Friendship is Magic: the Memory Thief - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Total Recall

There was a brief moment of silence from what Flash had just said to Twilight: about her being a coward when it came to friendship.
Shining Armor then stepped in and broke the silence as he said, “Now wait just a minute, Flash Sentry! That is going WAY too far! > : (“

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash agreed, “Calling someone a coward? And that particular someone being someone that you claim to be your friend? Where the heck do you get off like that?!”
“And to think,” Rarity added, “YOU, Flash Sentry, of all ponies are supposed to be a noble member of the Royal Guard!”

“You’ve got no right talking to Twilight like that!” Spike said to Flash, as he then turned to a sad, discontent Twilight and said, “Right, Twilight? …Twilight? Twilight, what’s wrong? Why won’t you say anything? ”

Twilight simply turned her back on everypony in front of her and started to walk away without saying a word.
“Twily? “ Shining asked her concerned, as Twilight stopped in her tracks.

About twenty seconds passed from that until Twilight finally spoke, without looking at anyone, “Flash… you really have no right to say something so cruel, considering that I don’t even remember ever meeting you… As for me being a coward when it comes to making and having friends… and never allowing myself to do so much better than that… If you really did know me, then you would probably already know that I… that I… that I…”

Twilight was clearly starting to tear up as she continued, “I already know… I already know that I’m holding myself back from making friends… and I know that it’s partially… or perhaps mainly because… I’m doing it out of fear…”

Twilight then turned around to face everypony and said with tears running down her face, “But it’s not like I really have any other choice! I’m Princess Celestia’s personal student! Do you hear me?! The personal student of the ruler of all Equestria, perhaps the most powerful being in the entire world! I HAVE to constantly study to meet up to her expectations, as well as everypony else around me! And to do that, I need to focus all of my time and life towards my studies and nothing else! So, it’s not like I push away others from becoming my friends because I want to! I do it because I have to! And I certainly doubt I really am the kind of pony you say I am! Not to mention that I have the kind of adventurous life you say I do! I just don’t see it happening to me! Not in the very least! I mean, the next thing you’ll be telling me is that the reason I’m an alicorn is because Princess Celestia turned me into one so I could become the newest Princess of Equestria! Or that my big brother Shining and Cadence are married to each other! Or that they themselves are their own kinds of rulers in this world! Or that you and I are supposedly a couple!”

There was another brief moment of silence before Flash said a bit sheepishly, “Uh… well- ”
“Just shut up, Flash! You’ve said and done enough!” Twilight yelled at him before he could say anything else.
Twilight then backed away slowly from everypony as she sobbed, “I… I just don’t see someone like me having any friends at all… nor do I see myself having any kind of happy life with them… I… I… I just… I JUST DON’T SEE IT AT ALL!!!”

Twilight continued crying as she quickly ran away from the campsite and starting going down the river that lead down straight back into Neighagra Town.
“Twilight, wait!” Flash said, as he began to fly after her, only to be stopped dead in his tracks by Shining Armor.
“No, Flash Sentry,” Shining said to him quite seriously, “Like my sister said, you’ve done and said enough to her already. > : (“

Shining then ran off after his little sister, as Spike hopped onto his back and rode with him towards Twilight.
Flash just stood there, looking at everypony else that was around him. He looked down with his ears flopping down, feeling guilty about what he just said and did, “What have I done…? ”

“Uh, DUH, you just hurt a poor girl’s feelings,” Rainbow Dash replied to him, “That’s what.”
“Rainbow!” Applejack said to her, as he walked up to Flash and said to him, “Look, sugarcube, we understand that yer heart is basically in the right place… and I’m sure y’all didn’t mean to say somethin’ so cruel… but y’all really did go too far with sayin’ that Twilight was a coward.”

“I know, I know,” Flash replied, face-hoofing himself, “Ugh! I feel like such a moron… XP”
“So, Mr. Sentry,” Cadence said to him, “What now?”
“To be honest… I don’t know,” Flash replied a bit sadly, “I guess all we can do now is wait for Shining and Spike to come back with Twilight after talking some sense into her, so we can all then discuss a plan on how to get our memories back from Aisenma.”

“Well, uh…” Fluttershy began, looking at three certain fillies, “I-I-I think that maybe, um… we should head into Neighagra Town and see if we can find the families of Minty, Pipsqueak, and Twist here.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Applebloom agreed.
“Yeah,” said Scootaloo, “And we might be able to find some clues to help us figure out how to undo what that Aisenma witch did to us and everypony else, too.”

“We should definitely report what’s been happening here to Princess Celestia,” Cadence said to everypony, “I don’t know how this Aisenma character has been able to allude her horrible actions from my powerful aunt for over the past two hundred years, but hopefully we’ll find the answer to that soon enough.”
“But we gotta wait until Spike gets back,” Flash replied.
Cadence said to him simply, “Yeah… no, we don’t.”

Cadence then quickly used her magic to materialize a piece of parchment and an inked quill in front of her as she said to Flash, “You didn’t honestly believe that Spike was the only method of sending letters to and from Princess Celestia now, did you? ”
“Uh… actually, yeah, kind of ” Flash replied a bit sheepishly, obviously speaking on behalf of EVERYBODY (i.e. pony-wise and viewer/reader-wise ).

Cadence couldn’t help but giggle a little bit at that reply, as she went to work to writing to both her aunts Celestia and Luna, letting them both know what had been going on in Neighagra Falls in the last few days, not to mention that it had been basically happening to everypony in that region for the past 200 years. Once Cadence was done writing the letter, she used her magic to turn it into dust that blew away towards Canterlot.

Rainbow Dash then asked Cadence, “Has anyone ever told you that you truly are awesome, Princess? ”
Cadence simply yet happily shrugged as she replied, “Eh, more or less than expected.”

Little did they know AGAIN that they were being watched AGAIN by none other Aisenma, as her pink eyes with red pupils were within the reflection of Neighagra Lake; she saw the group of ponies at the campsite through her magic cauldron, with a tiny, light orange unicorn filly wearing a black shroud-cloak watching right by the evil witch’s side.

“Celestia is on her way here?!” Aisenma asked angrily, “This is very bad… I’m running out of time! I guess it’s now or never.”
“What are you going to do, Master?” the little unicorn filly asked her, “It looks like your plan is going to fail after all.”
“Oh, don’t worry, Firelock,” Aisenma replied to her a bit maliciously, “I assure you that I know what to do to make sure my vengeance is carried out as hoped for.”

Aisenma then held up the Black Pearl from around her neck, and said to Firelock as it glowed grey, “And you’re going to play an important role in it. > : )”
The next thing that could be heard from within Aisenma’s dark evil lair was the sound of the poor little servant’s terrified screaming.
However, it turned out to be so loud that it reached out almost half of the entire region of Neighagra Falls, and it all came from right behind the giant, long, and incredibly wide waterfalls themselves, which were right where Flash, Cadence, and the rest of their group had been camping by.

Meanwhile, back down the river towards Neighagra Town, both Shining Armor and Spike were out practically in the middle of the entire region of Neighagra Falls, still trying to find Twilight, when they had heard the screaming of the poor little filly from back at the falls.
“Did you hear that?” Spike asked Shining, quite scared.
“I did,” he replied, “And there’s no way THAT can be a good sign.”
Shining then heard something else: crying, and it was coming from close by.
“Twily??” Shining asked, as he headed straight towards the direction of his sister’s weeping.

Shining and Spike had both ended up at a huge tree, with a giant, hollow hole in its very big and thick bark. Inside of that empty hole was a crying Twilight, curled up in a fetal-positioned ball with her back turned towards the outside and her face turned straight towards the wooden wall in front of her.

Shining Armor and Spike both approached her slowly, then Spike said to her gently, “Twilight? Are you okay? < : (“
Twilight sniffed as she said with her voice all broken up, “What do YOU think, Spike…?”
“Look, Twily,” Shining said to her, “I understand you’re upset, and you probably have every single right to be after what that jerk, Flash, said to you. But one thing is certain: you can’t stay in that tree, running away from your problems forever. And if you, me, Spike, Cadence, and all the other ponies back at that campsite are gonna figure out how to make things right again – how we can get our memories back – then we all need to stick together and look out for each other, no matter what.”

“Why should I?!” Twilight yelled back at Shining Armor, “I don’t even remember or recall ANY of those other ponies!”
“Well, some of them certainly remember you,” Spike replied to her, “And that Flash Sentry guy certainly seems to know a lot about all of us.”

Twilight replied sarcastically, “Oh, yeah, he certainly does. Especially about me being afraid to make friends with anyone! I mean, how can I even trust that Flash or anypony else back there?! Shining… Spike… I know you two and Cadence are only wanting to help me out… and maybe those other ponies want to help me out as well… maybe even become friends with me… and believe me when I say that… I… I DO want them to help me… I DO want to at least give them a chance to be my friends… but how do I know if I can even trust them or not?! I mean… I… I… I don’t think I even know the very first thing about friendship at all… T^T”

Just then, Twilight’s eyes widened as she suddenly recalled something that just popped up into her mind: a young girl that was about her age and who had long red hair with yellow highlights, and she was crying her eyes out as she said to what appeared to be some sort of alternate version of Twilight herself, “I don’t even know the first thing about friendship…!”

The alternate Twilight had helped the lonely girl up to her feet as she pointed to a bunch of other girls that looked kind of similar to five ponies that Twilight had just met today. Her supposedly alternate self then said gently to the hurt, red-headed girl who obviously needed help, “I bet THEY could teach you. ”

Twilight slowly sat up, her face now looking down on the wooden floor but still turned away from Shining Armor and Spike. She then grasped her forehead with her right hoof and said to herself, “Wha… what was that just now…? It felt so… familiar…”

“Twilight?” Spike asked her.
“I… I think…” Twilight began, “I think I just… remembered something.”
“What? What is it?” Shining Armor asked her.
“I’m… I’m not sure, but… I feel as if…” Twilight continued, but just stopped there for a while until she finally turned to face both Spike and Shining Armor. Just then, another image went off in her mind about both Spike and Shining Armor: Twilight saw Spike falling downward with a heart-shaped object that was made out of what appeared to be crystal, while some sort of monstrous creature made out of what seemed to be pure dark magic was heading straight towards Spike. Next thing that happened was Shining Armor throwing Cadence like some sort of javelin or spear, and then Cadence grabbing and taking both Spike and the crystal object to safety. And then finally, the dark monster being vanquished by the magical power of the crystal city they had all been in.

Twilight grasped her head again with both of her hooves, groaning a little bit as she tried to concentrate. She ended up also remembering what appeared to be a time when Spike went off on a quest to discover what kind of dragon he truly was, then afterwards having a pet baby phoenix named Peewee for a short time… before having to give it back to its original family of phoenixes after causing a bit too much trouble for Twilight’s tolerance.

Twilight also recalled Shining Armor and Cadence getting married in Canterlot, almost mainly thanks to Twilight and five other ponies helping out in taking down a huge invading swarm of insect-like, pony-shaped creatures called “Changelings”.

And one more thing that Twilight remembered about the five ponies that were appearing with her in her mind was their names: Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. And the very feelings she was getting at that moment from recalling those five specific ponies were feelings of joy, happiness, tranquility, clarity, understanding, and perhaps most of all, love and compassion.

A few more tears were now running down Twilight’s face, but this time she couldn’t help but smile a little all the while.

Spike and Shining Armor both looked at each other, a bit confused at what was happening: first Twilight was sad and depressed, now she was crying tears of joy. If they didn’t know any better, they both would say that Twilight was having some major “mood swings” right now.

Shining Armor walked up to Twilight as he said, “Twi-”
He was quickly interrupted by the swift passing of Twilight, as she ended up using her new alicorn wings to fly right pass Shining Armor and Spike and back up the river, towards where their campsite was.

“Twilight, where are you going?” Shining Armor called out to her.
“I’m going back to the campsite! ” Twilight replied back to him, “To be honest, I can’t really explain it but I just feel like I really need to get back to those other ponies. Because I think you’re right, Shining Armor: our best chance at finding out what’s really happened to our memories, or at least what’s really going on, is if we all stick together.”

“Uh… okay then,” said Shining Armor, as he ran back to camp with Spike riding on his back again, “Glad I was able to convince you, Twily. ”

Meanwhile, back at the campsite, a certain, memory-stealing dark witch had finally shown herself to Flash, Cadence, and the rest of the group. And she did it by showing up in front of them all, practically right out of nowhere. Nopony knew how she had found them all so easily and quickly, but Flash could immediately tell why.

“Well, well, well,” said Flash, as he drew the Unidas Sword and held it firmly in his hooves, ready to strike with it, “Look who finally decided to show up.”
Everypony else quickly got back and stepped away from Aisenma, while still readying themselves for anything devious that she might try. Pinkie Pie and all of the little foals hid behind Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity, who all basically hid behind Princess Cadence.

“Hello there, my little ponies,” Aisenma said maliciously, “And especially to you, Mr. Sentry.”
Flash smirked as he replied, “If you’re trying to flirt with me, sweetheart, don’t bother because A) I don’t flirt with skanks like you, and B) I don’t flirt with skanks who are obviously old enough to be my grandma’s grandma. ”

Aisenma snarled angrily at that remark, while Rainbow Dash flew next to Flash and said to him, “OH…!! Nice one! ”
“Yeah, it was ” Flash replied, as he shared a hoof-bump with Rainbow.

Everypony else couldn’t help but laugh and chuckle at what Flash had just said to the memory thief, especially Pinkie Pie as she couldn’t help but laugh out loud while rolling around on the ground and kicking her hind-legs up.

“Old enough to be your grandma’s grandma! ” Pinkie Pie stated with her cute, buck pony teeth showing, “That’s so funny and brilliant because it’s so true! XD”

Aisenma simply grinned as she said, “Oh, laugh while you all can… because I’m the one who will in the end have the last laugh. > : )”

Aisenma then took off her black cloak, finally revealing to everyone what she truly looked like underneath the shroud: she was shaped like a pony, and she had the horn of a unicorn on her forehead, but her eyes were almost completely pink with red pupils. Her snowy white hair was somewhat short, but lusciously thick and flowing. Her skin color dark grey, her ears were aerodynamically pointy like an elf’s, and to top it all off, she looked as… well… alluring as Princess Luna herself, which meant even though Aisena was technically about 230 years old, she appeared like she was no older than Cadence or Shining Armor.

Everyone was quite surprised to see this, as Flash said, “Holy Hayseed… O.o”
“Not bad for someone who’s over two centuries old, don’t you think? ” Aisenma asked.
Rarity replied by whistling out simply yet in a snarky manner, “~You’re still old enough to be the grandma of somepony’s grandma… ^^”

Everypony couldn’t help but laugh out loud again at that joke, which was once again very much at Aisnema’s expense.
“Oh, man! ” Rainbow Dash said a bit gleefully, “OH… Deuce! Deuce! Two times in a row, witch! ”

“Oh…” Applejack said, wiping away her tears of laughter, “Seriously, though… just what in tarnation kinda pony are YOU supposed to be?”
“I’m what you would call a Lutine,” Aisenma replied.
“A Lu-wha…?? ” Rainbow Dash asked.
“A Lutine,” said Aisenma, “A mischievous creature that’s supposed to live in secrecy amongst the other creatures of this world’s forests. In fact, at one time, we Lutines lived peacefully amongst the Waheela, like you’re new little friend, Beo over there.”

Beo had been hiding in Fluttershy’s thick, light pink mane, as he poked his furry head out from hiding to take a good look at and growl quietly at the dark witch that stood before everypony.
“You once lived amongst Beo’s kind…?” Fluttershy asked Aisenma, as she then realized something terrifying, “Wait… don’t tell me that… Beo’s kind… the Waheela… all went extinct over 200 years ago… because of YOU…! < : (“

Aisenma simply smirked and ran her smooth hoof through her hair as she replied quite fiendishly, “Not exactly…”
Everypony else was really becoming aware of what kind of monster they could be dealing with.
“What is THAT supposed to mean? > : (“ Rainbow Dash demanded.

“I could tell you…” said Aisenma, as she then tapped her hoof into the ground twice and caused a certain part and amount of the lake’s water behind her to glow dark blue, “But considering that Princess Celestia herself will be right here at this lake any minute now, I think I’ve wasted enough time talking to you fools. ^^”

The dark water behind Aisenma then began to rise up from the lake and take form. Before anypony knew it, what stood before them was a giant, humanoid-like monster made completely out of water.

“Sweet Mother of all Equestria…” Cadence said, “She just used an Elemental Golem Spell! But using that kind of magic is forbidden because it’s considered to be  almost completely against nature itself!”
“Oh, puh-lease…” Aisenma said, sounding snooty, “Practically from the ground up, I’ve spent the last two hundred years studying how to use dark and forbidden magic of all kinds in order to get where I am now. You honestly think I care about what Mother Nature would have to say about me?”

“Well, I for one have some things I’d like to say about you > : (” Rainbow Dash replied to Aisema.
“I was about to say the same thing to her, Rainbow dear,” Rarity added, “But unfortunately and obviously, what we would like to say about her can’t be said because there are children watching.”

Cadence’s horn glowed with her yellow magic as she said, “Then why don’t we just have our actions do the talking, girls? > : )”
“Sounds good to me, your Highness > : )” Applejack agreed, tilting her cowgirl hat down and looking mighty fierce.
“Ditto ” Pinkie Pie added, bringing out her Party Cannon.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you…” Aisenma replied.
“Oh, no, here it comes… XP” Flash stated, remembering what happened the last time he tried to confront Aisenma.
The giant Water Golem’s chest glowed dark blue as it brought out and revealed that little Firelock was being used as a hostage by the giant water monster.

Everypony gasped as they saw this. Firelock was of course unconscious yet still breathing.
“Hey, I think I recognize that there filly!” Applebloom stated, “I think that there filly is named Firelock. She goes to my school back in Ponyville.”

“Oh, is that so?” asked an intrigued Aisenma, “Well then, I guess you really shouldn’t try to take me on here and now, otherwise I’ll use my magic to make my Water Golem here boil up like a pot of soup. Then I’ll have to serve you all some tasty Soup a la Firelock. > : )”

“You really are sick and twisted beyond all reason, you know that?! > : (“ Flash yelled at her.
“I’m only like this because of your precious Princess Celestia,” Aisenma retorted, just before a certain purple alicorn had teleported herself out of nowhere to where Firelock was.
“Twilight? O.O” Flash said, as the purple alicorn quickly pulled Firelock out of the Water Golem’s watery chest and then teleported both of them back to where Shining Armor and Spike were, just in time to watch Shining Armor quickly cast a Freezing Spell on the Water Golem that froze it completely solid from inside-out.

“Quite frankly, Aisenma,” Twilight said to her, with Firelock in the Princess’s arms, “I think it’s because of Princess Celestia that I’m like this: somepony who actually cares about those around her a lot more than her own selfish desires… especially after she’s, you know, vented out and sorted out a few things in her head. ”

“Twilight! Shining! ” Cadence cried out happily, as she flew up to both of her beloved ponies and embraced them in big ol’ hug.

“Now you honestly didn’t think we’d miss this party, did you? ” Spike asked Cadence.
“I certainly hope I haven’t missed out on it yet,” said a certain celestial voice from above, as everyone looked up to see a very familiar alicorn and ruler of Equestria land on the ground and stand before them all.
“Princess Celestia! ” Twilight said, as she ran over to her mentor and hugged her.
“Hello, Twilight, I’m sorry it took me so long to get here,” Celestia replied, hugging her dear student back, “But it looks I got here just in time.”

“Oh, you are just in time, Princess Celestia…” Aisenma said, as her magic horn and eyes all glowed with a multicolored light, “Just in time for your destruction!”

Just then, the Water Golem that had been frozen solid started moving around again, but this time as an Ice Golem. And while a new Water Golem began to take form next to the Ice Golem, the ground to Aisenma’s right began to shake and quake, as another Elemental Golem began to take form right then and there. This one was made out of dirt, mud, and stone: an Earth Golem.

Rainbow Dash scoffed like the pony she was and said, “Pffft. So you got three gigantic golems. Big deal.”
The group’s campfire that was still going on at the time suddenly burst up as a huge pillar of fire, which then took the gigantic form of a Fire Golem.
“Okay O.o” Rainbow Dash admitted, “THAT right there might be a bit of a game changer… ”

Aisenma cackled evilly and loudly as she said to Celestia, “What do you think, Princess?! How do you like me NOW?!?! > : )”
“Well, as far as liking you goes,” Celestia replied simply, “I still feel sorry for you wasting your magical talents on committing such pointless taboo. And as for what I think…”
Celestia smiled casually as she said, “I think NOW would be a good time for my backup to do their thing.”
“Backup?” Twilight asked her teacher.
“Backup?? ” Everyone else asked in unison.
“What backup?” Aisenma asked, just before seeing each and every one of her Elemental Golems be evaporated right on the spot and then transforming into what appeared to be pink, fluffy, cotton candy-like clouds that poured down onto everypony brown-colored rain.

Pinkie Pie held out her tongue to taste the rain and gasped happily, “Oh, my gosh! This is chocolate milk! It’s raining chocolate milk! It’s chocolate rain! ”
Pinkie Pie happily opened her mouth as widely as she could to fill up her mouth and cheeks with the chocolaty, milky goodness.

“Chocolate rain…? ” Twilight asked, as she then had a couple more recalled images appear in her head and made her realize something important, “O.O Wait a sec… If this is chocolate rain, then this must mean that Princess Celestia’s backup is…!”

Twilight turned to see that from right behind Princess Celestia was a certain, chimera-like creature that was casually strolling down the river saying, “Her backup would be the one who led her here. Wasn’t that hard, really, given the fact that I could sense a pretty high level of darkly magical and chaotic activity going on in this region, particularly around this very lake and the Falls themselves.”

The weird-looking yet somewhat charming creature then turned to Twilight and the rest of the group and said, “Hel-looooo, my little ponies! It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it? ”
“Discord! ” Twilight said happily, “Oh, wow, I never thought I’d actually say this, but you have no idea how glad I am to see YOU right now. ^^”

“Wait a minute… O.o” Aisenma said, realizing something important herself, “Twilight… did you… just call him ‘Discord’…??”
“Well, duh, why wouldn’t I? ” Twilight replied, “He is a friend, after all. Or at least, most of the time. ”
Discord then said to Twilight, “Aww, you know me so well. ^3^”

“Wait a second,” Flash said, “Does that mean-”
Flash got interrupted by Aisenma as she couldn’t help but scream terrified yet in quite a hilarious manner, “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! DON’T TELL MEEEEE!!!!”
“That’s right, Aisenma,” Twilight said to her confidently, “I don’t fully understand it myself, but one thing is understandable enough: whatever dark magic you’ve been using to steal our memories and keep us from really remembering anything at all, it’s starting to wear off on me. > : )”

“Whoa, really?! ” Rainbow Dash asked, “That is awesome! ”
“No!!! How is this possible?!” Aisenma asked.
“I think I know why,” Princess Celestia replied, “Your Memory Theft Spell may be one of the most powerful dark spells there is, Aisenma, and because of that, it really can have permanent damage on your victims when they’re your ordinary ponies. But in case you have failed to realize by now, Twilight Sparkle and all of her friends and family are anything BUT ordinary. It’s because of the bonds of friendship and love she has developed with all of these ponies that your dark magic can’t last forever on her, and I suspect that just about everypony else here will start getting their memories back on their own soon enough. But Twilight here is first in line to do so because the friendships she has made with these ponies here ever since she first moved to Ponyville have almost always been at their purest and most well balanced. And while your evil ways can hurt them, Aisenma, they certainly cannot destroy them. Because when it comes right down to it, Twilight and her friends and family will NOT let you, no matter what!”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile and blush at her mentor as she said, “Wow… is that all… really true…? <:///)”
“Absolutely ” said Princess Celestia, as she was then interrupted by the sound of Discord blowing his nose into a hanky while crying.

Discord then said teary-eyed, “Trust me, Twilight. :,) * sniff * I’ve always been led to believe that the mushiest speeches are usually the most true. And everything Celestia just said is 100% true because that was without a doubt the mushiest piece of work I have ever heard in my entire life.”
Discord blew his nose harder as he finished.
“Uh… thank you, Discord ” Celestia replied sheepishly.

“Well, there you have it, Aisenma,” Twilight said to her, as she made a readied stance with her magic horn glowing sparkle purple, “You have no power over me nor my friends, and I’m not gonna let you hurt them nor anyone else. You got that?”

“But, but, but, but, but, but…! O.o” Aisenma stated.
Pinkie Pie gasped and said, “Aisenma…! You may be a dark witch, but you should really watch your language!”

“Why are you sticking up for THEM?!” Aisenma said to Twilight, “Even if what Celestia said is true, you don’t even remember any of them at all!”
“Uh, DUH, because of YOU, ya dumb flank!” Twilight replied to her, “And besides, Aisenma, I realized something very, very important… Flash WAS absolutely right: I WAS once a coward when it came to friendship.”

Everyone around Twilight was quite surprised to hear this, especially Flash.
Twilight continued, “I was once a pony who didn’t truly see nor understand the importance of friendship. And I was certainly ticked off when Princess Celestia basically had me relocated to Ponyville just in order for me to make friends. But you know what? THAT turned out to be the very best thing that could have ever happened to me! Because when I met all of my Ponyville friends there for the first time, everything that happened after that and continued to happen up until now when we first came here to Neighagra Falls… I truly learned a lot more than I ever could from any book when it came to friendship. And along the way, not only did I learn a lot about my friends, but I also learned a lot about myself: about who I truly am and what I am capable of, especially when I’ve got real friends and family behind my back. Not to mention when I’ve got their backs as well. And earlier today, when I was crying so badly that I felt like I just wanted to die, I realized that when it came to friendship, I didn’t have that many real friends in my life before I first came to Ponyville because of one simple truth: I didn’t really know the first thing about friendship. And just like that, I recalled another one who had felt the same way as I once did: Sunset Shimmer. She pushed away others worst than I did, but before we were both willing to stop thinking of ourselves and give real friendship a chance, we shared one thing in common: we didn’t know anything about friendship, so we just turned it away out of complete fear. But I recalled showing her how wrong she was to do that, just as I had been wrong back when I was in the same predicament as her. And once I recalled that, everything started to come back to me. I don’t know how or why, Aisenma, but one thing is for sure: you have no real control or power over me or any of my friends and family here, because all you are is both what you have been and have been trying to get everyone to be for over the past 200 hundred years: weak, helpless, and alone, because you don’t really understand nor even appreciate anything or anyone at all!”

“Twilight…” Princess Celestia said to her, “Does this mean… you’ve gotten all of your memories back?”
“Well… to be honest, no,” Twilight replied, “But so far, I’ve gotten back definitely more than enough memories to end Aisenma’s curse on both this region and its citizens once for all.”

Aisenma growled angrily as she quickly used her Invisibility Power to disappear out of sight and without a trace.
“No!!” Twilight said.
“She got away again,” said Flash.
The next thing anyone knew, they heard Aisenma’s angry voice echoing all over the area, “This isn’t over! Not by a long shot! I swear, Princess Celestia, you and your little ponies will pay for what you have done to me! Starting with your precious little student, Twilight Sparkle!”

And just like that, the voice was gone.
Twilight let out a huge sigh of relief, obviously because doing what she just did really took it out of her. She then turned to everypony else and said, “Is everypony here alright?”

Very next thing Twilight knew, she had been tackled into the ground by all of the hugging members of the Mane Six, as well as Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
They all laughed and giggled together, then Rainbow Dash said, “Woooow, Twilight, I may not recall much about you right now, but I definitely know that you are SO AWESOME~ /)^3^(\”

“Whoooie! ” Applejack said, patting Twilight on the back, “I can’t believe y’all went and stepped up like that for us, Twi. ”
“You were simply wonderful, darling!” Rarity added.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anypony as brave as you, Twilight…” Fluttershy said to her.
“When we get back to Ponyville,” Pinkie Pie said to Twilight, “I am DEFINITELY going to throw you the biggest party in the history of biggest parties ever thrown! * squee * ”
“I second that notion ” Spike agreed.

Before Twilight could reply to any of them, however, she got pulled up into a big ol’ hug of brotherly love from her BBBFF, “Twiliy, I cannot tell you how proud I am of you right now! You were so incredible!”

“Thanks, Shining Armor < : )” Twilight replied, hugging him back, “But you might want to ease up cause you’re kinda crushing me here. ”
Twilight then went and hugged Cadence before walking up to Discord and saying to him, “Glad you could make it, Discord. And VERY nice work with taking care of those Elemental Golems. ”

“Well, to be honest, I never thought I would say this,” Discord said, as he then bowed respectfully before her, “But I suppose… it’s an honor to simply serve you, Princess Twilight Sparkle. ”

And just like that, everyone else except Celestia and even Twilight had dumbfounded looks on their faces as they then all said in unison loudly enough for Neighagra Falls to hear all of them once again, “WWHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!”

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said to her, “You’re… you’re…”
“You’re a Princess?! O.O” Rarity finished for Rainbow.

Twilight simply looked at them all casually, then looked at her alicorn wings, flapped them, and then folded while sighing, “I guessed as much.”
“Wait a minute, Twilight…” Spike said, “All this time, you remembered that you were a Princess?”

“Well, not exactly,” Twilight replied, “But the minute I started recalling as many of my memories as I could… I also started thinking that the reason why I was changed from a unicorn into an alicorn is because I was now a Princess of Equestria.”
“You mean you’ve just recently become the newest Princess of all of Equestria?!?! O.O” Rarity exclaimed, as she then fainted hard on top of Spike.

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle as she said, “Overdramatic as always, eh Rarity? Well, that’s definitely the Rarity I know. ”
“It still doesn’t make any sense, though,” Shining Armor stated, “I mean, it’s good to see that you’re starting to recall stuff, Twily, but Aisenma said so herself that she had TAKEN our memories from our minds. That’s what you told us, right Flash?”
“Yeah, that’s what she told me,” Flash replied, “So, how come you’re now able to recall your lost memories, Twilight?”

“Well, we’ll get to that in a bit,” said Twilight, as she walked over to Pipsqueak, Twist, and Minty, to make sure that they were all okay. They were still waiting for Firelock to wake up, “You kids okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine, Princeth Twilight ” Twist said to Twilight.
“Don’t worry about us, Twilight,” Minty said to her, “We’ll make sure that when Firelock wakes up, she’ll be brought up to speed.”
“And you were amazing over there, Princess Twilight,” Pipsqueak said to her, as he huggled up to her right hoof, “Next to Princess Luna, you’re my favorite princess ever! ^^”

Twilight smiled as she let the four little foals do what they needed to do.
She then turned to Princess Celestia and said to her, “Princess Celestia, with all due respect, I need to know… were YOU the one who turned me into a Princess?”
“Actually, Twilight,” Celestia replied to her, “You became a Princess because you had earned the worthiness of becoming one. ”
“You know that is NOT what I meant, Celestia… > : (“ Twilight said to her a bit coldly, which really took Celestia and everyone else around them by surprise.

“Oooooooh,” Discord said, as he quickly transformed his look into that of some kind of street rapper, “Even though we just already had a major confrontation here at this lake, it looks like stuff just got reeeeaaalll~ ”
Twilight and Celestia both said to Discord, “Not now.”
“Sorry ” Discord replied, changing back, “Couldn’t resist.”

After a moment of silence had passed, Celestia sighed and said, “Twilight… I am the one who transformed you into an alicorn.”
“And you did it without ever considering whether or not if it was something I myself wanted, didn’t you?” Twilight asked her, still being cold.
“Yes… I did…” Celestia replied to her student, “And… I am so sorry, Twilight. But you have to understand that I-”

Twilight held up her left hoof in front of Celestia to stop her right there, then she said to her, “Celestia… first you sent me to Ponyville and tell me to make some friends there when I really didn’t want to, and then later you turn me into an alicorn and Princess without asking me first. I can’t say that I agree with the decisions you have made for me, especially since I never wanted you to.”

Celestia was feeling quite guilty now, because what her student was saying was absolutely true. The next thing she knew, however, Twilight was surprisingly hugging her with a smile on her face as she said, “But even though I can never agree with what you’ve done to me, nor will I probably ever agree with you on that matter… I can definitely both agree with and forgive you for at least WHY you did what you did: it’s obviously because you saw in me the potential to be a true leader and ruler for all of Equestria, while at the same time only wanting what you thought was best for me, right?. So even though you aren’t the perfect mentor… you’re definitely the best one I could ever ask for. ^^”
Celestia couldn’t help but smile while a tear ran down her cheek. She happily hugged Twilight back, “Thank you, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight then turned to a certain potential coltfriend of hers: the one who had called her a coward.
She walked up to him, and he walked up to her. And once they were just a foot or two away from each other, Twilight said to Flash, “Hi there.”
“Hi,” Flash replied, “Glad you could come back. < : )”
“Glad that I did,” Twilight said.

Flash then sighed and said, “Twilight… I’m so sorry I ever called you a coward when it came to friendship. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just trying to tell you that you could, or rather had, to trust me, and… well… I guess I… I guess I just let myself get hot under the collar.”

“Well, you were right about me, you know,” Twilight added.
“Well, even so,” Flash replied, “Just because I might have been right about something that I said… does not mean that I had the right to say it, especially if I was saying it to a friend. “
Twilight hugged Flash gently yet warmly, wrapping her arms around him somewhat lovingly. Flash couldn’t help but blush as he hugged her back.

They then looked at each other as Flash said to her, “So, does this mean you forgive me? < : )”
“Not just yet,” Twilight said to him.
“What do you mea-” Flash asked her, just before he got slapped in the face by her right hoof.

Everyone that was watching the two of them cringed from seeing such a painful sight, as Discord said, “Ooooh! ;o 10 bits says THAT is gonna leave a mark. ”
“Sorry, Flash,” Twilight said to him, “But I kinda figured it would be best for both us if I just went and got that one out of the way, you know?”
“Ohh… oww…” Flash said, “Okay… in all fairness… I probably did deserve that… ”
“Glad you admit it,” Twilight replied, as she raised up her hoof again. Flash quickly cringed, thinking he was gonna get slapped in the face again. But what he felt instead was Twilight’s hoof gently touching the side of his face that had gotten slapped right before she gently planted a nice, soft kiss on it. Twilight blushed a little bit as she then said to a happily flustered Flash, “Now I forgive you. ”