//------------------------------// // Volume II:The old death // Story: Lynx; The Saiyan Warrior of Equestria // by AlienXtreme //------------------------------// "Well then..." Luna opens her wings. "..., show us your emotions." Lynx is left a little stunned by her request. He honestly never expected that anypony would want to challenge him to a fight. Mostly due to the fact that the ponies don't really seem to be a warrior race, more so a peaceful one. But then again, there is that whole legend about Nightmare Moon, so perhaps this alicorn is an exception. After giving it some thought, he chuckles and then speaks. "Alright, we'll use my training room." With that, they enter the Gravity Room. Immediately, the princess of the night is left aghast by the sheer appearance of it. The white circular wall. The hard, cold and blue floor. And the strange device that is installed on it. It all seems so...futuristic. As if the warrior can read her mind, he speaks... "Your amusement isn't really that surprising." He says as he stretches his body. "This Gravity Room is a level 8 tech. Equestria has level 2 at best, so your reaction makes complete sense." "Is that so? Well then..." Once again, she opens her wings and leans forward in an offensive stance. "...shall we begin?" Hearing those words, the prince takes his battle stance. With no need to say anything else, the two fighters rush towards each other. Luna tries get a hit with her horn, however Lynx dodges it, but not before getting scratched in the side of his vest. The prince quickly responds with a spinning kick, but the pony blocks it with her wings and counter-attacks with a hit with her front-hooves. The young Saiyan, thinking quickly, teleports behind her and kicks her in the flank. The princess is knocked back couple feet, but she then fires a magic blast. The attack is almost immediately deflected by her opponent, but seconds later the blast reverses its direction and is about to hit Lynx in the back. The alien notices this in time and neutralizes it with one of his own. The entire room is filled with smoke. 'Pretty smart...' Taking advantage of the smoke clouds, the Prince of all Saiyans flies to the roof and flings a single Ki Blast.'...for a pony.' To the royal's surprise, the pony actually manages to dodge it and then starts flying towards him with great speed. But her attempt on tackling him ends up unsuccessful. Both of them land back to the ground, boots and hooves clicking against the floor. "Not bad, Luna." He says, as he clears off dust from his armor. Truth be told, he's actually beginning to enjoy this. Even if he's limiting himself to his base form, the princess of the night is actually putting up a good fight. Well, for someone who doesn't actually take it seriously. "But I believe that this place is too limiting for us." He receives a nod. "You're right, golden warrior. We shall move outside." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The moment the two fighters step outside, they take it to the sky and continue their brawl. They've been using their-now open-environment to their advantage, but even so, Lynx has made sure that Fluttershy is not caught in the crossfire since her house and his are practically right next to each other. While the royal seems to be at the defensive, since he is only dodging Luna's blasts. In truth, he's merely luring her into the town square of Ponyville. The only place where his plan can be set into motion. "I didn't take you for the runner type, golden warrior." With a smug grin, the prince turns back at his foe. "Don't be so judgemental, princess." After putting two fingers on his forehead, he locks into Rainbow Dash's energy signature. "I'm just getting started!" With that, he disappears. However, Luna manages to spot him almost immediately and flies at his direction. It's no surprise to her that the Saiyan has chosen the very town that he has found shelter. When they finally land, their very speed makes the ground to lightly shake. Ponies from all over Ponyville come out to see them, something that Lynx notices. He also notices that some of the ponies are actually still in their Nightmare Night costumes. A small grin is formed on his face and a chuckle escapes his mouth. Good, the cards have now been set. "Heh...The low-class are coming to watch a battle between elite." His gaze returns to the princess of the night. "How nostalgic..." Having had enough, the alicorn rushes to stab him in the stomach with her horn, but he easily catches with his bare hands. "Don't destruct yourself, Saiyan." She casts a spell to quickly knock him back a couple of feet away. "The night is still young." With that, Luna dashes at Lynx, her wings managing to hit him ,although barely. Casting another spell, the princess fires a barrage of smaller blast at him, all at the same time. The young Saiyan is forced to block all of it. He tries his best not to crash into any of the buildings, but the constant attacks make it hard for him. Eventually, he blocks the last one mere inches away from Rarity's Boutique. This of course upsets the fashionista, but a brief look at her assures the warrior that she is fine. With the smoke covering her opponent, the pony royal takes a moment to breath. Although, it's hard to do with all of this adrenaline running through her blood. The fight is astounding. Probably tougher than the one with her sister over a thousands years ago. And it's so fun! But if she's honest with herself, the Saiyan doesn't seem to fight with as much passion as the ones she saw. There's something holding him back. But what is that? 'Not the time now.' She once again gets on an offensive stance and flies at where the smoke is. But Lynx is nowhere to be found. How is this even possible? She didn't see him flying. Did he become invisible? Did he shrink himself? Before her thoughts can become even more ridiculous, her first question is answered, when a bright yellow blast appears from above her. But Luna fire a beam to counter it. The two attacks clash, but it's clear who has the advantage. The princess of the night is pushed back, along with her spell. She's being overpowered, there's nothing she can do. Unless... The dark blue alicorn scoffs at the realization. 'I never thought I'd result to this!' Her pupils disappear, while her eyes glow pure white, and overpowers the alien's blast. The embodiment of bravery barely manages to dodge them. A part of his vest now having a burnt mark. It's a good thing he hasn't change since the accident. Looking back at his foe, he notices that her eyes are now different, along with her power being multiplied 20 times. And even though, she doesn't have pupils anymore, the warrior can see it. There's something makes her want to keep going. But...What's driving her? Why is she so passionate about this? He wonders, as his hand moves on its own. His eyes open wide, when the hand reaches the burnt mark. He now realizes. Luna actually likes this. She likes fighting; The passion on every she does, the adrenaline that is shown through both her stance and smile. It's so obvious. How could he not have seen this? A smile, that shows every single detail on his mouth, forms upon seeing all of this. "Hey Luna!" The youngest of the two sisters tilts her head to look at the warrior, who has the full moon behind him. Its light gives his backside a gentle blue glow. The sound of his knuckles cracking echoes across the town square. "Let's wrestle!" With that, the young Saiyan flies with all the speed he can muster at the moment, bursting into Super Saiyan while doing so. His opponent puts a shield around herself, but Lynx notices it. To counter that, he lets a small Chi blast explode at point blank range, which doesn't destroy the dome, although barely. The smoke blocks her entire vision, but that won't stop Princess Luna. She uses every single one of her other senses to try and find him, but she just hears someone hitting the ground or something like that. Though, that can easily be some sort of advantage from the royal. After all, when you're fighting a warrior who has more experience in the field than all of Modern Equestria combined, you should pretty much expect anything. Suddenly, the very surface right beneath her is starting to shake. Luna has no time to react, as the prince comes out of the ground and punches her in the gut. The pony is sent flying, shattering her barrier into a trillion tiny pieces. When the Saiyan hits the princess, many of the locals gasp, while he can briefly hear his friends whispering their own words of surprise. Despite him breathing rather harshly, this reaction from the bystanders does assure him that his plan is working. Following his previous, the elite flies at Luna, grabs her by the tail and slams her back to the surface. The impact alone makes the opponent bounce up and down a couple of inches. Without a second to waste, the alien warrior descends to the ground and blasts her with both hands. Both of the fighters are knocked back gathering themselves. All of the ponies are aghast! In all the years that they've spent on Equestria, they never thought they'd see something like this. Even the mane 6. They obviously know that their friend is a warrior, but they've never seen him in a actual fight like. And the girls have to admit. They are impressed. But more important than that, they all feel the urge to cheer for their princess. The very princess who has been viewed as threat during her entire imprisoment. They just want to support her, much like Celestia. Twilight, however, is only focused on Lynx. Just like after the defeat of Discord, she once again notices the intelligence that he possesses. Especially with the fact that it seems like he's thinking battle strategies on the spot. When the princess of the night recovers, she grunts, while glancing at the elite. It looks like she isn't the only one who is tired. In fact, this is probably the most tired she has seen him. His breath coming in and out in a heavy pace, his muscles looking like they're about to be pulled at any moment now, and him constantly flickering in and out of the legendary form, are pretty obvious signs of his exhaustion. But even so, all of this is nothing compared to the raging flame that burns throughout his body. He was right. Thanks to this fight, she can see his dilemma as to if he should have killed Discord or not, some kind of old grudge that he has been holding for years, and of course; his pure raw joy of...just battling. 'This is...astounding!' Luna thinks. It's way better than how Lynx described it to her earlier today. And it's quite ironic how such a battle is an opportunity of a lifetime for anypony, yet for a Saiyan...That's just part of the daily life. Looking at the alien's broad smile, she responds in kind. "It's time to end this, golden warrior!" With that, the dark blue alicorn fires her last spell at Lynx, and he creates a shield to block it. Normally, such attack would never challenge his barrier. Yet luckily for Luna, this busy day has made harder for him keep this for very long. The dome is being pushed back. Cracks start appearing. However, he is not about to give up! Not now! Not ever! Princess Luna may be strong, but she will never have what the Prince of all Saiyans has. And that is experience. Thinking quickly, the royal lets the energy sphere go and leaps high in the air. In a matter of seconds, the young warrior lands right behind the pony and kicks her at the town hall. The area goes silent, save for the Saiyan's aura, and the panting from both sides. A long sigh awaited comes out of his mouth, as his body forces him to go back to base form. Finally it's over. Despite Lira pushing him to go beyond the limits of his race, and Discord forcing him to think outside of the box. This is probably the hardest battle he's had since he got here. Maybe it's because Luna is the first ever pony to actually challenge him a little. Especially since they were pretty even in their base forms. Or maybe it's just the timing. Who knows? With the remainders of his strength, Lynx walks up at her and gets to one knee. The princess notices this and smiles weakly. "I guess this is is what you meant when you said emotions through battle, huh?" She says, not hiding how much pain she feels. He chuckles at the sight of this. "Yeah, I'm not really good at holding back in a real fight." "Not surprised; A Saiyan's life has been a survival of the fittest for generations." Hearing these words are able to crack a smile on his face. Finally a pony who he can have a good fight. An actually good fight. All of the other ponies-even Twilight who is probably the one with the most potential-can't even touch him. Well that's not entirely true. Celestia can actually go toe to toe with when he's at his fullest, but she's not really a fighter. At least from what he has gathered. So it wouldn't be fun. The elite warrior extends his fist. "I guess there is such a thing as a pony with a battle soul." Luna's hoof bumps with it. "This fight wasn't half bad. You just had to overdo it though, didn't you?" This time it's the alicorn who chuckles, although weakly. "Right back at ya." Just then, the two fighters start hearing many different voices, coming from all sorts of directions. Both of them look at their respective opposite sides. But they both see the same thing; Ponies cheering-no-, screaming their names. Princess Luna is aghast. Ponies are actually cheering for her. Their voices don't have even a sense of hesitation. They're genuine. It's like the whole Nightmare Moon incident never happened to begin with. A part of her mind, however, fears something; That this is all a dream. That she will just wake up and everypony will go back to either fear her or hate her. Or maybe both. Her thoughts are interrupted by the Saiyan getting her back on her hooves. "These ponies are cheering...for me." She mutters, still having trouble processing this. "Yeah, they do." The warrior's tone makes the pony royal wonder if she understands the significance of such thing. But even so, these words are enough for her to shred a single tear. "I..." She takes a deep breath, letting all of her emotions calm down. "I will let such thing as jealousy define me no more!" Lynx makes an almost unnoticeable grin. 'Good for you.' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Saiyan warrior lets out a loud gasp of air the very same moment that his eyes open. His body moves so that he can look at the roof of the house. His eyes feel heavy. A grunt escapes from his mouth, as Lynx tries to calm down his spinning head. Great another one of those dreams. "That damn clown..." Just like all of the other nights of the last month. The low-class warrior just keeps on haunting him in his sleep. Ever since the Lord of Chaos mentioned him, the Saiyan seems like he can't catch a break. Thanks to Discord being Discord. His last memory with Bee is now permanently stuck in his mind. He shakes his head. No, that's not the time now. Lynx gets out of the bedroom to go to the living room, but before he arrives, he makes a stop. That stop being a small door, placed right next to the bathroom. Thanks to the direction of the lighting and the color of the door, it makes it easy to miss. A hand starts approaching the knob, but it never reaches it. There's something stopping him. And that something actually makes the hand shake. The prince grits his teeth. It's always been hard to enter that room, but today is way worse. Shrugging it off, the warrior finally enters the living room. The first thing he does when he gets there is look at the calendar on the wall. After checking the date, all Lynx can do is sigh. Great, today is that day. Suddenly, the young Saiyan senses Rainbow's signature right outside the house. This raises his curiosity, so he exits the building. When he comes out, the alien notices that Rainbow Dash is…training? Maybe. Although just flying at high speeds isn't exactly what he'd call training. For him, that's as much training as breathing is. So perhaps, she is just warming-up. Wanting to get an answer, he yells her name. "Hey Rainbow!" The pegassus hears this and looks at the source of the voice. A small smile appears on her face as she waves. "Hey Lynx! Happy Hearthwa-"The warrior's eyes open wide for a quick second as he immediately interrupts her. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever..." His body and mind seem to be on guard, more than usual. "What exactly were you doing anyway?" "Training for the Wonderbolts Academy." She says with a clear smug look on her face, but the royal can't help but chuckle at her choice of words. "You call that training?" Rainbow seems to be pretty defensive at that response. "Yeah. What about it?" Unfortunately for her, Lynx notices this and decides to add more salt to the wound. "Well, your so-called 'training' only helps with your stamina. Your speed doesn't evolve, your reflexes are rusty as hell…" The knowing grin on his face makes the pony let off steam out of her ears. Clearly being angry. "Shall I continue?" The silence of his friend is enough of an answer. "Thought so." He turns to the house. "I'll show you how I workout." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Much like Luna, Rainbow was downright astonished just by seeing the Gravity Room. But Lynx quickly increased the gravity by two times, forcing the pegassus to start training. This training is by far the most difficult she's ever had. Not only is suddenly everything heavier than before. But it doesn't help that she has to do this in such a tight space. Strangely enough, the Saiyan Prince is actually good at supporting her like a coach. "Keep your powder dry, Dash." He says. "If you want to be a front-line soldier, your adaptability must be off the charts." After what seems like hours, the rainbow-maned pony finishes the first set of laps. Her exhaustion, along with a clear denial of wanting to admit it, are written all over her face. "So in other words..." She pants again. "I need to be perfect?" Perfect. The moment he hears that stupid word, the elite scoffs. It's like something has been triggered in him. "Stop striving to support a lie." His gaze shifts to the bottle of water next to him. 'Freaking weirdos.' Throwing the bottle at her, the alien quickly changes the topic. "Drink it and continue immediately. I've got stuff to do." Hearing that makes Rainbow Dash look at him with cracked eyebrow. "You seem to be a bit grumpy today." Noticing what she just said, she quickly corrects it. "Even for you." With a hard roll of his eyes, Lynx simply mutters. "Yeah. Yeah. Whatever you say." —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now that Hearths Warming has arrived, Twilight has decided to help Pinkie Pie with some last-minute holiday shopping. Unlike the last few years, she isn't as busy as she could have been. Normally the lavender pony would be doing around a billion tasks per hour, but not this year. This year is more relaxing. Pinkie sure as hell is lucky about that. She thinks. When Twilight arrives, the unicorn is greeted by another one of her friend's bone-crushing hug. "Hey, Twily!" Yells Pinkie, completely oblivious at how much strength she's putting at the hug Twilight Sparkle does try to tell her to let go, but no words can come out of her mouth. She thinks for a moment to teleport out of there. But being nauseous is the last thing she wants. Thankfully, for her sake, someone comes to her rescue. "Put her down, Pinkie." When the pink pony does as she is told, the prize pupil looks at who saved her from suffocating. A small smile appears on her face upon doing so. "Thanks for that Lynx." She takes a deep breath. "Happy Hearths Wa-" "You're welcome." Crossing his arms, the two ponies notice that their Saiyan friend is actually holding a little bag. Immediately Pinkie Pie's instinct to invade his privacy is kicked in. "Ooh. What's that? What's that?" Much like any other time, the party planner starts to circle around him. Jumping up and down, trying to get the bag. "Is it a gift for someone special?" This earns a glare from the prince, which thankfully disappears after he takes a deep breath. "It's none of your business." His answer is cold as usual. The unicorn raises an eyebrow at this. He seems a bit…on the edge. Even by his standards. Usually she'd just add this to the list of her not really understanding the culture of his pieces. But there's something more. He’s…hiding something. But just when she realized that there’s something wrong, Lynx’s expression changes when somepony calls out his name. "Prince Lynx! Here's the drawing you requested of me." The earth pony in question walks at the trio with a drawing of a…Saiyan on his hands? At least that’s what the man looks like to Twilight. “Thank you, Mr. Hoofpaint.” The royal gets on one knee and opens his bag, revealing what he’s had inside. “Put it here.” Inside the bag, there are…candles? Why candles of all things? And why so many of them? Now that his task is completed, the warrior turns back to his two friends before he’s about to leave. “See ya, girls.” The lavender unicorn tries to stop him from flying away, her curiosity is still…”Wait, Lynx.”..., but she’s too slow. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Much like every other year, Twilight and Spike spent the holidays on their own having dinner along with trading gifts. Their friends did come to briefly celebrate with them, but then they had to do the same thing with their families too. Although Fluttershy has stayed just to keep the two company. However, a certain thought can't help but cross her mind; Lynx. This morning, the young Saiyan was hiding something. There's no doubt about it. But what was that? What did he have that drawing? Or all of those candles for that matter? It just doesn't make any sense. And it seems like she's grabbed her shy friend's attention. "Twilight, are you alright?" Fluttershy asks. "Um..." She hesitates for a moment. Should she tell her about her worries? "...yeah." Her frown intensifies as her ears pipe down. "It's just...Lynx acts a bit weird today, isn't he?" Fluttershy seems to think what the unicorn said for a moment, before answering. "Yeah, now that you mentioned it." She puts her hoof below her mouth. "Rainbow told me something like that as well. And she told me that he looked like he was thinking something else." 'So this happened with Rainbow Dash as well.' This is enough for her. Not only has he behaved weirdly on Hearths Warming Eve. But Lynx is actually disconnected with the now. Lynx! The one who is always on top of his stuff. This is it for the purple-maned unicorn. Without needing to think it more, Twilight Sparkle sprints towards the Saiyan's house. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After running for two whole minutes, Twilight arrives at the building. With relative ease, she opens the door and walks in. The living room is cold, empty. And there are no lights. 'Lynx probably fell asleep.' She thinks. Part of her tells her to leave, but the curiosity in her gets the better of her. She continues to the left side. Everything though is still…empty. But there's a light near her. Right behind the door in front of her. The pony opens the door and is immediately shocked. Of course, it all makes sense now. The candles, the painting. This is a memorial. "Between you and Luna, maybe I should make my door magic-proof or somethin'." She practically jumps upon hearing his voice. "L-Lynx! S-Sorry I-" "Don't purple one!" He answers with a clear tone of anger, but then his voice softens and a clear pain comes out of his mouth. "Just…don't…"