Memory Lapse

by Psyga315

We Were Cursed!

Pinkie Pie hopped over to the main hall of the castle. Twilight had called her for a meeting, though she didn’t elaborate on what. Well, Pinkie didn’t care. She always loved surprises. She thought of what sort of surprise they had in store. Maybe it’s her birthday again and she just forgot. Or perhaps they’re just planning a huge surprise party for Ponyville. Either way, she’s bringing the Party Cannon.

However, her smile was shattered when she entered the room and all five ponies inside the room turned to look at her.

“Pinkie Pie, we’re glad you can make it.” Twilight Sparkle said. Pinkie stopped hopping and trotted forward.

“W-what’s going on?” Pinkie Pie asked. The ponies were all sitting in their respective chairs. Great, she thought, this would be a boring board meeting.

“Something’s not quite adding up these past few days and I have the feeling like you might have something to do with it.” Twilight said.

“What are you talking about? Don’t be silly!” Pinkie Pie chuckled. Twilight sighed.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately. Ever since Trixie’s tour in Ponyville, I had always wondered if I was too harsh on her and Starlight. Especially after I found out from Celestia that Trixie was supposedly possessed by a powerful amulet during one of her previous visits.” Twilight said. The other ponies looked to each other and began to shrug or scratch their heads.

“Soooo… what’s the problem?” Pinkie asked.

“That’s it. We don’t remember that happening.” Twilight said.

“Yeah! You’d think we’d remember if Trixie came marching into Ponyville with an amulet that empowers her to Alicorn levels!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“The worst part of it was that after that incident, Trixie began to atone for her sins. I mean, yeah, she was still a bit of a jerk when she came back, but she wasn’t, say, Gilda levels of jerk.” Twilight said.

“Which is weird, considering I got a letter from Gilda saying how she’s restructuring Griffonstone’s social standing. Gilda, of all people! Makes me wonder what the hay’s going on.” Rainbow Dash said.

“I’m… not seeing the point to all this.” Pinkie Pie said.

“We apparently forgot key factors in our lives. Rainbow Dash’s foalhood friend turning a new leaf, Trixie redeeming herself… And it doesn’t end there too.” Twilight allowed Fluttershy to stand up.

“When my brother crashed in my house for a while, I hesitated to kick him out of the house… Though I felt weird… It’s like I should have remembered what to do in that situation.” Fluttershy said.

“And it appears that she had.” Twilight’s horn glowed as the Journal of Friendship popped into existence. She opened the book to a yellow bookmarked page and read outloud: “Pushing them away may seem cruel, but it is sometimes the kindest thing you can do.” She closed the book. “That was when we apparently had an adventure with the Breezies.” Twilight Sparkle said.

“Which, guess what? We also don’t remember!” Rainbow Dash glared at Pinkie Pie as she could see the steam coming out of her nostrils. It didn’t help that Rainbow Dash was subconsciously taking flight, though Applejack merely pulled her down by the tail with her teeth. As soon as she sat her down, Applejack began to speak.

“What’s weirder is that there are things we do remember. That time I worked too much on the farm? I remember. That time the Flim Flam brothers were selling that tonic? Don’t remember.” Applejack said.

“Or like how I remembered the time I made you all dresses, but not the time where you made me dresses in Manehatten.” Rarity said.

“It seems that we all remember to a certain point, then we just draw blanks. The very last thing we remember was defeating Discord… And unfortunately…” Twilight sighed as Discord popped into the room, waved his big lion paw at Pinkie Pie, and then subsequently popped out. “We now have to figure out how he’s out of his stone prison and how he apparently is not only a good guy now, but has a liking towards Fluttershy.” Fluttershy subtly blushed.

“Can I say my piece now, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight sighed.

“Go ahead.” She spoke in a lowered tone as Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves onto the map.

“You know how irritating it is to know you’ve been hanging with your childhood heroes for the past few years and even became a part of them, only to realize you don’t remember a bucking thing!?” Rainbow Dash shouted. Pinkie Pie winced and backed away, only for Twilight to shoot a glare at Rainbow Dash. “Oh, don’t give me that! You’d be pissed too if you met Starswirl the Bearded and you forgot about it! Or hell, you don’t remember the fact that he’s a backstabbing jerk!”

“Enough!” Twilight’s horn glowed again, though this time, Rainbow Dash had a magical aura around her as she was shoved back into her seat. “… Pinkie. What we’re trying to say is that things are not adding up. We forgot key moments in our lives.” Twilight said. Her eyes began to water. “I had to be reminded that I lived here… I went to the library, only to find a huge hole where it once stood. I nearly had a panic attack.” She almost began to cry. However, she stopped. “Though, you remember that part, do you? After all, you reminded me of this place.” She looked at Pinkie Pie. She began to cower as the others looked to her too.

“What’s going on, Sugarcube? You can tell us.” Applejack said.

“… She won’t like it if I squealed…” Pinkie Pie muttered.

“Who?” Twilight asked.

“NOTHING! I SAID NOTHING!” Pinkie Pie jumped up into the air, though she hit the roof and fell down. As she did, a silver tube device fell out of her mane and flew to Twilight, which she caught with her magic.

“Ahah! I only heard stories about this from Doctor Whooves, but this confirms it!” She fiddled it with her magic, subtly opening up a compartment where a bulb would come out and shoot out a flash, though she closed it before it could do that.

“What… is that, darling?” Rarity asked.

“It’s a Memory Wiper. It’s a pretty advanced piece of tech that only a select few races have. It’s only been stories because the races use these to… well, wipe memories from the minds of people who seen their true identity.” Twilight said. “The best part is that it can be set to a point where someone could forget an entire year of their lives. Maybe even two!” Twilight said. She sighed again. “Which begs the question of why Pinkie has it.” Pinkie hid her face behind her front hooves as she began to cry.

“Alright! I’ll confess! I’m the reason you guys don’t remember anything! Every year or so, I gather you all together and flash this thingy. Poof! No more memories!” She began to sob. Rainbow Dash was the first to get up.

“WHY YOU!” It took not only Applejack and Twilight, but also Fluttershy to restrain her.

“But why, darling?” Rarity asked.

“… Because… M… My family… I was doing it for my family. I… I can’t let her kill them!” She cried. Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie.

“Huh? Her?” Twilight was about to ask who got Pinkie to wipe their memories… then she decided to ask a more specific question. “… Pinkie… How long were you doing this to us?” Twilight asked.

“…” Pinkie Pie stopped crying. It took moments for her to say it, but when she did, you could hear a pin drop with the silence. “… Since before the wedding.” Twilight took only seconds to piece the evidence together. She didn’t need to imagine what they would need to forget prior to the wedding.

“We learned that you should take your friends' worries seriously. Even if you don't think that she has anything to worry about.”

Twilight sighed. Her mind was now in top gear.

“It’s Chrysalis, isn’t it?” Twilight asked. Pinkie Pie nodded. “I figured.” Twilight knew that the lessons they learned over their lives helped not only better their character, but also their friendship. By forgetting those lessons, they end up falling for the same tricks they should have gotten over. This explained so much. Twilight went over to the map where she looked to Pinkie’s rock farm. “Ponies, gather your things. We’re going to the rock farm. Chrysalis and her Changelings may have had the advantage long ago, but now she has to deal with us.” Twilight said.

“What are you doing?!” Pinkie Pie asked.

“What does it look like we’re doing? We’re gonna mount a rescue operation.” Twilight smiled. “Chrysalis may have found out now about you spilling the beans, which means we have a limited amount of time before Chrysalis could activate any sleepers around the area to assassinate the family.” She wrote up a letter and then had it pop out of existence. “Come on, the sooner we get to the farm, the better.” Twilight said. The four other ponies nodded and began to get themselves ready. Twilight simply went over to Pinkie Pie and told her:

“Thank you for telling us… Just remember that you’re not alone in this, okay? We could have helped you.” Twilight said. Pinkie Pie only cried tears of joy.

“Please… Please just save them…” Pinkie Pie said.

“We will. And if we didn’t, I sent a backup plan to Starlight. Funny story. I forgot what she was doing in my castle and you told me that she was my student redeeming herself after a minor theft gone wrong. After the incident with Trixie, I brought up that to her and she told me how she really came to be my apprentice.” Twilight smirked. “So I sent her a letter telling her to prepare for having to go through the crap she did again in case we don’t save them, along with the coordinates to when the Changelings first came into Equestria. If we can’t save your family, you can be damned sure we’ll avenge them.” Twilight said with a smirk. With that, the ponies began preparations for the fight with the Changelings.

Pinkie’s preparation? Smashing the Memory Wiper with her hoof. To be frank, she was getting quite tired of having Fluttershy learn over and over again on how to be assertive.

Comments

[RNBW]

Well, that was a mind blowing story.

Also, shut up, Twilight! Rainbow is right.

[GIGA-XISBASS]

Well Chrysalis is screwed now.

[Masterweaver]

Honestly, this seems like the middle of a story... if you'd added some chapters before building up suspense, and then some after where they go after the changelings, this would be an excellent adventure.

Especially if Maud is a changeling...

[The Bricklayer]

I have to agree with Masterweaver on this. Seems like we just get dropped right into something. I think this should be fleshed out a bit more into a full story, honestly.

[Yami Vizzini]

Wow, that got a lot darker than expected.

[SilverStarApple]

Brilliant!