Long ago, Equestria's inhabitants were always at war with each other. They always fought to prove who was the most powerful. One pony discovered a way to prove who the most powerful is, and she created the ECC.
Twilight Sparkle owns and runs the Equestrian Combat Club. Each and every year, the club holds the most renown event in the world, the Tournament of Champions. Many have entered, some have died, few have won. Trixie has always admired the ECC and desired to win the tournament. Her dream may come true, because of a surprise visit from a stranger.
It was a fairly bright afternoon. Long ago, a not so young unicorn by the name of Trixie was at home, watching TV with her parents. They were watching this year's Tournament of Champions. Twilight Sparkle, who was slightly older than Trixie, was competing. The lavender pony tore through the competition, she hardly used her magic, and still won. She made it to the final round, against the favored to win champion, Lightning Flash. Twilight fought her absolute best against him, and she struggled, even with her magic. Right before he dealt a powerful blow, Twilight shot one last spell at him. He died instantly. Twilight has become the new leader of the ECC. The camera panned in to Twilight.
"I will purge this world." she said. The TV screen went blank and Trixie looked back at her parents.
"Mom, I'm gonna be like her someday." Trixie said.
"Keep dreaming kid." she said back.
Trixie's parents left the room to make dinner. Trixie stared at the TV screen then turned it back on. "No Twilight, I will purge these lands."
"The ECC is now recruiting! Go to Sugar Cube Corner NOW! Be there to join the most awesomely epic fighting crew EVER CREATED!" A commercial announcer said.
Trixie shut off the TV. "I know what I'm going to do today."
Trixie stood outside Sugar Cube Corner, waiting for the store to open. After a while, it did. Shortly after, Twilight stood on a table for a speech.
"ATTENTION CITIZENS!" She shouted. "For many years, our country has been ravaged by ruffians and thugs. Many lives have been lost for nothing, several towns were destroyed, I will stop it. This year, the best fighters in the Tournament of Champions will help me rebuild Equestria. If you are up for the task of saving the world, stay, if not, leave." she got down and several ponies left the building.
Trixie was excited, she could finally see her idol up close and personal. Even though she waited in line for hours on end, she was kept occupied by the many visions of her seeing the alicorn. She was close enough so she could actually hear the questions Twilight asked before allowing the pony to put their name on the ECC roster. She was so close, yet so far. Just three more ponies. Ten minutes later, she was next. The pony in front of her was about to be asked the last question when a stallion budged in front of Trixie. Normally, she wouldn't care, but in this case, the store was closing in a few minutes, and she was not leaving without getting signed up.
"Hey buddy." Trixie poked the stallion, who obviously used steroids, in the flank. "What's the big idea?"
"Oh, how original of a line. What do you want shrimp?" he asked, his deep voice so deep that Trixie's dad would be amazed.
"Why did you cut in front of me?"
"Because I can, why, what are you going to do about it?" He stared at her, very much larger and stronger.
"I think I'm going to do this." Trixie slipped around the buff pony and shoved him back.
"Ohh, you think you can take me?"
"No. I know I can."
"Bring it on then."
"You go first." Trixie backed up a bit, giving him room and waited.
"AHHHHHH!" He ran at Trixie. Trixie jumped over his charge and landed on his back. He missed the ponies in front of the, taking the fight into the area where hungry ponies were enjoying sugary treats. "PUSSY, fight like a man!" He tried to pull Trixie from his back, but he couldn't reach all the way up.
"You idiot, I will teach you to respect others!" Trixie began punching him relentlessly from above. He tried to buck her off several times, but she managed to grab on just in the nick of time. The stallion went full on rage mode and smashed through the wall, Trixie jumped off so she wouldn't get nailed. The stallion ran off through the town.
"Trixie." Twilight said, slowly approaching the blue unicorn. "That was amazing. How would you like to join the ECC?"
"I would love it!"
"Good, there is a meeting in Hoofington in three days. Be there and you're in."
"All right, see you then."
"Well, I have to go now, sorry all you who didn't get to sign up, I'll be back in about a week." Twilight stretched her wings. "Trixie, keep up the good work." She flew out the hole in the wall and left the town.
"That was totally wicked!" A feeble green colt who was walking by said.
Trixie laughed then left for home. "I wonder what happened to old Roid Rage?
The meeting at Hoofington was tomorrow. Trixie was practicing with her dad so she could show Twilight more skill than she had seen. She convinced her mom to take her there, after explaining how this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
"Remember sweetie, you need a good night sleep. You don't want to show up tired and unable to do anything." Trixie's mom said.
"Ok mom." Trixie hung her head in shame and headed to her room.
"I don't mean this minute, maybe an hour early tonight?"
"Oh yay!" Trixie ran back to the living room and sparred with her dad again. The two were having fun for a while.
"Oh my." Trixie's mom stared out the window and dropped the plate she was about to clean.
"What?" Trixie asked, stopping her fighting.
"Rich, come here. Trixie, watch TV for a bit."
"Ok." Trixie sat on a chair and turned on the television.
"What is it hun?" Trixie's dad asked.
"Look." Her mom pointed out a window, and Rich looked.
"We have to get out of here." Rich said.
"What is it?" Trixie and her mom asked in unison.
"Ponyville is under attack. Get everything you can grab and run for the hills, I'll meet you there in a few minutes."
Trixie dropped the remote and parted the curtains by her window. The town was engulfed in flames. She started hyperventilating.
"Shhh, it's ok." Trixie's mom walked up and caressed her child. Trixie calmed down. The two mares grabbed their saddle bags, put them on, and filled them with anything and everything they could. "What are you going to do honey?" Trixie's mom asked before they left.
"I'm getting everything we need, and securing everything we can't replace." Rich explained.
"But, daddy."
"It's ok sweetie, I'll meet you there." Rich kissed his daughter and went downstairs.
"Come in Trixie, we have to go now." Trixie's mom grabbed her hoof and started walking, Trixie heard a familiar meow.
"Muschi!" she shouted. Trixie ran into the house and grabbed her beloved pet.
"Come on Trixie, Muschi is ok, dad will get him."
Trixie was about to let the cat go when a log fell from the roof, it crushed her mother. Her eyes barely stayed in her skull. The body was slowly being burnt by the firey wood.
"MOMMY!" Trixie screamed. Rich bolted from the basement. He had a wood staff strapped to his back, and a small bag of cat food hanging from his side.
"RUN TRIXIE!" he shouted, pushing her from the carcass. Muschi chased his owners out of the burning building. Trixie made it out of the house, her saddle bags fell off so she had nothing. The doorway collapsed. Rich couldn't leave too. "Here Trixie." He passed her the staff through a hole. "This is all you'll need." he said.
"What is it?" Trixie grabbed it.
"You'll know when you need it most. Now go, RUN!"
"But, dad."
"Go baby. I love you." he said.
"I-I love you too dad."
Trixie put the staff on her bag, and secured it with a rope she found quickly. Muschi escaped the house. The two headed for the hill.
"I'm going to miss you dad."
"I believe in you Trixie." Rich's voice emanated from nowhere. There was an unearthly scream as Trixie watched her house, and the rest of Ponyville, burn. Trixie stared at the town and cried, her eyes being dried out as much as her body would allow. She cried until she couldn't cry anymore. Muschi nuzzled up against his owner's side. Trixie petted him.
"At least I still have you."
"I love you." Trixie thought she heard the cat say in her father's voice.
After the fire and smoke cleared the town, Trixie went back in. She carefully maneuvered around the wreckage. She went to her house. She looked around, her father's body was nowhere to be seen, but her mother's was still there. She looked around for anything she could salvage.
"Trixie." A raspy voice said. Trixie turned around quickly. "Trixie, help me." Her mother coughed gingerly.
Trixie ran over to her and pushed the blackened beam off of her mother. "Mom?" Trixie asked, her eyes tearing up.
"Trixie, go to the Tournament, demand entry as a wildcard. You must win, do it, for me."
Trixie picked up her mother. Her whole body was black and red with burn marks. "Mother. I, I will never forget you."
"Go Trixie, you must go. Go now."
"I, I can't mom, I'm not string enough."
"You can do it."
"Mom, I, I love you."
"I love you too Trixie, and I believe in you. You can do it! GO!"
"But, mom."
Her mother didn't respond, she didn't blink, she didn't twitch.
"I love you mom." Trixie's tears ran down her face and fell on her mother. After a few minutes, she dug a hole and put her mother in it. She made a make-shift grave. She wandered the town for anything. She did manage to make several practice dummies. Muschi helped, more or less. Trixie beat the wood effigies with her staff until they shattered, then she rebuilt them. All the while, Muschi was sniffing at the ground and digging a hole. Each time through, the statues broke faster and faster. She eventually got to the point where the wood ponies would no longer be rebuilt.
Muschi began to meow a lot, so often that it drove Trixie to the brink of madness.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT WITH ME MUSCHI?!" she shouted.
Muschi sat in front of a small hole, in it was a paper.
"Huh?" Trixie picked it up and read it.
Dear Trixie,
If you are reading this, then our town has been destroyed. I have trained Muschi to do various odd things after the fire. You are most certainly alive, and I am most likely dead. The staff I have given you has mysterious properties your limited knowledge of magic couldn't explain. If Muschi starts acting odd, follow him. He knows where various notes are hidden. Go to Hoofington, enter the Tournament of Champions, win it. You can purge the lands, and then, you can do anything you want. I know you can do it Trixie. Don't give up!
Love, Rich
"No way." Trixie said, looking at the paper. "He, he knew this would happen the whole time."
"Meow." Muschi cuddled up to his owner.
"Muschi, you are so cute."
"Meow."
"Trixie?"
"What? No way, Lyra?"
"TRIXIE!" A cyan unicorn ran up to her old friend.
"LYRA!" Trixie hugged her friend. The two unicorns looked at each other.
"I, I thought I was the only survivor." Lyra said, crying.
"And I thought I was going to be stuck with this stupid cat until I died!" Trixie laughed at the insanity of the thought.
"So, how's it going?" Lyra asked.
"Good, I was just getting ready for the Tournament of Champions."
"The Tournament of Champions? You're kidding right?"
"Nope."
"Trixie, no pony who entered as a wildcard has ever lived past the third round. And I'm pretty sure that you're not in the ECC, considering you have to be at Hoofington in two hours to join." Lyra explained.
"I know."
"Look, I just came back from a trip to Hoofington, you have two weeks to get there and convince the pony at the desk that you're worthy of being a wildcard."
"So, to Hoofington we go then."
Muschi mewed as loud as he could.
"What is it Muschi?" Trixie asked.
Muschi stood at the hole he dug. He looked in it.
"Something else?" Trixie dug a little deeper, there was a small sack of fish flavored snacks and something made of leather.
"What is it?" Lyra asked.
Trixie inspected the leather object closer. "It's some sort of sash thing."
"Oh, I see, it's a holster for the staff." Lyra said after come looking over and awkwardly putting it on wrong.
Trixie looked at it one last time and put it on. Then she slid the staff in it. "You're right. That's cool. Good Muschi." Trixie took out a fish snack and gave it to Muschi. "Well, to Hoofington we go."
The two friends headed to Hoofington and Muschi followed, playing with a dangling strap from the leather sheath.
"Oh Muschi." Trixie laughed at the innocent kitten.
After one hell of a long walk, Trixie, Lyra, and Muschi arrived at Hoofington. The city was bustling with life. No pony payed attention to the trio who were obviously out of place. Muschi stopped them shortly before entering the city.
"What is it this time Muschi?" All previous stops along the way were pointless reassuring letters from her father.
Muschi sniffed around a bit then started digging. Trixie joined him. She found a small sack of bits and a small note.
Trixie, I see you have made it to Hoofington. Well, you're almost there! Good luck. Here is some money for food, or water, or, condoms if you meet a stallion who doesn't have any, or whatever you girls want these days.
Trixie giggled. "Oh daddy." she said, crumpling the note then throwing it in the trash. She tied the sack to the sheath and continued on her way to town.
"What did it say?" Lyra asked.
"It just said here's some money."
"Come on, what did it say?"
"Nothing."
"I know it said something, so what was it?"
"Dad made a joke."
"Oh." Lyra waited a few seconds for Trixie to say the joke. "So, you're not going to tell me the joke?"
"Nah, it isn't exactly something I'm comfortable saying."
"Ok fine. Well, what are we going to do now?"
"Well, I'm kind of hungry. Maybe go buy some food? Lucky Muschi here gets fish snacks whenever he finds a note, and he has found a lot, so he should be good."
"So, how much money do we have?"
"I don't know, let me check." Trixie reached over to her side to open the little bag, when a pony dashed by and ripped it off the leather strap. "HEY!"
The pony hid it in his shirt and kept running. Trixie pulled out her staff, prepared to throw it if she had to. Something was different this time though. An emerald orb was floating in the center of the crook.
"What the hell?" Trixie shook the staff. Nothing happened. She looked at the fleeing stallion. She stuck out her staff and focused on her target. A green lightning bolt shot from it and hit the stallion. He fell to the ground as if he blacked out. Lyra, who had been chasing him the whole time, tackled his unconscious body and grabbed the money. She brought the satchel back and tied it to the sheath as Trixie sheathed her staff.
"That was totally wicked!" A young green stallion said.
"All right, looks like we have a decent amount of money. How about we get a pizza?" Trixie said, looking through the pouch of money.
"Sure." Lyra said.
The two unicorns went to the restaurant and ordered a pizza. They ate it happily.
"So, I suppose we get you signed up for the Tourney of Champions now?" Lyra asked.
The ponies near her stared.
"Did she just say-"
"Yeah, she did-"
"The Tournament of Champions?"
"That girl is dead."
"She's hot."
The ponies around them continued to talk.
"Yes, let's do it." The unicorns stood up. Trixie left some bits on the table and they left to the tournament arena.
***
"You, you want to get a wildcard spot?" The stallion asked.
"Yes. Now give me one." Trixie demanded.
"You don't understand. You sign up, and we pick names, the two names we pick get the wildcard spots."
"Look, you don't get it. My village was burnt down, so I couldn't get here in time to be in the ECC. I need to join. Me and Lyra here are the only survivors. If I don't get in, my village will have died for nothing. Ponyville is gone dude. GONE! I'm the only one who can repair it! I have to win this tourney. I will purge the world."
"Miss, I can't just give you a slot. I can enter your name multiple times though. I'll enter you three times ok?"
"Follow me." Trixie said, gesturing to the stallion and going to a conveniently placed room with a bed. It was originally used so rich people could sleep if they got tired during the Tournament, but now it was just there. The two ponies came out of the room half an hour later.
"Wow. That, was-"
"Wicked?" A feeble stallion asked.
"Where is he coming from?" Lyra asked.
"Anyways, Trixie, I'll give you a wildcard spot. You know, after I straighten my mane and tail, and put my armor back on."
"What did you do? Ooooh, did you and him-" Lyra began.
"NO. I beat him up!" Trixie said, fixing her mane.
"Oh. Well, so the Tourney doesn't start for a few more days. I guess we could train." Lyra said
"Sure."
They waited until the ECC were done training in the arena and it was opened to the public. A handful of ponies were beating up dummies or fighting each other.
"How am I going to train?" Trixie asked.
"Epic Rocky training montage?" Lyra suggested.
"Sure."
Trixie punched a punching bag repeatedly until it broke off the chain. Then she went to a meat locker and beat up defenseless, dead creatures. Lyra would occasionally send a new carcass down towards Trixie. Trixie stopped them and beat them up. Eventually they moved on to running up and down stairs over and over. After a bit, Trixie ran up a hill.
"DRAAAAGOOOOOOOO!" she shouted from the hilltop.
"Who's Drago?" Lyra asked.
"I have no clue. Wait, shouldn't we actually train in combat, not running and punching dead stuff?"
"Yeah, that would be best."
"Crap, first round starts in ten minutes. No time to do that."
"Shit, are you serious?"
Trixie sprinted down the hill to the arena. Lyra followed with Muschi right behind.
"Round one match four will begin in one minute!" a pony announced over the intercom.
"Are you ready?" Lyra asked her friend.
"Yes." Trixie answered.
"Remember, you're fighting to win. You're fighting to put Ponyville back on the map. This guy is just a stone in your path to victory. Kick him to the side, don't let a little pebble slow you down."
"I will defeat him."
"Fight to see your parents again! Fight because I have no fucking clue how to take care of a cat and I'm the only pony Muschi trusts besides you!"
"ALL RIGHT MARES AND GENTLECOLTS! Make your way back to your seats, the fighting will begin in ten seconds."
"You can do it Trixie." Lyra encouraged her friend and gave her the staff. Trixie stretched her muscles and got ready to fight.
"This duel is between both wildcard picks, Trixie, and Big Macintosh! Good luck to both contestants. The favored to win this round is Trixie."
Trixie went to the center ring and Big Mac stood two feet away at the other side of the circle.
"Remember, there are no rules besides this one, if your opponent begs for mercy, let them go for they have lost! You may fight in THREE, TWO, ONE, BEGIN!"
Trixie barely had enough time to pull out her staff by the time Big Mac headbutted her. Trixie was pushed several feet, Mac's head on the staff. Trixie shoved back hard enough so that Big Mac was sent sprawling across the stadium. He quickly got up and huffed through his nose, quite annoyed. He wiped his hoof on the ground like a bull about to charge. He put his head down and ran. Trixie stood on her hind legs and held the staff so the crooked end was facing Mac. She shook it quickly and the green orb flashed. Nothing happened.
"Oh come on, WORK DAMN YOU!" she shouted, slapping the staff as if that would fix it.
"AHHHHHHH!" Mac shouted, sprinting now towards the defenseless mare.
"Work, come on, WORK!" Trixie shook the staff viciously. Nothing. "Screw it." She swung the staff down as hard and fast as she could, landing it right on top of Big Mac's head. His head smashed into the ground, his body which still had momentum, went over his head, forming a C.
The crowd gasped. Mac's body fell flat on the ground. There was a crack and small crater under his head. He managed to get up, head covered in blood, a huge dent in his skull. "Wow, that, hurts." Mac said between gasps for breath. He wiped his face from the blood. Due to his coat color, no pony could tell if his head was still covered in blood. "Trixie, win this thing." Mac hobbled out of the arena. A pair of medics chased after him holding two amber colored lamps. Trixie wandered over to Lyra.
"Wow, that was, scary." Lyra said. She had a quick glimpse of Mac's skull before he was carried off. "And why do they have those lamps?"
"This Tournament goes into the night sometimes, it's so they can get around." Trixie explained. "Anyways, HOLY SHIT! How did I do that? I swear that I just defied the laws of physics there." Trixie swung her staff in the air quickly, blood flew off of it and landed on the ground. Lyra and Trixie left the arena as the next combatants came in.
"Hey, you got some good moves there girly. Meet me at the store after this fight." a light grey pegasus said as they passed each other.
"Umm, all right. Good luck." Trixie smiled at the stallion and continued on her way. "Oh shit, where's Muschi?" Trixie looked around for her cat, he was nowhere in sight.
"Oh, he wasn't allowed in the arena, so I got him to wait outside." Lyra said. "See? There he is." Lyra pointed at the black and white cat, who was watching an old mare with a bag of popcorn. She happily gave the creature a piece.
"MUSCHI!" Trixie shouted. She ran up to her cat and stroked him gently.
"This is your cat?" The mare asked.
"Yeah, I hope he didn't bother you too much."
"Oh no worries. He's just the cutest thing I've ever seen."
Muschi mewed and looked at the mare happily.
"Well ,thank you very much ma'am."
"You're welcome Trixie. Oh, and try not to kill the next guy." the mare said with a wink then walked away.