Amnesia: Forget Your Past

Forget Your Past
Chapter 7

“I can’t believe we lost it!” Twilight screamed whilst pacing. It was fair to say that she was not entirely ecstatic about having lost this two legged creature that was obviously a lot slower than they were. “We practically had it in our hooves! We would have it if you had caught it when I told you to!”

“Hey! Don’t go blamin’ us now sugarcube. It ain’t our fault.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m just so annoyed!” Twilight stated before pacing again.

“Hey Twilight, no offence but you might wanna stop the pacing. You’re digging into the ground.” Twilight looked to the ground in response to Rainbow to see she had indeed made a trench in the floor.

“Oops.” She clambered out and sat on her haunches to avoid making anymore holes in the ground.

“So what are we gonna do now?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“We are going to continue towards the castle. We came across it on the way to the castle, so maybe it is still on its way there.”

“Are ya sure about this one sugarcube?”

“It’s our only choice at the moment, yes I’m pretty sure.” Twilight responded. Without hesitation, she led her friends on the path to the castle.

“Come on girls. We can’t lose it.” Scootaloo whispered in case it was near.

“Scoots, we are never gonna lose it if keeps insisting on making fires all the time. Plus, its odour would kill my sister if she got anywhere near it.” Sweetie Belle rather honestly replied. The biped obviously didn’t care that the six mares had found it through its usage of a fire and was beginning to make another as they spoke.

“It stinks ‘cause it probably hasn’t bathed in months. Now could you please stop putting it down like this.” Scootaloo had recently grown emotionally close to the biped because of what it did. Any down talk about it was immediately attacked verbally by her.

“I’m not ‘putting it down’, I am merely stating facts.” Sweetie Belle counter argued.

“Will ya’ll please just zip it! All this arguing Ah’ve heard constantly ain’t necessary!” Applebloom said sternly.
Slowly, the three fillies made their way to the nearby bushes next to the clearing the creature had chosen as its temporary abode. They were getting quite bored very quickly as all they were doing is watching an unusual biped sleep. They were also unaware that when their actions were worded, they were quite creepy to think about. After awhile, Scootaloo ran up to the biped and snuggled up besides it, clearly ignorant of them smell. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle just stood there, dumbfounded.

“Scootaloo! What are you doing!?!” Sweetie Belle half-shouted half-whispered through clenched teeth.

“What? It looked lonely. Besides, I’m cold.” She replied.

Daniel lazily placed the fire wood in the ring of stones and lit the pile with the flint. His mind was clouded by why he had seen six Gatherers earlier. It confused him as to why he kept having these hallucinations. He certainly didn’t feel like he had the symptoms of post-traumatic-stress. He silently joked that he should have another Amnesia potion to hopefully drain the hallucinations away. At least then his fears would stop popping up everywhere. After awhile of sitting next to the fire, he began to actually consider this option before realising that he was likely in a different world entirely meaning Damascus Roses were likely nonexistent. He unconsciously frowned at this realisation.

After a long while, the orange filly he had saved days earlier ran up to him and snuggled up to his side. From somewhere in the bushes, horse whinnies could be heard and the filly whinnied back. Daniel smiled to himself. Just another illusion.

As the night passed on, six mares also began to tire and decided that now was a good time to rest up for the following day. After the fire had been constructed, they began to strike up small talk between each other. Twilight began to soak up all the information that was being passed around the camp site. She was generally unsurprised by the reactions of her peers.

Fluttershy was worried about her animal friends back home, because she had forgotten to get someone to care for them. There were two reasons for this. They had been so hasty to get going that she had forgotten completely about them and that she hadn’t expected to be gone this long and for the biped to be this slippery.

Rarity was constantly complaining about how her hooves were rather unkempt and that she was running out of clothes from monster hunting. Strangely enough, she had brought a large stack of boxes which undoubtedly contained Rarity’s endless supply of stylish fashion items.

Applejack was worried about her brother and sister (although little to her knowledge, Applebloom was not far ahead) and whether Big Mac could handle the orchard on his own.

Rainbow Dash was worried that she would forget even the tiniest detail of her routines for the Wonderbolts. Other than that, she was fairly eager for another chase scene. She was gratuitously boasting about how she would definitely catch the biped next time.

Pinkie Pie was generally unfazed by any worries that she may have had. In fact, she was having a whale of a time bonding with her friends on this little adventure. Her only worry was that the biped was going to be offended by them when they dragged it back to Ponyville so they could check to see if it was insane or not. She promised to herself that she would throw the biped a Sorry-for-dragging-you-back-here-to-see-if-you-are-insane Party.

Twilight found herself worrying over Spike and the library. She had told Spike to keep good care of himself and of the library while she was gone when Fluttershy had told her that they needed to go quickly. She was also planning on her next move for when they found the biped again. She came up with a simple flanking technique that she was sure her friends would be able to carry out with ease. She looked into the distance towards their destination. She squinted her eyes to see if she could see anything through the thick foliage. Nothing. And with that, she curled up to avoid getting cold over night so she could go to sleep, but was interrupted by Pinkie.

“Twilight! Don’t go to sleep yet! We have scary stories to tell!”

Daniel shifted uncomfortably. He was still awake and hearing a loud groan in the distance was not a comforting thing to hear in the pitch black. Ignoring his temporary home and the filly he was sure was an illusion (why would she return) and ran off in the direction of the castle again.

His pace was quickened as he heard an even louder roar. He turned, expecting to see a Gatherer running after him. Instead, he was knocked off of his feet by a large paw. He turned to see his attacker before it pounced on him. What he saw resembled the Manticore or ‘man eater’ from Greek mythology. What he had read about these creatures is that ate everything of a man. Skin, clothes and bone. Nothing was left.

The Manticore bore two red wings and a Scorpion’s tail. This abomination was now on top him, about ready to tear his head off. Thinking fast, Daniel grabbed at the floor for some loose dirt. He threw it at the attacker’s face resulting in mud patches over the Manticore’s eyes. This attack was surprisingly effective as it allowed Daniel to roll away from underneath it. Without a second thought, Daniel ran a fair distance from the beast and hid behind a large boulder.

After a few minutes of silence, Daniel peeked around the side of the boulder to check if the monster was still there. He screamed out as his face met with that of the Manticore’s. Again on the floor and this time fairly certain that if he tried to run, he would be eaten, Daniel scrambled back in a desperate attempt to escape to some small, confined space in which he could hide. The Manticore stopped dead as a small horse whinny came from behind the beast. Daniel looked behind the Manticore to see a very unwelcome sight. There stood the orange filly, visibly trying to remain in place against the urge to run. The poor filly was clearly shaking at the mere sight of the Manticore.

Seizing the opportunity to strike, Daniel grabbed a quite hefty stone and swung it blindly at the Manticore’s head. Being that it was otherwise distracted, it could not react and so the stone met its temple, causing it to stagger. The filly and Daniel both stood, waiting for something to happen as the Manticore placed its paw on a nearby tree for balance like a drunken man. Eventually, it waddled over to a nearby cave and collapsed. Daniel doubted that it was dead, it was simply stunned and likely passed out. Daniel looked towards the advancing filly. It looked up happily at him, obviously ecstatic to see him.

During the little brawl they had, Daniel discovered that this was quite obviously not an illusion, but a grateful filly who has likely returned to him, worried that returning to this forest was not quite a sensible idea. As he expected, the filly beckoned him to come with it, likely back to the cottage. Daniel refused this kind and innocent offer with a dismissive hand and turned to walk in the castle’s direction, completely oblivious as to why he first abandoned his camp and completely unaware of the persistent filly marching alongside him, constantly tugging and pushing at his legs to come back.

Twilight and the others had heard roaring in the distance, quite conveniently placed as the story they were listening to had reached a point where a roar was indeed necessary. That was enough for Twilight to insist that it was time for bed, Fluttershy however insisted that the roar was a roar of pain. Instantly forgetting the fear of being in the forest, she bolted in the direction of the noise to see what had happened. When she came across the Manticore in its cave with a huge split across its temple, she instantly became the Manticore’s mother. What she failed to notice (which Twilight did notice) is that there was a trail of blood leading from the Manticore to a rather large rock. Something had attacked this animal. Twilight only knew one animal nearby that could pick up rocks and swing them about. The biped lived up to the heroic stories that Fluttershy had heard from Scootaloo. They needed to find it before it caused anymore pain and agony in the Everfree.