Chapter 10: Memories of the Forgotten

Alpha woke up with a start. He looked up to see the charred ground when Beta made sure they were alone and smiled as he lowered his head down, catching his breath. He looked to his side to see the apples he bought the night before and moved one to him with his hoof. He took a bite, savoring the taste in his mouth. The juice overpowered his mouth and started to foam. Alpha was half awake and started to choke on the juice. He coughed up the liquid and gasp for breath.

"Don't do that again." Beta said, awake. "Jeez, that was the worst way I have woken up in a while. What do you want?" He said, breathing heavily.

"Nothing, sorry, nearly fell asleep eating. What do you want to do today?" he replied.

"We need to get our bag from Vinyl before we do anything else. We also need to find out who Zeta is and what she wants. Plus, I want to go see something…personal. I want to make sure it is still standing."

That last part caught Alpha off guard. "Personal? Like what?"

"It's not important now. We need to get our stuff back." Beta said.

"Beta, are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That last part caught me off. What do you want to see?"

"When we get there, I will explain what I meant. Let's just go get our stuff back."

"Well, it is Sunday, which means her shop will not open." Alpha sighed. "Looks like we are going to see Octavia again." He groaned in pain as he got up, slipped on his wing and walked to Ponyville. Once there, he wished Beta had cloaked him.

Everypony was staring at Alpha, specifically his metallic brace. They stopped in his path, asking him to take it off and leave it off, but Alpha shook his head and said "No." It was pure hell for him.

"Why won't you take it off?" The ponies would ask.

"Because I don't want to, I feel weak, different. Without my wing, I can't fly. It's like removing your wings or your horn, it's part of you. It feels awkward without it." He would reply.

Eventually he got to Vinyl's place. He knocked on the front door and waited.

"One moment." A voice said within the cottage. The door opened and there stood Octavia. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?" She said, annoyed.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but Vinyl has my bag and jar. I was hoping to get them back." Alpha said calmly.

"Wait here. VINYL!" She screamed over her shoulder without taking her eyes off Alpha.

"What?!" Vinyl's voice came from upstairs.

"YOU GOT A VISITOR" Octavia screamed back. Alpha looked at her, amused at what was happening. He tried desperately to not laugh. He wasn't making faces, but was very close to do so.

"IM COMING DOWN." Vinyl said as she walked downstairs. "What's up?" She said as she looked at her friend. Her eyes met Alpha and she froze. "Oh, him."

"Hello Vinyl. I am just here for my bag and the jars inside." Alpha replied.

"Oh, yeah. Gimme a minute." She said. Vinyl ran back inside, grabbed his bag and threw it to Alpha. "Next time, don't send somepony to do your work." Octavia replied and slammed the door shut.

"That could have gone a lot better." Beta said as Alpha shouldered his bag and flew off.

"I'm not surprised though." Alpha said with a disappointed tone. "Anyway, before we go find out who Zeta is, let's go to your personal place."

"Fine, the last time I remember it, it was near the edge of the village, north of here. We can get there much faster if you fly." Beta replied uneasily. Alpha noted the uneasiness in Beta's voice as he took off and flew north. After a few minutes, he landed at the edge of Ponyville. He looked around and saw an old two-story cottage, hiding within forest.

The Cottage was falling apart. It looked like it was about to collapse at any moment. Vines covered the stone chimney while the wood was gray and rotten. The glass windows were cracked and broken. The roof, usually made with hay, seemed like it wasn't made with hay. It had lost its color to the elements and had blended in with the wood. The paint was peeling of the walls. The Cottage looked as if it was built…

"Beta, is this what I think it is?" Alpha said in mid-thought.

"Welcome to my house, Alpha. I'm amazed that it is still standing after all these years. Apparently after I…had my incident, rumor spread that anypony who went into the house would be killed by my anger. Glad to see that everypony listened to it. Let's go inside." Beta said cheerfully.

Alpha walked to the door. It was leaning to one side, its hinges already gone. Alpha cautiously opened it and walked inside, letting Beta close the door. He took a deep breath. The air smelled old and mossy. "Wow." Alpha said, impressed, as he looked around.

"Home sweet Home. It isn't much today. But back when I was alive, it was a lot. My parents were very wealthy, before I screwed everything up. My bedroom was upstairs. I'll make sure the wood doesn't crumble when you touch it, you'll be fine." Beta replied.

Alpha took a step forward and heard the wood creak, cringing to its sound. "I'm scared shitless right now." He gingerly took a few steps forward and slowly made his way to the stairs. Once he got up the stairs he looked around. The hallway's paint was peeling off but Alpha could just see the last remains of cyan in the old paint.

"It's the first door on your left. My parents' room is on the right. Go into my room first. Then go into my parents' room." Beta announced

Alpha nodded as he walked down the hallway, and entered the first door on his right. The room was perfectly preserved. It was if someone had taken a picture of it. It was brightly colored. There was a colt sitting on the ground. He had brown skin, blood-red eyes, and his mane and tail went from a dark red to a light red. Alpha was memorized by the colt sitting on the ground in front of him.

"Hey colt, you lost?" Alpha asked.

The colt did not respond. It did not even look around. Alpha walked around the colt to see him playing with a ball. The ball was colored blue with a red stripe across it. But the colt wasn't touching the ball, instead he stared at it. As Alpha watched, the ball rose up and flew around the room, the colt laughing hysterically watching it.

"…Beta…" Alpha muttered to himself, watching the colt.

"Beta, you got a visitor!" A female voice said from downstairs.

The ball fell to the ground. It bounced twice then rolled to a halt. He stopped laughing; all the happiness he was just feeling was gone. Beta's smile turned to a frown.

"Who is it?" Beta replied. Visitors usually meant being hated. All of his friends have already left him, betraying him. He heard a door slam as his mother closed the front door.

"A mare named Gamma." Beta's mom replied.

"What did she want?" Beta asked as he walked to his window to see the mare walk away. She had gray skin with a dark-green-turning-light-green colored mane and tail. Gamma turned around to look at Beta's house once more and noticed Beta watching her. She gave Beta a nasty look, called him some words that Beta could not hear but knew it wasn't nice words, and walked away.

"To state her own opinion. That's the 6th pony today that has come up to our cottage to state their opinions. This is getting too out of hoof." Beta's mom replied.

Beta turned away from the window and jumped upon his bed. He grabbed his blanket, a cotton blanket that was colored blue, with Luna's cutie mark stitched into it, and wrapped himself with it, curling up into a ball. Everything slowly started to disappear as the flashback ended. The room was deteriorating. The paint was peeling off the walls, the covers of the bed were moldy and mothballed.

"Beta, are you alright?" Alpha asked.

"No." Beta admitted. "I don't want to be here any longer. I want to go."

Alpha looked down and picked up the ball Beta was playing with in the flashback, dropping it in his bag as he turned around. "Do you want to visit your parent's room?" He asked.

"No, I want to leave this place now."

"We are leaving." Alpha said as he walked down the stairs. He opened the door and, with the best of his abilities, closed it without breaking it. He stepped back a few meters, spread his wings and flew off into the blue sky, heading toward the market.

"Beta?" Alpha said.

"Yes, Alpha?"

"What happened to Gamma?"

"I killed her, like I did with every other pony that hurt me. But unlike most ponies, I killed her quickly compared to every other pony I killed. She was one of the first ponies I killed."

Alpha slowly turned right. "How did you kill her? How did you kill most ponies?"

"It depended on how bad they hurt me. Ponies like Gamma who swore at me were killed by either A. being lit on fire. B. stabbed in the hooves and neck. Or C. strangled. Ponies that hurt me by calling me names and singling me out in public were either slowly crushed alive or decapitated with a dull object like a butter knife or the metal edge of a ruler. Ponies that physically hurt me were…well…I treated them like I treated the ponies who took off your wing."

"Oh. Okay." Alpha said calmly.

"Why do you ask?"

"I saw a flashback when I entered your room. I felt your pain, your loneliness and your depression." Alpha replied as he landed in the market. He looked around and saw some ponies looking at him. "I'm starting to feel like that, not loneliness but alienated." Alpha looked around and saw John and Scoot together, drinking some milkshakes. He smiled and exhaled.

"Hey colt!" a voice said behind Alpha. Alpha turned around to see a Guard walking up to him. Beta began to rise.

"Yes?" Alpha replied.

"Princess Celestia wants to meet with you." The guard replied.

"Really? Well, you can tell her that I don't care." Alpha said.

The guard's jaw dropped. "Are you aware of what I just said? The Princess of Equestri-"

"I don't give a damn what she wants." Alpha said interrupting, his right eye glowing red. "Tell her that I. DO. NOT. CARE."

"You are aware of the consequences of not obeying your Princess's command, right?" The guard said.

"I have been through worse. And she isn't my princess. I do not worship her. I do not listen to her." Alpha replied.

"Fine, your problem." The guard said as he took flight, heading towards the castle. Alpha sighed as he shook his head. He turned around and went to a stall selling apples. He bought three apples, turned around and found an empty table. Alpha placed the apples on the table and slid off his metallic brace. He placed his wing on the table, placing his hoof on it and stretched his scorched wing. Ponies started to walk over to Alpha, staring at the colt's wing. Alpha did not mind though, and ate two of the three apples.

"Well," Alpha said, sighing. "One last thing to do today."

"Find out who Zeta is."

Alpha slid back on his metallic brace and was about to take a bite of the last apple when he saw a stray to his right. Feeling bad for the stray, Alpha tossed the apple to it. The stray caught it and ran away with it.

"I never understood why they run away."

"It's mostly because they are scared; out of sight, out of mind." Alpha replied, noticing some ponies were staring at him. Alpha got up and took to the skies. "Now, where the hell would we learn about a pony like Zeta?" Alpha asked himself.

"Judging on how old she looked, we can rule out the library and the museum of Equestrian History, which leaves…"

"The Castle, well, it seems like we are going to break in the castle."

"We aren't breaking in the castle, we are sneaking into the castle."

"What the hell is the difference?" Alpha asked as he banked right, heading for the castle.

"Breaking in usually means making a dramatic entrance. Sneaking in usually means not making a dramatic entrance and alerting every pony in the castle. Also, don't go for the castle yet, wait until it is night-time. It will be darker which gives us the advantage because the guards will not be able to hear you fly above them or see you. Luna will also be raising the moon so she will be busy. Celestia will be asleep. As for Zeta, well, we will find out about her."

"Alright, night-time it is." Alpha replied as he turned around and headed for his cave. He needed to rest, gain some energy to get into the castle and get out without being caught. Alpha landed in front of his cave. He walked in and took off his bag and his metallic brace. Turning around to face the entrance of the cave, he made sure he was in the shade when he lied on the cold stone ground. Placing his hooves in front of him, he laid his head down on them, and fell fast asleep.