//------------------------------//
// Bigger Problems 
// Story: New to Ponyville; A Young Colt's Adventure 
// by AxtontheMechanist 
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Chapter four; Bigger problems


After another few days of going to school (which wasn't that bad, Axton thought to himself) he found the weekend was upon him, and thus decided to go and explore Ponyville. He met many-a-pony while in town, that of which consisted of a purple mare going by the name of Twilight Sparkle (a mare whose knowledge far extended beyond any he had ever known, surprising him by spending almost ten minutes speaking about the origins of Ponyville), a buttercup yellow mare named Fluttershy (who to Axton seemed just a little quiet) who happened to be shopping for animal food and lettuce (she said the lettuce was to her ‘little angel bunny'); he also met many other mares and colts who weren't worried about spending their time talking about what they did, a lot of which didn't actually interest him, but nonetheless it was nice to have someone to talk to.

However, as he was walking along, another sight caught his eye. Three Pegasi were walking through town, yelling ungodly terms like ‘grounder’ and ‘weak earth ponies’ to those who were passing by in the market, receiving dirty looks that were full of contempt.

Before he knew it, the three Pegasi had turned their eyes onto him, and seeing that he wasn't a Pegasus, they deemed it okay to pick on him, surrounding him in a circle of muscle and stinking body odour.

“Well if it isn’t the new kid in town!” Snorted one of the three, who Axton would later find out was the one known as Hoops.
“Little Pipsqueak of a Unicorn isn’t he?” Chuckled the one known as Score.

“Reckon we should teach him a lesson?” Grunted Dumb-bell, muscles rippling.

Infuriated by this effort to intimidate him, but not letting it show, Axton simply uttered “Oh please, I could take any one of you on! One of you dumb Pegasi versus me, the apparently little pipsqueak unicorn. What d’you say?”

Apparently the three Pegasi thought this to be hilarious, but one of them seemed to rise to the bait, snorting in anger (Dumb-bell it seemed, that one had more muscle than brain). Confidence had left Axton as soon as it had came into him flowing out of him like water down a drain; he expected any moment to get a beating and soon enough, Dumb-bell had flew towards him, hooves outstretched, readying a punch and-


The beating never came. He looked up to see both Score and Hoops looking at him in terror while Dumb-bell was unconscious on the floor, moaning slightly. Looking down at himself he found himself to be coated in an armoured layer of... Steel, that of which made his skin feel hardened and protected under this unbreakable layer.

Looking again back to Hoops and Score, he decided to scare them off by running full speed at them. Scattering around him and picking up their friend, Hoops and Score flew unsteadily off and back to Cloudsdale, scared out of their wits.
Back on the ground, The Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had approached him, looking (yet again) amazed at what Axton had pulled off.

“How d’you do it?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed with what seemed a mixture of awe and excitement.

“I-“ Axton started, but before he could utter another word, he felt himself weaken, and the world spun around him, sending him tumbling to the ground in a darkness that enveloped his senses, plunging him into darkness.