//------------------------------// // Confrontation // Story: Kamen Rider Unicorn The Movie: Memories of Friendship // by Michael_Ravencroft //------------------------------// The sun had risen on the third day of the reality warp, and all roads converged on CHS. The Rainbooms, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy, had all gathered around the statue. Twilight was the last to arrive, in her mind she was still trying to figure out how best to explain to her friends that everything they thought they knew about Sunset, about everything, was a lie? Rainbow Dash may have had an inkling about what she was going to discuss with them, but not the whole story, still, it had to be known, she had to tell them whether they liked it or not, a grave injustice was done to Sunset, even though their minds were messed with.  Twilight approached her friends, her hair was a mess, and Rarity was – obviously – the first to point this out. “Darling, your hair…”  “It’s fine, not important right now. There’s something we all need to discuss, and we need to do it now before anything else happens!” Twilight stated.  “I get ya, Twi, I think I know what this is about,” said Rainbow Dash.  “Uh, mind lettin’ the rest of us in on the secret?” Applejack asked.  “Last night, when Trigger and I fought Unicorn, she showed me who she was. And, it was Sunset Shimmer.”  A collective “WHAT!”  was exclaimed from the other four girls, and each one had an expression of dismay and worry about this revelation.  “I…I don’t believe it…Sunset Shimmer’s a supervillain?!” Fluttershy stated.  “I…I know she can be a bully and then there was that Fall Formal incident, but…to think she’s behind all of this chaos with the Dopants as well…” Rarity spoke in shock.  “Wow…I know she’s the Queen of Mean, but that’s taking it to a whole new level,” said Pinkie Pie.  “About that,” Twilight chimed in, “I don’t think it’s true.”  Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight as if she misheard her. “Twi, I literally fought her and saw her transform.”  Twilight shook her head. “No, I’m not denying that, in fact, I’m saying it’s true that she’s Unicorn, but not a supervillain.”  The girls blinked in unison.  “Ya lost me, Twi,” said Applejack.  “RAINBOOMS!” Before Twilight could explain, the group was descended upon by the resident amateur magician, Trixie Lulamoon. She had her backpack, but also had another one slung over her shoulder, and she looked quite perturbed. “Enough is enough, we’re getting to the bottom of this today or so help me I will make you help!”  Now the girls were thoroughly confused as to where this aggression was coming from. Applejack approached the silver haired girl and said, “Now, simmer down Trix, what’s got ya all riled up?”  “What’s got me ‘riled up’, is the fact that Sunset Shimmer trusts you so much to remember that you’re all friends, and in your case,” Trixie pointed a finger to Twilight Sparkle, “girlfriends, that you won’t even give her the benefit of the doubt that she’s being honest!”  “Um, Trixie, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?” Pinkie Pie asked.  “Yes! And that’s not the point! The point is, Sunset Shimmer is telling you all the truth! Someone has erased all our good memories of her, and if we don’t figure out who did it before today is over, they’ll be gone, forever!” Trixie shouted.  Twilight’s eyes widened with fear, this was worse than she had imagined, had she not done the Look Up last night, they would’ve let this day pass by without helping at all, and two days were already wasted not believing Sunset.  “And if you don’t believe me,” Trixie knelt as she opened Sunset’s backpack and fished out the journal, “then read this! It’s a journal connected to Princess Twilight Sparkle, and it belongs to Sunset!”  Rarity stepped forward and opened the journal, she turned to the page that was bookmarked and read the contents aloud to the girls, which made them all look a little worried. “And…you believe this is true?”  “I was right there when the words appeared! We don’t have much time, we need to find out who’s behind all this, hell, we may already be too late!” Trixie urged.  Rainbow Dash looked to the magician and said, “Trix, you gotta know, this still may be a trick. We…and don’t ask how…but Sunset Shimmer is Kamen Rider Unicorn.”  “I know.”  “WHAT?!” The girls shouted. “I read the rest of the journal entries when that appeared, and if someone erased the memories of Sunset being good, then whoever’s behind this also did the same thing to her as Unicorn and replaced them with bad memories. Each entry is dated, so I did some research online, and found a lot of contradictions with what the news stories reported and what was written.”  “Trixie believe me, Unicorn’s the bad guy, at least…I think, it’s kind of hard after what happened last night…but suffice to say, I know she is,” said Rainbow.  Trixie placed her hands on her hips as she glared at Rainbow. “I know what you’re getting at, Kamen Rider Nasca.”  Every girls’ jaw dropped, expect Twilight who said, “Let me guess, the journal?”  “Page 194, it talks about the day you got your Nasca Memory and Accel Memory, and how you two started your superhero partnership,” Trixie stated.  The girls quickly turned the page in question, and indeed there was correspondence between Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight, but the events described were far different than what Rainbow Dash remembered the event to be. For Twilight, this only confirmed everything she learned in the Earth’s Memories.  “So, either fess up to manipulating her memories, or actually help us find out who did it!” Trixie demanded.  The rest of the girls looked hesitant as they read one page after the other, all these events that Sunset spoke about were some that they had done, and others that they never remembered doing. It was all so confusing right now; they didn’t know what to believe. Eventually, they noticed that Twilight had remained mostly quiet throughout this entire reveal.  “What do you think, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.  “I don’t think, I know. Trixie’s right, everything in that journal is the truth,” said Twilight.  Trixie was not expecting that, denial, ridicule, arguing, those she as ready for, but not flat out vindication, and from Twilight no less.  “You’re not actually buying this are you?!” Rainbow Dash asked.  “I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t do a Look Up last night on Sunset Shimmer. What’s recorded in the Earth’s Memories severely contrasts with what we know, and the Memories of the Earth record everything past, present, and future. We’ve been tricked…We’ve been manipulated into shunning someone who meant so much to us…We’ve…We’ve hurt her…” Twilight stated as she started to cry.  Fluttershy moved closer to Twilight and hugged her for comfort. “It’ll be okay, Twilight…” “No, it’s not ‘okay’! Sunset and I…we’re a couple! She came to me last night, the one person she hoped would remember her, and I rejected her out of a fear that a false memory gave me! And now she’s kidnapped!”  “KIDNAPPED?!!” Pinkie exclaimed. “H-How?!”  “Some dark Rider swopped in and took her away…that’s how,” said Rainbow Dash with remorse.  “Then you have to go and find her! She hasn’t answered any of my texts or calls! She could be hurt or…ugh, just get on your Rider bike and go look for her!” Trixie demanded.  “That won’t be necessary, Trix.”  All seven girls turned around and watched as Sunset Shimmer walked towards them, her head was hung low, her hands stuffed into her jacket pockets as she made the slow walk towards the group. An awkward silence befell the group once she arrived at the statue, knowing the truth of what was going on, Sunset could see the shame they were feeling, as well as the conflicting emotions of what they thought to be true and what they now know is the truth.  “I know it’s hard to believe, if I were in your shoes, I’d feel the same. I can’t make you believe me, but right now, I’m begging you.” Sunset got to knees, making the others gasp. “Please, help me set things right…if not because of our past friendship…or…” Sunset glanced to Twilight. “…relationships…then do it because whoever is doing this, I guarantee you, won’t stop at just me. Dark Magic is being used in combination with a Gaia Memory, those two powers combined can hurt a lot more people than just me. This person could rewrite anything they desire, how long will it be before they set their sights on the world?! So, don’t help me to regain what I lost, help me to save what is left! If that means having to start from scratch to regain your friendships, then I’ll gladly pay that price!” The girls all looked upon Sunset with shock, she would never resort to begging, for anything. Rainbow Dash scrunched her face into a grimace as she walked towards Sunset, who averted her gaze from her former partner.  “Stand up, Sunset,” Rainbow demanded.  “Rainbow…” “You’ve never begged for anything, you’re sure as hell not starting now, so stand up and just ask us for help.” Sunset turned her gaze back up at Rainbow, who stretched out her hand towards her. The flame haired girl smiled gratefully as she took Rainbow’s hand and was hoisted back up to her feet. “To be honest, I think we all had doubts about what’s been going on. What we remember, and what we feel don’t exactly match up. I should be angry, but right now…I just feel…ashamed, and sad. Dammit…I’m supposed to represent loyalty, and I can’t even tell the difference between a fake memory and the feelings that have been telling me otherwise.” Sunset’s smile widened as she slowly opened her arms and gave Rainbow a hug. “I don’t blame you, any of you. This wasn’t any of your faults.” Rainbow was a little surprised by the show of affection, and not really sure if she should hug her back. In the end she returned the hug, as awkward as it was for the prismatic girl.   “Don’t let us off the hook that easily, Sug,” Applejack interjected. “We shoulda listened to our hearts rather than our heads on this one, and truth be told, we should’ve given ya more leeway when it came to this sorta thing.” Trixie sighed loudly as she got in between all of this, “Yeah, she was right, you guys were wrong, you’re all made up. Now can we please focus on the person who’s erasing memories?! We’re kind of on a deadline!”  “If the memories aren’t returned before the end of today, then they’ll be gone forever. That occurs three days after they were erased, problem is we don’t know at what time they were erased,” said Twilight “So…we could already be too late,” Rarity finished.  “But we could also be just in time! We don’t know the time, so that could just mean we’re really not too late if we start now!” Pinkie stated with great optimism.  “Um…I agree with Pinkie Pie, we-we can’t just give up now…we have to make things right,” said Fluttershy with great determination.  “Then let’s go and show this a-hole that they can’t just mess with people’s memories! Sixteen eyes are better than four, right?” Rainbow asked.  Sunset nodded.  With their mission affirmed, the girls made their way towards the building. Twilight halted, tugging at Sunset’s wrist, she stopped the flame haired girl and looked at her with a bit of sorrow. “I’m sorry about what happened…I…I should’ve listened to my heart instead of my head…I didn’t mean to hurt you like that…” Sunset smiled comfortingly to her girlfriend. “It’s okay, I won’t lie it did hurt a bit, but I know it’s not your fault. I’d kiss you right now, but I figure that’d be too awkward.”  Twilight began playing with her bang and said, “A little…sorry. But, I’m okay with hugging, if you are?” Sunset didn’t argue, she simply enveloped Twilight in her arms, there was a slight hesitation from the genius girl in her arms, but Twilight got over it quickly and returned the embrace, feeling a sense of calm and comfort in these arms. For Sunset, it was relief, relief that at least she was willing to start over if it came down it. “Love birds, the Great and Powerful Trixie would like to solve this mystery sometime today!” Trixie scolded.  “If you wanted in on this Trix, you missed your chance about a year ago,” Sunset shot back.  Trixie became flustered as she huffed and went inside.  “She’s fun to tease,” said Sunset.  “Um…” Twilight became a bit nervous as her face reddened, “This is going to sound ridiculous…but…you and Trixie…you two haven’t, ahem, what I mean to say is…” Sunset leaned forward and kissed Twilight gently upon her cheek, she looked into her girl’s eyes and said, “I would never cheat on you, tease, ogle maybe, but never cheat. I love you Twilight Sparkle, that won’t ever change.”  Twilight felt her heart race as her face burned from hearing such words of devotion coming from Sunset, and because she’d never thought she’d be on the receiving end of such words. “W-Well, let’s look for this Stone so we can get things back to normal!” ***__________________________*** Now with assistance of the Rainbooms, a full and more thorough investigation was launched, while some people may have been skeptical and weary of talking to Sunset and Trixie, they had no problem speaking to any of the other girls, but alas, their efforts still came up short, none of the people they talked to seemed to know anything or have seen anything strange or suspicious over the past three days, and the clock was ticking.  It was already the afternoon hours and their suspect pool was running really low now.  Sunset and Trixie convened in the Yearbook Committee room, with pictures of various students having red “X’s” over them, marking the ones that they had spoken to.  “So, why are we in here again?” Trixie asked.  “I wanted to see who we missed, but it’s no use, we’ve talked to everyone, A to Z!” Sunset stated It was then that Trixie noticed something was off, a picture with a generic gray profile and no actual picture. “Wait… ‘Not Pictured: Wallflower Blush’. Who’s Wallflower?”  “I’m literally sitting right across from you.”  “GAH!” Trixie exclaimed as she just now noticed the green haired girl’s presence. The amateur magician tapped her chin as she looked upon Wallflower. “Uh, who are you?”  Wallflower gave Trixie a deadpan look. “Wallflower. And I’ve known you since third grade.”  Trixie blinked. “Ahh! I remember third grade. Not you specifically, but what a grade it was. The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie debuted her disappearing frog trick. You know, a lot of people don’t realize how much work goes into raising tadpoles. You really have to coddle them…” Sunset rolled her eyes Trixie went into her longwinded story, she then turned her attention to the journal, re-reading Princess Twilight’s message and the picture of the rock formation the Memory Stone was supposedly hidden under. The former unicorn huffed in frustration, “How am I supposed to find a rock formation that looks…like…” Sunset turned her gaze towards Wallflower and Trixie, and there, on Wallflower’s computer background, was the very rock formation they were looking for. “…That’ll work.” The flame haired girl put the journal down and made to go to Wallflower but stopped as she inconspicuously propped up her cellphone, hit the record button, and then scribbled something onto a piece of paper and stuffed it into her skirt pocket. She then turned to Wallflower and asked, “Hey, can I ask you a silly question?” Wallflower nodded. “Where did you take that lovely photograph?”  Wallflower’s expression brightened as she turned to the picture in question. “Oh, that’s my garden. Well, it’s the school’s garden, technically. I’m the president of the Gardening Club! I founded it, too! I’m also the only member…and the only one who’s ever been to the garden. Or seen it…or even asked about it.”  Trixie tugged at the collar of her hoodie and said, “You’re not really into other people, huh?”  Sunset elbowed Trixie in the ribs and made the magician give a pained “oomph”. “I was…maybe going to add this picture somewhere in the yearbook. What do you think?” Wallflower asked with a hopeful tone. “Sorry, Sunset doesn’t let anyone put things in her yearbook. No matter how much they deserve them,” said Trixie as she rubbed her side. Sunset gave a slight glare at Trixie, and then turned back to Wallflower with a beaming smile, “No! You should do that, Wallflower. Uh, so don’t let us keep you from working on it.”  “What?! The Great and Powerful Trixie is…annoyed and insulted!” Trixie huffed in indignation and turned her nose up at both of them as she crossed her arms...  Wallflower smiled back at Sunset and went to work on the computer.  Sunset made a few gestures to Trixie indicating that she was going to search Wallflower’s backpack. Trixie nodded and moved to obstruct Wallflower’s view of Sunset’s actions. The former unicorn stealthily made her way to Wallflower’s backpack and carefully opened it.  “WALLFLOWER, SHE KNOWS!” Sunset stopped upon hearing that voice, and so did Wallflower. The green girl turned around and saw that Sunset was at her backpack. Wallflower shot up from her seat and swiftly pushed Trixie aside, she then barreled into Sunset, sending the both of them sprawling onto the floor. Wallflower had landed atop Sunset, but she quickly regained her bearings and hastily scooped up her backpack and readied to bolt for the door.  “TRIXIE, LOCK THE DOOR!” Sunset ordered. The silver haired girl rushed to the door, slamming it shut and locking it. Wallflower backed up from Sunset as she got up from the floor. “It was YOU! You’re the one who erased everyone’s memories?!”  Wallflower looked around the room, her secret had been found out, so there was no need to play dumb now. “Yes…I did!”  “WHY?! WHAT THE HELL DID I DO TO YOU THAT WAS SO BAD THAT YOU HAD TO RUIN MY LIFE LIKE THIS?! I DON’T EVEN KNOW YOU!” Sunset practically screamed.  Wallflower’s gaze narrowed upon hearing that last sentence. “The fact that you don’t know is all the reason I need! Everyone in this school, everyone in this entire city, was fooled into thinking you’re some hero, but I know who you really are! You haven’t changed, you’re still a manipulative, egotistical, bitch that you were back then and still are now! I mean, I never thought you were so twisted that you’d make people believe you were a superhero, but now you have Twilight Sparkle following you around like a lost puppy and making her your girlfriend is like the leash around her neck!”  “You – how dare you –!” Sunset began.  “I won’t ever forget, what you are, Queen of Mean!” Wallflower stated.  Sunset growled angrily; her eyes narrowed into slits that promised of great retribution to come. “Calling yourself Memoria…Erasing all the good I’ve done to try and put all this hate and fear behind me, making the person I love the most forget who I am and that we were in love…” Sunset summoned her Uni-Driver and Unicorn Memory. “YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE HOW MEAN I CAN GET!”  Trixie’s eyes widened as she saw Sunset ready to practically vaporize Wallflower, understandably she was really ticked off, and had every right to be, but if she didn’t intervene now, Sunset may end up doing something she may regret, and the last thing that girl needed was more of them.  The amateur magician hurriedly put herself between Wallflower and Sunset. “Whoa! Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! Let’s not antagonize the person with the all-powerful mystery rock!” “Don’t let her intimidate you, my little flower.” “Who’s that?” Sunset asked.  “Who’s who?” Trixie asked.  “A real friend, someone whose helped me more in the last three days than anyone has in the entire school year! But…as much as beating you here would be nice; I don’t like confrontation…” Wallflower reached into her backpack slowly. “…Let’s just forget this ever happened!”  Wallflower whipped out the Memory Stone, the relic shined with green colored magical energy, prompting Sunset to reach out and shout, “DON’T ERASE–!” A flash of green light went off in the room.  ***__________________________*** Sunset and Trixie were in a daze as they stood there, and after a second, the two girls snapped out of the daze and looked around the room quizzically.  “What was I saying? I’m sure it was something brilliant?” Trixie asked.  “Why are we in the yearbook room?” Sunset asked.  Trixie shrugged in confusion, unsure herself. “Well, anyway, let’s continue the search.” When the amateur magician went to open the door, she found that it was locked. “What the heck?”  Sunset chuckled to herself and said, “Here, Trix, let me–” Sunset reached into her skirt pocket and felt nothing inside. “That’s…weird. The key’s gone.”  Trixie turned around, a slight look of panic forming on her face. “You’re telling me we’re locked in here?!” The amateur magician then noticed the time on the clock. “How has is it four o’ clock now?!”  “Oh crap…we must’ve found the one responsible! Memoria, she erased our memories! But if she thinks a locked door is going to keep me from stopping her, she’s got another thing coming!” Sunset concentrated as she summoned her Uni-Driver and Unicorn Memory, but nothing happened. She tried again, and yet again, there was nothing. “Oh, double crap…that’s not good.” “If there’s anyone I don’t want to hear that from, it’s you,” said Trixie with dismay.  “Memoria must’ve taken my Driver and Gaia Memory when she wiped our memories!” Sunset stated as she rushed towards the door and began banging on it, calling out to anyone who could help them. Trixie joined it, both girls were working to get themselves free, short of breaking down the door. After a good five minutes of effort, both were exhausted as they leaned up against the table.  “This is ridiculous! Even if we get out of here, how are we supposed to catch this person if they keep erasing our memories and set us back to square one,” Trixie in frustration.  Sunset glanced over the tabletop and noticed a red light on her cellphone. She placed her hands into her skirt pockets and felt something in her left pocket. When she took it out, she smiled gleefully and said, “By being clever!” The flame haired girl took up her cellphone from its hiding spot and noticed it was still in recording mode. “YES! I must’ve set my phone to record everything just in case this happened and wrote myself a little note to make me check, look!” Trixie read the words “check your cellphone” scribbled onto the small strip of paper. Trixie huddled close to Sunset as she stopped the recording and played back the footage that she had. All in all, she was glad that it hadn’t died, it was almost two hours of footage. Sunset scrolled through footage and came up to the point where she and Wallflower were speaking.  “Who’s that?”  “Wallflower Blush,” said Sunset.  “Hmm, name’s not ringing any bells.”  After watching the slight confrontation between the two, the video reached the near apex of their argument.  {The fact that you don’t know is all the reason I need! Everyone in this school, everyone in this entire city, was fooled into thinking you’re some hero, but I know who you really are! You haven’t changed, you’re still a manipulative, egotistical, bitch that you were back then and still are now! I mean, I never thought you were so twisted that you’d make people believe you were a superhero, but now you have Twilight Sparkle following you around like a lost puppy and making her your girlfriend is like the leash around her neck!}  [You – how dare you –!]  [I won’t ever forget, what you are, Queen of Mean!] [Calling yourself Memoria…Erasing all the good I’ve done to try and put all this hate and fear behind me, making the person I love the most to forget who I am and that we were in love…YOU’RE ABOUT TO SEE HOW MEAN I CAN GET!] Trixie rubbed the back of her head as she watched that unfold. “I hate to say this, considering all she’s done, but she is kinda right about you.” Sunset rolled her eyes with annoyance. “Gee, thanks.” “Actually, the Wise and Moralizing Trixie was making a point. You said you didn’t do anything to her?” “I didn’t! I swear I didn’t lay a single finger on her! I barely even talked to her!” Sunset stated as she flailed her arms.  “But,” Trixie raised her right index finger, “maybe it’s not good enough to not be mean to someone. Maybe you have to be nice and acknowledge others. Sometimes ignoring someone, can be just as bad or even worse than a punch to the face, or a mean word.” Sunset took a moment to digest Trixie’s words, how long had Wallflower been ignored by others? How many times was she passed over and made to feel as if her existence was nothing to notice or appreciate? In her case, even just a slight bit of acknowledgment would’ve been nice, even if it was from the school bully. Sunset felt that old hurt and pain from when she remembered her past, but now she wondered how much she really hurt Wallflower Blush, and she cursed herself for not being able to remember.  “You’re right, Trixie…” “Of course, I am…um…right about what exactly?” Trixie asked.  “It’s not enough to be nice, I made up for a lot of mistakes, and I overlooked one. But no more.” Sunset placed a hand on Trixie’s shoulder and said, “At least if we don’t make it through this, and everything stays as it is, at least I’ll have a couple of good friends who will still be there for me. And I mean, one of them is the Greatest and Powerfullest Canterlot High School has to offer, so I guess I can’t complain.”   Trixie felt like her heart was breaking hearing Sunset sound defeated, and at the same time she felt joy that she could give some level of comfort to her new friend. It was then that Trixie’s attention was drawn back to the cellphone. “Hey, there’s more footage, look!”  The flash of green light went off in the video, the girls watched as Wallflower walked up to Sunset Shimmer and snatched away her Driver and Gaia Memory.  [She’s gotten closer, Memoria, we have to do something before she figures it out again!] Silence.  [I know we just have to wait until sundown, but at this rate…] Trixie looked to Sunset with confusion. “Is she…talking to herself?” Sunset narrowed her gaze on the Memory Stone and noticed that the relic was glowing in response to her questions. “No. She’s talking to someone, through the Memory Stone or in the Memory Stone I can’t tell, but if I’m right, this may have gotten much worse than I originally thought. We need to get out of here!” Trixie felt a surge of confidence running through her as she separated from Sunset and laughed boisterously. “You poor fool! Did you think that something as silly as a locked door can stop the Great and Powerful Trixie?! Especially when a friend is in peril?! Ha, ha, perish the thought! Behold!” Trixie reached into her pocket and dug out a smoke bomb. “The Magician’s Exit!”  The silver haired girl threw down the smoke bomb, creating a puff of violet colored smoke. When the smoke cleared, Trixie found herself outside the yearbook room. Trixie’s eyes widened with unimaginable glee as she danced in place. “Yes! It worked! I finally did it!”  Her celebration was cut short when Sunset knocked at the door. “Still in here!”  “Oh…um…one sec!”  Trixie pulled out another smoke bomb and threw it at the floor. Another puff of smoke plumed and from it appeared Sunset Shimmer, unfortunately, she seemed to have swapped places, with Trixie now being the one trapped behind the locked door. Trixie growled in annoyance as she threw another one, with the same results. She did it again, and again, and again, each time with the same result.  Finally, Trixie just slumped her shoulders and waved to Sunset. “You know what? Just leave me here! Go and save the world or whatever!”  “I owe you one, Trixie! I promise I won’t forget this!” Sunset declared as she ran down the hallway.  “Never say never!”  ***______________________________*** “I’m sorry, can you repeat that again?!”  [It’s exactly like I said big brother, Sunset Shimmer isn’t a villain. Yes, She’s Unicorn, but she’s not evil! Someone’s messed with our minds, the whole city’s minds! We may already be too late to get them back, but we can at least stop the true villain from hurting anyone else!] Shining Armor could feel it, something was off about this whole thing, especially when he learned of Unicorn’s identity, but was this really it? “And you’re sure this isn’t some kind of trick or something? That she’s not laying down a trap for you?”  [Shiny, please trust me. We have to hurry, or we won’t be able to undo any of this! I need you here at CHS as fast as you can!] Shining Armor nodded his head and said, “Alright, I’ll be their quick.”   The law and order Kamen Rider pressed the “end call” button on his helmet and revved his motorcycle. He flipped on the police lights and swiftly zoomed through traffic. There was a feeling that something was off for a while now, but he couldn’t put his finger on it, and if his little sister was right, then that meant that they were fighting their own friend and ally. Shining sped up, determined to make it to CHS in order to aid his little sister and her friends in finding the culprit. However, as he was riding, another biker sped up and was tailing him. The other biker was dressed in all black and wore a black bike helmet and was female.  “I don’t know who you are, but I don’t have time to race some punk!” Shining stated.  “Oh, I’m not racing you, we’re just heading in the same direction!”  “And that is?”  “Canterlot High School,” said the other biker.  “Wait, who are –?!”  “Save the questions for when this is over! Sunset, Twilight, and the girls will need our help before this is over, so speed up!” Shining had a million questions for this person and was fairly certain this was the person that Rainbow Dash had told him about, but right now not a lot of things made sense, so he had to go with the best course of action. “Don’t slow me down then!”  Both Riders zoomed down the highway, their destination only a few minutes away.  ***______________________________*** Sunset ran down the hallways, her cellphone in hand as she called out to Twilight. At first, she didn’t pick up, not recognizing the number, but after the second try she picked up and Sunset managed to tell her what had happened and who had the Memory Stone. With the intel passed on, Sunset continued to run around the halls until she spotted her target.  “WALLFLOWER!” Sunset shouted down the hall.  The other students stopped and looked in Sunset Shimmer’s direction, she had a laser focused look, and they knew not to get in her way. The girl in question turned around and yelped in shock that Sunset remembered her, and with that, she ran. Wallflower turned down one of the hallways but stopped when she saw the other end was blocked by Rainbow Dash and Applejack.  “You have to help me! Sunset Shimmer’s after me!!” Wallflower begged.  Both girls crossed their arms and glared at Wallflower.  “C’mon, please, Sunset Shimmer’s going to hurt me!”  “Like you hurt her?” Applejack asked.  Wallflower’s eyes widened. “W-What?”  “The jig’s up, we know you’re the one who erased our memories!” Rainbow stated.  Wallflower backed up and swiftly ran back the way she came, now she had Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Sunset Shimmer on her tail. It made no sense, they were her enemies, those two would rather fight Sunset than help her. Wallflower ran down a third hallway, and once again, she found her path blocked, by none other than Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie.  “Thank goodness, please, you have to help! Sunset’s coming after me,” said Wallflower.  “Oh, is that because you erased all our good memories of her and now you’re running away because she’s uber mad at you?” Pinkie Pie asked.  Once again, Wallflower was shocked by the revelation.  “Um, Wallflower, please just stop, maybe we could talk?” Fluttershy asked.  Wallflower Blush did an about face and ran down the same why she just came from. The green haired girl stopped as she realized she was at a crossroads, to her left, Sunset Shimmer was barreling down the hallway, and right next to her was Twilight Sparkle, down the middle hall was Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who were surely going to reach her first, and the right hallway had Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Trixie wasn’t among them, which meant even if she tried to erase their memories now, that would leave one more person who knew, and who would remind them that she was the culprit, and that’s not counting whatever else evidence that they might have already saved to ensure that if she did erase their memories, they had a backup to remember.  The desperate girl turned around and headed straight into the library, unfortunately, it was nothing but a giant rotunda, with only one way in, at least not counting the emergency exit. Right after Wallflower entered, the seven girls burst inside the library, with the librarian, Miss Cheerilee, giving them all scolding looks.  “Excuse me, girls, quiet in the library!” Miss Cheerilee warned.  “S-Sorry, Miss Cheerilee, but we’re kind of in the middle of an emergency,” said Twilight in apologetic tone.  Suddenly, the fire alarm went off, all the students in the library began to look around in a slight panic. Cheerilee and the other librarians began to usher the students out of the library, but the Rainbooms knew better. The seven girls ran to the back of the library, and there they saw the open fire exit door. The Rainbooms ran outside and quickly spotted Wallflower running towards the football field, already having gotten a good head start on them.  The shy girl felt as if she was going to make it, but her luck would not hold out as two motorcycles came rushing in from the street and skidded to a halt on the field. The first was that of Shining Armor, the second, once her helmet was removed, was Starlight Glimmer. Behind Wallflower was her enemy, Sunset Shimmer, and the girls she had tricked into helping her.  “It’s over, Wallflower! Just give up the Memory Stone and the Gaia Memory, and we can fix all of this before it becomes too late,” said Sunset.  “I don’t get it!” Wallflower growled. “Why would you help someone like her! Did you all forget how she made you all forget that you were friends in the first place! She single handedly broke you all up and then you suddenly just want to forget it all happened and be friends?!”  Rarity cleared her throat as she spoke, “True, I don’t believe that any us of shall forget that Sunset Shimmer played a major role in dividing us and making us estranged from each other. But neither can we deny the fact that the kind of power you’re wielding is too dangerous to be left here.”  “Erasin’ our memories without permission, fer what? If we made up with Sunset and became friends, then that’s our choice! It ain’t yours to decide that we only remember the bad and see her as such,” said Applejack.  “And how do you know that she hasn’t changed! You erase all the good memories, and only focus on the bad, people can change!” Twilight glanced to Sunset who had a little smile on her face. “So, don’t push your own opinions on us!”  “UGH!” Wallflower growled. “Fine, if that’s how you want it, then I’ll just reset everything!”  “Not yet! R0V3R, fetch!” Rainbow called out.  Mechanical barking could be heard as a robotic dog ran past Starlight and Shining Amor, and swift as the wind, the Mechanimal used its sharp tail to slice the backpack open, allowing its contents to spill onto the ground, including Sunset’s Unicorn Memory and Uni-Driver. Wallflower snatched the Memory Stone before it could hit the ground and held it close to her as she backed away.  “HAWK!” Twilight cried out.  The second Mechanimal swopped in from above and scooped up the Gaia Memory and Driver. Hawk hovered over Sunset and dropped both devices down to her, upon which Sunset snatched them out the air. Starlight and Shining Armor ran over to join them, the latter still giving Sunset a suspicious look.  “Are we good, Shining?” Sunset asked.  “For now, we’ll focus on the immediate threat, and why does it feel like I’ve had this kind of tense talk with you before?” Shining asked.  “Gee, it may have something to do with the fact that I’m dating your little sister,” Sunset remarked.  Shining’s eyes bulged from his skull upon hearing this. “WAIT – YOU’RE WHAT?!”  “Save the freak outs for later, it’ll all make sense when you get your memories back,” said Starlight.  Wallflower continued to back up, she always wanted to be noticed, but not like this, not with these accusatory gazes, as if she was the bad guy, when the real villain was standing amongst them.  “My little flower, it’s time we stopped playing games and showed them our true strength.” Wallflower meant what she said, she did not like confrontation, but sometimes, life didn’t give her much choice. The green haired girl reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a Gaia Memory, it was green in color, the symbol of the device was an “M” that looked like a brain. At the same time, Wallflower held up the Memory Stone, which glowed a bright emerald.  < MEMORY! > Wallflower pressed the Memory Memory against the Memory Stone, the device immediately dissolved into the Stone, and upon which Wallflower pressed the Memory Stone to her chest. The moment she did, emerald light surrounded her body, and in the next moment the light collapsed, revealing a blackened figure. But soon the figure’s body began to form wispy, vine-like fissures across its body, and its head caught on fire with jade colored flames that mimicked Wallflower’s wild hair. Now, it was not just Wallflower Blush standing before them, it was Memoria.  “Memories are powerful things, my friend taught me that. And in those memories, I’ve been granted the power to punish you! Sunset Shimmer!” Wallflower declared.  Shining Armor glanced to Rainbow Dash and asked, “Are we sure that Sunset’s not the bad guy?” To this, Twilight came up and swatted her big brother in the back of the head. “Ow! Just asking Twily, it’s a valid question right now!”  “Don’t worry about it, but either way, that kind of power is dangerous to use. We have to stop her now!” Sunset stated.  “Don’t think you’re safe just because you outnumber me. You’ve no idea what powers a Gaia Memory and a magical relic can do together!”  Wallflower channeled both magic and Gaia Memory energy into her right hand and slammed it against the ground. A wave of emerald light erupted and washed over the area, creating a blinding light that shined from the ground up. Everyone closed their eyes as a near weightless feeling grasped them. The feeling lasted for about a minute before they felt as if they were sitting on solid ground again. When everyone opened their eyes, they were still on the football field, however, the entire field had been translocated from CHS straight into the forest, with a good number of trees crushed beneath the giant plot of earth that was just moved in an instant.  Memoria clapped both her hands together, and upon doing so, the Memory Stone released dozens, upon dozens of smoke trails that flew out and around her. When one of them landed on the ground, the smoke began to take form, in less than a few seconds, they were all face to face with enemies of their past. Dopants that represented the twenty-six T2 Gaia Memories. Accel, Bird, Cyclone, Dummy, Fang, Gene, Heat, IceAge, Key, Luna, Ocean, Puppeteer, Queen, Rocket, Unicorn, Weather, Yesterday, and Zone. But they were not alone.  Another round smoke wisps emerged from the Memory Stone, and what appeared next was another round of Dopants, that of the PhoenEXE Corp. T1 Gaia Memory Dopants. Arms, Terror, Taboo, Claydoll, Smilodon, Dog, Utopia, Anomalocaris, Magma, T-Rex, Money, Bat, Quetzalcoatius, Injury, Lightning, Dog, Jewel, Spider, Commander, and Eyes.  Rainbow Dash’s right eye twitched upon seeing the small army of past Dopant foes. “Okay, that’s not fair! Some of those guys I don’t even recognize!”  “You’ve fought them before, trust me,” said Sunset.  “Dammit, how many are there?!” Shining asked.  “Not including Memoria, that’s about thirty-eight. Divided up between the four of us that’s roughly…” “About nine and a half Dopants each.” Starlight, Sunset, and Twilight stated at the same time. All three girls looked to each other, blushed and then shared a laugh at their synchronicity and calculating abilities.  “Eggheads,” Rainbow mock coughed.  “You don’t have much time, Sunset, the moment that sun sets, it’ll be all over!” Memoria stated.  “Maybe…ideally, I’d like to defeat you before that happens…but,” Sunset glanced about, to her friends, to her allies, to her lover, “if it means having to start from scratch, to build that trust with them again, I’ll do it, because they’re worth it!”  Shining Armor smirked at that answer. “Well then, let’s get started. I like your attitude Shimmer, maybe you’re not as bad I thought.”  Sunset smiled as she produced her Uni-Driver. At the same time, Starlight summoned her Equilibrium Driver, Rainbow brought out her N-Driver, and Shining Armor his T-Driver. All four Riders placed their belts against their waists, allowing the straps to wind around them and secure themselves. Once the Drivers were set, all four of them pressed down on their signature Gaia Memories.  < UNICORN! > < NASCA! > < TRIGGER! > < EQUAL! > “Henshin!” “Henshin!” “Henshin!” “Henshin!” > UNICORN! < > NASCA! < > TRIGGER! < > EQUAL! < Turquoise, azure, blue, and silver electrical energy gathered around the four Riders, materializing their armor and transforming them into their alter heroic egos, and anti-hero.  “Delivering justice at sonic speeds!” Nasca flared her electric-fiery wings and brandished her Nasca Sword. “Kamen Rider Nasca!”  “The keeper of law and order!” Trigger drew his Chrome Magnum blaster, spun it around on his right index finger, and then pointed it at the Dopant horde before him. “Kamen Rider Trigger!” “So, we’re doing this? Alright, why not.” Equal summoned her Staff of Sameness, twirled it around, and entered an attack stance. “Bringer of balance! Kamen Rider Equal!”  Unicorn glanced to her allies, and then to her friends, feeling the same bond of comradery as they once did reinvigorated the hero. “The Magic of Friendship unleashed!” Unicorn’s horn and hands shimmered with magical energy as she entered her fighting pose. “Kamen Rider Unicorn!”  Those of the Dopant horde who were able to, fired multiple energy blasts at the Riders before them. Several of the blasts exploded around the Riders, with many more continuing to go off with each successful blast. Wallflower raised her hand and ordered the horde to stop firing. Flames raged around the blast zone, as well as smoke bellowing from the raging flames. But then, four different colored auras began to shine through the flames, and with a collective battle cry, the auras blasted away the flames as all four Riders charged straight ahead towards the horde, not a scratch on their armors, and none of the other five Rainbooms were harmed either.  “What can we do now?” Fluttershy asked.  “Darling, I don’t think there’s much for us to do,” said Rarity, feeling powerless in this current situation.  “We may not have transforming super belts, but we can still cheer on our friends!” Pinkie stated.  Twilight padded Fluttershy on the shoulder as she watched her friends and family, charge into the army of Dopants. “She’s right, we have to pray for their victory.”