> He took a walk > by castlemaid > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > He took a walk > --------------------------------------------------------------------------   He took a walk     He woke up, head throbbing as if he’d been drinking the night prior, pain rattling through his mind as his fuzzy vision struggled to fix itself from his sudden move to an upright position. Rubbing a hoof against his temple caused some of the pain to dissipate, allowing him to think a little clearer, taking inventory of his state. He looked down at his hooves, an odd sense of confusion fell over him but he couldn’t think of why he’d feel this way. He lifted his heavy head, looking about the place he had awoken in, a large bed, covered in what he only assumed were extravagant and expensive sheets and pillows. He felt a breeze, looking over to see satin curtains flowing in the evening breeze of a balcony door, the sun slowly dipping on the horizon.   “Where am I?” This question rang through his mind, but he felt like he knew exactly where he was, like he’d been in this place his entire life. He stretched his body out, tripping over his tail as he flopped out of bed, a soft quiet voice ringing out from the balcony, “Ah you’re awake finally, I was beginning to think you’d never wake up,” the voice softly rang, and ethereal presence surrounding its tone. The pony whom’s voice spoke walked into his view, his eyes squinting as he tried to focus on her face, unable to, assuming he was still too groggy to have decent vision.   “How long was I asleep?” the colt asked aloud, finally able to stably stand on all four hooves with little difficulty. He stretched similarly to a cat, arching his back as he heard a soft pop, sighing in relief at the feeling. Moving on, he turned his neck back and forth, rolling his shoulders as he worked out all the kinks in his muscles, the atrophy he felt being released making him think he’d been out for days.   “I really couldn’t say, you just showed up last night, sleeping so soundly, I thought it’d be nice to put you somewhere more comfortable than the hard cobblestone of the patio,” she said sweetly, giggling softly, “so naturally I put you up in this guest room.”   “I’ve never been here before have I? I feel like I’ve known this place forever, but I’ve never been here…” he spoke without thinking, head still in a great deal of pain as his mind struggled to focus once more.   “You really don’t remember it do you…” She said, a tear rolling down her cheek, falling to the floor. The world seemed to go silent, allowing him to hear with perfect clarity, the exact moment of the tear’s impact with the ground, making him reel back onto his haunches, head struggling to wrap around what was going on.   “Remember what? W...what’s going on?” he spoke in a worried tone, though quietly, somehow still calm and collected as he was filled with confusion. A sudden thought came to the forefront of his mind. “Who am I? I-I don't know who I am…” He spoke, the true weight of his words finally dawning on him.   “Y...You’re…” she started, trying her best to hold back the tears in vain. Sniffling lightly, she walked slowly over to the closet, using her magic to pull down a small photo album, bringing it over to him. She opened to the first page, lying on the soft beige cardstock pages, photos of a young colt and beautiful scenery. He recognized all the places, but couldn’t recall any recollection of why.   He flipped through the pages, seeing many more pictures of scenery, tourist spots, and the same colt, over and over again. About midway through he found pictures of a tall mare, the mare sitting beside him silently crying. Pictures of the colt and the mare on beaches, at restaurants, on scenic hikes. He found a picture of the mare in a sky blue sundress, silhouetted by the setting sun, a perfectly taken shot, one of his proudest shots...one of his shots...his shot.   ***-----***   “How’s this pose?” she called out from the top of the hill, standing on her hind hooves, one of them raised just slightly to sit on the front of the hoof, her forelegs held behind her to counterbalance her position.   “Perfect, don’t move a muscle,” the wind carried his voice, almost instantly he took the shot, the mare tripping on one of her hooves, starting to fall, his wings instinctively flapping hard as he dashed to grab her by the waist. “Are you okay?” he asked with a look of worry, hearing the shutter of his camera.   ***-----***   His eyes moved to the next photo, seeing the colt holding the mare by the waist in the air, almost as if they were “Dancing in the Sky”, written in cursive as a caption to the photo. “I...I remember this moment,” he said, a certain cold sadness to his tone.   “We tried to laugh it off, but we didn’t hike for a few months after that,” she said, giggling through her tears, sniffling lightly. She rested her head on his shoulder, hesitantly pulling away, stopped by his instinct of putting his own forehoof on her back, knowing somehow that would comfort her.   He decided to jump the gun and go to the back of the book and flip to the most recent photos, the last one being of the colt on top of the hill from the first photo. “What am I doing in this photo?” he asked her gently.   “Remembering me…Remembering...us...” she said, taking him by the hoof and bringing him to the center of the room, horn glowing a wild white, eyes hazed in the same ethereal glow as she transported them both to the bottom of the hill, leading him up the hill, his head swerving on a dime to take in the moment, the wind blowing swiftly, causing the tall grass to sway, and the air to have the sweet musk of spring.   They reached the top of the hill, and he looked down, in the moments after everything hit him in pure clarity, his mind’s eye open. His face sank into a look of pure horror, her’s taking the face of sorrow. He remembered why the photo was taken, the tears began to fall.   ***-----***   They walked along the streets, go along the side trails and finding their usual spot atop their hill, the colt had his wing around the mare, keeping her warm in the brisk night air. He nervously brought her to the top of the hill, standing there and taking a deep breath. “Remember when we first came here?” he started, “well I hope I can make this moment as special as that one…” He knelt down, pulling out a little black box, opening it with his hoof, a small ring inside, “will you marry me?”   “Y-yes…”  She said, kissing the colt and nuzzling into his neck as she hugged him close, enjoying the moment, tears rolling down her face. She wished that they could stay in that moment forever, just embracing, without a care in the world. Before either of them knew it she fell to the ground, a soft sharp gasp coming from her as he eyes opened in shock.   He set her down, flying to the bottom of the hill to catch ‘her’, bringing ‘her’ back to the top of the hill, “Y-You can’t stay like this can you? Just do it already, and...make sure she knows…” he said to ‘her’   The dark mare looked away in despair and sadness, looking back up at him a few moments later, nodding and whispering softly, “G-goodbye...I am sorry to have caused this, I’ll make sure it goes back to the way it should be.” The voice was scattered and stuttering, but spoke fluently in its somber cadence. The dark mark channeled the last of her unstable magic, a bright flash before everything just...faded. The last vision in his memory was black and white becoming one.   ***-----***   He looked down at a black box, picking it up, the ground around it burnt to a crisp as if lightning had struck. Opening the box revealed the ring from his memory, but it had been etched with a magical engraving, upon reading the singular symbol his vision went white, seeing the white mare on the ground, whispering with little breath “I will never forget you, but you will forget me, because I cannot exist. I really wish we could’ve been happy...I love you…” His vision flashed seeing the other white mare, looking up as she was waving to him.   “Do you understand what we had to do?” they asked the ethereal voices intertwined with one another, “We could not live apart, it was agonizing for us both, we only meant to make you forget what we did...not all of us, a-and now...this is the last time we’re bringing you up here.”   “L-Last time? You’ve brought me here before?” he asked, breathing heavily, trying to comprehend what was occurring. They materialized the scrapbook, turning back the last few pages in the book, all of the exact same photo of him on the hill, each with a different date.   “We’ve brought you here eighteen times...you’ve never remembered it after you go to sleep, and each day you forget who you are and what happened...and it’s our fault…” the voices separated sorrowfully, the dark one speaking, “It’s my fault…”   He took in all the information...all his memories flooding back in one by one, of meeting the mares after hearing a loud explosion outside his home, getting to know them, always having the odd sense he was being watched whenever he was with them. Wondering why no one besides her ever spoke to him.   He finally knew why he couldn’t remember, “I understand now...but please don't be sad, it’ll be alright...I’ll be with you no matter what, even if i can't remember. Don’t be sad” he said disarmingly, smiling at the mare...mares. He stood up and looked up at the setting sun.   They looked at him questioningly, her white and blue irises flickering in the moonlight coming over the horizon. He nodded to them, hugging them close, smiling as he turned away. He placed the ring back down in the box.   He took a walk...looking back and seeing the mare was gone, opening the box in his hoof once more, he wished he’d never woken up that day, so on he walked, deep into the brisk night.   He woke up...and he took a walk. He woke up...he stayed in bed all day. Every day he remembered the last, but the mares were no longer there. He cried, he screamed, he whispered, all of it for naught. He woke up...he heard their call.   “Who and what are you? Why weren’t you hear the last few days?” he asked, seeing them lying at the foot of the bed. He shook, unsure of what to think, all these emotions passing through him like a fog.   “We wanted to be sure you hadn’t forgotten this time, before we told you that,” they spoke, the dark one quieting down, “I-It’s me, you remember what happened that day don’t you?” she spoke softly, tearing up as the dark one spoke up again, “The day that I was born…”   “You tried a cloning spell without using proper materials to build your clone’s body...and you split yourself in two, you...you altered my memories, we never...are your real...why can’t anyone else see you?” he asked, desperate for answers.   “Because we are you...we’re the clones you created,” they said, flickering like a mirage.   “But i’m a pegasus how could I…” he said, pressing a hoof to his forehead, feeling a horn, looking back to see he had no wings.   “w-what...I...how?” he said, shaking and looking around. He took a walk...he’s still walking. He’s not waking up.   ***-----***   “He’s not waking up…” a mare said, holding his hoof gently, “Is he ever going to wake up?” She asked with a sad tone in her voice.   “It’s been a week dearie, he’s perfectly healthy and stable, but it’s up to time to tell if he’ll wake up or not, all we can do is make his stay comfortable,” a nurse assured her, leaving the two alone.   “Come back to me...wake up, you have to remember to wake up, you’re always forgetting when to wake up, you told me to remind you. We never got to the top of that hill...I never got to say yes…”   The room went silent as she fell asleep next to him. Holding onto his foreleg for dear life.   ***-----***   The room filled with light the next morning, he slowly stirred, his vision bleary as he saw her there, attached to his foreleg. “I-It’s over...I did it?” he said softly, looking at his sides to see his wings, poking his forehead to find no horn. He got off the soft bed, standing on his hooves, he took a walk around the room. He took a walk…   He was finally free…   ***-----*** END ***-----***