Flames Within These Feathers

by Starshine Dart

Rating: everyone
Tags: Main 6, Original Character, Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 8026

My name's Vermillion, and I ... can't remember anything. I've woken up in this strange place, not knowing how I got here. But these 6 ponies I've met could be my only hope to unlocking my memory....

My name is Vermillion Blaze, and I ... can't remember anything. I've woken up in a strange place, with no clues as to how or why I got here. I'm alone. Confused. Scared.

But there still may be hope for me. These 6 ponies that I've met could be the very keys to recovering the memories I've lost. Now, I have no idea what's going to happen next, but I can already tell...

I'm in for a heck of a ride.

Published 2013-04-07 08:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-07-05 15:26:01 UTC

Prologue (Rewritten)

Prologue: Rewritten
_______________________________________________________________________________________

I wake up to find myself in a grassy field, and with the sun in my eyes. I lift my hoof to block out its blinding rays, while getting up to take a look around me. I don’t really see anything other than the field itself, save for an eerie-looking forest next to it with obnoxious amounts of plant overgrowth. Strange, I don’t remember this place.

Wait. Forget remembering this place, I can’t remember anything. Why can’t I remember anything?!

There’s got to be at least something that I remember. There’s got to be. As if by luck, something was coming to me. Vermillion Blaze. My name.

Well, that would be useful to know. Is there anything else?

I wait, in the hopes that something else might come to me, but it looks like that’s all I can remember. Looks like my amnesia and I are getting along wonderfully, so far.

So, I’m in the middle of nowhere, without my memory. What do I do? There’s nothing around me except for the forest, and it doesn’t look too welcoming. It’s even emanating its own, ominous fog.

There seems to be nothing else around me for miles. The forest might be my only choice, after all. Reluctantly, I take my first steps towards the eerie forest. Once I get in, I find that it seems just as intimidating on the inside as it does on the outside. It’s very dark, and the canopies of the trees make even the sky hard to see from here. That, and I have to either duck or sidestep to avoid branches and vines every 3 seconds. Definitely a place I would rather not be in.

Because of all the vines and branches everywhere, I’m trudging through this forest at a snail’s pace. But that would all soon pay off. After treading through this path for so long, I can see a small clearing. Yes! I can finally get some room for my wings, now.

I step out into the clearing, stretching my wings as I go along. It definitely feels a lot better, after being squeezed in with all those plants. I look around to see if there’s an actual path I can take, but it doesn’t take a genius to guess at what I found next. More trees everywhere.

On the bright side, there’s a small lake off to the side. Just in time, too, I was starting to get thirsty. I walk towards the lake, to find it surprisingly clear, enough that I can see my own reflection. Well, now’s as good a time as any to see what I look like.

I look into the lake, and there I am. A pair of golden eyes stares back at me. My mane and tail were both red and yellow, looking like they were on fire. My coat is a dark orange, or vermillion, to be more accurate. I look on my flank to find that my cutie mark is a small flame. Hopefully, I can remember what it means soon enough.

I take a few seconds for me to continue looking at myself, to make sure that I’ve remembered my image. Then, I dunk my head into the lake and take a long drink. The water’s refreshing, and it has already sated my thirst. Well, it’s time to move on.

I take a few steps forward to try to navigate the forest, but not before a shrill scream comes out of nowhere. I quickly turn around to find that the source of the sound is coming to the left of me. If somepony’s in trouble, I’ll be there to help.

I speed off towards the direction of the scream, as fast as I could. I would attempt to fly, but I would easily get tangled in the branches and vines. That, and I forgot how to fly as well. Wonderful.

I run as fast as I possibly can towards the source of the sound, ducking under branches, jumping over roots. I hear the scream again as I step out of the foliage into another clearing.

There’s a butter yellow, female pegasus being circled by a pack of wolves. But they look … unnatural. They’re made out of … branches? I had a feeling that this forest had much more up its sleeve.

The wolves continued to circle the pegasus, who was frightened out of her wits. She desperately tries to communicate with them, to get them to stop, but it didn’t seem to do any good. Enough of this. Those wolves are getting a beatdown.

“Hey!” I yell out. The wolves look to me in curiosity. “Pick on somepony your own size!” I pick up a rock off of the forest floor, and hurl it as hard as I can towards one of the wolves.

The rock hits hard enough to make an audible impact upside a wolf’s head. The wolf staggers and returns the favor with an angry glare towards me, along with a menacing growl. Just as I expected, the wolves took their minds off of the pegasus they were assaulting, and now to me. It’s going to take a lot more than these guys to try to stop me.

The wolves run towards me, with vengeance in their eyes. They show their teeth, giving off a nasty smell, probably their breath. Ew. They begin to circle me now, and they all run in to begin an attack.

Using my wings for extra propulsion, I jump just before they attack, causing them all to claw each other. I land a few feet away from the pack. These wolves may look scary, but they’re definitely not very smart. After realizing that they had completely missed me and instead hit each other, they look around for me, angrier than ever.

I chuck another rock at the group, this time hitting one in the eye. The wolf howls in pain as it struggles to get the stone out of its eye. But, the other two aren't done with me yet. Let them come at me; if they want to harm that pony over there, then I’ll make sure they find themselves on the receiving end.

They make a mad dash towards me, intent on revenge. Let’s see what else I can give these guys.

One of the wolves takes a swipe at me while the other goes in for a bite. I duck under the former and sidestep the latter. These guys are starting to get sloppy. I rear my legs back, and give one of them a clean buck to the face, just as it is about to go for another slash. The impact sends the wolf backwards, sprawling on the ground, causing the creature to howl in pain. That left one.

This time, these guys look like they’re done screwing around. The wooden creature quickly slashes at me, which I dodge, but it then catches me in the face with a much more powerful hit.

I stagger back away from the wolf. The wound it left behind burns and stings. It comes back for more. Good. This isn’t over yet.

The wolf attempts a pounce, which I easily avoid. Unfortunately, one of the two wolves that I had gotten out of the way comes back to tackle me over to the other, which traps me under its giant paw. It menacingly growls and raises its claws for a final strike.

“No…,” I mutter. “This isn’t over…,” If they think I’m finished, they’re dead wrong. Try to hurt an innocent pony, and you will pay the price.

“GET OFF!” I yell in fury, as I raise my hoof for a strike at its face, but it doesn’t reach far enough. Is it over for me? I close my eyes as I wait for the hit, but it didn’t come. Looking back, I see something … unexpected.

The wooden creature’s head had caught fire. I have no idea how, but that doesn’t matter now. The wolf gets off me immediately, and runs around to panic and howl in pain. It flees into the foliage, followed by its friends, who each took a quick look at me before whimpering and running off. I … won. I don’t know how, but I won.

I get up. “Yeah…” I groan. The pegasus who had been attacked runs out of her cover to rush over to my side. “Yeah … you better run! And I never want … to ….”

I can’t finish my sentence. Everything was fading out. I got increasingly dizzy. What’s going on? I see the same pegasus desperately asking me questions and looking into my eyes. I can’t hear her, or anything else. Soon, everything fades to black. What’s happening now?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I wake up for the second time that day. Except this time, I’m in a blank, white, void. I can’t make heads or tails of what’s happening, and I still can’t remember anything.

I get up, and as I look around, there’s really nothing to see. It’s just this blank, white expanse that goes on for as far as the eye can see. I have no idea how I’m even standing in this place. What do I do? There’s nothing here. I’m alone.

Would I be alone here, forever? I was already confused and frightened enough when I woke up in that field, and now there’s this. I give in to tears. They stream down my face like a river, and my sobs echo out through the expanse, as if to solely mock me. To remind me that I was alone here.

Soon, my crying received a response. There is a vaguely shaped wisp of flame with wings that comes out of nowhere. I follow its path, and it’s quickly circling me. The circling motion creates a pillar of flame around me, that grew closer and closer. What’s going on now? Would I die here?

There is nothing more that I can do. I simply sit there and wait for death to come. The fire is soon within close range of me, its heat sweeping across my body. Soon, the flames make contact with my skin.

But … it didn’t burn?

The fire quickly engulfs me in no more than a second. However, where I’m expecting a searing, burning and agonizing pain throughout my whole body, it actually feels cool, like snow.

The flames perform their intricate dance across my body, but they are cool to the touch. I simply lay there, just relaxing. But as I sit back, I feel something snap within the inside of my mind. Am I getting a memory back?

It came to me in bits and pieces. At first, I had no idea what it was, but as soon as I could put the pieces together, I suddenly fall.

The flames are gone. Although I can’t see anything for miles in this void, I feel like I’m falling anyways. I scream as I quickly plummet. But, I hit nothing. Why is it that today, everything turns against me and confuses me beyond belief?

As I continue to fall, I’m suddenly blinded by a bright light, and I soon wake up.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I slowly open my eyes, sit up and stretch my legs and wings as I yawn. Taking a look around, I find that I’m in a hospital bed. I must have been moved here by somepony after passing out.

I take a look at myself in a nearby mirror to find bandages in a few places on my body. On my shoulders, my chest, and one across my cheek. Looks like those wolves didn’t give me that bad of a beating.

Wait … the dream! I just remembered something at the end of that dream … what was it?

Suddenly, memories flow into my mind. Through them, I can only see myself, and everything else is an unidentifiable blur. I see myself … with fire in my front hooves. I’m shooting streams of fire, and throwing fireballs. Soon after that visual, I remember it all.

My cutie mark, the flame. My talent is my ability to use my power. I lift a hoof in front of me and focus, and sure enough, a very small wisp of fire appears. I quickly dispel it; I wouldn’t want anything to catch fire. Soon after getting rid of the flame, the pegasus pony I saved earlier comes into the room.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re awake!” the pegasus exclaims. “I’m so happy that you’re ok. Those nasty timberwolves hurt you pretty bad.”

“It’s alright, I feel fine,” I explain. “But I’d like to know how I got here. Could you tell me?”

The pegasus quickly shrinks back. “Um … it was … scary….”

She seems to be pretty shy. Maybe I should be gentler in my approach….

“Don’t worry,” I reach out to her. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

She takes a deep breath. A few moments later, she comes up with a response. “No … it’s fine ... I’ll tell you … if you’d like me to, that is…,” I smile.

“Great, let’s hear it. Take your time, if you need to.” Looks like the new approach worked. The pegasus takes a few deep breaths before starting.

“Well, um … after you passed out, I … couldn’t do anything. I wasn’t strong enough to carry you … I was so worried … although, two pegasi were flying by, and helped out … I still couldn’t do anything for you…,” she sighs before continuing. “I couldn’t do anything to help you, and you had put yourself in the way of danger to help me. You had gotten hurt … and … I feel terrible … I’m sorry….”

I feel bad; I never meant to make her feel this way….

I reach out a hoof to touch her on the shoulder. She quickly looks to me with a surprised expression. I smile at her.

“You don’t have to apologize for not being able to help. I’m ready to help anypony in need, especially if they’re being attacked, and even if it means me getting hurt. Now, you may not be able to do the same, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t still help me, and you don’t have to, either. But, if you do want to help, I could certainly use it.” Please….

She continues to look down for a second, before looking back to me. “T … thank you. You’re a very nice pony … of course I’ll help you. What can I help you with?”

Looks like it worked. She seems to be a bit more open now. Now, I can finally see if I can get some help.

“Well you see, I can’t really remember anything,” I explain.

She gasps. “You can’t remember anything? Anything at all?” The pegasus looks over to me with worriment in her eyes.

“Well,” I begin, “Anything but my own name. But thanks to this strange dream I had, I’ve remembered something else.” She looks to me with curiosity. I lift one of my front hooves and summon a very small wisp of flame in it. She jumps back at its sudden appearance, before looking into it with amazement. I dispel the fire. “My cutie mark” – I point to the flame symbol on my flank – “Represents my ability to use this power, although I don’t remember much on using it anymore. Anyways, to get to the point; I don’t know who I really am, or why I’m here. I need help on getting my memory back. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I need all the help I can get. So please … can you help me?” I beg her. Please….

She puts on a pensive look and thinks for a few moments before suddenly answering. “I know! Twilight!”

Twilight … for some odd reason, it sounds familiar. Maybe whatever “Twilight” is, can help me further.

“Twilight?” I ask her.

“Yes,” She begins. “Twilight’s a good friend of mine, and she’s wonderful at using all kinds of magic. Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s just that Twilight sounds very familiar. I guess I could start there. Could I please see her?” I ask.

“Of course, but we should save that for another day” – She points to a window where the night sky is visible – “It’s getting dark out. But we can see Twilight tomorrow. The doctor said you would be discharged, then. You only have minor injuries, except for that cut on your face, which might take some time to heal. I’ll come to get you tomorrow morning, is that ok?”

I nod to her. “That sounds great. But before you go, I haven’t introduced myself. My name’s Vermillion Blaze. What’s yours?” I inquire.

“… Fluttershy. My name is Fluttershy. It’s nice to meet you.”

Wow, I had expected her to be shyer when she introduced herself. I guess she opened up to me in the end.

“Same here. Now, I think it’s best that I get some sleep for tomorrow. I’ll see you then?” I ask to confirm our meeting.

“Of course. Goodbye, Vermillion.” I wave to her as she walks out of the room. Looks like help is on its way, now.

I turn to the bedside lamp, and reach out to turn it off. After that, I simply go to lie down in my bed. I hadn’t realized how tired I was until now. I could go to sleep any second now, what with all that went on today. But I shouldn’t worry about that. Tomorrow will be a new day.

I close my eyes, and sleep takes me instantaneously.

Author's Note

Rewritten prologue, finished. I'm not expecting this thing to be amazing, but hopefully you guys will enjoy it better than the first one. Remember, constructive criticism is still very much appreciated.

Chapter 1

My eyes flutter open. I slowly get up and find myself in some sort of plain, with the sky completely white. Great. No clues as to where I am either.

I look around a bit, not finding anything. I start to slowly walk forward, not knowing where I’m headed, observing the environment. Or lack of environment, in this case.

Minutes pass. Nothing comes up, and nothing else can be seen for miles. I sigh in frustration.

As if on cue, something does happen. However, it’s not much of an improvement.

I see darkness in the corners of my eyes. I hear the sound of hooves hitting the ground, in a steady pace, as if it’s following me. I must be going insane. I keep going anyways.

The darkness grows and begins to gradually cover my field of vision at a slow, and ominous rate. The sounds of the hoofsteps grow in volume, as if they are coming closer and closer. Now this certainly isn’t any better … What did I do to deserve this?

I start shaking as I continue. The darkness still keeps growing, to the point where I can barely see anything now. Whatever is following me, it’s right behind me now. I start taking shallow breaths as I keep going, until I have only a sliver of my eyesight left.
Suddenly, a hoof grabs me on the shoulder and turns me around. If this thing wants to fight, it’s going to get a fight.

But today had other plans in store for me, as always. Before I even get a look at the stalker’s face, there is a bright flash of light….

I quickly wake up to find myself panting. I take a look around in various directions, and to my relief, I’m still in the hospital. It was all a dream … it looks like those never get tired of tormenting me.

Well, what a way to wake up. Some dream … If my last dream brought back one of my memories, could this be related to them in any way…? No, that’s stupid. It’s probably just a nightmare. That or I’m just going insane.

Oh, I almost forgot. Today’s the day I meet Twilight. Hopefully I can get some more of my memories back. That is of course, if my brain is willing to cooperate today….

There’s really nothing else I can do from here other than lie in this hospital bed, and I certainly don’t plan to, either. I might as well walk around. I slowly get up from the bed and start stretching my legs and wings. Now that feels a lot better. I start to make my way towards the door with slow steps, still feeling tired from yesterday’s events.

However, as soon as I make my way to the door and into the hallways, I’m immediately bowled over, landing on the smooth tile. What the hell was that all about? I dizzily get up and onto my hooves, and adopt a combat stance, ready to defend myself. Looking up to get a clear look at the perpetrator, I see that it’s just a nurse in a hurry. I return to my normal pose. That was embarrassing….

This mare has white fur, a neat, pink mane tied in a bun, and a hat with a red cross on it. She gets up, picking up her clipboard at her side. Taking notice of what just happened, her gaze turns to me.

“Oh my,” She worriedly runs to my side. “I am very sorry about this, are you alright?”

I nod. “Yeah, I’m fine, no need to worry.” What an encounter….

“I’m Nurse Redheart, and you must be Ms….” She pauses to take a look at her clipboard. “Blaze, correct?”

“That’s me.”

“Great. It says here you’ll be discharged today, so let’s take a quick look to make sure you’re good to go then.” She walks into my room, and I follow shortly after. Finally, time to get out of this place. I want to get out and fly … that is, if my memory of how to exactly that would return to me. I despise this amnesia with every fiber of my body….

The nurse proceeds to take off my bandages to take a look at my wounds, occasionally asking me to move a leg, or other small things like that. As she continues the examination, she appears to be quite surprised.

“Oh my, your wounds seem to have healed fast,” She noted. She quickly looks me over once again. “Well, you seem to be perfectly fine. No reason to keep you here any longer. You’re free to go; have a nice day.”

“Thank you,” I reply to the mare. The nurse runs out of the room and off to perform her duties. Now let’s hope she doesn’t bump into anyone again … and as she leaves, Fluttershy walks into the room. “Oh, hi Fluttershy!” I greet her. She looks to me with a smile.

“Good morning, Vermillion. Did they let you go?” I nod. “That’s good. So, um, will I be taking you to Twilight’s place?”

“Yeah, I’m good to go.”

“Twilight’s place isn’t too far from here,” She begins to walk out of the room, and I follow close behind. She leads me through the clean hallways of the hospital into the lobby, and finally, outside.

I feel the warmth of the sun’s rays on my body as I step outside taking a breath of fresh air. The sun shines brightly and there’s not a single cloud in the sky. Now that is definitely a nice change from being in that hospital.

“Feels good to be outside again?” she asks.

“Oh yeah,” I stretch my wings. “So much better. I’d like to go for a quick flight, but my amnesia took that from me as well….”

She gives me a warm smile. “Don’t worry. I know someone who can help you with that. But, I think you might want to see Twilight first, if that’s ok with you….”

“I agree. Lead the way, then.”

Fluttershy and I begin to walk into the town. From my first view of the place, I can say it looks very welcoming; like one of those small towns where everypony knows each other. We walk through a spacious marketplace with a variety of stands, which are busy tending to the various customers buying goods.

Throughout the town, I can see many groups of ponies talking within each other, laughing, having a good time. Even being a rather small town, I like this place. Everypony seems to get along nicely. In the midst of my thoughts, Fluttershy appears to have taken notice of my observation.

“So, do you like Ponyville?” Ponyville. So that’s what this place is called.

“Yeah,” I respond, before looking around some more. “Everypony seems so happy here. It’s beautiful.” Fluttershy smiles.

“I like it here too. I find the smaller towns to be a lot more pleasant,” She comments, before continuing to walk. I begin to follow her once more, but not before she’s stopped by a peculiar-looking pony. Rather quickly, too. I swear there was nopony in front of us a second ago….

She certainly looks very unique. This earth pony mare is a bright pink, with a darker pink for her mane and tail, which were very poufy. Three balloons adorn her flank. Even her appearance by itself radiates happiness and cheer. She keeps doing short hops in place. She appears to be very hyper.

“Hiya, Fluttershy!” The bubbly pony greets her. “Where are you off to today?”

“Oh, hello Pinkie. I was just taking my friend Vermillion to-“ The pony’s eyes lit up as soon as she takes notice of me, and she is in front of me in the blink of an eye. How did she get there so fast?

“Oooooh, I haven’t seen you here before! You must be new, because I know EVERYpony in Ponyville!” She exclaims energetically. “What’s your name?”

“Hi, my name’s Vermillion Blaze, I – “

She quickly cuts me off. “Nice to meet you! I’m Pinkie Pie! You know, since you’re friends with Fluttershy, we should totally be friends too! Then we can do all kinds of friend stuff like ice skating, and drawing, but most importantly, partying!”

Well, she’s pretty hyper, that’s for sure.

“So, where are you guys headed off to?” She finishes.

Fluttershy steps in. “We were just going over to Twilight’s to see if Vermillion could get some help from her.”

“Sounds great! I’ll join you guys, I don’t have to be back in Sugarcube Corner for a while! So….” She suddenly zooms over to my side. Where does she get all this speed from? Looks like I’ll never know. “How’d you guys meet?”

Now, I finally have the chance to speak again. “Well, it’s certainly a long story, but I’ll tell you, if you’d like.”

“A story? I love stories! Go ahead, tell me!” She exclaims excitedly, tagging along with us as we continue on our route.

I chuckle. “Well, the thing is, I can’t really remember anything. The first thing I remember is waking up in this field next to this creepy forest, what was it called…?” I struggle to remember the name.

“The Everfree,” Fluttershy adds.

“Right, the Everfree, thank you. There was nothing else in sight for miles, so I went into the forest.” Pinkie shudders as I finish the sentence. If even a pony as carefree as her shuddered upon the thought of that place, then it looks like it’s much more dangerous than what I went through.

“It was pretty frightening in there. I kept wandering through the forest, but I didn’t find anything. But as I kept going, I heard a scream. I followed the sound and found Fluttershy surrounded by … um …. timberwolves, right?” I turn to Fluttershy, who nods to confirm that was the correct name.

“I can’t stand innocent ponies getting hurt, so I stepped in to fend off the timberwolves –“ Pinkie cuts me off with a loud gasp.

“You fought a pack of timberwolves?” She looks at me with wide eyes. I nod to her. “Holey moley! I bet you’re really brave, Vermil!”

Vermil … it’s a nice nickname.

“It was pretty reckless of me, but I wanted to help out Fluttershy however I could. I fended them off for a while, but eventually, they had me trapped. I thought it was over, until one of the wolves’ heads had mysteriously caught fire. It wasn’t until I was in the hospital that I found out I could do this,” I raise a hoof and ignite a small flame in it. Pinkie’s eyes widen in amazement.

“So you mean you can control fire?!” She excitedly asks me, and I simply nod. “That’s awesome!” I chuckle.

“Yeah, it was a bit surprising when I rediscovered it myself. I’m trying to recover my memory, you see.”

Fluttershy joined in. “I figured that Twilight would be a good pony to start with, to see if she can explain anything about her powers…..”

Pinkie soon cut in. “Ooh, so you’re going to meet Twilight then? I’m sure she’ll help you out! She’s a super-duper smarty pants, and really good with magic!” She exclaims.

“Fluttershy told me that. She does seem pretty interesting, and I’m curious to meet her.”

Since the first time I heard her name, something had always clicked in my mind. The name sounds familiar, but that’s just about it. Maybe meeting her will help me out a bit….

“That’s her house over there.” Fluttershy points a hoof towards … a tree.

A tree that had been fashioned into a house, to be precise. So it’s a treehouse? A housetree? Ah, never mind. It looks neat, though. The tree leaves and branches decoratively grow around the windows. The tree even has a balcony at the top. This place is certainly unique. I wonder what else I could find around here…

“So her house is also a tree?” I ask out loud. “Now that’s really something.”

“Oh, yes. It’s also Ponyville’s library,” Fluttershy adds. “Twilight loves books. Let’s go and see if she’s home.” We all stop at the entrance and Fluttershy proceeds to knock. Soon, the door opens to reveal … a baby dragon?

“Oh, hey Fluttershy, Pinkie.” The dragon greets the two.

“Hello Spike. Is Twilight home?” Fluttershy asked.

“She is, but she’s busy in her study right now,” He explains. It was then that he noticed me. “Oh, hey there. Who are you?” He asks me. It takes me off guard; I’d never imagined I would be talking to a dragon today.

“Hi,” I greet the creature. “My name is Vermillion Blaze. You are?”

“The name is Spike, nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” I say as we step into the spacious library. There are shelves all around us, filled to the brim with books. The sheer size of this library makes my jaw drop. You could probably find literally anything you wanted here. Spike looks over to me and takes notice of my surprised reaction. He chuckles.

“As you can see, Twilight’s a total bookworm.” He simply states.

Just then, another pony enters the room. This pony is a unicorn mare, with a lavender colored coat, and purple mane and tail with violet and pink streaks. Her cutie mark appears to be some sort of star circled by several smaller ones. I’m assuming this must be Twilight Sparkle. Judging from the unhappy look on her face, she must’ve overheard Spike.

“You were saying, Spike?” She asks him. What a stroke of bad timing for him….

Spike immediately freezes for a bit before giving her an innocent look. “Oh, um … well, it was nothing.”

The mare simply rolls her eyes. “Riiight.” Over to the side, Pinkie, and even Fluttershy, surprisingly, is giggling at Spike’s misfortune there. It was then that she takes notice of them, and me.

“Oh, Pinkie, Fluttershy, I didn’t see you two there. Or you,” She says, turning to me. “Are you new to Ponyville?”

“I guess you could say that,” I respond with a chuckle. The mare gives me a confused look. “.... It’s a long story. Before I explain, I should introduce myself. I’m Vermillion Blaze. What’s your name?”

“Hello Vermillion, I’m Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you.” She extends a hoof towards me, and I reach out with my own to shake hers. So this is her.

As I shake her hoof, there don’t seem to be any memories coming back to me. There’s got to be something coming to me by now … gah, this is really frustrating.

“Umm … Vermillion?” Fluttershy breaks me from my train of thought. It looks like I had been shaking Twilight’s hoof for a bit too long. I hear Pinkie giggling next to me. Well, this is awkward.

“Sorry about that,” I retract my hoof. “I was just thinking about something. Anyways, Fluttershy took me here, because she thinks that you might be able to help me. Is there somewhere that we can go where we can talk?”

“Don’t worry, just here is fine.” She replies.

“Oh, ok then. Well, you see, I can’t remember anything about who I really am, or where I came from. I had just mysteriously woken up outside the Everfree yesterday.”

“Oh dear … that sounds … frightening.” She comments. So, general consensus is that the Everfree is the most terrifying place around. Good to know.

“And it was. You see….” I explain my story in the best detail I could. She shudders as I mention walking through the Everfree, but she is especially alarmed when I mention stepping in to fight the timberwolves.

Fluttershy adds to my story, “Um … I was so scared of those timberwolves … I didn’t know what to do. I tried asking them to leave me alone, but they just wouldn’t listen….”

“Well, I was there to knock some sense into them,” I respond with a chuckle. “I was doing well against them, until they managed to trap me. I tried to get them away, but I couldn’t. “

Spike puts on an excited look. “And? Did you pull it together and beat….” Spike dwindles in his speech and suddenly sneezes, shooting out a stream of green flame. Perfect timing.

Reaching for the fire, I try to take control of it. Luckily, it turned out as I had hoped. With the small fire in my command, I bring it over into my hoof. Twilight looked around for the fire, astounded by its sudden disappearance, until I call to her.

She looks over to me, and then realizes that the fire she had been looking for is in my hoof. She puts on a bewildered look, as does Spike a few seconds later, just realizing what happened. Fluttershy, Pinkie, as well as myself can’t help but giggle at the looks on their faces.

Suddenly, Pinkie steps in. “I know right? Vermil’s super awesome! When I saw it, it was like, the most exciting thing EVER!”

Spike follows her shortly after. “That … was … awesome!”

Twilight, on the other hand, appears to be completely puzzled.

“That’s just what I was getting to,” I explain. “You see, when the timberwolves had me trapped, I had unwittingly set one of them on fire. Later, I found out that I had an ability to manipulate fire, which is my special talent,” I point to my cutie mark. “Fluttershy told me I should come to talk to you about this.”

“W-well, yes, since you’re good at magic….” Fluttershy adds.

Twilight comes closer to take a look at the flame, with wonderment in her eyes. She shortly breaks her gaze from it and begins to squeal in delight. I dispel the flame.

“Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen anything like this! A pegasus with the ability to control fire … That’s incredible! Unheard of!” She quickly turns to me and comes closer. “I simply just have to study this! This could push the knowledge of magic to new heights, and – “ She is quickly cut off by Spike.

“And help her regain her memory, right?” He questions her. Fluttershy and Pinkie giggle at her outburst. Good thing he was there to keep her on track, or we might have been here for a while.

“Of course, first priority. Now, Vermillion, like I said, I don’t think anything like this has ever been seen in Equestria … I’ll have to do some tests, and then we can see what we find. Sounds good?” She asks me.

“Sounds good.” I confirm.

“Great! Follow me.” She begins to make her way towards a door near the back of the room, when Fluttershy suddenly remembers something.

“Oh! I almost forgot! I have to go down to the post office to pick up a package. I’ll be back as soon as I can, girls.” Fluttershy heads for the door, followed by Pinkie.

“I’ll come with you, Fluttershy!” She turns back to us. “Good luck with the tests!”

“See you two later!” I say, waving a hoof. Once they leave, I turn to Twilight. “So, going to do those tests now?”

“Of course. Now, follow me.”

I follow Twilight into a door, with Spike behind me. The door leads into a short spiraling flight of stairs. But I’m in shock at what’s at the bottom; countless machines and equipment litter the floor below us. Wow … what is all of this? She must take her studies very seriously to have all of this stuff lying around….

I get to the bottom shortly after Twilight. Then, she motions for me to come with her to one of the many machines. After doing so, she quickly makes all sorts of adjustments to the machine; flipping switches, turning knobs, and I have no idea what’s going on.

Twilight quickly goes to turn the machine on. The machinery whirrs and hums as various lights flash and gauges take measurements. She then gestures for me to put my hooves in two metal braces, and I do what she says.

So far, she’s neglected to tell me anything about what’s going on. I guess she really gets into her work.

“So….” I begin. “What are you doing, exactly?”

“Oh! Sorry about that … this machine is going to measure any levels of magic within you in just a few minutes. I’m going to go get something to drink; Spike will be here to keep you company in the meantime.”

“Alright,” I reply as she heads up the stairs. Soon enough, Spike comes to my side. He seems to be pretty interested in me after that little display. Then again, so does everypony here. I guess it’s only natural.

“So, you can control fire, huh? That’s awesome! If only I could control mine….” He comments.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon enough. But I think that this was just one of the smaller things I can do. It would make sense, if my talent is my own power. I haven’t really experimented with it yet.”

“Either way, that’s pretty awesome! But I couldn’t help but laugh even a little bit while Twilight was gushing about it; she’s always like that when she sees something she’s never seen before.”

“She sure does look like she does a lot of studying,” I comment with a chuckle.

“Well, you guessed right!” He responds. We both laugh.

The laughter soon dies out, and I turn to Spike again. “So, you’re a dragon, right?”

“That’s right, although I’m only a baby dragon right now.”

“So, how’d you end up with Twilight, then?” I inquire.

“Well, Twilight took an entrance exam to Princess Celestia’s school, and for her exam, she had to hatch a dragon egg with her magic, and I happened to be in the egg. For the first part, Twilight couldn’t do anything. She was about to give up, and just then, her magic went berserk. She casted a whole bunch of spells in the process, and one of them hatched my egg, and turned me into a fully grown dragon in the process. Soon enough, Princess Celestia stepped in, and everything got back to normal. She was accepted as the Princess’s student, and I became Twilight’s assistant a bit later.”

“That’s quite the story,” I comment. I hear hoofsteps coming down the stairs once more.

“I’m back. How’s it going?” Twilight asks as she comes down the stairs. As soon as she asks, I’m reminded of the numbness in my hooves.

“My hooves are getting numb … how much longer should this take?” I ask her.

“It shouldn’t be too long now, just a little”- Twilight is cut off by a series of beeping sounds from the machine. “Oh, it’s done! Letmeseeletmeseeletmesee!” She excitedly exclaims as she rushes over to the machine, unlocks my braces, and reads a series of charts produced from the machine. I quickly take my hooves out of the braces and walk around to return the feeling in my hooves. Her eyes excitedly look across the page in search of results, but a few seconds later, she looks confused.

“I don’t understand…,” She begins. “According to this, you have just as much magical potential as any other pegasus … how can this be?” She starts to pace around the room.

“Maybe the machine is broken? No, that can’t be. I had maintenance done on it just yesterday….” She double-checks the chart.

“Could this be some all-new type of magic?...” She asks out loud. “Hmm … what to do?”

Wow, this one really has her stumped. I really hope she can figure this out….

Twilight simply sighs after a few more moments of pacing and awkward silence. “This is a complete mystery … luckily, there’s still one more option. Spike?”

“Yeah?” He calls out as he comes closer to her.

“Take a letter,” Twilight requests.

“No problem.” Spike quickly comes back with a quill and a scroll of parchment, ready to write. Twilight begins to read out the letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Wait. Princess Celestia ... just like Twilight had, her name sounds very familiar. However, I’ll have to deal with it later. I return my attention to Twilight’s letter.

Fluttershy and Pinkie came to me today with a pegasus pony that can’t seem to remember who she really is or where she came from. Her name is Vermillion Blaze, which was the only thing she could seem to remember. Fluttershy thought I would be able to help, because there’s something unusual about this pony. She can manipulate fire.

I thought that finding out more about her powers would help her recover her memory, but after running some tests, the results were peculiar. They had found no magical potential within her.

I’m not sure what else I can do. I’ve never seen anything like this, nor do I know anything about this, so I’m asking you for help. Please reply as soon as possible.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Finishing the letter, Spike rolls up the scroll, and lights it on fire. The scroll turns into a dissipating green vapor.

“What was that?” I question him.

“Oh, that’s just the way I send letters to the Princess. Pretty cool, eh?”

“Wow … I wonder what else my flames can do, then. I should try experimenting with it sometime.”

“Just try not to burn down Ponyville,” Twilight chimes in. Right after that, the three of us laugh heartily.

“I’ll try not to,” I reply to her, wiping a tear from my eye. “So Spike, how do you get letters back then?”

“Well, when a letter comes back to me, it“- Spike is cut off as he hiccups, and then belches a small jet of green flame, which turns into a rolled up scroll, most likely from the Princess. That was fast. The scroll lands on the ground in front of his feet.

“... Oh,” I simply state. “Well, that’s interesting.”

Spike unravels the scroll and clears his throat before he begins to read.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

What you describe to me certainly does seem unusual. However, I think I might be able to find out what is happening. If you would please come to Canterlot with Vermillion and Fluttershy, I will be more than happy to assist you.

Princess Celestia

“Well, Vermillion,” Twilight turns to me. “Looks like we’re going to give the Princess a visit.”

Well, looks like my investigation has taken yet another turn. Twilight saying she hasn’t found anything already worried me there. Hopefully this Princess can help me out. If not, I’ll have to look somewhere else….

“Alright, that sounds like a plan. So when do we go?” I ask.

“Well, I would need to gather some things first, but we could leave fairly soon, in about an hour, maybe?” Twilight guesses.

“Great! Do you need any help getting your things?” I offer.

“That’s quite alright. Spike can help me with that.”

“Alright, suit yourself. But I do have one question, though.”

“What would that be?”

“Well, I’m just curious, but you just met me today, yet you’re going out of your way to help me, and even take me to Princess Celestia. Not that I don’t appreciate it, but what’s this all of a sudden?”

I had asked the same thing of Fluttershy. However, to see this behavior again from Twilight made me curious. It could be possible that most ponies here are just friendly, but I want to know Twilight’s reasoning behind this as well.

She pauses a moment before responding. “You know, before I came to Ponyville, I didn’t really have any friends. I was more interested in my studies back in Canterlot. I didn’t have any interests in making friends, either. But soon, Princess Celestia had me go to Ponyville to supervise the Summer Sun Festival. At first, I thought that this was all a waste of time. But it was on that day that I met my very best friends, and discovered the magic of friendship, and all the wonders it had to bring. Knowing all of this, Princess Celestia had me stay in Ponyville to study friendship. That day, I couldn’t have been any happier. When you came here out of nowhere, you probably felt lost, and lonely. I want to fix that, and share the magic of friendship with you.”

Wow … friendship is really important to this pony. It seems like I have something else to find out more about.

“Friendship ... it sounds like a wonderful thing. Thank you for sharing it with me. If you don’t mind, could you maybe teach me more?”

She simply smiles. “Of course. But first things first, heading out to Canterlot. I’ll let you know when I have everything ready.”

She begins to walk upstairs to start gathering some things. However, I remain in the basement to sit down, to be alone with my thoughts.

It’s good to know I have a friend like Twilight. She’s going out of her way to help me, and even going to the Princess with me. Fluttershy comes to my aid first, and now Twilight…. Suddenly I don’t feel so lonely anymore.

Another issue is that I don’t have any of my memories yet, even after meeting Twilight. She sounded very familiar, but I still don’t remember anything.

But I just now remember that the Princess’s name rang a bell as well. If meeting with her won’t bring anything back, then I don’t know what will.

And friendship. Friendship ... a foreign word to my ears. I have to find out more.

Maybe I’m looking for memories in the wrong places, or expecting them too soon. I might be closer to finding my past, even if it’s just a tiny step forward. What could friendship be?

Could it be the key to my memories?

Author's Note

Here it is. So sorry for the delay. And again, like always, please leave constructive criticism if you have any. It is very helpful and much appreciated.