Identity

by Hyper44

Wakeing up

The ground was hard and cold but was somewhat pleasant against her aching body and ooh did her body ache. From her hooves to the tips of her ears her body hurt. She was surprised that one's hooves could ache like that. Even the feathers in her wings hurt. It was black, pitch black and she couldn’t even be sure whether it was from actual darkness or her eyes being closed. That is if she had even really thought about it. Right now all she could think about was her pained body, the throbbing in her head and the awful ringing in her ears. The worst of it was her chest, her chest hurt so badly.

She did eventually become aware of her eyes being closed and the light beyond by the reddish hue that her vision took. She didn't care though. All she wanted to do was lay on the hard cold surface in the little comfort the cold could provide and not move a muscle. She was also laying on and among something a little sharp and prickly but dealing with it was better than trying to move. She didn't even want of try to remember what had just happened. That fact didn't even occur to her in her state of mind.
"How long are you going to lay there? I know you’re awake. I can see your eyelids twitching." A snippy and unsympathetic voice cut through the ringing in her ears.

The young mare opened her eyes to find that she was outside and lying on a fairly high ledge that encircled a mountain. She heard a snort and somepony paw the ground. She turned her head toward the noise. There standing on the ledge was a male unicorn and one she would say was probably the ugliest pony she had ever seen. He wasn’t too much taller than average but thin in a way that gave him the appearance of a scarecrow. His coat was a faded sickly grayish-blue that looked to be from malnutrition or something. It also looked like it hadn’t been washed in a long time as well. His mane and tail which was jet black was stringy and full of split ends.

He wore a dirt stained white coat that was draped around his shoulders, back and flanks covering his cutie mark. His hooves were dry and cracked. His eyes looked black and were somewhat blood shot as if he was accustomed to long days and long nights. The whites of his eyes seemed too big and his pupils too beady. He didn't stand still or relaxed like a normal pony. His legs were stiff. An eye would twitch, then the eyelid, tail suddenly flick then a fore leg jerk up and stomp as if bitten by an insect.

As the mare stared at him she almost forgot her aching body and would have fled if she hadn’t been frozen in his gaze. The only thought in her head was that this pony looked stark raving mad.

The stallion snorted again. "Finally you woke up. You just had to try it didn't you? You just couldn’t help yourself. I warned you and now look at you! All battered up and even your cutie mark is vanished not that it was anything special. You’re better off without that thing."

The mare just stared at him not understanding anything he said or having any idea who he was. The stallion stomped again then turned around looking over his shoulder with a twitching eye. "Let's see how well you live with this, you Little Baby Bird." He snapped drawling out the last words in a mocking tone then took off running down the ledge. The mare stared after still very confused. She still had no idea what he was talking about and why did he talk like he knew her? She definitely didn't know him. Perhaps it was just because he was insane.

A thought suddenly shot through her head breaking her dazed confusion. Cutie mark! She turned her head and looked at her flank. When she looked back at herself she could see her body covered in a dark lavender coat and her tail a dark blue lain out on the rock and fallen twigs. Her flank was nothing but a blank expanse of the purple. A jolt of panic shot through her and she wondered, "Just how that could be?! How could it be gone?” She pondered hard on just how a cutie mark could be removed. Was that possible?

As she stared at her blank flank another jolt of fear shot through her that when settled and made her feel colder than the rock she was laying on. It was spurred by another realization. Her mind’s eye could not picture what was supposed to be there in the first place. She had no idea what cutie mark she was missing.

"I'm just shaken up." She thought inhaling deeply and trying to slow her rapid breathing. "Calm down and think!" She commanded herself. The more she thought though the more panicked she became. Try as she might she could not recall what her cutie mark should be. Her mind on the matter was as blank as her flank. When she tried to think back to other things she realized that even the color of her own coat was unfamiliar to her. She would not have even known she had wings if they had not been hurting. She lifted them up and looked at them but she could recall no memory of ever seeing them before.

Was she in some other pony's body? No, she could not recall any memory of being in any other body. She could recall no names, not even her own. She racked her brain for any idea but finally sighed. It was not only pointless but also counterproductive to keep this up. She knew what was wrong. Why did she want to believe anything else except that because it scared her? It wasn't like that was going to help anything.

Just what had happened to her to cause this? She looked down the trail. She may not have known much of anything right now but she was pretty sure she knew who did and who was responsible. She could still see that ugly sneer on that ugly unicorn's face. She jumped to her feet only to yelp and fall back onto the ground with her heart throbbing in her chest. She was in no shape for to catch him let alone confront him and besides he would have a good head start by now. She lay there a moment with her eyes squeezed shut and her heartbeat throbbing painfully. With a sigh she raised her head up and looked around. She lay not only on the rock of the mountain but in a mess of twigs, thin branches and leaves. Looking up she could see twisted trees struggling to grow out of the side of the mountain. The one directly above her had branched broken and snapped. Yes, she definitely fell out of the sky or more likely was blasted out by unicorn magic.

She turned her head to look down the mountainside. It was a beautiful view. A green field stretched out below with pretty trees spreading out their branches under the sun. Squinting she could make out tiny dots of blue and purple that she took to be little patches of flowers. Movement at the corner of her view caught her attention and she turned to see a group of ponies trotting toward a small homely town on the other side of the field. She had been so focused on looking down that she had not noticed it yet. She stood up tenderly on her hooves. At least there was a place where she could find help was nearby. For all she knew she lived in that town. For all she knew she knew the ponies that just walked to it or she even knew that weird unicorn. He certainly acted like he knew her. The young mare shuttered. What kind of strange company did she keep?

She looked down the path to over the ledge. To walk or to fly was the question. It wasn’t all that high but high enough to be a long walk and also enough to be a deadly fall if her wings couldn’t keep her aloft. Her wings were so sore and tired. Her legs hurt too but if she fell walking she would not seriously hurt and she could also sit down if she needed which was something she couldn’t do in the air. The purple pegasus stood on the ledge a few more moments, took a deep breath and spread her wings as she focused on the village. Then she sighed letting her wings fall limp and started hobbling down the path as fast as her injured body would allow with her heart throbbing away in her chest. Its pounding hurt.

The sun was already pretty high so it had to be late morning or early afternoon. That meant that she only had about half a day to travel to her goal. If she got to the town after night fall the town would be shut up and everypony in bed. If that happened she would have to either start knocking on doors or just wait in the square until daylight. She didn’t like either option and she tried to double her pace. She still pondered if she lived there. It made her queasy to think that she might be heading for her own home and not even recognize it. It didn't really matter if the if ponies of the town did know her or not though. When they saw her limping in they would surely react and she could deduce from what they said if they did or didn't know her. For all she knew that nasty faced unicorn lived there. She would have been content never to see or remember him again if she wasn’t sure he was the one responsible and hopefully could reverse this.

She couldn't help but keep pondering. Was she blasted out of the sky with magic? Maybe he just hit her with some magic beam to wipe her memory to teach her a lesson or something? Of course if she didn't remember then she really wouldn't learn anything would she? What had she done to him to make him so angry? With a shake of her head she pushed it out of her mind and kept walking. She was apparently not going to remember anytime soon and she not want to exhaust herself mentally along with her body. Hopefully somepony in the town could help her get her memory back. Wouldn’t be so nice if it was her home and full of friends and family to help her instead of her home, family and friends being somewhere far away. Then again it could be home but she was the most hated pony in town. She hoped not. If it was strangers she hoped dearly that they were friendly ponies.

She was making pretty good time down the mountain for her injured condition but she couldn’t help but fear that she was not going to make it in time. Her aching body complained every step but she just kept putting one hoof in front of the other repeating in her mind, "Keep trotting, just keep trotting on."

As she neared the base the ledges got closer together and the slopes less steep. She soon got confident enough to attempter a quicker way. She began jumping off the higher ledge then half skidding, flying down to the one below. It emboldened her to try her wings once near the bottom. She coiled her muscles under her and leapt off the ledge flapping her wings. She instantly found that the strain of staying entirely aloft was too much. Pain shot through them from the tips to the bases, the shock making her stop flapping in midair as she yelped. She managed to catch herself before she hit the ground making it a rough but much softer landing than it could have been. She sat there a moment gritting her teeth until the pain in her wings subsided. She knew she needed a rest and this would do.

She waited for around ten minutes then made herself get up and headed for the town again. From the ground it was hidden from view by the trees but she knew the direction. With it being much closer now she was all the more eager to get there. She started a rush trot and even ended up half flying again with her feet still trotting on the ground. As she drew near where she could hear the voices of the ponies and see glimpses of the town through the branches a shyness and nervousness overcame her. Did she really know any of these ponies or more correctly did any of them know her? What if they didn't? What should she do then? Just walk into the town and announce, "Hey I don't know who I am nor what in... in.." In what? She stomped on the ground. She didn't even know where she was or where or what anyplace was.

She had stopped in her tracks all together and stared at the town through the trees. As much as she wanted help she did not want to walk among strangers, if they were strangers not knowing who she was or anything. She even entertained going back.

"Stop it" She snapped at herself. "You have to be bold... or... or at least not stupid! What are you going to do if you don't go? Try to find another town, find another town with not even knowing the name of the county you’re in and face the same circumstances when and if you get there?" She snorted. "Are you just going to try to live out in the woods? This is your best option! Turning away would be stupid. You may not like it but it's what you've gotta' do." Finished scolding herself the dark purple mare set her jaw in a resolute expression and strode forward. Pretty soon the trees came to an end and she saw the town in full view. Close up the ponies didn't look mean in the least. They were of all sorts, Earth, pegasus and unicorn. The ugly blue-grey unicorn was nowhere in sight. For that she was both relived not to face him and disappointed because she wanted to know just what had happened and to get her cutie mark and memory back if that was even possible.

The ponies didn't notice her walking into town at first as they carried about the business. The mare couldn’t find the voice to announce herself and just kept walking deeper into the town. Slowly one by one heads turned and ponies looked at her. Some looked briefly and some stared but none said a thing to her. A couple took a step or two toward her but stopped, looked on a moment and then turned away. It was that awkward standoffish kind of moment where you have ponies’ sympathies but they are intimated by your circumstance and unsure. They had no idea how you just might react or feel unnerved and it's easier just to try to ignore than get involved.

The mare grew a little angry. She wanted to yell out, “Is your precious little feelings more important than helping somepony?!” She quickly put her anger aside. She had to focus only on what she need to do. She knew she had to ask for help but she was so unnerved at just walking up to a pony she didn't know. So she just kept walking with her head hanging lower. Then the same resoluteness from before swelled up in her. She was being stupid. It was what she had to do and the ponies here didn't look mean. What was the worst they would do, tell her to go away? She started scanning the crowd with her eyes checking the expression and manners of all of them. She told herself that she was just checking for the best pony to approach but she knew that she was only stalling. While one part of her was determined the other was afraid and found excuses.

Another thing that added to the mix was the fact that she realized that she was a little smaller than the average pony. Not by a huge amount but enough that you would notice. She was your basic pegasus pony but just a bit thinner and scaled down slightly. Her legs were too thin for her frame too. They almost looked like sticks compared to other ponies of normal size. Her wings were about the right size but on her small back they looked huge.

Why was she smaller? The mare pondered just to turn her mind more away from the issue at hoof. Maybe she was still a filly and only close to being an adult. She didn't think so though, she didn't feel like a filly. She snorted at herself. Then again how would she know how old she was?

"Do you see that? A blank flank can be that old!" An incredulous and high pitched little voice cried. The mare flinched having forgotten that she had also lost her cutie mark. She wanted to spin around and defend herself by yelling at the little filly that is had been stolen from her. She didn't think it would look too good to the other ponies if she started screeching at some little kidthough.

"Oooo, I bet Apple Boom would love to know how old you can be and still not have a cutie mark." Another equally bratty and somewhat sucking up voice remarked. Whoever Apple Bloom was the purple mare felt sorry for her. She tipped her head slightly and peered at the two fillies but they weren’t looking at her anymore.

"Come on let's go tell her that she can grow up and still not have one." The first filly said and with that the pinkish and gray fillies took off. The mare wanted to glare at the other adults who let these two run around disrespecting any pony in sight and did nothing. The resentment soon faded as her mind slipped back to her predicament. She felt her eyes tearing up but quickly squeezed them shut and shook her head. NO! She was not going to do that. She was going to do what she needed to do. She bit her lip at the thought. Now she felt even worse and wanted to speak to another pony all the less. Well, she thought to herself, if she had done what she needed to do right away it wouldn’t have gotten worse. She raised her head deciding to finally ask the closest pony for help and ended up just letting him walk by. She snorted but didn't waste time scolding herself and just determined to try again. Just as she did a pink mare walked out of a store in front of her. She was pink from head to hoof, mane to tail and sported three balloons as her cutie mark. She was prancing out with such a mouth full of balloons on strings that she was almost lifted clear off the ground. The pink prancing mare stopped and looked straight at her. Taking a deep breath the purple mare started to speak to her but was cut off.

"Oh my gosh!" The pink mare exclaimed letting the balloons loose from her jaws. Almost quicker that the purples mare's eyes could resister she leapt up catching the balloon mass and took off in a pink streak of lightning. The wind made the mane and tail of the pegasus blow straight out as if to jerk her along. Afterwards she stood there shocked and confused as her hair settled back into place. She didn't have time to figure out about how she felt about it for once the pink mare had vanished she revealed another mare that had been standing behind her hidden by the pony and her mass of balloons. This mare was a pegasus, one of a light yellow coat and pink hair that blended beautifully. She might have been with the other pony with having been so close behind her and had a basket of colored streamers hanging out of her mouth.

The two ponies stared at each other a moment. Then tears welled up in the yellow pegasus's eyes. The basket dropped from her mouth and hit the ground as her jaw hung open. "You poor, poor thing!" She gasped and flew forward knocking over the basket and sending streamers scattering all over the ground. She swept the mare up in her forelegs and was flying down the streets with the purple pony's' hooves dangling a few inches over the ground.

"You poor thing! Whatever happened to you?!" She exclaimed as she navigated down the streets.

"I...I don't know." The purple pegasus admitted.

"Well don't you worry I'll have you fixed up. It'll be alright."

The mare just hung limp and dangling above the ground blinking in disbelief. She was the one in a predicament but this yellow mare was more upset about it than she was. Well, at least she had found help.

Comments

[Nox Knock Jokes]

Aww Fluttershy...