Episode 7 - Time for T
There was a crowd on the edge of Ponyville, those at the back craning their necks to see over somepony a little taller. The last few times there had been a gathering like this, it had been ponies rubbernecking at a rampaging monster from what they thought was a safe distance. That clearly wasn’t the case today, because of pegasi fluttering above the throng to get closer, and the friendly jokes and good natured fruit slung in their direction by those whose view they were now obstructing.
It was, as it turned out, a show. A unicorn with glitter in her ice-blue hair was levitating nearly a dozen balls in a complex pattern, juggling while she talked to the audience. She was spinning a story, rather than trying to impress with purely her skills at prestidigitation, though it was the sheer number of balls she had in the air that was holding the attention of many of the unicorns among the crowd.
“And so Ardent accepted Trixie’s genius,” she stretched out a hoof and caught the ball whose colour represented that character in her narrative, appearing not to even think about it, “And then he convinced the courtier, Elegant Quill,” a second ball dropped neatly into her waiting hoof. “Then between them they convinced the Baroness Radiant Nobility,” and she brought the two padded balls together quickly, trapping another ball out of the air between them. The story continued, using the balls in her hooves to knock down those spiralling overhead as she reeled off name after name, many of them famous ponies from distant parts.
“And then everypony agreed,” she finished as the final ball dropped onto the tip of a perfect pyramid between her hooves, “And so, the Great and Powerful Trixie was fully recognised at the most skilled and most incredible unicorn in all of Equestria. And you have been a wonderful audience, almost as wonderful as I, so Trixie must leave you now and hope that you enjoy the show!” With the last shout, fireworks fountained up from the caravan behind the stage, and burst in a display across the sky overhead.
In the Golden Oak Library, Twilight Sparkle wasn’t thinking about the show until she was distracted from her reading by the thunder of explosions overhead. She might have gone to visit, if she’d known the show would be coming to town. She wasn’t particularly competitive, but with a talent like magic, the only way to realise her potential would involve knowing what other ponies had managed to achieve. Tonight, the shower of bangs overhead caught her attention,and she went up to the top floor to take a look at the sky. Sparks and stars traced the outline of a mare’s face against the evening sky, with a four letter word on each side.
“Best Pony!” she read aloud, not quite sure what to think about the message as she returned downstairs. “Best Pony?”
“Yeah,” Applejack answered from just outside the door, “How lame do you have to be to shout it from the rooftops that you’re the best pony in Equestria?”
“She’s seriously saying that?” Twilight couldn’t quite believe it, “How is everypony else taking that?”
“Well,” Pinkie Pie filed in behind Applejack, “She didn’t say she’s the best pony, I think that was just because she was setting off dozens of fireworks at the same time, and she needed to make words that don’t have so many letters in.”
“Yeah. She just said she’s the most talented unicorn in Equestria, with more magical skill than anypony else. And a ton of posh names that say she is.”
“You seem kind of angry about it,” Twilight answered, “Isn’t it good for somepony to have her talents recognised? And everypony out there looks like they’re enjoying the show. Even if she’s exaggerating, she’s managed to entertain quite a crowd.” Twilight was pretty confident that anypony claiming to be the strongest unicorn would be stretching the truth, especially looking out of the window to the square, where she saw the back of a battered wooden cart almost buried among the riot of complex drapes that made up the back of the stage.
“I just don’t like boasting, is all. She makes out like she’s better’n the rest of us just ‘cause she can spin a dozen balls around in front of a big stage and shoot fireworks out of the back side. I’d like to see her pull in an honest harvest.”
“Besides, she’s not even that good!” Spike was the next to amble back in through the library’s open door as the crowd broke up. “She’s not as good as Twilight. Everypony thinks she’s something special just because she can juggle a dozen balls? I’ve seen you pick up way more things than that just sorting books. You should have a show too!”
“No!” Twilight seemed shocked by the intensity of her own response for a moment, then continued, “No, I just do what I have to do to keep this place in order. That’s not something to boast about, everybody has different talents, and they all work in different ways.”
The next day, the Great and Powerful Trixie was setting up her stage again, with the assistance of a couple of schoolcolts who had been swayed even more than anypony else by her wondrous performance. The stage folded down from the side of the cart where she spent her days, and then it took quite some organisation to fold out the wings and get the painted backdrop neatly arranged.
Twilight Sparkle was near the front of the audience. She was eager to see just what qualities made anypony the greatest unicorn. Her friends stood around her, showing various degrees of derision at the signs proclaiming the talents of the Great and Powerful Trixie.
“She’ll never be as great and powerful as you,” Spike commented, sitting on Twilight’s head to get a better view, “You’re like the greatest unicorn in the whole world,” then he glanced sideways at Rarity, and added: “Both of you are amazing, you’ve got the power to fight dopants as well as your other talents, that’s incredible.”
“You can’t say that!” an azure unicorn colt turned around and yelled, “The Great and Powerful Trixie is the greatest pony ever, and I hope she’s going to teach me to magic that good! You can’t say bad things about her.”
“There’s nothing wrong with pointing out a bogart,” Spike retorted, “That’s what she is!”
“I think you mean a ‘braggart’,” Pinkie Pie corrected, “A bogart’s an invisible creature that moves into your house and does all the chores when you’re not looking.”
“Who cares?” the colt cut off Twilight before she could correct Pinkie’s correction, “Trixie is the greatest!”
“And powerfulest!” another onlooker added, “Can any of you juggle ten balls at once?”
“Yep!” Pinkie grinned cheerfully, “That’s pretty hard, though.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie can hear that somepony doubts her abilities!” the voice boomed out from onstage, “Would you like to come onto this stage, and prove your boasts?”
“Who’s boasting?” called Pinkie Pie, “I want to see how many balls we can juggle between us, I don’t know anypony else who might lend a pair of hooves for my word record attempt!”
“If you think you are talented, then Trixie the Gracious and Powerful will allow you to share her stage, for the amusement of our adoring fans!”
Twilight wasn’t quite sure if that was an invitation or a challenge; she was having enough trouble wrapping her head around Trixie’s convoluted grammar. But Pinkie Pie seemed happy enough to trot up onto the stage, already holding a surprising number of balls. The audience applauded and cheered both ponies as the number of balls in the air slowly grew. When Pinkie flicked her tail to lift them, or put her forehooves on the ground to kick balls with her hind legs, it was quickly clear that she was getting the lion’s share of the appreciation. Trixie was keeping more balls in the air, it was true, but simply holding them with her magic didn’t give her the same opportunities to catch them in unusual ways.
“Twenty!” Rarity gasped, as the Great and Powerful Trixie picked up the last one from her bag of props, “That’s amazing, that would be like holding every tool in my craft box at the same time!”
“Twilight can lift dozens of books! Even like fifty or something!” Spike added, “I’m sure you could do it too, if you tried.” Then the baby dragon hastily shut his mouth, hoping he hadn’t offended Rarity by belittling her achievements.
“It’s not a big deal,” Twilight shrugged, lowering her head a little as if she hoped on some level she wouldn’t seem as boastful as the mare on stage, “It’s easier to lift more things the same shape. I’d never be able to move tools as precisely as Rarity.”
“Hmph!” Trixie snorted, maybe having heard Twilight’s comment and taken it personally. She threw a couple of her balls to Pinkie at odd angles, and laughed as the earth pony had to dive and stretch to make sure none of them hit the ground. Then she was graceful elegance itself, or so she thought, as she snatched the ones Pinkie tossed back out of the air. Within a minute or two, there were thirty balls in the air, and it wasn’t clear at any moment who had which. Pinkie was finding it a fun and energetic workout, and loved the cheers of the crowd. But Trixie seemed to be growing increasingly frustrated as Pinkie didn’t fumble any catches that she could laugh at.
Just when it seemed some of the ponies watching might start to lose interest, one of the balls exploded. It burst in a shower of stuffing, showering powder blue fluff all over Pinkie’s face. A second later, another one burst, and this one seemed to be filled with an oily slime. Most of the audience howled with laughter, seeing a slapstick routine come out of nowhere. They knew that Pinkie Pie hadn’t made a mistake, but they couldn’t help laughing at somepony else’s misfortune.
Twilight Sparkle, though, creased her brow in frustration. She was watching closely, and she saw the glow around Trixie’s horn flare brighter for an instant as the third ball exploded. It was enough of a distraction to make Pinkie miss the next catch, and then balls rained down around her, several of them bursting as they landed to cover her with sand, custard, and glitter. The crowd all laughed at the spectacle, just like they would at a comedian making a deliberate pratfall. Even those who could tell this wasn’t intentional couldn’t help themselves.
“She should be ashamed of herself!” Twilight muttered as Pinkie dejectedly left the stage, “There’s a difference between playing to the audience, and humiliating somepony else to make yourself look good.”
“Oh, does another unicorn think she is popular enough to challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie?”
“No, no,” Twilight mumbled, “I just think it’s a bit unfair to use magic like that against –”
“If you lack the courage to challenge Trixie, then perhaps you should be more reserved with your opinions of her magnificence. So who is the next challenger?” A pony elsewhere in the crowd, maybe spurred on by a few large mugs of cider in his belly, ventured that he might have a talent the equal of Trixie’s. He managed to humiliate himself quite effectively with his drunkenness, not even needing Trixie to help him along, so Twilight sidled out of the crowd and helped her friend to get cleaned up a little.
“What did you do that for?” Spike asked as soon as Trixie wasn’t going to overhear them, “You’re the greatest magician this town has ever seen, the greatest in the world even! You should show her how good you are, then she won’t be the one laughing.”
“No,” Twilight answered simply, then returned her attention to a hose that proved convenient for getting the mess out of Pinkie’s coat.
“No,” she repeated, “I’m not like her. Whatever you say, she is good. The only reason you don’t like her is because she wants to show everyone how good she is. If I was showing off like that, don’t you think there’d be ponies hating me just as much?”
“You’re not like her!” Pinkie leapt to her hooves, ignoring the last traces of dirt in her mane, “You’re not like her at all. You have lots of friends, and everypony knows they can trust you.”
“And that’s exactly because I don’t show off,” Twilight said as she rejoined the crowd, looking up in dismay to see Applejack on the stage, thoroughly trussed up like a wheat sheaf with her own rope. “I help ponies with my magic. That’s why I have such good friends, because where she shows off I just use my power to fight dopants.”
“Dope ants?” Trixie’s hearing seemed quite acute when it came to anything that could be seen as disrespectful towards her talents. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has no time for such trifles. Would everypony like to hear of the time the citizens of Hoofington called on Trixie to free them from a threat no less significant than the legendary Ursa Major itself?”
That was enough to capture the attention of most of the ponies in front of the stage again. While Trixie began to regale them with her tall tales, Twilight and Rainbow Dash hurried up to help untie Applejack.
“There could be more to her than meets the eye,” Twilight conceded, “She’s pretty skilled at levitation, we’ve seen that much already. But to act as a guardian, she’d have to have a lot of power as well. Could it be that the show is just a way for Trixie to earn money between more important work?”
“If she’d done something so brave, why didn’t she tell folks about it before?” Applejack muttered, still grumpy after her experience on stage. “Don’t tell me you believe her now?”
“Given that the ursa are peaceful creatures, only willing to fight when attacked? I don’t think it’s likely. But it’s possible something could have sent one into a rampage, or the citizens of Hoofington could have incorrectly identified a forest predator as an ursus. Did you know they don’t even have a library there?”
“Well I know well enough that mare is all talk and no tack. I reckon we should send her on her way, let her mess with some other town. Ponyville doesn’t need bein’ told we’re not as good as some dolled-up filly that never worked a day in her life.”
This time, Trixie didn’t hear the criticism of her act. Some of her fans did, though.
“We need to see the Great and Powerful Trixie!” two unicorn colts spoke at once, an effect that would have been somewhat more dramatic if the taller of the two hadn’t decided to abbreviate her name.
“She’s busy.” A large, brown-maned stallion growled. They’d seen him before, helping Trixie to put up her stage before they’d volunteered. He’d seemed exhausted then, and the Great and Powerful Trixie had no time for his excuses as he struggled to move the timber frame. Now, he was fully awake and Snips and Snails could have stood on each other’s shoulders without coming up to his eye level. Maybe they could have run through his legs, but with a quick glance at each other they both decided that they didn’t want to annoy Trixie, or her roadie.
“Yeah, but we heard something she might want to know,” Snips jumped up as he spoke, maybe trying to get into the guard’s field of vision, “Why can you decide who the Great and Powerful Trixie wants to see?”
“I’m Castle Tail,” the stallion spoke slowly and deliberately. He didn’t raise his voice, but his frustration was obvious. “I pull the cart, I set up the stage, and I don’t let people bother her. Now, she’s let you fetch her hay smoothies all day, she listened to your mindless prattling, now she’s resting after a long day. And nopony’s allowed to disturb her, not even me. Maybe if you do something really helpful, she’ll let you buy her dinner tomorrow.”
“But we heard something! Twilight Sparkle and her cronies are going around saying Trixie never defeated the Ursa, that it’s a big lie! We can’t let them get away with that!”
“So what’re you going to do about it? I’ve done everything I can to keep her happy, and sometimes that just means not telling her somepony doesn’t like the show. We’ll be gone in a few days anyhow.”
“I thought if she wants, we could go get an Ursa Major from the Everfree Forest, and then she can show everypony how she defeated it in tomorrow’s show!” Castle Tail gently bit his lip and stared into space for a long moment. Images flashed before his eyes, of all the times Trixie had screamed or thrown things because he wasn’t quite quick enough. Of the way ponies who’d seen the show for the first time thought it was an honour to be able to give her presents. Of the times he’d gone without dinner because passing the hat around at a new town hadn’t brought as many bits as they hoped, and Trixie wasn’t willing to put up with anything less than the best for herself. Of the conjurer declaring her thanks to new fans, while she expected him to work all day with no recognition.
“Yeah,” he eventually rumbled, “I’m sure she’d love that. You know where you can find it? I heard it fled into the deep forest after the last time the Great and Powerful Trixie kicked its tail.”
“We can do that. The Everfree is pretty scary, though, we were wondering if the Great and Powerful Trixie could come and talk to the Ursa, set up the show?”
“And get her hooves muddy? Not likely. I’ll come with you, though. I’ve been looking for a chance to show everypony just how great and powerful she really is.”
An hour later and a mile deeper in the Everfree, the darkness was starting to give two young ponies second thoughts about their great plan. They crept quietly, trying to avoid letting the monsters that dwelled here know they were present. But Castle Tail marched like he was still pulling Trixie’s mobile home behind him, every step deliberate and heavy. Twigs cracked underfoot, and the stallion glared at the darkness ahead with an anger that neither of the colts could understand. Eventually, they reached a cave black at pitch, where rumours that a friend had heard from a friend said that the legendary pony-eating Ursa Major could be found.
“Now what?”
“It’s in there?” Castle Tail peered into the gloom, “I guess you need to wake it up. You can use this.” He held up something that glinted brilliantly in the faint glimmer of moonlight. It was a piece of glass, or crystal, maybe. With effort, Snails produced enough light for them to see more clearly.
“TROUBLE!” the strange artifact yelled in a grating voice, and began to glow with a sickly purple light.
“It’s called a Memory,” the stallion went on to explain, “Trixie had me working in a mine one time when we were short of bits, and the boss pony said she thought I could use it. It makes you stronger and more powerful, but only for a while.”
“So why don’t you use it?” even Snips could see that something wasn’t quite right, “And why’s it say ‘trouble’ like that? I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“No, you put Trouble in you. You can control it. Don’t you want to help the Great and Powerful Trixie show this town her true powers?”
“Well, I guess that –”
“NO!” an angry voice spoke from between the trees, and both colts cowered behind Castle Tail. “You will not give a Gaia Memory to a colt. Those things are the first step towards a better ponykind, but I will not see them used by those too young to understand. You want that ursus awake, you do it yourself.”
“I gave my life for Trixie, and I’m going to see she gets what she deserves,” Castle Tail spat back, and tossed the crystal in the direction of the two colts. “Use it. Show how much you care for her.”
The hoof came out of the darkness without warning, knocking the Memory high into the air. The strange stallion was a silhouette between shadowy trees, almost impossible to make out. It seemed for a moment he was even larger than the muscular Castle Tail, and his coat could have been a red-black or mahogany shade, but it was impossible to tell for sure.
“I said no,” the silhouette growled, “For that, you die.” A muscular hoof lashed out, striking Castle Tail hard enough to crack ribs. He knew now he’d made a mistake there was no coming back from. Maybe it would have been better to use the Memory himself. And as a second blow threw him into a thicket of painful thorns, he saw the Memory on the ground, teasingly close to his hoof.
“TROUBLE!”
Snips and Snails peered out at the two fighting figures. They could barely see a thing, though flashes of fire and lightning occasionally illuminated the scene. A mechanical voice had boomed several words, and the duel was backed by sounds of metal crashing against bone, and a roar like some kind of engine. The two young colts wouldn’t have been surprised if the noise had attracted attention from town, and both were speculating whether it would be the Champion of Harmony or the Great and Powerful Trixie who came to subdue the monsters.
That is, until a roar from behind them signified that the ursa had woken up.
Fluttershy was the first to wake. It was the middle of the night, and she’d been up late tending to the needs of a sick panda, so at first she was too tired even to recognise the sounds she was hearing. But the clash of metal on bone continued, and soon she sat up sharply, some inner voice yelling ‘monster!’ until it finally managed to penetrate the veil of lethargy. And as much as Fluttershy didn’t like conflict, the last couple of months had taught her the correct way to respond when dealing with a monster. She took the Element of Kindness, a thin piece of pink crystal, and pressed it into the slot on her collar once.
Then, all she could do was wait. She hoped the others would notice their collars lighting up with a pink glow, but she was in no way foolish enough to wander into the forest on her own at this time of night. That was why, when a giant bear-shaped creature burst from the treeline, Rainbow Dash was already speeding down the road in the opposite direction.
The first thing Dash saw was a giant bear, larger than any monster she’d ever faced. It was a deep blue-black, but as it came closer she could see the outline of the trees beyond it. Inside its body were suspended a half dozen points of light, looking like nothing more than stars. For a moment she wondered if there was a Memory that would take down part of the night sky and turn it into a monster, but then she looked through it and saw that it was being pursued by a horse-sized monster with whips and flails to drive the giant creature forward. She might not be the most intellectual of ponies, but Rainbow Dash was smart enough to blame the one with the weapons when two monsters appeared at once.
Rainbow Dash raised a hoof and pressed her Element firmly against the spring in her collar twice. The double flash of magicite crystals would tell Twilight to bring the Driver as soon as possible, if only she was awake.
“Catch!” Spike’s voice caught Rainbow Dash by surprise, but she was nimble enough to catch the driver without any significant effort. She could only assume Twilight had some reason not to come in person, so she quickly slung the driver into place around her neck. This time there was only a second before the second set of gems lit up in green to complete the transformation.
“GENEROSITYᏔLOYALTY!” the Driver’s sing-song voice called out, attracting the attention of both the giant bear and the dopant driving it.
“Stop!” Raridash called, “You’re driving it towards Ponyville!”
“That’s the idea, fairycakes,” it snorted dismissively. A shower of levitated stones from a wall rained down on it, but they didn’t seem to have any effect. “What’s this, you put on a fancy costume and grow a horn? You wanna be a princess, little filly?”
“We don’t need to dream of being royalty,” Rarity had the perfect response as they landed on the road behind the creatures, “We can rely on our friends.”
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash’s voice completed the taunt, “The two of us are a single alicorn!” While she was shouting, Rarity put all her focus into her horn, reaching into the earth beneath their hooves and calling on its fundamental strength. In the last few weeks, she’d learned a lot from sharing body and mind with Twilight Sparkle, and now she wondered if she might just have the strength…
The dopant flew into the air, held by spiral bands of magenta and cerise magic. It roared and struggled, and then the whips stopped flailing around when it became clear it was out of reach.
(“Right, let’s beat this thing,” Dash’s internal dialogue was as straightforward as ever, “D’you think a rainboom will cut it, or do you need to give her a makeover first?”)
(“We don’t know who it is, so what kind of style would invoke–”)
Even at the speed of thought, there wasn’t time for them to finish the exchange. The dopant laid its flails back along the solid array of weapons that was its body now, and one hoof reached backwards to select a different armament. Then a sliver of crystal, what might possibly be a half of the Gaia Memory, flew out from the labyrinth of metal on it’s flank, and spiralled round before slotting into the butt of the new weapon.
“TROUBLE MAGNUM!” the grating voice of the Memory called out, and faster than they could respond a shower of flaming projectiles shredded the ground around Raridash.
“Look out!” Fluttershy squeaked, “There’s another one!” Approaching from the Everfree Forest was a shape that only vaguely resembled a pony. Most of its body was clad in armour that vaguely resembled the plates that Raridash was currently sporting. But this was a complete carapace rather than individual pieces, and it wasn’t clear if there was even a pony inside. It was a mix of chrome, red-stained steel, and polished dark wood. In shape, it could maybe be a pony lying down, but with wheels on its fetlocks it looked more like a heavily armoured cart, or a small carnival float. The wheels spun quickly as it roared up the road, and Raridash didn’t know whether to focus her attention on the monster whose attacks were arcing overhead, or the one racing towards her in a haze of smoke and engine noises.
Their attention was split three ways when the magicite gems on the collar and Driver flashed again, pale blue this time. And again, and again.
“Pinkie!” Rarity gasped, and turned her head automatically towards Ponyville. The bear-monster was within the town now, lashing out and demolishing homes with its paws as the citizens screamed and ran.
(“Fine!” she gasped in whatever internal space held the communications of a shared mind, “These guys are clearly the ringleaders, but they’re not hurting anyone right now. Go for the bear.”)
Rainbow Dash didn’t bother to wait for the instruction, she was already flying back to town. The Trouble dopant followed, but couldn’t even begin to catch up, while the red metal pony bringing up the rear of the group moved slowly, cautiously, as it waited to see what the others would do.
In Ponyville, the ursus was rampaging. Everypony who had the courage was doing their best to herd it away from the hospital or the nurseries, trying to make sure that nopony was hurt. But there seemed to be no disagreement that actually fighting it was out of the question.
Trixie had been in bed, it was quite late at night after all. She’d heard the crashing outside, and stayed huddled beneath the sheets while her mind filled with images of an angry mob. She knew that in reality, nobody would be that angry about a showmare exaggerating her talents. But it was a constant nightmare, and one she wasn’t about to risk the viability of.
Then there was a knock at her caravan door.
“Trixie?” a whiney voice called out, “Great and Powerful Trixie! You need to help, there’s an ursa major coming right this way, and nopony else knows how to stop it!” The Great and Powerful Trixie started to burrow deeper into her bedclothes, before having second thoughts and extricating herself. She contemplated grabbing her hat, but dressing up would take too long, and she wasn’t intending to show off today.
The door to the trailer flew open, and Trixie immediately shook the little lean-to that sometimes provided shelter for her most devoted fan, Castle Tail. She’d found him years before, barely a colt. With a cutie mark showing a castle on wheels, she’d found it easy to convince him that the fates had assigned him the duty of helping her to move her mobile home. Since then his duties had grown to include cooking, cleaning, setting up the stage, lighting the fireworks so that Trixie didn’t need to waste valuable magical energy on them, and more recently camping right outside her caravan so that over-enthusiastic fans wouldn’t disturb her when she wanted some time to herself.
Right now, there was no sign of him.
“Castle Tail!” she yelled, “Where are you? There’s a monster coming, do you expect me to move the cart on my own?”
“He’s in the Everfree Forest,” the short, annoying one said, “A monster attacked him.”
“How do you defeat an ursa?” the skinny, annoying one added, “Do you need to like warm up your magic first, or do you just like wink and it goes away?”
“Look, don’t crowd me!” Trixie snapped, and then called back over her shoulder as she walked away, “The Great and Powerful Trixie needs to get some things ready. Just magic isn’t enough to fight the Ursa Major. Trixie will be right back, and then you will see her true powers. But where’s Castle Tail?”
“I said before, another monster attacked him, and he got left behind in the forest. Is it something you need help with?” That was enough to make Trixie hesitate. But she simply shook her head and kept on walking. She didn’t run; she didn’t want to be branded a coward once the attack was over. But she wasn’t going to stay there if it had been heading right for her home. She could see it over the rooftops now, and it was larger than she had ever imagined even an ursa major could be.
It was fortunate that Trixie had chosen to leave her mobile home close to the centre of Ponyville, with easy access to any facilities she might need. That meant that Snails’s hollering had also caught the attention of Twilight Sparkle, who had been pacing around inside her room. When her collar first flashed, she’d immediately thought to teleport to Fluttershy’s aid. But then she would be pushing herself to the centre of attention again, wanting to always be the hero. She didn’t want her friends to come to hate her like they did the boastful Trixie. So she’d sent Spike instead, reasoning that he could travel just as fast, and give the Driver to anypony who needed it.
“There’s an ursa major coming this way!” The sound was muffled by the Library’s wooden walls, she couldn’t make out who was speaking, but the panic was clear in their voice. Twilight flung open the curtains and looked out.
“That’s not an ursa maj–” she started,and then stopped herself as she heard the screams and saw the destruction the star-spangled bear was causing. It wasn’t a time for nitpicking when innocent ponies’ lives were on the line. She ran outside, trying to bring to mind pages from volume three of ‘Fantastic Beasts of the Everfree, and the Means to Avoid Their Discovery’. She couldn’t think how to stop the carnage she saw before her, the methods in the book would need the strength of a dozen earth ponies, and the crowds in the street were panicking, running randomly. They wouldn’t follow her directions quickly even if she shouted that she was the hero who would save everyone, and that would be even worse for her reputation.
In the middle of one crowd, ponies were looking at something other than the monster a few streets away, and the shouting there caught Twilight’s attention again.
“Okay then!” a voice she recognised as the Great and Powerful Trixie screeched, “I made it up! Are you happy now? Are you satisfied? Trixie has no idea how to fight an ursa major, and certainly never expected you stupid kids to bring one here! Stop crowding round and let Trixie leave. It makes no sense to remain in the path of such a monster!”
“You’re not leaving,” the next voice was backed up by some kind of magical amplification, drowning out even the enraged roars of the giant bear. “For years I have done nothing but pull that stupid cart around while you get handouts because of brave deeds you never did and titles you claim without proof. I made the fireworks, I set them up before every show, I set the stage and pull your home. When we haven’t got enough it’s me that does manual labour, and it’s me that goes without. Just once, you’d better test yourself against the legend you’ve created, Trixie the Grand and Boastful.”
“You stop right there!” Twilight yelled, charging into the crowd. The dopant turned to face her, and she had to fight not to show fear. Right now she didn’t know if she was more worried about being attacked by this monster, or the eyes of everypony on her as she stepped up and made herself the centre of attention. “If you got a problem with Trixie, talk to her about it! There’s no reason to bring an ursus into Ponyville, hurting so many of my friends.”
“She’s always wanted to be a spectacle, now she gets her wish. If you want to blame–”
“PARTY RAINBOOM CANNON!” For an instant, Twilight could see Rainbow Pie standing behind the dopant, scooping him up in the mouth of a cannon that already contained Rainbow Dash. Then it fired into the sky, covering the square with showers of confetti and cupcakes. A rainbow ring burst out high overhead, as spectacular as any of Trixie’s fireworks. People cheered as Rainbow Pie ejected both memories from the Driver, and went back to being just Rainbow Dash.
“Good job, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight congratulated her, hoping that nopony would get angry at her friends for showing off. But then, she realised,showing off was one of Dash’s defining traits, and nobody really resented her for it. Ponies were harder to understand than any other subject Twilight had ever researched.
“Yeah, now we need to defeat the bear thing. Is that really what an ursa major looks like?”
“No, its tail is too light. But that doesn’t matter now, we just need to get it out of town.”
“Ha!” Trixie spoke up at last, “Even the Great and Powerful Trixie cannot really defeat the Ursa Major. What hope do you have, when you are afraid even to challenge Trixie?”
“I just don’t want to show off,” Twilight muttered, her determination faltering.
“It’s not showing off if you’re doing it to help somepony,” Rainbow Dash explained, “Come on Twilight, we need you. Nopony else has a clue how to beat that thing. If you just –”
There was a deafening crash as a pony fell through the roof of a nearby café; presumably Castle Tail, who had been flung much higher than anypony expected by the rainboom impact.
“We’d better make sure he’s okay, that’s a long –”
“TROUBLECALIBUR!” the voice of the Memory roared. The dopant burst out from the wrecked building on its hind legs, holding a massive glowing sword in both hooves. An indigo light shone through hundreds of hairline cracks over the whole of its body, making it impossible to miss in the darkness, but they were already slowly starting to heal.
“My sonic rainboom didn’t break it?” Rainbow Dash gasped in surprise, “And the name changed? I’m sure it was Trouble Magnet before.”
“That hurt!” the dopant’s voice was loud enough to make some of the crowd clap hooves over their ears, “I’ll get you for that, Twinkle Princess.” He swung the giant blade towards Rainbow Dash, but Twilight was just fast enough with the Driver.
“KINDNESSᏔJOKER!” Fluttertwi was already in the air as she transformed, diving to put herself between the dopant and her friend. The burst of light from the transformation made their enemy pause, and then Fluttershy’s instinctive response on seeing an enemy was to try hiding behind her wings, an effective defense tactic now they were reinforced with magical armour. They withstood the sword strike, but it was still enough to knock them back a little way on the cobbles. They couldn’t even focus entirely on their enemy now, because the sounds of carnage from the ursa minor were now joined by the roaring of some unfamiliar engine coming closer.
“Another fake alicorn?” the dopant sneered, “This town is just crazy, I’ll let the ursa deal with you.” And with that, he turned and raced after Trixie, who had taken advantage of the distraction to run for the town gates.
“TROUBLE HARPOONS!” the Gaia Memory called out again, and the dopant retrieved yet another different weapon from the selection stuck all over its coat.
“What the hay?” Twilight was taken aback enough to curse when she heard the words. Nopony had ever told them that a dopant could do something like that, and she wasn’t sure if that was connected to its higher resilience or not.
“After it!” Rainbow Dash yelled, but Fluttertwi was already galloping down the road after it. A few seconds later, another monster emerged from a side street alongside her, this one clearly the source of the engine noise. It looked almost like a horse-shaped carriage, with vivid metal panels mixed in with hardwood and pieces of unfamiliar chrome pipework.
(“Another dopant? What’s going on here?”)
“It’s a G4,” the living cart spoke in a voice like a modulation of the engine’s roar, “The next generation of Gaia Memories. Some of the arms-types can focus the Memory’s power into a single weapon for a short time. He’d probably give you trouble, but I got a score to settle with that guy. You deal with the ursa.” And then it roared away, faster than anypony except maybe Doubledash could have kept up with.
(“If they’re fighting each other, I say we leave them to it then deal with the winner. You got any ideas how to calm down Ursa Minor?”)
(“We need to calm down a monster?”)
(“It’s not a monster, just a forest creature. They’re gigantic, I guess these two chased it out of its cave, and everypony screaming and running is going to be pretty scary even for something that size.”)
(“That’s a real ursa major?” Fluttershy sounded more excited than scared now, “They live so deep in the forest, I never thought I’d see one myself!”)
(“Ursa minor,” Twilight corrected, “You can tell by the brighter star in its tail. The mother is even larger.”)
(“So he’s just a baby, and they woke him in the middle of the night for their prank? No wonder he’s cranky!”)
(“How do you soothe an irritated animal and get it to go and sleep?”)
(“Normally I’d give him a deep and meaningful stare, let him know we’re upset too, and then try to soothe him until he can sleep.But right now, he’s moving around too much.”)
“I’ll find a way to distract him,” Twilight muttered, and looked around at the detritus. In one ruined storefront, there was a mobile designed for hanging above a foal’s crib, with carved animals and carts hanging from thin strings. That gave her an idea.
Ten minutes later, the ursa minor stopped pawing destructively at homes and other buildings. It reached for a cart moving past, but found that it was just out of reach. Everything it tried to grab was too far away, and moving around the creature’s head in circles that just made it dizzy. On the highest balcony she could find, Fluttertwi looked out over the scene. Her horn glowed brighter than anypony had ever seen before, attempting a task that was pushing her limits even with the strength-boosting powers of the Driver itself. She couldn’t compete with Trixie’s show in terms of numbers, managing to keep only a dozen objects slowly whirling around in a slow dance above the ursus’s head. But using objects large enough for it to focus on easily – laden carts, market stalls, clouds, and a couple of cows – seemed much more impressive to the audience watching breathless from down below. It could have been everypony’s silence, as much as the display itself, that calmed the fearful beast.
As the beast looked upwards, Fluttertwi came slowly closer until she could meet its gaze. Now Fluttershy was in control of their actions, while Twilight only focused on keeping the items in the air moving. She whispered softly and reassuringly to the giant bear, until it eventually curled up on the ground outside the town and went to sleep.
(“Do you think he’ll be happy now?” Twilight gasped, putting down the carts and cows, “Will we be able to get him back to the forest?”)
(“If he’s like a brown bear, he’ll head home when it gets a bit further into winter. They can’t sleep well in the cold, but now he’s calmed down a little he won’t be so cranky. I don’t think he’ll bother anypony.”)
“I’m exhausted,” Twilight said as she put down the last part of the giant mobile, a market stall loaded with red and green apples, “Hey, Rainbow! Can you take care of the dopant?”
“Sure thing!” Twilight quickly popped out her Memory, and Fluttershy followed suit, hoping to get some rest so she could check on the ursa minor first thing in the morning.
“LAUGHTERᏔLOYALTY!”
Fluttershy blinked, and immediately wished she could hide. She’d been sleeping by the side of the road outside her house while her mind was away helping Twilight to help the ursus, but she had never expected to come back right in the middle of a fight between two dopants. The Trouble dopant was more injured than it had been when she’d last seen it, and the red cart-pony was racing around it. The two occasionally clashed, and it was clear that Castle Tail was coming off worse in most of their encounters. He was trying to block attacks with two spears, but the tips glanced ineffectually off his opponent’s sleek metal body.
He slung the spears back over his shoulders in a cross, and much to Fluttershy’s surprise a crystal that looked like it could be a Gaia Memory popped out of the end. One hoof caught it and slammed it into the hilt of another weapon amid the chaos.
“Changing again?” the red monster laughed like a roar of clashing gears, “I told you before, I can’t forgive you for trying to get those colts involved. No weapon you can produce will help you avoid your fate.”
“TROUBLECALIBUR!” The hilt turned out to belong to a gigantic double-edged sword, almost as long again as the dopant’s horse-sized body.
“A sword?” the other dopant seemed intrigued now, “Let’s see how you are in a duel. I got one of those too.” He brandished a blade, a wide slab of gleaming steel. Then he produced a Gaia Memory from some unseen recess, threw it into the air and caught it with his sword’s guard.
“ENGINE!” Sparks chased along the edge of the sword, and the two swords clashed again. Both ponies were rearing on their hind legs now, and Fluttershy wondered which of them would tire first of the uncomfortable pose. She still couldn’t move as they danced around her, not wanting to become a target for both.
The duel didn’t last long. The Troublecalibur was thrown from the dopant’s hoof and flew high into the air. The red monster lashed out with one hind leg, the rough edge of the cartwheel spinning the Trouble dopant around as he flew through the air. He slammed head first into a tree hard enough to stun even his enhanced body. The other warrior didn’t stop, though. He pulled the Memory out of the sword and somehow adjusted the lever on the side rather than simply squeezing. As he pressed it into a second slot on the side of the blade itself, it declared: “ELECTRIC: MAXIMUM DRIVE!” A moment later, he leapt forward and brought the sword slashing down. In the moment it hit, a thumderbolt leapt along the length of the weapon, from the tip to the Trouble dopant, and then arcs danced between its body and the ground.
Castle Tail shuddered, and the weapons studded all over his body disintegrated like sandcastles before the tide. The Gaia Memory in his sword was visible for a moment, no more than a sparkling dust mote where it was stabbed into the ground, and then it vanished. The real Trouble memory emerged from his flank like any dopant the Champions of Harmony had fought before, and shattered into a thousand pieces, surrounded by a shower of electrical sparks.
“There are some things I won’t forgive,” the red figure growled, and then swung the sword again. Fluttershy remained frozen in fear, hoping that the monster wouldn’t notice she was there as he dragged the unconscious form of Castle Tail deeper into the Everfree Forest.
“The important thing is to figure out who he is,” Applejack stated firmly, over the rapid clicking of Twilight’s typewriter. It was four days later now, but composing a report to Princess Celestia had brought their minds back to a difficult subject.
“I think it could be more important to learn what happened,” Rarity countered, “You said that Castle Tail was out cold, but do we even know he was alive? We can assume that the dopant left him in the forest to die, or sent him off on some other route so he can never return to Ponyville. But he could just as easily have been taking him into the forest to bury him. Or worse.”
“Something still feels wrong to me,” Twilight spoke slowly, keeping half her attention on the words she was typing. “From everything we’ve seen, a Gaia Memory drives the user mad. That’s why we try to help the users get back to normal afterwards. But when you saw the red pony in town, he just told us about these ‘G4 Memories’, perfectly calm. He – or she, remember it isn’t obvious for a dopant – seemed in control of his actions. And from what Fluttershy saw, he defeated Trouble using a ‘Maximum Drive’ attack. The same name that the Princess gave to our Memory-breaking techniques. And he didn’t rant, or gloat, or have a maniacal laugh.”
“Do you think it’s a new kind of dopant?” Spike looked up for a moment from the letter he was re-reading, “A special Memory or something?”
“I have to wonder if he’s a dopant at all. When Princess Celestia first showed me the museum, she said something about there being more than seven Elements of Harmony. But then she won’t talk about it in her letters, because she’s worried about somepony else reading it. Could there be another Element out there somewhere, fighting without us?”
“Without a Driver?” Rarity asked.
“Ohh, and if it’s a stallion, he must be the main love interest!” Pinkie squealed, “It’s the kind of story you get in romance novels, six heroic mares competing for the affections on the male lead.” There was silence for a moment, as the others tried to marshal their thoughts on everything that was wrong with that idea.
“That’s a good point,” Twilight was the first to get her train of thought back on the right line, “About the Driver, I mean. The Tree of Harmony is supposed to create a Driver for each new generation of Champions, one every thousand years, or that’s what I can infer from the little information Princess Celestia has been willing to share while we’re not there in person. But we’re using her Driver, we didn’t find our own. So if the number of Elements in this generation is the same as the last, that must mean that we have yet to obtain both our Driver, and one of the Elements. We need to be looking out for them, especially if somepony else might have found them.”
“Somepony who might not know how Gaia Memories work,” Fluttershy added, not even wanting to imagine what that might mean, “Might not know that the user isn’t in control, and thinks revenge is…”
“But in any case,” Twilight hurriedly changed the subject before the conversation got too dark, “What happened to the Great and Powerful Trixie? Did she leave town yet?”
“Yup,” Rainbow Dash grinned, “I helped her a little, getting her cart to the marketplace. She’s had to sell half her stuff so she can pull it herself, but she’s getting on okay. She paid for some of the damage the ursa minor caused, because it was her stories that got those kids to go looking for it, but they let her keep a few bits to buy food until she gets to the next town.”
“Will she be able to keep doing her show? I mean, everypony will have heard about her boasting, and fleeing when she saw the ursus. They won’t think she’s so powerful now. Maybe that’s a good thing, but I don’t like to think she might end up starving because of us.”
“Maybe,” Pinkie shrugged, “But I think she could be a really good clown, if she just stopped taking herself too seriously.” And with that image in their minds, even Applejack cracked a smile. Maybe Ponyville would need some time to rebuild, but this had been quite an easy week compared to some of the issues they’d had to deal with lately.
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awesome more please