Special Talents

by InkFathom

Amnesia

“Who’s Daydream?”

Twilight stared down at the unicorn who, not an hour ago, had been spilling out her life story. “You! You’re Daydream!”

“Oh…?” Daydream said, not completely believing her. “And… who are you?”

Twilight began to speak quickly, trying to remind Daydream of who she was and why she was here. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I live here in Ponyville, where you live. You are Daydream. You love to read. You don’t know what your cutie mark means. You came to me looking for a book on cutie marks. You wanted to find out what your special talent is. I tried to help you. I told you to try some magic. Does any of that ring a bell?"

Daydream scrunched up her face in concentration. "Hmm... Nope. But, ah," she added, "can you explain it again? Slower? I didn't really catch any of that."

Twilight grimaced, realizing that this pony wasn’t going to remember anything on her own. “Well…”

As the lavender unicorn was thinking of what to say, a cheerful, pink, earth pony burst through the door.

“Hey, Twilight! Whatcha do-” Pinkie looked at Twilight, who was sitting next to Daydream, who was still sprawled out on the floor. A look of downright confusion passed over Pinkie Pie’s face. “What just happened?”

Daydream looked over at the newcomer. “Twilight,” she asked, “Who’s she?”

The pink earth pony chuckled. “Oh, Daydream, you’re so funny! You got a daisy doughnut from me just this morning! Remember?”

“No, I don’t.”

The smile on Pinkie’s face disappeared as soon as she processed those words. She looked to her brainy friend. “Twilight, what’s going on?”

Twilight frowned. How can I explain what just happened? she wondered. I don’t even really know. "Uh…”

“Is this a prank?” Pinkie interrupted. “’Cause if it is, it’s a pretty good one! I mean Daydream pretending she doesn’t know me? Ha! I saw her this morning! I also saw her yesterday and the day before that! Ooh, ooh, ooh! And I threw her that un-be-lieve-able party for her birthday last year! And of course there was that time I saw her at the library, and Sweet Apple Acres, and Sugarcube Corner, and the Carousel Boutique, and in the Everfree forest, and…” She continued to ramble on about the reasons Daydream should remember her, trying to make sense of the situation.

When Pinkie ran out of breath, Twilight, who was patiently waiting for a pause, said “No, Pinkie. This is not a prank. Daydream lost her memory, and we need to find out how to get it back.”

Pinkie looked worriedly over at Daydream, just noticing the absolute confusion on her face. However, Pinkie then grinned. “Why don’t you look it up in one of your books?” She asked.

Daydream peered over at the lavender unicorn. "That sounds like a fun idea. You know any good ones?"

************

An hour later, Twilight, Pinkie, and Daydream had taken out and looked through every book they could find that had any remote reference to psychology, memories, or the mind with no luck.

“So, Twilight,” Daydream began, “What exactly happened this morning?” The ponies hadn’t spoken since they began their search.

“Well, you came in, brought back a book, and requested a book about cutie marks.” Twilight continued, speaking briskly, as she searched through a thick book labeled Mind Over Matter. “You told me why you needed to research cutie marks, and I decided to help you. We tried several things, including a few spells, and then I told you to try a burst of magic.” She trembled slightly at the memory. “I’m not quite sure what happened, but you lost your memory.”

Pinkie looked up in what seemed to be a moment of shining insight. “Wait a minute! I’ve got an idea!” She zoomed at a somewhat comical speed to Twilight’s study.

Twilight and Daydream looked after her, paralyzed with curiosity at whatever the pink earth pony was up to.

Pinkie, having found what she was looking for, bounced back into the room cluttered full of books and dropped The Guide to Cutie Marks: An Inside Look at the Special Talents of Ponies at the unicorns’ hooves.

“Of course! We were reading this book when you lost your memory!” Twilight exclaimed to Daydream. “It could have a clue about what happened to you and how to reverse it.” She turned to the earth pony beaming next to them. “Thank you, Pinkie!” She thought for a moment. “Hang on… how did you know which book it was?”

Pinkie giggled. “Silly! When you said you were researching cutie marks, I figured you would use the one book that was all about cutie marks!” She somehow popped up right between the two unicorns in front of the book. “I also figured that since you were studying them, it’d be in your study!”

“That actually... makes… sense,” Twilight ventured. She turned to the table of contents in the book. “Okay, let’s see… Introduction... What is a Cutie Mark?... Exceptions and Expectations… Famous Cutie Marks…”

Twilight read through the chapter titles until she came across one that appealed to her. “When Talents Go Wrong. Here we go!” She flipped to the correct page and read its contents aloud.

“Everypony knows that a cutie mark is the representation of a pony’s special talent. That special talent can create tension within said pony if it goes too long without being acted out. After a while, if a pony, especially a unicorn, performs that talent abruptly, the built up energy can create a devastating disaster. Furthermore, if a pony refuses to perform their talent, or is unable to, they will become disconnected from their sense of self. This can cause them to develop Special Talent/Personality Disorder, which can cause them to become obsessive, compulsive, depressed, paranoid, delusional, and can eventually lead to insanity or death.”

When Twilight finished reading, the occupants of the room were silent for a few seconds. Surprisingly, Daydream was the first to voice her opinion. “Well that explains a lot.”

Twilight stared at her. “What do you mean?”

Shifting her hooves uncomfortably, Daydream replied “Well… From what you told me, there was a ‘devastating disaster’ when I tried to use my talent after so long of not even knowing what it was.” She shrugged. “Makes sense to me.” Daydream smiled, then frowned. “But… After all this time… Why haven’t I gotten STPD?”

It was Twilight’s turn to speculate. “Well, from what you told me, you might have had it.” Facing the confounded expressions around her, she continued. “I felt that you were a bit paranoid of what other ponies would think about how you didn’t know what your cutie mark meant. You lied to me about researching special talents compulsively, even before you knew if I was suspicious or not.” She looked into Daydream’s eyes. “Since you weren’t depressed, delusional, insane, or dying, you must have had a minor case.”

“A-a minor case? But… If I hadn’t used my talent since I was small, how come it’s a minor case?”

Pinkie chose this time to speak up. “The way I see it, the only way you could have a minor case is if you were using your talent, and you just didn’t know it.” Pinkie grinned.

The unicorns’ eyes widened. “Is that possible?” Daydream asked Twilight.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, deep in thought. “Perhaps… but that still doesn’t explain the surge of power…”

“Maybe…” Pinkie ventured, “She was only partially using it…?"

Twilight spoke up after a few seconds of silence. “We can’t figure out anything with Daydream’s memory gone.”

Pinkie cocked her head in confusion. “You didn’t try that memory spell on her already?”

The lavender unicorn slapped her hoof across her forehead. “Of COURSE! I could use the same memory spell on her that I used on you and the others when Discord attacked!”

As Twilight pointed her horn at the lilac unicorn, Daydream sputtered, “Huh? Wait, w-what are you doing?"

She trailed off as Twilight’s spell took hold of her, making her glow from head to hoof. She gasped as the same extreme-daydream-cloud covered her eyes once more. Suddenly, the spell backfired, sending Twilight and Pinkie Pie crashing against the walls of the library.

Twilight slid down to the floor and wearily opened her eyes. She found her second wind and galloped over to Daydream, who was, for the second time that morning, sprawled out on the floor of the library. “Daydream!” She shouted. “Do you remember? Is your memory back?”

Daydream looked up and, for the second time that morning, asked “Who’s Daydream?”

Twilight groaned and collapsed. Not again, she thought. What the hay does it take to get back this pony’s memory?

Pinkie walked over to Daydream. “Oh, well,” she stated. “Back to the drawing board.”

Twilight stood up. “We need a professional to help us.” She started towards the door. “Come on. If we start now, we can reach Colgate's house before sundown.”

“Colgate?” Pinkie inquired. “How can she help us?”

Twilight turned and looked at Pinkie. “She's an old friend of mine. I happen to know that she knows a good bit about retrieving memories without the use of spells.” She turned back towards the door. “At the moment, she’s our only option.”

Pinkie and Daydream exchanged looks. Pinkie shrugged and followed Twilight out the door. Daydream got up, tried to remember what happened, gave up, and proceeded after them.

While outside, Daydream stopped. “Can somepony explain a few things?”

The other two ponies turned. “Like…” Twilight prompted.

“Like who I am, who you are, what we are doing, what just happened, and who the hay Colgate is?” Daydream looked frustrated that the other two ponies had not told her this already.

Twilight blinked. Ugh, can’t we wait until we get there? I’m getting tired of explaining things. “Look, you lost your memory again. I’ve already explained things to you, and I’m going to have to explain things again to Colgate. Can’t you wait?”

Daydream was about to argue, when a large shadow came over her. She looked up.

Crack! BOOM!

Smoldering on the ground, the lilac unicorn coughed, twitching involuntarily.

“Daydream!” Twilight looked up. A grey, blonde-maned pegasus was standing on top of a thunder cloud with a worried, cross-eyed expression. “DERPY!”

Derpy looked over the top of the cloud into the eyes of the charred unicorn. “Sorry, Daydream. Are you okay?”

Twilight interrupted, furious at the pegasus. “No, she’s not okay! YOU STRUCK HER WITH LIGHTNING!”

“I-I’m okay,” Daydream sputtered. “N-no hard feelings.”

“I just don’t know what went wrong!” Derpy flew awkwardly down to the other ponies. “I’m really sorry.” The pegasus looked morosely at Daydream, who was being helped up by Twilight and Pinkie.

“Seriously, it’s okay.” Daydream chuckled anemically. “I guess this makes up for bumping into you this morning.”

Twilight gaped at Daydream while Pinkie Pie looked at her as if she’d been wronged. “Hey! You remember bumping into Derpy, but you don’t remember my party?” Pinkie pouted.

“Pinkie!” Twilight chided. “Daydream remembers something! That’s a good thing!” She turned to the lilac unicorn. “What else do you remember?”

Daydream thought hard for a moment, then replied, “…Everything…”

Smiling with relief, Twilight prompted, “Do you remember why you got your cutie mark?”

“It-it’s cloudy. I… think… I…” She sighed. “No, not really.”

“That’s okay,” Twilight dismissed. “We can work on it. The point is, you got your memory back!”

“What do you think caused that…?” Pinkie wondered.

They all looked at Derpy, who was still sitting under her cloud. “I dunno…”