Book 1 - Prisoner and Savior

by Midnight_Lights

Chapter III - Memories

Riinnnng!

Twilight Sparkle awoke with a start upon hearing the loud and long bell noise meant to serve as an alarm clock. Today was a good day, better than any she could remember at least. Why? She knew her name, Twilight Sparkle. She liked her name, better than just knowing that she was a pony.

Like all of the other days, the creatures sat up and stood at their beds, ready to go. Most shared a bunk-bed with another creature, including Twilight, who was paired with a blue biped.

Once everyone was up and ready, the creatures began to move into the hallway where they met with other groups. As they did this, Twilight subconsciously took notice of how she felt. Since she had just woken up, Twilight felt tired and drowsy, but her mind was clear enough to perform basic functions. It was like she was waiting for some oh my Celestia! moment when she remembered something urgent to make her "jump out of bed."

Celestia... Twilight realized that it wasn't a normal word in her mental dictionary.

Following the usual routine, Twilight's group arrived at the entrance to the cafeteria. However, this time Twilight paid attention to her surroundings, despite the tiredness and lack of focus. Noting unusual here, besides the other creatures and- what in Equestria is that?! Twilight spotted the slime-blob monster she saw yesterday, only now she could tell how strange it was.

Then, Twilight spotted the two guards, and instinctively flattened her face. She wasn't sure if they were friends or foes, but she thought it would be safer to pretend that she wasn't freaking out. Appearing lifeless wasn't hard when she was already tired. Twilight just had to give in to the feeling of hopelessness, which seemed to trail behind her every thought.

Twilight moved past the guards with no trouble and was able to sit down to eat without giving herself away. With little time on her hooves, Twilight forced herself to remember. Though she was much more alert, she still struggled to comprehend the world around her.

Twilight tried her best to sort out her mind, and figure out what to do.

Okay, I'm in a strange place with few memories. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm an alicorn (whatever that means) and I rule Equestria (wherever that is).

It wasn't much to go off of, but Twilight had learned that, with effort, she could remember more. Twilight decided to puzzle out the new memories that had surfaced earlier.

I used "Celestia" before- and that's not a normal word. Maybe a name? But the name of what? A place, and item, a pony?

The last idea caught her attention. Twilight decided that "Celestia" must be the name of a pony, not just any creature in Equestria.

Alright... Celestia's probably the name of a pony, which also tells me that there are other creatures in Equestria.

Next step: who is Celestia?

Twilight repeated the name in her head several times, trying to come up with an image to go along with it, but nothing surfaced. Losing hope, she took a slow bite of her food.

Ew!

The food was disgusting!

Even Pinkie would hate this! It's worse than the "pudding" from Captain Celaeno's ship!

With that, Twilight had two more names to think about. She forced herself to continue eating as she tried to come up with faces for these two as well. Luckily, the name "Pinkie" gave her an idea. She remembered that most ponies' names reflected them in some way, so maybe she could use their names to help.

So Celestia... sounds like celestial, which has to do with the sky. Is Celestia a pony in the sky?

Twilight dismissed that idea, it seemed too weird.

Celestia, celestial... sky... stars... moon... sun- Sun? Sun!

Twilight had it. Celestia wasn't a pony in the sky, she controlled the sky! Or part of it at least. Celestia was in charge of the Sun.

The only problem was, Twilight wasn't sure how she controlled the Sun. However, she dismissed it for now- she wasn't even sure if her ideas were true, or if her memory lied to her. Something seemed off about Celestia and the Sun, and she still didn't know what Celestia looked like.

Taking another terrible bite of her food, Twilight pondered the other names that came up.

Pinkie... Pie. A pony, probably pink. Maybe she bakes pies?

Twilight pictured a pink version of herself in her mind and called it: Pinkie Pie. It wasn't accurate, but it was the best she could do.

Hmm... she'll have a cutie mark too, maybe a pie?

Twilight put an image of a pie on "Pinkie's" flank, replacing her own.

Cutie marks! I remember those!

Six images flashed through Twilight's mind as she remembered what cutie marks were.

Balloons, apples, diamonds, a lightning bolt, butterflies, and a star. Her star. Twilight wasn't sure about the other symbols, but she knew that the star belonged to her.

But what does it mean? All cutie marks mean something, don't they?

Twilight focused on the image of her cutie mark, trying to connect it to her title. She thought that the main star represented her since she was a ruler and that the smaller ones represented her subjects, but something wasn't right.

They all represent something more... I just need to find a connection...

Then, something in her tired mind clicked. If someone was looking at her during this moment, they would see a spark light up in her eyes. She remembered!

The Pillars planted a seed, that seed became the Tree of Harmony, which has my cutie mark, and some other marks as well. The Tree of Harmony has, no, had? Had the Elements of Harmony, one of which was mine. Magic! The magic of friendship!

Most of the information was vague- Twilight didn't know what the Pillars or the Tree of Harmony were, but hey, she had remembered something. Twilight now knew that she had represented the Element of Magic, which is shown by her cutie mark. And, she knew that she had magic.

Magic! Oh, how could I have forgotten something so important?

Disorderly memories flooded over Twilight. Her friends, family, and her life became clearer, but something about the memories wasn't right. Twilight felt like she was looking at somepony else's life, but she was still missing details. Twilight knew that she had 7 best friends, and she knew their names know. However, like Pinkie Pie, she could not recall much else about them, including their faces. Twilight thought that she could remember more if she tried, but her mind was even more tired after that long thinking spell.

Then, the alarm sounded, breaking Twilight's train of thought. It indicated that it was time to work. Twilight shoved the rest of the slop into her mouth and focused on acting lifeless again. Thinking could wait for now.

. . .

Twilight soon realized that thinking simply couldn't wait. Questions pestered her mind as she worked- with the rediscovery of magic, she kept having to force herself not to use the levitation spell that most unicorns knew by instinct.

Twilight tried to remember any other spells she might know, but she had forgotten how to cast most of them. She also realized that there might be something here to stop her from remembering and, by extension, thinking.

Argh! I'm so stupid! Why didn't I realize that I'm not just sleep-deprived! Twilight thought, while she almost violently moved a rock across the field. This caught the attention of a guard, who noted her behavior down.

Once Twilight finished with that rock, she went back to her thoughts on how she had been feeling recently.

I'm not just tired. Memory loss like this isn't normal! I have to figure out what they've done to me, and quickly! Any creature could notice that I'm not mindless anymore!

Twilight guessed that the creatures who had captured her must have been using some sort of magic, like a spell or potion. She suspected it could be the food, but there were other moments when they would be able to use magic without her knowing. Maybe when she was sleeping- or maybe they inserted something inside her. Maybe it was the collar- or maybe they had discovered a new form of magic that Twilight didn't know about.

Knowing this, Twilight decided that she would now keep herself aware of any opportunity that the creatures had to remove her memories and make her sleepy. She was not going to let them do this to her again!

Comments

[StarzGecko]

I think I notice it but did u replace the weird squid aliens from that old story with just humans? Nothing wrong just wondering

[efug25g]

I can't wait to see Twilight Sparkle fighting back aggressively against her captors, just like Alice in Resident Evil Apocalypse.

[Midnight_Lights]

10012166
Which weird squid aliens?

[StarzGecko]

10013710

In that original story that your story was based on I think the villains where some weird squid.

[Midnight_Lights]

10013766
Oh right, I decided to make new aliens, but some are similar to the ones in the other story. Villains will be similar, but not squid-like.

[Arzoo]

10013766
I believe they were based off of Illithids.