//------------------------------// // 37: Battle-Born Friends // Story: The Games We are Forced to Play // by Kablam Pony //------------------------------// Connor “Aw, Duck!” Connor complained, “I didn’t think she was actually being serious about the whole party thing!” “Come on!” Applejack cheered, “Everypony at the party is waiting for us!” She bounded in through the doors and a cheer sounded out as she disappeared inside. Connor really, really didn’t want to do this; he was still ticked off from the events at the competition and wanted stay away from public eyes right now. He didn't want to test how long he could keep up a fake smile at a party before he broke and stormed off again; but it didn’t look like Connor had much of a choice at the moment. He was already here and Applejack was expecting him to follow in behind her, so he was just going to have to suffer for a little bit more before he could seclude himself again from the world or sleep off the rest of the night. “Alright, I can do this,” he told himself, “I can make it through one party without seeming like an bass; I just need to put on a smile and pretend to be fine. Just put on a good show for a little bit longer and then I can get out of here.” He exhaled one last time before taking a step forward to the saloon doors. He pushed the doors open to find the first floor of the Inn packed with ponies. The volume jumped several decibels higher as music, voices, laughter, and hoofsteps all fought for dominance in the muggy, sweat smelling room. Competitors circled around each other exchanging congratulations and swapping sides of stories about their own matches. A lot of them still wore their goggles and saddle bags from the competition and a few didn’t even bother to wash the paint or blue powder from their fur. Connor thought he might get lucky and be able to avoid most of these ponies tonight when Braeburn appeared from the hordes of loud ponies and crushed his hopes. “Connor! Weclome to the End-Of-Competition party! Glad you could make it!” he shouted over the noise, “Come over here, the rest of everypony are at a table! By the way, congratulations on your win!” “Thanks!” Connor yelled back as he and Braeburn pushed their way through the bodies. The table Braeburn spoke of was near left side of the first floor next to window overlooking the market place. They maneuvered through a few more crowds and around a couple of tables before they sat down at a round table where everypony was seated. “Howdy everypony! Look what the cat dragged in 'n finally showed up!” Connor smiled as everyone else cheered and whooped at the announcement of his arrival. He sat down in one of the few empty seats with Pinkie pie next him on his left while Applejack and Twilight were off to his right. “Woo, way to go, Connor!!” Pinkie slugged Connor’s shoulder as he sat down, “That was the most super-ific flying I have ever seen in a while! Except for Rainbow Dash; she’s always doing the most amazingly, daringly, devilish tricks ever!” “Thanks Pinkie, it was one heck of match for me.” “Well you certainly earned yourself a celebration!” Rarity piped in from across the table, “You most definitely earned a break for tonight.” Connor smiled again at the praise from everypony and swung his gaze to the left. He accidentally locked eyes with Rainbow Dash slowly nursing a mug in front of her. His smile faltered and he frowned disapprovingly at her. She retorted with her own glower, but didn’t say anything and went back to her mug. He didn’t say anything either, but his happy mood didn’t come back when he finally moved on to look at other things. “Well, have fun everypony!” Braeburn cheered to fill the empty silence between everypony, “This party is to celebrate y'all competitors today and to cheer'em on to the next round. So relax, have a few drinks, and enjoy! I need to talk with some of the pony officials about the competition schedule; don’t have too much fun now, you hear?” He waved goodbye as he maneuvered his way to the front doors again. Connor waved back; “You know, I’m actually going to go get myself a few drinks.” Turning back to the group he stood up, “I’ll see you all later!” He smiled as he left for the bar and started picking his way through the sea of Pegasus ponies. He overheard snippets of conversations about who did this move and which scored this point as he passed by some of the crowds. But he didn’t feel like stopping and mingling that much right now and just wanted to stay anonymous amongst the crowds. He spotted an empty stool in the middle of the bar counter and made a bee line for it. The bar tender pony approached him just as Connor sat down. “What can I getch'ya?” “Just a water, thanks!” Connor called back over the noise and rested his elbows on the counter. Today had been a roller coaster of ups and downs for him and right now, being able to drink away his time felt like the best thing to do even if it was only with plain water. But just as he was getting comfortable, another pony sat down to his right. “Howdy there, partner!” he drawled. Connor glanced out of the corner of his eye to see a white Pegasus wearing a black vest and a flamboyant pink cowboy hat. “You were one of them fliers in today's little competition right?” “Yeah, I was competing today...” Connor vaguely answered as his drink was placed in front of him; he nodded at the bar tender pony and brought the generous shot glass up for a sip. “I think I remember seeing you flyin' up there, yeah! You were going up against that youn' gun, Sour Patch right? Hoo-Wee! That was some impressive flyin' there kid! Hey, how 'bout I buy your next drink for ya; hey bar tender!” he waved to the pony behind the counter, “Another round here me and my friend here!” Connor groaned on the inside as the drink in his hooves hovered just before his lips. “Hey man, you don't need to do that-” “Oh, don't worry about it! In this town, nopony drinks alone! I insist that I buy you your next drink as a job well done!” “No, seriously, you don't need to do that. I'm fine as it is.” Connor's voice dropped to a more serious tone. He was getting impatient with this guy and wanted him gone soon. “Hey now, listen here,” the random pony's voice dropped to match Connor's seriousness, “I want to buy you a drink. That was some darn tootin' flyin' out there and I want to help congratulate you on winning and my way is going to be buying you a drink.” The bar tender swung by and dropped off two fresh drinks that didn't look like water; they looked and fizzled more like root beer or something. Connor dropped his glass with a heavy clink! “listen here numb-buts, I appreciate the offer of you buying me a drink but right now, I don't need you or some other idiot trying to chauffeur me around on how to have a good time. Right now, I would just like to have my one drink in peace. And later, if I want another one, I'll let you know! But right now, just hiss, off...!” Connor narrowed his eyes at the pony to drive his point home before dropping the conversation and raising his right hoof to take a shot. These ponies in this town just don't know how to let somepony be sometimes and always have to butt into other ponies business. A splash of sugary smelling liquid hit his face from the right. “Alright, that's it!” His anger exploded again like a volcano. He raised his right arm for cover and twisted in his seat to throw a left hook at the pony's face. His hoof connected solidly on the guy's jaw before the drink Connor dropped had hit the table. The pony spun out of his seat and fell heavily on the ground, knocked out. Connor stared at the pony on the ground the rest of the world disappearing in a red haze. A punch blind sided across the right side of his face and he stumbled out of his chair. He growled at the new attacker; an orange pony with sickly green hair who looked ready for a fight. Connor retaliated with flurry of punches. Two jabs, a cross; he spotted an opening below as the new pony was distracted with blocking. Connor ducked low then popped back up with a nasty uppercut and a battlecry escaping his mouth. The satisfying sound of clacking teeth rang through his ears and it delighted him! A second fighter barreled in and tackled Connor from his left side. The two slammed into the bar counter jostling Connor's senses. He snarled again like an angry wolf and twisted in his crushing prison to drop an elbow onto the pony squeezing him. The previous pony took the opportunity of Connor being distracted to regain his balance after the uppercut. He reached back behind him to grab something off the counter, then rushed forward for another attack. Glass shattered against Connor's right face. He buckled a bit, but fought to hold on to his footing. Pain and liquids ran down the side of his face, but he shrugged it off. He dropped another elbow down on the pony pinning him. The strike landed on the spine and his pinner buckled under the electrical shock he received. Connor twisted again in the loosened grip and pried a gap enough to throw a few well-placed punches to the side of the pony's face. He felt some vibrations bouncing off of his back like someone was trying to get his attention, but he ignored them; right now, the pony in front of him was his current prey. A stray punch from somewhere caught Connor in the nose. He threw his head back and snorted as every fluid from his face started running and blinding him. He stumbled then fell backwards onto his back trying to shake the snot, tears, and blood clear. Something hit him in the gut getting a grunt out of him. He instinctively put his guard back up again as more and more strikes rained down from above. The blows bounced off his guard as he tried to recover; if Connor could just regain some strength and get his bearings, he could come back to the fight and finish it. “THAT'S ENOUGH Y'ALL!!!” Sounds of more fighting came through the grunts of ponies trying to pound down on Connor. For some reason, the punches were fading away. What was going on out there? Suddenly, a strong hoof grabbed him by the neck and hauled him up dragging him across the floor. Connor swung blindly at the assailant man-handling him, but the vice like grip just tightened itself around him like iron clamps. He couldn't see anything so he kept swinging and swinging as the pony pulled and twisted him around the room. He heard doors being kicked open and the sounds of city night life filled his ears. Just has he registered what kind of sounds were hitting him, he felt his head being picked up and flipped upside down. Everything disappeared in a rush of cold water and pain shot through the top of his head. He flailed about and tipped forward again. His neck was bent backwards over an edge and he tumbled out of the water trough outside the Inn sputtering in shock and soaking wet. “You can just cool yourself off in th' river and when yer ready to act like some normal pony, ya can come back!!” Connor whipped his aching neck and head around to see Applejack storm off back into the Inn. His anger flared again; “FINE! DUCK ALL OF YOU GUYS!! You couldn't even handle a real beer even if you wanted too!!” Connor kicked and scuffed at the ground before letting a scream out. “COD, SPAM IT!!!” He stomped off to leave all the stupid ponies behind. If he couldn't go back in, then he didn't need to be there; he didn't want to go to that stupid party anyways. ~~~ What, a, mess. Applejack was fuming as she stepped back inside to assess the damage done. The three ponies involved in Connor's fight were slowly being picked off the ground. Twilight was tending to the one with a broken jaw from Connor's uppercut that was heard more than seen and Fluttershy was looking over the other two now sitting on the ground. Chairs and tables had been kicked out of the way from the fight and the one glass that had been broken was currently being swept up. The smell of sweat, blood, sarsaparilla, and foul angers hung around in a repugnant cloud mixture that wafted all throughout the first floor of the Inn. It was clear to say that the party had taken a bad turn. Applejack marched up to one of the ponies sitting on the ground where Fluttershy was placing a small bag of ice on his eye. “What in the name of Celestia, Luna, and all of Tarturus happened here?!” She demanded. “The snobby city slicker thought he was too good for my drink!” “What city slicker, Buck?” Applejack asked but she felt she already knew who he was talking about. The pony named Buck (or Bucky to his friends) answered while throwing a weak hoof at the door. “That blue feather plucker with the city boy mane-cut! I tried to offer him a drink, but he just wouldn't take it and say thanks! Said he just wanted to, 'Have my one drink in peace'! The smug stump-head... Ow!” While Buck sat there tending to his wounds, a bolt of realization struck Applejack and she facehoofed. How could she have forgotten one of the most basic rules in Appleloosa! It just seemed so natural to her that she never even bothered to tell any of her friends about it because all of her friends were free spirited and courteous to other ponies. When somepony offers you a drink in Appleloosa, you never turn it down; its just down right disrespectful! Just then, the saloon doors were kicked open again and Applejack groaned to herself as Braeburn's angry voice echoed over the bustle of hushed whispers and work of ponies fixing the Inn. “I leave for a few minutes to talk and I come back to find a bar fight breaking out in the middle of a celebration; and its not even sundown! Cousin Applejack!” Braeburn stormed over to question her, “What in tarnation and Equestria happened here!?” “Now Braeburn,” Applejack raised a hoof reassuringly, “I know this may look bad, but I can promise ya my friends and I are takin' care everything and will be dealing with the pony responsible for this.” As much as she was angry at Connor, she didn't want Braeburn going after him too. “Darn tootin' they're going to fix this mess! I've been workin' my flank off tryin' ta set this here tournament up an' I didn't want it smudged with a bar fight! Who was this pony!? What's their name!? I'm going to find him and have him apologize for this!” “See, here's the problem,” Applejack grimaced, “Its Connor who started this and-” “Connor?!” Braeburn cut off, “You mean that really nice pony you brought with you? I never pegged him for somepony who would start fights!? Why that no good, cheap talkin', thrill seekin', troublemaker! Where is he!?” Braeburn turned to the door but was stopped by a hoof from Applejack. “Cousin, what are you doin'? I need to go find this pony and have him right his wrongs!” “He will, Braeburn! But right now we cant go after'em!” “And why's that, cousin!?” Applejack froze at Braeburn's question. She had to pick her words carefully or this could go south real fast. she was afraid of what Braeburn might do to him; throw him in prison? Force him to work off the damages? Whip him? It was something that she might do if Applejack was in Braeburn's position and had to deal with a violent bar fight on a night of celebration. The cogs turned in her head when an idea came. “Braeburn, how do you catch a worm from destroying apples?” “What are you tal-” “How do ya stop a pesky worm from eatin' all your apples in a basket?” she repeated. “Why, you bait it with an apple and catch the darn thing there, but what does this have to do with Connor?” “If ya want to catch Connor, you have to let'em come to you. If you chase after him, he'll scatter to the winds like an apple leaf. But if Connor is the worm, then his bed is the apple! He's gonna be dead tired after tonight and will wanna hit the hay soon. So if you wait until he comes back, then you can get'em there!” Braeburn snorted in anger while he rolled Applejack's words around in his head. After some silent debating he came back with his decision. “Fine then, we'll try it your way; we'll let the worm come to the apple. But if Connor leaves town-!” “He won't, Braeburn. I promise Connor wont leave; he'll come back before the cows come home.” Braeburn narrowed his eyes at Applejack, but stayed silent. He wheeled around and marched out the door leaving Applejack on the floor. She let a tense sigh slide out. She hoped this plan would buy enough time to let Connor calm down and hopefully find him before Braeburn did. ~~~ Connor hated Murphy's law; it usually came at the worst possible moments to make anything good turn bad. He was having such a good day in the beginning then everything started to go down hill after the competition. For some reason, whenever Connor felt like he was having a good day (or a great day for that matter), Murphy came by and dumped a bucket of garbage on him and leave him with wanting nothing more than to see the world around him burn in a fiery blaze. This was one of those days. Connor stormed down the street giving every pony that looked his way a glare that he hoped would set them aflame and melt them into a pool of goop. Every colorful building he passed he imagined burnt down with hell-flame and stamping on the ashy remains. Pain was throbbing throughout his limbs and a roaring headache was ringing his ears like church bells. He could still feel a trickle of blood running down the side of his right face and he raised a hoof to pick at the shards of glass still wedged in the side of his face; but without fingers all he could do was poke and prod painfully at the sharp pieces stuck there. He tried to blow the snot and blood clogging his nose out which made a mess everywhere on his hooves and down his front. He just growled and ground the mess with dirt from the road. Great, now he was in pain and he was a snotty, bloody, dirty mess. Fan-jucking-tastic. “Hey!” Connor shot a low glare in the direction of the calling and spotted an annoyingly sour green pony wearing a cowboy hat. He quickly wished a thousand deaths upon the pony before continuing on his march out of town. “Whoa there, city boy!” Sour Patch called as he matched Connor's angry pace, “What's got you in a stampede? Did a pretty little mare turn ya down and give you the what-for when you kept pushin'?” Sour Patch laughed. “Eat Fish and Die!” He snapped back. “Hey, what's your problem?! Do you always act like a bull on a rampage or do you just have those sudden city boy mood swings because you've been away for too long?” He sped up to look Connor directly in the face. Connor sped up even faster to try and lose him. “Do you always act like an idiot who cant take a hint when someone wants him to HUCK OFF!?” “Sweet cider, you're angrier than a filly throwing a tantrum over not getting her favorite lollipop at the sweet shop!” Sour Patch yelled as he chased after Connor. “And your dumber than a door knob who should go hang himself from one of his apple trees!!” Connor was in a full out run trying to get rid of his taunter. Connor was just outside the town limits as he tried to outrun his pursuer. He didn't want to deal with this nonsense right now and wanted it to just disappear. A body jumped on top of him trying to tackle him to the ground. “Raugh, dog ram it!!” He slowed and stumbled to a stop as the extra weight tried to throw him forward. On the rebound, Connor threw his left elbow over his shoulder. It connected and Sour Patch tumbled off his back. The two wheeled on each other, Connor tired but still able to fight and Sour Patch angry and clutching one of his eyes. They charged and swung blindly at each other. “You are so stupid, it is unbelievable!” Connor landed a blow on patch's head, “You are so stubborn its like talking to a brick wall!” another landed on his neck, “And I have to break it just to get my point across that I ducking hate you right now!” he shoved patch back, “I hate all of you right now!!” Sour Patch shoulder charged him and threw him back. “Grr, I wish you would all be burned alive at the stake while you watched your families being torn apart and fed to do-!” Sour Patch slugged him in the nose followed by another in the gut. Connor grunted in pain and brought his arms up to guard. “Don't you ever talk that way about the Apple family!” Sour Patch gave a mighty shove sending Connor back a few paces. “Say whatever you want about me, but I wont stand you disrespecting the family I love!” he swung left, then right throwing Connor teetering from the impacts. “And besides, all I want to ask was how you pulled that last move from our match!” Sour Patch rushed forward for another push, but Connor braced himself. The pair locked arms and grunted back and forth trying to overpower the other's strength. “But you're so hot headed, you cant tell when somepony sees that you need help!!” “RUCK!!” Sour Patch wheezed clutching his stomach as a knee flew up and knocked the wind out of him. Connor tossed his wheezing body to the side as he threw his arms up in the air, spun, and collapsed on his back panting and gasping for air. The pair laid there in the dirt together gasping like fish out of water. Connor was exhausted; he could barely move his body let alone be angry. He stared up into the night sky as the sweat beaded down his matted fur and a cool desert breeze swept by them. The wind carried the scent of serenity and peace of mind as the lands slumbered around them with the exception of the town. The air current seemed to carry away what little remained of the anger that was hanging between the two. Connor heard movement outside of vision. Sour patch was finally catching his breath as he sat up to glare at him. “What's got you so riled up like a rattlesnake being attacked by a coyote?” “Guck you,” Connor weakly threw back as tried to roll to his side away from Sour Patch. “Oh no, you're going to let the cat out of the bag and spill the apples right now!” Sour Patch pointed. “Fine, you want to know what's going on?” Connor sighed as he rolled back and star-fished out on the ground. “The pony who has been teaching me how to fly just competed today against some kid who looked like he just got the courage to fly against another pony in a tournament and used him like a practice dummy. I tried to blow up on her, but was stopped before I could get everything out; I just finished a bar fight over somepony offering me a drink and now I cant go back until who knows when and now I just finished fighting you!” Connor waved his arms about animating his long winded speech over each point until he let them drop back to the ground when he finished. There was a moment of silence as both ponies digested what was said. “You are a sad, angry, little pony...” “Go die in a hole,” Connor snapped back. “Go sit on some broken feathers and get infected.” “Go get rearly impaled by a unicorn horn!” “Go get bum-plugged by a herd of buffalo!” There was a snicker; then a chuckle. Then Connor burst into full stomach holding, leg kicking laughter! He had no idea why he found that last insult so funny, but he couldn't stop himself from rolling around in the dirt. Maybe it was how Sour Patch had said it with such venomous hostility and despise at him that it just sounded ridiculous. Sour Patch joined in on the laughs and the pair who were just trying to pulverize each other were now laughing like a couple of old friends. The laughter finally died down to a few lasting chuckles as the pair worked to catch their breath again. “Hoh hog, that was good... Why are you still here?” Connor asked without even looking. “Well the mares love a stallion who never gives up.” Sour Patch ran a hoof through his hair and grinned his signature grin. Connor laughed, “Shut up!” “Well, you had so much chili pepper in your eyes that I had to beat you out of your little rampage to see it clearly!” Connor rolled his eyes. “Whatever...” “So are you going to tell me?” “Hm? Tell you what?” Connor raised his head enough to look at Sour Patch. “That fancy move; the one you made at the end of our match.” “Oh, that one,” he let his head rest again, “Maybe...” “Come on! Tell me!” he egged, “How about a trade? You tell me how you pulled that move off and I'll tell you how I was able to keep you runnin' like a mouse the entire time?” “Bog, you're stubborn,” Connor muttered to himself, “Fine! I'll tell you.” “Hoo-Wee!” Sour Patch cheered and stood up, “How 'bout we do it over a few drinks?” “Fine,” Connor rolled over and slowly picked himself up, “I'm too tired to fight anymore anyways- good sod!” Connor laughed at Sour Patch, “You look like you tried to block a punch with your face! Your eye is already turning black!” Sour Patch laughed; “You look like you tried to fight the 'S' Gang with glass bottles and sticks!” “Who are the 'S' Gang?” Connor raised a curious brow. “I'll tell you over drinks.” “Cool, can we also get some food too? I'm starving right now...” the two continued their light hearted talk as they made their way back into town laughing and having a good time. ~~~ Connor sat staring out the train window with his chin in his hooves again sporting a new bandage on his face as he waited to depart for Ponyville. Last night had been crazy between the party, the fight, and Sour Patch. Connor had actually enjoyed himself after hanging out with Sour Patch. Connor found that he loved to egg him on trying to better each other over random things like drinking and shooting hay fries into cups. This lead to a lot of fun battles between the two. In between battles, they talked about funny stories, about each other, and little secrets they learned over time. Sour patch had actually spent the entire week trying to memorize every part of the canyons before the competition to get the upper hoof on everypony. After saying their goodbyes, Connor caught himself wondering if he was going to get another chance to hang out with Sour Patch again; despite his overly confident attitude, he was a pretty cool guy to be with. That's not to say that the night ended without its retributions. As soon as Connor walked through the door of his shared room at the Inn, Applejack was there to give him an earful and a smack across the back of the head along with everypony else; and boy did everypony have a lot to say to him. Twilight didn't say much as she was busying with pulling the glass shards out of his face, although she didn't have to as her violent and painful yanking of the shards out was clear enough on how she felt about the whole catastrophe. At breakfast, Braeburn burst through the shutter doors of the Inn with last night's victims leading the charge. After keeping the ponies back from starting another bar fight, Braeburn forced him to apologize to him and everypony else for ruining last night's party. Amongst the embarrassing apologies to each pony in the room, Connor thought this was a very light punishment to last's night brawl but he wasn't going to question it; if he wasn't going to jail, then he wasn't going to push it. Now he waited on his train car bed for the train to leave. While staring at the rustling crowds, he picked out Sour Patch looking at him with a large, shining, left black eye. He gave his cocky smile and tipped his hat. Connor returned the gesture with a smirk and a salute back. “Connor?” Connor turned around to see Twilight hovering over him. “Are you doing alright?” “Yeah, I'll be fine,” he gave a tired smile, “I'm just ready to get back to my bed and relax.” “Oh no you don't!” Rainbow Dash dropped into view from above and Connor's smile went sour. “We have a lot of training to do before the next round and we only got another week to do it! I need you up and ready to fly in every kind of bad weather condition possible!” “What are you talking about?” Connor asked coldly. “Well, after your little, dispute, at the bar,” Twilight narrowed her eyes at him, “There was an announcement made by one of the pony officials.” “Yeah, they said the next round of flying is going to be held in Canterlot!” Rainbow clapped her hooves, “And you know how the special condition here was that altitude limit thing? Well, there's rumors going around saying that Canterlot's going to have one too! And its supposed to be bad weather flying!” “Nothing has been confirmed yet,” Twilight pointed. “Well, whatever it is I want him ready for anything! Tomorrow, Nine o'clock, at the field, and ready to go! Don't be late!” Rainbow pointed at him before flying off. Connor grunted angrily but paused when he noticed a large white medical patch on her side that had been hidden before she turned. “Hey Twilight, what's up with that patch on Rainbow?” “Hm? Oh, that; Rainbow got injured during the fight trying to stop more ponies from hitting you.” “What?!” Connor tore his eyes from the Rainbow's patch, “She was fighting too?!” Twilight nodded. “Yes, she was.” “I thought she would have liked to see me get pummeled a bit...” “She's not as cold hearted as you may think. Rainbow Dash is one of the most loyal ponies I have ever known. She would jump into any fight to help a friend whether its against dragons or other ponies.” Connor turned back to watch Rainbow start talking it up with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy stunned by the new information. “I know you may still be upset with her, but please don't take it too seriously. She really is a good pony and a friend.” Twilight left Connor staring off into space lost in his thoughts. He watched Rainbow Dash bounce in excitement over what might to come for the competition in Canterlot and how she was going to win again. He watched for a few more seconds before turning his gaze out the window again to think.