Sad.
That was the emotion that she was experiencing. Sadness. The power of negativity. It swirled and churned around her like a misty black smoke, filling her pores and tainting them with sorrowful energies. Her body was a tangled web of agony and longing. She felt the burn of deep, non-existent cuts sting along the length of her barrel, throwing her heart into overdrive as pain seeped into her spinal cord. She wanted to remember. She tried to remember. It was something important that she’d forgotten and could not recall. Her brain was a stagnant space between crippling torment and a waning focus to recall. Her first breath filled her lungs with gaseous anguish, and as her body tried to expel the element, she coughed up a liquid that stuck at the top of her mouth and the rim of her lips. It tasted strongly of iron. She tried to open her eyelids, but the haze hovering over her form assaulted her pupils. Her eyes began to bite and itch, tears trickling out of the corners.
Then, she felt the ground. A sense of direction overcame her and she found her ears orienting her position. Gravity was applied on her right side, while the left met a cold, unknown surface. The storm of torture dissipated abruptly and she could no longer feel the pain attacking her. The comparison of sensation between before and after left a numb feeling on her skin as her coat stood on end. She was left alone on the floor, chilled and distraught. The mist left her, but she could not stop crying. Why could she not stop crying? She could not recall.
“Ah, there you are. I’ve finally found you.”
She opened her eyes for the first time and newfound light burned through her retinas like a newborn waking to the outside world. Her body was suddenly upright and she found the strength in herself to keep still in a sitting position. Her hooves were positioned over her face for some reason, and she found them wet with her own tears as they trickled down her cheeks. The lack of soreness from before made her a bit uncomfortable, and she shifted her haunches side to side against the surface she was on. When she peered up to meet her speaker, her mind stopped. All logic and common sense was disregarded when she regarded her current situation.
There was an abnormal being floating in front of her, sitting in a wooden throne with red backing and steel headpiece that had certain flourish cut into its design. It had its legs crossed with both hands held together on its lap, its thumbs twiddling with each other like twin brothers bickering over a glass of milk. The creature had its ancient yellow eyes on her, watching her like a hawk and scrutinizing her soul through the window of her pupils. She sniffled and looked back at it, not able to control the hiccups that came with her sobbing. She wondered what it was. A draconequus. Yes, that’s what it was, a draconequus. The name just appeared right out of her head. Abruptly remembering that single word was a strange and foreign sensation to her, as most of her memories were still on hiatus. How did this one get through? Why couldn’t she remember anything? Hadn’t she seen that draconequus somewhere before?
“You’re quite troublesome, you know that?” the draconequus said, lifting one paw up in the air. “Appearing in one place and arriving dead in the other. It’s difficult to keep track where you’re ending up. How you managed to find this realm in the first place still baffles me.”
She choked back a sob and tested her voice, unsure if it would work. It returned light and soft, if not a bit scratchy. “W-Who are you? Where am I?”
The corner of its mouth curved upward an inch. “Oh? So you don’t remember? How peculiar.”
She shut her eyes and shook her head, tilting her skull downward. Looking at her hooves, her mind remained stagnant. “I remember… I remember…”
“Hmm, I was a bit afraid this would happen,” continued the draconequus, scratching the bottom of its chin with a long skinny finger. “Pulling you from death’s row is no easy feat, I’ll admit. But as long as you’re still alive, I’ll count it as a victory.”
Her gaze trailed back to her speaker. “W-What do you mean? Death’s row?”
It shook its head. “Tsk tsk, you seem to be a bit more aloof then I thought. No matter, you’ll get through this one. Eventually.”
A blank expression slid over her face and the shine in her eyes seemed to disappear. “Where… I…”
The dragonequus uncrossed its legs and leaned forward, resting its head on its knuckles as its arms were posted near its knees. “Look, we’re running out of time. I know your head’s a little bit empty at the moment, but we need to get moving. And when I say ‘we’, I mean you. You’re getting the second chance we agreed on, and a little extra, courtesy of moi. But considering how brain dead you are at the moment, you really don’t have a choice in the matter, do you?”
Her ears drooped. Then, she looked up at the draconequus expectantly. “Who… Who am I?”
“I am sending you off, my dear,” it concluded, sitting up straight in its seat. “Just remember, stay in Ponyville. Don’t attract too much attention and stay in Ponyville. That is your one and only shot to keep away the evil little miscreants that might follow you through the stream. The signs will come sooner or later, you just have to wait, watch and be patient. With some luck, and perhaps a little bit of work, your memories might come too.”
“Stay… in Ponyville…” she repeated dimly. Her head tilted slightly to the right. “My… Memories?”
It smiled sadly. “Yes, my dear. Your memories.”
Then, the draconequis lifted its arm, snapped its fingers and her vision was filled with light.