> Blooming Talent
>  by Griffin Productions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The First Steps
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Good, your doing really good, Gohan!" Goku shouted encouragement at his oldest son.

Gohan and Goku had been sparring for the last three hours, and both were pretty tired. But, being the battle hardened saiyans (or half-saiyan, in Gohan's case) they were, that did not stop them at all. They loved the thrill of battle, and the stinging pain of work in their muscles. It made them feel strong, resilient. Alive.

Gohan launched a punch directed at his father's face, which Goku caught with ease. He pulled Gohan into a knee which planted itself into his gut hard. 

The half-saiyan had the wind knocked out of him, but managed to stay standing long enough to see Goku put a palm up in his face. 

The two stared, Gohan looking a bit shocked. Then after a short minute, they relaxed and began laughing whole heartedly. 

"I thought for a second you were actually gonna blast me, dad." Gohan chuckled. "You haven't really lost your touch at all, even being a grandfather."

"Ah, when it comes to being fit, age is just a number." Goku cheerfully told him. "I feel like I'm forty again."

The two burst out into another spat of laughter before looking outside. The sun was setting beautifully out on the western horizon; turning the sky a nice shade of orange with a tinge of violet.

"Well, Gohan," Goku announced. "I'd say it's time to head home and get some of Chi Chi's delicious cooking!"

"I agree." Gohan said, touching his rumbling belly. "I've worked up quite the appetite."

The two began to walk out of the training shrine when a voice interrupted them.

"Wait!"

The warriors turned to the source of the voice. A small, four legged hooved creature with a pale yellow coat and a red mane and tail stood panting beside they're shrine. The small creature carried a saddlebag on each side of her torso, and a bright pink bow was tied in her upper mane.

"Um, hello." Gohan said, looking a bit perplexed. He had never seen anything like this horse-like creature before, at least not one that was able to speak.

"Howdy.." The yellow mare began, clearly out of breath. "I'm...I'm...Apple....Bloom....and I...I come ta'....ta' train with...hoo...."

"Hey now, take a moment to catch your breath there." Gohan said, walking over and kneeling to be eye-level with the one that called herself Apple Bloom. "You been running away from something?"

"Huh? No...I...just been runnin'..." She answered, starting to catch her breath a bit better. 

"You're a horse..?" Goku asked, trying to see if he'd seen any horses like that in all his years on Earth.

"No.." Apple Bloom answered. "I'm a pony..."

"There's a difference?" 

"Course there's a difference." She looked at him incredulously. "Ain't you ever seen a pony before?"

"Well, no, not one like you anyway." Goku answered, nervously laughing.

Gohan looked at her saddle bags. "Are you traveling?" 

Her eyes seemed to brighten a bit. "Eeyup! I came to train with the greatest martial arts master in history!"

Gohan was a bit taken aback. This hooved creature that was no taller than his waist was going to train with someone in martial arts? He wasn't quite sure how that would---

"I mean I already got mah cutie mark in karate," he beamed, showing off her flank. "I figure I gotta refine my talent though, yknow?"

Gohan and Goku both looked at the small pony's rump, and the picture of a hoof breaking a piece of wood that was seemingly tattooed there.

"Who drew that on you? Or did you draw it yourself? Is it a tribal thing?" Gohan questioned.

Apple Bloom looked confused. "It's...it's a cutie mark...have y'all never heard of---"

"For the sake of understanding, just assume we don't know anything about what you---"

"I got it." Goku said, walking over and kneeling down to Apple Bloom himself.

He placed his hand on the young filly's head and closed his eyes. Several images poured from her mind into his own. He saw many colorful ponies, a lush land full of vegetation. He saw a farm, a town, and many other wonderfully cheery things that Apple Bloom had witnessed.

He removed his hand from her head, and smiled at her. 

"You come from a very beautiful place, Apple Bloom." He said.

She was wide eyed. "Did y'all just read mah mind?"

Goku nodded and smiled. "I now know everything you know. I also know you've come to see me specifically."

She quickly nodded, mouth agape at the fact he had just seen her entire life. She then blushed a bit realizing something.

"You didn't see...uhm...everything, didja?"

"Hm?" Goku replied. "Oh! Nope. I only looked through what I needed. I didn't access anything too personal, don't worry!"

She relaxed a little, and stood tall before the two warriors, which compared to their bipedal height, was not very tall. 

"Well, I reckon y'all know I have come to train with you, Son Goku, sir!" She said, bowing quickly. 

He giggled, and put his hands on his hips. He couldn't help but keep a big, goofy smile planted firmly on his features.

"Dad, you thinking about actually taking her on?" Gohan queried. 

"Of course I'm gonna take her on!" Goku laughed. "She came a long, long way to see me, and I think she deserves to get what she came for!"

His stomach growled at him loudly just then. He grabbed it with both arms, and made a silly looking embarrassed face.

"But, uh, first I suppose we should at? Hehehe." He smiled nervously at the two. "You can come with us, Apple Bloom. I'm sure you'd love Chi Chi's cooking!"

"Great!" She beamed. "But, who's Chi Chi?"

"All your questions will be answered soon." Gohan smiled down to her. "C'mon, let's head home."

Apple Bloom trotted after the father and son duo, a wide grin planted on her lips. She was about to train with Son Goku, who, according to one of the books in Twilight's library, was the greatest martial artist ever. This was the first day of her new life.


> Where 'Ah Come From...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Goku family was all seated around the dinner table plus young Apple Bloom. The tabletop was covered with an impressive spread of several different types of food ranging from banquet level cuts of meat, to nice, crisp vegetation. Chi Chi had been asked by Gohan to make a bit extra of the green stuff, as on the way home, he learned Apple Bloom was incapable of eating meat. In fact, when he had asked, the yellow pony had looked rather disgusted at the prospect of eating something she may of once known.

When they had arrived at the house, Chi Chi had been completely confused by the presence of the earth pony. Though, after a few questions, had welcomed her into the house like any other guest. But even though they had asked a few questions already, there were still a few that needed to be answered; and even though Goku had read her mind, he would just tell everyone to ask Apple Bloom, rather than divulge anything.

"It's not my place to tell you." He would say.

Once every little morsel had ben eaten off the finished wood, Chi Chi began to chat with young Apple Bloom whilst she cleaned up. The polite young mare was happy to give her a hand with dishes.

"So, Apple Bloom," She started. "where are you from?"

"I come from a place called Equestria." She stated plainly. 

"Equestria?" Chi Chi questioned. "I've never heard of that place."

"Well, I suppose you wouldn't of." The earth pony affirmed. "It's... bit complicated as to where it is."

"Complicated? What, are you an alien like my husband? Like, from another planet?"

Apple Bloom scratched her mane in thought. "Not really another planet, more like another dimension. I think Twilight used the term 'pocket verse.'"

Now it was Chi Chi's turn to scratch her head. "Pocket verse? What's that?"

"I can't really explain it as well as Twilight, but it's like a world that exists within another. We technically live on the same planet, but we can only access each other's lands by mystical means."

"I take it that's how you got here." She said, starting to understand a bit.

"Eeyup!" She replied, using a silly way of saying "yup" she seemed very familiar with. "When I told Twilight that I wanted to learn from he best, she directed me to the "History of Alternate Realities" section of the library. I found a book about Goku; although it also called him somethin' like carrot cake? Anywho, I told her this was the one, and she conjured up a spell, and sent me here....course, she got the area wrong, an' I had to run all over to find y'all."

"Makes some sense." The voice of Gohan came from behind them.

The half-saiyan was now wearing a pair of glasses that hadn't been there previously. "We've dealt with alternate future timelines before. It's not too hard to believe in Alan Guth's theory of pocket dimensions."

Chi Chi beamed. Even though her oldest son had grown up as a fighter like Goku had wanted, he still found time to study and work on his knowledge just like she had wanted. It was a good balance.

"I gotta ask though," Gohan continued. "what's that..uh...'cutie mark' was it?"

"Oh," she said, looking back at her flank. "I suppose I should tell ya that. It's not  tattoo or nothin'. Ponies where I come from get a cutie mark when they discover their special talent. Some are writers, teachers, farmers. All sorts of crazy things. I think one of them even has a cutie mark for being crazy.."

Gohan put a thoughtful hand to his chin. "So it's like a coming of age thing, in a way."

"Eeyup."

"Cool." He continued. "So, if it's not too much, how did you get yours?"

"Well," she answered, putting the plate she had been scrubbing down. "I had been takin' some lessons every so often since I was little. A couple months ago, I actually began trainin' more than jut once every few weeks. Me and my pals, we called ourselves The Cutie Mark Crusaders, had kinda given up on the whole "crusade for our cutie marks thing. Or at least, we didn't do such ridiculous schemes to do it anymore."

She laughed remembering the things her, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had done in their youth. It was so odd the things they tried, and each of them finally got one in something pretty normal. 

"Anyway," she continued, a smile still on her lips. "I got mine when I entered into a pony karate tournament. I had made it to the final match, but the mare I was fightin' was just a tad bigger than me, and she used her weight advantage to put a bit more power behind her blows. At first, I was upset at having lost, but when I woke up in the recovery room, my big sister pointed to m flank with a big smile, and I saw my cutie mark. Guess I got it for going as hard as I did. Funny how it looks though. I haven't actually broke a board with my bare hooves in a long time."

Gohan was intrigued by this cutie mark business. But he had another question. "So then, you have skill in some basic martial arts already."

"Eeyup."

"I gotta war you, Apple Bloom," He continued. "my dad's training will get to being more than just punches and kicks...it could get pretty intense."

She turned to face him, puffing her chest out. "Not to worry! I can handle it!" She shouted proudly.

"Well," Goku finally spoke, getting up from the table. "tomorrow we can--"

"Kakarot!" Came a rather loud and gravelly voice from outside.

"Uh-oh..." Chi Chi moaned. "What does he want now?"

Apple Bloom watched curiously as Goku headed for the door to answer. When the saiyan did so, a shorter, but just as muscular male stood outside, arms crossed. He wore a sleeveless leather jacket, black in color, over a dark red tank top. His dark blue jeans also looked a little tight. His hair was up in spikes, and, had it been a bit brighter than the pitch black it was, would've reminded Apple Bloom of a fire.

"Vegeta!" Goku said, cheerfully. "What's up?"

"Come now, Kakarot," Vegeta said in reply; Apple Bloom remembered the weird name the book had given Goku's alias. That must have been it. "cut the pleasantries. It's been to peaceful around here. I need a sparring partner that won't fall over in one punch."

Goku laughed loudly, but stayed standing tall. "What about Trunks?"

"Trunks is away on some venture he toldme nothing about." Vegeta grumbled. "You are the only one beside my son who can keep up with me."

Gohan cleared his throat, but Vegeta ignored him.

"Well, actually, you've come at a pretty good time!" Goku said. "Vegeta, I want you to meet Apple Bloom."

Apple Bloom made herself visible by stepping into Vegeta's line of sight. The saiyan prince looked dumbfounded at the sight, and Apple Bloom recoiled at his expression, checking herself for unseen blemishes.

"What in Beerus' name is that? A tiny equine?"

"No, she's a pony." Goku corrected.

"There's a difference?" Vegeta asked, a vein popping up in his forehead.

"Of course," Goku giggled. "Haven't you ever seen a pony before?"

Apple Bloom had to chuckle a bit at Goku using her line. She looked back at Vegeta. He was intimidating for a smaller bipedal. He also looked pretty quick to anger, judging by the throbbing vein on his face. 

"Kakarot, why is there a...a.....pony," he spat the word out as if it were poison. "in your home? Don't you have enough animals with Puar and Oolong and what not?"

"I'm not a pet, silly, I'm gonna be his student." She finally spoke up.

Vegeta did a double take. "It talks?"

"I'm a she, thank you kindly."

Vegeta stared at her. "And you're Kakarot's...student..?"

"Eeyup."

There wasa moment of silence before Vegeta burst into laughter. It sounded evil to Apple Bloom's ears, and she was once again not sure what to think of him.

"You...you...nice..ohhh, nice joke. You're much funnier than Kakarot." He said, wiping a tear away.

"It's not a joke, Vegeta." Goku said, a smile still on his features. "I'm taking her on as my student."

"How can you train an equine in martial arts?" Vegeta interrogated. "She's four-legged and we are not!"

"Well, she already has experience in fighting, so she's off to a good start."

Vegeta then raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so?"

He turned back to Apple Bloom, who was now nervously shifting in place. He walked over and stood before her, arms crossed with an evil grin playing across his mouth.

"Well then, " he said. "I'll have to test her prowess for myself."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Goku piped up. "What a great way to start training by sparring with Vegeta."

"Uh, dad..I don't think that's such a god idea.." Gohan interjected nervously.

"Nonsense, Gohan." Vegeta said, not taking his eyes off the mare. "It will be a good way to introduce her to the reality of the way we do things here. Heh heh heh."

Apple Bloom swallowed hard. Suddenly she wasn't so sure she was ready to train with these warriors.




> Training Begins?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goku and his family watched as Vegeta and Apple Bloom stared each other down in the front area of their mountain side home. Vegeta had not lost his smirk once since setting this up. Apple Bloom had not lost the nervous pit she felt in her stomach.

The saiyan prince pointed to the mare, which made her flinch a bit.

"Listen up, Apple Bloople, or whatever your name is," he stated.

"It's Apple Bloom." She corrected.

He ignored that. "Kakarot says I can't use my full power against you. Not that I was going to anyway; you wouldn't survive if I did."

She gulped once again, thinking of a possible scene where her lifeless body would be left broken and battered in the yard of Goku's home. 

"So here are the conditions. I will only use ten percent my normal speed and only five percent my normal power. I will also not use any transformations or blasts."

"Wait? Transformations? Blasts?!" The young mare questioned.

"You will have the first move." he continued, ignoring her question. "We begin whenever you are ready."

"But--"

"No more talk!" Vegeta shouted, not even bothering to drop into a fighting stance.

Gohan cringed. He had a very bad feeling about this whole idea. Why would his father think it was ok to put someone like Apple Bloom against someone like Vegeta, even if Vegeta only was at fifteen percent strength?

Apple Bloom however, did drop into a stance. Or rather, she rose into one on her hind legs. 

The two stared a few moments longer, then the yellow pony leaped into the air, a kick aimed straight at the saiyan's face. 

Naturally, Vegeta moved his head to the side, and Apple Bloom flew past him, landing on her rump behind him.

She quickly got back up and aimed a mule kick at Vegeta's legs, but Vegeta sidestepped, and she fell on her belly. He hadn't even turned around to look. How could he have seen her attack coming?

She quickly got up again, regaining composure as much as she could. Vegeta had yet to even uncross his arms, and that fact was starting to irritate her.

She leaped up towards him again in a wind-up punch-like motion, but Vegeta stepped back to avoid the blow. Instead of merely dodging and nothing else this time, he quickly slammed his right knee into her gut.

The pain was sudden and immense. Her eyes went wide and she felt like her whole stomach was about to fly out of her throat. As she hit the ground, hacking horribly and gasping for air, Vegeta continued to stand, arms crossed, over her.

"Get up." He said, not even looking down to her.

She tried her best to stand back up, and fell on her first attempt. She was deathly afraid he would kick her while she was down, but he made no such move.

When she finally was on all fours again, and wasn't shaking as badly, she prepared for her next move.

Gohan was twiddling his thumbs nervously, but Goku looked to be remaining completely calm. His eyes were focused on Apple Bloom, analyzing her fighting style and technique to see what could be improved.

She tried for a sweep kick, but Vegeta merely hopped and slammed a kick into her chin, which sent her rolling back, the steel toe of his boot nearly shattering her teeth. As he landed, he still held the same pose. She was starting to get annoyed that he didn't even think he needed his arms to fight her.

She got up, a bit slower now, holding her mouth with her front hooves. "How's...hows about y'all stop bein' rude and fight me like I actually am more than a tick!"

Gohan gasped and grabbed the sides of his head in exasperation. This was not going to be very pretty, and he knew it.

Vegeta smirked again. "Remember, you asked for it."

He suddenly vanished in a woosh.

Apple Bloom, taken aback, looked around for him, but a split second later, her jaw was met with a fist launching her upwards quickly.

Vegeta hopped up to meet her in the air and proceeded to jab with his fingers at several points on her torso, yelling short battle cries with each strike. It was as if she was being punctured by millions of knives all at once, and her body was going to go numb if this kept up.

The saiyan then smacked her upwards, and rolled to float underneath her in midair.

"It took me a few seconds to find your weak spots because of your anatomy." He admitted. "But it's all over now."

He placed a hand flat on her back. "Big Bang--"

Goku felt the rise in energy instantly and yelled out. "Vegeta!"

Vegeta made a guttural noise of disappointment and scowled. "Right. You're lucky, kid."

He then twirled around her body to kick her down from above, and she smashed hard into the grassy yard, making more than a little dust fly up.

As soon as she made impact, Chi Chi and Gohan were both rushing to her side to check her. She was still alive, and didn't appear to have any serious injuries.

Vegeta floated down to stand next to Goku.

"I said no blasts, Vegeta." Goku said. "What was that all about?"

"Can I help it if my saiyan heritage gets a hold on me sometimes?" Vegeta replied, snarkily.

"Yes, you can." Goku answered. "I do. So can you."

Vegeta merely scoffed and began to walk away. 

"H--hang..on there, partner..." Called the weak voice of Apple Bloom.

Everyone turned to look at the barely conscious earth pony trying to rise to her hooves. She was bruised almost all over, and one of her eyes for some reason refused to open for the time being. Her bow had fallen out of her mane, and lay next to her in the grass. 

"I'm...I'm not out yet.."

Gohan placed a hand on her. "Apple Bloom, stop..."

"I...ain't...lost yet...Gohan...I'm...still....standin'..." 

Vegeta looked on in curiosity. Goku looked on with appreciation. Both saiyans didn't take their eyes off the young mare from Ponyville.

She was finally standing, albeit unstably, and was looking at Vegeta with determination. "I gotta...get...at least...one...blow...in..."

She limped over to the saiyan prince, and when she finally made it to his position, she thumped a hoof against his leg with a grunt. 

Vegeta looked down at the pony, a small amount of respect in his eyes. But only a small amount.

"It think it's time to end this. For your sake." He said.

He tapped one finger against her temple, and she fell limp to the ground. 

Everyone stood around her, not quite sure what to say. Goku, however, still wore a small smile. This young pony without a doubt was full of determination. It was up to Goku now to figure out how to help her harness it to become stronger.

He picked up the unconscious form of Apple Bloom and walked into the house. 

"You need some work," he said. "but what you just showed us proves you have what it takes to get stronger. Sleep well for now."


> At First Sight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom looked out to the dark gray skies as the storm clouds rolled in; the thunder rumbling loudly as if signaling ahead of time to everypony to hide. Granny Smith had said a killer storm was coming into Ponyville today, but this was much bigger than any other storm the young mare had ever seen.

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack's voice called out urgently. "Scoot your boot inside!"

"But I always watch the storms roll in, Applejack!"

"Not this one, ya ain't." Apple Bloom's elder sister said, quickly trotting to her. "This storm is gonna more n' likely level the whole orchard"

"What?" Apple Bloom spat, surprised. "Ya can't be serious!"

"Dead serious, lil' sis! Now get inside, the storm is gonna be over us in a min--"

A bright bolt of lightning struck at that moment, striking the top of the porch on which the two ponies stood, lighting it aflame. The wood was nearly instantly burned up, and the roofing collapsed.

"Apple Bloom look out!" Applejack yelled.

"Applejack!" She shouted, sitting bolt upright in the bed she lay in. 

Gohan, startled by the sudden noise and movement, jolted and fell of the chair he had been sitting upon next to her. 

She looked over to him, a hoof rushing to her mouth. "I'm sorry! Are you ok?"

Gohan grunted, and rubbed the back of his head, which had struck the floor pretty squarely. He then chuckled.

"Yeah, don't worry about me." He said. "I've had much worse."

He got back to his feet before speaking again. "The question is, how are you feeling?"

Apple Bloom seemed to remember the beating se took the day before. "I...feel...fine. Great, in fact. What happened?"

"Well, after I set you to bed, I headed to Korin's for some senzu beans." The voice of Goku sounded off.

The saiyan walked into the room, carrying the small baggie of senzu beans in his left hand. "These things will fix you right up. They're great! Not much on taste though."

Apple Bloom checked herself over anyway, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming still. When he was satisfied, she hopped out of bed. She was expecting her legs to give out under her, but like Goku had said, those beans had fixed her right up. She felt one hundred percent.

"So, uh..." She started, a small hint of embarrassment coming over her. "Did I totally flunk the first test?"

Goku giggled and knelt down to meet her eyes. "Nope. I didn't expect you to beat Vegeta. He's too strong. I didn't expect him to do what he did though, but as long as we have these senzu beans, we can train harder than ever."

She smiled gratefully at her new teacher. He was a much nicer person than Vegeta. Then she had a realization.

"Hey," she said. "where is Vegeta anyway? Is he still here?"

Goku shook his head. "Nah, he left awhile ago. He had dinner with Bulma."

Apple Bloom was confused again. "Who's Bulma?"

"One of these days we need to introduce her to everyone." Gohan said to his father.

Goku nodded in agreement. He was sure everyone would welcome her happily. Then he snapped his fingers when an idea struck him.

"Hey," He said, happily. "Goten is up, isn't he? While Chi Chi is making breakfast, Apple Bloom could go meet Goten."

Gohan chuckled and nodded. "Sounds like a good idea."

He turned to Apple Bloom, motioning her to follow behind him. "C'mon, Apple Bloom. I'll introduce you to my little brother. I think you'll like him."

She nodded, happy at the prospect of meeting a new friend. The two waked down the hallway towards the room which Goten stayed in. As they walked, Apple Bloom took note of all the pictures hanging on the walls. There were several of the family together, and several more of people she didn't recognize. One of them was green with pointed ears and wearing a big white cape. Another looked like he had three eyes. There was even a photo of someone who looked like a smaller and younger version of Vegeta, but with a tail. 

So many photos. So many memories. She could tell these people had been through a lot together, and it made their bond as a family stronger. 

Just like her and her family...

Gohan knocked on the door at the end of the hall. "Hey, Goten, someone is here to see you."

"C'mon in, Gohan!" A teenaged boy's voice cam back.

Gohan opened the door and stepped aside so Apple Bloom could see in and walk inside. When she did so her eyes fell upon the one called Goten, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

The young man was not as muscular as his older brother, but he as no twig either. His jet black hair was a bit of a mess, and yet it worked for him and his style. 

He sat cross-legged on his bed, a gamepad held in his hands. He turned to see the mare, and looked a bit surprised.

"Gohan, is this the Apple Bloom you were talking about? The one Vegeta beat up yesterday?" Goten asked.

"Yup. This is her." Gohan confirmed.

Goten put his gamepad down and hopped off his bed. I don't see how anyone could hurt such a beautiful creature like that!"

He walked over to Apple Bloom and petted her mane softly. The sensation sent a few shivers down Apple Bloom's spine, but these shivers were welcomed. It was a very sensual feeling having someone play with her mane.

Goten scratched behind her right ear, and she couldn't help but blush  bit and turn her head so he could scratch it better.

"Hehehe, I think I found where she likes it." Goten chuckled.

"Yeah...y-you did." She confirmed.

"So, you can talk. That's awesome!" 

"Yeah.." Apple Bloom mused. "It is awesome..."

Gohan coughed into his hand, feeling a little awkward. Sure, it was ok to give her attention, but for some reason the fact she was intelligent made it weird to see her enjoy being pet. "Anyway, I'll, uh, head down stairs to see how breakfast is doing. You two come down whenever you want."

"Ok!" They both said, different tones in their voices; adoration in Goten's, and ecstasy in Apple Bloom's.

"I think you and me are gonna get along great." Goten announced, taking his hand off of Apple Bloom and sitting back down.

Apple Bloom seemed to reach for his hand again with her head, but realized what she was doing an regained her composure.

"I...I think so too." She smiled, a tinge of red still on her muzzle.

















> Here's an Idea
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After eating an amazingly good breakfast, Apple Bloom, Goku, Gohan, and Goten took a short hike out to a field. The training they were planning for today was to have a few quick sparring matches to see how Apple Bloom held up in battle against different opponents. She was thankful and relieved that Vegeta would not be joining them.

As they walked, Apple Bloom had started chatting with Goten. She had found out he was a couple years younger than her; sixteen years old to be exact. She had also found out little things like the fact he loved racing games, and that he was really good at dodgeball. She also learned that the young half-saiyan had a crush on someone from his school, and her ears had involuntarily shrank back at that.

She still managed to enjoy the trip, though. For one thing, even if Goten did have a crush, it wasn't a relationship. There was still a good chance for something. She was a bit confused as to why she suddenly thought of Goten this way. She had only just met him this morning, and the only thing he had done to her was pet her and scratch her ear.

Something Applejack had said to her once randomly came to mind.

"Just cuz a stallion can make ya feel good by touchin' ya, don't mean he can be good to ya."

But Goten wasn't a stallion. He was a totally different species, and that made things even more confusing for the poor mare. Not to mention she doubted that that was the "touching" Applejack had meant. All she knew was she seemed to have developed an instant crush on the young man.

"Ok, guys," Goku called over his shoulder, dropping his pack. "we're here!"

Apple Bloom looked around. It was a wide open field full of lush green grass which moved gently in the slight breeze. The sun shone down from above, making the morning dew glisten like diamonds embedded in the ground. 

Gohan and Goten followed their dad's example as Goku began to warm up with some stretching. Apple Bloom assumed she should do the same, and tried following Goku as much as she could with her pony body.

However, she kept glancing over at Goten without being able to help it. The half-saiyan was just about finished lumbering up, and stood up, ready to train a few seconds later.

The group huddled together as Goku began to speak.

"Ok, guys," he began. "today, we are gonna see how Apple Bloom does against different styles of different opponents. Since she's still pretty new, I suggest she fights you first, Goten."

Goten nodded, and Apple Bloom started. 

"Are..are ya sure I can't start with..with Gohan, maybe?" She asked.

"Nope." Goku said, oblivious to her predicament. "Goten is the least strong out of us three, so we have to start you from the bottom of the ladder."

She sighed, and looked down a bit. Of course it'd be her luck she'd have to try and hit that handsome face.

She looked up, and gasped, a blush coming across her muzzle one more. Goten had removed his shirt, and his muscular torso was now exposed for all to see. She had read in one of Twilight's books that humans (or half-saiyans in this case) normally wore clothes because in their culture it was unacceptable to walk around naked. Why Goten had suddenly removed his top article of clothing boggled her a bit. What boggled her more was why she was suddenly so entranced by the foreign male musculature. She didn't bother to figure it out, she only knew she liked it.

"Why...why did y'all take your shirt off..?" She asked meekly, her blush growing.

Goten looked confused. "I just didn't wanna ruin my favorite shirt while sparring, that's all."

"You should have worn your gi like we said, Goten." Gohan chided from the sidelines, sitting cross-legged next to his father. 

"Yeah..." Apple Bloom agreed. "It's....distracting..."

Goku waved at her. "Don't worry, Apple Bloom. Don't be intimidated by his size, Goten won't hurt you."

The young Goten nodded to confirm. "I'll be gentle, don't worry."

She felt her face get hot. She then shook her head, and prepared to fight. "Don't...don't take it too easy on me." She said, a bit of her stubbornness returning to her.

It wasn't the fact she was scared to get hurt. It was the fact she might not be able to focus enough to spar correctly. But she decided sh would do her best.

Goten made the first move, and charged forward, throwing his arm out in a punching motion towards her. She hopped out of it's trajectory, and struck at his side. The half-saiyan blocked her strike with his other arm; catching her hoof in the palm of that hand. 

He then twisted it, but she was prepared as she flipped around with the torque of the move, and grabbed at his head with her hind legs. She threw her weight back, and arched so she would land on her belly while Goten was to be flipped forward onto his back. But he put his feet down first, and the two made a bridge. 

She released him, rolling forward, and leaping back to turn into a kick, which Goten sidestepped. He grasped her kicking leg with one hand, and pushed against her chest with the other, pushing her towards the ground. She impacted, but had managed to grab his head in her forelegs, and drag him down with her. 

He caught himself with his hands before his head hit the ground, and then flipped forward, dropping into another fighting stance. Apple Bloom recovered, and did the same. They charged, and the two exchanged blocked blow after blocked blow; their limbs moving in rhythm with each other as if...

"Does that...look more like a dance to you, dad?" Gohan questioned.

"Yeah." Goku agreed, a bit of bewilderment on his face. "It's so graceful and well timed. It's like they're one person."

The two concluded their session when they clashed elbows; the legs they had used to land on intertwining with each other. 

They looked at each other, smiling and panting slightly. Now that Apple Bloom was on her hind legs and not moving, she was eye level with Goten. He had a look of pure childlike excitement in his eyes. It was an invigorating thing to see in his innocent soul. She never wanted to look away. 

She must've been leaning into him or something, because he backed up a bit and held her back. "Hey, don't lose your balance now." He laughed.

She blushed deep red as she realized she had been moving herself closer to him in that stance. She was glad that he only thought she was falling over. 

Goku looked thoughtful. He then looked over at Gohan, and the two nodded.

"Ok, Apple Bloom," Gohan said, standing up and tightening his waist sash. "now you get to face me."

The fight between them had not been as graceful. Her moves were a bit clumsy, and did not sync up well to Gohan's. Her spar with Goku was over in seconds, as she was even more uncoordinated against him. 

After a long day of training, Goku called everyone around for lunch. As they ate, Goku turned to Apple Bloom.

"So, I've been watching how you fight, and the match with Goten aside, I've come to one conclusion."

Apple Bloom swallowed her mouthful of rice. "What's that?"

"You aren't gonna be able to train with us effectively because of your body." Goku told her.

She looked shocked, then crestfallen. "But why?"

"Well," Goku began to explain. "you're biggest weakness that I can see is your lack of hands."

He held his up and moved his fingers for emphasis. "Since the majority of people on this planet, or this version of it, have hands and fingers. Without those, you kinda have a big disadvantage."

She looked down at her front hooves in disappointment.

"Another thing is that your center of gravity is off from ours. Your pony body's center of gravity is too high for you to stand on your hind legs without moving for more than a few seconds. In some fights, you have to watch your opponent, or try to fake him out, and unfortunately, you would be unable to, because to attack, you have to rear up, and that makes it obvious, whereas for us, we can strike at anytime, because we can stand on two legs for...well, as long as we want or need to."

"You're right, Goku." She said. "I...I guess I wasn't cut out to be--"

"Hey now," Gohan interrupted her, looking up from his meal. "Don't give up on us yet. We have a way we can fix this."

She seemed confused. "How can y'all "fix" me to be like you? That seems a might impossible."

"The Dragon Balls." Gohan answered.

"Dragon Balls?" Apple Bloom queried, interested. 

"The Dragon Balls are seven magical orbs that when collected together can summon the eternal dragon and grant any wish you desire as long as it is within Shenron's power." Gohan explained.

"And trust us," Goten added. "getting you a body meant for fighting is well within Shenron's power."

Apple Bloom was both excited, and a bit scared at this idea. 

"So your plan is to wish for me to be a human? To make me...not me anymore?"

"Well, no." Goku said. "That would be mean and a bit unjustified. However, we can wish for you become part human. What do they call it..?"

"Anthropomorphic." Gohan said.

"Yeah, that!" Goku said, snapping his fingers. "We can have you become part human, but keep most of the things that make you a pony. You'll still be you, just improved."

"I...I don't know about this..." She mused.

"You can think about it tonight, Apple Bloom." Gohan said. "Tomorrow, when you've had some time to think, come talk to us."

She nodded thankfully to him, and looked down at her food. She didn't feel much like eating anything now.






> Whatever It Takes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It was really great that you decided to come to that show with me, Apple Bloom." Sweetie Belle said as the two mares walked down Canterlot Drive.

The two were dressed in Rarity's latest creations, tailor made for the two of them; Sweetie's a frilly white and purple dress with blue pearls embedded in the chest piece.

Apple Bloom wore a simple garb; a maroon cloak which flowed down her sides connected to her vest by a tiny gold link chain.

"It was no problem, Sweetie Belle." Apple Bloom said, smiling.

"I'm glad to hear that!" The white unicorn replied. "It's the first time we've really gotten together ever since Big Mac...well..."

Apple Bloom's smile instantly faded as she remembered her brother's passing.

"They always said he had a big heart." She mused with a sad smirk. "Never thought it was such a literal phrase..."

It had been weeks since that day. Big Mac just gave out one day when he was working in the fields. She guessed that he had over exerted himself trying to make up for the loss of Applejack on the farm. Speaking of which...

"I got a feelin' the farm ain't gonna make it through the season..." The yellow pony stated.

"That's awful!" Sweetie Belle gasped, concern forming in her eyes. "What...what's going to happen to you then? Where will you go?"

"I...I reckon I don't..really know..." She replied. 

Sweetie Belle put a hoof around her closest friend; a small smile starting to form on her lips as she tilted Apple Bloom's head up to meet hers.

"You can come and stay with Rarity and me if you need to." She offered. "I know my sister would welcome you anytime after all that's happened."

Apple Bloom, teary eyed, smiled back. "That's mighty kind of ya, Sweetie Belle. I'm so glad you're my friend."

The two hadn't realized they had taken  small detour. By the time they noticed the lack of ponies and the less-than-upkept state of the buildings, a voice confirmed that they had wandered into the wrong neighborhood.

"Hey there, you two pretty young ponies." The obvious stallions voice cooed. "You lost or somethin'?" 

They whipped around and saw the heap of stallion that stood before them. His face was contorted into a twisted and perverted smile; his yellowing teeth showing through his slightly parted and cut lips. There was no doubt what he had on his mind.

"Sweetie, run!" Apple Bloom yelled, and tried to attack the big burly pony to take his attention off her friend.

She struck him in the jaw, but he smacked her away with a strong hoof, sending her into a line of trash cans. Her head smacked against the brick wall behind them, and she started to slip into unconsciousness. 

"Apple Bloom! Help! Somepony!" Sweetie's desperate voice called into the night.

"No..." Grunted Apple Bloom, trying to stay conscious, but failing. "N-no..."

"NO!!" Apple Bloom yelled out, leaping from her bed and smashing the nightstand under her hoof strike. 

She suddenly realized it was another dream as she looked around. No, not a dream; a memory. One she was hoping never to have to experience again. Why were all of these memories flooding back to her like this? This was the thirteenth nightmare in a row, and the second one since she had arrived at Goku's. Why? Why was this happening?

Gohan and Goku both rushed in, looking ready for a fight. When they saw nothing but a shivering and sobbing Apple Bloom, they relaxed and walked over to her.

"Apple Bloom?" Gohan spoke up, reaching out a hand to her.

"I couldn't do it..." She choked out, tears streaming down her face.

"Couldn't do what?"

"I couldn't protect my friend...I couldn't help my big brother...I cost my big sister her life even...and so much more....I can't protect anyone...because you're right....I....I'm not fit to protect anyone as I am...." 

The father and son looked at each other and nodded. 

"Apple Bloom, it's still pretty late. Do you think you could go back to sleep?" Gohan asked.

"I...I can't go back to sleep right now...I'm...I'm afraid I'll see another...another memory..."

"Just calm down, Apple Bloom." Goku said from behind his son. "Take a deep breath."

Apple Bloom sniffed and then did as Goku suggested, sucking in a lung full of air slowly. She then exhaled, and stopped shivering.

She turned to her teacher and his son, a new determination in her eyes. 

"I'll do it." She said. "I'll make the wish to become an anthropomorph."

Gohan and Goku both nodded.

"But," she added. "I don't want to just rely on a magical power up to get better...I want to be great on my own too...is...is there a way for me to become an anthropomorph...but still be able to stay a pony as well...?"

"You mean like a transformation?" Gohan asked. "Of course, that's definitely plausible. But it will mean a lot more work to train two different body types to keep them at virtually equal power levels. Are you up to that?"

Apple Bloom stood up, puffing out her chest in conviction. "If it means I'll be able to stop losing people just because I'm too weak to protect them...I'll do whatever it takes!"

Goku smiled, a tinge of familiarity in Apple Bloom's motive. He had thought a similar way when Beerus had come to Earth and his friends had helped him transform into a Super Saiyan God. He had been disappointed that he could not reach that power level alone. Apple Bloom didn't want to rely on the Dragon Balls alone to give her power either. But like Goku had let his friends help him that day, she would accept the Dragon Balls' assistance. 

"I completely understand, Apple Bloom." He said wit a look of admiration. "We can set off to find the Dragon Balls come morning."

She nodded. Then she looked at the shattered wooden nightstand she had smashed in her waking rage.

"Uh..sorry about that.." she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Oh, that's not a problem. Chi Chi will just yell at me for it. Hahaha!" 

Gohan and Apple Bloom both gave a nervous chuckle at Goku's nonchalant reaction to being chastised by his wife. 

"Hey, is Apple Bloom ok?" Goten asked, a bit sleepy, but awake enough to not drag his feet. 

"I'm..ok, Goten. Everything is fine..."

"Except for the fact you can't get to sleep now..." Gohan pointed out.

Goten shrugged. "Well, if you want, I can hang with you for a bit until you feel like sleeping. I can't really go back to sleep once I wake up either."

She looked at him, and then smiled appreciatively at him. "I'd...like that. Thanks, Goten.."

Goten giggled, putting his hands behind his head. "It's no problem."

"Well, it is a weekend, so I guess it's ok." Gohan decided. "Good night, you two. I'm headed back to sleep."

With a yawn, Goku stretched and followed his son out of the room, leaving Goten and Apple Bloom to converse in the dead of the night.

> The Journey Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Apple Bloom awoke the next morning, she felt something she hadn't in a few mornings; relaxation.

This was the first time she had fallen asleep and not had a horrible memory replay itself in her nightmares. She felt rested, and strangely..."excited." That was weird. What reason would she have for having that particular sensation upon waking?

She moved her head to look up, and her forehead brushed against something soft in texture, yet solid in mass. Her eyes widened and her face grew hot as she took a look and saw Goten fast asleep next to her. She remembered falling asleep while he was in here, but she thought he would have left after she did so. Then again, he did start to doze off a bit before she had. Perhaps he just passed out as well?

She was uncomfortable, but at the same time not wanting to move. They weren't making much contact, so it wasn't like they had fallen asleep in each other's embrace or anything, but still...he was right next to her, and had been the whole night.

Perhaps that was the reason she hadn't had any nightmares. When she was little she would sleep with either Big Mac or Applejack, but they had been her siblings, and she had been a filly. This was totally different.

After laying there unbelievingly staring at the half-saiyan, she slowly got out of bed, fixing her red mane and adjusting her bow. She looked back at Goten one more time and then headed downstairs.

Goku and Gohan were already downstairs, packed and ready to go; Apple Bloom's saddlebags had been packed with necessities as well. The two waved at her as she descended the stairs towards them.

"So, you ready to begin the search for the Dragon Balls, Apple Bloom?" Goku asked.

The mare nodded affirmations, and mounted her saddlebags. "I'm ready!"

"Sweet! This is gonna be great! We're gonna have such an awesome adventure!" 

"Uh, dad, don't get too worked up, ok?" Gohan chuckled. "It's gonna be a long journey, and you know it."

"Of course, but that's why it'll be so amazing!" Goku replied in earnest. "It's been awhile since I gathered all seven balls. This will be like old times for me ."

Gohan couldn't help but smile. His father was always young at heart, and got excited over the littlest things. It was rejuvenating. 

Apple Bloom noticed Gohan was holding a rather large watch-looking device. This piqued her curiosity.

"Whatcha got there, Gohan?" She asked, pointing a hoof at the object.

"Hm? This?" Gohan said, holding it up. "It's a dragon radar. Bulma's family invented it. It detects the location of nearby Dragon Balls."

There was that name again; Bulma. Apple Bloom decided she needed to meet this Bulma who even that grump Vegeta could have a civil dinner with. She seemed like a very charismatic and smart person if the things she'd heard about her so far were true.

After some goodbyes to the family, the three of them headed out, each one ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead. 



After a few hours of hiking, the three stopped to take a small break. As they rested, Apple Bloom took note of all the beautiful scenery Mount Paus had to offer. The lush green grass, the radiant trees, the chirping birds; it was a very enchanting place to live. It wasn't hard to see why Goku and his family lived here.

"Say, Gohan?" Goku said in a conversational tone.

"Yeah, dad?"

"I was thinking, wouldn't this go a bit faster if we teach Apple Bloom to fly?"

Apple Bloom looked bewildered. "Me? Fly?"

Goku looked over to her with a goofy grin. "Of course. If you learned to fly, we could cut half the time it would take us to find the Dragon Balls on foot."

Apple Bloom was just confused. "There's one problem. I don't have wings..."

"You don't need any wings, silly." Goku said, rising to his feet. "Just watch, and I'll prove it to you."

With that, Goku started to float into the air as if by magic. Apple Bloom's jaw dropped as she looked on. 

Goku hovered above the two a few feet, smiling. "See?"

How was this possible? How was he flying without wings? Was he magical? She remembered then that Goku actually wasn't a normal human, and she thought to herself that that must be the reason he was able to do so. He was a saiyan, not a human.

"So, is that like an ability of your race?" She asked to make sure.

"Nope." Gohan answered for Goku. "Flying can be achieved by anyone if they have the training to do so."

As if to emphasis this, he too rose into the air to join his father. 

The yellow southern mare was in complete shock. This was impossible. They had no wings, no devices like jetpacks, and as far as she knew, no magical abilities. How were they able to do this?

The two warriors returned to the ground, and chuckled at the shocked mare's expression.

"If you apply yourself, you'll be able to fly like us as well." Gohan told her. 

"Apply myself? I feel like it's gonna take more than that to fly..."

"That's why we'll train you. Don't worry. Videl learned how to fly in a few days training with me. Maybe you can learn even faster than she did with both of us teaching you." He added.

Apple Bloom nodded, still a bit uncertain. But, she did say she wanted to get stronger, and if learning to fly was the first step, then so be it. She steeled her resolve, and stood up.

"Ok," she stated. "I'm ready to start."


> Think of The Angel...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now just concentrate." Gohan instructed. "You've made great progress."

Apple Bloom wished that was true. They'd been training her to fly for hours and hours, and the most she had managed was a slight hover for a few seconds. At least she knew it was possible, but would she ever really master it? The two warriors made it look so easy. She randomly wondered if Goten could fly as well.

"Oh, Goten..." She sighed under her breath.

She was feeling  bit guilty for not having said good-bye to him after he'd stayed with her for the night. It was mighty rude of her to do so. She hoped that he wouldn't be mad at her or anything. That would be much worse than never being able to fly. 

She internally chastised herself for not concentrating on the training. She'd come to this place to learn to be a fighter, and she was fantasizing over a male who wasn't even her species; and yet...

Yet she didn't stop thinking about him like that even after realizing it's "foalishness." She was hopelessly infatuated with the young half-saiyan. She may as well accept it and quit trying to understand it. Afterall, Big Mac had once said that love was not easily understood. But was this love?

"Hey, Apple Bloom."

The voice of Goku snapped the mare out her thoughts and she looked a him. She was surprised to be staring at his face head on and not looking up at him. He wasn't kneeling down so...

"Don't look now, but you kinda floated about sixty or so feet off the ground while you were mumbling to yourself." He said, giving a slight laugh.

"What?" Apple Bloom's eyes widened, and she immediately looked down.

Goku wasn't joking; she was so high in the air she could see above most of the trees and saw some birds flying underneath her. Her natural fear of the unknown took hold, and she panicked, flailing wildly and she began to descend rapidly. 

She was immediately halted in her fall by Gohan, who caught her quickly in his arms.

"Why so scared? You were doing so good." He chuckled, a similar grin to his father on his face as well.

"I...I didn't even realize I was flyin'!" She gasped. 

"Well, you did look pretty deep in thought." He pointed out. "Whatever you were thinking of, it made you as light as a feather. What were you thinking about, anyway?"

Apple Bloom's face seemed to immediately burn. She couldn't tell him she was feeling frisky about his little brother. What would he say? What would Goku say if he found out she was thinking these things about his youngest son?

She remembered when she had first met them, Goku had read a majority of her mind. She prayed to Celestia, or whatever deity might hear her he didn't do it now.

"I was thinkin' about..uh....apples!" She blurted.

"Apples?" Goku and Gohan repeated in unison.

"Eeyup! Apples! Used to sell 'em with my older sister all the time!" She laughed nervously with a wide, fake smile. "'Buy some apples!' I'd always say!"

Applejack was probably turning in her grave at the fact Apple Bloom had just told such a boldfaced lie...

The two warriors looked at each other in confusion, and then shrugged. 

"Well, if thinking about apples makes you happy enough to fly, let's try and focus on that while we train." Gohan suggested. "This time, try to not zone out and fly away without realizing it, ok?"

"Uh..right.." She agreed, rubbing her neck. 

This was gonna be a long journey....

*                  *                     *

Chi Chi was washing dishes in the kitchen when a knock came at her door. She was startled slightly, as she hadn't been expecting any visitors.

"One moment." She called out. 

She dried her hands off and went to answer the door. When the wooden frame swung inwards, it revealed a toned young man with light purple hair that came down to cover his ears. He sported a blue Capsule Corporation jacket over a black tank top with black jeans to match; a sword strapped to his back.

"Trunks!" Chi Chi exclaimed happily. "Hello there young man, what can I do for you?"

"Hey, Chi Chi." Trunks replied. "Is Goten home? He and I were gonna do some intense training inside my dad's gravity machine. Gotta train hard to look good for the ladies, yknow."

Chi Chi giggled. "You are a ladies man, aren't you Trunks? I think Goten is upstairs. Please come in."

Trunks did so with a short bow, and put his hands in his pockets while looking around at the familiar sight of the Goku family's home. Normally, as soon as Chi Chi said Trunks' name, Goten was racing down to meet him. Something was up.

He suddenly twitched. That was strange.

"Chi Chi?" He asked.

"Yes, Trunks?"

"Are you sure Goten didn't leave for somewhere else earlier today?"

Chi Chi looked at him, confused. "Of course, he hasn't come down at all to say anything all morning. He must still be sleeping."

"Chi Chi," Trunks continued, a bead of sweat on his brow for what he was about to incur with his next sentence. "I can't sense Goten's power level in the area."

Chi Chi stiffened and dropped a plate into the sink, which cracked loudly against the metal surface. She stood there for a second, and then bolted up to her son's room. The next thing Trunks heard was Chi Chi's furious shouting about Goten sneaking out.

Even less time than that, and Chi Chi was back downstairs, yelling at him for being a "bad influence" on her "precious" Goten. 

"When I get my hands on that sneaky little--!"

"Uh, Chi Chi, just calm down!" Trunks said, waving his hands frantically to try and stop her from going to search-and-destroy his best friend. "How..how about I go find him, and if I do, I'll give you a call, ok? I promise things are ok. I'm sure Goten had a good reason for doing this."

He had better have had a good reason for this indeed, because now Trunks had to put off his gravity training, and that in turn meant no girl impressing. Life was not fair sometimes...

> ...and He Shall Appear
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom floated thirty feet off the ground as she concentrated on not losing her balance mid-air. If she tilted to far forward or back, she'd do flips, and then panic, and then fall. She was not going to do that again. She was slowly getting the hang of it though, and that was enough to keep her head held high, both figuratively and literally.

"You've made astounding progress, Apple Bloom." Gohan congratulated. "I'm actually very impressed. You achieved more in a few hours than Videl did in days."

There was another name that was brought up again: Videl. It sounded like a pretty name. "Who's this Videl?"

Gohan blinked. She guessed he hadn't been expecting that question.

After a moment, he chuckled, and put his hand behind his head. 

"Oh, she's my wife." He smiled.

Now it was Apple Bloom's turn to blink in surprise. She didn't think Gohan had been married. It wasn't that he wasn't attractive (how could he not be; he was Goten's older brother), but she hadn't seen his wife at all while they'd been at Goku's. Maybe they lived elsewhere? But then...

"How come you don't live with her?" She asked.

Gohan, once again not expecting the sudden interrogation, answered. "Well, every once in awhile I return to mom and dad's for a couple weeks. It's just a family thing. I still live with her and our daughter in the city."

"You have a daughter, too?" 

"Mhm." He answered with a grin. "She's nine years old now. Her name's Pan, and despite her size, she's a feisty one."

"Feisty, huh?" Apple Bloom repeated. "Sounds like somethin' Applejack would've used to describe me."

"Actually," Gohan suddenly stated. "you two are quite a bit alike in some ways."

She looked at him questioningly. "How so?"

"Well, for one thing, you both have this drive to do what ever is put in front of you." He said. "After dad introduced her to fighting, she trained with us every chance she got, and then she won the Budokai tournament. Come to think of it, that was the one last year."

Apple Bloom scratched her head. When she was a little filly, everyone scolded her for fighting, even just verbally. The customs here sure were strange, but not entirely unwelcome. At least it meant the little tyke could protect herself if it came down to it. That way she wouldn't end up like...

She shook her head, displacing the memory. She had had a decent day so far, and was not going to let anything interfere with that.

"I think it's time for a small break." Gohan said, stretching his limbs. "Let's return to the ground and rest for a few."

She nodded and clumsily, but quickly descended with the half-saiyan. Goku was down on the ground kicking an imaginary opponent like greased lightning. How someone could move that fast was beyond her, but hey, she had just learned to fly without wings. Maybe she'd also learn to move that fast as well. Wouldn't the ponies be surprised when she returned to Equestria, whenever that would be.

Goku looked over as they neared the grass laden surface. 

"Hey, good work up there Apple Bloom." He said, giving a thumbs up. "You're a natural."

"Thanks, Goku." She replied, a proud smile on her lips. "But I know I can get even better!"

"That's the spirit!" He said. "But it's getting pretty late in the afternoon, and my stomach is pretty angry right now. Let's eat!"

The three sat down and prepared to get some dinner in their bellies, but Gohan had noticed they were short a few supplies, including water. Goku had said they would fly to a small town nearby to get the missing things, and Apple Bloom had decided to stay put and keep training while they went off. 

After making sure she wanted to do so, they flew off at unbelievable speed, leaving the young mare to keep attempting to do more than float. She failed to notice, however, that they weren't the only hungry ones in the area...

Demon King Gaki waited in the trees nearby, watching the pony. He had been biding his time until the saiyans were unable to interfere in his hunt. Horses were rare in this part of the countryside, and this young pony looked like a delicacy to the brute.

He unsheathed his massive sword, and began to maneuver out of her line of sight so as to catch her off guard. His cloven hooves made surprisingly little sound against the twig covered dirt as he moved. When he was sure he had a good striking position, he leapt out, giving a hungry battle cry; his sharp teeth gnashing in his pig snout.

Apple Bloom turned around in time to see the massive man-pig-goat thing that was coming right at her, gargantuan sword held overhead and ready to cleave the mare in two.

With a surprised yelp, she jumped into the air, and floated just far enough to not get sliced by the blade as it cut a swath in the place she had just been standing. She made a face in triumph at the beast, but then quickly realized all the momentum from her leap had gone away, and now she was just hovering. 

The Demon King licked his lips in anticipation, grabbing up at her greedily with his filthy hands. 

She attempted to turn around and fly off, but she had turned to fast, and shifted her weight far too much, and was now spinning in the air helpless, unable to regain her mid-air balance.

She felt her tail being yanked on, and let out an involuntary grunt of pain as she was pulled from the sky. She then found herself staring into the face of Demon King Gaki. 

"I, uh, don't suppose we could talk about this?" She tried.

When the demon opened his mouth, she decided there was no way that would happen, and began to kick frantically at him; maybe she would knock a tooth out or something, and he'd drop her in pain. 

Her legs were only a few inches to short though to contact the bones on the edges of the huge maw waiting to swallow her whole, however. 

As she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, heard a familiar voice call out; "Hey!"

She thought she had imagined it at first, and risked opening her eyes to confirm. She was not disappointed, as what she saw was Goten connecting a big kick with the creatures jaw joint.

As the attack connected, Gaki dropped Apple Bloom, and she quickly got to her hooves to watch Goten change position in mid-air and drop a guillotine kick atop the monster's skull. 

He flipped back and landed on the ground as the demon reeled in sudden pain, taking a stance Apple Bloom didn't recognize.

Goten was kneeled down slightly, knees bent and legs spread. His torso was twisted to one side, and his hands were held near each other as if holding a ball or something of that nature. 

"Kamehameha!" Goten shouted in a quick breath.

He launched his hands forward and a brilliant beam of blue energy blasted into Gaki, sending him flying backwards into the forest. Goten held the pose for a moment, and once satisfied he had done his job, he straightened up, and looked at Apple Bloom with a goofy grin.

Goofy as it was, it still made her heart skip a beat.

He walked over to her, a small bit of concern on his face. "Are you ok?" 

She nodded, her mouth agape. "How'd...how'd ya do that?" She asked.

"Do what?" Goten asked, innocently.

"That!" She blurted. "That whole 'fwoosh' thing you shot out of your hands!"

"Oh, that!" Goten laughed. "That was just my Kamehameha. It's a family technique, everyone in our household knows it."

She wasn't any less confused now than when she had asked, but she settled on that answer for now. She had another question shewanted to ask anyway.

"What are y'all doin' here? I thought you were back at your house."

Goten shrugged, chuckling nervously. "Well, heh, I was bored without my new friend no longer around, and so I decided to follow you guys on your trip."

New friend? Was he talking about her? She hoped he was talking about her. That meant he thought of her as much as she thought of him...ok, maybe not that much, but enough to care to some extent.

Goku and Gohan returned suddenly, a small wind break popping a soon as they halted.

"We sensed an evil power back here!" Goku said. "Are you ok?"

"She's ok, dad!" Goten waved. "I took care of it."

Goku looked a bit shocked to see his youngest son. Gohan looked jumbled.

"Goten?!" Gohan blurted. "What are you doing here?! Did you sneak out?!"

"Uhm...no..?"

"Oh, no. You did sneak out!" Gohan answered himself, putting his hand to his face.

"IT's not like it's a big deal, Gohan." Goten protested as his brother calmed down. "It's a weekend."

"But if you snuck out, do you know what mom is gonna do to you?"

"Oh..."

Goku couldn't help but laugh loudly as his sons bickered.

"Dad, why are you laughing? This isn't funny!" Gohan said, turning to Goku.

Goku calmed himself enough to talk, and breathed in before replying. "Hey, look on the bright side. He saved Apple Bloom. If he hadn't snuck out, Apple Bloom might have been hurt."

Apple Bloom nodded quickly. "It's true! If Goten hadn't shown up, I'd be lunch meat right now."

She realized just how true that statement was. Now not only had Goten saved her from nigh terrors, he'd physically saved her from a monster. If this kept up, she was going to feel mighty embarrassed having to be saved all the time by her crush.

After a bit of discussion, it was decided that Goten could stay with them on their journey, much to Apple Bloom's excitement. Goku had volunteered to take Chi Chi's anger, or at least the blunt end of it. Besides, it was always good to have a back-up.

The group continued Apple Bloom's flying training on the go as they soared over the treetops; Goten and Gohan on either side of her should she fall. She found it much easier to fly now that Goten was here. It was like just seeing him really did make her light as air. When she attempted an aerial backflip, though, she found out really quick that it was much harder than Rainbow Dash had made it look, and had to be stabilized by her half-saiyan escorts. 

As night fell upon the countryside, the four decide to set up camp and sleep for the night. Goku was in dreamland almost instantly, and Gohan wasn't too far after. 

Apple Bloom, however, was huddled up by their fire. She didn't know if she might have another memory come back to her in her sleep, and even if Goten was here, the fear still kept her from even shutting her eyes and attempting to get some rest. 

Goten seemed to still be awake as well, because he rolled over a few feet to lay by her, and poked her in the side, which slightly startled her.

"You ok?" He asked. "You look kinda pale, even under your fur."

She sighed. "Yah, I reckon I'm alright. I just can't see to find the will to sleep."

"Well, why not?" Goten asked, moving to sit upright next to her. 

Apple Bloom had to resist the urge to lean against him. 

"I'm...I'm afraid the nightmares will come back if I do..." She told him.

"Hm? But I thought you were finally done with the nightmares?"

"One night without 'em don't mean it's gone for good, silly." She said, giving a slight smile.

"Well, why do you suppose you keep having them then?" The young half-saiyan questioned.

She herself wasn't even sure. The fact that they were all memories she had experienced made it even more confusing than if they were random terrifying imaginings. They had all been traumatizing events, sure, but this was ridiculous and without explanation as to why they kept repeating themselves in her sleep. She also wondered why Princess Luna had not done anything about them yet. When Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had had awful night terrors, Luna had always been present to help them through it. She would've thought that it ws because se was in a new part of the multiverse, but even back in Equestria, she had done nothing. That meant that she either couldn't do anything about them, or that Apple Bloom simply wasn't worth the time...

"I don't know, Goten..." She finally said. "But sometimes, I just feel plum useless..."

Goten raised an eyebrow at her, looking at her as if to say "go on."

"These nightmares..." She continued. "they're not really nightmares...they're bad memories. Things that I've experienced that I never wanted to experience again, but for some reason my dreams keep forcing me too...and in each one...I've been unable to help my friends...my family...or myself..."

She took a deep breath as she felt a few tears forming in he eyes. She didn't want to cry in front of Goten and look like a filly. 

"That's why I came here, yknow? Why I came to train with your father. Back home, I lost a few good friends, and all of my household family to my helplessness...in fact...you saving me today...reminded me of when my sister...when my--my sister..."

She wasn't going to be able to finish that last sentence, or she would burst into sobs. She suddenly felt a warmth around her body, and looked to see Goten's strong arms embracing her and holding her close to him. She buried her face in his shoulder and started to let it come out. Her tears flowed down her muzzle and landed on his shirt, causing wet spots to appear all over it. She'd have to apologize for that later, she thought to herself. 

After a minute or two, she got her crying under control, and Goten backed off just enough to look down at her.

"You came to become stronger and be able to prevent things like what happened to your family and friends from happening to anyone else. I get that, Apple Bloom. It's a very awesome thing for you to do." 

He smiled, wiping a tear away from her eye and slowly stroking her mane with his other hand. "But it won't happen over night. You have to train, and that could take anywhere from months to years to get to even my level, especially since you aren't part saiyan."

He brought her to his chest and slowly rocked her back and forth. She returned his embrace, wrapping her forelegs around his torso and placing her head under his chin as he continued to stroke her back. 

"Just because I had to save you today, doesn't mean someone is always gonna have to save you." He said, encouragingly. "I mean, heck, by the time we're done with training you, you could go find that demon and kick his butt in three seconds flat."

She let out a rough laugh, and a genuine smile spread across her face. He was saying such nice things. She jut hoped to goodness that they were things that were true. She didn't want to rely on sompony else all the time to fix her problems. It was time she paid her helpers back.

It might have been the courage gained from his close proximity, but she asked Goten something she still couldn't believe she had the guts to say after only knowing him such a short time.

"Goten...do you think...you could sleep close to me...yknow, kinda like how are now...I mea, just in case..the nightmares come back..."

Goten chuckled, which was a good sign. "As long as I don't get woke up by a big karate hoof chop, you got a deal."

Her heart did a backflip, and as Goten laid down on his back, she curled up into his warm and gentle embrace once more. She placed her head on his chest. and his rhythmic heartbeat lulled her to sleep as she closed her eyes.



> We Found One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom awoke as the morning sun peered over the distant mountain tops; it's rays glistening off of the tiny droplets of dew on the grass upon which Goten and herself laid. 

She noticed the forms of Goku and Gohan sparring a little ways away. Did these guys ever not get up early to punch each other? It's not bad to train of course, but this happened every morning. Oh well, she decided; at least Goten didn't do that. If he had, she wouldn't have been able to enjoy this moment. 

She tilted her head up and into his chin, nuzzling against it gently so as to not wake him. His breathing was slow and deep; going in some calming rhythm with his heartbeat. Her ear closest to it turned slowly towards the blood pumping organ thumping inside the half-saiyan's chest, pressing against it. She let her eyes close and sighed happily.

There had not been another night terror; no horrible memory to haunt her mind. She knew it was because of Goten; it had to be. Somehow his presence banished away the horrible thoughts that lurked within the shadows of her mind. He was a source of light and warmth in the present that dispelled the coldness of her past.

She felt Goten stir underneath her, ad she realized with sadness they would have to get up sooner rather than later. She almost hated that she had fallen asleep rather than enjoy his embrace all night. 

The half-saiyan opened his eyes and blinked the sleep away quickly. When he moved to stretch, the cold air brushed chills through Apple Bloom's fur, and caused her to gasp quietly in slight shock at the sensation. He really had been her warmth afterall.

He looked down at her and smiled. 

"Morning!" He beamed. "You ready for another day?"

She smiled and nodded. "Eeyup. I'm ready to get my training on."

"Awesome!" He exclaimed, getting up.

Apple Bloom decided to slide down his torso as he rose rather than get off him immediately. Land sakes, she was acting like Winona...

Realizing her silly behavior, she got up on her hooves and followed Goten over to where Goku and Gohan were still trading blows. When they spotted the late risers approaching, they stopped and gave a wave.

"Nice of you two to join us." Gohan stated, chuckling slightly. "Have a nice sleep?"

"Very nice." Apple Bloom mused. 

"Slept like a baby." Goten laughed. 

"Good. You needed that rest."

"Why?" Goten asked. "It's not like training is gonna be super difficult."

"Because we found one." Goku answered. 

"Found one?" Apple Bloom queried.

"A Dragon Ball." 

Her eyes widened as her sleep riddled mind called forth the reason they were on this journey. 

"Well, where is it?" She asked, suddenly very excited.

She hadn't expected the first ball to be s easy to find. If the rate kept up like this, she'd be an anthropomorph in no time. Then she'd really be able to train like crazy.

"The dragon radar says it's off to the east." Gohan said, checking the large device. "Not even a few minutes from here if we fly at a brisk pace."

Apple Bloom was so excited, she was starting to float again; Goten gently pulled her hoof to bring her back down to Earth. 

She just couldn't wait to see what the Dragon Ball looked like. She was ready to go right this instant to retrieve the magical orb.

"Hey, I know that place!" Goku said, looking at the radar. "That's Uub's village!"

Apple Bloom was once again struck by a name she had no face for. "Who's Uub?" She asked.

"Uub is another student of mine." Goku sad, turning to the yellow mare. "I started training him a few years ago. He's the reincarnation of the evil side of Majin Buu, and he's super strong. He doesn't quite know it yet, though."

The phrase "reincarnation of the evil side of Majin Buu" made her gulp a bit. "Y'mean, he's bad?"

Goku laughed. "No way! Uub? Evil? Nah, just reincarnation of someone who WAS evil. He isn't like he was in his past life at all, save for his power."

"Oh, well, that sounds ok then." She said. "Out of curiosity, just how powerful was this 'Majin Buu' guy?"

Goku's face suddenly became a bit serious. The tension in the air was suddenly thicker than fog as even Goten had a dark expression.

"I--I'm sorry," She quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to--"

"It's not cuz of what you asked, Apple Bloom." Goku told her in a tone that was much deeper than what he had always spoken to her in. "It's just the memory of Majin Buu is not something we like to remember. He was a monster. A true terror that had almost limitless power and magical abilities. It took everyone to stop him, and I mean everyone on Earth and even Namek had to help me..."

Apple Bloom was trying to picture seven billion beings like Goku fighting one person and still barely winning; the effort made her head ache. She also thought, what the heck was Namek? Was that another name, or a place? She didn't want to ask anymore questions about Majin Buu though. The tension was thick enough, and she wished she hadn't asked.

Gohan sighed, and then, picking the dragon radar up again, he started to float into the air; the tension already dissipating as he smiled.

"Well, shall we go and get us a Dragon Ball?" He suggested.

To Apple Bloom's relief, all of them lightened up instantly and flew upwards, which she followed suite in.

*    *     *

"Well, obviously something happened here." Trunks said to himself as he surveyed the giant gash in the ground.

It looked like it had been caused by a massive blade; this was confirmed when he turned and saw the huge steel weapon lying ownerless in the field. He walked past it, and instantly he sensed a dying power level in the brush. It was fading pretty rapidly, so he decided to check it out. He was however in no big hurry.

As he neared the dying form of Demon King Gaki, he scoffed. 

"Looks like Goten's handiwork. He couldn't have moved to far since then."

He tried to locate Goten's power level; after a minute, he located not Goten's power level, but Goku's. After another moment he sensed Gohan.

"Goten is probably following them on that little Apple Bloom's training journey." He sighed. "Dad said she was even worse than Yamcha is a fight. What's got Goten so interested in her?"

As he started to head out, the cracked voice of Gaki hacked out a single phrase

"He--help..me...pl-please.."

Trunk turned to look at the dying demon; he truly was a pathetic sight. He thought of what his father would do. Then a sinister grin spread across his features.

He put a hand out as if to help the wounded giant up. With a breathless thanks, Gaki took Trunks' hand. There was a moment of silence; suddenly Trunks rushed a huge surge of energy through his arm, and as it exited his limb, it fried the Demon King in a blinding flash of light and in another instant, an explosion rocked the area, blasting back a few nearby trees. 

There was nothing left of the demon except a crater where he had been laying. Trunks chuckled darkly.

"Scum like you doesn't deserve help." He said. 

With that, he turned and flew off to follow the power levels he had sensed earlier.





> Unexpected
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even though they'd only been flying for a little while, Apple Bloom was starting be able to fly faster with each passing moment. Her movements were becoming more natural, and her balance in mid-air was no longer awkward. They still could not fly at full speed yet, but she was learning, and learning fast.

She kept thinking about this Uub person. If he had power enough to take on everyone like that, how he heck did he look? Was he huge like Spike had gotten when he became a hoarder? Was he as buff and jacked as Iron Will? However Uub looked, he was sure to be intimidating.

She looked forward, dropping her train of thought. The village was right up ahead, but something felt...off. The sky above the small town was blackened slightly; almost as if there was an old TV film grain over it. Then her nostrils were assaulted by the smell of smoke. The village was burning.

She looked over to Goku, who had a horrified expression on his face, as did his two sons. 

"Dad..." Gohan breathed. 

"I feel it, Gohan..." Goku replied. "It's...dark..."

Apple Bloom was confused. Feel what? The sky? She guessed that would explain the "it's dark" comment.

Goku turned to Apple Bloom, and a very serious look crossed his face. Something was no doubt wrong, now.

"Apple Bloom, we're gonna land, but as soon as we do, you find a place to hide, understand?"

Apple Bloom blinked in surprise. "But..I wanna help.."

"I understand, but trust me..." Goku said back. "I think it's best if you just stay hidden for now."

She reluctantly nodded, and the group descended. The smoke was very thick now that they were so close to the flames of the burning straw huts; the smell was no better. It was like a cloud of evil that choked out all life and swallowed their very breath.

Once they touched down, Apple Bloom took cover behind a large stack of wood that had miraculously not been caught aflame yet. She peeked around the corner and watched as Goku, Gohan, and Goten took up fighting stances. Was there an enemy around? Was that why he had told Apple Bloom to hide? If so, this was very very bad indeed.

"Uub! Uub! Where are you?!" Goku's strong voice bellowed through the smoke and flames.

As if in reply to his question, a young boy not a lot younger than Goten was suddenly thrown through the black fire cloud before them. The poor tribal child grunting in pain as he bounced to a stop in front of the warriors. 

He was toned, but didn't have much in the way of actual muscle, and he wore his hair in an unstarched Mohawk. His tan skin was covered with several gashes and bruises; even a few burn marks from the flames themselves.

"Uub!" Goku cried out, kneeling down to pick up the young teen in his arms.

So that was Uub? He didn't look too threatening at all, especially in the state he was in. What was going on here?

"Oh, I'm sorry," Came a voice from behind the smoke. "did you know that poor wretch?"

The voice carried a tone of cockiness in it, and yet a refined edge; like a wealthy noble that also had a dark sense of humor. It was not a welcoming voice.

Gohan and Goten stepped in front of Goku as he pulled his bag of senzu beans from his pack to give to the injured Uub. 

Out of the blackness walked a very interestingly dressed man. It was obviously armor the tall fella wore, but it was strange looking. It was colored nearly pitch black with orange accent lines around the edges of the whole thing; the bottom back half flowing like a trench coat behind his legs. On his chest, just above where Apple Bloom assumed his heart to be was a round insignia also colored orange with a darker shaded star in he middle of the same color. His hair looked like a very light pink, and his eyes a brilliant teal. He smiled almost in a seductive way while regarding the three warriors.

"My, my, don't you three look serious." He cooed. "What's the matter? Don't like my art style?"

As if to point out a portrait, he spread his arms out in an arch, addressing the flaming structures and blackened skies around them.

"I rather think it's a masterpiece." He continued. "A brash and yet beautiful scene of destruction! I suppose uncultured saiyans such as yourselves wouldn't understand."

"How do you know we're saiyans?" Gohan asked angrily, not dropping his guard one bit.

"I can sense your power." The armored arsonist answered. "No other race but saiyans have such an aura about them. Besides, the one tending to the weakling behind you is Goku, is it not?"

Goku put Uub down after feeding him a senzu bean, and looked dangerously over at the man. "Yes, I am Son Goku; and just who are you?"

"I thought you'd never ask." He breathed out. "I am the one true artist of death and destruction; the brush from which the streaks of flaming beauty are spawned from; I am Aedus; painter of ashes!"

The three did not drop their serious looks, but Apple Bloom was bewildered. This guy was a total weirdo. She knew it was rude to call others names, but considering this guy seemed to be responsible for the chaos surrounding the place, it was deserved. 

As she looked on, Uub got up quickly, completely restored by the senzu bean. Goku turned to him and didn't waste any time with formalities.

"Why is this Aedus character here? What does he want?" He asked Uub.

Apple Bloom expected a voice small and frail to come from the tribal boy's mouth, but when he spoke, she was surprised to hear a rather strong and determined one instead.

"He wants the Dragon Ball!" Uub informed them. "I found it a few days ago, and today this guy shows up demanding it, saying it's his right to have the one star ball! When we refused, he became more aggressive, and eventually just started...started killing everyone and setting everything on fire! He's like a walking volcano!"

"Is your mother and the rest of your tribe safe?" Goku questioned.

"My mother is safe, yes. As for the rest of them I got as many as I could out...but...I..."

Goku placed a hand on Uub's head suddenly, causing the him to look up in curiosity at what his master was about to say. 

"You've done a good job, Uub. Get the Dragon Ball and get it out of here. We'll take it from here."

Uub swiftly nodded, and pulling the one star ball from his vest to make sure it was intact, he dashed off into the sky, blowing a bit of the smoke away for a few seconds. Apple Bloom watched as he soared off, wondering where he was taking the Dragon Ball. She was a bit nervous they had just lost it, but she turned back to the scene on the ground, and her nervousness over the Dragon Ball was replaced with one over this strange man named Aedus.

She realized the orange insignia on his chest piece was a likeness of the one star ball Uub had just flown off with. Aedus really believed he owned the one star ball indeed.

"You killed innocents just to get your hands on a Dragon Ball?" Goku interrogated. "That's unforgivable."

The air around him started to pulse with energy as did the area around Gohan and Goten. Apple Bloom felt immense pressure being built up where they stood. What the hay was going on? Her fur was standing on end, and a bit of her mane floated upwards. She prayed she wouldn't start flying without wanting to again and get her cover blown.

As she looked on, Goku's expression only darkened. "I can sense your pretty powerful, so I'm gonna start off with something special."

He stood stock straight for a second, and a flash of light and pop in the air later, Apple Bloom had to to blink and slap herself to believe what Goku had done.

His jet black hair had turned into a bright gold color and was standing straight up as if by massive static electricity was coursing through him. His body also possessed the same glowing qualities around his being; his eyes had changed to a brilliant blue as well. Was that even still Goku? She realized her jaw had been open for a moment to long as she tasted smoke and cinders. After she finished coughing into her leg, she returned her attention to the warrior that she assumed to be Goku.

He stepped in front of his sons, and they both backed up a bit.

"I'll handle this." He said, a slightly deeper tone in his voice. "Only get involved if you see I'm in trouble, ok?"

The two nodded and jumped back a ways to survey the fight that was surely about to start. 

None of them knew this Aedus, but from what Goku could sense, his power was no joke. He couldn't get careless.

"Come," Aedus teased, a finger gesturing Goku to do so. "give me a new canvas to blaze."

Goku said nothing until he leaped forward, howling a battle cry that sent shivers down Apple Blooms spine, and not the good kind.

The fight was on.






> Playing With Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first blow was the loudest.

Apple Bloom had thought she'd heard Goku shout out something along the lines of "Super God Fist" or something to that effect. Well, the attack certainly lived up to the name; as soon as Goku's fist contacted Aedus' face, it caused a shockwave that nearly obliterated the black smoke clouds looming all around and even toppled one of the less stable buildings that had finally stopped burning. It had also blown away all the logs she had been hiding behind, causing her to have to scurry to a new hiding spot underneath a workbench near one of the few still intact homes; she had also bruised her leg doing so when one of the logs landed on it. That had hurt a lot.

But she didn't focus on the pain in her hind leg right now. Her wide eyes were focused on the fierce fight that was happening before her very eyes. The two were like a blur almost; she couldn't make out the individual moves at the speed they were brawling. 

She glanced at Gohan and Goten who were intently watching the battle take place; their faces reacting to what they saw was happening. She couldn't understand how they could see all of this without getting a head ache, but she turned back and tried anyway.

Goku tried to plant his fist into the armored man's gut, but he caught it just before it made contact, and pushed it away, turning the saiyan around so his back was to Aedus. Avoiding the jab that had been aimed at his spine by backflipping over the strange warrior, Goku grabbed him by the hair, and as soon as he landed on his feet, yanked hard and threw the fighter into one of the burning abodes. 

The impact caused it to fold in on itself; the flames flaring out magnificently and then dissipating to embers as their source of life crumbled. Aedus rose up, and aside from the ash covering his suit, he looked relatively unharmed. 

Goku blasted forward, giving another battle cry to try and shake Aedus' confidence, but it did little more than make the black-clad warrior chortle with amusement. 

As the saiyan raised on Earth raised his foot to kick out, Aedus stepped to the side and let Goku's own momentum drive his throat into his well-placed elbow.

Goku's eyes went wide for a second, and he grabbed at his injured windpipe as he hit the hot ground; soot covering his back and embers burning small holes in his blue gi.

Aedus made a move as if to stab his pointer finger into Goku's chest, but he would not have that. He rolled quickly out of the way, looking to see what might have become of his sternum had he not moved.

Aedus pulled his finger from the ground; a small fissure opened up where the strike had landed as he did so. 

"That's some intense concentrated power you have there." He analyzed. "Such precision in your ki control..."

"As I said before," Aedus smiled. "I am the one true artist of destruction. Fighting is but one form of self-expression in which everything must be perfect."

Goku laughed a little. "I know someone who might not like you calling yourself that."

"Please, Goku, allow me to show you some of my...finer works."

Goku suddenly sensed a massive increase in power coming from within the fighter before him. 

An instant later, Aedus spat forth a wave of bright orange flame from his mouth; the heat from it alone could probably melt steel in an instant. 

Goku put two fingers to his forehead before the flames reached him, and he disappeared only to reappear behind Aedus, ready to drop a hand chop across his neck. 

The fire spewing artist saw it coming and ducked, causing the saiyan's attack to go right over his head. He then whirled around and smashed his fist into Goku's kidney area, causing him to cry out in pain and grab at the injury. 

He tried to think of a counter attack, but Aedus was obviously not going to let up. When Goku turned his head to the arsonist, he only saw a palm grab at his face. 

Once Aedus had a hold on Goku's skull, he proceeded to quickly heat up his flesh in an attempt to burn the saiyan's face off. 

Goku screamed in absolute agony at the searing fingers that were melting into his head. He had little time to react if he wanted to live, so he put his palms against his assailant's gut and let forth a large ki blast that sent him fling back, but not without taking some of the saiyan's facial flesh with him. 

Earth's mightiest warrior fell to his knees, grabbing at his face in intense pain; he couldn't help but cry out furiously at the sensation that had befallen him.

That was the last straw for Gohan and Goten as they shot across the ground towards Aedus, who was already nonchalantly brushing himself off and examining the hole in his armor. He noticed Gohan coming and smacked him away with a quick backhand, but couldn't react fast enough to stop Goten from smashing head first into his face.

Now Aedus was the one giving painful howls as he held his bleeding nose. Goten's skull had busted up the arsonists nose, and now globs of dark red blood flowed freely from it.

"You little---" 

He didn't have time to finis his sentence as both Gohan and Goten launched an all out assault with their fists an feet; their strikes were like lightning in a bottle that someone had just pulled the cork off of.

Aedus had to think fast, or he wouldn't be able to keep the defense up much longer. He stomped the ground, causing flames to shoot up into the half-saiyan's faces; the two jumped back to avoid being seared.

Aedus jumped back as well, but instead of resting, he made a strange sign with his hands and put his fist out. A huge bird of unknown species made of brilliant blazing flames shot forth from his knuckles; it's heat radiating even stronger than his other attacks.

The two dodged it, but only barely; it soared past and completely disintegrated another hut; all that remained of it being a heavy pile of white ash and glowing coals. 

The heat from the fires already burning and Aedus' constant blasts was making it increasingly hard to breath; the oxygen was being swallowed by the hungry fires burning all around.

"We can't keep this up for long, Goten.." Gohan breathed hard. "The air is too thin...he has the advantage..."

Goten nodded, sweat nearly pouring from his body in torrents causing his shirt to stick to his body like wet glue.

Apple Bloom was coughing now. The smoke combined with the thin air was taking it's toll on her lungs. She looked over to Goku, who was patting at the ash covered ground. At first, she didn't know what he was looking for, but then she figured it out. He must have dropped his senzu beans. 

She took a glance at the confrontation between the other three, making sure Aedus would not notice her. Once she was sure, she galloped as quickly as her smoke filled lungs would let her towards her master.

He must have heard her hooves thumping in the dirt and soot, because he immediately spoke to her.

"Apple Bloom..." He grunted; his eyes were shut tight, and his face was burnt severally in several places. "The senzu beans...where are they..?"

"Hang on!" She told him, digging frantically in the ashen remains of the village for the baggie. "I'll find 'em!"

Find them she did; her hoof brushed against the leather bag full of tough beans when she searched to her left. She quickly picked it up in her teeth, groaning at the hot embers that touched her lips as her eyes watered slightly, and put them in Goku's outstretched hand.

"Thanks, Apple Bloom!" He said as he popped one in his mouth. 

A few seconds passed, and Goku's face began to heal, and once it reached the point he could open his eyes again, he stood up and gave the bag back to the yellow mare.

"Keep those safe, and stay out of Aedus' sight." He said, and flew back into the fray.

Apple Bloom did as she was told and dove behind a rock a few feet away from her position. When she peeked her head out, she saw Gohan and Goten holding Aedus' arms, preventing him from moving.

"No! This is not fair! Shenron will punish you!!" He called out.

Goku was headed at the trapped fighter at high speed, and connected a colossal blow with his jaw, sending him flying into the air.

Instead of following him up, Apple Bloom watched as Goku took the same pose Goten had taken when he saved her for that demon. There was another rise in pressure, as some of the ashes and rocks around Goku began to float upwards.

"Kame....."

A blue orb of energy appeared in Goku's hands.

"...hame..."

It suddenly grew larger, radiating beyond his fingertips. When it looked ready to burst, Goku thrusted his palms forward.

"..HA!!!!!"

The beam of pure energy travelled at high speeds towards Aedus, who looked about as helpless as a kitten; watching the beam come ever closer to him.

He screamed, and he was no longer visible as the beam passed over him, incinerating his body and leaving nothing behind but that loud echo of a scream.

Goku's hair and eyes suddenly returned to normal, and he took a knee. Apple Bloom rushed over, happy as could be that this ordeal was over.

"Are you ok?" She made sure, looking over all three of the warriors.

"Yeah." Goku answered. "This was just a small skirmish. A little rest and we'll be good to go."

"That was sure impressive." A familiar voice called from behind.

The four of them turned around, and Goten smiled and laughed when he saw who it was walking over.

"Trunks!" He said. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I came to make sure you were ok, Goten." Trunks answered swiftly. "Your mom is pretty worried. But I'm sure it's no big deal seeing as how Goku can keep you guys pretty safe. But just to be sure, I think I'll join you guys."

"Kinda sudden of you." Gohan said. "You haven't even met Apple Bloom here."

He gestured at the mare who was gazing at Trunks with an uneasy look.

There was something about this Trunks guy she didn't quite like; something...off. But Goten seemed to be best friends with him, so she shrugged off the feeling for the moment. If Goten could be friends with him, he must not be all bad.

"Pleased to meet you, Apple Bloom." Trunks said, shaking he hoof before she even put it out. "I've heard a small bit about you." 

"Uh...thanks, I think?" She replied awkwardly.

"Why don't you guys get out of this bad air and recover a bit. I'll clean up and make sure this doesn't spread." Trunks said. "Besides, you should make sure that Uub kid got away safe with the Dragon Ball."

"How did you know about Uub?" Goku questioned. 

"Well, I saw him flying off when I arrived. He told me what was going on."

Apple Bloom suddenly got that uneasy feeling again. Why was it when Trunks explained things she got some kind of suspicious feeling? 

"We can sort things out later. For now, let's let Trunks do his thing. Meet up with us once you're done, Trunks. We'll find Uub." Gohan announced.

The purple haired saiyan waved an affirmative and watched as they flew off.

*   *   *

"Initiate One is dead." Came a dark voice from the communicator on the table.

Five beings sat around the wooden surface; the only light source being a few candles in the large room.

"Are you certain, Grand Elder Seven?" One of the men asked.

"Positive, Three." The voice crackled in response. "I saw it myself. We're going to need to rethink our approach on the hunt."

"What do you suggest, Grand Elder Seven?"

There was silence for a moment, and then the voice of the grand elder came through again. 

"We will discuss that later. For now, make sure to bring some saibamen with you on each hunt. We almost have all of them, brothers. We will not let the saiyans get in the way of our goal."


> "And This Is To Go Even Further Beyond"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom stared at Goku as he washed the ashes out of his gi in the river they had camped out by. Gohan and Goten had done the same and were drying off said clothes; to her perverted dismay, Goten, along with Gohan, had brought spare clothes to wear while they cleaned the other articles of said fabric and cloth. 

Her mind wasn't really focused on that at the moment though. The thing that occupied her brain was what the hay had happened back there? Goku had turned into some kind of glowing god, or something, and still got his butt whooped by that strange fighter with the Dragon Ball on his chest.

Speaking of the Dragon Ball, she was at least relieved they had found Uub and the one-star ball. He hadn't flown far, and had admitted to Goku that once he had found a hiding place for the magical orb, he would've come right back to the battle, to which the saiyan smiled and chuckled at.

Apple Bloom had not been smiling nor chuckling, however. This was seriously bugging her; what had Goku don back there? On top o that, what had the other guy done as well? Spitting fire; super heating his skin? Uub had said he was like a walking volcano, but she thought he had just been using colorful descriptors for the now deceased arsonist. 

On top of all of this, she still was getting the creeps from the one named Trunks. He just gave off this weird vibe whenever he talked. Sometimes when he walked by her, he would shoot a strange glare at her; whenever she would ask about that, though, Trunks would act confused.

Goten had told her he could be trusted, and that they'd known each other since birth basically. That didn't help her bad feeling, unfortunately.

Goku finally dressed himself, and yawned slightly. He was a little tired, but she could tell he was still full of energy. The day was only halfway through, afterall.

She waited until he sat down beside her to ask her question.

"Goku?"

"Hm? What is it, Apple Bloom?"

"How'd...how'd y'all do that back there?" She asked, unsure of how to describe it.

She was going to have to somehow, because the mighty saiyan raised an eyebrow in question.

"The whole...hair color change thing.." She said, deciding that was as best as she could say it.

"Oh!" He smiled. "You mean me going Super Saiyan."

She blinked. "Super Saiyan?"

"Super Saiyan is a form that those with enough saiyan blood can transform into and out of at will once they unlock the ability to do so." Goku explained. "It's a power multiplier that amplifies your natural fighting abilities by double. In other forms, it triples or even quadruples it!"

"Wait, other forms?" Apple Bloom questioned. "What other forms?"

Goku raised a finger to speak, but suddenly looked unable to think of a proper way to explain it. He rose to his feet instead.

"It'd be easier if I show you." He smiled, standing a bit away from her.

The young mare watched him intently, waiting for the transformation to happen once again before her very eyes.

Goku grunted, puffing his chest out; a shockwave of air blasted out in a radius around him and he became the same golden haired warrior from earlier.

"This is a Super Saiyan." He said, his voice a slightly deeper pitch. "This form doubles my natural abilities."

He suddenly looked as if he were posing for a muscle magazine; his veins popping out of his arms as he grunted once more. Another air blast, and his hair stood even straighter up save for one small strand that hung in front of his face; lightning crackled all around his glowing body, and the pressure was starting to build in the area around them noticeably pushing outward from his center.

"This is Super Saiyan 2." He said, his voice once again even deeper than before; his eyes also seemed to get more menacing. "This form triples my fighting power."

She looked awestruck as the saiyans body seemed to have become a living electrical conduit. He was extremely intimidating even just standing there.

"And this..." he started, hunching over and putting as much pressure on his muscles as he could muster; veins once again sticking out all over his skin.

He suddenly began shouting as if in pain. She thought something was wrong, but somehow refrained herself from moving. The air pressure became almost unbearable as Goku's long drawn shout began to echo off the very mountains themselves, miles away. After a few more moments, the ground began to shake, and rocks floated slowly up into the air along with small rodents and a few bigger stones; the trees around the river looked as though they were holding on by their roots trying not to get flung away by the massive output of pressure from Goku. 

Apple Bloom herself was clutching as best she could with her hooves to the ground as she started to be pushed away from her original point. This was crazy; what kinda person had the power to do this with his voice? Was it even his voice doing this? It sure sounded like it. 

She glanced at the river; the water was sloshing violently and fish were jumping like salmon up a waterfall attempting to escape whatever was happening.

Goku gave one more definitive shout; the very sound cracked a large boulder some feet behind him. As the air died down, Apple Bloom looked back up at Goku, and her jaw dropped as her pupils shrank to pinpricks. 

Goku had completely changed; his golden colored hair now extended all the way to his ankles and looked like a big, static filled shell on his back. His eyebrows had disappeared as well, but where they used to be, his skull had pushed out, making it look like he had a permanent evil look on his face. His frown did nothing better to help that image, but is electric blue eyes were the most terrifying. They held such passion and power within them that if she looked too long into them she might start whimpering.

She had never, ever even dreamed of someone looking like this in her wildest imagination. 

Goku smirked cockily at her stunned expression. "This is the big one; the legendary Super Saiyan 3."

His voice had become deeper still, and held an edge to it as if his words were knives being held to her throat.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" He questioned her, flexing a bit as more lightning straddled his arm. "My power is quadrupled in this state."

"Where...are your...eyebrows...?" She asked finally.

Goku looked confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Your eyebrows are gone.."

"What?" He exclaimed, feeling the bumps that had replaced them. "I don't have any eyebrows when in this form?!"

"You've been able to use this form for years, and you're just now discovering this cosmetic change, dad?" Gohan's voice came from behind them.

Goten and Gohan were both returning from their laundry duties on the other end of the river. 

"Well...I guess I never looked in a mirror like this." He chuckled nervously; a sound that did not match his dark pitch. "This is the first I'd heard of it. Maybe that's why everyone looks at me funny like this. I always thought it was the massive amount of hair."

"Well, that's pretty distracting too, but the eyebrows draw our attention."Goten laughed.

Apple Bloom had a burst of curiosity suddenly. She pointed a hoof at Goten and Gohan.

"Can y'all do that too?"

They smiled, setting the clean clothes back into a pack. 

"I can transform up to Super Saiyan 2." Gohan said. "Goten here has only reached Super Saiyan, at least by himself."

"By himself? You can get help going higher?" She asked.

Goten beamed as an idea seemed to come to his head. "Can Trunks and I show her fusion?"

Another technique she didn't know about? "What's fusion?"

"Fusion is where two people of similar strength and power level can form one being that adds their power together." Gohan explained. "It basically creates a whole new person temporarily out of two existing people."

"You mean to tell me you can mesh people together and make a new person..?" She asked doubtfully.

"Just watch, Apple Bloom, I'll show ya." Goten happily exclaimed. "Hey, Trunks!"

Trunks, who had been sitting on a rock nearby, looked up at the beckoning Goten. 

"Apple Bloom wants to see our fusion! She wants to see Gotenks!"

Gotenks? Who was Gotenks? The person Goten would become when he did fusion with Trunks? She didn't think she liked that idea; Goten was perfect as he was, and Trunks was still sending her all the wrong signals. 

"Fine." He said, hopping down and walking over to join them.

The two young half-saiyans took positions next to each other. In a moment, they both started moving in perfect synchronization; they raised their arms and started to walk sideways towards each other. 

"Fuuuu--"

They suddenly stiffened, standing on one leg with the other bent, their arms shooting out away from each other to the sides.

"--sion!"

They quickly leaned into each other, pointer fingers extending to touch each other.

"HA!"


> Moving Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as Trunks' and Goten's fingers touched, there was a brilliant flash of light; Apple Bloom had to shield her eyes because of the intensity. 

Suddenly, a small explosion burst forth from their position, and the two half-saiyans were blown away from each other violently. Trunks was bashed into a tree, and slid down after a moment of impact while Gohan caught Goten with his body, causing them both to fly into the river.

Apple Bloom was confused, and looked to Goku for an answer; he looked just as lost and surprised as she felt. That was not a good sign.

"What happened there...?" He asked the two young men as they recovered from they're short flights. 

"I...don't know..." coughed Goten, spitting out the water in his mouth. 

Trunks got up, laughing and half-grunting as he did so. "I think I know. Goten hasn't been training enough. I've gotten stronger than him and now he can't fuse with me. Shame on you, Goten."

"I have too been training!" Goten retorted.

"Well, you must not have been training hard enough. You really shouldn't be so lazy." 

Apple Bloom felt a small surge of anger towards Trunks for insulting Goten like that. He wasn't lazy; he was just a lax person. 

"Even if that were the case..." Goku said, his hand to his chin in thought. " failed fusion either results in an imperfect version of the fused persona, or nothing happens at all...I've never seen this before."

Goten's expression then changed from angry, to concerned as he looked at his best friend. "Hey Trunks...how come for a moment there, your ki became super dark..?"

Trunks shrugged, apparently not really caring about the entire situation at all. "How should I now? Maybe my dad's genes are more prominent in me than we thought."

"But Vegeta's ki has never felt that black..." Goten mused to himself.

Apple Bloom trotted over to Goten as he looked deep in thought; his eyes focusing on nothing in particular.

"You alright, Goten?" She asked, hesitantly.

He snapped out of his trance at her words, and turned towards her; putting a hand on her head and a smile on his face.

"Yeah, no worries!" He said. "I'm pretty tough! Heh."

She smiled back, but his physical condition was not what she had meant. However, she didn't try to ask again, because now the handsome half-saiyan was smiling again, and she didn't want to say anything to stop that.

She enjoyed his gentle petting for a bit, and then sat there as he moved to grab their packs and get ready to move; she was trying to hold on to the feeling of his hand on her as long as she could.

"Well," Goku spoke up loudly, his body and hair now back to normal. "now that we have the Dragon Ball and Uub is rebuilding his village, let's go track down the rest of 'em!"

Everyone nodded an affirmative and took to the skies.

*   *   *

In the busy East City, a lone stranger walked down the sidewalks. The people walking by made sure to either find another route to their destination or give the black and orange-clad man a wide birth. His physique is not what frightened them however; his near stick thin arms and legs were not the intimidating part about him. He gave off a strange vibe to those that got close to him. 

Along with his black coat and armor, which was emblazoned with the insignia of the two-star Dragon Ball, he wore a hood which obscured his facial features except for his jaw and lips. If he did not do so, he knew people would make much more of a panic than if they saw him as he were now; and for his mission, he had to keep low until he reached his destination.

As the man with the Dragon Ball symbol on his chest continued forward, he came across a drink stand. He did feel slightly parched, and liquids would be good for him; he needed an extra boost if the saiyans decided to show their faces in his business.

"Um, hello there...sir?" The vendor greeted him, uneasily. "Something I can get ya?"

"I'd like a Hi-Tap if you don't mind, my friend." He answered; his voice was cold and carried with it a small hissing noise that was almost unnoticeable...almost.

The vendor, a bit too weirded out to remember to charge him, grabbed one of the canned beverages and handed it over to him.

He took it, graciously bowing and throwing a few dollars onto the cart. As he walked away, he snapped open the can, and began to drink. He then shuttered in revulsion.

"Five degrees is too warm for a drink..." He complained to himself. "No matter, I can fix that."

Without so much as moving, the can began to grow ice crystals on it as the temperature of it dropped to well below freezing; one would expect it to be an undrinkable block of ice now, but he raised the can to his lips and took a swig of the now severally chilled Hi-Tap.

Sighing in satisfaction of the ridiculously cold drink, the black and orange-clad stranger could see his destination ahead; the Museum of Magic and Mystery. 

He smiled a toothy smile, and began to hum a little tune as his footprints left thin sheets of ice where they had once been.



> It's Gonna Be a Icey Summer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had only been flying for a short while when Gohan's phone started to ring and vibrate in his pocket. 

It startled Apple Bloom a bit, much to the saiyans' confusion, but she quickly explained that there were no such things as "phones" in Equestria; they always used letters.

Gohan looked at the caller I.D. and hit the green answer button with his thumb; he put it up to his ear and spoke into it.

"Hello?"

"Gohan, is Kakarot there with you?" The rough voice of Vegeta came over the speaker, slightly garbled.

"Yeah, he's right he--"

"Give the phone to him."

Gohan made a face as if to say "rude", but handed the phone off to Goku anyway. The saiyan caught the cellular device without much effort and he too put it to his ear. "Yes, hello?"

"Kakarot it's Vegeta."

"Oh, hey, Vegeta!" Goku said enthusiastically.

Apple Bloom's heart stopped a moment at the mention of the grumpy saiyan's name. What possible reason would he need to contact Goku?

"Kakarot, listen," Vegeta said. "have you seen anything resembling news lately?"

Goku scratched his head with his pointer finger in thought and confusion. "No, we haven't had access to that kind of thing out here. Why, what's going on?"

"Something bad." The saiyan prince informed. "You know East City? Well, from what the reports on TV are saying, something's happened there. Apparently the entire Museum of Magic and Mystery was frozen over."

"Huh? Frozen over?" Goku exclaimed. "But it's the middle of summer."

"That's why I'm telling you this. It's abnormal."

Apple Bloom thought about what she was hearing Vegeta say over the phone; her ears allowing her to hear the conversation. Museum of Magic and Mystery?

"Maybe, since it's a museum with magical items in it, something went off or as messed with that shouldn't have been?" She suggested.

"Hm...could be."Goku replied.

"Could be what?" Vegeta demanded.

"Oh, Apple Bloom thinks one of the things on display may have been to blame."

"Hmph." Vegeta's voice crackled back. "She very well could be right, but I don't think that's it. Something feels off about this whole thing. Look, Kakarot, I'm going to head over and see what's happening. If you don't hear from me in three hours, head over there as well."

Goku nodded, then realizing Vegeta couldn't see him nod, voiced an affirmative, and then hung up, tossing the phone back to his oldest son.

"So somethin' happened to some people in East City then?" Apple Bloom asked to be sure of her understanding.

Goku nodded again. "Yeah. The whole museum was froze over, and I can only imagine there are some people stuck inside as well."

"Well we have to go help them!" She exclaimed in determination. "If they're in trouble, we should--"

"Don't you worry, Apple Bloom." Goku smiled at her. "Vegeta will take care of it. He can handle a little bit of early winter."

She frowned. She didn't exactly feel like Vegeta was the person to help innocents, but of Goku said so, it must be true. At least Vegeta didn't give her the same uneasy feeling his son did. She didn't know if it was his constant badgering of Goten or something else that made her feel this way. Wait...she wasn't jealous of their friendship...was she? That would be ludicrous. Why should she be jealous of something where they argued all the time? Was it because that creep Trunks knew more about Goten than she did? 

Jealousy could not be the reason. It had to be something else that was setting off all her bells and whistles. She couldn't place her hoof on it, still though.

*  *  *

"Everyone, please remain calm!" The chief of the ECPD declared to the growing crowd outside the massive frozen museum. "We have the situation under control!"

Several firefighters had tried to break through the ice with axes, picks, even chainsaws; nothing could cut the thick sheet surrounding the building. Currently they were trying to salt the place; it would take a seriously long time,but hopefully the ice would melt away.

To their surprise though, the salt would keep evaporating. How did salt evaporate without taking at least some of the ice with it?

"Move aside, fools." Vegeta's strong voice shouted from behind the chief.

The chief turned around and saw the leather and jeans-clad warrior. When Vegeta walked right by him and under the police tape, he brought up his megaphone.

"Hey! You can't go in there, this is official police business!"

Vegeta completely ignored him and walked up to where the front door should be. He examined the ice, placing his hand over top the cold tick sheet; it felt as if it had been created from a glacier it was so brisk to his touch. Even through his fingerless leather gloves, his palms felt cold. 

He looked over at the firefighters, staring at him in confusion. 

"Allow me." He said.

He gave a loud shout and released a big ki blast straight out of his hand and into the thick ice. The intensity shattered open a doorway in the frozen structure and also blasted down the actual door behind it.

The men looked at Vegeta and then to the opening and back again. The saiyan prince walked inside and stood in the large entrance area of the now dark and cold museum. Turning to them once more, he gestured for them to follow.

"Well, aren't you going to help me get ay survivors out? Do your jobs."

They fearfully nodded, no longer questioning his right to be here, and started to walk forward. Before they could enter however, the ice rapidly grew back; a new thick sheet covering up the opening Vegeta had just made.

Vegeta jumped back in surprise, and once he was sure nothing else would unexpectedly happen, he looked around.

"Alright," He said to himself. "this is definitely not just an abnormal weather day..."

He started to walk cautiously throughout the building; the ceiling covered with icicles ready to fall and impale him at a moments notice. All of the artifacts were mostly iced up as well. Once he entered another chamber, the air temperature lowered and he thought he could see a bit of snow falling from the dome above him.

He cursed himself for not bringing his sleeved jacket, and continued on.

After searching through several rooms, he had found nothing; not one survivor. Strangely, he hadn't even found any bodies. 

As he looked around some more, he saw a sign pointing further inward which read "Dragon Ball Exhibit."

"Why am I not surprised." He scoffed. "Humans find one of seven wish making orbs and decide to make money off them by showing them to people rather than simply finding the rest and wishing for money. Such short sightedness."

He walked down the chilling hall, and a few times thought he heard scurrying or scratching sounds in the walls. He dismissed it as rodents and carried on. He entered the Dragon Ball Exhibit, and saw a large mural room with a single pedestal in the middle. The only problem was, there was no Dragon Ball on the pedestal. Now Vegeta was on edge again.

He looked around, and when his sight couldn't detect anything, he tried to feel around him for power levels. As he did so, he was surprised to feel the power levels of a few saibamen. What in the world were saibamen doing in here?

He continued to scan, knowing that saibamen alone were incapable of doing this. As he searched, he was shocked out of his focus by a sudden, chilling voice that sent cold snaps throughout his body.

"Prince Vegeta, I presume." It bellowed, it's hissing backdrop echoing off the huge walls creating a theater effect.

"Who are you? Where are you? Show yourself!" Vegeta demanded, taking up a defensive combat pose; looking around quickly to try and find the source of the voice.

"I would love to fight you head-to-head, noble saiyan, but I cannot. I'm afraid I must be rid of your distraction so that I can complete my mission." It bellowed again.

It was not a taunting tone, and rather it sounded very sincere; but that did not stop Vegeta from being angered.

"You will fight me now, coward!" He called out.

"No." The voice said, sounding extremely close now. "I will not."

Vegeta whirled around and before his sight was covered in darkness, all he saw was a hooded man with a two star ball insignia on his chest; the figure extended his finger to the saiyan prince's forehead, and as soon as it made contact, Vegeta blacked out.

*  *  *

Apple Bloom's hoof met Gohan's fist, and the collision caused a small pop in the air where it hit. The birds in the area flew off as the two bowed to each other, their sparring match complete.

Goten applauded the great spectacle and Apple Bloom's improvement, whereas Trunks merely pushed a strand of his hair away from his face.

Goku was looking over to the east, a grim look on his face.

Apple Bloom noticed this, and trotted over to her master. "What's up, Goku?"

"It's been over three hours since Vegeta called us..." He responded. 

She knew Vegeta had said he would call again in three hours if everything was alright, but then she remembered when they had sparred. Vegeta had said he wouldn't use blasts, and had almost used one anyway.

"Maybe he forgot..?" She suggested. 

Or didn't care, she thought to herself.

Goku shook his head. "Vegeta is brash and headstrong, but when he says something like this, he means it; and we haven't heard back from him yet...something is wrong."

The Dragon Radar suddenly blooped to life, and Gohan took a look at it. 

"Hey, dad." He said, bringing the device to show Goku. "It looks like the next Dragon Ball is in East City. According to the reading, it's the exact place where Vegeta said the place was iced over..."

The two looked at each other in thought, and the finally Goku spoke up.

"Either way, whether Vegeta is just late or not, we're headed to East City for that Dragon Ball." He told the assembled group.

They all nodded, except for Trunks, who stood up and raised his hand as if in a "whatever" gesture.

"I'm sure my dad has things handled." He said.

Apple Bloom's weird feeling instantly came back when he spoke.

"Once he's done, I'm sure he'll bring the Dragon Ball to us."

"We can't risk that, Trunks." Gohan told him. "Vegeta could be in trouble."

"Aren't you worried about your dad at all, Trunks?" Goten asked him, coming up beside him.

Trunks shrugged. "Like I said, I'm sure he's got things handled."

Goku started to get ready. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, Trunks, but we're going regardless. We can't risk Vegeta's life on unbased confidence."

Trunks sighed heavily, once again making Apple Bloom cringe. Man, everything this kid did was like putting a snake in her face.

"Fine, let's go." He said, a small amount of anger in his voice.

The group took off, and Apple Bloom and Goten left the ground last.

The mare looked over at Goten, who was watching Trunks with a thoughtful expression.

"Does he always act like this?" She asked him.

Goten didn't reply for a moment, but then turned to look at her when he answered.

"I've...I've honestly never heard him talk detachedly about his dad...Trunks worships his dad...and is always looking to help him out..."

So it wasn't just normal behavior. Perhaps her bad feeling had some merit after all.
> The Weak and the Strong
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Once the saibamen finish searching this structure for any remaining Dragon Balls, I shall take my leave." The hooded figure stated to himself. "It should not take long, now. They've just about covered the whole area."

He turned to look at the frozen Vegeta, a look of surprise paused on the saiyan prince's face through the clear sheet of ki infused ice.

"It's a shame you showed up, Prince Vegeta." He said to the ice sculpture that was once Vegeta. "Perhaps next time, you won't stick your nose in Izotz's business."

Izotz hummed to himself as he walked away from Vegeta; he twirled the two-star ball between his boney fingers as if it were a yoyo end. As he started to exit the hallway that led to where the ball had been, his sensed an incoming force.

He turned to the direction he had sensed it coming from and, concentrating, counted one average power level, one higher power level, two massive ones, and--

"What?!" Izotz exclaimed loudly, a bit of shock in his otherwise cool and collected voice.

The two massive power levels he recognized, and he was not too concerned with the other two; but that last power level...

His mission had only been to retrieve the Dragon Balls that were in the area, but he was intrigued to find out who this incredible power that eclipsed even Goku's belonged to. He was also fearful, for the first time in a long time, about meeting this fighter face-to-face. He needed to prepare.

"Saibamen!" He commanded, echoing his voice off the chambers like a natural amplifier. "Converge! We have company coming."

* * *

"It's mighty cold in here.." Apple Bloom muttered out between chattering teeth.

The group had blasted their way in, and had experienced the self-repairing ice surrounding the building. Walking in, it was deathly silent save for a few ice chunks falling from precipices higher up on the floors. The darkness of the place was also thick, though a little bit of light turned bluish by the ice still shined through the frozen windows. 

Goten, noticing Apple Bloom's shivering, kneeled down to pick her up like an oversized puppy dog; the act in itself making her blush with both embarrassment and desire. He smiled at her, pulling some wool socks from his pack and placing the on her hooves. This only made her blush harder. Back in Equestria, if a pony wore socks, it was not something for other ponies to see. The reason was because it was something some ponies did to..."assist" in their sexual excitement. It was kind of a fetish thing, in other words. Apple Bloom had a sock fetish.

"That feel better?" he asked, oblivious to her slight distress.

"Uh...eeyup.." She tucked her tail between her hind legs, hoping he hadn't noticed just how much better she felt. One thing was for sure; she wasn't cold anymore.

He placed her back down on her hooves, and instantly, she felt some of the freeze come back into her body even through the wool; but it wasn't enough to make her start shivering again.

The group continued on, and after a few minutes of wandering, Gohan motioned everyone to stop and listen.

Apple Bloom was the next to hear it; a sound like scratching within the walls of the place. It could've been mice or rats, but the closer the sounds got, the much more they sounded too heavy to be rodents. Then they heard the high-pitched chattering.

Gohan remembered that sound. "Incoming!"

Just as he shouted the warning, a whole squad of saibamen burst forth from the frozen walls like great white sharks jumping from the ocean to swallow their prey. 

Gohan reacted first, punching one in it's ugly green face so hard, it's jaw dislocated as it spun away shrieking; he kicked at another as it tried to go for his legs.

Goten had blasted two of the monsters dead with powerful ki attacks, but four more seemed to appear to replace them, and they jumped atop the young half-saiyan; tackling him to the frozen ground.

"Goten!" Apple Bloom cried out.

She leapt forward and spin kicked one of the little green men off her crush and into an ice covered dumbwaiter, which shattered open and dropped quickly with the small victim inside. Why this museum needed a dumbwaiter, she wasn't sure, but she was plum happy it did.

She wasn't so happy when the others turned their attention to her, sharp teeth ready to literally take a bite out of her. They would never get the chance as Goten had recovered from his fall, and blasted them away with a few quick shots. 

"Everyone hold on!" Goku shouted.

He took a spread legged position, crossing his arms over his torso in an X formation. He then rapidly shot his arms outward and shouted.

The result was an air blast of such force it not only blew away the nearby saibamen, but shattered most of the ice covering the room as well.

Trunks was surrounded by several of the giggling beasts as the others closed in to assist. But before they could, Trunks already blown them all away with a massive pressure blast; he hadn't even moved his body except to nod slightly. 

As the saibamen hit the walls an exhibits, their corpses giving heavy thuds, the ice covering the entire chamber fell letting much sunlight in; the crash of the massive blocks of ice on the marble floor was deafening. Trunks merely walked away from the scene, hands in the pockets of his jacket.

Once the cacophony of glacier breaking ceased, Apple Bloom, as well as the others, stared at Trunks in disbelief. The purple-haired half-saiyan looked them back, a completely straight face.

"What?" He asked.

"What?!" Goten repeated loudly. "When did you learn that?! How did you even do it?!"

Trunks just shrugged again, nonchalantly. "I trained and got stronger. What you can't do that?"

"Wow, Trunks..." Goku said. "I had no idea Vegeta was such a great teacher.."

Apple Bloom didn't believe it. No, she literally didn't believe it. There was no way that was the truth at all. She had been the sibling of the Element of Honesty, and being around someone like that for that long gave her a pretty good idea of when others were fibbing. Trunks was fibbing.

She noticed Goten was glaring at Trunks, his fists shaking. "There's no way...last time we trained together, you were not that strong! I was...I was able to beat you so many times!"

"Did you really think I was going all out against you, Goten?" Trunks retorted, almost no emotion in the question.

"Well...why wouldn't you?" Goten answered with another question. "I gave you everything I had in our training sessions...you mean to tell me you've been holding back against me all these years?"

Trunks huffed with a smirk. "You're smarter than you look Goten."

Goten's face fell a little at the insult thrown at him by the one he had called his best friend. Apple Bloom instantly pointed a hoof at Trunks after seeing this and shouted at the purple-haired saiyan.

"Hey! What are you being such a brute for?!" She yelled out, her eyes focused on him intently.

"Goten obviously wants me to stop taking things easy on him, so why not start now?" 

"He wanted you to not take it easy on him from the beginning from the looks of it!" Apple Bloom said back. "If you're tryin' to be the best, why hold back against each other? Why hold back against Goten?"

"Yeah, Trunks.." Goten added, wanting to know. "Why?"

Trunks looked Goten in the eyes and without changing expression said "Because you were always too weak."

That statement hit poor Goten hard. He dropped his fists, and his shoulders slumped. He stared dumbfounded at Trunks; the person he thought could understand him more than anyone; the person who had been his best friend from birth; the one who was now telling him he was inferior.

Seeing Goten about to break down sent Apple Bloom into a rage. She leaped towards Trunks, a hoof up and ready to buck his teeth out of his stupid skull.

"You big, dumb--!"

She was caught and stopped by Gohan. The half-saiyan plopped her back on the ground and looked all three of the younger members of the group in the eyes at least once.

"If you guys haven't noticed, we're in a bit of a situation here!" He said. "The last thing we need to do is fight amongst ourselves! If you have differences, settle them later!"

He turned to Trunks, his face showing barely controlled anger. "Oh, and Trunks. Don't think I'm gonna forget what you just said to my little brother."

Trunks snorted, and turned around to walk into the darker areas of the chamber, resuming the search for Vegeta and the Dragon Ball as if nothing had happened.

Apple Bloom, once calmed down enough, put a hoof over the teary eyed Goten. It was hurting her heart to see him feeling so betrayed. She nuzzled against his chin with her head, and he slowly pet her back in return. After that little moment, they started up the search together.

Above them, hanging from the ice-made rafters was Izotz. 

Using the saibamen to figure out which of them had the unbelievably high power level had worked, to an extent. 

"She didn't show her full power." He mused. "That leads me to believe she has no idea it's inside her...either that, or she's conserving energy. Further experimentation is needed before I can engage."

With that, he pulled himself upright, and slid over the frozen beams to his next location, a fresh batch of his next wave of trouble ready in his hand.
> It Happened Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It felt like the corridors and large rooms stretched on forever in this place. Had there not been the present danger of possible attack at anytime and the ice all over the place, Apple Bloom would've been impressed by the sheer size of the museum and the sheer number of artifacts on display. 

As the group rounded another corner, she noticed Trunks had a strange look on his face. His eyes were darting up to the ceiling a lot, and when she looked to see what he was supposedly seeing, she didn't see anything. What had him so interested in the roofing of the old place? Maybe he thought something was going to fall on top of him. She hoped it did; mean as that sounded, he kind of deserved it.

Trunks then suddenly stopped them, putting a hand up in a halting gesture.

"I think it would be best if I go look for the Dragon Ball this way." He said, pointing down one of the out of the way hallways. "You guys can keep looking elsewhere."

Without waiting for approval, he started to move. 

"What about Vegeta?" Goten asked him, a bit of a sharp tone in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, him too." Trunks said, not even turning around as he continued to walk off.

Once Trunks was out of sight, and presumably out of earshot, Goten let out an exasperated guttural noise; he took a small break sitting down on one of the frozen benches along the wall which was once used to view the rather large statue in the center of the chamber-turned-industrial-freezer.

Apple Bloom trotted over to him, concern in her eyes. She really didn't want to see him like this, and would much prefer it if he was smiling. Randomly, she found herself wishing Pinkie Pie were here; the pink party pony somehow knew how to cheer anypony, or in this case, anybody up in an instant. But Apple Bloom wasn't Pinkie Pie, and so she offered what she could.

She sat down on the bench beside him, using her red tail to keep her rump warm. He didn't even look over to her, and just had his head in his palm.

"I can't believe after so many years...he's just done with me like that..." The young half-saiyan finally spoke. 

Apple Bloom put a sock covered hoof over his shoulder as comfortingly as she could. There had to be someway to take his mind off the current situation. She could only think of one, but did she have the courage to do it; and was it appropriate at a time like this? She figured it may as well be now or never.

She leaned her muzzle up to his cheek, and planted a quick kiss upon his face. Goten's eyes went wide with surprise, and he looked at Apple Bloom in a silly way. Now several questions were running through her mind, and one of them was if she had just made a mistake.

"What...what was that for?" Goten asked, gently touching where her lips had made contact. 

"Well," she answered, rubbing her right foreleg with her left one and blushing a shade of red that gave her name of Apple Bloom merit. "I thought maybe I'd take your mind off the bad stuff for a little bit."

Goten just stared, trying to think of something to say to the mare who was now a little closer than he remembered her being a moment ago; it looked as though he was trying to rationalize what had happened. 

"I'm sorry if that was too--"

"No, no.." Goten stopped her. "it's ok, Apple Bloom, you didn't do anything wrong...I just...didn't expect it is all."

She looked down a bit, but made herself look him in the eyes after a minute. "But...did I do somethin'...right?"

Goten was about to speak, but Gohan once again shushed everyone; the scuttling noises were back, and they sounded much more prominent then before. It was almost like the saibamen wanted to be heard this time. 

Apple Bloom and Goten slowly got up to stand as they listened around; the scratching noises in the walls now more than noticeable. 

Just as suddenly as the noises had started, they stopped. The silence was sudden and thick; it was also suspicious.

"Did...did they leave?" Goten asked.

After a moment, Goku replied. "I don't think so..."

There was more silence for a few moments; the tension in the air becoming palpable. 

Apple Bloom breathed in to speak, and I was at that moment the room suddenly became filled with green monsters breaking through the floor and walls. There was almost no time to react before each of the fighters present were trapped in the vice grip clutches of the saibamen. 

They struggled to get free, but Goku noticed that the saibamen were merely a decoy trap. He looked down and saw ice forming around all of their feet; the sheets thick like the ones all over the building. He tried to move his now encased foot, but the ice was not normal, and was tougher than any ice he had ever encountered before.

Once everyone was frozen in place by their ankles (or hooves in Apple Bloom's case), the saibamen released the captives...all except Goten, who one eager looking saibamen still clung to. 

Gohan was suddenly filled full of dread; he remembered what had happened the last time a saibaman had clung onto a friend of his like that, and he was now filled with intense fear and panic at the thought of it happening to his little brother.

"Goten!" He shouted. "Don't...move...a muscle..."

Goten was focused on the green beast stuck on his chest; it's evil red eyes entrancing him in a tense gaze that caused bad vibes to run all throughout his body.

From above, unseen by the warriors, Izotz observed the scene. From what he had collected thus far, the little pony with the impressive power had an attachment to the youngest saiyan. He had ordered one of his saibamen to help conduct a possible way to see if his theory of it being a sleeping power rather than a known one was true; now it was time to carry out the experiment.

Without even needing consent from it's master, the saibaman laughed maniacally; a screeching and ear scrapping sound as it started to glow brightly. Goten's eyes filled with intense fear as he felt he rise in power on the little monster that clung to him.

"GOTEN!!" Gohan cried out, trying to bust out of the ice, but only succeeding in breaking one of his ankles, and shouting out in pain at doing so.

Apple Bloom looked on in horror as she saw heard a loud boom for a split second. The rest of the noise was drowned out completely by the ringing in her ears, and her vision was obscured by he brilliant white flash of the saibaman's attack.

She hoped that maybe Goten was ok; maybe he was just hurt and could still be helped. Her hopes were faultering as little bits of flesh and blood started to spatter across her yellow fur.

As the light began clear from her vision, she saw what she was desperately hoping not to; Goten, or what was left of him, was lying on his back, unmoving. His chest was completely blown open, ribs missing in a few places and his organs seemingly having disintegrated. His lower jaw had been blown clean off; his charred tongue hanging limply on his exposed trachea. One of his hands was also missing. 

There was not too much blood on the ice covered ground, but it had probably been vaporized by the heat of the explosion.

Apple Bloom thought she heard Goku and Gohan both screaming out Goten's name in agony, but her world had gone numb; their voices were little more than blurred out background beats to the symphony of shock currently playing in her aching heart. Her eyes did not move from Goten's mangled cadaver; she didn't want to see anymore of it, but she just couldn't look away. She couldn't believe the handsome and kind young half-saiyan was nothing more than a burnt husk on the iced floor of a dead museum now. 

Izotz focused on Apple Bloom through the shouts from the other two. He still sensed the extreme power level within her, but it currently was not rising in an attempt to break free of the ice as Gohan's and Goku's were.

"It is not an active power level." He deduced. "She has no idea she has such massive potential. Good for me, bad for her. I believe I can safely engage."

He dropped down from the high ceiling, and hit the icey floor with a crunch. Goku, Gohan, and Apple Bloom turned suddenly to see the hooded figure rise from his landing position; his black and orange attire emblazoned with the two-star ball sticking out to them instantly.

"You!" Goku yelled furiously. "I thought we finished you!!"

"You finished my comrade, not me." He said, pointing to the number of stars on his armored chest piece. "I am Izotz; completely different than Aedus."

Goku's eye were burning with anger; his son's horrible demise still replaying itself in his head. 

"I don't care who you are!" He shouted loudly. "You've made me mad!!"

The air pressure was rising rapidly, but not just around Goku; Gohan's energy was suddenly nearly matching Goku's, if not starting to surpass it. Izotz hadn't expected this; why was Gohan's power just coming out now? But then he sensed it; something he ahd not anticipated for: kai magic.

"I didn't plan for fighting someone with power unlocked by the kai's!" He gritted his teeth. "I must regroup and replan!"

He jumped off, zigzagging throughout the ice-made rafters and passageways of the museum. 

"You won't get away!!" Goku screamed as he transformed into Super Saiyan 3, blasting the ice away from his feet. 

Gohan finally didn't hold back, and unlocked his mystic power he had gained from the Elder Kai years ago and broke free as well. HE suddenly fell as he put pressure on his ankle; the one he had broken trying to save Goten.

His mystic power vanished as the pain broke his concentration. Goku put a hand on his son's shoulder, and Gohan nodded. 

"I'll be right back." he said, darkly to both him and Apple Bloom. "Find Trunks, take Goten, and get out of here."

He then flew off at high speeds after Izotz, his massive golden hair flowing behind him. 

"I'm coming for you, Izotz!!"

Gohan watched his father take off after the villain, and then limped over to Apple Bloom to blast her legs free. As soon as he did so, she galloped and slipped a few times over to Goten's corpse. Her tears were too heavy to hold back as she saw his eyes; open and blank, no light left in them at all. They were forever staring out into nothingness.

She began to sob uncontrollably, her whole body convulsing as her lungs tried to regulate her breathing, but failed to do so. She had lost another one; she had not been able to save another one of her friends. She had lost Goten. It had happened again.

Gohan knelt down and hugged the crying mare, as she flung her forelegs over his shoulders. It was taking every ounce f control he had to not start bawling as well; he shut his eyes tight, and managed to choke out a few words.

"It's...it's ok...Apple Bloom...it's...it's gonna be..o..ok..."

 

> You Want This Ball?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You can't run forever!" Goku shouted after the fleeing Izotz. 

The glow form his Super Saiyan 3 power illuminated the ice tunnels through which he gave chase, not giving the black clad warrior much place to hide. After a few more minutes of chasing, Goku yelled in frustration and threw a ki blast at the hooded man. It exploded near his feet, causing a big dust up of shattered ice; a hole opened up where the blast had contacted the frozen surface, revealing a large room underneath. Goku assumed Izotz had retreated down there.

Jumping down, he looked around for him, but saw nothing until he looked behind him and saw Vegeta, frozen in a block of ice. 

"Vegeta!" he exclaimed. "Please be alive!"

Goku raised his hand to blast open the ice around the saiyan prince, but he was suddenly blindsided by a massive pillar of the same material. It contacted his skull squarely on the side and send him flying back a ways before he regained composure. He stared angrily into what little of Izotz face he could see.

"Do you hate me, Son Goku?" he asked.

Goku looked at him as if he must be kidding. "I don't just hate you, I'm going to destroy you!"

Izotz smiled slightly, then returned to a neutral emotion. "Without your oldest son's mystical kai power, I think you'll find that rather difficult. I was running from him, not from you, Super Saiyan."

As he said this, he raised his arms slowly and then flicked his hands upward. A series of sharp ice stalagmites jutted up from under Goku's position. The Super Saiyan jumped into the air once he realized he couldn't avoid the pointed deathtraps on the ground; the deadly frozen liquid seemed to gleam in the light of his power.

He was suddenly struck again from the other side; a giant block of ice had detached from the wall behind him and bashed itself into him, sending his form soaring forwards and into another ice block. 

He hit the obstacle grunting, and slid down; he quickly regained flying position when he realized more spikes had come up where he almost landed.

He looked at Izotz again, getting angrier by the second. The bastard was not showing anything; fear, excitement, smugness. Not one single emotion played across his lips nor his body movements. This was nothing but a job to him, it seemed

That job had gotten his son killed.

Rushing forward with a loud sonic boom which cascaded the surrounding ice blocks, Goku went for his Super God Fist technique just as he had against Aedus. Izotz seemed ready though, and a clear sheet of ice popped up to shield him from Goku's attack.

The Super Saiyan rammed his attack into the shield of ice, but all it did was crack it slightly. He moved swiftly to go around it, but Izotz once again threw up another shield before Goku could even throw a punch. This was getting tedious, and that was making the Super Saiyan's blood boil hotter.

"Are you done throwing your tantrum like a little child, Son Goku?" The hissing and chilling voice came out.

Goku grunted angrily, his muscles tightening with pressure. "I haven't even begun!!"

He raised another fist, and brought it down on the shield protecting Izotz.

*  *  *

Gohan had covered Goten's body in one of the large blankets they had brought along; the form underneath was still painful to look at. 

Apple Bloom had stopped crying a little while ago, her face red and puffy from doing so. Her lungs ached, her face hurt, and she had a pit in her stomach that felt like she hadn't eaten in weeks. There was on other feeling...one that was replacing the sadness in her heart. It was a feeling of pure rage. Something she had not felt so strongly in all her years.

Gohan attempted to stand up. "I'm going to go find Trunks, and then we're getting out of here..."

He went to take off and fly, but he used his broken ankle to push off and just fell on his face with a cry. Apple Bloom came over to make sure he was alright.

"Here, Gohan.." she said. "you stay here and watch over your little brother's body. I'll go find Trunks. I'm less noticeable than you, so it's ok."

Gohan considered this, and knew she was right. If he got into a skirmish, his ankle would be a problem. Apple Bloom had shown she could fend for herself to an extent, so he nodded and slid himself back to Goten's blanketed corpse.

Apple Bloom trotted off down the hall, her eyes fiery with her new mission. No, she didn't intend to find Trunks; for all she cared, he could've been blown up too. Her actual mission was much different. She was going to find Izotz, and she was going to kill him.

*  *  *

"Take this!!" 

Goku's fist smashed through the mural, collapsing the wall it had been painted on. Izotz rose up behind him in the air.

The Super Saiyan turned around, his eyes still burning with pure rage over his boy's demise. Izotz showed absolutely nothing.

"I'm done playing with you, Goku." Izotz said. "I've wasted enough time. I must take the Dragon Ball and leave."

"You're not going anywhere with that ball!" Goku shouted back, and blasted forward once again.

Izotz raised his arm and clasped his hand into a fist; in reaction, the ice rose up, taking on the form of an Egyptian coffin. Before the Super Saiyan could react, the sarcophagus swallowed him and slammed it's heavy lid down on him. Goku banged on the inside of the enclosed tomb, but only cracked the thick sheets that now covered him.

"A coffin fit for a pharaoh." Izotz said coolly. "Once you exhaust yourself, it will be your final resting place."

"And this whole room is gonna be yours, frosty!" came an accented voice.

With a questioning grunt, Izotz turned his head and was immediately met with a hoof to his jaw. Apple Bloom had leaped down from the tunnel above and landed a flying kick perfectly on the surprised warrior. The two star ball flew from his grasp and fell onto the floor below with a clink. 

Apple Bloom didn't let her element of surprise pass by. She flipped upright and charged forward with furious hoof strikes; the speed at which she was moving was much faster than she thought she could ever go, but she didn't worry about it now. She had to make this slimeball pay; pay for killing Goten.

Izotz, completely caught off guard, was near helpless under the constant hard knocks from this mare's hooves. The blows were more powerful than they should have been, and he was going to be knocked out if he didn't think of a way to get some distance.

She finished her barrage of punches, and then went for a chop. Izotz took advantage of the momentary stoppage, and grabbed her hoof before she could bring it down. He froze it solid, and then motioned for a chunk of ice from the wall to come forward and strike her down from the air. 

It did so, and the southern mare gave a painful yelp as she hit the floor and bounced hard. 

Izotz went to follow up, gathering as much ice as he could around his hand, ready to bash her brains out in one blow. She ducked just in time, and the strike moved forward to the frozen Vegeta; the impact shattered the saiyan prince's prison, causing him to be flung forward a short ways.

Izotz cursed himself for his carelessness; now he had to contend with Vegeta. But once he noticed Vegeta was not getting up as quickly as expected, he relaxed a bit, and began to walk towards the recovering saiyan. 

Apple Bloom, seeing that Vegeta needed time to regroup himself, looked around for something she could distract Izotz with. It looked as though there was only ice everywhere she turned. Then her eyes found the Dragon Ball, and she hatched an idea.

"Hey, dungbrain!" She shouted out, causing he icey fighter to turn around. "You want this?"

She held the two star ball in her hooves like the holy grail, and Izotz turned to her fully, some anger appearing across his lips.

"Put it down, child." He hissed a warning. "You'll be seeing your young saiyan boyfriend again sooner than expected if you don't."

She smirked confidently. "Maybe I want to see him again, so come get me, slushy."

She plopped the Dragon Ball into her mouth, and galloped down one of the hallways. Izotz gave a grunt and began to give chase to the yellow mare with the karate related cutie mark, his coat flapping furiously behind him as he ran.

Vegeta took note of the situation, and silently thanked Apple Bloom. As he finally mustered the strength the stand, he looked at the coffin of ice Goku was trapped in. He floated slowly up o it, still recovering from his ice prison; once he reached the intended death bed, he placed his ear to it, getting a chill when he did so.

"K-k-kakarot? Are you...I-I-in there?" He chattered.

"Vegeta?!" Goku's muffled reply came back. "Yeah! I'm trapped! You have to get me out! Where's Izotz?"

"H-h-he's chasing Apple Bloom a-a-nd th-the Dragon Ball around." Vegeta informed him.

"What?! We have to save her, c'mon, Vegeta!"

"Give me a moment..." He said, backing away a few feet. 

He gathered some energy in his right hand; the sparkling green of it made the ice look like emerald. 

"Final Shine...ATTACK!!" He shouted out, the name echoing off the chamber walls.

The beam of energy struck the coffin, but only cracked it more rather than breaking it. Vegeta tried one more time, but it did nothing then.

"Damn it!" He shouted. "Kakarot! I can't break it!"

"I'll try to use my Kamehameha from in here! Let's hit it at the same time and see what happens!" The muffled voice of Goku suggested.

Vegeta nodded. "Ready when you are."

"Kame..."

"Final.."

"...hame.."

"Shine..."

"HAH!!"

"ATTACK!!"

The two energy blasts connected with the ice, and for a second it looked like the attempt had failed, but then the ice exploded violently, freeing the Super Saiyan 3 from his tomb. Goku flew over to Vegeta looking pretty hurt.

"You hurt yourself with that Kamehameha didn't you, Kakarot?"

"Sorry." He admitted. "Wasn't much room in there...and I think I left my senzu beans with Gohan..."

"Well, let's go get them and--"

"First we have to save Apple Bloom.." Goku interrupted.

Vegeta snarled, remembering the mare and her current plight. He nodded, and the saiyans took off at high speeds in the direction the pony and the ice-man had gone.

*  *  *

Apple Bloom was running as fast her legs could carry her, but the bipedal ice-bender was somehow keeping a steady pace with her. In fact, he was gaining a bit. She turned into another corridor, and then made another sharp turn to another one. She had no idea why a museum needed so many narrow hallways, but she was happy they did. She could try to lose her assailant in this maze. 

She looked back, expecting nothing and she saw nothing. She laughed triumphantly, but than ran smack-dab into the legs of the evil hooded figure. He grabbed for her, but she started to run in the other direction. He stopped her advance with a wall of ice, cutting off her only exit from his position.

She turned towards Izotz, a small amount of fear in her eyes. But all she had to do was remember what he had done to Goten, and her fear was replaced by anger. 

She set the Dragon Ball in her hoof, holding it to her side. "You want this ball?" She antagonized.

"I want it." He replied coldly.

"You want this ball?" She repeated, a little higher pitch in her voice.

"I want it!"

"You want this ball?"

"I want that Dragon Ball!"

Finally getting him to lose his cool, he dove for the Dragon Ball in her hoof. She dodged to the side and landed an axe-kick (or the pony equivalent of one) onto the center of his spine, mashing his face into the floor.

He put a hand to his face as he slowly stood; that attack had had much more force than it should have. 

"What are you..?" He asked, hissing loudly.

"Me? I'm just a pony. What the hay are you?"

Izotz stood up straight, and raised his hands up. At first, Apple Bloom thought he was going to attack, but his hands continued to the sides of his hood. He moved it back revealing a grotesque and rotted face devoid of a nose. The top of his skull was non-existant, and his brain could be seen floating inside what she assumed to be an ice cover to replace where the skull would have been.

She felt the room get much colder just then, and saw that it was snowing. Snowing...indoors.

"I...am a devil!"




> I Am Neither Goku, Nor Vegeta
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goku and Vegeta arrived at where they sensed Apple Bloom's power level; the thick wall of ice in front of them prevented them from getting in to help her though.

From the sounds of things, she wasn't doing very good. Both of them could hear her cries of pain as Izotz dished out whatever he deemed worthy of punishment or taking the Dragon Ball.

"Quick, Vegeta, let's do it!"

Yelling out their attack names with vigor, Goku and Vegeta fired of their Kamehameha and Final Shine Attack respectively; the beams crashing against the wall of freeze and making a ton of sound. Unfortunately, the ice didn't even crack this time, much to both their shock and chagrin.

"We've got to get in there! Apple Bloom hold on!" Goku yelled out.

* **

On the other side of the ice wall, Apple Bloom could hear Goku's plea, but could do nothing except pray he and Vegeta could get to her somehow. Izotz had already tossed her against every surface in the small area and then some. For a guy with such skinny limbs, he was pretty strong to toss around a mare like a ragdoll. 

Her head smacked against the ice covered floor, splitting her open on the point of impact; a small trickle of crimson blood ran down her eyelid as she closed it too try and keep the thick life liquid out of her optic organ. If this bashing kept up, it wouldn't matter much if she got blood in her eye or not, though.

The world was starting to go dark, and she felt Izotz grab her by the throat and held her away from himself.

"It's been fun, child." He said, some fog coming out of hi mouth with each word. "But it's time to end this."

She caught he sight of a large spear made of he cleanest ice she'd ever seen form in his hand, ready to impale her. Surprisingly, she wasn't even afraid. That was probably her near unconscious brain's fault though.

* * *

"Kakarot..if we don't get in there now..."

"I know, Vegeta!" Goku said, his muscles tightening. "We have to try again!"

"It's no use! The two of us separately don't have enough power to get through this wall! If we did, we would have by now! Both our most powerful attacks can't even crack it!" The saiyan prince reasoned.

"Are you suggesting we just let her die and watch Izotz run off with the Dragon Ball? After he killed my son?!" Goku shouted into Vegeta's face.

Vegeta had never seen Goku like this; it actually was making him a bit nervous to stand so close to the Super Saiyan 3. But, he knew Goku was smart enough to know friend from foe, and stood his ground. "Listen to what I said. The two of us...separately...cannot break it."

Goku raised his non-existant eyebrows in realization. "But, Vegeta, you hate fusion."

Vegeta nodded, and snarled. "We don't have much choice if we want to get the Dragon Ball and avenge your son! Or if we want to save the one who's being beaten within an inch of her life!"

Goku gave Vegeta an appreciative smile. He knew Vegeta was disgusted by the idea of fusing with him again, but he knew the stakes were too high to risk it; this reinspired his confidence again.

The two took their positions for the fusion dance. Before they began, Vegeta looked at Goku to say something.

"Stay in Super Saiyan 3 when we do it." He told Goku.

"But that will lessen the time we have to defeat Izotz..." 

"I know it will...but if we don't go in full boar, he's going to just trample us. Trust me, Kakarot." Vegeta answered. "Besides...it's not like the lessened time is a bad thing. I do want to become myself again sooner rather than later."

Goku chuckled slightly. Vegeta does what Vegeta does, he guessed.

The two began the necessary movements; perfectly in sync with each other.

"Fuuu--sion!"

* * *

The spear was about to be fully formed when Apple Bloom heard Goku and Vegeta talking about something. She couldn't tell what I was, and at this point, it didn't matter. If they couldn't get through, she was finished. She couldn't believe this was actually how she was gonna go. Granny Smith would've said that her life had only just begun at Apple Bloom's age; eighteen certainly was young in the grand scheme of things. 

She couldn't stop picturing Applejack for some reason; she was so sorry to have let her big sister down. Sweetie Belle then came to her drifting mind; her beautiful voice would never be heard again because of Apple Bloom's weakness. Goten...she wasn't even able to save Goten...

The thought of them all brought tears to her eyes, which froze on her face as they slid down. Her memories came back; all at once seeing everything she failed to stop. Everyone she failed to save. 

"No..."

"Pardon?" Izotz asked, ready to put the young mare on ice.

"No..!"

No. No more. No more losses. She was not going to be remembered as a failure of a friend who couldn't even fend for herself. She would not be remembered as the mare who was too weak to protect those she cared about. It would not end like this.

The air pressure began to rise around Apple Bloom, and Izotz looked mystified by the oddity. He then twitched, his senses telling him Apple Bloom's power level was skyrocketing upwards. 

He needed to kill the pony before she became a problem. He thrust the icy spear forward, made of his strongest composition of the material; he aimed it straight at her belly, ready to watch her guts spill out onto the frozen floor.

As the spear neared her, Izotz was shocked when the entire thing shattered. The pressure was so intense near the mare's body, it had disintegrated his strongest ice like glass.

"What's going on..?" He demanded.

Apple Bloom let out a shriek of rage and determination suddenly; the sound was deafening and the shockwave from it blasted outwards, pushing Izotz into the opposite wall hard. The pressure from her sudden burst began to crack open the ice barrier, and in another instant, it shattered.

On the other side of the barrier, Goku and Vegeta were seen touching their fingers together; their faces confused, and split second later, a bright light engulfed them.

Izotz shielded his eyes, and out the corner of them he saw Apple Bloom fall unconscious to the ground. The attack she used must have drained her, because he sensed her power level going down. The power level in the light, however, was rapidly growing.

"Curses!" He hissed venomously. 

The light died down, and there stood a glowing warrior with massive amounts of glowing hair, minus his eyebrows. He wore a short, black vest jacket with orange shoulder flares, and white, slightly baggy pants. The new warrior looked confused at the unconscious pony, and then over to Izotz and back again.

"Uh.." He finally spoke; his voice sounding like Goku and Vegeta talking at the same time. "..right...well...I am neither Goku, nor Vegeta! I am Gogeta; and this is Super Saiyan 3!"

Gogeta struck a pose, standing on one foot, the other leg off to the side while he tilted slightly on the side of the grounded one, his arms spread and palms wide-open. 

Izotz only stared at the strange display, not sure what to make of Gogeta. His power level was huge, but he looked like a total buffoon.

Gogeta finally seemed to notice Izotz hood had ben removed. He then backed away in slight revulsion.

"Ew, yuck, you are one ugly guy!"

Izotz frowned. "I don't have time to play around with you!"

The ice-man grabbed the Dragon Ball and took off flying down the hall at his top speed. Gogeta was taken aback, but regained his composure, and flew off after him. 

The two blasted through corridors and chambers; zipping around the exhibits and artifacts like an aerial race track. It wasn't long before Gogeta caught up to the fleeing Izotz.

"Hey, Roadburn, where ya goin'?" Gogeta mocked, insulting his deformed face. "Don't tell me you're scared of little old me?"

Izotz reacted by throwing s shard of ice at the warrior, who easily caught it and crushed it in his hand. The two continued to zip around the museum, and passed overtop Gohan, who was startled out of his trance by the sudden disturbance. 

A second later, Gogeta came back, and patted Gohan on the head, then spoke his statement at what seemed to Gohan a hundred miles an hour.

"Hey, Gohan, how's your leg? Hope it doesn't hurt anymore. Hey, you know Apple Bloom? Course ya do, we brought her here. Anywho, she's unconscious and hurt and laying over that way in a hallway, just look for the shattered ice. Make sure you bring the senzu beans! Gotta go kill frosty, bye!"

And with that, Gogeta was gone after Izotz again.

Gohan blinked in surprise. 

"Was that...Gogeta..? And why is Apple Bloom unconscious? Gah, I knew I should've gone instead of her..."

He got ready to limp off to find her, searching the pack for the senzu beans. After searching for a good minute and not finding them, he scratched his head.

"That's strange...where the heck did they go..?"

* * *

Trunks walked into one of the darkest rooms the museum had; the planetarium. Since the electricity was out, there was almost no light in the room, and this, he figured, would be an alright place.

He pulled the bag of senzu beans from his jacket, and gave them a quick smile. He took one from the bag, saving it for later before tossing the rest on the floor; it landed with a sound like marbles clashing against each other.

With one swift motion, he vaporized the senzu beans with a ki blast. Smiling wickedly at the smoldering remains, he turned around and walked back towards where he had come from...
 

> Run...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Izotz and Gogeta finally ended their cat-and-mouse game in one of the larger chambers, coming to abrupt stops only a few feet from each other.

Izotz knew running wouldn't work even if he knew he couldn't fight Gogeta head on. This fusion warrior had a power level that he had never felt before; not even that sleeping power inside the young Apple Bloom was this big...though it wasn't far off.

He would have to deal with this overpowered Super Saiyan strategically rather than directly if he wanted to get out of this alive. 

Gogeta crossed his arms across his chest and wore that goofy grin he'd had the entire chase.

"What's the matter, blue man?" Gogeta laughed. "Couldn't find the rest of your band?"

"Very funny." Izotz replied dryly, vapor flowing from his mouth. 

The temperature drop was declining further every second with Izotz's presence in the chamber. The removal of his hood must have released something somehow. Gogeta wondered quietly how the removal of a piece of clothing could increase power like that; it wasn't just the fact that he was an epicenter of cold weather. His power level had raised about half of what it used to be at least, which was a a tad bit impressive. A tad bit.

"Well, c'mon then." Gogeta challenged, extending his hand in the same gesture. "If you're done running, let's get it on!"

Izotz wondered why Gogeta was so eager to fight; surely with his power level he could end Izotz life in an instant. Perhaps it was his saiyan blood getting pumped up. They always were brutes from what he'd heard of them. 

Izotz hatched a quick idea; he wasn't positive it would work, but it was worth a shot if it meant he might get through this.

"Here, catch." 

The deformed fighter tossed the Dragon Ball over to the mighty Super Saiyan. Gogeta was a little shocked, and caught the Dragon Ball quickly, nearly dropping it in his confusion of the situation. Immediately he got a fist in his face; the power was impressive for someone who had such a frail physique; impressive, but not strong enough to hurt Gogeta.

Izotz was absolutely stunned. This fusion warrior had only moved his head when struck, and it didn't look like he'd even been bruised slightly. Was he invincible?

"Hm. Thanks for the Dragon Ball. But I still have to beat you up." Gogeta told him, a cocky smile on his face.

Izotz scoffed in distress, and jumped back making a gesture with his arms, crossing them in a T formation in front of himself. 

A large pillar of solid ice came crashing straight down on the fusion Super Saiyan with a loud smash; the sound of the impact ricocheting off the walls giving it a sense of finality. 

Izotz smiled to himself; there was no way he could survive being smashed like a pancake. As he walked forward to retrieve the Dragon Ball from the corpse, the ice began to crack.

"What?!" Izotz exclaimed.

The ice shattered; shards flying out in all directions. A few of them cut through their creator's flesh leaving gashes in his skinny arms and disfigured face. He looked at Gogeta; the Super Saiyan was completely unharmed. But how?

"How did you..?"

"The ice broke in a mold around me as soon as it touched me. Kinda like memory foam on a mattress if you were sandwiched between them, but made of ice." Gogeta answered.

He brushed a few loose shards of the frozen liquid off his shoulder, still grinning all the while. He bounced the two star ball in his hand nonchalantly; Izotz was absolutely dumbfounded.

"Anyway, I don't have much time left, so I'm going to end this little game." Gogeta chuckled.

Before Izotz could say anything, Gogeta was behind him, and before he could gasp in surprise, Gogeta's fist had already mashed itself against the back of his skull, sending him flying, spiraling head-over-heels into what looked like a time machine; the old artifact crumbling inward as Izotz's body struck it hard.

* * *

Apple Bloom opened her eyes slowly, and cringed at the pain coursing through her entire body; the gash on her head throbbing horribly. As she sat up with the assistance of Gohan, she looked around searching for Izotz. When she didn't find the ice-man, she turned to Gohan.

"What...what's happening...?" She asked him weakly.

"Well, for one thing, it looks like we lost the senzu beans...so you're gonna be in pain for awhile..." He told her.

She groaned, putting a hoof to the long cut over her eye; the sensation stung horribly, but at least the bleeding had stopped. 

"Another thing, Izotz has the Dragon Ball, and now Gogeta is fighting him somewhere else in the museum."

"Who's...Gogeta..?"

Gohan remembered she still hadn't seen a successful fusion attempt yet. He tried to think of a way to explain it in depth, but came up short and just went with the easy way.

"Gogeta is the warrior who comes out when Goku and Vegeta do the fusion dance. He's what they are as one person." He explained.

Apple Bloom's brain was throbbing too much to really process it, but she figured she could understand what he meant. She found herself thinking how funny these names for the fusions were. Gotenks? Gogeta? It literally was the two fusee's names put together. She then randomly wondered what her and Applejack might have been had fusion been a thing back home. Probably just on of their names, but a new body...or Apple Apple...ugh.

She shook her head slightly, dispelling these random thoughts. She tried to stand on her hooves, and after what seemed like herculean effort to her, she did so. Gohan hovered in the air so that he didn't have to walk on his broken ankle; the packs on his back and arms.

"So..where's the fightin' happenin'?" She asked him.

Gohan shook his head. "I don't know, and if I did, I don't think I'd tell you. You lied to me and jumped into battle with Izotz rather than look for Trunks, who is still M.I.A. at the moment. You could've been killed, Apple Bloom..."

"You sound just like Big Mac..." She smiled sadly at him.

"Big Mac..?"

"My late older brother back home..."

There was an awkward silence now; the ice doing no better to help it ease away as the cold kept their muscles taught.

The mare started to trot into the halls, attempting to find Gogeta and Izotz. Gohan floated behind her, ready to stop her at a moments notice should she try something foolish again.

* * *

Izotz hit the ground again, his armor shattered to pieces by Gogeta's last punch. The Super Saiyan casually walked towards his prone form; all the while he juggled the Dragon Ball in his hands.

Izotz was frightened for the first time; true fear was apparent on his face now. Never had he faced an opponent like this. How did one even hurt him? He truly was invincible.

He started to crawl away, backwards, muttering gibberish about letting him live. Gogeta laughed loudly seeing the sad display.

"Man, how fast bravado leaves you when you're on your deathbed, eh?" He gave another laugh, holding his gut. "Hah...ok. I wis I could say it's been fun, but you were no challenge at all. I's time to get this over with; I only have a minute or two left anyway."

Why did this indestructible saiyan keep talking about how much time he had left? What sense was there in that? 

Gogeta raised his free hand into the air, palm facing straight up. A swirling vortex of energy began to materialize in it; it's rainbow colored spectrum a deadly beauty.

"At least you'll get to look at something pretty before you die, eh?" The Super Saiyan laughed. "Stardust Breaker!"

He tossed the rainbow colored energy ball straight at the shivering Izotz, who shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the end. Except the end didn't come. 

He hazarded a glance, and saw none other than--

"Trunks!" Gogeta yelled out. "What are you doing?"

Trunks stood there, the Stardust Breaker held calmly in his hand like a baseball. He seemed to be admiring it as if he were going to buy I like a jewel from a store.

"So this is the weapon that killed Janemba." He said. "Interesting."

Gogeta stepped forward, once again yelling at the purple haired half-saiyan. "Trunks! Why di you stop my Stardust Breaker?"

Trunks looked up at the fused warrior. He waited one moment, and Gogeta separated back into Goku and Vegeta; Goku had returned to his normal state as well. 

"Boy!" Vegeta shouted at his son. "You had best have a good explanation for this!"

Goku took a knee, and he too looked at Trunks with a strange look. 

The half-saiyan stared back, unblinking. He clasped his fist around the Stardust Breaker, and extinguished it with a hiss. Vegeta and Goku looked on with shocked expressions; Trunks had just snuffed out one of the most powerful attacks known to them, and with little more than a grunt. But the question still remained. Why?

Trunks turned to the prone Izotz; and without changing his blank expression declared: "Run."

Izotz did not need to be told twice, and got up quickly; he ran as fast as his skinny legs would allow on the slick surfaces he had created.

Goku smiled a bit while Vegeta merely scowled. "Maybe...maybe Trunks is showing him mercy...I guess that's alright...maybe..."

"He killed your son Kakarot..." Vegeta reminded him.

"Yeah.." Goku admitted. "But thinking about it...killing him would make us no better than him."

"At least we looked him in the eyes when we were about to finish him.." Vegeta retorted.

Trunks suddenly chuckled a bit; a dark sound not even Vegeta had ever heard him make. They saw his gaze still focused on Izotz's fleeing form as an evil looking grin spread across his features.

"Trunks..." Goku urged, sensing the rise in ki.

Trunks ignored him, raising his arm above his head and then behind like he was ready to pitch a baseball; a sphere of energy materializing in his hand.

"Son!" Vegeta shouted, moving forward to stop him.

Too late. Trunks threw the energy attack straight at Izotz's back. It moved at speeds even Goku couldn't fully track. The attack smacked into Izotz's body and exploded, causing a massive shockwave and fiery discharge. Trunks was laughing like a madman.

"Useless scum!" He cackled loudly.

Vegeta punched his his son right in the face, ceasing the laughter, then grabbed him by the coat, shaking him violently.

"Wht the hell was that?!" He shouted, spit flying onto Trunks' face. "You look a man in the eyes when you kill him! I taught you better than this! Where is your honor, Trunks Briefs?!"

Trunks just laughed again. "Didn't you used to shoot people in the back a long time ago..."dad"..."

Vegeta scowled. "That was long before you were born, boy! I'm a better man than that!"

"More like a softer man." Trunks smirked. "Face it, Vegeta, you just don't have what it takes to be ruthless anymore."

Vegeta threw his son to the ground, motioning to backhand him, but with a touch from Goku to his shoulder, he refrained.

Vegeta looked over to where Goku was looking, and saw Apple Bloom hiding behind Gohan's legs as he leaned against the wall. 

"You saw what my son did, yes?" Vegeta questioned.

They both nodded, and Apple Bloom could not take her eyes off the now absolutely terrifying Trunks. Her bad feelings were right all along...Trunks was a monster...

"C'mon," Trunks said. "We got the Dragon Ball, be happy about that at least. Let's go find the other five while we're still young."

He walked past all of them, not looking a single one in the eye; but everyone's eyes were focused on him.

"This can't be my boy..." Vegeta mused.

Gohan reached down to place a calming hand on the shivering Apple Bloom. It did little to actually help her. The power she had felt when Trunks attacked had been so dark it made Tirek look like an angel...she never wanted to feel a darkness like that ever again...and with Goten gone, who's to say Trunks won't do it again...?



> Special Training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom sat down by the river bed, staring at her reflection in the shimmering water. The sunshine and chirping birds were a big tonal difference from how she was feeling. 

Maybe if she had paid more attention to their surroundings? No, even if she knew exactly where they were going to pop out, she still didn't know the saibamen would decide on Goten to be the kill of the day. She didn't like it, but no matter what way she reasoned, she could have done nothing to save her now deceased crush; if she had been strong enough to break her icy restraints, though, maybe it would've been a different story. 

She checked back over to where Goku stood, several feet away; he was facing away from the group and looking like he was talking to the sky. Trunks sat even further away; he was seemingly meditating. His eyes were shut, his arms crossed, and he was sitting indian style on the lush grass which covered the small field they occupied.

Vegeta had taken Gohan back to Mt. Paus to heal up his ankle. They'd tried to get more senzu beans from Korrin, but apparently, senzu beans took awhile to grow. That really hit a sour note for her as well, because she was still sore from the beating she had taken from Izotz. At least her cut had finally dried up.

Speaking of Vegeta, she had learned something about him from what she had heard him say to Trunks in the ice museum.

"You look a man in the eyes when you kill him! Where is your sense of honor, Trunks Briefs?!"

Honor; that word coming from Vegeta's mouth was...strangely fitting. Even though he dressed like a biker who had just totaled his ride, he did seem to carry that air of nobility around him. The other point worth noting was he said to look men in the eyes when killing them; that was a mighty courteous thing to do in a battle. Apple Bloom, should she be forced to kill someone, would probably take any advantage she could get, even blindsiding somepony.

But not Vegeta; even when they had sparred back on Mt. Paus, Vegeta had not kicked her while she was down, and had warned her of the coming end of the match when he forgot the no-blasts rule. He really was an honorable saiyan, and she supposed that helped his image in her eyes a bit.

Goku walked back over to the yellow mare, and sat beside her on the creek. His face was a little serious, but still held that "Goku-charm." 

"Apple Bloom," He started. "I think it would be much too dangerous to have you with us while we're searching for the Dragon Balls."

Apple Bloom blinked in surprise. "But...I'm supposed to train with y'all, aren't I? That's the whole reason I came here!"

Goku nodded. "And you will, but even though you seem to have some hidden potential without a body like ours, you're still not able to fully harness it yet. If you were to die before we got all seven, it would get a little more complicated; since you technically aren't a warrior, you wouldn't be able to keep your body in the afterlife, and therefore, couldn't train while we gathered the Dragon Balls to revive you. You'd come back only as strong as you are now, if not weaker."

Back the buck up a bit. Had Goku just said, revived? As in, bring back from death? Also, keep her body in the afterlife? This one statement caused so many questions to swirl around in the shocked pony's head.

Goku must have noticed her confusion and sudden distress, because he placed his hand on her head the same way he had when they first met.

"This will be easier than explaining." He said.

Apple Bloom's mind flooded with images of the Dragon Balls and all the things they were capable of. Granting great wealth, good health, even immortality. The biggest one was the ability to bring back the dead; but from what the info she was receiving told her, only those who had died of natural causes could be wished back to the living world. There was so much information, her head actually started aching. 

Goku removed his hand, and waited for Apple Bloom's explosive response. 

Explosive it was, as the southern yellow mare leaped into the air; joy, shock, excitement...all of it and more dancing in her eyes. The Dragon Balls were amazing. It was then her head was struck with an idea.

"If anyone anywhere dies an unnatural death, can they be revived?" She asked. 

"Well that depends on what anywhere means to you." Goku answered.

She stood up, trying to think of a way to word this. "Like back in my home dimension, Equestria. Do y'all think I could wish my family and my lost friend back?"

Goku stood up himself, brushing some grass off his tan pants. "I'm not sure. We'll have to ask Shenron when we summon him."

Apple Bloom was about to cry the happiest tears ever. Not only would Goten be ok, but maybe, just maybe, AppleJack, Big Mac, and Sweetie Belle could come back too. She started to bounce around like a little school filly, until the pain in her legs brought her crashing back down to reality.  

She stood up again, slowly this time, and turned towards Goku. "So, in the meantime, while y'all are searchin' for the Dragon Balls, what am I gonna do?"

Goku smiled widely, a big grin that warmed the whole area round him. "You're gonna train with Goten of course."

"Huh, but he's dead, and we don't have all seven Dragon Balls...how am I gonna.."

"Just hang on." He said, placing two fingers to his forehead and gently grabbing Apple Bloom's hoof. There was a woosh sound and suddenly Apple Bloom felt as though she were flying at a billion miles an hour. Her body vibrated awfully, and some invisible force that didn't quite feel like wind pressed against her body. She felt as though she were being thrown around in a rocket-ship.

When the sensation halted, Apple Bloom tried to stand up, and immediately, she was pulled back down to the grass hard. 

"What---what the hay?" She managed, trying again, but failing.

She saw Goku walking towards a small house not to much more than several feet away from her. It was a dome shaped structure with a few open windows and a garage attached. The yellow and white colors looked very grandparent-ish. 

She called out for Goku to come and save her from whatever invisible monster was holding her to the ground, and when the saiyan turned around, he looked like he'd forgotten to mention something important.

"Oops!" He exclaimed. "Sorry, the gravity on King Kai's planet is about ten times stronger than Earth's. It's gonna be tough to get used to it."

Ten times Earth's gravity? That was ridiculous. How in Celestia's name was she going to be able to move around under this much pressure; she could barely crawl across the ground, and it wasn't exactly doing wonders for her sore muscles.

Goku walked into King Kai's house completely unobstructed by the gravity. 

"Hey, King Kai!" He greeted the rotund and short blue kai. "How's it goin'?"

King Kai turned around, a pair of oven mitts on as he was preparing some kind of dish; his long antennae standing upright for a second. 

"Oh, hello, Goku." King Kai greeted, moving to remove his meal from the oven. "Boy, that Instant Transmission sure is becoming second-nature to your walking and flying, eh? Pretty soon, you'll be teleporting around your house to grab a snack."

The stout kai burst into a small fit of laughter at his own little joke. When he calmed himself, he looked outside to see the yellow pony with the pink ribbon in her red mane struggling to even move. He turned to Goku, a bit of disbelief on his face that could be read even while he was wearing his black, round shades.

"This is the Apple Bloom that has the amazingly strong power level hidden in her?" He asked, sounding unsure.

"Yup, that's her."Goku confirmed.

After another moment of watching her struggle to stand, King Kai spoke again.

"She doesn't look like much, but I guess looks can be deceiving."

"Trust me," Goku told him confidently. "she's a strong one. She just needs to be refined and sharpened in her skills to bring out her power. Can't you sense it within her, King Kai?"

King Kai nodded, putting his hands behind his back. "I can sense it alright, the question is, will she ever be able to unlock it?"

"With your training, she'll definitely be one step closer." The saiyan replied.

"I'm not so sure..." King Kai mused, putting a hand to his chin in thought.

Goku blinked. Surely King Kai could see the potential she had. "What do you mean?"

King Kai looked as though he were recalling a very old memory. When he finally turned to Goku, he spoke.

"In my extremely long lifetime, I've only ever trained two ponies from her dimension; and they were not mere earth ponies like Apple Bloom is."

Goku shook his head in disbelief. King Kai already knew these ponies existed, and had even trained two of them? 

King Kai took note of Goku's shock, and began to explain before telling he rest of his story.

"Do you remember when you fought Lord Beerus years ago that he told you there were twelve different dimensions in the multiverse?" The kai asked his pupil.

Goku did remember the god saying that, and even mentioning his mentor, Whis, was from one of those others. "So, long shot here, but are the two ponies you trained...gods like Beerus as well?"

King Kai smiled a bit. "Not in a strict sense, no, but they are immortal and have amazing powers. The term for them is alicorn, which means they have traits of all three pony races; unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. The ponies of Equestria see them as deities, but they're more like demi-gods than full blown gods, like Lord Beerus. Their tempers are a lot better in check as well..."

Goku nodded, completely enthralled by King Kai's explanation so far. 

"Anyway," he continued. "the two of them came here a long time ago. I'd say it's been close to two-thousand years now. They were much older than young Apple Bloom out there, and very majestic and beautiful creatures. Their world was being threatened by an evil king unicorn, who's heart was as black as night; their armies were powerless to stop his conquest, so the sisters came to me, hearing of my teachings through hearsay and folklore."

King Kai too a moment to take a drink from his lemonade he had put out with his dinner; it's sweet, yet sour taste making his mouth pucker a bit. 

"The taller one, a white alicorn, was very polite and had a great sense of humor as well. The younger one, who was a dark blue alicorn, was more...brash. She thought my methods were pointless, and for awhile didn't participate with her older sister doing them."

He giggled a bit, remembering how Piccolo had done the same when he and the Z Fighters came to train with him. The two would probably get along really well, he thought.

"One she warmed up to them, and the real training began, they showed impressive skill in battle, and even more impressive power as they days went on. When they mastered the Kaioken and Spirit Bomb techniques that  taught you, they returned to their home dimension to take on the evil king."

Goku looked like a young child listening to a bedtime story. "What happened next? Did they beat the evil king?!"

King Kai snorted, taking a bite from his meatloaf. "Of course they did. Well, somewhat; the spirit of the king returned sometime later, and the sisters' pupil had to take care of it, but in essence, yes. They did defeat the evil king. I only know this though because they come and visit me sometimes with news. I can't see into their dimension, myself."

"Wow." Goku breathed out. "These ponies sound super strong! I'd love to fight them one day!"

"They're not much for fighting unless they have to, Goku. I doubt you'd even get a sparring match. Well, maybe from the younger sister, but definitely not the older one."

After a brief silence, King Kai's antennae sprung up. He then smiled, wiping his mouth with a cloth before standing up.

"Looks like he's here." the kai informed.

Apple Bloom had finally managed to stand up in the intense gravity of King Kai's tiny planet. Her legs still burned from the effort, but she was not going to let a chunk of floating rock beat her when she had training to do. She found herself thinking about the training though. Goku had said Goten would be training with her, but she didn't see him anywhere; Goku must have just meant some spiritual mumbo jumbo or something.

Her face fell at this thought, but then her ears flicked upward at the sound of someone landing on the grass. Her ears perked straighter up and her smile came back full force when she heard the voice.

"Hey, Apple Bloom! Looks like we'll be training together!" Goten exclaimed excitedly.
> Waiting on Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, here's the plan, guys." Goku said looking down to his son and Apple Bloom. "While Vegeta, Trunks, and I are down on Earth gathering the Dragon Balls, you will be training with King Kai here. He might not look like much, and his training methods are gonna seem kinda silly, but trust me; I went through the same training under King Kai, and I got loads stronger because of it."

Both of the new kai students nodded, Goten's halo moving with each movement of his head as if it were on a pole. Apple Bloom had noted the glowing, floating ring above her crush's head, and thought he'd done it as a joke; Goku had to explain to her that the halo signified the dead from the living, and that it wasn't just a gag.

The mare looked over at King Kai; he wasn't much to look at, and he definitely didn't look like a martial arts master. But if Goku had trained under him, and she was training under Goku, she figured this could be a great chance to get plenty strong for when her wish came time to be made.

The mighty saiyan turned to wave a farewell to King Kai, then, placing two fingers on his forehead, disappeared with a woosh!

King Kai smiled at his two new students; both of them looked ready to begin right away. He laughed internally, ready to open up the training the same way he did for everyone. But he knew he had to wait; Goku wasn't the only one who had requested King Kai train someone. There was one other student he had been told would be arriving by Snake Way here shortly. 

"We'll begin the training once my final new apprentice arrives." He stated. "I hope you won't mind waiting on them?"

The two quickly shook their heads, though he could tell the gears in they're heads were turning as to who the other student could be. 

"In the meantime, would you like to come inside and eat some of my home cooked meatloaf? It's the finest in Otherworld!"

As if in immediate response, both Apple Bloom's and Goten's stomach's rumbled loudly. They looked at each other and burst out laughing before heading into the kindly kai's home; Apple Bloom taking a bit longer due to the gravity.

* * *

The room was as dark as it had been in the first meeting, and the message had essentially been the same.

"Now Two is dead as well?" One of the assembled asked.

"Yes. But it doesn't matter much; the loss of a weakling and a coward is not a huge one. We can still proceed, but from now on, go in pairs to hunt the Dragon Balls. The saiyans are much stronger than I originally thought, and they use strange and powerful techniques. One of them is dead, and another is injured, but the others still remain." The voice of the Grand Elder Seven came through the noise box on the table.

The assembled group all nodded, and voiced affirmations. 

"I will leave the team formations to you. I must go, it seems like the one named Son Goku has returned."

The noise box silenced, and the group began to discuss preparations.

* * *

Goku materialized back where he had started in the grassy field, and immediately he looked around for Trunks. When he didn't see him, he called out for him a few times.

After the third call, Trunks emerged from the trees on the edge of the field.

"What were you doing in there?" Goku asked.

"Thought I saw someone watching me in the tree line." Trunks replied. "Went to check it out, but it looks like he beat it."

"Hm." Goku grunted, unsure as to who would be spying on them. "Well, if you see anything like that again, let me know."

Trunks nodded curtly, and went back to meditating.

* * *

"Thank you kindly for the food, King Kai!" Apple Bloom said, a bit loudly, which she apologized for. "It's the greatest one I've ever had. Who woulda thought vegetarian meatloaf was a thing?"

"Gotta hand it to ya, King Kai," Goten said, a bit of food in his cheeks. "I'm not one for vegetarian food, but this hits the spot!"

King Kai blushed in embarrassment at the compliments to his dish. "I'm so glad you like it! It's nothing super special, just an old recipe I came up with a few thousand years ago."

Apple Bloom looked over to Goten, and asked a question she had been forgetting to until now.

"Hey, Goten," she began. "how come the gravity here isn't affecting you? I can hardly walk trying my hardest!"

Goten laughed. "I've been training in Trunks' dad's gravity machine at the Briefs' place. My max is fifteen times normal gravity, so while it is hard to move here, it's not as hard as it is for you cuz I'm sort of used to it."

"Oh." she said. "That makes sense I guess. Maybe I shoulda done some of that first, huh?"

They both laughed; it was a sound that was pleasing to her ears and calming to her mind. Even though he was dead, Goten looked as lively as ever. She caught herself staring into his handsome face for a few seconds too long, and made herself stare out the window.

She started to wonder if he remembered the kiss she had given him not long before he had died. If he did, he must have just thought it was a friendly gesture. Oh, who was she kidding? Who thinks a kiss is a friendly gesture from a "just-friend?" He probably just forgot after the explosion. She guessed if he had, it was for the best. She didn't wanna be a necrophiliac; at the same time though, it wasn't his corpse back on Earth, so was it necrophilia? Now she was just wondering why her brain was taking her on these random thought rides. She decided to just enjoy Goten's company whether he remembered the kiss or not.

King Kai's antennae sprang up as he sensed a large power level approaching down Snake Way. That must be his new student, and just in time, too.

"Looks like our third trainee is here." He informed the two at the table. "Why don't you two go out and greet them. I'll be out in a sec!"

The two nodded to each other and after Apple Bloom got steady, they headed out to meet the stranger as they landed on King Kai's planet. 

"Hi, my name's Goten. I'm one of King Kai's other trainees." Goten said with a wave and a smile.

He looked over to Apple Bloom, and saw the absolutely shocked expression on her face.

"Apple Bloom?" He asked. "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?"

What need was there to do that? Apple Bloom knew the newcomer better than darn near anyone, and yet she couldn't believe she was seeing them again with her own two eyes. 

Nothing had changed about them except for the golden glowing halo floating not too far over her brown Stetson hat; her blonde mane and tail accenting her orange coat as perfectly as her green eyes, which were focused on Apple Bloom with the same expression.

"Sugarcube...?" Applejack managed. "Is...is that you..?"

> The Search Begins Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Apple Bloom..." Applejack managed. "Please...tell me...y'all ain't dead.."

The orange mare frantically looked above her sister's head for a halo; she sighed relieved when there was not one floating there. Before she could say another word, she was tackled to the ground (which in ten times normal gravity, didn't feel too great) by the slightly smaller mare. Applejack couldn't remember a time when Apple Bloom had hugged her so tightly; she didn't remember a time when she'd seen so many tears flowing down her cheeks as she did now.

"Applejack!" She blurted out in a half-sob. "Applejack, I missed you! I missed you so much!"

The tough southern pony was starting to tear up herself and wrapped her forelegs around her younger sister's body. After a few moments, they finally managed to stand back up, and look at each other without breaking down into happy sobs. 

"It's a good thing my legs are so strong," Applejack chuckled, trying to lighten the mood up a bit. "if they weren't, that tackle might have had me on the ground for a lot longer."

She ruffled Apple Bloom's mane with her hoof, and the two giggled; being in each other's presence again was an amazing feeling.

"I'm sorry, sis." Apple Bloom finally said. "I just...I just really missed you."

"I know, and I missed y'all too." 

Apple Bloom realized something all of a sudden; she looked around, apparently looking for somepony else. When she didn't find them, she turned back to Applejack.

"Where's Big Mac?" She asked innocently.

Applejack gave a sad little smile. "He's up in heaven, sugarcube, and he's never been better."

Apple Bloom's eyes went wide. "Is he really? Then...how come you're not in heaven?"

Applejack nodded to answer her first question, and then prepared to explain her own situation, when King Kai interrupted.

"Applejack was the Element of Honesty back on Equestria, and since she saved that world from several threats with her friends, she was given the choice to keep her body and train to be stronger, or go to heaven. Looks like she chose the former." He explained.

"That's right." The green-eyed mare confirmed. "To be honest, I actually did opt to go to heaven, but after a little while, it got too fru-fru for me. King Yemma told me I still had the choice to get my body back and train with the kais, so, I said good-bye to big brother, and headed down Snake Way."

Apple Bloom's eyes were full of wonder; her big sister had given up heaven to train with the kais. Sure, she'd done it out of boredom, but that just gave Apple Bloom even more determination than she had already to do the training. She had to impress her big sister.

Applejack turned to Goten, a hoof rushing to her forehead in self-realization. 

"I am mighty sorry, I do believe you told me your name and I didn't even respond. Goten was it?" She asked, raising a hoof in greeting.

Goten kneeled down and took the hoof in his hand, shaking it. "That's right; and you're Applejack, I guess!"

Applejack laughed and nodded. "How could ya tell?"

"Goten's been training with me down on Earth." Apple Bloom said, nuzzling against his waist. "He's a really nice person."

Applejack's eyebrow went up as she smiled knowingly at that little nuzzle her sister had given Goten. She'd seen that look on Apple Bloom only once before, and she knew what it meant. She also knew that she could ask about it later; King Kai stood waiting for introductions to end, patiently. 

The three lined up in front of him, ready to begin.

"Well, now that all three of you are here, it's time to get started." He said; his pupils nodding in response.

"But first, there's a special thing we have to do. The training will be difficult and grueling; you may find yourself thinking it's impossible at some points even. But know one thing; I don't train anyone who doesn't have a sense of humor, so...your first test.."

The three leaned forward a bit, ready to hear whatever epic, difficult task they had to fulfill to show him they had a sense of humor. 

"Make me laugh!" He said, a wide smile on his round, blue face.

Goten, Apple Bloom, and Applejack all dropped their jaws slightly, not expecting something like that.

* * *

"Alright," Goku stated loudly to Vegeta and Trunks. "we've got two Dragon Balls so far, and only have five left to go. I say we can cover more ground if we split up and look for the balls individually."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow; arms crossed over his chest. "So that's why you told me to grab two extra dragon radars from the house."

Goku nodded to his friend in confirmation. "That's right. We can cover more ground, much more quickly this way."

"What if we run into more of these guys who seem to think Dragon Balls are a fashion choice?" Trunks asked.

Vegeta looked darkly at his son; the act he had seen in the ice museum not forgotten. 

"Oh, I'm sure you're 'genius' mind will come up with something." He scowled.

Trunks smirked wickedly. "Maybe I will."

The father and son seemed to stare at each other for what felt to Goku like an eternity. When the saiyan raised on Earth breathed in to speak, Vegeta suddenly did so.

"What happened to you, son?" He asked, a small hint of real concern in his tone. "You were always brash and tough, but you were never a ruthless murderer. Where did I go wrong with you?"

When Trunks didn't answer, Vegeta got a little more tense. He took one step closer to his purple-haired son, fists shaking.

"Is it because you are trying to live up to my name? My past? Please, do not turn out like the old me, Trunks! I wanted to set a better example for you than that! I tried to raise you to be honorable! Why have you turned out this way?!"

Trunks didn't change the seemingly evil grin on his lips when he answered. 

"Well, you know what they say," he said. "the sins of the father are the sins of the son. Guess I was just destined to be just like you were."

Vegeta motioned to speak again, but Goku put a hand on his shoulder to silence him. The saiyans looked at each other, and Vegeta relaxed a bit.

"Now's not the time for this, guys." He spoke somberly. "Trunks' behavior has been pretty awful lately, but we can deal with that later. Right now our mission is to gather the Dragon Balls, not to fight amongst ourselves. But on the other note, if you guys do run into anymore weird guys with Dragon Ball insignias on their clothes, try to avoid fighting them. They have powers the likes of which I've never seen before. First fire, then ice...who knows what the others, if there are others, have."

Vegeta nodded. It was true; these beings were much stronger than most others, at least in terms of ability. They weren't the best fighters, but with powers like theirs, all it would take is one slip up, and they would be able to win. He grimaced at the memory of Izotz freezing him where he stood with but a touch. That was not going to happen again.

Goku handed the extra Dragon Radars to the other two, and gave the final farewell, and orders to meet up here with any Dragon Balls. With that, they all flew off in opposite directions; each one following the blips on their radars.

Trunks smiled to himself and laughed inwardly. The fools truly had no idea...


 
> Three-Star Ball Obtained?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first part of King Kai's training had been a hoot; almost literally. Applejack had told him the story of when Pinkie Pie was found out to be part of the Apple Family, and they'd set off on a wacky journey to make sure. Goten had told a silly joke he claimed to have heard from Trunks about a old lady and a car; Apple Bloom hadn't found it very funny, but she hadn't expected to after knowing Trunks came up with it. King Kai had only chuckled at it himself, but that counted so Goten passed.

Apple Bloom herself had told a joke she had heard from Scootaloo years ago; it had taken her a while to remember how it went, but once she remembered it right, King Kai hadn't stopped laughing for a full two minutes. 

She thought of Scootaloo in that moment; her only surviving friend had learned how to fly a few weeks after Sweetie Belle was put to rest. Once she did that, she signed up for the Wonderbolts just like her idol, Rainbow Dash, had done. She passed the entrance exam and left for the academy a few months later. They'd sent each other letters, but after she got out of the academy, she was immediately deployed to Saddle Arabia; the letters to each other just got less and less frequent before it stopped all together. 

As far as Apple Bloom knew, she just might actually be dead; killed in action, maybe. She wasn't totally sure in any case. 

She shook herself out of the saddening memory and looked into the face of Goten, and her heart melted back into happiness as her eyes met his. The two had taken rest under the tree near King Kai's small abode, and she had snuggled up to Goten, who apparently hadn't minded one bit.

Apple Bloom started to say something, but stopped herself mid exhale.

Goten looked down to her, a small amount of confusion mixed with curiosity on his features. "What's up, Apple Bloom?"

"Oh.." she started to say. "..it's..."

She wanted to bring up the kiss again. She was just so bugged that he hadn't brought it up already as she was hoping he would; it had been a bold move on her part, and now all that boldness had long since left her. 

"..Nothin'.." she smiled up at him, nuzzling against his chest. "I just...really like relaxin' with ya..."

Why was it she could fight ice-monsters and train with brutal saiyans, but couldn't tell Goten what she wanted to tell him? It didn't make good sense.

From across the yard, Applejack watched as her little sister cuddled up to the half-saiyan under the tree. She couldn't help but keep a little smile from working it's way across her mouth. Her little sister was absolutely infatuated with the biped. 

She knew relationships like that were frowned upon in most circles of society, but it didn't bother her too much, so long as both of them truly felt for one another. But that was the thing that puzzled her; Goten didn't seem to be returning the same looks and smiles Apple Bloom was giving to him. His were more of the friendly variety; like ones she herself would've given to Rainbow Dash or Rarity back on Equestria. 

He didn't have a clue about Apple Bloom's feelings, did he? If he did, he was doing an amazing job of friendzoning the young mare from Ponyville.

She decided when they had a moment after training, she'd ask him about it. She just hoped Apple Bloom wouldn't get upset when she did.

King Kai finally came out, and Goten, Apple Bloom, and Applejack walked awkwardly towards him, the gravity situation still plaguing them a bit. Judging by the look on King Kai's face, that was what he wanted.

"Ok, good work on the laugh part of the training." he began. "You really know some gut-busters! Hehe! Anyway, the next phase of training is simple."

"What is it?" Apple Bloom spoke up.

King Kai simply pointed to the right. The group followed his finger, and their eyes fell upon a monkey. The primate was standing upright, picking his nose, and inspecting what he pulled out like a jeweler. 

"You're next training phase is to catch Bubbles."

They all looked at him unbelievingly; the kai didn't bust up laughing, but continued to point at Bubbles the Monkey. He was serious.

"How hard can this be?" Apple Bloom piped up. "I'll catch him in no time!"

She started to lumber heavily over to the monkey, the gravity still trying to drag her body down. As she neared the staring primate, he suddenly zipped around at took off at high speeds away from her.

All three trainees looked surprised at the monkey's speed in such extreme gravity. Maybe this was going to be harder than they originally thought.

* * *

Vegeta walked through the market place on the dusty, cracked earth that passed for a road in these parts. He was out in the middle of the desert, and this little vendor's meet was the only civilization within two-hundred miles. Well, he supposed it wasn't really small; there were hundreds upon hundreds of shops-on-wheels lined up in several long rows. Still, it was quant compared to his usual living habits; he hadn't had to "rough it" so to speak in a long time.

Everyone here was staring at him strangely, like he was a strange creature that had crawled from the depths of the sand. That didn't surprise him; they were all wearing dirty cloth, turbans, and other such desert-faring gear as opposed to his sleeveless leather jacket and jeans look and his hairstyle. 

None of this really bothered him though; he merely kept staring at the dragon radar as he followed it coordinates to where it said the Dragon Ball was located. He swore if he found t in someone's "for sale" basket, he was going to--

"Miracle orb here! Fell straight from the sky; gives good luck! Offers are welcomed!" A noisy shopkeeper cried out.

Vegeta's eyes followed the sound of the voice, and he rolled them in their sockets as he noticed the peddler hoisting the three-star Dragon Ball into the air, obviously hoping to get a ton of money for it.

He took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn't have to haggle too much.

Walking over, he shouted over the many people shouting out offers of zeni for the orange orb. "Hey, you! How much would you take for that ball? Name your price."

The shopkeeper blinked at the newcomer, and put on a thoughtful face. After a moment, he laughed a little.

"You do not look like he type that can afford my highest asking price. Your wardrobe suggests low income, and most likely  job with mechanics, namely motorcycles. No, no, I do not think you can afford tis magical orb."

Vegeta didn't change his calm and slightly bored expression. "Just name your price. Any price you want."

The vendor blinked, then grinned. "How does the price of five million zeni sound to your wallet?"

Without blinking, Vegeta opened his capsule wallet and pulled out several bundles of the paper bills. "Six million zeni, up front. How's that sound to your wallet?"

The old peddler was basically drooling over the massive amount of money the saiyan prince was holding. Without a second thought, the deal was closed. Marrying Bulma had more perks than just one, it seemed.

Vegeta began to walk off with the Dragon Ball in his possession, and prepared to fly off; a voice from behind him, low and slow sounding, stopped him.

"Excuse me," It said. "what would it take to get that Dragon Ball off your hands?"

Vegeta began to turn and face the stranger. "It's not for sa---a--ale-?!"

He lost all train of thought when he saw the person behind him; black clad in a coat and armor with an insignia of the three-star ball over his heart. It was one of "them." 

His face was fairly pale, his eyes an impossibly brilliant purple with intense crow's feet under them; his dark brown hair, short and unkempt, somehow making his aged features look regal. He was tall as well; standing what Vegeta estimated to be nearly seven feet tall.

There seemed to be a small and barely visible whirlwind of sand particles orbiting around him as he look down on Vegeta, his head tilted upwards in a creepy fashion.

The saiyan prince started to back away slowly; the power level this ominous fighter was giving off was overwhelming. 

Vegeta took off running; there was no use in flying, he'd just follow him. He needed to lose him in he maze of shops; only then could he safely flee from this fighter.

The tall man stared after the fleeing Vegeta, a strange look of bloodlust in his eyes. "I love when they run.." 

> No Choice But To Fight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vegeta jumped over several smaller carts, dodging and weaving through peddlers and merchants; the ones too slow to get out of his way, he shoved or shoulder brushed aside.

It was just his luck that one of those freaks had shown up here, and Kakarot and Trunks were nowhere even close. He was on his own, and even though he was strong, the power from that tall man was too...blood spattered, so to speak, to even attempt to fight. It was similar to Frieza's but darker in the sense that Frieza normally killed entire planets at once; this guy, though? This guy had killed all the people on his kill count personally; his power had a "stench" like death from the uncountable lives that he had taken. 

Vegeta forced himself to stop thinking about that; he had to get away, to lose him in the crowd. If he flew off now, the creep would just fly up after him. He made sure he had a firm hold on the Dragon Ball, and dove behind a vacant shop set-up, doing his best to hide his power level. 

He sensed the ominous energy again; he was walking slowly past the spot Vegeta was hidden behind. How did he keep pace with him just walking? Vegeta had been booking it. Hopefully he hadn't seen where the saiyan prince had hidden.

After a few more moments, the energy started to move away; the tall stranger in the Dragon Ball armor beginning to move out. 

"I think I'm in the clear now..." Vegeta breathed to himself.

As he moved to get up, a sudden movement right in front of him caused him to jump back in surprise. A crazy-eyed woman with long black hair dangling from her head like a waterfall of darkness pouring out of her skullcap as she hung upside down in front of him. 

"Where are you going in such a hurry, fair prince?" She giggled maniacally. 

She dropped down in front of him to stand upright, and Vegeta noticed she too was wearing the same coat and armor the tall fighter had been wearing, except her insignia was the four-star Dragon Ball as opposed to his three-star insignia.

"You have to stay and play a bit! I've got so many fun games we can play!" she cooed. 

Her green eyes seemed to sparkle with electricity; in fact, Vegeta could have sworn there literally were bolts of lightning dancing in her eyes. 

Not just one of them, but two had found him here in the middle of nowhere. Why did life hate him so much? 

The woman who was the same height as Vegeta poked him in the chest; an intense sensation of pain and burning hit him before he went flying through several carts, destroying even more goods as a pink lightning bolt blasted him across the way and back into the open.

He tried to recover and stand up, but before he could actually get back on his feet, he noticed the sand starting to creep it's way up his limbs, ever so slowly. What was this sorcery? 

He looked up as he sensed the return of the ominous energy; the tall, sinister fighter had returned and was looking down at the saiyan prince in that same creepy way he had before, except this time, he had a faint smile tugging at the edge of his lips. His wide-open eyes made it all the more intimidating to see.

Vegeta stood quickly, examining his surrounding for a possible escape route. The creepy tall one stood before him, and the short woman with the storm in her finger stood behind, giggling and humming something akin to "Ring Around the Rosey."

"Ring around the rosey..." she started to sing, cheerfully; her body swaying in a carefree way.

To Vegeta's surprise, the tall one began to sing as well; his tone giving the normally silly song a sinister feeling. 

"Pockets full of posies..." He sung with a smirk, his wide-eyed stare not leaving Vegeta's face.

The girl began to close in on him, her dancing a combo of drunken swinging and walking on numb-legs. "Ashes..."

"Ashes..." 

"The prince...burned...down!" The green eyed woman shrieked, thrusting her finger forward like a javelin. 

A large bolt of pink electricity shot from her pointed digit, and soared at blinking speed towards Vegeta. He saw it at the last second, and smacked it away; the bolt striking a stand, and lighting it ablaze in the hot desert sun. 

Vegeta immediately grabbed the hand he had used in pain, which had been his right one; it had been pretty badly burned by the attack, even though he'd deflected it. In fact, he couldn't feel his pinkie or ring finger at all. Not good.

He was sure he wasn't going to have a choice anymore; he was going to have to fight them.

He whipped around as he hard the tall one take a step forward. The whirlwind of sand had become even more visible than before; his eyes looked like those of a predator that had trapped it's prey....hungry.

* * *

"I've got you now!" Apple Bloom yelled, leaping into the air with as much effort as she could muster.

Bubbles saw her coming, and quickly sped out of the way as the yellow mare hit the ground hard with a grunt. Applejack and Goten continued their pursuit of the little simian; Goten having been forbidden to fly, and Applejack banned from using anything like a lasso. 

Apple Bloom struggled to stand up, and when she finally did, she felt like she had run for an hour; in reality, the training had only been going on for twenty minutes. This monkey was fast, or maybe she was slow? It had to be the gravity. That was part of the training, she guessed. At least her legs would be beefed up by all this, and maybe she'd pack more of a punch. 

She shook her head back into game, and took of after Bubbles again. 

King Kai watched from the sidelines, admiring the tenacity of the trainees. They were already getting pretty used to the gravity, especially Goten; he figured it wouldn't be too much longer before they caught Bubbles. It was impressive to say the least.

He did notice, however, they were looking a bit hungry again; why wouldn't they be? They'd ran off all the energy they ha gained from the earlier meal, and Applejack, as far as he knew, hadn't eaten anything since getting her body back. This would be a good time for a break.

"Hey!" He called out to them. "Let's take a break, and get some grub, guys. You've all been working really hard."

The three seemed to nearly collapse with relief at the mention of a break; they were all sweating profusely, and breathing hard. They had worked hard so far, as catching a monkey that was used to this gravity had proven to be easier said than done.

Applejack chuckled wearily.

"Woo wee!" she exclaimed. "I ain't exercised this much in a long, long time. My dogs are barkin'!"

"Dogs? I don't see any dogs.." Goten said, looking around.

Apple Bloom and Applejack both laughed loudly, and poor Goten looked at them confused. 

"What?" He asked, innocently.

Apple Bloom managed to get control of herself and speak first. "She means her legs are really sore, Goten."

"That's a funny way of saying it. Why not just say your legs are sore?"

"We're gonna have to spice up your vocabulary, eh, Goten?" Applejack suggested, nudging his leg a bit before heading inside.

Apple Bloom smiled up at Goten, who smiled back, embarrassed at not knowing her terminology. They followed the orange mare into the house not too long after, but before the entered, Apple Bloom suddenly jumped up and hugged Goten tightly; her forelegs around his neck, and her hind ones around his waist.

He hadn't expected the sudden burst of affection, but he hugged her back as well, keeping an arm under her rump just above her tail to keep her from falling off him from the gravity. 

"What's this for?" He asked her, moving his head back to look at her.

"Cuz hugs are great, especially when you give one to a friend!" She said, paraphrasing a certain pink party pony back home.

Goten laughed. "I guess I agree. But let's get some food in our bellies, eh? I'm starved!"

Applejack watched the two come in, and once again she wondered if that boy knew what Apple Bloom was trying to tell him indirectly. She really hoped he was just dense, and not trying to blow her sweet little sister off.

* * *

Vegeta back flipped twice to dodge two more lightning bolts that had been hurled at him; the bright pink zaps were disintegrating most everything they hit, and Vegeta thanked whatever power would listen that he was fast enough to see them before they turned him into ash.

The saiyan landed on his feet, and shot two ki blasts at the obviously insane woman. Before they connected with her, a wall of sand jutted up, sucking up the blasts like a leech shield before settling back into the desert.

During their skirmish, Vegeta had learned that not only was the short one capable of hurling oddly colored bolts of lightning, but the tall one with the awful eyes was able to manipulate sand as well; and of course, the battle had to be taking place in the desert where sand was literally everywhere. 

Vegeta decided to stop inwardly complaining, and focus on the fight. Unlike the others so far, these two seemed to have plenty of combat experience, and were working in tandem. When one would attack ,the other would either serve as  distraction, or become the defensive player, and protect the attacker as much as possible. So far, not much offense had come from mister sandman. He still looked very eager to kill the saiyan though.

"You always know just when to pop in, Dosne." The crackling woman giggled playfully to her tall companion.

He smiled darkly. "Of course, Seaiga. I'm always ready for anything."

"Hey!" Vegeta shouted, getting a bit annoyed. "How about you two quit flirting and we actually fight? Enough of this cat and mouse game! Just come at me and let's get this over with!"

Seaiga lauged; a high pitched noise that seemed to scratch at Vegeta's very eardrums. 

"He wants us to stop playing, Dosne." She finally said, a mock sad tone in her voice. "But I wanna play longer."

"I'll make sure you have all the playtime you want, Seaiga." Dosne droned out, licking his lips at Vegeta. 

Vegeta sensed the attack just before it struck; a spear of hardened sand jutted out from where he'd ben standing as he jumped into the air. He was immediately smacked back down to the ground by Seaiga, who had somehow gotten behind him in mid-air. 

As he hit the desert floor, he was bounced back up again by a volcano of sand; the particles burning hot from the time in the sun. As he was flung in the air, he saw the woman called Seaiga charging up another attack, and hurled a bolt at him. 

He barely had time to react, and decided it was now or never. He gave a definitive shout, and as the bolt struck his prone form, he used it's energy to speed his transformation along. In mere moments, Vegeta hovered above the market, his hair a brilliant gold, and blue electricity crackling around him. He was breathing hard from Seaiga's attack, but he was alive, and now, he wore a smirk on his features.

"Now you're in for it, fools!" He bellowed in a righteous voice, booming across the sky. "This is Super Saiyan 2! It shall be the last thing you ever see in this world!"

The two Dragon Ball emblazoned warriors didn't even flinch.

* * *

King Kai's antennae shot upwards, and he gasped in concern. 

This quick behavior did not go un-noticed by his hungry students. 

"What's wrong there, King Kai?" Applejack spoke up.

King Kai gave a nervous smile, and laughed. "Oh, uh, nothing...just, uh, something I forgot came to mind, that's all."

He turned back way from them, his face turning rather fearful. Vegeta had found the three-star ball, but he was now alone against two of those strange fighters. Even at Super Saiyan 2, King Kai could sense Vegeta's powers were no match...this was troubling indeed.

Apple Bloom walked over, as did Applejack. They knew when someone wasn't being totally honest, and wanted to know the real reason behind King Kai's distress. Tapping him on the shoulder lightly, Applejack spoke first.

"King Kai, not to be rude, or nothing', but somethin' serious is buggin' you." She said. "Please, tell us what..?"

King Kai sighed; he supposed there was no way to hide things from the Element of Honesty herself. He turned back away from them as Goten walked over to join them.

"Just place your hooves and hands on my back. You'll see what I am seeing..." He said.

The three did so, and fell into another sense of consciousness. It felt like they were a satellite hovering miles above the world, searching for something. They concentrated on what King Kai himself was seeing, and instantly, Apple Bloom and Goten gasped.

"Vegeta's in trouble!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

> Let's Play a Game
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Vegeta?" Applejack asked, confused.

She'd never heard the name before, but obviously her little sister had, because Apple Bloom's face was full of deadly concern as was Goten's. 

"Who's Vegeta?" She asked them.

"You see the guy with the gold hair flying in the sky down there, Applejack?" Goten described. "That's Vegeta. He's a friend of ours back on Earth."

"He's been tryin' to get the Dragon Balls to bring Goten here back to life and give me a new body..." Apple Bloom added in.

"And it looks like those evil Dragon Ball hunters are back on the scene...and there's two of them this time..."

"And Vegeta is all alone! He's gonna get killed!"

Applejack blinked several times; that was alot of answers that did nothing but make more questions. 

"I--I'm so lost..." The orange mare in the stetson stuttered. "Dragon Balls? New body? Dragon Ball hunters? What the hay have you been up to little sis?"

Apple Bloom looked her sister in the eye, and shook her head slightly. "It would take too long to fully explain, but my training with Goku back on Earth requires me to have a body better suited to train with them...yknow, a biped with opposable digits? The Dragon Balls are wish orbs that can perform miracles like that; we also have to wish Goten here back to life because he died on a mission with us to find them. That's how we ended up here."

Applejack figured she understood, and just nodded. "And this Vegeta fella, there...he's your friend, and he's losing? I don't know, he looks mighty powerful to me."

"Looks can be deceiving, Applejack." King Kai cut in. "Vegeta is totally outclassed here. I'm guessing he's trying to bluff the two hunters into thinking he's gotten a much bigger power up, and trying to find an opening to escape."

Apple Bloom remembered back to her one-on-one with Izotz in the ice museum; even though it had only been a short skirmish, that monster's power was undeniably strong. In her training, she'd learned to sense power levels, or at least those of people she could see. She wasn't good at detecting presences, but if she could make visual contact, even from a ways away, she could get a reading.

Now that King Kai was allowing them to watch Vegeta's fight, she could see the two he was battling. Their power levels were immense; simply off the scales. 

Strangely, she felt something similar in the power levels of the hunters to Trunks; maybe it was just their raw power, and Trunks was on the same level. She decided to leave that thought for later.

* * *

Vegeta looked down on the two warriors in black standing amidst the scared and injured peddlers and traders. Kakarot would've scolded him for fighting in a populated area, but that didn't matter right now. He wasn't planning on staying too much longer if he could help it. 

The power levels of the two were even stronger than Kakarot's by a longshot; Vegeta couldn't fathom that people that strong that weren't gods existed. That tall one was the one that worried him most; so much death hung in the air around him. 

He saw that his transformation into Super Saiyan 2 state hadn't impressed them; that didn't bode well for his next move. There was no way he could fight the even one-on-one, and as proven so far, the two of them together were too much. If it weren't for the area being so damn full of people, he would've simply fired off his Final Flash, and escaped in the brief confusion it would cause. He was going to have to be a little more crafty than that here.

"Well, Super Saiyan 2, aren't you going to come down and destroy us?" The tall one named Dosne mocked, a bit of sand still floating about him. "Or are you just talk like all the rest?"

Vegeta ignored the ominous one's prodding, and looked around the market. He spotted a clothes cart with rags just like the ones the populous was wearing; if he could get over there as inconspicuously as possible without dying, he could cause a panic in the people (which he was surprised weren't panicking already), and in the confusion, cover up in the clothes and get out under disguise while hiding his power level. 

The only problem left was how to maneuver the battle over to that position.

"Alright!" He shouted out, booming his voice across the sky. "Here comes the pain!"

Vegeta dashed downward towards the two, and right before pulling up, fired a ki blast at the girl, Seaiga. 

As expected, she quickly dodged it, and hurled her own bolt at the saiyan prince; the pink electric energy taking only a split second to cross the gap between them. He had counted on that speed, which is why his flight pattern now took him straight towards Dosne. He moved to the right just as he would've collided with the sand-bender, and the bolt of pink electricity was aimed straight at him.

Dosne gave a grunt, and barely managed to disintegrate himself into sand to avoid the brilliant attack. The bolt flew past and struck another stand, which exploded violently, throwing several unfortunate people into the air, and burning up a few others.

Vegeta cursed himself for the death toll that was racking up, but if he could do this without too many more innocents dying, he could always wish them back at a later date. He smirked; he was a Z Fighter alright.

Dosne rematerialized himself in the way of Vegeta's path, moving two large waves of sand to crash down on the saiyan from both sides. Vegeta was just barely faster, and moved out of the death trap of desert blanketing before placing a huge kick into Dosne's face, which exploded into sand. He used that moment to jump an aisle over, and come face to face with Seaiga.

"What do you call this game, Vegeta?" She giggled evily. "Catch-Me-If-You-Can?"

"Yeah." Vegeta grinned, happy his plan was so far working; he was already halfway to the stand. "I'm the world champion; bet you can't beat me."

She cackled loudly again, the sound still grated on his ears. "I assure you, today is the day you lose your title, and your life."

The two stood for a moment, and Vegeta feinted an attack, which Seaiga dodged. Once she realized he never intended to attack when he flew by her, she took off after him, Dosne trailing beside the two in the other aisle on a wave of rolling sand. 

Vegeta turned around and fired off an old move of his. 

"Finish Buster!" He shouted as several orange colored energy balls fired in rapid succession from his hands.

Seaiga dodged each one as fast as the lightning she wielded; her glee at the chase evident. 

Vegeta saw Dosne make a motion out of the corner of his eye; the sand-bender was attempting to grab at the saiyan prince with tendrils of the hot particles below him. 

Vegeta did his best to weave through the grasps of each one, but he realized too late they were a decoy attack. Dosne charged through the stands into Vegeta's aisle, a look of pure primal joy at the prospect of another kill on his face; dancing in his violet eyes. 

Vegeta reacted too late, as the big behemoth tackled him to the ground, mashing his head into the sand. Vegeta felt the ground-up dirt crawling all over his face.

"I'm going to end this. I'll crush your skull, Mr. Super Saiyan; a quicker death than I want to give you, but we're on a schedule." He said, the happy look never leaving his haunting face.

"Awww, does this mean playtime is over?" Seaiga asked with real sadness this time.

"Sorry, Seaiga." Dosne said. "I'll let you have more fun next time."

The burning hot sand encased Vegeta's entire head, cutting off his oxygen. He knew he had only seconds to save himself before his skull was popped like a jelly bean by the evil Dosne. He channeled every ounce of his Super Saiyan 2 energy and released it in a blast.

The sand blew apart, away from his head, and Dosne was reduced to pieces again. Vegeta knew he'd reform soon, so he fired a blast at Seaiga to get her attention.

"We're still playing, right?" He asked in a sarcastic tone; his golden hair returning to it's normal jet black. 

She giggled and lighting once again crackled round her. "I think it's my turn, if I remember correctly."

She dashed forward, Vegeta moving just enough to counterattack with a quick elbow strike, sending her into the ground. He took off, expecting her too throw another bolt at him, and this part of the plan was going to hurt. The clothes stand was right there, all he had to do was wait for the pain to come.

The bolt she had thrown after him struck, and it disintegrated his sleeveless leather jacket, also burning a hole in his red tank top underneath. He hit the ground on his hands and knees, slightly paralyzed but mostly unharmed. The attack had been about as strong as he expected, but he hadn't counted on the partial paralysis. He had to overcome it if his plan were to work, he just needed to cause a scene and distract the two fighters.

He sensed Dosne's death scented power incoming through the ground. He manage to stand up, slowly but surely. He jumped into the air as the sand-monster tried to wrap him in a death hug as he emerged from the sands. It was now time to cause a panic with his improved technique.

"You know what?!" He shouted, making sure everyone in the area heard him. "I've had it with all of you losers! You can all go straight to Hell, when I destroy this entire planet!"

"Did...did he say destroy the planet?!" One of the many vendors asked.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!" 

The hysteria was instant; everyone started to trample over each other in throves attempting to grab as much as they could and leave. Vegeta found it stupid that they never ran from the battle going on in their turf, but now they thought they could outrun a planet's destruction. Stupid humans; maybe he should actually destroy the planet, he thought sarcastically to himself.

"Galick Gun..." He yelled charging up his old planet busting attack. 

Dosne and Seaiga actually looked a bit worried; if the planet went, the Dragon Balls would go too, and they couldn't have that. They powered up, prepared to stop Vegeta's attack from hitting the surface. 

"...FIRE!!" Vegeta shouted at the top of his lungs.

The large beam of purple energy blasted forth at great speeds and headed straight for the duo who put out their hands to stop the blast.

The saiyan prince smirked; it was time. He clenched his fist shut, and the Galick Gun beam exploded in a radiant light that nearly blinded even him. He would only have a few seconds before the light faded to disguise himself.

He zipped down, hiding his power level as soon as he hit the sands, and grabbed the first rags he could, throwing them over himself. The light dissipated, and Vegeta was already "running away from the planet killer" with the rest of the crowd, the three-star Dragon Ball in his grasp.

* * *

"He did it!!" King Kai yelled out. "He escaped! HE got away with the Dragon Ball!!"

Apple Bloom and Goten were dancing around in excitement, as King Kai did a little heel clap, and a jig. 

Applejack wished she could be that excited about it, but she still didn't fully get what was going on.

"That Vegeta fella sure is a good bluffer..." She said, fanning herself with her hat. "I thought he actually was gonna do it..."

Goten stopped dancing to smile at Applejack. "No way! I knew it was his plan all along! Vegeta is one of us, through and through!"

Apple Bloom had to admit; she had a newfound respect for Vegeta. She'd only seen him as a grump before, but after hearing his words, and now seeing him risk everything for her and Goten's sakes...

"He really is somethin'!" She exclaimed.

He really was. She was going to have to thank him profusely after they gathered all seven balls. Then a thought came to her; Vegeta hadn't defeated the two hunters. In fact, he had only barely escaped their notice. What if they tracked him down again? Would he be able to pull something like that off again?

"King Kai?" She spoke up. "What about those two who were fightin' Vegeta?"

King Kai seemed to think for a moment, and after another minute of what she assumed was him searching the Earth, he spoke.

"Right now, they have no idea where Vegeta is." He said; the yellow filly relaxed, and was nearly brought down by the gravity when she did so.

"What's the likeliness of them finding him again before we make our wishes?" Goten asked.

King Kai patted the half-saiyan on the head; his smile returning to his round face. "No need to worry about that right now. Vegeta is ok, and the three-star ball is in his possession. I say, we let them handle it for now, and get back to training. With full bellies, Bubbles should be easier to catch...right?" 

The three students put on determined grins and as soon as they stepped hoof and foot outside, they were off after the primate again, vigor renewed.

In the back of King Kai's mind, he did worry, though. He didn't think Goku could even beat them...what would they do, indeed, when (not if) the time came to deal with them?
> Soon...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours of chasing Bubbles had passed by the time they were ready for another break; all three of the new kai students sweating and panting horribly. 

Goten and Applejack had no need for rest for too long, but Apple Bloom was still a living pony, and she was just about to pass out from exhaustion. King Kai noticed this, and had announced they take an extended break for the young mare with the pink bow so she could sleep and regain her energy. 

As Goten sat down to rest for a short while, he saw Apple Bloom walking groggily up to him, but smiling all the while. She looked up at him with those big amber colored eyes and Goten laughed before putting his legs down so she could climb atop him.

Apple Bloom curled into a ball and huddled up close to Goten's chest; her head positioned over his heart. She found it strange that it was still beating even though the half-saiyan was deceased, but didn't think about questioning it in the slightest as the rhythmic thumping in his chest coupled with his long strokes down her back carried her off to sleep.

Goten looked down at the mare as she slept happily on his body. He thought it as about the most adorable thing he'd ever seen, and he wasn't going to do anything to disturb her, even if his leg was falling asleep already. 

Applejack figured now would be an ok time to talk to Goten, seeing as how Apple Bloom couldn't be mad if she didn't hear anything.

As he trotted up to the pair under the tree, Goten waved silently at the orange mare with the three apple cutie mark. She gave a small nod back in return before sitting down next to them, smiling at her little sister's sleeping form.

"So," Applejack started, clearing her throat a little. "what do y'all think of my little sis there"

Goten chuckled. "She's an awesome little pony. Her potential is so high to become a great martial artist, and she's tough enough to handle the training that goes with it."

"What about personally?" The mare persisted. "What do you think of her, personally?"

Goten looked up thoughtful, the smile never leaving his face. It was a smile so innocent, the young man couldn't be holding any knowledge of Apple Bloom's feelings.

"She's a great friend." He finally spoke. "She makes sure I'm always happy, or at least not super sad, and I try to do the same for her."

"Do you ever wonder why she's so nice and tryin' to do things that make you happy? Just curious."

"I suppose she was raised that way. Although, I must admit, she does seem to focus a lot of her efforts on me personally."

Well, she knew he wasn't purposefully friendzoning her sister, then; he was just oblivious. But that was good, because it meant he didn't hold any hidden agendas to being around Apple Bloom. 

"She ever do anything special for ya?" Applejack pressed on, genuinely curious about her sister's attempts to get him to notice her. 

"Well, she likes to hug me and cuddle up with me when she sleeps. She says I help her keep her nightmares away." Goten said.

Nightmares? Applejack didn't think Apple Bloom had nightmares. At least not the type that needed outside influence to keep away; nightmares of that intensity were usually signs of something.

"What nightmares?" She finally asked.

Goten frowned slightly, remembering what Apple Bloom had told him. "She says she keeps having flashbacks about you and her friends that she let down. She guilts herself all the time for not being strong enough to save any of you; it haunts her badly."

The orange farm mare looked back at her sleeping sister who was smiling in her quiet slumber, moving along with Goten's rising and falling chest. Applejack had never intended her sacrifice to cause any guilt in Apple Bloom; she would never intentionally leave her with such an awful problem. 

She nuzzled against Apple Bloom's face gently, only stirring her a little as she did so. 

"I'm sorry, little sis." She whispered. "Please don't blame yourself for the things that happened. It wasn't ever your fault. Please remember that."

The young mare's ear twitched slightly, and Applejack smiled. She looked back up to Goten, and tipped her hat.

"When y'all leave here, keep takin' good care of my sister, will ya?" She requested, a small tear in her eye. "She needs you...a lot more than you know."

Goten solemnly nodded as Applejack went to find a place to lay down for awhile. That boy was so innocent it was stunning; and he really cared for her little sister. She hoped Apple Bloom would gain the courage to just tell him what she wanted to, because if he was this much to her, she couldn't let him slip through her hooves. Applejack herself had lost something like that as well because of her inhibition to say anything; she didn't want that to happen to Apple Bloom.

* * *

Goku was soaring through the air, doing barrel rolls and flips all over the place. Not half an hour ago, the mighty saiyan had located not one, but two of the Dragon Balls, and had met no resistance in either case. He looked down at the four and five-star balls in his hands before putting them in his backpack for safe keeping. 

He hoped everything was going well on the other's ends.

* * *

Trunks followed the blip on his dragon radar through the caves of the mountain where the ball was to be located; the dingy and cramped space didn't bother him too much, in fact, as his eyes instantly adjusted to the darkness, he was reminded of home. 

He finally emerged into the chamber where the six-star Dragon Ball lay untouched; just ripe for the taking. 

As he walked forward to grab it, he sensed movement behind him. He stood straight up and turned his head back to see the newcomers; both were dressed in similar black coats with armor emblazoned with the five and six-star balls respectively. One was about Trunks' height, and had bald, scarred head; his eyes a pitch black, and fangs like knives were visible on his smirk.

The other was a little taller with orange colored hair styled in a small mohawk. His blue eyes on Trunks, never blinking. 

The three stared down each other for a few moments before suddenly, the duo bowed down before the purple-haired half-saiyan. 

Trunks smiled darkly, a hint of green appearing in his eyes; now he really did feel like he was home.

"Talbot, Anil," He spoke to the two. "rise."

"As you command. We are so very happy to see you, Grand Elder Seven." The bald one named Talbot said, his deep voice echoing off the cave walls.

"Do you two have the seven-star ball with you?" The Trunks imposter asked his subjects.

In response, the one named Anil brought it fort and handed it off to Seven. Indeed this was the seven-star ball, and now with the six-star ball in his possession, all he had to do was get back to Vegeta and Goku, who had no doubt acquired the others by now. Soon, everything would be going his way, and he would finally be able to take revenge on the ones who had killed his beloved mother and so many of his siblings now lost without her. 

He began to laugh, a sound that chilled the air to the very core of every living being within earshot of the evil sound. "Trunks" turned to his followers, and held the two Dragon Balls before them.

"Our efforts will soon be rewarded, my loyal servants." He hissed, his eyes completely green now. "And we will all live like kings once it's over!"
> Trouble's Afoot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Goten," Apple Bloom called over to the half-saiyan. "I have a plan to catch Bubbles!"

Goten excitedly kneeled down to hear her plan as she whispered it into his ear. 

"If you toss me up into that tree there, I'll wait for you and Applejack to chase him over here. Then, I'll jump down on him!" She proudly stated.

"Great idea!" Goten exclaimed. "Does Applejack know the plan?"

The mare nodded, a big smile on her face. "Eeyup! I told her a few minutes ago."

The two started to snicker uncontrollably like children who had a big secret. Apple Bloom then motioned for them to enact the plan; hopping into his outstretched palms, she jumped up with all her newfound strength assisted by Goten's strong toss. She mamaged to grab onto a low branch that was just high enough to be hidden in the leaves.

This plan was gonna work smooth as silk, she thought.

As if on cue, Applejack appeared chasing the primate across the yard; the simian was headed for the house, but Goten quickly cut him off, making a fake attempt to grab him so he'd turn toward the tree. The duo continued to corral Bubbles around until he was within range of Apple Bloom. The young mare from Ponyville launched herself at the monkey with a yell, startling him into staying still long enough to be nearly flattened, as Apple Bloom landed atop him.

She looked down at the monkey, and smiled. "Gotcha!"

"I see you managed to catch Bubbles." The voice of King Kai came from behind them all. "Impressive. This is a new record for the Bubbles test."

The three of them laughed as they celebrated their completion of the first phase of training; Goten throwing a celebratory fist pump into the air. 

"Well, guys, now the training gets serious." He continue, a slightly darker tone coming to his voice. "It's time for me to teach you the Kaioken attack."

Apple Bloom and Applejack stopped their celebrating at the name.

"Kaio-what?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Kaioken." Goten answered for King Kai. "It's an attack my dad used to use a lot before I was born. Gohan always told me stories of how fast dad beat big tough guys with the Kaioken."

The rotund kai nodded his head to confirm. "It's an attack that's like a double-edged sword. It will boost your speed and strength; and even smaller things like sight and hearing are increased in efficiency. But there is a big risk to using it."

"What risk is that?" Applejack asked, stepping forward.

King Kai motioned for everyone to head over to the more open end of his yard. "You three go over this way and prepare yourselves. I'll explain fully in a few minutes."

As he watched the two ponies and the half-saiyan follow his instruction without complaint, he started to think to himself. Normally, the next phase of training was to hit his grasshopper friend Gregory with a hammer to improve speed and strength naturally; but he sensed something dark down on Earth. Something was afoot, and he didn't like it; the training would have to be sped up a bit to make sure he could teach them the important things as soon as possible. 

He tried to reach Goku, but that same dark energy was blocking his telepathy. It looked like the saiyan born on Earth and his companions were on their own until further notice; maybe if he could get them to master the Kaioken at the very least, they would be able to help out back on Earth. Maybe.

* * *

Out near Mt. Paus, in the lush forests surrounding the area of Goku's house walked a familiar face; his flowing white cape billowing even in the soft breeze as he walked through the trees, the pointed shoulder pads swaying with his movements. His green skin and pointed ears were unmistakable, and were he not wearing his trademark turban atop his head, his two short antennae would've been visible from his forehead.

As he brushed off some pinecone needles from his dark purple gi, Piccolo thought that today would be a good day to visit Gohan and take some time off of training. Afterall, he wasn't getting any younger, and his body wasn't able to handle the long hours he had been used to of training these days. 

As he made his way down the path in the forest, he stopped; sensing a power level he was pretty sure wasn't supposed to be anywhere around here if what Vegeta had told him was true. But there was no mistaking this one; afterall, he'd trained this one years ago, he never forgot one of his student's power levels. 

"Trunks?" He called out. "Trunks, are you there?"

When no response came, the namekian warrior cautiously proceeded into the brush. Following the power level, he searched for the young half-saiyan with his eyes. After a few moments of walking, he happened across a sight that made him recoil in disgust. 

There was a pod-like growth hanging upside down from one of the trees branches. It was glowing with a slight green hue, and looked slightly insectoid in nature. As he took a closer look at it, he saw through the foggy transparent shell around the front of it.

"Trunks!"

The half-saiyan son of Vegeta was stuck inside this sickly and mucus covered sack; his seemingly sleeping form looking like it was in some sort of hibernation. There was a chance that if he cut Trunks out of there, he might suffer some kind of trauma from awakening from such a state. But Piccolo had to take the risk to get an explanation.

With a quick chop, he cut through the soft membrane, and a slimey substance fell out along with Trunks, who immediately woke up screaming. 

The namekian quickly rushed to hold the young half-saiyan in place so he wouldn't hurt himself in his thrashing; Piccolo hoped Trunks wouldn't bite his own tongue off in this state. 

He held him still for a good half-minute; the slime from Trunks' black, form fitting shirt and blue handkerchief around his neck dripping onto Piccolo's arms. As Trunks started to calm down and quit thrashing about, Piccolo released his hold on him.

Trunks tightened the belt holding his tan shorts to his waist before speaking. 

"Piccolo...?" He managed.

"Trunks, it's me..." Piccolo answered. "what happened...why were you in that shell in the tree?"

Trunks shook his head, and rubbed his eyes, looking up at his now vacant prison. A look of remembrance crossed his face, and it was frantic remembrance at that. 

"Oh no! Piccolo," Trunks shouted, grabbing the namekian by the shoulder pads. "where's dad?! Where's Goku?! ...Where's Goten?!"

Piccolo was taken aback by the sudden reemergence of panic in his former student. 

"Trunks..what's going on?"

"Piccolo...we need to get to my dad and the others...they're in trouble! Big trouble!"
 


> The Imposter Revealed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

King Kai approached his three students as they sat in front of him, eager to learn more about the Kaioken attack the rotund blue kai had talked about earlier. 

Apple Bloom remembered he had said something about the Kaioken being a powerful but risky technique that he had taught to several of his past students. Only four had ever mastered it. Apple Bloom planned to make that number five, at least.

"Ok, listen up." King Kai began speaking. "The Kaioken is a technique that multiplies your strength, speed, sight and hearing by whatever multiplier you employ in it. In theory, you could make yourself the strongest ever, as you can multiply it up as many times as you want."

Apple Bloom and Goten exchanged exchanged excited looks at that. The prospect of becoming super strong with  single technique piqued their eagerness tenfold.

"However," King Kai continued. "that's only in theory. In reality, when you multiply up in Kaioken state, you raise your ki levels, or for simpler terms, your energy levels will go up the same as the multiplier you use in the Kaioken state. If you were to multiply your Kaioken by, say, six; your ki levels would rise to multiply by six."

He started to pace back and forth, his hands placed behind his back as he spoke. 

"One thing you have to know is that matter and energy are interchangeable; that means that eventually, one will replace the other. If you multiply the Kaioken by too much, it will obliterate your body from the sheer amount of energy that would rise inside you."

He pushed his round shades back up as they had slid down his snout slightly. Applejack, Goten, and Apple Bloom were staring at him, eyes glued to their teacher as he explained.

"Goku's maximum multiplier when using he Kaioken, or at least the max he's ever used, was times twenty." He said. "If it weren't for his incredible willpower and strength, his body would've been disintegrated by the exertion he had put on his body. So before I teach you this technique, I want you three to all promise me something."

They leaned in, ready to hear what the condition was to learn this powerful and dangerous move.

"You must promise to not go over times three in the Kaioken state, at least while you're training with me; promise me."

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." The apple sisters recited at once.

"Uh...what they said.." Goten agreed, not fully aware of the meaning of the promise.

King Kai nodded in satisfaction; his smile returning to his face. He motioned for the three to get up. It was time for the training to begin.

* * *

Vegeta stood in the place he was to meet Kakarot and Trunks once the Dragon Balls had all been gathered. He really wished the fool would get a cell phone like his sons, but Kakarot was too simple minded to care to learn how to use it; at least that's what Vegeta himself thought the reason was.

That wasn't too important right now though; what was important was getting all the Dragon Balls together and making their wishes. Kakarot had the others, and Trunks was fetching the last few; Vegeta only held the three-star ball, and he was praying against all odds that those monsters from the desert hadn't followed him.

He felt a power level approaching, and whirled around, ready to fight. He calmed down a little when he saw his son walking towards him, two Dragon Balls held in his hands. 

As Trunks got within earshot, Vegeta finally spoke. 

"Took you long enough." He said. "How many people did you stab in the back this time?"

Trunks didn't change his expression as he handed Vegeta to Dragon Balls in his possession. "I'll tell you in a minute; where's Goku?"

Vegeta took the balls and turned around to place them on the ground next to the three-star ball. He looked down at the three glowing orbs as they shimmered even in the darkening night sky; the few gray clouds adding a very chilling feel to the horizon.

"He's on his way, presumably. He should have all the other Dragon Balls with him as well."

Trunks grunted in satisfaction, and made a motion to grab at the hilt of this sword on his back. He smirked a little, knowing it was time.

"Now, to answer your question from before; about how many people I had to stab in the back to get those Dragon Balls. The answer isn't a big number..."

In a flash, "Trunks" drew the ancient weapon and jutted the ki enhanced blade straight through the saiyan prince's back; the blade, now covered in the crimson liquid that was Vegeta's royal blood, protruded out of his chest like a horrible growth erupting from within him. 

Vegeta stood twitching, his eyes wide open in pure shock and disbelief. He looked down slowly at the sword that had pierced his body; he could feel the cold steel inside him pushing muscle and tissue aside that it hadn't slashed and cut through already. It's edge was dangerously close to his now rapidly beating heart.

He fell to his knees as "Trunks" let go of the weapon, leaving it buried in Vegeta's back. 

"It's just one." He said, smiling evily; a green glow appearing in his eyes. 

"S--son..." Vegeta managed, finally managing to turn his head to "Trunks." "W--w--why...?"

"For starters...I'm afraid you've been fooled, prince Vegeta." The imposter cackled. "I'm not your dear son...in fact, he's not even here right now."

"W--what?!" 

The one wearing Trunks' face brushed some hair away from his face; his eyes completely emerald green now. Vegeta swore he saw fangs on what appeared to be his son's face. 

"Let me show you something...before you die."

"Trunks" began to change before Vegeta's very eyes. First his purple hair grew down to is waist, turning a dark green as it did so; his pale skin quickly darkened to a near pitch black. He grew at least three feet in height, and slimmed down a bit from the beefed up musculature of the one he'd been impersonating; his arms and legs began to form small holes like swiss cheese, and his fingers became sharp as steak knives. His clothes also changed along with him, turning form the Capsule Corporation jacket to a long white robe akin to an emperor's garb with a large seven-star Dragon Ball insignia on the chest piece. 

The disgusting creature gave a shout as he hunched over sprouting clear, insect-like wings from his back. The transformation was complete, and a monster straight of a nightmare stood before the dying prince, who looked on in absolute horror.

"I am Prince Sapphic, and I thank you kindly for finding the Dragon Balls for me. I am now one step closer to getting my revenge, thanks to all of you."

As Sapphic watched Vegeta finally fall forward onto the ground, the sword still stuck in his body, he looked into the sky; a slick smile crossing his bug-like features. 

Goku was hovering in the air not far away, his eyes focused on Vegeta's dying form on the grass below. He was shaking with rage as he turned towards the insect-like humanoid who was had been impersonating Trunks the whole time. 

Sapphic flipped his hair back on one side of his head, revealing a pointed ear. He was so close to victory he could taste it. Only Goku stood in his way now...
> Multiplying A God's Power; Sapphic's Origin Revealed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goku's fists were trembling in pure rage at the scene he had just witnessed; Vegeta hadn't even had a chance to react, and was now dying on the blood covered grass. His vision quickly shifted to the black and green creature with the strange body. 

"You...you monster!" He shouted, barely able to hold himself from charging in headfirst. "How could you! Vegeta had his back turned to you! Are you so shameless that you not only replaced his son, but you couldn't give him a chance to fight back?!"

Sapphic's clear wings flicked a moment; the sound like a piece of thick paper ripping. "That's about the gist of it, yes."

Goku's muscled tightened up more at that statement; this devil was so nonchalant about his dishonorable deed. It sickened him to his very core.

Sapphic noticed the tension rise in the saiyan warrior. and smiled darkly. "Oh, come now. I'm doing him a mercy, really. Even if I had allowed him to fight, he wouldn't have been able to win."

"I disagree!" Goku yelled through clenched teeth. "Well then...I'm not gonna fool around with you...here I come..."

With a echoing scream of rage, the very ground on which Sapphic stood began to crack and tremble as Goku started his transformation. After a few moments of incredible power surging through the world, the saiyan lowered himself to the ground; his extremely long and electrified golden hair signifying he was in Super Saiyan 3.

"Oh, my..." Sapphic said, licking his lips. "that power of yours just gets me so...excited every time you use it."

Goku didn't say a word. He merely stood there, waiting for Sapphic to realize he wasn't going to have a talkfest. 

"I must test this power myself." He giggled. "Even if it is...below me."

"I'm gonna make you eat those words.." Goku spoke up.

Instantly, he closed the gap between them, a fist raise in striking position. "...and my fist!!" 

The clenched hand connected with Sapphic's face squarely, making a slight cracking sound which Goku assumed was the creature's nose bone. As the attack finished, Sapphic slid back from the force of the blow, his feet however, never left the ground. When he came to a halt a few feet away from the Super Saiyan 3, he stood still, trying to regain his composure.

Once he did so, he stood straight up revealing his face. He was still wearing that ugly smile, and Goku noticed that it hadn't been his nose that had cracked.

Several lines were now present on his features; like fractures in a car windshield. 

"I'm actually impressed." He laughed, touching a finger to his face. "You fractured my exoskeleton. No one in history has ever done that; what strength."

"That's only the tip of the iceberg, you beast." 

Taking up a fighting stance, Sapphic waved Goku to bring it on. "Let's see the rest of the glacier, then."

The mighty saiyan gave a loud battle cry and launched himself forward. In an instant, the two were trading blows; blocking each others punches and kicks with blinding speed as they drifted across the plains.

Vegeta, still barely alive, began to crawl forward towards the Dragon Balls. If he could just grab one of them, he could muster the last of his strength the hurl it far out of Sapphic's reach and at least delay whatever plan he had in store with them. 

It was pain staking and absolute agony to drag the blade embedded in his torso across he ground with him, but he needed to do this. He knew Kakarot would only be able to keep the beast at bay for awhile; even with all the god energy he had absorbed years ago from his fight with Beerus, Goku's power level was still less than what the saiyan prince sensed in Sapphic. He had a feeling, Sapphic hadn't even begun to reveal his true power yet, as well. So it was up to him to keep the Dragon Balls out of his grasp, at least for awhile longer.

As he reached his hand out to grab one, a sudden ki blast struck his outstretched limb, blowing it clean off just below the wrist. Vegeta screamed in agony again, as his right hand went flying through the air, landing a several feet away.

"Vegeta!" Goku exclaimed worriedly, but was struck during this distraction by the creature that was currently tangled in fist-dancing with. 

The saiyan endured a gut punch, and an overhead slam. As Sapphic moved to strike him again, Goku whilred, smacking his giant amount of hair against the monster's face, briefly distracting him so he could land a massive kick to his gut.

The attack connected, and Sapphic gave a grunt of pain as he flew back, barely managing to stay on his feet. He had no time to rest either, as the saiyan raised on Earth continued to lay on the thick stuff; superbly fast attacks danced around Sapphic as he tried to avoid each one. 

Goku jumped back, landing several feet from the bug-like humanoid. As he gained footing, he took up a familiar stance.

"Ka...me...ha...me..HAHHHHH!!!!!" He shouted out as a massive blast of blue energy shot forth from his outstretched palms. 

Sapphic cackled, and put his hands out to stop the beam dead in it's tracks. 

"What?!" Goku exclaimed, pouring even more energy into the attack. 

The beam enlarged impossibly, an looked like it would swallow all of them up in it's radius; Sapphic didn't even flinch as he continued to hold the beam in place. With a flick of his wrist, he insect beast flung the attack upwards, as it soared harmlessly into the night sky, riefly illuminating everything.

Goku stood in awe, looking at where his Kamehameha wave had just gone. As he turned back to his opponent, he found the himself burning to know how his family's signature technique had been deflected so easily. 

"What...are you..?" He asked, a little out of breath from the exertion he had used in that last attack.

Sapphic smiled. "I suppose you deserve to know, since this is your final battle."

* * *

King Kai's antennae suddenly sparked and exploded magnificently as he fell over giving a loud squeak. Apple Bloom and the others rushed over to help their fallen teacher up.

"King Kai, are you ok?" Goten asked quickly as the kai got back to his feet. "What just happened?"

"Is something wrong on Earth?" Apple Bloom queried, to which King Kai gravely nodded.

Apple Bloom gulped. What could be going on back on Earth now; and of such intensity that King Kai nearly exploded? Was Goku in trouble? Did they run into more of those Dragon Ball hunters? What was going on?

"King Kai, I know we're supposed to be training, but we almost have the Kaioken mastered..please let us see what's going on!" She said, rather loudly.

King Kai figured they had a right to know since Goku was tied to both Apple Bloom and Goten. He was sure from Applejack's expression that she was just as curious too. But the question was; should he show them? Because I definitely wasn't looking good. 

For goodness sakes, Vegeta was laying one-handed and impaled on the ground, and Goku had put too much energy into an attack that did nothing. To top it off, he was in Super Saiyan 3; a from that puts a huge strain on Goku's energy and body as it is constantly draining ki from him to say active. There was also the question of who had shot Vegeta's hand off. King Kai hadn't seen Sapphic make a move against him, yet he didn't sense anyone else in the area. They must be hiding their power levels and waiting for something.

It just didn't look good, but he supposed he should show them anyway...if only to see what could be Goku's final moments.

He turned and motioned for them to touch is back in order to see what he was seeing. 

Apple Bloom immediately placed a hoof on his wide back, and closed her amber eyes, waiting for the vision to come to her. She saw poor Vegeta laying near-death next to three of the Dragon Balls; a sword thrusted through his chest.

She noticed Goku and something that looked strangely similar to---

"A changeling?!"Applejack shouted out in surprise.

A changeling? That would explain Trunks putting her off so much and acting out of character from what the others knew of him. That had to be it, because Trunks was nowhere to be seen in King Kai's vision. Granted, he was rarely present in big fights, but it just felt true that the changeling had been impersonating Trunks the entire time. 

She looked over to Goten, and saw he had come to the same conclusion. He then turned to Applejack.

"What's a changeling, exactly?" He asked.

"They're evil little buggers ho disguise as somepony ya know and feed off your love for them." She said, her face in a frown. "They can absorb more than just you feelings, though. They're able to absorb strength, speed, even memories and power if they're strong enough to. But what's a changeling doing here...and why does he look like a biped?"

"It must have been impersonating Trunks...I knew he was acting out of character..." Goten told her, having already figured that part out.

"Shh!" King Kai hushed. "They're saying something..."

* * *

"My name is Prince Sapphic, and I am the son of Queen Chrysalis; born of a union between her and a saiyan from another time who landed in the outskirts of Equestria decades ago." Sapphic explained.

Goku's non-existant eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You're half-saiyan?!"

The changeling prince grinned and chuckled; brushing a piece of dark green hair away from his face. 

"Indeed. Though for some reason, I would guess my changeling genetics, I cannot become a Super Saiyan as you can. But it doesn't really matter. In my base form, I can easily destroy any so-called Super Saiyan with ease, yourself included."

"You said a saiyan from another time was your father...what did you mean by that?" 

Sapphic placed his hands to his hips, a gesture that made him look more feminine thanks to his slim features and lengthy hair. 

"I believe my mother called him by the name of...Bardock." He answered. "She searched his memories when he was vulnerable one night and disguised as his wife. While she was with him, feeding off his love, she learned the reason he had been in Equestria at all was because of some kind of tear in time-space that opened when someone named Frieza destroyed his home planet."

"Wait a minute..." Goku breathed out. "Vegeta told me that only one saiyan actually confronted Frieza in Planet Vegeta's final day after King Vegeta was killed...and that was..."

"Your father." Sapphic laughed. "That's right Goku, or should I say, Kakarot. I'm your half brother."

Goku stood staring at what was revealed to be his family. How was this possible? There was no way...this monster had to be lying. But something in those emerald eyes told him that this was too delicious to him to be a lie. 

"Is...is my father still alive..in this Equestria you talk about..?" Goku asked, but feeling like he already knew the answer.

"I'm afraid...my mother sucked the poor saiyan dry of even his life-force. It was sad really...he really thought his wife had survived the destruction of the planet." Sapphic cackled, knowing the knowledge of his father's confirmed demise was boiling the Super Saiyan's blood.

"I...I..." Goku tried to say, but couldn't even form words. His anger was at a peak now knowing his father had died not fighting Frieza, but by being drained of his life force thinking he was with his wife the whole time. That was not how a warrior should go. Ever!

Giving a long howl of anger, Goku's power levels raised dramatically in one sudden burst. The massive upsurge of energy was enough to make Sapphic back off a step; though the saiyan's power was still not above his, it was quickly rising to match it.

The sky itself seemed to crackle with rage and electricity as Goku's cries echoed off the very heavens themselves.

Vegeta lay and watched as Kakarot continued to power up; this was not like his god form at all; it was...stronger somehow...on a whole different level.

* * *

"Oh goodness! Can it be?!" King Kai exclaimed suddenly.

"C-can what be..King Kai?" The nervous Apple Bloom asked.

King Kai was shaking, his antennae once again sparking as he witnessed something he'd never thought he'd get to see.

"Goku...Goku's rage over the knowledge of his father's treacherous demise has...has pushed him over the edge..he's...he's.."

There was silence for a moment before Goten spoke up in impatience.

"He's what?! What's happening to my dad?!"

* * *

"He's...changing?" Sapphic questioned himself. "Well, if he's transforming into a Super Saiyan God, it won't save him."

He heard Vegeta laugh and hack in the background, and turned to see the dying prince smiling. What reason did the injured saiyan have to be smiling.

"You..fool.." Vegeta coughed, blood spattering the grass with each word. "Kakarot is ascending beyond that...he already has the power of a God...now...he's going to multiply it...by...fifty times...ha...haha.."

Sapphic's eyes widened; if this was true, Goku's power would keep rising until it surpassed his own. He had to stop Goku now before he overpowered him; but as he reached for the saiyan before him, his hand burned, and he drew it back in pain. It was too late; the power was skyrocketing and there was nothing Sapphic could do to stop it. The changeling prince instantly regretted telling Goku this information.

There was a magnificent blast of light, and when the brightness vanished, Sapphic's jaw dropped slightly at the sight.

((NOTICE: Please read the author's note after reading this, as it will explain the differences that are about to follow from the actual DBZ technicalities.))

Goku stood there, his hair returned to the normal jet black, but something was different. It seemed to have shrunk from his massive Super Saiyan 3 form, but it was still fairly long and large in comparison to his normal hair. His shirt was gone and revealed that all of his torso except for his pecks and abs were covered in what appeared to be red fur; and surprisingly--

"Kakarot...your tail...it's back.." Vegeta grunted out.

Goku didn't even turn to look at his regrown red tail; his eyes, which were outlined by some kind of red lines, never left Sapphic's own. The changeling prince was actually a bit intimidated by the gaze of the saiyan.

"What...what is that form?" He asked, burning to know what transformation could amplify his already large god powers to higher than his own huge abilities.

* * *

King Kai was in shock, but a slight smile was also present upon his face; his three pupils jaws all dropped. 

"He's...he's become a Super Saiyan 4...."

 
> The Mighty Fall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Piccolo and Trunks continued to fly at great speeds towards the power levels of Goku, and the fading one of Vegeta. Trunks was pulling ahead of the Namekian, probably concerned that his father's power level was slowly dipping close to zero. 

Piccolo himself even had to admit; he was worried for them. If someone powerful enough to take them both on alone, and smart enough to infiltrate their ranks like that, was present, he wasn't sure if they'd even be any help when they arrived. That is...if they arrived in time.

Suddenly, Piccolo's senses went wild and he stopped in mid-air, frozen in place.

"What...was that..?" He grunted out, shaking. "This power...is..is massive...no...unbelievable..." 

He looked over at Trunks who had stopped as well; his eyes glued on the horizon. There was no doubt he'd felt the amazing upsurge of power just then.

"That...was that Goku..?" Trunks asked, already pretty sure of the answer.

Piccolo felt the energy out; the signature was definitely Goku's energy, but he'd never sensed anything this powerful before. If he could have sensed the powers of deities, this would probably be what it felt like. 

Something else occurred to the green former demon; Goku must be in serious trouble if he needed to amp up his power to that insane extent. There was no time for gawking; he flew forward at his top speed, grabbing Trunks by the shirt and taking him with. There was no time to lose.

* * *

Goku continued to stare down Sapphic; his eyes burning holes through the changeling prince. 

"Well...this is an unexpected occurance." Sapphic finally admitted, taking another step backwards. 

Sapphic knew if he was going to get his revenge, he was going to have to get the Dragon Balls from Goku's backpack which was still attached to the saiyan. There was no way he could overpower such an awesome force such as Super Saiyan 4; it was beyond power...there were no words to describe it.

His only chance was to pull a fast one, and to get the oth--

Sapphic's train of thought was cut off when in the blink of an eye, Goku's fist was rammed into his gut at high speed. It looked as if his fist was going to go through the changeling, and more of his exoskeleton could be heard shattering apart under his white robes. 

He was flung into the air and Goku was instantly up and waiting with a large kick, cracking off more of the changeling's normally indestructible outer shell. 

Sapphic flew down as a sonic boom erupted from where the kick had made contact; he was barely conscious at this point, but was scared back to waking when the rage filled eyes of Goku appeared before him as he fell. 

Sapphic couldn't react in time, however, and the Super Saiyan 4 smacked him to the side with a large backhand that made a pimp look like a rich snob with a dainty glove.

He rolled and flipped through the dirt and grass, each impact with the ground feeling like getting struck with a truck. When he finally stopped, h look across the field to see Goku in that same stance as before...but something was different. Instead of the blue energy sphere that normally accompanied a Kamehameha wave, the orb was a bright red in Goku's hands.

"Times ten..." The saiyan yelled out.

He as multiplying his Kamehameha wave? This was bad; Sapphic knew he wouldn't be able to stop it like the last one. Not with that much power behind it.

"...Kamehameha!!" 

The red energy beam flew out and the size of it alone was mind-boggling. But Sapphic had one last trick up his sleeve; or should say four more. 

"Now!!" The changeling prince shouted out.

In an instant, four power levels became known to Goku and Vegeta. Anil jumped in front of Sapphic, inhaling like a balloon, and blowing it all out at once. The current from his mouth curved the x10 Kamehameha into the air and away from the injured changeling prince.

"You can bring as many cronies as you want." Goku told him, a very deep pitch to his voice along with it being slower. "I'll take all of you on and destroy you."

The mighty saiyan moved to make good on his threat, but suddenly was stopped dead in his tracks. He struggled hard to move, but for some reason, it felt like his very muscles were trying to keep him in place. 

"What's...going...on...?" Goku managed.

Sapphic walked up and laughed triumphantly. "Good work, Talbot. Keep him immobilized as long as you can with that blood manipulation of yours."

"Blood manipulation?!"

Goku moved his eyes just enough to see the short man with the pitch black eyes and fangs; his scarred and bald head a disgusting sight. His evil smirk was evidence he was the one holding Goku in place.

Goku became aware of the other two walking over; one's power level was drenched in death and the others was dark, and yet light hearted at the same time.

"Oh no..." Vegeta groaned. "They did follow me..."

Dosne and Seaiga stopped a few feet from the entrapped Super Saiyan 4; all the remaining Dragon Ball hunters circled him like hawks.

Sapphic walked right up in front of Goku, and looked him dead in the eyes. The changeling prince was still intimidated by them, but knew Talbot would keep him from actually doing anything.

"You see, Goku," He started. "you without a doubt have the most power I've ever seen. It even eclipses my own, and is on par with the other member of your little group you left out."

Little member of the group? Was this freak talking about Gohan? Or was he being literal about the little part and talking about Apple Bloom? Either way, it probably wasn't important at the moment, and the saiyan gave everything to try and break free of the blood-bender's grasp. He managed to move an elbow a slight bit, but that was all he could muster, even with his insane power.

"I'm afraid, though, that even a Super Saiyan 4 can't fight his own body." Sapphic finished his taunt. "Now, since we can't kill you ourselves in this form, we'll have to see if our next move does."

The changeling prince nodded to Talbot, and the short demon-looking man moved Goku like a puppet on strings. He tried to fight it with everything he had, but even though Talbot was sweating from the exertion needed to control such a powerful being, Goku couldn't budge on his own. Blast it, he thought; he had just achieved a newfound strength and now it was all for nothing.

Goku involuntarily reached into his back pack to remove the Dragon Balls and place them with the others; the seven orbs started to pulsate and glow in each other's presence.

* * *

"Oh no, Goku can't get free!" King Kai exclaimed, his brow sweating. "That blasted blood-bending Talbot has him like a marionette on strings!"

Goten and Apple Bloom were both shaking; sensing the massive total of all the power levels present. It was like nothing they could think to describe, but it sent cold fear spinning out of control down each of their spines. This was it; they'd lost.

"King Kai, we need to do somethin'!" Applejack yelled, firmly placing her hat on her head.

"I wish we could, Applejack, but I don't think even if you could go down there it would make a difference...noneof you are ready for this kind of power...I'm sorry...Goku has lost..."

Apple Bloom shook her head hard. "No! No way, I refuse to believe he's goin' down like this!"

"What she said!" Goten agreed. "My dad is the strongest guy ever! He won't lose..."

King Kai wasn't sure he wanted to see how you could kill a Super Saiyan 4, but he knew he had to see; he had to honor Goku's bravery.

Suddenly, his antennae sparked, and each of them looked in surprise. 

"Wait a minute!" King Kai said, a little hope returning to him. "Goku's power is rising again!"

* * *

As the Dragon Balls shimmered at his feet, Goku thought to himself that this was not how things were going to go down. First his father Bardock, then Trunks, and Goten...now Vegeta...there was no way in hell Goku was letting this smug bug get away with this.

"I...can't...let...you...win!!" 

The assembled hunters looked on puzzled as Goku started to violently shake; a gold aura appearing around him like a blanket of rage. Talbot started to bleed from the nose as he struggled to maintain his grip n the mighty saiyan. Goku thrust his chest out, giving a loud yell which rumbled the very Earth; a massive shockwave erupted from him, and Talbot's scarred, bald head literally exploded like a watermelon.

The control was broken, and Goku was back in action. He whipped back and caught Alin in the nose with a giant elbow, and smacked him to the ground, finishing the air-bender off with a point blank ki blast from his left hand. He disappeared, and rematerialized behind Dosne, who tried to grab Goku in a sand trap too late. The Super Saiyan 4 let out a feral growl and obliterated Dosne's sand body with a huge ki blast from both his hands this time.

Seaiga tossed several pink bolts of lightning at the rampaging saiyan, and each one of them Goku caught like sticks.

"That's...that's not fair...you're...cheating at this game..." She shivered in fear; her usually playful green eyes now filled with terror.

"No." Goku growled deeply, not even raising his voice. "I just changed the rules."

He tossed all of them at the hunter, and the energy feedback looped through her body, frying all of her internal organs instantly. The now crispy corpse fell to the ground, killed by her own massive energy.

Goku turned around to face Sapphic, who was shaking in his exoskeleton, and slowly backing away.

"It's time for you to pay for all the people you shamelessly destroyed." 

Vegeta, barely able to even see what was going on, sensed one other power level still active in the area. The stench of death heavy upon it.

"Ka..ka..rot..." He tried to choke out a warning.

As Goku moved in for the kill, he saw a smile still tugging at Sapphic's lips. What was he hiding?

"Why so smug, bug-breath?" Goku asked.

The evil changeling chuckled, and pushed his hair behind his ears. "It's amazing how you just assume some enemies defeated..."

At that moment, large tendrils of sand shot up and ensnared the mighty Super Saiyan 4 in a grip that he couldn't get out of. As the sand dragged him away from Sapphic, he saw Dosne rise from the ground next to, reforming himself unharmed.

"You killed my best friend." Dosne droned out. "Now I kill you."

Goku wasn't sure how Dosne would accomplish that, until he noticed the sand was holding him overtop the seven Dragon Balls. A horrifying realization came to Goku's mind, and he desperately tried to escape the clutches of the sand, but it would reform faster than he could destroy it.

"Eternal dragon!" Sapphic called out to the sky. "I summon you to fulfill my wish!"

The Dragon Balls illuminated with the power of the dragon, and Goku closed his eyes.

Piccolo and Trunks arrived at the scene just as the words had been spoken from Sapphic's mouth. The namekian saw Goku being held over the activating wish orbs, and a look of horror crossed his features as well as he zoomed over as fast as he could toward him.

"Goku!!" He called out, but it was too late.

Shenron emerged from the orbs as a brilliant light of immense energy; the very energy that had just tore the former Super Saiyan 4 literally in half. 

Goku's torso fell to the ground nearly yards from his legs, and he stared unbelievingly down at his intestines and organs as they slowly oozed out of the opening like puss from a pimple. He tried to hover, but the pain was too intense, and he could barely keep himself from blacking out; if he did, he would be dead for sure.

Sapphic ignored the dying Goku, nearly forgetting the nuisance that was his older half-brother even existed, because now, Shenron was before him, and he was almost ready for his plan to unfold. 

Dosne stood over Goku's dying upper half; the blood and guts coating his boots as Goku reverted back to normal form.

"It's time for you to say goodnight, saiyan." He slowly said.

In an instant, sand encased Goku, and in another, it flattened into the dirt completely; only a few bits of bone sprouting up from the ground.

"No!!" Piccolo's voice rang out across the field. The two turned around to see the namekian and Trunks headed straight for them at the fastest speeds they could muster. It wouldn't be long before they would be upon them.

"Dosne." Sapphic said, grabbing the attention of his companion. "Stay and take care of them, then use the second wish to follow me."

Dosne nodded, and stepped up to challenge the two newcomers. Behind him, Sapphic looked up at the eternal Shenron; his massive body filling the skyline with hi green scales and the twists and turns of his slender form. 

"Make your wishes." Shenron greeted. "And please be quick about it."

"Shenron!" Sapphic yelled out. "Take me to the dimension known as Equestria!"

There was a moment before the mighty green dragon responded. "It shall be done."

Shenron's eyes glowed brightly, and in a few moments, Sapphic was gone; on his way to Equestria once more.

Piccolo and Trunks halted in front of the terrifying titan known as Dosne; his purple eyes lusting to feel their breaking bodies beneath his sandy grip.

* * *

Apple Bloom held Goten in a tight hug as the half-saiyan cried uncontrollably into her fur. She kept trying to shush him soothingly, but she was trying her hardest not to break out into tears herself. Goku had been such a great man, and to meet an end like that...it was awful...

Applejack had tipped her hat off in respects, as King Kai mournfully walked into his home, a cloth wiping at his forehead. 

"It's...it's ok, Goten.." Apple Bloom choked out. "Shhh...it'll be alright..."

Goten continued to cry like a young infant, his strong arms wrapping themselves around the young mare's body. It was absolutely killing her knowing she could do nothing to help Goten right now; his tears on her yellow fur only made her want to cry even more. The poor boy just watched his father die in a horrific way...almost the same as Apple Bloom had watched Applejack die. In that way, she understood how Goten was feeling right now, and stroked his back with her hoof as she embraced him as best she could.

> A New Body
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goten had finally stopped crying a few minutes ago. Apple Bloom had managed to remind him that Goku might be dead, but he was a warrior who saved Earth countless times; he'd be able to keep his body and meet them soon. Goten had known this, but was still saddened that it had to happen this way though. He was also worried about what this Prince Sapphic was going to do.

Apple Bloom was very worried about it. What horrors would he cause once he reached her home dimension? She had asked Applejack if the other Elements of Harmony could stop them, but her big sister wasn't sure. King Kai even seemed unsure if Celestia and Luna could defeat him if Goku couldn't.

Now King Kai was standing looking into the horizon at the scene playing out on Earth now. He told his pupils to continue training, and to try not to worry too much about the situation, but even he was scared now. Sapphic had wished himself o Equestria, and Shenron still remained, ready to grant two more wishes. If Piccolo and Trunks could just get past this Dosne character...

* * *

Dosne stared down the namekian and the half-saiyan with a bloodlust Piccolo had only seen in a select few individuals. The sight was haunting; as if this sandman was staring deep into their souls trying to make them go to sleep forever with just his gaze. 

Trunks looked over at his father, and a look of anger plastered itself on him. He gritted his teeth, fists shaking with rage. Picclo put a hand on his shoulder to grab his attention.

"Calm down, Trunks..." He said. "We can't win if we go in half-cocked in a blinding fury, ok?"

Trunks nodded after a moment, calming himself down as much as he could. The young fighter then turned to Dosne, a look of determination in his eyes.

"You're going to pay for what you've done..."

Dosne didn't respond; he just continued to stare at the duo hungrily. He had already measured both their power levels, and they were nowhere near a threat to him. He would crush them easily.

His purple eyes darted to the corpse of what used to be Seaiga, and he immediately looked back at the opponents before him. In that brief moment, Piccolo sensed pain in the titan. But it was just a brief feeling.

"I'm not going to allow you to interfere with Prince Sapphic's revenge." He said simply, his slow voice sounding rather sleepy.

Piccolo threw his turban off; his antennae springing out from their folded position and hanging naturally above his eyes. After he took his shoulder pads and cape off as well, he dropped into a fighting stance, as did Trunks. They were as ready as they were ever going to be to fight this beast.

"Goku..." The namekian said to no one in particular. "I won't let you down..."

Sand suddenly jutted out from the ground towards the duo in a blur, and they barely got out of the way before it covered all the grass in the area they were standing just seconds before. Piccolo didn't waste time to look, and charged forward, uttering a battle cry. 

He thrust one open palmed hand forward; his clawed fingers ready to slice. Dosne moved his head, and went for a gut shot with his knee, which Piccolo blocked with his free arm. The namekian then attempted to drive the elbow of the arm he attacked with first into the tall one's temple, but his head turned to sand to dodge the attack, and reformed once it had passed by.

The titanic sand-bender lifted Piccolo into the air, and turned his arm into a blade of rock solid sand particles. He jabbed for the falling namekian, but he regained flight mere moments before the attack would have hit, and dashed away in mid-air. Immediately, he placed two fingers to his forehead, and rushed as much energy as he could into that point; thrusting the two fingers forward, he fired a spiral beam of energy that would blast through anything.

"Special Beam Cannon!" He cried out the name of the attack.

Dosne actually looked slightly worried as the beam approached; the heat from the attack was massive, and he did not want it to even graze him. He disintegrated himself as the beam passed over, and reformed behind Piccolo.

He made a move to strike, but Trunks was above him, and landed a kick into the big guy's face, which blasted into and particles on impact. Dosne grabbed Trunks by the ankle, and swung him around to smack Piccolo. He released his living weapon as the two warriors flew back a few feet, landing ungracefully near Vegeta's dying form.

"N--na--namek...son..."The rough voice of the saiyan prince coughed. "L--l--listen..the...the wish...the one...f-f-for Apple Bloom..."

Piccolo looked up at Shenron, who was impatiently waiting for two more wishes. Vegeta had told him about the plan to give Apple Bloom an anthropomorphic transformation to harness her power. But was that the best use of the Dragon Balls right now?

He looked down at Vegeta, about to ask a question, a wave of sand separated them, and tried to bury Piccolo under it's crushing weight. 

"Piccolo!" Trunks cried out, throwing several a few high intensity ki blasts at the ground up dirt covering his teacher. 

The sand parted before theki blasts could touch it,and they exploded on the ground near him. 

"Thanks, kid." Piccolo breathed. "I thought that was it for me..."

"Don't mention it..." Trunks said, looking around. "Where'd that creep go?"

"Just look down." The voice of Dosne resonated in their skulls.

The monster lurched form the dirt, grabbing Trunks, and encasing him in sand; ready to crush the half-saiyan under several tons of pressure. Piccolo went for a hand chop to Dosn'es throat, but it passed through as if he were striking a sand castle. He backed up and fired off some ki blasts again.

Dosne ducked, when Piccolo continued to fire, the sand titan dropped Trunks, and slithered out of range before reforming again.

Piccolo was starting to see something here, but he needed a little more time to find out if what he was seeing was coincidence or something they could use to their advantage.

* * *

Apple Bloom concentrated on the ball of spirit energy she held in her hoof. The power was amazing in her grasp, and this was only the power of a few plants and a monkey. But it was already pretty powerful. Now it was time to test her aim with it.

"You ready Applejack?" Apple Bloom called out. 

"Ready, lil' sis!" The orange mare replied, standing ready to catch the mass of energy. 

Goten watched from the sidelines as Apple Bloom tossed the Spirit Bomb over at her sister. The ball zipped away, and Applejack had only seconds to react.

"Kaioken!" The southern mare bellowed as a red aura engulfed her.

She put her forelegs up an the Spirit Bomb halted right there, held perfectly in her hoof. She could now toss it back to Apple Bloom so the younger mare could try her hand at it. 

"Here comes the pitch, Apple Bloom!" She warned as se tossed the thing with all her might. 

Apple Bloom yelled out the name of the Kaioken, and she too was engulfed in a red aura. She aught the Spirit Bomb easy enough, but she slid back a ways when she did so.

"Horse apples.." She breathed. "Still can't stay in one spot.."

"Don't worry, Apple Bloom," Goten piped up. "you only slid back a few inches this time."

There was a sudden woosh noise, and the trio looked over to see what had caused it. There, standing in front of King Kai's house, a halo floating above his head was Goku. The saiyan's normally cheerful face was now pensive and thoughtful.

"Dad!" Goten cried out, running to his father to embrace him.

Goku returned his youngest son's affections, but merely walked over to King Kai and placed a hand on his back afterwards. 

"Hey, King Kai." He said curtly.

"Hello, Goku. I wish we could have you here on less dire terms..." King Kai replied grimly.

After a few moments of silence, Apple Bloom trotted over to the two masters as they stood there silently watching what she assumed was Earth.

"What's the deal, Goku?" She asked, wanting to know what was going on.

Without turning to look at her, he answered. "We may have a plan for you and Goten, but we need t see how this battle plays out first."

"Until then, continue your training..." King Kai added. "If you want to have any chance at beating this Prince Sapphic, you must use every moment you have to get stronger."

* * *

Over and over again, Piccolo saw it. Dosne would never even try to dodge a physical blow unless he was going to have a physical counter attack, but everytime any ki blasts were fired, he would hurriedly move away or try to catch them in his hands rather than let it hit him. Why was he so afraid to get hit by something that probably didn't even affect him? 

Probably because it would affect him. 

Piccolo thought about it as he and Trunks tried to press an attack; fists and feet flying everywhere. Ki blasts were energy attacks that had both explosive and heat based damage types. If Piccolo remembered correctly, at a certain temperature, sand would turn to glass. If Dosne were to get hit by one of their ki attacks, would he too turn to glass? How hot would the attack have to be? And how would they hit him without him deforming to get away?

It struck him; as did one of Dosne's fists which sent him flying back. As he recovered, he dodged several sand waves trying to grab at him as he regained his train of thought. Piccolo had an attack that just might work, but he needed some time to set it up.

"Trunks!" Piccolo shouted for his former student. 

The half-saiyan front flipped over to the namekian, barely escaping the reach of a large tendril of sand from below.

Once Trunks was within ear shot, he quietly told him the plan.

"I need you to keep Dosne busy while I set up my attack. He's afraid of our ki blasts because if one hits him, he'll start crystalizing into glass. If he's glass, he can't move or morph around like he can as sand." 

"I see! That's genius, Piccolo!" Trunks exclaimed. "I'll keep him distracted while you do your thing!"

As Trunks rushed up t catch the titan's attention, Piccolo summoned as much ki as he could from is body, and like a child throwing a tantrum, started to throw the energy all about the sky.

Dosne dodged on kick from Trunks, and brought his fist up to hit the young man in the gut, nearly flattening him as he threw him down. Trunks recovered quickly before the sad on the ground could be used to put him under. He danced around the big sand giant, and started throwing several punches which did nothing effective. 

Something was up. Dosne knew this for sure; why else would this kid be trying his most minimum to even hurt Dosne's body. Surely he must know physical attacks were useless. 

He decided to take advantage of the kid's apparent stupidity and grabbed him with a mound of sand, lifting him into the air. As he prepared to smash the half-saiyan, he noticed the sky was a bit brighter then it should be with Shenron out. He looked up, and his eyes widened in shock. 

Hundreds upon hundreds of floating ki balls were placed among the night sky like candle in lamps. The kid had been a distraction.

Dosne looked over at the namekian, and saw a confident grin on his face. This had all been a trap; and he'd fallen right into it. 

He turned back to crush Trunks under his sand clump, but was again surprised when trunks was seen free of the deadly sand; his golden hair floating upwards in his Super Saiyan state.

"Trunks! Move away!" Piccolo yelled. 

As the young half-saiyan did so, Dosne attempted to sink into the ground to escape.

Piccolo wasn't having it. "You're not getting away! Hellzone Grenade!" 

All at once the ki balls crashed down at speeds too fast for the eye to see. Explosions rocketed the field, and fires started to erupt on the once green grass. The cacophony of ear splitting booms soon died down, and there, halfway buried in the ground was Dosne; his waist up completely turned to cracked glass.

Trunks caught sight of some sand starting to shift away from the seen. It was a small amount, and it only ook one blast from trunks to vaporize it. 

Piccolo kicked the glass remains, and they shattered into pieces, never to reform again. 

Trunks ran over to his father, returning to his normal state. Vegeta's eyes were barely focused, and Piccolo knew there was no way he was walking away from this one. 

"Dad...?" Trunks croaked, a few small tears in his eyes. "Please hold on..we'll use one of the wishes to--"

"No..." Vegeta coughed and sputtered immediately. "use the wish..to help...the pony...and..Goten.."

"But why, Vegeta?" Piccolo questioned, still not one-hundred percent behind the idea of "wasting" a wish. 

"Piccolo..." The voice of Goku rang inside Piccolo's head. "Listen to him. Use the wishes to give Apple Bloom a new transformation, and to bring Goten back to life."

Piccolo knew that Goku must be communicating through King Kai, but he still didn't get it.

"Why is this pony so important to all of you? Sure she may have some hidden talent, but we're talking an interdimensional crisis here..." He tried to reason.

"Think of it like when you trained Gohan to face the saiyans, but the results being ten times more spectacular." Goku's voice answered back. "Please, Piccolo, trust us...not only is she one of the best hopes for Equestria, it's also her home. She deserves a chance to save it, don't you think?"

Piccolo looked up at Shenron, and sighed. there was no arguing with these saiyans.

He looked to trunks who was holding his father in is arms as he drew his final breaths. Piccolo watched the light fade from Vegeta's eyes as he passed into Otherworld. Looks like there was no choice now.

"Eternal dragon!" Piccolo bellowed. "I have two wishes!"

Shenron seemed to make a "finally" face, and told the namekian to make his wishes quickly.

* * *

"Apple Bloom, are you ready to become a powerhouse?" Goku asked the young mare behind him.

Apple Bloom dropped her training instantly. "I...I guess....why..?"

"Piccolo and Trunks beat Dosne," He explained. "They're making the wishes to Shenron right now!"

Apple Bloom rushed over and placed a hoof to King Kai's back, sudden excitement taking hold of her. She was about to do it; she was about to become an anthropomorph.

* * *

"Shenron," Piccolo shouted to the huge dragon before him. "I wish for the one named Apple Bloom to be given the power of transformation to and from anthropomorphic state!"

There was a short pause, and then Shenron's eyes glowed red as the crimson rubies in the deepest mines.

* * *

Apple Bloom started to feel strange as the wish began to take hold. Her legs started to tingle and her torso started to ache a bit. Then everything went white. A brilliant, radiant white light engulfed her, and she felt her body start to change; her forelegs thinned out as her front hooves were replaced by what she assumed were fingers. It was a strange sensation. Her back hooves stayed the same, but her hind legs thickened and elongated as her belly flattened out, and stretched. She felt a bit of weight on her chest, and her shoulders sprouted out wards. Then she blacked out as the final changes took effect.

Goten and the others watched in awe as Apple Bloom's new body lay in the yard of King Kai's home. Her new body was short; about the same size as Goten. Her yellow fur was still present all over her body, and her tail remained as well just above her thickish rear end. Her arms were slim, but toned and muscular at the same time, and she had grown small breasts on her chest as well. 

Her head was largely unchanged, save for it being a bit more compacted; her big ears twitched as she began to awaken. 

Goten and Applejack rushed to her side to help her up in her new body.

"Did...it work...?" She asked tiredly.

"Take a look for yourself, Apple Bloom." Goten chuckled.

The former mare did so and saw her new body; muscular and yet slim, and with body parts she really didn't feel were necessary. 

"What purpose..do these things serve, sis?" She asked, grabbing at one of her small breasts, it's weight on her front unfamiliar.

"I think that's a question better asked to Goten or Goku, sugarcube." Applejack said plainly.

Goten took her are and hoisted it over his shoulder to support her. "I'll tell ya all about human anatomy soon, but first, we need to get you some clothes."

Apple loom realized suddenly she was naked in a humanoid body, and tried to cover herself up, her blush darkening her face considerably.

Goten laughed and took his shirt off to let her wear, which she gratefully accepted.

* * *

"Alright, Goku," Piccolo started. "the last wish is for what now?"

Trunks had just finished removing his sword from Vegeta's body and cleaning it off while making sure his father looked not so mangled up in death. The poor boy was tearing up, but hadn't let out a single cry.

After a moment, Goku's voice came back, telling Piccolo exactly how to word the wish.

"Say this to Shenron, Piccolo: I wish for all the good natured souls who perished in the presence of the one called Apple Bloom to be brought back to life."

Piccolo nodded, and prepared to shout his wish to he massive green dragon. As he did so however, something caught his eye; one of the Dragon Balls, the seven-star ball, had turned purple, and if Piccolo wasn't mistaken, it was cracked...no, cracking.

"What the--?"

Before either Piccolo or Trunks could react, the Dragon Ball exploded.
> "I Hate Magic!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Piccolo and Trunks hit the ground as the seven-star ball erupted into fragments and an explosion rocked the field. What had just happened? Dragon Balls are supposed to be near invincible. What kind of force would it take to cause that much damage to one of them that they exploded.

Piccolo suddenly became aware of one other thing, as the bellowing cry of Shenron could be heard all around like a theater room. One of the Dragon Balls had just self-destructed, and that meant Shenron was dying. 

The mighty green dragon thrashed and howled as his body was overcome with an ungodly amount of pain before he finally froze; his eyes extinguishing before he exploded away in a magnificent blast. The force leveled even the trees on the far ends of the field, an Piccolo had to hang on to Trunks who was hanging onto Vegeta's body while hiding hem all to he ground with what little grip he could get.

When the winds finally died down, the namekian looked at the remaining six Dragon Balls. Just as he had expected, they were stone orbs no longer useful to anyone anymore. 

"Goku...King Kai..." He said, not quite sure what to say. "w-what happened..?"

* * *

"What do ya mean the Dragon Balls exploded?!" Apple Bloom shouted, accidently scaring Goten off his chair by the couch she lay on. 

"Well, only one of them exploded, and it was the seven-star ball." Goku told her again. "The only problem is I have no real idea how or why. Piccolo is looking around for anyone who might have possibly broken it from afar, but there's no other energy levels at all in the area..."

King Kai looked as though he were brooding; a serious expression upon his features 

"You don't know, because you don't understand magic, Goku." He said finally.

Goku and the others looked over to King Kai in confusion. Magic definitely was not a strong point of Goku's, but he knew it existed. What was King Kai talking about?

"Sapphic comes from Equestria, Goku." the kai explained. "Even though he isn't an alicorn or a unicorn, the fact he has bipedal features due to his saiyan blood means he may not have to follow he same rules as other ponies from that dimension."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Are you sayin' a non-unicorn used magic to destroy your Dragon Ball?"

King Kai nodded once.

"But...that's impossible.." Apple Bloom cut in, trying to stand up, but not being used to her new legs, she sat back down quickly. "If he didn't have a horn, how can he use magic at all?"

"In our dimension there are beings called sorcerers and wizards." King Kai told her. "They study the magical arts, and some have to train for decades before they master it, and they can do it without horns. Seeing as how Sapphic is the son of Chrysalis, who was able to use magic, it's only natural he would be adept in the ways of wizardry. He probably mastered some high level spells and curses in the time he took here in our dimension."

So, magic was present here too, and not just in the form of Dragon Balls. 

"Do....do you think Sapphic put a hex on the seven-star ball?" The young mare turned young woman asked.

The kai contemplated this, and finally nodded after a few moments. "I believe that must be it. A timed spell or maybe a trigger spell; something to stop it from being destroyed until he could use them...or maybe the trigger was his own wish, and it juts had a timer on it. We can't really know for sure."

There was silence, but then Goku snapped his fingers; he had apparently thought of something. 

"I know a way to find out." He said. "If Baba is in Otherworld, I can go find her and ask her what's up with the remains of the Dragon Ball! She'll be able to tell us for sure if it was cursed."

"Who's Baba?" Apple Bloom asked, now once again having another name with no face to it.

"Baba is a witch who's a friend of mine." Goku told her. "She can do all sorts f crazy magic stuff, and see things with her crystal ball. If I tell her to go down and see the shards of the ball, she can tell us what's up."

"A smart idea, Goku, but ultimately, it doesn't matter. What's done is done, and the only one who can fix the ball is Dende; and sine Shenron just died, I assume he already knows of what's happened." King Kai said matter-of-factly. "Besides, you said you had a plan for these three here."

"Oh, that's right." Goku remembered, turning to Apple Bloom, Goten, and Applejack. "Though I only have a plan for Apple Bloom and Goten here...sorry Applejack, but I can only bring these two where I'm headed; Supreme Kai's rules."

Applejack waved a hoof to signify it was alright. Apple Bloom on the other hoof...or...hand...was curious about why Goku could only bring her and Goten. Why couldn't her sister come along? What was keeping him from taking all three of them?

"Goku," She spoke up. "why only me and Goten..?"

Goku looked down at Apple Bloom with a confident smile. "Now that you have a new body you can transform into and out of at will..."

She can change back at anytime? She needed to practice that.

"...your power can be properly honed by it. But we have to escalate your pace of training now that Equestria is in danger...I don't know how once we're done that we're going to get there without the Dragon Balls though...Dende would need at least fifty days to recreate the seven-star ball, and the Namekians on Namek have used there's recently, so they're stone as well. We don't have time to wait for those balls to shine again."

Apple Bloom looked down in thought. So the training was being accelerated, and Goku was planning some high speed stuff it seemed. 

"But while we're figuring that out, I have a couple ways we're going to make both you and Goten stronger in less than three days. It's a multi-step plan, but if it goes off without a hitch, it's foolproof!"

Bothe Apple Bloom and Goten's faces shot up in surprise. Only three days, and Goku thought they'd be strong enough to fight that monster Sapphic. How in the heck were they going to get that strong in three days when not even Goku, who'd trained for decades, could do it.

Then another thought occurred to Apple Bloom...would Equestria be able to survive for three days while she honed her so-called hidden power....

* * *

"You're royal highness'!" One of the royal guards shouted breathlessly as he galloped into the throne room of Celestia and Luna.

The two sisters looked down at the their soldier, and motioned for him to speak. The poor stallion seemed completely out of breath, and his eyes were pinprick pupils. Something awful must have happened.

He bowed before them hastily as he spoke. "I bring horrible news...the son of Queen Chrysalis was sighted not far outside of Appaloosa!"

Celestia and Luna gasped in unison, and exchanged worried looks.

"I thought...I thought we had finished him years ago after Shining Armor and Cadence defeated his mother.." Celestia breathed.

Her younger sister nodded. "So did I."

The princesses turned back to the unicorn guard, who still bowed before them. 

"Do we know what he wants?" 

The white stallion in the gold armor stood. "We aren't sure yet, your majesty. But we can only assume it isn't good."

Celestia looked thoughtful for a moment, her mind trying to decide what to do. Surely it was up to them to deal with Prince Sapphic in the end, but they would need time to prepare; it had been many years since they had to fight someone of Sapphic's caliber.

Levitating a scroll and quill to her, she began to write.

"My dearest Princess Twilight Sparkle; it seems you and your friends will be needed once more..."
> The Plan Starts to Unfold
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The town of Appaloosa was in flames.

There were no screams heard as the deadly fire engulfed every inch of the small town; there were no ponies left to make any screams. At least none that Sapphic could sense as he watched the flames burn on into the dark night sky; the ambers floating up like the souls of the slain trying to escape the wrath of the changeling prince. 

This train of thought amused him, and as one glowing ember passed by him, he grabbed it and promptly crushed it into ash, extinguishing it's "life."

"These ponies never could do anything but run away, it seems." He mused with a devilish grin. "If it weren't for the royal bloodline, this would be too easy conquering this land."

He looked one last time at the raging inferno that was once Appaloosa, and turned to walk away; ready to enact the next part of his plan.

He was stopped by a faint, and yet defiant voice behind him. 

"St-stop..." it croaked with a thick southern accent; it's pitch slightly high.

Sapphic turned halfway around to look at the source of the voice, and before him stood one lone pony; cream in color with a red apple cutie mark. His vest was singed by the fires he had crawled out of, and several bad burn marks covered his body. His light green eyes focused solely on the bipedal changeling. 

"Where...where do you think...you're...goin'..." The pony asked in a challenge.

Sapphic chuckled evily, and brushed some of his hair behind his pointed ear on the side facing the stallion so he could get a good look at the face who had burned down his home. Sapphic wanted him to know; wanted him to see the cruel smile he wore proudly.

"What's your name, stallion?" Sapphic asked, amused by this would-be avenger. 

"Name's...Braeburn..an' don't y'all...forget it..." He answered, taking a step towards the changeling.

As Braeburn inched forward, closing the gap between them, Sapphic waited, and with each hoofstep the cream colored pony took, the changeling's laughs grew in intensity. Once Braeburn was next to him, Sapphic was practically cackling to the heavens above. He silenced himself in a second, and looked down at the stallion with the most malicious face the pony had ever seen; those green eyes holding nothing but sick and twisted pleasure at his act. 

In a flash, Sapphic pointed one finger at Braeburn, and in another, Braeburn was laying on his side; blood pouring from the hole in his skull as his eyes lost their light.

"Braeburn." Sapphic said. "You die as you lived...like a simple fool."

He kneeled next to the stallion's dead form, and whispered into his non-hearing ears.

"There's no such thing as heroes anymore..."

With that, Sapphic flew off, headed to the one place he needed to go before heading for Canterlot.

* * *

Goku and Goten waited outside of King Kai's home for Apple Bloom as she prepared to head off with them. As she was just about good to go, she was stopped by her older sister. Applejack looked up at her, motioned for her to kneel down. Apple Bloom did so and Applejck gave her a huge hug with her forelegs. 

Apple Bloom did not hesitate to return the embrace. After a few moments, they separated, and Applejack looked her little sister in the eye.

"Apple Bloom," She said softly. "Goten told me about your nightmares...about your flashbacks. I just want you to know, that I don't blame you for what happened to me, ok? You shouldn't blame yourself either; that's a fool's way of thinkin'. I did it for you, and I'd do it again, ok?"

Apple Bloom tried not to tear up as she nodded and gave the orange mare another short hug.

"And one more thing, sugarcube. Don't let somethin' good slip through your hooves." She nodded her head out towards Goten, and Apple Bloom was confused at first, but she soon figured out what her sister was saying.

"You knew?" She asked.

"You don't exactly hide it all too well, Apple Bloom." Applejack chuckled. "I'm amazed he hasn't caught on yet."

Apple Bloom considered her sister's words, and then nodded. With that, she started to clumsily walk over to the saiyans. Darn these crazy bipeds; how did they walk on these things?

"See you later, King Kai!" Goku shouted over to his old mentor as he placed two fingers to his forehead.

Goten and Apple Bloom grabbed onto his shoulders, and just before they dematerialized, she took one last look at Applejack; she had a bad feeling that this very well could be the last time ever that she would see her.

* * *

"My dearest Princess Twilight Sparkle,
It seems you and your friends will be needed again. An old foe of Luna's and mine has returned to Equestria, and make no mistake; he is more powerful than any opponent you have ever, or most likely will ever face. He is the son of Queen Chrysalis and an alien being known as a saiyan. 

The saiyans have an innate ability to become stronger after every battle or near death experience they are in. This one, named Prince Sapphic, has more than likely been through many battles, so expect him to be overpowered beyond your believing. 

I won't lie to you, Twilight; you and your friends may not survive, but if you can hold Sapphic off for as long as you can, Luna and I can jump in fully ready to take him on ourselves.

Until then, may you stay safe, Princess Twilight. 

Your former mentor,
Princess Celestia

P.S. I have asked your brother, Prince Shining Armor to lead a detachment of Crystal Pony Troops into battle with you. Cadence will stay in the Empire to protect it should he go there."

Twilight Sparkle folded the scroll up in her magical grip as her friends looked worriedly at each other around the map table. I looked as though exploring Equestria was going to have to wait for another time...if there would be another time after this.

Rainbow Dash was the first to get up, flapping her wings and floating over the table.

"Well, you heard Princess Celestia's orders!" She hollered. "We gotta buy some time and fight this Sapphic guy"

"Oh m-m-my..." Fluttershy whimpered, shrinking in her throne. "D-d-d-do we ha-have to..?"

"I'm afraid there's no avoiding it..." Rarity told the timid pegasus. "It seems like the end of the world is upon us...of all the worst things that could happen, this is the...worst...possible...thing!"

"End of the world party!!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, swinging on a rope that hadn't previously been there as confetti rained form nowhere.

"Why would we throw an end of the world party?!" Fluttershy panicked, not following Pinkie's thought process.

The pink earth pony sprang up next to the yellow pegasus. "You want to have a great time before we go out to possibly die, don't you?"

"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash and Rarity chastised in unison, as Fluttershy looked faint.

Twilight stood up, and examined her options. "I'm not planning on dying today, girls; and neither should you. We're going to face this menace the same way we faced all our problems before...together!"

* * *

Apple Bloom opened her eyes as the Instant Transmission ended. As she looked around her new surroundings, she saw lush green grass and what looked like purple water all over the place. There were a few trees scattered here and there, and several mountains and hills. She looked up to see that even the sky was a light shade of purple, which she was definitely not used to.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement; she turned to see an ancient looking purple biped in  very regal looking garb standing next to a taller and much younger looking biped with long white hair and lighter purple skin wearing something similar to the older one's dressing. 

"So, is that beautiful young anthropomorph the one called Apple Bloom?" The elder one asked, his eyes examining her.

For some reason she felt violated as his eyes searched up and down her new body. Goku nodded his head and introduced them all. 

"Apple Bloom, this is Elder Kai and Kibito Kai. They're going to unlock that hidden power that's inside of you." He said.

Kibito Kai walked over, and extended a hand in greeting, which Apple Bloom took and shook slowly.

"It's good to meet you Apple Bloom." He said, a genuine smile on his face. 

He turned to Goten and did the same. 

"Hello, Goten. You sure have grown."

"Yup! Getting stronger and bigger every day!" Goten giggled boyishly.

Once all the pleasantries were out of the way, Goku explained the first phase of the plan to Apple Bloom, who had been dying to hear just how these two kais were going to make her hidden power just sprout up like a weed in a garden.

"Elder Kai here has the ability to unlock someone's hidden potential. It's a lengthy process, but if he really concentrates, he can do it in a day tops." The mighty saiyan explained. "He did it for Gohan, and he can do it for you two."

Gohan had been trained here? She figured that explained the whole scene in the museum way back after Goten had died. 

"Two?" Goten asked. "Dad, I don't have much hidden potential like Gohan or Apple Bloom..." 

Goku smiled at his youngest son. "You may not be on their level, but you have some hidden power inside you, son. It's in there, I jut know it."

Elder Kai examined both the young ones again, and motioned for them to follow him. They marched to the top of a grass covered hill, and he sat down crosslegged. Goten and Apple Bloom both did the same.

"Ok.." Elder Kai began, stretching a bit. "for this to work, you both have to concentrate on your energy levels. I'll do the searching for your powers, but you two have to stay focused on raising your energy, ok?"

They nodded, and immediately, the old kai put his hands up and closed his eyes facing them.

Kibito Kai stood next to Goku a few feet away.

"I can sense that anthorpomorph's power from all the way over here." He said. "It's incredible. I dare say it's even stronger than Gohan's power."

Goku nodded an affirmitve. The young Apple Bloom was full of bursting power just waiting to explode. Hopefully, for Equestria's sake, the wait wouldn't be long. After a few moments, Goku turned to Kibito Kai.

"Now, about those new potara ear rings you mentioned..."
> Be Prepared
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The changeling hive was all in a frenzy as the bug-like creatures murmured amongst themselves. A rumor had been spread that the son of Queen Chrysalis had returned, and was sighted not far away from the hive. 

"If this is true, we are all saved!" One drone wuld exclaim.

"We will have a leader once more!" Another would rejoice.

"It's not true. You know the princesses finished him off years ago..." 

"Yeah, no way this is more than a mere fairytale."

"But what if it's not?"

"What if it is?"

The arguments and celebrations over validity of the story ran rampant throughout the hive; without Chrysalis' influence, they had all gained a smallamount of sentience. Still, they longed fro someone to guide them; to lead them to victoy over their enemies. If the rumors about Prince Sapphic's return were true, that meant they finally would.

A sudden hush came over the crowd as one changeling shouted out to look up at one of the ledges inside the cave; as every cyan eye turned to the spot, an eerie silence fell over the air.

"My brothers and sisters!" Sapphic bellowed. "It is so good to see you again!"

The cheerswere nearly immediate; the entire hive buzzedtheir wings in excitement and elation, making whooping noises and cries of happiness all around. 

Prince Sapphic raised his hand slowly to silence the changelings, and they did so obediently. He smiled at how eagerly they wished to follow his orders; afterall, with his mother long gone, he was heir to her throne now. Now that he thought about it, he supposed tat made him a--

He realized he had said othing for a moment, as the changelings waited for him to speak.

"Changelings! I know for years you have suffered and starved at the hands of those selfish ponies!" He began, moving his body in tune with his words as if speaking before the world. "Those dastardly pastel miniature horses deny us all the pleasure of love's embrace and happiness ever lasting while they sit and bask in it's glow, not wanting to share it with anyone no matter how much they claim to!"

There were murmurs of agreement in the large crowd below.

"After Canterlot, they hunted us down like animals! Started killing all of us; it was like a witch hunt in modern day! We are living beings; we haverights just as much as they do! But did they take us prisoner, or try to give us another chance?! No!! They did not!! They slaughtered us with their spears and their magic! Hunting us down until we couldn't fight back at all! Now, here you all stand; the last remaining of the changelings! I see before me only several hundred of you, my brothers and sisters! Why do I not see instead thousands, or millions?! Why?!"

"The ponies!!" The entire hive shouted in anger at the past transgressions.

"They destroyed our dearest mother; they tried to destroy me, her only heir! Well, they made one fatal mistake...saiyan blood courses through my veins! I get stronger with every battle; every near death experience makes me stronger! I'm not sure how or why, but when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna attempted to have me destroyed, I was sent to another plane of existence! One where I became strong! The strongest in the world, in fact! And now, with this power, I have returned, and Ishall avenge our dear mother; our fallen siblings! We will know what it's like to be more than dirt beneath their hooves!! Brothers and sisters, will you join me in my quest?! Will you fight alongside me and take your rightful place at the top of the pecking order? Will you stand by your...new...king?!"

Rapturous cheers of affirmation echoed off the cold stone walls of the cave; the sound making it seem like there were more than just a few hundred of the hungry looking bugs.

Sapphic raised his hand into the air, his fist clenched tightly.

"Than prepare, my siblings! Prepare for a new age! The age...of the changelings!!" He cackled as the changelins began to fly around in uncontrollable excitement.

Sapphic now had his army; and now, he was ready to take what was always meant to be his...he was ready to become the true king of Equestria.

* * *

"So that's what these new ones do, eh?" Goku said, examining the potara earrings he held in his hand. 

"Yes, much better than the original which created me." Kibito Kai affirmed, smiling.

Goku looked satisfied, and placed them in his pocket. "Perfect. That takes care of that part of the preparations. Now, have you told Piccolo and Trunks about what they need to do on Earth?"

Kibito Kai nodded curtly, a small grunt slipping from his lips. "Yes, I informed them that they need to get Majin Buu ready for his part of the plan as well. They are on their way to Mr. Satan's to fetch him."

Goku smiled wider. Things were working out, and hopefully, they'd be able to save Equestria before it was too late. He just hoped Apple Bloom's power would be unlocked by Elder Kai soon.

* * *

Twilight directed some of the Crystal Pony Soldiers into position around Ponyville. The place had turned into some kind of warzone; barricades were placed all around the vicinity, and soldiers took up combat positions everywhere. In some cases, even the citizens of the small town itself had taken up arms and were preparing for battle.

Spike the Dragon quickly rushed over to her; several parchments in his hands. 

"Messages from all over say that Appaloosa is history!" He exclaimed worriedly. "Twilight, are you sure we can even stand achance?"

"I'm absolutely positive we can do it, Spike." She answered, still directing soldiers. "Together, we can make a difference. We've got all the parameters covered. Powerful as he is, there's no way he can take us all down before the Princesses arrive."

"Yeah, but, he single handedly took out all of the Appaloosans and the buffalo tribes..." Spike informed. "And, without Applejack, you don't have access to the full power of the Elements..."

Twilight looked sad for a moment, remembering her dear friend's funeral. She quickly shook it off, and continued to direct her big brother's men. 

"Don't you worry, Spike." She said, confidently. "I won't let anything happen to us."





> Kinks In The Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Piccolo and Trunks flew across the skyline at the fastest speeds the could go; the fat Majin Buu keeping pace with them easily.

This Buu was different from the villain Goku and the others defeated years ago; he was the good natured half of Buu. His rotund, pink body flapped a little in the wind as he flew; his purple cape flowing along with it. 

"So you need Buu to help make door to pony world?" he asked in his innocent sounding, childlike voice. "Buu not sure Buu can get mad enough to do that...Hercule always say; 'Buu, you not get mad! Mad is bad!'"

"Well, isn't there another way besides being angry that you could cause a rift in space and time?" Trunks asked. "Surely with your powers there must be another way?"

Majin Buu shrugged, a cute little smile still placed on his chubby face. "Buu will try."

Piccolo wasn't really listening to the conversation that was happening behind him; his thoughts kept returning to what Kibito Kai had said to him via telepathy.

"This plan will take three days to complete, but we must act as swiftly as we can as if we were trying to get below that time frame. The ponies of Equestria very well could be getting killed as we speak, and it is imperative we do what we can to save them as quickly as possible."

All those innocent ponies being mercilessly slaughtered; the thought of it drove Piccolo mad with anger and helplessness. At least once Dende repaired the seven-star ball, which wouldn't happen until after the conflict was over, he knew, they could wish back all those who were slain by Sapphic. He ust wished he didn't have to wait or make them suffer while they prepared for war.

Kami's old place floated just ahead; it's bowl-like structure like an ancient art piece that had learned to fly. As the three Z Fighters landed on the marble tiles which made up the floor of Kami's Place, they were greeted by a young namekian who looked like a young Piccolo. 

"Piccolo, Trunks, Buu!" He said, a smile on his face at the presence of company. "It's so good to see you guys. I just wish it were under better circumstances..."

"Hello, Dende." Piccolo returned the greeting. "We have Majin Buu just as Goku requested, and he's going to work on finding a way aside from anger to open a wormhole to Equestria. Now we're supposed to wait here and to give you these."

Piccolo handed the near dust remains of the seven-star Dragon Ball; the glass-like substance pouring like sand into Dende's outstretched palm.

"Once the conflict is over, we know you'll be close to having th ball restored and Shenron back in action. That way we can wish all of the ponies who die before we get there back to life." He explained.

Dende seemed to chuckle nervously as he put one hand behind his neck and rubbed it. "Yeah...about that part of the plan..."

Piccolo looked questioningly at the younger namekian as he started to explain why.

"It...won't work..."

"What?!" Piccolo and Trunks both exclaimed in unison.

"Why not?" The older namekian asked, slightly annoyed by what seemed like another set-back.

"Well, first let me answer your question with another question, Piccolo." Dende began. "When the Trunks from the future came back, did you ever wonder why he never just found ourtime's Dragon Balls and used them to wish his people back instead of helping you all?"

Piccolo blinked; he had indeed wondered that, but his justification had always been Trunks was more noble than that. Than again, he could stillhave waited after the crisis to use the Dragon Balls and then went back to his own time. So it did beg the question of why.

"It's because of an unwritten law between the Eternal Dragons about what their magic can be used for." The younger namekian explained. "The Dragon Balls can grant many miracles, but the law of the Eternal Dragons states that their magic cannot be used to influence the events, or places of dimensions other than the one they are created in. The closest they can do I create portals to these other worlds, but any wish that is made to change history or revive the dead from say a place like Equestria...well...it can't be done."

Trunks walked up hastily, a thought coming to his head. "But we used the Dragon Balls to give Apple Bloom her new body, and she came from Equestria. Why can't we use them on the other ponies?!"

"It's true they were able to affect Apple Bloom, but that was because the change happened in between dimensions in Otherworld. If you had tried it here on Earth it would not have worked."

"But if the ponies who die are in Otherworld after death, than why can't the magic affect them and bring them back to life?" Piccolo added.

"It's because that falls under the events category of the law. Ponies deaths in Equestria are events that happened in the Equestrian timeline; and therefore, cannot be changed. It's a little confusing and convoluted, but the changes made to Apple Bloom didn't affect the history of her dimension, and since she was inbetween dimensions, she could be transformed." Dende continued, trying to make it make sense for his friends. "But because all of the deaths that Sapphic might be causing are part of that dimensions history, a.k.a. events in their timeline, they can't be wished back to life because it would reverse that dimesnions history in a way."

Trunks and Piccolo looked down in despair, as Majin Buu merely scratched his head, not understanding. 

So there was no way for the innocent ponies to be revived by the Dragon Balls then. Unless--

"Dende," Piccolo piped up suddenly. "when you remade the Earth's Dragon Balls the first time, you modified several properties of them. Why can't you just make it so that you can bypass this law?"

Dende shook his head sadly. "The Dragon Balls only serve as gateways for the Eternal Dragons' magic to come through where they come from. I only opened Shenon's door wider, so to speak, so he could do more. I can't change the magical laws put in place by the dragons themselves...I'm sorry."

Damn it; there really wasn't anyway then. In this case, they had better get what they needed done as fast as possible, or too many innocents would perish andsuffer undeserved and cruel fates at the hands of that monster...

The namekian turned towards the sky, echoing his thoughts as loud as he could...

* * *

Kibito Kai felt the sensation before the words rang in his head.

"Kibito Kai, it's Piccolo. Tell Goku the plan to revive the dead ponies with the Dragon Balls is a no go. There's some construed law that Dende can't even bypass that doesn't allow for dead people from other dimensions to be revived with the Dragon Balls from our dimension. I'm afraid we can't use them.."

"That's terrible.." Kibito Kai whispered. "Very well, I'll let him know. Is Majin Buu there at least?"

"Yes, Buu is right here, and he's working on finding an alternate way to rip a hole between the dimensions for when it's time for us to go over there." Piccolo's voice replied.

"Good, keep working on that, and tell Mr. Popo to get the Hyperbolic Time Chamber ready." The kai instructed. "Apple Bloom's potential is close to being unlocked...I can sense it."

Kibito Kai terminated the link to Piccolo, and turned to the deceased saiyan who was sitting next to him. 

"Goku, Piccolo has informed me that the Dragon Balls won't be abl to save the dead ponies in Equestria." He informed him regretfully. "I'm sorry."

Goku looked over at him surprised at thi news. 

"Really? Damn..." He muttered. "we better move things along as fast as we can then..."

He looked to the anthropomorphic mare meditating in front of Elder Kai and next to Goten; if the Dragon Ball plan was a bust, that meant Apple Bloom wouldn't be able to see her family and friends that had already died afterall. The thought put a stake through his heart at what her face might look like after hearing such news.

"On the pus side," Kibito Kai continued. "Majin Buu is working to cause a rift to allow the group to get to Equestria once preparations have completed."

Goku nodded. At least that part of the plan was still a go; if something had gone wrong there, there would be almost no way to save Equestria then...

He searched Apple Bloom's power level with his senses, trying to see how far she was from unlocking her true power. The aura was fantastical, and bright; filled with warmth and spirit. It was truly an honest and good natured power she held within her...
> Potential Unlocked?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Twilight!" Spike's voice carried through the town as he approached the purple alicorn. 

Twilight turned to her number one assistant and gave him a look as if to say, "go on."

"Report..from...the...captain...of...the Wonderbolts..." He said, out of breath from running around all night.

Twilight thanked her little dragon friend, and unrolled the parchment she held in her magical aura; her eyes darted down the lines of written ink as she read quickly.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle,
We've been tracking Prince Sapphic's ongoings, and after he fled Appaloosa, we lost track of him. But now more than an hour ago, one of our scouts spotted the changeling exiting a cave in the mountains south of your current location; he appears to have amassed a rather sizable number of changelings to aid him in his conquest. We estimate at least 800 of them minimum.

He looks to be on a course for Canterlot, but as you are aware, that path will take him over Ponyville, and I am happy to hear yo have defenses ready. However, to give you as much time as possible, I will be leading my most elite squadrons in an interception mission to try and stall tem for as long as we can. We do not expect to get them all, especially not Sapphic himself; but we'll do what we can and give it our all.

In closing,

Captain Scootaloo of the Wonderbolts

P.S. Please take care of yourself and keep everyone safe, Twilight. You've been a good friend to me since Iwas a filly. If this is the last letter I ever send you, I just want to say, thanks for everything you did for me and the other CMC back in the day. And tell Rainbow Dash that I love her; she's been the best big sister a mare could ask for."

Twilight clenched her eyes in frustration and pain. She knew Scootaloo would be hurt badly in this course of action, and might even---

No, Scootaloo was tough, but she was also smart. If she knew too many lives would be lost she would retreat and fight on another day. Twilight wanted deeply to fly off and help her, but knew her and the other Elements' places were here in Ponyville.

"Oh, Celestia.." She muttered a prayer. "Watch over poor Scootaloo and the Wonderbolts..."

* * *

Sapphic flew at the head of the swarm as he and his changelings soared over fields and mountains looking for pony settlements to destroy and pillage. Appaloosa had been just the first of the many places he was going to tear asunder on his quest of vengeance; this was justice. The ponies were finally getting what they'd long since had coming.

He sensed several small power levels, and a slightly larger one approaching rapidly. He smiled to himself as he halted,the entire hive doing the same instantly as he waited for the ponies to arrive.

Within a few seconds, the Wonderbolts hovered before his army of darkness; each uniform emblazoned with a high ranking insignia. He was quite flattered; they had sent their best, but he noticed one was not among them.

"Where is yourcaptain, fair Wonderbolts?" He taunted. "Is she too cowardly to face me herself, just as the Princesses are?"

A fit looking, slim mare flew forward in front of her squadron; a captain insignia on her chest puffed with pride and defiance. Her coat was orange, and her mane a light purple as were her intense eyes beneath her goggles. 

"You're not Spitfire." He laughed. "Did the hag finally kick the bucket?"

The mare didn't flinch, but her eyes narrowed at the insult to her predecessor. 

"No." She informed the laughing bipedal changeling. "Former Captain Spitfire is happily retired and taking care of her family back home. I am captain of the Wonderbolts now. My name is Scootaloo; and I'm gonna be the last thing you see before you bite the big one, bug-breath!"

Sapphic nearly tumbled in mid-air with wicked laughter; he genuinely thought that last statement was funny. 

"Come..." He said, finally calming down. "Let's test your little threat."

With a war cry, the Wonderbolts sped forward into battle against the massive wave of changelings that sprung to life as they did so.

* * *

Elder Kai continued to work his magic as Apple Bloom and Goten both meditated before him; each one raising their energy levels carefully.

Apple Bloom's mind was wandering, though. She continued to think what could possibly be happening back in Equestria. Goku had said that in three days, she'd be strong enough to defeat Sapphic, butjust how was that gonna happen? Even if this Elder Kai could unlock her "hidden potential", she doubted she actually had the power to fight someone who could defeat whole waves of enemies with a nod. She would try her darndest, of course, but that didn't mean she could win. 

If only Big Macintosh had been here...he'd know what to say to make everything bett--

"Oh! There it is!" Elder Kai exclaimed suddenly. "I've found both your hidden potentials. My, my, my they are huge!"

The two looked up at the Elder Kai, and looks of disbelief crossed both of their faces.

"Just let me unlock yours first, Goten." He said, turning to the young half-saiyan. 

There was a moment of silence, and then Elder Kai spoke once more. "Go ahead and raise your power level, son; make like you're going Super Saiyan, but don't actually transform."

Goten nodded, and stood up. He hunched over slightly, and gave a loud yell that echoed across the violet skyline of the kai world. In a few short seconds, a brilliant white aura surrounded Goten; it oozed power and light. 

Apple Bloom looked on, feeling the power level of her crush had risen exponentially. Maybe Elder Kai would be helpful afterall.

"Ok, Apple Bloom, it's your turn." 

He focused his efforts on the bipedal mare for a few moments, and all of a sudden there was a rush of intense energy that burst like a dam from Apple Bloom. Elder Kai and Goten were instantly blown back several feet, and the ground below the young anthropomorph dented inward like a crater.

The aura around Apple Bloom was not the same as Goten's; it was much, much more powerful. The sudden release of power had started up a maelstrom, and trees were being uprooted all over the landscape as far as the present company could see. The ground began to break loose, and chunks of the planet began to break loose and float upwards like hot-air balloons. Apple Bloom herself was also floating, but from her completely terrified expression, Goten could tell she wasn't doing it willingly.

"Woah!" Goku grunted out over the thunderous winds threatening to throw him across the planet. "This is insane! Is this her true potential?!"

Apple Bloom looked around in rapid panic, not knowing what to do. Without warning, a powerful ki blast fired from her outstretched hand, hitting a close by hill and blasting it to smithereens in less than a second. She looked at her hands in shock and fear, and several more ki blasts fired off into the sky, exploding like fireworks across the horizon. 

She couldn't control herself; she felt the power rising and rising, and it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. She was absolutely horrified, and tears started to stream from her eyes as she realized she couldn't control herself any longer; the massive outpouring of energy from within her was unspeakable. 

"Help!!" She shrieked as loud as she could, the sound becoming almost earsplitting as another beam of energy shot from her maw into the sky as she screamed.

"Hang on, Apple Bloom!" Goku shouted, transforming instantly into Super Saiyan 4. 

He jetted for the crying anthropomorph; the huge force of the winds cutting at his flesh even in this form. She reached out a hand to grasp Goku in desperation, but another large beam of energy surged from it, and hit the mighty saiyan dead in the gut, sending him flying so far back he disappeared from sight.

She let out several more cries of terror and hopelessness as her uncontrollable power raged on. 

"Elder Kai!" Kibito Kai shouted, his fingers diggng into the ground to stay in place. "Ifshe keeps this up, the entire planet could be laid to waste!"

"It's unbelievable!" he older kai shouted out in response. "Such power!"

Goten watched in shock as his friend continued to writhe in helplessness as her energy released itself violently in all directions. He had to do something; anything t help her out. He raised his ki levels to his full potential, and then multiplied it by going Super Saiyan as he pushed through the hurricane force towards Apple Bloom.

The bipedal mare saw her crush pushing towards her through the whirlwind, and a greater terror seized her heart.

"Goten!" She screamed, her tears staining her yellow fur. "Don't! I don't wanna hurt you! No!"

Goten continued on, looking her straight in the eyes with his brilliant blue ones. "You won't hurt me, Apple Bloom!"

"Yes I will! I can't control myself!"

"Then let me help you control it!" 

He neared her, and the energy swirled like physical knives, slicing his skin and clothing. He grabbed her by the hand, and instantly, Apple Bloom looked down at him.

"Let me help you through this like you helped me before!" He smiled up at her, gently starting to pull her down with his impressive strength.

She allowed him to lower her to the ground, and before she knew it, she felt his arms embrace her tightly, his chin resting on her shoulder and hands on her back, and one stroking the back of her head and mane. 

She slowly raised her arms to hug him back, burying her face in his shoulder as the energy finally started to die down. Rocks fell back into place, trees that hadn't already been uprooted stopped swaying violently as the two held each other firmly.

"It's ok, Apple Bloom. Everything is ok.." Goten whispered to her as she cried heavily into his shoulder.

"I...I was so scared...I...I couldn't...stop myself..!" She coughed inbetween heavy gasps and sobs.

"Shhhh." He told her, holding her shaking body closer to himself as his Super Saiyan energy warmed her. "It's alright now. Everything is alright."

Goku finally arrived back, still in Super Saiyan 4 mode, and saw the scene before him. He looked around at the area, and his eyes went wide with surprise. The planet looked like it had been through Hell and back, and then went for seconds. 

"This...this..is madness...wow..." He breathed.

He looked at Apple Bloom and Goten, hugging each other atop what remained of the hill they'd been sitting on not a few minutes ago.

Elder Kai, brushing himself off, stood next to the mighty saiyan raised on Earth. 

"You know what the scary thing is, Goku?" He said, not taking his eyes away from the two. "That's not even her full power..."

Goku looked down at himin shock. "What do you mean?!"

"There was an energy that I found within her but could not unlock. It was a strange, but gentle power; honest and pure. I couldn't seem to tap into it though. But perhaps, that is for the better..."

Goku nodded, his mouth agape. He was almost positive she could defeat Sapphic now, but only if she could learn to control it.

She would have a year to do so, once they got to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. 

> Scootaloo vs Sapphic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The battle between the Wonderbolts and the changelings raged on in the sky like a storm of violence and death. Several of the pegasi had already met a gruesome end by the teeth or magic of the bug-like quadrupeds; they were the lucky ones.

The not so lucky ones had been dealt with by Sapphic himself as he fired off ki blasts and crushed the poor ponies' skulls in his evil grasp. 

The self-proclaimed king was about to choke the very life out of another of Equestria's most elite fliers, but the fun was interrupted by a sudden, high-speed buck to his already cracked face, adding more fault lines; his features starting to look more like a jigsaw puzzle rather than a face. 

The kick had been delivered by none other than Scootaloo herself, as she rushed to catch her falling, unconscious comrade. As she lay him gently on the ground below, she flew back up to meet Sapphic in the center of the chaos.

"I'm going to warn you one last time, captain." He said, a slight tone of amusement in his voice. "Retreat; live to fight on another day...or until I kill you later that is."

Scootaloo's hard expression did not falter in the slightest. Without a word, she zipped forward faster than even Sapphic's eyes culd track, and blasted the would-be king in the gut with another massive high speed strike.

Sapphic spit up some form of internal juices as the wind was knocked out of him. He had no time to recover as the orange mare flew up and came crashing down with a stomp on his back, sending him plummeting downward. The clouds in the air poofed out of existence as the changeling was thrown through them. Before the ground even got close, he was rocketed upwards once ore by yet another strike from Scootaloo.

Then came the real attack; she flapped her wings hard as she could, gaining an impressive amount of speed. When she had the rate she needed, she soared past Sapphic's prone form, slashing at him with her armored wing. She turned back, and did so again with the other; she repeated this several times, each attack faster and in more rapid succession than the last. The bipedal changeling was unable to even put up a defense.

"You're through!" She bellowed as she sent her final strike into his overturned body as it whirled like a top in mid-air. 

The strike sent him flying across the skyline, hitting a few of his loyal siblings along the way. She zoomed along with his body as it zipped through the air, keeping her distance so he couldn't counterattack.

Sapphic caught himself in a sudden stop assisted by his power. He snarled at the incoming pegasus as she quickly closed the gap.

There was no she should be able to hurt him this much; her power level was leagues below his own. He should be able to crush her instantly.

It was her damn speed; she was so fast that not even his trained eyes could track her. She was zipping all over the place, and he was unable to catch a break to counter; he considered using one of his area blasts, but he couldn't harm too many of his siblings. So unless he could catch this overconfident little pony, he had to think of some other way to kill her.

Scootaloo pulled straight up at a ninety degree angle just before she contacted Sapphic's body again. By the time he looked up to find her, she was already landing a giant hoof strike in his face; the pain was starting to reach him now. 

"This all you got, wimp?!" She taunted him as she planted another strike into his chest.

He noticed that one had not hurt as much; she needed speed to make her attacks hit harder. If he coud catch her doing another attack like that, he'd have her where he wanted her.

She zoomed off ad came back a second later, blasting him through the battle zone once again as he tried to regain control of his flight pattern. Once he did so, he jetted upwards of hi own free will, and Scootaloo was not slow to follow his path.

There was one other way he could beat this greased lightning mare; he bet her lungs weren't as strong as her wings were, and he was going to test that out.

"Catch me if you can, pony!" He yelled back at the pursuing pegasus. 

"You can't get away!" She yelled after him, giving her wings several powerful flaps to give chase.

The two soared like bullets from a long barrel into the upper stratosphere. The air began to thin out, and Sapphic chuckled. His saiyan DNA would allow him better breathing capabilities in the higher layers of the atmosphere than the young mare trying to catch him; he hoped she was dumb enough to keep trying though.

They were halfway through the mesosphere and about to hit the thermosphere as Scootaloo started puffing hard just to flap her wings at all. There was no way she was going to let this freak get out of this, and if that meant chasing him into the highest ends of the atmosphere, so be it.

Her body began to feel extremely cold as they neared the end of the thermosphere into the exosphere; ice crystals forming on her body.

Sapphic had planned totake her all the way to the magnetosphere, but this looked to be good enough, as she was noticeably slowing down and breathing hard; her chest heaving rapidly.

As Sapphic dropped down to her level, she jumped and had a horrible realization; he hadn't been running from her, he'd been leading her into a trap. She tried to zip out of the way of is oncoming punch, but she was so out of breath; the air was so thin she couldn't gather enough strength. 

The changeling's knuckles met the pegasi's jaw bone right where it connected on the right side of her face, and he felt the joint snap out of place with the force of his blow. He grinned at the satisfying sound.

"No more fancy tricks, captain?" He taunted, watching her struggle to stay in the air. "That's too bad; and here I thought you were actually going to win against me and save Equestria."

He cackled loudly, and grabbed the orange mare by her mane, pulling her into several hard punches to the back of her head like a paddleball. After a few moments, it looked like Scootaloo had finally been knocked unconscious, and her breathing was starting to slow.

Sapphic grinned to himself, and let go of the purple hair that belonged to her; he figured he would let gravity do the work. Such an ironic way for a pegasus who used to be unable to fly to die.

She slowly started to fall downwards, and as she continued, her body picked up speed, and soon dropped out of Sapphic's sight. He hovered there for a moment, savoring his victory before descending again.

As he neared the slowly calming warzone in the sky, he looked down at the ground and did not see any bodies that looked like Scootaloo's. This troubled him; surely she could not have regained her flying capabilities, not while falling at that speed. She should be a bloody mss upon the plains. 

He heard a faint whistling noise coming fromabove him, and it startedto grow louder. His power level senses kicked in and he jerked his body to look upwards at the unbelievably fast approaching Scootaloo. 

How? How had she saved herself from the fall? At the rate she was falling, she should have been unable to save herself. Then he noticed the many clouds that still hung in the upper skies. Damn, he had forgotten pegasi could use clouds like solid ground; she must have landed on one and regained her strength. 

Looking at her, he noticed she wasn't flapping her wings at all; the orange pony was in a divebomb,and aimed straight for Sapphic as if he had crosshairs. 

"Move away!" She shouted to her troops.

Sapphic watched as all of the remaining Wonderbolts retreated quickly from the area. As he turned hs attention back to the falling pegasus, he sensed her power level rising suddenly. What was this? Ponies had no idea how to use ki the same way he did; how was this happening. He then noticed the barely visible cone of air forming around Scootaloo. His eyes widened; he knew there was no way he was going to be able to dodge this one even if he flew at top speeds now...

* * *

"No! Let me go, Twilight! I can't let her do this alone!" Rainbow Dash near pleaded with her friend who was holding her back with both magic and her teeth on the rainbow colored tail.

As soon as Rainbow Dash had read the letter from Scootaloo, she had tried to fly off and aid her little adopted sister. Twilight and the others had tried their best to talk her out of it, but nothing they said would get to the multicolored pony who was now desperately pulling against Twilight's efforts to stop her; it seemed she'd even rip her own tail off to get free at this point.

"Rainbow Dash, please listen!" Rarity insisted, trying to help Twilight out with some of her own magic. "Scootaloo is doing this so we have the much needed time to prepare! She's doing this for you! If you run out there now and get yourself killed, you will be tarnishing her sacrifice!"

Rainbow Dash shook her head fiercely, an anguished look on her face. "No! There isn't gonna be a sacrifice! I'm gonna save her! I gotta save her! I'm her big sister! Let me go!"

Pinkie Pie jumped atop her friend, and planted her to the ground with all her weight to stop her struggles, but Rainbow Dash continued to thrash under her. Twilight knew how bad he must be hurting not being able to be there for the mare she'd cared for for years; but like Rarity had said, this was what Scootaloo wanted. She was doing this to give them a fighting chance, and a little more time to be ready.

As soon as her thought finished, a loud boom echoed across the entire sky like someone had struck a bolt of lightning with a sledgehammer. Everyone in Ponyville looked up to the multicolored spectrum fly out in all directions; the sign of a sonic rainboom.

Rainbow immediately struggled harder, nearly hurting herself to get ou form under Pinkie. She had told Scootaloo never to use that move unless she was in deep trouble and had no other options. If she was seeing this now, that meant that her awesome adopted sister must be in danger.

Not a second later, a mushroom cloud of smoke and rubble burst up in the same vicinity of the where the sonic rainboom had detonated. She must have divebombed Sapphic all the way into the ground.

Rainbow Dash began to let out cries and screams before finally giving up and breaking down before the others. They had never ever seen the brash and proud pegasus like this in all the years they'd known her; it hurt each of them that they had to do this to their friend, but it was for the good of Equestria. They would always fight better together...

* * *

Scootaloo slowly and painfully pulled herself out of the massive crater she had created wither sonic rainboom attack. She had busted both of her forelegs in doing so, and it was torture just to move them even alittle, but she had to give it one last push to pull her aching body out of the indent in the ground. When she dumped herself back onto the field, she saw all of her troops and the changelings looking on in shock at what they had seen.

Scootaloo had hit Sapphic dead on, and nailed him into the dirt and rock by the stomach; she couldn't believe it, but she just might have defeated him. He hadn't moved from his spot at the center of the impact zone, and the changelings got more and more worried as the seconds ticked by without him even twitching. She really had done it...it was over...

Suddenly, she felt a clawed hand grasp her throat firmly and quickly; there was no way...

She looked at her attacker, and stared fearfully into the emerald eyes of Sapphic. He had used a lot of his energy rushing forward like that, and he was shaking all over from the force of her attack; his exoskeleton shattered in some places revealing soft-looking cyan flesh as green blood stained his white robe and carapace.

He was heaving heavy breaths, and started to squeeze down on the mare's neck, cutting off her air supply. The other Wonderbolts were paralyzed with fear and unbelieving as they helplessly watched their captain have the very life choked out of her by this monster.

With a sudden yell of anger, the self-proclaimed king closed his fist, and snapped the orange mare's neck like a tiny twig; the sound was sickening and loud as a trickle of blood left Scootaloo's mouth, her eyes going blank.

He tossed her to the side, and blasted her into nothingness with a huge blast of energy from his hand. He stared at the spot where there once had been a pegasus, and now saw not even ashes.

"Fool..." He hacked, holding his stomach in intense pain. "All you've done...is...is make me stronger..."

He turned his attention to the other Wonderbolts, each of them focused on his evil eyes. He gave another feral shout and blasted them away too.






> The Hyperbolic Time Chamber
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom sat in Goten's arms beneath one of the few still-standing trees in the area; her whole body curled into his embrace with her arms around his torso tightly holding him as he held her as well. Her muzzle rested just under his chin and her head lay against his shoulder; occasionally she would nuzzle him gently to which he would do so back, and rub her shoulder comfortingly.

She was still shaking slightly from the experience she had with what she couldn't fathom had been her power. Never in her wildest imagination did she ever think she could contain so much energy. She chuckled as she thought of when Big Mac would call her rambunctious back in her filly days. The thought of Big Mac caused her face to fall slightly again.

She once more nuzzled Goten's face as she shut her amber eyes; the half-saiyan's touch was all she needed to at least stop thinking so actively about all the bad. He was, to her, a lighthouse in the dark sea of her mind that threatened to smash her rocking boat on the shoals. He was her guide out of the void; and he was such a kind young man.

As she felt him stroke hi hand across her furry shoulder once more, she remembered what Applejack had said to her before they left King Kai's world; she had told her to not let something good slip through her hooves. She knew the "something good" was Goten, and she also knew she didn't want him to go away because she never said anything about her feelings.

On the flipside, what if he didn't reciprocate her feelings for him; what if he didn't want to be with someone of an entirely different species? What if once she revealed her desires, he would run from her? She would be left in the darkness once again; alone and without  savior. 

Goten wouldn't do that would he? He wouldn't just up and leave...

"Don't let somethin' good slip through your hooves..."

She didn't want to push him away though. She wanted him to stay as long as she could get him too. She was at least somewhat over her fear of her own power, now. But she had found a new fear; the fear of love.

She found herself staring at him just underneath his line of sight. He must have sensed her gaze, because he turned his head down to look her in the eyes, which made her flinch  little thanks t her current thought process. Sometimes she wished she could karate kick her train of thought right off it's tracks and into a ravine.

She figured she would have to say something sooner or later, and she supposed now was as good a time as ever. 

"Goten..?"

"Yeah?"

She gulped a little as she tried to make the words come out of her mouth. "I---I--I gotta tell ya--that---that I--"

She mentally smacked herself, and tried to force the confession from her lips. 

"Goten, I--!"

"Hey, you two." Goku's voice cut her off.

Apple Bloom wasn't sure if she wanted to hit the saiyan for interrupting or thank him for saving her from having to say anything.

Now back to his normal state, Goku came closer to the two as they stood up to see what he had to say.

"Get yourselves prepared for another jump using Instant Transmission. It's time for the next phase of the plan." He informed them.

She was a bit worried to find out what they planned on next; if her recent display of her control over her power was any indicator, she would more likely destroy Equestria rather than save it in the next two days.

"What exactly is the next step, Goku?" She asked, a bit of shakiness to her voice returning. 

Goku placed two fingers to his forehead, and beckoned them to come closer. They did so, and instantly they were sucked through the very fabric of space once more; the feeling of traveling faster than light was something Apple Bloom would probably never get used to. As the feeling subsided, she shook her head to get rid of the dizziness, and struggled to stay standing. 

Once she was sure she wouldn't fall over, she looked around. The room was extravagant, and very ornately decorated. There were two beds, a bathroom, a kitchen, and for some reason, a gigantic clock on the ceiling, which ticked by slowly. That sound was going to drive her nuts, so she focused on something else.

"It's a nice place, but what is it?" She asked.

"Goten knows." Goku chuckled a bit, looking at his youngest son.

The half-saiyan nodded, and blinked in disbelief. "We're in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber..."

The Hyperbolic Who-now? What in all of Tartarus did that mean? 

"What's a 'hypertonic lion tamer...'?" she asked, completely butchering the name.

"Hyperbolic Time Chamber." Goku corrected with a grin. "In here, time moves so much faster than in the real world, that you can get an entire year of training in here, while only a single day will pass outside."

"What?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, not believing that such a thing was possible.

Goten assured her it was true with a nod. 

"Just wait until you see what's outside this little hut..." He told her, pointing to the opening at the end of the room.

She turned to look, and outside saw nothing but white. It must jus be a really bright light or something, she thought to herself. As she moved closer,the whiteness never cleared or even changed. She dropped her jaw wide open when she saw the place stretched out forever in complete whiteness. If there was an end to the place, she couldn't see it; it was like they were floating in the space between realities. Nothing but an infinite emptiness forever and ever going on.

She sat down in disbelief, the action casing her notice two more things. The gravity was once again heavy on her body; about the same as King Kai's planet had been. She was also feeling very cold; it was like a blizzard was hiding in here somewhere, but a second later, it was scorching hot and she would start to sweat profusely. 

All the while, the infinite void of white remained unchanged.

She was surely going to go crazy if she had to spend a whole "bucking" year in this forsaken place. 

As she tried to gather her rampaging thoughts, Goten put a relaxing hand on her shoulder. 

She looked up to see him smiling own at her. "It's a bit much to take in, isn't it?"

She nodded, not able to form words now; she was far too shocked. 

Goku walked over to them as well, and stared out into the void. 

"Hey, da.." Goten piped up suddenly. "If we'rein the Time Chamber, that means were at Kami's Lookout, and that means we're on Earth...I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to be allowed...yknow, since we're dead.."

Goku nodded, but his smile didn't fade away. "That would be correct, except if you remember back, this isn't technically Earth. It's another dimension entirely, therefore, the rules of Otherworld don't apply."

"And you took us here...using Instant Transmission..." 

"Yup."

"How come we can't just go to Equestria now then with that move?" Goten asked. "Apple Bloom is obviously strong enough to beat Sapphic, and if you can dimension jump with that trick, we could go there now and save everyone!"

Apple Bloom squirmed uncomfortably at the mention of her monstrous power. Goku raised up two fingers as if counting.

"There's two reasons: the first is simply because you two don't have all the training necessary to harness your potentials...especially Apple Bloom. You'd more likely destroy Equestria before you saved it." He said.

The anthropomorphic mare chuckled a bit at her master's echoing of her earlier thoughts.

"The second reason is because the only reason I'm able to Instant Transmission here is because I know it so well. If I tried to take us to Equestria that way, especially since I can't sense power levels from that world in this one, I could teleport us inside a mountain or at the center of the planet. It's too dangerous..."

Goten looked slightly downcast, but Apple Bloom understood fully. She wanted to help her people more than almost anything, but like se had thought, and Goku had stated, she was too unpredictable at the moment. She needed to hone her power and skills to beat Sapphic and save Equestria. In here, she'd have a whole year to do it.

"So when does the training start?"

* * *

Piccolo sensed the three power levels as they entered the Time Chamber. Good, it looked like Goku had successfully got them in there. He wondered how it was going to work for them getting out, since Goku had been in there twice before now. If one went in there more than twice in their lifetime, the door would lock forever.

Maybe there was a hidden meaning. Afterall, Goku wasn't living right now, so that rule might not come into effect. They'd have to wait a day and see.

He turned back to Trunks and Buu, who were still trying to find a way to get Buu's dimensional powers going without him needing to be enraged. Meditation hadn't worked, and neither had this silly thing called yoga. Hopefully they'd figure it out before 24 hours had passed. 

He started to think of Equestria again; he'd never even heard of it before Apple Bloom had come to this world, but he couldn't help but think of all the innocents that must be suffering right now as he sat here, waiting for Goku and the others to finish training in the Time Chamber. Maybe it was Kami influence in him, but he hated that he was helpless to defend them until further notice. 

Once he got to Equestria, though, he'd teach that bug-brain to pick on someone his own size.

* * *

Sapphic sat against a rock as his changeling siblings finished up desecrating the bodies of the Wonderbolts. He'd been absorbing energy from the air to heal his more serious wounds for the coming battles; the minor ones didn't matter. Unfortunately, this technique didn't heal his cracked and in some places missing exoskeleton; his glowing cyan flesh beneath pulsating like pony muscle with each movement.

After a few more moments, he stood and signaled for his brothers and sisters to get ready to fly again. He was halted as he felt a hoof grasp his ankle firmly. He looked down. more curious than startled, and saw the upper remains of a gray pegasus pony with yellow eyes that seemed to look in two different directions; her Wonderbolts uniform in tatters, and her entrails dragging across the dirt. Her blonde mane was a mess, and patches were missing in several places from what his siblings had done to her.  

"Why..." she croaked out. "why are you...doing this...? It doesn't have to be this way..."

He continued to stare at the near-death mare with the walleye gaze. After a moment he finally spoke.

"I'm afraid it does, little one." He said, no maliciousness in his voice at the moment. "You ponies shunned and hurt us. Now we will do the same to you. It's just karma."

With that, he raised an open palm at the mare as she continued to gaze into his hate filled emerald eyes. A quick ki blast later, and her cross-eyed stare was no more; her eyelids closing forever as a burning hole smoldered in her forehead.

"Let's go." He called to the changelings who excitedly followed his order without question.

 
> Intense, Fierce Training
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The temperature fluctuated wildly between scorching hot and frigid cold inside the Chamber as Apple Boom and Goten sparred inside the white, infinite void. Goku watched from a short distance away as the two bounced off each other's attacks, and charged forward again and again like a cat trying to attack it's reflection. The two were evenly matched, but there was one reason that was so; Apple Bloom was only fighting at forty percent her new power, whereas Goten was at nearly ninety.

Each clash between the two ended the same; a collision ofstrikes, followed by a flurry of heated attacks that would be too much for many that were not Goku to track with their eyes, and then they would both pull back and charge again. 

He sensed Apple Bloom's distress; her unwillingness to even attempt to use her power at it's fullest again after what happened on the World of The Kais. She was scared of what she could do, and right now, she was terrified that if she wet any further in her power output, she could hurt Goten; he knew she'd never want to do that.

Goku was not blind to the anthropomorphic mare's attraction to his half-saiyan son; in fact, he welcomed thepossibility of Apple Bloom one day becoming family. But it was not his place to interfere with their interactions when it came to love. He was her master in martial arts and fighting skills, not a matchmaker. That was something the two of them alone needed to handle.

He continued to observe their movements as they sped around in frantic loops, flips, and causing small air pops when they clashed. They had not tired yet, but Goku figured now would be an alright time for a break. 

"Ok, guys, that's enough for now. Come over here." He hollered to them.

Apple Bloom and Goten both stopped their spar, and hurried over to the mighty saiyan, his halo almost invisible against the white void thanks to it's glow.

"You two are making progress," He commented. "but not nearly enough progress to be efficient."

They looked bewildered at him, not knowing what they were doing wrong. Apple Bloom had a suspicion that he was reffering to her holding back. Her thoughts were confirmed with Goku's next words.

"Apple Bloom," He said. "you have to train at the fullest power you have, or at least much higher than what your putting out right now. If this were a fight against Sapphic, you'd be hopelessly slaughtered."

She looked into his eyes pleadingly, distress becoming apparent on in her amber eyes as they met Goku's black ones. "But, Goku, you saw! I can't control it...I almost destroyed the whole planet..."

She could've hurt Goten, she added in her head.

Goku crossed his arms over his chest. "YEs, I did see. If you remember, I also felt it. I know what you're capable of, and that's why we came here, where no one can be hurt by what we do. In this place, you can unleash your fullest potential and this dimension will not even shiver. I'm fairly positive even Lord Beerus himself wouldn't be able to destroy this place."

Perhaps that was a little far, but he was actually pretty sure. There was technically no physical property aside form the doorway back to Earth that could be blown up, smashed, burned, or anything. It was a pocket-verse of infinity with no real mass. Apple Bloom could go full one hundred percent, and still not dent this reality.

"But what about you two?" She reasoned. "I could hurt you guys if I lost control again..."

"Apple Bloom, Goten and I are already dead." Goku reminded her, pointing at his halo. "And we aren't using ki blasts against each other, so unless you focus all your energy into one blast if you lose control again, we aren't going to be more than bruised a little. The only way to hurt us for real is to destroy our current bodies, which would erase us from existence in all realities, including Otherworld. The blasts that were shooting out of  you on the World of The Kais weren't focused enough to do that, so you really have nothing to worry about."

Goten nodded in agreement with his father; looking his friend in her eyes as he did so.

She looked back at Goten, and she mentally recoiled at the thought of actually trying to hurt him, even he was dead. She just didn't think she could even really try to punch him. That was the reason she had only parried all of his attacks before; she didn't have it in her to strike that handsome face.

Goku took a step forward.

"You're worried about hurting Goten?" He more or less asked, already knowing the answer from her expression. "That's fine, then. You can spar with me. I can take whatever you dish out, so don't hold back at all. Release that strength on me and try to beat me into submission."

She looked up shocked at what she had just heard, and shook her head violently. "I--I can't!"

She was suddenly struck by a rather hard punch from the saiyan, and she flew back, landing roughly on her rump as her tail dragged beneath her. 

"Dad?!" Goten exclaimed. "What--what was that for?"

Goku was looking deathly serious at Apple Bloom as she stared back fearfully into his intense eyes. 

"I said attack me." He stated simply; no emotion in his voice at all. 

She teared up a little, and tried to get back to her two hooves, her whole body shaking from what had just happened. As soon as she was standing again, she was floored once more by another, even harder strike from the saiyan. 

She gave a small cry as she skidded across the surface of the Time Chamber, holding her face in pain. He began to walk menacingly toward her, obviously intent on hitting her again. She was panicking and started to crawl backwards away from her master.

"Please..." She sniffled. "stop...please stop..."

"Would Sapphic stop if you were fighting him right now?" Goku yelled, his rising tone threatening. "Would he just up and quit trying to beat you up if you say 'please stop'?"

She was struck with pure terror as Goku began to pick up his pace, moving closer to her in an intimidating manner. She got up and tried to strike at him, but it was half-hearted, and he smacked her away; the sound of his flesh clapping against hers rippled through the air like wet thunder. 

She fell on her face, tears coming out not from pain, but from not understanding why this was happening. Why was Goku suddenly being so harsh and cruel for? 

She yelped as she was yanked by her tail into the air, and then brought into a chokehold; Goku's beefy arms nearly crushing her windpipe as she struggled against him.

"If you don't come at me at full power, how can you expect to fight the tyrant who's probably killing ll your friends at home?" 

He spun her round, and landed another blow perfectly in her gut, and high kicked her in the jaw as she doubled over which caused her to do a backflip and flop against the floor hard. She noticed that Goku had suddenly entered Super Saiyan state, and was towering over her intensely. 

"Please.."She cried. "I can't do it..."

The Super Saiyan scowled, and lifted her up by her mane; her bow coming off from the force of the pull releasing her long red strands, at least the ones Goku didn't have a hold of. 

He held her to his face and bellowed loudly. "No wonder you couldn't save your sister or friend! You don't have the guts to do what it takes!"

He threw her a few feet away, and she spun on the floor. Her face was tear stained, and her heart ached more than her body. His words had hurt worse than anything he had done so far.

As he stalked over to her, he shouted out eve more insults. "You're too selfish! Always afraid to do what has to be done to do what needs doing! You're so scared of your own ability, that you won't even use it to save your friends! You're as weak as your big brother; couldn't even tend to an orchard without dying!"

That last comment angered the yellow filly greatly; her tears turning from sadness to madness. 

"Don't you say nothin' 'bout Big Macintosh!" 

She lunged forward, her power raising to around sixty percent. Goku went Super Saiyan 2 to avoid taking too much damage as her fist planted itself in his gut. It did little more than cause him to bend a bit, and he punched her once again, sending her skidding a few feet away once more. 

Instead of staying down, she rushed him again, her power now at sixty-five percent. Good, she was letting it go. Goku had no meant anything by his insults, and hated having to do this to the mare; but she needed to open the floodgates of her power. She needed to train at maximum potential, or else she wouldn't have the strength to bet Sapphic when it came time. He needed to get rid of her inhibitions; it seemed the first step towards doing this was working so far.

The two traded blows for a few moments, and then Goku caught her wrist, lifted her arm up and jabbed a few fingers into her exposed armpit, causing her to cry out. He tossed her to the side with a yell; the lightning crackling around his body. 

She raised once more, a little more determination to punish Goku for his words in her amber eyes; but her power level remained at sixty-five percent, and was not showing signs of going up. She was still holding back.

He transformed quickly into Super Saiyan 3, and appeared behind her to smack her into the sky. He then appeared behind her in an instant once again, and delivered an overhead smash that sent her reeling into the ground. There was no big explosion or dust-up when she hit; there was no dirt or terrain to cause such. But she was hurt, and she was now struggling to get back up.

Goku floated down, and stood above her once more; his massive amount of golden hair sparking like static. 

"You can't beat me like that." He taunted her again, attempting to get a rise out of her. "You're too weak. You couldn't save anyone in this condition."

She started to think he was right; she was too scared to save anyone. If this was any indication, she'd never be able to beat Sapphic; she'd never save Equestria. It would all be over. What was the point then? There wasn't one of she couldn't even save herself...

Goku felt her power level start to drop. Damn, she was giving up. He couldn't let that happen. He raised a fist to strike down at her--

"Dad!! That's enough!!" Goten's angered voice shouted out as the younger Super Saiyan sped towards them.

Perfect, Goku thought. Hopefully this would be the motivator she needed to come at him full boar; he'd apologize to his son later.

Goten came flying in to tackle his father and get him away from Apple Bloom, but Goku moved to the side and elbowed his youngest son into the floor as hard as he could (which was very VERY hard). 

Goten landed, and instantly, he was back to his normal state. Apple Bloom gasped in shock as she saw this, and then a look of torture came to her eyes as Goku stepped on his son, putting most of his weight on his back as if to snap it. He didn't intend to, but if he could make it convincing, it might work.

"If you two can't even beat me, then I guess there's no use for either of you. Say good-bye to Goten, Apple Bloom."

That was it. Seeing her crush being hurt like he was had finally pushed her too far; on top of the familial insults, the mocking, and now Goten's own pain, he had finally pushed the right buttons.

Knowing what was coming, he turned into Super Saiyan 4, and the true fight began.

Shockwaves erupted with every blow the mare sent Goku's way; each contact feeling like a boulder sent from a slingshot into his body. He was barely able to keep up as she increased her speed exponentially. She blasted through his defense, and rocketed him upwards with a large uppercut that would have shattered a normal man's jaw. In less than a second later, she was bouncing the saiyan around like a pinball in mid-air. Six strikes per second, Goku counted, trying hisbest to block the majority of the pain she was dishing out to him.

She appeared above him, and with one huge wind-up punch, she sent the Super Saiyan 4 spiraling into the surface of the Time Chamber at unbelievable speed. If there had been any terrain here, there surely wouldn't have been anymore. 

Goku struggled to sit up, a silly smile on his bruised and throbbing face. As he looked over at Apple Bloom, he sensed it; one hundred percent power. All except for that small bit Elder Kai couldn't unlock, she had used everything to make him pay for what he had said and done.

"Good job, Apple Bloom. I knew you had it in you..." He grunted out painfully.

She stopped seething when she heard his words, and a second later it clicked. He'd been testing her, hadn't he?

"You...you were...you were training me just now?" 

The Super Saiyan 4 nodded curtly, the smile not leaving his lips. "I never meant any of the insults I threw at you, and I definitely didn't intend to cripple my son. I just needed to get you to stop refraining yourself. And now look..."

He motioned up and down her body, and she knew that she had been feeling it; her full power was out, and though it was a raging vortex right now, she was in no danger to anyone unless she wanted to be. No ki blasts randomly firedfrom her body, and no high speed winds threatened the Chamber's door to Earth. She was at full strength.

She calmed herself down a bit, and ran to hug Goku, who winced in pain as she threw herself into his body. She giggled a bit as h grunted.

"You kinda deserve that." She joked.

"Yeah, I guess I do." Goku agreed.

* * *

In the middle of an open field in Equestria, a lone pony stood waiting. Her white coat keeping her warm from the cold as her purple shades covered her red eyes. When that bastard Sapphic flew over here, he was going to know what it was like to be dropped by the bass...



> "I'm Beginning To Feel Like A Wub God"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl Scratch; the famous DJ Pon3 stood with her music mixing machine in front of her, the turntables completely still for the moment. The white unicorn looked ready for a concert, and indeed she was. But this would not be a normal concert; her audience would consist only of changelings, and the end of her show would be met with crushing silence rather than deafening cheers. 

She had heard the story about this "Prince Sapphic" back in Canterlot; her and her marefriend Octavia had been out to dinner when news spread about what had happened to Appaloosa. It sickened her to think someone could be so cruel as to kill off an entire town for something as stupid as revenge. 

When she had told Octavia what she planned to do about it, the gray earth pony had chastised her, and argued with her, and finally pleaded with her to not follow this course of action.

"Vinyl! Stop! If you go out there alone, you'll die!" Octavia cried out, tears in her normally stern eyes.

"I can't let this bozo get away with this kinda crap, Octi." Vinyl told her. "This jerk is gonna pay big time!"

"Let the Wonderbolts handle this! The Elements..the Princesses! This isn't your fight! This isn't our fight!"

"Isn't it, though?" She turned to look her gorgeous lover in her lavender eyes. "You think he's gonna stop at Appaloosa? Word is he wants Celestia and Luna, which means eventually, he'll come here! Right here to Canterlot! And what do you suppose he's going to do when he gets here, huh? Leave all us little ponies alone while he beats on the Princesses? No, he's gonna do the samethin to us that he did to the Appaloosans! He's gonna kill us all! He's gonna kill you....and I can't let that happen, no matter what."

Octavia sniffled as she realized she was running out of options to make her alabaster lover stay put in Canterlot. "So this is to protect me, is it?"

Vinyl nodded an affirmative, and took the cellists face in her hooves gently. "I can't let any harm come to the mare I love...I'm going to go help stop Sapphic. And don't you worry...I'll be back! It'll take more than a few bug-eyed freaks to take out DJ Pon3!"

Vinyl gave one last kiss to the gray mare before her, and then galloped off towards Ponyville; Octavia watching her go with watery eyes.

Now here she was; her bass cannon primed and ready in her hooves, and her mixing station ready to play a killer show, literally. 

She looked overhead as she heard the buzzing of hundreds of clear wings; the sound was like a parasprite swarm come to destroy the harvest. Through her purple tinted shades, and a few strands of her electric blue mane, she spotted Sapphic at the head of the swarm. 

She aimed the gigantic tubular cannon over her small shoulder and fired off a wave of intense sound that vibrated the very air it touched making a noise like a pulsating laser as it soared towards it's target.

Sapphic heard the attack before he felt it. The near solid wave of sound smacked him hard, and threw off every changeling in the vicinity. There was confusion and chaos as Sapphic, disoriented by the soundwave, plummeted to the ground along with many of his siblings.

After the ringing in his ears stopped, he looked out towards what the source had been. The white unicorn with the blue mane and tail was standing behind her turntables in the middle of the meadow; a large cannon at her side, still looking primed and ready to fire by it's bright, blue glow.

"Who in the Hell are you, and what I the world was that..?" He groaned, his equilibrium still a bit off as small bits of green blood trickled from his ear holes. 

The unicorn named Vinyl Scratch smiled devilishly. "Oh, I'm DJ Pon3. And this baby? Aw, it's nothin' special, just my mutha buckin' bass cannon!"

She aimed and fired another loud and air rending blast from thehuge weapon. How she could lift something so massive was beyond Sapphic, but he moved from the path of the very visible wall of noise that was headed for him. Though he avoided the physical aspect of it, his ears once again began to ring as the high intensity sound bounced around on his eardrums. Several of his brothers and sisters had not been as quick, and were crushed by the sheer pressure of the waves that blasted them back.

He opened his eyes, his vision a bit blurry, and saw the DJ had put away her weapon, and had turned on her large mixing station. A short beat began to protrude from the massive and ridiculously sized speakers on each side of the turntables every half second. 

Through his throbbing ears, he swore he heard her say something along the lines of "Now we get this party started!"

Immediately after, a loud and rapturous sound erupted from the towering speakers; the intensity so huge it shook the very ground upon which they touched, sending vibrations through the dirt and rock, and shaking several trees in the distance with enough force to drop some leaves.

He saw many of his changeling followers grasp their heads in agony t the nose that must be shredding their senses to pieces; Sapphic himself couldn't believe how huge the pressure in his head was becoming. I felt like he was going to explode.

* * *

"That sounds like Vinyl's music.." Pinkie Pie stated as the loud beats could be heard al the way in Ponyville. Several birds flew into the sky desperately trying to get out of the area that allthis commotion was taking place in. 

Twilight looked in the direction the sound appeared to be coming from; the noise level at that intensity would surely pop a few changeling brains. It was a good thing she had given the DJ from Canterlot that high tech set of headphones, or she may have suffered the same fate as her enemies. 

Shining Armor stood beside his royal sister as he too looked off into the distance. "You think she can stop them?"

Twilight was silent for a moment, going over every scenario in her mind. "Perhaps...we'll have to see."

"Should I send some troops to her location for back up?" Shining suggested.

"No." Twilight responded, shaking her head. "They wouldn't be able to handle the noise levels she's putting out. Let's let DJ Pon3 do her own thing here.

* * *

Vinyl cranked the volume up higher as she saw some of the changelings keeling over from brain aneurisms. She guessed not everypony could handle such sick beats. Through her protective headphones, she could feel the rumbling of the bass as it thundered out it's rhythm, and she couldn't help but shake her white coated body to the beat, swaying her rump and tail from side to side.

Sapphic couldn't even scream; the pain in his brain was immense and unbearable. He noticed he had begun to bleed not just from his barely covered ears, but also from his eyes and nose. If this kept up, he would have a brain failure, and die without ever having fulfilled his destiny. 

His rage only grew as several of his siblings met their fate at the hooves of this insane unicorn and her hellacious machine of dubstep. This was not how the great King Sapphic was going to go down. Through sheer willpower and rage, he stood, his whole body vibrating with the force of the blasts of sound coming from literally every direction. Some loose chunks of his already ravaged exoskeleton shook off and disintegrated before they even touched the ground.

Vinyl saw the biped stand up in the face of her wicked rhythms, and knew she had to turn it up a notch. She put the needles to the records on her turntables, and looked over to Sapphic with a smug look.

"You call yourself king of the changelings, right?" She shouted, knowing he couldn't hear her, but not being able to help it anyway. "You know what's better than a king? A god! And you're lookin' at one! The wub god of Equestria! Now...bow down!"

She flipped several switches, and several instruments joined the massive bass and beat, mixing into an even greater volume of death music which hit Sapphic with the force of twenty big rigs. He slid back, and tried to stop from falling to his knees. No way was he going to kneel before a licentious pony; not he, the son of Chrysalis.

With a painful shout, he shot forward a beam of energy hot as the sun which Celestia claimed to raise each day. Vinyl retreated from her machine, and the powerful attack obliterated the mechanized noise-maker from Tartarus into mechanical giblets. 

The unicorn flew back a few feet, landing on her back with a heavy grunt, the pain shooting up her spine as wires and metal fell around her.

Sapphic placed his hands on his knees and heaved his breaths; his ears not having recovered, and his eye sight not back to normal. He swore he could see double of the mare that had nearly killed him as he started to shamble over to her.

She watched him approach, and he finally grabbed her by the neck, and held her to his face so he could see her properly. 

"I...I..applaud your...attempt...but...you've..only...doomed your...your friends..." He strained to say through his still jumbled brain.

Vinyl cracked a smile again. Did this mare think it funny she was going to die?

"I know you can't hear me," she said as she reached for her headset. "but your about to have the house brought down on ya!"

She yanked her headphones off, flipping a switch on them and promptly placed them over Sapphic's pointed and bleeding ears. The changeling prince dropped the DJ as he reeled back; the high pitched tone of static that floodedhis senses was literally mind-numbing. 

"That frequency causes brain death in ponies who listen to it at high volume..." Vinyl triumphantly said. "In other words, goodnight, sweet prince!"

She watched as the light started to fade from Sapphic's emerald eyes, and he started to teeter on his hole riddled feet. Green blood was now streaming from his eyes and nostrils as the white noise was fed directly into his brain. 

One of the changelings that had survived the bass maelstrom saw the treacherous act taking place before her. Knowing her King would be killed if she stood by and did nothing, the drone flew forth as best she could with her disoriented senses, and snatched the headphones off of Sapphic, causing Vinyl to gasp in surprise. The unicorn hadn't expected the other changelings to still be able to move.

Sapphic stood still, slowlyrecovering his equilibrium, and took a one-eyed look at Vinyl so he could see without double-vision. 

"Thanks....for the...power..boost..." He strained, and fired a ki blast straight from his palm.

Vinyl braced herself as the searing hot attack came closer and closer, ready to send her into the next life. Even though her own life was about to end, rather than a complete flashback of her life, all she could think of in that moment..was Octavia.
> Temptations and Dreams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The last month had been intense for Apple Bloom and Goten. Goku was an extremely hard teacher, and even though he wasn't strict on most things, he was very insistent on always going full boar in their sparring sessions. Sometimes, those sessions would go on for hours, sometimes taking up an entire day within the Chamber.

Of course, there was no real way aside from the massive clock on the ceiling of the entrance to Earth for them to tell day from night. On rare occasions, the whiteness would actually change to an icy wasteland complete with blizzards, and on others would become a raging inferno threatening to swallow them in flames. 

The young anthropomorphic mare was very happy at the end of each day, but not just because she could finally rest for a few hours, but because she knew through all of this turmoil, she would come out even better than before. Once, while they were bathing, she noticed she was starting to grow visible abdominal muscles; it made her look tough, and she liked that.

But her own muscles weren't the only thing she'd noticed on those occasions. The Time Chamber had only one bath tub and to save time, Goku suggested they all bath together just as Gohan and he had when they trained together inside the Chamber. She wasn't too worried about herself being nude around them; for goodness sakes, she'd been naked around them since she'd known them before gaining this body. Her face had heated up like a kettle on the boil though when she saw Goten fully revealed the first time. She remembered all those sex education classes from her youth, and even though the had been on pony bodies, she was able to tell what parts were what fairly well, and found it increasingly hard to avert her eyes from said parts.

Whenever they would bathe, she would have to mentally remind herself that even thoughhe was built, Goten was still only sixteen whereas she was eighteen. It was within a three year difference, yes, and back in Equestria it wasn't frowned upon too much; but she was of an age where she could do certain things Goten could not. Just that little, seemingly insignificant fact was enough to make her keep herself in control during these times. It did not, however, keep her from fantasizing about things when the boys would fall asleep. This bipedal body had a couple extra places and capabilities she had rather enjoyed exploring the uses of. 

Speaking of sleeping, she was always a bit guilty at the fact that there were only two beds in the Time Chamber, and three of them. The reason for his guilt was because Goku would always end up sleeping on the tile floor of the Earth entrance. She also found it rather curious that the dead needed to sleep, but then again...the sentence seemed to both make sense, and not make sense.

She had once suggested that she take the floor instead, but Goku would always deny the offer, saying he didn't need comfort to get rest. She would've also suggested she share a bed with Goten, so Goku would have the other, but once again, certain things came to her mind.

She was so ashamed of her perverted mind; especially since she had slept with Goten before back before the entire fiasco, and nothing inappropriate had happened. But she had a body similar to his now...

Apple Bloom was becoming distracted by these thoughts as she sat at the table with Goku and Goten; the many plates starting to stack up as they inhaled their food. She shook her head and brought herself crashing back to reality. 

How long had it been now? Over a month? That seemed about right, but if she ever forgot, she was sure Goku would have it in his head. For someone she had heard was so simple minded, he was rather intelligent; and even though he was a hard teacher, he was a righteous warrior. Everything he did, he did for the good of something. Right now, he was destroying the meals before him for the good of his seemingly bottomless stomach.

As they all finished eating, Goku stretched and yawned.

"Well, tomorrow, we're gonna be doing things a little different." He stated, looking at his son and his pupil.

"How do ya mean?" Apple Bloom questioned, eager to hear what was next to be introduced. 

"So far, I've gotten you to let go of your inhibitions. Now, I have to teach you control." 

Apple Bloom was confused. "Wasn't the whole point of this to get me to use all my power? Why am I suddenly going back to holding back?"

"You won't be holding back." Goku explained. "You'll be learning how to bring the power out without using anger. You see, you two, anger is a useful tool,but it's a double-edged sword in many cases. It can give you a massive power boost, and sometimes even keep you alive in certain situations. But anger is dangerous, because if you become too angry, and start to 'see red' so to speak, you might become unfocused; savage. You could forget all forms of training and discipline. In extreme cases, you could temporarily lose who you are in a blind rage and become nothing more than a monster that destroys or gets yourself killed."

Apple Bloom though on that. Big Mac had once told her when she was first learning what to do on the farm that getting mad at things would only make everything else go wrong, and that keeping a calm head was better. Anger had let her release her mental hold-ups about using her power, but now, if she relied only on rage to bring it out, she might mess everything up, including herself. It was slightly confusing, but she thought she had the gist of it.

"So we'll be training to control our new power without needing to be angry then. Good, I'm getting kinda tired of thinking of bad stuff." Goten laughed.

Goku and Apple Bloom chuckled as well, and after a few moments, Goku announced was time to sleep. The three warriors found their places, and began to drift off into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Apple Bloom?"

Apple Bloom opened her eyes slowly; the sunlight causing her to blink rapidly before she saw the source of the voice that had called her name. When her amber eyes finally focused, they met Goten's own, and the mare felt a smile crawl across her face.

He was holding her in a gentle embrace underneath a large tree; the branches dangling leaves all around them as the golden glow of the sun lit up the wheat colored grass all around them. The sky above was as blue as one could hope for on a nice day, and several birds could be heard chirping in the distance; their cheerful tunes a sort of ballad for the two of them.

"Hi, Goten." She cooed, her hand coming up to brush away some of her bright red mane from her face. 

Without another word, she nuzzled up against his neck, closing her eyes as she breathed in his scent. That, mixed with the smell of the tree and the air itself, sent her heart into a blissful flutter. 

She giggled a little as she felt one of his fingers poke her in the side, making her look up at him with a big grin. He chuckled as well, and made a mock discovery face.

"I think someone's a little bit ticklish, aren't they?" He said with a silly tone in his voice. "Are you ticklish, Apple Bloom? Someone tough as you couldn't be ticklish, right?"

She giggled some more, and squirmed in his arm as his other hand began to move i's fingers all over her side and belly. It was lightly painful, but overall was not a bad feeling, but it was tickling her, and she was gonna have sore cheeks from laughing if he didn't stop.

When the half-saiyan finally showed her belly mercy, he brought his lips to her muzzle, and gave her quick kiss on her nose. This action, coupled by his hand taking hers in it, made her blush and sigh a little. This must be what it was like to fall in love.

"Goten..." She half-sighed. "You'll never leave me right?"

Goten shook his head, a gentle smile on his features as he looked at her. "Never. You're the only apple of my eye."

She blushed again at the play on words and her family name. When she looked back up at him, saw not the black eyes of her crush, but the blazing emerald eyes of something malicious.

"And just like the rest of Equestria," 'Goten' said, a much more menacing voice coming fromhis mouth as the sky turned hellish. "this apple looks just good enough to eat!"

Sapphic's jaw unhinged and his rows of sharp teeth came flashing at the mare as she screamed.

* * *

"Get away!" She cried out, an involuntary punch shattering one of the marble pillars beside her bed into small bits.

Goten shot up into a sitting position; his jet black hair going gold for a moment before he realized what was going on. Apple Bloom sat upright on the opposite side of the room, her legs curled in as she hugged herself, wiping away the small tears that had formed in her eyes. The half-saiyan walked quickly over to his furry friend, and sat next to her.

"Apple Bloom, are you ok?" He asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She didn't say anything and just pulled the young man into a hug, which, after getting over the sudden surprise, he returned. 

"I had another nightmare..." She finally told him.

"Was it one of your flashbacks..?" Goten asked.

He felt her shake her head against his shoulder, sniffing once. "It was Sapphic...he was disguised as you..."

Goten's face fell, and he pulled away just enough to look at her face. She was finding it a bit hard to look at him; afraid she was going to see those evil green eyes again.

He let her find the courage to look up at him before speaking. 

"Hey, it's ok, Apple Bloom. Sapphic isn't here, and he can't hurt you right now....and even if he was trying to, I would do everything in my power to make sure it didn't happen."

"But he is hurting my friends...back home..." She squeaked out. "And I can't do anything to help 'em..."

Goten pulled her into onemore hug to comfort her, understanding her helpless feeling at the situation reality had for them. 

"I know...but once we get out of here, we'll how him what happens when he messes with the ponies you love. We'll teach him a lesson...together."

She nodded a bit, her mind somewhat eased by his words of future promise. She then took a look around the room, not seeing any sign of Goku.

"Where's your dad?" She asked him, genuinely curious.

Goten seemed to just notice as well, and looked around before coming to a conclusion. "He must have gone out for some late training.."

He then turned back to the mare, a reassuring look directed at her. "We should get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll be doing some crazy training, and then when it's over, Sapphic won't be able to touch either of us."

He started to walk over to his side of the room before Apple Bloom called out for him to stop. The half-saiyan turned around to see what she needed.

She hesitated before asking what she had on her mind; she was afraid of the nightmare coming back, just like the memories from before.

"Will...will you sleep here with me like..like you did when I had hose bad memories before..? I think I'd feel more..more at ease that way.." She said.

Goten grinned and chuckled a bit. "It's no problem at all, Apple Bloom."

He returned to her bed, and once the two of them were under the sheets, he wrapped hi powerful arms around her muscular, fur covered body. She faced away from him, and she closed her eyes and sighed as she felt his hot breath on the back of her neck and his rigid, yet soft form pressing against hers. 

She remembered back to that moment on the World of the Kais, and how she had wanted to finally confess her feelings for him, but hadn't had the chance. She saw no distractions, or any possible ones around in the Time Chamber, and swallowed hard, getting ready to finally say it; this seemed as good a time as any.  

"Goten, I--" She started as she turned slightly to see him.

She stopped when she saw the young man was already fast asleep; his chest rising and falling slowly and rhythmically. 

She laughed a little at the ridiculous speed he had gotten back to resting, and simply decided she could wait to tell him; she didn't want to disturb his dreams more than once in one night.

She turned bak away from him and pressed herself against him further, pulling his arms gently closer to her. As he started to finally drift off once more, she wondered if Goten ever dreamed of her like she did about him.
> The Battle of Ponyville Begins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic had been recovering his senses and wounds for hours now. That damn unicorn had really did a number on him and his followers; he was truly amazed that one pony had done so much to his army...to him. 

Two hundred; that was how many of his brothers and sisters had died from the unrelenting waves of sound and noise she had attacked them with. This left little more than six hundred of them to fight the rest of Equestria. He thought that he'd be able to take them all on even if his siblings were destroyed, but after his last two fights so far...

No; he had to shake these doubts out of his head. After all, he was half-saiyan, and the last two near-death experiences had multiplied his power enormously already. Surely he would have no trouble now; he and his changelings would soon achieve their goal.

He started to laugh; softly at first, and then it rose to a loud cackling that echoed all around him. These ponies were doing him a favor by beating him half to death; he would continue to get stronger with each puny attempt at resistance they threw at him. He had destroyed the Wonderbolts' entire chain of command; he had defeated the self-proclaimed "Wub God", DJ Pon3. He figured at this point, even the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses' combined couldn't even stop him. His victor was all but assured now.

He stood up, finally no longer feeling any major pain, and signaled his remaining followers to take to the skies once more. The entirety of the bug-like creatures did so not only with vigor, but without hesitation; it was as if instead of being afraid of suffering the same fate as their fallen, they wished to get back at the ones who had caused even more death in their hive. 

These ponies surely were in for a storm of destruction.

* * *

Celestia and Luna stood facing each other inside one of the royal castle's secret antechambers. The power coursing around the two was jaw dropping, and was only raising higher as they called back every ounce of energy they had sealed away within themselves long ago. The teachings of King Kai had not been lost on them; they were every bit as strong as they were in their youth. 

Celestia, however, still looked dissatisfied with the current flow of energy she was outputting. 

"Sister," Luna spoke, her archaic tone of voice evident. "art thou not pleased with the power we possess?"

"No." Celestia answered curtly, her multicolored ethereal mane rippling. "I am not satisfied, my sister. I feel this is still not enough to defeat Sapphic."

"Surely you jest?" The smaller alicorn insisted. "The might of our regal powers combined shall surely vanquish this foe."

Celestia did not look at her younger sister, for she was too deep in thought. This was a miniscule power compared to what she was sensing from him right now. To make the matter worse, she felt every massive leap in power he made as the power levels of other ponies were snuffed out. His rampage across Equestria was only making him stronger, and there was no way they would keep up with power surges of this magnitude.

She couldn't give up though; she was not at full power yet, and perhaps in her years since her training, she held more than she knew. She had to keep gathering her strength. If Equestria was to fall, than she shall fall with it, but only shall she fall fighting.

* * *

"Sapphic is coming!" Shouted one of the crystal pony scouts as he cam galloping back into Ponyville. "Sapphic is coming!!"

Twilight and the others quickly dropped what they were doing, and got into position behind the several rows of armed crystal ponies and normal ponies alike. Each of them kept their eyes fixed on the horizon, awaiting whatever horrors were about to come flying overhead.

There were a few moments of silence, and nopony spoke a word; the wind being the only noisemaker within the small town.

Suddenly, like a swarm of locusts, the army of black and green beasts came crashing over the border of Ponyville like a tidal wave of teeth, hooves, and wings. The sound of their combined buzzing was near deafening as the monsters trampled the first wave of soldiers effortlessly before engaging in actual combat with the rest of the ground forces. 

Spears, swords, and even blunt objects were thrown around in a frenzy of violence and death; the once clean soil of Ponyville's trails were now bathed in blood, both red and green in color as bodies of both species started to hit the ground. 

Some of the changelings looked to retreat into he air, but the pegasi of the small town wouldn't have it, divebombing them and using them like volleyballs in high speed attacks. The changelings themselves fought back as well, and in a few seconds members of both sides began to fall from the air; twisting and turning until they either splattered across the ground, or crashed through roofs and windows, never to get up again.

Rainbow Dash was the first to se Sapphic as he hovered above the battlefield with a look of enjoyment on his cracked and beaten face; his long strands of dark green hair flowing in the wind as he surveyed the destruction.

Without saying a word to the others, Rainbow Dash blasted into the air directly at the changeling prince. Twilight and the others shouted out desperately, but only Twilight followed her into the sky; Fluttershy cowering behind Pinkie Pie in tears of fright.

Sapphic saw the rainbow blur a split second before he sensed her, and in less time then that after he did, she had struck him with a huge headbutt to his side. He cried out curtly in pain, and held his body with an arm to dull the pain. Rainbow Dash was virtually breathing fire from her flaring nostrils. This was the guy who killed Scootaloo...she just knew it. She wasn't going to let him smugly sit up here and laugh as the rest of her friends fought for their very lives.

"Dash! Stop!" Twilight's voice reached her. 

This prompt only made the multi-colored pegasus want to attack even more, and that was exactly what she did. Zipping forward, leaving the afterimage of a rainbow, she passed by Sapphic, and mule kicked him through the air. Before two seconds had passed, she struck him again, and he started to descend towards the ground. He'd never reach it, as Dash once again zoomed by to blast his face with a frontal hoof strike, and send him for a sidespin though the sky. He stopped himself, but was flipped head over heels as she clotheslined him with her left wing when she flew past at high speed, hitting him in the throat, and shattering what little of his exoskeleton remained I that area. Then, as he started to slow his out of control spinning, his chest was nearly caved in by another large mule kick from the blue pony with the rainbow mane. She had him reeling and retching in ten seconds flat.

Sapphic held back the urge to puke anymore blood from his maw, and started to straighten himself to face Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo had been fast, but this mare was something else; he couldn't even sense her power level before she struck, and if he managed to, it would be too late to block her. He had to ground her first, and then he would fight the others.
> It's All In The Technique 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Piccolo sat in meditation on the tile-laden floor of the Lookout; his large cape flowing with the wind as he calmed his mind. The situation was looking bleaker by the second, and every moment they spent here was a moment Equestria could've used their help. He had tried to form a plan or some strategy to be able to not only save those that would still be living in the magical dimension, but even be able to revive all the ponies who were no doubt seeing their lives flash before their eyes one last time. Each idea he had thought up, however, either was nulled by another fact, or was too convoluted and farfetched to attempt. 

Damn those Eternal Dragons and their laws. As he continued to think, he thought of one last option; but he wasn't sure if he himself could do it. It would require--

"Piccolo!" The voice of Trunks interrupted his thoughts.

The namekian's eyes sprang open, and found their sights on the purple-haired half-saiyan, who was running over to him excitedly. He looked rater pleased.

"Did Buu find a way to open a space-time rift without being angry?" Piccolo asked him, standing up.

"Yes!" He replied, a smile wide across his face. "It's kind of silly, but...well, just come watch."

Piccolo,his curiosity now piqued, followed Trunks over to where the pudgy pink majin was happily humming a tune to himself whilst swaying from side-to-side.

He saw the two approach and gave a big wave. "We show Piccolo now, Trunks? Show Piccolo what Buu do?"

"That's right, Buu." Trunks encouraged. "Let's show Piccolo the voodoo that Buu do."

The pink majin nodded and dropped into a ready stance; his tongue hanging out of his upwardly curved mouth in concentration. 

Trunks gave a shout and entered into Super Saiyan form; his golden hair flowing upwards. Once he was transformed, he began to toss several ki blasts around Buu. As the attacks neared the majin, he raised his antenna and commanded that all of that energy be turned into chocolate. 

The will was done, and each of Trunks' blasts was turned into harmless, delicious looking chocolate balls which Buu proceeded to inhale quite literally. After a few moments, Buu's squinty eyes went wide for a second, and he did a short little dance while giving childlike laughs. After a few moments of this display, he started doing some strange things.

He first dipped forward, putting his stubby right leg out behind him,then instantly, with unbelievable grace, he spun around at high speed. As suddenly as he started, Buu stopped spinning, and looked over his shoulder in quick succession three times. 

Just as Piccolo thought this ridiculous display was over, Buu thrust him self forward, and then thrust himself back like a ragdoll and coming to a halt on his right foot. He stood up on both feet again, and stretched them to impossible lengths as his rotund body began to do  sort of orbit around where his feet were firmly planted. After the second rotation, all sanity was thrown out the window as Buu bounced on his backside, and his body began to morph and contort in several different shapes and sizes that Piccolo could barely follow.

Buu finally formed himself back, and with a happy little smile he puffed a little breath into the air in front of him, and like a zipper to a jacket, the air opened up, revealing some other world on the other side. Through the wormhole, Piccolo saw a quant looking cottage with several animals running about it both inside and out; a forest not too far away from where it sat. 

He almost questioned if this was the correct dimension, but then a pony came flying into the view; she had a very lengthy pink mane and tail, and her fur was a much brighter yellow than Apple Bloom's. He noticed the three pink butterflies on her flank, and watched as she was thrown into the cottage, caving in one of the wooden walls a bit before slumping down, giving a short cry of pain.

Piccolo started to hastily move in to see what he could do, but the portal shut suddenly, and Piccolo looked angrily at the majin now sitting down, huffing and puffing.

Piccolo calmed own seeing this, realizing Buu had not intentionally shut it. "He's only able to keep it open a short while, huh?"

Trunks nodded. "Yeah. When we first started this, he could only do it for three seconds. We're making progress."

Piccolo nodded, and tried to stop imagining what awful things were now happening to that yellow pegasus he had just seen.

* * *

Apple Bloom, Goten, and Goku all sat cross-legged in a circle amongst the whiteness of the Time Chamber. The two young ones watched as Goku demonstrated how to calmly and subtly bring forth power without releasing it all at once. He looked calm and at peace as he meditated, and they could both feel his power increasing every moment, but no outward signs showed as such. 

Apple Bloom blinked when she thought she saw Goku's hair turn red for a second before going back to black. He opened his eyes and motioned for them to try it. 

Goten and Apple Bloom closed their eyes and focused on raising their power levels without making it noticeable. This was definitely much easier said than done, as Apple Bloom started to open up each gate she had keeping her massive power in check. She let go of too much energy at once though, and her aura flashed with the bright white of her power.

"Horseapples..." She muttered.

"Hey, don't feel bad, you'll get it." Goten assured her, giving her a reassuring look. 

She smiled back at him, and closed her eyes again, giving it another go.

* * *

"How dare you?!" Pinkie Pie cried out after witnessing Fluttershy being kicked far overhead by the changeling biped. 

Sapphic descended to the ground, and tossed Rainbow Dash's wingless form to the ground; the bone splinters sticking out of where her glorious feathered appendages used to be. He had caught her during another headbutt attempt, and rather than hold his aching stomach, he had grabbed her by her outstretched wings, and tore them clean off, effectively putting an end to her being much of a bother.

Rainbow Dash tried to stand up, he stepped on her back as she did so, and started to grind her into the dirt as she screamed in pain; her spine was heard audibly cracking under his pressure. 

The pink party pony wasted little time in getting him off her now handicapped friend as she rocked his torso with several hard strikes that were obviously meant to break solid rock. Sapphic's chest carapace was on the verge of breaking, an he slapped the pink earth pony in the face, before grabbing her mane and flinging her up and back down hard into the gravel. To his surprise, she jumped right back up, and bit down on his hand.

He lifted her up and tried to shake her off his limb, but her jaw was locked like a vice. Before he decided he would just blast her off, he was attacked from behind by a magical blast from Twilight; the raw magic energy searing his clear wings off. 

He yelled in anger, and threw a ki blast in her direction, which she dodged, and counter attacked upon with another spell, this one of higher intensity. Pinkie let go of him as the beam struck Sapphic,sending him bouncing across the ground and into the Carousel Boutique; the walls he struck against collapsing instantly as he fund himself covered in fabrics and threads. 

As he stood up, getting the materials off him, he saw the white unicorn Rarity standing in the opening he had involuntarily created.

"I think I just got a new idea for a piece." She said, a little darker than usual. 

Needles and spools of thick thread and wire began to float in her magical aura, and Sapphic blinked as Rarity's power level slightly increased.

"And you look like a simply smashing new mannequin, darling."
> It's Over?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic dodged and weaved through the onslaught of needles and thread that threatened to stitch him into a voodoo doll; he had narrowly avoided several attempts at strangulation, and had, in a fit, blasted apart the boutique itself; this did not stop the admittedly gorgeous white unicorn with the dark purple mane from trying to make him a marionette.

For a pony who looked so fragile, this mare was incredibly precise with her magic; every attack, every distraction, and every counter she pulled off flawlessly except for actually hitting her mark. Her control was incredible. 

Killing her would definitely boost his abilities quite a bit.

He didn't notice, however, that as Rarity had been assailing him with sewing materials, Twilight Sparkle had been charging something powerful. Above her horn, her eyes a glow with her near boundless magical might, hovered a massive energy sphere, purple in color, that she herself had named the Black Matter Bomb. Absorbing all the negative emotions from the battlefield along with the negative energies in the air, the power of the massive attack caught Sapphic's attention at last.

Twilight grunted as she saw he had finally noticed; the bomb wasn't fully formed yet.

Sapphic tossed several ki blasts directly at the alicorn, and Twilight shut her eyesfor the pain about to hit.

Before any of the strikes made contact, Pinkie Pie jumped up into the air and kicked away each one, sending them flying off in different directions before dropping back to the ground. The wayward attacks killed a few more changelings, and one destroyed a few housings along the side of the plaza they were fighting in. 

"Pinkie!" Twilight called. "Are you ok?"

The party pony looked up and waved an affirmative. Her hooves were burnt, but not to an excessive degree.

"You think I'm gonna let you hit me with that?" The changeling prince bellowed. "You'll never get the cha--"

His words were cut off by a sharp pain in his shoulder, followed by a pulling sensation. He had forgotten about Rarity when he'd seen the Black Matter Bomb in the sky, and she had threaded his shoulder; green globs of blood oozing from the point of exit and all over the thread. 

Several more needles punctured his arms and legs; an intricate design of binding string and wire now becoming part of his body. He struggled, but each movement he made caused him further pain, and the strings would only cut into his muscles more. 

Rarity did no smile as she did this however. She did not enjoy causing pain, and torturing others like this. But she knew it had to be done; this monster of a creature was powerful indeed, but if he couldn't move, he would be helpless, and Twilight would finish him off, and once again save Equestria.

A few changeling drones came flying in to attack the unicorn, but when one would get even close to Rarity, Pinkie Pie was always right there. Rarity had no idea how Pinkie did all that warping around, but was thankful nonetheless.

She strung the self-proclaimed king up like he was going to be crucified; the strings that now were part of his arms yanking them up in a 'T' fashion as they were attached to a few nearby buildings. Desecrated as they were, they would hold long enough for this. His legs were sewn  together tightly, unable to even move away from each other and dangled about four feet from the dirt. 

Sapphic cried out in pain at the unusual restraint, and tried to move his now patchwork body, but there was nohope of it; he was stuck.

Damn these blasted ponies, he thought. 

"Everyone get back!" Twilight called out, her voice ringing over the entire battlefield.

She whipped her head back and then forward as the Black Matter Bob was launched down at it's target. The thing was huge; at least eight times the size of Sapphic's whole body. If this hit him, he knew it would be over, but he wasn't able to move. He could call for his siblings, but they would be little help now. He had one last option, but it would be both risky and painful; it would leave him vulnerable to lesser attacks, and his muscles would be torn near to shreds, but that was better than dying her in this cesspit.

His jaw seemed to unhinge as he looked straight up into the sky, the Black Matter Bomb just feet away, already dragging into the ground with thunderous shaking which cause a few of the pony and changeling combatants to turn and look in shock and confusion. A glowing cyan mass started to erupt from his maw, but before the ponies could see what it was, the bomb exploded, bathing everything in a blinding white light; it's rapturous booming deafening to every pair of ears in the whole of Ponyville.

When the light cleared, all that remained was a large crater in the center of town, with the tattered white robe that Sapphic had adorned laying empty at the center of it; pieces of his exoskeleton scattered about.

* * *

Piccolo, Trunks, and Buu all looked up into the sky in shock. For a split second, an unbelievably massive power level exploded, and then vanished. It was a power none of them were familiar with at all, but it was enough to cause them a bit of worry.

"What was that...?" The namekian mused, not sensing anything even remotely close to it now.

* * *

Goku watched as Apple Bloom and Goten meditated facing each other in their next exercise; he figured if the two shared energy between each other, it would speed the process of them being able to draw their power along. Goku suddenly felt a large ping of a power level, and then it vanished in less than a second. 

It looked like Goten and Apple Bloom hadn't sensed it; probably because they were too lost in each other's energy to notice this one. That was fine, but he now found himself wondering just what the heck that had been...it had been a massive power spike, and the signature was no one he knew...strange.

* * *

Celestia gasped as she sensed the massive energy surge, and her focus shifted to Ponyville, as did Luna's. 

"You felt that, yes?" The princess of the night questioned, a worried expression on her face.

"Indeed. It's Twilight's Black Matter Bomb...she just detonated it..." The princess of the sun replied.

"Perhaps thy student hath destroyed the would-be king?" 

Celestia sensed around the area for moment, her expression turned shocked. "I--can't believe it...."

* * *

Shining Armor trotted over to where his sister and her friends stood at the edge of the crater, looking into it with weary eyes. It had been a almost a full minute, and not anyone from either the changelings or the ponies had moved but him. There had been no movement from the impact zone of the Black Matter Bomb, and Twilight seemed to finally relax a little bit. It seemed that Sapphic had finally met his end. 

Some of the changelings started to click and buzz in anxiousness, worried that their leader had once again been slain as the ponies' faces began to light up a bit at the prospectof the violence possibly ending here.

Rainbow Dash, carrying Fluttershy on her back as best she could without hurting her wing stubs, slowly approached the edge. 

"It---looks like you did it, Twilight." She said, giving a weak little laugh in there. "You beat Sapphic."

"Yes...it appears that we did, Rainbow." She said, starting to smile a bit.

The five mares began to giggle a little; their laughter starting to put everyone but the remaining changelings at ease. 

Shining Armor wasn't so sure it was over, though. The commander-in-chief of the Crystal Empire looked at the tattered and ripped white robe in the crater's impact area. A slight windwas now blowing, and the robe was starting to get picked up by it. As he watched it, he noticed something underneath, but couldn't make it out. 

Then the robe was blown off by a quick gust, and Shining gasped as he saw a small hole where the robe had been; it was deep, and could only mean one thing.

He suddenly felt the rumbling in the dirt below his hooves.

"He's underground!" 

Everypony turned tense and worried once his voice reached their ears; Sapphic was tunneling beneath the ground, and as Shining felt for him though his hooves, his pupils shrank as he figured out where he was going to emerge.

He started to gallop towards his younger sister, panic suddenly taking over all sense.

"Twily!" He shouted out, and rammed into her hard, causing her to fall sideways away from where she had been standing, and where Shining now was as a quick, and powerful, glowing cyan arm shot up from underneath him.

The sharp fingers tore at the stallion's flesh, ripping his chest open horribly, and breaking his sternum in the same, crushing blow. In less than an instant, Sapphic stood there; glowing muscles and sinew totally exposed to the open air and full of bloody tears and holes from Rarity's threads as he held Shining Armor's still rapidly beating heart in his palm as the paralyzed unicorn was shishkabobbed on his arm. 

Twilight gasped seeing her big brother barely clinging to life and at the complete mercy of this hideous monster.

Sapphic raised his head a slowly; the long strands of his dark green hair sticking to his wet muscles like plastic over wet metal. 

"Here's Sapphy!" He cackled with a malicious grin.

> Deus Ex Chaos
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic stood before all of the assembled ponies and changelings as he held Shining's life quite literally in the palm of his glowing cyan hand. The unicorn stallion was struggling just to stay conscious as the pain started to overtake him; he wasn't going to go out like this. He couldn't. But inhis condition, even if he could get free, what then? His ribcage and some of his spine was completely trashed and broken; his lungs had been punctured by his ribs. His somehow still beating heart being held up and squeezed by the grotesque monster that held him at his mercy.

Twilight was in tears just looking at her B.B.B.F.F. (Big Brother Best Friend Forever) in such a condition; his blood trickled like thick waterfalls down Sapphic's glowing muscles and raw veins. The sight of the monster alone was enough to cause someone to vomit in an instant and this did not help.

"H-h-how...how are you still even moving...you should be paralyzed by pain..." Twilight stuttered out, somehow trying to reason a way in her head that Shining was ok, an that this was a sick an horrible illusion.

Sapphic laughed; a motion which caused the near-death unicorn on his arm to grunt a little. "Believe me...I've never felt a pain this intense....even just standing here in the open air with the dirt stuck on my exposed muscles is like words cannot describe!"

He looked the purple alicorn dead in her terrified violet eyes with his angered, yet sadistically happy emerald ones; a few veins on his facial musculature twitching noticeably and the sinews moving as he articulated his jaw.

"But this pain is nothing compared to my mission!" He bellowed. "My righteous quest of vengeance shant end here!"

He took a quick gaze at Shining Armor; the Imperial Prince finally starting to fade away from the sheer pain. 

Twilight hopped up when she saw an evil smirk slowly spread on Sapphic's illuminated features. "No! Don't!"

As if that was a cue, he yelled and crushed the stallion's heart in his tightest grip, causing it to pop like an air balloon, splaying red all over the lace as the body's main source of blood died.

Twilight instantly fell back to her haunches; her ears drooping as low as they possibly could whilst her huge eyes nearly became sprinklers. Everypony else gasped in horror, some screaming and crying at the sight of the absolutely unforgivable act of murder. 

Shining Armor gave several more twitches and choked gasps before finally falling still for the final time.

* * *

"Princess Cadence! Are you alright?!"

The crystal pony attendants of the lovely Cadence quickly flocked to her as she fell to the floor, the glasses she had carrying back to her room shattered around her as she dropped them from her magical grip. 

The pink alicorn seemed to be staring off into space with a frightened look in her eyes; she said absolutely nothing for several seconds.

When she finally did speak, it was only one sentence.

"Not...not my Shining Armor..."

Several tears flooded her eyes as she fainted onto the marble floor of the castle hall, her servants worriedly chattering and rushing to the Princess of Love's aid.

* * *

Sapphic tossed the corpse of Shining Armor rather unceremoniously onto the ground; laughing all the while.

Twilight started to prod at her big brother's cadaver, looking like a little filly who wasn't sure what she was seeing was real.

"Shining...Shining, get up...no..." She mumbled, not able to stop the tremble in her voice.

"Oh don't worry, Princess Twilight." The changeling beast said. "You'll see him again very soon."

Twilight did nothing but stare at what was once Shining Armor as Sapphic rose his arm to strike Twilight down. He was suddenly interrupted when Rainbow Dash charged in, mashing her head like a ram into his gut like before. Even though she was now wingless, she was still plenty fast, and her toned muscles still packed a wallop. 

She continued to push him through a few collapsing houses; the debris falling around them like rain. Each contact with any solid object was like a thousand branding irons being pressed against his exposed muscle. 

After the fifth house was demolished, she pushed him away from her and followed as he came to a halt in the dirt.

"First you kill my little sis." she began, picking him up and punching him back into the ground with her forehoof. 

He grunted heavily as the strike connected, and gave another gasp of pain as he hit the ground. He wasn't there long, as the multicolor-maned pegasus wasn't done.

"Then you kill and hurt my friends." 

Dash propped him upright and gave him some sweet chin music in the form of her back hooves upon his jaw, shattering a few teeth in the process.

He began to fall back, but she held the back of his head up; looking him in his evil green eyes.

"You rip my wings off!" 

A gut strike followed, and Sapphic coughed up a rather generous amount of life fluid and bile. 

"And now you've taken one of my best friends' brother from her!"

The pony smashed her own head against his, effectively cracking both their skulls and disorienting them both. She let the wounded beast hit the ground this time as she recovered, and quickly resumed her beat down. Climbing atop him, she began to smash in his stupid, ugly face. 

"I! Will! Never! For--give! You!" 

Each word was accented with a hard hoof punch to his now busted up mug; his nose no longer straight and leaking green blood all over. 

"I'm gonna beat on your skull 'till I hit tonsils!!" She shouted, bringing down her hoof for another strike.

Sapphic grasped the hoof just before it struck him, and moved it aside so he could look at her enraged face as she pushed against his hand. She became even more mad when she saw him grin a bit, even through all the pain he surely had to be feeling. He placed a hand to her chest; the mare's fur matted with sweat and grime.

"Sorry," He chuckled. "I'm cancelling my orthopedist appointment today."

At the exact end of the sentence, Sapphic blasted a hole through Rainbow Dash's chest with a concentrated beam of energy. 

The wingless pegasus' eyes went blank as she flew off of the changeling biped with the force of the blast; a chunk of her body missing off the right side.

She landed several feet away from him as he stood up painfully, resetting his crooked nose with a loud crack.

He sensed the power level still present in Dash, but it was rapidly dropping; she would be dead soon enough. Besides, why waste time killing her when he had many more ponies to murder today. With the power boost he had gained from the battle so far, he was no longer feeling any pain even in his exposed state. He felt like a war machine of righteous fury and vengeance come to rain perdition upon those pastel ponies.

Fluttershy was the first to see Sapphic reapproach the area that the huge battle had resumed in. Giving a almost inaudible yelp, she pointed him out to Pinkie and Rarity as he flew forward, bursting the air behind him in a loud boom. 

His first victim was Fluttershy herself; the timid mare never even had a chance to cry out as his elbow came down hard, colliding with the top of her skull, effectively traumatizing her tiny little brain. 

The next was Rarity; the seamstress tried her best to hold him off with magic, but his power was now too great for her to contain. He ran a high speed chop into the front of her throat, crushing her windpipe, and then rammed his knee straight into the base of her skull; the crunch was audible as he felt the bone collapse beneath his power, as she collapsed upon the bloodstained ground.

He turned coyly toward Pinkie Pie and Twilight; the latter of the two looking on in sheer terror, her mane in all sorts of a mess as she looked about ready to breakdown. 

"No more games, now!" Pinkie screamed out, an anger nopony had ever heard from her mouth present; the seriousness ofher face was so out of character for her it was terrifying to the ponies witnessing it.

In a flash, Pinkie Pie began to transform; her already sizeable mane increased in mass, and a single streak of gold, blue and orange emblazoned it like a highlight. The same happened to her poofy tale, and balloons like the ones upon her cutie mark started to appear on her hooves and legs as well. The power was certainly astounding, Sapphic had to admit.

Pinkie stood with her Rainbow Power activated, and prepared to fight seriously for the true first time on her life.

Just before the tension became too thick to cut however, a sudden snapping noise distracted the two fighters from each other, as a third player entered the scene.

"My, my, my, Prince Sapphic," the playful, yet angry sounding voice said. "you really are such a die hard."

Pinkie looked up in shock; she hadn't expected him to be here.

The creature that had arrived; a mish-mash of all sorts of animals in a slender form, turned to look at the powered up party pony.

"Why the look of surprise?" Discord asked, smiling slightly. "Surely you knew this was coming."


> Love and War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The gargantuan clock on in the Time Chamber ticked on dutifully as the three warriors came out of the bath, ready to hit the hay again. Apple Bloom had finally found a way to bring out her power without using anger; Goku said that when he became a Super Saiyan for the first time, it was because of the pain of loss. While anger had played a part in it, anger alone was not enough sometimes. All Apple Bloom had to do was remember that day when Goten was blown up by the suicidal saibaman; the hurt would trigger somehing, and her power would begin to show ever so subtly.

She hated when she had to remember that day, though. If she could, she would just forget it had ever happened; but some things stick with ponies for awhile. Perhaps with time that awful memory would fade, and she'd be left with only Goten himself to think about. She thought to herself that she would try to use Goten as a booster rather than his death from now on. Maybe his warming memory would be a much better suited solution.

The training today had been absolutely intense, though. Goku had not held back this time; she still felt his fist against her gut, even now as she lay down on the bed. She as sure there would be bruises all over in a few hours, but to her, it was worth it. She was getting stronger; she could feel it, and if she continued to get this strong as the last few months progressed inside this strange place, she'd make sure Sapphic paid dearly for everything.

Goku exited the room once more and started to head out into the white void; looked like the saiyan was off for some more extra training. She noticed he'd been doing that a lot after Goten had started to sleep in her bed with her. Was he mad? If he was, he did a good job of hiding it when they weren't punching each other's lights out. But why else would he be absent like this each 'night' if he wasn't a bit offset with what she was having his son do, innocent as it was. She was sure he was disapproving of such actions, and looked down at her sheets in shame. It wasn't like she had done anything with him other than cuddle together when they slept, but she still felt like she may have violated the family sanctity, or something like that. 

Goku had to be mad; and why shouldn't he be, she reasoned. She was a pony, and even though she had an anthropomorphic body now, she was still a completely different species from Goten. It wasn't like how Goten was half-human and half-saiyan; those two species were more similar than a pony was to either of them. This train of thought led her down another track; if by some chance they did hook up, would they even be able to have children of their own? 

Apple Bloom shook her head against the pillow; these thoughts were not what she was supposed to be thinking about now. She was here to get stronger so she could take down a tyrant, not play doll house with a much-sexier-than-plastic biped. 

As Goten joined her under her covers, she seemed to forget all of these negative thoughts; his strong arms gently wrapping around her in a close embrace, warming her to her very heart. 

She forgot about Goku's possible distaste and settled into her crush's hold.

Goku turned around several paces from the Earth entrance, and saw Goten and Apple Bloom snuggle up for the 'night.' He smiled to himself and chuckled; love sure was a curious thing, and he was sure she was as confused as he thought she was about it. For a mare who was so determined, it was strange to see her melt like butter in his son's embrace. 

He had noticed her worried look as he had walked out, and he had been thinking to himself as he ventured out towards the infinite nothingness that he may need to give her a little nudge, if only to make it so she wouldn't have unnecessary limitations on her feelings. Who was he to get in love's way? He knew that one couldn't help who they were meant to be with.

* * *

"Discord, let's take this big meany together!" Pinkie Pie stated, coming up to stand beside the draconequis in  a combat stance.

Discord picked the pink pony up with a bubble that suddenly engulfed her, and which popped, landing her in his paw as it neared his eye level. 

"I'm afraid we can't do that, Pinkie Pie." He told her matter-of-factly. "I've already seen what he's done to poor Fluttershy and your other friends...I can't let that happen to you or Twilight now..."

As he set Pinkie back down beside him, she looked up at him in a confused manner. "But--but you could just snap our claw and make him go away, can't you?"

The slender master of chaos stared intently at the changeling biped, seeing things only his eyes could see. Sapphic had placed a counterspell around himself and all his siblings that prevented any kind of magical displacement techniques. Teleporting him was out of the question, otherwise, he would've done as such by now. 

"Listen, Pinkie," he said, a tad bit of seriousness in his tone. "I'm going to teleport you and the other ponies to Canterlot. You can regroup, and bolster their defenses for preparation of Sapphic's imminent arrival."

Pinkie blinked her sparkling blue eyes in surprise; if Discord was here, surely Sapphic wouldn't get any farther. The God of Chaos would definitely finish this war single handedly.

But the draconequis' sweating brow told her that not even Discord himself believed there was a chance at victory here; a thought that sent awful shudders down her entire body.

"Discord...don't do something silly...we can beat him together, I know we--"

"Pinkie Pie." 

The powered up party pony stopped at his stating of her name. He looked back at her, a smile on his malformed muzzle. 

"You're always so optimistic."

With a snap, pony In the town, living and dead, were transported away in a bright flash. The multitude of changeling drone looked around in utter confusion, before finally realizing it was all Discord's doing.

Surrounded by hundreds of the little beasts, Discord and Sapphic stared each other down; Discord's uneven red and yellow eyes challenging Sapphic's intense, emerald ones. 

"I never expected you of all beings to help the ponies, Discord." Sapphic casually said. 

Discord chuckled a bit. "Let's just say some very interesting things have happened in times past."

"Fair enough, but I must tell you that I too have been through some 'interesting times' since the Canterlot incident."

"So I can see." Discord agreed, and decided to play on that a bit. "You look absolutely destroyed, fair prince. What interesting times indeed."

Sapphic ignored the comment on his looks; beauty didn't matter now. All that mattered was crushing anypony that stood in the way of his revenge, and right now, Discord was in his way.

As if thinking the same thoughts, Discord and Sapphic lunged full boar at each other; their power levels rising so fast it shook the very foundation of Ponyville before they clashed in the middle, causing a thunderous shockwave of pressure to explode out in all directions, making several changelings get flung away harshly, and every building in the area to collapse. 

The fight was truly on.
> Discord vs Sapphic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thunder; that's at least what Octavia thought she heard coming from outside. It was a booming crash which reverbed off the very air itself, it seemed. The gray earth pony put away her bow and cello, and as she did so, she felt it; the ground trebling beneath her very hooves. An earthquake? Canterlot was not known for having many of those, even though the city was up in the mountains.

It stopped, and almost three seconds later, it shook again. And again. And again.

"What in all of Equestria--?" She mumbled, not even sure what to make of this strange occurrence. 

She did notice however, that just before every shake was one of those massive booms in the sky. If these two phenomena were lined, it could not be simple thunder. 

A chilling thought wormed it's way into her mind; what if it was Vinyl? 

What if her special somepony was causing this somehow; fighting for her very life against that horrifying brute? 

"Please let these shakes just be her bass!" She nearly whimpered, trying not to picture the massive blows of the creature smashing Vinyl's beautiful face into brain matter and bone splinters.

She nearly gagged at her imagination's description; she thought she was trying not to think about it.

As she galloped outside to join the other technical rubberneckers looking to the sky at the sound, a snapping sound suddenly filled the air, and a bright light flashed in the middle of the street. When the cellist's eyes readjusted, she saw hundreds of wounded and dead ponies laying in the cobblestone streets of the royal city.

Several feminine screams were heard from the nobles as they cowered at the sight, not all of them belonging to mares. 

Octavia, however, only recognized the five ponies at the front of the group. The Elements of Harmony; but judging by the state the others were in all around Pinkie Pie, she felt the term "Element of Harmony", singular, was more appropriate.

The powered up party pony, looking much more over-the-top than usual, hastily motioned for someof the nearby royal soldiers to come transport the wounded. 

One of the unicorn guards stopped dead in his tracks and gasped when he saw the body of Shining Armor, ripped up and mangled, laying in a heap with Princess Twilight still shaking next to it.

"It's...it's Prince Shining Armor..." He muttered, causing several of the others to gasp or take their helmets off in respect to the deceased former captain of the guard.

"No time to mourn now!" Pinkie cried out frantically while her legs waved manically around in the air. "The live ponies need medics right now!"

Octavia never ever thought she'd see the day when Pinkie Pie would be shouting out orders to the royal guard and have them obey; let alone have her shout the seriously.

As she looked around the heaps of broken bodies and moaning ponies, her heart rate started to quicken; nowhere in the mess did she see her beloved Vinyl Scratch. Surely she was here; she had to be. Maybe she was wounded and laying under one of the other ponies. Maybe...maybe the guards had evacuated her already without her notice. Maybe she was still fighting Sapphic?

Octavia needed to have answers; she needed to know if her lover was alive, even if the DJ was not well. 

Preparing to hear the worst and hoping for the best, she cantered up to Pinkie, looking very uncomfortable.

"Ex-excuse me, Miss Pinkie Pie?" She said after clearing her throat. "Do...do you know...possibly...where DJ Pon3 is? I know she went off to fight, and--"

Pinkie didn't turn around before speaking. "The only way she wouldn't be here is if she was totally destroyed and had no remains left."

She smacked her hooves into her mouth and her eyes went wide as she finally turned to see just who she ha said that too. Pinkie knew both Octavia and Vinyl personally, and knew about their relationship. Pinkie mentally beat herself in the head as she saw Octavia's ears just about became one with her skull and her strong, earth pony legs give out form under her.

"No--no remains...?" she repeated more to herself than anypony else. "Nothing...nothing at all of y beautiful Vinyl...?"

There was no holding back the floodgates for the poor cellist, and tears poured down her face in near torrents as her breathes started to turn to gasps, and in  few seconds, her gasps turned to choked cries.

Pinkie had done the one thing she'd never wanted to ever do in the timeline of forever; she had caused somepony to become sad. 

She wished she had been more gentle with the news, but there was nothing to do about it now. The pink pony took the blubbering Octavia into a gentle embrace, hoping o provide some comfort, if any at all.

After a few moments, Octavia realized she still hadn't received the answer she'd come out for firstly. 

"What--what is that noise, then?" She managed through heavy sobs.

Pinkie looked worriedly into the direction of Ponyville while she held the gray earth pony. "Discord's fighting to save us all."

* * *

The sky exploded again as the two powerhouses, one fueled by will and magic, the other fueled by rage and raw power, collided blows once more high above the ghost town of Ponyville. Each time the combatants attacked, they were evenly powered; both not yet gaining an advantage.

One wouldn't know it by looking at him, but Discord was extremely strong in not just magic, but physical strength as well. Sapphic was quite impressed that the lanky and slender creature could match his blows. 

The two paused their fight for a moment, backing away from a each other a bit. The changelings watched eagerly from the ground as the two began another staredown.

"You know more about combat than I thought, Discord." Sapphic praised, clapping his glowing hands together; it didn't make as loud a sound as it should have due to his lack of flesh as the muscles slapped against each other.

"I'm just full of surprises, I'm sure you figured." The draconequis smirked. "They don't call me the master of chaos for nothing, you know. I'm unpredictable."

Sapphic chuckled a bit. "Well, I don't know about that. You're unorthodox, sure, but I feel like a bit of your former glory has left you."

"How do you mean?"

"Look at yourself; you're sweating. That's a sign of either being hot in temperature, or nervousness. Since the air seems to be rather chilled today, I'd say its the latter."

Discord raised an eyebrow, and wiped his brow with a hanky that popped into and out of existence. 

"Which begs the question;" The changeling biped continued. "what's making you so uneasy?"

Discord gritted his teeth slightly. The monster was right; he was uneasy. Sapphic's power was extremely high, and growing with each blow they traded. The longer this conflict went on, the greater the changeling prince's power would become. 

He needed to end this before it got too far out of hand, and not even the Princesses could stop his rampage. The only trouble was, how?

Teleporting him anywhere was a no go because of his displacement counterspell. Physical combat would just continue to make him stronger until his power surpassed the draconequis' own. Maybe some of his more destructive magic could win the day, but the question if he did that was how destructive did those attacks need to be to take the tyrant out. 

Discord's power, at the moment at least, was greater than Sapphic's; the only problem was if he unleashed too much of his true power to beat him, Equestria could suffer such awful destruction of the reality warping kind that not even Discord himself would be able to stop it. The ponies had only seen fractions of his power before; he wondered what they would think if they could detect his true potential. So the choice was go all out and watch Equestria unravel at the seams...or hold out until--

No, that wasn't how this would end. He was a god; Discord could beat this little mortal insect beneath his cloven hoof. 

"Maybe I'm uneasy, or maybe you're just bluffing to make me that way." He finally spoke, a fake smile of confidence spreading on his face. "Either way, I'm probably just not as spry as I was a thousand years ago. Being trapped as a stone statue for that long can give you such a crick in the neck."

Sapphic closed his eyes and smiled pityingly. "Very well, then, Discord. But I'll have you know that even though you're an elder, I won't go easy on you."

"I resent being called old like that." He huffed indignantly.

Sapphic disappeared in a flash, and reappeared behind the former villain; his leg poised to kick his head off. Discord caught the attack just barely, and spun the biped around before flicking him away with his tail. The changeling prince stopped himself, and launched a couple high intensity ki blasts Discord's way. Using his supernatural agility, and disconnecting parts of his body only to reattach them, the chaos god dodged every one of them, and caught his follow up attack which was a rapid fire series of punches.

The fists were starting to hurt Discord's hands, so he slithered around Sapphic like a boa constrictor and squeezed down tightly. Before the monster could use his immense strength the break out, Discord once again spun him around by unraveling around him like thread off a spool. 

This time, though, instead of simply smacking him away, the draconequis shot forth a beam of purple energy that was not ki, but magic in nature. 

The blast hit him square in the chest, exploding and causing a plume of smoke to spread out from the area. Looking at the cloud, Discord could still sense the evil beast's power level within it. At least now he knew that amount of power was not enough; he needed to go up at least another level. He prayed silently to whomever would listen that he wouldn't need to go too high.

The grotesque self-proclaimed king shot out through the top of the smoke cloud, and wore a slightly disturbing grin on his beaten face. Discord fired off another magical shot, which Sapphic deflected with a side chop and a laugh.

"It's gonna take much more to beat m--"

His statement was cut off abruptly as a house came falling down from the sky atop him. Discord had only thrown the blast as distraction while he teleported the many vacant building that were still somewhat intact above them. Once the one that had initially hit Sapphic landed, Discord moved his paw and claw in a downward motion as if tossing a ball from over his head, and the housings rained down, homing in on that one spot like heat seeking magic missiles.

The symphony of wood splintering and stone crumbling apart was loud and satisfying to Discord. Several changelings tried to stop the falling houses, but were smashed like the bugs they were underneath the god of chaos' power. 

After all of the twenty-four houses had been smashed atop Sapphic, the draconequis breathed a bit, slightly wore out from his exertion there. Maybe he had gotten lucky and the debris had crushed what little of his body remained.

Discord's hopes were dashed, but not unexpectedly, as the glowing arm of the tyrant changeling broke up through the rubble, searching for something to grab. When it found nothing, it clenched the hand into a fist and the remains of the homes flew out in all directions.

This was going to be very difficult.
> Discord's Demise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, Goten." Goku called out to his son as the three completed the days training.

The half-saiyan turned to his father with a look of 'what's up?' on his face.

"Could you head back to the Earth entrance ahead of me and Apple Bloom?" He told Goten. "Get the bath ready to go, and pick something for dinner. Don't wanna waste any time before we pack it in for the day."

Apple Bloom looked over to Goku confused as Goten nodded and began to fly over to the only structure in the white void of nothingness that was the Time Chamber. If Goku was that adamant about time, he could just use Instant Transmission to get them all back to the Earth entrance in less than a second. Was something up?

Uh-oh, she thought; was he going to say something about Goten to her? Was he making his son fly off so he could chastise her without interruption? No, maybe she had just messed something up during training today. That had to be it; he probably just didn't want her to be embarrassed in front of Goten. Not that she would've been, at least she didn't think s--

"So," Goku started. "about you and Goten..."

Oh, horseapples, it was about that. She flinched a bit when she heard the words come from the saiyan's mouth, and braced herself for whatever he was going to say. Surely he was going to tell her to not seduce his son, or not to try anything or he'd make her sorry. Maybe he was going to yell as loud as he could for her to stay away from him like that; maybe--

"I think you're mind is making up excuses to not tell him." 

That quote was not harsh, and in fact carried a kindness in the tone that Apple Bloom had not been ready for. She turned towards him, and saw silly smile on Goku's lips as he looked at her sympathetically. He wasn't mad at all, it seemed. quite the contrary, he seemed rather happy.

"What...what do you mean?" Apple Bloom asked, finally finding her voice.

"I mean, you're thinking too hard about your feelings and way too hard about how others will view them." 

"Huh?"

"I know you have a big crush on my son." Goku said, the smile not even wavering. "But I also know you keep holding yourself back. The insecurity radiates off you at times, and I see how you look all worried at me when I leave you two back in your bed."

Apple Bloom blushed very slightly; she had thought her looks had not been that obvious.

"Apple Bloom, even if I did disapprove of you wanting to be with Goten, which I don't by the way, it shouldn't matter in the end. Your feelings are yours, and yours alone; no one can make you feel a certain way. No one can force you not to love someone that you clearly are lost in. If you feel you have to do something, don't let what others think hinder you from doing it. Don't let your irrational fears stop you from achieving something that could be the best thing in your life."

Apple Bloom couldn't help but feel a big smile of relief cross her face at Goku's words. He understood, and she'd never said anything to him about it. He sure was good at people reading. Or maybe she was just obvious, like Applejack had said; she decided it was the latter.

"But he's still a bit younger than I am..." She said, just remembering the fact now.

Goku chuckled. "He may be younger, but he's old enough to know what he's doing, and I trust him as a young man to make his own decisions."

"So, you're sayin'...I should...go for it..?"

"Of course you should go for it." The saiyan nodded. "I can't guarantee that he will feel the same, but between you and me..."

He leaned down to whisper in Apple Bloom's perked up ears. "I think there's a good chance."

Her heart just about did a backflip in her chest at those words; the thought of her and Goten actually, really, truly being together was enough to make her flustered. She giggled slightly as she suddenly thought of Rarity and Sweetie Belle doing something similar. She controlled her elevated heart rate, and regained her tough gal composure. Tonight was the night she was finally going to admi her feelings to Goten. She hoped...if she didn't "Scootaloo out."

* * *

Discord crashed once again against Sapphic in the air; the changeling's blows were becoming more and more hurtful to the god of chaos as the fight continued on. Discord had tried various silly things from making the ground come up and try to eat Sapphic, to making literal knock-knock jokes out of doors that hadn't been destroyed yet. Everything he tried only made Sapphic stronger, and that was definitely not good.

Discord remained outwardly composed, however; putting up his air of amusement and general randomness. 

"You know, Discord," The self-proclaimed king began. "I have had a question I've just been dying to ask you this entire fight."

"Oh? And what question would that be?" 

There was a short pause as a malicious smile creeped it's way onto Sapphic's zombie-like features. "Why are you still holding back?"

Discord's heart skipped a beat before returning to normal. How could Sapphic know he wasn't going full power? 

"Judging by how outstandingly large your power level is, I think I know why, but I'd like to hear your take." Sapphic added, coyly.

So that was how; he could sense power levels just as Discord himself could. 

"Maybe I'm bored, and just want the fight o go o a bit longer." He tried, popping a newspaper and a lawn chair into existence, acting no more interested in things than a  snail. 

Sapphic wasn't buying it, and chuckled darkly. "You truly are a trickster, but you're starting to lose your touch."

Discord made the new items vanish once more, and looked straight at the changeling biped, a bit of fear working it's way down his spine as the tension rose.

"Come now, Discord;" He said, spreading his arms wide as if waiting for an embrace. "you surely know that as each attak hits, whether blocked or not, I get stronger. The only way to beat me is to go full boar right now and obliterate me. Hit me with everything, and end the nightmare."

The draconequis grunted, ad hesitated before doing anything at all. Seeing this, Sapphic raised an eyebrow, his cocky grin never fading.

"What's the matter? Why can't you do it? Are you afraid that your awesome power won't be enough to stop me? Are you afraid that I, King Sapphic of the changelings, has become more powerful than even you; the God of Chaos?"

Discord knew what he was trying to do; he was trying to goad him into hitting him with his full magical abilities. Sapphic would perish, yes, but so would all of Equestria with him as Discord's chaos magic would irreversibly unravel the reality of this dimension. He wanted Discord to destroy everything for him. 

It was true, though; Discord could not beat Sapphic unless he unleashed all of his unimaginable power right now. If he waited much longer, Sapphic wouldn't even be brought down by that. It was now or never, in a quite literal sense.

Raising his arms skyward, Discord started to charge up an attack; the energy being given off was awe inspiring to say the least. He started to sweat as he saw the tyrant's smile grow ever wider at the sight of the massive purple and crazy fluctuating ball above Discord. 

All hehad to do was throw it; throw the ball and it would all be over...all of it..

He raised his arms back as if to toss it, but once again, hesitated. 

"I--I'm sorry..." He muttered to himself; his thoughts flashing with images of his pony friends.

He couldn't do it. With a snap, the huge energy sphere disappeared and Discord floated there, his head hung rather low. His eyes shot open when he heard Sapphic's sickly sweet voice from behind him. 

"I knew you couldn't do it, Discord." He chuckled. "You've forgotten how to be ruthless; how to do things that need to be done. That's what ties to other ponies gets you..."

He felt the rise in energy and turned around to see the changeling prince holding a small sphere of bright ki energy in his left hand.

"...dead."

Sapphic pushed the ball into Discord's body, and instantly, glowing cracks of energy appeared all over the god's slender form; he looked like he was breaking out of his stone prison he had once been trapped in, but this time, his flesh was the stone. He let out one last painful howl and exploded into glittering dust. Sapphic laughed amused as each dust particle turned to an orchid in full bloom one it hit the ground.

Even in death, the draconequis was still doing nonsensical things. He landed on the ground and burned all of the newly born flowers away with  single blast. His changeling brothers and sisters cheered as they celebrated his win over Discord. He bowed as if in a theater play in front of them.

"Only one stop remains, my siblings!" He rallied, taking to the air once more. "First, Canterlot; tomorrow, all of Equestria!"



> Confession
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There he was; the most handsome creature she'd ever laid eyes on and one of the kindest and most innocent souls she'd ever met: Goten.

He was just finishing up getting the bath ready for the three of them. He was already halfway undressed; his t-shirt thrown into the corner like always, waiting to be washed afterwards. His rigid muscles rippled with every movement he made as he checked the temperature with his finger. He made a small yelp that was barely audible, pulling his finger out quickly.

"Hm...not hot enough." He smiled, and turned the temperature up a bit to fill the last few inches in the tub. 

She giggled a bit at that. Sometimes his reasoning made no sense with his body language, but that was just one more thing the young anthropomorphic mare found endearing about him. 

Goku had not yet come back, as he was giving her a chance to finally say something. He had told her that she didn't have to until she was ready, and that he would give her some time now to see if she was. To be honest, she didn't think she was at all; in fact, she thougt she never might be.

She was never good at expressing feelings like that to anypony; to say something to the one she felt those feelings towards...well, that was a whole different level of difficulty. What would she say? How would she start it? She was terrible at small talk; once, Scootaloo had tried to teach her ways to get better at it, and somehow, she had thought the answer "clams" was an appropriate response to "nice weather we're having."

She breathed in deeply, and exhaled slowly like Princess Twilight had taught her to do in these situations. She figured she had better get it over with; Applejack and Big Mac wouldn't appreciate her procrastinating.

She walked up uncharacteristically shyly behind the half-saiyan as he stood straight up, satisfied by the bath's current temperature. She opened her mouth to speak, but she was stopped when he turned around and ran into her by accident. He jumped, startled by her sudden appearance,and she too jumped in response, involuntarily. Goten slipped on some of the water on the hard floor of the Earth entrance and fell backwards, his trajectory taking him into the bath. 

Apple Bloom quickly reached to grab is arm, but she realized too late how silly that was as his weight was greater, and they both fell loudly into the hot water; the clear liquid splashing up and out wildly, soaking the whole bathroom floor and everything on it as the steam filled the room. The water should have been scolding hot, but to their aching muscles, it was just right, so no burns were suffered, luckily. However, the young pony anthro chastised herself internally for the "brilliant" start to her confession. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

Goten, once he had gotten all the water he could away from his eyes, looked down at Apple Bloom laying atop him in the tub; her yellow fur matted down and dripping, her orange gi sticking to her body tightly. She looked up at him through her dripping red mane and gave a nervous smile; Goten could have swore he heard a sort of "squee" sound when she did so.

"If you wanted to get clean that badly, you could have just jumped in yourself." He laughed, giving her a big smile back.

She blushed a bit, started to up and out of the tub so that she could take off her now soaked combat attire. Goten did the same, and replaced his wet jeans with a towel for the moment. 

As Apple Bloom removed her top and threw it to the floor with a wet slap, she looked over at Goten again, suddenly remembering what she had fallen in he tub for. He was right there, and now she had his attention, so even though she may have botched the start, she still figured she had a chance.

"Hey, Goten, I--uh--"

"Yeah, Apple Bloom? He encouraged her, looking at her completely unaware of her intentions.

She started to fidget in place, and her face became hot; she was happy there was steam in the air to explain away that part. Why was she so nervous though? 

"I...I have to tell y'all...somethin' really important..."

Goten nodded, once again urging her to go on with a silly grin.

"I...well, ya see...for the past few...I mean since we been...what I mean to say is..." She started to nervously shift again, her cheeks completely flushed red now. 

She was finding it hard to make eye contact with him; it didn't help that he was being so receptive. He was ready to hear everything, and she was uncomfortable because of it. Why? 

"Just buckin' say it, silly filly!" Her mind screamed at her.

"I--I want to---I have a--a--can we---and me--you--uh--er..."

Genius...

Goten was now confused as he tilted his head to the side. "What's wrong, Apple Bloom?"

What was wrong, indeed? She had been so ready to say it at least twice before, and now she could without interruption or anything, and she was frozen like a cockatrice victim.

The anthropomorphic mare from Ponyville just stood there mumbling for a bit; somehow, Goten was still waiting for her to finally pony up and say what she wanted to say.

"Cat got your tongue, or something?" He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

She wished that his tongue had her tongue...

Jeez, where did that come from? How was that train of thought going to make this any less trying? Apple Bloom reigned in her pervy side for a second so she could try and make words com out of her mouth. After several gibberish filled attempts, she finally gave up trying to say it. There was only one way she was going to get the message across.

Moving to lose the distance between them, she stared into his eyes for second; those hope filled orbs shimmering somehow. After those short moments, she placed one hand behind Goten's head, and stood on the front edge of her hooves so she could gently touch her lips to his in a soft, much easier way of using her mouth than trying to articulate it. 

It seemed to last for hours in the lovestruck mare's head as she held the kiss for what in reality was only a few seconds. The nirvana she had felt was unreal, and was much better than anything she could make herself feel with her hands. 

One thing killed the moment, though; she noticed that Goten had not kissed her back. Instead his eyes had been wide open the entire time her lips had been locked with his, and he seemed dazed and surprised. 

She pulled away from him, a wave of shame and regret coming over her. He hadn't liked it. She should have known that he didn't like her that way; she had just scared him.

Apple Bloom, teary eyed, backed away rather hastily, heading for the door, not caring that she was topless and soaked in water as Goten shook himself back to reality.

"I'm...I'm so sorry...I shouldn't have--have--" She tried, but once again, her lips failed her a third time. 

She took off into the white void of the Time Chamber; up into whatever passed for a sky there. 

"Hold on, Apple Bloom!" Goten called after her, taking off into the sky himself.

The distraught mare was fast and showed no sigs of stopping for awhile, which was bad because I she went to far, she'd lose where the Earth entrance was and be lost in the void forever. Transforming into Super Saiyan state, he ramped his speed up as much as he could to start gaining on Apple Bloom. He didn't understand why she was so upset though, and if she would just stop and talk to him..

He finally got close enough to grab her arm, and she stopped and looked back at him, face wet with not just bath water, but tears as well.

She considered wrenching free and running again, but she didn't want to upset Goten more than she may have already. She once again prepared herself to get yelled at, or at least told how wrong she was for doing something like that.

But like with Goku, no harsh words came, and Goten reverted back to normal before speaking.

"Apple Bloom, why did you run off like that?"

She sniffed loudly an wiped her muzzle before answering. "Cuz I made you all upset when I kissed ya.."

"Upset? What made you think I was upset?"

"You just stood there, wide-eyed while I was trying to show my affections to ya, ya big dork!" Apple Bloom blurted, instantly regretting saying the last part, but not apologizing for it.

Goten smacked his forehead; he supposed he had just stood there like an idiot rather than say or do anything. He could see where she may have gotten the wrong message.

"No, Apple Bloom," He said. "I'm not upset...I'm just..well...confused?"

"Confused about what? I kissed you for Celestia's sake, what's there to be confused about?"

She knew there was actually quite a bit to be confused about, considering she hadn't really said things pertaining to this beforehand.

"I--I guess I don't know...why?" He offered, giving a nervous chuckle. "Why you would kiss me and not someone your own species?"

Her ears drooped at that. It must have been the species thing, then.

"So, I am too different for ya..."

"No, no, no! I didn't mean it like that!" Goten tried to recover, his arms waving frantically. "I just mean...I guess--I don't know how you, a pony, could find me, a half-saiyan, attractive..."

The anthropomorphic mare finally turned towards him to talk, her tears subsiding a bit. "I admit I don't really...understand...the whole physical attraction part myself. But I do understand that it's not the only reason I like you, Goten. You've been so kind and generous with me, and sometimes at the expense of your own valuable time. You're always willing to give me comfort and console me when things go bad...and you're always ready to protect me, even from your own dad..."

She locked both her hands into his, which he gripped back without hesitation this time.

"I know I haven't known you long; heck, it hasn't even been a month back on Earth I believe, but I feel a strong sort of...bond with you. And...I just wanted you to know just how much that bond has affected me..."

Goten continued to look into her eyes, taking in every little detail she was saying. 

"I suppose in a way, I'm just tryin' to say..." She finished. "I love you, Goten. I hoped that you could love me back..."

The two looked at each other, hands held tightly together between them in the infinite. The half-saiyan pulled Apple Bloom in gently, and gave her a kiss of his own, which she happily returned. After a few seconds, Goten smiled as he broke the liplock.

"We may have only known each other less than a month out there, but it's been near half a year in here." He stated. "And we have the other half to get to love each other better. Sound good?"

She nodded and wrapped her arms around his upper waist in a tight embrace as she buried her face in his chest. Goten returned the hug without needing any prompting to. Apple Bloom smiled and new tears began to fall down her face; tears of happiness.


> Judgement Draws Near
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Battle stations!" Flash Sentry, the new captain of the royal guard bellowed to the ponies as his orange wings flapped aggressively.

Pinkie Pie, still in Rainbow Power state, took up a fighting stance at the front of the assembled guards and soldiers; several of Ponyville's old residents, including Mr. Cake, Bulk Biceps, Berry Punch, and even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, stood amongst the ranks like militia. They had lost many friends this day, and weren't about to let the changelings get away with it.

Pinkie knew they were scared; all of them. She could feel it in the air as the tension became more palpable with each passing moment. To her, it seemed as if a pony could seriously choke under such pressure. Her thoughts were brought back to the present with the sound of hundreds of buzzing wings approaching rapidly.

Sapphic looked down on the city of Canterlot as he approached with his siblings behind him. It seemed like the entire population wanted a piece of him; spears, swords, and magical weapon constructs could be seen all over the soon-to-be warzone. As much as he would love to stay and kill all of them, he had a mission to complete, and he had wasted enough time with the common rabble as it was. 

Turning to his followers, he pointed down at the army of pastel ponies aggressively. 

"This is it!" He shouted so every changeling ear could hear. "This is to be our moment! Our glorious, long-awaited moment! These ponies down on the ground want to once again take that very moment from us! Even now, with their cities in shambles and their families and friends disheveled, they resist us! Show them the error in their ways, brothers and sisters! Show them what happens to anyone who tries to take what is rightfully ours! Our revenge!"

Wit roars of approval, the large cloud of changelings began to descend upon Canterlot like kamikazes hell bent on destroying every bit of their targets. 

As if they were mortar duds, they impacted the ground hard, leaving small craters in the cobblestone streets of the royal city. Some landed in the middle of the formations of ponies, causing sudden panic and injury to those they landed around and on respectively. Pinkie herself cringed when she heard the sound of a pony's skull shattering under one of the bug-creature's high impact hooves. 

Flash Sentry let out a battle cry, which every other soldier did immediately afterwards, followed by the civilian ponies shouts. Like a tidal wave of bloodlust and violence not seen in Equestria for over a thousand years, the streets exploded into war. Blood, both green and red in color began to run down the storm drains as magical bullets, swords, spears, energy blasts and everything but the kitchen sink was shot, swung, thrown and blasted in every direction one could imagine. 

Sapphic grinned in satisfaction, knowing his changelings could handle this for the moment. The only pony they really had to fear was Pinkie Pie, as Twilight was in no state to even speak thanks to him. He chuckled darkly, and started to fly off towards the castle.

Pinkie Pie immediately noticed this, and started to take off after him, but one of the changeling drones grabbed hold of her. Another soon joined in, dragging her down,and once they had her grounded, another joined in on the fun. The trio started to beat on the pink party pony savagely, until she fired off a few rainbow colored blasts from her forehooves, frying two of them. The last one pinned her down, and made for her throat with it's teeth as Pinkie shut her eyes.

The pain she was expecting never came, and when she dared to open her eyes, she was surprised to see the changeling choking and writhing for air as Octavia held her bow, string first, across it's neck. The nylon wire caught underneath one of the faults in the monster's exoskeleton, and began to sink into it's cyan flesh like a saw blade as Octavia pulled back as hard as she could. Once the changeling stopped twitching, she released it and it fell to the ground, devoid of life.

"I....I just killed somepony..." She said, looking at her hooves shakily. 

Pinkie knew she didn't have much time, and placed a hoof on Octavia's shoulder. "Thanks, Octavia, but let the others handle it from here. You saved me, and that's an ok thing to kill for...you go home and..uh...do what you do. I gotta run! Er...fly!"

With that short and blunt statement, the usually jovial party pony blasted into the air after Sapphic; those words now tasting sour on her tongue. She never thought she'd say it was an ok thing to kill somepony, even a changeling.

Sapphic sensed her approach before she actually arrived, and quickly turned around to fire several consecutive ki blasts in her direction. That blasts that came near her, she merely knocked away with her hoof; an angry expression upon her face.

"You think you're gonna get away with everything you've done?!" She howled at him, her bright eyes going dark for a moment. "I got news for you, buster!"

Scoffing, Sapphic charged up a slightly more powerful attack. "And I have something for you!"

He tossed the sphere like a volleyball serve, batting it downwards at Pinkie. In her rage, Pinkie misjudged the power, and was flung back as the ki sphere exploded at the touch of her powered up hoof.

Grinning, Sapphic turned towards the ever closer castle once more, but sensed Pinkie's Power level again. 

Turning back in surprise, he saw her not just catching up now, but gaining rapidly. She was fast; not as fast as Scootaloo or Rainbow Dash had been, but still amazing all the same. 

He weaved out of the way of her charge, and was nearly caught in a rainbow beam of energy which she fired back from in front of him. He saw her coming in for a follow up attack, and grabbed her muzzle; Pinkie thrashed, and shot several beams out in all directions, but Sapphic would have none of it. As if slapping a ragdoll into the floor, he swung her body back, and smashed it a good two feet into the ground. 

The outline was comical in a way, but to Sapphic, it was a grim satisfaction. 

The party pony began to get up again, and Sapphic figured he should end this wasteful fight. Diving in feet first, he pounded on her and began to kick her down through the rock and clay as if he were doing a jig atop her back.

The pain was non-stop as Pinkie couldn't even think; her body being used like a living oil drill, but with no oil to bring up. Everytime the changeling prince's merciless feet struck her back, it felt like a railroad spike had been driven into her, and the bed rock she was now being smashed through didn't feel too great either.

Pinkie was finally knocked out of her Rainbow Power state just as they hit magma; the searing sludge bubbling beneath the too was intensely hot and the air around it just as much so. 

Sapphic smashed her downwards with a final kick, and she began to rapidly descend into the liquid fire below. He didn't waste time to see her burn in agony; she was an earth pony, and her Rainbow Power was depleted. She was as good as liquefied. He had two much bigger ponies to fry...

"Celestia! Luna! I'm coming for you!"

* * *

Celestia's eyes shot wide-open as she felt the air around her tighten a bit, and not from her own impressive power. Luna looked to her elder sister in worry, but an instant later felt the same, eerie sensation.

"'Tis Sapphic, isn't it?"

Celestia nodded solemnly. "He is here; him and all his changelings...we are out of time, sister..."

"Surely the townsfolk will buy us a little more."

"I'm afraid he has skipped over them, Luna." The slender white mare stated. "His changelings have them occupied...it is up to us now...up to us to defend what's left of our kingdom."

The last bit of that stung Celestia a bit. She knew it was for the best interest of Equestria as a whole, but she couldn't help but feel responsible for all the deaths that had happened this day in her name. So much pain and suffering, all so she could gather power to defeat the tyrant who would see her and her sister dethroned. She would not let her subjects down; would not let their sacrifices be in vain.

The floor shook as a huge boom echoed throughout the castle, vibrating the very bricks that made up it's walls. Sapphic had entered.

"It's time, sister." Celestia said, taking wing.

Luna followed without a word; readiness and righteous fury in her sparkling eyes. This battle would decide Equestria's fate.
> The Sisters Fight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic entered rather loudly into the throne room of the castle; blasting the massive doors right off their hinges and splintering them to pieces. He tossed the now deceased guards away from him as his shifty emerald eyes took in the entire room.

The princesses were not to be found, but he knew he sensed them somewhere; their power levels were much to big to miss.

"Hiding like little fillies, are we, your highness'?" He mocked, cackling after saying it. "How disappointing. And here I thought you were going to give me a good fight for, oh, say destroying all of your subjects like dirt beneath my foot."

No response, but the power levels were getting closer; he couldn't tell from what direction, though. They must be fluctuating it so he wouldn't be able to pinpoint it. 

"Cowards..." He finally scoffed. "Fine, I'll just blast you out of hiding!"

He raised a hand up, and a rather large sphere of ki materialized in his palm above his head. He'd destroy the throne room and the entire tower it sat atop and make those alicorn bigots reveal themselves. 

Just as he went to throw it down, however, the bricks busted apart from under him, and he was nearly impaled by the long, slender horn of Celestia as she charged out, covered in a mighty red aura. Luna too was shrouded in this energy; it was like a sheet of rage clinging to their very bodies.

Backing off quickly, he looked at the two rulers to analyze what they had to offer him; it was unmistakable. The aura that encased the alicorns was indeed the signs of the Kaioken attack. No wonder he hadn't been able to pinpoint a location; they must have been moving around under the Kaioken's speed boost. 

"Prince Sapphic," Princess Luna began in a loud and thunderous voice. "you will now receive judgment of the highest authority of Equestria for your crimes! Your warpath will come to an abrupt end this day, as shall you!"

"My sister speaks true." Celestia stated, not nearly as loud, but just as stern. "You are a threat to harmony itself, and as Princess of Equestria, Luna and I shall finally rid the realms of your curse!"

There was silence for a fewmoments save for the sounds of battle down in the streets below. The silence was broken by a low chuckle which gradually evolved into a laugh; a laugh which was coming from Sapphic.

The changeling tyrant held his tightening belly muscles (which Celestia cringed a bit at seeing), and threw his head back as he howled jubilation into the air.

"Doth thou find us to be but jesters?" Luna demanded, more anger flashing across her face at the prospect he was not afraid of them.

After a few failed attempts to contain his laughter, Sapphic looked to the pair of pony goddesses with a confident grin. "Oh, Luna, you have no idea...it's funny, really."

He took one step forward before continuing his speech. 

"You have no idea what I am capable of. All the destruction you've seen is but a taste of what I will do to you. It's only fair I save all my best for the ones who cost my hive everything!"

Celestia put a hoof forward in response. "Your hive sealed it's own fate when it became a threat to my subjecs. Your mother was a fool and a usurper who wanted them for nothing more than food."

Sapphic's smile suddenly vanished, and his face became serious, quickly. "At least she did something for her subjects; she only did what she did to keep them all fed and alive. What have you done for yours? I've been doing nothing but crushing pony bones into dust all day, and only now do the royal sisters came to confront me. No wait, that's not right; because I came to you! "

Another step, and the air began to pulsate as Sapphic's power started to rise. 

"My mother put herself in danger to try to save her kingdom...to save me! You killed her, and then hunted all of us down just to save yourselves! Instead of negotiations, you immediately moved to wipe us from existence!"

"Your mother was the one who incited violence, Sapphic!" The sun goddess exclaimed over the popping in her flicking ears. "Her actions caused our retaliation! If she was a true ruler, she would have--"

"My mother was a hundred times the ruler you two selfish whores will ever be!!"

With that shout, Sapphic exploded towards the sisters; hatred and bloodlust in his green eyes as he closed the distance between them. They jumped of in separate directions just as his fist came smashing down onto the place they had been standing, crumbling that entire half of the tower down.

The chilled air hit all three of them as the walls came down, and Sapphic stood facing out towards the battle below. 

Luna made the first move; moving swiftly as her Kaioken would allow her body to, she made ready to smash down on Sapphic with her front hooves. He sensed her first, and jumped up to avoid it.

Celestia jumped in immediately and fired off several magical blasts from her horn in Sapphic's path. The grotesque prince crossed his arms over his face as the raw energy hit him, searing away a few tendons. He couldn't feel it, but he was still a bit annoyed by the dull itch. 

He fired a beam at her in retaliation, and she dived down, then pinballed with a whistling noise off the remaining floor, up towards him. He caught her before she could stab him; his powerful grip clamping down on her muzzle and neck. He would've crushed her then and there, but Luna came form behind with a mighty kick form one of her back legs, amplified by the Kaioken.

Sapphic was flung back, bounced once or twice on the hard surface of the tower, and brought himself to a halt, once again standing upright. 

Giving another feral shout, he stomped his glowing feet into the brick, causing a few to spring up, andkicked each one towards the alicorns. The sisters easily crushed the stones, but Celestia immediately ate a mean right hook from Sapphic, who had only used the stones as a temporary distraction to land a hit.  

He had put a lot into that punch, as Celestia spun around like a top in the air before hitting the weakening floor with a heavy thud, and grunt. 

She tried to stand back up as Luna charged towards Sapphic herself. The Kaioken was a great ability, but if she got hit like that again, it might do some serious damage thanks to it's drawbacks. Trading defense for offense was always risky, but if they could just hit him in a vital spot, it would be worth it. However, if she was going to make it that far, she was going to have to avoid anymore attacks like that.

Luna and Sapphic exchanged several, high-speed blows until the latter got in a big uppercut. The attack launched the princess of the night upwards, but she stopped ascending as Sapphic grabbed her flowing tail. Using it like a rope, he slammed all of Luna down into the brick floor, and then tossed her over head to do so again, not releasing her tail. He spun round, dragging her roughly across the surface, and tossed Luna into one of the crumbling walls of what remained of the once mighty tower. The bricks shattered apart as they absorbed a massive amount of her momentum, causing her to topple over in mid-air after that hard hit. 

As gracefully as she could, she regained her control, and stared, breathing heavily, at the scowling tyrant. Her back was screaming in pain; much more than it should be from a hit like that. The rest of her body, though not as intensely, was feeling a similar effect.

Nodding at her younger sister to do the same, Celestia charged forward once more, a hoof outstretched in attack. Sapphic turned quickly, grabbing her hoof, and placing a hand under her chest to toss her hard at her sister. Luna could not evade her elder sister's tossed body, and they collided, then smashed into another, less than sturdy wall, crumpling in a heap.

"We're too slow, sister!" Luna grunted, exasperated. "We need to up our Kaioken..!"

Celestia gave a warning look to her, knowing the added risk. "No, sister, if we do that, he will be able to hurt us much worse than if we stay in times one. Remember the drawbacks King Kai told us of when he taught us this."

Luna seemed to ignore the warning as she stood up once more. "If we stay in times one, he will destroy us because we can't get past his defenses! Kaioken x2!"

With that, her aura increased, and she leaped into another exchange of blows with the changeling. Celestia grunted and she too wen up to times two before joining in on the assault.

The blows were fast and furious, but Sapphic was still evading most of them and blocking the rest. Even at times two, the royal sisters couldn't land a hit. They prepared another volley when the changeling prince grabbed their muzzles, and violently slammed their regal visages into the floor, cracking it further. Without a breath, he ran past them, grabbing their tails as he did so. Shouting he flew into the air and began to spin them like a pair of nunchacku. 

He brought both their spins to a halt by slamming them together above his head, and then throwing them back down into the desecrated castle. The alicorns fell through each successive floor as the tower crumbled atop them. Their descent came to an end as they hit ground level, and the brick finally quit falling.

* * *

Many ponies turned to see one of the towers crumble down, but none could really focus long, what with the changelings all over. 

Flash Sentry's mouth went agape as he witness the princesses become living wrecking balls against their own abode. Before returning to fight, impaling another drone on his spear, he prayed silently that they were alright.

* * *

Luna burst forth from the rubble; her red and blazing aura signifying she had entered times three state. Her body was visibly shaking form the exertion, and her eyes had become white with her righteous magical fury. 

Celestia stood as well, but her Kaioken aura was gone. She had deactivated it before they had started to crash through what was once part of the castle, knowing she was not as physically tough as her younger sister. The pain might have killed her. No, Kaioken was far too risky to use, at least for her. She looked at her sister, the times three already starting to take it's toll on her after a few seconds. 

This had to end now, or Luna's rage would make her abuse the Kaioken too much, and she would fall. Celestia had to end this, and she had only one idea of how she might do it.

"Luna..." She croaked, obvious pain in her voice. "Try to keep a cool head for a little longer, and distract him."

Luna broke her rage for a moment to look to look at her elder sister. "You mean..."

"Yes, I'm gong to use the Spirit Bomb..."

> Return of a Nightmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ok, Apple Bloom, this is the last day we'll be spending in here, and tomorrow we go back to Earth." Goku announced. "Show me your best Kamehameha. Give it everything; every ounce of sweat and blood in you."

After a quick nod from Goten, Apple Bloom stepped forward; her face bore a look of confidence she hadn't been able to wear for a long time. It was good to feel in control again.

She took up a wide stance as she cupped her hands together, bending slightly at the knees and twisting her torso to the side. As she readied herself, she tried to imagine Sapphic on the other end of the blast she was about to unleash; picturing him laughing at his near victory over Equestria, and being cocky in general. 

"Ka..."

A blue orb of energy appeared between her palms.

"..me..."

The energy around the area grew thickened as the air pressure began to rise.

"...ha..."

The white aura of her unlocked abilities surrounded her, making the area around her nearly impossible to breathe in. She ignored this, and continued to raise her power.

"..me..."

Once again, she pictured Sapphic laughing at her from a distance, just begging to be blown apart. She reached her "100%" power, and let loose.

"..HA!!!"

As she thrust her hands forward, the beam that came form her was massive; her body was nearly a child's size compared to it as it flew across the void of white, and eventually dipping down enough to hit the "ground", exploding violently and shaking the entire Chamber, it seemed.

She turned back, smiling to Goku, who smiled and gave big thumbs up.

She leaped into the air, which ended up being an eight foot leap, and gave a celebratory cheer. She'd done it; she'd mastered all of he moves Goku hadtaught her. After so long, she was in full control of her abilities. The feeling was overwhelming almost, as she kept repeating in her head; "I did it! I did it! I did it!"

Goten ran over and picked her up in a tight hug which she more than happily returned, and sealed with a quick kiss. This got her even more excited, because she realized she had conquered all the obstacles; training, love, and control. Every hurdle had been cleared; all but one.

But with all the power she felt flowing through her veins, she knew that obstacle would be no problem, and Equestria would be saved. She would finally be able to protect those she cared for.

Goku laughed as he watched his son and Apple Bloom dance around like twitterpated school children, excited for the end of the year. Indeed, tomorrow was the final day of the year inside the Time Chamber; they'd trained hard, and both Goten and Apple Bloom had become much, much stronger for it. 

His smile faultered a little as he thought on about the final stage of the plan. He had full confidence that they could succeed with what he had planned for them, but he just had an itching feeling in the back of his mind that not everything was as good as it seemed to be. His mind flashed back to the day they had sensed all that massive energy; he hadn't recognized the signature, and it vanished just as quickly as it appeared, and never came back again in all the last few months they trained. 

This unknown factor in his plan worried him.

He was snapped out of these thoughts by his son's voice. 

"Dad? You ok?"

"Oh, me? Yeah, just fine!" He nervously chuckled before getting back to normal. "I'm very proud of both of you. You've come a long way since we came in here, and now look at you; a couple of butt kicking, bug squashing champions! Sapphic won't even know what hit him."

"Yeah, with Apple Bloom as powerful as she is, Sapphic's gonna be begging for mercy at her feet in no time!" Goten exclaimed excitedly, holding the anthropomorphic mare close to him.

"Well, technically, it won't be Apple Bloom who fights Sapphic." Goku interjected.

The two young fighters were thrown off by that statement, and looked to the saiyan with confused expressions.

"Whatdaya mean it won't technically be me who takes on that bug-brain?" Apple Bloom asked, hoping to clear the sudden confusion up.

"I'll explain more tomorrow before we exit the Chamber." Goku said, an apologetic smile on his lips. "But for now, let's just say it will be you, but not you. It'll also be Goten...but not Goten..."

This only made the two of them manage to look even more puzzled than a few seconds before; what the heck was Goku talking about?

"Heh, try not to think to hard on it. Like I said, I'll explain more tomorrow."

With that, the mighty saiyan raised on Earth walked off, humming a little tune. 

Goten and Apple Bloom looked at each other, but just shrugged; they were happy to be in each other's company for the time being. If things were to be revealed the next day, then why worry?

"This'll be our last night before the big fight, Apple Bloom." Goten said, just a little serious. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready as I'll ever be." The anthropomorphic southern mare answered. "But, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep knowing that..."

"I know what you mean.." Goten agreed. "I doubt sparring will do much more than get us even more pumped for it. What can we do?"

Apple Bloom pondered a few things, and then blushed hard when her little mind brought up one way to burn night energy. She didn't know if she would be any good at it, but both her mind and her body told her she just had to try it; besides, this could be the last chance the would get, her and he. 

"I...I think I know one way..." She shyly stated, putting a finger between her teeth.

* * *

Luna and Sapphic continued to bounce blow after blow off of each other as they furiously battled in the royal courtyard, or rather, what remained of it. Walkways torn asunder, flowers burning and dying; the place looked like a fallout zone. 

The rest of Canerlot looked no better as blood from both sides stained the streets, and bodies piled up all over. 

Sapphic glanced at Celestia; the regal alicorn had just been standing there, her horn tilted up with her head as if she were a snobby statue. What in the world was she doing? Healing herself? Little use that would be. Luna had always been the tougher of the two; Celestia's pride must ave made her say that she was more important than Luna, and sent the younger alicorn to hold him off.

In that fleeting moment, he felt for the dark blue goddess. But it was just that; a fleeting moment. 

Luna charged forward again, and Sapphic smacked her to the side. Se rolled a ways, but got back on her footing quickly. The two stared at each other, and Luna tried to stop shaking so violently. Her poor body wasn't doing so well under the times three Kaioken; it was tearing her apart to keep it active so long, and the changeling prince figured she was going to kill herself if she kept the aura up too much longer.

He dropped his fighting stance for a moment, and looked the princess of the night in the eyes. 

"You know, Luna," He started. "it's a shame that your sister thinks of you as no more than a distraction to save her from immediate death. She knows I will kill you, and she's using that time that we're fighting to save her own selfish rump."

"You...do not....speak...of..our....sister..." Luna breathlessly spat back. "She...does...what is...needed for...all of...Equestria..."

"So using you as a scapegoat is best? Please." The disfigured tyrant scoffed. "This just proves how low she'll stoop to keep herself in power. If she were smart, she'd take the fall while you, the warrior of the two, healed. Yet, here you are tearing yourself up for her. Pity."

Luna's eye flashed white again as he began to stir her ire; the lies h was trying to use against her were not working, but they were upsetting her. Nopony could insult her elder sister and get away with it.

"You...have...no idea...what she does...or is doing..." The dark alicorn retorted as her legs nearly collapsed under her. 

"I know she's using you." Sapphic said bluntly. "Trust me, I now. I used those six dopes back on Earth to try and gather the Dragon Balls for me. They served their purpose, at least most of them, and then I had no further use for them. I guess Goku helped with the discarding part."

"Wha--?"

"Nothing. Point is, I'm a user, and I now users. She's using you as nothing more than a tool for her survival. Trust me..."

She didn't trust him; she wouldn't rust him. She knew Celestia was building energy for the Spirit Bomb, and Luna was doing this of her own free will. She swore, though, if the grotesque monster before her said what he was leading up to--

"Just kill her, and then we can have a true battle."

That was it. With a defiant yell, a massive upsurge in black magic suddenly came out of nowhere. Sapphic actually flinched a little, not expecting this turn of events; what even was happening?

The dark matter swirled around the princess of the night, and became an orb of pitch black nothingness. It sat like an eggshell around Luna, and when it hatched, Sapphic actually dropped into a defensive stance. 

The legends were true afterall; Luna really was Nightmare Moon.

Nightmare landed gracefully, no longer shaking form the effects of Kaioken x3. She was practically in a new body; one much thinner, taller, and noticeably more powerful than her normal one. The black magic he sensed within her was enormous, and just to look into her soul scorching eyes was enough to make the changeling tyrant take an involuntary step back.

Celestia watched on from her place as she gathered energy; her expression showing just how desperately she was trying to build up the bomb. 

"Ponies all over Equestria, if you can hear me, I need you to raise your hooves to the sky and give me some of your energy!"

She could feel it coming in waves nearly right away, but to draw more from the plants and animals would take time; time she prayed Luna would have. Her subconscious mind reminded her that that was not Luna before her; it was Nightmare Moon.

"Now then," The frightening mare of darkness challenged. "let's see how the would-be king handles me! The Mare in the Moon; Nightmare Moon! Kaioken x4!!"

> The Price of Pride
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

No more words were spoken. Nightmare Moon and Sapphic exchanged savage blows with each other at high-speed; the alicorn's Kaioken amped up to times four. 

Sapphic was shocked by how much of an increase her power had leaped; it was as if she were a whole new pony. In a sense, she was a whole new pony. No longer was she the warrior Princess Luna, but the vengeful goddess of darkness, Nightmare Moon. 

He side stepped a crushing blow from one of her hooves as it cracked the very ground it struck like glass. He tried for a haymaker, but she ducked her head, not able to be caught off guard so easily. She brought her rear leg closest to him up to bear, and kicked it out, landing a mighty blow to his chest. He flew back, tumbling as he did so, and grasped at the lawn, his exposed fingers digging trenches in the dirt as he was upright again. 

His recovery did not last long, as Nightmare Moon was right on him again, the air whistling wit the sound of Kaioken as she rammed him away further with her shoulder. She followed up by materializing and tossing two magical spears in his direction; the pair twirled around each other as they seemed to lock on to the changeling prince's location. 

As the became one, and jettisoned towards him, he barely lifted himself out of the way of the strike, but did not count on them exploding after sticking in the ground. The raw, dark, and malicious feeling magic was like hellfire; he couldn't stop it as it tossed him like paper in a breeze over the courtyard and into the garden.

He caught himself hard as he impacted the ground once more, his arms nearly breaking in two from the pressure of the landing. The crater he created spread out a good ten feet and animals ran as fast as they could from the area, fleeing for their very lives. 

He stood and in a fit of rage, flung two ki blasts in Nightmare's direction. She easily avoided them, and appeared before him, bashing him skywards in an instant.

As h ascended, he planted a knee squarely into her chin, giving a howl of triumph as he did so, expecting her to be flung back.

The sharp teeth of her grin revealed it had done little to actually hurt her; there was some damage, but not much, and the beat down continued as the alicorn of legend flipped over his head, and smashed her rear end down on him, sending him hurtling back into the dirt before she landed all four hooves atop him like a living meteor. 

Celestia continued to gather her energy together, ad watched as her sister continued to fight against the changeling tyrant. She was pleased to see the fight was now in Nightmare Moon's favor, but she still worried. For one, she couldmore than likely finish off Sapphic right now if she wanted to; the power of Nightmare Moon was one of those powers that very few beings could topple. That malicious and sadistic mindset that came with the transformation, however, was causing her sister to merely toy with him rather than put him down. She was enjoying his suffering, and Celestia would be lying if she said she wasn't relishing it a bit, too.  But there was much at stake, and if Sapphic somehow found a way around the goddess before the Spirit Bomb was complete, there may not be any hope for Equestria. 

"Please, sister, don't let the darkness take you over again...remember what we're doing here..." The sun goddess thought to herself.

Nightmare Moon levitated Sapphic's prone form in front of her by his hair. The limpness his body was showing was either a sign of his pain or exhaustion. He was alive, and not unconscious, she knew. Maybe he was thinking of a way to get through this. He could think all he wanted; there was no escape for the bug now.

"Let me see if my aim is as good as I remember." She chuckled evily, tossing him into the air.

As he soared over head, she fired a beam of raw, black magic at him, which hit his back squarely, searing a few more of his tendons away as he was flung forward by the blast and then pulled down hard by gravity. 

She laughed loudly; a sound that many a pony had feared long ago. She took wing, and landed a few feet from where Sapphic was trying to get back up, and began to trot nonchalantly towards him as her Kaioken aura flared like wildfire.

As she neared, he whipped around, giving a battle cry, and landed a solid punch to the side to her face. She slid back a ways from the force, a little surprised at the strength, but not really hurt by it. He then gave many more short shouts as he bombarded the mare with blast after blast of high intensity ki. The cloud being created from the explosions was starting to cover the entire royal grounds. 

After a good minute of this, he stopped, breathing heavy, and waited for the dust to settle. As he expected, the alicorn stood with little more than a few scratches across her slender and nightmarish body. 

She spread her wide wings, and giggled darkly. "If that's the best you've got, I'm afraid you won't even touch me."

He put his hands down, a strange smile coming across his own features involuntarily. "No, I've got some more I me...but I am very impressed..the legends didn't overhype you at all..."

She began to walk towards him, a cocky smile present on her. "Of course not. The legend actually rather underhypes me, if I do say so myself. I am nightmares incarnate, and the bringer of darkness."

"Indeed." Sapphic  acknowledged, regaining a little of his strength.

He could feel his saiyan blood flowing stronger through him with every move she hit him with, but they were miniscule power boosts compared to the entity which now approached him. He really was going to have to give it a bit more if he wanted to walk out of here alive.

"Go ahead." Nightmare Moon cackled, as if reading Sapphic's thoughts. "Power up as much as you need. I'llwait."

"Really?" The tyrant questioned, his grin growing a bit. "Why?"

"I want you to know that even at your best, you were nothing compared to me. That none of your own evil powers could vanquish the darkness I am to bring upon your twilight hours. I want o kill you at 100%."

"Sister, no!" The voice of Celestia rang inside Nightmare Moons head. "Don't do this! End him now!"

"You are building the Spirit Bomb, sister. Once it is complete, you can finish him. Until then, I want to keep playing with my little toy." She thought back in a sick and sadistic tone of voice.

"I thank you,Princess of the Night." Sapphic laughed, bowing. "I hope to not disappoint."

He gave a long shout as he hunched over, his power rapidly rising as his aura became visible and the very ground began to float up in pieces around him.

"Curses, Luna!" Celestia exclaimed internally. "Please, if there is anymore energy anypony can lend me, I need it now! Hurry!"
> Winning is Only Half the Battle...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic's power continued to rise as the air pressure built on his location. The ever grinning Nightmare Moon watched with wicked excitement; at the chance to prove this usurper wasn't as strong as he claimed he was or pretended to be. His power was impressive, yes, but not enough to topple one who commanded the moon and the stars themselves. 

She giggled darkly in anticipation; a chance to have a plaything that she wouldn't break in two right away soon arriving.

Celestia desperately continued to gather as much energy from the world as she could. Her subjects had given everything they had, and the Bomb was still not strong enough. She gritted her teeth and let out a grunt of exasperation. Why did Luna have to go and act all mighty now? The dark forces of Nightmare Moon were both a blessing and a curse, it seemed. Great power, but to much overconfidence. 

Celestia knew that she'd still be able to hold Sapphic off, but if she continued to allow him to get stronger, the Spirit Bomb may not be able to kill him. There had to be something, anything more that she could draw energy from. 

Her eyes sparked as an idea struck her. Of course, how could she have not seen it earlier; she was the goddess of the sun, and the sun was a massive well of energy. If she drew power from it, she jut might be able to gather enough energy before Sapphic became too strong to finish off. 

Focusing everything she had, she began to draw the power of the mighty star which she brought forth every day into the Spirit Bomb as Nightmare Moon continued to wait on the changeling tyrant.

He let out a loud yell as power erupted from around him, blowing back trees and walls, and causing the topsoil to come up like drywall paper. He stood still before the dark alicorn for a moment, seeming to try and regulate his power to where he could control it. Aftr a moment, he looked at her with a grin.

"Alright, Nightmare." He said. "Here I am at my current max abilities."

"Cute." Nightmare Moon mocked. "Now, let's see if you can play like you say you can!"

She charged at him, the Kaioken energy once again whistling in the air. She went to ram him back, but was suddenly stopped.

Sapphic had caught her, even at the speed that Kaioken times four granted her. He had done it with only one hand as well. 

She jumped back, and shot out a beam of dark magic; the purple and black energy seeming to slice the air itself as it sped towards Sapphic. He merely moved to the side, and easily dodged the high speed blast as it exploded behind him; rippling his long and gritty dark green hair. 

Nightmare Moon looked shocked for a single moment, and then put her confident smirk back on. He was faster and stronger alright, but was he strong enough to beat her? She would find out.

The two engaged once more, and quick punches and kicks were thrown between them. Nightmare Moon went for a right hoof, but Sappic dodged before going with an elbow strike, which the alicorn blocked. The constant exchange of moves was at a stalemate with neither individual gaining an advantage. They were dead evenly matched.

She maneuvered behind him and attempted a blow, but the changeling tyrant turned in time to catch the offending hoof. He moved to kick the alicorn goddess under her guard, but she prevented the strike from connecting with a small magic field. He spun around her side and tried to land a spinning heel kick to her skull as she ducked to avoid, and sliced upwards with her horn, only to be stopped by his mangled glowing hand as he flipped over her and attempted a back kick to her side, which she promptly stopped with her wing. 

After that small spat, they went right back t it; fists and hooves and feet flying all over as they tussled with neither one landing a single blow. Nightmare Moon's rage grew as she saw Sapphic smiling. He seemed so sure of himself; so confident he was not going to be erased by her. They separated, and stared each other down in the air above what remained of the royal garden; her glowing white eyes meeting his luminescent emerald ones.

"You would do well to stop smirking at me, welp." She stated rather forcefully.

"Why? Were you not grinning when I was on the losing end of this exchange?" Sapphic said plainly. "What? Now that you no longer have the winning hoof, you don't like playing anymore? I thought a princess would have more class than that."

"I still have the winning hoof, as you say, usurper! You have not bested me ye!"

"Go ahead, then. Show me your winning cards."

Celestia, hearing this exchange, felt that pit of worry deepen in her stomach. Now that Sapphic and Nightmare Moon were even, her sister was frustrated of no longer being able to toy with him. Sapphic was attempting to make her angry and irrational. 

Curses...if only she had finished him when she had the upper hand.

There would still be a way for her to win, but it was far too risky. If Sapphic managed to press her sister's buttons enough, however, she had no doubt Nightmare Moon would forsake the risks and try to bear it. Judging by the last sentence she had heard, knew it was too late.

"Kaioken times five!!" Nightmare Moon cried out.

That was what Celestia was afraid of hearing. 

Now powered up, the dark alicorn zipped around and went to smash the changeling prince away with her back leg. He moved to black but the force behind her kick was too much, and he was sent flying backwards through the castle wall. Splitting the wind as she moved, she caught up to him in an instant, and batted him back out to the garden's remnants like a ball. 

She continued this pinball like attack pattern for a few seconds before tossing him skyward. 

Sapphic was too pain riddled to move; eventhorugh his dying and exposed nerves, he felt every bit of force the legendary mare in the moon was hitting him with. He could've swore she'd broken a few of his bones during the attack. He tried to recollect his wits, and find a way to fight back.

He had no time; the Kaioken, now amped up to five, had boosted her speed even more, and there was barely a way for him to keep up with her. It was like she was a vengeful wraith slashing him to pieces. That image became easier to picture when she began slicing at his exposed muscle with her horn; the sharp end severing many tendons and veins, causing him to bleed quite a bit. He was lucky she hadn't cut through any arteries yet, or he'd really be in trouble.

"Why aren't you smiling now, Sapphic?! Why aren't you smiling now?" Her cackling voice filled his head.

The Spirit Bomb was almost ready, but the power was still just shy of being enough. She thanked whatever power was above her that her sister had not succumb to Kaioken's negative effects yet, but she wasn't sure how much longer that would last. As long as she didn't up it anymore, she should be able to hold out until--

"Kaioken times six!"

What?! Why? Why was she doing this? She had Sapphic already on the ropes.

"Luna!" She cried out. "What are you doing?! You know that level of Kaioken is far above dangerous!"

Nightmare Moon gave a feral growl of bloodlust as she charged for Sapphic, ready to give him one last stab with her long horn.

"I'm going to show this foal what REAL power i--" 

She suddenly stopped her talk as a choking sound filled her throat. Celestia watched in horror as Nightmare Moon reverted back to Luna and the Kaioken aura disappeared completely. 

"No!" Was all the large white alicorn could say.

Luna had taken the Kaioken farther than even Nightmare Moon's body could handle. She watched as her younger sister flopped onto the ground before her with a pain filled yelp. Her body was failing on her, and Celestia knew she wouldn't be able to move now. This was bad...very bad.

Sapphic landed with a thud not far from the paralyzed Luna. He had not expected to survive, but was not going to question it anyway. He wonderedwhy the mare's assault had stopped, but grinned when he saw the princess of the night laying motionless except for her face, which was contorted in pain as she gave short but loud cries. That Kaioken; a double-edged sword if he ever saw one.

He slowly stood up, swaying a little and nearly falling back over as he did so, and began to walk towards the two sisters. He wondered why Celestia still hadn't moved to help her sister yet. Perhaps she really was as selfish as he thought,and was still healing. 

"So you are just going to stand here, Celestia? While your dear sister lays helpless at my feet?" He antagonized, drawing closer to Luna's writhing body. 

"Don't touch her!" Celestia growled, a soundthat did not match her regal features.

"Then stop me." He replied, kicking Luna on the ground, causing her to scream. "Come on. Stop me."

Celestia watched in emotional agony as the tyrant continued to beat on her sister, the blows amplified by her nerves sending pain signals all over her bruised body. Just touching somepony who abused the Kaioken could hurt them like a stab wound, and he was full on punching poor Luna in the face and all over her tender form. She had to refrain from moving though; the Spirit Bomb still wasn't ready.

Sapphic halted his assault, a bit ticked he was not getting a response, and now very confused by Celestia's actions. What in the blazes was she doing? 

"So you won't stop me hurting her." He said. "That's fine."

He yanked the princess of the night up into the air by her horn, and held her at his side, pointing his fingers like a gun at her throat.

"I suppose you won't mind if I kill her then." 

"No! Don't!" Celestia nearly shrieked, but still did not move.

"Then you best do something, sun-butt, before I--"

He suddenly stopped talking, his eyes fixed up into the sky with a look of disbelief mixed with fear. Horseapples, thought the sun goddess, he noticed it.

The huge orb of energy and magic floated several feet above the three fighters, Sapphic starting to shake a little bit. What the hell was it? And more importantly, how had he not noticed it? It's power was near level with his own, and was rising steadily. 

Then he realized something; Luna had merely been a distraction afterall.  Celestia was going to use that thing to kill him, and if it grew any bigger, it very well could do just that. 

"Celestia! I'm telling you do not quit whatever you're doing with that thing in the sky, then I will murder your little sister right now before your eyes! Do you hear me!" He started to frantically yell.

"Sis-sister...just...do..what you...need to do...he's...going to k-k-kill us both...either wa--"

"Shut up, wench!" Sapphic shouted, punching the helpless alicorn in the gut, getting a heart-wrenching scream in return.

Celestia knew the Spirit Bomb wasn't ready yet, but even when it was, he still was holding Luna hostage. If she threw the Spirit Bomb, it would vaporize her as well. The tall white alicorn with the sun symbol cutie mark wasn't sure she could kill her own sister.

Luna seemed to realize this, and knew Celestia wouldn't fire the Spirit Bomb with her there. She needed to make Sapphic get her away from the area, no matter how painful it would be. If she could piss him off enough...

His fingers were so close to her mouth it was as if he were trying to feed them to her. That gave her an idea.

Opening her mouth wide as she could, she slammed her jaws down on his index and middle finger of his right hand, chopping them completely off and swallowing them in revulsion. The effect was immediate; the tyrant gave a loud cry of pain, mixed with many profanities aimed at Luna herself before throwing her as hard as he could into the horizon. She flew fast through the air as she was flung, unable to guide herself at all.

Celestia was about to relax and finish the last bit of the Bomb, when she saw Sapphic take aim at her sister as she was flung away. He was going to blast her out of existence for what she had done  to his hand. No, no, no, no this was bad. She knew she had to do something, but what?

"Oh, curses! Curse it to Tartarus! Spirit Bomb!" 

She launched the massive orb of energy the same instant the changeling prince unleashed his shot at Luna. The blast was traveling fast, and Celestia immediately took wing after it, trying to get to Luna before it did.

The gargantuan Spirit Bomb came down towards Sapphic, who tried to fly off, but the attack radius was too large; he knew he couldn't fly fast enough to escape that. Damn it all, Celestia had had this thing cooking the whole time. It's power was almost dead even with his own, and it was closing on him fast, the ground disintegrating at it's touch. 

He was not going to go out like this; not when he was so close. He put asmuch energy into his left hand as he could and slammed it into the surface of the orb. The power seared his muscle and tissue like fire from purgatory come to make him pay for his sins. The pain traveled all throughout his arm, and started to travel down his shoulder and spine; t was near crippling just holding it. 

Celestia had nearly made it to her sister's still flying body, but Sapphic's shot was dead even with her, there was only one way to save Luna now. She focused her magic, and thought of a place far from Canterlot where her sister would be safe and able to recover. With the place in mind, the white alicorn let the spell surge outward, and Luna was teleported away just as the shot passed where she had been a moment ago.

Sapphic near screamed as he held the Spirit Bomb back with one hand, deathly afraid to try with the other, especially without two of his fingers. Luna, that witch. How dare she?

There was no time to curse; he had to get rid of this thing somehow. He had a grip, but he was going to lose it fast. He saw Celestia making her way quickly back to the area. No doubt to finish the job the Spirit Bomb had started. Throwing it at her directly would be fruitless; she'd just push it back. 

An idea came to him, and without thinking more, he acted on it. With every single ounce of his power he lifted the massive Bomb above his head, and immediately it began to push down on him, burning his limb even more. 

Celestia watched in shock as he did this; a feet she had thought impossible ever since learning of the Spirit Bomb. Not even King Sombra had been strong enough to stop it, let alone hold it above his head like Sapphic was. What was he going to do?

With a loud yell, he took one heavy step forward and tossed the gigantic orb of spirit energy towards...

"The city!" Celestia exclaimed, rushing down after the Bomb as it neared Canterlot itself.

Everypony turned to look as the huge Bomb descended upon them. The panic was almost immediate, and even the changelings looked startled.

"That...that's the Spirit Bomb...but why is it comng..this way?" Flash Sentry exclaimed to himself. 

He snapped out of his fearful trance long enough to give the retreat order, and everypony began to gallop for the city exit as if it were salvation. In this case, it would be; but the Bomb was closing in too fast. Much faster than the ponies could move themselves. 

It came to an abrupt halt, and as Flash looked back to see why it had stopped, he saw her; Princess Celestia was holding the Spirit Bomb back with her bare hooves, her Kaioken aura once again surrounding her. Her ethereal mane was a mess, and flowing unkemptly in all directions as she tried to push the huge energy sphere back away from the streets. 

Sapphic wouldn't have this; he wasn't going to let Celestia regain control of that Bomb. Leaping off the cliff the castle sat atop, he winded up for a ki enhanced punch using all of his power; his aura bursting like steam all around him as he shouted a throaty war cry. Coming down, he slammed his fiery fist into the surface of the Spirit Bomb, and it immediately cracked, and a split second later, exploded brilliantly, sending a massive shockwave of blue across the entire skyline.

Celestia flopped to the blood-soaked cobblestone; her fur burnt like a marshmellow and her mane and tail barely moving at all. 

Sapphic landed on his knees not far away, holding the arm he had punched the Spirit Bomb with; his right one. It was completely black and unmoving as he squeezed it against himself in some van attempt to block the pain. His screams of agony echoed across the entire mountain, and his siblings buzzed nervously, unsure how to help their king. The ponies too didn't have a clue what to do, and just stared at the scene in shock and fear.

After another half minute, Sapphic finally stopped screaming, and elected to rip the now useless arm right off, causing several ponies to either faint or retch horribly. Some of the changelings took shocked steps backwards, confused and completely thrown off by the sudden act. 

He tossed the blackened limb aside as green blood began to flow out of the open wound; he ignored it as he made his way slowly over to Celestia, who had not even made a move to get up.

She couldn't; the explosion had taken all of the energy out of her by shielding the town from it. She was spent, and couldn't muster the strength to even move her neck to look at Sapphic as he approached her prone form.

Flash Sentry shook his head, and charged forward at Sapphic, spear drawn. The changeling prince stomped the spear down, and kicked the orange pegasus up into the air to smack him away. His body hit a building in it's path, and the thing crumbled down around him from he sheer force at which he had hit it.

Sapphic looked crazily at the other pony guards as if daring them to try what Flash had tried. None moved, and Sapphic continued to walk over to the downed sun goddess.

As he stood over her, she finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

"You think that you've won...you don't realize...you've lost everything, Prince Sapphic..."

"Tell me, Celestia! Tell me how I have lost!" He bellowed. "You lay in the streets, broken and beaten! Your kingdom lies in ruins, and your subjects are dead! I fail to see how I have lost!"

"That's...exactly why...you've...you've destroyed us...and now...what will you do for food?"

Sapphic's face went form confused and angry to one of horrified realization. 

"Without us ponies to give...give love for you and...and your kind to feed on...you've robbed...robbed yourselves of your..main source of life..." The wounded alicorn explained wearily. "Your people...will all perish..soon-sooner than you can say 'oops'. You've won..the battle, Sapphic...but by killing us all...you just lost the war..."

Sapphic began to shake in a rage he had never felt. How could he have been so stupid? Damn her, she was right. There were only a few ponies left in Canterlot, and he had destroyed so many since he had arrived. He never thought about the fact that they needed to feed on the ponies emotions. It had ever even crossed his mind.

"Damn you..." He whispered. 

He clenched his one remaining fist until it bled and screamed up to the heavens. "Damn you!!"

Still shouting, he pointed an open palm at Celestia, and his arm muscles began to ripple like rapidly moving waves. Celestia closed her eyes, and a massive blast of ki forth form his hand, sliding him back a ways and completely incinerating the ruler of Equestria in one shot. The only remaining piece of the alicorn was her glowing hot crown as it skidded away from the blast zone across the cobblestones. 

Sapphic took a moment to breathe. Surely there was a solution; a way to salvage this. There were still ponies here, and there many more places in Equestria where ponies lived. He didn't have a large hive yet, perhaps there was still enough.

He lifted his head, throwing his messy hair behind it with the force. 

"It's your lucky day, ponies!" He announced, throwing his arm into the air for emphasis. "You get to live this day! You get to not only witness the changing of the guard as I, your new ruler, King Sapphic, takes the throne...but you also have the honor and duty...of feeding your fellow subjects."

He gestured at his changeling brothers and sisters who looked at the quivering ponies with hungry expressions. 

* * *

Apple Bloom thudded down next to Goten, sweating and panting as she finished riding the final waves of her orgasm; Goten doing pretty much the same beside her. It had taken him awhile to show her how it all went, but once they had gotten it going...she supposed she had never felt so good in all her years, ever.

She turned her head to Goten, who looked like he had run a marathon. He was beet red in the face, and sweating just as much, if not more than Apple Bloom. He'd only ever learned about sex in school, and he could tell; the descriptions did not do it justice. 

"That...was the greatest...feeling...I've ever felt...Apple Bloom.." He managed, laughing a bit at the fact he was out of breath.

Apple Bloom started to giggle; she'd seen him fight for hours on end and not get tired, and here he was panting after only a few minutes of hard lovin'. She had to admit though, she was pretty beat too. 

"So...feel like sleeping yet..?" She asked, another breathless laugh coming from her gaping mouth.

Goten nodded, trying not to laugh too hard. "Yeah...I'd say I'm pretty spent now...we'll be nice and rested for the big battle."

He moved closer to his lover's naked form, and wrapped his arm around her as she turned to face him sideways to do the same. The pair stared into each other's eyes for a few moments; nothing else but gazing. 

"Goten..." She began. "Why do I feel like this could be our last good moment...?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, a slight frown coming to his lips.

"I mean...tomorrow, we go into battle. And not all of us...could come back..."

"Hey, hey...don't think like that. We've trained hard and long for this. We're ready. And Besides, I'm already dead; can't die twice."

The anthropomorphic mare scooted closer to her lover and placed a hand to his cheek. "But you can be destroyed...remember that Goku said if you're body is destroyed fighting like you are, you cease to exist, and not even the Dragon Balls can bring you back...I don't want you to be erased like that, Goten...I can't even imagine it..."

He held her close as she began to tear up. He stroked her mane softly as he rocked them both back and forth a little bit. 

"Don't you worry about me, AB." He comforted. "I promise that this will not be our final night together. We're all gonna get through this. Ok?"

She nodded into his chest, and let out a long sigh. "I believe you. Don't let me down...please."


> I Am Neither Apple Bloom, Nor Goten...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna's entire body burned as she lay on whatever hard surface she had found herself on; it felt like stone, but her nerves were so frayed she couldn't tell for sure. For all she knew, she could laying in a spike pit, bleeding out slowly and not even know. She had been an absolute fool for doing such a rash thing as amping her Kaioken up again. She'd had the bigot right where she wanted him, and somehow had thought increasing the risk of her Kaioken was a good idea. If Tia (Celestia) was still alive, she was going to kill Luna.

Speaking of her older sister, Luna realized she didn't hear anything; no battle, no blasts...she thought she may have gone deaf, but discarded this train of thought as the wind began to pick up audibly. Her hearing was still intact, and her body as still unmoving. Sapphic must have really tossed her for a loop. 

That was all she could hear for what seemed like hours to the helpless alicorn; wind. No other sound permeated the thick blanket of silence that was enveloping her. She began to feel a little scared.

"H-hello?" She managed, her voice cracking from the dryness of her throat. "C-can...anyone hear..me?"

There was still nothing but silence as her words did not even seem to echo. Perhaps she was not being loud enough; that was a first. 

She breathed in as much as she could without hurting her chest, and gave a louder cry.

"Please, can..someone help..?"

Once again, no words were spoken in return. The princess of the night started to give up hope that anyone was nearby to assist her, and closed her eyes as the wind picked up again. 

As she lay there a few ore minutes, about to fall into unconsciousness, the unmistakable sound of hooves clopping against rock were heard. The hoofsteps were getting closer, and Luna tried to turn her head to see who was making them, but her body still would not respond. She desperately hoped the pony was friendly.

"Princess Luna?" A rather dull and monotone female voice seemed to drone out. "What are you doing out here?"

* * *

Goten and Apple Bloom stood like soldiers before Goku, as if he were a drill instructor about to give them a smoking. The only thing that made it not so was the fact all three were smiling. 

"Here in a few minutes, you two are going to walk out that door, and go back to the land of the living." Goku explained. "Remember that there has only been one day that has passed there, so it might get a little disorienting."

The two nodded an affirmative before Goten put on a quizzical look and raised his hand.

"Uh, dad?" He spoke up. "If I'm still dead, how the heck am I gonna go back to Earth?"

"Very good observation, Goten, but I'll explain in a minute." Goku replied as his son put down his hand, placing it in Apple Bloom's. 

The mighty saiyan reached into one of the drawers in the room, and pulled two very beautiful earrings. They were long and had blue colored orbs on the end of the chains. Apple Bloom, not being one for jewelry usually, was still amazed at how beautiful something so simple could look. Just looking at them made her think of Sweetie Belle as a sad smile came across her face.

"These," Goku started again. "are potara earrings. They allow two people with any difference in power level or height or even species to fuse into one very powerful being. Vegeta and I once used a pair of these when the evil Majin Buu as still around."

He examined them for a second before continuing. 

"But this pair is different than the one Vegeta and I used. The earrings that we had were a permanent fusion, and we were only able to separate because of Majin Buu's magic cancelling out the kai magic in the earrings. These earrings aren't permanent, though. Unlike the fusion dance way of fusing, which has a maximum of thirty minutes, this type of fusion isn't time based. The way these work is if either or both of them are removed or destroyed, the fusion will end, and you two will become yourselves again."

Apple Bloom looked awestruck. She was going to become one single being with Goten? She wondered very curiously how that was going to feel, and how it was going to be. Would se not be in control of herself..or...themselves...or...

"Goku?" She asked him before her mind knotted itself. "When we fuse, what's it gonna be like...you said we'd become ourselves again when the earrings aren't being worn, but is that implying we won't be ourselves while we're fused together?"

Instead of Goku answering, Goten piped up, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. 

"When we fuse, we'll become a whole new being with it's own mind and consciousness. It'll be like we're in a lucid dream; both of us will be in control, but not in control. I guess it's hard to explain. The point is, it's going to be what we would be as one person. We'll still be us, but we'll be the new being also." He tried to say.

This didn't make her head stop hurting anymore, but she decided the details weren't important right now. 

"So...how do we fuse..?" She asked, a bit nervous.

Goku gave one earring to each of them before explaining the procedure. "One of you wears one on your right ear, and the other will wear one on their left ear. Once both earrings have a host, you'll be pulled together and smashed like a pair of molecules."

"Smashed..?"

Goku realized his choice in words was not that assuring. "We'll, yes, but it's painless...mostly."

Apple Bloom swallowed slightly. She stared down at the beautiful ear piece as if it were a holy relic she wasn't sure she should use. 

"And to answer your question, Goten; since only one of you two fusees are dead, the new being you create will be a live one. He or she will not have the restrictions dead people like us have, and that will allow her or him a.k.a., you and Apple Bloom, to both go back to Earth and to Equestria." Goku finished, pointing casually at his youngest son.

Goten nodded, not even hesitating to put his earring on his right ear. 

Apple Bloom still hesitated; she knew it wouldn't be permanent, but she was still afraid of the unknown. She'd always been adventurous, but what would she become when she and her lover were one being? How would she act? What would she talk like? Would she even be remotely close to what she would be right now? 

Goten placed a hand on her shoulder; the half-saiyan's touch calming her nerves a bit. As he looked into her big amber eyes, he smiled, taking the earring from her outstretched palm.

"Would you like me to do it?" He asked as softly as he could.

She nodded, knowing she probably wouldn't on her own. He moved to the clip it to her perked up left ear, but she stopped him suddenly. He looked at her confused, and seemed to non-verbally ask what was the matter. She looked him back in his beautiful eyes, and said one thing.

"Just in case...will you...will you kiss me while you do it..?"

Goten chuckled a bit, but nodded, and as the two locked lips in a passionate kiss, the half-saiyan clipped the other ear piece onto his lover, and a faint light seemed to glow round them. They did not break he lip lock; not even for a second as the earrings' power forced them together like magnets. They were plastered against each other, and in ere moments, a brilliant white light engulfed the pair, and as it faded, Goku smiled at the new form that stood there, looking curiously at her hands.

She was toned, but her skin still held the feminine qualities of Apple Bloom's, and that was probably due to the yellow fur that still covered her body, though not as thickly as before. Her long black hair draped behind her to her waist, and her bangs framed her ponyfied facial features beautifully; making her glistening brown eyes pop. Her ears, which the potara objects were affixed to, flicked as if shooing of non-existent flies. She wore an orange t-shirt,and tight blue jeans that seemed to hug her slender yet muscled form. The new creature; surprisingly still very anthropomorphic in looks, continued to examine her body with curiosity while her long black tail swished from side to side. 

The biggest difference Goku noticed though was that she actually had feet rather than hooves. At least physically that was what stood out to him; what truly caught his attention was her enormous power level. He sensed both Apple Bloom and Goten's powers within the new creature, and together, it was a trueforce to be reckoned with. He almost wanted to have a quick sparring match against her, but knew it was not the time.

"What do you think?" He asked the female being as she whirled around gracefully to look at him.

"So this is fusion, huh?" She asked him, both Apple Bloom's and Goten's voices talking at once, with Apple Bloom's being the more prominent. 

The saiyan nodded, and motioned for her to try a few moves in this new body. The potara warrior did not hesitate, and began to ick and strike at the air around her. Her smile grew ever wider as she realized how easily her attacks transitioned into each other; it was a combination of Goten's and Apple Bloom's fighting styles, and it was a near seamless concoction. 

"Hot damn!" She exclaimed, rather happily as she returned to a standing stance. "No way Sapphic stands a chance against me! I'll kick him all the way from Canterlot to Saddle Arabia and back again!"

"I hope you do just that, uh..." Goku hesitated. "What is your name?"

The beautiful creature seemed to just now be realizing she was nameless. This look of realization turned to a concentrating one as she thought of what to call herself. 

"Let's see...Apple Bloom and Goten...guess I'll call myself...Appleten." She said. "Yeah; Appleten! Call me Appleten, Goku."

"Well, Appleten," He said, giving a good-bye wave. "This is where we part. I'll be watching you from Otherworld once King Yemma's multiverse cable stops acting up. Good luck!"

"Thanks, dad." She said. "I'll make you proud."

Goku laughed at her calling him dad; it was fitting for both fusees. One as his son, the other may very well be his daughter-in-law someday. 

Placing two fingers to his forehead, he vanished with one final wave.

Appleten stood, staring at the wooden door that would lead her to Earth, and to whoever Goku had waiting for her outside. She took a deep breath, and reached for the doorknob.
> Piccolo's Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Looks like they're coming out." Piccolo announced, sensing someone stepping out of the Time Chamber. 

Trunks, Buu, and Popo all turned to look as the wooden frame slowly creaked open, and the beautiful anthro stepped out into the sunlight. 

Trunks' jaw just about hit the floor as she got closer; the creature was stunning, and nothing short of ravishing, even for a non-human. He collected himself long enough to realize that he did not see Goten nor Apple Bloom anywhere. Then, coming to the conclusion before the question came out, he spoke.

"W-what is your name?" He asked.

"Call me Appleten, Trunks." She said in the double voice that could only be made by fusion warriors; winking at him as she threw up a quick peace sign.

"Goten...fused...with Apple Bloom....b-but...I thought that...I was his...fuse buddy..." 

Trunks began to blubber in a comical fashion as he fell to his knees and tears began to stream like waterfalls out of his eyes.

"I thought we had something special!" He cried, perhaps a bit over-dramatically.

Piccolo rolled his eyes and Appleten giggled. The namekian analyzed the potara warrior, not just for her physical prowess, but also scanning her power level. It was enormous; the biggest he'd ever felt in fact that did not belong to a deity of some kind. This was a good sign for the coming battle to have such a strong fighter. o long as the earrings stayed affixed to Appleten's ears, they would no trouble saving Equestria, he knew.

He walked a bit closer to her as Trunks continued to lament on the floor with Buu patting his back as if comforting a child. 

"So, Appleten." He said, towering over the young anthro. "are you ready to put your power to the true test?"

"I'm not just ready..." She smirked, kicking rapidly at the air. "I'm readier than a rattlesnake coiled back and eager to bite your ankle!"

Piccolo's eye twitched a bit; she could have just said yes. No matter, she was without a doubt ready to go, and that was good enough for him. As long as she was able to take the fight seriously, things should go smoothly.

He turned to Trunks, who was finally reduced to sniffing a long rope of mucus from his nose. 

"Clean yourself up,Trunks." He bellowed. "Get ready."

Trunks stood and immediately sucked in the lose dribble, and became serious once more; clipping his sword on his back. The two of them looked at Majin Buu, who looked back dumbly with that same little smile.

"Well?" Piccolo said, irritated.

"Well what?" Buu asked innocently.

If the namekian had hair, he would probably tearing it out right now. He quickly soothed himself into a calm state beforehe spoke again; breathing out deeply.

"Open the portal to Equestria..."

Buu shook his head, the smile not leaving his pudgy pink face. "You not say please."

Piccolo grunted and flexed as if h were holding in an explosion. Steam seemed to be billowing from his long ears as he tried desperately to calm down, but to no avail.

"We don't have time for tis nonsense, Buu!" He yelled as veins started appearing n his green skin. "Open the portal now! Ponies lives are at stake!"

"Nope." Buu simply stated, crossing his arms and shaking his head again. 

Before Piccolo could quite literally explode, Appleten walked forward and looked at Buu with a pleading expression; her big pouty eyes putting their spell on the pink majin.

"Pretty please, Mr. Buu?" She said, sultry like. "It would mean so very much to me if y'all would open the portal. I need to go save my family, Mr. Buu."

She leaned into his arms like a damsel in distress, and Buu's face started to turn a few shades darker; the signs of a blush for him. 

"Won't you help little old me out?"

Buu chuckled nervously, and swallowed. Trunks swore he could hear saxophones playing slow and smoky tunes in his head as he watched this scene play out.

"B-Buu would...but...Buu can't help pretty lady until Piccolo says please. Buu sorry."

Appleten turned her big puppy dog eyes on the namekian, and his first instinct was to turn away. This was stupid; why did he fate of Equestria now rest on him saying "please?" That was such a dumbfounding obstacle, that it was maddening. And yet, Piccolo thought on it. All it was was a word, and stupid as it sounded, if he really wanted to help the ponies who were no doubt being oppressed or killed right now while he debated on a word, he would stop worrying about himself, and put his pride aside. That was what Kami would have done for the Earth if it were in danger. If Piccolo wanted to become what he planned, he was going to have to do the same for Equestria.

He sighed. "Open a portal to Equestria...please."

Buu and Appleten both jumped for joy and cheered. Trunks shook his head as he thought he saw confetti rain from the sky for a split second. What was going on? A more important question; did I really matter? As long as they got to Equestria, it didn't.

"Buu do! Buu do!" The majin happily sing-songed, and began his ridiculous routine.

Piccolo waited as his white cape picked up the light breeze that ad started. He watched Buu do what Buu does, before he heard a familiar voice in his head.

"Piccolo? Can you hear me? It's Gohan."

"Gohan?" Piccolo mumbled quietly. "Where are you?"

"I'm a few miles from Kami's Place." Gohan's voice echoed back. "My ankle is still busted, but Korrin says the senzus just grew in, and I'm going to grab a few before I join you guys."

Piccolo knew senzu beans would come in handy, and Gohan's power could only increase their chances of winning. However, Buu was already halfway through his procedure, and it would take Gohan a good few minutes to get here with the beans. Buu would only be able to hold the rift for a few seconds. It saddened him, but Piccolo knew what he had to say.

"I'm sorry, Gohan, but you can't come with us."

"What? Why not?"

"Judging by your power level's distance, you won't arrive in time to make it through the portal. Majin Buu can only hold it a few seconds, and he's already begun his ritual." Piccolo explained. "Plus, picking up the senzu beans will take precious seconds; I'd grab some right now if it didn't take so much time."

"C'mon, Piccolo!" Gohan's voice pleaded. "I can be a great help! Just let Buu do his thing, let him rest, and we'll start again once I'm there...it'll be--"

"Gohan, listen to me. The time it would take for Buu to rest after this will be far too long for Equestria, and we've made them wait long enough. It's now or never, I'm afraid."

He paused.

"Besides...were heading into a battle that has no guarantee of going our way...you have a family to look after, Gohan; Videl and little Pan. What will that sweet little girl do if her father doesn't come home from this? You've already been revived with the Dragon Balls once before...and it would be selfish to make the namekians use theirs on us so much as we already have."

There was silence for a few more moments. Finally, Gohan replied.

"You're right..."

"I'm sorry, Gohan."

Another small spat of silence. Piccolo thought on his next words very carefully.

"Gohan..." He finally spoke. "I'm sorry I can't say good-bye in person..."

"Why do you say it like it's a final farewell, Piccolo?" Gohan's voice questioned with concern. "Surely you plan on coming back...?"

He frowned a bit, trying to find a way to let his best friend and pupil down easy. He found none.

"No." He said. "I have a mission I must complete for Equestria. The death toll has no doubt stacked up since we've been readying ourselves for this battle; all those innocent lives lost like sheep in a wolf hunt, never seeing it coming...our Dragon Balls don't work on the pony world, though...and that means we can't use them to wish all of them back...but..."

He breathed in, getting ready to say the rest of his plan.

"But I'm going to make it right...that's why..I have to..."

He prepared himself once more, still not believing this was coming from him.

"That's why I have to become the Guardian of Equestria, and create their own set of Dragon Balls to fix what Sapphic made wrong!"

"Piccolo..." Was all Gohan could say in response.

"I have the knowledge from Kami to do so, and if they have any suitable materials, I can do it in a year. All I have to do is survive this fight with Sapphic, first. I have to do this, Gohan...I can't let something like this happen to them again in the future..."

Once again, silence; all except for Buu finishing up the ritual with his strange morphing, which Appleten laughed at whole heartedly.

"Gohan...I want you to know..I've loved you like a son...you were the only one who truly understood me. You were...are...and always will be..my best friend..."

"I love you too, Piccolo...and I hope your mission goes successfully."

Gohan's voice, even in mental transmission, held the quiver of sadness in it. Piccolo didn't want to hurt him, but this was something he felt he had to do. These ponies were innocents, and Goku had taught him indirectly that the strong should always defend the weak when they can't defend themselves. Goku had been Earth's greatest hero; perhaps Piccolo could be the same for Equestria.

"Good-bye, Gohan..."

Gohan didn't respond for awhile, but finally, his last statement came through with an air of confidence about it. 

"Let's not say good-bye...let's just say...until we meet again..."

Buu finished his routine, and the rift opened with a loud zapping sound as it tore through reality. Piccolo held back tears that had welled in his eyes, and cut his psychic link with his first friend for the last time. 

"C'mon!" He ordered, stepping into the portal briskly. "Let's go save Equestria!"

Appleten and Trunks followed immediately behind as Buu started to turn red. Mr. Popo shouted a good luck blessing after them as the pink majin finally let the tear close.




> The Age of the Changelings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The new throne at the top of the main hall's large stairway looked over the entire, huge room as Sapphic sat in it, pondering things. He should have considered sooner that his changelings were indeed going to need a source of emotions to feed on after he had taken control of Equestria. He had obliterated a good portion of the pastel ponies on his warpath, and thus reduced the food source.

He had already deduced that there were many more cities all across Equestria, and a few other countries as well such as Saddle Arabia, Maretopia, and even the Crystal Empire. But since his changelings were still so few in number, he settled on the cities within Equestria's borders for now. 

What retaliation would he face now was another question he thought on. The Crystal Empire's army was already in shambles, as they had been here in Equestria to help them. It wasn't much of an effort on his part,  but still, they had been defeated. 

Saddle Arabia was an enemy of Equestria's, at least politically. He figured he need not fear anything from the horses of the sands there.

Maretopia and Mulenesia would pose no threat at all, as their militaries were sub-par at best. He wasn't even sure if the country of the mules had a military. 

He settled on the fact that none of the other countries would most likely do anything out of either fear or lack of caring. If they did, he would just destroy them.

Sapphic subconsciously itched the wound where his right arm used to be attached. He had cauterized the wound, but for some reason he still had some feeling in it. It was strange only having one upper limb, but not crippling as most would think. He was still every bit as powerful as he was before. 

This train of thought caused him to look at his destroyed body. Every muscle was exposed and rippling with his movements; nearly every inch of him was covered in puncture wounds, holes, cuts, gashes, and even a few strands of tendons hung from certain points. He was like a walking corpse, and that was no way for a king to look, he thought.

If only he could grow a new exoskeleton, then he'd--

He snapped his fingers, signaling one of his siblings to his side.

"Yes, my king?" He asked, eager to provide service.

"Do we have a pony who is an armor smith in captivity?" He asked the drone bluntly.

The changeling buzzed it's wings before replying. "We aren't sure, but we can check for you right away, my liege."

"Let me find him." Sapphic said, standing up. "I have a very...specific order to place for him to smith..."

He walked with the drone for a ways before asking another drone another question.

"What's the reports from the hunt so far?"

"The ponies are putting up resistance in each city we invade; the masked vigilante by the name of 'Bad Seed' is hindering us in Manehatten, but she should be dealt with shortly. In Cloudsdale, the former commander of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire, is giving quite a rally with the other pegasi. We also have reports of small skirmishes with notable ponies such as Trixie Lulamoon, and Daring Doo. The Castle of the Two Sisters is a no fly zone after our squad exploring that area disappeared...all in all, though, we should have complete control of the entire country in less than a day."

Sapphic nodded satisfied. He expected resistance, especiall from the pegasi, but nothing they did would be of any major consequence. The rule of ponies was at an end; it was time for the age of the Changeling Empire.

* * *

"Pinkie, why did you throw confetti into the air all of a sudden?" Luna heard a timid female voice ask as she came to.

"Somepony really far away was celebrating something." The familiar voice of one Luna thought deceased responded. "It was only a second, but I figured I would help."

Luna tested to see if she had control of her body back, and was pleased to find that she did, at least basic motor functions. She craned her neck from her laying position to see f her ears had deceived her; to her surprise and relief, they had not. Pinkie Pie lay on a bed like the one Luna herself was in with a tick wool blanket over top of her. The usually jovial party pony looked rather broken, but still wore a sad and yet hopeful smile. 

The mare next to her had a long and flat gray mane that covered most of her face; it complimented her lighter gray coat perfectly, along with her violet eyes. 

"How could you know that?" The mare asked Pinkie.

"My party sense was a-tinglin', Blinky." The pink pony in the bed answered.

"Party sense, or no, you can't move around like that, Pinkie." That same monotonous voice from before called from across the room. "You can further worsen your injuries."

"Oh, come on, Maud." Pinkie protested. "I'm feeling much better already."

As if to emphasis this, she sat up, and immediately gave a cry of pain and quickly laid back down. The one she had called Maud; a mare with purple mane and tail and a gray coat like Blinky, cantered over to her with a plain expression.

"I told you." She said, no inflection to her voice at all.

"Yeah...I guess you were right, big sis..."

Luna watched Maud turn around to face her, and the gray mare came over to her without hesitation.

"How are you feeling, Princess?" She asked, still no emotion to be detected.

"I am...well..." The princess of the night answered hesitantly. "Praytell, subject...what hath transpired since my...slumber...?"

The pony named Maud looked over the alicorn with a keen eye; Luna assumed she was looking for injuries, but that didn't make it any less creepy. When she was done, she looked the princess in the eyes.

"You were hurt really bad. Seems like that Sapphic guy everyone we've taken in keeps talking about is something else. He did quite a number on your face, princess."

She held a mirror for Luna to look into, and she did so to see a ghastly scare across her entire left side of her face; the gash ran through her eyelid as well. She did not know how Sapphic had given her such a wound, but figured that it did not really matter. 

As Maud put the mirror down, she began to trot away, but Luna stopped her quickly.

"Subject...Maud..is it?"

"That's right." Maud answered as monotonously as ever.

"Where...am I..?"

"This is my family's rock farm on the edges of Equestria. Though, since the changelings returned, it's become more of a hospital of sorts."

A rock farm on the edge of Equestria? Sapphic must have had one strong throwing arm. And she had converted it to a hospital? 

"I take it we are not the only patients..?"

"Nope." Maud answered. "We've got ponies from all sorts of places the changelings have attacked. Even a couple from Canterlot, at least the ones I managed to get out of there along with my sister."

"That reminds me; how did you rescue the pink one?" The alicorn questioned, genuinely curious. "I thought her forgone in the rivers of magma below the bedrock?"

"I caught her while I was digging under the city to get in for my rescue." 

"You...dug under bedrock..? What tools didst thou use for such a feat?"

"My hooves."

Luna blinked; the mare had to be joking, and yet, her blank expression hadn't even twitched. She did not seem the type to play jokes such as these.

"You must have....strong hooves.." She said.

Maud simply nodded, and stared as if waiting for Luna to say something else. When the alicorn did not, Maud turned and began to walk into another room, where voices could be heard talking amongst themselves.

Pinkie Pie was still laying on her bed; Blinky had long since moved on to help the other "patients." The princess of the night wondered who else might b ere from the royal city thanks to the bored-looking pony. 

"Fancy Pants, Upper Crust, Photo Finish, Minuette, Moon Dancer, and Lyra Heartstrings." Pinkie answered her thoughts as if reading them. "Maud also rescued tons of fillies and colts, but I don't think all of them got saved either before Celestia went down..."

Luna had learned not to question Pinkie's knowledge of things, but was a bit shocked at the act Celestia had been defeated. HAd the Spirit Bomb failed? Had it been interrupted? Was Tia even still alive, or being held captive? Luna's head started to throb with all these questions.

"Princess Luna?" Pinkie said, bringing the princess back to reality. "I know you have a lot of questions, but right now, we need to rest. We all need to be at our best for our plan to work."

Plan? There was a plan? 

She was about to ask Pinkie what plan she was talking aout, but the party pony had somehow already fallen asleep. She was indeed an enigma. 

Luna yearned for the answers she seeked, but considered that Pinkie was right; she did need rest, whether she knew of this "plan" ornot. Perhaps the answers would come to her...in her dreams.

* * *

Appleten seemed to be frozen in a trance as she looked out over the barren and wartorn wastes of what used to be Appaloosa. There was almost nothing but ashes left of the once homey little town her family had inhabited. The skies themselves were ashen and gray; no sunlight was able to pierce through the snow of burnt destruction as it loomed like a cancer over the remains of the town. 

Piccolo too seemed upset by the sight; charred pony skeletons both whole and broken apart litered the streets and burnt ruins all around. It was a scene straight out of a tragedy, and one that stirred the fire inside his belly.

He and Trunks watched as the fusion warrior knelt down in a pile of burning embers; clutching a few in her palm as they burned slightly. She clenched the coals tighter in her grip until it hurt, at which point, she released them, and they merely blew away in the silent wind.

Sapphic had done this; there was no doubt. The whole town was nothing more than a ghost now, and that fact hurt. It hurt more than any physical blow she had ever received as either of her fusees. 

"He's gonna pay..." She muttered in her double voice. "He's gonna pay dearly for this..."

"You're damn right he is." Piccolo agreed, a scowl directed at no one in particular on his features. 

"C'mon, guys." Trunks said, stepping forward. "Let's go...I don't think I can stand to look at this anymore..."

The three warriors took off into the sky, and as they flew away, Appleten looked back one last time. 

This bastard was going to die for this.
> Appleten's Rage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The trio of warriors hovered in a circle, facing away from each other and trying to sense for any remaining power levels that might belong to ponies. There had to be some survivors; the country was rather large from what Appleten had said, and they did have militaries, even if they weren't the greatest. 

The potara warrior herself was the first to sense a group of power levels off to the north, towards what she remembered as Ponyville's direction. She wasn't too sure if it was pony power levels she was sensing, but there was something.

Piccolo detected something next in the direction of the west; several power levels, an one or two large ones in close proximity.

Trunks picked up a multitude of power levels to the east; a couple hundred at least.

They turned in to face each other and create a plan. There were so many places they sensed around, but the three they sensed based on proximity to Canterlot, which Appleten had figured Sapphic might be, size of power levels, and population were the highest on their priority list.

"Ok, so here's what's going to happen." Piccolo said, bringing the two closer to him with a gesture. "Trunks, you'll head over to the multitude of power levels to the east; I'm sure you can handle whatever is going on there, and if it's nothing, make sure everyone stays safe there."

Trunks nodded an affirmative, ready for a fight.

"Appleten," The namekian continued as he turned to the potara warrior. "you head off to the north towards your hometown. If anyone is still alive there, bring hem far away from there. I Sapphic is indeed close to that place, it'll get pretty hairy once we clash with him. Until you are sure everyone is safe, do not engage him, understand?"

She seemed to frown a bit at the do not engage order, but nodded anyway. Piccolo was right after all; when she found Sapphic, she was going to make sure he didn't get up ever again, and that would most likely mean the battle zone would be widespread if she was to deal out the punishment she planned for him. She should make sure the area was clear of innocents.

"I'll head to the west." Piccolo continued. "I can sense a couple large power levels, and several smaller ones. It might be a few injured survivors, so I'll see if I can put a few new healing tricks of mine to the test."

"Sounds like a plan." Trunks acknowledged, getting ready to take off.

"Once we accomplish our goals, converge on my position." Piccolo finished. "From there, we can go and confront that slimeball."

Appleten could not wait for that. The three gave each other good luck wishes, and flew off in the assigned directions as fast as they could go. As Appleten blasted across the skyline, she caused a small sonic boom from the mere speed she was traveling at right off the bat. The ground was a blur to her, but she knew thanks to her senses from training here she was and where she was going. 

In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but think of Appaloosa, and finding Ponyville in the same state of destruction and death. The macabre scene kept playing on a loop until she forced it away from her conscious thought. No way was Twilight and the others going to allow Sapphic to destroy their home. She hoped that when she arrived, she would either find an intact town, or an empty one; no corpses or charred skeletons anywhere. 

* * *

Octavia had finally managed to calm the crying foals as they all sat in the bottom of the Canterlot dungeon. The poor little dears had lost their parents, and those hat hadn't had cried themselves to sleep ages ago, or at least it felt that long. At leastthree young colts and a little filly sat before the earth pony cellist as she soothed each one with a lullaby she had learned from Vinyl years ago. She smiled a bit, realizing a rough and tumble DJ had crafted a charming good-night song.

"Oh, Vinyl..." She mumbled. "You were right...it was our problem afterall..."

She was broke out of her trance as she heard the sounds of shuffling behind her. She turned, already knowing what it was, and gazed sadly at the princess of friendship[p, Twilight Sparkle. he usually collected alicorn was a mess; her fur and mane were in shambles as split ends and loose strands hung and clung off of ad to each other as if she hadn't combed them once in her whole life. HEr eyes, now pinpricks, darted around as if the pony was addicted to some kind of drug and was feeling the effects of withdrawal. 

Perhaps she was having a withdrawal, Octavia poetically thought. The princess, while having at least some combat experience, had never truly experienced violence on this scale; death on this level. She had watched her older brother be gored before her very eyes, and then each of her closest friends oblieratd by the same demon that had done the deed. She was having withdrawals all right; she was havingpeace withdrawal.

In all honesty, few if any of the assembled ponies had ever experienced violence and war on this scale either. It was a shame and a moral breaker that the one who was supposed to lead them was now nothing more than a broken mess of shivers and shakes in the corner of the dark chamber. Seeing th princess like this had made several of the ponies give up hope of salvation or escape...or hope of anything for that matter.

Octavia had to admit; she too was finding it hard to stay positive. Her loverwas gone, Canterlot had fallen, and the throne now belonged to the changeling king. If there was any hope at all, it would be a miracle.

The sound of keys turning in a lock startled everypony into an alert state, and panicked mumbles filled the room along with whimpers of foals. The heavy door to the dungeon swung open and the tyrant himself stepped into the view of the prisoners, who scrambled back as far as the cramped space could allow.

"Ponies," Sapphic started with a mock bow; a gesture that looked awkward with only one arm. "I require one among you who may be skilled in crafting armor. Is such a pony present?"

There was silence for a few moments.

"None of you? Are you sure?"

Once again, nothing. The shivering ponies did nothing but stare fearfully at the one who had killed their beloved ruler. 

"What a shame." Sapphic said, swaying casually. "I suppose there's only one thing to do then. There are blank flank foals in her, yes? I'll just take one of them and train them until they are worthy armor smiths."

He started o walk towards the group ofnow parentless foals that were hiding behind Octavia. As he neared with that savage grin on his face, the cellist took up a defensive stance. She wasn't going to let him take and torture one of these poor little ponies for his own selfish desires.

He stopped and stared down at her; his muscles and eyes glowing brightly in the dimness. 

She was deathly afraid of the monster, but she couldn't just let him have his way with whichever unfortunate colt or filly he would choose.

"Are you an armor smith, miss?" He asked mockingly.

"I am not."

"Then stand aside and let me see the blank flanks."

"I will not allow you to--"

Octavia was cut off andthrown across the room with one powerful smack from the tyrant. She would have hit the wall and probably splattered her brains all over it if one of the former guards hadn't caught her with his own body. She came back to her senses as one of the young colts started to struggle against Sapphic's mighty grip on his neck. 

"You'll make a fine armor smith once I've broken you in, young stallion." He cackled.

He began to walk out of the dungeon, carrying the now screaming colt with him, but was halted by a sudden voice from within the multitude of ponies.

"Stop! Please...."

Sapphic turned to see the stallion that had spoken; a beige colored pony wth a brown mane and an anvil for a cutie mark. 

"I...I am an armor smith....take..take me...instead of the boy..."

"Why did you not come forward sooner, stallion?" The changeling king asked challengingly, but the grin not leaving his face.

"I...I was afraid..." The pony answered, quivering slightly.

Sapphic chuckled darkly, bringing the young foal to bear. He looked at the child with evil intentions in his emerald eyes. 

"Hesitation can cost lives, my good smith." He stated cruelly. 

He began to laugh, ad Octavia knew what he was going to do. They all did. Before she could even move to stop it, however, Sapphic closed his fist tightly around the colt's neck, and the sick sound of bone snapping echoed through the chamber along with the final and suddenly silenced cry of the foal. 

Tossing the tiny dead body in front of the beige stallion, he stared him down. "Next time your king asks for you, you step forward, slave."

The pony couldn't take his eyes off the dead child, nor could Octavia as it lay there, limp an never to move again. What a monster this creature was; he had killed this poor colt just to prove a point. To make them obey.

The tyrant grabbed the stallion by he muzzle and dragged him away as the drones closed the door and locked it behind him. 

"Come, stallion," Sapphic said as he left. "you are going to make me a mighty suit of armor."

As the heavy frame of the door slammed ad locked shut, Octavia nearly tackled Twilight in a rage.

"Why did you do nothing?!" She screeched at the shivering alicorn. "You just let him kill a poor child and did nothing but sit here and cower!"

Twilight did not respond; in fact, she didn't even seem to acknowledge Octavia was on top of her. Her eyes were not focused, and she seemed to be in another world entirely. 

This was just fantastic; the princess was nothing more than a shell at this point; a shell for her broken mind to wander inside while the rest of the ponies were forced to deal with reality. She almost wished the guard would've let her smash against the hard wall; at least then she wouldn't haveto see anymore suffering.

She trotted back over to the dead body of the colt as the other foals cowered away from it as if it were evil. t least this young boy was in a better place now...

* * *

Appleten landed slowly in the center of the town once known as Ponyville. The place seemed deserted alright, but the blood all over the streets and ground made her stomach turn. Not from the sight of it, but because of what it could mean. There were no bodies, but that didn't mean there hadn't been death.

She sensed through the ghost town, looking for any sort of power level. he focused on one; it was faint, and seemed to be decreasing at a steady rate. Moving quickly, the trail brought her to what looked like the remains of Princess Twilight's castle. There were only seven beings she knew who would be in there...

As she made her way into the ruins, she continued to follow the trail of the fading power level as it continued it's decline towards death. She found herself praying against all odds that this was just a trapped animal or something. As she moved, she thought on something; even as powerful as he was, how did Sapphic manage to do so much damage to Equestria? Piccolo had said that Sapphic most likely had followers in Equestria, and she knew they were most likely changelings. But she knew there weren't many changelings left after the whole Canterlot Wedding ordeal. She had been young, but she knew what had happened all those years ago; the annihilation of the changelings by the princesses themselves. 

It was obvious some had survived; no way that Sapphic did all of this himself. But just how many? 

As she got closer to the dying power level, she decided the number didn't matter, ad that it would be dealt with when the time came. She walked into what used to be the map room, and saw in the middle of the crumbled debris...

"Spike?!" She cried out in her double voice at the sight of the crushed purple dragon. 

He hadn't grown much since her childhood, and his small frame was stuck underneath several heavy looking stones. She thought she would jus move them, and heal any broken bones back to health when she brought him to Piccolo, but that idea was shaken by the sight of the dragon's own blood pooled around him.

Spike opened his eyes halfway, and croaked out, "Apple Bloom..?"

"Spike, what happened?! Are you alright?" The potara warrior blurted, knowing the answer to the second question already, but still needing to ask.

Spike coughed a bit as he inhaled through his dry throat. "No...I'm not ok...and...as for what happened...that's a long story.."

"Make it short then." She said quickly. "Give me the Trenderhoof Notes on it..."

"Some guy named...Prince Sapphic....came back with a vengeance against us all..." The dying dragon explained. "Had a big battle...he killed almost everyone...he even killed Discord...."

"And the others...?" 

"Before Discord fought him...he teleported everypony both living and dead to Canterlot..."

"If that's the case, why are you still here.."

"I guess...he just...forgot about me..." Spike shrugged slightly.

Appleten brushed a hand against the small dragon's forehead in a soothing fashion, trying to help him somehow. She didn't think that even at her top speed she could get him to Piccolo in time. His power level was dropping far to rapidly, and was nearing non-existence. 

"If it's any consolation, Spike..." She said, trying not to cry at the fact that most likely everypony she knew was dead. "I never forgot about you..."

Spike chuckled a bit; a sound that was morbidly out of place in this situation. "Thanks, AB....I gotta say...you..look...pretty....aweso..."

Spike's voice trailed off as he breathed his last and stopped all movement. The potara warrior didn't have to feel a power level to know he was gone. She removed the heavy stones from his little body, and cradled it like a child as she slowly exited the place that used to be a beacon of friendship and love. 

This just couldn't be; Sapphic had killed them, and the little remnants that had been teleported to Canterlot were probably dead as well by now...she was far too distraught by this train of thought to even try searching for anymore power levels here or in the royal city. 

Her wild and vivid imagination began to involuntarily depict awful and painful ways of ending a ponies life; she pictured that devil Sapphic torturing and mutilating everypony she ever knew and loved. The screams began to echo inside her head, and the laughter of that monster along with them. She tried to block out the images, but she couldn't; her mind was a run away train, and there was no conductor at the head. 

She shouted to the sky and promptly blasted a hole into the ground next to her. The exertion helped to clear away the images from her forethought as she slowly lowered Ponyville's number one assistant into the makeshift grave. After a few moments of burying the dragon, she let herself go, but only a little bit. Her tears rolled down her face like streams as she tried to shove away the mental images that threatened to resurface. Even if they weren't actually how her friends had died, they were vivid enough to be, and she couldn't stand to see it. She was happy Discord had done what he had done, because she didn't think she could handle burying somany bodies.

Her ears flicked as he heard a few voices not far away. They were raspy and carried an air of arrogance with them. As she listened, she heard them talking clearer.

"See anypony else still alive down here yet?" 

"Nope. And I don't expect to. King Sapphic really did a number on this place."

"Yeah he did; and he's going to do the same to all of Equestria soon!"

"Nopony alive will be able to stop him! And we'll have all the remnants to ourselves for snacks!"

Laughter followed that last statement as the voices drew closer. Evil, sickening, twisted laughter. These must be changelings that served undr Sapphic. She turned and saw a squad of nine of them. They were changelings alright, and they hadn't noticed her yet. They would soon.

Getting up swiftly, she began to seed walk towards the squadron as they continued to cackle. One of them noticed her coming closer.

"Look, there's one! She's a strange creature." One said.

"You wanna take her?" Another asked.

"Let's flip a bit for it."

They flipped the golden coin, but before it could land to signify which one would get the "pleasure" of devouring her emotions, Appleten caught it above them. They looked at the intruder angrily, upset their game had been interrupted by a pony-thing. She stared daggers right back at them.

"You'll all get a piece of me now." She said darkly.

In the blink of an eye, her foot buried itself into one of the drones' bellies; the force of the kick was enough to shatter the changeling's carapace and implode his stomach, causing him to vomit green blood all over as he flew into the air, never to come back down again.

Before the others could even scream in response, Appleten grabbed two of them by their wings and fried them with intense ki blasts. The six remaining changelings saw the danger finally, and began to fly off in retreat. Appleten looked up at them and saw three of them in a perfect line as the tried to escape. 

She pointed a finger away from them and then made a motion as if drawing a line through them. As she did this, a blue beam of energy like a ridiculously long sword shot from her pointed appendage, slicing each one in half promptly. 

The other three were scrambling in random directions now, and she flew up to literally put her fist through one of them. He exploded like a water balloon full of blood and guts that had been thrown against the wall. The gore covered Appleten as she flew through it to grab the the second of the three changelings.

Once she had a hold of him, she pressed her hands together on opposite sides of his fragile little skull, relishing in the sound he made as his brains were squished between her fingers a his bones disintegrated. 

She stared, covered in changeling gore at the last standing drone. He gave a fearful cry, and tried to fly away in one direction, but she was overthere too. He turned again, and like before, she was there, but closer. He tried three more directions before finally he was face to face with her; her brown eyes ripping his soul to shreds.

The changeling shivered, knowing the end was coming for him; who was this monster that wore a pony's face? She had just killed seven of his siblings in less than five seconds, and now he was going to suffer the same fate. 

"Are you scared, little bug?" The potara warrior asked him, barely contained rage evident in her double voice as she floated cross armed before the drone. 

"I--I...."He stammered. "K-King Sapphic..w-w-will make--will make you p-pay for this! H-how dare you--"

"How dare I?!" She bellowed, causing some of her power to flow out of her like lava from a volcano. "How dare...I?!"

She grabbed the petrified changeling by his throat, making sure to crush his windpipe and choke him. As he thrashed in her powerful grip, she brought him up to her face and screamed.

"How dare you and that monster kill my friends!! Mark my words, bug-eyes, when the so called king comes looking for me, I'll squash him too! Just like he squashed my people!"

She passed and squeezed his neck tighter. "And just like I'm gonna squash you."

She tossed him at high speed away from her and took up the stance she had known both from training and experience.

"Ka...me...ha...me..HA!!" 

The huge beam of energy blasted forth towards the helpless changeling like a lion's maw opening on a trapped mouse. The little insectoid pony was instantly fried as it hit, and then flew into the atmosphere.

Appleten stared at where the changeling had been for a few moments, and then looked over the horizon at Canterlot. She could see pillars of smoke rising out of it, and knew her worst fears had come true. Somehow, this only steeled her resolve.

Before she took off to find Piccolo, she pointed towards the royal city on the mountain.

"Mark my words, Sapphic; what I did here is nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you."

> Piccolo, Meet the Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Piccolo followed the power levels he was sensing, he couldn't help but notice the landscape was becoming more and more barren. These were not war scars across the terrain, however; they were just naturally dull areas. If he didn't know any better, the namekian might have thought he was entering an old black and white TV set. 

One other thing slightly bothered him as he flew through the air; the sun should have been gone hours ago. Yet it sat there just on the edge of the horizon in a perpetual sunset as he flew in it's general direction. It was a bittersweet beauty.

His senses pinged as he drew closer to what looked like a farm. Piccolo couldn't really tell if that's what it was, however. There were no livestock, no fields of crop...there was just the buildings and rocks. Lots of rocks.

"Strange.." He mumbled as his cape once again caught a bit of the breeze while he hovered in place.

The power levels he had sensed were no doubt inside the rather large and weathered looking house unit. Aside form the two large power levels,  there were several small ones and many of them unmistakably belonged to children. He touched down gently onto the hard and rocky surface of the ground, preparing himself for a possible fight.

* * *

Luna felt a very large power level approaching as she woke from her slumber. She did not recognize this one, so there was no way it could be Sapphic. But that also meant it was not Tia or Twilight Sparkle. The fact she could not identify it troubled her.

Getting up as quickly as her tired body allowed, she found Maud tending to one of the injured foals in the next room over.

"Maud," She spoke strongly. "I sense a force approaching our doorstep. I do not recognize it, nor do I trust it. It could be one of Sapphic's assassins sent to finish me or capture you."

Maud gave the young foal a pat on the head and shooed him away before following the alicorn to the front door.

* * *

Piccolo stopped. One of the large power levels and smaller one were right behind the door of the house. Either they knew he was coming, or they were about to.

He prepared himself for whatever may come out, and waited; his large white cape still flowing freely. 

* * *

"We'll open the door and quickly ambush him from both sides." Maud said in her usual monotone voice. "Just be careful not to exert yourself too much, princess."

Luna nodded and prepared to launch herself from the doorway as the earth pony kicked open the door.

* * *

Piccolo tensed when the wooden frame swung open swiftly, making a loud bang sound as it hit the wall behind it. Two blurs leapt out in two directions from the open passageway, and at first, the namekian couldn't tell what they were. He got his answer when they nearly struck him from both sides as he stopped both their hooves from connecting attacks.

Ponies; he was being attacked by ponies.

"Hey, wait a min--ugh!" He tried to say.

He was cut off a the smaller one with the gray fur landed a rather impressive blow to his abdomen, and the larger one with the wings and horn tried to make him lose his footing by tripping him from behind his ankles. Piccolo countered this by floating away from the engagement as he fell back, regaining his stance in the air.

Luna followed him up into the sky, and motioned to strike him again. Piccolo moved to block, but it had been a feint, and her hoof met his face forcefully.

He backed off again quickly, trying to get some breathing room.

"Listen, I'm not your en--"

He once again had to shut up as he leaned back to avoid a speedy kick from the alicorn. As she soared over him, he grabbed her hind leg and pulled her into a chokehold tight enough to hold her, but not constrict her breathing. She struggled against him, thrashing wildly about. Her strength was impressive, and he had to tighten his grip a little to not lose it.

"Just stop for a second and listen to m--"

Thrice Piccolo was cut off, but this time by a gigantic boulder that had been tossed up and used to bring him down to the ground. The heavy rock landed atop the namekian in a painful fashion, earning a short cry of pain from him as he was smashed underneath the stone as he hit the ground.

He was getting rather annoyed at this point and shoved the boulder off of himself before quickly standing and stretching his arms over towards the two ponies.

They tried to escape his grasp, but Piccolo was fast enough to wrap them both up in his long limbs before they got far enough away. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold the larger pony for long, so he figured if he was going to speak, it better be now.

"Listen!" He bellowed. "I'm not an enemy! I'm here to help you!"

Luna scoffed at him, still struggling against her fleshy bonds. "Help us? Is that why you attack us now?"

"In case you didn't notice, you attacked me first!" 

"I beg to--" Luna stopped herself. "Yes...I suppose we did."

"Look, I know you don't know me, and you've probably got no idea what I even am. But trust me when I say I am here to help...not to hurt..." Piccolo finally managed to say. "Now, if you promise no to attack me again, I'll let you go."

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Maud recited dully.

The namekian blinked. "What..?"

"It's a Pinkie Promise." She explained briefly. "It's an unbreakable promise. I promise."

He decided that was good enough, and returned his arms to their normal function. The ponies got to their hooves and met Piccolo face to face for the first time without a struggle of any kind.

"My name is Piccolo."

"I am Luna, and this is Maud." The princess of the night responded.

"Luna, I apologize for scaring you. I had no idea you could sense power levels; that is if that's what you call the term."

"It is, but only I can of the group assembled here in this home."

"I see. I'm here on a mission, but I'd rather not discuss it out here in the open. May I come inside?"

The ponies looked at each other for a moment, and finally Maud nodded an affirmative, and led them back into the house.

Awhile passed as Piccolo was introduced to the many residents. He was greeted with a mix of fear and suspicion; he didn't blame them.  He'd be wary of strange beings too if they came to Earth and wiped out nearly everyone he knew. After some brief conversations to ease the tension inside the abode caused by his presence, it was just Luna, Maud, himself, and the one called Pinkie Pie in the room in the very back of the house. It was a decrepit place, but was still serviceable. He was impressed that the ponies had managed to make due with the little supplies they had on hand.

"So, Piccolo," Maud said. "what exactly are you doing here? You're obviously not from Equestria."

"No, I'm not." Piccolo answered. "I come from a place called Earth; it's a separate pocket dimension within your world. We exist as one planet, but in two separate realities. It would take too long to fully explain, but that's where I come from."

"Oh, so that's where the two second party was!"Pinkie happily said. "Earth! Why doesthat name sound familiar.."

"Praytell, Piccolo, why have you traveled here to Equestria?" Luna asked.

"Well, for starters, I didn't come alone. I have allies searching for other groups like yours that we hope to save from the coming battle."

"Coming battle?"

"That's right; my friends and I are here to defeat Sapphic, and save your world."

Luna's eyes went wide with shock at these words. "Surely you jest?"

Piccolo shook his head to confirm he was not joking around. "We know he's done a number on your reality already, and we're here to mke it right. But before we can, we have to remove Sapphic from the equation."

"But...'tis a task nigh impossible!" The alicorn spat, true worry in her tone. "I have fought against the monster with mine own sister by my side! Even with our combined and divine might, 'twas not enough to defeat the beast! It is a death wish to fight him!"

"You're still alive aren't you?" Piccolo questioned.

"Only by luck, Mr. Piccolo...only by luck....I fear my sister was not so fortunate. I was removed from the battle before I could finish the usurper off..."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow at that. 'Finish him off?' 

"You were about to finish him?"

Luna nodded curtly. "I could have vanquished him, but my own pride got in my way...now I fear I may not be able to use that same power in a rematch, for fear of the same result... "

"But that means he's weakened right now...he'll need time to recover from that. We need to strike now while he's wounded..."

By we, he of course meant Appleten, Trunks, and himself. He didn't want these ponies anywhere near the battlefield if the fight was to be what he expected. If Sapphic was weakened from fighting Luna and her sister, he would be easier to take out. But at th same time, he would be more dangerous; wounded animals normally are. 

"I have to get my friends together and find him. Appleten says he is most likely in Canterlot, is that correct?" 

"Yes, he is there." Luna confirmed. "But how does this Appleten know that information?"

"Long story, but this is her home, and she's the one who's going to save it. Trust me; there is no power like hers inside any other mortal..." Piccolo paraphrased.

He noticed the ponies all looked rather confused. The namekian sighed, knowing he would have to explain a lot more.

"Here, I'll explain..."

* * *

Sapphic's senses suddenly sky rocketed as he felt an enormous power pop up and then vanish out of thin air. What in all of Tartarus was that? That power had been immense, and far stronger than even his own; it was unlike any power he'd sesned before. Not even Celestia and Luna had had so much power. 

And yet, he had felt a strange familiarity within it. Though it was but a fleeting thing, he could feel it. That sense of deja vu inside his head.

The fact that this power had far exceeded his own worried him. If there was a pony out there that had that much power inside them, he may not be holding the throne for very long. Something would have to be done, and soon.

As soon as the armor smith finished his suit, he would go and find whoever this power belonged to, and kill them before they could have a chance to dethrone him. He had spent his whole life waiting for this moment; growing stronger and stronger to be where he now was. No thick skulled equine was going to take that away from him.

As he made his way down the hall, he could've sworn he saw a shadow pass in the corner of his eye as a split second chill ran down his spine. It was as if something was waiting for him. He dismissed this as paranoia and continued down to the dungeons to check on his armor.  
> Sapphic's Armor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic stood impressed as he watched his newly crafted armor be brought to him by his drones and the armor smith pony he had forced to make it. It came to him in pieces, as the stallion apparently wanted to explain each feature of the armor. Sapphic had rolled his eyes, deciding there wasn't much to armor but to protect oneself, but he would humor the stallion out of curiosity.

The first item he received was the leggings; chainmail in material, and light and flexible because of it. It did not weigh him down, nor constrict any movement.

The next article of the armor was the boots. The silver steel of the shin guard shimmered in the fire light of the castle, as did the foot plates which folded in on each other to allow foot movement. Each one had a spring activated blade about an inch in length and width that would pop out from under the toe area.  

The breast plate came next; it too being made of silver steel. The shoulder guards were attached to it, and spread out past his own shoulders a good three inches. They were both laden with sharp and lethal looking spikes that pointed straight up from the steel as if to impale by shoulder ramming an opponent. 

The arm guard for his one remaining arm was chainmail as well, except for the elbow guard, which was actually forged from a rare metal that the ponies had discovered years ago. The stallion said that it would be unbreakable, and hard as diamond, making it an effective bludgeoning weapon should he decide to bash his opponent to death with elbow strikes.

The gauntlet that covered his lower arm and hand was forged of the same normal steel as most of the armor, but contained a magically infused gem which sparkled bright green (a good bonus, he thought. It matched his eyes) which when activated produced a green magical blade that could extend to a maximum of one foot in length, and could be up to four inches in width.

He also was presented a cape, which was a near black dark red in color with tinted golden borders that hung down from his shoulder guards to his ankles.

His personal favorite of the entire set, however, was the helmet. The stallion had modeled it after a humanoid skull which wore a crown of four points; the armor smith had seen it once in a horror-type book. The silver skull face plate had holes in the eyes and nose parts, and the bottom jaw was not present so as the king could speak. There was an opening at the top of the top of the helmet which stated inside the crown portion of it to allow his long dark green hair to flow out from it. As the changeling king donned this fearsome visage, his long locks fell to cover half his face along with the normal parts of his being it covered, making him appear much more menacing.

His armor complete, he looked over himself, fairly pleased with what he was seeing. The pony had spared no expenses as per his orders, and now Sapphic wore armor fit for a god, which to these sniveling equine, he now was.

"I am grateful that you are satisfied...m-my...my king..." 

The armor smith pony strained the last words out as if he were pulling his own teeth out. Sapphic just smirked beneath his death's head; he would soon learn to address him a king without such hesitancy, as would all the ponies of Equestria.

"Drones," Sapphic commanded, his voice slightly deepened by the mask. "take him back to the dungeons. He has earned the right to live with this work."

* * *

Octavia watched as the stallion whom Sapphic had draggedaway before was thrown rather forcefully back into the cramped and dark holding chamber. She waited until the door slammed shut and locked again before saying anything.

"What did he do to you? Are you hurt?" She asked him.

"No, I'm...I'm....ok, I guess." The stallion responded, still feeling guilt over what had happened when he had left this room. "He had me build him a suit of armor that was basically a walking arsenal..."

"And you complied with that?!" Octavia gasped, thinking of the already dangerous tyrant wearing something like a war machine on his mutilated body. 

The stallion nodded somberly, but he smirked ever so slightly. This puzzled he cellist as she tilted her head to see it. What was he smiling about? He had jus given the one who had forcefully taken their homes from them a weapon and a suit of armor.

"I didn't build it without a failsafe, you could say..." He chuckled ever so quietly in case a guard was stationed outside the dungeon room. "I built in time locked spring traps inside the breastplate....as soon as he activates one of the armor's many functions, a countdown timer will start, and when that countdown reaches zero...well, let's just say our new 'king' won't be threatening anypony ever again..."

The gray mare put a hoof to her mouth in shock at the dastardly scheming of the stallion before her. It was a good thing, but the fact that he had thought it up scared her a little. This whole debacle was taking them all in a dark, dark direction. She wondered how long before she would start thinking like that...

* * *

Appleten walked away from the sixteen mutilated corpses of changelings she had found harassing a blue unicorn in the middle of the plains. The unicorn in question had escaped with the opportunity Appleten had given her, and then the potara warrior unleashed hell upon them. 

The changelings had barely seen it coming just as the ones in Ponyville had; she doubted the next squad she found would either, if she came across anymore.

She was half tempted to turn right back for Canterlot, and rip the tyrant to shreds right now. But she knew that that wasn't a good idea; not because she couldn't do it, but because of whatever idea Piccolo had that they would have to enact to save what little of pony kind remained.

Locking on to the namekian's power level, she took off into the skies, still showered in changeling gore, and made way west. 
> Everlasting Sunset
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ponies, minus Maud, looked at Piccolo in utter disbelief as he finished his telling of the events that brought him and the others to Equestria. Luna couldn't fathom it; the sweet young filly from Sweet Apple Acres a fearsome and powerful warrior? The alicorn just could not pictureit. And even harder for her to believe, the mare now had a body similar to a bipeds?

She couldn't picture it, but she knew Piccolo was not lying. His eyes had never left them the entire time he had been speaking, and he spoke his words without hesitation, as if recounting a memory rather than making up falsities. 

The namekian looked out at the perpetual sunset from the single window the room provided. Luna would have helped it along, he had learned, but she was far to weak still from her fight with the usurper changeling, and could not muster the strength for such a feat. As he looked out across the flat and rocky surface of the plains, the light the sun was giving off reminded him a bit of Vegeta's suicide bomb technique he had used on Majin Buu so many years ago. It had been just as radiant and fearsome looking as the sun here now was, but this sight was quiet; almost sinister in it's silence. A blast without a sound. Piccolo hoped he was just overthinking things, and that this memory was not a sign of things to come.

Luna trotted up beside him as he continued to look out at the eerie sight of an everlasting twilight. 

"You are....troubled, Piccolo?" She asked, as if she wasn't completely sure.

He hesitated a moment before answering, still gazing at the horizon. "No. Just an old memory that this scene reminds me of...."

Luna did not understand, but did not pry anymore. What the namekian had told them of his plan seemed a bit ludicrous, and even impossible. Then again, she had not seen just how strong young Apple Bloom had become. As her thoughts switched to the mare from the Sweet Apple Acres, she thought that she had not seen much of anything relating to Apple Bloom in years.

She had not even taken a look into Apple Bloom's dreams after the one named Applejack had passed years ago; it seemed rude to her to do so at the time. But after Piccolo had told her of the nightmarish memories she suffered from each night until this Goten had come along, the guilt of not being there to help her through it burst it's way into her mind.

She would have to apologize to Apple Bloom when she saw her next, if she did at all. 'Twas unacceptable what she had neglected in the years passed.

Both Luna and Piccolo's senses pinged all of a sudden, as a massive power level began nearing them. Piccolo smirked once he recognized it.

"Looks like she's here."

Apple Bloom? This power couldn't be Apple Bloom, Luna thought. It was far too large for an earth pony; and yet, she sensed more than just earth pony power within the approaching visitor. Some of the energy felt familiar to some of Sapphic's own, and another part she had not sensed before. If this was Apple Bloom, Luna was going to eat her pony socks, if she ever found them again.

The being came into view, and landed slowly outside in the view of the window. Piccolo's grin turned to a slight frown as Appleten walked closer to them; she was soaked n what appeared to be green blood that was now caking her clothes and fur. The gore was spattered all over her body from head to toe, and it seemed that only her mane and face had not gotten more than a little bit on them. She sauntered somberly over and finally made it to the window.

Luna's jaw hung wide open at the sight. If this was Apple Bloom, she knew there had been some major changes that had happened since she'd seen the mare last. The color of her mane being only a small part of that. Hadn't Piccolo mentioned something that she had 'fused' with this Goten character? This must be the result, and it's power adding to it's appearance, made the biped showered in blood very terrifying to look at. The only thing that did not look menacing were her sad and swollen brown eyes. She looked as though she had been weeping.

"Appleten, are you ok?" Piccolo asked the potara warrior.

She simply shook her head in a no gesture, and looked pleadingly up to the namekian. She didn't have to speak to get the message across. She had been to her hometown, and she had seen something there that had killed her inside. 

Piccolo rested a hand on her shoulder, which she did not push away. 

"Don't worry." He said, looking her dead in her sorrow filled eyes. "We're going to make sure that bastard pays dearly for this."

Suddenly, the namekian was pulled nearly out the window by the fusion fighter in a tight embrace. He would have embraced her back, but she had pinned his arms to his sides, so he merely let her squeeze him as long as he needed to. He thought of Gohan in that moment, and how he had never actually given the boy any physical affection beyond a few head pats. This only made him happier that Appleten saw him as enough of a friend for this.

* * *

Sapphic sat atop his throne overlooking his new grand chamber; many of his changeling brethren wandered around as they awaited whatever mission the king had for them. 

He sat up and decided he hadn't hard the battle reports for awhile, and called one of the drones over to him. When the drone arrived, he spoke.

"What's the situation with the acquisition of Equestria's cities?"

he changeling looked rather nervous, which caused Sapphic to look at him in a quizzical way; although, underneath that death mask, the changeling probably only saw a snarl. He didn't care either way.

"Speak, brother." He spoke loudly.

"Uh...the...uh...the group from Manehatten hasn't..uh...reported back in...sire."

"What?"

"Neither have...the...patrols from Ponyville or Cloudsdale..." The drone continued shivering. "It's...it's, uh, as if they just vanished, my liege..."

Just vanished? Impossible. But was it? He thought back to that godlike power level he had felt not too long ago, and suddenly a small pit formed in his stomach. He had nearly forgotten all about it, and now that his patrols were up and vanishing, that only left one possibility in his brain; this force, whatever it was, was destroying his changelings.

"You said Ponyville did not report back?" He questioned, standing up suddenly.

The drone confirmed this and shrunk down as if to shield himself from the wind.

That was very close to Canterlot, and too close for Sapphic's comfort. This force was going to have to be dealt with.

"Stay and guard the prisoners and the castle."He commanded, beginning to walk down form his perch. "I am going to investigate these disappearances myself...and crush whoever is behind them beneath my heel."

> March Into Battle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ok, so from the information you've all given me, here's the plan." Piccolo started, bringing everyone close. 

Appleten, Luna, Pinkie Pie, Maud, and Trunks all came around in a tight nit circle to listen to the namekian's plan of attack.

"If Sapphic is indeed keeping prisoners, they'll most likely be in the dungeon of the castle. Luna, since you know the castle's layout better than anyone else here, you'll go with Maud under ground to get them out."

The alicorn nodded, and looked to the small gray earth pony beside her, who looked back as well.

"Pinkie Pie will keep the drones busy inside the castle so that Luna and Maud can get the ponies out without too much resistance. You'll enter with Maud and Luna, but split off from them one you're inside." Piccolo continued.

Pinkie nodded rather rapidly and it looked as though her head might fly off because of it.

"Trunks, Appleten and I will lure Sapphic into the city and distract him long enough for you ponies to get the others away from the battle zone." He said. "Once everyone is safe, signal us from your position, and then Appleten can let lose on him."

The potara warrior cracked her knuckles slowly as if having a fantasy about the sound being Sapphic's bones cracking beneath her blows. 

Piccolo looked around to everyone assembled; not one of them had any amount of hesitation present in their eyes. They were indeed ready for this fight.

"Keep in mind," The namekian added. "this isn't some fun little game. This is war, and there's no guarantee any of us come back from this. I want all of you to be on guard at all times and focus on the tasks at hand. One slip up could mean death in this situation."

He smirked when he looked at his assembled crew again, and saw no change in their behavior or readiness. They knew the risks, nd were still willing to do what needed to be done. Good.

Appleten walked out from the group a small ways; staring off in the direction of Canterlot. Her blood was still at boiling point, and her rage and desire for the changeling king's destruction burned inside her like hellfire beneath her skin. She needed this more than maybe even Equestria needed it; she needed to make him pay for every life he'd taken. Every poor soul he extinguished. 

Piccolo turned to Maud as his cape once again caught a gust of wind. "Have you assigned someone to look after the ponies here?"

She looked at him, her expression not changing at all. He found this little quirk of Maud's to be a bit strange, but figured the Z Fighters must have seen him the same way at times. 

"My family will take good care of them." She answered monotonously. "Blinky, Inky, and Ma and Pa can handle them."

The namekian nodded satisfied, and tuned his attention back to the fusion warrior; her fists were practically shaking with anticipation. Her power level was rising steadily, and he knew for fact thatif anyone was ready for his, it was her.

He stepped to stand beside her, as did the others. The team there for a few seconds, seeming to soak in what may be their final moments of peace. 

"Let's do this." Piccolo said.

Maud immediately started to rapid fire strike the ground which gave way instantly as she quickly dug a passage through the ground. Using magic to slim down a bit, Luna followed after, as did Pinkie Pie, who let out a noise of excitement as she literally dove into the hole as if it were a pool.

Appleten took off from the ground like a rocket ship loaded with a fuel from parts unknown, and Piccolo along with Trunks immediately followed after; their auras making wooshing noises as they soared through the sky. 

This was it; the final proverbial march into battle.

* * *

Sapphic returned to the Canterlot castle enraged. He slammed the massive entry doors open with frightening force, causing many of his changeling siblings to jump and some to flat out scream. 

What he had found in Ponyville was a dead squad of his bretheren; a few cut up bodies, and some piles of ash was all that were left. If the same had happened to other groups in the other cities, that would explain the lack of reports. 

He sat back down on his throne in a contemplative manner as his right hand drone cautiously approached the armored tyrant. Shaking severally, he finally coughed up some words.

"D-di you f-find what you were--l-looking for, my king?" He asked.

Before answering, Sapphic looked thoughtfully into the sky. "No, brother, I did not. All I found was a confirmation to my suspicion that somepony out there is trying to get rid of us and somehow save their home."

He leaned back in his huge chair as he continued.

"Well, if it's a fight they want, a fight they shall get." He stated. "If they want me and my people destroyed so badly, they will eventually come for me. I will wait righthere for them. No sense in going out and wasting my energy finding them when I know they are on my trail."

He relaxed completely; larger power level or not, he wasn't going to let this vigilante have their way. This was his kingdom now; his country. Soon, it would be his world.

He thought he saw the shadow from before again, and like before, he turned to see it and saw nothing. He only felt that strange cold feeling come over him again. 
> "Time To Play The Game"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Octavia lay awake in the center of the cold and damp dungeon as she soothed the last of the now orphan foals to sleep. Even though the armor smith, who she found out was named Steel Toe, had booby trapped Sapphic's armor, what were the chances he was going to activate the weapons in the suit to start the countdown? If he had something he wanted done, he would just most likely send some of his changeling drones to do the deed for him. Now that he had conquered Equestria, there was little plausible reason for him to do anything at all. 

She sighed deeply and rested her weary head on her hooves as she laid down and got ready to sleep. It was pointless to worry or even think anymore; afterall, they were ever getting out of this place...

A sudden series of vibrations startled her back into waking; what was this now? Was it an earthquake? Judging by the nature of the shaking in recent ties, she figured that that could not be it. Something else was happening. Was a fight breaking out? Had something exploded?

The rumbles felt like they were getting closer and increasing in intensity. If this was indeed an explosion, she feared it may very soon engulf the entire dungeon and fry them all alive.

As she went to stand, the ground beneath her suddenly burst open, and she was forced to jump back so as to not fall into the new hole that had suddenly opened up. The rest of the ponies looked on, not sure what was happening due to being half-asleep. They all perked up when a gray earth pony emerged from the hole. They all were snapped back to full awakening when Princess Luna herself emerged next, and they all gave a loud cheer, which the alicorn princess quickly shushed with urgency. 

"Fear not, loyal subjects," She spoke in a hushed tone. "we have come to liberate thee from your captivity."

"Princess Luna..." Octavia breathed, not believing the sight she was seeing. "I..we...we thought you had died.."

Luna smiled slightly. "Lucky for me that your thoughts do not dictate reality, then."

The cellist did a double take when she saw none other than another pony she thought had been killed pop out of the hole in spectacular fashion. "Pinkie Pie!"

"That's me!" The party pony perkily pronounced.

Wait, what? Pronounced? Why did I write...Pinkie...please stop messing with my keys...their bad enough as it is...let's stay in character shall we?

"Oops, sorry." Pinkie Pie giggled.

"Sorry for what?" Octavia questioned the out of the blue statement.

Pinkie Pie just shrugged and smiled, making the gray earth pony cellist shake her head in confusion. She returned her attention to the princess of the night, deciding that was a more important focus point.

"We're grateful for your rescue, your highness, but--" 

She stopped, looking down at her hooves in some kind of shame.

"What is it, subject?" Luna asked.

"It's...it's just that you couldn't stop Sapphic even with Princess Celestia...and now she's gone...what can you alone do against him even if we do get out of here?" Octavia said, trying to hold eye contact.

Luna frowned deeply at the confirmation of her sister's passing, but she snapped out of the grief. There would be time to mourn later.

"I will not be the one who faces the tyrant this time." She answered, regaining composure. "We have allies that are...admittedly far stronger than I or my elder sister."

How in the world was that possible, thought Octavia. Luna and Celestia were goddesses; what could be more powerful than that aside from the evil king?

While Octavia pondered this, Pinkie Pie trotted over to the still shivering and twitching Twilight Sparkle in the corner, who seemed tonot even be aware of what was going on. 

"Twilight..?" Pinkie tried. "It's me...Pinkie Pie..."

The lavender alicorn did not even seem to hear her friend, and just continued to twitch and dart her eyes in ever direction they could go. She was broken; traumatized and looked beyond help.

The party pony tried not to cry as she hugged one of her best friends tightly; this became increasingly hard when Twilight would not even move to hug her back, or even escape her embrace. She just...lay there and took it.

"Pinkie Pie." Maud called to her younger sister from across the room. "Time for your part of the plan."

Pinkie sniffled and nodded to her sister, but gave Twilight one last mournful look before zipping out of the dungeon; bashing down the door with her head.

* * *

A loud boom was the only thing Sapphic heard as the castle started to slightly shake. This was followed by another, even closer boom, and then the farther away one went off again. Multiple explosions in different places? Impossible for one pony...and that meant--

His train of thought was cut off as he sensed three large power levels approaching his throne room, and another large one somewhere in the lower levels. 

"Drones!" HE ordered, standing hastily. "I want as many able bodied changelings as you can get to get down to the dungeon level right now! Stop the intruder there!"

His siblings took off in the desired direction as ordered, and the king himself began to run towards the massive doors that led to the outside. He would deal with this right now.

Before he reached the door, he was kicked in the side of the head suddenly, and pushed back a fewfeet by the force. Thanks to his death's head, he hadn't really felt it, but was angered greatly it had hit him. When he turned to see his intruder, he gaped when he saw--

"Piccolo?!" 

The namekian floated just in front of the tyrant; his large white cape draping behind him as he smirked down at the usurper. 

"Hey there, Prince Sapphic." He said with a cocky tone. "I see you got some new duds. Very nice; almost makes up for your lack of durability without it."

"This armor will do more than make up for that, namekian!" Sapphic shouted. "How did you even get here? I destroyed the seven star ball!"

"Why would I tell you?"

"Because if you don't I'll just beat it out of you!"

"Good luck with that. You'll never catchme to do so." Piccolo laughed as he flew up through the sky light in the main hall, prompting a goaded Sapphic to take flight after him. As the changeling king exited the castle and chased the namekian into the sky, he was suddenly kicked away again from his left side. Before he could regain composure, he was knocked up by another assailant, and then smashed downward by the very namekian he had been chasing not a second before.

He fell a ways, and regained his stance before he made contact with the empty Canterlot streets. He looked up to see who else had crashed his party and saw Vegeta's son Trunks, and an unknown anthropomorph hovering above. Not one, but two of his enemies had followed him to Equestria somehow, and wherever the anthro had come from was a mystery as well. Her ki felt slightly familiar, but he didn't feel now was the time to analyze it further.

"I see you brought some friends, Piccolo." He shouted up at his assailants. "What's the matter? Can't take me on your own?"

Piccolo smirked and scoffed at the attempted bait. "It doesn't matter whether I can or not. The point of the situation is I have two extra sets of hands to help me beat the tar out of you for what you've done to these innocent ponies."

"You're here to save the ponies?" Sapphic questioned. "What are they to you?"

"They're living beings that deserve a chance to live a normal life without you screwing it all up!"

"Hate to burst your heroic bubble, Piccolo, but I've already killed half of this places' population!" He cackled. "I'd say their lives have already ended, and on such a pathetic note as we--"

He was suddenly struck and sent flying several yards down the street. He hit the cobblestone and bounced and skidded several times before being able to stop himself. 

He looked to see what had just hit him, and not even inches in front of him was the anthro. She stared down at him with a rage present in her eyes he hadn't seen before. Whoever she was, she was pissed about something, and planned to take it out on him. 

He leaped back to gain some distance as Piccolo and Trunks landed beside the mysterious fighter.

"Be careful and control your anger, Appleten." Piccolo told her in a warning tone. "Just a little longer, and you can let it all out, but for now, you have to control yourself."

Control herself? Was the namekian putting a figurative on the anthro? Why? Was he doing it to mock him, or just play mind games with him? He looked at the one he had called Appleten, and sensed for her power level. She had a very impressive on, yes, but not enough to beat him like Piccolo been implying. He was trying to puff her up to be more than  she was and intimidate him. That had to be it.

"So you wanna play games, eh, Piccolo?" He finally said. "Fine. We'll play a game. But let me tell you something; I'm the type of game you just don't want to play."


> Something's Amiss
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The impact was sudden; debris flew into the air, and a loud boom sounded across the sky as Appleten's fist smashed into Sapphic's. 

Several of the few remaining intact buildings lost their roofings and some of their walls from the sheer force of the shockwave, and the combatants pushed against each other like two bulls trying to overpower each other. They separated, and once again rushed forward, causing another large shockwave of pressure. 

Sapphic sidestepped around the anthro, and made to smash his armored elbow into the back of her skull, but Appleten was quick as lightning. She turned around and caught the strike in her left palm, then moved to smash his head inwith her right fist. The changeling king dodged this just barely, and moved to sweep kick her off her feet. At first it seemed as though he had done so, but Appleten merely flipped back onto her feet after doing a full rotation in mid-air. 

He was getting aggravated already with this mysterious stranger whom Piccolo claimed was strong enough to kill him. He admitted she was quick and powerful, but she had no chance of doing more than keeping him at a stalemate with her power level. 

He went to jab a knife-edge chop into her throat, and she batted his arm away, having no intention of letting an attack like that hit her. After she did so, she countered by grabbing the arm she had just batted away at the wrist, pulling him into her readied elbow of her opposite limb. The appendage lodged itself into Sapphic's throat, causing him to cough harshly, and kick at Appleten's heel. She jumped to avoid it, and distanced herself from him as she watched him hold his pain-filled windpipe with his only hand.

Once he was able to breathe again. he looked up at her; the rage in her smoldering eyes had not even died down slightly, but it was just that; a smoldering. There was a full boar flame somewhere in those eyes, and for some reason, he knew he wasn't seeing it. She said nothing as she watched him slowly recover. Why was she doing this? She could've seriously hurt him just now, and yet chose to let him catch his breath.

He looked over to Piccolo and Trunks; the duo was just standing by the wayside, watching the fight as if it were a sporting event. 

Something was definitely amiss here. All three warriors wanted him dead, but why were they just standing watching this anthro exchange blows with him? Were they that confident she could defeat him? Or were they resting as if this were a gauntlet fight; one of them jumping in if Appleten was beaten? 

Either way, it irritated him.

He yelled angrily and tossed a ki last directly at the two. Before it even made it halfway, the anthro was right there as if she had teleported, and holding the ball of energy he had thrown in her hand like a baseball. Piccolo and Trunks stood behind her as if nothing had happened; watching. 

Sapphic shook himself out of his shock, and chuckled slightly from beneath is death's head mask. "You're fast, I'll give you that."

Appleten said nothing, and just stood there holding the ball of ki in her right hand; her eyes never leaving his. The very stare was like ice daggers being buried in his blackened heart, and he felt even more aggravated by the sensation those angry eyes were giving him. He was the one who made others cower with but a stare, not the other way around.

"What' the matter?" He said, his tone raising a bit. "Don't wanna say anything?"

She didn't even acknowledge he had spoken and just continued to stare.

He had had just about enough of those eyes of hers; those condescending and hate-filled eyes. 

"You think you're better than me?! Is that it, anthro?"

"I don't think." She finally spoke; her double voice rumbling with barely controlled rage. "I know I'm better than you."

Her voice slightly surprised Sapphic, but he quickly got over it, and decided enough was enough. "Let's see if that theory holds water! Or better yet; blood!"

He dashed forward, aiming low and going for her abdomen. She side-stepped, and whirled around him to throw his own energy attack down on top of him, causing a large explosion. Before the dust even settled, Sapphic burst out of the cloud doing a back flip; his cape was in tatters and only fell to his mid-back now. 

He landed and fired off a couple more ki attacks and followed them closely towards Appleten. The anthro grabbed both the energy blasts in her hands, but failed to stop the punch that nearly rendered her insides jellified. She gasped in pain, and clapped the ki balls together with the king's head in the middle. He moved away as her hands clapped together, exploding in her face.

He touched his feet back to the ground, only to be pushed off them and thrown through the air into a desecrated structure that might have once been a clothing store. e debris crumpled like a wet towel around his armored form as he landed. He recovered quickly, blasting away the debris with a shout, and engaging in quick and barely visible punch trading with Appleten.

Piccolo found it hard to monitor the moves they were putting out; their speed was incredible, and he knew Appleten was still holding back. The question was, though; was Sapphic holding back as well? The namekian knew his saiyan blood must have made him stronger since he arrived in Equestria, and by that logic, he could very well be even more powerful than Goku. 

A small bead of sweat ran down Piccolo's forehead as he thought on that, and t did not go unnoticed by Trunks. The young half-saiyan saw the nervousness on the nameian warrior's face.

"What's wrong, Piccolo?" He asked. 

"Nothing...at least not yet." He answered, still trying to track the movements of the combatants before them. "I'm just wondering if Sapphic is showing his true power here..."

The tyrant launched a fierce knee forward, but Appleten did the same, and the two smashed legs together in the center of the cobblestone street, once again causing a shockwave of intense pressure to burst outwards in all directions like a gale force hurricane.

He grabbed her by the shirt, and tossed her away into the air, and she responded by shooting a beam of ki back down at him. Sapphic smacked the attack away as it exploded magnificently on the horizon like a weapon of mass destruction.

His hand was numb for a moment before it returned to normal, and that worried him. That had been just a simple beam attack, and it had hurt him even through his armor. Deflected or not, it had affected him, and he grew very agitated as a result.

"You wanna show some power?" He shouted up at her. "Well, I got one..."

Sapphic put his hand back as if to through something. An orb of yellow colored ki appeared there.

"...for you! Double Buster!"

"What?!" Trunks called out at the mention of one of his attacks.

Sapphic thrust his glowing hand forward, and two separate beams shot forth, curving outwards from each other before homing in like heat seeking missiles on Appleten. The potara warrior just hovered there, not even attempting to make a move.

"Appleten!" Trunks called out, dashing up.

"Trunks! Stop!" Piccolo shouted after him.

The young half-saiyan listened, and looked at Piccolo quizzically before he turned back to the fight.

The beams smashed together on Appleten's location and exploded violently; the pressure was intense in the blast radius, and Trunks returned to the ground clumsily and harshly as he was blasted back. Piccolo had to uncross his arms and shield his face from the brilliant light; leaning forward slightly to stay on his feet as his cape dragged behind him. 

Sapphic laughed triumphantly, but stopped when he still sensed her power level inside the cloud of smoke. As it cleared away, Appleten was still hovering in the same spot; her hands were casually placed up on each side, facing away from her. She'd blacked the attack without even trying.

Trunks looked on amazed that one the attacks he had invented had been nothing to he fusion fighter. Then he smiled and laughed.

"Woo! Appleten!"

She didn't even look at him, and continued to stare down at Sapphic, who was shaking in utter rage at the mare's impudence. 

"If that's the best you got, we're gonna be here all night." She casually said, putting her hands to her sides. "If I was you, I'd start bringing in the artillery."
> Holding the Line
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic fired of countless ki blasts in Appleten's direction, and each one missed it's mark as she curved around wide, and then slammed her fist into the tyrant's armored face. The steel crumpled a little, but luckily for him, not enough to injure him inside it.

Appleten moved to execute a series of kicks, but Sapphic wouldn't have it; he spread his arm out and puffed his chest up as a radial pressure bomb exploded from his being, shoving the fusion fighter back several feet. She recovered, and went wide again to hit him with her other set of knuckles. Sapphic jumped and completely avoided the punch.

He landed behind her, and went to make a move, but his jaw was suddenly met with her foot as she kicked upwards behind her; she hadn't even turned to see him.

She followed this up by twirling into the air and chaining together several hard strikes from both her hands and feet against the changeling king's armored form, putting many dents in it. She finished the rather long combo with a simple right hook and stood, waiting for Sapphic to stop reeling; her arms crossing in front of her as she looked at him.

"How dare you..." He breathed, finally not about to fall over backwards. "I am King Sapphic!"

"King Sapphic; King of the Losers." Appleten added for him without so much as a smirk.

Sapphic gritted his teeth beneath his faceplate. "You'll soon learn your place, worm!"

He lunged forward, grabbing her by the mane and tossing her back with massive force. She tumbled across the ground, but still stopped on her feet, and fired seven bolts of energy from her hand. They moved to home in on Sapphic, but he merely dived to the side to avoid them as they exploded. She was on him again in an instant, and once again pummeling his steel plated body quick and precisely. Each strike was like a sledgehammer blow.

She smashed him back into the air, and before he could recover, she was behind him, and kicking him away. She moved quicker than the eye could see and was in front of him as he was flung through the air, and kicked him away again. The tyrant gave a loud grunt of pain as he soared backwards; the wind echoing loudly in his metal suit.

He recovered finally, an soared high above the potara warrior, who hovered below him, watching him ascend.


He came face to face with her in one arching motion, and she once again went to town on him, but this time he was ready, and blocked every blow she threw out. HAving only one arm made this difficult, but he could do it, and that was good enough for him.

Appleten finished the combo with a high kick, which he dodged by leaning back a ways. He took the opportunity to attack, and swung into her gut, knocking the wind out of her with sheer brute strength. He then began a painful combo of his own, striking the anthro's face and chest with enough force to break a normal person's bones. HE too ended with a high kick, but is did not miss, and hit the Appleten square in the jaw, knocking her teeth together.

She tumbled like a spiral through the air from the force of the kick, and Sapphic laughed satisfied. She was not as invincible as Piccolo claimed afterall.

He followed to attack again, but just before he made contact, she tumbled away, back in control, and floated a few feet back from her opponent.

She wiped a bit of blood from her lip, which had been spliced open by one of her teeth when she'd been kicked, and looked at the red liquid on her fur. He'd made her bleed; that was a sign that she was getting to comfortable. She may not be able to unleash her full power yet, but she couldn't get to relaxed. If she did, he could very well beat her down before the real battle even began. But she wasn't going to let him know that.

"Nice hit." She said in her double voice. "I almost felt that."

Sapphic growled savagely. "You insolent little wretch!"

"Such language." She deadpanned.

The changeling king drew his arm back like a discus thrower and hurled a green spark of ki at Appleten, who dashed away to avoid it, planning to once more circle around and attack. She got one small punch in before he blasted her back wit another pressure blast. The technique was useful; a full radial explosion of air to repel whatever was attacking him. She remembered he had used it on the saibamen in the ice museum. That seemed like so long ago...

Now wasn't the time for reminiscing, however; she recovered form her tumble, and fired seven more bolts of ki, and went in for a high speed kick. The bolts exploded upon Sapphic's armored chest, but he was still able enough to duck under the offending leg that followed through the dust cloud. He fired another ki attack in her direction to retaliate.

The blast hit, and zapped every hair on her furry body, including her once silk smooth mane and tail. As the burst disappated, Sapphic was right on top of her, but she was not as disabled as the tyrant thought. She yelled loudly, and a barrier of energy surrounded her, causing Sapphic to hastily abort his attack. 

The energy evaporated, and the two had another staredown high above the streets of Canterlot. 

* * *

Changeling drones ran in all directions as another party cannon blast drowned the entire hallway in confetti. The unlucky changelings who couldn't get out fast enough were choked to death by the colorful mini-streamers which forcefully flew into ther mouths or were breathed in as they fell around them. 

Pinkie Pie, once again in Rainbow Power form, fired a quick beam of rainbow energy at one drone who as bold enough to try and tackle her. He screamed, and was instantly vaporized.

"Oopsy." She giggled. "Guess I still don't know my own strength, that was only supposed to throw you away..."

Her tail suddenly twitched as a huge chunk of the castle landed right where she'd been standing not a second ago, crashing to the marble floor and exploding into dust and pebbles.

She looked up to where it had fallen from, and saw the fleeing changelings, which she flew after in a dash. Instantly, she caugt up, and batted all three around asif she were juggling them.

The changelings who had managed to escape her notice continued to flee for their lives and sanity. 

"How is she doing all this?!"

"Who cares?!"

* * *

"Quickly everypony!" Luna shouted to her followers as they made their way through the underground tunnels. "Once we are out of Canterlot's borders, Maud Pie will lead you back to her home and to safety."

"Princess," Maud asked in her unchanging tone. "what are you going to do?"

The alicorn looked to where the sky would be if the ground wasn't above her; a determined look on her features as she seemingly gazed off into nothing. 

"I'm going to avenge my dear sister..."

* * *

Piccolo and Trunks watched as the staredown continued in the air above them. The namekian was looking on with an increasing look of worry; he had managed to hurt Appleten, and even caused her to need a moment. He was impressed she was still able to stay calm and collected, and impressed even greater that Sapphic was buying it. But she was still in trouble. If he got anymore good hits like that in before everypony had made it safely out of Canterlot so she could use her full power, the whole battle would be forfeit...

She was going to need a minute to regather her wits. He had just the plan. 

"Appleten! Tag out!" He shouted up at her, flying up to the potara warrior.

She looked at him puzzled, and Sapphic scoffed.

"Tag out?!" He shouted. "You really do think this is a game, don't you?"

Piccolo said nothing as he took up a fighting stance inbetween the two. 

"Appleten, rest for a few minutes. I'm going to hold him off for awhile, and if I'm lucky, I can do it until you can unleash your power on him." He mentally projected to her.

"Uh..." She started, but stopped and simply nodded and returned to the cobblestone streets of the royal city when Piccolo gave her a look.

It was not a look of anger, but a pleading one.

"Whether it's her, or you that dies first, it doesn't matter." Sapphic blurted angrily. "You have no chance of beating me!"

"We'll see about that." The namekian replied.

> "I Am...The Namek."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Piccolo, I must know;" Sapphic spoke to his waiting opponent as the two hovered high above the royal city. "what in all of Equestria makes you think you even stand a chance against me? A mere namek like you will be little more than a warm-up."

Piccolo's face remained neutral as he spoke. "It's a good thing I'm not a mere normal namek, then."

"Oh, please. What makes you so special from any other slug-biped?" 

"Do you know what Kami translates to in this language?" The namekian asked suddenly.

"What? No, why des that even matter?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

Piccolo was in front of Sapphic in an instant, and planted a fist firmly into his steel-plated skull. The changeling king reacted quickly, and ducked under Piccolo's next attack to hit with a punch of his own. The namekian disappeared as if he were a cloud of smoke as soon as the tyrant's powerful knuckles met him.

"Nice try." Piccolo's voice said from behind him.

Sapphic turned sharply to see him hovering with his arms crossed as his large white cape continued to flow in the wind. He knew Piccolo had used the afterimage technique, but what surprised him was the speed at which he did so. Their little exchange had only been mere miliseconds, and he had had an afterimage prepared.

He couldn't think too much longer on this as Piccolo started to beat him around with powerful strikes from every limb, chaining them together in a flawless combo of pain. Sapphic noted that he'd have to reward the armor smith pony somehow for crafting such sturdy armor; even under all the damage he suffered so far, only small dents appeared throughout the suit.

Piccolo kicked Sapphic back down to the ground, and he managed to catch himself as the namekian followed.  

Sapphic blasted a beam of energy from his palm and it hit the namek square in the chest. The blast was supposed to have vaporized him, and yet the only thing the beam had done was knock Piccolo back several feet. Perhaps he was no mere namek afterall, Sapphic thought. He might actually have to go all out against him.

Piccolo circled around and came in hot for a kick, which Sapphic rapidly sidestepped. He grabbed Piccolo's flowing cape, and pulled hard, lifting the namekian off his feet and back away from the king as he threw him. Sapphic fired off several ki blasts after him as he tumbled down the street, but he recovered, and dodged each one in a zigzag-like pattern as he closed the gap between them once more. His fierce kick did not miss this time, and Sapphic was forcefully thrown back as the kick connected with his armored gut.

Piccolo dashed in pursuit and managed to get a few more punches in until Sapphic burst out his air bomb again, sending Piccolo back and gaining a bit of distance once more. The changeling king's jaw dropped in disbelief as Piccolo was already dashing back at him for more. What in the world was this namekian on?

He successfully hit Piccolo with six ki blasts from his hand, but it did little more than slow Piccolo down. Sapphic avoided another attack, and made to gain some ore distance and try to form a type of strategy. 

Now it was Piccolo's turn to fire off a volley of ki blasts; Sapphic barely dodged most of them, and a few more exploded harmlessly on his armor. As the namekian closed in for another attack, Sapphic shouted in anger, letting loose another beam more powerful than the last one he had used. The attack hit Piccolo, but once again, the most damage it did was burn a hole in his purple gi, and burn his green skin a bit. 

"What the hell..?"

"If you think that's impressive..." Piccolo chuckled.

He did not finish his statement, and decided he would let his body language do so instead. He spread his legs apart, and put each of his fingertips together in the middle of his chest. An orange ball of fiery energy started to materialize between his hands in seconds. 

Sapphic sensed the power level of the namekian rise as the attack grew bigger and brighter in his clutches.

"Light Grenade!" Piccolo shouted out as he fired the rather large ball of energy from his being; the attack rocketed forward like a bullet intent of lodging itself in the tyrant's brain.

Sapphic tried to dodge, but the blast was much to fast, and had been fired so suddenly, his reaction time was not sufficient, an the Light Grenade as Piccolo had called it hit it's mark and exploded violently, engulfing Sapphic in a bright and powerful light. 

When the explosion cleared, Sapphic was nowhere to be seen. Piccolo knew he hadn't disintegrated him, and searched forward in case the usurper had been flung back. As he expected, Sapphic lay several yards down the long street in a crater he had created upon impact with the cobblestone roads. A few windows had shattered from his landing as well, and even one building had been demolished; it's once tall walls now nothing but crumbled stone on the bloodstained ground. 

Piccolo waited in the air as Sapphic recovered, and immediately hopped back into and aerial standpoint. He stopped several feet away, and sighed in aggravation. His armor was glowing with the heat of the Light Grenade, but it was already starting to cool in the winds of the high altitude. 

"Ok, I'll bite." He said. "What's a Kami?"

The namekian smirked a little, happy to get to say this to his adversary. "Well you see, several years ago, I had to help Goku and the others save the Earth from an android named Cell. To do this, I needed a huge power boost; the one I had gotten from fusing with another namek named Nail wasn't enough."

Sapphic rolled his eyes beneath his death's head, but listened.

"There was only one sure way for me to get super strong before too much time had passed, and that was to fuse with the Guardian of Earth at the time; Kami."

Sapphic now raised an eyebrow. "Wait a moment, are you saying that--"

"That's right." Piccolo confirmed. "I fused with God, and became The Namek." 

There was silence for a moment, but after a few seconds, Sapphic started to laugh uproariously; obnoxiously. Piccolo was puzzled, but then figured out why the usurper was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.

"You...you want me to believe..that you are now a deity?" He managed through gasps. "Oh...ohoho, that's rich. Thanks for the laugh,Piccolo, I needed that after such a long day."

"Don't believe me?" Piccolo simply replied.

"Of course not." Sapphic remarked, smiling devilishly. "Look, you may be strong, but you're not that strong. And even if you did fuse with the one named Kami, he must have been one weak deity to you Earthlings. You're power is still nowhere close to mine."

"Then why am I still talking?" 

"Trust me...you won't be soon."

Appleten and Trunks watched from below as the two exchanged words. 

"I think Piccolo might actually have a chance, Appleten." Trunks offered, hopefully. "He hasn't even taken off his weighted clothes yet, and he's kicking Sapphic's butt."

"Yeah...but I got a feeling Sapphic ain't using his full power yet. He's underestimating Piccolo, and now I think he's learning that he can't do that." Appleten replied, not taking her eyes off the two warriors above them. "Once Sapphic gets serious, Piccolo could be in big trouble..."



> An Example
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alright, Piccolo," Sapphic grinned. "let me show you what true godlike power is."

Piccolo didn't make any retort as he dashed forward to once again engage the changeling king in combat. Sapphic blocked the first few blows, but the namekian quickly found a weak spot in his one armed defense, and struck like a hunter after his wounded prey. Sapphic was knocked off balance as Piccolo delivered a quick kick to his unguarded side, and forced him to try and regain balance in the air. Before he could however, Piccolo struck again, and sent Sapphic flying back down to the ground, and once more he tumbled down the street, this time not landing on his feet.

As the namekian charged in again, Sapphic stood quickly and fired a string of energy balls at the incoming opponent. Piccolo shot each one out of the sky with sniper-like precision with many little ki blasts of his own, and continued towards Sapphic rapidly.

He swerved behind Piccolo and tried to bring his armored elbow down on the namek, but Piccolo blocked the strike with his left arm and swung his right fist to bear, and attempted to crush the chestplate of the usurper's armor with a mighty punch. The steel indented, but not enough to cause a fault in it; remarkable armor indeed.

Sapphic gave a shout and blew Piccolo away once again. He was tiring of this back-and-forth game, and was intending to put an end to it. He was playing serious; no more easy mode for the so called Super Namek.

He lunged after Piccolo as fast as a bolt of lightning and started to pound in his face; the namekian blocked most of the punches, but even with only one arm, Sapphic was an effective fighter. The two separated, and immediately shouted warcries simultaneously as they charged headfirst for each other.

The moves were fantastically quick, and the two combatants moved across the sky in tandem with each other's blows. It would be beautiful, thought Appleten; if it weren't for the fact Piccolo could die.

She wondered why Piccolo had told her to rest; she was completely fine, and the little blood Sapphic had drawn from her didn't really faze her too much. Besides, she still hadn't even tapped into her huge reservoir of power yet. It wasn't like she was drained or even close to being so. 

She then supposed she already knew the answer to her own question, remembering the look the namekian had given her. He wanted her to be at full 100% capacity once it was time, and a scrap with Sapphic now might get her to 99% or lower. Not a big drop, but apparently to Piccolo, it was worth risking his life over. 

"Damn it, Piccolo." She whispered to herself. "You better not pull an Applejack on me..."

As if she'd jinxed it ,Piccolo was suddenly sent flying into one of the taller buildings along Canterlot's main street, and it toppled like building blocks around him as he made impact. 

Sapphic sensed Piccolo's power level underneath the rubble and put his hand out if front of him; palm facing towards him and fingers hooked. 

"Time to get serious, Piccolo." He said darkly. 

He threw his hand behind him and a massive ball of ki appeared there; the raw energy it was putting out was astounding, and caused Trunks to start shaking as he looked on.

"Scorching Napalm Bomb!" He shouted out, and tossed the massive ball of energy at the site where Piccolo had not emerged from.

"Piccolo!" Trunks and Appleten shouted together, moving to step in at any second.

Just before the bomb attack made contact, Piccolo's unmistakable form jettisoned out from the wreckage, and barely evaded the explosion that followed as it vibrated the very stones that made up the streets of Canterlot. The light was intense, and the fire that burned when it disappeared could be felt all the way to the castle, it seemed.

As Piccolo regained his stance, it was obvious he had not escaped unscathed. It looked as though the bomb had burned away his cape and half of one of his shoulder pads from the mere heat alone. His green skin was much darker in shade in some areas as well.

"Do you understand what you're up against, Piccolo?" Sapphic cackled from the sky. "Or do I need to make another example?"

"Nothing you do to me is going to make me give up, freak."

"What a shame." The tyrant chuckled, lifting his hand to face away from him; to face Appleten and Trunks. "Let's see how you think of this one then.."

Realizing what was going on, Piccolo turned to look urgently at his allies. "GET DOWN!"

As soon as his words split the air, so to did many, many pears of energy as Sapphic rained hell upon the duo. 

Appleten was able to dodge every one of the incoming projectiles without a sweat, and Trunks was holding his own as well. The two danced with the ki spears for a few seconds, and Trunks suddenly sensed Sapphic approaching fast; way too fast. 

He drew his sword and made to slash down at the changeling king, but his blade met Sapphic's own green magical one and the sword given to him by Tapion broke in two like straw. However, the sword was not the only thing Sapphic's magical blade cut through...

"Trunks! NO!" Appleten shouted as if she had been the one in his place. 

Trunks froze as he felt the ethereal and yet solid blade lodge inside his chest; every rapid and frantic beat of his punctured heart causing him more and more pain by the second. Blood began to slowly ooze from the wound and the changeling king laughed menacingly.

"Too slow, boy." He chuckled. "Vegeta is looking down on you in shame, I imagine."

Trunks' only response was a spat of blood out of his mouth as he coughed one last time, and went limp on the blade of the evil king. Trunks was gone.

"You...you monster!" Piccolo shouted, literally tearing what little of his weighted clothing remained on him and charging forward fast enough to cause a sonic boom.

He collided his entire body into Sapphic's and pushed him far away from Trunks' body as it fell towards the hard ground lack a sack of flour. Before it hit, Appleten gently caught him and layed him softly against the stone streets. She couldn't stop the tears in her eyes; the Goten half of her in terrible pain at the lose of a close friend since childhood. He'd never even had a chance; that bastard never even gave him a fighting chance.

Piccolo thrashed about wildly as if a rabid animal trying to rip Sapphic into tiny shreds of flesh and bone. The namekian's long finger nails making loud and obnoxious scrapping noises as the scratched the steel surface of his armor. 

Sapphic, now recovered from the surprise of Piccolo's speed, began to counter-attack. He caught one the namek's wrists and spun him around like a top. He prepared to slice him in two and bring the number of his opponents down tone, but as he moved to cut Piccolo down, a sudden and ridiculously long blade of blue ki energy shot between them and stopped Sapphic's own. 

He looked to see Appleten holding one finger out which the blade of ki protruded from; except, this wasn't the Appleten he'd fought earlier. Her power level was rising steadily, and even though the increase started to slow, it still continued to climb. Where had she been hiding all this power before? 

She looked at him and snarled as tears streamed down her face. "You're gonna regret that!"

* * *

"No! Trunks! My son!" Vegeta shouted, grabbing the large TV that King Yemma had set up in the check-in station so he, Goku, and Vegeta could see the battle taking place.

"Vegeta, stop! You'll break the television.." Yemma pleaded.

"Damn the television! My boy was just executed! He didn't even have a chance to fight back! That's no way for a warrior like my boy to go! No! I won't accept it!" The saiyan prince bellowed, trying his hardest to not reveal the choking sensation that was taking place in his throat. 

"Vegeta...I...I know this is hard...but you have to calm down..there's nothing we can do..." Goku told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Vegeta released the TV, and fell to his knees, pounding the ground and shaking the whole office. 

"Damn you, Sapphic!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "I hope that pony tears you apart!"





> Power Unleashed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appleten stood staring fierce holes into Sapphic as she held his magical weapon at bay with her Spirit Sword. Piccolo sat andstared at the fusion fighter as her power level continued to rise. He knew of it before hand and even so, the presence of such overwhelming ability stunned him.

"Piccolo," She spoke in her double voice, not looking at him. "can you sense the pony's power levels near here? Are they far enough away for me to start at least?"

The namekian stared a few seconds longer, perplexed by the still rising power level.

"Piccolo!" She shouted.

He shook his head, returning to his senses and focusing them on finding the ponies that were no doubt evacuating under the ground. They were still not outside Canterlot's borders, but he figured that they were far enough away that Appleten could finally let loose.

Standing up he looked at the potara warrior as she continued to raise her power level. 

"All except for Pinkie Pie in the castle," He said as Sapphic's eyes bulged at the mention of the pink party pony being inside his castle. "the ponies are far enough away that you don't have to hold back anymore...but..."

There was a silence for a few moments before Piccolo spoke again.

"Appleten...don't let your rage get too much of a hold on you...be careful..."

The potara warrior nodded, but still didn't look at him; her hate-filled eyes were firmly affixed to the changeling king as he continued to hold back her energy blade. 

"Take Trunks and get somewhere safe." She suggested. "I need a lot of room for what's gonna happen here. And I'd hate for you to get caught up in it."

Piccolo nodded, and walked over to pick up the half-saiyan's corpse as carefully and ceremoniously as he could under the circumstances. He had to avoid looking at his face, however; the dead stare his former student now possessed was heartrending to say the least. 

He took one last look at Appleten, and took off like a bullet away from the battle zone.

"Pinkie," He telepathically called to the party pony. "It's time. If there are any changelings still not fleeing the scene, take them out and let's go. Appleten's going to cut loose."

"Okie dokey loki!" She said back through the channel.

Sapphic watched as Piccolo flew off, and then turned back to the opponent before him. There was no way she could have all this power...and still keep raising it. What was she? 

His senses pinged at the same time his memory returned; this...

"This is the same energy I sensed earlier...so it's you...you're the one with the massive power!" He shouted in disbelief.

"You think this is bad?" She taunted without inflection. "Just watch this..."

She swung the Spirit Sword wide, and shoved Sapphic back. The changeling king jumped back to avoid being decapitated as the beam vanished with the swing like a ghost. He made ready to attack again, but something stopped him. He wasn't able to move forward. Why? What was holding him back from her? 

He soon realized a pressure against him when he stopped pushing forward, and felt himself being pushed backwards. His armored feet started to dig trenches into the street as the tyrant struggled to just stand upwards.

"What...what pressure...! Amazing...what are you..?"

Appleten didn't speak for a moment. She hunched over and let loose a loud, echoing shout that rippled the very air around her with the mere sound, not to mention the power now literally pouring out her every cell. Her power started to rapidly increase again, and the number were going up by the thousands every few seconds. Sapphic couldn't believe what he was seeing and feeling right now; this had to be some kind of nightmare or hallucination. One of the ponies must have done something to him. Maybe the armor smith had put something in the mask of his armor. He did notice a faint ticking, but that hardly mattered now. This anthro...no; this monster before him was still charging up. There had to be a limit; there just had to be. And yet...

Appleten's power equaled Sapphic's perfectly and inanother instant, it had surpassed it and was still going up. 

"Stop!" Sapphic shouted, trying push an offensive, but the air was too thick to even breathe easy. "Stop it right now! I am the strongest in Equestria! You shouldn't even exist!"

Appleten ignored him and continued to yell as the street started to crack apart beneath her and chunks rose into the air like balloons, exploding as they got near her. Her eyes were what really were caching his attention though. They weren't brown anymore like they had been earlier. No...these were not the same eyes that had been smoldering before...these eyes were aflame with a power and passion unlike anything he'd ever seen; they're greenish-blue hue was sharp as the finest blade and were stabbing daggers into his very soul...and she wasn't even looking at him yet.

Her long black mane started to float upwards abruptly, and sink back down before repeating the process over and over again. For a moment, Sapphic could have swore her mane and tail were changing to...wait...they were! Appleten's mine and tail were flip-flopping between a golden blonde and her normal black colors. But how? The only species he knew that had an ability like this was...

"No...no, it can't be true! You can't be a--!!"

Appleten lurched into a standing position, raising her head skyward as her mane and tail completed the color change to gold and a brilliant golden glow emanated from her as power unbelievable exploded forth from her. Sapphic had to put every ounce of strength he had in him forth just to stay standing upright, and he was still being pushed hard. 

Once the massive surging of power and pressure subsided, Sapphic fell to his knees and gasped, now able to breathe again. When he looked up his eyes went wide with something he hadn't truly felt or decades; fear.

Se stare blades into the tyrant with her greenish-blue eyes; her face stone cold with intensity. "I am Super Appleten. And you? You're toast."
> Bang
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This is impossible!" Sapphic finally managed to shout out in utter disbelief. "You can't be a Super Saiyan! If you're a half-saiyan then your pony half should have diluted the saiyan blood within you! How?!"

Appleten stood for a bit staring death into the tyrant's eyes with her own greenish-blue ones; her mane and tail being spiked up as if a perpetual blowdryer were under her feet and glowing as gold as Celestia's crown had once been; perhaps even brighter. 

There was absolutely no possible way she should be able t do this; she had pony blood in her, this much was obvious. He himself couldn't undergo the transformation because of his changeling heritage. So why was she in the Super Saiyan state anyway?

"You won't live long enough to find out." She calmly fumed.

The very instant she finished her statement, she had vanished like a phantom. Sapphic didn't have to wonder where she was very long, as a knife-edged hand chop came crashing into his neck from behind. The blow was excruciating and felt like he'd just had seventy-five barns filled to the rafters with ten ton steel wrecking balls and coated in fast drying cement blocks hit him in just that one spot. Then the pain spread, and he felt like he'd been flattened by a stampede. All this happened the split second before he went soaring faster than any sniper's bullet has, could, or ever will go down the road of Canterlot. 

He did not tumble, nor even spin; he was moving far too fast to even twitch. Not like he could anyway; he was pretty sure the attack had just paralyzed him as he couldn't feel anything throughout his entire anatomy. He smashed into another boutique and it crumbled into dust from the force he hit it with. The remaining few brackets and beams fell hard upon him, and as soon as the dust settled, his pain receptors and nerves kicked back into working status. He screamed the loudest he had ever done so in his entire existence.

He blasted the rubble off of him in a powerful, feral blast of energy, vaporizing al of it. He was standing, but his equilibrium had not fully recovered, and so he was a bit wobbly. He'd never get the chance to steady himself, because Appleten appeared in front of him at that moment, planting her boot into the changeling king's lower jaw so hard his tongue felt it. 

Sapphic was flung upwards at high speed, and suddenly smashed sideways; then smashed the opposite way not even two seconds later. For a full sixty seconds,the anthro played a sort of pinball game, and he was the pain-wracked ball. 

Everytime she struck him, it was like a freight train juiced up on the best steroids the hype department could offer times twenty. He couldn't even breathe at the rate of speed she was batting him around. If the blunt force trauma didn't kill him even through his armor, his lungs exploding or shriveling up most likely would.

She sent him careening back towards the ground at just the right angle that he would skid against the cobblestone streets and as he struck them with his steel-plated body, he dug a trench in it as he moved. Appleten appeared above him, flying over him at the exact speed he was skidding at, and grabbed him by his masked head. She gave a cut grunt and forced his skull into the ground further, speeding up and dragging the helpless tyrant through the streets quite literally. She grinded his head into the cobblestone for a good six blocks which only felt like one at her speed, and she then threw him up as if serving a tennis ball. 

He caught a glimpse of her impossibly long Spirit Sword arching towards him, most likely intent on slicing him in half. He barely managed to activate his own magical blade to block the attack. The shudders that reverberated through his armor at the impact of the energy blades meeting was enough to turn a lesser being's bones to jelly. 

The Spirit Sword dissipated, and Appleten was above him, grabbing him by his forearm where the blade's emerald power source was embedded.

"This could be a problem for me. Better take care of it." She dryly joked.

She squeezed the gauntlet with only a small bit of pressure, and it bent, stabbing bits and points into his exposed muscle beneath, causing him to cry out once more; the emerald in the steel sheath shattered like thin glass against a wall. She ripped the remnants of the gauntlet off and tossed it aside. She next put her finger to the center of Sapphic's forehead; her hand gesture in the shape of a gun. The steel death mask was still on him, but he was deathly afraid of what was about to happen anyway.

There was a short pause before Appleten said one thing; "Bang."

She jerked her finger back as if it had recoiled, and let go of his arm with her other hand. A smll spark erupted from her finger and shatter the skull-like mask into dust particles and snapping the changeling king's head back with amazing force. Were henot only half conscious as he fell back to the streets, he would have marveled at the fact his neck had not snapped from whiplash of that force.

He was jolted back into alertness when he was drilled at high speed back to the streets; or rather, through the streets by Appleten's fist. She continued to use the momentum from the one punch to smash him deeper and deeper into the ground. At long last they smash through bedrock, and she pulled away from him, watching him fall into the magma below. She never let him touch it though, and kicked him into several stalactites which plummeted into the searing liquid beneath them. He managedto gain enough control to hover and not fall to a fiery death.

His entire body was in pain, and his armor (or what was left of it) was mangled and dented. The breastplate, elbow protector, and boots were the only actual armor left. The chainmail on his arm was in unrepairable condition, and the chainmail on his legs was starting to come unlinked from all the bashing about. He was in dire straights, and it hadn't even been five minutes. Hell, he figured it hadn't even been three yet since this anthro saiyan started her attack.

He stared at her across the flowing lava below and she stared back; the rage and pent up anger in her blazing eyes was made only more intimidating by the very magma they hovered over reflecting off them. 

"Is...is that all...you...got.." He managed, green blood near flowing from his mouth and coating his teeth and jaw. 

"I'm almost finishedwith my warm-up." She deadpanned once more.

Sapphic could only gulp. 




> Murphy's Law
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna felt the vibrations all the way from the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. The tremors shook the trees all the way down to their very roots, causing whatever strange creatures were making the whining noises to flee in terror. The fight must have begun.

"That's some intense energy." Maud noted, this time a slight hint of amazement in her voice. "Even Boulder is trembling in my pocket."

The princess of the night ignored the comment; she already knew how powerful the energy the fighters and Sapphic weregiving off was intense. hat was an understatement; Maud couldn't sense the power levels like she could, and the very sensations they gave actually frightened her a bit.

She shook herself back into a confident state, and looked out at the sky; her gaze locked like a scope on the horizon. She spread her wings and began to take off.

"Princess?" Maud asked.

"Make sure everypony gets back to your home safely, Maud Pie." Luna said, gathering energy for her flight. "I am off to assist our would-be saviors in battle."

"But princess, you might get--"

Maud couldn't finish her sentence before the alicorn took to the skies like a bat out of Tartarus; her form splitting the very air as it soared across the skyline towards the sounds of battle.

* * *

Piccolo carried Trunks' corpse across the sky, and touched down in a wide open field a few miles outsideof the shell that used to be Ponyville. He had long since closed the deceased half-saiyan's eyes as they had flown through the air away from the battle zone. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he felt the shakes before he heard the strikes; then he felt the shockwave.

He turned back in bewilderment. "Please let that be Appleten's power..."

* * *

Sapphic came flying like a nuclear missile out of it's silo from the ground as it exploded to let his form through. Before he got too high, he was elbowed across the landscape halfway across the city by a sharp and quick elbow jab from Appleten. 

With all his might, he stopped himself, and aimed a highly concentrated beam of ki at the oncoming fighter. Appleten disappeared before it hit her, and reappeared behind the changeling king in an instant. He attempted to swing his arm around and strike her quickly, but she caught his arm mere inches from her face. She stared at his helpless form for afew moments before clutching his throat faster than he could blink. She squeezed his asphyxiated throat for a few seconds, relishing his choking sounds ad decided to go for another game of changeling volleyball. 

After a few quick juggling blows, the fusion fighter let him hit the ground. He got up slowly and shakily, not believing the beating he was taking. If not for this armor, he was sure he would have been killed already. He still hadn't figured out what that damn ticking noise was, but it mattered little.

"You've heard of cherry bombs, yes?" She suddenly asked him.

He looked at her in confusion, not at all knowing where she was going with this. She brought her hand up, turning it upside down and charging some kind of energy attack red in color. The power that little orb of energy was giving off was off the scale; the power was causing even her incredibly strong hand to shake a bit.

"Consider this an upgrade to that. It's a specialty recipe of mine. I call it..."

She reared back as if pitching for a baseball team wanting to get a strike out. As she released the attack towards him, she shouted out it's name with vigor.

"...an Apple Bomb!" 

That power was unmeasurable; Sapphic had to move, and move now. He got to his feet and started to sprint for his life before taking to the sky just as the attack would've struck him. The explosion was huge, and encompassed the entire city center in an apple-shaped mass of red energy. The shockwaves alone were enough to level every building that was left standing in the royal city except for the castle.

Sapphic tumbled and only barely managed to stop himself after he'd been flung a mile or two into the sky. He looked down, and saw her incoming, as she buried her fist in his jaw, effectively paralyzing him for a few moments. She brought every single punch down on him like a sledgehammer jacked up on caffeine. 

The armor integrity was failing, and that ticking seemed to have sped up, Sapphic noticed. 

Appleten grabbed the tyrant by the collar of his nearly destroyed armor as he hung from her grasp in helpless pain. This really was the end for him, wasn't it? He had no way of keeping up with her speed, her strength was unchartable, and her ki was near limitless. She hadn't even been trying and Sapphic was already knocking on death's door. Once more, he saw that familiar shadow pass in the corner of his eye and that same chill travel all throughout his body, or at least what he could feel of it. 

Appleten decided it was time to finish this, and end the evil king's life once and for all. She looked down at the steel breastplate she held I her powerful hands.

"Steel, huh?" She asked. "Well, steel armor; meet my titanium grip!"

She tore the breastplate apart right down the middle with a horrible rending sound that could scrap eardrums. The sound that accompanied the steel tearing in half was strange; it sounded as if springs and beams had snapped and broke loose; then...the wet and sickening sound of flesh being gashed deeply. 

Neither fighter even twitched for a moment, and then Appleten coughed; blood flying out of her mouth and coating her lower jaw as she and Sapphic both looked down at the wound that had caused the fusion fighter to do such a thing.

The armor was wide open, and several sharp metal rods had busted loose from what looked like hidden spring loaded flaps inside the armor; six in total. Four of the near blade-like rods were now stabbed deeply into Appleten's stomach; blood oozing out in large torrents with every cough and twitch she gave. 

Her Super Saiyan transformation started to waver a bit as she coughed and sputtered more and more frequently, staring in shock and disbelief at what had just happened to her. 

Sapphic looked just as shocked by the sight. he armor smith pony had planted this trap. That's what all the ticking was; it must have been a timer for the rods to spring forth and impale him from within his own protection. He would make that stallion pay. 

He looked into the pain-laden and gasping and coughing face of the anthro that somehow still had a hold on his armor folds. Maybe he would make the stallions death quick; afterall, the thing he had intended to kill the changeling king had ended up possibly saving him.

"Titanium, huh?" He finally scoffed. "Looks more like aluminum to me!"

He cackled as he grabbed a few of the rods buried in her flesh and began to pull them apart; ripping her already torn abdominal flesh asunder even further. She screamed out in agony, unable to move to stop him from the pain in her gut. As he spread the rods nearly as far as they could go, a few strands of her intestinal tract lopped out and dragged more of her guts out with the weight; the horrific sight only made the opportunistic tyrant laugh harder, now certain of his victory.

Appleten finally let go of the remnants of the armor and Sapphic slipped out of it as it fell the ground miles below. He watched it fall awhile before turning his now predator like emerald eyes back on his grievously wounded opponent. She was holding whatever guts she had left inside her now wide open abs and could only stare in raspy gasping shock at the sections of the long digestive organ that hung out of her like grisly banners. 

This was his chance. She had all that power, but now she was near-death, and his chances to win just went up dramatically, and he was going to be damned if he let it slip by him. 

He raised his hand in aggression and let loose a mighty blast of ki with a howling laugh.
> Farewell, Appleten
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appleten saw the beam incoming, but was still in too much pain to even attempt a dodge or block. The beam hit her square in the chest, burning her slightly, and sending her flying back with enough force to create a small crater when she hit the ground; tremors once again erupted from her impact, and she let out a slight yelp as she did so.

As she opened her eyes again, she noticed her entrails were still hanging by something in the air, and trailing down to her. Following the line of her organ, she saw Sapphic floating above, wearing a few feet of her digestive tract like a scarf. He was making a show of acting glamorous in the grotesque fashion choice; a display that looked rather silly with only one arm.

"I always thought bloody colors matched my complexion. What do you think?" He chuckled darkly, starting to descend.

Appleten just coughed up another spat of blood in response as the tyrant neared her, dropping her strewn about guts to the ground with a flop. 

* * *

"Oh no!" Goku cried out; his wide eyes glued to the screen and the grisly sight it presented.

Appleten was in horrendous shape; the pain from her wound was making it impossible for her to move or even do anything to defend herself, and Piccolo had left with Trunks' body. If someone didn't do something soon, Appleten was going to die.

Vegeta clenched his fists next to him, and stared angrily at the changeling king as he sauntered over to the prone form of the potara warrior. The smug bug was cackling as if he had planned for this all along. Of course, Vegeta had no way of knowing if he had or not, but it didn't really matter. In his eyes, Sapphic had gained an awful and sudden advantage, and from a piece of armor no less; not his own strength.

"Damn it!" He grunted through clenched teeth. "What rotten luck; that insect has gone too far! First my son, now he's going to murder Appleten! Can no one stop this bastard?!"

Goku had to agree with the saiyan prince; Sapphic had gone way too far now. Appleten was virtually helpless and Sapphic was taking advantage of that fact like a true scavenger. 

"There's got to be something we can do! King Yemma, you have the rulebook right there! Please, see if there's a loophole we can exploit!" He shouted at the gargantuan giant behind the massive mahogany desk.

The king of the check-in station flinched a bit at the tone of Goku's voice, and pulled his huge rulebook out onto the desk with a mighty thump.

* * *

Sapphic's fist began to glow with a blue aura as he stood several feet away from the near-death fusion fighter. As the glow intensified, he raised his fist up as if in a challenging gesture; the energy began to swirl around his clenched hand like a whirlwind of power, and after a few more moments, his entire arm began to shake with the strength of the ki. 

Appleten sensed this was an extremely powerful attack, whateverit was, and that if he hit her with it, there would be no surviving. Horseapples; if only she hadn't been so careless. She could've ended him with the Spirit Sword after she took his own blade away, or even simply snapped his neck like a tree branch. Now she was the one laying with her stomach gouged open and her guts trailing all over the place, slowly bleeding out and dying. Not a great way to go.

Sapphic began to rise into the air ever so slowly, and his hair bean to rise up as well. The long dark green locks looked menacing; like the tendrils of a demon slowly stretching to life. 

"This attack is a lot like your Apple Bomb, anthro." He shouted so she could hear him from where he was. "It isn't a projectile like it, but in terms of power it far surpasses your attack's."

He rose ever higher as the power swirled like electrical dust around his limb.

"You may have flattened all of Canterlot with your move. But with this? I am going to level this entire mountain and the castle that sits on it! There will be nothing left of you but a whimpering whisper of a ghost in the wind!"

Appleten tried to get up, but the massive pain made her lay back down immediately. She tried to fight through it, but it was too far gone. 

"I have to thank you for this, though." He continued as he finished his ascension. "Without you beating me half to death, this old attack of mine would probably just break the base of the spire. You've given me a rather generous power boost, Appleten; for that I thank you. But now...this is the end."

He raised his glowing fist up, getting ready to charge like a bullet straight down at her and end her life in one fell swoop. If she could just reach one of the earrings....

"Farewell, Appleten. Five-Knuckle Megaton Fist!" He shouted, darting downward like a sleek jetstream of blue through the perpetual sunset. He would close in n her in mere seconds, and she was but a fingertip away from her right earring. She knew she'd never pull it off in time; Sapphic was almost upon her. This was the end...

"Special Beam Cannon!" 

Sapphic looked up and changed his course of direction as the spiral beam of powerful energy narrowly missed him and drilled deeply into the ground. As he regained position, his energy attack dispersed, and he looked up just as Appleten did to see the source of the familiar voice.

"Piccolo..." Appleten breathed harshly.

The namekian hovered above with his smoking fingers pointed down at where the attack had struck. He snarled angrily at the changeling king, and looked as though he wanted to rip his heart out. 

"You were a fool to come back alone, Piccolo." He shouted.

"He's not alone!" Another familiar, and almost ghost like voice came from beside him. "Kaioken!"

Luna rammed her body full speed into the completely shocked changeling king.

"Thou lookst as though thy hath seen a spectre!" She taunted, smashing his body into the ground, and raising a hoof to crush his skull.

He got the strike, and flipped the alicorn over, slamming her into the ground twice before letting her go. Piccolo came up behind ready to beat him down, but Sapphic sensed the namekian incoming, and planted his still armored elbow into Piccolo's face. The namekian's nose audibly broke, and Sapphic grabbed him by his purple shirt and slammed him overhead and onto Luna with severe force, causing both of them to cry out.

"No...he's...killing them..." Appleten rasped to herself. "I...no....not me...I'm done for..."

She reached for the right earring once more, and grasped it. 

"Farewell, indeed, Sapphic...." She gasped before ripping the potara earring off of her being.

There was a loud pop, and a flash of light, and Apple Bloom and Goten both tumbled away from each other before standing up, frantically checking their bodies for injuries. They looked at each other, once satisfied, and then turned to Sapphic. Goten turned into his Super Saiyan state, and Apple Bloom unleashed her power. The two charged for the tyrant with battle cries, ready for round two.

* * *

"Hey, Goten is still fighting in Equestria!" Vegeta told Goku, whohad been scanning the book with King Yemma.

Goku quickly came back to the massive screen and saw that Vegeta's statement was true. His dead son; halo and all, was still in Equestria and fighting. Normally he'd be taken straight back to Otherworld, or at least if he were on Earth.

But then again, Goten wasn't on Earth was he? In a sense, Equestria was the same as the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Goku figured; a different dimension where the rules of Earth did not apply.

King Yemma confirmed this with a cough to get the saiyans' attention. 

"It says her that if the deceased somehow are able to get to another plane of existence that is not the living world of their own dimension, they do not have to follow the rules of Otherworld." He stated, readingfrom the text. "Since Equestria isn't Earth, he technically isn't breaking any rules being there."

"That means we can go too! we can help them, Vegeta!" Goku excitedly announced.

"Hold on, Kakarot." The saiyan prince interjected. "You already said to me when I got here that your instant transmission won't be able to take us to Equestria. How in the blazes do you expect us to get there?"

Goku thought on that for a moment, and came to  conclusion; he wasn't absolutely sure it would work though.

"I have an idea. Let me find him firs, though..." He said, placing his fingers to his forehead and concentrating.

"Find who..?" Vegeta asked, curious.

The mighty saiyan from Earth did not respond for awhile. After a few moments of tense silence, however, his eyes shot open. 

"Grab onto me, Vegeta!" He shouted.

Vegeta did so hastily, and Goku used his instant transmission to teleport them to wherever he had sensed his target. Vegeta had not gotten used to the rushing and thrashing way Instant Transmission carried matter, and he felt as though he would be sick. He stifled the urge to vomit, and was able to hold on until they emerged in a sort of garden like area. 

The place looked like the Supreme Kai's world a little bit, but there were subtle differences, and a few not so subtle. The biggest hint that it was not there, was standing before them; a scoop full of ice cream frozen before his mouth as his eyes looked down at the two saiyans.

"Oh...hello, Goku...Vegeta...what brings you here?" Whis asked, a tad bit surprised.






> Whis' Condition
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic turned in time to block the fierce strikes of the Super Saiyan Goten as he closed the gap between them. Goten was quickly joined by Apple Bloom, and the two launched a dazzling assault of punches and kicks in tandem with ach other. Sapphic ducked under one, and slammed blasted Goten away with a quick ki attack. 

He turned to Apple Bloom, who tried to spin kick his head off. He ducked down once more, and launched his powerful fist straight into the her crotch mercilessly; a cheap shot if ever there was one. 

Apple Bloom yelped loudly, and immediately rushed her hands to her pain-wracked baby-maker and squished her legs together. The changeling king wasted no time in taking the advantage to back off, and get a good view of his new assailants.  They had appeared out of nowhere, and were fairly strong. He scanned the Super Saiyan, who was already getting up, and recognized him as Goten. He was about to question how the boy could be alive, until he saw the golden halo hovering over the half-saiyan's head.

He looked at Apple Bloom, who was still trying to stand up through the pain in her nether regions. At first, he didn't recognize her at all. Then he saw her eyes; those innocent and yet determined amber eyes. 

"Wait...you?!" He shouted. 

Now the name Appleten made sense to him; that hadn't been a naturally born anthro, she had been a fusion fighter. Apple Bloom and Goten had fused to create that insanely strong warrior. That explained how she'd been able to go Super Saiyan when he could not; potara warriors could effortlessly use the abilities of both fusees regardless of species. Appleten must have removed one of her earrings, and that's how these two were here now. If only Piccolo and Luna hadn't interrupted, this fight would be over now.

Just as he thought about them, the namekian and the alicorn attacked him from behind once more. They were quick, but Sapphic was faster, and dodged each one of their powerful attacks with relative ease. He had been wounded greatly, but thanks to Appleten beating him within an inch of his life, he had gained a huge power boost with his saiyan blood. These two, powerful as they were, were no longer a match for him. 

He placed his hand on the ground and held his body weight with it as he brought his feet up; Luna missing a strike and going over him. The changeling king kicked out both legs in a show of deadly agility, an lodged the tips of both feet into his assailants' chests, sending them flying away.

Luna was the first to recover, and fired several magical bolts at him, giving out a yell. Sapphic dodged the first three, and caught the last like a baseball, throwing it back at her. The orb exploded at the alicorn's hooves, and launched her skyward. Before he could give chase, Piccolo attempted to restrain him with a full nelson hold from behind. 

Sapphic scoffed, and using the awkwardness of holding a person with only one arm in a full nelson, performed a rapid hip toss, and punt kicked the bouncing and grunting namek into the air towards the princess of the night. 

He expected them to collide and fall, but Luna regained flight, spreading her wings majestically as Piccolo also recovered by grabbing Luna's ethereal tail and hopping onto her back in a horse rider's position. Piccolo grasped Luna by her mane as she dive bombed toward the changeling king.

He raised one hand up and charged it with energy, yelling as he did so. Sapphic got ready for whatever puny blast Piccolo would throw, but was surprised when instead, the namek grabbed Luna's horn with his still pulsating hand. The alicorn lowered her head as he did so, aiming the deadly body part at Sapphic directly.

"Fire now, Luna!" Piccolo shouted.

Luna did not hesitate, and shot rapid fire orbs of magic-infused ki in all directions around Sapphic, who started to laugh when not a single one was even close to hitting him.

"You really need to improve your aim, princess." He mocked. "I think I knocked your head around too hard last time."

Luna quickly stopped her descent as Piccolo pulled back on her mane as if to stop a steed from Earth, and she hovered there as Piccolo let go to hold both his hands out in Sapphic's general direction.

The tyrant had no idea what was going on, until he remembered he hadn't heard a single explosion from the attack. With concerned look, he looked around him and saw every single orb the duo had fired floating around him as if it were a magical minefield. 

"No where to run!" Piccolo bellowed.

"No where to hide!" Luna added.

"You're out of time! Nightmare Mines!" They both hollered in unison as Piccolo brought his hands down in an arch and stopped them as they pointed towards the now alert Sapphic. 

The orbs moved towards him slowly at first, and abruptly their speed increased a hundred times, and each one exploded violently against his exposed muscles as he curled into a full body block against the attack. The sound was a deafening mix of thunder and a battalion of cannons as the cacophony of destruction continued. Once all of the orbs had made contact ad done their job, Piccolo and Luna both watched and waited. The namekian was sensing for the evil king.

After a moment, Piccolo's senses pinged, but too late as Sapphic leaped at them and smacked Piccolo off of Luna's back with a massive punch, then delivering a rib-shattering kick to Luna. 

The princess gave a curt scream of pain as she felt some of her bones break from the strike, and tumbled down along with Piccolo, who, noticing her pain, grabbed her from behind and cushioned her fall with his own body. When they impacted, the ground caved in, and they fell into an underground cavern along with the dozens of newly created boulders from their landing.

Sapphic had no time to celebrate though, as Goten and Apple Bloom were once again on him; their attack like a dance of death to him more than an assault.  The pair seemed to play off of each other's attacks flawlessly as if they were one person. This could be trouble. 

Goten launched a high kick that Sapphic sidestepped, but his face was mashed back into Goten's foot by a fierce and surprisingly strong punch by Apple Bloom. They locked fists and tried to double punch his lights out,but he jumped up and hovered above them, charging a beam attack to try and fry them. 

Goten immediately and without hesitation grabbed Apple Bloom's wrist, and hurled her into the air at Sapphic. She used the momentum to flip around and aim a fast kick at the tyrant. There was no time to dodge, and her hoof buried itself in his muscle-molded gut.

There was a pause before he was flung back a ways, and regained his composure. 

Her power was incredible...but...

"Appleten packed a lot more of a punch then you." He taunted. 

Apple Bloom said nothing as Goten flew to join her in the air.

* * *

"So that's why we need you to take us to Equestria." Goku finished explaining to the deity before him.

Whis nodded, having been listening intently, while still enjoying his bowl of custom made ice cream. each bite he took, he made a cute-ish face and his cheeks blushed ever so slightly, which caused Vegeta to nearly vomit. 

As Whis swallowed the last of his treat, he looked down at his staff; more specifically into the obsidian black orb that was atop it. 

"Ah, yes, I've been keeping tabs on that little skirmish." He said with a slight smile as he watched some more of it play out on his scepter's orb. "It's quite the display of power and teamwork, wouldn't you say?"

"Look, Whis," Vegeta boldly stated, taking a step forward "we don't have time for these silly little conversations! We need to get to equestrian, and we need to get there now!"

Goku covered his mouth as if trying to shush Vegeta; no one should ever speak to someone as powerful as Whis was like that, and especially with that tone of voice and body language.

Whis himself suddenly became serious, and yet, not in a threatening way as Goku had expected. He stood up, and looked down at the two saiyans as if mulling over an idea. 

"I'll take you to Equestria," He said. "but only on one condition, and you may not break this condition after the battle is over."

"What is it?" Goku asked, willing to do near anything to help his friends and end their suffering.

Whis turned away and placed both his hands behind his back at the waist before speaking.

"I will only do so...if Goku takes on the role of God of Destruction afterwards."

Both Vegeta and Goku's eyes snapped wide open in shock at the condition; their breath near leaving them. 

"But...why? Isn't Lord Beerus already the God of Destruction?!" Goku pleaded, trying to make for another condition.

Whis turned back to the two with a slightly saddened expression. "I'm afraid Lord Beerus is nearing his end. He has lived for an unfathomably long time, and his power is finally taking it's toll on his body. When this sleep cycle ends, his life will as well, and a new God of Destruction will need to be chosen for this universe."

He walked closer to the two warriors, who were still agape with disbelief. How could it be happening now that Beerus was dying? What rotten luck....

"You refused my offer before," Whis continued. "but I think now you have an extra incentive to change your mind. Just agree to become Lord Beerus' replacement, and I'll transport both you and Vegeta to Equestria to save your friends."

Goku started to shake a bit. How could he be the new God of Destruction? He didn't think he had it in him to destroy planets and kill entire species of people because some comic balance said it needed to happen. He just couldn't! There had to be another way...

"Why does Kakarot have to do that?" Vegeta piped up. "Why not make me the God of Destruction? Kakarot cannot do it because he lacks willingness to destroy life...at least I have already done so before...I can get used to it again."

"Vegeta.." Goku breathed, hearing his long time rival's offer.

"I'm afraid not, Vegeta." Whis said, shooting down their hope once again. "You are not as strong as Goku is. And besides, he has more in him than you give him credit for. In time, he will make a magnificent God of Destruction."

Vegeta scowled. "But can't you see he doesn't want to do that?! He has no desire to be a god, let alone one that destroys!"

"What he wants is of no consequence." Whis calmly replied; he moved his scepter around him in a small orbit. "The cosmic balance determines what happens...not what we want to happen. He can either do it, and have both Equestria and his own universe, or he can refuse and watch Equestria burn and then his own universe fall apart from the lack of a destroyer to keep balance. It's your choice."

"I...I..." 

Goku couldn't...he just couldn't...bt I he didn't, so many more lives would be lost then just the onesin Equestria. He didn't know how he knew this, but the cosmic balance spiel that Whis was talking about didn't sound like a lie. It was true that the universe needed a destroyer god, and without Beerus, Whis saw only Goku as a prime replacement. 

"I..." He finally spoke. "I will...do it."

"I'm sorry." Whis said, genuinely not hearing it.

"I said I'll do it." Goku repeated louder and with more conviction. "I'll become the new God of Destruction..."

The deity clapped his hands together in elation. "Wonderful! Now about that trip to Equestria; stand next to me please."

The saiyans did so as Whis posed himself to tap his scepter on the ground. "It will take three minutes to get there. Hold on tight."

 



> The Battle Rages On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom's fist jammed into Sapphic's gut and not a second later, his jaw was roughly introduced to Goten's elbow. The southern anthro mare then swiftly grabbed the king behind his head, slamming his face into Goten's knee with intense force, breaking the tyrant's nose audibly.

Sapphic gave a grunt, as his upper body snapped back from the recoil, and the duo delivered a dual kick straight to his chest, sending him flying back. The gave chase but Sapphic fired a blast of explosive energy that detonated before making contact, making the two warriors back off. 

He took a moment to catch his breath; he knew he wouldn't have but a few seconds. He may be stronger but his battle fatigue was still very much a strain on him. He needed to be careful; those two worked in such amazing sync it was unbelievable. Not even his six underlings on Earth had fought together this well. He wondered if it was from being fused...no, it couldn't be; he knew from years of spying that not even Vegeta and Goku fought that well together, and they had fused a few times. It had to be something else.

His time to rest was brought to a close as the duo one again burst rom the explosion cloud, fists and legs flying. He tangoed with them for a brief few seconds, and managed to grab Goten's arm. He brought the Super Saiyan forward with brute force, and slammed his forehead into his own. Although this hurt the half-saiyan, it had been a foolish move, as he was temporarily dazed, which allowed Apple Bloom to land an overhead fist smash, sending the tyrant rocketing towards the ground. He caught himself mere inches from the dirt, and flipped back to a standing position. He looked to the sky but saw nothing, and whipped around in time to duck under Apple Bloom's swinging punch, and blocked her follow up quick with his knee. He chopped at her side where her kidney was located, and as she went to tend to it with her hand, he kicked her away and threw a high intensity ki blast after her, intending to turn her to cinders as she landed on the ground.

She hit the round with an oomph but the blast would never reach her as Goten appeared to smack it into the ground like a small stone; it exploded at his feet, sending dust and rock all over the place, but the Super Saiyan did not even flinch as he launched his own attack on the evil king.

The two exchanged blows at high speed, giving out short battle cries with each strike they made at each other. Goten caught Sapphic's fist and held it there, pressing his free palm against the king's chest.

Before the beam left Goten's super charged hand, Sapphic moved to the side, and used Goten's iron grip against him, flinging him into the ground face first, making an imprint in the rock and dirt that was once Canterlot. He stepped on the Super Saiyan's shoulder, and threatened to break the young half-saiyan's arm if he did not let go.

Goten did let go, but not before Apple Bloom arrived to grab Sapphic around the waist and perform an earth-shaking german suplex on him, smashing the back of his head down wit the force of a jackhammer. The ground crumbled like paper mache, and Sapphic gathered his strength to flip over and smash the still holding on anthro into the ground with his entire body weight. She did not let go, and Goten was suddenly atop him beating his already mangled face in with mighty and focused punches. 

Sapphic had had enough, and gave out a loud yell, using his signature air blast attack and forcing Goten away quickly, and pinning Apple Bloom to the ground, her grip broken by the pressure emitting from his body.

He took a moment to land two sharp elbows into her side and flipped over to blast her into a new grave with a powerful blast. The energy engulfed Apple Bloom, and forced her down into the ground for several feet. He looked down once he finished his attack to see her struggling to stand back up; he was impressed she had survived the blast. 

"You're pretty tough, young one, but I wouldn't get up if I was you." He offered snidely.

"Why don't you take your own advice!" Goten shouted from behind.

He grabbed the king by the shoulders from behind, and brought his spine crashing down perfectly on his knee. Sapphic shouted in agony, and flipped over to lend a kick on Goten's head. The attack connected, and sent the young half-saiyan into the dirt once more as Sapphic landed behind him on his feet. He had no time to recover as Apple Bloom lunged forward into the fray once more.

* * *

Luna stirred, feeling a sharp pain in her chest as she regained consciousness. The kick that Sapphic had nailed her with had been a strong one; strong enough to shatter most of her ribs and bruise her flesh horribly. Curse him, she thought; this monster would pay for everything. She would see to it.

She tried to stand, but the pain in her chest was far too great for her to put any pressure on her front legs. She tried to fly, but didn't get too far before her chest dragged down on her and she plopped back to the ground. Except it wasn't the ground.

"Please stop bouncing on me..." Piccolo's strained voice rasped. 

Luna looked down at the namekian who was underneath her. He had broken her fall when they had been smacked downward by that nasty tyrant, and had probably saved her life in doing so. She knew he must be much more durable than her, but still, his face expressed an obvious pain as he lay beneath her.

"Please, forgive me...I just--" She stopped when she saw his arm was smashed flat as paper beneath one of the massive stones that had accompanied their fall. His purple colored blood was all over the place, and was still pooling outward slowly. 

"Oh my! Piccolo, you are grievously injured!" She exclaimed.

"Just give me a minute..." HE grunted again.

He shouted to block the pain he knew was coming, and used his free arm to slice the damaged and trapped art of his other off in a bloody mess. As soon as the limb was severed by his ki enhanced chop, his bleeding increased, and he gritted is teeth to stop from shouting anymore. 

Luna watched in mute shock at the display playing before her; he had just willingly ripped his own arm off to get free. Something akin to a trapped animal chewing it's limb off to escape. She was about to offer her condolences for the lost body part, but then she saw it.

Piccolo's wound began to bulge slightly, and the bleeding subsided as a growth began to form where the wound had been. With a loud growl, a brand new arm that looked fully formed and healthy sprouted instantly from the once bloody stump. 

"There...all good..." He breathed, laying back again and breathing heavily.

"You...you can heal yourself..?" Luna asked, still staring at the new arm as if it were some strange science project Twilight Sparkle had invented. 

"Yes...and...I can sense your pain as well...four broken ribs...and bruised skin...I can...at least help with that..." He added. "Now if...I can just remember what Dende showed me..."

He placed his hands on Luna's chest,and focused as much of his ki as he could into repairing the damages done to her regal body. Luna gasped and winced as she felt her shattered bones reform inside her and snap back into place as if they were never touched. The pain disappeared as soon as he removed most of the bruising form her outer flesh, and once he was finished, he let out a tired breath and fell back once more.

"That...took a lot out of me...but at least your up again..." He said.

Luna got up off of the namekian, and looked down at herself, lifting her wings to check for anymore injuries. She felt none, and saw none, so she decided there were none, and turned her attention back to the tired and nearly drained namek on the ground.

"Heh...don't look...at me like that...I'll be ok...just...get back in the fight.." He chuckled a bit, trying to reassure her.

She curtly nodded, remembering that they were indeed in the midst of a massive battle. She spread her elegant dark blue wings, and stated to fly up through the hole they had created when they fell into the cavern. She stopped to take a last look at Piccolo before leaving though.

"Thank you, Piccolo." She told him, smiling. "Thou truly are a noble soul to protect on such as I."


> Goku and Vegeta Arrive!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic launched Goten skyward and grabbed onto the half-saiyan's leg as he rose. Letting out a shout of anger, he threw him away and followed up with a multitude of rapid fire ki bolts which all hit the Super Saiyan dead on, exploding loudly, and causing quite a bit of pain to Goten.

Apple Bloom attacked from the side at that instant, and Sapphic barely dodged the three punches that followed, but the forth caught him in the side of the face, taking him off his feet, and causing him crawl on his knees and hand. The anthro attempted a strong axe kick which would have surely put him out of commission had he not rolled away at the last second; the hoof she used making the ground burst out from it like a splash in a body of water. 

Sapphic took no time at all getting close to Apple Bloom, and knocking the wind out of her once more, then grabbing her around the waist to strike with an overcompensating move similar to a DDT, as he fell back, driving her upper body straight into the ground. He watched her struggle to pull herself out of the hole for a second before blasting the entire area in front of him with a yell. s the energy and smoke cleared, he looked up to see Luna carrying Apple Bloom by her leg.

The alicorn released her, and the two went right back at it. Sapphic had managed to keep Goten and Apple Bloom apart so far, but he was back to square one as Goten launched an assault from behind. The king jumped up to avoid the crushing cash, and hoped they might buttheads. They did no such thing and spiraled up together to go after him. 

He bellowed again, his frustration rising ever so quickly, and thrust his palm forward to blow them both away with an explosive ki attack. They flew off in two separate directions as the attack detonated where they'd been seconds ago, and the shockwave sent them both tumbling away. It was several seconds before they regained their flight control.

Apple Bloom breathed hard, staring at the evil tyrant as he hovered above. He was still so damn strong, and even all the injuries he had received had barely done anything to slow him down. They were scoring hits, yes, but nothing strong enough to finish him off had connected yet. If this kept up, they'd all die, and all the training Apple Bloom had gone through would be for not. 

But she was fighting at her full power; every bit of potential Elder Kai had unlocked was brought out to bear, and it was still not enough to gain an advantage. What crazy demon was this guy?

Princess Luna hovered behind him; the warriors had him inside of an aerial three-way deadlock as they all gathered their wits. If they struck now, maybe Sapphic would make a mistake; but then again, the could make one as well, and then Sapphic would once again have the advantage. As long as Goten and her worked I a tandem, they at least had the tyrant on the defensive, and if they could chain togather with Luna, they could have a chance.

Apple Bloom's eyes widened slightly when she saw no sign of Piccolo; the mighty namekian was absent from the battle at the moment, and she couldn't sense him nearby. She was about to panic, when hi ki signature finally registered in her senses with a ping; he was alive, but he was drained, and trying to regain his energy slowly down below the ground. He felt as though he had been close to death...

Horseapples, why? Why was it that everytime someone or somepony depended on her, she always let them down? First Sweetie Belle when she couldn't save her from that perverted killer stallion, and then poor Goten when the saibamen bombed him inside the ice museum; she hadn't been there to help Goku and Vegeta when Sapphic got his hands on the Dragon Balls, and she hadn't been able to save Trunks from dying at the hands of the evil king's blade. Equestria was in ruins because she had taken so long to get here, and now Piccolo had almost bit the big one coming back to save her...when she was supposed to be the one to beat Sapphic and save everyone...

Why? Why was she so useless....?

Goten noticed Apple Bloom's facial expressions which gave away her despair. HE made to move towards her, but Sapphic, thinking he was going to launch another assault with her, divebombed him in the blink of an eye; sending him careening into the ground far below. 

"Goten!" She cried out.

Luna attacked next, attempting to impale Sapphic from behind, but he sensed her coming and twirled overhead, bringing his armored elbow down on her back, and stunning her long enough to send her back to the flats that were once Canterlot as well. 

He turned his attention to Apple Bloom who was transfixed on her friends' plight. She had just hovered there wile they'd attacked, and had done nothing because she was too absorbed in her own thoughts. Darn it, why was it now she had to be thinking this stuff?

Sapphic lunged for her and she readied for battle when a pair of familiar voices split the air.

"Kame..."

"Final.."

"Hame..."

"Shine..."

"HA!!!"

"ATTACK!!"

The two extremely powerful energy waves soared towards Sapphic who tried to fly away; the beams were too fast and he hadto find a way to deflect them. He spun around once on the ground, and waited ill the last second to bat them both into the ground at his feet. They exploded on contact, sending Sapphic back a few feet. He gritted his teeth and looked down at his burned hand; he could still use it, but now it was riddled with a tingling painful sensation and blackened.

Apple Bloom joined him in looking at the newcomers; Goku in his Super Saiyan 4 form, and Vegeta in Super Saiyan 2 hovered above along with a figure she hadn't ever seen before.

"Thank you, Whis." Goku said, not actually turning to the stranger. 

"No need to thank me. Just do your best." The one she assumed was named Whis replied, floating down to the surface of Equestria to take up an observer's stance. 

He was here to watch? Who wanted to just watch something so awful happen? She looked back down at Sapphic and decided it didn't matter. At least Goku and Vegeta were here; now they had a much better chance to win.

Sapphic looked at all three of the combatants waiting for him, and looked back at Goten and Luna, who were on their feet again, and ready to go at it once more. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit; these people really wanted him dead so bad they were bringing in all of the big guns it seemed. It didn't matter, though; not one o them was at his level of power anyway. Although, Sapphic found it strange that he could not sense the power level of the blue one standing off to the side with a scepter, watching as if a curious bystander. He was going to hav to keep an eye on that one.

"Well, it looks like the new players have arrived." He shouted, readying himself for a tough battle. "Let's get this party started once more."
> Be Honest With Yourself
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next few moments happened within seconds; Goten kicked at Sapphic's head, only to miss and kick a lunging Luna in the muzzle, sending her back in pain, and then receiving a massive punch to his gut and then his chin.  Vegeta attacked next with Goku rght by his side. The two attacked as one, but Sapphic saw weak spots in their combined assault that were not present in Apple Bloom and Goten's. HE exploited one, knocking the saiyan prince's head into Goku's and then slamming it into his knee, bouncing Vegeta back. He turned back to the Super Saiyan 4 and shot a curt explosive blast at him which sent him reeling back. 

Apple Bloom hovered and watched in awe, and realized she shouldn't just be standing there. She charged forward, ready to smash the king's head in, but at the last second he saw it coming and ducked down. Apple Bloom smashed into the ground, but whipped back to start punching and kicking away at him loudly, trying to intimidate him into making a mistake. The tactic did not work, as Sapphic knew she was not as dangerous to him without Goten, and sidestepped her last punch, smacking her arm away and chopping the back of her neck hard enough to temporarily paralyze her. 

As she fell to the ground, she caught a glimpse of Goten flying full speed at the tyrant, and they started to tangle, but once again, Sapphic proved stronger, and batted the Super Saiyan away. 

She tried to get up and keep fighting, but her body wasn't responding yet. Her terror amplified when she saw the changeling king turn his surging palm on her prone form wit intent to kill in his eyes. Right before he fired, Goku grabbed Apple Bloom, flying her out of harm's way just as the attack hit the ground where she had been just moments before. The explosion toppled both of them and they skidded across the dirt, tumbling before Goku regained his posture on his knee. Apple Bloom merely rolled onto her back, her body still not fully back to working function.

Goku rushed back into the battle, and Apple Bloom couldn't see it from her perspective, but could tell from the sounds of pain coming from her friends that t was not going well at all. Once again she was on the sidelines being protected by others,and they were paying the price for it. She had still failed...even with all the power she had, she was still too weak to save anyone...

She blinked when the blue stranger named Whis walked calmly over to her and looked down. His eyes were not pitiful nor malicious. They were...curious; almost analytical. She felt like he(?) was scanning her for something important, but didn't know what exactly. For a long moment he said nothing.

"You look rather down." HE finally spoke in an out of place cheerful tone as Vegeta's painful howl echoed across the sky. 

"Gee, you think?" She grunted, trying once again to move but only managing to flop. "I'm...like a helpless fish out of water here...my friends need me!"

"YEs, it would appear they do." Whis agreed, ducking as Luna flew over his head before jumping back into the battle. "So what's stopping you from helping them?"

Was he that oblivious? "I've been paralyzed, dummy! I can't move!"

"It sounds like an excuse to me." He said, his silly smile still on his face. "Tsk tsk; one should not be so lazy in times like this. If you truly wanted to help, you would forget about the paralysis and get up anyway."

"That's not possible..." he grunted, gritting her teeth hard, finally managing to move a leg.

"It is possible, Apple Bloom." He simply stated. "If you want to help your friends, you have to fight through whatever is holding you back. Right now it's your body. Once you overcome that, you'll have ne more obstacle to overcome. Only then will you be able to save everyone."

What in the hay was this weirdo talking about? This wasn't the time for some philosophical mumbo jumbo, she needed to get up, and get back in the fight before something really bad happened. Maybe if she'd attacked with the others instead of being frozen in the headlights, so to speak, she wouldn't be in this mess. It was her own fault her friends were dying for her once again. 

Whis chuckled. "The body obstacle will be easy...but it seems you still need a bit of time for that second one."

He touched her belly with his staff, and instantly she felt her body come under her control again. She looked at him wide eyed; how had he done that? 

Whis motioned for her to jump back into battle as if casually suggesting an eatery. "Go on. I only sped things along. I can't help you do everything."

She was just about to when Goku came flying at her full force, landing atop her form a blast Sapphic had launched. She and the saiyan got up quickly, and began to rush back into battle, but not before Sapphic did his worst.

He grabbed Luna by the throat, and used her horn to impale Goten through the chest. He stabbed the body part into the ground hard, and before the princess could remove her trapped natural weapon, the king kicked one of her back legs in, and snapped it in two with a loud crack. 

The lunar princess screamed in agony and fell down atop the trapped half-saiyan, unable to muster the strength the pull her horn from the ground. Goten could not do it either; he was unconscious, and no longer in Super Saiyan state.

Vegeta attacked next, launching a flurry of powerful ki blasts at the tyrant, attempting to blast him into space-dust, and end this debacle; get revenge for his son. Sapphic waited for the fireworks to die down; the blasts had been painful to him, but not lethal, and he managed to withstand the pain until Vegeta gave pause. At that moment, he burst forth, slamming him throat first into the dirt and unleashing a blast powerful enough to obliterate the ground beneath them, sending Vegeta into a canyon like hole. 

Vegeta promptly got up, but was smashed over the head twice by a couple boulders thrown by the changeling king.

Goku reached him and started to attack once more. After several punches, he kicked Sapphic away and readied his signature attack.

"Kamehameha!!" He shouted out, firing the intense ki wave at him.

Sapphic prepared his arm, and batted the beam away, before delivering a swift knee to the Super Saiyan 4's chin.

Apple Bloom fell to her knees as Goku fell on his back in front of her, clearly hurting. This was hopeless; even Goku was at the mercy of this monster that had taken over her home and killed her friends. He was far too strong for even her power. She was fighting at full 100% the entire time, and had only managed a few punches. Sapphic was getting stronger by the moment as the battle dragged on, and she had done not much more than be a burden to everyone present. 

Trunks, Piccolo, Princess Luna, Goten....even Vegeta and Goku...she was still not able to help them at all. 

"What point is there in fighting anymore..." She breathed, barely audible over Sapphic's insane cackling. "I...I can't win...none of us can win..."

Goku opened his eyes slowly and painfully as he heard the words come out of Apple Bloom's mouth. "No....you...youcan win...Apple Bloom..."

he looked down at him shocked; he was lying there on the ground in a mess and was still telling her there was a chance. What chance did they have if even Goku couldn't win? 

"I can't, Goku!" She cried, tears welling up as she looked over at Goten, still impaled by the weeping Luna's horn. "I wasn't strong enough...I never was..and I never will be!  Icouldn't save anypony! Not Sweetie Belle, not Goten, not Trunks...and obviously not Equestria!"

She was full on sobbing into her ands now, her power starting to fade as she slowly gave up hope. 

"I'm just too weak to help anypony..."

There was silence aside from the sound of Sapphic punching in Vegeta's face down in the massive crater. That is, until Goku finally spoke again; pain very evident in his voice.

"Liar..."

She looked at him incredulously. "What..?"

"You're...a liar, Apple Bloom." He repeated. 

"H--how am I a liar..?"

"You've been lying to yourself..all along...just like your lying to yourself now." He said, trying to keep his eyes open through the waves of pain in his body. "You keep saying...you're to..weak to help anyone...to save anyone.."

He tilted his head back further to see her eyes better; those tear filled amber orbs that looked straight back at him.

"You've...been lying by saying all that...and because you've...been lying about it so long...you're starting to believe it as truth...don't...don't do that. You're not weak and you're not useless...you just think you are because of the way your life has been until now...sometimes...life throws things at us we can't control...it's not..our fault that it happens...but we still..have to roll with it, yknow?"

He tried to sit up, but only did a half crunchie before falling back on his furry back. 

"And you've been lying...about your usefulness...you think...you've done nothing but wrong by your friends...when the opposite is true..." He grunted out. "You've...worked so hard...to get to the level you're at now...and besides that, you've..made a great impact on many of our lives...you've...accomplished..so much in such..a short time...and on a...lighter note...you've made my son a happy young man...and a proud potential father-in-law out of me..."

She continued to stare as the sounds of Vegeta's punishment ceased, and Sapphic started to saunter up to the surface again. 

"Listen...you've gotta stop deceiving yourself...that's what's really making you weak right now...you need to let go of the past...and realize that you are not to blame for what has happened before...you always try your best, and you get..get better because of it. Not even I can beat Sapphic..but you? You can, Apple Bloom...you have the power within you....you just have to be honest with yourself for once and realize...you're not useless or  burden...you're family...and we would never have gotten this far without you..."

He gave her a wry smile. "Stop lying to yourself, Apple Bloom...if you stop deceiving yourself into thinking you're some bad luck charm...you'll find a whole new you..."

Something started to rise inside Apple Bloom all throughout Goku's speech to her, and she felt it in the pit of her stomach and it spread outwards like a warmth inside her. He just might be right; maybe she had been lying to herself. Maybe she was more than she gave herself credit for. Had it really been her fault that the storm had rolled into Ponyville the day Applejack died? Had it truly been her fault that some stallions were awful pones? Was she really to blame for Sapphic's evil and destructive nature; or for the lives he had taken on his warpath?

No.

No she was not.

She had tried her best in every situation she had been through, just like Goku had said; she'd trained hard, found love with Goten, and even gained the strength she had sought after for so many years. She was not a failure; she'd achieved the goal she'd set out form Ponyville to do, and more. She wasn't weak; she had power that even surpassed her teacher's. She was not useless; she had found Goten, and she knew that he cared for her more than he even cared for himself. 

She was Apple Bloom; and she was not going to let Sapphic get away with anymore of this.

As the changeling king emerged from the newly formed gorge, he was nearly blinded by an intense light that emitted form Apple Bloom, who began to rise into the air like a phoenix reborn. Her power level was sky rocketing like nothing he'd ever felt; it was even surpassing Appleten's power, and still going.

* * *

Pinkie Pie shuttered next to her sister as they returned to the Pie family home.

"What's wrong, Pinkie?" Maud asked.

For a second, Pinkie didn't respond. Then, she smiled happily.

"I...don't know how to explain it but...I can sense an energy that feels just like Applejack's!"

* * *

Sapphic tried to get close to attack the glowing anthro, but he could get no closer than where he was because of the brightness of the light she was giving off. 

After several more seconds, the light slowly faded, and what stood before Sapphic made his eyes bulge in fear.

Apple Bloom stood imposingly before him; her mane and tail had grown out significantly and sported two blonde streaks throughout their entire length. Her fur around her wrists and hooves was adorned with several smaller version of her cutie mark in a beautiful and elegant pattern Rarity would have been astounded by. Her aura glowed with an intense golden-orange light that seemed to give off limitless power and a pure feeling along with it. 

Goku sensed the energy as well, and smiled. It was a warm and honest energy just like Elder Kai had said before.

"What...what are you..?" Sapphic questioned, earning a small smirk from Whis as he watched on form the side.

"I'm Apple Bloom." She stated strongly, no longer wavering. "The Element of Honesty."

 






> Sapphic's Last Resort
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sapphic gaped at the new and improved Apple Bloom that stood like a titan of color and light before him. The Element of Honesty? The Elements didn't normally have that much power; he had defeated the others with relative ease. What in the world was going on?

Apple Bloom's intense and hard amber eyes did not leave Sapphic's fear-filled and unbelieving emerald ones. She had no more doubts now, and now that she was no longer deceiving herself; now that she had finally been honest with herself, the power passed down to her from her sister had awakened. Her Element had come unlocked, and now, on top of her already impressive power, she wielded the magic of the Element of Honesty.

"You...you have to be bluffing..." Sapphic trembled taking an involuntary step backward. "The Elements of Harmony are not this strong! I defeated the others with but a fraction of my power! You shouldn't be so powerful!"

Apple Bloom took an intimidating step forward, her eyes never leaving his even for an instant.

"Goku." She finally said. "Please don't get involved here. I can take him now. I know it."

Goku, finally able to stand, smiled confidently and nodded. "You got it, Apple Bloom. Do it. Do it for Equestria."

From the sidelines, Whis looked on with a look of subtle pride.

"Alright, King Sapphic," Apple Bloom said. "it's time for you to pay for everything you've done. For all the ponies and people you hurt. And being the Element of Honesty, I can promise you...this is your last battle."

Sapphic had no time to respond; the new Element bearer disappeared and launched the changeling tyrant into the air at tremendous velocity. She bounced him in sixty-three different directions in a matter of four seconds and then slapped him back down to the ground. He bounced once as he hit the dirt, and Apple Bloom was on him again, an orb of rainbow colored energy in her hand. She brought it down onto him, spinning him like a washing machine on high and drilling him into the ground. She emitted a beam of the same rainbow energy and blasted him farther into the ground. 

He forcefully tunneled his way out, popping up behind her, and tossing a massive ki blast at her with a yell of anger. Apple Bloom didn't even blink as she looked back and flicked the attack away with one finger as it were a fly. The attack exploded on the ground behind her magnificently. 

There wasn't even a moment to react as she lunged forward faster than a blink and jammed her fist straight into Sapphic's gut; her fists imprint being visible from his back like a vile growth. HE spit up bile and blood as the attack connected, far too pain-wracked to even squeal.

The impact rocketed Sapphic into the air at an angle, and Apple Bloom dashed away to circle around and kick him in the opposite direction. Sapphic skidded into the surface of the once great Canterlot and created a trench with his flailing body. As he continued to skid across the surface of Equestria, Apple Bloom placed her hands into a familiar position to her side.

A rainbow orb of energy with power unmeasurable formed inbetween them.

"Kame...hame...ha!!!" 

The beam of intense rainbow energy burst forth from her palms as she thrust them forward. Sapphic barely regained his form in time to move out of the way of certain death. Just when he thought he was in the clear, he looked back in horror to see the massive attack curve to follow his movements. He tried several more dives and flips, but the attack was closing in fast under Apple Bloom's watchful guidance.

He hit the ground deciding his only chance was to deflect it somehow. He gather as much raw energy into his hand as he could and pushed his palm against the oncoming wave. The energy burned harshly and he was already shaking from the amount of energy he was needing to use just to hold on to the attack; his feet slide underneath him, digging lines in the ground and pushing him back a ways. 

"It's...too...strong!" He thought aloud. "I can't...hold it...!"

There was one way he lived through this; he would have to aim it into the ground, and jump back in time to avoid the explosion. He'd have to be quick; quicker than he'd ever been in his life. But it was his only chance.

He acted on his thought with a yell, pushing the beam into the dirt, and jumping back with all his might. The explosion was more powerful than he anticipated, and he was blasted back at high speed by the energy; it's raw power searing his muscle tissue and bubbling his tendons like wrapping paper in a fire. He got as far away as he could, and collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily and trying not to shout out in pain. As the beam finally disappeared, he started to stand back up shakily.

He managed to do so and came face-to-face with Apple Bloom who was standing less than an inch in front of him.

He fell back on his behind, and rapidly crawled backwards away from the anthro in a frenzied scare. 

"How...how can you have so much power..? You're just a pony!" 

"That may be. But I'm the pony who's going to end this."

He stood up quickly, pure primal fear and rag burning in his eyes. He knew she hadn't even tapped into her inner reserves yet; her power was still awesome and unfathomable. He had no chance. Damn it, why did somepony like this have to exist? Why?

"Fine then!" He shouted shrilly, resorting to a drastic plan. 

He flew into the air quickly and looked down at each of his assailants. As he glanced at the blue one with the scepter, he felt that all too familiar chill run down his spine again. No, if he couldn't have Equestria all his own, he'd do the next best thing.

Sapphic hunched over and started to absorb every bit of energy he could, drawing everything including his very life force out of himself, bringing all of it to bear in his hands.

Apple Bloom and the others present all felt the sudden and drastic rise in energy; it wasn't at Apple Bloom's level yet, but was at least over halfway to equaling it. What did this monster have up his sleeve.

"Gah! If I go down, I'll take all of you with me...all of you, and Equestria as well!" He shouted; his rage splitting the sky in a thunderous echo.

"What?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, her face contorting in uneasiness. 

"This final attack is made up of both my immense power, and my natural changeling magic! It cannot be stopped and contains enough power to destroy this entire planet!" 

"Oh no!" Goku exclaimed, flying into the sky.

"Get back!" Sapphic shouted savagely, pushing the Super Saiyan 4 back to the surface of Equestria with the very sound. 

This was it; he may not have been able to rule over Equestria like his mother would have wanted, but he defeated the sisters, he destroyed the Elements of Harmony, and he had been King of Equestria for at least half a day. Now he would put the coup de gras on the entire ordeal, and destroy the very world that had shunned his people all their existence. His only regret was that he would have to die with them.

"DIE PLANET, DIE!" He roared shooting his massive beam down at the ground at impressive speed.




> Lover's Kamehameha!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group of warriors watched horrified from below as the gargantuan beam of ki and magic energy soared towards them and the surface of Equestria. The power was just about on par with even Apple Bloom's newfound Rainbow Power, and it was approaching fast.

"Apple Bloom, if that hits the surface, Equestria will be completely destroyed!" Goku shouted urgently. "We need to stop it!"

She nodded and they both took up the stance of the signature Kamehameha.

"Times ten..." Goku stated before they launched the attack.

"Kamehameha!" They both shouted together; Goku's red beam intertwining with Apple Bloom's rainbow colored one and slamming headlong into Sapphic's planet busting attack. 

The sound was loud and nearly deafening as the energy waves clashed, and after fluctuating position, held steady in the dead center; neither beam giving way at all.

The duo struggled underneath the pressure, trying to push Sapphic's own attack back at him, but so far, they were only able to hold it at a standstill. 

"Come on! Put everything you have into it!" Goku shouted to her.

"I am!" Apple Bloom hollered back, pouring as much energy as she could into the blast.

Goku grunted as he realized they were both at their full power right now; Sapphic really was using everything he had to destroy this planet. 

"Oh no!" He said through gritted teeth as he continued to try and push it back. "We don't have enough power! We need more power!!"

"I think I can help with that.." The familiar voice piped up.

Vegeta had crawled his way out of the gorge like impact zone, and was now once again in Super Saiyan 2 mode. He took a stance on the opposite side of Apple Bloom, spreading his arms out wide as if to try and embrace something before bringing them together at the heels of his palms.

"Final Flash!" He shouted out viciously, adding his own immense power to the attack as the yellow beam burst forth to join the others.

The deadlock wavered a bit, but didn't do much other than push the attack back a few inches. Goku growled as he witnessed this.

"It's...still not enough...no!!"

Apple Bloom started to sweat profusely as she poured every bit of her energy into the attack; she was not holding anything back at all, and Sapphic was still fighting back. What determination he possessed....

The three powerful warriors tried to give more energy for the beams, but they were at maximum, and had no more energy to give. Even Apple Bloom was at the limit of her new Rainbow Power just holding this intense beam back. She took a glance back at Goten and Luna; the alicorn's horn was still stuck in the ground through his chest, but he looked as though he were starting to stir back awake. The question was, would he wake up in time to help?

Whis continued to observe the beam struggle from the sidelines, a thoughtful look on his face as he watched the three Z Fighters specifically. 

Sapphic growled loudly in frustration as he couldn't push his attack forward anymore. The combined power of the fighters below was holding his attack at bay. Damn them; all his magical and ki based power was packed into this attack, how could they be holding it back like this? 

He had one last idea for victory, and since he knew he was to die anyway, he did not hesitate to enact it. Drawing upon the very energy that allowed him to live; his life force and soul, he injected every ounce of it into his beam, giving a frightening warcry as he did so. electricity coursed through the beam as did massive pressure blasts which started to push his attack forward.

The electrical surges traveled down the Z Fighters' beams and struck each of them; Vegeta was thrown back and unable to move from the static coursing through him. Apple Bloom and Goku held on, but another, more powerful wave of the hocking pressure struck, and Goku was thrown back as well.

The Super Saiyan 4 slowly and shakily got back up and pressed the attack once more, joining his beam to Apple Bloom's, but the electricity had weakenedhim, ad the next wave not only put him down for the count, but sent a severe jolt into Apple Bloom herself.

The anthropomorphic mare started to panic a little as her left arm dropped suddenly; all feeling in it lost. The attack had rendered her arm numb and incapable of responding to her brain's commands, and her rainbow Kamehameha shrank in size slightly, now only powered by one hand.

Sapphic cackled insanely from above as his planet killing attack started to push forward once again, overpowering Apple Bloom's own beam. 

"Now you'll know!" He nearly shrieked in anticipation. "Now you ponies will know the pain of losing everything because of another! You'll learn the helplessness that we changelings felt as you slaughtered us; just as I will now slaughter you all!"

He laughed again, and before giving the final push, he shouted to the heavens; "THIS IS FOR YOU, MOTHER!!"

He bellowed like  monster as his eyes and mouth emitted bright white light; he poured his whole being except his physical body into the attack, and the beam advanced faster and faster; Apple Bloom was unable to stop it.

"No!" She cried, trying to press forward, her left arm still dead and useless, and Goku and Vegeta unable to get back up.

She couldn't let this be the end; this couldn't be how it was all going to go. But she had no energy left; in fact, she only panicked more when she realized she was no longer in her Rainbow Power form. She had used all of the energy from the transformation to stop the beam, and now she as trying to stop a soul weapon with a mere Kamehameha wave. 

It looked like this was really the end. 

At least, that's what she thought, until she felt an arm wrap around her waist from behind. The feeling was gentle, and yet powerful all at once, and when she turned her head, she saw Goten, back up and in action; his Super Saiyan energy swirling about him as he brought his right hand to bear under her's; their palms forming the sign for a single Kamehameha. He let some of his energy into the attack to slow the beam down, but it still advanced ever so surely. It wouldn't be long before it touched down on Equestria's surface.

"Goten..." She grunted to him, trying to keep her energy going with his. "I can't hold it back...I'm out of energy...."

"I noticed.." He said, turning his head to her; his nose touching her muzzle. "So I'm going to give you some of mine."

Before Apple Bloom could ask how, Goten pressed his Super Saiyan lips onto her own set and kissed her deeply. She could feel his intense energy transferring into her, and giving her just enough to power back into Rainbow Power state. 

Their lips separated, and Goten smiled at her. "Let's do this!"

She nodded and smiled back before they both turned their heads to the task at hand; their hands thrusting forward to shoot out a massive single Kamehameha. Sapphic's attack slowed to a near stop at the added and rejuvenated power.

"No! I won't let you do this!" The changeling king shouted, his life force waning. 

The beams struggled, but Sapphic's still inched forward like a snail. Goten and Apple Bloom continued to fire their beam, but it wasn't stopping the attack.

"It was a good try Goten..." Apple Bloom offered. "I love you..."

Goten grunted as he continued to pour his ki outwards "I love you too..."

"It's all over now!" Sapphic howled in victory.

Sapphic suddenly sensed another power level from his side, and before he knew who it was, the being's voice answered for him. 

"Masenko, ha!!!" Piccolo yelled, shooting his attack at Sapphic to try and give the lovers below an edge.

The masenko beam hit, and exploded against Sapphic, causing him to lose his focus long enough for Apple Bloom and Goten to give everything they had in one final push. The duo howled defiance as their Lover's Kamehameha forced Sapphic's Soul beam back rapidly.

Sapphic regained control just before he was completely overpowered. he Kamehameha was just about at his fingertips.

"No! You can't beat me! I'm the strongest being in the universe!!"

At that, Whis coughed casually with a look of slight annoyance, and Sapphic lost it; his energy vanished, gone in the blink of an eye as the massive beam swallowed his body whole.

"No...I...lost...? Hooo...." 

* * *

Everything was white when Sapphic opened his eyes again. He jerked into a standing position, and looked around wildly, seeing nothing but white forever long. When he turned his head again, he saw the blue man with the scepter, standing there looking at him with a strange smile. That same chill went all over Sapphic as he locked eyes with the stranger.

He looked to where the being he believed they had called Whis was motioning, and saw Apple Bloom, no longer in Rainbow Power mode...heck, she wasn't even in her anthro body. She was in her normal pony form once more, and looking right at Sapphic.

It was that instant Sapphic realized he too had been returned to normal; his exoskeleton was back, as were his clear wings and his once missing arm. His injuries were gone, and he felt no pain at all. He then noticed Apple Bloom as well had not even a scrape on her.

What was going on now...?




> Sapphic's Story
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What is the meaning of this...?" Sapphic cautiously asked of Whis as he stared at him with weary eyes.

"I must admit, I'm a might bit confused as well, Whis..." Apple Bloom added.

Whis smiled and gave a little chuckle.

"Allow me to clear it up for you. Sapphic, you're on death's doorstep, and Apple Bloom; you are unconscious in Goten's arms right now. Does that clear things up?"

Sapphic grunted a bit at the mention that he was dead, or at the best, dying. He felt no jolt in his heart, however, and no even a pit in his gut.

Apple Bloom looked all around at the infinite whiteness; the place, where ever it was, reminded her of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber back on Earth. The vastness of places like this still overwhelmed her greatly. As she looked around, her eyes fell on Sapphic, who was shaking a bit as he looked down at his hands, as seeing them for the first time. The look in his eyes was...hard to pinpoint.

"Hey, Sapphic." She said, getting his attention. "Since we're here, I've been wondering something..."

"What?" He asked her, not truly caring to much what she wanted to know.

"What in the hay was goin' though your head when you decided blowin' up Equestria was a good idea?" She blurted, her southern accent thickening a bit as she did so.

"I couldn't let you win." He simply stated. "I couldn't let a mere pony defeat me just like the princesses defeated my mother. I wouldn't stand for you to have the victory twice."

"So instead of surrendering or something, you decide killing everything is the answer? Yourself and your changelings included?"

The once great tyrant whirled to snarl at the young mare; his emerald eyes burning with a passion she hadn't noticed before.

"And let you kill me even with my hands in the air?!" He shouted. "To have you execute me regardless and then hunt down my brothers and sisters just like before?! To have you kick me while I'm down just like Celestia did?!"

Apple Bloom looked more confused than anything else by the shout. What was he talking about?

Sapphic growled. "Don't look at me like your dumb, pony! You were alive when the whole Canterlot fiasco happened! You know what went on afterwards; what the princesses did!"

She shook her head slowly. "Sapphic, I was a filly when the whole thing in Canterlot happened; Applejack, nor anypony else told me anything about what happened after..."

Realizing this was true, Sapphic stood straight up again, and his eyes softened a bit as he looked down at what should be the floor. Thesudden downcast expression threw the mare completely off from his usual high and mighty posture.

"I guess it doesn't matter...I'm going to die anyway, so you may as well know the reasons for what has transpired this day.." He said quietly.

Apple Bloom listened as her ears perked up a bit to catch his explanation.

* * *

After my mother, Queen Chrysalis, was defeated in Canterlot by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, she and the few changelings of our hive returned wounded to our lands. The battle had not been too arduous, but it had been enough to dwindle the battle capable drones she had under her disposal. 

When she retuned, she told all of us that we would have to move on, and get as far away from Equestria as possible, lest we incur some sort of punishment from the rulers of the land. Before we could really start our journey, however, the royal army and Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had already found us.

My mother fought hard, battling off not only a multitudeof pony military, but even dueling with the princesses themselves. But the love she had acquired from Prince Shining Armor was fading with each attack she made, and the ponies began to gain the upper hand in the battle.

"Flee, my children!" Mother had shouted. "Flee and get away from here! Go now and live to see another sunrise!"

It was that moment, the entire hive split into fragments; mother cut her connection to them all except for me, and tossed me as a child across her back, and making for an escape. 

Celestia and Luna gave chase to us, and eventually cornered us on a mountainside ridge when my mother no longer had the energy to fly. 

"Chrysalis!" Celestia had said; her voice regal yet full of disdain. "For your transgressions against my people, I have no choice but to remove the threat of the changelings from this world for good! You have terrorized us, and tried to usurp our leadership from under us, and used countless subjects of mine as mere food sources! These crimes cannot stand, and I hereby sentence you to Tartarus for all of eternity!"

Luna jumped forth first, but my mother had just enough strength left in her to knock the princess of the night out cold. Unfortunately for that idea, it left her completely defenseless, and Celestia moved to make her final judgement.

"Celestia..." My mother had begged while I cowered not far from them. "Please...surely...my people deserve a lesser fate than what you are planning...they are only following my orders...you may kill me...but do not harm my children...please, Celestia..."

"I wish I could do such a thing." he alicorn had simply replied without thinking it. "But you and your people are a danger to all of us, and we cannot trust any of you. It is safer for my subjects that I eliminate the threat of al changelings instead."

"So much...for friendship...and tolerance..." Mother spat out in a final defiant statement.

Celestia raised into the sky, and as she gathered energy for what I believe was the Spirit Bomb, I ran to my dying mother's side. I knew not what I could do to help her, but she just assured me it all be alright as Celestia finally launched her attack.

I acted on pureinstinct as the Bomb drew closer, and tried to use my magic to push it away and save my mother; the pressure was too much, and just the attempt nearly killed me. I remember my mother doing some sort of spell just before the Spirit Bomb hit and detonated. I was engulfed in her magic, and as she was incinerated by the blast, I was somehow...taken elsewhere.

I awoke in a place unfamiliar, but very similar to your Equestria. I later learned the place was called Earth. For a few years, I lived out all alone, and tried to stay out of the way of any strangers that I thought might do me harm. The humans were not as much of a shock to me as they might have been, being that I myself was a biped. The true shock was the very way they lived their lives; big buildings, noisy vehicles, and horrible propaganda and hatred. 

I did not need to feed on love like my brethren, but it still would've helped my rumbling stomach to have some nice emotions to eat; this Earth and it's inhabitants were far too hateful to each other t really be of any use for that. 

A few more years passed, and eventually, by way of sensing strong emotion, I came to find a place I suppose you know now as Goku's home on Mt. Paus. Young Gohan had just been born, and the love those two felt for that little child was incredible. I tried not to be too greedy or conspicuous as I fed off their emotions each day and night, staying close to their home in a small makeshift hut.

One day, when I came back to feed on the family again, I saw a rater odd, small woman floating around on a crystal ball. Her name was Baba; a witch who could show things that were going on elsewhere in the world, and even, though I didn't know at the time, other dimensions. Goku needed to see some kind of disaster so he could react to it, and as Baba left the place, I got the idea in my head that maybe I could see what was happening to my siblings back on Equestria with her help. 

I followed the witch back to her home, which frightened me greatly, what with all it's medieval architecture and what not. After traversing her large abode, she stumbled across me. 

"Hm? Who are you?" She asked me. "What are you doing in my home?"

"I'm sorry, I just saw what you did for that family back on the mountain, and I was just..um...just wondering if...

"Wondering what, young one?" 

"I...was wondering if you could help me too...?"

The witch was much kinder than she looked, even if she was irritable. She took me to her chambers where she had me look into her crystal ball as she performed her lengthy incantation. Once the image came through, my still very innocent eyes were assaulted by violence, bloodshed, and merciless slaughter. 

The ponies were hunting down everyone of my siblings and killing them in the most grotesque ways. Indeed, I suppose they had a right to be angry with my mother for her plans...but she was only trying to help her subjects, just like Celestia had done by killing her. But my brothers and sisters were no parts of the mastermind now; they were just scared changelings, trying to survive in a world that hated and wanted each of them destroyed....

I watched them kill so many before Baba turned her crystal ball off, knowing my young eyes should never have seen such gruesome things. She comforted me, and told me that sometimes hatred was a strong manipulator for violent acts such as what I had seen; a huge reason that prejudice and unfair punishment was dished out...

As I grew a little older, I grew a sort of hatred of my own inside of me; a hatred for the ones who had nearly made my race extinct. The ponies had shown no mercy to my family, and if I ever got the chance, I would show no mercy to them. I decided at a young age, that I would make them all pay and feel the pain they had caused me and my species. I would show them what it felt like to be hunted down and exterminated, and see how they liked it.

Over the years, I learned to disguise myself as a human; taking on many forms throughout my life. I attended school, and even made some short term friendships. One bond in particular was a young woman named Nicole...

I suppose...I suppose I fell in love with her. We were together for so many years, and...they were so wonderful, I even almost forgot my ambition to destroy the ponies of Equestria. Why would I need to when I could start anew with the beautiful young woman.

I had planned on showing her my true form one night; if you're going to be together, you should be truthful, right? Well, I would never get the chance.

Some jealous bastard from her past had learned of me, and how successful we'd been as a couple. I walked in on him trying to...to...to desecrate her...to violate her and harm her. I went wild. I ripped the man to shreds and in my anger...I revealed my true form...

In the middle of the blood-soaked apartment, I stood as I really looked before Nicole. The only look I saw in her eyes...was pure fear. The fear was quickly replaced with hatred; hatred for my monsterous appearance, for my evil deed I had just performed. I had protected her, and that was how she repaid me. 

I learned then, that she never really loved me at all...all those years, she was in love with my human shell, and not the me underneath...

It brought back the thoughts of prejudice against my kind back in Equestria; it dredged up long forgotten pain from the depths of my soul, and rekindled the fire of vengeance in my heart. Humans were no better than ponies; they were just as spiteful and biased against what they couldn't understand; against those of us who were different from them.

I left her there, and I never looked back; never again attempted to form bonds with others. They were all fakes anyway. Friendship was a falsity in that world; humans were disgusting creatures just like the equines were.

I spent the next decade raining myself, and when I needed to, I took on a disguise to train in martial arts schools that humans attended, and even fell under the tutelage of a man named Jackie Chun for a short while. He taught me to control my inner energy that they called ki, and I mastered it quickly.

I was preparing myself for complete and utter vengeance upon the ponies for what they did to my people, and  needed to be at my strongest. Because of my saiyan heritage, every training session made me leaps and bounds stronger, and soon I had an immense amount of power. After twelve years, I finally was ready.

The only obstacle now, was how I would get to Equestria. I looked through every type of way to get to the place where ponies ruled as the dominant species, but nothing serious or possible ever came up. Equestria didn't really exist to these people, and their records showed no true way of getting there.

That is...until I learned of the Dragon Balls. 

Seven mystical orbs that could grant the user any wish they desired, and I made it my life's mission to find them. 

But each time I thought I'd get my chance, I'd find out that they'd been used by non other than Goku and his friends to repair whatever mistakes the buffoons made to their pathetic planet! Year after year I waited, and I decided it was time I just took them by force one day. But that happened to be the day that Majin Buu started terrorizing the Earth...

Goku was far too strong to be defeated by me at this point, and I decided now was not the best time afterall. Seeing him transform into a Super Saiyan 3 the fight Buu over West City was amazing, and gave me the desire to become just as strong, if not stronger than that. Thanks to my saiyan blood and my changeling magic, I would very soon...

Majin Buu destroyed the Earth, and me along with it. I never made t to Otherworld, though, because the line of souls was far too long, and by the time it even came close to me being judged by King Yemma, I was revived when they wished everyone back with the very Dragon Balls I had been seeking.

I suppose since I still had not done evil yet, I was considered good enough to be brought back to life. My saiyan heritage mixed with my natural affinity for magic used my death to bolster my power a hundred fold. It wasn't at Goku's level yet, but it was close, and for the next few years, I trained until I finally reached that level.

I was surpassed yet again, however, when Beerus, the God of Destruction came to Earth, and demanded to fight the Super Saiyan God. Just my luck, that happened to be Goku. I wondered why I couldn't achieve this level of Super Saiyan as they could; I knew of my heritage, and of my father, but I was so strong and yet could not undergo the transformation. 

I later learned it was because I was a half-breed of a species that was not similar enough to saiyans. Human half-saiyans could do it because of the species being so similar, but my mother, though a shape-sifter, was still a changeling, and my father was a saiyan; not similar at all aside from sapience.

After a few more years, I eventually reached the level of power where I was on par with Goku, even with all his new god power. I had been keeping close enough tabs n him to know that for certain, and even I myself was impressed by progress. 

Getting the Dragon Balls would still prove to be difficult though, so I needed to find a way to get them before Goku needed them for some silly mistake he made again. I would need help with this however, and that's when I formed the Brotherhood of the Dragon Balls.

I won't bore you with how I recruited each one, but I will say they all had interesting pasts. I played upon their greed and weakness and thirsts for destruction and mayhem, and got them to do my bidding. I was on my way to deal with Goku while the Brotherhood hunted the Dragon Balls down, but as I was on my way to Mt. Paus, I spotted young Trunks making his way there.

I'd seen the boy interact with Goku and his family enough to know they trusted him completely, and I'd seen enough of him to know exactly how he acted.

I followed him to the home of Goku and overheard his conversation with Chi Chi about the current situation. Once he exited, I trailed him a few miles away and then I struck. He fought hard, but he was no match for me at all, and I easily overpowered him, trapping him inside one of my pods so the real Trunks wouldn't upset my rouse. I stole his jacket, and pulled some of his other clothes from his capsules to disguise myself, and morphed into him.

I was sure Goku would be looking for the Dragon Balls to help you and your silly plight, and so as added insurance that I would not fail this time, I used both the Brotherhood and you and Goku to gather the mystical balls for me.

You know the rest after that...

* * *

Apple Bloom looked at him intently, absorbed in his tae as he explained how he had come to be so hateful. 

"I had my revenge, and even avenged my mother by ending the life of her killer, Celestia." He said. "I had achieved some measure of vengeance...but..."

He looked as though he had just realized something as his eyes drifted downward. 

"But it was empty...that feeling of loss...losing my mother...and so many of my siblings...still lingered..."

"Sapphic..." She finally said, taking a cautious step towards him. "I know how it feels to lose something important to you--"

"What do you know of true loss?" He suddenly said, his eyes going to meet hers; they were not harsh, but contemplative. "You only lost select members of your family...I nearly lost my entire species! And now I've lost everything!"

She took another step forward, not looking away from the former tyrant's face; her own expression a bit softer than it had been before.

"I think I know a small fraction of how that feels thanks to you."

He moved to respond, but stopped himself. He had achieved his revenge alright. He'd made the ponies feel pain and massive loss just as he had. Now, one of the many affected was standing before him, trying to empathize with him.

"Then you indeed know my pain now...or at least, some of it." He decided to say. "I guess I can die peacefully knowing that that is a small comfort..."

She shook her head disapprovingly. "Sapphic, I do understand how you feel; and I definitely understand your rage over whathappened. But you have to realize that not all of us are merciless killing machines...I had no idea Celestia and her royal guard had done such awful things to you and your people. I always thought you'd all been defeated at Canterlot."

She closed the distance between them and looked straight up at him as he looked straight down at her. 

"But...doing the same thing they did to you as revenge...? What really does that accomplish?" She continued. "All it does is create a cycle of hatred that never ends. A spinning wheel of revenge and more revenge for the revenge taken by another. I know I wanted to kill you before; but now that I think on it, that was wrong too. Your family will probably want revenge on me now..."

"And you'll wipe them out just as you have me, I assume." He mumbled.

Apple Bloom shook her head swiftly. "No. Look, what you guys did all those years ago was wrong, but the way I see it, Princess Celestia was wrong too. You and many other changelings had nothing to do with the Canterlot fiasco, and were unjustly punished. That doesn't sit right with me."

She looked down for a brief moment before continuing. 

"I know a lot of ponies are gonna want the changelings that are left exterminated for what you and them have done...but...the way I see it now is that they were doing what they thought was right. They were never shown compassion, so all they know is war and violence...maybe...maybe with your mother's and your own influence gone...maybe, just maybe...I can show them what else life has to offer other than endless revenge and suffering..."

Sapphic looked at her with a stunned expression, and Whis smiled brightly. 

"You...mean..."

"I won't make the same mistake Princess Celestia did. I'll make sure your remaining family isn't harmed...I'll make sure they can experience the other side of ponykind...the side of friendship..."

"I'd say that's a wonderful idea, young Apple Bloom." Whis interjected. 

Sapphic looked in bewilderment at themare before him; this was a pony. The very species he had known to be nothing but brutish and violent towards his kind. He had lived his whole life with the mission to annihilate all of them; but this little pony was different. Apple Bloom wanted what he had wanted at the very start; peace and acceptance. No prejudice. No hatred. No endless cycle of vengeance. Just...friendship for his kind.

He placed his hand to his head in a remorseful gesture at the realization. She was making it all sound so simple to fix, and his own rage and hatred had made him what he hated afterall; prejudiced. He had truly become what he hated, and it was time to break the cycle once and for all.

"Thank...thank you.." He managed.

"You shouldn't thank me." Apple Bloom replied. "I ended your life...and now only a few of your changelings are left...I've done just as much harm as you...but I promise; I'll do what I can to fix it."

Sapphic just nodded, the whole situation weighing down on him. His mission had been one of hypocrisy, and now he had paid the price for it. He had been merciless and cold just as he had seen the ponies be. He had just added to cycle that should never have been started in the first place. 

He only wished he had realized this before he had caused so much heartache.

"Don't let too much weigh on your conscious, Prince Sapphic." Whis told him. "Most of the damage you caused will be reversed once Piccolo creates Equestria's Dragon Balls. You can go to Hell with a bit of a clearer mind knowing this, I hope."

Apple Bloom blinked; Piccolo was going to create a set of Dragon Balls for Equestria? That was great news; everything could be fixed that way. All of the destruction Sapphic and his changelings had caused would be reversed, and everypony would be ok.

Sapphic was a little shocked by this news as well, but smirked a bit. 

"I don't know if I should be upset all my hard work is about to be undone, or relieved that my addition to the timeline of hatred will be erased." He chuckled.

He then had a thought.

"You don't suppose...you could bring me back...?"

"Well..." Apple Bloom started.

"I think you have a lot to mull over in Hell, before we start thinking about that." Whis answered for her.

Sapphic supposed that was correct; he should do the time for the crime, he supposed. On the bright side...he just might see his mother down there. He didn't want to think that way of her, but he was being realistic here.

"Maybe after some time...you can come back to the living, Sapphic." Apple Bloom offered.

"Thank you again, Apple Bloom." The changeling prince said. "You are an...interesting pony...may we cross paths on better terms one day..."

The both of them were blinded by a bright light emanating from Whis' body, as he grabbed Sapphic by the shoulder.

 


> A New Era
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom's eyes fluttered open slowly and the very first thing she saw was Goten's concerned face staring down at her. His look of worry turned to one of joy and relief when she gave him a tired smile.

The half-saiyan picked up his little pony squeezed her tightly against his chest.

"You used up so much energy your anthro transformation wore off too." Goten told her. "I thought I had lost you."

"No way." She chuckled, enjoying the warmth from his body. "Just thought a nice little nap would do me some good after a day like today."

The couple giggled and Goten placed the mare back down on her hooves as gently as he could. She wobbled a bit, now having to get used to four legs once again. Hopefully, this whole transition between forms wouldn't always be this way.

Vegeta, Goku, and Piccolo all stepped towards the two; Luna being held in Piccolo's arms as her leg was still damaged. 

Goku was back to his normal state, and wore a proud smile so wide, Apple Bloom thought his face might rip; it as a comical scene to see. 

"You did it, Apple Bloom!" He cheered. "I knew you had it in you!"

"Indeed thou hast." Luna agreed, flashing a smile in the yellow mare's direction. "Thou hath saved all of Equestria from a fate most gruesome. Thou art truly a hero, Apple Bloom."

The namekian holding the alicorn nodded and smiled in agreement. Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest with a smirk and a curt laugh.

"Not bad for a small fry." He said.

Apple Bloom started to blush at all the praise being directed her way; they were all calling her a hero and a savior. 

"Ah, shucks." She said, kicking at the ground with a foreleg. "It was nothin'. Just doin' what needed to be done."

"And doing it magnificently." Whis' voice carried from above.

The group looked up to see the blue deity float slowly down as he held his scepter at his side; a small smile present on even his features as he touched down to look at each of them. His eyes fell on Apple Bloom after a few moments, and he smiled slightly wider before speaking.

"You not only saved Equestria, young mare," He said. "you saved a soul."

Goku and the others looked confused, but Apple Bloom knew what he was referring to; she had helped Sapphic see reason, and shown him though words that hatred was no good to anyone. All it was was a tool to be used to write in the next chapter of a cycle of vengeance; a cycle she herself looked to put an end to.

The mysterious Whis looked around him at the assembled. "I'd say you've all earned something special today, Z Fighters."

He waved his hand through the air as if to address them all. For a second, it looked as though nothing had happened, until Luna gasped as her leg snapped back into place, fully healed. Piccolo put her down, and sure enough, she was once more able to stand. 

Goten's hole in his chest was gone too; completely intact as if nothing had even touched it. His joy grew dramatically as he realized his halo was gone. He was alive again.

Goku and Vegeta too no longer had their halos; Whis had granted them life and healing for their deeds this day.

Vegeta suddenly looked as though he had an epiphany. Turning to the blue deity, he stepped forward.

"Whis..." He started. "My son, Trunks...he was here as well...can you...can you bring him back to life too?"

"I did." Whis simply answered. "There he is right there."

He pointed behind the Z Fighters and as they all turned around, sure enough, Trunks was flying towards them.

"Trunks! Trunks you're ok!" Goten shouted out to his incoming friend.

As the half-saiyan landed, he was tackled to the ground by Goten, who gave him a huge hug as they both landed with a hard thud on the ground. Trunks' face turned red with embarrassment at his best friend's display of affection, and he awkwardly hugged him back before squirming out of the embrace. Apple Bloom could only giggle as she watched the sight unfold.

Once Trunks was finally back on his feet, Vegeta walked forward. The two stared at each other for a moment, neither one saying anything. Then the saiyan prince extended his hand as if to shake his son's. Trunks took the hand hesitantly, and was rapidly puled into another embrace by his normally hard-headed father. 

He didn't know what to do; this was the first time his father had ever full on embraced him like this.

"Dad...are you ok?" HE asked cautiously.

"Yes, Trunks." He answered, not letting go of his son. "I am ok. I'm more than ok now."

He let go finally, and looked his son in the face with a very serious look. "Never, ever, let your guard down like that again, boy! You should die like a warrior next time! Be ready for anything, like I've always taught you!"

"Uh...ok, dad, no problem." Trunks nervously laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

Whis walked to stand beside Piccolo as the group watched the father and son reunite. 

"I'd love to stay and bring everyone back from the dead, but I have a schedule to keep to." He said. "I suggest you get to work on those Dragon Balls, Piccolo."

The namekian gave him a look, but scoffed when he remembered who he was. This was the master of the God of Destruction afterall; he probably had known Piccolo's plan before he did.

"Yeah, I'll get to work on them as soon as possible. Thanks for the help." 

"My pleasure. I just wish I had time to sample some of the cuisines before I go." He stepped away from Piccolo ad tapped his staff on the ground to gain the attention of everyone present. "Alright, now. Goku, you and everyone who is coming back to our dimension needs to come over here now. It's time to leave."

The saiyan's face fell a little a this news; he had indeed made a deal with Whis, and it was time to make good on it.

He walked over to Whis who waited patiently for anyone else. Vegeta walked over as well, ready to head back to Earth and to Bulma; Trunks followed close behind him.

Apple Bloom felt a pain in her heart as she realized Goten might be leaving her to go back home. She looked up at the half-saiyan with pleading eyes, and he looked down at her with gentle reassuring ones. He knelt down and took her head in his hands.

"Don't you worry, Apple Bloom." He told her. "I'm not going anywhere."

He gave her a quick kiss before standing back up and repeating his last statement to his father.

"Hm? Are you sure Goten?" Goku asked, already knowing the answer. 

"Yes, dad." He said. "I'm going to stay here on Equestria...with Apple Bloom. Tell mom I'm sorry, but...my place is here with her. I love her, and I could never leave her no matter what."

Goku smiled as he listened. "Ok, son. Take care of her, and treat her good. And take care of yourself as well."

Goten nodded and smiled, waving a good-bye to the three of them.

Vegeta looked at his son as he stood beside him; he noticed the distressed look on Trunks' face as he heard Goten's statement. Trunks obviously did not want to leave his best friend since childhood behind; the two were practically connected at the hip, and had a bond not even Kakarot and he would ever posses. 

"Trunks." He said, grabbing his son's attention. "If you wish to stay, I will not stop you. Besides, Kakarot's son might need some help dealing with the other villains this world might offer up."

Trunks laughed and gave his dad one last hug, which Vegeta returned with a single arm and a small smile.

"Thank you, father!" He said, running to join Goten and Apple Bloom next to Piccolo and Luna. 

As he ran he turned back and gave a final wave. "Good-bye!"

"Farewell, son." Vegeta replied, not loudly enough for anyone to hear as he watched his only child leave to make his own way.

"Well, if we're all decided then..." Whis pressed. 

Goku nodded. "Yea. We're ready to go."

"Splendid." He said. "We have lots of God of Destruction training to do."

Whis tapped his scepter onto the ground, and the trio was engulfed in a long beam of light, and vanished with it, no trace of them left. 

The remaining Z Fighters stared into the sky at the waning beam; each one holding a confident smile on their faces. After the light was completely gone, Luna turned to Piccolo with a slightly curious look. 

"So..these 'Dragon Balls'...what are they?" She asked him.

Piccolo sighed. "Well, to make a long story short, they're seven magical orbs that can be used to grant wishes. I planned on using them to bring back Sapphic's victims and restore Equestria."

"Really?" The princess of the night exclaimed. "You have the ability to create such items?"

"Yes, but...I need a certain material t do so before hand..."

Luna put a hoof to her chin in thought and after a moment, had an idea. "I think I know what you can use..."



1 YEAR LATER


"Come on, Apple Bloom!" Goten called out for his wife as he stood in the doorway to their home. "We don't wanna miss the dragon!"

Apple Bloom, in her anthro form, cam down the steps at a half rush, trying to finish getting ready for the big day. It had finally been a full year, and Piccolo had made it public knowledge that the Dragon Balls were now finished, and that it was time to fix what went wrong a year ago. 

The time had flown since the battle with Sapphic; in that short span of time, Apple Bloom and Goten had gotten married and built a home together. They'd rebuilt Canterlot and Ponyville as well, and Princess Luna decreed that a statue of Apple Bloom and Goten be erected in Canterlot square in memory of the battle.

Luna herself had taken on the weighty responsibility of raising the sun and moon each day and night, just as her sister had when she had been banished to the moon decades ago. The task had been rough on the princess at first, but over the year, she had learned how to control it. 

The day was sunny, and the birds chirped in the sky as the slight breeze wafted through the air. It was a perfect day for the arrival of Equestria's own Eternal Dragon.

Apple Bloom finally joined her handsome husband at the door, and they walked outside into the day to head to the town square. Ponyville was abuzz with life as the news of the Dragon Balls had reached each home; ponies gathered to see their loved ones again after what must have felt too long or them. Apple Bloom herself was excited to see her siblings once more. She couldn't wait to show them her and Goten's precious new addition as well; the little anthropomorphic baby colt she carried in her arms looked out at all the ponies with curious and excited green eyes. His red fur reminded Apple Bloom of Big Macintosh, who would have been the little guy's uncle. His mane and tail however were black, whereas she remembered her big brother's as being more orange in color. 

As they made their way along, they heard a familiar voice call out to them.

"Goten! Apple Bloom!" Trunks shouted across the way, running towards them and waving.

"Hey, Trunks!" Goten replied, bringing his best friend into a bro-hug. 

"Today's the big day, huh?" Trunks said. "Piccolo finally got the Dragon Balls finished."

"Sure did." Apple Bloom confirmed. "It's been exactly one year just like he said it would. I expected it to be a few days more, but he was right on the money with his work prediction."

"Sure was." Goten agreed, booping his lovely wife on the nose; she scrunched her muzzle and playfully pushed his face away. "Speaking of a year, it's been almost that long between you and that Lyra gal, eh?"

Trunks' face became flushed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Haha, yeah, it'll be a year in another month. I swear she only likes me for my hands though."

"Nah, if she was only into you physically, she would've found another stallion by now." Apple Bloom offered. "I reckon she actually does like ya, Trunks."

The purple-haired half-saiyan just smiled embarrassedly. He stayed with them as they continued on their path. As they neared the own square, the number of ponies multiplied as everypony was eager and ready to see the rise of the Eternal Dragon.

Pinkie Pie looked back at Apple Bloom and company, and excitedly jumped into the air to give a cheer-filled greeting. "The southern anthro just smiled and waved back at the over-zealous party pony who seemed to make confetti appear wherever she went. 

Apple Bloom noticed that Princess Twilight still wasn't around. It was a shame really; the poor mare had been absolutely broken by seeing her big brother killed like that. She remembered they'd had to put her into the mental institution in Manehatten not long after the battle with Sapphic. Apple Bloom and Pinkie Pie both had hoped se would get better with time, but as it seemed, that was not the case.

Her small bout of sadness was interrupted when the ponies began to cheer at the sight of Princess Luna and Piccolo descending upon the town with what looked to Apple Bloom a set of blue Dragon Balls being levitated by Luna's magic.

The duo waited until the cheers died down to begin speaking.

"Citizens of Equestria;"Luna said in her royal voice. "this day marks the one year anniversary of the day that the great heroes Apple Bloom, Goten, Trunks, Piccolo, Goku, and Vegeta all risked their very existence to save us all from the tyranny of Prince Sapphic."

More cheers erupted from the gathered ponies, and some even turned to shout thank yous at Apple Bloom and the others. This display always made the southern mare go red in the face.

"An now, thanks to the tireless efforts of our world's Guardian, Piccolo, the Dragon Balls have been completed, and it is time to bring home all of our lost friends and family lost one year ago."

Piccolo stepped forward to speak. "There is one hiccup though. Unfortunately, my knowledge of Dragon Balls is a bit limited. I only know what I absorbed from Earth's former Guardian, Kami. His Dragon Balls were only able to grant one wish, and had quite a few restrictions on them. Unfortunately, those restrictions apply to my own set as well."

He looked straight at Apple Bloom an her family, stepping through the crowd of ponies to speak with them personally.

"Apple Bloom;" He began. "I'm sorry. I tried to make a set like Dende's, but I jut don't have the knowledge. Even with the bark of the Tree of Harmony making up the Balls themselves, I could only let through enough of the Eternal Dragon's power to grant one wish every year. This means if we wish back those killed by Sapphic and his followers, we won't be able to wish back Sweetie Belle and your family for a whole 'nother year. Are you ok with this?"

Apple Bloom's face fell at this news, and yet somehow, she had expected it. BEcause she had expected it though, she had prepared herself for it to be a reality. She wasn't going to let her selfish wishes take precedence over what needed to be done first. 

She looked up at the Guardian of Equestria with a sad smile. "I reckon I've waited this long, what's one more year?"

Piccolo smiled, and ruffled Apple Bloom's mane, making her son laugh at how silly mommy's hair looked now. Piccolo took a glance at the infant; if he was going to be anything like his parents, Equestria would never need to fear anything again. 

He turned back and made his way back to the seven blue orbs glowing on the ground; the Dragon Balls were ready.

Putting his hands towards the them, his white cape flowing in the breeze, he shouted the incantation.

"Eternal Dragon! By your name, I summon you forth: Ti-Lung!" 

The sky turned dark as the Dragon Balls glowed brightly with magical energy; the winds picked up, and leaves and loose items began to be thrown around by the wind. In an instant, a long, slender dragon shape emerged, and coiled several times in the air before finally materializing above the town; it's scales were a beautiful aqua, and it's eyes a dark blue as it stared down at it's summoners.

The ponies all watched the massive creature with awe as it spoke.

"You have summoned me; what is your wish?"

Piccolo didn't wait a second longer. "Ti-Lung, I wish for all those killed by Sapphic and his followers to be brought back to life!"

There was a long silent pause as Piccolo started to think he may not have given the dragon enough power. He was relieved when Ti-Lung finally spoke.

"It shall be done."

The chorus of cheers was deafening as ponies threw hats and other items into the air in celebration; hugging each other and dancing around for sheer joy at the miracle that was being performed before their eyes. As Apple Bloom watched, ponies began to materialize before them, and each one seemed to be welcomed whole heartedly by many others. The tearful reunions were enough to make even this tough mare feel a small heartthrob. She nearly cried in happiness when she saw Pinkie reunited with the other Elements minus Twilight and Applejack once again.

After the wish was completed, Ti-Lung spoke again.

"I have brought back every victim except for the ones named Discord and Celestia." 

Luna looked up at Ti-Lung at these words. "But...why not them..?"

"I cannot revive those that were deities or half-deities. I have not the magic to perform such acts." Ti-Lung explained. "You have made your wish. Farewell."

With that, Ti-Lung vanished in a bright light, and the new Dragon Balls shot into the air, and scattered off in seven different directions, not to be used for another year.

Piccolo looked over at Luna, who was looking down at the ground in a saddened state. He walked over and placed a comforting hand on her back.

"I'm sorry, Princess." He told her sincerely.

The alicorn wiped a small tear from her scarred eye, and smiled up at the namekian. "Do not be, Piccolo. Perhaps it is for the best that my sister does not return. Afterall...it is because of our actions in decades past that this entire thing happened. Maybe...maybe with her gone...we can start something new."

"I think we an too." Piccolo agreed.

The duo came up to Apple Bloom's family once more and held a small conversation, before Piccolo brought business up.

"Well, Apple Bloom," He said. "Luna and I are ready to go and negotiate a treaty with the changelings. Will you come with us? It was you that promised them peace, afterall; I think they'd feel much better if you were present at the meeting."

Apple Bloom nodded. "Of course. Just give me one sec."

She turned to Goten and handed their son to him, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Make sure he gets his mid-day bottle this time, alright?" She teased him.

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" Goten chuckled. 

"Nope." She answered, imitating her late brother. "Hehe...I love you, and I'll be back soon."

"Love you too, sweetheart." Goten replied back. 

Apple Bloom waved good-bye to everyone, and took off with Luna and Piccolo across the sky. As they flew, the Guardian of Equestria turned to speak to her.

"So...how does it feel to be a hero?" He asked her in a joking manner, knowing she hated being called that.

"Oh shush." She laughed. "Y'all know I don't like that. I'm just a pony like everypony else; doing my job."

Piccolo smiled; she was no ordinary pony at all, but she was humble about her accomplishments, and that was a good sign for the future. 

"Well, Misses Everyday Pony," He teased. "I hope you keep up the good work."

She smiled and laughed as the trio soared across the waters, headed for the changeling homeland. She knew that today would be first day of a new era; an era without hatred or revenge; an era of peace...an era...of friendship.


The End?