A set of challenges was made using whatever Hondo Flanks, Cookie Crumble, and anypony who wished to donate some things for a new, kinda small but still large competition, if that made any sense. During the week, both sides prepared for the various events that may be present. Twilight Velvet was on Bow HotHoof’s tail for the majority of the training, using the cheapest equipment and using them to the nth degree. Were it not for Bow wanting to win and beat his ‘cheater’, the first day of exercising would’ve been his last day. Meanwhile, Bright Mac’s did his chores, which doubled as his exercises, gave Igneous Rock a tour of the farm, and did his best to get ready for the competition. Igneous Rock helped Bright Mac out by serving him some of his family’s recipes, all involving rocks… which didn’t suit well for Bright Mac, for chewing, indigestion, and… well, we’ll leave that one out. Point is, it wasn’t that pleasant.
The day had arrived, and both competitors were ready for the series of challenges.
“Go Bowie!” Windy Whistles cheered for her boyfriend in her outfit. “Show him what you’re made of of!”
“Go Macie!” Pear Butter cheered, also wearing a cheerleader outfit. “Do your best!”
“Really? That’s what you’re going with?”
“Well, of course. He’s still a winner to my eyes.”
“Until he’s a loser, that is.” The mares stared down at each other with fire in their eyes.
Both Bright Mac and Bow Hot Hoof stared down at each other, just a few feet away from each other. Hondo Flanks stood next to the two, blowing a whistle and getting their attention.
“Alright you two,” he began. “I want a clean match. No cheating is allowed, whatsoever. I have a series of challenges you’ll both need to complete with a minute water break between them all. But, let’s try to have some fun, alright?”
“Oh, I will,” Bow replied. “I’m going to enjoy making him eat dirt!”
“Well, I apologize in advance,” Bright Mac replied. “I already ate rocks, and I’m more than ready to win this here Iron Pony.”
“Alright, let’s see how you do in these contests.” Hondo Flanks spoke before whistling.
Well, as you can expect, a montage came afterwards, showing the various competitions, from the most pushups, Barrel hurdling, bucking something the hardest, wrangling, balancing, ECT. During this time, many ponies came along to see what was going on, forming a crowd, each pony rooting for their preferred Stallion. Amongst the crowd, Vipassana and Cloudy Quartz looked at the competition, both with somewhat confused on their faces.
“Is this some sort of fest?” Cloudy asked.
“I don’t know.” Vipassana replied. “What’s going on?”
“Bow Hot Hoof and Bright Mac are having themselves an ‘Iron Pony’ competition.” Twilight Velvet answered in a monotone voice. Both mares turned to see her reading a book about the pony mind. “They’re seeing who’s the best and everypony is putting bets on who will win in certain competitions and the whole thing in general.”
“Oh… that’s what this is about?”
“Yep. And Cumulus is over in that booth with Cookie Crumble.” Vipassana blushed hard.
“W-wha-!? I didn’t-”
“Keep telling yourself that.” And just like that, Twilight walked away, still reading her book.
“... I like her.” Cloudy said with a smile. “You gonna go ask your special somepony out?”
“Uh… I… uhh…” The mare stuttered.
Inside a booth, Cookie Crumble and Cumulus baked away the various cookies they were selling to the customers outside at a steady pace that wouldn’t make a mess.
“Your baking has gotten much better since the last time we’ve meet.” Cumulus commented, trying a cookie for himself.
“Aww, why thank you.” Cookie replied, pulling a fresh batch out of an oven before putting a new one in. “I had some help from Chiffon Swirl and Carrot Cake when I was testing out some new recipes. Who know Pear Cookies could taste so great?”
“I’m certain there’s going to be recipies considered strange, but can work.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Outside, Cloudy and Vipassana listened in.
“Seems he found his special Somepony.” Cloudy replied.
“No they haven’t!” Vipassana replied. “They’re… just friends. Yeah, just friends.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
---
“Come on Bowie, show us what you got!” Windy cheered, shaking the pom poms in her hooves. “Come on Bowie, show them that you’re hot!” Pear Butter rolled her eyes and took out her pom poms.
“Come on Mac, give him a whack! Lead that loser into the old shack!”
“Hey! My Bowie is not a loser! That’s your boyfriend.”
“Excuse me!? My Macie is NOT a loser! He’s a hard working, honest farmer like me, something that your Flat Hoof doesn’t have.”
“Oh! You’re gonna eat those words!” Both mares growled at each other fiercely with fire in their eyes.
---
Bright Mac and Bow HotHoof growled at each other as they pulled the rope in their tug of war. Surprisingly, it was a tie between the two, evenly matched, and this was both the final competition and tie breaker. On the sides, Igneous Rock and Night Light sweated hard.
“Come on, Bright Mac!” Igneous Rock yelled. “Thy spirit of Holder’s Boulder is with thee!”
“Pull, Hot stuff!” Night Light screamed. “Our bits are on the line here!”
Right behind them, the crowd of ponies cheered, evenly divided with half cheering “Bright Mac” and the other have cheering “HotHoof”. Hondo Flanks watched both of them, seeing just how an inch of the rope’s flag in the middle was constantly moving from one side to the other, with both stallions sweating their heads off. A shadow overhead wouldn’t make anypony worried, probably liked as a cool off, but a gust of wind followed it, catching all their attention. Twilight Velvet looked up from her book below the bleachers, feeling the gust of wind.
“... Did somepony run past me?” She asked to no one.
Both Vipassana and Cloudy Quartz hugged each other in fear.
“I-Is this n-n-normal?” Cloudy asked past her chattering teeth.
“N-No.” Vipassana replied. Inside the stall, both Cookie Crumble and Cumulus looked around with their waiting customers.
“... Sorry, we’re closed.” Cookie said, closing the stall. Cumulus turned off the ovens and packed all the cookies they had with in some boxes. The two left out of the back, looking to see what was overhead them.
Everypony around looked to the sky, unsure what happened. Both Bright Mac and Bow HotHoof looked around, unsure as to what just flew above them all. Their coaches, personal cheerleader, and the referee stood by the two stallions, looking around in fear.
“... Please tell me this is a cheat you did.” Bow Hot said.
“If I did, I would’ve pulled the rope.” Bright Mac replied. The sound of loud flapping, with heavy winds blowing, made the two turn to a silhouette of a figure in the nearby trees… a gigantic figure. It approached to the gather, each step shaking the floor under its weight. Without a word, 2 and 2 were put together, with the reveal that the being was a dragon! The dragon itself was a male, told by how bulky he looked, with dark red scales all over his body with a dark orange tint to his wings, small brown scales protruding out of his back, and a prong-like tip at the end of his tail. Only the wind blew as the ponies and the single dragon stared down at each other.
“... Boo.” The Dragon spoke in a low tone. Bow HotHoof let out a feminine scream, running away, followed by everypony running around, causing a panic. The dragon let out a bellow of a chuckle, taking a deep breath, and unleashing a tsunami of fire at everyone. The group of ponies ducked behind a boulder, feeling the heat, but didn’t burn, albeit, only the tips of their tails, manes, and Bright Mac & Ingeous Rock’s hats.
“What’s a dragon doing here!?” Igneous asked, batting the fire off his hat. “Don’t they live in their own land!”
“Most of them,” Night Light answered. “But some live in areas far away from civilizations. I guess he’s here to be a jerk.”
“Well I don’t need some jerk burning down our crops.” Bright Mac spoke, turning to see the dragon burning some trees down. “Oh shoot! We gotta stop him!”
“How?” Pear Butter asked. “He’s huge!”
“Hmm…” Bright Mac looked around, seeing past the panicking crowd, the cookie stall unfazed. “I think I have an idea, but we need everypony.”
“Oh please, anything will do!” Windy Whistles begged.
“Yeah, but we need your boyfriend.”
---
Twilight Velvet rushed through the crowd and jumped behind the cookie stand, with Vipassana and Cloudy Quartz.
“I don’t wanna die!!!” Cloudy cried. “I wanna live!!!”
“Uhh… I think we can hide.” Vipassana replied, trying to stay calm. “If it’s correct, there’s some flowers nearby where we can-”
“Flowers!? REALLY!?” Twilight Velvet yelled in complete panic “How are some flowers going to protect us from a freaking dragon!?”
“Um… well, you see, they… well… they have a little something special about them.”
---
Windy Whistles landed right in front of his house at Cloudsdale. It didn’t stick out like the other cloud homes, with only real difference being the front mat saying “Bow “The Champion” HotHoof”. She knocked on his door.
“Bowie?” She spoke. “Come on out, please.”
“No! Leave me alone.” Bow replied behind the door.
“Bowie, come on out, we need to save Ponyville!”
“And save that cheater? The pony who humiliated me in the first place? No thanks.”
“Bowie! You come out this instant, mister!”
“Oh yeah? Give me one reason why I should help him?” Windy tapped her hoof on her chin.
“Hm… oh, I don’t know, become a hero, and perhaps upstage Bright Mac?” Silence fell. The door opened with Bow walking out, holding a Hoofball helmet under his right wing.
“What do we have to do?”
---
Bright Mac, Pear Butter, Nightlight, Igneous rock, and Hondo Flanks ran to the cookie stand, with Pear, Night, and Igneous running inside the stand. Cumulus ran back inside, but was surprised to see the three ponies taking all of the cookies.
“W-what are you doing!?” He asked in shock. “You can’t do that! Stealing is wrong!” Cookie Crumble came back, seeing what was happening.
“What’s going on!?” She asked.
“Don’t worry,” Hondo replied. “It may look bad, but we’re just using this to lure the dragon away.”
“With my wagon!?”
“We’re sorry, miss,” Bright Mac apologized. “We can help pay for a new one later, but right now, we need to work together to get this here dragon away from these folks. Care to join us?” Cookie Crumble looked at what they were doing, then back to the dragon, seeing it chase burn down some more buildings.
“... Y-yeah. We should do this. ...What are we going to do?”
---
Twilight Velvet, Vipassana, and Cloudy Quartz walked into the Everfree forest.
“Now, the flowers here are blue and are in clusters.” Vipassana informed them. “We can’t touch them, or else we’ll be… well… affected by it.”
“And you’re seriously planning to put these in your crush’s cookies?” Cloudy asked.
“Only for the dragon. We just at least-” Twilight’s horn glowed as she took a huge chunk of the blue flowers.
“There! Let’s go!” She ran back to the wagon with the flowers in her magic.
“Wait! Come back!” Vipassana yelled. “That’s too much!” All three mares ran back to the carnage.
---
Pear Butter, Night Light, Igneous Rock, Cumulus, and Cookie Crumble baked away as fast as they can as Bright Mac and Hondo Flanks strapped themselves to pull the cart. Bow Hot Hoof and Windy Whistles flew overhead, stopping in front of the two strapped in stallions.
“Alright, what’s the plan?” Bow asked.
“‘Bout Time ya’ll got here!” Bright Mac replied. “Quick! Strap yourself in! When I give the signal, all 3 of us pull hard! We’re gonna lure this dragon away and into Ghastly Gorge!”
“Ghastly gorge?”
“Just strap in, ok?”
“And what about me?” Windy Whistles asked?”
“Easy. You and the other pegasi will-”
“GANG WAY!!!” Twilight Velvet yelled, running into the wagon, making the wagon bounce. The bounce made the wagon’s windows open, and an overwhelming aroma of cookies filled the sky. The dragon stopped and sniffed the air, turning to the wagon.
“Mmm… cookies…” He spoke, stomping towards them.
“Oh shoot!” Bright Mac yelled. “GO GO GO!!!”
“I hope this works.” Hondo Flanks added as both stallions began to run, making everyone inside hurl back, touched by the flowers. Vipassana and Cloudy Quarts only saw Twilight enter and the wagon moving, which was chased by the dragon.
“... Please tell me you know a way to cure them.” Cloudy spoke with wide eyes.
“I do.” Vipassana replied before running after the dragon.
---
The chase made all 3 large stallions sweat hard, even if Bow flew in the air and pulled. All 3 pulled the wagon through the fields of ponyville with the dragon right behind them, and all ponies inside screaming their heads off, trying desperately to keep their footing inside the bouncing wagon. With a hop, they all jumped out of the moving wagon, rolling on the floor a bit roughly, but were glad to make it out. Cumulus flapped his wings and followed them, followed by Windy Whistles, and Vipassana followed. The rest got up and ran after them, hoping they would be alright.
Bright Mac, Hondo Flanks, and Bow Hot Hoof ran near the edge that lead to Ghastly Gorge.
“Alright everypony!” Bright Mac yelled. “Unstrap yourself!”
“Unstrap!?” Bow yelled.
“Just do it!” It didn’t take long for all three to unstrap themselves. “JUMP!!!” Bright Mac and Hondo jumped out of the way, with Bow flying upwards. The dragon jumped after the carriage, practically chomping down on it with one bite… right before crashing to the floor below, making a small earthquake. It made Bright Mac and Hondo Flanks jump, but they still stood. Eventually, everyone else came to them. Pear Butter was the first to jump and hug onto Bright Mac.
“You did it!” She cheered. “You saved our barns!” Windy Whistles flew and hugged into Bow Hot Hoof.
“I told you that you can do it!” She cheered.
“Heh, I guess I did!” Bow shouted. “I’m awesome!!!”
“And Hondo!” Cookie crumble shouted, running to Hondo Flanks. Her smile turned into a frown. “You owe me a new wagon!”
“... Right.” Hondo said with a sigh. “Anypony willing to pitch in?” The floor shook as the sky darkened. They all turned around to see the dragon was above them, with a large bump on it’s head.
“Oh… you’re all so dead!” The dragon growled. Everyone panicked and huddled together in a group.
“I-is this where it all ends!?” Cumulus asked, shaking like a leaf.
“Cumulus!” Vipassana spoke. “Before we go, I’ve always wanted to say, that I really-” The dragon let out a huge roar and opened it’s maw, letting out a tsunami of flames. Everypony screamed their heads off, ready for the pain… only to feel nothing.
“What the-!?” The dragon yelled. This caused everyone to open up their eyes. All around them were feathers, more specifically, chicken feathers. The dragon roared and fired another blast of fire at them, only to blow out more chicken feathers from it’s maw. It had a look of fear. “Oh no! Th-This can’t be happening! I’m a dragon! A feared monster! A-”
“A huge chicken!” Bow yelled. “Hear that! He’s a huge chicken!” Everyone began to laugh with him.
“N-No! I’m not a chicken! I’m-”
“A chicken!” Windy added, followed by her imitating a chicken.
“No! Shut up! I’m not a-” His words were muffled as everypony, but one, began to act like a chicken, looking quite childish. The dragon let out a loud huff and flew away.
“... Were we too mean?” Cloudy Quartz asked.
“I don’t know, all I do hope is that that dragon goes away!” Nightlight added.
“Agreed.” Igneous added. “But what happened? Why did it spew chicken feathers instead of fire.”
“Uh… I know, and I think we’re all affected by it.” Vipassana spoke. Everyone turned to her.
“What did you do?” Hondo asked.
“It wasn’t me. It was her!” She pointed to Twilight Velvet.
“What!?” She asked. “It was a dragon! We needed all we could get!”
“Yes, but now you’re all affected by it.”
“What do you-” She sneezed and out came some snakes. “AHH!!! SNAKES!!!”
“What the hay!?” Bright Mac yelled. “How did that-!?”
“It’s Poison Joke.” Vipassana spoke. “Everyone inside of the wagon is now affected by it! Something strange is going to happen to you all.”
“Tell me about it.” Pear Butter Spoke. Everyone turned, only to see that, besides her face, her entire body is a giant ball of fluff. “I can’t move my legs!” Cookie Crumbles’ mane began to chip away, similar to a cookie.
“My mane!” She screamed. Cumulus’ face was turned upside down.
“Wait, why’s everypony a bat?” Nightlight’s coat began to glow.
“Hey! I said I’m bright, but not literally!” And finally, Igneous Rock’s coat was now just made of stone.
“What the-!? Holder’s boulder would not tolerate this!”
“Oh, is there a cure for this!?” Pear butter asked.
“Yes,” Vipassana replied. “Please, follow me.”
“... Uh… a little help?”
“Same here.” Igneous added. Bright Mac lifted Pear butter as everypony else rolled Igneous rock across the floor, with Twilight Velevet in the back, sneezing more snakes along the way.
“You know,” Bow spoke. “Call me crazy, but I think our time together will be amazing!”
"And that's how it all began!?" Twilight asked. "Why I... I can't... what!?"
"I know, it's a lot to take in." Her mom replied. "It was a bit messy, and we weren't exactly the same ponies you see today, but I assure you, there's more here."
"... So..." Rainbow spoke. "Have anymore awesome stories to tell!?"
"Plenty!" Bow answered.
"But not at the moment, you have yourselves a party to attend to, right?" Windy Whistles asked.
"Shoot! The party!" Pinkie gasped. She gave her parents a kiss on their foreheads. "I'll be sure to visit more and hear these stories, mom and dad!" Pinkie dissapeared in a puff of smoke. The rest of Pinkie's friends followed, but AJ stopped, seeing all her friends' parents.
"Is it alright if Ah hop along?" She asked, holding back her tears. "Ah'd like to hear more 'bout mah parents."
"Oh, we will when you're around." Cumulus spoke. "Be strong, like your father, for everyone... if you want." Applejack took in a deep breath and followed her friends.