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Chapter 5

Chapter 5: More Questions Than Answers

Twilight stared at me and held her gaze. She had an astonished look on her face, but to my confusion, she burst out laughing.

"Very funny, you almost had me!" She said as she composed herself, "Now really, where are you from?"

Does she seriously think this is a joke? I thought, dumbfounded by the idea.

I maintained the same serious voice, but tried to punctuate my words so that she would believe me, “I. Don’t. Know.”

"OK, it was funny the first time, now let's be serious. Where are you from?" Twilight asked, still teasing but becoming less patient and more annoyed with me now.
It was clear she was not getting that I was telling the truth.

Will this chick ever take the hint? I thought, annoyed myself.

"Listen, Twilight was it? I don't remember! Everything just seems like a blur…"

I could tell that the gravity of the situation had finally hit Twilight as her expression slowly morphed from confusion to one of comprehension and then finally to a look of concern. Her face literally was an open book.

"Oh! Oh - this is not good! Do you remember how you got to the Everfree?"

"To the WHERE?"

"Oh no!" Twilight said, her worry starting to get to me now. "Ok let’s think. Maybe if I ask you some questions it will help jog your memory. Like do you know what species you are? I noticed your tail…”

“My WHAT???” I asked in astonishment.

“Uh – your tail? I’m sorry but I couldn’t help but notice it – at first I thought it was a belt but then it became unwrapped when you were sedated...see?” Twilight pointed her hoof in the direction of my side and I looked over. I was shocked by the sight of a brown tail. Just to make sure it was in fact mine, I began to slowly move it back and forth.

Wow. I have a tail! What the hell?

“So the books that I have read – primates have tails. Do you think you might be some sort of monkey?"

Upon hearing that last word, I grew incredibly angry, but I didn't know why.

"I may not be certain of much right now, but I am sure I'm not a monkey, Twilight!" I spat my words in anger, causing her to recoil slightly. Surprised by my own reaction, I felt a pang of guilt.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, this is all just happening so fast and I'm getting frustrated that I can't remember something so simple."

Twilight seemed to understand my panic, and began to speak in more soothing tones to calm me. "It's alright Rogue," she said, "I would be acting the same way if I was in your situation. Now just take a moment and relax – maybe it will come to you."

As I began to think, my eyes drifted back down to my tail, which was swishing around slowly at my side. I then finally took notice of the outfit I was wearing. It appeared to be some sort of strange suit that had ripped black pants, a chest plate that appeared to have seen better days, dirty white boots, and damaged wrist guards.

What is this stuff? I asked myself.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of my hospital room door opening, followed a couple of loud hoof steps. I turned to see who had entered and saw what appeared to be a doctor and a nurse or assistant. They both looked similar to Twilight – as in they were also ponies.

Whatever this place is, I am obviously not normal here, I realized.

The Doctor had a brown coat and was wearing a clinical white lab jacket that had a nametag on the lapel, which read “Dr. Brown”.

How original, I though with a smirk.

The nurse-assistant was a pale yellow color with a white mane tucked under her nurse’s hat. She held a clip board with her hooves and was prepared to take down notes.

Twilight greeted them both by quickly sharing the status of my situation, “Doctor Brown! Rogue-just-woke-and-I-started-asking-him-questions-and-he-says-he-doesn’t-know-where-!”

“Whoa! Slow down Miss Sparkle, I can barely understand you!" He laughed to himself. "for a second I thought you said it can talk! That would be ridiculous!”

"Uh…I can talk!" I said, a little angry.

Is the idea of me talking really that out of the ordinary in a world of talking colorful horses? And call me crazy but it sounded to me like the Doctor was insulting me…

This suspicion was further confirmed when the brown-coated Doctor didn’t even look at me and instead turned his full attention to Twilight, speaking only to her.

Hey, who’s the patient here?

Dr. Brown cleared his throat and started speaking with an air of haughty authority.
“Tsk, tsk. Dear sweet Twilight. You really should not presume too much about its ability to think, or understand. It may be that this creature does not have the mental capacity to know such things as where it’s from.”

“I’m a ‘he’ not an ‘it!’” I interrupted, “And I have a name - Rogue!”

The doctor ignored my comment and turned his attention to the machines, which recorded my vital signs. He called out numbers to the nurse-assistant who was busily trying to keep up and write them all on her clip board. She obviously was intimidated by this brown-coated jerk. Finally, he turned back to Twilight, but this time he was actually speaking over me as if I weren’t even there on the bed between them.

“It’s clear this thing went through quite a bit – almost didn’t make it – and as you recall, it was not my recommendation that we even waste our time or ‘resources’ to try to save it. I mean, we aren't vets."

He finally turned to look at me, and I could see the hatred as his eyes went dead when they locked onto mine “As you can see, we are quite a bit different from this creature!" He said the last word as though he was disgusted with the idea of me. I knew one thing for sure, I really didn't like this guy.

“Doctor, please!” Twilight interjected, defending me, “It’s not like that! Rogue is not a creature. He’s a…a…well, I don't know what he is, but he’s intelligent! And he is trying to remember!” It was clear that poor Twilight - while coming to my aid - was also uncertain what to call me. Still, I appreciated the try.

The doctor turned to address Twilight, dismissing me again. “Perhaps our medicine boosted its brain waves – I mean, it can speak and respond to questions after all. That’s more than I expected from it.”

This guy’s really pissing me off, I thought.

The nurse-assistant spoke up, with a slight tremor in her voice, “Do you remember anything? Any thing little thing at all?” It was a bold move to address me as she was clearly going against the ‘good’ doctor’s orders. Dr. Brown glared at her, causing her to retreat a few steps back.

What do I remember? Surely something… I thought as I dug deeper and deeper, trying to find something.

Such a simple question answered only by emptiness, and that frustrating fog where my brain used to be. It seemed like there was something beyond the thickness that was so close, but just out of reach. And the more I tried to get to it, the more the dull ache in my brain began to throb with pain.

Nothing, I sadly realized, I remember nothing.

But the 'good' doctor did confirm something important. I am not one of them. Not wanting to be anybody’s scientific experiment, I decided to turn the tables and make him answer questions for once.

“What’s happening to me? Why can’t I remember anything?” I asked, and braced myself for the worst.

Just as I anticipated, Dr. Brown had a big ego and it liked to be stroked. He cleared his throat again and spoke with the same haughty tone.

“A-hem. Well, actually, there are number of things that could be happening.” The doctor began. “It could be the nasty gash on its head which caused trauma, or it could be the procedure we did which caused pressure and swelling…or it could be the result of the magic we performed during surgery that obliterated its thinking. Any of these things could affect its memory. But most likely, you are just that dumb.”

I was about to retort against his last comment, but then something else hit me.

“Wait – what – MAGIC?” I asked, not believing what I had heard.

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by Dr. Brown.

"It's something that your puny mind can't even dream to comprehend."

Just as I was about to lose my temper, a new voice entered the room - "Ah I see you're awake! I was worried we were going to lose you!"

Great, what more is in store for me? I turned my head to see another doctor-pony standing in the entrance of the room. This one had a light blue coat, with a dark blue mane and was wearing a white lab coat.

Oh yay. Another doctor to insult my intelligence.

He was older and I could tell from the way he carried himself that he was in charge. But this one was different. His eyes were more caring and concerned. And he had a blue horn on the top of his head, similar to the one on top of Twilight's.

Wait…blue fur….lab coat…why does that seem so familiar? I asked myself.

As I pondered this for a moment, a single word began to form in my head.

"Doc..." I said, almost as if I wasn't entirely there.

"Wow! It really can talk!" the blue doctor exclaimed in enthusiastic surprise, “I was hoping…”

I didn't get a chance to respond as a jolt of pain began to emanate from my head and transcend down my entire body, enveloping me in a vise of pain. I gripped my head, hoping this would somehow alleviate the pain.

Make it stop! I screamed in my mind.

I barely heard Twilight and the new doctor’s concerned calls for help as I shut my eyes and fought the searing pain in my head. My eyes rolled back into my head and felt myself descend deep into a different realm. Images began to appear as if they were right there before me. I saw a man, he sort of looked like me…well, more like me than the ponies did…but he had light blue skin and wore a white lab jacket. The most interesting thing about him was the two horns on his head. In some ways, he looked like the blue doctor.

As these images zoomed by, a bright light began to move closer and closer until it completely blinded me. Then, in an instant, I found myself become absorbed into the white flash, which had transported me into what seemed to be a hospital, but not the one I had been in moments ago.

I looked around me to assess the environment. I was standing on a platform. I looked down at my body to discover I was wearing new clothes.

How’d that happen? I wondered. My clothes were similar but different from the ones I was wearing before. Instead of being damaged, they appeared to be brand new, as if I had just put it on. They also seemed different, as though it was an older style. The colors, and some of the pieces of the suit were definitely different. I was wearing a tight blue jumpsuit with white boots and gloves. On top of the suit, I wore a chest plate that was white with two brown shoulder guards.

My attention was quickly taken away from my gear when some object went flying past me. As I looked up, I was surprised to see multiple small devices were whizzing around me as they examined my body. Suddenly, they all stopped at once and flew into a compartment that opened on the platform. I began to lean forward to see where the compartment went when I heard a metallic sound came from behind me. Turning to see the source of this noise, I saw the blue man with the two horns from my vision was standing there.

The man looked at me and smiled a moment before he spoke, "So we finally meet. I have been waiting for you. You can call me Doc.” His voice sounded slightly garbled as if it were traveling through space from another world.

“Let’s see what the analysis is."
I simply nodded in response, as he picked up a chart from a desk nearby.

"From my scans, it definitely seems like you are in good shape…But we will have to do more tests to verify. Please follow me…”

Why was this so strange and yet so... familiar? I thought. What is this place? And who is this guy?

Still, I followed him obediently down the hall and as I did I continued to view my surroundings. It was a long hall, with several chambers every so often appearing on either side. It was evident to me that this was some sort of training facility, and these were examination rooms. As I walked by them, I noticed different people, varying in ages and genders, going through the same scan that I had gone through moments before. The thing that stuck out to me was that they all had tails and looked like me, well at least more than the ponies did.

As I walked by the last one, I noticed a small child who was dressed in similar clothes as mine standing with his side to me right by the door, with his head turned to look at me. I stopped and examined him for a few seconds while he appeared to be doing the same. He looked like an ordinary child with the exception of one distinctive feature that I noticed right away…he also had a tail that emerged from his lower back, right at the beltline. But something else seemed off. I looked at him and noticed his expression. He seemed to be a serious child. At one look, I could tell that he had been through a lot. As I continued to examine him, an overwhelming feeling that I had seen him someplace before began to fill my senses.

Who is this kid? I questioned.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Doc's faded voice.

“Come along!” he called – time to go. The boy and I nodded at each other – almost at the exact same time. It seemed strange to me, but I walked on. It took me a moment – maybe 4 or 5 steps down the hall - before I realized the reason where I had seen the boy before….

Immediately, it felt like the air was being sucked out of my lungs and my gut kicked in all at once, as a jolt of searing pain went through my brain. The sheer excruciating shock ripped through me like a bolt of lightning, and caused me to gasp awake in the hospital bed. My eyes flew wide open and my face was covered with beads of sweat.

Twilight, the nurse-assistant, and the blue-coated 'ponified' Doc were around me, calling my name.

“Rogue! Are you alright?” Twilight asked worriedly, “What happened?”

As I looked at the faces that were so clearly concerned with me. They all seemed to be so worried. I wondered how I could ever explain this? How could I make them understand where I had just been and what I had seen, when I did not even understand it myself?

“Nothing. I’m fine,” I lied. “Just a little head ache – and maybe too much excitement, that’s all.”

“You scared us half to death! You were thrashing around – and you kept calling the name 'Doc' over and over again!” Twilight added. “What happened? What did you see?”

“I’m not sure - I can’t really explain it but I felt that I was in a different place – and that there was a doctor who looked like me, but had blue skin and horns – like you – only there were two horns.” I tried to explain, but could see from the looks on their faces that it was futile, “Never mind – I’m just tired, that’s all.”

“Well maybe you remembered something from your past!” encouraged Twilight, “Can you recall any other details?” She was so kind, and I could tell that she honestly wanted to help me figure this all out.

"I would hardly call that a memory," scoffed Dr. Brown who stepped into the light from the dark shadow in the corner of the room where he had been observing, "it is obvious that it is just having hallucinations due to the amount of shock that it had. To think that there is another monkey out there that looks like Doctor Bluemoon is beyond me!"

I was furious at this point, "Again, I am not a MONKEY, and I am not an IT and, if what I saw was a 'hallucination,' then explain the similarities between…"
I trailed off. Why waste my breath when it was clear this guy was a buffoon who would never understand?

Doc Bluemoon broke the silence, by turning and addressing me by name as he looked at me. "Rogue, if what you say is true, and you did feel a strong sense of things being familiar, then maybe you are having 'flashes' in order to regain your memories."

Twilight spoke up this time, adding, "Maybe it’s because Doctor Bluemoon looked familiar to you and this Doc person who you might have known in your past."

“That’s correct, Twilight. Memory flashes are like small power surges in the brain, where the memory tries to reboot.” Doc Bluemoon added. “Rogue, you mentioned that you had a vision about something that looked like me, so maybe things that are familiar to you will cause these 'memory flashes' to occur.”

I was feeling a little more optimistic now. “So that means if we find things that were important to me, then my memory might fully return?”

Doc Bluemoon rubbed his chin with his hoof, and thought for a moment. “It’s possible - but unlikely it would happen all at once. For right now these episodes might just be pieces to a larger puzzle."

"I think it's about time that we give our patient a little bit of rest, I know that he's gone through a lot in a short period of time. Miss Sparkle, you should probably head home as well. We still need to run some more tests on him, and analyze his body just in case a future occurrence happens but he should be out by tomorrow."

Twilight nodded and turned to me, "Don't worry Rogue, I'll be back tomorrow to pick you up from the hospital. You can stay with me."

I nodded and smiled lightly, "Alright, see you tomorrow, Twilight!" I felt grateful inside.

How am I so lucky to find such a friend? I thought.

Twilight smiled warmly then walked through the door, followed by the nurses. Dr. Brown was about to go as well, when he was stopped by Doctor Bluemoon.

"We need to talk after this," he said strictly, “about your bed-side manner and patient care.” This stern tone caused Dr. Brown to sulk in a guilty manner before quickly galloping away. Doc Bluemoon glared after him before turning his gaze to me with a grin.

"Ok Rogue, you don’t have to worry about him anymore. I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask, but it's really important for you to sleep right now."

I nodded as I lowered myself down onto the bed. I didn't realize how tired I was until my head hit the pillow.

I wonder who I was before all of THIS? I thought to myself myself as my eyes grew heavy. What did this all mean? Who was the Doc in my vision? And how did this all fit together in the puzzle of my identity?

I had so many questions - but I did know one thing for sure. I knew that I did not need to feel my lower back for the confirmation again that I had a tail…and that the child I saw looking back at me – was me!!!

Author's Note:

Whew! It's finally done! It took a little longer than I wanted it, but I think it's good now! Thank you guys for supporting my story so much! I mean, 26 likes, 39 favorites, 3 followers, and 246 views! I was never expecting THIS many people who would read my story! Hopefully you all like this chapter! Please like and favorite this story! I also encourage comments, both positive and negative, so that I can see what people like/dislike for future chapters! Thanks again! Hopefully I will have the next chapter up soon!

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