Memory Lost and Found

by BoredAuthor817

Chapter 19

As the morning sun stretched its rays over Equestria, Sunset made her descent to the kitchen, alone. While she had experienced a good night's sleep, several things still hung heavily upon her. With every step, they seemed to become worse and worse. Only the thought of seeing her mentor in the kitchen lifted her spirits slightly. Only to learn when she got there that Princess Celestia had been called back to Canterlot, but was expected back early that afternoon.

Princess Twilight wasn't very happy about it, but was sympathetic in the regard that "a princess's work was never done."

Seated at the breakfast table, Sunset idly prodded her food with her fork. She had filled her plate, as per her usual routine, but a wad growing in her stomach prevented her from experiencing any bit of an appetite. On occasion, she would spear a strawberry; on another, cut through a piece of melon. But, never had she the notion to eat it. Instead, the food would find its way back to her plate.

Twilight and Starlight looked at each other in silent conversation. The young pony's sudden lack appetite seemed of great worry to them.

“Sunset,” Twilight spoke tenderly, “is everything okay?”

“Do you know a pony named Ballad?” came a soft reply.

“Not particularly” Starlight replied, “I know she's a cousin of Lyra Heartstrings.”

Sunset let out a thoughtful hum and continued reorganizing her plate. Silence hung over the breakfast table.

“What happened to the Mare in the Moon?”

Twilight felt a lump growing in the pit of her stomach. “What to you mean?”

“The Mare in the Moon. What happened to her? She's gone.”

“You sure about that?” asked Spike, uneasily.

Sunset nodded. “Quite sure. I'm generally up late studying and will often talk to her. When I saw the moon yesterday, I noticed that she wasn't there.

“May I be excused?”

“If you're finished eating.”

“I mean from my studies.”

Twilight was planning on doing that anyway. To top it off, Sunset's current mood was quite distressing. She nodded. “Get yourself some rest.”

With a thankful bow, Sunset placed her dishes in the sink and silently walked from the kitchen.

“Should we follow her?” Spike asked.

“No,” Twilight replied, “best to give her some space. But I do want to you send a letter to Princess Celestia. Tell her she needs to get back here right now. Tell her my threat still stands: Either she tells Sunset the truth today, or I will.”

There was a sudden flash of green flame. “Done!”

---

Sunset went straight to Twilight's private library. She had to get her hooves on that journal. If she couldn't have her own, she knew there was another she could. She knew it was there because she had seen it when she arrived, and had thought it odd that somepony else would have her mentor's journal.

Making sure she was alone, Sunset opened the library doors and slipped in. She made her way to the far corner of the room, where the magic mirror was stored. As she suspected, the portal was deactivated. This made removing the journal much easier. She took her mentor's journal in her magic and quickly found a corner in which to read.

She flipped through the pages, trying to find the last entry, only to find the journal had been filled. She frowned. This journal was new! She and Princess Celestia had, not too long ago, replaced their current journals. At most, they only had a few month's worth of entries in them.

Glancing at the later notes, she saw that they all opened with “Dear Princess Twilight...” Her expression deepened as she saw this greeting took up nearly half the journal. What bothered her further were these were written in a hornwritting she didn't recognize. In addition, Princess Twilight had appeared to have written back.

Finally, she came to where the greetings to Princess Twilight began. Working backwards, she saw one entry that was addressed to Princess Celestia in the unknown writing, before the lettering returned to her familiar scrawl.

Still, Sunset felt uneasiness with these pages. True, they were unmistakably her own writing, but she had no memory of these entries. Furthermore, she read of events that she knew were coming up, but, according to her journal, had already happened.

With fervor, she flipped through the pages, reading every last detail she could. Her heart pounded within her chest and her breathing became deeper as he worst fears were realized. Somehow, someway, something was terribly wrong. How could she not remember? Sunset stumbled backwards, landing on her tail. Lightheadedness set in and her mind swirled. 'What has been going on?'

---

Breakfast was drawing to a close when Spike let out a long belch.

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Sorry,” Spike said, sheepishly, “magical messages and food don't exactly mix.” He held up a scroll with the royal insignia.

Twilight quickly took the scroll and opened it. Spike skidded to her side, jumping to read the message for himself.

“So, what does the princess say?”

“She's still stuck in her meeting.” Twilight summarized, “She'll come as soon as she can get away.” She let out a low growl. "Of all the times for the chancellors to call an emergency court!"

“I'm worried about Sunset” Starlight said, rising from the table, "I didn't like the way she looked when she left. I better go check on her to make sure she's okay."

“You do that” Twilight sighed, rolling up the scroll, “I just hope I don't have to be the one to tell her." She set her own dishes in the sink and set aside some food for Moondancer and Sunburst, whenever they woke up.

She and Spike were almost finished putting the last of the food away when Starlight flashed into the kitchen.

"Sunset's not in her room!" she panted, "I can't find her anywhere!"

"I don't get it" said Spike, scratching his head, "That's the only place in the castle she hangs out."

Twilight's mind raced. "If she's not in her room then... oh-no...”

“What?”

“Last night, Sunset asked about getting her journal back. Since Celestia hadn't yet told her, I had to say no. But, if she can't have her journal...”

“She'll seek out the journal it's connected to” Starlight finished.

Twilight made a bolt for the door. “I need to get to the library!”

Not wanting to waste any time, Twilight took a page from Starlight's book and teleported herself to the library doors. She paused for a moment, pressing her ear to the doors for any movement inside. It was quiet, save for soft whimpering. Twilight took a step back and drew in a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy. Expelling her air, she opened the doors to the library.

Right away, her eyes locked unto Sunset Shimmer, sitting at the table, looking at a small book, clearly distraught.

“Sunset?” Twilight said gently.

The unicorn looked up when her name was called. Twilight saw she had been crying.

“Sunset,” Twilight continued, slowly walking to the table, “it's okay. You can talk to me.”

Sunset wiped her eyes. “Can I really?” she asked, “Or, are you just going to lie to me?”

Twilight's heart fell. “I would nev--.”

"SHUT UP!" Sunset spat , "You would never what? Lie to me?" She snarled at Twilight's solemn expression. “Then explain this!” She threw the journal across the table, “What's going on? Why do I remember none of this?"

She grit her teeth as more tears threatened to fall. "Please, Twilight, tell me the truth. What... what has happened to me?”

Twilight let out a sigh through her nose. “We should have told you this days ago.” She used a summoning spell to materialize her copy of their communication journals. Setting it on the table, she opened the book and turned to the pages regarding the Memory Stone.

“Let's start with that strange world” she said, gently, “Where we were was a parallel world to our own. You have been living there for several years. That's where we met and became friends. The other inhabitants from that world are your friends as well.

“A week ago, you wrote to me regarding a problem in that world. Your friends suddenly lost any memory of their friendship with you.” She pushed to journal for Sunset to see, “We discovered that someone had used the Memory Stone, an ancient Equestrian artifact, to erase people's memories. Not just your friends, but everyone, suddenly lost any recollection of you from the past year.

“After doing some research over here, you returned to that world to further investigate, but, in confronting the individual, your own memories were erased.”

Sunset looked at the princess with wide eyes. “W-what?”

“According to your friends in the other world, you gave up your own memories to keep them from further losing theirs. You lost all your memories of that world, and some of this one. Almost ten years in total. ”

“But,” Sunset frowned, “it says here that if the stone is destroyed, the memories will be restored.”

“That's true. The stone was destroyed, and your friends got their memories back. However, for some reason, yours weren't returned.”

“...And that's where you found me.” Her ears flopped as she began to process this new reality. In an instant, it seemed her whole world had crumbled. “So, all this... everything...

"I'm no longer Princess Celestia's student, aren't I?”

Twilight shook her head, sadly, “No.”

“Am I a student anywhere?”

“You attend a school in that other world. To them, it's general education. To us, it's an elective independent study. A fair bit of your time there is spent trying to figure out how Equestrian and Friendship magic works in that world.”

Sunset sat quietly, flipping through the pages of Twilight's journal. “We're close friends, aren't we?”

“Yes.”

“What of Starlight?”

Twilight smiled. “Two instant peas in a pod.”

“And Spike?”

“You're friends. Though, your closer to his other world counterpart.”

Sunset's mind wondered back to the night at the cafe, when she encountered two Twilight Sparkles. “You speak of counterparts. Do I have one as well?”

“We suspect so, though, no one has seen her. Look, Sunset, I understand you have about a thousand questions right now. But, I don't have the time to answer them all here. Let me at least tell you what you should know.

“We are working as hard as we can to recover your memories. I have two friends helping me who are excellent scholars. So far, we have translated the scroll that was buried with the Memory Stone and have uncovered the clues necessary to help us decode its hidden message.”

“What of finding my memories?”

“Somehow, your memories got put into an inhabitant of that other world: Wallflower Blush. We're not sure how to extract them from her, but we're hoping the hidden message of the scroll will give us some clues.

Twilight placed her hooves over Sunset's. “I'm sorry I can't tell you any more. But, please know that we're here for you.”

“We all are” said a gentle voice.

The two ponies looked up to see Princess Celestia standing in the doorway. Starlight and Spike stood by her side.

Out of instinct, Sunset ran to her former mentor. However, she stopped short, unsure if her usual course of action was still an acceptable one to take.

Celestia saw Sunset's uncertainty. She lowered herself down to the unicorn's level and spread out her wings, inviting the unicorn to take refuge within her.

Sunset, however, seemed hesitant. Tears formed at the surface as her heart was split in two. She backpedalled slightly. Part of her wanted to run to the security of her teacher; her mother. Part of her just wanted to flee as far away as she could.

In the end, she chose to flee. With a choked sob, her horn ignited and she was gone in a flash of red light.

Starlight placed a comforting hoof on the distraught Celestia. "It's okay" she said, "She didn't go far. Just to her room."

Celestia wasted no time running upstairs. However, when she reached Sunset's bedroom, she stopped short of the door. Through the thick oak, she could hear the sobs of her beloved student. Each heartfelt cry made her own heart twist further. Tears stung and fell from her own eyes. She hadn't meant for this to happen. She hadn't meant for any of this to happen.

And, yet, it did. Now, she had to live with it.

She curled up outside the door. If she couldn't comfort Sunset in body, she could in spirit.

After a while, the sobs gave way to silence. Celestia suspected that Sunset had cried herself to sleep. Gently turning the handle, she opened the door and peered to the bedroom.

It was dark within. Sunset had drawn all the curtains to block out the sunlight. All was still, with the exception of the light snoring coming from the bed.

Celestia cast an illumination spell and went to check on Sunset. She found her curled up on top of the comforter. She was wrapped in her old blanket; her stuffed phoenix clutched lightly to her chest. Celestia later found that the griffin had been thrown to the other side of the room.

She sat next to the bed and let out a sigh. She didn't care what happened to her. If Sunset decided to leave her forever, she would understand. However, what she could not stand was Sunset being in this state. It would be hard, but she could live without her Sunset. What she could not live with was knowing Sunset was living and not being her better self.

It wasn't how she would have wanted it. But, now that the truth was finally out, they could all find some rest.

“Don't worry, sister,” a low whisper came from behind her, “I'll make sure she sleeps well.”

“Thank-you, Luna” the elder sister smiled, “I only hope...”

Luna placed a hoof on her sister's chest, “Hope is all we need. Twilight and her friends have been working tirelessly. If anypony can figure it out, they can.”

“But time is against us. What if we can't restore her...?”

“Then we find a way to pick up from where we left off.”

Celestia grit her teeth. “That's unacceptable!”

“You think I'm not as upset about this as you are? What of Wallflower Blush? That poor girl is losing herself, and she is aware of it, and she is afraid.”

Celestia seemed to not have listened. Her focus remained solely on the pony in the bed. “It's not fair!” she hissed, recounting the stories Twilight had showed her in the journals. Only then, did she realize her mistake of not inquiring about Sunset sooner. Reading the entries, she found such pride and joy in her student.

“She's fought for so much. All of it, just to have all her achievements, all her struggles, all she has become... gone!”

“And Wallflower hasn't overcome challenges of her own? Sunset is not completely gone. She may not remember, but everyone else will. Together, we will help her find herself again.”

“But we shouldn't have to.”

Luna drew closer to her sister. She felt everything churning within, threatening to erupt. “I know it's hard. But, I also know you've done hard things before. You persevered then, you can persevere now.”

A deep growl reverberated in Celestia's throat, rising and becoming a muffled scream as it escaped her lips. With no will left, she collapsed onto the floor. “I'm tired, Luna” she said, softly, “I'm tired of being strong. For once, I want to be weak.”

A gentle smile crossed Luna's lips as she nuzzled her sister. “Then, let me be your strength.”

Comments

[shadowknightmar]

9102182
Yes and no. Yes she could but they would just be a copy and wouldn’t she also get Wallflowers memories. Not to mention Wallflower would still suffer in the end.

[shadowknightmar]

Bravo. I was hoping for something like this and was not disappointed. Keep going, your doing great.

[Stainless Steel Fox]

Finally! It would have been nice if Celestia had done it off her own bat rather than being forced into it.

[Csquared08]

There it is. Oof.