Flash Sentry's EQG Chronicles

by Banshee531

Special: Forgotten Friendship PT3

"I am not familiar with the exact spell that could have erased your friends' memories," Celestia told Sunset as the four made their way through the castle corridors. "But it sounds like Equestrian magic is at work in your world."

"Indeed. The toilings of this nefarious enchantment could portend unimaginable catastrophe if left unchecked." Luna added, causing Sunset to stifle a giggle, Twilight slapping her side with a wing.

"Sorry," the unicorn replied as Luna turned to her, "I'm just used to hearing you say no student parking in the faculty lot. Heh-heh."

Luna raised an eyebrow at this, "This 'faculty lot' you speak of sounds like a place of great power." The younger mares stopped at this and shared a glance, both giggling again as Celestia gestured ahead.

"The answers you seek are in the Canterlot Library." They nodded, the four beginning to head out of the castle.

"So where's Flash? I figured he'd be at the castle when I showed up." Sunset asked, Twilight shaking her head in response.

"Flash, Springer and Grand were called to deal with a few bandits that have been plaguing a town. He'll probably be back in a day or so. Speaking of Flash, you said the one in your world was the only one who seemed to remember you."

"Yup, but he seems to be the only one." Sunset responded, "Though...I don't get it. Why would Flash be the only person this spell isn't effecting?"

"This isn't the first time a Flash Sentry has been immune to some form of magic," Celestia added as they left the castle. "In fact, it's quite a common occurrence on this side of the mirror."

"It is?" Sunset asked, the alicorns nodding back.

Twilight did another nod, "Our Flash has a mental immunity thanks to his Sacred Light. It's what's protected him against any magic that might try to change him as long as Flash doesn't want to be changed." She turned to Sunset, "My Flash once gave yours a small spark of his Sacred Light to help save your Twilight, right?" Sunset nodded back, "Hmm...maybe those geodes you now have is powering that spark up to a level almost equal to what Flash used to wield before he met Faust."

Sunset blinked at this, "You think a side-effect of having his Sacred Light is giving Flash immunity to whatever magic is affecting my friends?"

"It's possible," Celestia chimed in, "Though we have learned much about Flash's mysterious power, there's still much we have yet to learn. And since Equestrian Magic works differently in your world, there's much we have yet to discover." The younger mares nodded and continued discussing as they made their way through the city, soon arriving at the Canterlot Library.

The building was almost as big as Canterlot Cathedral and as they walked inside, Sunset gasping at the sight, "There's over a million books in here!"

"I wish!" Twilight laughed, "But don't worry, you're looking at somepony who knows this place like the back of her hoof." But as she said that, she noticed Celestia and Luna heading to the section of the library she wouldn't regularly go too...unless the secret behind this strange magic had something to do with bonsai tree care. "Where are you going, Princess Celestia?"

"To the restricted section." That statement caused Twilight's eyes to go wide.

"There's a...a reh...a reh...a reh..." She started hyperventilating, Sunset placing a hoof onto her side.

"Breathe, Twilight." They followed the princesses through the shelves until they reached a back wall with a shelf built into it. On that shelf were a pair of books, one golden with a sun on the spine while the other was dark blue with a moon on it. Celestia pulled these books forward, the entire shelf then sliding into the wall and opened up a new passageway.

They walked in and the pair were shocked by what they saw. A large round cavern that looked more like a cave then part of a library, almost having as many shelves as the public library, which books, scrolls and many other means of storing knowledge hidden on it. "Oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh!" Twilight screamed as she pulled several books towards her. "So many books, all unread! Ancient historical artefacts!" She gasped, "I just...I thought...! I can't...!"

She started hyperventilating again, Sunset giggling at this, "You sure you're up for helping me go through all this stuff?"

"DON'T TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME!" Twilight screeched before flying off to the nearest bookshelf, Sunset smirking as she looked up at the many pieces of history waiting to be rediscovered. Hopefully, there would be something here that could help her find out the truth.

---

Flash and the girls had chosen to leave the beach, still trying to figure out what was happening. They were now heading for the school, Flash stating that they would need to be ready as soon as Sunset got back. "Alright," Flash sighed, "Let's try and be smart here."

"That's something new for you," Twilight giggled as Flash rolled his eyes.

"What do we know about Equestrian Magic that'll help us figure this out?" The girls all shared a glance, only to remember that when it came to Equestrian Magic, they usually just winged it and things turned out alright.

"Well..." Twilight hummed, "I do know that it needs proximity. Our geodes don't work for us unless we're near them, and Juniper Montage's mirror was only able to suck us in at close range."

"And your scanner only absorbed our magic when it was close to us," Rarity added, "You're right, Equestrian Magic doesn't have a lot of range to it."

"So whoever stole your memories must have been close by," Flash continued, "But since Twilight was talking about Sunset before bed last night, it must have happened when we were all asleep."

"Wait...you mean someone came to everyone's house and stole our memories?" Rainbow asked, "How did they get around so quickly?"

"Maybe we should retrace our steps from yesterday," Applejack chimed in, "See if we can remember meeting anyone who might have been able to get the magical who haa on us when we weren't looking. Could have just taken a while to sink in."

They all nodded as they arrived at the school. "Okay...we were all together after school." Flash commented as they made their way through the hallways until they arrived at the lockers they usually hang around at, "We were talking and then Sunset showed up." The girls frowned at this, not remembering it at all. "We all took a picture together...then headed to the yearbook room."

"I remember that," Fluttershy nodded. "But...Sunset wasn't with us."

"She was," Flash replied as they went to the room, "There we uploaded a bunch of pictures until Wallflower showed up."

"Who?" The five girls asked, getting a raised eyebrow from Flash.

"Wallflower. From the gardening club." The girls all blinked at him, "We all agreed to invite her to the next big activity we planned. Did you all forget that too?"

The girls frowned at this, Twilight responding, "Um...I think we did."

Flash let out a long sigh, "Okay, this is getting ridiculous. First you forget Sunset's change, and now you forget about an entire person after promising to invite them out to have fun."

"You think someone might have stolen our memories of her too?" Fluttershy asked, the others shrugging.

"But why?" Pinkie asked, "Why steal everyone's memories of two girls who have absolutely nothing in common with each other?"

"Only one way to find out," Flash replied, "You girls keep retracing your steps and see if you can find anything out. I'll talk to Wallflower and see if I can learn anything from her."

They nodded and split, the girls heading to the yearbook room while Flash headed for the main office. Hopefully, he could find Wallflower's home address and talk to her there.

---

Back in Equestria...

Twilight and Sunset continued to look through the many, many, many documents hidden away in the restricted section. They had been at it for several hours, but so far nothing had come up that might help them find out why everyone had forgotten about Sunset. The unicorn in question let out a yawn, "Did you know Chancellor Puddinghead tried to pass a law mandating Earth ponies drink carrot juice at every meal? I do...know that...now."

"Awww," Twilight turned to her. "Sounds like you got to read all the fun books." She turned a page in the book and let out a yawn as well, "We should probably take a break from looking..." Sunset sighed at this, clearing the table of her reading material, only for Twilight to slide up next to her. "Because I found something!" She plonked a large chest onto the desk. "You're familiar with The Seven Trials of Clover the Clever?"

"Obviously. Why?"

Twilight took out a scroll and unrolled it. "Well, first of all, these date back to before the founding of Equestria. Look at this."

Sunset read part of the scroll and her eyes went wide. "The Memory Stone?!" she gasped. "That sounds promising."

Twilight nodded and continued reading. "It belonged to an evil sorceress who was practically invincible. With the Memory Stone, she could erase any memory from anypony. Even fragments of memories."

Sunset blinked at this, "Fragments? You mean like...memories of me being nice?"

"Mm-hmm," Twilight nodded again. "Clover the Clever knew the sorceress had to be stopped and the Stone destroyed, so she chased her across land and sea. But every time she got close, the sorceress would erase her memory and escape. But she kept finding her."

"How?"

"These scraps of parchment," she replied, "She secretly wrote everything down so she'd know what had happened and where to go next. Like a trail of breadcrumbs."

"Clever!" Sunset smirked before realizing, "Ohhhh. Clover the...yeah, got it." She continued to unfurl the scroll until it reached a second that showed the memory stone being thrown into a swirling vortex. "What happened on the other side of this portal?"

Twilight unfurled it, but found that it ended in a large rip. "The last page is missing. Clover must've hid it to keep anypony else from finding the Memory Stone." She put a hoof to her chin, "Sunset...what if the Memory Stone ended up in your world?"

"And someone is using it to make everyone hate me again?" Sunset added before the pair turned to each other and asked the same question, "But who?"

---

Flash drove his car down the street, trying to find the address that he had gotten from the school computer. "Number four," he counted, "Number six. Number eight. Number ten!" He pulled up in front of the house and killed the engine, getting out and heading for the door. "Hope this is the right place." He knocked and waited, but nobody answered. "Hello?!" He called out, still getting no response. "Hello?!"

He let out a sigh, "Don't tell me she's not here..." He spun around to leave, only to hear a humming sound and a voice coming from the back of the house. He turned to it and walked around the house, soon finding himself staring at a large garden with many flowers. He wanted to be impressed, but a recent incident had caused him to gain a slight dislike of flowers. But then he noticed a girl with her back to him, a pair of headphones on her head as she was putting some seeds into the soil. It was Wallflower, the girl humming to whatever song she was listening too.

Flash carefully stepped up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, "AAAHHHH!" She screamed, spinning around and throwing whatever was in her trowel at him. Flash didn't have time to escape a got a face full of a brown dirt.

"Gyah!" He staggered back, quickly wiping the dirt from his face as the girl realized who it was and removed her headphones. "Please tell me that was just soil." Wallflower stared at the spot behind her and quickly hid her trowel behind her back.

"What are you doing here?!"

"I came to talk to you," he grumbled, "Something's happening and it could mean big trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Wallflower asked, putting her trowel down before the pair headed inside the house. "And how did you find where I live?!"

"I got it off the school computer," Flash replied, "Anyway, there seems to be a strange bout of memory loss in the school." As he said that, he noticed Wallflower flinch as he continued, "Someone's stolen everyone's memory of how Sunset's changed, and when I talked about you, my friends didn't remember you either."

"Oh," Wallflower looked away, "I don't see how that's any different from usual. Nobody remembers me."

"My friends should," Flash added as they walked in, "Especially Pinkie. She throws a party whenever she meets somebody new and my girlfriend's memory is like a computer." They arrived at the kitchen and Wallflower got Flash a damp cloth to clean his face with. "And even if people did forget you, there's no way they'd forget about Sunset."

"Are you sure?" She asked, "Maybe they're just realizing she hasn't really changed." Flash raised an eyebrow at this, "She's still the same, selfish person who never thinks about anyone except herself."

"Great," Flash sighed, "They got to you too." He shook his head, "Alright. I just need to you to go over everything that happened to you yesterday. Hopefully I'll figure out what's connecting the others forgetting you and the others forgetting Sunset."

"I'd rather not," Wallflower growled, "We've both got better things to do then waste the day talking about what happened yesterday."

"It's not a waste if it helps Sunset," Flash replied, "How would you feel if everyone you care about suddenly forgot you even existed?"

Wallflower gave him a look that said 'are you serious right now?', the girl crossing her arms, "If everyone's apparently forgotten Sunset's all nice now, how come you remember?"

"No idea," Flash shrugged, "Maybe whoever did it was only targeting girls or, they just forgot to do me when they cast whatever freaky spell is at work here. It doesn't matter. All that matters is I remember Sunset and I'm not gonna let whoever did this to her get away with it. Now can we hurry up? My friends might have found something important."

"Your friends think something happened to their memories?" Wallflower tilted her head at this, "But if they forgot-"

"I was able to convince them," Flash responded, "Luckily, they have a lot of evidence of Sunset being their friend on their phones. Now come on, I'm not leaving till we do this, so you'd better get talking."

Wallflower rolled her eyes at this. "Fine. Just...go into the living room. I'll be out in a minute." Flash nodded and headed there, only to accidently kicked the leg of a chair with a bag on it.

The bag fell to the floor, spilling its contents out, "Shoot!" He yelped, quickly picking up the bag, only to spot something hit the ground. It was a rock that had an eye-shape carved into it along with a few extra markings. When Flash reached down to pick it up, he suddenly felt a surge of energy coming from his geode.

"What?" He grabbed it, his geode glowing some more as Flash felt something come from the stone itself. An energy he knew all too well. "Equestrian Magic." He continued to stare at the item as his mind put the pieces together. What Wallflower had said about Sunset did sound like someone who had had all of her memories of that erased, only for another thought to enter his head, "Wallflower, you didn't." He whispered, only to suddenly feel something hard hit him on the back of the head. "Augh!"

He hit the floor, the rock falling from his hands. And as he felt himself drifting off into unconsciousness, he saw the person responsible step around him and pick up the stone. "I'm sorry," Wallflower sighed while holding the stone and frying pan close to her chest. "Why couldn't you just forget about her like everyone else?" She looked down at the stone with a large frown, "I've got no choice. I can't let you ruin everything." With that, the markings on the stone began to glow and everything went black.

---

Sunset had now used her artistry skills to copy the image of the memory stone onto a piece of paper. "I should be getting back to my world," she told the princesses. "Maybe I can convince my friends I'm telling the truth now that I know what we're looking for."

"I'm sure the Flash of your world will be able to convince them that, especially considering how you've told me how he acts in that world." Twilight added as Sunset put the picture into her bag. "I'll stay here and search the restricted section top to bottom until I find a way to get your friends' memories back."

"If that's even possible," Sunset sighed, shaking her head,

"Oh, it's possible. Even if I have to reorganize the whole library by subject. Or maybe chronologically! Oh! And fix the broken catalogue machine..." She then noticed two mares smirking at her, making her clear her throat. "I'll uh...I'll figure it out."

"Thank you," Sunset replied before turning to Celestia. "Both of you." Celestia glanced at Twilight before smiling at her former student.

"This is quite a contrast from the last time we parted ways." Sunset frowned at this, only to see Celestia shine a giant smile, "But you are not that way anymore. With every choice you make, you prove yourself to possess a kind heart."

"Thank you." Sunset responded before turning to Twilight. "I guess I had a good teacher."

Twilight blushed at this, "Well...you were a good student." The pair laughed, but that laughter died when Celestia spoke up with a hiss.

"Are you saying I wasn't a good teacher?" The shorter mare's eyes went wide as they glanced at one another, Sunset starting to backpedal.

"Oh, uh...no! I wasn't-"

"She didn't say that!"

"I mean, what I meant to say...!"

"She didn't mean-" She stuttered out, only for Celestia's face to shine a bigger grin before letting out a dignified giggle. Her students stared at her in shock, only for the pair to burst out laughing as well.

"Princess Celestia has a sense of humor?" Sunset said through her giggles. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's changed."

They laughed again before Sunset turned to the door, only for Twilight chime in, "Oh Sunset," The mare looked back at purple alicorn, "Just so you know, there's a big Friendship Festival happening here next month. I know you're probably not interested right now, but when this is all over, I just thought you might enjoy it."

Sunset nodded at this, "Thanks Twilight. I'll give it some thought." The princess nodded before Celestia showed Sunset out and the pair headed for the castle, Sunset filling her old mentor in on everything that had happened since Twilight defeated her. And when they got back to the castle, Celestia opened the Rune Gate for Sunset and the unicorn gave her former mentor one final hug before running into the transporation machine.

---

Back at Canterlot High...

The Rainbooms had just walked out of the school. "Strange," Rarity scratched her head, "I'm sure we must have had a really good reason for leaving the beach to come here, but..."

"I'm drawing a blank," Rainbow continued as the others nodded in agreement. Twilight then took out her camera drone out of her bag to check it, the girl ready to suggest going back to the beach to get their picture, only for the device to suddenly turn on and fly into the air.

"Hey!" She tried to grab it, but it flew over to just above the statue before losing power and falling to the ground. Twilight was about to get it, but before she could, the portal flashed. And from it, Sunset Shimmer walked out and didn't see the drone on the floor. "Wow!" She yelped when she accidently stepped on one of the arms, snapping it off as Twilight gasped. "Oh no," she whispered before looking up at her friends.

"What did you do?!" Rainbow yelled as Twilight rushed over to pick it up.

"It was an accident," Sunset responded, "Why was it in front of the portal anyway?" But as she said this, the girls all glared at her, making Sunset flinch as she slowly added, "Look, I'm sorry. I really am. But right now, I need your help." She reached into her bag and pulled out the drawing, "Do you recognize this?" The girls stared at it and shook their heads, "Of course you don't." Sunset sighed before adding, "So...where's Flash? Maybe he's found something."

The group all shared a glance before Applejack asked, "Flash? Who's that?"

Sunset raised an eyebrow at this, "What do you mean, who's Flash? You know, Flash Sentry!" she replied, only to see nothing but confusion on their faces, "Girls...he's one of your friends." They just continued to stare, "A member of the Royal Knights?" Still no response, she pointed to Twilight, "Your boyfriend!" Twilight flinched at this, fully wide-eyed as Sunset saw her expression, only to facepalm, "Oh no. Not Flash too."

---

Flash's head was killing him when he came around, the teen's hand instantly moving up to his head to rub the bump that was there. After a few seconds, his fuzzy brain rebooted as he found himself laying on a cold hard surface. "Ugh..." he moaned as he pushed himself up, his eyes slowly opening. But when he did this, he found his vision was so blurry, making him lose his balance, staggering until he slammed into something hard and sturdy, the teen then using it to stabilize himself as he let his head properly settle.

As his vision cleared, he saw he was in some kind of stone room with shelves against every wall. The shelves had a bunch of different food stuff on them, mostly nonperishable by the look of things. He then looked ahead and spotted a stone staircase leading upward, Flash quickly pushing away from the shelf and staggering over. But when he reached the bottom and looked up, he saw the staircase wasn't that long and had a large metal door on it.

"Great," he sighed before slowly going up to the door, soon pushing against it...and it wouldn't budge. "Of course. Guess I gotta do this the hard way." He clutched his fist and dug deep, summoning the power of his magic...but it didn't happen. "Huh?" He looked down and his eyes went wide as he saw that his geode was gone. "No!" He struggled against the door handle at this, "Hey! Is anyone out there?!" He banged his fist against it, "Let me out of here!" But nobody came, the door not giving a centimeter. "HELLO?!" He screamed at the top of his voice, but he got no response.

He was trapped.

Author's Note:

Well, I bet you weren't expecting that. What'll happen next, I wonder.

Comments

[SpikeSmolder fan]

Oh boy, Wallflower's digging herself deeper here with what she just pulled on Flash! The plot thickens indeed!

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Oh wow, I admit I didn't see that coming at all. Wallflower resorts to locking Flash up when she can't erase his memories and then erasing him from everyone's minds. I sure hope he can escape somehow without his geode and help Sunset.

[Foxhelm]

"This isn't the first time a Flash Sentry has been immune to some form of magic," Celestia added as they left the castle. "In fact, it's quite a common occurrence on this side of the mirror."

"It is?" Sunset asked, the alicorns nodding back.

Twilight did another nod, "Our Flash has a mental immunity thanks to his Sacred Light. It's what's protected him against any magic that might try to change him as long as Flash doesn't want to be changed." She turned to Sunset, "My Flash once gave yours a small spark of his Sacred Light to help save your Twilight, right?" Sunset nodded back, "Hmm...maybe those geodes you now have is powering that spark up to a level almost equal to what Flash used to wield before he met Faust."

Sunset blinked at this, "You think a side-effect of having his Sacred Light is giving Flash immunity to whatever magic is affecting my friends?"

"It's possible," Celestia chimed in, "Though we have learned much about Flash's mysterious power, there's still much we have yet to learn. And since Equestrian Magic works differently in your world, there's much we have yet to discover." The younger mares nodded and continued discussing as they made their way through the city, soon arriving at the Canterlot Library.

I knew it was going to be an asspull.

[Foxhelm]

He hit the floor, the rock falling from his hands. And as he felt himself drifting off into unconsciousness, he saw the person responsible step around him and pick up the stone. "I'm sorry," Wallflower sighed while holding the stone and frying pan close to her chest. "Why couldn't you just forget about her like everyone else?" She looked down at the stone with a large frown, "I've got no choice. I can't let you ruin everything." With that, the markings on the stone began to glow and everything went black.

This is what happens when you bull rush into things. Actually glad he's knocked out, his inclusion has been messing up the point of the story. Can he stay locked up?

[Foxhelm]

Well, I bet you weren't expecting that. What'll happen next, I wonder.

I have to admit, I wasn't, with all you've done to Flash in EQG and FiM thus far I was expecting a Flash Ex Machina. Now the issue can only be solved by Sunset and Trixie, as it should be. I'd say I am proud that you are not giving Flash the 'V' or 'W' here, but this far in and so few 'L' so far between, it's sadder because you can narratively justify more defeats more often than the victories.

[Myzor king of war]

Well Flash in trouble, never thought she would think to take his geode

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh snap! Well, that happened.