Wallflower Blush stood defiantly in front of Sunset Shimmer, her face a mask of anger and betrayal. The Memory Stone gleamed ominously in her hand as she pulled it from her backpack.
“I wanted to teach you a lesson by erasing your friends’ good memories of you—” Wallflower declared, holding the stone aloft, “—but obviously that didn’t work.”
The six girls standing behind Sunset exchanged confused glances, their faces reflecting a mix of horror and bewilderment. Though they could see the malice in Wallflower’s eyes, only Sunset understood the full depth of the threat. Her dread rose as she watched Wallflower pace, understanding the threat that loomed over them.
“What if I erased all their memories of high school?” Wallflower continued, her voice dripping with malice.
Sunset’s eyes widened in panic. “You can’t! You’d be stealing their memories of each other!” she pleaded, her voice cracking with desperation.
Wallflower’s gaze hardened as she replied, “They’ll think of each other the way you think of me — which is not at all!”
With a swift motion, Wallflower thrust the Memory Stone toward them, a beam of lurid green light slicing through the air. Time seemed to slow as Sunset’s instincts took over, and she hurled herself into the path of the beam with a desperate cry.
“NOOOOOO!!”
The force of the magic hit her like a physical blow, knocking the air from her lungs and sending her crashing to the ground. Her body glowed with an eerie light as the magic crackled around her, and her friends gasped in unison at the sight.
With great effort, Sunset pushed herself up slightly, her voice trembling with conviction. “I ruined their friendship once before. I’d rather give up my own memories than let it happen again!”
As the others continued to watch, the energy surrounding her began to fade, but the attack was far from over. A glowing spot appeared on her forehead, and she felt a sharp, excruciating pain as memories began to rip away from her mind.
“Fluttershy!” she cried as a yellow ribbon of memories, marked with Fluttershy’s face, was torn from her. She reached out helplessly, her fingers grasping at the air as if she could pull them back.
“No!” Her voice broke with anguish as the memories vanished into the Stone.
Next came Applejack’s memories, tinted orange and filled with the warmth of their shared moments. “Applejack!” Sunset gasped, her cry edged with suppressed agony.
Rarity’s memories followed, a ribbon of white slipping from Sunset’s mind with another cry of pain. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash watched in horror, unable to move as Pinkie Pie joined them.
“Rainbow Dash!” Sunset called, her voice a desperate plea. As she fell to her knees, she glanced back at her friends, the bright pink memories of Pinkie Pie fading from her mind. “Pinkie Pie!”
She turned her gaze to Twilight, reaching out with one last, fragile hope. “Twilight… don’t forget me!” Her voice was a raw plea, tinged with desperation and fear as the violet memories of their friendship glowed in between them.
Twilight could only stare, aghast, as Sunset choked with horror and helplessness. She watched the last of her memories of Twilight being absorbed by the Stone. Sunset lay half-collapsed on the pavement, her eyes glassy and distant.
Strength seeped from her body, her limbs heavy and unresponsive. Her mind was a storm of disbelief and agony as Equestrian magic, once familiar and comforting, now tore through her consciousness with a cruel vengeance, tainted with the rage of the magic’s wielder. It felt like home, yet twisted and wrong, its power ravaging her from within. Her mind was a cacophony of screams, a symphony of agony that echoed through the empty corridors of her consciousness.
Memories tore away from her with brutal speed, ribbons of her past blurring into a kaleidoscope of colors as Sunset let out a primal wail of loss that reverberated in her very soul. Princess Twilight’s warning about restoring everything before sunset slipped away with her memories, one crucial thought lost in the torrent.
As the last of her memories faded into the stone, Sunset felt an overwhelming emptiness settle within her. The magic’s touch, searing with the wielder’s rage, was paradoxically comforting — an echo of home even as it tore everything away. It was a cruel reminder of what she had lost and the last lingering thread of connection to the world she once called home. And then it was gone as well. She collapsed.
The girls rushed to her side, horror etched on their faces. Sunset let out a with a quiet sigh as exhaustion consumed her. Twilight clutched her shoulder as they all watched the girl slip into unconsciousness, her strength utterly drained.
Silence filled the air, the aftermath of the storm that had torn through Sunset, leaving nothing but echoes and emptiness. Horrified and determined to stop this new villain of the week, Twilight turned to Fluttershy, who gently measured Sunset’s brow and nodded in silent affirmation.
With a face set in grim resolve, Twilight focused her energy and wrested the stone from Wallflower’s hand with a magenta glow, her eyes glowing cyan. The stone flew from Wallflower’s grip into Twilight’s waiting hands, its malevolent glow fading.
Not stopping there, Twilight glanced at a garden hose nearby, using her power to wrangle it around Wallflower, trapping her like a makeshift lasso. “Just like the cops,” she quipped, adjusting her glasses.
The rest of the human girls were shocked at this sudden display of more magic, from their human friend no less. They exchanged glances.
Seeing their confusion, Twilight tried to make sense of it all. “Maybe when I touched her, it created a riff where—” She launched into a string of scientific-sounding jargon, words spilling out in a rapid stream. As the other girls exchanged looks of incomprehension, Twilight continued, her excitement growing. She held the stone, a glint appearing in her eyes just as the stone’s glow faded completely.
“Maybe I could create a hard drive for memories! That would be so cool,” she trailed off, suddenly noticing the other girls’ confusion. Twilight blushed self-consciously.
Her gaze returned to the stone, which seemed to promise untold mysteries. Despite the horrifying things she had just seen, there was a pull, an irresistible urge to know more. “Just another stone to research,” she concluded.
Twilight knew she should figure out how to restore their memories. She wanted to help Sunset Shimmer, of course — the mean girl had just saved them from a painful-looking magic memory wipe, for God’s sake! But the scientist in her protested — maybe it could wait. If it involved destroying the stone, she wanted to study it completely first.
Rainbow Dash chuckled at her intense expression. “Nerd,” she quipped, earning an elbow from Applejack, who couldn’t help but smirk as well.
“Uh, hello, girls? Sunset Shimmer is still unconscious,” Pinkie Pie reminded them, pointing at the collapsed figure on the floor.
“I’ve been trying to say that for the past few minutes,” Fluttershy whispered, concern etched on her face as she cradled Sunset’s head in her lap.
Rarity knelt beside her, gently brushing the girl’s hair away from her face. “We should get her somewhere safe. She looks absolutely dreadful,” she said, her voice tinged with worry.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the pavement, the girls gathered around Sunset. They looked at the mean girl who had just saved them. Her face was set in an expression of discomfort, her body limp and unresponsive, her breathing shallow and uneven. Together, they lifted her with care, their minds heavy with the weight of what had just transpired.
The setting sun painted the sky in streaks of orange and purple.
Author's Note
Inspired by a comment which can be found in the comment section of this video.
Also thank you Alan Black for the amazing transcript of the special.
Sunset awoke to a ceiling that loomed above her like an unfamiliar sky, her head pounding with the remnants of a deep, unsettling pain. The colors of the walls around her were foreign and oppressive, closing in on her like a trap. Her vision swam as she blinked, trying to make sense of the alien surroundings, but everything felt wrong.
Her body was a stranger to her — limbs that felt both familiar and foreign all at once. She tried to move, each action was a struggle against the disorientation clouding her mind. Her skin tingled uncomfortably, as if it were not her own.
“Sunset?” a gentle voice cut through the haze, and she turned her head slowly, wincing at the sharp pain that accompanied the motion. A group of strange creatures stood before her, their eyes filled with worry and concern.
“What… what are you?” she croaked, her throat dry and raw. Her voice trembled with uncertainty and fear as she stared at the beings in front of her. Their muzzles were small and wrong, lacking the familiar equine shape she expected.
With a mounting sense of dread, she lifted her forelimbs, expecting to see hooves. Instead, she found strange, wiggling appendages that mirrored those of the creatures before her. “Oh Celestia!” she gasped, horror flooding her veins as the realization dawned that she looked like them.
The girls exchanged worried glances, a silent conversation passing between them. The one who had spoken earlier stepped forward cautiously, her voice soft and careful. “We’re your friends. Don’t you remember us?” she asked, a pair of glasses perched on her nose — the only familiar object in the room.
Sunset’s heart raced, panic surging through her veins like a tidal wave. “No… no, this isn’t right. This isn’t Canterlot. Where am I? Princess Celestia? What happened to me?! Somepony help me!” Her voice rose, each word a desperate plea filled with fear.
One of the creatures, with a long pink mane and a presence that radiated calmness, moved closer. “It’s okay, Sunset. You’re safe with us. We’ll help you,” she said, her voice a soothing murmur in the chaos.
But the sense of wrongness was suffocating, a shadow that clung to her with relentless persistence. Sunset pressed her new hands — no, her hooves, her mind insisted in a panic — against her temples, trying to piece together the shattered fragments of her thoughts. Nothing made sense. The emptiness where her memories should be gnawed at her, a hollow ache that refused to fade.
Her heart ached with the fear of abandonment, the belief that she had been cast aside by the one figure she trusted most — Princess Celestia. She pulled away from the creatures, retreating into herself, her eyes wide with terror and confusion.
The girl with the pink mane stayed by her side, a steadfast beacon of kindness and patience. Her presence was a lifeline, a fragile thread of hope in the overwhelming darkness. “You’re not alone,” she whispered, her voice a gentle promise. “We’re here for you.”
Yet, even as the girl’s words wrapped around her like a comforting embrace, Sunset felt the walls of reality closing in, her world spinning out of control. The panic clawed at her insides, leaving her raw and exposed, as if the very fabric of her existence was unraveling.
Her friends — or so they told her, Sunset thought — tried to explain, their words a jumbled mess of confusion and reassurance. “We don’t remember our friendship, but we are your friends,” they promised, their voices strained with sincerity. “Our friendship got erased by Equestrian magic.”
Equestrian magic. The words echoed in Sunset’s mind, a cruel reminder of the home she couldn’t return to. How could her world’s magic do such a thing? Moreover, who could she trust in a world where everything felt so wrong?
Their faces were unfamiliar, their voices hollow echoes of a friendship she couldn’t remember. Her heart ached with the weight of doubt and mistrust. The only memories these girls had of her were apparently tainted by her past mistakes, and the tenuous bond they tried to form felt fragile and insubstantial.
As the days passed, Sunset felt helpless as the girls began to drift away, their attempts to reach out thwarted by the lack of shared memories. Without the foundation of their friendship, the connections they tried to rebuild crumbled beneath the weight of uncertainty.
Except for the girl with the long pink mane, who remained by her side with unwavering kindness. Fluttershy, they called her, though Sunset didn’t know the name, only the calmness that radiated from her presence. Deep down, she seemed to understand that Sunset was just a filly lost and scared in a world that made no sense.
There’s also a blue maned girl, Sunset reflected into the bowl of soup Fluttershy gave her. She stirred it with a spoon, recalling.
The blue-maned girl had arrived at her door the other day, introducing herself with an air of bravado. “I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!” she declared, though her voice wavered with a vulnerability that contradicted her title. Despite the bold entrance, Trixie didn’t seem so powerful as she broke down in tears, weeping over the friend she had apparently just made that night.
“You don’t remember, but I was with you that last night before you lost all your memories,” Trixie said, her voice cracking with emotion. “We became friends after the whole ‘forgetting you’re not a meanie’ business. I thought I had finally made a good friend in you.”
Trixie wiped her eyes and continued, her tone softer, sadder. “It’s hard, you know? To find someone who gets you. I thought you were that person, but now… it’s like you’re gone, too.”
She paused, searching Sunset’s eyes for any sign of recognition, but found none. Trixie took a deep breath, her voice softening. “I know you’re scared and don’t remember who you’re supposed to be anymore, or even Trixie,” she said gently. “But the Great and Powerful Trixie will still be your friend, if you’ll have her, okay? Even if you don’t remember, I’ll remember for both of us. I just wanted you to know that.”
Sunset looked at Trixie, sensing a kindred spirit despite the fog in her mind. She nodded slowly, grateful for the understanding and support, even if she couldn’t fully grasp it.
Sunset’s thoughts swirled in a chaotic storm of what-ifs and maybes. Who was she now, without her memories? How could she trust these strangers who claimed to be her friends, when she didn’t even recognize her own reflection?
And yet, despite everything, a small part of her wanted to believe in the connection Trixie had described. If there had been a bond between them once, maybe, just maybe, it could be rebuilt.
But for now, all Sunset could do was sit in the quiet aftermath of her shattered world, hoping that somehow, she might find a way to piece it back together.
