For several hours, Amissus sat in the corner of the kitchen at Sugar Cube Corner, doing nothing: barely stirring from his statue-like stance. He was in awe of what his mind had revealed to him, all the memories playing back to him in a moment's notice.
Pinkie Pie was working in the same room: cooking sweets of all kinds for Mr. and Mrs. Cake's shop. She sometimes offered a pastry to him, but he stared ahead, never noticing her generosity. The rest of the group sat in the main dining area of Sugar Cube Corner's interior, waiting for Amissus to do something, anything. It had taken almost an hour to drag his body to the bakery and presently waited for him to recover.
Amissus mind had concluded flashbacks and it rested. He was but in a state of shock, though his mind was free, his body had ceased to accept his commands to move or speak, although he did make a strange noise when one impulse went through. Pinkie had almost thrown a party to imitate the sound when she slipped in milk and gave up, deciding that work would be more suited to the situation.
Now and again, one pony of the waiting party would check on Amissus's status, and they all came back with the same answer. Amissus was afraid that he may be like this for longer than he'd prefer, almost similar to four days ago, except he was awake. He decided to impulse his body until it came back under his control.
He attempted to move his leg, but found no luck in the endeavor. He attempted to open his mouth, same result. He then triggered his neck, and it moved! He wasted no time working his movement across his entire body, until all of it was moving on his command. He felt returned and restored, although he had cramps from sitting too long. He worked through the shooting pain and walked around the kitchen. Soon the pain was gone and he walked out to his friends, leaving Pinkie Pie to her work.
Fluttershy was the first to notice him walk out. But Rainbow Dash spoke first.
"He's okay!" She told the others, flying up when she did, prompting the group away from their table and to walk over to him.
Questions and comments started rolling, "What happened to you?" "Are you alright?" "Glad you snapped out of it." "Do you feel okay?"
He closed his eyes, a headache starting from the sudden outbursts. They quickly quieted, and he told them "I have a hazy scrap of my colt-hood, but I don't know why it caused me to act the way I did. I'm not worried about finding out right now, I'm just happy to be amongst my…friends…again."
Looking for the right term to describe his acquaintances, he found 'friends' the most appealing.
Twilight told him, "We're here for you Amissus, don't doubt that." The rest of the group voiced their agreement.
After she finished her sentence, another pony walked into the shop. "I couldn't help but overhear…a loud chant of cheer."
Twilight turned to the black stripped pony and greeted her, "Zecora! I'm so happy you could come."
"Of course I have come, of your situation I was told some." Zecora turned to Amissus.
A cool tension was made upon eye contact and Twilight quickly bridged the gap between them with an introduction.
"Zecora, this is Amissus, we helped him when he was seriously injured."
Amissus tipped his head to her, a sign of recognition and respect.
"Amissus, this is Zecora, she's a zebra and our friend from the Everfree Forest I told you about."
"Oh, what fate has come of late. Another alicorn has arrived…tell me Amissus, from where do you derive?"
"I have no clear answer for you, Zecora. In all honesty, I don't know enough about myself to tell you." He said unenthused.
"Of amnesia you are ill with, a state of confusion that I can lift. Come to my home soon; be there with tomorrow's moon."
"I'll be there tomorrow."
Amissus stepped away as the other ponies crowded to greet Zecora. He didn't want any more time talking; he just wanted to sit, even if it was what he did for several hours. He felt even more of an outsider now since Zecora was so absolutely different, yet was a close friend of this group. Any amount of time alone was coveted by him, and he still lay quiet at the table, while his friends spoke to one another over milkshakes. They laughed, joked, jeered, chatted, and slurped their drinks, while Amissus silently sipped on his as they went on talking. He absorbed the conversations and when asked something he replied with either a nod or a quick, definite answer. This is how the afternoon went lazily by, the feeling of worry never drifting past.
…
Again as every night before, Amissus took an evening walk alone. Although he could fly, he felt that walking gave him a sense of control, or a feeling of composure. He would soon be in his fifth day wandering around Ponyville, attempting time and time again to know himself, or was he himself? He pondered the situation he actualized himself in.
Am I me anymore? Did I destroy myself by destroying the spirit of corruption? Some of my spirit came to me, but only a small part. Afterwards, I started receiving memories, so maybe I've only gotten rid of my evils?
He buried his face against a tree, aggravated that thrice over his meditations failed and led nowhere helpful. He bitterly recited his sources, blaming them for not being good enough. Each source lead him on ever more irritated.
"Talking to others: Nothing. Reading books: Nothing." He started hitting his head against the tree. "Meditations: Nothing! Memories: Nothing!" Raged, he turned and exploded a buck against the tree, leaving it leaning. He stopped to contain himself, taking deep breaths. The tree then continued to fall, and collapsed to the ground with a sound of crushing leaves and branches.
He didn't care to carry on this day any longer, and collapsed where he stood to sleep, he didn't care anymore. If he could sleep and see tomorrow, he couldn't do it quicker.
…
An icy wind woke Amissus; he saw the faint red sky as the Sun's rays cast its light ahead of itself. He stood and stretched, ready to start again. He unfolded his wings and threw himself into the cold, empty air. He flew upwards until he could see the entirety of Ponyville. It was challenging to see the buildings in the emergent morning. The view became clearer as he flew towards the town.
He was curtailed by another speeding flyer and would've crashed if he hadn't reacted quickly. He caught the faint glimpse of a trail of refracted light and followed it. It led him around clouds, through trees, and then he caught the source of the trail. He pushed himself to match the pony's speed and then worked to get beside them. He wasn't surprised to find that the rude trafficker was one who he expected to be flying this fast.
"Rainbow! That was a dangerous move you did, cutting me off!" He said to her half serious, half provoking.
She looked over at her new wing mate and smiled with a "Dangerous? You haven't seen dangerous yet. Try to keep up, Ams!" By choppily pronouncing the first part of his name as a substitution for the entire three syllables, she dared him to stay with her.
She attempted to outfly him, but he was persistent. When she made a turn, he was there. When she dived, he was there. When she did a double barrel roll through a grove of trees he…flew higher to avoid the trees and followed her until she was out and then he was there. He was there keeping up with her every attempt to lose him. She forfeited the competition with him and dived into a cloud, which Amissus flew around it for a softer landing.
When he did touch down, he found her relaxed on her back, hoofs supporting her head, legs crossed, and eyes closed.
She turned and said, "Well, you've got talent, kid. But-"
"Rainbow, I'm over here." He told her, as he was in the opposite direction which she was speaking to.
She opened her eyes and looked in his direction, embarrassed, but she recovered with "As I was saying…you've got talent, but I'm the best flyer in Equestria. I'm not easily impressed." She pointed to him, "I'm impressed with your moves."
"I don't plan on being a stunt flyer, but thank you." He returned.
"It took me years of experimentation, practice, and training to get this good. Where did you learn to fly so well?"
"I was just following you, I put no extra thought into it. I saw and I went."
"Oh c'mon, there's more to it than that! You kept up with me. Me!" Emphasizing on the last "me."
"But you can't keep up with me?" He retorted, noticing her eyes drifting about him, but never looking directly at him.
She reddened and turned away. He had an idea about what her thoughts were, but he let the situation dissolve in silence. He sat watching the clouds wander about the sky when Rainbow decided to reenter Amissus's focus. She sat next to him, much like two days ago at Sweet Apple Acres, and much like two days ago she unknowingly leaned on him. Amissus didn't move this time, however she did realize her actions and quickly shifted away from him, but not flying away in embarrassment. Instead, she started a conversation with him.
"I don't understand what you're looking at. I don't see anything interesting happening out there."
Amissus, as always, gave a plain answer. "It's not that I'm looking out at the sky and clouds, Rainbow. I'm looking into myself, thinking and wondering about everything."
"So are you one of those egghead ponies, like Twilight?"
"I wouldn't say so, but perhaps. I'm not into studies like Twilight is, although I tend to go about learning in my own way."
"Like me and my production of the most amazing, most awesome pony ever to make her way over the face of Equestria?! Zooming to the fastest that I know! Tearing apart the sky with my incredible moves!" She started going upwards as she built her enthusiasm. She noticed his peculiar expression at her sudden eccentric behavior and slowly came back down to the cloud. She let out a "ahem" to settle the awkwardness.
"Somepony has a high opinion of herself." He said coyly.
"Of course, why wouldn't I? Just ask anypony around 'Who's the most awesome pony?' and you'll get 'Rainbow Dash!' So my 'high opinion' is just the effect of what everypony else thinks."
He let her keep her extroverted perspective and started to lie down. If he was going to be talking to Rainbow Dash all day then he might as well make himself comfortable.
Rainbow took a second turn talking. "So does somepony else have a 'high opinion' of himself?" She looked directly at him when she asked.
"I have the same answer as you: my opinion of myself is the effect of what everypony else thinks. I don't really care, but I listen to remarks of my actions."
"Yeesh, you're boring." She commented on his lack of passion.
"Well, I've only known the world for five days on account of my amnesia, so forgive me if I'm a bit 'boring.'" She rolled her eyes, but still listened through the conversation. "Apart from me, you're the most interesting pony I've had a conversation with."
Her eyes lit up, but she bit back something, maybe a sentence or a shout. She looked at him with more preference than before.
"You should come to my place, I'm off today and I have nothing to do."
"What about our other friends? Couldn't we do something with them?"
She dodged the question. "Uhh…I'm sure they're all really busy. Yeah, busy."
"Alright, I'll follow your lead. Hanging out with you beats sitting out here all morning." He hauled himself from his imprint on the cloud and went the few inches that made their distance from each other. He didn't realize how close she was all along.
"I'm sure you'll have no problem keeping up this time, after that display you showed me." She jumped off the cloud in a multicolored trail.
"I'm sure I won't either." He remarked to himself as he followed her lead.