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// Ch. 2 - An Explanation and a Confrontation 
// Story: My Little Pony Z: Friendship is Power 
// by BronyStache 
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Chapter 2: An Explanation and a Confrontation


Rainbow Dash just stood there with her jaw hanging open, physically stunned by her friends’ revelation. Rarity waved a hoof in front of her face but she didn’t respond. After waiting a minute for her to snap out of it, she and Fluttershy set up a small table in front of her and made some tea to wait it out. As Fluttershy poured her second cup Rainbow began to stir again. “I think she’s coming back.” Rarity said while putting her cup down.

Rainbow blinked a few times and sat down, staring at the cup that had been set out for her then at her two friends. “So let me get this straight, you two practice martial arts?” They nodded in response. “And Rarity has a secret training dojo?” They nodded again. “And Fluttershy is your teacher?” Their nodding did nothing to help her confusion.

“Perhaps we should start from the beginning.” Rarity said. “And I think you could explain it better, Fluttershy, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, of course.” Fluttershy began. “You see, Rainbow, it started when I first moved to Ponyville to care for the animals. One of the best ways to treat a sore muscle is through massage, so I bought some books on old massage techniques, meditation, and other ways to relax.”  She placed the book Rarity had earlier on the table. It was an old thick book, the kind of thing Twilight would covet, with a strange symbol on the cover that looked like three hoofprints forming a triangle. “This one though I grabbed on accident with the others. It also had some chapters on meditation, but I didn’t read it for a long time after I noticed it was about more than that. Then one night while I was bringing some animals inside, something wandered out of the Everfree forest and tried to attack me. I was so frightened I stiffened up, but a billy goat I’d been caring for came and chased it away.”

Rainbow remembered that incident from a while ago; it had been only a few weeks after she herself moved to Ponyville. Fluttershy spent a few nights at her place afterwards while she had more appropriate fences installed around the cottage. She recalled seeing her reading a book one of those nights, the same one now on the table in front of her. That was so long ago though, had Fluttershy been studying it all this time?

“I started to read the book, remembering a few parts mentioning self defense. It’s about an ancient Equestrian martial art, with different techniques for pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies.” She opened the old book to a page with an illustration of an earth pony splitting a tree in half with a kick and an explanation on the other page of various bucking techniques. She turned to a page that explained applications of meditation and magic, then to another showing two pegasi locked in a midair fight. “About a year ago, Rarity and I were at the spa and she started talking about going to Canterlot for a few weeks to take some martial arts classes to become more graceful, so I told her about the book and my own practice. She was a really quick learner and we had this dojo built so we wouldn’t have to practice outside.”

“Wait a minute.” Rainbow finally spoke up. “If you’ve really been practicing all this stuff, then why are you still so easily scared? Why haven’t I ever seen you use it when we’ve run into monsters in the Everfree forest?” She started looking around the dojo. “Is this some kind of elaborate prank or something?”

“Oh, well you see…” Fluttershy got nervous again, Rainbow Dash was making a good point. “The training mostly helps me to relax; it doesn’t help much with overcoming fear. Knowing how to fight doesn’t automatically make you brave.” Dash just stared at her with a raised eyebrow; it was obvious she didn’t believe a word of it. “Be…besides, violence should only be a last resort, s… so I’ve never really needed to fight.” Dash’s expression didn’t change and that only made Fluttershy more flustered. “And I… I wouldn’t ever want to... to hurt anypony.” The more she spoke, the less Dash believed her.

The two pegasi were so distracted by the conversation, they didn’t notice that Rarity had used her magic to bring the boards Fluttershy had brought closer to them. She lifted the pile of planks and had it float a few feet behind Fluttershy. “Girls, I believe a demonstration would be the best way to settle this little dispute.” She said with a slightly mischievous grin. The boards then flew around Fluttershy and rushed at her from several directions.

What Rainbow Dash saw next would astound her for the rest of her life. Just as the boards began moving, Fluttershy took a deep breath and her face went from nervous to extremely calm. She raised he right hoof and smashed through two boards that were heading towards her head, then with her hind legs she kicked two more smashing them into splinters. When the largest board flew at her, she flapped her wings to rise over it then smash down, breaking it into several pieces. As the final board came from above, she extended her right wing and struck it dead in the center, splitting it in half. The same energy that Rarity had given off earlier now flowed from the yellow pegasus, then she exhaled and it slowly dissipated.

From Rainbow Dash’s perspective, the whole scene seemed to move in slow motion, but it actually only took about three seconds. She just stared at her friend afterwards, her eyes wide with surprise. “Um, Rainbow? Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked after she didn’t move for a few seconds.

“That… was… AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash screamed, frightening Fluttershy. “You were so fast, and you broke all those boards like they were nothing! I mean, I’ve done some amazing stunts, but if I could do stuff like that, oh my gosh that would be incredible!”

“And that brings us to the favor we wanted to ask of you.” Rarity said. “As you can see, Fluttershy and I have been practicing for quite a while now. We know each others techniques and strategies, which has made some of our recent practice matches a bit... difficult.” Rainbow thought for a second about the image of Rarity and Fluttershy fighting, a strange sight in her mind, when she realized what was about to be asked. “Since you are quite the impressive athlete, Rainbow Dash, we were wondering if you would like to be our new sparring partner and train with us.”

“I’m totally in!” Rainbow said with great enthusiasm.

“Excellent.” Rarity responded happily. “Now we think the best way to get you started would be a quick practice match.”

“Alrighty then.”

“And since she’s much better at controlling her strength, you’re going to fight Fluttershy.” Rarity said a she started clearing the dojo floor and moved off to the side.

“Wait, what?” Rainbow suddenly felt confused when she and Fluttershy were the only ones on the athletics mat. The fact that she would actually have to fight her friends had just dawned on her, and Fluttershy of all ponies. If it had been Applejack she could probably do it, even Rarity or one of the others would have been easier, but this was Fluttershy, the last pony she ever thought she’d have to fight



Loading all of Old Joe’s apples took Big Macintosh a bit longer than he thought, the tree’s age and size were only matched by its productivity. The job wasn’t hard, but with sun at its highest Macintosh managed to work up a bit of a sweat. He decided he’d earned a little snack break before he got back to the rest of the days work. Sitting in the shade of the old tree, he took the biggest apple from the cart and took a big bite. He always enjoyed the fruits of his labor, the literal taste of a job well done.

His snack was soon interrupted by a mysterious noise, like someone firing a canon in the distance. Whatever it was, it grew louder and louder like it was heading right for him. He ran into a clearing amongst the trees, looked up in the direction of the noise, and saw what appeared to be a second smaller sun that seemed to grow as it neared him. With a loud boom, the orb tore through the sky above him and landed about sixty yards away from him, sending a cloud of dust that shot over and past him. He rushed in the direction of the impact, guided by a sense of urgency to ensure the safety of the orchard.

He came to the edge of a crater that had decimated about twenty or thirty trees, much less damage than he had feared. There was no fire and besides a few singed treetops and burn marks in the crater no sign that the explosions source had been on fire at all. As the dust settled, a round form in the center of the crater came into view. The fireball was in fact a large metal sphere with what appeared to be a round window on its side made from a heavily tinted glass.

Macintosh took a step towards it, but a sudden sound startled him and he stopped. With a loud hiss a diagonal line appeared on the orb, dividing it in half and releasing some kind of white cloud that quickly cooled down the area around it. The red stallion shivered, not from the cold cloud but from a sense of dread that he could not control. It was like some kind of pressure had flooded over his body, thick with what he could only identify as something to be feared. Just being near it was stressful, his breathing becoming slightly labored, but he had to know what this was. Not just for the safety of the farm, but whatever this was could be a threat to the family.

The sphere opened, more of the cooling cloud rising from the opening. A black silhouette of a tall pony stepped out into the crater. Through the cloud, Macintosh could make out a mane that was spiked forward, a tail that was tied at the base, and a masculine body type. The point of a horn poked out of the mane with dark blue glow around it. A small amount of magic released a wave of air to clear away the cloud, revealing the mysterious unicorn in the crater. His fur was a deep ocean blue and his mane and tail a dark forest green with light green highlights. He wore metal plates on his shoulders and flanks, slightly ornate pieces of armor that were more for intimidation than protection. The fear Macintosh had felt began to fade when he saw the unicorn, knowing what he was dealing with calmed him a bit.

“Who exactly are you?” The farm pony asked, not moving from his spot at the crater’s edge. The unicorn looked up at him and started walking out of the crater. When he reached the edge he looked around, trying to get his bearings. He started walking towards a small raised area in the field, ignoring Macintosh entirely. “Excuse me, I asked you a question.” He said as he followed up the hill, his tone becoming slightly annoyed. The unicorn continued to look around, looking at the midday sun with a scowl and muttering something to himself. “Ya don’t just fall from the sky an’ burn part of somepony’s farm without explainin’ yerself!” Macintosh yelled, the unicorns rudeness getting to him.

“Very well.” The unicorn finally replied with a sigh, his voice carrying an air of sophistication, arrogance, and superiority. “My name is Geo Crusher, right hoof of King Eclipse, ruler of the Martingale Empire. One of my scouts reported seeing an essential piece to the project I’m working on, so I came here to investigate. Your cropland was the most suitable landing area, close to a small populated area but far enough away to avoid too much attention.” As he introduced himself, he held his head up high with pride when mentioning his king, then explained why he destroyed the trees as though it was nothing.

Geo’s tone ground on Macintosh’s nerves “I never heard of no King Eclipse, but around here ya don’t destroy somepony’s lively hood fer no good reason.” He said as he moved closer to the blue unicorn.

“I just told you my reason, you small town farmer.” Geo responded as he took a step towards Macintosh. “I’m going to find what I came for and leave, and then you can get back to your… work.” He chuckled a little, looking at the damage his landing had caused.

“This ain’t no joke.” Macintosh said now right in Geo’s face. “Yer either gonna help fix whatcha did, or yer gonna pay fer the crops we lost.” The two stared into each others eyes for a moment. Macintosh was quite a bit bigger than Geo, but the unicorn stared back with no sign of intimidation. “Ya gonna say anything in yer defe…” He was cut off by the back of a hoof striking his face. The force of the hit was unimaginable, sending the workhorse flying several yards away.

Geo examined the back of his hoof, the pony’s skull having been a bit harder than he’d expected. “Annoying commoners, trying to hold members of the imperial court to their laws.” His horn glowed red for a moment and the light from it moved over his left eye, forming a transparent red film of magic over it. He scanned the horizon around him until a blue dot appeared on the strange magical object. “Southwest and moving in this direction.” He said to himself. “It seems to be accompanied by two ponies, perhaps I’m not the only one trying to ARRGGCH!” He coughed in pain as he felt the air forced from his lungs. His hooves felt the ground disappear from under him as he flew sideways towards a tree, his right side hitting it with a loud thud.

As he slowly stood up, Geo took quick note of the damage. Two hooves had hit him; the one that hit his side knocked the wind out of him, cause some bruising, and slightly cracked one of his ribs. The second hoof had hit the armor on his left flank, no severe damage done to him but he could feel a slight pressure where the armor had been dented. He looked back to where he’d been standing and saw Macintosh lower his back legs from the bucking position. The farmer was looking over his shoulder at him, his right eye black from Geo’s earlier strike, and stared for a second with calm but determined look.

“Well now…” Geo said as he took a more aggressive stance. “That’s quite a kick you have there. You probably think that was an impressive feat hitting me like that, don’t you?”

Macintosh smirked as he responded. “Eeyup.”

“Well it wasn’t!” Geo snapped back. “I wasn’t expecting to meet anypony who could actually fight, let alone one with enough strength for me to notice. You got lucky that I dropped my guard for a moment, but that won’t happen again. Do you really think you can stand up to an elite Martingale warrior like me?”

“Eeyup.”

“Don’t be so arrogant! I’m King Eclipse’s apprentice and most elite soldier, trained in both combat and magic that could destroy your entire farm!” Macintosh’s attitude had struck a cord with Geo, nopony had ever talked to him like this since he reached his current rank. “What do you take me for, some grunt of a soldier who’s nothing but talk?”

“Eeyup.”

“Well you’re wrong!” Geo yelled as he charged the offending earth pony. Macintosh reared onto his front legs and prepared to kick again, but Geo was ready for him this time. He ducked down low and to the right so that Macintosh would have to hit with his right leg. Geo blocked the leg with his own right hoof and lifted Mac up a bit as he swung with his left hoof at his stomach. Before his blow could connect though, Macintosh brought his left hoof down on Geo’s left shoulder and forced him to the ground, then pulled his right leg forward out of Geo’d hoof. With a loud smack, he kicked the unicorn in the head and sent him flying at the same tree from before. However, Geo was expecting a fight now and he spun in the air so he’d hit the tree with his hooves instead of his body, kicking the tree as he made contact, knocking it down, and landing on top of it on all fours.

“If ya quite now, I won’t charge you for that tree when you pay for the rest of em’.” Macintosh said as he turned to face him.

Geo was really angry now. Not because he was loosing the fight, he’d been a warrior most of his life and knew his opponents would always land some of their blows. It wasn’t even Macintosh’s attitude; he was just an ignorant farmer who didn’t realize who he was dealing with. What was getting to him was the information the magic lens on his eye was displaying. It showed him Macintosh’s inner power, his true potential as a fighter, and according to this data that last kick was barely fifty percent of his full strength.

“How dare you hold back against me!.” Geo’s horn erupted with his dark blue magic. “If you’re going to strike me go all out like a true warrior!”

“I ain’t no warrior.” Mac replied calmly. “A kick like that would knock most ponies out cold, had I kicked any harder I may have killed ya.”

Geo stepped off the tree as his magic spread around it. “You under estimate my strength, you could never match my power.” The tree floated up next to him as he grabbed its stump with his magic as well and ripped it out of the ground, roots dirt and all.

“I a’int tryin’ to! All I wanted was fer you to pay fer the damage you caused. Yer the one who started this meaningless fight.”

“And now I’m going to end it!” Geo launched the tree at him, followed by the stump just in case. Macintosh jumped and did a one-eighty spin to dodge the tree, then kicked the stump and shattered it into a cloud of splinters and dirt. As the cloud fell, he saw that Geo now had a huge sphere of magic around his horn. “Buck this!” He yelled as he launched the sphere at a speed to fast for a pony Mac’s size to dodge. The sphere hit with a small explosion that sent Macintosh flying into the air, across the orchard, and through the roof of the barn.

Geo breathed heavily for a bit, more from rage than any kind of exhaustion. As his mission returned to his attention, he took a deep breath to calm down and again scanned the distance for his target. “There you are. I’ll just go grab you and head back home. Somepony’s bound to have noticed that little show, it shouldn’t be to long before somepony competent finds my ship.” A lighter colored magic glowed in his horn and spread over his body, lifting him off the ground. He started flying a few feet off the ground at an impressive speed, weaving between the tree’s of the orchard and nearby forest as he made his way to his target. “My life’s dream will finally come true.” He thought to himself. “I’ll finish my project as soon as I get my hooves on that baby dragon.”



Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie and Spike all came to a stop near the border of the Star Daisy field and the forest. Twilight had felt a wave of unfamiliar magic, as though somepony had released a dangerous amount of energy in a single burst. Spike stopped behind her as she tried to recognize the magic, but then he too felt something. It was the same feeling Big Mac had felt when Geo’s ship opened, like a wave of evil intentions, but it was more focused on him. Pinkie also stopped, but she just stuck out her tongue and stared down at it quizzically. She gasped as though she had come to some form of realization. “Duck!” She yelled as she buried her head beneath her hooves. Spike and Twilight did the same without question, partially because of what they had felt, but mostly because they knew to always trust Pinkie Sense. A blue and green blur shot over their heads and stopped among the Star Daisies. They turned and looked with fear and curiosity at the strangely armored unicorn that had appeared.



What does Geo Crusher want with Spike? Can Twilight and Pinkie protect him? And can Rainbow Dash bring herself to actually fight Fluttershy? Find out in the next chapter of My Little Pony Z!

Ch. 3: Fighting for Friends, coming soon…