by Perdita Finn
Twilight Sparkle smiled warmly at Sunset Shimmer. It was good to have her back—and there was so much to show her. But what was going on back at Canterlot High?
A Surprising Reunion
“This is bad, Sunset,” said Princess Twilight back at her castle. “It’s way beyond anything I’ve ever heard of. Although…”
“What?” asked Sunset Shimmer.
“I just had an idea.” Princess Twilight thought hard. She knew a lot about both friendship and magic, but this was one of the hardest, most confusing problems she had ever faced. “You might not like this,” she warned Sunset Shimmer.
“I’ll do anything to get my friends back,” Sunset Shimmer pleaded.
“There is one pony who might be able to help, but I don’t know if you two want to see each other.”
“Who?” blurted out Sunset Shimmer. A moment later, however, she knew exactly whom Princess Twilight was talking about. “Oh.” Her face fell.
Long ago, Sunset Shimmer had been one of Princess Celestia’s students, but she had been impatient for magical power and had stolen Princess Twilight’s enchanted crown. She’d ended up at Canterlot High in the world of human beings to learn about friendship with Princess Twilight’s help. She’d never been back to apologize to Celestia. But the time had clearly come.
Together the ponies approached the majestic entrance to Princess Celestia’s castle. They walked down the hallway along the red carpet side by side. Sunset Shimmer was nervous, but she was glad Princess Twilight was beside her. Princess Twilight gave her a reassuring smile. At the very end of the room, sitting on her throne, was Princess Celestia.
Sunset Shimmer felt ashamed. As she bowed before Princess Celestia, she kept her eyes lowered. None of the ponies in attendance whinnied or neighed. Princess Twilight held her breath.
“Sooo,” began Princess Twilight, trying to lighten the mood. “You’ll never guess who’s back! Actually, maybe you can guess, because she’s right here, but… um…” She paused and bent her head close to Sunset Shimmer. “Am I helping?”
Sunset Shimmer took a deep breath. No one at Canterlot High remembered how much she had changed—but she did. She knew she was different. She knew what she had learned about friendship. “Princess Celestia,” she began in a low voice, “the last time we saw each other, I was your snide little pupil who betrayed and abandoned you.”
“I wouldn’t have said it that way.” Princess Twilight was stunned at Sunset Shimmer’s bold honesty. “What Sunset meant to say is—”
“I mean,” interrupted Sunset Shimmer, “that I come before you a changed pony, humbly asking for forgiveness, guidance, and knowledge.”
Princess Celestia’s face was serene and unreadable. Sunset Shimmer had no idea what she was thinking. But she wasn’t going to let that stop her.
“Or,” she continued, “I can just go, and you never have to see me again.”
Twilight was about to jump in, but no sooner had she opened her mouth than Princess Celestia silenced her with a cool stare. Princess Celestia gazed into Sunset Shimmer’s eyes for a long time. Sunset Shimmer’s heart beat fast, but she didn’t look away.
At long last, Princess Celestia spoke. “I have missed you, Sunset Shimmer.” A small smile turned up the corners of her lips.
“I’m so sorry!” Sunset Shimmer gushed. She was so grateful not to be turned away.
Princess Celestia nuzzled her reassuringly, and Sunset Shimmer was overcome with happiness. Princess Twilight was ecstatic, too. Now everypony was friends again!
That is, everypony in Equestria. There was still the huge problem back at Canterlot High. Why didn’t any of the human girls remember how Sunset Shimmer had changed?
The Biggest Reader
The ponies strolled together through the castle, trying to figure out what might have happened at Canterlot High. “I am not familiar with the exact spell that could have erased your friends’ memories,” mused Princess Celestia. “But it sounds unmistakably like Equestrian magic is at work in your world.”
Princess Luna nodded her head in agreement. “Indeed, the toilings of this nefarious enchantment could portend unimaginable catastrophe if left unchecked.”
Sunset Shimmer sighed audibly. She still felt wobbly being back in Equestria. At Canterlot High, the princesses’ counterparts were the principal and vice principal. It could all get so confusing. “I’m so used to hearing you tell the students not to park in the faculty lot,” she tried to explain.
Princess Luna frowned. What a strange thing to say. “This faculty lot you speak of sounds like a place of great power.”
Sunset Shimmer smiled. Well, it was at Canterlot High, but most of the people there had no idea about the power of pony magic.
Princess Celestia opened the door to her royal library. “The answers you seek are here,” she said.
Sunset Shimmer had forgotten what an enormous place it was. “There’s got to be a million books in here—”
“I wish!” interrupted Princess Twilight. “But don’t worry. You’re looking at somepony who knows this place like the back of her hoof.”
Without a word, Princess Celestia began walking away from them and toward the very back of the library.
“Where are you going?” asked Princess Twilight.
“To the restricted section,” answered Princess Celestia.
Princess Twilight’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe it! There were more books here than she knew about? “There’s a reh… reh…”
“Breathe, Twilight,” whispered Sunset Shimmer to her friend.
In the very back of the enormous library, behind stacks and stacks of books, were two palace guards. As Princess Celestia approached, they stepped aside to reveal a hidden iron gate. Princess Celestia drew forth a key and opened it.
The restricted section was almost as big as the library itself. It was packed with ancient books and dusty scrolls and strange magical artifacts protected under glass. Princess Twilight was thrilled. She tried to breathe, but she couldn’t talk. She loved to read and study!
Sunset Shimmer smiled. “You sure you’re up for helping me go through all this stuff?”
“Don’t take this away from me!” Princess Twilight blurted out.
Sunset Shimmer burst out laughing. Her Canterlot High calamity was the best thing that ever happened to Princess Twilight.
Princess Celestia led them to a large machine with lots of levers. “I should warn you,” she advised the ponies, “the archive’s mechanical catalog has not been well maintained.”
Sunset Shimmer touched a dust-covered crank, and it broke off. A drawer full of faded cards listing the books fell onto the floor. This did not look promising. But Princess Twilight was undaunted.
“Guess we’ll just have to read everything! Come on!” she exclaimed.
Sunset Shimmer met Princess Celestia’s eyes, and they both smiled. Princess Twilight was galloping up and down the stacks, reading the titles of the books out loud.
“No way!” she shouted. “Can you believe they have Canterlot Cantabiles Volume Thirty-one? You heard me! Thirty-one! Sunset, that’s when the series gets good! And look! Over here! An original Wendigo Weather Warning from the pre-Equestrian era…”
Sunset Shimmer looked all around the enormous room. How long would it take to read all these books? And would any of them even have the answer to what had happened to her? She tried not to feel hopeless. At least Princess Twilight seemed up to the job.
Most Likely to Get a Clue
Sunset Shimmer stretched and yawned. She had just finished looking through another enormous, boring book about the history of Equestria. She closed it with a thud.
“Did you know,” she told Princess Twilight, “that Chancellor Puddinghead tried to pass a law mandating Earth ponies drink carrot juice at every meal? I do. Now.”
“Awww,” Princess Twilight said, smiling happily. “Sounds like you got to read all the fun books. We should probably take a break from looking.…”
>
Sunset Shimmer sighed, tired and disappointed.
“Because,” said Princess Twilight, about to burst from excitement, “I found something!”
Sunset Shimmer couldn’t believe it. Princess Twilight pranced up and down the aisles. She levitated a large wooden box over to a table and pulled out a few scraps of old parchment. She arranged them carefully on the table like puzzle pieces.
“You are familiar with the Seven Trials of Clover the Clever?”
Sunset Shimmer tried to pretend as if she were. “Uh, obviously. But, uh, let’s see how much you know about it.”
Princess Twilight wiggled happily. “Well! First of all, these date back to before the founding of Equestria.”
Sunset Shimmer knocked on the box. “I’ll try not to break it.” Almost immediately, she realized that Princess Twilight was not in a joking mood. “I’m kidding,” she said.
“Look at this,” said Princess Twilight. On one piece of parchment was a drawing of a strange gray obelisk. It stuck up into the air like a pointy tower.
“The Memory Stone,” read Sunset Shimmer. “That sounds promising.”
Princess Twilight shared everything she had found out. “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 Shimmer thought out loud. “Fragments like… memories of me being nice?”
“Clover the Clever knew the sorceress had to be stopped,” continued Princess Twilight. “And the Memory Stone had to be destroyed, so he chased the sorceress across land and sea. But every time he got close, the sorceress would erase his memory and escape. But he kept finding her.”
“How?” Sunset Shimmer wondered.
“These scraps of parchment! He secretly wrote everything down so he’d know what had happened and where to go next, even as he constantly lost his memories. Like a trail of bread crumbs.”
“That’s clever!” Sunset Shimmer grinned. “No wonder he was called Clover the Clever!” She studied the scraps of parchment. On one of them was drawn what looked like a swirling portal. Clover the Clever was chasing the sorceress through it.
“What happened on the other side of this portal?” asked Sunset Shimmer.
But Twilight didn’t know. “The last page is missing. Clover must’ve hidden it to keep anypony else from finding the Memory Stone.”
Sunset Shimmer studied the portal. It looked familiar. It looked just like going through the Wondercolt.
Princess Twilight thought the exact same thing. “What if the Memory Stone ended up in your world?”
“And what if,” Sunset Shimmer continued, “someone is using it to make everyone hate me again?”
“But who?” exclaimed Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight together.
That was the question.
Who would have the magical power and the motive to divide Sunset Shimmer from her friends?
Wiped Out
The tide was slowly going out at the beach, but the sun was still shining brightly. Pinkie Pie rolled over on her beach blanket. “We’ve been out here awhile,” she commented. “Time to reapply!”
But instead of grabbing a tube of sunscreen, she reached into her bag and pulled out… a cupcake! She smeared the frosting over her arms and rubbed it in. The other girls barely noticed.
Twilight Sparkle looked out across the ocean, lost in thought. Something didn’t feel right to her. “Should we be worried about Sunset Shimmer?” she asked at last.
“Yeah!” Trixie said with a laugh. “Worried she comes back!” She was reclining on a chair under an umbrella a little apart from the other girls. Snips and Snails fanned her with giant palm leaves. “I think it’s a shame the way she’s treating you, pretending to be your friend. She’s obviously up to something. Sunset Shimmer thinks the whole school exists just to serve her.” She snapped her fingers, and Snails handed her a bottle of water.
Trixie took a long drink. She cleared her throat to get the girls’ attention again. “You know, seeing as how the yearbook president seems to be having a little identity crisis, I believe that means the vice president takes over. That’s you, Rarity!”
Rarity shook her head. “If this is your way of asking to be made Greatest and Most Powerful in the Superlatives, the answer is no.” Rarity suddenly felt very strange, as if she were about to get a headache. She rubbed her eyes. Maybe it was because the sun was so bright. “Didn’t we have this conversation yesterday?” she asked the others. “I can’t quite remember. It’s all so fuzzy, like something’s missing.”
“Maybe we did, maybe we didn’t,” Trixie said with a shrug. “Memory is such a fickle thing. You never know when you’ll forget something important. Like how Great and Powerful I am, which is why I need to be in the yearbook!”
Rarity rolled her eyes. Trixie just wouldn’t give up. “I’ll think about it,” she said.
“That’s all I ask,” answered Trixie with mock sweetness.
She snapped her fingers again, and Snips and Snails resumed fanning her.
Rarity rubbed her forehead. She felt certain she was forgetting… something. If only she could remember what!
Best Sense of Humor
Back in Equestria, Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight were explaining to Princess Celestia what they had discovered about the Memory Stone.
“I should get back to my world,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Maybe I can convince my friends I’m telling the truth, now that I know what we’re looking for.”
Princess Twilight levitated the scroll with the picture of the Memory Stone into Sunset Shimmer’s bag. “I’ll stay here,” she told Sunset Shimmer, “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 Shimmer sighed.
“Oh, it’s possible,” Princess Twilight reassured her. “I’ll figure it out, even if I have to reorganize the whole library by subject, or maybe chronologically. Oh! And fix the broken catalog machine…” She caught sight of Sunset Shimmer’s concerned expression. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Thank you,” said Sunset Shimmer to Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia. “Both of you.” Whatever happened at Canterlot High, Sunset Shimmer had regained a powerful friend in Equestria. It did her heart good to make amends at last with Princess Celestia.
Princess Celestia beamed at her. “This is quite a contrast from the last time we parted ways. With every choice you make, you prove yourself to possess a kind heart.”
Sunset Shimmer blushed. “I guess I had a good teacher.”
“You were a good student,” said Princess Twilight, smiling.
Princess Celestia cleared her throat. “Are you saying I wasn’t a good teacher?”
“No!” blurted out Sunset Shimmer.
“Oh, what I meant —” began Princess Twilight.
Princess Celestia chuckled softly, interrupting them. Relieved, they began laughing with her.
Princess Celestia has a sense of humor? thought Sunset Shimmer. Looks like I’m not the only one who’s changed.
Suspicious Activity
The girls were playing volleyball on the beach. That is, everyone except Applejack and Twilight Sparkle, who were sunning themselves nearby.
Rainbow Dash prepared to serve, narrating the game as she did. “It’s been a grueling afternoon,” she said in her best sportscaster voice, “but here we are at the final match. The next point wins! A hush falls over the crowd of ten thousand fans!”
Twilight began clapping. “Go, sports!”
“I’m not holding back this time!” Rainbow Dash warned the other team.
On the other side of the net, Fluttershy covered her eyes. “That’s what I’m afraid of!”
“Bring it on, Rainbow Dash!” shouted Pinkie. “You and Rarity just bought your team a one-way ticket on the express train to You’re Going Down!”
Rainbow Dash grinned, impressed. “Nic
e game face, Pinkie Pie.”
“Thanks! I’ve been practicing all day.” She giggled. She turned toward the drone camera. “Isn’t that right, little baby camera? You’re in my house now!”
The camera began beeping as if it were scared and darted behind Twilight. Spike growled at it.
“Somebody’s jealous!” noted Rarity.
“Please call me when the flying can opener learns to fetch,” barked Spike.
The drone whizzed out of view and returned a few minutes later with an open can of dog food!
Spike growled. “You’re the worst.” But when no one was looking, he gobbled up the food, licking up every last morsel.
Rainbow Dash served the volleyball. It arched over the net at top speed, and Fluttershy cowered, covering her head. But Pinkie Pie leaped up on top of her friend’s shoulders and spiked the ball back over the net! Rainbow Dash dove into the sand to try to hit it back, but she missed. She sat up, brushing sand off her face, and saw Sunset Shimmer standing right in front of her.
“Great news, guys!” announced Sunset Shimmer. “I figured it out. Someone erased your memories with Equestrian magic! You don’t remember, but we’re still friends!”
Rainbow Dash spat out a grain of sand. Pinkie blinked, the sun in her eyes. No one said anything.
Sunset Shimmer pulled the parchment from her bag. “This is the Memory Stone,” she told the girls. “Do you remember it?”
No one moved. It was as if all the girls were holding their breaths.
“Right,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Guess not. But look, we are friends!” She took out her phone and began swiping through photos of all the girls together—playing music, doing one another’s hair at slumber parties, teaming up at the Friendship Games, working together at Camp Everfree.
