Foggy Memories of a Human

by cccvvvttt

The Questions and Tests

Author's Note:

Boom! Chapter 3. I made the mistake of forgetting to read over the last chapter and realized how many mistakes were left. This will not happen with further chapters, and I will go back and read that one again and re-read this one, so hopefully, we have some actually quality here.

(Sorry this one took so long. At least it wasn't as long as chapter two x_x)

I would also like to say that on top of my normal proof reader and me going back to re-read the chapter, I was also using Grammarly premium to make it less rough around the edges

The Questions and Tests

As Caleb followed the purple pony, he looked around the library. It was all so fascinating to him. Sure, he knew what a library was, from what little of his memories he did have, yet despite that, this one felt different from any he'd been in before. Perhaps it was the fact that it was cartoony or the fact that a purple unicorn, of all things, inhabited it. Neither explanation felt right, however. Maybe it was just the simple fact that it gave him a warm feeling. Something cozy inside him made him feel safe being here despite not knowing much about the situation he'd ended up in. It made him smile ever so slightly.

"So... You live here then? It's nice." Caleb commented. Twilight looked back at him, giving a slight nod.

"Yep! The Princess of Equestria allowed me to stay here to study friendship!" She giggles. "I'm her personal protege!"

"Oh, that must be nice." He puts his hands in his pants pockets as he looks onward, eventually getting to a staircase leading downwards to the first floor. As they walk, Caleb sees the newly opened space on the first floor, previously unable to be seen from the top of the staircase. The downstairs was a vast open circular space, bookshelves filled with literature, as expected from a Library, with a table that seemed to be attached to a little tree trunk; on top of the box was a wooden ponyhead.

"Wow..." As they reach the floor, he looks up at the sun painted on the ceiling. "Very nice and cozy." Caleb looks away from the symbol, only for his eyes to catch something else that interests him. A small purple dragon, with green spikes from his head running down to his tail, was casually sweeping the floor, failing to notice the two in his presence. He looked young and was shorter than the already short Twilight. He seemed to be whistling a tune unfamiliar to Caleb as he worked.

"Spike," Twilight said, knocking the dragon out of his thoughts as he turned to look at them with emerald green eyes.

"Hey, Twilight!" His focus shifts to Caleb for a second, "I see that thing we found is awake!" She gave a slight glare to the baby dragon.

"Spike, that's rude. He's a he, not a thing. His name is Caleb, and he is..." She pauses for a moment. "I don't think you ever told me what species you were when I asked in the bedroom." Caleb blinks slowly.

"I didn't? I could have sworn that I did..." He pauses for a moment. "I'm a human. Glad I can still remember that despite most of my other memories being lost right now." He sighs slightly. Twilight gives him a nod, turning back to Spike.

"His name is Caleb. Caleb, the human, and we were going down to the basement to study him a bit. He can't seem to remember much, but that's okay; we'll ask him some questions and see what he can remember." Spike looks back over to the creature and nods at him.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Caleb." He walks up to the human, holding out his hand. "I'm Spike, Twilight's number one and only assistant." As Spike holds his hand out, Caleb can't help but feel a twinge of awkwardness. Perhaps it was because he'd never seen a dragon before, or maybe it was due to just how small this particular one was. Regardless, Caleb lowers himself to Spike's level, shaking his hand, which wraps itself around his entire wrist and hand.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Spike." Twilight once again nods after seeing the interaction. She walks over to the basement and quickly opens the door.

"Alright, Number 1 assistant and Caleb, let's do some tests." Spike glanced back at the broom he left lying on the floor, the sweeping job still undone. He looks back at Twilight with an unsure expression on his face.

"Are you sure you want me down there right now? I haven't even finished my chores yet."

"This is more important, Spike, and I need you to take notes." She starts heading down, with the two following behind. "Afterwards, I'm going to look through my books and see if I can find something that could possibly be related to Caleb, and if not, then I'll send those notes to Princess Celestia and see what she thinks."

"Okay..." Caleb replies, pausing for a moment. "What about finding me a way back to where I came from? I mean... If that's possible."

"Don't worry, I assure you I'll try my best. But I need to find out more information about what you are. I've never seen anything quite like you in Equestria before, and like you said earlier, you've never seen anything like us before, so what if you came from another world or something? You would be proof of life outside this planet!" She lets out a joyful eek before composing herself. "Though it is more likely that you're from somewhere in this world, we just haven't heard about you before."

"Yeah! I'm sure we can find you a way back home!" Spike reassured. Caleb appreciated the moral support from the dragon, yet despite that, he let out a frown he didn't let the others see. Deep inside, he felt that things wouldn't work out so simply. He couldn't explain what it was or why he was feeling it. All he knew was that it was there. It made him nervous, but he pushed it aside momentarily as they finally reached the basement.

---

"Can I get you anything before we start?" Twilight asked Caleb, who sat in one of the various chairs in the room. He was looking around curiously. The basement was a decently opened space, if slightly smaller than the upstairs was, with various lab equipment as well, such as vials with unknown colorful liquids inside them; most of everything else in there he couldn't reasonably determine what they were, except for a metal tray that laid on a table, which had a needle Twilight had prepared earlier. He once again got nervous. He had agreed to let her draw his blood today, but he still couldn't shake his nervousness away from getting the shot and didn't know why.

"Caleb?" The unicorn's voice snapped him out of his thoughts as he turned his attention back to her.

"Huh? Sorry... I was lost in my thoughts." Twilight only gave a slight giggle.

"Oh, I know how that feels, trust me. Do you need anything before we test?" Caleb shakes his head no. She nods, and her horn glows, and as it does, a strap is lifted, a belt connected to one of the machines. "Now then, I would also like to get your blood pressure." She stops for a moment, thinking to herself slightly. "Although I'm not sure if it would work as well doing it for a human as it does for a pony, but we can try!" She walks over to Caleb, who gingerly holds out his arm.

"Alright..." He looks down at his arm, where Twilight wraps the strap around. He grimaces slightly as it tightens around his arm, but it stops tightening before it becomes too much to bear. The attached machine surprisingly reads his pulse without much issue.

"Huh..." Twilight examines the machine, grinning to herself. "It's working, that's good!" She turns her attention to Spike, who is sitting up, waiting for Twilight to give him something to do. "I'm going to start doing tests now. While I do that, I'll also ask questions. Make sure you write down all his responses, okay?" Spike gave a confirming nod, holding up his quill and parchment paper, ready to write down. As Twilight studied the report the heart monitoring machine printed, she asked the first question.

"So, how much do you remember? From where you originally came from, what was it like?" Caleb looked up slightly, pondering the question for a moment before shrugging.

"It wasn't all that special, if I'm honest. Back where I come from, wherever that is, I remember a world not nearly as bright as this one, without any colorful talking ponies and magic, all of which seem to be present in this world." He slightly pauses, Twilight taking the strap off his arm and picking up some scissors. "We humans were the only intelligent creatures as well. All the others had no way of communicating, and we also had to wear clothes in public; it was the law... Not sure how it works here, but considering you aren't-" He couldn't finish as Twilight took the scissors and used them to cut up a tiny piece of Caleb's hair. "Hey!"

Twilight gave him a sheepish look as she carefully placed the hairpiece in a little bag. She gives an apologetic yet at the same time nervous smile. "Sorry, wanted a DNA sample from you besides just blood." He scowls at her slightly but lets out a sigh.

"You coulda asked first. You didn't cut off a lot, but still." He sighs, Twilight ignoring his complaint, and places the bag on the same table with the needle.

"Okay, next question! How do things work over there? Is there an economic system? Do you have schools? Do you read books? Just from the top of your head, list as many things as you can think of that your species does over there."

"Hmmmmm... Okay." Caleb pondered thoughtfully for a moment, trying to remember what he did back where he was from. "We had an economic system as well, yeah. Jobs people could have, we had schools, some were different from others like there was public school, private school, and all that stuff. Um..." He pondered some more, not sure what else to add. "We have technology like cars and stuff."

"Cars? What are cars?" Twilight asked, levitating what seemed to be a small flashlight over to her. She turned it on, intent to shine it in each of his eyes to test if his pupils would dilate, and walked towards him. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she once again forgot to ask the human if he was alright with having a light, but as she saw him tense up, sensing the impending assault on his eyes, she stopped in his tracks, giving an embarrassed smile. "May I?" Caleb nodded, grateful she asked, before answering the first question.

"Well, cars are these machines people drive. It's faster than walking, and I guess you don't have them here?" Twilight shook her head no as she shined the light in one of his eyes. The pupils did dilate. After she did the other one, she nodded.

"Nope, we have carriages and trains to help us get around." She smiles, feeling giddiness in her from learning about Caleb's world. She levitated a parchment over and a quill to make basic notes on the tests she had conducted so far while Spike continued writing down whatever Caleb said.

"We have trains as well, they're pretty... Nifty..." His voice went quiet as he saw Twilight go to the table with the needle. He gulped, once again becoming nervous at the prospect of the needle, which the unicorn noticed, adorning a concerned look.

"Are you sure you want to do this today? Like I said, we can do this some other time if you want." She pauses for a moment. "Hay... We don't even have to do this at all if you don't want to." She starts putting the needle back; she can't help but look disappointed. Caleb shakes his head, holding up his arm.

"No, no, it's better to get this over with... Besides, you were kind enough to save me from death..." He takes a breath in, closing his eyes. "So you can go ahead and do it..." Twilight ponders the choice for the moment and nods.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot..." She chuckles at the pun she unintentionally made. Caleb chuckles as well, though his was far weaker and shaky. As the unicorn approached him, it could easily be told that the human man was getting ansty about it. Twilight stopped, a thought suddenly coming to mind. "So... We usually draw blood from the veins. Since I know very little about you, I should probably ask... Do you have veins?"

"Yeah... Right here..." He points to the spot on his forearm, where his decently sized vein could be seen. Twilight gives a reassuring nod.

"Alright, don't worry, I'll make this quick!" A quiet gasp comes from the human, immediately grabbing the unicorn's attention. Caleb's face was shocked, and it seemed like his mind was elsewhere. "Caleb? Caleb!" Twilight shouted, but the human did not hear her pleas.

---

No! I don't want to! A young voice shouted from inside the hospital room. A little human desperately pushed against his parents while a doctor prepped a butterfly needle for the boy.

Come on, buddy... It's for your own good. The nice doctor has to draw some blood; it won't hurt. The older male, presumably the child's father, reassured. The boy didn't care and continued his efforts to escape the grasp.

Why does she need my blood?! Can't she do something else? The woman, presumably the boy's mother, knelt at his level.

If she could, she would do something else... The voice was pleasant and comforted the child, who lessened his struggles for a moment to listen. I promise it'll be quick... Just a little poke, and then you're done... The small boy considered for a moment. The doctor looked over and gave a warm smile.

Don't worry, I'll make it as quick as I can, and if you're good, I can give you a lollipop. How does that sound? At this point, he completely stopped struggling. He was still clearly nervous at the prospect of getting the needle, but the comforting words of his mother and the promise of the tasty treat seemed to convince him that it was worth it. He looked up to his mother, still scared, and quietly asked.

Can... can you hold my hand...? He asks nervously, which is met with another warm smile from his mother.

Of course you can, sweetie... After a few more moments of silence, the boy nods and walks over to the chair, ready for the procedure.

---

Caleb could hear unintelligible voices as he came back to consciousness. Worry and panic filled his ears as he snapped back to reality.

"Okay, I'm going to shock him back..." He finally heard Twilight mutter, her horn lighting up, unaware Caleb was back. His eyes went wide as he held out his hands defensively.

"Don't shock me!" Twilight yelped in surprise as the magic from her horn shot out, barely missing him and hitting the wall behind the human, who turned to see that it wasn't even powerful enough to leave a mark. "Why did you do that?" He turns back to her.

"You're awake! You just... You were frozen for a bit there. We were worried about you." Caleb rubbed the back of his head slightly. "Are you okay? Do you need a glass of water or anything? If you even drink water, do you?"

"I'm fine... Sorry about that... I was just... somewhere else for a bit." He pauses for a moment. "I think I remembered something from my childhood." Twilight's interest is seen, her eyes lighting up as she smiles.

"That's good! Do humans usually freeze up when they remember something?" Caleb shakes his head no.

"No... That isn't normal... I think it isn't, anyway. Nothing like that's ever happened to me before." He sits back down where he was before as Twilight hums in thought.

"What did you remember exactly?" She looks back at Spike, ensuring he's ready to write down whatever Caleb has to say; Spike gives her a slight nod, assuring her he would.

"I remember a hospital... and I also remember being younger in this memory... I was getting my blood drawn just like I'm about to now... and I was scared... But this older woman was there... She comforted me, stopping me from getting out of there... and eventually, I settled down long enough to actually get the shot..." He pauses for a brief moment. "I think that was my mother... and I think my father was there too... But their faces... I couldn't make them out... it was like my mind couldn't remember them..." He tries to think about their looks and desperately tries to remember their faces, but the images just aren't coming to him. "It still can't, I guess..."

Twilight frowns at this, feeling sympathetic for the human. She wanted to help him, and she was sure as heck going to try to do so. "I'm sorry you can't remember them... I want to help you. Help you return to where you're from and regain your memories... I promise, Caleb, I'll do anything I can." Caleb smiles, grateful for the unicorn's help, but the smile fads.

"Why are you helping me so much, though?" He asks. "I mean, we've known each other for less than a day, and you're willing to help me get back to where I'm from and get my memories back? Is it just cause I'm a different species you haven't seen before, or is it something else?" Twilight smiles at him.

"No, because it's the right thing to do, of course! And because we're friends!"

"We are?"

"Yep!" She trots over to him. "Just because we don't know each other too well doesn't mean we aren't. I'm still learning about friendship myself, and I would like to offer you mine." Caleb, for a moment, only stared at the pony. Her words seemed genuine. Something about her radiated as someone, or in this case, somepony, he could trust.

"Thank you, Twilight..." She nods.

"No problem!"

"... You still want to draw blood from me, don't you?"

"Naturally!" Caleb sighed, already accepting getting his blood drawn, but he was still clearly nervous about it before a thought popped into his head.

"Can you give me something to hold? I remember holding my mom's hand, so maybe it would help..." Spike looked up from the parchment.

"Huh... You must really be afraid of needles if you need to hold something." He giggles slightly, Twilight looking back at the dragon, giving him a slight glare, making him regret his little comment. "Uh, but that's okay! Everyone is afraid of something!"

"It's okay... I would really like something if that's okay." Twilight looks around the room, her eyes catching an old storage box she forgot she had down here. She opens it up, finding an old doll she once had as a foal. Ms. Smarty Pants. She levitates the toy over to Caleb, who grabs it gingerly.

"Here we go..." He whispers to himself, holding out his arm for the unicorn as she cleans the spot she intends to stick the needle into. He closes his eyes as the process begins.

"Annnnnnnd done!" Twilight announces a few moments later. Caleb re-opens his eyes. During the process, he had to control his breathing and think about something else while Twilight did what she had to do, but it was finally over. The unicorn notices the look on the man's face as she levitates the blood packets she had, which were now filled under what seemed to be a cooler part of the room to study later.

"That wasn't so bad..." The human said more so to himself before a thought occurred to him. "I have a question..." Twilight looks over at Caleb. "I've been telling you some stuff about my home and whatnot, but I would like to see yours. Outside the library, I mean."

"You would?" Twilight pondered for a moment; She did get some test-worthy material from him and some information that may help her find out where Caleb could have come from. Besides, she would have plenty of time to do more research in the future. "Hmmmmm... Okay, we can take a break, and I can show you around ponyville. We should go to Sugar Cube Corner first; Pinkie is hosting one of her famous parties there!"

"Isn't that in ten minutes?" Twilight froze at Spike's question as she quickly turned to the clock. Pinkies party was at 2 o'clock, and it is currently 1:50

"Oh, horse apples! I lost track of time! My whole schedule for today has been thrown off!" The unicorn starts hyperventilating slightly; Caleb is about to get up and walk over to her but is quickly stopped when Twilight levitates him and Spike as she runs out of the basement. "We gotta leave now if we want to make it there in time!"

"Woah! Okay, floating. This feels weird." Caleb commented to a nonlistening Twilight as they reached the front door. She looks back at the human, safely placing him and Spike on the ground. Caleb was still wearing the clothes he had when he arrived, as he didn't have a chance to change or anything yet.

"Ack! Your clothes are a mess!" Twilight remarks, his shirt and pants still dirty and the back of his shirt still stained with a bit of blood from the head injury that most likely caused his amnesia in the first place.

"I don't have anything else to wear, though." Twilight groaned, stressing out about it more than she probably should've.

"Okay, okay... That's fine, let's go." She opens the front door and looks at the two to follow.

"Wait, can I grab a snack real quick?"

"There'll be plenty at the party!" Twilight drags the two out with her magic and closes the door. "Come on!" She runs, and without much of another choice, Caleb follows along with Spike. Though as he does, that feeling he felt earlier came back. Something of wrongness, besides the fact he was in a town filled with talking ponies and Twilight's shift to seemingly having a mental breakdown over being late to a party, he felt it was something else. Once again, he could only push that feeling away as he continued. Though he failed to see from a distance, a dark figure was watching him from a distance until it, for the moment, faded away.

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I may have taken a break but I'm back and I do plan on finishing this story