Blank Slate [Part 3]

>You’re standing there, mouth agape with a confused look across your face while you try and comprehend what Twilight just said. You’re not even sure if you heard her right.
>Your mouth goes dry as you struggle to make any sentence running through your mind into words, finally you speak up with an uneasy tone.
“Say that again.”
>”I might be able to bring your memory back.”
>”How?”
>You feel like you’re back in reality when Rarity speaks up, you were so lost in thought that you forgot she was even in the room. Your attention still remains focused on Twilight and every word she says.
>”Well, it’s the brain damage Anon took that’s caused his memory loss, so it should be possible that I can return his memories if I use a healing spell that focuses on the memory sector of the brain. I’m still not completely sure if it’ll work so if you don’t feel confident in this then I won’t force you.”
>You don’t even hesitate in giving an answer, you can’t hesitate. This is a chance at finding out who you are, which as every second goes by the need to know increases.
“It’s worth a shot.”
>”Anon,” Rarity’s voice is at a near shout and you can tell she’s displeased with your willingness to go through this, “You can’t be serious, did you forget what Nurse Redheart said to you?”
“She said to take it easy, she didn’t say I can’t take a healing spell to the brain.”
>Rarity stumbles to find a reason she can argue back with but with nothing coming to mind, she takes a step back and goes silent.
>You turn back to Twilight and give her an eager smile, she still however looks nervous.
“Ready?”
>”Yes, please take a seat.”
>There’s no chair in sight so you just sit crossed-legged on the floor.
>Twilight uses her magical grip to skim through a book, the anticipation while she reads the page is beginning to eat away at your patience.
>After she’s finished she then sets the book down and looks directly at you but her gaze feels like it’s going through you, almost like she’s concentrating on your brain. You watch her as her horn begins to glow with a bright purple light.
>An uneasy feeling flows through as the light emitted by her horn gets more intense but you push the feeling aside, confident in Twilight’s abilities.
>Then a thought appears in your mind, ‘Why are you trusting her? You don’t know if she’s capable.’
>The uneasy feeling turns to dread but it’s too late, you firmly shut your eyes to shield them from the light.
>Even with your eyes closed you can tell a bright flash goes off and then your head feels dizzy, your body feels like it’s falling but you’re unsure.
>For a moment you’re stunned as you try and regain focus on what’s going on inside your head, you’ve lost track of time and the feelings that your body is now going through.
>You try and concentrate only on your memories, ignoring any other feeling at the time.
>Suddenly you’re hit with a queasy sensation in your gut and a need to throw up, it overwhelms you but then it calms down as fast as it came before you remember something.
>You’re standing in an apple orchard during sunset. You look up at the trees to see the light of the orange-gold sun shines through them and the apples in the trees are quite large and are probably ready to be picked within a few weeks.
>You take in the scene, trying to remember as much detail as you can, even the warmth of the sun against the cool afternoon breeze. It’s a pleasant feeling.
>You look around some more and see a house at the end of long row of trees so you decide to walk towards it. The walk feels short and when you get close to the house you see an orange mare with a stetson covering her face while she sleeps against a post on the veranda.
>Before you take another step you see her look up from her hat and look right at you. She immediately gets to her feet and gives you a warm smile, you return it.
>You recognise this mare, it’s Applejack.
>Her smile brings a warm feeling to you, like you want it to last forever.
>Your eyes close just to blink and when they open the scene before you has disappeared.
>It sends you into a panic, you have so many more questions and no answers.
>As you try to focus on that memory, your head starts to throb, the pain is sharp as it pulsates through your head.
>”Open your eyes, please!”
>You recognise the voice, it’s Rarity’s and it sounds like she’s in distress. You leave the memory of the orchard and Applejack alone for now, any attempt to recall more sends your head spinning into a pain you’d rather do without.
>When you open your eyes, you immediately search for Rarity to find she’s standing in front of you clutching your hand in her forehooves with a tissue in her magic grip.
“Is everything ok?”
>”It is now, we were so worried.”
>Her voice has a slight quiver to it, like she’s been holding back tears. You then look around for Twilight but she’s nowhere to be seen.
>Then a tissue inside a magic grip appears beside you, looking to your left you see it’s Twilight.
“What’s with the tissues?”
>”Anon, your nose.”
>Her voice is serious and monotone voice so instead of questioning what she means you touch your nose and feel a tender pain, you then inspect your fingers see them covered in blood.
>You then realise the tissue Rarity has is covered in it too.
“What happened?”
>Twilight picks up her book and frantically searches through it.
>”I don’t know. You were fine one moment then next thing your nose was bleeding. You weren’t out long but still, this shouldn’t have happened,” she drops the book and hangs her head in defeat, “I’m sorry for putting you through that.”
“Don’t blame yourself, you did warn me.”
>”I should have looked into it more, you could have been seriously hurt.”
“I’m equally to blame for this, that aside I think I should see a doctor about this.”
>You touch your nose again and confirm it’s still bleeding so you take a new tissue and press it firmly against it.
>”That’s the smartest thing you’ve said all day darling, wait here, you’re in no condition to be moving.”
>You don’t want her running across town for a doctor but you know this isn’t the right time to be arguing with Rarity so you sit quietly as she leaves the boutique.
>It’s silent and it doesn’t take long for that silence to become awkward.
>You’re not sure what to say to Twilight but luckily she does.
>”Did you remember anything?”
“Yeah, just one thing.”
>”Just one huh, well at least you’re ok,” she perks up, trying to show some optimism.
>You and Twilight both feel disappointed at the result. To finally get something despite it not being much, has made you become even more impatient.
>You just wanted to know who you were already, and these ponies aren’t going to tell you, you knew that.
>This is something you have to experience and not be told but you feel somewhat disheartened and lonely having to go through all this.
>”So what was it?” Twilight’s speaks up with the curiosity clearly showing.
“Just an Apple orchard and I saw Applejack.”
>”Really?” she sits upright showing she’s eager to hear every detail, “Anything else? What happened?”
“I was in the middle of the apple trees, I walked up to her and she smiled. That’s it, it’s hardly anything.”
>Her mood deflates, like you burst her bubble. You don’t blame her, you feel the same way.
>”I wonder why that’s all you got.”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
>As you inspect the tissue and note the bleeding has stopped, Twilight begins to focus deeply in her book.
>”I’m going to research all I can on memories and amnesia-”
“And let me guess, then we try the spell again?”
>You interrupt her, being more eager than you should be. You know you should be more worried about your health right now but any chance to get your memories back is your top focus right now.
>To your displeasure, she shakes her head.
>”No, we’ll be extremely lucky if that nosebleed is the only side-effect. I’m going to research this stuff so I can find ways for you to ease back into your old memories safely.” She puts a lot of emphasis on the word ‘safely’, “I just got... impatient before, I should have done this from the start.”
>You let out a deep sigh, you know you’re going to have to let this go and admit defeat for now.
“Okay,” you try your best to not show your disappointment in this decision, “thanks for trying anyway.”
>”You know you always were the impatient type.”
“I had a feeling. Anyway where abouts is this orchard?”
>”That’d be Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack runs it with her family.”
“Right, and I have a connection to this place how?”
>”You were close to the whole family there, considering you worked on their farm.”
>A job? That’s something you’d like to have right now, it’ll save you just wandering around the town trying remember anything like you been today.
“Do you think she’d let me work there again? I need something to do, if I sit around and wait for my memories to return then I’m going to go insane.”
>”I think Applejack would welcome you back with open hooves.”
“That’s a relief.”
>The Boutique’s door bell chimes.
>You look over to see Rarity walk in with a unicorn doctor and Nurse Redheart close behind them with an angry scowl.
>She must be the type who gets serious about her job because when she sees the bloody mess across your face, her expression only gets angrier.
>You’re in for it. Her fierce stare makes you want to curl up into the fetal position and hide.
>That feeling is only made worse when Twilight hastily moves out of the way.
>”So Anon,” she places some bags to her side and sits on the floor in front of you, “have you been taking it easy like I asked?”.
“A little. I was planning to get a tan later today.”
>She picks up on your sarcasm and shakes her head in disappointment, “what happened?”
>That probably wasn’t the best response.
>Before you can open your mouth to answer, Twilight interjects.
>”I tried a spell on him.”
>Nurse Redheart glares at Twilight causing her to hide behind Rarity in guilt.
>If she kept quiet you would have made it seem like your fault, you didn’t want her taking any blame because you were warned about risks beforehand, any damage is your own fault.
“It was my own fault, I was warned.”
>”She still shouldn’t have done it, your mind is too vulnerable right now.”
>”I’m afraid Nurse Redheart is absolutely true,” the doctor speaks up as he sits in front of you, “Now, we need to hurry up and examine you incase there’s some damage up there.”
>His horn lights up.
“Wait, I thought casting spells on me was a bad idea?”
>”This is just a scanning spell, it’s like shining a torch, it just shows me what I need to see and nothing more,” his voice is confident and puts you at ease as you sit still, allowing him to scan you.
>After about a minute he stops the spell, a little worn out from casting it for so long.
>”There isn’t any permanent damage but I’m afraid you’re going to have to take it extra easy from now on.”
“How ‘easy’ should I be taking it, doc?”
>”You shouldn’t be doing anything to exert your mind, possibly staying bedridden for about a week or two will do it.”
>Despite his advice, you don’t agree with laying in bed doing nothing. You need something to do.
“No way, I’ll never get my memory back that way.”
>”That’s the point,” Nurse Redheart interrupts the doctor, her glare stares right at you and you feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up, “you’re lucksenty we aren’t hospitalising you, this could have been very serious.”
>You’re silenced by her harsh tone, knowing full well that she’s right. You have no logical argument against this, it’s your own fault to begin with so you decide to submit to any orders you’re given.
“Okay, what can I do then?”
>The doctor pauses to think, rubbing his hoof along his jaw before speaking.
>”Well, avoid any stressful physical activities and especially any mental ones also it’ll be best if you please don’t try to recall anything about your past as your brain needs the break.”
“How long?”
>”Two weeks to a month.”
>You want to groan and complain but Nurse Redheart looks like she’s calming down now that you’re taking the advice and you don’t want to start her back up again. She can be very intimidating for a little pony.
“And by ‘physical activities’ does that mean I can’t get my old job back?”
>”Depends, what did you do?”
“Apparently I worked on Applejack’s farm but I don’t know what I did.”
>”He helped them harvest the apple trees.” Twilight fills in.
>”Ahh, well I’m afraid not. With your brain in such a vulnerable state it’s best you aren’t pushing yourself, even if it’s physical labour. Try finding something a little less... stressful for now.”
>You nod, unsure of what you can do to pass the time.
>”Now, we must be off so please, be careful Anon. If another incident like this occurs then I’ll have no choice but to hospitalise you, until I feel you’re 100% okay. I’m already being far too lenient with you but I just don’t feel it’s right to lock you up in the hospital. Understood?”
“Yeah, thank you.”
>You are grateful for his leniency but that nagging and impatient voice in the back of your head says otherwise.
>”Good. Goodbye.
>”Bye everyone.”
>After the two have gone, you take a deep breath.
“Now what do I do?”
>”Well, I should probably go too,” you look over to Twilight who is collecting her books. ”Like I said before, I’ll look into amnesia and let you know if I can discover any safe ways to help you. Maybe there’s a process that’s good to follow.”
“Thanks but don’t worry about it too much, I won’t be able to do anything about it for about a month anyway.”
>She gives you a nod and says goodbye to Rarity before leaving.
>That’s when you realise Rarity is also here, she’s been so quiet lately.
>You turn to her and try to read her expression but it’s blank. You’re not sure how she’s feeling right now.
“You alright?”
>”Why yes, of course.”
“You sure.”
>”Yes.”
“You don’t seem like it.”
>”Well I am, so drop it.”
>You can see and hear the frustration written all over her, something is wrong.
>She just sighs, knowing well that you’re not going to let it go.
>”I was just concerned.”
“Isn’t that sweet, you were worried about me?”
>You put on a playful but cocky attitude and Rarity quickly does the same.
>”Not at all. I just didn’t want you dying in my store, bad for business.”
>With one hand you clutch your chest and bring the back of your other hand up to your forehead, striking a dramatic pose.
“You wound me with your words.”
>You put all your crappy acting skills into putting on a damsel voice, but you just like a feminine drag queen. Close enough.
>Your theatrics earn you a cheerful giggle from Rarity and that’s enough to make you happy.
“I’m sorry if I worried you, I was just impatient, that’s all.”
>”It’s alright, I think I’d do the same if I were in your position.”
“Sucks that I can’t have my old job for a month though. I have no idea what I’m going to do.”
>”Well, if you’d like, you can work here. With me.”
>You jolt upright at that, you need something to keep you occupied.
“Really?”
>”Of course. The invitations to the Grand Galloping Gala are getting sent out in a month so I will be getting a flood of customers. I almost didn’t make it last year so I could really use the help.”
“Sounds great but I know nothing about designing outfits.”
>”Yes, that’s why I’m going to teach you. Interested?”
“Very. When do we start?”
>”Now, if you’d like.”
>You follow her into the other room eagerly to get started. You’re looking forward to having a job and clearly she is too.
>And you won’t openly admit it, you’re looking forward to spending more time with Rarity.

Part 4:
http://pastebin.com/FH5brJTH