Memory is Magic

Chapter 1: The Unicorn

Wait, I survived? I’m alive? Yes... I’m definitely alive…

The Unicorn couldn’t remember what made him think that he was dead, but he was sure that he had been lucky to survive whatever it was.

Right, just open your eyes and climb out….

The Unicorn opened one eye, then the other, then immediately re-closed them as he was bombarded by the light. Desperate to reacquaint himself with his surroundings, he reopened his eyes, holding them open with his hooves. He ignored the stinging, and the fact that every muscle in his body was seemingly working together in a scheme to get him to shut his eyes tightly and never open them again. When he had finally adjusted his eyes to the light he surveyed his surroundings, he was in a bright sunny field; the colours around him were rich and bright and familiar without being recognisable enough to make The Unicorn think he'd been there before. He wondered what he had wanted to climb out of, but he couldn’t remember. In fact, he couldn’t remember how he'd got in this state in the first place, and that's when it suddenly dawned on the pony that he couldn't remember anything. Panic set into the stallion as he searched in his own head for details. There was a dull ache in his mind, not a pain, but a feeling of pressure – like being deep underwater. His name, he knew his name! He did! It was there, written out in his mind, but it was as if it had been blurred out. It was so close, tantalizingly close, but frustratingly illegible. Panicked, The Unicorn desperately groped about the fog for one detail that would remind him, it felt like his life was being kept just around a corner, just out of view – but he just needed something to help him turn the corner.

My mother’s name? My father’s? My magic kindergarten teacher? The place I used to play as a child?

Nothing.

Terrified and alone, The Unicorn looked around for a face that would spark his memory, or at least for somepony that would recognise him and take him in. In the distance he saw a town, there had to be somepony that could help him there! He got up from the prone state he had awoke in, clumsily onto his hind legs and instantly fell forwards scraping his muzzle along the grass and mud.

“Why the hay did I do that!? I must still be disorientated…” He heard his voice for the first time, trailing of in a mixture of pain and joy, this was the first thing since he had woken up that he’d recognised, but that didn’t detract from the fact that his head now felt like it had been hit by a train.

The Unicorn now stumbled clumsily towards the town now, his legs buckled occasionally and he had to stop several times for a rest even though the walk itself wasn’t that far.

When he reached a hill overlooking the town he stopped again, he felt terrible, like every muscle in his body was trying to leave through his skin. He vomited heavily and then looked out across what looked like the town centre, trying to muster up the energy or inclination to continue his journey. It was then a light came on in his head; Sugarcube Corner, The Carousel Boutique, The Market, The Town Hall… He knew these places! This was Ponyville! He didn’t know why this town was so significant to him, but at this point he didn’t care, the rush of familiarity travelled through him and gave him the burst of energy he needed to descend the steep hill towards the town.

There is a distinct downside to blind will and determination, however, as The Unicorn was about to learn. The hard way. Much of the faculty of the body is controlled by the mind and a pony can be amazed at what their bodies will do in times when they really put their minds to it, but the body and mind are separate things and sometimes one just cannot or will not co-operate with the other. The Unicorn realised this as his legs buckled beneath him, turning his inelegant galloped down the slope into an equally inelegant tumble. He continued to roll and bounce down the hill for almost a minute, only gaining speed as he wildly flailed to try and slow himself down. He fell head over tail, tail over head, until finally, he met a less than forgiving wall.

The Unicorn looked up dazed and confused at the wall, which was cracked from the impact, and then towards the sky, as this did not require the painful effort of lifting his head. He saw pegusi going about their daily lives, never thinking to look down. “Why should they?” he thought, his eyelids getting weightier by the second. The Unicorn took one last, almost admiring glance at the damage he’d caused to the side of the building he’d crashed into before yielding to the heaviness of his eyelids and passing out...