“I don't know,” Dig Deep said, furrowing his brow in consternation. “I just found her lying here this morning as we were about to resume our descent into the main chamber.”
“And she's definitely nothing to do with your group?” asked Sergeant Blue Coat.
“Nope. Never seen her before today.”
“Is she alive?” Blue Coat was speaking to the medic who was assisting loading the strange blue-coated pony with a wild, multicoloured mane on to a stretcher. Her cutie mark looked like some kind of blossoming flower or something.
“Barely. Pulse is thready, heart rate low.”
“What about her materia readings?” suggested Gum Shoe.
“Almost non-existent. Whatever spell she used last, it must've burned her out. Put her at death's door, too, poor girl.”
“Does she have a chance?” This was from Dig Deep, who was looking at the mare with concern in his eyes.
“A slim one, yes.”
*
The hospital … well, it was a hospital. The walls were a sickly-green colour, probably to match the fluids ejected by the patients; it smelled of disinfectant, formaldehyde and cheap soap; ponies shuffled, some connected to IV stands, some because they'd just had bad news. It was about the least hospitable place one could hope to end up.
“How are you feeling?” asked Doctor Saw Bones, smiling brightly at seeing one of his charges on the road to recovery.
“Better, I think,” the pony replied in a timid voice. “I still feel as though my mind is lost in a fog, though. What happened to me?”
“We were hoping you could tell us that,” replied the doctor. “You were found unconscious on the site where they're trying to excavate one of the old palaces. You were pretty close to death, and even your materia stores had been depleted. We tried to find a DNA match in our records when it looked like you weren't going to go wake up, but there was nothing.”
“I don't exist?” the pony asked sceptically.
“Of course you do,” Saw Bones said with a slight smile, “just not officially. Do you remember your name? Where you live? Friends or family? Anything would help.”
“My name is ...” the vexed pony thought for a moment, struggling through the mire of her memories. “Coral Reef!” she finally said in an elated voice, pleased to have recalled something from the fog. “I, uh,” Coral frowned. “Ponyville? I dunno if it's where I live, but it seems important, somehow.”
“It's enough for a start. I'll have the police ask around, see if anyone knows you there.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Coral Reef said with a smile.
“I'll leave you to rest.”
We all feel this way at some point, said a strange voice. It seemed to be everywhere at once, but mostly, it seemed to be resonating inside the tiny chamber of Coral Reef's skull. We have to recognise that there are things larger than our own petty concerns.
Coral pressed her hooves to her head, trying to block out the echoing voice. You can't forget about the good times, even when the bad times test you. It's all another test.
“Who are you?”
But the voice was gone.
*
“I can't say I'm surprised,” Coral Reef said, trying not to let her bitterness show. “It was a pretty long shot.”
Gum Shoe and Blue Coat looked at each other, before the older officer spoke, “What was interesting is that, after we did some digging, we found a Ponyville bank account in your name. Quite a hefty one, too. Also, a cottage at the edge of town was recently purchased using this account.”
“This is genuinely news to me,” the beleaguered pony sighed.
Speculations were forming in the minds of the police officers; there were very few beings in Equestria with this sort of wealth, and none quite this young either. Coral Reef didn't even look as though she'd finished school yet. Had she killed her parents and stolen the money, feigning the amnesia to escape detection and hoping to set up a new life in quiet little town?
If that was the case, they were going to have to find evidence. For now, there wasn't much else that they could do, except keep an eye on her at all times and wait for her to make a mistake.
*
The cottage looked even prettier in real life than it did in the pictures; its previous owners had done a sterling job keeping it pristine, and Coral Reef fancied it looked better now than it had ever done. There were numerous tree-houses, nests, burrows and setts dotted around, and she guessed that the former occupants really loved animals.
To be honest, it was the location she was more interested in. It sat right at the outskirts of Ponyville, just on the border with the Everfree Forest, and that meant that it was quiet. For some reason, a life of solitude really appealed to her.
I'll have to get some books. No, A LOT of books.
“Books …?”
Inside was something of a disappointment, but one that she'd expected. Without the furniture, it was a little bland, but she would soon get some new stuff in … as soon as she remembered her account information. Good thing the house was paid for, or she'd be out on the streets.
Something briefly stirred in her memory. Something to do with a … bird? Or a rabbit? Or … some kind of animal, anyway.
Motes of dust seemed to form into the hazy outline of a … a pony?
“You said you wouldn't forget me,” it muttered accusingly. “That you wouldn't forget any of us.”
“Who are you?” But the figment was gone before Coral could even finish speaking.
*
A month later, the cottage was finally beginning to feel like home. Comfortable sofa, the sweet scent of lavender in the air, a bookcase stacked with everything from reference manuals and encyclopaedias to complete collections of A.K Yearling's works. Coral Reef had chalked up her vision to the stress of whatever had happened to put her in hospital.
She was relaxing with a glass of cider – Sweet Apple Acres really did make the best cider in Equestria – and reading Daring Do and the Curse of the Sunken Labyrinth when fate decided to prove her wrong.
“We all go through this. It isn't easy.”
Coral Reef spat her drink out. “Who are you? What are you doing in here?”
There was hurt in the other pony's mulberry eyes, but it only registered for a second before her look sharpened. “I'm here to take you back.”
“Back? Back where? This is my home,” snapped Coral Reef.
“Look at the book cover.”
“What?”
“Indulge me.”
Coral Reef did so. In the background behind Daring Do, there was another pony; light blue in colour, with a flowing mane of green, pink and red. Even the cutie mark, a piece of coral … “What … what is this?” she asked fearfully.
“My name is Princess Celestia,” explained the intruder. “You … you are Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student and fellow princess. After your friends died, you began to feel disillusioned with immortality and you sought an escape. I tried to warn you that all of us go through a phase like this at some point. Me, Luna, Cadence – especially after your brother passed – but that the gift of everlasting life is devote yourself to something higher than your own needs.”
“I ...” Memories came flooding back. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash; all of them dying of old age, while she remained eternally young. Tears flowed down her cheeks. “I remember begging and pleading with you for days to extend their lives, too.”
“If the choice had been mine. It was a will beyond my own that decreed your ascension, Twilight,” said Celestia.
“I came back here because I wanted to feel close to them again, but,” she remembered the vision of Fluttershy. How angry it had been. “But I'm even further away from them than I was before because I'm not honouring their memory. I'm not doing what I should be doing, which is what they would've wanted of me.”
Celestia smiled, pleased that her greatest pupil was able to figure this out on her own. Well, with some gentle prodding, anyway. Not every immortal passed this test so easily. “Are you ready to come home, Twilight?”
Twilight sighed, looking around what had once been Fluttershy's home. “Can I have a minute alone? To say goodbye.” A rueful smile. “Again.”
“Of course,” nodded Celestia, exiting smoothly, remembering how she'd stayed in the shattered husk of her parents' home for weeks until she'd been physically dragged from the ruin. “Take all the time you need.”