Tabula Rasa

by Rose Quill

The Finding of a Name

Twilight let out a slightly frustrated breath as she rotated the bangles under the mage-light, viewing them from every conceivable angle.
"There's something written here," she groused, releasing her telekinetic hold on the piece of jewelry. "But I can't make it out. It's worn down from age and use.”

Rarity took the delicate bracelet up in her cornflower aura and inspected it slowly. "This is a marvelous piece," she declared. "I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be an heirloom of some sort." She indicated a pair of markings on the inner surface. "These are the marks of Proudhoof, a rather gifted silversmith from fifty years ago. Few of his works ever leave family possession."

"Is there a way to cross-reference his sales to families?" the alicorn perked up.

"Sadly, no," the fashionista replied. "I tried to acquire some of his works myself, but it seems he only did something of this sort for friends and family. His normal craft was in cutlery and other dining ware."

Twilight shut her eyes, rubbing her temples. "So in other words," she sighed. "These provide interesting, but useless information."

"I wouldn't say that, darling," Rarity drawled, carefully fitting the broken ends together and starting to mend them. "I'm sure that our dear friend would love to know that we recovered her missing effects. Maybe they will even help with her recovery."

"On that front," Starlight said as she entered the study. "I just checked in on her, and the doctors have a basic diagnosis. They say she's suffering from mild dehydration and a moderate concussion, in addition to the broken wing and some bruised ribs. She's still catatonic, though, and I may know why. The burns on her flanks are mantic in origin. Somepony forcibly removed her cutie mark." She glanced down as a wash of guilt crossed her features.

"Could whatever spell was cast have caused her to lose consciousness?" Twilight asked. "From what Fluttershy and I gathered, she fell nearly vertically from a height of three or four hundred yards. I can't picture her doing that willingly."

"Unless she wanted to... end things," Starlight whispered. "I know it's not a pleasant thought, but it could be a possibility."

"I won't consider that until we have more information," Twilight said, shuddering at the image of the Pegasus mare hovering, and then folding her wings willingly. "In the meantime, we should really come up with something to call her until her memory returns. We can't keep calling her 'The Mare', after all."

Rarity tilted her head in thought as she set the last bangle down, the silver bracelet gleaming dully. "What should it be, though?" she asked. "We know nothing of her, other than she has a rather interesting coloration."

"I'm drawing a blank too," Starlight said. After a moment, she grinned sheepishly. "After all, I did name the village I started 'Our Town'."

Twilight pondered for a moment. It seemed like every time they had some sort of information to help the mare, they wound up wiping the slate clean again.

"Blank Slate," she whispered, a little louder than she thought.

"Seems a little ignominious, don't you think?" Rarity said. "After all, just calling her name would remind her of what she lost."

"Tabula Rasa," Starlight said. "Old Equish for basically the same thing. At least that way, it doesn't immediately remind her."

"Unless one of the other girls has a better idea, I think that will work," Twilight said. "I'm going to go check up on her, see if I can at least bring her out of this comatose state."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Rarity asked.

"Remember how we helped Princess Luna stop the Tantabus?" the alicorn said, stepping out onto the balcony and spreading her wings.

"I'd say she might be willing to lend a hoof

Comments

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Twilight let out a slightly frustrated breath as she rotated the bangles under the mage-light, viewing them from every conceivable angle. "There's something written here," she groused, releasing her telekinetic hold on the piece of jewelry. "But I can't make it out. It's worn down from age and use.”

A space required after the first sentence.

Well, at least from Starlight we know the theory was correct.

"I'd say she might be willing to lend a hoof

There's a period and " missing at the end of the sentence.

Ngl, I'm liking the name Twilight choose over Starlight. Even if it might cause a little bit of trouble later.