Morning came all too early once again for Twilight Sparkle, who woke to the sound of rustling in the ponies' hut. "Ugh..." she muttered. "Applejack, is that you again?"
"Yeah, it's just me." Applejack's voice echoed from the darkness. "They've got me fightin' bright and early this mornin', so I figured I'd best get ready now. I didn't want to wake any of y'all, but so much for good intentions."
"Well you should at least turn on a light so you can see..." Twilight stopped in mid-sentence as she flipped on the light switch. discovering that some ponies were missing. "Er...where'd Pinkie and Dash go?" she asked Applejack.
"To tell the truth, I don't think they went anywhere," Applejack admitted, as she dropped a coil of rope into her bag. "They never came back from the party last night."
"What?!?" Twilight sputtered in surprise. "Whaddya mean, they never came back? We're on an important mission, not a vacation! We're supposed to be saving the fillies, not drinking punch and playing 'Pin The Tail on the Pony' all night long!"
"Um...Twilight?" Applejack pointed towards the hut entrance. "I don't think that was all they were drinkin'."
Twilight walked over to the hut entrance and looked outside, her eyes doubling in size as she took in the scene: Wrappers, cans, bottles, vomit, and passed-out warriors of every shape and size were strewn across the ground. All of the huts and most of the surrounding trees had been covered with toilet paper, and what appeared to have once been a stone monument of Shao Kahn lay smashed at the ponies' front door. Several plumes of smoke could be seen in the distance, and the sound of several far-away police sirens lingered in the air.
After thirty seconds, Twilight finally managed to pick her jaw up off the ground. "Good grief!" she shrieked. "What happened out here?"
"We're probably better off not knowin'," Applejack commented, throwing her bags onto her back. "Well, I best be gettin' along..." she declared, exiting the hut and heading for her prescribed place of battle.
"Wait!" Twilight called out. "Should I come with you? I can wake Rarity and Spike and..."
"That's alright," Applejack reassured her friend. "I can handle it."
"But...you might need our...help," Twilight pointed out, even though she knew Applejack would deny it.
"I'll be fine, I swear," Applejack insisted. "Besides, I checked the schedule yesterday, and Spike's gotta fight at the very same time. He'll need you guys more than I do."
"Wait...what?" A distraught look crossed Twilight's face as she thought back to their first night on the island, when Spike had boldly declared that he would fight for their friends. "But...but Spike can't fight these guys! He's just a baby dragon!"
"Which is exactly why he's gonna need all the help can get," Applejack concluded. "Seriously, Twilight - don't worry about me. I ain't about to let some halfwit bunch of scrappers keep me from savin' my sister, y'hear?"
Twilight sighed. "If you say so," she decided. "We'll figure out how to help Spike, and catch up with you as soon as we can."
"Right," Applejack agreed, stepping through the Shao Kahn statue remains and setting out on her journey. "I'll be back - I promise," she proclaimed.
Twilight watched as Applejack navigated her way through the maze of unconscious ninjas and Keystone Light cans, then took a deep breath and headed back into the hut. "No worries, Twilight," she told herself. "You've thought yourself out of bigger jams than this before." Using her magic, she opened up her copy of The Pony's Guide To Maretial Arts. "It's time to hit the books," she declared.
Liu Kang sat alone in his hut, trying to focus his thoughts and reach out to Raiden for guidance. The fighting has been fierce thus far, he observed, and our wills are already being tested. I ask the gods to continue to show us the proper path, and the strength we need to walk it.
"And you shall have it," Raiden declared, as a vision of the thunder god came into focus. "You have done well, Liu Kang," Raiden commended the warrior, "and more importantly, Kahn's fighters are failing at a rate that is...shall we say...much higher than expected. On the whole, I feel that we are in a position of strength."
"I agree," Liu Kang offered. "And yet...something does not feel right."
"You mean the ponies," Raiden guessed. "Their presence certainly complicates things, and while they are performing well now, their beginner's luck will eventually give way to their lack of skill and discipline. They cannot be trusted to continue on their current pace."
"It's not that," Liu Kang observed. "It's what their presence is doing to the others. Johnny and Sonya have been acting very strange ever since the ponies arrived."
"Do not worry about them," Raiden assured Liu Kang. "They have undergone the same rigorous training as you, and they understand what is at stake in this game. They will not let these ponies affect their performance."
"I don't know..." Liu Kang wondered.
"WOOHOO!!!" The meeting of the minds was interrupted by a cheerful-sounding shout. Liu Kang and Raiden turned to see Johnny Cage stagger in through the door, carrying a plastic cup in one hand and a bottle of Jack Daniels in the other. "What a party!" he proclaimed, throwing his arm around Liu Kang. "Man, Louie," he offered, "you missed a real humdinger of a bash last night! Kahn and his cronies really outdid themselves this time - that was the best post-brawl party they've ever had!"
"Ugh!" Raiden scrunched up his face. "Good grief, Johnny, I can smell your breath all the way over here...and I'm not even actually there! Have you been drinking?"
Johnny tried (and failed) to stifle a giggle. "Nope!" he announced. "I just ran out of mouthwash, and remembered that nothing kills germs like alcohol!" He handed Raiden an imaginary piece of paper. "Herrrrrrrre's your sign," he slurred.
Liu Kang gave Johnny an odd look. "What's all that on your face?" he asked.
"What's all that what on my face?" Johnny scratched his head and starting looking around for a mirror.
"Uhhhh...." A low, sorrowful moan drew Liu Kang and Raiden's attention to the hut entrance once more, where Sonya was dragging herself through the doorway. "My head hurts..." she muttered in a low whisper.
"You too?" Raiden cried out in surprise. "Just what is going on around here?"
Sonya flinched. "Not so loud," she implored, rubbing her eyes with one hand and holding her head with the other.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" A loud scream echoed from another room (causing Sonya to wince in pain and plug her ears), and Johnny Cage came running back over to where Liu Kang and Raiden stood. "Look at this!" he demanded, pushing a handheld mirror into Liu Kang's hand and looking into it. "What do you see?" he inquired. "What does that look like to you?"
"Uh..." Liu Kang squinted at the image of Johnny's face in the mirror. "It's kind of smudged," he commented, "but it looks like someone drew a mustache and glasses on your face."
"With a permanent marker!" Johnny wailed, scrubbing his face furiously with a bar of soap. "I can't get it off!" He fell to his knees in front of Raiden's apparition. "You gotta help me, dude!" he pleaded. "I can't go out like this! If TMZ gets a shot of this...my career will be ruined!"
Raiden sighed. "Fine," he decided, "but this is an absolute waste of my powers." With a wave of his hand, he removed the marker marks from Johnny's face.
"Phew!" Johnny breathed a sigh of relief. "I really owe you one, man."
"Actually, you're up to twenty-seven now," Raiden uttered dryly. "And what's your story?" he asked, looking back over at Sonya.
"I don't know," Sonya revealed. "I don't remember last night at all."
"Do you know anything?" Liu Kang asked Johnny.
"Well..." Johnny racked his brain for a moment. "I seem to recall you beat Jade in a chugging contest...and you started dancing on a table every time the DJ played Maroon 5...oh yeah, and you told Noob Saibot you were madly in love with him."
"I what?" Sonya's face turned white. "You're...you're kidding, right? I mean, I didn't really tell him I loved him, did I?"
Johnny shrugged. "You had to tell him something after a kiss like that," he pointed out.
"Ewwww!" Sonya's face went from white to green, and she started spitting furiously in every direction. "Where's my toothbrush?" she shouted, running for the bathroom. "I need my toothbrush!"
Liu Kang looked back over at Raiden. "You see what I mean?" he inquired.
Raiden facepalmed. "I'm going to have a long talk with Celestia when I get back to Canterlot..."
"There you are!" Twilight huffed, as Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie walked into the hut. "Where were you two? Were you out partying all night? ...And why are you carrying a Sharpie in your mouth?"
"Yu mee thih?" Rainbow Dash spit the marker onto the floor. "Um...no reason."
"That was the greatest party ever!" Pinkie Pie declared, taking off the lampshade she was wearing. "We had cake and punch and ice cream and everything! In fact, I need to start making the invitations for tonight's after-party party!"
"Come on, girls - focus!" Twilight insisted. "Spike's fight is in an hour, and we need to come up with a strategy!"
"Not to mention boost the poor dear's confidence," Rarity added, looking over to where Spike sat facing the wall. "Oh, come now, darling," she offered, "don't look so glum! You're going to do just fine today!"
Spike shook his head. "I dunno," he admitted. "It's just...it's just that all those guys are so big and strong and powerful, and...well, look at me - I'm a baby dragon that can't even breathe fire right!"
Rainbow Dash facehooved. "Well, of course you're not going to win anything with that attitude!" She jumped up onto a table and struck a heroic pose. "So what if they're bigger, or stronger, or more powerful? You've got to grit your teeth, dig deep, and show those jerks that you're not somepony they want to mess around with!"
"I agree," Rarity concurred. "It's the size of somepony's heart that truly matters, and you've got more than enough inside you to give these brutes a lesson in manners!"
"Especially if you've got cupcakes inside you!" Pinkie Pie added. "There's nothing like a sugar-frosted ball of goodness to propel you to victory!"
"Don't worry, Spike," Twilight added. "We'll come up with a top-notch battle strategy, and no matter what happens, we'll be with you every step of the way."
"I know, but still..." Spike's voice trailed off, and still didn't sound very confident. "I just wish that I was big and tough like those guys, so I could teach them not to mess with a real dragon...or his friends."
"Yes, but..." Twilight stopped in mid-sentence, as a crazy idea popped into her head. "Wait a minute....that's it!" she declared. "I know what we can do!"
"You do?" Spike turned to Twilight with a look of anticipation of his face. "What is it? Tell me!"
"Yes, please!" Rarity chimed in. "Don't keep us in suspense!"
"Watch and learn," Twilight replied, picking up Rainbow Dash's Sharpie with her magic. "Hey Spike...wanna marker?"
Applejack paced back and forth as she waited within a deep cavern dug out of the side of the island mountain, glancing down periodically at her leg where a watch would have been if she wore one. "I sure wish those fellas would hurry up and get here," she muttered to herself, wiping the sweat from her brow. "It's hot enough in here to bake a two-gallon apple pie."
Finally, the referee for the match arrived on the scene. "It's about time!" Applejack declared, tapping her hoof impatiently. "I coulda harvested our whole farm three times over in the time I've been waitin' here!"
The referee looked at Applejack quizzically. "I'm twenty minutes early," he observed.
"Cuttin' it awful close, aren't you?" Applejack eyed the ref disapprovingly.
The referee rolled his eyes, and the conversation lapsed into awkward silence for a few minutes. Finally, a gassed Shing Tsung trudged into the cavern. "Are...you...kidding me?" he finally managed in between breaths. "I mean, of all the tropical locations on this island...we have to hold a match in this inferno?"
The referee shrugged. "I don't schedule the matches; I just call 'em," he declared. "I guess we might as well get started - I doubt we're gonna get any spectators for this fight."
"Say what, now?" Applejack glanced around the cavern, seeing no one but Shing and the referee. "Uh...beg your pardon, guys," she commented, "but ain't we gotta have two fighters here to hold a fight?"
The referee ignored Applejack's question. "This match is about to begin!" he announced. "In this corner, the pride and joy of Sweet Apple Acres...Applejack!"
Applejack gave the ref a bemused look. "This cave is circular," she pointed out. "It ain't got corners."
"She's got a point," Shing conceded. "I mean, why do we keeping using that term if our rings are always...well, round?"
"And, in this corner..." the ref continued, shooting an unamused glance of Shing as he gestured to the far end of the cavern, "the hottest character in the history of the tournament...Blaze!"
"There's still no one..." Applejack was cut off in mid-sentence by a loud rumble that shook the whole cavern. On cue, a plume of lava burst through the floor of the far end of the cavern, then fell away to reveal a man made entirely of molten rock and lava. "Whoa, Nellie!" Applejack exclaimed. "Who - or what - is that?"
"Your worst nightmare," the lava creature stated in a low, gravelly tone.
"Combatants ready?" the referee asked.
"I've been ready for dang near three hours!" Applejack replied. "Let's get this here brouhaha started already!"
"If the mare wishes to meet her end so quickly," Blaze decided, "then let us not keep her waiting."
"Very well then," the referee declared. "FIGHT!"
"Let's turn up the heat, shall we?" Blaze offered, rearing back and flinging a fireball at his opponent.
"Hah!" Applejack shouted back, dodging the shot with ease. "My little sister's got better aim than you!" Reaching for her bag, she drew out a long rope with a loop tied at the end. "Time to show this hothead how we do things down on the farm!" she announced, whirling her lasso over her head and flinging it in Blaze's direction.
Applejack's aim was true (though in all fairness, Blaze made no move to avoid the lasso), and Blaze quickly found himself roped and bound. "Yeehaw!" Applejack shouted. "Looks like I'm gonna wrap this thing up early!"
"Think again, Annie Oakley," Blaze answered with a small grin, as the intense heat of his body caused to rope to burst into flames.
"Aw, horseapples," Applejack muttered, as her rope turned into ash and floated to the ground.
"Now...try this on for size!" Blaze dictated, sinking back into the pool of lava from which he had emerged.
"Hey!" Applejack objected, as Blaze disappeared below the floor. "You're not allowed to run and hide like that - that's cheatin'!" She turned and tried to appeal to the referee. "Ain't that illegal or somethin'?" she inquired.
The ref shook his head. "The ring is where the battle starts," he explained, "but it doesn't have to be where it finishes."
"That's just peachy," Applejack muttered.
Suddenly, Blaze burst through the floor mere inches behind Applejack. "Hi-ya!" he shouted, swinging his arm down for a vicious karate chop.
"Yikes!" Applejack sidestepped the attack in the nick of time, and Blaze's hand went all the way to the floor. "So that's the game you wanna play, huh?" Applejack growled. "Take this, you slimy varmint!" she yelled, kicking out her back legs and planting her hooves squarely in Blaze's side.
Blaze recoiled slightly from the shot, but it was Applejack's eyes that nearly popped out of her head. "YEOW!" she screamed, pulling back from Blaze and beginning to bounce across the cave on her front legs. "Hot! hot! hot!" she yelped, stopping every so often to blow on her back hooves.
Blaze laughed heartily at the scene. "What's the matter, pony?" he taunted. "Can't handle a little hotfoot?" He chuckled as he summoned another fireball. "I don't know about you, Jane Wayne, but my mother always said that if you couldn't stand the heat, get the heck out of the kitchen!"
"Whoa!" Applejack managed to twist herself out of the way as Blaze flung his fireball. How am I going to get out of this one? she wondered.
A crowd had already gathered on the beach when Twilight and her friends arrived on the scene. "This plan of yours had better work, Twilight," Rarity huffed. "That was my favorite makeup bag, you know."
"Either it works," Twilight observed, "or we'll be swimming back to Equestria."
The referee gave the ponies a strange look as they approached. "Where's the dragon?" he asked. "He was supposed to be here five minutes ago."
"Oh...um...well, he just wanted to make a dramatic entrance," Twilight explained. "You can start anytime."
"Works for me," the ref agreed, clearing his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please! This match is about to begin! In this corner..." The referee pointed to the ring, where a strange yellow-colored humanoid robot stood looking unamused. "...a cyborg so vicious," he continued, "he forced Chevrolet to give him its spot alongside baseball and apple pie...Cyrax!"
"BATTLE PROTOCOL INITIATED," Cyrax declared in a robotic voice, as a large buzzsaw emerged from his chest. "WEAPONS ENGAGED. MERCY SETTING OFF."
"And in this corner..." the referee continued, gesturing towards the empty space on the opposite side of the ring, "the, uh...the first dragon combatant in tournament history...Spike!"
A few seconds of awkward silence followed. "WARNING: OPPONENT NOT LOCATED BY VISUAL SENSORS. COMBAT ALERTNESS SET TO MAXIMUM VALUE. ALL SYSTEMS INITIALIZED AND READY. ...WHERE IS THAT DRAGON DORK, ANYWAY?"
"Er...we kinda need him out here now," the ref mentioned to Twilight.
BOOM! BOOM! Suddenly, a loud banging could be heard from within the nearby forest, causing the ground to start shaking. "He'll, uh...be right here!" Twilight insisted, giving the referee an innocent smile.
The sound of several trees being uprooted in unison caught the crowd's attention. Everyone turned just in time to see a giant purple dragon emerge from the tree line, stuffing the trees he had just claimed into a large stone structure he was carrying.
"That had better not be our hut he's got," Rainbow Dash commented.
"That's not the dragon that's supposed to be fighting!" the referee objected.
"Sure it is!" Twilight insisted. "He's, um...just going through a growth spurt!"
The ref sighed. "If you say so," he declared. "Combatants ready? ...FIGHT!"
Spike snorted out a cloud of smoke as he surveyed the stunned crowd before him, then let out a ferocious roar that sent the audience running for cover. "TARGET SIGHTED," Cyrax announced. "UNEXPECTED ERROR ENCOUNTERED. SIZE DOES NOT COMPUTE."
"Robot!" Spike's eyes lit up. "Spike want!"
"WARNING: TARGET APPROACHING," Cyrax declared monotonically, as Spike stomped over to the ring. "INITIATE REPULSION SEQUENCE." On cue, Cyrax's stomach opened up, and the robot began launching a hail of bombs at the dragon.
"Look out!" Twilight screamed, as the bombs started exploding . "Everypony run!"
Spike, on the other hand, was undeterred (and unaffected) by the blasts. "Ooh, pretty!" the dragon mused. "Spike want! Spike need! Spike really like mane!"
"TARGET UNAFFECTED BY ATTACKS," Cyrax observed, as Spike reached out to grab the robot. "BEGIN EVASIVE MANEUVERS." The robot ninja leaped out of the way of Spike's hand. "KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF!" Cyrax shouted.
Spike scowled at the uncooperative cyborg. "Spike WANT!!!" he thundered, suddenly growing another fifteen feet in the process.
"RECALCULATING SUCCESS PROBABILITIES," Cyrax announced. "RESULT: CHANCE OF VICTORY NOW -73.821%. ENTERING PANIC MODE. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Cyrax unleashed his best high-pitched-Rarity-after-losing-her-ribbon scream, and took off running in the opposite direction.
"SPIKE WANT!" Spike repeated, chasing after the fleeing robot.
"That's it! That's the game!" Twilight proclaimed, as Cyrax and Spike ran off down the beach. "The robot guy willingly left the circle - that means he forfeits, right?"
"Nope," the referee informed Twilight. "The ring is where the battle starts, but it doesn't have to be where it finishes."
"What?" Twilight cried out in disbelief. "Then what's the point of having the stupid ring in the first place?"
"Hey, I don't make the rules; I just call 'em," the ref responded with a shrug.
"Good grief," Twilight muttered, facehooving as Cyrax and Spike started doing laps around the island.
"Should we...do something about this?" Rarity wondered. "I can't imagine these brutes would appreciate a crazed possessive dragon loose on their island, no matter how uncivilized they are."
"We can't stop him now," Twilight countered. "If we shrink him back to normal size before the match ends, he'll be crushed! I mean, you saw those bombs that robot was throwing out!"
"Maybe we should check on Applejack," Rainbow Dash suggested. "I mean, as long as Spikezilla is on the loose, I don't really see this Cyrax guy making a comeback."
"Maybe you're right," Twilight conceded. "This way, we can help Applejack, and give Cyrax more quality time with Spike."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Come on, girls - to the mountains!"
"Whoa! Hey! Yikes!" Applejack shouted as she dodged her way around the cavern, managing to stay one step ahead of Blaze's attacks.
Blaze chuckled at Applejack's plight. "Honestly, now," he chided, "you're missing the point of this whole thing - to win a fight, you actually have to attack your opponent." He fired another fireball at Applejack, who dived out of the way. "You see now?" he pointed out, gesturing to the damaged cavern wall. "I would think a salt-of-the-earth pony like yourself would be kinder to the environment than this."
"Well, I ain't the one burnin' up the walls!" Applejack retorted. Ducking behind a stalagmite, Applejack wiped her brow and tried to come up with a viable strategy. "How am I ever gonna beat this guy when I can't even hit him?" she said to herself.
Blaze launched another fireball at the stalagmite, shattering the rock and sending Applejack face-first into the cavern wall. "Naughty, naughty!" Blaze teased. "You said hiding was cheating, remember?"
Looking back at the melted remains of the stalagmite, a crazy idea popped into Applejack's head. Jumping back to her feet, she blew a raspberry at her molten opponent. "I dare you to try that again!" she challenged. "You couldn't hit the broad side of the barn!"
Blaze shot Applejack a confused look. "OK, I'll bite," he agreed, summoning another fireball and firing a fastball at his opponent.
"Too slow!" Applejack mocked, stepping out of the way of the fireball and letting it crash harmlessly into the wall.
"Oh, so that's your game, is it?" Blaze deduced. "Let's see how you handle a visit from Mr. Snappy!" Going into a windup, Blaze reared back and unleashed a wicked slider.
"Yah!" Applejack took a step one way, but quickly backpedaled when the fireball broke in the same direction she did. "Land sakes," she declared, "you are full of surprises, ain't you? But a miss is still a miss, and pardner, you missed!"
"Okay, that's enough playing for now," Blaze proclaimed, sinking below the floor once more for a surprise attack.
"Here he comes," Applejack whispered to herself, as she backed up against the wall to ensure Blaze would emerge in front of her. Kicking up her back legs, she starting beating on the wall behind her (which had already taken a lot of damage from the fireballs) as if she was bucking an apple tree.
"What is she doing?" Shing asked the referee.
"It's not my job to figure out," the ref stated plainly.
"Gosh," Shing commented. "I mean, I knew ponies weren't the smartest animals on the planet, but this..." Shing's speech was interrupted by a loud rumbling that started echoing throughout the cave.
Applejack stopped kicking the wall, smiling as she felt the ground begin to shake and saw several cracks begin to appear on the wall. "That's my cue to skedaddle!" she declared, turning and running for the cave exit. "Nice meetin' y'all!" she shouted to Shing and the referee as she passed them.
"Er...is that sound what I think it is?" Shing asked the ref.
"The cave! It's collapsing!" the referee observed, stating the obvious.
"That's what I thought," Shing confirmed. "We should probably run now, right?"
"That would be my recommendation, yes," the referee agreed. With that, the pair made a mad dash for the exit.
After another ten tense seconds, Blaze burst out of the floor right in front of where Applejack had been standing. "Herrrrrrrrre's Johnny!" he shouted, drawing his fist back for a knockout punch before realizing there was no one there to hit. "Huh?" he exclaimed, turning to see that no one was left in the cave. "Well...this is awkward," Blaze commented. "Does this mean I win?"
A small pebble fell from the ceiling and bounced off of Blaze's head. "What the..." Blaze muttered, looking up to see the cave roof about to collapse on top of him. "This isn't gonna end well for me, is it?" he said with a sigh.
Meanwhile, Applejack raced down a long passage towards the cave exit, as the walls started to cave in behind her. "Almost there!" she shouted. "Come on, AJ - put the hammer down and make like Rainbow Dash during cider season!"
Kicking herself into another gear, Applejack rocketed down the passage and out into the open air, as the sounds of walls collapsing farther in began to reach her ears. Glaring intently at the cave entrance, she watched as Shing Tsung and the referee burst out of the cave just at the roof came crashing down in a cloud of dust and dirt.
"Phew!" Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. "I guess I showed that hothead who's the real king of the mountain around these parts!"
"Are you crazy?!?" Shing shouted at Applejack. "I mean, you almost got us killed!"
"Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades," Applejack pointed out. "But I don't think I almost got that Blaze fella - I think I got him good!"
"Applejack!" Applejack turned to see Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie racing over to the cave. "Are you all right?" Twilight asked. "When we heard the rumblings from below, we thought you might be in trouble!"
"Shucks, I'm just fine," Applejack reassured her friends. "But you should see the other guy."
"Speaking of which," the referee interjected, "I believe it's time to declare the end of the match! And the winner is..."
"RRRAAAGH!" A low, loud growl suddenly emerged from the collapsed cave, and Blaze came bursting through the rubble. "Silly little pony!" he snarled. "You think dropping a mountain on my head was going to stop me? I was born of rock and fire! And now, you're really gonna get it, you pathetic hayseed!"
"Er...excuse me, Twilight," Applejack requested, brushing past her friend and diving into the underbrush of the nearby forest. "I think I left somethin' cookin' on the...somethin'."
"Oh no you don't!" Blaze seethed, darting past the other ponies and giving chase through the forest. "You can't get away from me!"
"Quick, girls!" Twilight commanded. "Follow that fireman!"
"Hold up!" the referee shouted, as he started running after the combatants himself. "How am I supposed to enforce the rules if I can't see you?"
Applejack dashed through the forest, desperately racking her brain to come up with a new plan of attack. Pushing through a dense batch of leaves, however, she found herself standing on a dead-end overhang above a waterfall. "Dangnabbit!" she sputtered. "What now?"
"How about jumping to your death, and saving yourself the pain of dying slowly at my hands?" Blaze suggested, emerging from the trees to cut off Applejack's escape route. "It's over now, silly girl," Blaze cackled. "There's no escape this time."
"Oh no!" Twilight cried out, as the rest of the ponies approached the scene. "Applejack's been cornered! We have to do something!"
"No!" the referee objected. "You can't interfere with the battle! The combatants must settle this themselves."
Backing up to the very edge of the overhang, Applejack realized she was out of options. "I guess I've got no choice," she declared, preparing to strike. "I'm gonna beat you and save my sister, if it's the last thing I do!"
"Allow me to prove otherwise," Blaze growled, readying another fireball.
"YAHHHHHH!!" Everyone turned just in time to see Cyrax dash past the other ponies and leap into Blaze's arms. "PARDON THE INTERRUPTION," Cyrax apologized, "BUT I REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE URGENTLY."
"Um...I'm kinda busy squishing ponies right now, C-dog," Blaze replied. "What are you doing up here, anyway? Didn't you have a fight today too?"
"ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN..." Cyrax began.
The loud roar of a dragon cut through the air like a knife. "Uh oh..." Twilight whispered, looking up to see an angry Spike - who had grown another thirty feet since the chase began - approaching rapidly.
"SPIKE WANT ROBOT NOW!!!" Spike roared.
Blaze's eyes tripled in size at the sight of the dragon. "Dang, man," he offered, "I thought Frost got shafted when she got stuck fighting Tim Tebow, but I think this takes the cake. That's got to be the lousiest first-round draw I've ever seen."
"Why you get robot?" Spike shouted at Blaze. "Give Spike robot!"
Blaze looked up at Spike, then back down at Cyrax. "Sorry, C-dog," he declared, "but you're on your own."
"I IMPLORE YOU TO RECONSIDER," Cyrax pleaded. "YOUR ASSISTANCE WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED."
"If you not give Spike robot," Spike announced, "Spike SMASH!!!" With that, the large dragon raised his fist to strike.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Blaze and Cyrax screamed in unison, diving just out of the way (in fact, they almost landed on Applejack) as Spike slammed his fist into the ground. The force of the blow, however, caused the overhang to break off from the edge of the cliff, sending Applejack, Blaze, and Cyrax into freefall.
"APPLEJACK!" the other ponies cried, as their friend dropped out of sight over the edge of the cliff.
"I'm on it!" Rainbow Dash declared, hurrying over to dive down and save Applejack.
"Wait!" the referee shouted. "If you help her, she will be forced to forfeit the match, and she will lose her soul!"
"But...but..." Rainbow Dash hesitated, looking over the cliff as the combatants plummeted to their apparent doom.
Meanwhile, Applejack tried to make peace with her fate as she fell. "I'm sorry, Apple Bloom," she whispered, ignoring the screaming of Blaze and Cyrax. "I've let you, and Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith, and the entire Apple family down." In her final moments, she tried to recall the good times she had shared with her baby sister: the excitement of the Sisterhooves Socials, the obsessing over Apple Bloom's cutie mark, the apple harvesting, the rodeo training, the...
"Rodeo training..." Applejack's face lit up. "That's it! I ain't out of party tricks just yet!" Reaching for her bag, she pulled out another rope and quickly fashioned herself a lasso. Spying a sturdy looking branch, she aimed her lasso and flung it towards the limb with all her might.
As usual, Applejack's timing and aim were impeccable, and she roped the branch with ease, bringing her descent to an abrupt halt. Blaze and Cyrax, on the other hand, had neither the ropes nor the hand-eye coordination to attempt the trick, and the pair fell another eight hundred feet, eventually crash-landing in a shallow pool by the base of the waterfall.
"Holy horseshoes!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "She made it! She's okay!"
The other ponies rushed over to the cliff, rejoicing as they saw Applejack dangling at the end of her rope, hanging on by her teeth. "She's alive!" Twilight squealed. "She's alive!"
"Which is probably more than we can say for those other two," the referee remarked, pulling out a pair of binoculars and looking over the cliff to confirm their fates.
"Spike break robot?" Spike asked, looking over the cliff sorrowfully.
"I can't tell from here," the referee declared. "We'll have to go down and see."
The party quickly made its way down the side of the mountain (with Spike collecting rocks, trees, and even some stray birds along the way). Eventually, the group arrived at the base of the waterfall, where a small crowd had gathered trying to see what the fuss had been about.
"Well, there's one down, at least," Twilight remarked, pointing to where Cyrax lay twitching/short-circuiting near the edge of the water.
"Agreed," the referee decided. "The match between Cyrax the cyborg and Spike the dragon is over! Spike wins!"
"Spike...win?" Spike's eyes lit up. "Does Spike get prize?"
"Okay, now we can shrink him," Twilight declared. "Rarity, you're on."
"Of course," Rarity agreed, sidling over to Spike. "Spike, darling," she inquired, "you simply must see this fire ruby I have..."
"What about Blaze?" Twilight inquired. "Is he finished too?"
On cue, Blaze emerged from the depths of the pool, looking significantly less imposing (and about 200 degrees colder) than before. "You...you cursed brats!" he shouted at the ponies, as he began to lose his humanoid form and ooze back into the water. "Look what you've done! I'm melting! Melting! Oh, what a world! What a..." Blaze's words were muffled by the water as he disappeared below the surface.
"That's certainly enough for me," the referee decided. "The match between Blaze and Applejack is also over! Applejack wins!"
"That's great," Rainbow Dash commented. "So can I go and save her now?"
Within ten minutes, the crowd had dispersed, Applejack had been saved, Spike had been shrunk, and Shing had been dispatched to fish Blaze's soul from the bottom of the pool. "Great job, everypony!" Twilight congratulated her team. "We faced some really tough challenges today, but we persevered through them, and came out on the winning side!"
"This calls for a celebration!" Pinkie Pie proclaimed, pulling out a set of party hats and plopping them on everypony's head. "Curses," she muttered, "I left my noisemakers back at the hut..."
"We'd better not celebrate too quickly," Applejack warned. "Our biggest challenge is yet to come."
"Why, whatever do you mean, darling?" Rarity asked.
"A-are we going to have to fight z-z-zombies next?" Spike inquired nervously.
"It doesn't matter!" Rainbow Dash declared confidently. "We can take them, no sweat!"
"I'm sure we can," Twilight concurred. "It's Fluttershy I'm worried about."