Resonance
Chapter 1: Memories and Meetings
Resonance. A name and nothing more. A thought came up in her head, but when she grasped for it, the thought was sucked back in to the darkness of her head.
Glancing around, she found herself in a cramped space, with only a little candle casting any sort of light. Resonance shuddered from the cold and tried to huddle closer to herself in an attempt to stay warm. She could not remember why she was in this room or how she had ended up inside. The only way out seemed to be a wooden door that had a small space with metal poles blocking out most of it.
Beyond, there was some light as well as a cough. The cough startled Resonance, who for no reason she could describe, scooted even farther back. She could hear hoofsteps from outside the door and she wondered what was outside. She felt as though she should call out to the pony, thinking that she was possibly in the room by mistake. When she attempted to, she couldn't remember how to talk, or even how to pronounce words.
She felt as if the world was going to come crashing down around her with this realization. How was anypony to know she was in here if she couldn't remember how to do anything? She lowered her head and began to cry, tears collecting at her hooves in a puddle of the cobbled floor. There was nothing she could do and surely she would die in this room without any memory of who she was or how she had gotten there.
She sniffled a bit, eyes still wet, when the door was opened. She glanced up to see a pony dressed in metal clothes standing before her, blocking out the light from the hall beyond. The stallion, for indeed he was a stallion, had a nice white coat and poking out from his helmet was the purple hair of his mane. Behind his metal face were two eyes that obviously cared about how she was feeling.
"Are you ok?" He asked, maintaining his space to keep her from becoming spooked. She didn't really understand what he was saying, but it seemed like it was a truly caring question. Had she forgotten words also? She began to cry again, unsure of what was going to happen to her. "Oh no. Uh, don't cry. Everything will be fine." Resonance stared at the stallion, unsure of what he was trying to say.
"I need you to follow me," The stallion said, motioning for her to follow. Resonance stared at him, then out of the door into the hall. There were three other similar rooms, and two torches hanging along the wall. Resonance climbed to her feet, wobbling a bit as she tried to figure out how to walk. It was unsteady at first, as her legs seemed to have a mind of their own, moving with their own accord. Had she known how to walk, or had she forgotten along with everything else? She no longer knew.
The stallion walked in front of her, looking back every so often to make sure that Resonance was following him. He smiled every time he saw that she was still following along clumsily. They both stopped at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Resonance gulped, realizing that if she could barely walk along a flat surface, these uneven and rather high stairs would be the end of her.
The stallion said something that sounded helpful before surprising Resonance by picking her up. She struggled at first, squirming on his back until she realized that he was carrying her up the stairs. She felt herself blush a bit at her foalish actions.
"Here we are," The stallion smiled back at her, placing her at the top of the stairs. Resonance returned the smile, still blushing. She turned to see that they were in a hall that seemed to stretch into the sky. Lining it were huge, marble columns with braziers inserted at intervals along them. In between the columns were large glass windows, done in many fantastic and wonderful colors. Resonance wish she could remember the names of the colors she was looking at feeling as though it would make the moment even better.
She giddily ran up to one of the windows, staring out into the world. She was surprised to see that the outside world was even bigger than the hall she was in. She had no names of anything she saw, yet they still amazed her all the same. She heard a cough behind her and she glanced over her shoulder to see the stallion standing close by, watching her.
Whether he knew that Resonance could understand him or not, he pointed down the hall towards a large pair of golden doors. Resonance shakily walked over behind the stallion, who was attempting to talk to her, or at least she assumed that was what he was doing. It was all a bit saddening to her that this stallion obviously was trying to say something to her yet she could not return any kind of response.
"You are going to meet the princess of Equestria, Princess Celestia," He spoke. Resonance caught one word out of all of them. Equestria. It tugged at her heart, as if it should be accompanied by something, but her mind drew blanks. What did this Equestria have to do with her?
The stallion pushed one of the two doors open, motioning for Resonance to enter. Resonance did what she believed he was wanting her to do. She was even more overjoyed to see that this room was even more beautiful than the hall outside and at the end stood a strange pony. She had wings and a horn.
How could a pony have both wings and a horn? It didn't make sense to Resonance, but she again felt a tugging of her emotions to this new pony. Whether it was proper or not, she ran towards the pony and gave her a giant hug, hoping in some small turn that this would bring back some memory. The pony was warm and smelled like something that Resonance enjoyed.
"Why hello there my little pony," The larger pony said, her voice full of compassion. She returned the hug in kind, though Resonance still didn't feel anything coming back to her. She felt her eyes go wet as tears began to spring forward again as she felt the loneliness crush her.
"Oh dear, what ever is the matter?" The alabaster pony questioned, though Resonance understood nothing. She could only tell it was supposed to be a question by the tone of her voice. This only brought more tears because she could not answer back to this wonderful mare who was trying to help her.
Resonance looked up, trying to understand what this mare was trying to say to her, yet it was impossible for her to comprehend what she was saying. Her face contorted into a look of complete helplessness, tears just streaming down like waterfalls. The mare's hair flowed in pink, green, and blue colors flowing in a nonexistent breeze.
"Don't worry," Celestia whispered. "I am here to help you. There is no reason to be afraid."
Celestia smiled down at Resonance, who gave a shaky smile in return. No matter how hard she tried to understand, nothing seemed to work.
"Can you speak?" Celestia asked. Resonance thought something sounded familiar in a word. She just shook her head unsure of what had been asked.
"Ok, that would explain why you haven't said anything. Do you have a name my little pony?" Resonance's ears picked up. She had understood a word. Name.
"Re... re... re..." She stammered, trying to get her name out. Maybe this mare her name and would be able to help her. "Re...so..." She stamped her hoof in frustration, tears of anger streaming down her face.
"I think I see what has happened dear. You've lost your memory," Celestia spoke, nuzzling Resonance. "I'm sorry about that my little pony."
The giant gold doors opened at the other end of the room, allowing a lavender unicorn to enter the room. She was surprised to see another pony in here with Celestia it seemed. She turned to leave but was stopped when Celestia said something. Resonance felt a bit awkward with another pony entering the room.
"Twilight, what do you need?" Celestia smiled at the lavender unicorn. Twilight glanced at Resonance, who blushed in response.
"I was going to ask you if you had seen Spike, but it seems as though you are busy," Twilight chuckled nervously. "Sorry for interrupting."
"Actually, I was just about to write you a letter Twilight," Celestia stood, leaving Resonance sitting in the throne as she approached Twilight. The chair was still warm from where Celestia had been sitting. "I would like you to help this pony. She seems to have lost all her memories, even the ability to talk I believe. I would like you to watch over her. I entrust her safety to you."
"Princess, I... I don't know about this," Twilight stammered. "I have enough problems at home with Spike and Owlalicious. I don't think I have time to watch over her. Although me and my friends could look after her, if she is willing."
"Twilight, I'm sure you and your friends will do just fine," Celestia smiled at her pupil. "Now, you should meet her properly."
Celestia waved at Resonance, beckoning her to come forward. Resonance clumsily go to her feet, being careful not to trip over the floor. Twilight stood there looking at her and she couldn't help but smile in spite of herself. Resonance liked Twilight just because she seemed like a nice pony. She had no idea what had been said between the two mares, but it was enough for her to know that they cared about her.
"Does she have a name," Twilight asked. Resonance smiled a bit at being able to understand a word said.
"Re... So... Nance..."