Glory For Power

Paolina sat in a bunch of bushes at the edge of the Everfree forest goofing off with the zoom function as she had already collected all the information she had really needed about the area without actually walking into town. From what Zecora had told her though, the ponies here were very skittish around anything that wasn't a pony, so it would probably be difficult for her to blend in. She let out a small sigh as her eyes flitted from one pony to the next, all of the ones in town having a power rating no greater than level two... at least on average. There was one orange mare and a red stallion she had assumed was the mare's mate who both managed to be at level three, but still nothing too exiting.

Even the novelty of such a wide variety of colors had worn off after about the first three hours, although strangely enough she had noticed two of the ponies that passed by her field of vision several times. One had been a unicorn with a picture of a harp on its rump, that one didn't seem to do anything other than try to catch its friend's attention as the regular pony seemed to pass a quick glance over in Paolina's direction every few seconds.

"... no... there's no way... can they sense energy?" the Saiyan wonders to herself as she continues to watch the pair with interest. The two of them seem to simply be taking a long walk before the unicorn lets an aura surround her horn and pull her friend towards what looks like a marketplace. Once her horn lit up the power reading on the unicorn spiked up a level, while it wasn't a very big spike it certainly had piqued the Saiyan's interest. "So... these unicorns actually suppress their power out of habit? That definitely requires a bit more inve-...oh?" She stopped mid-sentence as the scouter began to pick up a few more ponies approaching the town by some sort of sky-carriage. These ones had a bit more interest since their average battle level was five, although there was a one alongside the level six source. "Now that... may be worth looking into."

Twilight sighed as Spike read off her mentor's message, "Alright Spike, I get it... I'm happy that Celestia wants me to look over the preparations for the celebration but the fate of the world doesn't hang on me making friends." she snapped before sitting back in her seat and grumbling to herself.

Her friend, and number one assistant, a little purple dragon with emerald eyes to match his spines and belly, let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes at his violet caretaker's antics. "You get to stay in a neat tree house... isn't that something?" He goads to try and brighten the mood.

The violet unicorn's eyes light up as her mouth curls into a smirk. "Yes, in fact, I'm going to check on everything real quick so that I can get to that library and prove my findings right!" Her outburst had caused her little dragon charge to sigh again as he slumped in his seat. Once the chariot had landed and the pegusai that had been pulling it reared up with what she considered to be cute whinnies she quickly thanked them and turned towards the town. She stopped mid-step though as she felt her magic twitch in the direction of the huge and, admittedly, very creepy forest. Something out there was registering on her magical sense and despite learning a bit about the Everfree whatever caught her attention must have had a powerful magical signature. A tug on her raised hoof shook her to her senses.

"Come on Twilight, weren't you in a rush to check on everything?" Spike says with a slightly annoyed tone. Twilight gave a small nod as her eyes drifted back over to the forest trying to let her senses find the energy she had sensed earlier to no avail. Hesitantly Twilight followed her assistant into Ponyville.

Paolina let out a breath she had been holding, the unicorn that had gotten off of the carriage definitely could sense power, it was evident in the way the pony's eyes had snapped right to where the Saiyan was hiding. Had it not been for the timely distraction of whatever creature was with the pony Paolina would have certainly given her position away with the sudden power suppression. "That was a close one..." she sighed as she watched the pony enter the town. "I definitely have to keep an eye on her..." She looks at her surroundings only to notice the pegusai in the sky and all of the townsfolk. "...Sticking to the forest it is then..." She kept her pace fast as she weaved around the trees, trying to move quickly but without using too much ki to give away her position again. "...I should've sprung for the board..." She grumbled as she used her scouter to keep the two of them within tracking distance. She kept her breathing even as she skirted a large apple farm, she hummed a little as her attention turned to the rows upon rows of apple trees, every one of them brimming with beautiful, red apples. She licked her lips a little as she noticed that she could actually see her reflection in a few of them.

"...There's no way that they grow that polished..." She says in disbelief as she reaches up to grab one. She flinched as she heard someone shout.

"Ey! Git away from there ya varmint!" Turning sharply she noticed the orange pony from before with a lasso draped across her back. With a panicked yelp Paolina dashed off into the thick of the woods with the pony on her heels until she reached the edge of the forest. "An' don' let me catch ya back on my farm!" the pony shouts.

About thirty feet into the thick of the forest the Saiyan slid to a halt before she slapped her forehead with her palm. "Idiot... Why am I running? nothing here is anywhere near strong enough to actually hurt me..." With a sigh she turned around and began to walk back to the farm with a frustrated blush.

Applejack shook her head a little as she met back up with her brother.

"...Any trouble?" He asks in his deep baritone voice as he pulls a cart full of apples behind him.

"Nah, just one o' them varmints from th' Everfree tryin' to get our apples again." She dismissed with a wave of her hoof.

"Dangerous?"

She shakes her head. "Jus' had ta yell at it and the critter ran off, it was wearin' somethin' pretty strange though... don' know if it was fur or somethin' else." At her brother's curious look she waved a forehoof. "I'm jus' sayin' the thing mighta been one of those fancy ponies' pet that got loose and has jus' been livin' in the Everfree a while. It ran while I was still a good ten rows down so I didn't get a good look at it, darn thing was fast."

Her brother nods. "Guess I'm gonna have ta take the night rounds again..." He says as they walk towards where the rest of their large extended family was gathering.

"Don' be doin' it too long, fast critter like that might need Rainbow Dash ta catch it, or at least corner it."

Paolina was definitely in a sour mood after being chased off the farm by that orange mare, the fact that she heard her stomach growl when she had realized she hadn't eaten anything since leaving Zecora's hut didn't do anything to improve her mood as she watched the big family of the orange pony gather around the unicorn she had followed to the farm.

Still more to irk her had been the fact that the unicorn seemed to sense that she was there somewhere as the violet pony seemed to look around occasionally even though this time the unicorn couldn't get a lock on her position. "...stupid ponies and their cuteness... I just want to walk out there and pet one but with my luck they'll all get into a panic and the big ones would hurt themselves on me..." she mentally grumbled before noticing the violet unicorn and strange lizard companion get up to leave. It was risky, but to avoid detection by that orange pony she let her ki flow quickly as she seemed to vanish from her hiding spot to reappear a few seconds later by one of the nearest houses.

Twilight's ears twitched the entire time the Apple family was having her try each of their signature dishes, it was like a fly was hovering around her ears but no matter how many times they twitched she could still feel that same energy from earlier, not being able to locate it was starting to get on her nerves a little. "What if that's nightmare moon? Her magic is likely to be stronger than anypony's except for Celestia's if she's actually the Mare in the Moon..." Her eyes dart around the picnic area in worry as she tries to focus on where such powerful magic was coming from but nothing she did was able to pinpoint it. After several dishes she finally got up from the table and nearly felt the urge to lose everything she had just eaten. "ooh... I, uh... I think we need to get going, still lots of other parts of the celebration to check on." She says with a sweet smile before she picked Spike up in her magic and set him on her back.

"Come back any time ya hear! Always a great day to meet new friends." Applejack calls much to Twilight's irritation. Just as they left the farm though she felt it, a massive spike from that energy source she had detected earlier. She whipped to her right as she tried to get a glimpse of the spike before it had faded but she was too late, it had disappeared almost as soon as it arrived.

"Jeez Twilight... what's got you all jumpy?" Spike deadpans from the spot Twilight had unknowingly flung him when she turned.

Twilight's ears splay back as she winces. "Sorry Spike, but I just felt a tremendous amount of magic just a second ago... I'm worried it might be Nightmare moon's doing." At her assistant's dismissal of her claim she narrowed her eyes. "Spike! You saw the story too, a powerful magical signature has been following us since we got to Ponyville and I haven't been able to narrow down what's causing the spikes of power."

"Twilight... I think that story is making you paranoid... Come on, you've already made a friend... or possibly two if you count that pink pony that took off when you arrived..." He says as he picks himself up and dusts off. "What's next..." He says as he looks at the list he had. "...Clearing the clouds... Says here that it's Rainbow Dash who's supposed to be clearing them.

Twilight looks up into the cloud-filled sky before looking back at Spike, "Well... she's not doing a very good job of it..." She lets out a yelp of pain as something big and heavy crashes into her. As she lets out a groan of pain the pegasus that had crashed into her just seems to bounce up unfazed.

"Hehe... Sorry about that..." the cyan mare says as she hovers a few feet off the ground "I'll be right back..." She says quickly before zooming off only to bring back a black cloud and hovers it over the purple unicorn. Without missing a beat the prismatic-maned mare jumps up on the cloud and bounces on it like a miniature trampoline, causing it to rain like a fountain to drench the unicorn below until it was as white and fluffy-looking as the others. The cyan pony glances over the side and bites back a laugh as she gets a view of the drenched mare below her.

Paolina had an impressed look as she saw the rainbow-maned pony move so quickly, sure it wasn't the fastest thing she had seen, but for a level of only three she was definitely moving pretty fast. "She's an interesting one as well... but..." she chuckles a little as she watches the spectacle that was used to get the unicorn dry. The two seemed to share a small, if a little one-sided conversation before the rainbow-maned one literally kicked the clouds out of the sky. "Hm... Interesting way to use your ki..." Paolina muttered as the cyan pony said something to the violet one before flying away. There was something that the female Saiyan couldn't help but notice as she sneakily made her way from one building to the next, following the unicorn, there was a strange absence of ponies even though she had seen the place teeming with them not even an hour ago.

The streets were quiet, but the unicorn didn't seem to notice as she made her way to a large building that looked like a carousel taken straight from an amusement park... except it was quite a bit bigger. Once the unicorn went inside Paolina crept her way over to one of the front windows to see what was going on inside. The scene she came upon was definitely something that felt so surreal. The white unicorn that had a deep-purple mane that was set in a really fancy-looking curl, and had a tail to match, was talking excitedly to the violet unicorn before saying something that surprised, if not horrified, the violet one before she took off to look for something else deeper in the store. Paolina sank down a bit deeper in the bush she was hiding in as the violet unicorn took off down the road with a lovestruck lizard on her back. She shook her head a little as she tried to get a look inside the store again only to let out a yelp and fall backwards at the squished face of a pink pony that had ice-blue eyes which seemed to stare right at her soul. Out of reflex the Saiyan put two fingers to her head as she looked for Zecora's Ki, in seconds she vanished and reappeared inside the hut of the shaman, causing the zebra to jump in surprise and quickly steady the cauldron that she was working in.

"What has you so worried that you had hurried to my home?" Paolina was so much happier that she had taken the time to understand the way Zecora got her speech down.

"I... Sorry... reflex..." She pants as she gets up and holds her head. "I think I hit my head on a board though." Zecora lets out a small hum before going over to her many potions and offering one to Paolina.

Pinkie peeled herself away from the window of Carousel Boutique, her muzzle snapping against her face and jiggling like a rubber band. "I knew it! There was somepony else new in town besides Twilight!" She squeals with a smile that nearly reached from ear to ear. "RARITY! Come on! you've gotta get to the party!" She bounces over to the white mare and just seems to blur the world around them until the next thing that they both registered was the inside of the local library.

"D-darling? What in the-... where are we?" Rarity stumbles as she tries to regain her sense.

"Shh! It's a super-duper surprise for the new pony in town and Fluttershy is going to help keep her distracted until we can jump out and say our lines!" Pinkie says with her usual exuberance while dashing from one end of the library to the other just to make sure everything was perfect. Once she stops back over by Rarity though she stops bouncing. "Although... there's somepony else even newer in town than Twilight! So once we can get her to not be so shy around everyone we can throw her a big ol' party too!"

Rarity brushes a bit of dirt off of her coat from the sudden jarring experience that was called 'travelling with Pinky Pie' before she looked at her friend in confusion. "What do you mean Pinkie?"

"Well, there's been somepony who wasn't a pony that's been following Twilight since after I went to get the party all set up, but my Pinkie Sense told me somepony was being followed so I've been following some ponies around town trying to see if I could bump into who was following who. Once I started following Twilight my Pinkie sense told me I was on the right track because I got a small doozie."

"Oh my..." Rarity gasps as she covers her mouth with a hoof.

"I know!" Pinkie replies with a smile. "So after Twilight left your shop I looked out the window to see which way she went and then I saw that somepony who wasn't a pony because she had been following Twilight all day."

"Well what did she look like Pinkie?" Rarity asks as she preemptively takes a spot near the punch table.

"Well... she was really pink... and wore a lot of clothes... but I didn't get a good look before she touched her forehead and vanished... I think she's part unicorn."

Rarity let out a sigh since her friend hadn't gotten a good view of the creature's clothes. "Oh well, hopefully you'll find her again soon so that you can have her meet me, with an interest in clothing she must be wearing something very fashionable."

"I think I accidentally surprised her though... she kinda hit her head on your porch." Pinkie gave a sheepish smile as her fashionista friend shot her a small glare.

Paolina rubbed her head a little bit, happy that the potion had worked to dull the pain. With a curious look she noticed that nearly all of the town's inhabitants were gathered at some sort of house that was built as part of a tree. While the architecture was definitely interesting, it definitely wasn't something new, the part that interested her most though was that there was a source of energy giving off a level four aura. Among the normal populace of the town that was definitely above the norm, and it was moving fast, going from one house to the next almost as if using instant transmission to teleport before going back to the tree.

For some reason, the more she watched the aura move the more hungry she started to get. While having a quick dinner with Zecora had been nice, it hadn't even made a dent in her appetite. While it would be a detriment to her fighting ability, there wasn't anything so far that she had to take care of, so it was just making her more confused as to why the scroll of eternity had sent her here.

That pink pony though... she was a strange one, but at least so far she hadn't caused a panic among the townsfolk. She blinked a couple times as she noticed the level four power stop moving away from the tree as the violet pony, her lizard companion and a new pegasus were approaching the tree. "huh... Wonder why so many of those ponies are gathe-... oh yeah, celebration... Wouldn't they have it in a larger building though?" She slipped in-between the buildings as she tried to get closer without tipping off the unicorn. "Man... just as civilians though a couple are as strong as Yamcha when he was training at the lookout." She mutters. "Then again... Yamcha wasn't actually that strong... so that may be a bad comparison..."

She watched as the violet unicorn went into the tree home, only to hear a loud "SURPRISE!" after a short delay. The Saiyan turned off her scouter and sat down on a nearby bench, pulling out an apple that she had procured from that farm after she found out that those two ponies weren't there anymore. Fueled by a Saiyan appetite she quickly ate the whole thing core and all before trying to get a look at the party again, it was getting a bit difficult though as she felt her eyelids starting to droop as the night was drawing on. Paolina got up from her spot with a stretch and began to walk her way back to the forest just before ponies started filing out of the tree house. She turned as she heard the commotion heading towards a larger building near the marketplace and, against her better judgement, began walking towards it once all the townsfolk entered.

Paolina crouched near one of the windows so she could look in without getting spotted, There seemed to be a party in full swing and there even looked to be some of those level five guards keeping the place orderly just before the ochre pony with a grey mane seemed to announce something. The crowd inside quieted down as the curtains on an upper-balcony were pulled back to reveal an empty room, Paolina quickly turned her scouter on once the crowd started talking among themselves.

The Saiyan noticed the dark navy mist on the balcony first but it wasn't long before a member of the crowd had pointed it out, The mist solidified itself into the shape of a larger pony that had a horn and wings. Paolina tried to get her scouter to lock onto the creature but every time she tried it would only give her an error message before deactivating.

"...Aw, Crapbaskets..." she groans as the larger pony lets her power make the entire nearby area feel so much colder and flies away in a navy mist.