Yona has a new passion that involves smashing: wrestling in the ring.
"Fight like a title holder,/Stand like a champion,/Live like a warrior,/And never let 'em break you down!" -The Interrupters, 'Title Holder'
A new masked wrestler is capturing the attention and the hearts of the audience in Ponyville Extreme Wrestling. She’s powerful, skilled, popular, and....a yak? Behind the mask is Yona, the beloved yak of the School of Friendship. However, Yona is starting to worry that her passion for smashing in the wrestling ring might not sit well with the school or her friends.
“G’evening everypony and everycreature to the most extreme wrestlin’ show in all of Ponyville! Let’s get ready for Ponyville Extreme Wrestling!” one of the announcers spoke over the speaker. “I’m Jim Reins and here with me as always is my co-commentater, Kerry Lawler!”
“It’s going to be another great show for P.E.W. tonight, JR,” Kerry added, “You can feel the electricity in the air tonight with this excited crowd!”
The entire arena was full of cheering ponies, dragons, gryphons, hippogryphs, and so many other creatures excited to see a night full of professional wrestling. Throughout the crowd, fans were representing their favorite brawler, hoping to see them claim victory in the empty ring that waited in the center.
“Ya got that right!” JR agreed, “Tonight we have a few big matches going on in the A-Show tonight! We have Silversun facin’ off against Wolfmother. We have Thin Lizzy comin’ back into the ring to take revenge against De La Soul after that humiliatin’ defeat last time. And, our main attraction for the night; Minor Threat is going to try and take the title away from the undefeated Queen!”
Kerry agreed, “Quite a treat of a show for everycreature in the building tonight! How much you want to bet that Minor Threat is going to take the full force of Queen’s famous Hammer To Fall?”
“No doubt from me! Few have trotted away from the Hammer To Fall and lived to tell the tale!”
“We will all have to wait to see, as we have a few amazing B-Show matches before to wet our appetites for the main spectacle!” Kerry said as he looked down at his papers. “In fact, our first match is a newcomer for the main ring!”
Elsewhere, in a nearby darkened hallway, a figure was watching the wrestling ring in the arena and waited. She had a hoof touching the wall next to her. Her breathing was slowed and controlled, as if she had to remember how to breathe to stay calm. A soft whistle was coming from their lips.
“She’s a big bruiser, weighing in at a hundred twenty-five kilos, hails from the great white north, and is here to bring the pain!” Kerry directed his attention towards the same hallway that the figure was standing in, “Let’s hear it for Mastodon!”
Quickly pulling her mask over her head, the figure rushed out of the hallway and into the limelight of the arena. Upon entering, her mask lit up with all of the lights shining down upon her. The mask’s red and gold stood out against the yak’s brown coat. Her horns poked through the mask at the top, the same way as her hair braids fell below the mask. A bow was tied onto a horn, giving a cute flair to the yak’s appearance. As the wrestler rushed to the ring, cheers and applause filled the air, causing a bit of excitement for the yak. As she stood in the ring for a brief moment, her worries left her. Perhaps her first match would go well.
JR interrupted her thoughts, “And, in this corner, you know them and you love ta hate them! Hailin’ from the endless corn fields of central Equestria, it’s Slipknot!”
Out from the opposite side of the arena, another figure rushed the ring. It was an earth pony wearing an all black bodysuit that seemed to cling to their muscular build, hiding their coat color. Their mane and tail were a shade of orange while their face was covered in a damaged white mask that most likely was designed to give all onlookers nightmares. Slipknot entered the ring to boos and jeers from the audience, yet they seemed to revel in them.
The referee entered the ring, calling for both wrestlers to come forward to the center. Slipknot, however, seemed to be enjoying the boos from the crowded too much.
“Seems the crowd is not happy to see Slipknot back after what they did to Shonen Knife last week,” JR commented.
“Can you blame them?” Kerry asked, “It was a close match, with Shonen Knife holding strong right up until Slipknot came in and finished up with the signature Vermillion. And let’s not forget all that gloating at the end.”
JR shook his head, “Truly a heel for the ages. It seems that the referee is gettin’ them both to the center.”
Both Mastodon and Slipknot looked at each other with the referee to the side. As the referee spoke, Mastodon wasn’t paying attention. Instead, she was scared. Not so much about the pony in front of her (though the gimmick they had wasn’t helping), but rather it was her stage fright.
She was brought back to the stage as Slipknot took the microphone out of the referee’s hooves and spoke. Their voice was low and gravelly, “Ya might have da strength, but ya don’t have the skill, Mastodon! This will be your first match, as well as your last!”
While Mastodon was frightened by the words, she knew what she had to do. “Slipknot wrong!” Mastodon took the microphone away from her opponent, “In ring, only one who will win match here is Yo-, is Mastodon!”
“Would you look at that, already got some bad blood between the two of them!” Kerry said as the referee directed the two wrestlers to their corners.
“Let’s see if Mastodon can live up to her name and bring down one of the biggest threats in the entire B-Show of P.E.W.,” JR said just as the bell rang, “And that’s the bell!”
With the sound of the bell, Slipknot galloped directly at Mastodon. However, she was briefly froze at the sound. She couldn’t help but almost trip over her own hooves as she tried to rush forward. Despite her momentary stumble, Mastodon also galloped forward. They met near the center of the ring and literally butted heads with one another. Slipknot placed their front limbs on top of Mastodon’s horns. Their heads pushing against one another.
“Ready for yer first match?” Slipknot whispered in a soft, concerned voice. Their voice was still low, but far from the monstrous voice they used just moments ago.
“Mastodon nervous about match,” she replied in the same hushed tone.
“Don’t worry. Jus’ follow mah lead an’ let’s give them all a good show,” Slipknot spoke quietly before pushing Mastodon away.
“Seems that Mastodon isn’t the kind of fighter Slipknot can just push around,” JR spoke.
“That’s right. After all, Mastodon is coming from an unforgiving land, so she can’t be just shoved around the ring,” Kerry agreed, “But I wouldn’t count Slipknot out just yet.”
As the two moved around the ring, keeping their distance for a bit, Slipknot rushed up against the ropes along the ring. They then used the momentum to rush against Mastodon. With a stretched out front limb, they hit Mastodon. With the contact, she went down and hit the mat.
“Ouch! Looks like all that muscle wasn’t enough to stop Slipknot’s clothesline!” JR spoke.
“And the crowd does not like it at all!” Kerry added.
The crowd added on the heat to Slipknot who trotted to the nearest turnbuckle. They raised a hoof up to their ear, soaking in the hatred of the crowd. “Give me all that hate! It fuels me!” they gloated.
Mastodon got back up to her hooves. She was dizzy, but it was to be expected. After all, it comes with the territory of professional wrestling. Quickly shaking her head, she rushed toward the unsuspecting Slipknot. She caught him by surprise, wrapping one of her front limbs around their waist and placed a hoof on their mask. “Sorry about this,” she softly whispered, as she pushed their head down onto the turnbuckle.
“You gotta be kiddin’ me! Not only did Mastodon get right back up after takin' a direct clothesline, but she’s up and going right for Slipknot!” JR stood up out of his seat. “She is not happy!”
Kerry added on, “And right into the turnbuckle! This beast is out for blood!”
Mastodon still gripped onto Slipknot’s mane, careful not to pull on the mask. Despite the mask’s dead-eyes not showing any signs of life, a small voice came from the pony, “Nicely done. Now, remember what’s next?”
Without saying a word, Mastodon nodded. Letting go of the mane and scooting herself and Slipknot back a ways, she wrapped her arms around Slipknot’s waist. She briefly paused for a worried moment, but as she lifted the body upwards, she felt that her opponent was working with her and went through the entire act of throwing Slipknot over herself. The moment Slipknot’s body hit the mat with a loud thud, Mastodon let go and got back on her hooves, and faced her downed opponent.
Kerry excitedly exclaimed, “A release Germane suplex! This is a promising new talent we have right here with Mastodon!”
“Ya got that right! She threw Slipknot around like he was nothin’ but a ragdoll! It’s hard to believe that this is the same Slipknot that took out Ozomatli with a backbreaker!” JR said, “Good Celestia almighty, what does this beast have planned next?”
Mastodon looked out from the ring, she heard the crowd’s cheers from beyond the blinding lights. The sound lifted her up, however she still had a job to do. “Mastodon will end Slipknot’s reign of terror!” she proclaimed as she drew close to her downed opponent. Reaching down, Mastodon grabbed one of Slipknot’s hind legs, stepped over their body and, with their free front limb, grabbed the other hind limb and pulled them both upwards. With this, Slipknot’s body was twisted and had they facing down on the mat.
As the chorus of the audience cheered Mastodon on, the announcers joined in. “Amazing! Mastodon executing a stellar Bosal crab!”
“We might not be able to see Slipknot under that mask, but that’s gotta hurt!”
Letting go, Mastodon stepped off from the hold and absorbed the fanfare from the crowd. She might not have noticed it herself, but a smile was on her face. The energy, the crowd, the fighting all came together and made it an experience she adored.
Looking back at Slipknot, she saw they were attempting to get back on their hooves. “Mastodon won’t let Slipknot get away with sneaky tricks!” She quickly moved to the nearest turnbuckle and climbed to the top. As she stood on top, Mastodon felt as if she was on the very top of Equestria itself. The lights burned down upon her, the cheers echoed for her to slam her opponent before her, and every set of eyes in the arena were fixed on her: she loved it. With a deep breath, Mastodon leaped from the ring post and flew threw the air. Everything seemed to slow down for her, and it was magical.
“She’s comin’ down from the top rope!”
With a thunderous slam, she flattened Slipknot with their back against the mat. To secure them into the pin position, Mastodon quickly moved a hoof under between their hind limbs, forcing them up against the mat.
From seemingly nowhere, the referee appeared and looked down upon the brawlers. He looked down closely at Slipknot’s shoulders before slapping his hoof against the mat. The second his hoof hit, the arena erupted in cheers.
“Amazing! This newcomer came in and managed to bring down the biggest heel in all of P.E.W.’s B-show!”
“This young talent has a lot of promise! Mark my words: Mastodon is gonna be a power t' be reckoned with!”
Mastodon got to her hooves, welcomed by a crowd of new-found fans. She might of been out of breath and her body might have been screaming at her, but none of that mattered.
With Slipknot also standing, the referee took both of their hooves and raised Mastodon’s high. Once again, the crowd cheered and the announcers continued to comment on what they had just seen. In the chaos of the victory, the two wrestlers left the ring and exited the arena as they began to prep for the next match.
In the vacant hallway, the two wrestlers who had just become mortal enemies in the wrestling ring were casually walking side-by-side.
“Great work out there,” Slipknot said with their mask still on. They weren’t trying to hide behind a fake voice this time, but spoke normally with their low voice. “Ya got a lot of promise here in werstlin’. Ah see why they chose ya ta defeat me out there. That crowd loves ya.”
“Thank you,” Mastodon spoke meekly. She was still out of breath after that match.
“So, how did it feel?”
Mastodon had a big smile on her face, “Yak loved it.”
---------------------------------------------
Later that evening, a figure was quietly sneaking through the dormitories of the School of Friendship. The entire school had turned in for the night, even to the point that only a few dimly lit security lights remained on. No creature was supposed to be out past curfew, and this individual knew they would be in a lot of trouble if they were caught.
Carefully, the figure trotted down a familiar hallway. Reaching her dorm’s door, she carefully turned the handle and pushed the door open. The room was dark as they entered and quietly closed the door behind them. They slowly released their grip of the door knob so it wouldn’t make a sound. However, they were surprised by the sudden turning on of a lamp light. Quickly turning around, a blue-coated changeling was sitting at their desk with their front limbs crossed.
“Good evening, Yona,” she spoke with an annoyed tone and expression to match.
“Heh heh, hi Ocellus,” Yona gave a guilty smile as she sheepishly waved.
Ocellus glared daggers at her roommate, “Where were you, Yona?”
The yak came up with a lie, “Yona was out….doing extracaric-....” she paused and tried to pronounce the work again, “extracoric-....“
“Extracurricular activities?” the changeling raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, those! Yona was doing those!”
“That’s not true. No such extracurricular activity goes this late,” the changeling blantly pointed out.
Yona came up with something else, “Cheerleading practice?”
“There was no cheerleading practice today.”
“Studying with Ocellus?”
“I’m Ocellus!” she said loudly before covering her mouth as she caught herself raising her voice.
Yona let out a small laugh at her own silliness.
Ocellus removed the hooves from in front of her mouth, “Yona, what’s going on? You’ve been away spending quite a bit of time away for a bit and making all of us worry.”
Looking Ocellus in the eyes, Yona could tell that her friend was concerned for her. “Ocellus promise not to tell other friends Yona’s secret?”
The changeling nodded. “O-Okay, I promise.”
Reaching into her mane on top of her head, Yona pulled out a red and gold mask. It was the very same mask that Mastodon used in the wrestling ring barely a few hours ago. “Yona wrestles against ponies.”
This surprised Ocellus as she saw the mask’s fabric light up from the desk lamp. “Wrestling? Like, in the ring against those strong and scary ponies with masks and with painful looking attacks?”
“Ocellus knows wrestling?” Yona asked excitedly.
She nodded, “Yeah, and I don’t really like it. The way those ponies and other creatures fight just looks….so scary that I couldn’t imagine watching all that much. But, you actually took part in all of that?”
Yona proudly nodded, “Yona wrestled tonight and Yona won! In the ring, Yona called Mastodon and crowd loves to see Mastodon perform moves!”
“But it’s not safe! You are actually fighting another creature, and in front of an audience at that!”
“But Yona loves it! When Yona in ring, Yona feels at top of the world. When crowd cheers, Yona feels incredible!” Yona started to hop up and down within their dorm room, causing the ground to shake.
Quickly placing the mask aside, Ocellus did her best to get Yona to stop jumping up and down, “Careful, we don’t want to wake anycreature up!” After calming her friend down, she continued, “Yona, I’m just worried that you might get hurt in there. If something were to happen to you, I know all of us would be heartbroken.” Trotting up to Yona, Ocellus raised a hoof up to move one of the yak’s braids. Hiding below the braid were a few bruises. “Yona, you’re hurt!”
“Body might be hurt, but Yona’s pride is strong!” she proclaimed as she flinched away from Ocellus’ hoof.
“Yona, you really shouldn’t be doing this.”
“But Yona love it! Yona does friendship school work, cheerleading, and other stuff, so why Yona not allowed wrestling fun?”
“Because….Because it’s dangerous! And it’s making you more and more exhausted! You fell asleep during Headmare Starlight Glimmer’s lecture yesterday!”
“Yona knows what Yona doing. Yona have been training with fellow wrestlers,” the yak explained as she trotted towards the bottom half of the bunk bed, “Also, Yona thinks Headmare Starlight Glimmer’s lecture already boring.”
Neither remark sat well with the changeling. “I’m just worried about your safety.”
“Yona know. But Ocellus must keep Yona’s secret a secret.”
Ocellus sighed, “Of course. I did promise.”
Yona smiled at her friend, “Thank you, Ocellus. Now Yona need sleep after victory,” Yona managed to say the last part just before falling right onto her bed.
“This isn’t over though. We’re still going to talk about this more later, okay?”
“Yona take Ocellus to wrestling gym tomorrow so friend can see what Yona do,” the yak said an almost mumbling like state as her mouth was against her pillow.
The changeling nodded as she turned off the desk lamp and started to climb up the ladder to her bunk, “That would put me a little more at ease, to see what exactly you do in the wrestling ring. But can I ask you something else; what’s it like being in that wrestling ring?”
The brown yak moved her body to face upwards. A smile appeared on her face as she began to muse, “When Yona have mask on and standing in wrestling ring, Yona feel invincible. With crowd cheering, Yona feel like nothing can stop Yona.”
“But aren’t you scared?” Ocellus asked as she settled into her bed.
“Of course Yona scared. That why when Yona about to enter ring, Yona touch hallway wall. It remind Yona of what around her and what Yona doing,” the yak explained, “Yona also whistle, because Ocellus shared that whistling helps friend when scared.”
Ocellus was silent as she listened.
“Fear is not enemy. Fear makes Yona want to move, and fear gives Yona strength. Yona want to be best Yona possible.”
The next morning, the entire Friendship School was getting ready for the day the best way they knew how, with a healthy breakfast before classes. The cafeteria was busy with wide awake creatures getting their morning meal. However, there was one yak that seemed like she was more sleeptrotting than anything else. Thankfully, she had Ocellus there to act as a guide for the tired Yona.
“Come on, Yona. You’re almost at the table,” Ocellus said, leading the way.
“Everything hurt on Yona,” she mumbled as she tried to do complete what seemed like an impossible task; trotting and balancing her tray.
Ocellus gave a sarcastic look to her half-awake friend that could be translated as ‘I can’t imagine why’.
The two made it to their usual table for six. Yona took a middle seat on a side with Ocellus next to her to help her survive the first few hours of the day. Three of their fellow friends were not far behind.
“Oh, no way, Professor Applejack’s little sister could totally beat up Spike the dragon,” the hippogriff Silverstream commented as she placed her tray on the table, taking the middle seat opposite of Yona and Ocellus.
“Sure, sure, but, I mean, no one was talking about either of those two before you said that,” the earth pony Sandbar replied with a raised eyebrow as he took the free seat next to Yona.
The griffon Gallus took a seat next to Silverstream, “Yeah, but you should know by now to just roll with it when it comes to Silverstream here,” he gave a light jab at the hippogriff with his limb and a smile as he sat down.
The table all had a laugh except for Yona, who seemed to be struggling to keep her head above her food and her eyelids open.
“Whoa, what happened to Yona?” Sandbar asked.
Silverstream also made a comment, “Yeah, she looks like she just dug all of Professor Rockhoof’s trenches and then some!”
Before Yona could give an attempt at an answer, Ocellus stepped in, “Yona was studying last night! She’s a bit worried about her math grade right now!” She had a very nervous smile that she could feel that was see-through.
“Math, huh? I’m in that same boat, so don’t think I could help ya there,” Gallus stated as he took a bite of his muffin.
“Huh, with Yona being so good at science, I thought math would come naturally?” Silverstream placed an elbow of her limb on the table and rested her head as she pondered, “Or is it science and poetry that go together?”
“Wait, we’re missing Smolder. Where is she?” Sandbar pointed out.
Just as the earth pony finished speaking, an orange dragon was rushing into the cafeteria with a newspaper in her claws. At the top of her lungs, she was shouting, “Guys! You guys!!!”
“Speak of the devil and she shall appear,” Gallus snarked.
Arriving at the table, Smolder stopped and placed a hand on the table to catch her breath. As she was still panting, she placed the newspaper on the surface. “Guys, I got the newspaper!”
“Ooo! Dibs on the comics!” Silverstream reached for the paper.
“Comics, huh? Does Equestria carry Moomin?” Gallus genuinely asked.
Sandbar expressed some interest as well, “It should have ‘Cashews’, it’s one of the longest running comics with everypony’s favorite character Clydesdale Brown.”
“No, it’s not about the comics!” Smolder finally was able to breathe properly, “In the entertainment section! Thin Lizzy actually beat De La Soul last night in the ring!”
“Thin Lizzy?” Silverstream asked.
“De La Soul?” Sandbar also asked.
“Who?” Gallus was also puzzled.
“It’s professional wrestling! Don’t you guys follow it?” Smolder asked in disbelief.
Ocellus’ attention was grabbed at the dragon’s words. She looked to see that Yona was also now more or less awake.
“I never knew you liked professional wrestling, Smolder,” Gallus admitted.
Smolder raised her claws up, almost as if she would flip the table at the griffon’s comment, “I have a life outside of you guys, and it's professional wrestling!” She opened up the newspaper to show the full article, “Look! Last night was a crazy night for P.E.W.!”
“P.E.W.?” Ocellus asked.
“It stands for ‘Ponyville Extreme Wrestling, with emphasis on the extreme! Look here!” Smolder laid out the newspaper more and pointed with her claw, “So Thin Lizzy was able to beat De La Soul last night, Queen held on to her title against Minor Threat, Wolfmother lost to Silversun, and that was just the main matches!”
“How do wrestlers come up with their names?” Silverstream thought aloud as Smolder listed off the different match outcomes.
Smolder continued, “There were some other crazy matches, too. Apparently a nobody came out of nowhere and actually beat the infamous Slipknot! I think it says their name was Mastodon!”
Yona finally spoke up and leaned in, “Any pictures?”
“Oh, so she is awake!” Gallus jeered.
“Nah, just of Queen hanging on to their belt. But with a name like Mastodon, I bet they are some sort of epic beast! They would have to be to put on that great show they did to defeat Slipknot! I heard they’re a natural.” Smolder mused.
Yona closed her eyes and smiled at the welcomed comment.
“The way you’re saying all of this makes me want to see it with my own eyes!” Silverstream said excitably.
Gallus agreed, “Yeah, I’d be down to see some wrestling. I’m up for trying new things.”
Ocellus quickly spoke up, “Oh, I don’t know about all of that! Our studies do come first and foremost after all. Isn’t that right, Yona?”
The whole table looked to Yona who had fallen asleep and started to lean upon Sandbar. Most of the weight of her head resting upon his own head, and even a little drool was starting to form on the outside of her mouth.
Sandbar nervously asked for help, “Could someone lend me a hoof?” Gallus, Smolder, and Silverstream gave a laugh.
“So, who’s gonna wake Yona up?” Gallus asked with a smirk.
“Whoever does it, please hurry!” Sandbar requested as he tried to use both his neck and front limbs to move Yona’s body off of him.
-------------------------------------
“Thank you for letting me come with you to your practice, Yona,” Ocellus said as she trotted next to her friend, “I just….will feel better knowing that you know what you are doing in the ring.”
“Yona happy to have Ocellus watch wrestling practice!” Yona smiled happily.
“But don’t think this means I am completely okay with you wrestling. All of it seems just….too wild and crazy,” the changeling looked down at her hooves as she continued, “It just seems like you’re going to get hurt in there, and I’m going to be so scared that my closest friend got hurt when I could have helped them “
“Ocellus has nothing to worry about! Yona strong and yak knows what yak doing in ring!” Yona proclaimed as they neared the wrestling gym.
The yak’s blostierous claim didn’t do much to sway Ocellus, but she gave a half-hearted smile to Yona as they entered the gym.
The doors opened to show the interior, which included a few wrestling rings as well as a number of different training equipment scattered throughout the room. Numerous of ponies and other creatures were already there making use of the facilities. First and foremost that caught Ocellus’ eyes were a pair of ponies wrestling in the ring right in front of them. The two ponies seemed to be practicing for something, as they repeatedly practiced a move that seemed to both inspire fear and wonderment to the changeling. With one pony in the down on their knees, the other pony stepped onto one of their limbs and bucked them with their free hind limb.
“Oh goodness! What are they doing?” Ocellus called out in surprise as she watched them trade off on their attacks.
“That there is what we call a ‘shining wizard’!” a voice answered, “It’s a powerful strike that can easily get the crowd goin’!”
Both Yona and Ocellus looked to see who had answered. It was a large stallion with a large cowboy hat. Yona was quick to respond, “Hello, JR!”
“G’afternoon to ya, Yona. Got here just in time, yer practicin’ over in ring three,” JR pointed in the general direction.
Yona gave a salute to JR as she trotted over to the ring. Ocellus and JR slowly followed behind.
“So, what ‘bout ya, you interested in the wrestlin’ game?” JR asked Ocellus as they trotted over.
“Oh, goodness no,” the changeling was quick to deny any interest, “It’s just that Yona told me last night that she had been wrestling and I was worried about her hurting herself, so I came to watch.”
“The mighty Mastodon gettin’ hurt?” JR asked before giving a hearty laugh, “You ain’t got nothin’ to worry about that wall of muscle gettin’ hurt. Rather, it’s her opponents that might need the stretcher.”
“But mister….”
“Everycreature just calls me JR.”
“Mister JR, Yona is still a growing yak. And while I don’t know much about yak biology, I’m sure like all growing organisms it wouldn’t be wise to but such a strain on her body so much.”
JR was quiet for a moment before he pointed back to the first ring, “Ya see those to ponies dukin’ it out over there?” The two ponies in question were now performing an attack that had one wrestler on the mat while another jumped from the turnbuckle and landing with their back legs upon the other. “They’re practicin’ those drops over and over for two reasons. The first is to make sure it looks good. And the second is to make sure they don’t get hurt doin’ so.”
This confused Ocellus, “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”
“You study books back at that school of yours?” JR asked, “Basically it’s how practicin’ makes perfect and all that, but also it’s about trustin’ your fellow wrestler. The fightin’ done in the ring isn’t about hurtin’ the other, but rather puttin’ on a good show for the audience.”
Ocellus looked back at Yona who was now in the ring. She had a huge smile on her face as she started to stretch her body out with the help of her sparring partner.
“When it comes to professional wrestlin’, there’s a magic in the show we put on. Like, how for Yona, we call her Mastodon, but she ain’t no beast, and you know that too. Like how for the pony she slammed into the mat last night, Slipknot, they might look like some killer out of some slasher picture, but they’re just a normal pony. Also, our reignin’ champ might be called Queen, but they certainly ain’t royalty!”
“So, it’s all just a show?”
“Exactly! Think of it like one of them soap operas ya might see from time to time. However, mixed in with the drama and the moral conflict, there’s dropkicks and powerbombs.” JR explained, “But it comes with a price. Everycreature in here has to train themselves to not only deliver the blows, but also take ‘em, and with stride. The more a wrestler can soak up punishment, the better it’ll look for the audience. There’s a lot that goes into this that most don’t exactly know about. The wrestlers here are supposed to sell the show to the audience. They have to make the whole crowd care about a fight they might or might not be staged. We all want to put on a good show, but above all we want to do it safely.”
“I see. I never thought of it that way before,” Ocellus admitted.
JR smiled, “No need to fret, youngin’. Bein’ concerned for your friend is completely natural. I see ya’ll learnin' that just fine at there Friendship School. It’s also why Yona didn’t want to tell ya’ll.”
“She didn’t?”
“Not a first. She felt that ya’ll would view her differently because she takes part all of this. I still think she might have some reservations ‘bout it, but she felt guilty for hiding it.”
Ocellus didn’t say anything as she watched Yona and her partner started sparring. The two of them seemed to be performing a choreographed dance that mixed strikes and grabs.
“But if I’m gonna be perfectly honest, Yona has the makins’ of a great wrestler. She might just be in the B-show right now, but give her a little time and polish her style, she’ll be part of the big time in our A-show, and maybe even elsewhere.”
“Is she really that good?”
“She’s got a natural, Celestia-given talent. I might dare and say actually might be her true callin’.”
“Her true calling, huh?”
“It ain’t easy trying to give an impressive and believable fight every single time. But Yona here gives the fans exactly what they want.”
The two continued to watch Yona practice in the ring, both on the giving and receiving ends of blows and grabs.
------------------------------
Later that evening, Yona and Ocellus were walking back from the gym. While Ocellus was educated on professional wrestling as a whole from both chatting with JR and watching her friend practice in the ring, Yona was educated about the piledriver by both giving and receiving the move from her sparing partner.
“Yona, I want to say thank you for taking me to see you practice,” Ocellus said.
The yak beamed with pride, “Yona happy to share with friend! Though Yona wish it was on day that didn’t involve piledriver.” She placed a hoof on her head as if it would help all of Equestria from spinning around her.
Ocellus couldn’t help but laugh a little, “You certainly impressed me though. I never knew you had such a talent in the ring! JR was singing praises about your abilities.”
Yona smiled before she spoke again, “Yona do have question for Ocellus. Since Ocellus now knows Yona’s secret, Yona needs Ocellus’ help.”
“Help? What do you need help with?”
“Yona needs to keep wrestling secret, so Yona hopes that Ocellus could….maybe change into Yona when Yona wrestling?”
“What?!” Ocellus was taken aback at what Yona had asked of her, stopping in her tracks.
“It not be for long, just when Yona wrestling as Mastodon so no one know Yona is Mastodon,” Yona explained.
“But Yona, that’s….that’s asking so much! I don’t feel comfortable changing into others like that anymore, much less my best friend, and to deceive our friends!”
Yona stopped trotting as well and turned around. She got down and started to plead with her friend, holding her hooves together, “Please Ocellus? I don’t want friends to get suspicious.”
Ocellus didn’t say anything for a few moments. Within, she was literally weighing the options in her head as well the ethical aspects of turning into her friend. Finally, she spoke with a sigh, “Okay, I will, on the condition you don’t abuse me doing this. It just feels wrong, but I know how important this is to you, Yona.”
“Thank you, Ocellus! Yona promise not to ask too much of Ocellus for this!” Yona said with glee.
Ocellus braced herself for a large, spine-breaking hug from her friend, but when she opened her eyes, she still saw the yak on the ground. “Huh, I was actually expecting you to give me a hug that would break all my bones.”
A few days have passed since Ocellus first visited Yona’s wrestling practices. Since then, she actually joined her friend to watch her perform. It was two-fold, partly to give her peace of mind knowing that Yona was wrestling safely, but also because Ocellus found it very fascinating, though she would never admit it.
It was Friday evening and most of the student body was getting dinner in the school cafeteria. Seated at their usual table, Yona and her friends (except for Smolder) were eating dinner. They all chatted and were having a fun time. Despite Yona enjoying her time with her friends, she was feeling exhausted, even more so that she had to go to a wrestling match that very evening. Nevertheless, she still was savoring the moment she had with her friends.
“And that’s when I told Professor Applejack that just wasn’t her lunch, that wasn’t even an apple!” Gallus said.
“Haha, that’s so funny!” Silverstream laughed.
Gallus had a smirk on his face, “I know, that’s why I said it.”
As the whole table laughed, Sandbar looked at Yona and spoke, “Hey Yona, you doing okay? You look tired.”
“Oh, Yona fine! Yona just a little sleepy is all,” she explained with a smile.
“Sleepy? Are you having trouble sleeping at night? Have you tried drinking a glass of warm milk? Ever since living on land, I just love warm milk right before bedtime!” Silverstream mused, “It’s like a nice warm hug before going off to dreamland!”
“No, Yona sleep fine,” the yak started to explain before trailing off, “Actually, Yona having sleep trouble because….”
Ocellus quickly interrupted to help her friend, “Because she’s having trouble with some of her studies!”
“Yes, that! Yona not knew right words!”
“Is it with math? Trust me, I know how that feels. How am I supposed to know how much food to give a hydra? I didn’t even know they existed until I came here,” Gallus said as he took a bite of his food.
“We can always help you if you need it, Yona,” Sandbar offered.
Yona gave a soft smile before standing up to her hooves, “Yona grateful, but Yona gonna study a little more before taking nap.”
“That’s a good idea, get some rest,” Ocellus said, knowing full well that she wasn’t going to do either of those things.
She quickly bid farewell to her friends and trotted off.
“So, Yona’s gonna be out for the night, any other creature got any plans for the evening?” Silverstream asked.
Just as she finished speaking, a small dragon ran into the cafeteria and up to the table.
“Oh, there you are Smolder. We were wondering if you had gotten detention or something,” Sandbar commented.
The dragon ignored the comment as she was trying to catch her breath. When she did, she spoke fast. “Whatever your plans were tonight, cancel them ‘cause I just got us all tickets for Ponyville Extreme Wrestling!” In her claw, she held up six tickets.
Gallus stood up, “No way! How did you get them?” He didn’t wait for an answer, “Doesn’t matter, this is so cool!”
“Ahh! So cool! Who’s wrestling?” Silverstream asked with an excited glee.
“Tonight, we have a tag-team match between Oingo and Boingo against Lynyrd and Skynyrd, and a special tag-team match with Fugazi and Agent Orange facing off against Pantera and Megadeth!”
Silverstream squeed again, “I don’t know who any of those wrestlers are! I’m so excited!”
Smolder looked around the table, “Hey, where’s Yona? I figured she’d be stoked about this.”
“Cause it involves smashing?” Gallus asked with a smile.
“Cause it involves smashing,” the dragon smiled back and pointed at the griffon with a nod.
Ocellus answered the question, “Yona said that she wasn’t feeling too well and had some studying to do.”
“Oh, that’s lame,” Smolder responded. “We should still ask if she wants to come with.”
“Yeah, this does seem like something she’d be interested in going to,” Sandbar commented.
“Let’s go ask and see if she wants to join anyway,” Silverstream chimed in, “This is so her kind of thing!”
Each creature left the table and started towards the dorms. The changeling trailed the rest of her friends, worried about keeping Yona’s secret.
In the dormatory’s hallways, the group arrived at Yona and Ocellus’ door. Before anycreature could knock, Ocellus stepped forward.
“Oh, hang on a second, I’ll check to see if she’s interested. She might be deep in studying or even napping,” Ocellus explained as she opened the door just enough for her to sneak inside without allowing the rest of her friends seeing inside.
Once she made it through the threshold of the door and closed it behind her, she Yona in the middle of their room packing her bag for the evening. Yona saw her friend and gave her a smile as she finished putting her items inside. But before she could speak, Ocellus raised a hoof up to stop her.
“Every creature is outside the door right now, and they are asking if you want to go to the wrestling match tonight,” Ocellus explained in a voice just above a whisper.
“Yona is going to wrestling match, cause Yona is in wrestling match,” she said quietly with a smile.
“That’s not the point! Smolder got tickets and they all came to ask if you wanted to join and watch! They certainly can’t find out that you aren’t actually tired and actually wrestling against other creatures!”
“Yona know that, but Yona don’t want to lie to friends.”
“So you ask me to lie to them for you?” Ocellus asked in a state of disbelief. She took a moment before speaking again, “I understand you want to wrestle and not lie to every creature, but please think about what you’re doing here. This already getting out of hoof.”
The yak saddled up her bag upon her back and opened the window, “Yona needs to leave now. Please help and cover for Yona, please?”
“Wait, we’re on the second story!” Ocellus called out as she climbed out of the window. However, she was already outside and the ground shook with a loud boom. Ocellus hurried to the window to see Yona on the ground. She seemed a little shaken by her fall, but in both a good state and in good spirits. With a wave that could be interpreted as ‘see you at the show’, the yak hurried off.
Ocellus sighed in both relief and annoyance as she watched her friend trot off, but this was cut short by a knock at the door, “Every creature okay in there?” It was Silverstream.
The changeling’s heart skipped a beat at the sound. She quickly thought of her options and came to her best choice, even if she didn’t entirely like it.
The dorm door opened and a yak head poked through the small opening. “Hello friends!” Ocellus tried her hardest to both sound and talk like Yona. She actually surprised herself with how well she was doing with it.
“Hey, Yona. You okay?” Smolder asked with a tilted head.
“Yona fine! Yona just fall off of bed when Ocellus come in,” Ocellus said.
“Huh, must of been deep in studying if you didn’t hear us coming down the hall,” Gallus commented, “Anyway, we got tickets to see some wrestling tonight! Wanna come with? There will probably be smashing involved.”
Ocellus had to think fast of a good lie, “Yona would like to, but Yona not feeling too good.” The changeling prayed that her friends would buy it.
Silverstream was the first to speak, “Actually, now that you mention it, you do look under the weather. In fact, you’re looking almost as green as Sandbar.”
“But I am green,” Sandbar raised an eyebrow at the hippogryff.
“Yeah, but you’re like green in a way that’s beyond looking sick,” Silverstream explained herself.
This confused the earth pony even more, “I….don’t follow….”
Smolder stepped in, “Like, you look sick but you aren’t sick.”
“Actually, now that they brought it up, what do you look like when you are sick. Do you turn a darker shade of green or do you turn another color like red or purple?” Gallus asked in both a half joking and half serious manner.
“Oh! Maybe he turns into like a plaid color?” Smolder commented.
As her friends were clamoring amongst themselves, Ocellus interrupted as her yak friend, “Yona wishes for friends to have fun tonight. Tell Yona all about it tomorrow!” As she bid her friends goodbye, she closed the door. The changeling, still as Yona, breathed another sigh of relief. She then turned to the mirror they had in their room, seeing herself still as a yak. “Do I actually look green when I’m Yona?” Ocellus quietly asked herself, looking at her reflection. Regardless, she turned herself back into normal changeling form and regrouped with her friends.
“G’evening everypony and everycreature, and welcome to Ponyville Extreme Wrestling!” the announcer loudly proclaimed to the crowded arena over the loudspeaker. “It’s JR here with, as always, Kerry Lawler.”
“It’s gonna be another fantastic night of wrestling tonight, especially with the tag-team matches tonight!” Kerry commented.
“It’s hard to believe that Megadeth and Pantera will actually be workin’ together against Fugazi and Agent Orange. With everythin’ that Megadeth has done to Pantera in the past, will there actually be any trust on that team?” JR asked.
“That’s something we’re gonna have to wait to find out tonight. Not to mention the rest of the stellar matches going on tonight! Rumor has it that we might have a special appearance in the ring tonight by wrestling legend Portishead,” Kerry Lawler hinted. “But before we think about that, let us get underway with our first B-show match of the night!”
In the audience, Smolder returned to the rest of her friends with concensions, “I’m back! Hope I didn’t miss anything.”
Gallus took some of the items and passed them down to everycreature, “Just in time, they’re about to start with the first match.”
Sandbar was looking down at what seemed to be a program, “It seems the first match of the night is between Beastie and Mastodon.”
“Ooo! This is so exciting!” Silverstream called out.
Ocellus’ ears perked up at Yona’s wrestling name. While this wasn’t her normal scene and almost everything about wrestling frightened her, she did want to see how Yona’s practice paid off.
Over the loudspeaker, JR introduced the fighters, “Here are our first wrestlers of the evening!”
Both of the wrestlers started trotting from the hallways to the ring in the center of the arena. Mastodon stepped into the ring as JR continued speaking.
“In the red corner, we have our newest fighter who has already found a place in everycreature’s heart! It’s Mastodon, hailin’ from Yakyakistan!”
“We know where she’s from, she’s a yak,” Gallus called out loudly.
Laughter and cheers erupted in the stadium at the joke, even causing Mastodon to have a smile on her face. Even when she was wrestling in an alter ego, she couldn’t help but enjoy having her friend’s supporting her.
Kerry took over, “And in the blue corner, we have the fighter who is more animal than pony, it’s Beastie!”
Entering the right was a muscular white pegasus pony. An animal-like mask covered their head and mane while a sort of sequined pants covered their flank and real legs. He seemed to bark and act more like a feral animal than a civilized pony. Then again, each wrestler has a gimmick to work with. The audience had both cheers and shouts towards Beastie, who seemed to be oblivious to it all. Mastodon watched on as Beastie was showing off various poses and feats for the crowd. This started to make the yak a little nervous.
“Look at these two titans of the ring! It’s hard to think that Mastodon has already made a name for herself after taking down Slipknot, but here she is about to go against the beast himself, Beastie!” JR commented as the referee entered the ring.
“You can already hear the crowd’s excitement!” Kerry added as the audience roared.
“This is going to be so cool!” Gallus was already on the edge of his seat.
Smolder stood on top of her seat and shouted, “We want blood!”
The referee called both the wrestlers to the center of the ring. The two exchanged glances at each other. Mastodon looked at the mask of her opponent. Just because she knew who was on the other side of the mask didn’t put her nerves at ease. After all, she knew who was beneath the mask and that they were a very kind pony, but they were both in the ring to put on a show, and each had to play a part.
“Mastodon is going to take Beastie down!” Mastodon loudly claimed to the cheers of the crowd.
Beastie didn’t reply as one might expect. Instead, he roared as he jumped up and down like he was a filly having a fit. He then pointed at the yak and pointed down. This could be interpreted as that it was, in fact, Mastodon who was going to go down.
“It looks like Beastie doesn’t want to go down with a fight, and that’s exactly what we want to see here!”
The bell rang. “And there’s the bell!”
The two fighters clashed right away in the right, causing the referee to step aside to safety. In their locked position, the wrestler’s heads were next to each other. With soft voices, the two whispered to one another.
“Let’s have a good fight for them,” Beastie spoke.
“Mastodon worried,” she admitted.
“It’s natural. We got a lot of eyes watching us. All the more reason to do our best,” Beastie said as he pushed Mastodon away. In a split second, the pony went from an encouraging ally to a fighting-crazed wrestler. He then rushed back toward Mastodon, striking her a few times. Each time was enough for Mastodon to know how hard it was supposed to look, so she could sell it to the crowd.
“Look at that! Beastie is not playing around! He knows he can’t push Mastodon around like some common wrestler, so he’s going in for strikes!” Kerry called out.
With the crowd’s reaction, Beastie continued with his assault. He trotted up to Mastodon and placed his front limbs on Mastodon’s neck. With an extremely brief look into each other’s eyes, the two exchanged an understanding look of what was to happen next. Beastie pulled upon the yak’s neck, forcing her down to hit the mat. With the loud thud of the yak’s head hitting the mat, the crowd erupted in both cheers and shock.
“What a sick, twisted pony! Beastie starts off the match with his Check Your Head! This is what we expect to see from these fighters, but he’s wasting no time!” JR called out.
Kerry added, “That’s gonna hurt!”
“Wait a minute! Mastodon is already back on her hooves!”
Just as JR said, the yak was already standing back up. She looked shaken, but she wasn’t going to be taken out so easily. Beastie closed the gap again, throwing her against the ropes. Mastodon slingshot back toward the pegasus wrestler, ducking below his waiting clothesline and going against the ropes on the other side. Against, she went towards Beastie, and this time she used her inertia to slam into Beastie, taking him down.
“Ouch! You see that Trampled Under Hoof? Leave it to Mastodon to turn such a ramming attack into an art form!” JR shouted, “No wonder she’s such a force to be reckoned with!”
Mastodon heard the cheers from the entire crowd. She soaked in all in, and one could even claim it was showboating. She went up to one of the turnbuckles and stood up high and called for more of the audience’s affection, which they happily gave to her.
“Seems that Mastodon loves the crowd almost as much as they love her,” Kerry commented.
“This yak easily has the right to after the Slipknot match, as well as how she’s holding up against the might Beastie. She- wait a minute, what’s this?” JR was interrupted by the pegasus pony getting back on his hooves and starting to make a bee-line for Mastodon, “Look at that! He looks like he can’t, won’t, and don’t stop! Beastie wants to revenge!”
Beastie rushed right at Mastodon, slamming them into the turnbuckle. He then dragged out to the center of the mat. With a little maneuvering, the pony was able to lift Mastodon up and turn her upside-down. “Brace yourself,” he quietly warned.
“You gotta be kiddin’ me!”
“He’s gonna kick it; it’s his signature move, the Root Down!”
Everything seemed to slow down for a moment. Mastodon was upside-down, being held by her opponent, with her underside being shown to the entire crowd. She certainly felt embarrassed by this, but she knew it was all part of the show. The more extravagant, the better.
Up in the crowd, a changeling grew worried.
“Oh no, Yona….” Ocellus whimpered softly to herself.
“What was that?” Silverstream asked the changeling, trying not to pull too much attention away from the fight.
“Oh, I was just saying how much Yona would like this.”
Beastie finally dropped downward with Mastodon in hold. To aid with the appearance of the blow, to minimize impact, and to not have a botched attack, Mastodon tucked her head quickly to align with the mat to protect herself from serious injury. Nevertheless, it hurt her greatly.
“Beastie’s signature piledriver is always a killer!” Kerry said.
“Mastodon should watch out and start protectin’ her neck, cause it seems Beastie wants to snap it in half!” JR added.
The yak laid on the mat and looked up at the blinding lights above her. Beneath her mask, her head was pounding from all the punishment. Despite her body screaming at her to stop, she knew she wasn’t yet done with the planned match.
“Sweet Celestia, Mastodon is somehow still getting back on her hooves!”
“So what’cha want, Mastodon? No creature here will blame ya if you call it now!” Kerry called out.
Mastodon closed the gap, grabbed the pegasus and threw him toward the ropes. Beastie hit the ropes and leaned against them, rocketing him back towards the yak. However, with the newfound momentum, Beastie jumped up and dropkicked Mastodon towards the ropes, causing her to lean against them. Beastie quickly got to his hooves and rushed at his opponent and struck them with a clothesline, causing both of them to fall out of the ring.
“Look at that carnage!” JR shouted.
“I’m looking and I can’t believe it! Beastie has gone into his Sure Shot mode! He wants to end this match here and now!”
"When he starts up his Sure Shot, Beastie aims to end the match, and fast!"
Outside the ring, the yak pulled herself back up onto her hooves. The entire arena was on the edge of their seats, cheering and making more noise. Mastodon was panting and sore, but she still wasn’t done. Beastie was also hurt, but he wasn’t going to stop either. He started to rush at Mastodon again, however, he was stopped as he ran directly into a Mastodon’s elbow smash.
“Ah, sabotage!” Kerry added again.
Beastie, was still standing but dazed. This was the exact moment that Mastodon was hoping for. With whatever strength she had left, Mastodon placed her hoof at Beastie’s neck and guided him over towards a nearby announcers table. The two hippogryff announcers at the table quickly evacuated the area as the two neared. She lifted up the pegasus’ body with her one hoof and slammed him down upon the table, causing it to break in half.
The crowd lost it when Beastie broke through the table, as did the announcers.
“Sweet Celestia almighty! Did you see that chokeslam?! That right there is something that will stay with everycreature here tonight! What do we even call that move?”
“I’m callin’ it the Steambreather cause that’s all that’s gonna be comin’ out of Beastie’s mouth for a while after a blow that hard!” JR exclaimed, “The force that Mastodon just drove him into the Hippogreek announcer table is just astounding!”
Mastodon took a moment to look down at her work. While it was all planned, it still worried her about how much power she used to perform the move on her wrestling partner. However, Beastie opened his eyes and gave a slight smirk with a brief wink to her. This message was two-fold, as it meant that everything was okay on his end as well as telling Mastodon to finish the match.
“Mastodon warned Beastie, and now Beastie will watch Mastodon claim victory!” the yak loudly proclaimed to the downed opponent. Quickly, she got up to the ring platform and then to the top rope. While standing up, she quickly did the math in her head of how to execute the planned finisher.
Kerry knew exactly what she was planning, “Could it be? She’s going to wrap this up with her finisher!”
Mastodon leaped off the top rope as the entire arena held their collective breath. The yak tucked themselves in as they rolled into a somersault and then opened their body back up, slamming their whole weight onto Beastie and what remained of the Hippogreek announcer table.
“There it is! Blood And Thunder!” JR stood up at his table and shouted.
“Unbelievable!”
Appearing out of nowhere, the referee came in to call the pin on Beastie as his body laid between the remainder of the ruined table and the yak. With the match called for Mastodon, the crowd erupted, especially her friends.
The yak stood up and started to proudly boast, “Mastodon unstoppable! Mastodon will stand on top!”
“You see that? That was ridiculous!” Smolder asked to Sandbar next to her.
“That flip at the end was crazy!” Sandbar agreed, as he continued to cheer.
Gallus and Silverstream both cheered, each having a front limb around each other as if they were using each other as support during the match for the frightening moments.
Ocellus gave a sigh full of relief now that the match was over, but she was also extremely impressed. “Perhaps I was worried over nothing. It seems she knows what she’s doing.”
A few weeks had passed since Yona’s friends had seen her wrestle for the first time in the ring. Her alter ego, Mastodon, quickly won them over just as fast as she did with each of the audiences at her matches. No matter how uncertain each match might have looked, Mastodon always came out on top. Along with Slipknot and Beastie, Yona had defeated other B-show wrestlers such as Sepultura, Pennywise, and Feist. As a wrestler, Yona had made quite a name for herself. However, her double life was taking a toll on her.
“And then I said, that’s not your beakbrush, that’s my scale brush!” Smolder said as she walked with Silverstream to the table in the cafeteria.
“Haha, it’s true, you did say that to me!” Silverstream agreed as she set her tray on the table.
Smolder followed suit, “Yeah, I’m glad we both remember that time.” The dragon turned her gaze to the table and saw that their yak friend was already sitting down with their food, but seemed to only be half awake, “Whoa, Yona, you alright?”
Yona shot her head up the second she heard her name being mentioned, “Oh, Yona fine! Yona just tired is all.”
“You’ve been tired a lot lately. Are you sure you have been sleeping well?” Silverstream asked with concern as she took a seat next to Yona.
Before Yona could answer, the rest of their friends arrived as well. “And a good evening to all of you, what’s up?” Gallus asked as he took a seat. Ocellus and Sandbar followed behind and also took a seat.
“I was just asking what’s up with Yona,” Smolder answered.
“She looks exhausted,” Silverstream added.
“Maybe it’s all of her extra schoolwork? I know some of the worksheets that Headmare Starlight gives us are pretty tricky,” Gallus asked.
Before any more questions could be asked, Ocellus stepped in, “Yes! That’s it! Yona’s having some trouble with some of her schoolwork is all!”
“Oh, is that all? Then we can help you!” Silverstream said with a smile. She raised up her talon and hit Yona on her back. The yak leaped out of her seat as the talon making contact caused pain to travel all over Yona’s body. While the yak didn’t say anything, the pain was shown across her face.
“Yona, you alright?” Sandbar correctly read Yona’s expression of discomfort.
“Oh goodness! I’m so sorry!”
Again, Ocellus jumped to the rescue, “She’s also sore from cheerleading practice! You know how hard of a coach Professor Rainbow Dash can be, haha!” The changeling tried to give the assurance that everything was okay with her nervous laugh.
“Really? I’m not sore from cheerleading practice,” Smolder said.
“Maybe it’s because you didn’t stay for extra practices?” The way Ocellus responded made it sound as if she was unsure of her statement and even questioning it entirely.
The dragon thought about it for a brief moment before simply shrugging, “True, I had more important things going on.”
Gallus interrupted, “I’m telling you, trying to build a robot out of cardboard is not gonna work.”
“It’s gonna work and when it does, Cardboardo will show you just how wrong you are!”
“If you want it to work, I suggest making sure it doesn’t fall after taking it’s first step on the stairs.”
“Did some creature just say stairs?!” Silverstream asked with an excited expression.
As her friends continued to talk amongst themselves, Yona stood up onto her hooves. “Yona gonna go to sleep early tonight,” her face reflected exactly how drained of energy she was.
“Oh, alright. Well, do take it easy and drink plenty of water,” Sandbar recommended.
“And if you need any help with your assignments, just let us know!” Silverstream added with a smile.
Yona returned the smile as she started to head back towards the dorms.
“I’m going to go help her,” Ocellus said before turning to Silverstream and pointing at her, “No touching my carrots.”
“Okay, okay, I won’t. Geez, you steal from your friend’s tray six times and suddenly you’re known as a food thief.”
Ocellus caught up to Yona and started to trot with her. The two started to talk just barely above a whisper.
“Yona, you need to stop doing this.”
“But Yona having fun wrestling. And Yona’s friends like watching Yona.”
“That might be true, but look at yourself. You’re exhausted in class, you’re barely getting your work done on time, and it’s only a matter of time before the quality of your work starts to suffer. Not to mention that your performance at cheerleading practice has been has gotten….sloopy….”
Yona gave a weak smile and brushed it aside, “Professor Rainbow Dash not notice.”
“But it’s only a matter of time before something bad happens. And not to mention that every creature is starting to notice that you’re not your usual self. I’m your dormmate and I barely recognize you in this state,” Ocellus explained.
“Yona just need good night’s sleep.”
With a sigh, Ocellus continued, “And it’s not just about you, Yona, we’re all worried about you. And, if I’m going to be perfectly honest, I don’t like turning into you.”
“What Ocellus mean?”
“I already told you that I feel uncomfortable transforming into you. In fact, each time I turn into you, I just feel….I don’t know….not in my own skin….”
“Because Ocellus in Yona’s skin!” the yak made a joke.
“Yona, I’m serious here! All of this can’t be good, for any of us.”
The yak was silent as they continued to trot. After a few moments, Ocellus thought about calling out to her just to make sure she wasn’t sleeptrotting. She answered, “Yona knows. Yona thinking of what to do. Maybe Yona should quit.”
“I’m not going to force you to do anything. I know you like wrestling, and you are very good at it too, but I want you to just sleep on it, alright?”
Yona nodded. It was at that moment that she noticed that the two had made it to their dorm.
“Get some rest, Yona. I’ll cover for you, but please do think about what I said. You can’t keep this up forever.”
With a thankful nod and smile, Yona opened the door and entered the dorm. As soon as it was closed, the exhausted yak trotted to her bed and fell face down, possibly falling fast asleep before she hit the mattress.
-----------------------
Later that evening, there was a knock at the door. It was loud enough for Yona to wake up and cause the yak to investigate. She opened the door, revealing a green earth pony on the other side.
“Oh, hello Sandbar,” her voice sounded tired.
“Morning, sunshine.”
“What is Sandbar doing here?”
“I stopped by to see if you wanted to go get some fresh air? I’m sure being cooped up inside isn’t doing you any favors,” Sandbar explained.
Yona looked at Sandbar’s face, and he had an expression of both concern as well as welcoming to his friend. The yak felt herself blush, or at least she thought she was blushing because her face was numb from a mixture of sore from wrestling as well as lying face down while sleeping. “Yona would like that,” she answered as she took a step out of the dorm into the hallway.
The two began walking around the campus grounds with no real destination in mind. The cool night air was brisk on both the yak and the pony as they trotted. The night sky was clear and the stars peered downward. Looking at the stars, Yona smiled up at them as she realized that it had been so long since she had looked up at the stars at night.
“It’s a really nice night,” Sandbar commented as he took a deep breath of the cool air, “A bit of a chill, but still beautiful.”
Yona smiled and nodded as she also took a deep breath. The air almost froze her insides. The yak had been so used to wrestling in overheated rooms that the night air felt icy in Yona’s lungs. She coughed a little. Each cough reminded Yona of just exactly how sore her body was.
“Easy there,” Sandbar looked at Yona with concern.
She put on a brave face, “Yona okay!” Despite the obvious fact that Sandbar didn’t buy it, Yona moved the conversation along, “Where are other friends?”
“Well, Smolder and Gallus said something about a cupcake eating contest, and I already know that won’t end well so I decided to pass on that. And Silverstream asked Ocellus for help on her math homework, which means neither of them are going to get anything done,” Sandbar explained, “So, that’s why I wanted to see how you were doing.”
Without missing a beat, Yona offered a readily planned response, “Yona fine! Don’t Yona look happy?” Her words sounded almost as forced as her smile.
“You look tired,” Sandbar said, “Maybe you should go see Nurse Redheart or something. Actually, who would the non-pony students see if they got sick?” His rhetorical question was one he would like eventually answered.
Yona brushed it off as they continued to walk along the path. “Yona’s friends have nothing to worry about!”
The earth pony still wasn’t convinced. The two of them continued to trot along for a while in silence with nothing but the gentle evening breeze and the few chirping birds making any sound. Finally, Sandbar spoke up again.
“Yona, I know you are wrestling under the name Mastodon.”
The yak froze in her tracks with an expression of dread painted on her face. She slowly turned Sandbar with a guilty smile on her face, “Wh-What? Y-Yona doesn’t know what Sandbar is talking about!”
“Yona, you’re the only yak in all of Ponyville. This wasn’t all that hard to figure out.”
She still refused to admit it, “Y-Yona is not wrestling under the name Mastodon! Yona can’t be wrestling because….Yona has extracaric-....” Yona paused for a moment and tried again, “extracoric-....“
“Extracurricular activities?” Sandbar asked.
“Those! Yeah, Yona has those!” Yona pointed at Sandbar as he guessed the right word. Yona then whispered to herself, “Why can Yona not say that word?”
Sandbar raised an eyebrow, “Is that why you just happen to be unable to go see wrestling with the rest of us?”
“No! Sometimes Yona has trouble with schoolwork and sometimes Yona sleepy!” Yona continued to lie.
“Mhm….” Sandbar crossed his front hooves, “Nevertheless, you shouldn’t be doing that.”
“But why?” Yona asked, sounding like a filly that was told she couldn’t have a second cookie. However, she quickly added, “shouldn’t Mastodon wrestle? Mastodon likes wrestling. So Yona has heard.”
He couldn’t help but have a smile and a chuckle as he rolled his eyes at Yona’s statements. “Well, for starters,” Sandbar started, “wrestling can be quite dangerous. One wrong move and things can go pretty badly. Also, while Mastodon is quite an impressive and skilled wrestler....”
“And powerful, don’t Sandbar forget powerful!” Yona boasted before sheepishly adding, “So Yona has heard.”
“While Mastodon is all of those things, I can only imagine how wrestling might be affecting her everyday life. All that wrestling and training must be giving her problems.”
“Yona don’t know about that….” she trailed off as she looked away.
“Maybe she’s losing a lot of sleep?”
“Maybe….”
“And her body is hurting?”
“Hmm….”
“Perhaps there academics are starting to suffer?”
Yona didn’t say anything.
“Most importantly, I feel her friends might be worried for her too, whether they know Mastodon is wrestling is or not.”
Still, Yona was silent.
Sandbar saw how uncomfortable Yona was. “But despite everything, Mastodon looks amazing up there in the ring.”
Yona turned to look at Sandbar, her eyes wide with surprise, “Really?”
“Oh yeah. Wrestling is not an easy sport. In fact, there’s a lot that goes into it. The athleticism, the skill, and the pagentery of it all, it’s all so much to put on an amazing spectacle.” Sandbar noticed that Yona had a small smile on her face. It might have been small, but it was full of pride and joy from her friend’s words, “It never ceases to amaze me with how the two wrestlers fight in the ring so beautifully. Like how Mastodon performed a flying lariat against Feist last week.”
“Yona heard that Mastodon caused Feist to bleed after hitting opponent in nose,” the yak stated in a matter-of-fact way, with a hit of boasting in her tone.
Sandbar smiled, “And let’s not forget her signature move, the infamous ‘Blood And Thunder’.”
“That Yona’s favorite move!” Yona said as her tail wagged. She quickly added to her statement, “Yona heard it really powerful!”
“Each time she does it, it scares me to think of what’s about to happen. But seeing it being executed perfectly, it’s always amazing to witness. It just goes to show that those wrestlers are talented and know what they’re doing,” Sandbar said.
The yak’s face beamed brightly as her friend praised her alter ego.
“Sorry, we’re getting sidetracked by wrestling. I asked you out here to see how you were doing,” Sandbar changed the subject, “I know you’ve been really out of it lately.”
Yona was a bit puzzled. Sandbar had just claimed he knew Yona was wrestling, but now he started acting like he hadn’t figured out that Yona and Mastodon were the same yak. “Yona just tired is all.”
“You fell asleep during Professor Rockhoof’s lecture last week,” Sandbar pointed out.
“Yona did?!” Yona asked in horror, “Yona thought it was Counsellor Trixie’s literature class! Yona can’t believe Yona did that!”
“And not to mention you look sore all over. I haven’t seen you excitedly smash anything in quite some time. The repair ponies who usually fix all the stuff you usually break are confused and getting a bit bored.”
With a half-reassuring smile, Yona spoke, “Yona just sore from cheerleading is all.”
Sandbar didn’t speak for a moment as he scanned the yak from her hooves to the top of her horns. Finally, he did speak, “You know, Yona, there’s no shame in taking a break.”
“Huh?”
“It’s obvious you have a lot going on,” Sandbar explained “There’s a lot of advance courses you are taking here at the school. Some of the courses you’re in are even a challenge for Ocellus. On top of that, you have cheerleading, and I’m sure you have more things weighing on your mind too.”
Yona avoided eye contact, “Yona would feel guilty if Yona quit anything.”
“But if you just explain and be honest about how you’re doing, I’m sure every creature would understand. A little honesty goes a long way. I told Professor Pinkie that I was having some trouble with my mathematics and she took time to work with me to get up to speed,” Sandbar said, “She also gave me some party favors, but I think that was unrelated.”
The yak was quiet.
“I’m not gonna force you to do anything, and regardless of what you choose to do,” he continued, “we are all here for you.”
A soft smile appeared on Yona’s face, “Thank you, Sandbar.”
“Now, how about I treat you to a cider? I’m sure you could use a little relaxation.”
JR still was in disbelief, “Sorry, I must have some crazy in my ear. Yer sayin’ you want to quit wrestling?”
Yona, alongside Ocellus, nodded at the statement.
“Ya can’t be serious, Yona, yer a natural! And on top of it all, we had some really good news for ya.”
This caught both Yona and Ocellus’ attention. “What was that?” the changeling asked.
“As of your next match, we’re promoting you to the A-show!”
“A-show?” Ocellus asked, “What’s an A-show?”
Yona was stunned in silence as she heard JR. As much as she wanted to speak, the shock prevented her.
“The A-show is where we have the best of the best duke it out. The best part of it is there’s all sorts of neat storylines going on along for each of the wrestlers. And as Mastodon, our lovable Yona would be a huge hit!” JR explained.
“Y-Yona has always wanted A-show….” she was able to mutter.
Ocellus looked at Yona’s expression and then back to JR, “It’s a big deal, then?”
“A big deal?” JR had a chuckle at the changeling’s question, “Many of the wrestlers could only dream of bein’ invited to the A-show after such a short time!” JR motioned to the other patrons of the wrestling gym. “Even Queen didn’t rise in the ranks that fast! And it doesn’t just stop at the A-show! Yona here could even start wrestlin’ in the interkingdom circuit, facin’ off against creatures from all over!”
Yona was still unable to form or fully speak coherent sentences in her state of shock. Instead, she mumbled statements that seemed to sound like ones of disbelief and asking if she was dreaming.
“She’s that good?” Ocellus asked before answering her own question, “Well, of course she. She clearly knows how to handle herself in the ring.”
“I ain’t lyin’ when I say she’s got talent.”
Finally, the yak came around, “Yona want to!” she said loudly. She then took a moment and remembered what she had said only moments before, “But Yona still want to step down.”
“It is starting to affect your schoolwork, and the rest of your daily life at that. And if you do go to the A-show, I don’t know if you can keep attending the school. Wrestling will become almost like a full-time occupation for you.”
Yona nervously bit her bottom lip as she started to think hard about all of the decisions on her mind.
JR interjected into Yona’s thinking, “I do get it; education is an important part of any creature’s life. You ain’t at that school just because you were asked, you got a good noggin underneath that mask you wear.”
“But….Yona want to do all that Yona do, because Yona enjoys it all,” she admitted.
JR gave a warm, but sad smile to both Yona and Ocellus, “I understand what I say might not change yer minds, but no matter what ya’ll choose, it was an honor to watch ya wrestle and ya’ll got a spot here if ya ever want it.” The pony then tipped his hat as he walked off to another part of the gym.
Yona and Ocellus exited the gym and started walking back to the school. Ocellus gave a concerned look to Yona, as her face was twisted with confusion.
“Yona know not what to do.”
“Do you want to try to continue wrestling?”
“Of course, Yona wants to. But Yona is already so exhausted,” Yona’s voice was just was uncertain as her face was showing, “And if Yona does wrestling in A-show, Yona might have to quit school, and then Yona would lose friends.”
Ocellus couldn’t help but give a chuckle at her friend, “Yona, I can assure you that none of us would stop being your friend if you leave the school. It just means we would have to be a little more creative with how we spend time together.” The changeling’s words didn’t change the worry that was already setting in the yak.
“Yona needs to think long and hard about this….”
“Take as much time as you need.”
--------------
“I don’t believe it! Did you see that JR?!”
“Kerry, I think we all saw that. Mastodon took down Anthrax with a backbreaker that might have put them out of commission for a long time!”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she won’t be able to trot away from that without some help!” Kerry added, “I’m sure no creature here will forget that any time soon!”
In the ring, Mastodon stood over her earth pony opponent. The yak’s hoof was in the air in victory as Anthrax was on the mat, writhing in pain (or at least selling it well enough for the audience to believe it). The crowd was cheering for Mastodon, and the sound fueled her. The referee appeared and raised up Mastodon’s other hoof, calling the match for her.
“And with that, Mastodon continues her perfect streak!” Kerry said.
“This beast can’t be stopped, and won’t be stopped!” JR agreed.
In the audience, Yona’s friends were cheering with the rest of the crowd.
“Oh, this is so cool! I can’t believe that Mastodon has done so well!” Silverstream squeed.
Smolder nodded, “She’s unstoppable!”
“And did you see that backbreaker? Incredible!” Gallus shouted.
Sandbar agreed, “She certainly knows her way around the ring.”
Ocellus, still worried for her friend, simply agreed, “Yeah, she sure does.”
Mastodon continued to trot around the ring to the cheers and chanting of her fans. However, her celebration was cut short by music over the loudspeaker and a loud statement: “Your win streak ends here!”
“Wait a minute, I know that music anywhere: it’s Sonic Youth!” JR shouted.
The lights of the arena focused as one of the entrances as a light green unicorn mare in a mask started to make their way towards the ring. Her white and gold outfit seemed to hug her torso, and her mask matched the clothing.
“What’s Sonic Youth doing here?!” Kerry asked.
“I don’t know but she looks angry!”
As she got into the ring, Sonic Youth pointed directly at Mastodon, “I don’t know who you think you are, but you are not going to defeat my apprentice without facing off against me!”
Mastodon pointed back, “Mastodon will defeat Sonic Youth just like all other wrestlers! Mastodon is unstoppable!”
“Ha! Big talk from a big yak, I like to see that. But let’s see if you’ll trot the trot as well as talk the talk,” Sonic Youth gave a smirk as she pushed her seafoam mane out of her face, “I hereby call you out, right here, right now, for a luchas de apuestas!”
The entire arena had a collective gasp.
One of the biggest gasps was from Silverstream, “Oh my goodness! A luchas de apuestas! Not a luchas de apuestas!” She then turned to Smolder, who was next to her, and whispered, “What’s a luchas de apuestas?”
“A luchas de apuestas? Sonic Youth is not playing around with Mastodon!” JR exclaimed.
“It’s been a long time since we had a luchas de apuestas here at P.E.W.!” Kerry commented, “As a refresher, a luchas de apuestas is a wagering match between wrestlers. Here we have two masked wrestlers going at it, and in the match, we will have the two place a bet on their upcoming match!”
“Mastodon accepts!” she shouted. This got a big reaction from the audience. “Will match be normal máscara contra máscara?”
Sonic Youth smirked, “Bold. I really do like that about ya, but let’s up the ante a little! Instead of just betting who gets to unmask the other, how about if you win, you get to wrestle in the A-show with the big dogs.”
“And if Mastodon loses?”
“I get to unmask you and you retire from wrestling!”
Another surprising gasp went across the audience. Every single creature was caught off guard, even Mastodon who knew exactly what Sonic Youth was going to say.
“Mastodon accepts!”
Once again, the crowd broke into cheers and chants for both wrestlers.
“Astounding! We have a new match on our hooves next time! One that every single creature will be tuning into watch!” Kerry spoke.
JR agreed with his co-host, “Ya’ll can bet I’m excited for next week! The big bruiser Mastodon of the B-show will be having a high stakes match against the roughest técnico in the A-show, Snoic Youth! Next Saturday at the Ponyville Arena! Be there!”
“Yona couldn’t say no! Yona had to accept the challenge, it part of storyline!”
Ocellus sighed as she sat on the bottom bunk in their dorm. The two had gone back to their dorm after the wrestling match and the night was growing late, but the whole ordeal was still ringing in their minds. “But I thought you were gonna quit? You can’t keep wrestling like this, it’s going to break you! Juggling both wrestling and school is already punishment enough, but if you become one of the A-show wrestlers….”
“Yona know, Yona know….” her words were trailing off as she hid her mask away in one of her desk drawers.
“So, what are you going to do?” Ocellus asked.
The yak didn’t respond right away. Instead, she looked elsewhere in the dorm room. First around the lit up room at just about anything, and then out the window into the cold night. “Yona not know. Yona want to do both things.”
“That’s just not feasible. You’re already starting to fall behind on your studies. And I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but you still have a big test coming up in mathematics.”
With a frustrated grunt, Yona exclaimed, “Yona know!” She quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment at the volume. She then repeated herself in a quieter tone, “Yona know, but Yona just not want to think about it now….”
Ocellus stood up from the bottom bunk. She trotted up to her friend and placed her hoof on her, “It’s been a long day, maybe we should just get some rest and figure out everything later?”
A small smile appeared on Yona’s face, “Yona would like that right now.”
Yona got in her bed as Ocellus turned off the lights and flew to her bed on the top bunk. Both of them were still awake in the darkness.
“Ocellus?”
“Yes?”
“What do Ocellus think Yona should do?”
The changeling didn’t answer right away, knowing her answer wouldn’t make Yona happy, “Personally, I think you should stop wrestling. It’s just too dangerous and I always worry about you in the ring. Even though you always win, it scares me of how much punishment you take.”
“But Yona great wrestler.”
“I know you are, but it doesn’t change how I feel about it,” Ocellus explained, “Also, if I’m being perfectly honest, I would be happy not having to change into you.”
This surprised Yona, “Really? Why Ocellus want to stop?”
“Because, I don’t like lying to our friends about this.”
“But Yona needs to keep up disguise. Friends must not know about Yona wrestling,” she said. “It part of masked wrestling code.”
“But what about you, Yona? Do you want to stop wrestling as a whole?” Ocellus changed the subject.
“Yona not want to stop, but know Yona should.”
“Perhaps you can wrestle on the weekends or something?” Ocellus suggested, “It could be like how Smolder and I have our tea parties on the weekends when we’re both free and no creature notices.”
Yona was quiet. Her mind still racing, trying to figure out what would be her best option.
Ocellus poked her head down from the top bunk and looked at Yona. Even in the dark, the yak could see her friend’s warm smile, “No matter what you do, Yona, I know we will all support you, and your alter ego Mastodon. But it’s a decision that only you can make.”
Yona smiled at her friend’s remarks, “Thank you, Ocellus. Yona lucky to have Ocellus as friend.”
The changeling moved back up to her bunk and settled in for the night. “Besides, I do want to see you slam Sonic Youth into the mat next week.”
--------------------------------
The week went on at the school. Yona struggled to keep up with her classes and schoolwork. While she was able to finish her assignments, what stressed her most was her test at the end of the week. Despite her worry, she still kept up with her training and practices for the big match at the end of the week. If it wasn’t for some help from her friends, she most likely would have forgotten about studying for her mathematics test, or even attend the class on Friday.
“You doing okay, Yona?” Sandbar asked across the cafeteria table. It was just the two of them seated at their usual table.
“Yona okay,” she replied weakly, looking at her tray of half-eaten food.
“I’m sure you’re worried about how you did on that test, but not eating isn’t going to change anything,” Sandbar half joked. He knew it wasn’t the only thing on Yona’s mind.
Yona nodded as she resumed eating, “Yona know. It just been long week for Yona.”
“I can imagine. I’m sure there’s a lot on your mind. But I’m going to make sure you at least eat properly and not follow Gallus’ horrible eating habits when it comes to studying.”
This actually got the yak’s attention, “What Gallus do?”
With a smirk, Sandbar recalled, “I remember during midterms, Gallus would gorge himself on nothing but sugary sodas, candy, and chips. Funnily enough, it worked at keeping him awake for studying, but right after the midterms, his sugar crash hit so hard that I think his body just shutdown from the lack of actual nutrients. I joked and said he should try eating cardboard since there was more nutritional value in it, and he almost did.”
Yona had a smile on her face, “Yona remember that. Yona had to carry Gallus to doctor.”
“Haha, yeah. We kept joking saying he was going to have to get his stomach pumped.”
The two friends shared a laugh.
“So what’s your plans now that the test is over?” Sandbar asked.
“Yona gonna rest for the evening,” the yak said as she finished her food and finished the water in her glass.
“Really? You don’t want to hang out with us? It feels pretty lonely without you lately.”
Yona gave an unsure expression, not knowing how to reply.
“At least stop on by?” the earth pony offered, “We miss you.”
A warm smile grew on Yona’s face as she nodded, “Okay, Yona will join for a bit.”
The two started walking out of the cafeteria. Sandbar was slowly leading the way to the common room where they usually hang out with each other. As they trotted, the pony noticed that Yona was very quiet.
“Something on your mind?”
Yona looked up at before giving a forced smile, “Yona just thinking!”
“I’m sure there’s a lot on your mind right now, huh?” Sandbar asked, “Maybe, you want to talk about it?”
“No, it okay,” Yona shook her head.
Sandbar gave a puzzled look, knowing that there was a lot going on inside Yona’s mind. “You know, if you are having trouble deciding something, it’s sometimes best to just do what’s best for you.”
Yona looked at her earth pony friend.
“It might not make every creature happy, but what’s important is that it’s best for you and it makes you the happiest,” Sandbar continued. “It might not even seem to make you entirely happy right now, but it will pay off.”
“But Yona is happy! Don’t Yona look happy?” Her expression was again of a forced smile that was not at all convincing.
“You look tired,” Sandbar gave a small chuckle, “Sorry, that was rude of me. But I’m not telling you what to do, especially if you don't want to talk about it. Also, it would be even more rude of me to pry it out of you.” Before Yona could respond, Sandbar interjected, “Here we are.”
Sandbar pushed open the doors of the common room, revealing Gallus, Ocellus, Silverstream, and Smolder sitting on the couches, all talking. They all stopped when they noticed the yak and pony enter the room.
“Yona! There you are!” Silverstream called out.
“We thought you would be taking a deep sleep again after that test,” Smolder added.
Yona trotted up to one of the couches and took a seat between Ocellus and Gallus on a couch while Sandbar took a seat on the floor. “Yona okay,” she said with a tired smile, “What friends doing here?”
“Oh, we’re talking about tomorrow’s wrestling match,” Gallus answered.
“Yeah, especially the match between Sonic Youth and Mastodon!” Smolder added.
The answer made Yona’s fur stand on end.
Silverstream squeed, “I’m so excited for it! I can’t wait to see Mastodon win!”
“Totally! Mastodon totally can beat Sonic Youth. She might be strong, but she’s nothing compared to that yak!” Gallus agreed.
“Do you think Mastodon would be good in the A-show?” Ocellus asked.
“Are you kidding?” Smolder was surprised that the question had to be asked, “Mastodon will crush it! She has the skills that some of the top wrestlers are lacking! I wouldn’t be surprised if Mastodon beats the whole A-show!”
Yona was surprised and taken aback by her friend’s words, “Friends really like Mastodon?”
“Of course! She’s so amazing in the ring!” Smolder said.
“We think you would like her too if you could make it to the matches. In fact, she kinda looks likes you,” Silverstream said.
Ocellus quickly interjected, “Nonsense! Yona’s fur is a darker shade of brown!”
Yona didn’t panic or respond to Silverstream’s thought about Yona and Mastodon looking similar. Instead, she asked another question, “But, why friends like wrestling so much?”
“Wrestling is just….amazing!” Gallus tried to answer with a better word, but could only think of what he said, “It’s just incredible to watch these creatures fight in the ring. They give us action, drama, comedy, and so much more! And watching it just keeps you on the edge of your seat! Watching your wrestler beat the heel, it just is amazing! Sometimes, watching it gives you the justice that you need in your life!”
Smolder agreed with the griffon’s passionate statement, “Yeah! Like when Spinal Tap finally beat Sweet last week!”
“Oh, Spinal Tap! I love their fighting style!” Sandbar spoke up, “Seeing her finish Sweet with her signature Stonehenge was so awesome!”
“Not to mention when she comes out and shouts out ‘This is Spinal Tap!’ Ooo, I get chills just thinking about it!” Silverstream added.
“More machine than mare, gah, Spinal Tap is so cool! It was so satisfying to see her get some revenge on Sweet after so long! Dropping that elbow down was so cool!” Smolder said excitedly.
Ocellus also joined in, “I agree, especially after Sweet kept trying to cheat the whole match.”
Yona was surprised to see that her changeling friend was also joining in the conversation.
“That’s how Sweet fights,” Smolder said as she started to mock the mare’s voice, “‘Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!’ She’s so full of it, and she deserved to go down!”
“Can’t deny that while she is arrogant and prideful, she does have a great finisher with the Ballroom Blitz,” Gallus stated, to which every creature agreed with.
“I just don’t like how she’s willing to dismiss her opponents and not fight them because she thinks she’s better than them,” the changeling said.
“Yeah, like Madness. That was so mean of her!” Silverstream spoke up.
“I think it’s because Sweet was afraid to lose to Madness. Now that’s a crazy wrestler!” Smolder said pointing to the hippogriff.
“Oh, totally! She looks like she broke out of a nuthouse with that mask and hair!” Gallus exclaimed, “and with moves like Razor Blade Alley and Cardiac Arrest, she’s crazy!”
“And let’s not forget when she shoves that sock in her opponent’s mouth to finish them off!” Sandbar added.
The whole group except Yona all clamored. Yona, however, was stunned in silence as her friends were praising the very sport her alter ego took part in.
Ocellus spoke up, “Wait, but wasn’t Madness being used to do some wrestler’s dirty work?”
“Oh yeah, for ‘the million bit mare’, Van Halen! Guh, I can’t stand them!” Smolder gave a disgusted look, “They think they can just buy their way around the ring, or even all of P.E.W.!”
“But when they do the Atomic Punk, you can’t deny that they know how to fight,” Gallus pointed out.
“Doesn’t mean I can’t hate them! Always saying that every creature has a price, and not to mention that evil laugh of hers!” Smolder retorted.
“Must have been satisfying to see Madness turn on Van Halen a few weeks ago then, huh?” Silverstream asked.
“With thanks to the true Equestrian hero, Fleetwood Mac!” Sandbar interjected.
“Yeah, Fleetwood! A true hero for all!” Gallus started to gush. He then started mimicking the wrestler’s voice, “Stay in school, eat healthy, and train hard!’ She’s so cool! And her finisher, Tusk? Always awesome to watch!”
“It just really stinks that almost every time she tries to get a fair fight, she gets the raw end of the deal,” Smolder gave a disappointed expression.
“Like when Sweet smashed that handheld vanity mirror against her face, causing her to go down,” Ocellus recalled, “Or when Van Halen had Madness come in at the last minute for the pin.”
Gallus tightened his talons and raised them up and annoyance, “I know Fleetwood Mac refuses to cheat and would rather lose, but come on!”
“At least for the upcoming tag-team match, Fleetwood will have Heart backing them up,” Silverstream spoke up.
Smolder gave an unsure expression, “I don’t know, Heart is a bit of a mystery. Who knows what’s behind that mask of hers.”
“They don’t talk much and they do their own thing, but they are still amazing in their own right. That suplex of her’s is crazy. What’s it called again?” Gallus asked.
“The Heartless! That suplex looks so painful!” Smolder winced at that thought.
“And don’t forget about her finisher, Barracuda,” Ocellus added.
“Who would have thought a masked wrestler with hearts on her mask and outfit would be such a threat,” Sandbar stated.
“And she always refuses to do any luchas de apuestas where she might lose her mask. Wait, where is she billed from?” Gallus spoke.
Silverstream shrugged, “I think she was billed from ‘parts unknown’, but I don’t know where that is. I looked on every map I could find.”
Ocellus couldn’t help but chuckle at her friend’s response.
As her friends continued to chat about the wrestlers, Yona couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s interest in wrestling. After all her worrying about her friend’s reaction if they ever found out she took part in wrestling, it was a huge relief for her knowing her friends enjoyed the sport.
“Yona have question,” Yona interjected herself into the conversation, “Do friends think Mastodon will do well in A-show if Mastodon wins?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course, she will!” Smolder exclaimed.
“Mastodon should have started in the A-show! Can you imagine her coming in and disrupting all of Van Halen’s plans to win the championship?” Gallus said.
Ocellus chimed in, “Or even bringing down Sweet with a backbreaker?”
“I can already see her teaming up with a three-on-three with Spinal Tap and Fleetwood Mac! Ah, so cool!” Silverstream imagined.
“Not even Heart would be able to stop Mastodon with her signature Blood And Thunder!” Sandbar praised the wrestler as he looked directly at the yak.
Yona bashfully smiled as her friends praised her alter ego. “Yona wishes Yona could watch Mastodon wrestle with friends.”
“Yeah, the tickets sold out almost the second they announced that Mastodon and Sonic Youth were doing a luchas de apuestas for tomorrow’s fight, so maybe next time? I’m sure she’s gonna win and join the A-show,” Smolder explained.
“We were lucky to get our tickets when we did. Sorry we didn’t get you one, Yona,” Gallus apologized.
With a smile, Yona brushed it off, “Friends no need apologize. Yona will go next time!”
“Hey, I just thought of something. Is it me or do some of the wrestlers look like our professors?” Silverstream interjected with a completely different thought.
“What do you mean?” Ocellus asked.
“Well, Sweet and Professor Rarity do look kinda similar, Professor Pinkie Pie and Madness are both pink, Professor Rainbow Dash and Spinal Tap look alike if you take off the robotic parts, I could swear I heard Fleetwood Mac and Professor Applejack talk exactly the same, former-Headmare Twilight Sparkle and Van Halen both have that regal presence about them, and, I know she has a mask on, but Professor Fluttershy could be Heart if she had a mask on.”
Every creature stared at Silverstream with a mixture of disbelief and confusion.
“You can’t be serious, right?” Gallus asked.
Smolder shared the skepticism, “There is no way our professors, and the current princess, are wrestlers.”
The hippogriff giggled as she spoke, “Haha, yeah, I guess I’m just grasping at straws.”
The crowd was roaring as the two wrestlers were in the ring. The two were brawling it out as the commentators were giving their usual play-by-play. Normally, Yona would be paying close attention to the match for both interest and inspiration, but she simply stood in the hallway of the arena, watching the two duke it out. Her mask was off and held in her hoof while her body was leaned up against the wall with her free hoof touching it.
“Did you see that kesagiri chop? Talk about humiliating!” JR commented.
“It’s hard to trot away with your head high after that shame! But it looks like this match isn’t over yet!” Kerry added.
Yona continued to watch as the match continued to its logical end. As she watched, her soon-to-be opponent appeared next to her. Sonic Youth was already in her full outfit, from her boots to her mask. Despite the mask on her face, she had a calm and warm smile on her face.
“Wu-Tang is really giving it their all out there. I almost feel bad for Kyuss for being on the receiving end,” her words were both soft and had a hint of cheer to them. She looked at the yak who didn’t respond. “Ready for your match?”
“Yona nervous.”
Sonic Youth couldn’t help but chuckle a little, “I can’t blame you. This is going to be a big match for the both of us. Soon you’ll be wrestling with the A-show with a good number of us, where you’ll be part of the storylines and maybe even becoming the title holder for a bit.”
This statement surprised the yak, “Yona wrestling Queen?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised, you have the skill and the audience on your side.”
The compliment didn’t help the nervousness for Yona. She began softly whistling to herself.
The masked unicorn realized that her statement didn’t exactly have the effect she intended, “Don’t worry too much about it. Just get out there and give them the best match of your life, you’ll be great.”
Yona stopped whistling and asked, “But what about Sonic Youth?”
With a slight shrug and a smirk on her face, she replied, “Well, you win some, you lose some, but what really matters is that you live to fight another day.” Before Yona could ask another question, music started to play from inside the arena. “That’s my cue,” Sonic Youth said as she hit her face a few times with her hooves before galloping out into the arena. The crowd went wild.
Again, Yona started to whistle softly to herself in the dark and empty hallway in an effort to calm her nerves. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time in Equestria to allow for this. Yona pulled her mask over her head and, with one of her hooves still touching the wall, Mastodon trotted out into the arena.
“It looks like Mastodon doesn’t have the nerves of steel as we thought! She might have the power, but she certainly does not have the guts to face me in the ring!” Sonic Youth claimed as she trotted around the ring. The audience gave a negative reaction to her calling out the fan-favorite yak. “She’s a coward and that’s all she is!”
“Mastodon is no coward!” Mastodon loudly proclaimed, emerging from the hallway. The entire arena erupted in cheers.
“There she is! Mastodon is finally here for the biggest match of the night!” Kerry almost stood up out of his seat.
“It seems she did not take kindly to Sonic Youth’s usual taunts,” JR added.
“No, sir!”
Mastodon calmly trotted up to the ring. Each step felt heavier with pressure for the yak, but with the crowd cheering her on, she felt she could fight. Upon entering the ring, she looked directly at Sonic Youth, and raised her hoof.
“It looks like Mastodon is about to call out Sonic Youth and get this match started!” Kerry stated.
“Mastodon wants a fair fight with Sonic Youth. No tricks, no cheating, only fair fight,” Mastodon proclaimed.
Sonic Youth nodded and extended their hoof, “I am here to avenge my apprentice that you have beaten, so you have my word.”
With a smile, Mastodon reached out the shake hooves. However, with a sudden jerking motion, Sonic Youth grabbed the yak’s limb with both of their front limbs and pulled them down into a faceplant onto the mat.
“Oh, listen to that crowd! They do not like how Sonic Youth is already playing dirty!” JR exclaimed, “and the ref is allowing it!”
While Mastodon was expecting the cheap tactic, it still stung in both pain and pride. On the bright side, the boos she heard from the crowd did help, knowing that they were on her side. She picked herself back up. Looking down at where she felt, she noticed a little bit of red on the mat. With a stern expression, she wiped away the blood coming out from her nose. The crowd went crazy with cheers as they witnessed this.
“Ouch!” Sandbar winced from his seat.
“Talk about awesome! Mastodon is not going to take that!” Smolder cheered from the crowd.
“Take her down!” Silverstream also rooted for the yak.
Seated next to Gallus, Ocellus covered her mouth in shock and concern for her friend, “Blood? Oh goodness, is she going to be okay?”
The griffon replied, “Don’t worry, there’s no way Mastodon is going to just take that!”
Back in the ring, Mastodon had the appearance of a tranquil fury. While she looked calm and ready to wrestle on the outside, it was apparent that rage was building. With a sudden motion, the yak charged at the unicorn. The two locked their front limbs with one another and their heads rested next to each other.
In their little huddle, Sonic Youth quietly spoke, “Sorry about making you bleed!” Her words were sincere and full of embarrassment.
“Mastodon was expecting it.”
“Then let’s give them the unexpected!” Sonic Youth had a bit of an evil intent in her voice.
Sonic Youth released the grapple that the two were entangled in and grabbed the yak’s head with her hooves. She then moved her head directly toward Mastodon’s, careful to make sure the horn would not make contact. The two foreheads collided, causing Mastodon to become dazed.
The crowd did not like it, and nor did the announcers. “That was yet another cheap move by Sonic Youth,” JR commented, “Are unicorns even allowed to headbutt?”
Before he could get an answer, Mastodon mirrored her opponent’s move. She grasped the unicorn’s head and, with precision to avoid any horn contact by either of them, she delivered a headbutt. Sonic Youth backed up and raised a hoof up to her head in extreme pain from the blow. The crowd cheered for Mastodon’s retaliation.
“It looks like the mighty Mastodon isn’t going to care, cause she wants revenge!” Kerry replied.
Shaking off the hit, Sonic Youth turned their body around for a full kick towards Mastodon, to keep them away. The kick missed, but did keep the yak away from the unicorn.
“Sonic Youth now knows that Mastodon ain’t one to mess with when she’s angry! And it looks like she wants a moment to breathe after takin’ back-to-back headbutts like that!” JR spoke.
“Can’t say I blame her. A headbutt is a still a headbutt, no matter who is giving it,” Kerry agreed.
After taking the momentary break, Sonic Youth rushed at Mastodon. Before the yak could react, the unicorn bent down next to her and picked up the yak from the side. Mastodon was lying across Sonic Youth’s shoulders and across her back. Standing solely on her hind legs, Sonic Youth looked out to the crowd who were a mix of shock and hatred as they were about to perform a slam to their favorite wrestler.
“Prepare to watch your hero fall!” Sonic Youth managed to say out to the audience. With her strength, she pushed the yak’s body upwards and used the momentum to throw Mastodon onto the mat with her back up. The crowd was not pleased.
“You gotta be kiddin’ me?! A firepony’s carry takeover?! Where did all that strength come from?!” JR shouted in disbelief.
“While Sonic Youth might not be a heel, they seem to be enjoying the heat that the crowd is giving them tonight,” Kerry added.
JR’s assessment wasn’t wrong about wondering where that power came from, as it took almost everything the masked unicorn had to perform.
Lying down on the mat, Mastodon didn’t move due to two reasons. The first was because she has to stay where she’s at for Sonic Youth’s next move, but also because Mastodon’s body was absolutely sore from all the wrestling she had done before.
Sonic Youth had gotten up to the top of the turnbuckle. At the top, she looked at the audience and gloated to them all. She was met with heat from the entire crowd, which she soaked up, even raising a hoof up to her ear to listen to it all. But it was apparent to every creature in the audience what she was about to do.
“Do you think we’re going to witness it?” Kerry asked his co-commentator.
“You better believe it….” JR responded.
The unicorn leaped up from the top rope and flew through the air. She kept her body out-stretched as she glided, almost as if she was diving into a pool of water. However, at the last moment, she flipped forward and slammed her back into Mastodon’s prone body.
“Incinerate!” JR chimed in the moment Sonic Youth hit the mat, “I knew we were gonna see Sonic Youth’s signature aerial slam!”
The crowd was not happy with this successful and apparently devastating attack. Sonic Youth then positioned themselves for an attempt for a pin. The referee seemed to appear from out of thin air as they came in to judge the pin.
Softly and quietly, Sonic Youth whispered to her opponent, “What are you doing? I’m supposed to put over you and make you look good.”
“Mastodon know. But Mastodon knows that Sonic Youth can benefit from this match as well,” the yak replied as she bucked upwards, ruining the possible pin.
Kerry happily spoke, “Mastodon still has fight in her and is not giving up!”
JR nodded, “And I’m glad to see that, but that Incinerate looked like it could have put Mastodon out for good!”
Mastodon got up to her hooves. She was panting hard and her body was screaming at her to stop, but she knew that if she felt that way, Sonic Youth must feel just as bad. While this realization did make her feel a bit better, but her head was still throbbing from beneath her mask. Mastodon went in for a few strikes, which landed and kept Sonic Youth away and at bay.
“Sonic Youth wants to end this, I can tell,” JR commented.
“Indeed. It looks like she bit off a bit more than she can chew with Mastodon’s stamina and power,” Kerry added.
Just as Kerry finished, Sonic Youth lunged at Mastodon and attempted to get them in a headlock. Mastodon’s head was trapped in the headlock, with her head now trapped behind Sonic Youth. She seemed sluggish, which made sense for her being exhausted, but also for another reason. She bent down slightly to catch her breath. In this position, she whispered to Mastodon, “You need to get out of this if you’re going to win….” She raised her head back up and let out a loud roar to the audience, “Mastodon’s career ends here and now!”
“Is she gonna….” Gallus asked from his seat.
“No way, are we gonna see her do it?” Smolder got excited.
“Uh-oh,” Sandbar was on the edge of his seat.
“I can’t watch!” Silverstream said as she covered her eyes with her talons, but peeked through an opening she made.
“Oh dear….” Ocellus covered her mouth with both hooves.
“Here it comes, Sonic Youth’s finisher: the Silver Rocket!” JR exclaimed from the table.
The crowd was losing their collective mind over Sonic Youth’s finisher. None of her opponents have been able to come back from the move once she leans backwards and slams their heads right into the mat. Usually, when she performs the move, the opponent is too dazed to do much else after the attack. Mastodon knew it was now or never.
Finding whatever strength she had, Mastodon put it all in her hind legs, dug them into the mat, and leaned back into the legs. Shocking every creature in the entire building, Mastodon lifted Sonic Youth up off the mat while she still held the yak in a headlock. With a loud crying grunt of pain echoing throughout the arena, Mastodon flipped Sonic Youth onto the mat. Both of them laid down on the mat in exhaustion.
“Unbelievable! Mastodon performed an unheard of reversal on Sonic Youth’s Silver Rocket!” Kerry stood up out of his seat and slammed his hooves on the table in excitement.
JR was also out of his seat with shock, “This is crazy! No pony, creature, or anything has escaped from the Silver Rocket! Even Queen has failed, but this yak, this....leviathan, this Mastodon has done the impossible!”
The crowd agreed with the commentators as they erupted in cheers.
Out of breath, Mastodon got up to her hooves. She wiped her nose of the blood that was starting to fall and called out to her downed opponent, “That all Sonic Youth got?” Why she was egging her opponent on when she herself was barely standing, she did not know.
Using the ropes along the edge of the ring as support, Sonic Youth got to her hooves. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she rushed back towards the yak. Mastodon returned in kind. She leaped upwards, acting as if she was going to kick Sonic Youth with her farthest back leg, in which the unicorn prepare to block. Mastodon quickly brought her front hoof towards Sonic Youth’s unprotected head. The unicorn took the full force of the blow and fell down.
“Did you see that punch?!” Silverstream squealed aloud.
“That was incredible! From out of nowhere, she’s out cold!” Gallus mused.
Mastodon stood over her downed opponent, panting like a dog. She knew what she had to do to end the match. She went over to the turnbuckle. That alone made the commentators and the crowd go wild.
Throughout the arena, the crowd talked amongst themselves:
“Mastodon is going to end this!”
“She’s gonna do it!”
“She’s going to win!”
“This is going to be so cool!”
The crowd clamored as she stood up on top of the turnbuckle. The heat from the light, the pain from her extremely sore body, and the whole weight of all of Equestria on her back; none of it seemed to matter as the cheers echoed throughout the arena for the yak. It was magical.
She leaped from the top rope and tucked her body in for a somersault before slamming her entire weight onto Sonic Youth. As she touched down, the cheers throughout the crowd rang through Mastodon’s head as she positioned herself to pin the unicorn. Appearing from out of nowhere, the referee came in and hit the mat, calling the match for Mastodon.
“There you have it! Mastodon has beaten one of the roughest and toughest wrestlers in all of the A-show!” JR cheered.
Standing up in the ring, Mastodon listened to all of the cheers and applause from the crowd.
“Incredible match!”
“Way to go, Mastodon!”
“That’s showing them!”
Mastodon soaked it all in with a smile on her face.
Sonic Youth stood up and looked directly at the yak. Her face was disapproving, but it was one that also showed respect. “You bested me tonight, Mastodon. You got some serious skill, and I’ll be humbled to fight you another day. However, it seems It is time for me to honor the terms of our match,” Sonic Youth spoke with a hint of sadness as they started to untie the strings behind their mask.
“Stop!” Mastodon demanded. Every creature was surprised by this. “Sonic Youth fought well tonight, and Mastodon happy about victory and new respect for fellow wrestler, but Sonic Youth need not take mask off.”
“What are you talking about? Our match was a luchas de apuestas. One of us has to be unmasked,” Sonic Youth explained.
With a smile, the yak nodded, “Mastodon know.” The yak pulled the mask off her face, revealing herself to be Yona. The crowd was stunned with a collective gasp. Yona trotted up to Sonic Youth and placed a hoof on her shoulder, “Mastodon is a wrestler no more. Sonic Youth will continue wrestling with honor, aiming for top. Fight for all, including Mastodon.”
Tears started to well up in Sonic Youth’s eyes. While the mask on the green unicorn’s face made it a little difficult to understand exactly what her expression was, it could be read as a mixture of ‘you honor me by your actions’ and ‘this was not in the script’. Finally able to speak, Sonic Youth nodded, “Sonic Youth will fight for you, my friend. I will fight for my apprentice, Anthrax, for my new friend, Mastodon, and for all of Equestria! Watch your back, Queen, I’m coming for you next!”
The crowd cheered as the two wrestlers embraced in the ring.
With a soft, choked-up whisper, Sonic Youth spoke, “What was that all about? You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yona know, but Yona also know how much Sonic Youth likes to wrestle and likes to be hero. Besides, Yona should focus on studies,” the yak’s words had a slight laugh to them.
“You saw it here first folks! Sonic Youth might have lost the match, but she has won the respect of Mastodon and now she is aiming for the title holder herself! Watch out, Queen!” Kerry spoke over the roaring cheers of the crowd.
JR added, “This is something of myths and legends! Every creature here can say they were here when Mastodon stepped down to bring forth a new age of Sonic Youth! This is going to be one bright superstar aiming for the top!”
The two wrestlers exited the ring and headed towards the hallway, the echoes of the crowd still ringing loud. The two chatted for a bit before Sonic Youth embraced Yona again, thanking her for both a great match and a great boost to her wrestling persona. In the hallway, Yona was greeted by five familiar figures waiting for her.
“Hey there, Mastodon,” Smolder said with a smile.
Sheepishly, Yona waved, “Hello, friends.”
“Amazing match out there, Yona!” Gallus exclaimed with stars in his eyes.
“I told you she could handle herself,” Sandbar said to Ocellus.
The changeling replied, “It doesn’t mean I still don’t worry about her.”
“Yona’s friends knew Yona was Mastodon?” she asked.
“Sure, but it seemed like a private matter, so we weren’t going to pry it out of you,” Gallus said.
“And you’re like, the only yak in a fifty mile radius of the Ponyville, so it’s like it was kinda obvious it was you,” Smolder said with a bit of snark. “Besides, we wanted to see you smash your opponents in the ring.”
As the others were talking with Yona, Silverstream thought for a moment while looking at her yak friend and made a realization, “Wait, Yona is Mastodon? No way!” The rest of the group laughed at Silverstream’s remark.
“But why did you quit? You were amazing in there,” Gallus asked.
“Yona like wrestling, but Yona needs to focus on important things.”
“Like what?” Ocellus asked.
“School and Yona’s friends, of course,” she smiled brightly at the other creatures.
Sandbar spoke up, “I’m glad you made a choice that made you happy.”
Yona nodded, causing her braids to bounce a little.
“So, what do you wanna do now, Yona?” Silverstream asked.
“Yona want to drink some cider with friends, then Yona want to sleep for week,” she said with a laugh, which the others joined in.
“It’s settled, to the Salt Lick Bar!” Smolder proclaimed, leading the way with Gallus and Silverstream following behind.
“Could friends Ocellus and Sandbar help Yona to bar? Yona’s everything hurts,” she asked with a chuckle.
The changeling and earth pony happily draped one of Yona’s free limbs around their shoulders as they helped her trot down the hallway.
“Thank you friends for helping Yona when Yona wrestled.”
“What are friends for? I was happy to help you out, Yona,” Ocellus said with a smile.
“Anything for the legendary Mastodon,” Sandbar said with a smirk.
