by strangers would seem overwhelming.

"Just thought that maybe I had accidentally crashed into my own home by mistake or something while flying outside..."

"Well, I can assure you that wasn't the case," Twilight replied, as she went on to restate, "Spike and I are the only ones who live here... Sorry." The pegasus lowered her head, having been disappointed to hear that. "I never did get a good look at where you flew in from or anything," she added. "All I know is that you fell out of the sky."

Twilight was about to speak again when a faint growling sound could be heard coming from where the pegasus lay, stopping her. Twilight smirked, raising an eyebrow in her direction. "Is that? Are you...?"

The pegasus felt her cheeks grow warm. "I-I told you I was hungry..." she muttered, having closed her eyes and shifted away from Twilight.

"A thousands times too, I'm impressed!" the unicorn teased, causing her to grow more flustered than before.

Her eyes blinked open. "It hasn't been a thousand times!" she shot back, cheeks bright red. "More like..."

"A thousand and one times?"

"H-hey!" the pegasus yelled, shooting up from the ground. "Let me outta here! I'll, I'll—"

"Do nothing?" Twilight assumed, letting out a soft giggle. She quickly covered this up with a hoof, but even that couldn't stop the building laughter. She certainly was an interesting pegasus; that much she was right about.

"Hey, why are you...? What's so funny?" the pegasus questioned.

Twilight instead, simply shook her head. "Look... just, calm down, alright?" she said, having regained her composure. "I sent Spike to fetch one bundle of hay—"

"Hay?" The pegasus's eyes widened as a large grin began to form. "Wait... really? You mean it?" Her mind flashed back to earlier. So that's where he went off to...

"Just one bundle though, understand?" Twilight stated, snapping the pegasus from her thoughts. "Anything to stop your whining..." she joked. Though she would be lying if she said her constant whining hadn't managed to get on her nerves. "Besides, I suppose I can't leave you to starve..."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you, Sparkles!"

"It's Twilight," she said, getting rather tired of the 'Sparkles' nickname. "Please, do you think you could start calling me that?"

"Uh-huh. Anything you say, Sparkles." Her mind was still heavily focused on thought of finally getting something to eat. All she had heard from her was something about calling her Sparkles, or something...

Twilight's eyes narrowed. "Well anyway, moving on here..." Twilight said. "We need to address your name."

"My name?" the pegasus questioned. "What do you mean by that? Sparkles, I'm pretty sure I told you already that I don't remember it."

"I know you did," Twilight said, promptly returning to her work. "But I'm finding it rather tedious having to refer to you as 'pegasus'," she continued to say. "Of course that's what you are, but still... You'll need a new name."

"Hold up, hold up!" Even if she couldn't remember it, she still had a name. And she wasn't exactly thrilled about some unicorn suggesting she take a new one. "What if... maybe I don't want a new name?"

"Oh, so you would rather go by pegasus then?"

"Well no, but—"

"Then it's settled," Twilight said, "we'll address your new name later, after I finish what needs to be done." The pegasus gave out a muffled groan. It was pointless arguing with her it seemed... especially over some temporary name.

"Fine..." she answered back, less than enthusiastic. Twilight smiled softly to herself as she focused on finishing up the last of her writing and began thinking up a new name for her guest. She thought about it for many moments, finding herself unknowingly tapping her pen against the desk. And soon, completely forgot about finishing her lists. Her mind was solely focused on finding a name for her... But what? This was harder than she thought it'd be.

Then it hit her. The way the two had met, her unique looks... She'd make a name out of those factors. Excited, Twilight turned to the pegasus with a huge grin, and before the pegasus could even question what she was so happy about, Twilight exclaimed, "Rainbow Crash!" A pretty good name if she did say so herself. Twilight just hoped she would think the same. "Well? What do you think?"


Well... she uh, didn't. I guess she took the 'Crash' part of her name as a bit demeaning. So I tried again, and again, and I kept at it. Only for her to shoot down everything I came up with. She did seem to take a liking to 'Rainbow' however, and after becoming a little too irritated to give her name another attempt and unable to come up with anything herself, we decided on Rainbow for the time being. Once Spike returned, I gave her some hay to munch on, having lowered the barrier around her while I returned to what I should've been working on from the start. I inspected and returned many of the books back to their rightful place upon the shelves. Rainbow however, was doing nothing but carelessly chatting the time away with Spike, or tossing out an occasional question towards me while I worked. It amazed me how well she seemed to be taking supposedly losing her memory. It wasn't that I didn't believe her; I was starting to actually. But what pony, after losing not only crucial facts about their life but also basic knowledge, acts as if nothing is wrong? She could've been hiding it all sure, or simply didn't make it out to be a big deal, or perhaps was glad to have rid herself of her past memories...


"Blech, this is so... yuck," Rainbow groaned as her chewing slowed to a stop, finding it increasingly hard to swallow the hay, much less keep it in her mouth.

"Well you said you were hungry. Take it or leave it," Twilight responded from across the room, busy digging into a pile of books. "Now let's see... Gs, where are you...?" Re-shelving and inspecting the books were one thing. For Twilight, alphabetizing everything was no less important.

"Yeah, but..." She stuck her tongue out, brushing off pieces of hay with her hoof. "Got anything that's, I don't know... tasty around here?"

"Hay is tasty!"

"Well I guess someone has to think so," she mused, turning and positioning herself so she now had a good view of the unicorn. "So... no then? Man... I'm still hungry, Sparkles. Oh and thirsty too. That hay was a bit too dry..."

"But you wanted it!"

"And now I don't."

Twilight fought back the urge to scream. She was unbelievable! She finally decided to share a bit of food with her, and despite apparently starving to death, didn't want it. Calm down, Twilight... she'll be gone eventually... keep your cool... Taking a deep breath, she then replied as calmly as possible, "I'm not sharing anymore of our food with you." Twilight then added, "Perhaps you'll like hospital food better."

"Hospital food?"

"That place I'm taking you to later, remember?" she reminded the pegasus. "They offer food to the patients there so it'll looks like you'll be stuck eating whatever they serve you there." Before Rainbow could ask, Twilight cut in, having a feeling of what she was about to ask next. "And no," she added, "I hear it's not very good."

"And you know this because...?"

"Word of mouth, books—"

"So, you're telling me that you've never actually been to one of these... hos-thingys before?"

"Well I've never been hospitalized, if that's what you're asking."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't go crashing into other ponies' homes!" Twilight shot back. Hopefully that would do the trick and get her to shut up for five seconds.

But of course, it didn't...

Twilight groaned. Why couldn't she have come with an off switch? "Spike..." she weakly called out to her assistant.

The dragon looked up from the seat he had taken earlier at Twilight's own work station. "Yeah?"

"Keep her occupied please."

Spike sighed, carefully placing his issue of Batmare away for later. "Fine..." he replied, climbing down from the seat and walked over to join Rainbow. "Hey," he greeted the pegasus. "So... no hay, huh?"

"What can I say? I'm not a big fan..." Rainbow joked, making a slightly sour face towards the hay.

"You know I've never met a pony who hated the taste of hay."

"Guess that makes me sorta unique then, huh?" she asked, facing the dragon with a widening grin across her muzzle.

Then, not a moment later, her grin fell and voice lowered, motioning the young dragon closer as she asked, "Look, uh... Spots—"

"Spike," the dragon corrected.

"Spike, right... Look, are you sure you don't have anything better to eat around here?"

"Uh... well—"

"Don't you dare, Spike," Twilight warned, making sure Spike didn't give in. "She'll eat later, at the hospital. Isn't that right?" she added, shifting a glance at the pegasus. "Right?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Jeez," Rainbow muttered, rolling her eyes. Turning once more towards Spike, Rainbow asked in a whisper, "She's always like this, isn't she?"

"Who, Twilight?" Spike asked, looking back at the busy mare. "Well not normally, no..." he replied. "She's just... Well, you did mess up her schedule for the day... and she's uh, very persnickety..."

"Persincke-wha?"

"Beats me, I just hear Twilight use it when she's like this," Spike replied. He thought on the word for a moment. "I think it means... like, being obsessive or something," he added, causing a small chuckle to escape the pegasus.

"That sounds about right," she mused as she watched the lavender mare dig through heaps of books. A few moments of silence passed between the two before Rainbow decided to ask, "So anyway, how exactly do you know her?"

Spike was taken aback by the sudden question. No one had ever asked him about that. "Isn't that a bit of a personal question?"

"Is it?"

"Well... I-it's kind of a long story too—"

"It's cool, I've got plenty of time," Rainbow replied, calling out to Twilight, "Isn't that right, Sparkles?" No reply. Too busy working it seemed. "Yeah, that's right, Rainbow!" she said, in her best Twilight imitation. "See? Sparkles agrees."

Oh, I'm sure she does... Spike thought. But still, if it wasted time and kept her occupied, like Twilight had asked of him to do... "Alright, I suppose you win. I'll tell you..."





"Just one more book, and..." Twilight lifted a book off the ground using her magic and after a quick inspection, placed it with the others. "Done. Whew..." She wiped a foreleg across her brow, though hardly any sweat had formed, as she admired her work. Every book had been carefully examined, cleaned off, alphabetized and placed neatly back where they belonged. Not bad if she said so herself, and now with her work completed, could attend to the other matter on her hooves... Haven't heard from her in a while... Twilight realized, having noticed the absence of the rainbow-maned mare's ramblings. The same could have been said about Spike.

Must've zoned out while I was working... Twilight thought, figuring she had become too busy to pay attention to what they had been saying. Wonder what they're up to? She turned with this thought in mind and saw Spike and Rainbow sitting in the same spot as before, Spike sitting cross-legged opposite her and Rainbow lazily laid out on the floor. Spike appeared to be telling her a story or something... And as she listened in, she knew what he was telling her. "Telling her that story, huh Spike?"

Spike nearly jumped at the sound of Twilight's voice. "Oh Twilight! I uh, didn't know you were—"

"Done?" she assumed.

"Listening," Spike replied, having forgotten Twilight was even in the room, much less done with her work and eavesdropping on their conversation. "I was just telling her about—"

"My entrance exam, I know," Twilight said, taking a seat on the floor beside the two.

"You're not mad or anything, are you...?"

"Who me? No no, of course not," she assured, Especially if it kept Rainbow from distracting her while she worked. She would have to remember to thank Spike later for this. "So, remind me again... What part were you at again?"

"Only the part where you totally lost it and went all crazy-powerful with your magic!" Rainbow burst in. "Man, Sparkles, I never would've guessed you were so powerful!"

"I uh—what?" Twilight stammered in response. Powerful? Lost it? She was quick to defend. "I-I never 'lost' anything!" Twilight remarked. "Mind you, I was completely in control." ...Or am now, anyway...

"You know you don't have to hide anything, Sparkles," Rainbow replied. "We all know you're lying." Twilight gave her a funny look. Who? Her and Spike?

"Spike here did just tell me the whole story, after all," she continued. "And hey, that is pretty cool if you ask me! Having so much power inside of you—!"

"It's not 'cool' Rainbow, it's dangerous. Having so much power requires many hours of studying and intense focus to keep it in check."

Rainbow faked a yawn. "Yeah yeah, but you have it under control now, right?"

"Only somewhat, but—look, why are we even discussing this?" She shook her head, standing up on all fours. With a flare of her horn, she surrounded Rainbow's figure in a light orchid aura, pulling her off the ground.

"H-hey!" the startled pegasus stammered, between small laughs. "T-this tickles! And h-hey, easy! What are you—?"

"Just be quiet for five seconds, please," Twilight answered as she lowered her back down and set her back on her hooves. "Time to go."

"Go?" Rainbow questioned, still wobbly from Twilight's latest spell. Her body began to ache just being on her hooves again. "Go where?"

Keeping a magical aura wrapped around the pegasus's body, Twilight replied, "To the hospital. How many times am I going to have to remind you?"

"A few more times wouldn't hurt," Rainbow replied jokingly, though Twilight didn't find it as funny. She simply rolled her eyes, then turned and headed for the exit, forcefully dragging the pegasus along with her.

"I did say I'd take you after I finished what needed to be finished, and I did, so..." She pointed to a staircase that led down to the main entrance. "Off we go."

Rainbow hung her head, all while struggling to stand her ground, though to no avail. Though, in a weak, quiet voice, the pegasus whined out, "But I said I don't wanna..."

And in response, Twilight tightened her magical grip around the pegasus. "And I said you don't have a choice. You're going."

Before heading down the stairs however, Twilight turned to Spike. "Watch over the place while I'm gone, Spike. I should be back soon..." she told him as she turned and began her descent down the staircase. "Hopefully..." she added in a quite grumble.






So with my chores for the day having been completed and a very unenthusiastic pegasus trailing behind, I left for the nearest hospital I could think of. I did hope she would be alright under their care, and that everything would go smoothly once she was dropped off there. As in her wounds and, whatever it was that was wrong with her head would be treated, and she would soon be able to return to... wherever she came from. More importantly, I hoped she wouldn't wreck the place during her stay and cause damage that, for whatever reason, I myself could have been found liable for. I thought that maybe I should stay by her side, and perhaps in doing so, ease her nerves a bit. After all, I was the only one she apparently knew anymore. Well, me and Spike anyway. But, I couldn't. This was just going to have to be where we said our goodbyes. Still, I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in what became of her, or... dare I say, miss her—only a little though! And not in like, a caring way or anything... but as annoying as she was, it was strangely nice having somepony else around, besides Spike. But she had her own life to return to, as did I...


"So, Sparkles, you know that really is an amazing talent you have," Rainbow remarked, floating above the streets and pathways, still bound by Twilight's magic as she walked. "I bet you could totally do anything you wanted, with a little training that is."

Well, anything except getting her to shut up... However Twilight paid little attention to what Rainbow was saying. Her mind was focused on other matters... Oh Celestia, this is so embarrassing! Her barely going out in public was one thing, but the one time she does go out in public and it's with some strange and unfamiliar pegasus from who knows where, bound and moved about by her magic. That must've been a sight for other ponies who were out on an afternoon stroll. Twilight kept her head lowered, not wishing to meet the gaze of other questioning ponies. She assumed Rainbow felt the same way. Or not, considering the way she was chatting away.

Twilight began debating whether or not to try a shortcut. Maybe cut through some alleyways? No, that was a stupid idea. Twilight Sparkle takes mysterious bounded pegasus into dark alleyway. She could see it now. No, it was best she stuck to the path she was on... and hope nopony paid her any mind. Maybe if they didn't focus on Rainbow too much, they may even think she was a balloon of sorts! ...Oh who was she kidding? Reputation. Ruined.

"Oh hey, a dessert shop!" Twilight heard Rainbow say. She glanced over her shoulder back at Rainbow, who was now looking off in the direction of a familiar shop she'd take Spike to every once in a while. That's was Joe's shop Rainbow had pointed out. She didn't actually want to stop there, did she?

"We should totally stop by there!" Rainbow exclaimed. Of course she did. Big surprise there... "Maybe after we leave this hospital place—or no, right now! We should totally go now!"

"I don't even have any bits on me, Rainbow!"

"Okay...?" Rainbow questioned, titling her head and looking towards the unicorn in puzzlement. "But you still have money, right?"

Twilight placed her left hoof against her forehead. This mare was giving her a headache... "Bits. Are. Money." How could she forget that? But at the same time, another thought occurred to Twilight. What did she mean by going afterwards...? Rainbow does realize we'll be going our separate ways after this, doesn't she? Thinking about it, and about the kind of mare Rainbow was, Twilight realized, Oh Celestia, she doesn't...

"Uh, Rainbow..."

"Okay, so I forgot what bits were. So sue me. It's not the first thing I've forgotten today—"

Twilight raised her voice. "Rainbow!"

"Huh, wha...?" Rainbow shifted her attention towards Twilight. "You say something?"

"Well yes, er, no—I needed your attention."

"Oh... well, you got it."

Twilight decided not to beat around the bush here, that it'd be best just to come out and ask what was on her mind. So she did. "You said something about the two of us going to that shop afterwards?" Twilight paused, then repeated what she had been attempting to put emphasize on. "Us?"

"Oh, well... yeah! I mean you'll be with me during my stay at the hospital so why not afterward—"

"I won't be staying with you."

Won't be staying...? Okay, whatever that meant. Rainbow mentally shrugged, figuring she meant she'd be returning to check up on Spike or something. She assumed that's what Twilight meant. "Oh... so, you won't be there with me. I see, that's cool," she assured. "I'll just... wait for you when you get back then."

"No, no no, Rainbow, that's not what I meant."

"Oh? Then what—"

Twilight didn't bother to wait for her to finish. She had a feeling of what she was going to say anyway. "We won't be seeing one another after I drop you off..." she explained to the pegasus. "...I'll be signing you in, then leaving you in more capable hooves." She kept her gaze fixed on the road ahead of her. "This... this is where we say our goodbyes, Rainbow."

Silence ensued. Twilight awaited an answer from her or some kind of sign that she had at least heard her. Twilight thought of stopping, or perhaps talking this over with her. After all, who knew what the pegasus was feeling at this moment. Anger? Sadness? Betrayal? She was the only one who she knew anymore, Spike aside.

"Oh..." Rainbow finally said. "I see."

Well at least she decided to speak. "Uh, Rainbow..." What was she supposed to say? Yeah, Rainbow probably didn't want to be left alone with no memory—no, she knew Rainbow didn't, but even so...

Twilight shook the thought from her head. What did she care? They hardly knew each other! Why was she even remotely feeling bad about leaving her alone? She would just drop her off and then they could each go back to their own lives... hopefully.

But still... Twilight found it all easier said than done, and some part of her felt empathy for the lone pegasus.

And soon, Twilight found herself needing to say something, even if it weren't necessarily true. "Look, I... I know how you feel—"

"I seriously doubt that..." Rainbow retorted, under her breath.

"But," Twilight continued, paying no mind to Rainbow's remark, "I have my own life to return to, as do you... and..." Oh Celestia, this was difficult.

And Twilight had a feeling whatever she said wouldn't make either of them feel better... "Look, I think... I think it'd be best if we just... you know, forget about each other, and forget any of this ever happened."

"Forget...?" Rainbow's tone turned bitter, telling Twilight exactly how she felt about her proposal. She couldn't believe what she was hearing... or that Twilight would suggest such a thing. "Sparkles, how can you suggest we just forget each other?"

"Easy," she replied, "we were never meant to meet in the first place and we'll probably never see each other again, anyway... It's best everything just return to normal as soon as possible."

"Says the least normal of all of us..."

"What—?"

"Look, just... never mind. Fine fine, you're right about us. It's not like we were ever meant to meet anyway. I'd just be a burden hanging around you and Spike anyway," she mused, faking a laugh. "Best if things just... went back to the way they were, right?"

Twilight was astonished. Rainbow was actually seeing it her way... She couldn't help but feel a bit pleased; this had gone better than she had thought. "Right..." Twilight agreed.

"And we are practically strangers after all."

"Exactly." Twilight continued walking, her thoughts no longer focused on what other ponies thought of them, but on the pegasus. If Rainbow had been lying to her just now, she could have fooled her. "Good to know you're seeing it my way."

Rainbow answered back in a muffled, "yuhuh." Not exactly the response Twilight had been looking for, but it was better than nothing. Neither of them said much after that. Not until arriving at their destination anyway.

"And here we are!" Twilight announced, setting Rainbow back upon the ground for a quick moment. Rainbow looked up at the building inquisitively. A rather large rectangular, mostly white and blue building, with rows upon rows of windows, and large brightly lit letters that hung above the entrance to the building that read, 'Canterlot Health Service Hospital'.

"So this is where I'll be staying?" Rainbow asked, looking around at her surroundings. Everywhere she looked there was a tree, or bush—or some sort of plant anyway planted outside. Even potted plants of various sizes rested by the entrance, while others hung above it. "Yeesh, what's with all the plants around here?"

"Typical hospital décor I guess," Twilight answered, not giving them as much attention as Rainbow was. "And yes, this is where you'll be staying. Try not to wreck it during your stay, please."

Rainbow turned to Twilight. "You're not gonna let that go, are you?"

Twilight softly chuckled. "Come on, you," she said, resuming her walk and lifting the pegasus into the air once more as the two passed through the doorway. A few ponies looked up from what they had been doing and questionably looked at the two... the ones that were lounging about in the waiting area, anyway. A couple mares stood behind a counter on the opposite end of the room and didn't pay them any mind. After spending seconds in the building, it quickly occurred to the unicorn as to why she hated hospitals. The smells, and atmosphere... She couldn't stand it.

"Alright," she sighed, "let's get this over with."

Twilight heard Rainbow murmur a quick, "oh joy" before heading to greet the receptionist. She stopped inches before the desk, as she suddenly lost her concentration and dropped Rainbow on the ground beside her with a thud. "Ow!" Rainbow yelped in pain. "Watch it, Sparkles!"

"S-sorry!" Twilight apologized, now realizing she accidentally dropped the injured pegasus a few feet from the ground. "Sorry sorry sorry sorry! I-I lost my focus and I wasn't paying attention and..." Her voice trailed as she remembered where she was again... with other ponies eying the two of them. Oh, terrific... she mentally groaned. They weren't even here for a minute and she had already succeeded in causing a scene. Forget what she had said about her reputation having been ruined. No, oh no. Now it had been mangled, crumpled, stepped upon, torn to shreds... Well, maybe if she spent the next week or two away in the tower, ponies would eventually forget! Oh who was she fooling...? Nopony would ever forget this...

The blonde mare looked up from her counter full of cluttered paperwork, shifting a suspicious glance at the two young mares on the other side. "Can I help you?" the receptionist asked, directing the question towards Twilight.

"Oh uh, well..." Twilight gazed down at Rainbow. "Um... She needs help."

"She?" the mare asked, casually glancing over the counter. "The... pegasus?"

"Yes," Twilight answered, finding it rather hard to make eye contact and preferred to keep her head low. She kept her gaze fixed on Rainbow as she continued. "She's hurt, and uh, could really use some help."

Jeez, Sparkles...what the hay? Rainbow thought, quietly listening in on what she was saying. This wasn't the Twilight that she, despite their limited time together, had come to know. This was... some shy, nervous, socially awkward Twilight. Rainbow couldn't help but wonder if she was only like this in public.

"Uh-huh, that's great to know, kid," the female receptionist replied, sounding almost completely uninterested. "Are you going to tell me specifically how and why she needs help, or...?"

"Well—"

This is too painful to watch... "Yeah," Rainbow spoke up, deciding she'd help Twilight out a little. "I uh, accidentally smashed through this here pony's window, and ended up damaging some muscles, inuring some joints, the works," she explained, much to Twilight's surprise. "'Think I lost my memory too—no, I know I did," she added. "This here unicorn though has been more than nice enough to watch over me and even escort me here, even if the ride was a bit bumpy..."

"R-Rainbow!" Twilight stammered, easily growing steamed. She could feel her face burning up. There was no need to mention the last part, much less explain the situation herself. Twilight had everything under control. Or so she told herself. "I've got this, Rainbow..." she whispered to the pegasus.

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow questioned with a laugh. "Then what's with the nervous speech? Uhm, uh, um... She like, totally um, needs help..." Rainbow mimicked, in her stuck up Twilight impression.

Twilight froze. "T-That's not how I sound!" she shot back, triggering further snickers from the pegasus. "I never use the word 'totally' either!"

"You don't say?" Rainbow giggled. Anything to waste time... she mused, smiling to herself. She heard Twilight let out another one of her typical groans whenever she got annoyed. She gets annoyed a little too easily... Rainbow paused, correcting herself. Or whenever she's around me, I suppose...

"Cute, no really, you two are quite the pair, but now's not really the time or place to be discussing such things," the receptionist commented, having watched their tiny argument from behind the desk. Rainbow and Twilight stopped and turned to face the nurse, both finding themselves blushing. Twilight, even more furiously than before. She had a point yeah, but did she have to use the terms 'cute' or 'pair'? She made it sound like... Twilight shook this horrid thought from her head. Herself with... her? There were so many things wrong with merely the idea of it all... She was a mare, first of all. Was that even possible? A mare dating another mare? Twilight didn't know, but was quickly disgusted by the thought.

She glanced over at Rainbow from the corner of her eye, and wondered if she were wondering the same thing. If the same thoughts were going through her mind as well. Or maybe she forgot what love, or dating was too... Wouldn't have surprised her.

"Right, it's not... we're sorry," Twilight apologized, bowing her head, having turned her attention back to the matter at hand. "Look, my... uh, acquaintance here apparently doesn't remember anything about who she is or where she came from. Plus there's the injuries which she of course already mentioned." Twilight stopped for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "I was hoping I could leave her here... under your care... I can do that, right?"

"It's a hospital, miss. Does that answer your question?"

"Uh..."

"Look, here's the sign-in sheet," she said, pointing to a quill and sheet of paper, lying on the counter. "Print the patient's information and I'll handle the rest, considering you never made an appointment or anything..."

They were supposed to? "Oh uh, sorry about that..." Twilight sheepishly replied, then headed to sign Rainbow's name in. She promptly picked up the quill from the counter and began to write. She stopped however, looking over what she had written and frowning, crossed it out. Oh, what do I put...? Are you allowed to lie on these things? Do I put Rainbow even though that's not her name? Twilight fretted over these thoughts.

"Is there a problem?"

Twilight snapped from her thoughts. "No, not at all!" she assured with a nervous grin. "Just..." She glanced back at the paper. It was a complete mess. Finding a small chunk of white space that was available, she wrote down one word, along with a few other minor things that came to mind. "Rain...bow," Twilight said as she finished. "There. All set."

"Uh-huh..." the mare said, questionably looking the sheet over, having lifted it away from Twilight using her magic. The numerous ink blots and cross-outs made the paper near ineligible. Though she could make out several words, scribbled off to the side. "Alright... you two go take a seat over there," she said, pointing a hoof at the waiting area. "There will be a doctor out to greet you shortly."

Out shortly, huh? "Alright... Um, thanks," Twilight said, receiving an annoyed "mhm," in response, then turned to take a seat, encasing Rainbow's body in a magical aura and picking her up from the ground. "Alright, come on Rainbow," she said as she began walking. She trotted over to where several bench-like seats lay, lined against the walls. She carefully sat Rainbow down as she took a seat herself.

Rainbow noticed Twilight take a seat and curious, asked, "I... thought you weren't gonna stick around?"

"I'm only 'sticking around' to make sure you receive the attention and help you need," Twilight explained. "I didn't quite care for her attitude, and, I just..." She stopped, now finding herself gazing down at the tiles on the floor, biting down on her lip and feeling her body heat up again.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Freezing up again?"

"N-no!" Twilight suddenly shot back, though quickly covered her mouth with a hoof, remembering where they were. "No," she repeated, in a quieter tone. "I only want to see to it they take proper care of you—"

"So you do care about me!"

"I must certainly do not," Twilight replied. "I simply want to know you'll receive the help you need, and the sooner I know this, the sooner we can get back to our own lives."

Rainbow thought on what she said for a moment. "That's still caring, Sparkles," she replied, much to Twilight's displeasure.

"No, Rainbow, it's not," Twilight insisted.

"It so is. Face it, you care about me, Sparkles."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Don't lie."

"I'm not lying!" Twilight snapped, causing the rainbow-maned pegasus to back off, if only a little. "I don't care about you, alright?" she went on to say in a quieter, hushed tone. Maybe that was a bit harsh... But it's not like it wasn't true. "You've been nothing but a pain since we met. You're obnoxious, ungrateful, rude, annoying..."

"Interesting story, Sparkles—"

"It's Twilight."

"Eh, whatever helps you sleep at night I guess," Rainbow said, not seeming the least bit phased by anything Twilight said. "Anyway, I know you won't admit it, but I know you care. I mean you wouldn't have done all this for me if you didn't—"

"I'm doing this to get you out of my life. What part didn't you get?"

Rainbow laughed. "The part where you were trying to get me out of your life?" If Twilight really was trying, she wasn't doing a very good job of it so far. She smirked slightly as she shifted her gaze away from the purple coated mare to what lay before her. This was as good a time as any to change the subject, she supposed. "So anyway, what do you think that mare's problem was earlier?"

Twilight looked up at Rainbow, dumbfounded. Where did that come from? One minute they were arguing, the next... Oh hey, like Twilight. So like, what was totally up with that mare just now? She repeated Rainbow's question over in her head... more or less the way she had heard it. Was this supposed to be her attempt at changing the subject? Well, she supposed anything would be better than arguing back and fourth over ridiculous matters. "Dunno," Twilight finally replied. "Hard work day, perhaps?"

"Come on, Sparkles, try harder," Rainbow said, nudging her with her right foreleg. "Try being more, eh... imaginative." Rainbow laughed. "I'd say she got dumped today or something..."

Dumped...? Twilight wondered amidst herself. "Rainbow... that doesn't make any sense. You're saying she was thrown out?"

Rainbow had to try with all her might not to burst out laughing right then and there. Though, even with a hoof stifling much of it, Rainbow couldn't stop a few rouge snickers from slipping past and grabbing Twilight's attention. Though the quiet laughter only made the unicorn all the more curious.

"No, Sparkles," Rainbow replied after a little while, "dumped means, like..." Rainbow paused, pondering on how to describe this to her. "It means... Uhm, oh!" Then it hit her. "When you decide to quit being friends with a certain pony," Rainbow explained. "Or like, say you're in a relationship and your partner breaks up with you. You've been dumped."

Twilight couldn't believe what the pegasus had told her. Not the meaning, no; rather, the fact Rainbow actually knew something she didn't! And what surprised her more was her apparent knowledge on... romance? Oh sure, she forgets who she is was, what a tower was—even what a hospital was! But couldn't forget facts on dating and romance...

Unbelievable... Twilight mused. This thought had passed through her head and now it was passing through again. But she was definitely no ordinary pegasus...

"Oh, I knew that..." Twilight said innocently in response. She wasn't about to let Rainbow believe there was something she didn't know.

She really needs to get out more... Rainbow thought, holding back a grin. "Oh, sure you did," she replied in a sarcastic tone, further annoying the mare. "But anyway, I'm certain that's what it was! You heard what she said about us! You, me, cute together—"

"Rainbow, please!" Twilight said, growing increasingly flustered. "Look, many Canterlot ponies are like that. Her behavior had nothing to do with what you're suggesting—"

"What?" Rainbow replied, oblivious to what Twilight told her and instead finding this to be a perfect opportunity to mess with the unicorn. "You know we look perfect together, Dear," Rainbow jokingly said, leaning and placing her head against Twilight's left shoulder.

Twilight however, didn't find it as humorous. She quickly scooched her away, giving herself just enough room to move her foreleg, then slapped the pegasus lightly upside the back of her head.

Rainbow returned to her own spot, once again sitting upright and rubbing the back of her head. The slap itself? It hardly hurt. But the fact that it was Twilight that did so, did hurt. Terribly so. "Sparkles—?"

"Next time it'll be the horn," Twilight threatened, her tone growing more serious. "Don't ever joke about something like that."

She wasn't kidding either; Rainbow could tell simply by the tone in her voice, no matter how quiet it was. She was serious about this.

Still... she had only meant it as a joke. To her, there had been no need to have gotten so worked up over it... "Look," Rainbow began, "I, uh..."

"It's called saying you're sorry," Twilight interjected. "If you were even planning an apology, that is."

"An apology...?"

Great, did she forget what those were too? "What? Did you forget how to apologize as well?"

"Huh? No, no... It's just..." Rainbow's voice drifted off as she began thinking. Something about all this seemed vaguely familiar... It wasn't until Twilight spoke up again that Rainbow was snapped from her sudden thoughts.

"Hello?" Twilight spoke, waving a hoof before Rainbow's eyes. "Just what?"

"Oh uh... Look, just... never mind," she told Twilight. "Sorry, alright?" She huffed, turning opposite of the mare and resting her chin against an armrest attached to the end of the seat.

Well at least she apologized... "Uh-huh..." Twilight murmured, not wishing to say anything else. She folded her forelegs as she slouched further down in her seat. Neither of them had decided to speak after that. Rainbow remained sprawled out on her seat, using the armrest as an apparent pillow. Twilight however, continued to sit in such a fashion for minutes to come. She gazed up at the clock. For minutes it seemed, watching time tick by. More minutes passed as she stared at the clock. There had to be something around here to keep herself occupied. Twilight's eyes began wondering around the room in absolute boredom. The same ponies from before sat around, the same mare behind the counter—had she even done so much as to call somepony? Doctor stallions passed through the lobby every now and then, not paying her or Rainbow any attention. Twilight soon fell under the suspicion the two of them had been forgotten about. Agh! she mentally screamed. This is unbearable!

She turned her head to her left, looking to see if Rainbow was feeling the same way. Come to think of it, Rainbow had been pretty quiet ever since she muttered her apology. And soon, Twilight knew why. The mare had fallen asleep on her, much to Twilight's surprise. She watched the pegasus as she lay, completely exhausted it seemed, softly snoring and leaving a small trail of saliva where her mouth lay. Disgusting yes... but she couldn't have looked more innocent. Almost like when she had first laid eyes on her back in the tower. All her anger and annoyances with the pegasus seemed to have vanished once more. Great, she thought, what did I do...? Even if it were true they would never see each other again... Even if it was... kinda true that she wanted the pegasus out of her life; she didn't want the two to leave on a bad note...

Still, as much as Twilight may have wanted to, she couldn't just wake her up. No, she would have to wait for Rainbow to come around. But Celestia only knew how long that would take... Never minding that, how long would it even take for someone to get around to helping them? Rainbow had the right idea: sleep through the wait. Maybe she'd do that as well... Better than sitting around, staring at the clock, I suppose... she surmised as she closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall behind them. And before she knew it, had drifted off into a deep slumber...





"Twilight?"

Did... did somepony just call my name? At first she paid no mind to it, passing it off as her imagination. But then it grew louder, snapping her out of her dream-like state. "Twilight!" Her eyes groggily opened, soon discovering she was unable to see anything but blue before her, and muttered a tired, "What?" back at the voice. She still couldn't see how, or where even, the voice was coming from. Was it Rainbow talking? No, no that couldn't be right. She would have never addressed her as 'Twilight'. Instead she would have gone with the Sparkles nickname like every other time she addressed her. Besides, this voice sounded different...though oddly familiar.

"Are you alright?" the voice asked.

"Mm... who is this?" Twilight tiredly muttered back in response.

The voice remained quiet for a few moments before answering, "Uh, Twilight... It's Spike."

Her eyes widened. "Spike?" She couldn't believe it. "Why aren't you... Why are you here at the hospital? Did something happen while I was out?"

Spike stared at the unicorn as if she were crazy. What was she going on about now? "You never left, Twilight," he explained. "And what do you mean hospital? Twilight, open your eyes, look around... this is our home."

Home...? Was it true? Not wasting any time, she titled her head up from the ground and took a look around. The interior, furniture, books...it was the Ivory Tower all right. Spike was right. "Impossible..." she muttered. One minute she had decided to take a small nap, and the next, she was back in the tower. But How? She turned to Spike. "What am I doing back here?"

"I already told you. You never left," Spike answered, becoming worried for her. "What's gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into me? What's gotten into you?" Twilight retorted, finding herself unable to make sense out of all this. How could he say she never left? What? Had he somehow lost his memory too? Did he forget Rainbow too—? Then she remembered. "Oh Celestia, Rainbow!"

"Uh..." Spike cocked his head. "Rainbow?"

"Light blue pegasus, rainbow mane, around my height and size, loud, obnoxious..." She noticed Spike didn't seem to be following her. "She fell from the sky! She ended up crashing through here! You even told her my exam story! How can you not remember that?"

"Twilight... there is no 'rainbow' pegasus."

"Of course there is!" Twilight insisted. "She forgot who she was, a-and where she came from! She lounged around here without a care in the world, and even insisted on staying too—"

"You fell asleep, Twilight," Spike explained as Twilight gave a baffled, "huh?" in response.

"What... what are you talking about, Spike?"

"I went and opened some windows like you asked, but when I came back, I noticed you had fallen asleep by the window here," he said, holding a claw out towards the large window, which Twilight remembered Rainbow smashing through. Though now she wasn't so sure... Oddly enough, the window was completely repaired, without a single crack. No magic barrier surrounding it... as if Rainbow had never crashed through it.

"I fell asleep...?" she wondered aloud. "N-no..." If she had fallen asleep, that meant... "No no no no no no no no no, no!" she suddenly shouted. This was not... That couldn't have been... Rainbow existed! She wasn't merely a dream like Spike was suggesting! She had talked with her! Touched her, felt her... and on a lesser note, sneezed on her... How was it possible that she had imagined all that? "Where is she, Spike?"

Spike was surprised by Twilight's sudden question. "She?"

"The pegasus—er, Rainbow!"

"I've told you a a million times, Twilight, she doesn't exist. A pegasus never came crashing through here, okay?"

"No Spike, it's not okay!" Twilight fretted. She had to exist! No, what was she thinking? She did exist! She never even got to say goodbye, or at the very least, leave on a good note with her. She had to find her. But where would she even look? The tower? No, if she was in the tower, Spike wouldn't have denied her existence. Or maybe Rainbow was awaiting her in another room, unbeknownst to him? No, that was stupid! Why would she even be 'awaiting' her? She said herself after she left the hospital, that was it. No more seeing one another. So why would Rainbow stop by to see her again? Maybe Rainbow was feeling how she felt now? Like she had unfinished business with the mare? No, what was she thinking? The pegasus would still be too weak to move a feather, much less fly, or walk for that matter.

Then it dawned on her. It all started making sense again! Rainbow finally received treatment at the hospital, while herself, still asleep, must have been brought back to the tower... somehow. How she wound up in front of the window or why Spike was pretending to have never heard of Rainbow before were still a mystery to her, but insignificant nevertheless. If anything this whole act was the result of some joke Rainbow had taught him. She knew Rainbow was still at the hospital, and that's where she was headed. "I'll be down at the hospital, Spike," she said, leaving her thoughts behind and turning for the exit.

"No, Twilight," Spike spoke up, stopping the young mare in her tracks. "Please, what you need now is rest." She clearly wasn't well, and the last thing she needed was to be running about town, looking for some imaginary pegasus. "You just had a bad dream—"

"I wasn't asleep!" Twilight hastily shouted back, and before Spike could say another word, angrily stormed out of the room. She wasn't. That didn't make any sense. Why would she have just fallen asleep after sending Spike away and tossing out that scroll? She never even felt tired earlier, not once! So why would she...? No, it was made clear; she had been brought back to the tower after falling asleep in the lobby with Rainbow. Still, it puzzled her as to how the doctors and staff knew where exactly she lived. Sure they may have had her on file, but... Did Rainbow drop her off? This thought passed through her mind, but unlike others, it stuck. It made sense! If Rainbow had received treatment and healed...really really really quickly, maybe the pegasus had decided to fly her home? Even perhaps told Spike to act as if she never existed? After all, she had told Rainbow she wanted her out of her life. Yeah, it was starting to become clear... sorta. That's what had happened.

Though she'd never admit, it really made little to no sense at all. The idea of any pony healing in a matter of hours was ridiculous. But some of it still made sense, and that was good enough for Twilight. Especially considering the current situation...

She reached the end of the stairs in a matter of seconds it seemed, and with a flare of her horn, opened the door to the rest of Canterlot. She shivered stepping out into the night as she began to tread down the outer spiral stairwell and down the same path as before. Why is it so cold out? she wondered. Despite being late at night, it unusually cold out for a summer night. She glanced up at the sky. Cloudy too... she mused. Shuddering off the cold, she carried on, her thoughts focusing on one thing: seeing Rainbow again.

Twilight couldn't help but notice how bare the streets were, compared to earlier when she humiliated herself carrying the injured mare through the streets. But considering the time of day and the current weather, it made sense ponies wouldn't be out and about. Well, all ponies except for odd, obsessive Twilight, wandering the streets of Canterlot in the midst of night, only to say her goodbyes to some stranger, and prove she was right about her not being just a figment of her imagination.

Time flew by as she walked, having been preoccupied by these thoughts, and she now found herself standing before her destination. But something about it seemed... off. Way off... "No," she muttered, "don't tell me..." The building had been partially wrecked, more than likely the result of an explosion of sorts. The building remained dark, and, oddly enough, the place appeared deserted. "She didn't..." Twilight ran over to the entrance, and banged a hoof against the glass. "Hey!" she yelled, to no avail. There had to be somepony around who could explain to what in Equestria was going on. Somepony who had witnessed what had happened. But whatever it had been, please don't let it be because of... "Hey!" she hollered once more into the building. "Hello? Anypony?" No reply. This wasn't happening. Twilight backed down off the door, stomping a hoof into the dirt. "Agh!" she cried out as a single drop of rain splashed down onto her muzzle. How could she let this happen...? Rainbow destroyed it. Rainbow somehow destroyed it, and she was to blame. She! Celestia's prized pupil. Just another mare who spent her days undergoing studies in the tower which Celestia had granted her and Spike residence. A mare who never got in anypony's way or caused any trouble, was now responsible for... that.

She glanced towards the building once more, not expecting anything new... just taking once last glimpse at what she had caused... But what she did see, nearly caused her to jump out of her skin. She watched as a pony's shadow crept out along the wall of one of the hallways, and worked its way into the lobby. No, it wasn't just any pony! The shadow had wings... Rainbow? Twilight wondered, watching the shadow's movement. Who was she kidding? It had to be! "Rainbow!" she yelled, hoping to grab the pegasus's attention. "It's me, Twilight Spar..." she stopped, as she felt her eyelids rapidly growing heavier. Her vision blurred as she could feel herself becoming light-headed. "Kle..." she nearly finished, as she hit the ground. The last thing she caught sight of was a blue figure walking out from the hallway in which the shadow had first emerged from. Her eyes drifted shut, as she promptly fell asleep in the midst of an oncoming storm...





Twilight's eyes blinked open. Her mind was still fuzzy from earlier. I—went looking for someone... She... had gone to find... somepony, right? A pony... it had been a pony I was searching for... Her face was burning and her coat was drenched to the core. Not to mention the floor around her had become completely soaked... Wait, floor? Hadn't she been outside? The pitter-patter of rain sounded from outside, along with the occasional burst of thunder. She had been outside... right? All these questions continuously raced through her head. Why was she having trouble remembering? Where in Equestria was she, anyway? She steadily lifted herself off the ground, forelegs shaking and head pounding. She gripped her head as she stopped to gain her composure. She took a look around. She was in some sort of achieves room, or something... Shelves of books were lined up against every wall. Was this... her home? She turned and gazed out the window. Heavy rain pounded against the window, making the view outside near impossible to make out.

"Where am I?"

"You don't remember?" an... eerily familiar voice spoke to her from behind where she stood. She laughed, "That's funny, you forget just as I remember." The unicorn spun looking, searching for the source of the voice. "Over here," the voice spoke up again. Twilight turned and surely enough, another pony sat beside her, staring aimlessly out the window. A pegasus... Cerulean coat, rainbow mane, cerise eyes... She was— Twilight grunted as she felt a sudden pain. She placed both her hooves over her head as the pegasus watched the mare from the corner of her eye. "Hurts to remember, doesn't it?"

"To... remember?" Twilight questioned the rainbow-maned pegasus. What was she talking about? "Who... who are you?"

She laughed again, shaking her head side to side. "That hurts, Sparkles," she said jokingly, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye. "How could you forget me?"

The window cracked.

"I forgot you...?" What was going on? Who was she? Did she live here? Did she know her somehow? "Just tell me... Who are you...? A-and where am I?"

"Why does your head hurt so much, Sparkles?"

"My... head?" Twilight looked at her funny. What did that have to do with who she was or what happened? What did that have to do with anything?

"Here," the pegasus shifted closer, taking hold of her shoulders and urging Twilight to face the window. "You can see your reflection right?" she asked, as the two mares now stared at their reflections. Twilight nodded. "Can you see what's wrong?"

Twilight squinted. There didn't appear to be anything wrong with her, other than a rather flushed complexion and soaking wet fur. "I don't see anything..."

"Well duh, that's because your mane is in the way," the pegasus pointed out, brushing her mane upwards so it revealed her horn. "Now tell me."

More cracks formed.

"It's..."

"Broken. Duh." The pegasus brushed her mane down, covering up the shattered remains of her horn.

"But I-I don't understand! How did it—?"

"I remember why I ran away, you know," she said, ignoring Twilight's questions. "I remember now."

"You... remember?" Twilight shifted a glance at her. Ran away? "Remember... what? What does that have to do with this?"

"You really don't remember..."

The window broke open as the storm began pouring into the room.

"You don't remember anything, do you?" The pegasus's voice rose. "You have no idea where we are, what happened earlier... who I am... who you are!" Rainwater drenched the already soaking wet unicorn as she sat there. She didn't know what to say anymore, how to act... "Just forget it, Sparkles!" she shouted as a gust of wind shot into the room, knocking over a bookcase and sending it tumbling into the ground. Loose papers and scrolls were flung across the room. "Sure wish you had wings right about now, huh?"

Wings—?

"Catch ya later, Sparkles," she said, extending her wings and zooming past in a blur, into the sky. Before she could even react herself, was tossed out into the night sky. Her view of the tower became smaller as she now drifted helplessly in the storm. She wriggled about aimlessly, clutching onto empty batches of air, desperate to stop her fall. But she couldn't. There was nothing she could do. She was falling. Falling... And without thinking, she did what anypony would have done. She screamed. Screamed out for help. For someone to swoop down and save her. The chance of that happening was slim, but hey, maybe that pegasus would come back? It's not like she would just let her fall...

Her mind lingered on that thought, right until her body hit the ground.





But... miraculously, she didn't die.

The mare opened her eyes. She was lying on a floor... though it was impossible to tell where she was. Blue and grey-checkered flooring, cloud-like walls and columns lined against the walls... She shook her head as she sat up. A sudden pain struck her body however, causing her to lie back down. In her forelegs and hind legs, head, back... her body ached. She plopped her head down on its side, resting it upon one of her forelegs.

"Oh, you're awake?"

"Huh?" She looked up to see a pegasus lying at the end of a nearby bed, overlooking her. Her forelegs dangled over the edge as she curiously stared at her 'guest'. "Uh yeah... I guess—"

"You know that was completely uncool what you did," the pegasus went on to say, almost cutting her off before she got the chance to finish.

"What I... what I did?"

The pegasus hit her hoof against her forehead. "Look up," she instructed, pointing directly above the mare. "See what you did?"

She did as the pegasus instructed from were she lay—barely tilting her head upwards, but was confused as to what she was supposed to be looking at. A ceiling of... clouds? Large, white, cumulus clouds. The only thing that stuck out to her was an inwards gaping hole that lay between some of the clouds. Sunlight poured in, bathing her in a bright, warming light and lighting up the area around her. "I don't get it..." she replied, bringing her gaze back towards the pegasus. "What did I do?"

She was kidding, right? How naive could one pony be? "See that hole?"

"Yeah—?"

"You caused it," the pegasus explained. She waited for some kind of response from the mare. But nothing came. The pony instead kept staring up at the ceiling, wondering how that was possible. If that were true, that would have meant that she fell from the sky. But she didn't have wings, or... any way of becoming airborne! So how then did she...?

"You're probably wondering how you, an earth pony, ended up falling from so high up, right?" She didn't give an answer. "Well... I'm not sure myself, but I do know your little stunt created a large hole in my bedroom. Gonna have to waste some time fixing that, thanks to you."

The pegasus sighed, shaking her head and rolled onto her back, resting her eyes on the floating clouds above. "A hornless, wingless pony... what are the chances?" she asked herself, quietly laughing under her breath. "So," she continued, "what's your name?"

"My name...?"

"Yeah, y'know... name. What other ponies call you. Oh and while we're at it, why not tell me where you're from, and what happened to you?"

What other ponies call me... What other ponies called her. Where she was from. What happened to her... She was supposed to know these things... right? Then how come... "I don't remember..." she whispered under her breath.

"Don't tell me you can't remember. Come on... think!"

Her head hurt too much at the moment to think. "I can't..."

"You really expect me to believe that, eh? Alright..." she said, lifting herself off the bed and into the air with her wings. She flew over to a nearby wall and suddenly sent one of her hooves crashing into one of the clouds. The house shook. "Until you can remember," the pegasus said, "find another pony to waste their time."

The once solid ground started to tear apart, turning to mush under her hooves. "What are you...? H-how can you say that?!" the purple mare yelled, over the noise of the crumbling room. "I'm hurt, I... I can't remember!" she now sputtered, as she could feel her body slipping. The floors had been reduced to mere clouds, and now she was slipping right through. She didn't understand any of this. Why couldn't she remember? She shut her eyes and clenched her teeth, feeling anger build up inside her until she finally yelled, "What is going on?!"

"Don't worry, you fell from the sky once and lived; I'm sure a second time won't hurt ya."

"What—?" She was too busy struggling to stay on solid ground to have noticed the pegasus was no longer in the same space as her. She vanished, as if with the wind. Her forelegs dropped through the clouds, dragging her body down with them. She scrambled to grab onto anything, anything she could hold onto. Something to stop her from falling. But, there wasn't. Sections of the floor fell through the clouds, leaving the mare running out of options. Her body was urging her to let go, despite her mind screaming not to. The last piece of flooring that held her hooves gave way, and... she fell.

But she never touched the ground...

She nervously peeked an eye open. She was back in the tower again... or so she thought. She was overlooking it anyway. Wait... the tower? She could remember it! The Ivory Tower... in Canterlot, where she and Spike resided; it was all coming back! But why did her body feel so stiff...? No... never mind that. Why couldn't she move?

"Twilight... when did you become so soft?"

She heard a voice say. It spoke from below her, though she couldn't see who was talking. Her eyes couldn't move, no, she could only see straight ahead.

"Why do you care... about her?" Was the voice talking to her? "She's a stranger... a nuisance... Why are you becoming so attached?"

Was she talking about Rainbow? Suddenly the voice screamed out in fright. And then she felt it. Something pierced her. And she was falling again... Piece by piece she hit the ground... stepped upon by purple hooves. No, her pieces were being swept together. She was being rebuilt... but to no avail. Every sweep scratched her, causing more cracks to form. The pieces split, shattering into millions of tiny, little bits...





"Sparkles..."

Twilight's nose wrinkled.

"Hey, Sparkles..." Twilight's eyes groggily opened as she saw a rainbow streak lazily flicking across her face. Whatever it was, it was soft... and scratchy, and ticklish. She brushed it it off her nose, muttering a confused and drawn out, "what...?" in response. Her whole body was burning and the surface around her head felt completely drenched in sweat. Not to mention her body. Whatever her head was lying on was soft, and warm, almost like...

"Enjoying my flank?"

Her... what? Twilight rolled over onto her stomach, and gazed down on what she had been lying on. Blue fur, damp, rainbow-colored lightning bolt— Her head bolted away, realizing she had indeed been lying on her flank.

"Good to see you're finally awake."

"Awake?" Awake... Twilight glanced around. She was still in the hospital, resting in the same spot as before. Only difference was the room was a bit darker than before, and many of the ponies—no, all of the ponies minus her and Rainbow had left. The one mare from earlier wasn't at her post; Twilight took quick notice of this. Doctors and nurses still filed in and out of the room however, same as before.

"Yes, Sparkles. Awake. You were asleep," Rainbow explained. "Dunno when you fell asleep though, since well, I was asleep. But when I did wake up, imagine my surprise when I find you, fast asleep, and using my flank as a pillow." Rainbow grinned, looking down upon her flank. "Slobbered on it, sweated all over it... and we're not even dating yet."

Same old Rainbow. Twilight turned to face Rainbow, every bit of her still very weary. "I said if you made another joke about that you'd get the horn..."

"Aw what? Even after allowing you to sleep against me?"

So that was Rainbow's reason as to why she shouldn't... harmlessly give her one little poke? Twilight softly smiled at the mare. "Which is why I'll let it slide... Thanks."

"You know you talk a lot in your sleep..." Rainbow said after a few moments of silence, perking Twilight's attention.

She heard me talking? Twilight thought, now worried over what embarrassing things Rainbow could possibly have heard her say. "What... what exactly did you hear?"

"Eh, mostly a bunch of 'nos' and 'whats'..." Rainbow stopped, placing a hoof under her chin. "Actually, now that I think about it, you also mentioned something about missing me? Or that you couldn't find me? Huh, I forget..."

Twilight didn't answer back. She had said those things aloud... and Rainbow had heard her. Heard her muttering lines from her dreams. Stuff about her especially. About missing her, and wanting to find her, and... Celestia only knows what else. Great... Twilight mused, letting out a quiet groan.

Rainbow giggled at Twilight's response as she slowly sat up, carefully stretching out her limbs having been curled up in the same position for... at least a good hour or so and having one sweaty Twilight Sparkle sleeping on her rear. She glanced up at the clock, then into a nearby hall. "I uh, think my turn's coming up," she said to Twilight. "Some doctor-stallion guy notified me earlier," she went on to explain. She figured Twilight may have been a little happy to hear that news. But for some reason, Twilight wasn't.

She couldn't be leaving already... It was too soon. No, what was she thinking? She should be glad the pegasus was finally leaving! That's what she wanted! This was for the best she had told herself. But still... She wasn't even sure whether she wanted the pegasus out of her life or not anymore. Part of her said yes. That she was just some annoyance whom she was never meant to meet and should be forgotten about. There was a tiny part of her however, that disagreed and that said she was something else. Something more than what her other half perceived.

For whatever reason, Twilight soon found herself listening to the latter voice.

"Well its been fun, I guess—"

"Rainbow, wait!" Twilight interjected, cuing an inquiring look from the mare. Twilight bit her lip, lowering her head and letting her bangs cover her eyes. She could feel her body growing warmer again. This wasn't going to be easy... "Uhm..."

"Hm? What is it?"

She scooched closer to the rainbow-maned mare, awkwardly extending a foreleg around her shoulder.

Rainbow backed away a bit, a little freaked by her sudden action. "Sparkles... what are you—?"

"Shut up you stupid mare. This... this isn't easy for me," Twilight said, setting her other hoof on the mare's foreleg. Oh what did the book say again...? A hug is usually initiated by holding out one's forelegs and waiting for the other pony's response. Right, she was doing that much correctly... sort of. Always respect another pony's space. Check. Ask permission before hugging somepony, unless you are already on intimate terms with the pony. "You're okay with hugs, right?"

"Uh..." What kind of question was that? Was that what Twilight was attempting to do? Hug her? "Well, um... sure, I guess."

Check. Next up. Hug accordingly. Remember, there is a difference between a friendly hug and a passionate embrace. A hug between romantic partners is much different than a hug between two ponies who have just met. So make it friendly, Twilight... she told herself, moving both of her forelegs around the mare's body and gently wrapping both around the pegasus's back, being careful to avoid the wings. Twilight soon found herself lying her head upon the mare's shoulder as well, her mane rubbing into Rainbow's fur. Yeah, definitely not something she ever imagined herself doing...

"You've been a huge, unbelievable pain... but I think I kind of understand what you're going through..." Twilight murmured into the mare's fur. "I get it, and I'm sorry for saying, anything that could be considered hurtful to you."

Rainbow remained silent, allowing Twilight to continue. "I'm not sure if I really do want you out of my life anymore, although I still think it'd be for the best..." Twilight continued. "But, if and when things return to normal for you, if you ever wanted to stop by... Spike and I wouldn't mind the company all that much."

"Twilight..." Rainbow whispered, neither of them realizing she had just used her actual name. "Uh, well thanks, I-I guess."

Twilight stifled a sudden tear. Where did that come from? Why was she getting so worked up all of a sudden? She was merely giving her a goodbye hug and making things right between the two. The hug was already lasting longer than the book said a hug should last. Her instincts told her to pull away, but... Rainbow's coat; she found it be so soft and warming, and would have liked nothing more than to lay nestled in the pegasus's embrace for a while longer. So she did. Twilight hoped Rainbow wouldn't mind.

"You get this emotional around all the girls?" the pegasus joked, which Twilight responded to by lightly jabbing the mare in the shoulder with her horn. Rainbow stifled the urge to yelp.

"I warned you not to joke like that..."

"Alright... alright, I suppose I deserved that. Sorry." She felt Twilight nod into her fur. Soon she felt Twilight's grip around her tighten as well. "Uh, Sparkles... This is beginning to hurt a little." Quickly the pain built up and soon it became too much for the young pegasus. "Twilight!"

The unicorn's eyes blinked open as she heard Rainbow's voice call her name. She quickly lessened her hold on the pegasus, allowing her forelegs to fall to her side. "I-I'm sorry, Rainbow... I don't know what came over me."

Rainbow held a hoof over her back, simply waiting for the pain to subside. "No more hugs for today, alright?" she finally said, followed by a small laugh. "Body hurts too much, you know?"

Twilight blushed, placing both of her forelegs behind her back. That wasn't like her. Was it the dreams that brought that on just now? Had they really affected her in such a way? "Yeah... I-I know," she replied.

A small ding noise sounded throughout the near-empty lobby. "I thinks that means—"

"—that you have to go," Twilight finished. "I get it..." She watched as a stallion entered the lobby, pushing a wheel chair with magic of his own. She assumed he was here for Rainbow. So, this was it then. It had all gone by so fast...

"You're going to be alright, alone here... right?"

"Yeah, just fine. Don't you worry your pretty little head," Rainbow said, playfully patting Twilight on the head.

Twilight shook her hoof away. "Rainbow, please. Don't—" Though before she could say anymore, found herself being cut-off by the stallion.

"Miss... Rainbow? It's time to go."

"Right... I hear ya, Doc," Rainbow replied as she began to stand... only to fall back on her haunches. "Just like before, huh Sparkles?" she joked, turning to her and asking, "Mind lending me a hoof here?"

Twilight sighed, then lit her horn as she encased the mare's body in the ever familiar orchid aura and lifted the pegasus into the air and gently into the chair. "Is that all?" she asked. "Don't need me to take you for a walk, or rub your belly?"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Oh, am I your pet now or something?" she surmised. Twilight giggled in response, though quickly stifled it with her hoof.

"Maybe," Twilight replied. "Although you are a bit disobedient..."

Since when did she develop a sense of wit? "Funny, Sparkles," Rainbow said, lying back in the chair. "Well anyway, maybe some other time... not really the place or time, huh?"

"Yeah," Twilight agreed, "some other time then."

Rainbow nodded and soon she was turned away from Twilight and being wheeled away. Before leaving however, as if she forgot something important, Rainbow turned and looked over her seat, back at the mare. "Oh, and Sparkles! Think you could say goodbye to Spike for me?"

Spike...? "Oh um... sure thing!" Twilight assured her, making a mental note to do that later. "Well, try and get better soon. I'll be seeing—" Twilight paused mid-sentence with her goodbye. "—you..." She looked around, having been paying little attention while talking. Rainbow had disappeared from sight.

"Bye..." she muttered under her breath.

Twilight sighed, finding herself all alone once again. She was gone. Gone... Her eyes gazed around the room. There was no point in her hanging out here anymore. She had overstayed anyway. Thinking back, she had told Spike she wouldn't be long...


So I left... and headed back to the tower under the setting sun. I found that I was having more than a tough enough time removing Rainbow from my thoughts. The journey home went by like nothing, and before I knew it, I found myself standing before the tower's entrance. Back to life as usual I thought. I began my ascent up the stairs as my thoughts kept lingering on the prismatic mare. I couldn't tell you how many times I stopped and thought of perhaps going back to check up on her. Actually... eighty seven times. In other words, the number of stairs in the staircase. With every step I took, I stopped and debated this. But I kept going, until at last I reached the study. Everything was the way I had left it before leaving. Everything neat and orderly, floors barren and window pieced together by bits of magic. The only thing missing from the scene was Spike, though I assumed he was off working in a different area of the tower or in our room keeping himself occupied somehow. I'd check on him later; first I had to decide what to do. Normally, if my chores were finished and there was nothing more to do, I'd resume my studying. But today had been anything but normal. I don't think I could've concentrated anyway; my mind was still too focused on her...



I found myself pacing around the room, up and down the stairwell, and into every room I could find: the kitchen, dining room, den, bedroom—even the spare bedrooms... Desperate to find something to distract my mind from thoughts of her. But it was hopeless. She was the only thing on my mind... As I had assumed, Spike had settled down in our room and was rather surprised to see me come in. We talked for a bit, and I delivered Rainbow's message as promised.

Then, as I was lying on my bed, bored out of my mind and wishing that perhaps another pegasus would come crashing through my window... Spike suggested I try writing about all this. That way I'd be doing something productive that still involved her, and that it might help clear my mind in the process.


That... that actually isn't a bad idea. Twilight leaned up from her star-covered bedspread, giving the idea of writing about her experience some more thought. Writing about her day, about the pegasus, and her dreams! But would she keep this letter to herself...? She almost wanted to share this with somepony... To let others know what she went through today. Somepony who she could talk to about all this...

"You know, maybe the princess would be interested in your letter..." Spike suggested. A light bulb went off inside the young mare's head. "She is your teacher, after all—"

"I'll be right back, Spike!" Twilight exclaimed, leaping from her bed and darting out the room. That was brilliant! Tell the princess! Why hadn't she thought of that? She skidded to a stop, having reached her study and ran over to her work desk on the far side of the room. Stifling the urge to grin, she grabbed a fresh scroll and quill pen and began to write.


Dear Princess Celestia—


Twilight paused, thinking over what to write next. This was her teacher she was writing to. She shouldn't make it too personal, but it's not like it was an assignment or anything. No, never mind that. How was she even supposed to begin this thing? She slouched her body further against her desk as her head rested against one of her hooves. She wasn't exactly used to writing letters. Only essays, reports, analytic briefs... It's just a letter, Twilight... she assured herself, hoping to calm her nerves. Just be honest. Explain what happened, the events, how I felt...

She took a deep breath, and began to write again.


What happened today... was truly unbelievable... and I have no doubt that you'll be surprised by what I'm choosing to write to you about. But I'm finding this difficult to keep amongst myself, and Spike insisted I write to somepony about all that's happened today, so... here goes.

I met a pegasus today.

The only problem with that was how we met.

One moment I was going about my usual business in my study, the next, she crashes through my window... the day after our nine-hundred and ninety-ninth Summer Sun Celebration.

Lucky for her it wasn't the day during.

And, putting aside the scarcity of pegasi here in Canterlot... what kind of pegasus just goes and crashes into somepony's home? Certainly not the ones I read about in my books. I mean, pegasi are supposed to be graceful, skilled, and agile! Not clumsy and careless...

Well after repairing any damage done to the room and carefully examining my bookcases and looking ever so closely for any damage done to the books, I insisted she go to the hospital. She refused of course, insisting she was fine.

Stubborn pegasus. I refused to believe she was fine. Eventually, I got her to go, though honestly, I was indifferent as to whether she went or not. I suppose I never did care much for the company of others, but the fact remained I couldn't just leave her there, injured on my floor. No, she needed help, and had a home to return to.

And... if anything, she most likely would have distracted me from my studies.


Twilight stopped again, looking over what she had jotted down. Sure she was being honest, but... She couldn't help but feel the letter made her sound... a bit cruel. Oh how she hoped Celestia wouldn't think badly of her...


During our short time together, I learned she had apparently lost much of her memory... and as I accompanied her to the hospital, little by little, I started to believe she had. I figured nopony would go through such lengths to fake such a thing—


She paused as a sudden thump sounded in the distance. Her head glanced up from the paper before her as she looked around, searching for the source of the noise. "What was...?" It had come from within the tower... somewhere. But it couldn't have come from the room she was in, no... Twilight set down her quill as she went to investigate.

Room after room, nothing. She stopped by her and Spike's bedroom. "Spike...?" Twilight called into the room, now standing at the entrance. Was it him who had caused that noise? Or if anything, he may have had some sort of clue as to what did cause it.

"Oh, Twilight?" Spike turned to see her by the entrance. "Back already?"

"No, not exactly," she replied, not focusing on Spike too much but rather where the source of the sound came from. Nothing seemed broken or out of place. "Uh you didn't hear a loud thump-like noise just now, did you?"

Spike thought about it, then answered, "Well I think I heard something, though I wasn't really paying attention to it... It sounded pretty far away though, like it came from outside or something. Maybe upstairs, on the balcony—?" he suggested.

And before he knew it, the unicorn had vanished with the wind as she resumed her search, having been given an idea as to where to search next.

The balcony, of course! Twilight thought as she trotted out and up the stairs. The one place she had yet to check, and it did lead outside... In no time she reached the archway, sunlight pouring in and almost blinding the mare as she approached it. Though she was able to make out something which stood out to her. Something that looked... almost like the silhouette of a pony standing outside. It wasn't... It couldn't be... Rainbow?! Was she dreaming again?

No, she was certain this wasn't another dream. Rainbow stood outside, though appeared different than before. She wore hospital garb over her body and had multiple white bandages wrapped around her forelegs and hind legs, forehead, wings... Did she already check out? No, that didn't make sense... it had only been a couple of hours...

"Sparkles...?" Rainbow questioned, now noticing the purple unicorn standing a few feet away. At least she thought it was Twilight. All she could see was a blurred purple blob before her. She grasped her head, "I feel dizzy... I gotta... gonna to—" Her eyes rolled upwards as her forelegs wobbled and began to fall.

"Rainbow!" Twilight cried out. She didn't waste any time thinking about what to do next. Twilight galloped over to her position, and nearly caught the mare in her hooves before she hit the ground. That had been a little too close...

And now she simply sat there with a heavily-injured pegasus in her hooves, outside against the setting sun; now with a mindful of questions. Most importantly, what was she even doing here? It was clear she had received some treatment, but... Why wasn't she still there? How did she even get here on her own? She ran a hoof through her shaggy mane, which then proceeded to travel down her back. She repeated this motion a few times, hoping it would help... somehow. The pegasus's breathing had deepened and Twilight could feel her heart practically beating out of her chest. She didn't come here on her own, did she?

Twilight let out a deep breath as she adjusted herself off the ground until she was sitting upright, keeping the pegasus in her forelegs. "I got you..." Twilight assured her.

Rainbow barely shifted a glance up at Twilight, wearily replying, "You know you didn't have to do that... It's not like another fall would have hurt, or anything."

Twilight rolled her eyes, shifting a small smile down at the pegasus. "I know I didn't," she replied. "I guess my body just... acted on its own."

Rainbow chuckled softly. "I guess both of ours did."

"...Why are you here?" Twilight decided to ask after several long moments in silence. "I see you received some treatment, but..."

"Because, Sparkles," Rainbow began, "I couldn't stand it there! Ponies constantly asking me things I didn't know, running a bunch of tests on me, making me lie in bed, but above all that, it was just... so boring!"

So basically what every patient experiences during their stay at a hospital... Twilight mentally shook her head at the thought.

"So the second I got the chance, I snuck my way out and flew back here," Rainbow explained, though not without leaving Twilight with a multitude of questions. For starters, how did she even manage to fly?

"Man, am I tired..." Rainbow spoke up, disrupting Twilight's train of thoughts. "Any chance of you perhaps, allowing me to stay the night?"

Stay... the night? That actually... doesn't sound half bad— No, what am I thinking? "You need to go back! Celestia only knows what kind of trouble you've caused over there!"

"I don't care, Sparkles. I'm not going back." Rainbow's mind was made up. Twilight could plainly see this, and she supposed insisting any further would be pointless. It was getting late anyway, and taking her back now certainly wouldn't strengthen their relationship in any way. Twilight sighed. Stubborn pegasus...

"Fine," Twilight said, "fine, you can stay." She placed a hoof over the pegasus's lips though, before she could say anything, adding, "Only for tonight though, understand?" She knew Rainbow wouldn't want to hear this... "You'll be going back tomorrow—"

"No way, Sparkles," Rainbow insisted. "I'm not going back there."

"But you have to! You're still hurt!"

"Then I'll stay here and you can heal me," Rainbow replied. Twilight had to know some spell that could do the job. "Besides, docs say I do have a case of... uh... am-net... chia? Think that's right..."

"No Rainbow, it's not," Twilight said. She assumed it had been amnesia that she had, rather poorly, attempted to pronounce. "It's amnesia," she corrected. Great, she really had lost her memory...

"Right, well since this is the place I gained it, maybe hanging around here will help trigger some of those memories I lost."

"That's—!" Twilight paused. "Not... that bad of an idea..." But as for the rest of her... "I'm sorry but neither my magic nor this tower can help your physical injuries. You'll have to go back."

Rainbow groaned. "You can't be serious..."

"Oh but I am," Twilight replied. "But to make sure you don't fly off again..." She would so regret saying this. This would undoubtedly mess up her schedule for days to come. "I'll stay with you, by your side, until you're all better... okay?"

Rainbow's eyes lit up. She stared up at the unicorn in disbelief. "You?" She still couldn't believe, Twilight of all ponies, just said she'd stay. "You'll... stay by my side—?"

Twilight quickly cut in, placing a hoof over Rainbow's lips once more. "Only until you leave there, understand?" She smiled down at the pegasus. "So... that way you won't be alone, or bored out of your mind, okay?"

"Uh, sure! I mean, I-I guess," Rainbow replied, though trying her best to mask her happiness as she spoke.

"Great! Good to see you being so cooperative," Twilight said, loosening her grip around Rainbow as she slowly stood up. "Now if you'll just follow me—" Oh, what am I saying? She hit her forehead with her right hoof. She can barely move, Twilight reminded herself. Turning around and muttering a quick apology, Twilight enveloped the pegasus's body in a magical light, triggering the same ticklish laughter that occurred every time she lifted her with her magic.

"Oh," Twilight said, remembering there was one final thing she wished to address. "If you're going to stay here, you'll have to start addressing me by my real name, which by the way is Twilight, in case you already forgot."

"Aw, but Sparkles is—"

"—is stupid." Twilight interjected. "If you insist on using a nickname, at least think up something better than... 'Sparkles'."

"It's stupid, huh? Alright... a new name for Twilight, let's see..." Rainbow thought on it for a moment. How hard could it be to come up with a name? "Twilight... Twilight, Twily, Twiller, Twix, Twi—" That was it.

Twilight glanced back at the pegasus mare, having listened to the names she rambled off, then asked, "Having fun back there?"

Rainbow smiled down at the unicorn. "You know it, Twi."


So that was the name she had chosen. Twi... Better than 'Sparkles', I suppose. I explained the situation to Spike and allowed her a space in our room.  Some sheets, blanket and a pillow was all I could give her in terms of a bed on such short notice. My bed was the only in the tower, and I wasn't about to share it.



And so with that settled, I went to resume my work for the night.


With one last candle lighting the room, she resumed work on her letter.


Well I was right of course, as it was soon discovered she had somehow gained amnesia. Now it looks as though I'll be stuck watching over her while she regains her memory... who knows how long that'll take...


Twilight paused, thinking about what she just wrote. She seemed to be rushing it a bit, skipping over much of what happened.


But it seems I'm getting a little carried away here. Allow me to start again from the beginning. It was another average, sunny morning in Canterlot. Ponies were going on with their usual daily routine, as was I, until... well, you know the rest...


And with that, she continued her letter, detailing the times she first laid eyes on her, when the two met, coming up with a name, taking her to the hospital and what happened there, her trip home, meeting Rainbow again...

She looked over her work. Not half bad. A bit long, but a lot of things had happened today! Now all it needed was a conclusion. Twilight yawned. She was too tired to focus on writing an ending. No, what she had was fine. It was only a letter, after all. Instead, she signed but a few mere words at the bottom of the page.


Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.


Faithful. It wasn't perfect, but Twilight had to admit... she liked the sound of it.

And so, with a satisfied smile, Twilight rolled up the parchment, and placed it on the center of her desk. A good enough place as any for it; it would catch her eye anyway, suppose she ever forgot about it. Not that that would ever happen to a pony such as herself. She'd have Spike send it tomorrow, before the two left for the hospital.

"Hey, Twi! What's taking you?" she heard Rainbow call outwards from the other room. "Come on, I'll let you sleep on my flank some more if you want."

Her flank...? Oh, she did not just say that with Spike in the room. Great, now she'd have to explain that to Spike. She yawned again. Not today, though. Besides, Twilight had a feeling things wouldn't be returning to normality for days to come...