I open my eyes and brightness kicks me in the face. I quickly close them, leaving them as slits, trying to adjust to the light. I can see better now, I think.
The room is bright white with alot of odd things going beep and boop. I'm looking at a teal pony with a light blue mane and a handsome, stubbly face. He's sitting on a chair across the room, looking at his hooves. He looks sad. Why's he sad? I try to get up to walk over and give him a hug, but find that I can't, for some reason. My head pounds.
He hears me trying to move and looks up at me. His face instantly lights up. Is he happy because i'm awake? How long was I asleep? When did I fall asleep? I don't know. I can't seem to remember much...
"Hey." He says. I say, "Hi." My voice is raspy and I realize my throat is sore and dry. "How do you feel?" He walks over to me. His voice is quiet, a bit gruff, but nice. He's muscular-- he must be an athlete. His eyes are bloodshot and tired, as if he couldn't sleep. How long have I been asleep?
"My head hurts." I move my head slightly and I notice the feeling of bandages wrapped tightly around my head. I'm really confused now.
"Could I have some water?" I ask him. He leaves the room to go get water. I look around. I'm in a hospital room, injured, apparently. How did I get injured? Maybe he's a doctor. He doesn't act like one.
He comes back into the room and gently puts the cup up to my mouth and allows me to drink. Three of my legs are in casts, apparently having been broken some time, rendering me unable to hold anything, walk, or even get up from this blue hospital bed.
I finish the water, and he sets the cup down. "Do you need anything else, Autumn?" Autumn Quill is my name. That's one of the things I can remember. Suddenly, I remember my name being yelled. It sounded scared. I don't know whether it's my imagination or a memory.
"I do have one question..." I say. My throat doesn't hurt anymore. That's relieving. My head still hurts, though. It hurts more as I hear the stinging beep of a heart monitor. "Yes?"
"Who are you?"
The happy look instantly falls from his face. He seems surprised, shocked, almost depressed. My question fills the room from his silence and i'm suddenly uncomfortable. I shift a bit. It hurts my legs. My head throbs even louder in his stunned silence.
He finally speaks. "Y-You don't know who I am?" His voice is wobbly, like a wall that's about to fall down. I don't want to make him upset, but I don't want to lie to him either. I like him.
"Should I?" I ask. He looks down and to the right, at some spot on the tile floor. I can't see it. I could, if my neck and head din't hurt so much. How did I get hurt so badly?
"I'm W-Whistle. Your best friend?" Whistle? I don't know anypony named Whistle. At least, I can't remember it. I can't remember many things. I can only really recall that fearful scream, "AUTUMN! NO!" It sounds gruff, like his voice, but faded and, well, truly fearful.
"I'm sorry, Whistle, but I don't remember knowing you. I can't seem to remember anything..." I trail off. He tries to put on a poker face but I can clearly see the hurt in his eyes. His eyes are a nice daffodil yellow. I can see myself in them. I look ruffled. And covered in white bandages and cast. It looks like my nice, wavy mane has been shaved off to make room for stitches creeping just slightly outside my bandages.
A different pony walks into the room, one with a white coat and a red-pink mane in a bun. She's a nurse, I can tell by her hat. It has a red cross on it with four small pink hearts around it, the same as her cutie mark. Her name tag says 'Nurse Redheart'. She walks over to me. "Hi, Autumn. How are you doing?" She's standing beside Whistle. Whistle is taller than her.
"My head hurts." Speaking makes it worse, though I try not to act like I'm hurting. I don't want them to be worried about me. What am I thinking? I'm covered in casts. Anyone would be worried. I'm quite dumb sometimes.
The nurse furrows her brow ever so slightly. "Would you like a painkiller, sweetie?" Her voice is soft, like a cloud. Clouds? When have I felt clouds? I nod, yes, I would like a painkiller, please. She leaves the room to go get some of the medication.
I look at the stallion. He seems to be thinking and doesn't notice my observing. He's taller than me, that's for sure. His face is stubbly, so he must have not shaved recently. He's been tense. Stress is probably the reason behind the former, as well as the bloodshot eyes. His eyes are still nice, big and yellow. They're smart. He's reminiscing on memories, I can see it in them.
He's a pegasus, and his wings are very muscular. He definitely isn't a doctor. I want to lift my hoof and touch his scraggly face, but I can't. I can't really do anything except talk and move my head a bit. Ugh.
The nurse comes back and he snaps out from his thoughts. She's holding a small cup of water with a bit of fizz in it. Dissolved painkillers, a small mercy. She let's me drink it, and I feel drowsy suddenly. I yawn and close my eyes.
Autumn is asleep now. A side-effect of the painkillers, probably. I turn to Nurse Redheart.
"Nurse, she said that she can't remember me. Or anything." I sound panicked. I am panicked. Correction, i'm panicking.
The white mare furrows her brow and sighed. "I'm sorry, Whistle, that we haven't told you this sooner. You see, when the accident happened, she didn't just break her legs. The most critical injuries were in her head and backbone, causing severe nervous system and brain damage. Extensive rehabilitation to allow her to regain control of her body, but nothing can heal her broken memory.
What. What. No, this can't be happening. She couldn't have lost her memories forever. I want to ball up and rock in a corner, or strangle the nurse, or shake Autumn yelling at her to remember. I think i'm overreacting a bit. After all, I live in a world of magic. "Isn't there something you can do?" I try to make my voice calm. It's strained.
"I'm afraid we can't. Memory spells won't do anything good, as they focus on memories buried in the mind. In this case, part of her brain was physically damaged." I stomp my hooves on the floor. A spell was my last hope. I want to shout curses, but at the same time, I don't want to disturb Autumn.
The nurse sees my torn expression and leaves the room. Now i'm alone with Autumn. I look at her, mangled and bandaged, but all I can see is how she looked before the accident. She's beautiful, even if she's broken. I lightly touch her cheek, and she smiles subconsciously.
Autumn, whatever happens once you are healed, I promise to you this:
You will remember.
Beep, beep. Beep.
Her heart rate monitor beeps loudly, irregularly, filling the room, yet all I can seem to hear is her shallow breaths. The room is a noticeable bleached white with stark blue, with odd machines all around, but the only thing I can see is her mangled legs and head set up in casts. She's injured; bruised, broken, strangled and torn.
And it's all my fault.
Memories race through my head before I can stop them-- I can vividly see her lying there, face contorted in unconscious pain.
I shudder and stare at my hooves as I remember what happened. I could start crying and say 'maybe this, maybe that' but maybe can't change the fact that I nearly killed my best friend. Why did I have to beat that speed record?!
But suddenly I hear a slight movement, and I look up at her. Her eyes are slits, barely open, but they're open. And looking at me.
"Hey." I manage to say. This is the first time she's been awake since the accident. "Hi." She rasps out. She sounds odd but to me it sounds angelic.
I get up from the chair and walk over to her. "How do you feel?" I'm trying to be quiet. It's hard. I want to shout at the world, scream at the top of my lungs, hug her, something. She's awake. And not dead. And talking. And not dead.
"My head hurts." She says. "Could you get me some water, please?" I nod and go get a cup of water from a nurse. Returning, I hold it up to her lips as she drinks. She can't use her hooves, as three of her legs are broken and covered in casts.
I set the cup down. "Do you need anything else, Autumn?" I ask. "I do have one question..." She says. "Yes?" Maybe she's hungry. I could ask a nurse for a hay-and-daisy sandwich-- those are her favorite.
"Who are you?"