Past Memories

Hoofsteps echoed in the air as a figure moved slowly toward the castle ruins; none other than Avan. His wings were perked slightly as he tried to deal with the saddlebag that was wrapped around his wast and took up the place his wings would have been settled. However, his wings and saddlebag were hidden under a brown robe, that had green lines that covered it like vines, pulsing like a heartbeat as they moved faintly across the fabric. With his wings being hidden, the alicorn just looked like a rather tall unicorn.

Avan froze as he stopped at the bridge that led to the castle, one of his front hooves gently raising to his mouth as he took in the sight. "By the Heavens," he whispered in a soft tone, his large eyes sad. "What did you do, Luna?" He knew the answer, but he had never seen the castle in such a bad shape. Sure it had been 1000 years or so since he had last laid eyes on it, but to see what was once a grand castle now in ruins...

He shook his head, moving forward as he fluttered his wings under his cloak, but he soon paused. Why was he still wearing the cloak? He loved it dearly, but it was almost always uncomfortable to hide his wings like this and there was nobody around to see what he truly was. With a glow of his horn, he undid the clasp and took of the cloak, letting his wings spread. He gently folded up the cloak and placed it one of the saddlebags at his side, before finally stepping foot into the castle.

He paused as he took in the once familiar scene, and turned his gaze around; wondering where he should go. Up the stairs and to the left was the library if he was correct, and that chamber over there led to the throne room. That way led to the guest rooms...Ah, so many choices. He shook his head, before debating to go to the library. Who knew how many old books still laid there, gathering dust. It was a shame; good trees had been used to make those books.

Trotting up the stairs, he turned and soon entered the library. There were still thousand of books that stood on the selves, some laying around on the table, open. He paused. Had somepony been here? To make sure, he strolled over to the books and stared at them. No sign of dust; they had been open not long ago. His wings fluttered nervously as he glanced around. "Is anypony there?" he called, kinda hoping that there wouldn't be an answer. Who would be hanging around such dangerous ruins? Ah, other than for himself, of course.

The moment she had come upon the small town of Ponyville, the alicorn of winter and dreams knew little to nothing of where she was, who she was, and what purpose she served being there. No memories left, a case of amnesia. The small detail she was saved was her own name, nothing more, nothing less. Without knowing what to do, not being acknowledged or noticed, the unknown pony had left and stumbled upon a castle, crumbled with debris and destruction from a powerful force, unusual and unnatural power. There didn't seem to be a sign of balance within the magic around the canopy of the forest and the ominous atmosphere it gave made it so that nopony would dare come close or try to at the very most. It made it the ideal place to isolate and seclude one's self into the darkness and keep away from others, to regain her own heart from where she was before.

An alicorn who controlled the bitter and gentle breezes of snow, the peaceful sleeps of all, had indeed made no progress. She had spent much of her time reading stories on the castle, and very little did she actually recall of anything. Everything was a vague mist in her mind and none of the information around her was actually, quite frankly, being of any use. Yet, her own curiosity denied her of doing elsewhere, delving more into what she shouldn't be paying as much attention to. This led to books being scattered out of her own forgetfulness to place them back into the shelves, but at the moment she had briefly left the library to head to the royal throne room. Perhaps there was a clue there that may help her seek who she was. No, in all honesty, that was not her true goal.

Nothing useful... Torn banners of sun and moon, and shreds of fabric littered the ground. Faint light cascaded through the colored glass above, but other than that, all of it was destroyed, everything too far to try and restore. Staring at the site before her for a few brief moments, pondering on what could have caused it, Dream Spell, she knew she read of the ancient event that caused such a mess, yet, why could the alicorn not recall it? Unable to think any further, with a quick flap of her wings blowing a cold breeze that went through the halls of the castle, the former princess - who unaware to her own knowledge, reported missing - quickly glided back into the library, only to be met with another.

A stallion with brown coat, similar to the color of fertile soil, and mane that shared the same simple color of green leaves within the bloom of spring, eyes shining a luscious forest green. Distinctly was his wings and horn... the same as her. Barely able to make out the figure clearly in her mind, Dream simply wondered one thing - why this pony seemed so familiar to her. The next moment, her thoughts redirected her to why he was here, in a castle that no pony, and really, no pony, would try to visit.

Looking at the books she had left open on the round table, it was only evident that she was the one who had opened them, considering his own shock and fear that there was going to be somepony else in such a dangerous place filled with ruin. Turning her own eyes, the soft color of light snow in the sky, Dream opened her mouth to speak, but kept quiet, a bit too sleepy to try and start a conversation. Staying up constantly to read all the mythology and legends possible hasn't quite helped her.

OOC;; Wasn't sure if you wanted me to have Orchid in, so I left her out of this post. Maybe next one?

Avan's ears flickered as he grew aware of the flapping of wings, and he turned to find another alicorn behind him. His eyes narrowed as he stared at her, but a few seconds later; they widen with shock. "Dream Spell?" That name felt strange upon his tongue, mostly because he hadn't said in more than the thousand years he had left Equestria to explore the world.

He had never been as close to Dream as he had been to Sol and Luna, but he always did like to think that they had been friends. But the true question was, why was still here? However, as he stared at her; as he met her gaze, something struck her.

Her eyes held something that put him off balance; questions. She did not recognize him? Perhaps they had not been as close as he thought then; that he was easy to slip from her mind, but he knew that couldn't be the case..He took a small step forward, his green tail flicking as he titling his head slightly. "I cannot believe it is you, Dream Spell; its been so long! Do you remember me? The days we played together in your wonder winter snow with Sol and Luna?"

Occ: Nah, I was hoping you would leave Orchid out. I think it should just be Avan and Dream.

Hearing her own name called by the other alicorn had caught her attention slightly, but quite scarcely, she didn't exactly show any reaction to it. While she would've normally, as in if she still had her memory, the princess would've been quite delighted to see an old friend. However, that wasn't even close to the case at the moment. The scarf tied around her neck covered her mouth, hiding the fact of whether she was planning to speak or if she was speaking behind his back, or even if she was curious as to whether he knew her or not in an entirety. Nonetheless, that wasn't the off feature about her at the time. No, it was more so that the brand underneath her right eye. Something that was never there before, but was now. It was a marking that signified something, but even Dream couldn't figure it out herself. Though, in truth, it was the mark placed down by a rebelling group back at her empire that had constantly threatened her family, hoping to take the throne by whatever means they could think of. However, it wasn't very seen outside of there.

While she couldn't quite put her thoughts on it, this other alicorn did seem very familiar. She knew him from somewhere, but Dream couldn't tell from where, when, and how. But, when he mentioned two more names - Sol and Luna -, the alicorn had completely gotten lost and oblivious to all the other details. She didn't know what he was talking about, not at all. Stepping back, her frost-clad hooves created the soft sounds of snowflakes falling or perhaps when a hoof touches ice gently to create the twinkling clangs, she looked him, not moving her own gaze from him, before, speaking, voice slightly muffled from the pitch black scarf, completely dull with little emotion, but still maintained a soft and gentle tone that displayed poise and royalty - slightly -, "..... Who are you?...."

The first sentence she bothered speaking to another for quite awhile. One that broke the silence she held for the time before. And, the silence that was kept before she responded to him.

OOC;; And bad post... I'll keep Orchid out then~

Avan's heart dropped like a stone when he heard those single three words. How did she not...Had he really been gone that long? Would that mean that Celestia and maybe even Luna had forgotten him or was it something else. The dirt-brown alicorn took in a deep breath, letting himself shake off that shock and fear he had felt moments before. "My name is Avan; Prince Avan I suppose but I have not gone by that title in years. I..." he let his voice die, wondering what to say. When he saw Dream Spell, he saw a friend and wasn't even really sure of how to treat her otherwise, but if she didn't know him...He took in another deep breath.

"I am sorry for wandering in upon you; I believed this place would of been long abandoned. But may I question why you are doing in such a place?" Yes, that would work. He would start off simple and kind to her, and while it seemed like a nice question to ask that you had just met, he had a different reason for that single question. He sensed that something was wrong with her, but he wasn't sure what. Alicorn's souls were so hard to make sense of, but he had a feeling that maybe there was a true reason that she didn't know him.

It definitely because Avan was gone for so long. Not at all. The name was faintly familiar in a few ways, but in all honesty, Dream couldn't quite tell why it was. Not that she could tell whether or not there was something off at the moment or whether he was lying to her. For certain, Celestia and Luna would not have forgotten this... "Avan", nor would "Sol" or anypony else he may have noted. The only names she actually knew for certain were Celestia and Luna, and only because she had researched about them upon entering their demolished castle ruins. Other than that, the snow blue alicorn would not know that she had actually knew them personally... And viewed them as friends. Nor would she remember viewing Avan and Sol as friends. Hearing the stallion's voice die off, she was certainly curious as to why this "prince" had stopped all of a sudden. Why was he so hesitant? Her curiosity was causing her to let her thoughts roam into other directions, endless possibilities coming around. Those flood of ideas were cut short of their next wave when she was addressed to answer a question.

Why was she here? To be honest, even Dream didn't know. It was an area filled with concentrated magic that kept most ponies away, or at least all ponies away, because of the dangers and various threats the forest may hold. Coming as far as the castle was not an easy task in any direction, whether by flying or trotting on foot. Not blinking her eyes, the mare held her thoughts for a few moments curious as to how she would answer this question. The only problem was... She couldn't remember the question he just asked her. Along with amnesia, the princess had even lost her ability to remember things more easily, and had become quite air-headed and oblivious... Which may be why she had been reading the same fifteen books for the last week or so. "What was your question...? I cannot recall it." It was unfortunate really, but event to her, she couldn't recall a thing. Not one, not two, or three. In fact, it'd only be a matter of time before she forgot Avan's name again.

What? Avan blinked, titling his head slightly. "I asked what you are doing in such a dangerous place." How had she forgotten his question already, it had only been a short while since he had asked it and...His eyes widen as he took a small step forward, staring at her. Her memory. That could be what was wrong; her memory was messed up. It would make sense for not knowing him and forgetting his question so easily but...He shook his head softly. No, he would act like nothing is the matter. If she truly didn't know him, then he wanted to get to know her like they had first met. Trying to make her remember him would only hurt her. He supposed that he would have to start over.

More like start over every week. Fully aware of the spell cast on her that caused her memory loss, it wasn't just that. It was a memory spell that happened at a designated time, a chronic memory spell. She'd forget him once again after the week was over. Hearing his question, at least having it kept in her head this time, Dream honestly didn't know how to answer why she was here. After all, her reasons weren't right and she didn't have the time to talk about this. Disregarding his question, the alicorn took a step back, away from Avan, simply returning the question to him, "... I could ask you the same." It was obvious that she was avoiding what he was saying and didn't want to answer. Though, why she would do such a thing would be a question to him most likely. In fact, she didn't bother to respond to his strange shake of his head or anything else. More so, this was going to be an interesting 'first' time meeting, or an awkward reunion in more ways than one.

OOC;; I had no idea what to write... Ahaha...

Avan sighed softly as he strolled to one of the sides of the library, raising a hoof and ran it down the large bookshelf. "What am I doing here?" he whispered in a soft tone. That was a very good question, but he knew the answer. "Last time I saw this place was over 1000 years ago; I used to live here with Celestia, Luna and..." he paused for a second, and decided to skip Sol's name seeing how Dream didn't seem to know him, so he thought it would better not to confuse her. "I left this place as Luna became Nightmare Moon and was trapped in the moon; unwilling to live with the fact that my best friend was gone for what could be forever. However, with Luna back I came back to Equestria but I wanted to visit the castle once again and recall the good memories that it held." He closed his eyes as he sighed, shaking his head. Perhaps it had been foolish to run away after that dreadful night; he had left Celestia alone and who knows with what guilt she felt after that. His tail flickered as he stared at Dream Spell, perhaps it was time to try to figure some things out. "Tell me, what do you know, Dream?"

Listening carefully to Avan's explanation and answer, the alicorn simply tried to remember the details, but could scarcely recall everything by the end. Just mainly a few names were the only things that actually stayed with her. Mostly the name of Nightmare Moon because she had wound up reading about the story just a few moments before she had a visitor come in. However, she was slightly startled when Avan asked her the question: What did she know? Glancing around slightly, unsure of how to answer, Dream sort of was lost. She didn't know how to answer nor did she know what to think. Taking a deep breath before answering, her voice quiet with a gentle tone, a bit whispy and soft, ".... My name and memory loss spell." Perhaps she was too vague with that explanation, but while fully aware of the spell, she knew little to nothing about it and what caused it at all.

"Memory lost spell?" he echoed, taking aback from the answer. So he was right about the memory being affected, but he was startled by that. If he had to guess, the spell was something that was casted by another pony but that frightend him. Memory lost spells were hard to cast as memories were rather a powerful thing, and mostly on an Alicorn with thousands of years of memory? Whoever did it had to be powerful. Very, very powerful. His wings fluttered, his gaze growing nervous. Who would do such a thing? He took in a deep, shaky breath. "I didn't know," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I...I want to help you." Those were the only words that he could summon up. "If there is any way I can..."

Shaking her head, her eyes were now in a glare and she turned cold and aloof turns him. The alicorn knew that Avan may have wanted to help, no matter. It didn't matter, he shouldn't try. It resets every week anyway. Dream Spell, fluttering her wings, keeping her gaze steady as she looked at the prince. Knowing that it was too difficult for any normal unicorn to take away the memories of an alicorn who had lived for so long, the princess had soon forgotten what she was about to speak. Either way, she was quickly reminded when Avan had offered his help. Her voice was bitter as she spoke, but it still retained its gentle and soft muffles from behind her scarf, "Don't bother... My memory resets every week, and I won't remember that you offered your help anyway. There's no point in it..." A helpless expression was on her, and eyes had turned dull with a despondent look, it was obvious that she wasn't looking to try and gain her memories back any time soon, no matter how hard she tried, she felt there was little hope of removing the spell anyway. Though, it'd make sense that the spell wasn't too hard to cast if it was a periodic removal instead of just straight-up dispose at once.

"I refuse to stand by!" Avan growled, taking a small step forward. His normally warm green eyes were now cold and narrowed as he met Dream's eyes. There was no way he would let one of his friends suffer something like this. So perhaps him and Dream weren't the closest friends, but he still cared for her. He shook his head, snorting slightly as his wings quivered. "If it resets every week, then I shall visit every week." His voice carried a softness to it, but it shook. "My father told me that my single job as an Alicorn was to make sure that everypony, nay, everything live to the fullest they can. And you suffering all this alone without any help...That is just something I cannot allow. I will help you, even if you fight against it every week, Dream."

Flinching at Avan's sudden growl, and what seemed like an even harsher glare than hers, the former princess simply didn't know what to say. She was astonished that he was still willing, even after she bluntly noted that she'd forget his help anyway. Even so, Dream didn't feel it would work out in the end. Not at all. Breaking the contact between their eyes by turning away, the alicorn simply let out a cough, unsure of what else to do. Within a few moments, she slowly started forgetting small details about what he said, but at the very least, she still remembered his offer for the time-being and his name. That may not stay for very long, but even now, Dream knew that if she rejected his offer, he wouldn't try to stay out of it. "... Alright... But I refuse to think of you as a friend," was her response to him. There wasn't much else she could say after all.

Avan sighed softly as he let his body relax, a soft smile on his face. "I can live with that." He paused as he shifted slightly, his wings fluttering. A question bubbled into his mind, but he shook it off. No, it was a stupid question to ask as she wouldn't know the answer. He paused as he looked at the books around him. "Tell me, what do you know about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?" He hoped that he was on time with his question, and that Dream hadn't already forgotten who they are.

Slightly surprised that Avan hadn't bothered asking her why she would refuse him as a friend, if they had possibly met before when she hadn't had the spell cast, since he seemed to know her from before. He seemed to want to know, but to be quite honest, she noticed that he wouldn't be willing to her quite yet. The mare glanced at him, hearing him mention two names that he said before, and while she could recall them, Dream admittedly couldn't remember a single detail about them. Shaking her head gently, the alicorn replied, "... Don't remember. Sorry." It was a quick answer, and that should be it. There wasn't much she could do at the moment besides answer his questions, and there was a high chance she wouldn't know what he was talking about most of the time.

"No, it is fine," he muttered as he stared at the books around him, letting his hoof run across the many spines of them. "So you know your name and the fact that you are under a spell..." he mused softly, before he shook his head. "What an odd thing to remember; the fact you are under a spell. It makes me wonder why you do always recall such knowledge.

Blinking once after holding her gaze open for so long, wondered what he meant by 'recall such knowledge'. Does she always remember the stranger things? Quite interesting to know... Moreover, it didn't seem like he was going to be asking another question anytime soon from what Dream inferred anyway. Taking a glance at the books she left on the table, the alicorn trotted over to them carefully, seating herself before continuing back where she was, turning a few pages back to try and remind herself what topic she was reading. "... Nightmare Moon?" she quietly muttered to herself, looking at the tale of the alicorn of the night, who had turned corrupt from envy. The alicorn of the night... Luna. Why was the name so familiar? "Who is Luna?..." Dream pondered to herself aloud, but you know, not too loud and all because she's muffled and well quiet and... Just forget it.

Avan paused, having manged to picked up the words that Dream muttered. The first name caused him to grit his teeth, but the second caused his heart to sink. That night still rang clear in his mind...He lowered his head, trying to hold back the tears that started to resurface as he recalled that night, of him trying to convince Celestia otherwise than fighting with Lu...Nightmare Moon, and Sol taking side with Celestia. He had felt betrayed and then when Celestia came back alone...

He lifted his head, turning his gaze to Dream Spell as he made his way over, pausing next to her as he stared coldly off into the distance. "I can answer that. I know all about Luna and Nightmare Moon.

Hearing Avan beside her, unaware that he had approached before, Dream glanced over, realizing his sudden change in mood. Was it something she had said? Disheartened that she had caused him to feel such a strong mix of emotions, the alicorn slammed the book closed and as her horn glowed surrounding the book in the same aurorean atmosphere, the book immediately flew towards the shelf, landing with a loud thud. Keeping her eyes downcast, the mare kept her own gaze distant from his, and muttering, "... I'm sorry." In all honesty, she couldn't understand why she was apologizing. She hardly cared about his change in attitude, but maybe it was because she had a tendency to say sorry without reason. It was one thing that hadn't been modified as a result of her memory at the very least. "You don't have to tell me... Yeah, really."

"No," Avan said in a soft voice, sighing softly. That was just like Dream to apology, so it did lift his heart to see that she hadn't completely changed. "I will tell you, even if you won't remember." His wings fluttered as he sat down across from her, his hooves gently resting on the table. "However, I may get a bit carried away so be ready if I do, alright Dream?"

Shaking her head in refusal, Dream took a few paces back, of course, bumping into a book shelf on purpose, and knocking over the various books from their position in the wooden storage. It was her attempt at distracting him from telling her anything, and she made sure to make it unnoticeable to be her initial thought. Whether it fooled Avan was a different case. Though, it didn't quite go as planned. As the various antique books plummeted to the ground, she had forgotten to keep her wings closed, and... It should be easy to guess what happened next. The alicorn had wound up injuring herself, a heavy book falling and wounding her right wing immensely. Not able to recall the spell to fix it, Dream stared at her now crippled feathers before barely glancing at the stallion, muttering, "... Sorry..." A bad habit she had indeed to apologize... A really bad one she should get rid of.

Avan blinked in surprise when he saw Dream hit the bookshelf and causing books to fall, and quickly jumped to his hooves when a large one nailed her right wing. "Dream!" he quickly said without a thought as he pumped his wings and flew over the table to her; not even wanting to take the time to walk around. As he landed next to her, he gently picked up the large book in his magic and placed it back on the shelf; doing the same with all the others that had fallen. He let his hoof gently run across her hurt wing, before he closed his eyes. His horn started to glow green; same with her hurt wing as he started to focus on a spell. A healing spell; he had many of them known as he spent many of his time caring for hurt animals so, when he opened up his eyes again, Dream's wing was fixed. He fluttered his wings, but couldn't help but glance at the faint scar that was on one of his wings, but quickly closed his wing to hide it, sighing. "Are you alright, Dream?"

Not even glancing him in the eye to give him her thanks, Dream simply didn't reply. Too much trouble she's caused already. She couldn't quite say much to him, let alone that. However, the small scar on his own wing caused her to eye him suspiciously, unsure of what to say. The healing spell helped indeed, but what could she do now? If she said she was fine, that would be a bit of a lie, but if she didn't reply, it would seem like she was a bit too ungrateful. Pondering about her next action, the alicorn was indeed baffling herself with various thoughts until she simply went to the conclusion of saying nothing. After a few moments however, Dream muttered softly, "...Leave, please. I'd rather you leave now..."

Avan was taken aback by those words - in fact he really did take a step back in surprise. "W-What?" he said, his eyes becoming a dull as he stared at her. "Why? Did I say something wrong?" His wings flapped hard, there was a slight hardness to his voice. He didn't want to leave; he didn't want her to be alone. He hated seeing others being alone after he had been alone for so many years. "I don't...I don't want to leave you, not yet. There is so much we could talk about." Mostly problems that he faced. For some reason, he wanted to talk all about the hate and bitterness he had stored inside him like a blizzard, that chilled his body from the inside yet he refused to show it. Maybe it was because he knew that Dream would forget it and with that single though, he froze.

Without a single though, he dipped his head and turned. What was he thinking? Thinking of using her to release all of his trouble-some feelings of hate and self loathing just because he knew that she would forget it and nopony would have to know the feelings? He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he opened up his saddlebag with his magic and pulled out his cloak. The lines were still and lifeless until he threw it on his body and he locked it in with the gem on the center; then it started to move and pulse in time with his heartbeat, which was a bit faster than normal.

"No, you are right," he said in a soft voice, but there was bitterness in his voice. "I should get going, I would hate to be a burden on you." Self-loathing...That single word could sum up how he felt. He hated himself. Feelings he could never get past and so they were bottled up in his soul. He was an alicorn and to many of the lesser ponies of Equestria, that meant that he had all the time in the world, but even with all of that time...He couldn't let go of the past. So, he headed toward the doors of the library before he paused at the entrance of it, resting his hoof on the edge of the door frame. "Is there anything you want to say before I go?" he said, his voice now almost completely bitter as he turned slightly to stare at Dream.

Clearly she wasn't the only one with problems.



Occ: Haha, whoops. Have no idea where this came from. I guess I forgot how bitter he really was on the inside until this post. Might seem happy and full of life on the outside, but on the inside he is cold and rather dead. He and the Doctor should have a nice chat. *shot*