//------------------------------// // Episode 6 - Call of the B // Story: My Little Rider: Friendship is Joker // by lilAngel //------------------------------// It was just a normal day in Ponyville. There had been a lot of chaos a couple of weeks earlier with monsters attacking buildings for reasons nopony seemed to understand. But this week, the chaos had mostly been limited to a pony sleep-deprived from all night farmwork attempting to help friends out, while her little sister offered to help others out with tasks she was particularly unsuited to in the hope of discovering her special talent and gaining her cutie mark before the end of the week. Both of their exploits led to a string of small disasters around the town, but it was a lot less trouble than a rampaging fire monster. Now, Applejack seemed a lot more alert as she ran into the Golden Oak Library, and told her friends that she thought Big McIntosh might be a monster. The evidence was clear, he’d done more work over one night than she’d managed in half a week, and that was impossible. He was irritable, too, and had reputedly got into a fight with some far distant cousin on his recent trip to another farm. “Could you do that?” Rarity asked, “Could you fight your own brother, if it came to it?” From the nervousness in her voice, it seemed she was equally concerned about the effect this might have on Applejack, and disturbed by the possibility that somepony might be able to. “I said I’d do anything for my family. If fighting him’s the only way to save him, I’ll do it.” “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though,” Twilight stopped speculating, “We don’t know yet if he’s a dopant. We need to ask him, find out what’s going on there. Talking is always a better solution than fighting.” “He’d just lie, though,” Rainbow Dash said, “If he is, I mean. He’s normally as honest as anyone, but we know how much a Gaia Memory can mess with your mind.” “Did you see his cutie mark, AJ?” Twilight asked, “We know from Speedy and Sunlit that a dopant can turn back into a regular pony by removing the Gaia Memory from their body. But where they jabbed it in, their cutie mark changes into the letter on the Memory, and they can’t stop craving the power as long as that mark is there to corrupt their thoughts.” “And that letter stays as a scar afterwards,” Fluttershy pointed out the elephant in the room, “Over the top of the cutie mark, making it harder to focus on their special talent. That must be horrible, I really hoped it wouldn’t happen to anypony we know.” “Can you find a way to get it out without leaving a mark?” Applejack was right to the point, and showed none of the tiredness she’d been demonstrating over the last week. Maybe it was an improvement, but it only made Twilight worry more about the feelings she must be keeping to herself. “I’ve done some experiments with the fragments, but I don’t know that much about how they work before they’re broken. I could try comparing their geologic fingerprint to the Elements of Harmony, and see what the difference is there.” She held up her own Element as she spoke, a Gaia Memory like the ones their enemies used, but with a simplified rendition of her cutie mark instead of a letter on the side, “If I can change the letter into another mark before removing it, that might be the key to safe removal. I don’t know how, but I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia and ask if there’s anything in the book, too. I promise you, if there’s anything we can do, I’ll do it.” As soon as the others had gone, Twilight set about composing a query letter. She struggled to find the words that would express how desperate they were, hoping to avoid another promise that she could look at the book when she was next in Canterlot. That tome, which probably weighed as much as she did, was supposed to contain all the answers about Gaia Memories. But recently the Princess hadn’t been very enthusiastic about doling out information to Twilight and her friends. She couldn’t help feeling that they’d done something wrong, and Celestia didn’t trust them fully any more. On the high meadows, a bush rustled. Only the most eagle-eyed of ponies would have noticed a variety of yellow and pink hued body parts between the closely packed yellows and greens of the leaves. Rainbow Dash saw it, of course, but then she knew they were there. She was lurking on top of a particularly fluffy cloud on the other side of the field, keeping an eye on Big Mac. Right now, the stallion was repairing a fence. They’d been watching for nearly half an hour, and had so far seen no sign of him turning into a giant monster and rampaging across the countryside. “I think he saw us!” Fluttershy whispered, “Please can you try to keep still?” “Don’t worry about it!” Pinkie’s voice didn’t go anywhere near as low, but she was probably still quiet enough to avoid being heard from a hundred yards down the road. “I’m just trying to get a clear view. The fence is in the way.” A small telescope wobbled between the leaves, but didn’t make it any easier to focus on Big Mac’s cutie mark. Rainbow Dash had caught a couple of quick glimpses of their target, but that was no good. They couldn’t know he was safe until they saw that both of his haunches were intact. She couldn’t even say for sure that the mark she’d seen was his normal one, and was starting to reconsider the proud declaration that she wouldn’t need a telescope. “There’s always something in the way!” Pinkie pounded her hoof on the ground in frustration, but retained enough self awareness to do so quietly, “Behind the fence, or he’s carrying a plank, or the harness for his cart, or his mark’s exposed when I’m trying to focus the telescope or one of these branches falls over the lens. Is he doing this on purpose?” “We have to be patient,” Fluttershy mumbled, “Keep following him and taking notes until we know either way.” In one of the more affluent parts of Ponyville, Rarity was walking down the street looking for a particular address. The ponies who lived here weren’t rich, but they were comfortable enough to have houses larger than they really needed and to indulge whatever hobbies they had. Somewhere along here was the home of Grass River. As tempting as it was to think that Big McIntosh was the monster this time around, he’d had no reason to attack that house, and he certainly wasn’t a pegasus. While the others were off checking him out, Rarity had seen it as her duty to follow up the only lead they had. Eventually finding the right address, she knocked softly on the door. It was opened a moment later by a pegasus mare with a sea green coat. Her mane matched the rich indigo colour of her wingtips, and she wore it in a curly style most common among older fillies. That and the pastel rainbow legwarmers she wore seemed to be quite out of place on a mare of her age. Rarity’s suspicions were confirmed when she glanced past the other pony and saw a golden-yellow pegasus who must be Grass River’s daughter, dressed and styled in the same way. Some ponies just wouldn’t admit they were no longer young, and took to imitating the fashions favoured by their children in order to deny the onset of age. “Grass River?” she asked, feeling a little irked that Pinkie knew more about this pony than she did. They were in almost overlapping social circles, if any of the six Champions of Harmony had met Grass River before, it should have been Rarity. She couldn’t think of any situation in which this mare would have come into contact with Pinkie Pie, and yet it seemed she had. Pinkie knew everypony. “That is I. Can I help you?” “You may have heard, there was a monster attack yesterday. We’re investigating, and we’d like to talk to you.” “Oh dear. Yes, we heard about that, but I was at the spa having my mane styled. I didn’t see anything, but I heard the dragon already left town. Why do you need to investigate?” “Because it wasn’t a dragon. It was a monster called a dopont, we believe, and they are summoned by feelings of animosity. So we’re talking to everyone who might have a reason to dislike that family. If we know how it got here then we can prevent it from coming again, and help the pony who brought it here, too.” Through the whole speech, Rarity was watching Grass River’s expression for any sign of recognition. She knew that what she was saying wasn’t entirely true, and hoped that she might see some confusion or disagreement. “Help? Why would you want to help somepony who summoned a monster to take out their anger?” “Because if they keep doing it, they could get their cutie mark burned out, and nopony deserves that. It might not even be what they intended. Those things have a way of messing with your head.” Rarity had carefully thought about these words, and she hoped she was saying the right thing. She was giving Grass River an excuse to confess without being the villain, and giving her a reason to be scared of the Gaia Memory’s power. The terror in her eyes was clear enough, and for a second Rarity thought she had managed to end this case without needing to resort to violence. “That’s terrible!” Grass gasped, and then her head turned back to glance at her daughter, “You think Lemon could be calling that thing? Is it something she’d know about, or could it be involuntary?” “Well, it’s possible, maybe,” Rarity considered herself a good judge of character, and this mare’s fear and surprise looked real enough. She still had to ask questions, until she could be sure Grass River wasn’t responsible for the attack. But if it wasn’t her, then one of their assumptions must be wrong. Maybe the pony using this Gaia Memory had a different coat colour before they transformed. “Why don’t you tell me about the conflict between your families, and I’ll do what I can to help.” “You’d better come in. And then you can tell me about these monsters.” It took most of the afternoon to find out what had happened. River Grass was smart, and asked as many questions as she answered. But eventually the story came out. A childhood rivalry between two fillies in the same class at school. Lemon Grass had been the first in the class to get her cutie mark, and had been quite proud of it without needing to boast. But as soon as her friends had got theirs, they were mocking her because her mark – a lemon dripping juice – represented a talent that suited her name, but also implied she would spend her life working in a café. More than a few of her classmates got marks which showed they were more likely destined for a life of leisure. With a nebulous clique of those who’d taken the first step towards adulthood lording it over the rest of the class, there had been a constant power struggle between those who thought being first was an achievement, and those who said that their leader should be the one with the best talent. Rarity had already heard some stories of this clique from her sister, Sweetie Belle. She knew that the fillies who had their cutie marks considered themselves better than those who hadn’t, and were being cruel in numerous creative and subtle ways.  But she hadn’t thought before about leadership contests within that group. “In the end, neither of them came out on top,” River said as she looked out of the window. “As soon as the class’s popular diva got her mark, everyone else is either her follower or a laughing stock. I think if there’s anypony who deserves the jealousy of the rest of the class, it’s… Oh, sweet Celestia!” Rarity was on her feet in an instant, joining her host at the window. A couple of streets away, a much larger house protruded over the rooftops. River had looked in that direction automatically when she spoke about that family’s daughter. It was obvious what had caught her attention: a huge pegasus swooping towards the large house, something they couldn’t make out at this distance spraying towards the ground. Rarity blinked twice, and then was heading towards the door. She tapped the Element of Generosity into her collar as she galloped towards the monster, and hoped that Twilight would be quick to respond to the distress signal. Outside her home, Spoiled Rich was staring defiance at the monster. Her neighbours fled inside their own homes, but Rich’s anger was too incandescent to allow any show of fear. “How dare you!” she yelled, “Do you know who I am, deformed lowlife? You don’t even deserve to be called a pony, and yet you attack pillars of this community! You should know your–” the diatribe was suddenly cut off as the creature shed hundreds of feathers. They flew through the air like darts, bursting in a series of tiny explosions as they struck the side of the house and the ground all around the outraged earth pony. Each burst wasn’t large, barely louder than the pop of a balloon, but a hundred of them created a plume of smoke and a wave of pressure large enough to take chips out of the stucco walls and knock Spoiled Rich off her hooves. Now Rarity could be sure this was the same monster that had attacked the previous day, and she could also see clearly that it was neither dragon nor pony. It was horse shaped, certainly, but larger than any horse and covered from crown to tail in blue-green feathers. Its wings were huge, and the downdraft from its flapping could be felt from the street corner. Rarity focused her thoughts on her horn, wondering if she could manage to catch those feathers with magic and deflect them. A few weeks earlier, she wouldn’t even have considered levitating so many different objects at once, but her experience combining with Twilight had made it seem so easy. Was that a skill she could learn? “A pillar?” the monster screeched, “You can’t even support your own family. Maybe if you got you kept out of other ponies’ business and got your house in order, your daughter wouldn’t be such a bully.” Rarity would have tried to defend the Rich family, but it turned out not to be necessary. Applejack came running, just as Twilight appeared in a flash of purple light. Twilight was clearly disoriented, blinking and stumbling slightly like she always did when teleporting without proper preparation. She wasn’t in any state to fight a monster, that was clear, so she threw the Driver towards Applejack. “HONESTY!” a single swipe of her hoof slid the Element from her collar to the driver’s left slot, and the now-familiar sing song voice chanted the name. Rarity already had her own Element held out as the driver appeared around her neck. She hesitated for a second, glancing to one side to see Grass River running along behind her. That meant the mare was innocent, at least. “Can I ask you to protect my body?” Rarity gasped, then slammed the Memory home in the Driver without waiting for an answer. “GENEROSITYᏔHONESTY!” Rarity stumbled for a second and then her body dropped lifeless to the cobbles, eyes closed. A hundred yards away, Applejack’s coat flashed as bright as the sun. When the dazzling light faded, there was a half-and-half pony there, with the familiar braid of gold and silver dividing them right down the middle. Rarity was the right half and Applejack the left, but the magical armour didn’t follow such a strict division down the middle, instead having individual orange and magenta plates interlocking in a zigzag down their spine. (“What are we going to call ourself?” Rarity immediately asked through their telepathic bond, “I do hope you’re not going to insist on calling us ‘Rarijack’ or somesuch,  in the style Pinkie Pie seems to love so much.”) (“That’ll do,” Applejack gave a mental shrug, “If it’s not posh enough for you, we can talk about it after we kick this monster into the middle of next week.”) “You’re the one bullying now!” Rarity yelled out loud, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” The winged monstrosity turned and dived right towards them, shedding more feathers that hung in a glowing cloud around it. Rarity’s first thought was to repeat the fighting style that had worked so well with Twilight Sparkle as her other half, picking up a heavy stone planter that was lying in a nearby garden and hurling it at the creature. The projectile knocked the monster down for a moment. But it only deflected a few of the flying feathers, leaving dozens or even hundreds to explode around Rarijack in a much tighter pattern than the ones that had been used to vandalise the house. The Champion of Harmony was thrown to the ground, gasping for breath. The feathers burned where they had touched, and even the magical armour had a few tiny cracks which took precious seconds to heal. By the time they looked up, the monster was surrounded by an even denser cloud of feathers swirling like a flock of starlings as it got ready to launch them. Rarijack pulled herself back to her hooves and braced herself for the onslaught. (“My magic is more powerful than usual,” Rarity explained, “I think Twilight was right. My telekinesis has your strength added to my own, I could probably throw a laden cart through the air now. But hundreds of feathers, I could only grab one or two. Have you got any ideas?”) (“I’ve been kicking trees all week. I’d kick that pony too, if I could just reach it.”) “Stop!” Rarijack froze in horror as their two little sisters ran in front of them, facing off against the dopant. They were wearing matching outfits, simple but elegant silk creations that they had clearly asked Rarity to make for them. “This is horrible behaviour!” Sweetie Belle called out. She was shaking slightly as she faced the monster, but didn’t back down. As Rarity and Applejack both told the young fillies to get out of the way, she simply raised her voice to continue shouting over them. “I can understand being angry at Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for picking on you, any maybe I can understand you blaming their parents, but I think you’re wrong about that.” “But you don’t hurt our sisters!” Apple Bloom yelled, “You want to try that again, you’ll have to go through us. Are you ready to make enemies of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” (“The what?” Applejack muttered in confusion.) “Sweetie Belle,” Rarity hissed, “Get out of here. You don’t know what a Gaia Memory does to a pony’s mind, you won’t be able to reason with it. We’ll take care of this.” But while she was speaking, the monster had flown a double loop in the air, and turning on the spot it flew away. “I hope they’re okay,” Fluttershy whispered. She’d thought about activating her Element when the driver appeared, but the gems had illuminated in orange and magenta before she could make a decision. They’d been discreetly following Big Mac all afternoon, and hadn’t seen any sign of suspicious activity. But now he was holding a neighbour’s cart off the ground while they replaced the wheel, and the cart just happened to block their view of his haunches again. This whole expedition had been almost useless. “Yeah,” Pinkie was fidgeting, finding it difficult to keep still for so long. Fortunately, they were behind a stack of hay bales now, which didn’t rustle like the bushes had with every movement. “They will be, though. If they were having trouble they would have signalled us again. And look on the bright side: if they’re fighting a dopant, that means it isn’t Big Mac. Right? So even if it gets away, AJ can stop worrying about him.” “I’m not sure. We know that monster had wings, so that couldn’t be him anyway. It could be he’s got a Memory as well, and the monster is somepony else. We’ve got to keep watching.” As the sun started to sink towards the horizon, there were five Champions of Harmony waiting in the Golden Oak Library. As Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash arrived, they were bombarded with questions about what they’d seen. “Nothing,” Rainbow answered simply. “Big Mac is a great friend,” Pinkie elaborated, “He spent all day helping out neighbours, pulling carts, mending fences, mending carts, and delivering cider. Was there a dopant? The collar flashed, but then I couldn’t have run back then without letting him know we’d been watching so I waited for him to turn away and the driver was there and gone before I got a chance. Did you beat it?” “Yes, and no. We saw a monster,” Rarity answered first, then realised she should use the more appropriate word and corrected herself, “A dopant. It was huge, and it attacks with feathers. It caught us by surprise, and we might have been seriously injured.” “But Apple Bloom saved us,” Applejack added, her voice quavering between worry and pride, “Her and Sweetie Belle put themselves in front of the monster, and it didn’t want to hurt them. I think it’s one of the kids in their school class, out to hurt the bullies but those two are brave enough to stand up to it.” “It could be one of their friends,” Rarity said, “Maybe to them, losing friends is more of a threat than any kind of attack we can muster. I know that they can take things like that very seriously.” “I’ve been thinking about that,” Twilight looked up from the letter in front of her, “Do you think they realised that when the dopant mentioned bullies, or maybe they know who it is already?” “And what’s this ‘Crusaders’?” Applejack added, “First I heard about it.” “It was Sweetie Belle’s idea,” Rarity answered, “There’s three fillies in their class without cutie marks now, and they’ve grouped together to think of new things they could try, in the hope of discovering a talent sooner. She asked if I could make uniforms for them, to cover their flanks. They’ll be able to  tell us more themselves, they promised to come here right after school. And I hope they aren’t punished too harshly for coming to help us in their lunch break.” “That’s a pretty neat idea,” Applejack admitted, “So what did the Princess say? Is that her letter?” “Yes,” Twilight sighed, rolling the scroll up again ready to be put away, “It’s not much help, though. Celestia confirms that a Gaia Memory leaves scars that will damage a user’s cutie mark, either when the memory is broken by what she calls a ‘Maximum Drive’ attack, or if the Memory is smashed while outside the user’s body. The only hope is if you can persuade a pony to voluntarily break their own Gaia Memory. In that case, depending how much they’ve used it, they may either have the same scarring, or simply have their cutie mark replaced by the Memory’s symbol. She doesn’t know much about that, and says that the Driver acts as a key to open the big book I saw, so she can’t check for any more details there.” “So what do we do now?” Applejack was still impatient to do something, “I guess we know Big Mac isn’t using a Gaia Memory, leastways he isn’t the flying monster. But I don’t know where to look.” “We can wait for these ‘Crusaders’ to come round,” Rainbow Dash suggested, “I think maybe they know more, specially if the monster’s a filly. We gotta find some way to get them to understand they’ll be saving their friend as well if they tell us who it is.” “Can’t you do that look-up thing again?” Applejack asked, “We got more info now. We know it’s somepony that’s been bullied by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, there can only be a few fillies that fit, and we already know it isn’t Lemon Grass. Even if there’s a half dozen ponies it could be, most of them will be at the school, so we can go and ask to see their cutie marks.” “They’ll be so proud of them right now,” Dash nodded, “If anypony’s afraid to show them off, they got something to hide.” There was a timid knock at the door, and Sweetie Belle came into the library. She was a lot less confident than she had been when facing down a monster. “Hi, Sweetie Belle,” Twilight was first to greet her, “Don’t be worried, we’re not angry with you. We understand that if you hadn’t stepped in, the dopant could have caused much more damage. But if you know anything that could help us work out who it is, you need to tell us.” “I don’t know,” the filly spoke softly, “We just guessed that if it had attacked both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s houses, it was probably somepony who they’d been picking on in school. That’s a lot of ponies it could be, not just us.” “It was those two calling you ‘blank flanks’ then?” Applejack asked, “I thought it might be, but Apple Bloom wouldn’t say who was hassling her. Where is she, anyway?” “Big Mac came to pick her up from school. Said they had to talk right away, Apple family business. Maybe he heard that we were late back to class after lunch?” “Can you help us find out who the monster is?” Twilight asked again, reckoning that even if Sweetie Belle suspected one of her friends, she wouldn’t tell adults without some incentive. “It’s a normal pony, with a magic crystal that gives them some extraordinary abilities. Maybe they wanted revenge on the bully, or maybe they didn’t know what they were getting into. But those things can turn anypony into a monster, make jealousy or anger grow until it’s the only thing they can think about. And if they keep on using it, they’re going to lose their cutie mark. I’m sure you can imagine how terrible that would be. So we need to know who it is, for their own sake as well.” “I’m sorry, I… I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle stared down at her own hooves, “But I can ask the other Crusaders to help, maybe we can ask around or… something?” On the road back to Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom and Big McIntosh were walking slowly. Big Mac’s silence created a pensive air today, but it was hard to say whether it was his gait or his posture that differentiated his deep thought from his normal content manner. Apple Bloom was silent too, not speaking until she knew for sure what was wrong. Eventually, he spoke. “One of your friends has a Gaia Memory,” he said, a simple statement of fact. And then the silence returned, begging her to give some response. “I think so. She said something about bullying, so it must have been one–” “Who is it?” “I don’t know. It must be someone who has a grudge against Diamond–” “Applejack will find out, or her friends. Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle, real smart ponies. You don’t need to tell me now. But one thing I do need to know.” Listening from behind a tree, Fluttershy froze to avoid breaking the silence. She had been surprised how easy it was to remain unnoticed after Pinkie left, but right now you could have cut the tension with a knife. “You… you know?” Apple Bloom eventually responded. “Eeyup. Applejack never mentioned Gaia Memories, it’s a big secret. Don’t want anypony to go looking for one. You know what it means, so you’ve seen one. So?” “So?” “Where’d you find it?” “I might have seen something being passed around, some folks talking about what they’d do if they could fly. I didn’t touch it though, I don’t know who–” “Apple Bloom,” Big Mac actually stopped, and raised his voice, “That’s a dangerous thing for a young filly to find. Somepony could die. So tell me the truth. You gave a deadly weapon to one of your friends. Who gave it to you?” “Okay, okay! I never wanted this to happen, please, you gotta believe me. I never thought it was a weapon. It said ‘bird’, and she was always jealous watching the pegasi, I thought if she could just fly…” “Where?” It was quite a shock to see Big Mac angry, but once he’d started he just didn’t back down. “Did somepony sell it to you? What did they tell you?” There was no mistaking that tone, and Fluttershy just hoped they would get a chance to capture and interrogate any hypothetical Memory merchant before Big Mac found them. It wasn’t a voice with space for the due process of law, or for any kind of mercy. “No, I just…” Apple Bloom stammered in the face of her big brother’s stare. “I found it. Just lying there. While you were away. I thought it might be yours, I picked it up to give it back to you, I was going to give it back as soon as you got home, I swear. Then I read the note that was with it, and it said flight. Can you imagine what it would be like to fly? I thought… I thought I could still get it back before you came home. But…” “But it’s addictive,” Big Mac finished the sentence. “And it’s dangerous. I’d never get mixed up with something like that, so you got nopony to give it back to. Understand? You tell your friend, it’ll only get worse. Whoever used it first needs to break it.” Apple Bloom just nodded, and then they walked in silence the rest of the way home. By the time they got there they were walking as close as they ever had, and Big Mac’s anger had boiled away like morning dew. Fluttershy waited for them to be safely indoors before she headed back to the Library, extra cautious to make sure she hadn’t been seen. Rarity was heading back to the library after ensuring that Sweetie Belle got home safely, while Rainbow Dash flew loops over her head. As much as they’d criticised Applejack for working through the night, they knew that if they were going to be ready for more monster attacks, they would need to stay up a few hours longer to look for any more common threads in the stacks of witness reports. “So, what’s the deal with this ‘Crusader’ thing?” Twilight eventually asked, “The costumes, I mean. They’ve got a badge where the cutie mark would normally be. Is it like a placeholder, or something?” “It’s like a temporary mark, a group identity to bide time until they have their own, I think. They’ve been telling some ponies at school that they got their cutie marks, extra special because they got them all at the same time, but are covering them up because they don’t want any younger ponies who see them to be jealous.” “That’ll never work!” Dash laughed, “Sorry, but, can you imagine anypony buying that? If they get into this cute-ceañera thing, it’ll just be so the others can laugh at them.” “That’s what I thought. But they were sure that’s what they wanted, and they said they had something they knew would earn them their marks. After that monster went away at lunchtime, Sweetie had just enough time to tell me it worked, so I’m quite confident the Cutie Mark Crusaders will be the ones with smiles on their faces.” “Yeah!” Rainbow Dash’s excitement didn’t last long, though. They were nearly back when she spoke again. “Who’s the third one? You said three fillies without their cutie marks, all with the same bullies picking on them. They must have enjoyed seeing the ringleaders taken down a peg or two. And the way your sister stood up to a monster like that, she must have been really sure it wouldn’t want to hurt her.” “I’ll admit, now you mention it, that did seem unusually reckless for her. And that speech about making an enemy of the Crusaders implies that the monster already knows who they are. Alienating your only true friends would seem a significant threat to a filly of that age, so maybe that would explain a little more.” “Is the third one…?” “A pegasus. Yes.” The sun was starting to set now. There weren’t many ponies on the streets, maybe a result of a monster that had attacked normal ponies two days in a row and still hadn’t been caught. While the residents of Ponyville might not know what was going on with the Gaia Memories, they had seen enough battles to be nervous of a rampaging dopant. Rainbow Dash wasn’t heading back to the Library now. She’d decided it made more sense to meet the third Cutie Mark Crusader, and check if this filly had a letter branded on her flank. It would be harder to check, while the three had already planned on concealing their cutie marks or the lack of them. She was flying slowly as she got closer to the house, wondering how she could check without upsetting anypony. She didn’t get the chance to devise any cunning scheme, though. She saw a giant bird-pony soaring over the rooftops, and snapped on the Driver before she even thought about it. Two taps on her Gaia Memory to let the others know she had the enemy in sight, and then the Driver’s voice filled the air. “LOYALTY!” “KINDNESSᏔLOYALTY!” Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were immediately struck by the sheer power flooding into their body, more than either of them had ever experienced before. The armour was sleeker, pink crystals connected with gold bands, and rainbow sparks shimmered along all the edges. They could immediately feel the change in their wings, too. Four wings would give them speed no pegasus had ever dreamed of, and they crackled with mythic power. “You’re not getting away this time!” Rainbow Dash called over the rooftops as she felt the power build, “Ultimate Pegasus Form: Rainbow Double Dash!” But the monster was already diving down between a row of houses, trying to get out of sight. (“I was coming to tell you,” Fluttershy barely had time to speak before they were back in sight, even at the speed of thought, “I know who the monster is. Apple Bloom found a Memory that someone had dropped, and she gave it to one of her friends. She told Big Mac, said her friend was upset she couldn’t fly.”) (“A pegasus who can’t fly. That must be terrible, and the other kids would pick on her too, you know what they’re like. She tried using a Gaia Memory just to get into the air, then suddenly all she can think about is revenge.”) Rainbow Dash had been partly expecting a big fight, but then when she heard that she started to have second thoughts. She hoped more than anything that they could persuade the monster to return to normal and give up its Memory, however unlikely that was. Then Doubledash flew over a rooftop and was caught by an unexpected shower of blazing feathers. She tumbled to the ground, just in time to see the monster fleeing again. This time she kept low, zigzagging through alleyways at speeds she could barely control, until she arrived at a deserted square right beneath the bird-pony. It was waiting for them, though, and a cloud of feathers was already in flight towards the champion. Fluttershy reflexively curled her wings over her face defensively, and found that the light armour on them locked together to make an effective shield. But neither of the conjoined ponies had noticed a thick carpet of feathers on the cobbles, and they were crushed between explosions above and below, striking them like a hammer blow. “Stop it!” an unfamiliar voice yelled, out of breath. Doubledash turned to look who was speaking, and saw an orange pegasus filly with tiny wings rushing into the square. “Both of you, stop! You don’t need to fight!” “Scootaloo?” Fluttershy muttered, “We thought you…” but her voice trailed off as their unexpected saviour stepped between them and the monster. A cloud of glowing feathers faded and fluttered normally to the ground. The Bird dopant turned and leapt for the sky, but Rainbow Dash was already gaining height. “You can’t hurt her!” Scootaloo yelled, “Stop fighting!” She leapt onto Doubledash’s back, a desperate attempt to stop them giving chase. But with the power of an extra pair of wings, combined with the enhanced strength and speed from the Driver itself, the weight of another pony was barely noticeable. “We have to,” Doubledash spoke together, their voices making a strange harmony, “You don’t know what those things do if you keep on using them. We have to save her, whoever she is. We promise, we can break the Memory without hurting her.” By now they were above the town, almost a mile in the air, and they could see the dopant trying to hide below like a tiny marker on a map. (“Can we give the kid a fun ride?” Rainbow Dash asked silently, “I feel kind of sorry for her. And if I can do the Rainboom with the extra power the driver gives, I can’t wait to see what I’ll be able to do with this much power. Two pegasi really are the perfect combination, strength and speed off the charts!”) “Hey, kid, hold on tight,” she said aloud, not waiting for Fluttershy to respond, “This is going to be fast.” Then she started diving towards the monster, accelerating as hard as she could with four wings furiously flapping. Down below, the monster glanced up and started looking around for a place to dodge. Fluttershy fought against the urge to close their eyes as the wind battered against them. A shockwave spread out around them as they easily passed the speed of sound halfway down, and the wake of their incredible speed pulled every cloud in the sky into a cone behind them. And still, Rainbow Dash fought with all her strength to go faster. The shockwave seemed to travel ahead of the attack somehow, stunning the monster for the tiniest fraction of a second. It looked up again, and met the double pegasus’s gaze. “You don’t have to do this” she heard Fluttershy’s voice in her head, as if that stare was conveying her emotions in perfect detail even over such a great distance, “You don’t want to hurt anypony, but the Bird Memory doesn’t give you a choice.” “Stay still and let us end this!” The last words were shouted against the roaring wind, as well at through whatever mysterious channel of communication had conveyed the previous words. The monster nodded once, not breaking eye contact, and then closed her eyes as she waited for the impact. Everypony in Ponyville heard the boom. A dozen rings of rainbow fire spread across the skies, and the column of cloud in Doubledash’s wake was energised into a record-breaking thunderbolt with a living warhead at its tip. At the point of impact, their entire energy was delivered in a single attack, and windows shattered all around the square. As the smoke started to clear, Rainbow Dash was standing alone, Scootaloo still on her back. There was a filly lying on the ground as well, still a barely visible outline through the rainbow-stained smoke. Rainbow Dash looked down at her flank, seeing a cutie mark that depicted a parrot of some kind. Looked at in the right way, the outline could be read as the letter ‘B’, but she would never have recognised that if she hadn’t been looking for it. There was a moment’s delay before the Gaia Memory popped out like a difficult splinter, skittering across the cobbles. The image of the bird faded and vanished, but rather than the scarred letter Dash had been expecting, the coat burned away to reveal angry red flesh, an open wound. The silence was broken by a piercing scream, and Scootaloo reacted first to run forward. “SWEETIE BELLE!” she shrieked in horror, running forward to embrace her friend’s writhing body. It only took a second to reach some kind of conclusion, and then she spun around to yell at Rainbow Dash, “You said you wouldn’t hurt her! You’re the monster here.” “I don’t know what happened,” Rainbow Dash just stared, frozen to the spot, “We need to call Twilight, she’ll know what to do. There must be something different about that Memory, or is my attack just too powerful? We need–” “Somepony needs to stand up to bullies,” Scootaloo was shaking, dealing with a torrent of emotions she couldn’t control. But her hoof was steady as she flipped up the skirt on her Crusader uniform to reveal the cutie mark she’d been so proud of – a brightly coloured parrot – and jabbed the Gaia Memory into her flesh. “BIRD!” She winced in pain as the crystal sank into her flesh, but made no attempt to stop it. Her coat rippled and feathers started to burst from her body, and her wings stretched out to giant size as if they were made of rubber. The rest of her body followed soon, and the monster was standing in the centre of the square again by the time Rarity and Pinkie Pie rushed over. “What…?” Rainbow Dash was lost for words. “Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie called, “What are you doing? Transform!” But Dash couldn’t stop staring at Sweetie Belle, lying motionless on the ground again. The monster – Scootaloo – took a swing with one huge claw and flung her against the front of one of the houses, and then soared away over the rooftops. Two days passed, every minute dragging on while six friends waited for a letter from Princess Celestia. The doctors said there was nothing wrong with Sweetie Belle except for a deep burn on her haunch, but she just wouldn’t wake up. Scootaloo hadn’t been seen. Applejack still watched Big Mac in secret when she had a chance, hoping for some clue as to how he’d harvested a whole orchard in one night. But after what Fluttershy had overheard, the others were sure it wasn’t a Gaia Memory. Apple Bloom barely spoke to her siblings, doing her schoolwork and then sitting alone in silence. She wouldn’t take the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ uniform off, even at home, and she let the date of Diamond Tiara’s cute-ceañera pass without comment. Finally, Applejack’s collar flashed violet once, and she dutifully hurried to the Golden Oak Library. Apart from Rainbow Dash, who had been crippled by guilt and wouldn’t leave Sweetie Belle’s bedside, she was the last to arrive. Spike was sitting on a table, holding a letter out ready to speak. “We’re all here now,” he said, “So I’ll start. The Princess says there’s nothing like this ever happened before. It isn’t possible for two ponies to use the same Gaia Memory. The cutie mark contains… blah blah, physical link to a pony’s destiny.” He turned over several pages at once. Twilight picked them up so she could learn every detail about how this magic worked, but seemed to have no objection to Spike just reading the important parts. “Yeah. Your cutie mark is magically bound to your personality, everypony knows that. And when you first put a Gaia Memory inside your body, it hooks on to that magical energy. Can’t possibly be removed without destroying both the Memory and the mark. So giving it to someone else, even after a Memory Break attack, would be like picking an apple and then expecting to put it on a different tree to carry on growing.” “Well, we’ve seen it,” Applejack interrupted, “So something’s changed.” “What if they haven’t got cutie marks for it to hook into?” Rarity asked, “I know they said they got them, but maybe that was a bluff?” “Apple Bloom got hers, I think. I only saw it for a blink, but she’s got something there.” “It looked like Sweetie and Scootaloo had theirs,” Fluttershy whispered, “But it wasn’t. It was the letter from the side of the Memory, all coloured in so it looks almost like a real mark.” “It says here,” Twilight pointed to the middle of a paragraph of complex technical data, “the Memory can’t work without a cutie mark. It can generate a false mark, like Fluttershy described, but it won’t stay for more than a couple of seconds without something to tie it to your life force.” “But it also says,” Spike took over again, “that last time the Memories were just crystals, with a pointed end. The Elements of Harmony had metal tips that let them connect to the Driver instead of directly to your mark, but now it looks like the other Memories have those. So they’re different. She says it would have taken a genius rock scientist to unseal the Gaia Stream, you’d have to know more about rocks than anypony in history. So maybe whoever’s mining them, they figured out how to make them better. The same rules don’t apply.” “Right,” Applejack growled, “So we still don’t know anything. Maybe if we break the Memory at least, it might help?” “It’s the best guess we’ve got now,” Twilight agreed. Another two days passed, and then three. Still no sign of Scootaloo. Still no change in Sweetie Belle’s condition. Rarity threw herself into her work, hoping that anything would take her mind off the endless guilt for not noticing sooner. Big McIntosh still showed no sign of turning into a monster. Fluttershy was the best at following him. She was sure he never saw her, until he turned around and said “I know you’re back there.” “I’m sorry,” she gasped, “I don’t like prying, but Applejack is worried about you.” “There’s nothing to worry about. If she don’t believe me, she should come out and ask.” “I’ll tell her that?” “You do. But I’m still worried about Apple Bloom.” He jerked his head to where his youngest sister was carefully picking her way across the orchard, glancing around her as if looking for someone. “She’s all shook up over her friends. Somepony needs to help, and I don’t know how.” “Maybe I should follow her? Just to see if she’s okay?” Fluttershy speculated, but Big Mac had gone back to repairing his ladders, and his heavy collar meant she couldn’t see where he was looking now. Once she was sure nopony was watching, Apple Bloom hurried to a distant corner of the orchard, travelling such a roundabout route that Fluttershy wasn’t entirely sure if they were still in Sweet Apple Acres. She had to follow a little way behind now, knowing that in such a densely wooded area any careless step could snap a twig and give away her location. She didn’t want to be seen here any more than she wanted to challenge Apple Bloom about her discreet exploration. The only Crusader left, losing her closest friends so soon after meeting them had hit her hard. Nopony wanted to push too hard, for fear she might never recover if she started to blame herself any more. Twilight and Applejack between them had decided not to ask her any more about finding the Gaia Memory, if only to avoid admitting that they’d suspected Big Mac. Apple Bloom walked in circles for a while before finding what she was looking for, which seemed to be a dilapidated shed, suspended in the branches of a large tree with a wooden ramp leading up to the door. Unlike the rest of the orchard, in this little grove there were still apples on the branches, as well as a few windfalls on the ground. Apple Bloom didn’t go to the door, but placed a package wrapped in a blanket under the bottom of the treehouse’s ramp, then walked quickly away. Fluttershy stayed hidden behind a tree, one hoof slowly rising to tap the Element of Harmony in her collar. She hoped that her friends would be able to get there without being too obvious. A second later, the driver appeared on her neck, and she slipped the memory in as quickly as possible. “KINDNESSᏔJOKER!” After a moment blinking, Fluttershy realised that she was back in the Library. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were both there. “I can’t stay long, I need to make sure nopony sees my body,” she spoke quickly, finding that Twilight’s self-confidence rubbed off on her a little when they shared a body, “I just saw Apple Bloom sneak out of the house. I think she knows where Scootaloo is hiding, she left a bundle. Could be a food parcel.” “We’ll be right there.” Twilight said, “If you see her, just try to talk for now. I think from these experiments that the Memory leaves a part of itself inside everypony who uses it, waiting for a cutie mark to latch onto. It knows it has a plan-B, in a way, so it could unlock itself from Sweetie Belle’s body the moment before the attack connected. If we can defeat this Scootaloo, the first user, there’s a chance it won’t be able to escape so quickly. The Memory takes the force of the blow, and Sweetie Belle might recover.” Fluttershy nodded her understanding, but she knew she didn’t want to fight again. She didn’t say anything else, but pushed her Memory down in the Driver and felt it spring free. Back in her hiding place, the ghostly Driver remained around her neck for a second before it vanished. When Fluttershy opened her eyes back in the woods, Scootaloo was walking slowly down the ramp. She found the parcel almost immediately, and pulled open a corner of the blanket to see what was inside. It did indeed contain food. Apples, pies, and some sandwiches. It looked almost like a picnic as Fluttershy watched her fold the sheet out and tuck in. Fluttershy didn’t make a sound, but a squirrel running over to investigate the unfamiliar pony managed to snap a twig, and Scootaloo’s head turned sharply round. She was still wearing the uniform, but the false cutie mark granted by the Gaia Memory had grown grotesque, almost like the dopant itself, and was too large to be concealed by the costume. There were green and red feathers visible in the filly’s mane as well, and Fluttershy wondered how long it would be before she permanently turned into the dopant if nobody helped her. Fluttershy held her breath and stared at the curious squirrel, willing it not to make any more noise. Scootaloo looked in her direction, suspicious but not able to make out who was there. Then she saw the squirrel running away, and seemed satisfied. She flapped her wings twice and drifted effortlessly to the door, then locked herself inside the treehouse with her picnic. “What are you doing?” Apple Bloom snapped, “I thought I felt someone watching me.” Fluttershy turned around and tried to offer some explanation, but she couldn’t get the words out. “Yes, it’s terrible, and good ponies got hurt. All we can do now is hope Sweetie Belle gets better. There’s no sense in hunting Scootaloo down, it wasn’t her fault. Sweetie Belle volunteered to help her, because that’s what friends do. She said she’d get your attention and then Scootaloo could come in, and once you saw them together you’d not suspect her. Sweetie Belle could just fly away and you’d think the monster left town. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Sweetie’s in hospital and there’s nothing we can do, and Scootaloo might have to leave town, and she’s not going to hurt anypony, all she did was scare the bullies but she promised not to do that again. Please, you’ve got to leave her alone.” The more she spoke, the faster the words came tumbling out, until Apple Bloom finally broke down in tears. “I’m sorry,” Fluttershy crouched down, putting herself on the same level as the distressed filly, “We can’t just let it go. Sweetie Belle is suffering, and she’s getting worse. We think there’s a piece of the Memory inside her, burning deeper every time somepony else uses it. The only way to save her might be to destroy the Gaia Memory, even if that means your friend can’t fly again.” “But… but…” Apple Bloom stammered through her sobs, “The thing’s harder than diamond. And if you fight Scootaloo, she might…” “I know. But if we defeat the first pony to use it, Twilight Sparkle says all the force of the attack will go into shattering the memory, and she won’t be hurt. It’s the only thing we can try.” “You’re sure?” Apple Bloom gasped, then just as quickly the hope in her eyes faded. “This is all my fault,” she wailed, “I was curious, I wanted to know what it would do. I gave them the Memory and now…” “What’s wrong?” Scootaloo stuck her head out from behind a battered wooden door, Apple Bloom’s crying catching her attention. “You! Picking on my friends again?” “No, she–” Apple Bloom didn’t have time to say any more. “BIRD!” The roof split open like an egg, old timber and more recent repairs alike tumbling to the ground. The dopant burst out even larger than before. A shower of lethal feathers flew through the air, only to be surrounded by a glow of purple magic and held in the air. “That’s quite enough!” Rarity’s voice cut across the clearing, but it was a double unicorn who stepped into view. Twilight and Rarity completed their speech in harmony, “We don’t want to hurt you, but you need to give up the Memory.” The dopant’s answer was a screech like a hawk, and a leap with talons outstretched. Their giant horn flared with light and the monster was surrounded by a swirl of its own deadly feathers, but the claws quickly closed around their armoured body. Even two unicorns couldn’t muster the brute force necessary to wrestle with a dopant, but Rarity had no difficulty pulling her Element out from the Driver. “LAUGHTERᏔJOKER!” The right side of the champion’s coat changed colour as if an unseen hand was dipping her in pink dye, and when it reached her centre the familiar gold and silver dividing line appeared with a pulse of light. The dopant shielded its eyes with one wing for a moment, and that was enough time for Twinkie to deliver a bite to its exposed wing, and a roundhouse punch to follow up. It was only stunned, and would recover quickly, but Pinkie’s planning was even quicker. “Maximum drive: Party Conjuring Cannon!” The dopant stared into a cannon whose barrel was wide enough to fit a normal pony inside. It blinked, and then the air around it was filled with cake and streamers. It didn’t hurt, the sense of being thrown back by the blast barely even registered. But it brought back memories, of a childhood birthday that nobody had celebrated. Of the appearance of unexpected decorations in the classroom after recess, Miss Cheerilee and Pinkie Pie trying to conceal the party cannon as they yelled ‘Surprise!’ It was only a second of good thoughts, but the Memory inside her immediately tried to shut them down. She was a bird of prey, the thought echoed in her mind, the only reason to associate with weak ponies like these was as food. But she tried to hold on to that one pleasant emotion, her joy on finding that somepony would go out of their way to help when she was feeling down. She pushed the influence of the Gaia Memory outside her consciousness, and saw Twinkie’s horn glowing sun-bright with magic as she physically wrenched the troublesome crystal from the dopant’s body. Scootaloo grabbed the crystal, and threw it away from her as hard as she could. Then there was pain, intense enough to force her eyes closed and leave her in a quivering, screaming pile on the ground. Twinkie quickly rushed over and examined the wound. Fluttershy joined them, doing first aid as best she could. Blisters spread across Scootaloo’s haunches as if somepony was holding a flaming brand to her skin, but there was no visible source of the injury. “It’s just like Sweetie Belle,” Fluttershy whispered, “We…” “We can still break the Memory,” Twilight insisted, “It might help both of them. It has to. Uhh…” then Twinkie looked around uncertainly as well, “Did you pick up the Memory?” “What the hay?” Applejack arrived only slightly out of breath, “I just saw Apple Bloom running like a monster’s after her, and I heard screaming. Where’s the… oh.” She lowered her voice as soon as she saw Scootaloo lying on the ground, mercifully unconscious now. Three days. Four days. There was no sign of the Bird dopant in Ponyville, but still no suggestion that the two fillies in the hospital would recover on their own. Twilight Sparkle had typed out a report to Princess Celestia, letting her know what had happened. The Elements of Harmony gathered in the hospital more often than in the Library, just praying for something to change. Apple Bloom withdrew further into herself. She ate when somepony reminded her, and didn’t speak at all. Between meal times, she was hiding in one of the far corners of the farm. She didn’t help with chores, and didn’t go back to school. Nobody blamed her. Rarity had wanted to demand she return the Bird Memory, but Applejack had vetoed that plan. “She’s lost two of her friends,” she’d said, “She blames herself. We go rushing in, she’ll be terrified of the same happening to her, and might even be dumb enough to use the Memory. I’m sure she hasn’t used it yet, and I’m not going to fight my little sister.” Nopony else was sure where they’d find her, so there was nothing they could do. Now, waiting had got to be too much. Applejack had to resolve at least one of her problems. “Big Mac,” she challenged him at the breakfast table, “I’m sorry about askin’ my friends to follow you. You cleared so many trees, so fast, and I was worried you had a Gaia Memory in secret. Tell me it’s not true.” “Nope,” he said, “I’m no dopant. I’m smarter than that. But when I saw my little sis in such bad shape, I worked faster than I ever did before. I called in all the favours I could, ‘cause I could see you bit off more than you could chew. I know it’s impossible, but it’s true. When it’s family on the line, you just got to trust them. For your family, you can do the impossible sometimes.” “I’m sorry, Big Mac. But…” “Apple Bloom lied to you, and she lost her friends. So you want proof.” He turned around to give her a clear view of his flanks. One side, and then the other. “Thanks for caring that much.” There wasn’t much else to say. Another two days. Two days in which Apple Bloom hadn’t been seen at all. There were tears in the hospital. A table between the two beds was piled high with flowers and fruit, but Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo hadn’t opened their eyes to see. Even Diamond Tiara had come in to leave a ‘get well soon’ card. “We all made mistakes,” Rarity did her best to console Rainbow Dash, “Don’t blame yourself, there’s no way you could have known. I keep thinking, if I hadn’t made those uniforms we might have noticed…” “No, it’s my fault. Nobody else,” they turned to see Apple Bloom walking into the room. Then she held up the Gaia Memory, a prism of green crystal with metal spikes on one end. “Nopony made me do it. I took this, even though I knew it’s dangerous. I knew Scootaloo was angry and scared, I’d heard what it might do to her, but I thought I knew better. I did this.” There was silence. Nopony was quite sure what to say. “I’ve been thinking. I tried to destroy it, and it burns. You said there’s a piece of it still inside me. But you can break that connection, can’t you?” “We don’t know,” Twilight answered, “We hoped that breaking it would disperse the energy, but I can’t be sure…” “I hit it as hard as I could,” Apple Bloom said, “I put it in a fire. I did everything I can think of, and it only hurt me. There’s only one more way I can think of.” “Leave it with us,” Applejack said, “We can analyse it, try to break it with our powers, Twilight can try to dismantle it. There must be a way…” “No. I can feel it calling out to me. Making me angry about what happened to my friends. Making me want to hurt you, when I know it’s all my fault. It talks to my instincts. There’s no time, and there’s no other way, I know that now. I can’t stand seeing them like this any more.” Apple Bloom gulped, took a deep breath to summon a little more courage, “I don’t want to be left behind if I’m the only one.” “What are you saying?” Applejack asked, hoping that she might have misunderstood. “I’m asking you to trust your little sister. Just once. I’m asking you to let me do this my way.” She turned and walked out of the room. “Did she say she’s going to…?” “BIRD!” the grating voice came from right outside. Seconds later, the first ponies to notice were yelling in panic and confusion. “Apple Bloom!” Applejack yelled as she emerged from the building, “You’re stronger than this! You can fight it!” “I’m not fighting,” her voice was barely recognisable, more like the hunting cry of a giant hawk, “I’m trusting my sister, and her friends. You said if you beat the first one, the Memory breaks and there’ll be three Cutie Mark Crusaders again. So do it. If it doesn’t work, there’s nopony stopping you doing your experiments.” “But you could end up like–” “I’d rather have that. Better than losing control to that thing, not knowing who I am any more. Do it; trust in me for once.” “I can’t…” “AJ,” Twilight spoke softly, “Is there anything I can say? This would be a hard choice for anypony, but she’s your sister. And–” “Yes. And I trust her.” “HONESTY!” Applejack held her Memory up in one hoof, squeezing it to make it speak. Twilight knew there was nothing she could say. She swung the Driver around Applejack’s neck, and waited for the fireworks. “I can’t control it!” Apple Bloom started to panic, “I don’t want to hurt you. Please, hurry.” “KINDNESSᏔHONESTY!” the Driver declared. Already the dopant was fidgeting, fighting against the Memory’s instincts for self preservation as well as her own. “Look at me!” Fluttershy’s voice was as firm as anypony had heard it, “Just look at me. You can do this. Look into our eyes and you can see that we care about you. Hold onto that feeling, use it to bind the Gaia Memory inside you. All the anger, all the pain, you need to push those feelings back into the Memory. Just hold still.” It was the same businesslike tone, the same commanding stare she used when she had to persuade her animal friends to accept treatment that would hurt. She worried every time if she was doing the right thing, but she knew that the best medicine was often bitter. The monster nodded slightly, and froze in place. Flutterjack walked forward, pace by slow pace. They kept their eyes locked, not breaking the stare, until they were only inches apart. Through whatever magic the Driver had, they could sense the throbbing anger of the Bird Memory, fighting against Apple Bloom’s will. It was losing, but rather than pushing it out the filly was forcing it to accept all of her negative feelings, keeping the crystal just below the surface so it couldn’t escape the inevitable. In that moment, Applejack finally knew how far she would go to save her sister. She turned around, breaking eye contact at the last possible moment, and kicked out as hard as she could with both hooves. It was a move she’d practised so many times in the past month, though normally against her family’s apple trees. The dopant flew back, striking the wall of the nearest building with enough force to crack stone. She stood up, staggered, and summoned a cloud of exploding feathers from the back of her wings. But before she could release them, she slumped to the ground. Small explosions echoed around her, and then with a crack that could be heard across the street, a half dozen fragments of blue-green crystal were ejected from her flank. All the adult ponies rushed over, desperately hoping they wouldn’t have to do that again. As Apple Bloom returned to her normal form the faux cutie mark vanished, leaving only a faint scar in its place. Two days later, in the hospital. The Cutie Mark Crusaders all lay in the same ward, exhausted. Sweetie Belle had several broken bones and Scootaloo had a deep burn in the muscle where the Memory had rested, but both injuries were now healing as normal. “Are we all grounded?” Apple Bloom tried to make a joke out of the sudden visit from all six of the Champions of Harmony. “Something like that,” Applejack shrugged, “I’m just glad to see you alive. Can I trust you’ll never mess with dark magic again?” “We swear.” “We learned our lesson.” “Sure thing.” “Sounds good enough to me. So remember to stay safe, and we won’t need to talk about this again.” “It still hurts,” Scootaloo complained, “But I guess it’s like a battle scar. Kind of cool.” “You might not think that when you grow up,” Rainbow Dash still seemed a little depressed, “Everypony who’s been a dopant has scars, just like yours now. They destroy your cutie mark, and hurt every time you even think about your special talent. From the big letter Princess Celestia sent, there’s no way to get rid of them. With you being kids, we don’t know how it might work. It’ll be harder for you to earn your cutie marks, that’s for sure. You might be blank flanks forever.” “It’ll certainly be harder,” Twilight added, “But I’ve been reading over all that research again, and trying to reverse engineer the enchantment on the crystal fragments. I think, if you’re really lucky, that getting your cutie mark will make the scars go away. I can’t say for sure, but it’s possible.” “That just means we’ve got to try extra hard,” Sweetie Belle didn’t sound intimidated, “We try every way we can think of to find out what our talents are, we try every career and every hobby until we get there. You never know until you try, right? And a blank flank means unlimited potential.” All three of the crusaders cheered at that, and the hospital ward was filled with laughter and applause.