//------------------------------// // I have an Idea // Story: You're not Twilight // by Miner //------------------------------// “Okay, girls, Aaron is taken care of,” Pipp says, entering the room; while Izzy is moving to and from Sunny with different kinds of makeup and paint, however, Zipp notices something off, “Wait, where did you leave him?” Pipp dismisses it by waving a hoof as Izzy finishes painting Sunny’s cutiemarks to match Twilight’s, “Don’t worry about it.” “You sure about this, Sunny?” Izzy asks, touching up Sunny’s makeup, “What if he doesn’t believe you are Twilight?” “Don’t worry about that.” Sunny reassures her, “I have an idea in mind,” “If you say so,” Izzy says, unconvinced, as she fishes up her work, “Now, all that is left are these?” Sunny stares at her tiny wings as they buzz quickly. Her horn is ready, but her wings are too small for her liking. “Why are these always the hardest?” Before she could complain anymore, a giant crash echoes throughout the Crystal Brighthouse with a girlish scream, surprisingly not from any of the mares in the room. “What was that!” Aaron is stunned, lying on his back as he got Jack and the Bean Stock out of the Crystal Bright house. He lays on a large leaf with a death grip, afraid to move as some birds pass him. Looking above his head, the world’s most enormous flower head stands with him five feet underneath it. Thankfully the flower stopped growing after clearing ten feet of the roof, but Aaron wasn’t in the mood to find out how resilient his new body was. “What kind of pony boobytraps a flower in their bathroom?” Aaron whispers, “I just finished my shower admiring myself in the mirror and saw a lonely flower on the windowsill. So, I thought, why not water it? But Aaron, you don’t have a cup; how can you water it? Well, I will tell you how. I have a mouth and squirt the water into the plant, and BOOM, I am up here!” Aaron says, not noticing that he has company, “You, ok there?” Zipp asks, hovering nearby, unsure what to make of the situation. She thought for sure that earth ponies would have gotten the magic of their new magic by now, Aaron’s eyes turn to Zipp but, more importantly, to her wings. Without hesitation, Aaron asks, “How many ponies can you carry?” “Two. Why does- HAY!” Before Zipp could do anything, Aaron got a death grip on her body. Causing them to fly uncontrollably around in the sky, “Let go!” “No!” Aaron shouts with his eyes shut, By now, the rest of the mares had exited the building, but to their surprise, an airshow awaited them outside, “Oh, is Zipp trying out some new tricks?” Izzy says as Zipp cartwheels and loops above them, “I don’t think so- DUCK!” Sunny says as everypony expects Izzy ducks as they pass overhead, “Oh, Sunny, that’s not a duck. That is Zipp taking Aaron for a joy ride,” “They are going for a ride all right,” Pipp says, having retreated into the house and peeking from the doorway, “but I don’t think the word joy is the right word.” “Hold on, everypony,” Sunny rushes over to them as her magic kicks in, transforming her into her complete alicorn form and taking off in the air. Once in front of the pair, Sunny flaps her wings, causing a wave of glitter to cover them and give them a soft landing. Zipp breaks free from her shining prison with a gasp as Sunny lands to help her, “You two, ok?” “Yeah. I am fine,” She coughs some glitter out of her mouth, “No thanks to Mr. Scaredy pony here,” she gestures to the shining stallion crawling out from the bottom of the pile, Aaron spits out some glitter before looking over himself before looking at the others, “Where did all this glitter come from?” “That would be me,” Sunny smiles apolitically, “Sorry about that; I couldn’t think of any other way of stopping you two safely,” Aaron shakes like a dog sending glitter everywhere, “Couldn’t you have used your magic to stop us in mid-air?” Sunny looks around, guilty as she tries to think of something, “Right, my magic. Well, I panicked and did the first thing in mind,” She smiles, sweating a little, Surprisingly, it convinces Aaron as he shakes his head, “You have been hanging out with Pinkie Pie too long. Next, you are going to tell me that you can also summon her party cannon as she can.” Izzy gasps, “A party cannon! What a great idea!” Izzy zips into the Crystal Brighthouse, causing working sounds of power tools and construction to come from within, Everypony starts to worry about what Izzy is trying to make before Aaron clears his throat, “Ah, Princess Twilight. I have been meaning to ask, but who are these ponies with you, and where are the other members of the manesix?” “Well, Aaron, you might want to sit down for this,” “YOU LOST YOUR MEMORY!” Aaron shouts, causing everypony to cover their ears. Sunny’s idea was simple. By pretending that she lost her memory as ‘Twilight,’ she can make up a believable story so that he won’t get suspicious that she isn’t her. That way, she can slowly get all his knowledge about Twilight and the past by him trying to get her to remember things that she doesn’t know. It was foolproof, Sunny rubs the back of her ear, “Well, kind of. I can’t tell you much about how that happened. Everything is fussy; aside from my name, most of my memories are the ones I have with my new life and friends. I don’t remember much from the past. You see, only recently did I remember my name is Twilight Sparkle. For a long time, I have been an earth pony mare going by Sunny Starscout.” “But you are an alicorn.” He weakly points at her, “Well, that’s the thing. For some reason, I can only become an alicorn for a short while of the day before I return being an earth pony.” Aaron lowers his head in deep thought, “Sounds like you were hit with some curse that was meant to take away your magic and memory so that you can never be a threat again. Or it could have been meant to end your life but failed, resulting in memory loss and magic. However, I have no idea how you could be changed into an earth pony aside from chaos magic. Perhaps it was a side effect of the curse? Regardless, you were able to retain some of your alicorn magic for a short while, along with some of your memory.” Aaron rambles to himself as Izzy exits the Crystal Brighthouse with a small purple cannon and a smile on her face causing the Pegasus sisters to back away from her; however, Aaron and Sunny didn’t notice, “Are you sure you can’t remember Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Spike… anypony?” Sunny slowly shakes her head, “I am sorry, Aaron, but none of those names rings any bells to me.” “This is a catastrophe!” Aaron slams his face onto the ground, “The only mare that could have fixed this mess doesn’t remember who she is, her friends are, her family, anything!” Aaron groans before he jumps to his hooves, “Wait a minute!” He rushes over to Izzy, startling everypony and causing the cannon to fire, sending confetti and streamers everywhere, along with a random book, “You can use the memory spell to restore Twilight’s Memory!” Aaron says with determination, not caring if he gets covered by party streamers. “No can do, Aaron.” Izzy cross her foreleg in front of her, much to Aaron’s disappointment, “Why NOT!” “Hate to break it to you, but Unicorns only recently started using magic again. Many magic spells were lost to time and superstition. The only spell I know how to do is lift things with it.” Aaron’s jaw drops, “If such a spell exists, it’s long forgotten by now.” “This can’t be happening! This is worse than when Tirek stole all the magic from Equestria!” He groans, pulling on his face but pauses when a thought occurs to him, “You know, for some reason, I think somepony wrote fanfic like this. What was its name again? Divided by five or something?” Aaron taps his chin, “Wait, what do you mean only started recently using magic again?” “Aaron,” Sunny spoke up, trying to sound sincere as possible, “I think it’s time you got a history lesson,” Sunny then told Aaron everything about how the three tribes of ponies were divided, the economic-technological advancements, how she met her friends and the unity crystal that return magic. When she was done, Aaron sat there dumbfounded. He had an idea that it had been a while since Twilight lost her memories and magic. But he had no idea just how long it had been. “But if what you are saying is true. Then…” “Everypony that I once knew is long dead. Along with most of the knowledge of magic. We are all starting from scratch, and that is not even covering the new earth pony magic.” “New Earth pony magic!” “Yeah.” Zipp says, getting the last of the streamer off her wings before pointing at him, “Where do you think that giant flower came from? You did that.” “Earth Ponies can plant bend?” Aaron lowers his head, concerned, “Am I some kind of Poison Ivy now?” “I don’t think so,” Pipp adds, “But some ponies have caused a huge outbreak of hay fever. While adjusting to their magic.” “What about the Canterlot library? Surely something must have survived there.” “Canterlot is a distant memory. No pony knows where it is. However, oh!” Sunny reaches down and grabs her notebook, and turns a page, “There are stories telling about Canterlot having something called the Gate of the Ancients. Its original purpose was to help ponies travel all over Equestria and back to Canterlot in the blink of an eye. However, no pony has ever found them.” “Then that’s where we will start!” Aaron declares, getting a groan from Zipp, “Aaron, are you listening to yourself? Even if they exist, these gateways have been lost for generations,” “Zipp is right,” Pipp says, going through her hoofphone before looking at him, “Archaeologists have been searching for decades for any traces of Canterlot. What makes you think you can find it in a day when some ponies spent their whole lives looking for it?” “Because I am not a pony that can be stopped by saying something is impossible. If it means retrieving your lost memories by finding forgotten knowledge from a lost civilization. Then so be it.” Aaron turns to walk away, but Sunny stops him by putting a hoof on his chest, concerned for his safety. Sunny didn’t think this was a possibility, but if he leaves to find Canterlot, she may never find out what he knows. It’s a fool’s errand, after all. “Aaron, wait, you don’t have to do this. Don’t trouble yourself for my sake. I don’t need my old memories. I can make new ones. It’s not worth it.” She tries to convince him not to leave. But Aaron would not be deterred from his decision. He gently grabs Sunny’s hoof and puts it down, “Trust me, Twilight, it is worth it.” Aaron walks around Sunny, heading to the town when Sunny calls out to him again, “Wait.” Aaron looks over his shoulder, “If you are set on looking for Canterlot, then at least let me go with you.”