An Afternoon in Ponyville
It was a pleasant afternoon in Ponyville as Applejack and Twilight Sparkle were walking together. Applejack had agreed to take a break from the apple orchard to have lunch with Twilight and Spike, the latter sitting on Twilight’s back. This time, however, they were going a little out of their way to invite Fluttershy. They reached the door to Fluttershy’s cottage and Twilight knocked, but they were surprised when Angel opened the door. Angel pointed to Fluttershy, who was hiding next to a nearby window.
“Hey Fluttershy, AJ and I were just about to have lunch and...” Twilight started before getting looking at her. Fluttershy was timidly peeking through her window, clearly scared of something outside. “Is something wrong?”
“Well, um, there’s this stallion outside and, well,” Fluttershy paused, motioning toward the window, “he won’t go away. I don’t know why he’s here.”
“Don’t worry ‘bout it, sugarcube,” Applejack assured her as Twilight looked through the shades, “if somepony’s givin’ yah trouble, Ah’ll give ‘em a piece of mah mind.”
“Easy, Applejack,” Twilight said while looking out the window at the stallion, “I don’t think he’s here to cause trouble. If anything, he looks like he’s lost. Stay here Fluttershy, AJ and I will go talk to him and see what’s up. Spike, stay here with Fluttershy and make sure she’s okay.”
Spike nodded and hopped off of Twilight. After Applejack and Twilight left, Angel held an unfinished carrot in his paw, aiming at Spike’s head. “Cool it, furball. Now’s not the time for this.” Spike said, noticing Angel in his peripheral vision. He then turned to Fluttershy, who was giving him a dirty look. “What, that bunny of yours is a brat sometimes,” Spike argued. Fluttershy agreed in thought that Angel was a hoofful, but maintained her reprimanding look. It wasn’t The Stare, but it was enough to get her point across. “Fine, I’m sorry.” Spike finally said before changing the subject, “Hey Fluttershy, feeling any better about all this?” She nodded, still concerned about that strange pony outside, but feeling a bit more relaxed.
Twilight and Applejack walked toward the stallion, who was still looking around aimlessly. He was an earth pony, and looked about the same age as any of Twilight’s friends, perhaps a bit younger. He had a green coat and a black tail. His mane was also black, but with a few white bangs. He wore some kind of bracelet around his right foreleg, but considering its size, it could just as easily have been a decorative armor piece. The item matched his ominous cutie mark in appearance, and both of them were black, just like his mane and tail. “Hello, I’m-” Twilight started to say, when she was interrupted by Applejack.
“Alright, who are you and what’re you doin’ ‘round here?” Applejack asked harshly. The green pony looked at the two mares confronting him. His mouth was slightly open and he had a somewhat startled, yet curious expression on his face. “I don’t want you causing any problems, so why don’t you just get along now!” Applejack gestured with her hoof away from Fluttershy’s cottage, further emphasizing that he wasn’t welcome here. The green pony scowled at Applejack, rolled his eyes, and turned around to leave. After he had left, Applejack turned to Twilight and proudly said, “Well that wasn’t so tough, was it now?”
“Was that really necessary?” Twilight asked with a disapproving tone.
“Twilight, Ah don’t know ‘bout you, but that boy seemed suspicious to me,” Applejack said, “So yeah, Ah had to do that.”
“Okay, was he suspicious like Zecora when she first came here, or was he actually suspicious?” Twilight asked.
“Hm, maybe Ah was a bit too harsh,” Applejack conceded, “Tell y’what, if we run into him again and he turns out to be nice, Ah’ll apologize.”
When they returned to the cottage, Fluttershy agreed to have lunch with them. They talked about several topics during lunch, and they continued their conversation after they left the restaurant.
"So, Applejack," Twilight said. "How’s the farm doing?”
“Well, we’re doin’ alright, same as every year really,” Applejack responded. “Lucky for us we’ve got a big orchard and fertile soil, so we usually make ends meet. Still, Ah’d bet if we had just one normal year, we’d make a lot of money.”
“Normal year?” Fluttershy asked.
“Ah mean one year without somethin’ crazy happenin’ in this town. Last year was kinda rough, y’know,” Applejack recalled. “Remember that day Spike was stealin’ everything in town? He stole the apples and leaves off all our trees. Not only did we lose those apples, we had to wait for the leaves to grow back before any apples could grow. Thank Celestia the trees even managed to survive.”
“I’m really sorry about that, by the way,” Spike said.
“That’s okay, Spike,” Applejack assured him, “at least yah didn’t pull those trees out of the ground like that Flim Flam fiasco. Those maniacs ruined half the cider we coulda made and tore up the south field. It took weeks for Big Macintosh and Ah to replant that field, and it’ll be a few years before we can harvest there again.”
“Oh darn!” Twilight interrupted, “I forgot my saddlebags in the restaurant. Fluttershy, could you go back in and get them for me?”
Fluttershy nodded and went back into the restaurant. She reached the table they had eaten at and picked up Twilight’s saddlebags. She flew back to where she had left her friends, but found that they were gone. After searching the immediate area, Fluttershy began to worry. “Hey Fluttershy, something bugging you?” called a friendly voice. Fluttershy looked up and saw a familiar pegasus with a rainbow mane lying on a nearby cloud. Rainbow Dash was lying on her back with her head hanging off of the cloud’s edge so that Fluttershy was upside down from her perspective.
“Rainbow Dash, did you see Twilight or Applejack or Spike just now?” Fluttershy asked, unable to keep the concern out of her voice.
“Nah, I just woke up. I had a little weather job this morning and I’ve been napping here since. Why, are they missing or something?”
“Well, I was having lunch with them, and Twilight asked me to go back into the restaurant to get her saddlebags,” Fluttershy explained, “but when I came back, they were gone.”
Rainbow Dash recognized that this was a good time to console her friend up close, but she couldn’t resist showing off a little bit. She pushed with her hind legs and slid off the cloud. She reoriented her body as she fell and flapped her wings twice, slowing her fall at the last second and gently touching the ground with her hooves. “Relax Fluttershy, I’m sure something really important came up and they had to leave. I’m sure you can return them to her later. After all, they’re just saddlebags.”
“Well, normally I’d agree,” Fluttershy said, “but there was this really strange colt outside my cottage today, and Twilight and Applejack told him to go away. What if he attacked them just now? What if-”
Fluttershy was on the verge of tears as she explained everything to Rainbow Dash. “Fluttershy, calm down,” Rainbow Dash said, placing a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “We’re talking about Applejack and Twilight Sparkle. Those two are more than capable of handling themselves. Besides, even if somepony attacked them, he’d still have to carry both of them away for them to disappear like this. Now, describe this colt to me.”
“Well, he was more of a stallion, closer to your age really,” Fluttershy started. “He had a green coat, black mane and tail, and…” Fluttershy hesitated to finish her description. Rainbow Dash nodded, coaxing her to continue. “He had a cutie mark of a monster.”
“A monster?”
“Yeah, his cutie mark was black, and the image looked like a monster,” Fluttershy explained.
“Okay, anything else?”
“Um,” Fluttershy thought for a few seconds, and then recalled, “He had something around his right foreleg, also black, but I didn’t get a good look at it. That’s all I can remember.”
“Wow, what is it with this guy and black? Alright, I’ll help you look for them,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll fly up and get a bird’s eye view of the area. Stay here and wait for me to come back.” Rainbow Dash flew up and searched for any sign of Twilight, Applejack or Spike. “Wait, why do they call it a ‘bird’s eye view?’ Pegasi can just as easily see from up here?” Rainbow Dash thought out loud. “Must be an earth pony figure of speech. Whatever, I don’t see them anywhere. If they were attacked, they couldn’t have been taken this far, so they must've just left on their own. Whoever this colt is, he’s probably not that important.”
Rainbow Dash decided to report back to Fluttershy. However, when she returned, Fluttershy was gone. “Fluttershy? Fluttershy, where are you?” she called out. After searching the immediate vicinity, the only thing she found were Twilight’s saddlebags. “Alright, something’s definitely wrong here,” Rainbow said. “Let’s see, green stallion with a bunch of black on him. Alright, whoever you are, I’m coming after you.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Rarity was as busy as ever today. She was carrying a cart full of semiprecious stones down one of Ponyville’s streets. A few digging tools were carefully balanced on top of the pile of gems. Rarity needed the gems to experiment with some new fashion designs, but when she visited the library, neither Twilight nor Spike was anywhere to be found.
‘Well that wasn’t quite as strenuous as I thought it would be,’ Rarity though to herself, ‘Normally I’d ask Spike to excavate gemstones for me, but I supposed magic is a suitable alternative.’ She looked back toward the digging tools, which she had telekinetically manipulated with her magic to unearth the gems. ‘Oh well, I suppose I can still save a few of these for my Spikey-wikey.’ She knew Spike hated that pet name, but saw no harm in using it in her inner monologue. Unfortunately, she was too distracted by her personal thoughts to avoid bumping into somepony’s side.
Rarity recoiled painfully after the impact. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” she said, rubbing her forehead before opening her eyes. Rarity looked up at the unkempt green stallion she had bumped into and noticed some blood on his shoulder. She levitated a mirror and saw that the tip of her horn was coated with his blood down to about two inches. “Ugh, do you see what you’ve done! Look at my horn!” The green pony raised an eyebrow, wondering why a bloody horn would take priority over the puncture wound it caused. “Oh, don’t give me that look, you’re fine! What do you have to say for yourself about this?!” Rarity tilted her head slightly and stepped closer. The stallion backed away, but remained silent. “Don’t you talk? Say something!” Rarity yelled, meeting his startled look with an angry glare. “Oh never mind, just get out of my way!”
Rarity walked around him with her cart full of jewels. The stallion looked at her as if to say “What’s her problem” before checking his shoulder and walking in the opposite direction.
When Rarity arrived at the Carousel Boutique, she was still fuming about her encounter with that other pony. “Who in Equestria does he think he is? He bumps into me, he stains my horn, and worst of all he’s green!” she said while applying a wet towel to her horn. Rarity hated the color green. To her, green symbolized envy, greed and illness, and she despised all those things. Sure, the color has its place in the visible spectrum, as Rainbow Dash demonstrated, but she frequently found it difficult to incorporate into her dress designs. Not only that, but to Rarity the mix of black and green in his appearance made him look like a radiation hazard.
Normally, the stallion's appearance wouldn't have angered her so much. If anything, she might have even offered to fix his appearance and make him look more presentable. However, her horn horn was in a lot of pain due to being yanked during the collision. Because of the pain, she was in no mood to deal with him. After a few minutes, the gems were separated based on type and deposited into several chests. Rarity looked at her mirror and was satisfied now that her horn was back to its pristine color. A moment later, she was hit in the head with a sharp blow, knocking her unconscious.
* * * * * * * * * *
Pinkie Pie left Sugarcube Corner, bouncing happily as usual. If anything, she was even more energetic today; as she went, she did a somersault on every fourth bounce. Pinkie gave a few greetings as she went along her way when she noticed a green stallion with a black mane walking by. ‘Ooh, I’ve never seen him before,' she thought. 'He must be new in town. Oh my gosh, look at him. He looks so sad. Alright Pinkie, this one’s an emergency! You’ve got to throw him a party to cheer him up as soon as possible, but first!’
The green stallion was looking around at the buildings and ponies around him, but he did look depressed. A second later, Pinkie was right in front of him with a big grin on her face. “Hi there!” The other pony took a step back and had a bewildered expression on his face. “What’s your name? My name’s Pinkie Pie!” she said, holding out her hoof. The stallion hesitated before lifting his hoof and shaking hers. “Not much of a talker, are you? That’s okay! Hey, why don’t you come over to Sugarcube Corner at 3:00 today? I’ll have a surprise there waiting just for you!” Pinkie trotted away from the green pony. She was already planning a party to throw for him, and was unaware that four of her closest friends already had their own encounters with him.
* * * * * * * * * *
At 2:30, Rainbow Dash was flying over Ponyville. She had been flying around for an hour looking for any sign of her four missing friends or that pony Fluttershy described. During her search, she had checked Fluttershy’s cottage, dropped off Twilight’s saddlebags at the library, and scanned Sweet Apple Acres from above. Rainbow Dash was now flying above the park, wondering if she should take a break or come up with a different plan.
She then spotted a pony that seemed to match Fluttershy’s description. "He’s green and black, but I can’t make out any details from this altitude." Rainbow Dash flew closer to the green pony, and as his features became clearer, she accelerated in her descent. The stallion matched Fluttershy’s description, and Rainbow Dash held out both forelegs in front of her, ready to tackle him from behind.
She was two seconds away from her target when his head jerked up. Immediately afterward, he pushed off of his hooves and rolled to the right. Rainbow Dash reacted too slowly to his dodge-roll and crashed, sliding several feet. She got up quickly after she stopped sliding. This was nothing compared to her worst crashes, but more importantly, she wasn’t going to embarrass herself in front of her foe. “Are you okay?” the stallion asked, though he was only slightly concerned about the pegasus who had just tried to attack him.
“I’d be more worried about myself if I were you,” Rainbow Dash said, turning to face the green stallion, ready to attack again. “What have you done to my friends?”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t done anything.”
“I’m talking about my friends, three mares and a baby dragon,” Rainbow Dash said. “They all saw you today and now they’re all gone, and I want to know what you done to them!”
“Your friends are missing?” he said with a concerned look.
“Don’t play dumb with me!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she tackled him into a tree. She held him up against the tree with her right hoof and glared at him. “I’ll give you one last chance to start talking before I beat the information out of you.”
“I-I don’t know where they are,” he said. “Look, if your friends are in trouble, I want to help you find them, especially if this has anything to do with me.” Rainbow Dash began to think he was telling the truth, and his offer sounded genuine.
She took a closer look at the stallion she had pinned against the tree. His eyes were also green, but a darker hue than the one on his coat. Fluttershy had exaggerated about his cutie mark. The image featured pegasus wings and a unicorn’s horn. In the center was something that could’ve resembled a monster’s head, but the comparison was lost because of a bright green sword superimposed over it vertically. The mark did resemble the item he wore on his right foreleg, which looked like both a piece of jewelry and a greave. The item was made of a black, lustrous metal, with an emerald in its center. Fluttershy also didn’t mention the white bangs in his otherwise black mane, or three white streaks that ran along his sides, where a pegasus’ wings would normally be.
“Alright, maybe you’re telling the truth,” Rainbow Dash said as she released him. “But I’m not letting you off the hook just yet. If I find out that you’re behind all this, I will come back for you.”
Rainbow Dash turned and started to fly off. “Hold on,” the green stallion said, “don’t you want my help?”
“Don’t bother, you’ve wasted enough of my time already.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Rainbow Dash flew around Ponyville for the next half-hour. She was still trying to find her friends, but that other pony turned out to be a dead end, and she had no other leads to follow. She touched down on a cloud near Whitetail Wood to figure out what to do next. From her perch, Rainbow Dash saw another stallion dragging Pinkie Pie’s unconscious body into the woods. She pushed off of the cloud, spread her wings and dove at him, ready to pull up in case this one did a last-second dodge-roll.
This stallion had a blue coat and a white mane and tail. His cutie mark depicted a brick wall, and he was about the same size as Big Macintosh. Despite his size, Rainbow Dash knocked him off his hooves through sheer momentum and threw him into a tree sixty feet away. She slid on her hooves for about five feet to come to a stop. “What are you doing with Pinkie Pie?” she asked. She tried to step toward him, but found her hooves completely immobile. “Hey, let me go!” She recognized the force holding her legs in place, and sure enough, there was a unicorn mare standing behind her.
The unicorn, without saying a word, lifted both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie with her magic. She motioned toward her earth pony accomplice to follow, and they both entered the woods. Rainbow Dash struggled, but could not break the unicorn’s telekinetic grip. Meanwhile, Pinkie woke up and saw her friend floating right next to her. “Hi, Rainbow Dash!” She looked at her surroundings, and then turned back to Rainbow Dash. “Where are we going?”
“Ask them,” Rainbow Dash replied, “but you’d better make it quick. As soon as I break free, they’re gonna get it!”
“Oh, you poor, pathetic pegasus. What makes you think you can overcome unicorn magic?” The unicorn asked.
Rainbow Dash was about to ask this unicorn what she had against pegasi, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie shouting, “We’re here!” The four of them arrived at a large clearing. A pegasus mare stood in front of them, and at the other end was another earth pony stallion. On the right side of the clearing, many cages were lined up. Only two of the cages were empty; the rest were occupied by Ponyville ponies, including the rest of Rainbow’s closest friends.
The unicorn placed Pinkie Pie in one of the cages and locked the door. “It’s a good thing I can let go of one of them,” she said. “This one is actually starting to break free.” She pointed to Rainbow Dash, who was still struggling.
“Twilight! Applejack!” Rainbow Dash called. “Can’t you break out of those?”
“What the hay do you think we’ve been tryin’ to do?” Applejack retorted. “These cages are too cramped for anypony to break apart from inside. Not only that, they’ve been feeding all the unicorns some sorta plant, and now they cain’t use their magic.”
The blue earth pony walked up to the other earth pony, saying, “Now’s a good time to bring him here.”
“You know, it’s strange,” the other earth pony said. This one had a black coat and a white mane and tail. His cutie mark depicted a galloping horse. He wasn’t as large as the blue stallion in front of him, but he was clearly the leader of the four. “You’d think he’d have noticed us by now.”
“That’s funny, you’d think they’d have noticed me following them.”
The two earth ponies turned and saw their mare accomplices lying beaten on the ground in front of them. At the other end of the clearing, Rainbow Dash was also lying on the ground, having been abruptly released from the unicorn’s grasp. She stood up and saw the same green pony from before, now standing next to her and confronting the other four.
“Well, what do you know, he can talk.” Rarity said.
“Alright, let these ponies go, and leave this town alone,” the green pony said.
“That’s a rude way to make an entrance,” the black earth pony said. “You attack two of us and now you’re ordering us to leave. You don’t even know why we’re here.”
“I know who you are, and what you do,” the green stallion shot back. “What I don’t understand is this whole setup. Normally you just keep a low profile until you find the most valuable thing in town.”
“Like I said, you don’t even know why we’re here. You see, we have found the most valuable thing in this town: you.”
“That’s what this is all about? You’re still trying to recruit me?”
“No, not just that,” the pegasus said. “I mean, we want you to join us, but afterward, we’re definitely looting this place. Serves them right for what they’ve put you through today.”
“And you’ve taken it upon yourselves to punish them,” the green pony said. “Who gave you that right?”
“You misunderstand,” the unicorn started to explain. “We’re offering you the chance to punish them. You can join the looting, you can break things, nothing too valuable of course, and if you still want to cause some damage, we have all these ponies lined up just for you.” She was now pointing to the imprisoned Ponyville ponies.
“And what makes you think you’re gonna get away with this?” Rainbow Dash said. She was getting angrier by the second, and was eager to put them all in the hospital, but she also wanted to get the whole story. “You think nopony’s gonna notice what you’re doing or wonder where everypony is?”
“Well, that’s just it, look at who we’ve captured,” the black pony said. “We have a few ponies that could’ve actually stopped us.” He motioned toward some of town’s more athletic or magically skilled ponies. “And we have a few that nopony’s going to miss.” He pointed to Lyra, Vinyl Scratch, Doctor Whooves and several other background ponies that the town, in all honesty, could’ve gone a whole day without noticing their absence. “More importantly, we’ve captured every pony that has had any contact with our little friend today.” He turned to speak to the green pony. “You see, we have been keeping a low profile. You, not so much.”
“So a few ponies that saw me today have vanished,” the green pony said. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
“I think you’ll find that it does,” the pegasus said. “You, rainbow girl! When you were out looking for your friends today, how many ponies did you describe him to, seventy maybe?”
“Yeah, about that many, so what?” Rainbow Dash responded. “And don’t call me ‘rainbow girl’!”
“Think about it,” The blue stallion said. “Who is everypony in town going to look for, the four ponies they’ve never seen or heard of, or him?”
‘Uh-oh, they’re right,’ Rainbow Dash thought, ‘I’ve been pointing at him this whole time, and if he goes back into town now…’
“Do you understand now?” The black earth pony said. “This town doesn’t care what you do or what happens to you. A few of them were even ready to hurt you today, maybe even kill you. That rainbow pegasus standing next to you, she’s the worst one, isn’t she? Why would you possibly side with them? Join us, have fun, cause some damage, maybe you’ll even learn something about yourself. What’ll it be?”
Rainbow Dash looked at the green stallion out of the corner of her eye. He was getting visibly angrier with each word the black earth pony said. ‘This is bad. I’m all for beating up those four, but this guy hasn’t done anything wrong, and now I’ll have to pummel him too to protect my friends.’ She felt guilty for what she had done, and what she would have to do, until…
“I told you to let these ponies go and leave this town alone.”
“Think about what you’re doing,” the pegasus said. “You’re really going to choose them over your friends?”
“Friends, huh?” The green pony countered. “From the moment I met you, you’ve done nothing but try to manipulate me. You turned an entire town against me just to get me to join your club. I don't need friends like you.”
“Hey, look,” Rainbow Dash started before the green pony interrupted her.
“Save it,” he said with the same calm yet harsh tone he used to reject the group of thieves. “Just because I’m siding against them doesn’t mean I’m siding with you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
The green pony looked at Rainbow Dash and simply said, “It means I’m not going out of my way to help you out if those guys overwhelm you.”
“What makes you think I can’t take them?”
“Because you’re three inches off the ground right now, and it’s not because of your wings,” he pointed out.
Rainbow Dash looked down and realized that that unicorn was using magic on her again. She had just enough time to tell the green stallion, “This wouldn’t be happening if you hadn’t distracted me,” before being flung into the last empty cage. The cage toppled back and landed upside-down when she was thrown into it. In the middle of its roll, the cage's door swung shut and locked itself.
“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?” Twilight shouted.
“I’m fine, and that’s not what I’m worried about right now.”
“You sure he can do this?” Applejack asked.
“Not really. I’m not even sure he’ll set us free afterward,” Rainbow Dash answered.
The green pony lowered his head and charged at his enemies. The pegasus took flight and dove at him. The green pony ducked to dodge her and skidded to a halt on his hooves. He frantically dodged the pegasus as she tried to tackle him several times, but she was a fast flier and eventually tackled him. The green pony was thrown off his hooves and bounced as he landed on his back, but he quickly recovered by reaching for the ground with his right foreleg and sliding to a stop.
“I thought this was going to be harder,” The pegasus said. “You should’ve joined us while you had- wait. Why are you smiling like that?”
Every pony looked at him and saw that she was right, he was smiling. “Well I don’t know about you,” the green pony said, “but this is actually pretty fun. Kind of like a game of tag. But can’t you do any better than that. If you don’t pick up the pace, I might just fall asleep.”
Every pony who heard this was shocked. He was clearly at a disadvantage, but not only was he talking as if this wasn’t a challenge, he was actually enjoying himself. “We’re all being held prisoner, our town is in danger, and you’re having fun?!” Twilight shouted.
“Hey, could you maybe get us out of here today?” Rainbow Dash added.
“Sure, no problem,” the green pony replied while dodging the pegasus again, this time more gracefully. The pegasus flew at him at high speeds from every direction possible, but he avoided every attack, even when she was attacking from directly behind him. He avoided her attacks by ducking, rolling to the side, hopping backward, or even jumping right over her as she flew low. Each evasive stunt brought him closer to the caged ponies, which were now behind him.
The pegasus charged in front of him, but this time, he leapt over her, grabbed her tail with his teeth, and flipped in mid-air. In doing so, he pulled her out of her flight path and released her 360° into his flip, throwing her onto the ground. The green pony absorbed the force of the pegasus’ charge and used it to land safely on top of one of the cages. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” he said as he jumped off of the cages. “You can attack me as much as you want, but don’t go crashing into the spectators. I mean that’s just rude.” That smile was still on his face, and it was going to stay there for much of the fight.
“We are NOT your spectators!” Applejack shouted.
“Speak for yourself, Applejack,” Pinkie Pie said, holding a bucket of popcorn and drinking a soda through a straw.
The pegasus, now bruised and angry, started attacking again, but the green pony kept dodging her like before. “Why won’t you stay still?” she said, pausing on each word to charge at him. He hopped onto her back and jumped off as she flew at him, doing another flip at the peak of his jump. The pegasus was shoved downward when he jumped off of her, and she almost slid on the ground as a result.
“Let me see if I understand this,” the green pony said, “You’re asking me to stand perfectly still so that you can beat me half to death… How stupid are you?”
The pegasus screamed in rage as she charged him again, only to fail miserably and hit the ground, sliding in front of her associates. She was bruised, sweating and panting, clearly exhausted from the fight. “I can’t do it,” she said. “He’s too fast.”
“Oh come on,” the green pony mocked, “it can’t be that I’m too fast. You know what, maybe you’re too slow.”
“You take that back!” she yelled. “I am not too slow!” She flew at him again, this time faster than ever. The green pony jumped aside, spun around, and kicked her with his hind legs. She spun out of control and crashed into a puddle of mud.
“Yeah, too slow,” the green pony remarked, a final jeer at the defeated pegasus. As soon as he said this, his green irises flashed for a split second, and he turned his head to see the blue earth pony charging at him. He jumped aside again and kept his left hind leg in place as he pushed to the side with his other legs. This caused his hind legs to spin around him in a sweeping motion, tripping the blue stallion when they made contact with his legs. “Do you know how loud you are when you gallop? I could’ve heard you from a mile away.”
The blue stallion stood back up and turned to face his opponent. The green pony galloped toward him, and when he was a few feet away, he hopped, spun around and kicked the blue earth pony with his hind legs. He then jumped onto the blue stallion’s back and stood on his head with his forelegs and jumped off, trying to shove the blue earth pony’s head downward. When he landed on the ground, the green pony kicked his opponent in the side with both hind legs. He then bent his forelegs, doing a forward roll to get away from the other pony.
The blue stallion, completely unfazed by the green pony’s assault, asked, “Was that supposed to do anything?”
The green pony just stared at his opponent with his mouth slightly open before saying, “On anypony else it would’ve.”
The blue earth pony found a stone in front of his hooves and stomped it with his foreleg. He swept away at the dust in front of him, showing that the stone had been completely pulverized. “How right you are, because this is going to be you in about a minute.”
“Nah, I’m not worried,” the green pony replied. “I mean sure, you're built like a castle, but you move like one too.”
“What’s your point?” the blue stallion asked. He had already started attacking the annoying green pony.
“My point is that you’re going to have the same problem that she did,” the green pony said, dodging with many of the moves he had used earlier. “It doesn’t matter how powerful you are if you can’t actually hit me.”
“Yeah, I saw that fight, and I also noticed how quickly you tired her out. Maybe I’ll use that same tactic on you. After all those fancy acrobatics, you’ll tire yourself out, and then I’ll finish you off.” The blue stallion had a point. All of his attacks were powerful, yet reserved. In contrast, the green pony had just fought another pony earlier, and all of his movements used a lot more energy.
“You know, I like that plan! It does sound like something that would work on me,” The green pony mused out loud. “But I think my plan is better; it has something that yours doesn’t.”
“What, you being incredibly annoying?” the blue stallion retorted.
“Hey what can I say? I love being the center of attention,” the green pony replied, having come to a stop in front of some trees at the edge of the clearing. “It distracts my opponents from more important things.” Every pony in the clearing was stunned. A few of them mouthed the word “What?” after hearing that. “But no, my secret? I’m not dumb enough to tell my opponent how I’m going to beat him.”
The blue earth pony punched twice, then kicked with his hind legs, but he only succeeded in tearing into the trunks of four trees behind the green pony. The green pony hopped onto his back, jumped in front of him and galloped a short distance before stopping and turning around. Both stallions charged toward each other briefly, but the blue one stopped when the green one ran onto an outcropping and jumped onto a tree branch. He jumped from one tree to another before aligning his body parallel to a branch on one of them and running along it. The green pony turned to his opponent and shouted, “Hey, I’m over here! Come and get me!”
Both stallions charged toward each other again, but just before they could collide, the green one rolled aside as the four trees that were damaged by the blue stallion fell in front of him. The blue stallion hadn't noticed the trees falling behind him, and was pinned underneath two of them. He struggling to get onto his hooves and push them off while the green pony stood in front of him. “You see these trees on top of you? I’d say they were more important than the pony who couldn’t even lay a scratch on you.” The blue stallion stopped struggling and looked up at the green pony mocking him. “What, over already? Oh well… uh-oh.” The green pony looked down and realized that he was being lifted off the ground.
The unicorn whose magic was holding him threw him against the ground, then lifted him again and flipped him by his hind legs to smash his body against one of the fallen trees. She then tossed him to his right, his body rolling on the ground until he stopped in front of her. “Never send a pegasus and an earth pony to do a unicorn’s job,” she said as she telekinetically lifted the green pony one more time. “If I had done this sooner, we’d have moved on to the rest of the town by now. Oh well, better late than never to teach this little colt a lesson, and to take this treasure off his hooves. I just need to figure out how to remove it.”
“What, this thing?” the green pony asked, holding up his right foreleg to show the piece of jewelry on it. “It’s not that hard to get it off. If you ask nicely, it’ll come off on its own.”
The unicorn’s magic visibly constricted around the green pony’s body, causing him to struggle painfully against it. “You really don’t know when to shut up, do you? With my magic I can do whatever I want with you. You can’t break free.”
The green pony continued to struggle against the unicorn’s telekinetic grip. He then stopped, relaxed, and after closing his eyes, instantly vanished in a green flash. The unicorn’s concentration broke, and she began to wonder what just happened. “Eh, not a bad toy,” the green pony’s voice rang out in its cocky tone before switching to a more serious one. “But playtime’s over!” The unicorn turned to her left, she saw the pony giving her an angry look.
“Wh-what did you, how is that even…”
“So you’re a teleporter,” the black stallion said. “I guess this explains that Baltimare incident, but I’m not sure why you’re getting so worked up about it.”
“Teleporter or not, you still can’t win,” the unicorn said. She prepared her magic, but her concentration broke when the green pony teleported again.
“I don’t know much about unicorn magic, but I’m pretty sure you have to focus on whatever it is you’re trying to change with it,” the green pony said.
“What could something like you know about unicorn magic?” the unicorn stated, still trying to trap him.
“I know that it takes longer for you to put a spell together than it does for me to change locations. I know that I can escape any spell you cast by teleporting. And I know that you can’t tell where I’m going when I disappear.” The green pony teleported at the end of each sentence to evade the unicorn’s magic. “As powerful as you think you are, you can’t touch me.” He teleported right next to her and spoke into her right ear on his last sentence. “I don’t have that problem.” He teleported to the unicorn’s left side and kicked her with his hind legs. The unicorn hit a tree and landed on the ground, defeated in only one hit.
“Alright everypony,” the green pony shouted to the captive townsponies, “I’m almost done! Just got one last thing to-” he was interrupted when the black earth pony tackled him. The leader of this group galloped underneath the green pony at triple-digit speeds and kicked him in the other direction. The green pony stayed airborne as the black earth pony kept running past to intercept him with another attack.
Eventually, the green pony teleported to another part of the clearing to avoid any more blows and landed on the ground. He was about to try to stand up when the other pony appeared in front of him and stomped on his right knee, making a barely audible cracking sound. The green pony heard and felt the crack and clenched his teeth, trying his best not to scream.
“You know,” the black pony said, before he sped off to the other side of the clearing, “I am very disappointed in you. I was really hoping you could be a part of our family. Do you know what we could have accomplished with somepony like you? But no, you had to throw our offer back at us. You attacked us, humiliated us, and for what? This town? Your personal revenge? Well that’s a shame, because that was your last chance. Go on, try to find help. These ponies can’t help you, and even if you crawled back into town you wouldn’t fare much better. You’re all alone, and I’m going to enjoy breaking you.”
The green pony breathed heavily as he struggled to get up during this speech. He managed to reach a sitting position and checked his right foreleg. His knee was clearly broken, and he did his best to adjust his leg so that it wouldn’t get in his way. He looked up when the black earth pony finished his speech and make his own remark. “You know, that’s too bad. I was gonna do a little victory dance after all this.” He smiled at the end, just like he had for half of the entire fight, but from the sound of his voice, he was clearly in pain.
“You can’t be serious,” the black pony said angrily, “I broke your leg and your still cracking jokes?”
“Well let’s face it, you are a joke,” the green pony said before teleporting to the edge of the clearing. “But I’m a nice pony, so I’m gonna let you hit me. Come on, free shot.” The black earth pony charged at him, not thinking about his offer, but apparently taking it anyway. The green pony teleported at the last second, causing the other pony to crash into a tree. “I’m right here!” he said, having only teleported five feet to his right. “Where are you running?” He teleported again and was now sitting at the center of the clearing.
“You think this is funny, don’t you?” the black pony seethed. “I going to break every bone in your body, and they’re all going to watch. We’ll see how funny it is then.” He charged again, but came to a stop when the green pony teleported away.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” The green pony stood behind the black stallion, with their backs facing each other. He looked up past the trees and studied the sky above him. “But now,” he said, teleporting in front of the black stallion and lifting his left hoof to his opponent’s muzzle, “my turn.” They both vanished, but the green pony reappeared a split second later. He spent the next few seconds tending to his injured leg as best as he could, while most of the ponies looked on in confusion.
“What did you do with him?” Twilight asked.
“There’s a saying about things that go up, and-” the green pony started to explain, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie.
“Ooh, I know this one!” She was about to continue when the black earth pony slammed into the ground.
“Turns out it applies to him too,” the green pony said.
The black earth pony stood up with some difficulty, now as angry as any of his cohorts had been when they each fought the green stallion. “It’s not over yet,” he said. “Just because you’ve-”
“Actually, it is,” the green pony interrupted. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s been fun fighting the four of you. But I’ve got better things to with the rest of my day, so I think I’m ready to wrap this up now.”
The black earth pony fumed. “You arrogant little-”
“Shut up,” the green pony interrupted again. “I’m not done talking. You were wrong when you said that I was alone. I just showed that I can bring anything I want with me when I teleport. If I wanted to, I could have gone back into town and brought any number of ponies here. Alternatively...” He pointed to the caged ponies. “I could’ve had my pick from any of them. That reminds me.” The green pony teleported next to Rainbow Dash’s cage, touched her shoulder with his left foreleg, and teleported both of them back to where he stood before. “You should keep a closer eye on your prisoners. One of them just sprung loose.”
“Really, her?” the black pony said. “That’s the best you can come up with?”
“Don’t think that I’m a pushover,” Rainbow Dash said as her wings flared. “I’ll show you what happens when you mess with Ponyville.” She was about to take flight, but stopped when the green pony held his foreleg out in front of her. “Wait, I thought you needed backup.”
“If I wanted your help, I’d have let you out sooner,” the green pony responded. “In fact, the only reason you’re out now is because I needed an empty cage. After all...” He teleported in front of the black earth pony, touched his muzzle, and teleported twice. The first time, he teleported right in front of the empty cage, bringing the black pony with him. The second time, he returned to Rainbow’s side, leaving the earth pony inside the cage. “What else am I gonna do with him?”
“When I get out of here...” the black pony said before being interrupted a third time by the green pony.
“Is anypony really gonna listen to this?” He turned to Rainbow Dash. “His crimes were against your town, so I’ll let you figure out what to do with him. As for the rest of you...” He appeared in front of both the blue stallion and the unicorn to teleport them next to the pegasus. “Get out. I’m letting the three of you go for now, but if I find out that any of you are doing something I don’t like, I’ll come after you. When that happens, you’re gonna look back on this day and realize that I went easy on you.”
The unicorn was the first to leave, but the earth pony glared at him. The green pony glared back, and after they stared at each other for a few seconds, the blue stallion walked off. The pegasus gave him a seemingly remorseful look before she too finally left. The green pony sighed before turning to the imprisoned townsponies. “Is everypony okay? Did any of you get hurt in all of this?”
“We’re all fine!” Twilight answered. “We still can’t use our magic, but that plant’s effects should wear off in a few hours, and none of us really need any medical attention.”
“Good, only one thing left to do,” the green pony whispered. Within the next two seconds, he teleported each pony out of his or her cage, leaving behind only the black stallion. Many of the freed ponies took a minute to mingle among one another, but eventually they all turned to look at the green pony. “Look, I appreciate the gratitude or whatever, but you’ve all been here for at least an hour. I’m pretty sure you’ve all got stuff in town that needs your attention.” Many of the ponies realized that they each had their own tasks, and little by little, they went back into town. After a while, all of the townsponies had left, leaving the green pony alone in the clearing. He sighed in relief and turned his attention to his injured leg.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” The green pony recognized the voice of the rainbow maned pegasus and turned his head to see the six mares he’d met today standing behind him, along with a baby dragon. He teleported to a spot several feet further from them and stared at them, prepared for another fight.
“Take it easy,” Applejack said, “We’re not here to hurt you.”
“Wait, we’re not?” Rarity asked.
“We just wanted to welcome you back into town and throw you a big party!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Her sentence was punctuated with an explosion of confetti as she stood on her hind legs and spread out her forelegs.
“Really,” he said bitterly before teleporting behind them with his head facing away from them. “I didn’t feel very welcome earlier this afternoon.”
“Look, I know we all got off on the wrong hoof,” Twilight said, approaching him. “We just want to make it up to you. Besides, you’re in no condition to go anywhere on that leg. At least come with us to the hospital to get it looked at.”
The green pony sat there silently for a few seconds. “All right, fine. I guess I can stay in Ponyville until my leg heals, but not a minute longer. As soon as I can walk again, I’m leaving.”
“Good enough,” Spike said. “Now we just have to figure out how to get you to the hospital.”
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now im not sure who rated this down but i have this to say to you.
HELL NO. honestly the reason i looked into this was because of the length<love long stories> but what kept me going was the actual work that you put into it. job well done and keep it up!
One comment? Just one!?
FiMFiction should be ashamed.
I'm not too sure about our protagonist. He's a bit tough to figure as it is right now. I'll read the next chapter and see what progresses. In the meanwhile? I sort of wish he had a portrait. That'd definitely be cool.
Lord I'm tired.
4266737
The next two or three chapters are better about fleshing him out, and especially about forming the dynamic between him and the individual members of the Mane cast. This chapter wound up being a Gary Stu-ish introduction of him.
I surprised you're actually reading this.