Well, it was about as boring as I thought, but overall my time at Rarity’s place wasn’t too bad. It was pretty much what I was expecting it to be. After Rarity escorted both Twilight and myself there, we were offered something to snack on. Unfortunately for me, everything she had was based around some sort of hay recipe. I don’t really know if it was edible for me, but I honestly didn’t think so. The only thing I could accept was the tea she offered. Of course, while I did accept it, it was still tea. Personally, I can’t stand any drinks that are served hot or even warm. Sure, I will try them. I don’t want to hate something I haven’t tried despite doing exactly that until I think about three or so years ago.
Anyway, after she gave me the tea she went to go get the designs she had made. I tried the tea while she was gone and, like I thought, it tasted funny. Now, despite the temperature making it disagreeable to me, I got an aftertaste that actually seemed halfway decent. I considered putting it somewhere to let it get cooled down, but I think it may have been considered rude so I just left it be.
As soon as she got back, the whirlwind of questions began. ‘What do you think of this? Would this compliment that? Is there too much trim on this? Would you feel comfortable wearing something like this? Should I add a little something on here to compliment your skin tone?’
I honestly wasn’t sure how to answer all the questions that she was hurling my way. I know what I was comfortable in and that was it. Asking her to create something that I liked while conforming to her sense of style was a bit difficult. She liked pomp and circumstance in nearly every little thing she made. I like things dialed down and really comfortable to wear without looking silly to me. In other words, our styles were very different.
Twilight being who she is kept things from becoming too heated between us. I don’t think it was getting that bad between the two of us, but I wasn’t the observer of the discussion so I just went with it. After some discourse with Twilight involved, we came to the agreement that because I wasn’t showing off to the world that it would be better if my normal clothes were more practical in design. To make up for this, Rarity was going to make me something more artistic for when I needed to be at such a formal event. With the details settled, we took a few more minutes going over the materials.
Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately since I’ll never really know, the issue with the material was brought short when a new issue came up.
“Are you feeling alright?” Twilight asked me.
“I think so,” I replied confusedly, “though I am feeling a little hot.”
“Okay. The reason I was asking is because your skin is turning a bit more pink all over.”
I quickly took a look at my arm. Sure enough, my arm was looking a bit more pink in hue. I prodded it slightly and figured out what was happening very quickly.
“Oh terrific! I got a damn sunburn!” I voiced full of anger.
“A sunburn?” Twilight asked with a tone of confusion. “What’s that? Is it bad?”
“Somewhat,” I answered in a gruff voice. “Basically, if I’m out in the sun too long the UV rays will damage my skin leaving it red and all dried out. It’s painful, annoying, and can lead to health problems if untreated just like any burn.”
“That doesn’t sound good at all,” commented Twilight.
“Nope. I don’t suppose you have any aloe vera do you?”
“No,” Rarity responded, “I ran out and haven’t replenished my stock, but I do know somepony who does.”
“That’s good to hear,” I said with a slightly improved attitude. “You think they’ll lend some to me?”
“Of course, darling! Aloe and Lotus are some of the nicest ponies I know! Let’s head over there right now.”
Without having to be told again, we all left for the spa. As soon as I was outside, I could feel the difference on my skin. It was way more noticeable and irritable than before. As much as I wanted to just stay indoors and away from the sun, I knew that this was only going to get worse if I did nothing.
Knowing that things could get worse, I let Rarity lead me to the spa. At least, I assumed we were headed to the spa. I knew who Aloe and Lotus were already and I doubt we were headed for their house. Then again I’ve been wrong a few times before so I just let Rarity lead me to wherever she was going. It didn’t stop me from thinking we were going to the spa at any rate.
“Do you think they’ll be open right now since all the ponies have locked themselves away?”
“Don’t you worry. Aloe and Lotus are never too busy to see me or my friends.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me at all. What does surprise me is why I got a sunburn now,” I said as I stared at my sun damaged skin. “I mean the last time I was here I can explain with magic protection. This time though? I have no idea. I mean, I was outside a lot yesterday and I didn’t get burned from that.”
“Well, you said it’s a sunburn right?” Twilight asked.
“Yes I did,” I said a bit impatiently.
“Well, yesterday was cloudy so there wasn’t any sun then to burn you.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Clouds only block, like thirty percent of the UV rays emitted by the sun. I get burned really easily so I still should have been sunburned yesterday.”
“Well, if they’re strong enough to be used by pegasi, then they’re strong enough to block these UV rays.”
“Yeah, magic BS is the answer. Why shouldn’t it be?” I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster. “Still, this is making me wish I had the same spells as the last time I was here in Ponyville.”
“I don’t really remember you being here in Ponyville before,” Rarity said confusedly. When was that exactly?”
“It was a few weeks after Shining Armor got married. You just don’t remember since there’s some kind of memory shenanigans going on.”
“I’m still having trouble with that,” Twilight said. “I managed to talk with everypony about that and they said that they don’t remember you at all. Other than Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Discord, nopony at all seems to even know who you are. I would think that if I had my memory altered that Princess Celestia would try to recover it with a memory spell.”
“She did. Apparently, it worked but only temporarily. She said she tried it a few times and each time the duration was shorter. She realized that because it wasn’t working that it would be better for me to try instead. At least I think so.”
“I guess I understand,” Twilight said cautiously.
“I know I’m not the most reliable kind of person,” I said and then ruffled the top of her mane, “but I’ve got a pretty good track record here so I can’t help but think that maybe I have a good shot at helping you remember me.”
As I stopped ruffling her mane, I got a pointed look from Rarity that was most unpleasant. It was probably because I was in reach of her too and she didn’t want me to touch her mane.
“Don’t worry Rarity, I wouldn’t dare touch your mane,” I said voicing my thoughts aloud.
She smiled brightly at me before turning back to the way she was walking.
“Still, what could be causing us to lose such specific memories? The only being I know of that can do such a thing is Discord.”
“It couldn’t be him,” I answered. “If it was, he would never bring the subject of the lost memories here to be remembered. He’s much too ostentatious for that to be something he thought up.”
“I suppose so. That still leaves us with a whole slew of questions to answer.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You aren’t forgetting me this time so whatever happened before must not be going on this time.”
“Or it could just be waiting until you leave to happen again.”
“Yeah, that’s true too I suppose.”
As I said that, I noticed what looked like the spa come into view. It was a pretty distinctive building compared to most of the ones that were strewn about the town. The pink, circus-like roofs and the large windows were quite distinctive. Even more noticeable was the sign on the front of the building that showcased a pony with a flowing mane and tail next to some green flowers. Since I had never heard of green flowers, green on every other part but not the petals, I decided that this had to be either a spa or an art studio with the latter as a far off possibility.
“Don’t you worry. I would never want to forget the bonds that I share with any of my friends. We’ll figure out a way to get our memories back one way or another.”
“I agree with Twilight. Why don’t we talk about it a bit more while we’re getting you to feel better?”
I nodded as we continued on into the spa itself. A little jingle of the bell on the door was the first thing I noticed. It was more of a semi-traditional waiting room inside. There were a few small couches for ponies to sit in, some plants were strewn around to bring some life to the place, and there were a few odd ovoid lights hanging from the ceiling. The table in the room threw me off a bit by what looked like towels sitting on it. I never did find out what they really were, unfortunately, since we went straight to the reception desk.
“Ladies! We have a spa emergency here!” yelled Rarity.
I managed to get a gasp from the twin ponies that were standing behind the desk.
“He needs some Aloe immediately!” she continued with.
Unfortunately for me, my brain decided to be a tool and make an obvious joke.
“I would be careful of what you say in the presence of a lady. Especially one who is doing you a favor out of her generous heart.”
“I’m sorry. It just sort of slipped out of my mouth before I had a chance to think about it.”
She smiled like she understood, but I still wondered about it anyway.
“I’m terribly sorry to come in without an appointment, but we need some aloe for his burns.”
For the record, I’m not sure which of those twins are Aloe and which is Lotus. The only difference between them is that they have alternating colors for their mane and coat. That would be enough for me to identify them if I actually knew which one was which in the first place. Sadly, that was not the case.
At any rate, the twin at the counter had the light blue coat and the pink mane, and after hearing Rarity’s request she simply smiled and led us through another door. Behind that door was a long hallway with several different doors along the way. Each door led to a different room with a different purpose to them. One was a steam room with a stone heated center. Another room seemed to have tables with holes in them for what I believed to be massages. Yet another room seemed to have some kind of hybrid chairs to maintain both their mane and tail.
The room that we were eventually led to had what looked like small tub-like holes in the floor. I recognized them quickly as those little pools that people took mud baths in. The ones in this room, however, were filled with a green, almost turquoise, goo.
“So this whole tub is filled with aloe?” I asked.
The mare smiled and nodded.
“There’s more than just aloe in there,” Rarity answered in kind. “There’s also a few other herbs in there to give it a more soothing feeling. Go ahead and try it.”
I nodded and walked over to the closest pool. I slowly knelt down in front of it and examined it closely. I was surprised as I smelled the distinct aroma of potpourri coming from it. That oddity stopped me short from scooping some out and applying it to my burns. Of course, it didn’t help that I really hate applying anything to my skin. It just feels disgusting to me.
“Oh there’s nothing wrong with it.”
That was all the warning I received before I felt a hoof on my back. Seconds later, I was diving head first into the tub of unknown goo. Holy crap was that a weird feeling. It wasn’t like water where it just flowed freely around you. This gunk had a more viscous feel to it. It was a lot like getting dunked in Jello, and like Jello it was very hard to move in it without a solid purchase to use. Fortunately, the tub wasn’t that deep and I managed to push myself up from the bottom. It wasn’t until later that I thought if the tub had been any shallower that I may have hit my head and drowned in that junk. That wasn’t what I was thinking then, however. What I was thinking at the time was more like being very upset at whomever had pushed me in while I was still wearing my clothes, hat, and glasses. As I stood up, I took off my glasses, wiped the gook off my face, and looked around.
“Who?” I asked in a flat tone.
I saw a blur of a pink hoof go up. I guessed that the other twin had shown up.
“What in the hell possessed you to think that shoving me into a tub of goo with all my clothes on was a good idea?” I asked with the same even tone while suppressing my desire to just start shouting.
“Well, you looked like you didn’t want to get in even though I’ve been here plenty of times and I knew there wasn’t anything wrong with it so I thought that getting you in there would be a good thing since you were turning as red as Big Macintosh when you’re not supposed to be as red as Big Macintosh so I decided to let you know that there was nothing wrong with it by letting you see it first hoff and it must have worked because you look like you normal peachy self! Isn’t that great?”
Well, I know for sure who that is now.
“Pinkie,” I said slowly feeling more exacerbated, “I only have this one pair of clothes until tomorrow, and now I have to walk around town covered in this stuff. That’s not even getting into how this is my only hat and even more so that these are my only pair of glasses and I can’t even get them clean now.”
“I’m sorry,” she responded sadly.
I still wanted to get mad. I really did. But knowing that she didn’t mean any harm by it and the fact that she apologized for it made me unable to do so. Instead, I just took a deep breath and let out a big sigh.
“I suppose I can’t really do anything other than forgive you. Well, I could get Rainbow Dash to help with a prank to get even, but I’m not normally the pranking type.”
Suddenly, the blur got bigger and I felt a tightness around my torso. I was expecting some pain since my arms were caught up in the hug, but it never came. That was when I backtracked to what Pinkie had said. She said before that I was turning as red as Big Mac. Then, after I got out, I looked like my normal self. As Pinkie broke off her hug, I moved my arm in front of my face. Sure enough, it looked normal once again like I had never been burned at all. I felt immense relief, followed by immense confusion.
“Just what is in that stuff? It can’t just be aloe vera.”
“The mixture we use is a trade secret. I’m afraid we cannot divulge that information,” I heard someone say in a very sweet voice.
Heh, I was beginning to think that she was mute. Oh, and then I remembered what Rarity had said. She did say there was more than just aloe in it. Stupid me for forgetting something from not even five minutes ago.
“Still, there’s no way I should’ve had my burns heal that quickly. At least not without some kind of magical healing powers.”
“You mean like a doctor?” I think Twilight asked.
“No, I mean like Wolverine-type healing powers. And no, Twilight, it’s a cultural reference, not the actual animal.”
I watched as a blurry purple hoof went back down.
“The way this happened isn’t physically possible. There must be something in this stuff that does, well, this,” I said gesturing at myself.
“Our treatments are designed with ponies in mind. We don’t normally recommend our treatments to other species, especially ones we have never dealt with before, but since Miss Rarity was the one to ask for it, as well as yourself, we made an exception. We do hope you’re not upset with the treatment.”
“I’m in no way upset with it. Since it was made for ponies, I think I’ll just chalk it up to magic shenanigans. At least I’m not burned anymore and that’s what I wanted in the first place. Still, can I have a towel?”
“Of course,” I heard her say and then leave.
“By the way,” I think it was Rarity who started talking, “how did you know who Aloe was? She and her sister aren’t widely known outside of Ponyville. Were you being honest about coming to Ponyville before?”
“Of course I was being honest. I was also being honest about meeting you and your friends before. You just forgot about me.”
I heard an enormous gasp in front me.
“We… forgot about you?”
Oh crap that’s right. Pinkie has a thing about forgetting ponies… and me I guess too.
“Well, nearly every being in Equestria forgot about me so don’t feel bad that it was just you,” said trying to calm her down.
Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect.
“That’s terrible! Don’t you worry Seth! I’ll do my best to get to know you all over again and then I swear I won’t forget you again and we can become the greatest of friends!”
“Yeah, that sounds nice. I think it’ll be nice to get to know you all on this side of the screen too.”
“What do you mean ‘this side of the screen’?” asked Twilight.
“You do remember that you are part of a t.v. show right?” I asked skeptically.
“Of course we know,” she told me as if it were an obvious fact of life. “How is it that you know?”
“Well, how did you find out?”
“We were told about it,” she said smartly.
“And who told you?” I asked hoping to be led in.
“I… I don’t remember. Do either of you?”
“I’m afraid I don’t Twilight,” responded Rarity.
“I’m not really sure either, though it feels like I’ve known for a long time,” Pinkie explained.
“We don’t seem to remember, but I get the feeling that you know.”
“Of course I know. It was me after all.”
“I thought as much. You were alluding to it a lot. That still raises so many questions. Why can’t we remember you if you were part of such an important realization of our lives?”
“I don’t know. I wish I could just snap my fingers and you would get a kickstart to your memory,” I said and snapped my fingers to illustrate my point.
Of course, it was a moot point since I no longer had my magic. It was too bad. Magic just seemed to make everything better.
“Maybe if you described your events from the last time you were here, then it might just help us remember,” Twilight surmised.
“That’s not a bad idea,” I replied.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the coin. I was instantly glad that none of that slop got into my pockets. That could’ve been really bad on my DS. Well, if I had brought it and it had gotten in. I need to stop overthinking that.
“Well, it all started one fateful night with Discord and this coin…”