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It was dark, even as she slowly opened her eyes. All she could hear was her own heavy breathing, all she could feel was throbbing pain in her forehead, like somepony had wrapped barbed wire around her brain. Her eyes slowly started to come into focus, realising she was looking down at a pale yellow body, probably her own. The rest of her senses slowly started to catch up, adding the feeling of cold stone at her back and a dull ache in her muzzle. She brought a hoof up to her nose and tensed at the feeling of dampness, slowly bringing it back to see red liquid soaking into the fur. Her own blood.
The sight triggered something in her mind, faint memories, no images, just sensations and feelings. An impact across her muzzle, the tingle of being enveloped in magic, muffled words, followed by a searing pain deep within her, as if part of her very soul was burning up. Any attempt to remember more just made the throbbing worse. She slowly brought her head upright and realised she had been slumped back against a wall, probably left there by...Whatever had done this. Her eyes went to the room itself and they didn't like what they saw.
Wherever she was, it was practically bare. There were no pictures on the walls, no furniture, the only objects she could see were a water trough and a bucket full of hay beneath a pair of tall but thin windows, too small to climb through. If the colour of the sky outside was any indicator, it was either dawn or dusk right now. To her left was a door, the only real exit she could see. Trying to put the pain to one side, she struggled up to her hooves and slowly walked over to it, reaching out to the handle. The instant she touched it, a magical charge flared up from the door and shocked her leg, forcing her to recoil. Of course that would have been too easy.
Her ears twitched, having adjusted to waking up again they were starting to pick up the sound of something else in the room. A quiet panting, rapid, bordering on hyperventilating. She turned round, looking for the source of the sound. Then she saw it, huddled in the shadows of a corner. An earth mare, steel blue of coat, a light grey coloured mane and tail styled with a short, professional cut and a cutie mark of a grey equal sign. That last detail sent a small wave of dread through her, for reasons she couldn't even begin to figure out without the throbbing becoming worse. She carefully walked closer, realising the pony was curled up, head buried in her hooves.
"A...Are you-"
"Get away from me!!" The unknown pony screamed, swiping at the air with a hoof. She recoiled in surprise, yet another addition to the mounting confusion in her mind. She looked down and managed to make eye contact, seeing the saffron coloured eyes of the other pony for the first time. Eyes that flashed fear, desperation, stress. As the pony's pupils shrank at the sight, something new weakly glinted in them. It was a semblance of calm, a sight of the unknown granting her something new to focus on. "You're, not one of them."
"Them? Wh-what's happened? Who are you?"
"I...My name is Peace Walker, Equestrian Defence Force, Scout division...O-or was it-" Peace Walker winced and clutched her forehead again, probably going through the same pain. A few moments passed before she managed to recover and push herself up into a sitting position. She seemed to be handling whatever was happening a lot better with somepony else to focus her efforts on instead of being trapped in her own mind.
"Okay, good to meet you, I think. What's, happening to you?"
"Same as everypony here, I wager. We don't have much time though and this is very important, try to think, not too hard, about yourself. Wh-what do you remember?" Peace Walker looked up at the newcomer as she thought about it. The newcomer gritted her teeth slightly and focused hard, yet no matter how hard she tried, she wasn't able to think of anything. Entire years of her life seemed to have been wiped from her mind, only a few isolated pieces of important information remaining in her long term memory.
"I remember some, little bits. My name is...Apple Bloom."
"Okay, Apple Bloom, that's a good start. Now, this is asking a lot but please try to stay calm when you hear this. Your memories, they've been tampered with, by some ponies who really seem to have issues against Equestria. Do...You remember what your cutie mark is?"
Apple Bloom frowned, of course she remembered what her mark was. It was...Wait, she remembered a saw but, also an equal sign? Like the one on Peace Walker's flank? She looked back, brushing her light red mane aside, getting a look at her mark. An equal sign mark. Her eyes widened slowly at the sight, trying to make sense of it, before recoiling as new memories suddenly flooded her mind.
It felt like two lives worth of experiences were all trying to be remembered at the same time, the result a barrage of rapid, indecipherable images and white noise within her head. Apple Bloom cried out and stumbled back, tripping over herself and falling back onto her rear, head in hooves as she desperately tried to fight it. A hoof on her shoulders made her jump and she looked up to see Peace Walker shaking her slightly, it was working though, the blur in her mind faded as it lost its hold without her focused on it.
"Stay with me, come on, you've still got a chance here!" Peace half-shouted, her voice breaking slightly in worry. Apple Bloom blinked and sat up fully, slowly bringing herself back under control.
"Wh-I-Wha...What was that?"
"The ones who did this to us effectively planted a whole new life in your head, I can only imagine how powerful a unicorn would have to be to do something like that. Your mind is trying to cope with two lives worth of memories. Given time, the magic powering the new ones with supress what's left of the old ones, make you think you've lived here all your life, your past self nothing more than a bad dream."
Peace Walker gently held Apple Bloom's shoulder, trying to keep her calm. Apple Bloom looked down and took several deep breaths, the touch having a surprisingly good effect on her. She slowly looked back up and rubbed her forehead, feeling the throbbing subsiding for now. She had so many questions and no idea which to ask first, ultimately deciding to go with what came first.
"How do you know about all this?" Peace Walker looked away at the question for a moment, biting her lip slightly, as if she had been hoping that this question wouldn't come up.
"I've been here for...I don't know how long now, a week? If the shadows have been any indication, at least that long. I've only stayed myself that long thanks to that guards' discipline, waiting it out in that corner, only coming out to eat. I've seen a number of ponies stuck in here, talked to them, watched them and read the signs of what was happening. They only lasted a few hours each before going out again, thinking they belonged here."
"That's..." Apple Bloom paused to try and find the right word for just how horrific that sounded to her. Her efforts were distracted by a hoof on her muzzle, she looked forward and realised Peace Walker was carefully wiping the blood off her, taking great care not to hurt her further. Thankfully, it didn't feel like anything was broken since she was able to get it all off without any further pain. Peace stepped back and wiped her hooves off, thinking her next move through.
"Listen, Apple Bloom, I've seen enough to know I can help you but we have to focus. I saw you trance out, the memories struggling for dominance. Were there any flashes of anything, anything at all, that weren't from the desert or a building like this?"
Apple Bloom closed her eyes and thought back, trying to place a single image from the mess in her short term memory a minute before. Most of it was haze of colour, going by too quickly to comprehend but after a moment her mind managed to focus on something different, a scene from someone that wasn't here.
"I think...Yes. Yes, there was a different town and I was with two ponies."
"Ok, that's good. Try to focus on that, don't be afraid to say it out as you remember. It'll help us both since I need the distraction as well."
Apple Bloom nodded, she didn't have any better ideas and this Peace Walker was probably going to be the only pony she had as company for the foreseeable future. She sat down and focused harder, trying to get her mind back to where it had been. The throbbing was coming back but she gritted her teeth and concentrated. It was something of a blur but she could see the memory slowly taking form in her mind again.
"Okay, I can see it. I was in...I think it was a town called, Ponyville."