The challenge was extended, and accepted. After the necessary preparations were made, and the supplies were packed. Everything was set for the second round of the splash party. Only one thing was off about it.
“Why the heck are we going on a hike?” Oliver asked, as he trudged along the path, already changed into a t-shirt and trunks.
“I told you. It’s because we’re going to have our next splash party,” Sunset explained, who had changed into her bikini top and sarong.
“Oh, swell. That makes perfect sense. On the way, we get all the sun and exhaustion of going to the beach without ever getting in the water,” Oliver said.
“We’re still having our party. Why do you think we brought all those supplies,” Wallflower said, who had changed into a floral shirt and denim shorts, layered over a one piece swimsuit.
“About that: why am I the one carrying all of the supplies?” Oliver said.
At the moment, Oliver was carrying a wooden pole across his shoulders. On either end were two large pails, filled to overflowing with water balloons and water guns.
“But, Oliver, don’t you feel like such a gentleman carrying those for two dainty girls?” Wallflower asked.
“I didn’t buy your dainty garbage before, and I’m not buying it now,” Oliver said.
“Oh, quit your whining. After all, we’re about to go into battle. And isn’t this how warriors used to train themselves a thousand years ago?” Sunset said.
“Unless there’s a temple full of monks waiting to train me in their knightley valors at the top of this hill, I think you need to take a turn ‘training,’” Oliver rebutted.
“You don’t need to worry about it much longer. We’re almost there anyway. Then you can cut the melodramatics,” Sunset said, rolling her eyes at Oliver’s comment.
“How did you know I was melodramatic? I never told anyone that. Not even my parents. The only person I ever told was my best friend, Tony. And I only told him, because deep down I think he knows he’s melodramatic too.”
“Hold on,” Wallflower said, preventing any more quips, wisecracks and monkeyshines from their young company. “Do you hear that?”
They all listened intently, and heard the faint sounds of rushing water somewhere nearby.
They were getting close. Sunset smiled at the prospect of reclaiming her honor, after it was so unceremoniously besmirched at the beach before. Now, glory would be her’s in a grand display of hydro warfare.
The rest of the hike was finished in silence, as they rounded a bend. There, Oliver saw a wondrous sight.
There were all the others, already wearing their swimsuits, ready for the party with their own buckets of supplies. They were in a basin that was nestled within the hills and trees of the forest around them. At the very back, a rather tall, yet thin waterfall no more than seven feet wide was pouring water into the basin. The basin itself drained into a hole in the ground, which led to a dark cave that let the river flow downhill. Large rocks were lain about, offering what Oliver thought may offer adequate cover for the impending battle.
“Hey! Over here!” Sunset called to the others.
Everyone in the basin looked in the direction of Sunset’s voice, delighted to see that the last members of their group had arrived for the festivities.
“Everyone’s here? Alriiiight. Now, we can start fixin’ each other’s wagon,” Applejack said, as she drew a pair of water pistols from holsters on her waist.
“You said it, sister,” Apple Bloom proclaimed, as she presented a rather large water gun, and a slingshot on her arm. “Hunker down, y’all. It’s monsoon season!”
Oliver looked left and right at the buckets he was carrying across his shoulders, and noted the supplies within looked relatively wimpy, compared to what heat the others were packing. With an internal groan, he placed the buckets on the ground, and slid the wooden pole out from between them.
“Alright. Who wants to be on my team? I got the orange pistol, and I got the green pistol,” Oliver deadpanned.
“Hate to break this to you, kid: but we’re not doing the team thing this time,” Sunset said, as she drew a large water pistol from the bottom of the bucket. One that Oliver had the impression she had hidden there for herself. “It’s every man, woman and child for themselves out there. And this time, your butt is mine.”
Oliver smirked at the obvious challenge. She was going to attempt to pay him back for the humiliation she suffered the last time, and was going to give her all to it.
“Alright. Fair enough,” Oliver said. “But, I have a question: if we’re not on any teams here, who will we know who wins?”
“It’s not about winning or losing,” Twilight said.
“It’s all about splashing as many suckers as you can. It doesn’t even matter how wet you get this time. Just as long as you make something awesome of yourself,” Dash said, as she twirled a pair of long water balloons that were tied together like they were a pair of nunchucks.
“Yes, Rainbow Dash. It’s all about the awesome,” Twilight conceded.
“But, we don’t have to play too rough, do we?” asked Fluttershy, who was wearing goggles, a snorkel, and a yellow slicker over her wetsuit.
“Rough?” Sunset asked, before dramatically spreading her arms to indicate the lay of the land before them all. “Take a look around us, brothers and sisters. This is the world our ancestors knew. Where it was dog-eat-dog, and survival of the fittest. They--”
*SPLASH*
“WHAT THE--!?!?!?”
Sunset’s dramatic speech was cut short by another unceremonious water balloon below the belt. She whipped around, and saw Oliver innocently standing with two water pistols in his waistband, and a water balloon in his hand.
“Ah…” Oliver stalled, before pointing to Wallflower, “She did it.”
“Liar!” Wallflower said.
And that was that. Sunset drew her Dirty Harry-sized water pistol, and shot straight for Oliver’s head.
Oliver dove to the side, and rolled for cover behind the rocks he had seen earlier.
“That’s it, girls! Game on!!” Dash shouted, as she pumped her weapon, and shot forth a single large burst of water at the others, before pumping again, then firing again.
Oliver had to run around the sides of the rock as Sunset came skidding around the corner with her water pistol drawn.
The boy rolled over the top of the rock to escape Sunset. He doubled back to his buckets full of water balloons, and had to slide beneath a stream shot from Wallflower’s water gun to reach them.
Unfortunately, this led to his legs scraping across the dirt and rocks that were on the ground.
“Oh!! Why didn’t I wear jeans to this splash party!?” Oliver groaned, as he picked up a bucket, and started hurling water balloons at Wallflower.
Wallflower took cover behind a tree, as two balloons whizzed past her, and splashed the ground around her.
Sunset reappeared from around the rocks, and shot straight and true at Oliver’s chest.
“Bullseye!!” Sunset said, before firing more shots.
Oliver rolled along the ground, careful not to squash the water balloons he acquired after fending off Wallflower. He stopped in a kneel, and threw the first with the precision of a quarterback.
Sunset easily sidestepped the first, but was hit squarely in the forehead by the second.
Were this an action movie, this would be where Oliver made a witty one-liner after defeating his opponent. However, nobody was ever defeated by a water balloon in those movies.
Sunset shot Oliver twice, sending the boy running for cover. She would have gone after him, if not for the sudden double team of Wallflower and Twilight.
Oliver ran along the length of the river, to the cave where it drained into. He jumped and folded his arms across his chest, and laid as flat on his back as he could, when he dropped into the water.
The water was deep enough to carry him quickly down its current, but it was not so deep to spare his poor backside from bumping the smooth rocks on its bottom.
After riding the current a good fifty feet in, Oliver rolled onto the bank and rubbed his sore back.
“Not a good day for my back,” Oliver groaned, as he cracked his spine. “Great day for a chiropractor.”
A jetstream of water blew past him, making him run for cover around a large rock formation in the cave. He peered out, and saw Rarity across from him, holding a dainty, pink water gun. She raised her weapon, and shot forth another stream.
Oliver crouched and shot at her, but Rarity didn’t seem to react at all to his attack. Stranger still, the stream of water Rarity fired seemed to come from the side.
A glint of light gave away the trick. What he had fired at was Rarity’s reflection in a crystal. In fact, one of many crystals that littered the cave, and created a carnival of reflections all around.
In his young life, Oliver had seen just about every action movie under the sun. From the martial arts cinema of Hong Kong, to the crime thrillers and spaghetti westerns of Europe, Oliver must have watched them all. Now, he was living them.
An image of Sweetie Belle appeared in the crystal before him. Oliver jumped aside, right into a stream of water that was shot seemingly from nowhere.
Oliver found himself surrounded by images of both Rarity and Sweetie Belle. But, he knew that attacks could only come from two possible direction. The only problem was: which direction were they going to come from?
Oliver dove back into the river, firing his water pistols at five different images, before he rolled into a landing back in the water. Lying on his back, Oliver fired his water pistols out to each side at two more images of the attacking sisters. Sweetie Belle didn’t react, but Rarity recoiled and held her eye.
“Ah!! This eyeliner was supposed to be waterproof!” Rarity shouted, before running to another cover. When she did, an image of herself appeared in the crystal where she was standing before.
With that one happenstance, Oliver gained a preliminary understanding of how he could beat their tricks. One look to Sweetie Belle aiming her water gun laterally to him, and he ducked to the side.
A stream of water passed by Oliver, and he saw another image of Sweetie Belle on either side of a prism aiming her gun to either side of him.
Oliver’s mind quickly filled in the blanks from what the reflections revealed, and he triangulated his opponent’s position. With a snap of his arms, he turned around and shot Sweetie unmerciful, forcing her to run for cover.
Taking no more chances in the cave, Oliver followed the river’s flow out to the other end. Here, Oliver found himself in another part of the hill, where the river poured into a smaller pond, before flowing down a winding path. Here, the trees would offer adequate cover, and the rocks on the hill would grant access to higher ground. But, Oliver had no chance to take advantage of either.
Something small and purple rolled out from behind one of the trees, and sprayed Oliver with a burst of water. Oliver ran behind one of the trees to hide from the attack.
“Jeez! First step in the sun, and it’s raining cats and dogs!” Oliver said.
“Half-right, sucker!” called a familiar voice.
“Spike?” Oliver wondered, before peering around the tree.
A stream of water forced Oliver to duck back to cover. The sound of Spike’s paws rushing toward him made him jump and grab one of the lowest branches, allowing him to climb up to the tree and create a shield of branches and nettles.
Spike rushed into view below, and Oliver saw clearly what he was against. Somehow, the puppy had strapped what looked like a scuba tank to his back, and a pair of goggles over his eyes. Mounted on his sides were what looked like a pair of cannons, and a rubber bulb was mounted in front of his mouth.
“This dog will have his day!” Spike declared, before chomping the rubber bulb in front of his mouth. With that, the cannons on his side shot forth a powerful stream of water that reached Oliver in the tree.
Seeing his cover of branches would do no good, Oliver jumped to the ground, where he laid down to avoid another blast from Spike.
“Hold your nose! We’re going to have a wet dog over here!” Oliver said, as he fired back at Spike.
Having four legs proved advantageous for Spike, as he ran faster than Oliver could fire behind another tree.
With Spike behind cover, Oliver stood up and started climbing up the rocks on the hillside.
A stream of water from Spike’s cannons narrowly missed him, making the boy take more caution as he climbed.
Spike tried climbing after Oliver, only to find his canine build impeded his ability. Hanging from the side of the rock, Spike chomped his rubber bulb again, and hit the rocks in front of Oliver.
Oliver stopped running, just in time to dodge two dangers. The first was the stream shot by Spike. The second was a swing from Rainbow Dash’s improvised nunchucks, as she leapt over a rock to attack.
Like a villain in a Bruce Lee movie, Oliver found himself waving his body back and forth to avoid each hit from Dash’s nunchucks.
Oliver’s back was to a wall, and Dash swung again. Oliver dodged, and the balloons Dash was swinging popped with a loud splash.
Now that she was vulnerable, Oliver drew his water pistols and let loose a flurry of shots.
Dash rolled for cover behind rocks that were lower down the hill from Oliver. She had another pair of nunchucks on her waistband of her shorts, but opted to draw her water gun from her back. After a loud pump, she pulled the trigger, and shot a burst of water at Oliver.
Oliver yelped, and ducked for cover. However, he was not spared from the splash on the wall behind him, and ended up soaked anyway.
It was clear that he would have to escape. Unfortunately, the path Oliver had chosen was a dead end that led to a picnic area on the hill. The way that continued up was at the fork in the path further down, where Rainbow Dash was camped.
The quickest way down would be by hopping across the rocks. Something that was quite risky in itself. But, as Dash had said, this whole party was for the sake of making something awesome of themselves. And if Oliver wasn’t going to take a risk, he may as well have lost.
“Okay. I saw this movie,” Oliver thought to himself. “That western with the Basque immigrants. They called themselves fierce mountain fighters. I need to be like them now.”
Another splash from Dash’s weapon snapped him out of his thoughts. He was going to have to act now. With a jolt, Oliver hopped to the top of the rock he was behind, and started hopping down the hill across the tops of the other rocks.
Dash carefully aimed her water gun, and pumped it loudly, before firing again. She clenched her teeth when she missed her bounding target, and quickly pumped again, before Oliver leapt through the air toward her, his pistols firing.
When Oliver landed, Dash aimed her gun at him.
With a swing of his guns, Oliver swatted Dash’s weapon out of her hands, and shot her twice in the face.
Dash reached for her nunchucks, only to find that Oliver had clasped her hand in his, and pumped her arm like he was shaking her hand.
“How do you do?” Oliver quickly said, before shooting Dash again. In the same motion, he released Dash’s hand, took the nunchucks from her waistband and broke them against her face.
Both Dash and Oliver were splashed by the attack, and it became doubly so when a water balloon hit Oliver and splashed all over Dash.
Apple Bloom was loading water balloons from a pouch on her waist into a slingshot that stretched all the way up her arm when she pulled it back. She let fly another balloon, straight for Oliver.
Both Dash and Oliver ran in the same direction. Dash to recover her gun, which she started using to defend herself from Apple Bloom. Oliver to return back up the hillside.
As he ran, Oliver shook his water pistols, and found their ammo was getting low. He would need to quickly refill them. He mentally analyzed his options. The buckets full of water balloons were filled with water, but it would leave him in the open. He would only be able to stop there to restock on water balloons, but would need another way to safely refill his guns.
He reached the basin, and saw that there was a battle going on between Applejack, Scootaloo and Twilight. Applejack was firing her water pistols with the finesse of a western heroine against her two opponents. Scootaloo had stationed herself up in a tree to get a vantage with what seemed to be the water gun equivalent of a sniper rifle. Twilight, however, had taken the route of a simple, standard water gun.
With them all busy, it would be easy for Oliver to refill his water guns in the basin, where there was cover from attacks. Quickly, he ran to collect his bucket of water balloons, and started running for the water.
Scootaloo noticed Oliver running, and climbed around the tree branches to shelter herself from Twilight and Applejack’s attacks, before she took aim on Oliver.
Oliver had to jump in order to dodge a shot from Scootaloo. He quickened his pace toward the water, while Scootaloo aimed for another shot.
The water was nearer than before. Without even stopping, Oliver put his bucket on the ground, opened his water pistols and dove into the water. Bubbles popped up to the surface as the air in Oliver’s pistols was replaced with water. In seconds, the boy resurfaced and capped his guns. Now, he was ready to take on the next threat. Or so he thought.
Unknown to Oliver, a periscope rose from the water behind him. It turned and spotted the boy as he was leaving the basin.
There was a loud splash, and Oliver turned to see Pinkie Pie had burst from the water, holding what looked like a bazooka over her shoulder.
“Son of a splashdown!!!” Oliver shouted.
Pinkie fired her weapon, sending a thoroughly foam rocket to Oliver.
Oliver dove behind a picnic table that was set up by the water. Quickly, he overturned the table, just before another rocket splashed against his improvised cover. So great was the splash that it soaked the entire area around the table.
“Don’t you need a permit for that thing!?” Oliver shouted to Pinkie.
“Sure. I have it right here!” Pinkie answered.
Oliver peeked his head out, and quickly retracted it as Pinkie fired again.
The pink fiend would have to be neutralized. A look to the bucket of water balloons, and Oliver had an idea.
As limited as his strength was, he slowly started pushing the picnic table along the ground, creating a mobile cover.
Pinkie started walking through the water toward Oliver, ready to flank his cover and splash him into next week.
Oliver reached his bucket, and reached out to grab it. The second his fingers wrapped around the bucket’s handle, Pinkie popped up from behind the table, her bazooka aimed for Oliver.
Oliver jammed his bucket over the front of Pinkie’s bazooka, creating a large splash that blew all over Pinkie. In order to make good his escape, Oliver took the bucket, and jammed it over Pinkie’s head, the remaining water balloons all breaking on her.
“Dirty trick!!” Pinkie’s shout echoed, as she tried to take the bucket off her head.
Now that his ammo supply was full, and Pinkie was out of his way, Oliver ran for higher ground up the waterfall at the back of the basin.
He followed the trail up the side, finding that it cut off, and was continued along a fallen tree trunk. His first step onto the tree, and his arm was shot by a stream of water.
Oliver shouted and held his arm, as if he were actually shot by a real gun. He looked ahead, and through the hazy mist the waterfall created, he saw the silhouette of Sunset Shimmer standing at the other end of the tree, her weapon aimed for another shot.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Sunset said, “You’re thinking it should have been easier getting to me. That you should’ve been able to dishonor me in front of everyone again.”
“Dogs like you have no honor,” Oliver rebutted, drawing his water pistols like a modern day knight.
“A dog, am I? You’re not even fit to give me my towel, whelp,” Sunset said.
“Let this be our final battle!” Oliver said.
And the water flew.
Down below, the others all gathered around the base of the waterfall to watch the battle above. To them, it seemed that Oliver and Sunset were evenly matched. Oliver’s rapid squirts were cut through by Sunset’s massive streams. Each fighter at the end of the log agily dodged one another’s attacks, neither one landing a hit.
“They’re really going at it up there. Do you think we should do something?” Twilight wondered.
“An’ ruin the fun fer them? Not a chance. I say we let ‘em duke it out, an’ see who comes out on top,” Applejack said.
“Let who duke it out? Come out on top of what? Somebody get this thing off my head and let me see!!” Pinkie panicked, still trying to get the bucket off of her head.
Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed Pinkie in a headlock and pried the bucket off her friend’s head.
“Thanks, Dashie,” Pinkie said, after shaking the water from her hair.
“No problem. Now, let’s watch. Looks like we’re getting to the good part,” Dash said, pointing Pinkie up to where Sunset and Oliver were battling.
Oliver was slowly stepping forward across the log, closing the distance to Sunset.
Sunset followed suit, taking slow, small steps toward Oliver.
Oliver’s footing failed him, and he slipped to a kneeling position.
Sunset aimed her hand cannon at Oliver’s head, eagerly anticipating the pull of the trigger.
Oliver knew dodging would be impossible from kneeling. Quick as he could think, he leapt from the log toward the waterfall, where he grabbed a sapling that was growing from the rocks. From there, he leapt from the rocky wall back to the log, where he landed right in front of Sunset.
The crowd below cheered at the theatrics. And their cheering grew louder when they saw something they could only equate to a scene in a kung fu movie.
Oliver and Sunset were within arm’s reach of one another, and were thrusting their water guns at each other, pulling their respective triggers and nimbly dodging each others watery shots.
Sunset reached and grappled Oliver’s arm, then aimed her water gun at his head.
Oliver swatted her gun hand away, and aimed his free hand with the water pistol at her.
Sunset nimbly dodged out of the way.
Oliver planted his foot on top of Sunset’s, and aimed again.
Sunset clinched Oliver’s free arm.
Now, they were both immobilized, and struggled to free themselves and gain the upper hand.
Everyone below held their breath, eagerly awaiting to see who would become the winner.
Oliver and Sunset swung their bodies back and forth, trying hard to free themselves from one another. With one powerful heave, they both leaned way over, so that they were facing the water below them.
Sunset tried to pull herself back up, but was stopped by Oliver.
“It seems you have trained me too well!” Oliver shouted over the roar of the waterfall. “By making me carry those supplies up the hill, I have outgrown you as my master!”
Sunset had to resist Oliver heaving them both downward.
“No! You have nothing to gain from this foolishness! You’ll only splash us both!” Sunset said.
“Then I’ll see you...in about half an hour when we go back to the cabin!” Oliver said.
Those were the last words spoken when Oliver lurched far forward, making them both plummet to the water below.
With a mighty splash, water splattered over everyone else who was watching. Afterward, only a swell of white water bubbled up to the surface, signifying the end of the battle.
“THAT...WAS...AWESOME!!!! DID YOU SEE THAT!!!!?!?!” Rainbow Dash cheered.
“THEY CAME IN AND SUNSET WAS ALL *PEPPEW PEPPEW*!!! THEN OLIVER COMES IN ALL *POWPOWPOWPOW*!!!! AND THEN IT’S *SWING* *THWACK* *WHAMMA-BAMMA-BAMMA*!!!” Pinkie added.
Everyone else added their own input, recapping the battle, and pointing out details the others may have missed. All but one.
“Has anyone noticed they haven’t come up yet?” Twilight asked.
That immediately ended any joviality in the air, replacing it with concern. The swell of bubbles has stopped seconds ago, and neither Oliver or Sunset had surfaced.
“Come on, y’all! Time fer a water rescue!” Apple Bloom declared, readying to dive in after the others.
“Hold on. Look,” Applejack said, pointing to the water.
Slowly something was rising to the surface. In a sudden splash, Oliver rose triumphantly from the water, holding one water pistol crossed over his chest and the other held high in the air. Though he was young, skinny, and soaked to the bone, the boy held himself with the proud air of a knight in shining armor.
“In the name of the Rainbooms: I have slain thee, sun beast!!” Oliver declared.
“Yeah, yeah. Rub it in, why don’t you?” Sunset said, as she walked from the water to shore.
When Oliver and Sunset reached shore, they were greeted by all of their friends, who had nothing but praise for the show they had put on. Though there were no winners or losers for this splash party, it was unanimously decided that they two had put on the most awesome display, and were thus crowned unofficial winners.
“Alright. Great. Thanks. As honored as I am to have served in the line of duty, I think we have to call off the splash party. My back’s killing me, and I’ve got water in places it doesn’t belong,” Oliver said.
“Call it off? But, we just got started. We ain’t even in round two yet,” Apple Bloom said.
“Alright. You guys can keep going. But, I think me and Oliver have to sit this out,” Sunset said, holding her aching butt as she and Oliver walked away.
“Couldn’t take the splash, could you?” Oliver chuckled.
“I landed on a bed of rocks!” Sunset said.
The two of them hobbled over to the picnic table Oliver had overturned, and started setting it upright.
“You handled yourself pretty good up there. Where’d you learn all of that stuff?” Sunset asked.
“Nowhere. I just watch a lot of action movies. Of course, there are things you can’t learn from those. That was just beginner’s luck what I did,” Oliver explained, after the table was set up.
When he sat down, he experienced one of those things one could not learn from action movies: awareness.
As soon as he sat down, there was an incredible splash underneath him. Oliver’s mind quickly filled in the blanks once more. How he had left his bucket of water balloons by the picnic table. How one could have fallen out of the bucket to the ground, and lingered there. How Sunset could have seen the opportunity staring her in the face, and placed the water balloon where a certain miscreant could sit on it.
“Yes! My honor is restored!” Sunset cheered, before she stooped over in pain.
“Ha ha. You got yours. Now lay down, before we take you back to the cabin on a stretcher,” Oliver said, as he laid down across the bench on his back.
Sunset laid across the bench on the other side on her stomach, and found a curious sight there.
“Weird. I don’t remember anyone bringing a raft,” Sunset said to herself, noting the large, yellow, inflatable raft that was overturned next to the table.
“Is it safe to come out yet?” asked Fluttershy’s voice from under the raft.
Her question was answered by a splash of water that splattered across the raft.
“EEP!” Fluttershy said, making the raft shake with her trembling.
Oliver and Sunset both sighed at the sight, and spent the rest of the splash party recovering on the benches.