My Little Academia: Friendship is Heroic!

by Fullmetal Pony

Pink and Meek

“Yippee! This is gonna be super fun!” Pinkie bounced around Tree Hugger, whose eyes trailed after Pinkie. She kept a serene smile on her face in spite Pinkie’s abundance of energy.

Tree Hugger was adorned with a loose-fitting cap the held her dreadlocks. She wore a similarly baggy vest that was studded with various symbols. Twilight recognized a few from one of the shops her mother told her to never go into, even though the books they were selling had caught Twilight’s eye. The costume looked more like something a trendy pony might wear “ironically” than what a hero would don when combating evil.

Pinkie then gasped and rushed over to Fluttershy. “Are you ready, Fluttershy? We’re gonna try super hard to be super evil! You’ll never get our loot!”

Fluttershy flinched back. “Oh… okay.”

Pinkie visibly deflated. “Aw, no, Fluttershy. You’re supposed to say something like…” Pinkie’s voice dropped a few octaves. “’Evildoer, you’ll never get away while I am here! Ahaha! Prepare to face justice!’”

Derpy stared at Pinkie with one eye while the other glanced in Celestia’s direction. Like Dash, she was outfitted with a pair of goggles, but rather than a standard pair, the lenses resembled large bubbles while the strap looked like a string of suds. In a similar vein, a cape that appeared comprised of soapy spheres fluttered behind Derpy. She raised a leg and waggled it in the air. “Can we switch roles? She’s got the speech down flat.”

“I get the feeling Ms. Pie will do just as well as a villain for our exercise,” Celestia replied. She stomped the ground. “Now, why don’t you get into your starting positions?”

“Alright!” Pinkie cheered. She then craned her neck back while sharpening her smile. Fluttershy winced when Pinkie jabbed a hoof in her direction. “We’ll be waiting for you, heroes! Muhahaha!”

“Oh, oh dear,” Fluttershy whimpered.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy.” Derpy patted her on the back, her hoof touching her in a different spot with each pat. “We’ll get the loot back!”

“O-okay.”

With that, Pinkie and Tree Hugger trotted off in one direction while Fluttershy and Derpy went another way. When all of them had disappeared from view, a voice rang through the air. “Now ze fun beginz!”

Everyone spun around and were greeted by a mare adorned in tinted goggles that hid her eyes. The white stripes of her dress matched with her platinum mane while the black and violet parts of her outfit mirrored her goggles. Even with her cutie mark and face obscured, Photo Finish was unmistakable to the class.

“Ah, ze costumes! Ze talent! Ze first dayz are always zo much excitement!” As Photo sashayed forward, everyone felt her scan over them. Rarity ducked behind Bulk. Photo came to a stop before Celestia and displayed a glistening smile. “Vell, Princess? Ve can’t just have zese greenhornz sitting around while ze teams are at work, can ve?”

“We certainly cannot.” Celestia lifted her muzzle toward the class. “Everyone, Ms. Finish will be helping us in our lesson today. While the teams are engaging each other, it’s up to you to watch and learn from your classmates.”

“Finally,” Twilight whispered to Spike, “a chance to test our theories.”

Spike gave a sigh, but Applejack nudged her in the side.

“You’re in for a show,” she said. “Pinkie Pie ain’t gonna make this easy for Fluttershy and Derpy.”

“Now!” Photo declared. Her goggles brightened. Twin beams shot out of them and coalesced on a nearby building into squares. “Let us begin with ze magicz!”

The square on the right sharpened to show Fluttershy and Derpy standing in the middle of a bright green square: the “proper authorities” mark. Fluttershy rapidly tapped her hooves against the ground and her wings twitched underneath the cloak part of her costume. Derpy bopped her head back and forth while humming to herself.

The other screen was darker, but Pinkie and Tree Hugger were still visible. They appeared to be in the basement of a building. Both were chatting away while Pinkie twirled the flag around with her tail. The way she could grab, toss, flip, and do several other tricks with it was quite impressive.

However, while she played with the flag, tiny balls were also tumbling out of her mane and scattering across the floor. Tree Hugger slipped around them. Pinkie continued to the produce the balls until the floor was covered with them. She also reached into her costume and pulled out some boxes of varying sizes. With a flick of her hoof, she spread them across the room. All of them managed to land without touching any of the balls on the ground.

Pinkie raised her hooves to the sky and let out a villainous laugh. At least, that’s what it looked like to everyone watching as there was no sound to accompany the images.

“Oooh,” Photo commented. “I like zat one.” Her attention then shifted to the other screen. “Ah, but ze timid one has such a natural feel to her. A little more confidence and ze image of a hero is her!”

“That is what we’re here for.” Celestia lit up her horn. Her voice then boomed up from above. “Alright, my little ponies! Begin!”

There was a flash around Derpy and Fluttershy’s heads. Both of them blinked and then spread their wings. Taking to the air, they flew off. Meanwhile, Pinkie and Tree Hugger stayed in place, making sure not to disturb any of the balls and boxes Pinkie had produced.

“Keep an eye out,” Twilight said to Applejack. “We might pick up some good tactics for dealing with a pegasus from this.”

“Right.” Applejack grinned. “I’m getting the feeling Dash is hankering for a race with me though.”

“It’s over if she gets airborne. That’s why Pinkie and Tree Hugger’s strategy might be one we should follow…” Twilight’s jaw tightened. “On the other hoof…”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“First, confining yourself to a basement like that means fewer escape routes if things go south, but Pinkie’s mitigated that with whatever she’s set up.” A glance to the left revealed Dash’s full attention was on Fluttershy’s screen. “Second, Dash may choose fight over flight. Fighting in a confined space could be incredibly dangerous given her speed and weather manipulation abilities.

“Then, there’s Lyra. She’s got speed too, likely from a magical enhancement of some kind. If she’s got the capability to… to…”

Twilight stopped when she noticed the Applejack’s attention was back on the screens, leaving Twilight muttering to herself. Taking a breath, Twilight joined Applejack and the rest of the class in watching the match, even while plans still formulated at the back of her mind.

Fluttershy and Derpy had arrived in front of one of the numerous skyscrapers that made up the false city. They turned to each other, murmured something, and then stepped forward. Fluttershy gulped.

Everyone watched the screen as Derpy opened the door. Photo blinked her eye just as Fluttershy stepped inside. The view shifted to the inside of the building. Everyone could clearly make out Derpy still holding the door open outside, but Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh-ho,” Photo chuckled.

“Interesting,” Celestia mused.

Applejack corked her head to the side. “Where’d she go?”

“She might still be there.” Cupping her chin with a hoof, Twilight furrowed her brow. “She can vanish in a crowd, but that doesn’t explain those paws she had during the test.”

“Uh, you’re gonna need to fill me in, Twi.”

Shaking her head, Twilight sighed, “I have some theories, but the best we can do is probably watch.”

Lining up with Twilight’s words, both Pinkie and Tree Hugger perked up. Pinkie’s mane twitched and a piece of it curled into a spiral. She grinned before letting out a cackle.

“So, you’ve come, hero!” she bellowed. “Well go ahead, try and take our loot!”

“Hey, Pinks.” Tree Hugger slipped around the balls and boxes on the ground. “I got this.”

Tree Hugger then went into a crouch and smacked the nearby wall. The cement shuddered with cracks spiderwebbing out from the point of impact. Dust flew out and settled around her. It also settled on a lump on the wall that had not been there before.

“Ah-ha!” Pinkie ripped a cannon out of her mane and fired on the lump. Cake batter and confetti splattered over it.

“Eeep!” came Fluttershy’s voice from the lump.

Tree Hugger sprung up and landed a blow on Fluttershy. Any part of her not covered in batter, confetti, or dust gave way to camouflage. The attack decoupled Fluttershy from the wall and she plummeted to the ground. As she did, Twilight noticed that her mane and body were also colored green and brown, but were returning to their original colors, starting at a red throbbing hoof print.

Aside from the different coloration, her eyes had bugged out and were facing different directions. Her hooves had also split in two while her tail had curled up, much like Pinkie’s had. Any other changes though were lost when she hit the ground and was lost in a burst of smoke and light.

The entire screen went white for a moment.

“Ah, yes, zees iz truly a wonderful start to zings,” said Photo.

Back in the basement, Fluttershy coughed and wobbled to her legs. One of her eyes flexed backward and spied the shadow of a hoof racing through the smoke. She jumped back, but landed on a box. Pink goo exploded out of it and encased her right hind leg. She tried to pull out of it, but the goo firmly cemented her leg to the ground.

Taking a breath, the tip of her muzzle vanished. The wave of invisibility raced down the rest of her face.

Tree Hugger then called out, “That’s a pretty chill move, Fluttershy, but there’s like way too much green around you when you use it.”

“And I may not be as good as Huggy here, but unless you’re Maud, you’ll never get the drop on me!” Pinkie let out another cackle. “It’s over, hero!”

“For…” Fluttershy coughed, “for you.”

“Oh.” Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Did you hit your head, Fluttershy? Huggy and I didn’t mean it, we were ju—”

Pinkie jolted upright as if a bolt of lightning had struck her. In mid-air, she whirled around and was greeted to the sight of a flood of bubbles spilling into the room. Some of them crackled with electricity while others swirled like a shaken snowglobe. More appeared empty, but they pulsated with instability.

Everyone’s attention shifted to the screen that displayed Derpy. She was still in the lobby of the building, but her hooves and wings whizzed around. More and more bubbles flew off her and floated downstairs.

“Whoa,” Tree Hugger mused.

“Hit the deck!” Pinkie cried out.

“Bubble Wave!” Derpy yelled.

The bubbles rushed forward and washed over Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Tree Hugger. One sphere burst in a show of sparks that zapped the rest of them, setting off a chain reaction of blasts, bolts of electricity, and miniature tornados. The final type of attack had the added effect of sending Pinkie’s balls and boxes into the air, adding smoke, flashes, confetti, and a tuba into the maelstrom.

Everyone was left staring at the obscured screen, waiting to catch a glimpse of somepony within the mess. Dash’s eyes sharpened.

Out of the smoke, silhouettes appeared. Two were of ponies on their backs, but one shape was rounded and bulky. When more of the smoke cleared away, everyone saw that Pinkie and Tree Hugger were on their backs, their fur fizzling with static, and their costumes torn and pulled away in places.

In the center of the room was a yellow shell. Fluttershy’s costume clung to it and three smaller pink shells rested near one end of it. The shell shrank down as Fluttershy poked her head out of it, revealing the flag between her teeth.

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash pumped her leg. “Way to go, Fluttershy, now get the buck out of there!”

“Language!” Celestia cautioned.

Back in the basement, Fluttershy darted for the stairs. A rope lashed out at her, her wings twitched, and she managed to jump over it at the last second.

“Curse you, hero!” Pinkie coughed up a little smoke. Her next words were punctuated by hacks. “You… you won’t get away!”

Fluttershy was already rushing up the steps while Pinkie tried to finish her threat. At the same time, Tree Hugger lumbered to her hooves. Shaking off some dust, she looked down and took stock of herself, and then glanced over at Pinkie. With a deep breath, she raised up a hoof and jabbed herself on the back, behind her left front leg, and her right hind leg. She strolled over to Pinkie and hit her in the same places.

Pinkie stopped coughing and perked up. A sharp grin spread across her face. “Thanks, Huggy. Those heroes will regret that!”

Pinkie and Tree Hugger took off. Upstairs, Fluttershy had burst out of the basement. She and Derpy galloped outside and took to the air.

“Haha! We did it!” Derpy cheered.

“Y-yeah. With us airborne, they won’t be able t—”

“Fluttershy!” Pinkie bellowed. Her spysuit had somehow changed into a thick brown jacket in the rush outside. A white scarf and a leather helmet with moveable goggles framed her face. She struck a match and lit the fuse on a cannon.

Within its barrel, Tree Hugger blinked and smiled. “This is gonna be wild. Hope it works.”

“Of course it will.” The fuse fizzled away. “I’ll be there to get you. Happy flight!”

The fuse ran out. The blast launched Tree Hugger into the air and straight toward Fluttershy and Derpy. She slammed into Derpy, making sure to angle her leg so it struck Derpy right in the small of her back. Her wings went stiff and she went into a nosedive.

Wasting no momentum, Tree Hugger sprung off Derpy and struck at Fluttershy. Fluttershy yelped, but instead of soft fur, Tree Hugger’s hoof met hard shell.

“Ah, bummer.” A thick hoof slapped Tree Hugger, knocking her away from Fluttershy and sending her toward the ground.

Below, Derpy spiraled downwards. The further she fell though, the more sensation returned to her wings. With the ground fast approaching, she sucked in the air around her and blew with all her might. A massive bubble ballooned out of her mouth and cushioned her fall. With a pop, it sent her across the street where she landed against a lamppost. Her eyes straightened for a brief moment and then she passed out.

“Derpy!” Fluttershy cried out. She felt the flag between her teeth and bit down hard. “No, gotta focus. Gotta get to the goal.”

“You think I’ll let you?” Pinkie howled into her ear.

Fluttershy yelped and flew back, but there was no sign of Pinkie.

“Fluttershy!” came Pinkie’s voice from below. With goggles donned and scarf flapping behind her, she was vaulting upwards with Tree Hugger not far behind. Down on the ground, a trampoline shook back and forth.

“Here we come,” said Tree Hugger.

“Eeep!” Fluttershy darted off.

Pinkie and Tree Hugger gave chase. They bounced after her with a spring board, a trampoline, or a giant coil to catch them and launch them skyward once more. With each bounce though, more sweat piled onto Pinkie’s face.

“Huggy,” she huffed. “I can’t keep this up much longer, you’re gonna need to finish her off!”

“Can do.”

With one more bounce, Pinkie flew upwards alongside Tree Hugger. In midair, she clasped Tree Hugger and somehow managed to corkscrew her body around itself. “Pinkie…”

Pinkie and Tree Hugger turned into a whirlwind of green and pink. In a gust of wind, Pinkie stopped herself just at the right moment to throw Tree Hugger with all her might. “Strike Out!”

“Go get her!” Pinkie called out as she fell.

“Right on.” Tree Hugger rocketed towards Fluttershy. Careening at her, she pulled back a hoof. “Sorry about this, Fluttershy, this might sting a bit.”

Tree Hugger’s hoof smashed into Fluttershy. It struck shell, but the shell shuddered and cracked. Fluttershy yelped, but her cry was stifled by the rest of Tree Hugger colliding with her. They went into a tumble, and spiraled down. Everyone watching held their breath.

“G-get off!” Fluttershy wheezed. “We’re gonna crash!”

“Eh, the nurse’ll patch us up,” Tree Hugger replied in the same lackadaisical tone as always.

“N-no.”

Tree Hugger blinked. “Huh?”

“You’re not hurting yourself just to win.” Fluttershy twisted her head to look down. The ground was only a few yards away now. “I won’t let you!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Tree Hugger called out when Fluttershy lifted her head to face her. They locked eyes for just a brief moment. “That is some crazy crazy stu…”

Tree Hugger went limp. Without her struggling and locking Fluttershy up, she managed to spread out her wings and swoop above the street in a blast of wind. She continued flying low until she zoomed into the green square and landed. With a vast exhale, she set Tree Hugger down and then collapsed to the ground.

“Winner!” Celestia declared. “The heroes, Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves!”

“Magnificent,” Photo purred.

Twilight studied the image of Fluttershy gasping for breath. “What was that?”

“Heh.” Dash strode up to Twilight and Applejack with a wide grin on her face. “That was Fluttershy’s secret weapon. Maybe you lucked out having to not face that, but I promise you…” Dash smacked her hooves together. “Unlike her, I’ll be coming at you full blast the whole time. I hope you’re ready.”

Twilight gulped. “Me too.”

Author's Note:

Things on my to do list: get on TvTrope, get at least the costumes illustrated

Comments

[Greenhorn]

Fluttershy is a shape-shifter? She would need a new costume that can withstand her giant form.

[Fluffy-Boi]

Oooo. Nice. I like this.

[Naturefang]

Gore tag becauseIf you know the source material, you know what's in store for Twilight

A lot of broken bones like seriously.

[Dirty Bit]

Very nice. Can't wait to see how the rest of the trials go.

Fluttershy is best Amajiki

Makes me wonder which ponies may or may not be the Big Three.