Azure Memories

by Silvak

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery
Length: 57731

A unicorn wakes up in Ponyville, with no memories beyond her own name as she starts a brand new life from scratch.

A unicorn mare wakes up in Ponyville, with all her memories gone into a haze that prevents her from recalling them beyond her own name after suffering an injury. Now, with nothing from her past to rely on, she must start a brand new life in Ponyville as her life starts all over. However, while she is gaining new memories to cherish, will she ever remember the memories she lost, the past life that she once lived?

Art by AlicornParty on deviantart : http://alicornparty.deviantart.com/
Editor: AandWguy

Published 2015-02-26 00:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-11-29 04:11:31 UTC

Chapter I: Awakening

As the first rays of dawn shined through the blinds of the window, they landed upon a pony sleeping in her bed, her breathing light upon the ears of any that would come into the room. The sun rays revealed the azure coat on the muzzle of the slumbering mare, her face bearing a passive expression to any who would lay their eyes upon it. While the mare’s face showed a tranquil sleep, in reality, it was far from it. When the light of the sun reached the pony’s forehead, it revealed the bandages that covered the top of head except for the azure horn poking out. While one could hear the dripping from the IV drip, the unicorn’s forelegs laid over the white clean covers, showing the left foreleg with the IV's needle injected into. Moments later, the sunlight reached the unicorn’s eyes, causing the pony to stir.

The azure unicorn began to crack her eyes open, her mouth opening to let out a soft yawn. As she started to raise her right foreleg to block out the light shining, she felt a sharp jarring pain from the top of her head. This caused her to flinch, closing her eyes shut as her hoof instead reached to the source of her pain. Rubbing the spot, she felt the bandages covering her head, realization suddenly striking her as her mind processed the bandage’s presence. Opening her eyes once more, with her right foreleg now shading her aquamarine eyes, the unicorn began to take note of the white, sterile room she was currently in.

“Whe… where am I?” she wondered out loud in a soft voice, confusion appearing on her face as she observed the strange surroundings. Her eyes laid upon her left foreleg, spotting the needle currently inserted in it. For a moment, she dumbly stared at the needle, until realization struck her, causing her eyes to widen. Her breathing started to quicken as her eyes traced the plastic tube connected to the needle up to the IV drip itself. Panic began to rise in the mare as she placed a hoof at the needle. Ready to yank it out, she was interrupted by the door opening. A white earth pony with a pink mane walked in, wearing a cap on her head with a red cross symbol on it that was the same symbol being displayed on her flank as well. She originally entered the room with a calm expression that quickly turned to shock as she saw the azure unicorn about to pull out the IV needle.

“Wait! Stop! Don’t pull that out!” the earth pony shrieked in surprise as she rushed over to the unicorn. The mare had froze in her tracks at the sudden outburst, her eyes locking onto the pony. The white pony grabbed onto the unicorn’s forearm with her hoofs, gently moving it away as she said, “The needle is there for your health miss, you don’t want to take it out until you’re all better.”

At first, the unicorn stared at the newcomer before gently shaking her head with her eyes closed. Opening them again as she looked at the mare once more as she asked, “Who… who are you? Where am I? And… what do you mean till I‘m all better?” while she laid her foreleg against the covers once more, her face expressing confusion of the current situation.

The earth pony released a sigh of relief as she replied, “I’m Nurse Redheart, and you’re at the Ponyville Hospital. You were recently admitted when you were discovered outside the Everfree Forest with your mane soaked in blood. Fortunately, the wound on your head wasn’t too serious, though you seem to have lost quite a lot of blood before we were able to patch you up. Because of that, you’ve been sleeping for a couple days now.”

The unicorn continued to look at the nurse with confusion. As her mind processed what she had just been told, her eyes soon drifted to the bed as she muttered to herself, “Ponyville… hospital… Everfree?”

The nurse Redheart tilted her head at the mutterings of the unicorn, asking, “Can you explain what happened to you, miss….” leaving the last word hanging as a hint to the unicorn.

Her eyes shifting back to the nurse, the unicorn replied, “My name is Sapphire, Sapphire Rain. And…” as she suddenly stopped talking, her aquamarine eyes slowly glazed over, like she had suddenly got lost in her own mind. Redheart tilted her head in confusion at the pause, her mouth about to open when the unicorn suddenly shook her head again. She brought her hoof to her head and began to shake the wound, “Sorry… I just… I just don’t remember… my memories… its like… there’s a haze…” the mare said, her eyes staring down at her covers.

"While the injury wasn't serious... we were hoping there wasn't any mental trauma associated with it..." Redheart responded with a saddened look as she walked over to Sapphire, placing a hoof on her shoulder to help her relax. "Don't worry. You're in safe hooves now, and you'll be back up on your own soon enough. In the meantime, since you have been sleeping for quite a while, would you like something to eat?"

As Sapphire looked up at the nurse, a rumbling noise arose from her stomach, causing her to smile sheepishly as she said, "Umm... if its not too much of a burden on anypony..."

Redheart simply gave the mare a kind smile as she answered, "It's not a burden at all. You’re at a hospital, where we take care of those that need it, so there's no need for that kind of thinking. Just stay there while I go pick up a meal for you, as well as inform Doctor Horse that you're awake now." With that, the nurse exited the room, leaving the unicorn to her thoughts as she looked out the blinds to comprehend her current situation.

Minutes later, Nurse Redheart began to walk in with a tray of food balanced on her back followed by a unicorn stallion with a cream caramel coat and a brown mane while wearing a doctor's coat. Redheart gently placed the tray within Sapphire's reach as the unicorn went wide-eyed at the sight of the meal which consisted of a few apples, a daisy sandwich, and a glass of milk. The unicorn approached the bed from the side opposite of Redheart as a clipboard engulfed in a cyan aura came near his face as he said, "Hello Miss Rain, my name is Doctor Horse, and I'll be your doctor during your stay here. From our medical analysis, your diagnosis is that you're suffering from a head injury that resulted in you having what appears to be retrograde amnesia, and you're also suffer—" before he was interrupted by Sapphire lighting up her horn in an aquamarine aura that also engulfed the food, bringing the apples and sandwich to her muzzle as she gorged on them. Doctor Horse just raised an eyebrow as he continued, "—suffering from malnutrition. However, by tomorrow, your wound should be healed up and you'll be healthy enough to leave if you so choose to. However, since you're suffering from amnesia, you are welcome to stay here for a few more days to recover."

After Sapphire guzzled down the milk, she spotted the looks of the two other ponies, blushing as she allowed her magic to put down the glass on the tray. She then gave both ponies a sheepish look before looking up at the ceiling, lost in thought before saying, "Well... it's nice of you to offer, but I think I would be fine leaving tomorrow if I recover by then as you say."

The stallion raised both eyebrows at Sapphire's response, levitating the clipboard over to her as he replied, "While I would recommend for you to stay a few more days in case your memories come back, you might recover them faster if you’re out and about again with more sights that could possibly be familiar to you. I just need you to sign your signature on some paperwork and we can leave you to your rest."

Sapphire simply stared at the clipboard with a puzzled expression before looking at the doctor as she asked, "Signature? Paperwork? What’s that?"

"Wha... a signature is your hoofwritten name and the paperwork is on the clipboard. Can you not see it?" Doctor Horse answered, blinking in surprise at the unexpected response.

"Oh... I can see it... but... umm... what am I supposed to do with them? And what do you mean by hoofwritten?" Sapphire replied, her face still displaying confusion.

Both the nurse and the doctor just stared at the unicorn, their jaws dropping at her question. Within a moment, the nurse shook her head as she regained her composure before asking, "Umm... Miss Rain... do you happen to... know how to read?" The unicorn mare gave a shake of her head, causing the other two ponies to widen their eyes in shock, the both of them looking at each other with expressions of concern.

"Well... this is... unusual... but don't you worry Miss Rain, we can take care of your paperwork due to the... current circumstances. For now, we’ll leave you to your rest as promised while we contact the town hall to find your records so we can locate your next of kin. Now if you’ll excuse us Miss Rain, we'll take our leave for now, but do not be afraid to call for any help from the staff," Doctor Horse said as he began to walk to the door, taking the floating clipboard with him as Nurse Redheart took the tray onto her back again before following the doctor out. As the door closed, Sapphire just stared at it for a moment before giving a shrug as she shifted into a comfortable position in her bed. She soon closed her eyes, soon drifting back to the peaceful embrace of sleep.

As the two ponies walked down the hallway away from Sapphire's room, Nurse Redheart looked at the stallion as she asked, "What are we going to do about Miss Rain, doctor? We never had a patient of her age that couldn't read. Wouldn't it be unwise to let her leave tomorrow?"

Doctor Horse sighed as he replied, "This is certainly an unknown situation we have here. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get into contact with her relatives after we send a message to the town hall of her presence and her current state so they can pick her up and take care of her."

"But doctor, what if... she doesn't have any relatives? Since she can't read, that means she's uneducated. Wouldn't her family see to her receiving an education? " Redheart asked.

Doctor Horse stopped walking after hearing that question, closing his eyes as he took in a deep breath, concentrating on the problem on hoof. "If that.. complication does come around... we’ll have to find somepony willing to take care of her in the meantime. Having her outside the hospital may still help her regain her memories faster... but... for a mare of her age to not know how to read implies that... 'something' happened to her to prevent her from receiving a proper education. For now, we’ll just have to contact the town hall and hope for the best." he answered before continuing his walk. The nurse followed as they both began to ponder on what could cause Sapphire's situation.

Author's Note

MLP: FIM is property of Hasbro and Lauren Faust, all characters outside of original characters are copyright by Hasbro.

Chapter II: A Generous Offer

Chapter II: A Generous Offer

"... my precious Sapphire..."

Sapphire suddenly opened her eyes, darting them all over the room in shock, her lungs drawing in air at a quick pace from the surprise she received. Slowly, her rapid intake of air started to slow down as she calmed down, realizing that whatever she heard was just a dream. She let out a small laugh at her reaction as she looked out the window, seeing that it is day time once more. The position of the sun told her that it was already approaching noon. Recalling the events from yesterday, she remembered that after the initial meeting with the doctor, the day went by being pretty uneventful. She only received two more meals before nightfall, where she returned back to slumber. Yawning, she stretched out her forelegs, before pausing when she noticed that the IV needle is missing from her arm. Instead, a simple bandage marked where it once was. After scanning the room for any other changes, she turned her head to the window; watching the skies as she spotted a few pegasi flying every so often. Some time later, the door opened as Doctor Horse and Nurse Redheart made their way into the room.

"How are you this day Miss Rain?" Doctor Horse asked, his face taking on a cheerful appearance, but when Sapphire turned her eyes to his own, she noticed there were some apprehension within them.

"My head is feeling better than yesterday doctor, no more pain whenever I move it fast enough," Sapphire replied, choosing not to bring up her suspicions due to what she saw in his eyes.

Doctor Horse nodded as he brought up his clipboard with his magic once more, clearing his throat while taking down a few notes before saying, "Well, Miss Rain, I have some good news and some bad news for you. Which would you prefer to hear first?"

Sapphire nodded with a slight frown as she answered, "I'll take the bad news first, better to get it over with now than later."

Raising an eyebrow at her reply, Doctor Horse said, "Well, it's not everyday a patient wants the bad news first..." before getting a nudge from Nurse Redheart at his comment. Clearing his throat, he continued, "Miss Rain, after contacting the officials in the town hall, there is no records of you living in Ponyville, nor were we able to find anypony that would be your kin or have any sort of relationship to you. Do not fret though, we sent out your name and description to other towns and cities in hopes that we will find any ponies that would recognize you."

Sapphire listened to the explanation, her ears lowering against her head as she now knew that she was left alone in this town. She took in a deep breathe before asking, "So... what is the good news doctor?"

At this, Doctor Horse took on a more cheerful look as he answered, "While one of our staff learned about the unfortunate news, one pony, who manage to overheard the conversation at the time, volunteered her aid until either we find a relative of yours or when you are able to fully support yourself. However, if you don't want the aid, we and the mare would surely understand and respect your decision."

Sapphire's ears perked up at the news, before tilting her head in disbelief as she asked, "There's a pony that is willing to take care of me, even though I'm a complete stranger to her?"

Upon seeing her reaction, Nurse Redheart decided to enter the conversation by saying, "Oh yes, don't worry, she's a model citizen of Ponyville and insisted on helping you out. You can trust she has the best intentions in her heart."

Listening to her reply, Sapphire turned her head towards to wall as she mulled at this turn of events in her mind. It only took a moment before she turned her head back, saying, "Well... if she is willing to be of help to me, I guess I can take up on her offer. It would be nice to not to handle my... lack of memories alone."

"Well, that's good to hear, but it is time we go ahead and take off those bandages around your head. Wouldn't want you to still look like you have an injury when it's all healed up now," Doctor Hooves said with a chuckle as the bandages got covered with the cyan aura, unwrapping from Sapphire's head to reveal her royal blue mane. The mane came down the side of her head in a disheveled mess. He scanned her head to check for any traces of the injury before nodding as he said, "Looks good as new, ready to meet the mare?"

Sapphire nodded as she started to get out of the bed when a rumbling could suddenly be heard from her stomach. This caused her to blush with mild embarrassment, to which Nurse Redheart let out a small giggle as she said, "Don't worry, you can have a late breakfast before you leave Miss Rain. I'll go get it while you go to the lobby so you can meet the mare." Nodding her thanks, Sapphire crawled out of the bed only to shakily land on her hooves. Her mane started drifting off to one side of her head, its length passing her own chest. She stretched her legs while Doctor Horse and Nurse Redheart opened the door, following them outside as Nurse Redheart headed to the cafeteria to pick up Sapphire's last meal while Doctor Horse led her to the lobby. Within moments, the lobby came into view as Sapphire spotted a white unicorn with a curled purple mane, standing near the lobby seating area as she read a fashion magazine.

"Miss Rarity, thank you for your patience, Miss Sapphire is now here to meet you," Doctor Horse announced, getting the white unicorn's attention.

"It is no problem at all doctor, for a lady always ha-" Rarity began, as she turn her head to the duo, but catching sight of Sapphire's appearance, she let out a gasp of shock. "Oh sweet Celestia! What happened to your mane and coat!" she exclaims, her eyes picking out every speck of dirt on Sapphire.

Flustered by Rarity's reaction to her appearance, Sapphire tilted her head as her eyes darted to Doctor Horse, who simply averted his eyes as he rubbed a hoof behind his head. Looking to Rarity once more, she tentatively replied, "What's.. what's wrong with them?"

"What's wrong with them? My apologies my dear, but they're absolutely filthy! This will not do, we will get you over to a spa so this travesty can be cleansed as soon as we leave the hospital," Rarity answered, slowly regaining her composure.

Sapphire simply blinked at the explanation, before shaking her head and asked, "Spa? Wait, I need to know something. Why are you willing to help me, a complete stranger?"

"Why, it's my duty as a respected citizen of Ponyville to help those in need! And with your story of your tragic loss of your memories along with no family or friends in town to assist you, I can't simply let down a fellow unicorn in her hour of need," Rarity explained in a dignified manner.

Staring at Rarity for a moment, Sapphire blinks once more before replying, "Okay... it's nice of you to help me out Miss Rarity, I appreciate your assistance." Just then, Nurse Redheart came in with Sapphire's breakfast, a plate of hay, a glass of orange juice and a few carrots on a tray balanced on her back. Her eyes widening at the food, the moment Redheart placed the tray on the closest table, Sapphire grabbed her meal with her magic. She brought them to her muzzle in a hurry as she gorged on the meal, to the dismay of Rarity as a horrified expression appeared on her face while she backed away from the scene before her.

As Rarity was about to open her mouth to complain, Doctor Horse cut in by saying, "Now Miss Rarity, please forgive Miss Rain's behavior, for she was suffering from malnutrition when she was admitted, and she is... uneducated after all."

Closing her mouth at the explanation, Rarity nodded to Doctor Horse, but still grimaced at sight of Sapphire's eating, turning her head away until the sounds ended with Sapphire gulping down her drink. Turning to look at her again, Rarity cringed as she saw Sapphire licking her lips clean of any traces of food. "I see you're done with your meal dear. So, if you would kindly follow me to the spa so we can get you all cleaned up," Rarity said, trying to keep a polite smile despite the sight she just witnessed.

Sapphire turned to Doctor Horse and Nurse Redheart, the former saying, "Go ahead Miss Rain, I assure you that Miss Rarity will see that you will have a good time during your stay at Ponyville."

"Thank you both for taking care of me, I hope we met again," Sapphire replied with a wave goodbye that the other two return. Rarity took this as her cue to take the lead, heading out of the lobby doors with Sapphire right behind her. The moment Sapphire walked out the doors, her eyes widened at the sight of the town, as she let out a gasp of wonder while she took her first view of the tranquil town before her.

Rarity turned her head back, gaining an amused smile at Sapphire's reaction to her first sight of Ponyville. After letting a moment pass, she called out, "I know you're enjoying the view dear, but we must get you to the spa soon, we can't have other ponies see you at your current... 'condition'." Sapphire then focused her eyes back on Rarity, giving her a small blush as she nodded her acknowledgement before the two continued on the way. Sapphire continued to take in the sights of the town until she heard an excited gasp from behind her, causing her to turn her head around, only to receive the sight of two large blue eyes right before her eyes.

"Gah!" Sapphire exclaimed, falling to the ground in surprise as her vision was soon obscured by a pink presence.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, and you must be new to town! I know that because I know everypony in Ponyville, and I’ve never seen you before and my Pinkie Sense has been going off all the time starting a few days ago! We are so gonna be the best of friends! But where were you? When my Pinkie Sense went off, I was like 'new pony!' and started searching the town for you, but I never found you. I then thought that the new pony already left, and that made me sad, but my Pinkie Sense was still going off and that told me that the new pony is still in town! So I kept looking for you here and there and here and there, in the trees and under the bar-" the pink pony rapidly exclaimed in utter excitement until Rarity, who turned around after Sapphire's startled cry, placed a hoof over the pony's mouth. Throughout the pony's exposition, Sapphire just stared at the pink earth pony, slowing taking on a look of horror at the sight before her.

"Pinkie darling, I know you like to meet new ponies, but Miss Rain here was in the hospital, and I take it that she wouldn't like to be... overwhelmed so soon," Rarity told Pinkie, looking to Sapphire who gave a short and fast nod. "Miss Rain, this is my dear friend Pinkie Pie, and she likes to throw parties for any new pony that comes to Ponyville," she explained while removing her hoof from Pinkie's mouth.

"I'm sorry that I startled you, but I so wanted to meet you, but I didn't know you were hurt. I'm so going to throw you a 'Congratulations on Getting Better Miss Rain!' party!" Pinkie exclaimed as she rushed over to Sapphire, giving her a tight hug.

"Umm.. it's nice to meet you... Pinkie Pie, and call me Sapphire Rain please... also... what's a party?" Sapphire asked, barely able to utter the words out from Pinkie's constricting embrace, which suddenly ended at the last word she said. Dropping onto her rear, Sapphire looked up at Pinkie's face, where she got the sight of Pinkie's jaw completely dropped, her hoofs on the sides of her face as her eyes shrinking down to tiny dots. Utterly confused, Sapphire looked to Rarity, to see her dumbstruck at Pinkie Pie's reaction. For the moment, not a single sound was heard as Sapphire's eyes flick back and forth between the two; until suddenly she was grabbed on the shoulders by Pinkie, her face was brought mere inches away from Pinkie's own.

"How can you not know what a party is, everypony should know what a party is! Wait! Does that mean you never had a party?!" Pinkie screamed onto Sapphire's face, to which she gave a short scared nod in response. "That's so sad! Everypony should always have a party before, wait!!! That means I'll be throwing you your first party!!!" Pinkie exclaimed in excitement once more, dropping Sapphire onto the ground again. "Oh it's gonna be super-duperific! There's gonna be cake, cupcakes, drinks and fun games!!! I promise you that you'll have the best fun time of your non-party life or my name isn't Pinkamena Diane Pie!" she yelled, hoof pointing into towards the sky; before she rushed over to Rarity, whispering something into her ear before disappearing in a dash, leaving a dust cloud in her wake.

"...Wha... huh... who... what just happened?" Sapphire asked in bewilderment, unable to process what just happened to her.

"Oh, that's just Pinkie Pie being... Pinkie," Rarity explained as she let out sigh at the event. "Come along now, we really need to get you to the spa now, can't have you going to your first party in your current state."

Getting back onto her hooves, Sapphire followed Rarity as she led them once more towards the spa, asking, "Ummm... Miss Rarity, should I be afraid of this.... 'party'?"

"Now dear, there's nothing to be afraid of, Pinkie Pie always give everypony a party that they will surely enjoy. And please, just call me Rarity. Miss Rarity just makes me sound old when we appear to be so close in age," Rarity answered. Sapphire just gave a quiet nod as she looked back at where Pinkie once was, unsure of what to expect the next time they meet.

"Now Sapphire, wasn't that an enjoyable experience?" Rarity asked, as the duo left the spa.

"It was... certainly an experience Rarity... but I didn't find that... 'massage' to be... enjoyable," Sapphire answered, her coat now completely clean of any embellishments while her mane had been well groomed to where it appeared to be flowing down the side of her head, instead of appearing as someone just tacked on some filthy rug to the side of her head. At her mention of the massage, Sapphire cringed at the memory of the treatment she received from the masseuse. Her back felt like someone was beating on it, and it was a wonder to her how she didn't end up being sent back to the hospital.

"Now dear, you're just overreacting. Give it a night and you'll be feeling like a new pony," Rarity replied, leading Sapphire to a new location.

"I'll... just take you word for it. So where are you leading me now Rarity?" Sapphire asked, curious about their next destination.

"Well, I originally planned to take you to my humble abode where you would be staying for a few days, but I have a better place in mind that you surely will enjoy," Rarity answered, as they began to approach a building that appeared to be made out of gingerbread.

The moment Sapphire noticed the building they are heading to, she gave it a double take, before looking around to find that the nearby buildings looking to be completely normal, nothing like the one that stood before her. "What... what is this place?" she asked, rubbing an eye with her hoof to see if she was seeing things clearly.

"This is the Sugarcube Corner dear, the town bakery, where all sorts of delicious food are made," Rarity explained, a small smile appearing on her face as she played on Sapphire's current food 'desires'; noticing that she had stopped dead in her tracks as she just stared at the building, drool threatening to drip out of her mouth. Opening the door with her magic, Rarity simply said, "How about you come on in Sapphire, so we can get you a treat for you to enjoy."

Not one to pass up on food, Sapphire simply nodded as she stepped through the doorway into utter darkness. Confused, Sapphire began to ask, "Is something wrong Rarity? Why is it so da-" before she was interrupted by the lights suddenly turning on, blinding her for a moment.

"SURPRISE!!!" shouted the crowd of ponies, streamers and confetti flying into the air as Pinkie Pie bounced in front of the crowd.

"Happy First Party Sapphire! I hope you en—" Pinkie Pie started, before noticing that the spot where Sapphire was a moment ago was now mysteriously empty. The party attendees looked around, confusion on their faces as they looked for where the guest of honor has gone to till a certain rainbow maned cyan pegasus exploded into laughter. One foreleg clenched around her barrel as the other just pointed at the ceiling while she hovered above the crowd. Looking up, the rest of the ponies spotted Sapphire somehow clinging onto the ceiling with all her legs, her body completely flat against it as she shivered in terror. With a sigh, Rarity engulfed Sapphire with her magic's blue aura as she gently pried her off the ceiling to softly place her on the floor while the other ponies laughed at the sight.

"Sapphire dear, there's nothing to be terrified about, it was just a surprise party. Everypony here just came to wish you a good time, none of us meant to scare you," Rarity said in a calming tone. After some rapid breathing, Sapphire began to calm down as she took in the sight of ponies smiling at her, some still laughing at her to which she blushed in embarrassment.

"Eh, heh... sorry everypony... I just.. never had a... surprise party before... or any party for that matter," she explained, giving the crowd a sheepish smile before being pulled into another hug by Pinkie Pie.

"Uh, silly, there's nothing to be sorry about. I should be the one sorry for scaring you at your first party," Pinkie said, her mane partly deflated while she looked in concern at Sapphire, hoping she's not upset with her.

"It's fine... Pinkie, it was an honest mistake, it's nothing to be worried about," Sapphire replied, catching Pinkie's concern look as she tried to disperse her fears. At her reply, Pinkie's mane inflated back to its original shape as a smile appeared on her face once more.

"That's good to hear!!! Here I was, thinking that I ruined your first party by how scared you were when we found you on the ceiling! Hey, how were you able to stick to the ceiling like that?! I don't see an suction cups on your hooves and it would be a great way to sneak up on a pony to give them a surprise from above indoors! Can you te—" Pinkie exclaimed till once again a hoof found its way onto her mouth. This time it was a lavender coated one that belonged to a lavender unicorn with purple mane with one stripe of pink running through it.

"Pinkie, maybe you should let the guest of honor have fun at her party instead of questioning how she... was able to cling to the ceiling," the lavender unicorn suggested to Pinkie, who nodded her acknowledgement. Pulling out her hoof out of Pinkie's mouth, who gave Sapphire a sheepish smile, the unicorn turned to Sapphire as she said, "Hello there, you must be Sapphire Rain. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and it is my honor to welcome you to Ponyville. I'm the town librarian, and like you I'm new to Ponyville. I just arrived here a few days ago during the Summer Sun Celebration," as she held out a hoof for a hoofshake.

Sapphire smiled at the more calm greeting, placing her own hoof against Twilight’s, giving it a shake as she replied, "Nice to meet you Twilight, good to know that I'm not the only new pony in town... but I have to ask, what's a librarian?"

At Sapphire's question, Twilight took on a baffled look, before shaking her head clear of it. Raising an eyebrow in confusion from the question, Twilight answered, "You don't know what a librarian is? Librarians are ponies who take care of the library, lending out books to ponies that want to borrow them for the intellectual pursuits or for their own interests. They also keep books in pristine shape and return them to their proper shelves."

"Ohhh..." Sapphire replied, expressing a look that showed that Twilight lost her during the explanation. However, Sapphire then asked another question, a kind of question that similar to the one she asked a while ago. One that especially shouldn't be said in the presence of certain ponies. "What's a book?"

Chapter III: The Party

Sapphire watched as Twilight stared blankly at her, her mind having not yet processed the question that was just asked of her. Meanwhile, the cyan pegasus from before noticed the duo, hovering closer to them to hear what was going on. Moments passed before the gears in Twilight's head started turning again her expression changed as her mane became slightly disheveled, strands of it sticking out as she gritted her teeth.

"What... do you mean... 'what's a book?'.... is that some kind of... joke?" Twilight asked through her clenched teeth, her left eyelid twitching.

Getting nervous at Twilight's sudden change in demeanor, Sapphire gulped before she answered, "Errr... no... I was being serious," before clenching her eyes in fear as Twilight ground her teeth at the response, while the cyan pegasus covered her muzzle with her hooves as she hid her laughter at Twilight's current appearance.

Fortunately, Rarity came in between the two, looking at Twilight as she said, "Twilight dear, mind coming with me for a moment, I need your... assistance on a private manner." Not even waiting for a response, she pulled Twilight away from Sapphire, towards a private corner.

After hearing the duo leave, Sapphire released a sigh of relief, before hearing somepony speaking to her from behind, "First you stick to the ceiling like glue after a simple surprise, then you have Twilight nearly freaking out? If I didn't know any better, I say you're competing for the role of Ponyville's most funniest pony."

Turning around, Sapphire spotted the cyan pegasus that laughed at her before, causing her to slightly blush at the memory. "I didn't mean to do any of those things like that... it just... happened," Sapphire replied while shuffling her hooves.

"No need to get nervous, I was just messing with you. Name's Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in Equestria," she said, extending out a hoof for a shake.

Sapphire reached out with her own hoof, letting Rainbow give it a shake as she said, "Wh—I mean... Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash," barely catching herself from asking another question. Given my track record so far, I really need to watch my questions more carefully, Sapphire thought to herself before Rainbow released her hoof.

"And here I thought you were going to ask me 'What's an Equestria'," Rainbow said with a chuckle, to which Sapphire replied with a weak giggle as she averted her eyes. Picking up on that, Rainbow said, "Wait a minute... you WERE going to ask me that. What is wrong with you, were you living under a rock?"

Sapphire shuffled her hooves once more as she answered, "Well... you might be right... since I can't remember a thing before yesterday... I could have been living under a rock after all..."

"How... how could anypony not know what a book is?!" Twilight shrieked as she and Rarity reached a corner far enough from Sapphire that she could no longer overhear the duo's conversation.

"As surprising as it is darling, Sapphire is probably telling the truth. I just retrieved her from the hospital earlier today, where I learned that she suffered from a head injury and was tragically stricken with amnesia," Rarity answered as she placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder to help calm her down.

At this revelation, Twilight released a gasp, realizing that her reaction to Sapphire was a bit rude due to her current circumstances. Her face paling at her treatment of the poor unicorn, Twilight said, "She's... suffering amnesia... and I snapped at her for asking that question... but wait... even if she's suffering from amnesia, I still find it hard to believe that she doesn't know what a book is."

"Well Twilight, the doctor also informed me that she's... uneducated. Coupled with how she was found with an injury and that no pony in town recognizes her... well, even I can conclude that something tragic must have happened to her, at the very least. The poor dear didn't even know what a party was till today," Rarity sadly replied.

Twilight became dumbfounded after Rarity finished, turning her head back to see Rainbow Dash approaching Sapphire to talk to her at the moment. Looking back at Rarity, Twilight took a deep breath, calming herself down before she said, "That... explains it... do you really think she's..." leaving the question in the air.

"We can't say for certain till word comes back from the pegasi that were sent with her description. Hopefully I'm wrong and she does have somepony that knows her to turn to, but until then it would be for her benefit if we treat her carefully. She's taking things in stride right now, but if pushed... we don't know how she'll react yet, but we can certainly say that the dear is jumpy considering the... 'surprise'. For now though, we should return to her to make sure she doesn't get into further... complications with any other ponies," Rarity answered, to which Twilight gave a solemn nod, following her back to Sapphire.

"Wait, you can't remember a thing before yesterday? Do you mean you have... what was it again... oh!!! Do you have amnesia?" Rainbow asked, to which Sapphire gave a quick nod to. Rainbow then started waving her forehooves in front of her as she said, "Whoa, sorry for saying that you lived under a rock, it's not cool for me to say that to you when you have amnesia... so... we cool?"

"It's alright Rainbow Dash, we all make mistakes, with me making more than others today... heh heh..." she answered, rubbing one of her forelegs against the other, as Twilight and Rarity finally returned to them.

"Sapphire?" Twilight asked when she reached her in an attempt to draw her attention. Sapphire turned to see Twilight, giving her a nervous but curious look as Twilight said, "I'm sorry for my behavior earlier, I didn't know you had amnesia and you were... never educated. I hope my rude behavior didn't sour your party mood."

After hearing Twilight's apology, Sapphire just gave her a small smile, saying, "It's alright Twilight Sparkle, it was just an honest mishap, we all make mistakes," while waving a hoof off to indicate that she wasn't particularly bothered by the incident.

"Still, this is your party and you should be enjoying it, and please, just call me Twilight. However, if you want to know what a book is, you could always come over to the library tomorrow to see them. I can even let you check some out to read them if you want," Twilight said with a sincere smile.

"Jeeze Twilight, I know you're an egghead but you don't have to be bringing up books at a party, we're supposed to be having fun," Rainbow nonchalantly commented, to which Twilight shot a glare at her.

"Ummm... I appreciate the offer Twilight... but you see... I can't read," Sapphire interjected before an issue occurs between the two ponies.

Twilight quickly snapped her head towards Sapphire in shock, an eye twitching as she said, "You.. how ca-" before getting a nudge in the side by Rarity, which caused her to stop and take a deep breathe, before continuing, "Oh yeah... you're uneducated. Sorry again, I didn't think that your lack of an education also meant that you didn't know how to read either. You can still come over to visit, and I'll even try to teach you the basics behind reading to get you started if you want to learn how to read."

With an annoyed look, Rainbow opened her mouth but before she can let out a word, she is quickly interrupted by Sapphire who said, "Thank you Twilight, I would like to know how to read, so I think I'll take you up on your offer."

After Sapphire finished, Rainbow opened her mouth once more to get a word out, but is once again interrupted when Pinkie Pie came between her and Sapphire, causing Sapphire to jump a bit in surprise as Pinkie said, "Why are you girls standing around for? It's a party and there's plenty of games to play and food to eat!"

At the word food, Sapphire snapped her head at Pinkie's direction, her eyes glittering as she shouted, "Food, where?!" Pinkie pointed at the confection table, where Sapphire's eyes widened at the sight of all the sweets there. Remembering Sapphire's last meal, Rarity tried to get in front of Sapphire to block her as Rarity opened her mouth to say something. However, to her inconvenience, Sapphire was too quick for her, already dashing to the table to devour the feast before her.

"Sapphire wait!!! You need to know how to dine properly!" Rarity shrieked, her horn alight with magic as she rushed to stop the impending disaster as her friends snicker at the scene.

Baring the feast fiasco that Rarity was fortunately able to avert, everypony had a great time at the party. After Sapphire had her fill at the confection table, under Rarity's supervision of course and consisting of more than triple the amount of food that a normal pony would eat, to the dismay of any ponies near Sapphire at the time, Pinkie Pie proceeded to introduce Sapphire to all the attendees, though it was done so rapidly that Sapphire could barely remember the names to any pony afterwards. After playing some games with the crowd, whom gotten a laugh at Sapphire's sheer confusion on how to play the games due to her inexperience at them. The party ended a few hours after sunset, with Rarity leaving with Sapphire after the duo said their goodbyes to the other ponies.

"I'm glad that you had a splendid time at your first party Sapphire," Rarity said as she led Sapphire to her home.

"I certainly did, and Pinkie Pie looked... overjoyed that I had fun," Sapphire said, remembering when she told Pinkie Pie that the party was the best she ever had, even though it was her first one. Pinkie Pie then gave her a smile that stretched beyond what Sapphire thought was physically possible before receiving another bone crushing hug from the party pony.

"Pinkie always loves making other ponies smile dear. Oh, here we are, welcome to my humble abode dear, the Carousel Boutique," Rarity replied as she waved a hoof at her home.

Taking in the sight of the magnificent looking building, Sapphire blinked at first, then like before at the Sugarcube Corner, she turns her head around to see the normal looking buildings nearby. "Humble?" Sapphire asked, skeptical that Rarity's home is anything but that.

"Of course dear, you may think otherwise but this is the humble dwelling of a fashion designer. Now it's getting late dear so it's time for us to enter so I can show you to your room," Rarity replied as she opened the door, ushering Sapphire inside.

Once inside, Sapphire spotted the various dresses on display, her eyes widening in wonder of their splendid designs. "You... you made these?" she asked in awe.

"Why of course my dear, but enough of you admiring my work, a lady needs plenty of beauty sleep, so follow me up the stairs if you would so kindly dear," Rarity answered with a flick of her mane, heading up the stairs with Sapphire following behind, still looking in awe of the dresses. Once on the second floor, Rarity opened the door to a well furnished bedroom as she said, "This is guest bedroom Sapphire, where you will be staying. The powder room is down the hall to your left if you ever need it’s services."

Walking in, Sapphire took in the view of the room, which is more than a step up in comfort and certainly much more decorated than the hospital room she was in this morning, before she turned back to Rarity to said, "Thank you so much again for offering to help me out Rarity, is there anything I can do to repay you?"

Waving a hoof off at it like it's nothing big to her, Rarity responded, "Sapphire dear, it's actually a pleasure to be able to aid a fellow unicorn in need."

"But Rarity, you’ve already done so much for me, it's the least I can do to show you my thanks," Sapphire replied with a frown.

"Well... if you really want to help me... I do have something in mind for tomorrow if you're still desire to help, but first things first, you need your beauty rest so you can see Twilight tomorrow. Now, have a pleasant night Sapphire." Rarity said as she closed the door. Looking to the bed, Sapphire walked over to it, getting underneath the covers as she snuggled at the softness of them, closing her eyes as she let her mind fall into a peaceful slumber.

Chapter IV: Tests

The whiff of a meal being cooked caused Sapphire's nose to twitch, her eyes slowly cracking open as her nose sniffed the scent. The moment her mind processed the scent, she suddenly jumped out of bed; eyes fully open as she headed out of the room. Following the smell of a meal as she leaves the room, her mouth started to water as she headed down the stairs. Finding the kitchen by her sense of smell alone, Sapphire found Rarity cooking the meals. Surprisingly, Twilight was sitting at the dining table, her face buried in a book. "Morning Rarity and morning Twilight... I'm surprised that you're here, wasn't I supposed to meet you at your library?" Sapphire asked, her mind distracted from the food right by Twilight's presence.

Twilight looked up from her book, smiling timidly as she said, "Good morning Sapphire. I remember that I invited you to the library, but since you're the first pony with amnesia that I have ever met, I have decided to do some research into the subject. Then I got myself thinking that maybe I could try some experiments to see if we can get you to remember some of your memories, if you're willing to give them a try that is."

"Hmmm... sure, why not? Couldn't hurt could it?" Sapphire asked as she took a seat at the dining table, more focused on the subject than the food.

"Oh no, none of my experiments would harm you at all. First however, maybe you want to look at your cutie mark if you hadn't already, maybe that will help you remember something," Twilight replied, peeking past the table to get a clear look at Sapphire's cutie mark as well.

"Oh, I didn't even check that out. That thought never crossed my mind," Sapphire said as she moved her flank into a position where she could see her cutie mark. On her flank were three water droplets, appearing to fall down like they're raining down from the sky.

"Anything Sapphire?" Twilight asked with curiosity and hope.

"...Not a thing. Sorry Twilight," Sapphire answered, moving back to a comfortable position as her ears flopped down against her head, her own hopes dashed.

"It's alright Sapphire, there are other things we can still try. Though... it's curious that you have a cutie mark like that. It looks like a mark that would belong to a pegasus or an earth pony... I wonder what special talent your cutie mark denotes?" Twilight said, rubbing a hoof against her chin as she pondered over the new information. Then, Rarity walked over, carrying three dishes with her magic.

"Twilight dear, I know you enjoy your pursuit of knowledge and answers as much as I enjoy designing new dresses. But there's a time and a place for these things and right now, it's time for a lady to enjoy her breakfast," Rarity said with disapproval as she set down the plates, to which Twilight blushed with some embarrassment. The moment Sapphire's eyes spotted the fried eggs and toast, her mouth started to water once more. However, before she could do a thing, Rarity continued, "And Sapphire dear, I know you have… a desire to... dine with haste, but you really need to learn some self-control and patience. You'll belittle yourself if you eat like some common animal. Here, watch how I eat so you can dine with etiquette."

Letting out a sigh, Sapphire nodded as she simply watched Rarity begin to eat her meal with grace, while Twilight observed Sapphire's behavior. Perhaps her habit of eating food with haste and in large amounts like in the party is related to her past. By the looks of her frame along how she eats, it looks like she eats in expectation that she might be going without food for a long time... I wonder what that indicates then... Twilight thought as she looked over Sapphire's body, noting that she possessed quite a lithe frame compared to the average unicorn.

Noticing what Twilight is doing, Sapphire said, "Ummm... Twilight? Is something the matter? Cause... you've been staring at me for quite a while now," as she used her magic to lift up a fork as she tried to imitate Rarity, though she did a poor job at it.

"Oh! Sorry, I was just lost in tho..." Twilight started to say, before noticing Sapphire's levitation, which caused her jaw to drop.

Blinking in surprise, Sapphire replied "Twilight, are you okay?" while waving a hoof in front of Twilight's face as Rarity looked in concern at her.

"How... how... how are you using magic... but can't read?" Twilight squeaked out in shock, before suddenly shaking her head to clear her confusion before looking at Sapphire once more. "Sorry about that Sapphire, I didn't mean to offend you. It's just that... your case of amnesia and being uneducated is highly abnormal since you still know how to use magic, at least levitation," she explained.

"Twilight, you must really focus on your meal now before it gets cold. You can attend to your curiosity later at your library," Rarity scolded, with Twilight blushing once more as she finally got started on her own meal.

"...Are libraries normally trees?" Sapphire asked, as Twilight facehooved from behind her. After breakfast, the duo left the Carousel Boutique, Twilight leading Sapphire to the town library, which upon arrival Sapphire gasped in shock at the sight of it.

"No. Normally libraries are normal buildings like the structures around us, but sometimes trees are converted into buildings for aesthetic or historical purposes," Twilight explained, as she opened the front door and indicated for Sapphire to come inside. Shaking her head clear of her amazement, Sapphire walked inside as Twilight shouted, "Spike, I'm home and I brought Sapphire!"

From the second floor, a young voice that sounds like it belongs to a colt can be heard as it said, "Alright Twilight, just give me a moment!"

After looking upon shelves and shelves of books in wonder, Sapphire looked at Twilight with a questioning look. "Oh, Spike's my number one assistant, he's been preparing some things for the experiments with your amnesia," Twilight explained, with Sapphire giving her an acknowledging nod. Within moments, a purple scaled young dragon came down the stairs, carrying a couple of boxes in his arms.

"I got all the stuff you wanted for your testing done," the dragon said, before he noticed Sapphire staring at him bug-eyed. "First time seeing a dragon?" he asked, putting the box down as he puffed out his chest.

"Yeah... though I didn't even know what a dragon was till now..." Sapphire replied.

"Jeeze, Twilight wasn't kidding when she said you don’t know a thing," Spike offhandedly commented.

"Spike!" Twilight yelled, giving him a glare that caused him to wilt.

"Twilight, it's alright. I need to get used to that eventually anyway, since it's becoming a daily thing for me now," Sapphire said with a shrug, which caused Twilight to look at her with a dumbfounded expression.

"How... how can you be okay with other ponies treating you like that Sapphire?" Twilight asked as she levitated the box Spike brought in, walking over to a couch to sit on while Sapphire followed.

"Good question... I'm not really sure myself... maybe I’ve experienced something like it in the past? Whatever the case, it's better to just ignore simple mistakes than to let them wear you down," Sapphire answered as she took a seat as well.

"That's... insightful Sapphire," Twilight replied, as she pondered more about the past of this amnesiac unicorn. "If you don't mind, I would like to conduct my experiments first to see if we can trigger the return of any of your memories before I teach you the basics of reading," Twilight asked, to which Sapphire gave a simple nod to. "Okay then, first I'm going to show you a series of pictures of various objects and places, to see if they can trigger any memories," Twilight instructed as she levitated a stack of pictures before her, showing each picture one by one to Sapphire, who looked at each picture critically before shaking her head each time. After going through the pictures, Twilight proceeded to say the names of various places, events, or important figures to Sapphire, who once again simply shook her head. Twilight, refusing to call it quits, called down Spike to bring more materials to test Sapphire with.

A couple hours later, with books and boxes of various objects spread all about the library. Sapphire gave Twilight an inquisitive look as she said, "Twilight... maybe we should stop. We've been at this for a while now, and I still don't remember a thing and you're driving yourself nuts with these... experiments..."

Twilight, her hair frayed, opened her mouth to argue back, but was stopped when Sapphire placed a hoof in her mouth. She gave her a serious stare before removing her hoof to let Twilight take a deep breath to calm herself. "Sorry about that Sapphire, it's just that with all these experiments, I thought we would have triggered at least one memory of yours," Twilight explained.

"It's alright Twilight, at least you tried and that's all that counts. Thank you for putting so much effort to help me out," Sapphire said, giving Twilight a calming smile.

"Oh it's nothing Sapphire, I'm your friend and it's the least I can do to help you out," Twilight replied, to which Sapphire gave her a skeptical look.

"Friends? We're friends? But you barely even know me Twilight, even I don't know me..." Sapphire said in a voice thick with doubt and sorrow. Twilight responded with a sad look, before coming to her, giving her a hug with her forelegs.

"It doesn't matter Sapphire, cause I know that deep down, you're a good pony," Twilight said in a soothing tone, to which Sapphire returned the hug, remaining quiet for the time being.

"Twilight... thank you for being my friend," Sapphire finally said, as she gently broke up the hug as she gave Twilight a hopeful smile that Twilight returned with one of her own.

"I'm glad to be your friend," Twilight replied, but her eyes then drifted to Sapphire's cutie mark, before her eyes brightened as an idea came to her mind. "Wait, Sapphire, I have one last thing to try," she said as she rushed out of the room into the kitchen, leaving Sapphire confused till she returned with a glass of water that she placed on a nearby table. "Okay, Sapphire, I need you to lift this glass up into the air for me," she commanded, to which Sapphire gave her a baffled look before doing as told, lifting the glass in the air with her magic. Her horn and the glass were soon covered in an aquamarine aura. "Now, Sapphire, remember how much magic you used on the glass and then put it back on the table. Then, using the same amount of magic, this time lift the water in the glass into the air." Sapphire, bearing a puzzled expression as she was tried to figure out what Twilight is looking for. She placed the glass back on the table and then reduced the aura to just be around the water before she attempted to lift it into the air. Instead of the water simply floating into the air as she was expecting, it simply just vanished, with the sound of a splash coming from the ceiling, along with water raining down on the table. As the incident occurred, the two unicorns looked up at the ceiling to see a large portion of it dripping wet from the water that was sent flying into it.

"Wha... what just happened?" Sapphire asked, her mind lost as she tried to figure out what just happened. Twilight on the other hoof, clapped her hooves together as she jumped into the air in glee.

"My hypothesis was correct!" she squealed in joy as she came down, before she spotted Sapphire's befuddled look at her reaction, causing Twilight to blush in response. "Oh sorry about that, I had a hypothesis on the nature of your special talent based on your cutie mark, the fact that you're unicorn and that you know some magic, and I was right! Your special talent is water manipulation, where you expend much less energy to manipulate water compared to the average unicorn! That explains why your magic sent the water flying into the ceiling, cause you don't need to use as much magic to lift water than you would on a glass filled with the same amount of water!" Twilight revealed, ending Sapphire's confusion.

"That would explain my cutie mark... hmm..." Sapphire replied, as she looked at the ceiling once more in thought, before looking back at Twilight to ask, "So what does this mean?"

Instead of responding, Twilight's jaw dropped as she stared at Sapphire as her pupils shrank to pinpricks. "You... you don't remember... a single thing still?" she tentatively asked, to which Sapphire just shook her head for an answer. Twilight then grabbed her mane with her hooves, wailing in frustration, "How can you not remember?!?! Just how bad is your amnesia!!!" Sapphire leaned back into the couch as Twilight went off into a rant, pacing around the room as she muttered to herself about the sheer illogical nature of Sapphire's amnesia.

"Twilight, do you have to scream so loudly? I was reading my comics when your yell made me jump into the air!" Spike complained from upstairs, where he was reading comics to pass the time whenever he wasn't fulfilling Twilight's requests.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight replied, "Sorry Spike, I just never thought Sapphire's amnesia would be so... difficult. I never seen anything like it in my books about them." Looking at Sapphire, she took up a shameful face as she said, "Sorry for my reaction Sapphire, I just didn't expect you to not remember anything after we figured out your special talent."

Taking a more comfortable position on the couch, Sapphire responded, "It's alright Twilight, you're just frustrated, I understand. How about we do something else to keep your mind off this?"

Twilight sighed, nodding her head at Sapphire's suggestion until she suddenly remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot! I promised to teach you how to read, are you still up for it Sapphire?" Sapphire gave Twilight a grateful nod, glad that Twilight had moved past the current problem for the time being. Twilight used her magic to bring over some new books as she began to instruct Sapphire the first lessons of learning how to read.

Chapter VI: Suspicions

The light of a new dawn filtered through the windows of Sapphire’s room, the light landing on her face, causing her to stir as the sunlight disturbed her sleep. Cracking open her eyes, she hissed as the sunlight entered inside as she raised a foreleg to shield her eyes from the sun’s rays. Letting out a yawn, she dragged herself out of bed, rubbing the side of her head as she continued to wake up. Walking by the door, she levitated one of the books that were stacked nearby the door before heading down to the kitchen. Mumbling gibberish to herself, she took a seat on the kitchen table, spotting Rarity as she was cooking breakfast before opening the book to continue her studies.

After a while, Rarity noticed that Sapphire has entered the room, looking at her as she said, “Oh, good morning Sapphire. In the mood for some pancakes for breakfast?” Sapphire simply nodded for her reply as she rubbed her eyes to wake them up further. “You really need a break from your studies dear, you’re starting to remind me of Twilight with her own dedication to her books,” Rarity commented. Only three days had passed since the gala ticket affair occurred, but Sapphire had chosen to spend each day improving her reading skills. She had advanced far enough to be able to easily read single syllable words; while standing in as a model for Rarity for any orders that required a lithe frame like hers. Sapphire still wanted to pay Rarity back in some way for her generosity.

Looking out the window, she spotted a pair of pegasi flying through the sky, the armor they were wearing revealed them to be members of the Royal Guard. “It’s still odd that the Royal Guard is still out there, any idea what they’ve been going around for Rarity?” Sapphire asked.Right after the gala ticket affair, there had been Royal Guard patrols at the outskirts of the town. Sapphire found out about them after asking Rarity who they were of course.

“Oh, it must be nothing important dear, nothing for you to worry about,” Rarity answered, even though she had an idea on the purpose for their presence. Sapphire simply shrugged as she returned her attention to her book, until Rarity finished with the pancakes, placing their plates on the table. Rarity smiled as she watched Sapphire eating more slowly, her dining etiquette having improved from Rarity’s lessons as well as her habit changed from her previous gorging to more reserve eating habits. She had gotten used to regular meals, though her lithe figure had not changed at all.

Finishing her meal, Sapphire closed her book before she headed upstairs, returning with the rest of the books as she gathered them together into a stack, saying “I’m going to give Twilight a visit Rarity. It’s time for me to return these books for ones of the next level. Can’t stick to foal level forever,” as she gave Rarity a comical smile.

Shaking her head in amusement, Rarity just smiled back as she replied, “Alright dear, but please do come back after lunch time, I need you to model again for the finishes touches on that dress from yesterday.” Giving Rarity a knowing nod, Sapphire headed out the front door, her magic keeping the books in tow behind her.

As Sapphire walked through town, she noticed a few of the ponies that were wandering around in the morning spotting her and giving her a friendly wave that she returned in kind. Rarity wasn’t joking that Ponyville is a friendly town. Everyone is so pleasant to me since I first came here, she thought to herself as she reached the library. After knocking on the door, she waited patiently until the door opened to reveal Spike, to which she said, "Morning Spike, I’m just here to return the books Twilight lent to me, mind letting me in?”

Giving Sapphire a nod, Spike replied, “Sure, but let me get Twilight first, she needs to talk to you about… something,” before he closed the door, to which Sapphire tilted her head in curiosity as she wondered what Twilight needed to talk to her about. Moments later, the door opened to reveal Twilight, who was bearing her usually wide smile.

“Good morning Sapphire, I’m surprised that you’re done with your studies already. I’m pleased that you have dedicated yourself to learning how to read,” Twilight said as she stepped aside to let Sapphire in.

“Oh, just wanted to catch up with other ponies, don’t want to know less than a young foal would, right?” she said as she came in. “By the way Twilight, is something wrong? Your smile… looks off for some reason,” Sapphire stated as she placed the stack of books to one side.

“No! Nothing is wrong! I mean… I’m just surprised to see you finish those books so early,” Twilight said, giving a forced laugh as she closed the door, her eyes occasionally darting to the stairs.

“Are you sure? You seem to be acting weird right now, and Spike did say you had something to talk to me about. Is something the matter?” Sapphire asked, a look of suspicion appearing on her face.

Just as Twilight opened her mouth, a mysterious voice from the stairs was heard, saying, “There is a matter that does need to be discussed, but it’s not Twilight who needs to talk to you.” Turning around, Sapphire’s jaw dropped as she beheld the sight of the largest pony she had ever seen in her life. At the top of the stairs stood Princess Celestia, who was looking upon Sapphire with a neutral expression. Sapphire returned it with a wide eyed one as Celestia slowly descended the stairs. As Twilight watched the two, her eyes nervously shifting between Sapphire and her teacher.

As Celestia descended the stairs, Sapphire continued the wide eyed stare, unable to say something as her brain completely shut down from the alicorn in front of her. Continuing her gaze, Celestia waited for Sapphire to respond. Instead, moments passed with not a single word being said, only the sound of Twilight occasionally shuffling her hooves. Finally, Celestia raised an eyebrow as she asked, “I believe you’re Sapphire Rain, correct?”

Even though she heard the question, her brain failed to process it. Instead, she finally broke her silence by saying the first thing that came to her mind. “You have… enormous wings…” she dumbly responded.

“Sapphire!!!” Twilight shrieked in shock, unable to believe that Sapphire would so mindlessly say such a thing, while Celestia held back an urge to smile at the unexpected comment. Instead, she reached out with a hoof, nudging Sapphire’s shoulder, causing her to break out of her stupor.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to say that! I was just… awestruck by your appearance Princess Celestia,” Sapphire said in a hurry as she gave Celestia a bow. “As to your question princess, you are correct, I am indeed Sapphire Rain. What is it that you need to talk to me about princess?”

“I’ve gotten word that you were found outside of Ponyville with a head injury that has robbed you of your memories. While that is a sad occurrence for anypony, the matter of you not having records has given me suspicion…” Celestia explained.

“It does?” Sapphire replied, tilting her head in utter confusion which caused Celestia to begin to doubt her suspicions.

“It does, for after being given some possible reasonable causes that would lead to your lack of records, I dispatched the Royal Guard to investigate them. Sadly, they turned out to be false in the end, which causes me to question your… situation, Miss Sapphire. Are you certain you have no ‘memories’ that you can recall that could possibly explain your lack of records?” Celestia asked, her tone devoid of any emotion.

“Hmmm… sorry Princess Celestia, I still can’t remember a thing,” Sapphire said, oblivious of the situation she was in while Twilight began to sweat, wondering about what action Celestia was planning to take.

Celestia released a disappointed sigh, as her horn lit up with her golden aura. “Are you certain you have no memories, or any knowledge on how you came to Ponyville?”

“Sorry princess, I wish I remembered something or knew anything that brought me here… but I just have nothing your highness,” Sapphire responded, tilting her head as she wondered why the princess’s horn is alight with her magic.

Celestia simply fixed a piercing gaze upon Sapphire, as if she’s inspecting the unicorn for any hint of flaws. However, within moments, her gaze faltered, before shattering entirely as she took on an expression of confusion, finally settling at a sad expression as she looked upon Sapphire with guilt in her eyes. “Sapphire, I must apologize for my poor behavior, for after hearing about your mysterious appearance as well as not having any plausible explanation for your current situation. I suspected that you were either a spy or a threat to my dear student Twilight and her friends.”

Celestia’s words rendered Sapphire dumbfounded, her head slowly lowering until she was just staring at the ground. She then turned her head away from Celestia in such a manner that her mane was able to hide her face from view. After several moments had passed, Sapphire finally spoke, her voice shocked and broken, “You… you really thought that I… would hurt my friends?”

Lowering her head, Celestia replied, “I didn’t mean to do harm to you, but I have to protect my student and her fri-“

“Even when it could involve a pony that was left with NOTHING?!” Sapphire interrupted, turning her head towards Celestia to reveal the streams of tears running down from her face. “I have no family, no friends that I can turn to, I have no education to help me find a career to support me, even my special talent, which happens to just let me easily manipulate water, means BUCK when there’s pegasi that can do the job faster since they can just move clouds around. Then my friends, ponies who went out of their way to help out a complete stranger, whom welcomed me to Ponyville, offered me a place to stay and even help me to learn how to read, and you think I would have the nerve to bring them harm after all they have done for me?!”

Celestia quietly took Sapphire’s venting, her expression changing to a stoic one until Sapphire has finished her rant. “Sapphire, you must understand that as princess, it is my duty to protect the ponies of Equestria from any threat. Especially to Twilight and her friends, for they are the Elements of Harmony, thus they are important to the safety of Equestria. So, while I understand your plight, I will not let any matters slide that can harm them—” Celestia then stomped a hoof down. “-do you understand, Miss Sapphire?” As Celestia finished her response, she fixed a stern look at Sapphire for her hostile response.

Withering under the glare from the Princess, Sapphire simply backed away, tears still continuing to pour from her eyes as she lowered her head as she looks at the floor once more. “F-f-fine… if I c-could be s-such a th-threat in y-your eyes… th-then I’ll… I’ll…” Sapphire stammered out, until enough was enough for as she turned around, using her magic to open the door as she galloped out of the library.

“Sapphire!” Twilight yelled as Sapphire fled the scene, galloping down the streets past ponies that just looked in shock at her flight, leaving a mutually shocked Twilight and Celestia, neither of which thought that Sapphire would react this strongly. Sapphire continued her gallop, weaving through the crowds until she went past the town limits. Despite leaving the town itself, she kept moving forward till she reached the tree line of the Everfree Forest. Charging into the forest, she kept up her gallop until she finally ran out of breath several minutes later. Gasping for breath, Sapphire looked around, seeing only trees instead of any pursuers that might have been sent after her. She then laid down on the grass, burying her face into her forelegs as she sobbed out her sorrow at the accusation. She continued to weep till one of her ears caught the sounds of a bush rustling, she quickly raised her head, turning it at the direction of the noise. Staring at a bush, she wondered what found her, until she saw a dark figure jumping out of the bush. Her eyes catching the sight of glowing green eyes as the being came at her.

Chapter VII: Recovery

Staring at the door that was left ajar, Twilight stood still in shock. Her mind had come up with many possibilities in regards to how Celestia’s confrontation with Sapphire would turn out, but not coming up with Sapphire simply fleeing from the library after being found out to not have any dark intentions against Twilight and her friends. Even Celestia was surprised by the turn of events until a pair of pegasi from the Royal Guard flew through the door to investigate what happened.

“Princess, what happened? Have you been harmed? Shall we pursue the fleeing unicorn?” asked one of the Royal Guards as they both tried to take stock of the current situation.

Shaking her head from the shock of Sapphire’s flight, Celestia answered, “No harm has occurred to anypony, but you must find Sapphire Rain, the unicorn that just bolted from the library. I do not know what she will do, but in her current mental state...if she is not found and bought back to a reasonable state, I’m afraid she might do something that will bring harm to herself, or even to others. Though that would most likely be unintentional on her part. However, do not do any harm to her as well, she is innocent of any possible wrongdoing.” Dipping the heads in acknowledgement, the Royal Guards flew out of the library to pass the orders onto the rest of the guard stationed at Ponyville.

Tentatively, Twilight approached Celestia, asking, “Is Sapphire going to be alight Princess Celestia? I don’t think she meant to anger you…”

Celestia sighed as she turned to look at Twilight, realizing that while Sapphire’s reaction was out of the line compared to most ponies that were in her presence, she knew that she shouldn’t let her emotions get the better of her so easily. “Twilight, you do not have to worry, Sapphire is not going to be in trouble for her words. I understand that deep down, she is in pain over her missing past and my questioning only aggravated her pain. Unfortunately, my retort wasn’t truly necessary. If I had remained calm, Sapphire would still be here."

“Forgive me for asking princess, but why did you react like that? Normally you wouldn’t be bothered by anypony if they act with that kind of behavior towards you,” Twilight asked, having rarely seen Celestia be angered by anything.

“You are correct my student, but in regards to this matter, your safety and your friends’ safety were at stake. You are the Elements of Harmony, and there may be other ponies, or other beings, that would desire to do harm to you or to take advantage of you to their own nefarious ends. Sapphire’s unusual circumstances along with her having relations with each of you so soon could have been an indication of a plot in which she would try to take the best moment to do harm to you and your friends,” Celestia answered, wishing that she hadn’t treated one of her subjects so harshly in light of their current misfortunes. “Hopefully the guard will find Sapphire before she finds herself in some kind of trouble. Then we can avert the damages that were done earlier.”

Looking out the still opened door, Twilight nodded to Celestia’s words, hoping that Sapphire remains safe. However, time passed. With seconds becoming minutes, which soon becomes hours as the two began to worry. They started to wonder where Sapphire could have gone off to that would take the Royal Guard so long in locating her. After several hours had passed, a member of the Royal Guard returned with news.

“Princess Celestia, Sapphire has been located, however she was found in the Everfree Forest.” Twilight released a gasp, knowing fully well the danger that resides in the forest after going through it barely a week ago. “I regret to inform you that Sapphire has been attacked by timber wolves, whom successfully injured her. She has sustained a deep cut in her throat as well as being bitten on the right side of her barrel. Fortunately, the injuries are nonfatal. However,t she has lost enough blood that by the time we fended off the timber wolves that were chasing her, she has fainted from the resulting blood loss. We brought her to Ponyville hospital, where she is currently having her injuries treated.”

At the sudden news, Celestia became aghast due to being the cause for Sapphire’s irrational flight that resulted in her fleeing to the Everfree Forest. The news rendered Twilight speechless, shocked at the harm that had come to her friend. Twilight soon recovered though, quickly rushing out of the library to be at Sapphire’s side, leaving Celestia alone in the library to regret her recent actions.

“Miss Sparkle, I know you’re concerned, but you must remain calm. Miss Rain is currently asleep and we don’t need you disturbing the rest that she needs for her injuries to heal. So please calm down first, then we will lead you to her room” Doctor Horse said. After leaving the library, Twilight immediately bolted for the hospital, arriving hysterically as she quickly plagued the front desk with demands to see Sapphire.

Realizing that the doctor is right, Twilight took several deep breaths until she regained her composure. “Sorry Doctor Horse, I just panicked when I heard about Sapphire being injured.”

“It’s understandable Miss Twilight, but remaining in a panic will not help Miss Rain. Now that you have calmed down though, you may follow me to her room.” Turning around, Doctor Horse led Twilight down the hallway, before arriving at Sapphire’s room, where he opened the door for Twilight to enter. Upon her entry, she released another gasp upon the sight of a bandaged Sapphire, who was in slumber in the bed. Her neck was covered in bandages with signs of her side being bandaged as her arm was hooked up for a blood transfusion. “While Miss Rain’s injuries aren’t serious, it appears that she has sustained them long enough for her to lose a large amount of blood. However, with the blood transfusion, she will be fine and will make a full recovery in a few days.”

Turning to the doctor, Twilight was about to say something until Celestia entered the room as she took a look at Sapphire. Her face took an expression of sorrow at the unfortunate consequences of the earlier confrontation. “Doctor Horse, I request you leave the three of us alone, there is something that I must discuss with my student.” Giving a bow, Doctor Horse took his leave as Celestia turned to Twilight. “Twilight... please forgive me for the harm that has come to Sapphire, I did not… intend for her to come to harm, regardless of how she reacted. I only did what I believed would help assure you and your friend’s safety."

Looking down at Sapphire, Twilight took in a deep breath, before letting out a sigh as she turned to look at Celestia once more. "It's... it's not your fault princess... it's.. whatever happened to Sapphire that is the source of all this... if only there was some clue to her past..."

"Her forgotten past is... problematic to say the least... though there is nothing to indicate that she's not who she appears to be. Still, I should have approached her more cautiously instead of letting my suspicions get the better of myself." Looking upon Sapphire's resting form, Celestia continued, "I fear that if I remain here when Sapphire awakens, it would only cause her distress. It would be best if I take my leave now, I still have affairs in Canterlot to attend to. As for Sapphire, would you keep an eye on her Twilight as well as give her my apologies?I will pay her another visit in the future when she has enough time to recover from this... tasteless 'experience'."

"I will princess. Hopefully, Sapphire isn't a pony who holds grudges..." Twilight replied with a hint of sadness as she looked upon Sapphire once more. Giving Twilight a nod, Celestia turned around to leave, leaving the duo alone as Twilight took a seat, hoping that Sapphire would awaken soon.

...Sapphire... please always remember... I will always love you...

Letting out a gasp, Sapphire suddenly sat straight up in her bed, a foreleg pressed against her chest as her breathing quickened from her shock. Hearing two more gasps that didn't come from herself, Sapphire turned her head, seeing Twilight and Rarity sitting in their own seats, looking at her in surprise. A moment passed as they stared at each other before the two ponies rush over to Sapphire's side.

"Sapphire, are you alright?" Twilight asked, her voice full of concern.

"I... I... it was nothing important," Sapphire said, before getting a good view of herself, catching sight of all the bandages. "Errr... except for what happened in the forest... sorry for causing such a fuss girls..."

"Now Sapphire dear, we're your friends, and thus we are naturally concerned for your well being," Rarity replied.

"Sapphire, I think something important is wrong... I know that you're upset from how Princess Celestia confronted you... but no pony would expected you to react so badly... can't you please tell us what’s wrong?" Twilight asked.

Sapphire looked at her two closest friends for a moment, before taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "Alright... I just... I was trying to get past how I have nothing about who I am beyond my lost memories and my name, and it's so frustrating to... to have nothing that can tell me who I am. But just when I was thinking I was starting a new life of sorts, in a place that could lead me to a bright new beginning. I get confronted by what I lost, by just how much of a... stranger I really am..." Sapphire finished, as tears ran down her face. Giving Sapphire looks of sympathy, Twilight and Rarity went to her, the both of them giving her a tender hug, letting the poor pony sob in their warm embrace. Collecting herself, Sapphire continued, "Thanks girls... I guess I really needed that... I just wished I hadn't unleashed it at... Princess Celestia..."

"Sapphire, the princess isn't mad at you, she actually wants to apologize to you for causing that breakdown at you," Twilight says.

Sapphire jerks her head at Twilight's direction, unable to believe what she's hearing. "She's... she's not mad? But she looked so... harsh to say... by how I reacted."

"Princess Celestia might have... reacted poorly... but she's a kind compassionate pony that cares about all us ponies. She even wants to meet you again Sapphire, to truly convey how she felt about... indirectly causing you to be in harm's way," Twilight replies.

As Sapphire stares at Twilight in surprise, Rarity breaks away from the hug as she asks, "Still, are you sure there's nothing else you want to talk about dear? When you woke up, you looked dreadful, like you saw something horrendous."

"Umm... well... I was dreaming... and I thought I heard someone talking to me... and it was a voice that I never heard before," Sapphire answered nervously, to which the other two suddenly look at her in wide eyed surprise.

"Sapphire, that might be a memory! Do you recall anything about the voice, or what you heard?" Twilight asked with excitement at the prospect of what she just heard.

Looking at the wall, Sapphire's eyes took a look like she was looking at some distance object as she drew upon the memories of her dream. "Well... all I can remember from that dream... is that the voice was female... and that she told me to always remember that she loves me... besides that, I have nothing else. Sorry Twilight."

"No, no this is good. It might not be much, but it does hint that you have someone that cares about you Sapphire. If only we can find this mare, we might learn more about your own past. It's also a possible sign that you are beginning to remember your past. If given more time, you may recover even more memories Sapphire!" Twilight exclaimed as she broke away from Sapphire to pace around the room. "It may be that you can only recollect your memories when you're asleep based on how you didn't seem to remember anything from my tests. I suggest that you keep a journal at your side Sapphire, and write down any dreams you have. Perhaps we can piece together something about your past from them."

"Maybe... but for now, I rather just rest... I am hurt after all," Sapphire said with a weak laugh. "As for the princess wanting to... meet me again, I rather have some time to... put some 'things' behind me first... I don't want to have another breakdown in front of her..."

"Don't worry Sapphire, Princess Celestia only wants to meet you when you're ready to meet her this time. We all don't want a 'repeat' after all, right?" Twilight replied with an awkward chuckle.

Taking a look at the clock, Rarity noted how late it is, herself having only arriving a few hours after Twilight arrived, rushing the moment she heard about Sapphire's condition. "Looks like we have to make our leave Sapphire, you do need your beauty rest. We'll visit you again tomorrow dear." Sapphire nodded to indicate her acknowledgement, as the ponies then said their goodbyes. After Twilight and Rarity took their leave, Sapphire laid her head on her pillow once more as she closed her eyes, wondering if Twilight's theory could be correct as her mind drifted to sleep once more.

Chapter VIII: Bunnies

As the days passed by while Sapphire was hospitalized, her closest friends visited her. Twilight brought over books to help Sapphire pass the time. Rarity discussed latest fashion trends and a few upcoming orders that she could use Sapphire's help, to which she simply rolled her eyes with a slightly amused smile as a response before promising to help. Pinkie Pie dropped off a 'Get better again soon!' cake that Sapphire devoured in front of Pinkie. Rainbow Dash began passing by her window to comment that she was brave for going into the forest but it wasn't 'cool' that she's now stuck in the hospital, with Sapphire thinking that Rainbow didn't pay too much attention when she heard about what happened to her. Finally, after four days of rest, she was informed that her wounds has recovered enough for her to be released as long as she kept the bandages on for a couple more days, due to the wounds still being sensitive.

After leaving the hospital, Sapphire was making a beeline to the library, carrying the stack of books that Twilight lent her. She was enjoying being able to stretch her legs after being cooped up in the hospital for so long. Suddenly however, a pony screamed out, "Stampede!"

Blinking to herself, Sapphire's asked "What's a stampede?" only to see ponies running around in absolute horror. Eyes widening in fear from seeing everyone in panic, she looked around for the 'stampede'. Instead, she only saw a rather large group of bunnies running down the street, with ponies running in fear and even one pony fainting. "...Seriously? That's a stampede? How can anypony be scared of bunnies?" Shaking her head at the sight, Sapphire simply went on her way, ignoring the mayhem around her as she continued her way to the library. Upon her arrival, knocks on the front door happened while waiting until Spike opened it, blinking at Sapphire's appearance.

"Hi there Sapphire, good to see you're..." Spike started, until he heard a commotion, causing him to look past Sapphire to catch sight of the panicking ponies. "What is going on out there?"

"There's stampede... I guess," Sapphire said dryly.

"Stampede!?!" Spike shrieked, grabbing Sapphire and pulling her inside before shutting the door, barricading it with everything he can get his claws on.

"Spike... really? Why is everypony so scared of bunnies?" Sapphire asked with an exasperated look.

At the last word of Sapphire's question Spike stopped, turning to look at Sapphire to ask, "Bunnies?"

"Bunnies."

"Really?"

"Really."

"...Are you sure?"

"No, we're being attacked by squirrels."

Blinking for a moment before blushing at his embarrassment as he started cleaning up his mess. "A stampede of bunnies, who would have thought," Spike said, chuckling at the thought as he pushed his own panic attack out of his mind.

"Please tell me this isn't normal for Ponyville Spike," Sapphire replied as she opened the door after Spike cleared the barricade, picking up the books she dropped as she brought them inside.

"Well... I'm not the best one to ask Sapphire, Twilight and I have only been here a couple weeks." Spike said as he grabbed the stack of books, heading off to put them in their proper places.

Sighing, Sapphire shook her head at the sheer ridiculousness outside as she asked, "Well, is Twilight here today? I wanted to pick up some more books before heading to Rarity's place."

"No, she's out, and knowing her, she's probably gonna do something with what's going on out there. Though I can get you some books that you might be able to read if you want." Giving Spike a nod, Sapphire walked over to a window to watch the ponies continue their senseless panic. Moments later, Spike returned carrying a large stack of books that Sapphire quickly grabbed with her magic.

"Thanks for the books Spike, I'll be heading out now. Hopefully the bunnies don't get me." Letting out a laugh, Spike waved to her goodbye as she went out the front door. Holding her stack up so high so that some pony wouldn't blindly run into it, she made her way over to the Carousel Boutique. Before long, the panic finally calmed down, allowing Sapphire to make the rest of the way back safely as she came inside, yelling "Rarity, I'm finally out of the hospital." Waiting for a moment, she was greeted with silence, to which she gave a shrug. She figured that Rarity is busy again with outdoor tasks, or possibly helping Twilight deal with the mayhem that occurred outside. Setting down the stack on the table, she opened a book to continue her reading practice as she simply waited for Rarity to to come home. Hours past till sunset, then the front door opened, with Rarity coming into the kitchen to cook herself dinner. She didn’t notice Sapphire, who simply watched her for a moment before saying, "Good evening Rarity."

"Good evening to you too dear," Rarity replied, caught up in her cooking preparations. Moments later, with Sapphire smiling as she waited until Rarity suddenly stopped, turning around quickly, her expression full of shock and surprise. "Oh Sapphire, I didn't notice you there, I apologize for the poor greeting I gave you."

Waving a hoof off at the apology, Sapphire replied, "It's alright Rarity, I'm not that noteworthy of a pony after all, compared to all of those bunnies and panicking earlier today."

"Oh, you saw that disaster dear?"

"Saw it, I was in the middle of the panic, though I wasn't running around like everypony else. Just what was the problem with everypony and bunnies?" Sapphire asked, raising an eyebrow as she hoped that Rarity would have the answer.

"Oh, it was just an overreaction Sapphire, nothing to fret about."

"Rarity, I don't think having mass hysteria due to bunnies running about counts as just an overreaction," Sapphire deadpanned as she gave Rarity a stare as she waited for a proper answer.

"Well, the bunnies would eat up the gardens—" Sapphire kept up her stare "—and they can leave their dirty paw prints all over—" Sapphires stare continued to persist "—and... okay, I admit it dear, it was a bit over the top," Rarity finally admitted.

"Good to see that I'm not the only pony that thinks like that," Sapphire replied, as she turned back to her book.

"I know you've just got out of the hospital dear, but you really need to get some fresh air once in awhile. How about you come with me tomorrow Sapphire, the exercise will do you some good. Can't let you get overweight from how much you eat at every sitting."

Looking down at herself, Sapphire saw that she still appeared as scrawny as ever. "I don't think I'm gonna ever have a weight problem Rarity. I still look thinner than the average pony."

"Still, I insist that you come with me tomorrow, some fresh air and exercise will still do you some good dear."

"Alright Rarity, I guess I'll go with you tomorrow. Who knows, maybe I'll see everypony going crazy again," Sapphire said with a chuckle as Rarity rolled her eyes at the comment.

The next day, both Sapphire and Rarity were walking towards the outskirts of Ponyville, with Sapphire giving a good long stare at the Everfree Forest when it came into view. "Why does the Everfree have to be so close to town?"

"Dear, there's nothing to worry about the horrid monsters within whom rarely come out of the forest. As long as you stay out of that dreadful place, you'll be safe."

"I hope you're right Rarity, I don't want to make the hospital a weekly place for me to visit. Though, I wonder why we're getting so close to it."

"Why dear, we're going to visit one of my dear friends today," Rarity replied as they soon reach a cottage, to which Sapphire raised an eyebrow at the grass growing on the roof.

Things just keep getting stranger and stranger, Sapphire thought to herself before she asked, "Your friend lives near the Everfree Forest?"

"Why yes dear, though she does it because she tends to the animals that live near Ponyville," Rarity answered. Knocking on the front door, Rarity announced, "Fluttershy dear, it's me, Rarity, and I brought along a companion for you to meet."

Sapphire watched as the door opened slightly, where she spotted a blue eye looking through the small crack. Tilting her head at the sight, the door suddenly opened as a yellow blur rush out to Sapphire's side, causing her to release a yelp of surprise as she turned her head to look at a yellow coated pink maned pegasus.

"Oh dear, what happened to you! Are you still in pain?" the pegasus asked, as she examined the bandages Sapphire had on her neck and side still.

"Err... I'm okay.. for the most part that is... I got them when... I was in the Everfree Forest a few days back," Sapphire replied, blinking in confusion.

"Oh my, why were you in such a dangerous place like that!?" the pegasus said in her soft voice.

"Fluttershy dear, maybe it'll be best that we leave that matter alone for the time being. For now, I would like you to meet my friend Sapphire Rain. Sapphire dear, this is my good friend Fluttershy," Rarity said, directing the conversation before it could get too awkward for Sapphire.

"Oh, sorry, nice to meet you Sapphire," Fluttershy said in a meek tone as she backed away to give Sapphire some room.

"Nice to meet you too Fluttershy, though if I recall correctly... I think I saw you at my welcome party over a week ago, but I didn't get a chance to talk to you," Sapphire replied as she rubbed a hoof against her chin in thought.

As Fluttershy blushed at that memory as Rarity said, "Well, Fluttershy is a bit nervous about.. meeting new ponies dear."

As Sapphire gave Rarity an acknowledging nod, Fluttershy replied, "Do you two want to come inside my home? I'm already brewing some tea and it would be nice if you two would care to join me, if it's no trouble that is..."

"Why Fluttershy dear, it would be lovely for the both of us to have a cup of tea with you, right Sapphire?" Rarity answered with Sapphire nodding again. Smiling, Fluttershy led the two inside, heading to the kitchen as Rarity took a seat in the living room with Sapphire following her lead.

As she waited for Fluttershy to return with the tea, she felt something poking at her flank. Looking to her side, she saw a bunny glaring at her. 'What's with all the bunnies lately?' Sapphire thought to herself as she tilted her head at the bunny, who was simply pointing at her before pointing at the seat she's taking and then to itself. "Are you trying to tell me something?" she asked, to which the bunny gave her a nod before continuing it’s actions.

"Tea's ready- oh, there you are Angel, I was wondering where you went off to," Fluttershy said as she entered the room, a tray with a kettle of tea and tea cups on her back. Angel turned to Fluttershy, pointing at Sapphire while tapping his foot in frustration.

"I'm guessing this bunny is your pet Fluttershy... but is something the matter with him? He was trying to tell me something but I couldn't understand him," Sapphire asked.

"Oh, you're on his favorite seat... Angel, Sapphire's hurt, so wouldn't it be nice of you to let her stay where she is?" Angel simply shook his head, pointing at Sapphire while Fluttershy placed the tray down on a table, pouring a cup of tea for each of the ponies.

"Umm... Angel, why can't you just take another seat? There's plenty of other seats here for you to use," Sapphire said, as she and Rarity took hold of their cups of tea with their magic. Just as Sapphire brought her cup of tea to her muzzle for a sip like she was taught by Rarity, Angel pulled out a small carrot. He tossed it at the cup with perfect precision, causing Sapphire to lose her hold on the cup as it fell towards her as all of the ponies' eyes widened at what was about to occur.

Chapter IX: Tea and Apples

The sky over Ponyville was peacefully quiet, so quiet that nothing could disturb a cyan pegasus that was lying on top of a cloud, who chosen to simply nap the uneventful morning away. As she laid there, she smiled as she had a dream where she was finally accepted into the Wonderbolts, flying through the sky at top speeds with her idols. To any pegasus that passed by her, they knew better than to wake up Rainbow Dash unless it was important.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!"

Rainbow suddenly burst out of the cloud, her head snapping at any direction as she asked, "What the hay was that?" Seeing nothing in the air, she looked below, seeing other ponies looking about in confusion as well. Some ponies however, have their heads turned in the general direction of the noise that rang out earlier. Following the gaze of those ponies, Rainbow's eyes soon caught the sight of Fluttershy's cottage, at which her eyes widened as fear gripped her heart. "Oh no! Not Fluttershy!" she hollered out before flying at top speed to the cottage. She crashed through the front door, but due to her high speed, she ended up running into a wall, smashing against it like a pancake. Peeling her head off the wall, she started to open her mouth but suddenly stopped when she caught sight of what was going on inside.

Before her, Rainbow saw Rarity, who was restraining a furious Sapphire by hooking her forelegs around Sapphire's own forelegs as she held her back from a bunny that was a few feet away. The bunny was sticking his tongue out at Sapphire as she roared, "Let me go Rarity! I'm just going to give Angel the seat he wanted!"

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was in a panic, chastising Angel while she was pulling out bandages from an opened first aid kit.

"...What the hay is going on in here?" Rainbow Dash yelled out, as she peeled the rest of herself off the wall.

"Oh, good morning Rainbow, I didn't notice you come in dear. There was a minor accident while we were having—calm down Sapphire please—tea, when a carrot slipped out of Fluttershy's pet bunny's grip, which crashed—calm down Sapphire—into Sapphire's cup, causing it to... spill its contents onto her," Rarity answered as she struggled with Sapphire. Moving her head to get a better view, Rainbow caught a view of Sapphire's chest, which was covered with brown stained bandages that were dripping tea. Thankfully there weren't any stains on the portion of bandages that were directly over Sapphire's wounded side. The view was soon blocked as Fluttershy came to Sapphire, quickly undoing the stained bandages so she could tend to Sapphire's newly received burn.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry for what Angel did, but it was an accident, so you don't have to be so mad," Fluttershy said, trying to calm down Sapphire as she cleaned Sapphire's coat.

"Buck no that's an accident, he threw that carrot at my cup on purpose!" Sapphire replied, still glaring at Angel as she imagined all the things she would do to that bunny with the seat he wanted.

"Eepp!" Fluttershy squeaked out as she finished cleaning Sapphire's coat of the hot tea, moving onto wrapping her wounds up with fresh bandages.

"Excuse us Fluttershy, but it may be best if we head outside dear. Rainbow, would you kindly help me move Sapphire outside? I feel that she won't be agreeable to coming outside anytime soon," Rarity said, as she became strained from holding back Sapphire so long. Eyeing the enraged Sapphire, Rainbow nodded as she hovered closer to Sapphire before she dashed forward, grabbing Sapphire's rear legs before lifting them up. Despite Sapphire's protests, the duo carried her outside with the concerned Fluttershy following them, closing the door as the two finally placed Sapphire down as Rarity released her. Fuming still, Sapphire just paced outside as she glared at Fluttershy's house.

"Never thought I would see you so mad Sapphire, since it was barely a week ago when you were clinging to the ceiling," Rainbow said, teasing Sapphire as she gave her an annoyed look.

"You try to stay calm when a bunny causes you to have burning hot tea all over you," Sapphire snapped back, as Fluttershy mumbled sorry again for Angel's behavior.

"While it is a shame for such wonderful tea to be wasted, it won't do you any good to be so mad dear. It'll only help you get wrinkles sooner," Rarity commented, to which Sapphire just quietly muttered to herself.

On the other hoof though, Fluttershy continued to look at Sapphire in concern, as she was still distressed on how Sapphire's first visit to her home ended in disaster. "I'm so sorry for Angel's behavior, is there anything I can do to make up for it? If that's what you want..."

Sighing as she started to let go of her frustration, Sapphire replied, "It's alright Fluttershy, stuff happens... I guess. At least I got to see your lovely home," as she gave Fluttershy a comforting smile, who returned one as well.

At the sight, Rainbow simply rolled her eyes as she said, "Enough of this touchy feely stuff. Have to say though, surprised that an egghead like you Sapphire is out today instead of keeping your nose in a book like Twilight."

"Rainbow dear, that’s really rude of you. We all know that Sapphire is just wanting to be able to read like her peers," Rarity countered as Sapphire frowned at Rainbow's comment. "Sapphire is just out today to get some fresh air and exercise for her health."

"Yeah, she does need some exercise if she always eats like she did in the party," Rainbow replied, to which Sapphire's frown just deepened more in annoyance. Looking at Sapphire's expression, Rainbow just rolled her eyes before she noticed how skinny Sapphire is. "Whoa, you're thin Sapphire, it looks like you haven't ate a meal in months. No wonder you ate more than five ponies at the party."

Sapphire ran a hoof down her face as she said, "Gee, thanks for pointing out how much I eat Rainbow and that I look like I'm starving. I would have never realized."

Rarity tittered at Sapphire's reply as she turned to Fluttershy, her face taking on a nervous look from Rainbow's remarks. "Well, it was nice visiting you Fluttershy, but I think it's time Sapphire and I start moving along."

Eyeing Sapphire and remembering how furious she was earlier, Fluttershy just nodded as she meekly replied, "I understand Rarity, it was nice meeting you Sapphire."

"It was nice meeting you too Fluttershy, hopefully next time we can see each other and it will be much more pleasant. That and we can finally have some tea together." Following Rarity who had already started on a trot, Sapphire gave Fluttershy a wave. She returned it, however Rainbow decided to hover above the duo.

"So where are you two heading off to next?" Rainbow asked as Rarity sighed. She had hoped that Rainbow wouldn’t say anything to raise Sapphire's ire even more.

"We're heading to Sweet Apple Acres, I think Sapphire would enjoy the view and like meeting a certain pony we both know," Rarity answered as Sapphire's ears perked up at what she heard.

"Sweet Apple Acres? Do you mean they have apples there?"

"Well duh, you got to have apples at a place named after apples," Rainbow replied. At that, Sapphire began to imagine a place with so many apples, her eyes began glazing over as a bit a drool started to gather at the tip of her mouth to Rarity's disgust. Raising an eyebrow at Sapphire's reaction, Rainbow just shrugged as she declared, "Well, I was napping earlier till something woke me up, so.... I'm gonna go back to dreaming of the Wonderbolts, see ya." Rainbow said before dashing off to a cloud.

Rarity released a sigh of relief at Rainbow's departure, glad that she was no longer riling up Sapphire as they continued their trot. Moments later, she caught the sight of the apple trees of the farm, but when she turned to look at Sapphire, she just saw her mindlessly following as she continued to daydream. Sapphire really needs to stop being so focused on food whenever she sees or hears about it, Rarity thought to herself as she continued to lead Sapphire. She believed it to be best to leave her in her daydreaming till they arrive at their destination. Finally, they found themselves upon the sight of a familiar barn. Dreading the reaction that was soon to come, Rarity announced, "Here we are Sapphire dear, Sweet Apple Acres..." before she braced herself for what was about to come.

Blinking herself out of her stupor, Sapphire’s eyes began to focus before she looked at her surroundings, her jaw dropping at the sight of all the apple trees before her. However, instead of seeing apples as far as the eye can see, she just saw the trees, completely devoid of their fruit. "Wha... wha... this is Sweet Apple Acres? But where's all the apples?" she asked in a voice full of dismay.

"Sorry dear, but you just missed the harvest. If you were here a few days earlier, you would have been able to see all the trees still bearing fruit."

Giving Rarity a double take, Sapphire just gasped at her as the realization that she missed the chance of seeing, and hopefully eating, a massive bounty of fruit rendered her mind to blank out. After receiving Sapphire's dumbfounded staring for a while, Rarity finally waved a hoof in front of Sapphire's face. Soon, she could only sigh due to receiving no reaction before she heard a familiar voice ringing out. "Hey there Rarity, what brings ya to these parts today?"

Turning away from Sapphire, Rarity spotted an orange coated, yellow maned pony who was wearing a stetson on her head approaching her. "Why hello there Applejack, I was just taking my friend Sapphire Rain, whom I think you may recognize from the welcome party Pinkie threw last week, out for some air. She's been cooped up indoors for too long after receiving a dreadful injury and I thought the exercise would do her some good."

"I reckon that some fresh air would do any mare some good, but I don't rightly know that it's doin' some good fer her," Applejack replied as she waved a hoof in front of Sapphire's dumbstruck face.

Sighing, Rarity responded, "You must have missed Sapphire's... eating habit she displayed at the party dear. She tends to... swiftly consume all her food if nopony is there to help her restrain herself. When she heard about your farm, I imagine that she was expecting to see a rather large cache of apples, but the reality of the recent harvest has... rendered her into a shock state."

Letting out a chuckle at the news, Applejack just shook her head at the sight of the food obsessed pony. "I can imagine a pony takin' their meals seriously, but I don't rightly think that I ever seen one be stricken silent like your friend sugarcube. Do ya think that a sniff of Granny Smith's apple pie will knock some sense into her?"

Before Rarity could answer, Sapphire simply blinked as she shook her head before looking around herself as she asked, "Apple pie!? Where?!" before she started to dash about on a search for said pie.

"Whoa there Miss Rain, you won't be findin' any pie if you just rush about like that." Stopping in her tracks, Sapphire just blushed at her own foolishness as Applejack held out a hoof to her. "My name's Applejack, pleased to make your acquaintance."

Placing her own hoof to Applejack's, Sapphire started to say, "Nice meeting you Applejack, but you can just cal—" before Applejack grasped Sapphire's hoof with her other one and gave it a shaking that Sapphire had never felt before, causing her mane to bounce up and down. When Applejack finally released her hoof, Sapphire's pupils were still bouncing before she placed her hooves on her head to steady herself. "Er... as I was saying, you can just call me Sapphire."

"Well there sugarcube, if you're still hankerin' for some apple pie, just follow me to the farmhouse over there an—" Applejack said as she pointed at her home, only to be interrupted as Sapphire disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a dust cloud. Waving a hoof to clear the cloud, Applejack caught the sight of Sapphire running towards the farmhouse. "Ya weren't kiddin' about her needing somepony to restrain her. I didn't think food would send her runnin' off like that."

Shaking her head, Rarity simply replied, "While it's a shame that she's jumping at the thought of food, I did succeed in teaching her proper dining etiquette. Come Applejack dear, it's best we follow her to your humble abode before she clears it of every pie she can find." Straightening her hat, Applejack gave Rarity a nod as the duo headed to the farmhouse. Rarity could only hope that she would be able to stop Sapphire from causing another food-related fiasco.

Chapter X: Pies and Cutie Marks

Consumed with the thought of eating an apple pie, Sapphire was mindlessly charging towards the front door of the farmhouse until she heard Rarity shouting. "Wait Sapphire!" she yelled, causing Sapphire to snap out of her trance as her hooves skid to a halt. Realizing that she lost control, she simply blushed as the other two mares caught up to her. "You really must learn more self-control dear, it's not proper for a lady to always be running off every time a meal is mentioned," Rarity admonished.

"Now hold on there sugarcube, ya can't blame the mare for wantin' a bite of Granny's apple pie. I reckon that it's good for a mare of her build to want to eat some food," Applejack countered.

"I think not darling, many mares would be jealous of Sapphire's lithe frame. That and her meals are already double the amount a lady would normally eat."

"Then ya have to feed the poor lass more often then. Looks like she needs some more food so she can get some more muscle on her bones there."

"I on the other hoof think that I have heard enough ponies commenting on my figure today," Sapphire cut in, annoyed at having her thin frame being brought up again as she rolled her eyes at the two. The two suddenly blushed in embarrassment, realizing that it wasn't polite to have an argument about any mare's figure, especially when said mare is right in front of them.

"I'm rightly sorry for what I was sayin' about ya Miss Rain, I didn't mean to offend ya. How about we just get ya that apple pie I promised ya?"

"I think I'll take you up on that offer Miss Applejack, it's better than waiting for another pony to come around and point out how skinny I am," Sapphire answered, to which the other two ponies nervously laughed as Applejack opened the door to let her guests inside the farm house.

After stepping inside, Sapphire took the sight of the decor of the farmhouse, commenting, "You sure have a pleasant home Miss Applejack."

"Why shucks, that's mighty kind of ya to say, but I would like it if ya just call me Applejack."

"Well, it's only fair since I did ask you to just call me Sapphire," Sapphire replied with a small smile that Applejack returned as she led the two to the kitchen. In there on a counter near an open window, lay a half-dozen baked pies. Taking a sniff of the scent given off by the pies, Sapphire almost hypnotically walked towards the counter, only to be stopped by Rarity's hoof.

"Sapphire dear, you really must learn more self-control to not go after any thought of food, it's becoming more and more of a hassle to control you every time you spot something new to eat," Rarity said, frowning at Sapphire's actions before she continued, "Furthermore dear, I highly doubt that Applejack intends for you to have all the pies, am I correct dear?"

"Rarity has a point there, nor have I ever seen a pony devour half a dozen pies in one sitting unless it was a pie eattin' contest. Except for Pinkie Pie, but she's Pinkie after all."

Giving the two a nervous smile, Sapphire replied, "Sorry about that... I just get carried away so... well, just so darn easily. I can't even tell you why I just acted this way with food all the time."

"It's alright dear, it's probably something that is related to your past. We'll find out more when some of your memories return to you," Rarity responded.

"Well, I reckon that if we don't get some pie in your belly soon, ya'll be losing your self control again Sapphire," Applejack said with a chuckle as she took a few dishes from a cupboard, placing them on the table before grabbing a pie's tin with her teeth and placing it on the table as well.

"Let me help dear," Rarity said as Applejack was taking out some utensils, to which Rarity grabbed with her magic and placed them neatly on the table. She then used a knife to cut the pie into three evenly matched pieces and then placed each slice on the exact middle of the plate. Taking a seat at the table, Sapphire simply stared at the slice of apple pie before her. She started to open her mouth to devour it in one bite, but unfortunately for her, Rarity levitated a fork in front of her. Rarity cleared her throat while she gave Sapphire a look that spoke 'you better not eat like a pig'. Taking the fork in her own magic, Sapphire released a sigh as she cut a piece of her slice with the fork, but she paused when she saw Applejack eating her pie with just her mouth. Shooting Rarity a look, who just simply shrugged and resumed her own dining etiquette. Sapphire continued to eat like Rarity, albeit she ate much faster than Rarity did.

"So how do ya like your pie Sapphire?" Applejack asked after finishing her pie moments before Sapphire had finished, all the while Rarity was only halfway through with her pie.

"It was delicious, you have to give this Granny Smith my thanks for making such a tasty pie," Sapphire answered.

"Now see dear, if you were to devour that slice like you... normally would do, you would never get the wonderful experience of the pie's taste, why, you almost practically... gobbled it up in one bite. If you do that, it would have never touched your tongue otherwise," Rarity admonished, much to Sapphire's frustration.

"Now see here sugarcube, ya gotta give Sapphire some slack, she is missing her memories and I reckon it's a tab bit unfair of ya to always be on her case with the way she eats," Applejack countered.

"Now see here darling, if I don't keep an eye on Sapphire's dining etiquette, then she'll remain in that dreadful habit of hers instead of dining like a proper lady should."

Folding her forelegs onto the table, Sapphire released a moan as she sank her head into her forelegs, all the while the two continued to bicker. It went on for a while until she felt something poking her flank, causing her to snap her head straight up in alarm as she looked to her side. There, she saw a yellow coated filly with a red mane with a cute pink bow in it. "What's goin' on with my sister and Miss Rarity?" the young filly asked.

Looking to the two, who were still bickering, Sapphire looked back to the filly as she dryly answered, "They're just arguing over how I eat."

"Well, that's just silly of them. Oh, I'm Apple Bloom, what's your name?"

"Sapphire Rain, but please just call me Sapphire, not Miss Rain. Hearing ponies call me Miss Rain is getting old fast for me."

Nodding, Apple Bloom then saw Sapphire's cutie mark, to which she asked, "Hey, what special talent does your cutie mark supposed to mean? I never seen a cutie mark like that on a unicorn before."

Raising an eyebrow, Sapphire answered, "Well, I can't be certain, but I think it's supposed to be about my ability to manipulate water easily."

"What do ya mean that you're not certain? Don't ya remember how ya got your cutie mark?" Shaking her head in response, Sapphire watched as Apple Bloom suddenly gasped at her before continuing to say, "How can ya not remember how you got your cutie mark‽"

Apple Bloom's sudden outburst got the attention of the two bickering ponies, who turned to look at the other two as Applejack scolded, "Apple Bloom! That ain't polite of ya to yell at a guest like that!"

"It's alright Applejack, she didn't know I have amnesia. Cut her some slack, I'm not offended at all," Sapphire replied, waving a hoof off to show that she wasn't bothered by that outburst.

"What's amnesia?" Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head at the word she had never heard before.

Chuckling to herself, Sapphire answered, "Amnesia means a pony has lost all their memories from an accident that occurred to them, or something like that I guess." She continued to chuckle as she thought to herself, never thought I would be answering a 'what' question.

"Ya lost all your memories? Even about how ya got your cutie mark?! Why, it ain't right for a pony to not remember that!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, her expression showing pure horror.

Tilting her head, Sapphire curiously asked, "What's wrong with me losing my memory? I mean, it's really a bother for me to lose it all, but you look like I was, well, like a house fell on me or something."

Letting out a laugh, Applejack replied, "Oh, don't mind how she's reacting Sapphire, Apple Bloom just been serious about gettin' her own cutie mark. Hearing somepony forgettin' how they got their own cutie mark would be horrible to her ears."

Nodding her acknowledgement, Sapphire turned back to Apple Bloom as she said, "No need to worry about that Apple Bloom. I might have lost my memories, but I'll remember them eventually, so it's nothing to worry about."

"I sure hope you're right, cause I for one don't want to be losin' my memory of gettin' my cutie mark. When I get one that is."

"Don't worry about that dear, amnesia isn't something anypony gets so easily. As long as you stay away from any dreadful things that could do you serious harm, you should be just fine," Rarity interjected to help calm down the filly. Nodding in agreement, Sapphire's eyes started to drift towards the rest of the pies on the counter, which caused her mouth to water a bit. Seeing Sapphire licking the edges of her lips and noticing where her gaze were looking at, Rarity continued, "Thank you for your hospitality Applejack, but Sapphire and I must now make our leave before... an incident of any kind occurs."

Seeing Sapphire's expression, Applejack chuckled to herself as she replied, "Alright then sugarcube, it was nice to be seein' ya today. Make sure to visit us again Sapphire, it was mighty nice meetin' ya."

Breaking out of her stupor, Sapphire nodded as all the ponies gave their goodbyes before Sapphire and Rarity made their leave. As they trotted down the path back to town, Rarity said, "Now Sapphire dear, while you are a full grown mare, I would like you to promise me that you'll keep yourself under control when you go to visit Applejack or her family by yourself."

Getting miffed at what Rarity said, Sapphire turned her head towards Rarity as she replied, "I know that I need some improvement in my self-control, but I'm not that bad."

"Oh really dear? Can you honestly say that you won't react badly when all the apple trees are baring fruit?" Rarity countered as she stopped to point a hoof at all the apple trees on the farm.

Taking in view of the sheer number of trees around her, Sapphire grimaced as she admitted, "Alright, alright, you got me there Rarity. I promise that before I go to visit Applejack, I will do all I can to stay in control."

"That's all I wanted to hear dear," Rarity said with a satisfied smile as they continued on their way back to town.

Chapter XII: Talent

"Mommy, why the sky is turning green?"

"It's nothing dear, but we must be quiet now."

"But w—"

"Hush dear, I'll explain it to you when you're older."

Stirring from her sleep, Sapphire opened her eyes to see that dawn had arrived. Normally, Sapphire would stretch a bit before hopping out of bed, but instead of just having a normal dream, she instead focused on what she had remembered from her dream. At least that was what she had assumed when her dream faded into darkness, only for words to be spoken at the end of her slumber. Familiar words from who she assumed to be her mother, with another voice that sounded like it belonged to a foal, which might be herself at a younger age. However, the part where the young voice asked about why the sky was turning green confused her, causing Sapphire to doubt if the memory was just another dream.

Eventually, Sapphire's pondering came to an end when she caught a whiff of breakfast being cooked. Fixing her bed with magic shortly after coming out of it, she headed downstairs to see Rarity cooking some eggs. "Good morning Rarity," Sapphire said.

"Good morning to you too dear, mind setting up the table?" Rarity asked, to which Sapphire simply did as she was told. There was a time where she tried to help Rarity with the cooking, but in only resulted in Sapphire being thankful her special talent involved water. After Rarity finished cooking breakfast and was setting down the meal, she asked "So, how was your night dear?"

"It was fine... I think I remembered something. That or I just dreamed something weird," Sapphire said as she started to eat her meal.

"Oh? What made you think it was just another dream?" Rarity replied as she tilted her head in idle curiosity.

"Well... was the sky ever green?" Sapphire asked, which caused Rarity to raise one of her eyebrows in confusion.

"Um... I think you're right about it being just a dream..." Rarity answered.

Sighing, Sapphire bemoaned, "And here I thought I was remembering something."

"Well, I don't think anypony would want a memory of the sky turning green, that would be a dreadful sight to behold," Rarity commented. "So, do you have any plans for today?"

"Hmm... oh! Twilight wanted to see me so she can study my special talent with water some more," Sapphire answered. It was a few days after the incident with Gilda, which Sapphire just spent either studying or helping Rarity. However, yesterday, Twilight paid a visit to ask if she could study her magic and special talent. Seeing that it either might help her recover some memories or figure out if there is some job that her magic could be useful in, Sapphire agreed to her request without any hesitation.

"I'm so glad that you agreed to let me study your magic, it is so rare for a unicorn to have a special talent in water manipulation. Normally, a pegasus would have that as their talent since it is weather related, but to think of the potential applications of the talent for a unicorn is quite exciting!" Twilight exclaimed with glee as she and Sapphire were heading to the river as they cut through the town. The library was an ill-suited place for testing Sapphire's control over water, so Twilight decided that the river would provide enough water and tests to challenge the capabilities of Sapphire's magic.

"So... what should we try first, Twilight?" Sapphire asked when the pair finally arrived at the river.

"I suggest we see how much water you can lift first, though you should only lift at a gradual pace to minimize the effect on the river," Twilight answered as she took a notepad and a quill from her saddlebags that she had brought along for the observation.

"If you say so," Sapphire replied as her horn lit up with her magic. As instructed, she slowly took some water from the river in small amounts, lifting them into the air as she gathered them into a sphere. Slowly but surely the sphere grew in size, which started to draw attention when it grew to the size of a market stall.

After watching the sphere grow even larger, Twilight declared, "Maybe we should stop at this point Sapphire."

"Alright, sure," Sapphire said while keeping her eyes on the sphere as she concentrated.

Taking some notes on what she saw, Twilight asked, "So, how much of an effort is it for you to both draw the water and hold it in place?"

"Not much at first... but the more water I grab, the more focus I need to hold onto all of it. It's not too troublesome right now... but I don't want to try making two of these at the same time."

"Interesting, but isn't the sphere hard to lift? That is a lot of water to hold up in the air after all," Twilight said.

Slowly shaking her head, Sapphire replied, "Not really, just keeping it together is harder then lifting it."

"Interesting, it seems that either your magic projects more power when manipulating water or your magic creates an effect that removes or substantively decreases the weight of water. How about we test that by having you throw a small sphere of water as hard as you can into the air?" Twilight responded.

"Okay..." Sapphire said, doubt clear in her voice as she pulled out enough water from the sphere to make a small ball that could fit in her hoof. Sticking a tongue out of her mouth as she concentrated on both spheres, she hurled the smaller one with all her might. This caused the sphere to rocket upward into the sky till it disappeared from sight. "Um... I think that was a bit overboard," Sapphire commented as she and Twilight stared into the sky.

"Yeah... luckily there wasn't any pegasi currently above us. At least we now know it was your magic that had a stronger effect on water instead of a lightening effect..." Twilight replied before shaking her head clear of the shock of what just happened. "Maybe we should go with something else. How about you try freezing the water you have now?"

Blinking at the request, Sapphire raised an eyebrow as she asked, "Umm... I think casting a freezing spell is outside of my current level of magical knowledge Twilight."

Blushing a bit in realization of her request, Twilight answered, "Normally yes, but frozen water is just the water molecules arranged into a solid form from their liquid form. I assumed that your water manipulation may help you accomplish that, but maybe it is a bit much since it would require precise control of your magic. How about you return the water to the river as I think over our options."

At Twilight's command, Sapphire dropped the sphere of water straight into the river causing Twilight's eyes to widen as the sudden drop of the mass of water caused a rather large splash that soaked the two mares. Dripping wet, Sapphire just let out a nervous laugh as she saw the annoyed expression on Twilight's face. "Sorry about that..."

Letting out a sigh, Twilight looked past her dripping mane at her soggy notepad, as she replied, "It's alright Sapphire, I should have saw this coming."

"Okay..." Sapphire said, as she looked at her wet coat before she shifted her position. Before Twilight could ask about what she was doing, Sapphire suddenly shook herself dry like a dog. After getting all the water out of her coat and mane, Sapphire returned her attention to Twilight only to see her more wet and annoyed than before. "Opps... sorry again."

Letting out a groan, Twilight responded, "Let's just return to the library so I can dry myself," as her horn lit up.

"Um... Twilight, what are you do—" Sapphire tried to ask, only for Twilight to finish casting her spell, teleporting the two into the library's kitchen.

"I was just teleporting us to the library. It's much faster tha—" Twilight explained till Sapphire interrupted her.

"Hurrgggeh!"

"Gah!"

"I'm so sorry for vomiting on you..." Sapphire said as she waited outside the bathroom door as Twilight cleaned herself up.

"It's alright, I should have warned you in the first place. Most ponies get nauseous on their first teleport, which would be worse if they didn't expect it in the first place," Twilight called out.

"Though maybe you shouldn't eat so much at breakfast," Spike commented, as he was mopping the floor where the rest of Sapphire's mess ended up. "How can your stomach even hold all this food?"

Rubbing a foreleg with the other one, Sapphire just averted her eyes while Twilight reprimanded, "Spike! Sapphire has a fast metabolism! Her consumption is just reflective of her body's energy use."

"But doesn't she spends most of her time studying?" Spike countered as he grimaced at what looked to be the remains of the eggs Sapphire had earlier.

"Spike!"

"Yeah yeah..." Spike grumbled as he continued his work.

"Sorry Spike, I wish I could help..." Sapphire said, remember that Twilight insisted that she just rest and leave all the cleaning up to Spike. "I'll try to make it up to you when I can."

"Well, since you live with Rarity..." Spike started to say until Twilight came out of the bathroom, causing him to instead say, "I mean, it's alright Sapphire. It was just an accident."

"Okay?" Sapphire replied in confusion as Twilight went to the kitchen to pull out some food from the fridge.

"Since my teleport cost you your breakfast, how about we have an early lunch?" Twilight asked, as she also pulled out a bowl of gems. "And since you helped clean up the mess, you can have some extra gems Spike."

"Oh boy!" Spike exclaimed in joy as he hurried up his cleaning while Twilight set about making a simple meal, to which Sapphire just looked at the pile of gems in curiosity.

"Umm... why are you so excited about gems Spike? I don't see you wearing clothes much..." Sapphire questioned.

"Oh, dragons like to eat gems Sapphire. It's like a treat to some of them, a regular meal to others," Twilight answered, causing Sapphire to stare into the bowl some more as her stomach started to rumble. That was when Twilight realized what she just said, causing her to jerk her head around as she shouted, "Don't eat that!"

After explaining to Sapphire that ponies aren't meant to consume gems, the trio were enjoying a nice lunch were Twilight and Sapphire were having some daffodil sandwiches. Twilight thankfully had the foresight to prepare a large plate of sandwiches since Sapphire already consumed five sandwiches before Twilight could finish her own. Even though they were having lunch, Twilight asked if Sapphire could use her magic to maneuver some water into various shapes while moving them around the kitchen.

"Amazing, your control over water is amazing. Not only does your magic exert great force over it, but you actually have a refine amount of control," Twilight commented as she watched Sapphire manipulate a mass of water into a mock pony the size of a filly, while having it gallop about in the air.

"Aww... thanks Twilight, but I don't think it's nothing special. I just happen to have the talent for it, nothing more. I bet any other unicorn with the same special talent would be able to do the same things," Sapphire replied. "Though... any idea on what jobs I could use my magic for?"

Humming to herself, Twilight looked over her notes that she had made on a new notepad before saying, "Well, since the weather team takes care of all the water needs for Ponyville's agricultural sector and you don't have the education for work at the dam..." before stopping as her ears started to droop at the sight of Sapphire's growing expression of hopelessness. "Wait, you could show off your magic!"

"Show off my magic? What do you mean?" Sapphire asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"You could do some tricks with water to entertain ponies, like with those water figures you made."

"Yeah, I bet you could get crowds of ponies, especially fillies and colts, to watch some of things you could with your magic," Spike added in before munching on another gem.

"I don't know... my magic doesn't seem to be that big of a deal," Sapphire replied, doubt clear in her voice.

"It can't hurt to give it a try at least, and maybe you could learn something new or remember something," Twilight countered, causing Sapphire to stare at her half-eaten sandwich for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

"I suppose you two are right. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

Chapter XIII: Tricks

Days passed by as Sapphire took Twilight's advice to heart, practicing her special talent in the hopes of putting on an adequate show. As amusing as a pony made of water flying around could be, she felt that trick alone wouldn't be enough for a show. So, she proceeded to try and come up with different tricks as well as refine her control over water. Thankfully, she decided to practice on the outskirts of town, away from anypony that might end up being caught by her mistakes, which frequently left her shivering from being soaked too many times. Still, it was progress in being able to make a living for herself.

However, it came to a halt when news of a showmare was about to appear in Ponyville. This caused both Sapphire and Rarity to come to the show, where in Sapphire's case, she was hoping to learn a thing or two about how to put on a show. Though, seeing the large crowd gathered before some kind of cart caused some doubts to be raised in her mind as both she spotted Applejack and Rainbow already in the crowd, to which Rarity joined them while Sapphire had chosen to stand behind them. Moments later, Sapphire noticed Twilight and Spike coming into the crowd, taking their own places alongside their friends.

Suddenly from the cart, a voice cried out, "Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the great and powerful Trixie!" before the cart opened up to reveal a stage as a blue unicorn mare with a purple hat and cape that were covered with stars appeared in a puff of smoke, causing the audience to exclaim in wonder at it. "Watch in awe as the great and powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" Trixie exclaimed, as a set of fireworks fired off.

As Sapphire pondered on if she had to be as vocal as the showmare before her, she heard Rarity say, "My my my! What boasting!"

"Come on, no pony's as magical as Twili—Twi—Twi—Oh!" Spike said, causing Sapphire to turn her her attention towards him as she noticed that he was fidgeting a bit. "Hey, Rarity, I, uh—mustache!" he cried before he dashed away from her, only for Twilight to take his place.

"There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?" Twilight asked, with a bit of an uncertain expression on her face.

"Nothin' at all, 'ceptin' when someone goes around showin' it off like a school filly with fancy new ribbons," Applejack answered, which caused Sapphire's ears to fold down against her head.

"Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does not make one better than the rest of us," Rainbow added in, causing Sapphire to think to herself, And here I was thinking that I could try to put on a show with my magic! That was a foolish idea! Quietly, Sapphire started to back away from the front, making sure she didn't bump into anypony as she tried to avoid attracting attention.

"Well, well, well, it seems we have some neigh sayers in the audience. Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?" Trixie declared, causing Sapphire to back away even more from the front.

However, Sapphire heard Rarity blow a raspberry before commenting, "Just who does she think she is?"

"Yeah! Since we all know that Twilight here is—" Spike started to say before Twilight interrupted him.

"Spike! Shhh!"

"What?! What's wrong?!"

"Didn’t you see the way they reacted to Trixie? I don't want anyone thinking I'm a show-off," Twilight answered.

"Well, maybe Sapphire can tr—wait, wasn't she here a moment ago?" Spike declared, causing some of the girls to mumble that she was there just a moment ago, all the while Sapphire kept backing away as she thought to herself, No way I want to show off anything after what everypony else just said!

Eventually, Sapphire was in the back of the crowd, where she could barely register what was being said in front unless it was shouted out. However, she did see Rainbow squaring off against Trixie, putting on a display that wooed the audience until Trixie countered with one of her own that resulted in Rainbow being spun about. Applejack then challenged her when she did some tricks with her rope, only for Trixie to use her magic. It finally ended with Rarity taking a go at the showmare, only to end up with a green mane as she ran away crying in horror of it. That was when Sapphire decided to make her own leave too, as she gave up on the idea of using her magic to entertain others after what she just saw.

After leaving the crowd, Sapphire had made her way back to the Carousel Boutique, where she resumed her studies. Though her efforts were half-hearted since all the effort she had put into developing tricks the past few days have been for naught, which caused her spirits to drop. She could hear Rarity in the bathroom above, her occasional shriek of horror ringing out every so often as she worked to purge the green out of her mane. It wasn't till hours later that Rarity finally came down, her mane restored to its former glory as she muttered to herself, "I can't believe that mare da—oh, Sapphire, I didn't think you would be here dear."

"Well, I still have a lot of stuff to catch up on for my education," Sapphire meekly said while still looking at her book, causing Rarity to raise an eyebrow in doubt at her.

"But why aren't you practicing your tricks? Didn't you want to... oh..." Rarity started to say until she realized what was really going on, to which Sapphire just folded her ears against her head again. "Dear, you shouldn't let what happened today end what you worked so hard for recently."

"But you saw what happened, she humiliated all of you when you challenged her. I don't want to be a pony like that, even if I ended up living on the streets," Sapphire countered, finally looking up from book.

"Darling, the reason the girls and I disliked that mare was because of her horrid attitude, one of which I highly doubt that you will ever achieve if you took to show business," Rarity replied.

Sighing, Sapphire looked down as she said, "Maybe... but after what I just saw, I'm uncertain about being a showmare myself," before laying her head on top of the book. "Besides, I doubt I'll be anything after the show Trixie put up. It was more flashy than anything I can come up with."

Walking over to Sapphire, Rarity placed a hoof on her shoulder as she responded, "Sapphire dear, it doesn't matter how 'flashy' a show is, as long as it comes from your heart, it will be a fantastic show nevertheless."

Biting her lip, Sapphire thought to herself for a moment, before letting out a sigh as she replied, "Maybe... but if I do put up a show, it has to be at least a few weeks after that showmare leaves. Though I also wish I could do something else with my special talent."

Her ears perking up at the tone Sapphire had with her last words, Rarity asked, "Sapphire, dear, is there another problem that is bothering you?"

Blinking at first, Sapphire let out an embarrassed moan at her slip up before answering, "It's just that with a special talent of controlling water, what can I really do with it for a career? It can't be used for weather since it would only cover water, and Twilight's mention of the nearby dam isn't an option either since I lack an education. So all I got is tricks,"she said before laying her head on the table while putting her forelegs over her head.

Rarity just looked at Sapphire for a moment, her mind piecing together what she just heard. After a moment, she came to a conclusion. "Sapphire, it sounds like you weren't just trying to be a showmare just for your special talent," Rarity said, causing Sapphire to peek at her through her forelegs.

"I... I just don't want to be a burden to you, Rarity. I know you would say otherwise, and I don’t mind being a living model for some of your dresses, but I've been living off of you for too long now. I know it's only about a few weeks now, but I just want to be more productive than just standing around. I, at least want to be able to do something else to pay you back for your hospitality. It's just... something I feel I have to about this situation, that's all," Sapphire explained.

"Now Sapphire, I know that you want to be an independent mare, and I'm touched that you went through the effort of learning those tricks so you can pay me back out of gratitude, but you really shouldn't be so worked up over paying me back. Furthermore, you're no burden to me, the dresses that you model for are done so well that their buyers are spreading word of my work to other ponies. However, you shouldn't be in such a rush to become independent that you would try to take on a career that you may not enjoy. I'd rather you take your time and find a path that you would find fulfillment in dear, and I'll be happy to support you as long as necessary," Rarity said, rubbing a hoof on Sapphire's back to ease her plight.

Letting out another sigh, Sapphire lifted her head as she gave Rarity a nod. "Alright... but please, if there is anything I can do to be of service to you, don't hesitate to ask."

After a moment of thought, Rarity answered, "Well, there is something you can do for me..."

Next time, Sapphire, put some limitations on what you want to do, Sapphire thought to herself as returned the various cleaning utensils that Rarity owned to her cleaning closet. Due to Sapphire's desire to do more for Rarity, Rarity offered the task of cleaning the boutique to her. Of course she accepted, initially feeling a bit of joy of actually doing something for once. However, that quickly faded after being given a list of instructions on the various cleaning-related chores that needed to be done to keep the boutique up to Rarity's standard of cleanliness. Rarity even gave her a maid's uniform in order to keep her coat clean, though Sapphire found it to be an irritation. She rather just take a bath instead of dealing with the uniform, but she kept up the appearance of the satisfaction of having something to do for once.

As Sapphire was putting away the uniform, some bestial roar rang out, drawing her attention. Trotting over to the kitchen window, she opened it before poking her head out, only to receive the sight of an angry blue bear the size of a house moving about as ponies ran about in fear. Quietly, Sapphire pulled her head back in before closing the window, just as Rarity arrived in the kitchen, asking, "Sapphire, did you see what made that horrible roar?"

"There's a giant bear outside Rarity," Sapphire said as she calmly walked past her.

As a look of panic took hold on Rarity's face, she exclaimed, "A giant bear! It must be an Ursa Major! I ha—what are you doing Sapphire?" before her expression turned into confusion as Sapphire opened the closet door.

"I'm going to hide in the closet," Sapphire answered as she entered said closet before closing the door.

"Why are you hiding in the closet?"

"Cause it's better than running in terror in the open where a giant bear can see you. You can join me since this is your closet after all."

"Um... I rather not... I'll just go find Twilight instead. Hopefully she has some plan on how to deal with the Ursa..." Rarity responded before Sapphire heard her leaving. Left with nothing else to do for the moment, Sapphire instead pondered on one thing.

Don't ponies realize that running around in the open where the bear can see you is just asking for more trouble?

Chapter XIV: Labor

Time passed once more for Ponyville after the Ursa attack, which the giant bear turned out to be an Ursa Minor. Still, Trixie's claims at her show turned out to be false, causing the showmare to make her escape; though when Sapphire heard of it, it completely cemented her desire to abandon the pursuit of being a showmare herself. So she turned to her studies once more, though she did take on a share of chores in keeping Rarity's home clean. Though, things turned out to be interesting when the sky was suddenly blocked out by plumes of smoke which originated from a sleeping dragon in some cave on the top of a mountain. This resulted in the Elements having to go to the top in an attempt to convince the dragon to find another cave to sleep in. Thankfully, their trip was a success since the sky cleared up some time after they left for the mountain. However, Sapphire did pick up that Spike had to take care of Angel during the adventure, causing Sapphire to feel terrible for the poor little dragon.

It was ten days after the Ursa incident when Applejack suddenly dropped by the boutique to pick up Sapphire. Apparently, Sapphire needed some more exercise than going back and forth to Twilight's library every time she needed some more books to study. Hence, Applejack was going to bring her to the farm to do some chores 'earth pony' style.

"I really don't see the need for this Applejack. Last time Rarity said it was to keep me from becoming overweight, which I don't think is going to happen regardless of how much I eat," Sapphire said, pointing at the fact that she's still thinner than the average pony.

"This ain't about keepin' you from gainin' weight sugarcube. This is about makin' sure you keep your muscles stay fit as a fiddle," Applejack replied as they trotted through Ponyville.

"Wouldn't cleaning Rarity's home be enough exercise for me?" Sapphire asked as she raised an eyebrow at Applejack's response.

"Now sugarcube, that only gets you exercise for some of your muscles, not all of them."

"Fine... but why do I have to do these chores 'earth pony' style? Why can't I do them as a unicorn?"

"Cause then you'll just be usin' your magic while sittin' around," Applejack answered as Sapphire furrowed her eyebrows.

"But doesn't that mean that maybe unicorns are meant to just sit around all day and let their magic do their work for them?"

Stopping suddenly, Applejack gave Sapphire an exasperated look as she replied, "Are you tryin' to say that doing some chores earth pony style is beneath you?"

Blinking in confusion, Sapphire responded, "Ummm, no? I was just thinking that maybe each tribe are supposed to do things their own way and hence have the ways of taking care of their own bodies might be different? Also, why would I think your way would be beneath me?"

This in turn caused Applejack to blink for a second, before a blush came onto her face as she answered, "Well, it's because some unicorns think they are better than earth ponies since they can use magic."

Tilting her head, Sapphire replied, "But that doesn't make sense. Yeah, unicorns have magic, but from what I read, earth ponies are stronger and have a connection with the land that makes them the best farmers. Without the help of earth ponies, wouldn't the rest of Equestria have a hard time growing food? It doesn't make sense to think of oneself as better than the ponies that are keeping you from starving."

In response, Applejack just stared at Sapphire, which caused her to become uncomfortable enough to start rubbing one of her forelegs against the other. It took a few minutes before she shook off her stupor before saying, "You may be uneducated sugarcube, but that ain't stoppin' you from sayin' some words of wisdom."

This caused Sapphire to tilt her head again as she asked, "Wisdom? I thought that was just common sense?"

Shaking her head while chuckling to herself, Applejack resumed her trotting as she answered, "Well, not everypony has as much 'common sense' as you do then. I reckon some nobles can learn a thing or two from you."

Following Applejack, Sapphire replied, "Oh... okay... but what's a noble?"

It didn't took long for the two mares to arrive at Sweet Apple Acres, though Sapphire wasn't happy to see that the trees are still fruitless, much to Applejack's amusement. That was when a rather large red stallion came over to them, causing Sapphire's eyes to widen at his sheer size.

"Ah, I reckon you haven't meet my brother Big McIntosh yet, though we just call him Big Mac," Applejack announced, to which Sapphire just nodded slowly in response.

"Pleasure to meet you," Big Mac said, as he gave Sapphire a nod.

"Um... pleasure to meet you too?" Sapphire weakly replied, receiving a nod in return.

"Well, now that we're here, it's time to get some farm work done," Applejack declared, causing Sapphire to turn her attention to her.

"Okay... but just what exactly are we doing?"

"Well, there's plowin' the fields for new apple trees to be planted, feedin' the pigs, harvestin' some of the vegetables..." Applejack answered, causing Sapphire's ears to droop with each passing chore before thinking to herself, Why am I getting the feeling that I'm just being used as free labor instead of getting exercise?

"I can't believe you're still standin' after all that work," Applejack said, as the sun was setting. Sapphire ended up spending the entire day doing whatever the Apples told her to do, though they were surprised that despite being a thin mare and not showing much muscle, she was still able to pull a plow. Of course, they weren't the only ponies to be surprised, for at lunch time Sapphire finally met the Apple matriarch, Granny Smith. It resulted in her giving Sapphire extra food due to seeing how thin she was, only for both her and Big Mac to drop their jaws at how fast Sapphire devoured her lunch.

"Well, what can I say? I don't know my own strength. I’ve never tried doing physical work like this before, since... you know," Sapphire replied, her ears lowering at the reminder of her amnesia.

"Now don't you worry there sugarcube, your memories will come back to you when the time is right. No sense worryin' about something you have no control over," Applejack responded as she placed a hoof on Sapphire's withers to help cheer the mare up.

"I suppose so... though... seeing your family... it makes me wonder whether or not I have a family too," Sapphire dejectedly said.

"Now that's just silly of you to say sugarcube. I reckon you have a family out there that is worried about you."

"How can you be so certain of that? Ponies already looked for anypony that could be related to me and found nothing. Not only that, but since I'm uneducated, I could have been living in the woods my entire life as an orphan for all I know," Sapphire countered with a sniffle.

Seeing how distraught Sapphire was becoming, Applejack gave her a hug while saying, "Don't be sad that nopony found any relatives, cause I think there is something I reckon you overlooked."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, if you're uneducated, it either means you were all alone. That, or your family wanted to live a life away from cities and towns," Applejack explained.

"Wait... you mean that my family might be out there, in the woods or something?" Sapphire asked, her ears rising up as her eyes started to glisten with some hope.

"Maybe, just cause nopony found any relatives doesn't mean you don't have any. Do you remember anything about your family?"

"Well... I did remember a voice of some mare calling me precious..."

"Then that must be somepony that cares about you sugarcube. A mare that might be your mother, who's probably out there, is worried about you," Applejack said, breaking the hug as Sapphire's rubbed her nose with her fetlock, her sniffing coming to a halt. "Now that you're all feeling better, how about you have a bath before goin' back to Rarity's place?"

"Um... why can't I just have a bath at her place instead since I'm going back there anyway?"

Giving Sapphire a bemused look, Applejack answered, "And here I thought after livin' with Rarity for so long you would at least know how she responds to seeing dirt."

"...Oh..."

Humming to herself, Rarity was putting the finishing touches on a dress when she heard the back door opening. Knowing that only one pony would be using that door at this time, Rarity exclaimed, "Welcome back Sapphire, I hope you had a splendid day with Applejack."

Coming into Rarity's work room, Sapphire replied, "Um... depends if we're using your idea of a splendid day or just in general."

"What do you mean dear?" Rarity asked as she turned her attention towards Sapphire.

"Well, long story short I had to do a lot of hard labor that ended up with me being sweaty and covered in dirt. Though I did meet Big Macintosh and Granny Smith and had lunch with them. I also had a talk with Applejack about the possibility that I might have a family in the wilds," Sapphire answered, causing Rarity to grimace at the first part before taking on a joyful look.

"It's nice to see you looking at the bright side of things dear. I'm certain that Applejack is right about your family being out there, somewhere in this world."

"Yeah... but wouldn't they be nearby though? I mean, it's been weeks, and if I got separated from my fam—" Sapphire started to say before Rarity came over placed a hoof on her lips.

"Tut tut, no more fretting dear. Sometimes mysterious things just happen in Equestria that can't be explained. It may be best to wait and see, since your family is bound to come to a city to find you. Or perhaps they're from another nation. Regardless, if your family loves you, they will find you, and I'm certain they do love you. So instead of worrying, just wait until you recover your memories or until they finally find you dear," Rarity said, causing Sapphire to nod in agreement.

"Yeah, you're probably right about that," Sapphire replied, causing Rarity to smile at her when she returned with one of her own.

"It's good to see some more positivity from you dear. Being sad and negative all the time isn't good for a mare's complexion," Rarity responded, causing Sapphire's expression to change into a deadpanned one.

"Well, thanks for looking out for my appearance Rarity," Sapphire dryly said, to which Rarity rolled her eyes at her while still smiling.

"You really should consider taking care of your appearance Sapphire. It would be a shame for your own beauty to be denied to the world. Now, how about we have some supper? I'm pretty sure that after all that hard work today, you must be starving by now." As if on cue, Sapphire's stomach let out a rather loud rumble, causing her to blush as Rarity continued, "Don't worry dear, I'll have supper made soon. Now head upstairs and wash yourself."

Blinking, Sapphire replied, "But I took a bath before I left Sweet Apple Acres."

"Dear, while I appreciate that you didn't come home covered in dirt, I'm certain that you couldn't do a thorough cleaning without proper cleaning supplies. Now head upstairs and enjoy your bath, otherwise you won't be getting supper," Rarity scolded, causing Sapphire to dumbly stare at her with her mouth ajar. She soon closed it and headed upstairs, grumbling to herself in frustration over Rarity's excessive need to be clean.

Chapter XVI: Pests

"Focus Sapphire, feel your magic flowing into your horn. Don't rush it at first, just build it up a bit at a time."

"Yes daddy."

"Ah, you got your horn alight with your magic, good. Now, imagine your magic wrapping around the rock before you."

"But it's hard..."

"Well, you are six dear, so it isn't goi—"

Opening her eyes, Sapphire looks at the nearby window to see the rays of sunlight coming through. Sighing, she simply rubbed her forehead as she muttered to herself, "Why is it when I remember something, it's only words and no images..." Looking down at her covers for a moment, she shook her head clear of her mood, knowing that today is an important day. Hopping off her bed, Sapphire stretched hers legs while fixing her bed with her magic before looking out the window to see ponies roaming about earlier than normal. Tomorrow is the day that Princess Celestia is going to pay a visit to Ponyville, and while everypony wanted to get the town ready for her, Sapphire on the other hoof was dreading the thought of crossing paths with her again. Shivering at the last memory of their encounter, Sapphire had her own plans for the day, namely finding the best spot to stay out of the princess's way.

Visiting the bathroom to clean herself up, Sapphire glanced at her horn, remembered the poison joke incident from four days ago, shivering at the memory. She then headed downstairs, where she beheld the sight of the kitchen's table already laden with food, with Rarity sitting beside it. "Always up on the crack of dawn, aren't you dear," Rarity said with a smile.

Shrugging, Sapphire replied, "Can't help it, the sun's rays always wakes me up," before she took a seat at the table with Rarity.

"At least you have the entire day for you to do as you please," Rarity commented. "So, Sapphire, are you planning to attend the welcoming for Princess Celestia tomorrow?"

"I rather not, for reasons I think you should know by now," Sapphire replied while avoiding any eye contact with Rarity.

Getting off her seat, Rarity approached Sapphire, laying a hoof on her shoulder, which drew Sapphire's eyes to her own. "Sapphire, dear, it was just one bad experience. I know you were hurt emotionally and indirectly physically, but Princess Celestia meant no harm. You understand that she was just doing what she thought was best," Rarity said, causing Sapphire to sigh.

"I know... just... I rather not meet her again anytime soon. Maybe later on, but for now I just get a bit upset at the thought of her. I don't want to risk any kind of outburst in front of her. I just need some more time," Sapphire responded.

Nodding in response, Rarity said, "I understand dear, but I do hope you put that dreadful experience behind you soon. However, I hope you don't take it as an excuse to back out of your part in preparing Ponyville for the visit?"

Rolling her eyes, Sapphire answered, "I'm not going to abandon my fair share, I'm not that petty," before finishing her meal. "On that note, I have to go, I'm participating in setting up the park. Good luck with your own plans, Rarity."

It was evening as Sapphire head back to the Boutique, her mind dwelling on what Rarity would be serving for dinner today. The day went smoothly for her, except for the moment where she spotted Pinkie galloping about with some instrument with her. Opening the front door, Sapphire spotted a some kind of round flying creature moving about the room, causing Sapphire to blink in surprise before asking, "Rarity, are you home?"

"Yes, I'm just busy making a new dress!" Rarity answered from her workroom, to which Sapphire decided to head to while eyeing the new creature.

"Um.... Rarity, there's some kind of small creature flying around in your home," Sapphire said, before spotting another one flying about. "Make it creatures."

"Ah yes, aren't they adorable! Twilight visited today, and brought over these wonderful creatures, I just had to have one!" Rarity replied as she held out a hoof for one of the creatures to land on, allowing her to pet it.

"Well, seems like you decided to have more than just one, and don't you already have a cat for a pet?" Sapphire asked, while shooing away one of the flying insect-things.

"But I just couldn't help myself, though I did only got one from Twilight. I don't know where the others came from, maybe they came looking for their friend."

"Well... I'm going to make a sandwich for dinner then since you're busy," Sapphire responded before making her way to the kitchen. Pulling the ingredients out of the fridge, she placed them on the counter before spotting a couple more of the creatures landing nearby, eyeing the food. Seeing this, Sapphire gave the bugs a glare, causing them to go wide-eyed before backing off. Growling a bit at the bugs, Sapphire resumed the making of her sandwich, however she kept an eye on any of the creatures that entered the kitchen, even when she was eating her meal. Finishing up, she headed upstairs, but not before noticing that there were at least ten of the creatures flying about in the Boutique. I have a bad feeling about this... Sapphire thought to herself as she clean herself up before heading to bed.

Flicking her ears, Sapphire moans as a buzzing noise stirred her from her slumber. Cracking her eyes open, she beheld the sight of several of the creatures from yesterday buzzing about in her room. Blinking in shock, Sapphire lets out a sigh as she got out of bed, cleaning her room up before heading downstairs to see Rarity cooking breakfast, with more than a score of the creatures flying about now.

"Umm... Rarity... I think these things are multiplying or something..." Sapphire said before noticing a few of the creatures staring at the meal Rarity is making. This caused Sapphire to give them the stink eye, causing them to back off in fear.

"I do admit that is odd, but these creatures are just so cute, and they're even helpful," Rarity replied.

Raising an eyebrow, Sapphire asked, "Helpful? I thought they would be more in the way than that."

"Not at all dear, for yesterday when I was going to retrieve some cloth for my latest dress, a few of them deliver it to me instead. I can't imagine the sprucing these adorable creatures can do to the Boutique today!" Rarity answered as she finished up breakfast, placing them on the table while the bugs all around them eyed the food till Rarity put a third plate down, to which the bugs suddenly swarm it, knowing it was for them. Seeing their ravishing hunger before her own eyes, Sapphire decided to devour her food as fast as possible. "Dear, manners, remember?" Rarity chided.

Finishing up her meal, Sapphire replied, "Sorry, just didn't want to risk these things getting a shot at my food."

"Now dear, why must you be so suspicious about these creatures? They're harmless."

"I don't know..." Sapphire admitted, while watching the bugs scatter off, their plate completely devoid of even a scrap of food. "Just something about them rubs me in the wrong way."

"Dear, you must simply relax. You shouldn't be so tense, it would ruin your complexion," Rarity said, causing Sapphire to give her a flat stare.

"Jeeze, thank you for your concern of my appearance," Sapphire deadpanned before getting off the table as Rarity rolled her eyes at her. Grabbing all the plates after Rarity finished her own meal, Sapphire proceeded to wash them since it was her turn today.

"Dear, a lovely mare like yourself should be concern over how they look. Now, let's put this pettiness behind us."

"As you say, though I'm going to head out now, I got some studying to do," Sapphire said as she headed upstairs to grab some of her books and a saddlebag.

"I knew those things were up to no good," Sapphire muttered to herself as she watched from the hill she was on as a swarm of the bugs flew around. They suddenly came in a massive surge, eating all the food they could see, even the crops of local gardens. This of course sent the residents of Ponyville into another panic, one that Sapphire refused to be a part of. Instead, she simply laid underneath the shade of her tree with a book in front of her, watching the scene unfold before her. Why does everypony just run around and panic all the time? Wouldn't it be better to try to bag the pests?

Suddenly, a purple wave of energy pulsed out of the town, affecting any of the flying creatures it touched. Blinking, Sapphire simply tilt her head in confusion, until the creatures began to eat everything else. One even dared to try to eat one of Sapphire's books, until she grabbed it by using forming some water into a net. "Okay... now this is my problem," Sapphire muttered to herself as she swung the bug around until she let it loose, sending it flying in towards the Everfree Forest. This caused the creatures nearby to to pause for a moment, before backing away in fear as Sapphire pulled more water from the town's river.

Placing her books in her saddlebags, Sapphire grabbed onto any nearby pests before spinning them about to toss them to the Everfree. However, no matter how many she threw out of town, it seems like two more shows up to take its place. Knowing that it was fruitless to take on all the creatures, Sapphire decided to just head to the boutique. In her mind, if she had to make a last stand, best be at the place she calls home.

Arriving at the boutique, Sapphire saw Pinkie Pie running out of the place with a flute in her mouth before hearing Rarity screaming in terror. Running inside, Sapphire saw the creatures eating all of Rarity's dresses, to Rarity's horror. "Okay, that's it!" Sapphire cried, drawing the attention of all the pests as she pulled even more water, forming a tight net that she used to catch as many of the pests as she could. Seeing what is happening to their own kind, the rest flee in terror. After clearing or capturing all the of vermin, Sapphire toss her own load away before turning to Rarity, asking, "Rarity, are you okay?"

Staring at Sapphire in wonder, Rarity answered, "Why yes dear... though I'm amazed that you could do that with just water."

Shrugging, Sapphire replied, "Me either, but I had to do something. Though, I can only protect the Boutique from these things, but I take it Twilight has a plan on getting rid of these things?"

"She had some plans, but they didn't turn out well..."

"Then I suggest you go help her then, I'll do my best to protect the boutique," Sapphire said, to which Rarity just nodded her gratefulness before heading out. Standing at the front entrance, Sapphire closed the door behind her as she readied her magic. Spotting a few of the pest eating away at the walls of the building, Sapphire grabbed them with water, sending them flying as she targeted those closest to the boutique, until she heard somepony playing some music. Turning her head towards the origin of the sound, she spotted Pinkie marching down the street, a small band's worth of instruments on her. Tilting her head at the sight, Sapphire then gaped when she saw that the music had somehow taken a hold on the pest, causing them to follow right behind her as she led them out of town.

"Huh... guess Pinkie saved the town," Sapphire said to herself, before flinching at the sound of a house collapsing. "Or what's left of it... I have a feeling that I'm going to be busy for the rest of the week..."

Chapter XVII: Ice

"Focus Sapphire, manipulating water is your talent. However, it doesn't mean you can just control large amounts of it. You should be able to change it to your whims, turning it into ice or steam whenever you desire to."

"But it's hard..."

"I know it's hard, but it can be done. Ponies who didn't have a talent were able to do it, so you can do it too. Instead of focusing on the water as a whole, focus on every individual molecule. Have your magic manipulate them at the smallest level, arranging them as you see fit."

"Okay... but can you demonstrate for me mist—"

Cracking her eyes a bit, Sapphire was blinded by the sunlight streaming through her window, causing her to close them. "You got to be bucking kidding me," Sapphire mumbled to herself as she crawled out of bed. I almost had a name, and the sun wakes me up from my dream. Typical, Sapphire thought to herself as she made her bed before looking out the window. Even though the pests that were called parasprites had wreck the town, it only took a couple weeks for Ponyville to recover. Sapphire chipped in as best she could in the repairs, though due to being unskilled and still uneducated, she was normally given the job of bringing over construction materials whenever it was needed. At first Sapphire didn't mind, until she came across a particularly annoying pink filly that insulted her by saying that she was nothing more than a pack mule. Sapphire was surprised how much she wanted to strangle the filly after the insult, especially since she hadn't had any feelings that hostile towards anypony since waking up in Ponyville.

Shortly after the fixing of the town, Sapphire caught wind of Apple Bloom forming a club with Rarity's younger sister and a pegasi filly, one devoted to finding Cutie Marks, though it also included the events prior to that. Though by the sounds of the things Apple Bloom went through to find her own Cutie Mark, Sapphire was a bit cautious about the trouble the three fillies could cause together. Hopefully they won't rope her into helping them find their Cutie Marks, for she had a gut feeling that those three would be nothing but trouble.

After having breakfast with Rarity, Sapphire excused herself to go pay Twilight a visit, figuring that maybe she would have some insight to her latest memory, as well as drop off a few books. Arriving at the library, Sapphire knocked the door before stepping back to wait, as it opened to reveal Spike who said, "Morning Sapphire, here for a new batch of books?"

"Sort of... I'm really here to ask Twilight a couple of questions. Is she free right now?" Sapphire replied.

"Yeah, she's not working on one of her projects, I'll go get her," Spike said as he stepped aside to let Sapphire through before heading upstairs.

Placing the books on a nearby table, Sapphire just sat down as she waited for a bit before Twilight came down, saying, "Hello Sapphire, is there something you need?"

"Hi Twilight, I was just wondering a couple things about my own magic. Mostly due to another partial memory I remembered this morning," Sapphire answered.

Tilting her head, Twilight asked, "Oh? Did you happen to remember any names or images yet?"

Sighing, Sapphire replied, "I was actually close, but I woke up before I even got a piece of a name. Sometimes, I wonder if life is just taunting me right now," before shaking her head to clear her mood. "However, this memory involved some magic lessons I was learning from some stallion, so I was wondering if that could be some kind of clue in itself?"

"It could be a lead, but was there anything from your dreams that could tell me how he was teaching you? With the theory that you may be from the wilds, there is a possibility that he may be just another wild pony that we have no records of," Twilight responded, tapping her chin in thought. "What was the pony trying to teach you?"

"By the little amount I could remember, it sounded like he was trying to refine my control over water," Sapphire answered, which caused Twilight's pupils to widen at the revelation.

"That reminds me, we didn't try to see the limits of your magic since the last time we tried," Twilight declared, while Sapphire shivered at how that experience ended. "If you had training in your special talent before, maybe pushing the limits of your magical capabilities would lead to you remember some more memories. If nothing else, we can see just what you can actually do with your magic beyond controlling large amounts of water."

"Alright... though if we get wet again, please don't teleport us back to the library like last time..."

Waving her hoof off in a nonchalant manner, Twilight replied, "We don't have to worry about that, we're doing it small scale, so we'll be in the kitchen. So let's get started and see what you can do!" Giving Twilight a nod, Sapphire followed her to said kitchen, as she watched Twilight fill up a bowl of water. "Best we use a bowl instead of a glass, in case something goes wrong."

"I hope not..." Sapphire muttered to herself before Twilight placed the filled bowl on the counter before turning her head towards Sapphire, giving her a creepy smile that almost made her flinch. Sometimes Twilight is too enthusiastic about magic...

"Now, normally I would instruct you in the ways of turning water into it’s gaseous or solid form, but I think it would be best to see if you can do it on your own," Twilight said as she sat down on the floor while Sapphire just gave her a surprised look. Seeing Sapphire's expression, Twilight continued, "I just want to see if you can do this with just your special talent alone."

Giving Twilight a baffled look, Sapphire replied, "But isn't that risky? What if something goes wrong and one of us gets hurt?"

"It'll be alright, I can cast a shield spell if necessary. So how about we start with freezing the water?"

Biting her lip, Sapphire gave Twilight a slow nod before focusing on the water, her horn lighting up as she concentrated on the water. After staring at the bowl with no results, Sapphire let out a sigh as she said, "Well, I guess I can't simply magic the water into ice."

"Hmm... what method were you trying to use to freeze the water?" Twilight asked as she pulled out a notepad.

"Umm... by imagining the water turning into ice?" Sapphire answered with an awkward smile.

Shaking her head, Twilight replied, "That is more of wish fulfillment than casting magic or even manipulating the water. How much do you know about water itself?"

Blinking in surprise, Sapphire meekly responded, "Umm... not much more than the average pony?"

Sighing, Twilight said, "Well, that isn't surprising. For the purposes of this experiment, I will just tell you that pure water is made of up of water molecules, which are composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Their molecular makeup is what cau..." before she noticed the lost look in Sapphire's eyes. "You have no idea what I'm saying, right?"

Blushing a bit, Sapphire answered, "Only the molecule thing, sort of... though it was due to someone mentioning it in the last memory that I remembered."

Raising an eyebrow, Twilight quickly jotted something down before explaining, "If somepony told you about molecules, then maybe you should concentrate and controlling those first. When water forms into ice, the molecules are arranged in a formation that allows them to assume a solid form, while in liquid state, the molecules are fluid but is able to fill as much space as possible. Therefore the same amount of water molecules in solid form takes up more space than water in a liquid form."

"...Okay... I'll try to keep that in mind..." Sapphire said before lighting up her horn with magic. Squinting at the bowl of water, Sapphire concentrated on what Twilight had told her. Control the molecules, that's what she was telling me. I can't just control it as a whole, I need to have full control of every little bit of it, Sapphire thought to herself, as the water in the bowl began to shift about. Leaning her head closer to the bowl, Twilight watched as the water started to rise out of the bowl right before it all suddenly froze.

Clapping her front hooves together in excitement, Twilight said, "Amazing! You froze the water with just a limited understanding about the states of matter!" Poking the ice itself, Twilight then continued, "It is even cold as ice, not just water forced into the form of ice! I wonder what your magic did to the thermal energy it lost."

"Thermal... energy? What is that?" Sapphire asked as she tilted her head in confusion.

"Oh, I was talking about the heat the water possessed that was lost when you turned it into ice. I suppose it was just sent into the surrounding air," Twilight answered while taking some notes. "So let’s see if you can return the ice to water."

"Okay..." Sapphire said as she concentrated on the bowl again. It only took a few moments before the ice reverted to water. Sapphire made sure to hold onto the water so that none of it would spill out of the bowl. "Well... that was easier than making water into ice."

"Well, since your Cutie Mark is water droplets, it may hint that your water manipulation is at it’s best when it is in a liquid state. Now, let's see if you can turn the water into a gaseous state as well. Now, unlike ice, when water becomes a vapor, its molecules are spread out all over the surrounding airspace, where in normal conditions the water molecules are evenly dispersed throughout the region," Twilight responded, causing Sapphire to stare at her a bit. "What? What's wrong?"

"Umm... don't you think we're rushing this a bit?" Sapphire tentatively asked.

"Nonsense, it'll probably be similar to the ice trial. Besides, nothing can go wrong as long as I keep the shield spell at the ready."

"Okay..."

While the two were working on Sapphire's magic, Spike was relaxing in his basket, reading one of his comics. He was having a pleasant time enjoying his break since the library was in tip top shape, until he heard some screaming from downstairs.

"Twilight!" Spike shrieked as he jumped out of his bed, rushing downstairs to beheld the sight of steam coming out of the kitchen. "Twilight, what happened‽"

"Spike? Don't worry, we're fine," Twilight answered as she stepped out of the kitchen, waving a hoof in front of her face to clear the steam.

"Speak for yourself," Sapphire grumbled, as she followed Twilight out to reveal that her mane looked like it was blow dried by an industrial drier. For a moment, Spike just stared at Sapphire, before collapsing onto the ground in a fit of laughter.

"Spike!" Twilight said, who was about to reprimand Spike till Sapphire stopped her by holding out a hoof in front of her.

"No matter what you say, I still look ridiculous," Sapphire explained while shaking her head till her mane came down to her normal style. "Besides, I thought when you mentioned that you would use a shield spell, that you would use it on the bowl and not yourself?"

Blushing, Twilight answered, "Yeah, sorry about that, it just happened so suddenly that I reacted on instinct. But we now know that you can also turn water into steam!" while giving Sapphire an awkward smile, to which Sapphire gave Twilight a deadpanned stare in return. "Umm... how about we call it a day and have lunch?"

"I think that’s a good idea, but one thing first Twilight."

"What is it?"

"Next time something like this happens, how about you shield me first. Moving onto steam so quickly was your idea after all."

Chapter XVIII: Sleigh

"Isn't it wonderful to see the first snowfall of winter?"

"Yeah, it's wonderful."

"While I will miss my friends who are either hibernating or leaving for the winter, I know that this is a natural part of their lives," Fluttershy said, while Sapphire just stared at the first wave of snowflakes with a neutral expression. She had just finished helping Fluttershy with the last of the animals that were going into their dens for hibernation. It was a couple weeks after the steam incident with Twilight, which were uneventful for Sapphire. The only exception was the 'Iron Pony' contest between Applejack and Rainbow and the Running of the Leaves event. Sapphire had chosen to stay out of the event, which turned out to be a wise move for her since it made it easier for her to hide when she saw Princess Celestia appearing at the end of the event.

"Yeah, such a shame," Sapphire replied in an empty tone, drawing a worried look from Fluttershy.

"Is something the matter Sapphire? That is, if there is something wrong," Fluttershy asked.

"It's... I don't know. Just something about snow is putting me on edge for some reason," Sapphire answered.

"Do you think it could be another hint at that theory that you're a wild pony? I mean, it would be harder for you to get food during the winter in the wilds..."

"Maybe... I can't say for certain about this, but you may be right," Sapphire replied as she continued her staring. Today she was going to spend the day helping out Fluttershy, but due to winter coming, it was mostly helping her in aiding the local wildlife to their dens for hibernation. That in itself wasn't that hard of a job, resulting in the duo being finished by noon, just in time to see the weather team finish moving in the first winter clouds of the season. "Still, this is all just spec—" Sapphire continued before a snowball suddenly hit the side of her head.

Blinking in shock for a moment before hearing the familiar sound of Rainbow laughing, Sapphire turned her head to glare at it’s source, who was perched on a cloud. "Buahahaha... you should have seen your face when I hit you with that snowball!" Rainbow exclaimed before another fit of laughter possessed her.

Scowling at the pegasus, Sapphire asked, "Don't you have a job to do since you're Ponyville's weathermare?"

"Not today! Cloudsdale handles most of the winter weather stuff, so I'm free to do whatever I want," Rainbow said, leaning back a bit like she was about to relax until a snowball crashed into her face. "What the buck‽" Rainbow cried out as she wiped the snow off with a foreleg before glaring down. "What's the big idea?"

"What? I thought we were having a snowball... umm... match?"

"Umm... I think you meant a snowball fight," Fluttershy muttered out as she distanced herself from Sapphire.

"Pah, you think you're a match for the fastest pony in Equestria? I'll bury you in snow before you can even blink!" Rainbow declared, to which Sapphire gave her a half-lidded stare in return. "What?"

"Rainbow, didn't Twilight or somepony tell you about my special talent?"

"Yeah, it's to control water or something like that. What's your point?" Rainbow replied as she folded her hooves over her chest in impatience.

"Well, ain't snow just a kind of frozen water?"

"What does that have... to... do... oh buck," Rainbow answered, her eyes widening with the realization of the situation she just got herself into.

"Yeah, so how about we call it a draw?" Sapphire asked with a small smile on her muzzle.

"Yeah... I mean I would win of course, so I'll let you off easy," Rainbow replied, rubbing a hoof against the back of her head. "Anyways, I'm going to go see if I can prank Applejack today, so later," Rainbow continued before flying off, while Fluttershy approached Sapphire with a confused expression.

"Umm... why did you call it a draw? Wouldn't your magic keep her from winning?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well.... yeah, but then Rainbow will try to get back at me and I rather not have some horrible prank happen to me," Sapphire answered.

"Oh... I see what you mean..." Fluttershy responded while giving Sapphire a nod.

"Yeah... I'm not in the mo—"

"Look out!" cried out a young voice, causing Sapphire to turn her toward it, only for something to slam into her side before she could get a glimpse of what was coming.

"Sapphire!" Fluttershy shrieked as she witnessed a sleigh bearing three familiar fillies crashing into Sapphire, sending her flying into a tree. Flying over to the poor unicorn, Fluttershy asked, "Sapphire, are you hurt? Is anything broken?"

"Pinkie, I don't think you used too much confetti..." Sapphire responded, as her eyes spun around in their sockets. As Fluttershy was about to say something, she was bowled over by the drivers of the sleigh as they gathered around Sapphire.

"We're so sorry! We didn't mean to hit you!"

"Yeah, we were just tryin' to get our Cutie Marks in sledding!"

"Umm... girls, I think she's too out of it to understand us."

"Should we take her to the doctor then?"

"Wait, maybe we can fix her up!"

"And maybe we could get our Cutie Marks in doing that!"

"Cutie Mark Crusaders Doctors Ya—"

"What‽" Sapphire cried out as she returned to her senses due to a sudden feeling of dread, only to get a clear view of the three fillies right before her.

"Awww... there goes that idea..." bemoaned Sweetie Belle, as their ears laid flat against their heads in disappointment. Since Sapphire lived with Rarity, she had come across Sweetie Belle multiple times. She had even heard of a club that she had made with two other fillies after meeting them in some party.

"Umm... girls, I know you're trying to help, but maybe we should get a real doctor to look over Sapphire..." Fluttershy commented before her eyes widened in realization. "I almost forgot! Sapphire, we need to ge—"

"I'm fine, Fluttershy. I was just a bit dizzy after being hit by... whatever that is," Sapphire said while pointing at the sleigh.

"Umm... that's a sleigh, haven't you seen one before?" the orange pegasi filly asked, only to receive a jab in the side from Sweetie.

"Scootaloo, she's the pony that has amnesia," Sweetie whispered to the filly, to which Sapphire raised an eyebrow to.

"You know, there's nothing subtle about whispering in front of somepony," Sapphire said, causing the two fillies to yelp in surprise, while Apple Bloom just facehoofed while letting out a groan.

Regaining some of her composure, Sweetie replied, "Sapphire, this is Scootaloo. Scootaloo, meet Sapphire Rain," with an awkward smile, till she remembered about the crash. "Please don't tell Rarity about what happened."

Looking at the tree, Sapphire realized that if she wasn't in the way, the trio would have crashed into the tree instead of her. "Eh... I'm fine, but just try to look where you're going next time," Sapphire responded, causing the fillies let out a collective sigh of relief. Quirking an eyebrow at that, Sapphire added, "And don't try being a doctor."

"But why not?" Scootaloo asked with a frown. "What if being a doctor is a special talent for one of us?"

Pausing for a second, Sapphire had a sudden image of the fillies wearing blood splattered doctor costumes with one of them wielding a saw before shaking her head clear of that image. Where in the world did that came from? Sapphire thought to herself before returning her focus to the fillies. "Um... well, from what I know... doctors occasionally have to deal with blood..."

"Bl..bl..blood?" Sweetie said as her eyes started to widen at the thought of seeing ponies bleeding.

"Um... maybe this isn't such a good idea to try to get cutie marks in being a doctor," Apple Bloom said to her fellow crusaders before returning her attention to Sapphire. "Will there be a lot of blood?"

"Umm... maybe?" Sapphire answered before turning her head towards Fluttershy. "What do you think Fluttershy?"

"Umm... it might happen often... since it's rare for a pony to get too seriously harmed in Ponyville... but it is possible," Fluttershy answered while looking away, a queasy look on her face due to the subject on hoof.

Looking at the look of disgust on her friend's faces, Scootaloo released a sigh before saying, "Yeah... maybe it isn't a good idea to try to be doctors after all... wait a minute!" her face brightened as an idea crossed her mind. "Maybe Sapphire can help us out in finding our Cutie Marks!"

"Huh? Why me?" Sapphire asked with a befuddled expression.

"Well, since you're only helping other ponies from time to time since you have no job—" Scootaloo started to explain, causing Sapphire to adopt an annoyed expression, "—then maybe you could help us out too!"

"Now wait a mi—"

"Yeah! With her ability to control water, I reckon we could try things we couldn't have done on our own!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"I don't thi—"

"She could even have the pond freeze early so we can try ice skating!" Sweetie said, causing the other two to give her a blank stare. "Umm... I would like to try some ice skating..."

"Now stop already, I didn't agree to help you three in crusading, so stop getting ahead of yourselves," chided Sapphire, causing the fillies to droop their ears. "Also, just because I'm unemployed doesn't mean I'm at the beck and call of everypony in town."

The trio looked downcast at first, until Scootaloo brightened up again when she declared, "But you didn't say that you wouldn't help us."

Oh no, not again, Sapphire thought to herself, her ears folding down as Apple Bloom said, "Yeah, so can you help us with our crusading?"

Just as Sapphire was about to say no, Sweetie Belle added, "I'm sure Rarity would be grateful if you helped us find our Cutie Marks Sapphire," causing Sapphire to shut her mouth.

Turning her attention to Fluttershy with eyes pleading for help, Sapphire watched as Fluttershy shifted her hooves a bit as she said, "Well... it sounds like it would be nice if you were to help them... that is if you don't mind, Sapphire."

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Sapphire answered, "Fine... I guess I can help you three with your 'crusading'." Just as the crusaders cheered at the news, Sapphire said, "But no more sledding, I thinking you crashed into enough ponies today," causing them to give her awkward smiles and laughs, to which she responded with a deadpanned stare.

"Let's get movin' Crusaders! I got an idea on what we can try next for our Cutie Marks!" Apple Bloom cried before they started to run off as a group, leaving Sapphire to sigh before carrying their forgotten sleigh with her magic as she thought to herself, Well, today is going to be a splendid first day of winter.

Chapter XIX: Crusade

"Don't you girls find this to be a bit excessive?"

"Nope!"

"But... why would anypony ne—"

"There's this saying, the bigger, the better!"

"I don't think size would matter in regards to getting a Cu—"

"Apple Bloom, you finished with your job?" Sweetie Belle asked while Sapphire let out a sigh at being interrupted once more.

"Almost done, just give me a minute," Apple Bloom replied.

Turning her head towards Sapphire, Sweetie asked, "Hey, can you bring some more snow to the left tower?" to which Sapphire complied to as she formed another pile of snow before bringing it up. At first, the Crusaders were unable to come to a singular agreement on what they should try for their Cutie Marks that would require her help. That was until Scootaloo came up with the idea of making a snow fort.

However, they wanted to go bigger than a regular snow fort, hence Sapphire was turned into lugging snow to their two story fort. However, Sapphire did spot Apple Bloom bringing in some construction supplies, making her wonder just what she was up to inside those walls. She was impressed by the Crusader's crafting of the fort though, since it looked like a miniature castle.

"Umm... not to rain on your parade, but wouldn't you have gotten your Cutie Marks in snow fort building by now?" Sapphire asked, causing the two on the walls and presumably the one behind the walls to look at their flanks before letting out a sigh of disappointment.

Groaning in disappointment, Scootaloo turned her head towards the inside of the fort as she said, "Well, that was a bust, time for plan B Apple Bloom."

Frowning, Sapphire used her magic to make a temporary hole through the wall, stepping through it as she asked, "Plan B? What are you girls ta—what in the world is that‽" before receiving the sight of some kind of siege weapon in the middle of the fort.

"It's a trebuchet," Sweetie Belle calmly answered as she and Scootaloo came down from the wall.

"Why would you need a trebuchet for‽" Sapphire shrieked as she thought to herself, And how did I not notice it being built and how were they able to build this in the first place ‽

"Well, we tried gettin' our Cutie Marks in catapult building and operating but that didn't work out. But before we got started on the fort, Sweetie had an idea of goin' for our Cutie Marks for trebuchets," Apple Bloom replied while still working on the trebuchet in question.

Gawking at the fillies for a moment, Sapphire shook her head of her shock as she said, "Girls, you are not going to build and use a tre—"

"But it's already built," Apple Bloom responded, causing Sapphire's right eye to twitch.

"Then you're not going to use it, even if it’s for getting your Cutie Marks. I can't even fathom why you would want a Cutie Mark related to this thing anyways!" Sapphire said as she tapped a hoof on the thing while trying to figure out how to dismantle it safely without having the Crusaders do it.

"Cause it would be an awesome Cutie Mark to ha—" Scootaloo replied before the sound of some lever coming down interrupted her.

"What was that noise?" Sapphire asked before noticing that the trebuchet was starting to move.

"I think—" Sweetie started to say before she noticed that Sapphire was standing in the path of the trebuchet's sling, "—Sapphire watch out!"

"Huh?" Sapphire said, before the trebuchet's throwing arm swung up, causing the sling to catch Sapphire before launching her into the sky. She screamed for her life while the Crusaders just watched in horror. As Sapphire slowly disappeared from sight, the trio just sat there in silence, too shocked to do anything.

"...I reckon we're goin' to be grounded for life for this," Apple finally said, breaking the silence as Sweetie nodded in acknowledgement.

"Or maybe she lands on her head and forgets about all this?" Scootaloo replied, causing the other two Crusaders to give her a flat stare. Rubbing the back of her head with a hoof, Scootaloo added, "Yeah... that might not be the right thing to hope for..."

This was not how I expected my life to end! Sapphire thought to herself as she continued to scream while flailing her legs about in panic. As she spun about in the sky, Sapphire was finally able to see where she might be landing, which was the trees of the Everfree forest. I'm going to be impaled by a branch or become a blood stain on one of those trees! Sapphire thought to herself as she closed her eyes, unable to do a thing to stop her inevitable doom. However, instead of feeling a branch going through her body or her body exploding upon impact with a tree's trunk, she instead felt a sudden jerk on her body. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was still in the air, with a pair of cyan hooves holding onto her forelegs.

"No need to thank me, I'm was just doing what I do best, being awesome," rang out Rainbow's voice, causing Sapphire to turn her head to see her smug grin. "Though, what were you doing flying through the sky like that? Unicorns aren't suppose to fly."

Giving Rainbow a deadpanned stare, Sapphire answered, "I was subjected to the Cutie Mark Crusader's latest attempt on getting a Cutie Mark."

Cocking an eyebrow, Rainbow replied, "But they already tried for a catapult related Cutie Mark."

"They did, but they decided to go bigger this time with a trebuchet," Sapphire dryly responded, causing Rainbow to blink before shaking her head.

"I have no idea what a trebuchet is, but it isn't cool to send ponies flying who don't have wings," Rainbow commented as she began to lower Sapphire to the ground.

Sighing as she got her hooves on solid ground, Sapphire replied, "Well, they didn't send me on purpose, but they did build the thing. Though how they were able to build it is beyond me."

"Well, I know that Apple Bloom is driven to get her Cutie Mark, but this is a bit too much," Rainbow said.

"Well, I'm going back there to make sure they aren't using that... 'weapon' of theirs before some other pony is sent flying as well," Sapphire declared as she trotted back to the snow fort.

"Need me to help you out with them?" Rainbow asked as she hovered over Sapphire.

"No, you done more than enough by just saving me from becoming a crimson stain on the ground. The Crusaders were in the middle of a snow fort, so if they try anything funny I can just use the snow to stop them," Sapphire answered as she continued on her way. "But just in case, keep an eye out for anything that shouldn't be in the skies today."

Arriving back at the snow fort, Sapphire narrowed her eyes as she made a hole in the wall. She soon caught a sight of the Crusaders trying to disassemble the siege weapon as fast as they can. Letting out a sigh, she said, "I don't think taking that thing apart will save you three," causing the trio to freeze before turning their heads towards Sapphire.

"...Sapphire! I'm so glad that you're alright!" Sweetie exclaimed while trying to put on a smile, only for it to fade when Sapphire glowered at her.

"We were so worried about you!" Apple Bloom said, only to receive the same treatment as Sweetie.

"Yeah, for a while there I thought you were going to go splat on a tree or something," Scootaloo added, only for everypony to give her a glare. "What? I can't be the only one to have thought that."

After a moment of silence, Sapphire shook her head at the fillies before saying, "I wouldn't be in danger in the first place if you didn't had that thing built!"

"But it was just a faulty le—" Apple Bloom tried to explain before Sapphire interrupted her.

"It didn't matter if some part was faulty or not, something like that is still dangerous. You three are lucky that none of you got hurt just from building the thing," Sapphire scolded while eyeing the trebuchet. "I can't even imagine how you get all the things to build this in the first place without anypony... please don't tell me you stole from somepony?"

"We didn't stole a thing! We Apples just have to build things from time to time," Apple Bloom answered, causing Sapphire to raise an eyebrow as she wondered why the other Apples didn't notice what their youngest member was doing.

"Look, in the end, you still have something no filly or colt should be messing around with. Now, you three are going to be talking to your parents... and sister—" Sapphire said while eyeing Apple Bloom, "—about what you three were up to. Cutie Marks or not, this is going to far." Ignoring the groans of disappointment, Sapphire continued, "Now, just stay away from this thing as I figure o— what is that noise?"

Turning her attention to the trebuchet, Sweetie explained, "Umm... we were dismantling the trebuchet when you came ba—" before the trebuchet started to fall apart.

Gasping in terror, Sapphire yelled, "Girls, get away fro—" before the throwing arm of the siege weapon flew off the device. It then flew right into the side of Sapphire's head, sending her flying into one of the snow fort's walls. The Crusaders on the otherhoof, simply watched the mayhem unfold before them, mesmerized by the scene of what was occurring, where not a single piece of the wreckage came close to them. After the dust has settled, the Crusaders cautiously approached where Sapphire landed. They soon saw that she was just knocked unconscious instead of being grievously wounded, in which the trio let out a sigh of relief.

After a moment of silence, Scootaloo said, "Is it me girls, or is all this bad stuff that is happening is just because Sapphire is here?" As the two nodded in response, Scootaloo continued, "Well, now I think she is go—"

"Well you give it a rest already?" Sweetie interjected, as Apple Bloom shot a glare at Scootaloo.

"I was just stating the obvious. She already lost her memories once, so maybe she lost them again and we won't get in any trouble," Scootaloo countered, waving a hoof at Sapphire's unconscious body before a gust of wind blew through the area as Rainbow Dash flew down from above. Instantly Scootaloo became elated at the sight of her, but soon noted the nervous looks her fellow Crusaders were bearing, until she realized the situation.

"I just heard some kind of racket coming from here and I was wo—what the buck‽" Rainbow said before spotting Sapphire.

As Rainbow rushed to Sapphire's aid, the three fillies just let out a depressed sigh in unison, as Sweetie Belle said what as all on their minds, "I think we're going to be grounded for two lifetimes now..."

"Yeah... if only we cou—" Scootaloo said before Apple Bloom slapped the back of her head with a hoof. "Ow! What was that for?"

"We're in plenty of trouble as is, we don't need to be throwin' fuel into the fire!" Apple Bloom exclaimed as Sweetie Belle let out a sigh of frustration.

"Today is going to be a long day..."

Chapter XX: Memory

"Fate... destiny... magic..."

"Mayhem... despair... chaos..."

"Who... who's talking?"

"Foal... hope... faith..."

"Seal... nightmare... agony..."

"Stop... I don't understand..."

"Future... change... life..."

"Beast... pain... past..."

"Who's talking? Why are you two ignoring me? What is going on?" cried a lost and confused Sapphire as she stood in the middle of a dark void until a familiar voice rang out.

"Sweetie, there's no need to cry. Mama's here for you."

"...Mom?" Sapphire croaked out, looking about until a light shined out, revealing a sea green pegasi mare with a long flowing blue mane and a cluster of clouds for a Cutie Mark. "Mom... is that really you?"

"Yes dear, I'm here for you," said the mare, causing Sapphire to run up to her before embracing her in a hug.

"Mom... I missed you..." Sapphire mumbled out as tears started running down her face.

"And I missed you dear," Sapphire's mother said, running a hoof down Sapphire's back to calm her down.

"Mom... I'm so sorry that I forgot about you," Sapphire whispered, only to feel her mother shaking her head.

"Dear, you didn't forget me," the mare said, causing Sapphire to look up at her in confusion as she stared into her mother's dark blue eyes.

"What... what are you talking about?" Sapphire asked, only to see her mother fade away before she could give her an answer.

Waking up to the feeling of water splashing onto her face, Sapphire spluttered out some nonsense as she looked around in shock, noticing that she was in Twilight's library. Blinking in shock, she saw Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight yelling at Rainbow. The rainbow-haired pegasus was holding an empty bucket, all the while, the Crusaders were sitting off to the side, staring at a bookcase.

"—dea on if it is appropriate to wake a pony up that way when they could have a concussion!" Twilight yelled while Sapphire blinked in confusion.

"I agree with Twilight, but we have more pressing matters right now. We need to take Sapphire to the hospital so they can give her a proper treatment instead of just splashing water onto her face," Rarity added, causing Sapphire to realize why she was wet.

"Well, how am I supposed to know what to do with a pony that has a concussion? Besides, it woke her up," Rainbow countered while waving a hoof at Sapphire's direction. This led to the other mares in the room to blink in shock before rushing over to Sapphire.

"Sapphire dear, are you alright? I do hope that my little sister's 'antics' didn't cause you any permanent harm," Rarity said as she started to inspect Sapphire's mane.

"I'm quite alright Rarity, but why are y—"

"You still remember us? That is a good sign, but please tell me how many hooves I'm holding up," Twilight interrupted as she stuck a hoof in front of Sapphire's face.

"Umm... one? Why are you aski—"

"It's good to see that you're finally up, sugarcube," Applejack said before turning her attention to the fillies whom were looking at them with curiosity and worry before shifting their gaze back to the wall. Scowling at the trio, Applejack continued, "Now you three, come over here and apologize to Sapphire for the trouble you gave her."

"Umm... wait a minute, shou—" Sapphire tried to say until Rarity continued the trend of interrupting her.

"Now darling, you shouldn't be exerting yourself after sustaining such an injury from that dreadful contraption they built. Now Sweetie Belle, bring your friends over here already so Sapphire can receive her much deserved apology," Rarity said with a stern face, as the Crusaders half-heartedly came over to Sapphire, who's mouth was forming a thin line at being interrupted so much.

"We're sorry for building the trebuchet and getting you hurt Sapphire," the Crusaders said in unison, like it was scripted from the beginning.

Raising an eyebrow at the apology, Sapphire replied, "Umm... it's okay as long as you three don't do anything like that ever again," receiving nods in return.

"Can we go now, Applejack?" Apple Bloom asked, to which Applejack's scowl just deepened.

"Yes, you can go, back to the farm since you three are grounded," Applejack answered, only for the Crusaders to whine about that issue.

"But Applejack, it was an accident!"

"No buts, if you varmints didn't make that thing in the first place, Sapphire wouldn't have got hurt! Now get movin' already," Applejack ordered, to which the Crusaders let out a miserable groan before they start heading out the front door.

"Now Sapphire, are you experiencing any dizziness? Or possibly some need to sleep?" Twilight asked as she held up a medical book with her magic, her nose deep in it while Rainbow rolled her eyes at the sight.

"Twilight, I think you may be going a bit overboard. I may be feeling a bit sore on the side of my head, but other than that, I'm fine," Sapphire said as she put a hoof on the book, forcing it down to the ground to get Twilight's full attention.

"Are... are you certain? It's dangerous to just take a concussion," Twilight responded, worry evident on her face.

"If you're so worried, can't you cast some spell to scan me for any problems?" Sapphire asked, only for Rainbow to let out a frustrated groan.

"She already did that and came up with nothing, even though it did nothing. She just insisted that there might be something wrong with you that magic can't pick up," Rainbow explained, causing Sapphire to rub the side of her head as something crossed her mind before she flinched as she realized that she rubbed the side that got hit.

This naturally caused Twilight's worry to grow, but before she could say or do anything, Rarity came to Sapphire's side as she said, "Let me look at that dear." Brushing aside Sapphire's mane, Rarity inspected the side of her head before saying, "Looks like you have a bruise there dear, but nothing to worry about."

Cocking her head, Sapphire asked, "Wait, wouldn't you have detected a bruise if you scanned me for any injuries, Twilight?"

Rubbing the back of her head as she blushed a bit, Twilight answered, "Well, I was more focused on scanning your brain since you had memory loss once."

At the mention of her memory loss, Sapphire's eyes widened as she declared, "Wait a moment everypony, when I was out, I think I remembered some things," causing the others' eyes to widen from shock.

"Wait, does that mean if we hit you in the head hard enough, you'll be able to get more of your memories back?" Rainbow asked, to which everypony in the room responded with a flat stare. "What?"

"Sugarcube, I know you're just tryin' to help, but I doubt that hitting Sapphire on her noggin until she remembers everything isn't that good of an idea. I reckon it may lead to her havin' some brain damage from all the wrackin', understand?" Applejack explained, the others nodding while Rainbow just rolled her eyes in response.

"Now that we cleared that up, do you mind telling us what you remembered this time?" Rarity asked, drawing attention onto Sapphire once more.

"Well, at first there was no images like my last couple of memories, just two voices that were... saying some words. Both voices belonging to a pair of stallions, with one voice belonging to that pony that was teaching me magic from another memory," Sapphire started, as Twilight levitated a quill and paper to her.

"Do you remember the words?" Twilight asked, her worry lost to her growing curiosity.

"Well... I do.. but they don't make much sense... it was like I was either remembering pieces of what they were saying... or something. I can't even make sense of what they said," Sapphire answered, causing Twilight to rub her chin with a hoof.

"Well, if you can remember them still, maybe we could figure out what they were trying to say if you told us what you heard," Twilight said, to which Sapphire gave a nod to before recalling the words that she remembered. A moment later, every pony in the room besides Sapphire were looking at her in confusion as Twilight asked, "Are you sure this is what you remembered?"

"Well... yeah. I mean, they only said so much, so it wasn't hard for me to remember that much," Sapphire said as she rubbed the back of her head with one of her forehooves.

"Darling, not to be rude, but I think we were expecting something that will tell us about your past, not some..." Rarity replied before stopping as she tried to find the right phase to use, only for Rainbow to speak up.

"Strange words that you only expect from some fantasy story, or for some crazy pony to say," Rainbow said, causing everypony to give her a deadpanned look for a moment.

"Well, baring what Rainbow said, Rarity did bring up a good point. Are you certain you remembered something and didn’t just have some dream instead?" Twilight asked, breaking the moment of silence.

"Hmm... yeah... cause something else happened after that part... I remembered what my mother looked like," Sapphire answered, causing everypony to let out a unified gasp.

"Really? What did she look like?" Twilight asked as her face darted forward until it was mere inches away from Sapphire's, causing her to lean her head back a bit in surprise.

"Well... she was a pegasus with a sea green coat. She had a long blue mane and a cluster of clouds for a Cutie Mark," Sapphire responded, while Twilight wrote down the description. "I think she was as thin as I was, and she had dark blue eyes."

"Now sugarcube, I don't want to be the one to bring your hopes down, but are you certain you were rememberin' your mother and not somepony else?" Applejack questioned.

"Yeah, for she had the voice that matches a memory of me talking with my mother," Sapphire explained, before rubbing the other side of her head. "Though, unlike the rest of the memory, I was actually interacting with her."

"Hmm... sounds like your subconscious might have been trying to help you remember by directing your memory to a dream-like state in order to help you remember your mother," Twilight commented.

"Maybe... I mean I did talk to her... but there was only one thing that it was about," Sapphire replied with a frown.

"What is it dear?" Rarity asked as the others leaned in to hear what Sapphire had to say.

"Well... my mother said that I didn't forget her," Sapphire answered, causing the others to stare at her in confusion before Rainbow let out a sigh.

"Not another 'ominous' thing," Rainbow complained, causing the others to roll their eyes in response.

"Well, since you have retrograde amnesia, you still have your memories, but you just can't access them properly yet. Perhaps your subconscious is able to access them more easily, but this is something I have never heard nor read of before. I'm tempted to send a letter to Princess Celestia to see if she knows anything about something like this," Twilight said, causing Sapphire's frown to deepen as she remembered the only time she interacted with the princess.

"Would that be necessary?" Sapphire asked. "I mean, I don't think one pony losing their memories should really be the concern of the pony running Equestria."

Giving Sapphire a knowing look, Twilight responded, "I know you're still bothered over how your meeting with the princess turned out before, but you shouldn't let one bad experience color your opinion of a pony. I also think that Princess Celestia would like to be able to make up for upsetting you."

Letting out a sigh, Sapphire looked at the others, who were all giving approving nods to what Twilight said. Taking a deep breath, Sapphire replied, "Fine... if that’s what you think is best. But please, warn me if the princess is going to interrogate me again."

Laughing, Twilight said, "I don't think she's going to do something like that... again. I can even have this be a friendship letter!" before she trotted out of the room.

"Friendship letter?" Sapphire croaked out in confusion as she looked at the others for an answer.

"Well, to explain darling, Twilight is here not only because of her friendship with us, but to learn about friendship itself. Whenever she experiences some lesson in friendship, she normally sends a letter to the princess about what she learned," Rarity explained, to which Sapphire gave a nod of acknowledgement to before she thought to herself, Friendship lessons for an adult? That... that is just weird...

Interlude

As sunset was soon approaching, Princess Celestia was seated at a dinner table, sharing a meal with her sister. Looking upon her sister, whose return was just a few months ago, she smiled at the sight of her sister slowly regaining the vigor and power she held prior to her corruption. Already her mane was flowing with magic once more, though it paled in comparison to her glory days. Regardless, Celestia was thankful to have her sister returned to her.

"Dear sister, what hath proceeded in thy court today?" Luna asked while pouring syrup over some pancakes as Celestia resisted a desire to winch at her use of the old tongue. While she was doing her best to help her sister adjust to the modern era, some things about Luna continued to persist.

"Oh, nothing special, just the usu—" Celestia answered until the tell-tale pop of a letter arriving interrupted her. "Oh, Twilight sent me another friendship report," Celestia said as she unrolled the scroll.

Keeping her silence out of respect of both her sister and the mare that helped purified her of the nightmare's evil, Luna simply watched as Celestia enjoyed her letter. That is, until she saw her sister's face contort into a grimace, prompting her to seek what ailed her. "Dear sister, what causes thy distress? Art that letter not a report as thou claimed?"

Biting her lip, Celestia looked upon her sister before letting out a sigh. "It is a friendship letter, but Twilight also mentioned Sapphire Rain, a pony that I wronged recently due to her being suspicious of her lack of a background of any kind. This had led me to confront her to see if she was a threat, such as a changeling or some power hungry unicorn. Only then did I discover that she was indeed innocent, just a pony who was suffering amnesia. However, she didn't take it well and it eventually... led to her run off into the Everfree forest where she ended up being harmed."

Cocking an eyebrow, Luna said, "We do not see how thy art in fault. Thou art in the right of looking out for the well-being of thy student."

Frowning, Celestia replied, "Luna, while it may be within my right, it isn't morally right to cause an innocent pony distress on mere suspicions, much less cause the pony to be harmed." Letting out a sigh as she looked at the letter, she continued, "Now, every time I'm reminded of her, my heart is stricken with guilt over what happened."

"If thou art so distressed about this matter, why haven't thou done something about it?" Luna asked before taking another bite from her meal.

Looking at Luna, Celestia answered, "Because I believe that Sapphire doesn't want to meet with me again, especially based on how she was one of the few ponies that didn't show up for the Running of the Leaves event. Hence, I don't want to upset her again until she is ready to at least see me again."

Snorting at what she heard, Luna stated, "Sister, thou art being too soft with this pony. Even if thou must apply a firm hoof to get her attention, surely thou will be able to convince her that thou meant no ill will towards her."

"Sister, ponies aren't as tough as they were back in the old days. They have grown more accustom to pleasant situations and panic more when a crisis occurs," Celestia patiently replied.

Rolling her eyes, Luna responded, "Then Equestria has grown too soft during our time away. Perhaps the time for us to take action has come," before pounding a hoof on the dining table.

Resisting an urge to rub her temples, Celestia said, "Luna, we discussed this. You haven't learned enough of modern day Equestrian politics. One wrong move and the nobility will hound you on your mistake for an entire year."

"Bah, if they have the gall to even dare question us, we will simply exile them," Luna declared, to which Celestia pondered if it wouldn't be too inappropriate for her to slam her face into the table, that is, until an idea sparked in her mind.

"Luna, while I know that you're wanting to get back out into the world, I still believe you need more time to prepare yourself. However... there is something you can do to get started," Celestia proposed, causing Luna to raise an eyebrow at her.

"What is this thing that thou think we should do? May chance it involves the mare that thou are troubled with?" Luna blandly asked, causing Celestia to let out a mild chuckle.

"You know me too well Luna. However, you may be able to help this mare in a way that I can't," Celestia explained, which perked Luna's curiosity.

"What does thou mean, sister?"

"By what Twilight has told me, it seems that Sapphire only recovers her memories when she is dreaming. If you are up to some dream wa—"

"Thou doest doubt our ability to dream walk? Even at our weakest, such a task would be completed with ease," Luna interjected with a huff of annoyance.

"Well, since you say you're up to the challenge, maybe you could help Sapphire with her memory problem. Though I do find it odd that she can only remember through her dreams, Twilight speculated that there may be something else going on here besides amnesia. If the answer to that lies within her dreams, then you would be the best pony for the job, assuming you would take on the task," Celestia said, while Luna tapped the table with a hoof as she hummed in thought.

"Hmm... this is indeed something we have never encountered before. We will aid this mare, for it may be a suitable challenge to test our abilities. If indeed there art something that lies in the mare's dreams that prevents her from regaining her rightful memories, we will find and deal with it, for we are the Princess of the Night! Our duty demands that we will aid our subjects to the best of our capabilities!" Luna declared with a saluting hoof while Celestia smiled at the thought of both finding something for Luna to work on while finally repaying Sapphire for the stress she had given her.

Chapter XXI: Dream

"Behold, the Princess of the Ni—"

"What the buck‽"

"Why art there darkness in this dream? Where are th—"

"Who are you? Wait... am I remembering something?"

"Will thou stop interrupting us?"

"...Yes?" Sapphire said, wondering why she was only hearing one voice if there was more than one presence in whatever she was experiencing.

"Very good. Now, let us have a moment so we can give your dream something other than darkness," the voice said before the dark void that was Sapphire's dream shifted to a more familiar setting of the Carousel Boutique. Looking around, Sapphire noticed she had a physical form in this dream like the last one before noticing the blue alicorn staring at her with a frown.

"Gah!" Sapphire shrieked as she got behind a nearby table, flipping it over before taking cover behind it.

Rolling her eyes, Luna said, "Knave, we art no—"

"Just leave me alone! I didn't do anything wrong! I thought it was clear that I have amnesia and that I'm not going to hurt Twilight!" Sapphire pleaded as she cowered behind the table.

"...Well, this art better than the usual screams of terror..." Luna muttered to herself as she approached Sapphire at a slow pace. "Do not fret fair maiden, for we art not here to harm thee nor question thy intentions upon residing in this town. Our presence in thy dream art merely part of our duty as the Princess of the Night, and we art simply here to help you."

Peeking her head out from behind the table, her eyes still full of fear, Sapphire croaked out, "You're here to help me?"

If this is how she is acting around us, no wonder sister is fearful of what her reaction would be upon meeting her again, Luna thought to herself before answering, "Indeed, for we hath received word of thy ailment and how thou seem to be recovering through thy dreams. As the Princess of the Night, our domain includes the realm of dreams, hence why we hath appeared in thy dream."

Edging out from behind the table a bit more, Sapphire replied, "Wait... you know of a way to help me to remember my memories? And how do you know that I was remembering through my dreams?"

"Possibly, for thy amnesia art mysterious in nature. However, if there art a connection between your memories and the dream world, then we shall be able to aid thee. To answer thy other question, we learned of thy predicament from our sister's student, Twilight Sparkle," Luna replied, causing Sapphire to inch out even more from behind the table. "Has thou overcome thy fear of us?"

"Yeah... sorry... I just thought I was in trouble again, and you surprised me," Sapphire said as she finally got out from behind the table, shuffling her hooves as she gave Luna a timid look.

"Very well, before we proceed towards the restoration of thy memories, does thou have any questions?" Luna asked as she gave Sapphire a firm look, causing her to flinch in response.

"Well... I do have one question..."

"Then speak of it."

"Well... why are you talking that way?" Sapphire asked, causing Luna to raise an eyebrow.

"What way? What art thou talking about?"

"Well... your use of 'thou' and 'thee'. I never heard of a pony speaking like that before and it's confusing me," Sapphire replied, causing Luna to frown in thought.

"This art the way we normally speak, but if this confuses thou, we... I will try to speak like you modern ponies do," Luna said, causing Sapphire to blink as she mouthed the word 'modern' before Luna continued. "It is best for the both of us to be able to focus on the task on hoof. However, do not speak of this to anypony, especially our sister," Luna commanded, to which Sapphire gave a quick nod to. "Now, onto the matters on hoof. Please inform us... me of what memories you have recovered and how you recovered them."

After a quick explanation, Luna was rubbing her chin as she said, "Are you certain that you remembered talking about the sky turning green?"

"Yes, Princess Luna. While I didn't remember any images, I do remember what was said as clear as day," Sapphire answered, causing Luna to frown at both that and her choice of words.

"Peculiar, though your last memory is of greatest interest. If what Twilight suspects to be correct, which I am believing to be true, then we might be able to find some clues to your memories within your subconscious," Luna declared as her horn became alight with a blue aura.

"But how do we ent—whoa!" Sapphire exclaimed as the dream's scenery changed, shifting from the Boutique to some kind of massive room. It was full of what appeared to be empty picture frames that hung all over the walls.

"This... isn't what I was expecting," Luna said as she walked up to one frame, only to stop at the sound of someone stepping on broken glass. Looking down, Luna saw that the ground was littered with hundreds of glass shards. Lifting one shard with her magic, she saw that it resembled a mirror, abet one whose surface was a shrouded fog, with Luna barely making out her reflection on it.

"Is... this really my subconscious?" Sapphire asked, while leaning her head down to look at the mirror shards.

Looking at the frames again, Luna saw that a few of the frames had some shards within them. Bringing the clouded shard with her, Luna approached one of the frames that possessed a shard before inspecting it, seeing that it was clearly unlike the others. "Sapphire, would you kindly come over here and look at this mirror fragment?"

"Um... okay?" Sapphire said as she trotted over to the frame. Looking upon it, Sapphire asked, "Is there something I should be looking for Princess?"

"Do you not remember anything from looking at the shard, nor see anything?"

Shaking her head, Sapphire answered, "Just my reflection, nothing else."

Scowling at the piece, Luna placed a hoof on it, only for nothing to happen. "Peculiar. Sapphire, place your hoof on this shard," Luna commanded as she removed her hoof.

Eyeing the fragment before shooting a glance at Luna, Sapphire tentatively moved her hoof towards the shard. At the moment her hoof touched the object, Sapphire heard something, 'My precious Sapphire,' this caused her to pull her hoof back in surprise. "Did you hear that?" she asked as she backed away from shard.

"No, I do not. I assume that what you heard was a memory?" Luna questioned as she stared at the shard while holding the clouded one next to it.

"Yes... but it was something I had already remembered."

"I see, then this place is a representation of your memories within your subconscious. These shards are fragments of your memories," Luna said as she focused on the clouded piece before her. "Have you touched any of the clouded shards?"

"Well, a few... but nothing happened with them," Sapphire said while rubbing one of her forelegs with the other.

"I see, for I believe the clouded ones are the memories you have yet to remember. Perhaps..." Luna said before she concentrated on the shard, her aura on her horn and the shard glowing brighter than before.

"Princess? What are you doing?" Sapphire asked as she tilted her head before Luna's magic dimmed as she turned her attention towards Sapphire.

"We... I was scanning the shard for any traces of magic. Sadly, we find no traces of magic, so either no magic was used upon you, or the spell that caused this was cast long ago. Long enough for the traces to have faded with time," Luna answered. "This means that we can't find an immediate solution if this was some spell cast upon you. However, it is strange to not only have your memories be clouded, but for them to be shattered so that you can only remember bits and pieces at a time," Luna continued before returning her focus on the shard, her magic glowing brighter once more.

"I see... but what are you doing now, Princess?" Sapphire replied, only for Luna to grunt in response. "Um... I'm not trying to say that I don't trust you in doing what you can to help me regain my memories... but couldn't you tell me what you're going to try on one of them before actu—"

"Silence naive, for we art concentrating here," Luna shot back as her face scrunched up as her horn's aura glowed brighter than before, causing Sapphire to fold her eyes against her head as she closed her mouth. After a few minutes had passed, Luna let out a sigh of frustration as her magic dimmed while saying, "We... I apologize for our harsh interruption, but I was focusing on trying to bend or break this shard he—"

"You were going to shatter one of my memories‽" Sapphire shrieked, only for her to cover her mouth with her fore hooves as Luna glowered at her.

"It is simply one portion of your memory, and it wouldn't destroy it. It would only make it hard for this particular one to be recovered. However, the amount of power we used is beyond that of powerful unicorn, hence your amnesia wasn't caused by somepony unless they possessed the power to match an alicorn. However, I highly doubt that any such being would simply chose to do this upon you of all ponies, thus it seems to be that your amnesia was caused by more natural causes," Luna explained. "Sadly, we aren't familiar with the recovery of one's memories, even through the dream world, but I have an idea that may work," Luna said as she looked upon the fragment before floating it over to Sapphire and dropping to the ground. "Pour thy... your magic into the shard. Perhaps your subconscious or the memory will react to your magic, hopefully in a positive fashion."

"Okay... princess," Sapphire said, doubt and worry clear in her voice as she followed Luna's instructions. Her horn soon lit up with her magic as she poured it into the shard.

After a short moment with nothing happening to the shard, Luna commanded, "Pour more magic into it. Keeping pouring until something happens," causing Sapphire to do as she was told, her own magical aura growing brighter and brighter, until finally the shard released a bright flash.

'Mommy! Daddy! I got my Cutie Mark!' yelled a voice in Sapphire's head, a familiar one that sounded like a younger version of her own. As her vision returned to normal, she saw that Luna was peering into her eyes, her head mere inches away from her own. Naturally, Sapphire let out a yelp of surprise as she hopped away from Luna.

"Calm thyself. Did anything happen to you when that shard flashed?" Luna asked as she lifted the shard, showing that is was now clear like the ones in the frame.

"Um... yeah... I think I remember a bit. It was about me telling my parents that I got my Cutie Mark, but nothing else. Only words," Sapphire answered as Luna hummed before the shard was suddenly yanked from her magical grasp, only for it to settle onto an empty frame.

"Wonderful, we have found a method to aid you in recovering your memories!" Luna declared as she clapped her forehooves in delight. "Are you ready to recover another memory?"

Shaking her head, Sapphire answered, "No... I don't think so, I think it wore me out," as she rubbed her horn.

Frowning, Luna replied, "Very well then, we will end this session for the night. However, I intend to help you recover the rest of your memories, so we... I will visit you nightly in order to bring you back here, even if we only regain one memory fragment each night."

Tilting her head once more, Sapphire asked, "But... don't you have more important things than to help me every night? I mean, I think there are thousands... of shards, so that will take a while," as her ears drooped at the thought of how long it would take to regain her memory.

Shaking her head, Luna stood up tall as she declared, "Nay, for this is a minor thing for us. We will come to the aid of all our subjects when they need us. It is our duty as the Princess of the Night and we will not shirk from it!" as she shifted back to her old style of speaking.

Ears perking up, Sapphire gave Luna a small smile before bowing down to her as she said, "Then thank you Princess Luna. It is good to finally have some way to recover my memories," before she thought to herself, besides letting the Crusaders, and maybe Rainbow Dash, beat my head in with a hammer.

"We art glad of thy thankfulness, but alas, we must be off. We have other duties of the night to attend to!" Luna exclaimed as she took to the air, opening a portal that she quickly exited through.

After watching Luna leave, Sapphire looked around, seeing the large number of shards on the ground before she realized something. "Hey! How do I get out of here‽"

Chapter XXII: Snow

"So... you played in a mud puddle when you were a filly and found it to be... enjoyable."

"I see nothin' wrong in have some old fashion fun in the mud."

"Darling, a mare with a mane and figure like Sapphire's shouldn't be disguising her beauty from the world by being covered in mud."

"That doesn't make a plum lick of sense since we all think that Sapphire and her family were wild ponies. Why worry about what they look like if they weren't goin' to be meeting ponies that often?"

"Applejack, dear, it's a matter of principle," Rarity answered, as Sapphire simply watched the exchange between the two as she ate her daisy sandwich. It had been ten days since the Crusader debacle and her meeting with Luna, and every night, true to her word, Luna showed up to help Sapphire recover a sliver of her memory. It was slow going, but it was better than nothing. It was also no burden to Luna since they now just spend a few minutes in the place they termed the 'memory hall' before she made her leave.Thankfully, after the first night, Luna now pulled Sapphire back to her dreams instead of leaving her in the hall to poke at the mirror shards until she woke up.

Finishing the sandwich, Sapphire picked up another one as she watched the two continue to bicker. Even though they were in a restaurant, with a couple ponies glancing at the two from time to time, they were still stuck arguing. Letting out a sigh, Sapphire said, "Can we please stop arguing about this? I was a young filly at the time, I think. Maybe I was young enough to be amused by anything. So can we just go back to having a friendly lunch?"

After hearing Sapphire's request, the two mares lowered their ears in shame as Rarity replied, "Sorry dear, I didn't mean to cause such a fuss."

"Me too, sugarcube. I reckon it was silly of us to argue over such a small thing," Applejack said while rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

Smiling, Sapphire gave the two a thankful nod as she started to take a bite from her sandwich, only to slam her teeth shut when she heard a familiar voice crying out, "Sapphire!"

Letting out a sigh, she turned her head towards the voice where she saw Twilight walk up to their table. She soon saw a smile that she had learned all too well in terms of what will happen soon. Cocking an eyebrow, Sapphire asked, "Twilight, can you please let us finish lunch first before asking me for something?"

Frowning, Twilight replied, "How did you know I wanted you for something?"

"Well, you have that smile you give when you're excited about learning something," Sapphire answered while taking a bite from a fresh sandwich.

As Twilight was about to open her mouth to let out a reply, Rarity stopped her in her tracks when she said, "Twilight, darling, it is rude for a lady to interrupt one's meal. How about you take a seat with us and order a meal, my treat."

"Now, Rarity, I don't want to impose on y—"

"Twilight dear, it is no hassle for me to treat you to a mere meal," Rarity countered, before Applejack decided to toss her two bits in.

"She's right, sugarcube. Especially when she's treating Sapphire to a meal too."

Pausing in her consumption of her fourth sandwich, Sapphire frowned as she asked, "What do you mean by that?" only for Applejack to raise an eyebrow at her before pointing a hoof at the six other sandwiches on her plate, causing everypony but Sapphire to giggle at the scene while she just pouted at her companions.

"While I reprimanded Spike for questioning how you're able to eat so much, I myself am starting to wonder how you can consume all that food and not appear to put on a single pound," Twilight commented as she and Sapphire were heading to the outskirts of Ponyville after saying goodbye to Applejack and Rarity.

"What can I say, I just keep eating until I'm full," Sapphire said with a shrug before Twilight came to a stop at a snow covered hill. Looking around at first, Sapphire asked, "So, why are we here?"

"We're here for more exploration into your Cutie Mark!" Twilight exclaimed with a wide smile, which faltered when she saw the deadpanned look Sapphire was giving her.

"Twilight, it's fairly obvious that you're either interested in my memories or my Cutie Mark. I was asking for specifically what you're planning to do at this place of all places," Sapphire declared, while Twilight blushed at how obvious she was towards her.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but you may think it's a bit weird..."

"So, how are you feeling now?"

"I feel like I'm buried up to my neck in snow."

"I mean beyond the obvious."

"I'm freezing," Sapphire replied, an unamused expression on her muzzle as she just stayed where she was, buried in snow as Twilight facehoofed at her response.

"That isn't what I'm looking for. Aren't you feeling some kind of connection to the snow? Like it feels natural?" Twilight asked after removing her hoof from her face.

Raising an eyebrow, Sapphire responded, "Why would I feel something like that?"

"Well, cause your Cutie Mark is related to water manipulation, so I thought that maybe being immersed, or in this covered, in some form of water would make you feel... something other than what you're feeling now," Twilight explained.

"And what made you come up with something like that?" Sapphire asked as she began to shiver.

Blushing again, Twilight let out a half-hearted laugh as she said, "Well... you're not going to believe this, but I once saw a stallion in town that was in a giant jar of jam, and he looked like he enjoyed it immensely, so I thou—" until Sapphire forced her way out of the snow mound she was in before starting a trot towards town. "Sapphire, where are you going?"

"I'm going home to take a nice, hot bath after being buried in all this snow," Sapphire answered as she continued on her way while Twilight started to catch up with her.

"But there is some logic in my id—"

"Twilight, I just find a pony that wants to take a dip in a jam to be weird and a waste of good jam. I know you're wanting to explore my talent for knowledge, and the possibility of helping me remember something, but this is pushing it too far," Sapphire said with a huff.

Ears folded against her head, Twilight replied, "Sorry Sapphire, I guess I shouldn't have thought that if one pony liking to do such an obscure thing, it might be something you might do due to your Cutie Mark. How about you come over to the library for your hot bath and I'll treat you to dinner as an apology?"

Upon hearing the offer of dinner, Sapphire stopped as she answered, "Why, that sounds like a gre—wait a minute. You just wanted to see if being in water would make a difference in comparison to having me in snow," as she narrowed her eyes at Twilight.

Sighing, Twilight replied, "I guess I deserved that, but if I wanted to know about that, I could've asked for how you feel when you're taking... that's just as weird to ask as well." Shaking her head clear of her embarrassment of the situation, Twilight continued, "But I will take this as a lesson to not try anything so bizarre like this again, at least without asking permission first."

Raising an eyebrow in doubt, Sapphire said, "Well, at least something came out of this... 'moment'. Though personally, this is one memory I wouldn't mind forgetting for once."

Her muzzle forming an awkward grin, Twilight replied, "Speaking of memories..."

Letting out a sigh, Sapphire muttered, "Here we go again."

"Why haven't you mentioned that you had a memory of the sky turning green?" Twilight asked as she groaned in exasperation at the thought of such information being kept from her.

"Well, I mentioned it to Rarity but she said I was most likely dreaming. It wasn't until Luna and I found that particular memory that we determined that it wasn't a memory of a dream. Until then, I thought it would be too ridiculous to even mention to you," Sapphire answered as she was munching on her salad. Shortly after arriving at the library, Twilight graciously allowed Sapphire to take a bath before questioning her on her memories. Of course, this was after preparing a rather large bowl of salad for her.

"Well that's understandable, but the implications of you seeing the sky turn green could be enormous! Was it a solid green or was only part of the sky green?" Twilight asked while jotting down a few notes on a scroll.

"I can't really say, I could only remember what was said, no visual memories. Though for some reason, my mother wanted me to stay quiet, and that she would tell me why the sky was turning green when I was older," Sapphire replied with a shrug.

"Hmm... that indicates that you didn't eat a plant that contained some kind of hallucinogen," Twilight muttered as she pulled a few books off the bookcases, flipping the pages while Sapphire took this as an opportunity to stuff her face with some of her salad. "Out of all the colors the sky could change to due to the the sun setting, there hasn't been any records of the sky turning green... unless," Twilight continued until she pulled out yet another book. "Aha! There are records of the sky turning into different colors that couldn't be achieved under normal circumstances! The cause of it was... Discord," Twilight declared before looking at Sapphire with a befuddled look.

"Discord? Who's that?" Sapphire asked through a mouthful of salad.

"Wait, how can yo—oh wait, you're lack of a proper education, sorry," Twilight replied as Sapphire gave her a flat stare. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Discord was the Spirit of Disharmony, a draconequus with the powers to alter reality."

"Wait, a being that can alter reality? Like, he could make it rain food?" Sapphire asked, to which Twilight just gave her a deadpanned expression in response. "Hey, I can't help but think about food when I'm hungry."

Sighing, Twilight responded, "Well, he could do that, but instead he turned all of Equestria into a land of utter chaos. It wasn't until the two sisters used the Elements of Harmony to seal him in stone, thus restoring order to the land."

"Interesting, but how does this relate to me exactly?"

"Well... Discord's defeat occurred over a thousand years ago... and he's the only known cause of the sky taking on an unusual color," Twilight slowly replied, causing Sapphire to blink in confusion.

"Umm... I know my past is a mystery, but I highly doubt I'm over a thousand years old..." Sapphire cautiously said, to which Twilight gave a nod to.

"Yes... it wouldn't make sense for you to be that old unless you were an alicorn... and since your past points to you possibly being a wild pony... it could mean that your family came across some lost magical ruins or artifact that could change the color of the sky!" Twilight exclaimed, slamming her hooves down on the table in excitement.

Giving an awkward smile to Twilight, Sapphire thought to herself, Great! Now she's going to be even more crazy about my memories than before!

Chapter XXIV: Model

"You will find Manehatten to be a splendid place to behold," Hoity commented as Sapphire looked out the window of the train car they were currently in, watching as the scenery passed by underneath a nighttime sky.

"Well, since it would be my first city that I've been to, I won't doubt what you said," Sapphire replied as she thought about why she would be the one to attract Hoity's eye of all things. Shortly after hearing that Hoity would be leaving by nightfall, the Elements were quick to help Sapphire get ready for the trip. There wasn't much to pack since it consisted of Applejack writing a letter and filling a bag with some bits should she need some. Rarity commented that she would have made Sapphire a dress that would suit her looks if she had the time, but was happy that Sapphire had finally found a potential career. Though, she did mention that it would be nice if Sapphire could point a few ponies in her direction if she could.

Even though Sapphire was uncertain about being a fashion model, Rarity pointed out it would be something that could potentially allow her to support herself. Furthermore, Twilight mentioned that as a model, it would increase the odds of finding her family or at least somepony that knew her. It helped since she would start having more pictures of her floating about in civilized areas. Hence, Sapphire felt in the end that this could be a worthy venture. Though she also secretly hoped that nothing would go wrong in the end.

Hence, she wound up on the train heading to Manehatten. She sat in a private train car that Hoity paid for, built with a personal seating area and even a pair of private rooms for them to sleep in, which only intensified her nervousness. Turning her attention towards Hoity, she asked, "So... once we're at Manehatten, what exactly are we going to do?"

"Simple Miss Sapphire, the moment we're off the train, I'll be taking you to one of Equestria's greatest fashion photographers, Photo Finish. If she likes your figure, then you'll be one of Equestria's newest models in no time," Hoity answered, Sapphire nodding in acknowledging that she somewhat recognized the name, probably overhearing it from Rarity.

"I see... is there anything I should do before I meet Photo Finish?"

"Just keep on doing whatever you do to keep your figure and appearance. If there is something about your looks that Photo likes, she will see it instantly," Hoity explained as a mare with a snack cart came into their car. Upon seeing the cart, Sapphire quickly pulled out her bag of bits, only for Hoity to hold up a hoof in front of her. "Miss Rain, consuming these... 'snacks' would be detrimental on your figure. You cannot afford to start putting on some weight now when you're already in an ideal state of fitness."

"Umm... Mr. Toity... I don't think this would affect my weight..." Sapphire said, causing the stallion to cock an eyebrow at her.

"And what makes you think that?" Hoity replied, skepticism clear in the tone of his voice.

"Well... I've been to a couple parties before and ate way more sweets than what was on the cart and never gained a single pound from it. I even eat at least three times more than the average pony, based on Twilight's estimates on my own eating habits," Sapphire answered, which rendered Hoity speechless for a moment, allowing Sapphire the chance to order some food from the snack mare.

"Wait, there is no way anypony can... eat... that much..." Hoity finally declared after his shock wore off, only for his words to taper off as he witnessed Sapphire gorging on her meal. Even though Sapphire was following Rarity's lesson on dining etiquette to the letter, it didn't slow down her rate of consumption. Hoity lowered his glasses in shock as he witnessed Sapphire stuffing a cake into her mouth, only to see that there wasn't any distinct bulge appearing on her belly. After watching Sapphire finish up her meal, he uttered out, "Oh sweet Celestia, how is this possible?"

"Umm... because I have a fast metabolism?" Sapphire replied with a sheepish smile.

After another moment of staring, Hoity responded, "If you do become a model, please don't mention that, or how much you can eat at one sitting. It would make some mares feel like they can never achieve the kind of fitness you have. However, it is time for us to get some beauty sleep. Wouldn't want to tarnish that face of yours with some bags beneath your eyes," before making his way to one of the car's private rooms. Letting out a sigh, Sapphire made her way to the other room as she thought to herself, I really hope this wasn't a mistake.

"Wow..."

"Yes, yes, I know you're amazed by your first time being in a city, but we have a timetable to attend to," Hoity berated as Sapphire gawked at the skyscrapers before her after disembarking from the train. However, it didn't last long when she spotted Hoity stomping in front of her as he said, "Miss Rain, we don't have time to waste. Photo Finish isn't a mare that would like to be kept waiting."

"Oh... sorry about that," Sapphire timidly replied before following Hoity as he made his way to one of the busy streets, raising a hoof to hail a cab pony. After climbing into the cab with Sapphire in tow, Hoity quickly gave directions as Sapphire took this as an opportunity to view the city once more.

However, that didn't last long as Hoity proceeded to interrupt Sapphire's sight seeing when he said, "Now Miss Rain, remember that once we arrive, I need you to be on your very best behavior. Photo Finish isn't an easy mare to please," causing Sapphire to gulp as her nervousness started to return. Before she could get a word out, the cab came to a stop, prompting Hoity to declare, "And here we are!" as he got out of the cab to stand in front of a highly lavished studio, which only served to intimidate Sapphire even more.

Getting off the cab, Sapphire said, "I'm starting to have sec—"

"No time to waste, madam. Your future awaits!" Hoity declared as he went into the building, causing Sapphire to let out sigh before following him inside. After a short greeting with the receptionist at the main lobby, they moved onto another room. Here, Sapphire was bewildered by the sight of all the lights and equipment inside before spotting a white maned, teal coated pony wearing purple shades and a black dress that was taking pictures of what Sapphire assumed to be another model.

Biting her lip, Sapphire was about to call out to Hoity to voice her concerns, only for Hoity to approach Photo as he said, "Photo, my dear. It is so good to see you again."

Turning her head towards Hoity, Photo replied, "Hoity Toity? Vat are you doing here? Can you not see that I, Photo Finish, am busy with this shoot?"

"Ah, but you see, this is why I am here, for I brought to you what I believe could be a prospective model," Hoity answered, raising a hoof to point at Sapphire, drawing Photo's attention to her. Taking a step back, Sapphire was about to say something when Photo suddenly closed in on her, causing her to let out a panicked cry at the surprising speed of the mare.

"Hmm... ze mare is of an unusual build," Photo said as she circled Sapphire, eyeing her like some kind of predator. "Her figure, it is of a lithe physique, but one that hints at a more natural form, instead of those that strive for it. Hmm... yeees! I can see the magics!"

"The... magics?"

"Get her in a dress!" Photo ordered. Instantly, two mares appeared, stuffing Sapphire into a violet dress before pushing her onto the stage.

"I... what?" Sapphire said, confusion evident on her face.

"Look this way," Photo commanded as she pointed a hoof off to the side, causing Sapphire to look in that direction before she noticed a flash as her photo was taken. "Yes, I can work with this! Make up!"

"I... huh?" Sapphire croaked out as she became completely lost in what is going on. One of the aids quickly applied blush onto her face, causing her to rear it back, only to fail as the mare applied some more.

"Too much blush," Photo commented, causing a mare to start wiping some off till Photo said, "Not enuf." After some blush was reapplied, Photo declared, "Perfiect!"

Sputtering a bit, Sapphire finally collected herself as she exclaimed, "Wait, wait a minute! I have no idea what is going on now!"

Frowning, Photo replied, "We are making the magics!"

Hoity, who was observing everything, asked, "Don't you want to be a model, Miss Rain?"

"I... I don't know. This is just so confusing, and I never done this before, an—"

"You do not need to worry. The aids, they will help prepare you and we can teach you what to do. It is very simple, all you have to do is keep your figure and pose when we tell you to pose," Photo explained.

"You see Miss Rain, it is a simple matter for you. All you need to learn is how to pose the way Photo wants it and they will take care of the rest of the work," Hoity added. "Just a few photo shoots, the occasional fashion show, and you will live the life of luxury and fame!"

"Yees. Just work the magics as told, and I, Photo Finish, will make you a star!"

With uncertainty still apparent on her face, one of the aids added in, "You will be paid thousands of bits."

"I'm no—did you said 'thousands of bits'?" Sapphire asked as her mind started to think on this revelation.

"Yees. If you agree to model for me, I will pay you a thousand bits for this shoot alone. You are new to the world of fashion, but with your looks, you will catch the world like a storm and you will make more bits than you can ever imagine!" Photo explained.

Originally, she thought that at most she would be able to pay Rarity back for all she has done for her, and eventually save enough to finally be able to move out. However, with the fact that she could be making thousands of bits for some pictures and a fashion show here and there, she could live quite comfortable for the rest of her life. No longer would she be living off Rarity, no longer would she be going to restaurants where her friends are always the ones paying for the meals. Furthermore, if she did become as famous as Hoity and Photo said, then maybe she could finally find somepony that knew her before she lost her memory. "Okay... I guess I could learn how to do this if what you're saying is true. I mean, what harm could come from trying this?" Sapphire finally answered, while thinking of all the sweets she could finally buy from Sugarcube Corner.

"Wundarbar! Now back to the magics!" Photo exclaimed, as she and the aids started to guide Sapphire on what poses she should do while Hoity smiled at being able to bring this newest addition to the fashion world.

Chapter XXV: Show

"Now, remember what we've shown you and you'll do fine."

"Easier said than done," Sapphire muttered as Powder Rouge, a light yellowish mare with a dark blue mane who was one of Photo's aids, applied some more make up onto her face. Shortly after agreeing to be one of Photo Finish's models, she was told that in order to get a good start as a model, she had to stay in Manehatten for a few days to do some more photo shoots and one fashion show. At first she was hesitant due to needing to find a place to stay. However, Photo promised to take care of not only her lodging but feeding her as well. Hence, after sending a letter to Ponyville to tell her friends about her success and that she will return in a few days, she spent the next few days doing the photo shoots as well as being trained on how a model should behave during a fashion show. Though it was only a few days of training, Photo declared that her awkwardness would only aid her, and all that matters was that she was able to show off her figure to the crowd.

"Relax dear, you'll be fine," replied Pretty Vision, another one of Photo's assistants who was a brown mare in a green suit. "Besides, most mares would kill to have an opportunity like you ha—" Pretty said, only for Sapphire to give her a look of horror, causing her to give her a deadpanned look as she continued, "—I didn't mean it literally."

"I will say that it is a horrid phrase to use. What kind of pony would come up with that?" Powder asked before covering a spot she missed, much to Sapphire's irritation.

"Hmm... I don't know," Pretty commented, before a pale blue mare in a red outfit came into the dressing room.

"Is she ready yet? Her turn on the stage is coming up," said Soigne Folio.

"Just... about... done!" Powder answered, allowing Sapphire to get off her seat as she tugged at the white dress with gold accents that she was wearing till Soigne swatted her hoof. The dress was provided by Hoity Toity. He was the one holding this fashion show in order to reveal a new line of dresses, which included the dress Sapphire was currently wearing.

"Stop tugging at the dress and follow me," Soigne chided, causing Sapphire to release a sigh before complying. Even though she received many compliments from Photo's staff on how she presented herself during the photo shoots, she was still nervous about posing in front of a crowd. Still, she agreed to this, so she swallowed down whatever complaints she had as she figured that it is better just to get it over with and deal with the consequences instead of trying to put it off.

Reaching the stage curtain, Sapphire watched as one of the other models pass through while the crowd was still cheering. "Just what I needed, a big act to follow," Sapphire muttered as her anxiety grew.

"Nonsense, you'll be the up and coming star. Now go out there and show the world the beautiful mare known as Sapphire Rain!" Soigne replied, almost tempting Sapphire to give her a skeptical look in response. Taking a deep breath, Sapphire strode out from behind the curtain, only to pause for a slight moment as she saw the crowd before her.

That's a lot of... rich ponies, I think. Okay, follow what Photo said, strut forward, and... move those hips... augh, Sapphire thought to herself as she followed those steps, stopping every so often on the walkway to strike a minor pose. As she continued on with her act, she could hear the ponies around her muttering amongst themselves, commenting on what they were seeing.

"Who is this mare? Have you seen her before?"

"Photo Finish found a new model? Why haven't we heard about her before?"

"I have never seen this mare in my life, I can't believe that Photo would put such fresh blood in a fashion show." As the audience's observations were passed back and forth, Sapphire bit the inside of her cheek as she began to think that this endeavor was a bad idea after all. That is, until she heard the flow of the conversation shifting into a different direction.

"Hmm... she does look good in that dress."

"Is it me, or is she a bit thinner than other mares of her structure?"

"Huh. She's thin, but somehow it seems natural on her."

"I have to admit, but that mare looks lovely, especially in that dress. Photo Finish has done it again."

Upon hearing the crowd coming around to liking her, Sapphire's confidence began to rise as she reached the end of the walkway. She soon struck a few more of the poses as she was instructed to the viewing pleasure of the crowd. Hooves spaced this far apart exactly, head turned at this angle... Sapphire thought to herself as she did her best to follow the poses she was taught. Thankfully, they were beginner poses, so they weren't too difficult for her to get down as she came to an end before making her return trip to the curtains.

After passing through the curtains and stepping aside for the next model to come through, Sapphire released a sigh of relief, only for Photo Finish to walk up to her as she said, "Wunderbar! I, Photo Finish, have done it again! I told you that you will become a star!" while pointing her hoof towards the ceiling.

"Umm... yeah... you did," Sapphire replied as she blinked at Photo's outburst.

"It'z a shame that you don't make this a full-time career, you would take the fashion world like a storm!" Photo exclaimed, causing Sapphire to give her an awkward smile.

"It sounds good... but I don't think I could handle this every day. I rather have this done every other week at most..." Sapphire responded.

Pressing her lips into a thin line, Photo looked at Sapphire in disappointment before her eyebrows raised up as she declared, "Vait! If you rarely show up for a show, or in pictures, than you'll be a rare commodity to the world!"

Tilting her head, Sapphire asked, "Wait, are you treating me like some kind of produ—"

"Yeees! Ponies will carve to see more of you, which would make you even more famous in your own way! This iz how it will go! Now, I go!" Photo exclaimed before dashing off, much to Sapphire's confusion.

"Okay... that just happened..." Sapphire uttered out before returning to the dressing room.

Right after reaching her spot in the dressing room, Soigne dropped by to inform her that Photo was going to be too preoccupied with some planning for future photo shoots and fashion shows. She then informed her that Sapphire's pay will arrive at Rarity's home in a couple days, and that Photo will cover her return trip to Ponyville. She would soon be boarding the train for the late night trip home in a couple hours much to joy. Hence, Sapphire was now sitting in front of a stand with three mirrors, having taken off Hoity's dress as she looked at herself in thought.

Well, you did it, Sapphire. You finally got a job. I just hope that this all turns out for the better in the end, Sapphire thought to herself as she took a wet towel and began to wipe the make-up off her face until she suddenly heard some kind of monstrous roar. Dropping the towel, Sapphire was about to scream as she looked around in terror, only to notice that the other models were cleaning up as normal. Blinking in confusion, Sapphire tapped the shoulder of the mare to her left, asking, "Hey, did you happen to hear something roaring?"

Cocking an eyebrow, the mare answered, "What are you talking about? If there was some roar, wouldn't everypony be panicking by now?" before returning her attention to her own devices.

Frowning, Sapphire looked at her reflection, thinking to herself, Just what was that then? Am I hearing things? Was the stress from all this getting to me finally? ...Maybe I should talk to Luna about this next chance I get...

"So, you just heard this roar of some fearsome beast right after the fashion show?" Luna asked as she inspected a mirror shard out of curiosity. Shortly after the cleaning up, Soigne escorted Sapphire to the train station, where she learned that Photo went as far as to ensure that Sapphire had a private room to sleep in on the train. Hence, she took this as an opportunity to sleep comfortable enough to meet up with Luna for the night.

"Yeah... and no other pony in the room heard it, everypony was going on like nothing happened at all," Sapphire answered as she looked over her latest recovered memory, one where she remembered her mother calming her down when she was a newborn foal. Though, once again, she only recovered what she heard from that memory.

"One would assume that this is from stress, but I'm curious: Was this roar familiar to you in some way?" Luna asked as she set down the shard before spotting a smaller piece off to the side, its surface cloudy like the rest of its brethren.

Tapping her chin with her hoof, Sapphire thought to herself before replying, "Actually... no. I’ve only heard one monster roaring before, and it was an Ursa Minor, which didn't sound like the roar I heard today."

"Hmm... peculiar. If you were to relive that particular memory, perhaps I will be able to discover what beast made that roar. Though, you will have to experience it all over again, so it's up to you to decide when we tackle that matter," Luna said as she levitated the small fragment over to them.

"...I think we can tackle that another night. I already have enough things on my plate for now. I would like to be able to take some kind of breather from all this stress before pursuing that... 'thing'."

"Very well. However, I think it is finally time for you to attempt to recover three memories tonight instead of two," Luna declared as she floated the small piece over to Sapphire. "Start with this one, it seems to be an even more minor piece compared to the others, so it may be possible that you don't have to expend as much energy to recover it."

Tilting her head as her horn lit up with her magic, Sapphire replied, "Okay then, if you think I'm ready for this," as she took the shard from Luna.

Focusing her eyes on it, Sapphire began to pour her magic into the piece. It took a while as sweat started to form on her forehead before the shard cleared up. It was then that Sapphire heard the voice of the stallion that taught her a bit of magic saying, "Arulas."

"Arulas?" Sapphire echoed out, her bewilderment clear on her face.

Raising an eyebrow, Luna asked, "Arulas? Is that what you're retrieving from that fragment?"

Nodding as the shard floated off towards its own frame, Sapphire answered, "Yeah... though it was said by a stallion who taught me a bit about controlling water with my magic, but it was just that one word."

Staring at Sapphire for a moment, Luna responded, "Hmm... I would say that this may be the stallion's name, or the stallion calling out to another pony. But for some reason, that name seems a bit familiar to me."

"Familiar to you? What do you mean?" Sapphire asked, wondering how Luna could have a connection to that word.

"I heard that word before... though I think it may be a reference to a place or a historical event of sorts. I don't recall ever meeting a pony named 'Arulas' before..." Luna replied as she frowned in thought.

"Oh... well, if it is something related to history, maybe Twilight has a book on it?"

"Perhaps, I don't believe it will hurt to have her search for this 'Arulas' in the historical documents she possess. From what I heard about her from my sister, I do believe that her student would be a great asset in finding out if that word does exist somewhere," Luna answered.

Looking at the shard as it embedded itself into an empty frame, Sapphire thought to herself, Finally... a name... of sorts... at least it's a start. Hopefully, somepony will have a clue to whatever 'Arulas' means.

Chapter XXVI: Arulas

"Welcome back!" Pinkie shouted as she pulled Sapphire off the train and into a tight hug.

"Thank... you... Pin—you're squeezing too tight!" Sapphire croaked out. It was morning in Ponyville when Sapphire finally arrived, only to be greeted by the Elements before she could even get off the train.

"But I missed you so much!" Pinkie cried out, refusing to loosen her grip on Sapphire.

"Umm... sugarcube, maybe you should let Sapphire go, she's startin' to turn purple from the lack of air," Applejack pointed out as Sapphire was weakly pawing at Pinkie's hooves.

"Oppsie," Pinkie replied with an embarrassed smile as she finally released Sapphire, who promptly collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

"Oh sweet... sweet air... I never thought... I would miss you..." Sapphire uttered out between pants, to the others' amusement.

Stepping towards Sapphire, Rarity aided her in getting back onto her hooves as she asked, "While I'm glad that you're back among us, I have to ask—" before placing her hooves around Sapphire's face to bring it up to her own, "—did you finally become a fashion model like Hoity said you would‽"

Blinking at the question, Sapphire squeaked out, "Yes?" only to be released from Rarity's hooves as she let out a squeal of excitement.

"This is fantastic! Having a fashion model, even if new, would surely bring in more customers and even more important figures like Hoity to the boutique! Wait!" Rarity exclaimed before rushing over to Sapphire, who prevented Rarity from grabbing her face again by using her magic to grab the end of Rarity's tail as she backed away a bit. "Who is your sponsor?"

"Sponsor? Umm... it's Photo Finish?" Sapphire answered, causing Rarity to let out another squeal before she suddenly fainted. "...Is she going to be okay?" Sapphired asked as she poked Rarity's side, as the others bore amused expressions.

"I reckon she couldn't handle the excitement of all this, especially since she is into the fashion world and all," Applejack replied, before lifting Rarity with one of her forelegs and depositing her on her back. "I'll be takin' her back to the boutique, but congratulations on getting the job," Applejack continued before she took her leave, as the others congratulated Sapphire.

Flying down to land next to Sapphire, Rainbow said, "Since fashion models are famous and well-paid, maybe you could share your new found wealth with the rest of us?" as she rubbed an elbow into Sapphire's side.

"Rainbow! You shouldn't be asking Sapphire for money just because she's our friend!" Twilight reprimanded, only for Rainbow to let out a laugh.

"Come on, Twilight, do you really think I would honestly do that to one of my friends?" Rainbow shot back with a smirk.

As Twilight gave Rainbow a flat stare for her prank, Sapphire prodded her shoulder, getting her attention as she asked, "Hey, Twilight, I need to ask you something."

"Oh? What is it? Is it something related to your memories?" Twilight replied, causing Sapphire to blink at her prediction.

"Umm... yes it is..." Sapphire started to say, before noticing Twilight's expression taking on an excited look. This caused Sapphire to frown as she continued, "You're hoping for more mysterious memories from me, aren't you?"

Letting out an awkward laugh, Twilight answered, "Well... after that odd memory you had before, I couldn't help but be curious if you had something else to add to that."

"Jeeze Twilight, you got on my case for wanting some bits from Sapphire but you're already trying to milk her for some 'long lost knowledge’," Rainbow commented.

Before Twilight could reply with a retort, Sapphire interjected, "I might have to agree with you on that, if what I have to ask would justify Twilight's suspicions," causing Twilight to grow more excited as the other three took on a curious look as well. Clearing her throat as she eyed the group, she continued, "Last night, when Luna was helping me recover another memory, a rather small one was simply a pony saying the name, 'Arulas'. Luna thought that name was familiar, yet she couldn't recall where she had heard it from. She figured that it may be related to history... and that you would... know..." before trailing off at the sight of Twilight's massive grin.

"She's right, I do know that name," Twilight exclaimed with excitement. "In fact, it might be an important clue to finding your family if I remember it right. Quick, let's go to the library, I think I have a book about it lying somewhere," Twilight continued before casting a spell that Sapphire recognized.

"Wait a minute, don't tele—" Sapphire tried to shriek before Twilight finished her spell, teleporting them out of the area. The other three left behind looked at each other in confusion.

"Did Twilight just... ditch us?" Rainbow asked while scratching the side of her head with a hoof.

"I don't think she meant to." Fluttershy answered, though she was still confused about it all. Pinkie just gave it a shrug before bouncing off, the others following her cue as they returned to their own business.

"Twilight... please don't do that again..."

"I'm so so sorry Sapphire, I was just so excited that I forgot about what teleporting does to you."

"But hey, you're getting used to it at least," Spike commented as he brought a bucket to Sapphire, whose face was currently green instead of the usual sky blue.

"Thanks," Sapphire replied, her voice laced with sarcasm before putting a hoof to her mouth as she fought to keep her breakfast in her stomach. After succeeding in her endeavor, Sapphire turned her head towards Twilight as she said, "Twilight, how about you go get that book you mentioned while I try to recover from the teleport." Nodding, Twilight was about to make a reply when she saw Sapphire putting her hoof over her mouth as her cheeks bulged out a bit, causing Twilight to search for the book instead of giving a response.

Giving Sapphire a look of disgust as her cheeks returned to normal, Spike said, "Wouldn't it be better to just let it out?"

"That would be wasting my breakfast than," Sapphire replied, before groaning in discomfort as Spike gave her a bewildered look before shaking his head at her.

A few minutes later, with Sapphire looking a bit less green, Twilight returned with a book. She set it down on a table as she said, "Here we go. Ancient myths and legends of Equus."

Eyeing the book with skepticism as she start to forget about her nausea, Sapphire asked, "Really? This is where you found that name?"

Not noticing Sapphire's skeptic look, Twilight nodded as she answered, "Yes, though this is more of a surprise than your green sky memory. Give me a moment to find the part that involves Arulas," as she opened the book, rapidly flipping the pages before coming to a stop. "Aha! Here we are, 'The Disappearance of Arulas'."

"Disappearance of Arulas?" Spike and Sapphire both repeated in surprise.

"That's what the title says, but let me read you the entire thing," Twilight replied before clearing her throat.

"Long ago, long before the nation of Equestria was founded, before the time of the three tribes and the wendigos, there once lived four sisters. Wenjutas, Trinakas, Selunas, and Arulas. These four sisters were very close, sharing a powerful bond of love. However, when the four sisters came of age, they developed a great wanderlust that compelled them to go out to the world and explore. But, due to their great bond with one another, they decided to make a promise that they will return to the place of their youth every year. There, they would share the stories of their travels and enjoy being together as a family once more. With their promise made, the four sisters went their separate ways, following the path their hearts urged them to follow.

Years passed by, with each sister holding true to their promise. Though in their travels they met many other ponies, as well as members of the other races. Some of them were entranced by the same wanderlust the sisters had, choosing to join them on their travels, even returning with the sisters to their home. Eventually, the sisters found their true loves, forming families that embraced the sisters’ wandering ways. As time passed on, with the sisters' own traveling bands growing larger and larger, this developed bonds between all the races of Equus, bringing friendship across the land.

Sadly, one day, when the sisters returned to their home, they discovered that one of their own was missing. The missing sister was Arulas, whose own group didn't appear as well, not a single message sent to any of the other sisters to explain their disappearance. Worried, the other sisters decided to go on the search for the lost sister, their groups spreading across the land for the search. Unfortunately, no sign of Arulas nor her followers were discovered, like they simply disappeared off the face of Equus. As time passed by, the sisters followers began to accuse one another's own races, believing that one of them were the cause for the disappearances. Eventually, their bonds shattered as the followers banded with their races or tribes, going on their own ways, which lead to the friendship that prevailed throughout the land to wither away.

However, the sisters and their families didn't fall into the same infighting like their followers. Instead, they believe that there must be something that existed that was the reason behind Arulas's disappearance. Hence, they and their families continued on their journey to find Arulas or the cause of her disappearance, a search that was passed down from generation to generation, as the sisters' desire passed onto their descendants. It is said that the descendants of the three sisters continued on with their quest, determined to find the answers they were searching for."

At the end of the tale, Twilight looked at her audience. Spike was saddened by the legend. However, Sapphire held an emotionless expression as she asked, "Okay... but how is that related to me and my family?"

"It's quite simple, Sapphire. The tale of Arulas isn't a well-known story. In fact, the only way a pony would find out about the story is if they came across the books that held the tale. Yet, it appears that somepony you knew had the knowledge of that tale. If your family is a bunch of wild ponies as we suspected, then the only reason they would know of the tale is that they are descendants of the other three sisters. Thus, we could speculate that if we find somepony that is continuing on the search, they could be part of your family or at least may know a way to find your family!" Twilight explained, causing Sapphire's eyes to brighten up at the revelation.

"But wait, just how old is that story?" Spike interjected.

Looking down at the tale, Twilight answered, "According to the book, the tale was written around... six thousand years ago..."

"Which means that most of the descendants have already moved on by now..." Sapphire added as her ears drooped. "Another dead end..."

"Well, look at it this way Sapphire. If your family was still searching for Arulas after all this time, then surely they would look for you too," Spike said, causing Sapphire to raise her ears up.

"He's right. If anything, your family will be even more driven to search the ends of Equestria for you. It won't be long before we get into contact with them, especially with you becoming famous soon," Twilight added, causing Sapphire to smile at her words.

"I... I just have to wait. They will find me, and I will find out who I am and what happened to me. I will regain all I lost, including my family."

"It is good that you haven't lost hope in finding your family after learning about this tale of Arulas, though I wish I could do more than aid you in recovering your memories. Alas, I must make our leave, though I will pass this information to my sister, for she might have the means to locating the remaining descendants of the three sisters," Luna declared before disappearing from Sapphire's dreamscape. Shortly after bidding Twilight a goodbye, Sapphire returned to the Boutique. There, she once again had to deal with an ecstatic Rarity. Thankfully, it didn't take long to calm her down, though Rarity was excited about the possibility of Photo Finish coming to Ponyville one day, which would give her an opportunity to get a photo shoot at her boutique. Afterwards, learning that Sapphire was going to receive a large amount of bits in the mail, Rarity informed her that she may be able to get her own house. However, she would need to have a mortgage that she would be able to pay off within a few months if her pay continued to be as large as her first payment.

With Luna's departure, Sapphire shifted her surroundings to the boutique, letting out a relieved sigh as she reflected on the fact that things were finally turning around for her. That is, until she felt an odd disturbance from behind her. Turning her head around as fear crept into her heart, she was greeted with nothing but an empty boutique.

"Heh... I shouldn't freak out about some odd feeling, since this is a dream after all," Sapphire said to herself with a chuckle as she twisted her head around, only to be shocked by the sight of a massive head, its head resembling some kind of draconic monster. It had a blackish green colored skin and dark, glowing eyes. It’s maw slightly opened as green smoke poured out of it. Frozen in fright, Sapphire simply stared at the creature until it took a deep breathe before releasing a roar at her, causing her to scream in horror before her dream shattered.

Waking up from her dream, Sapphire sat straight up on her bed, her eyes widened with horror at what she saw in her dream as her took in several rapid breaths. Looking around her room, she saw no horrors ready to spring up at her. After calming down a bit, Sapphire thought to herself, What the buck was that? And... why... why do I get the feeling that... monster is familiar to me?

Author's Note

Another unedited chapter, but wait, the story is complete! Why so soon? Find out in the next story where more of Sapphire's past is revealed!

Chapter XI: Griffon

Several days passed after Sapphire's visit to both Fluttershy's and Applejack's homes, long enough for her injuries to fully recover. During the meantime, she continued her studies, though she regained the role of being Rarity's pincushion whenever she needed her figure. Her studious effort resulted in her learning how to read on a level similar to Apple Bloom's age group, much to her chagrin. Her friends however disagreed, arguing that she was making amazing progress. Regardless, Sapphire strove to continue her personal education, determined to at least learn enough to make a living for herself. Hence, it was one sunny day where Sapphire was reading a book in Rarity's kitchen when she heard the sound of somepony giggling.

"Huh?" Sapphire said as she looked around for the source of the noise. "Is anypony there?" After seeing no signs of life, she just shrugged before returning to her studies, only for her jaw to drop at the sight before her. Instead of a simple history book about Hearth's Warming that she was reading, she beheld the sight of a tomb about thaumic physics. "The buck?" was her response as she stared at the maze of words before her, until she heard some giggling from outside the window. Trotting over to the window, she looked down to see both Rainbow and Pinkie giggling as they both gave her two awkward smiles.

"Hey Sapphire, how are you doing?" Rainbow snickered. "Enjoying your studies?"

"Yeah, I bet you're having a good read?" Pinkie asked.

Blinking owlishly, Sapphire replied, "Where's my history book?" only to have Pinkie raise a hoof to reveal the missing book. Taking it with her magic, she then asked, "Where did you got that book?"

"From the library, why’d you ask?" Pinkie responded.

"Simple, if you borrowed it from Twilight, then you two are responsible for it, not me," Sapphire answered as she used her magic to chuck the book out of the window. This caused the pair to shriek as they rushed to catch the book, barely succeeding. Turning their heads back at Sapphire, they saw her laughing at the two, while saying, "Nice prank by the way."

This caused the Pinkie to laugh a bit while Rainbow said, "Hey, we could have gotten in trouble if the book got ruined!"

"Well, showing me that book is just mocking me on how uneducated I am," Sapphire replied, causing the two to fold their ears down in shame. Rolling her eyes, Sapphire said, "Oh cheer up, let's just say we're both even, alright? Next time I'm sure you two will pull off a better prank."

Sapphire's words did lighten the two ponies' mood as Rainbow commented, "Yeah, well it's good to see that you're aren't an egghead like Twilight. I don't think she'll ever throw a book out the window like that."

"That goes to show that my studying doesn't mean I'm an egghead. So, how are you two doing?" Sapphire asked.

"We're just having some fun pranking ponies," Pinkie answered with a wide smile.

"Well, have fun with that. I would join you, but... still way too behind on my studies. That and I might just mess up your pranks," Sapphire said as her ears lowered a bit.

"Now cheer up Sapphire. I'm sure that in no time you'll be as smart as everypony, or maybe as smart as Twilight if you put your mind to it!" Pinkie exclaimed as she gave Sapphire a hug. Sapphire was about to give her a hug back when she realized something and did a double take, looking at where Pinkie was just earlier.

Instead of giving an answer, Rainbow just shrugged and said, "That's Pinkie being Pinkie."

"Okay..." Sapphire numbly replied, giving Pinkie a pat on the back in return. That only served to cause her more confusion as Pinkie broke the hug to smile at her before performing a backflip that sent her out the window. "...I'm going to go back to my studies now," Sapphire said as she rubbed a hoof against the side of her head while the duo said their goodbyes.

Time passed by as Sapphire continued her task of educating herself, even though Rarity commented that a pony shouldn't be so focused on learning. Sapphire responded that she didn't had anything better to do, since she can't look for a job, nor did she want to appear as a massive fool for not knowing the most basics of things. She already had enough of that at the party Pinkie threw for her a couple weeks ago.

However, it wasn't long after that when Pinkie showed up with an invitation to a party being held for a griffon named Gilda. Hence, both Rarity and Sapphire were heading their way to Sugarcube Corner as Sapphire asked one question Rarity expected her to say.

"What's a griffon?"

"Darling, I would love to answer that question, but I believe it would be hard to explain it to you when it would be easier for you to just see it," Rarity answered, causing Sapphire to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just trust me dear. It is just one of those things you have to accept on faith," Rarity replied as they reached the front door of the bakery.

Just as Rarity was about to knock on the door, Pinkie opened to door as she exclaimed, "Hi Rarity, hi Sapphire! I'm so glad you two could make it!"

"...How did you know when to open the door right before Rarity could knock on it?" Sapphire asked as Rarity strode past her.

"Sapphire dear, this is just something you shouldn't question. Trust me, it wouldn't do you any good in the long run," Rarity explained, causing Sapphire to let out a sigh before following her inside. The party was small in comparison to the last one Sapphire was at, but she still spotted the snack table, to which she simply made her way to. Other party attendees just raised an eyebrow at Sapphire's eating habits before shrugging it off, leaving her to feasting. Thankfully, Pinkie kept the snacks following, despite Sapphire's ravenous hunger.

"I don't think all that eating is good for you, Sapphire," Twilight commented as she came over to her.

"But I just can't resist," Sapphire replied, before stuffing her face with more cupcakes.

"Sapphire, all that eating wo—" Twilight started to say before Rarity came over and spoke up.

"Twilight dear, while I would normally agree with you on a matter like a mare's figure, Sapphire somehow keeps her lithe figure, despite all the food she consumes. She even eats triple the amount of food each meal, every day," Rarity said, causing Twilight to give her a skeptical look before looking over Sapphire's body.

"Hmm... I guess Sapphire has a fast metabolism like Pinkie then," Twilight finally concluded, to which Sapphire just shrugged before resuming her feast. Time passed by for a bit until something drew the attention of all the party attendees, including Sapphire as she saw a strange creature coming into the bakery.

Huh, I guess that's a griffon, based on what Rarity told me, Sapphire thought to herself, as she observed what appeared to be a creature with the rear of a feline and the front of some avian. Observing her from her place at the snack table, Sapphire saw Pinkie giving the griffon a shake, only for it to appear to be having a spasm for some reason. Guess Pinkie is still pranking ponies today.

"Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville," Pinkie announced, to which everypony began to cheer for her, though Sapphire opted out due to stuffing her face with a cupcake. However, Gilda eventually made her way to the snack table as Pinkie said, "Please, help yourself."

"Vanilla lemon drops. Don't mind if I do," Gilda said as she grabbed a piece of yellow candy from a bowl before popping it into her mouth, only to scream out in pain as she yelled, "Hot!"

Sapphire just watched as Gilda rushed over to the punch, trying to drink a glass of it only for it to spill out a hole onto herself. As ponies just laughed at her, Sapphire sniffed the lemon drops, before using her magic to pop on into her mouth as Applejack warned, "Sapphire, didn't you see..." before stopping as Sapphire just chewed on the candy. "Ain't that candy hot?"

"Yeah, it's a bit spicy, but it's still okay," Sapphire answered as she popped another lemon drop into her mouth.

"...Is there anything you won't eat?" Applejack said in a bemused tone, to which Sapphire just shrugged as she continued to eat. However, her feast came to an end when everypony gathered around a cake for Gilda to blow out the candles. However, instead of the candles being blown out, the flames returned no matter how hard Gilda tried to blow them out. Ponies began to laugh as it was revealed that the candles were really trick candles, though the cake was partly ruined when Spike decided to eat his way into it before popping his head out on top. Sapphire frowned at the loss of most of the cake, though she noticed the look of growing irritation on Gilda's face. She chose to ignore it as she used her magic to get a unmarred slice of cake before returning to the snack table. From there, she could see that Gilda was blindfolded as she began to play some game, though she ended up stepping on a piece of cake that sent her sliding into the kitchen, creating quite a racket before she finally came out.

While ponies were amused by the sight, Sapphire was about to take a bite of her cake when Gilda suddenly roared, which scared Sapphire enough that she dropped her cake. "My cake..." Sapphire bemoaned, before looking at the griffon to see her ranting and raving as she insulted everypony. However her rant came to an end when Rainbow revealed that she was the one that set up all the pranks, before declaring that Gilda should leave if she wanted to find some 'cool' friends. In response, the griffon let out one last remark before making her departure, all the while Sapphire rubbed her chin in thought of what she just witnessed.

"I'm sorry that your first experience with a griffon had to be of that dreadful Gilda," Rarity said as she came to Sapphire after having a chat with Rainbow and her other friends.

"So I take it that griffons don't have a temper like that," Sapphire replied as she looked down at her cake before letting out a sigh of disappointment.

"While I can't say for certain since I don't see many of them, it would be wrong to judge all griffons based on how a single one acted," Rarity responded, as her horn lit up before levitating a piece of cake over to her.

Eyes blinking in surprise, Sapphire took the cake with her own magic before saying, "Thank you, Rarity."

"It's my pleasure dear, for I saw that you dropped your slice when Gilda surprised everypony with that shriek of hers.I thought you would like to have a new piece to replace the one you lost. However, I insist that you mingle with everypony, you shouldn't just spend your entire time at the snack table," Rarity replied, to which Sapphire agreed to as she accompanied Rarity as she returned to chatting with the rest of the party goers.

Today was an odd day... though... this wasn't the first. Is this a regular thing for Ponyville? Sapphire thought to herself as she stuffed the cake down her mouth in one bite, to which Rarity just released a long suffering sigh, something that was also becoming a regular thing whenever Sapphire forgot her manners.

Chapter XV: Fire

After the 'workout' at the farm, Rarity and her friends decided to have Sapphire spend at least one day per week with one of them, helping them out if she can. Hence five days later, Sapphire was helping Fluttershy take care of her animals, though both she and Angel kept glaring at each other throughout the entire day. Two days after that, a rain storm came in, which caused Rarity to stay over at Twilight's place for the night.hough that left Sapphire curious about where she was, she held confidence that Rarity would be fine due to hearing the story of the Elements defeating Nightmare Moon. Though, she was surprised that Rarity didn't think of asking Twilight for an umbrella.

Eight days afterwards, Sapphire paid a trip to Pinkie's, where Rarity thought Pinkie's behavior would serve as a means to keep Sapphire around. Instead, that day Pinkie wanted to try some new recipes, with Sapphire not only helping with the baking but serving as a taste tester. However, it only lasted a couple hours when Pinkie tried a cupcake only to end up getting sick, though Sapphire tried the same batch and just commented on the bad taste. This led to Twilight theorizing that it might be a clue to Sapphire coming from a wild background, due to her possibly building up a tolerance to food that may normally make other ponies ill.

Throughout it all, Sapphire diligently kept up with her studies. That is until three days after the incident with Pinkie where Sapphire was on her way to the library for another book run when something strange happened.

"Where is everypony? I didn't hear a monster roaring earlier..." Sapphire said, looking about for any signs of life in the empty streets. According to her past experiences in the town, the residents of Ponyville would be screaming and running about in a blind panic whenever something bad happens. Instead, the eerie silence put Sapphire on edge as she wondered if this could be related to one of Pinkie's parties or if an epidemic had struck the town.

The only response was the sound of some doors slamming shut, though it sounded like it was from the other side of town, causing Sapphire's head to turn towards the origin of the noise only to see nothing. Staring for a moment, Sapphire returned to her trek to the library, hoping that Twilight would have some answers to what was going on. Arriving at the library, she knocked on the door, only to receive silence.

"...Twilight? Spike? Is anypony home?" Sapphire asked, knocking harder on the door. After receiving no response of any kind, Sapphire let out a sigh as she began to make her way back to the Boutique. However, on her way back, she spotted a mysterious figure in a brown cloak exiting town. As she was about to cry out to get the ponies attention, Sapphire spotted Apple Bloom following the stranger, causing her to pause as she tilted her head at the sight. Before she could call out to Apple Bloom though, she heard Applejack's voice calling out for her sister. Jeez, is everypony going to start showing up no—what the buck? Sapphire thought to herself as she saw all the Elements running by, where Applejack spotted Sapphire.

"Sapphire! Have you seen Apple Bloom?" Applejack asked as the group came up to her.

"Yeah? She was flowing some kind of pony in a cloak that went... that a way..." Sapphire answered as she pointed in said direction, only to realize that she was pointing at the Everfree Forest. "Oh buck..."

Her eyes widening in terror, Applejack made a mad dash towards the forest with the rest of the elements following. Sapphire hesitated at first, memories of the timberwolf attack that she survived flashing back to her before she shook her head clear of it. A filly's out there Sapphire, you have to follow your friends and do what you can to help, Sapphire thought to herself before following the group. It wasn't long before they entered the forest.

Sticking behind the group as they searched for Apple Bloom, Sapphire asked, "Umm... why was Apple Bloom following that pony, and who was that pony?"

Suddenly, Pinkie came to Sapphire, her muzzle right next to Sapphire's as she replied, "You don't know about Zecora‽" only for Sapphire to give her a flat stare in response. "Opps, sorry," Pinkie said with an awkward expression. "Zecora is an enchantress that lives in the Everfree Forest! I even wrote a song abo—" before Rainbow shoved a hoof into her mouth.

"Yeah, I think Sapphire doesn't need to hear it. Long story short, she's a zebra that curses other ponies," Rainbow explained, as Twilight let out a groan.

"There's no such thing as a curse!" Twilight exclaimed as Sapphire tilted her head in confusion.

"Wait, I'm confused now. Does she curse other ponies or not?"

"She doesn't, everypony is just panicking about a zebra that comes to town once a month without even getting to know her," Twilight replied.

"Oh..." Sapphire responded, before noticing that they were going through a field of blue flowers. "Wow... I’ve never seen this kind of flower before," Sapphire said, her curiosity getting the better of her as she leaned down to try one of the flowers.

"Sapphire dear, you shouldn't try eating something from the Everfree forest," Rarity chastised, causing Sapphire to frown before pulling head back up to say something till Applejack spoke up first.

"Apple Bloom?" Applejack exclaimed, causing Sapphire to turn her head to see the filly not far off, with the cloaked zebra a short distance away. "You get back here right now!"

This drew the attention of the zebra to the group, as she cried out, "Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!" causing Sapphire's eyes to widen as she looked at all the blue flowers around her.

"Y-you keep your creepy mumbo-jumbo to yourself, ya hear?" Applejack cried back as she got underneath Apple Bloom to force her onto her back, before the rest of the Elements started to yell various things at the zebra, with the exception of Twilight.

"Oh brother," Twilight muttered to herself.

"Beware, beware!" the zebra cried out as fog rolled in to obscure her.

"Yeah, back at ya, Zecora! You and your lame curse are the ones who better beware!" Rainbow hollered out.

"I don't think she was saying a curse Rainbow, but... I have to say that it was a bit creepy in the way she left us," Sapphire replied, causing Rainbow to roll her eyes at her in response while Applejack turned her head towards Apple Bloom.

"And you! Why couldn't you just listen to yer big sister?"

"I... I..." Apple Bloom just stuttered out before Applejack pressed on.

"Who knows what kind of nasty curse Zecora could have just put on you?"

"Just like in my song!" Pinkie exclaimed, before shouting out a short song about Zecora being an evil enchantress that Sapphire just lowered her eyes to before starting to walk towards Ponyville as Twilight began to argue with the rest of the Elements. Sometimes I wonder if irrationality is a common trait for anypony that lives in Ponyville... I just hope I don’t end up being irrational too from living here too long... Sapphire thought to herself as she let out a groan of irritation.

After the incident with Zecora, Sapphire opted to just return to the Boutique for the rest of the day, practicing her magic before Rarity arrived. Rarity soon asked Sapphire if she was alright since she was the first to leave. She simply responded that she thought the entire matter was just a silly situation and that she didn't want to talk about that matter for the day, to which Rarity decided to oblige to her request. Hence, Sapphire was left to her own devices till the morning of the next day, where a scream of horror woke her up.

"Gah! Monster attack!" Sapphire cried out, jumping out of her bed before scrambling to get underneath it, eyeing the door in terror. It wasn't long before her fears came true when the door open to reveal a furry beast. However, instead of letting out a shriek, Sapphire covered her mouth with her hooves, hoping the monster didn't notice her.

"Sapphire! Where are you‽" the creature shrieked out, its familiar voice causing Sapphire's fear to be replaced with utter confusion.

"Rarity, is that you?" Sapphire asked as she crawled out from beneath her bed.

"Dear... why were you underneath your bed?" Rarity asked, her voice full of her own confusion.

"Well, it was the safest place I could think of in a hurry. Why are you so... hairy?" Sapphire countered.

"It's simple darling, it was Zecora! She placed a curse on us!" Rarity exclaimed, causing Sapphire to simply raised an eyebrow at her.

"Us? Did any of the others show up already?"

"...Dear, didn't you notice your horn?" Rarity tentatively asked.

This caused Sapphire to blink before replying, "Um... I just woke up... what's wrong with my horn?"

"Dear, it's covered in blue spots!" Rarity answered, to which Sapphire rushed into the bathroom with Rarity in tow, where upon looking in the mirror she saw that her horn was indeed covered in blue spots, though it was a bit tough to tell due to her natural coloration.

"What in the world?" Sapphire said, before using her magic to grab a nearby washcloth in the hopes that she could clean the spots off her horn. However, instead of lifting into the washcloth into the air, it instead caught on fire, causing both mares to shriek in shock before Rarity used her magic to toss the cloth into the sink before turning on the facet. "My magic! What happened to my magic‽ I never set anything on fire with it before!"

"I told you dear, we were cursed by that dreadful zebra! Why, I'm going to Twilight this instant, she must have the means the break the curse," Rarity replied before she started to head downstairs, only to pause when she noticed that Sapphire wasn't tagging along. "Sapphire dear, aren't you coming?"

"...I think it may be best if I stay here..." Sapphire answered, tapping the spots on her horn with her hoof as she stared at her reflection.

"But don't you want to have that curse lifted?"

"I do... but if I'm setting things on fire... I rather stay somewhere safe where I can remain calm instead of going into a library where I may freak out and set it ablaze by accident. Or accidentally set somepony's house on fire," Sapphire responded in a fearful tone.

"You have a good point dear, I'll be back as soon as possible with Twilight once we find a way to break the curse," Rarity replied before leaving the boutique, leaving Sapphire alone. She opted to stay in the bathroom where there was a ready source of water in case she used her magic by mistake. Though, she did throw out all the flammable stuff in the bathroom before shutting herself in for safety's sake.

"Sapphire dear, I said I was sorry."

"Yeah, I heard the first time."

"But why are you still giving me that look?"

"Cause I'm not going to be able to shake off the fact that I stayed in the bathroom all day long till you finally returned since I didn't want to burn your place down," Sapphire shot back before letting her muzzle sink into the water she was currently in. It wasn't till evening when Rarity returned, restored to her normal appearance. However, in light of all the events that occurred that day, she had forgotten Sapphire's own predicament, which led to her to apologizing to Sapphire for leaving her alone for so long before taking her to the spa to be cured of her own ailment. "I was a nervous wreck the entire time you were gone, so please forgive me for being a bit testy at being forgotten. Just give me some time to cool off."

"Alright dear, though it was a shame that you couldn't properly met Zecora," Rarity replied. On their way back to the spa, Rarity informed Sapphire of the day's events, including how friendly the zebra was along with the fact that the blue flowers were the source of their 'curse'. "Though, now that I think about it, you should also thankful that I prevented you from eating that horrible flower. I can't imagine what that could do to you."

Thinking about what Rarity said, Sapphire imagined that if the flower called poison joke could caused her magic to set anything it touches on fire, then eating the flower would instead set herself on fire. This caused her to shiver at the thought as she pulled her muzzle out of the water to say, "Yeah... I think it’s best to never imagine what the poison joke could do to us if one of us ate it."

"You mean if you ate it. I don't think anypony else would be willing to try anything from the Everfree on a whim like you would," Rarity countered, causing Sapphire to sink back into the tub in response since she knew that Rarity was probably right about that.

Chapter XXIII: Dresses

"Isn't this going a bit overboard?" Sapphire asked as Rarity worked on some dresses for the rest of the Elements. It had been a couple months since Twilight's little episode about her 'green sky' memory, yet so far, all the memories she recovered were about mundane things like walking with her parents. Even though overtime she gained a better handle of regaining memories. Six weeks later, she was able to recover two memory fragments instead of one per night. It was still a slow progress when there were tens of thousands of shards in her 'memory hall'. After her period of mania, Twilight weekly asked Sapphire if she recovered any unusual memories, only to be disappointed by the lack of them. Though on the water magic part, she decided to give it a break as she promised to do some research to see if there was anything special about ponies that could control the elements of nature and the sort.

The rest of winter went off without a hitch, though Sapphire did notice Sweetie Belle occasionally lying about in the Boutique, groaning about how bored she is when her parents dropped her off. Though whenever she noticed Sapphire nearby, she gave her a forced smile, which was probably due to feeling guilty for the harm she and her friends caused to Sapphire. This roll of events came to an end however at the end of winter, where Sapphire experienced her first 'Winter Wrap-Up'. Due to the tradition of not using magic, Sapphire ended up on Applejack's team where she pushed a plow to clear the snow, and witnessed Twilight messing up the entire thing.Thankfully, it all got sorted out later when Twilight took on the role of organizing the town instead.

Shortly after the arrival of Spring, the Crusaders' grounding they received came to an end. They quickly went back to their usual antics, though it stopped for a moment when the Crusaders made preparations for a talent show, to which Sapphire attended. Though after what she had seen, she wondered what possessed the Crusaders were thinking with the show they came up with. Afterwards, things went on as normal until the Elements all needed to get some dresses from Rarity for the Grand Galloping Gala.

"Pfft, this is no trouble at all, darling. Besides, this is the least I can do for five of my closest friends after all," Rarity answered.

"Still, I think doing five dresses at once would be a bit much for anypony," Sapphire commented as she watched Rarity levitate a bolt of cloth over to herself.

"It may be, but when I'm inspired like I am now, these dresses are nothing more than a simple exercise," Rarity declared in a voice full of confidence. "It's a shame though that you can't come with us dear, for you would be a lovely sight to the nobility of Canterlot. Especially in one of my dresses, which would allow them to see the beauty of your lithe figure."

Blinking a bit before blushing at the comment, Sapphire replied, "I don't think they would be that interested in a pony like me, especially given my backgrou—"

"Nonsense dear. Why, I do believe that your history may attract more ponies then repulse them. Imagine the stories of the mare whose beauty was untarnished the by the ravages of the wilds. Surely it would only serve to aid you darling," Rarity commented, pausing long enough to give Sapphire a smile, one that Sapphire returned with a skeptical look in exchange.

"I think you're stretching things a bit there Rarity," Sapphire responded, while Rarity just rolled her eyes at that. "Though, are you certain that you don't need any help with those dresses?"

"You don't need to fret about this, I have everything well in hoof dear. How about you go out for some fresh air?" Rarity said, to which Sapphire frowned, for she knew this was a sign that Rarity needed to be alone to focus on her work.

"Alright Rarity, though don't hesitate to get me if there is anything I can do to help," Sapphire replied before leaving Rarity to her work.

"They didn't like your dresses? Really?" Sapphire asked as she viewed the dresses in question with a skeptical expression. "Is something wrong with that? They looked wonderful to me."

Letting out a sigh while she was working on a new dress, Rarity answered, "It's not that there was anything wrong with them, it just wasn’t what they expected them to be."

"Huh, go figure," Sapphire commented as she looked at the new dresses that were being made, grimace coming onto her face at the current state of the dresses. "Is it just me, or do these dresses look..."

Sighing once more, Rarity replied, "I know what you mean dear, they look absolutely dreadful, but please don't tell the others about what I said. This is just what they envisioned their dresses to be, and while I dislike the thought of even making such things, all this effort is still for them."

Humming to herself, Sapphire turned her attention away from the dresses and towards Rarity, noticing how tired she looked. "Are you certain that you don't need some help? You're not looking like your usual self Rarity."

"I'm fine dear, and I wouldn't want you to work on something like... this. There's no need for you to fret about all this, I will surely figure out a solution to all this," Rarity responded, which Sapphire frowned in doubt about the whole situation.

"If you say so, but my offer still stands. Until then, I'll be in my room studying," Sapphire said as she started to leave the room, giving Rarity one last worried look before making her exit.

Even though I thought that show was a disaster, I didn't expect Rarity to take things this hard, Sapphire thought to herself as she stood outside Rarity's door as she knocked on it. Shortly after Rarity finished the second set of dresses, it turned out that the other Elements set up a fashion show where a rather important pony in the fashion industry witnessed the dresses, which led to some extreme criticism that made Rarity broke down and locked herself in her room for days. Even when the other Elements showed up to check up on her, she still refused to come out. "Rarity, I think it's time for you to come out."

"I’ll say once again dear, I'm never coming out! My life is ruined!" Rarity cried out from her room.

"Rarity, it was just one... what was that word... oh yeah! It was just one reviewer, Rarity. You can't just let that be the end of your dreams," Sapphire said.

"You don't understand what the word of one important pony like Hoity Toity can do Sapphire. I'm doomed!" Rarity exclaimed, causing Sapphire to shake her head before she tried to say something else, only to hear something behind her.

"Pssst! Over here," whispered a voice, causing Sapphire to turn her head around to see Pinkie Pie at the end of the hallway, one hoof doing a gesture to tell her to come over. As Sapphire was about to open her mouth to say something, Pinkie continued, "Sshhh... stay quiet."

Nodding in response, but still confused, Sapphire trotted over to Pinkie before following her down the stairs. There, she saw that the rest of the Elements were gathered there. Staring at the group, she asked, "What is going on here?"

Taking a step forward, Twilight answered, "We're here to fix up Rarity's own dress as an apology for the fashion show. Since you're here, we were wondering if you want to help. Though we need you to keep quiet about this either way, we want this to be a surprise as well."

After hearing their plans, Sapphire's gave them a small smile as she replied, "I would love to, but I don't know a thing about making dresses. I normally just bring over whatever materials Rarity needs whenever I help her out."

"No problem there, sugarcube. Fluttershy here will be able to take care of that part herself," Applejack declared, in which Fluttershy nodded to.

"Alright girls, let's get to work," Twilight said as she looked at everyone before they went about working on their goal of finishing Rarity's dress.

Seems like everything is finally coming around, Sapphire thought to herself after watching the extravagantly dressed, white mane and blueish grey stallion known as Hoity Toity giving praise to Rarity's work. Shortly after the work on the dress that was finished, Twilight hatched a scheme to get Rarity out of her room to witness the dress, as well as managing to get Hoity Toity to return for a private fashion show. Sapphire watched the show from the sidelines to her own amazement at how well each dress complimented their wearers. Though, it was amusing for her to see Rarity nearly snapping at the thought of producing dozens of the dresses she had made at Hoity Toity's request.

Standing up, Sapphire was about to take her leave to let the others enjoy their success, when she heard Hoity Toity called out, "Hey! You there! Where are you going?"

Turning her head around, Sapphire saw that the stallion was looking straight at her. "Umm... I was leaving since I'm no longer needed here?"

The other girls were about to protest to what Sapphire stated, only for Hoity to get the first word in when he said, "And deprive the room of a unique and beautiful mare like yourself?"

Blinking for a moment, Sapphire started to blush as she replied, "What? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that it is a shame that a pony with such a lithe figure isn't known to the world," Hoity declared as he approached the befuddled Sapphire. "I have seen mares of various figures, but none have managed to capture a figure that is fit yet natural in some sense. You appear to be thin, but no signs of being starved. Your body curves in all the right places, and you possess a beautiful and flowing mane, one that suits you greatly."

"Starved? He should see her during supper," Rainbow muttered to the others, only for Rarity to jab her in the side.

"Hush you, don't ruin this for her," Rarity chided as she watched the scene unfold before her.

"Uh... thank you for the complement?" Sapphire uttered out as Hoity started to circle her, inspecting her form.

"It is much more than a complement, dear. It would be a tragedy if a mare of your particular beauty would be denied in the world of fashion. Madam, I would like to offer you a chance at showing the world your gifts, for I know of some ponies in Manehattan that would love to be able to assist you in that venture," Hoity proclaimed as Sapphire just looked at him in confusion before glancing at the Elements, her eyes portraying her need for assistance.

"Sapphire, dear, he's offering you a job as a fashion model!" Rarity exclaimed, causing Sapphire to look at her and Hoity in surprise.

"Wait, me, a fashion model?" Sapphire asked. "But wouldn't that mean I have to leave Ponyville?"

"Nonsense my dear. Even though it would be convenient for all parties if you were to move to Manehatten, we can simply set up a simple arrangement. You may only need to visit the city once or twice a month, as well as the occasional fashion show. Your employer will guide you on what you must do to be a successful model," Hoity explained.

"But... I’ve never been in another town like Ponyville, much less a city like Manehatten, at least from what I can remember..." Sapphire replied, only for Applejack to step in.

"Don't you worry about that sugarcube. If you need anypony to help you in the city of Manehatten, why I have some relatives there that I reckon would be glad to help you out," Applejack said.

"Darling, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and could just be the career that you've been looking for all this time. Besides, it wouldn't hurt for you to give it a try, would it?" Rarity added as the other Elements offered their support.

"Well... I suppose I could give it a try, if nothing else..." Sapphire finally said, causing Hoity to smile at her before he turned around to face the door.

"Wonderful! Now follow me to the train station, for we're leaving tonight so we can begin your journey to fame!"

"Oka—tonight‽"

Chapter V: Dresses, Letters, and Tickets

Why did I have to insist on helping her so badly, I sho—ow! I should have asked what she had in mind first before offering my help, Sapphire thought to herself, as she felt the sharp point of a pin hitting her side. After all the experiments Twilight tried to get her to remember something, Sapphire learned the alphabet and started learning to put letters together for simple words, or sounding out each letter together to figure what a word is. Before she left the library, Twilight lent her some books on the basics of reading. Sadly, she didn't get around to attempting to read their covers once she arrived back at the Carousel Boutique. Rarity informed her that she could use her services in one of her orders, to which she gladly offered. Now, she was regretting her decision as Rarity set another pin into the dress she was currently wearing, this one also poking into her side.

"Sapphire dear, you need to hold still. If you move around to much, the pins will lose their alignment and I'll have to reset them again," Rarity chastised as she did another measurement.

"Sorry Rarity, but it's kinda hard to hold still with the pins poking me all the time," Sapphire replied with a roll of her eyes.

"I know it hurts dear, but it's the price we all pay for fashion," Rarity said, putting another pin in the dress to which Sapphire gritted her teeth in pain.

"Well, why do you need to put the dress on me? Don't you have those... pony-like things that you can use instead that's around your shop?" Sapphire asked as she released another grunt of pain.

"They're called mannequins dear, and I would if I could, but the customer possesses a lithe frame. Which you so happened to have, and I don't have any mannequins of that build. Besides, you should think about how fortunate that you possess such a rare build, not many ponies are lithe like you these days," Rarity responds, her eyes critically examining the dress for any flaws from behind her reading glasses.

"Oh joy, I'm thankful for my lithe build that lets me be the perfect pincushion," Sapphire replied with obvious sarcasm.

"Oh hush, many mares would love to have your build, and it's amazing that after that... 'binge' you had at the party, you don't appear to be putting on a single pound," Rarity said, trying to give Sapphire a compliment in hopes that it will make her mood better.

"Hard for me to believe, but you are the 'fashionista' after all, so I guess you're right," Sapphire replied with a huff.

"Well, how was your time with Twilight dear? Did you two make any progress?" Rarity asked, hoping to draw the conversation another direction.

"Nothing memory wise, but I did learn the alphabet as well as what my special talent is," Sapphire answered.

"Oh? Pray tell, what special talent does your lovely Cutie Mark denote?" Rarity asked.

Letting out a sigh, Sapphire replied, "From what we saw, it was just... water manipulation."

"Water manipulation? Curious for a unicorn to possess it, but I'm sure it suits you well," Rarity responded.

"Suits me well? It might suit the Cutie Mark, but what can I do with it? There's already pegasi that can move clouds around and cause them to rain whenever they need it. It’s faster water than me lugging it around in my magic," Sapphire complained, frowning at her apparent special talent.

"Dear, don't be so hard at yourself. I'm sure you'll find a way to apply your special talent to a practical use that no other pony can do," Rarity responded.

"...I hope you're right about that Rarity," Sapphire glumly said, to which Rarity answered with silence as she placed the finishing touches on the dress.

"All done now, thank you so much for your help Sapphire. You shaved off hours that it would take in making adjustments without the proper build on hoof for use," Rarity said as she used her magic to carefully remove the dress off of Sapphire.

"It's the least I can do since you open your home to me Rarity. Now if you don't mind, I would like to get some practice on my reading before the day ends. Apparently I have a lot to catch up," Sapphire said as she levitated a book up. Peeking at the title on the cover, Rarity held back a laugh as she saw that the book as a foal's beginning book, not wanting to hurt Sapphire's feelings.

"Sure thing darling, I'll let you know when dinner is ready," Rarity replied, as she packed the dress while Sapphire headed to the guest bedroom to study.

The rest of the day passed by being mostly uneventful, except for the mentioning that the next day there will be some rain around noon. It was the next morning and the duo had already eaten breakfast. Sapphire was hanging around at the kitchen table as she practiced more reading, while Rarity was at work until a knock on her front door was heard.

"Who is it?" Rarity asked as she opened the front door, revealing a gray coated, yellow maned pegasus with off centered eyes, who handed Rarity a letter before taking her leave. Looking at the letter, Rarity's eyes widened as she said, "Sapphire, a letter for you has arrived."

Jerking her head from the book, Sapphire asked, "Really? Mind opening it and reading it for me?" Rarity then walked into the kitchen, giving Sapphire a nod as she opened the letter and began to read aloud.

"'Dear Sapphire, we're sorry... to inform you that there are no... records of you in any of the city or town... nor have we been able to find anypony that bares any kind of relations to you. We however have made you new records declaring you a citizen of Ponyville, though the records are incomplete due to lack of personal information, but we will be patient and await the return of your memories. You have our condolences and we hope that you have a nice day and a bright future...'" Rarity said as she finished the letter, looking nervously at Sapphire as she put her elbows on the table, resting her head on her forehooves as she released a sigh of disappointment.

"Just my luck, of course there's no pony out there that knows who I am," Sapphire said in defeat.

"Now dear, I know this is bad news, but look at things in a different light. You're in a town with friendly ponies, and I'm glad to house you until you're ready to make it out there alone, no matter how long it takes," Rarity said in a soothing tone.

Looking at Rarity, her sorrow filled expression lightened up a bit as Sapphire replied, "You have a point, and thank you Rarity. I hope that I'm not too much of a burden. For the meantime, I think I'll return to my reading, hopefully that'll distract me from the bad news."

"Dear, your pleasant company is not a burden to me at all, so don't worry your pretty little head about it. Though, I must sadly take my leave now, I have some errands to run, so if you'll excuse me," Rarity said as she left to give Sapphire some time to recover from the disappointing news. Hours past after Sapphire returned to her reading, till she heard the sound of rain coming down against the window, causing her to wonder what is taking Rarity so long when they both knew it was going to rain. However, she heard the front door opening, to the sound of Rarity talking to someone, who turned out to be Twilight Sparkle after Sapphire heard her voice. Glad that Rarity was fine after all, she resumed her studies, until she heard Twilight's voice rise up in volume, causing Sapphire to stop her studies as she went to the main shop floor just to see the front door closing.

"What's wrong with Twilight?" Sapphire asked, looking at Rarity in concern as Rarity returned her look with an embarrassed one of her own.

"Oh, it's nothing dear, just a matter with some gala tickets that she received from the prin-" Rarity started to say till she stopped as she realized what she revealed to Sapphire. "Wait, it was about a dress, nothing more Sapphire, nothing to be curious about," Rarity said, trying to change the subject.

Tilting her head in confusion, Sapphire asked, "What's a gala ticket?" to which Rarity simply opened her mouth to say something, but instead closed it before placing a hoof on the side of her head.

"Oh silly me, of course you wouldn't kno—I mean... a gala ticket is a ticket, which allows a pony to attend an event or to go on some form of ride. This ticket will allow you to go to the Grand Galloping Gala, a royal ball where every pony of importance will be there," Rarity explained as she shook her head at her own foolishness.

"Ah... I see..." Sapphire replied, not knowing what a ball is but deciding to save that question for another day. "I hope Twilight figures out that issue soon, I don't want her to be too bothered about it."

"Twilight will be fine dear, no need to worry about her. However, I now need to excuse myself, I have more matters to attend to," Rarity said as she took her leave once more, leaving Sapphire to give a confused shrug before returning to the kitchen to study once more. Moments later, her ears perk at the window as she picked up some noises she never heard before, only to see a crowd of ponies madly running by.

"...Okay..." Sapphire simply said, completely befuddled by what she just saw.

At the brink of dusk, at a restaurant sit six ponies and a young dragon sat around a table, with Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, Spike and Pinkie sitting with a pinked mane yellow coated pegasus and a stetson wearing yellow maned orange coated earth pony as they enjoyed a nice breakfast, having an amusing discussion on how the day went.

"You really tried to have matching dresses Rarity, that's just so not awesome," Rainbow said with a laugh, before looking at her to ask, "Oh, how's Sapphire doing?"

Upon hearing that question, Rarity lost her joyful mood as a solemn one took it place as she explained, "She's doing fine, but we just got a letter pertaining to the possibility that she has somepony that knows about her."

"You don't mean..." Twilight said, leaving it unfinished as her mood as well as the rest of her friends started to take a downturn.

Giving a nod, Rarity continued, "There's not a single pony that knows her. She doesn't even have any records anywhere. She's really has no family or nopony to turn to besides the friends she’s made here in Ponyville."

"Oh my, the poor dear," the pegasus known as Fluttershy said, holding her hooves over her mouth in shock.

"How.. how could she not have any records anywhere?" Twilight asked, confused about the matter.

"Maybe she's a super secret spy, and she hid her real records to keep her identity a secret! Or she's a pony from another dimension, or maybe she's an alien in disguise, waiting for the perfect moment to abduct everypony, or—" Pinkie rattled off before the orange pony named Applejack stuffed her hoof in Pinkie's mouth.

"I don't reckon she's any of that sugarcube, but I’m mighty sure that she needs some good old Ponyville support to get her back on her hooves," Applejack said, to which the others nodded to.

"Though, I think it's more likely that the poor dear was born in captivity, where her parents was either prisoners of some ruffians or... slaves of a Diamond Dog pack, and that poor Sapphire was tragically torn from her parents at a young age, and only recently manage to escape for her much deserved freedom," Rarity said.

"Hmmm... you might be right there Rarity, that case would explain why Sapphire is uneducated, as well as explain her eating habit. She must have needed to eat as much as she can whenever she was giving the opportunity to have food, which would be limited judging by her lithe frame. Furthermore, she might have learned magic from either her parents teaching her, or remember it after she was taken away from them and forced to figure it out herself until she learned how to levitate on her own. Though I don't think anypony would keep parents and a foal in captivity... so I think it's more likely that she was born under Diamond Dog captivity..." Twilight replied with a shudder at the last words she said. Rubbing a hoof against her chin, she continued "I don't think we should mention any of this to Sapphire yet, it may bring back traumatic memories to her if it's true. But, I do think I need to write a letter to the princess about this. No matter what the truth is, it's not normal for a pony to have no records of any kind." To this, all the other ponies gave a nod, with Twilight summoning a scroll and quill for Spike to write a letter that could be of importance to the princess.

As the sun finally disappeared from the horizon, Princess Celestia had just left the day court, as she recalled the recent letter she received from her precious student with amusement, wondering why she didn't write back sooner. As she opened the door to her private quarters, she hears a familiar pop as a letter appears before her. Another letter from Twilight? she thought to herself, curious as to why she sent it so soon after her last one as her horn lit up with her magic. A golden aura engulfed the letter, opening it as she began to read what her student had to say.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I recently received news about a friend I have made a couple days ago, a unicorn mare by the name of Sapphire Rain. I believe it is important to inform you about her, for she is a pony with a most unusual situation that should come to your attention. She has recently been found in Ponyville, after suffering a head injury that has left her with the case of amnesia, leaving her with no memories beyond her own name. Upon word being spread of her identity, regrettably it resulted in the news that there is nopony in any of the cities or towns that know of her, and even more strange, there is no records of her existence anywhere as well. With this information along with the discovery that she lacks a basic education to the point she can not even read, along with her having an unusually thin frame, but yet mysteriously knows about the basic magic of levitation. My friends and I have concluded that Sapphire was either raised or born in captivity, most likely under the enslavement by Diamond Dogs, for it is the most logical cause for her current condition. While I truly hope this isn't the case, I still believe that Sapphire has indeed suffered in some way in the past to leave her in her current state. However, if this turns out to be the case, there may be more ponies like Sapphire that could be in Diamond Dog captivity nearby judging by Sapphire's mysterious appearance here. If this is true, I know you would want to know in order to take action against these horrible crimes.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Looking at the possibly grim news, Celestia pondered these recent revelations about Twilight's newest friend. Judging that this possible explanation behind this unknown pony's past could be an actual threat to her ponies, Celestia resolved herself to take action by sending some of the royal guard to investigate the locations of nearby Diamond Dog packs, in order to get more factual information. Regardless, Celestia knew that she had to meet this mysterious pony, for it is not common, nor uncommon, for a pony to just show up, not baring any records of any kind. This was more so in the town where the Elements just so happened to reside at, for if the Diamond Dog possibility turns out to be false, there is other explanations, some being of an even darker nature, that she knew could explain the appearance of this mystery pony.