“You couldn’t have made it more obvious, couldn’t you!?”

“I thought it was clear as day, and yet he still didn’t get it.”

“He’s trying to put his life back together, mom! Do you really think he’s going to find somepony to date?”

“Hmph. Excuse me for being curious.” Firefly crossed her hooves.

Dash blankly stared at her mother for what felt like half an hour for her. In reality though, it was about a minute.

Eventually, She snapped out of her odd gaze, returning to reality once more as she noticed her mom’s hoof being waved around in front of her face.

She shook her head as she brought herself back from dreamland. “Look. Mom. I get it.”

“You do?”

“You’re upset because I might have found something that would hurt my chances of making it in the Wonderbolts.” Dash smiled confidently, closing her eyes as she shoved the truth in her mother’s face.

Upon saying that, however. Nothing but dead silence filled the room.

“Really?” Firefly raised an eyebrow.

Dash’s confidence was quickly murdered as she opened an eye, then blinked. “What, was I off?”

Firefly nodded in response.

“Then… what is it?” Dash tilted her head.

“What? A mother can’t be curious over the stallion that has her daugher freaked out?”

“I’m not ‘freaked out’.”

“Then if you’re not freaking out, why did you send me a mail asking for advice?”

“...”

“Exactly.”

________________________

“George… I don’t know how to put this lightly…” Blaze paused as he tried to find the right words, ultimately giving up in the end. “But, you suck at this.”

“Gee, do you really think so?” George asked sarcastically, “Maybe it’s cause I’m not even trying?”

“Why aren’t you trying?” Blaze raised an eyebrow. “Flying shouldn’t be that hard to learn. I mean, you’ve only forgotten how to fly. Once you actually get the hang of it, you might just start remembering again.” He placed a hoof on his chin. “It’s like that saying… How did it go again…?”

George shrugged in response. “Look, Blaze. I get that you’re trying to help me out…” He paused for a moment, took in a deep breath, and exhaled sharply. “But maybe I just don’t need to fly anymore.”

Blaze was left speechless for about a minute or two. He wasn’t going to let George leave without getting either an explanation, or him knowing how to fly before they left.

George felt like he just struck a nerve in him, so he quickly reacted before it’d get worse. “S-Sorry.” He sighed. “It’s just… Nothing feels familiar about flying.” He placed a hoof on the back of his neck. “If I actually knew how to fly before my amnesia, then it would just become second-nature, or, instinct… right?” He gathered a nod from Blaze, signaling him to continue.

“It doesn’t even feel like it’s an instinct. Instead, it feels… alien.” He opened his wings, drawing Blaze’s attention to them. “Like, I’m not even supposed to have these…”

Blaze tilted his head slightly. “Hm. At least you gave me an explanation.” He said flatly. “For a minute I thought you were gonna say something stupid like ‘Maybe I don’t need to fly because I’m too depressed over my memories, blah blah blah.’” He spoke in a bad attempt of George’s voice.

“I don’t sound like that…” George retorted. “And I’m not depressed over my memories!” He paused for a moment. “...Not anymore anyway.”

“Not anymore?” Curious of the amnesiac stallion’s answer, Blaze cocked his head to the side. “Why’s that?”

“Does it even matter anymore?” George replied, morphing his own answer into a question. “Even if I got my memories back now, I’ve already adjusted to my new life in Ponyville.” He began to ramble. “And besides, if I actually had a family, I’m pretty sure they think I’m either dead, or they just don’t care about me.”

“Do you honestly believe that?” As if his curiosity didn’t already cross some unspoken personal boundaries, Blaze pressed further anyway.

George responded with a nod. Then softly chuckled. “What is this anyway... ‘20 Questions’?”

Blaze took that response as a hint for him to shut up. “I was just curious, I’m sorry if I crossed any lines.”

George shook his head. “Nah, it’s fine. I guess.”

“Right. Then, back to your flying.”

________________________

“I’m not mad… Sure, I’m a bit upset… But I’m sure that if I ever need to fly, I’ll figure it out somehow. I understand you don’t want to cause your friends any pain.”

“I can see you’ll do anything for a friend. Even one you’ve only known for...what, two weeks now? That’s what makes you such an awesome friend.”

Pause.

Jake grabbed his notes. He had spent some time investigating the show Jason had set to record before his disappearance, and what relevance it had to either of them.

“The ‘George’ in this show acts very close to the George that vanished.

Maybe this is something more than just leaving for random voice acting.

Maybe it’s something even bigger than that.”

He looks up at the TV, questioning everything he knows.

“What if this was actually George, inside this show?” He asked out loud to himself.

He looked at his notes, then back at the TV.

“This is gonna require further investigation...”

________________________

“Okay. I think we’re done for today.” Blaze said.

“For today? More like for the rest of my trip here.” George groaned as he stood back up from the ground. Parts of his body covered in bruises. He was too tired to check his whole body, but he could clearly see a couple of bruises on his forelegs just by looking down.

“What? You’ve only fallen about twenty times. Are you really wimping out already?” Blaze asked with a laugh.

“Sure.” George grumbled. “Let’s call it that.”

Before the two could say anything else, they both heard nearby hoofsteps coming their way. Both of the stallions turned their heads towards the sound, and found the source of it was coming from a certain prismatic-maned mare.

“Once again, Rainbow Dash saves the day.” George smiled internally, knowing he could successfully dodge an argument with the nearby stallion as long as she was around.

Dash walked up to the duo. “Hi gu—woooah...” She froze, her mouth slightly agape. “What the hay happened to you, George?”

“I, uh…” George tried to find the least embarrassing way to tell her.

“He… saved me!” Blaze interjected. “Yeah…! That’s it! There was a gang of stallions who were getting ready to beat me up. And your good buddy, George, here… He jumped right in front of me and started fighting back!” He grinned wildly, continuing his fake story. “He took quite a beating, but h—oof!”

George nudged him with a hoof. “Liar.” He laughed a bit, then looked back at Dash. “Your dad tried to teach me how to fly. Obviously, it didn’t end well.” He tilted his head to the side. “Why? Am I that bruised?”

He looked around his whole body. All of his legs had at least one bruise, his chest also had a bruise. On the left side of his flank, where his cutie mark should be, was another bruise. There were most likely other bruises, but he was only able to see the few obvious ones.

“Huh… I hadn’t even noticed these…” George spoke softly. “This is what I get for falling about twenty times.”

“Twenty times?” Dash asked worriedly.

“According to Blaze, anyway.” George bounced his head in the nearby stallion’s direction.

Dash at her father with an eyebrow raised. “It’s like trying to teach me to fly all over again, huh, dad?”

Blaze laughed at Dash’s remark. “Yeah it is, Dashie.” He smiled warmly at a few memories that came rushing in. “Although, there’s a difference between teaching him and teaching you all those years ago.”

“And that is…?” Dash cocked her head, curious of the response she’d get.

“You were more stubborn to learn than he is.”

Author's Note

AYYYYYYY. NEW CHAPTER.

This was originally GOING to be a chapter to push the main story forward some more, as there isn't a whole lot of stuff planned for George and Dash to do in Manehattan. But then this happened. I'm kinda glad it ended up being a filler though. Sorry for it being so short, next chapter should be longer than this one.

P.S: 1,337 words. Yay.

Edit: GDOCS WHY DID YOU LIE ABOUT WORD COUNT ;n;