"Ooh! What are these?" Snails scampered over to a few big plants with the reddest flowers he'd ever seen. Several ant-like bugs were crawling over their stems, poking them with feelers as if massaging them. In response, the flowers vibrated slightly and seemed almost to be trying to dance. "I've never seen anything like them!"
"These flowers?" Greengrass trotted up behind Snails. "Let me see... why... that would be the Zaldian Primrose. Do you like them?"
"I meant the bugs!" said Snails, extending a hoof for one of them to crawl onto it. "I've never seen them before. They're like ants, but they have five sections, not three, and their antenna are too long." He gasped. "Are these magic bugs?"
Snails hadn't really wanted to talk to anypony, hoping instead that the others would just let him be while they did important adult things and he tried to figure out what he thought about the events of the day. The others had indeed left him alone at first, with Miss Carrot Top making healing potions, Miss Sparkle putting together some bundle of plants under Carrot Top's supervision to get the ring off her horn, and Mr. Greengrass tending to a flower patch halfway across the garden. Snails had thus been by himself, and he'd taken the opportunity to sit down in a corner and try to think. But then Twilight had squeaked because a spider had crawled into her mane, and Mr. Greengrass had laughed and given an explanation as to why that spider was very good for gardens like his, and he'd known so much about bugs that Snails hadn't been able to resist asking him about some others in his garden.
Greengrass laughed. "Why no! That bug there, on your hoof, is Roseanne the Rose-Ant. You see, Rose-Ants have a symbiotic relationship with the Zaldian Primrose. They stimulate the rose's energies with their antenna, as you see there, and they feed off the flower's nectar. Neither can exist without the other."
Snails quickly shook the bug he was holding so that it slipped off his leg and landed back on the flower. "That's really cool," he said. "Are there other bugs that are symbi-thingies with other flowers?"
"Certainly. I could show you a few more if you like."
"I'd like!"
Greengrass led Snails to a patch of ground filled with purple heart-shaped plants. "I'm glad you seem to be in better spirits, Snails. When I saw you earlier, you looked very sad indeed. I suppose your sister turned that frown upside-down?"
"Uh huh." Snails peered at the plants, thinking he saw a bee perched on the inside of the bluest one.
"That's good. And no mention of trading you in for a newer model, I presume?"
"Nope."
"Splendid!" said Greengrass. "See? I told you that you had nothing to worry about!"
Snails didn't remember Mr. Greengrass telling him that, but he supposed he might have just forgotten it. Greengrass was an adult, after all, and surely wouldn't lie to him. But more importantly, Snails couldn't quite shake the feeling that Greengrass was wrong. He, Snails, still felt like he had something to worry about.
The foal had told himself that he was, once again, being dumb. Hadn't Raindrops and Miss Cheerilee told him how great he was? They were the two smartest ponies in Ponyville, except for his parents, so if they said he was a good brother, he should be able to accept that. And besides, he thought, he'd already showed how awesome he was earlier, when his magic spell had helped his sister and her friends to learn about the bad ponies who had tried to abduct him earlier. Miss Cheerilee and Miss Carrot Top and his big sister had needed his help to figure out what to do next. Didn't that show he was worthy of being Raindrops' little brother?
Snails had tried to believe this repeatedly, but it never seemed to sink in, and he knew why. He could already picture what Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would say if he told them. "Sure," they'd laugh, "You're good at one spell. But how often is that going to come up? Other brothers are good at things that matter all the time, like being smart or being strong or being good at magic. Doesn't Raindrops deserve a brother with skills that are relevant more than once or twice in his life?"
And the foal couldn't help but think there was something to this. He knew one useful spell... but it had only mattered once and he couldn't think of any other times where it would be really important. Snails was good with bugs, but while bugs were some of the best friends a foal could have, you never really needed to talk to bugs. But ponies like Twist, whose special talent was making candy, or Firelock, whose special talent was setting things on fire, could use their talents all the time. Sure, Snails was good at some things--he could see that now. But did they matter?
Wait a minute... Snails paused for a moment as a new thought ran through his mind, then looked around at the other ponies in the room. There was Twilight, who was a great mage--but she couldn't use magic right now because there was a sparky ring on her head. There was Greengrass, who had a great garden--underground, where nopony could see it. And there was Carrot Top, who was a very nice mare, but who... well, she hadn't been able to do anything at the train station. She hadn't been able to do anything at the boot store. She'd been left outside with Snails when the other Elements went up into that fancy apartment building.
Maybe she's the me of the Elements, thought Snails. The one that isn't good at useful things. He looked over the room. What if they left all the ponies here who aren't able to do important stuff while my sister and Miss Cheerilee and Mr. Max go be heroes?
In his head, he knew that there was something wrong with his logic; he knew his sister would not have lied to him and told him that he was a good brother if he wasn't. But he couldn't make his heart believe it.
"Snails?" The foal realized that Mr. Greengrass was asking him a question. "I'm sorry, was I boring you? Granted, the water cycle isn't terribly interesting, but it's absolutely vital to understand how these little waterbugs help my plants consume less water and therefore..."
"I'm listening," said Snails, even though he hadn't been. "Sorry."
"Ah. Well, as I was saying--"
The upstairs door to the street banged open. A few moments later, the stairwell door did as well. Greengrass paused for a moment, then said, "Snails, why don't you go ask Dame Carrot if she needs any more flower samples? Splendid." And he trotted towards the stairs.
Hey, he's trying to distract me! thought Snails, who didn't move.
Before Greengrass reached the stairs, a beefy unicorn descended from above and stopped just in front of the garden. "Excuse me," she called. "I have an important message for you all from the Don."
Twilight turned. "Who?"
"Dame Carrot Top, please. Let me handle this." Greengrass turned to the unicorn. "Clubby Hoof! How's the little sister? Stompina still promising she'll pay for her operation any day now?"
The unicorn flushed. "Don Stompina is concerned for your safety, what with these abductions in the city. She wishes to place you under her protection. We will happily relocate you to a secure location, where you may wait until the crisis is over."
"We dont want to relocate!" said Twilight. "We're fine here!"
"I'm afraid we must insist," said Clubby Hoof. "For your own good, of course."
"Huh?" Twilight looked at Carrot Top. "What does she mean?"
Carrot Top frowned. "Please don't attack us," she said to Clubby Hoof. "We don't want to fight you. We just want to help everypony and stop the abductions--"
"Don Stompina shares your views. Perhaps you could discuss them. At the secure location."
Greengrass smiled. "Of course she does. Tell me--how large wil our escort be to this 'secure location?'"
"As many ponies as is required, sir." Clubby Hoof smiled, but even Snails could tell it was fake. "We don't want to hurt anypony. But if you won't come, we might have to... persuade you."
Nopony spoke for a moment. Then Greengrass, his voice merry and gay, said, "Well, you know, I'd love to come with you. Honestly, I'd much rather be in a secure location than this rickety old place. But it seems like some of my friends aren't quite convinced. Could you please give me a few minutes to convince them? That way, we wouldn't risk little Snails there getting hurt in any... unpleasantness."
The unicorn scanned the room, snorted, then said, "Fine. We certainly wouldn't want any of you to get hurt. You've got a few minutes to convince your friends. After that, the escorts... well, I'll let you think about that." She turned and walked back up the stairways.
Snails gulped and looked at the adult ponies. They looked nervous and tense, like a fight was coming. That pony must have been one of the bad ponies. But... all of the really useful good ponies like my sister are away fighting the other bad ponies. A squirmy feeling began working its way through Snails' gut. Uh oh...
Greengrass immediately turned to Carrot Top. "Dame Carrot, this is more your department than mine. Any ideas?"
Carrot Top hesitated. "Um... I mean, I'm not that good at this... that's kind of why they left me here..."
"Terrific." Greengrass sighed. "So we have no useful--" He stopped talking as Twilight walked over to one of his benches and began to pull the legs off. "Um, Miss Twilight, what are you doing?"
"Putting together a makeshift see-saw catapult," she said in a matter-of-fact voice. "Feel free to help."
"I wasn't aware you were conversant in such things."
"I have a working knowledge of physics." Twilight got the seat of the bench off and began piling a collection of large rocks next to it. "And... I know I panicked at the train station, but I'm done with all of that. No more running, no more hiding. If the mafia wants to capture me, I'm going to give them a fight."
She refocused on her work, with Carrot Top drifting over to her. Greengrass looked at Snails, who was smiling in the aftermath of Twilight's speech. "And as for you, I think the garden shed--"
"No!" Snails planted his hooves firmly. "I'm not hiding! I'm going to fight!'
"But--"
"I'm going to be a good brother!" said Snails. "A good brother would help protect his friends! Like Miss Twilight, and Miss Carrot Top, and you!" He felt a bolt of fear crash through him, but he wouldn't let himself back down. After all, Raindrops wouldn't--and he was going to be worthy of Raindrops. "I'll help however I can!"
He narrowed his eyes. "And I won't let anypony stop me!"
***
Raindrops, Cheerilee, and Mounty Max galloped through the deserted streets of Canterlot's lowest level. They ran past massive warehouses, some several stories tall, that stored every kind of good that anypony in Canterlot might possibly buy. Normally, Max knew, the warehouses would be teaming with ponies--some loading goods into the warehouses, some taking them out, some showing prospective buyers around--but each and every one of them was devoid of life. Max shook his head and pushed himself to run even faster. This is wrong, he thought. The ponies in this city shouldn't have to suffer this kind of terror. He grit his teeth. We are going to stop this.
"At least there's no crowds," said Cheerilee. "Can you imagine if we had to fight traffic to get to Gate 19 Below?"
Max raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you're able to joke right now."
"Oh, remind me to tell you one time when I said to Corona when she was about to incinerate us." Cheerilee looked back at Max, eyes twinkling. "It's a hoot."
Raindrops said nothing. Max eyed her worriedly; her silence had a grim, angry quality to it; even when Max asked her a direct question, she gave a monosyllabic answer or a grunt. She needs a break, Max thought. She needs to calm down. But there was no time for a break, and so Max could only watch her as she ran and hope that she wouldn't hurt herself in her anger.
They were halfway to the airship dock when Max heard voices--and, more importantly, the clinks of armor and weapons. Yes! We might get some backup after all! "I think I hear the Guards!" he called.
"Yippee," muttered Raindrops.
Cheerilee said, "Max, we're short on time--"
"They're on our way, and we have to try! If Goliath is as strong as you said, we'll need every pair of hooves we can get!" Max smiled to himself. We know what we're doing now. If I just talk to the Guards, I'm sure I can get some of them to follow me.
Three blocks later, they came upon the soldiers. They weren't the Guards, though. Several members of Archduke Fisher's Factory Security ponies surrounded a very tall warehouse whose windows seemed to glow with a bizarrely bright light. Max called out to them as he approached with the Knights, but they didn't look at him. They just aimed weapons at the warehouse and waited.
"Hey!" said Max. "I need to talk to whoever's in charge!"
One pony glanced back at him and said, "We're not the Guards. We don't answer to you."
Max approached the Factory Security pony. "Lives are at stake," he said. He glanced behind him for the Elements, but couldn't see them; they had run on ahead. "Please, just--"
The door to the warehouse burst open and several ponies wearing Factory Security uniforms hurried out. In the lead was a tall pony with a strong build and a large warhammer--Archduke Fisher himself. His coat was blackened and he seemed to have a few new bruises, but he still stormed out of the building like a titan. On his back were two unconscious ponies wearing white clothes with drawings of the sun; the other Factory Security forces had a few more between them. Fisher had those ponies bound and set to one side, then turned. "We made it to level three," he said. "We're almost to the top. Next raid, I'll need twelve strong ponies, three per side--"
"Archduke!" called Max. "Archduke, I need to talk to you!"
Fisher swiveled around and stared. "Baron Max? What are you doing here?"
"That's a long story. I have to tell you--"
"It doesn't matter. I have no time for you, Max," growled Fisher. "My team is raiding the Sun Cult hideout in this city now. You have no business being involved."
Max forced himself not to scowl. Placate. That's what Posey would do here. "I can see you're very busy--"
"Busy?" Fisher's voice rose. "In case you did not know, Baron, the escaped Sun Cultist Soleil Supreme snuck his way across the city and holed up with the remnants of the Cult in Canterlot. They have enough magical artifacts to threaten the safety of everypony on this side of the Canterhorn. We are trying to clear them out before they use those artifacts to hurt anypony. We're a bit more than 'busy.'"
Max nodded. "Still, there's another crisis. The abductions--"
Fisher turned away. "I have no time for this nonsense."
"This is life or death!" yelled Max, darting around Fisher. "For all we know, the vigilantes could be ready to execute their prisoners right now! Just lend me a few of your forces--"
"No. I will not waste them chasing ghosts, Max."
"They're not ghosts! They're real! Real ponies attacked us under the train station!"
"Yes. Mafia ponies, trying to escape."
"The mafia ponies were captured by the vigilantes! If you'd just--"
Fisher shook his head. "If we fail here, the Sun Cult could have a chance to annihilate multiple city blocks. I will not risk that on some fairy tales."
"The abductions are important too. Lives are at stake," said Max. He felt helpless, as helpless as when he had first joined the Court and hadn't known why nothing he did had been effective, why he didn't even seem able to speak the same language as the other Courtiers. "The lives of ponies who don't deserve to--"
"I don't believe you," said Fisher.
And Max heard, in Fisher's tone, 'I don't care.'
While he was staring, Fisher continued and said, "If you want to do something useful, find the Elements. Get them indoors. I will not have their lives risked in this insanity."
Max looked at Fisher as if seeing him for the first time. "We are not legally allowed to imprison them."
"I didn't say anything about 'imprisoning' them. Convince them. Protect them. For a few hours, at most, until this is resolved." Max was silent. "There is a greater good here, Max."
"But they have rights. If they want to risk--"
"Their lives are too important to risk!" Fisher, who was an inch or two taller than Max in his armor, knelt slightly and moved very close to Max. "Listen closely, colt. Every decision we make as nobles will help some ponies and hurt others. That transportation bill you loved so much? The funds it took to pay for that bill could have been used for other projects. Your bill passed at the expenses of the others, and the interests of the ponies who would have benefitted from those bills was sacrificed in order that the ponies who need rural transportation could prosper. This is how governing works. Something must always be sacrificed. Our job is to determine what is necessary and what is expendable." He put his mouth near Max's ears and hissed, "If you are not able to sacrifice the interests of a few ponies for the interests of many ponies, you are not fit to rule."
Max was silent. He had no idea how to respond to that.
Fisher straightened. "Use whatever legal means you have to in order to get the Elements off the streets and away from any risk of harm. Now, get out of my way!" He turned to his companions and instantly began planning the next attack on the Cult. "We'll raid from all four sides..."
After a few moments, Max ran off.
"Hey," said a voice to his side after two blocks. Max turned to see Cheerilee; Raindrops closed in on his other side. "So, how'd that go?"
"He doesn't want to help." Max looked down. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. We're used to the government being useless--"
When Max turned back to her, there was determination in his eyes. "Not all of it," he said. "I'm here, and I swear I will do whatever I can to help you bring the vigilantes to justice."
Cheerilee smiled. "Of course," she said. "And--thank you. We need all the help we can get."
The ponies continued running, steadily approaching the path to the airship docks.
***
Greengrass hesitated as he looked down at the determined foal in front of him. "Now, Snails," he said. "Nopony would think any less of you for letting--"
"I don't care!" Snails looked up at Greengrass with a surprising amount of passion in his eyes for a little colt. "I'll show everypony I'm a good little brother! I'll fight the bad guys!"
"I see." Greengrass rubbed a hoof down the back of his neck. "It's just--"
Snails began walking forwards, darting at various hiding places with a foal's sense of wisdom. He crawled into a rosebush, leapt back out as the thorns scratched through his coat, then hid behind a rock not quite large enough to conceal him. His horn glowed and a few small rocks began moving near him. The foal chuckled, then began hefting them with telekinesis, as if getting ready to throw.
Greengrass stood very still for a moment, took a breath, and forced himself to think. Okay. The problem is that Raindrops' brother is having a crisis of self-worth and is about to get himself killed. If I let this happen, Raindrops will throw me off the Canterhorn. What can I do about it?
The first option was obvious. Carrot Top was currently bent over one of Greengrass's most beautiful plots, digging up an aesthetically-pleasing boulder to bring to Twilight. Greengrass could simply pick up his shovel and hit her in the back of the head with it--he had found that, no matter how many knighthoods or awards a pony had won, they were still susceptible to a blow to the head--to knock her out, then stuff Snails into a burlap sack or something and surrender. That would keep him safe from the mob. On the downside, though, it didn't really solve the Raindrops problem, and Raindrops was a good deal scarier than the mob. Plus, Luna would probably object for some reason. So that was out.
The second option was to somehow restrain Snails--tie him up with vines, maybe--and stuff him into a corner while the fighting went on. But Snails was a foal, and in Greengrass's experiences, foals had proven themselves far too capable of getting in the way at the worst possible time. Greengrass would probably be able to tie Snails up, but then the foal might well escape and join the fray. That would be disaster.
Option three was to somehow convince Snails to stay out of the fight, that he had nothing to prove and could leave the rough stuff to the adults. Greengrass rolled his eyes at the very notion. He knew well that foals were immune to logic and reason. If Greengrass had ice cream, he might have a chance to bribe the colt, but he didn't.
Option four was to fob the duty off to somepony else, but Carrot Top was useless and Twilight was busy. That was out.
And then there was option five. Greengrass looked at the foal, feeling the slight itching in his flank that told him that his own particular talent could be useful. Snails was a mass of insecurities, and was still battling against the feelings of inadequacy and shame that his classmates had inflicted upon him earlier that day. Greengrass could read the foal like a book, he could see the fissure lines across his psyche, and it would be trivially easy to widen them. With just a few choice sentences, he could shatter the foal's self-esteem and convince him that he was worthless, that he was useless, that no help he ever gave would ever matter. Snails would sit down, stay quiet, avoid the fight, and when Raindrops picked up her brother later, she'd only see that he was uninjured, never know that his depression wasn't just the aftereffects of his classmates' teasing words. It was, in a strictly rational sense, the best way to keep himself from being beaten up by Raindrops.
Greengrass opened his mouth, then paused, finding himself unable to say the words he needed to say. He told himself that he was being stupid, that while he had never directly hurt a foal before he had certainly contributed to their suffering in indirect ways--the families of those he had weeded, for instance, or the Ponyville foals whose ruined town he had refused to rebuild unless the Elements supported him politically. Now the mafia was after him, he had no political support to call on, and one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria--a knight of the realm, with direct access to Luna Herself--was already willing to come for his head. It was no time to become squeamish. He had to act to protect himself and keep himself alive--after all, that was what mattered.
Plus, he had risked his life before. He had managed to survive, thanks to the intervention of Max, his father, and a Diamond Dog friend of his father's, but he had still lost almost everything he loved. His power, his influence, all of it was gone... and while Notary was alive, he would never see her again. Didn't that settle it? Acting for others only hurt him. He had to be strong and act in his own interests, even if it destroyed Snails.
But the image that entered his head in response wasn't his father, or the weathermare who would beat him up if Snails were hurt, or Luna, or even Snails himself. He saw Max, the pony who had found him when he was about to be killed by terrorists, and who--even though he looked like he'd gone three rounds with an Ursa, with blood dripping from multiple wounds and bruises all along the right side of his body--had tackled the last cultist and knocked the knife aside; Greengrass had been cut in the side, instead of being stabbed in the heart. And when Greengrass later asked why, Max had just smiled. "You're a citizen of the nation," he had said. "As a Night Court member, it's my duty to protect you."
"Oh," Greengrass had said. "So it wasn't personal; you'd have done the same for anypony at all. You still think I'm the terrible pony you said I was yesterday--"
"Sure." Max had smiled. "I would have. But I don't think you're terrible. Anypony who would give up his power, his dreams, and his life to save a friend like you did can't be all bad."
Greengrass found his mouth slowly closing as three thoughts ran through his mind. The first was that, if he did break Snails, he would sacrifice the friendship of Mounty Max... quite possibly his only friend left. The second was the memory of how he'd felt when Notary had run off, when he'd watched her vanish down a hallway, knowing he could never see her again, knowing that if they somehow did meet her only sane move would be to spit in his face and his only possible move would be to let her. He'd felt that feeling in the pit of his stomach that was like some horrid combination of grief for his friend, and remorse for the actions that had made their separation inevitable. He knew that he never wanted to feel like that again.
And the third thought that he couldn't get rid of was that it would hurt Snails if Greengrass smashed his self-esteem. Greengrass tried telling himself that these were just ideas Max had spoken of, that he was too smart and rational to care about things like that--that Snails wouldn't care about him if their positions were reversed, so he shouldn't care about Snails--that anypony would act like he did, that it was all well and good to speak of morals but nopony ever followed them when it really mattered except for fools like Max--but it didn't matter. Snails would be hurt, and that was wrong because Snails was a foal and did not deseve to be hurt for no reason. And so, if Greengrass hurt him, that would be shameful. Immoral. At least, according to how Max defined things. And that mattered, for some reason Greengrass could not explain.
I'm Greengrass, Duke of Caneighda! he thought to himself. I'm a practical gamescolt. I don't take stupid risks or make foolish decisions. The one time I did, I lost almost everything I loved. I'm not risking what's left of my life and my future for... for a foal, and for a friendship with some self-righteous noble who doesn't know anything, who... He trailed off.
He knew he couldn't do it.He couldn't break Snails, even to save himself.
Damn. I thought it'd be fun to befriend Max, see if I could smarten him up, influence him. How did he wind up influencing me?Greengrass laughed a rueful chuckle. That was a question he could figure out later. For now...
He had to embark on his stupid, irrational, absurd, and yet strangely 'right'-feeling choice.
"Snails!" he said, approaching the foal. If I can convince him he's got nothing to prove, he won't want to fight either. That's my only other option. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure."
Greengrass thought for a moment. Weeding was easy, but building a pony up? Not his bag. Still, he had to keep going. He could sense the cracks in Snails' psyche; if he was to keep Snails out of the battle without weeding the foal, he'd have to weed out those cracks by patching them up. "Earlier you said you weren't good at anything. You're not still feeling that way, are you?"
"I guess I'm good at a few things." Snails darted to another rock like he was in a Daring Do book. "But I dunno. I don't know if they're important things. But if I fight bad guys like my sister, I'll know I'm good at things that are good to be good at! Like her!"
Greengrass took a moment to untangle Snails' tortured syntax. "Oh?" he asked. "What are you good at that you don't think is important to be good at?"
"Well,I took a magic picture earlier and that helped my sister figure something out--"
"A magic picture?" Greengrass made a little gasp of surprise. "You mean you can just look at something and cast a spell and then you a picture of what it looks like? A perfect picture?"
"Yeah--"
"But that's amazing! Why, with that spell, you could be a great reporter!" Greengrass swept a leg out. "You could take one look at a really big event, something that most reporters would be struggling to encompass, and take one picture and have a view of the whole thing! Or... you could be a scientist! You could do all kinds of experiments and take a picture of how each one turned out, so you could remember them perfectly!" He grinned. "And that's not even getting into how you could do portraits, or make ID cards, or a dozen other wonderfully useful careers!"
Snails was smiling brightly, but then he seemed to catch himself. "Hey!" he said. "You're just trying to make me feel good. You don't really think those things are really important."
"Why wouldn't I think that?" asked Greengrass. "Aren't all those things I said true?"
"But... but there's some ponies who are good at important things, and others who aren't and who are only good at silly things!" insisted Snails. "That's what everypony says! And I want to be good at important things! Like Raindrops!"
Greengrass paused for a moment as he looked back at the glum Carrot Top. Snails probably won't listen to me, no matter what I do. But I have an idea. "I see," he said. "It sounds like you think you're in the 'Carrot Top' position."
"The what?"
"You know, the 'Carrot Top' of foals. You know, not good for much. But--"
"Hey!" said Snails, as Carrot Top trotted over to the sound of her name. "That's mean! Miss Carrot Top's good at all kinds of things. She makes great carrots, and she makes potions so my sister can drink a lot of cider without getting a headache, and one time she beat up a timberwolf!"
Carrot Top blushed. "Thanks, Snails," she said. "I'm sorry I'm not able to fight for you better--"
"Huh?" Snails tilted his head. "But you've fought off Corona and Grogar and all kinds of other mean ponies!"
"Grogar?" asked Greengrass.
Carrot Top ignored him. "I was there, but--"
"And Luna knighted you! And she knows everything, so she wouldn't have knighted you if you weren't good at protecting ponies like me."
Carrot Top said nothing for a moment. It was easy for her to forget sometimes that she really had been through a lot. She'd battled salamanders, and Everfree abominations, and golems, and all manner of beasts. But she still couldn't help comparing herself to Raindrops and Cheerilee, both of whom had been far more useful than she was. "I meant today," she said. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to do what Cheerilee and Raindrops could do today. They helped fight for you, and I couldn't do much--"
"Until you came here," said Greengrass. "But didn't you tell me you were planning on using some of the flowers and plants in this room to make weapons to help us fight the mafia?"
Um, no... thought Carrot Top. But she couldn't stop her mind from working as she looked through the flowers. Now that she looked at them, she thought she could see some that would be useful for that purpose...
"Yeah!" said Snails. "You're super awesome with plants! You'll make some awesome potions that'll beat up the mafia ponies for us!" His smile flickered. "And I'll help too! Even if I'm not good at much--"
"Isn't that what I was saying about Carrot Top?" asked Greengrass. "But if it's not true for her, maybe it's not true for you."
"Yeah!" said Carrot Top. "Snails, you're good at lots of things."
"Just one spell--"
"And with bugs." Carrot Top sat next to Snails. "Do you have any idea how useful that is to farmers? You could talk pests into leaving our crops alone. You could talk helpful bugs into pollinating our plants and making them spread further. You could be a huge asset to our community."
Snails blushed. "You're just saying that."
"Nope. The farming bugs exhibit I was at today suggested that a good bug expert can increase a farm's productivity by over 30%. And that's just with a pony who knows a lot about bugs. One who can befriend them, and make them into bug buddies--"
"Buggies," corrected Snails.
"Make them into buggies? That would be a huge help. You could be one of the most valuable ponies around. In fact, I happen to know that Green Grapes was talking to Dewdrop about offering you a weekend job next spring."
Snails blinked. "Really?!"
"Really." Carrot Top looked at the foal in front of her, and then looked at the plants around her. I'm not a trained fighter... but Snails is right. I'm not useless either, and I can definitely use this environment to my advantage. "Maybe we're not good in hoof fights," she said. "But we're still good at a lot of things. We still help all the ponies around us live happy lives. Isn't that what matters?"
"Uh huh."
Carrot Top began to pull flowers out of the ground, ignoring Greengrass's sounds of dismay. "I'll mix up some potions," she said. "To help us fight the mob. And then, when we fight them off and go home, I'm going to take you around my garden. I'll show you all the bugs that I work with. Okay?"
Snails nodded.
"Alright. Now, sit back and watch--and I'll show the world what an awesome knight like me can do."
Greengrass smiled as Snails trotted off where Carrot Top directed him. She had, he thought, finally convinced Snails of his own worth--which meant he would bother to engage in a little self-preservation, which was all Greengrass had wanted. Not bad for my first try at anti-weeding a pony...
"Hey!" called Twilight. "Greengrass! Help me put this catapult together!"
Chuckling, Greengrass trotted over to help.
***
Snails crouched behind a bush and watched the bad ponies enter the garden.
There were several of of them, all big hulking stallions and mares with piercings, tattoos dyed into their coats, and a variety of strange hairstyles that Snails knew his mother would never let him wear. He took a magic photo of them anyway, just in case Snips wanted some ideas, then resumed watching them. He saw them step into the garden, trampling flowers as they looked around, and then--
Carrot Top stood from behind a large trellis and heft a packet of herbs at the bad ponies. It was lit, and as it burned a thick cloud of smoke began to emerge. The mob ponies swiveled and scattered, but a few of them were too slow and were caught in the smoke. Snails quickly heard them coughing and gasping, and one of them even seemed to slump over as the others got away. Wow! the colt thought.
Carrot Top ran through the garden, throwing another packet of herbs at the pony right behind her. It stuck to his coat and the pony's legs tangled; Carrot Top had told Snails that she had found some plants that would combine to have a strong 'numbing' effect. The next pony vaulted over her fallen comrade, right at Carrot Top--until Greengrass stepped out from behind a bush and, as if he knew exactly when and where to attack in order to stop his enemy, swung a heavy shovel at the pony's knee. The other pony screamed and went down hard.
"Get them!" roared one of the bad ponies, who looked like the leader. "They're just two ponies! A noble and the weakest Element of the 6! GET THEM!"
"Yes, Stompina!" the thugs yelled as they attacked.
Snails' eyes widened as he watched the battle. Carrot Top was always fleeing, clearly not fond of the idea of hoof-to-hoof combat, but as she ran she kept dropping her plant weapons. Some smoked, some stung, two fell together and burst into an explosion that stunned the pony behind her long enough for her to turn and give a solid kick to his face. Greengrass was also not good at hoof-fighting--Snails saw him get hit a few times--but he battled with his heavy shovel, watching his enemies and then striking at just the right moment to make them overbalance or collide with each other. Snails inched forwards--his horn now poking out of the bush--to get a better view. Wow! This is amazing! I--
He felt himself seized by magic and dragged towards Clubby Hoof. "Boss! I got the foal! I--"
BONK
The unicorn fell over, unconscious, thanks to a rock that had hit her in the head.
Snails turned to see Twilight crouched behind her makeshift catapult, with some rocks piled at one end for ammuniition. "How did you do that?" asked Snails. "You hit her on your first shot!"
"What? That?" Twilight blushed, and her broken magic ring gave off a few sparks for good measure. "I read a book on physics once. Never used it before, but--look out!" And Snails jumped to the side while Twilight launched another rock at the pony charging at him, scoring another direct hit.
The mob ponies fell quickly. Snails could barely keep track of all the fighting, but he saw that the leader was gradually running out of ponies to throw at the Element and the others. "COME ON!" Stompina screamed. "They aren't hard! They'll fall any minute!"
"Oh?" asked Greengrass. He was bleeding and had a few bruises on his side from saps, but he was still standing, and he smacked a bad pony in the leg as that pony charged by him to reach Carrot Top. "Strange. At this rate, I think we could hold out for some hours."
"Maybe days," chimed in Carrot Top.
"Well, technically, at this rate--" began Twilight before the other two glared at her. "Ah, days it is."
Stompina growled and charged at Greengrass, grabbing a heavy chain from her saddlebag. "You're mine!" she roared. She leapt at the Duke, who swung his shovel and hit the mobster--to no effect, the other pony was too big and too strong to be stopped like that. Stompina slammed into Duke, knocking him over, and then wrapped her chain around the noble's neck.
Carrot Top leapt onto his back and, holding hooffuls of flowers, wrapped around Stompina's neck and began to squeeze.
The stallion reared back, but Carrot Top held on, and Snails could see an odd blue tint spreading where the farmer was holding onto the mobster. The bad pony began to flail as Greengrass pushed the chain aside, then grabbed his shovel and smacked up at Stompina's chin. The pony let out a cry of rage, shook her head with a mighty thrust and sent Carrot Top flying into some rose bushes, stood still for a moment as she tried to recover, and then--
A rock slammed into her head and her stood for a moment, then fell over, leaving only a stunned Twilight by her catapult. "Did I get her?" she asked.
"Uh huh," said Carrot Top. "Nice shot!"
Twilight blushed. "It's just a few mathematical principles--"
"Could we perhaps make use of some healing principles?" asked Greengrass. "Specifically, for me?"
Snails ignored the conversation. He instead looked around at Carrot Top--who had used plants to be awesome, and Greengrass--who had used 'weeding' to fight bad guys, and Twilight--who had used 'physics', which Snails had never heard of in his life, to use rocks and bits of wood to beat her foes. He didn't just see how those talents, as silly or obscure as they might sound, could be useful for some really important things. He felt it. He understood.
And he knew, then, that even if his own skills seemed silly or trivial, that there were probably all kinds of places where he could use them. He could save the day with bugs, or with a magic camera in his head, or with all the other things he could do. If weeding or gardening could beat up a bunch of bad ponies,so could all of his skills. He could do great things with his abilities. He could be worthy of his sister. He was worthy of his sister.
Carrot Top and Greengrass were chattering happily, and Snails ran to them, jumping up and down and hugging everypony indiscrimintantly. I get it now! he thought. I get it. I can be useful and I can do great things, and that means I am great, and Raindrops is lucky to have a little brother as good as me!
Now even Twilight, still looking a bit freaked out, was joining the group. Snails hopped onto her back and hugged her around the neck.
Come back soon, Raindrops! The foal smiled to himself. I want to give you a big hug, cause you're the best sister ever.
***
Raindrops, Cheerilee, and Mounty Max stopped at the entrance to Gate 19 Below. The airship docking space was a large cave cut into the Canterhorn's side, separated from empty space by a huge metal door which was sealed tight. There was also a pony-sized door, reachable from a narrow path down from the lowest level of Canterlot. It was at this latter door that the trio paused for a moment.
Max put his ear against the door. "Voices," he said after a moment. "And I think I heard a yell. Somepony's not happy in there"
"The prisoners are alive," added Cheerilee. "At least, some of them." She glanced up the path. "No sign of the Guards. Max, we can't wait any longer. We have to go, now."
"I know." Max looked down. "Sorry."
"Hey, you tried." Cheerilee smiled. "And honestly, at this point I'd rather have you here than one of them anyway. You know what you're doing."
"I do seem to do it a little too often." Max chuckled. "Let's do this."
Raindrops said nothing. She just waited for Cheerilee to pick the lock, then ran through the door, followed closely by her friends.They raced through the hallway, burst into the main docking bay, and--
And froze as they looked in shock at what lay before them.