Time to Think (Red)

[Red Charge]

"I already said, that's impossible. I know what you're thinking, you're thinking you can say he's one of the other two, right?" Red Charge asked, a smug little smile playing on his lips, "That would also, be impossible. Because one of them would be The Alchemist and the other, would be my first wife. Selenia, I killed both of them." He said severely.

"But since you seem unwilling to cooperate, I suppose I can bestow one more lesson to you. What it feels like when your mind is invaded." The unicorn said, lowering his head and touching horns with her immediately. She had no time to react, no time to raise any sort of mental resistance and he was already inside of her head, seeing everything, ever.

[Selenia]

As a matter of fact, Selenia was thinking exactly that when he mentioned the two others who knew the spell. She practically growled at his smug smile, however. Throwing away her fear for an instant to let sheer frustration through. What didn't Red seem to understand about the fact that she was telling him the truth? She knew what she saw, and how she learned the spell. If only he knew it at the time, how else could Selenia have learned it? It didn't take a genius to figure it out with what information she was given, but she assumed Red was too distressed with accepting that fact for what it could possibly mean for him. Her scowl dropped when he mentioned his wife and the Alchemist. She didn't even want to know what circumstances led to that action, and it must have been a terribly weighing choice to make if he couldn't have spared it, so she rather obediently chose to keep her mouth shut and eyes still trained on Red's. She still had enough youthful zeal left to make some headway, she hoped.

And she had obviously hoped wrong, as Red dove right into her mind's eye without any consent or preparation on her part. The alien sensation worming through her thoughts and memories was bad enough, but the break of trust was something completely different. She clenched up in abject horror. He was in her mind and memories, her entire life accessible to him, unfettered. This was no training, he wasn't digging in and targeting a single thought for her to try to lock him out, no, he had blown all her mental doors open and was strolling through the place like an art gallery. She scooped up everything she enjoyed and shoved it away, hoping to keep it safe from the foreign invader. She did the same with the more.. Embarrassing memories and thoughts, especially the ones about Red himself; her respect, her frustration, her relatively uncontrolled admiration for his legendary skills and knowledge, both the good and bad. But even more especially the ones revolving around his recently rejuvenated form. Selenia was still a young adult, so surely nothing for him to see there right? He had walked in on her doing worse in the past, she was sure of it.

No matter how poorly this could turn out for her in the short-term, it was an opportunity, an opportunity to prove to Red that what she had seen was real. That, and partially to make him eat his words. She kept one particular memory out with the rest, a very creative and frustrated string of curses that was enough to make a sailor blush, all directed at one of Red's 'homework assignments' from after a long workout. Then again, Red might end up finding something he didn't aim to find and then hurry his sorry flank right on out of her privacy. No matter how immature that seemed at the moment, Selenia lived for the small victories.

She shuffled through her memory and dredged up everything she could remember about the pony she had met; sight, sound, even smell, while trying to bury the rest. Red would be able to find what he was looking for with ease, Selenia just had no idea how he would take it if her new suspicions about the pony were correct.

[Red Charge]

Yet despite her best efforts, Selenia was completely unable to hide anything from the invading Red. Everything was visible to him, her memories, her thoughts, her thoughts of her memories (and even her memories of her thoughts!) All was fed into him in a continuous stream. For all intents and purposes, at that moment in time he knew more about her than anyone alive, perhaps even herself.

However his sudden invasion into her mind stopped just as suddenly as her memory was revealed to him, the bandaged and hooded pony popped for a moment in front of her eyes as Red's all knowing mind's eye lingered on it and then he was out again.

The possibilities were frightening, "It can't be," Red Charge said, refusing to accept what he saw. "But there's no question, the Equterian figure... the bandages..." Who else could the hooded Equiterian be other than the Alchemist himself? Well, there was ONE more option, if she had taught him the formula, but then there's no way he'd have lived this long, not while avoiding Red's notice. After all, he had been scrying for him for years after he ran off...

"I'm... sorry Selenia. I was wrong." He said, "I'm also sorry, because, it appears you've doomed yourself."

[Selenia]

After her quick and rudimentary preparation, she let Red have at her mind. She felt him digging around, the thoughts he targeted showing up in her mind's eye as well. Her breath hitched when he passed through those she tried to hide, but she held it when he passed right on through, hunting through everything for the pony instead of focusing on exactly what she had brought to the forefront for him to see. He froze once he found the pony, however. Studying everything he could find. She heard Red react, his words breathless and disbelieving. He didn't mention out loud who it was, but with his reaction, Selenia could only assume it was the Alchemist, as he had said before. She didn't smile or pump her hoof at his admitting that she had been right, though, things were getting too serious. But about the Alchemist, what kind of implications did that have, especially if it had Red at a loss for words?

That wondering was summarily quashed as Red told Selenia something else she never wanted to hear; she was doomed. She shook off the daze from the mental invasion and just looked to Red with uncertain eyes. "Doomed?" She took a deep breath and her eyes shifted a little. " Why? Am I just gonna, die? Like, drop dead or something?" She stamped one of her hooves on the ground softly. "What does that mean, Red? What's going to happen and what did he do to me? Is there anything I can do to stop it?" She edged a little closer to her former mentor, panic slowly creeping into her voice and features. She wasn't even sure if he was listening to her, or if he judged her to be worth saving, again. Heck, she might be too far gone already for all anypony ever told her about this stuff.

[Red Charge]

"You're going to the labyrinth." He said, slowly, "He's made a new one." He looked at Selenia with a mixture of pity and disdain. "Your consent to be a part of his plan magically marked you under a binding spell. When the time comes to join the game, whether you're willing or not you'll be brought there and there's no amount of magical protection that can stop it from happening."

"You're either going to win his race, or you're going to die. That means you'll have to be a murderer, or a victim. But you're doomed either way." The stallion shook his head sadly, "Maybe I should tell you the whole story, about why the Princesses were all so wary of me when they found out who I really was."

"As you know, I was brought up by Destrier as a child, he trained me to be a battlemage, like himself, like the princesses. My parents both died in the Dragon Wars and I was just a little foal, so he took me in and raised me as his own. I was never in close with the Princesses, they knew me, we'd meet occasionally and we talked a few times. Princess Luna especially didn't like me," He chuckled, "Mostly because her Moonbird did like me, kept flying off to me."

"Things were great for a while, but then, well, the Prism Wars happened. The Adversary killed Destrier and ... I was left with nothing. The Princesses said I'd always have a place in the palace, but I didn't care. I was weak, pathetic, I couldn't protect the kingdom, I couldn't protect my parents... not even Destrier. So I told them I'm going to the Labyrinth and I ran off."

"Of course, I was just a teen in a wartorn land, trying to find an untrackable pony. Obviously I was far beneath the Alchemist's attention the way I was. So I continued travelling, honing my magical powers, expanding my knowledge. Eventually, he did come for me. I figured, who's going to go into this maze? Murderers, right? Ponies who would murder other ponies for power and glory. Would it be that bad if I wiped them off the face of Equestria? After all my goal was noble, right? Sounds familiar doesn't it?"

[Selenia]

Sweat slowly crawled its way down the back of Selenia's neck as Red explained the full gravity of what she had done. She would be dragged into this thing without a choice, whisked off to a maze of the Alchemist's making, where she would be surrounded by murderers and other vicious characters. Nopony would be able to find her, nopony would be able to help her, she would be all alone in the most hostile environment imaginable. She just rested her head in her hooves in defeat. He had tricked her, it was obvious. If the Alchemist was fighting against Equestria in this day and age, one of his objectives must have been to cut at least semi-powerful ponies out of the equation. Selenia was Red's student at the time, on the path to becoming an incredibly powerful battlemage and undoubtedly a major thorn in any opponent's side. He had just waltzed right in, appealed to her young naïveté and nationalistic nature, and for all intents and purposes, she would be confirmed dead soon enough. Once he gave her that teleportation mark, she was essentially no longer a problem.

Selenia had to wonder who else he had added to this race under the pretenses, and whether or not the reference of them all being 'criminals' was actually true. Selenia was now a participant, and she was by no means a criminal, but if the 'invitation' was the same all around, then a whole parcel of maybe not-so-regular characters were added into it thinking that everyone else was a criminal and a threat. That would be chaos at the start, and no doubt a bloodbath engineered to quickly take out some very important individuals.

Red was still talking history when Selenia had finished thinking, her mind still racing at the implications and details, but mostly the question of what was going to happen. Her ears perked up when Red mentioned that he had a similar experience, young and powerful, nobility and nationalism behind him. He had been brought into the last labyrinth under the exact same pretenses, and he had gotten out. Selenia had no idea what kind of powers Red had back then, but since he made it out alive, that gave Selenia some hope.

"So, I was tricked to my death by an old friend of yours. Why of all ponies would he come for me, Red? I'm not important enough for this sort of thing." She just shrugged in defeat. "You said you were brought to a labyrinth by the Alchemist. Help me, please. Tell me everything you remember about it, how things worked, who was inside, what kind of danger I'm in and will face, tactics, strategies, everything you did that kept you in one piece because you obviously survived it. If I can't escape it then I'll just have to complete it." She wrung her hooves a little in thought, "I also have loose ends to take care of, friends and family, you know. Any idea on when I'll get sucked away to who knows where? I suppose I should sleep in full combat gear with supplies from now on."

[Red Charge]

"You don't understand Selenia. The Alchemist is dead." Red reiterated, "I killed him. He's not doing this. This is a completely new game. He didn't lie to us, everyone in that Labyrinth knew exactly why they were there and what they were after. He didn't have to play on our weaknesses, he only took those he wanted to be there."

"If he's trying to imitate the Alchemist... I don't even understand it, he'd have to have been in the Labyrinth, but he couldn't have been..." Red strayed off course for a moment, though Selenia could see he was rather unnerved, "First things first, when you go in there, it's kill or be killed. No one is your friend, everyone is your enemy only one pony can win. If you're not willing to completely detach yourself from any emotions while you're in there and be ready to kill at the first opportunity you get, you might as well jump off this cliff right now and spare yourself the misery."

"Another important thing to realize, if this labyrinth is anything like the last one, don't expect fairness. Many puzzles are meant for genius level ponies and many others are just about lucky guesses, or process of elimination. You'll never know when you reach a dead end, because a dead end only presents another puzzle, but one that is simply unsolvable. It could be a pit of acid that goes on into the darkness, you'll try to levitate or fly over it, only to find that you've been moving for hours. Most ponies don't turn back at that point, they just continue until they collapse with exhaustion and fall into the acid. Because if they had turned back and flew towards the starting platform for only several minutes, they'd find they were simply progressing in an endless loop." The way he described it was very vivid but also, she noticed his breath quickening, his facial features stretching taut, his eyes shifting. These memories were very vivid, very unpleasant, but worse, it seemed he never managed to get over whatever trauma he sustained in there. It was a forgotten part of his psyche he was unleashing for Selenia's benefit.

"And don't dally, never, ever dally." Red Charge said, "The Architect it... I'll explain, he unleashed this thing into the maze... some THING he's made with his alchemy. If you wait too long it finds you. We called it the Architect, because well, we didn't see it. Otherwise I don't think I'd still be around to tell you about it. But even then..." He let out a long sigh.

"You're still doomed." He repeated his statement from earlier, "See, there's only one winner. You'll have to kill all of the others, or wait for them to die when you reach the end and then... then he'll kill you anyway."

[Selenia]

Red quickly shut Selenia up as his conversation picked up steam and didn't stop. The Alchemist really was dead, which was an interesting revelation he decided to save from Selenia's overclocking mind until right then and there. What was equally alarming was that Red and his other maze-runners had not been lied to. They knew why they were there. To be fair, the hooded pony had told Selenia that she would be there with criminals after a great source of power, so it didn't sound that off, in fact it was remarkably familiar to how he described it.She just kept her mouth shut as red continued, periodically dropping into bouts of thinking that was clearly not directed at Selenia. Needless to say, Red still held her full attention, especially since Selenia had come to realize just what was at stake in this situation.

Her brow creased and her mouth simply drew into a thin line when red went over the simplest advice: kill or be killed. Every single opportunity that was provided, Selenia would have to attack ponies or other creatures with lethal intent, no questions asked and no holds barred. She would be a murderer at the end, given, a murderer of apparent murderers, an executioner if capital punishment still existed, but a murderer nonetheless. Looks like her emotions would take a back seat or need to be removed entirely. Luckily, almost dying had done wonders for putting self-preservation in perspective, so she would just have to drill it into her skull that these ponies deserved it and that they would try to kill her, too.

She let her mind cool down as he talked about the puzzles. Unorthodox solutions, some unsolvable, giving up is always an option, and sometimes its the solution. The line between determination and common sense would be very fine indeed. She idly noted that Red was slowly but surely losing his cool. They must have been some terrible flashbacks to get him this unsettled. She would have written it down, if she wasn't busy burning it into her psyche, she doubted she'd have time to check notes in the maze. A thin bead of sweat dripped down her neck as he described the Architect. Terrifying monsters were never her thing, least of all ones that would follow you through an endless maze. It would be like the time in Rainlock's library. She barely made it out of there without breaking down, but she was much younger then. Keep moving, keep making progress, and she should be able to avoid it as per Red's advice. She would definitely need to start wearing simple survival gear 24/7.

"You make it sound impossible, but you made it out alive. You still say I'm doomed, do you not trust me to succeed? Or is that not the point?" She reasoned with Red out of curiosity. "You still haven't answered my initial question, though. Why would this pony choose me? Do you know the real reasoning why the Alchemist chose you, for that matter?"

[Red Charge]

"The Alchemist picked out all sorts. Didn't matter who they were or where they were from. He just took them where he could find them, of course, only the ones that could actually survive more than 5 minutes in the labyrinth. The only real prequisite was agreeing to be there." He looked away from Selenia.

"The only reason I ever got out, is because I cheated. I met my first wife in that Labyrinth. She was smart, she was idealistic, she was a fighter. Truly an amazing unicorn. She knew what she wanted and she wasn't afraid to get it. But she was also far above any of us in terms of morality. She would never let a pony die if she could help it, no matter who they were. Even when they were slowing us down she risked herself to help ponies along the way. She and I figured the best move was to get through all of the riddles as a large group, then at the end, all of us could surely figure out how to break out of the labyrinth and find a non violent way to decide who gets the Ambrosia." He sighed.

"Of course, that made her a big target for everyone else. I had to cover her back the entire way through, eventually there were just two of us at the end. When we got to the center, it was sealed, completely. I don't know what Equiterian magic the Alchemist used. But it was like there was no exit at all and no matter what we did, no matter what force we unleashed, we couldn't go anywhere." He looked at Selenia, "So eventually, we came up with an idea, I came up with the formula you used and she pretended to double-cross me. I pretended to die while using the spell. The Alchemist did not know that spell, since it was brand new and far above the level he believed me to be. He opened the center."

"She went in and there it was, the Ambrosia. It was like nothing I've ever seen. I couldn't even describe it. But the moment she stepped in, he attacked her. In her exhausted, weakened state, she was no match for him even if he were a normal pony. Which he wasn't, obviously. But I managed to get him from behind with a spell and that was the end of him. The whole situation, it was a sham all along. Every pony who ever entered in the Labyrinth was defeated, brought within an inch of their life and force fed the Ambrosia. No one should ever have to eat that vile thing, it's made... it's made of ponies and their magical essence. I don't know what would happen next, but whatever it turned them into, he'd harvest it and use it to make some sort of super concoction. That time was going to be the last he needed before he could use his new formula." He seemed genuinely sad and disgusted

"In short," He said with another pained sigh. "The only way to win is to cheat. But, as we've both clearly seen. He knows the formula now, so it's unlikely any such trick will work again... and I'm worried about the goals of this pony..." He said, Selenia had a feeling he wasn't quite looking her in the eyes when he said that.

[Selenia]

Selenia sat back on her haunches. No clear pattern to those chosen by the Alchemist, or this new pony it would seem, just so long as they agreed. Selenia listened intently as Red kept going on about his experience. With the help of his would-be wife apparently, they had more or less successfully rallied everyone in the labyrinth to work as a team. Selenia figured with dread that she wouldn't be nearly as lucky with the group she was stuck with. As Red had said earlier, it would be kill or be killed, right from the outset, and if she hesitated or gave any opening, it would be taken by one of the others in there with her, but that didn't explain how Red and his comrade had managed to rope everyone together as a team, regardless of how treacherous each member was.

Her frown deepened even more when he mentioned that he had cheated to win- only one may reach the end, all the rest would have to die, so he feigned his death and used the spell he had created to mask his living aura. It was brilliant, and Selenia couldn't use it. The reward at the end was another story altogether, the ambrosia he mentioned; made from the magical energy of the dead and a key part in some obviously end-all evil scheme that the Alchemist had planned. The fact that another pony had taken up the mantle and assuming the whole thing was similar to Red's experience showed that the new pony wanted to finish the concoction and the sinister plan. To whatever ends was above Selenia's pay grade, but the point still stood that Red was right- once the labyrinth reached its conclusion, and even if she prevailed to the end, she was doomed with all the rest.

"There's no way I'll be able to think up a spell on the spot to dupe this pony, no way in Tartarus. So regardless of what happens, I'm pretty much as good as dead." Selenia just slumped a bit. She knew death was indeed a real thing, and she was prepared to accept it when it came, it was just a little jarring knowing that it would inevitably come a lot sooner than she had hoped. No chance to reach her full magical potential, no more free time to read books, heck, she hadn't even been in a relationship yet. it was a classic scenario of being too young to die, but there it was. She'd been conditioned by Red, and had practically half-died before, so it would definitely suck and probably hurt a lot, but Selenia was prepared to accept the fact that if it was her time, it was her time. Baby steps, by Luna this undefined time period before the teleportation was going to suck.

More questions couldn't hurt, however. "How did you and your wife get everyone to cooperate? From what you told me, everyone at the start wants to kill you quickly and you want to kill everyone else quickly, so where did that mindset break down so much that you ended up with your merry band of 'contestants' solving the labyrinth step by step instead of cutting down the opposition without hesitation like you advised I be ready to do?"

[Red Charge]

Red Charge pondered the nature of the question, "We were two ponies cooperating with each other and several others joined in too. If anyone tried to attack us, they'd pretty much meet a pretty swift end. Not that it mattered, the puzzles alone were enough to dwindle the numbers. Ponies who made it that far by then knew the puzzles were best approached in a group."

"I'm sorry Selenia, I feel like I've failed you." He said, "There is no more useful information I can give you about the labyrinth that will help you. Hopefully, since this is not the Alchemist himself, it might be easier. But there is one thing I do want to teach you regarding this, and it's very important."

"When you were in Gale's library, did you come across my book about ancient Equiterian Battlemage spells?" He asked.

[Selenia]

"The dilemma still stands however, of whether or not I should try my luck in finding an ally in the maze, or just rely on cutting through everypony I find. If I try to make friends, I'll let my guard down and run the risk of getting removed without being able to put up a fight. Do I just have to trust my instincts with anypony I meet in the labyrinth?" This was getting complicated, and undoubtedly risky. She could either play it safe and get rid of every other participant she ran into, or she could try and team up for a better chance at long-term success and survival, but that came with the possibility that any 'friend' she met would just take her out once she turned her back. She couldn't read ponies or their intentions that well at a glance, not mentioning with how stressful the situation would be in the moment.

Selenia's shoulders drooped at Red's admission. "You didn't fail me, Red. I just gave an ill-considered response to a loaded question. It was an uneducated decision and I'll probably die for it. That's just natural selection, right?" She faked a chuckle, it didn't even feel worth it. "As for the library in Rainlock mansion, I remember one book in particular, mainly because it was one of the only books I got to read before that... Thing started stalking me amidst the shelves. My curiosity drove me to it- the pages were full of powerful old magic, no doubt about it. Now, after running through Equiterian history and exploring some of their ruins, I'm positive the cover had the battlemages' crest on it. But how can those spells help me?"

[Red Charge]

"There's a spell there called 'Mana Burn'. If, well, if you make it into the center of the labyrinth, I want you to use it." Red Charge said very simply. Selenia had not encountered that particular spell in her browsing of the book, therefore it had no idea what it actually did. Red looked out the side of the cliff into the horizon.

Was this just horrible luck, or perhaps something else? He had used every form of magical concealment to hide his identities when he turned from Silver Dawn to Ashrider, then to Rainlock and finally to Red Charge. Was it possible that he was still tracked for so long? Only the very elite of the nation knew who he really was. Was it possible someone leaked it out? Maybe Selenia was targeted because she was his protege? He could think of more than one powerful enemy he's made who'd want to do so. However all of this, come together, could only point at one single pony.

He would rather have had to send Selenia against the Adversary himself than ask the pony he was thinking of.

[Selenia]

'Mana Burn.' Selenia didn't remember the spell from the book, and she had no clue what it did. The name gave her some ideas, though. Red looked to descend into an internal feud, so Selenia took the time to think. A mystery spell with the sound of fixing all her problems, at least as how Red was wording it. Why did Red want her to cast it at the center of the maze, should she survive that far? That was the real question... Going off the name, she wondered if it was some spell that would take the magical energy of a target and neutralize it to some extent, or it could be a play on words, causing the user's energy to 'burn' at a heightened level of effectiveness, boosting magical abilities for a short time, as for the tradeoff... She had no idea if that was the case.

Quickly discovering that wild guesswork would get her absolutely nowhere as well as waste her precious time with Red, she figured she'd just go ahead and ask him before running off to Manehattan to find the book in question in case he didn't know it. Let's face it, though. It was RedCharge. Of course he knew it.
"That spell, Mana Burn you called it. What does it do, and why do you want me to cast it at the center of the labyrinth? Will it give me some advantage I need to defeat the pony who will be waiting there?" If it could help, she'd take any advantage she could get.

[Red Charge]

"The spell draws large amounts of ether into your body, then it ignites it, resulting in a massive explosion. The explosion is so destructive, that nothing can survive it, Equiterian or not." He looked at her with pity.

"I'm not going to force you to do it, you do what you feel is right when you get to the center. But after going through the labyrinth you are likely to be completely exhausted, physically and mentally. Your chances of standing up to an Equiterian mage capable of replicating the Labyrinth, well, they're very low. If it comes to that, this spell will allow you to destroy whoever it is. Ending their threat forever." He reasoned. It was obvious the mere suggestion of this pained him, but he had to think of the greater good. He had to, he could not get tied up with hopes and miracles, if there was a threat to Equestria, he had no choice but to do anything he could to end it, one way or the other.