Twilight Sparkle was, as usual, reading. She sat on a pillow near the glass door to the library's balcony, with a copy of The Astronomicon: A Unicorn's Guide to Stars and Lunar Spellcraft splayed out on the floor before her. It was a fine summer day, and Ponyville was bustling with activity. All of her friends, however, were far too busy to get out today: Applejack had to help Big Macintosh with the latest apple harvest; Rarity had to finish a dozen dresses within the day; Pinkie Pie was helping the Cakes fill orders of baked goods; Fluttershy was bogged down with all of the town's pets; and Rainbow Dash was helping with preparations for a grand summer downpour.

So, with none of her friends around, Twilight elected to stay inside and study. As she flipped through the pages, the rising sun reached exactly the wrong point in the sky; filtering through the grimy glass, it created a glare that stung her eyes. She briefly considered calling on Spike to clean the door, then remembered that he wasn't around - she had given Spike the day off, and he was no doubt out playing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders or vying for Rarity's attention.

Twilight sighed. Cleaning would have to come later; she opened the door, letting in fresh air and the sounds of the town below. Returning her attention to the book, she flipped through more pages before finally finding what she sought - the aurora spell. Contrary to the air of sophistication surrounding the exceedingly rare old tome, the Astronomicon contained surprisingly little scholarly information on the stars - it did have, however, a great deal of showy spells involving the sky; most merely party tricks and displays of grandeur. This particular spell would allow her to recreate a sky-borne phenomenon that Luna herself rarely put in the effort to make - and a great deal of effort it would be, apparently. She would have to save this one for a special occasion.

After a few minutes of study as she committed the spell to memory, Twilight's ear twitched. She turned her attention to the sounds of the town - or rather, the lack thereof. The town had gone almost completely silent. The hustle and bustle of Ponyville hadn't died down this quickly since...

Zecora? Could it be her?

Twilight shook her head. No, everypony is over their fear of Zecora by now. What could it be, then?

The answer to her question knocked on the library door, jolting her out of her thoughts.

"I'm on my way!" Twilight called cheerfully, jumping up off of her pillow. The library had been closed for the day, the door locked, but it was more a barrier of formality than anything; Twilight was more than happy to open the door for anypony in need of a book. Lifting the Astronomicon with her magic, she headed downstairs with the book following suit. Without looking, she placed the book on the lobby's table, bookmarked her page, and closed it while she walked over to the door. As it swung open, Twilight was about to give her usual cheery greeting when her voice caught in her throat; she found herself standing eye to neck with a stallion of considerable size. Though not as big as Big Macintosh, he was certainly larger than any of the other Ponyville residents. Unlike Mac, who was kind and gentle, this pony had an air of electricity about him - as though he might lash out and break something at any moment. Twilight gulped, suddenly feeling quite small.

Her gaze dropped to the floor and slowly rose, looking over the unusual stallion on her doorstep. His hooves looked battered and worn, as though he had run thousands upon thousands of miles - or perhaps kicked down a few too many walls. His body was shrouded in a jet black cloak that bulged at the sides, giving away the saddlebags he no doubt carried on his journey from who-knows-where.

Looking up further, her gaze settled on an amulet. An elaborate silver chain around his neck held a ruby that had been cut to resemble a shield. This was not the sort of pony who carried unnecessary trifles; she gave it a closer look, and sure enough found that it was pulsing near-imperceptibly with some form of magic. Shifting her eyes to the side, she saw the hilt of a sword sheathed over his back. It was not much to look at, and she felt her attention being pulled elsewhere; she obliged, looking up to his face.

The fur covering his neck and face looked to have once been dark, but now it had long since faded and was nearest the color of ash. The fur was broken up by horrific scars; he had scars everywhere, in fact - some merely more severe than others. Twilight could not see the rest of his body, but something told her that his entire form was heavily scarred - the same as his face and neck. Her eyes flicked up to his mane which, unsurprisingly, was also faded. It may have once been an illustrious silver, but now all that was left was a dull gray.

Finally, her eyes focused on his. Unlike his other features - battered, worn, aged - his eyes held a look of fire. The irises were, like the rest of him, gray - not the dull gray of his mane, but the sharp gray of fine steel which shone like a honed and polished blade. Those eyes were staring into hers, now. Her brief inspection had taken only a few seconds, and he didn't show any reaction. Seeing that she wasn't about to say anything, the stallion began to speak.

"You..." he said, his voice barely more than a whisper, "...must be Twilight Sparkle."

"Um... yes, that's me." Twilight replied, slightly concerned as to how he knew her name.

The stallion's gaze softened. The electricity in the air around him fizzled and died. His eyes detached from hers and lost their focus, shifting into a thousand yard stare. He spoke again, staring off into space. "I have heard a great many things about you, Twilight. I am told that you may be able to help me with my..." he paused, choosing his words carefully, "...unusual condition."

At his last words, Twilight's eyes shifted to his scars; she wondered if they had something to do with what he was talking about. As she looked back into his unfocused eyes, she knew that this was a pony who would have quite the story to tell.

"May I come in?" he asked, his low and unsettling voice having become completely monotone.

Twilight realized that a number of Ponyville residents were watching their exchange at the library door. She knew that whether or not they accepted this strange new pony hinged almost entirely on how she reacted to him. Her look of shock finally melted into a welcoming smile.

"Of course! Come on in!" she said, backing out of the way so that the towering figure could pass. "I can't guarantee I'll be able to help, but I promise to try." she added, turning around as the door closed behind them. Through the door, she could faintly hear the sounds of things returning to normal. With Twilight's implied endorsement of the new pony in town, the others would hopefully at least refrain from running away at the sight of him. She did have to admit, though, that he was more than a little intimidating.

Trotting over to the table, she moved a pair of pillows for them to sit on. He sat opposite from her, and his eyes roamed around the room. His gaze was still slack - she couldn't tell if he was actually seeing the room, or something far beyond it. Twilight reasoned that he was likely waiting for her to speak.

"So... before we get to this problem of yours, wouldn't you like to introduce yourself?"

"I wouldn't call it a... problem." he replied, dodging the question. His eyes lingered for a moment on a bookshelf behind him, his neck bent around to see it. He turned back toward her and shifted his attention to the book on the table between them. "I am told you have a great deal of magical talent, Twilight. While your cutie mark is evidence of that, your choice of reading material gives me certain... doubts."

She raised an eyebrow at him, though he wouldn't see it. "You know this book?"

He nodded, his gaze locked on the book's title-less binding. "The Astronomicon, if memory serves. A dusty old tome full of ancient party tricks. Most of it would have been beginner's fare some... fifteen hundred years ago, though I suppose standards may have... declined with time." The stallion scoffed.

Twilight's jaw had dropped. For the most part, only unicorns knew the first thing about magic - and very few unicorns could recognize the Astronomicon by the untitled cover alone. "You're not actually a unicorn, are you?" she asked, "Concealing your horn with a spell, perhaps?"

The stallion burst into a fit of what looked like roaring laughter, though no sound escaped him. For a moment Twilight was concerned that she may have suddenly gone deaf, but she knew that wasn't the case when she heard his hooves thumping against the floor. He composed himself, his eyes in focus and his voice carrying some form of tone for the first time since he had come inside. "No, I don't believe I have ever been a unicorn. I suppose that at one time, long ago, I was a pegasus."

Twilight's curiosity got the better of her, and she asked without thinking, "Long ago? Then what are you now?"

Once again the stallion's eyes grew distant. Instead of speaking, it seemed he elected to show her. His teeth dug into the neck of his cloak and, in one swift movement, pulled it off of his frame and up over his head. He dropped the cloak to the floor in front of him and said, in a haunting monotone voice, "Now... I am less than I once was."

Twilight stood up and, ever so slowly, made her way around the table. His eyes did not follow her; he stared into space, his mind somewhere far away. First, her gaze fell upon the sword strapped to his back. It hadn't been much to look at before, but now it seemed to have changed - the grip was wrapped in well-chewed silver wire, and the pommel had embedded into it a square-cut ruby as flawless as the one on the amulet around his neck. The crossguard was forged of some metal she had never seen - it appeared unmarred, even with the obvious age of the wiring around the grip. The blade was housed in a scabbard of the same metal, wrapped in elaborate carvings of apparently meaningless patterns. The weapon exuded a faint pull; both of magic, and of purest malice. She forced herself to tear her attention away from it.

At last, she saw them; folded over the straps of his simple, brown flaxen saddlebags, were what remained of his wings. The flesh was torn in sickening ways - wounds that had never fully healed - and all of his feathers were gone. They were simply not there.

Judging by what's left of them, his wingspan must have been magnificent in days gone by... dear Celestia, what in the world has happened to this poor creature?

As Twilight's thoughts roamed, her eyes fell - and locked on perhaps the stallion's most disturbing feature of all. While the rest of his body was covered in scars of all sorts, there was a patch on his flank that was perfectly bare - nothing but his dull ashen fur.

This pony had no cutie mark.

She felt her jaw drop open as she raised her eyes and met his. They stared at each other, the stallion's eyes focused again in a sorrowful expression. He knew the look of shock she was giving him all too well.

"Wha...but... you... how?" She tripped over her words, trying to find a way to voice the question they both knew was in her head.

"You wonder why I have no cutie mark?" he said for her.

"...yes. I mean, you're obviously, uh... old."

The stallion mimed chuckling, not making a sound. "Older than you know. The answers will come in time, young one. But before I can give them, I must ask something of you that I am not yet entirely convinced you are... capable of. Let us return our attention to this book of yours." His eyes were focused now as he turned back to the table, while Twilight took her seat opposite him again. At least for the moment, his full attention seemed to be here in the room with her. "Now, while it is true that the contents of the Astronomicon are for the most part foal's play, my understanding is that the book itself is exceedingly rare: only three known copies remain in existence after the Lunar Inquisition. How, might I ask, have you - a small town librarian pony - come to possess one of them?"

Twilight's eyes widened at the mention of the Lunar Inquisition. It had been a small collective of superstitious ponies that had traveled Equestria gathering and burning books related to the princess of the night, fearing that the knowledge contained in them would somehow set Nightmare Moon free. But that was five hundred years ago, halfway through Luna's exile. Hardly anyone but Celestia herself remembered it now.

"You could say I have friends in high places." she said, deciding she wasn't going to give him all of the answers until he started answering some of her questions in turn. "I have to ask - how do you know all of this?"

The stallion smirked, sensing it was time he gave her a straight answer. The expression looked painful, as it stretched the scarred flesh of his old face. "While it is true that I have never been a unicorn, I have always had good reason to be interested in magic. Long ago, I met a traveling scholar; an unusual fellow he was, wore a cloak and a pointy hat covered in bells. He wanted to know about the magics of the lands beyond Equestria's borders, and I wanted to know about traditional Equestrian magic. We came to a mutual agreement - I got an education in magic that I could never use myself, and with the knowledge I gave him he went on to become one of the most important ponies in unicorn history. You could say I drew the short stick, but who's still alive to laugh about it now? I don't think I need to tell you the answer to that question."

Twilight was, at this point, beyond being surprised at the things this pony had to say. Instead, she simply raised an eyebrow and said, "You knew Starswirl the Bearded?"

The stallion laughed silently, pounding a hoof against the table and leaving a sizable crack in the wood. "The bearded? Is that what they're calling him? I guess he really did never shave that thing off. Now I'm gonna owe him a few thousand bits in the afterlife - if I ever make it there! Ha!"

Twilight was beginning to understand what this stallion's predicament might be, though she could scarcely believe it. Starswirl the Bearded had lived and died long before Luna had been exiled. "So... if you are as well educated as it sounds, you should know that not every spell in the Astronomicon is for beginners."

The stallion composed himself and, for a moment, looked to be deep in thought. "You don't mean... the aurora spell, do you?"

She only smirked at him.

It was his turn to be surprised - he took on an expression of incredulity and exclaimed, "But that spell hasn't been performed in more than a thousand years! Princess Luna herself has trouble with it, and she created the spell! You can't be serious."

"Oh, I'm quite serious." she replied. "I haven't done it yet, but I know I'll be able to pull it off."

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Only the fact that I'm a personal student of Princess Celestia. Do you still doubt me?"

The stallion continued to wear his incredulous look for a moment, before launching into another fit of his peculiar soundless laughter. "It all makes sense now! I have to admit, I was more than a little doubtful when I was told that a small town librarian unicorn might be able to perform the spell I need - but the only sensible way you could have gotten your hooves on a copy of the Astronomicon is from the Princess' private library."

As he spoke he opened the cover of the book to the first page, as if searching for something. When he found it, he laughed all the harder. "And there it is! Starswirl's own signature! This is the very same book he lent to me for my education on the stars, all that time ago... ah, isn't that something." He finally regained his composure. "It seems I have misjudged you, Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps you have just the sort of expertise I have been searching for. You have been honest and straight with me thus far, and so I wish I could give you the answers to the many questions you must have. But before I can do that, I am afraid I must ask something of you."

"As you have likely guessed at this point, I am old. Exactly how old, I do not remember. My memory has rarely failed me regarding impersonal things in all my years of life." His eyes grew out of focus, and his voice lost its life once again. "But I have lived through things no pony should ever have to experience. As time has passed, my mind has come to reject the memory of what transpired so long ago to make me... like this. As I said before, what I have is not a problem. A problem can be solved, and the solution is often a simple one. What I have is a condition. A disease that eats away at me, and requires curing. Something all the more difficult to do."

Twilight fidgeted in her seat, unsettled by his words. "So what do you need me to do?"

"A simple matter," he replied. "I require of you a spell that will force me to remember... everything. All of the repressed memories, all of the horrible experiences. If I am to be cured of this condition, I must first know what caused it. If local stories are to be believed, you have performed such a spell a handful of times already. Once it has been done, you will have the answers you seek."

"Oh... that spell." she said. He was referring to the Discord incident, of course. "I think I can do that, yes. Just realize that all of those memories are going to hit you at the same time - it will probably be more than a little overwhelming. Are you sure you're... ready?"

He only nodded.

"Alright..." she said, moving the Astronomicon off of the table and onto a nearby shelf. The stallion laid his head down on the table, closed his eyes, and waited. Twilight wasn't convinced this was a good idea, but she had promised to help if she could. Her horn faintly glowed as she brought her head down toward his. When her horn touched his forehead, there was a flash of light from the ruby necklace around his neck; then, for a moment, everything was black as pitch - it was as if the sun had suddenly flickered like a dying lightbulb. It was over as swiftly as it began.

Then the stallion began to scream.

Next Chapter: Chapter Two - Forsaken Memories Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 5 Minutes