by Perdita Finn
Sunset Shimmer saw Wallflower examining the cloth. Drawings on it showed a series of ponies learning how to use the Stone to erase memories. It showed a group of ponies with thought bubbles above their heads. Inside their thought bubbles was another pony. But in the next picture, all that remained inside the thought bubbles was an X. The other pony had vanished from their minds!
But the last thing Sunset Shimmer saw inside Wallflower’s mind was the hardest of all. She saw herself. She was shutting down the yearbook office, turning off the lights and locking the door. She didn’t notice that Wallflower was still in the room. She’d overlooked her again. Laughing, she left with her friends.
Wallflower stood in the dark by herself. Left behind again. “I’ll just finish up in the dark by myself.” She sighed. She sat down at a table and began flipping through an old yearbook. She was upset and grumbling to herself. “Why should you notice me? After all, you’re Sunset Shimmer. Everybody loves you now.”
Wallflower turned to the page in the old yearbook where Sunset Shimmer was the Biggest Meanie. “Why can’t they see you haven’t changed?” she wondered out loud. That’s when she remembered the strange stone she’d found.
Later that night, Wallflower crept out to the garden and dug up the Memory Stone again. She studied the instructions on the cloth. She closed her eyes and placed her fingertips on the magical object. The Memory Stone began to glow. A beam of light began to shine forth from within it. Wallflower kept her hands on the Stone.
The beam of light blasted through the forest, past the high school, and found its way right to Twilight Sparkle’s bedroom. It shone on her forehead. A tiny spark emerged and floated out her window. The same thing happened to Pinkie Pie, to Applejack, and to all the girls. The beam of light from the Memory Stone took away the spark that held all their nice memories of Sunset Shimmer. The sparks drifted through the nighttime sky under the stars. They found their way back to the Memory Stone. Whoosh! The Memory Stone stopped glowing. It had absorbed all the students’ memories. Wallflower lifted her fingers off the Stone and opened her eyes. The curse was complete.
Sunset Shimmer let go of Wallflower’s wrist. “You erased everyone’s memories?”
Wallflower stared at her defiantly. “Yes.”
“Wait, who are you again?” Trixie was confused.
Let's Forget This Ever Happened
This was the last straw for Wallflower. “I feel like I’m a ghost that nobody sees!” she exploded. “The trees, the plants—they’re the only ones that notice me. But not you, never you, never somebody I actually go to school with and sit next to in class.”
Sunset Shimmer was thinking fast. They didn’t have any time to lose. They had to find the Memory Stone fast—and Wallflower would have to take them to it. Sunset Shimmer glanced at Trixie, trying to be subtle. She nodded. Trixie immediately understood what she was saying. Sunset Shimmer began inching toward Wallflower’s backpack while Trixie kept her attention.
Wallflower continued her tirade. “I’m always alone. Except for my shadow. And I don’t even think you see that!” She didn’t notice that Sunset Shimmer was sneaking past her.
“I’m invisible!” cried Wallflower dramatically. “It’s like… like… like I don’t exist.”
Sunset Shimmer quietly unzipped Wallflower’s backpack. Luckily, Wallflower didn’t seem to hear her. She was too absorbed in what she had to say.
“I’m an empty book no one will ever read! Next to my name in the yearbook will just be a blank, a question mark, an empty space. No one’s ever going to remember me, but will I ever forget how much it hurts to be ignored?” Nervously, Sunset Shimmer felt inside the last compartment of the backpack.
“I’m like a fading star at dawn,” Wallflower moaned. “Invisible!”
Sunset’s fingers touched something hard in the backpack. The Memory Stone? It must be! She was just about to pull it out when Wallflower stopped her and snatched away the backpack.
“What did I do to you?” Sunset Shimmer pleaded. “I don’t even know you!”
“Exactly!” shouted Wallflower, furious. “You had everyone fooled, but now they know you’re still the Biggest Meanie!”
Sunset Shimmer swiped the freshman yearbook across the table, startling everyone. Her eyes were blazing. “You’re about to see how mean I can get!”
Trixie was startled. “Whoa, whoa! Let’s not antagonize the person with the all-powerful mystery rock!”
Wallflower clutched the glowing Memory Stone. “I don’t like confrontation,” she hissed. “Let’s just forget this conversation ever happened!”
She whispered something to the Stone in her hands. A beam of light shot out from it and zapped Sunset Shimmer right in the forehead. Another beam zapped Trixie. Their foreheads glowed. For a moment, it was as if they were watching themselves in reverse. Sunset Shimmer lunged for Wallflower, begging her for the Memory Stone, but it was too late.
Sometime later, Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes. She felt as if she was waking up after a long nap. Why was she in the yearbook office? What was Trixie doing beside her?
“What was I saying?” Trixie asked groggily. “I’m sure it was something brilliant.” She rubbed her eyes and looked around the room. It was three o’clock. Where had the day gone? She staggered up and headed toward the door, but it wouldn’t open. She jiggled the handle. The door was locked. How strange!
“What are we even doing in here?” she wondered out loud.
Poor Sunset Shimmer rubbed her head. It hurt as if she had hit it. There was something, something she was supposed to do, but she just couldn’t think what it was. What was it?
“I don’t remember anything,” she whispered with a terrible feeling of dread.
A Magic Moment
The school day was over, and most of the students had left the building. The athletes were on the field practicing. A few kids were hanging out, talking at their lockers. From far away down the hallway came the sound of yelling and pounding.
But no one walked past the yearbook office. No one saw the door shaking. No one heard the banging.
“Is anybody out there?” called Sunset Shimmer, her voice muffled. “Somebody open the door!”
Trixie leaned back in a desk chair and watched Sunset Shimmer freak out. Sunset Shimmer shouted and banged, but nothing happened. Eventually exhausted, she collapsed onto the floor.
“If we don’t get out of here and figure out who has the Memory Stone,” she sighed, “in a few hours it will be too late to restore everyone’s memories. I’ll lose my friends forever!”
Trixie shook her head sadly. “Doesn’t matter if we get out. How are we supposed to catch someone who can erase our memory every time we get close to catching them?”
But her words triggered something for Sunset Shimmer. Her eyes lit up, and she began thrusting her hands into her pockets. Even if she couldn’t remember what it was, she knew there was something that she needed to look for. She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.
The only way to catch someone with the Memory Stone was by being just like Clover the Clever! “Look!” she exclaimed to Trixie, holding up the piece of paper. “I wrote myself a note.”
Trixie leaned in close. “Check the video,” she read out loud. She wrinkled her brow. That wasn’t very helpful. What video?
But Sunset Shimmer had already spotted Twilight Sparkle’s camera drone. It was plugged into one of the computers. A red light was blinking. Barely able to breathe with excitement, Sunset Shimmer picked it up to inspect it. “Yes!” she shouted with relief. “It’s been recording this whole time!”
“Twilight’s camera? What are you talking about?” wondered Trixie.
“I don’t remember doing it,” Sunset Shimmer explained. “But I must have realized our memories could get erased, so I pressed record at some point! I left a trail of bread crumbs so we could find our way to the Memory Stone!”
Trixie bit her lip with anticipation. Sunset Shimmer pressed play. The video began p
laying. Sunset Shimmer’s face filled the screen as she adjusted the camera. She gave a thumbs-up sign. Everything was working according to plan.
“Clever!” nodded Trixie, clearly impressed.
“I can’t take credit for the idea,” said Sunset Shimmer. Thank goodness she’d learned about Clover the Clever’s ordeal.
On the video, Sunset Shimmer was slinking up behind Wallflower, who was editing her photo at her computer.
Trixie scratched her head, confused. “Who’s that?” she asked.
“Wallflower,” answered Sunset Shimmer.
“Name’s not ringing a bell,” Trixie said with a shrug.
The girls continued watching the video. Wallflower was going on and on about being invisible. Trixie rolled her eyes and pressed fast forward. They watched Wallflower talking super fast.
“She’s got a lot to say, huh?” said Trixie. When Wallflower seemed to be done, Trixie took her finger off the button so the video could play at regular speed.
Sunset Shimmer confronted Wallflower. “What did I do to you? I don’t even know you!” she was saying on the video.
“Exactly!” answered the recorded Wallflower triumphantly.
Trixie nodded. She’d just figured something out. But she needed to see more of the video to make absolutely certain that her hunch was correct.
On the video, Wallflower was shouting at Sunset Shimmer. “You had everyone fooled, but now they know you’re still the Biggest Meanie!”
“You’re about to see how mean I can get!” said Sunset Shimmer.
Trixie was surprised by Sunset Shimmer’s anger. She pressed pause. “You know,” she said, “she’s kinda right about you.”
“Thanks,” Sunset Shimmer responded sarcastically.
Trixie cleared her throat. “Actually, the Wise and Moralizing Trixie was making a point.” She gestured toward the video. “You said you didn’t do anything.”
“I didn’t!” Sunset Shimmer was exasperated. “I wasn’t mean to her at all!”
Trixie took a big breath. She’d had a big realization, but it would be hard to put it into words. She was sure she could do it. After all, she was pretty great and powerful. “Maybe,” began Trixie, “it’s not good enough to not be mean to someone.”
Sunset Shimmer stared at her. She had no idea yet what Trixie was trying to get at.
“Maybe,” Trixie continued, “you have to be nice.”
Sunset Shimmer’s mouth fell open in amazement. It was so simple and so obvious. But she’d never thought about it that way before. She nodded in agreement. “You’re right.”
“Always,” Trixie said with a grin.
“Not that it matters,” Sunset Shimmer sighed. “I’m still trapped in here. Unless you can magic us out of here?”
But Trixie’s magic was mostly of the smoke- bomb variety—and it didn’t exactly open locked doors. “What’s the point in trying,” she said, feeling defeated again. “You’ve seen enough of my tricks to know what’ll happen.”
Sunset Shimmer flicked through the photos on the camera drone. There was the picture of all her friends—all her ex-friends—taking their picture together. Not only wasn’t she going to be in the yearbook with them, but after sunset they would never remember that they had ever been her friend. But she would never be as lonely as she had been before.
Sunset Shimmer smiled at Trixie. “At least when the sun goes down and everyone hates me forever, I’ll still have one friend.”
Trixie was surprised. Was Sunset Shimmer really talking about her?
“And I mean,” added Sunset Shimmer, “she is the Greatest and Most Powerful Canterlot High School has to offer, so I guess I can’t complain.”
Trixie beamed, genuinely happy. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the Best Friends picture. She had to do something for Sunset Shimmer. After all, they were friends.
“You poor fool!” she said to Sunset Shimmer. “You actually believed me when I pretended to give up? Mere stage banter! The Great and Powerful Trixie never gives up on herself… or her friends.”
In a booming stage voice, Trixie announced, “Behold! The Magician’s Exit!” She threw something into the middle of the room. It flashed, it popped, it smoked, and when the smoke cleared, Trixie was stunned to find herself out in the hallway. “It worked!” she exclaimed. “It worked! Yes! I finally did it!”
For the first time ever, Trixie had pulled off a real magic trick. She jumped up and down, she was so thrilled. Still, she needed to pull herself together. “Ahem,” she said, calming down. “I’d tell you how, but a magician never reveals her secrets.…”
There was only one problem. She was all alone in the hallway. Sunset Shimmer was still locked in the yearbook office!
“Still in here!” shouted Sunset Shimmer, banging on the door.
“Umm,” answered Trixie, stalling. “All part of the trick! I’ll have you out in a jiffy!”
Trixie threw down another smoke bomb and wished with all her might that Sunset Shimmer might end up beside her. When the smoke cleared, Sunset Shimmer was in the hallway. Only problem: Trixie was back in the yearbook office!
“Know what?” yelled Trixie. “Leave me here! I’d rather be remembered as a martyr anyway.”
“I owe you one, Trixie,” said Sunset Shimmer. “I will never forget this!” She took off down the hallway.
“Never say never,” sighed Trixie, still stuck in the room. If she’d learned one thing, it was how easy it could be to forget someone.
Cursed!
Sunset Shimmer looked everywhere for Wallflower. Where could she have gone? The hallways were empty, no one was in the library, and everyone seemed to have gone home. Sunset Shimmer dashed out the front doors and scanned the parking lot.
Sunset Shimmer was so intent on looking for Wallflower she didn’t see the car headed right for her. Honk! Honk! Flash Sentry slammed on his brakes just as Sunset Shimmer jumped out of the way.
Sunset Shimmer shielded her eyes. The sun sank lower in the sky. At the very edge of campus, near the woods, she saw a figure running. “Wallflower! Stop!” yelled Sunset Shimmer.
Sunset Shimmer ran to catch up with her and passed her ex-friends all standing around Applejack’s truck. But she had no time to try to explain to them what she was doing.
Wallflower behaved completely innocently as Sunset Shimmer approached her. “You remember my name?” she asked.
“I remember everything!” answered Sunset Shimmer. “The Memory Stone! How I acted, all of it.”
Wallflower’s face turned red. “What? How? I erased the whole afternoon!” she shouted.
“Listen,” begged Sunset Shimmer, trying to catch her breath. “I used to be just like you. Sure, I was popular, but I was lonely.”
Wallflower couldn’t believe it. “You’re nothing like me, and I’m not lonely. I have my plants!” She cleared her throat. “That sounded less lonely in my head.”
Applejack and the other girls watched them. Wallflower blushed, realizing they were listening.
“I’m sorry, Wallflower,” apologized Sunset Shimmer.
“No, you’re not,” Wallflower insisted. “You’re just trying to look good in front of your friends. And it’s working! Arrrgh! How am I supposed to get back at you if nothing I do matters? I hate you!”
Sunset Shimmer winced and dropped her head.
The other girls were confused. What was going on? Sunset Shimmer was behaving so respectfully, but Wallflower seemed kind of out of control. Fluttershy covered her bunny’s ears so he couldn’t hear all the mean words and shouting.
Wallflower reached into her backpack. In her hands was the Memory Stone. “I wanted to teach you a lesson by erasing your friends’ good memories of you,” she told Sunset Shimmer. “But obviously that didn’t work. But what if I erased all their memories of high school?” Wallflower grinned maniacally.
“You can’t,” pleaded Sunset Shimmer. “You’d be stealing their memories of one another!”
It was one th
ing for the girls not to remember their friendship with her, but what would it mean if they lost all thoughts of their wonderful adventures together?
The Memory Stone glowed. Wallflower held it tightly and closed her eyes. She concentrated.
Twilight was scared. Her eyes were on Wallflower.
“They won’t be friends anymore,” Sunset Shimmer cried.
Wind swirled around Wallflower. The Stone glowed brighter and brighter. The sun was lower than ever on the horizon. What could Sunset Shimmer do? She had no idea.
Wallflower cackled with glee. “They’ll think of one another the way you think of me, which is not at all!”
Zap!
A beam of light shot out of the Memory Stone.
“No!” cried Sunset Shimmer, hurling herself in front of it. White light surrounded her. “I ruined their friendship once before. I’d rather give up my own memories than let it happen again!”
Memories poured out of Sunset Shimmer. A tiny spark with a ghostly image of Fluttershy emerged from her forehead.
“Argh!” Sunset Shimmer screamed. “Fluttershy! No!”
Another spark flew out of Sunset Shimmer’s forehead. It was a ghostly Applejack. Sunset Shimmer could feel her leaving. “No! No! No!”
Sunset Shimmer fell to her knees, stricken. It was one thing for all her friends to forget her, and something so much more terrible for her to lose her memories of them. Tears poured down her cheeks as the memories vanished. Another spark emerged. It was Rarity.
“Rarity!” shouted Sunset Shimmer.
What was happening? The girls watched Sunset Shimmer’s ordeal without understanding it. Why was she calling their names? Why was she so upset? Did she care about them all this much?
Sparks of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie left Sunset Shimmer. Her eyes fluttered. It was too much for her. It hurt her heart. “Pinkie Pie! Good-bye, Pinkie Pie! Good-bye, Rainbow Dash!”
