Season Z, Episode Q: No Memory

by Flame Runner

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life
Length: 3479

Pinkie agrees to help Twilight with an experiment and ends up losing her memory.

Twilight Sparkle asks Pinkie to help with an experiment but when the testing device goes haywire, Pinkie gains the memory span of a goldfish. Twilight and Spike now need to get Pinkie to the hospital before Ponyville falls victim to a memory deficient pink pony.

If you enjoy this story, please check out the other Season Z "episodes".

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-18 00:04:01 UTC

No Memory

Season: Z

Episode: Q

No Memory

(By: Flame Runner)

It was nice and dry inside of the hollow library tree in the quaint town of Ponyville. Outside was not quite so dry. A large thunderstorm had been scheduled by the pegasus for this afternoon. Almost everypony was indoors, unless they wanted to get drenched. Included among the dry ponies was one Twilight Sparkle. Also staying dry inside was Pinkie Pie. Pinkie would have been outside, enjoying the nice rain, if it hadn’t been for the afore mentioned Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, a purple unicorn mare and librarian with a knack for magic and science, had invited Pinkie Pie into her library home to run a few simple tests on the pink pony. Pinkie, an earth pony mare with a bright pink coat and unnaturally fluffy pink hair, had agreed right then and there. The pink pony, who always seemed to have a smile on her face, was currently wearing a helmet that was strapped into a large electronic device which buzzed and lit up randomly.

“Thanks for agreeing to help me out Pinkie,” said Twilight with a smile.

The purple bookworm plugged the last wire into Pinkie’s metal helmet.

“No problemo!” giggled Pinkie happily. “So, what are we testing? The tastiness of a cupcake?”

“No, sorry Pinkie. I’m testing to see the height that an earth pony can jump. From what I’ve observed, you have the highest jump in all of Ponyville…and possibly all of Equestria,” stated Twilight.

The unicorn walked around Pinkie. She made sure to double check everything and then she triple checked her double check, just to be on the safe side. Standing by the large machine, with a lever in between his claws, was a very small dragon. This dragon had a coat of purple scales with green spikes adorning his back. His name was Spike and he was Twilight’s number one assistant.

“Pull the lever Spike!” commanded Twilight.

The dragon nodded his head and yanked down on the lever. A panel in the roof opened up right above Twilight and rainwater came pouring in. Needless to say, the purple mare got drenched almost instantly.

“Wrong lever!” wailed Twilight in surprise.

Pinkie giggled. Spike pulled the lever back into its original position and the roof closed back up.

“Why do we even have that lever?” asked Twilight with slight frustration.

The unicorn began to wring out her hair with a small burst of magic. Unbeknownst to Twilight, the rainwater puddle on the floor was trickling down, towards the large beeping machine attached to Pinkie. The water flowed under the strange device. Almost instantaneously, the machine went haywire. It began to beep and buzz and hum and whir at an alarmingly quick pace and its various lights blinked faster and brighter than ever before. Soon, the lights began to pop their sockets and the machine began to smoke and spark. A large blast of electrical energy flowed down the wires and directly into Pinkie’s metal helmet. The pink mare was jolted into a bouncy and jittery dance.

“Whee! This is fun!” exclaimed the happy pony.

Then the top half of the machine exploded and one final surge of power went straight to Pinkie’s brain. The most unusual thing happened next, Pinkie closed her eyes with a smile as big as a house painted on her lips and then flipped over 180 degrees and fell directly onto her back.

(Insert Theme Music Here)

* * * * * * * * *

“Pinkie? Pinkie?!” Twilight was screaming.

The pink mare shot her eyes open instantly. Twilight was standing by her left side and Spike was standing at her right.

“Hi!” Pinkie said and then bounced up to her hooves.

“It looks like she’s going to be ok,” sighed Spike in relief.

Pinkie twisted her head to the right and then shoved her face right into the dragon’s nose.

“What’s your name?” came the muffled voice of Pinkie.

“Gah!” Spike screamed as he leaped backwards.

Pinkie giggled. “That’s a funny name!”

The pink mare then suddenly turned on Twilight next.

“What’s your name?”

Twilight was slightly dumbstruck and didn’t answer right away.

“Ooo. (silence) That’s a good name!” claimed Pinkie.

The happy-go-lucky mare then began to bounce around the library and hum a cheery tune while bobbing her head back and forth.

“Um…Twilight?” asked Spike.

“Working on it,” responded Twilight.

She stepped forward and into Pinkie’s bouncy path. Pinkie stopped when she came to Twilight and looked into the purple one’s eyes. She smiled broadly and then pulled back a deep breath.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

Twilight inhaled and prepared to respond, when Pinkie blurted a whole slew of questions.

“What’s my name? Where is this place? Do I like pudding? Ooo! Ooo! What’s your name?”

Pinkie stopped talking and stared at Twilight with that unnervingly happy smile of hers. Twilight turned her head slowly toward Spike.

“Spike, I think we’re going to take a quick trip to the hospital.”

“Yep,” agreed the dragon with a nod.

* * * * * * * * *

A nice bed and clean walls and floors were the order of the day at Ponyville’s one and only hospital. A strong looking stallion entered the room containing Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Pinkie Pie. He was wearing a stethoscope and a plain white shirt, this was the doctor. Pinkie was sitting on a bed and humming to herself while gazing around the room whimsically. The doctor had in his mouth a small clipboard. He placed it on the bed and then began to speak with Twilight.

“Well Twilight, your friend Pinkie here has received a rather serious brain injury,” opened the doctor.

“I can tell. She can’t seem to remember anything. Did she lose her memory?” queried the unicorn.

“Yes and no,” responded the doctor.

“Huh?” asked Spike.

“Well, you see Pinkie Pie here currently has the memory span of a goldfish, approximately five seconds.”

“Excuse me?” asked Twilight indignantly.

“Now hold on, hold on,” the doctor replied with a small chuckle and a winning smile. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. We know how to fix the issue. We’ve seen it before.”

“You’ve seen this before?” asked Spike.

“Eleven times as a matter of fact,” stated the doctor. “I promise that your friend Pinkie Pie will be just fine.”

The stallion looked up from his clipboard and toward the bed.

“And…where’d she go?” he questioned.

Pinkie Pie was no longer sitting on the comfy bed, but the door to the hospital room was swinging open with a small creak.

“So Pinkie Pie with a five second memory span is loose in Ponyville,” commented Twilight.

“It’s ok. Just get her back here and we’ll have her back to normal in no time,” encouraged the doctor.

“Come on Spike! We’ve got a Pinkie to catch!” called Twilight as she bounded toward the door.

* * * * * * * * *

The rain had stopped by the time Pinkie exited the hospital. There were a few puddles here and there and everything seemed to smell extra fresh after the showers. A few ponies had finally gotten out of their houses and were now milling around the town. Pinkie skipped along her merry way without a care in the world. Her head and hair bounced around to an unheard tune. Somehow she came across town and found herself standing outside the Sugar Cube Corner, Ponyville’s number one bakery. She pushed through the front doors and was greeted with the sweet aroma of the sugary delights known as cupcakes.

“Pinkie Pie! I’m so glad you’re here!” a voice called from ahead of the pink mare.

It was Mrs. Cake, the wife of Mr. Cake and co-owner of Sugar Cube Corner.

“We were just about to take our kids out to the park. They’ve been getting a little antsy being stuck inside with all this rain. Would you mind looking after the store while we’re out?”

Pinkie just smiled and nodded her head.

“Excellent! There’s not much to do today. You just need to put in the next batch of cupcakes and take out the one baking when the timer goes off.”

Mrs. Cake walked around a corner and out of Pinkie’s sight. She soon came back with Mr. Cake and their two children, Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake.

“Thanks a million Pinkie!” said Mr. Cake as the family left the store.

Pinkie waved and then headed back to where the sweet aroma was coming from. She soon found herself in Sugar Cube Corner’s bakery. A batch of cupcakes was currently baking in the oven. She followed her nose until her head smacked into the oven.

“Oops! When did that get there?” Pinkie asked herself.

Peering inside, the pink pony found a few trays of slowly rising cake batter. She hungrily licked her lips and then opened up the oven. She placed a hoof inside to snag one of the trays, but the tray was hot to the touch and she pulled her hoof back quickly. She looked at her hoof, which was turning a slight shade of red, and then stuck it in her mouth and began to suck on it.

Then, she noticed another tray filled with cupcake batter sitting on the counter. Her pain forgotten, she stopped sucking her hoof and placed it back on the ground. She moved over to the tray and poked it. This one was cool and slid smoothly across the counter. Pinkie giggled and then moved to the other side of the counter to push it again. Suddenly, inspiration struck the funny pony. She stuck out her tongue and licked up one of the carefully made goops of cupcake batter. She swished it around in her mouth a couple of times.

“Mmm? Hmm? Hmmph…” she mumbled with the batter between her teeth.

She then spit the batter back out and into its tiny crevice in the cupcake tray.

“Needs more sweet stuff,” she stated.

An alarm rang by the oven and Pinkie looked over at it questioningly. It was a small white device which buzzed annoyingly. Pinkie poked it and it fell over. She giggled, but it still kept ringing. Then something sparkly outside caught Pinkie’s attention. She left Sugar Cube Corner with the alarm still ringing and the oven still on and still open.

* * * * * * * * *

Twilight and Spike had arrived at Sugar Cube Corner after searching around the other areas in Ponyville. They hurriedly entered and a smell wafted into their nostrils. It was the smell of something burning.

“Something smells awful!” Twilight rose up a hoof to cover her nose.

“Something smells wonderful!” Spike’s mouth began to water.

The two rushed into the kitchen. A white alarm was ringing loudly and an open oven was spewing forth smoke. Inside the oven a couple of blackened cupcakes had literally been lit on fire.

“Oh! The Cakes are trying out a new kind of cupcake! Can I try one?” asked Spike.

“Spike, these are on fire!” replied Twilight.

“Yeah. Can I try one?”

“Pinkie must have been here. We just missed her,” Twilight ignored Spike’s question and then shut the alarm and oven off. The purple unicorn rushed out of the kitchen and back onto the streets of Ponyville.

“I didn’t hear a ‘No’.” Spike smiled and then reached into the oven and pulled out a flaming and blackened cupcake. He stuffed it in his mouth and then raced out the door to find Twilight.

“Twwiiffligggt! Fwaaait fooore mehh!” his muffled shout came out through bits of burnt cupcake.

* * * * * * * * *

Pinkie followed the sparkly dot of light that had caught her attention. The bead of light led to Rarity’s Carousel Boutique. In fact, the light had come off of Rarity’s newest dress. It was bedazzled with many colorful gemstones of a myriad colors. The dress was a plain white garment with elegant blue trimming. The jewels were set in a unique pattern so that the big stones and little ones combined into a flowering shape. Rarity herself had gussied her purple hair up even more curly than usual. The white unicorn mare had stridden through the rain soaked streets to allow the gems to glisten off of the light bouncing from the puddles of water. She was truly dazzling. It wasn’t until she arrived back at her Boutique that she noticed Pinkie Pie tailing her. She turned around and addressed the pink mare.

“Oh Pinkie! Hello there. What do you think of my latest design?”

“What’s a Pinkie?” asked the memory deficient pony.

Rarity looked at her friend oddly.

“You are Pinkie.” Rarity pointed at her friend.

Pinkie stared at Rarity and blinked.

“That’s your name,” explained Rarity.

“What’s my name?” asked Pinkie.

“Pinkie, are you feeling alright?” queried the unicorn.

“I’m super-duper fantasticliscous!” Pinkie laughed.

The happy pony then began to jump all around the Carousel Boutique.

“Stop that! Pinkie, settle down!” commanded Rarity.

Pinkie stopped bouncing, but found something else to occupy her attention. She started to pluck Rarity’s clothes off of their respective hangers and toss them over her shoulder. Rarity rushed over to the heap forming on the ground. She used her magic to start placing the clothes back onto the hangers as Pinkie tossed more off.

“No! They’ll get all wrinkled if you do that!” squealed Rarity.

“Ooo, this looks nice!” Pinkie said while holding a scarf up to her forehead.

Using the pause in Pinkie’s clothes flinging madness, Rarity was able to put the rest of the pile back onto hangers. She soon turned her attention toward the giggling mare. Pinkie was trying to tie the scarf onto her head, just above her eyes.

“You wear it around your neck. Like this.”

Rarity reached up and moved the scarf down to Pinkie’s neck.

“You know, that actually doesn’t look half bad on you,” commented the unicorn thoughtfully.

“Yeah, it looks nice!” Pinkie agreed.

Pinkie lifted her head up to meet Rarity’s eyes. She was just about to say something, when she then looked down at her neck.

“How did this get here?” she asked nopony in particular about the scarf.

Rarity was dumbstruck.

“I put it there not five seconds ago,” stated the fashionable mare. “Are you sure that you’re alright dear?”

Pinkie looked back up at Rarity.

“Who are you?” the earth mare asked.

“Ok, that does it. I’m going to find you some help. Stay right here,” commanded Rarity.

She quickly made her way outside to get some help and left Pinkie Pie alone. Pinkie looked down at her scarf.

“This thing is ichy,” she stated and then began to take it off by using her mouth. “Oh, but it’s tasty!”

Pinkie started to chew on the scarf while looking around at the rest of the store. She found a drawer and opened it. Inside were many pairs of different colored socks. She picked a blue one up and looked at it curiously. Then she placed it on her right ear. She then grabbed up an orange sock and placed it on her left ear.

“Ear warmers!” she giggled happily while still chewing on her scarf.

Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Rarity all came charging into the room a few moments later.

“There you are Pinkie!” Twilight stated victoriously.

“Ahh!!!” screamed Rarity.

“Did Pinkie damage your clothes?” asked Spike nervously.

“Those socks are clashing!” wailed Rarity.

The white mare dove at Pinkie and tackled the happy pony. She quickly removed the socks from her ears.

“Good work Rarity!” congratulated Twilight.

“No need to thank me. That was a crime against fashion!” Rarity then looked down at Pinkie’s mouth and gasped.

“What now?” Twilight asked with annoyance.

“Why, she’s eaten half…of my…scarf!” Rarity fainted.

“Rarity? Rarity?!” Spike leaped to the side of the unconscious unicorn.

“Come on,” sighed Twilight. “Let’s get them both to the hospital.”

* * * * * * * * *

“She’s going to be alright?” Twilight asked as the doctor exited a room.

Twilight and Spike were waiting in a hallway in the Ponyville hospital. Spike was sitting down and flipping through some sort of magazine. Twilight couldn’t stop pacing until the doctor emerged.

“Yes, she’ll be just fine. Would you like to see her?” the doctor asked.

Twilight nodded and the doctor led her into the room. A pony was sleeping soundly under the hospital bed sheets. As Twilight came closer, her head popped up from under the sheets and she blinked her eyes open.

“Rarity?” asked Twilight.

“Twilight?” Rarity shot back. “Where am I?”

Twilight looked at the doctor accusingly.

“She was unconscious,” explained the doc with a shrug.

“She fainted,” deadpanned Twilight.

“Am I in a hospital gown?” pondered Rarity. “Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!”

Rarity sprung up from the bed and shot straight out of the gown.

“I think she’s made a full recovery!” praised the doctor.

“But what about Pinkie?” pressed Twilight.

“Oh, she’s in the next room over,” explained the stallion.

The doctor walked out of the room and both Twilight and Rarity followed him. Spike looked up from his magazine as the mares emerged from the room.

“Rarity!” he called happily.

The dragon flung himself onto the unicorn with a big hug.

“Thank you for coming to see me my little Spikey-wikey,” cooed Rarity happily.

“Mm hmm,” grunted Twilight.

The two looked over at the librarian. She tilted her head toward the room where Pinkie was staying. Spike and Rarity released their embrace.

“Uh, right!” Spike responded.

The ponies and dragon walked into the hospital room. Pinkie was wide awake and bouncing a small rubber ball against the opposite wall.

“Hi!” she called while smacking the ball again.

“Pinkie, how are you feeling?” asked Twilight as the three strode up to their friend.

Pinkie Pie raised herself up and turned her attention toward those in front of her. As such, the ball was not hit and began to flounce all around the room distractingly.

“I feel great, but for some odd reason I keep getting this strange taste in my mouth.”

“Really? What kind of taste?” asked the doctor worriedly.

“I’d put it as a scarf kind of taste,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“And how would you know that? Have you tasted a scarf before?” the doc asked jokingly.

“Of course I’ve tasted scarf before! I mean, who hasn’t?” replied Pinkie.

The doctor looked at her strangely.

“Um…right…Well, the operation was a success and we should have you out of here by this time tomorrow,” the stallion stated.

He then walked out to allow the friends some space.

“So do you remember anything that happened?” Twilight pressed.

“I was in the library in that silly beeping machine and then next thing I know, I’m in here and it’s been a full day. That’s a whole day of fun that I missed out on!” Pinkie replied energetically.

“Darling, I don’t believe that you missed out on any fun,” Rarity said with a small smile.

“Tell me all about it!” Pinkie asked excitedly.

The friends went over all of the day’s crazy activities and shared plenty of laughs. Finally, they finished the story.

“Wow. I guess I didn’t miss it after all!” Pinkie giggled. “You three are the best friends I could ever have!” She reached down and gave them each a little squeeze. “If it wasn’t for you, I don’t know where I’d be right now. Hey, that sounds like friendship lesson stuff!”

Spike quickly pulled out a parchment and a quill. Rarity and Twilight looked at the dragon questioningly.

“What? Whenever Twilight goes anywhere she always needs to write something down,” he defended himself.

“So, what could you have possibly learned from eating my scarf and burning some cupcakes?” inquired Rarity.

“Well,” Pinkie started, “I learned that sometimes we all need help for some reason or another. And it’s in those times that we can rely on our friends for support. Good friends are always there to help out, even when you can’t help yourself.”

“…yourself,” Spike repeated as he wrote down the message. “Got it!”

Suddenly, Pinkie’s stomach growled.

“I guess I’m hungry. Let’s see, what do I want today? Ooo! Ooo! Donuts! I want donuts!” she stammered excitedly.

“I think we can grab some donuts for you,” Twilight replied.

The three turned to leave and grab the food when Pinkie stopped them.

“And sprinkles!” the pink equine shouted from her bed.

“Donuts with sprinkles. Right!” Twilight said.

“No, friendship lesson with sprinkles!” Pinkie corrected.

The three turned around and faced Pinkie. They all looked at each other and then all four broke into laughter. The three left the room.

“But, are you serious about the sprinkles?” Spike asked as he poked his head back in the door.

Pinkie giggled.