//------------------------------//
// Kickboxing is different from reading 
// Story: Tales of the Equestria Girls 
// by SirScribe 
//------------------------------//

	"So tell me again because I must've misheard you. What happened during your little date?" Rarity asked.

"I swear on the stars in Luna's mane that I'll get you for that," Sunset remarked. She opened her locker door to replace her magic journal with her Algebra textbook. "Anyway, a girl walked into the museum ahead of our tour and touched a picture of the Empire State Building, and all of a sudden, we were plummeting almost 90,000 feet in the air."

Human Twilight adjusted her glasses as she replaced her books. "But that's impossible. How could you teleport from Equis, which is obviously on the opposite side of the country, to the Empire State Building and not make the news?"

Sunset smiled. "Welll, back in Equestria there are some logical explanations to that. Twilight said it was a spell the girl used to travel through time to the exact time the picture was taken," she said.

The cord in human Twilight's mind snapped. "Ti-time travel? I'm sorry, but that impossible, even in a world comprised of magic. Are you saying your species has the ability to travel backwards and forwards through time?"

"Technically only one of our kind was able to successfully create a spell to travel through time for a brief period, but yeah. There isn't a spell to travel forward in time though," Sunset said. "Although, Twilight did say something about..."

Rarity raised her hand to silence Sunset. "Anyhoo, let's get back to it. You traveled through time because of a girl?"

Sunset nodded. "You'd be surprised how much that happens," Sunset muttered. "Anyway, we gotta get to work here. Is Dash still sick?"

Twilight chuckled. "If you count training to beat Applejack in kickboxing as a symptom of illness, then yes," she said.

"So she lied?"

Twilight turned to see Mrs. Harshwhinny standing behind her with a stack of tests in her hand. "I'd expect more from a junior, but then I'd be lying. Have Ms. Dash come to my office when she returns," she said.

Rarity took an interest at her boots. Mrs. Harshwhinny said nothing more as she walked off to her class. "Okay so Dash is going to be busy later. Rarity, do you think you could talk to the girl? She lives in White Tail City."

Rarity nodded. "Twilight, er, I need to ask. How good are you at CCTV hacking by any chance?"

"Sunset, I've never thought about trying it. Why?"

"Because the girl was last seen at the GameStop across the street before she entered the museum. I'm wondering if maybe you could get in and grab the video," Sunset said.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Spike, you've seen me work. Have I ever hacked anything in my life?"

From Twilight's backpack, Spike the dog sighed. "Can I talk about it now?"

"You're funny," Twilight remarked.

Spike chuckled. "As far as I know, you haven't tried hacking, but I'm positive you can do it," he said. "It's just like building an EM Frequency Tracker or whatever you call that thing."

"Trust me Spike, it's a whole lot different. I can give it a shot, but I doubt we can walk in and ask the guy behind the counter if we can borrow his security system to pull a single video file for us and not the police," Twilight said. "I'm going to need cover."

"Don't worry about it; I can take care of that little problem," Sunset said.

Sunset closed her locker door and turned to see Pinkie dragging herself through the hallways with bags under her eyes. Her hair was not as poofy as before as it had more frizz than...whatever Pinkie did to her hair on normal days. She pressed her back onto the lockers and slid to the ground. "I love a lot of things, but not Monday," she whined.

Rarity sighed as she met Pinkie's eye level. "Was it the nightmares again?"

Pinkie nodded. "They're getting worse. I swear its gotten to the point where even Maud covers her ears at night. I tried everything from teddy bears to bigger teddy bears and they still don't work."

"They work for me," Sunset muttered.

"I just don't feel well right now," Pinkie complained. She reached into her backpack for her emergency cupcake. "It's alright Pinkie, I'm sure we can figure something out. Twilight, anything on that Free Shipping guy?"

Twilight nodded. "He doesn't remember anything. My EM Frequency Tracker seems to be more useful now we know exactly how to use it."

Sunset smiled. "Anyway, you're good Rarity?"

"Of course darling," she said as she checked her pocket mirror. "Another magical disturbance since the Friendship Games doesn't surprise me at the least anymore. Have you told Twilight at least what was going on?"

"Not all of it. She knows something is up, so in the meantime, she will be just getting used to how this world works."





Twilight tapped the silver button on the black console in Sunset's living room. Spike, with a pad of paper and a pencil in his mouth, jotted down the console's reaction to the silver button being touched.

Twilight leaned in for a closer look. "The object seems to give a positive response to being activated. Green lights have flashed on the button, signaling its activation. The television screen must be active for the remainder of the operation to be fulfilled," she said.

Spike sighed as he spit out the pencil. "You know Sunset turned that thing on the other day with completely different results, right?"

The lavender princess nodded. "But this box responded to her touch without a problem. There doesn't appear to be a security system in place in case something were to happen to it, like me learning how to turn it on."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Ya know that radio think is still talking about some guy called King K., right?"

"Right Spike, and it all sounds like a human has gained the abilities to channel Equestrian magic without any problems. I sent that artifact to Princess Celestia and she hasn't gotten back to me yet," she said. "It gave off its own magical aura, which is strange in this world."

"Reminds me of the Alicorn Amulet," Spike said in disgust. "I hope it isn't that."

Twilight sighed. "Me too." The lavender princess returned her attention to the box in front of her. Spike smirked as he jumped onto Sunset's couch and found the remote control. He pressed the POWER button, igniting the television. Twilight jumped at the TV's sudden activation.

After experimenting with the controller in front of her, Twilight found what she was looking for: Netflix. "Finally got it!"

Spike smirked. Twilight was about to make her selection, but then the house phone began to ring. Twilight jumped, earning a chuckle from Spike. She inched toward the phone and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Twilight? It's me, Sunset."

"Sunset, hey! Uh, you just scared the horse feathers out of me," Twilight said.

Spike laughed. "Uh huh. Anyway, I'm calling because I'm not coming straight home after school today. The other Twilight and I are looking into that girl who had that amulet the other day. Won't be home til later," Sunset said.

Twilight nodded. "I talked to AJ, and she and Rainbow Dash are eager to meet up with you later this afternoon if you want. Do you remember where the farm is?"

"Yup, and I even have a map just in case," Twilight said as she looked at the hand-drawn map in her notebook.

"Excellent. Look, I have to go. Just, stay away from my computer, okay?"

Twilight chuckled, earning a nervous sound from Sunset. "Twilight?"

"Um, yeah no computer. No problem."

"Okay? Take it easy Twilight."

"You too," Twilight responded, but Sunset had already hung up. Twilight replaced the receiver where it belonged. "So Sunset isn't coming back right after school."

Spike nodded. "So what are we going to do?"

"We can go see Applejack later."

Spike agreed. Twilight pressed the green button on the control and sat back to enjoy the show she and Sunset were watching the other day.

Carry on my wayward soooonnn!





Twilight took a swing of the cider she grabbed from Sunset's refrigerator before giving Spike some. The combination of the cloudy skies and the humidity gave Twilight some trouble as she hiked the dirt road leading to Sweet Apple Acres. While there wasn't the typical tang in this world's apple cider, Twilight discovered it was a bit stronger than before.

A tang she later discovered was from Sunset's hard cider collection in the back of the fridge.

"So what does Applejack do here?" Spike asked.

Twilight gulped down the cider. "I think it's the same thing she does back in Equestria. I've seen Granny Smith handle CHS's lunch menu so I suspect they are a food distributor."

"Like most human farms?"

Twilight nodded. She spied the border to the farm ahead of her, but before she got close, she heard the worst thing in Creation.

A horse swearing at her.

Twilight and Spike turned around to see a brown stallion neighing at them. His chestnut eyes and flowing black mane would've been eye candy to many mares, but Twilight only looked at him in shock. "What did you call me?"

The horse shook his head as he neighed. "Um, Twilight?"

"Hang on a second, Spike." Twilight got into the stallion's face. "That was by far the most uncalled for insult in the history of Equestria. It doesn't matter if I'm just a pony, I will give you one or two things you can tell your friends! There are a lot of things you don't say to mares, especially calling them midget donkeys! How disrespectful!"

The stallion backed away slowly as he bowed his head. "Thank you for apologizing," Twilight said.

The horse 'said' nothing more and trotted off in silence. Twilight adjusted her blouse before crossing the border into Sweet Apple Acres. She finished off the cider and tossed it into a nearby trash bin. The farm in this universe was just the same as back in Equestria.

Except the space where the horses roamed.

As they walked, Spike commented on the many things that were the same in both worlds. Twilight kept a mental checklist of what was different and how to adjust to them. In the farm house garage was Applejack's truck shining bright red, almost like it was freshly washed.

Nearby, Big Mack was busy handling the bushels of apples he had collected in the orchards. Some other workers, most of them CHS students, also were lending some help as they followed Big Mac to and from the barn. "They got kids working here?"

Twilight nodded. "Remember that Sunset once worked for Rarity following her reformation. They're probably volunteers working for some extra cash or something," she said. "It's not a bad idea actually. Rarity told me that no one here has special talents like in Equestria, so they work simple jobs in the meantime. I can only imagine how hard it must be to get a job here."

Spike nodded. "I wonder how Sunset did."

"Knowing her back then, she probably started out the same but just for money."

Spike nodded in agreement. The duo rounded the garage to the sound of grunts and loud impacts. The grunts sounded like Rainbow Dash's, but something about them sounded like...

Twilight turned the corner to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash fighting in weird armor.

The princess of friendship gasped as Applejack blocked an attack from Rainbow Dash and countered with a jab to her ribs. The armor they were wearing consisted of head gear, chest pieces and shin guards. They wore gloves and red shoes, all of which appeared rubber. Rainbow gasped as the wind was knocked out of her, giving Applejack an opening.

Hunched over, Rainbow reacted too late as Applejack delivered a round-house kick to her head gear, knocking her to the ground. Rainbow rolled on the ground before coming to a rest with a victorious Applejack standing over here. "Ah win," Applejack said.

Rainbow growled before getting to her feet. The two embraced in a very sportsmanship hug. That's when Rainbow took notice to Twilight and Spike standing nearby. The two broke the hug and removed their helmets, revealing their soaked heads of hair. "Hey you two," Rainbow said.

Twilight waved in response. Applejack flashed a grin as she removed her gloves. "Sunset said y'all were comin' here to learn more about us, ain't that right?"

Twilight nodded as Spike jumped out of Twilight's bag. "You guys fight often?" he asked.

"What, this? We're just sparring," Rainbow commented.

"Why would you girls spar? Don't you have magic on your side?"

"Well, we do but that Free Shipping fella whooped our butts the first time we saw him," Applejack commented. "Ah'm just learning this stuff so it ain't happenin' again."

"Ditto," Rainbow said. "Besides, we're not seriously hurting each other."

"Speak fer yaself Dash. Yer jabs need work and yer too predictable," Applejack commented.

"Well since we're criticizing our performances: your punches feel like you're trying to kill me and your last kick almost knocked me out had I not had this head gear on me," Rainbow said. "And you smell funny."

Twilight facepalmed. "If you girls are busy, I can come back later and..."

"Nonsense Twi, yer already here and all. Ah'm sure we can come up with something," Applejack said. "Say, have ya been in a fight before?"

"Does ripping the countryside of Ponyville apart to stop a tyrant count?" she asked.

Rainbow's eyes widened. "How bad are we talking here?"

"Well, we used to have more mountains south of Ponyville, but they were destroyed," Twilight said sheepishly.

Applejack's jaw dropped. "Ya mentioned fightin' some guy last time you were her but wow! Alright, yer sparring against me."

Twilight immediately regretted sharing that information. "Uhh you know what, I think I left my notepad back in Sunset's apartment and I need that for...um stuff! Yeah that's right. I've got my checklist in there and I got a bunch of things I wanna try out and..."





Applejack smiled as Twilight stood opposite of her in red rubber armor. Rainbow and Spike were sitting on barrels drinking some water and waiting for the show to start. "Remind me to never come back to the farm when its only you two," Twilight said.

"Aww, and where's the fun in that?" Rainbow commented.

Twilight learned of the gesture of telling something to go buck themselves, and if it wasn't for the gloves, she'd use it against Rainbow. "Alright, are ya ready?"

Twilight shook her head. "C'mon Twilight, we're just gonna be easy fer ya. Ah promise no one's gonna get hurt."

"HA!"

"Yer next Rainbow."

A smile crept on Twilight's face. "Ready?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Alright. Touch gloves."

The two tapped gloves. Spike rang a cow bell and started the match. Once Twilight got over the fear, she was ready for anything...for half a second. Before she could properly react, Applejack had thrown the first punch. The Princess of Friendship narrowly dodged Applejack's mean right hook, but not her rising knee. Twilight took the blunt force as it connected to her core.

Twilight fell to the ground gasping for the air that had been knocked out of her. Applejack lowered her guard as she kneeled down to the princess. She extended a helping hand, which prompted her up. A nod from the princess told her she was ready once again, launching jabs at Twilight's head. She slapped the jabs away, but remained too afraid to counter.

Rainbow yawned as the match progressed. For five minutes, Twilight had done nothing but dodge and weave while Applejack threw punches and kicks that didn't connect. "Does Twilight always do this?" Rainbow complained.

Spike nodded. "She doesn't like to fight, Dash. She'll only fight if she really needs to, and last time she fought like that was with Starlight during our constant time traveling," he said.

Rainbow chuckled as Twilight narrowly dodged a kick to the head. "Time travel. Can't seem to see it as real," she said.

"Oh it's real. Our friend Applejack went with the Doctor and traveled through time, and Twilight has certainly used Starswirl's Time Spell before," Spike said as he gulped some water from a dish. "But like I said, Twilight won't fight unless she has to."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she drank the cider.

Applejack cursed herself in her head. There was no way Twilight was going to counter anything, mainly out of fear. She even let her guard down on several occasions, but she simply egged her to keep going. Twilight liked playing defense.

Applejack had enough. She delivered a kick to the core, sending Twilight to her rump. The dust settled as Twilight wiped the sweat off her brow. "Alright Twi, ah think we need to talk," she said.

Twilight nodded as she slowly got to her feet. "I hear you Applejack." She slipped the gloves off. "I don't think this is working out for me."

"Ya haven't thrown a single punch!"

She flashed a sheepish grin. "Well, I really don't like fighting, especially with just my ho-hands and no magic. I guess with magic, I can guarantee my injuries can be healed but human medicine and science hasn't come close to actual cellular regeneration like most healing spells I know. I don't want to get into a fight and walk away with injuries that cannot heal automatically."

"Yer givin' excuses, but yer not givin' reasons," Applejack countered.

She sighed as she propped herself on a nearby tree. "When it comes to fighting, I've only really fought in three real battles: the Changeling attack at Canterlot, Tirek, and Starlight Glimmer in Cloudsdale."

"Uhh Twilight, you forgot Sombra's attack in Canterlot, remember?"

The Princess of Friendship paused for a moment. "Oh right. Anyway, I've never really had a reason to go one on one with someone in a while without magic. When I fought Tirek, we tore the plains of Equestria apart!"

Applejack nodded. "Well, ah'll tell ya this: ya may not like fightin', but y'all will need it when ya don't expect to. Ya never know when yer gonna have to defend yerself, especially in new worlds like ours," she said.

"You got that right! Canterlot City has seen a rise in crime actually, at least in the southern areas. Times like this are tough when you don't know how to fight."

Applejack nodded in agreement. "When peace ends, its time to learn how to fight," Applejack expressed.

Twilight agreed. Twilight's rational and irrational parts of her mind were soon finding common ground concerning fighting. She almost accepted the truth entirely when she remembered one thing Princess Celestia told her a long time ago.

The clever will win any war.

Twilight slipped the gloves back on. "Okay, I'm ready."

Rainbow did a double take. "Uhh, are you alright Twilight?" she asked.

Applejack nodded. "Ya never backed from a challenge before. Ah doubt ya will today."

The two tapped gloves as Spike rang the cow bell once again. The gears in Twilight's head started spinning as she threw her guard up once again, but Applejack sensed something different. Twilight had a plan.

Before Rainbow noticed her, Twilight did a quick scan of the area where they were sparring. Besides the wide open space they called the ring, there was also an apple tree with a tub full of red apples. Applejack also stacked some barrels along the shed where Rainbow Dash and Spike were sitting. There was also a pile of tires further off to the side, but she dismissed them.

As Applejack continued to push Twilight back, the Princess of Friendship continued to lead herself toward the barrels where Rainbow and Spike were sitting. Spike immediately got whatever Twilight was planning and jumped out of the way. Rainbow continued sipping and didn't notice Twilight and Applejack inching closer to her.

Finally, Applejack was ready for a change in tactics. She began throwing kicks toward Twilight, but that only aided her more as she inched closer.

Rainbow stopped drinking long enough to see what Twilight was doing. Before she could do anything, Applejack threw a high kick, prompting Twilight to make her move. She grabbed Applejack's leg and spun around so she was behind her. Applejack lost her balance and fell onto Rainbow Dash and into the barrels.

Applejack picked herself up and chuckled. "That there is dirty fightin'," she said.

"You never elaborated about rules," she said.

Applejack smirked. "Ya sound like Sunset when she hosts her game night at her place," she said.

Rainbow Dash picked herself up and dusted her skirt. "You cheat in Thems Fightin' Herds, by the way," she said to Applejack.

"Ah don't cheat, ya just suck at it."

"BAM! Element of Honesty!" Spike boomed.

Applejack chuckled. "Ah ain't done with ya yet. Round two!"

Twilight chuckled. The two opponents stepped back as Spike rang the bell. The two friends charged each other and a strong gust of wind blew through Sweet Apple Acres as the two connected.

The sound of Applejack's and Twilight's gloves connecting echoed throughout the farm.

Spoiler alert: Twilight won 2/3.