Twilight remained in the room for hours with the mysterious creature. Or at the very least it felt like hours to Starlight Glimmer, who had been pacing back and forth in front of the door for...well, she didn't know how long it had actually been. But it FELT like it had been hours. And who could blame her? She had no idea what was going on in the room between her friend and the still unidentified creature. She tried to listen in on the conversation through the door, and she could hear Twilight muttering something, but it was far to quiet for her to make out anything specific. She tried to open the door, but it was being held shut by magic.

In the mean time, Spike and Fluttershy had been sitting against the wall adjacent to the door. What had seemed like several hours to Starlight, in reality it had only been about ten, fifteen minuets tops. Spike even had enough time to go to the kitchen and make some sandwiches for himself and his two other friends. Starlight, of course, hadn't noticed the kind gesture and continued to pace.

"You sure you don't wanna eat?" Spike asks after gulping down the last bit of his quick meal. "It's been kind of a rough day. You should eat something."

"Yes, you can't think straight on an empty stomach," Fluttershy adds, only about halfway done with her food. "It isn't healthy to starve yourself."

"Not hungry..." Starlight mutters, still pacing in front of the door like an over zealous guard dog. The unicorn's resolve however is undone by the sound of an angry beast growling. In actuality it was her stomach. "Well, maybe some food wouldn't hurt," she says with a chuckle, levitating the third sandwich closer to her. However, just as she was about to take a bite, the sound of the door being unlocked breaks the silence. She quickly moves away from the door, her eyes locked squarely upon it.

The door slowly swings open, revealing the rather happy looking Alicorn Princess as she trots out of the chamber. Behind her, the human standing with his hands behind his back, an embarrassed look strewn upon his face. The sight of the creature giving a small jump to the unicorn and pegasus who had been waiting. Spike merely sat there, having already seen it before and knew what to expect.

The human slowly steps out of the room, still a bit nervous but not nearly as scared looking. "Umm...hello," he says timidly, showing one hand and waving it gently, perhaps a form of greeting for their kind. His gaze turns to the small dragon sitting on the farthest wall. "...S-sorry for screaming at you..."

By this point, nopony has said anything else. Fluttershy, Starlight and Spike simply staring at the creature, trying to process what had just happened. "Did it just speak to us?" That was the thought the three were unknowingly sharing.

"Uhh...Twilight?" The human simply stares back at them, its nervous facade growing as its eyes glance over to the smiling Alicorn. "...They're just staring at me..."

Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the reactions her friends had towards the human's ability to speak. True, her reaction was virtually identical, but it was fun to see it from an outside perspective. "Everypony, this is...umm, a human," Twilight starts, still unsure exactly what to call him considering he couldn't give her a name, "Human, these are some of my friends: Spike, Fluttershy, and Starlight Glimmer."

"...Human? That's a weird name," Spike comments, standing up and approaching the figure. He could see that the figure was taller then Twilight, as the Alicorn had predicted before. If Spike had to guess, he'd compare the human's height to that of one of the older two Alicorns. Possibly Luna moreso then Celestia.

"That's...not my name..." The human responds, scratching the back of his head. "...I...don't know what my name is?"

"He's suffering from retrograde amnesia," Twilight interjects, walking towards Starlight and Fluttershy. "The last thing he remembers is running through the Everfree Forest, and then waking up here. He has no memories outside of that."

"Yeah, what she said," the human adds, nodding his head while pointing at the Alicorn. "Though she left out the part about those...tree dogs?"

"Timberwolves,"

"Yeah, those things." The mere thought of those vile beasts sent an uncomfortable chill down the human's spine. "Vicious little pricks...I don't know how they didn't finish me off..."

With many questions forming in the minds of the young dragon, the pegasus, and the unicorn, it was hard for any of them to pick a point for them to start. Fortunately none of them would have to choose, as the sound of glass shattering behind them fills the immediate area. The sound causing the three ponies, and baby dragon, to jump a bit and turn to the source of the sound. The human, on the other hand, has decided to make like a banana and split. While he wasn't flat out terrified anymore, it seemed that he was still quite jumpy.

"Twilight! What's going on?!" A slightly raspy sounding voice calls out from the room where the human once slept. The voice was rather familiar to all present but the human, the four looking into the room to see a battle ready Rainbow Dash had busted through the window. "Ponies in town keep talking about some weird screaming they said came from this room! I tried the front door, but somepony locked it!"

"My window!" Twilight shouts, looking at the small pile of broken glass underneath her friend's hooves.

Starlight, on the other hoof, began slowly backing away with an embarrassed blush on her face. She was the one who locked the door after all, so it was kind of her fault the window got broken.

"Worry about the window later, Twi!" Rainbow shouts, confidently trotting past her friends. "The townsponies won't stop talking about something screaming in here, so I got the others and came over as fast as I could to see what--"

The technicolor pegasus' attention is drawn towards the running...something making its way through the castle. She leaps a foot or two back, flaring out her wings in a show of force as she readies to charge the unidentified being.

"The hay is THAT thing?!" She shouts, not bothering to wait for an answer as she charges toward the fleeing creature.

"Rainbow NO!" Twilight, Starlight and Fluttershy all shout in unison. The two magic user's horns lighting up in almost perfect sync. If one were to watch this event in slow motion, they would be able to see Twilight's magical aura envelop the rainbow colored pegasus in an attempt to stop her forward momentum, while Starlight's mythical grasp reached out for the tray that the three sandwiches Spike brought up had been on. Said tray beginning to rapidly move towards Rainbow, as Twilight's magical aura slowed her down.

After managing to stop Rainbow Dash from assaulting the still injured human, perhaps with a bit of excessive force on Starlight's part, the multicolored pegasus was given a chance to explain that Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were also waiting outside. The only reason they hadn't come in yet was because of the locked door, obviously. So Spike had gone and let them in, and they were all told to meet up in the map room. And so Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were left waiting in said map room with Starlight and Fluttershy trying to explain the whole situation, as Spike consulted the town. Twilight in the meantime trying to calm the human back down. The new arrivals had been filled in on the basics, but the major specifics were left out.

"Did you really have to hit me so hard?" Rainbow asks, using a hoof to hold an ice-pack rather tightly to the side of her head. "I think you gave me a concussion!"

"I said I was sorry," Starlight repeated for the umpteenth time. "But I couldn't just have you hurting the human. He was already pretty banged up."

"You still haven't told us what this 'hyuman' thing is exactly," Applejack interrupts, "What even IS it anyway?"

"I didn't get a good look at it, but it looked like WEIRD," the technicolor pegasus blurts back, "And I'm pretty sure it was the thing screaming bloody murder!"

"Well, based on what we've been told, the creature doesn't seem dangerous," Rarity adds with a slight flick of her mane. "It just sounds like it has had a...rough day. I'm sure it must be--"

"Oh I'm gonna laugh so hard when you actually SEE that thing," Rainbow interrupts again with a chuckle, "Trust me, it's a--"

"He. The human is a he," Fluttershy says, looking at Rainbow with a firm but still relativity polite expression. "Please don't call him an 'it.'"

"Says the pony who won't even call 'him' by 'his' name!" Rainbow shouts back, still a bit irritable from the sudden headache she was inflicted with.

As this conversation between five goes on in this matter, the pink earth pony known to all as Pinkie Pie was a million miles away. Lost in a trance like thought pattern going a mile a minuet in a consistent flow of questions that she instantly had the answers to, even if they were wrong (though that particular tidbit didn't bother her one bit). Such thoughts would be far to chaotic and far to erratic to describe in mere written words. The only things comprehensible by mere mortals was that she seemed to be planning some sort of welcome party. Given the circumstances, it was likely for the human creature that everypony was talking about, as that was one of the few recognizable words that could be spotted among the raging rapids that was currently Pinkie's stream of consciousness. If the Lord of Chaos, Discord, had been here; he would have shed a tear at the pure unbridled madness that was flowing through the pink earth pony as it almost rivaled his own back in his heyday. The only sign that she was still part of the land of the living was her quietly humming a jaunty tune to herself.

The half-argument between five of the six Ponies is put to a halt as the young purple dragon enters the room with a sigh, making his way over to the tiny him-sized throne situated next to the one bearing Twilight's Cutie Mark. "Well, the Townsfolk are calmed down. Told 'em it was just a simple misunderstanding and nothing to worry about," he explains with a tired sigh, sinking into his chair.

"Okay, but what that hyuman thing?" Applejack asks, looking to the dragon. "Ah'd like some more questions answered."

"Twilight's trying to calm him down. Rainbow spooked him pretty bad," Spike explains, rubbing the sides of his head with his claws. "He's been jumpy like this since he woke up."

"Heh, a little broken glass was enough to spook the thing? What a weenie!"

Before anypony had a chance to further comment on that, the Princess of Friendship makes her entrance with the human following a few paces behind her. It seems at some point he had retrieved the shirt and jacket that had been removed from him earlier, even if they weren't covering much of his upper body as he'd like.

"Sorry about that, Twilight," the human mutters shamefully as he follows the Alicorn into the room. "I'm not...or I hope I'm not usually this--"

The second the creature set foot in the room, the marshmallow colored unicorn let out a shriek that wouldn't be out of place in a cheesy horror movie. Thankfully not loud enough to be heard from outside, but still enough to gather the attention from everypony in the room.

"What did I do?!" the human shouts back, looking around frantically to see if he had done something wrong.

"I knew she'd scream," Rainbow muttered to herself with a chuckle, taking some satisfaction from the fact that she totally called it. It didn't make the bump on the side of her head hurt any less, but she was a tough pegasus, it'd be better by morning.

"You're clothes! They're practically ribbons!" Rarity explains, pointing a hoof towards the human's shirt and jacket. Or at least, what was left of his shirt and jacket.

"...I'm sorry?" the human apologizes confusedly, "...these are the only clothes I own...probabbly..."

"Well, we can't have that now! Come come! We'll get those tattered rags off of you and into something more--"

"Uhh, Rarity? Shouldn't we wait 'till AFTER they explain what's goin' on?" Applejack interjects, one eyebrow raised.

"...Oh of course! How uncouth of me!" The snow white unicorn blushes for a split second, a bit embarrassed by her rather unladylike reaction. "Please pardon my hasty nature when it comes to clothing quality, Mister....I'm sorry, what did you say your name was again, darling?"

"Yeah! I can't throw a party for somepony who doesn't have a name!" Pinkie Pie finally speaks, her first words since being brought in here, causing the others to flinch in shock. They honestly forget she had been here, considering how uncharacteristically quiet she had been up to this point. After her initial comment, her happy go lucky expression shifts to one of deep contemplation. "...Well, I COULD do that, but it'd make it REALLY hard to introduce you to everypony..."

The human let out a nervous chuckle at that, scratching behind his head once more. 'Perhaps that's some human body language for them being nervous?' Twilight couldn't help but think, watching as the human continued to do this strange ritual.

"That's...kind of a long story," the human continues, watching as Twilight trots over to the last empty chair around the big crystal table.

It took some time, but with the combined efforts of Fluttershy, Twilight, Spike, Starlight and the nameless human; the events of today's attempt at trying to identify the creature. Fluttershy recounting how she came across him, going to get Twilight for help. Twilight went on to explain how she didn't know where else to bring him, other then here of course, and that she didn't want to cause a panic. She also made a comment that Rainbow's reaction was the exact thing she wanted to avoid. Starlight then began to describe how Fluttershy and herself sought out Zecora's aid, only to find another dead end as to what the creature was. But they were able to get some potions that should help him recover quicker. And lastly, the human decided to step into the conversation and explain what he could about what had happened.

To put it in summery, the last thing he could recall was running from...something in a dark hallway. He wasn't able to recall what he was running from, but it shook him up pretty bad just thinking about it. There was a loud crashing sound, and the next thing he knew he was in that weird forest. He had wondered around the wooded area for awhile before being attacked by what he could only describe as wolves made of wood, everypony in the room instantly recognizing that as a simple yet accurate description of Everfree's native Timberwolves. After that, the only thing he could remember was waking up in this castle. As far as he was aware, that was his entire life story. And while he had some basic knowledge, like what he was and how to read, other things of that nature, he had no idea who he was or where he came from. He then went on to thank Fluttershy and Twilight for saving his life, and apologizing again for all the screaming and freaking out.

By the time the story had concluded, the mood in the room had become quite somber. It was quite a bit to take in all at once. Granted, it wasn't any worse then some of the situations that this group of friends had overcome in the past, but it was certainly in the top 20 of their strangest encounters...that statement alone says quite a lot about what these seven mares and single dragon have seen over there adventures, huh?

"And...then I came in here, and she started screaming about my clothes," the human concludes, pointing at Rarity for a moment before digging his hands into his pants pockets. "...That's all I got."

The following silence in the room was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

"So what do we do 'bout this?" Applejack finally breaks the silence, slowly trotting over to the human to get a closer look at the strange individual. "I mean, we got no idea who this is or where he came from. What do we do from here?"

"Well, it's obvious that he's suffering from retrograde amnesia," Twilight stands from the throne and walks over to the human at a brisk pace. "A pretty serious case as well, anything regarding him personally seems to be missing. But amnesia usually isn't permanent. There's no telling how long it will take to get his memory back, but I'm sure there's a memory spell or two out there that could speed that process along. Once he gets his memory back, we can help him get back home. Until then, he'll be staying here," she explains, patting a hoof gently against his side. Admittedly, it wasn't the best plan, but it was their best option at the moment. "I was also going to send a letter up to Princess Celestia to see if she knew anything. If any place in Equestira has information on humans, it'd be in the Canterlot Royal Archives."

"...So why did we need to wait in here for you to tell us this?" Rainbow asks, raising an eyebrow at the human. "Sounds like you could have just told us later."

"Well, that WAS the plan," the Alicorn comments again, looking towards the pegasus. "But then you broke one of my windows, and started demanding answers."

"Oh right...sorry."

"So why don't ya want the town knowing?" Applejack adds.

"Let's just take this one thing at a time," Starlight answers, finally stepping forward. "The human's had a long enough day as it is. Let's give him some time to adjust before we let the town bombard him with questions."

Aside from the concerns from the athlete and the farmer, none of them could see a reason to argue against this course of action. It was clear the human wasn't dangerous, so letting him stay in Twilight's castle for the time being might have been best. Though there was one question still lingering on everypony's mind...well, there were SEVERAL questions, but one in particular that stook out more then the others.

"So...what do we call him?" Rarity finally asks, deciding to take this particular bullet for her friends. "I mean, we can't just keep calling him 'the human.' It just doesn't feel right calling a creature capable of speech by its species. It would be like if we all just called Spike 'the dragon.' Or Rainbow 'the pegasus.' It's...just so informal." While it was the question on everypony's mind, even the human's, it seemed that nopony had a way of simply answering the question.

"If we name him, we'll just get attached to him," Rainbow pipes up in a joking tone, "then we'll wanna keep him!" She chuckles at her joke, getting a snort out of Pinkie Pie and Spike.

"But Rarity's right, we do need to call him SOMETHING other then human," Starlight interjects.

With this in mind, the eight individuals begin trying to come up with a suitable name to call the human. At least until he remembered what his actual name was. Everypony, save Pinkie Pie for whatever reason, suggesting various names of various complexities. However, every name suggested gets shot down one for one reason or another, either the human not liking it, or somepony else saying the name doesn't "fit" him.

"Archimedes?" To long winded, Twilight.

"Bob?" No, that's what ponies do when they're in the water. It was clear the human was bad at naming things.

"Ashen? Because of his hair?" That one was Rarity's idea. While it was an accurate description of his hair color, it was a bit of an...intimidating name.

"Ace?" He isn't a dog, Rainbow.

"Ringabell?" No. The human was still bad at naming things.

"Anon? Short for anonymous?" The human kind of liked that one, but decided against it. It felt to...common to him, for some unknown reason.

"Raptor?" He's not a lizard either, Rainbow.

"Hugh Mann?" Human, please stop talking.

"...What about 'Drew'?" The pink earth pony finally speaks up, a contemplative expression on her face. The sudden suggestion attracting curious expressions from the others. "OK, so just hear me out. It's the past tense for 'draw,' right? And ever sense he's got here he's been..." she stops herself from breaking out into uncontrolled laughter. "...Drawing a blank!" She finally finishes, her laughter coming full force. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I'm sorry," she explains while catching her breath.

The name suggestion made everypony wince slightly. Not at the wordplay, but more at the context. It seemed a bit...to on the nose for the human's current situation. Everypony was expecting the human to say something along the lines of "that's offensive" or "what the hay is wrong with you." Everypony in the room knew that Pinkie meant no harm by it, but the human hasn't gotten a chance to know Pinkie or her sense of humor yet, and might get his feelings hurt. The exceptions to this uncomfortable mood was Pinkie, of course, and Spike who was also chuckling a bit.

You can imagine everypony's reaction when the first reaction from the human was the sound of him LIKING the name.

"...That's actually pretty good," the human manages to say, nodding in approval with a hand on his chin. "Let's go with that."

And so, they all agreed that they would be referring to the human as "Drew" from now on. Though Rainbow Dash was still adamant on trying to give him a "cooler" sounding name. With the first of many problems out of the way, the group begins to leave the large meeting room to go about their nightly routines. However, as they all make their leave, Fluttershy manages to stop Twilight to ask her something that's been on her mind for awhile now.

"Umm, Twilight? I need to ask you something," the yellow pegasus says, stopping the Alicorn as the others exit the room. She was met with an optimistic look from the Princess of Friendship. "Well, when I was treating the hu-...I mean, Drew's injuries, I couldn't help but wonder. Why didn't you just use a healing spell, or something, on him?"

The cheery expression upon the Alicorn's face was instantly changed to one beyond words. Eyes wide, mouth frowned, one could almost hear the internal screaming going on inside the mind of the young Princess.

"Umm...Twilight? Are you okay?" Fluttershy asks, taking a tenitive step closer to Twilight, quickly jumping back when the Alicorn's hoof began to move at an insanely high speed.

The events that followed would be come to be known as the greatest face hoof in history. Legends would be told about the mighty echoing "slap" that accompanied the Alicorn's hoof greeting her own face at nearly the speed of light. The thunderous sound was enough to shake the very foundations of Twilight's crystal castle, perhaps even Equestria itself. At least that's how Twilight felt as she smacked a hoof against her face, before quickly dashing out of the room and trying to find Drew.

Author's Note

Longest chapter so far. Sorry 'bout that, wanted to have the introduction of the hum-I mean Drew to the Main 6 get done, and I couldn't find a better place to end it off.

And yes. The ONLY reason the story is named "Drawing a Blank" is because of the wordplay I came up with for that name. I know it's not clever at all. And I don't care.

Also, stubble joke about the "Anon" concept that's a main-stay of HiE fics. Probably would have been better to use that, all things considered, but I wanted to use an actual name. Nothing against those who use the Anon name for anything, it's just something I didn't want to do. Also, when the list of possible names was going on, I didn't make it clear who suggested it. That's for you to decide.