Part Five: The M that Started it All
Manehatten: The Shard
“Move, move it!” stallions in white lab coats shouted as they began packing up their research, as an alarm klaxon blared in the background. A woman, with a chipped unicorn’s horn and bandages covering her face, serenely watched a familiar trilby-clad stallion smash into the front lobby of the building 20 floors below via security camera with a bike. She’d seen the security footage outside the Shard as well, Phillip using a ‘borrowed’ Harley-Davidson decked out in green lightning bolts to take out more security guards. It was fairly impressive she had to admit, if not quite brazen.
Philip popped a wheelie as he smashed through the gates, the security guards’ pistols firing all the while before he spun his bike in a circle creating a huge cloud of smoke making it impossible for the guards to know where to shoot.
Then, a revving of the bike’s engine was heard and Philip leaped out of the smoke using a sheet of metal as a makeshift ramp before throwing the bike sideways in mid-air and using it to block the shots as several security guards -Oddly dressed in white coats- leaped towards him only to get knocked on their arses.
Still in mid-air, Philip gripped the handlebars of the bike and kicked another guard back into some barrels.
Two members of the oddly dressed troupe of guards drove up on bikes of their own and rushed towards Philip, pulling out electric stun rods of some sort. Philip let them drive up alongside him before doing a split kick to knock them off their bikes.
Philip grabbed one of the stun rods and used it to knock down several more of the guards before tossing it aside before he revved his engine once more and headed right for the front doors smashing right through them, glass shards cutting into his fur and drawing blood.
The bike screeched to a halt as it slid along the floor with Philip jumping off of it, only to find himself face to face with more guards.
“Hmph,” she chuckled as she saw the security guards in suits pour out of the woodworks to greet him, with the pony in the gray trilby pulling out a baton as the various guards pulled out Masquerade Gaia Memories and inserted them into their arms.
\ Masquerade! /
“How many of you dingos are there?” Philip asked himself as he shook his head and spun his baton in his hand, the ribcage-masked warriors charging towards him. “What, do they mass produce you all?”
“Suppose the game’s up now, isn’t it? Guess it would always lead up to this in the end, as I suspected. Philip was never a complete fool.” Shroud sighed.
She looked to a nearby chessboard, and moved a black pawn piece and used it to knock away a white pawn. Several other pawn pieces lay scattered throughout the chessboard, all of them white.
Philip meanwhile, was punching and kicking his way through the Masquerade Dopants, at some points even shattering their masks with hard right hooks or powerful kicks. Now, most of the time this should have been impossible, a regular non-Gaia Memory using pony taking on a hoard of dopants and winning. But the Masquerade memory, it was never particularly powerful. In fact, it was probably the weakest memory and that was why it was so easy to mass-produce. It really didn’t provide any physical enhancements, at least any major ones and the users generally kept their sanity throughout it’s usage. But on the downside, an experienced fighter could easily make a punching bag out of you, even if you were in a group of other Masquerade users simply because of the aforementioned issue.
“He’s a determined little bastard, isn’t he?” Shroud mused to herself as she watched Philip easily beat up the Masquerade Dopants, all without even engaging his own Gaia Memory. “Bit more brute force than I would like, but all in all, he was the perfect test subject for the T2 Gaia Memories. Grape Vine, he was far too crazy to gather good data from, and Daring? She would have figured out she was being used by me long before I could gather any data. But Philip? He’s just the right amount of stupid and sane for my liking.”
“Now, who's next?” Philip growled out. As the old saying went, ask a question and someone would answer.
Only one more foe remained for Philip but he would probably be the worst of the lot. He happened to be a massive stone-gray stallion, who ripped open his lab coat to reveal his heavily muscled chest, before flexing those muscles and letting out a hiss as he stepped in front of the elevator door having no intent on letting Philip pass.
“Oh boy…” Philip blinked, and swallowed nervously before he let out a growl and imitated the gesture with a mock-flex and a taunting drawl of: “Bring it on, macho man.”
Philip studied the man, just by his stance alone he could tell he was an experienced fighter so getting past him would not be easy. However, if he could catch him off guard somehow then he would have a chance.
Already, he had an advantage. It seemed said ‘macho man’ did not take kindly to being mocked, and like a rampaging bull he charged with Philip rolling out of the way before spinning around and kicking the massive man from behind knocking him to the floor. Philip grabbed the man in a leglock, twisting his ankle in such a way to prevent him from escaping the hold before pulling out a taser he’d ‘borrowed’ from a guard and firing it at the man knocking him out.
“Okay, experienced, but stupid,” Philip mused as he got up off the floor and dusted his hands off. He groaned out in pain as he clutched his chest. A few of the Masquerade Dopants had gotten in a few lucky shots to the gut punch-wise and had probably cracked a few ribs. He could weather it though, he’d have to. Destiny’s Child had to be stopped, no matter the cost.
As Shroud watched, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to her left and saw her husband standing next to her.
“He’s a determined one, isn’t he?” Blueblood remarked, slapping on his Lost Driver. “Should I go put a stop to his tomfoolery right then and there?”
“No,” Shroud said. “Let’s let him meet us on our turf. Let him think he’s winning, just for the time. Then we rip his world apart.”
“What about Daring, the other mare?” Blueblood asked, frowning in concern, not just at the sheer prospect of Fang showing up even if she did have a powerful memory. She was not to be underestimated. No, he was frowning because of the way his wife was speaking, the way she spoke of ripping Phil’s world apart. Lately, she’d become somewhat of a shadow of her former self, and while some of that could have been blamed on the Heat Dopant which scarred her beyond recognition, she’d been keeping secrets. Far too many for Blueblood’s liking.
“If she comes, then you can deal with her as well,” Shroud said. “You’re almost at the crisp of your goal, our goal!”
“Yes… yes.” Blueblood whispered, and thought back to how this all stated.
A stranger in a strange land, that’s what Blueblood would have been if not for one Saffron Masala. Sure, he had the money from his family’s estate to do what he always wanted to do, help the world but he didn’t have the brains. Nor did he speak the local language. Both of which amounted to huge roadblocks for him and his ideals.
Nopony ever said it would be easy to make them come true, and if Blueblood were a lesser buck he probably would have turned and run away but a lesser buck Blueblood was not.
But there he was, nonetheless, right smack dab in the middle of Marwari’s capital city of Delhi. It was hot, cramped, and to make matters even worse and probably more humiliating for the early twenties something or other year old, it was right in the middle of the rainy season.
The rain poured down, drenching Blueblood to the bone, soaking his long luxurious golden locks of hair and probably ruining his expensive and rather nicely pressed suit to add insult to metaphorical injury. This was not how one of Manehatten’s most exquisite social butterflies should look!
“Oh for the White Mother’s sakes, does anyone speak Equestrian, or at least know Equestrian?” Blueblood called out in frustration, cursing himself for not taking that foreign language class back in college that his parents had pressed him on. He wanted to be someone different from them, someone completely new. His parents, they always just soaked themselves in their cash and their wealth not doing anything except going out to the country every now and then and hunting the local wildlife and showing off their kills to their equally rich friends.
No! No, that would not do for Blueblood. He, despite technically being a Baron back in his home country of Trottingham wanted to be something else. Somepony else. He didn’t want to be one of those guys AKA the stereotypical trust fund baby who just flaunted their wealth and did nothing with it aside from spending it on expensive flashy cars and wining and dining with attractive women.
No, he wanted to be something more. Someone that would be remembered as eternal in the pages of history. It was a big dream yes, some would say impossible but to Blueblood impossible was only a word made up by people who didn’t have the courage to break the chains that bound them and reach out and touch their dreams.
“Anyone?” Blueblood bellowed over the din of honking cars’ horns, the chatter of ponies going about their daily lives despite the horrid weather and the sounds of foot traffic. “Is… Is there anyone who can help me?”
Blueblood, obviously couldn’t understand a word of the map he was given no thanks to it being written in the local language. He’d been hoping for an Equestrian-speaking guide but from what he’d gathered because of it being the peak of tourist season none were available so he’d just have to make do with his phone’s translation app. One small teensy little problem with that. As it turned out, he’d bought one of the cheap ones that really didn’t… well, work.
Case in point? When he’d tried asking for directions for the hotel he’d booked to a local mare, what his saying had come out as was asking for melons and so now he was holding two fresh honeydew melons under his arms looking decidedly ridiculous and ripe for ridicule.
“Bloody apps, never trust a machine ever again in my entire life…” Blueblood grumbled as he walked through the city streets, brushing past some rather indignant tourists. If Blueblood wasn’t a prouder stallion, he might have thought of asking them for help, but the buck always liked to do things on his own. Get places without any form of help, rise to the top like a fighter and come out swinging. He was stubborn like that. In another life, he probably would have made a damn good boxer.
But now, he was reduced to asking around desperately to anyone he could for directions for a place to spend the night. Well, almost anyone. He ignored the mares in the street corners as he definitely didn’t want to pick up any form of foreign disease if he hadn’t already no thanks to the mosquitos flying about.
Bloody blood-suckers.
Eventually, worn out from exhaustion and the scorching heat, Blueblood collapsed in the middle of the street. Now, Holy Mother only knew how many hours later, but eventually the Manehattanite found himself awakening in somebody’s bedroom, his clothes being dried on a washing line hanging outside the window, which overlooked the city.
“Okay…” Blueblood murmured to himself as he climbed out of bed wrapping the sheets around himself to protect his modesty. “...So, where am I?”
He gently pushed the bedroom door opened and began walking down the hall, the wood floor beneath him creaking with every step.
“Hello?” Blueblood asked nervously only to find himself in a kitchen, with a rather beautiful unicorn mare wearing a indigo dress -Golden hoops had been put through her ears- that matched her brilliant orange coat and her simply enchanting magenta eyes beautifully.
“Ah, you’re awake.” the mare remarked, with a small wave, her curled fuschia mane tied up in a ponytail. “Sorry ‘bout the melons, couldn’t exactly save them.”
“...Wasn’t a fan anyways.” Blueblood admitted, with a small sheepish smile. “I have to ask, why did you…? I mean, nopony’s that kind, you could have just left me in the street like that, went about your day. So why?” he asked, confused. Back where he came from, nobody just helped each other like that. Nobody did, it was dog eat dog back in Manehatten. Kindness was a rare virtue.
“Do I need a reason?” the unknown mare asked with a smile. “You needed help, and that was good enough reason for me. I believe in helping others.”
“No… No, you don’t get it. Back where I come from, Manehatten, nobody helps each other. Not without a price,” Blueblood replied, genuinely confused. “Dog eat dog, you understand?”
“It doesn’t sound like a very nice place to me,” the mare said with a shake of her head. “Not with all these dog eaters.”
“Oh, Manehatten has its charms. You ever seen the city, at sunset sitting on the dock of the bay? The windows glistening in the setting sun? It’s almost heaven. And then there’s the food, and I know most Manehattenites would have their jaws drop in shock for one of their favored boys saying this but there’s the dirty water hot dogs you can find on almost any street corner.”
“It sounds wonderful, but I can’t say that I’ve ever been there,” the mare said with a shake of her head, and a laugh. A wondrous laugh, sounding like bells really. “Perhaps you can show me someday?”
“Yeah, maybe. Still, I’m very curious to discover the wonders of Marwari, partially the reason I came to your country in the first place really.” Blueblood admitted, a small red flush creeping up to his cheeks.
“I cannot say it is much like Manehattan, but it certainly has its charms,” the mare replied with a smile. “I apologize, my Equestrian is… how would you put it? Not very good?”
“It’s fine, I’m just grateful to meet anyone who speaks it at all,” Blueblood remarked, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, even if he wasn’t entirely sure why he was embarrassed to begin with. “Translation app I got on my phone was rubbish, led to the melon incident, and I couldn’t find a guide who spoke a word of both your language and mine thanks to it being the height of tourist season.”
“Perhaps, I could show you around?” the mare suggested. “I’m not a guide, but I know the sights of the city.”
“Yes… I would like that,” Blueblood smiled before frowning as he realized something.
“What’s wrong?” the mare asked, and Blueblood laughed sheepishly once more.
“It’s nothing, but… I… I never did get your name now did I? Spent all this time talking, and yet...” Blueblood trailed off.
She laughed and gave him a smile. “It’s Saffron Masala,” she said with a charming smile. “And what is your name?” she asked, extending a hand.
“Blueblood. Alexander Blueblood the Third.” Blueblood answered, taking Saffron’s hand and shaking it. “Saffron, that’s a nice name. It suits you.”
“As does yours,” Saffron said with a smile as she gave him a nod. “Well Blueblood, where would you like to go first?”
Blueblood blushed red once more, and smiled. “Anywhere you like.”
Saffron smiled, before chuckling.
“What?” Blueblood asked.
“Before we go anywhere, might I suggest you dress yourself properly?” she asked, gesturing to the bed sheets wrapped around Blueblood’s waist.
“...Ah, yes. Quite. Forgive me for that little err,” Blueblood apologized. “You don’t know where I can find a dry set of clothes do you?”
Saffron only laughed harder, and Blueblood flushed even redder. Noticing his embarrassment, Saffron smiled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. You can borrow some of my brother’s clothes, he moved out a few weeks back but didn’t exactly collect all of his belongings. Forgetful sort, sadly. Down the hall, to your left. Just past the bathroom.”
Eventually, after Blueblood had found some proper clothing, Saffron took her new friend to her father’s restaurant in downtown Delhi. Coriander Cumin’s, the exterior sign read in big bright neon letters.
“...Well, that’s certainly… bold.” Blueblood remarked, rather at a loss for words blinking over and over to make sure he was seeing things correctly.
“Yes, I apologize, but my Father you see, he wanted to grab ponies attentions. Make them want to step inside, see what’s what as you say.”
“...Well, he’s certainly managed to pull that off,” Blueblood murmured to himself as he stepped inside the restaurant. Inside, there were tables with pink chairs lining them and large archways separating the different parts of the restaurant with elaborate designs.
“Personally, I wanted him to call it the Tasty Treat or something more humble but my father’s rather stubborn and set in his ways really.” Saffron said, dressed in traditional Marwari clothing, a type of colorful midriff-baring blouse called a choil worn alongside another piece of traditional clothing called a sari. Blueblood just wore a nicely pressed suit as ever, colored a sky-blue shade and nicely pressed. He may have been in a foreign country far from home, but that didn’t mean he had to look like a slob or someone off the streets. He was fickle that way.
“His way or the highway right?” Blueblood asked, as the two seated themselves.
“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far…” Saffron said. “He’s stubborn, yes, but not what you’d call his way or the highway. Oh, here he comes now!” she exclaimed excitedly, waving her father over. He was a rather heavy-set stallion, but looked rather friendly, to be honest. Pleasantly plump, as Blueblood might have put it, with Coriander bearing a small mustache and a shortly cut raspberry mane with hints of gray in it. Like his daughter, he was a unicorn.
“Saffron, didn’t know you’d be stopping by!” Coriander exclaimed in a boisterous tone of voice, scooping his daughter up for a hug before letting her down, Saffron’s cheeks considerably flushed by her father’s public show of affection. “And with a stallion at that! You should have told me you were bringing your boyfriend by!”
““Dad, he’s not my boyfriend,” Saffron said with a roll of her eyes. “He’s just a friend… That I just so happened to take into my house and talk to while he was dressed in just a bedsheet,” she mumbled quietly to herself, hoping her father hadn’t overheard.
“Yes, just a friend!” Blueblood agreed, nodding his head fervently. “Just a friend!”
“If you say so…” Coriander trailed off. “Denial isn’t just a river in Baladi, as they say…” he teased before raising an eyebrow. “So, your friend, doesn’t look like he’s from around here. He’s new in the city I assume?”
“He’s from Manehattan, I’m showing him around the city now,” Saffron said with a smile.
“Ah, a Manehattenite, we don’t get those too often around here,” Coriander remarked. “Usually too snobby!”
“Father!” Saffron chided. “Be polite, he’s a guest!”
“No, no, it’s quite alright,” Blueblood remarked. “Usually Manehattenites, the social butterflies who come to this part of the world are quite snobby really. On behalf of my city, I apologize for their behavior.”
“Well now,” Coriander smiled, taken quite off guard. “I accept your apology. Really Saffron, if you don’t scoop this one up for yourself quite quickly, Ganesh knows someone else will!”
“As I told you before, I-I’m not interested in a boyfriend right now!” Saffron stuttered out, though anyone with a brain could see it was quite the opposite, her stutter betraying her feelings.
“If you say so…” Coriander trailed off with a small knowing smirk, the kind only a father could give. “Anyways, what will you be having Mr…?”
“Blueblood. Just call me Blueblood Mr. Cumin.” Blueblood said, and Coriander laughed.
“No, call me Coriander! No reason to rest on formalities, everyone’s a guest here!” Coriander stated. “Consider whatever you order, on the house. First meal always is, wets everyone’s appetites and gets them to come back just like that!” he proclaimed, with a snap of his fingers.
Blueblood couldn’t exactly blame him for that, Coriander was a businessman first and foremost. And judging by the awards decorating one of the shelves nearby, a very successful one at that.
“I… I honestly don’t know what I’ll be having. I guess I’ll just try the Curry Vindaloo, about the only Marwari food I actually know of.” Blueblood admitted sheepishly.
“You sure, that’s only for the brave really,” Coriander warned. “Very spicy!”
“So what? What’s life without a little risk?” Blueblood replied, seemingly in challenge.
“Marvelous, quick and to the point!” Coriander laughed. “I love it when a customer knows what they want! I’ll be back shortly, you just spend time with my darling daughter okay?”
Chuckling to himself, Coriander walked off humming an old song under his breath going something like: “Pyaar Se Pyar Hum…”
“I apologize for him, he really wants his grandchildren even if I’m not interested in such an idea,” Saffron sighed, shaking her head. “Like I said, stubborn and demanding and yet…”
“You still love him for it?” Blueblood asked, and Saffron nodded. “Family,” Blueblood continued. “Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without them.”
“So, I have to ask,” Saffron remarked. “What exactly brings you to my country anyway?”
“Wanted to be someone different, that’s all. Wanted to help change the world, somehow. I’ve been hearing rumors of something called the Memory of the Earth uncovered in a temple by a local foundation. ...Actually, your family’s foundation now that I think of it. Was it not a Rajiv Cumin who uncovered this?”
“Yes, yes it was. My uncle actually,” Saffron admitted. “So, what’s your interest in what’s basically a giant crystal?”
“Well, back in Manehatten I’ve been recently donated a sample by a friend over here who thought I might find it interesting,” Blueblood explained. “Said if it was used properly, it could change the world. Personally, I thought he was talking a load of shite if your pardon my language but when I did some studies on the small piece I did discover it radiated some sort of power. I wondered to myself, could it be used for medical purposes, cure cancer and all that?”
“So you came over to this country to see it for yourself, right?” Saffron inquired, and Blueblood nodded. “Welp, that settles it. Between you and me, I honestly want to have more to my family’s legacy than just some restaurant. I never told you what I did for a living, did I?”
“No, you didn’t,” Blueblood mused. “Least now that I think of it…”
“Well, pleased to make your acquaintance. Dr. Maria ‘Saffron’ Masala Cranberry at your service, Alexander Blueblood the Third.”
“Well, dare I say it,” Blueblood smirked. “Between my family’s money, and your brains we might be able to just change the world…”
“Yes, quite,” Maria Cranberry replied as she leaned across the table to kiss him before pulling away. “I believe this could be the start of one very lucrative partnership.”
At first, Blueblood mused, it really was a partnership. Nothing more, and nothing less. That’s how it would seem to be with very little romance involved with both of them far too wrapped up in their work to even really have a love life as such. But the feelings were there, and that was all that mattered to Blueblood.
Least, that’s what he kept telling himself for a good while. In the back of his mind, he did want his relationship with Saffron or whatever she chose to call herself to progress beyond a simple office romance if you will. Didn’t really seem to be happening through.
That would all change though, in time, Blueblood remembered. If only that hadn’t happened.
Tossing his F Memory in midair and then catching it, he turned his attentions back to the computer screens where a schematic of the building was displayed. On it, the elevator that contained Philip Finder was climbing higher and higher.
He growled, Philip definitely had the tenacity he was famed for. No matter, he would deal with him soon enough, Blueblood mused as he grip on his Gaia Memory tightened. Looking around the lab to the little glass jars that used to contain Gaia Memories, he wondered to himself. Where exactly had his wife gotten the funds to continue her research? After the Incident as it was called, and actually even before that the money was beginning to dry up. Blueblood was beginning to burn through his family’s funds. Saffron said she could dip into her family coffers for more money to continue their research, but Blueblood denied it saying that a place like her father’s deserved to stay in business. Denying him the money to pay the bills would simply be cruel!
He also wondered, where had these strange stallions in white coats come from? They’d shown up just one day in the Shard, without warning only asking to help out and further the research to higher levels. That was the day the path to creating the T2 Gaia Memories was forged.
Before, there had been the T1 memories of Saffron and Blueblood’s own design, but they were often unstable and only very few containing the most powerful Memories such as the prototype to the one Blueblood currently possessed provided workable copies to use in Lost Drivers.
He would have to ponder this later, Blueblood mused as he watched the elevator climb higher and higher.
Far below, on the streets of Manehatten Daring had finally arrived to a scene of absolute chaos where police, fire, and rescue vehicles had all pulled up, officers having their guns trained on strange men in white coats.
“Well, looks like you were right Daring,” Tempest remarked as he smoked a cigarette, the stormy-gray pegasus looking at the Shard warily. “There was something more going on here. No, you weren’t right. Philip was. As he always is. Starting to make us cops look inferior, you know?”
“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but Lefty was right on the money,” came Makura’s voice, the stallion having a rifle trained on the suited men. “Searched these guys for any sort of ID, and came up with nothing. Their faces? Not in any criminal database from what Twilight and the NCIC are telling us. They’re ghosts, really. Can’t fathom how guys like this are…”
“Ghosts?” Daring suggested. “Yeah. We’ll figure out who they are later, right now Philip needs our help. Can you get a chopper in the air?”
“I can scramble one on the fly, but I have to ask… why?” Tempest inquired. “I mean, Philip could be anywhere in that building and we’d have no way to find out exactly where that anywhere is!”
“Wrong,” Daring corrected holding up a ring. “Me and Phil, both got one of these. Sorta like Promise Rings in a way, except they’re enchanted, and both have our DNA in them. I have some of Phil’s blood inside this ring, and Phil has some of mine. Safeguard of ours. Can never be too careful. You can track ‘em easily enough with a blood-finding spell. ...Or it would be that easy if Twilight was around, I know she’s one of the only unicorns I would trust to perform it. God fucking damn it!” she swore, before Bee put a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll figure something out. Besides, Phil can take care of himself… right?” Bee asked, not entirely sure if he could believe that.
“Y-Yeah, he can.” Daring murmured, not believing that either.
“Hey, I-I hate to ask,” Bee stammered out. “But Fleetfoot. I overheard you and Phil talking about her. Is she in trouble? Is my sister in trouble?” he demanded.
“No,” Daring stated with a reassuring smile. “No, your sister’s absolutely fine. Wish I could say the same about Phil. If only we knew where he was…”
A certain pegasus stallion smirked, and Daring turned to him eyebrow raised.
“Ah, remember how I said Twilight and the NCIC are telling us nothing?” Tempest asked, before he gestured to a police van and Twilight’s head peeked out of it, before she gave a little wave. “Girl insisted on coming along as soon as she heard Philip might be in trouble.”
Twilight was rapidly swept up in a hug by Daring. “Never thought you’d finally be out of that lab. Thought you’d stay in there till the day you died. Wish you could have picked a better time to circumvent that though…”
Twilight just touched her horn to Daring’s ring, and both lit up in a purple glow before a purple beam of energy shot upwards to somewhere around the building’s top floors.
“There, that’s where he is!” Daring shouted before turning back to Tempest. “Now, get that damn chopper in the air. NOW!” she roared, before extending her wings and rocketing upwards after Phil creating a small shockwave that sent cars flying back and a small sonic boom in the process.
“...She does realize that was police property right?” Makura asked.
“You tell her,” Tempest remarked. “Me, I’ve got a chopper to get in the air!”
Back inside the Shard as Blueblood walked down the long corridor that led to the elevator, he thought back to how this seemingly all started…
Marwari: Three Years Ago
“So Mr. Blueblood, what does it feel like to be called the Da Vinci of our time?” one reporter of many asked Blueblood outside of the Marwari Branch of Destiny’s Child Labs. It had been a year since Saffron and Blueblood’s first meeting, and in that time great progress had been made. Diseases like Ebola, Tuberculosis, and the coronary artery disease had been cured, all due to the simple work of a Gaia Memory titled ‘Medicine’. A bit on the nose, yes, but it worked, and it told ponies around the world exactly what they were getting. Saffron had suggested calling it the Utopia memory instead but Blueblood shot that down saying it was a bit too pretentious for his tastes.
“Hate it,” Blueblood remarked. “For one thing, I don’t paint. Honestly, I adore the praise, I do, but please, me and my wife, we’ve got important work that must be done,” he said with a smirk, holding up a wedding band.
This simple remark and simple gesture started up a new gaggle of comments, and camera flashes.
“How long have you two been married?” one asked.
“Is Doctor Saffron expecting?” another inquired.
Blueblood said nothing, and simply turned on his hoof and headed back inside the lab building still smirking.
“Was that really needed?” Saffron asked as hoards of lab workers readied more and more of the Medicine Gaia Memory for shipping.
“Probably not, no, but I wanted to leave them with a little show. Just something to wet their whistles. Tell them something’s happening, otherwise, they’ll start… inquiring.”
Saffron sighed, and let out a groan in remembrance of a few days before dealing with a guy from an organization calling themselves simply Foundation X. Nothing more, nothing less. Just Foundation X. Their leader had asked simply this of Saffron: “Are you two really naive enough to think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you and you alone? Your grandfather he helped give us the Balefire Bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you two?”
Saffron had simply told him to get out, and Foundation X had bothered them no more. But they would not be the last of their kind to come crawling out of the woodwork.
Production, as much as Blueblood had hated to say it had been slowing to a crawl lately. They’d been getting contracts from other organizations around the world, people like weapons manufacturers saying that if the memories of the earth could be used to cure things like plagues, what else could they be used for?
Blueblood and Saffron had both engaged in a great many arguments with these organizations and companies, saying that the Gaia Memories were only to be used for good intent, and certainly not for warmongering.
“They’ll keep coming you know,” a mysterious man said to them once, with a Neighponise accent and a short crimson mane. “You developing this sorta tech? All you just did was open yourself up to a wider universe beyond your imagination.”
“Who are you?” Saffron had demanded of him.
“Nobody. I’m just a passing through… advisor,” the man replied, looking as if he was about to say something different but thought the better of it. “Remember this, you’re not the first and certainly won’t be the last. I’d advise you to watch yourselves. A storm’s coming, you can count on that.”
With that, he’d taken his leave but not without leaving both Saffron and Blueblood shuddering for some reason. He never reappeared, and Blueblood and Saffron hoped everything he was saying was false, but it was not to be.
As then there came that day.
\ Heat! /
That’s how it had started, that’s how it had all started. A new memory, developed in secret by one of the scientists at Destiny’s Child laboratories who didn’t share the same views as Blueblood or Saffron. Someone who believed in making money from more than just simple medical usage from the Earth’s powers.
She’d turned herself into a monster made of flame, with just a simple injection of the Gaia Memory into her skin, Before, usage of Gaia Memories was recommended only with the usage of special drivers as they were called. Huge, bulky and unfashionable as they were, these Gaia Drivers were the only safe way to use the full amount of the Earth’s power as it was given to you.
The Dopant, as the newspapers would call it from a combination of the words doping and mutant strode through the factory lighting up everything in her sight until she finally reached the main offices. Guards pulled out pistols to try and stop her, but bullets were just melted before they could reach her. The guards, well it was better not to speak of what exactly happened to them.
Saffron stood firm, her magenta eyes narrowed as she pulled out a small sword. “You think I’ve run this lab for a year or lived in this country for as long as I have, without learning how to defend myself?”
With a few lashes, her sword turned into a whip keeping the Dopant at bay long enough for Blueblood to grab her in a sleeper hold. At least, that was the plan, but Blueblood was only knocked to the ground and could only watch in horror as Saffron let out a horrific scream over the blaring alarms as the Dopant placed her hand to Saffron’s face. The fur on the mare began to hiss, letting off steam as it caught alight and Saffron’s screams only increased. Finally, a shot to the back from a local police officer downed the Dopant.
When Saffron awoke in the hospital in Delhi, she could only scream at what she had become. Her brilliant fur, melted away revealing only scorches and burns underneath. Then, that scream became a mad laughter as she finally realized. Realized exactly what Gaia Memories could do. Life would never be the same for her, and neither would it be for Blueblood as he swore to stomp out monsters like the one who had maimed his wife for his eternal legacy.
Blueblood shook his head to clear himself away from his reveries as the elevator doors opened to reveal Philip, fists clenched as he strode towards Blueblood. The two traded blows briefly, before Blueblood took advantage of Philip’s earlier wounds and punched him in the gut making Philip stagger before Blueblood kicked him through a door and into an office that overlooked the city.
“You’ve got some nerve, some balls I’ll give you that Finder,” Blueblood snarled as he strode towards him, pulling out a red magnum as he did so. “But don’t you get it? I’m only trying to do what’s best for the city! You’ve heard the news reports, the ones coming out of the Neighponiese countries? The ones of Masked Riders, or Kamen Riders as they’re called over there fighting off monsters? Well, I’m about to join them at last, and stomp out every Dopant this city has or ever will produce!” he roared.
“Don’t you get it?” Philip coughed out. “Your wife… she’s using you. I’ve looked into Destiny’s Child Labs, and I suspect you have at times. Your funds, they dried up a long time ago, didn’t they? So where is she getting the money to supply the making of more Gaia Memories? For that matter, where are these Dopants coming from? For a guy so smart, you’re so stupid.” Philip growled.
“Shut up, shut up!” Blueblood screamed in denial, before pressing the trigger.
\ Bomb, Maximum Drive! /
A series of energy balls were sent towards Philip, and once they hit they exploded sending him flying out the window… and into Daring’s arms.
“See, this is what happens when you charge off without me,” Daring remarked with a teasing grin. “Shit like this.” she said as she sat Philip down on the floor.
“Who… Who do you think you are!?!” Blueblood roared.
“I am a pony, a Detective, and also… a Masked Rider.” Philip stated, wiping away the blood from his mouth.
“Hey, partner. Don't you mean ‘we?’” Daring asked, eyeing her partner critically.
“Yeah, you're right.” Philip admitted.
“Aren’t I always?” Daring smirked before pulling out her Gaia Memory and slamming it into her Driver with Philip mirroring her movements.
\ Fang! / \ Nazca! /
“Henshin!”
As the transformations finished, both Daring and Philip turned to Blueblood and said in unison: “Now… Count up your Crimes!”
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Ah, I love these guys. Kinda like Combatman 2.0
At this moment Philip knew, he fucked up!
Yeah... About that...
Thank god Blueblood is not a snob... oh wait
well, that is X-tremly suspicious, wonder what their deal is
Now, count up your references: 1! (Yeah possibile that I missed some things... Add one for the Mascerades, so up to 2)
Well, fuck me with a hoof-full of sunfire! Didn't expect that here.
Now, count up your references: 3!
Now, count up your references: 4! Yes, I'm counting that up as well!
Now, count up your references: 5!
9202403
Only without the annoying EEE! EEE!s. About as competent though.
May have, may not. But seriously, Foundation X? Gets so little love, compared to the cockroaches of the Kamen Rider Universe, Shocker and it's many incarnations. Dangerous as Shocker is, it's kinda gotten overused by this point as a big bad organization for Kamen Riders. I mean, come on, let other evil groups have more time in the limelight eh?
I'm not sorry, I'm so not sorry. I couldn't resist. Not after RuinQueen had a cameo of Blade in her fic.
Okay, this one you might have to explain to me. If this was a reference to anything Kamen Rider, it was quite unintentional. I just liked the line.
9202598
Yeah, couldn't agree more. And hey, you actually call them cockroaches as well, nice. #Really, I'm still mad that they didn't use them for Zi-O as the big bad since you know a good way to get old monsters back and just bullshit a little bit.
Well, he is undoubtedly usable since dimension-hopper
It sounded close enough to count up your sins, so I counted it up, just for the lulz
9202617
Actually, I generally compare them to Hydra. Cut off one head, and another will grow back. Now, about this Zi-O thing...
Rolls eyes On another note, commissioned RamenDriver (You might know him, think he did your Rider's art and he's doing a piece for Ruin of Justice) for a piece of Kamen Rider Nazca. Can't wait to see that, as does PonyJosiah interestingly enough. That took me by surprise, as he's not a Toku fan. ...Hell, I was surprised he let me do this to begin with.
9202763
Quite fitting.
Yeah, does good work. Now he will have two Kamen Rider Natcas in his library ^^
9202769
.
...Wait, what?
9202777
img00.deviantart.net/585a/i/2017/320/0/2/commission__kamen_rider_nazca_by_ramendriver-dbtyj1v.png
Here is his original Kamen Rider Nazca, that was how I found him after reading Unicorn I thought, why not look for a Kamen Rider Nazca and I found his
9202782
...Well, I'll be damned.
Why'd you inexplicably give Grape Vine an accent when he next appeared?
9203426
...That was sorta an error on my part. I'm generally used to him speaking with that accent when I write him, and I'd honestly forgotten that in his first two appearances he didn't have the accent.