Applejack was excited with the results of their meeting, the Princess gave AJ Dash’s Royal Pardon and she quickly galloped to the cell block to release Dash, she met the guard at the door, showed him the pardon, and stepped inside. “What’d I tell ya Rainbow Dash? I told you I’d-” AJ walked inside the cell block only to find a colorful lightning storm in the farthest cell. “What in tarnation?!” she quickly made her way to the cell to find Rainbow Dash on the ground convulsing wildly as bolts of colored lightning flew from her head. “Rainbow Dash!” with no time to open the the lock on the cell door, Applejack bucked it and sent it flying to the other side of the cell, she got in and tried to get close to the explosive pegasi. “Rainbow Dash! What’s going on?!”
“AUUGGGHH!!! MY MEMORIES! AGH-THEY’RE SYNCING UP AGAIN TO THIS NEW EQUESTRIA!” cried Dash through the pain.
“WHAT THE HAY DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!” Applejack shouted over the storm.
“IT MEANS I’M STARTING TO FORGET MY OLD LIFE! AND EVERYONE I KNEW!” Dash saw herself in the hospital as a young filly with Fluttershy at her side, she saw herself being home-schooled by her mother and father after she got out of the hospital, she remembered her first day on the job as the janitor.
“YOU CAN MAKE IT STOP DASH! JUST TRY! DON’T FORGET WHO YOU ARE! DON’T FORGET MY SISTER!” Applejack tried to cry over the lightning as it got more intense. It began scorching the cell block and even reaching outside the building which alerted the guard.
“AUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!” cried Rainbow Dash, she was trying, she really was, but the memory surge was getting too strong, was this it? Was this the final sync? Suddenly she felt an even sharper pain to the side of her head and she found herself tossed to the other side of her cell, the lightning stopped, the memory changes stopped and everything went black.
Applejack looked at Dash who was passed out on the floor, she didn’t like it, but it was the only thing she could think of doing at a time like this; bucking her upside the head until she was knocked out seemed to do the trick, but if this was the only way to keep those memory surges from happening they weren’t going to make much progress on their mission if she had to keep knocking her out every now and then.
“Major Applejack! What happened here?! Were we attacked by the Solar Army?” Princess Luna, accompanied by Fluttershy and a few other pegasi came into the cell block.
“No yer Majesty, it was just Rainbow Dash.”
“What?” Luna looked into the cell block to see it charred with black, ashy spots. “What happened here? What did she do?” she was beginning to reconsider the pardon.
“She told me it was some kinda’ memory sync, and that while it happened she would forget her memories of the Equestria she knew.”
Fluttershy vouched for Applejack on this explanation. “It’s true your Majesty, she was doing the same thing yesterday and every time it did she would talk about her memories of this Equestria and the one she knew.”
Luna mulled it over and considered the idea, this was a very different and unique pegasi, first her knowledge now this. “So you’re saying that if this continued to go on she would forget everything about her old life and only remember this one?”
“Um...I suppose so...” said Fluttershy. Luna thought, if she forgot everything about her old life, then she might end up forgetting about the Elements, and that would be a setback indeed.
“Alright then, we’re going to have to fix this.” Luna stood over Rainbow Dash who’s head was still crackling with multi-colored sparks. She closed her eyes and her horn began to glow, she zapped Dash’s head and the crackles began to decrease and vanish. “Alright everypony, while she’s still like this let’s get her to the lab.”
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Somewhere a dark pegasi was watching from a pocket outside of space and time, she was laughing to herself, “Huhuhuhuhu...foolish foal, I know what she’s trying to do...I’ll stop her...”
“No...” said a voice in her head, “Let her get the elements back together, let her make a feeble attempt to make everything right, by the time she gets her act together it will be too late...”
The pegasi and the voice laughed, it was a grim laugh, but it was also one filled with a haunting mischief.
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Dash later awoke lying face down on a hospital bed in a very familiar building, she was very drowsy and her head was aching, she lifted her head to look at her surroundings, a few familiar machines various cables and wires. She yawned and stretched her front legs, then her back legs, then her back, then her wings- wait wings?! She turned behind her to see a beautiful pair of metallic blue wings, they looked nothing like the ones she stole last night, they weren’t rickety and unstable, they looked very strong and powerful, almost like real pegasi wings! She stepped out of bed ready to try these babies out, but was stopped by a voice before she could get 2 inches off the ground. “Now hold your horses there my dear, you just woke up from the surgery, we don’t want those things to break right now do we?” it was Marecel the pegasi scientist. “Give me and the other guys a second to check them out.” the other two scientist. Palmer and Potts, came in with peculiar devices and clip boards and they began to push those objects onto Dash as they measured and scanned collecting various data and jotting them down on their clipboard.
“Alright Miss Rainbow Dash just to let you know these wings are a lot more different from the prototype wings you, well, took from us.” said Potts.
Sheepishly Dash looked at the ground and gave an awkward smile, “Heh, oops, yeah, um sorry about that.”
“No trouble at all dear, we were going to toss them out anyways, with these new puppies in store we didn’t really need them for much anymore.” said Marecel. “Once we got the data we needed from the prototype we began building a set for live testing.”
“These will certainly withstand the speeds you’ll be going at and perhaps even more.” said Palmer, “Their structure is a lot more durable than those old things, and you’ll feel a lot more flexibility in them as well, they should feel just like a pair natural wings!”
Dash smiled at the possibilities and was itching to give them a try, but the observations and examinations felt like they were taking forever!
After what seemed like an hour Marecel finally gave Dash the O.K. “Alright Rainbow Dash, now just gently try and hover off the ground about a few feet up.” Slowly Dash began to flap her wings, the action felt so natural and soon enough she was hovering more than a few feet above the heads of the three scientist. Dash couldn’t help it, these wings felt like her old wings, powerful, elegant, graceful, she just couldn’t contain her excitement!
“Alright now Dash if you would just please-” ZOOM! Dash dashed right past Marecel and out of the hanger and into the blue skies of cloudsdale, all three of them began to chase after her as fast as they could, astounded by the blue pegasi’s zeal. Dash was flying through the air force base performing all of her old moves to the wonder of the soldiers. It felt amazing, to once again be flying like this was one of the best feelings in the world, but as she began to feel another electrical twinge in her skull she quickly made a landing. Marecel and the others caught up with her at her landing spot.
“Ow...” Dash said rubbing her temples.
“Is something wrong Rainbow Dash? Is it the wings?” asked Marecel.
“No, it has nothing to do with the wings, it’s my head...”
“And it’s going to keep being a problem if you continue to pull antics like that.” said Princess Luna as she emerged from the crowd. Marecel and the others bowed to the Princess, Rainbow Dash looked up at her and said,
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve cast a spell on you that will temporarily slow down your memory syncing process, but it will accelerate if you increase your bodily activity and brain function.” towards the end, the meaning of the explanation became lost to Dash, it was apparent on her face, Luna sighed. “If you become too excited or physically active you’re memories will begin to sync up again, my spell is only temporary and somewhat shaky, I regret to say that I do not have much experience in spells that manipulate one’s memories, but my magic is powerful enough to provide a temporary blockade to your condition.”
“So you don’t have anypony around that could make my condition better?” asked Dash.
“I’m afraid to say I don’t. Unless you have somepony else in mind, I may have to accompany you on this journey to keep your mind in check.”
Dash thought for a while and got an idea. “I think I may know somepony that can do the trick!”
“Oh? And who might that be?” asked Luna.
“She’s one of the most powerful unicorns I know, if anypony knows stuff on magic as complicated as this it’s her!”
“What’s this unicorn’s name? I’ll send word out to retrieve her and bring her here.” said Luna as she motioned for one of the guards to come over to her.
“Sure thing, her name is Twilight Sparkle!” said Dash proudly.
Suddenly Luna looked at her with eyes wide open in utter shock. “What did you say?”
“Twilight Sparkle!” Dash saw the shock on Luna’s face and became uneasy, “Hold on, what has the Twilight of this world done?” asked Dash worried.
Princess Luna dismissed the guard and other ponies away from them, she then regained her composure and told Rainbow Dash the grim truth about Twilight Sparkle, “The unicorn you mention, Twilight Sparkle, is responsible for the deaths of over 4,000 ponies in the city of Canterlot.” Dash couldn’t believe what she just heard, with jaw agape and eyes wide open, she could only manage one reply,
“W-what?”