Brotherly Bonding Time

by Sketcha-Holic

22.7--Mining for Answers

Wayer had to check a few more things back at his lair before his trip.

He picked out one of his books of runic circles from the shelf, and flipped through it until he found the one that could help him travel long distances in a single teleport. He went to his desk to draw the magic out of the mix of the Sandwich brothers' blood, which needed to sit after magical stirring for the magic to settle into its new state. Finally, he went back into Tomato's chamber to check on him, see how he was handling the memory attack.

To his surprise, the memory attack had worn off. Even more surprising was that Tomato, while tired from the bombardment of bad memories, still wasn't budging. It was odd, as Wayer had been certain that Tomato's normally self-defeating attitude would have made this easier. So, he restarted the spell, and left him alone in the chamber once again.

Closing the door behind him, he looked at the pack, all of whom were taking a breather after the fight. After sweeping his eyes over those chewing bones, those scratching, and those taking a nap, he set his sights on Cheese, who was just curiously sniffing at the sleeping Pinkie on the cot, who had yet to transform.

He approached the wolf and petted him. "Now, now, don't eat her. We still need her to awaken and see the moon so the transformation can be complete. I'm surprised that it was easier to get her than your brother. He's more stubborn than I thought." He chuckled. "But, eventually he'll break."

The talk of Tomato and the thought of what he needed to do once Tomato broke reminded him to take Pinkie's memories out of his cloak. He watched them play within the blue orb, showing a filly with her sisters at a quarry, taking an apprenticeship in baking, and her first time saving the world with her friends. "Hmm... no doubt that Jamberry would have loved to throw a festival with this mare."

It had been more than a thousand years, and he didn't doubt that Jamberry had passed away soon after his banishment. She had been so weak those days after the war, her efforts to pretend that all was well taking a toll on her and driving her mad. He reasoned that it was because she was upset over the war and the pointless deaths, among them her brother; their son Silver had disagreed, instead claiming the ridiculous notion that it was actually Wayer's progress in the werewolf spells and "violent outbursts" that was causing her to fret.

And then came the betrayals. First was Silver, having exposed his goings on to Princess Celestia. His old teacher, tearing the wolf from Wayer and sealing a powerful purification spell on him so that he could never transform again. Old friends in the guard, recounting how he had relieved them of their awful memories of the war and the deeds they did under the werewolf curse they never asked for. And finally, Jamberry herself.

When Princess Celestia, the archmage, and the Guard had arrived to arrest him, Wayer simply defended himself by holding their minds hostage and threatening to tear them out, which would have killed them. Jamberry then dared to jump in and smack his horn, screaming that he had gone too far. That one hurt the most, and he threw her around like a rag doll in retaliation, until he was subdued by the archmage, his horn locked with an enchanted ring, and dragged out. His and Jamberry's eyes locked for the last time, except instead of joy and love, her eyes were filled with horror and pain.

He had to shake himself out of that, and make his way to a different chamber, the door of which was near his desk and cauldron. He opened the door, walking into a room with shelves that held a dozen memory orbs, colors matching the eyes of the owners who once held them. In the center of it all, there was Cheese's, playing some of his best moments.

Wayer slipped Pinkie's orb beside Cheese's, as even an old mage like him had a romantic side, and he could see a spark of interest between them. The orbs even reacted as such by playing the memories they had of each other.

He knew he should leave soon, but the idea of Princess Twilight and her friends somehow finding this place crossed his mind. It wasn't likely, seeing as Twilight's magic was blocked and the entrance to the mine shaft was obstructed by a rock slide, but one can never know what tricks his opponent had up their sleeves. And if they found this lair, then no doubt they could find the memories, and perhaps Tomato.

So, he cast a spell on Cheese's memories, assuming that would be Twilight's first priority, and the orb started to flash. He smiled, knowing that his trap was now set and that there were few ponies would could get them out of it.

He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Now that he had his book, his improved monster spell, and took an extra measure of protection, he and his wolves could leave for their first target. And better yet, Pinkie was beginning to stir, and thus, he could test the change to make the transformation quicker very soon.

He drew the needed runic circle on the floor. "Come along, everyone. We have more work to do."

---

Bart the bat was a faster flier than the mares thought. Fluttershy kept as close as possible to him, only giving him enough room to fly freely to lead the way. Even so, the two were way ahead, as aching legs kept the other four girls from going any faster than a canter--and even then, only for a few seconds. They kept ears open for any predators--be it the werewolf pack once again or some other animal looking for an easy meal. Rarity and Rainbow provided light for the others with the former's horn and Pinkie's flashlight respectively, so that all they wouldn't lose their guide.

Finally, they stopped at a hillside, illuminated by the full moon. Most of it was made up of tan soil with shrubs and small trees sprouting all over the hill. However, near the bend, there was one section of hill were it was all a pile of rocks, like a landslide had struck. Among the colorful rubble, a single wooden sign poked out, saying, "Danger! Mine Shaft: Do Not Enter".

After reading, Applejack said, "So, his lair is in a mine?"

"How do we get in there?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "The entrance is blocked!"

"How does he get in there?" Rarity asked.

"Probably moves the rocks out of the way with his magic, or just walks right through 'em." Applejack looked to Twilight's horn, the black crystals shining in the moonlight, and noted how her jaw was set in frustration. She patted Twilight's back and sighed. "If I wasn't so goshdarn tired, I'd move some of them rocks myself."

Twilight looked to Fluttershy and Bart, who were just going around the nearby bend, with the former beckoning them. "No, there's another way in; how do you think Bart and his colony found Tomato? If anything, I think we were just shown what kind of place he got imprisoned in."

As they turned and followed Fluttershy around the bend, Applejack asked, "So, why did Wayer imprison Tomato? Why not just have the werewolves bite him and turn him into one?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "He already turned into one monster this summer, why not the other?"

Twilight glanced back at them. "Hmm... what if it was because Tomato was a vampire? I mean, come on, he apparently can speak bat, so he still has the dormant spell in his blood. I wouldn't be surprised if Wayer would definitely be interested in adding vampires to his roster, and turning Tomato into a werewolf might ruin that."

As they entered the cavern next door, Rarity shivered and lit up her horn, while Rainbow turned on the flashlight. They trotted through the tunnel, a chill pricking each mare like a thousand needles. Lonely drips echoed through, and the only other sound was the chirping of bats deeper inside. They passed many stalactites and stalagmites, the horn and flashlight being the only lights to warn them.

Then, they saw a green light shining through a large crack at the end, and the girls rushed forth to it. Though they were greeted with a cacophony of a curious bat colony, Bart just had to chirp to the others to get their attention and present Fluttershy to them. They stared at the yellow mare, who simply said, "Hello, little bats! It's very nice to meet you. Could you move out of the way, so we can take a look?"

The bats complied, and Twilight stepped forward to peek in, with the others poking through in any open space that she left. Sure enough, Tomato was there, bound by chains clasped to all four limbs, his neck, and his barrel. With him was a mare glowing neon green, completely unchained, with whom he was having a conversation with.

"I know, I had a bad foalhood," Tomato said to his companion. "But in a strange way, the second time around is neat to observe, just to see what those things taught me, for better or for worse. On the good side, I learned not to take my brother for granted, and I did develop a good work ethic, if only to keep Mom from yelling at me. And it's nice to be reminded of how Bluejinx at least tried to help me feel like a normal teenager with the time he had."

Twilight paused, wondering why Wayer let Tomato have a cellmate, only to notice the glowing green orbs above him, attached to a string coming out of his ears. That told her that he was just talking to a projection of a friend. With that question answered, now she was just curious as to what Tomato was talking about.

"On the bad side..." Tomato pursed his lips, rubbing his front leg with the other. "...well, trust issues. Kinda hard to trust ponies after getting hurt time and time again. Not to mention I was, frankly, kind of sheltered. I know Aunt Honeydew not having any rules is bad, but that doesn't excuse my Mom from keeping me in a little bubble of just... 'studies and special talent' after Cheese rebelled. Even though I like my talent, I wasn't happy because... well, uh, because I wasn't really given a choice in how I should pursue it. Made me resent it, you know?"

The friend projection nodded. "I know. It must feel nice to get out of Manehattan and see the world and have experiences that you could have never had if you stayed in that town all your life. Though... I think your mother might have tried to teach you become your best self, but someone needs to tell her that all she did was stifle you and basically cripple your chances of being successful in the future."

Tomato groaned. "Do I have to tell her? Last time didn't go so well."

The friend shrugged. "I'm sure you can come up with a better argument this time around."

Tomato scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll try to think of it after I get out of here. Huh, how long is it gonna take Bart to--" He turned to the crack and just about jumped at the sight of five faces. "Oh, wow, you're here already? Okay, how long have you been standing there?"

"Oh, about a minute or two," Twilight said. "Sorry for eavesdropping on your conversation. But, don't worry, we're gonna get you out of there."

Tomato glanced at his friend projection. "Well, Flora, this was a nice chat, but we have some things to do. I hope to see the real you soon."

Flora nodded, and dissolved into a mist in a flash, which wafted back to one of the memories. Now, all he could do was just sit and watch as the five mares started to dig and hammer away at the crack, in hopes of making it tall and wide enough to squeeze through. Applejack bucked some rocks loose, Rarity ground the edges down by filing a tough rock against the cave wall, Rainbow punched at it, and Twilight, Fluttershy, and the bats dug away at it.

"You know, if Maud were here, she'd break this open easy," Rainbow said, digging from the top and catching stones to toss aside.

"Well, Pinkie has been dragged into this werewolf mess now, so she'd absolutely have a good motivation for it," Rarity replied, picking off some huge chunks. "But alas, she doesn't even have a clue about what happened to poor Pinkie."

"Uh..." Applejack looked at the stallion in the chamber. "Does Tomato know?"

Tomato pursed his lips. "Well, last I saw Rooney, he didn't say much--he just started up my bad memories again and told me no one's coming to my rescue. But if I were to hazard a guess... Pinkie got bitten, didn't she?"

The girls nodded, before going back to picking at the crack. Twilight added, "Wayer Rune saw us as threats, and took advantage of our fatigue to defeat us. After disabling my magic--" She pointed to her crystallized horn. "--he sicced the entire pack on her. And Cheese was the one who bit her."

With wide, disbelieving eyes, Tomato looked down at the floor. "Wayer Rune? You mean... the werewolf guy? That's who Rooney is?" It was a moment until Tomato stomped on the floor. "Argh! I can't believe it! Now we've lost two party ponies! I was hoping you'd beat that stupid sorcerer, but now he's off to cause mayhem with a spell that should've been extinct!"

He rubbed his temples and sighed, shaking his head. "Oh... Cheese is going to be devastated when he finds out what he did." He snorted and looked up. "And Wayer Rune of all ponies... I was thinking that he was just some crazy fanboy or descendant like Kazam, I didn't think it'd actually be him! How'd he even survive this long, and how did he escape Tartarus?!"

"Well, Tartarus tends to keep its prisoners alive for an indefinite amount of time, for purposes of eternal suffering," Twilight answered. "As for escaping... uh... I'm thinking that it was when Cerberus abandoned his post?"

"I asked how, not when!"

"I don't know how!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of a new crack, scaring the bats away from the wall. Before they knew it, that section of the wall gave way, and the three groundbound ponies fell forward into the chamber. Amidst the dust, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash quickly swept in and pulled them out of the way before any larger rocks fell on top of them. They set them against the opposite wall, and all the girls coughed from the dust that kicked up.

Tomato sneezed as well. Wiping his nose, he looked at the new pile of rocks, and said, "Good news is the door's open."

The girls laid there a moment to catch their breath. Rarity was the first to stand, and she walked forward, pulling out a bobby pin from her hair. She coughed before saying, "So, I assume you want to be freed?"

"Well, yeah," Tomato said. He wiggled his cropped tail. "I've got a problem with my usual lockpick."

"Oh, my!" Rarity said, already picking the lock on one of his front legs while she looked at the tail. "A bobbed tail quite simply doesn't match the smoothed-down business manestyle that you always employ, Tomato. It looks more punk if you ask me."

Tomato wrinkled his nose. "Well, now I'm wondering what I'd look like as a punk."

The first lock broke open, and Rarity went to work on the next. The others had now gotten up and came closer, and Twilight was looking up at Tomato's memories. She smiled at the sight. "I'm not gonna lie, seeing the memory orbs of a living pony is amazing! This used to be a method for studying the mind and how memories work! The practice was only discontinued because removing the memories is painful and dangerous for the subject, and usually the memories would zap anypony that they hadn't subconsciously deemed worthy or was a powerful magic user."

Fluttershy just gazed at the memories with concern. "Do you think Wayer was trying to remove Tomato's memories?"

"Well, he intended to do it," Tomato said. "But, he said that yanking them all out at once when I don't consent would kill me, so he just tried to weaken me. Is that true, Twilight? Or did he just make me relive my bad memories for kicks and giggles?"

Twilight counted the memories floating above. "Hmm... so he used a memory attack? Yeah, those are known for weakening resolve and inducing implicit consent because reliving the bad events in your life over and over is exhausting. I think that might be what he did to Cheese to make him give up his memories."

"Well, it is mighty interesting, Twi," Applejack said. "But... how's he supposed to put 'em back in his head when you can't?"

"Oh, easy," Twilight said. "Smashing the orbs will automatically return the memories to their rightful owner."

"You mean like our cutie marks did when broken out of their jars?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes!" Twilight chirped. She then pursed her lips. "Well... memories have to be within a certain range."

Tomato took one of his memories into his hooves. "Shame, I would have liked to smash Cheese's and solve the problem instantly."

After Rarity had finished unlocking the second lock and went on to the lock on his back, Tomato slammed the orb into the ground, shattering it. A mist wafted up and then quickly zipped into his ear like a little flying worm. Tomato jolted from the sudden entrance into his head, and he blinked stars out of his vision. Rubbing his head, he muttered, "...that was weird."

Tomato looked up and grabbed another memory. "But I have to do it a few more times..."

---

Now that Tomato was freed from his chains and all his memories back in his head, the ponies all had to shove a heavy door open in order to get into the main mine chamber. The first things to catch their eyes were the glowing crystal pillars, followed by the lab in the corner, and then to the runic circle several yards away. No Wayer Rune, werewolves, or even Pinkie Pie in sight.

"Well, we have an idea on how he can teleport long distances," Twilight said, her eyes on the circle. She turned to the lab, especially to the desk and shelves of books, potions, and glassware. "Let's take a look at some of those things--there's bound to be something that'll help us."

The group rushed over to the lab and started to rummage through books and look at potions and ingredients. Twilight spotted a journal on the desk, and started to flip through his notes, turning the pages with her hoof. Fluttershy hovered over a higher shelf, while Tomato covered a lower shelf, looking at the various symbols on the books and trying to decipher what they were about. Applejack and Rarity looked at each ingredient, with Rarity gagging at some of the more foul-smelling ones, those involving animal body parts, and even the beaker of blood. And Rainbow Dash was kicking the doors of the other rooms open, to see if there was anything else to find.

Fluttershy grabbed what looked like a book of potions, and flipped through it until she landed on an illustration of crystals melting off a horn. She gasped. "Twilight! I think I found a cure for your crystally horn condition!"

Twilight looked up from the journal. "That's great, Fluttershy! It'd be so nice to get my magic back, especially if the werewolf thing gets out of control."

Tomato looked at a journal full of illustrations of werewolves and and old language he couldn't read. "What do mean by 'gets out of control'?"

"Mmm, well, it can't get too out of control when Celestia finds out and puts Wayer in his place. Still, we should be prepared for the worst case scenario, and I have no doubt we'll need plenty of magic to cure a lot of werewolves."

"Sounds like it'd be a tedious and frustrating problem since he'll spread it far and wide by the time we're outta here."

Twilight turned to a later entry and read it through. Her eyes widened, and she cracked a smile. "Not if he already gave us a way to just cure all of them at once!"

Applejack turned from the jar of dried apples. "Er, pardon?"

Twilight carefully turned the book to show the others. "See this picture of this pink potion? This is the Alpha Elixir, which when attached to a certain transformation spell and a certain pony, that pony becomes the template for others under the same spell."

Rainbow hovered close to the rest of the group. "Meaning...?"

"Wayer must have given Cheese this elixir at some point after he contracted the werewolf spell," Twilight explained. "Since it's attached to both him and the werewolf spell, that means whatever other magic happens to him also happens to other werewolves. It's why Pinkie lost her memories after getting bitten--Cheese has no memories, so the werewolves automatically lose theirs. If he gets those memories back, so do the others. And if Cheese gets cured..."

The other girls finished with, "So do the others!"

Tomato just looked at the illustration. "Huh, I remember Rooney giving this to Cheese under the guise of 'headache medicine'; I thought it was poison, but I was proven wrong quickly. But... why would he put such an obvious weakness in this weird plan of his?"

"Probably just to make things easier, because, well, removing memories is a tedious process." Twilight looked through some later pages. "Weird, he keeps referring to you as 'The Vampire', Tomato. It seems that he did want to use that last bit of that spell in you to add vampires to the mix..." She turned the page and scanned it. "...and combine spells into a dice-roll sort of spell that'll turn a pony into one or the other when directly cast. Sounds like he wants to make future vampires just as susceptible to Cheese's conditions as the werewolves are."

"He did tell me he was planning on reawakening my inner vampire after he took my memories." Tomato shuddered at the thought, licking his teeth and feeling the phantom wings once again. "I very much would like to avoid that, once is more than enough."

"That still presents the problem of just where the memories are, dear," Rarity said.

Rainbow looked at the nearest door, the one she hadn't checked yet, and zipped over to open it. She looked inside and laughed. "Why didn't I check this one first? He just left them in this closet without even locking it!"

The others set their items down, and walked toward the door that Rainbow pushed wider. They all trotted in to find the shelves of memory orbs, lighting the dark room with several different colors. They had a moment to take it in, seeing all the memories of each pony playing within the orbs.

Applejack looked at a green one to her left, and spotted an image of her little sister and her friends. "Hey! This one must be Trouble Shoes' memory. Aw, it looks like he remembers the Crusaders quite fondly--OW!" She made the mistake of poking it, which brought about a bolt that zapped her hoof.

"Careful!" Twilight said. "Remember, the memories of the living don't like to be touched by anybody other than a select few ponies that they fully trust."

"Hey, there's Pinkie's!" Rainbow zipped to the end of the room, and picked up a blue one. She smirked. "Well, it's a good thing that Pinkie trusts her best friends. Turning her back will be a piece of cake."

Twilight walked toward her. "If she wasn't subjected to, well..." She stopped and pointed to the green, flashing one that Pinkie's had been next to. "Following the leader. The memory that we should be really be focused on returning is Cheese's. Remember..."

Rainbow groaned. "If he's cured, so are the others. But, hey, maybe Cheese will let us carry it. He likes us, doesn't he?"

"Well, yes, but..." Twilight narrowed her eyes at the orb. "Something's not right. It shouldn't be flashing."

Tomato squeezed through to look at his brother's memory. "Flashing? Does that mean there's something wrong?"

"I don't know, none of the books I've read said anything about flashing."

Rarity cleared her throat. "Perhaps its best that we focus on removing those crystals from your horn first, Twilight. We're going to have to clean up some messes, and you'll need your magic, darling."

Twilight turned to her. "You're right, Rarity."

"I even left the book open on that page," Fluttershy said.

Tomato still stared at Cheese's flashing orb, seeing various memories dance within. It was strange to think that this was where his real brother was--his pony mind trapped in a clear little glowing ball while his body was running around being a mindless animal. It was painful, seeing that his big brother was not whole, and wondering if he could have done anything to stop it.

Out of some odd hope that Cheese wasn't mad enough at him for the orb to shock him, he touched it.

Twilight had turned around to ask him something, but was interrupted when Tomato jumped back in fright. Cheese's memory had started to tremble, letting out steam and mist that started to fill the room. The girls gasped and cried out in horror and confusion, seeing the room turn greener and greener with the swirling mist. Twilight gave Tomato a "What did you do?" glare, with Tomato only shrugging in response. But, there was no time for words, and they all turned to run out the door.

However, they couldn't make it. A bright, white flash overtook them before they could reach the door.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

8671186
I haven't actually read the story yet,(I do plan on doing so, though, as it sounds really good) I just panicked when I saw what I said in my previous comment. So with that said, what does the chapter being set in mid-/later- August have to do with anything?

[Sketcha-Holic]

8987693
Oh! Had no idea that you weren't reading. Comments kind of make me assume.

Anyway, the story is set during the months of June, July, and August. The story is supposed to end when Tomato starts school again, at the end of August. And I'm currently in late August and writing the last major story arc. I just need to keep on trucking and hopefully it's done before the year ends!

[Leviathan Splash]

Tartarus is too good for Wayer, me thinks.

[redmar]

When Wayer gets punished again he should be slapped with a spell to show him the suffering he caused to others and make him feel his pain until he admits his own wrongdoing. If he refused to acknowledge his evil it should last for eternity.

[Goldfinch142]

Hmm. Wayer is a smart villain. He avoids all the pitfalls of typical big baddies in the show--no monologuing, no dramatic evil laugh, no giving the heroes obvious opportunities to defeat him, and now he booby-traps the one thing that can stop him and successfully stops the heroes from obtaining it (for now). Much as I dislike Wayer's actions, he makes for a good villain. Nice work.

Now to find out just what that booby-trap entails...thanks to Tomato, who seems to have a bad habit of touching things he shouldn't.

[Godslittleprincess]

Oh boy. I hope what happens at the end turns out happier than everything that just happened.