Amnesia

[Lancewing]

Yep, what would happen to Bright Eyes should she happen to be overcome with amnesia? I know it was pointed out in one fanfiction, but still, what would your take be?

[Notes]

My take on Bright Eyes having amnesia? Such a thing is just so depressing, as depending on the type of amnesia she got, she might have to relearn everything! That would be tragic in and of itself.

But I digress. It depends on the light in which the amnesia was played. I don't know what type of amnesia you are talking about (I once did research on such a thing for a story in a different fandom) nor how she got it, or again, whether it was meant to be serious, tragic, funny, or adorable.

[Lancewing]

Just amnesia in general.

Notramjet97 and I attempted that in Celestial Force, but we ended up rewriting the entire story, but it could be used in the future.

[Notes]

Amnesia comes in a bunch of different forms. There's retrograde amnesia (where existing memories are lost) anterograde (new memories cannot be formed) and others, but I'm assuming you're talking about dissociative specifically (the forgetting of personal information; in other words, 'who you are'.)

Okay; ponies who experience this dissociative amnesia tend to pass through a trance-like state, not an identity crisis. l8n I don't know whether this is helpful, but I guess Bright Eyes would just stare at a wall for long time while blocking her memories. Sad thought, really.

[Lancewing]

Yeah, dissociative amnesia is what I first think of, but yeah, a very educational experience here. Why don't we put her through each of them, except dissociative since you already settled that. LOL But the one that was used in the original Celestial Force was a combination of Dissociative and retrograde.

(P.S., awesome avatar.)

[Notes]

Thanks for the compliment on the profile! I love Tamama from Sgt. Frog; he's such a cute little bugger! (3

Glad to be able to educate you! The different types of amnesia are retrograde, anterograde, Global transient, infantile, dissociative and Wernike-Korsakoff's psychosis.

Retrograde will have the lapse of memory of what happened before the amnesia began. Early memories are typically safe, but not the ones right near the amnesia itself. (There is no cure). Bright Eyes would forget what she did the night before if she got amnesia upon waking up, for example.

Anterograde amnesia, as opposed to retrograde, cannot place recent events to long-term memory (such as a recently watched movie or dinner the night before) and forgets things easily. It can cause day-to-day problems for sufferers, and is caused by head trauma to the hippocampus, fornix, or mammillary bodies. It could be devastating, as it won't allow a pony to keep a job, but it could be overcome with support. Her personality or reasoning wouldn't be affected by this.

Infantile amnesia is simply a lack of memories on early childhood events. That wouldn't affect Bright Eyes too much.

Transient Global Amnesia there is temporary impairment. Though nothing is affected, a person can forget all about their recent interactions for an entire day. That would be scary. Once the pony affected got past it, they'd remember what happened while affected by TGA. It is controversial, but my source tells me that emotional stress, extreme exercise, or other traumas that happened to the body recently. If Bright Eyes was really stressed this might effect her for a few minutes. 8)

Finally, we have a progressive disorder called Wernike-Korsakoff's psychosis. It is caused by extended alcohol use (wouldn't harm Bright Eyes) but also comes with loss of coordination or numbness in the limbs.

[Lancewing]

Good thing Bright Eyes doesn't drink. Well, at least not my take on her. 

[Notes]

Mine neither. Why by Merlin's beard would such a clever, bright little pony like Bright Eyes turn to alcohol for comfort? Blasphemy, I tell you!

[StarSwirl05]

Would be a bit ironic considering her name being Bright Eyes and all.

[Notes]

Precisely StarSwirl05. Remember, friends: you stop thinking when you start drinking!

[Lancewing]

Yeah, she'd probably calculate the risks first.

[Notes]

Calculate the risks? How about staying away from it in the first place? That's what she would honestly do, because even little amounts of alcohol can, at least, intoxicate her.

[Lancewing]

I bet.

But seriously, how would her friends react to the case? I know Lancer would be certain levels of concerned depending on the amnesia type. They would even go through the roof if she were to have retrograde amnesia! 

[Notes]

How would her friends react? Extreme concern. I bet they aren't educated in psychology and might conclude that they have to remind her of everything. Sweetheart might understand thanks to her interest in medical science (and, I think, psychology and counselling) but would still be very concerned nonetheless. The same with Melody, because her mom was a nurse, but she'd be more calm if she knew everything would be okay.

I bet that Lancer would freak out if Bright Eyes had any noticeable amount of amnesia because it's so unlike her to forget about anything. Then again, Lancer's family is rich, so maybe they managed to get him extra lessons at some point in psychology, medical science, and other subjects normally reserved for older children. If not, though, he'd be very worried, sticking to Bright Eyes' side to the point of her growing irritated.

[Lancewing]

And smacking him in the face?