What would you do if you woke up in a dark alley with no memory of anything except what might be your name? Join us as we watch Hope Shine try to find out who she is, but finds a surprise bigger than any one pony can imagine.
How would you react to waking up in a dark alley with no memory of anything but a name? Then when you try to find out who you are you’re told you could be royalty? Then you start hearing voices that seemingly belong to nopony? That’s just how Hope Shine felt. Join her as she tries to find out who she is, where she came from, but soon finds a truth so shocking that even Discord would gasp from sheer surprise.
By the way, the teen rating is due to some violence later on in the story.
There is a legend older than Equestria itself, of a pony that holds the fate of the land in their hooves, whether it’s to bring peace and prosperity or utter chaos and destruction, it’s up to them by the choices they make. This pony is known as an Aliquisin. Aliquisins are ponies that once every thousand years, when the five great stars are aligned, are born with the power to call upon the four elements of nature; fire, air, earth and water.
This happened in Equestria thirteen years before Nightmare Moon’s escape. The stars lined up, then sent a beam of light to the mystical land. Though nopony gave any notice to this as more than the northern lights giving of their radiant beams. The entire event was ignored, for none knew the legend, the legend of the war and the peacemaker.
Fourteen years later, Princess Twilight Sparkle finds the only book pertaining to this legend, a book that in itself has barely survived, almost unable to fulfill what it was created for.
And now we find ourselves looking to Ponyville, where a filly with silver coloring is waking up.
“Ohh, my head,” the silver colored filly moaned out in pain, “Where am I?” She then noticed that she was lying down in a dark dead end ally. It had few old posters and newspapers littered about amongst the garbage that the cleaners missed. The ally had an eerie feel to it, and its looks matched its feel. The filly got up and found that she was wearing a rather concealing cloak, and that she was facing the ally’s exit. She then began to head out of the rather dark dank ally.
As she emerged from the ally into the sunlight, she realized that she was in a town of some sort, or perhaps a village of some sort. It looked like a rather quaint village. She looked around to see the locals, and she then noticed a gray pegasus with a yellow mane talking to a tan and brown earth pony, she had a grim expression on her face, as if the fate of the universe was at stake. The cloaked filly began to walk out into the town when she heard a bunch of ponies yell.
“LOOK OUT!” what sounded like three fillies cried out behind her.
She turned around to see what was going on, but before she could react the fillies collided with each other, making a very pronounced crashing noise. After the dust cleared the silver filly found that there were indeed three other fillies. One was yellow with a red mane. Another had dark pink mane, had orange fur and wings. Lastly there was a white filly that had a horn along with a purple and pink mane.
“Ow, that REALLY hurt,” stated the orange filly.
“I told y’all we wouldn’t get our cutie marks in skate boardin’!” remarked the yellow one, “I don’t know wha’ made ya think we would!”
“Yeah,” said the white one, “who’d want a wheel on their flank anyway?”
“Well Spike said it would be AWSOME!” replied the orange filly.
Once they had finished dusting themselves off they noticed the filly they crashed into. She looked to be rather dazed due to the crash.
“Hey, you okay?” asked the orange filly.
After the filly got out of the daze, she realized that the question was directed at her.
“Oh, um, yeah, I’m fine,” she responded shyly.
The trio who had impacted with her earlier examined the silver filly, they saw she had a silvery colored pelt, a main like stardust, and was wearing a rather concealing cloak. And upon even further examination they found she, like them, had no cutie mark. Then the silver filly got up and began to walk away, and then the trio came out of their deep in thought state and began to chase after her.
“WAIT!” they all called in unison to her.
They were all heading toward her at top speed. This is when she turned around to see what all the commotion was about, and, for the second time that day, they crashed into each other.
“Oops, mah bad, sorry ‘bout that,” the yellow filly apologized.
They all got up and dusted themselves off once again. The white one was staring at her intently.
“Yeah, sorry,” the white one chimed in, “It’s just that, you don’t have one either.”
“One what?” asked the confused and slightly dazed filly.
“A Cutie Mark silly,” remarked the orange one.
Not knowing whether it was a fact or not, she decided to look. She analyzed her posterior to find it to find it was true, she had no cutie mark. No specific mark of any sort, nothing special to give any sort of distinctions, not a thing.
“And we are, THE CUTIE MARK CRUSAIDERS!” the trio recited in unison, “a club entirely devoted to helping other fillies and foals get their cutie marks.”
“I’m Scootaloo!” stated the orange one.
“Mah name’s Apple Bloom!” added the yellow filly.
“And I’m Sweetie Belle” the white one chimed in.
It was here that the girls were going to move onto phase two of bringing in new recruits; find out the pony’s name. Then they would go to step three; extend them an invitation.
“And we were wondering,” Scootaloo began to say, completely forgetting step two, “whether you would like to join.”
“Hold on Scootaloo,” interrupted Sweetie Belle, “we still haven’t found out her name.”
“Oh, right, sorry about that,” Scootaloo said rather embarrassed that she had jumped the gun, “So what is your name?”
“I, um, I think my name is Hope Shine?” she said uncertain if that was her name.
When this statement escaped her mouth, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom all raised an eye brow from utter confusion. Scootaloo then took a step forward in an attempt to make sense of the situation.
“You think your name is Hope Shine?” Scootaloo questioned, “What, did you lose your memory or something?”
“Actually yes, I did,” Hope Shine replied, “All I can remember is those two words, which I think is my name.”
After hearing this, the entirety of the Crusaders gasped in sheer shock, this was something they would have never expected. Once they had fully comprehended what was said, they began to fill up with questions.
“You’ve lost your memory?” echoed the orange filly.
Hope Shine merely nodded in reply, that was the only response that she could muster. She was having a hard time understanding this herself.
“Wha’ we goin’ to do now girls?” wondered Apple Bloom.
“I know!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle, “Let’s ask Princess Twilight Sparkle! I’m certain she’ll know what to do!”
“I agree, let’s go see Twilight,” Scootaloo added.
With that, the trio nodded in agreement.
“Well wha’ we wai’n fer?” Apple Bloom remarked, “Let’s go!”
Hope Shine didn’t know who this ‘Twilight Sparkle’ was or what was going on, but what she did know is she needed answers, and this was her best chance. And with that the CMC were bringing Hope Shine to the library.
In the purple alicorn's library, we find her heading up to her room, her face holing a intrigued expression on it. As she's in her room she walks up to a box with the alicorn symbol on it, meaning it can only be opened through alicorn magic. Twilight then opened the box's content and pulled out a book. This book looked rather ancient and fragile. Twilight used her magic to handle the book gingerly.
"Ooo, this so exciting!" exclaimed the purple alicorn, "this book probably hasn't been read in years!"
Once Twilight opened the book, she found it wasn't written in a language that she knew perhaps ancient pony script. She then began to search for the translations book so she could try to make out what it says.
"Spike," Twilight shouted, "Spike, where are you!"
"I'm right here Twilight," responded the purple dragon, "what's the matter?"
Twilight was still going through the rows and rows of the books on the selves, trying to see if she could find said book herself.
"I'm trying to find the book on translations, do you know where it is?" asked Twilight still trying to find the book.
"Actually," Spike began, "it's funny you should ask, I just found it on the table upstairs."
"Oh, well I guess that someone left it up there," said Twilight, shrugging it off.
Spike began to go down stairs to bring her the book, when he tripped on the last step and nearly busted the book completely. Luckily he caught his balance just in time.
"S-Spike!" fretted Twilight, “Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just tripped, that's all," panted Spike from the nearly disastrous situation.
Twilight let out a sigh of relief now knowing all was well. She then returned her attention to Spike, with a serious expression on her face, slightly looking as if the drake was in for it.
"You must be more careful Spike," scolded the alicorn, "you could've hurt yourself very badly, and you almost destroyed the book."
"Well excuse me princess!" said Spike in a teasing tone.
To this Twilight just rolled her eyes, she knew Spike had learned his lesson and would think better of it next time around. Even so Twilight explained herself.
"I was just worried," Twilight stated, "Beside, what would I do if my number one assistant got hurt?"
"I know," confirmed Spike.
With this, Spike went back to organizing the shelves and Twilight went off to try and translate her book. As Twilight began to sit down, all of the sudden her front door burst open with three familiar fillies and a new comer. The four of them rushed up to Twilight in a frantic state.
"Twilight!" the Crusaders said in perfect synchronization.
"We found this filly here who has lost her memory, Hope Shine, and we were wondering if you knew a way to help-" the trio frantically tried to summarize the events that had ensued.
"Whoa now girls," soothed Twilight holding her hooves up, "now how’s about you start from beginning?"
The girls took a deep breath, and calmed themselves down. They then relayed the events that had occurred that day.
"Well Twi'," began the yellow filly, "we met this filly today."
"And then, when we asked her what her name was," Sweetie Belle jumped in, "we found out she had no memory, except for two words which she thinks her name is. And that's why we've come to you Twilight, to see if you have any idea on what to do."
After hearing this, Twilight closed eyes, took a deep breath, then looked intently at the filly. Twilight showed true concern for the filly, now knowing her situation.
"Well, let's see what I can do," assured Twilight, "but first, if you don't mind miss Shine, could I ask you to take off your cloak? It would be rather hard to to help if I don't even know what you look like."
"Oh, of course," replied Hope Shine.
Hope then began to untie her cloak and take it off. After she was finished, the room was filled with complete silence. Hope Shine began to feel nervous due to all eyes being on her.
"Um, is something wrong?" asked Hope in a worried tone.
"Oh no, it's just, um, wow," replied Twilight at a loss of words.
"What is it?" questioned Hope.
"I just didn't realize," started Twilight, "Hope, did you know you're an alicorn"
"Wh-What?!" Hope gasped, " I-I'm an alicorn!" The filly then looked upward to find that there was a horn on the center of her forehead, jutting straight outward. Hope Shine then looked over to her torso to find, to her surprise, that there were feathers attached to her, she had wings as well as a horn.
She couldn't believe it, she was an alicorn and she didn’t remember it. She still could only remember those words, Hope Shine. Now her mind was filled with questions. What possibly happened that would cause her to lose her memory? How can she be an alicorn at such a young age? She sat down in disbelief of what was going on “Yes,” answered Twilight, “That means you might be a princess. I’m going to write a letter to Celestia, she may know something.” Twilight crossed over to her desk placing the book down, proceeding to get her dragon assistant's help.
"Spike!" called Twilight, "I need you to send a letter to the princess."
The purple drake crossed down to the bottom floor.
"Okay Twilight. Sure thing," Spike replied.
"What about us Twilight, what can we do?" the orange Pegasus pony asked.
"You girls have done more than enough," said Twilight in an assuring tone, letting them know that it was alright, "you can go back to your day of cutie mark crusading."
"All righ' girls, ya heard her, let's get goin'," AB responded.
As the trio left the library, to get on with their plans for the day, a certain white unicorn caught the eye of a certain purple drake, and for that singular moment, both of them blushed slightly. Soon the CMC was out and Twilight was heading upstairs with spike, where she found her mind was the clearest, to write to the princess.
"I'll be right back down when I'm done," started Twilight, "you can make yourself at home until then."
And on that note, Twilight went upstairs. Hope started to head to the couch to sit down and rest, but something had caught her eye. It was a book that looked vaguely familiar; it was like some weird case of de-ja-vu. Hope Shine went over to further examine the book to see if it might help with her memory problem.
Now it was obvious that the book wasn’t written in any known language, but even though Hope Shine knew this, she could somehow understand it.
“Hmm,” was her first response, “Thee-, no, ‘The legend of the Aliquisin'.”
Hope, now reading from the earlier illegible book, began to feel… different. As she read, she glowed very slightly. “During this world’s creation,” Hope recited from the page, “the four elements of nature were formed; Fire, for the light it brought forth. Water, for the life it gave. Wind, for the balance it brought throughout the world. Earth, for it provided the foundation that was needed for stability.”
Hope Shine was now, well, shining. Her eyes lit up brighter than twilight’s for her magic test. Her hair, even more laminating than all the night stars put together. Now Hope was beginning to see the events of the story play out.
***
At the end of the day, finished with their jobs for the time being, the elements gathered with each other to play and have fun.
“Come,” Began the Wind, “Let us soar above all, and be free! We shall have much fun in this!”
“Why don’t we have an adventure!” the Water fantasized, “We could explore the great depths of this world and have pure delight in this!”
“No,” interrupted the fire, “We should dance! Come; let’s have an amazing time dancing the day away!”
“I say we create wonderful masterpieces, works of art! I say we Create more beauty in this world, make it a nicer place.”
Each element wanting to have fun and not willing to deprive the others of their joyous moment, they went off to do all that they said. The Earth found that he was very artistic and loved to show others the beauty in the world. The Fire began to love dancing more than anything else, it was his bliss. The Water found happiness in the thrill of adventure. There was no other was as free and delighted as the Wind when she discovered the magic of flight.
This was the merriment of the elements, and for that time, it was all perfect. Then, nothing was ever the same for anyone again.
The elements sprouted turmoil betwixt them all. The Fire found he’d lost the ability to enjoy his love of dancing, for the Wind’s flying would throw him off, and the Earth never let him dance near his masterpieces, along with the Water singing him down to embers. The Earth couldn’t bring any more beauty into this world, whenever he did the Wind would blow it down, the Water would soak it into nothing, and the Fire always burnt it. The Water lost her chances for adventure, The Fire constantly evaporated her when near, while Wind would take her an unwanted direction and the Earth blocked the way to new places. The Wind lost his spirit. Earth always jutted mountains into her way; Water would slow her down while Fire made him go out of control.
It is needless to say that arguments ensued. And words turned to threats, and threats to fights, fights leading to the war. Lands and peoples had been ravaged, lives destroyed, towns emptied, civilizations wiped out. The war was gruesome. All seemed hopeless, so the five Elders came together to finally put an end to this.
“If this is to continue,” Began Nock, “nothing can ever be saved.”
“We must stop this now!” Fidget exclaimed, “There MUST be a way to.”
“What do you suggest Fidget, that we just destroy the elements?” questioned Pyross.
“If that is what it takes.”
“No,” Loom stated, “I will NOT stand for it! This is not their fault, we created them as dangers to one and other, now WE must fix our mistakes.”
“We cannot create one such as them again,” Syrisa added, “The same events will most assuredly occur.”
“And we can’t create one who is mortal and will eventually die!” argued Pyross.
“Or can we?”
Now, the entire meeting was filled with silence as they all stared at Nock. What he said seemed absurd, impossible even!
“Nock, what you say is preposterous, blasphemous even!” Fidget nearly screamed.
“Is that so?”
“Yes! One does not simply create a mortal maker of peace just for the entire process to be repeated!”
“I merely suggest we create a mortal that shall have the ability to be reincarnated, so as to make sure that if they end up corrupted, they can be done away with, reincarnated, and given another chance.”
Now it became clear to all, the answer had been in front of them the entire time.
“Nock,” Syrisa began, “You realize, that if we go this route, then we are to forever be unable to ever stop the elements ourselves again”
“With this plan, there will be no need.”
“I say this is too dangerous!” Pyross interrupted, “We can’t run the risk of losing the control, the one thing that we have to stop them!”
“I say we vote!” Fidget cried out, “vote to see what should be done!”
“Very well,” Loom began, “all those in favor of stopping the elements permanently.”
None aside from Pyross voted for that.
“And those in favor of bringing out what we’ve always had as an option?”
They all show their decision of this being the choice aside from Pyross.
“Then it’s done” Loom concluded.
“Very well,” Pyross bitterly conceded.
“Bring it in!” Fidget called out.
An energy source was brought in by what seemed to be nothing. The energy source was what had the potential to be a reincarnating soul, but for it to have the ability to control the elements, each of the five elders would have to breath in their word of power which lets them be able to control the elements.
“Are you all ready?” Nock asked.
“If in one of the lives of this soul discovers the true power we give it, everyone’s lives, even ours, will be at its mercy,” Pyross stated, “Is there truly no other choice?”
“You already know the answer,” Nock whispered.
So they began to say the life giving words as if to create a normal soul, but this time, they would end with their words of power.
“existunt et splendens,” they chanted in complete harmony, “anima nostra ad hanc vitam.”
Now came the time for the words of power.
“Verum,” proclaimed Syrisa.
“Animus,” Fidget shouted.
“Sapientia,” Nock breathed.
“Ductus,” Pyross begrudgingly added.
“Amor,” whispered Loom.
***
Hope Shine was now back to normal, or mostly normal. She had now seen the events of the past. But now she looked rather worn out.
“Wow,” Hope Whispered, now out of energy, “what an interesting legen-”
Twilight Sparkle was now finished with the letter and just sent it to her former teacher, Princess Celestia. Now that she had finished with the letter, she was heading downstairs so she could try to see if she could help Hope Shine in some way with her memory problem.
“Well Miss Shine, I-” and then Twilight saw her on the floor. Twilight rushed over to her now in a frantic state, “Oh no, oh no. Miss Shine, please wake up! Come on Twilight think, think! There must have been a book on this!”
The panicked alicorn was running around the library in search of something that might help. A book or a manual of some sort, just about anything that might help at this point would do. Then she had an idea of what to do.
“SPIKE!” she yelled out in a panic.
“What’s the problem Twilight?” said the purple dragon, worried about what had happened. And then he noticed Hope Shine on the floor, “Oh, never mind.”
“Quick Spike, THINK!” said Twilight in a frantic state, beginning to look like she did in ‘Lesson Zero’, “WHAT DO WE DO!”
Spike was now thoroughly and utterly confused with Twilight’s behavior, “Look Twilight, she’s probably just dehydrated and needs water.”
“Right. Water. On it,” replied the disgruntled Twilight.
Twilight then teleported out and came back with a glass full of water. She then proceeded to splash the water on Hope Shine, who then woke up. Now that everything was getting normal again, Twilight was calming down.
“Wha-What happened?” asked Hope, now awake due to the splash.
“It seems that you fainted for some reason,” Twilight responded.
“Oh,” Hope Shine replied.
“Maybe we should take you to a doctor,” Twilight thought out loud.
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” Spike added.
“Okay, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to find out if I’m alright,” Hope giggled.
“Let’s go then,” Twilight said.
***
Twilight, Hope Shine, and Spike were in the checkup room waiting for the doctor to show up. The nurse at the front had explained that the doctor here was running a little late today, and that he’d be here in a little while.
About twenty minutes later, a pony ran into the checkup room. He was out of breath when he came in; he looked as if he was running from something, or someone. He was a tan pony with a brown mane. He was wearing a lab coat, and what looked like might be a fake mustache, kind of like he was in disguise. “Uh, Hello,” He started, “I’m the Doctor.”
“Hello. Are you alright?” asked Twilight.
“I’m fine,” the Doctor responded, “Er, let’s see what’s wrong then shall we? So, uh, what were the symptoms that she experienced?”
“She fainted,” Twilight answered.
“Hmm, interesting,” Mumbled the Doctor.
He then began to point a pen with a light at the end of it, or maybe it was a screwdriver. He shined it all over her and tried just about every angle to point it with. After he was done, he looked at the side of the thing which was now beeping.
“I see,” He smiled, “Excuse me Miss, uh, what was your name?”
“Hope Shine,” she answered.
“Right,” he replied, “Miss Shine, would you mind reading the words on the eye test board for me?”
"Of course,” she started, “E F P T O Z L P E D P E C F D E D F C Z P F E L O P Z D E R F O R E C L X Y O Z P O Q.”
“Hmm, quite interesting,” the Doctor said.
“Okay, first off, what is that pen thing?” asked the confused purple alicorn princess, “Second off, what is so interesting?”
The Doctor took her aside so that Spike and Hope Shine wouldn’t be able to hear them, what he was about to say was mind blowing, hard to comprehend, and a bit unbelievable.
“Well,” he was whispered, “She did faint due to some type of dehydration, but most likely not water, but she’ll be fine. But what really intrigues me is that she should be blind due to the lack of corneas and pupils in her eyes, but she seems to see just as well as me and you, maybe even better. And,-what was the other question that you had?”
“What is that pen- or screwdriver thing that you scanned her with,” restated Twilight Sparkle.
“Ah, yes. Well, um, hehe,” stuttered the Doctor in a nervous tone, “i-it’s a scanner, yeah, a portable scanning device. It’s an experimental idea for the new doctors, so not everyone will have one.”
Twilight was about to ask some more questions that would have had him elaborate on the scanner, when suddenly Ditsy Doo, the town mailmare ran into the checkup room with an expression of great emergency on her face.
“D-Doctor, w-we need t-to go!” said Ditsy Doo with urgency, “H-He’s here.”
“Oh, um, okay,” the Doctor began, “well, that’s that I guess. Well, I’m off. I hope I was able to help in some way. Amorriba!”
And with that, they were out of the room. And Twilight’s suspicions were confirmed, when he went out, he had left his mustache behind in the commotion. Twilight, Hope Shine, and Spike all stood there in total confusion. They had no idea what had just happened, or how. Hope was the first to come out of the daze.
“Um, so, what did he say? Am I okay?” asked Hope Shine.
“Oh, um, he said that it was definitely dehydration of some sort,” Twilight Sparkle replied, “but that you would be perfectly fine.”
“Oh, well,” Hope started, “that’s good news. So, um, what should we do now?”
“Well,” Twilight Sparkle thought aloud, “I guess we could see if my friends know anything.”
“Great, I like that idea,” Spike said enthusiastically, “let’s do that!”
“Okay, why not” Hope Shine added.
“Alright, I guess were headed off to see my friends!” Twilight finished the conversation enthusiastically, “LET’S GO!”
The trio head off, now leaving the hospital after their, interesting experience in the checkup room shall we say? Twilight’s plan is now under way as they were headed off to see if any of her friends knew something helpful! Of course, there was one small, yet very important detail that they entirely forgot. It was nagging them all, poking them at the back of their heads. Luckily the purple dragon of the group had his head on straight and realized just what they had forgotten as soon as they had gone a little ways from the hospital.
“Wait a minute,” said Spike, now curios to something, “who are we going to see first out of your friends?”
After Spike said what was obviously a key factor on the whole idea of seeing Twilight friends, Twilight’s eyes lit up from the realization of what had been bothering her this whole time.
“That’s it! I knew I forgot something,” Twilight began, “I completely forgot who we should go see first.”
“Yeah, that was nagging me at the back of my head too. I just couldn’t figure it out,” Hope added.
“Sooo…” Spike trailed off, “Who should we go see first?”
Twilight went into deep thought, trying to figure out who would be the best help, who would be closest, most friendly for Hope Shine’s sake and more. After a few moments a smile began to creep across Twilight’s face. Then the smile turned into a giggle, and a giggle to a laugh.
“Oh, I have just the pony in mind.”
***
So, by now we can assume that the trio that we have been following are friends right? Good. The trio of friends, now in the house district, is headed toward someone with the most promise in knowing anything about Hope Shine or her conundrum.
“So, who are we going to see again?” Hope Shine asked.
“We are going to see my friend Pinkie Pie,” Twilight answered, “she knows just about every pony in Ponyville, most in Canterlot, and many others from many more places. She may know where you’re from.”
After passing the house district, they went past a crowd of ponies waiting at the new restraint near Sugar Cube Corner. Soon the trio found themselves at the store front of Sugar Cube Corner. They went inside and right away they spotted Pinkie Pie, munching down on some sweets that she just baked. She then noticed the trio come in.
“Oh hi Twilight!” exclaimed the party pony.
“Hi Pinkie,” Twilight answered.
“Ooo, I just baked a new batch of cupcakes! Would you like to try some?” Pinkie questioned.
The party pony then shoved a cupcake up Twilight’s maw.
“Pin-mph!” said Twilight trying to stop her.
Pinkie stood there looking at Twilight tentatively with her hoof holding the cupcake in Twilight’s mouth. Since the cupcake was mostly shoved into Twilight’s mouth, she decided to just swallow it the rest of the way.
“Thank you very much for the delicious cupcake Pinkie Pie,” Twilight began, “But next time, just hand them out.”
"Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie responded, “Ooo, how about that next time be now!”
The excited Pinkie began to hand out the cupcakes that she just baked, and had shoved into Twilight’s mouth earlier.
“One for you Spike! And one for,” then she stopped for a second, “Wait, who are you? Ooo Twilight do you have a new friend, do ya do ya? Who is she, who is she?”
“Pinkie, this is Hope Shine,” Twilight answered in reply.
“Wow, neat she’s an alicorn! Wait, Twilight, does she know that she’s an alicorn?” whispered the frantic little pony.
“Okay Pinkie, slow down now, one question at a time now,” Twilight started, “yes she knows that she is an alicorn.”
“Ooo, cool!” Pinkie replied in excitement, “So tell me Hope, where are you from?”
“I, um, well, I…” Hope Shine trailed off.
“Um Pinkie, she has no memory,” Spike jumped in.
“REALLY?!?!” Pinkie Pie gasped.
“Yes Pinkie, and that’s why we came to you,” Twilight informed Pinkie, “We were wondering if know anything that could be of help to us?”
“Oh…” Pinkie trailed off, her hair was beginning to droop down, “Well, I’m sorry Twilight, but I don’t know any more than you guys do.”
“Well, thanks any way Pinkie Pie,” Spike said, “we still appreciate it.”
“Hey, how about you help us? We need as much help as we can get,” Twilight thought aloud, hoping it might cheer her friend up.
“Oh yeah, I could help!” said Pinkie Pie, who’s hair was back to its bubbly self, “But how? Oh wait! I got it! I can search for clues and other important stuff like that! That’s how I could help you guys out!”
She then rushed out the door faster than you could say sweet sugary cupcakes. Not four seconds had passed after Pinkie ran out before Pinkie quickly ran back into the store, grabbed one of her cupcakes for a snack, and ran back out the store to go back her search.
Hope Shine, Spike, and Twilight Sparkle were stunned, left staring at a cloud of smoke left in the shape of their friend. They all just stood there in amazement of the pony who ran out the door apparently to search for clues, and other important things. The pink pony that they all knew as Pinkie Pie had left the building.
“Well,” Spike interrupted, “if Pinkie doesn’t know then, I guess that it might be a good idea to go see if Rarity could help us!”
Twilight rolled her eyes upon hearing this; she knew the dragons’ true reasons for wanting to go to Rarities. But she also knew that her friend might have some idea as to what was going on, and if not, she had many talents at her disposal that she could definitely use to help them out, so what harm could it cause? None, right?
“Alright Spike, I suppose that we’re heading off to talk with Rarity now,” Twilight remarked.
Hope Shine, Spike, and Twilight are now heading out of Sugar Cube Corner and past the crowd of ponies next to it vying for the chance to get into the new restaurant next door. We watch the Group of friends, now on their way to one of Twilight’s good friends Rarity.
“So, what is Rarity like?” asked Hope Shine, curios as to who she’s about to meet.
“Well that’s one way of putting it,” giggled Twilight, “Don’t worry. The best way to know what she’s like is to meet her, which we’ll be doing soon.”
Hope didn’t think this was much of an answer to her question, but she figured it would have to suffice for the moment. They were getting close, Hope could tell that they were close because they were honing in on what looked to be a boutique.
***
At that same time, the Crusaders were at Rarities waiting for Sweetie Belle to find her satchel so they could go on with their day of crusading.
“Sorry to make you wait,” Sweetie Belle apologized, “I can’t believe I forgot my bag.”
“That’s okay,” Scootaloo reassured her.
“Yeah, it’sal’rit’,” Apple Bloom added.
“Thanks, I’ll be right back,” she said while running to her room.
While Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were waiting for Sweetie Belle to come down, they heard a knocking at the door.
“I got it!” Scootaloo exclaimed, heading straight for the door.
When she opened the door Twilight, Spike and Hope Shine were standing there. Once the door was open, they came into the boutique.
“Hey Twilight, what are you doing here?” Scootaloo questioned.
“Oh, hello Scootaloo,” Twilight addressed her, “I was just on my way to talk with Rarity.”
“Well, we were just about to head out and try our luck in ice skating!” exclaimed Scootaloo excitedly.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders; Ice skating cutie marks, YAY!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cheered in unison while they did a mid-air high five.
Just as her fellow Crusaders finished their little celebration, Sweetie Belle came down from her room. When she came out she wasn’t expecting to see a certain purple dragon, and thus her face turned bright red for a moment. Luckily, the dragon in question didn’t see this, and nobody else for that matter to her relief. She soon got her emotions under control and came up to her friends.
“Hey girls, ready to get going?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah, let’s go!” proclaimed Scootaloo.
Apple Bloom was staring at Hope Shine, the wheels in her head turning. The whole thing was making Hope Feel uneasy, the way she was staring at her and all, kind of like she was staring into her sole. Beads of sweat were beginning to form on her head.
“Wait girls,” Apple Bloom finally said, breaking the award silence, “I have an idea. Hows’ about we help Hope Shine here find her memory!”
“Yeah!” Sweetie thought aloud, “I think that’s a great idea!”
“But what about ice skating?” questioned Scootaloo.
“Well, this is more important one. Two, how we gonna ice skate in the summer?” AB responded.
“Yeah, you’re right about that,” Scootaloo conceded.
“Plus, I think this might be how we get our cutie marks!” Sweetie Belle added.
“You’re right!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo responded. The trio then said “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS: MEMORY LOSS HELPERS! YAY!”
“Whoa whoa whoa now girls,” Twilight interrupted.
“What Twilght, are you saying you don’t want our help?” Scootaloo asked.
“No, it’s just that you girls have already done more than enough,” Twilight answered.
“Eeyup!” AB began in fashion like her brothers, “ and we’re gonna do s’more!”
“Well, alright,” Twilight began, “So, where is Rarity?”
“Yeah, where’s Rarity?” Spike wondered aloud.
“I’m in here darling!” Rarity almost shouted from her design room.
The White mare came downstairs to greet guests and friends. Once she was downstairs she greeted Twilight first.
“Oh, hello Twilight. Hello Spiky-wiky, and- wait, who might you be miss?” Rarity said.
“Oh, I, um, I’m Hope Shine,” the silver filly replied.
“Hope Shine,” Rarity reveled, “what a marvelous name. So Twilight, and Hope Shine, why are you here?”
“Well,” Twilight began, “we’re going around Ponyville and checking with everyone to see if they know anything about Hope Shine. You see, she’s lost her memory.”
After finding this out Rarity let out a gasp, she found it horrifying that this poor little filly had completely lost her memory.
“Oh no you poor dear, I can’t even imagine how you must feel. Is there anything I can do?” Rarity lamented.
“Actually yes,” Twilight interjected, thus interrupting her friends lement, “if could keep a watchful eye out for anything that may be useful, and let us know what you learn, that would help immensely.”
“Of course darling, I will most certainly let you know the moment anything comes up,” the unicorn promised, “and before I let you go, I simply cannot allow you to go around in a tattered cloak such as this, leave it with me so I can fix it up for you. I insist.”
“Why, thank you miss Rarity,” replied Hope Shine.
“Yes, thank you Rarity, we greatly appreciate what you’re doing for us,” the alicorn princess added.
“Oh no trouble at all darling, generosity is my thing after all,” Rarity said modestly.
Hope Shine then proceeded to give the cloak to Rarity, who began to go to her sowing room to work on it immediately.
“I bring it to you once I’m finished.”
“Well,” Twilight started, “we better get going. We still need to see if Apple Jack, Fluttershy, or Rainbow Dash knows anything that might be useful.”
“Ta-ta, see you soon,” Rarity chimed in as they left.
“So, next were off to Sweet Apple Acres to see Apple Jack to let her know that we could use her help?” asked the curious dragon.
“That’s right Spike, our next stop is Sweet Apple Acres!” replied an enthusiastic alicorn.
“Alright then, let’s go see if mah sister knows anything!” AB proclaimed.
Chapter seven: a Dash of Apple (Not what you think)
The group of friends, now leaving the Carousel Boutique and heading to Sweet Apple Acres, noticed that two colts were standing next to a tree that has a camera in it. The Cutie Mark Crusaders recognize them to be Rumble and Shady Daze from school.
“How did you get a camera stuck in a tree?” Rumble questioned Shady Daze, completely confused on just how his friend got the Foal Free Press camera in a tree.
“Well it’s a combination of creativity and trying to get a photo of an eagle in the tree,” Shady Daze answered, “But that’s not important. What’s important is that that camera could fall any second, and I need you to fly up there and get it before that happens.”
“Alright, but I can’t promise it won’t fall if I touch it.”
Rumble flew up to the camera on the tree and tried to slowly pull it off the branch it was stuck to. As he began to get it all the way off, the camera snagged on the branch and slipped out of his grasp. Time seemed to slow down as the camera fell. Luckily for Shady Daze Apple Bloom dived for the camera right before it fell and caught it just in time. Shady Daze let out a deep sigh of relief, the camera for the Foal Free Press was intact.
“Thanks Apple Bloom, you saved me from getting in trouble with the Foal Free Press,” Shady thanked her, “That’s our last spare camera, if I had gotten it broken I’d lose my position as photographer for certain.”
“No problem,” AB replied, “Here’s your camera.”
Apple Bloom went up to Shady Daze to give him the camera. As she handed it off to him, their hooves touched one and other. Apple Bloom quickly recoiled from this, hoping she wasn’t blushing, or if she was that nobody could see it. She did slightly blush, but no one noticed it.
“Wow,” Rumble began, “nice save AB!”
Meanwhile, Shady Daze had just noticed that there was more than one alicorn in Ponyville. He couldn’t tell who she was, but he definitely knew that as a member of the Foal Free Press, he was going to find out.
“Hey there,” He began, “My name’s Shady Daze, What’s yours?”
“Oh um, my names Hope Shine,” Hope Shine replied
“Wow, neat name,” Shady Daze complimented, “So, where do you come from? Manehattan?”
“Um, well, I don’t really know,” Hope replied.
“What? Why don’t you?” Shady asked.
“Well that’s easy,” Twilight interrupted, “She has no memory.”
“What!?” Shady Daze and Rumble said simultaneously
“Well me Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle accidently ran into her after she came out of an ally,” Scootaloo clarified, “And found out that she lost her memory for some reason. And now we’re going to see if Apple jack may know anything that could be useful.”
The two colts just stood there, completely mystified. Shady Daze was the first to come out of the stupor, his journalist instincts kicking in.
“A case memory loss or amnesia?” Shady Daze questioned, “This would make for a great story in the Foal Free Press! Crusaders, Twilight, Spike, Hope Shine, I have decided to accompany you in the interest of a good story.”
“What?!” asked Twilight in confusion, “Why?”
“Because,” Shady started, “One, I’m certain that you could use the help. Two, this could be my chance to be a writer in the Foal Free Press! I’m helping and that’s that.”
“And I’m coming too!” Rumble interrupted.
“WHAT?!?” Twilight nearly shouted.
“Like Shady said, you could definitely use the help,” Rumble replied, “Besides, like I’m going to let you guys have all the fun.”
“I don’t see the harm in letting them come along,” Spike interjected.
“Me n-neither,” Hope Shine added.
Twilight let out a combination of a sigh of frustration and defeat. She looked at the CMC, who each in their own little way let her know that they were okay with this.
“Oh alright,” said Twilight, “I guess its fine.”
“Great,” Rumble nearly cheered.
“I smell a story in the making,” Shady Daze pronounced.
“So…” Rumble trailed off, “Where are we going again?”
“Sweet Apple Acres,” answered Sweetie Belle.
“Cool! Let’s Go!” Rumble replied.
***
The growing group of friends was now arriving at the gate of Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight and Spike were very excited to introduce Hope Shine to the rest of the Apple family, seeing as how she’d already met Apple Bloom.
Just as they were coming in the front entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, they saw Rainbow Dash exiting with a mug of cider in hoof.
“Oh my gosh oh my gosh it’s RAINBOW DASH!” Scootaloo shouted excitedly when she saw her idol.
“Hi Rainbow Dash,” Twilight started, “you’re just the pony I need to see.”
“Hey Twilight, Hey Scoots, what’s up?” the rainbow pony asked.
“Okay well, it’s a long story,” said Twilight taking a deep breath, “I’ll try to give you the short one.”
“Alright, hit me.”
“So, Hope Shine here,” began Twilight, gesturing toward the filly, “Has completely lost her memory. If you could keep an ear to the ground and an eye in the sky, it would greatly help.”
Rainbow was a bit taken back by the sudden rush of information. After hearing that the filly lost her very memories Rainbow Dash looked sympathetically to the filly in question, Hope Shine.
“Shure thing kid,” Rainbow assured Hope Shine.
Rainbow Dash then gave a reassuring nod to every one there. Instantaneously she bolted up into the sky leaving a wonderful rainbow trail behind. Apparently she had decided to start her search for clues as soon as possible.
“Wow,” Scootaloo thought aloud, “Rainbow Dash is awesome!”
“Three down, two to go,” Spike cracked.
Twilight, Spike, and Hope Shine all laughed at this quirky statement of his. Once their laughing fit was finished, the trio looked back at the original destination, Sweet apple acres. They then proceeded to go to the red barn.
Already, at the barn entrance, Apple Jack was finishing up with her chores. She noticed the group coming toward her, and went off to greet them as well as see why they were here.
“Hey Twi’!” the earth pony greeted, “and others, what are yall doin’ oer here?”
“Hello Apple Jack,” Twilight replied.
“Hey big sis!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, “We’re here ta ask ya somthin.”
“Well what’cha doin’ just standing round?” AJ asked, “Ask away.”
“Well,” Twilight interjected, “today the girls ran into Hope Shine here, who has a case of memory loss. She can’t remember anything about herself aside from those words that we have assumed to be her name.”
Apple Jack was now staring at them dumbfounded.
“And we’ve been going around Ponyville asking our friends if they know anything that they think may be helpful information,” Twilight informed her friend, “So that’s what we’ve come here for, to ask you if you may know anything about Hope Shine, or if you know anything that you think could help.”
“Well,” began Apple Jack, looking over to the filly of silver coloring, “I can’t say I’ve ever met her or know anything about her, but I can give you some advice. Granny told me about when cousin Golden Delicious had some memory loss. She said that plenty of fluids and a good amount of rest did the trick.”
“I remember that story, always wondered how he lost his memory though,” Apple Bloom added.
“Thanks Apple Jack, water and sleep, got it!” remarked Twilight making a mental note.
“By the way, Hope Shine, sorry that you got a memory loss problem,” said Apple Jack.
“Oh, that’s okay, not like anything bad going to happen because if it,” Hope Shine reassured.
“Well thanks again Apple Jack, we appreciate it,” Twilight repeated.
“Sure thing Twi’!” AJ replied.
“Well,” Spike interrupted, “I guess we’re heading off to Fluttershy’s now, right?”
“Right you are Spike!” Rumble declared.
“Wow, this is getting to be a really good story,” Shady Daze said while jotting down some notes on a pad and paper.
Now we find the group of friends walking off to Fluttershy’s cottage. Everyone was extremely excited to see the kind yellow pony, or almost everyone. Hope Shine was trailing behind the entire group, she wasn’t too sure if she was ready to meet Twilight’s friend Fluttershy, she wasn’t certain if she’d make the right impression.
How should I act? What should I do? What do I say? These were the thoughts that filled her mind as she was slowly heading off to Fluttershy’s house.
As she trailed on toward Twilight’s friend’s house, something caught in her eye. It was what looked to be a rock, glistening in her eye and causing her to have trouble seeing it. Hope Shine picked it up to better examine it, and she found that it has multiple bright colors on it, like lite and dark blues, as well as some white. As she held it, she noticed it very slightly radiated heat, like that of the sun. For some reson, Hope felt she should keep it.
After examining it, Hope realized that she was beginning to fall behind in the group. With her newly acquired item in hoof, she began to gallop toward the group. After catching up, she changed her gallop to a gentle trot. It seemed she had done this just in time, because they were at Fluttershy’s front door.
Twilight knocked on the door, three times to be exact. After the third knock, Twilight’s friend Fluttershy opened the door.
“Oh, why hello Twilight,” Fluttershy greeted her friend.
Fluttershy looked out her door, and after looking she saw a sizable number of people there at her door step. After seeing them, Fluttershy was overwhelmed by just how many people there were.
“Oh, my,” Fluttershy slightly gasped from the shock of just how many people were there.
Twilight Sparkle could immediately tell that her friend surprised, and the least to say overwhelmed.
“Yeah, sorry that there are so many people here Fluttershy,” Twilight apologized.
“Oh it fine Twilight, I just didn’t think that you’d be visiting,” said Fluttershy, “or with so many people.”
“Sorry Fluttershy,” Shady Daze apologized, “I just couldn’t stay away from such a good story!”
“Story?” questioned Fluttershy, “What story?”
“Hope Shine’s memory loss of course,” Rumble interjected.
“What?” gasped fluttershy, “mem-mem-memory loss?! Who lost their memory?”
“Me,” answered our filly in question.
“Fluttershy, this is a long story,” Twilight interrupted, “maybe we should go inside and take a seat before continuing the explanation,”
Fluttershy, seeing nothing wrong with this idea, opened her door to let her new guests in. As Hope Shine Walked Past Fluttershy, she noticed that Fluttershy’s house was filled with animals.
“Wow,” Hope Shine marveled without even realizing she was speaking, “So many animals, I like animals.”
Everyone got taken to a complete stop after hearing this statement.
“You do?” Twilight questioned.
Hope Shine now realized that she had stated a fact about herself, she remembered something!
“I-I do!” Hope said in astonishment of remembering.
Twilight saw the opportunity to get her to remember, so she decided to take the opportunity!
“What else do you Remember Hope Shine?” Twilight asked.
“I-I think I, no, I know, I know that love nature!” Hope Shine exclaimed.
“And? And? Anything else?” Twilight questioned, trying not to lose the chance of memory recovery.
“And I, I,” Hope continued, trying to hold onto the memories, “I’ve lost it.”
Everyone let a sigh of depression. Hope lost her memories yet again, but at least this time she had some new one to go off of.
“So…” Spike trailed off, “You like nature huh?”
“Well, I do remember how beautiful the trees are,” Hope Shine thought aloud, “And how I felt around them.”
“Well,” Twilight interrupted, “I guess we’d better tell Fluttershy just how we found Hope Shine and all.”
Everyone then sat down to tell Fluttershy about Hope Shine.
“We found Hope Shine after she’d just come out of an ally,” Sweetie Began.
“Then we crashed into her,” Scootaloo added, “and found out she had lost her memory.”
“So we decided tha’ we should take her tah Twilight’s for help,” Apple Bloom stated.
“And then I found out that she was an alicorn and sent a letter to princess Celestia to see if she might know anything,” Twilight declared, “and decided to go ask my friends if they knew anything, while picking up some stowaways along the way.”
Twilight gestured toward the Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Rumble, and Shady Daze. Shady Daze was still jotting notes down on his note pad, but finished soon enough to see Twilight gesturing to him after saying stowaways.
“Hey!” Shady Daze asserted, “I’m only trying to get a good story for the Foal Free Press! I’m here for a good reson!”
“And we came to help!” Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Rumble said simultaniusly exclaimed to clarify their cause for coming along.
“So that’s why we’re here Fluttershy,” Twilight continued, “to ask you if you may know anything useful.”
“Oh, well, I wish I could help Twilight,” Fluttershy began, “but I don’t know anything about that or how to help.”
“Well, thanks anyway Fluttershy,” Twilight said, “Besides, there may be some way you can help us that we don’t know of yet!”
“Yeah, thanks any way Fluttershy!” Hope shine added.
Fluttershy noticed that Hope Shine was holding something, a rock of some sort perhaps.
“Hmm. I wounder…” Fluttershy whispered to herself.
“Did you say something Fluttershy?” Hope Shine asked.
“Oh, I was just thinking about that blue rock of yours, it looks so peculiar,” Fluttershy responded.
“Oh, this?” Hope questioned, “I found it near your house, it looked interesting to me, so I decided to keep it. You don’t mind do you?”
“Oh no, it’s fine with me if you keep it.”
“Thanks!”
Just when their conversation finished, the rock Hope Shine was holding began to vibrate. As it was vibrating, it started to glow with a blue aura. It vibrated more violently till it started to float. The rock was now floating in midair, cracks forming on the surface of it.
“LOOK OUT!” Rumble yelled.
The rock then exploded, reveling that it was actually an egg, an egg that hatched to reveal a phoenix, but not just any phoenix, a blue phoenix!
