Chapter 4
Flippy Dew grunted as she pushed the cart up the hill, her hooves scraping against the ground a few times as she lost her footing randomly. But she pushed through it and struggled to keep going. Yet, she slipped again and this time lost her grip on the cart, causing it to roll all the way back to the start of the hill.
She let out a frustrated scream and galloped down after it, barely catching up to it to prevent it from falling over. Grunting, she looked back to the top of the hill, realizing she’d have to start all over again.
Reluctantly, she got behind the cart and started pushing again.
“Hey, little horse, I have a question,” a voice called out to her, causing her to stop pushing the cart and look around. Her eyes went wide in shock as she saw a human walking towards her.
She was used to seeing Bronies in their human forms, but they almost never took on their original forms, so to see one just walking around as a human was a bit strange.
“Uh… yeah?” she asked as the human stepped up to her, a relaxed smile on his face as he kept his hands in his pockets.
“You see an evil guy walking around here? Probably has an evil lair or something? Maybe even an evil overlord?” he asked, chewing on a piece of wood sticking out of his mouth, like a little stick or something.
“... No?” she replied, her face giving away her confusion.
“Ah, yeah, that’s what everyone keeps telling me,” he chuckled, starting to walk away, but then turned to face her. “Need help?”
She blinked at him, then shrugged, “I mean, I guess I could use some help. I need to get this to my mothers workplace, but I can’t get it over this hill.”
“I got ya,” he said simply, walking over and grabbing the handle. He then causally began to walk up the hill, dragging it behind him.
“Uh,” she muttered, surprised he was having no problem walking up the hill with the heavy cart.
Once they reached the top, he dropped the handle and turned to face her, smiling lazily.
“Thank you,” she said, giving him a little head nod.
“No problem,” he replied, turning to leave again.
But as he started to walk away, a boom was heard overhead as Champion appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the ground in front of the man, standing tall as he glared at him.
“You good, guy dressed like a vampire?” the man asked, raising an eyebrow at the overly dramatic entrance of Champion.
The costumed stallion looked around at all the ponies in the area who were watching them, then looked right at the man. “I am Champion, Hero of Equestria!”
The man chuckled, holding up a hand, “Whoa there, no need to be so hostile and loud.” He then put his hand back in his pocket. “I take it you’re this dimension’s guardian? I can see the Ego just gushing out of your body. You need to get control of that, you’ll be a lot more powerful if ya do.”
This put a frown on Champion’s face as he squared up with the man. “You dare invade our world? To hurt these innocent ponies?!”
“Calm down,” the man laughed, still looking relaxed. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. I’m hunting a dangerous being right now, and I know he’s hiding somewhere in this dimension.” He took a step towards the stallion, holding out a hand. “I am Loric.”
Without responding, Champion flickered forward, his hoof going for a strike on the man's chest. But as his hoof made contact, it seemed to faze through the man as he suddenly appeared to the right of his previous position.
This caused Flippy Dew’s eyes to go wide, as she didn’t even see either of them move.
“Why are you attacking me?” Loric asked in a confused tone as Champion just spun on him and attempted to attack him again, but his hoof connected with just the after image of the man as he appeared to the side again. “I’m not your enemy, horse man.”
“Yes you are!” Champion roared, throwing punch after punch at the man, only to hit open air as the man easily dodged him. “You are a threat to all these good ponies!”
“Get him, Champion!” someone yelled, followed by most of the crowd cheering him on.
All except Flippy Dew, who was seeing this fight in a different light thanks to meeting the man beforehand, and her experience with Champion in the past. She watched as Champion got faster and faster, to the point all she was seeing was flickering images of the two as they danced around each other.
Then Loric appeared a couple yards away from Champion, holding up a hand. “Stop. I’m not going to fight you, there’s no need.”
But Champion didn’t listen as he seemed to be concentrating his breathing. “I’ll give you this; you’re fast.”
“Thank you,” Loric replied, his calm smile still on his face.
“But I’m faster,” Champion replied as he appeared before the man in an instant and went for an attack. Just as before, his hoof connected with just air as the man appeared next to him, but a boom filled the air as he suddenly flickered, his hoof now connecting with the man's face.
Loric slid backwards, destroying the ground beneath his feet as he stayed upright, not seeming that affected by the hit. “Wow!” He yelled out, reaching up and grabbing his jaw, working it as he smiled back at Champion. “Okay, I did not expect that!”
This caused Champion to smirk as he stood there, his cape blowing in the wind.
Then the mans face fell into a frown as he looked at Champion, seeming to scan him in a more serious manner. “Oh… you’re not a hero, are you?”
Champion’s eyes darted around the area as everyone kept cheering for him.
“You’re working for him,” Loric said in a cold tone as he began to look less calm and relaxed, and more serious and dangerous.
“Finally going to fight back?” Champion asked as he seemed to start to get more powerful as well.
“Sure am,” Loric said as he and Champion disappeared, only reappearing for a split second ever so often as one of them landed a hit. They seemed to be all over the place, in the sky and on the ground. It was impossible to keep track of them as they flickered in and out of view.
Massive explosions filled the air as each hit caused a lot of damage to anything that was unfortunate enough to be near it.
Flippy Dew watched in amazement as the fighting only got more and more intense, to the point she couldn't even see it anymore, just hear it as they fought all around them.
ooo000<^>000ooo
I paced around my room, grumbling to myself as my Mom sat on my bed, playing on her phone. Checking the clock revealed it’d been well over an hour since she left, so she should be back by now! I have shit to do!
“Can I just, go?” I asked, looking at my mom.
“Not till your Mother gets back,” she replied, not even looking up at me.
Before I could protest, I heard the front door open and shut, causing me to let out a happy sigh.
After a moment, my mother stepped into the room, a frown on her face.
“So, how’d it go?” my mom asked from the bed.
She looked at us, shaking her head. “I handled it.”
“What’s that mean though?!” I asked nervously, afraid she’d done something stupid.
With a sigh, she turned to me, “Shayla, going forward you and Domitor are to avoid each other. No more fighting, hear me?”
This brought a scowl to my face. Not because I wanted to keep fighting Domitor, but because she was the one trying to make that decision for me.
“I am an adult now, Mama! You can’t just decide what I can and can’t do!”
This definitely was the wrong thing to say as she went from looking tired and exhausted to furious, her eye burning with anger.
“Scamp,” my mom said calmly from behind me, which caused my mother to stop herself and take a deep breath.
“You may be a YOUNG adult now,” she said carefully, watching her tone as she spoke, “but you will always be our daughter, and we will do anything to keep you safe.”
“And while under our roof, you will listen to us,” my mom added from behind me.
“Then I guess I should move out, right?” I asked, going to the extreme to get a reaction out of them.
“I guess you could,” my mom said from behind me.
“Yeah, you could move out,” my mother said calmly, her shoulders slumping. “Have no one over you, doing your own thing. Sounds like a dream, huh?”
I just frown at her, as this was not the reaction I wanted.
My mother stepped into the room, placing a hoof on my shoulder. “Sweetie, I’m just looking out for you the best way I know how too.”
“By controlling what I do?” I counter.
“No, by helping you make decisions you’re not mature enough to make on your own. This rivalry with Domitor has run its course. You’ve won all fights till this one, consider this over. He got his one win, no matter if he deserved it or not. The mature thing for you to do is take a step back and be the bigger pony.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” I grumbled, sitting down and crossing my legs. “You’ve won pretty much all your fights.”
She and my mom just started laughing at this.
“I most certainly have not won all my fights,” she remarked, wiping a tear from her eye. “Honey, I got to where I am today because I lost a few fights. The ones I lost are the ones that shaped me into who I am today. It’s how I fell in love with your mom after all.”
I knew the story, they fought, my mom beat my mother in a fight, and they formed a connection based on that. Lovely story, but that’s not me! I don’t lose fights.
“Shayla, just do us this one favor, to make us feel better,” my mom said as she stood up from my bed and stepped over to us, kneeling down beside us, “just step away from this one fight. You have nothing to prove, you’re already one of the strongest mares around. No need to go out and prove that further.”
Grumbling, I nodded in agreement. “Fine.”
“Thank you,” my mother said, pulling me into a hug as my mom threw her arms around us, joining the hug.
“Yeah yeah,” I mumbled, wiggling out of the hug. “Can I go now?”
“You’re free to leave,” my mother chuckled, followed by me quickly walking around her. But then the whole house shook as something exploded nearby.
“What was that?!” my mom asked in a panicked voice.
“That numbskull ‘Champion’ is fighting a new ‘threat’ to Equestria apparently,” my mother said, rolling her eye. “Just ignore him, as usual.”
‘This again?’ I thought as I walked through the house and out the front door. I looked to the sky and could just barely make out two dots dashing all over the sky above my house. They were clashing together, causing all kinds of shockwaves and energy to explode around them, then they’d break apart and zoom away from each other. Only to slam right back into each other and do it all over again.
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve seen Champion fight this hard before, but oh well, he’ll figure himself out.
Ignoring the fighting above me, I moved away from my house and headed for Roxxy’s house.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Four hours later
Domitor sat at his window, looking out as he watched the ongoing fight happening high in the sky. He was having a hard time tracking their movements through his telescope, but from what he could see, it looked like they were evenly matched, and just getting stronger and stronger.
They’d had to move their fight to the sky exclusively as when they were close to the ground, they were destroying too much with their constant clashing.
This the level that Domitor wanted to be on, so strong that NO ONE could hurt him again. But as he watched the two titans fight, he knew he’d never make it to that level on his own. This kind of fighting was beyond normal conventions.
Finally taking his attention from the fighting, he moved back to his desk, reaching under it and hitting a small lever, causing his desk top to pop up, revealing a hidden compartment right under the surface. Lifting it up, he pulled out a few pens and pencils, and one of his drawing notebooks.
His father had forbidden him from ever drawing again, as it angered him for some reason, yet he couldn’t stop himself as he took his drawing supplies over to the window and sat down.
Propping himself up, he looked out at the distant fight, not able to see it anymore with just his naked eyes. Thinking to himself, he raised a pencil up and began to draw.
After some time, he sat it back, revealing a sketch of him standing tall with ponies around him cheering, little hearts coming up from the admiring crowd.
He smiled a bit to himself as he flipped the page and began to draw another image.
Outside the window, down on the street, he saw Shayla and a few of her friends run out of a building, all looking to be laughing as they took off for the forest outside of town.
His smile faded as he kept drawing, his drawing taking on a new life as he scratched away at the pad with his pencil. Once he’d finished, he looked at it, a sad look on his face.
The picture was a sketch of him with a few faceless ponies around him, all of them hugging him with a happy look on his face. He just stared at the picture, entranced by it.
But looking at the picture only reminded him of his current situation, so with an angry growl, he ripped the page from the book and shredded it to pieces in front of himself.
No longer being in the mood to draw, he walked back over to his desk and shoved it all back into the hiding spot and slammed it shut.
With nothing else to do, since he couldn’t leave his room, he took up his spot in the middle of his room and took on a fighting stance. An invisible opponent in front of him.
Screams of rage filled the second floor as he fought against his ‘opponent’, going all out.
ooo000<^>000ooo
The next morning
A massive explosion high above my house woke me up, causing me to grumble as I forced myself to sit up. They were still fighting!
I barely got any sleep last night, as every time I slipped into sleep, they seemed to get closer to my house, waking me up again.
Stepping out of my room, I found both my parents already awake and in the kitchen, looking way more rested than I did.
“Did you two get any sleep last night?” I asked, taking my seat at the table.
“Yep,” my mother laughed, making breakfast for us.
My mom was sitting at the table with me, drinking her coffee as she read something on her phone. “You should of taken our offer of sleeping in our room, honey. Sound proofing makes a big difference.”
“I hate your bed,” I mumble, laying my head on the table. “Besides, I’m too old to sleep in my parents bed.”
“Could have made a bed on the floor,” my mother chuckled as she placed a plate down in front of me and patted my head with her hoof.
I hadn’t thought of that… too late now.
“I still think it’s weird you two have sound proofing on your walls,” I comment, picking up some food and shoving it into my mouth.
“Trust me, you don’t need to know,” my mother says, putting down two iron milkshakes for me and my mom.
“What, you two fucking loud?” I ask, smirking at them as I try to make them uncomfortable.
“Yep, your mother over there is VERY LOUD!” my mom laughed, causing my mother to frown at her.
“Mallo! ZIP IT!” she yelled, throwing food at my laughing mom.
“Gross,” I muttered, turning my focus to just my food and drink.
“Don’t make dirty comments if you can’t handle the same being thrown back at you,” my mom laughed, reaching over and ruffling up my mane.
“Meh!” I groaned, moving away and fixing my mane.
“So,” my mother said as she took her own seat at the table, her own food in front of herself, “got plans for today?”
“Just hang out with my friends,” I reply, going back to shoveling food into my mouth.
“Any plans on looking at jobs?” she pressed, getting a groan out of me.
“Mama, I told you, I don’t want to get a job. I want to be an adventurer like you and mom were!”
My mother rolled her eyes, “sweetie, I didn’t start out doing things like that. I went through the military and then the police force before I went out and did any kind of adventure.”
“You took a few years off after highschool to travel the world,” I countered, getting her to shrug.
“Okay, you got me there. But I had a reason…” she stopped herself, a smile forming on her face. “Alright, I see your point. All I ask is to think about it, okay?”
“Can do,” I say back, happy the conversation was over.
“What about college?” my mom asked, causing me to let out an exasperated sigh.
“Oh my God, please don’t go on that subject again! Neither of you went to college, so I don’t have to go either!”
“Things are different here than they were for either of us,” my mom said, looking at my mother and taking her paw in her hand.
This didn’t appease me as I rolled my eyes and shoved my empty plate away. “Look, no college for me. I hated school, and the last thing I want to do is do more of it! You know how hard it was for me to sit and just concentrate on shit!”
“Yeah, you get that from me,” my mother said, picking at her food. “I learned better by doing, not by sitting in a classroom.”
“So you understand what I mean then?” I say, looking at her.
“Eeyep,” she replied, glancing up at me. “You don’t need to go to college. It’s not necessary to have a good life.”
“Thank you,” I say, a bit surprised she’d agreed with me on that.
“Now, I think college would do her some good,” my mom said, frowning at my mother.
“Mallo, let’s not have this fight again, please,” my mother said, looking extremely tired.
My mom shook her head and went back to eating. I’d be worried about them, but they were still holding hands, their claws rubbing against each other slowly.
Love is gross.
“Well, I’m out of here,” I say, downing the last of my iron milkshake and moving for the front door.
“Just be careful, those two idiots above us have only gotten more intense since last night,” my mother warned.
I just held up a hand, giving her a thumbs up as I kept walking for the door.