*** Chapter 1: Waking
As I lay on the ground, hot from the afternoon sun, all I could do was groan. The pain in my shoulder, throbbing uncontrollably, was unbearable and unlike anything I had ever felt before. The smell of blood was thick in the air, I knew it was mine. I wanted to move, I felt helpless, alone. I tried to stand, but as I did my limbs gave way, my chest and chin hit the floor with a dull thud.
I looked at the wound on my shoulder, the caked brown blood gave way to fresh dark red blood trickling down my arm as it mixed with the dust from the road I lay on. My vision grew weaker, every moment my eyes were open was more nauseating than the last.
A distant cry caught my attention, I tried to see what had made the sound but my eyes refused to cooperate. The cries echoed in my ears, slowly becoming louder, the hurried stamping of hooves became deafening. The noise made me dizzier, but I knew it meant I was saved, I looked at my savior but I saw nothing but horror on their face. I tried to speak, but all I could muster was a weak sigh as everything faded to black.
The bright white light was blinding, long shadowy figures moved quickly about me, I was paralyzed as they poked and prodded me. I could only move my eyes, I frantically searched for anything that made sense among the shadows standing over me, but it was in vain. My body felt as if it was on fire, though it was not pain it caused, just unbearable heat. One of the shadows grabbed my hoof, as I turned to watch it bind my arm beside it in the distance I saw the same horrified face from before. Something grabbed my other hoof and thrust a small pin into my arm, though it felt like they had just driven a stake into my flesh. The shadows rushed around me for a time that felt like an eternity, slowly leaving one by one. As the last shadow left, I turned my head to where the face had been, the look of horror had subsided and I closed my eyes.
“Feeling any better?”
I heard a comforting voice speak.
“You’re lucky you were found when you were. You lost a lot of blood.”
The concerned smile of a white pony greeted me as I opened my eyes.
“B-blood?” I muttered, it felt as if I had never spoken before, they were words I did not choose to say.
“Yes, you have this young lady to thank for saving your life.”
I turned to where the face had been, it was a timid yellow pegasus with a long pink mane.
“Thank you.” More words I did not choose to say, my mind was completely blank, my ears stung from an unyielding ringing.
Here eyes peered up from beneath her pink mane, “Oh.... um.... your welcome...” she muttered softly as she glanced at the floor. Her voice was kind, but the trauma from what she had seen was clear in her eyes.
“Fluttershy found you just outside of Ponyville. I can’t say I’ve seen you around before, whats your name?”
“My name....?”
I felt a huge weight on my chest, my heart felt as if it had sunk into an endless void, no more words came to me, only a rush of unrecognisable shapes and sounds in my mind.
The silence was interrupted by the door swinging open, a purple unicorn stood in the doorway, accompanied by 4 others.
“I have the results from the test Nurse Redheart. It was definatley caused by magic, but I have no idea what kind.”
She trotted to the table in the corner of the room and procured a stack of papers from her saddle bag and presented them to Nurse Redheart.
An excited looking pink pony bounced up to my side, she was the only one who didn’t look worried, but her face was kind.
“Hey mister! Feeling Okay?”
Her loud voice caused me to reel back for a moment, the ringing in my ears grew louder than ever.
The orange pony stared at her with a stern look on her face.
“Pinkie! How would you like it if somepony came up to you and start screamin’ in your ear while you were tryin’ to get rest?”
The pink pony backed away as her ears drooped.
I searched for something to say, the racing colors and sounds in my mind made it hard to focus.
“I... feel a little better.”
It was only a half truth, while the pain in my body had began to subside my mind was in a state of inconceivable torment.
The group at the table were talking to the nurse, all of them looked worried, confused, you could feel it. The only one who wasn’t was a rainbow mained pegasus who hovered above the others, her arms crossed, occasionally glaring at me with a look of disgust.
The purple unicorn picked up a page with diagrams and countless tiny letters scattered about them.
“The wound itself is a tear, which could have been caused by anything, but more interesting is the burn that’s around it. It wasn’t burned before the tear, and wasn’t burned after, it was burned as the would was caused, which is what I find strange. It’s too small to have been caused by a dragon, but too big to have been done by even the most powerful unicorn magic that I know of.”
I squinted at the chart, hoping to read what some of it said, but the images looked fuzzy and from that distance the letters appeared to dance around the page. I was interrupted by the angry flapping of the rainbow mained pegasus's’ wings, she was floating above my face, leering at me.
“I haven’t seen you around before, and I know all the pegasi in Ponyville.”
She spoke fast and impatiently, her rapidly beating wings against the bright white light behind her was hypnotizing.
“Pegasi?...” I muttered, again saying words I hadn’t chosen too speak. Everything was still a blur in my mind, events seemed to race on, but time itself was crawling.
“Yeah! What’s your name?” She demanded as the look on her face grew even more impatient.
“I...”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know!?”
“DASH! What did I just tell Pinkie a second ago. Don’t go botherin’ him.”
“Sorry! GEEZE!”
She floated back to the table all the other ponies were gathered around and resumed her earlier position, arms crossed, glaring coldly.
I turned to face the timid yellow pegasus, she had not moved since I had arrived. She was still staring at the floor, her eyes as hollow as before. I spent what felt to be an hour trying to decide to speak or not, and if I were, what I would say.
“Where am I?”
She looked up nervously and muttered softly, “Oh... uh... P... Ponyville.”
I turned my head back towards the blinding light above me. The ringing in my ears, the wings of the pegasus, the chatter at the table, the occasional soft murmur from the yellow pegasus all joined together in a chaotic clamor within my head. The only thing that caused it to momentarily cease was a stinging feeling in my shoulder.
The purple unicorns voice interrupted the chorus of noise.
“What I find most interesting is that he doesn’t have a cutie mark.”
As she finished a wave of gasps came from the other five around the table, all of them but the nurse and unicorn who just spoke turned their eyes on me.
“A pegasus, of that age? Without a cutie mark!”
“I guess whatever magic that caused his wound could have erased his cutie mark as well”
“I ain’t never heard of anypony losing their cutie mark.”
I could feel their gazes, cold and unwelcome. The only one who didn’t look distrustful was the purple unicorn who started to walk up to the side of my bed.
“Do you remember what happened to you? Anything at all?” Her voice was shaking slightly as she tried to smile at me. I hoped to remember something, though aside from the colors and sounds, nothing came to me.
“I... only... …. no...”
“Your name?”
“No.”
“Where you’re from?”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out, so I shake my head.
The white unicorn at the table looks at the other unicorn.
“Well I think we should call him Blanche for the time being.”
“Blanche?” The other four reply.
“Blanche, like in carte blanche. Blank memory, no clutie mark, seems like a fitting name considering his circumstance don’t you think?”
"Ain't that a rather girly name?"
The white unicorn shrugs.
“Alright, Blanche it is I guess.”
The pink pony begins hopping up and down.
“Blanchy! Blanchy! Blanchy!”
“I think we should let him rest.” The nurse says as she carries the stack of papers to the counter next to the bed.
“He’s had enough for one day.”
“Sorry Ms. Redheart. Come on Fluttershy, lets go.”
The purple unicorn leads the pack out the door, and the yellow pegasus quietly follows.
As she is about to exit, she nervously looks back as a forced timid smile crosses her face, “Rest... well, I... I hope... you feel better soon.”
She quickly turns towards the others and runs out of the room.
“Well you’ve had quite a day haven’t you? You just stay there and rest, if you need anything just call me or nurse Tenderheart.”
As the door closes, I rest my head on the pillow, my mind is reeling. The colors and sounds are broken only by the sounds of evening song birds tweeting at his window. As the sun goes down the silence becomes deafening, unable to remember anything, the lingering feeling of despair eats away at the back of my mind. I try to sleep, hoping that that I will remember something.