Scotch Muffin

by TheFoxern

2: Cookie

“What...what are you?” Scotch said, walking slowly around him. He was odd to look at, but he wasn't scary. Not scary at all. Perhaps under other circumstances he would have been terrifying, but that expression he had, made that very difficult. It was one of simple bliss. As one with no problems, no cares, no worries. And probably no thoughts more than, 'what's this?'

But it shifted into one of confusion. “What do you mean? Aren't I a pony? Like you?”

She shook her head, stopping front of him. Now he had a look of concern. “No...you're not a pony...what's your name?” His expression slowly went blank. “Your name?” she prompted again. “What you call yourself?”

He blinked. “I don't know. I've...never needed to have something to call myself. You're the first pony I've met...” He paused. “Are you sure I'm not a pony?” His tone was almost pleading.

“Uhm...” She hesitated, those large eyes seemed so puppy like. It was a little disturbing. “Maybe...” she said after calculating other answers. “The world is big...you might be a pony from somewhere that...” She paused and then waved a hoof in the air. “I have no idea.”

However, he brightened up at this. “So I could be a pony?” She nodded slowly. She had to admit that it was possible. She had never seen something like him and for all she knew he was a pony. “Good. I was worried I wasn't...then I wouldn't know what I was...”

“So, you know you're a pony...but you don't know what your name is?” Something was really odd about him, besides how he looked. She almost felt safe around him.

“I don't know...I don't remember ever having a name...” He looked up at the sky; the sun was going down. “It's getting dark...”

“Uhm...” She looked back the way she was heading and turned back to see him only a few hooves away from her. She back peddled away quickly, trying to keep herself from running. But he wasn't looking at her, he was looking behind him, the way she had come.

“It isn't safe in the dark...the dark is bad.” He sounded so much like a child, but he looked full grown.

“Amnesia...” she said slowly.

“What?” He looked back at her. “What's a nezia and why am you one?”

She stared at him and then blinked. “No, amnesia. It's something I read about...it...” She was about to explain, but then remembered her audience. “It means not being able to remember things...”

“So I am a...nezia?” he said, his brow wrinkling slightly as he tried to figure it out.

“No no, I think you have amnesia. Because you can't remember things.” It was like talking to some of the ponies in class, she had to try so hard to explain words to them.

“I have amnesia,” he said slowly and then nodded. “Alright...so I have amnesia because I can't remember anything...like my name.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yes. Exactly.”

“Do I need a name?” he said, looking at her and then looked around.

She paused, that was a good question. Does one need a name? Then she nodded slowly. “Yes...I think that you do.”

He thought a moment, staring into nothingness. After a minute of this, she was about to speak before he said, “Cookie.”

Silence for another moment. “What?”

“My name. I want it to be Cookie.” He smiled at her, almost grinning. Those teeth were sharp.

“You...” She tried not to look at his teeth. “You want your name to be Cookie?” she said and he nodded vigorously. “Alright...I suppose that's not a bad name...” Then a thought crossed her mind, “Where did you hear that word?”

“I...” He paused, again he looked like there was a lot of thought going on. “I... Remember somepony saying...I want a cookie...” He smiled a bit. “And I would like to be wanted.”

That caused her to pause and stare at him. That made sense she supposed, though it was an oddly cute thing to say. “Alright, Cookie...is...there anywhere around that we could go that wont be dark?”

“Yes,” he said, smiling.

She waited, looking at him. Then she realized. “Can we go there now, please? I don't want to be out here in the dark.”

“Yes.” This time when he said it, he started to trot in the direction that Scotch had been going. And as they went, she noticed that he seemed to trot oddly, in a sort of happy, slow way.

It didn't take them long before Scotch saw where they were going. It was a large building. A large, old, stone building, which looked to be crumbling down. She recognized it as soon as she saw it, from old books in the library. “That's...the old palace...”

“Palace?” Cookie looked back at her, slowing his pace slightly. He looked at it. “What's a palace?”

“It's a...large building of importance.” She decided that that was a good an explanation as any. “It's where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to live...though it's been abandoned for a very, very long time...”

“Why was it abandoned?” he said, staring from her, up to it.

“I...don't know. The book didn't say.” And it hadn't. It merely said that it was abandoned by Celestia after Luna's banishment. It never went into details as to why, but ponies guess that it had something to do with whatever caused the Everfree Forest. She paused. “You know what abandoned means?”

He blinked, and then nodded. “Yes...it means everypony left.”

That was odd. He had an odd memory. Obviously he had been decently educated and he understood more than he didn't. “Amnesia is weird...” she said, looking at the castle. It was truly rundown, but...there was one window that poured out light. “What's that light?”

“Candles,” he said, as they reached the stairs and he took them carefully. Scotch found out why, when one of them gave out on her and fell away. It fell a long way and ended with a splash. She gulped and Cookie picked her up. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah...just...need to be more careful is all...I...didn't expect there to be something like that...” She had been too busy looking up to look at what the stairs were going over. Which was a sort of moat.

“Yeah things fall all the time...sometimes on me...” he said, frowning slightly.

A thought occurred to her. “Maybe that caused your amnesia!” She smiled a bit. “Have you been hit in the head?”

“The head?” he replied, and looked thoughtful a moment. “I...don't remember getting hit in the head...”

“Ah, well...” She nodded knowingly. “You wouldn't, it would have been gone too...did you wake up in the palace with no memory?”

He shook his head slowly. “No...” She frowned slightly and he looked panicked. “Is that wrong? Am I supposed to have woken up here?”

She sighed softly and shrugged. “I don't know...it would have made sense...what's the first thing you can remember, that-” She froze as they entered the main hall. It was huge, large pillars lined the room, many of which had collapsed, and the roof had caved in in many places where they had.

“First thing I can remember?” he said slowly, staring blankly again. “Flying through the air...I...I hurt all over and then I crashed through there,” He pointed his hoof to part of the ceiling that looked like it had fallen recently, “And I...went to sleep.”

It took a few minutes before she managed to pull her gaze away from the impressive nature of this place. “And...that's the first thing you remember? Falling and being in pain?”

He nodded sadly, looking at the ground. “Sorry...it's probably not helpful.”

She shook her head. “No no, Cookie, you can't help when you get amnesia. It just happens.” She smiled a bit. “Now...” It was really starting to get dark. “Where are those candles?”

Suddenly Cookie brightened up. “This way,” he said and started to trot down a hallway. Scotch had to almost run to keep up with him. Her short legs could only move so fast. “Through here.” He pushed open a door and warmth spilled into the hallway.

Inside, it was warm. Nice. Cozy. There was nothing in the room, but a table and a few chairs. And hundreds of lit candles. Hundreds. They covered almost ever available surface. They were even stuck on the walls with melted wax. There was also wax everywhere, the floor was covered in it. “Wow...” It was an impressive sight.

He trotted through the candles and went under the table. Which had no candles under it and the only bit of floor that one could actually see. “I like being under here,” Cookie said, smiling at her.

Scotch picked her way slowly through the room, trying not to be burned by the candles. “Why did you light so many of them?” she said, staring around.

“Light them?” he said, tilting his head to the side. “I didn't light them...I was just wandering around and saw the light from the window.”

“So you just...came in?” she said, moving under the table with him. It was comfortable here and when she sat down, she realized how tired she was.

“Should I not have?” he said, slightly panicked again. “I...I haven't seen any other pony around...but somepony replaces the candles when I leave sometimes, cus sometimes they go out, but then new candles are there the next time I look.”

She moved closer to him, looking around the room. It was bright, but not blindingly so and the candles gave off a lot of heat. It was pleasant. Comfortable. “No...it's fine that you came in. It...feels safe.”

He smiled and nodded. “Yes. I like it a lot.” She yawned, nodding. “Are you tired?” he asks, laying down and smiling slightly.

“Yeah...I've...been walking all day,” she said, looking at him. He had his eyes closed and that blissful expression again. The floor was cold and she moved closer to him. She placed her hoof against him, he was surprisingly warm. Warmer than the room. “You're very warm...”

His eyes opened, and he looked at her. “I am?” He looked down at himself and placed a hoof to his side. He frowned. “I can't tell...”

She leaned against him, yawning again. “I'm so sleepy...” she said, breathing deeply. It was such a nice place.