Dark Sparks

That mare...I knew her from somewhere...but where? Why didn't I say anything?

My memory. Now it's short term.

I could hear her crying from the hallway. I must mean alot to her...or she must mean alot to me. That book. That blue diary I recalled, maybe I wrote about Rainbow in that! Could she be one of the ponys I can't remember?

"Skyline, could you ask...Rainbow to come in? I...need to ask something."

"I will get her now."

RainbowDash walks in, wiping the tears from her eyes and face.

"You used to know me?" I ask

"Y-yeah?"

"Who are the girls you talked about?"

There was a pause.

"...There's me...Twilight...Applejack...Pinkie Pie...Rarity...Fluttershy...and Spike...the dragon..."

Applejack! That was her name! It seems so obvious!

"Applejack! I remember her! She...she took me into that barn...and..."

My memory yet again refusing to return.

"I...I could tell you...about them, if you want?" Rainbow offers.

"Please..." I beg.

"Well...I was the pony who found you in The Everfree Forest, Applejack took care of you, and Twilight...she let you stay at her library..."

It was slowly coming back to me.

"Pinkie Pie was really hyper...and she was always happy...besides when the accidents happened..."

Accidents? Oh Celestia, I didn't hurt anypony, did I?

"Rarity...she loves dresses, and makes some of the best in all of Equestria..."

I start to cry. All of my past friends were no longer in my memory. I feel so guilty about that.

Rainbow continues, desperate to find my memory.

"...Fluttershy...she is the kindest Pegasi you could ever meet...she loves animals...and Spike...the young dragon...he's loyal to Twilight, and...and remember his 'problem'?"

My voice broke.

"...N-no..."

Yet again, I lose my cool, and start to panic, fearing the worst. Rainbow is lost for words.

"May I suggest something?" Skyline says.

We look at him.

"Your diary. You have to find it. It could be the only way to restore your memory."

"But where could it be?"

Everypony went silent. I theorise another way of recalling the past. I'm going back to my old house. I tell this to Rainbow and Skyline, and Rainbow wants to go with me.

We exit the hospital.

"I don't know how you could forget so much, Sparks. I know four years is a long time and all, but anypony could, and should remember something! Is something wrong with you? Not in that way...but..."

"I think...I'm not even sure. My memory is just...leaving me..."

My heart rate gets faster once again, and I began to shake. Sweat runs down the side of my face.

"Oh please, PLEASE help me remember you! I don't...I...please...I want to live a normal life! With...with friends...not with ghosts! I...I...please..."

Breathing becomes difficult. Rainbow puts her arm around me.

"Ember...I want you to remember me as much as you do! I'm not going to stop looking if you don't! And even then!"

Her words were enough to calm me. I still shuddered in my horseshoes, though.

"So we are looking for an old house? There's loads!" Rainbow remarks.

"I know, but this one has been burnt partially. And I will...remember...oh no. Not the house. I...can't remember..."

We searched for the house, taking us all over the town. Rainbow seemed disturbed over what was left of the place I grew up in.

I started to question if the house even exists anymore. Had what was left it been taken down? Oh, I hope not.

Eventually, Rainbow points over to the charred remains of a burnt down house.

"Is it that one?"

"Lets see."

We proceed into the house. A dark, hazy smog was present, even after all the years. The smell of burned wood filled the air, not that there was much of it.

"My Celestia..." Rainbow quietly says.

Everything was how you would expect, and nothing looked tampered with, besides a perfectly preserved open book and bag, and a photograph with soot partly covering the image. It looked like somepony had wiped some of the soot off it. Had somepony been here before? While Dash went about seeing the damage, I pick up the photograph. It had little drops of water on it's glass cover, like rain had landed on it. I check the ceiling. Was there a leak? Preposterous. If that was the case, the whole roof would most likely have collapsed by now. It HAS been four years. Some of my common sense was leaving me, as well as my memory.

My attention returned the photo. It was...a family portrait. My family portrait. We were in the right place. I was home. The picture shows my parents, standing proud and happy, with my young at the time brother, and me, as a baby. I'm keeping this. But I can't explain why it's wet.

I forget about the bag, which I almost trip over. I proceed to check it's contents. There was two clear pills in a woven pouch, a three-quarter empty bottle of water and a belt.

It just struck me, just like that. It was me. I had been here. This is my stuff, how could I have not realised? I don't remember. That explains the droplets of water on the photo, though. I had cried over it. My mind is breaking faster than I think.

Then, the book was under my inspection. It was my diary. The page it was on said things about a talent show, and I was there. I turn the page, to see a poem. I'm sure RainbowDash mentioned something about a poem. Was this what she was talking about?

"Dash?"

"What is it? Did you find something?"

"I think..."

I start to read the poem. As the lines pass through my feeble recollection, I start to recall my younger days. Shadows, my brother, walking with me to the park. He would let me get on his back, and we would carefully fly through the town. Shadows, in my young eyes, was the best flier in the world. It was so fun! I had amazing times with him. When I had bad days at school, he would always cheer me up with jokes, by telling me stories, or any other way he could. I looked up to him as more than just a 'big brother'. His dream was to be a royal guard when he grows up. And his dream came true. So this meant he had to leave us, which upset me, but he swore that when he is gone, he is protecting one Princess, and as soon as he gets back, he would protect another...me.

His funeral. I just remembered that, too. The whole town attended it. And so did the two Princesses he swore to protect. My mum and dad were completely devastated that day, and never were the same. The Princess saw our dismay, so she talked to us. I can't recall what. And then she said something personally to me, which is also lost in time. I hope these memories don't leave me.

The last verse of the poem was uttered. I sat down on the dusty floor with a *poof* of black soot. Rainbow was in pieces at my poem. Was this what her first reaction was like? Or was it now more saddening with my deteriorating memory?

"...that was...beautiful..." Says Rainbow dash.

After putting anything else of value in the bag, we made our way out of the broken house. Just by the door, I tread on another photograph, shattering it. I remove it's broken case, so just the image was left. It was a photo of me, at the hospital. I was lying in a bed, sleeping. Probably after one of my numerous operations. My brother could be seen on the other side of the bed, crying over what he probably thought was his dead sister.

More memories try to fill in the gaps of my mind, too many at once. I couldn't handle it.

My head becomes heavy. Vision is blurred, and so is sound. Rainbow was just an array of bright colours, twisting and distorting in front of me. I lose strength, stumble forward, and knock her over. As I hit the ground, all goes black.