Shattered Past

by thunderclap

What Would You Do?

Even though Jake knew absolutely nothing about himself it didn’t stop the three ponies from asking him as
many questions as they could think of, and Jake remembered that they had a lot of questions left to ask him. He didn’t
mind at all. Every question they asked him was met with two of his own.

“How’d you do all of that to the manticore?”

“Honestly I was running on instinct and adrenaline.”

“What’s that strange thing in your hand?”

Jake glanced down at his knife, noticing the dark green liquid at the end of the blade. Without thinking he wiped it off with his hand. His mind retched as his mind returned to the dead grass. He almost went into a state of shock, but noticed that his hand wasn’t disintegrating.
‘Hmm, maybe it has to enter the blood stream to take effect.’
If Jake had been paying attention he would have noticed the confused expressions on the three ponies’ faces as he stared at the manticore’s blood and venom on his hand. They were just about to ask him a question when he smeared the mixture onto his shoulder wound. All three of them stood in shock at what they had just seen.

“Now that’s interesting.” Jake finally said with an enormous grin.

“What’s interestin’?” Apple Bloom asked, trembling slightly.

“Well, you saw what that manticore’s venom did to the grass.”

The three fillies nodded slowly, unsure of the point Jake was trying to make.

“Without thinking I wiped off the blood and venom on my hand, I thought the same thing would happen to me for a second, but nothing happened. Then, I thought that it might need to enter my blood to work.”

“SO YOU JUST SMEARED IT ONTO YOUR SHOULDER!” Sweetie Bell screeched, tears falling freely from her eyes. “YOU COULD HAVE DIED!”

“That’s not true; I could have just as easily lost the use of my arm.”

“Oh and that makes it better,” Scootaloo replied sarcastically, having already made the transition from fear to anger.

“Yes but I learned something very important. It seems manticore blood has something in it to cancel out their venom. That way they won’t die even if they accidentally stung themselves.

“Yea, but didja have to do that to yourself?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Sometimes learning requires risks.” Jake replied solemnly. Then switched to a maniacal grin, “Would you rather I had tried this out on one of you three. I’m still a little mad about that whole ‘Creature Catcher’ episode we had.”

“Uhhh… you know what, you make a good point” Scootaloo said, laughing nervously.

“Let’s forget the whole venom thing.” Sweetie Bell said, getting a grip on herself. “Why, can’t you remember anything?”

“Somehow I got amnesia, other than that I can’t tell you. The last thing I remember was waking up next to your clubhouse with a headache.”

“That is way too freaky.”

“I like to think that I specialize in freaky.”

“Still has to be sad though.” Apple Bloom stated. “Not bein’ able to remember anypony ya used to know.”

“I guess in a way it could be sad, but I can’t be upset about losing something if I don’t know what it is I lost.”

The group was silent the rest of the walk. They returned to the orchard late in the afternoon. Jake stopped at the edge of the forest and smiled at the three fillies.

“Well girls I had a lot of fun, but I have to get going.”

“Ya mean you’re leavin’ us so soon?” Apple Bloom asked, giving him puppy dog eyes.

“You wanna hang out with me more?” Jake laughed at the suggestion.

“Well yeah! You took on a manticore like it was nothing.” Scootaloo beamed.

“And you don’t have any memories, we could help you.” Sweetie Bell added.

Jake was shocked at their offer. For some reason someone offering him help was a foreign concept to him. It almost made him tear up a little.

“Exactly, we’ll help you with whatever you need. So, from now on you’re gonna be an honorary member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“Thanks you three, despite a rather shaky first encounter you’re alright.

“Great! Let’s introduce you to everypony in town.” Scootaloo said.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. You three called me a creature and started chasing me when you first saw me; I’d hate to know what an entire town full of excitable ponies would do.” Jake laughed, only half joking. “Besides it’s late and there are a few things I need to take care of.”

“Where do ya plan on sleepin’?” Apple Bloom interjected.

“Somewhere in the forest I guess.”

“How ‘bout ya use our clubhouse.”

“That might not be a good idea either; you said your sister checks up on you every now and then, right?” Jake asked, “What do you think she’d do when she saw a ‘creature’ sleeping in her sister and her friends’ clubhouse.”

“She’d probably buck it” Apple Bloom said, a somber tone in her voice.

“Exactly, and if she’s able to knock apples out of trees with a single kick; I’m gonna do my best to avoid receiving one.”

“Fine,” Scootaloo huffed. “If you’re not gonna live in the clubhouse make sure to return here tomorrow afternoon, when we’re done with school.”

“I read you loud and clear. See ya tomorrow, try to avoid getting into trouble, ok?” Jake called out, melting into the shadows of the forest a few moments later.

The three fillies let out a collective sigh as their new friend disappeared. Sweetie Bell was the first to recover and said, “Jake seems really nice.”

“I know,” Scootaloo continued, “taking on that manticore to save us. He wasn’t even angry about us chasing him. I hate to say it, but he might be just as awesome as Rainbow Dash, even if he is almost as weird as Pinkie Pie.”

“I jus’ wish there was somethin’ we could do for him. How are we supposed to help somepony with amnesia?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Hmmm… we could always ask somepony how they’d deal with it.” Sweetie Bell suggested.

“That’s a great idea! We should each ask somepony what they would do if they had amnesia and meet up tomorrow to share what we learned!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

The trio sprinted off, each with somepony in mind that they wanted to ask.

Apple Bloom rushed off to the family farm, finding a familiar orange mare pulling in the last cart of apples for the day. “Howdy there Sugar Cube,” The orange mare greeted in a southern accent similar to the little filly’s , “did you an’ the Crusaders have a fun day of adventurin’?”

“Yeah, we did.” Apple Bloom started shuffling her hooves nervously. “Apple Jack, what would ya do if ya had amnesia and didn’t have anypony ya knew to help ya?”

“Now where’d that come from, Sugar Cube?”

“Scootaloo told us about a book where somepony got it, and we started wonderin’ what it would be like to have it.” Apple Bloom spurted out, praying to Celestia that she hadn’t accidentally exposed Jake.

Apple Jack narrowed her gaze and a slight scowl sprouted at the end of her muzzle. “Normally I’d say that Scootaloo talkin’ about books is fishy, but ever since Dash has been so gung ho on Daring Do I can believe it.”

Apple Bloom silently let out a sigh of relief and turned her attention back to her older sister.

“Shucks, that really is a tough question.” Apple Jack chuckled while she thought. “But, if I was bein’ honest I’d have to say that I’d be real lonely for a while...”

Apple Bloom’s suspicions were confirmed, and started to wonder if Jake was alright.

“Then, after I was done feelin’ sorry for myself I’d pick myself up and try my darndest to figure out who I was."

A big smile broke out on Apple Bloom's face as she thanked her sister and ran inside to get ready for dinner. Apple Jack just stood where she was for a moment and shook her head.

"I swear that little filly is the strangest little thing." Then she returned to her final chore for the day and followed her little sister's example.

Scootaloo had to wander around for a while before She finally found Rainbow Dash. The first thing she did was look for her at her favorite places to take a nap. Then at Sugar Cube Corner where she was almost caught in a lengthy conversation with Pinkie Pie. Only to be saved by Twilight a few moments later. She was just about to give up and ask somepony else when she looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, remembering that there was a rain shower scheduled for tonight. Rainbow Dash was one of Ponyville's top weather pegasi, so she had to be somewhere in the sky.

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo called out.

"Whaddya want squirt?" Replied a certain cyan pegasus a moment later, standing on a cloud.

"Rainbow Dash! I've been looking all over for you!"

"Well, here I am." Rainbow Dash replied proudly. "Let me guess, you want more tips on flying, don't you?"

Scootaloo was almost tempted to say yes, but realized that helpimg the new crusader came first. "Actually Rainbow Dash, I wanted to ask you what you would do if you got amnesia and didn't have anypony you knew around to help you?"

"Now what in the hay would you ask that for?" Rainbow Dash asked incredulously. Then, her rosy eyes went went wide and she started saying "ohmygosh" over and over to herself for a while. Finally the rainbow-maned pegasus calmed down enough to exclaim, "You've read, "Daring Do And the City of the Seapony"!" In the fifth chapter Daring flys through a lightning storm and gets struck, and when she woke up she had amnesia! It was so AWESOME!"

"Uhhh, yeah I did."

"If it was me..." Rainbow Dash stated, switching from fangirl mode to standard Rainbow Dash bragging at the speed of a sonic rainboom. "...I wouldn't waste any time being sad and just be awesome until I remembered everything!"

Scootaloo looked up at her idol in complete admiration. The response seemed to make sense to her. Jake had been laughing and joking about his amnesia with the crusaders while they were walking out of the forest.However, if she had paid closer attention she would've noticed the hesitant laugh Rainbow Dash had made when she was done speaking.

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash, you're a huge help!" Scootaloo yelled, running back home before the storm hit.

"No problem squirt." Rainbow Dash returned, jumping off her cloud to move it into formation.

Sweetie Bell slowed down at the entrance of the Carousel Boutique. If her sister Rarity was working on a big dress order she would have to be quiet. She remembered the last time she had interrupted her when she was in the middle of an order. Even though it had turned out fine in the end, it had been stressful for both sisters. When Sweetie Bell opened the door, she saw that Rarity had recently brushed her curvy violet mane, and had the distinct look of self-satisfaction on her face. This could only mean one thing, she had just finished an order.

"Ah, Sweetie Bell, darling, what a pleasant surprise." Rarity sang out to Sweetie Bell in a warm tone.

"Hey sis, I was hoping you would answer a question I had?"

"Of course, I will gladly answer any and all questions!" The snow white unicorn declared with a dramatic wave of the hoof.

"What would you do if you had amnesia?"

"Oh my Sweetie Bell, what a strange question. What made you think of such a terrible thing?"

"I read a book where a character got amnesia. I don't know how bad something like that is, so I wanted to ask you." Sweetie Bell lowered her head, hoping Rarity believed her.

"Your choice of literature aside..." Rarity started, trying to put loose strand of her mane back into place with one hoof. "I'd, have to say I would feel absolutely dreadful if I had amnesia... but if I had friends to help me I'm sure everything would be fine." Rarity said without her usual melodrama.

Sweetie Bell smiled up at her sister and said, "Thanks, Rarity."

"Think nothing of it, darling." She replied. "Now, would you like to see my latest creation, they're absolutely precious!"

Sweetie Bell nodded and followed her sister into the design room. Each of the crusaders couldn't wait for tomorrow, each having news that they thought would help their newest member.

Comments

[thunderclap]

Hey, sorry the update took a while, I've been busy with school and was sick earlier this week. All that said, I'm gonna do my best to make as many chapters as I can. I already have a basic idea of what I want to do, but I'm a bit of a sporadic thinker and change my mind rather quickly.