The Tantabus is defeated by Princess Luna and the citizens of Ponyville. Four days later, it wakes in a new world with no memory of who it is or how it got there. It embarks on a journey to discover who- or what- it is and learns how its arrival in reality is more complicated than expected.
A mistake. The Tantabus' existence, the purpose I gave it, was a mistake. To ravage my mind with nightmares so I never forgot my sins. What a silly notion that was now that I look back on it. My method of retribution slowly transformed into a monster. A monster.
RAINBOW DASH POV
I couldn't get any sleep after the nightmares that thing gave me so I went outside to cool my nerves. The Everfree, despite the dangers that lurked inside, looked quite peaceful during the night, like the forest itself was sleeping. I landed on a comfy cloud and decided to sleep there for the night but in the corner of my eye, I could see a silhouette of a pony. When I lowered my cloud and looked closer, I could see them lying on the ground and not moving. From their appearance, they looked male and in their late teens. I got off my cloud and landed next to the unconscious stallion. He had dark blue fur and a long, black mane with white stripes. he top of his face was completely silhouetted by his mane so only his muzzle was visible. His clothes were super weird too; a skin-tight, black bodysuit with a white jacket that showed off the midriff and brown boots over it. It almost reminded me of the shadowbolt costume I wore for Nightmare Night. I began shaking him to try and get him to wake up. After a few seconds of shouting and shaking, he slowly rose into a sitting position "'Bout time you woke up. You looked like you were dead for a moment there. Anyway, you should get out of here; the Everfree isn't exactly a napping spot. Trust me, I've tried," We both stood up and I lead him back to Ponyville "My name's Rainbow Dash; fastest pony in Equestria! What's your name?"
"..." He looked towards me but said nothing
"Uhhh, dude, your name please?" He opened his mouth this time but again, no response. At this point, I grew annoyed at what I thought to be a prank and stopped him "Okay bub, I don't know where you're from but here we respond when we are asked a question. Now I'll ask you one more time; What. Is. Your. Name?!" I yelled. He responded with a shrug of his shoulders "You don't know your name?" He shook his head "Your family?" He shook again "Anything?!"
With a final shake of his head, I sighed as we continued on our way to Ponyville "You're going to be a handful, aren't you?" He tilted his head in confusion "Don't worry about it. I'll take you to a bookworm I know who should be able to help you. For the meantime, just try to remember everything you can," I said as we approached the exit.
TWILIGHT POV
A loud knock on my door woke me up and with a groan, I slithered out of my book pile and to the door. I was shocked to see Rainbow Dash with a stranger at the library "Heya, Twilight! I've got a delivery for ya!" she said as she pushed the stranger in with ease. I stepped to the side and shut the door, confused as to what was happening.
"Um, Rainbow Dash? Care to tell me why you have brought yourself and a stranger to my home at 2:39 A.M?" I looked over at the individual, looking around the library with awe as if he'd never seen a book before. Rainbow explained to me what had happened and that the stallion had no memory of his life and refused to talk. However "Rainbow? Had it ever dawned upon you that he may be mute?" I asked her. She 'ooh' in realisation and went up to the stallion, who was now looking into one of the books, specifically 'The Two Sisters'.
"Hey, uh, dude? I'm sorry for being all rude to you before; didn't cross my mind that you may have not been able to talk. Are we cool?" she asked. The stallion silently nodded and went up to me, showing me a page of the book that from his hand signals, he seemed to be interested in. He was pointing at the Luna in the picture of her looking over the ponies at night
"Ah yes, that is Princess Luna of the Night, Why do you ask? Do you remember anything?" He nodded and mimicked a quill with his hand "You want to write something? Here," I levitated a quill and scroll over to him and he began writing. Shortly after, he stopped and showed me and Rainbow.
"Anubis? Is that your name? That sounds like a great name for you! My name is Twilight Sparkle," He nodded again. This was good progress "Okay, from what I am getting from you, you seem to have no home, correct?" Anubis nodded sadly "Then it is decided! You will live here with me until you regain your memory. You seem to like books so you can read as much as you like here. Just remember to put them back exactly where you found them, deal?" I asked, holding out my hand. Anubis looked at my hand for a moment and extended his own. Except he didn't close his hand around it, leading me to believe his amnesia was much worse than we thought.
"Its a handshake, Anubis. You're supposed to shake it," Rainbow assisted. Anubis did as he was told and shook my hand. I lead him downstairs to a spare room "This will be where you'll stay for the night, okay?" he nodded and walked into the room. I closed the door behind me "If anything's wrong with the room, just shout for me!" I said walking back up the stairs where Rainbow was waiting for me "Oh wait, he can't talk... oops," I said in hindsight "Anyway, Rainbow, I think Anubis' amnesia is worse than I thought. He appears to have lost both his episodic and semantic memory. In normal cases, it should only be episodic that is affected but for him, it's both. I wonder why..." Rainbow only looked at me confused "He doesn't remember his life and anything about the world, seeing as he didn't even know what a handshake was until a minute ago."
"So, are we going to show him around Ponyville tomorrow? He seems to have no clue about where he was and I want to ask him how he sees through that silhouette over his eyes. Enough about that, I'm gonna head home. Clouds to bust, you know. I'll come back if I find anymore mysterious, unknown mutes unconscious in the Everfree," she said as she took off through an open window. I sighed in annoyance before dragging my focus back to Anubis.
"Everfree... We should check if he's under the influence of Poison Joke tomorrow." With that, Rainbow left and I went upstairs to finish my night's sleep, my thoughts plagued by my new room-mate's condition until darkness consumed me.
It was another beautiful day in Ponyville; the birds were singing and the children were celebrating a weekend beginning, playing in the streets. These sounds woke me from my slumber and spurred me out of my bed and to the kitchen where Spike was preparing breakfast. "Mornin' Twilight! I've made some pancakes for you," he said while flipping another for himself. I sat down, still half-asleep and ate, however, a missing thought lingered in my mind as I chewed.
"Was it to recheck my checklists? Or to feed Owlowiscious? Or was it..." As I chewed, the gears of my memory finally began to turn as I remembered last night.
. . .
"ANUBIS!" I got up, alarming Spike and teleported to the basement. Once I made it to the basement, I looked around for any sign of Anubis but to no avail "Oh no, he's gone! What do I do?! I have no idea where he went and he probably doesn't know where he's going himself! Oh, Celestia!" during my rambling, a hand tapped my shoulder, disrupting my thoughts. When I turned around, I saw Anubis, right where I had left him. This worried me slightly "Have you been standing there since I left yesterday?" he nodded, justifying my worry "Did you sleep?" he shook his head no. I looked at him intensely, studying his face for any sign of sleepiness. However, he looked as if no time had passed for him at all. He looked back at me with his blank expression I so quickly associated with his character; a barely functioning pony with no memory of his life or of this world. He was like a baby having to learn everything for the first time " Okay... Let's be sure to do that next time... Anyway, we should show you around town; this will be your home for the time being. We also need to get you to a doctor or Zecora so they can figure out what's going on," We both set out, me dragging Anubis out the door. I paid little to no attention to Spike who just accepted my attitude this morning as if it was nothing but clockwork, which at that point was.
I took him around many places; the park, the school, the shopping centre and many other places. All these places were full of life with ponies chatting, playing and ultimately, being happy together. However, through all of this, Anubis kept his neutral expression, as if this was all nothing to him. I was going to ask him what he thought of Ponyville but I reminded myself that he couldn't talk. 'It must be terrible. To have an opinion and not being able to share it...' I thought to myself. 'It would explain why he barely emotes' The rumble of my stomach alerted me of my hunger "Oops, forgot about breakfast again, didn't I? Well, at least we're close to Sugarcube Corner. Do you want to go get something to eat as well?" Noire didn't nod or shake his head this time around, which could've meant literally anything. I waited for a few seconds before he nodded reluctantly. I accept his response and went around the corner, where a happy gingerbread house was waiting for me.
"Hiya Twilight! How can I help you?" Pinkie said, with a warm smile as she always does. The shop was as bustling as always and Anubis took notice as well, looking around at all of the ponies talking amongst themselves. I smiled a little, seeing Anubis showing some kind of curiosity for the new environment he was in. "Oh! almost didn't see you there. My name's Pinkie Pie; bestest party planner pony in Ponyville! Do you like parties? I bet you like parties. Do you like cake? I hope you like cake 'cause your gonna be getting a lot from me," and just like that she zoomed into the kitchen and came back seconds later with a plate of pancakes and a slice of cake "Here! For Twilight, a stack of blueberry pancakes and for our mystery stallion, a slice of chocolate cake. On the house, of course!"
"...Thank you, Pinkie..." I said, not even bothering to question her "Anyway, this is Anubis. He's staying with me for the time being as he lost his memory and doesn't have anywhere to go," I explained. Pinkie gasped and disappeared again but didn't return. I once again assumed it was part of her random behaviour and sat down at an available table with Anubis. I dug into my pancakes, munching happily while Anubis just stared at me, making me blush a bit "Why don't you eat that cake. It looks delicious," I said. He looked to the slice of vanilla cake with a small strawberry on top, lying on the plate, waiting to be eaten. He picked it up and inspected it a bit as if he had never seen a cake, before taking a bite out of it. He paused for a small moment, concerning me greatly. 'Did he not like it?' I wondered as he continued to stare a nothing.
ANUBIS POV
I couldn't taste it. It was as I suspected when I tried sleeping but didn't help. Confusion filled my thoughts, plaguing my mind until all I could think about was 'Why?'. Any knowledge seemed to come in bits and pieces like my name '+An+AbuS'. I looked outside and saw a bunch of fillies playing with a round shape, wondering if I was like that. If I was like any of them, to begin with. A hand touched my shoulder to drag me away from the chaos ensuing inside my own mind. Twilight looked at me in worry "Are you okay?" For a moment, I was thinking of what to say to her until I remembered that thinking of such things was pointless. I simply nodded my head to assure her that everything was alright. She didn't take my nod as a confirmation "You know, you may not be able to say or express when you're feeling sad but sometimes someone can just tell. Almost like they can look into your soul. What I'm trying to say is I know you are having trouble adjusting to this life but know that I will help you in any way I can. I'm sure all my other friends will help as well," her little speech was enough to try a get a message across to her. I mimicked a quill just like last time and she was quick to summon one. I wrote on a napkin I found a simple statement but enough.
'I think I'm learning more about myself.'
Twilight was unsure on how to take this, visible by her confused face "Well, knowing more about yourself is good, even if it isn't what you would call pleasant to know," I nodded at her statement and took another bite out of my cake. It still tasted like nothing but it was somewhat filling. At least I knew it would be so the shock never followed. That brought me a sense of relief that this life wouldn't be full of pain.
"Oh my goodness! Darling!" Rarity gasped as she made her way to where Anubis and I were sitting. I feared the worst until she was right in front of me. In one fluid motion, she kneeled so we were eye to eye took both my hands with her own "I leave for a weekend in Canterlot and I come back to find you with a coltfriend!" I deadpanned, unable to respond. I should have expected such a response from her but the way she said made it out as if I had never hung out with a stallion before. I had hung out with Spike, Shiny and my dad (That counts for something right?) Rarity took a seat next to me and practically had her eyes glued to Anubis the entire time we were at that table "So? How did you two meet? Did you bump into each while out shopping? Save her from timberwolves? Spill!" Anubis obviously didn't respond to such a question due to his condition and probably because he didn't know what a coltfriend was at the time.
I saved the three of us from a painfully awkward moment and responded for him "Rarity, we're not on a date. We're just having breakfast. Also, Anubis here is mute and from what I've observed, has lost a LOT of his memory. I'm going to get him checked out by Zecora or a doctor," Rarity looked like she was about to faint when she heard my story. She leaned uncomfortably close to Anubis while he didn't even flinch.
"You don't remember anything?" She asked him. He shook his head.
"Not your age? Home address? Family?" He shook his head again. Rarity went back to her seat and wiped some imaginary sweat off her forehead "I am so sorry for you. This reminds me of something from one of my romance novels but no more sad talk. I'm sure a doctor will find out what is wrong or even getting help from the princesses. They could definitely restore your lost memory!"
"That's a great idea, Rarity! If we can't find out what's wrong, I'll send a letter to Celestia and Luna." I was so caught up in my conversation with Rarity that I didn't even notice how there was a new expression on Anubis' face: Pain.
ANUBIS POV
"Equ---ria will ---- becau-- -- --!"
"These memories."
"I think it's feeding off your guilt, -------- ----,"
"What is this feeling?"
"I've only made you suffer more!"
"It's like I'm being torn apart. Could these voices be talking about me?"
"MONSTER!"
TWILIGHT POV
"Anubis?" I asked as I made my way to his side of the table, where he was gripping the sides of his head in agony. Soon after, he fell to the floor, writhing in pain like he was having a seizure "Anubis!" When I touched his hand, I felt a jolt of magical energy. I retreated my hand in shock "External magic!? That's impossible! He's an earth pony. The only way this should be happening is if he's having a magic malfunction, but only unicorns suffer from that!"
"That doesn't matter right now, darling. We need him to get him help," Rarity said, calming me down. She was right Rarity helped him up and out of Sugarcube Corner where all of its patrons looked at us, at him, like freaks. I didn't care though, my attention was focused on Anubis, whose mouth was wide open as if he was trying to scream.
Rarity and I both shared a look of concern so I opted for the least painful route: knock him out with a sleep spell and carry him to the hospital. Rarity whispered in his ear that he would be okay as I silently cast the spell. I couldn't tell if he was asleep but his head lowering quickly was a good enough sign for the both of us. As soon as he was out cold, I carried him with my magic all the way to the hospital.
We burst through the doors to the shock of the inhabitants. "Please help! Our friend just had a seizure and needs help!" Nurse Redheart quickly took Anubis off our hands and into a room where he was not to be disturbed. Thus commenced the truly hard part: waiting. We sat next to Anubis' room for a silent five minutes before Rarity broke the suspense.
"Twilight? When exactly did you and Anubis meet?" Rarity asked, with a more curious tone than an excited one.
"Yesterday night. Rainbow found him in the Everfree unconscious." I said simply. I was too emotionally exhausted after watching my friend have a magical seizure right in front of me. I knew these things happened when a unicorn can't handle the immense amount of power they are releasing, it even happened to me once but less painful than the one I saw "This wasn't supposed to happen. Anubis is an earth pony: only unicorns suffer from magical seizures."
"I'm not a genius when it comes to this kind of stuff so correct me if I'm wrong." I turned to meet Rarity's concerned look "It hasn't been long since that night with Princess Luna. 4 days if I'm not mistaken. Do you think that night with the Tantabus and Anubis' condition are connected?" I thought on that for a second, considering the possibility.
"No way. If the Tantabus or the shared dream space had anything to do with anypony losing their memory and/or being displaced from their home, they would have been noticed, found and healed immediately- not 4 days afterwards. It's hard to believe that somepony was lost in the Everfree for that long." Silence once again drowned the noise of a moving hospital. It felt like hours of waiting and the unlady-like snores before another voice rose up to quell my thirst for answers.
A doctor with brown fur and a black mane with greying tips "Hello there ladies, my name is Doctor Hooves. I suspect you are here for our mystery stallion?"
"Are you talking about Anubis?" I asked.
"So that's his name. I'll tell you now: staff are running around like mad-ponies trying to find out his name. When you brought him in he didn't have any identification and it doesn't look like he's on our system so we assumed he's from out of town. Maybe you have his ID or could tell us about him?" I looked to Rarity, who looked just as uncomfortable as me and turned back to Dr Hooves. I explained to him everything we knew about him so far "Oh wow, that sounds like something out of a romance novel."
"I know right!" Rarity butted in. I calmly glared at her before resuming the conversation "So, do you know what happened to him?"
"Well, he is alright physically but mentally and emotionally, it's all over the place. Our magic scans showed abnormally high magical frequencies and he was tossing in his sleep the entire time. He seemed slightly aware of his surrounding as when I reached for his hair to check his eyes, he grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go. It took six nurses to get him off me."
"Please get to the point, doctor," I asked impatiently.
"I apologise. His high levels of magical frequency in the brain are common for unicorns with mental trauma but in his case, his is even higher than that. It's unnatural. Just for reference, do you know when his magical seizure began?" I thought back to the conversation we were having. When Rarity mentioned having the princesses heal Anubis and the idea that he may have been negatively affected by the shared dream or the Tantabus. He was even more quiet than usual during the conversation. He normally would've, from what I've seen, gotten curious because of something he didn't understand and observe it "Princesses. I think it began when we were talking about the princesses. I don't know why though: I've only known him for less than a day."
"Well then, he's incredibly lucky to have two of the elements of harmony taking care of him. Now, do you want to see him?"
ANUBIS POV
"Where am I? Who am I? What am I?" I found those thoughts racing through my mind when that word was uttered. Princesses. That word stirred so many feelings inside me; anger, rejection, betrayal, confusion. However, I couldn't find the source of these dark thoughts. Every time I tried to remember, all I could see was the memory I experienced from Sugarcube Corner, with the word 'monster' being the only comprehensible word. "Monster. Is that what I am?" I thought. I needed answers and these ponies, while helpful, weren't going to help me when they were just as in the dark as I am "I need to find answers. I need to go back to the start." I found myself thinking and just like that, I was gone.
