Long Distance

by Ezn


Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen
 
Bluebottle watched, eyes widened in awe, as the purple dragon swooped down from the sky and landed solidly on her hindlegs a few metres in front of the giant blue dragon. He faced her and growled defensively, tightening his claws around their small hoard.
 
The purple dragon raised an eyebrow and extended her wings, casting a large shadow behind her.
 
"Sibwashie, we're finally going to defeat the dragon!" said an excited male voice from behind Bluebottle. "I didn't think we'd find him right here in Port Welcome, but here he is!"
 
Bluebottle turned around to see a stocky zebra and a white unicorn. The former frowned and leaned over to whisper something in the latter's ear.
 
The unicorn's face fell. "Black scales... wings... red eyes... Right, right, of course. So this is just some other dragon, then."
 
Bluebottle's face creased in confusion. "Who are you po– err, people?" She frowned. "And what's with the dragon?"
 
"I'm Sky Wave, the unicorn's White Noise and the zebra's Sibwashie," Sky said to her quickly. "The dragon's name is Venkra."
 
As if on cue with her introduction, Venkra swung a fist at the blue dragon's face, the wind whistling by as she barely missed it. A crowd had begun to assemble on the street below.
 
Venkra recovered from her missed punch and whipped her fisted claw back, preparing to try again. A look in the blue dragon's eyes told her he was anticipated that. Smiling inwardly, she thrust her fist forward, extending her claws at the last moment. The flat of her hand missed his face entirely and gave him a solid shove in the chest instead.
 
It worked. The blue dragon staggered backwards. Enraged, he grabbed a jar of dragonfire and tossed it at Venkra. It broke against her left claws, which had shot up to shield her face just in time, and its contents dissipated in a puff of green smoke.
 
"He has dragonfire jars?" White wondered aloud.
 
In the middle of the substantial and still-growing crowd on the streets, a tan earth pony wearing a boater hat produced a megaphone. His voice carried all the way to Bluebottle's rooftop.
 
"Step up, folks, step up and bet on the fight of the century! Two terrific titans – draconic destroyers – monsters of mayhem – they're both strong and they're both fast, but who will win? Will it be the pretty Purple Punisher or the boisterous Blue Bruiser? Place your bets here, folks, and win big!"
 
Much to the shock of all four ponies on the roof, the crowds flocked to the boater-hatted pony, whose boater hat was soon heavy with bits.
 
"Some ponies..." Bluebottle scoffed, producing a slim book from her shirt pocket and flicking through it.
 
As Bluebottle pored over her police handbook, Sky turned away from her to rejoin her friends. White's face had turned even paler than usual.
 
"What's wrong, White?" she asked.
 
White pointed a shaking hoof at the fight. "Look at that dragon."
 
"Yeah, Venkra's a real pal, isn't she?"
 
"Not her, the other one!"
 
"What about him? He doesn't seem very nice. Probably on some kind of rampage – the greed one, with any luck."
 
"He doesn't have wings. He's blue. Who does that remind you of?"
 
Sky gasped. "It can't be..."
 
All of a sudden, a door flew open behind the group on the roof, and a breathless tan earth pony staggered out of it. Strands of black hair were coming loose from his slicked-back mane, and he stared ahead with wide brown eyes.
 
"Bluebottle! Thank goodness you're fine! I was certain my boss had injured you in his madness."
 
"Pah, I can handle a baby dragon!"
 
"...your boss?" asked White, feeling at a loss.
 
The emotion dropped from Corr's demeanour and his wild mane almost seemed to fall back into place as he straightened up and faced White Noise. "Yes, sir, my boss – Melvin the Dragon, manager of the Lunar Republic branch of Dragonfire Delivery."
 
Before White could reply, the group's attention was jerked back to the fight in the streets by a loud roar. Their forelegs locked together, Melvin and Venkra wrestled with each other, swaying back and forth as one or the other got the upper claw.
 
Sporadic shouts of "Punisher!" and "Bruiser!" shot out of the crowd, growing in frequency until the two terms were being chanted in turns, and then simultaneously.
 
"I fear that the opponents in the fight are too similar for one to win
For this to have the outcome we desire, we need to put a new element in," Sibwashie said gravely.
 
"I have an idea," replied White, lighting up his horn.
 
White's magic surged from his horn and spread over his face. The spell he had cast became obvious when an explosive "HEY MELVIN!" boomed from his lungs.
 
"Melvin! I'm back and I think we need to have a little chat about how you've been running my business!"
 
Whether because of some remaining shred of sanity or because of the White's loud, harsh tone, Melvin turned his head to face the ponies on the rooftop.

"H-his business?" Corr asked himself. "What have I..."
 
A smile flicked across Venkra's face. Wasting no time, she pushed down on Melvin's forelegs as hard as she could and brought him to the ground with a heavy, resounding thud.
 
"Yes!" shouted Sky, pulling her two friends into a hug. "Woo! Way to go, guys!"
 
A cacophonous mixture of sighs and elated whoops erupted from the crowd on the streets below, but soon turned to unified cries of dismay as the townsponies realised that their bet-organiser was no longer in the centre of the crowd.

***

From his hiding place behind a nearby office building, the pony with the boater hat breathed a sigh of relief and patted his heavy saddlebags with a forehoof.

"Give it here," came a cold, stern voice from above.

The pony looked up in horror to see a blue-coated police-pegasus hovering above him. He considered making a run for it in the split second before the rational side of his brain reminded him what a stupid idea it would be for an earth pony to attempt to outrun a pegasus.

"I'm confiscating your illegally acquired revenue," Bluebottle continued. "In accordance with the National Gambling Policy – section 33, paragraph B – the funds you raised will be put towards repairing the damage done."

With a defeated sigh, the earth pony pulled a sack of bits out of his saddlebag and pushed it a few inches in front of him.

"Thank you for your service to your country," Bluebottle said. "As a reward, I won't arrest you. You are free to go. And you'd better hurry up, too – that mob is looking pretty angry!"

The earth pony gave a curt nod and swiftly scurried off.

***

With Melvin pinned on the ground, the disaster was cleaned up swiftly. Teams of pegasi placed roofs back on buildings and fastened them there as best they could, and an earth pony cleanup crew removed the debris from the streets.

After some of the ponies from the hospital subdued Melvin with a few litres of tranquiliser, a group of unicorns was called in to create and maintain a magical forcefield around him. The task of figuring out what to do next was left to his employer and his shop assistant.

"So... what you're saying is that Melvin hired you to help out around the shop and write a news digest for him to sell?" asked White. "And, you're also saying that he paid you..."

Correspondence stated how much Melvin had been paying him.

White's jaw dropped. "Mr Correspondence, that's... that's more than double Melvin's own salary... I – I don't know how he could possibly have afforded to pay you that much, even with the extra revenue from selling the digests."

"Well, sir, the Lunar Republic is quite far away from most cities and towns in Equestria," Corr replied, battling to keep a look of incredulity off of his face.

"And so?"

"Well, uh, surely you know already, sir? I mean, from what you've told me, I gather you've just returned from a successful expedition to find out about the mechanics of dragonfire. And surely you must know about the different grades of fire required for transmitting messages over different distances!"

"Different grades? There's no such thing as –"

White's world slowed down for a moment as a sickening realisation dawned on him. He felt an uncomfortable pressure in his chest and could barely blurt out, "Corr, tell me ab-about the grades."

"Well, sir," Corr began, sounding utterly baffled. "For every extra metre of distance a letter transmitted via dragonfire goes, a dragon must use more and more of his inner magic to create dragonfire powerful enough to... Sir?"

Sky and Sibwashie murmured to each other as White put a hoof to his forehead. "It's rubbish," White said. "All of that. It's complete garbage. The whole point of sending messages by dragonfire is that distance doesn't matter. All this stuff Melvin told you about grades... he used it as an excuse to sell different jars of dragonfire for extra bits, didn't he?"

Correspondence nodded.

"Twenty bits, Correspondence. Just twenty bits per jar of dragonfire. Twenty for a Fillydelphia jar, twenty for a Hoofington jar, twenty for a Ponyville jar. Twenty bits for any jar from anywhere in the world. That was the whole point of my business..."

Slumping onto his haunches, White let out a long sigh. "So Melvin reworked the prices, started new initiatives and hired – no offence, Mr Correspondence, you weren't to know – without consulting me. And he got rich because of it. Rich... and greedy."

"Greedy, sir?" Corr asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I'll let Venkra explain."

"Come, young one, let me tell you a tale of my people..." Venkra said, putting on mock airs. She flapped her wings and swooped to a spot in front of Corr, where she sat down and began animatedly retelling the Dragon King's story. Her audience recoiled only slightly at the sight of her pointy teeth inches from his snout.

White trotted to where Sky and Sibwashie were standing, looking at Melvin's sleeping form with hard, concentrating expressions.

"Any ideas?" he asked.

They shrugged at him. Sibwashie looked down at the street and Sky rubbed the back of her neck with a forehoof, casting her eyes away.

White smiled weakly. "Didn't think so."

Glancing between White's expression and the giant sleeping dragon in the middle of the street, Sky bit her lip. The three unicorns in charge of the magical barrier – all of whom had shield-related cutie marks – were hesitant to show it, but she could see the fatigue in their eyes. The barrier they'd had to conjure had to be large enough to cover a dragon and strong enough to resist its strength when it woke up. That couldn't be an easy thing to do, and Sky doubted they'd be able to keep it up perpetually while she and her friends aimlessly mulled over possible solutions.

"Well, there is one thing I've thought of, but I don't know if –"

"What?" White interrupted. "It can't hurt to try."

Sky took a breath and gathered her thoughts. "You know how you couldn't do that thing you do with the mind of a dragon, but then learnt how when the Dragon King taught you?"

White sighed. "Yes, and thank you for suggesting it, but even now I can't enter the mind of a dragon uninvited, because –"

"– the dragon won't let you, I know. You've told us. But right now, not only is Melvin out of his mind with greed, but he's also asleep. You managed to mess around with Sibwashie and my dreams for ages, so surely you can do something to his when he's in this state?"

"I... I'll give that a shot. I haven't tried to use my powers on a someone while they're asleep before."

As he always did when he prepared to cast his newest and most powerful spell, White closed his eyes and blocked out the world around him. He wasn't certain if it was strictly necessary, but it afforded the process a solemnity appropriate to the dangerous business of tampering with the thoughts of another sentient being.

Good luck, White! I wonder if he can hear this thought...

Hello, White Noise. Welcome to my brain.
Look a while, stay a while, but from damages refrain.

These ponies had better sort out their pet dragon soon, or I'm going to be going home with a massive headache.

I wonder if I'll still have a job after all this. I wonder what'll happen to Melvin. I suppose he deserves whatever he gets for commiting fraud like that, but he was a good boss and a shrewd businessdragon.

Gold. Bits. Dragonfire. Trixie Posters. All mine, all mine!

The final thought surprised White, and his surprise grew as a steady stream of similar thoughts flowed out from the same source. Melvin's madness coupled with his sleep had obviously lowered his innate mental defences.

White sent an excited thought to Sky. You were right! I can see Melvin's thoughts just as clearly as I can see all the rest of yours!

Hooray! That means you can fix him, right?

Yes, but I'll need your help, like last time.

Why do you need my help? Can't you just send your own thoughts to Melvin like you're doing with me?

But you know I'm talking to you. It's clear to you where your thoughts end and mine begin. To others, that distinction does not exist. The best way to keep myself from abusing this power is to only use it for communication – to only use it to move thoughts between the heads of others. Planting my own thoughts in others' heads... that's what I'm afraid of doing.

Okay, White, I trust you know what you're doing. What do you want me to think?

Think of gafcomps. Think of Venkra's delivery from her madness and how she hated it. Maybe that will help.

White waited as Sky composed her thoughts for a few moments, seeing jumbled words and sentences compose themselves and flop into place together.

Greed can destroy a dragon, and it's trying to destroy you. Fight the greed for the sake of your sanity. Fight it for the sake of your friends and the ponies who care about you.

With a determined grin, White plucked the finished thought out of the air and sent it along a cyan tendril of magic, straight into Melvin's head.

Gold, bits, riches, diamo– f-friends? Ponies who – gemstones – care? What ponies? Diamonds! Who cares? Rubies! Ponies?

Melvin's stream of thoughts became a tangled mess of conflicting ideas that grew and grew until all their light and sound were not mere words but pictures – moving pictures. White couldn't believe his mind's eye as images swam into focus around him. What's going on?

White looked down into a deep, dark cave, filled with gold and gemstones that provided the only light, glowing from within. Atop the great pile of riches sat Melvin, solemnly looking over his hoard.

Melvin! White sent a thought to the image of Melvin, uncertain about whether he was an apparition or the actual dragon.

"Yes, what?" Melvin snapped, his voice reaching White in a way that made him uncertain of whether he was hearing it in his mind or with his ears.

Fight this greed, Melvin! Stop rampaging and come back to us!

Melvin snarled. "Why should I do that? So that you can fire me formally?"

Melvin, if you can just break this curse, we'll be able to sit down and discuss that. I'm not an unreasonable pony, and I'd like to think I have a fairly good understanding of dragons now.

"A good enough understanding not to need us, I'm sure! That was the whole point of your journey, wasn't it?"

No, it –

"Understanding dragonfire means not needing dragons anymore. Maybe you don't like to think about it because you always tell yourself you're a nice, reasonable pony, but that's what it's all about. Now that you know all about how our fire works, it's just a matter of time before we all get the boot. I just took the precaution of saving up!"

With Melvin's last angry word, the illusion fell apart and White lost his mental connection. His horned dulled, his eyes shot open and he panted and gasped for breath.

"Woah, White, are you okay?" asked Sky, giving him a worried glance as his legs collapsed beneath him and he fell to the ground. "Did... did it work?"

Taking a few deep breaths and regaining some of his composure, White shook his head. "No. I... I spoke with Melvin, though. I spoke with him, and he's not happy. He thinks... he thinks I went on this expedition to Dragonia so that I could learn enough to fire him and the other dragons."

"Isn't that the case?" asked Corr, who had just finished listening to Venkra's story and was trotting up to White's side.

"What? No! Of course not! That's absurd!"

"But... sir, from what I gather, you went on your journey because you were dissatisfied with how little you knew about the nature of the magic providing your livelihood, and now you know a good deal more about it. Perhaps enough to not have to rely on dragons anymore."

White looked to his friends for support.

"Mr Correspondence makes a fair point," Sky said, shrugging. "I kinda got the same feeling when you asked me to join the expedition in the first place."

"But I'd never – I mean, I guess..."

White's voice softened and faded away as he contemplated the excited plans he'd been making in his head ever since the Dragon King had taught him how to tap into the dragons' mental network. With a bit of reverse engineering and study, he figured he'd be able to combine the magic behind his psychic powers, the magic of the dragon network, green flame and perhaps the magic behind radio – Sibwashie surely knew somezebra who could help him with that – to automate the dragonfire messaging service. He'd still need dragons to make the fire itself, but the rest might feasibly be taken out of their claws.

"Melvin was right," White said at last. "I was meaning to make their jobs redundant. I just never admitted that to myself. But should I feel bad for trying to make a little progress?"

Nopony had an answer for that, and an awkward silence hung in the air. Eventually, Venkra cleared her throat.

"So, how about that 'curing Melvin of his dragon greed' thing, eh? Surely we've got a few more ideas between the five of us. Uh, White, why not try out those magical healing oranges you were telling me about earlier?"

"That's a good idea, Venkra," White replied, shaking his head free of its troubled thoughts and reaching into his saddlebag to grab one of the two oranges he had left in his telekinesis.

As he did so, a low rumbling was heard from the barrier. All eyes turned to Melvin, who was stirring and twitching in his sleep.

"He's waking up! Brace yourselves, gentlecolts!" shouted the oldest of the unicorns, in a gruff voice that made it apparent that he was in charge.

The great beast that was Melvin growled. It opened its eyes slowly and sluggishly tried to raise itself onto all fours. Its eyes glinted as it jerked its head up.

THUMP. "GRAR!" Melvin roared out in pain as the top of his head connected with the barrier. He slumped back down and rubbed his injured scalp.

"Expand the barrier! He won't be as agitated if he has space to stand!"

With curt nods, the two younger unicorns joined their leader in channelling their magic into expanding the barrier. Its surface rippled as it grew upward.

"Ah, perfect timing," said White, smiling at the orange that floated in front of him as he magically unpeeled it. "Sky, we'll need you to fly up there and toss the orange in his mouth."

Sky flexed her wings, but became hesitant upon looking up at the gigantic blue beast. "What about the barrier?"

"It's one-way!" shouted the leader of the barrier-maintaining unicorns. "You can throw as many things in there as you like, but you won't be able to get them out again!"

Feeling relieved, Sky grabbed the orange in her mouth, being careful not to bite down on it and squeeze its juices out. Her wings flicked out and within seconds she was soaring in front of Melvin, who paid her no mind.

"GHEY GELVGGGIN!" she shouted through the sides of her mouth. "Ggovger gghere!"

Melvin continued to rub his head and stare angrily at the unicorns in charge of his magical prison.

Sky's eyes narrowed and she waved her forehooves about her ears. Still Melvin ignored her. The barrier rippled, and a unicorn quickly shot out a stream of magic to reinforce it.

Hit by a sudden spark of inspiration, Sibwashie whispered a rhyme into the unicorn's ear.

Between Sky and the top of Melvin's enormous scalp, a section of the barrier suddenly collapsed inward.

"RAWR!" Melvin looked up and roared at Sky, who could only smile in response, her teeth free of their projectile.

With a soft zwhoop, the orange phased through the barrier and fell directly into Melvin's roaring mouth. "GRAR?"

"Yes! I got it! He's..."

Melvin didn't appear to even have noticed the orange that had fallen into his enormous mouth. As the seconds ticked by, Sky's elation faded, and her face fell as she descended.

"Nothing," muttered White.

"Well it was worth a shot," said Venkra, shrugging. "Anyone else have another idea?"

Sky thought back to her last encounter with a dragon in the throes of a greed-fuelled madness. "The most obvious solution is to get somepony to be his gafcomp. We need Melvin to give something to somepony."

"But what?" asked White. "He's got nothing to give! We confiscated his hoard while he was sleeping!"

"Without anything to give, Melvin will have to be starved out of his monstrous state," Venkra concluded. "I've heard that if you keep a mad dragon away from all material goods for long enough, he'll revert to his proper frame of mind."

"How long's long enough?"

"It varies, but I believe the shortest time is at least two weeks."

A loud groan sounded from where the unicorns maintaining the shield were standing and was followed by discontented muttering.

"We don't have two weeks!" White said, exasperated. "We can't expect the town to divert traffic and business around Melvin for that long, and we definitely can't expect these guys to keep up their shield spell that long either."

"So the only option is to get Melvin to freely give somepony something," Sky lamented. "Which would require him to have something... and to be willing to give it away."

Venkra chuckled darkly. "Good luck with that second part."

The two ponies and dragon looked at each other hopelessly. Corr and Sibwashie, who had both been watching silently, walked over to them, their faces clouded with thought.

All of a sudden, Corr's eyes lit up. "Wait! I've got it!"

"Yes?" asked Sky and White simultaneously.

"I won't pretend to understand all this dragon business about 'gaf-comps', but if you just need Melvin to give something away... why not use dragonfire?"

White clapped Corr firmly on the shoulder. "That... is a brilliant idea. Somepony fetch me a jar!"

***

Half an hour of set-up and planning later, Sky, White, the shield unicorns and Corr stood in their positions, nervously shifting on their hooves as they readied themselves.

"Let's go over this one more time!" shouted White.

On cue, Sky said, "I'm going to drop this anvil on Melvin's tail, and he's going to jerk upwards in pain..."

"...then we're going to push him down with the barrier," continued the leader of the shield unicorns, "and..."

"...I'll have this jar at ready to catch the flames, and then I'll perform the necessary enchantments and slap a label on it," White finished. "If we're lucky, that'll count as Melvin 'giving' me something."

Sky and the leader of the shield unicorns nodded at White, and the group readied themselves. Sky was already hovering when a stammered cry diverted everypony's attention.

"Wait!" Correspondence grinned sheepishly. "Sir," he said, facing White Noise, "as Melvin's boss, haven't you had him 'give' you dragonfire many times in the past, in exchange for his salary?"

"Of course I have," White replied. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, Ms Sky said that Melvin would have to freely give something to a pony for him to be cured. And, if you're his boss, and you're paying him..."

White bit his lip.

Venkra chuckled in delight and leaned down over the proceedings. "I think he has a point. Magic was never my strong suit, but I remember my father would always ramble on about the importance of 'context and precedent', as he called it. White, I think you'd better let him take care of it."

Moments later, everypony stood at ready once more, but it was Corr who hold the empty dragonfire jar between his forehooves, while White stood to one side, his horn primed.

"On the count of three!" announced Venkra. "One!"

Sky's wings flicked out and she tightened her four-hoofed grip on the anvil.

"Two!"

The shield unicorns shifted on their hooves.

"Three!"

Sky lifted the anvil into the air and was above Melvin's tail within moments. The beast seemed unaware of his surroundings and was scratching at the tarmac when he felt a sudden spike of pain.

"RARGH!" he roared, as his head shot up...

...only to impact with the suddenly lowered ceiling of his prison. The jolt shocked a burst of green flame from his snout.

"Yes!" White shouted, igniting his horn.

Corr held the jar in front of his head, wincing as wisps of the strange, cold blast tickled his forelegs and singed some of their hair. The fire didn't hurt him, but sent a shiver down his spine all the same.

With a loud snap, the lid of the jar trapped the fire inside it and was swiftly followed by a label bearing a question mark. Corr set it down on the road and planted a forehoof on top of it, waiting.

For a moment, nothing happened.

"Did it work?" asked Sky, who had collapsed shortly after dropping the anvil.

POP! There was a great whooshing of air as something very large suddenly became something very small, followed by a cry of pain as something very small landed on its rump.

"It... worked," said Corr, already trotting through the barrier to assist his boss and gafcomp.

Melvin sat in the middle of the street, squinting at his blurry surroundings. "Uurgh, my head... what happened?"

"You went insane with greed and grew into an enormous, mindless beast, sir," said Corr, already by Melvin's side and offering him a forelimb. "Don't worry about it though, we managed to snap you out of it and now you should be fine."

"What? I... I..."

Watching the scene from a few metres back, White bit his lip. The little dragon who had seemingly spent his employment defrauding White and ripping off Dragonfire Delivery's customers was tired, dazed and very confused. And sooner or later, he'd be "fired" as well.

A familiar voice snapped White out of his contemplation. "When I heard about the dragon rampage in the middle of Port Welcome, I really should have guessed you guys would have something to do with it."

"Ocean!" said Sky, fluttering over with a big smile on her face.

Ocean Glider grinned and waved a forehoof at her friends. "It's good to see you all again. I take it the... uh" – she motioned towards Venkra – "dragon is with you?"

"Yes, Ms Venkra is our good friend from the far off land of the dragon," Sibwashie began.

"Well, in that case, I'll see to it that somepony rolls out her welcome wagon," Ocean quickly finished. "Now that president Joyous Dawn is in office, the Lunar Republic will truly be a promised land for all creatures."

"Thank you very much in advance," Venkra said playfully, "I'm sure such treatment will bring delight to my features."

Ocean's face clouded for a moment. "I regret that my pleasure at meeting a dragon from Dragonia is not without an ulterior motive, Ms Venkra. I was sent to request your services in a matter of grave importance to the country."

Venkra cocked a scaly eyebrow.

"You see, ma'am," Ocean continued, "the Lunar Republic has been having a 'dragon problem' for a number of months now – many of our farms have been cruelly and repeatedly attacked and had their crops incinerated by the same black-scaled dragon. I've heard that Sibwashie here was able to alleviate it somewhat by teaching the farmponies defensive techniques, but that's only been a temporary solution."

Venkra cocked a second scaly eyebrow.

"Well, to cut a long story short, President Dawn is hoping that you'd grace Golden Harvest Farmstead with your presence tomorrow night, as added security for, um, 'Project Ejection'."

"'Project Ejection'?" asked Sky.

"That's what the president's calling her personal confrontation with the dragon. She's going to persuade him to leave, basically. We're all pretty confident it'll work out, but it never hurts to have a little extra security in case things go awry."

Putting a claw to her chin, Venkra thought for a moment. "Sure, why not?" She shrugged. "My little pony friends told me all about that dragon on the way over here. He sounds like an embarrassment to the species, and I'd be glad to help take him down."

Ocean smiled winningly and dug a map out of her saddlebag, which she gave to White. "Then it's settled! Perfect! I'll see the four of you at Golden Harvest Farmstead at six-thirty tomorrow night. Don't be late!"

"We won't," White replied, feeling the beginning of a queasiness in his stomach. How does this president pony think she's going to talk down a mad dragon?