All That I Know is Gone

Hello! My name is Crystalline, I'm a cream coloured unicorn mare with a big red puffy mane! I was selected as one of five ponies to go into the ESC's stasis project, with the help of science and unicorn magic, they believed they could pause aging and bodily function to restore it at a later date. The original plan was to freeze the five subjects for 25 years, knowing that we would probably either die or our relatives would die before we re-emerged, we said farewell to the elderly members of our family, told the others we'd be back in 25 years and left to the laboratory as quickly as possible.

~flashback~

I walked along the stone pathway leading to my home from the street, counting each stone as I always do. "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, ei," I paused, the eighth stone was missing "Hmm, odd." I continued, not bothered by the missing stone Some kid probably threw it I thought to myself, I entered my small home, the scent of cooking food his my nostrils, I ran into the kitchen and was surprised when I found my mother, cooking our favourite meal, lasagne. "Hello mother! I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow!?" I said curiously.

"Yes, I know darl, I thought I'd come early and surprise you!" She said with a cheery grin. "Don't you want your poor old mother here with you? Would you like me to leave and come back tomorrow?" She asked sarcastically.

"Of course not!" I shouted happily, hugging her from behind "Of course I want you here mum, it's not nice being alone in this house all the time" I said, kissing her cheek before going to help make the sauce for the lasagne. Everything was calm, so, even though I knew she hated the idea with every ounce of her being, I thought I'd tell her that I'd been accepted into the ESC's latest Stasis Program. "Hey, mum, about that, stasis thing." I paused for a moment.

"Oh... Yes?" she had a sad tone to her voice, almost quiet, "That horrid experiment that would most likely kill every subject involved?" She swallowed and let out a soft, sad sigh, "What of it?"

"Yeah," I paused again "That, I uhh, I got accepted into it, the letter arrived today" I couldn't bare to make eye contact with my mother, her hatred for the program is deeply rooted, as my father was lost to a Stasis Module test.

"I told you not to do that didn't I?" She complained in a sad tone "If they put you in that damn stasis module, you won't be here when your poor old mother dies!" She said, tears forming in her eyes.

"Mum," I put my hoof on her shoulder, "I'll be there when you die, I'll make sure of it, they'll wake me up, if they say no, well, that's their problem, they'll just lose a volunteer" I said reassuringly, tears were streaming down her face, her elderly body quivering with each sob.

"I just, want you to be there when I fade away," She explained, wiping a tear from her cheek, "I love you and I'd damn hope you love me back, I always thought I did a good job raising you... You've become such a wonderful young unicorn, so talented and your magical abilities? Amazing, I honestly cannot believe you're actually my daughter" Her sobbing had stopped as she finished, a smile appeared on her face, her poor old eyes glinted with happiness and pride.

"Of course mother," Though she had stopped crying, I'd only just began, "Of course I love you, you're my wonderful mum, there's no way I couldn't love you, you taught me right from wrong, left from right, you taught me my first spells, accompanied me to my first day each term of school. You're the most caring mother I could have wished for" I wasn't sobbing, though, by the end of that sentence, I realised how truly proud I was to have a mother like her. The happiness in her eyes peaked and we hugged, holding each other tightly. "I'll always be here for you mum."

"Even after my body has become lifeless and has faded away, I will always be watching you, making sure you make the right decisions, following you through your life until we meet again, in Celestia's resting place for souls," She said, patting my back "There I shall await you, until the day we shall be eternally reunited" She finished, letting me go and continuing to put the final layer on the lasagne. " now, hurry up and bring the topping sauce over here so we can put this thing in the oven" She looked at me, smiling wide, knowing we would never truly be parted, I rushed to get the sauce and helped her finish the lasagne, we put it in the oven and had some time to burn, so I made some coffee and we sat down in the living room.

"So," My mother sipper her coffee, leaning closer to me with an intrigued look on her face, "Meet any stallions that you like?" She had a small giggle to herself before listening intently.

I sputtered a little, "Mum! You sound like a school filly!" I said, laughing a little.

"I am feeling particularly young today," she said, poking her tongue at me playfully, even in her old age she knew to have fun as if she was young every now and then, "So, come on, tell me" She smiled warmly to me.

"Hehehe, oh mum, you do seem young today," I sipped my own cup of coffee, " Not at the moment, I don't have anyone that I'm particularly interested in, no" I said, blatantly lying.

"You know," She looked up into my eyes, "I can tell when you're lying, missy" She smirked.

"Y-you uh, you can?" I looked away a little before moving my gaze back to her Magenta eyes, "There is, one stallion," I put some emphasis on the one, "He's actually in the project with me, one of the few others that were selected, we've all become good friends as to avoid any issues when we awake to total strangers, you know?" I smiled softly.

"Ooh, is he hansom?" She asked, giggling a little.

"Of course mother," I replied, sipping my coffee again, "Dinner should be ready soon enough, I think we should eat and head off to bed," I paused "The experiment starts tomorrow" I said, staring into my half empty cup.

"Oh, well I'm glad I got to spend today with you," Her face went blank, not showing any expression, "What time do you have to be there?"

"5AM, I have to leave at 4AM to get there on time and get some minor prepping done prior to the experiment starting." I explained calmly, "I guess, goodnight tonight will truly be, the last time I see you before you're on your death bed" I tried to smile but my face wouldn't move.

"Yes," She looked down into her own cup, a stray tear landing on her hoof, "Look at me, getting all worked up, if I'm lucky I won't die for years to come" She smiled faintly through her tears.

"Yeah, you will," I sniffled a little, tears streaming down my face and dripping on to my table "And I'll be here always, if you ever need me, you need to just ask the scientists to wake me, ok?" I said to her, looking up and smiling weakly, trying to re-assure her.

"So I can go there tomorrow morning and ask that they unfreeze you?" She looked up into my eyes, her own filled with tears, falling from her muzzle onto the table and her chest. I couldn't hold back my own tears and hugged her tight, nuzzling her mane.

"Mum, please, you know what I meant, this experiment is important, to them and to me,' I sobbed softly as I spoke, the reality of what I was getting into hitting me, "You have to understand that" I took a few deep breaths, calming myself a little.

"Of course I do, but I might need you to help me read a line in a book" She said jokingly, we both started laughing, calming down and looking at each other, smiling, the tears had stopped flowing from our eyes. "But seriously, I love you and I always will, remember that through the research won't you?" she asked, looking at me with a serious expression.

"Of course I will, I can feel your love for me, I don't need you to keep telling me," I said, smiling warmly "And, before you say anything, I know, you feel that you have to keep telling me in fear that I'll forget, but I won't, ever forget that you love me, for as long as I shall live, I will remember your love every day until my own body fades and we meet again." I said re-assuring her.

"I shall never forget your love for me either," She stopped as the oven alarm went off, "Dinner's ready, shall we eat and then head to bed?" She asked, raising from her seat and going to serve up the lasagne. I nodded and followed, we sat at the table and spoke of when I was young, laughing the night away before heading to bed, my mother slept with me that night, wanting to be with me the whole time until I left the next day.

I woke early in the morning, my alarm going mad, I quickly shut it off and made sure my mother was still asleep, I sighed and got up, making myself a cup of coffee and sitting down, sipping it slowly, thinking about what I'm going to miss, I brought my hooves to my temples as I felt a head ache coming on, rubbing lightly. I glanced at the clock, it was ten minutes to four, I quickly finished my coffee and left, after going back into my room, kissing my mothers cheek and whispering in her ear, "I love you mum, see you when I wake up" I pulled the blanket higher up her body, walking out the front of my house, looking back and whispering "See you in twenty five years..." I looked away, nothing with me other than the clothes on my back, I got on the train and it took me into Canterlot, about a ten minute walk from the lab.

I walked along the streets of Canterlot, ponies coming in already, the street alive with activity, shops busy, drawing in ponies by the hundreds, obviously dragging in a large profit, I walked past each shop, looking in and thinking about how different the world will be when I awake. I finally got to the lab, opening the large glass doors and letting the warm air inside hold me. I was quickly taken through into the bowels of the lab, put in a white uniform that would stretch and shrink as needed to stay constantly skin-tight, I was taken back into the lab, ponies in lab coats running around everywhere, madly, doing calculations, fitting other ponies into their own skin tight uniforms.

"what now?" I asked, as I was lied on a bed that looked somewhat like a dentistry chair.

"Open your mouth" A pony said, a medical mask on his face, I complied and opened my mouth as wide as I could, he did a regular dentist check up and then got a small drill.

"What are you doing with that?" I shouted, trying to sit up, but I was held down by some invisible force, another unicorn's magic I assumed.

"Making a small hole to put an implant in your tooth, it will monitor your health, both mental and physical" He said, I could no longer close my mouth or speak, he drilled a small hold into my molar, bringing in a small piece of metal and inserting it into the hole, it was a tight fit. "Done. Move on that pony over there, he'll put you into your stasis module." The pony explained, I could suddenly move, I launched from the chair and got away from him, something about him didn't seem right.

I approached the pony at the far end of the room, "Hello, I hear you're going to put me in my module?" I asked, the pony turned, I jumped a little as I saw his bionic eye, adjusting to examine me, his real eye also looking over me.

"Do you have your implant?" His voice sounded distinctly robotic, He's an android I thought to myself, nodding. "Great," He said, his cold expression turning into one of happiness. "Now, if you'll lie down, I need to insert one more implant, then we can put you into stasis." He replied, his expressing returning to a cold, emotionless face. I lay down in the half tube, he brought in a small piece of metal and pierced it through the flesh behind my ear, I winced, he stitched the small cut it made and began to write some script on the computer, probably confirming my implants and prepping the stasis tube.

"What does that implant do anyways?" I asked, confused, the room around me beginning to fade.

"It doesn't concern you, but, between me and you, it's a tracking device" He said, still writing the code.

"Tracking device? What the-" I'd almost finished my sentence and I passed out, the android finished writing the code, the tube closing over me and the stasis activating, my body was frozen in time and space, not aging, in it's current state for the next twenty five years.

This is my story.

All That I know is Gone.