“C’mon, Scoots. Where are we going? I can’t even see Ponyville through all these trees..”
“I’ll tell you when we get there. Now keep walking.” She stuck out her tongue and trotted ahead.
I groaned and followed. She told me she wanted to celebrate my loss of the wheelchair by taking me somewhere special. I wouldn’t have accepted if I knew the walk was going to be this long. We were going up a steep mountain, totally surrounded by foliage and brush. I don’t know how she expected me to do this with me just getting back on my hooves, but it was Scootaloo – she was always going extreme.
We continued to trudge on through the thick forest, slowly gaining altitude. I could see the bright orange tones of the setting sun peering through the leaves of the trees, and I knew soon it would be night. She’s already hurting my legs and she wants me to go back in the dark? I chuckled to myself. This filly’s crazy.
“Alright, almost there. Just hop over these next few rocks, and..”
It was beautiful.
In front of me was the greatest view I had ever seen. It was a total overlook of Ponyville, with the lights in the windows blinking but the silence of the streets kept except for the occasional passing pony. I could see my house, the Carousel Boutique, the Everfree Forest.. It was all right in front of me, like a glossy painting I could reach out and touch.
And it was breathtaking.
Somehow this feels familiar. My mind wouldn’t stop telling me that I had done this before, even though I had never been up here in my life.
“Sketch, I just wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me? For what?”
She sat in the grass, and I sat next to her as she continued. “Well, for everything. You’ve.. been really great to me. You’ve always stuck with me, and you always put up with me and the girls’ crusading crap, even with that wheelchair.” She paused, letting her sweet laugh fly through the air. “I guess all I’m saying is, thanks for being with me.”
I put my arm around her, only uttering, “You’re welcome.” We stared at the small village, happy to be in one another’s embrace. We looked towards each other, and kissed.
It wasn’t a normal kiss though. It was the most magical kiss in the entire world.
Or, that’s what I thought, at least.
Suddenly, my mind shut down, and my body fell cold onto the grass.
***
Ugh, my head.. Where am I?
It looked like.. nothing. Just a dark room. Like if everything just.. disappeared.
“Sketch?”
I know that voice.
“Are you ok, Sketch?”
I looked around for the source of the sweet voice. If I was right, it was the voice of..
Yes. There she was.
Or was it her?
I squinted my eyes to look at the yellow pony on the horizon.
“Sketch? Wake up!”
***
“Sketch? Sketch!”
“I think he’s waking up!”
“Shut up, you’re gonna scare him!”
“I’m not scaring anyone!”
My eyelids separated, my vision hazed by the lack of my glasses and my sudden increase of grogginess. My head pulsed, throbbing with pain each time my heart beat. Through my pain I said to whoever was with me, “Ugh.. What happened?”
I could see the outline of an orange filly that said, “You fainted on top of the hill and you didn’t wake up. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I brought you here as soon as possible.”
I groaned, realizing my position and noticing the beeping of the various machines around me. There were two other ponies with the filly, both girls if I was correct. I wondered what they were doing here. Speaking of here.. “And where exactly am I?”
“You’re in the Ponyville Hospital,” a light voice said from behind me. I turned to see a nurse, maybe in her twenties, looking down at me. She was chalk white, and had a cutie mark shaped like a red cross. She pointed to my glasses and I put them on, not immensely helping my memory.
Do I know her? Wait, do I know any of these people? I don’t remember anything.. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but here goes..
“Okay, and, uh.. Who am I?”
The question hung in the air. Obviously nobody was expecting this.
“..You’re jokin’, right?” the yellow one said.
“No.. I really don’t remember,” I said with a frown.
“Wait, you know who we are, right?” the white one said. She looked devastated, but I couldn’t imagine why.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
The nurse immediately ran for a phone. Weird, I seem just fine to me.
“Bit Star? Yes, please hurry – and bring some of his personal belongings, they might help,” the nurse said, supposedly talking to someone named Bit Star. A doctor, maybe?
A few minutes later, a light blue pony came in with some objects. It looked like a letter, a book of some sort, and a red cape with a blue patch.
“Hurry, please bring those over to his bed. We may still have time,” the nurse said to the mare.
Bit Star (at least, I guessed it was Bit Star) rushed over to me and placed the items on my bed.
“Sketch? Do you remember me?” she said in a panic.
I shook my head. “No, should I? And who’s Sketch, anyway?”
I could see tears streaming down her cheeks. Whoever this Sketch person is, I think he makes her sad.
“You’re Sketch! You’re my son! I gave birth to you in Manehattan! I raised you with what little money I had, I gave everything for you! You were always my little colt, and I was always your mom, and..” She shoved her face into the side of the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.
Moments later, a dark brown stallion came in. “Son? Son, are you alright? Honey, what happened?” He ran over to the light blue pony and embraced her, trying to comfort her. After she had calmed down a considerable amount, he stood and picked up one of the objects: the book.
“Sketch, do you remember this?” He flipped through the pages, revealing drawings of all kinds. I shook my head. As far as I knew, I had never drawn anything. He sighed and pulled out the cape.
“What about this?”
“Yeah, that’s the cape we made you, Sketch! Please, don’t you remember the Crusaders?” the orange filly said.
“I.. don’t. I’m really sorry.”
“Last one, son. Concentrate really hard, now.” He handed me the envelope. I emptied the contents onto my bed. A letter fell out, with a kiss mark in the corner. Weird, I don’t remember dating anyone. I read through the letter a few times, going through each word carefully. Nothing rang any bells.
I sighed and shook my head again. Bit Star went through several sobs and cried, “Oh, Civil, we’ve lost our son!” I could tell she was in great pain from the situation. I glanced back over at the envelope. Wait, what’s..?
There was something sticking out of the envelope, a photo from the looks of it. I picked it up.
“I know her.”
Bit Star and Civil raised their heads, and the fillies gasped in surprise.
“I know this mare. I saw her in a dream.”
“A dream? When?” the yellow filly said to me.
“Just now, when I was knocked out.. What’s her name again?”
“Uh.. Star-“ My father didn’t have time to finish.
“Starshine, that’s it! I know her!”
The nurse looked down with a sigh and said to my parents, “If you know where this mare is, she could help restore his memories. He might not be a lost cause if we can find a hole in the barrier to his thoughts.”
My father looked down at my mother, then back to me. “Sketch, get out of that bed.” He wiped my mother’s tears and helped her up. “Star, pack your bags. We’re taking the next train to Manehattan.”
***
The train clacked against the metal track, every now and then a wheel squeaking with a spark. I sighed, resting my head against the armrest of the seat. My mother sat next to me, in a state of concern and anxiety the whole trip. My father sat with her, comforting her, and every now and then giving a sad smile to me.
I listened to the rhythm of the train and my mother's occasional sobs until I fell asleep once again.