//------------------------------// // Tree Hugger // Story: NEWCOMER: Little Loo! // by heavy weapons brony //------------------------------// Loo sat on the bench next to the boxing ring back at Dash’s home. Loo unwrapped her hand as she admired the “Minor circuit champion belt” hanging on the far wall with the profiles of the fighters she defeated to get it. Rainbow entered the room with a bottle of whiskey in her hand “Good job Loo! lets get ready for the next circuit!” Rainbow said as she took a very dramatic drink from her cider. Loo was using a jumping rope while Rainbow was at her side. “Okay kid, faster, faster” Rainbow shouted. Loo spun the rope so fast it send a draft blowing back Rainbows hair. Rainbow held Loo’s legs so she could to crunches of a loading dock in the back of the warehouse where Rainbow lived. “97,..98,..99,..100 keep going Loo we ain’t done here” Rainbow shouted. Loo ran through the streets off the coast of the “Henson” river that ran through Manehatten following Rainbow who was riding her old racing bike. “C'mon kid just two more miles!” Rainbow shouted over her shoulder at Loo. All of a sudden a grey mare with long charcoal black hair jump out of nowhere and tackled rainbow off the bicycle. Loo was taken back by complete surprise, then she ran up and pushed the assailant off of Rainbow. “Dude! what the buck!? Can’t a champion boxer train with her coach in this city without getting mugged?” Loo Shouted. “Huh? What? OH! shes your coach!? I’m sorry i thought she stole your bike!” the Mare replied. “What!?” Why would you think that!?” Loo Deadpanned. “Whoa Whoa Whoa! Listen I said I was sorry!” The Mare replied as she collected herself and walked off. Rainbow groaned and sat up. “Well that ruined the whole “Bad Flank training montage mood” Rainbow said as she rubbed her back. “What the buck is wrong with this city?” Rainbow asked. The sports hall holding the Major Circuit fights was much nicer than the last one, It was very old, but very well funded and kept. Loo and Rainbow were both told to wait it the locker room. “Alright kid, start dancing” Rainbow said, trying to warm Loo up for the fight. Loo Complied and got into her stance, then shuffled around practicing her footwork. “Okay, One-two! Jab! Jab! Keep em up kid” Rainbow shouted while Loo Followed the orders. Both mare were interrupted when an official came in and informed them that there fight was in five minutes, then handed Loo the fighters profile. Loo Opened it The fighter’s name was “The Tree Hugger” “Great i'm fighting a hippie, i thought this was the major circuit” Loo thought to herself. Turns out it wasn't a hippie but a Caneighdain, “Great, even worse”. Caneighdia was a very cold country covering most of the northern half of Equestria. "The Tree Hugger" was a very butch looking mare with a orange coat, She had a long mane of blonde hair that was full of bits of tree bark, maple leaves, and sap. Apparently she worked in a maple orchard because the pictures on the profile showed her dressed in the typical Canieghdian garb, Stained overalls, shotty work boots, and a floppy eared plaid hat. In the first picture she was shoving some sort of spigot into a maple tree in the snowy fields of her home, in the next she was giving the tree a hug so powerful maple sap was spewing out of the tree like a fire hose into a bucket under the mouth of the spigot. Then, in the last picture she was sparring with a small maple tree that had sparring mats in its branches, and a small woodburned plaque hung from the tree that said “Bloomberg.” Rainbow and Loo walked down the clean and shiny brick and linoleum floor to the boxing arena and took their corner. Loo heard this weird noise while she was in the ring, it sounded like ponies talking, Loo adopted a confused look and spun her head around. Then she noticed something. The stands were packed. Loo was amazed at the sheer number of ponies in the stands, eating popcorn, talking with themselves, and looked excited to see the fight. Rainbow sighed “Aahhh, the roar of the crowd, Loo you may be nervous now but, when it comes time for you to stop boxing, it will be the thing you miss most” Rainbow said with a hind of sadness in her eye. The crowd started to cheer when Loo opponent entered the room. Tree Hugger was dressed similar to her photos with bright red gloves on her hands. On her left shoulder she carried what only could be classified as her coach, a young Maple tree in a plant pot. When she reached the ring she set the tree down and reached inside of its branches. She then pulled out a sports bottle full of a thick brownish liquid, then drank from it like a small foal drinking the nectar of the gods, then she replaced the bottle in the branches and pulled out a white towel to clean the resulting mess on her face, when that was done she threw the towel over the tree and leaned in the speak to it “Okay Bloomberg, stay here and let me knock this hoser out and then we can go out for your favorite, Raw fish, Okay sugarcube?” Tree Hugger then patted the Little tree like a dog and climbed into the ring. As both Fighters sized each other up the ref walked into the middle of the ring. This ref was a tall broad stallion with a gray flat top. The Ref looked up as a microphone lowered from the collection of lights hanging above the boxing ring. He took it and pointed at Tree Hugger. “IIIInn this corner weighing 185 pounds, The Cold Canieghdian, The Sticky Syrup Sucker, Ladies and Gentalcolts Its TTTTTTTTRRRRRRREEEEEEEEE, HHUUGGGERRRRRR!!” The crowd cheered wildly as Tree Hugger bounced up and down with her gloves in the air. The Ref turned to Loo “ AAAAnnd in this corner, the new Minor Circuit Champion Weighing 107 pounds, The Scrawny Scamp, the Wimpy Warrior, the Tiny TKOer, LLLLLLITTLE LLLOOOOOOOO!” Loo sprang from her stool and lifted her gloves in the air, Which got a bit of a different response from the crowd. A collection of Boos erupted from the stands, with a few direct jeers such as, “NOT ONE ROUND! and HOPE YOU KNOW HOW TO TAKE A HUG! “Take a hug?” Loo asked out loud. “Shake it off kid, today is the day you prove yourself” Rainbow yelled. “May i please ask both fighters to enter the middle of the arena so we get this fight under way” The Ref finished before letting go of the microphone and letting ascend back up into the collection of lights overhead. Tree Hugger and Loo met each other. “Okay, keep it clean, and come out boxing, bump gloves and wait for the ding” The ref said then left the ring. Tree Hugger bumped gloves with Loo nicely and actually gave her a warm smile. *Ding! “Need a hug Sugarcube?” Tree Hugger Shouted. “What?” Loo asked, confused. Tree Hugger shot forward and snached Loo into a tight embrace, a really tight embrace, a really really tight embrace. Loo eyes bulged and she shouted out as she felt every single one of her bones bend under pressure. Tree Hugger dropped Loo who landed on her feet. Huggar laughed and Loo struggled to get her guard up on account the hug made her so sore. “Like hugs huh? Okay i like em to” Loo Said to herself. Tree Hugger let loose and powerful overhead hook. Loo dodged it easily. “Hoser!” Tree Hugger shouted in frustration. Loo Smiled and threw a right jab into her face, Hugger quickly recovered and threw a series of quick jabs. Loo blocked the jabs, This made Tree hugger furious. “Need another Hug sugarcube?” Tree Hugger roared shooting her arms out for another hug. Loo was ready for them, she ducked just before her arms could wrap around her, Tree Hugger’s arms impacted her chest “Huh?” She asked confused. Loo then put her foot on Tree Hugger’s folded arms and jumped above her head, then brought down a devastating overhead hook on Tree Hugger’s head. Then Loo sat on Tree Huggers shoulders and began pummeling her head. “Oh trying to get higher ground on me eh? You better be ready for a ride!” Tree Hugger yelled beneath Loo punches. Then Tree Hugger began jumping up and down and thrashing all over the ring in effort to shake Loo off her shoulders. Loo hung on for dear life, she knew this would be her only chance to take her down, Loo quickly looked around trying to find something to use to her advantage. Loo looked up, then she got an idea. On one of Tree Huggers particularly high jumps Loo grabbed the scaffolding of the collection of lights above the boxing ring, Loo used the momentum of the jump to force Tree Hugger's head into the lights. A fantastic explosion erupted from the lights as all the bulbs shattered with a collection of deafening pops. both boxers fell to the ground, both Tree Hugger and Loo landed on their feet, Loo faced Tree Hugger who just stood there dazed, Loo whipped back her signature uppercut, then let it loose right below Tree Huggers jaw. The crowd broke their silent astonishment as they cheered wildly when previous favorite flew out of the ring in flash of Rainbows and landed outside of the ring with a crunch. The ref took two steps out, waved his hands and yelled “TKO.” The crowd went wild for the newcomer, Loo basked in it, Rainbow was right if she ever stopped boxing, she would miss this. As Loo stood their with her hands in the air, her victory was disheartened when she noticed the sound of faint sobbing coming from the other end of the ring. Loo walked up to investigate, she saw Tree Hugger on her knees sobbing. “Hey, what's wrong? did i break something?” Loo asked. Tree Hugger just nodded her head and turned to reveal what was in her hands. It was the young maple tree, it was obvious Tree Hugger landed on it when she fell out of the ring, several branches were broken, and the pot holding him was smashed to bits. “Bl,...bloo,...bloomberg” Tree Hugger managed to blubber out. Loo felt a twang of pity for the boxer, and a bit of guilt for the tree, she went back to her corner of the ring,removed her gloves, dug threw her bag and took out a spare shirt and a roll of boxing tape. Loo climbed out of the ring and went down to the tree, she gathered the dirt to the tree’s roots and wrapped her shirt around it and secured it with boxing tape, then both Loo and Tree Hugger mended the broken branches with the boxing tape. When they finished Tree Hugger displayed her tree proudly, she gave the tree a hug and looked down at Loo. “Thanks kid, you wanna join me and Bloomberg for some fish? i know a place that sell em really fresh!” Tree Hugger offered. “No thanks, thats alright” Loo said as kindly as she could. Tree Hugger just shrugged and turned to leave with the tree in her hands. Loo felt a hand touch her shoulder she looked up to see dash with a proud look on her face. “That, that was pretty righteous” Rainbow said with a smile.