Amnesia: Forget Your Past

Forget Your Past
Chapter 9

The five other mares heard the stairs closing. It was a rather noisy machine after all. Of course, most assumed that Applejack was simply coming through to report something and stayed at their posts. Twilight was giddily examining the ancient machinery of the castle and how it worked. Rarity was relaxing in the Royal Dresser’s Room and Pinkie was looking for something fun to do in the storage. Fluttershy however was shaking like a leaf. She had heard the staircase opening and closing, but didn’t see Applejack walk out, nor did she see the biped. Slowly, she ascended the staircase.

Daniel quickly observed the area. The pillars that once held up an overhang over a corridor were collapsed (along with the segment of ceiling they once held) leaving rubble pilling up on the floor. There were four separate corridors leading off to different areas. Three of the corridors lead to a simple wooden door, but on larger corridor lead to a large, machine powered gate made from steel. Despite all of the light pouring in from holes in the walls and ceilings and the smashed windows, the entire room was dark and gloomy. The dark felt very unnatural as it was so thick in density, you could cut it with a knife.

Daniel began his descent just as he heard the groan of a Gatherer. Luckily for him, the Gatherer had not seen because he was crouched down behind the large pillar in the centre of the room which the staircase ran down. Unfortunately for him, however, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. He looked down to see the Gatherer-like creature with wings climbing up the staircase. Daniel formulated a quick, but foolish plan in his mind. Lots of the side railings were wrecked, forming holes in the side of the staircase. When the Gatherer had passed beneath him, he clambered down to the side of the staircase. After swinging himself, he clumsily landed on the stairs below.

Before he could jump in joy of his success, the Gatherer came down the stairs, obviously hearing the rather loud thump of boot against stone. Full of fear suddenly, Daniel ran down the stairs, his heart in his ears as he went. His breathing became heavy as he heard the screams of the Gatherer behind him, so close it could bite him in the neck. Seeing a pillar still standing slightly nearby as he ran down, he jumped for the top of it, much to the Gatherer’s surprise. When he collided with the top of the pillar, it tumbled down into the floor, continuing on to create a game of pillar dominos. As Daniel landed on the ground with a thump, he looked up to see the Gatherer looking down at him almost sympathetic. The Gatherer was right above his face with its, and just before it could make a move, a pillar came crashing down threatening to crush both of them. Daniel scrambled away before he was crushed and the Gatherer jumped back in shock before its head was squashed. See the window of opportunity, Daniel ran as fast as he could to a random door. He opened it and tackled the air as he went through. He landed into a pile of cogs and metal components with a crash before scrambling up again to lock the door. When he heard the door successfully click as it locked, he allowed himself to catch his breath against the door. His break was quickly cut short by yet another Gatherer.

Twilight had been intriguing herself with the large machine that stood in front of her. The contraption began with a simple lever which activated a large maze of cogs leading to the steel gate in the stairwell. Unfortunately, when the mare had activated the machine to cut the Throne Room of from the stairwell, the pin holding the lever stand in place had broken. It did not matter however as Rainbow Dash could simple fly out of a window back to the stairwell. A flash appeared on a small table behind her, drawing her attention from the machine. On the table was a small note, lightly flashing in a blue aura. Curious, Twilight walked up to the note and picked it up with her magic. Suddenly, Twilight’s vision blurred and she began to lose balance. She passed out...

When she awoke not two seconds later, she found herself in a sort of playground of a school. The school building was very tall and cast a large shadow over the area. Suddenly, a young colt’s voice filled her ears.

“Twelfth of May, 1813. My friends had grown tired of seeing me constantly bullied by that boy, Henry. Silently, Thomas handed me a stone and told me to wait by the benches.” Twilight saw a young biped, not unlike the biped they were chasing, walk up to her with a stone in hand. It then handed her the stone. “After he relayed the message to me, he went up to Henry and punched him in the stomach and kicked him in the shin.” The same boy who gave her the stone followed the words exactly. “Henry fell to the floor. Thomas then walked up to me, and pushed me towards the fallen body of my enemy. He told me to attack Henry with the stone, and I silently obliged.”

Against her will, Twilight walked over to the fallen biped with the stone. She was unable to protest against her actions and was unable to speak, but inside she was trying desperately to fight her own temporary body. “I knelt down beside him, and began to viciously pound him in the stomach and head with the stone. It was not long before Henry began bleeding from his wounds and orifices.”

The scene suddenly switched from the playground to a young colt’s bedroom. She saw herself writing the words that were being spoken as they were being spoken. “I told my father of my act of revenge against the bully, expecting him to be happy that he was no longer a problem for me. Instead, he lashed out at me, called me disgrace.” The voice began to shake slightly and tears could be heard in the form of sorrowful sniffing. “I did not understand. Does my father not love me? Why is he not happy that I have overcome my greatest enemy?”

A bright light filled her vision and all of the sudden, she was no longer attached to the young biped physically. She was now looking over the boy in her own body. She could see he had stopped writing and his face was stained with tears. What horrified her most is that the biped sitting in front of her was almost an exact replica of the one they were looking for, only younger. At the same time, she felt pity and rage. She understood that this was only a young child and that it was confused, but how could any living sentient creature bear to do what it had done and expect to be praised? She had seen its true colours through this vision; it was a criminal that had to be put down. Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud crash of metal at the door...