//------------------------------//
// Inspirational Memories 
// Story: Spinel's New Best Friend 
// by luckyboys121 
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Pinkie slightly chuckled at this as she asked, "You don't know?"

"Well not really... I mean of course I have a bunch of ideas swirling around in my Gem but none I'm too eager about," said Spinel as she looked towards Pinkie. 

She only smiled at that as she said, "Well that's fine. That's something we should really plan together anyway."

Spinel smiled back as she hopped to Pinkie giddily saying, "So what were you thinking?"

"Hmmm, I don't know either," said Pinkie with a smile.

"Well shucks," said Spinel as she put her hands into pockets she had just formed on her pants and began thinking.

"Hmmm," said Pinkie before noticing a neck poking out of the pile of party supplies near her bed. She then ran up to it saying, "I think I know just the thing to clear our heads." After a fair amount of digging she finally pulled out the acoustic guitar and said, "After all, music is very relaxing," before strumming it with a smile. 

Spinel on the other hand looked somewhat curious as the object in Pinkie's hooves looked familiar... but at the same different as she said, "What's that thing you're holding?"

"Oh this, it's a guitar," said Pinkie smiling at getting to tell her friend something new and fun again. "Have you never seen one before?"

"Well no I have... at least I think I have?" said Spinel confused as a brief memory of being surrounded by people and watching other people play music on something like that started to come forward. "It looked kinda like that, but flat, and it sounded different," she then paused thinking before the picture became clearer and she said, "and it was plugged into something."

"OH! Hang on," said Pinkie as she excitedly dove back into the supply pile and swam in it a bit before coming back up holding several things as she said, "Is this it?"

"YES EXACTLY!" said Spinel as she smiled upon seeing the objects from this memory, that so far seemed to be a good one. 

"This is called an electric guitars, and it plugs into this thingy here called an amp," said Pinkie before she noticed just how happy Spinel looked and she said, "Do you want me to teach you how to play?"

"OH YES PLEASE!" said Spinel excitedly as she reached out for the guitar, which Pinkie plugged into the amp before giving it to her.

"AWESOME! Though, most people usually learn on acoustics and move up to electrics," said Pinkie as she looked over towards her own guitar before saying, "Try strumming on it for a bit, and then I'll teach you some of the chords."

Spinel smiled before moving her hand across the strings. Upon doing so though the memory she had started to have come back became clearer and more solid and to her thanks, it seemed to remain happy as she decided to go with and strum more.

As Pinkie walked towards her own guitar listening to Spinel strumming she suddenly realized it was becoming less random and actually sounded like a song, before she turned back around and saw Spinel somehow knowing to shape shift a guitar pick out of her thumb as she strummed and began singing. 



As Spinel played and sang her smile only grew wider and wider as she thought, "I'm doing it, I'm remembering just like Starlight wanted but it's good things this time! I just gotta keep this up and then who knows, maybe between the good memories like this and the new ones I'm forming with Pinkie whatever those bad memories with the pink lady are, they'll feel like nothing!"

As Spinel reached the end of the song and bowed to her audience of one, Pinkie clapped her hooves together saying, "OH MY GOSH SPINEL! Why didn't you tell me you already knew how to play!?"

"Well that's because... I don't!" said Spinel with an even larger smile.

This only confused Pinkie as she said, "Wait, what do you mean you don't know how to play?"

"I mean, I was just mimicking a memory from my Gem... which means," said Spinel eagerly.

Pinkie caught on quickly as she said, "OH MY GOSH! YOU GOT YOUR MEMORIES BACK?!"

"Well just the one... I remember being at a concert and hearing this song... I was so happy then," said Spinel as she thought on the memory. "I was with someone important too I..." began Spinel, before realizing that part was still kinda fuzzy for some reason. Part of her told her it was the pink woman but another part of her said it was someone else and the odd thing was... she didn't actually think either part was wrong. She then decided to shake it off as she continued saying, "I had a really fun time." 

"That's so great to hear Spinel, and I'm sure Starlight will be happy to hear it too," said Pinkie with a smile before she continued saying, "For now I think it's pretty clear what we're gonna do for our show."

"What?" asked Spinel, not getting what Pinkie was driving at.

"Isn't it obvious silly," said Pinkie with a huge grin, "I'm gonna teach you how to play guitar for real, and we're gonna perform a song together at the Gala!"

"OH MY GOSH! That's a great idea!" said Spinel excitedly. She then plopped down on the floor in front Pinkie as she said, "Let's get to work then."

Pinkie opened her mouth to respond, only to then be interrupted by her stomach growling as she giggled before saying, "How about we grab some breakfast first, today's Cinnamon Roll day and I KNOW you'll just love those!" 

"Oh YAY!" said Spinel as she followed Pinkie down the stares and thought to herself, "I can't wait to tell Starlight about this little break through I've had."

Meanwhile at the Castle of Friendship

Starlight awoke in a cold sweat panting as she began thinking to herself, "What the!?" She paused for a moment to catch her breath as she said, "Been a while since I've had a night terror like that.... I guess maybe talking to Spinel about her similar past might have stirred them back up again." After glancing out her clock and seeing how late it was she said, "Shoot. Looks like I gotta skip my shower and breakfast if I want to be at the school on time... maybe I can grab something from the cafeteria." She then got to her hooves and walked over to her vanity to start getting ready. As she walked though she thought about the night terrors again and commented, "It is a little weird though.... usually I can remember my night terror dreams, but this time I'm drawing a blank about it."

Any thoughts on this where quickly interrupted though as she got a look of her self in the mirror and noticed some oddities. Firstly her mane was matted, which didn't sound weird given how she was tossing and turning in her sleep, but it was the way it was matted that looked weird. Instead of just being a nonsensical mess like normal, it had somehow formed into the twin tail style she had when she was filly but still messy and frayed. She decided to shrug that off though as she used her magic to grab a brush and get it back to normal. Once the hair was straightened though she noticed another weird thing as she said, "Guess I forgot to wipe my make up off before bed?" as somehow there where three trails of mascara under each of her eyes. 

"But how did it form so perfect like this?" she asked as she looked at the lines closer in the mirror before she heard a small laugh from the back of her head that startled her. As quickly as it came though it left, as she commented to herself, "I REALLY need to tell Twilight to dial down the paper work... between these late nights and now my night terrors potentially coming back I think this lack of restful sleep is getting to me." She then wiped the mascara off and looked towards a bottle to apply to a fresh coat, only to see that it was empty. "Hmm, could of sworn I had enough left for a day or two," she said before shrugging and saying, "oh well, guess I'm just gonna have to have the natural look today."

As she walked out of the room she failed to notice two more odd things about that mascara bottle. One, it had already been open and two, the brush was next to her bed indicating that perhaps she had done more then just toss and turn in her sleep.