A New Journey

by Make Space Jam 2

Chapter 1: The Competition Part 1

A young adult stallion was pulling a wagon full of suitcases into the small town of Ponyville. It wasn't a big wagon and there wasn't much inside. Just two big suitcases and another pony. The stallion pulling the wagon was a big red earth pony. Compared to Bigmac, he was maybe a little larger and had a darker coat of red. His light blue and black mane and tail shone with sunlight as did his teal eyes. Silver braces sat on all his hooves. His cutie mark was a barbell with weights on it. His attitude is straight to the point. He might think a lot of things through but will stick with the best answer in his opinion. He's not known to want to socialize much. Few ponies would recognize him off the spot, but most would not.

He is a bit famous in the EFL or Equestrian Fighting League. His name is Smash and is a rookie in the league and out of all the 300 ranked fighters, he's ranked #224. There are also around a 1000 fighters so for a rookie that's good but that's expected from any rookie. He comes from the city of Tall Tale just south of Vanhoover as does the pony in the wagon. The unicorn pony sleeping in the wagon is a young mare with a light orange coat and a dark blue mane and a tail along with green eyes. Her cutie mark sort of matches her name and personality. Her cutie mark is a red check mark and her name is Ace. She has a cheering and perfectionist attitude. Some ponies who know them two say they both mirror each other in the way they act. She is Smash's manager, assistant, and best friend. Since their childhood, they have been good friends always playing together. When Smash had finally become a pro, she decided to take up the manager position for him since she can keep track of almost anything. Its been working smoothly for both of them in this business.

The reason they are headed for Ponyville is for the Tough Pony Contest. The TPC has been going on for forty-nine years and this will make the fiftieth. For the first time, Ponyville gets to host it and Smash was chosen to check its progress and open it to the public. Tradition goes that a young fighting pony is chosen to help open the contest. This means that the rookies of the EFL get to do it but only the one who has the best record. That would be Smash who has won fifteen so far and only lost once. The reason he's ranked so low is because the fighters that have been there longer have fought more fights and amassed a bigger win/loss ratio. It is a great honor to be chosen for this event.

The event is where all ponies who wish to fight for money, glory, fame, and to try and get a spot in the EFL go. The rules are the same as in the EFL and so is the arena. Only non-EFL fighters are allowed to fight though. All ponies must not use magic and must not fly at all times or they'll be disqualified.

It is an honor to be the town chosen for the event which is why ponies are working on it frantically and also because it must be ready at seven in the afternoon. Smash and Ace finally reached Ponyville. Upon passing the first couple buildings, a unicorn stopped them. This unicorn had a yellow coat. He also had a short, spiky brown mane and a short spiky tail to match it. He has deep reddish pink eyes as well. His cutie mark was some sort of religious necklace with a lightning bolt attached to it. It matched the same necklace he was wearing.

"Hello there!" He excitedly said.

"Uh hi." Smash replied making a confused expression.

"Are you here to participate in the TPC?" He asked happily.

"No, I'm setting it up."

"That must mean your Smash! I've heard all about you!"

"That's surprising."

"How? You're the only rookie to beat Mullet Moe! You must be the best fighter out there!"

"I wish. Anyway, do you have some sort of duty or are you just here to say hi?"

"Ah yes. I'm announcing the fighters and prepping the brackets. Now I'm sure you're busy so I'll just give you these and get out of your way."

"What is it?"

"This is the key to the house you'll be staying in and a little gift from me." The unicorn said handing Smash a necklace with a horn and wings. The horn was in the middle pointed up and the wings were to the side. "Its a necklace that blesses the bearer with luck from Amasht."

"Thanks." Smash said holding the necklace. He started pulling the wagon then stopped. "Hey I didn't get a name."

"Lightning. Make sure you find my other friends and talk to them. They're helping the TPC as well." Lightning said before heading away. Smash smiled a little bit and chucked the necklace into the back of the wagon then started pulling it again.

"Ow!" Ace shouted after being awoken by the necklace hitting her.

"You're finally awake. About time." Smash said chuckling.

"You shush. I was having a nice dream." She said sleepily as she rubbed her eyes.

"What were you dreaming about?" Smash said looking back at her.

"Oh it was heaven for me! I had a mansion that was nice, clean, and symmetrical. I had aced everything I ever did...Well that's all ready a reality so now I'll wait for the mansion." Ace said.

"Oh yeah sounds real nice." Smash said laughing and rolling his eyes. There were ponies moving around the town in a hurry preparing in their own ways for the TPC. They were so busy that no one cared to see if Smash was there or if the earth pony was close.

"And I think I'm dreaming again." She said looking at the pony in front of Smash. Smash suddenly stopped and turned around to face a unicorn that was inches away from him. The pony had bright yellow eyes along with a slicked back, yellow mane and a very smooth looking tail. He wore a white lab coat over his dark green fur. The lab coat did not cover up his cutie mark which was a needle beside a clipboard. He had a golden watch on his left wrist and he wore a pair of glasses.

"Here let me back up. Ah you must be Smash yes? Yes I saw you talking to Lightning and the way he acted gave it away. My name is Crilos and I will be the medical staff for the TPC. I am the doctor and scientist around Ponyville and work in the building across from Sugar Cube Corner. Also you're going the wrong direction that your house is so I'll assume he forgot about that. Follow me." Said the pony not letting Smash say anything and barely taking a break between sentences as he turned around and gestured Smash to follow.

"Okay. Before you start talking again, do you have some sort of speaking issue?" Smash asked turning around to follow Crilos.

"Yes. Sorry if it gets irritating. I can't really help it, its just natural." Crilos replied still leading on as Smash pulled the buggy behind him.

"He's so handsome." Ace said resting her head on her hoof looking at him as he moves.

"I know I am." Smash said turning his head to Ace and teasing her.

"Eww. No! Shush your face. So he's a doctor. That sounds so cool." Ace said drifting into a daydreaming session.

"So, do you two have other friends I should know about?" Smash asked turning his head back to Crilos.

"There's Speedy G, Metal Mouth, and Jerry West. I don't think you've met them yet but you will in due time since they're working on the TPC as well." Crilos said in his unstopping voice.

"Well alright. Oh by the way, where's the arena?" Smash asked curiously.

"Oh Speedy can tell you that later. He's working on the design with Jerry. And we're here at your house that you'll be staying in." Crilos said pointing to a house right next to a pink building that looked somewhat like a cake. Smash parked the cart next to the house and got out from under the latch that helps carry it. Ace jumped out of the cart while staring at Crilos causing her to almost fall on her head. Crilos had caught her with his magic before she hit the ground and flipped her onto her hooves.

"Be careful. You almost got hurt." Crilos said in a bit of a serious tone.

"Thank you." She said lowering her head down, smiling, and looking directly into his eyes. She let out a little school filly giggle when doing this as well.

"Well I need to go and gather my tools. Goodbye Smash." Crilos said waving as he walked away. Ace looked a little disappointed as he was walking away feeling as if he didn't notice her except for that one moment.

"All right. Well thanks. I'll see you later." Smash said waving to Crilos while pulling out the key to the door.

"Also before I forget, Metal Mouth is next door which is Sugar Cube Corner. He can help you around as well." Crilos said turning around to say it then turning back and walking away. Smash unlocked the door and opened it had acknowledged what Crilos said. Ace followed closely behind Smash as he walked in and shut the door behind them. She then opened it again realizing she forgot their suitcases. She levitated them all in except for three of them then shut the door.

The house was like any other house. Here was the living room as you entered the door. There's a kitchen to the left and closets and dressers to the right. Ahead there were three doors. The middle was the bathroom and the other two were bedrooms. Smash walked to the middle of the living room and fell onto his stomach while Ace levitated the suitcases over to the closet and dressers.

"Ugh. I hate having to talk to ponies." Smash said lying on the floor a bit mentally exhausted.

"Oh its not bad. Maybe you could make some friends." Ace stated finding a closet and unloading all of their possessions into it with her magic.

"No I don't want to. I have plenty of friends and I'm satisfied with the way it is." Smash replied still lying on the floor.

"I'm your only friend." Ace said looking back at him with a frown.

"Yep and I think I wanna keep it that way. I'd rather be training to be a better fighter than make more friends." Smash said finally getting up onto his hooves.

"At least go out and try to make some friends while I'm here organizing." She said in an annoyed tone.

"What are you, my mom?" Smash asked teasingly.

"Someone has to be the responsible adult." Ace replied.

"Fine. I'm going." Smash said opening the door and exiting. He shut the door behind him and started walking to Sugar Cube Corner which was right next door to the right when exiting. Upon entering, Smash could smell lots of delicious meals cooking. There were tables and tray carters full of food. The counter ahead was the only spot where there wasn't food. He walked up to it and waited. He could hear the noises of a pony humming a fast beat.

Suddenly, a pony came out carrying trays of food still humming the beat. All the trays were blocking him from Smash's vision. Then pony laid these trays on an empty table and became visible. It was a white earth pony with a short, pink and black, straight mane coming down one side of his head except for one strand and his tail was wavy and all black except for the tips which were pink. Each strand was switching off colors going from pink to black over and over again. He wore glasses which blocked out most of his eyes but you could tell they were a dark orange. His cutie mark was an amp with a microphone plugged into it.

As soon as the pony laid down the trays, he spotted Smash and went behind the counter.

"Sugar Cube Corner is closed right now in preparation for TPC Smash." The pony said smiling. "My name is Metal Mouth and I'm cooking the food for the TPC. Normally Pinkie Pie and Applejack would be doing this stuff but they are out of town along with all others who should be helping with main jobs. I would ask you to sample some food but I'm quite busy right now."

"Wait how do you know name?" Smash asked.

"Easy. You just told me by asking how I knew." Metal Mouth said grinning at Smash.

Alright so your fine here. Where should I go next?" Smash asked.

"Follow the to the right when leaving. Jerry and Speedy are working on the arena." Metal said turning away to go into the kitchen. "Bye-bye!"

"Bye," Smash said awkwardly as he left. "He just gives me the creeps." Smash whispered to himself as he left and started traveling on the path.

Let's go to Ace and see how she is doing.

Ace finally finished putting away all of their belongings into the dressers and closet. I didn't make much sense as to why they brought everything since they weren't staying but oh well. She then opened up the door to the left bedroom in the house. Ace started shuddering as she saw it. It was decently big which was good but her problem was that there were two bedside tables right beside a bed in the corner and two more dressers and shelves beside each other on the same wall. She growled lightly.

"Must...be...symmetrical!" She yelled as she started levitating all the bedroom items into the air. First she placed the bed into the middle and put one bedside table on each side. Then she put one shelf and one dresser on each side facing the same appliance as they were. "Now to unpack and pack again!" She levitated Smash's stuff out of his drawers in the living room and put them all in the drawers in this bedroom. All of his belongings were put on the shelves as she let out a sigh of relief having cured her problem. She went to check the bathroom. It was not symmetrical as was the living room and kitchen but she knew it couldn't be helped so it didn't bother her. She went to the bedroom on the right and it needed fixed as well. She growled again and repeated the process that she did with the other room.

After getting it fixed, she fell over and onto her bed as she fell asleep.

Back to Smash

He was walking along this path for about five minutes until he finally saw the arena. There was a depression in the land to the right of the hill and a flat plains where the stadium stood. The stadium was fairly large and held a dome over it to block out weather. Smash could tell it was for the TPC and started walking down the hill towards it. As he got on the flat ground, a blue pegasus stopped him. This pegasus had a plain blue fur coat and a golden mane and tail. His mane stays on his head except for a bit hanging above his brown eyes and his tail is kept short. His cutie mark is a hammer along with a jackhammer.

"Hello." Smash said. The pony just waved back.

"Did you construct this?" Smash asked. The pony shook his head yes.

"Can you talk to me?" Smash asked. The pony once again shook his head yes.

"Will you talk to me?" Smash asked. The pony shook his head no.

"Alright I know your messing with me just cut it out." Smash said. The pegasus just smiled at him.

"Okay c'mon quit it."

"..."

"I know you wanna talk to the great and strong Smash."

"..."

"Please."

"..."

"Everyone I have ran into today has wanted to use their voice and converse with me. So why not join them?"

"..."

"You know what. Fine. Goodbye and thanks for building the arena." Smash said. Before he moved on to the arena, the pony pulled out a clip board with paper and a pen and started writing on it.

"My name is Jerry West and your welcome. Speedy is inside the stadium." The paper the pegasus wrote on read.

"Alright Jerry, see ya." Smash said walking to the entrance of the dome stadium. Smash pushed open one of the glass doors that stood in front of him. He was on the second level where fans gather to take photos and get food. It was a hallway that stretches all the way around the dome and has different seat stairwells. Smash noticed there were stairs that led to an upper level. He walked up them and saw a bridge that hangs over the halls and leads to more seats. There were three different door ways to go to. Smash chose the middle and went through it. As suspected there was a stairwell with seats descending. The same was with the second area below except the seats had a wider area. In the middle was the four sided ring that all fights happen with.

Smash soon noticed that there was an area for the fighters surrounding the ring and having a path down the back entry way where only officials, fighters, and workers go. He noticed a pegasus lying in one of the spinning chairs that workers sit in. Smash went to the rail separating the third and second level and jumped over it and landed on his hooves behind the next set of stairs. He did the same for the second and first level and landed on the ground in the dugout area.

"Oh hey, you must be Smash." The pegasus said spinning around to face him. He had a purple coat and a dark blue mane and tail. His mane was sort of like a spiky mo-hawk and his tail was long and smooth. He had dark green eyes and his cutie mark was a pair of golden wings. His arms were behind his head as if he was resting.

"You must be Speedy."

"Speedy, Speedy G, or Speedy Gonzales. Whatever you prefer."

"I see the stadium is ready."

"Yep all ready to go. I'm also fighting in the Tough Pony Contest."

"Why?"

"Well, I'm hoping I win and the Wonderbolts hear about it and let me join them. I'm also really good at flying."

"Dream big kid."

"I'm as much of an adult as you are. I also have a question. Can you be my coach for this when I fight?"

"Sure. I haven't had any ties to the TPC until this so its allowed."

"Great. Thanks."

"No problem. I got to go." Smash said as he turned away and started walking home.

"Bye." Speedy said spinning back around.

When Smash got home he went to the bedroom on the right to see if Ace was in there. She was so Smash woke her up.

"Hey. I need some rest. Wake me up in about two hours okay?" Smash said.

"Yeah...sure." Ace said getting out of bed lazily rubbing her eyes.

"Thanks." Smash said as he left her room and went over to his. He took his silver braces off of all his hooves and put them on his bedside table. He jumped onto the bed and laid down with his head against the pillow as he started to fall asleep.

Author's Note:

Well That is Ch1

Comments

[Derec mc coy]

i don't know what to think about it. I mean, that Ace mare manager has problems, big problems. and speedy gonzales? anyway, it's well written. i can't wait until the fight.