//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Memory Lost and Found // by BoredAuthor817 //------------------------------// “I hope Sunset is doing alright” Fluttershy sighed, setting her lunch tray on the table. “I'm sure she's fine” Rainbow tried to sound reassuring “She's in good hands... er... hooves.” “I hope so” Twilight pulled out the journal and flipped through the pages. “I sent a message to the princess requesting an update. Still waiting for her to reply.” “I'm sure she's very busy, darling” smiled Rarity, “Even without emergencies, the princess does have a lot on her plate.” Twilight sighed and put the journal away. “I'm sure she'll write when she can” smiled Applejack, “In the meantime, we've got some work of our own to do.” “Quite right” agreed Trixie, plopping down next to Applejack. “Question is: Where do we start?” “Um, no offense, Trixie,” said Rainbow, “but who invited you?” “The Great and Powerful Trrixie needs no invitation!” “Lucky us” Applejack deadpanned. “So,” Trixie pulled out her notebook “to recap: One amnesia patient, six friends (and former amnesia patients), and one hardened detective. The keen and deductive Trrrixie is on the case! “Little did I know what I was getting myself into when I first got involved in this case. To solve the theft of memories seemed simple enough—at first. But, now, my client had become the victim.” “Not so fast!” Everyone turned to see Rarity dressed into a trench coat and fedora. “Noir is my gig, sister, and I will not have you tramping in my town.” “Is that so, sister?” Trixie sneered, crossing her arms across her chest, “And how, exactly, do you plan to stop me?” “Elementary, my dear Trixie” replied Pinkie Pie, blowing on a bubble pipe, “You just choose a different mystery subgenre.” She pulled out her deerstalker and placed it firmly on her head. “Now then, ladies,” she chewed on the pipe's mouthpiece, “the game is afoot. I don't know the rules, but I suspect it has something to do with running around without shoes.” Fluttershy let out a squeal of glee. “That sounds like fun!” “It would to you” groaned Rainbow Dash, crossing her arms, “I happen to know just how much you and Tree Hugger love nature walks.” Applejack covered her eyes with her hat. “I'mma gonna try not to imagine that image.” “Can we please stay on topic?” yelled Twilight, “Sunset is counting on us, or, at least she would—if she knew what was going on—to sort this out. And we currently have no idea what we're dealing with!” “Oh, country-air, moon cherry,” smiled Trixie. Rarity's ears bled. “Please don't speak French—ever.” Trixie cast a glare at Rarity before continuing: “We know exactly what we're dealing with. Behold!” she held up up a piece of paper, “The Mystery Stone!” She slapped it down on the table for all to see. “Isn't that the drawing Sunset showed us at the beach?” asked Fluttershy. “Yes.” “Hmm...” Pinkie held up a magnifying glass to the sketch. “Very interesting. But, we need an expert. My sister, Maud—” “We already talked to your sister” Trixie said, quickly pulling the paper away, “She really didn't give us anything.” “Besides,” added Rainbow, “that rock is gravel now. We can't study it, even if we wanted to.” “Oh, ye of little faith.” “Please get to the point, Trixie” sighed a slightly annoyed Twilight. “We don't need the rock. We've got us!” Applejack cocked an eyebrow. “Come again?” “We all had our memories altered by the stone. Surely, we must have gained something from that experience that might help us.” “Okay,” said Rainbow, a bit taken aback, “that has to the the smartest thing I have ever heard you say.” “Oh, I don't know if I can remember anything” Fluttershy murmured. “It's true,” added Rarity, “the whole thing does seem a bit foggy.” Trixie's shoulders fell. Twilight, though, was thoughtful. “Maybe, that's a symptom!” She dug through her backpack and threw loose leaf papers and pens to everyone. “Quick, write down every thing you can remember of the weekend and yesterday, up to the moment we got our memories back. Even if it doesn't seem right, write it down!” “Twilight,” started Applejack “wha—” “Just do it!” After several quiet minutes, the girls had compiled several pages of notes. Handing her small stack back to Twilight, Rarity asked, “Mind explaining to us your little exercise?” “Trixie said it herself: memory is a fickle thing. It can be influenced and warped both consciously, and subconsciously. Whole studies are made on false memories where test subjects can remember, with vivid detail, something which never happened.” “Get to the point!” the others cried in unison. “What I'm getting at,” Twilight pushed up her glasses, “is that our memories of the past few days may be being altered--even as we speak.” Fluttershy cowered. “By who?” “Or by what?” Rainbow growled. “By our own brains!” Twilight replied. “We've had memories taken and then replaced with quite a span of time in between. This 'fogginess' we're experiencing may our brains' attempt to reconcile our time with our memories, with our time without our memories.” “But, in what way?” asked Applejack. “That, we need to figure out. However, chances are, we may soon not be able remember the weekend as it actually happened.” Silence fell over the lunch table. “Well,” Pinkie blew the bubble pipe, deep in thought, “interesting theory. But, how could it help Sunset?” --- With the school day drawn to a close, the girls reconvened at the statue base which housed the portal to Equestria. Twilight looked over Sunset's journal with a sigh. Still no reply from the princess, and she was beginning to feel worried. “Okay,” Pinkie began, blowing bubbles out her pipe, “first's thing's first is to narrow down our list of suspects.” “There are no suspects” replied Rarity, “Sunset's memories are lost, not stolen.” “Indeed,” agreed Trixie, “But, they had to go somewhere when the Memory Stone was destroyed. So, they're more... misplaced.” “Then, let's start there” said Applejack, “The best way to find somethin' you've misplaced is to retrace yer steps. Fer us to do that, we need to start with the one other person who was there when they were misplaced.” “Who?” asked Trixie. Rainbow clenched her fist. “Wallflower Blush. " “Again, who?” “Was Wallflower even in school today?” asked Fluttershy. Shrugs and “I dunno”'s bounced around the circle. “She ain't in any of my classes” recalled Applejack, “Least that I know of.” “I think she's in my history class” said Rarity, “But, I don't remember seeing her today. Of course, the room is always kept rather dark.” “I don't think I have any classes with her, either” added Twilight, “But, I was making special effort to try to see her in the halls. Couldn't find her.” “Maybe she's hiding out in the yearbook room” Pinkie offered. Trixie shook her head. “Not a chance. Twilight and I locked the door last night when we left.” “Right,” Rarity nodded, “and only Sunset was given a key by Vice-Principal Luna.” “But, you two were locked in the room” said Rainbow, pointing to Trixie “How could you have trouble getting out if Sunset had the key?” Trixie shrugged. “Maybe she forgot?” “It wasn't with Sunset last night, either” Applejack said, thoughtfully. “She emptied out all her pockets.” “Then, it was in her book bag.” “I think not” replied Rarity, “Sunset is a bit of a creature of habit. That key, she always kept, in a pocket, on her person.” “Okay, so she lost it somewhere.” “Or,” finished Pinkie, “somebody took it.” She blew some more bubbles before letting out a frustrated cry. “Gah! So many leads, none of them going anywhere!” She pulled out a lollipop to pacify herself, offering another to Trixie, who seemed to be sharing the same sentiment. “Either way,” said Twilight, “we should try to track down Wallflower.” “Well,” Fluttershy pointed to the school's entrance, “there are Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna. Maybe they can tell us whether or not Wallflower was in class.” “Worth a shot” smiled Rainbow before running off, calling out to the administrative heads at the top of her lungs. Applejack was hot on her heels. “Good evening, girls” the principal smiled as the girls approached, “You're here rather late.” She placed a hand on her hip, “I hope we're not the midst of another magical dilemma.” “Wha-at?” Rainbow gave a less than convincing smile, “You think that's all that happens around here?” “I'd rather it not” Celestia frowned, “At all.” “Everythin's fine” Applejack stammered, “Really. We're just tryin' to find a friend of ours.” “And who might this friend be?” asked Vice-Principal Luna. “Wallflower Blush” Rainbow replied. “Who?” the sisters asked in unison. Applejack winced, trying to form a mental picture she could describe. “Small girl... upperclassman... rather nondescript... green.” “Usually wears a sweater and jeans” continued Rainbow, “Very shy.” “We just want to know if she was in school today.” Luna pulled out her tablet and began swiping through the screens. “We've been having a few students out lately due to a cold going around. Let me pull up the roster... Ah! Here we go. Nope, sorry girls, her grandfather called her in sick this morning.” “He didn't say what kind of sick,” inquired Rainbow, “did he?” “Sick is sick” Luna replied, scrolling back up on her tablet, “We generally don't ask about specifics. Hmm, now that you mention it, Sunset Shimmer didn't show up for classes either.” “You girls know anything about that?” asked Celestia, a hint of concern in her voice. The girls shook their heads. “We had better go check on her” Rainbow smiled. “You do that. And, please remind her call the office next time she's going to be out. Now then, girls,” the elder sister raised an eyebrow, “I hope that answers all your questions.” “Yep!” Applejack smiled, “That's everythin'!” “Good. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a lot to prepare for tomorrow. We'll see you in the morning.” “Good night!” the girls waved as the sisters walked off. Rainbow grinned. “They're totally gonna to get sloshed.” It quickly faded as her eyes met with Applejack's disapproving frown. “What? How else do you survive running a high school?” “Well, no luck” Applejack said, rejoining the other girls, “Wallflower was out sick. You girls come up with anythin' else?” A “nope” groaned throughout the group. “Tell you what:” Twilight offered, “We all seem pretty tired and worn out. How about we all go home, and have a good night's rest, and see what we can come up with in the morning?” “Ooh! Perfect idea!” cried Pinkie Pie, “Slumber party at my house!” “No offense, Pinkie” Rarity sighed, “But, I'm not really in the mood for a party right now.” “Me neither” Fluttershy hung her head, “It just doesn't seem right without Sunset.” “Oh...” Pinkie suddenly slumped. “It's okay, Pinks” Rainbow wrapped an arm around her friend, “We'll do that slumber party later. Just not tonight. Gives you a little more time to plan.” That seemed to lighten Pinkie's spirits. “Oh! Then I could make it the most stupendous, super-dupperiest partyspacular ever!” Trixie was quick to point out that those weren't real words. “That's the ticket!” smiled Applejack, patting Pinkie on the back. “Well, I'd better get goin'. Twilight, be sure to text us the moment ya hear anythin' from the princess.” Twilight nodded. “You now I will.” She paused as a small playing card glided before her. She turned to see Trixie. “My card” smiled the amateur magician. Twilight adjusted her glasses to better focus. “It's the second of clubs.” “Really?” Trixie smirked, “Look again.” Twilight did look and, this time, the card was different. On the back of the card was an extravagant miniature poster advertising a show Trixie had done a few months back. On the face, was her contact info. “Just in case you want to keep me in the loop” she said, sheepishly. Twilight took the card with a smile. “I will. Thanks.”