The Legacy of the Z-Fighters

Trixie sighed as she felt her magic focus through her horn and around the spheres of water that floated by her. Beneath her, the surface of the water reflected her aura, a light pink, as she held herself above the water with her magic. This kind of levitation would have been beyond her normal reach, but as of late, she had spent almost every waking hour practicing and improving her magic. Ever since that one day, when she ran from Ponyville, only to return years later.

Behind her, a familiar lavender alicorn observed the blue unicorn, studying the flow of magic that went from Trixie's horn.

"Good," she said, breaking the silence. "You've definitely improved your stability since we tried this. Not only that, but I've noticed that you've been a lot calmer since... well, you know," Twilight finished with a blush.

Trixie smirked as she winked at her marefriend.

"Oh, believe Trixie when she- I mean, when I say," Trixie corrected, "that those few hours of talking meant more to me than anything else."

"And since you're over your emotional barriers," Twilight continued, "there's nothing to keep your actual magical power locked away. I'm so happy for you, Trixie."

The show-mare felt her cheeks heat up as she kissed her palm and blew it over to Twilight.

Twilight reached out and pretended to catch it before holding it lovingly to her chest. Unbeknownst to Twilight, Trixie had broken off a small part of one of the water spheres and was preparing to throw it straight at Twilight. After that, she'd plan on dragging Twilight in, and maybe having a little swim with the lavender mare.

Her concentration over the water spheres broke when they both heard a distant cry, followed by a thunderous crack deeper in the forest. Both of them looked over to the source of the sound and watched in fear as a large tree fell to the ground. A gust of wind kicked up when the large tree hit the dirt, but the tree itself was hidden from view behind the thicket. Trixie floated herself over to the edge of the water before nodding to Twilight.

Twilight nodded back before they broke into a sprint for whoever had screamed. They went through the thick bushes and low branches of the Everfree Forest, Twilight keeping up a ward to keep away any and all creatures that would try to hunt them. In minutes, they found a break in the thicket that lead to a long, deep trench that went off in a single direction, leading back to a large tree stump. The stump was cracked in a large area, looking as though the tree had fallen after being struck.

"Twilight, look!" Trixie said, pointing in the distance.

They both watched as a large, splintered wooden column was dragged away towards the incline of the closest mountain, leaving an elongated trench that was continuing to be dug. Twilight and Trixie ran down the newly carved path, hoping to find the source of the destruction, as well as the cry.

Up the mountain they went, the tree seemingly teasing them as it disappeared every time they had thought they were about to catch up with it. This went on for what seemed like hours, until they found an actual path that lead towards something. The shallow trench began to run along a parallel to the path, staying right to the side of it.

After a few more minutes of following, Twilight and Trixie heard another shout, similar in pitch, but definitely louder than before, and certainly belonging to a colt. Above, the tree they were following had been tossed into the air with a velocity that could compare to Rainbow Dash's takeoff speed. The shouting ceased before a blur of red and blue flew up to the tree and smacked it right in the center. The air seemed to rumble for a second before the tree broke apart into a hail of wooden blocks, falling in sync to the ground below, along with the small blur.

"What was that?" Trixie asked.

"I don't know. But whatever it is," Twilight said, cracking her neck as her wings flexed, "it's got a colt up there, and we're going to save him."

Trixie nodded as she began to focus her magic. Twilight motioned for them both to approach cautiously, and ducked behind every third tree on the way up. In minutes, both mares were looking into an open area, and were shocked with what they saw.

A small brick hut, no bigger than a shed, sat near a steep incline towards the top of the mountain. Next to the hut was a pit for a camp fire, several benches, and a rack that held orange cloth above the ground. Several boulders were littered about, some being broken apart with massive cracks, and some intact. In the center of the field, large, two piles of wood blocks rested as a small figure hopped on top of the left one. Twilight and Trixie gasped when they saw it was a colt.

The colt was an earth pony, with red fur and a spiky black mane. At this angle, neither could see his tail, but didn't think of that as they examined him. He couldn't be more than six or seven years old, standing about a head shorter than any of the Crusaders. The colt was wearing a blue cloth over his torso that was too big for him, being tied by a brown, fuzzy rope, and grey pants that were cut near the hooves. He had two blue wristbands on, and was wearing blue boots as well. The colt was panting with a Pinkie-level smile on his face as he chuckled a bit.

"There," the colt said. "That should be enough firewood for a few weeks."

The colt jumped off the pile and began to run for the small hut.

"Grandpa, I'm back!" he called to the hut. "I brought firewo-"

Suddenly, the colt stopped and his smile vanished. He turned over to look at the area where the two mares were hiding and started to shout.

"Hey!" he called out. "I can sense you're in there! Both of you! Are you lost!?"

Twilight froze and looked over to Trixie, who apparently had the same reaction. They looked between each other and the colt before Twilight began to walk forward slowly.

"Hello," Twilight started, walking out of the brush. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Without hesitation, the colt gasped and crouched into what looked like a fighting stance, his arms extended fully as he twisted his body to the right. His legs spread across the dirt, leaving a small gap in the dirt as his face took on a serious look.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

Twilight paused and blinked before looking over herself. She was wondering if she had stepped in Poison Joke, but saw nothing wrong with her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You look like Grandpa, but with wings and that thing on your head," he explained. "Is something wrong with you? What are you?"

The Princess had a bit of a pause in her mind as she tried to figure out why this colt was asking about her wings and horn. Then it hit her.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Hey, I asked a question first," the colt pointed out.

"Oh, right, sorry. I have wings and a horn because I'm an alicorn. You know, a different type of pony like you are. I'm not going to cause trouble."

Twilight's words seemed to get through to the colt because his face lost the serious look and he released his fighting pose and stood upright.

"Alright," he said. "So then you're like me and grandpa, but you were born with those?"

"Yes," Twilight answered with a smile. "Well, not the wings, at least. I got them after completing a spell."

"You mean like magic?" he asked.

Twilight nodded.

"Oh, sorry, I almost forgot to introduce ourselves," Twilight started. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. And over there," she pointed to Trixie, who was examining the piles of wood from afar, "is my marefriend, Trixie."

Trixie waved to the two as the colt smiled.

"Nice to meet you Twilight and Trixie. I'm Goku," the colt responded, his smile returning.

"Goku? That's an odd name," Twilight observed.

"Well, Grandpa always said I was an odd colt," Goku said while bringing a hand to the back of his head and laughing.

"Well, who is your grandfather?" Twilight asked.

"He's in there," Goku pointed to the small hut.

"Do you think it'd be okay if I can talk to him?"

"Sure," Goku answered cheerfully.

Twilight nodded before walking towards the small brick hut. Right now, Twilight could sense a faint pulse of magic coming from the hut, barely noticeable until she was able to make out finer details, like marks on the side to number off something, and the strange symbol on the door.

\\\//////

Trixie approached the small colt cautiously, connecting the dots that lead to him.

"Um, Goku, was it?" she asked the colt.

"That's me!" he said.

"I want to ask you something important, and you can't lie, alright?"

"Grandpa taught me to always be honest, so don't worry. Do you need something?"

Trixie looked down at the colt, weighing her thoughts. Goku barely reached her knees at his current height, minus the massive mane. To think that he could have been the cause of the tree's fate was absurd. However, she had grown to accept the absurd, seeing as how she was now dating a Princess, as well as having her senses to audacity dulled after living around Pinkie Pie for months.

"Did you, take down a big tree, and do... that?" she gestured to the large piles of timber.

Goku nodded feverishly.

"I sure did! Grandpa said he was so proud to see me get that technique down!" Goku beamed.

Trixie had gotten it right, then. This colt was something else entirely, possibly enchanted in some way at birth. She bent her knees so that she was down near Goku's level and spoke softly.

"Goku, have you ever seen anything outside of this forest?" she asked.

Goku lost his smile and placed a hand under his chin, looking like he was contemplating a question about the universe itself. After a minute, he broke into a grin and rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess not! I've only ever been in this forest my whole life. What's it like outside, miss Trixie?"

Trixie blushed at the title, and waved Goku off.

"Please, just Trixie is fine. And Twilight and I live in Ponyville, just out that way," she pointed towards the edge of the forest.

Goku blinked a few times and stood on the tips of his hooves.

"Really?" he asked.

"Would you like to see?" she offered, extending her arms.

Goku shook his head with a smile.

"No thanks, I've got it."

Without hesitating, Goku bent down to the ground and pushed off with all of his might. Trixie was almost blown onto her flank by the force of Goku's sudden burst upwards. Rainbow Dash herself would have shed a proud tear if this colt was a pegasus. However, Trixie had to hold back a scream as she watched the colt jump almost a full thirty meters into the air. It almost looked like he paused in the air for a bit before slowly descending, lightly touching down before Trixie.

"So that patch of stuff outside the forest is your home?" Goku asked innocently.

"Um, technically. What you probably saw was Ponyville. We live in the large purple castle next to it."

"Wow, really? That sounds cool. Grandpa always told me about when he saw Canterlot for the first time."

"Really? What-"

"Trixie," Twilight called, "could you come here, please?"

Trixie looked between Twilight and Goku before the colt nodded.

"Go ahead. I want to see if I can find your castle," Goku stated.

Trixie walked over to the small hut where Twilight was waiting, and saw that her marefriend had a worried expression.

"What's wrong, Twilight?"

"Remember that Goku said his Grandpa was in here?" Twilight asked, holding the door open for Trixie.

"Yes, why?"

Instead of answering Trixie, Twilight called out to the colt.

"Goku! Is your Grandpa actually in here!?"

Goku turned to the mares and cupped his hands beside his mouth.

"Yeah! He's in the middle, on the pillow!"

Trixie was confused by the answer while Twilight looked heartbroken.

"That's what I was afraid he'd say."

"Twilight, what's wrong?" Trixie asked a bit forcefully.

Twilight still refused to answer, instead holding the door to the hut open a bit wider to let Trixie in. The former showmare stepped inside and looked around. There was little to no room at all for almost anything. All that was inside was a single bed, around Twin-sized, a table, and a desk. On top of the desk was a pillow, and on it rested an orange ball with four stars.

It took almost a full three seconds for the realization to strike Trixie.

"Oh, stars..." she gasped.

"That's what's wrong," Twilight said sadly.

There was a clatter outside before Goku came into the hut, easily gliding beneath the two mares before he stopped before the ball. He examined it from a few angles before speaking.

"I don't get it, what's wrong?" he asked, as if he didn't know what was truly wrong with the situation.

Slowly, Twilight extended an arm to Goku as he turned around. He watched curiously as Twilight lowered herself and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Goku... where is your Grandfather? Do you know where he is?"

Goku looked back to the orange ball before turning back to Twilight.

"He's dead," he stated plainly.

Trixie felt her heart almost stop as she felt nothing but sorrow for the colt. Here he was, in the middle of the Everfree Forest, living alone in a miniscule hut after losing what she could only guess was his only known relative.

"Goku, do you know where your parents are?"

Goku nodded.

"They're dead, too. Grandpa told me that our village was attacked a day after I was born, and then we started living here. He died a few years ago, before that weird rainbow thing."

Twilight held back a gasp as Trixie closed the distance and took an identical stance to Twilight, placing a hand on Goku's other shoulder.

"Wait, is something wrong?" he asked.

Tears began to flow forth from both of the mares before Twilight spoke again.

"G-Goku, are you all alone out here?"

Goku shook his head.

"Grandpa told me that as long as I've got the Dragon Ball, I'll never be alone in spirit."

Twilight looked over to Trixie before igniting her magic.

'We have to do something,' Twilight communicated magically.

'But what? Are we supposed to just take a colt from the woods into our home without running it by Foal Services?'

'I can pull some strings. We can take him with us.'

'Twilight-'

'We've been thinking about adoption for years, Trixie, and the moment we're given the chance to not only have a foal, but to save it from a horrible life, we're supposed to turn away!?'

'I don't know what we're supposed to do, Twilight!'

'Please, Trixie, he needs a family. He needs a home that isn't in the most dangerous place in Equestria.'

'...'

'Trixie?'

'... if I can contact my cousin in Manehatten, he could find a loophole, in case we need a fallback.'

'Thank you, Trixie.'

'I got it from the greatest mare on the planet.'

The two mares smiled before Trixie spoke.

"Goku, would you like to come live with us?" she almost choked.

Goku blinked in confusion before looking over to the orange ball. He stared at it for a few seconds before he looked back at them.

"Live with you two? You mean like a family?"

Twilight nearly sobbed happily at the thought, bringing a hand to her chest as Trixie answered.

"Yes, Goku. We'd like to welcome you to our family."

Goku beamed.

"Sure! Can we have a really big dinner?"

Twilight almost collapsed as she hugged the colt close to her, crying into Goku's shoulder.

"We can have whatever you want!" she cried out in joy.

Trixie followed right after, wrapping her arms around the small colt as she wept tears of joy into the blue fabric on Goku's other shoulder.

"I promise that you won't ever regret joining our family, Goku! I Pinkie Promise!"

Goku didn't understand why they were crying, but found himself returning the hug, happy to feel the warmth of another pony again after almost a full decade. They all stayed there for a minute, sharing warmth and holding onto each other as Goku thought about what they had just asked of him, then back to when his Grandpa passed. He had found a new family, hopefully a family that would love him and care for him, just like Grandpa said they would.

Behind them, the four-starred ball glowed a bit, the spirit connected to it finally passing on with content.