Wander.

by Sire Derpington

Planless in Ponyville

I awoke to the sounds of daily farm life, I had slept in and the entire farm didn’t wait for me. Sunlight illuminated the room and was shining directly on me from the window. It was a good feeling, I felt relaxed after a long day yesterday, and I tried to think if I had any dreams but I was drawing a blank just like most things. The room I was in was cozy as ever, it made me not want to leave my bed. As lazy as I felt, I was still eager to see Ponyville. Granny Smith described it as a quaint lovely town that everypony loved. She said the Ponies were nice and that she had an apple stand at the market there.
I got up out of the haven of comfort that I so dearly didn’t want to leave. I went downstairs to find a bright-green saddle bag and a letter left for me. The letter was from Granny Smith; her handwriting was just as nice as her in the flesh. The letter read “Dear Wander, Sorry I couldn’t see you off; the farm couldn’t wait while you slept in. I’ve left some food for in that there saddlebag, it should last you a good while. You stay good and well, don’t forget about Sweet Apple Acres when you find your family. Yours truly, Granny Smith.” It was sweet of her to leave me all these goods, I hadn’t planned anything and I sure didn’t think about my own health. The saddle bag was a bright green color and had an apple stitched on it. I quickly deduced the mystery of how to put saddlebags on. It was a nice fit and not too extremely heavy on my frail young body.
I left the farm that morning with my head up and my expectations high. I followed a dirt path that was said to lead to Ponyville. To the right of me were still many miles of apple trees and to the left were many fields of assorted vegetables. The day wasn’t as perfect as yesterday was but it was still an alright day none the less. A few clouds hung in the sky, but I must’ve slept in late that day because the sky told me it was 12 o’ clock. I trotted peacefully down the path; the birds were chirping a happy tune to me. The farm was on the outskirts of Ponyville and was only a good mile away from it. Bees buzzed in the around me and I could hear the quick running of the river in the distance.
Even though I wasn’t the strongest pony alive, I felt like I could walk the entire world. Over time the orchard and fields turned to houses and shops. The sounds of insects and animals turned to the sound of talking and laughter. I was finally there at Ponyville. It was so much more active than the farm, it seemed like there were ponies everywhere, and this was only a small town! The buildings stretched far above my head and had to be at least 5 ponies tall. It was lively and all, but so far nothing had seemed to help my memory problem. Nothing here seemed familiar despite how welcoming it looked. I scanned everything I could hoping at least one memory would reappear but nothing would happen. I didn’t have a backup plan, so I didn’t know what to do. I just assumed coming to Ponyville would fix everything. Not knowing what to do, I plopped down on one of the many benches Ponyville offered. On the bench next to me there was a brown Stallion. He didn’t look very friendly, but I was lonely and needed advice, so I asked him “What do you do when you’ve lost something, Mister?” He looked up from his newspaper at me “Depends on what I’m missing, if I’m missing something like my hat, I ask around if anypony has seen it. If I’m missing something like my dog, I’ll put up signs around asking if ponies recognize him and if they find him they’d return it.” He looked back at his paper and continued to read.
He was right; I should ask around to see if Anypony recalls seeing me around here. Maybe before i wandered off and bumped my head in Sweet Apple Acres and that’s how I lost my memory. I asked everypony I could see, It didn’t matter who you were or what you were doing I was going to ask you. None of them seemed to recall ever seeing me before. Getting desperate, I headed to the local town library. It was strange for a library, because it was inside of a tree. It was a giant old oak tree hollowed out to make a library. There were many decks hanging off of the tree and windows too. Inside of it was a lot less strange, it was my first time I could remember seeing a library and it was no different from how I imagined it. Selves were cut from the tree and had books of all ages and colors on them. Lanterns hung from the ceiling and lit the room.
A middle aged pony was tending to the books; she hardly seemed like a nice lady. She had a brown coat and a black mane with spots of gray on it. She was carrying a duster and dusting old books from the selves. “Hello there, what can I do for you? Need help finding a book or maybe something else I can do?” She seemed to have a hidden hint of dread in her voice like she only got paid to be nice to customers but could care less about them. “Yeah, I’m looking for a book about memory or something among the lines of that.” I wasn’t sure if I could read but I was sure it would come back to me in a second similar to how walking came back quickly. The librarian scoffed and pointed towards a shelve near the door. It was a rude gesture but I didn’t want to start any trouble, I just wanted answers.
The shelve I was lead to had all sorts of books on psychology, I didn’t know any of the field, but I was eager to learn. I scanned through the assorted titles until I came upon one titled “Amnesia, and other phenomena of the mind” It was the only title about Memories I could find, but it would have to do. The cover was a darkish brown color and had the title printed on black text. I assumed that in libraries that you could just take books for free, I didn’t know any better, After all the librarian cared so much she didn’t even try to stop me. With my new found book, I went to another bench near a fountain to read.
The fountain seemed to be in the center of town and had a stone pony atop it. This was the center of the town, where all the ponies did their shopping and worked. I started to read, but to my dismay, I realized that I could hardly read anything out of it. I could indeed read it, But it used so many words out of my vocabulary I couldn’t understand a single word besides the title and author’s name. I let out a sigh and put the book in my saddle bag. I spent most of the day trying to regain what was lost, but it seemed like I got more lost in the end. The sun was setting and now was a tiny slice of what it was earlier. The orange glow the sun set off didn’t help my situation, but it made me feel better. I sat and watched until the moon overcame the sun once again.
Now it was dark and cold, the once lively village was now all indoors. I didn’t know anypony here, so I didn’t have a place to stay either. I was stuck outside in the cold out on a bench. I tried to make the most out of the un-comfortable metal frame of the bench but it felt like I was sleeping on a rock. Lights from windows gave the night a much needed light, but soon were turned off as the Ponies owning them went to sleep. So, There I was without a family, home or any memory for that matter. Sleep eventually overcame my weary body.
I didn’t know how long I slept for until I was awoken by the sounds of another pony. Somepony was stealing from my saddle bag! I quickly kicked and grabbed the thief’s mane with my mouth. “ACCCK!” She screamed. “I just wanted to see if you had any food, then I saw that you had a muffin. I’m sorry! I just really love muffins and I’m really hungry and Nopony will give me food! Please don’t hurt me!” I let go of her mane. I was conflicted, She could be just as homeless maybe she even needed it more, or she could’ve been just a no good lying thief. I decided to go with my gut and let her keep the muffin. “I won’t hurt you; you can have the muffin, Sorry about grabbing your mane. I just didn’t-“ I was quickly interrupted by her “Yay! I can the muffin? I haven’t eaten in ages.” She quickly said through bites of the muffin. “My name’s Derpy Hooves! Do you want to be friends? I don’t have any of those back home and since you gave me a muffin, you must like me, right?”
Derpy didn’t seem like the smartest filly around, She had a pair of yellow eyes that were always either cross-eyed or facing opposite directions of each other. Her coat was a light gray and she was sporting a blonde mane, she also had bubbles as her cutie mark. Which begs the question, what was her special talent? Blowing bubbles? “I really don’t think I have any friends either, I wouldn’t mind having one either.” I said trying to be nice to her; she seemed to get upset easy. Derpy’s face almost instantly gave life to the dark cold night with a bright smile. I started to blush at the sight of her; it felt good to make others feel good.
“I always I wanted a friend, I never had one before I ran away.” She told me. “You’re trying to run away? I’m trying to find my way.” I told her. “Really, what are you trying to find? I ran away because Nopony liked me at the flight school. They’d always make fun of me because my eyes are special, but you haven’t done that, that’s why I like you, plus you gave me a muffin too.” We both chuckled. “Yeah, I lost my memory and I’m trying to find out who and what I was. I awoke yesterday without a memory in my head; I thought coming to Ponyville would help, but if anything it hasn’t really helped. I’ll I have to show for it is a book I can’t even read.” Derpy looked down without making eye contact, then perked back up and said “I could help you get it back! That’s what friends do, right?” I felt myself turn red, and said “Sure, you can help, we are friends after all.” Derpy started hugging me, I didn’t expect it at first but I gave in and started hugging too. “Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. What’s your name?” She asked. I chuckled at that fact that we were friends but she didn’t even know my name yet. “I can’t remember my old name, but ponies around here call me Wander.” Despite her attempting to steal my food, I felt like this was the beginning to something great. There wasn’t much room on the bench but I spared as much as I could for Derpy. We were both freezing cold without a blanket or any source of warmth for that matter, But with both our bodies lying next to each other we had enough body heat combined not to be entirely frozen in the cold spring night. I didn’t have a single plan but that didn’t discomfort me one bit, with my new found friend by my side, I felt like I could take on the world.