She was a mess. So, I did everything I could for her. She was (is still) young. She was pregnant. She is my friend, almost like a younger sister. We were connected by Crystals. But, things weren't going well for her. Her husband was called away to fight, and that snowballed out of control.
I stopped by her apartment one day. We lived in the same city, so it was easy. She was... managing. Her budget obviously took a hit. With Shiftalac out in space God knows where, Tonya was left to her own devices. And Riley heartlessly didn't realize how important he would be to her right now.
"You're coming with me." I literally yanked her up off the floor by her shoulder. She had been agonzing over how her life was going. Her countertop was stacked with instant ramen packages. More wrappers were in the trash. More were around the sink. She was living off the stuff.
Hell. No.
I let her stay in Sundae's room while she was gone. I got a few friends to bring her bed over to my apartment because there was an obvious height difference between her and Sundae. They also brought over a few things to keep her entertained--namely her TV and a game console.
And then, it happened. I never would have thought it would happen to her. She's young and strong. Why? I couldn't console her very well. I tried, but she threw a flower vase across the room and shattered it behind me. I never saw such rage in her before... It's as if she was angry at me for all this!
~~~
The titantic earth dragon leapt off the high wall. With her current weight and the height that she was falling from, the impact would be devastating. A 60 ton beast jumping off of a 60 foot rise? The quake is going to be felt for miles!
The pegasus Kat was airborne when the beast took 'flight' and watched in horror as her friends were directly underneath. The three friends down below wouldn't be very tall after such an impact. They wouldn't be very 'alive' either.
In the balcony, Celestia and Luna had huddled everypony together. Celestia even yanked Rarity out of her spa chair. There were three pair of overlapping wings covering the group. One white, one black, one pink with violet tips. They were shielding them from harm, but ready to teleport out if things got truly disastrous.
Tonya dropped towards the ground, and everything went into slow motion. Casie and Bobbi scrambled away, but could they really get away in time? They had a solid gallop, but how far away was 'safe?' Meanwhile, Amanda was frozen underneath as fear paralyzed her. She couldn't move. Her impending doom had sealed her joints in place.
She couldn't do anything. Or could she?
As Tonya dropped towards her 'friends', her momentum had ground to a halt. The huge reptile 'friend' of hers was slowly frozen in midair. Only feet from the ground, snarling and growling as ever, Tonya was unmoving just above Amanda.
Underneath the blue unicorn, wave after wave of energy rushed around her. It was so strong that it was visible to the naked eye. The ground cracked and broke into pieces. A crater was slowly forming under her hooves. Her blue horn glowed an even brighter shade of blue as her magic had diverted the energy from the creature's dive and prevented her from hitting the ground so forcefully. Her horn was glowing so brilliantly that it was almost white!
Her 'magic' was based in energy control. When Tonya's gigantic size leapt down towards her, Amanda used her powers to cycle around the kinetic energy of the fall itself. While siphoning the force off, the fall became slower and slower as she approached the ground. Some of that force was pushed back up against her, but much of it was dissipating. Alas, the decay rate of this save won't allow it to last long...
"I..." she grunts. "Can't... Hold... Her...."
When Bobbi and Casie saw what their comrade had done so marvelously, they quickly took action. They both thought similarly that one good strike would be enough. They ran back towards the earth dragon and leapt together as one. The mute gold unicorn glowed brilliantly as she summoned her newly restored powers. The red earth pony shimmered in the light as her own powers were already in effect.
The two friends jumped towards her and twisted their bodies so that their rear hooves had their full body weights backing their attack. They delivered a simultaneous kick to the beast's abdomen. When their hooves connected with the hard plastron, they left horrible cracks in the undershell. The power forced through the blow reverberated throughout the monster and jostled all of her organs.
"Aw no...." Amanda thought from below.
The attacks on the titan had caused her body to react in a very difficult way. The attacks has left her insides so distraught that relief could only come in one way. Earlier, Amanda had nearly been bathed in dragon flame. This time she is to be covered in dragon vomit as Tonya regurgitates the contents of her stomach. A thick green and pale yellow secretion smelling of spoiled meat and rotten eggs expels itself all over Amanda as she is directly under Tonya's jaw.
"UUUGGGHHHH!!" she screams. But, shortly after this unfortunate incident, a white streak had zipped by and collected the slime covered water user. And once she was moved, Tonya had completed her fall to the ground with a more reasonable rumbling than before.
"You okay?" Kat asks.
"I am covered in dragon barf. WHAT DO YOU THINK?!"
~~~
I checked in on her quite often. I lived a couple states away, but I got up there as often as I could. Out of all of us, I like to think that I'm her best friend. She's certainly a unique case of weirdo.
I had gone through this myself last year. I remember how everyone was babying me (pardon the pun). Well, to be honest, it was all Tonya's fault. Sort of. But, I'm not holding it against a rogue personality of hers.
I was so glad to see that Amanda took her in. Hell, I would've driven her to my home (from Minnesota to Kansas!) and done the same thing. I was actually considering it when I drove up that one day. I was worried about her because Shiftalac was gone. I didn't want her sitting in that little apartment eating junk food all day. I almost fought Amanda for 'custody' of her, but I figured she was in good hands being in the same city and all.
And I was right about one thing. She was sitting in her apartment playing games and eating ramen. While I was in town, I took her out to eat at some buffet that they had there. I was worried though that the owner was going to kick us out!! She just kept chowing down!! What? Has this girl not eaten in a week or something?
I don't understand how 'it' happened. Everything was going great. And then, one day, it all fell apart. Something was definitely wrong. There's no way in Hell that this could've 'just happened.' There's something very wrong about how all that went down.
How I said I thought I was her best friend? Didn't sound like it after that! Nobody was safe!!
~~~
"AAAaauuuggghh..." Amanda groans as she holds out her forelegs. "I'm covered in dragon puke!! Please tell me this'll wash out.... Oh God this stinks!!"
"Let's hope so... I'm sorry I couldn't get to you faster. Whatever you did, I had to go around--like way around to grab you." Kat steps back a little with a hoof over her nose while waving the other at head level. "I'm sorry, Amanda. But, I can't stand that close to you right now! Eureeka!!
"You oh.." Bobbi starts as she nears the pair, but sees that Amanda is already hating her predicament. "Nevermind. Hey!! What's that?" she asks as she points up at Amanda's bile-covered forehead, which Amanda looks up at the best she can. Bobbi uses her own horn's magic to pluck it off of her friend.
"Looks like a scale," Casie offers.
"Kinda faded," Kat adds. "But definitely looks like it was lime green in its prime."
"That proves it then," Bobbi finishes. "Tonya ran back to town to get a dragon scale."
Above, the Sun and Moon Princesses realize that the worst is over. Probably. At least the impact didn't happen. As they do, they loosen their wings' grip on their friends and slowly back away.
"What IS going on?" Rarity asks as she uses her horn to remove the sliced cucumbers from her eyelids. "This isn't the spa..." she mumbles to herself. She looks over the balcony's edge at the scene below. "AAAAAAHHHHH!!! Dragon!!" she shouts and quickly launches herself away. It takes only a second before she wraps her four legs around something reassuring.
"Hi, Rarity!" Celestia greets as the Element of Generosity has wrapped herself around the princess' neck.
"P-princess.... C-Celestia...?" she fumbles out. After a moment of realization, she drops to the floor with a blush covering her face. A second later, she realizes that her face still has facial mask covering it and she quickly rubs her hooves across to remove it. She then pulls out all her curlers and doffs the robe as quickly as possible.
Down on the ground, Amanda sits disgustingly while she uses her horn's magic to peel off as much of Tonya's 'gift' as possible. Her face is contorted as the smell of the stuff is stinging her nose.
"Hey Bobbi," Casie wonders. "I wonder if Cuddles up there might be able to help with Tonya. Animal lover and all that!"
"Doubt it," Kat says with a snicker. "I think Fluttershy wants to stay away from this one. I can't see thoughts all that clearly right now, but I can tell she's frightened."
"SHE'S frightened?" Amanda grits.
"Hey Kat," Casie asks. "Did ya get anything out of Tonya?"
"Not much. Nothing clear. My powers aren't as strong with the gem, but I can still get some. All I got were raw emotions. Jealously, mainly. I could see Amanda real well through her eyes, and you too, Bobbi. Casie though... She's almost invisible."
"Yeah," Bobbi notes. "We figured that. There's something that the three of us have that Casie doesn't."
"CHILDREN!" Bobbi and Amanda shout.
"Come again?" Casie asks.
Amanda raises a hoof to her face. "Ah, dammit Tonya...." She pulls away her hoof and hangs out her tongue as she has yet to clean it, and now has more 'stuff' on her forehead.
"The three of us," Bobbi answers, "all have children. Jacob, Jesse, and Sundae. CASIE!! You don't have one!!"
"Well excuse me!!" she grits. "Not something I really had time for!"
"No no no..." Amanda continues. "She means that you don't have one... therefore she's not coming after you! She's...." Her tone softens as she exhales. "She's still upset. I thought she was getting better. She seemed so much happier in the past few days. I was such an idiot."
While all of this was going on, a certain lumbering dragon started to stalk back towards them. Loud footsteps started to disrupt the conversation and jiggle the talkative ponies. Tonya roars again and declares that the fight is not over yet.
"Hey guys," Kat says as she looks up at her friend. "Next time we decide we need a vacation? Let's just go to Cancun. The sun's warm. The beer's cold. And our biggest problem is sunburn. Not pissy dragons!!"
"Plane tickets on me," Amanda notes.
"I'll get the beer," Casie adds.
"I'll get the hotel," Bobbi offers.
"I'll get the food, then," Kat finishes.
~~~
I stayed in touch with the others pretty often. With my powers, flying across the country wasn't a real big deal. When our numbers were gutted by Riley (including my husband and son), I knew it was more important than ever to stay together. Those other... problems though tended to surface at the wrong times.
I certainly remember when I was going through all that. I was really far away at the time and I had no connection to my friends. Hell, they thought I was dead! I don't blame them, though. They had no way of knowing. All the evidence pointed towards that conclusion. The Forgotten wanted to torture me by keeping me alive. They wanted me to know that my friends were in trouble.
A bit off track. Sorry about that.
And in that time, I found love. I got married. And I had a son. But I had everything I needed. Tonya kinda got the short end of that stick. Everything was going well, but then it was decided 'nope! Going too well for you! Gotta change it!' I was worried about her, but I wasn't sure what I could do. She needed Shiftalac.
Was that what caused 'it'? Was her longing for her husband and father-to-be the reason? I always saw her put on a brave face, but I could almost always see through it. She wasn't doing as well as she let on.
~~~
The four ponified Crystal Warriors stand together (yet subtley sidestep away from Amanda) and look up at their transformed friend. She had been knocked around, but Tonya was still putting up a fight. She roars at the group and prepares to resume her carnage.
"Yeah, stuff it!" Kat shouts back.
"I think it's working," Amanda announces. "I can feel the power cycling out of her!"
"Alright girls!!" Bobbi shouts. "Sledgehammer!!"
"What?!" Kat asks. "Really?"
"If we hit her hard enough," Casie adds, "we can knock her out. She should change back that much more quickly."
"Right," Bobbi agrees. "We're not trying to kill her. Just knock her out."
Tonya roars at the top of her lungs at the four. The power of her breath pushes them back some, but they otherwise stand firm.
"Not trying to kill her?" Kat wonders. "Wanna tell HER that?"
"Heh," Bobbi smirks. "Actually, I tend to prefer action over words. Like this one." She snaps her head forward a bit and her horn fires a brilliant beam of light at Tonya that carves a deep groove across her shell. The wound glows red from the heat and smokes just a little. While her previous attacks have been light on power, this powerful one turns a few heads.
Kat flies up and starts to batter her hooves across Tonya's body. "It's time to change back, Tonya!! You've had enough play time!!" While she hovers in the air, Tonya launches another fireball at her, but misses. Kat responds by flapping her wings harder and harder to create a powerful wind aimed at the dragon.
Amanda has some of the energy from before stored up and uses it to attack Tonya's body with power-enforced hooves. She manages to chip off a few chunks of Tonya's hard shell and causes her to roar that much louder. Perhaps in pain this time. She realizes that a waterfall is just behind her and motions for the water to launch towards her with powerful jets.
Casie continues as before and uses her hardened hooves to chip away at the body just as Amanda was. However, she doesn't have to worry about energy running out. While her hardness will fade, it won't be before the fight ends. She continues to hit and buck Tonya's body. As with Amanda's water element, Casie uses the firey torches around the arena and aims them at her 'foe'.
~~~
I felt horrible. Out of the four of us that were helping Tonya, I did the least. I was busy with my own work and didn't associate with her much. Besides our Crystals, we were in different worlds. I suppose the greatest rift between us was that she was more of a child and I was more of an adult.
But, I still congratulated her for what was to come. Even though we were from different circles, we were both women. We had that in common, I guess. I was happy that she was having a child. Even when we were first endowed with the Crystals, I was an outsider to her and the others. Kat, Amanda, and Tonya seemed to bond together nicely. Even Bobbi sometimes. But... I don't know... I just wasn't as hooked in. I was there for anything they needed, don't get me wrong about that.
But, what can I say? I have a military career. I do special ops and go where they need me to go. There's weeks at a time that I'm out of contact. I got back one day, and heard that she was pregnant. While I showed her my appreciation, a part of me just went 'okay. That's nice.'
When Riley took most everyone away, I did my best to keep in contact better. Everything kind of went to shit after that. Tonya lost her baby. Those other shits attacked. We lost our powers. And the world went to hell.
Should I feel ashamed for all this? I fought like hell alongside my teammates. And we still lost. If I kept in better contact... If I never left, would this have gone any different? Most of my head says no. But, a small part of me feels guilt for not staying near them more often.
~~~
The four Crystal Warriors continue to batter Tonya with their assaults from different angles. The rocky dragon has assumed a defensive position and holds her front claws over her head. Although she is tough and powerful, she looks to be weathering a storm. For a moment, the other four look like bullies as they hammer on the withdrawn 'sister' of theirs.
But that stops when Tonya unleashes a deafening roar that tosses all of her 'loved ones' off of her. She stands again as the other four stop attacking and regroup ahead of her. One could almost see a smile form on her gnarled mouth as she inhales a steady gust of wind.
"Well," Kat gulps, "we're bacon!"
"WAIT!" Casie shouts and quickly gets the others' attention. "Give me your tails!"
"WHAT?!" Amanda retorts. "Our--"
"Stick 'em out!" Casie adds. "One onto another and another!" Without much else said, the four all entangle their tails together. Although they know not why, Casie (seems) to know what she's doing.
"Ooohh..." Kat giggles. "I feel tingly!"
"I feel... different!" Amanda notes.
"Rush her!" Bobbi shouts. And, as commanded, the group charges forth against their ally run amuck. Tonya unleashes her fiery vengeance, but her friends run as a unit and tackle the powerful (and heavy!) dragon. As Tonya's flames are unleashed, it is thrown out of control as flames are tossed up and away from the four.
There was a moment of caution as the ponies in the balcony dropped down when the flames might've come near. But, they raised themselves up again to watch four warrior ponies push hard against a dangerous dragon. With amazing power, they pushed Tonya far, fast, and furiously.
With their combined powers, the Warriors crashed Tonya's dragon form into the wall of their training grounds. With a thunderous noise, she was pushed through and broke a hole into the outside world.
It didn't take long before the spectators went to investigate. While outside the arena, they would be invisible to them. The three alicorns quickly dived down and glided to the ground. Rainbow Dash carried Applejack down with ease. Twilight gave Rarity a lift without much trouble. Fluttershy tried to carry Pinkie Pie, but is hardly strong enough to keep aloft for long. When they gathered again, Celestia unfurled her wings to keep everyone at a safe distance away.
Outside the training grounds, the ground is covered by soft green grass and light breezes. A mild dew still remains on the grass to give a chill to uncovered hooves. While there was concern of a city being nearby, there is nothing anywhere near to be concerned about.
"Hey guys!" Kat asks as the four catch their breaths. They all watch as a weakened Tonya struggling to get up again. "Anybody heard of 'Tony on a Pony?'"
"Oh Lord," Casie chuckles. "Really?"
"Your idea," Bobbi tells her. "Your lead."
"Follow my lead!" Kat calls as she flies towards her 'best friend.' When she nears, she squirms around mid flight and bucks Tonya in her armored head with her rear hooves. While Tonya stumbles back, Kat drops to the ground in a squat.
Bobbi quickly follows up and dashes forward again. When she comes up to her comrade, she bounces off her and delivers another kick to Tonya, causing her to stumble back again. As with Kat, she squats down.
Amanda and Casie quickly follow up together and leap off Kat and then off of Bobbi to give Tonya a quick double kick to the jaw. When they drop to the ground again, Kat and Bobbi quickly flank them. They all watch as Tonya backs away and uses a claw to hold her jaw.
"One more hit oughta do it," Casie says. "What say we do this together?"
The four all dash together towards their fifth Warrior. With one collaborative motion, they all strike Tonya with a four-hooved uppercut. Four hooves--white, red, blue, and mute gold all strike as one unified attack. The dragon is hit so hard that she if flipped onto her side.
"It is over," Celestia announces. She folds in her wings to her sides and lets out a long sigh of relief. Despite all that's happened, nopony was seriously hurt. Not her friends of new or old. A little banged up maybe, but nothing serious. "Well done, Warriors."
"Thank you, Princess," Bobbi replies happily.
The unconscious earth dragon cracks and shudders. Small pieces start to fall off, but they quickly become larger and larger. Eventually, the body of the beast becomes like sand and falls away into a pile onto itself. As the sand and gravel that made up the body tumbles away, it reveals the form of a brown pony with sandy mane.
"Tonya!" Kat shouts as she sees the familiar form of her friend. Tonya indeed has been freed from the body that her own ignorance had created. She lay twitching on the mound of earth that once surrounded her. She quickly runs over to her just as her other friends do. "Oh, Tonya..." she says tearfully. She runs a hoof through Tonya's mane. "I'm so glad you're alright."
Celestia and the others also move towards her as the battle is over. There are plenty of curious looks among them. Celestia herself is more impressed than anything.
"Hey, Kat....?"
"Yeah?"
"What's with all the tramp stamps? Why does everyone here have a tattoo on their butt?"
And the moment is shattered by Tonya's tongue once again. Kat raises a hoof to her face as do several others present. "God, I wish I had my yaoi paddle..."
Casie raises an eyebrow. "Your what?"
Strangely, Kat she feels an odd double-tapping on her shoulder. She looks and finds a wooden paddle with 'yaoi' burned into it. Her eyes follow its visage and see that Princess Luna is holding it out for her with her horn's aura.
"Will this suffice?" Luna asks.
Among the group, there is a long moment as they stare at the Lunar Princess. She in turn looks about with a confused expression. The entire group of ponies stare in silent judgement of one of their rulers.
"What?" Luna asks with a gasp. "'Tis mine. We use it to smite offenders of the topic," she says pridefully. "There are a most plentiful group to be punished."
"No," Kat notes as she raises the wooden 'weapon' like a golf club. "You hit the FANS of the topic!" she shouts. With that, she swings hard enough that the impact gives a rather loud hammering to Tonya's rear end.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" she shouts as she rolls across the ground with her forehooves wrapped around her ass.
"What sense is this?" Luna asks. "Why must We punish our cohorts?"
"Let me explain...." Kat tells her as she organizes her thoughts.
Bobbi walks over to Celestia with a bit of a grin on her face. "One heck of a job inverview, wouldn't you say?"
"Indeed," Celestia replies happily. "You and your friends show great powers already. I am quite impressed."
"Thank you for your kind words. I hope to do well for you in the future. I just don't want to fight a loved one again."
Celestia's face falls a bit as she glances over to her sister. The dark alicorn engages in light and merry conversation with Kat about their shared fandoms. "Bobbi, I know exactly what you mean."