“So you think you can beat me just because you defeated those weaklings?”
“I don’t think I can, I know I can.”
“You wouldn’t have even been able to beat them without the Sacred Spring’s power. I am a real mammoth. A real warrior. Just because you’ve acquired the strength of a mammoth doesn’t mean you can actually fight me.”
“No—you see—you don’t get it. Do you have any idea of what I’ve actually been through in my life? All the fights I’ve had, the villains I’ve stopped, the monsters I’ve met. Like, you have no idea how small your world is, dude. So yeah, you’re probably strong, but to me you’re just another bad guy. And I beat up bad guys.”
“Empty words. You can’t intimidate me, and I’m going to prove to all these children behind me that I’m still far greater than you.”
“Yeah, I guess you would need to do that to rebuild their crushed confidence considering how easily I beat up these other four. They’re probably thinking right now how much they don’t want to fight me and have the same thing happen to them. You don’t want to have an army that’s afraid of a real fight do you?”
“Hmpf. You’re right, but they will regain their confidence and bloodthirstiness when I beat you to a pulp. Because then they’ll see the strength of a true mammoth, and how much greater we can all become when the Sacred Spring empowers us. When it gives us the real power we deserve, not the half-baked strength you gained from it. We will all become mammoths among mammoths!”
“Yawn. Sorry dude but you can’t intimidate me either. Like, really, do you even know how many real villains I’ve fought? I don’t care about you at all. What you’ve done compared to them is nothing. I mean, after learning about you, and mammoths, and everything, you know what you come off as to me? A stupid brat throwing a tantrum because things aren’t the way he likes.”
Karkona smiled.
“Maybe you’ll care a little after hearing about what I did to Larkon.”
Rainbow Dash stiffened and her pupils shrank before she narrowed her eyes at Karkona. “What did you do to Larkon?”
“Oh a little of this, a little of that, but I wouldn’t expect him to be walking anytime soon.” Karkona taunted her.
Her nostrils flared and she opened up her wings, spreading her hooves and preparing to spring up and fight. “You’re going to pay for that.”
“Make me.”
The two were being carefully watched by the other mammoths at the Sacred Spring. Both the army that favored Karkona and the Sages that had found a great new friend in Rainbow Dash. Two sides faced off now. One of them representing friendship and harmony, the other terror and destruction. It was the plainest battle between good and evil you could get—even Karkona probably realized he was evil and didn’t care, or even relished in it. Both of the adversaries were utterly convinced of their impending victory, it was only the others watching who were unsure. And things were utterly silent at the Sacred Spring without even the smallest of animals buzzing about and nary a trace of wind blowing through the mountains.
They were still. Neither making the first move without provocation, only staring at each other with the hardest and most grim of faces. No blinking. No breathing. No fear.
One of the mammoths in the front row of the army was starting to sweat. His lip quivered and he looked back and forth between Rainbow Dash and Karkona. Slowly, a single bead of sweat fell down the side of his head and stopped at the bottom of his cheek. Hanging there for a brief moment before finally dripping off his body and falling towards the ground.
Two seconds was all it took for it to hit the ground.
And the moment it did, Rainbow Dash and Karkona charged at each other.
Rainbow Dash flew at full speed and brought up a hoof to strike him with while Karkona ran and swung his trunk out like a whip. Both of them impacted each other with incredible force, hoof versus trunk, muscles and veins bulging as they tried to overpower the other. For a moment they kept struggling like that until they were both suddenly blasted backwards by their own power colliding, a small thunderclap erupting from where they had clashed and making the onlookers wince.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Karkona looked in open-mouthed disbelief at their hoof and trunk respectively—both of them shocked that they were evenly matched in pure strength.
That hardly dissuaded them from continuing the fight though.
They rushed back at each other and repeatedly traded blows with hooves and trunk. While Dash could fly much faster than Karkona could run; his trunk was like lightning and he easily matched the rapid-fire punches she threw at him even with only having a singular appendage to do so. Their powerful blows created mini-shockwaves each time they struck each other, sending blasts of wind at the Sages and army. Rainbow Dash was surprised he could actually keep up with her like this, she knew he was strong but the reflexes he had with his trunk were something else. And Karkona had to begrudgingly admit that Rainbow Dash’s raw power was giving him more trouble than he thought it would.
Karkona rose up on his back legs and thrust his sharp tusks at Rainbow Dash, who easily flapped over them and came back down aiming at Karkona’s head. But he twisted to the side, showing off surprising flexibility for a creature his size, and threw up his right foot to meet her punch. The sharp crack of thunder that came from their “fists” meeting was greater than any before. It almost gave off the illusion of lightning sparking from their attack. Surely the mammoths watching were only hallucinating these incredible occurrences as Rainbow Dash and Karkona fought. Could any two creatures truly be so powerful?
Rainbow Dash darted away from their clash and flew in a wide loop to come back at Karkona. He braced himself and held his head low so she couldn’t easily fly under him or reach his blindspots. If she attempted to he was confident he could pivot fast enough or reach out with his trunk. And Dash knew by now that she couldn’t underestimate that trunk of his anymore, and taking a straight hit from him would be bad even with the enhanced power from the Sacred Spring.
“Hey, Karkona!” Rainbow Dash yelled at him as she curved and came straight at him. “How’s it feel to have so much trouble with a little pony like me?”
“Borrowed power of the mammoths is the only reason you can last!” Karkona snarled.
Rainbow Dash shot up at the last second and aimed to punch him in the face, but Karkona’s trunk shot up with her to block. For a brief moment she saw an illusion of his trunk being a giant black cobra ready to strike out at her. Its fangs were bared and the cobra hissed at her before lunging at her face and Dash had to quickly fly back to avoid it. She made some distance, hanging in the air out of Karkona’s reach for a second.
That fierce aura was the difference between Karkona and these other mammoths. He was the real deal.
“Come down here and fight me!” Karkona yelled, and then his lips curled up in a sneer. “Unless you’re scared?”
Dash scoffed. “Come on, we both know that I’m not scared, taunting ain’t gonna work."
“Then come here and die already!”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You asked for it...” I need to pay you back extra for Larkon anyways.
She dove down fast and flew around him in a circle. This time she was using her speed to its fullest ability and not just instantly charging at him. Even if he had sharp eyes, and incredible reflexes with his trunk, he couldn’t turn and cover all of himself fast enough if she went all out like this. His mammoth body just didn’t have that speed. Rainbow Dash was just a solid blur as she sped around him and she was going to go right for his back legs, the place he could defend himself the least.
Rainbow Dash shot out like a missile aimed at the small tail hanging from Karkona’s backside. There was no way he could turn and attack or defend with his trunk fast enough.
But he didn’t need to. Rainbow Dash couldn’t see the grin that appeared on Karkona’s face but she saw him lift up his legs and buck them out right at her as she got close. She was going too fast that she couldn’t correct in time and she had to fold her wings and hooves in front of her face to block against his powerful feet smashing into her.
Even with that she was still kicked back so hard that the wind was knocked out of her when she collided with the ground, coming to a stop after skidding a fair distance away. Her legs and wings were throbbing in pain but she still quickly picked herself up so she could continue the fight.
How’d he react like that? Did he know I was coming at him from behind? Rainbow Dash wondered.
Karkona turned to face her, a look of unbridled glee on his face after landing the first real hit of the fight. “Pathetic pony, if you’re trying to obscure where you’re going to strike from it’s obvious that you’re also going to attempt to go after my blindspots. And directly behind me is the biggest blindspot I have and the only place I can’t really reach with my trunk.” He then pointed up at his big ears with his trunk. “And these things are even sharper than my eyes, I could easily hear when you broke from your flight to come at me.”
Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and dusted herself off. “Alright, so you’re smarter than I thought and you know how to fight. You’re not hitting me like that again.”
“We’ll see,” Karkona said and roared as he charged at her.
Rainbow Dash decided to let him go on the offensive if he wanted to. Maybe she could get him to tire himself out by relentlessly attacking her. She still floated up on her wings, they were still good to go, and braced herself as the mammoth came running at her with his trunk coiled up and ready to lash out at her in an instant.
She took a deep breath and hovered in one spot, preparing to react to Karkona’s first attack. His trunk was a black blur as he finally unleashed it at her and Rainbow Dash’s quick dodge of it was so fast she almost left an after-image behind. Karkona wasn’t just striking out one at a time with his trunk though, he threw out a veritable barrage with his trunk. Dozens of lightning-quick attacks that tried to either clip her wings and cripple her for the fight or smack her in the face and outright knock her out.
But Rainbow Dash either dodged or knocked away his trunk with her hooves at every attack. Naturally she was even quicker than his trunk and her hooves had the speed and strength to parry or plainly block most of the strikes of his trunk.
He didn’t look like he was getting tired though. This took such a minuscule amount of energy from him and he was already a mammoth with mountains of stamina and strength. If it came down to it it was very likely that Rainbow Dash would tire first. She couldn’t just dodge forever, that plan clearly wasn’t going to pan out, she’d need to land some hits too.
Dash flew up over his head and Karkona hunkered down and brought his trunk up so she couldn’t hit him easily. But that was just a feint; Rainbow Dash then quickly bolted down to his left side and lashed out against his muscular body with a powerful kick.
Karkona managed to pivot and jump away slightly so her kick didn’t go as deeply as she wanted and he rolled with the attack to minimize the force of the low. It was still a hit though and with Rainbow Dash’s enhanced strength right into his ribs she was rewarded with a slight grunt of pain from the mammoth. She grinned at him and he glared right back at her while the two regarded each other after that trade.
To the onlookers now they looked evenly matched. It was unbelievable to see Rainbow Dash going pound for pound and blow for blow with Karkona—a mammoth much stronger than the norm.
Rainbow Dash blew some air out of her nose and flexed her legs, curling her front hooves in front of her. “So is that the best you can do? Cause I’ve got strength to spare.”
“I have all the strength I need to put you in a coffin you flying pest,” Karkona threatened. He then sprinted at her and jumped in the air, showing off some more surprising acrobatics, and casting a shadow over where she was flying.
Now even with the Spring’s strength she couldn’t deal with that weight falling on her at this speed and with Karkona putting all his force behind the belly flop. She had to zip out of the way.
Karkona came down onto the ground like a meteor—cratering the ground and sending up a blast of wind and dust in every direction—momentarily distracting Rainbow Dash. His trunk shot out from the dust at her and her eyes widened, acting on pure instinct instead of trying to dodge or hit his powerful trunk away she grabbed it right as it knocked into her side and held on.
As the dust lifted she saw Karkona standing angrily and trying to pull his trunk out of her grip but Rainbow Dash held onto it. Unlike the “weak” mammoth she had fought earlier though, Karkona was strong enough to shake her around and move her while she held onto his trunk. Her muscles had to work hard to keep his trunk under control and also stop him from simply smashing her into the ground. It was now another contest of strength between the two of them, her body versus his trunk. She used her wings to give herself some more leverage and stay in the air.
And for a second she thought that maybe she was even strong enough to move him.
“Let go of my trunk, weakling!” Karkona barked.
That’s a good idea too. Rainbow Dash internally smirked.
When he next tried to pull his trunk back and out of her hooves she allowed herself to be carried with it and let go, pushing herself directly at his face with his own strength giving her momentum. She cocked her hoof back and punched him as hard as she could right between the eyes. The powerful sound of two solid rocks smashing into each other rang out through the Sacred Spring.
To his credit, Karkona didn’t cry out in pain but he was still knocked backwards by her punch and had to squint his eyes shut. Dash thought she had him on the ropes and prepared to hit him again. But as soon as she got in close his eyes snapped back open, his sharp pupils trained on her. She didn’t have the time to react as his trunk shot up like a whip and belted her across the stomach, knocking her away while he stumbled to the ground at the same time.
Rainbow Dash had to lower herself to the ground and rub her stomach, that was going to leave a big bruise. Karkona too was feeling the same way when it came to his face.
Another relatively even trade between the two of them. It was turning into a fight that neither of them wanted.
Karkona stood up and slowly walked in a circle around Rainbow Dash like a lion looking for the perfect opportunity to pounce. She kept her eyes on him and soon flapped her wings to get back off the ground, she wanted to be in the air and have as many possible moves.
“Taking your time now?” She said to him.
“You’re the one who keeps flying around and avoiding me,” he said back to her.
Rainbow Dash grinned and nodded. “Okay, let’s change that then?”
Before Karkona could even raise an eyebrow she had flown at him and aimed another punch at his head. His trunk came up to swipe her out of the way but Rainbow bounced herself off it towards his unguarded right side. Before he could bring his trunk back or even try to use his tusks against her she slammed into his ribs elbow first, briefly knocking him off his feet. But Karkona was indomitable and incredibly tenacious, he swung his head over while he fell with his ivory tusks coming straight at Rainbow Dash’s head. She couldn’t avoid them and she ended up cracked right across the skull and flung away again, flying off in an arc and landing roughly on her back while Karkona collapsed on his side.
The both of them groaned in pain this time and were a bit slower to rise.
Karkona’s rage was practically boiling over at this point as she kept matching him and getting good hits in. This shouldn’t be happening even with the power of the Sacred Spring! He was the strongest! When their eyes met his vision got red and a vein popped out on his forehead. How dare this creature do this, that power she holds should be his.
“You… I’m done with you! You pathetic pony, I’m going to break you the same as Larkon!” Karkona howled and ran at Rainbow Dash in a frenzy.
That was the wrong thing to say. Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed in anger as Karkona ran at her, she blasted off from the ground with a yell of her own and flew right at him in a repeat of their very first clash. His trunk and her hoof collided and created another shockwave, but this time they didn’t let themselves be knocked back by it. Both of them grit their teeth and went for another attack, and another, and another, creating shockwaves each time as they hit each other with their full strength.
Dozens of times this happened while the other mammoths watched, having to cover their faces when each shockwave reached them. Punches and swings from the two battlers kept on coming with no pause in-between them. It was an all out brawl now. The pegasus versus the mammoth in a competition of pure strength.
“Give up! I am the strongest!” Karkona shouted at her between swings of his trunk.
“No! I can’t give up, not just for Larkon but for everyone, I’m not losing to you!” Rainbow Dash responded. “You think you’re so tough? You’re not stronger than me and you’ll never get me to stop!” She pulled her hoof back and socked his trunk away from her.
“Grr!” Karkona was trembling in anger. “Strong? I’ll show you strong!”
He reared up on his back legs and raised his trunk high before bringing it down with as much force he could muster while loudly trumpeting at the same time. Rainbow Dash raised her hooves up and again caught it right as it came down on her, though the force of it still bashed her to the ground at first. Karkona looked down at her as she trembled there, holding his trunk on her shoulder beside her head in a death grip.
“I. Am. Stronger than you,” Rainbow Dash grinned at him. “It’s not just about how hard you can hit. It’s about my will, my spirit, my friendships with everyone. All of that makes me stronger than you, Karkona.”
She flapped her wings and carried his trunk up, pulling on it until she was trying to lift him off the ground.
But Karkona dug his feet in and pulled right back, not budging. He glared right back up at her. “You think you can lift me?”
“Hrgh!” Dash didn’t respond, she just gripped him even harder and flapped her wings as strongly as she had ever flapped them in her life. Every ounce of strength in her body was going into this. She felt sweat beginning to pour down her head and a vein bulge in her neck while her heart and lungs worked overtime to achieve the incredible feat of lifting Karkona while he did everything to remain on the ground.
“Give up!” He tried to yank his trunk back but he found that this time he couldn’t move it at all. With worry crossing his face for the first time he tried to take a step back and realized he couldn’t do that either. This battle of tug-of-war had him stretched taut and Rainbow Dash was still trying to fly away with him.
“Ahhhhhh!” Rainbow Dash yelled as the power from the Sacred Spring coursed through her veins, muscles, and bones, the force she was exerting on herself would surely leave her a sore and bedridden mess the following day but that didn’t matter. It was all about the here and now.
And then the unthinkable truly did happen.
Karkona’s eyes widened in shock as he felt his front legs lift from the ground. He tried to stop it but all his front legs could do now was paddle at empty air as Rainbow Dash lifted him more and more. His army watched on as their jaws dropped, seeing Rainbow Dash climb higher in the air and pull Karkona up along with her by the trunk.
“Stooop!” Karkona shouted, putting all the weight he could into keeping himself on the ground. For the first time in perhaps in his entire life he was afraid.
“HAAAAH!” Rainbow Dash made one final extra strong flap of her wings and pulled. The massive bulk of Karkona was lifted completely off the ground and she soared into the air like an unchained dragon.
“Ahh!” Karkona screamed in terror and flailed about helplessly as Rainbow Dash took him higher,
She reached a hundred feet into the air and stopped. For a given meaning of the word stopped. Instead of going higher she yanked Karkona’s trunk over her head and spun, swinging his huge body above her head like a lasso. Karkona was completely helpless, stretched from his trunk with his legs kicking about in the air and the centrifugal force of Rainbow Dash’s spinning keeping him from being able to do anything.
“Put me down! Please!” Karkona begged.
“So you don’t like being tormented? You don’t like being afraid?” Rainbow Dash furrowed her eyebrows and yelled at him. “Well too bad!”
His other cries fell on deaf ears and she swung him around harder and harder, eventually making Karkona spin so fast he looked like a blur. Feeling that this was the most she could do—Rainbow Dash decided to end this fight. With one final swing she pulled him up and over her head while diving low towards the ground.
“This is it, Karkona! You’re finished!” She yelled and threw him as hard as she could towards the ground.
He didn’t even have the time or energy to scream in terror. He was flung so fast and so powerfully that it created another shockwave in the air when Rainbow Dash released him and he went plummeting towards the ground. His dark body impacted the ground with such force that it sent fissures hundreds of feet in every direction through solid rock and knocked his entire army to the ground from the earthquake. After the dust cleared, Karkona was seemingly completely unmoving in his crater from above where Rainbow Dash could see—she herself panting in exhaustion. But it was done, the mammoth was defeated.