Chap. 1: Amnesia
At first, there was a black nothing. That is all the entity had as it's world. Nothing. It spanned all of time, as far back and as far forward as it could think. After a while, a day, perhaps a week, perhaps a month, nothing could tell the passage of time in the void, a dull grey throbbing began. It rose to an unbearable level, heavier and heavier, as the being began to return to life. Life. Sounds began to cut through the treacle thick air into the mind of the entity. Slowly the being recovered. It felt as if it was rising out of the depths of some immaterial ocean. After what felt like an eternity, it surfaced. As it surfaced the black void of the coma receded and feeling returned to the unconscious mind. As the chasm of emptiness retreated, a new existence came. One with pain. A heavy aching pain. Another unquantifiable stretch of time lay ahead. All the while the pain grew less and less. Until one day, the being awoke.
The young pegasus mare awoke. She felt stiff and sore, as if she had been lying in the same position for a long time. The surface under her felt hard and unforgiving. For a while she lied there prone, unwilling to move. She opened her eyes to reveal her surroundings. She was in a small, dark, bare room, with creamish white painted brick walls and a tainted white plastered ceiling. Light came from a single, dull, dirty bulb that hung exposed from a wire. Her bed was a simple metal shelf from the wall covered in a thin sheet. A thin metal sheet, vertical, from the floor to ceiling curtained off a toilet, white enamel basin and mirror. At the far end of the room was a heavy looking solid metal door with a barred, glassless window.
To her surprise she found her mind completely blank. Where was she? The mare tried to remember how she got there but she couldn't. She tried to remember something, anything, that might give her a clue. She couldn't even remember anything about who she was, let alone how she got there. Who was she? Nothing came into her mind as an answer. She sat there motionless for a while, taking stock of her surroundings. Her mind was wiped. All of her existence was within that room. Nothing existed before that. She tried to dispel the wave of panic and fear that was steadily rising from within her. The Pegasus thought long and hard, but nothing came. Realising that wasn't going to work she started to look for clues. She looked down at her hooves and saw her cyan coat. Through the dull greyness that still lingered from her sleep colours and shapes appeared. Like seeing ponies move through thick fog, the distant beginnings of memories were too clouded to make any sense. She tried focusing on them but the harder she tried, the more distant they became. It was an endless battle of focusing, losing sight of the memories, unfocusing and the memories returned, just out of grasp.
In the end she gave up trying. She looked around for more. Looking at her hooves made her realise she didn't even know what she looked like. There was a mirror in the room, and the mare got up to see her face. As she tried to move she realise just how stiff and sore she was. A blinding pain pulsed through her head, her joints creaked and groaned, and her muscles ached. She remembered her time in the coma. She reasoned she might have been in some kind of accident. But why was she here and not in a hospital? She slowly rose and wobbled unsteadily towards the mirror. She caught a glimpse of herself and the memories returned, this time clearer. She saw a cyan blue Pegasus, with a rainbow coloured mane. A million images rushed into her head, but none made any sense. She tried to slow down the torrent of information her brain was giving her, so intense was it that she had to sit back down and gather her thoughts. It was then that she saw her cutie mark. The jolt that gave her sent a single thought spinning like a falling feather into her head. She was Rainbow Dash. Then more memories came. This time she forced her mind to slow down.
Cloudsdale. She remembered Cloudsdale. She remembered growing up, seeing the Wonderbolts for the first time. Dreaming of one day being one. She remembered getting her cutie mark, the first Sonic Rainboom. She remembered the bullies, dropping out of flight school, working in the weather department. She remembered all of her life until... Until what? She didn't know. It was all crystal clear up to a point and then it went blank. She didn't seem to recall anything beyond her childhood. She was still no closer to knowing how she got here and why she was here. She didn't even know what she was supposed to do. There was nothing to do. She wobbled over to the door. It was locked. Through the barred window all she could see was a stretch of white painted wall. She had kind of realised she was in a prison without consciously acknowledging that fact. Now it struck her. Why was she in prison? Was she a convict? What had she done? This disconcerted the already troubled Rainbow Dash. She didn't remember being a nasty person as a filly. How could she have gotten into this mess?
Other questions came up as to what her life would be like now. When did she eat? Did she get meals in the cell, or did she go to a mess hall? What time was it? There was no clock visible, and no windows to tell either. There was so many questions, so little certainty, it began to work on her mind. She had only just awoken and already she had had to face memory loss and prison. True to herself, she tried to stay strong. She was Rainbow Dash, fearless, daring and undefeated. At least, she was that way around others. On her own in a prison cell things were different.
The questions repeated themselves over and over. Where am I? What am I here for? How long am I here for? The unchanging light and lack of timepieces made it almost disorienting. It could be the middle of the night for all she knew. How long had she been awake for? It could have been anywhere from a minute to half an hour. How long would it be before somepony would come for her? She just didn't have the answers. The unwavering yellow light made her dizzy. The questions in her head became louder and louder. Rainbow Dash shouted and curled up on the unforgiving bed and tried to empty her mind.
Time passed. It was several hours before anything happened. Outside there was complete silence. No movement. Once Rainbow Dash got up and had a proper look through the window, her only connection to the world outside her cell. Another door, much the same as hers, was positioned further down the hall. She caught a glimpse of a black and white striped face peering out of the cell, but it quickly withdrew in the sight of the blue Pegasus. At the sight of the face a single memory returned to her. A zebra, bolting from a thick forest, with panic clear in her eyes. That was it. It didn't make any sense. That was her only memory of adult life. It was all very confusing.
After a good few hours (or maybe minutes, who could tell?) a bell rang, and ponies came and unlocked the cell doors. Ponies of all shapes and sizes were shuffling out of their cells under the careful eyes of uniformed guards. There was something unearthly about the guards, how they stood absolutely motionless, stared seemingly unseeingly through black glasses and the heaviness of their hoofsteps. What kind of prison was she in? The ponies were marched in silence along a long corridor. It was finished in the same cream painted brick as the cells were, but the lights were dirty yellow strip lights. Rainbow Dash looked at the faces of the ponies. They were gaunt, emotionless, with dull sunken eyes. Each of their figures showed signs of wasting. She remembered how her first few hours had taken their toll on her sanity. They looked like they had been here for some time.
The black and White face appeared again in the distance, and the memory returned, this time clearer. There was a thin pillar of smoke rising in the distance, perhaps from a fire, and the zebra ran from the forest, as fast as she could, as if pursued by something. Then the memory ended. She felt herself being pushed along the corridor by the others. They walked for a long time, there was seemingly miles of corridor that stretched far into the distance both ways, beyond a sea if faces.
It was obvious something was different about this prison. The guards, the size, the atmosphere the ponies gave. It was something bigger than a prison. A million possibilities flooded her mind. Part of her wanted to escape but the sheer scale of the place buried the desire in a wave of hopelessness.
Eventually they reached a large hall, and ponies were already eating their food, sitting on long benches. The hall looked big enough to accommodate a whole town. Row upon row of white plastic benches stretched far into the distance. The walls were painted bright white, the ceiling was high and the lights shone brightly. It was so light Rainbow Dash has to cover her eyes while she got used to the intensity. The floor was done in cold, white tiles. Besides that there was nothing. It was the most impersonal room you could imagine. There was nothing that told you where you were or why you were here.
As she queued for her meal she caught a brief sight of a purple Alicorn. More shapes appeared, the distant beginnings of memories. Rainbow Dash tried as best she could in the intimidating room to focus on them but it was futile. Through the fog she saw the face of the Alicorn. She knew her, she was sure of that. She knew if she wanted to find out who she was then she would have to find the Alicorn.
Fortunately the silence that had pervaded the corridors seemed to be self imposed, as if the presence of the guards was something feared. The room was filled with conversation. Not the happy chatty type that was normal of ponies but conversation all the same. Rainbow Dash queued for her meal. The queue was long, it seemed there was several thousand people located here. After many minutes, she arrived and was given her meal. The old pony behind the desk looked frail, thin enough to snap and exhausted. She had a grey mane, streaked with dusty fuchsia. Around her neck was the tattered remains of a shirt collar. She wore glasses with broken golden frames. To Rainbow Dash this seemed oddly familiar. More faded memories returned, but nothing Rainbow could make any sense of
Behind the opening in the wall where the desk was there was a rack of bowls on plates. The area had so little lighting, just a few bulbs here and there in the empty space, it was difficult to see, in comparison to the bright hall behind her. The walls and ceiling were unlit and in Rainbow Dash's mind, were full of unspeakable evils. Behind the rack was another, then another. Thousands of meals, all apparently the same meal. It appeared to be watery soup with a single slice of thin bread. She looked at the meal with distaste but seen as she didn't seem to have much choice she took it anyway. She then went to find the purple Alicorn again. She walked along rows upon rows of tables, across a room filled with ponies, searching for the one face. Finally she saw her.
Immediately and without warning the memories flooded back into her mind. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy were all sitting together looking concernedly at each other. Rainbow Dash knew their names. How did she know their names? She remembered everything in order. That one day she crashed into Twilight in Ponyville. She had just dropped out of flight school and didn't really have many friends. When Twilight arrived that all changed. She remembered Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis and Sombra. She remembered pranking with Pinkie, destroying Applejack's old barn, saving Rarity in Cloudsdale, climbing the mountain with Fluttershy and of course Twilight holding everything together while she messed around. She finally after several hours knew who she was. It felt good to know who she was again, but still something wasn't quite right.
Twilight Sparkle was talking very worriedly to her friends. She had arrived a few days ago and no one had seen anything of Rainbow Dash. It was as if she had vanished. Everypony sat around that table was sat in concerned silence. They had all, at great risk to their lives, done everything they could to keep their friends safe, and had succeeded. All apart from one person. Fluttershy was crying. It wasn't until she saw the rainbow maned Pegasus standing there in the middle of the hall, apparently staring into mid space, that she stopped crying and tried to get the attention of the others.
"She was with me, I know it. She arrived here at the same time, I could swear." Twilight was saying.
"umm, Twilight..."
"Yes I know dear but where is she?" Rarity spoke over Fluttershy.
"Twilight..."
"That's what I mean. You don't think they... Took her. Do you..."
"TWILIGHT!" cried Fluttershy in a desperate attempt at recognition.
"Yes, Fluttershy" Replied Twilight.
"Look..." she said pointing Rainbow Dash.
"RAINBOW DASH! Oh my goodness!" shouted Twilight at the risk of drawing attention from the all feared guards.
The Pegasus snapped out of her daydream. She had realised she still didn't know a thing about where she was or how she got here. She didn't know the date, or how long it had been since her final memory, of the Zebra and the forest. It could have been years for all she knew. Twilight was calling her. It felt kind of surreal, as if something had happened that seemed to have taken the edge off her. She knew she shouldn't be scared, at anything, yet she just was. Her usual flamboyance and self esteem had been completely stamped on, her ego deflated. She came over to the table where all her friends sat.
"Rainbow Dash, oh I'm so glad you're safe! We were so worried about you! We thought that the... Engineers had taken you." Twilight said as they all huddled around their friend.
Rainbow Dash felt uncomfortable at their touch, there was still something wrong.
"Engineers? Oh I'm so glad to see your faces again. I just woke up and, it was like amnesia, I just didn't know anything. Twilight, where am I? I still don't remember a thing about how I got here. All I recall is seeing... Zeccora? Yeah, Zeccora, running out from the Everfree forest. I just don't know... Did something... Did something happen?" she blurted out, furiously wiping away the lonely tear of relief that threatened to betray her nervous state.
Everypony looked in dumbfounded disbelief. She really couldn't remember anything? How could you forget something like this? She didn't look the same Rainbow Dash either. But then again, no one did. Twilight was the first to break the silence.
"You don't remember, do you. A lot has happened, Rainbow. Yes, you're right, something bad happened. It all started the moment Zeccora ran from the forest. It... It was a disaster. Eat up, Rainbow. We don't have much time and there is lots to tell."
And so the purple Alicorn sat and told the story to the blue Pegasus. The whole story. This is the story of what happened that day, and the sad events that followed. This is not a fairy tale, there is no happily ever after. Ponyville would be changed forever, the memories like scars of the time Sombra reigned free.
Author's Note
«READ ME FIRST»«WARNING»
This is a dark story. A portion of it will be GrimDark. Although it is not the main focus of this fic, there will be gore scenes unsuitable for young or sensitive individuals. With any mature rated gore scenes I will give you a heads up so if you like you can skip them. That said, this is primarily an adventure story with dark elements, so I'm not deliberately being grim here. But if you dislike dark stories altogether then consider yourself warned. For the rest of us, enjoy!
