Chapter 3

Pink. All I could see was pink. As my eyes focused on said pink, I realized that it was a pony, a very PINK pony. Her coat was pink, her mane and tail was a lighter pink and also absurdly puffy. She also had light blue eyes, but I could sense the difference between her eyes and Fluttershy’s eyes. While Fluttershy had an aura of kindness and gentleness, this pony gave the sense that she would break into song or throw streamers in the air just for the sake of it.

I then noticed that said pony’s face was upside down. When I looked to see where the rest of her was, I noticed that she was somehow balancing on my uninjured shoulder. With a cry of shock, I did the only thing I could think to do at the time: I grabbed the pink pony and threw her off of me, grunting as I accidentally hurt my bad shoulder in the process. When she hit the floor, she literally bounced back up and landed right in front of me. As soon as she landed, she opened her mouth, took a deep breath, and began to speak at over a mile a minute without stopping.

“Hi-I’m-Pinkie-Pie-what’s-your-name-do-you-have-friends-do-you-want-to-be-my-friend-I-love-parties-I-can’t-wait-to-throw-you-a-party-oh-we-are-going-to-have-so-much-fun-there-will-be-cake-and-cookies-and-cake-but-I-already-said-that-cupcake?” She spoke, suddenly producing a cupcake out of nowhere.

This sudden outburst caused me to slightly panic, so I did the next thing that I could think of: I took the blanket that was on me with my good hand and pulled it over my head, giving a small ”eep!” similar to the one that Fluttershy gave off before. While I hid underneath the blanket, I could hear them all talking about me.

“Oh dear, I-I think you scared him Pinkie.”

“AAAWWWW, but I was just asking him some questions! And I wanted to give him a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ cupcake.”

“You’re scaring him, though! I want to ask him a few question too Pinkie, but that doesn’t mean you have to invade his personal space.”

“Darlings, I think the poor colt here has had a rough day today, what with fighting a Manticore and all”

“You still believe that Trixie was telling the truth, Rarity? I still think that it’s a bunch of crap!”

“Hey! You weren’t there with the Great and Powerful Trixie to know what did happen, and besides, why would I lie to you girls anymore?”

“Why let me think, ‘partner’. Maybe cause ya lied to us before?”

“Yea, and nearly destroyed the town!”

“As well as puttin’ all of us towns folks into manual labor when ya kicked Twilight out.”

“I didn’t know that an Ursa Minor would come into town, alright! And I apologized about turning all of you guys into slaves.”

This went on for a good few minutes, all the while I just shrank deeper into my blanket, trying to make myself seem smaller. Finally, I heard something that surprised me, and apparently all the other mares in the room as well.

“GIRLS! SHUT UP! YOU’RE SCARING HIM!”

Immediately, everyone quieted down, and looked at whom I presumed was Fluttershy. I was shocked that such a seemingly timid pony could raise her voice to such a high level and with such intensity. As I tried to collect myself in the silence, I felt the blanket shift slightly over me. I looked up to see Fluttershy with a worried expression on her face.

“A-are you ok?” she asked me. I shook my head in a negative manner. “Did everypony scare you?” I nodded. “Would you like another hug?” I hesitated at first, and then slowly nodded again. She gave me another hug, smaller then the first, but with the same amount of feeling in it. After a minute, she pulled away and asked, ”Do you feel better now?” I slowly nodded my head. “D-do you think you can come out now?”

I looked at her with a worried expression. “C-can you s-stay with me please?” I asked in a small tone. She gave me a small smile and nodded in response as she sat down next to me in the bed. Feeling a bit more confident, I slowly lowered the blanket over my head. I held it at my neck, though, to give me comfort and warmth.

As soon as I could see again, I took a look at all of the ponies that were here. Like I said before, there were six of them in total, including Trixie and the pink pony. I began looking at the other ones with anxious but curious eyes, taking in as much detail as possible. The first one had a purple coat and darker mane and tail, with a pink and dark purple stripe going through the middle of her mane and tail. I also noticed that she had a horn on her head as well, which made me immediately think that she is a unicorn, which was probably correct. The next pony was also a unicorn, but she had a bright white coat and a deep indigo mane and tail that curled in a stylish sort of way. The next pony was a Pegasus like Fluttershy, but this one had a cyan coat and an unruly rainbow mane and matching rainbow tail. The final pony looked like a ‘normal’ pony, having neither a horn nor wings. She had a bright orange coat and a blonde mane and tail. For some strange reason, her mane and tail were in a ponytail (which I thought was ironic at the time) and she wore a Stetson hat as well.

“Hi” said the purple unicorn. “So, you can understand us?” I nodded “Wow… so you really are…you’re a human?” I nodded again, wondering what was so fascinating about me. Then the unicorn realized she had forgotten her manners. “Oh, sorry, where are my manners, let me introduce ourselves, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends.” She points at the other unicorn “This is Rarity…” Rarity came up and gave a small curtsy “Charmed to meet you, darling” she said. I nodded to her.

“This is Rainbow Dash…” Twilight continues, pointing at the cyan Pegasus. Rainbow Dash looks at me with a critical look in her eyes. “He doesn’t look tough enough to take on a Manticore.” She said, still giving me a once over. I felt somewhat hurt that she didn’t believe me, and decided that I would speak up now. “Well, I did, though I just wanted to save Trixie from that thing”

Rainbow puffs out her chest and looks me in the eye, which I respond by quickly turning away to avoid eye contact. ”Oh yeah? Prove it then!” she stated, a smirk on her face.

With a sigh, I stripped the blanket off of me, and as soon as my chest and shoulder was revealed to the ponies, they all gave a sharp gasp with the exception of Trixie and Fluttershy, who have already seen my wounds. As well as having the major slash on my shoulder, I also had the wound in my gut and a few cuts and bruises of unknown origin.

“Is this proof enough Rainbow?” I ask Dash, her mouth hung open in surprise. She closes it and gave a nod. She then points at my shoulder and says, “That looks like it hurts a lot.”

I shrugged; wincing as I accidentally hurt my shoulder again. “I hardly noticed it at the time.” I said, simply stating the facts.

“Also, why would you save somepony like her, anyways?” asked Rainbow, gesturing to Trixie. Trixie glared at the cyan mare in offense at such a question.

“I just don’t like seeing innocents getting hurt for no reason.” was my simple reply, to which Rainbow snorted at in laughter and Trixie lowered her head, making herself seem smaller. Before I could question her further on the subject, however, the orange pony stepped in.

“Dang it, sugarcube, ah don’t think even Big Mac could stand such a hit!” said the orange pony in a southern accent. She then proceeded to walk up to me and put a foreleg up in a hand (hoof?) shake. “By the way, the name’s Applejack.” She said.

I took her hoof and gave her a small handshake (hoofshake?) before withdrawing my hand back. “And you already met Pinkie Pie.” said Twilight, gesturing towards the crazy pink pony, who for some reason seemed less crazy then before. “Sorry for scaring you earlier.” Pinkie said in a mournful expression. I simply nodded in a way of accepting her apology, which made her perk up immediately. “So now that you know our names, can you tell us what your name is?” Twilight asked.

A feeling of sadness washed over me again, as I remember a few minutes ago when Fluttershy asked the same question. I sank lower into the blankets, keeping my head down to prevent them from seeing a new wave of tears forming around my eyes. Fluttershy noticed this, and gently places a hoof on my uninjured shoulder, rubbing it in small circles to comfort me. “He can’t remember his name, girls, and he’s very upset with it right now” she said, explaining my reaction to Twilight’s question.

"Oh, the poor dear, unable to remember his own name, such tragedy.” Rarity swoons, a little too dramatic for the situation, but I was in no mood to argue.

“Can you not remember anything, anything at all?” Twilight asks, trying to be helpful.

I closed my eyes trying to remember something, anything, but I get nothing except the memories from fighting the Manticore in the clearing. Suddenly, a massive pain erupts from my head, and I double over in pain.

“Oh my gosh! Are you alright?” exclaims Fluttershy, clearly worried for my own health. I am unable to respond do the massive migraine that is currently in my head. As the pain recedes, small chunks of memories began to appear, though only a very small amount. One of them included a name that suddenly appeared out from the foggy reaches of my mind. I knew that it wasn’t my name, but for some reason, I couldn’t care less, for it was still a name, and it was one that appealed to me as well.
“I…I have a name…” I said slowly, still recovering from my massive headache.

“Oh good! Can you tell us, that is…I-if it’s all right with you?” said Fluttershy, sounding happier that I might have a new name.

“It isn’t my true name, but I think I have used it before, so I might as well use it now as my real name.” I said.

“Well, come on, partner, what is it?” said Applejack.
I looked at the girls, still avoiding eye contact though. “From now on, I’ll be known as…Drakalian.”