For the next few weeks, everything seemed to be a daze for Philip and Daring really, instead of cracking down on hard-boiled cases or checking museum security systems it was chasing after Dopants and taking down the Gaia Memory Dealers.
At one point, Daring and Phil had teamed up when clients or friends came into their apartment, clients or friends both of them recognized but much older. For example, there was the doorman at Manehatten’s hotel, the Grand Royale that Philip had saved from being thrown behind bars for murder, looking fifty years older. Then, there was the director of Manehatten’s Natural History Museum who Daring had helped in the case of the Chameleon Thief looking like an old maid. Finally, there was a street musician now looking like the lead singer of Jagged Stone whom Philip had previously helped when he’d seemingly lost his singing voice only for it to turn out a jealous idol had stolen it via a spell.
Eventually, through a case that led them through so many twists and turns, the culprit had been discovered, a Dopant who stole people’s life forces so she could stay eternally young.
\ Old! /
The Gaia Memory absorbing itself into her skin, the mare, one White Lightning transformed into a rust-colored monster wearing what looked to be this massive headdress. Philip and Daring shared a nod, knowing what to do.
\ Fang! / \ Nazca! /
“Henshin!” they shouted, as they slammed their Gaia Memories into their belts and turned into Masked Rider Fang and Nazca respectively.
“Well, well, well. Looks like we have some troublemakers.” The Old Dopant chuckled to herself and coiled energy between her hands. “Aren’t you a little too young to be fighting me? I have to say, credit goes where credit is due, must have had a hell of a time trying to track me down.”
“Yeah yeah… shut your yap. You’re just disgusting,” Philip remarked. “Stealing people’s life forces just so you can live forever. We all have to die sometime,” he continued as he dodged the Dopants punches before surmising a theory. “I think you’re just too afraid of death to even admit that. Why else would you keep on stealing year after year like you are?”
“What’s so wrong with cheating death, I ask you?” The Dopant asked, almost pouting like a child. “Plus, being an adult is the worst thing ever conceived. Always dealing with bills, taxes, children you’ll eventually have, ugh! It’s a total NIGHTMARE!”
White Lightning, Daring remembered, was this former pop musician who made it big when she was a kid, going on to score hits throughout the decade until she finally reached the age of 18 and people seemingly finally got tired of her. Good riddance to bad rubbish really, Daring thought even as she struck the Old Dopant across the chest, her music was always crap. People just finally woke up and smelled the roses.
“Speaking of nightmares, think fast!” White Lightning charged forward and landed a hit on Philip ripping out his youth and beauty in the blink of an eye before it vanished into her own body, turning her back into a teenager and she seemed to regain her fighting strength throwing a flurry of kicks and punches at Phil making him stagger before final one hit knocked him to the ground. “Ah… Much better.”
“You… You’re just not ready to face adult life are you?” Philip asked, throwing a fireball after slamming his Heat Memory into his belt and picking himself up off the ground. Sadly, with how creaky his body was, it was a rather weak toss. “Look, I empathize with you, I really do. Being an adult, it’s hard. Painful sometimes even, life’s a bitch. Especially in this town, but growing older I’ve found, it makes you all the more wiser, and all the experience and knowledge I’ve gained is something I wouldn’t give up for the world.”
“Trust me, if there was a way I could make everyone young again, I’d take that chance. But sadly, the past is the past and the past always seems to curl up into a ball and die.” White Lightning walked back up. “What about you, miss?” She looked at Daring Do. “How was your life when you were younger? A kid, carefree and innocent, without having to worry about any grown-up garbage and political bull?”
“Yeah, sorry, but quite honestly I prefer being an adult. So much more fun really,” Daring said. “Let’s face it, so much more crap you can get away with. Of course, I’ve done plenty of stuff I’ve regretted, drinking for one. Trust me, I’ll look back on those times when I was younger as possibly some of the best times in my life, or maybe the worst. Age brings wisdom, reminds us to not repeat our mistakes.
“You’re just like all the rest, then. Tainted and ruined by this grown-up garbage…” White Lightning scowled and fired off another wave of her ooze at Daring Do. “Fine then, if that’s the case, I’ll bury you myself, just to show you how SHIT being a grown-up is all about!”
Daring Do rushed forward into battle, strafing left and right to avoid the waves of ooze and get up close and personal with the Dopant. From there, they clashed, throwing punches and kicks at each other as fast as they could, with neither side giving the other an inch. Unfortunately for Daring, White was very fast and spry in her young state, and she finally managed to break through and hit Daring square on her nose; knocking her back into Philip. White Lightning smirked, and pressed her hand to a metal pillar secreting her ooze, and turning it to rust with the metal pillar falling towards Daring and Phil. Daring’s eyes widened under her helmet, and she pulled her boyfriend away just in time before the pillar fell on them.
“Told ya. Grown-ups are bad at stuff, because they’re old. Getting old makes you rusty, while staying young keeps you going.” White Lightning looked over Phil’s body. “This is what we should all be; young, beautiful, and energetic. Not old, cranky, tired, and lazy!”
“You know, I happen to like Daring as she is, cranky and bitchy,” Philip remarked. “Wish I could say the same for you, your particular form is rather unattractive. Now, you like a good unfair fight right? Time to see what happens when the horseshoe’s on the other hoof.” Phil said, pulling out a blue Gaia Memory and exchanging the Heat one for it.
\ Trial! Maximum Drive! /
Ignoring the aching pain in his joints, Philip seemed to began traveling at super speed, faster than White Lightning could blink. He’d resumed his default Nazca appearance, except the lines on his body had turned a bright blue, his eyes now a solid orange and a small countdown clock had appeared on his waist, counting down from ten seconds. White Lighting’s eyes darted from left to right, and she tried to fire off more pools of ooze, but Philip just dodged between them.
“Wh… what are you?!” She asked, mortified at his power to fight back; despite his rapidly advanced age, and throwing out another flurry of kicks and punches that Philip dodged easily. His countdown clock continued ticking down, now at 3.3 seconds.
“Just… Just someone who’s doing his duty as a Masked Rider, that’s all,’ Phillip remarked. “Now, count up the moments till your crimes are judged!” he shouted.
With one final hit, White Lightning’s Gaia Memory ejected itself from her body and shattered as a glowing blue T of hard light projected itself over her body.
“NO! What have you done to me?!” She asked, as all of her age began to grow back, and then expand. What was once a teenage girl quickly warped into a thirty-something-year-old as everyone found their lifespans returning to normal and resuming their proper age. The time on his countdown clock, the one that displayed how long it took to defeat this Dopant in Trial Form? 9.8 seconds.
“Let me ask you something, Masked Riders,” White Lightning coughed and spluttered. “Why do you HATE people? Why do you hate people so much that you’d keep them from reaching their full potential and reliving their glory days, like me?”
“Because,” Daring said as she and Philip canceled their transformations and Daring cuffed Lightning. “We can’t relive our pasts, that particular section of our lives? They make us into what we are today, we learn from them and our mistakes. Seems you never did.”
“And I never will. I DON’T WANT TO BE AN OLD CRONE!” She thrashed and swung around in her cuffs, trying to break free. “I don’t want to pay taxes, I don’t want to see bills, I don’t want any of that other bullshit and garbage! I just want my friends, when I was a star… Where are they?”
“Simple,” Philip said as the police drove up. “They grew up and moved on. You didn’t.”
Curiously, there was one Dopant that always seemed to get away, and pop up again for another fight against Manehatten’s popular new heroes. It was a curious sort, never speaking so nobody could ever really figure out who it was using whatever Gaia Memory the Dopant possessed.
Once again, with Daring and Philip chasing down after a Gaia Memory dealer, the yellow Dopant had decided to show himself. Or herself, it wasn’t really easy to tell. Neither pony knew exactly why this Dopant always seemed to have an obsession with them, he or she just did. It wasn’t just whenever they tracked down Gaia Memory dealers, it could be at times like when they were walking home from the police station or from a bar. It just seemed to have an obsession with them.
What looked like an eldritch abomination made entirely of gold stood before them. Long, thin tentacles stood before them, almost like a set of golden scarves. The head and its’ collar spikes were black as night, with a few gold waves on the face to make it stand out. A yellow moon sat below its’ neck and hung daintily on his centre tendril. It didn’t utter a word, and instead let out a series of distorted moans and groans instead.
“Here we go again…” Daring muttered as she and Philip held up their Gaia Memories, the Dealer scampering off into the shadows. Philip grunted, he could be dealt with at a later date. They knew who he was.
\ Fang! / \ Nazca! /
“Henshin!” they shouted before turning into Fang and Nazca once more, with the Dopant whipping his arms around and conjuring up men in black suits wearing ribcage themed masks. Philip and Daring were quite familiar with this Dopant’s abilities by now, he could conjure up illusions. Very masterful illusions, but illusions all the same.
“End this one quick…” Philip muttered, tossing the Heat Memory to Daring who switched it out for her Fang one while Philip himself pulled out a Memory marked with a T that resembled a pistol.
\ Heat / \ Trigger! /
Daring’s costume turned a sharp red, while Philip’s turned blue and a machine pistol strapped itself to his chest in a holster.
As the masked men charged, Daring’s fists lit up with flame and she began punching them out of existence and Philip just shot the masquerade men as he called them with the Trigger Magnum. To them, it was just target practice before the monster. The usual stuff for them.
As the brawl began against the Dopant, Daring and Philip had to both attack and dodge at the same time, as the tentacles on its’ body were wide-reaching and covered a lot of ground around him. If they slipped up at any point, it would strike them and have an opening for more attacks.
As one tendril lashed out like a whip Philip jumped over it and spun in mid-air, landing on top of a nearby dumpster before Daring threw a fireball and made the Dopant stagger backwards. Philip fired a burst of machine pistol blasts from the Trigger Magnum, and then placed his Gaia Memory into a special slot on the weapon. Similarly, Daring readied her own Maximum Drive, and her fist began glowing with a white-hot flame.
The Dopant, taking this as his cue to leave got smart and created illusions of two prior Dopants the twosome had defeated, the Cockroach and Money Dopants and let them take the strikes as he vanished.
“Shit!” Daring swore and stamped a hoof in frustration as she and Philip canceled their transformations. “Again with the vanishing act.”
All Philip could do was lay a hand on her shoulder in sympathy. Unknown to either of them, a familiar woman, face still wrapped in bandages watched from the shadows. Each time they fought a Dopant and used a Gaia Memory and a Maximum Drive, their Drivers sent the data gained right to the labs. Phase two was now complete.
It was rare when they caught a break from any of this. Philip was actually thankful when he had to deal with someone’s brother being poisoned via a vial of strychnine.
He was in his living room, with another man -One Green Thumb- sitting across from him. Philip gauging his reactions and watching him carefully. He seemed nervous about something, almost as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. Daring, in the back of the room, was leaning against the wall. Currently, Philip was in the middle of explaining his theory as to what exactly happened to Green Thumb’s brother. It was a simple open and shut case really, something Philip was thankful for. For once, no overly complicated clues to find, or leads to chase down.
“...This was right about the time that I began to believe in fact that your brother did not die by his own hand as you claimed but was murdered.”
“Nonsense!” Green Thumb sputtered out. “The vial was found in his own right hand!”
“Right hand,” Philip acknowledged with a nod. “Exactly, we’ll get to that little detail in a moment. The fact that it was found in his hand at all was the first clue as to what really happened…”
“Hmm,” Daring nodded. “Now, the vial itself, it contained strychnine which when taken would cause a pony to thrash about violently.”
“I’d find it difficult to imagine someone like this being able to hold onto that vial without dropping or breaking it,” Philip continued. “The vial was found intact. Therefore, I believe the vial was placed in his hands only after your brother died. The real culprit was the cigarette I found in the room. Upon closer inspection of the room where your brother was found, I discovered a fresh burn mark on the carpet, along with the aforementioned cigarette. A quick trip to the labs, and a favor used revealed it contained trace amounts of strychnine.”
“What about the suicide note?” Green Thumb asked nervously, and Philip smirked. He had him. “It was written in my brother’s own hand, for the Mother’s sakes!”
“With a little bit of time and practice, handwriting can be forged. While it takes a trained eye to notice certain discrepancies, they can be found given enough time,” Philip remarked. “...For example, whether someone is right or left-handed.” With that, he tossed a small book towards Green Thumb, who caught it in his left hand, and when he noticed this his eyes widened in shock now knowing as soon as he’d come into Philip’s apartment he might as well have confessed.
As the police arrived, Philip sighed.
“That was easy, too easy and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m actually thankful for it,” he muttered. “I do admit, a challenging case to tax the mind and get the little gray cells at work is nice from time to time.”
“Just be grateful that one didn’t have a Gaia Memory on him,” Daring muttered. “I swear, these Dopants are running us ragged.”
“Er… I don’t know if this is the right time,” a young beat cop named Bee said nervously as he walked up to Philip and Daring. In the background, a massive sign atop a rooftop advertised 'Destiny's Child Laboratories, Transform Your Life!' It was a place that had been in Manehatten for a while, medical research mostly. It had several labs set up all over town, each hiring only the best and brightest. Nobody quite knew where the main lab was, and it was a subject of curiosity amongst many. Personally, neither Daring nor Phil gave a crap as to this place, not like that they exactly needed to drop by and pay them a visit. Well, they used to not give a crap anyways. But medical research, they'd begun to wonder if these labs were responsible in creating the Gaia Memories that conveniently just started popping up in Manehatten at the same time Destiny's Child set up shop, three years ago exactly. “But Tempest, he needs to meet you at Sleipnir’s Island. Says an old friend of yours wants to… talk.”
“Who’s the old friend?” Philip asked Bee, who winced, fearing Philip and Daring’s reaction. It didn’t take long to guess who Bee meant.
“...Wait, you don’t mean…?” Daring trailed off, eyes widened.
“Yeah, that photographer, the first Dopant you defeated as Masked Riders. Grape Vine himself.”
“Damn it…” Philip muttered. “Why him? Why now?”
“Hell if I know, but Tempest wants you over there. Says you really need to hear this.”
“Guess there’s only one thing for it then…” Philip sighed, his shoulders slumping. He wasn’t looking forwards to this, at all.
“If you need help, I can-” Daring started, only to be cut off.
“No, this is something I have to do by myself. Besides, Tempest will be there with me, he’s one of the best. Besides, I want you to keep an eye on Tidal. It’s been several weeks since his fiancee’s killer was found, I’m worried about what he might be doing now.”
With that, Philip hopped on his motorbike and sped off down the streets of Manehatten…
A thick coating of fog surrounded Sleipnir's Island even as the small boat approached it. Coating the surrounding waters like a thick soup, Phil and Tempest found themselves barely able to see a few feet in front of them, and if not for the local captain’s knowledge of the surrounding waters and a ‘Point Me’ spell as it was called cast by another officer they surely would have run aground on rocks.
Phil didn’t like sailing in this weather, but the forecast called for quite a bit of fog this week so there was no getting around it.
The thick concrete curtain wall of the castle-like structure along with one of the guard towers loomed eerily out of the mist, with trained snipers scanning the area from the tower. For decades, Sleipnir's Island had housed the most hardcore convicts, the ones incapable of reform. It had been closed down about ten years back, but with the emergence of Gaia Memory using criminals and no prison strong enough to house them except local jails which were already horrendously crowded, citizens had lobbied for this place to be reopened. Finally, eventually faced with no choice the Mayor had finally given in and so Sleipnir's Island once more paid hostess to criminals of the worst kind, those who were called by the chief of police “Evil without purpose or reason”.
Personally, Phil believed that some of these criminals were victims in a sense as well. Take for example one Hoofer Steps, who’d played host to carrying the Accel Memory after she’d caught her love Feather Bangs cheating on her with another woman. Hell, Phil himself had been hired by Hoofer when she’d started suspecting she was being played. He’d watched and tailed Hoofer’s fiancee for several days and finally caught him in a motel with another mare with photographic proof. Junebug, he believed the name was. Or was it Carrot Top? Not like he was expected to know every damn name in this city. In any case, when Hoofer found out, needless to say, she was pissed. She’d bought the Gaia Memory, and nearly used her speed abilities granted to her by it to run her former fiancee down. Phil had stopped her with a Trial Maximum Drive, and took care of the problem for her, and punched the sorry excuse for a buck’s lights out even as Hoofer herself was taken away.
He didn’t hold all such sympathies for the crooks housed in Sleipnir's Island, (Grape alone was proof enough of that.) but he didn’t believe all of them deserved to be locked up. But what could he do? He couldn’t lobby for change, not with people like Silvertongue feeding the mayor cash by the truckload.
“You alright?” Philip asked, laying a hand on Tempest’s shoulder, the pegasus clutching his sniper rifle ever more tightly. Tempest was a stormy gray coated buck with a black mane, as befit his name. “Me personally, I wouldn’t recommend going into the same building as the type of guy who killed my brother, let alone the same room as him.”
“I’ll be fine,” Tempest grunted out, the fifty-something pony sighing to himself. “‘Sides, we all have to face our demons sooner or later. I’m not going to be in the same room, I’ll be outside waiting though if things turn ugly.”
“...If you say so,” Philip replied, his voice wary not entirely believing him as the boat pulled up to the docks, with the captain using a line to pull them in closer. “But if you ask me, I’d rather have Arc or Bee with me right now, just saying.”
“They have their jobs, I have mine,” Tempest replied as he stepped off the boat via way of a gangplank. “And you have yours, Philip,” he continued, before tilting his head in curiosity. “Masked Riders Nazca and Fang, that’s what they’re calling you and Daring, right?”
“Yeah, not a fan,” Philip replied as they entered the old prison, entering A-Block after passing through the security checkpoint, with Tempest being forced to surrender his weapon temporarily, with Philip being forced to do the same for his baton as they were checked over. “Honestly, bit too pretentious for my tastes. I was never even a fan of being known as this famous detective, and now look at me, being called a superhero!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. “I mean, I’m just a guy doing my duty to protect the city I love, isn’t that enough?”
“Eh, you know ponies. They need someone to look up to and idolize when pretty much everything else has gone to shit. Brings them a feather of hope, really,” Tempest grunted. “And honestly, you’ve brought the most hope this city’s seen in a while really…”
“I suppose…” Philip muttered as the twosome finally arrived at Grape’s cell, with the mass-murderer looking surprisingly calm despite being locked up with probably no chance of seeing the light of day ever again. Phil had heard he was on death row, actually with the Chair being lined up just for him. Tempest’s fists clenched, but he kept his cool even as Phil entered the cell.
“So, what’s it all add up to in the end, eh?” Philip asked, staring Grape down, the other pony clad in an orange jumpsuit and cuffed. “You didn’t get your mare, and here you are in a cell stripped of all your pride and all of your women you so loved and sentenced to death. So, you pleased with how your life turned out?”
“Surprisingly, yes,” Grape remarked. “Sure, I’m a killer, no gettin’ around that and I am going to die soon but I won’t go quietly into that good night.”
“Oh, so you dragged me here to kill me, that it?” Philip asked, reaching for his baton on reflex. “Going to try and strangle me or something?”
“Oh hardly,” Grape laughed. “I’m pissed at someone, but not at you. No, I’m pissed at the person who put us both in this position, running us around like little rats in a maze.”
“...Can you just get to the bloody point?” Phil asked, starting to get agitated. Grape burst out laughing, a cold and harsh laugh.
“Oh, don’t tell me you're that much of an idiot?” Grape remarked. “Surely you, with all of your famed observation skills took notice of mah Gaia Memory. It wasn’t like the others, was it? No, you're too afraid to admit that I had the same type of Gaia Memory as you yourself did…”
Phil flinched, although he tried to deny it Grape was right. He had taken notice that unlike the usual rib cage styled Gaia Memories, Grape’s resembled a flash drive before it had shattered. A T2 version of the Ice Age memory.
“So ya did notice, good! Nice to know ya’ve still got it! Come on now, use those little gray cells and think, who could have given moi such a thing, and why?” Grape pressed. “Ah don’t like being used, and neither do you I’d suspect. And yet someone is doing exactly that, using us as little lab experiments. Woman with her face wrapped in bandages, you probably ran into her getting yer own Memories and those fancy belts,” he continued. Phil flinched again, and Grape laughed once more. “Knew it, nobody in this city just gives anything out like that for free. Altruism is a dyin’ thing, and you both know it. You, Tempest, and Daring. No… Someone’s playing you like a violin and before I go, I wanted you to know that. Be mah sword, and strike ‘em down for me!”
The cell door slammed shut, and Tempest looked at the now slightly shaking Phil in surprise.
“You alright?” he asked in concern.
“Let’s go,” Phil growled as Grape’s laughter echoed in his ears. “I have all I needed to know.”
Meanwhile, as per Philip’s request, Daring had taken to tailing Tidal and found him at a bar. It was a little place down in Hell’s Kitchen, one of those hole in the wall places you probably wouldn’t know about or take any notice of if you were a simple passerby.
Daring’s nose wrinkled as the smell of booze and cigarette smoke reached it, and she made a noise of barely disguised disgust. “...Al the dirty jobs,” she muttered. Taking a look around at the ponies dressed in shabby or dirty clothing and comparing that to her rather nice and frankly flattering red dress she felt rather overdressed and sticking out like a sore thumb. She was honestly expecting Tidal, thanks to his rather sizeable income to actually go someplace nice like Cherry Jubliee’s, not a damn dive bar with walls covered in graffiti and the like. She was expecting Tidal to treat himself to something nice, like a steak dinner with a few friends not booze his troubles away. She sighed upon seeing Tidal at the bar and ordering a glass of Wild Pegasus Whiskey, half-expecting for the poor pony to wind up in the drunk tank by the end of the night. Or dead. She didn’t particularly care which. But a job was a job, and she if nothing else carried them out even if she didn’t have to like it.
Personally, she didn’t exactly have any real love for Tidal Fury dead fiancee or not given he was a Gaia Memory Dealer, and by association one of the sources of their troubles. Hell, for all she knew he could have given out that Memory which created the Illusion Dopant as she called it which seemed to follow her and Phil at every turn.
She sighed in disgust upon seeing a rather scantily dressed pony in just jeans and a bra leaning up against a post outside the window.
“Place just keeps on getting classier and classier by the moment, doesn’t it?” Daring thought to herself, barely able to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “I swear, if someone tries to pick me up for a night in, they’re getting tossed into the wall.”
Loud rock music blared from a nearby jukebox, Daring could barely catch half the lyrics.
“...Wake up
Rouse your tough spirit from its slumber
Awaken your spirit as you fight
Reaching past the barriers of time, someday I shall find it
Follow these links
“Into the world of mystery
Perhaps that is my destiny...
“So,” Daring commented as she sat down beside Tidal. “What’s a nice pony like you, uptown boy doing all the way down here in Hell’s Kitchen drinking what’s probably rotgut disguised as whiskey?”
“Taking in the sights and sounds of the city,” Tidal answered. “What else? Could probably ask you the exact same damn thing, given you’re all dressed up for a night on the town.”
Daring gave him a look, not entirely believing him. “Really, is that all…?” she drawled out, looking around her and gesturing with a hand to the slimy drug dealers, the drunkards and even the prostitute outside. “Because if I was taking in the sights and sounds of the city, I’d choose someplace a Hell of a lot better than this shithole. I mean, fuck, even one of the sports bars down on Harlem or whatever would be a nicer place than… well, whatever this is.”
“Hey, I find to get to know a city best, you have to experience all of it, even the… less than sightly parts of it,” Tidal remarked in a polite tone. “But let’s get serious, you’re tailing me aren’t you?”
“Good, so you do have a few brain cells more than I actually believed you did. Philip asked me to, out of concern. So yeah, dressed myself up even if I didn’t have to like it expecting you to go to someplace nice, maybe a piano bar not the bottom end of town with whores on every street corner!” She shouted, before flipping a coin to a mare near the jukebox. “Hey lady, class this place up a bit, will you? That music in the jukebox there? It’s shit! Give us something classy, like Sinatra or something!”
And so the music was changed, from the loud blaring rock to something much more to Daring’s tastes. Soft piano music, smooth jazz really.
“Okay, much better. Least something here aside from me and you is much more fitting for Manehatten nights. This here, less of an assault on the ears.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Tidal agreed. “So, what’s your particular poison?”
“Manticore Rare,” Daring said, placing some cash on the bartop and smiled when a glass of it was poured in front of her. She took a sip and smiled. “Simple pleasures, eh?”
“Yeah,” Tidal replied as the two clinked their glasses together. “To simple pleasures, and our shitty lives!”
Daring gave him a look. “Yeah, I knew it. That’s what you’re here for aren’t you?” Daring remarked. “You know what my greatest weakness is, aside from seeing a good piece of artwork like the Mare Lisa or something locked up in someone’s vault and not being enjoyed? My greatest weakness? Occasionally, I give a damn. Like right about now, about you and you drinking your troubles away.”
“Lady, you’re a very perceptive asshole,” Tidal glared, and Daring smirked in return.
“I’ve been called worse. But yeah, I’m perceptive, and occasionally caring enough to tell you that you’re being an idiot, and that if I was your fiance and alive instead of six feet under in some cemetery somewhere I’d be punching you in the face right about now for disrespecting my memory by killing myself with flask after flask of some stinkin’ rotgut that dares call itself whiskey.”
“What, you starting a support group anytime soon, plenty of people have lost loved ones you know,” Tidal said, getting drunker and drunker by the moment as he downed another glass. “Plenty to Gaia Memory users. You could probably make a good sized list. See Fleetfoot out there?” he asked, pointing to the mare outside the bar who was now getting into some stallion’s car. Daring’s eyebrow raised, for the first time she realized that was Fleetfoot, she’d just never paid much attention. Wasn’t like she was expected to care about every pegasus in the city after all. “Believe it or not, she loved Grape Vine, and now she loses him to a Gaia Memory in a sense.”
“Like I’d waste my time circle-jerking with a bunch of whiners, and Fleetfoot and go whine about losing her precious lover and trophy boyfriend to someone who cares. Grape Vine brought that stupidity down on himself, nobody forced him to inject a Gaia Memory into his own body,” Daring replied, and Tidal gave her a look. “Like I said, I only very rarely give a damn about someone, but when I do there’s usually a reason. Now, I don’t like you. Hell, you’re part of this city’s problems with that damn Gaia Memory dealing you used to do,” Daring continued. “By all rights, I should have taken you to the police station and let them throw you in the bin. But Philip cares for you, dunno why, and so, therefore, I care even if you are a piece of shit that stinks to high heaven. Or maybe that’s just the booze, I dunno.”
“Newsflash Daring, the real world is not about happy endings. It's about taking the life you have and fighting like hell to keep it,” Tidal snapped. “You want to know why I started dealing Gaia Memories? I grew up in a poor neighborhood, place not too far from here. People got shot almost daily, druglords ran the fucking place,” he continued. “I really didn’t have much choice in starting to deal Gaia Memories, nobody would hire some street slime from my neighborhood and if I didn’t do something I would probably wind up homeless and parentless thanks to who I had to pay protection money towards! So yeah, I dealt out a few here and there, hoping the kingpins would all kill each other and guess what? So they did,” he chuckled darkly.
“But there are people who would have happily helped you if they knew…” Daring trailed off, and even as the words left her mouth she didn’t believe them. Some parts of town, and some people nobody really gave a damn about. She knew that only too well from personal experience. It was the reason why she turned to thievery in the first place, and if she hadn’t been arrested and requested by museums to put her talents to proper use testing their security systems than she might have probably been lying dead on some rich pony’s sitting room floor. Loathe as she was to admit it, she actually liked being called a hero by some. Actually reminded her that even a bitch like herself had the capacity to change, break the chains that bound them to whatever the hell life they were leading and take the stage for their own. She knew it sounded ridiculously poetic of her, but right now it was the only way she could think to describe her current feelings on the matter.
“Barely had a proper education as it is, it was only after I got the money from dealing the damn things that I could even think to afford to get a good degree! Believe me, if I’d known the Hell I was about to help unleash on the streets, I would have stopped right then and there, but the money came in and I was young, foolish! Idiotic!” he roared, smashing the shot glass on the countertop, his voice breaking with Tidal barely fighting back sobs. “But… but I just couldn’t stop, I wanted more and more of that money to provide a life for me and my family, one we could never even dream of achieving. And then I met Cherry, she was able to look past my flaws and accept me for what I was. I promised to stop dealing, and then just as we were about to marry… It happened. Frozen solid into a photographer’s sick idea of a fucking sculpture!”
The dam finally broke and Tidal began to sob heavily, and Daring not entirely sure why pulled the pony into a hug whispering “Shh… It’s going to be okay.” to him.
“Holy Mother, what have I got myself into…?” Daring wondered to herself.