> WHO AM I?
>  by ExceRainbowDash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> PART I: THE SOCIETY
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


PART I: THE SOCIETY

“Where am I?” I looked around and examined my surroundings. That place was way too bright and colorful to be reality. The trees are lime green and the sky was as light blue as a baby pajamas. The only thing breaking the cartoony like environment was the black circle underneath me. “What is this? It must have something to do with my arrival to this place!” The black circle looked like the crime-scene of a lightning strike and was about 4 feet in diameter. I keeled down and touched it. I could feel on the surface that it used to be normal dirt before it got scorched by some sort of intense energy. Now it felt like coal. I rose back up and I was right, it did have something to do with how I entered this place, which I did not find out until later. Far later…
After several quick pinches and tests I had confirmed this was not a dream. Well, not a normal dream in that case. My theories had led me to believe that either this was an alternative dimension, the future, another planet or that I’m in some sort of coma state. The so called “lightning strike” that must have brought me here had given me a memory loss. I could not remember anything about my past, not even my own name. All I knew was that I’m a human and that I come from Earth. Then that was pretty much it. All of my other memories were blurry, it was like if they were floating around my mind in arms reach but yet I couldn’t find the force or strength to grab them. For most of the memories it was hard to tell whether they were true or not. I took a moment to redeem as much information as I could, but an hour later my situation had not changed. I am human and I am from the Earth, where several other humans also live in some sort of society. Oh and yeah, for some reason, I had no problems with speaking English.
To make sure of this I began by whispering; “I am human and I am from Earth…”.  I felt the frustration taking over me. “I am human and I am from Earth!”. Now I was screaming from the top of my lungs; “I AM HUMAN AND I AM FROM EARTH BUT I DON’T KNOW MY OWN FREAKING NAME NOR DO I HAVE ANY CLUE ABOUT MY PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE!!!”
All I wanted was to rest and try to solve this cruel riddle spawned in my mind by whatever force that brought me to this ridiculously, colorful place. But no, now it was time to act. My amnesia has not given any sign of quitting and sitting down on the ground definitely wasn’t going to help it. I had to explore. If god put me in this place he must have done it for a reason. And that reason was not going to land on my nose. I had to find it.
I shook my legs and arms to warn them about the long walk I was about to start. I took one last look around to make sure that there were no clues left behind revolving what the hell happened there. Of course, other than the scorched circle, there were none. I had just started to walk when I noticed something. In the distance, next to a puke-green bush I saw what looked to be a pair of eyes. But they were huge and could possibly not come from any human. The purple iris surrounding the giant black and shiny pupils was glued to my mind. For a second, our eyes connected. I looked into the creature’s eyes and my body was filled with a warm fuzzy feeling that made me feel like everything was alright. 
I stepped back on a stick and as it made a large cracking noise I snapped back to reality, or whatever place I was currently visiting. My mouth flung open and I yelled “Hey! You have to help me! HEY!!!”. The eye contact broke and the purple eyes disappeared into the shadows. I could hear the sound of feet running away. Wait, scratch that. That was definitely not the sound of human feet. It was louder and sounded like two coconuts being slammed together. It sounded almost like a horse, so was this still earth? I started to run a few feet but my legs where still unsteady since my appearance here and the creature was much faster. Soon, the clop-like noise was all out of reach and the sound was gone. All I could do was to keep walking in that direction and debunk theories left and right but I still could not get those eyes out of my mind. Those purple eyes. At least I now had a memory that I could be 100% sure happened. Or did it?
I started to study my memories once again, comparing those from “earth” and the one that was much more clear as my own eyes had just witnessed it. I apparently knew what a horse was, so I studied that bit a little further. Maybe, I had to experience my memories for myself to be able to remember them. But all of my memories from “earth” were blurry. Did they even happen? Or was that a dream and this is reality? The only real connection between earth and this place in my memories was now “horse” or at least the sound of a horse galloping.
I was lost, that was for sure. I had no idea where I was and now I was in an unknown place, within an even larger unknown place. This was all so confusing. I thought for sure I was going to lose my mind. Then I saw the light. Was I dead? No, this felt too real to be afterlife. The light I saw was far in the distance, could that have been the end of this so called forest? I started to run again. This time, I was faster compared to my poor chase earlier which meant I had recovered at least a little bit.
Just as I thought I had been through a complete recovery, my disoriented coordination got the best of me and I tripped into the grass. The energy from my speed made me tumble around for about 20 feet before I finally stopped inside a bush. I took a moment to look for any injuries but I was feeling fine. My legs? Clear. My hands? A bit dirty, but clear. My stomach? Clear. My head? Dizzy, but no injuries detected. Clear.
I allowed myself to get up but now the light was gone. I turned around 360 degrees but for nothing. All I saw was trees, trees and even more trees. This world was playing with me. I was nothing but a ragdoll in their sadistic play with life and death. So far, I must have been playing my cards right since I was still alive.
I looked back and saw my skid marks that marked which direction I had come from. I then turned 180 degrees in an attempt to pinpoint towards where I was running in the first place, to where I had seen the light.  All there was, was only a big tree, a very big tree to be exact. It covered up a large portion of my view so I took a few steps to walk around it. The light was there. It had been there the whole time while that stupid giant tree had been making me worried about my consciousness again. A good choice would be to climb it to get a better view but I was in no good physical condition to perform that task so started walking towards my goal which was the light that now grew larger. As I came closer, the light expanded. What was only a white dot before was now a large light beam covering my eyesight from left to right in front of me as the size kept expanding. The white light slowly exchanged into more details. I could now see grass much lighter than the moss from this tight forest.
As I took my first step onto the light green meadow I could immediately feel a warm breeze coming from my left. I looked at that direction and saw a brown dirt road. While the dirt road had become my new goal to reach I looked around. All in sight was meadows as far I my eyes could reach no matter how much I narrowed them. I also saw a few mountains in the distance but for them it was too late, the dirt road was first to be noticed and my mind was focused on it. Dirt roads don’t come naturally, they are manmade. That means there must be intelligent life in this world, maybe humans! Or maybe more of those purple-eyed creatures. But they could also just be mutated horses. The fact that the creature ran away from me doesn’t necessarily give it human characteristics. It could just have been animal instincts.
My feet were now walking on the dirt road. My thoughts had carried me away as I didn’t notice my arrival to the road but I didn’t complain and I kept walking. I was feeling a lot better now but I didn’t want to run because of the simple fact that I did not trust this place. Those purple eyes may have looked friendly and given me that fuzz and warm feeling, but I couldn’t just assume it to be a friend. After all, I didn’t know anything about the creature apart from those capturing eyes and the horse-like galloping sound. It might have a stinger, razor-sharp teeth, claws or maybe all mentioned above. That was when I saw the second man-made object. A few hundred feet away I saw the back of a sign. I quickly ran up to the sign and walked around to see what was on the front of it. There it said, with a clear black text on the wooden sign: 
The Everfree Forest
1 Mile

There it was, a perfect display of the English language using the alphabet invented by humans such as myself. That debunked all of my theories of me being on a different planet. That left me with the options: an alternative dimension, the future or me being in a coma state. I was really excited that that place might have had humans but even that clear-as-water proof of English-using, intelligent creatures weren’t enough to prove humans. Another animal could be the superior alpha in an alternative universe speaking English. Any kind of creature could be the population in a dream caused by a coma. Another animal could’ve evolved and developed the intelligence required to take over the earth in the future and learn English… I took a moment to donate myself a well-earned slap straight to the face. I was being an idiot. “Of course this place has humans; I can’t possibly be the only human here!” I was thinking.
That used to be my theory, “used to be”…
Right about 22 minutes later I discovered man-made item number 3. This one made the sign look like a single drop of whipped cream on this giant mysterious cake. It was a town, a village! It was right there! It could not be a hallucination. It was just too real. Whatever creature that made that sign must live somewhere in that village. Every single instinct in my body told me to scream for help and run into the village like a crazy fool but my body couldn’t find the courage to do so. There was something about this village that made me nervous. The buildings, all so colorful, looked different. They awoke my memories of buildings on earth but not “skyscrapers” or any regular “townhouses”. These reminded me of old buildings from the 18th century from books that I’ve read. Books. That was a new memory...
As I entered the old village I noticed how dead it really was. Either the inhabitants are avoiding me or it’s abandoned. My mind would easily have selected the last option if it weren’t for one detail. Far over, in the distance, was a lantern hanging up 10 feet on the wall of one of the buildings. The fuse, it was still glowing. Someone was here, at least today. “Is it because of me? But I didn’t arrive here until this morning. How could they, in that case, have evacuated so fast?” my thoughts were running by, “Corrected; I did not redeem consciousness until this morning. I might have been here for days or my entire life, what do I know? I bet it has something to do with the purple eyed creature.  But why would they evacuate for the simple reason of me showing up? It doesn't make sense. They must be hiding in their homes.” I randomly picked a building and started to knock on its door. No response of course. I was being stupid. If they were hiding from me, why would they respond? The smart thing to do would be to say something such as “I am friendly” or “I come in peace” but I just couldn’t find the courage to say anything. It was too nervous. I may have a memory loss but I had never, by far, been this nervous. Everything there was strange, I couldn’t trust anything. “Any time now a monster can show up and attack me from nowhere.” was my excuse. It was a pretty good guess…
It was at around house number seven I heard a noise, something being knocked over on my far right. I looked and I saw them. I could recognize them anywhere, anytime and there they were, staring at me for the second time. Those purple eyes. The feeling of being safe and comfortable showered over me again. This time, it was an entire head peeking forward from behind the corner of a building. Was it the same pair of eyes from before? Yes, there was no doubt in my mind. I could see it in her eyes, her personality; “Magic”
I had been doubting the “magic” part the whole time since seeing her eyes for the first time but seeing her personality in her eyes one more time made me sure of it. This was her. She had dark purple hair with two strings of different, lighter tones of purple in it as well. No matter if that was dyed on her or she was born with it, it looked good on her. She had yet another shade of purple skin in her face and neck. All of her was a rainbow of different shades of purple. Was it a “she”? I didn’t know. But her personality shouted “female” so it was my assumption. Also, the galloping sounds her feet made while running earlier today, explained themselves. I was staring at some sort of “mutated” pony’s head…
“Hey! It’s you!” I shouted. The purple so called pony’s head disappeared behind the corner and the all so familiar galloping sounds came over my ears once more. This time she was not going to get away that easily, “Hey! WAIT!!”
I was surprised towards how fast I could now run compared to before. I had regained my strength and agility almost to a complete recovery. In the matter of seconds I had turned the corner in which I saw the creatures head peek out, then disappear. I could hear the galloping footsteps but the distance in between us still grew larger which confirmed that the “pony”, in fact, was faster than me in speed. The galloping sound of legs/hooves/whatever working hard to “escape” was intense as it led me to take sharp turns behind and around buildings. My legs were under hard pressure too but I just couldn’t give on my possibly greatest clue to how I got here. The pain in my legs and my exhausted chest reminded me of that I’m still alive and that I needed to rest.
I was a few seconds away from giving up the chase when the sound stopped. It did not fade out as if the “pony” slowly caught more air in between us. No, it just stopped. I took the opportunity and stopped as well to catch my breath and collect my thought together. I had learned about myself that I have astonishingly great stamina, speed and endurance.
This chase was long as I looked around and finally realized that I was no longer in the center of the village where buildings where lined up next to each other. The wild chase had leaded me through parks, across meadows and lawns. Now I found myself being in an open area where, compared to the center of this town, the distances between the buildings were a lot greater. I had almost no idea to where the creature went since the distance between us was just big enough for me to not see in which building she had disappeared inside. Because other than the few buildings in this area, there was no other place to hide.
Since I had to start somewhere I chose the building closest to me, a giant tree with windows and a front door. If this was on earth I would have been left flabbergasted at that astonishing creation and design, but the cartoony setting this world provided had left me used to seeing unbelievable things. The “tree house” looked like a library with books lined up in the windows and a small sign in front of the house with a book on it. If the creatures live in these building, which I was now lead to believe, the myth about having humans in this village would be pretty much dead now.
I walked past the small wooded sign with the book on it and approached the door, doing the same stupid mistake as before I knocked on the door as if someone running away from me would happily fling open the door with a smile. Well, as suspected, no one answered. I knocked one more time. Still no reply. I couldn’t help the feeling of being stared at from the windows but when I looked, no one was there. I looked at the windows one more time before I finally decided to move on to the next house. I turned around and started to walk away from the so called library. I had only taken a few steps on my way when the unbelievable occurred. The door behind me flew open and instead of a gentle greeting I was met with two hooves charging me from behind. One of the hooves wrapped itself around my neck and the other one covered up my chin and mouth. My scream was transformed into a muffled, pathetic squeak by the hoof covering the lower half of my face. I could only watch as the great force of the purple hoofs pulled me inside the library against my will…
My body landed on the hard, wooden floor with a thud. My head got a pretty good hit from the push too and I was left confused and feeling dizzy. I could see as the creature quickly slammed the door shut, locked it and then looked over at me. I shook my head in an attempt to faster process what was going on and as I started to get up I was charged at by the purple creature once more. I had no match against the weight of the at least 300 pound heavy creature. It was a quick victory as she wrestled me back down to the floor and with the help of her hooves she held me down in a firm and steady grip. Before I could say anything in my defense, she interrupted me. “No one can hear you in here so there is no point in screaming!”
She spoke! She could talk. I was stunned as my brain couldn’t produce a single word. The English dictionary was simply not enough to describe what was happening before my very eyes. She looked at me for a few seconds, waiting for a response, but then spoke again. “How much do you remember?” she asked me but I simply wasn’t listening. My brain was still in process-mode trying to compress the happenings in this very library. I could see the bookshelves being lined up along the walls inside this giant tree and I even noticed a bed on top of a few shelves on a second floor. This must have been where she lives. Her home. “Tell me how much you remember!” she was now almost shouting. My eyes moved on to my attacker, this was the first time I could take a good look at her entire body. Her entire body was the same shade of purple as her face and her tails colors perfectly matched those from her main. Yes, indeed, this was a pony. Or at least a very close cousin. She also had a tattoo on her flank in the shape of a sparkle. At least it looked like a tattoo. Keeping the really old houses in mind, I didn’t imagine them having modern tattooing tools.
She was finally able to get my attention as she now shook my body while yelling “Listen, I know you can speak! I heard you before! Do not try any tricks with me and answer my question! How much do you remember?”. I finally gathered my senses together and gave her the response she had been waiting for.
“You… You can speak?”.
“You don’t remember me?” Her eyes suddenly looked far friendlier as I shook my head in response, the only part of my body I could move under the weight of this beast. She looked satisfied with her answer but was still holding me down. “Exactly, how much do you remember from this place?”
“Uh… Have I been here before? I can honestly not remember anything from this place. It’s all so… colorful. All I can remember is key items such as trees, buildings…” I looked over to the side, “Books, furniture etc. I don’t remember you, only items from Earth which is where I come from. Because I do, right? Earth does exist, doesn’t it?”.
The purple pony stepped of me finally and reached out a hoof to help me get up. “Yes, and don’t worry. I will do all I can to help you get there again but you have to promise me not to show yourself to anyone. They would not be too happy about seeing such a strange character around here. Do we have a deal?”
I got up and agreed to the offer. I normally would just run for my life but it was her eyes again. I could just trust them somehow.
“So, there is more of your kind here?”
“Oh please. Call us ‘ponies’, because that’s what we are. Oh, how rude of me. I am Twilight Sparkle, and you are?”
Sparkle, her tattoo. So that’s why she has it. “Ugh… I don’t know… I don’t remember…”. I scratched my head to show to her that I was confused.
“Oh yeah. Sorry, I forgot about that. You don’t go worrying now; I will do all I can to help you remember.” How did she know about my memory loss? Maybe she overheard my scream in the forest, but why doesn’t she want anyone else to know about my existence? Something was not right there and I could almost bet that she has something to do with how I got there.
My arms and legs were aching from the charge and being under such powerful pressure for so long, so I took a seat on the floor. “Ugh…”
“You must be very tired. You need some sleep. You can borrow my bed.” She led me up the staircase and showed me to the bed. She even helped tucking me in. Kindness exploded inside me and I felt like I could live like this forever, for the rest of my life, but I just could not give up the feeling that something was wrong, apart from the whole different universe thing that is.  Why did all of the ponies hide from me then?  Did Twilight warn them to avoid me being seen? In that case, why didn’t she just tell me that? And why exactly can’t I be seen? After discussing this topic for a while in my head my muscles and brain took a well-earned break and I fell asleep…

> PART II: THE DISCOVERY
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


PART II: THE DISCOVERY

As the kindness in her eyes being the last thing I saw as I fell asleep must have really affected me, since I had wonderful dreams that night. It revolved everything from running across flowery meadows to her saving my life countless times from the really scary creatures that my mind had produced based on the assumption of what other creatures could live in this world.
As I could slowly feel my body parts and the wonderful, soft bed sheets beneath me I started to wake up. From my dreams of paradise it was a simple “Hello?” that brought me back to reality. The voice sounded almost like a 10 year old boy. Not even close to the soft, female voice of Twilight.  I made an “Ugh…”- noise as I slowly open my eyes to find out who it could be. The realization of that I’m alive must have given this person a shock as the first things my eyes saw was a small purple and green creature jumping back a few feet and almost tumbling over.
As my memories slowly came back of what happened yesterday, Twilight’s gentle voice echoed in my head. “You have to promise not to show yourself to anyone...”
Did this weird, mutated lizard count? He had purple skin, just like Twilight, yellow belly and green spikes sticking out on his back, similar to a dinosaur. The words Dinosaur, Dragon and lizard came back to me.
I was worried about breaking my promise to Twilight. I needed to say something; an excuse. “Uhm… I am…” was all of that my rusty, tired throat could produce.
“Don’t worry. I am Twilight’s right hand and best friend, Spike.”, Spike? Was everyone named after what they looked like here? “Twilight left this morning to retrieve some groceries and told me to keep an eye out on you. So don’t try any funny tricks. I CAN breathe fire!”
“Twilight told you about me?”
“Yes, but she didn’t need to. I live here too you know and it was hard for me not to notice how panicked she was when she rushed inside. She told me to hide behind that table and cover my ears.” He pointed towards a small wooden table in the corner next to the bottom of the staircase. On top of it were a few letters and a quill with ink. “I did as told but I couldn’t help but to take a sneak peak to have a look at you. What are you actually?”
I looked at him for a few seconds, deciding in my mind if he is trustworthy or not. Things have been so crazy lately since I got here and here comes possibly the world’s smallest dinosaur to top it off! I decided that I will just have to trust him. He was missing the warm sparkle in his eyes that Twilight had had that made me trust her. But if she can trust Spike to live with her, I will just have to trust him for now and take the consequences if there are any. 
“I am human, from the Earth. I have no idea where Earth is from this point and I have absolutely no idea of who I am and why I’m here.”
“Humans and Earth. I’ve heard of that before. Yeah… it was just a few days ago that Twilight told me about…” He quickly bit his lip and just for good measure he covered up his mouth as well. This was definitely something I was not supposed to know about. I raised my eyebrows to his statement and prepared my response. “Please, continue. What did she tell you?” I was not really a big fan about the big secrecy going on and I wanted my answers. 
“Uhm… It was nothing really… She… read about it in a book or something… I don’t really remember…”
Just after that I discovered how lightning-fast reactions I really have. The door downstairs creaked open and, afraid of being seen, I jumped in a quick fashion behind the bed and pulled the bed sheets on top of me for good measure. Spike seemed very satisfied with his new and appropriate distraction, “Oh look! Twilight is back!”. He turned around and discovered me taking cover behind the bed as if the boogeyman had just broken in, “What the heck are you doing?”
Twilight put down some things on a table, which I assumed to be the groceries, and turned to Spike with a worried expression. “Where is he?!”
“He is right here!”, he pulled of my ghostly bed sheet disguise, “I swear I didn’t do anything to him!” I was feeling embarrassed about my quick maneuver as I rose up, now standing behind a highly messed up bed without bed sheets on it.
“Uhm… I thought you were someone else… Since this is a public library and everything…”
“Oh it’s okay. I’m glad you took such precautions for the sake of our promise. Myself, I brought some books from the bookshop about the more complicated teleportation spells. I need to study deeply to find a way to get you back to your home as quick as possible.” She reached down a bag and grabbed some bed sheets. “Meanwhile I borrowed these from a friend of mine. You can stay here until I’ve found a way. Spike, will you go and embed these sheets on our extra mattress?”
“Yes, ‘mam!” Spike got up, grabbed the bed sheets and got to work on his new task. 
“I see you’ve met my assistant Spike. He is a baby dragon.” Scratch giant lizard and miniature dinosaur, baby dragon it is. “Did you have sweet dreams?”
“Actually, yes. But hang on for a second… You said ‘spells’?”
“Yes, I perform magic.” Magic, the word echoed in my mind for a second. Her eyes yelled it but I wouldn’t believe it. She can perform magic. She knows about teleportation spells. She was the first to notice me. She spied on me. She told me not to tell anyone else about this situation. She knows more about me than myself it seems. There was not a single doubt in my mind. SHE brought me here in some way or another. She must have brought me here for a reason, right? But why would she in that case work so hard to find a way for me to get back as quick as possible? I decided not to accuse her of anything just yet, since I did not have enough facts or answers to confront her in that way. Also, she said she was going to help me get back and hopefully I can trust her.
Spike was quickly finished with his mission and while Twilight kept reading books he and I sat down and discussed my questions about this world. He told a lot of things. It was the “Everfree Forest” that I had come from but it did surprise him that I did. Apparently, the Everfree Forest is the home of many weird creatures and he was also surprised that I had not seen any monsters on my way out of it. He also told me that the main population here was “ponies”, similar to humans on Earth. This place/country/planet/whatever was named “Equestria” with the princess “Celestia” being the ruler and living in “Canterlot”. The capital city, I assumed. Soon, my mind was filled with facts about this place.
---
I have now been “imprisoned” in Twilights library for 3 days. She treats me like a guest, giving me dinner, making my bed and literally, she wasn’t lying about studying hard to find a way for me to get back, but I was not allowed to leave. That was my consequence. I was really curious about this town, going through my memories of running across the village of “Ponyville” three days earlier to remember every detail, but my loyalty was just too big for any escape attempts. But honestly, it would be very easy for me to escape. It was not like as if I had chains holding me to a wall. When Twilight was home, she never locked the door and I would easily be able to sneak out during one of her studying sessions.
Fighting boredom was not a big problem actually. When I was not talking to Twilight or Spike, hearing their interesting stories about this place, I was reading. Books and more books, the advantage of living in a library. I read everything I got my hands on. I learned about “The Elements of Harmony”, how equestria was founded, and literature, yea everything pretty much. During these three days, I had plowed through about ten books.
That day, was the first day I was left home alone in this library, proof of how much Twilight really trusted me and I screwed it up, pretty badly. Twilight had left to go to the Everfree Forest to gather some ingredients and Spike had to come with her since he is a good digger. I didn’t really imagine Twilight getting her hoofs dirty anyway. They left early in the morning so that they would have lots of time and I swore to stay and not to be seen by anyone else, no matter what. I broke both of those promises that day.
I was reading about spells written by Star Swirl the bearded, when the knocking came. A very light and optimistic voice was heard from behind that wooden, creaky door; “Hello? Twilight? You have been so mysterious and spooky lately I decided to check what’s going on! Are you there?” She knocked again. “Hellooo?”
I was waiting for her to leave, but she didn’t. It was like she had no common sense about someone not being home. I was just standing there, looking at the door. My fear turned into anger as I could not help shouting. “She is not here!” My eyes grew twice the size as I had realized what I had just done. Not only does the person know about my presence, but she will never leave now that there is a strange creature inside her friend’s home.
I was left just standing there, frozen, waiting for the damage that I had caused to reveal. “Huh? That isn’t Twilight… Who is in there?!” The knocking came back, more frustrated this time. “Hellooo? I’m coming in!”
I knew Twilight had most likely locked the door, but what if this person had a spare key? I could not take any chances as I ran upstairs performing the maneuver I had pulled of a few days earlier, jumping over and behind the bed. Just like last time, I was now waiting underneath a layer of Twilight’s bed sheets. I could not express how lucky I was feeling at that moment for taking that precaution. Twilight had forgotten to lock the door! The door knob was turned and I could hear the footsteps of another pony entering my castle. I was shaking by nervousness as I didn’t know what would happen if she saw me. I could not fail Twilight! I realized that my left leg peeking out and visible from the other side of the bed so I crawled back a bit to get into a better position. If I only hadn’t done was I had just done, I would maybe have gotten away with it. As I crawled back my head bumped into the nightstand next to her bed. It made a clear but loud noise that anyone would notice.
My heart stopped as the intruder said “Oh, I’ve got you now, Twilight!”. As she walked up the stairs towards me she giggled as if this was a game, a game of hide-and-seek. She was closer, now on the other side of the bed and any movement I made would make the situation worse. She must have noticed my, not so cleaver, disguise as she yelled “Aha! Gotcha!” as she pulled of the sheets and got the surprise of a lifetime; me.
The game, I had lost it…
The pony that screamed for her life and ran out the door right away was pink, with puffy darker pink hair smelling like cotton candy. I had now broken my first promise to Twilight, “Don’t be seen by anyone.”. I could not tell if she was going to come back with a torch and pitchfork or if she was scared for the rest of her life but I had to prepare for a return, quickly. All I was wishing was for a way to alert Twilight, so she could come and protect me, but she said she would come home at sundown and it was almost noon now, I was all alone, and nowhere to go because then I would break my second promise; “Stay in the library, no matter what.”. Not only would I fail Twilight again but also if I left out the door to hide somewhere else I would be guaranteed to be found, way faster.
I jumped over the bed and ran to the door. Unfortunately, the door could only be locked with a key, even from the inside. Which Twilight had not offered me, yet. So I grabbed what furniture I could find and pulled it in front of the door. Two tables and a chair had to do it. Now I had no other way of preparing than to wait, and wait I did.
About one hour later my fears came true. While reading a book to pass time, the pink pony was back and this time she brought the cavalry. She had reinforcements. I could hear them outside the door as they were walking closer. “I swear you guys! It was him! He was there!” the pink pony said. “Hush now, we’re here.”
“I am so dead.” My mind whispered to me.
I heard the door knob being turned, but this time they had a resistance. The furniture. Unfortunately, the door opened a little bit before being blocked and they were able to realize that it was not the lock that kept from entering.
“Look! He blocked the door.” The cotton candy pony said.
“I am so dead!” My mind was telling me. 
“Move over then, honey.” Another voice responded. This creature, which I assumed to be another pony, had a southern accent. Like a farmer, stereotypically. Then I heard some change in footsteps as if they were changing “formation”. Then I heard kicking. The farmer, apparently, were now trying to kick in the door. The furniture vibrated, showing that the plan was working, for them.
“I AM SO DEAD!!!” My mind was yelling at me, “DO SOMETHING!”
I looked around and noticed a window. It was small and round but just enough for me to squeeze through. I took this as a last resort, but I had to get out of there. I opened the hatch on the window then I slowly pushed the window open as I heard the chair being knocked away from the door. I was two tables away from being discovered. I crawled out the window as quickly as possible and just in time as I heard the door fly open at the same time as I landed head first on the ground. I stayed there, afraid of moving. I heard the sound of hooves walking inside.
“There is nobody here. You tell that ah did not just kick in a door for no reason!?” the farmer-pony said.
“I swear! I found him behind Twilight’s bed, hiding!” I heard rapid footsteps going up the stairs. “Huh, that’s strange. He isn’t here now…”
I allowed myself to smile a bit.
“How could he even get here? He is not from our world.” Do they know who I am? I have never seen them before.
“I don’t know…” The cotton candy-pony said.
“Maybe there is a reason why he was hiding with Twilight.” A new voice said. The voice was very noble, as a British “lady”. How many of them are there? I was thinking. In addition to the farmer and cotton candy-pony we now have the lady…
“I mean, she has been very secret and inactive lately. Maybe she brought him here somehow.” She continued.
“EXACTLY!” The cotton candy-pony seemed very proud of that excuse of her being right the whole time.
“But where did he go then?” the farmer said.
“This window is open! He must have climbed out!” As the cotton candy pony said that my heart stopped for a second time. They were going to find me, no doubt. Twilight, where are you?
I had to find Twilight. She could stop them. She said she went to the Everfree forest. That’s where I came from. My mind was in top gear right now. Studying the path I had chased Twilight on a few days earlier in my mind for so long was a very good choice since I had now had path to run and, hopefully, find Twilight. As I heard the ponies walk over to the window I prepared myself to run. There was a catch though. I had to run around and past the front of the tree house to get on track. Hopefully, they were all inside looking out the window by that time. “Now or never, I thought as I took off in a quick start. I rounded the tree but as I looked at the door I caught her eye-contact.
The fourth pony, guarding the door. Why didn’t I expect this? She had yellow fur and light pink hair. Way lighter than the cotton candy-pony’s pink hair. She must be shy since she did not talk before. But now, she was screaming on the top of her lungs; “GAAAHHH!! HE IS HERE!! HE IS RIGHT HERE!!!!!”
This was the third time my heart stopped in the matter of 5 minutes. I did not stop, I ran as fast as I could away from the library, having nothing but the Everfree forest in mind. I had received a great head start as when I looked back they had all gathered outside and just spotted me, but I was several hundreds of feet away. They all started to run after me, in a formation similar to a herd of cows gone wild.
They were now yelling at me to wait. They were yelling at me to stop. But when you are being chased by four creatures that are twice as big, twice as heavy and twice as strong, you do not stop. You do not wait. You run, and you run like hell.
I tried not to focus on the enemies behind me and focus more on the track but whenever I looked back they were closer. They were a lot faster than me and anytime they would have caught up to me. I had to shake them off my tail since I could not out run them. When I finally arrived in the center of “Ponyville” there was roughly 50 feet in distance between us. In an attempt to confuse them and get them off track I ran into the narrow alleyways. I took left and right in a random order to get them lost. But then I realized that I was lost too, but I just kept going. I thought my plan worked since when I got out on a main street only three of them where left. The farmer was missing. I had gained more air in between us and now it was about 100 feet as I thought my plan was working perfectly.
I had passed many other civilian ponies while running in this town now but this street seemed empty, abandoned. As I ran along this street it got tighter between the buildings, and there was no other way to go than forward, so that’s where I ran.  That is also where my plan backfired because in the distance I witnessed a movement in the outlet of the street. It was the farmer.
She had left the herd and taken smarter turns to predict my spontaneous movements and when I was out on this street she could easily run around and cut me off from the only way out of there. I stopped, looking furiously for a way out, but there was none. They had me surrounded, exactly where they wanted me. They stopped too and started to now walk slowly towards me, preparing for any sudden attacks. “Care to explain to us what in tarnation you think you’re doing here and where Twilight is? The farmer said as she walked up towards me.
“Who are you…” I whispered but I don’t know if they heard it. It was more of a small desperate squeak actually. I started to panic inside. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. It was over, I should have just surrendered right there. But I didn’t. I decided to fight until the very last second. As the four ponies approached, three from my back and the farmer from my front I decided to try and run around the farmer and in that way escape. It was a horrible plan but I tried. I took off against the buildings on my right in an attempt to run around the farmer-pony and avoid her snatch, but I failed. As soon as she saw what was coming she jumped and tackled me down to the hard, cold ground. For the second time, I was lying helpless under the weight of this creature.
“TWILIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…” I yelled before finally one of the other three came up and covered my mouth with their hoof. It was the pink one. The smell of cotton candy showered over me and calmed me down as the farmer continued.
“Listen boy, we do not want to hurt you but if you keep struggling and wont cooperate we will have to. Ah suggest you calm down and answer our simple questions. You got that?”
As I nodded my head the pink one removed her hoof from my muffled mouth. The first thing I said was; “Who are you?!”
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” the pink one burst out.
“Wait, you don’t remember us?” The farmer said and stepped off me, convinced that I had learned my lesson. Trust me, after being wrestled down to the ground two times, I did. I sat up and decided to collaborate with these ponies. “That is exactly what Twilight said! What the hell is going on here!?”
“I think he has lost his memory.” The ‘lady’ said. 
“I bet Twilight knows what this fuss is about” The farmer continued. “Well, anyways. I am Applejack.”
“I am Rarity and this is Fluttershy” the lady said and pointed towards the yellow pony standing far off against a wall. Shy, again with the literal names… “We are close friends of Twilight. Speaking of that; where is she?”
“She left this morning with Spike to retrieve some potion-ingredients from the Everfree forest. She said she wouldn’t be back until sundown.”
“Well then, we will just have to wait for her at her home.” Applejack decided.
“Should we get Rainbow Dash?” was the first thing Fluttershy added to this discussion.
“NO! I mean… It is best for her if she does not know.” Applejack responded quickly. “Come on, let’s go. She is probably napping somewhere anyways.”
Rainbow Dash. Somewhere is my mind that name clicked. I had heard it before. But where? And who was she?

> PART III: THE RESURGENCE
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


PART III: THE RESURGENCE


On the way back to Twilight’s library we apologized to each other. Me for “resisting arrest” and they for, well, knocking me down and keeping me in a grip against my will. They also told me about themselves. I was apparently correct on my nicknames of these ponies. Applejack was a farmer, Rarity seemed very satisfied as I said that I had earlier thought of her as the “lady” since she had dreams about living in Canterlot with other “noble” ponies and Fluttershy was indeed shy. The pink one was so random and joyful as she loved parties and baking, which most likely explained her sugary smell.

I also noticed that they all had tattoos on their flank, just like Twilight. Applejack had apples, Fluttershy had butterflies, Rarity had diamonds and Pinkie Pie had balloons. When I asked them why and how they all got it, Rarity replied: “You don’t remember anything, do you? Anyways, these are not ‘tattoos’, silly. They are called cutiemarks. They display that certain something that makes us special. But we do not get them until we find out what that special something is which normally happens very early in a pony’s life. Applejack has apples because she loves apples. I have diamonds as I love fashion. Fluttershy has butterflies because she loves small animals and Pinkie Pie has balloons…”
“…because she like parties?” I guessed.
“Correct. Cutiemarks are very important as they mark what our personality stands for and… Huh? What are you doing?” Rarity looked at me but I had stopped listening to what she was saying as my eyes had just noticed the movements in the sky. My eyes kept moving along with the daring speeds of this creature as she took elegant but still dangerous movements displaying her magnificent tricks. There she was, with the cyan blue fur and her wings beautifully cruising along with the wind blowing in her multicolored main. I was stunned. The tricks, the elegance and the quick but genius turns, I had seen it all before. But where?

Rarity turned and looked at the direction my eyes had so clearly been pointing at;
“Oh no! It’s Rainbow Dash. She can’t see him! We have to do something!” Applejack looks furiously around for a solution. “I’m terribly sorry for this, sugarcube.” She swung her body and pushed me into a puke-green bush, “…but it’s the best for both of you. Stay there and don’t make noises.”

You would think that landing in a bush would give you scratches and hurt but the colorful, green bushes in this world didn’t hurt. They were… soft. As I quickly adjusted position to get comfortable I heard as “Rainbow Dash” flew up to the rest of the ponies just outside the bush. Rainbow Dash, her name, her tricks, her colors, her agility, why was it all so familiar?!
“Hi guys!” a voice said. I assumed it to be her. It was also familiar…“Who’s in the bush?” she continued. She knew I was here?! 
“Oh uhm…” Applejack responded.
“It’s Opal.” Rarity continued where Applejack left off. “He is marking his territory in there. I recommend that you do not look.” The group started laughing for a bit. Then Rainbow Dash’s voice spoke again.
“Opal… That is your cat right, Rarity?”
“Yes. I’m glad you remembered! By the way, how is your memory coming along?”
“Oh, I think I’ve got the most back now. I’m fine thanks. I was just checking if I could still perform my tricks. What do you guys think?”
She has had a memory loss too? As the group continued to chat my mind was in deep thinking. My thoughts were fighting an endless struggle, one part of me kept mentioning theories and the other kept debunking them. 
+ What if she “teleported” here together with me from another world?
- But she is a pony too.
+ She has wings.
- So does Fluttershy.
+ But she never uses them.
What if it was just a coincidence? Yeah, she probably hit her head while performing one of her stunts and lost her memory just in time as I came here and lost mine. But that does not explain why she seems to connect to my deep memories…
I wonder if she would feel the same about her memories if she saw me…

“Well, I gotta go and keep practicing. You have fun, you guys!” was the last thing I heard of Rainbow Dash’s voice. Then the sound of a violent but fast take-off took over my eardrums, but I waited for an indication to that the coast was clear before I stepped out. About ten seconds later, someone kicked the bush which I assumed to be that sign.
“Now I want to know what the heck is going on! Who was she?!” I was not planning to tell them about how she somehow “connected” to me just yet, but I at least wanted some answers.

They looked around, ignorantly, all waiting for someone else to take care of that question. I had them cornered, there were no distractions in sight and they had to give me an answer this time. As they all waited, it was Rarity that lost the game of silence and spoke first;
“Well, that was Rainbow Dash…” she cleared her throat, looking like she was preparing the world’s largest lie. “She is also one of ours and Twilight’s friends. The reason why we didn’t want her to see you was because she has a terrific fear of you… humans.” Applejack and Pinkie Pie looked at her for a second, then turned back to me to await my reaction.
“She lost her memory too?” I continued. Rarity looked at Applejack for support but only to receive a nod meaning “continue” in response.
“Oh that! That is just a coincidence, dear. She hit her head yesterday while performing one of her tricks.”
That was my theory, but coming out of her luxurious lips it sounded like a complete lie. I wanted to keep interrogate them, but I knew it was hopeless. These ponies may be great wrestlers but they were ridiculously horrible at lying. It was just embarrassing…
Don’t get me wrong. I had nothing against them at all, I just wanted the truth. But I realized it was pointless to keep trying to squeeze it out of these ponies and not worth the effort. So I decided to end the examination there and switch to a more… polite topic; “Okay then. I’m glad we had that sorted out. Is there any food around? I’m starving!”
They all sighed in relief as Pinkie Pie quickly took over the conversation with her crazy, light and happy voice. “I know! We can eat at sugarcube corner!”
Applejack responded; “I’m sorry to burst your bubble there, sweetheart, but it was probably a good idea of Twiligh’ to keep him hidden. We should go back to the library and wait for Twiligh’ to return.”
“Come on, Applejack!” Pinkie Pie responded in a complaining tone, yet still somehow retained her positive attitude, “Don’t be such a downer! He said she wouldn’t come back until sundown. Wasn’t that so?”. She turned to me, and as I nodded back she continued, “Rainbow Dash is far off training her stunts and with creatures such as Spike, Opal and Winona running around Ponyville I don’t think the other ponies will care too much about him!”. Applejack tried to interrupt but Pinkie kept spraying her arguments in her face, “Besides, he is probably bored to death since he’s been staying in Twilight’s library for so long.” I would’ve ignored her arguments but she actually had a point on that last thing. I mean, sure the library has some fascinating books but I would love to come outside and see more of this town.
Applejack turned to me to hear my opinions. As I smiled she returned to Pinkie with a defeated expression; “Sure, why not?”
Pinkie Pie’s initial reaction was jumping and screaming but I thought I could also see a hint of pride and tears of joy somewhere in there. Looking at the other ponies careless expressions I assumed this to be standard behavior from her.

About 15 minutes later, we arrived.
She had been talking to me about “cupcakes” for the whole trip since when I told her I did not remember what it was. Apparently, that was a disaster. She had now been naming every flavor in the universe and of course, promising me to be able to taste every single one of them in a soon future.
I did not mind her endless speech since her attitude was so joyful and it put my mind to other thoughts then Rainbow Dash for once.

Forget the tree house library; “Sugarcube corner” had now topped my list of weird creations.  The bottom of it looked like a normal, 18th century, building. But the roof looked like it was made out of gingerbread and frosting. Seriously, the whole building looked like a gingerbread house! On the roof it had a “tower” that looked like it was made from a giant, pink cupcake. I could only dare myself and hope it was not real.

They led me inside and luckily, the interior wasn’t made of chocolate. It was normal wooden walls but with decorations all over the place in the shape of treats. Lollipops, cupcakes and candy canes all over the place, decorating what else would have been normal yellow or brown walls. There were tables inside, some for people to sit and dine and some were set up to show off the piled up cupcakes of various colors. Hansel and Gretel would crap their pants if they saw this.
Each pony went and did what they found was interesting. Fluttershy and Rarity went to mingle; studying the different treats that where piled up on the shelves and tables. Applejack took her time and tasted a cupcake that was set to display a small, rounded wooden table in the corner and I was left standing in the doorway. I did not notice Pinkie Pie until something pushed me forward from my back.

I quickly turned around as the big, fluffy and pink main was tickling my back.
“You are going to help me make cupcakes!” she said as I was stumbling forward towards the kitchen. As I was walking into the kitchen with Pinkie Pie she kept talking as if someone had given her time limit to how fast she could talk, making her squeeze as many words in an as short time period as possible. She kept reminding me how this was going to be “so amazing!” and talking about her own experiences about making cupcakes, one crazier than the other. She only gave me time to respond with single words such as “Oh.”, “Yes.”, “Uhuh?”, and/or “Really?”.
“While I beat up the eggs you can slice up the correct amount of butter!” Pinkie Pie told me and put a pound of butter on a desk in front of me. “We need 2/3’s of a cup of butter. Use this!” was the words she said before she put it down in front of me, a simple instrument to slice up the correct amount of butter. But in my mind it had a way different meaning.
A knife…
The knife…
I jumped back as I stared onto the black handle then moving on to its sharp, shiny edge. I started to sweat as my body was shaking. I was reliving feelings that I had felt before, sometime in my past. I was feeling anxious, anguish, nervousness, regret, loneliness, depression… Finally, my body was feeling relief as a tumbled back and fell flat on the ground. Fainted… Unconscious…

“What are you doing here?!” Twilight yelled as I woke up. I was back in the library, in Twilight’s bed. I turned my head slightly, putting the entire floor downstairs in my view. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity was all looking at a really nervous Twilight standing in the doorway. She must have just arrived home with Spike as she was carrying a lot of plants and what must have been the potion ingredients. “Where is he?!” she continued.
Applejack stepped forward; “He is restin’ in the bed. He fell unconscious earlier today.” She pointed towards my location. Quickly, I closed my eyes to make them believe I was still unconscious, because I might now finally find out about the whole situation and who I am.

“Unconscious? What happened?“
“Shh! Try not t’wake him up. We don’t know. But Twiligh’, the bigger question is why he is here?! And why have you been keepin’ it a secret fum us!?”
“Well…” She let out a big sigh... “While I was trying to erase Rainbow Dash’s memories and replace them with our moments together I must have brought him here somehow. I found him in the Everfree forest, with a memory loss.”
So I WAS connected to that Rainbow Dash pony somehow! But how? And why?
“I took him here and kept it a secret because I was afraid of your reactions to my mistake. I thought I could easily teleport him back but as it turns out, it’s harder than I thought. Way harder…” Now it was her turn to ask them questions; “When did you find him?”

Pinkie Pie quickly rose up, “I know this one! It was earlier this morning, and I was curious to why you were so spooky and secret so I went to check on how you were feeling. I heard a strange male voice inside and discovered that you hadn’t locked the door…” Twilight sighed and gave herself a face palm at this mistake. “…so I assumed you were home and it was alright. Then I saw him and screamed and went out the door. I quickly gathered up you guys…” She looked around waving with her hooves to clarify that it was the just the four of them. “…and we returned. He ran away but we caught up to him and Applejack tackled him down. Then we went to sugarcube corner and he just fainted when I gave him a knife to slice the butter while we were making cupcakes!”

So the knife part really happened?! I had hoped it was just a dream. A really horrible dream…
“Wait, what?!” Twilight stopped up. “You tackled him to the ground?!”
Look who’s talking! I thought. The pony who welcomed me so gently in the first place…
“Well, we had to.” Applejack continued, “He ran and we couldn’t let Rainbow Dash find him, now could we?”
“Where is Rainbow Dash now?”
“She said she was going to practice her tricks and maneuvers.” Rarity said.
“Okay…” Twilight was now thinking, possibly for a solution or a way out of this sticky situation her lying had caused her. “Let’s just forget this small commotion and focus on the main goal we all share. To get him back as fast as possible.”
As they all came to an agreement about being even more secret and mysterious the same questions were showing up in my mind; teasing me for not knowing the answers. Why do I and Rainbow Dash have a “connection”? What type of memories did they erase from her? Why did they erase her memories? Who exactly is Rainbow Dash?!
The last question that floated up in my mind before I finally went back to sleep was:
“Who am I…”

Sometime later my body was fully rested and decided to wake me up. My forehead was feeling awfully cold and wet. As I opened my eyes I was met with Fluttershy leaning over me. Reliving the memory from first meeting Spike, Fluttershy jumped back and screamed. Her sudden scream gave me quite the shock too, but I didn’t make a noise. To find out what the chilly and wet sensation on my forehead was, I slowly moved my hand over and touched a piece of wet, cold cloth. I took it off and studied it with my, still quite, numb eyes.

“Are you feeling better?” Fluttershy said, still recovering from my awakening.
Actually, I was never feeling especially bad physically in the first place but since this was the first time Fluttershy spoke to me personally I decided to give her a positive response.
“Yes, I’m feeling a lot better. Thanks.”. I rose up and sat upright in the bed. As Fluttershy nodded back as if she was saying ‘No problem’ Rarity came up next to her.
“Fluttershy here has been taken care of you while you were passed out. She is a very good medic.” I could see Fluttershy blush and I was overwhelmed with “adorableness”. If that isn’t a real word, someone needs to make it into one so I can properly describe what I was feeling.
I took the time to have a look around. Indeed, I was in the library. Rarity must have noticed my eyes rapid movements as she said:
“You fainted over at sugarcube corner, so we thought it would be best to take you over here so you could rest while we were awaiting Twilight. You should thank Applejack; she was the one who carried you all the way over here.”
I had another, closer look around. I couldn’t see her, only Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight now walking up the stairs towards me.
“Where is she? And Pinkie Pie?”.
Twilight took the time to answer that question.
“As I came back we agreed to do what we can together to get you home. Applejack and Pinkie has work to do, so that’s why they aren’t here. Applejack has apples to buck for the season and Pinkie Pie has costumers to serve at the sugarcube corner.”
“So… what happens now?”.
“You need to eat something.” Fluttershy the medic took a bowl with some liquid from a table and put it in on my knees.
“Here, I made you some soup. You need it.”. As I took my first sip from the extraordinary and tasty soup, Twilight continued.
“What happened yesterday? When you fainted.”
I swallowed, it really helped clearing my throat.
“I don’t know… I don’t remember... it just happened so fast.”. That was a lie. That was a complete lie. I knew what it was, the knife. But it was linked to my memories in the worst possible way so I didn’t dare to think about it again, even less talk about it.

After breakfast Twilight, Rarity and Spike left again, this time to retrieve a gemstone needed for my transportation. Rarity was an expert in finding gemstones using her magic, Twilight knew which rare gemstone was needed and Spike was going to dig it up.
I was alone with Fluttershy for a few hours. Towards the beginning she was very nervous and uncomfortable with the situation but as we started talking I could notice the symptoms of her being nervous slowly cease. When she wasn’t shy she was very nice, actually. She lived in a house, quite far away from town and she said she liked it that way, since she was shy. She also talked about small animals and how much she loved taking care of them. We became and were good friends by the time Applejack came two hours later, she had finished her chores and decided to drop by as I was about to leave.

---

Towards the evening we were all set. Pinkie Pie had arrived to say goodbye as well and Twilight was done with the preparations.
This is how I was going to get home:
First, I needed to drink a potion that would assure that nothing happened to my body during the trip.
Second, Twilight casts a spell on the gemstone currently lying on the floor which turns it into a portal.
Third, I have about 60 seconds to step in the portal and finish the transportation. The coordinates were set to around my house which Twilight seemed to know more about than me.

All of the steps were prepared but before we started we all took the time to say goodbye. Applejack tipped her hat to me, Fluttershy and Pinkie started to cry together, Rarity told me it’s been really nice spending time with me and when I gave them all each a giant hug Twilight whispered in my ear: “It’s for the best, remember that.”

I took a deep breath and accepted the soup-like potion that Twilight handed to me. It was disgusting, but I took it down in one hit. Quite impressive. I looked into the ponies eyes one more time as to say goodbye when the door opened.
It was the sixth pony; it was the pony that had been messing with my mind for so long, it was Rainbow Dash.

“So this is where you are all at? I have been looking everywhere and when I asked Applebloom she said you were he-“ Rainbow Dash stopped right in her tracks as she met my eye contact.
Time was slowed down to nothing but fragments of its original playback speed. Everything surrounding the two of us was slowly melting away. Soon, it was just the two of us, alone in an empty space. Nothing else mattered, nothing else was important. According to the look on her face, she felt the exact same way.

I studied her body closer, she had light blue fur and a rainbow colored main with a matching rainbow colored tail. She had purple iris, kind of like Twilight, and she had wings. She didn’t have any horn and Twilight didn’t have any wings. Spike had told me that there are three kinds of ponies; Unicorns (Twilight), Earth ponies and Pegasus. This was a beautiful Pegasus. I looked at her flank for a cutiemarks and there it was. It was a cloud shooting a rainbow themed lightning. Everything about her I had seen before. It was all so clear in my memories, but I still couldn’t reach them.

That’s right, still blank. You had to experience your memories to remember them. She was right there! How could this not be experiencing it? What cruel lord has decided to put me in such mental suffering?! I looked at her eyes again and I could feel the energy in them as I knew she was reliving her past. She was given the valuable memories I was so far spared from. She was remembering…

Her eyes made rapid movements back and forth, clearly showing how she was jumping from memories in her past and I even started to notice tears building up. On my side, it was empty. Why couldn’t I remember? What is happening to me? What has happened to me? What is happening to her?
I began to notice her lips moving, trying hard to shape a word, but she failed. She gave it another try, this time she looked up into my eyes which gave her the push she needed as she slowly whispered a word. It wasn’t loud, but it was still so clear, more than anything ever in my past. She whispered:
“Dad…”

Dad?! Did she call me her dad?! There is no possible way for me to be her biological father! What the hell was she talking about?! If I really was her father, why did we have to be separated? Why couldn’t I even know of her existence? Why couldn’t she know of my existence?

“Oh no, she is remembering! Hey, the portal is open! You have to go! NOW! Ignore her!” Twilight yelled. We were back in the library, from the mindless world that my moment together with Rainbow Dash had brought us to. Applejack and Twilight were now holding my so called “daughter” in a firm grip, barely allowing her to struggle. And she did. She kicked, squirmed, yelled and was now openly crying.
“DAD!!! DON’T GO! DON’T LEAVE ME!! NOOOOOOO!!!” The tears were flooding her cute, puffy and light-blue cheeks. It truly was a devastating sight.
“YOU HAVE TO GO NOW!!!” Twilight shouted while attempting to contain her panicking, cyan blue friend.
“Just go, partner! She will be fine!” Applejack was struggling just as much as Twilight, Rainbow Dash was very strong.
I turned around and the portal came into my focus. It was a large blue oval, just a bit taller than me and about 3 feet in width. I wanted to stop. I wanted to turn around and run into the arms of my “daughter” and never let go. But she wasn’t my daughter; she was another pony who had somehow a deep connection to my memories. I could slowly feel my feet starting to move forward in the direction of the portal. I could only hear the bruised screams coming from her; they went straight into my mind, piercing everything on its way. It was driving me insane. This creature was sharing an unlimited amount of love for me. She would be willing to sacrifice herself for me.  She yelled the word dad over and over from a sore throat with only the sobbing of pure sadness stopping her. She loved me, but I could not say the same for her. What was wrong with me not to remember? WHY CAN’T I REMEMBER?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!

My fingers touched the warm surface of the dark blue portal and time seemed to slow down as I was noticing every detail of this room. The clock on the left side, making clear noises “Tick, tock, tick, tock”, the glass of water on the table next to me, whose contents are splashing back and forth from all of the commotion going on behind me, the tears dropping onto the floor. A tear drop fell on my foot, soaking into my sock. My cheek was wet, I was crying too. My frustration of not knowing my own name, my own past, my own family, had driven me to tears. Something broke the silence in my mind, a sound, a voice. A voice made it through the desperate barrier my mind had set up and reached into my conscious, my heart and my soul. It was Rainbow Dash’s sore and dry voice yelling straight into the deepest part of my mind. What had only been sobs before was now a clear and full sentence.

“DADDY, I LOVE YOU!!!” It was her last effort into changing my mind as her body collapsed to the floor, strained from the struggling, the crying and the emotional disorientation. She broke down into tears and Applejack and Twilight did their best in comforting her. But I didn’t pay attention to that. I froze, time froze, and the world stopped spinning for a few seconds as my mind was being reset. Finding the box, putting the small and warm body into my jacket, the cute little creature crawling up into my bed, her first bath, her first birthday, her first words, her small and adorable body flying for the first time only to break the sound barrier a few months later, all leading up to that night. The night were I, like many others, tucked her into bed and she said those words to me for the first time. That was the night I also realized that I really was her daddy.

My mind continued putting through one of the most beautiful montages I have ever seen; her first computer, her first tickets to the Indy 500, the many other racing and flying performances we viewed together and her many birthdays. The smiles and tears of joy she gave me in return for the items I gave her to express my love for her, my daughter. The birthdays only counted up to 20 though. Something happened that day, she left, seemingly forever. But now here she was, behind me, crying like never before and honestly, my eyes were leaking just as much by now.

The glass of water was lifted from its wobbly place on the wooded table. Its content was poured all over the gemstone and the portal disappeared in a blue and smelly steam. My hand was holding the cup, I did that. My shocking actions continued as, before Twilight could make a single noise in protest, I turned around, jumping towards my daughter and yelling: 
“I love you too, my little Dashie!”

Applejack and Twilight stepped back, realizing it was game over. I had retrieved all of my memories, I was at last together with Dashie and they would have to beat me down to the bone to be able to separate us two again.
We were hugging, crying and sobbing. Most importantly, we did it together.

> PART IV: LOOSE ENDS
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


PART IV: LOOSE ENDS

I stroked my hand up and down in a petting manner. I felt her soft fur between my fingers as my hand slid across her back. I never wanted to let go, she probably felt the same way. Her crying was less desperate now that we were together at last but much more intense from all of the overwhelming emotions that currently showered over us. Her tears dripped down on my shoulder and mine on hers. Our eyes were devastatingly red from the moisture and our hairs were messes. But I didn’t care, she didn’t care, we didn’t care. We had much bigger things to deal with.
I sniffed away some tears and looked up, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were crying too, but now from what looked to be sympathy and Rarity looked like she was on the verge of tears too. Meanwhile, Applejack and Twilight both wore fake “I’m glad for you.”-faces. What was the problem? Why couldn’t we re-unite?
I put Twilights giant and purple eyes in my eye-sight, my blurry and wet eye-sight. 
“Why?” was all of that my exhausted throat could express. Twilight looked away and I completely crushed Rarity’s poker-face by saying this as she too went crying together with Pinkie and Fluttershy.
I kept stroking Rainbow Dash’s neck and back, feeling every inch of her messy, yet beautiful main. While waiting for Twilight’s answer I kept saying positive and supporting comments to Rainbow such as “It will be okay.”, “I love you, too.”, “I’m sorry.”, “We are together now, that is what matters.” or “Don’t worry.” to calm her down, but I was probably crying just as much as her.
Twilight finally gathered up strength to look into my eyes again just after wiping away what seemed to be a tear. She looked over at Rainbow Dash, then back to me.
That was enough of an answer to me. She didn’t want to talk about it in front of her. The explanation would have to wait for later. Right now, it was only my little Dashie that mattered.
---
It’s been two days since I encountered Rainbow Dash and retrieved all of my memories about her and it’s the first time in these two days that we are to be separated. Rainbow Dash has to work on the weather team, and I couldn’t come along. I can’t fly.
Rainbow Dash gave me a hug and went out the door to go home and get prepared for the work day. For a moment, it was just me and Twilight left in the library.
“Well, I think I have to go to…” Twilight was very uncomfortable with it being just us two and started to walk towards the door that Rainbow Dash so recently had shut close. I ran in front of her and blocked off the door.
“Where do you think you’re going? I demand an explanation, now that it’s just the two of us.” I explained.
Twilight hanged her head down in capitulation and responded;
“Of course, I’m sorry.” She walked back and grabbed two chairs and put them next to a table. “Have a seat; I will get something to eat.”
I followed her simple instructions, pulled out the chair and took a seat. Shortly after, Twilight came back with some cupcakes to munch on while she led the conversation. She sat down and with a mildly sad expression and said.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything. Let’s begin with what happened after you took Rainbow Dash back here and everything leading up to me being teleported here with a memory loss.” I tried to sound as friendly as possible to lighten up her mood, but I’m afraid it did not take any affect.
“Alright. After we took her back we realized that she still had some memories left of you. We had to remove them as well. It was for the best, you understand right?” She looked up.
“Of course, since we are from different worlds, yes. She did not belong on earth. This was her home. Don’t worry, Twilight. I’m not mad about that, I understand…”
“Thank you. Anyways, we also found out that the memories that didn’t want to go away were the deepest. I wouldn’t believe it, but her subconscious seemed to have a really deep connection with your subconscious. I ensured Princess Celestia that I could handle it myself. I guess I was wrong.” She looked down into the floor for a second, then back up at me as I took a bite out of the delicious cupcake. “I looked all over and when I finally found a spell that could work, I brought the gang, including Rainbow Dash. She struggled at first, but then she realized it was for the best, for both of you.”
“And then something went wrong that caused me to show up?”
“Well, yes. I knew the spell was a bit risky since it had never been performed before, but it seemed easy. It worked, Rainbow Dash had forgotten about you. But in some way it caused you to be transported here, also with your memories of her lost.”
“I think I understand now.” I took down the cupcake from my face and put it on the table again.
“What?”
“You said that we seemed to have a deep connection between our subconscious?" As Twilight nodded I continued with my theory. “Could it be? That what happened to her memories, reflected on mine because of our bond?”
“I suppose so. Now that I think about it… Yeah, that could very well be it.” Her confused face came back for a last return as she asked me; “But why did you end up over here then?”

Why the hell was she asking me questions about this?! Anyways, I had my theory.
“What if; We had to be in the same dimension for the spell to proceed?” Twilight shined up and seemed to be glad finally.
“But you were not. But since we casted the spell, it tried solving the problem itself by transporting you here! Near the location of the spell!” She rose up and walked over to a shelf; picking out a book using her magic. “I need to check this out. Does it say anything about that problem in the instructions?” She asked herself.
I followed her movements, jealous of her magic, being able to flip the pages without the touching the book.
“Here it is. No, it doesn’t say anything about that here. The only negative effect that is listed is that the memories can be retrieved by experiencing them in person one more time.”
My eyes opened up wide. I was right the whole time about that. I was very happy to finally have the loose ends being tied up. But there was something nagging in my mind, something I had forgotten…
“There!” Twilight took down a quill from the surface of the book. “Now I’ve added that to the notes.” She walked up to the table again, and returned to her seat.
“Okay, continue.” I said, “What happened after you casted the spell?”
“Well, there was a sudden blast coming from the Everfree forest. Your arrival, I presume?” I nodded and she continued; “Well, we didn’t know that at the time. To us, it could have been everything. Dragon, Mutant, Ursa Major… You name it.” I laughed a bit at their incredibly false theories. It was just little, old me. “I offered myself to go and check it out while the others went to spread the news and have everypony in Ponyville hide and prepare for an attack.”
“So that’s why it was so empty when I arrived…”
“Yes. I quickly ran over into the Everfree forest. About 10 minutes later, I heard an incredible scream just a few hundred feet away from my position. It came from you, what was that by the way?”
I blushed a little when I remembered my freak out in the forest, “Erhm… Frustration.”
“I quickly found you. Then you noticed me and our eyes met. When you yelled at me I didn’t know if you were friendly or not so I ran away, all the way back to Ponyville. I also warned everypony that you were soon entering the town.”
“You didn’t know who I was?”
“Not at the time, no.” She continued her wild story. “By curiosity I stayed and waited for you. I wanted to have a closer look.” I finished my second cupcake and kept listening. “Just as I thought you were not going to show up, you did and you started to knock on doors like a fool.”
“Ha-ha, yep. Just your friendly, neighborhood human.” Twilight looked confused. Of course, why would they have Spiderman here? That was a dumb reference. ”I’m sorry, continue.”
“Eventually, I noticed that it was you. In shock I jumped back and knocked over a barrel behind me.” So that was the noise… “You saw me and I ran. You are very fast by the way.”
“Thanks for noticing.”
“And everything that happened from then on I think you can understand. I am terribly sorry for my attack on you before by the way.”
“It’s okay. People do some crazy stuff when under hard pressure, isn’t that so?”
“Ha-ha. Yeah, exactly.”
Our conversation continued into laughter and we talked about our own different experiences from our worlds. Twilight seemed very relieved that I wasn’t as interrogating as much as she thought me to. But eventually, our joyful expressions faded away as we moved on to the inevitable, unpleasant topic…
“We have to return you to your world as fast as possible.” Twilight continued from her speech about me not belonging in Equestria.
“I can’t…” I responded sadly.
“You do not belong here!” It was the fourth time she had said that sentence in her rant when I finally responded. With the truth.
“I do not belong on Earth either!”
“Why not?!”
Why not… WHY NOT?!... It was a very good question. A question I so far did not have an answer to.
Wrong! I did have the answer, actually. It had been nagging on my mind since sugarcube corner. When I saw…
“AHHHHHH!!!” I fell back, over my chair and onto the floor.
“What’s wrong?”
“The anguish! MAKE IT STOP!” Twilight flew up from her chair, just as fast as I had fallen. She walked up to me, very worried.
“Just tell me what’s wrong! Is there anything I can do?!” She yelled to overhear my screams.
“I’m freezing, get me a blanket.” In five seconds, she did so. She wrapped it around me. I was not going to faint this time I convinced myself. Stay conscious. Instead, I cried. 
“What happened?” She was even more worried now. “Did I do something?”
She sighed in selfish relief as I shook my head. She was still worried, though.
“What is wrong, then?”
The memories came back now. What really happened after Rainbow Dash had left my life.
“I promised her I would be a better man, I promised myself… I thought I would. I REALLY DID!” Twilight backed off, shocked about my crazy rambling. Anytime now, she would be kind enough to offer me a straightjacket. “Life fell back to its normal routine. Wake up, work, eat, sleep, and be depressed. All day around, all month around. ALL YEAR AROUND. I had no sibling to turn to, my parents were dead and I had left all of my friends behind when we moved to the country-side. I worked at an office, alone in a giant sector. Alone all day. I was going crazy.” I accepted a napkin Twilight offered me as I sat on the floor, wrapped in a blanket, crying, going insane… One more time… “It was the day, one year after you took her away, exactly one year.” Twilight was counting; she came to an agreement that Rainbow Dash was exactly 1 day in Equestria until I came “I was mourning her passing away. She was as much as dead to me. Gone forever, the one and only soul I could turn to, love. I couldn’t take it anymore…”
Twilight started crying, realizing what I was about to say.
“It was so pretty.” I let out a giggle out of pure insanity. “The text, I tried really hard to make it look pretty. The letter, sitting on the table, I remember every word I wrote to anyone who would make the horrific discovery.” Twilight looked over at the small table next to the stairs, with a letter on it that she had been writing. “Yes, just like that one. Just like that one.” Another insane giggle flew out of my body. “There is more… On the table. The photo album we had cherished. It was there to. The final page, the letter from Rainbow Dash. The last I ever heard of you, Rainbow. Underneath your writings I added the small text; I’m sorry.” I spoke to midair, pretending it to be Rainbow Dash for a moment.
Twilight covered up her mouth with her hoof, to prevent a loud sniffle from escaping her pure lips. Pure, pure as her soul. Her soul had not been devastated as mine had.
“That’s where the knife came in, the ingenious escape plan. It was there too, as the final object on that table. It was just a kitchen knife, but it was the best tool I had. I lifted the knife from its cute spot on the table.” I lifted my arms up as to show how I was holding the knife. “The final words I spoke before the transportation interrupted me were; I’m so sorry Rainbow Dash. I… I honestly wish there was another way to do this. I wish I didn’t have to do this. But…”
Twilight screamed. Those words. Those exact words. Twilight was the one who inspired me, as she said those exact words when they took away Rainbow Dash. It was for the best, she also said. “Do you like it? You inspired me to say it.” The third and final insanity laughter followed. “I also said; Maybe, maybe I will meet you again someday. I LOVE YOU, MY LITTLE DASHIE!” I yelled as loud as my throat let me and struck down the invisible knife into my heart. Twilight screamed “NOOOOO!!!” as I finally fainted, ending my courageous act and escaping the horrifying madness no one should ever experience. But I did and I can’t forget, I will never forget.
---
“Where am I?” I rose up. I was lying on a hospital bed. For how long have I been out this time?
“You are in a mental-hospital. They need to erase the bad memories from you for you to be fully restored, mentally.” Twilight’s voice responded from my left. I turned my head sideways and the whole gang was there; Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.
“Dad!” She shouted and ran into my arms.
“Careful!” Applejack objected, “He is still recovering!”
“It’s okay, I’m fine.” As Rainbow and I hugged I looked over at Twilight and silently shaped the words “Does she know?” with my lips. She seemed to get the message as she shook her head while staring at me seriously. I understood, she doesn’t need to know, at least not now. Wait a minute? A mental-hospital?
“Am I in a mental hospital? Does Equestria even have those?!” I asked.
“We have one, we are in Canterlot.” Twilight responded.
“Canterlot? You took me to Canterlot? What if Princess Celestia finds me?!”
“I already have.” I quickly turned my head to the right, only to be met with the ruler of the sun walking in through the doorway. Perfect fit. “Don’t worry. Twilight told me about your rather fascinating story…”
I looked over at Rainbow Dash, whom didn’t react. She probably thought Celestia meant my journey here, not the scary story of what happened before. Celestia continued: “…and we realized something. When we thought it was for the best to separate you two, we were wrong. You are a family, and we shall never interfere with such love. But we did and it was wrong of us. That is why I have allowed for you to stay here, in Equestria.”
Tears of pure joy leaked from my eye-lids as I hugged Rainbow even tighter. “Thanks…” I managed to say, knowing it was not even close to how much I owed them.
It was silent for a few minutes, before I finally spoke;
“What happens now?”
THE END

Dear Rainbow Dash,
Tomorrow I am going to proceed with a very dangerous spell to erase what evil still lies inside me. Princess Celestia herself is in charge, so I count on that nothing will go wrong. But I can’t help myself to ask, what if it does?
So that is why I have been writing down all of my experiences with you into this notebook. If something ever happens to me, take this as a proof of that I will always love you as most of my memories with you will be written down here in the form of a story. I remember how much you used to love bed-time stories. So here is the story about us.
Remember, whatever happens tomorrow. I will always love you. No matter what. Don’t you EVER doubt that. Make me proud; live a happy life. If nothing does go wrong tomorrow maybe we can publish this as a book together? That would be fun, right?
Sincerely, Your Loving And Caring Father.
PS, Princess Celestia also promised me a house, very close to where you live. So we can hang out, and you can still maintain your private space, as you’ve always wanted.