The Voyage to Asclepius

A fierce howl echoes through the empty streets of this city I've just woken up in. A grey filly sits on my back as I carry her through this mysterious place. The concrete streets were overgrown with plantation, as were the buildings. Everything on the streets were also overgrown with plantation, broken down pony-drawn carts, street lamps, and newspaper stands were covered in green moss and vines.

I have no idea what I'm doing here, and neither does the filly who is sitting on my back. She begins to speak again, "So where do we go?"

This time I reply with a proper answer, "We should find shelter first. This weather here is pretty bad, and it looks like it's going to get worse."

*RUMBLE*

I hear the sound of her stomach growling at me, "Maybe we'll find some food first..." I chuckle.

She giggles adorably, and we continue to pass stores and business establishments along the block. General stores, banks, apartments, and restaurants were broken and abandoned with plantation growing out the walls and display windows.

"I'm so hungry..." She moans.

"Just hold out for a little bit okay?" I replied.

We continued walking through the absolutely silent city. One of the restaurants on our right side had a sign that was too worn down to read. I decided to take her into the restaurant, as grey clouds began to form in the sky. We stepped inside, or rather I stepped inside. To our surprise, the vegetation inside wasn't as intensely covered on the inside of the restaurant. Tables were broken and flipped on their sides all across the floor. Holes were littered on the tables, what could have made all of these? It looks like there's something black around each of the holes.

I sit this filly down behind the counter in the far right corner of the room, "There. Now stay put okay? I'll try to find food, and try to block the door later. Maybe start a fire too."

She nods, and then slowly sits herself upright with her back up against the counter. I see a door next to the counter that is open ajar, and decide to enter it. It is completely dark, I can't see anything inside besides the floorboards in front of me. I decide to close the door and forget about the room. I hope nothing comes out of it.

Luckily, there seems to be canned goods underneath the counter that are still good. If she didn't point them out, I might have never have found them. Fruits, vegetables, and even bottled water too! What luck! Now that food is taken care of, now we need warmth. I search throughout the restaurant for something to burn, and something to start the fire. The legs of tables and chairs can be easily broken off, but I can't seem to find anything to burn them with.

"Um..."

I suppose I could find some flint or some metal and smash them together...

"I um..."

If only I had a unicorn's horn or something, that'd be a big help.

"Excuse me..."

I turn around and see that the earth pony behind the counter was trying to get my attention.

"Something wrong?" I ask.

She peeks from behind the restaurant counter something metal and shiny placed in her adorable mouth.

"What's that you got there?" I ask again.

She spits it out onto the counter top and then speaks, "I dunno. I've never seen anything like it before."

I approach her, and examine the piece of metal more thoroughly. Upon further inspection, I come to a single conclusion, "T-This is a lighter!"

She tilts her head, "A... Lighter?"

"Yeah, it turns the liquid inside into fire."

"Liquid... Into fire?" She sounds confused.

I understand that this may be a little too complicated for her, so I decide to drop the topic altogether, "Look, the important thing is, we have fire for the night."

"How do you know what all these things are?"

I'm wondering that myself. I know what a lighter is, but I don't know my name. I wonder if it's the same with her.

The filly helps me break apart the table legs and we both throw them into a pile. I collected some vines and coiled them underneath the table legs, and lit them with the lighter. It took a while, but the flames eventually engulfed the vines, and then the wooden table legs followed. After about ten (10) minutes the fire was large enough to give us enough warmth for the night.

"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have had this fire, or the food for that matter. So I guess... Thanks." I say, as I pop open a can of beans.

She remains silent. And for longest time she gives the crackling fire an empty gaze. All she's doing is staring blankly at the flames, she won't even eat anything I place beside her.

"So... Are you starting to remember anything?" I ask.

No reply.

This is starting to bug me, and I'm feeling terrible because she's ignoring me. I sigh, and get up to take another look outside. The sky is beautiful and the moon is brighter than the fire inside. I find it odd that the sky looks like it's been painted a dark blue color, I've never known the night sky to ever have color besides black. The stars decorate the sky around the moon, each of them twinkling perkily.

Maybe I should take this time block off the restaurant entrance, we don't want any unwanted visitors after all. The leftover table legs and tabletops should suffice. I drag the and push the pieces of wood to the door way, jamming the smaller pieces between the doorhandles. Now we should be safe from anything outside.

I turn around and see that the little filly has already fallen asleep. She looks kind of cute, all cuddled up by the fire like that... What am I thinking?! What is this feeling I'm getting? It feels so familiar, like I've been in a situation like this before. This is driving me crazy, this memory is just within my grasp and I can't do anything to reach further. Why?!

Before I sit down beside the filly, I hear something hit the window near the entrance. I looks like a piece of paper was blown onto the glass. Trotting closer and closer to it, I see that it's some sort of... Advertisement flier? The light from the fire let me see what it read.

"Hail to Your Rulers: George and Martha. Hail to Your home: Caduceus!" Is what it read.

The artwork on the flier looks like nothing I've ever seen before. In the flier two (2) unicorns, who I assume are George and Martha, are standing in front of the strangest white pole. The pole is straight, and two (2) snakes are wrapped around the it. A pair of beautiful white wings hover over the pole as well. This is piquing my interest now. Maybe we can get answers from this place, 'Caduceus'. My mind is made up. Starting tomorrow, we set off for Caduceus.

Returning to the filly, I lie down next to her. This is great! The two of us won't have to be alone anymore. But... Maybe I want to be alone with her. I'm starting to second guess this idea.

No, I'm thinking nonsense. We NEED are our memories back. Well, I need them back anyways.

I completely erase any doubt in my mind, we're going. And that's final...

I just hope she doesn't have any objections.