My lungs fill with freezing air as life returns to my body. Blood flows through limbs that haven’t moved for a long while. My legs give way as my strength just starts to return to me. The weak light in my surrounding blinds me when I try to open my eyes. At first my mind is motionless, but it quickly fills with fear and confusion as I realized I can’t remember anything. Who am I? Where am I? How did I get here and what am I doing here? All are questions I cannot answer.
My eyes soon adjust to the light. My surroundings are strange and unfamiliar, but one thing I can make out is that I am in a large cave. The cave seems to be half-filled with snow and the walls and ceiling are frozen over. If I were not so confused and afraid I might have found it quite beautiful. There is also a large group of other ponies. Some seem to have just woken up as I have and others seem to just be thawing out of their icy prisons. All of them seemed to be wearing armor of different hues of darker and lighter purple, but there seem to be several distinct groups in differing armor. Some had bulky plate armor, some had leather and chain mail, and more had variations of both while still others had very ornate armor. There seem to be supplies haphazardly thrown about. Mostly food, some weapons, and crates I can’t identify. I try to stand, but I am in heavy plate armor and it is just too much for my weakened legs. After some work I managed to get it off and instantly regretted it. The cold chilled me to the bones so I quickly got back into armor which must have been enchanted for warmth. Time seemed to stand still as I tried in vain to stand up, at the same time desperately trying to remember anything.
When suddenly I did. One voice and one sentence. “May Equestria never again suffer at your hooves.” The voice was female and she spoke with great intensity.
What did it mean, was this an old or new memory? Who was saying it and was it being said to me or to some other pony? Only more questions and no answers. With strength returning to my hooves I was finally able to stand. Stretching, I soon made a discovery: I not only had hooves, but wings as well. Strange that during all the confusion I had not noticed. They were far too weak to fly with
but they were there none the less.
Regaining my focus, I started to walk towards closest pony with ornate armor. Those were probably the ponies in
charge and hopefully they had not lost their memories as I had. My muscles
ached and begged me not to move, but I persevered. It may have been the
equivalent of running a marathon, but I made it to the other pony. “Hello sir,
I seem to have lost my memory and was hoping that you could help answer some of my questions.” I said trying to salute but failing.
“I’m am very sorry, but it seems we are having the same problem. I can’t remember anything either.”
“Then we should go around and see if any Pony does.”
“Yes, sir,” he said as he started to walk away.
This brings this situation to a whole new level. If we both can’t remember anything then it is likely that nopony can remember either. Soon the cave starts filling with noise as ponies start to regain their strength. At first it is just idle chatter. Who are you? Who am I? Where are we? These questions are asked a million different times in a million different ways, but nopony seems to have an answer.
While this is happening I walk about the cave trying to get an understanding of our situation. Most of the food is inedible due to it’s time in the snow. The armor and weapons on the other hoof seems to have done better than I had originally thought. Many of the crates I could not identify earlier turned out to be just more rotten food and weapons, but some I could not open no matter how hard I tried.
The noise in the room started to grow louder as fear and confusion started to take hold. Ponies started to yell at each other, blaming one another for their situation.
“He knows what's going on but is hiding it.”
“This one must be a spy of some sort.”
“Why are you making the others suffer when you know something!”
These phrases and more we're being yelled across the cave. Soon the sounds of weapons being picked up off the ground could be heard. At that moment I knew tensions were going to explode and quickly grabbed a nearby sword off the snowy ground. When the sword was in my hooves I had a strange sensation. It was like I had held a sword many times in the past and my muscle memory was kicking in.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to ponder this any further because the sound of steel hitting steel rang out and echoed throughout the cave. As if that was a signal the cave was filled with movement. I was attacked from every angle. Luckily I seemed to have not lost my muscle memory since I was able to deflect all the incoming attacks.
In the beginning, it was easy, it was like I was dancing a well-practiced routine, but that changed when my aching muscles finally had enough. The time between when I noticed an attack and when I countered was growing longer. Soon I had slipped up and my attackers were able to get a few hits on me. Fortunately, there strikes harmlessly bounced off my armor. Despite my stiff limbs I thought I was doing well. Nopony was able to land a significant hit on me. This thinking was soon shattered when a I took a hit to an exposed section of my forehoof. The pain felt like an icy burn and I involuntarily dropped my sword. I tried in vain to reach for it, but somepony took advantage of this and knocked me over onto the snowy floor.
From there I was brutally beaten. My armor protected me some, but my attackers soon started to concentrate their attack on the less protected parts of my body. I could feel consciousness slipping away. No, it can’t end like this. I can’t die lost and confused in some nameless cave.
Despite my best efforts I was unable to fend off my attackers and slipped into unconsciousness.
