A number of wrestlers were gathered in the corridors, some were practicing on mats of thickened padding, others were collaborating on certain things they could do to improve the show. Twilight and Long approached one wrestler who happened to be at his leisure sitting on a steel chair with his face was hidden behind a comic book featuring a prominent hero in a gaudy green outfit.

“Yo Gregory, thinking about donning the green leotard again, huh?”

The man lowered his comic to reveal a youthful face with hair hidden under a skullcap and a chin covered in peachfuzz.

“Not really Teddy, I think I’m actually starting to build some groundswell without the Hurricane for right now. Who’s the new guy?”

“Gregory Helms, meet Twilight Sparkle, she’s gonna be our new contender for our roster.

“Sounds great, nice to meet you Twilight.” Gregory said, offering a hand out to her.

As she learned the last time she was in the human world, shaking hands was often the way humans greeted each other, although the last time she was here she actually had a hand with which to shake. Still, she used one of her forehooves to accomplish this feat.

“So you’re Gregory Helms? I have to say, you’re a lot friendlier than on the screen.” And a whole lot more responsive than when she was controlling him in video game form, evidentially.

“Hah, I’m a bit nerdier off the screen also. Huge Green Lantern fan. So Twilight, got anything special to bring to the table?”

“I don’t exactly have any plans to stay here long, I should really be getting home.”

“Well here’s hoping you can get trained, sounds like you got your work cut out for you for the next few weeks.”

“No, what I mean is I don’t plan on going on to this show that everybody keeps talking about.”

Gregory grinned at this. “I get it, everything on stage looks like it’ll hurt, not to mention all the concussions you can get. But trust me, everything here is professional, and getting hit with a pile-driver looks worse than it actually is.”

“Wait, so it doesn’t hurt?”

“Oh it hurts. It hurts like you’re hit with a literal pile driver. But, it’s still not as bad as you’d think.”

Twilight only cocked her head at this, as bailing on the situation would’ve been a little unfair given only one person’s testimony.

“Well, enough horror stories, thanks for the time Gregory.” Said Long, breaking the tension.

“Not a problem Teddy.”

Together, Long and Teddy approached another wrestler who was lifting a particularly large dumbbell which only fit his particularly large and almost cartoonishly muscular frame.

“Twilight, meet Mark Henry.”

Henry set down the weight with a reverberating ‘clunk’ that resounded through the building. With his now free hand, he offered it to Twilight who shook it and quickly understood he could probably reduce her entire hoof to dust with only minimal effort. Luckily they parted one another before this could remain immediately possible and he resumed to lifting the weight.

“Or, better known as Sexual Chocolate.”

The dumbbell snapped in two and both parts fell and left dents in the floor.

“I don’t think he likes that.” Twilight pointed out.

“No. I really don’t.” Henry said, glaring right at Long.

“Yo, it ain’t a thing. Now remember that time with Mae Young and the giant hand?”

“Theodore, I respect you. I thought we all had a silent agreement never to speak of that ever again.”

“A’ight, a’ight, sorry playa. I didn’t mean a thing by it, honest. Point is, Twilight, Mark here is a star and huge, if there’s one guy you don’t wanna be in the ring with it is him. Now, I don’t want you to make your choice of whether to go babyface or heel right now, but Mark here is a face so check yo’self ‘for you show up as a heel.”

Twilight took one look at the gigantic haunch of a shoulder that tapered out into a large sized hand and knew this was one thing she should not question. With this message loud and clear in Twilight’s rather frightened expression, Long ushered her to one more of the superstars present in the area who was busy doing push ups non-stop so that only the top of his slickback hair could be seen.

“Yo, Benoit!”

The man stopped at the height of one of his pushes and put one knee to the floor and knelt before the approaching general manager and pony. Sweat dripped off of his squared chin good looks and gathered to a point at his five-o-clock shadow face scruff. Had Twilight known of the ancient and forbidden lands of Canada, she would have correctly guessed his origins to such a realm.

“Hey there Teddy, whats up?”

“Check out the new rising superstar I got here!”

Chris looked around a bit he figured out his gaze was supposed to be pointed at the most unorthodox thing in the room.

“Are we shooting a promo here? You’re not talking about that purple horse, right?”

“Horse? Come on, the rookie might not have stirling good looks like yours truly,” Teddy said, flashing Benoit a sight at his pearly whites. “But he certainly ain’t any Sarah Jessica Parker.”

“No, I mean the literal purple painted horse standing waist height with the horn right next to you.” Benoit gestured at Twilight for effect. “I mean, is this for some kids charity thing I don’t know about?”

“Benoit, you are looking at a future champion of the WWE, and being a pretty big man yourself I think you can give the newbie here a few words of encouragement.”

Chris Benoit’s hand went to the back of his neck just to check that he hadn’t received a particularly brutal concussion as of late, and found it lucky that his skull was still intact.

“Um, sure. Twilight, was it? Wrestling is great and all but you have to remember that wrestlers like me and all the other guys at WWE are professionals so make sure you never do this stuff at home or else you can get seriously hurt or even killed. And if you want to make it to the top, you gotta make sure to drink your milk, eat your vegetables, and stay in school.”

Long let out a big laugh at this and even slapped at his knees. “Nice one, Benoit! But for reals, this ain’t a promo. So go ahead and give our new addition some actual advice.”

“Teddy, we’re talking about a literal, four legged, long face, big haired, some five-hundred pounds, horse with a horn glued to its head. Now, I’m starting to worry about you when you start talking about it like it’s a person.”

“Chris,” Teddy put his hands on Benoit’s shoulders and held him firmly. “Listen, you might not like the new kid but spend a little one-on-one with him and I’m sure you’ll get along just fine. When you two are done, just send him back to the locker room, a’ight?” Then he just left without even waiting for an answer, leaving behind one dumbstruck superstar and an equally confused violet alicorn.

Chris Benoit was just exasperated. But, hey, it’s not like it’s every day you get to hang out with a purple unicorn, right? So he turned to her and scratched his head in confusion as to what exactly to do.

“So uh, hey there. Good horsey.” He said, and began to run a hand through her mane. “You like apples?” At this point he believed himself an idiot to be talking to a horse who was not Mister Ed.

“Actually, since one of my friends works at an Apple Orchard I’m kinda trying to stay away from them whenever I can before I get sick of them.”

“Oh good god you talk.” Chris Benoit stepped back and then looked around. “Um, has anyone else heard you talk?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t see why that would be so surprising.”

“Are you even real?”

“I seem real enough to me at least.”

“Hold on for a moment, don’t go anywhere. I just want to make sure this isn’t a One Froggy Evening situation.” Benoit then took a few steps to a still perturbed Mark Henry and shouted “Hey Mark, you hear this thing talk?”

“By “thing” you mean the new guy? Yeah, although he pretty much let Teddy do most of the talking. He isn’t saying anything about me, is he?”

“No, no she isn’t.”

Mark Henry then went back to burying his face in his hands to block his eyes from his tragic past. He once pushed a tank during his stint as a powerlifter, but he can’t push away the memories of Sexual Chocolate.

Chris turned back to Twilight with renewed grip on his sanity. If Mark Henry says something is legit, even if it’s a talking horse, it’s generally good sense to take his word on it.

“Alright, so at least everybody else can hear you talk.”

“I wouldn’t say that. No matter how much I tell that Teddy guy I don’t want to be in Smackdown he just doesn’t seem to take no for an answer.”

“In all fairness, that’s Teddy for you. So are those wings and horn real too?”

“Of course.” Twilight fluttered out her wings a bit as a demonstration to back up her statement.

Chris Benoit was glad to have kept his distance from this odd creature. “Right on, that’s pretty cool. But I really think you shouldn’t be allowed to enter with those. I mean, I know a few guys who got their necks snapped already. Mark Henry shouldn’t even be wrestling right now, he’s got his leg all busted up. Last thing we need is people getting stabbed with that horn.”

“Exactly! I really don’t want to hurt anybody either. I just want to go home. You’re probably the first person here who actually even cares that I’m a pony.”

“Really? I’m pretty sure that’d be the first thing anybody would notice.”

“No, actually. Everybody’s been reacting like I’m just like one of them.”

“Twilight, believe it or not but this isn’t normal for wrestling. Anyways, let’s see about sending you back home, where are you from?”

“Well I come from Equestria. But the only portal I remember to get back home is at Canterlot High.”

“Equestria? Canterlot? Well I’ll try and look this stuff up, but for now you should probably lay low. In our world, purple horses with wings and horns are kind of a reason to get upset. It might take a little bit of time though.”

“Why’s that?”

“I have to consult my priest. I don’t know what to make of a situation where I’m talking to a winged and horned horse.”

Twilight shrugged this comment off, as she could empathize that her presence was rather unorthodox. At least Benoit was one of the few who showed some acknowledgement of this. “Thanks anyway, Chris Benoit. And if you can, please try and find it before Friday. I don’t want to be here when the Smackdown starts.”

“You’re probably the only thing on this planet that is ever going to say that.”

Author's Note

The Bring Back Benoit movement has initiated. And I brought back Benoit.