Amnesia: Helping You Forget

Helping You Forget
Chapter 2

Daniel’s head was throbbing. He felt like someone had taken a tiny hammer and constantly hit it against his cranium. He could hardly feel the rest of his body, like it wasn’t even there anymore. Groaning, he tried to stand up again. He was constantly collapsing under his own weight, as if his legs were made of twigs. When he finally was able to stand on his own two legs, he looked around him.

The world was broken and fuzzy. The ground was split and floating in a purple void. Small bridges of dirt led from one island in reality to another. The cracks in reality allowed Daniel to see outside of the library, which was also split into three islands. Ponies were still playing and trotting around Ponyville, carefree of the huge cracks around them. The ponies luckily seemed to notice the huge holes in the world and avoided them. When Twilight walked near a crack, however, a bridge appeared and allowed her to walk across the gap. Cautiously, Daniel unnecessarily walked through the library door, despite the huge crack in the wall next to it.

He spotted the three fillies that he had seen earlier in the week in the Everfree. They were trotting casually towards him, huge smiles plastered on their faces, not unlike Lyra. They seemed very happy to see them.

“Well hey there mister Daniel!” Greeted Applebloom. “Ya’ look mighty troubled ‘bout somethin’. Care ta share it?” She asked.

“If you feel you can answer, I will.” He replied. “Why are there holes in the world everywhere? It wasn’t like this earlier.”

“Well sure it was. You just didn’t notice probably.” Answered Sweetie Belle.

"Excuse me, but I think I would have notice if there were holes in reality itself.” He snapped back.

“But this isn’t reality, this is your life.” Scootaloo answered back.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Your life is full of holes, simply put. You always feel the need to keep things hidden and always choosing to forget things. Your past is a mystery that needs to be solved, in our perspective anyway. You choose to look only to the future and fail to learn from the past. You always expect the future to be grim and dark, but fail to realise why your past was so dark.” Sweetie Belle answered. Daniel was dumbfounded.

“Hehe, maybe this lucidity thing will help him become more aware of this stuff.” Scootaloo snickered. Then it hit him. This wasn’t reality at all. This was his subconscious trying to speak to him... through a dream. That was it, he was dreaming. Slowly, the world darkened and the noises of the world faded with it.

“Wakey, wakey sleepy head.” Daniel slowly sat up after hearing Twilight. He felt rejuvenated, jolly even. Never before had he felt such energy pulsing through his veins. He felt as if he could stand on the roof of the library and jump off, only to soar into the wind like a feather.

Rather quickly, Daniel stood up after rolling off of the couch. He lightly jogged on the spot without realising.

“What’s up with you? You look like a giddy little filly in the queue at Sugarcube Corner.” Daniel looked at her smugly.

“How long did it take for you to have a lucid dream?” He asked curiously.

“About a week. Why?” Daniel’s smile grew even larger.

“I believe I just broke the record.” At his implications, Twilight’s jaw dropped.

“You had a lucid dream?!?” She screamed.

“For a few seconds yes. I believe my subconscious was trying to talk to me. One thing I do know is that I feel amazing.” Daniel kept on jogging.

“Could you please stop that? It is becoming irritating.”

“Huh? Oh of course.” He said after realising he was jogging on the spot.

“Excellent,” Twilight began, “Now we can talk about your dream. What happened in it?”

“Well, I had just awoken from my sleep, but Ponyville was broken into fragments, like reality just crumbled.” Twilight was beginning to process what this could mean in her mind. “Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom walked up to me and told me that this was my life, and that it had holes in it because my past is so mysterious in your perspective. I think my subconscious is telling me to tell you my past.” Seizing the opportunity whilst Daniel was in this enlightened state, she pressed on.

“Then do it! You could stop having nightmares because of this! Tell us about your past and release your pain.”

“I have already told you, my past is a graphic one. I will not tell you anything, and nothing in this world or in my head can change that.” Daniel snapped back.

“Grr, fine. Despite your little ‘lucid session’ I am going to go through with the mnemonic induction. We can do it now or later.” She growled.

“I would rather do it now than later. I feel in the mood to be patient right now and I may not later.”

“Very well!” And with that Twilight walked up stairs, beckoning Daniel to follow.

When Daniel sat down on a designated chair and closed his eyes, Twilight began, speaking in a very soothing tone.

“Now then, I want you to imagine you are in your nightmare.” Daniel’s eyes shot open.

“I beg your pardon?!”

“Just go along with!” She snapped back. Reluctantly, Daniel closed his eyes.

“Right then, imagine you are in the nightmare.” Daniel imagined he was back in the guest room, looking for the tinderbox.

“Now find a something out of place in the dream world, something that signifies that you are asleep.” Daniel searched around the room. It was dark, so Daniel did the natural thing and lightened the room up a little. Nothing. Daniel then lit up the candle and went through the door. He noticed the floating bridge of stones. That was it! Stones don’t float in mid air. He checked for strings. None.

“Now imagine yourself becoming lucid in your dream. Imagine that you are now aware that you are asleep. Feel yourself becoming clear of confusion or distraction.” Daniel did not know how to show this, so he simply imagined the bridge away.

“Imagine what you want to do in your dream-world. Perhaps you want to meet somepony, or do something surreal, like flying without wings. Morph you surroundings to whatever you want them to be.” Daniel changed the dark, gloomy surroundings into a meadow full of bright colours. He was suddenly surrounded by flowers with colours ranging from purple to pink. The grass was luminescent and sparkled with small specks of water vapour, like glitter. The sky was clear of clouds and the sun beamed down onto the grass. Strong, sturdy oak trees stood tall and proud all around the edges of the meadow. This place made Daniel happy.

“Now repeat the process over and over again, until you feel you will recognise the dream next time you are dreaming.” Daniel did as he was told. Over and over again, he saw the floating stones, felt clarity and went to the meadow. Eventually, he fell asleep.

Twilight recognised he was sleeping as a light snore emitted from him and his breathing pattern became long and steady. Twilight only hoped that this had worked.

He was terrified. His breathing was heavy. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. His body was scratched and cut from his earlier close escape. Next time, he might not be so lucky. He turned to see a guest room with a once luxurious bed (its sheets now torn and ragged and covered in blood) surrounded by two separate closets. A chest of drawers with its contents pulled out stood against the wall near the bed and underneath a window with a dim light coming through. Daniel moved towards it and flipped one of the drawers. A tinderbox lay underneath it. Quickly, Daniel opened it and lit one of the matches inside. All of the candles in that room were no longer burning, and so the room itself was very dark. Only the dim light in the window allowed him to see anything. Daniel stumbled around, trying to find a candle that he could light. He found one next to an old wooden door.

As soon as he lit the candle, he spotted the door and went through. He was then greeted by an empty void, and the only way to pass over it was by a path of floating stones. He swore he recognised it. Cautiously, he began to creep his way across, lightly tapping the stones ahead to make sure they did not fall when touched. As he continued to advance over the empty abyss, he silently told himself: “Don’t look down. Don’t look down.” He did not take heed to his own words and felt light headed. The void he stood above had no end. To fall into it was to fall for eternity. That was a fate Daniel would rather avoid. Unfortunately, Daniel began to lose his balance after peeking into the void and felt himself falling to his side. He struggled to keep balance, but it was no use.

Screaming, he fell and fell and fell...

Suddenly, something came into view. It rippled throughout his vision and engulfed the whole void as far as the eye could see. Something was splashing nearby and soon he realised that he was falling into water. This water was not uninhabited, however, and the splashing got nearer to his landing point. A loud roar made the water vibrate violently and small waves began to rise. Daniel knew what inhabited these waters. The Kaernk.

Suddenly, a large tidal wave formed to Daniels right. It grew higher and higher. Eventually, Daniel came crashing into the water and the Kaernk came splashing after him. It was safe to say Daniel was terribly frightened for his life at this point.

He was surrounded. Kaernk to the left of him, tidal wave to the right of him. Daniel waited for the eventual clash of the two forces, with him in the middle. His knees became wobbly and gave way underneath him. He collapsed onto his knees and began to weep. It was over. A small, piranha-like fish jumped at his head and he felt the tidal wave clash with his back. He was gone.

Daniel shot up from the couch. He was sweating, shaking and his breathing was rapid. It had not worked. He was still having nightmares. Disappointed, he stood up on his shaking legs and went to find Twilight. He found her upstairs on a chair, reading a book. Upon seeing him, Twilight’s expression saddened.

“It didn’t work did it?” She asked.

“I am afraid not. The nightmare still persisted, and I did not recognise it.”

“Then it must be having a stronger influence over you than I thought. But don’t worry, this sort of thing doesn’t just happen overnight. It may take a few days for you to become fully lucid. Only then will these nightmares dissipate.” Daniel was heartily disappointed.

“Whatever you say Twilight...”