Chapter Twelve: A Mysterious Occurrence

私の小さい馬：大きな鉱石の物語

MY LITTLE PONY: THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT CRYSTALS

Daijuunishou: Kikai na Shuttai

だいじゅうにしょう：きかいなしゅったい

第十二章：奇怪な出来

Chapter Twelve: A Mysterious Occurrence

It was now about an hour later, and Gash had finished his homework for the day. Fluttershy had gone outside to spend time with her animals. Gash now was sitting on the couch, reading a book like always. He had been reading for about forty minutes, and was quite indulged in the novel.

It was about an adventurer named Daring Do, who, in this novel, is suffering from multiple leg breaks after she failed to climb a cliff without any harness or rope and fell. She had been gaining a lot of weight, and once she was finally able to start moving again, she learned that she couldn’t climb or do any kind of adventurous moves like she could before. She was suffering from a bout of mild depression because of this. However, she gains inspiration from a pony from a tribe out in the wilderness, who even after being beaten and tortured by other members of the tribe, rose above their power and defeated them in battle. This gave her the inspiration to work out and become strong again herself. This made Gash think a little bit.

‘Wow. That is cool. Hmm…I’m getting fatter by the day. Maybe I should start working out myself…’ he thought, contemplating the decision for a moment. ‘Well, if this whole Millennium Battle is what Chrysalis is making out to be, I’m going to need to be in top shape in order to successfully fight off any demons that attack me. The only problem is figuring out the place to start…’ he continued, putting a hand up to his chin in thought. He put a bookmark in the novel. ‘Maybe Fluttershy will know!’ he finished, getting up from the couch. He went outside to seek Fluttershy’s assistance.

“Fluttershy!” he called out. The butter coated mare trotted around the corner of her cottage.

“Yes, Gash?” she softly asked.

“As you can see, I’ve been putting on weight over the last couple of months. I was wondering if you know where I could start for an exercise routine,” he explained.

“Um…” she mumbled, thinking of a place to start. “Maybe you could ask Rainbow Dash for her advice…if that’s okay with you…” she suggested shyly.

“That sounds good. Do you know where she is?”

“I would look around the sky above Ponyville.”

“Okay. Thank you,” he said, walking off towards the village in question.

Gash was now entering Ponyville and was searching the sky above for the mare that he was told to look for. He had finally been able to suppress his frustration to a comfortable point to where he could walk around with minimized discomfort, though the stares still did bother him. He walked around for about thirty minutes without finding a single trace of the rainbow-maned mare. He was just about to give up and go home before a voice stopped him.

“Oh, hey Gashy!” Pinkie’s voice rung out. He turned around to meet the pink mare with hope in his eyes.

“Oi, Pinkie. How are you today?” he asked.

“I’m super-dundiddily-riffic!” she informed, looking cheerfully to him. “How about you?”

“I’m doing well myself,” he stated.

“Wonderful! So, what are you up to?”

“I’m looking for Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, you are? Well, I can help you with that!” she let know.

“You can? How?” he quizzed. Pinkie took a rather deep breath. She just stood there for a moment, which confused Gash. “Pinki-“

“Rainbow *DASH*!” she shouted out very loudly, Gash stepping back in surprise. He just stood there, shocked at the volume of her voice. A few moments later, Rainbow Dash landed next to her.

“Whaddya need, Pinks?” she asked.

“Gashy-washy is looking for you!” Pinkie informed.

“Oh?” she said, looking to Gash. “You need me?”

“Uh…yeah.”

“Well, what’s up?”

“I want to lose weight, but I don’t know where to start. I was hoping that you’d know.”

“Looking to shed some pounds, eh? Well, you’ve come to the right pony then!” she yelled, walking toward him.

“Cool. Where do I start?”

“Start by running.”

“Okay,” he said to her. She stared at him intensively for a moment, which confused Gash.

“Well? Go!” she shouted, catching Gash slightly off guard.

“Pfft…Okay!” he yelled back, running in the opposite direction. She soon followed.

“I don’t know about human posture, but when a pony runs, they keep their back straight! I’m going to assume that you want to stay straight up and down!” she cried, running right next to him.

She lifted off the ground and motioned around his hunched over body. He quickly corrected his stance. Many ponies were watching as Gash was matching Rainbow’s pace on foot. It was an amazing, yet strange sight for the ponies.

“Like this?” he asked.

“Yeah, good! Now, turn left at that corner!” she instructed as the two approached an intersection. He followed her directions and swung around the corner.

“Alright, where to?”

“Just keep running straight now!” she yelled, flying to the front of him and touching down on the ground.

The two kept running straight for about ten minutes. It was awesome for Gash, as the wind blowing past him almost made the fatigue and burn he was feeling go away. He could still feel the lactic acid straining at his legs, screaming for him to stop. Still, he pressed onward.

“How are you doing back there?” she quizzed.

“I’m starting to feel tired now!” he answered, now struggling to keep up with her pace. She slowed so that he could catch up.

“That means that you’re starting to get acid build-up! Work through the pain! That’s the key to getting stronger!” she yelled at him.

This pumped him up as he increased his pace, running past the rainbow mare. He turned around and ran backwards, grinning at the mare. This surprised her for a moment, but she was knocked out of her trance as Gash unknowingly was approaching a mare and stallion who were pushing a cart with foals inside.

“Gash, watch out!” she shouted.

It was too late, however, as he run back-first into the cart, sending it flying into the air, as well as the two foals within.

“Kuso!” he shouted, falling backwards on the ground, his head hitting the dirt with force.

(“Shit!”)

“No, my babies!” the mare shouted, looking up at the flying foals.

Gash flipped himself onto his belly and observed the two foals. Quickly thinking, he pulled out his spellbook.

“Rashirudo!” he shouted, releasing a diagonal shield that caught the two youths.

They bounced off of the shield, back towards Gash and Rainbow. Rainbow flew up to catch one of the foals, while Gash jumped backwards as fast as he could to catch the other. Luckily, he got there just in time to catch the small child, once again falling to his back.

“Gotcha!” he exhaustedly said, setting the foal back onto the ground. Rainbow Dash quickly glided back to Gash, who was panting on the ground.

“Gash, are you alright?” she asked, landing next to him.

“Y-Yeah…I’m…huh…fine!” he informed, kicking his legs up in order to get back up to a sitting position.

“Oh, my goodness! Are the babies okay?” the mother asked, galloping over to them.

“Yeah, I think so!” Rainbow let know, picking up the other foal and giving both back to the pair.

“Thank you very much!” the stallion gratified as Rainbow helped Gash up from the ground.

“Yeah…no…huh…problem!” he panted, turning back to them. They looked at him and then to Rainbow.

“Is he that same guy who-“

“No, not the same guy.”

“Oh, okay. Well, thank you again!” they both said, walking over to their cart and putting the two back in.

“Well, that was surely a close call, wasn’t it?” Gash asked.

“Yeah, too close for me. But hey, now that that’s over, let’s keep going!” she suggested. Gash nodded, running again. Rainbow soon followed.

After running for another ten or so minutes, the two finally came to the edge of town opposite of Fluttershy’s cottage. They had approached a meadow, and Rainbow led Gash out into it. They walked for a couple minutes before Rainbow stopped.

“What are we doing out here?”

“Well, you’re going to do some stretches now. Go!” she quickly instructed.

Gash lifted his left leg into his adjacent arm, stretching his quad out. After holding this position for about five seconds, he did the same with his opposite leg and arm. When he finished this, he stretched his arms above his head, locking his fingers at the top point. He bent himself over ninety degrees into a low bow, stretching his back and arm muscles. He lifted himself back up to a straight back and then rotated his hands to behind him, stretching his pecks.

“Okay, I think that’s enough stretching for now,” Dash told as Gash released the stretch, letting his hands lay free to his sides.

“Alright. What’s next?”

“Push-ups! Go!”

Gash got to all fours and started pushing downward and upward, giving his arm muscles a good workout. His back was arched in a downward-dog position. He soon felt pressure on his back, which pushed him down into the ground.

“What the hell, man?” he complained.

“Keep your back straight!” she instructed.

“You could’ve just said that!” he stated with frustration, lifting himself back up.

He continued the exercise, but Rainbow found he had continued to do the same mistake.

“Lower your back!” she instructed as Gash slightly lowered his back. He was still too high. “Lower!”

“How low do I need to go?”

“Lower!” she chanted, gaining an eye roll from Gash. It looked more like him dry-humping the ground instead of a push-up at this point. She observed his frame, and then figured out the real problem. “Stop!”

“What?”

“Put more distance between your fore hooves and your back hooves!” she yelled. Gash did exactly as he was told, and found himself in a much more comfortable position.

“Wow, that feels much better! And they're called hands and feet.”

“Okay. Bad posture doesn’t do anything for you except hurt you! Anyway, continue!” she instructed.

Gash did more and more push-ups, and found himself quickly tiring after about twenty. He did a few more, but found his limit there and collapsed to the ground. He panted, looking back up to Rainbow Dash.

“How…” he huffed, “was that?”

“Much better! I think that could serve you well as a routine if you added in a few other exercises!”

“Arright,” he slurred, standing up, sweat dripping off of his forehead and out of his armpits. “Is that it?”

“That’s it for what I can probably teach you. I can teach you things like pull-ups and other various stretches, but that’s pretty much what you would do for a main exercise routine. I’m usually free in the mid-afternoon if you need more coaching.”

“Alright! Thanks!”

“Now, run back to Fluttershy’s! Stat!” she ordered.

“Okay!” he chanted, beginning his trek back to Fluttershy’s.

Meanwhile at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was busy apple-bucking trees in the southern field. She was nearly finished for the day, but before she could finish, she could suddenly hear the sound of footsteps around her. They were very loud, and sounded almost metallic. She could hear them coming closer and closer.

“Who’s there?” she asked out, looking around everywhere for the source of the footsteps. She could hear a low-pitched laugh around her, which forced her to brace herself. It was almost haunting, and had a tone of dark, mysteriousness.

“Only a friend…” it sounded out. She could only guess that it was male, as it sounded muffled.

“A friend? If that’s so, come out!” she demanded.

“But, of course, honest Applejack…” it creepily rung, walking out from a tree behind her.

“Gouradisu!” it yelled, causing a light-gray shine to emerge from its book.

Applejack turned around to see the silhouette of a tall human in front of her. A blast of pure-white energy slammed right into her before she could make out any features of the figure. She was sent back into a tree, immediately falling unconscious. Her body had become smaller after the blast; it was almost like it eradicated her very flesh. Oddly enough, she still had her entire coat of fur and mane somehow. There was a scent of burnt apples all around, and the ground where the white blast had hit left a large crater.

The silhouette walked up to her, placing his hand on Applejack’s forehead. It glowed with dull-gray energy. Her body glowed with a light, almost dirt-brown energy as a vicious aura erupted from her chest, creating a dirty cloud of fawn dust above. The soot soon condensed itself into a rectangular prism shape, and features showed up on both covers-an hourglass shape with circles at the vertices and a row of odd text along the top of the structure. Once it had fully condensed, it fell to the ground next to Applejack. The figure set its hand down on the book, releasing raw, tea colored energy into the book. Its book once again glowed.

“Doruku,” it whispered, causing the umber book to shine with a sepia glimmer.

When this glow died down, it set its hand on Applejack’s forehead once again, leaning forward toward her ear.

“Now, Applejack, element of Honesty, thou shall share the same fate that the rest of thy precious Elements of Harmony shall meet. I command thou to fight in this battle fierce; defeating those weaker than thyself. Shall thou be defeated, I commend the soul to the world of Demons, where you may reign free over thy spiritual form. May the light and dark goddesses guide your battle, to create a perfect world with demons and ponies alike. Celestia knows it’s but a dream to me…” it commanded, sliding the book under her body. He rose.

“Gigano Orujio Radijio!” it rang, releasing another wave of white energy into the mare, surrounding her and seeping deep into her skin, recreating the savory flesh as it was before the original assault.

In an instant, the being disappeared in a flash of light to an unknown location, waiting to find its next prey.

“What in tarnation just happened?” the mare asked, lifting herself off of the ground.

She checked her surroundings, and didn’t find any kind of oddities, except for a crater right next to her body and a few buckets of singed apples. The only thing that she found off about herself was that she was unusually sore. She looked under her body and saw the book.

“Where in the world did this come from?” she sheepishly asked, lifting it up from the ground. She opened the book and flipped through the pages. “It looks lahke Gash’s book…” she trailed, eventually flipping to a glowing, dark-brown page. “Huh, I can read this.”

“Doruku!” she unintentionally shouted.

Involuntarily, she lifted her fore hooves off the ground, slamming them back down into the soft dirt beneath. Dirt shot out from all around the hooves, wrapping around the limbs. Suddenly, the ground around her cracked, splitting in multiple directions around the mare, knocking down trees from sheer force around. Out from these cracks shot masses of mud that wrapped around her buff frame, creating a gross, murky armor that reeked of ash and dust. Her mane turned into a spiky, rough plate that covered her entire back, creating spikes of cracked mud that shot all along her side, running down her flank and around her legs. Her tail shot straight up, turning into a singular, spiky ring that wrapped around the entirety of her body, orbiting the mare.

“What happened?” a voice yelled out from behind. She turned toward it, and was faced with Big McIntosh.

“Ah…Ah don’t know! Ah read a word out of that book,” she started, pointing toward the light-brown book, “and Ah turned into this!” she informed, her voice having become slightly more mature.

“How did that happen?”

“Ah have no clue!” she shouted in a panic.

“Calm down, Applejack,” the older stallion instructed. Applejack breathed deeply multiple times.

“Now, tell me exactly what happened.”

“Well, Ah was out here apple-buckin’ when all of a sudden, Ah here a voice! The next thing Ah know, Ah’m laying on the ground with that book!”

“That’s weird. Do you think you were attacked?”

“Ah don’t know…” she muttered.

Suddenly, the dirt that had amassed around her body shot off in a huge wave in every direction around her, causing Big Mac to recoil from shock. When he finally regained his stance, he looked over to Applejack, who was now unconscious again.

“What in the world…?” he wordlessly asked, staring at her.

He fell out of his trance as he lifted her and the book up onto his back, carrying her back to their barn.