Luck from a Horseshoe

by my_little_medic

Faded Memories

Vince was woken by the sounds of the wind coming in through his window. As he opened his eyes and looked to the window, he noticed that it was once again dark outside. The curtains danced to the rhythm of the wind as it blew past them. The only light in the room was the pale light that shined inside through the small window in the door. The cool night breeze felt good as it blew across his face and rearranged his mane. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, the chill of the air invigorating him as it entered his lungs.

His eyes snapped open as his stomach let out a rather loud rumble. 'Oh, that's right...' He thought to himself. 'Haven't eaten anything since I ended up here.'

He looked over to the left side of his bed. The cake and apple that the others had left him were still there. He threw the cover off to the side with his good hoof and sat up in the bed. He looked at the food and then looked down at his hoof. He rolled his eyes and leaned over to the apple. Carefully he grabbed the apple in his mouth and then leaned back over. He brought his hoof up so the underside was under the apple and he let the apple loose from his mouth. It stayed balanced in the recessed portion of his hoof. He moved the apple up and down in front of his face.

'Huh.... Well this is something.' He thought.

Another rumble of his stomach reminded him that it wasn't time to be playing with his food. He brought the apple in and took a bite out it. The apple's flavor was nothing short of amazing. The juices flowed past his taste buds, waking them up and making them scream for more. After swallowing the bite down he stared wide eyed at the apple in his hoof.

"WHOA!" He said to himself. "This has got to be the best apple I've ever tasted!"

In another three bites the apple was gone, core and all. As he finished chewing up the last bite he leaned over to the table and spit the stem out. He licked his lips getting the last bit of juices from the apple that had escaped his mouth. It felt good to have something in his stomach, but it was far from filling. He looked down at the piece of cake which was wrapped in a napkin. 'This one might be a little trickier.' He thought to himself as he brought his hoof over to the table. Carefully, he used the forward edge of his hoof to catch the edges of the napkin and bring the folds out to uncover the piece of cake. The smell the piece of cake gave off was amazing. It smelled like freshly sliced strawberries and it was making his mouth begin to water. He looked at his hoof and then back to the cake. He put his hoof down and reached over with an open mouth and snagged the whole piece of cake in one bite. 'Oh my gosh!!!' He thought, closing his eyes as the flavors exploded in his mouth. He chewed the cake slowly, the taste of strawberry and fresh vanilla overwhelming his taste buds. He allowed his head to fall back into his pillow as he swallowed the cake down, the flavors still fresh in his mouth.

"Wow..." He said in a quiet voice. "That was sooooo good!"

His stomach quieted down a bit now that it had something in it. He was far from being full, but he was satisfied for now. He felt the cool breeze pick up again as it blew in through his window and made the hair of his mane dance around. He looked towards the window, breathing in the fresh air and wanting more. He leaned over to his right side being careful of his injured leg and wing. He looked at the floor and then back to the window. He took a deep breath.

'You can do this.' He told himself mentally.

Slowly he got to his stomach on the bed and slid his back legs off of the edge. He put one hoof down on the floor and then the other. Carefully, he transferred his weight to his back legs which shook for a moment as he slowly figured out how to steady the muscles. He lifted one rear leg up and moved it back slightly, transferring his weight from leg to leg as he shimmied himself backward. Slowly he brought his left foreleg down until he felt the floor beneath him. He carefully transferred the rest of his weight onto his left hoof and brought his body up completely off of the bed. He stood there for just a moment, steadying himself and learning where his balance was. 'This would be so much easier with all four hooves on the ground...' He thought. He carefully began sliding his rear hooves back an inch at a time and then bringing his left forehoof carefully back as he hobbled backwards to the window. He managed to get himself turned around and he stood facing out the window of his hospital room.

Another cool breeze began to come into the window and he closed his eyes to enjoy it. The breeze felt absolutely wonderful as it blew through his mane and across his face. He felt it blowing across his short white fur and finally ending at his tail as it gently whipped the hair around. The fresh air smelled of nature, there were no smells of gasoline, exhaust, dumpsters or industry. It was a pure smelling air that was almost like a drug.

He stood there in the breeze until the wind finally began to die down. He opened his eyes and looked up at the sky. 'Such a clear and beautiful sky...' He thought. 'I've never seen so many stars before.' He looked around in the sky before stopping and staring right at the moon. He began to feel his eyes grow heavy again and a rather big yawn distracted him from the night sky. 'I suppose I should try and get as much rest as I can. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in this hospital after all.'

He slowly turned himself around on his three legs and hobbled his way back over to the bed. Carefully, he put his forehoof on the bed and pushed himself up with his back legs. With some shuffling he managed to get himself back into the bed properly. He rolled over on to his left side and brought the covers back over him. He shut his eyes and once again fell asleep.

~~~

Twilight woke up to the sunlight beaming into her window. 'What time is it?' She thought to herself. She looked down at where Spike's basket-bed was and found that the little dragon was not in it.

"Spike's awake before me... That's not a good sign." She said aloud.

She slid out from under the covers and trotted over to the vanity at the corner of her sleeping area. Magically, her hairbrush came to life and she brushed out all of her bedmane. She trotted downstairs and noticed Spike on a ladder looking at a row of books on the top shelf.

"What are you doing Spike?" She asked

"Trying to find something that might lead us to figure out how your pink star and this pegasus are connected." He answered. "You stayed up so late last night trying to find something, so I thought that I would help out since I was up before you.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. "I'm happy that you want to try and find an explanation. But, I really don't think we're gonna find what we're looking for in my library."

Spike looked down at her from the top of ladder. "Wait, you mean...?"

"Yep, the Canterlot Royal Archives." She answered.

"Oh YES! That means we can stop at Donut Joes!" Spike said as he rubbed his claws together and licked his lips.

Twilight rolled her eyes as she gave the dragon a small smile. "Come on, I want to go see that pegasus. I have a lot that I want to ask him."

Spike nodded his head as he jumped off the ladder doing a little flip in midair and landing gracefully on Twilight's back.

The door of the library magically opened and then closed behind them. Twilight took off at a trot towards the Ponyville Hospital with Spike bouncing along on her back.

~~~

He woke early to the hospital room door opening. The nurse pony that had the white fur and mane with red streaks in it came in pushing a cart with her head. He sat up in bed as he watched her enter. The cart was carrying a food tray with a lid over it. Immediately his stomach growled very loudly, reminding him that all he had eaten for the last couple days was an apple and piece of cake. He perked up a bit wondering if the rest of the food here in this world was just as tasty.

"Breakfast!" The nurse pony said cheerily with a smile as she pushed the cart over to the side of the bed. She grabbed the handle on the lid in her teeth and lifted it off of the food tray. His hopes were quickly dashed as the lid revealed what appeared to be a small plate of chunky looking green goo and a small plate of what appeared to be jello.

"Uh, Thanks!" He said, returning the cheery pony's smile.

She nodded before turning and walking back out of the room, leaving the door open behind her this time. He looked back down at the tray of... 'food?' He thought with a frown. Another rumble of his stomach reminded him that beggars shouldn't be choosers. He threw the covers off to the side again and slowly brought his back hooves over the edge of the bed so he was sitting upright on the edge. He looked looked back and saw his vivid tail sprawled out behind him and unintentionally gave it a light flick. He let out a little gasp as he watched it move and then a little laugh afterward. Squinting his eyes he focused on his tail and soon found the muscles he was looking for as his tail made another jump into the air before resting back down on the bed.

'Cool!' He thought as a huge toothy grin came over his face.

Another rumble of his stomach, this one actually kind of painful, snapped his attention back to the hospital food in front of him. 'Right... food...' He grimaced at the thought of putting this gross looking mixture in his mouth. Letting out a large sigh he leaned over and took a small bite of the green mess. His eyes snapped open wide as the taste littered his mouth. It was like someone had taken a mixture of leaves, grass and algae and thrown it into a blender then dumped it out on the plate. Reluctantly he chewed up the chunky mess and swallowed it down. It was the most bitter and grossest textured thing he had ever eaten.

He looked down at what was supposedly jello. With a long sigh and low expectations, he closed his eyes and took the smallest bite he could manage. The texture was disturbing, it was like he had taken a bite of slime. The taste however wasn't too bad. Being slightly bland, it carried a hint of cherry with it. He swallowed it down and took the last of the jello in one bite.

"Hi there!" Somepony from the doorway said in a cheery tone.

He quickly swallowed the last of the jello with a cough and looked over to see the Lavender Unicorn and her small companion standing in the doorway.

"Hi!" He answered.

She looked over and saw the food tray in front of him. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't know you were eating." She said as she backed away a step.

"No, that's all right." He said looking down at the last of the green goo then back to her. "I'm actually done." He added as he licked his lips. The aftertaste of the dismal food still strong on his taste buds.

He turned around on his hind end in bed until he was sitting upright on his rear with his rear legs tucked in next to him and steadying himself with his good front hoof. He looked over at Twilight who walked over to the right side of the bed and sat down on the floor. Spike slid off of her back and stood next to her.

"So... Can I ask some questions?" She asked with a slight grin.

"Umm...sure!" He answered.

"First off, what's your name! I never caught it when we asked you yesterday." She asked.

"It's....aah.......it's...."

'Why can't I come up with my own name? This is ridiculous! I knew it yesterday!' He thought in frustration.

He lowered his head and began to go through the alphabet in his head to see if maybe a letter would jolt his memory. 'A...No! B...No! C...No!' He went on. 'U...No! V..................No! W...No!' He kept searching for his name until he reached the letter z and still nothing.

"Umm... Did I lose you there?" Twilight's voice asked, snapping his attention back to her.

"Huh?!" He said looking her in the eyes.

Twilight gave Spike a confused look which he exchanged. She looked back to the pegasus. "Your name...?"

The stallion gave a growing look of concern to the unicorn. "I...I don't know it..."

"You mean you've forgotten it?!" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

"No... I don't... I don't think I ever had one..." The Pegasus said as he gave the bedsheets a solemn look.

"Ahh! That's crazy! EVERYPONY has a name!" Spike chimed in.

Twilight nudged him with her shoulder and shot him an annoyed look. The little purple dragon dropped his gaze to the floor and crossed his arms, clearly annoyed as well.

"Let's not worry about your name right now then." She said as her tone took on a cheery touch.

The stallion nodded, not raising his head to look at her.

"How about your accident? Do you remember anything before that?" She asked.

He closed his eyes and struggled to bring back the memories of that night. "I remember... a crash..." He said in a strenuous voice.

Twilight looked over at Spike with a smile and then back to the stallion.

"There was another with me.... but, I can't remember who she was... then I can remember falling and the crash.... into a tree."

He could feel the heat from tears starting to form in the bottoms of his eyes. 'Why can't I remember anything!' He thought in frustration. 'What's happened to my memory!'

"I... can't remember why I crashed." He answered finally.

Twilight could see the frustration running wild across his face.

"Umm..." She said. "Maybe we won't worry about all that right now." She resumed her cheery tone.

There was a flapping sound coming from the window and they all looked over to see Rainbow Dash hovering outside the window with her front hooves on the window sill.

"S'up!" She said to the stallion. "Oh! Hey Twilight!" She said looking over at Twilight and Spike.

"Hey Rainbow!" Twilight answered.

"So, how're you feeling today?" Rainbow asked the stallion.

"Better." He answered.

Rainbow gave the stallion a smile and turned her attention back down to Twilight. "Hey, I'm glad I found you. Pinkie Pie wants us all to meet her at Sugarcube Corner. She says it's super important."

"Oh, all right. Well, I suppose I can always come back later." She said to Rainbow.

She turned her attention to the stallion. "Try and get some rest. We'll be sure to come back and visit later."

The stallion nodded with a small smile on his face as he watched her and her purple companion stand up and exit the room.

"See ya later!" Rainbow Dash said as she waved then disappeared in a prismatic streak.

'Whoa! She's fast!' He thought to himself.

He relaxed back down into bed and let his thoughts wander as he struggled with his faded and fragmented memories. He stared off at the ceiling as he tried reaching as far back into his memories as he could but still only came back with short and jumbled fragments. Frustrated he rolled over and shut his eyes, but sleep was not going to come easy this time.

Author's Note:

For those of you wondering. His memories of his human life will come back into play later in the story. Just a heads up!

Comments

[damnaion]

dam i love it and thank you

[Tome Turner]

Spike nodded his head as he jumped off the ladder doing a little flip in midair and landing gracefully on Twilight's back.

Spike casually does a majestic flip.

[Buckshot2825]

3259862 and twilight doesn't care, it's ponyville, it's the norm bro, get used to it

On another note, these chapters are REALLY short compared to what i'm used to. I guess that's find but it seems to be moving too fast. Not enough freak outs, not enough hyper ventilating, and maybe not enough plot building. The story can function without these but i don't recommend it.