Ryan

    Months had passed since Ryan’s visit. He had disappeared in the night. It came as a surprise to Twilight and Spike, waking up and their guest being gone. While it could have been considered nice to be rid of the complicated mysteries Ryan’s arrival had brought, Twilight and Pinkie viewed it mostly as a wasted opportunity.  Twilight, because of Ryan’s potential for new knowledge and information, and Pinkie, because of Ryan’s friendship potential.

    Upon further research, Twilight discovered that the rants Ryan had given, both the one Pinkie had told her of, and the other were actually quoted from a formerly renown pony from the past. This lead her to conclude that Ryan was not always empty headed, and that he must have had interests before he came to the state he was in.

    Of course the curiosity faded with time, and soon Twilight, Spike, and Pinkie had forgotten about the mysterious stallion.

That is until twelve weeks had passed. For the second time Twilight opened her tree house door to the grey earth pony, who was lacking a cutie mark. He stood there with his half smile, and directionless eyes. A gasp escaped Twilight, but Ryan stood the same.

“Hi.” That same word.

Twilight regained herself from shock. “Um, hello, Ryan. . . What are you doing here?” This was all very overwhelming.

    “I came back.” His voice hadn’t changed since their last visit, still the same emotionless level.

“Why did you come back, though?” Twilight was 89% sure he wouldn’t respond to a question that actually required a motive of some sort, because a motive required thought.

“Oh. . . Um. . .” Was he actually thinking? “I. . don’t know.”

Of course he didn’t. Twilight lead him into the house. Spike was just waking up and coming down the stairs. “Woah, that’s a blast from the past.”

    Ignoring Spike’s comment, Twilight tried to think of another way to gain information that she hadn’t used three months ago. The visit of Ryan provoked her to learn more about different kinds of therapy and psychology, along with the ways that pony minds work. The thing that intrigued her most in her studies was hypnosis. She’d tried it a few times on Spike. “Ryan came back. I’m going to try doing some hypnotherapy on him. You should go tell Pinkie, but tell her not to come. Hypnotherapy requires silence.”

With an okay, Spike ran out the door toward Sugar Cube Corner.

“Why don’t you lie down on my couch, Ryan?” Twilight said. Most ponies did not know what hypnosis really was. They figured it was a completely foreign and strange state of mind, but in actuality it’s more of a state of sleep. Hypnotherapy is usually used to provoke honest answers. Ponies are unable to reason whether or not somepony is trustable while they are in hypnosis.

Ryan complied without second (or first) thought. His body spread across the couch in an ordinary fashion and he lay with his same default face. At that point Twilight began to wonder whether or not he would be able to relax enough to put his mind into hypnosis. She could in no way consider herself above proficient at hypnosis either.

After grueling hours of coaxing Ryan into hypnosis, Twilight finally managed to morph his mind. He lay on the couch with his eyes closed, in a dream-like state. Twilight had never experienced hypnosis, but imagined it to be similar to lucid dreaming, at least a bit.

Perhaps now Twilight could get some straight answers out of this nut job. She sat in her chair and pulled out a notepad. All of her questions were listed and gave enough space to write in notes and his responses.

    “Where are you from, Ryan?” A simple question to start, something that should have been easily manageable. A thought tingled in Twilight’s mind. She considered that maybe a faraway land was inhabited ponies just like Ryan. Ones that are probably exactly the same as he. That was foalish thought though.

    In a bit of a slurred voice, as if half asleep, Ryan said, “I do not know.”

Nothing more after that. Twilight had known it was possible that he would say that to each question, because it was most likely true, that Ryan had no recollection. His mind did seem to be pudding after all.

    “Do you know who I am?” Twilight asked.

“I remember you, from the past. I remember this place as well. I’ve been here. It was twelve weeks ago.” Twilight’s eyes widened, wrinkling her brow. She was surprised that he had known that, given his other response. He seemed to have a decent memory, but only that of the recent.

Wanting to know how far back his memory went, Twilight became more determined,  asking, “What is the oldest memory that you have? The first thing you remember happening.”

He stirred a bit on the couch and actually gave an expression. Perhaps it was concentration, or irritation. Either way it intrigued Twilight. Finally, though, he came to the response: “Standing on a road, and meeting a pink mare. A hot one, too.”

So the first thing he remembers is bumping into Pinkie Pie. Something important must have happened before that. Something that wiped his mind near completely. Also, from this statement, Twilight found that he actually does have emotions, and opinions, having made the conclusion that Pinkie Pie is ‘hot’. As vulgar as it is, this gave Twilight a large amount of important information on Ryan.

“Where have you been for the past twelve weeks, Ryan?” This was probably the question she was most interested in, though it was more likely to give her useless information than the others.

    “I’ve been . . . everywhere.” And with that Pinkie Pie burst through the door, Spike trailing behind her. A frustrated sigh escaped Twilight and Spike received an agitated look. She threw her notepad down and stood.

    “I’m sorry, Twilight! I tried to stop her, but she was so excited and happy! . . . And she had cake.” Twilight didn’t have enough time to scold Spike about his lack of self control before Pinkie was at the top of her voice.

    “Ryan! Oh, gosh, I’m so happy to see you! Where have you been!?” Ryan woke from his hypnosis and his casual half-smile and empty eyes returned. Pinkie’s arms wrapped around him in a tight squeeze that made him send out a small puff of air.

“Hi.”

Before Pinkie could have the chance to respond, Twilight started, “Pinkie Pie! I was performing a delicate procedure, that Spike,” She said his name with more emphasis, “was supposed to tell you about. It took me hours to get him into hypnosis!”

Pinkie’s wide smile diffused into an ashamed frown. She replicated a puppy who was being scolded. “Gee, I’m sorry, Twilight. I was just so excited to hear that Ryan was back! I didn’t want to wait to see him any longer!”

Twilight was frustrated, but Pinkie was just too adorable to be angry at. Spike, on the other hand, would be hearing about it for awhile. “I suppose it’s fine, Pinkie. I did get a good amount of info out of him before you busted in. He told me he doesn’t remember anything up to the point where you two met,” She left out his opinion on Pinkie’s appearance. “He also told me that while he was gone, he’d been ‘everywhere’, whatever that means.”

The ‘everywhere’ part confused Twilight. How could have have been everywhere, in such little time? This pony didn’t have reason to go toward anything. Or did he? More questions that could have been answered if not for the interruption. Somepony had to know about this. There must be something that Twilight’s missing. Maybe this occurrence has happened before. Perhaps it was some rare disease that wiped your mind, personality and all.

Well, if anypony knew what was happening it was going to be the Princess. She’s been alive long enough to have seen this happen before, if it’s happened before. Even if she hasn’t  she still needs to know, so that they can continue their course of action.

“Pinkie Pie, we need to go to Canterlot. Will you come with us?” As if Twilight had to ask.

    “To Canterlot!?,” Her smile returning. “Of course I’ll come, Twilight!”