Ch 13 - The Alternating Tale of Two Memories

----------(SOMEWHERE IN THE EVERFREE FOREST, AT THE GINSENG MANOR)----------

It was a lovely fresh noon on the green backyard lawn of the Ginseng Manor. Every kirin and Far Eastern unicorn were sitting on the stools behind their own wooden desks, taking various notes from Sunny Boy's whiteboard about history of arcane spells, reciting the incantations of ethereal magic listed on the whiteboard and reading along important discoveries of various magical phenomena from scientific experimentation. Every once in a while, each and every 'student' of Sunny Boy (who are actually wearing blue school sweater uniforms with ties and pants/skirts) had to repeatedly chant a strew of spells from the whiteboard, before Sunny Boy tests each of them on their memorization for each spell and their specific purpose for each spell.

As Ginseng Dragon (who was still wearing that bandage on his forehead) observed at Sunny Boy's makeshift outdoor classroom from above and hearing repeated mantras from the new teenage Far Eastern unicorns and kirins, he felt pretty weird about his godson's new method of training the new boys and tomboys on how to become gangsters. What he was seeing was out of the norm of how he trains and grooms his new recruits into joining the gang. Once a dropout or failing student from the School of Friendship (or any other institution) is recruited to the gang by offering them a place of sanctuary from the tough school life, they are tempted into staying by giving them free yoga lessons, meditation spaces and a party room where they can experiment with various drugs, such as opium, fentanyl, ketamines and, most recently, laughing mushrooms¹.

Once they are hooked onto the religious-themed and drug-fueled party life, the top soldiers of the Ginseng Gang would then pay the new recruits with money or more stimulating drugs (e.g. amphetamine or atropine), in exchange for taking combative martial arts lessons. Their physical training would include various kicks, punches, wrestling takedowns and tackling moves. Other lessons may also involve focusing their chi into casting spells, such as enhancing the speed and force of your attacking limbs, performing an earthquake rattling punch on the ground and casting multiple clones of yourself and have them fight your enemies for you. In addition, they would also participate as helping hands in ritualistic ceremonies that involves celebrating the past leaders of their Triad gang, the upcoming shift to the new zodiac year and honoring the wealthy fortune gods to ensure constant good luck for the whole Ginseng Triad empire. All those meditations and yoga lessons are to give the students a sense of security and belonging. In fact, it was the secret way for the recruits to balance out their inner chi energies within their bodies, before they are sent over to the underground fighting ring to take on the martial arts lessons.

Once they have upgraded themselves into new drudges for the Triad army, they are sent by the whistlers ('shot callers') to perform illegal tasks such as smuggling cartloads of drugs across the Celestial Sea (between Western and Eastern Equestria), battling the top soldiers of rival kirin gangs in martial art combat, trafficking enslaved creatures to Klugetown, extorting businesses that were unfortunate enough to borrow money from their shark loaners (or setting up their shops in their gang territories) and running the illicit harlot rings within seedy downtown areas of their underground empire. Any Ginseng member who disobeys, disrespects or turn their backs against the Triads will have their family members and loved ones be kidnapped and trafficked for the slave/sex trade. Members who had their families/loved ones trafficked as punishment are forced to wear the 'green hat of shame²' to let the others know about their recent disloyalty to the gang. With no one else to turn back to, green-hat recruits are forced to stay within the Triad and had to spend years in the gang to regain their trust before their green hats come off.

Those who wore the 'green hat of shame' should be lucky that they were at least marked. Other members who broke the rules were not so fortunate as those who had their closed ones trafficked. Depending on the severity of their 'crime', they would either had their lower hooves or knees cut off and cauterized (for desertion during battle), be sawed in half lengthwise along their symmetry (for conspiracy of rebelling against the Dragon Head), had their muzzles cut off with a large knife (for stealing funds from the Triad) or forcibly had their reproductive organs surgically removed without anesthesia (for eloping with a top-ranking Triad member's spouse or love companion). For less severe punishments of lesser crimes, they would be subjected to 50 slaps to the buttocks with a huge bamboo stick (for disrespecting Triad officials), permanent tattooing of the face (for repeat rule-breakers) and whipping of the legs, back or arms with a wooden pole (for failure to complete a given task).

For Sonny Boy though, physical fighting, gory punishments and illicit gang activity are not his go-to method of training his own Triad gang. To him, building up new recruits involved training the mind with important life skills and learning how to recite more complex incantations by memory. Under his logic, by exercising the mind in the classroom setting as hard as the body in the fighting ring, you can make much better disciplined and much better recruits. This method of training is rather ironic, considering that most of the new gang members only joined the Triad to avoid being educated by the institutional establishment and becoming one of Equestrian's nerdy civil servants of magic.

'Volans clipei protegentis bulla contra naturae, Volans clipei protegentis bulla contra naturae...'

Those were the mantras of one of Sunny Boy's incantation spells taught at his outdoor classroom and it had been going on for over 30 minutes, before a new spell is taught for the new recruits to learn. After Ginseng Dragon went down from the balcony with his light green silk bathrobe to meet the sunglasses-wearing Delft Blue who was hanging out on his wicker lawn chair, he said to him

"Sunny Boy's comrades had been chanting these very wickedly hypnotizing phrases over the past few hours. Are you sure this is the proper way for him to train the new recruits?"

Delft Blue replied, "Well, by adding more spells to your arsenal, you can become a much more effective martial arts fighter, as well as a better decision-maker and future leader in the battlefield! He calls it 'Educational Fitness Training'. Plus, he's been also teaching the recruits on some mathematical tricks in stocks, investments, banking and merchant trading! That way, we can build up proper legitimate businesses and we can use them to help launder the money from our illicit activities! It's the perfect plan!'"

"Morning, Godfather!", called out Sunny Boy when he spotted Ginseng Dragon at the patio. He was wearing his dark cloaked robes over his teal tuxedo outfit as his teacher uniform. As he walked up towards his godfather to greet him, Ginseng Dragon asked

"My dear Sunny Boy. Are these people here feeling all right in the head?"

"Of course they are, godfather. They're just drilling the knowledge of various shield and crepuscular beaming spells in their heads, so that they would be easily trained into casting these spells by just mentally reciting them in their head", answered Sunny Boy.

"ALL RIGHT, students! Let's move on to the incantation spell on page 548 on 'Wizardry Self-Protection 101'!", ordered Sunny Boy as he turned his attentions to his students.

"YES, Head Stallion!", shouted all the students before switching to a new incantation phrase.

'Mentis calidum dissolvit ut fulgur armis ferro, Mentis calidum dissolvit ut fulgur armis ferro...'

"Sonny Boy, please send one of your best recruits over here to me. I want to test one of them out first.", requested Ginseng Dragon as he massaged one of his ears after wincing from the students' shouting.

"Of course, godfather" Sunny Boy accepted. "Student #12138!"

"YES, Master!", called out one white-coated and spiky black-maned stallion unicorn as he turned around and pushed his designated seat to the desk.

"NOPE, that is not what I wanted you to call me! Try again!", shouted Sunny Boy as he was addressing Student #12138.

"I meant YES, Headmaster Sonny! My apologies!", yelled Student #12138 before leaving his designated desk.

"Why are they calling you Headmaster?! You're not running an actual school here, okay?" questioned Ginseng Dragon as he was still wincing from the constant yelling.

"Don't worry about it, godfather. You'll get used to it.", whispered Sonny Boy as he spoke to Ginseng Dragon.

"My godfather wishes to speak to you right now! Please come forth so he can speak to you!", ordered Sonny Boy in a very strict and professional manner.

"YES, Headmaster Sonny!", shouted Student #12138 as he approached the godfather before he asked, "What service do you request from me, Dragon Head!?"

"Please---no need for the shouting", pleaded the shocked Ginseng Dragon after almost suffering a heart attack from his sharp loud voice. After recovering from that shock, he later asked a very important question to Sonny Boy's student

"Now, pretend I'm from one of the rival gangs, like the Black Tigers or the Rowdy Rough-Housers or even a sworn enemy kirin gang, that wants to take over and raid your operations in your territory. What would you do?"

Student #12138, now with a slightly softer voice, answered his question.

"I would ask which city block and neighborhood street does the citizen live in and who in their gang is taking charge of this uncouth raid!"

Still feeling weirded out by his response, but still wanting to see if Sunny Boy's student is up for the job, Ginseng Dragon later replied with a threatening manner

"Well, let's say I'm the one who's calling the big shots in my block! What now??"

"Then I would have to detain you, sir!", shouted Student #12138 before he blurted out a magical incantation and cast a blue enchanted ethereal stripped banner from his curved horn.

'Et plaga cordis tenebris involuti animam inlectus!', chanted Student #12138 before his ethereal strips quickly started wrapping around Ginseng Dragon's arms around his waist, before ending its binding spell with a bow tie in the middle.

"SAY, isn't that the spell that the blue-jackets used to specifically catch criminal gangsters?!", hollered Delft Blue as he gawked at amazement at the entrapment spell.

"WAIT, WHAT??!! You actually taught him that spell??!!", shouted the surprisingly shocked Dragon Head as he struggled to break free from his bindings with his own inner chi strength, but to no avail

"I taught ALL of my students that spell. You wanna join my class so I could teach you how?", offered Sunny Boy as he looked at his godfather.

Suddenly realizing he had just kidnapped a powerful school wizard who might had been associated with federal law enforcement, Ginseng Dragon suddenly lost his consciousness and immediately fainted onto the grassy ground, much to the shock of Delft Blue and Sonny Boy as they quickly mend to his aid.

How in Equestria did the most influential Triad leader in Western Ponyville ended up being friends with a sympathizer of a governmental police establishment?

----------(LUNCH RECESS TIME 1:15 P.M. IN THE SCHOOL OF FRIENDSHIP, 1:15 P.M.)----------

It was a very busy yet relaxing recess for the creatures who are now out walking around the hallways in large social groups. The school wasn't too overly crowded though, as most were hanging around outside, waiting for the next school bell to ring. Though some were discussing about their upcoming classes, most of the students here were now gossiping about the new foreign student in town, as well as his foster family who took their jobs as volunteer custodians, possibly as a way to be more connected with their child. Though the strange yellow stallion failed to prove himself as a suitable substitute, word about his washroom destruction incident spread quickly after some of the students noticed the new elderly custodian meticulously putting back the toilets and sink together in one of the demolished washrooms, using nothing but superglue, caulk and some welding. Every creature had started to wonder why one of the communal washrooms had to be renovated and it wasn't before long that Silverstream bragged about how she and the Young Master brought their 'hard work' to the Headmare's office to show off their prestige commitment to sanitation. Not surprisingly, when Mr Greenhooves caught word about the vandalism of school property (though he never suspected Tang of deliberately letting it happen under his watch), he immediately fired Silverstream and Young Master Zhi from his custodian job, though they were not suspended nor kicked out by the Headmare. Mr Tang was allowed to keep his job as the assistant groundskeeper (as well as his newfound job as custodian) and was now given a task to clean up the trash that was tossed by sports fans during last weekend's hoofball game, after he was done reconstructing the whole washroom back together again.

Feeling sympathetic about their misfortunes and remembering how she used to done very idiotic stunts to impress her closest peers, she decided to give Young Master Zhi another chance at the School of Friendship by employing him as her part-time butler. That way, whenever the time calls for it, he would expertly perform his duty in view of her personal space and thus he would be accurately evaluated and rewarded for his work performance (eliminating the need to literally destroy government property in the process). As for Silverstream, she was only given a slap on the wrist for participating in Master Zhi's shenanigans by cleaning up her office after school for the whole school week (and that includes putting back every toilet and cut-off sink back to its original washroom)---well, not that she minded, since she was so glad that she got to learn how toilets really work from Mr Tang when he out gathering supplies to fix up all the toilets.

"I can't believe you actually brought the ENTIRE washroom to the Headmare's Office! You do know that All Foals' Day doesn't start until next month, right??", joked the amazed Sandbar as he sat on the raised concrete slope surface of the stair barrier, at the lower level. He was wearing his white shirt, blue-denim jacket, blue jeans and a pair of white running sneakers.

"It was no joke!! We HAD to show the Headmare how we are the best janitors in the school!", said the happy flying Silverstream. She was no longer in her custodian outfit, and was instead wearing her tight white-blue tanktop and shorts. She was wearing no bra over her C-cup size breasts.

"WELL, why couldn't you just bring a Polaroid film camera with you then??! You should've shown pictures of your hard-working efforts in the washroom that way!", suggested the happily laughing Sandbar.

"Wow! You know--I REALLY never even thought of that before...", pondered Silverstream as she tapped her chin with her talon.

"CHAW!! Seriously??! That NEVER came to you in your head??", cried the astounded Smolder who had a hard time understanding Silverstream's insanity. She was laying back on the opposite lower-level concrete barrier adjacent to the stairs.

"Any dumb custodian can walk into a previously clean washroom, take a selfie with the clean toilets and claim s/he had done a great job wiping the place clean! I'm more of a shower, NOT a boaster!", explained Master Zhi as he leaned against the barrier wall, next to the sitting Sandbar.

"ALWAYS show your hard work in progress, that's Master Zhi's motto!", shouted the chipper Tiny Turnip head as he hovered next to Master Zhi.

"MAN, if only Gallus was here to see and listen to this...!", laughed Sandbar happily as he placed him palm over his forehead.

"I'm more surprised that you two were able to pull that off without the other students noticing! All that hammering must've made a lotta noise!", commented the amazed Ocellus as she sat on the opposite concrete stair barrier next to the leaning Smolder.

"You can thank my friend Mr Tang for casting an old silencing bubble spell in the washroom to block out all the noise coming straight from the washroom", credited Master Zhi.

"Wow, he's really THAT talented with that sorta magic?", questioned the flabbergasted Ocellus.

"Are you crazy??!! HE'S the master of ALL the magics!", excitedly cheered Tiny Turnip Head as he flew up in joy.

"Well, to be more specific, ONLY when the situation calls for it. Other times, he's just a plain ol' grouchy rude man who just wants to live a normal life as possible with no other creature in sight, other than us.", explained Master Zhi.

"Well, I don't think he's really all that bad! He did start calling me his 'pogey' and 'herb'! It's such a sweet nickname!", Silverstream squeaked in delight as she fluttered her wings.

"I've seen him cry out that name to EVERY horse-bird he sees!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head.

"Uhhhh, YEAH! That's not why he intended to call you those names...", mumbled Master Zhi as he started to look sideways and rub the back of his head.

"---What yellow master talk about?", asked Yona who was sitting on the lower part of the stairs. She was wearing her turquoise tank-top over her flabby chest and her long beige hemp skirt.

"---Let's just say those words were used in a more---unfriendly manner, like---a bad insult---in my home country---to show disdain for hippogriff's happy-go-lucky and optimistic culture", further explained the uncomfortable Master Zhi.

"REALLY?! An insult??! I never seen it like that way! If he was meaning to demean me, he would've not offer me a chance to explore the underground sewers and learn how to do pipe work!", positively shouted Silverstream as she pointed the talon thumb to herself.

"MAN, you REALLY have been underwater for WAY too long, Silverstream! NOTHING seems to bore, scare or disgust you, except the Storm King and possible world domination! I actually envy your naivety!", complimented Sandbar.

"THANKS, I guess...?", said the confused but gladly content Silverstream.

"Guess your old wrinkly master friend isn't the master of all sassy insults, is he?", smirked Smolder as he flew up to Tiny Turnip Head and nudged his shoulder.

"Like Master Zhi said, ONLY when the situation calls for it!", snapped back Tiny Turnip Head

"Riiiggghhhttt.....", Smolder spoke with a sustained suspicious tone.

Suddenly, Miss Starlight Glimmer came walking down the stairs and saw Master Zhi and Tiny Turnip Head talking to some creatures close to the stairs. She went up to greet the gang in a slightly more confident manner.

"H-h-HEY guys! How's it going today? What are you guys talking about?", she nervously asked.

"Headmare Starlight!!", shouted Yona.

"Uhh, it's MISS Starlight for now, Yona...", corrected the slightly less timid Starlight Glimmer.

"HUH? Yona no get it! She back, yes?", questioned the confused nak girl.

"She technically only remembers being a counselor here, so for now, Headmare Trixie had appointed her as substitute teacher until her memory is fully recovered.", explained Ocellus to Yona.

"SO, how's your head feeling, Miss Starlight??! Anything new yet??", eagerly asked Tiny Turnip Head as he zipped towards Miss Starlight.

Starlight slowly replied, "Well---I DID went through and studied the student portfolios---and I only managed to remember some of the students in this school....let's see"

Starlight immediately started pointing each long-time student she saw and called out their names, though she struggled with the memorization.

"Ocellus----Yona---S-s-s-Sand-b-bar----Smol---deeer---aaaanndddd-------SILVERSTREAM!!"

"ALL RIGHT, you got ALL our names correct!!", cheered Sandbar.

"Yona proud of Headmar--EERRR---sub-teacher!", celebrated the jumping nak girl.

"One step closer to being Headmare, Miss Starlight!", hollered Smolder as she gave a thumbs up.

"YIPPEE, SHE'S getting CLOSER to WINNING!!", shouted the overtly excited Tiny Turnip Head.

"Glad you're feeling a LOT better now, Miss Starlight", sighed Ocellus with happy relief.

"HA, not as much as I'm feeling right now! NOTHING, not even a hay fever, can stop THIS Wonderbolt from seeing her students in the flesh!", shouted a rainbow-maned mare who suddenly swooped into the conversation with a dark blue sports jacket, pants and rainbow sneakers.

"PROFESSOR DASH?! You're BACK??!", squawked the shocked Silverstream as she turned her head to see the power-posing professor right next to her.

"But what about your hay fever?!", questioned the worried Sandbar.

"BAH, I'm feeling more chipper than ever!", said the stuff-nosed drowsy-eyed Professor Rainbow Dash, whose nose was still red and her voice was a little ruddy, but otherwise, her energy was still hyped up to the max.

"Why did you decide to come back from your sick day, Professor Rainbow?", asked the concerned Ocellus as she hid behind the concrete barrier to avoid her sickly germs. Rainbow Dash gladly answered with pompous confidence to her students.

"I may be sick with spring fever, but what makes me even MORE sick is knowing that my athlete students are writhing in sorrow pain without their special coach to pump them up for the Buckball School Championships! I just can't stay in my cloud mansion, while my buckball team is down in their morale!"

Sandbar then replied with confident assurance by telling her professor, "You don't HAVE to come here, you know??! We already have our janitor replacing you as the P.E. coach! This late morning, he's been great at catching and returning the soccer balls that were kicked out of left field and---"

"He's WWHHHAAAATT??!! That octogenarian groundskeeper!!?? Is that Headmare insane??! He can't coach an entire sports team! He's too flabby and old to even throw a baseball!", interrupted Professor Rainbow as soon as she learned about her unexpected replacement.

"WELL, he's not technically coaching them! He's just playing with the students for the time being!", nervously replied Sandbar. Professor Rainbow Dash, however, was not having it at any other way.

"Still, that is an INJUSTICE by the Headmare to recruit somepony SO inexperienced to coach Ponyville's team of pride! Now I am even MORE determined than ever to pump these athletes into shape before disaster strikes!"

"WELL, Missus Sickly! If you wanna still coach the team, at LEAST wear this surgical mask over you, so you won't spread germs to the whole school!", scolded Master Zhi as he threw a blue mouth-and-nose cotton mask at Rainbow Dash from his pocket.

"Saaayyyy, haven't I met you before?? You looked--familiar...", Rainbow Dash muttered as she wagged her finger at Master Zhi.

"Professor, that's the same stallion who flew across the sky to save Auburn from his downfall!", reminded the pepped-up Silverstream.

"Hmmmmm......", pondered the skeptical Professore Rainbow before she suddenly realized who he really was.

"OH YEEEAAHH, you're that guy who must've tinkered with Pinkie Pie's party cannon and blew Starlight's entire office!!"

"GGAAHHH, don't talk about that in front of her!!", panicked Master Zhi as he flail his arms erratically. "I don't want her memory about me to reappear THAT soon!! At least, not until I prove myself to be a great asset to this school first!!"

"WELL, sickly or not, Professor Rainbow Dash, I'm still glad you came back to support your students, just like Miss Starlight Glimmer in spite of her memory loss...", Smolder gladly spoke to her slightly sick professor.

"Ohhh riigghhtt, I kinda forgot about that incident.....how are you holding up, Starlight?", asked Rainbow Dash as she expressed concern for the amnesiac substitue teacher.

"I'm doing fine---uhhhh----Rainbow Dash---right??", slowly spoke Miss Starlight as she hesitated in her speech, so as to not embarrass herself.

"YEP, in the flesh!", gladly replied Professor Rainbow before moaning sadly.

"Siiigghh, it's too bad Sunburst couldn't be here after he was reported missing...."

"Sunburst.....that name.....it sounds------strangely familiar.....yet somehow.....I just can't wrap my head around him...", pondered the struggling Miss Starlight as she massaged her temples.

"Seriously, you managed to remember some of the students in school, yet you can't remember the Vice Stallion??!", questioned the skeptical Smolder.

"Memory's a fickle mistress, Smolder. It can lurk from any shadowy area in the brain and can only emerge when triggered by specific actions, words or significant events.", explained Master Zhi to Smolder with utmost professionalism.

"But no matter how many times we read Friendship Journal to her, Head--I MEAN--Miss Starlight no can remember things about Vice-Stallion!", explained the depressed Yona.

"I'm sorry, Yona. This Sunburst you constantly mention.....it's like--as if he never existed in my lifetime at all....I'm not going crazy, am I?", Starlight questioned to herself as she felt her world coming apart.

"Awwww...don't push yourself too hard, Starlight!", cheered Professor Rainbow Dash as she put on the surgical mask she was given. "You'll remember your best friend soon enough, but right now, you got to focus on your duty in school now. Maybe if you---"

Then suddenly, out from the blue, was a white long-haired male muscular yak barging and stomping through the crowd of students, pushing every creature out of the way with his big horns and yelling,

"STARLIGHT MARE LADY!! STARLIGHT MARE LADY!"

"HEY HEY HEY, no pushing students in the hallway, Grindarf!! You're gonna end up hurting some creature badly!", scolded Professor Rainbow Dash as she saw the moaning carnage of tackled students alying across the hallway.

"Apology later!! Big danger now!! Grub student being bullied by strange kirin!! It look like Cornicle! Me no sure, but teacher need to check now! Trouble at soccer field!", shouted the sweating Grindarf.

Then, every creature (including the ones who got tackled) suddenly got pepped up as soon as they heard the bad news.

"WAIT, BULLY??!! At our school??!!"

"Kirin??!! He doesn't mean those wannabe gangsters, does he??"

"Cornicle's in trouble again??!"

"We gotta go save him now!!"

Soon, every student who were in the vicinity of the screaming and panting Grindarf suddenly started rushing in the hallways to head for the hoof-ball field.

"HEY, no running in the hallways!! Please don't turn this into a mob!!", shouted Miss Starlight Glimmer, but her words were deafened by the loud stomps and screams from all the other students.

"C'mon, gang! We gotta get to that soccer field and rescue Cornicle!", shouted Professor Rainbow before dashing off across the air and leaving the social group behind.

"Well, what are we waiting for??! Let's go!!", ordered Master Zhi before the rest of the remaining Student 5 (plus Tiny Turnip Head and Starlight Glimmer) followed the rapid-pacing Master Zhi, alons with the rushing crowd.

---END

Author's Notes:

1. Known as 笑蘑菇 (Sew hao gew), this refers to the psilocybin mushrooms (or 'magic mushrooms') that can caused weird hallucinations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin_mushroom

2. In traditional Chinese society, green hats are a symbol of cuckoldry, as they were once worn by pimps that own the brothels. Most of them were actually husbands of the prostitutes, so most people in China eventually started to associate green hats with a cuckolded husband who is forced to rent his wife for paid sex in order to make a decent living. Other times, families of the prostitutes were forced to wear the green hats by the authorities as a way to publicly shame the prostitute for their sins.
https://kotaku.com/the-adulterous-shame-of-green-hats-5936487