The next morning came faster than anyone had expected.
Cherry was still asleep until her alarm clock went off. "Oh, that clock... Killjoy... Even you order me around..." She then glared at her clock. She soon got up and began to check her memories.
Cherry took a notebook from dreams she wrote out in the middle of the night. "Being chased by a monster... Falling down a bottomless pit... Ate bologna sandwich at 3:00 in the morning and had nightmare about Drell... Aha, go to the beach today..." she then smiled. She soon rushed and got dressed for the beach.
She then saw a note from her parents saying they'd be home late, and they left money for dinner for her for later. She then took the money for now and kept going to meet the others at the beach.
Atticus did the same thing as he rushed off. Mo decided to bring Angel to the beach with her, as they were close, and Angel loved going to the beach with Mo, especially playing Fetch in the ocean waves. Almost the whole group arrived at the beach.
"Thanks for letting me come to the beach with you, Mo." Angel smiled.
"Of course," Mo smiled back. "You're my best friend."
"Uh, Rarity, what's with all the white towels?" Patch asked.
Rarity glared in offense before labeling the towels. "First of all, this is toasted oat, and linen lamb's wool," she then began before listing the others even though they all looked the same to anyone else. "Eggshell, warm frost, pale nimbus, and... Well, that one is white, I suppose. And second of all, it's for the photo shoot."
"Ohh." Patch said.
The wind soon blew which made one of the towels fly in the air.
"Don't worry, Rarity, I got it!" Spike called out after he was digging.
"No way, it's mine!" Angel grinned as she ran to catch the towel.
"No, mine!" Patch added.
"No, I got it, I got it!" Pinkie Pie even joined in.
The three dogs and Pinkie Pie soon all chased after the towel before they all tripped over each other. "I don't got it..." They all muttered in misfortune.
The beach towel then drifted in the water once it had landed.
"Dang it." Patch groaned.
The towel soon raised up with a bunch of seaweed and algae with deep breathing almost like Darth Vader.
"Ocean monster!" Pinkie Pie yelped. "OCEAN MONSTER!"
Patch soon growled protectively.
Fluttershy was soon revealed which made Patch stop. "Quincy the Sea Turtle says the tide's coming in," she then told the others. "We should take the picture soon or risk having damp ankles. Oh, he's so thoughtful."
Rarity folded the other towels and reached for the one Fluttershy had only to grimace from the seaweed. Sunset Shimmer soon arrived. Everyone else posed for their pictures as the drone followed them.
"Oh, Twilight, you got the Selfie Sensor working?" Sunset smiled to the genius of their group before striking a cute pose.
The drone seemed to get away from her and went behind Sci-Twi's leg like a scared pet.
O... Kay. So, who's ready to take a 'Best Friends' picture?" Sunset smiled, a bit curious of their strange behavior.
The others just stared at her with horrified wide eyes.
"Uh-oh, what did I do?" Sunset smirked playfully.
"Girls, you okay?" Atticus asked.
"Sunset Shimmer askin' to be in our 'Best Friends' picture?" Applejack replied. "Heh. Now Ah've heard it all."
"You realize she's our best friend, right?" Patch asked the girls.
"Uh-oh..." Atticus muttered.
"Am I missing the joke here?" Sunset asked the others.
"The only joke is whatever this is you're playing on us, acting all nice like you're our friend." Rarity huffed.
"And it's not funny!" Fluttershy added firmly.
"Because you aren't nice." Rainbow Dash added.
"And we ain't friends." Applejack concluded.
"Uh, Sunset, mind using your mind-reading power and see Applejack's memories?" Atticus requested.
"Oh, good idea!" Sunset replied and soon did just that while Applejack glared at her touching her.
Sunset soon saw all of Applejack's good memories of her, but didn't see her in it. It was almost like she had been erased from existence.
"It's like I've been... Erased!" Sunset gasped before panicking. "This has to be a bad dream. Wake up, Sunset. Wake up!"
"Nope, you're awake," Pinkie smiled as she pinched Sunset, then pinched herself. "Me too!" she then came to pinch Cherry. "So's Cherry!"
"OW!" Cherry yelled out from the pinch. "This must mean that the Memory Stone has been used."
"I can see Applejack's memories, but I'm not in them!" Sunset told Atticus and Cherry.
"And exactly how is it you can see our memories, if you don't mind me askin'?" Applejack glared suspiciously.
"Because she has the power to see what people are thinking," Patch said. "She got that power when we were in Camp Everfree."
"Yeah, with this." Sunset added as she showed her charm.
"Oh, pfft!" Rarity scoffed. "It's obviously a cheap knock-off of ours."
"We got them together," Sunset frowned as she tried to make them remember. "You were there, remember?"
"Why is she still talking to us?" Fluttershy shivered.
"Ugh!" Atticus groaned before he dialed Flash Sentry's number. "I hope Flash got my text last night before going to bed."
"Pinkie Pie, what about when I came to your sleepover before the Battle of the Bands?" Sunset asked while Atticus checked his phone anxiously.
"Ha!" Pinkie Pie scoffed. "The closest you've ever come to a party of mine is freshman year, when you pretended to be Applejack and texted me, 'Your party is lamer than a hungry duck in snow boots'."
"Like Ah'd ever say that." Applejack rolled her eyes.
"It really hurt my feelings." Pinkie Pie replied.
"You have other feelings?" Cherry asked.
"Of course I do, silly." Pinkie Pie giggled.
"Flash, it's Atticus, I need you right now!" Atticus begged as he soon got an answer from his former pen pal/current classmate.
'Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down!' Flash's voice replied. 'Breathe!'
Atticus soon took a breath to calm down.
'Okay... Slow down...' Flash told Atticus.
"No one believes that Sunset Shimmer is their friend!" Atticus then enunciated slowly and clearly.
'Sunset Shimmer?' Flash asked. 'What do you mean no one believes she's their friend?'
"So, you remember the good memories of her?" Atticus smiled.
'Of course, why wouldn't I?' Flash replied.
Cherry tried to get Atticus's attention as Sunset was soon gone.
"Because of the Memory Stone." Atticus said before noticing Cherry trying to get his attention.
Cherry flailed around.
"What is it, Cherry?" Atticus asked.
"Sunset left." Cherry pointed out.
"Uh-oh..." Atticus said before talking back to Flash. "Sorry, Flash, but I gotta go."
'Um, okay, bye...?' Flash replied.
"Where did she go?" Atticus asked as he hung up.
"She said she was gonna find some proof to show that the others are her friends." Cherry told him.
"We better go with her, right?" Patch asked.
"That might be a good idea," Atticus agreed. "At least Mo hasn't been affected..."
"Or has she...?" Cherry narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Wait, did we even warn her about The Memory Stone?"
"I... I don't know... Did we...?" Atticus's eyes widened nervously. "Uh, Mo, you know who I am, right?"
Angel answered that question by growling at him.
"She doesn't know who I am!" Atticus panicked. "My girlfriend!"
"I'm just kidding." Angel smiled.
"But why was Sunset acting nice?" Mo asked.
"Mo, Sunset Shimmer is your friend." Atticus told his girlfriend.
"She is?" Mo asked. "Since when?"
"Since always..." Atticus replied. "Okay, not always always, but we became friends after the Fall Formal."
Mo seemed confused as she only remembered the bad things about Sunset.
"Don't you believe me?" Atticus frowned.
"I wanna believe you, but... Sunset's nothing but a meanie..." Mo told him. "We shouldn't get involved with her."
"Oh, great, The Memory Stone got her too," Cherry said. "Listen, we have no time for this."
"Maybe we should've gone with Sunset..." Patch winced. "This feels like a bad dream."
"I think I know where she might be going." Atticus said.
"You going there too?" Cherry asked since Atticus was often Equestria's favorite at this point in time.
"Yep." Atticus nodded.
"All right... See you when you get back..." Cherry said weakly as Atticus went off to Equestria.
"We're going with them." Patch told Cherry.
"Oh, Atticus actually wants me to join... Cool!" Cherry replied.
And with that, they soon left the beach to visit Equestria. They soon met up with Sunset.
The lavender alicorn princess paced around until the mirror shined and soon came the others in their Equestrian forms.
"Twilight!" Sunset beamed as she stood on two legs before falling over.
"Remember, you're a pony in Equestria now." Patch reminded her.
"Oops..." Sunset smiled sheepishly as she then got down on all fours. "I was trying to hug Twilight."
The two then shared a pony hug before Twilight hugged the others. Sunset began to explain everything that happened at the beach.
"This is bad, guys," Twilight narrowed her eyes as she walked down the corridors of her castle with them. "It's way beyond anything I've ever heard of. Although..."
"There has to be someway to get them to remember Sunset and I mean the good memories." Patch said.
"Well, I just had an idea," Twilight informed. "But... You guys might not like it."
"What is it?" Cherry asked. "We'll do anything to keep our friends together."
"There is one pony that might be able to help, but I don't know if Sunset and she should see each other." Twilight replied.
"Oh, no, you're not supposing that we take Sunset to see...Her, are you?" Atticus gulped as he knew who she was referring to.
"I'm afraid so." Twilight smiled nervously.
"Who are you two talking about?" Patch asked.
"Princess Celestia." Twilight sighed softly.
"I was afraid of that." Sunset shivered a chill down her spine.
"Oh, this is going to be so awkward." Cherry said.
They soon came to the throne room to where Princess Celestia was with Princess Luna. Twilight smile nervously as she led Sunset into the room.
"Hey, Celestia, did you polish your crown?" Cherry sucked up. "It looks really nice! So, how's Zeus doing?"
"Suck up." Patch muttered.
"Spotted Mutt." Cherry muttered back.
"So, Princess Celestia, you'll never guess who's back," Twilight laughed nervously to her mentor. "Actually, maybe you can guess, 'cuz she's right here, but um..." she then whispered to Sunset. "Am I helping?"
Atticus soon gestured Sunset to go up to Princess Celestia.
"Um, Princess Celestia, the last time we saw each other, I was your snide little pupil who betrayed and abandoned you." Sunset began.
"I wouldn't have said it that way!" Twilight squeaked. "Uh, what Sunset means to say is-"
"I mean that I come before you, a changed pony," Sunset continued. "Humbly asking for forgiveness, guidance, and knowledge."
Atticus nodded as that was well put. Princess Celestia left her throne to see her former student. Tensions felt quite high in the atmosphere of the room.
"Or I could just go and you'll never have to see me again." Sunset bowed her head.
Princess Celestia soon raised her head up with a hoof. "I missed you, Sunset Shimmer." she soon said with a sincere smile.
Atticus smiled as he was happy for them.
"I'm so sorry!" Sunset whispered about the past.
The two then shared a tender hug to make the hot colored unicorn feel better. Twilight squeed to this. Atticus simply shook his head out of amusement from Twilight's squee.