> Dragonball: Equestria Saga > by thatoneguy911 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > A New World > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 The sky darkens as the clouds move in front of the sun, turning day into night. A cold wind sweeps across the Desert landscape. The Dragonballs; now gathered glow ominously. They are ready to release the almighty Shenron. Standing near the Dragonballs is a relatively short, but familiar figure. Emperor Pilaf stands proudly, practically glowing himself due to the fact that his lifelong dream of ruling the earth is finally coming to fruition. His two cronies, Mai and Shu, somewhat cower behind the emperor despite being nearly double his height. The emperor steps forward, he could hardly contain his excitement. He stretched out his arms towards the balls; he was finally going to get his wish. Goku and his friends were nowhere in sight, which means there would be nobody to stop him. “Rise almighty Shenron! Come forth and grant me my wish!” Pilaf exclaimed in the most impressive voice he could muster. The balls glow brighter as the pint sized emperor can’t help but let out a delighted chuckle. The magical balls respond to Pilaf’s request, beams of light shoot in all directions. A beam, much larger than the rest, shoots skywards from the center. It coils and acts much like a serpent in the sky. In nearly an instant, the light materialized into the mighty dragon Shenron. His glowing red eyes narrow; he is truly a terrifying sight to behold. “I am the eternal dragon. Speak your wish and it shall be granted.” The mighty serpent called out in its booming voice. This was too perfect. Pilaf let out a satisfied laugh. Soon, he would be ruler of the planet Earth. This was not good. The sky had darkened, it might be too late. Goku, Krillin and Yamcha sprint across the desert as fast as their feet can carry them, with Bulma desperately trying to keep up with the trio. They have been tracking Pilaf and his cronies for a few months now, but they were not able to stop him from collecting the Dragonballs. They were close to tracking him down, but ever since the Dragon radar started to malfunction, Pilaf was able to stay one step ahead of them. “Will you three wait for me?!” The hotheaded Bulma shouted, nearly stumbling over her own feet. “There’s no time! If we don’t hurry, Pilaf is going to make his wish” Yamcha shouts back at her. Over the horizon, a bright light could be seen. Pilaf could be making his wish at this very moment for all they knew. “We’re not going to make it! We’re too far away!” Krillin says, despair in his voice. The young man was right. They were still too far away, and it was clear that Shenron was already called upon. They had to think of something, and they had to think of something fast. Goku looked to the sky, still running as fast as he was able. “Nimbus!” Goku called out for his magical cloud at the top of his lungs. It was a long shot, but if anything was going to get him there in time to stop Pilaf, it was his Nimbus cloud. A few moments pass before a yellow cloud is seen overhead, approaching the group at breakneck speeds. Without even a seconds thought, Goku leaped onto the flying Nimbus and shot forward like a dart. He easily left his companions in the dust, as the bright light in the distance got closer and closer. The cold wind pounds against Goku’s body as the Nimbus flies forward as fast as it possibly can. “I am growing impatient. Make your wish, or release me.” Shenron demanded. The powerful dragons demand snapped the emperor back to reality. No more delays, it was time that his wish became a reality. Pilaf steps forward. “Y…Yes, right. My wish…” He stutters, trying not to sound afraid. “I wish….” Pilaf was interrupted by the screeching of the Nimbus cloud coming to a halt. Both Mai and Shu nearly jumped out of their skin. There he was; the boy who foiled all of his previous attempts at glory. Goku stood atop the cloud, power pole unsheathed. “Stop! Step away from the Dragonballs!” Goku demanded, in a surprisingly violent tone. Mai and Shu opened fire on the boy with their automatic machine guns. Goku spun his magical staff around at blinding speeds, deflecting the all of the ammunition being thrown at him. Baffled, the two henchmen cease fire. “Power pole extend!” The young martial artist commanded. His staff extended several feet, as Goku swipes at the guns with impressive strength and speed. The firearms instantly shatter upon contact. Pilaf and his henchmen look terrified as they fear they will soon receive a similar treatment. Emperor Pilaf is gripped with fear; stumbling backwards, almost tripping over the Dragonballs. Wait, the Dragonballs! It dawned on Pilaf that Shenron was still waiting to grant his wish. All he would have to do is ask and he would rid him of that troublesome kid forever. Sure he wouldn’t be ruler of the world right now, but this kid would be out of the picture if he ever wanted to gather the Dragonballs again. Pilaf’s face turned from frightened to serious. He couldn’t help but let a satisfied chuckle escape his lips. “This is your last chance. Make your wish or I shall return to my slumber.” Shenron commanded, sounding even more impatient than before. “Shenron, I want you to send this little nuisance far away! So far away, that he’ll never interfere with my plans ever again!” Pilaf declared proudly. “What?!” Goku was taken aback by the emperor’s unexpected wish. He nearly fell off of his Nimbus cloud. “What?!” Both Mai and Shu shouted in unison, equally as surprised as Goku. Pilaf laughed maniacally as the realization set in; he would soon be rid of his tormentor forever. “As you wish, so it shall be.” Shenron roared as his bright red eyes narrowed. Over the horizon, Yamcha, Krillin and Bulma can be seen bolting towards them. Shenron opens his mighty jaws, and then; a blinding light. Everyone attempts to shield their eyes from the intense light. A beam of pure energy could be seen stretching from the maw of Shenron, down to the helpless Goku. He was lifted from his Nimbus cloud, trying desperately to escape. All of his efforts were in vain. “Goku! No!” Yamcha shouted in protest. Krillin ran forward, his eyes swelling with tears in fear of what was going to happen to his friend. “Goku!” Krillin cried out. But it was too late. In one more brilliant flash of light, Goku was gone. The mighty dragon dispersed into nothing more than energy. The seven magical balls shot into the air, and scattered around the corners of the Earth once more… Goku awakens on his back, memory hazed on what he just experienced. His vision was blurry, and he could barely move. He let out an unsatisfied groan as the fog in his vision began to clear. Goku lifted his head, only to see that he was in the middle of a forest of some kind. ‘wh..wha? Trees? I was in the desert a second ago…’ Goku thought to himself. Goku struggled to get to his feet. It felt like his core was on fire. He stumbled around aimlessly for a bit, trying his best to keep his balance. “Where am I?” Goku said in a weakened tone. He searched around, only to see trees all around him. His power pole laid there in the grass next to where he was passed out. The disoriented child stumbled over to it as best he could. He picked up his staff and planted it into the moist ground in front of him. He had to figure out where he was at least. “Power pole extend!” Goku shouted. He grasped the power pole as it extended towards the treetops. Once over the treeline, Goku balanced atop his magical staff as he observed his environment. It would appear the forest stretched on for quite a way; the seemingly never ending trees only interrupted by a solitary lake. Goku closed his eyes, partly out of exhaustion and partly to collect his own thoughts. As he let his thoughts catch up with him, he remembered Shenron and Pilaf. He was wished far away. Goku realized he needed to find his way back to his friends. He stood up on his power pole and looked towards the sky. “Nimbus!” he shouted. He figured that he would get out of here faster on his cloud than by walking. Something was odd. The Flying Nimbus was not showing up. The confused Goku scratched his head, wondering what could be wrong. “Flying Nimbus!” He shouted again, hoping his cloud would appear the second time around. His efforts were in vain. “Huh… Maybe the Nimbus is lost like me.” Goku said aloud, clearly still innocent to exactly how far away he has been sent. His power pole detracted back to its normal size as Goku leapt back to the ground below. He pried it from the ground and placed it into its sheath on his back. “Well, I guess I have to walk then.” Goku declared as he began to stroll forward. Before he could even make it out of the clearing he woke up in, his stomach rumbled fiercely. He was quite hungry, who knows just how long he had been lying there anyways? It was clear that he wasn’t going anywhere far without getting a bite to eat first. Goku smiled as he looked up to the trees. Some fruit would be nice. He jumped up to the nearest tree, landing cleanly on a sturdy branch. He searched tree top to bottom. “Darn, nothing but acorns!” Goku groaned. Last time he was forced into eating acorns, it was not a pleasant dining experience. He hopped over to the next tree and searched again, only to come up empty. He swung by his tail tree to tree, looking for anything tasty. He hung upside down by his tail, now looking quite frustrated. That’s when he got an idea. “I know! That lake I saw will probably have fish in it! I’ll go tail fishing!” He proudly said to himself. A nice big, tasty fish would be the greatest. Goku was watering from the mouth just thinking about his potential feast. In a single bound, Goku flipped from the tree, easily landing on his feet. He burst into an all-out sprint in the general direction of the lake, barely able to contain his own enthusiasm. A few mere moments later, a gleaming bed of water sat in the clearing in front of him. Goku undressed himself and tossed his tattered orange and blue outfit to the side, along with his power pole. He approached the water, turned around and dipped his tail into the lake. A wide grin trickled across his face as he wiggled his tail, trying to make it seem like a worm. A few moments passed with not so much as a nibble, but Goku remained positive. Then, something unexpected happened. Goku could hear something in the distance, almost like someone was humming a delightful tune whilst on an afternoon stroll. ‘Who could that be’ Goku thought silently to himself. From the forest emerged a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane. It would seem that it was the source on the delightful tune. It looked as if it was enjoying a lonesome walk through the woods. It didn’t notice Goku at first, but he was kind of hard to miss. Its eyes widen as it takes a step back; it obviously wasn’t expecting to see a naked boy fishing alone in the woods. Its initial look of surprise then turned into a smile as her eyes practically glowed in joy. It approached Goku at a medium pace. “Awwwww, well aren’t you a cute little monkey.” It said in a soothing voice. Her grin only grew as she got closer to Goku. “I’ve never seen a hairless monkey before. What are you doing all the way out here by yourself little guy?” It asked in a sweet, caring voice. Goku just grinned at the nice visitor. He put his finger against his lips as if to tell it to be quiet. “Shhhhhh! Quiet down, you’re going to scare them all away.” Goku said in a lowered voice. The Pegasus’ content look instantly turned into one of fear. It scrambled back as quickly as it could; almost tripping over itself as it did so. “Y..Y…You can talk?!” She shouted in disbelief. Goku just gave her a confused look. He was a little bit disgruntled due to the fact that she probably scared away the fish. “Of course I can talk, why wouldn’t I?” He asked, genuinely curious why she was reacting this way. The Pegasus couldn’t take her eyes off the boy, as if it would attack her if she tried to run. She eventually began to calm down, though she still kept her guard up. “Oh… I’m sorry. I... I’m just not used to monkeys being able to talk.” She said, now much quieter than she had been earlier. Goku just grinned widely. “Well where I’m from horses don’t usually talk either! So I think you’re kind of strange too.” Goku proclaimed in a happy tone. The Pegasus was slightly shocked at what the boy just said. She took one step forward, genuinely baffled by the situation presented to her. “Umm…. I’m a Pegasus…” She extended her left wing. “See?” Goku just scratched his head. “I’ve never seen one of those before… But you seem nice!” Goku said cheerfully. “My names Goku, who are you?” He asked, rather innocently. The Pegasus took a moment to respond. She was still taken off guard that Goku was talking at all. “M…My name’s Fluttershy. It’s nice to meet you.” She said as a small grin found its way on her face. She began to lower her guard a bit; this monkey…. Goku… wasn’t like any other animal she’s ever seen before. “What a weird name.” Goku said casually as he turned his head back to check on his tail. It sounded a little bit rude, even though Goku meant nothing by it. Fluttershy dipped her head down in embarrassment at the comment, but she recovered quickly. “So what are you doing out here all alone in the forest? Where’s your family?” She asked, concerned. Goku did not avert his eyes from his tail. “Family? I don’t have one of those. I used to live with my Grandpa, but he was trampled by a terrible beast.” Goku replied, mostly focused on his tail. Fluttershy’s heart sank. ‘Poor little monkey! Out in the woods all alone with no family!’ she thought to herself, eyes almost swelling up with tears. Before she could say anything, Goku jolted and let out a quiet yelp of pain. Fluttershy nearly jumped out of her own skin. “What’s wrong?!” She asked. Goku stood up, taking his tail from the water. Success! A nice sized fish was clamped down on his tail. Goku’s already large grin only grew larger as he yanked it off on his tail. “I caught my dinner!” Goku flaunted proudly. Fluttershy only gasped. “Wha?! Oh no no no!” She mumbled as she took the fish from Goku using her teeth. She tossed it back into the lake. Goku looked extremely annoyed at the yellow Pegasus’ actions. “Hey! That was my fish!” He yelled, a little bit angry that he would not get to eat his much needed meal. Fluttershy turned to Goku, clearly upset. “You wouldn’t eat the poor fish would you? Come with me, I’ll make you dinner.” She insisted. Goku’s frown instantly turned around at her offer. He would never turn down free dinner. “Okay! Just let me grab my clothes.” Goku said cheerfully as he ran over to his pile of stuff. Fluttershy just looked confused. She had never seen an animal who owned clothes before. ‘He certainly is strange. Still, the poor thing doesn’t even have a family! He is still an animal in need, so I have to take him in. It’s the right thing to do.’ Fluttershy thought to herself as they walked onward. > Dinner > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goku continues to follow Fluttershy through the woods due to the promise of a hearty meal. They have been walking for almost an hour, and Goku’s hunger was only growing. Fluttershy couldn’t help but steal a few dozen long glances at the boy; she had never seen an animal like him before. He had hairless, smooth, pink skin; no fur or feathers, although he had a large grouping of hair on the top of his head. It kind of looked like a really odd mane-style. Fluttershy thought that he may just be a hairless monkey; he even had a tail. However, he was the first monkey she had ever seen with the ability to speak, not to mention he wore clothes. Speaking of his clothes, what the heck was he wearing? It was bright orange under the caked on dirt, with blue wristbands. It was torn in several places and sported a strange symbol over his left breast. Fluttershy did not recognize this symbol, this was interesting. Slung around his shoulder was some sort of… walking stick maybe? Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud grumbling sound. “How much further? I don’t think I can last much longer.” Goku whined as he trudged on forward. He looked like he was going to collapse; both of his arms clenched his stomach. How dramatic. He reminded her of Angel bunny in some ways; he tends to blow things out of proportion when he gets hungry. Fluttershy continued to walk onward, slightly in front of Goku. “Oh…. We’re almost there. Not much further now.” She reassured the little monkey boy. A few moments pass with complete silence. Goku was more interested in feeding himself rather than make conversation. Fluttershy while curious, is well, shy. It was quite odd; she was much more comfortable around Goku before she realized he had the ability of speech. Fluttershy, now feeling even more uncomfortable with the silence, decided to break the silence once more. “So….. Ummm….” The bashful Pegasus attempted to speak. “You said you lived with your grandpa? Were you two living somewhere in the Everfree forest?” Goku was only barely keeping up with Fluttershy. He looked woozy; even though it was apparent he was exaggerating. He broke his trance like state and decided to answer his new friend with another question. “Everfree forest? Is that were we are now?” Goku asked with a clueless look on his face. “Yes.” Fluttershy responded, somewhat surprised. Did this poor monkey get lost? He doesn’t even know where he is. Her train of thought was interrupted when Goku continued speaking. “Oh, then no. I’ve never been here before. I’m from really far away.” Goku said, hoping to sedate the Pegasus’ curiosity. Fluttershy began to speculate. Goku said earlier that his grandpa was trampled by a horrible monster; did that mean this little guy was on the run? Just how far has he gone? Is it possible that he is from the lands beyond Equestria? That would certainly explain why she’s never seen another creature like him before. Maybe he’s from the Crystal Empire? No, a hairless animal wouldn't be able to survive in such a cold environment. Maybe that’s what the clothes were for? Most ponies only wear clothes for fashion, but maybe Goku wears his for warmth? Then again, it is very thin, and would do a poor job at keeping him warm. So many questions raced through her head; where was he from? How long has he been on his own? Are there more like him? How old is he? She was so caught up in her own thoughts, that she failed to see the tree right in front of her; and walked straight into it. The dazed Pegasus fell back into a sitting position as she was knocked onto her flank. “Ouch..” She moaned. Goku couldn't contain himself. He fell to the ground and burst out in a roaring laughter. Fluttershy gripped her nose with her left hoof; it was quite painful, but she was more embarrassed than anything. Her face turned a bright shade of scarlet, as she tried to shelter herself. “You should watch where you’re going!” Goku laughed. Fluttershy’s face only turned a brighter shade of red, as she vainly attempted to shelter herself behind her wing. Goku’s look of joy turned to one of confusion. “Fluttershy? Are you okay? Why is your face all red? I didn't think you hit the tree that hard.” No response could be heard from the timid Pegasus. She attempted to shelter herself from Goku’s on looking eyes as she scurried in front of him. ‘How strange…’ Goku thought. Why was she acting this way? She seemed so friendly earlier, but now it’s like she doesn't want to be seen. He didn't really think much of it after that; he wasn't much of a thinker on an empty stomach. Hell, we wasn't much of a thinker in the first place. Fluttershy and Goku exit the forest. They are greeted by warm sunlight and the sound of the birds chirping. A grassy plain lies before them; with a bridge over top a flowing stream. Various animals frolic across the plain and through the trees, seemingly carefree in nature. As they cross the bridge, several birds can be seen flying overhead, as well as fish swimming through the water. This made Goku’s stomach growl yet again; He could have eaten that fish nearly an hour ago. He was a bit grumpier than he usually would be, though the promise of dinner kept him going. They approached perhaps the strangest house Goku had ever seen; It looked as if it were growing out of the ground like a tree. Grass and moss protruded from the rooftop, as well as several birds’ nests. As organic as it sounded, there were still windows as well as a door. Fluttershy opened the door for Goku and gestured him to enter. “Welcome to my cottage…” She ushered him inside. Inside of the building was a green hardwood floor, several couches and a stone fireplace. A small table as well as several chairs could be seen. Three more doors could also be seen, leading into other rooms; it wasn't anything special, but it was homely. It was nice by Goku’s standards, considering he was used to either sleeping in the woods or at master Roshi’s house. Strangely enough, there were nearly as many animals inside the house as there were outside the house. Fluttershy joyfully trotted in front of Goku. “Alright everyone, I have somepony I need to introduce to you all!” She declared happily. All of the animals sprung to attention. Squirrels, birds, bunnies and even a grizzly bear lined up in an orderly fashion, much to Goku’s surprise. “Y…you can control animals?!? Are you some sort of witch?!” Goku stumbled backwards, obviously not understanding Fluttershy’s way with animals. Fluttershy just chuckled at Goku’s misunderstanding. “No, I’m a Pegasus; I don’t have any magic. It’s just my job to take care of all the animals, just like you.” She said sweetly. She placed her hoof on Goku’s shoulder, calming him down a bit. She gently pushed him forward; he now faced the assembly line of woodland creatures. “This is Goku; he’s a monkey I found all alone in the woods! He’s going to be staying with us for a while and…” She was interrupted by a loud grumbling sound. She turned to see Goku, practically blue in the face. “Umm, Fluttershy? Can I have some dinner now please?” He asked in a very weakened tone. “Oh! I’m sorry Goku, please follow me!” Fluttershy said, a bit embarrassed. The rest of the animals dispersed as Fluttershy led Goku to the kitchen table. He took a seat ad Fluttershy continued into the kitchen. A few minutes pass before she returns with a bowl of various greens and fruit. Goku would have liked some meat, but he wasn’t very picky at a time like this. Much to Fluttershy’s surprise, Goku practically pounced onto the bowl, devouring it in mere seconds. She takes a step back as Goku starts pounding his chest; releasing a massive belch. A wide grin overtakes his face as he lifts his bowl. “Can I have another bowl please?” He asks, chuckling in delight. ‘How could he have eaten that entire bowl so fast?!’ Fluttershy thought frantically to herself. It took her a moment to snap back to reality. “Oh, umm… Sure.” She assured the boy, still in a little bit of shock. This was getting ridiculous. Nearly forty seven bowls of fruit later and he’s still eating! There is just no way an animal of his size can eat this much and still stand, let alone want more. Fluttershy looked on in both amazement and concern as the hairless monkey finished up the last bits of fruit and began licking the bowl. He was insatiable! Even some of the other animals began to take notice. He slammed the bowl on the table, still sporting his toothy grin. “Do you have any more?” Goku asked yet again. Fluttershy’s eyes only grew as her jaw almost hit the floor. He still wants more? She wasn't even sure if she had any fruit left! “Oh umm.. I’m sorry Goku, but…. I think I’m all out.” She informed him. She still had some food in the cellar, but if she gave him any more there wouldn’t be enough for the other animals. Goku’s grin disappeared as he leapt from his seat. “That’s okay; I think I should be fine until breakfast.” He said calmly. Fluttershy only sighed in relief. She would have to make a stop into town tomorrow to sugar cube corner and Sweet Apple Acres if she expects to feed him again tomorrow. It was beginning to get dark outside; Goku grabbed his power pole and headed for the door. Fluttershy raised her hoof. “Where are you going?” she asked in a concerned tone. “Thanks for the food Fluttershy, but I really need to get going.” He replied, letting out another small belch while doing so. “Don’t be silly, it’s getting dark out! It’s dangerous this close to the Everfree forest at night. You can stay here…” Fluttershy trotted in front of Goku, blocking his exit; almost like a concerned mother. Goku was a little taken off guard by the Pegasus’ protectiveness, though he didn’t see the problem. “Okay, I guess I can at least stay here till’ morning.” He said happily. Fluttershy was relieved. “Good, I don’t want you out there freezing! You can stay in my guest room for now.” ‘Goku sure is a strange one. He’s not like any species of animal I have ever heard about. Maybe Twilight will know more about this than I do…’ > Meeting Rainbow Dash > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sun beats in through the window, illuminating the room and filling the air with the morning heat. Underneath the quilted covers, rested a small figure; completely motionless and oblivious to the world around him. A small sliver of light passed through the curtains, beaming directly onto the boys face. His eyes gently flutter open, his vision returns to him and he lets out a quiet sigh. That was one of the most comfortable sleeps Goku ever had. This bed was soft, the blankets kept him warm and the pillows were fluffed. Goku was not used to sleeping conditions this nice; he was found constantly sleeping outside in trees, on top of rocks and various hard objects. Even when he slept at Kame House, the beds there were rock solid. He almost wanted to stay wrapped up in a bundle of warmth forever, but that simply wasn't like him. In a single swift motion, Goku tossed the covers off the bed and sprung to his feet, landing on the floor next to him. After slipping on his clothes and grabbing his power pole, he headed down the stairs. “Fluttershy? Are you down here?” He called out. His voice was only answered by a posse of various forest creatures. “Are you here?” He tried a second time. She must not be home. That's a shame, she was really nice. Goku would have liked to at least say goodbye before he left, but he had no time. He had to get moving if he was ever going to find his friends again. Yamcha, Bulma, Puar, Tienshinhan, Chiaotzu, Krillin; they were all probably worried about him by now. What if another villain came around while he was gone? He just barely managed to defeat King Piccolo, and that was with Tienshinhan's help. Only two things were certain to Goku; He had to get much stronger than he was now, and he had to return home. He approached the door and swung it open, letting the sunlight of the outside world beam into Fluttershy's home. Several birds flew in and out of the doorway as Goku stretched his arms, letting out a satisfied grin. The sun was still part way concealed by the horizon, so it was probably earlier in the morning. 'Time for some morning training' Goku thought to himself. He surveyed the surrounding area for some time before he saw something that made him smile. A giant boulder, roughly three times his size rested down in a meadow not too far from here. It was perfect. Goku rushed down towards the boulder with a huge grin on his face; he knew for sure that this would help him get stronger. He stopped a few feet from the boulder and began to stretch out his legs. Taking in a deep breath, Goku began to beat his chest like a war drum to get himself pumped up. Now that he got his blood pumping, he wrapped his arms around the giant rock as best he could; His arms didn't even wrap around half of the massive stone. Goku's legs began to shake as he strained his muscles. His face turned a bright shade of red and several veins could be spotted popping out. This boulder must have weighed well over a ton, but Goku kept trying to lift it regardless. Finally, the boulder wedged itself out from the earth and was lifted above Goku's head. A massive grin trickled across his face in light of his achievement. Several cats, rabbits, squirrels and the like gathered around Goku; all of them awestruck by his show of pure strength. However the real show was about to begin. Goku tossed the boulder into the sky and flipped into a handstand. A few moments later, the giant rock came hurling back down. Goku was ready for this however; he caught the boulder with his feet. The force of the rock landing on Goku's feet nearly toppled him over, but he quickly found his balance. This boulder was quite heavy, and even Goku almost buckled under its weight. Slowly, he began to trudge forward on his hands, all while balancing the boulder. “Grr...Ughh... T... Twelve miles should do for my w....warmup.” Goku grunted. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sky began to clear up from the morning fog. Birds were flying carefree through the sky and the world seemed much more peaceful than it normally was. All was quiet. That was, until a cyan streak zipped through the sky at blinding speeds. The source of this streak of color was none other than the one and only Rainbow Dash! Zipping through the air at speeds few could ever hope to match, Dash preforms many death defying stunts. First, the Double Comet Barrel Roll, followed by her famed Buccaneer Blitz. It was truly a sight to behold! Now normally Rainbow Dash wouldn't be up this early. Being as incredibly awesome as her is hard work, so she needs her rest. Today was an exception however, as she just got out of the hospital. That's right, she dislocated her wing yet again. As talented a flyer she is, it's sometimes hard to keep control while flying at breakneck speeds. She had been confined to her hospital bed for over a week, and Rainbow Dash was not one to be pent up for so long. Having way too much pent up energy, she couldn't get herself to sleep; so she decided to start her morning training session early. Rainbow stopped momentarily to gaze out as the sun slowly rose above the hilltops. This was a sight she rarely got to see, but she had to admit it was nice. The colors were magnificent; it was a perfect blend of orange, red, yellow and blue. As much as she loathed admitting it, she could be a bit of a softie sometimes. Not that she'd ever admit that to anypony, she had a reputation to keep! That's right, as the local fearless daredevil, she couldn't let the other ponies know that she liked something as tacky as a sunset. “Ugh, enough of the mushy stuff Dash. Time to get serious!” She muttered to herself. With that, she shook her head. A look of pure determination overtook her face as fire roared in her eyes. Today was the day. For months now she had been attempting to perfect a brand new trick. In fact, it was this very trick that landed her in the hospital. What sort of trick could possibly give the most amazingly awesome flyer in all of Equestria so much trouble? The one and only Double Twister Barrel Sonic Rainboom. What is the Double Twister Barrel Sonic Rainboom you ask? You start with darting forward at blinding speeds, Then you create the largest tornado you can, then you finish by flying under the tornado and bursting through the top with a Sonic Rainboom! It will be Rainbow's crowning achievement, the move that will guarantee her a spot in the Wonderbolts! The only problem was that she has yet to even pull it off once. She has gotten much better at preforming the Rainboom, but it's incredibly hard to get enough speed while fighting a full blown twister. Not to mention she tends to lose her balance quite easily about half way up the twister. Today was going to be different though, she could feel it in her gut. “Let's do this” Rainbow Dash allowed a devious grin to take over her face. As quickly as a bolt of lightning, Dash raced forward at top speed. Almost instantaneously, Rainbow pivoted her body to the right, causing her to spin in a perfect circle. While maintaining her impressive speed, the wind began to churn. It wasn’t long until an impressive sized tornado began to form. 'Steady... Steady...' was all Rainbow could think. What she had to do next was crucial. In one quick movement, she broke off from the tornado and went straight into a nosedive. Flying this close to the twister was quite difficult. Anypony with a wing power under ten would have been sucked into the large gust of wind. Fortunately for Rainbow Dash, her wing power was nearing twenty. The Instant before she rocketed face first into the ground, she made a sudden change of direction and was now inside the twister. She pushed upwards with all her might, until a cone began to for around her. 'Is this it? Am I finally going to....' Rainbow's thought's were cut off as she, once again, spiraled out of control. “No no no no no NOOOOO!” She screamed as she rocketed out the side of the tornado. She was so close, but now she was shooting towards the ground at dangerous speeds. She had to regain control, and she had to do it now. She struggled hard to regain her composure, but it was pretty much a lost cause at this point. As the ground got closer and closer, Rainbow allowed herself one quick peek at what laid below. She was on a crash course with a rather large boulder! She could have sworn that thing wasn't there a second ago! It hardly mattered now, as all Rainbow could do now is brace for impact. This was going to hurt. CRASH! “Ow....” was all Rainbow could manage to say. Her ears couldn't stop ringing. She hit that thing hard, though she was lucky she didn't break anything. She was going to walk away from this, but she was sporting the mother of all headaches. She tried her hardest to get up off of the ground, but that wasn't going to happen just yet. She fell back down onto her stomach. She opened her eyes slowly, though her vision was quite blurry. To put it bluntly, she was practically seeing double. She reached her hoof up to her forehead, it was painful to the touch, causing her to wince with pain. Dash was going to feel this one for a while. She glances forward and is not staring directly at the giant rock. Rainbow managed to leave a massive crack in the stone; she must have been going faster than she thought. She managed to get back on four hooves when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Something brown, something... Hairy? “What the hay..” Rainbow mutters with a hint of confusion in her voice. It was a tail! It looked to be a monkey tail, protruding from under the stone. This was bad, was some sort of animal trapped underneath the boulder? Rainbow quickly shook off whatever pain she was experiencing and attempted to lift the boulder. She was just praying to Celestia that the animal was okay; Fluttershy would never forgive her if she accidentally knocked a boulder on top of one of her pets. She pulled with all of her might, but the boulder would not so much as budge. “Ugh, this thing is a lot heavier than it looks...” Rainbow sadly admitted to herself. It was painfully obvious at this point that she couldn't lift the boulder, so Rainbow knew there was only one way she was going to free this animal. She was going to have to break the boulder. Rainbow had smashed rocks before; it was a great way to toughen yourself up before preforming a dangerous stunt. However, she's never attempted to break one this big before. Still, she had to try. She leaps backwards and takes position. This was probably going to hurt a lot, but she couldn't let something as lame as pain stop her now. She stomps her hoof into the dirt and takes a crouching stance. “EEYYYAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Rainbow lets out a fierce war cry as she jolts forward at top speed. She could never have been prepared for what happened next. The boulder simply exploded into a thousand pieces, and she hadn't even reached it yet. A small figure could be seen speeding through the rock with it's fist held high. Rainbow Dash was so taken off guard that her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. Worse still, she could not stop herself at this point; she was on a crash course with the small creature. 'Well buck...' Rainbow thought to herself as she braced for impact. SMACK! The two figures collided in the air with stunning force. They skidded across the hard dirt for at least ten yards before coming to a stop. Rainbow wearily struggled to stand back up, though she could feel a stinging sensation across her hind legs. She was riddled with minor cuts, though she's been through much more devastating crashes. She dusted herself off as best she could before she went to face the creature that she tried to save. “Ouch! What did you do that for?” The creature spoke in a voice that sounded like a younger colt. What Rainbow was staring at was definitely no colt. It was about as tall as she was, though it stood up on it's hind legs. It was hairless for the most part, except it has the most ridiculous mane cut Rainbow had ever seen. Stranger still, it had the monkey tail that Rainbow spotted earlier. Also, why was it wearing clothes? Rainbow wasn't exactly the zoologist that Fluttershy was, but she's never heard of an animal like this before. The creature began to spit out clobs of dirt from it's mouth; it looks kind of ticked off. “Ugh, yeah... Sorry about that. I was trying to...” Rainbow was cut off by the creature. “Why did you attack me? I was just minding my own business when you knocked me over! That rock almost crushed me!” It said, still rather angry. It took a step towards Dash, now pulling out some sort of red stick. 'Attack him? What the hay! I was trying to save him!' Rainbow Dash thought to herself, now getting a little peeved herself. Rainbow took a step towards the animal, taking an equally aggressive stance. “Hey, listen here! I was trying to save you if you hadn't noticed!” She yelled at him. A look of confusion overtook it's face. It lowered it's stick and put it's hand behind it's head. “Then why did you knock me over? I didn't need any saving.” It asked, sounding genuinely confused. Rainbow maintained her aggressive stance. She had no idea if this thing was going to attack her or not, and judging by the way it blew up that boulder, it was probably dangerous. “Um, sorry about that. I lost control of myself while I was flying, I must have accidentally knocked that boulder on top of you.” She explained, a little embarrassed. The creature was still eyeing her suspiciously, until his face lit up in excitement. “Hey! I know what you are! You look like Fluttershy!” It shouted excitedly. Rainbow instantly lowered her guard and began to approach the animal. “You know Fluttershy? Well that explains it, you must be one of her animals! Well, any friend of Fluttershy is a friend of mine” Rainbow grinned as she presented her hoof for a hoofshake. The creature smiled as he met her hoof with his... Claws? Well, they kind of looked like what Spike had, except they were rounded at the end. “The names Rainbow Dash” She said with pride. “You got a name small fry?” Dash asked with a devious grin. “My names Goku.” > Hanging out with Dash / Trouble at Sweet Apple Acres Pt.1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “What? There's no way, you have to be pulling my leg.” Rainbow scoffed at Goku. “I'm telling you the truth, and I'm not pulling anything.” Goku replied to the mare with genuine confusion in his voice. Goku had just finished explaining that he was training when Rainbow knocked into him. When he explained the details of his training regiment, Rainbow naturally didn't believe him. “Come on Goku, stop lying to me. I tried to move that thing myself and it wouldn't even budge! No offence, but If I can't lift it, you wouldn't even have a chance.” The rainbow maned Pegasus flaunted. She took to the air and puffed out her chest. Her wings spread in display as a fire blazed in her eyes. “I'm the fastest, most athletic and all around most awesome pony in all of Equestria! Their aren't that many mares or stallions that can keep up with me!” Rainbow declared with an overwhelming sense of pride. Rainbow continued to rant, but Goku just tuned it out; He had already heard what he needed to hear. He looked at the Pegasus with awe; his grin almost outstretching his own face. 'Wow! Rainbow must be really strong! I don't know what an Equestria is, but she said she's really fast!' As the thought entered Goku's mind, he was overwhelmed with joy. If Rainbow Dash was as good as she said she was, she would provide quite the challenge for Goku. He had been itching for a fight for quite some time; he hadn't really gotten a challenge out of a fight since he defeated king Piccolo almost a year and a half ago. Still, he aught to test her first; she could be all bark and no bite. While Rainbow continued to feed her own ego, Goku unsheathed his power pole and planted it into the ground. He steadily took aim at the distracted pegasus as he smiled deviously. 'This is going to be good!' He thought silently to himself. “Power Pole extend...” Goku nearly whispered to his magical staff. The pole shot out towards Rainbow at blinding speeds. Rainbow's prior expression of pride turned into one of shock and fear. She dashed to the left as swiftly as she could; just barely dodging the power pole. The cyan coat of the Pegasus slowly turned red as a look of pure, unadulterated rage overtook her; steam practically shot out of her ears. Rainbow was livid. “Wow, you are fast! Not many people can dodge the Power Pole at this range!” Goku chuckled. “WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!” Rainbow roared. Goku was now confused. She darted towards Goku and held him by the collar, lifting him several feet into the air. Goku didn't know what he did wrong; he was just testing her speed and reflexes. Sweat began to trickle down Goku's neck as Rainbow stared him down. “W...What did I do? I was just...” Goku was interrupted. “You attacked me! Where do you....” That's when the realization hit Rainbow like a ton of bricks. Rainbow dropped the monkey boy; he hit the ground with a soft thud. The Pegasus' pupils shrunk to the size of pin-needles as her mouth gaped open. Goku rubbed the back of his head and groaned. “Why are you so mad?” Goku asked. He was more than a little annoyed at this point. “H...How. How did you do that?” Dash questioned him, stuttering over her own words. Goku looked up to her confused. “How did I do what? You're acting really weird.” Goku responded as he returned to his feet. Rainbow hovered a few feet in front of Goku, her face now uncomfortably close to his. “What do you mean?!” She practically yelled in his face. “You made that staff of yours shoot out at me! How did you do that? Are you magic? I don't see a horn anywhere...” Rainbow flew circles around Goku as he stood there confused. Rainbow's rage had been replaced with her curiosity. Her eyes were drawn to that tail of his, it seemed... Out of place for some reason. She couldn't put her hoof on it, but it definitely looked different from the rest of his body. That's it! That must be where he gets his magical powers from! Rainbow was about to reach for it when Goku spun around to face her. He tucked his tail behind his back as best he could; he seemed a bit nervous. Rainbow wondered why he was so protective over his tail, but she let the thought slip by when he began to speak. “Well, it's my power pole.” Goku said flatly. Rainbow's expression went blank. “Excuse me, your what?” She asked Goku. Goku didn't know what she was playing at, but he decided to indulge her. “My power pole.” Goku repeated himself. Tears began to form in Rainbows magenta eyes while she tried her best to suppress a grin. Eventually, she couldn't hold it back any longer; She rolled around on the ground, bursting out in an uncontrollable laughter. Goku didn't know what to make of this. “I don't get it, whats so funny?” Goku asked the Rainbow Maned Pegasus. Rainbow continued to laugh for some time before she could bring herself to speak. “Th...That's the stupidest name I've ever heard!” She tried hard to catch her breath between fits of laughter. Goku just stood there and stared at the Pegasus. She was a strange one, Goku didn't remember Fluttershy ever acting like this. Dash picked herself off the ground and approached Goku. She gave him a playful slap on the back. “You're a riot Goku!” She said while wiping a tear from her face. “How does this...” She snickers. “Power Pole, work?” She asked. Goku smiled and planted his magical staff into the dirt. He jumped up and balanced on the tip of the staff. “I just tell it what to do and it does it.” Goku explains. Rainbow looks on in curiosity. “Power Pole Extend!” Goku shouts. In an instant, the power pole shot up into the sky with Goku on top of it. Rainbow barely had time to react to what was going on. “Whoa!” Rainbow blasted off into the air after the power pole. It was going fast, Dash was having a tough time catching up to Goku at the top. It just kept going and going until eventually blew past the clouds. Rainbow Dash lagged behind for only a split second. She looked down, then focused back on Goku. She hadn’t realized how high off the ground they actually were. “That... Was... AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash was quite entertained by this trick. Goku just laughed at her excitement. This got the cyan daredevil thinking; maybe he was telling the truth about lifting the boulder. Heck, if he's capable of magically extending his bo-staff, who knows what else he could do? Rainbow closed the distance between herself and Goku in an instant, once again being way too close for comfort. “What else can you do?!” Rainbow questioned Goku with excitement in her voice. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hours had passed since the two knuckleheads collided with each other. Rainbow had been daring Goku to try various things, most of which involved smashing large objects. She was curious as to what Goku was capable of, plus she found it entertaining to watch him smash things. “I bet you can't break that one!” Dash pointed to yet another large stone. She smiled deviously as she egged him on. Goku entered a combat position as he eyed the large rock. Goku's trademark grin made it's way onto his face. “Not a problem.” Goku said with determination. In a flash, the young boy darted forward and delivered a powerful kick to the boulder. In a single blow, the stone shattered into several pieces. Rainbow Dash leapt into the air. “That was so cool!” Goku brushed himself off and started to chuckle at Rainbow's reaction. The Pegasus started flying all around him. “You were so fast, I hardly even saw you!” Goku wasn't used to being praised like this, but he didn't really mind. He found it kind of funny that Rainbow was getting so worked up about him breaking that stone; he found it kind of easy. “I had good training.” Goku stated. “Wow, I need to get me some of that training! I could really kick some flank!” Rainbow took up her best combat position and began punching the air playfully. Goku burst out in a fit of laughter at Rainbow's display. “You're silly Rainbow!” He continued to laugh. “Heh, you're fun too kid.” She chuckled with him. Then, Rainbow let out a loud gasp. Goku looked concerned. “What's wrong?” He asked. “I'm such a featherbrain! I have to go!” She hastily replied to him. She began to fly away when Goku spoke. “Rainbow, whats wrong?!” Rainbow halted herself only for a moment. “I must have lost track of time! I'm on weather duty in Cloudsdale today, I'm totally late!” Goku had no idea what she was talking about. “What's a Cloudsdale?” He asked curiously. Rainbow's expression went blank. “Seriously?...” Rainbow sighed. “Anyways, it's been fun. Now I gotta fly before my supervisor notices I'm not there!” Rainbow Dash starts to fly off in a hurry. “WE GOTTA HANG OUT AGAIN SOMETIME!” Rainbow Dash shouted out as she disappeared into the distance. Goku was left there alone and confused. “She sure was strange...” Goku said to himself. Goku really didn't know what to make of Rainbow. She was pretty well the opposite of Fluttershy, but he had to admit he had fun with her. With his new found friend now gone, Goku gathered his things and continued his long journey to find his friends. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goku trudged along the grassy fields for nearly forty minutes before something wonderful caught his eye. Something that brought Goku to his knees. Goku's eyes began to water as he took a moment to let it fully sink in. Apple trees. Apple trees as far as the eye could see. An entire orchard ripe for the picking. Goku began to drool in anticipation for his upcoming feast. He hadn't eaten since last night, so a meal was more than overdue at this point. Goku sprung into the nearest tree and began to devour. Entire apples would be finished in a mere two bites, as a consistent stream of apple cores fell to the ground. Before he even knew it, he had consumed every single apple in the tree. From tree to tree he jumped, eating every single piece of fruit. The ground around him became littered with apple cores and branches that stood between Goku and his meal. These were some of the best apples Goku had ever tasted, they were crunchy, juicy and perfectly round. To put it bluntly; Goku was in heaven. That's when he heard a soft whistling closing in. It reminded him of Fluttershy when he first met her. He peered out of the tree to see the source of the whistling, and what do you know? It was another horse creature. This one seemed different than Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash; it was a lot smaller. It lacked wings, and it seemed to be wearing a large bow in it's hair. The little horse seemed... Confused by the sight in front of it. “What in tarnation?” The little filly asked no one in particular. It began to scan the area; it obviously wasn't expecting to see all of these apple cores all over the ground. 'Hmmm, maybe it's looking for the apples!' Goku thought to himself. Goku reached up and grabbed a nice juicy apple. He wrapped his tail around a low handing branch and swung upside down; he was now face to face with the filly. He was about to offer it the apple he picked when he felt something rumble in his stomach. “BWWWWAAAAAAPPPPPPPP!” Goku let out a massive belch into the creatures face. It was silent for a few moments after that. The horse creature simply sat there staring at Goku. It began to shake, as it's pupils shrunk. That's when it happened. “AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” It screamed as it ran off in fear. “Wait!” Goku tried to get it's attention, but it already ran deep into the orchard. That didn't go very well. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A tree shakes as an orange hoof slams into it's trunk. Several apples drop from the branches and land into strategically placed baskets. Applejack wiped the sweat forming around her brow and sighed. She had been working the orchard since the sun cracked over the horizon; another hard days work on the farm. Her routine was suddenly halted when she heard a scream in the distance. “That sounded like...” Applejack couldn't finish her sentence before her little sister quite nearly slammed into her. “Applebloom...” She finished her sentence. Something was up, Applebloom looked pretty freaked out. Applejack was about to ask her what was wrong, but her younger sister beat her to the punch. “Applejack! There's ah'... ah... Monkey thing! No hair! Belch in my face!” Applebloom struggled to find her words. Applejack and Big Macintoch stared blankly at her. “Follow me!” She shouted as she darted back the way she came. The brother and sister stand there awkwardly for a moment. “D'you have any idea what in tarnation she's gone on about?” Applejack asked her brother. “Nnnope.” > Trouble at Sweet Apple Acres Pt.2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Right here! Right here!” yelled Applebloom, running around an apple tree like a dog chasing its tail. Applejack had no idea what the little filly was hooting and hollering about. From what little she could make out of Applebloom’s frantic, mile a minute, Pinkie Pie style babbling, it had something to do with a monkey and the apple tree she and Big Macintosh were standing before. Oh, and apparently, the monkey belched in Applebloom’s face. But, while Applejack and her older brother could clearly see that the tree was suspiciously barren of any apples, unless you counted the apple cores scattered around it, there was no branch or twig on the tree where they could see a monkey hanging about. “Right where?” asked Applejack. “All I sees is that some no good varmint done ate a whole tree’s worth of apples.” “A belching monkey no good varmint!” said Applebloom. “Girl, I don’t see anything here that says it was a monkey. For all’s I know, it could have been one of them,” she said before pausing and shivering at the memory, “fruit bats, that didn’t get the memo and stay the hay away from here.” Applebloom’s hooves dug into the dirt as she tried to stop in front of Applejack. However, she lost her balance and landed before her dear sister with her face eating the dirt. Undeterred, she brought her head back up, face to face with the scowling look of Applejack. “But I know what I saw, and I’m telling you it was a monkey!” Applebloom then did the one thing Applejack could rightly say her sister was talented at. A thing she was so talented at, that if she didn’t know better, she might say Applebloom had gotten her cutie mark in. Applebloom, made the puppy dog face. Applejack looked at Big Macintosh, and immediately, she could see his silent resolve cracking. His limbs grew shaky, sweat poured forth from his brow and pooled at the fur there, and his eyes darting to and fro, trying not to stare into Applebloom’s absurdly sad looking eyes yet inexplicably drawn there like a mosquito to sap. And boy howdy, was Applebloom playing him for a sap. Applejack, however, having been keen on using this ancient pony form of manipulating others to one’s bidding on Grannie and Mac back when she herself was a filly, was like a brick wall. Applejack stuffed her hoof into her brother’s mouth before he could try and console their obviously fibbing sister, and said, “Fine. Let’s say for the sake of arguing that the varmint was a monkey, not that I’m saying it was. Then where’d it hop off--” Applejack suddenly felt something hit her upside her head out of nowhere. It wasn’t so much the force of the something’s impact that made her fall onto her side, as it was the surprise of anything at all impacting her in the first place. When she got back to her hooves, she got a good look at the something, and determined that it was an apple core. She grabbed it and brought it up to her hooves, Big Macintosh getting a close look too. “What…where the hay did this come from?” She turned to her brother, who just shrugged and shook his head. “Applejack! Macintosh! Look!” Applejack and Big Mac looked at their younger sister who was now back on her hooves and pointing and jumping at something on a mound of dirt not much taller than a bucket not too far away. Applejack could make out another apple tree on this dirt mound with about half as many apple cores scattered about it. And there, hanging upside down from the tree’s tallest branch, could she make out the creature her sister was going on about. The creature that, up until now, she had thought Applebloom had made up in a fit of wild, hysteric imagination. The Monkey. The monkey that had eaten an entire tree’s worth of apples and was about halfway done devouring another tree’s worth of apples. Applejack’s eyes narrowed. Several thoughts went through her mind then. Things like, what the hay’s a monkey doing in Equestria of all places? Why the hay was it wearing clothes? Why did it seem to have an orange-red walking stick on its back? And, of course, where the hay was it putting all of them apples? However, all of these thoughts took a backseat to the primary thought on her mind at the moment:protecting her precious apple trees. She galloped to the tree, took out her lasso from under her Stetson, and twirled it around in her teeth. “Why you belching monkey no good varmint!” With a flick of her head, the lasso soared through the air and wrapped firmly around the varmint’s neck, not deterred by the jutting spikes of its odd mane style. With another flick of her head, she pulled with all of her might and brought the monkey to a screaming crash right at the base of the tree. She tried dragging it away, but the varmint was a feisty little critter that had dug its hands and feet into the earth and was proving to be as stubbornly resolute as her Grannie was when it came to no-good city folk daring to challenge Sweet Apple Acres. “Macintosh! Little help here!” Applejack yelled in-between breaths. ***** Big Mac hesitated for a moment, shooting a confused look to his little sister. This monkey... thing... wasn't too large and he'd seen Applejack overpower larger animals. Hay, she held the Equestrian National record for cattle roping. There was no way this thing could overpower Applejack... And yet it was... “MMM--MAC! Varmint's stronger than it looks!” she grunted, tugging against the rope with all of her might. With an understanding nod, he came galloping up to her and grabbed a hold of the rope in his teeth as well. ***** Much to the widening of Applejack’s eyes, even with Big Macintosh’s help, they had only succeeded in budging the varmint an inch when she had surmised her brother’s help would make it budge a mile…and this was Big Macintosh she was thinking about! This was the stallion, so blessed with earth pony strength, that when her sister and her friends tried to get him and poor Cheerilee hitched with a magic love potion, was pulling an ox-cart carrying anvils and entire cottage as though they were was some pretty meager hindrances. Applejack should know, since she was still being forced by the courts to give reparations to the two oxen and Berrypunch for damages. Yet this here monkey, surprisingly hairless compared to the pictures she vaguely recalled from the school textbooks she had perused so long ago, was holding his own against her AND Big Macintosh in what essentially amounted to a game of tug-o-war! Nearing the breaking point, Applejack stole a quick glance at her brother to find that he was just as surprised as she was. Unconsciously though, her teeth’s grip slackened. And that was all it took. Applejack barely had time to blink when the monkey, in a burst of strength, grabbed a hold of the rope and pulled, not only with enough force to yank it out of her teeth, but to also sweep Big Macintosh off of his hooves and into the monkey’s waiting foot. The kick sounded like a cannon going off and sent Big Mac off at such an angle through the air that his shadow was growing ever larger upon Applebloom’s frightened face. “Applebloom!” Applejack yelled out as she galloped towards her little sister and shoved her out of the way with a mild shoulder check. Before Applejack had time to congratulate herself for such a close save, however, her brother crashed into her, kicking up a small dust devil. “Applejack! Big Mac!” were the last words Applejack heard her sister cry out before she started seeing apple shaped stars and blacked out. ***** “Hey! What the heck was that for!?” Goku yelled out. He had gone through several shades of blue in the face when the Stetson wearing horsey had tightened its lasso around his neck like a noose. Even after getting the stupid piece of hemp off of him, he still found his breath adjusting itself. He looked on as the big red horsey he had just kicked in the face got off of the makeshift cushion the Stetson horsey had proven to be. He noticed that the big red horsey looked down at the Stetson wearing horsey with the kind of concern reserved for a friend or loved one. He took a combat stance when the big red horsey turned its attention to him and stared with a fire in its eyes. Goku returned the dirty look in full. The big red horsey dug at the ground. Goku drew his power pole. The big red horsey snorted a visible cloud of mist from its nostrils. Goku stuck out his tongue. That was it. The final spark to the fire. With a speed Goku thought wasn’t possible for such a lumbering looking lug, the big red horsey galloped full steam toward him. As surprisingly quick on his feet… errr… hooves…as the big red horsey was though, Goku could tell it was no Mr. Popo. Such was evident when he deftly managed to dodge the big red horsey’s side-ways buck at the last second with not even a modicum of effort. However, as the big red horsey’s hooves connected against the bark of the apple tree’s trunk, the very one Goku was pulled down from, he did not anticipate being buried in a sea of red delicious deliciousness. Though, being covered in apples did remind him of a dream he once had, or several, except not so strictly vegetarian. He popped his head out of the pile of succulent red fruit only to come face to face with the big red horsey, which reared its neck back for a head-butt. Now, normally, Goku might have been inclined to stay still and let the big red horsey literally ‘knock itself out.’ However, Goku remembered full well that the big red horsey was pretty tough from the way he was pulling that lasso, the way he took his kick to the face, and how he had cleared the tree of apples just now. Instead, he let the big red horsey drive its face through an after-image. Watching safely from the top of the apple tree, Goku snickered to himself as he watched the big red horsey look around frantically, as though it had just seen a ghost. “Hey you!” he yelled out. “Power pole extend!” Goku made sure that, as the big red horsey looked up, that it got a good look at the end of his orange-red bo-staff right before it connected with its forehead. ***** Applebloom had seen many frightening things in her brief existence on Equestria. Aside from all of the historical craziness that her sister and the other elements got into that somehow wound up affecting her, like the whole Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Queen Chrysalis fiascos, she had also gotten into lots of trouble with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle too. Whenever she was out crusading, though, and her and her friends were in a jam, it tended to be her own siblings that saved their flanks from the fire the most. And now, both of them were knocked unconscious. “Applejack… Big Macintosh…” she stuttered, frightened to wits end at the horrific smack down that just unfolded before her brilliant gamboge eyes. The hairless ape stuck the end of his freaky magically elongated stick on the ground next to her brother, stepped off of the tree, and with a shout of, ‘Power pole retract!’ rode down its decreasing length and landed on terra firma. “Hmmm… that’s odd…” it said as it moved around her brother’s form and poked him with its stick. “I didn’t think I hit it THAT hard. It should have been like a slap across the face for such a tough horsey.” Applebloom didn’t yet know what her special talent was. She didn’t even yet know what her brother or sister thought it was, though it probably wasn’t flattering, she could reason that much. If Applebloom didn’t know any better, though, it would be in exactly the sort of thing she tended to do in a no-win situation like this. Running away screaming like a little pansy. “HALP! HALP! SOMEPONY HAAALLLPPP!” she hollered out as loud as her little lungs could carry as she turned tail and high-tailed it out of there like she was running from a giant dragon that also happened to be a little monkey barely taller than her. ***** “Huh?” Goku turned his head around to find the little bow wearing horsey screaming and running away like she had just seen a resurrected King Piccolo. He watched her disappear over a rolling hill, scratching his head. “I don’t get it. I just wanted to see if it wanted an apple...” It was then, that a familiar sensation erupted from his lower end, but it wasn’t that he had to go relieve himself or that he had to scratch his butt. No no. Nothing so pleasant. Rather, it was the sharp, biting, numbing pain that came whenever someone or something grabbed ahold of his tail. “But… how…” he said through clenched teeth. Then, it hit him. It hit him like being hit by Yamcha’s Wolf Fang Fist that first time. Ever so slowly, he craned his neck around to find that the big red horsey had recovered and that its jaw was now firmly clamped down on Goku’s tail. Paralyzed everywhere else, Goku could only sweat as the big red horsey snorted another cloud of mist into his face. ***** “Thanks a bunch again Twilight,” Fluttershy said as she trotted side by side with the lavender Unicorn on the dirt path leading into Sweet Apple Acres, both carrying saddlebags. “No problem Fluttershy. It’s the least I can after all, since you’re letting me encounter a completely undiscovered species!” Twilight stopped for a moment to tap her front hooves together and squee. Fluttershy smiled at the display. Earlier that morning, she had made good on the silent promise she had given herself after watching Goku beat the living daylights out of her food supply the night before. She had gone to sugar-cube corner to stock up on sweets and went to the market to stock up on veggies. However, by that point, the saddlebag she was carrying was filled to the brim and she hadn’t even been to Sweet Apple Acres yet. If Goku’s stomach was as bottomless as she thought it was, she knew what she had so far wasn’t enough to satiate his dragon-sized hunger. However, she had planned for such a thing. With her own saddlebag full, she trotted over to Twilight’s library and told her about the odd little talking monkey. As Fluttershy expected, the bookish mare was ecstatic at the prospect of meeting him. Twilight barely batted an eyelash when Fluttershy strapped her to any extra-saddlebag she was carrying just in case and asked if she could carry the apples she intended to get for Goku. After about a minute though, the yelling of a familiar member of the apple clan, broke their peaceful walk. “HALP! HALP! SOMEPONY HALP!” Fluttershy and Twilight stopped in their place. “Oh my. That sounds like Applebloom,” said Fluttershy. Without another word, Fluttershy galloped further down the dirt path towards the shouting filly, Twilight not far behind. Fluttershy did not expect, however, for Applebloom to come running out of a bush and tackle her into the ground. Not just because she had not anticipated Applebloom’s appearance, mind you, but also because she didn’t know that Applebloom had the physical strength to knock her down in the first place. Fluttershy cleared away the butterfly shaped stars she was seeing and got up in tandem with Applebloom. “Applebloom, are you—” she began before being interrupted. “Fluttershy! Twilight! Talking Monkey thing! No hair! Belch in my face! Munching apples! Beat up! AJ! BIG MAC! HAAALLLPPP!” Her odd rant done, Applebloom ran back through the bush she had come through and disappeared back into the orchard. Fluttershy looked to Twilight. “Ummm… did you follow any of that… ummm… like… at all?” Twilight put a hoof up to her chin in thought. “Well, I have been reading a lot of books on how to pick up hastily said sentence fragments lately.” “Pinkie Pie?” Fluttershy asked. “Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said. “And from what I could tell, in normal non-hectic speech, what she said effectively translates out to, ‘A talking hairless monkey belched in my face, ate a bunch of apples, and Applejack and Big Macintosh just—’ ” “Oh no…” Fluttershy said, as her pupils contracted to the size of sand grains. Despite the weight of her saddlebags slowing her down, Fluttershy galloped off after Applebloom, repeating the words, ‘No no no no no no,’ over and over again. “Fluttershy! Wait!” Twilight yelled after her. The canary Pegasus, however, was far too focused on running and saying, ‘No no no no no no,’ to give an adequate response. When Applebloom stopped in the middle of a clearing, Fluttershy was barely able to slide to a halt and not barrel into her. There, along with Applebloom, Fluttershy saw something that made her jaw drop. In the shade of an apple tree, Big Mac’s teeth were chomped down on Goku’s fuzzy tail. His right fore hoof continually smashed into the odd little monkey’s face, launching his body a foot into the air only for the elasticity of his tail to bring him back down into Big Mac’s waiting hoof over and over again like a punching bag. “Yeah! Go Big Mac go! Get that talking belching monkey, beats ponies up, no good varmint!” Applebloom cheered. Fluttershy could only do one thing at the terrific sight before her. Yell unusually loud for her usually timid self. “BIG MACINTOSH!” The yell was so loud, that any and all birds resting in all trees for a mile around flapped their wings and flees away like their lives depended on it. Big Macintosh looked similarly perturbed. Fluttershy angrily trotted up to him and said, “How dare you pick on such poor, defenseless creature!” Fluttershy stuck her head right against Big Mac’s, noticing the constriction of his pupils. “You should be ashamed of yourself!” “Now wait just an apple pickin’ minute!” came a familiar voice. Fluttershy turned around to find Applejack wobbly getting up from a small hole in the ground that was, oddly enough, rather pony shaped. “That ‘poor, defenseless creature’ done just knocked me into next week and almost did the same to Big Mac over there! I says he has his whoopin’ coming!” “Yeah!” Applebloom shouted. Fluttershy turned back around to see a look of determination come back to Big Mac’s face and see him bring back his forehoof to strike Goku. “Big Mac! Stop it!” Fluttershy yelled, bringing the look of fear back to his face. “Big Mac! Clobber him!” Applejack yelled, bringing the look of determination back to his face. “Don’t clobber him!” Fluttershy yelled. “Punch him!” Applejack yelled. “Don’t punch him!” Fluttershy yelled. “Trample him good!” Applejack yelled. “Don’t you dare!” Fluttershy yelled. “Big Macintosh!” Applejack yelled. Throughout this shouting competition Fluttershy had with Applejack, Big Mac’s eyes darted to and fro in hopeless indecision worthy of MacBeth. That was until, Fluttershy noticed, that Applejack gave her older brother the puppy dog face. Fluttershy, knowing full well the effect this would have on Macintosh, could only bring herself to say, “Clever girl…” Quickly, she turned back to Big Mac and saw him rear his hoof back again. There was nothing she could do to save Goku’s skin now… unless she decided to resort to drastic measures. Considering her predicament, it wasn’t even a decision. She brought out her most powerful weapon, one infinitely greater than any puppy dog face known to equine kind, one that could bring even the mightiest of dragons to its knees before her. The stare. She got directly into the path of Big Mac’s hoof, right into his line of sight, and unleashed its unholy, eldritch powers upon the poor stallion. “Big Macintosh. Stop it. NOW.” Big Macintosh could not help but be compelled by her words and let Goku plop unceremoniously onto the ground. With that done, he quickly galloped away from Fluttershy and hid behind Applejack, cowering like a school colt. Fluttershy could hear Applejack and Applebloom shouting out, “Oh come on Big Mac!” but she didn’t care about that. All she cared about was making sure that the latest addition to her collection of animal friends was alright, which he was, much to her surprise. In fact, not long after Big Mac let his tail go, he was so alright that he jumped back to his feet and was massaging his face as though he had just accidentally walked into a street lamp rather than having just been punched dozens of times by a full grown stallion like Macintosh hard enough for multiple bruises to form. “Owy owy owy!” Goku said. “Goku!” Fluttershy said, giving the little monkey an embracing hug. It was then that Twilight finally made it to the clearing, sweating profusely. “You know Fluttershy, I think you’d make it pretty far in The Running of the Leaves,” she said, before bringing her head up and looking at everypony, who all looked back. “Ummm… what did I miss?” Goku, despite the obvious pain Fluttershy could tell he had, pulled on one of her wings and pointed at Twilight. “Fluttershy! Look! That horsey has a purple carrot glued to its head!” Twilight did not look amused at that comment. “Ummm… actually Goku, she’s a unicorn,” Fluttershy said. “A Unicorn? So that’s a purple piece of corn on the cob glued to her head?” Fluttershy’s hoof met her face. “No Goku, it’s her—” “Now hold up!” Applejack interrupted, stomping towards Fluttershy and Goku. “It sounds to me that you’re awfully familiar with this here talking monkey thing what with you calling it by what sounds like its name and all.” Applejack stopped just a few inches away from Fluttershy’s muzzle and scowled. “Now why is that, I reckon?” Whatever courage Fluttershy had possessed previously went out the window and fell the length of Canterlot Castle to its doom right then and there. She looked passed Applejack’s face to Applebloom and Big Mac, who sat on their haunches with their fore-hooves crossed over their chests and who bore the same expression as their sister. She looked passed them, to find Twilight shrugging. Gulping, she looked back at Applejack’s face and said, “Ummm… actually… it’s kind of a funny story, really…” Fluttershy chuckled nervously.