//------------------------------//
// Asking Questions 
// Story: Just SMU and me 
// by ErraticOverlord 
//------------------------------//


I wake up, abruptly, in the middle of the night. I don't see Spike anywhere, but standing tall in the dim room is Princess Celestia, herself. I jolt upward and take a hasty bow. "Princess Celestia,” I blurt out, “What brings you here?"

I'm never unhappy to see my mentor; as a matter of fact, I'd planned on taking a trip to Canterlot in the morning, but I hadn't even had time to prepare and it's the middle of the night. I push the question of why she’s here in the middle of the night to the back of my mind.

She smiles. "Please, Twilight, There's no need for that. I actually came to see how you were doing after you were released from the hospital. I would have come sooner, but I was unfortunately detained. I hear you've had some problems remembering things, is that right?"

Only the things that matter.

I nod. "There are actually a lot of things, really. The memory is a big one, but at least it can be explained, I'm trying to find out about all these other things going on that maybe I knew about before I was attacked. But, because my memory's gone, I'm mostly just confused."

She spreads a wing over my back, warming some of it. "There there, my faithful student. I'm sure you'll figure things out. Although, if I could give some advice?"

I look up and nod again.

She looks down at me, the same smile she wore whenever she was teaching me. "You tend to obsess over things that bother you without talking to the ponies that could help. Why don’t you stop trying to answer every question so directly, and try to answer more basic questions before you make too many assumptions.”

I look down at my hooves. It's true; I haven't really asked my friends anything, just SMU. I won't be able to figure out anything if I can't even ask my friends.

I'm just about to look up at Celestia, again, when I hear Spike's voice. "Twilight, wake up."

I jolt upright, flinging my assistant off my bed and hearing him land on the floor with a thump. "Spike?"

He waves a claw up, still lying on the ground. "Ow."

I get out of bed and trot over to him, but he looks alright, if a little annoyed.

He stands up and blinks a few times. "Jeeze, Twilight, it looks like you didn't get any less jumpy in your sleep."

So, I was asleep? It wasn't real.

I shake my head. It doesn't matter, the dream was right; I can't move forward if I don't start talking to my friends to fill in my missing memory. Who knows how many of my theories are based on false assumptions? "I'm sorry, Spike." I help him up off the floor and he goes downstairs to make breakfast, grumbling slightly.

I take a quill and parchment, then groan as I struggle to even hold the quill upright in my magic. Four weeks without using magic is a long time, but it doesn't seem like it should have regressed that much, unless for some reason I stopped using magic altogether in the time I can't remember. I sigh. I guess it's another thing to ask my friends.

I wish I could write it down, but I really can't use a quill with my mouth, so I'll just have to make a mental checklist.

Number one, talk to Fluttershy about Rainbow Dash, what she was like when she was young, what she knows about Pegasus flight and the Sonic Rainboom, etcetera.

Number two, talk to Applejack about what Rainbow Dash has been like recently, including anything she knows about Rainbow finding me and taking me to the hospital.

Number three, talk to Rarity and Pinkie Pie about what I was doing during my memory gap, particularly stuff that seems strange.

I hear a knock at the door and I go to answer it, fumbling with the doorknob as I open it with my hooves.

Outside stands Pinkie Pie, a grin plastered across her face. I don't move aside, but somehow she's already inside the house and bouncing up and down. "Hey, Twilight, how did you sleep?"

Well, I'm not that tired, so pretty well. "I slept fine, Pinkie, but I did want to talk to you about something, if that's alright."

She stops bouncing, but her grin persists. "Okie dokie Loki, ask away."

I mentally rearrange the checklist so that talking to Pinkie appears at the top, then continue. "Can you tell me anything I was doing before I went to the hospital that doesn't seem like something I'd normally do? Did I go anywhere strange, or say anything, or even did anything to you that seemed unlike me?"

She sits down and puts a hoof on her chin in thought. "Well, there was one thing, if I had to pick something: about a week before you went to the hospital, you went up to Cloudsdale because you said you had to talk to some ponies up there. But, when I asked, you wouldn't tell me who. Does that count as weird?"

Who would I be talking to in Cloudsdale? "Do you have any guesses for who I was talking to?"

She puts her hoof on her chin again and elicits a 'hmm' sound. "Nope, no guesses. But I did ask Rainbow Dash to find out."

I blink, my eyebrows furrowing into a thick crease. "Rainbow Dash? How did you convince her to do that?"

She tilts her head to the side, her smile changing to a more even expression. "Well, I said 'ask' but mostly I just told Dashie about it, and she decided to follow you. Apparently, you'd been acting super weird toward her for the past few weeks and she wanted to find out why."

So, does this all lead back to Rainbow Dash, or is there something else I'm missing? "Well, who did Rainbow Dash say I spoke to?"

Pinkie Pies tilted head sprang back upright with a 'ding'. "Well, she said you talked to a bunch of ponies at the Rainbow Factory, and somepony else, whose name I can't remember but Dashie seemed to already know."

That's not quite as useful as I could've hoped. "Did Rainbow Dash hear what we were talking about?"

Pinkie nods, her bright hair bouncing up and down in much the same way Pinkie herself had been earlier. "Yep, she said she heard everything, but she wouldn't tell me. She said you made her Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone, so I couldn't make her break a Pinkie Promise.”
She leans in close, staring at my face like she’s looking for something.  “Twilight, I'll do a lot of things for all my friends, but I won't break a Pinkie Promise."
I stare back, but after a minute she slumps backward, visibly disappointed. Her fair fizzles a bit, deflating.

I open my mouth to say something, but close it again. After a few minutes, I finally manage to force something out. "Is there anything else that you think you should tell me?"

She shakes her head no, eyes averted.

We stop talking for another while and eventually she perks up again. "Anyway, it was nice seeing you, Twilight." she pulls me into a hug and whispers in my ear. "I'm glad you're okay." She lets go and bounces out the door.

Spike brings in the breakfast. "What was that all about?"

I'm still staring out the door. "I'm not really sure." I turn around and face Spike. "Spike, is there anything that I did or said from before that you think I should know about?"

He keeps setting the dishes up. "It's kinda hard to say, Twilight. For you, it's probably like a big chunk of your life is missing, but for us we don't know how much you don't remember or what might be important. A lot of what you might find interesting or strange that's missing in your memory might be business as usual for the rest of us."

Hmm. I rub the sore spot on my forehead where I keep creasing my eyebrows. "When did you get so insightful?"

He laughs before sitting down in one of the chairs. "I guess I've just been talking to Princess Luna a bunch, lately."

I mentally check talking to Pinkie Pie off my checklist, sitting down in the chair next to Spike. "When did you have the chance to talk to Princess Luna? I thought she only left Canterlot on Nightmare Night."

He gives me an odd look, then shakes his head. "This is just what I'm talking about. You don't remember visiting Canterlot, or talking to Princess Luna at all?"

I take a bite out of the toast in front of me and sip my tea. "Not in the slightest. Do you know what I talked to Princess Luna about?"

He starts eating the pile of gemstones in front of him, chewing on them a little before answering. "Well, when I was there you mostly talked about what Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were like before Nightmare Moon. After you thought I was asleep, though, I know you were talking about Nightmare Moon."

I choke on my toast. "Did you hear what I found out?"

He shrugs. "You'll have to ask Luna. I forgot most of the stuff about Nightmare Moon. I know you didn't find out much about before, though, because apparently Princess Luna lost a bunch of memory when it happened. I guess that's pretty funny because now it's the same with you, huh?"

I nod, absently. "Yeah, pretty funny."

SMU, what could have caused Princess Luna's memory loss?

The primarily held belief is that there was some foreign being called 'Nightmare' that altered her memories and, upon being destroyed by the Elements of Harmony, her altered memories were unrecoverable.

I think for a moment, letting Spike chew on more gems. The explanation seems too convenient.

Do you think this analysis is true?

It does beg the question of how 'Nightmare' got inside, as any actions capable of putting such a being inside a pony's mind could just as easily remove memories.

I would ask who would do such a thing, but I'm pretty sure the answer is-

Unknown

Yeah, that.

Spike and I finish eating and I stand up, then hesitate. Technically, I should talk to Fluttershy, because she's the first pony on the list, but then again I grouped Rarity and Pinkie Pie together, so should I talk to Rarity to fully complete that checkmark? I shake my head. Pinkie Pie clearly knows something but won't tell me, maybe Applejack would be better to talk to right now. At least I'll know she's honest.

Spike and I trot out the door and head to Sweet Apple Acres, engaging in little conversation during the walk. On the way, I try to prepare talking points and questions for Applejack to maximize our use of time.

Once we arrive, Spike leaves me with Applejack bucking trees so he can get the books I apparently told him to hide at some point. Applejack bucks the apples out of another tree and I can't help but notice something of a scowl on her face, her teeth gritted together.

After I see this, the talking points I had prepared exit my mind and I'm left with nothing to say. A few minutes with just Applejack's grunts and the sound of the apples falling pass and I try to start the conversation. "So, Appleja-"

She interrupts me, eyes still on her task. "What aren'tcha telling us, Twi?"

I blink and take a step back. "I'm sorry?"

She stops her bucking and turns to face me. "When you got out of the hospital, we were all so worried about you, but it was Pinkie's idea to wait for you in the library. We waited for a while and it was hard. RD wasn't there, and we had no idea just how badly you were hurt or what had happened. It wasn't just that, though; before you went to the hospital, it seemed like you were drifting away from us. You were working on something big, something you were focusing on mighty hard and that was fine. I know how easy it is for you to get caught up in one of your projects; in fact, you can get just as stubborn as me, sometimes. I didn't mind that, heck, I didn't even mind you asking some questions about what happened before you went to the hospital after you got out. I know if I ever lost my memory, I'd be going nuts trying to get it back."

I try to say something, but she holds up a hoof to stop me.

She takes her hat off and puts it down on the basket filled with apples, taking two steps toward me. "But there's something else, Twi. There's something bothering you, something that makes ya go quiet for ten minutes at a time. I can see it eatin at ya, Twilight, and I want to help. Tell me what's wrong."

I know she's talking about SMU, that's plain enough. But, didn't I tell them about it already? I could have sworn I did. I guess it just didn't come up.

Hearing voices in your head is frequently associated with the auditory hallucinations exhibited by patients with schizophrenia. Without proof of my existence, Applejack may suspect any form of mental damage particularly considering the form of your accident was head trauma.

I dismiss SMU's warning with a shake of my head.

Applejack is my friend, and she asked my directly. I can't ignore that because I'm worried she'll think I've cracked.

SMU doesn't give a response, so I assume it understands.

I look up at Applejack. "Actually, Applejack, I think there is something you should know."

So, I tell her everything. I tell her about how different everything is, I tell her about my theories and questions, most of all I tell her about SMU. She's quiet, she doesn't interrupt, or laugh, or even raise an eyebrow. When I'm explaining, it strikes me just how little I know about what's going on. It's only been two days, but somehow it seems much longer. After I finish, she pauses for a few minutes. "You said Princess Luna made the voice in your head?"

I nod.

She picks up her hat and places it back on her head, taking the basket of apples on her back. "Well, apparently she had a team of ponies plus a changeling and Discord. I've seen Princess Luna pull some pretty fancy tricks, but I don't think she could pull that off without Princess Celestia knowing about it. So, if Princess Celesttia knows about it, it can't be that bad, right?"

That's a perfectly logical explanation. So why do I still get the feeling I'm missing something about it? "Do you know anything about what I was finding out before I got sent to the hospital?"

We make it to the barn and she drops off the apples. "Seemed like a lot of things, really. Can't say how they fit together, but I know you were really interested in our parents and what we were like before we got our cutie marks or before we moved to Ponyville. There must've been other stuff, too, though, ‘cause you went to Canterlot, Cloudsdale, apparently you were even supposed to go to Las Pegasus next, but you got sent to the hospital before that could happen." She rearranges the baskets full of apples before facing me again. "I think that's it."

I can't tell if that's too much, or too little. Las Pegasus, there was something about Las Pegasus. I just need to remember.

I gasp.

Rainbow Dash.

Is she in Las Pegasus,

Because of me?