//-------------------------------------------------------// Digging for Memories -by Nature Quill- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1:The Beginning //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1:The Beginning Twilight Sparkle sat in her library reading a book. It was a book her big brother, Shining Armor, sent her for her birthday, but for a book from the Canterlot bookstore, it wasn't very interesting. It turned out to be full of a bunch of boring Star Swirl the Bearded that she already knew. She decided to take a walk. "Spike, I'm going for a walk, be back in while!" She called out to her assistant. "Okay see you later!," The baby dragon called back. She opened the door with her magic and gently shut it on her way out. She walked through the streets of Ponyville and waved at a few ponies including some of her best friends. The streets were a bit busy so she decided to take a walk out in the fields, taking the path that lead to the outskirts of Ponyville and to the edge of the Everfree Forest. She was just walking and enjoying the sights when she noticed something strange. At the edge of the forest was what looked like a pony lying on the ground. Twilight ran as fast as she could to the spot and sure enough lying on the ground was a stallion. He had a light brown coat covered in scratches and bruises. His mane was a light orange, dirty and matted in places with blood. His right fore leg had a deep gash running down it and his left hind leg was twisted at a sick angle. As soon as Twilight touched the hurt stallion to feel for a pulse, he shot up and his bloodshot, emerald green eyes opened wide. He grabbed Twilight in a tight embrace and she could feel tears drip onto her shoulder as he croaked out, "Please...No more...Please stop..." And as he said the last words he fell backward and fainted again. The blush that was on Twilight's face when the stallion hugged her soon disappeared and she started to panic. She felt his heartbeat which was slow and only beat every few seconds. His pulse was the same. Twilight didn't know what to do. Tears were streaming down her face too as she was frightened for the injured stallion. She levitated him off the ground with her magic and teleported them both to Golden Oaks Library and slammed through the door. The stallion's vision was slowly returning. When it fully developed he was staring straight at a purple and green, reptilian face. This startled him so much that he started to scream and the face screamed with him. They were screaming at each other for a few seconds until a purple unicorn burst through the door. Her mane and ponytail were dark purple with a pink streak through each. She looked confused for a split second then she noticed the stallion was awake. Her horn glowed a little as she used a spell to shut the face's mouth which turned out to be what looked like a baby dragon. She then proceeded to calm down the stallion which took a few minutes. When she finally calmed him down she sighed and said,  "Oh thank Celestia you're awake. I was worried!" The stallion was stuttering out trying to speak, "I....I...." The unicorn interrupted him, "Don't try to speak. You're probably in shock due to your condition." The stallion looked up and down his body. It was covered in bandages and ached all over. He started to look around with a curious and pained expression as every move hurt. Twilight understood his expression.  "You shouldn't try to move either." The stallion looked at her and finally spoke something that made sense, "Who are you and where am I?" Twilight was glad he could speak normally. "Well I am Twilight Sparkle and this is Spike my assistant." She nodded at the baby dragon whose mouth was still sealed. He muttered something which was incomprehensible to the two ponies. Twilight unsealed his mouth. Spike nodded and said, "Hi!" The stallion nodded which hurt him too. Twilight continued to talk with an expression of concern on her face, "Anyways,this is the Ponyville library." She waved a hoof around her there were shelves upon shelves of books. "Well,this is actually my bedroom." The stallion looked at her with a surprised expression.  "Your bedroom!?," he half-shouted. Twilight blushed, "Yeah I kinda like books." She said in a small voice.  "Yeah, I noticed that." The stallion replied There was an awkward silence for a few minutes before Twilight broke it, "So what's your name?" The stallion didn't know how to answer that so he just shrugged. Then Twilight spotted his Cutie Mark. It was what looked like a dirt road that split off into two directions. Twilight pointed it out. "Wait look at your Cutie Mark. It's a fork in the road." The stallion looked at her. "Yeah?" Twilight answered his question, "Well you know how when you get to a fork in the road you have to choose which way to go right? Well maybe we could call you Destiny." The stallion thought about it a little bit then nodded, "Yeah that seems like a good name." Spike nodded in agreement. There was more awkward silence then the stallion spoke up, "Well what should we do now?" Twilight thought for a moment then said, "Well I should probably introduce you to my friends. I'm sure they would like you." Destiny nodded.          Destiny tried to slip out of the bed but since his leg was still broken he almost fell but Twilight caught him. Their eyes met and both of them blushed. Twilight's horn glowed as she lifted him back onto the bed. "I don't think you should try to get up yet your leg is broken really bad, "She said as her blush faded. "Here I'll go get you something to eat. You were unconscious for a long time, about 3 days." Destiny's eyes lit up with surprise, "THREE DAYS!?" Twilight's eyes widened form this sudden burst of energy, "Yeah, your condition is pretty bad, so wait here I'll go get you something to eat."As Twilight was leaving she turned to Spike who Destiny forgot was there. "Spike keep him company and I'll be back in a few  minutes." Spike gave a salute as Twilight left. There was even MORE awkward silence. Then Destiny spoke up, "So Spike you're Twilight's assistant?" Spike nodded and said, "Yeah I help with cooking and cleaning and stuff." Destiny nodded back. After a few minutes, Twilight walked through the door levitating a tray with a salad, a cup of tea and a bowl of soup with some  silverware and a napkin. Twilight set the tray down on the covers of the bed Destiny was lying on. When Destiny tried to lift a spoonful of soup to his mouth his arm stung so much he had to drop the soup back into the bowl. But when he tried to to get it back into the bowl it fell onto the front of his coat which caused him to flinch in pain. Twilight noticed this right away and rushed to help him. "Oh my are you okay?" She used her magic to clean his coat and said, "Maybe I should feed you?" Destiny looked at his arm and saw some dried blood that soaked through it. He reluctantly agreed to let her feed him. After he was all fed, he told Twilight he was tired. Twilight checked the time and it was pretty late so she told him he should get some rest. After Twilight made sure he didn't need anything else, she gently shut the door and she and spike walked down the stairs. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, she got a cushion and picked up a book and started to read. Spike was sitting around with a peculiar smile on his face. Twilight sighed and shut the book.  "Okay Spike what are you smiling about," she asked. Spike's smile grew wider and said, "You know, he's kinda cute..." He said pointing upstairs. "Spike what are you talking about?" Spike just grinned more. Then Twilight understood what he meant and blushed so much her face turned as red as Big Macintosh. She opened her mouth to say something but shut it. She marched upstairs as quietly as she could. She opened the door to her room and saw Destiny sleeping peacefully on the spare bed. His chest rose and lowered slowly. She forgot what Spike said and smiled at how his recovery was going. She climbed into her bed and shut her eyes and drifted peacefully off to sleep. What Twilight didn't know was that Destiny's dream wasn't peaceful at all. In this dream, he was in a dark room and could just barely recognize the outline of furniture. He didn't know where he was and was becoming frightened. He then heard a low groan coming from the center of the dark room. He could make out the form of what looked like a pony lying on the ground. Suddenly the lights hanging from the ceiling turned on. There was furniture everywhere but what scared him the most was that the furniture looked like it used to be black but was splashed with a red liquid which left large and sickening stains all over everything. Even the walls were splattered with what Destiny hoped was red paint. Then he saw something that scared him even worse than before. It was the lifeless form of Twilight Sparkle lying in the center of the room in a puddle of blood. Destiny raced over to her and gasped in horror .The puddle of blood was her own. Her stomach had been cut open and her organs were spilled out. She was bleeding to death. He held her in his arms. Suddenly her eyes shot open. She spoke only a few words. "Destiny...," she groaned out, "Twilight don't die!! Please don't die!," Destiny was shouting. A small grin creeped across her face. "Take care of Spike for me," she said. Those last words came out very slowly, then she closed her eyes. Her slow breathing stopped and Destiny could no longer feel her heartbeat. Destiny started to cry. His tears spilled over Twilight's body and his sobs echoed throughout the room. Destiny awoke abruptly and started screaming, "TWILIGHT!!! NO!!! DON'T DIE!!!" His screaming awoke Twilight. She rushed towards him and asked, "Destiny what's wrong!?" When she got close, he pulled her tight into a hug. "Don't die...," he sobbed out. Twilight stroked his mane. "Its's okay. I'm not dead. I'm right here." She climbed into the bed with him and held him tight. His sobs started to lessen as she hugged him. They held each other until they were both fast asleep. They slept peacefully in each other's arms. Spike saw the whole scene unfold. He silently shut the door and snickered all the way down the stairs. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" What spike didn't know was that Destiny was much more than he seemed and he didn't even Destiny didn't know it himself. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: Making Friends //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2: Making Friends Destiny slowly awoke. He thought hard about what happened last night then realization hit him. He had hugged Twilight. He was so embarrassed about what he did so he just lay there. After awhile Twilight slowly opened the door. She noticed he was awake and smiled. "Oh, good you're awake I made breakfast." She said as she levitated a tray onto Destiny's lap. It had a plate of pancakes and some orange juice with a knife and fork. His wounds had healed some more so he could feed himself without the embarrassment of having Twilight feed him. Twilight noticed that he was now able to move his fore legs without her help and smiled some more. After Destiny had eaten,Twilight levitated the tray back downstairs and into the sink. Destiny couldn't contain it anymore he had to say something. "Look Twilight I'm really sorry about last night, I just had a nightmare..." Those words reminded Twilight about last night which made her blush. "It's okay you're probably just going through rough times due to the fact you can't remember anything." Destiny slowly nodded. "So what should we do now?" He said. Twilight thought about it for a moment than said "Well I should probably introduce you to my friends, maybe they will know something about you or your past."Destiny nodded again but in his head doubted anypony in this...Ponyville place would know anything about him or his past. Twilight was glad to see Destiny recovering. "Okay I'm just going to put you in a wheelchair and we can head off to Sugarcube Corner. I arranged for all my best friends to meet me us there although they don't know why yet." She said. Destiny nodded for the third time. Twilight left the room for a few seconds and came back with a wheelchair. She levitated Destiny into it. She then used her magic to levitate Destiny and the wheelchair downstairs which,Destiny noticed,seemed to be hard for Twilight. Destiny was thankful for everything Twilight was doing for him and was about to say it when there was a knock at the door. Twilight almost lost focus but managed to set Destiny down on the floor. She opened the door and standing there were all her best friends. She was surprised since they all should have been at Sugarcube Corner. "Guys,what are you doing here?" She asked. Her friend applejack stepped forward and said "Well,we were waitin' for ya Twi but Mr. and Mrs.Cake needed the bakery to themselves but didn't tell us why so we thought we'd come here." Twilight thought for a moment then sighed. "Alright come in." She opened the door wider and let them in. As soon as they walked in the first thing they noticed was Destiny in the wheelchair. They all just stared at him. After a few seconds of silence Destiny raised a hoof and said hi but he flinched and had to drop his hoof as the pain had returned. Twilight rushed over to him and asked "Are you okay?" Destiny nodded "It's just a little pain." Rainbow Dash spoke up "So who is this?" Twilight answered her question "Oh sorry,Everyone this is Destiny." Everyone just continued to stare. Destiny was getting a little nervous. "Um,why is everyone staring at me?" He asked. Everyone except Fluttershy turned away in different directions embarrassed . Fluttershy slowly walked up to Destiny. "Hello my name is Fluttershy." She said as she held out a hoof. Destiny smiled and shook it slowly "Hi I'm Destiny,nice to meet you." Fluttershy smiled and walked back to her spot. Everyone started to stare again but this time at Fluttershy. She was normally very shy especially around other ponies. There was something different about Destiny that apparently had an affect on Fluttershy. Twilight's eyes were wide open too but she shook her head and smiled. "Why doesn't everyone come up and introduce themselves?"She said. The first to come up was Applejack "Hi Ah'm Applejack, I run Sweet Apple Acres, the Ponyville apple orchard and we grow the best apples you'll ever eat!" She said. Destiny smiled again at her enthusiasm "Hello Applejack." Next was Rarity "Hello dear my name is Rarity I run Carousel Boutique. I make all sorts of clothes and design only the best dresses!" She said raising a hoof to the air,her voice full of enthusiasm. Destiny's smile grew wider. Twilight's friends sure were full of energy. Next was Pinkie Pie, she drew in a deep breath and started to sing Welcome welcome welcome to Ponyville! You're gonna love it here I know you will! Just enjoy your time! As much as I love to rhyme! After a long welcoming song Pinkie said "Hi I'm Pinkie Pie!" Then went back to her spot with a smile on her face. Destiny just sat there stunned, his eyes and mouth wide open. He shook his head when when Rainbow Dash flew over "Hi I'm Rainbow Dash, but you can just call me by my title, the best flyer in Equestria!" She half shouted. The smile on Destiny's face returned after he heard Rainbow Dash. Suddenly there was a flash of green light that came from upstairs. Then Spike rolled down the stairs with a scroll in his hand. "Twilight...Letter...Princess..." He moaned out before he fell backwards asleep. Everypony in the room burst out laughing at the scene that just unfolded. Twilight picked up the scroll and unrolled it. She decided to read it aloud since it might be for all of them. She cleared her throat then read: Dear Twilight, I need you to report to the palace immediately and bring everypony else it is urgent Signed, Princess Celestia Twilight finished reading the letter with a surprised face. Everyone else had the same expression. Destiny looked the most surprised "All right Who's Celestia and how does she know who I am?" Twilight stared at him with an expression of sorrow "I'm so sorry...I probably got you into something deep otherwise why would she send a letter like this..."  Destiny looked at her with an expression confusion and concern "Twilight what's wrong?"Destiny asked, his voice full of concern. Twilight sighed and started to speak. She explained to Destiny who Celestia was."I told her how I found you and explained what you looked like and everything and she probably thinks your somebody else,someone who committed a crime..."Twilight started to sob. Destiny rolled over to Twilight and hugged her trying to comfort her "Ssshhhhh...It's okay Twilight I don't blame you". All of a sudden Spike belched out another letter. Twilight picked it up and read it aloud her voice tinged with sadness: Dear Twilight, I am very sorry about that last scroll. It is an emergency scroll I keep close at hoof in case i need you or the others. Anyways,I'm glad to hear you made a new friend and it was very kind of you to help him. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Twilight and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. After that incident they all tried to act like the incident never happened. Twilight insisted they all make themselves at home. They talked all day discussing lots of things like how maybe when Destiny healed up he could help Applejack at the orchard or be a model for Rarity. They talked for a while then Spike shot up awake saying "I'm sorry what chores do I have to do!?" He was yelling while running around in a circle. That just made everypony crack up.Spike was confused "What are you laughing at?" He kept asking which made them crack up some more. After a few hours everypony went home. Destiny yawned loudly "Hey Twilight could you help me upstairs so I can go to bed?" He asked Twilight "Oh,sure." Twilight levitated him upstairs and into bed. He settled down into bed. "Thank you for everything,Twilight." He said. Twilight smiled at him. "Your welcome,Destiny.I'm always there for my friends." She turned out the lights and gently shut the door. Destiny lay there slowly drifting off to sleep. He didn't have a bad dream but it certainly wasn't a normal one at that. In his dream Destiny saw nothing but black. Then all of a sudden there was a whispering voice"Choose your fate,no time to debate. Use it to help the ones you love or become a god above." After the mysterious voice finished there was a flash of bright light. When the flash faded there were two paths. One led to what looked like a town and all his friends smiling and waving. The other path led to what looked like a vault of gold and treasures. He heard the whispering voice again "Choose between your so called friends or riches that have no ends. He didn't know what the voice meant but he did know one thing: No amount of money would separate him from his friends. "Hey weird voice, you wouldn't know anything about friendship. Word of advice, stop sneaking around in peoples dreams, and take your riches and shove them right up your butt, 'Cus I don't need them. Bye!" He said as he stuck out his tongue, taking the path towards his friends. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: The Fire //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3: The Fire           Three months had passed since Twilight found Destiny. His broken hind leg had healed a lot so he could walk again and so did many of his cuts and bruises. There were still multiple wounds on his body including the gash on his fore leg. Twilight said they were made by magical causes and would take longer to heal. Destiny was okay with that as long as he could walk again. As soon as he could walk he went everywhere and met everyone. He became friends with most of Ponyvilles's residents. He even met the troublesome Cutie Mark Crusaders.           He had become best friends with all of Twilight's friends and Fluttershy didn't seem so shy around him. Twilight told him that during the winter she was all alone in her cottage. Destiny decided to visit her to see how she was doing. There was a blanket of snow on the ground and the air was cool and crisp. He had a smile on his face as he walked but it disappeared as soon as he could see Fluttershy's cottage. It was on fire.           He rushed across the small bridge and towards the cottage. The entire roof was burning and the door was burnt black. He was hoping no one was in there but then he heard it. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" It was a scream he instantly recognized as Fluttershy's. He burst through the door, shattering it into ash. The sight was horrible. There were birdhouses littering the ground and on fire and burning wooden beams falling down. The black smoke was entering his lungs, causing him to cough uncontrollably. He rushed up a small staircase and into a short hallway. He heard the scream again, coming from the door at the end of the hallway.           He raced down the hallway and into the room. He gasped in horror followed by coughing from the smoke he inhaled. There was the remains of a scorched bed and burning picture frames littering the floor. He saw Fluttershy in the corner curled up in a ball crying and choking from the smoke.There was a large scorched safe lying on the ground spilling bits everywhere. He heard the voice from his dream in his head "Save her,rob her." He thought in his head "Save her." The voice replied in a slightly angry tone "Ugh! Your going to take a while,Very well." He felt an odd tingling sensation on the top of his head but shrugged it off.           "Fluttershy!" He called out. Fluttershy opened her eyes and saw Destiny standing there. "Help!" She called out. Destiny felt the odd tingling again but this time it was in his head. All of a sudden Fluttershy glowed with a faint orange light and floated over to him onto his back. "Hang on!" He called over the roaring flames. He could feel Fluttershy tighten her grip around his neck. He ran into the hallway and down the stairs coughing and sputtering. His vision was starting to fade but he kept going. All of a sudden Fluttershy screamed and he looked up. A beam was falling onto them. Destiny grabbed Fluttershy and threw her out of the way. He braced for impact but the beam stopped in midair. He took the opportunity and ran out form under it just as it came crashing down. He grabbed a coughing and sobbing Fluttershy and raced out the door.           He laid Fluttershy down onto the snow and collapsed. The smoke was taking affect on his body. He was coughing out black smoke uncontrollably. Fluttershy got up and rushed over to him. "Destiny are you okay!?" She half shouted in her gentle voice. "I'm fine as long as you are..." He said with a small smile. Tears were streaming down Fluttershy's face as she smiled and hugged him. "Oh,thank you so much. You saved my life..." He patted her back. "Your welcome." Destiny's vision slowly went black and he fainted.           Destiny awoke slowly and looked around. He was in a hospital bed. There was an oxygen mask strapped to his face and an I.V. in his left hoof. He felt something on his lap. He looked down and smiled. Fluttershy's head was rested on his lap and she was sleeping peacefully. He stroked her mane for a while then she slowly awoke. She looked up at him and smiled. Tears started to run down her and she hugged him again and kept saying "Thank you" and "It's my fault..." and he kept saying "Your welcome" and "No it's not". This continued for a while then Fluttershy pulled away and asked him "Ummm...Destiny?" Destiny looked at her with a smile on his face "Yeah?" He replied. "How did you do...Well do what you did back there?" Destiny looked at her with a confused expression "What do you mean?" He asked. "Well when I saw you I could have sworn I saw a horn on your head...A unicorn horn." She said. " Destiny smiled again and pulled her close "You were just hallucinating. That house was filled with smoke and you were pretty frightened." He said gently. Fluttershy sat back, smiled, and nodded. All of a sudden Twilight and all of her friends burst through the door with expressions of terror on their faces. "Destiny, Fluttershy, are you okay!?" Twilight shouted. "Yes Twilight, I'm fine, and so is Fluttershy." He replied calmly. Twilight came and hugged him "We were all so worried about you..." He patted her back and said "It's alright I'm okay now." Twilight pulled away from him and smiled. "That was very brave of you to save Fluttershy." Twilight said. Everyone nodded. "Yeah I would have done the same if I was there."  Rainbow Dash said with a grin. Everyone laughed at this even thought they knew it was true. The doctor came in and was glad to see Destiny was awake. He said he would be fine and could go. Destiny slipped out of bed and they all walked to Twilight's house. When they got there they all went inside and sat down. Rainbow Dash spoke up "So what happened Fluttershy?" Fluttershy sighed and started "Well it was early in the morning..." "I woke up and decided to sleep in since there were no animals to take care of. I fell back asleep and woke up again later but kept my eyes shut, hoping to fall back asleep. Then I heard voices. There were 2 of them, one deep and one high and scratchy. The deep one said 'So is this her?' and the second voice said 'Yeah,but it doesn't matter who she is as long as she's a friend of his.' I heard a shrill laughter then the deep voice sighed and said 'Just kill her already.' Th-they were g-going to k-kill me..." Her voice started to crack. Rainbow flew down and put a fore-leg around her. She smiled and continued "I looked up in time to see the outline of a pegasus and a unicorn before they disappeared in a column of flames. The flames spread so quickly. They trapped me in a corner and covered my entire house in seconds. I screamed and started to cry. A few moments later Destiny burst through the door. I cried out for help and then I felt a weird tingling sensation and I was lifted into the air and onto his back. I held on tight and he ran downstairs. All of a sudden a beam fell from the ceiling. I screamed at him to look out. He threw me out of the way and risked his life to make sure I was safe. He almost died but then I felt him pick me up and carry me outside. He dropped me onto the snow and collapsed. Then the paramedic ponies showed up. They took him to the hospital. After all of that I had forgot about something strange,something that really made it weird...Destiny had a unicorn horn..." Everyone turned their gaze to Destiny. Twilight said the same thing Destiny said "You were probably just hallucinating from the smoke since it was made by magical causes." They all nodded. Then Fluttershy said "But what do I do now? My house is burned down and I have no where to stay..." Applejack smiled "It's okay Shy. We'll help you rebuild yer house." Then Twilight spoke up "Yeah and you can stay here in the meantime." She said. Fluttershy smiled and tears of joy streamed down her face "Oh thank you so much, I don't know what would I do without you guys." She said. They all smiled and had a group hug. After a while everyone went home. Twilight pulled out a spare mattress for Fluttershy who thanked her again, crawled into bed, and fell asleep. Twilight and Destiny walked downstairs and into the main room. All of a sudden Spike,who had been at Rarity's,burst through the door holding a scroll. Twilight immediately took it and read it. Her eyes widened "Destiny I have to go I will be back tomorrow. Take care of Fluttershy for me." She said all this while she scooped up Spike and stuffed a few things into her saddlebag. She ran out the door and shut it on her way out. Destiny just sat there stunned with his eyes wide open. All he heard was back tomorrow and take care of Fluttershy because of how fast Twilight was talking. He shook his head and started to pace around the room. He couldn't sleep. He had too much on his mind like Who tried to kill Fluttershy and why? or What is that voice I keep hearing? he pondered on these thoughts and then he heard Fluttershy scream. He raced up the stairs and nearly broke the door bursting through it. Fluttershy was on the ground screaming and crying. Destiny rushed over to her calling over her sobs "Fluttershy what's wrong!?" Fluttershy started to sobbing out "Fire everywhere... All my friends dead... Rainbow..." Destiny then remembered what Twilight did 3 months ago. He picked her up, put her into her bed, and climbed under the covers with her and pulled her close. "Shhhh...Its okay Fluttershy it was just a dream..." Fluttershy's cries diminished until they stopped completely and she fell into a deep sleep. Destiny couldn't keep his eyelids open and fell asleep along with her. In her dream Fluttershy was running. She was being chased by something. She ran until the beast cornered her into a tree in a clearing. She turned around and saw a Timber-wolf walk into the clearing but it looked strange. It was larger than an ordinary Timber-wolf and its eyes were red instead of green. It bared it's teeth and crouched low as it made it's way toward Fluttershy. "St-stay back!" She stuttered at it. All of a sudden a pony leaped into the clearing. It was in the shadows so Fluttershy couldn't see who it was. They leaped at the Timber-wolf and rammed into it's side sending it flying into a tree. The vicious beast stumbled back up and roared. It charged at the figure with the force and speed of a bull. The figure dodged the creature and bucked it in the side and it shattered into pieces. The figure stood up straight and walked towards Fluttershy. She backed away, frightened of the figure. Then they stepped into the moonlight and Fluttershy gasped. Destiny was standing there, smiling, his hoof outstretched. Fluttershy smiled back and took his hoof.