Chapter 5: The hall of the mind
Chapter 5
“Learn something new every day, but try to take it with a grain of salt.”
Noah continued staring at his reflection, he had heard the voice, but it was drowned out in a sea of thoughts, barely registering as an actual question. Noah couldn’t think, his mind drew a blank as to what he was, the only thoughts pertaining to his being were the feelings that this form was not his own. But he couldn’t justify why, a mental block prevented him from finding any memory of what he should look like.
Lotus gave, the statue that Noah had become, a gentle nudge, this too barely registered in his senses, his mind still unable to comprehend what he was. A dull buzz grew from a silent part of his mind, quiet and muffled, at first he didn’t realise it was there, but upon a random thought he noticed its presence. The buzz was insignificant but constant, only truly noticed if he was purposefully looking for it.
Noah focused in on the buzz in the back of his mind, his face contorting in concentration. Noah began picking through the haze until he could see it in his mind. He spied a sphere of bright white fading out into a light magenta coloured outer shell, random bolts of light pulsing in a flash from the centre to the edge.
“Are you alright,” Lotus asked nervously, Noah had been standing in the same spot for a full five minutes, concentration etched upon his face, “Whenever you want to start your massage just join us by the tables.”
The voice was barely a muffled drone against the buzz of the sphere Noah was concentrating on. He closed his eyes, focussing on reaching out and touching the strange orb. When he was almost upon it the orb receded and shrunk in on itself, before the centre began to charge with more bright white light.
Noah retracted his imagined hoof and started to retreat from his mind, but was too late. The now pure white orb drew a pulse inwards once before releasing its imagined energy, expanded outwards until its light pierced every corner of Noah’s mind before vanishing.
The wave of mental energy that had filled his mind radiated calm and comfort, bidding him to relax at the sight his new form. The light that had filled his mind faded, the memories were no longer jumbled, instead ordered into windows of an endless hall, but the scenes that lay behind them were still blank or fuzzy.
Noah physically recoiled at this action, the distraction enough for him to lose his focus on the orb. He could still feel its presence somewhere in his mind, the dull buzz, but on further concentration he was unable to properly grasp it in his focus.
Blinking once he turned to the anxious Lotus beside him, “Pardon, I was lost in thought for a moment, what was it you asked?”
“Oh, um, sorry, just wondering if you are ready for your massage now.” Lotus still looked worried, but her previous anxiousness had been removed by Noah’s abrupt question. He nodded once in answer to the mare’s question, turning on the spot to face the massage tables he allowed himself to be led over.
Dinky took no notice as Noah attempted to clamber up onto the table, the filly deep in bliss over the wonders that Aloe was subject her tired muscles to. For Noah the table was that little bit too small, his attempts to lay down soon became a balancing act where if he went too far in any direction he would begin to slide off in that direction. When it became apparent that a single table was not going to suffice a second was brought in for stability.
Finally being able to lay comfortably on the tables Noah turned to face Dinky across from him, an enormous smile plastered across her face, her eyes closed in relaxation, Aloes hooves were doing wonders for the small filly. “The poor thing’s been doing so much walking today,” he commented, a knowing smile grew upon Aloe’s lips
Turning back to Lotus he motioned for her to start the treatment, and promptly closed his eyes in anticipation. A few moments of nothing passed, Noah cracked open a single eye and starred at the mare in front of him, a look of confusion spreading across her face. “Is something wrong?” he asked nonchalantly.
Lotus hummed for a moment, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth a couple of times, “I’m not really sure how to start to be honest, I’ve never worked with a carapace before.”
“Well just do what you normally do it’s no real fuss to me,” Noah answered, he closed his eye again in wait.
Another quick minute passed before Lotus let out an exasperated sigh and walked around to the edge of the table. Hopping up onto a step that bordered the table she raised her hooves, placing them gently on his back at the back of his neck and began to apply pressure. “Tell me when this starts to hurt,” she instructed.
Lotus kept increasing the pressure under her hooves more than any normal pony could usually stand. “Yep, I can feel that working, a little more and you’ll have me in pain,” Noah commented with a slight sigh.
Altering from the usual massage pattern Lotus instead focussed the pressure of her hooves on the softer chitin around the joins of his limbs. Noah sighed contently at the motions, all the worries that had plagued his day thus far simply left him. Seeing the reaction that her massaging had on the large pony, Lotus increased the pressure slightly, giving the muscles beneath the armour plates a true workout, releasing all the stress that they held.
“So where are you from?” She asked casually, attempting to elicit idle conversation.
“Hmmm,” came the reply, Noah stirred from his quasi-slumber, “Wha wassat,” he asked in a most relaxed manner.
“I asked where you were from.”
“Oh, um I…” Noah contemplated his answer for a moment, “I actually can’t recall. The memory of home is quite fuzzy, all that I know is it isn’t here.”
“Well then are you from another town, Manehattan perhaps, Las Pegasus, Canterlot even, or somewhere more rough and tumble like Dodge City?”
Noah shook his head in disagreement, “No, none of those names sound familiar and I’m definitely not from any of those places. Even the name of your country, Equestria, it doesn’t ring any bells either, nor does the name Equis.”
“How could you not have heard of Equis, it’s where everything is, you can’t not have heard of Equis,” shock and horror had entered her voice.
“Maybe they called it something different where he’s from,” Aloe commented, “I doubt Dragons or Griffons use the same word as us, so it remains possible that where ever he is from doesn’t use the word Equis.”
“That’s a fair point,” Lotus tried to move the conversation forward, “How about what you do, what’s your job?”
“I’m, …” Noah paused for another moment, carefully thinking about his answer, he had had a small memory return in the hospital, one of tests and exams, he thought carefully to formulate his answer. “Well again I’m not entirely sure I do remember a test or exam, it was recent as well, right before I woke up, as well as bits and pieces from my bag, I think they are a research project, I was probably a student.”
“A student eh, what were you studying?”
“I really don’t remember, but I do remember a lot of formulas, equations theories and the likes, in all a real affinity with designing, building and in general, creating. I think I was studying to be an engineer.”
“Ooh,” oohed Aloe, “An engineer, you might do well in Manehattan.”
“But the real question,” Lotus interjected with a mock scholarly look, “Is what kind of engineering, roads and such, buildings, or more mechanical, or thaumatology.”
“Umm,” Noah ummed, propping himself up for a moment to think before resting back down, “Mechanical I think, but with something else thrown in, there is only a word, but I can’t find a real meaning for it, Electrical, does that mean anything?”
“What is Electrical,” Aloe asked quizzically, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that word before.”
“I can’t remember, but I was studying it, something like electricity, or the flow of power, or somethi-ooooh.” Noah drifted off into a satisfied groan as Lotus’ nimble hooves forced a particularly tight muscle into submission.
Continuing the relentless beat down of stress filled muscles Lotus focussed for a minute on a knot in Noah’s right shoulder. Dinky was thoroughly enjoying her treatment delivered by Aloe, the filly’s smile hadn’t faltered once.
“Flow of power huh, can’t say I know much about that, sounds a lot like magic though, I reckon you’ll get on fabulously with Twilight, the resident librarian, she’s a magical prodigy.”
Noah perked up for a moment, remembering a thought from before, “That’s another thing, how big is this town that you all know everyone, or is the population just that small.”
Lotus finished her assault on Noah’s muscles, motioning for him to get up, “I suppose a few questions about our fair town are in order, but your massage is finished, come over to the spa and let us converse there.”
Noah slid off the table, landing roughly on his hooves he wasn’t ready for the total relaxation of his muscles and folded gracelessly to the floor. Letting out a feinted whimper at his unruly muscles he slowly brought himself upright making his way slowly over to the spa. Dinky was having less trouble, having persuaded Aloe to act as personal transport she too made her way over to the spa.
Noah quickly tested the water with the tip of his hoof, judging the temperature to be suitable he slid into the soothing water letting out a small sigh of relaxed pleasure. Dinky took the most opposite approach, seeing that the water was suitable, she took a step back before making a running jump into the spa, landing with a large splash in centre.
Both Aloe and Lotus looked at Dinky with disapproval, before each let out small giggles at the filly’s antics. Noah joined in on the mirth as Dinky resurfaced, spouting water like a fountain as she breached the water.
Noah settled down into a comfortable position, the water soothing the well worth pain from the massage. “So about your town, how large is the population that everyone knows everyone, a few of thousand at most I’m guessing,” Noah asked.
“Not even, less than a thousand ponies reside in Ponyville at most,” Lotus commented, Aloe nodding in agreement, “Some of the larger towns like Dodge City have larger populations closer to ten thousand only the main population centres like Canterlot have populations in the hundreds of thousands.”
Talk of populations, towns and cities spurred something inside of Noah. He felt a tugging in his mind and closed his eyes to focus on the thought. In his mind he found himself wandering the corridor, in front of him no end could be seen, the scones on the walls fading into darkness behind him held the same sight, an endless corridor.
A dozen meters down the hall a window flashed with bright light. Running forward Noah stopped suddenly, turning to see a clear picture in the frame, an opposite to the windows that surrounded him. Looking through he saw a vision of a planet, a scourge of brown slowly spreading and devouring the land, turning the green forests into wastelands, blue steaks representing majestic rivers drying up in front of his eyes.
In his mind Noah stepped back, startled at the memory presented to him. Home, populated by billions, turning the natural resources into synthetic products, complete disregard for the environment and pollution running rampant.
To Lotus, Aloe and Dinky all they saw was Noah concentrating, before his face paled to grey and shock marred his features. With the memory restored Noah’s eyes snapped open, quickly taking in the sight of three ponies starring anxiously back at him.
Noah quickly composed himself, drew a quick smile and asked a simple question. “Wow, such a small population, you must have a lot of untouched land, natural formations not yet destroyed by industrious hooves, and very little pollution.”
Thrown back by his quick change of demeanour Aloe stammered a quick ‘no’, “Well I’ve heard Manehattan has some issues with smog but aside from that we do our best to minimise damage to the land.”
Happy with the answer given Noah flashed a quick smile and closed his eyes, sinking further into the spa. The ringing of a bell from the front of the building registered in his mind, as did the sound of hoofsteps and one of the Spa Ponies retreating to the front.
“So what’s the deal with the royalty here?” Noah asked casually, not even cracking open an eye.
“You don’t know,” shot Aloe, her voice betraying her surprise.
“They are the best, most awesome and powerful princesses ever,” Dinky gleefully described.
“Yeah that’s what I mean,” Noah pointed out, “You have princesses, what about a king or queen?”
“You know I’ve never really given it much thought,” Aloe said contemplatively, “But if I had to guess I’d say that Princess Celestia wants all us little ponies to do things for ourselves.”
“Hmm, fair enough, but wait Dinky said ‘princesses’, who’s the other one?”
“Well that would be Princess Luna, she controls the moon and the stars while Princess Celestia controls the Sun.”
This information about princesses controlling celestial bodies was unsettling to Noah. With his eyes still closed, he found himself back in the hallway from before with this new information. From behind him a light was flashing, turning and trotting over to it he saw another memory, the planets and solar bodies from home. With his home highlighted orbiting a large sun, and with its own moon orbiting it in return.
Princess ponies that control the motion of the sun and moon, that preposterous, Noah thought to himself, he opened his mouth to explain his disbelief, but was interrupted by the re-entrance of Lotus with two other sets of hooves, a polite cough given to announce their arrival.
“I’m terribly sorry to disrupt your spa,” Lotus began. Noah hadn’t yet opened his eyes but listened with visible interest. “But these two are from the town guard and they would like to have a word with you.”
At the mention of guards Noah’s eyes shot open and widened at the sight he beheld. Before him stood unicorn mare and earth pony stallion, both dressed with plated armour, both bearing harsh scowls and both displaying small amounts of fear and apprehension.
The stallion took a step forward, speaking in a voice that would put gravel to shame. “Yes, as this fine mare said, we are from the town guard and we need you to come with us to ask you some questions about a couple of assaults.”
The mare stepped forward into an aggressive crouch, her horn lighting up. Her partner lowered his stance as well, subtly moving his hoof up to the spear that lay across his back. “If you would slowly step out of the spa and come quietly with us, let’s not make any trouble,” he said with a sneer.
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well that doesnt seem to be very good, hope he isnt too badly screwed
3591877 spoilers, but not too bad, a slight conflict to break monotony.
Darn that thing for taking his memories, what's the point of bringing in new knowledge if you can't compare it with the old one. It's a good thing he's remembering himself and the world bit by bit though...
yep, sneer.
so incompetent! is that how they dealt with possible criminal in potential hostage situation?