Lemon cycled her hooves in the air slowly, laying on her back on her bed. They had really comfy beds! For a place of science, it had pretty cozy arrangements, really. That part she did not complain about, and that wasn't what she was thinking about.

Friends.

She missed hers. But, as she thought about them, she missed other friends. Mice. They didn't have names. Mice didn't do names. But she could imagine them, what they looked like, sounded like, smelled like? The world of a mouse was not the world of a pony, and knowing what they smelled like was just as important... To her mouse side.

It poked a hole in her theory, however. "You had a life," she sighed out, sifting through the thoughts that had been smooshed down by her pony presence. They weren't... The mouse had an inner life. "Gosh." That hadn't been a word she used so often, she had realized. Was it from the mouse? How did the mouse have a catchphrase?!

She rolled over, flopping from the bed to her hooves. "There is a pony that can help." She nodded with building certainty, trotting from her room. She had her key with her, tucked away for safe keeping. Oh, that door had confused her so much when they first turned it on and hadn't told her about it. She felt silly thinking back on it.

The pony she was seeking did not live on her floor. However, good ponies were allowed to use the elevator, and she was a good pony! Sure, she had heard, before their female Discord came around, that wasn't the case. Good thing that had changed. "Excuse me." She was approaching a well-armored human, dressed in that hazardous suit to keep Ponid out. "I'm looking for a specific pony. Can you help me?"

"Hm?" The man looked down, face visible. "Give me a second." He grabbed a walkie talkie thing and squeezed it. "Pony has a question." The reply was too quiet to hear. "Yep, still there." Another reply. "I'll tell her." He hung the thing back up where it had started. "Wait a bit, someone's coming to help."

That was easy! "Thanks." Lemon clopped her hooves, sitting down to do it, and remaining seated to wait.

And things got quiet. The, uh, guard? was still standing there. "Are you waiting for somepony too?"

"How did you know they were a pony?" They looked surprised.

"Lucky guess, really!" Lemon inclined her head a little. "Kind of a thing we say, being ponies, I guess." She rubbed at her cheek with the flat of a hoof. "A pony, huh? Are they nice?"

"Sure." An awkward silence. "She decided to go pony."

Lemon blinked with owlish eyes, processing that. "Oh, so they were a human, like you?" She pawed at the ground with little taps against the tile. "But then she wanted to be a pony?"

"Yep, and she's still a guard."

Lemon's confusion only grew. "A guard pony?!" Not that there weren't ponies who were guards, or sheriffs, or played other law enforcement and protective positions. "Wow." Her mind swam with images of royal guards. "You said she." Less mares took up that job, limiting the number of ponies it could be.

None of her guesses matched when Silver Spoon walked in, dressed like a guard, minus the hazard suit. "Wha?"

Silver Spoon nodded at the guard on her way in. "Hey Frank."

"There she is." Frank gave a brief wave towards Lemon.

Silver turned her large pony eyes on Lemon. "Hey, I heard you had some questions?"

"You're a filly."

Silver Spoon frowned a little. "You're a mare. My name's Silver Spoon."

"Y-yeah. Gosh..." Lemon shook her head slowly as she rose to her hooves. "I was hoping to talk to Fluttershy."

"What for?" Silver Spoon circled around Lemon Hearts, taking measure of her. "You were a mess when we first brought you here."

Lemon turned, trying to keep Silver Spoon ahead of herself. "I was? Oh, when I was a mouse?"

"You were a mouse?" Silver stopped, confusion visible a moment. "No, human. Didn't talk, didn't bathe, and got sick real bad. A terrible case of Ponid." She wobbled a hoof at Lemon. "And this happened."

"I happened." Lemon glanced down at herself. "I don't remember you." She had no mousey memories she could find at least of Silver Spoon, or the other guards. Had the mouse not been paying attention to that? It was a hard time, perhaps. Lemon felt sorry... for herself? "Um, so about Fluttershy?"

"Nice girl." Silver nodded appreciatively. "One floor down." She pointed towards the floor. "She's a little nervous around new ponies, but she's nice."

Lemon smiled brightly at that. "She hasn't changed much then." She could see Silver's confusion. "I mean, the other Fluttershy, from... my world?" The confusion was not abating. "Um, can I meet her?"

"I'm taking her." Silver started for the elevator, getting a nod from Frank. "You know how to ride this, right?"

"I've been in an elevator before, yes." Lemon half-hopped through the doors as soon as the elevator opened. She turned around to face the buttons. "I just can't read these numbers."

Silver squinted at that idea. "One, two three?" She pointed at the appropriate numbers as she went.

"Is that what they are?" Lemon began to smile. "So this must be four, and five and..." She tapped along the buttons, not actually pressing them in. She had a hoof in the door at learning some scrap of Earth writing.

Silver nudged her aside and booped a button with the tip of her nose. The doors slid shut and movement began. "So you can't read?"

"I can read Equestrian just fine," huffed out Lemon, turning her nose up. "Not my fault things on Earth are all... strange."

"But you can understand me talking?"

Lemon blinked at that. How... did... that work? "Gosh." She started to sink to her haunches, but a friendly chime sounded and the doors opened. "Oh, here we are." Her previous thought, abandoned in favor of prancing free of the elevator. Each floor was, for the most part, like the other floors. She could guess where the food was, and the doors that had bedrooms, and oh there was the game room. "Nice."

Silver followed her out, glancing around. "She's probably out on the patio."

Lemon swirled to face Silver. "Patio? There's a patio?"

"It's not actually outside," warned Silver. "But it's built to look like it, and there are animals, which she likes." Silver trotted past Lemon, guiding the way down the hallway. Through a doorway, it was as if the world changed around them. But it wasn't outside. Fake trees jutted up from the floor, lost in the ceiling that was painted with natural hues and an artificial sky.

But a very real set of birds chirped, watching them come in.

"Hm?" A yellow snout poked into view, the rest of her following behind it. "Oh... my." She looked between Lemon and Silver. "Um... hello."

Silver raised a hoof. "Hey. Lemon here wanted to meet you. Is that alright?"

Fluttershy sat and played with her mane with little swipes of her hooves. "I suppose so... Actually... I kinda wanted to talk to her."

"Perfect then." Silver turned to go. "Call if you need anything. No promises I'll still be on this floor, but there are other guards around."

Lemon watched her go before approaching Fluttershy curiously. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"You were Amelia."

And, in that instant, Lemon's eyes grew wide. She knew that name. It rang clearly to her, as clear as Lemon Hearts. "Amelia," she repeated breathlessly. With it, memories of Fluttershy. "Big and friendly, Fluttershy." Never before had a name come from that part of her thoughts. It felt so completely alien.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah... yeah." Lemon leaned, head propped up with a hoof. "Wow that was odd. I feel like I met you before... as the mouse. Amelia... She had a name..." Lemon suddenly clopped a hoof down. "I hurt a creature with a name. That isn't better!"

Fluttershy inclined her head. "I gave her that name. She felt like an Amelia to me. Did you know mice can learn names? It's true." Speaking of the talents of animals seems to be easier for her, relaxed as she talked about it. "They can learn tricks too. Oh. I wonder... May I... try something?"

Lemon sank to her haunches. "At this point I'm dying of curiosity, so go ahead."

"Thank you." She extended a hoof towards Lemon, then raised it up in a little skip. "Hop," she ordered firmly.

And Lemon was hopping. No thought, just as big of a bounce as she could manage. "Woah!" She wobbled a bit on the landing, recovering from her stunt. "That was like you mind controlled me a second there."

"That was a trick I taught Amelia and a few other mice," explained Fluttershy, reaching for Lemon, a hoof on either of Lemon's cheek. "You really are her..."

Lemon's ears folded, wilting. "I hurt her..."

"You are her," countered Fluttershy, her mane flowing as she turned. "This is... simply incredible. What do you remember, of me, if you don't mind?"

"You..." She dug back, reaching for the rodent memories. "Large, friendly, Fluttershy. Fun. Rewarding? You... made... me work but it was always worth it in the end." Lemon began to smile. "I can... remember." Remembering something else's thoughts was a bit odd. "That hop trick. I did not understand. You wanted something. You picked me up... When I got it, you made new noises, and gave a treat. It was a good treat."

"See, you are Amelia." Fluttershy's timidness was entirely forgotten. "My little Amelia, look how you've grown." She waved a hoof over Lemon's larger form. "Oh my. Are you alright?"

"I'm not 100% on that." Lemon gestured at herself. "Hi, I'm Lemon Hearts, but I mighta been Amelia before?" The name felt so familiar. She was experiencing the name recognition that Ponid patients experienced, but in reverse, tugging her away from her pony name, but she was Lemon Hearts. She could see Lemon Hearts in the mirror! "And I'm really confused right now."

Fluttershy sank beside Lemon, wrapping an arm and a wing over the bewildered unicorn. "It's alright." However nervous she was, comforting another creature took priority. "Now, um. You said you wanted to talk to me? What about?"

"Oh yeah!" Lemon perked right up, remembering her purpose of the day. "Can you talk to animals?"

Fluttershy inclined her head. "I can usually figure out what they want. I'm good with animals." She smiled gently. "Some people are like that. I didn't expect becoming a pony would make me better at animals, but it did..."

"Right... but can you talk to them?" pressed Lemon more firmly. "Have you tried?"

"Animals... don't talk." Fluttershy inclined her head with building confusion. "How does that work?"

Lemon frowned a bit, puzzling it over. "You understood me, before, as a mouse, didn't you?"

"I understood you... sort of..." Fluttershy frowned a little before raising a hoof. "Beatrice." One of the many birds that lived in the fake branches of the room looked towards her. "Would you please come here?" And the little budgie took flight, landing on her offered hoof. "That... was not my usual command." Her ears pricked. "Oh, no, you didn't do anything wrong. Sorry."

Lemon clopped her hooves, scaring the budgie away. "There, you did it!"

Fluttershy was quiet a moment, realization sinking in. "I... did do it..." She clopped a hoof against her cheek. "I can talk to animals?!"

Lemon was grinning so widely. She whistled in celebration, humming a few bars as she went. "I knew it."

"Favorite?" Fluttershy inclined her head at Lemon.

"What?"

"You just said something." Fluttershy was frowning with thought. "It was hard to make out."

Lemon sank back onto her haunches. She had just spoken mouse.

Author's Note

Amelia is not as erased as once we thought. Hello, Amelia, who is also Lemon Hearts.

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