A Mind Enshrouded

“We~ll, if I had ta say anythin’ ‘bout the stallion, Ah’d say he doesn’ much like the idea of anypony else discouraging ‘im from what his heart says. Stubborn and strong-willed, certainly comes ta mind when Ah think of Snowstorm.” Applejack drawls on, as I immediately latch on to her every word on the stallion whom managed to catch my heart. Granted, no more than a schoolfilly’s crush, but it was an uplifting feeling all the same and I so desperately wanted a bright thing to talk about after mentioning my parents.

It still hurts to let the memories come forth each time I mention it. But for now, I was awash in beautiful love-struck bliss. “Say, Applejack...does Rainbow Dash have any other cousins of hers she’s never mentioned to anypony?” I query, upon realization that I could actually find a proper stallion to call my own...well okay, maybe just to get married to, but it still crossed my mind.

“Honey? I think ya’ll need ta settle down a bit a’fore you get all worked up over nothin’. Ah only got to meet Snowstorm at mah own family reunion meetin’s. Ah doubt Rainbow’s got more family waitin’ in the wings...so to speak.” AJ deadpans, letting the palpable joke sit there like an overripe apple just waiting to be bucked off a tree. I would have responded right away, had it not been for a particular multi-hued mane and sky blue flash quickly landing outside and cantering in.

“Hey, AJ, what’s up, SG?” Rainbow Dash greets, both of us staring at her with minor confusion, “What? I’m not allowed to just come in and see how it all went with my cousin Snowstorm?” she asks, incredulous at our stunned reactions. I managed to recover enough of a semblance of clarity that I got to speak first.

“Yes. About that, Rainbow...” I start, blinking as I sounded a little darker than intended. A quick vocal cough to clear the throat ensued and I give the two a smirk as a sign that they had no need to worry. A reply of two light smiles brightened the room as I continued, “He was splendid and the new wings fit quite well on him. Had to fix a small snag before he got to proper flying, but otherwise all was smooth....” I let it trail off there without noticing, though Rainbow caught that immediately.

“As much as I’d like to have you as a sister-in-law, Solid, having Applejack as a potential one is a bit more work than I’d prefer. Not every day you find a pegasus who’s more interested in the ground than the sky ya’know.” Dash states, with this air of confidence just oozing about her and partly reaching out at us. I could feel AJ’s immediate reaction before it happened, though the volume with which it happened was more surprising.

“Seriously, Rainbow?! You pick now of all times ta voice your issues with bein’ part o’ tha Apple Family?!” Applejack bellows, catching not just me off-guard but Rainbow Dash as well with the way her voice just breaks the serenity permeating the room. We both stare at AJ once that was done with, giving a slightly more curious look at her for the moment....which was exactly the moment Rainbow Dash notices the one thing I’d seen earlier out of place on her.

“Uh...gee AJ, I never thought I’d see you without your trusty ol’ hat. What happened? Does it have anything to do with how jumpy you are right now?” she asks, giving me a moment to marvel at the fact that she was indeed more worried about whatever had happened to her hat than she was about Rainbow’s concerns regarding the Apple Family.

“Ah’m mighty sorry ya’ll had ta witness that...Ah shouldn’t’ve exploded at ya’ll. S’not your fault I’ve to leave it at home for a few days...” she mutters out the apology, as I immediately catch on that said hat is more of a keepsake from days long ago that were probably related to family.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, AJ. I’m totally cool with it.” Rainbow replies, sliding down a pair of sunglasses she totally had with her before. Okay, so maybe I had no idea where she got ‘em, but I just learned to deal with it as Rainbow never explains where they come from either. Or how they fit, since I’d studied pony anatomy well enough to say that those sunglasses shouldn’t...oh whatever, this is more than enough rambling in my head about sunglasses.

“He he...Ah suppose yer right about it, Rainbow. Just that today came as a bit strong of a shock. Ah’ve never had ta leave the farm while mah hat’s bein’ treated for the rougher weather. Still takes time for the waterproofin’ ta work, ya’know. But at least it ensures a dry mane for me.” Applejack states, thus stopping all of my speculations that Applebloom had ruined it, or that Big Macintosh had accidentally stomped on it.

“So...Rainbow...you never did answer my query about other cousins you have...” I state, noticing that the sudden shift in topic was not wholly welcome. Rainbow flinched a bit, though it was hidden partly by those sunglasses of coolness.

“So what if I didn’t? Shouldn’t you be focusing on getting a way home instead of staying here in Equestria?” She shoots back at me, as I stare at her blankly for a bit.

“Rainbow...don’ talk about that. She doesn’t remember anythin’ yet.” Applejack quickly whispers a bit loudly to Rainbow Dash. I catch on that this is some sort of ‘thing’ that was discussed about me. Not quite what I wanted to think about, especially after the fact that I feel such a strong bond with everypony that lives here. It just tore my heart in twain to think that I wasn’t supposed to belong, so I did the only thing anypony with any sort of normal emotional sense does.

Cry. More specifically, I started to pout and it slowly turned into a light bawling as I let my head thump onto the tabletop. This prompted AJ to move around and gently assuage me with a hug, giving Rainbow Dash an annoyed glare. Rainbow, being in the predicament she was in, got flustered and decided to just hang back and do nothing.

“Why do you two know everything about me?” I whine, obviously fed up with the fact everypony...well okay, not everypony since it was just the six whom I’ve first met in Ponyville, but still it was definitely plenty of ponies who felt this way so it felt like everypony. I totally was fed up with the fact they knew all about me without me ever remembering any of this. It was like I’d popped into their world without my memories of who I am and was expected to retrieve them sooner or later.

This immediately got to my attention again...that the dreams I was having were maybe some form of memory I’d had a while ago. Maybe even years ago, who knows? But at least I knew one pony who always keeps a record of what happened, Twilight Sparkle. That Librarian of a pony never let new knowledge escape her mind, especially important stuff that happened. Well, once I’d gotten the crying out of my system, which was relatively short, I decided to look at Rainbow Dash for a further prompt.

“What are you lookin’ at me for? I’m not going to tell you what’s going on!” Rainbow replies, still flustered and less willing to entertain helping me out. I pout, giving another threat to cry, just to see if it would provoke her into talking. It doesn’t, as she looks at Applejack.

“Well...okay, sugarcube. Since ya’ll really want to know...Ah might as well tell ya.” She states, looking to me square in the face. That comforting voice and emerald-green set of eyes were all I needed to suddenly feel safe and secure, especially since her forehooves were wrapped around my shoulders in a hug. I nod, letting AJ and RD know I was willing to listen.

“Now, what all happened was that you’d fallen outta the sky, sans that metal leg of yours and were followed by Discord’s sister, Eris. Now, nopony thought that Discord was gonna appear once again, what with bein’ turned inna statue an’ all. But he did...or rather, she, since according to her explanation, she was just another side of him or somethin’ like that.” Applejack starts off.

“She gets this idea to go meet Celestia, to have a tea party with her and for some reason decides to start using ponies to get her way...even turning a few ponies into objects like teacups and such! It was totally not, twenty percent cooler seeing that happen. Especially when she turned it on us to try and get her way. Luckily for AJ and I, we got out of the way of the first few blasts. Nothing happened to us so we fought back and managed to get Eris to go into hiding around Ponyville. Rarity and Fluttershy weren’t so lucky though...” Rainbow continued, the two now going into trading off the retelling of this story.

“Once we got ta see ‘em, they were all hogtied inta bein’ a set of fancy dishes. Right expensive-lookin’ too for Rarity’s sake. So we all gave chase, in an effort to capture the bothersome creature once an’ for all. And to get our friends ta normal.”

“So we took off to find Twilight and get her to help. Good thing we did, since that’s where Eris had fled to! She was cornering Twilight just as we entered, so I flew over and gave her a few good bucks to convince her to flee. Nothing landed, really, I was just trying to show off...but she was convinced that we were tough nuts to crack. So I naturally got to being proud of protecting a friend, being all loyal and stuff.”

“As Ah started ta explain ta Twilight what happened ta Rarity and Fluttershy. Once that was mentioned, Twilight galloped with us back to where they were and managed to undo the transformation that had fallen on our friends. Ah thought it right funny how Rarity was fuming at being turned into fancy stuff without her gettin’ to see how it looked. She was so focused on it looking good that she forgot that she’d been unable to do anythin’.”

“Now is where you wind up coming in, Solid. It wasn’t exactly coincidence that you appeared, as Twilight put it, since you came in at the same time as Eris did. So Twilight’s idea was to track Eris using the residual magic emanating off of you. Turns out it worked so well that we’d gotten to plan out how to re-stone her without much of a hassle. During all that time though, you kept going on about how this wasn’t your home and how you had to return to some place called ‘Earth’.”

“It was mighty disturbin’ too, since ya’ll knew our names as well. Like, eerily well, ya’know? Especially once you’d managed to say Pinkie’s full name...” Applejack went quiet at this, as I stare at her blankly.

“I...what now? What is Pinkie Pie’s full name?” I ask, my mind racing to catch up with the story as I try to puzzle together what possessed me to let out such a huge rush of secrets. I’m willing to bet that they’d found out how I got my metal leg too, but then again something felt off with how they mentioned it. That I didn’t have my prosthetic limb as it was. Does that mean it was some other kind of limb? Too much to ask and not enough alone time! I give a slight whine as I lean my head on the tabletop again, this time frustrated at how much this wasn’t helping. Applejack and Rainbow Dash caught this bit of frustration as I’d let it be pretty darned obvious, Rainbow deciding on one final course of action.

“Okay, that settles it, AJ. We all have to get a meeting of the Elements of Harmony up again, to tell Solid Gear what really went down. No more of this being nice to keep her safe from harm again, she needs to remember it all! Every last bit!” Rainbow declares boldly, her loyalty to friends winning out in the end. Applejack sighs, shaking her head tiredly.

“Ah hate ta haveta admit it...but she’s right, Solid. Maybe Ah shoulda just tried to convince Twilight ta talk to ya earlier than this, just ta get it out of the way. Maybe then ya’d think of us a bit better than ya do now...” she states, as I caught that famililar sense of sadness in a long-trusting friend upon realizing an awful truth. I move closer to AJ and return the hug, before breaking off and quickly moving over to catch Rainbow in one as well. She didn’t resist, but the moment AJ came by to make it a group hug...she’d had enough and was trying to get out of our grasp. Luckily for AJ and I, that was easily quelled by the sheer fact we’d flanked her to prevent flight being any easier for her.

“Hey! Since when do friends kidnap each other for sentimental things?” Rainbow complains, giving a half-pout at the situation she’s gotten stuck in. AJ and I share a laugh, before letting go of the multi-hued pegasus to let her hover overhead. Rainbow keeps just out of our reach, giving a light snicker of amusement before heading out the doorway. I take a look back at the rest of the workroom, a light sigh coming from me as I realize I won’t be seeing the place for close to a day. AJ looks back at the room with me, putting a reassuring hoof on my shoulder.

“It’ll be a long time, sugarcube. Ya’ll still sure ya want ta know all about what happened?” Applejack asks, giving me one last chance to back away and forget this all went on.

“...No, I’m not sure at all, Applejack. But I can’t let my memory break down into unbridled insanity while I keep having these creepy dreams. I may talk to Rarity about ‘em for reassurance that its all okay, maybe even just ignore the impact on my sleeping pattern they have...but I can’t let it consume me any more. I have to face up to whatever I was before this, whether its with friends or not.” I state, resolutely coming to my senses that this was important and just couldn’t be ignored. It was my past, after all...I wasn’t going to shy away just from something that it seems everypony else knew about.

“If’n yer sure, sugarcube...” Applejack drawls out, before turning to canter off towards the Treebrary, Twilight’s home and place of consistent study. I follow after her, noticing that Rainbow Dash had dashed off somewhere...probably to get all the others gathered for this. Soon as AJ and I arrive at the door to Twilight’s Treebrary, I got plenty of time to look around at Ponyville. It was late in the day, close to evening and I could bet that Princess Celestia would have excused herself to go lower the sun. Not quite all that surprising to think of, but as soon as I’d felt the thought pass through my mind, I’d started analyzing it. Where did I get this thought? Why’d it simply just appear in my head? What was going on that I’d need to know so much about?