“Let me attempt to understand this” Princess Luna said, summing up the plan Twilight had just delineated, “You're going to use the Memory Stone to take Sunset Shimmer's memories out of Wallflower Blush and put them back into Sunset?”
“Yep!” Twilight beamed, “It's quite simple, really. Seems we've only half-understood the purpose Memory Stone. While it can remove, and, temporarily, store memories, it's really a memory transfer device.”
Princess Celestia frowned. “If that is true, then this a far more dangerous artifact than we originally thought.”
“Indeed,” nodded the younger sister, “the ability to take one's knowledge is one thing. To transfer that knowledge to another, while having positive applications, can also have dire consequences.”
Celestia turned to Twilight. “Are you sure this will work?”
“Most definitely! I just need Princess Luna's help to differentiate between Wallflower's and Sunset's memories. Particularly, if we're going to separate merged memories.”
The younger sister took the moment to ponder. “Given the relation between memories and dreams, a dream state would work best... But," she warned, "as logical as you plan may be, it's still quite risky.”
Twilight's demeanor dropped slightly. “I know there is that slight chance we might accidentally snag one of Wallflower's memories.
"The Twilight Sparkle in the other world has already explained it to her. Wallflower is willing to take that risk.
"But, Luna, you've also been in her head.
Surely, you've noticed the difference between her memories and Sunset's.”
The night princess thoughtfully nodded. "It's a bit hard, but it is doable."
"That's all I need."
“When do you plan to preform this procedure?” asked Celestia.
“Hopefully, this evening. Starlight, Sunburst, and Moondancer are out getting what we need to make the Memory Stone. Apparently, not just any rock will do.”
---
“How about this one?” Trixie held up a rock from the pile she was digging through.
Maud shook her head. “It's unstable. It will crumble as soon as magic hits it.”
Trixie gave a frown and proceeded to cast a transfiguration spell. Just as Maud had predicted, the rock fell apart into pieces. Disgruntled, the show pony threw the bits to the ground.
Starlight surveyed the numerous rock piles they had amassed. “Who knew there were so many rocks in Ponyville?”
“I'm just glad we were able to narrow it down” Sunburst said, digging through a pile of his own, “Otherwise, we would be out here for days. Though, I still don't understand how you could extrapolate all that from a drawing...”
Moondancer decided to take a break from sorting her pile. She leaned upon it for support. “You seem to be quite knowledgeable about rocks.”
“Are you kidding?” Starlight exclaimed, taking full opportunity to boast about her friend, “Maud, here, holds a roctorate in, well, rocks! She knows everything there is to know about them. She's even taught me a thing or two about their magical properties.”
This caught Moondancer's interest, and she was quickly at the earth pony's side. “Ah-em, Dr. Pie, how would you feel about doing a few lectures? We don't really teach much about geology at Princess Celestia's school and somepony like you sharing some of her insights would be quite the educational experience.”
“I hadn't really thought about doing a lecture tour quite yet” Maud simply responded, “After traveling so much for my roctorate, I was hoping to stay in a central location for a while.”
“I'm not talking about going all the way to the Crystal Empire. Just to Canterlot for a few engagements.”
“That kinda sounds like fun” Starlight elbowed Maud, “I'd definitely go to hear you speak.”
“Look,” Moondancer smiled, handing Maud a small piece of paper with contact information, “I'm not trying to pressure you into anything if you don't want to. All I'm saying is we'd love to have you.”
Maud pocketed the paper with a slight smile. “I'll think about it.”
“Okay!” panted Trixie, garnering the attention of the others, “This pile is all the rocks that can handle magic without breaking!”
---
Having worked through lunch, Sunburst and Moondancer volunteered to run into town to get some food. It was a silent walk to the hayburger shop. Despite having spent quite a bit of time together, neither unicorn had actually talked to the other. Even after days of collaboration, they were still very much strangers to each other. Which lead up, finally, to this trek in awkward silence.
Seeking to break the air, Moondancer cleared her throat. “So, um, there's something I've been meaning to ask you.”
Sunburst raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“You were a quite few years ahead of me, were you not?”
“At school? Yes, I believe so.”
“So, then, you knew Sunset Shimmer?”
“No. Not personally, or by name. I remember there being a huge commotion about the time she started. Everypony knew that Princess Celestia had a personal student, but, at the time, no one really knew who.” His focus turned to the road beneath his hooves, “I... uh... flunked out shortly after.”
“Oh...” Moondancer mentally kicked herself. She hadn't meant to hurt Sunburst. “I'm sorry...”
“What?” the stallion yelped, “No, don't be! Yeah, flunking out of your dream school may not be the best thing in the world, but it's allowed me to do things I wouldn't have otherwise.”
Moondancer let out a slight sigh. That only made her feel a little better. “So,” she pressed, “what did you do?”
---
“Nope...
"Nope...
"Nope...”
Trixie growled and held up another stone.
“Nope.”
“How about this one?”
“Nope.”
A pile of rocks went flying with a mighty cry. “Gah! Starlight, help me out here!”
There was a light laugh. Few things gave Starlight as much joy as having her friends together. “If you keep showing her every single rock, you can expect her to say 'no' most every time.”
That wasn't what exactly what Trixie wanted to hear. She took another rock off the pile and threw it towards the ground. The stone bounced off the cobblestone and landed a few feet away.
“That one.”
Trixie's ears perked. “What?”
Maud pointed to the rock that had just thrown. “That's the stone you should use.”
Starlight walked over to examine the stone. “Are you sure?” She had been staring at the rocks for so long that all of them had started to look the same.
Maud only nodded and Trixie let out a triumphant shout. “Wa-hoo! I told you I'd find it!” She wrapped a foreleg around Maud's shoulders and gave a tight squeeze. “We make such a good team!”
“Technically, you just had me go through every rock one by one.”
“Yes, but I had to pick the rock to run by you. Technicalities, schmecnicalities.”
“Either way, this is great news!” Starlight hugged both her friends, “And we couldn't have done it without you two!”
“Did we miss something?”
The trio turned to see Sunburst and Moondancer returning with their lunch in hoof.
---
Twilight meticulously inspected everything needed for their spell, marking off on her list as she went. She had comprised quite an extensive checklist. Impressive, considering they only needed three things to make the Memory Stone.
“Alright,” Twilight rolled up the scroll, “everything is set!”
“Great!” smiled Moondancer, “So, um, who's gonna do it?”
The four magi looked at each other in silence. They hadn't really discussed who would perform the spell.
“I'd say it one of you two” Sunburst pointed to Twilight and Starlight, “Of any of us, you two have the ability to do it.”
Twilight turned to her student. “Starlight?”
“What?”
“This seems like something a bit more in your realm of expertise.”
Starlight was taken aback. As much as she appreciated her mentor's confidence and praise, she had to protest. “I don't know. Seems like a lot of pressure... What about the chanting? The last thing we need is me mispronouncing something.”
"You'll do just fine" Twilight smiled, placing a hoof on her student. "You've done this type of stuff numerous times before.
"I know this whole thing has got you all upset, but, I see you as the best pony for this."
Starlight only gave a slight smile.
“I think that settles it then” Moondancer smiled, “Statlight will perform the spell and the three of us monitor.”
Despite all preparations, and the extra vote of confidence, Starlight still felt a little uneasy about performing the spell. Looking around, she saw that her friends felt the same. Though, now was not the time to get cold hooves. Not now that they were this close to saving Sunset and Wallflower.
She took in a deep breath and mentally prepared herself. She glanced over to her friends, who gave her nods, indicating that they were ready. With a second deep breath, Starlight collected her magic before blasting it towards the stone and its scroll.
Though the spell had been extensively reviewed, and every precaution had been made,Twilight, Sunburst, and Moondancer still harbored some reservations. They looked on with concern. So far, everything seemed to be going as planned.
That was, until the wind started. Considering that they were in an enclosed room, none had thought about that. As the wind intensified, it picked up books from the shelves, sending them flying missiles throughout the library, sending the two unicorns running for cover and Twilight erecting a shield.
Eventually the three ended up taking refuge under a large, overturned chair. From the shelter, they cautiously peeked their heads out to view Starlight. She was difficult to spot amidst the cyclone of books, but she seemed to be fine. Huddling together, the other three waited out the storm. Finally, with a clap of thunder, everything stopped and hundreds of books came raining down.
Sure it was clear, the three dashed from their hiding spot and to Starlight's side. The unicorn looked at her friends with a weary smile. She was a little exhausted, but okay. The library, however, was a different matter. The entire room was in disarray. She let out a groan. “Spike's gonna kill me.”
Chuckling, Twilight wrapped a comforting foreleg around her friend. Through the destroyed library did upset her, she was going to put it aside for the moment. “Don't worry. I'll talk with him. He'll understand. The main thing is we did the spell.”
“But, did it work?” Sunburst asked, as Twilight picked up and inspected the stone.
Moondancer gave a sly smile. “Let's find out.” She took Sunburst's beard into her magical grasp and gave it a mighty yank.
The stallion let out a pained shout. “What did you do that for?” As he sat rubbing his throbbing chin, Twilight pointed the Memory Stone towards him and focused its magic. In a flash of light, she had the memory and Sunburst acted as if nothing had happened. Though, now slightly confused. He glanced around himself. “Um, why are you all looking at me?”
“Do you remember it?” asked Twilight.
“Remember what?”
“Moondancer pulled your beard” said Starlight.
“She did? Is that why my chin feels weird?”
In a second flash, Sunburst let out a cry of pain.
“What did you do that for?” He paused. “Wait...I already said that.”
“You remember now?” Starlight sounded hopeful.
“Yeah, I remember that and not remembering that and... woah...”
“S-Sunburst?” Starlight waved her hoof in front of his face. Sunburst, however, didn't so much as blink, but stare blindly into space.
Moondancer grew concerned. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah,” Sunburst finally replied, “just... woah...”
“Well,” Twilight smiled, continuing her inspection of the new artifact, “safe to say it works.”