Episode 25 - The N Justifies the Means
“You’ve let this Champion thing get on top of you. You’re not keeping your eye on the things that matter.” Granny Smith rebuked Applejack sternly, but she didn’t see any need to go further. She could see the orange farm pony was already beating herself up enough.
Applejack couldn’t believe it. She knew Big Mac had been trying to strengthen ties with their cousins who ran farms in other areas. It was important to the whole extended family, because sooner or later every family needed a next generation to take it over, and that meant that Sweet Apple Acres couldn’t be run by her and her brother for much longer. There needed to be fresh blood. And she’d known that after one of his recent visits, when he’d helped a distant relative to erect a new windmill, a mare had come to visit. She’d introduced herself by saying she was probably a fifth cousin or something, and had done her bit helping with the chores, so Applejack was always happy to let a friend or relative stay.
But a casual word from Granny Smith, while Applejack had been washing the breakfast dishes, had turned her whole world on its head.
“His wife?” she repeated for the fourth or fifth time. It wasn’t that she was shocked, or offended. But she couldn’t believe that she’d managed to miss out on so many important developments within her own family.
“We all went to the Pie family farm for Hearth’s Warming,” Granny Smith reminded her, “But you were busy fighting a monster. You almost missed out on the Sisterhooves Social with Apple Bloom. If you can’t find time for your family, then you have nobody to blame but yourself.”
“Well, I’m not going to be out of the loop any more. If I got a sister-in-law, I’m going to make sure we’re as close as sisters should be. Just start talking to her, gotta start somewhere, right?”
“You might not want to disturb them now, though. I think they might be kind of busy.”
“Who’s busy at this time of the morning?” Applejack grumbled, then hesitated for a second. “Alright, I’ll talk to her next time I see her then. But I’m going to be putting more time into this family, not just my work and the Harmony thing. Personal can be important too. I wonder what Apple Bloom is up to this morning?”
In his room, Big McIntosh was in fact busy, and had locked the door to ensure his privacy. His wife glanced across at him as they overheard just a little of the conversation from the kitchen. She was amused, clearly, but not enough to take her eyes off Big Mac. He was looking down at the table between them. She’d said she had a present for him. Something he might find amusing. But when he looked at it, he wasn’t laughing.
“I got it from a scientist,” she shrugged, “He said it’s one of a new batch they’ve just finished. With you mentioning Cider last night, I thought you might find it ironic. And I know protecting your family is an important duty for you, so you might be interested in something that would make it easier. Well, your littlest sister said she’s interested in learning distillation when she grows up, so she’d probably be interested too.”
“No!,” Big Mac yelled angrily, “She’s still a filly, and she’s been hurt bad enough already. And I don’t want to mix liquor with any kind of responsibility, especially not where Apple Bloom is concerned.”
“Sorry,” his wife bowed her head, “I thought it might appeal to you. I’ll give it back to the scientist, I’m sure he has a lot of other ponies who’d be interested.”
“No,” Big Mac repeated, placing his hoof over the Gaia Memory on the table, “No. These things are dangerous, real dangerous. You’ve not seen all the monsters that have rampaged in Ponyville. Maybe there’s them that can control power like that, the Champions of Harmony have done a good job of holding onto their morals. But not a Cider Memory, that’s just asking for trouble. I’d never push a plow after I’ve been drinking, and I think anypony who’d even consider using this needs their head examined. I’m surprised.”
“I’m sorry. Really. I didn’t think about it like that, I just…” Big Mac reached out to tenderly put a hoof on her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” he said, “I understand. I did mention Cider the other day, and Apple Bloom seemed interested, that’s true. Maybe she’ll learn to ferment and distil when she grows up, and I’m sure we’ll all be proud of her. But that’s for when she’s grown up. I don’t want her thinking that cider can be something that protects you from harm, and I don’t want her thinking that it’s okay for kids to get involved in what… in either of the things this represents, and even if you find someone with the self-control to use a Gaia Memory safely, I wouldn’t trust them with hard cider in the mix. I’m keeping this, just to make sure nopony else stumbles across it.”
“I understand,” she smiled, “Who knows, you might even change your mind.”
Apple Bloom was sitting in the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse, chatting with her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They’d had an exhausting week, so for once they were just talking rather than trying out new things to discover their hidden talents.
“It’s got to be cider,” Apple Bloom shook her head, “I mean, AJ has farming all sewn up, and Big Mac knows apples better than anypony. And they work together on the cider press, but there’s nopony in the family who has it as their talent. I thought of it when Big Mac mentioned it, I’ve always been pretty good at measuring and mixing, my cooking only goes wrong when stuff’s in the oven. And cider’s one thing you can cook that doesn’t need baking.”
“Are you sure?” Scootaloo was sceptical, “I mean, I’m sure there’s a fire burning under the still when they make the stronger stuff. And they always say cider isn’t for fillies.”
“That’s…” Apple Bloom hesitated, “Okay, maybe I can’t drink hard cider, but there’s no reason I can’t make it. If I got to leave it until I’m old enough to drink, I’ll miss the chance to get my cutie mark! I can’t wait another year, girls!”
“Alright then. How do we make cider, if your family won’t help? There has to be–” Sweetie Belle was cut off by a roaring, hissing sound from outside. Seconds later, a hole appeared in the clubhouse wall. All three Crusaders backed away against the far wall, avoiding contact with the dripping, hissing acid that oozed in through every crack in the tortured timbers.
“It’s a monster!” Scootaloo exclaimed, “Call for the Champions!”
“How?” Apple Bloom did her best to remain calm, though she was immediately terrified by the apparition, “We’re in the middle of nowhere, in a secret clubhouse! This deep in the woods, nopony would hear us scream!”
“We have to do something!” But for all they yelled, there was nothing they could actually do except wait.
Applejack was already galloping towards the clubhouse when she heard the screams. She’d been feeling bad about not being in her little sister’s life enough, when she realised she didn’t even know where they would normally be on a Saturday morning. But then she heard the grating voice of a Gaia Memory transformation in the distance, and the only thing to do was run.
Spike appeared in the air beside her, in a flash of pink magic. Twilight had just teleported him rather than coming herself, knowing that it would cost her less magical energy in case she needed to join the battle later. The Champions of Harmony trusted each other enough now that there wasn’t any need for discussion when any of them sent a distress signal through their magical collar.
“HONESTY!” the Gaia Memory called out as she slammed it into the Driver’s slot. Then she could only wait to see who was first to connect as her other half, and she knew she wouldn’t have to wait long. She’d covered four long strides through the woodland, and the monster was just visible between the trees when a green Element shimmered into existence in the other slot. Not Applejack’s favourite of the three potential partners, but she would have been happy with anything that let her keep her sister safe.
“GENEROSITYᏔHONESTY!” the Driver sang, and when the burst of light faded there was a single armoured pony running between the trees, with a coat that shaded from orange to white, and her stetson perched incongruously atop an elaborately coiffed mane. Transformed she ran even faster, if that were possible, and in seconds she could see the monster threatening the clubhouse. It was some kind of giant reptile, and Applejack’s first conclusion was that it was a sea serpent’s head snaking between the trees, its body still hidden by the morning mist. But as they came closer, they could see that the creature was almost entirely serpentine, but with a disturbingly pony-like head. It was covered from neck to tail in shining green scales, which extended in a ridge behind its head like some kind of cobra.
“Half snake, half pony?” Rarity was first to get control of their mouth, “What are you supposed to be?”
The creature half turned towards them and hissed, showing off fangs that should surely have stopped its mouth from closing. The head was shaped like a pony’s, but a caricature in leathery skin with nictitating membranes on the eyes and the teeth of a snake. There was no way they could guess what the host’s original coat colour had been, and it wasn’t at all recognisable now.
(“We’ve got to beat it right now,” Applejack spoke urgently in whatever place their internal dialogues took up, “If it gets away, we don’t know enough to beat it, and if I hadn’t been in the right place at the right time it could already have killed the girls.”)
(“I agree. But if it comes to a choice, you know I’ll rescue my sister even if it means letting the monster get away for now.”)
(“Then we’ll have to make sure we don’t let it come to that.”)
The entire conversation took place as quick as thought, while Rarity’s comments were still making their way out of Rarijack’s mouth. Before they even finished speaking, Applejack had their white and orange hooves in the air to slap down on the Elements of Harmony and push them deeper into the Driver.
“GENEROSITYHONESTY: Maximum Drive!” the Driver called out, and at once the air around the monster was filled with swirling fabric and jewels, leaves and everything else convenient in a levitated maelstrom that distracted it and gave it way too many targets to keep its eyes on. But the costumes Rarity’s imagination tried to drape it in didn’t adapt well for the lack of legs, and couldn’t give anything to draw the creature’s focus away from whatever negative emotion the Gaia Memory had latched onto. They didn’t know who this pony had been, or what had driven them to attack a clubhouse full of young fillies, so for now they had nothing they could use to break the mental bond.
They still leapt in to deliver a solid kick with two hind legs, but the monster thrashed its tail and their charge was interrupted by a small tree dropping towards them. They dived aside, but weren’t fast enough to escape entirely and ended up pinned to the ground under the branches. It was only a delay, Rarijack was stronger than Applejack alone and would have no difficulty forcing a few fallen branches aside. But that would take time they didn’t have. The monster reared up and took a deep breath, its hissing as loud as a train’s squealing brakes now, and they heard the harsh voice of the Gaia Memory calling out again.
“NAGA: Venom Salvo!”
(“What’s that mean?” Applejack gasped, the question flashing across their shared mind even though there wasn’t time to actually say it.)
(“I’m guessing some kind of rapid-fire poison thing,” Rarity babbled in panic, at the same time looking for anything they could use to shield themselves, “If it’s anything like what it threw at the treehouse, then we need to be somewhere it can’t get a clear shot at us. Must be one of the G4 Memories. We’ve seen Trouble call out attack names before, but I thought that Champion of Justice said he was in control of who got those.”)
(“I guess he missed one then. And I hope it misses us.”)
A half dozen bursts of sizzling toxin spurted out of the creature’s mouth, heading unerringly towards where Rarijack was still pinned under the tree. A few levitated branches wouldn’t stop the balls of poison, but it turned out that a sword was strong enough to deflect them.
“Naga! How dare you use your powers in that way. You are supposed to be the next stage of pony evolution, not surrender to your basest instincts. If you can’t control the Memory then I will have to destroy it.”
“You can’t fight my venom, Nascar,” the monster mixed a hiss and a sadistic chuckle, “There’s nothing you can do here, unless you want to die as well. Look at the state of your blade if you don’t believe me!” The Champion of Justice turned his head towards his sword, which was dripping with the venom he had just touched and was visibly corroding as the oily black liquid oozed into the metal. He didn’t stare in fear though, but produced the Engine Memory and adjusted the switch before slamming it into the pommel of the sword. At the same time, the monster levitated out its Memory in a cloud of violet magic and pressed it into the hilt of a dagger that seemed to have been formed from one of its teeth.
“STEAM: MAXIMUM DRIVE!”
“NAGA DAGGERS!” Two Gaia Memories groaned at once, filling the orchard with echoes of their metallic voices. Nascar’s sword glowed for a second and then the damaged parts repaired themselves as if the blade was just a balloon, and steam pressure within was pushing it back into its correct shape. Naga, meanwhile, had four fang-like daggers circling its head, and every one was dripping with a venom that seemed to curl into purple and black smoke in a nimbus around the blade.
They charged toward each other and the blades met. Once. Twice. Three times.
“That’s your only trick?” Nascar boasted as he pressed home the advantage from his enormous strength, “Poison’s probably useful, but my Engine Blade can heal itself using the power of the pseudo-Memory, and the heat of steam will neutralise your venom.”
“You’re… stronger than I thought,” the monster hissed, backing off one writhing twist at a time. But it was fast, and with the power of telekinesis it could leave one dagger hanging in the air to strike the Champion from behind when he was least expecting it. The battle between them could still go either way.
By then Rarijack had managed to extricate herself from the branches of the fallen tree, and could see that the wood was slowly turning black, a poison spreading up from where it had been broken.
(“I’m glad we got out before we found out what that might do to us,”)
(“Never mind that, look!”)
Rarity directed their eyes towards the tree with the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse in it. One wall of the aging treehouse had dissolved completely as the toxin ate it away, but the trunk of the tree was damaged lower down, and it looked weak enough that any impact might cause it to tip over.
Rarijack started to run closer, but there was no time. Even if they could run up the ramp without toppling the tree, there was no guarantee they’d be able to get their sisters down safely. Applejack gritted her teeth and applied the full strength of Rarity’s magic to holding the big tree up, trying to stabilise it. She wasn’t skilled with unicorn magic, she virtually never had a horn, but she could do brute strength.
“Apple Bloom!” they called out, “Sweetie Belle! Get down from there, I’m not sure how long we can hold it.”
Scootaloo took a flying leap from the clubhouse door, and proved that her undersized wings were at least good enough to carry her safely down to the ground. But it wasn’t so easy for the other two, who looked out at the swaying ground and immediately froze nervously. The tree’s first slight movement had left the ramp up to the door tilted and damaged, and there was nothing to hint that it would actually take their weight.
“We can’t get down!” Sweetie Belle called, but Rarijack couldn’t see anything else to do.
“Get the dopant!” the mechanical voice of the Champion of Justice bellowed, “I’ll save your sisters, but we can’t let him escape or he’ll just come back when we’re not there to help.”
He slashed once with the sword and knocked chunks of wood out of the base of another tree, and then kicked hard against it with first one mechanised hind leg and then the other. The tree began to creak and to fall, towards the precariously balanced clubhouse. The branches of the two trees caught on each other, and it looked like the newly felled tree might just be in the right place to prop up the poison-ravaged one, for a short while at least. The red-clad champion was already running up a trunk at nearly forty-five degrees to the ground, as Rarity jolted Applejack’s attention away from her magical rescue.
(“I think he’s got that. Can we trust him?” she snapped urgently, “I don’t know if I can trust him with the girls, but he’s saved them when we couldn’t, and he’s right that we can’t let the dopant escape.”)
(“I figure he’s a good guy underneath,” Applejack accepted, “I don’t like him, but I don’t think he’d hurt anypony too young to decide on their future. Let’s get after that snake.”)
They ran off after the monster, leaving Nascar to rescue the fillies. It wasn’t a job he was looking forward to, but he was willing to do whatever he had to if it would protect the innocent. Once he was high enough on the slanting tree trunk, he broke off a couple of sturdy branches and wedged them in place to make a bridge between his path and the clubhouse door, in place of the fallen ramp. He would have liked to have done better, but there wasn’t time here. Two trees leaning against each other would still only stay up for a minute or two, when a magically enhanced acid venom was eating away at one of them.
He banged on the timber beside the door, and called inside: “Can you two get out? We need to get away from here.”
“But the clubhouse… it’ll be wrecked. How can we ever fix this?”
“Wood can be repaired. Ponies can’t. We need to get out now.” Simple words, but the two Crusaders were still nervous, not quite sure where they stood. He continued: “Look, I’ll build you a new treehouse next weekend if you come out now. Fair enough? Or I can teach you to work with wood. Maybe that’ll even be your talent. Just get moving.”
“How can we even trust you‽” Sweetie Belle yelled, outraged, “You’re a dopant! How do we know you’re not going to attack us, and sacrifice us to some kind of giant monster? Or try to force us to become those things again?”
“He wouldn’t,” Apple Bloom muttered quietly, “He’s not a bad pony. And he’s not a dopant.” She started walking forward, but Sweetie Belle reached out a hoof to hold her back.
“Have you heard what Rarity and Twilight have found out about that stallion? He’s not just a dopant, he’s the Memory dealer, the one selling those things. He’s responsible for the monsters attacking Ponyville, and you want to just trust him? Maybe you can make some guess about his character from the things he says, but without seeing the face under that mask, without knowing what kind of pony he is, all you’ve got is guesswork. He could be hiding anything! And he’s a monster, he might not be able to control himself. Remember when we had the Bird Memory? We were hurting our friends out of petty jealousy, and you want to trust somepony we don’t even know a thing about, except he’s got one of those inside of him? No way! And remember how much it hurt, we were all in hospital? That was his fault too. I bet he even left that Memory lying around on purpose, for you to find!”
The Champion of Justice didn’t respond. He had answers to a lot of her points, but he couldn’t see a way to convince her if she wouldn’t trust a word he said. And he didn’t want to speak right now, because he had never thought he could be so hated. Even if it was all just the words of ponies who didn’t understand what he was trying to achieve, those accusations brought a tear to his eye under the armour. He didn’t want to be hated like that, not by a child. He wanted to make ponies stronger, not to bring pain, and the fact that she could accuse him without a second thought was proof enough that he had really given the wrong impression. Apple Bloom came to his defense, though, as he might have expected.
“He didn’t give us that!” she cried, clearly torn up inside by the aftermath of the Bird Dopant episode, even if she’d been able to hide the trauma from her closest friends and family. He wished he’d been able to talk to her more, to understand what was really worrying her about those events. “He didn’t give us the Gaia Memory, okay? I stole it! All that pain was my fault, and he’s been taking the blame for months because he didn’t want me to get in any more trouble over it!”
“Please,” Nascar sounded almost concerned despite the growling engine noise in his voice, “We need to move.” There was no more argument. He led the two fillies down the uneven surface of the tree trunk, carrying them on his broad metal shoulders when he had to. They reached the ground just as the trees shifted once more, and collapsed into splinters.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, looking around at the devastation, “This shouldn’t have happened. Naga feeds on jealousy, magnifies it and uses it to overwhelm the host’s reason. So I only gave him the Memory after I’d talked to him for a week, made sure he wasn’t prone to jealousy and had no reason to feel it. I warned him, again and again, not to use the Memory in anger, I was sure he’d be able to control it.”
“You really don’t want them to become monsters,” Sweetie Belle was finally starting to understand the Memory dealer’s motivations, just a little. Apple Bloom just nodded. “So why do they need a Gaia Memory at all, if they’re not going to rampage?”
“Silvertongue keeps snakes, and the Naga Memory has a certain power over normal snakes. To speak to them, make them stronger, and to heal their injuries. I think anypony who has a pet would go to great lengths to speak their language and be able to cure them of any sickness.”
“Silvertongue?” Apple Bloom was puzzled, “The old stallion who does jewellery repairs, always got a dozen snakes around his shop? If he’s got jealousy he can’t control, why would he come after us?”
“That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to work out.”
“I’m still trying to understand this,” Sweetie Belle interrupted, “I think I understand now, kind of. You’re trying to use these things to give everypony a better life, give them the ability to take their talent further than they could alone. But we never see the ones who can control their powers, we only see the monsters rampaging. Right? But I still don’t know if I should believe you. You hide behind a mask, like some kind of criminal.”
“We can trust him,” Apple Bloom reassured her, “I knew who he was, worked it out for myself. I wanted to tell AJ, but I couldn’t believe he’d have those evil crystals without a good reason, so I asked. And I think I understand now. Please?” But this time, her words weren’t quite enough to sway her friend.
“Very well,” the Champion of Justice lowered his head, “It can be hard to trust anypony if you can’t meet their eyes. I’ll show you who I am, because I don’t want you to hate me. I can see how much it’s worrying Apple Bloom. But you have to promise that you won’t tell anypony else. Centuries ago, the princesses decided that they are the only ones allowed to use Gaia Memories, so the Champions of Harmony will be forced to persecute the Memory farmers even if they know we meant no harm. I have to work in the shadows, until we can prove that we have Memories refined enough for everypony to use safely. Can you keep my secret?”
Sweetie Belle nodded nervously, but not quite as uncertain as the Champion of Hope as he reached up to deactivate the Nascar Memory. Red metal panels unfolded, twisting in a concertina shape in the air, before coming together in a metal ring around the wielders neck; then the armour spun, shrunk, and was gone.
“You got to keep this secret,” it was Apple Bloom who reminded her friend.
“Pinkie promise.” Three ponies met each other’s gaze, all considering trust, and the many good reasons Sweetie would have to tell her sister. But they were friends, and once the promise was made there was no doubt that she would do her best to keep it.
“Could it be another Memory user?” Apple Bloom said after a few minutes of silent contemplation.
“Huh?”
“You said there’s lots of them around that we don’t see. Maybe they got in touch with each other to share stories or something? If somepony started getting crazy paranoid, like thinking the Champions were going to find them, fear can spread like a disease. Maybe they’re just scared, they want to be sure the Champions of Harmony won’t come after them, so they… they want to kidnap us, as a threat to our sisters.”
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle seemed just a little excited, but more scared as she understood the implications of that theory, “It’s a group plan. I mean, we know Silvertongue is just a bit crazy. If he started keeping hundreds of snakes so they end up getting everywhere, I’d believe it. Or if he tried training them to run the shop for him, and scared somepony off. That’d be his kind of crazy. But to do this, he’s acting out somepony else’s craziness, it’s a group of them.”
“And that means there could be another dopant coming after us now, with different–”
“Oh hay, no!” the Champion was already running as fast as his hooves could carry him, leaving two fillies standing there amid the trees.
“Shouldn’t he have offered to protect us?” Sweetie Belle asked, “I mean, we just thought there might be another monster coming. It’s not the best time to leave us without adult supervision.”
“I don’t know. Maybe he realised something we missed. He wouldn’t leave us here if there was any danger, you know as well as I do. Anyway, the fog’s lifted now, so if a dopant tries anything we’ll see them coming. We should get to Twilight’s library, we’ll be safe with her around until this is all sorted.”
Rarijack galloped as fast as they could, back to a house on the far side of Ponyville. Across fields and through hedgerows, the giant snake creature had left a distinctive track in the mud. Even on land where the ground was well churned up already, it would have been hard to mistake the tracks of a serpent that was probably large enough to swallow a pony whole.
“I’m out of breath,” Applejack gasped as it became clear which property the snake was headed for, “Too much distance to run that fast. Ready to switch out?”
(“I’m exhausted too,” Rarity spoke within their heads simply because it would be easier to talk without interrupting their frenzied gasps for air, “Do we both need to switch?”)
(“It’s Applejack’s body,” Pinkie Pie’s voice cut in on the conversation, “Just your heart is there. So to get over tired muscles, you just need to swap the left half for somepony else.”)
(“That’s pretty convenient,” Applejack nodded, “But we need to do this quickly. Looks like the monster’s still inside.”)
She lifted one hoof and ejected the orange-gold Gaia Memory from the Driver. She barely had it back in her collar before the Driver shimmered like a reflection in a pool, and another Element appeared in its place.
“GENEROSITYᏔLOYALTY!”
Now they could run more quickly, but slowed down just a little as they came close to the cottage. They weren’t sure who lived here, but the cheery plaque beside the door declaring ‘Beware of the Python’ gave them enough reason to be sure they were in the right place. The front door came open with the slightest touch, revealing a house filled with snakes. There were at least three in the front room.
“Pinkie, Twilight, can you hear us?” Rarity called out. She was used to tapping on the Memory in her collar and speaking to the others, but it was the first time she’d attempted to call out when she was wearing the Driver. After a second of no response she spoke again, this time with a hoof on the Element of Generosity. “Twilight, can you hear me? We’re fighting the Naga Dopant, I was wondering if you can look it up and find out if there’s any kind of antidote for those venom attacks, or a way to fight against it.”
“Already on it,” Twilight Sparkle answered as her friend’s panicked voice came from the air, “We’ve got the Cutie Mark Crusaders here, I called Pinkie over while you were on the way there. You have to avoid the poison at all costs. If you get hit try to wash it off as quickly as possible, water should neutralise this venom, but that only works if you can get it before it starts burning.”
“Sorry,” Pinkie Pie muttered nervously, biting her lip, “I could have got more, but I went to get his name and location first. And then the book disappeared before I got a proper look. There’s something weird in the Gaia Library today, and I’ve got no idea…” she trailed off in an uncomfortable silence, hoping that Twilight wouldn’t ask how long this had been going on for. She needed to know what was going on better before she got the others involved with the trouble in the Gaia Library. Besides, she was pretty sure this was a different problem altogether, and she didn’t want to get distracted.
“Did you know Silvertongue?” Twilight asked Pinkie, “Is there anything that might give a clue how he’d react? If we can predict his actions, that gives us a little advantage, even if it’s not the library.”
“I don’t know. I went in the store once or twice, but he didn’t seem interested in making friends. I mean like, he’d make polite conversation and everything, but he was more interested in talking to his snakes, and he always seemed happier with them. I know that some ponies try to shut themselves away, even you did originally, because they’re scared. But he didn’t, he really did seem happy as long as he had snakes coiled up in his mane or climbing over him. So I left him to it.”
“I saw him a few times,” Sweetie Belle commented, “I can only agree with that. He’s the last pony you’d expect to cause trouble unless his slithery friends were involved. It’s hard to believe he’d be so scared that he’d…”
“Yeah, I know.”
The door flung open, and a harsh mechanical voice called from outside: “I need your help. And quickly.”
Twilight and Applejack both walked out, and the Champion of Justice backed away as they came closer. In the Library doorway, Pinkie Pie raised a hoof to stop Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom going out. She didn’t want the fillies to be anywhere near if a fight started between the different Champions.
“What’s this Naga?” Twilight snapped, “You know more than we do.”
“I need help, I said. I know what the Naga Memory can do, but I can’t find it. I need your help, you can find a dopant if you know the Memory, right? I don’t think you’ve beaten her that quickly.”
“We might be able to do that,” Twilight said guardedly, “But you have to help us too. Do you really think it’s after our sisters?”
“Uhh… yeah,” now he sounded hesitant, something they’d never heard from him before, “But not for the reasons you think. That’s something we need to debate when there’s time to make you understand, not in the middle of a crisis. If you can tell me where she is, I’ll go and beat that dopant. And I’ll tell you right now, the weakness of the Naga Memory is heat. My Steam mode works, and if it’s not I might actually be angry enough to activate Combustion. I’ll answer any questions you want when there’s not a filly in danger because of my mistakes.”
“I think we’ve got a problem!” Pinkie Pie stepped out, eyes wide. “Raridash was going to fight Naga and just try to avoid his attacks. Or hers, I think you used both words and I don’t know either because I couldn’t get a name other than Naga.”
“Well, it’s–” the red Champion started to answer, but Twilight interrupted.
“Problem! Pinkie said there’s a problem, don’t get distracted.”
“Yeah! I can’t contact Rarity or Rainbow Dash to find out how they’re doing. I tried with the crystal collars, I can’t feel two of them at all. And if I go back to… umm… you know. The Naga book is gone, unreachable. I can’t find out where he – or she – is.”
“That’s not good,” Twilight couldn’t think of anything more useful to say.
“Where were they last?” Nascar’s question seemed to be getting more urgent by the minute. Then he turned back to Twilight, “And can you do whatever you do to locate Naga?”
“No,” Twilight answered, realising that their rival actually didn’t know how the Gaia Library worked. That could possibly be a trump card in some future conflict, so she didn’t want to tell him now. Even so, they had to do everything they could to find this dopant. “They were heading towards the Everfree Forest last we heard, following a trail. But if Pinkie checked, then the Library’s equipment can’t lock onto ‘Naga’ any more. He must have found some way to block it. Maybe we could check his real name if we knew it. Or hers?”
“We know that,” Sweetie Belle was the one to answer from inside the Library, “Sorry, I forgot to mention it before. I think you should head to the Everfree, we’ll stay and help Pinkie with the lookup.”
“Right,” Applejack snapped, glaring at the Champion of Justice, “Me and Twilight will both go, make sure this isn’t some kind of trick, and Pinkie can call us to let us know if they find anything.” He didn’t answer, just nodded and set off running towards the Everfree.
Twilight glanced across at Applejack as they tried to keep up, and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. It hadn’t escaped her notice that Applejack was acting more cranky than usual, even more than they would expect when her sister was at risk, and was grimacing as she ran. Applejack just shook her head and pushed herself to run harder. Her body was sore already, but she wasn’t about to admit that in front of a possible enemy. She certainly wasn’t going to let anypony know that she’d got so many bruises by falling out of a cloud and into a tree a few minutes earlier.
Raridash had arrived at the house full of snakes a few minutes earlier. They felt like they had to go in, because this was about protecting kids. They couldn’t afford to wait for further information. But once they were inside, they quickly realised that they weren’t the first to raid this place.
The door had been locked. It had just already been kicked hard enough to bust the lock out of the frame. Every door inside had been flung wide, as if somepony was running through as fast as they possibly could, searching for something. In the kitchen, the whole room had been trashed. Plates and pans scattered across the floor, everything broken, and huge sword slashes carved into the walls.
(“Has Nascar already been here?” Rainbow Dash guessed, “His sword’s too big to swing indoors.”)
(“Could be. He seemed pretty angry, and he could easily have beaten us here if he knew where the dopant lives. He must have sold them the Memory.”)
(“So do we need to follow them? I don’t like that stallion, but he can probably handle this battle on his own.”)
(“I say no,” Rarity was firm, “He’s tried to kill Memory users before, remember? Maybe this dopant tried to hurt Sweetie Belle, but if we just let him die, we’d be as bad as that Champion of Justice. We make sure they get a fair trial, not just punished for not being strong enough.”)
They couldn’t find anything else in a quick search of the house, and there was certainly no dopant hiding. But when they looked out of the back door, they could see two fresh sets of hoofprints across the meadow. Wide spaced, two ponies galloping. And then after a furlong, one set of prints turned into the strange wheel-marks that Nascar left when he was trying to move fast.
They sent a mental message to the others, to let them know where they were heading. Then they ran as fast as they could. The marks in the mud indicated a scuffle a few seconds later, and then the wheel marks headed back towards the main road into Ponyville.
“They’re heading into the forest,” Rainbow Dash spoke aloud, “But why didn’t Nascar follow?”
“We’ll find that out when we catch up. We have to go for Nascar first.”
Once they reached the boundary of the Everfree Forest, they slowed down just a little. It was an automatic response, because they knew about the amount of danger on these paths. Plunging in blindly could get them killed. They also needed more effort to see the tracks they were following, now the ground underhoof was firmer. They were slow, but they were in time.
They reached one of the many small lakes that dotted the Everfree, and saw an exhausted figure pulling himself out of the water on the far bank. They couldn’t see his face under a thick cloak, and the only part of his coat they could make out was a single red leg, but they knew it could only be the stallion they’d been following. There was a thick mist rising between the trees as well, and they knew they had to move as quickly as possible or their quarry would get away.
(“I’ve got this,” Rainbow Dash muttered with her usual confidence, “He’s not looking this way, he won’t see us coming.”)
She flew over the lake, hooves just skimming the surface. It was so much faster than either swimming or going around. But before they were even half way across, the dopant turned to face them. It raised its hooves dramatically in the air, and the Memory’s voice echoed across the lake.
“NAGA!”
(“Get down!” Rarity gasped at the speed of thought, “Pinkie said its venom is neutralised by clean water!”)
“No, it’s a trap!” another voice called from behind them, but neither part of the Champion of Harmony wanted to pause to think when they were expecting a salvo of toxic bolts in a heartbeat or less. They dived beneath the surface, but could still just about keep the enemy visible through all the disturbance this kicked up on the surface of the lake. They couldn’t see well, but if they thought about it they could understand what was going on. This dopant held a Gaia Memory in both fetlocks, and as soon as they started to dive, it was the second Memory that descended towards her flank as she briefly flicked the edge of the cloak open.
“ICEBERG!” Before they could even think of surfacing, the water they’d expected to protect them was cold enough to sap the strength from aching muscles, frost forming along every inch of their coats, and there was no way out.
“Oh, don’t try to call for help!” the dopant called from the bank, “My Mist will stop any form of magical communication.”
“Iceberg,” the Champion of Justice snarled from the opposite side of the lake, “I knew you’d be back, but threatening family is a low blow even for you.”
“Oh wow, I wasn’t expecting to see you. Last time I saw you, you’d just forgotten where my hideout was, and you were rushing back to Ponyville for help.”
“I found it,” he shrugged, “There’s nopony going to help you, though. And your mastery of the Yesterday Memory isn’t a patch on the original user. The same trick won’t work twice.” He was doubly angry this time. Both because they’d just seen Silvertongue’s icy grave, and because he didn’t want to admit that he had made a mistake.
“Maybe. But you can’t catch me. You know as well as I do that the Nascar Memory’s speed boost ability doesn’t work effectively on water, so you couldn’t evade my attack.” Gloating, she turned and began to walk out of sight. Her cloak was hanging open now, as she cancelled the dopant transformation. It was almost as if she wanted them to see the grotesque disfiguration of her body. There were Memory scars on both sides now, not just on her cutie mark but covering her from neck to dock. Every inch of her coat was a mass of scars, overlapping so much that the letters weren’t readable, and she only had an occasional shock of red hair to show her original colouration.
“But I have friends,” Nascar retorted, and glanced to his right. Twilight Sparkle reached out and the two heroes joined hooves for a moment, before they were suddenly on the other side of the lake in a pink flash.
“NAGA!” Deep Crimson just had time to press her latest Gaia Memory into the side of her neck, before Nascar had finished swapping around the Memories in his own body and sword hilt.
“STEAM!” the grinding voice from his sword announced, but before the echoes had even faded he was slamming a second Memory into his pommel. “TIME!”
A spray of venom droplets arced towards him, but a sweep of the Engine Blade left behind a shield of high pressure steam, that seemed to melt the poison bolts out of the air.
“3…”
“NAGA: Venom Rain!” the Memory declared, and a single glob of poison flew from the dopant’s mouth high over the trees, before bursting apart to shower poison like raindrops over the area. Nascar was ready to sweep them aside with his sword again, but Twilight Sparkle was quicker to respond, using her natural magic to disperse the drops to either side around them. Nascar reacted quickly, leaping forward to strike at the dopant and force her into a defensive stance.
“2…”
Twilight felt each tick of the glowing watch run through her like a shiver of cold. She stayed close, even though her body was so vulnerable without the protection of the Driver. When Applejack had seen the Time Memory used before, she’d reported that it counted down and then a dozen enemies were knocked out at once and the Champion vanished. Twilight wasn’t sure if she was more aware of every tick because she was paying attention to it, because she’d been training herself to analyse Gaia Magic at every opportunity, or simply because she’d been touching the Nascar Dopant when he activated the Memory. But whatever the case, she was determined to find out what this rival’s new power was, as much as to help him defeat this dopant.
“1… TIME START!”
The Naga Dopant seemed to freeze, as did the iceberg bobbing in the lake. Ripples in the water moved as slowly as crawling earthworms, and the whole world seemed to be running more slowly. Nascar was expecting this and charged forward, slashing with his sword at the enemy dopant again and again. The flurry of blows had some effect, as the Naga Memory was drifting slowly into sight, and the patchwork of scar tissue was starting to become visible through the Naga Dopant’s scales in a dappled pattern across her body.
The Naga Memory flew out of the dopant’s neck, rather than her haunch, and then was separate from her body. Nascar spun around and hit it with a powerful buck from one hoof, sending it flying into the nearest bushes. As soon as it lost contact with his hoof, it was slowly drifting through the air like a twig floating on a slow-moving river. But he wasn’t finished. His hoof lashed out again, striking Deep Crimson in the face just as her red coat reappeared there. He drew his leg back and lashed out again, and again.
“Stop!” Twilight yelled, appalled. She’d heard from both Applejack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders that the Champion could fell a healthy young apple tree in three solid kicks. That was a really strong hind leg, but here he was giving Deep Crimson one buck after another, six kicks now, in the face, even after her transformation had reverted. “You could kill her!”
“And?” he snapped, “Somehow you can watch me at this speed, but you don’t get to judge me. This mare is a monster. She tried to kill someone close to me before she even got the Gaia Memory, trying to cause chaos so she could steal a more powerful one. I stopped her then, but she’s bearing a grudge. She tried to kill Apple Bloom and her friends, just because I want to protect them. Do you really think she deserves to live?”
All the time he was talking, he kept on kicking. A dozen blows, or maybe more. Ripples from the impacts spread across Deep Crimson’s body in slow motion, looking both surreal and brutal. And then he spun on the spot, rising to his hind legs and bringing the sword slashing down towards the defenceless pony. Twilight knew she had to stop him. No matter what a criminal had done, they deserved a fair trial. She focused her magic on Deep Crimson and threw her back, out of the path of the blade. She knew that when he was using Steam, the blade normally had a wave of scalding vapour trailing behind its tip, increasing the reach dramatically, but it looked like this power didn’t continue during Time’s enhancement.
“What are you doing?” he yelled, striding forward and bringing the sword down again. This time, Twilight parried it using a sturdy branch that had been separated from its tree by the earlier rain of venom. But he could sense the Time Memory burning through his energy at an alarming rate, and he was going to revert to his normal form soon, and he couldn’t afford to reveal his identity here and now. He raised his sword as if to strike, and saw the Champion of Harmony brace herself to parry with her telekinetic power. But rather than striking he dropped to his wheels, and raced away into the undergrowth.
Before Twilight could respond, she heard the sound of the Memory speaking again, just out of sight: “TIME UP!”
Twilight turned her head, wondering for just a moment if she would be able to keep up if she chased now.
“INFERNO!” The growling voice gave her just enough warning to throw herself to one side before an arc of fire came crashing down on the ground where she had been standing. Twilight instinctively reached for the Driver on her breast, but of course it wasn’t there. Raridash was still trapped in an ice cube, under the lake. But a glance in that direction revealed that Applejack had pulled it to the bank already, and was cracking the ice more with every kick. They really were stronger working together, and she could only hope the Champion of Justice would realise that soon.
“Oh, this is becoming harder than I expected,” the Inferno Dopant sneered, punctuating every few words with a kick that lashed out like a volcanic eruption. “But I’ve gained two more Memories this weekend, which I think is a victory for me. You should hate me more, Twilight Sparkle, your fighting style now lacks emotion. If you were baying for my blood as passionately as your friend, this might be an interesting battle, that would teach me something about the Elements of Harmony. I just wish your brother was closer, so that I could reach him without an overnight train ride. Maybe that will strengthen your resolve!”
“You threatened my sister,” Applejack turned to yell as Raridash was finally freed, “That makes all of us angry enough!”
“MIST!” Deep Crimson was just fast enough with her alternate Memory this time, and the fog rose up so quickly that there was no way for Raridash to see which way she had gone. Moments later, the fog lifted, and there was no sign of anypony around the lake.
“Pinkie, are you there?” Applejack asked with one hoof on her collar, “Can you look up where she ran away to?” A few seconds passed, and no answer came.
“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight called out, reaching out with her own magic to analyse the connection between the Elements, “Is something wrong?” Then she turned to the others, and said, “I think she’s unconscious. I’ve got just about enough magic left to teleport us back to the Library, I think, but you won’t be able to count on me any more.”
Applejack and Raridash nodded, and a pink glow surrounded them. But in the Golden Oak Library they just found books strewn across the floor, a table overturned, and no sign of either Pinkie Pie or the Cutie Mark crusaders.
“We have to find Pinkie!” Twilight gasped, almost in panic, and then collapsed in exhaustion from the effort of getting them all there.
“We have to find Apple Bloom!” Applejack yelled, “And Sweetie Belle was here too. Another one must’ve got here, the thing with Naga was just a distraction.”
“No,” Rarity interrupted, walking in only moments after ending their transformation, “I don’t think Deep Crimson is a team player. It wasn’t someone else giving Silvertongue orders, we know that now, it was a different Naga Dopant.”
“Then who could it be?” Rainbow Dash asked, “It couldn’t be something unconnected, could it?”
“Nascar,” Applejack growled, “He’s playing us all.”
“He was following Naga,” Rainbow Dash nodded, “But he headed back to town, while she went to the Everfree.”
“And he asked for our help, then used that Time Memory and vanished as soon as a fight started. Same as before. He used us as a distraction to attack Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, he’s got them to trust him somehow, so it would have been easy for him.”
“What do we know about him? We have to find them, we have to find out what would make him go this far.”
“Enough with understanding,” Applejack snarled, “enough with forgiving everypony. This one deserves to die.”
Pinkie Pie had returned from the Gaia Library shaking her head. She had managed to find a vague location for Silvertongue, but she could feel that he was already dead. His book would disappear from the Gaia Library soon enough. Apple Bloom was still excited at getting to take part in a lookup; it was a new experience for her, and one she enjoyed. But her face fell when she saw the normally-cheerful Pinkie frown.
“What is it?” Apple Bloom asked, “Are they going to be okay?” Pinkie nodded, then raised a hoof to the Element of Laughter on her collar.
“Twilight?” she said, “I’ve found Silvertongue, he’s in the forest. I’m thinking of the route now, can you see that? But I think he’s dead or dying. Frozen. And his book is frost damaged where a Memory has been ripped off the cover, I think I could barely read it even if he was alive. You’re facing that mare with a half dozen Memories, and she’s been collecting even more. I guess the Champion of Justice already figured that out?”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders waited while Twilight presumably responded. Pinkie Pie just nodded, but it was clear she was listening to a voice they couldn’t hear.
“Right, girls,” she eventually forced a smile, “I think we’re safe for now. There’s not a team of dopants after all, just one, and the others are in the right place to stop her. So, want to play?” She’d produced a set of juggling balls and a saxophone from somewhere, and by the end of the sentence it seemed her normal chirpiness was back. But before Sweetie Belle could say anything about the trouble they’d be in if they made a mess of the Library, there was a knock at the door.
Pinkie walked over to the door and peered out through a crack. She knew they should be safe, but she was still a little cautious. The pony outside seemed calm and reserved, not like she was going to start any trouble. She looked more sad than dangerous, with a coat and mane in colours so subdued that she was almost grey. She looked familiar, but somehow Pinkie couldn’t place her name. She hoped the recent problems with books going missing from the Gaia Library didn’t mean she was going to start losing her normal memory as well. But as the stranger fidgeted outside, Pinkie could clearly see she her cutie mark, some kind of fruit, and knew that she didn’t have the scars a Gaia Memory would have left.
“Hi,” she beamed as she opened the door, “I feel like I should recognise you, but… sorry, your name escapes me.” She was glad for her pink coat, which was distinctive enough to cover the blush when she failed in a social situation for once.
“That’s okay,” the stranger shrugged, “I was just a filly the last time we spoke. I didn’t even have my cutie mark then.”
“Well, if you want to read any books, there’s loads here. And if you want to make friends, we’re just about to play some games! But that’s not fair, I still don’t know your name.”
“That’s fine. I know yours,” she whispered, slowly walking closer as she did. She breathed a name so quietly that Pinkie felt the words in the breath against her ear, more than hearing them. The name she said wasn’t ‘Pinkie Pie’, and it was enough to make Pinkie back away as if she’d been stung, face twisted in anger.
“Nobody calls me that here!” Her hoof went to her collar, but her thoughts couldn’t reach Twilight or anypony else through the Mist Memory’s blanket of obscurity. “Who are you?”
Apple Bloom looked back and forth between the two, not quite sure if she was really seeing what she thought she was. Then she started to back away, knowing that there was danger here even if she didn’t understand.
“A Gaia Memory?” the newcomer smiled, a licentious voice that made it sound like the word contained endless possibilities, “But Laughter has nowhere near the power of Eternal, and you don’t have a Driver, do you? Or would you rather borrow mine?” She swung a belt from one hoof, with a heavy ornamental buckle that looked like a polished piece of natural rock. A buckle with a hole in the middle, just the right size for…
“TABOO!”
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