Chapter 2: Fleeting Memories

The Unicorn listened as his mother cried his name, more and more hysterically every time. He saw himself in the third person floating in a dark abyss. He was troubled by his mother’s pain, but did not truly bothered until he heard what sounded like his father… crying?

There are many things that The Unicorn knew his father for, but in all his years he had never seen him display any emotion towards him. He thought back at his life, remembering vividly growing up, playing sports far too competitively in the garden, his adolescent years spent knowing that his father loved him just enough to not break his heart by telling him his true feelings about his only son,  The Unicorn never seeing anything but an unspoken disappointment from his father. In fact, the only time he ever saw any emotion from his father was when he saw his favourite soccer team lose in a cup final. [1]

The Unicorn saw a bright light shining on his face and the silhouette of a pony, he forced himself to focus and rouse from his groggy state. He was caught in the moments between awake and asleep, where the conscious and subconscious parts of the mind work together to create visions that can never be truly understood until they are studied by the conscious mind, visions far too fantastic to be true – but at the time totally believable. He knew that this silhouette was his mother, waiting at his bedside, that’s why he had dreamt about her crying.

“Oh thank goodness, you’re OK; when I found you I thought you were… I mean you looked…” the soft voice trailed off, The Unicorn instantly realising that the owner of said voice was unable to talk her worry that he was terminally wounded. The voice most definitely wasn’t his mother’s and the mare whom it belonged couldn’t be much more than a year older than him, The Unicorn scanned her face, it seemed familiar, the pink mane and bright blue eyes, which were now looking down at the floor definitely meant something to The Unicorn, but he felt that it would be insensitive to ask her for more information in front of the other ponies. The Unicorn didn’t know why, when he was so desperate for details on his own life, that it seemed wrong to pursue the details, but it just did.

The Unicorn then started to woozily evaluate the faces of the other three ponies present. Two of the faces, again, rang a bell, an orange mare with a blonde mane, wearing a hat indoors for some reason and a male pony wearing a brace clearly designed to pull a plough. The other pony, The Unicorn recognised only as a nurse. Somepony had obviously taken him to hospital after he had passed out, he gathered.

Several minutes passed as The Unicorn tried to remember where he knew the ponies’ faces from. The ponies in question looked awkwardly around the room and at the floor, as if they knew they should say something, but nopony wanted to be the first one to speak.

“None of these ponies are my mother and father that I heard.” Thought The Unicorn, “I mean, my mother sounded like… what did she sound like? She said my name… it was… oh Celestia, how could I forget my name, I heard it just now in the dream with my father… was my father in it?” The Unicorn’s internal monologue grew increasingly melancholy as he realised that all of the important details of his dream had drifted out of focus as he woke up and that he wouldn’t be getting them back.

“What Fluttershy was trying to say, is that she was really worried that you had seriously injured yourself when she found you lying at the bottom of that hill.” Said the orange Earth Pony, apparently noticing the fear and confusion in The Unicorn’s eyes, “she ran and fetched us as soon as she could” she gestured towards the male pony standing alongside her “and we carried you here, Ponyville Royal Infirmary, you’ve been out for a couple of days.”  There were a few seconds of silence as The Unicorn attempted to process the new evidence he’d received – to the other ponies this felt like an eternity. “The name’s Applejack and this is my brother Big Macintosh.” The Earth Pony added to break the silence.

“…Applejack… Big Macintosh… Fluttershy… My name is…. is…. I can’t remember...” The Unicorn looked down, avoiding eye contact with the other ponies; he had no idea as to why he was so ashamed of admitting this. “In fact, I can’t remember anything about my own life, or where I came from…” The Unicorn trailed off, this was as close to a cry for help as the other ponies were ever going to get. He knew very little about himself, except for the fact that it was extremely uncomfortable and ill-fitting for him to be asking strangers for help.

“Oh, you poor thing!” Said Fluttershy, surprising both herself and The Unicorn with her sudden outburst of apparent confidence. Fluttershy knew that her calling was to care for those who couldn’t care for themselves and that didn’t always mean animals, but it sometimes meant ponies too. She imagined how frightening it would be to live in a world where she couldn’t remember her friends and physically shuddered at the thought. “We will help you remember who you are if it’s the last thing we do, isn’t that right Applejack?” Fluttershy looked towards Applejack, who had apparently been caught off-guard by the question. She took a moment and then nodded in agreement; she knew that even though this unicorn was a stranger, leaving him alone without even his memory just wouldn’t be right.

The Unicorn sensed an easing on his chest. Relief that he was no longer in this alone. It was only with this reassurance that he realised how scared he had been before these kind ponies had offered to help. The nurse pony left to attend to the other ponies in the ward, content that The Unicorn’s condition was improving. The room contained twelve beds, most of which clearly contained sickly ponies, three were empty and another two were obscured by curtains. An elderly mare stood with an IV on a tall stand in one hoof, staring vacantly out of the window.

“Thank you so much” said The Unicorn, “but there’s one thing I must ask you. Do I know you? I feel like I know you. I’ve not recognised anypony else, but I recognised you three. Please say that you know who I am. I-” He cut himself short, embarrassed that his panic and desperation had been portrayed so obviously in his voice. The three ponies in front of him looked at each other. There was another awkward silence, Applejack and Big Macintosh were staring expectantly at Fluttershy.

“You…. should rest.” She finally said. The Unicorn needed to know more about these ponies and the significance in his life, but he couldn’t think of an argument. He was tired, and Fluttershy’s statement had reminded him of the feeling in his head. It was not a pain, but rather an exhausting fogginess. He tried to rationalise the feeling, but the closest thing he had experienced before was the feeling at a party, when a pony is sober enough to know that what they’re doing is embarrassing and out-of-character, but inebriated enough to not stop doing it and to have a lot of fun in the process. The Unicorn tried to remember the time that this had happened, what had made him make this comparison? Ultimately, the reasoning only served to make him more tired – and he managed to give his new companions a weak, appreciative smile, before again falling asleep.

[1] Blimey, I cut an awful lot of rambling out here. I got slightly distracted by the awesome thought of ponies playing football. There was a whole section where The Unicorn remembers going to football matches, the cup final mentioned was The Unicorn’s beloved Hoofston Villa, playing and losing to Manechester United. There were ponified footballer names and everything, Gabriel Agbonlahooves, for example. Ultimately, I removed the whole thing because it made the chapter all disjointed and I didn’t think anyone would get it. Anyway, if you’ve read this far, thanks, there’s a lot more to come!