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Chapter 2

The Return of the Strong Ones

By: HockeyPony

Chapter 2

“Wake up dirt. Today we start your training.” Said Rock. Big Mac grumbled and got out of the bed in the guest room. “Now, first rule of training: You are going to hate me and I will not be your friend. Other than that, training is pretty straight forward. Follow me, we’re going for a little run.” Big Mac grabbed the book that contained the warriors spirit and walked out the door. Big Mac noticed that it was early in the day the sun had not even been risen by Celestia yet.

“So what are we starting on?”

“Didn’t you hear me dirt? I said we’re going on a run. Well more of a race really. you’re going to race the fastest person that you know of.”

“I mean your friend Rainbow Dash, of course. Mighty fine mare if you ask me.”

“I wasn't asking you though.” Big Mac immediately regretted saying this as a wall of wind smashed into his chest, dead center. Big Mac was more prepared for this attack than the gust that he had been hit with last night, so he didn't go flying this time but it still stung.

“Soon you will learn your place, and soon you will rise above it.” Big Mac got up and kept walking until they reached the area below Rainbow Dash’s cloud home.

“There is no way that she is awake at a time like this. Even then how will we get up there?”

“Dirt, what did I say about talking?”

“Uh, nothing?”

“Good! That’s the amount of talking I want you to do unless spoken to!” Then the ghost flew up to the window of the cloud house and poked his head in.

“GHOST!” Yelled the familiar voice of Rainbow Dash as she came blasting out of the opposite side of the house.

“Miss Rainbow Dash, I have a proposition for you.” Said Rock to the startled and scared Rainbow Dash, “I have a strong connection to princess Celestia and the Wonderbolts.” At the mention of her idols, Rainbow calmed down enough to listen to the floating stallion.

“So... all I have to do is race Big Mac through the Everfree Forest for the day and I get a letter of recommendation to the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow Dash summed up after listening to Rock’s proposal.

“Only if you win. But here's the catch: you can fly, he can’t.” Rainbow nodded and flew down to where Big Mac was sitting and waiting for them.

“Listen up! The race will last for the rest of the day,” Rock explained as Big Mac stood up and got ready to run. “The finish line will be at the old castle in the Everfree Forest. Do you understand?” Both of the contestants nodded as they turned to face the road leading to the Everfree Forest.

Rock landed in front of the two ponies who were tense with anticipation.

“Go.” Both of the ponies rocketed off towards the forest. Rainbow Dash was getting a quick lead on Big Mac, and unfortunately for Big Mac, Rainbow Dash was soaring ahead of him in the trees and didn’t have to circumvent the heavy foliage. Big Mac could only hope to catch up in the sparser parts of the forest. He could never overtake Rainbow, only keep up to her.

This continued for hours as Big Mac would find a small clearing and use all of his strength to keep up and then fall further behind the next time. He was now to the point that if he fell behind any further he would lost sight of Rainbow and then get lost. ‘This is impossible,’ thought Big Mac. ‘How is an earth pony supposed to keep up with a flying pegasus?’

Big Mac slowed down and stopped, watching Rainbow fly off into the distance. It had been hours since the two of them had started their race.

“Why are you stopping?” Asked Rock as he appeared in front of Big Mac. “Are you done for today? It’s only been eight hours and we still have two more to go.”

“This race is impossible.”

“Are you saying that I am unfair?”

“Eeyup.” With a crack of thunder a bolt of lightning struck Big Mac squarely in the side, knocking him into a nearby tree. Big Mac stood up quickly, only to see a fireball flying right at him. He dodged to the right but his tail was still caught in the blaze singeing the end. A second fireball was launched at him this one causing him to jump to dodge it.

“Got you.” Rock muttered. A gust of wind slammed into Big Mac from below, launching him through the treetop. Gravity resumed normal operation shortly after, and Big Mac started falling, hitting branches and leaves on his way down until he finally met the ground with a thick thud.

Big Mac couldn’t move a muscle, he felt absolutely exhausted. All he could do was lay there and breathe.

“How does it feel, dirt? Do you like the feeling of failure? Let me tell you one thing, if you give up again I will be far less pleasant. Tell me, can you feel your legs at all?” Big Mac grunted a no to the ghost. “Lightning does that, it scrambled your nervous system. You will get motor control back within an hour or so, but for now I want you lay there and become one with the dirt. Learn to hate this feeling of being able to do nothing.” That’s what Big Mac did. He sat there and imagined himself as dirt for the last hours of the day until he could get up and walk home. He would never give up again, this was for sure.

________________________

“You worthless maggot!” Rock had continued to yell at Big Mac “If you can’t summit this mountain, your punishment will be ten times what I did to you when you couldn’t out run that rainbow pegasi! Do I make myself clear?!” Big Mac could only grunt. He was not only climbing the tallest mountain in the Ponyville region, he was also carrying the rock formerly known as Tom. Rock was also tagging along on his back in the form of a big black dragon-leather book. The past few weeks had been the hardest of his life so far. The first week had been the worst when he would be presented with with seemingly impossible task that only could be done with magic or pure strength. Unfortunately for big mac he had not yet tried the first option so he was doomed to make the impossible possible every day for tree weeks now.

“What are you doing? Are we slowing down?” Said the ghost,

“No!” Big Mac Interjected.

“Was that a request for a lightning bolt I heard? I think it was!” At this Big Mac grunted again and moved at twice the original speed he was going at. Big Mac reached the top of the mountain and stopped to admire his surroundings.

“Now you go down. You have an hour.”

“What? That's impossible!”

“Alright, smartass, now you have half an hour! Get going!” WIth an explosion of fury, Big Mac threw the boulder off the mountain and bucked the ghostly pony right in the face, only for his hooves to go flying through what would have been his face.

“So that’s how you want this to go. Wish granted.” The ghost replied with a sneer, then he reared back on his hind legs and then struck the ground at Big Mac’s hooves, sending him flying toward the edge of the cliff.

Big Mac stood, every muscle screaming at him to stop, but he couldn’t. He had to show this foolish old pony what real strength was, and with nothing but a grunt he tensed all of his muscles, silencing their defiance. He took a step forward, imagining tearing into Rock with all his might. At that very moment something extraordinary occurred, he felt a strange energy around him. Without knowing how, he started to absorb this energy.

Then in the moment that he wanted to release it at his foe a sharp pain shot through his body and he collapsed to the ground. The last thing that he could remember was Rock standing over him, smiling a triumphant smile at him.

________________________

“What happened to him?” Twilight exclaimed, “What did you do to him this time?”

“I did nothing to him,” Replied Rock, “He did this to himself.” The normally proud stallion looked like he had been through hell. He had cuts and bruises all over his body. Most of them were very shallow but there was the occasional gash that looked like a knife wound. Big Mac was passed out on the floor as Twilight was trying to desperately heal the broken Earth pony.

“You can't heal those wounds with magic, Twilight.” Said Rock, “Those were created by pure magical energy, the only way they will heal is with time.”

“But if I don't do anything, he will be scarred for life! I have to do something!” Twilight was desperately looking for ways to heal Big Mac, but she just couldn’t find any that worked. She turned around and saw that the ghost was now standing right in front of her, staring down at her. She looked back at him for a few seconds and then he materialised again in front of Twilight, this time with no armor.

“I was never touched by an enemy's claws or sword.” Twilight was in shock, this stallion was covered in scars similar to those that Big Mac would gain if she couldn't heal his wounds. “He just needs to heal.”

Twilight had never seen this from Rock until now. He was acting as if Big Mac was a little brother that need to be taken care of instead of the piece of dirt that he had been treating him like for the past month.

“Er... Rock, what caused those cuts?”

“He broke the barrier.” He replied quietly, “He was too tired and had no idea what he was doing, but that is what we all have to go through. You can't be shown how to break the barrier, but you can be pushed to the edge. When he broke the barrier, he was attempting to kill me.”

“What?! No, Big Mac would never do that! He would never try and kill somepony, even if they were a ghost."

“I'm sorry Twilight, but that's how the training works. I trained him to hate me with every fiber of his being until he tried to strike me down. If a normal earth pony had tried to do that, they would have died. Fortunately for him he was able to open the door, but once he did, he was flooded with magic power with no way to release it, so the magic turned on him and. Some ponies burst into flames, some are electrocuted, and some are frozen where they stand. The lucky ones are shredded by wind that acts like knives from all angles, that's what happened to me.”

Twilight sat there, stunned. She had been attacked by this stallion earlier and now she was feeling bad for him. It was obvious that he had gone through hell, and now her question had been answered. That book had not only gone through wars and centuries of pain and suffering, but the stallion inside had gone through the same, as well as seeing his friends and comrades die in battle as he lived on in the pages of a book.

Seeing the look of pity on Twilight’s face, Rock stood up, looked at twilight and scoffed, “You unicorns. So in touch with everything yet so oblivious to what’s happening around you.” and then he disappeared.

________________________

Big Macintosh woke up three days later feeling nothing but numbness in his whole body. everything seemed to move in slow motion around him as he sat up to survey his surroundings.

“Hey look everypony, he’s finally awake!” Yelled the familiar voice of the ghost. With the same smug flair that he always used around Big Mac he disappeared as Twilight and Applejack ran in. Big Mac couldn't quite put his hoof on it but something felt off about the way everything was going on. Twilight rushed up to Big Mac before his sister could get to him.

“Oh thank goodness you're awake. Now, don't sit up just yet, I have to do some quick operations.” At this Big Mac finally noticed that he had an I.V. drip in his right arm and fresh scars all over his body.

“What happened to you, big brother!?” Applejack exclaimed.

“I... I don’t know. I really couldn't tell you what happened before I woke up here. All I remember was a sharp pain all over my body, then I woke up here.”

“Well, I have to go take care of the farm.” She said with a bit of a sigh.”Glad to know that you're okay, and that your trainin’ or whatever ya call it is doin’ good for ya. I’ll see you later big brother, I have some apples to buck.” Applejack turned to walk out of the library.

“Isn't she just a little spitfire.” Said Rock as he materialised in front of the two ponies remaining.

“What’re you sayin’ ‘bout my sister?” Said Big Mac with a grumble of irritation.

“Nothin’, big boy just saying your sister has a bit of an air to her is all.” Rock had chosen those words specifically to piss Big Mac as much as he could at the present moment.

“If I wasn't so out of it, I would kick your flank in, ya hear?” Big Mac knew he had no way to back up this statement but there was something nice about talking back to the ghost that made him feel like he was still in control.

“Settle down, both of you!” Twilight yelled. Both of the stallions continued to glare at each other as Twilight slid the bandages off of Big Mac’s arms and legs.

“What happened to me?!”

“Settle down, I need to change your bandages!” Twilight said, irritated as she was thrown off by Big Mac sitting up to inspect his injuries.

“Well, dirt, you did something rather amazing for an earth pony. Too bad you didn’t know what to do after that, and you ended up with those scars all over your body. They’re permanent, by the way.” Big Mac started looking around wildly trying to get out of his bed and tear his bandages off.

“No, Big Mac, stop! It’s too soon, you need to heal more!”

“Uh oh, there he goes! Good luck getting him back in bed, Twilight.” Rock disappeared as Big Mac sat up. He fell off his bed, landing on Twilight with a solid thunk. Big Mac stood up, and everything was blurry as he started to walk towards a mirror, tearing off the bandages covering his body.

“Twilight, I'm sorry if I hurt you when I landed on you.”

“It’s okay Big Mac, I just need you to-” Twilight stopped mid-sentence to gasp as Big Mac passed out on the floor. “Buck, now what am I going to do with you?”

________________________

When Big Mac came to, it was late night, and Twilight was passed out in the chair next to him. Big Mac stood up trying to not wake the mare that was snoring softly at his side. He wobbled a little as he stood up, trying to gain his balance. After getting it, he walked out to the main room of the library where Rock’s book lay on the central table.

“So you heal quickly.” Came the eerie voice of the ghostly stallion. He suddenly appeared in front of Big Mac. “I know what you want to know. But you’d better not pass out this time.” Big Mac nodded, every muscle in his neck aching from this simple gesture. “Alright then, follow me. We wouldn't want to wake our gracious host.” The ghost settled next to Big Mac and set a slow pace as they headed outside. “Seems the nights have become more beautiful, now that Princess Luna is back. I was there with Princess Celestia when she tried to take over the palace in her youth. I was there when she was banished. I could see the tears streaming off of Celestia’s face as she banished her sister.”

“What happened on the mountaintop?” Big Mac strained to say out of breath even from the slow pace that they were walking.

“We lost three of our remaining six.” Rock continued, ignoring the question, “In that battle we held off thousands of Nightmare Moon’s blackguards, only to have her banished. If I had the chance, I would have killed her then and there, but I couldn’t because it was the Princesses’ battle.” Those words rolled off his tongue with a large amount of disgust and hate. “I did my duty as a soldier of Equestria. That is your duty from here on out.” Rock stopped walking as they settled down near the fountain in Ponyville park. Big Mac rested himself against a tree trying his best to relax and listen to the ghost.

“Now I will tell you what happened at the top of the mountain and what this means for you. You broke the magic barrier in an attempt to strike me down. Those scars are from the pure magical energy that you absorbed attacking your own body. When you broke the barrier, you were suddenly flooded with magical energy. You didn't know what to do with this energy, so your body released it all at once. Unfortunately for us, our form of magic is volatile and dangerous. Where a unicorn would have thrown objects across a room, or turned a quill into a cactus the energy turned into knives of wind.”

“Okay so I can do magic now?” Said Big Mac

“No. All you can do now is tap into the magic energies around you. This is the first step to learning magic but it is in no way the hardest.”

“...So I have more training after this?”

“You have a lifetime’s worth of training ahead of you.”

“You told me that you were going to tell me what this meant for me and how it would affect my life more than it already has.”

“Yes,” the ghost replied, face grim, “You are no longer a pony. You are a tool, a weapon in the hoof of Equestria. Your life as you knew it is over.”

“What if I don’t agree to this?” Said Big Mac, trying to sound as threatening as he could, even though breathing and walking were laborious.

“You don’t get a choice. Hate it as much as you want, you are now both an asset and a threat to all pony-kind. It’s your turn to defend Equestria, as all those who came before did, and you will do it without fail. Do you understand me?!” Big Mac could only nod in agreement. “Good. Now, get back to bed, and don’t wake Twilight. Your training resumes as soon as you’re finished healing.” Rock faded away and Big Mac made his way back through the night to the library.

________________________

Equestrian Times

Ponies Gone to Pasture

Due to unknown recent events, ponies living in the U.G.R have been seizing the property of ponies and deporting mares and foals. It is unknown what happened to the stallions as one witness who arrived back in equestria today tells us of the horrifying actions of the U.G.R. “We were woken up in the middle of the night. Several G.R.B. agents were forcing us out of our homes with little more than the clothes on our backs. When we got outside they forced the men and even some of the older boys into the back of heavily guarded carts.” No stallions of the age 16-35 have arrived from the U.G.R. and we can only fear the worst. Princess Celestia has made a public statement on this issue: “This is an outrage. The overtly hostile actions against ponies of their own country is evidence of their more recent aggressive actions against Equestria. I am forbidding all commerce and travel to the United Griffon Republics for the safety of our state.” Along with this, the Princess commented on the possibility of war on the horizon for the reason that stallions of age are being held in the U.G.R. “I am not going to thrust my country into war. We are not ready, and have been at peace for far too long to throw it away, but I will begin registration for a voluntary defence force. This defence force will be headed by Commander Stone Wall and will only be for the defence of equestria.” We will continue to follow this story as much as we can but troubling events are causing equestria to form a standing army in the first time in 600 years.

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