Shadows

by Dusty

Chapter 2: Welcome to Ponyville

Twilight and Fluttershy worked quickly trying to gather to the necessary amount of mushrooms, not wanting to spend another second in the dark forest. The mushrooms didn't grow near the edge of the Everfree forest, so the duo had to delve a little deeper into the maze of trees. With every step into the forest, the air seemed to get colder. Fluttershy could barely move an inch in the dark forest, so Twilight did most of the gathering.

"Should this be enough?" Twilight asked, holding up five of the Goaway Mushrooms.

"Oh yes, that should be enough for a while." Fluttershy said, almost whispering. The pony was shaking from the cold, and the fear.

"Good, let's got ahead and leave then." Twilight said as she started leaving the forest.

Fluttershy stood still, her eyes wide, staring off into the forest.

"Come on Fluttershy, let's go. The sooner we get out of this forest the better."

"Twilight..." Fluttershy whispered as she lowered her head to the ground.

Twilight turned and saw a white unicorn leaning against a tree, he wasn't moving, and his eyes were closed.

"Oh no." Twilight said, her adrenaline started pumping, her mind raced with ideas expecting the worst.

Fluttershy followed behind Twilight, her caring side overpowered the fear that she felt. "Oh Twilight is he OK?" Fluttershy asked, approaching the unicorn.

Twilight lowered herself to the ground and examined the unicorn. She closed her eyes and her horn began glowing a mystical purple, as did the white unicorns body. "He's breathing, barely. He needs help though, and now." She said levitating the body into the air.

"My cottage is the closest place to here, let's hurry." Fluttershy said before galloping off with Twilight following behind.

~

It was many days until the unicorn awoke. He shot up out of his slumber in a sweat, breathing heavily. The sudden jerk sent signals of pain rushing all over his body as it protested to the sudden movement. He felt stiff, like his body couldn't move. He slowly laid his head back down on the pillow and clenched his teeth to avoid grunting in pain. He slowly began working his body up to moving capability through small movements and stretches, but before he could get up, Fluttershy entered the room.

"Oh, you're awake! How wonderful!" The pegasus said, trotting over to the bed.

The unicorn looked at her with nervous and frightened look.

"It's OK, there's nothing to be afraid of. Me and my friend found you out in the Everfree Forest. We thought you were..." Fluttershy's sentence trailed off as she looked at the ground not wanting to even think of a pony encountering such a fate.

The unicorn felt a little at ease after hearing the soft soothing voice assure him of his safety. He visibly relaxed, and his face turned to simply a puzzled look.

"This is my cottage, you're in Ponyville now."

The unicorn looked at her still with a perplexed look.

Fluttershy tried to smile, but it came off as awkward, "So, what is your name?"

The unicorn looked down at the sheets, going through his thoughts.

"I... Don't know." The unicorn said suddenly feeling fear wash over him.

Fluttershy was the one wearing a look of confusion now, "Oh dear, I think this is a job for Twilight. Uhm, stay in bed, please. I'll be right back." And with that Fluttershy galloped out of the room, and out of sight.

The unicorn continued looking down, trying to retrace his steps. He remembered waking up in a room. The floor was marble, and the walls were stone. He awoke on a throne that was seemingly made of diamond. Upon it was several engravings of the sun and moon. The same symbols decorated the wall. In front of the throne was a red door with golden trim. Upon it was a picture of a black pony facing a white pony. None of it made sense to the unicorn. He remembered the door having no handle, but he could push it open. There was a winding staircase which led to the abandoned castle he was in. He remembered walking away from it, and then collapsing.

'But what happened before that... Why was I in that room?' the unicorn asked himself. He tried to trace his memories back further, to no avail. It was all blank, like it never happened. He couldn't remember who he was, what happened to him, or anything. The only clue he had was a mark on his flank. It was a picture of the sun.

He looked over and on a desk beside the bed was a few apples and a glass of water. The unicorn's stomach then began to growl wildly, reminding him that he hadn't ate in who knows how long. He leaned over and got an apple with his mouth and started eating it slowly. The fruit tasted great to him, and his stomach thanked him for it. He began eating quicker until all the apples were gone. He tried to get a drink of water by biting the glass with his teeth and tilting the glass up, but to no avail. He sat the glass back down and with a sigh, laid his head back down. He still felt a tad drowsy, and getting some sleep he actually expected seemed like a good idea as well.

~

"And he doesn't remember anything at all?" Twilight asked as she entered Fluttershy's house.

"Oh, I'm afraid so Twilight, and I just had no idea what to do, and I felt awful."

"It's OK Fluttershy, I'm sure there's a spell we can find that will solve this problem."

The two ascended the stairs to a now sleeping unicorn. As the two arrived though, one of his eyes slowly opened. After he realized there were new arrivals he raised his head up.

"Oh, sorry to disturb your nap." Twilight said.

The unicorn shook his head.

"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my friend Fluttershy."

"Hello." The pegasus pony said, sheepishly.

"And from what I understand, you seem to have a memory problem?"

The unicorn dropped his gaze to the ground.

"Not to worry though, there should be a spell in this book that should solve that problem." Twilight said as she levitated a book out of her saddlebag.

The unicorn looked shocked, he then noticed that this pony had a horn like he did, and she was levitating a book in thin air

Twilight caught on to his surprised look, "Don't tell me you forgot how to use your magic too."

The unicorn only continued to stare at the ground.

"This is much worse then I thought..." Twilight began flipping through the pages of the book rapidly as she approached the unicorn.

"For this to work, you're going to have to trust me, and open your mind to me. Can you do that?" She asked.

The unicorn looked concerned for a bit, but nodded; anything to get his memories back.

As Twilight's horn began to glow, so did the white unicorn. Twilight closed her eyes and began to focus, attempting to bring memories to the surface. The white unicorn also closed his eyes, trying not to hold anything back, or push Twilight out. Twilight's brow furrowed, she was obviously upset about something.

"There's something...Blocking me. Something that doesn't want me to bring these memories out."

She let out a small grunt and tried her best to force through the block. The glowing intensified for a second but then a loud crack was heard and Twilight was thrown back as the white unicorn let out a grunt of pain.

"A-anything?" Twilight asked, rubbing her head.

The white unicorn began to slowly open his eyes, "M-my name, is... Lucent."

Comments

[Fantasy Mane]

Really? I had just named one of the characters in my own fanfic "Lucent" then I read this....
Now i feel obliged to change it...