Be All My Sins Forgotten

by TCC56

Day 2

When I got to school the next morning, I was braced for either everyone to have forgotten another day or for everything to get remembered and I would be back at square one. I can admit it was a surprise that neither happened and the day started more or less normally.

I say more or less because the girls had talked after I left and decided that I needed watching and possibly to be friendshipped at really hard. Which was why Rarity and Fluttershy met me before I even got onto the property - they probably would have been outside my apartment door if they knew where I live. (They didn't. Not because I was hiding it, but it never really came up and it's sort of nice to have a place to get away and be alone.)

Fortunately, I was able to ward them off with my cup of take-out coffee. Rarity understood immediately when I waggled it at her and grunted. Fluttershy pouted a little, but only put up token resistance to my silence afterwards. Neither of them stopped being concerned about me, but the universal signal of not having enough caffeine to be human yet bought me enough time to get to my first class.

That's about how the first half of my day went - if I didn't have two of them in class with me, I'd have the second waiting for me at the door. I ended up hurrying between classes to minimize their concerned looks and questions. I felt pretty bad about it, since I was really obviously blowing the girls off. But what could I really say to them? "Sorry, I'm just not in a good mood right now because you told me you hated me right before your memories were wiped by evil magic"? That makes me sound like a crazy person, and I'm legitimately a magic unicorn from another dimension.

Them caring so much was actually touching - even knowing how bad things were, it was a reminder that they're still the same people who stood by my side when we faced down the Sirens. And why I was trying to fix things. My life was better with them in it. Sure, the way they'd dumped me hurt but I've done plenty of things in my life I regret - I mean, I did literally attempt to murder them with a fireball. That gives them an oops, I think. Don't get me wrong, fixing our friendship after everything wasn't going to be easy, but Sunset Shimmer isn't a quitter. And if I didn't fix things, what I had would just keep going - I'd stay alone. I don't want that.

Anyway, I knew there was gonna be no avoiding them when lunch came - it's the one period we're all together for, and there's a big difference between distracting them for two or three minutes in the hall and stonewalling them for more than half an hour when there was nowhere to go and nothing else to pull their attention.

I guess it was lucky that fate decided to butt in and give me an out.

My class before lunch was Advanced Calculus - none of them shared it with me, so they were waiting outside instead. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had drawn it and I could see them in the hall, arguing about something. (I'm sure they'd insist it was just a friendly discussion, but neither of them is good at toning it down so it sure looked like an argument.) I admit I was delaying to avoid the conversation at lunch. I'm not proud of that, but every minute I bought was something. Even if it meant I was the last one in the room.

Then the side door from the neighboring classroom opened. I didn't recognize the girl who opened it at the time, but green with a striped sweater didn't describe any of my friends and she was waving for me to follow her so I took the chance to escape. I ducked into the other classroom, then the two of us dashed out into the hall and got lost in the crowd.

Neither of us said anything until she pulled me into the Yearbook Office and locked it behind us. (It was a little odd she had a key too, but in what happened after that I never thought to ask.)

Now, I have to make this clear: I've known Fluttershy for years. Even before she was my fr-- before recent events, I bullied and tormented her for a long time. I put the boots to her a lot because she was an easy target. And the green girl? She was the most uneasy and skittish person I've ever seen.

When you're a bully - at least, if you're a smart one - you pick up those little behavior cues. Like how every time I looked at her she immediately went from watching me to staring at the floor. Or that she kept clenching her fists around the hem of her sweater. It didn't take much to figure out that she didn't exactly have great social skills and that she was afraid of me.

"So you're asking questions." Her voice was flat - purposely restrained to keep from showing emotion.

I didn't do a good job of keeping it cool in return. "Yes! Do you know anything about Anon-A-Miss?" In retrospect, her flinching away when I said it should have been a clue.

The girl took a step back away from me, deeper into the room. "I know a little. But what I want to know is what you know."

Out there somewhere was a source of Equestrian magic that had been used against my friends. There was no telling who's hands it was in or what limits it had. And this girl was the first solid clue I had to finding it and to track down who had been running my name through the mud. So I may have been a little desperate and wasn't thinking straight when she asked that. Which is why I told her everything.

"I know that Anon-A-Miss is somebody who's been revealing secrets about my friends and then blaming it on me. But I'm not her! The real problem is that nobody remembers it happened - it's like the entire school's forgotten those two days." I let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing my fingers deep into my temple. "Now they all don't hate me anymore but they think I'm crazy and there's dangerous Equestrian magic around that I have to try and stop on my own."

Turning my eyes to the girl again, she looked away. "That sounds tough." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, looking ready to run. "Good luck with--"

I cut her off excitedly. "But you remember! Otherwise you wouldn't have asked about Anon-A-Miss." Fear shocked her cocoa-colored eyes wide, but I missed that entirely. Instead, I grabbed her shoulder. "You're the first person around here who does. And that means if we can figure out why the magic didn't affect us, we can figure out what's happening!"

I know I shouldn't beat myself up for things, but about five minutes later I was feeling pretty stupid for missing all the signs.

She yanked backwards from my hand, pulling free. "I don't know what you're talking about! I... I just... I heard you asking about Anon-A-Miss and I, uh..." She trembled a little, eyes rapidly flicking back and forth. "It sounded weird! I wanted to know what you knew. That's all!"

My heart clenched. "You.. don't know anything?" My one lead with a chance, and it was a dead end. She shook her head, still not looking at me. "I guess that means I'm back to square one." Sunset Shimmer doesn't quit that easily, but that doesn't mean I don't get discouraged. "Thanks for helping get away, though. I've got no idea how to deal with my friends right now." I laughed bitterly - what else could I do? "Thank you, uh..." At that moment, I realized that I didn't know her name. I rapidly looked her over, trying to find a cue to who she was. Why can't humans have their Mark consistently in the same place like ponies?

"Wallflower," she clarified with dread anticipation. I'm sure my expression was pretty close to what the girls looked like the day before when I mentioned Anon-A-Miss to them, because the name meant nothing to me. "Wallflower Blush," she tried again. It still didn't ring a bell, which seemed to be the wrong answer. "We've gone to the same school for years. We met in ninth grade English."

I could only lamely shrug.

This was also the wrong answer, because she instantly changed from defensively submissive to furious. "Of course you don't remember me. Why would you? You're Sunset Shimmer and everything's about you!" Wallflower reached out, giving me a light shove away. I rocked backwards, surprised by her sudden shift. "Nobody else is worth noticing unless they can do something for you! You never change - you're still just the same... same meanie you've always been!" She threw her hands up in frustration as she vented. "I don't even know why I helped you in the first place!"

That was when it finally clicked for me. "You're... not talking about getting me out of the classroom, are you." I took a step forward - she took one back. Her anger gave way to terror. Wallflower's back bumped against the door. "It's you, isn't it? You did this!" It made sense, I realized. The only way she'd know about Anon-A-Miss is if she was the one who'd used the magic - and my asking about it is why she'd gotten me here. So she could find out what I remembered and why I was immune! This wasn't a rescue, it was an attempted interrogation! My face twisted with rage as I finally grasped what was going on.

She panicked. I can't blame her - I was pretty angry, I had her cornered and I do have that history of being mean. So when she grabbed this egg-shaped stone out of her bag, Wallflower probably was just trying to defend herself. The thing is, so was I.

I was never good at artifice back at school. Creating power that somepony else could use? Not exactly my style, if you know what I mean. So I ignored a lot when it came to artifacts unless I was after something specific to abuse for my own goals. But it doesn't take a CSGU graduate to know that someone pointing an unknown magical artifact at you when they're terrified is probably not doing it for your benefit. And that the best first defense is to make them stop pointing it at you.

So I lunged at Wallflower and shoved her arms so the stone was aimed somewhere else. We both collided, bounced off the door and hit the ground in a heap. I want to say we wrestled for the stone but, well... One of us is on the Fencing team and takes martial arts for self-defense. The other one - as I'd find out later - had been using magic to skip gym.

Unsurprisingly, I ended up with the stone pretty quickly. And it was obvious what it was - the human body's less sensitive to magic than my unicorn one, but that much magic packed into a rock the size of a softball is still going to make your skin tingle. The sour feeling in my gut told me it wasn't friendly magic, either.

As soon as I had it in hand, I stumbled to my feet and away from Wallflower. Surprisingly, she didn't chase me to try and grab it back - as soon as it left her hands, she clutched her knees to her chest and sat back against the wall in surrender. That threw me a little and banked down my anger. Some of it.

"So are you Anon-A-Miss too, or did you just steal everyone's memory?"

She winced. I was probably a bit too accusatory. "Just the memories," Wallflower admitted.

At least that solved half the problems in my life. "With this?" I lifted the stone, and she nodded. "Alright. So how do I get the memories out?"

And that's where Wallflower clammed up. I narrowed my eyes and glared, but while she sat there and squirmed under my gaze? She didn't answer the question. All she gave me was dead silence, probably afraid I'd use it against her.

She won that battle in the end - I wanted information, but she wasn't going to give it and I had a better way to get it through my journal. "...Fine." I slipped the stone into my backpack, words laced with venom. "I'll just take care of it myself, since you won't. I've got other sources. They'll tell me everything."

Looking back, the way I handled that just showed she was right - but I was angry, and there was a lot I didn't understand.

I stomped past her out of the Yearbook Office and then right out of school. I know I shouldn't skip class, but I needed that information and only Princess Twilight could get it. The stone was an Equestrian artifact, so there had to be something about it somewhere in her library.

A few hours of communication through the journal later, though, and we hadn't gotten anywhere. It was getting close to Hearth's Warming so I couldn't blame Twilight for being distracted - honestly? I was okay with that. Wallflower was right - I was thinking of myself. Even if we found how to get the memories out right away, I wouldn't have used it. I rationalized it to myself that it would give me time to hunt down the real Anon-A-Miss so I could prove it wasn't me at the same time everyone got their memories back. But that wasn't the big reason - I was greedy. I wanted to have the holidays with the girls instead of spending it alone with all my former friends hating me.

So maybe I didn't have the purest of intentions when I told the Princess to go have some time with her family and friends. I just... I didn't think it would matter. After all, there wasn't a time limit on getting the memories back.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Why can't humans have their Mark consistently in the same place like ponies?

Heh. Wallflower's is especially unhelpful from Sunset's perspective, what with being on her backpack. (And there's the question of whether humans consciously recognize the significance of the marks, but that's a whole other kettle of fish.)

The other one - as I'd find out later - had been using magic to skip gym

I'll be honest, I would too. And the bits here that indicate Sunset's retelling this from a later point in time are certainly interesting.

After all, there wasn't a time limit on getting the memories back.

Ohhh dear. This is going to lead to something irreversible, isn't it?

Still, there's a very interesting question hovering over all of this: Why did Wallflower erase Anon-a-Miss? She may not know now, but what was she thinking in the spur of the moment? Hopefully we'll find out soon enough.

And in the meantime, Wallflower's social crutch just got yanked out from under her. OH, this will definitely have some unintended consequences...

[Uz Naimat]

After all, there wasn't a time limit on getting the memories back.

Oh, Sunset. Poor, naive Sunset.

Wonderful stuff as always, TCC56. Excited to see where this goes.

[Ze1a7in]

10381875

Still, there's a very interesting question hovering over all of this: Why did Wallflower erase Anon-a-Miss? She may not know now, but what was she thinking in the spur of the moment? Hopefully we'll find out soon enough.

That is the million bit question, isn't it? According to her canon motivations, something like Anon-a-miss should have been something she enjoyed watching happen. What does she have to gain from this?

[solusjbj]

Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn.

[Dr Mysterious Shade]

10381918
Winning favor by supposedly playing the heroine. Emotions do strange things to your head

[Ze1a7in]

10382180
....shit, that is something she could do, huh? Now that Sunset has the stone, it wouldn't be terribly difficult for Wallflower to frame Sunset for erasing everyone's memories.....

[Dr Mysterious Shade]

10382310
Assuming she's not trying to win Sunset's favor.

[RedPegasus]

I like this story, a very interesting theme that turns the whole drama from Anon a miss.

Like everyone else the question is, why Wallflower acted against anon a miss. I guess she hoped she could win Sunset's affection

Now I want to know what Wallflower will do without the stone, and what Sunset will do with it.

[Gay For Gadot]

I say more or less because the girls had talked after I left and decided that I needed watching and possibly to be friendshipped at really hard.

This is the first time I've ever seen "friendshipped" as a verb. I have to say that it fits, and should be used more often!

The other one - as I'd find out later - had been using magic to skip gym.

Oooof. Both for Wallflower getting easily overpowered by Sunset, and for the implications coming through in my mind as to why she wouldn't want to attend that class in particular...

Alright, so Wallflower confrontation first. Interesting that it was Wallflower seeking out Sunset, and not the other way around. Sunset guessing that Wallflower did so in order to find out why Sunset wasn't affected strikes me as too simple a motive. I'm guessing there's something deeper going on.

[MatTheBook]

So maybe I didn't have the purest of intentions when I told the Princess to go have some time with her family and friends. I just... I didn't think it would matter. After all, there wasn't a time limit on getting the memories back.

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