Too Epic for Arrogance

Chapters

Chapter I - The Beginning
Chapter II - Freedom is his again!
Chapter III - Old Enemies whom still taste the bitterness of life, Old Friends whom have met death's sweet grasp Pt. I
Chapter III - Old Enemies whom still taste the bitterness of life, Old Friends whom have met death's sweet grasp Pt. 2
Chapter IV - Play the hand
Chapter V - You've been given
Chapter VI - Blackjack
Chapter VII - Portents of Doom

Chapter I - The Beginning

“Oh my GOOOOOOOOOO-“ I began to ~~Scream like a B%$#&~~ shout as manly as I could, before remembering that I was standing in front of my parents. “OOOOOOoooosh,” I finally finished, gazing upon the object of my affections, the pinnacle of my measly existence, the grand, the awe inspiring, Vegeta!

Or at least his hair,

The last piece of the costume had at last been gathered, ten months of extreme workouts, searching Amazon, eBay and other assorted online stores, it had finally come to this, It… Was… TIME! I had even shaved my head to resemble his receding hairline, and now to apply the wig. I grabbed the golden plumes, those fair-haired hedgehog spines. I thought I’d never find them! I’d looked everywhere, but I had thought it all for naught. But just in the nick of time, I was saved by José and Maggie, In all my seven years I had made my home with them, there had been only once when they had made me more happy, and that was when they adopted me! Such was my fervor. Oh yes I was adopted, what normal kid calls his parents by their first names? I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with you if you’re adopted, but I was a special case.

“Well I’m glad you liked it.” José said putting on a knowing half-smile, excitement always got the best of him too. He set the box down and ran a hand through his salt & pepper stubble, “A good look!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together as I gingerly set the head piece down atop my head. Maggie just stood there shaking her head, and putting on the same knowing half-smile.

“Well I can tell you two will be having fun,” She said her smile growing as she eyed the one and a half men, as we both turned, facing her, “Well, we all better be going. I’ve got that ‘thing’ I’ve got to do, ‘Brom’,” she said, winking. Oh yes, anyone who has ever researched the ‘cool old guy trope’ knows that name, Eragon’s mentor, former Dragon rider, founder of the Varden, and all around badASS: Brom, from the Inheritance cycle series, and José was cosplaying as him, most people might not be that happy to have their adopted father go with them to Comic-con, but personally, I was stoked. Also, I am not most people.

The only thing I was worried about was… well, the women. Because Oh My Freaking love of puppies there is no strait man at comic-con that does not, at least for a second, fantasize about certain ‘things’, a.k.a. ‘boobs’, to put it lightly. But I guess that’s why most people aren’t that happy to have their fathers with them at comic-con (especially if they’re female), but as I said before, I am not most people. But, too late to back down now, these newly toned muscles yearn to be shown off, as well as this costume! I was originally going to wear armor, but, I decided I wanted to be the Vegeta that was too buff for armor. So I settled for a blue tank top and baggie blue pants, not to mention his classic boots and gloves. But I think José took the cake, his stubble bearded chin, the wool scarf, and rough spun pants and coat, followed by an awesome scabbard and tattooed palm, the only thing that was missing was a sword. But considering Brom gave his to Eragon, canon-wise, it kind of made sense.

But Maggie wasn’t going, for reasons I may address later. So, we rode the elevator down from our apartment on the fifth floor and proceeded to the underground parking lot, where we boarded our silver Silverado and drove off to our destinies!

And I can tell you, the drive could NOT be slower.

When we finally got to the building, there was no parking, so we had to park a few blocks away. While we were walking, I got a distinct feeling that a fight was happening, I casually brushed it off, till José spoke up,

“I think I hear yelling,” he said squinting, looking around, his eyes suddenly focused as we heard a girl scream, “Coming from over there!” I looked around and found that the comic-con building wasn’t that far away, two guards were standing at a V.I.P. entrance, one was looking around frantically for the noise and the other appeared to be asleep.

“José, you get the guards, I’ll find the fight.” I got the feeling that he probably tried to stop me, but I was already running. I stopped at an intersection between two alleyways, and turned right, and then I saw it, two guys in black casual wear were pushing some poor girl up against the wall,

“You bitch-ass homo, thought you could get away with it?” oh god, he sounded like he was from some inbred hillbilly family that thought telegraphs were a type of grid paper. His compatriot wasn’t much better.

“Yo! Hades, we need ta’ get going! Peoplea’ start ta’ hear.” The bigger one, looked back at the smaller, never decreasing his vice-like grip on the girl,

“Ah say when we go, Not you, ‘mexi!” Man, the stereotyping! It’s like these two were drawn right out of some old cop movie. “Besides,” He said, looking back at the Practical child in his grip, “Ah want to have a little fun with it! You go get the van, it’s an order to go.” Oh, ho, ho, that was it!

“LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY” I screamed as I scaled a conveniently placed box and dumpster, jumped, and prepared to do a ‘hulk smash’

“JENKINS!” I finished as my elbow came down on top of the big one’s head just as he turned to face me, he went down, and I got to my feet. “You okay?” I asked the girl, she began to nod but her eyes widened as my knees started to buckle, then the pain exploded though my leg, and I went to one knee as the brute behind me started to rise,

“Heh heh, son ova’ bitch thought he could be a hero? Well I’m about to Fu-EGh!?” I smashed my head into his nose, feeling his blood fresh on the back of my neck. I turned, my fury opening a new side of me, the whoop-bass side.

“I don’t think,” I said bring my fist up into his chin, “I KNOW!!” I swear I heard my knuckles crack like thunder. He stumbled back as his minion attempted to flank and hit me with a right straight, I pushed back a bit, just enough to dodge, grabbed his wrist, and twisted him around, so that I was now facing his back with his arm splayed out in front of me, lifted my fist, and brought it down hard. *CRACK*

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHGGGHHHHH!” Now he screamed like a b%$&#, I turned my head just in time to see a fist come flying at my face, *SMACK* I think I saw stars. I dropped the small one’s now limp arm, stumbled back, brought a hand up to my face and looked straight into the big one’s eyes. I’m sure my gaze made him crap his baggie pants, because the moment I did, all the fight went from his eyes. We stood there for a second before he grabbed his friend and walked away saying something about how “don’t make any sudden movements, it can smell your fear” I looked back at the girl after they had gone, what I saw both filled me with joy, and sucked the life out of me. She was almost completely unharmed, and on the bright side, she looked pretty happy that she was no longer being sexually harassed. But, she feared me, it was very plain, her face was easily read. But fortunately it was short lived, José and one of the guards rounded the bend where I had come from, both looking particularly panicked, until they saw me, this then lasted until they saw the blood, and Oh my blood that was a lot of said blood!

“Oh My God!” the guard shouted, and rushed to where we were standing, followed closely by José. “Are you ok?”

“Ah, just fine,” I said, looking back at the girl, whom I now realized was also cosplaying, “But she was the one that was being assaulted, speaking of which, are you ok?” I really wish I had kept my mouth shut, as soon as I said she, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. And she made to respond, and wow, did she have one beautiful voice, soft and quiet, which is why what came next was even more… strange.

“Um, well, for one, ah, you see, I’m not ahhh,” Oh Dear, I seemed to have made a grave error, In the words of our esteemed Admiral Ackbar, “I’m… Not a… girl.”

It’s a Trap!

We all just stood there for a few minutes, probably because of the thick cloud of awkward that hung in the air, which was only strengthened by the guards attempt to break the silence,

“Well that’s a thing.”

Meanwhile:

*Maggie’s P.O.V.*

I continued to pace, I was still contemplating whether or not to do this, was it right? To spy on José like this? I mean I know I’m insecure, but this just seems like overkill. No, I made up my mind, I’m going. I picked up my phone and called Kellie, It rang for a few before she picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hi Kellie, I’m going” I smiled as she sqeed’ for joy and I opened the closet, and removed the boxes hiding my special hidden item. I opened the lid and looked down at the blue hair dye, fake tattoo, little red shirt and black dress, Yes indeed, I was going to comic-con!

I’d just say ‘Meanwhile’ again, but that would be repetitive:

*”Vegeta’s” P.O.V.*

Me, José, and our new found friend: Alex, made our way to the building, looking for the first-aid area, like I said before “he” wasn’t really injured that badly, but I was. Both physically, and mentally, I mean, how can someone look and sound like a girl so much that even when examining him up close I couldn’t tell if he was a he, or a she. But honestly, I didn’t care what gender he was, he needed medical attention, and so did I, but I wouldn’t admit it. I was not going to let this ruin my comic-con! That and I didn’t want to sound like a jerk or weak.

“Son, we should just go home,” José said, looking at me as we walked into Comic-con, “I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

“No,” I turned and addressed him directly, “I’ve been waiting to go for years, and just because I’ve got a little bit of a nose bleed I’m going to go home? No, besides, we have to take Alex to the First-aid area.” I finished.

“Y-you really don’t have to, I… I can take myself there.” He nearly whispered, not looking at either of us, I shook my head.

“No, I’m sticking by you, you haven’t been shown to be very good at communicating with people you don’t know,” I raised an eyebrow as some passing Final Fantasy fans walked by, howling cat calls directed at Alex all the while, “Besides, I’m afraid that if I leave you alone, somebody might try to make a move on you.” At this he blushed, he even acts like a girl! I thought, funny how attractive poor Alex was, I think it would actually would have been better if he was ugly and looked like a girl, then guys wouldn’t be hitting on him.

After that we made our way to the first-aid station, followed the whole way by guys cat calling Alex, seriously! You’d think that a ripped teenager covered in blood and a 218 lb. man that looked like he’d crawled right out of a book titled “The Badass adventures of a Badass Badass” would deter them from their expressions of sexual longing, but nope! There was a nurse stationed there, and he checked us out, making sure that there was nothing seriously wrong with me or Alex, and taking care of the blood that was still on me, after that, he released us to do as we wished. And to say the least, I was quiet pleased, I was expecting him the call an ambulance or something.

“So, want to grab a bite to eat?” I asked Alex, looking at him with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. He looked a little surprised, but said yes, and we were off! We came across a cafeteria, and I and Alex sat down while José went to order some food from one of the vendors. We sat in silence till I tried to break the ice “Who are you cosplaying as?” He looked at me then to himself for a second, then said:

“Rider of black from Fate/ Apocrypha,” Oh, now I remembered, I had a vague guess as to whom he was, but it eluded me. It looked pretty darn good, his armor was black, gold, red, and white, with white and gold gauntlets and boots. He was also wearing a white and pink cape, as well as a black and gold skirt with extra protective gear on his hips, colored the same as his gauntlets. Not to mention the socking/legging things that he wore and his long pink hair with black bows in it that was at one place tied into a braid. “I was going to be Rainbow Dash from-“

“MLP!” I finished for him,

“You watch it too?!” he exclaimed, light beaming in his eyes.

“Heck yea! Best show ever,” I loved the look in his eyes, I’d finally connected, that definitely made this a fair bit less awkward. “Though, I have to ask, if your pretty open about being a guy, why dress up in a way that makes you look like a girl?” he put his head down, then said:

“I lost a bet…”

We then proceeded to talk about the show, what parts we liked, which characters were our favorite (It also turned out that the bet was about discord turning evil again), this lasted long after we had eaten. Finally, José spook up:

“Were we going to look around, or talk about ponies all day?”

“Yeah, why do you think we came here?” He pondered this for a sec, then turned his head in the direction of the clock on the wall,

“Good, because it seems we’ve only got a few hours left and I would hate to have gone through all that trouble for nothing.” Alex and I both looked at the clock on the wall and did our respective spit takes.

“Oh wow, Time flies!” He said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, “Sorry for taking up your time.”

“No, no that’s… fine,” I replied, I was to be honest, a little ticked, but hey, nothing can be done about the past, only the future. “We’ll just have to be a little more rushed.” We all got up and started to head from the exhibits, making our way through the crowds. What proceeded was what I would definitely call a blast! Members of the Star Trek cast were there, along with people from the Walking Dead, and a whole slew of video game designers, I think I even saw Notch. But the best part was John De Lancie, he was running a Q/Discord booth at the same time, I honestly didn’t know if that was entirely legal, but Alex and I loved it! As we began to wined down a bit, we came across a fairly shady looking memorabilia and prop Merchant, but it seemed as though at the same time Alex and José spotted something that held their undying attention, and left me too stand around waiting for them.

But as I was, I spotted something, something- or rather someone- familiar. It was a girl, she had dark blue hair pulled back into long piggytails, and a little red button up shirt and a black skirt, part of her sleeve was torn to reveal a Fairy Tail emblem, and she looked like she’d just been given the biggest lollipop in the world only for it to be yanked away. But what was really sad, is that it was my mom, no joke! Maggie was cosplaying as Wendy Marvell from Fairy Tail, a twelve year old. And doesn’t this take the cake, it worked! Oh, right, I should probably explain, you see, Maggie has a unique disorder, she hasn’t aged past childhood (As you can imagine, this made dating hell). So, she actually does look like a twelve year old. This was the reason she WASN’T going to go to Comic-con, because we couldn’t think of anyone she could cosplay as that was not a little girl, or at least I couldn’t. José had some pretty good ideas, but they all looked a little weird. I wasn’t really preoccupied with stray thoughts right now though, I wanted to find out why Maggie came, I pushed up from my resting position and started walking towards her. She noticed that immediately however, and bumped into the lady behind her, who turned around… and turned out to be Kellie, her twenty-nine-something year old friend, whom, interestingly enough, was cosplaying as a Fate/Apocrypha Character, but right now, my focus was completely centered on Maggie… which turned out to be a big mistake.

*Crash*

I was blindsided by someone carrying boxes, which all fell on top of and around me, scattering the contents. As we both picked ourselves up, my eyes went to where Maggie was, but found that she had moved, leaving Kellie behind slightly confused. I groaned, and moved to help-… Andy Warhol? Ok, seriously could today get any weirder.

“Oh, sorry kid.” He said, dusting himself off, he made to pick up the boxes, but caught me staring, “Uh-“

“Andy Warhol?” At this he, blanched, and did the whole ‘I have no idea what you mean thing’, before we both turned in the direction of shouting.

“Hey! Give me back my merchandise!!” The shady merchant from the stall yelled, I looked down to find that indeed, there was fiction related items scattered across the floor. The Warhol look-alike just shrugged, and dashed, screaming:

“Wibbly-Wobbly!” he needed to be checked by a psychologist for a mental disorder, I thought as he ran off, I was about to ask Kellie where Mags went but found she too had moved. Alex came up to me along with José.

“Are… you ok?” he asked, as I looked in the direction in which the Look-alike ran off, followed by the merchant.

“Yes, I’ve just got a feeling that something bad is going to happen-” I turned to find José examining a big, blue (and very sharp looking), long blade he held in his hands, “Is that a sword!?”

*Maggie’s P.O.V.”

Who is that? I thought, looking at the attractive young woman that was now standing behind my son, he’d been with her ever since I found him. It was a little unsettling to think that he may have a relationship I didn’t know about, and even more unsettling would be if José was willing to keep something like that a secret from me.

“Calm down Mags,” I said moving away from most of the crown to a quieter area, “Your being a little too paranoid.” I apparently wasn’t watching where I was going, as I ran smack dab into someone’s chest.

“I’d say you aren’t paranoid enough,” the man I ran into exclaimed, “Considering you just walked into an ideal situation for kidnaping.” My eyes widened, as I looked around finding myself in faraway from the flow of the crowds and surrounded by men in dark clothing with masks, oh crap baskets.

*”Vegeta’s” P.O.V.*

We continued to walk as Alex explained what they had found, for him, it was a whole slew of things: from a magic repelling book, a tuba that kills, an decorative sword, and a Hippogriff plushy. The latter I commented on, saying it was not helping his masculinity, to which he replied:

“You’re just jealous.” And pouting, José however, only got one thing. A Sword. A Giant, Sharp, Blue, Sword. And it was not for decoration, at least it fit in the scabbard (which seemed rather miraculous, considering it was HUGE) we got far less people looking at us like we were crazy.

“I didn’t know it was real until after I bought it!” was his counter argument when I accused him of being out of his mind. But we were past that now, and looking for Maggie, just to find out why she was here. “You sure you saw her?” he ask, for the fifth time, I was about to reply when I got a feeling, like my stomach was contracting into a singularity.

“So Maggies your mom right?” Alex said, when I didn’t respond he turned and looked at me, “Um, are you Okay?” he then proceeded to poke me multiple times as I listened and waited, a fraction of a second went by and I stood rigged.

Someone was screaming. And for the second time to day, I ran, I ran like the devil himself was nipping at my heels. Seriously! I thought as I ran, what is wrong with security around here! I finally, I found where the screaming was coming from, no less than seven fully grown men were trying to subdue two women, one of whom was my mom, who was already being held and was kicking and squirming in her captor’s brawny grip, and Kellie, who was beating them over their heads with a fake sword.

“Let Her GO!” She shouted, succeeding in fending them off, but trapping herself in a half-circle with her back against the wall.

“Oh and are you going to make us?” The one holding Maggie said, “Quick, head for the door, we need to be out of he before anyone come looking.”

“Too late!” I spat, running for the one trying to reach the exit, intersecting him and smashing his face against the metal door, two of the ones taking Kellie started to attack me from behind, as I locked the one I’d attacked against the door with a full-nelson, Landing blows on my kidneys and trying to pull me off. But I stood fast, keeping him and I in a position that made using the door impossible, however, I knew I couldn’t keep it up for long, right now, this was a struggle of wills and while mine was strong, It couldn’t hold out forever. Then I heard it, like the bellowing of a freight-train:

“LET GO OF MY WIFE!” José shouted, everything continued for a few moments before coming to a grinding halt, the two that were pounding me suddenly stopped, I could almost FEEL the one that was holding Maggie look down at her and then back up again. If he didn’t have a mask on, the expression would have been priceless.

“What the Fu-“

*WHAM*

Just what I needed, I released the guy I was holding against the door, using one hand to grab his hair and the other to hit his kidney, at this he bent backwards, allowing me to put him in a headlock. I then struck his throat and dropped him. All of this was accomplished in a few seconds, giving me just the right amount of time to turn around and grab the other two by their heads before they came out of their shock induced stupor and bash their heads together, then I jumped, pulling the back of their skulls into my knees.

*Crack* Damn, that was satisfying. But, I wasn’t paying enough attention to my surroundings as too late I felt the fist in my back. The guy I had hit in the throat was back up, but instead of running away, the idiot was actually willing to get arrested just so he could beat me up. I was sent toppling over the two I had in my hands, I attempted to get back up but was pinned to the ground by his foot.

“Ha! Yoou’re the onnne thhat maaade Haades shiiit hiss pantss?” he wheezed, barely managing to spit the words out. “Too bad, Hee waaas allwayss oone to talk a.. erm.. goood gammme, buut hee never fiinisheess a fighhht,” he then pulled out a pocket knife, and put it to my throat, “Unlike meee.” He began to laugh like a madman as he pull the knife across my neck, I could feel my skin parting, every cell as it cried out in pain. It burned, I wanted to scream, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction, I figured seeing my blood on the floor was satisfying enough, “Watts wronnng kiid? Whhhy woonn’t youuu scree-“ he never even had the chance to finish his sentence, as from my peripheral vision, I saw three long, pointed objects burst from his chest with a loud *Splerch* sound, I heard screaming and then… nothing. It seemed like eternity before I vaguely felt my body being tugged at, and turned to face the ceiling, finding the look-alike staring down at me now in a security guards outfit, I was confused at this and barely managed to whisper:

“Buh.. arn.. yu?” which he replied to with a hand over my mouth and a finger over his,

“Shhhh…” Everything went white, as I felt myself lift from my body, and sent flying like a bullet from the chamber, an explosion of light and color lit up my senses as I was sent tumbling face first into a formless plane, my face taking the brunt of it all as I came skidding to a stop. “So kid, how’s dying?” I looked up from my position to find the Warhol look-alike, standing in front of a slew of massive oil paintings, arranged in a row, with big red buttons beneath them. I simply stared at him, not knowing what to say. “What, no witty counter? I love witty counters!”

“You’re a… bastard…”

“There we go! That’s the spirit!” he said offering me a hand, which I reluctantly took, and hoisted me up, “Now pick one,” He pointed to the oil painting, which I each played host to a similar, but not identical painting: Celestia, Luna, and Discord (each in a position that best displayed their personalities), sitting atop a hill with a Greek style gazebo, each ether wearing armor or a toga, though which wore what changed depending on the paintings. This was not the biggest difference however as in some, I spotted characters that didn’t belong.

In one, a black, demonic looking knight, with blond hair and a face guard covering her eyes, holding a black and red sword.

In another, a girl sat crying (she too was blond in case you were wondering), while a black cat, speckled with white like the night sky comforted her, as the sky filled with innumerable enemies.

And so too was it in the next one I saw, I gray skinned man in an exquisitely crafted suit of armor, carrying a naginata, with his scarf billowing in the wind, facing down a multitude of familiar foes.

This continued, as I became wrapped up in the paintings, almost forgetting the strange, annoying,(not to mention dead) gay man that followed me as I browsed the paintings, walking farther and farther away from where I had started. Finally I came upon one that drew me in more than any before. Perhaps it was that Luna was different in this than all the rest, her eyes, instead of being teal, were gray and clouded. She looked away in shame from Celestia, her cutie mark shining with ethereal energies. Or maybe it was the unusual number of things that didn’t belong, like the two silver knights that stood back to back, holding their swords high as a giant of a man rested on one knee in front of them, his face obscured by a war helm carved with winding symbols. Or the three small, shaded, unarmed, warriors that floated in the sky above them, facing me with a determination that could push back a hurricane. Whatever it was, that was the one I came to choose, putting an outstretched hand on the button and pushing it.

“Huh, that one, funny that you would choose his,” Warhol put a hand to his chin, and smiled, “this is going to be interesting.” Dread filled my gut as I suddenly got the distinct feeling that I had just made a decision that I might come to regret. I was about to ask him just why this was going to be interesting, but I noticed that black was engulfing my vision, All I had time to say was:

“DAMN YOU ANDY WARHOOOOOOOOLLLL!!!”

The black finally filled my vision, and random images started to fill my mind, they progressively got worse, as colorful lands full of trees and flowers turned into battlefields littered with the dead. Finally, the slide show stopped, and I was left with a sensation of cool relief as my senses came back to me. But, as I looked around, all I found was dead bodies, hundreds of them. However many there were, they shared only one thing in common, they weren’t human, some seemed to be bipedal, having hands and claws, while others were four legged, I even noticed a pony among them. This horrid scene continued, and didn’t seem to fade away, so, I gathered my courage, held my bile at bay, and began walking
.

I had been walking for a good hour before I even caught a glimpse of the border of the battlefield, it was immense. An estimate put the thing at covering, at the very least, twelve miles in every direction. But, so far every creature I came upon was either dead, or mutilated beyond being recognizable as anything besides a lump of bloody flesh. What happened here?

“Arrogance!” I heard someone shout, turning to find a man, a little taller than me, push the bodies of a dead Unicorn and a cat-like creature off of himself, he was young, I’d guess around fifteen, with a thick head of short hair that stood on end and a small goatee. He looked at me with the rage of someone who has lost everything, and looking around at the countless dead, I guess he had. He screamed at me, and charged, faster than anything should have a right to go, I only had time to raise my fist, it colliding with his in a manner not unlike in anime or a comic book, the ground and air around us parting like the red-sea, then, everything went black.

1156 years in the past - In the age before Discord's betrayal

“Discord, simply tell us what thy hath found.” Luna said, stumbling through the dark of the cave along with her sister: Celestia, and their recently met friend: Discord.

“I told you, address me as you would any normal pony,” Discord called back from his position, at the front “It makes me feel less like an pawn.”

“Trust me Dissy, if we could control you then the nobles and I wouldn’t be so eager to call you into my hall to "fix" things.” Celestia smiled, drawing a ‘haha’ from the young draconequus. They walked for a moment longer in silence, till the narrow passage widened into a bowl like structure, filled with vines, mosses, and flowers fed by light streaming through a puncture in the ceiling.

“Tadda’!” The mismatched creature spread his arms wide, indicating that they had arrived at their destination.

“Was this the matter of ‘great importance’ thou was speaking of?” Luna muttered sarcastically, eyeing Discord with a look that could kill, or at least maim. She did not enjoy interruptions to her naps.

“No,” he said, pointing to a rock sticking out of the wall, “that’s what’s important.” Upon closer inspection the rock turned out to be a statue. Both the sisters inspected it closely. They were perplexed. It had the body of a minotaur, but the face was like nothing they had ever seen before. It also was wearing clothing, covering a hide devoid of scales or fur. What was it?

“Huh. Odd. I didn’t notice this before,” Discord said, hovering above the statue and staring at the wall, “There’s something written here…”

“What doth It say?” He squinted at it, forming the roughly hewn letters into a word

“Um, A-r-r-o-g-a-n-c-e, Arrogance…” he finished floating on his back and stroking his tuft, “What a weird name.” he looked down to find that the sisters were no longer examining the statue, he scanned the room, finding them staring down the figure from the other end of the room, like they’d seen a ghost. “What are you doing all the way over there?”

“Discord get away from there NOW!” Celestia snarled,

“Uh wh-“ he hardly

“DISCORD, NOW!” He visibly flinched,

“Okay, Okay.” He touched down in front of them looking them both in the eyes, at once. Celestia didn't like that cross eyed stare, but she put up with it like always. Trying to find out why they would be so jumpy. “What’s the big deal?” he asked, putting his claws on his hips and sassily rolling his head around.

“That thing is not to be tampered with. Someone left it here for a good reason and we need to leave, now.” Celestia said, looking shaken, this above all else had Discord extremely confused, the princess that had fought and defeated hordes of dragons, gone toe to toe with King Minorite and survived unscathed, and fought off a star beast invasion single hoofedly, or rather doubly. What made them scared of that puny thing?

“Oh come on Tia! It’s a statue! Even if it were to come to life, what damage could it do? It looks like a radish with feet!" He tied his arm into a knot, but it behind him and mimed boxing with the other.. "Bet I could take it with a paw tied behind my back!”

“Trust me Discord. It’s far more that any of us can handle.” She was already turning around.

“Oh really?" He lifted his nose, and crossed his arms "Then maybe I should bring it to life on purpose just to prove you wrong!” Celestia turned back around faster than he thought she could

“You would condemn the entire world to damnation just to for a joke, just to spite me!?" Her face meant business, and that was what it always came down to with her!

“Who said anything about spitting on you you!?” He said, angled away so he didn't have to see her cherry-cheeked reaction.

“Um… Fellows…” a nervous Luna said, as cracks began to form on the statue's surface.

“Spit on me? Really Discord, I know you like to be juvenile, but that is it-”

“Sister, please-!?" Luna threw her legs around Celestia, but her prideful fluffing kept her too focused on her being right, rather than the consequences of.

“You should really stop making pre-conclusive judgments! Don’t you remember the Halfwood Incident?” He said, smiling at the effect.

Celestia's face lit up redder than a sunset, “Discord, don't be a creep! This is hardly the time to bring that up now!”

“Discord!? TIA!?” both Discord and Celestia turned their heads at the same time to face Luna and in unison shouted: “WHAT!?”

Luna merely lifted a hoof, pointing at the direction of the statue as a gravelly voice said:

“-HAAAAAAAAAAAL!” all eyes went to where the statue once was to find that a being standing on two legs had replaced it, clothed in blue, with a black mane and pale pinkish skin, his very scream throwing stones, boulders, and even running cracks through the walls.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” all three of them disappeared in a flash, Luna’s teleportation spell zipping them far far away, leaving the Saiyan alone, dazed, and confused.

“Was that Celestia?" He said, before a rock fell from the ceiling, and shattered on his head with little effect.

Author's Note

So many mysteries, so little time! What will Vegeta do now that he's on this new and... interesting world? And why do the natives look like tiny horses?

Find out next time on:

Dragon Ball P!

Chapter II - Freedom is his again!

TIME SKIP

“Alright class, stay close to me! We don’t want a repeat of our last trip’s… Disaster? Yes, I’m going to say disaster.” Cheerilee said with a pointed look at the three fillies that followed close behind her. The school group made their way through Milk Rock Cavern, ‘ooh’ing and ‘awe’ing at the various crystal formations that littered the caves walls. All except for three, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie bell, all were trotting with their heads down, forced to stick to the teacher’s side at all times. Miss Cheerilee had requested that they stay with her during this field trip, and to put it lightly, it sucked…

“Aw man,” Sweetie whined, “this is a bummer.”

“Yeah, ya make one mis’take,” Applebloom pouted, putting her head lower to the ground.

“Come on guys, It isn’t that bad, It’s not like we’re chained to her!” Scootaloo said, trying to lighten the situation, her voice putting up a good front, but her eyes betraying her as she watched the fillies and colts in their class come and go at their leisure, trampling around the large basin structure that widened out into a colossal dome a few hundred feet up, It was one of the most popular geological finds of the last ten years (What? Scoots can read), and the place where the cutie mark crusaders hoped to try and get their cutie marks at geology, but they couldn’t do that when they were stuck to the teacher the entire time, unable to get into the nooks and crannies to discover! But she knew that Cheerilee was not going to let them out of her sight, not after the incident in Canterlot.

“Since when were you tha’ optimist scoots?” Applebloom asked, raising that ever suspicious eyebrow.

“Since everybody else decided to be the downers.” She then looked down at the ground, and began bashing her head up against it, Repeatedly “Oh-*Womp* but who-*Wump* am I-*Womp* Kidding-*Wump* This SUCKS!” with the last word she stopped, keeping her head on the ground as the other two looked on in shock at her outburst. Looked to them like she REALLY wanted to try this Geologist thing. Cheerilee starred, concerned, then sighing when her thickest headed student proved it by immediately moving on like she didn’t just ram her head into the ground several times.

“Listen Scoots, ah know that ya were super excited to come here, but-“Apple Bloom stopped, raising an ear to the air, “Do… you hear that?” It sounded like water at first, sort of a

*tink*

But slowly it became more of a fracturing sound, like glass slowly breaking, Scootaloo lifted her head to look around, however, she suddenly noticed the fractures that emanated from where she’d been bashing her head, this… waaaas bad. Oh crap baskets.

Cheerilee turned around just in time to see three of her students disappear into the dark chasm formed beneath them. She let loose a horrified screech

The floor gave way under the CMC as they went tumbling down a few feet; hit an outcropping with almost comical precision, one after the other, bouncing off into the darkness, their screaming bouncing off the walls with almost as much force as they themselves. (Un)Fortunately though, they were not sent flying into the abyss alone, as two familiar fillies went tumbling after them.

Meanwhile, underneath the fillies and remaining entirely calm:

Do you hear me Andy!? I will gut you!? I’m going to scatter you ALL over the multiverse and use your rib cage as a Xylophone!? … Ah, now I feel much better. I had just finished my internal daily rant at Mister Warhol (for sanities sake),it was one of my favorite activities, right up there with watch the crystals grow, and count the cracks! But who was I fooling, this was as boring as watching paint dry, not to mention embarrassing. I mean, who makes a get away from the rainbow death weapon of death only to be trapped in his own lair for eternity!? I totally thought I had dodged a bullet there, until I realized that I had, in fact, only taken one to the chest. Princess Sunbutt and Lulu really did a number on me, damned elements. I had finally "mastered" long distance teleportation too, or on other words, instant freaking transmission!

If you’re still confused as to what happened, allow me to illuminate the situation for you:

1036 years ago, during an entirely regular battle:

The sweat beaded off my brow as I parried blow after blow, this draconequus was certainly becoming a bother. His tail seemed to be his primary weapon, but he was always mixing it up. It was once said that every great warrior had a rhythm that they fought to, but Discords attacks seemed almost sporadic, with no real strategy, no way of really doing damage.

“What is this Discord? A breezie could pack more of a punch!” He didn’t react much in the way of anger, he never really did when it came to insults, besides maybe an excellent come back, which was what I was expecting, what I didn’t expect however, was silence. But I soon came to realize the true intentions behind his strange attacks, distraction. I stopped blocking letting his blows past my guard and into my solarplexus and back. I was winded a bit but not much else, when Discord noticed I had stopped blocking, he flew back a distance, starring me down with a near insane glee.

“Oh so you’ve caught on have you?” the pure malice that radiated off his voice was, disturbing. I assumed that this point was the beginning of his decent into villainous insanity. But I had yet to realize just how bad it was. He lifted up his hand and letting me see, and sense, the massive amount of power he had accumulated. I was at first confused by this, how had his power grown so much? And why hasn’t he tried to destroy me with it? “Though I doubt you’ve yet realized just how bad your predicament is… yet.” Then it hit me, he had stolen my power!

“So, this is why you’re being so… disagreeable.” I said, “That level of power could drive anyone mad, tell me, what do you intend to do with it?” the answer seemed rather apparent, I’d read more than a few books on it, the vault of harmony, where the tree was held. Only a powerful and pure soul could open it, but this madness would keep him from reaching it. I felt I had little to fear.

“Well-“

“Open the vault?” I asked, his look of mild surprise was all I needed to tell me I was right, “And I suppose our dear Celestia and Luna are at the vault as we speak?”

“Well, well, well,” Discord said, slowly clapping his claws together, “You’re just too smart for me, and I suppose you already know why it's not dear ole' me who is opening the vault?” I nodded.

“Of course It wouldn’t be you, you’re not pure. Anymore.” I looked him dead in the eye, starring down a pit that was once so full of life, “What do you intend to do with the power your keeping for yourself? That isn’t pure ether.” This was depressing. To see a warrior (and I use that moniker lightly) that for more than twenty years had fought me, fall into insanity just trying to buy time. It's not as if I was even trying to hurt anybody!

He shook his head, sighing, “It’s been jolly fun! But I’ve got things to do with that tasty power I just pawned off you, dreams to fulfill, elements to steal, ponies to betray!” he smiled as he started to vanish, humming like a Cheshire cat, as his body slowly began unraveling until there was nothing left.

“Bastard,” I crossed my arms, knowing exactly what was going to happen next, Luna and Celestia. They would open the vault and collect the elements. Then they would teleport here-

“Arrogance!”

“Hello Celestia,” I said, looking over my shoulder, “I suppose today’s the day?” The light coming from the two was tremendous, almost blinding.

“Yes.” In case you were wondering why I didn't dodge. The elements keep you, that kind of power targets your very being, freezing your very soul in place. Acting my part, I crossed my arms and smiled.

“Remember Celestia, the nightmare that the chaos brings!” A final warning, one that I had repeated to her many times throughout our confrontations, I felt miserable, knowing that this was the last… wait a second you moron, Instant Transmission! I focused as the light drew nearer, had to get to the lair, had to get to the lair!

“MAY YOU HAVE AN ETERNITY TO THINK ON YOUR CRIMES!” Oh, crap, the light was only inches away now! Had to get out RIGHT NOW! I closed my eyes, and opened them again, noticing that I had changed location, I was now in my meditation chamber. Whew, I might escape the Princesses a little longer. I made to move, but noticed I couldn’t, thinking that the paralysis hadn’t worn off yet, I waited, and waited, and waited. I’m going to be here for a while aren’t I? I paused for a while, taking in the prospects of being trapped for an indefinite amount of time, and I finally came to a conclusion.

When I get out of here I am going to KILL YOU ANDY WARHOL!!

Present Day:

Well, honestly nothing I could do now but pray to God that someone finds me here,

Ehem,

Dear God,

Please get me out of here,

The less than humble thorn in the side,

Vegeta.

Just then I heard high pitched screaming and a loud

*Thud*

Oh, thank you God! This was then followed by another set of screams and Thuds, and Wada’ you know, a twofer! Guess today was just the day to pull a Houdini, I scanned the edges of peripheral vision trying to find from where my girly saviors would appear, but the screams had come from behind, so I would have to play the waiting game. I didn’t mind, I may have lost my sanity, but I gained something infinitely more important, patience.

Meanwhile, a trap is sprung.

“Oh you cannot be serious,” Diamond shouted, rubbing a big red bump that had appeared on her head, “How can you guys be such DITZ!?”

“This was all Scoots’ fault, leave me out of it.” Sweetie said, putting her hooves up in the air in mock surrender.

“Hey, what are you talking about? Everything went entirely as planned!” Scootaloo confidently mumbled from under the pile of fillies.

Applebloom put a hoof to her face, sighing. “An’ HOW exactly did this go ‘entirely as planned’. Enlighten me.” Scootaloo smiled smugly, and lifting a hoof in the air proclaimed:

“I have freed us of adult supervision!” Silver Spoon, whom had up until that moment been sitting in the corner muttering to herself in a fetal position, stopped rocking herself back and forth, staring at Scootaloo with a mixture of mortal terror and frightful rage.

“And that’s A GOOD THING!?” She screamed. Scootaloo flinched, “Why ON EQUIS would that be a good thing!?”

“Well…” the abashed pegasus began, looking unsure, but then it hit her, “Why, Silver of course!” at this the entire cave went silent,

“What?”

“Silver, Silver and Diamonds!” At this Diamond tiara perked up, though she tried to hide it.

“What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Sweetie replied, a look of great confusion covering her face.

“It means that ponies think that there could be valuable things down here, like silver ore, and diamonds! By the carriage load!” The two rich fillies turned to look at each other, and Scoots could tell, her plan was definitely going to work. “You see, I got us away from all the adults so we could do some real snooping, but, we can’t find anything if we stay here.” She smiled, “So, we need to go deeper.” Pointing to the passageway. “You with me?”

“Um, we need a second to talk about it, come on Silver!” Diamond said, she and Silver turning and trotting over a little ways.

“Take your time,” Scootaloo said, smirking and turning to her friends with a happy face, “Yes!”

“An’ what was that supposed ta’ be?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That was my whole plan coming together,” Scootaloo watched as Sweetie’s eyes lit up with understanding as she finally figured it out.

“Ohh, for our cutie marks!” The unicorn whispered

“Right! We’ll be cutie cristened in no time!”

“But why don’t we just ditch them?” Sweetie asked.

“Well, when the adults finally do find us, we want them,” pointing over at the two bullies talking energetically in the single corner the cave had to offer, “to be as happy as possible, or else they’ll make up some stupid story about how we left them for dead.” Scoots said, “Also, it’s better to have more of us around, that way we can spot stuff more easily!”

“There’s just one problem with that Scoots’.” Apple Bloom said, looking off in the direction of the two bullies.

“What’s that?” that Scoots replied.

“They’re a couple of idiots.” Applebloom snorted. All three of them looked to where the other two had been to find nothing, only hoof prints.

“OH THOSE TWO!!”

*Vegeta’s P.O.V.*

GODDAMNIT, WHAT IS TAKING THEM SO LONG! I mentally screamed, waiting was a b@$%#! I continued to listen, suddenly feeling a sense of dread overtaking me, what… if… what if their dead!?

“GET BACK HERE YA IDIOTS!”

… Nope, just being dim-witts. I heard a bit of light, but aggressive chatter, before their disagreement escalated into full scale yelling.

“YOU DO REALIZE THAT WE WERE THE ONLY ONES THAT HAD FLASHLIGHTS!?” Aaaaand now their arguing… would you just get over here!?

“WE DIDN’T NEED THEM!”

“OH YEAH, OF COURSE, IN A PITCH BLACK CAVE WITH NO SOURCE OF LIGHT WHAT SO EVER!?” Huh, those voices sounded familiar, like a piece of my old life wafting back to me, but I didn’t have time to reminisce, the one that was shouting before, I could literally feel the negative emotion coming off of her, fear, anger, jealousy, greed, and most important of all, arrogance. You're probably confused as to why I would need these negative emotions, but I feel that it is better to show instead of tell. Now, to play on her greed, I need to get her closer…

“YEAH, SO!?” Diamond Fumed, her temper reaching newfound heights.

“SO YO-“ Scootaloo took a deep breath, closed her eyes then counted to ten, “you really think that that was a good idea?” Diamond Tiara was caught off guard by this, how calm she had become, and… was that concern? No, no matter what it was she was not going to be outsmarted, outdone, or outmaneuvered in any way by that annoying blank flank! She made to answer, but stopped, looking beyond Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie bell, past them deeper into the cave.

“Do… you see that?” all eyes turned to find a sparkling light, emanating from a small opening in the cave wall. The group, tempted by the possibility of finding something of value, dropped their quarrel, and slowly began inching their way towards the gap. Scootaloo was the first to look inside and what she saw was incredible! It was a tube like structure with a diameter of at least two hundred feet, the ceiling was a good fifty feet above them, and the base was lost to a dark abyss. A pillar extended from the center up, stopping at the same level as the entrance, with a bridge running between the two. But that was not what truly caught her eyes, no, it was the thing in the center, a second pillar that seemed to rise from the first, but only for about five feet and it ended in a circle with a spiky top. While the others seemed to be preoccupied with something else, this held her attention, It seemed to be emitting light, the light that was bouncing off of…

“OH HOLY MOTHER OF CELESTIA!” The five fillies trotted across the bridge, ogling at the walls of the cylindrical construction, they were filled to the absolute brim with valuable minerals, metals, and crystals. Each giving off a beautiful glow like the light of the gods had touched them! Scootaloo stopped for a second, cocking her head to the side. Where did that thought come from?

“HAHA, I’m rich!” Diamond screeched, zipping from one side of the bridge to the other, examining the walls greedily.

“You’re already rich Diamond,” Sweetie said, rolling her eyes, “Too rich if you ask me.”

“No pony can ever be too rich! No pony!” she laughed, a sick, overall disturbing cackle that would have seemed more at home in a witch’s body than that of a foal’s. Silver stood back, examining her ‘friend’ with caution,

“Are… you ok Tiara?”

“Of course, never been better,” she said, her head twisting like that of a clockwork doll, her crazed smile stretching from ear to ear, “And I’ll feel even better when I dispose of all of you!” At this everyone stopped, and looked at the nearly psychotic filly, in their shock, looking for some sign that she was joking. But she gave none.

She screeched manically, and rushed Scootaloo, almost succeeding in making her fall. The only thing between her a long fall was her hooves grasping the ledge, and Tiaras mercy, which today she was apparently lacking in excess. Diamond pressed her hooves down on Scoots’ fetlocks, holding firm despite the attempts of the three other fillies to pry her off. Her smile and dilated eyes spoke of unimaginably cruel acts, hatred, and joy in others suffering, a hot oozing pride that could simply not have come from her. It consumed everything. Just as she began to push, slowly pushing Scootaloo off the edge, a light exploded from the center of the room, momentarily blinding everypony, and causing Diamond to scream and back away. But as soon as it had appeared, it was gone, leaving the entire room pitch black, except for Tiara’s eyes, which glowed a sickly green.

“Crap. I think this has gone a little too far.” a gruff voice said, before something grabbed Scootaloo by the head. She made to scream, but as soon as she was picked up, she was set down. Her hooves hitting solid rock, and the claw of the creature let go of her eyes, she blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the light. Her surprise was evident as she gazed at an open landscape, high atop the Unicorn range, snow bit at her hooves as alpine winds tore through her mane.

Her confusion only matched by her awe, “Beautiful, isn’t it.” She turned her head to find a strange being, with a broad chest and strange hairless hide, his black mane stood on end, pulled back from his head. His eyes, while giving off the air of an ancient, also held a youthful glee, so full of life. He smiled, turning to face Scootaloo, whom for whatever reason, stood tall. She had much fear, and surprise, and curiosity? “I apologize for that spell earlier, I’m not very good at casting those avarice spells.” He said, looking back across the horizon, “Best left to a unicorn.” He brought his shoulders back, and clenched his fists, slowly rising from the ground, “But whoever said ‘leave the flying to the Pegasi‘ obviously never met the Wright brothers,” his smile grew bigger, as he let his arms relax, and looked across the land splayed before him, “Or me.” Scootaloo starred, her mouth hitting the snow in a most cartoonish manner, her pupils shrinking in opposition to her surprise, which seemed to have reached unprecedented heights. She shook it off just as he made to fly off, trotting closer to the edge.

“Who the hay are you!?” she called, watching him fly away as if he weighed nothing.

“Oh, ho, ho, you’ll find out!” he shouted, looking over his shoulder, “Just don’t blame yourselves for letting me out! Unlike Discord, I have actually an important reason for wanting to be set free.'' Again he faced the horizon, and curved his flight path towards Everfree and Ponyville, leaving behind a golden streak in the sky. “I’M JUST TOO EPIC TO STAY!”

“Something tells me we’re going to get blamed for this…”

Author's Note

Finally free after a thousand year imprisonment, the cocky "prince" of saiyans intends to do something big, but what? And what are the repercussions?

Find out on the next reference riddled chapter of:

Dragon Ball P!

(p.s. this chapter will NOT be lengthened soon)

5/17/24: Made a few edits the sharpen the story.

Chapter III - Old Enemies whom still taste the bitterness of life, Old Friends whom have met death's sweet grasp Pt. I

[center

]In the sky above

Well that was one of the more interesting experiences of my life, I smiled as I landed in a clearing, not far from the edge of the Everfree. I stood there for a few seconds thinking about how to release all the pent up excitement I was currently feeling without making a scene… Oh to hell with it,

“Scootaloo was freaking adorable!!” I sqeed out as I did a little happy dance, no doubt that somewhere in the multiverse, Vegeta was feeling an unexplainable disappointment in himself. My little dance continued for about half a minute before I collapsed in on myself from the sear amount of moe, it was almost as bad as when I had seen Luna in her little Woona form playing with stuffed animals. I had never in my life been so glad for deciding to stalk someone, please do take that out of context! Although I was still in Luna’s “kill on sight” list, of which I assume I was the only one. She was adept at holding grudges. I hoped that a thousand years on the moon might have cooled her down, but that was unlikely.

I got up from the ground, and started taking deep breaths, when a stray thought happened to cross my mind: Have ponies gotten… louder? I stood there rubbing my chin, The CMC certainly did a lot of yelling back there, eh better not think too hard on it. I mean, I had a life here that some poor bastards on earth would die for... But then of course, in their daydreams, they didn’t have to deal with my nightmares. Just who was that filly we'd manipulated anyhow? But again, best not to dwell on things, I had some lovely trolling to do before I got back to business. Some old nemesises I needed to catch up with. Speaking of which, I needed to find some potatoes.

The New Green Hive:

Chrysalis had done it, finally, after a thousand years or espionage, assassinations, and hostile take over’s, her new hive was back to full military might! And with the arrival of that chaotic fool Equestria was weak. Like a grape ripened on the vine, the prospects of plucking it were too good to pass up. She laughed, a long winding chuckle that echoed throughout her hive, as she meandered through the halls and into her throne room. And the best part, she thought, that stupid monkey God isn’t here to stop me! That fool Celestia put an end to an ally, not a foe when she turned those elements on him. She smirked as she ascended the steps to her throne, the drones around her busily scuttling from the circular room without so much as a hint, they knew better than to disturb their queen when she was in a good mood. Her head held high and her eyes closed, she turned around, backed up and sat down with a content sm- Egh!

Her eyes flew open as she felt a foreign object violate her, ahem, posterior. Her mouth pulled back into a grimace as she shifted in her seat, succeeding in pulling out the… Potato. Her pupils shrunk as her breathing quickened, her made to call for her guards but stopped when she heard him.

“What, you didn’t like it?” the gravelly voice questioned, prompting the now mortified queen to shift her head in the direction of the intruder, “I thought you be used to things being shoved up your ass.”

V-v-Vegeta!? H-how!?” she stuttered, as the bipedal creature tossed another one of those infernal dirt-clods continually with one of his hands, the other placed up against the wall, “How in the name of tartarus did you-“

“Escape?” He smirked, “How does everyone escape? Simple answer would be field trip. The complex answer… well let just say you don’t deserve it,” His smile vanished, and in its place, a deep foreboding frown, “Where is Kaylis? “ Chrysalis stumbled off her throne, rolling to the ground and speedily rushed the doorway closest to her, if she could get to the- she came to a grinding, skidding across the floor and into Vegeta’s chest,

“I forgot you could do that.” She said.

“Do what? Teleport or stop a murdering cockroach from escaping my judgment?” She gasped, backing up and attempting to regain her composer.

“Murder? Veget- agh!?” He grabbed her by her throat and lifted, her hooves dangling off the floor. Yep, he was mad.

“First, address me as Prince Vegeta, only those who are worthy call me by name.” he took his fist and slammed it into the pillar to their right. It warped around the impact and the vegetable in his grasp exploding in a thick mist. “Second, I cannot find Iblis. Makes you a buggy little murderer because I'm sure you're the one that murdered a little buggy. I. Can't. Find. HER.” his grip tightened as his frown continued to contort his face with rage. “My little buggy. So, I will ask you again, WHERE IS KAYLIS!?” as he yelled, cracks began to form, webbing their way across the surfaces of the structure. If Chrysalis was not panicking before; she was now, her eyes darted around as her throne room began to collapse around her, no choice.

“banished.” she barely managed to whisper, as the lack of oxygen began to take effect, the world around her starting to darken as she pounded her hooves weakly against his hand. And then, the world was bright again. She meekly got to her hooves, slowly looking up to find Vegeta standing with a small smile on his face.

“Where,” He asked as she put her head down, how could she be merely a play thing for him? How could he be so strong?

“I left her just east of the badlands, near the Joar.” He turned to leave, but Chrysalis would not let this end on a low note. She would not be his play thing. “It’s your fault you know.” He stopped, not turning to face her, instead standing as still as stone. She brought herself up, standing to her full height, and raising her voice: “He had to die!” Still, nothing. “A queen could not lower herself to love a pony, much less a PEASANT! He was disgrace to all hives, and most of all to the honor of the Blue Hive! And after you destroyed mine… WHAT WAS I TO DO!?”

“Live you green moron.” She stopped, taken back by this answer of his. Live? What… what could he mean? Nothing. This is an insult!

“LIVE!?” she screamed, hot fire burning in her soul. “I COULD NOT LIVE! You decimated my hive! And expected me to simply live my life in some mud hut deep in Everfree? You Expected me to give up!” she was seething now, not with pure rage or hate, but something that felt… good. “Do you know how many you killed in your attack!? Did you count the children? Do you know how many died that day? How many YOU KILLED!?”

“Thirteen thousand.” He was in front of her again, swiftly and she barely noticed in her rage.

“And yet you come here accusing me of-“ Wait, “W-what?”

“Thirteen thousand four hundred fifty two,” That… was right. “And yet, you somehow managed to let their deaths be in vain.” She… she had to say something, shouldn’t she? But what… what could she say? How had it have been in vain? What did he mean, the answer was obvious, but why didn’t she know…

“I…”

“Now, as for your revived plans to invade Canterlot,” Now he was just being mean, “I will not interfere, on only one condition.” Huh? He… what? How did he know? Could he read my mind now?!

“You’re… going to let me?” Her eyes sparkled, the fury she had felt only moments ago melted away, Allowing new feelings in. First, surprise. Second, joy. Third…

“As long as you don’t kill anyone.” … oh bugger.

“Now you’re trying to get slapped-” she paused, some sweat accumulating on her brow, best not to push him anymore, “I mean… surely you’re joking.”

“I’m not, and don’t call me Shirley.” She stared at him. One of those meaningless jokes he loved.

“You cannot win a war with no casualties!” He turned around and smiled.

“Well, I guess you’re just going to have to learn how then. Tiber Septum did it.” She sighed, putting her head down. Tiber Septum? Oh she hated his nonsense, there was never a Tiber in any war she knew of, and she knew them all!

“Very well.” She relented, bowing her head. She knew she'd never win a fight with him. She would stay cautious.

“Excellent! I look forward to seeing you fail.” AH! Screw caution! She stomped her hoof down, about to scream at him again, but when she jerked her head up, he was already gone. She sat down on her haunches, and looked up at the sky through the now broken ceiling; the traces of sundown were on the scattered clouds. She didn’t know why he hadn’t just killed her there, what was his infatuation with making her life a living Tartarus. What did he see when he looked at her? Why would a God stoop to look a mere queen in the eye. Why! Why would he meddle in her affairs? She shivered, as thoughts of what he could have done to her because of her outburst; she had even threatened to slap him! She was sure he could take on Celestia even in his most weakened state, someone she would have to consume the equivalent of an entire cities worth of love to even scratch. Why did he continue to spare her, she was no God like him or Celestia, or Father, so why did he spare her! Wait, is he trying to… to teach me? … Is he trying to… change me? She hung her head low, is he… no, he couldn’t, wouldn’t! Her eyes grew large, and she started to grow hot, sweat dripped from her snout, and her face grew the color of a beet. A god, giving love to a mere queen? Impossible... No, she had felt it. There was love in the air, terribly weak, and vengefully swelled with anger. But there it was, and it was for... for her! He truly was mad, a mad God. Just like her Father.

*Vegeta’s P.O.V.*

Why!? Why couldn’t she just stop being such a freak! I flung a fist into the object nearest to me, which just so happened to be a towering rock formation. Pieces of it began to fall in a smothering cloud of ruble and debris, the butte collapsing in on itself. “Seriously?” I coughed, bits of stone now imbedded in my throat and eyes, “Could my day get any worse.” I couldn’t sense her, the whole damned desert felt like a wasteland, which in all honesty, it was. No way Kaylis could have survived out here; she would have died. Mourning her beloved, cursing me for letting Chrysalis live. I’m a failure! I couldn’t stop Discord from going insane, couldn’t change Chrysalis, couldn’t keep Kaylis and Iblis alive. Couldn’t even control my anger, I almost killed her, Chrysalis was almost toad feed. I honestly wish I was like the real Vegeta, then I wouldn’t feel this… Regret. But perhaps I am more like him than I know, I only knew about the children because I read Chrysalis’s mind. Was my entire life here going to be one big lie?

“Falcon Kick!” what? I turned around just in time to see a black Swiss cheesed hoof smack me in the face. It was actually a good kick, well timed too, though whomever attacked me would never get the chance to hear me say it, it hit me hard enough to send me flying backwards, that’s for sure. I skidded on my back for a while before back flipping to my feet mid-skip, and bringing my forearms to my face, what followed was a flurry of savage blows, kick, punch, left, right. I couldn’t get a good look at my opponent, I did however, get a good read on her height, She stood roughly the same height as Luna, though perhaps a bit shorter, all her blows were concentrated in a single area, and whenever she would stray from that area, there would be a short delay before the strike. I also picked up on her pattern, Left, right, double kick, left, right, single kick, followed by round house, Left, right, left leg crotch shot, and so on. Although, it seemed similar… Falcon Kick?

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” the attacks slowed, and finally came to a stop, as I lower my guard and raised an eyebrow, “Falcon kick?”
“Yeah? Got a prob- lem with that…?” We stared each other down for a bit, and we knew, we knew we’d met before. but, we also knew, that this was not the same. Before me, was Kaylis, and also not. I knew the differences immediately though, orange mane and eyes instead of blue, a shorter stature, an aggressive attitude. This was not Kaylis, this was her daughter.

Author's Note

Who is this mysterious Kaylis? What is her connection to Vegeta? And what will her daughter do next?

Find out, in the next exciting chapter of:

Dragon Ball P!

Chapter III - Old Enemies whom still taste the bitterness of life, Old Friends whom have met death's sweet grasp Pt. 2

DEEP BENEATH THE EARTH

“So, you’re the first queen of the orange hive?” I asked, sitting across from the young war-like queen, who shifted in her chitinish seat uncomfortably, not looking me in the eye. The chamber we were in had a fantastic view of the desert plain far below, the hive being built within the innards of a mesa, and the queen’s chamber being located at the top, so while waiting for my response I stared out across the moon lit plane and pondered how I’d came here. As soon as our little “quarrel” had ended I was taken back to her hive so that we could talk… I don’t see why we had to walk all the way to her hive to “talk”, it would've made no difference because she refused to respond to anything I said anyways.

First I’d asked her about Kaylis… She gave nothing

Then Iblis… nothing

And finally her hive if this was her hive…

“Y-yes?”

“Good God woman! Do you know how to use that daisy grinder you call a mouth!? I’ve been sitting here for a little over half an hour and all I’ve gotten from you is ‘yes?’ And what’s with the question? Do I need to draw your own family tree? Give me a straight answer!” I bellowed, causing the little changeling to shrink into her seat.

“I’msosorry!” she sputtered, barely managing to spit it out, though…

“You are Kaylis’s daughter, aren’t you?” I said, remembering my first conversation with the blue Changeling queen, identical. She took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly, bending her head down to stare at the ground, seemingly disheartened.

“Yes…” she said, after what may have been considered a long time, but my temper had worn its welcome, grief was a spirit I knew well, and in this form sympathy was only reserved for those who had lost more than many could imagine, this pitiable kid made the cut.

“Where is she?” I asked, not daring to hope for a second.

“Below us,” She answered, despite my best efforts, I could not sit there I needed to know for sure. I shot up, looking the Changeling dead in the eye:

“How far?” She looked at me, for the first time since we’d met. I could not register what she may have been thinking, but I knew she was confused.

“What?”

“How far below?”

“Two hundred feet, wha-?” She didn’t get to finish her sentence, as I pushed my palm onto her head, and concentrated, thinking of the world as a giant grid, and pulling myself from one place to another, the world fading out as I did, replaced with darkness. I could hear her fall to the ground, but the dimness shrouded her from my sight, I would have to wait till my eyes adapted… oh.

I looked on as light filled the large alien looking catacomb, stepping over the incapacitated daughter of the first friend I had ever made on this colorful world, the one I now found before me…

Eyes closed, never to open again, I had hoped that It was simply this hive’s strange jamming that had kept me from sensing her, or maybe she was in a deep sleep. But, the sleep I’d found her in… was one she would never again wake from. Kaylis, The fifth, and last, queen of the blue hive now lay before me, encased in a great floating cobalt crystal in the way of the ancient burial rites preformed of her kind.

“I didn’t ever want you to see this…” The young queen said, having apparently shaken the stars from her sight and coming to stand next to me. “I wanted you to think… that maybe…”

“She survived…” I looked over my shoulder, my heart yearning to incase itself in stone to flee the pain, but I knew what the cost of that was already, and right now, I would not let myself alienate the last piece of Kaylis I had left. “I knew from the start that what I found, if anything, wouldn’t be pretty… I’m a fool, but I know that letting it haunt me forever won’t help ether.” I fell to my knees, a rush of despair shooting through my system like electricity, frying my insides. My hands caught me as my façade of calm crumbled along with my back, tears hitting the dust covered ground, Memories of her, Iblis, their love… their strength rushing through my mind like an avalanche.

“Ha! You think you can best me at martial arts!? I’ll have you know I’m the world’s greatest fighter! I’ve fought monsters the likes of which you’ve never seen!” The cocky, afro wearing, moustache bearing young earth pony boasted, standing on two legs and pumping his forelegs in a series of fairly fast punches, He might have been impressive, if not for the fact I was the one he was trying to impress. And I'd watched way too much anime to be impressed by miming a fight. This body needed a real demonstration.

“Oh? Really? You think you could stop trying to demonstrate your battle prowess on your imaginary friends and back up your claims with a real fight!” I stared at him from across the camp fire, long since put out. We had met on the road during one of my many long walks through the surrounding forest, chance had ensured our meeting by letting me stumble upon a road, on which I had found young Iblis. I was yearning for a fight, and while the young warrior didn’t seem like that much (not to mention he was just regular old pony, but I was willing to give him a shot.

“Ha! We’ll see about that porcupine!” What did he say? That’s it, no mercy!

I smiled fondly at the memory, if not outward, than inward. But it was nothing compared what happened next:

“Come back when you’re older Q-tip and you might learn something.” I said, the earth pony lying on the ground on the ground groaning in response, his response muffled by the dirt, “Hmm? What that? I couldn’t hear you with all the soil in your teeth.” I smiled and turned to walk away, But He spit out the dirt, and said something I’d never forget…

“I… said…” He muttered, slowly rising from the dirt, his eyes narrowing, resolve steeled, “I will… NEVER GIVE UP! I will never lie in the dirt like a pig… while I could be fighting, I will never surrender, because that is not my name!” He finished, and by pure will alone, stood, surprising me and reminding me of the greatest trait of the earth ponies, I don’t care about that life magic crap, this was their true power, the will made of stone. I turned back around, as he brought his hooves up to bare in a zebra fighting style, his face grave.

“So, what is your name?” I asked my look of surprise fading and replaced with an even larger smile, as he too brought his fuzzy lips up into a half-smirk.

“Iblis,” as he charged forward, pulling his hoof back for a strike that would even to this day make me wonder how he got in. *Smack!*

Soon after, I decided to train him, his power growing to unforeseen levels, nowhere near mine, but strong enough to blow an entire mountain to smithereens and extend his life dramatically, though he was not the first I’d given lessons to, the first held a special place in my heart. Her name was Kaylis, queen of the blue hive, though her training under me was considerably shorter that Iblis’s, she was someone of great potential, but far too kind to be a fighter like me. We met while she was grieving the loss of a dear friend, a filly from a nearby village that had been raided by minotaur pillagers. And our first talk had played out almost exactly like the one I would one day have with her daughter, when she eventually found out I was a fighter, she wished for me to train her. Not knowing her true heart, I agreed. As she trained, she began to realize what she was training to do was wrong. Annihilating the whole of the minotaur race became sickening to her. She came to me to confess her motive.

"I lied to you," She had said, "I wanted to kill them. When I saw you, I thought you were one of them. I even tried to poison... to make you feel my pain. Stupid, I know, but I was young, and foolish. I kept that foolishness through my whole life. Now I know. Now I know I can't handle this power. I'm just not a killer Vegeta. I never will be." She looked broken then, but I know now that she was fixing herself better than my training ever could have. She'd met one of those very raiders, he'd lost his own, he begged for death. She couldn't do it. He was there while we'd spoke, bandaged and weak.

Her life revolved around responsibility, and the power she would gain, would in her mind, hold too much of that very responsibility. Needless to say, I gave the minotaur nation one hell of a thrashing in her place, leaving my mark on their culture for centauries to come, and came to be a close friend to Kay.

Decades had passed between her and Iblis, she came to be known as a kind and good hearted leader, he a warrior of truth and honor, prideful, but wise. The story of how they me is one I’d rather not tell now, but I can tell you that once they saw the good in each other. They held on, and never let go. Throughout all this, memories of their voices shifted through my mind like the water from a swelling river…

“Will you train me?”

“Wait, you want me to do what now?”

“Oh! Did you see that!? I just blew up a mountain!”

“You know, your boasting can get quite annoying. Like I am to believe that you blew up a mountain.”

“By my stars, you blew up a mountain… Vegeta, what on earth have you created!?”

“Thank you…. You saved me.”

“Vegeta, Vegeta!” I sat back up slowly coming back up to stand. I looked around to find the walls and ground slightly singed, evidence of inner pain. I found the little changeling kneeling before me head down and shaking hard enough for me to hear her teeth chatter.

“Are you okay?” I asked, picking her up and setting her down so that she was standing on her hooves. I got down on one knee, grabbing her by the chin and gazing into her eye.

“No, I… I knew it be hard on you, I… just…”

“Never thought I loved her that much?” I finished, letting go of her chin, “And it’s because I love her so much that I am going to do what I’m about to…” I patted her on the cheek, letting a bit of energy fly from my palm into her face, sending her flying into a wall. “She needs to rest in peace, and that will never happen if you continue to think as you do!” I said, watching the little changeling stumble from the rubble, “If you continue to think you are her.” She got up, and let the tears fall, her breath unsteady.

“But she is all I am!” She shouted, looking at me, not an ounce of anger showing through, despite this, we both knew she was gone.

“No she’s not, the ritual that she used did nothing but make you think you where her.” I said, I now knew what had happened, and I didn’t like it, all I needed to know now is why, “Though I will say this to the small part of your mind that is Kaylis, why? You knew the truth of this spell, why did you do it!?”

“Because I was scared!” She said, now sobbing, confirming my suspicions with every word she spoke, “I didn’t want to our child alone and frightened, but at the same time… I didn’t want to live in a world without Iblis, I was dying, and I didn’t have time to find a memory spell, So, I used the old rites…”

“She used the old rites,” I corrected, “Who you are, is not what she was.”

“THEN WHO AM I!?”

“You are who you choose to be!”

“That does not answer my question,” she said, collapsing on the ground and putting her hooves atop her head, “Why can’t I just be her?”

“Because it will do nothing but cause us both pain!” I alleged, clinching my fists and narrowing my eyes, “I know that it’s difficult, but you need to understand, unless you wish to be a slave to a will that isn’t even Kaylis’s you need to LET THIS GO.”

“Oh!? AND HOW-“

“Shut your mouth when I’m talking to you!” she just stopped, her mouth hanging in place as she fought to keep from trying to attack me outright.

“Your- … your just so… impossible!” she shouted, exasperated and exhausted. She rolled onto her back, letting the frigged air of the catacombs cool off.

“More than you know.” I said, “I nearly killed Chrysalis today,” At this she sat up and looked at me, her eyes wide.

“W-what?”

“But I didn’t.” I saw her heart drop.

“Why not! It be a blessing to ponies and changelings alike!” she closed the distance between us coming up to my face and placing her hooves on my shoulders, “Please at least tell me you beat the living day lights out of her.”

“Oh, believe me, the potato did fly,” I said smiling (the author giggling to himself at an inside joke the reader doesn't understand), “But the reason she isn’t buried under a thousand feet of rubble, is because I thought that Kaylis wouldn’t want that.” My smile faded as I explained, “And you know she wouldn’t.” The last piece of defiance slipped from her eyes. Her hard expression once again melting, as she let go, her hold on who she was blown from her grasp like sand in a windstorm.

“Then, if that’s not what she would want… why would I?” She fell to sit before me, confusion and pain evident on her face, some may not understand what she was going through, some may not even understand what just happened, but I know an identity crisis when I see one, it will rip you apart if you let it, that’s why I was not going to let this poor kid become it’s next victim.

“Because you are not her,” I said “what is your name?”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean what did Kaylis intend to call you?”

“Well… we only had a name picked out incase it- … I was a boy, but-“

“Well, spit it out!” I twirled my hands, impatiently gesturing for her to continue.

“Iblis Jr” she said, giggling, “We were going to call me Iblis Jr, he was always so insistent on it…”

“Iblis Jr It is then,” I said, Crossing my arms and smirking.

“W-wait, really?” The newly dubbed Iblis Jr said, surprised by my instant decision.

“Of course,” My smile growing along with my sarcastic tone, “You were using one of his moves back there, ‘Falcon Kick?’.”

“Hehe,” she rubbed the back of her neck, looking up at me with a bashful expression, “Yes…”

“He loved that stupid move,” I reminisced, thinking back to the time when he had shown me the very familiar move, which I came to call Falcon Kick, in honor of the badass captain from home, The name stuck. I looked at little Iblis, her smile hopeful, but not without its own fair share of doubts. She was in a way, Kaylis, in memory and actions, but I knew she was gone, and having memories from another life does not mean that life was yours. “Now then, were you going to show me around? And perhaps call out your little changeling minions, I’d like to see the little hive you’ve built for yourself.”

“Of course…” She said, a genuine pride showed through her confused exterior, “Buggy!”

“Yes Queen!?” A small, orange eyed changeling replied in a voice that seemed rather familiar, or maybe it was how he looked, the big red clown’s nose he had on his face reminded me of someone…

“You can tell everyone that he’s in a good mood, and he’ll be staying for dinner,” wait,

“Hold up missy, I never said-“ Iblis raised her eyebrow, the half-smirk on her face reflecting her father’s cocky disposition.

“I did though,” I felt some pressure on my back and looked over my shoulder to find at least seven little changeling foals clinging to my back, trying to goad me into accepting with adorable little puppy dog faces.

“Fine, But if you try to make me the main course…” I cracked my knuckles, and smiled venomously, prompting buggy to gulp, and Iblis to snicker.

“Trust me, we couldn’t even if we wanted,” she said, trotting her way to the staircase, “You ether don’t love anyone, or you keep it so deep inside nobody can see it, I couldn’t even sense any when you where crying over m- Mother Kaylis…” I put a hand to my chin as I followed her and the little clown up the stairs the little pupas still clinging to my back, no love, that can’t be right… I thought, smiling to myself, even the real Vegeta loved people, again. I guess I better not dwell, After all this drama I need to find Celestia and give the old I told you so speech, then maybe… I can finally get some real action.

Though I felt like something was on the horizon, just waiting to rear its ugly, spiky haired head,

And screw it, I was right! right.

Author's Note

Having reveled in his old ties, Vegeta is ready to FINALLY get some real action, but will his opponent be The ancient Goddess Celestia,
Or someone far more...

Sinisterly Divine?

Find out, on the next racist episode of

Dragon Ball P!

(Sorry for all the drama, just trying to build a back ground. Don't worry, Epic one-liners and godly fights are ahead!)

Chapter IV - Play the hand

“Now you see?” I said, my hand gripping the throat of a small alien creature, already huge florescent blue eyes bulging, its black leathery flesh glistening with sweat. My eyes wandered though the world around me was black, staring down other would be heroes far below my flying form, their faces contrite with fear, surprise, and righteous anger. I counted them, about twenty, two alicorns (white and black), three or four human/animal bipeds, and many whose species I couldn’t identify, like the one in my hand. “You cannot defeat a Prince!”

“Why?” The little creature squeaked, tears gathering, “Why’d you do it!?” My head started to turn, like it was on a track, under the control of an entirely different entity. Horror mounted in my soul, like an uncontrollable river smashing against my chest, what had I done? My peripherals were the first to confirm my fears, the slight shine of red, next was my nose, the smell of blood making me sick, and even more so when I saw the sight I saw next. An old man, most likely in his sixties, face wrinkled and smeared with blood, while his eyes were covered by a metal helm. He wasn’t breathing, but the reason was quite clear, not many people can breathe when they have an arm through their lung. My arm seemed to end almost at the elbow, with my fist sticking out the steel plate that was on his back. I laughed at its question, staring awhile longer at the armored corpse that I held.

“Bitch, please, I eat people.” I expressed my amusement by continuing to laugh, growing louder and louder as I garnered glee from the sickened faces, “And now…” I brought the little creature up to my face, giggling cruelly as I did so, “Im’ma gonna eat you.”

“Stick-it weed!” I turned back around to find a huge man, like the one I saw in the painting, Leap at me with a massive claymore, I let go of the old man and the little creature, bringing both hands up to catch the sword, which collided with them, releasing a shock wave that rippled through the giants fur cape, blue eyes shining through his warhelm, thick, accented voice rolling “I will purge your sickness from this universe!”

“Just try!” I shouted back, as the world darkened, and nothingness overtook me.

“Gah!” my eyes shot open as I sat up looking around the darkened room, feeling shuffling I looked around to find the little changelings strewn throughout the small compartment, Another dream, I thought, another stupid, sweat inducing, dramatic as hell dream. Seriously, is my life a 1990's sci-fi soap opera? I picked one of the little buggers off my lap, and chucked him, watching him fly into a bookcase which collapsed into itself. But I didn’t worry,

For one, I just didn’t feel like it,

Two, changelings are tougher than you’d think,

And three, they are VERY deep sleepers.

The little guy stretched a bit from his current book covered position but other than that stayed asleep, so I got up, and made my way past the rest, and through the hallways, down and down and down. Every once in a while punching my way through a wall when it suited me, not as if I actually knew where I was going. Took me twenty minutes but I groggily stumbled from the organic walls of the hive outside, Celestia’s sun slowly rising across the red sands of the badlands, one day had passed since my release, and so far I had done nothing but lose more of my life to a shadow called death. But not today! Today I was going to Canterlot, today I’d get to see the pony world as it was in the show, today I’d get a real battle to calm my boiling blood. Vegeta was back, and he was gonna kick ass!

Meanwhile in Canterlot:

*3rd Person P.O.V.*

“GET THE GUARD UP AND MOBILE NOW!” Princess Luna shouted, her voice echoing throughout the halls, sending guards and servants alike scattering to call forth their brethren. One might have thought a bear had been jostled from its slumber, had there not been words put to it. Though honestly the bear would have been better. “PUT THE CITY UNDER MILITARY LOCK DOWN! KEEP ALL CIVILAINS IN SIDE THEIR HOMES TILL EVACUATION-“

“Princess Luna!” One specific guard called out, trotting through the chaos of rushing Guard ponies, His blue mane blowing about as he skidded to a stop, “What is it? Why are you locking down the city?”

“Ah, Captain Shining,” She addressed him, her frown clearly displaying her distress, “We were just about to call for you,” She glanced about, looking back to the Captain questioningly, “Where is our sister, She should be coordinating the guard by our side.”

“She’s in her quarters drinking tea,” he said, raising an eyebrow, “Why-“

“WHY THE BUCK IS SHE DRINKING TEA!? SURELY EVEN YOU CAN SENSE HIM! ” The Captain was shocked to say the least. The princess had used profanity, which his shiny senses told him meant something was horribly wrong. Also, she was referring to somepony, somepony that had the princess worked into a tizzy, which was very bad. And his eardrums were ruptured, but if what his gut was telling him was true, that was the least of his worries.

“Who?” he asked, pressing down his windswept mane, and looking at his princess’s frantic and disheveled appearance, If he had ever felt fear, then would have been the time. She stared at him, sighing then looking in the direction of Celestia’s tower.
“Follow me.”

Celestia was having a good morning, sure, there were things of menial nature in vast quantity to be done, but she sensed that today she might get a little vacation from all that. She felt like life was about to get a little more interesting. Though with that came an uncertainty, her visitor was quite the louse canon, but his actions were predictable, provided you knew his mood, which in and of itself was a whole other baffling obscurity. For a thousand years she’d pondered and worried, fretted and mused, but she had "learned" that there was no sense in unsettling herself about it, she knew this day would come for a long time, her sister on the other hoof…

“CELESTIA!?” The tea levitating in Celestia’s magical grip shuddered and splashed about, she herself wincing at her sister’s voice. The doors burst open with a resounding crack, nearly being blown off their hinges by the force of Luna’s fretful carelessness. A shame, she thought, there are probably cracks in the door now. “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?” she strode into the room, Shining Armor following worryingly behind her, “HAVE THY BEEN PARTAKING IN THE SHROOMS!? ARROGANCE HAS AWAKENED AND YOU SIT ABOUT WETTING YOUR GULET!?” Celestia raised her eyebrow,

“Shrooms?” she laughed a bit at her sister’s antics, “You should know me better than that sister, come, drink!” she lifted a teapot and a second cup while patting the empty cushion to her right with her hoof.

“We think not,” she said, still furious, “we have to get the guard organized to evacuate the city!” she shivered, and took a deep breath, “And if we survive this, what of the collateral damage? It’s nearly winter! How do you suppose we keep the population warm?!” At this, Celestia’s smile grew larger, she brought her cup up into the air, and said:

“With Tea!” Luna stared at her harder than she’d stared at anypony before, so hard, that the blood vessels in her eyes began bursting. *Pop*

“Sister, what blend of tea is that?”

“Zebafrican Red Tea,” Celestia said, taking a sip.

“Is that all?” Luna asked, her jaw fixed in an apprehensive tilt.

“Sure isn’t!” her sister replied, too blissfully for someone in her position, “I added something special, I think you’d like it.” She stated matter of fact, as Shining coughed in an attempt to gain his blue Princess’s attention. Her eyes wandered away from her estranged sister to find him lifting a plastic Ziploc bag from behind a large chair, filled with big, three tipped green leaves. Luna’s jaw hit the floor, it was one thing to accuse your sister of substance abuse, and quite another to find it to be true.

“Sister! You said-“

“That I wasn’t doing Shrooms, really, I only take high quality drugs. Who in their right mind would eat Shrooms!” she took another sip of the laced drink, and poured another cup, levitating to over to Luna, “It’s quite good, you should try it.”

“When did you even-?”

“Yesterday, I sensed him and didn’t want you to freak out because I was freaking so I went out to town in disguise and bought that,” gesturing with her head towards the bag still in Shining’s magical grasp, “Off a nice young Zebra named Weedly so I could calm my nerves.”

“Y-you… you sensed him… yesterday?” Luna couldn’t take it, she would destroy the arrogant fool that would dare to reduce her sister, ruler of the entirety of the Equestrian mainland, into a blithering idiot with the mere knowledge of his presence.

“Yes,” she said, as unbeknownst to them, miles from Canterlot, the skies began to shake. A golden glow speed its way toward the capital, “Sometime during the afternoon.” The inhabitance of the tree speckled countryside looked up, awe and fear gripping their hearts as children poked their heads from the windows, gazing at a light that had not been seen in equestria for millennium.

“And you did not think to start evacuations?” for the first time during their conversation, Celestia showed a hint of worry, eyes widening slightly.

“I-I seem to have forgotten that part,” she blushed and smiling awkwardly, “But trust me, I have a plan, just get all the civilians to safety and we’re good to go!” she beamed as a child would seeking the approval of her parent, and who was Luna to refuse?

“Very well, we will see how this plays out,” she said, sighing, we have a feeling that this will not end well. She thought, making her way towards the door and signaling for Shining to come to her, whispering once he got in range “Stay by her side and signal me once Arrogance comes,” she turned to continue but the young captain stopped her, keeping pace and intersecting her.

“Wait, princess. I need to know what we’re dealing with, I don’t even know what this thing looks like.”

“You’ll know him when you see him.” She moved around him, trotting at a brisk pace down the hall. He turned around, and started to walk towards Celestia, when he stopped, his ears twitched and brow rose. Was that… music?

*Vegeta’s P.O.V.*

“Ba! Ban-nana, ba-nananana!” The epic guitar music echoed through my head, played through my memory to create the imaginary bass and drums, If only I could actually play the music. I smiled as I landed on a street bordered by colorful buildings, leading to the castle courtyard, no resistance, no cannon fodder, no casualties. Heck, I didn’t even sense any civilians. A good, clean, no holds barred fight is what this foretold, well, either that or the princesses were trying to loll me into a false sense of security. Honestly I’d put my money on the latter, but, since I was dead broke It didn’t really matter anyways. I slowly cantered through the street, taking my time and letting the song draw out in my head. I looked up, finding the tower Celestia was in, if power could be seen as light and color could, the entire castle would have shined like its owner’s namesake.

I lifted my hand to the castle gate, feeling out the enchantments that guarded it, a handy trick I’d picked up from a certain bearded unicorn. One enchantment of fire resist, one enchantment of sturdiness, and one enchantment of pure energy resist. Each was strong and well constructed, but if I found the chink in the spells mesh… Ah! I moved my hand to the upper left-hand corner, charging up an energy blast and firing. The grand gate flew from its hinges, flying across the court-yard and into the base of one of the towers, shattering the gate like glass. I was still weakened by my imprisonment, but it matter not, I did not intend to let myself be destroyed, even if Celestia could over-power me. I made my way across the disserted court yard, into the castle and making my way through the wide halls, unlike little Iblis’s hive, the construction of the castle was not purposely trying to confuse invaders, so I restrained myself from blowing holes in the walls for the sake of not wasting time, also, where the grotesque architecture of the changelings was… more practical than aesthetic, I had learned that most pony buildings are rather fragile, best not to go busting up important infrastructure.

I arrived at the top of Celestia’s tower, the door, while quite the work of art didn’t seem to be enchanted. Hell, it wasn’t even locked. I pushed the door open (with force), the smell of tea brushing against my senses. The door slammed against the wall… on the opposite side of the room (I seemed to be developing a habit). I looked around, searching the room for the monarch of the sun... ah! there she was.

*3rd Person P.O.V.*

Celestia laid flat, her belly pressed tight against the over turned couch. Luckily she had the tea still firmly gripped in her magical clutches, though her crown had slipped off, and she didn’t know where it went. But she supposed that mattered little, all that mattered right now was stalling Vegeta, and offering him some delightful tea.

“Come out Princess, It’s time we had a talk.” My, he sounds… scary, she sat there for a second, debating with herself if it was really a good idea to talk with him while she was… stoned. But, he’d most likely only get furious should she attempt to run, or if she simply hid behind the tipped over couch. So, up she went.

“W-why hello Vegeta, fancy meeting you here,” she said after my head crested the top of the couch, looking into the face of the self proclaimed prince, a little confused at the moment, but still the same rugged, masculine face of a foe she’d not seen in a millennium. Same spiked black hair. Though there seemed to be something different about him, he looked… quite debonair, but maybe that was the weed talking. “What has it been? A millennium?” He stood there a while longer staring at her one eyebrow raised high, the other pressed down.

“Are you drunk?” he said, shocking her out of her stupor.

“...No,” she lifted the tea pot over the edge of the couch, “Just having a bit of tea.”

“Then you know why I’m here, if of course you remember my warnings.” His face went back to its usual frown, “Did Luna become Nightmare Moon?” she smiled, so he did know the future… I wonder,

“hmmm, staring at emptied tea cups are we?” she said, lifting her own cup into the air, “I’ve been doing some empting of my own, care to join me?” His frown deepened, and his voice grew more tense, causing her to flinch.

“No, I get my information from a far more reliable source than the bottom of polished china.” He came closer to her, very slowly. He stopped once he was a few yards away, he crossed his arms, “I suppose she’s been freed?” Celestia nodded, “Good, at least she’s not bound by our mistakes any longer,” he cleared his throat as she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, and looked over to find Shining trying to sneak up behind him, even in this “out of it” state, she still feared for him, apparently she didn’t drink enough tea. She shook her head as sternly as she could, Vegeta’s eyes being closed as he coughed into his fist, meant he wouldn’t notice her actions, but it doesn’t take long to clear one’s throat. Shining stopped, as his eyebrow raised, he tipped his head toward Vegeta, probably thinking that if he got a spell in he could take Vegeta off guard or something so she could finish him off, but he knew nothing. Celestia flung her hooves around franticly, trying to get him to back away, but the eyebrow, that stupid eyebrow was impeding her in her quest to save the dear captains life! … Arg, the weed again, she stopped immediately when Vegeta’s eyes opened, and he took a deep breath in, oh no. Her hooves flew up to her ears as Captain Armor’s eyes widened and he followed suit.

“BUT DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW STUPID YOU ARE!?” He yelled, the furnishings picked up by his voice were flung back, striking the walls. The Captain was flung back too, though luckily he put up a barrier before he hit the wall. “HOW MANY TIMES I WARRNED YOU!? I EVEN WARRNED YOU ABOUT DISCORD, BUT WHAT DID YOU DO?! YOU SCREWED IT UP! YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!! THIS IS ON YOU CELESTIA, ALL OF IT, BLAM ME IF YOU WILL! BUT THAT WILL CHANGE NOTHING, YOU TRIED TO IMPRISON ME FOR NOTHING AND YOU HAVE BEEN PUNISHED FOR IT!” Celestia, sighed, as the room around her began to settle, she looked down to find she’d been pushed back as well, the ground beneath her cracked and torn by her hooves. She had to say something, or he may start shouting again.

“But-“

“But? But!?” oh dear, “Celestia, Discord turned into the harebrained lunatic he is because he absorbed my power in an effort to get you the elements!” Celestia put her head down; she was beginning to feel a little depressed, was the weed wearing off? “And who knows what you did to push Luna over the edge! And all because-“ *sniff* Vegeta stopped midsentence, looking at Celestia with an uneven jaw, raised eyebrows and a question Celestia knew was itching in the back of his mind, is she crying?

“No!” she said, as her lip started to quiver, “Nope! Not crying, not at all.” Vegeta simply stared at her, face fixed in the same weird look, she brought her face up, and closed her eyes, beginning to shake a little, “Okay fine, I’m crying, happy?!” tears began to flow freely as Vegeta took a step back bringing one arm up as if to protect himself from Celestia’s sudden outburst, though with his clenched jaw and wide eyes he seemed quite unprepared for her strange eruption. “Mean and rude, that’s what you are *sniff* forcing a lady to cry and be sad! Only jackasses of the highest quality indulge in such… such… tichtatatata! ” Vegeta watched as the previously well composed and snide princess spin around the room in a tear filled frenzy, eyes squeezed shut as she had a royal freak-out of a most cartoonish manner. Which in Vegeta’s mind was quite similar to certain behaviors he had seen long ago,

Actually, He felt the desire to put music to it.

“W-what happened to you while I was gone?” Vegeta asked himself, as the solar princess continued to gyrate around her chambers.

“Marijuana,” Shining groaned, as he stretched his back and lifted the bag of weed into the air, “And trust me, I don’t like it anymore than you.” Vegeta stared at the young stallion, looking at him, then the bag, then back to him.

“When the hell did you get here?!”

“VEGETA!!!” The prince in question spun around, finding the lunar Princess, taking in lungfulls of air, staring at him intensely, her face drawn up in a deep scowl. “WE HATH BEEN HUNTING FOR THEE! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!” he stared back, frowning slightly, then smiling.

“Finally! Someone competent to talk to!” he said, “Wait.” he quickly took back his previous stance, looking the princess up and down, “you’re not on weed too, are you?”

“Of course not you dolt!” she replied, “We are not an bungling… Celestia?” Her attention shifting from Prince to estranged Princess, “What in the name of everything that is, was, and shall be are you doing you fool!? You said you had a plan!” Slowly but surely, the white alicorn came to a halt, lower lip quivering as she slid between Vegeta’s legs, laying on her back and gazing at her sister with massive tear filled eyes.

“You two are so mean… I’m going to leave now,” Vegeta looked down at her, His face contorted into a grimace, while Luna watched as she pushed herself from underneath the Saiyan warrior and rolled onto her belly, and in a fashion similar to a worm, slinked her way out of the room, taking Shining Armor with her, “Come on shiny, we’re not wanted here.” He mouthed the word “help” as he was dragged through the door and down the stairs, at which point Celestia stopped slinking, and started tumbling, followed closely by her Captain, as a horrible den arose from their faces colliding with the stone(d) steps, “Oh mother of me, my leg!? Not my-! Oh wait, still there…” she shouted when the racket finally stopped, leaving both the Saiyan Prince and remaining Alicorn princess to stare down the steps as blood started to leak from their noses.

“I just had an Aneurism out of sheer stupidity…” Vegeta said, bringing his wrist up to his nose and wiping away the blood.

"Same,”

“…Well, were we just going to stand around here or we going to fight.” He said, looking Luna in the eye, “Unless you decided to go on and get weaker while I was away.”

“No, problems there,” Luna said turning to face Vegeta fully, “we’ve spent that last thousand years getting ready for a fight,” she smirked, giggling maliciously, “Though I thought our opponent would be a little taller…”

“Funny, I was just thinking the same-“ mid-sentence, Luna charged, her eyes glowing with a fierce power, nearly impaling Vegeta with her horn. Though the prince was far above her in an instant, the sound of him bursting through the roof resembling the shattering of thick glass. The princess looked up the find the dark haired prince charging his attack, smile wide, muscles bulging as energy flowed through him and into his palms, shouting three words she’d never forget,

“GALICK GUN FIRE!!!”

The world around her turned blue, as the energy beam made contact, obliterating the tower.

Vegeta looked down at the bellowing smoke, watching as it trailed off, streaks of it sticking a midnight blue sphere, which in its center contained a very peeved Alicorn.

“Really Vegeta? An energy attack right off the bat?”

“Hey, you’re the one you tried to impale me mid-sentence.” He laughed, then lowered himself to Luna’s level, “Eye for an eye wouldn’t you say?” Luna got on her hide hooves, black magic enveloping her front ones, forming razor sharp claws, but the magic didn’t stop there, the inky blackness expanded and enveloped her body. Her barrel, muzzle, and wings where all coated in it, creating a inky, glowing armor. The part the covered her mouth made her voice sound deep and ominous.

“Very well, I’ll just have to rip one from your skull!” Vegeta frowned, contemplating his next move before speaking.

“Big sister issues?”

“You have no idea.”

Meanwhile, in Ponyvile

Scootaloo awkwardly shifted in her seat, the pony next to her doing the same. Diamond Tiara looked over at her current bench mate, sitting outside the principal’s office and waiting for her father to pick her up was unbearable, especially since she was sitting next to somepony she’d tried to murder a little over forty-eight hours earlier. Oh, why did she have to be the last one to leave besides me, the fillies thought nearly simultaneously, they had both been doing their best to ignore each other, but it had been a couple hours since the others had left, and not doing anything had left them bored out of their minds. Diamond couldn’t stand it any longer. She had to say something.

That’s it, I’m going to say something, Tiara opened her mouth to speak, but closed it, what should she say?

“Um, nice weather we’re having…” she offered, to which Scootaloo stared at her blankly,

“Yeeeeaaaaah…” Silence regained the upper hand in the school halls, the two fillies held eye contact for a while longer. Till something gained their attention, slight, but very clear bang “What’s that?” the two scrambled from their seats, eager to escape the awkward atmosphere, and lifted the seal to one of the many windows that lined the hall. Once they had stuck their heads out the window they began to look around, Scootaloo’s eyes widening once see found the source of their curiosity. “Over there!” With both of them now facing Canterlot, it became quite clear what the bang was, at least to Scootaloo, as another clap ripped through the skies over the city. “It’s that guy!” she clinched he teeth and pulled her head through the window, speedily dashing down the hall.

“Wait!” Tiara skidded to a halt in front of somepony who she’d only days before considered inferior, but if there was one thing she had learned from her father, it was debt, and because of her actions, mind controlled or not, she owed a lot to the blank flank before her. And if she was talking about who she thought she was, then she defiantly wasn’t going to let her die because she was stupid enough to try and stop that… thing, perhaps it could even count towards repaying her debt. “You can’t.”

“Why not?!” Scootaloo, who was now quite mad, looked at Diamond angrily, her snout scrunched into a frown.

“W-well, because,” She shook her head, and cleared her throat, looking at Scoots with renewed determination, “Because he can use magic without a horn, teleport, and if you are to be believed, fly without wings, and do you have any idea how hard it is for most unicorns to teleport?” Scootaloo rolled her eyes, then seemed to realize that Tiara was waiting for an answer.

“No.” she said.

“Really hard! You have to do all sorts of calculations, concentrate really hard, then expend the energy to relocate your atoms, and this guy did it without a focuser!” at this, Scoots blinked, she’d never really thought about it, but every creature that used action based magic usually had a focuser, or something to help them calculate spells. For unicorns, it was their horns, zebra’s had special magic which used staffs and heirlooms filled will passive magics to cast spells, though chaos magic didn’t require a focuser, the user had to tap into it another way, but was something that could be felt, like a breeze. This meant that the creature she’d met could control his magic with pure will power alone, or his whole body was a focuser, either way, it meant he was powerful. But that didn’t matter, Scootaloo had let him out, and she’d put his back in! “He’s way to powerful for you to handle!”

“Okay, Tiara, first of all, why do you know so much about unicorn teleportation? Second, why do you even care if I die? You seemed eager to do the job yourself a couple days ago.” Diamond backed up, shocked at Scootaloo’s coldness. Her eyes were wide as the little Pegasus stormed past her, and for a second, diamond was tempted to let her go and get herself killed, but then she remembered her debt, and what her dad said about people who didn’t repay them:

Ponies who take something, and don’t give back are little more than thieves. But ponies who ask to take something, then don’t repay are worse than murderers. And then there are ponies who fail miserably at trying to take what they want and then don’t repay the other ponies they hurt, now those are the real scoundrels! Worse than all the others combined.

“Because I’m… I’m…” Scoots stopped walking and turned around, finding a very perturbed Tiara struggling to spit something out, and getting even more annoyed as the seconds went by, the skies still rippling with the force of a battle she really needed to get to.

“Well?”

“Because I’m your nag!” she spat out, causing Scootaloo to nearly choke.

“Excuse me?” she said, looking at tiara with a mixture of confusion and horror.

“Well, you know, slave, servant, serf, vassal, thrall, that sort of thing.” Tiara looked away, now rather ashamed, as Scootaloo continued to try and get over the fact that Diamond Tiara was her “nag”…

Nope, no getting over that.

“… Why?” she asked, still Looking appalled, as Tiara’s pride regained a foothold.

“Nothing you did, I assure you.” she said, staring at Scootaloo down her nose, “But I nearly killed you in the caverns, because I wanted all those pretty gems, and not only did I not get them, but I hurt ponies in an attempt to satisfy my greed.” She huffed, “It’s because of my failures that I have to make sure you don’t get yourself killed, that’s all.” While Scoots was still quite confused, she seemed to understand one thing, this was a matter of Diamonds personal honor, though she did have one question…

“Where was this ten months ago?!”

“Ten months ago, wacko super beings weren’t a regular occurrence.” The pink maned racer mulled this over, deciding that, indeed, ten months ago these things weren’t really that common, But...

“I’m going Tiara, and I don’t care if I die, I’ve got a debt of my own to pay. We all do.” Again, she started down the hall, only for Tiara to stop her again.

“Wait!” She looked back again, Tiara took a deep breath, I can’t believe I’m doing this! “You’re not doing this,” Scootaloo made to respond, but a raised hoof stopped her, “Alone.”

Meanwhile, in Canterlot

“BIG BANG ATTACK!” Vegeta yelled, as a medium sized ball of energy gathered in his palm, and shot towards Luna. A massive explosion enveloped both fighters, as residents from miles around witnessed a great, mushroom shaped cloud cloak the city in smoke and ash. When the smoke had cleared, both prince and princess stood in a crater where the markets used to be, nether one having even scratched the other.

“We were hoping you’d have far less energy at your disposal, after all, it has only been a few days since your release.” The dark magic Luna had previously been using as armor faded away, her mouth guard pulling back to reveal a confident smirk, “But, looks as though we must do this the hard way.”

“Excellent, I was wondering when you were going to scrap the cheap tricks a get straight to the good stuff!” The alicorn charged, now bare hoofs glowing as she pushed her left one forward, Though Vegeta dodged easily enough, simply side stepping out of the way. Leaving Luna wide open for attack, or so he believed. He skipped into the air, flipped around and brought his foot down on the princess’s back, whom as soon as she was hit, faded into nothing. Vegeta’s eyes went wide, as he landed on his feet, and turned his head just in time to see a midnight blue column of energy engulf his vision.

Luna had never even moved an inch, instead, she’d charged a spell, a continuance stream of energy she called, The moonlight pillar. And Vegeta was caught in the middle of it.

Won’t be long now…

Luna’s Eyes widened, what was that? She stopped the spell, and looked around wildly for the voice she’d just heard, It sounded like… She didn’t get the chance to complete that thought, as the dust cleared Vegeta’s anger only thickened, how could he be caught in such a predictable trap? He should have known, the princess of the night, no matter how hard she wanted to be, could never be a warrior like him, or her sister. She was a shadow, who relied solely on tricks and diversion to take down her foes, not her own physical strength. She was a strategist at heart, and relied more on her brain than her body. And that’s why Vegeta would win. He charged his forearms with Ki, letting the energy build up and form, to sharpen like an executioner’s blade.

“AAAAARRRHHHHHAA!” He flung his arms back letting the built up power fly forth in two blue blades formed like an X. The princess, distracted from her thoughts by the shouting, eyed the energy waves for a split-second before her mind pulled itself into gear. Her eyes widened considerably, as she did the only thing she that popped into her mind, dodge. She planted all four hoofs into the ground, launching to the left from her position before realizing her error, Vegeta had gotten her with her own trick! She readied her wings, preparing to blast away, but Vegeta was already beneath her, legs folded and smile wide. His legs surged forward, smashing into the princess’s barrel and sending her flying into the air. She stabled herself, now far above the crater. She clutched her barrel, coughing up blood as she did so, wincing with pain. When she opened her eyes, she found Vegeta was no longer beneath her, not a big surprise there, she thought, lifting her head up and starring daggers at the grinning warrior, his smug face made her sick. Damn, we must get the healing spells running, but this fight might have just been settled with that last move, she smirked a bit, although…

“You wouldn’t want to end the fight… right now, would you?” Luna asked, as her horn flared to life, and florescent blue magic circles burst into existence around her injured body, “You know full well what your power does to Equestrian magic,” Vegeta’s smirk faded, replaced with a thoughtful frown, as he looked on apprehensively at the self repair spells currently healing the princess, indeed, his Ki did strange things to Equestrian magics, unlocking powers even the Celestial monarchs knew nothing about. But he had no time to consider this, all the damage he’d done to Luna was fading away, and fast. His own state wasn’t much better than hers, his skin was unnaturally pale, no doubt a reaction to Luna’s spell, and with that paleness, came pain, some sort of withering effect. Plus, his cloths were torn and frayed, he’d have to repair them soon. No, he had to end the fight now, or Luna most likely would win. He made to charge, but,

Guess it’s time…

He froze up, eye widening, what the hell? He looked around, pulling himself into a defensive position, what was that just then, a voice in his mind? One of Luna’s games? He asked himself, finding that the princess seemed just as surprised, if not more, than him. Though normally, this wouldn’t have deterred his certainty that Luna was involved, he had to consider who that voice sounded like, Luna couldn’t possibly know about him, could she? But the finally piece of evidence that Luna was not the culprit behind the voice, was when the owner of said voice showed up. Vegeta could sense him, like layers of an onion being pealed back to reveal a presence that seemed to have been standing near them the whole time, watching them.

“Hi’ya Vegeta!” Above us!? Vegeta’s mind raced, his heart beat faster and faster, his gut felt as though someone had punctured it with a hot iron, then proceeded to take a cheese grater to his crispy insides. That happy tone, the child-like naivety of it, it could have been him, but there was far too much malice. He dared not look above, that voice ripped feelings from his heart he never knew he had, pride, rage, fear… Envy. He couldn’t look, lest he be overwhelmed by them. “Hey, what’s wrong Vegeta?” the voice said, “You look scared, afraid I’m here to thrash your party?” Vegeta couldn’t stand not knowing, however, and lost to his need to know. Slowly, he brought his head up, looking in the direction of the man now flying above him, and his mind entered a state of complete denial.

Or, perhaps just a pondering silence, the voice echoing throughout his mind. He really didn’t know why this surprised him so much, or why he felt so strongly about it, but not single thought formed, not a single coherent ramble, not even an incoherent mumbling. Just the stale presence of his lingering surprise, and the image of a Saiyan warrior, not him, but another, A tall, dark haired man, his hair parted into unruly spiked clumps, his muscles, even when relaxed were stretched taught under skin and atop bone, like chiseled stone pressed into a light pink sack. Vegeta knew him, and knew him well, the clown had beaten his canon counterpart on many occasions, both metaphorically, and literally. But this wasn’t the same person, It was almost the same feeling he’d had the day before, when facing down Iblis, an abstract feeling of unfamiliar recognition. Except here, it was worse. Instead of the wide curious eyes of the low-class Saiyan, this one had smaller, beady ones. In place of his Orange gi and blue undershirt, was an almost black gi with a red undershirt. But he recognized him all the same, how could he forget that face, the face…

Of Kakarot?!

Author's Note

Oh dear, What does this mean? How could Goku be there? Why does Vegeta Feel there is something terribly wrong with the low-class saiyan hero?

Find out, on the next superb episode of

Dragon Ball P!

(Yep, more "edgyness" as many are fond of calling it, apparently this term developed without my knowing and at first, I was like:
"da wah?"
Then I was like:
"Well... huh."
Because as far as I know, edgyness is when a story that is set in a ridiculous setting tries to take itself seriously, but hey, I might not be one to judge, considering this story, but this is fanfiction people, you really think I take this thing too seriously?

Maybe I'm just wound up too tight, but anyways.

Thoughts, opinions, suggestions, criticisms?)

Chapter V - You've been given

Authors Notes:

~~As you may have seen by the title of this chapter, It is unfinished, which means that the next update will be on this chapter.~~

If you, for whatever reason, feel you do not want to read this uncompleted chapter, please do not

Additional Note: This chapter was put out with very little effort, do not expect high quality in its editing

Edit 10/5/21: The more things change the more they stay the same, and it seems as though the plans of yester year have been scrubbed. Once again I am left with missing material, but, an entirely new direction. Expect a chapter by the end of Oct. I will deliver, and the battle will finally draw to its much maligned close. Cheers!

One of the most puzzling thoughts to have ever entered the minds of many adolescents who watched the show Dragon Ball Z was what one would classify the relationship between, Kakarot (Goku), and his princely rival, Vegeta. Were they friends, enemies, a mix of both? Why was Vegeta an asshole to Kakarot even though the 3rd class Saiyan seemed to love his “friend” like a brother? Why did Kakarot never stop loving Vegeta like a brother even though the latter treated him like the dirt beneath his feet? Why does Vegeta even stick around if he doesn’t like Kakarot? The answer is complicated, like Rainbow’s sexuality.

But I’ll try and make this as simple as possible,

Kakarot’s an idiot with more love for the fight than is considered healthy, and Vegeta’s obsessed with kicking his ass.

At least, that’s the way it was supposed to be. But with the look this “Kakarot” was giving the prince, he felt as though, for once, he was the prey.

“Kakarot.” He finally spat out after regaining his composure. Eyeing his less than customary wear was a look of disgust, but also a strange, overpowering sense of animalistic approval. This Kakarot seemed in tune with his Saiyan heritage, the thought of it both made the pretender prince’s blood boil with excitement, and turn icy cold. He knew just exactly what Kakarot was capable of, and he also knew the savagery of the Saiyan race better that most, he may have been a mere replica, but the blood in his veins was unquestionably that of Vegeta’s, The desolation of Chrysalis’s hive was testament to that.

“Whoa there, you don’t seem very happy to see me,” Kakarot said, folding his lips and looking at Vegeta as one may a wounded puppy. “I know you were always so mad at me for becoming a super Saiyan before you, but that doesn’t mean you can keep a grudge against me…” Vegeta looked on, his expression unreadable, but he opened his mouth to speak, a guttural, barbaric sound that pulled Princess Luna from her dumbfounded surprise, and into and into a feeling of gut rendering despair.

“Angry? Why Kakarot, I thought you knew me better than that,” He said, his face never changing in expression, “I was LIVID.” Kakarot chuckled merrily, though there was no warmth in it, while Luna stared on in abject horror and confusion. “Respect isn’t a very painless thing to seize from me, but you know my respect for you is the only reason you’re alive.” Kakarot smirked, looking at him with a self satisfying delight, through which Vegeta felt forced to admit: “That, and your transformation.” At this the princess gawked, between the arrival of the new entity, and Vegeta’s own reveal, she felt like dropping from the sky like a sickened bird.

“You knew,” she muttered, looking wide eyed at Vegeta, “You knew of the transformation?” It was Vegeta and Kakarot’s turn to be surprised.

“Huh, so they are smarter than they looked.” Kakarot said, an eyebrow raised in fascination, while Vegeta looked back at Luna whilst reflecting her own expression, but what expression was that? calm or broken?

“’You knew?’ what do you mean ‘you knew’!? How did you know? How could you?” His brows furrowed, and the atmosphere changed as the attention shifted from the newcomer “Kakarot” to Luna, who shifted uncomfortably in the sight of, not one, but two of these… creatures she both feared and hated, and she found herself unable to speak, not much else passed her lips but a small “eep” that seemed better suited to a petite yellow Pegasus than the princess of the night. Vegeta opened his mouth, preparing to shoot off a heated and vulgar comment on the uncharacteristic slip of the princess, but the red and black cloaked 3rd class Saiyan interrupted him, casually as he would blink.

“It doesn’t matter, all that does is us,” He said, pointing at the fake prince, “And our unfinished business.” Vegeta brazenly clenched his fists, grinding his teeth and breathed in heavily. This… This wasn’t Kakarot! No, he decided, as he stared into the pseudo-Kakarot’s devilish grin, this is someone else entirely! The thought of it made him sick, disappointed, and unbelievably pissed, “And the blue thing has nothing to do with it,” He looked down on Luna, arms crossed, and seemingly passive, “So, would you be nice enough to leave?”

“Excuse me?” She asked, anger seething past her nervousness, was this “Kakarot” asking her to leave!?

“I asked nicely,” He shrugged, then, faster than the royals could see, shot his hand up, “so don’t blame me.”

“Kakarot!” Vegeta opened his eyes wide, it had happened faster than he could react, Luna… was fine, she’d barely dodged the blast. And now Kakarot had two fuming nobles to deal with, “You’re in some deep trouble now Kakarot,” he said, looking back at him furiously, “deep, deep trouble.” I gave Luna a nod, and she nodded back. We both brought our respective front limbs back, and,

“GALICK GUN FIRE!”

“LUNAR TEXENTIUM!”

*^*^*

“Scootaloo?” The pony in question turned her head over her shoulder as she and Diamond Tiara sped across town.

“What.” She replied irritably, focusing on the former bully turned serf with a deadly stare.

“Just wondering how exactly we are going to get to Canterlot,” she deadpanned, looking to her unwitting companion incredulously. Scootaloo smirked in response; her eyes held a keen sparkle that warned Diamond something was up.

“You’ll see!” she sing-songed, flashing Tiara a devilish look which gave her a horrible sense of impending pay back, then flicked her eyes slightly above her head, “Where’s your tiara?”

“Noneofyourbusiness!”She spat out, her cheeks quite red, then realizing she now looked quite suspicious followed up with, “I… I left it at the school, I don’t want it to get damaged.” Hoping that the orange filly hadn’t payed her head much mind before they left. Fate dealt her a kind hand in that Scootaloo simply shrugged and continued, letting Tiara breathe a sigh of relief. What it gave her next however…

“Stop! We’re here!” Tiara looked up… what? Was this a joke!? Before them was the golden oaks library, why in Equis would they need to be here?!

“WHAT-!?” She managed to cough up before Scoots smacked a hoof in her face, effectively cutting off the rest of her sentence and causing her to recoil, covering her mouth with her hooves and glaring at Scoots menacingly.

“Sshhh! We need to get into the library QUITELY! Without Twilight noticing!” she said hoarsely, pointing her other hoof up at the balcony where Twilight was observing the city of Canterlot worriedly. Tiara brought her hooves away from her face and licked her gums, then again glared at the crusader.

“Why?” she said, half in venomous disbelieving spite, half in genuine curiosity. Again, Scootaloo flashed her a confident smirk.

“Teleporters.” A wat neew?

“Oh my Celestia Scootaloo, what exactly do you have for a brain?” At this, Scootaloo scrunched up her lips, and looked at Tiara dully.

“At least I didn’t trot into a zero light tunnel half-assed without a flash light.”

“What does that even have to do with this? That is not only completely unrelated, but is also nowhere near as stupid as this!” she put a hoof to her head and shook it, “Why would a librarian have a teleporter?”

“Because, in case you’ve forgotten, that librarian is Celestia’s student and a scientific genius! That, and I heard her talking to Rainbow about it.” More like bragging, she mentally interjected. Diamond paused, eyebrows raised in thought, it was plausible, who knew what the magical mad scientist could have concocted in the privacy of her basement. Buuuuuut…

“What for?”

“Some sort of quick response system or something, come on, we’ll never be able to get there otherwise! It’s worth a shot.” Tiara sighed, then looked into the begging eyes of her temporary liege.

“Okay,” she said earning a large smile from her former enemy, “but if we die, I’m blaming you.”

Overhead, a prismatic Pegasus lay bathing in the slowly declining sun, as a massive shockwave smacked into her, rousing her from her dreams and musings.

“W-wah?” she blearily sat up, shaking her head as she glared at the thing that had woke her… Canterlot? No not the city itself of course, she stood up, gazing intently with eyes that widened considerably as she noted the destruction within the city, her keen eyes picking up every detail, including the three barely visible dots dueling it out with massive energy beams above the skyline of the lower portion. “Celestia’s mane! What the Hay!?” She pressed her hooves hard against the cloud and used it like a springy launching pad, rocketing towards the city, and creating a cloud ring with the force of it. Whatever was happening there, she hoped it wasn’t going to take too long to resolve, she still was in the middle of her nap! … Also, innocent ponies could be dying, sigh, I really need to sort out my priorities, she thought, as the sped off, leaving a Rainbow trail in her wake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIEDrkQo9PI

“Curse it!” I screamed, as me and Luna engaged Kakarot above the city, our ki and magic colliding spectacularly, but doing little to stop Kakarot’s own. The energy wasted in our own quarrel was starting to catch up with us, and so was my foolishness

“Kaio-ken x5!” My eyes widened considerably, as Luna barely managed to spit out,

“Kaio-wha-?” The area around me was engulfed in blinding red light and my body screamed in pain, my throat surpassing it with a chilling screech. I suddenly found myself flat on the ground twitching with pain and not daring to open my eyes. “Vegeta?!” I forced them open to see Luna looking worriedly from the sky at the crater I was in, her concern was quite flattering, , where was that before? I asked myself, looking back to Kakarot with venom in my glare, damn you Kakarot, you 3rd class bastard, though, at least you had enough courtesy to not try for the Luna again, as if reading my thoughts, he smirked, and pulled his hands back,

“KAMEHAMEHA!!!”

Oh come on! The beam smashed into Luna, seemed quite dazed after seeing me blown away, catching her unawares. That-That-

“Motherbucker!”

I rocketed from the ground as Luna hit it, speeding towards Kakarot with killing intent, let’s see, I thought, longer reach, I tucked under a quick jab aimed at my nose, smashing into his midsection with the force of a runaway mountain, specializing in close quarters combat. He brought his hands up in a dual fist, bringing them down on my upper back, Quick recovery time. I once again was sent hurling towards the ground, face first this time, but unlike last time, I caught myself and flipped back around to face my opponent and with the same motion, flung a ki blast at him, which he smacked away faster that I could see, even faster reaction time, all in all, moderate offence and defense, prefers close combat over blasts but is unafraid to use them, and if the show is to be believed, no amount of physiological warfare will bring this guy down, though perhaps- I slowly looked up at him, then bent backwards sharply, placing a hand on my back, perhaps an up-close and personal provocation wasn’t the best way to evaluate him, I lifted the hand up and brought it crashing back down, landing with a grating crunch as my spine popped back in place.

“BIG BANG ATTACK!” I shouted, as my other hand shot forward, letting lose the attack. It collided with Kakarot’s hearty backhand and dissipated, but not without a blinding explosion, letting me do my thing. Kakarot barely had time to react as I flew forward, both feet extended into his back, riding him for a moment before letting momentum do its job. He flew forward, colliding with the ground, but reappearing in front of me.

“Gotcha.” He grabbed my head and slammed it into his knee, with enough force to send it flying back, then punched my gut hard, getting a hold of my arm, he began spinning, letting my fly after a few rotations. I was too exhausted to stop myself, and simply let my back collide with the surroundings to break my fall, how on earth did he even get here? I wondered as I burst through the walls of a clothing shop, I was fine till he showed up declaring we had “unfinished business”, what the hell does he mean? I suddenly felt resistance, as my limp head rolled to the side, Kakarot’s gleeful smile greeting it, what tha- I was painfully flung forward, my face colliding with the ground till I finally came to a stop near where had originally been pressed down by Kakarot’s beam. Funny. I shakily pressed my hands against the ground, shoving up, creating two little craters in the ruble, I wasn’t going to beaten by a fool! Not a chance!

“Saiyan souuuuuuuuUUUUUL!” I yelled, crooked arms tense and hands clenched, reaching deep inside and remembering my pride, I was a Saiyan! It mattered little how I became one, I wouldn’t let that pride be tarnished by a 3rd class Imbecile, even if it was a version Kakarot! I flipped a one-eighty now facing an oncoming Kakarot, bringit! I burst forward, phasing out midway and reappearing above him, I attempted to smash my fist into his back. He turned at the last second, allowing him to pseudo- sidestep my swing, my fist only bouncing off his back, as he flipped around, nearly nailing me with a swift strike in the process, but I blocked the swing and used it as an opportunity. I grabbed his wrist and twisted my torso, flinging him into the sky, then unlashing a volley of energy beams, each one hitting their mark, yes! But of course It couldn’t end that easily, when the smoke cleared, Kakarot was looking disapprovingly down at me, clothes ripped and torn, but relatively little damage done to his actual body, with the exception of a cut above his eye and a bloody mouth.

“What is this Vegeta? I thought you were much stronger.”

“In case you haven’t noticed dumbass, imprisonment by petrifaction doesn’t exactly provide you with much means to train.” I deadpanned, “That, and I was in the middle of a match when you got here!” His frown grew deeper, and the edge of his lips curved down angrily. He sighed, then seemed to ponder the situation.

“Guess I’m gonna have to take things up a notch.” Why is it that just when you thought life couldn’t throw a bigger sh&*storm-!? I thought, just as a callous fist made contact with my gut.

*3rd person P.O.V.*

Scootaloo silently pushed the door open, staring in through the crack.

“Clear…” she whispered, pushing the door open, though it creaked noisily as it did so, causing her and the filly behind to wince.

“Be quite moron!” Tiara said mutedly, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head.

“Hey, I thought I was your lord of something? Are you even allowed to talk back to me like that?” The two-toned filly released a “humph” in response and stuck her nose high in the air,

“This isn’t an absolute monarchy Scootaloo, you don’t control me, I just help you.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes, as the former (why do I keep using this word?) bully pushed her way past her.

“If I only had a guillotine…” She muttered under her breath, and entered after Tiara. They both scooted along the ground, bellies scrunched against the wood floor, slowly but surely making their way across the floor, till they heard the pitter-patter of small feet on the stairs. “Quick! Behind the statue thing!” They both made a mad dash toward the stylized head, pressing their backs against the wood. They listened closely as the steps came closer, as Scoots peaked around the edge of the sculpture, Spike? Indeed, the little purple drake was speedily running for the basement door, a little gold key fumbling around nervously in his grasp. Well, that was lucky. “On the count of three, we tackle him…”

“What!?” Diamond Tiara looked frantically between Scootaloo and Spike, she wants us to tackle a dragon?

“one,” She clenched her muscles tight, preparing the rush the dragon.

“Two,” Scootaloo licked her lips, as Spike arrived at the door, and shakily tried to put in the key, and finally seceding. *Click*

“THREE!” She shouted, just as the dragon swung the door open. He spin around to find two fillies inches from his face,

“Holy-!” All three of the adolescents tumbled downs the steps as one, as a chorus of pained shouts echoed throughout the library. They came to a stop at the base of the steps after what seemed like an eternity, Scootaloo being the first to compose herself.

“Spike! Are you okay!?”

Oh no!

“Tiara!” she said, shaking the dazed filly around till she acknowledged her with a groan, “We got to hurry! Twilights coming!”

“What!?”

“Exactly how much of your vocabulary does that make up?” She asked, as Tiara sped around the… what exactly WAS all this stuff? The basement was filled with strange contraptions that looked they belonged in Frankenstallions lab, but, Scootaloo’s eyes where focused of a particular device, a rune covered metal arc that had buttons on one leg, there it is!

“Spike!?” She heard, now remarkably closer, and to top it all off, Spike was starting to get his senses back too!

“Urg… Twi?”

“TIARA! PORTALOVERTHERENOW!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, as she ran over to the Arc, leaping on to the control panel as Tiara came up behind her,

“Hurryhurryhurry!” she chanted, looking between Scootaloo fiddling with the panel and the stairs, come on!

“Hey! Who else is down there!?” Both of their throats seemed to constrict, as Scootaloo Finally found the on button.

“Got It!” She said, relieved, as the device flickered to life, displaying the city of Canterlot between the two legs and the same in name with golden letters that floated and twisted from side to side in the air, huh, well that’s interesting…

“Scootaloo!?” Twilight was now at the top of the stairs her face horror stricken, “Get away from that!!”

“GOGOGOGOGO!” Tiara Shouted, as she pushed her class mate through with a mighty shove, causing her to release an “eeep!” as she tumbled into the portal, then looked back up the stairs, If I survive this, I swear to Celestia I will NEVER let That blank flank hear the end of it… she thought absent mindedly as she gulped and charged through.

Vegeta was at the end of his rope, he was tired, beaten, and losing ki fast, oh, and Kakarot had him in a headlock, hey look, a fist.

*Wham!*

Next thing that met Vegeta’s eyes was the dirt. Though his anger was nowhere near the end of its fuse, his anger did little if he didn’t have the energy to use it, he had Luna to thank for that, and his still pale skin. But he certainly wasn’t going to lie down and *hurk*, okay, maybe he should stay down for a little longer. He flipped himself over so he could face Kakarot, who was holding the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. I don’t understand Kakarot, WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME! He breathed in deep and continued to watch him. What is it? You obviously don’t want to beat me, otherwise I’d already be a steaming hole in the ground, and why does he even have any interest in me, he isn’t the same Kakarot as in DBZ, what is the angle? Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement, not a lot, just one single point of light, speeding straight towards Kakarot. If whatever that is can distract him for just a second, maybe… It’ll give me a little more time. He opened a clenched fist, letting the energy gather there, and flung it to Kakarot’s right, which he backhanded, a repetitive motion Vegeta was coming to hate, and sighed, closing his eyes.

“Vege-TA!?” *WHAM*

What The fu-? He blinked, No really, what the absolute-

“Buck!” Again, he blinked rapidly, that tiny prick got here that fast? Kakarot was gone, and in his place was a small, cyan, rainbow maned Pegasus, clutching her back hoof in her fetlocks, “That was for Princess Luna you sonovabitch!” Oh come on, that is such bullsh*t! Vegeta ground his teeth,

“This is… getting ridiculous…” he muttered under his breath, as he attempted to get up again, his bones shuddering as he did.

“Vegeta?” He turned, his eye searching,

Luna? Above, he could hear more crashing, swift strikes and taunts coming from the Pegasus, he became distracted for a moment, and was in the process of turning his head.

“Vegeta?” he looked back, focusing exclusively on the fallen diarch’s voice. He trudged over the debris, coming to the lip of a small crater, at the center of which, he found his temporary ally, beaten and bruised, blood trickling from her lips and nose.

“Luna,” He stumbled to her side, looking over her, the edge of his lip twitching up into a snarl, who is Kakarot? That he’d do this to someone with their back turned!?

“Listen, we… We’re trusting you with this.” She said, regaining Vegeta’s attention.

“Just what are you going on about, you need to shut up and lie down, you're useless in this condition. You couldn’t trust me with anything of much worth.”

“You're one to talk.” she shot back, the cold look in her eyes making Vegeta go ridged, “Listen… We weren’t using all our power…”

“What?” she- who does she think she is!? Holding out on me? Anger swiped across Vegeta’s features, how could she betray him in such a way!

“We were afraid of what would happen if we did, even when this Kakarot showed his true colors… we were hesitant…” She let out a shaky sigh, “But no more.”

“Don’t, Luna.” Her brows knitted into a frown, as Vegeta crossed his arms and looked hotly down at her, “You’re not a warrior.”

“Precisely why we are not the one fighting,” she smirked, letting a small chuckle slide past her lips, “You are…”

“What exactly are-” He let his arms down, and sank to his knees, eyes wide, “No, I’m not, not like this.”

“You don’t have a say in the matter.” Luna replied, her horn lighting up with black magic.

“But, in this state, giving me power…,” He grabbed her by her shoulders, his gaze steeled. In return, he received a smile, one of the types he never expected from her, a gentle one.

“Which is why we are trusting you with this.”

“Because you crave to die?” He asked, venom in his voice.

“No,” Two blackish blue magic circles phased into existence above the Saiyan, faintly visible in the darkening city as he rose to a standing position, “Because… I suppose it’s…” she hesitated, ”You care if I do.” And in an instant, the process was done, life returned to Vegeta’s weary body, bones straightening, muscles relaxing and contracting with vigor, heart beating furiously, veins pulsing feverishly, rage building murderously.

“You selfish woman,” he said, looking into her now cold silver eyes, and barely rising chest, “Your life was never yours to give,” he brought his fist to his face, “and nether was your power, but I will offer you this in return, I swear on my life…” he opened his fist, and removed his glove, moving his index finger across his palm, blood trickling from the red line that followed. He took Luna’s bloodied hoof and pressed his cut against one of her own, letting blood flow between the two. He let go, refitting his glove, and clenched his fist again, “he Will know your pain.”

*^*^*

“Just give in.” Kakarot said, blocking every strike thrown his way, though all anypony else would have been able to see was a light cyan blur assaulting his still form, his arm a barely visible streak as it blocked the advance. “This is getting you nowhere, I’m only here for Vegeta! Leave me alone to fight him and you get no trouble!”

“Shoulda’ thought of that before you shot Luna!” the blur responded, her movement only intensified.

“I did,” He skillfully ducked under a stray leg, grabbing it and using the momentum to fling his much weaker opponent into the rubble below, “It was her own fault. She was too weak to fight with me and Vegeta, if she had, you might have not had a body to bury!” As soon as she hit the dirt, he was there, looking down on her a she propped herself up from her laying position, and gazing up at him spitefully, “Trust me, I was having mercy.”

“Really? Since when was blasting someone in the back counted as mercy?” She smirked, as her magenta eyes flicked pasted him for a moment, “Oh, And I think your friend agrees with me.”

“DAMN YOU KAKAROT!” Vegeta flew feet first into Kakarot’s exposed back, as Dash, having already pulled her legs back into the position, bucked his front. The result left Kakarot between a rock and a hard place, as his bones started to give, and he felt a rib succumb to the attack

He wasn’t the only one to feel the pressure however, Dash struggled to keep pressing her legs against the freaks ribs, but the power of the other guy’s kick was literally pressing her body into the ground, and it cracked and fractured under the stress. She brought her legs up to her barrel, twisting till she felt she could escape from the force, her head set between her legs, then pushed.

Vegeta did the same, the two of them rocketed in opposite directions, leaving Kakarot drifting in the air, before Vegeta twisted so his upper body faced his opponent’s and lifted his open palm up, letting loose his rage in both the orb of ki, and the beastly roar that ripped though the air with killing intention.

Kakarot, still regaining his composure from the previous attack, had barely noticed Vegeta’s own recovery, and subsequent follow up attack, till the roar that smashed against his senses like a runaway train. But by then, it was too late to dodge, so he did the next best thing. For an instant, his hair flared up, turning gold as the assault ravaged his back, and he was sent flying forward from the resulting cloud of debris, his state returning to normal immediately afterwards.

But, unfortunately for him, the effects of his transformation where felt, as even in that split second, as he flew over Dash’s head, she felt pain leave her body. Her muscles tightening, bones bending with energy, electricity rippled off her fore hooves. She gasped, as the sudden change in physical state and internal power flooded her mind with information. Who are these guys? She asked herself, looking at the lingering energy sparking off her hoof, how are they doing this? Do they really have enough energy to do… this? Vegeta sped over her, howling murderously, as her head flicked up, following him, is this what sensei was talking about? He dashed around an attack and phased behind his foe, wrenching him from the sky with a brutal overhead coupled fist. The monkey god? She smirked, her heart filled with anticipation, I’m… fighting a God! Her grin widening further, as she imagined the bragging rights that would come with this doozy. Who knows? Maybe if she won this they’d let her into the wonderbolts! She shook her head, dislodging the stray thoughts, no, gotta stay in the Game! No daydreaming, “Kakaroot” ain’t no slouch, and neither is this “Vegeto” guy. I got to keep on my hooves for this one!

“So, you can use instant transmission.” Kakarot said, slowly standing up from his crater, “Got to say Vegeta I was-“ his relaxed composer turned ridged as a realization hit him, and Vegeta was on him, the two exchanging blows faster than the mind could comprehend. This Vegeta wasn’t the same one he’d fought earlier, he was different.

There where the obvious things, like a sudden change in skin color (When he thought about it, Vegeta had had much paler skin than he thought), the rapid increase I power, and the feel of said power, but there was something else… something pushing him from the inside. He swiped the blows off, grabbing Vegeta’s head, and pulling to his knee. Though it was blocked by Vegeta’s hands, it still sent the prince flying several yards, far enough for Kakarot to hop away without being set upon immediately. “How’d you do it Vegeta?” he asked, grinning widely, “I was beginning to think I’d have to go off and wait for a couple weeks till you where back in shape. It looks like your more than that, come on, Tell me, please?” Vegeta stared at him, brows furrowed, till he opened his mouth his voice profound and serious.

“I am a prince,” he started, “And where a prince lives, is his domain, and if this is my domain,” he pointed off into the distance, where a town could be seen, “Then the creature who live here are my subjects. And it is in my position to defend them.” He then pointed to the crater in which the princess was, “You killed one, a one I held to be of value no less! I failed in my duty, and I will not do so again, you’re a threat to every creature on this planet,” he opened his hands, two small lights flared to life, “A threat I won’t hesitate to neutralize.” It was silent for a moment, till Kakarot began to howl with laughter, rolling around clutching his belly.

“What a shocker! I thought you would have hated being here, the rainbows, the curtsey creatures, oh boy, you have lost it, haven’t you?” He wiped a tear from his eye, “I mean, how could Vegeta, the mighty prince of all Saiyans claim to care for a world full of creatures that can’t defend themselves from a bunny stampede!?” Before the irony of that statement could set in a new type of irony came flying toward Kakarot’s face in the form of a cyan hoof enveloped in pink, fire like light, smashing into his face as Vegeta looked on dumbstruck by how many times Kakarot had let that happen.

Scootaloo looked on, as her idol and friend fought on, awestruck. Tiara however, was freaking out.

“Two?! Why are there two!?” They had exited the portal to find themselves in a study, one that Scootaloo presumed was Celestia’s, and Tiara freaked out. They then stumbled into the throne room, and Tiara freaked out. Which brings us to the present, where the duo, rushing through the halls of the palace, stumbled upon the unconscious form of Princess Celestia and one of the royal guard, a very nice fellow, and Tiara freaked out. It would take very little intellect to appreciate that a predictable pattern was forming here.

“Whoa,” Scootaloo whispered, watching the nearly invisible figures dance across the ruins of the city, slinging energy blasts all the while. Both of the fillies strained over the edge of a shattered window, intently watching the three zipping dots

“Hey, you two! Get back from the window, you’re going to get yourselves killed.” The guard said, scrunching his brow into a frown, as his horn lit up. The two were lifted into the air, but their movement was halted by Scootaloo’s plea.

“Wait! I just want to watch!” The guard seemed to consider this for a moment, before closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“Look, I-“

“She’s gone.” Diamond Tiara deadpanned, causing the military pony to snap back into attention, where he noticed that, indeed, Scootaloo had somehow slipped from his grasp, and even now could be seen from the window (which was at least two stories up) galloping towards the battle.

“How did she-?

“Don’t ask me,” Tiara said dejectedly, the appearance of a second creature had put her in a rather dismal condition. The captain (as could be recognized by the markings on his gold tinted armor) simply stared at the filly as she floated in mid-air, then switched his gaze to the still receding form of her companion, these two are going to give me a headache. “Well?” His attention was again grabbed by the purplish coated filly, as she looked at him expectantly, “Aren’t you going to get after her?” He nodded, setting Tiara down.

“Stay here.” He said, darting off before she had time to respond, then halting and calling again, “On Second thought, get yourself and the princess to the bunker! Bottom left under the throne!” before picking up his earlier pace.

“How am I supposed to… “ She looked between the captain and the princess, sighing to herself, “Screw it, I’m not staying here, the princess can take care of herself, asleep or no.” Taking off after the captain, she briefly wondered if anyone was still using their brains at this point.

“KamehameHA!” The beam of light shot forth from Kakarot’s hands, digging a trench in the ground and eventually bursting from the rim of the city like a glowing drill head. When the steam faded, Vegeta could be found standing in the trench and arms crossed, While Rainbow floated off to the upper left, blowing on her considerably shorter, singed tail. Once her tail had stopped smoldering, and Vegeta brought his arms back to the sides, she looked back at Kakarot Hotly.

“Motherbucking palm lasers…” She said, grumpily landing on the ground and snorting.

“That’s why I said you should to run off skittles!” Vegeta said, “We’re out of your league.” This had been reoccurring banter between the two since she’d flown into Kakarot’s face, a luck hit, as far as Vegeta was concerned, and so far, he’d been right, she hadn’t landed a solid punch since. Though little did he know, she didn’t need to. She smirked, glancing between the two, eager to show off.

“Oh, really?” She asked sarcastically, rubbing her hooves together, slowly at first, then faster and faster.

“… Yes.” He said, sounding sure, but then again, so did she, what tricks did this vaguely familiar Pegasus have up her sleeves?

“Then I guess I just Have… To try… A… LITTLE... HARDER!” she yelled, her hooves lighting up with the same pink energy as before, then they exploded, the energy rapidly expanding, changing colors as Kakarot and Vegeta watched, fascinated by the sudden display of power and ki. This surprised Vegeta the most, his eyes widening, and jaw clenching, realizing that this was more than equestrian magic, this was ki. Ki that he introduced into this world, memories where rushing back, as he found names of ponies and places, the things he’d previously forgotten, he came to comprehend the situation as it was, This, is Rainbow Dash, and she’s using Ki. He’d changed this world, and now he knew it. “Take this bed head!” she shouted, lifting her hooves high in the air and slamming them forcefully into the ground, which shuddered. For half a second, everything was still, that stillness was ruptured, the ground splintered and fractured, lifting from the land like they were caught in some sort of earth quake. Out from the cracks erupted a wave of energy, spreading out from the point of impact forward, and smashed into Kakarot, forcing him back through a cluster of remaining buildings, and finally into the wall of the mountain itself, sending cracks up the side and shaking the entire city.

Needless to say no one present had expected that.

“I… totally meant to do that.” Rainbow said, taking the unexpectedly powerful attack remarkably well in stride. Though Vegeta frankly didn’t care about that, he was more in shock over the fact that Dash, a pony he honestly could not believe he’d forgotten, had just preformed a ki attack, something he knew only he could have introduced before now. This incited a civil war within the confines of his mind, one-half (the notably more prominent part), found pride in the fact that he’d changed the world in some way, but the other, the fearful, paranoid one, considered what else he may have changed, and what might come his way because of it.

“Run.” he said, his face taking on a dark countenance, while Rainbow looked at him, shocked that even after that display, he continued to think her too weak to fight.

“Why? I haven’t even- “ she suddenly felt his palms smashing into her barrel, her body flying backward. “Wah-!?” in the instant that followed, an enormous beam of light engulfed where she had been, just barely grazing Vegeta’s back.

“KAMEHAMEHA!”

“If you stay here there’s not going to be enough of you left to bake a cupcake, leave!” He said viscously pushing the Pegasus away once more. She was staggered, not only did her attack fail, but she was, again, being told to book it. She knew she was in over her head, but her pride refused to let her leave, surely he could understand where she was coming from? She was playing war with two of the most powerful creatures on the planet, and she wasn’t about to leave when she had unfinished business with one of them, not after he’d attacked Luna! She was going to rip him a new one, and she knew just how to do it.

“No! I have every reason to stay, and I’m going to. If you really want to me to leave, let’s end this. I have a technique that I pretty sure will do the job, you just have to distract him for five minutes while I charge it.” Vegeta lifted his lip into a snarl, making to respond swiftly, but Kakarot interrupted carelessly, suddenly slamming his foot down at the top of a pile of debris, drawing the attention of the two beneath him. He was damaged, but not very much, the only signs that the attack had hit him were a slightly closed eye and discoloration on his forearm.

“Wow, I guess I was wrong. Those bunnies wouldn’t stand a chance!” He turned to Vegeta, “And you, I’m truly surprised that you’ve pushed this battle this long, even with some help, your strength is surprising… but still not enough.” He said matter of fact, “You need to be stronger.”

“Five minutes?” Vegeta said, nonchalantly addressing the Pegasus.

“Yep…”

“Little to no chance of success?”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Sharp rocks at the bottom?”

“Huh?”

“…Bring it on.”

Rainbow looked at him quizzically; till he flicked his hand, sliding in a backwards glance, “Well? Get going!” She set her jaw and took to the air, speeding into the sunset.

“Huh? Finally going?” Kakarot asked, “Might be a little too late for that.”

Vegeta launched from the ground, dashing headlong towards his foe with a fist pulled back, letting his momentum be the force behind his blow. Kakarot sidestepped, Vegeta’s fist barely glancing off his face, then, all hell broke loose. The two were blurs, dashing about, exchanging blows faster than the eye could perceive. Every once in a while, the frantic movement would stop, and a flash of light could be seen, or a devastating blow was dealt, sending one of the combatants (usually Vegeta) Hurtling away, only for them to shoot straight back into the fight, their blows shaking the mountain to its core. But Rainbow, though as much as she would have liked to, couldn’t focus on the battle below, she was already pushing her limits as she burst through the cloud cover, seeing the stars poke out as the wisps of cloud trailed off of her, she twisted, pushing her hooves forward, straining to gather her power. The clouds slowly reacted, writhing and tumbling over each other like waves. Dark, ominous vapors began to pool as the clouds came to cover the sky, twisting like a tornado in the center; Rainbow Dash was brewing a storm.

Two cloaked figures stumbled over a ridge, nearly losing their footing. Their tall slender forms marked them as bipeds, though it would be a misrepresentation to call them both “Slender”. The smaller one held his head down trying to keep his eyes out of the sun, though you wouldn’t have seen it, on account of the covering the masked every feature but the eyes, he was grimacing. Then, the light was gone, far too fast to simply be the sun finally setting. Out of curiosity, he turned his eyes to the west, entirely unprepared for what he saw.

“M-Mother?” The larger one turned, her great form towered over her offspring, as her gaze fell on him.

“What is it Oboo?” Her voice was deep, far deeper than most stallion’s, normally it would attain a response from her son, at least enough for him to acknowledge her, but right now his attention was drawn solely to the west, towards the city of Canterlot, barely visible as a gray needle rising from green, a body of water separated the ground on which they stood from that on which the mountain leaned. They were far enough away to have not heard at sound, nor seen a sight from the battle raging on its side, and the land on which they stood held their senses at bay, unease was the only thing they had felt until now, though they did not need to sense the power now, they need only see it. The mother lifted her head, following the wide eyed gaze of her child, till she saw it, though she almost wished she hadn’t. A vast black mass, twisting up into the sky for miles, encompassing a good portion of the equestrian mainland in its girth passed into her sight, sending her eyes into a bulging panic, widening and twitching as sweat beaded from her green brow.

“What is that?” Her son asked, looking back up at her, his expression nearly mirroring hers, “What does it mean?”

“It means,” She started, bringing a massive arm out from her cloak, bandaged from finger tip to shoulder, and displaying her blocky body beneath. Though that may not have been what most eyes, where drawn to, what the majority of you may have noticed, had you been there, was the amber ball that the great creature clutched so tightly in her hand, and the four red stars that seemed suspended inside, “That we’ve hiding for far too long.”

Chapter VI - Blackjack

“Hey!” Shining Armor was getting really tired of these kids, especially when they kept on running ahead of him. “I told you to stay with the- Oh forget it!” He rolled his eyes, as the little purple filly continued to recede into the distance, courtesy of his injured leg. He hadn’t even noticed it till he was well out of the palace. By then though, It was far too late to turn back, and if he did, what kind of Royal Guard would he be, Leaving a kid wandering around in this rubble?

“Come again? I couldn’t hear you over your ridiculous expectations!” A sane one, He thought, pushing himself harder to catch up, tucking his head.

“What does that even mean!?” He called after her, but she’d already faded from sight when he brought his head up again, crap! “Kid? Where are you? Where’d you go!?” He skidded to a stop, twisting his head this way and that, looking for any sign of her.

“Over here!” He turned around, seeing her head dip beneath a ridge of rubble. There… When he had finally stumbled over the edge, his legs gave out unexpectedly, and he collapsed, tumbling over the ridge like a ragdoll. Once he’d finally come to a stop he opened his eyes blearily, finding the face of the filly leaning over him, he sighed, heavily. “You okay?” She asked, barely giving him time to nod before she turned away, “Good, I need your help, she’s not moving!” Shining stood, giving himself a moment to gather his bearings before facing the duo. The purple one was trying her hardest to budge her forward facing friend, her hooves clattering against stone and kicking up ruble, her efforts proved futile however, as orange refused to be dislodged from her position. He cantered over, looking over her ridge, stone like form.

“Miss?” He came around, his expression changing from apprehension, to horror. What the-!? Her eyes!? He took a step back, her pupil-less blue eyes never changing, never wavering, focused on something straight ahead. The battle. He realized her point of focus, binded strictly to the small flashing figures across the ruined city.

“She won’t move,” the purple one muttered, “and she’s only focusing on those two… things. What’s wrong with her?” The captain stared at her intently, as though she would suffer a similar fate, should he look away.

“I-“ He said, straining to remember his training on the effects of magical creatures, what could she be ailing from? “I don’t-“ He began, looking back at orange. But a sharp gasp wrought his attention away, then, a scream. A blood red ball of energy was speeding its way toward them, almost faster than he could react. He knew it was over then, there was no way he could counter such a force, not now. He was done, they were done…

It had happened faster than he could blink, one moment, they were dead, the next… at least a mile away? On high ground with a good view of the smoking crater no less. How? No, he knew. Just before it hit, he’d seen the blue screen covering the orange one’s eyes peel away, as she flung herself over them… then, they were here, on a small outcropping overlooking the ruined city. What was this filly?

“Y-you saved us.” The purple one sputtered, backing quickly away from the edge, “Unicorns are awesome… Thanks.” She smiled and extended her hoof.

“Yeah.” Shining muttered in response, not taking the outstretched hoof. Instead staring intently at the little Pegasus, again gazing single mindedly into the distance. Just one problem with that, kid, he thought, I didn’t save you. Really, you should be thanking her. Though there’s a million bit question, how did she do it? His eyes widened, as his mind worked, Of course. He knew exactly where he’d seen that before… Could she be one of those?

“Hey, um… what’s your name?” He blinked and responded to his self imposed charge’s question.

“Shining Armor, and yours?” The filly smiled brightly, only hesitating slightly before answering.

“Diamond Tiara, and this block head of a blankflank is Scootaloo.”

I suppose she’s then in the dark. He concluded. I… I doubt their the same, otherwise “Diamond Tiara” would be comatose too… unless-

*DA-QZZOOOOUUU!*

Both he and Diamond Tiara wiped their heads to the sky, only now noticing the massive cloud structure forming above the battle. It was gargantuan, spanning the entire berth of the sky. It swirled inward, with swells that were miles long, and at its center a sphere of electricity danced brilliantly as it gathered lightning from the restless sky.

Diamond could almost swear that she heard the guard say “Buck”, as he lit his horn, shaping a walkway from his magic, and with his injury forgotten, galloped to the battlefield.

“Wait-“ She began, before being cut off.

“Stay there this time,” He said, eyeing her irritably, “I’ve warded the area, so if you leave, I’ll know!” So, with little else she could do, she watched him depart … Before rolling her eyes when his leg seized up and he tumbled off his construct. “Ahhhhhhhhh!-Ough!”

“Moron.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpWjrfY7BXw)

“Even after all that you can’t win Vegeta!” Kakarot shouted, “You should just give up!” That really was starting to bother me, why was he doing this!? He didn’t just want to kill me, did he want to humiliate me? Break me? He had to know that I was only made angrier by his taunts? No, he had to have a bigger goal. An endgame, but what was it!? I only felt farther from the answer as I was violently assaulted from every side. He’d picked up the pace, and I was struggling to keep up.

“What-arg! Do you want-ung! Kakarot!?” His fist promptly clipped my jaw, and I was sent sprawling to the ground… No, I wouldn’t endure this! I WAS VEGETA!! Prince of ALL Saiyans! And I would not… NOT let him achieve his goal! “K-kaKAROT!” He stopped, what is he thinking!? He just stood there stupidly staring at me! Then he grinned. I don’t think I’ve ever felt angrier than I did right then… I just broke. “AHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

All semblance of sapience was lost, as I wildly rushed him, both fists flailing. At this point, we both lost reason, our blows were pure instinct. I rammed both my knees into his gut, before he grabbed my hair, pulling my face into his bleeding knuckles. I reacted in-kind, slamming my shin into his jewels. “Ung!” He let go, and I brought both fists down on his crouched form, his face slamming into my knee on the way down. He was sent flying backwards, only to charge me, ramming both his fists into my collar bone

*snap*

“Arg!” and by that point, I’d gone even further beyond the edge. I slammed my palms into the sides of his head as we both flew forward. I pressed harder and harder, willing him to pass out, instead, I felt my back tear the ground apart, as he pressed me into the rubble, eventually forcing me to let go. Pulling both hands back before I forced them forward, I fired my ki into the idiot’s face, sending him soaring into the sky, and leaving me stuck in the ground.

As I got up, he phased behind me, choking me with the crook of his arm. With one hand on his arm, and one elbow viciously smashing against Kakarot’s side, I continuously pulled and struggled. But my strength wasn't enough, her strength wasn’t enough…, I needed something! The edges of my vision started to darken, slowly at first, but then at an alarming rate. No, no, no, no! I thought, I can’t die here… I… can’t… I am… Veg-

“Vegeta!” What was that? That wasn’t Kakarot, I didn’t recognize the soft feminine voice… “Damn it you, WAKE UP!” My eyes snapped open, and the burning in my lungs subsided, vigor returned to my muscles, and I threw one last elbow into Kakarot’s side.

*Crack*

“Ahhhhhh!”

“You know what?” I wheezed, connecting the back of my skull with his face, “I’ve had enough!” I turned lodging my palm in his gut, “Ha!” and blasted him, the cone of light engulfing him completely. I rushed him again, as he struggled to right himself, “After all that, do you think,” I struck him, “I’ll just lie down,” blood flew from his mouth as I struck him again, “And take your bullshit!” and again, “This battle ends,” and again, “NOW!” Both my legs flew up to meet his face, sending his body flying up into the air, before I flew up to… Oh, five minutes are up then?

ZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAABARGGGGGGGGOUSHHHH!

In my rage I’d forgotten what I’d been stalling for, and as the electrical projectile burst through Kakkarot’s gut, It spread into at least twenty singular bolts, most of them hitting me, the rest cutting jagged lines into the side of the mountain. I felt my muscles seize and my insides fry, and I remember wondering: Why is she so powerfullllllllll~~~

Then losing consciousness, the disembodied voice I’d heard earlier return briefly to say: “Good job, she weakened him, but only slightly, the damage you took is far more severe, rest for now. This battle may only just be beginning.” Was that sarcasm? Suppose I won’t ever know. Not till he tells me.

*^*^*

That was it, nearly all of Canterlot was gone, obliterated by that lighting strike, what was Rainbow Dash going to tell Twilight? How was she going to become a wonderbolt with this on her record! Jeez’ Dash! A part of her said, did you have to put EVERYTHING you had into that one technique?! Master would smack you upside your wonderfully Technicolor head if he saw this! And he certainly would have, had he been around to see this. Dust and ash rose from the fiery mound of rubble that was once Canterlot, at least half of it had fallen to the base of the mountain. Though luckily, Rainbow knew her old martial arts instructor was FAR away, far enough away that he’d never be able to-

A small twinge told her that she’d soon regret her choice in words. This was not her biggest problem however.

“H-How!?” She exclaimed, as Kakarot’s dust obscured form rose from the ashes of what was once a house, “How are you still- Still-“

*^*^*^*

“Alive!?” Shining Armor watch the proceeding from across a fair distance, his eyes wide with shock, “Buck!” he exclaimed, his heart pounding in his ears, his fear rose and his legs stiffened. He smashed his head into what was left of a divider feeling slightly satisfied that he was at least able to knock over a brick wall. However, he still was furious, how was supposed to help when even a bearer of an element of harmony could barely scratch him! No, He thought, I don’t have time to spare, I need to move! I’ll figure it out when I get there! Even if I have to use… Arameir, He began moving again, though he was sluggish at first, his speed increased with his urgency. So great was his urgency, that he did not see the colorful tail sticking slightly out from behind a rock, nor did he see the figure speedily following him through the rubble, trying her best to stay out of sight.

“Good thing you aim as bad as you fight, you missed my vital organs.” Kakarot said, shivering a bit as he stood.

“All of them!?” She backed up, flapping her wings aggressively while Vegeta muttered something angrily in his unconscious state, which brought something very important to her attention, she was now fighting alone, without backup, and worn to the point of exhaustion. Her instincts told her to run, but she stared stubbornly at Vegeta, I’m not going to leave you alone with that monster, no matter how much of a buckin’ idiot you are, she thought, she wouldn’t leave him when he’d helped her, getting beat to a pulp for her. Unfortunately, Kakarot seemed to pick up the implication of the fire in her eyes, and raised a palm towards the limp Saiyan. She made like her name and rushed him, trying her best to force him to stop his impending attack. She was unable to, however, a bolt of energy striking its target, Vegeta’s eyes flashed open, zipping about wildly. “What-? Arg!” She started, standing in horror, as her ally tried to move, then she howled in agony as Kakarot broke her leg with a swift stomp.

“You should not worry about him,” Kakarot said, his face taking on a countenance that sent Rainbow’s heart into overdrive. She could feel his fury radiating from his eyes, the glow whipping around him reflecting it into an immense wave of rage, and yet, she knew he was nowhere near his limit. His fury was endless, born from a hate that spared nothing, indiscriminate in its focus, and boundless in scope. “Yours are the bones yet to be broken!” He raised his fist, burying it in her face before grabbing her wings as she flew. There was a snap, and she was back on the ground, her face in the rumble, whimpering. “He made his mistakes, and one of them was not taking you out from the start, painlessly,” He grumbled, pulling tighter, and glancing over at Vegeta’s unreadable but wide eyes. “Because I will not!” He brought his head close to Dash’s whispering in a low voice, “Somewhere in that hollow head he cares for your health, I guess that’s a blessing in disguise for me,” Kakarot pulled just a little harder on her wings, and Vegeta shook now with rage, eyes unmistakably glowing with fury, “But for you, your story ends… Now.”

*RRRRIIIIIPPP*

The shout that followed echoed horridly crashing like thunder over the hills, bile rose to her throat as she let out a gasp, struggling for air against the pain and sickness. She’d always been told, some ponies just wanted to cause pain, she hadn’t believed it, but now… hearing the chuckle of Kakarot behind her, and the buzzing numbness in her wings, that it was true, No, she thought, he’s no pony. She didn’t want to look up, for fear of what she’d see, but some morbid curiosity lead to slowly look up behind her, past her shoulder blades and… to… her wings. Tears welled up, and the pain, the sorrow, every regret she ever had pressed against her head, she started to drift into unconsciousness, watching as the ball of swirling energy gathered above her head, lulling her into a deep, but restless sleep…

“No!” Shining Armor’s hooves beat the ground furiously, his fur glistened with sweat, and the throbbing in his leg shot spikes of pain up his body, though that did little to slow him down. He pushed every ounce of power into his horn, willing it to encircle the threatening hand of Kakarot, and the ball of energy enclosed within. A sphere void of color appeared in the instant of Kakarot’s attack, bouncing off the interior, much to the Saiyan’s surprise, before making contact with his hand and exploding. The shield shattered as a result, but the effects were clear once the red mist had settled. Kakarot’s hand was gone, replaced with a meaty stump. He whimpered, his other hand clutching the stump, before growling ferociously, jerkily turning towards Shining, face twisted with rage and fury, though the unicorn did not falter, flinch or blink. He simply stared at the animal in front of him, shifting his gaze slightly to check on the element barer. What he saw confirmed his fear, she had lost her wings, a limb for a limb, he thought, one more to go. He sighed, shifting his eyes back to Kakarot, he was gone. Shining’s eyes widened, as he heard a noise behind him, flipping around he cast the same shield spell as before, only to realize his error, the creature, was on top of him, and this shield was made entirely for reflecting mana, not physical attacks, he was right in the line of fire. “Crap bask-“ Kakarot’s swing made contact with the shield, shattering it without effort, and hitting Shining’s second shield, thrown up moments before. Luck favored the unicorn, as the shield took a good chuck out of Kakarot’s momentum, but certainly not all. He went flying, his back hitting the concrete and rubble at breakneck speeds. Time seemed to slow, every second was a minute, and Shining needed every second he had. He could feel the power of this monster, flying faster than a cannonball, and even in this adrenaline rushed state, he only had moments to decide on a plan. So, he went with plan D. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D62mEMSGVXc)

“Arameir!” With a flash, the light from Shining’s horn overtook him and Kakarot, and the sound of a fist striking metal was heard. Kakarot clenched his jaw, his eyes red with rage. He looked stunned, almost lost, as the pain in his fist was unexpected, but logical, the panging in his jaw however…

“How-!?” Kakarot’s eyes widened, his face grew pale. Every inch of Shining’s body was covered in armor, thickly plated, and radiating power, it was unexpected, and infuriating. Then he saw his blood on Shining’s gauntleted hoof, that shocked the rage right out of his system. I didn’t even sense that coming!? Strangely, it seemed that the little white unicorn was posing the most danger at the moment, it was… Inconceivable!

“I improvised.” Shining said, “Now let’s see what your kind is really made of, or are you just tough talk!?” enraged beyond the point of thought, Kakarot charged forward, he didn’t care about the Unicorn’s fancy magic trick, he didn’t care about the mistakes he might make, he was reduced to far less than an animal, he became the embodiment of rage itself. A mistake he would come to regret.

Shining braced for the impact, his silver armor shifting like liquid to his front, layering as Kakarot’s remaining fist struck the metallic substance. He smiled, as the fist ricocheted with a shock wave off Arameir, and the force behind it streamed into his muscles and bones, becoming strength for him to use. Then, retaliation.

Kakarot frantically forced himself out of his bloodcurdling rage, moving his arms as fast as he could to block the rapid strikes that began to push him back. It was insanity, this was madness! That the greatest threat he had encountered up to this point was not his “rival” Vegeta, nor the Gods that this planet relied upon for its very existence, no, it was this random ass unicorn wielding what would normally be parlor tricks to him.

He struck again, but to no avail. His fist struck a place that moments before had been lightly covered, but suddenly became heavily fortified. He had no choice but to leap back, knowing that he’d missed something. How had this unicorn surpassed even himself in power? … No, not power, it was not speed or strength or even purely intelligence that allowed this advantage, it was magic, clever magic, but damnable magic just the same. Strike after strike was parried, but it seemed that Kakarot only slowed, weakened, while his opponent continued on, growing stronger.

“I’m going to kill you!” Shining shouted, “And when I do, I hope your spirit will be kind enough to stick around!” He smiled widely, laughing a little at his vulgarity, “That way you’ll get to see what I do to your corpse!” He continued attacking furiously, hoping to break the animal’s concentration, to throw him off and finish this, but he knew, even if Kakarot hit him with his strongest, his time was nearly up. He couldn’t afford to wait… He’d just have to make sure someone else desecrated the body.

So, He lashed out, striking Kakarot so hard in the gut, the clouds above parted. As his opponent bent down, Shining brought his hooves up, again uppercutting the Saiyan with his own stolen strength. Hard enough to send a plume of superheated air miles into the atmosphere, the energy lashing out into the sky just above Kakarot’s backside.

But it wasn’t enough.

The Saiyan lifted his head, Shining’s hooves still lodged in his stomach, painfully smiled, and spat his blood into his enemy’s face.

“I’ve figured you out,” He said, much to the Captain’s horror, “Just another gimmick, another parlor trick!” Kakarot clutched his opponent’s legs, twisting them out from under his gut and into his iron grip. Even in his handless arm Shining struggled to remove himself from the lock. “Is that all your people are made of!?” He said Dodging Shining’s legs as he tried to strike him, “Underhanded slights, clever mimicry of true strength?” Kakarot’s smile grew crueler, his eyes glinting with malice, “And when your meager stamina runs out, what then? Your tricks will be gone, you’ll have nothing else to hide your cowardice behind… So what will you do then!?”

Shining looked deep into him, straight into his smug face, little face, cruel little eyes… He thought this was cowardice? He thought this was a cheap trick? Something to cover up his own lack of strength, protect him from risks? Shining steeled himself, he knew what he had to do… show this animal just how wrong he WAS!

“Mi-!”

Shing!!!

Dead, it’s what he should have been. He could feel it even if he couldn’t see it. No, he could see it too, a violent violet, vile in its construction and intention. For now, the blade stayed as it was, navel to diaphragm to… Spine.

Shining pushed down, with the strength provided by this technique and… transformation!? With wide eyes, he used what little time he’d bought muttering under his short and halted breaths, bearing his teeth at the golden abomination before him.

“What?” It said, cold blue eyes alive with delight. “Didn’t see this coming, magi?” The smile. The Captain almost lost the whole battle right there. But will and duty kept him coming back, one heartbeat at a time. One love at a time. Equestria, family, his sister, her little Dragon… and Mi Amore… “muttering? Well, what do you have to say, bemoaning your mortal failures?” He released pressure on the blade, inflicting as much pain as he possibly could have as he did. “Speak up worm! I’m a little hard of hearing after all the screaming today.” Shining smiled so wide he split his lips.

“Should… have gone… for the head…”

*^*^*

Witness if you will, the plight of Vegeta. Not the boy who took his name, but the ONE. A Prince In name and conduct. Self-Sacrificed upon the altar of his pride, love, and actions. He was satisfied with that, not in the least bit happy, but satisfied to justly dealt his final blows in the name of someone other than himself. He did not expect rest, nor mercy in the afterlife. But this?

Little Kakarot… kind Kakarot… Vegeta was witness to a monster bearing his face. Briefly, he wondered if… if Goku had felt the same when he saw that stupid emblem stamped upon his head.

No, this wasn’t even comparable.

He was startled by the sudden influx of memory. No. Not his own. A double? An imposter!?

One with whom he now shared his body.

This was not ideal. But, he felt the Other move, his rage at the tragedy he was unable prevent, while petulant, was startlingly familiar. It was his rage…

And it would be the catalyst for their salvation!

His body began to rise from the rubble, hardly noticed by “Kakarot”, but duly noted by the creature grappling him. A simple look at his face told Vegeta that holding back on this next shot was pointless. He was going all the way. How could he be judged for that?

So, he would too.

His muscles tensed, the earth beneath him cracked and split. Energy arced across his body. The sudden burst of Ki finally grabbing the cruel mockery of his rival’s total attention, eyes wide with fear. True fear. Some words were screamed, curses? Pleas? Vegeta couldn’t hear, he refused to. He let the golden light envelope him, the power of the Super Saiyan.

“Final… Flash!!!”

*^*

And in this moment, Equestria would never be the same.

Author's Note

Ow... Just... Ow.

It will probably be near next year when I post again. For now, I've got to plan ahead. I hope this was enjoyable, and have a great Halloween!

Chapter VII - Portents of Doom

Moments before the Final blow:

The damage was impressive, in Wuu’s opinion. Not just because of the physical destruction, but because he’d seen real war. Cities were not very… permanent in his homeland, and death was a common consequence. Here however, in this dazzling battle where Gods danced through the air so frivolously, it wasn’t so. Then this power of equestrian harmony, sought so desperately…

He finally found it.

He’d expected to have a hard time surviving himself, let alone aid the ponies of Canterlot escape the destruction. But as leveled as the city was, he couldn’t find any casualties.

Still, The zebra walked through the destroyed city searching. He was glad to be disappointed.

That was, right up until he saw her.

You are often seen in Canterlot looking to the high towers just to catch glimpses of the diarch of the Sun. That was The way of it for Canterlot citizens. She was… Glorious sight. Regal, Noble, unflinching to the heart.

This was not that Celestia. Her sorrows sat over her like thousands pounds, Graying her mane, sloughing off her wings like cold dawn Tide. She sat limp under the pressure, everything she was bent, Wuu… well, he was going to have to collect his thoughts. He really couldn’t formulate anything, not at that moment. It was too shocking, what in her own name had…

Without even a hint, nor a movement, the diarch addressed him. “I’m sorry Weedly, The plan didn’t quite work this time.” Wuu struggled to think, how on harmony’s Great and grand Equis did she know that nickname?! Images of a gangly, white coated, pink maned pegasus zapped through his mind. Irrelevant. Now was not the time.“Would you take care to witness for me? This Old fool, She now has some debts to pay.” Her speech was fiery, and as she spoke the phrase became literal. Brilliant Flames started to leap off her body, tongues of flame bursted from her mouth as she spoke, “I only need someone to keep the books straight.”

Though he certainly didn’t feel worthy, he realized, by the crater she sat, A limp blue wing was Breaching the rim. Luna’s wing. Being a witness was the least he was going to do with this. So intent was he, On simply sticking by her side That he ignored the blazing heat to come up by her Inflamed flank. To look down upon the fallen Moon, and gaze up upon the responding rising Sun.

Well, Wuu thought, Not without the least bit of remorse for the sisters, someone’s about to get their stripes kicked in.

He looked up to the two monkey kings, realizing now there were again three combatants. He had lost track of them after… the screaming. But, as he had thought, the Stormbringer had been removed from combat. In her place, a unicorn, holding with might and magic the bigger monkey king, whilst the smaller drew power. The short one was preparing an attack, the magnitude of which Wuu could only guess at.

Oh- Wuu was feeling it again, that was Harmony wasn’t it? Interceding? It filled his blood with vigor, and numbed the pain of the flames beside him… No, not just harmony! The monkey kings themselves, they’re mere presence forcing Harmony to act, and act drastically. Impossible!

He couldn’t fathom the power that he was witnessing. The power that was changing him. From flesh to bone he felt his own body transform. What were they doing!? He glanced sidelong at Celestia, worried for a moment, till he saw that she was completely unaffected. In shock, she looked back at him, as his very skin lit up like a gilded lantern.

“Weedly! -” The concern was palpable, he felt it in the air in rapid bursts as Celestia’s split attention swiveled between Wuu and her target.

“F-focus!” He could barely force the word out, and it wasn’t just the fact his jaw was caving in. He had no idea what vice threw him off so, but his embarrassment might provide a hint. “Aim true! Not for v- vengeance…” he took an unsteady breath, the heat sizzling away what little moisture remained within. “But… for… justice, for your sister blue.” Wait, did he just rhyme? Auntie Z would love to have been there for that, whether in pride or scorn. The path of rhyme was difficult, exclusive, and dangerous. But of course, he would succeed where he had once failed, now, at what felt like what would be the end of his life. It wasn’t even particularly impressive of a rhyme, but Wuu took heart in knowing that his first rhyme of truth had been for one he admired so much. She’d appreciate it in full.

And she did.

Her fires waned in time with her rage. Celestia Was overcome by her sudden awareness, she almost snuffed out her fury completely. She knew the significance of the situation: there was exactly no need for barbaric actions. She briefly sowed her magic into Wuu, to ensure he survived the punishment she’d carelessly dealt, and once again focused her being on her target.

This time however she finally saw the truth, not modeled by her fury. Her beloved captain was right in the thick of it, And from the smell on the winds he had been using every forbidden spell his playbook could provide. Currently he was Grappling with her sister’s abuser, and if Celestia could trust her eyes, he had cited a fusion spell. A very hostile and dark one. One that would see him banished in any other situation. But today, it would make him a martyr, and frankly, that was unacceptable.

“Shining!” She called, her magics rushing through her accumulated power, weaving every spell she could think of to ensure his survival.

At the last moment, before the shield enveloped him, he mouthed for her a farewell, smiling boarishly like the foolish foal he was.

And then the sky was alight with power, a beam of mass so great it threatened to overcome the sun itself in luminosity. It collided with her shield, almost breaking both it, and her focus on her other spells. taxing her mind and body as she tried to maintain the sanctity of his being.

All for not it would seem, as five other attacks struck the outer shield at once, knocking Celestia flat on her back and depriving her of her consciousness. But even then, she was still working her spells. Even as the light faded, her determination never faltered. Nor did her wits leave her. Before she even hit the dirt, she had identified each beam’s origin. She knew not why, in that moment. But as the explosion washed over her addled senses and she fell to exhaustion she knew it was somehow key.

Then she faded into uneven rest, as the force of the combined attacks fell upon the mountain city.

Doom had come to Canterlot, and Celestia knew Beyond any doubt, it was on her.