Glory For Power

Trunks smiled a little as he waved to the ponies gathered in the room. "Hello everyone." He says quietly as he takes a seat nearby. Paolina gives him a confused look as she tries to sit up, only to have the purple-haired boy stop her from sitting up as he holds a small green bean out to her. She nods a little and takes the bean, chewing on it slowly while using one of her less-bruised hands in a 'go on' motion. "I have a bit of mixed news Paolina..." He takes a small breath as she sighs, swallowing the bean. "The good news is that you kept what we saw from happening..."

Paolina nods a little as she quickly gets up from the bed, drawing a few alarmed looks at her "...I'm gonna guess that there's bad news to go with it..."

Trunks lets out a small sigh. "Unfortunately, yes... Whoever decided to mess with the timeline still managed to succeed, the timeline has been permanently changed and now you're a resident of this universe until the Time Scroll decides to bring you back to Tokitoki..." He pulls a case out of his jacket. "I did get you some things though, since it looked like your battle had destroyed your original case."

Paolina crosses her arms across her chest. "Yeah... I can't wait to fight like that again!" she says excitedly before looking over to Luna, "Make sure you keep training, because I want a rematch someday." The filly gave her a confused look as every pony except Celestia had been stunned by the challenge in that statement. She looked back over to Trunks as he cleared his throat and she let out a giggle when she noticed his blush.

"you would not believe what the cashier-bots said to me when I got you this stuff..." He grumbled. "There's a few changes of clothes in there, a few battle suits and a formal suit of your preferred design." He passes her a green capsule, "The clothes are in here, the rest is in the case..." She clicked the button on top of the capsule before putting it on the bed to reveal several folded sets of clothes, Trunks turned away and pointedly walked behind one of the curtains as she undid the ties for the hospital gown she was already in.

Fluttershy quietly trotted over to him before timidly poking his arm. "Um... excuse me..." she whispered, managing to get his attention. "Um... I was wondering... if you don't mind... what... what is that thing that she does where her mane turns yellow..."

Trunks smiles. "In a way, it's a special transformation that increases the strength of the individual..."

Twilight's ear twitched as her quill started writing while she was listening in on Fluttershy and Trunks. "Oh... okay, that does make sense... once her hair turned yellow she was so very..." The timid mare seemed to be fumbling for a word to use.

"...Powerful?" Trunks suggested, getting the yellow mare to shake her head slowly.

"No, terrifying... I... I could feel how angry she was..."

Trunks nods a little, rubbing the back of his head as his blush fades. "Yeah, within the Saiyan race, or anyone who shares a Saiyan bloodline, if you're powerful enough and had an event that pushed your anger to what seemed like the limit, there was a way to unlock even more power than was normally capable... at least, that's what it seemed until Goten and an alternate me were born." He chuckles and gently strokes her mane, something that gets a startled squeak out of her at first before she hummed as she practically melted at his touch. "But that's a story that I can't stay to tell... suffice to say, the world I'm from is actually a lot different from the universe that Paolina is from, so some things may be a bit different." He quickly gets up and peeks around the corner of the curtain to see that his Saiyan friend is in her light blue jumpsuit.

"I almost forgot about your culture's nudity taboos Trunks... man... it's a bit weird when you think about it... then again, aside from the armor that those two are wearing..." Paolina says as she smirks at the purple-haired youth and points at the two princesses. "...They're all technically nude..." She starts to laugh once his blush returns and he makes an effort to stare only at the floor.

"Well, I have to go, see you later Lina..." Trunks says just before his body glows and what looks like oversized clock gears pulse around his body just before he disappears.

"I love teasing him..." The Saiyan chuckles as she finishes putting on her boots, gloves and chest piece. She let out a happy sigh as she looked over the overall design. "A little large on the shoulder pauldrons... but I like the design..." She smiles as she puts the rest of the clothes back in their capsule.

Twilight cleared her throat a little impatiently, turning the Saiyan's attention to her. "Oh yeah... well... Yes... we got your question out of the way... who's next?" She says with a smile as she completely avoids looking at a pretty-miffed violet unicorn.

Rainbow Dash raises her hoof with a challenging look before pointing at the Saiyan. "How fast can you go!?"

Paolina lets out a small hum. "I think, if I were to pull out all the stops and go as fast as I could I might likely reach the speed of light, but I prefer flying around mach sixty, it's fast, but it's a lot more comfortable... I can actually get tiny scratches from particles in the air if I were to travel near my full speed."

Rainbow Dash growls at her. "I challenge you to a race then! There's no way you can move that fast!"

"That's fine, I'd be happy to see if you pose a challenge to my speed." Paolina chuckled. "Next?" she looked over to Rarity.

The white mare let out a tiny smile before nodding. "What kind of fashion is popular where you are from?"

Paolina smiled in response. "Battle suits like this... I'm not quite sure if there's a particular style on the earth that Trunks is from, although on Planet Plant our Battle Suits determine much about the warrior wearing it."

Rarity looked at her with interest. "Really Darling? How so?"

"Well, warriors who have older models of armor tend to use them either because they prefer the look, or they're very low in rank, the closer to the latest model they are the higher they are, although some of the higher-ranked warriors tend to get customized armor like the formal attire I have."

"Y'all wear armor ta formal events?" Applejack asked.

"Absolutely, a Saiyan's armor is a badge of honor and a sign of rank, aside from the royal family only the highest-ranked of the Saiyans wear a cape on their armor to symbolize their status among the military."

Twilight raises her hoof again. "What is a Saiyan though, The princess has talked a little bit about it... but... she didn't want to fill in any specifics."

"I'm actually a little glad you asked that since I found out that the universes' that the Saiyans exist in can have them vary wildly... In the universe that I'm from though, the Saiyans are a Meritocracy under the royal family." Twilight nods a bit as her quill quickly scratches along her paper that she had brought just before it stops cold.

"Wait... so that means..."

"That I'm an alien? Yes." Paolina says with a chuckle as she sits back on the bed. "Oddly enough, many races that evolved from primates look a lot like my race." Twilight's quill began to scratch along the pad quite a bit faster. "Well... that's all the questions I have time for, I've got to check up on a friend and make sure she's alright." Paolina says before she puts two fingers to her forehead and searches for Zecora's Ki signature. Once locked onto it she vanishes from the hospital only to reappear in a slightly-damaged hut less than a second later. She squeaked a little in surprise as she noticed the stunned zebra on the floor and quickly began to help get her back into a good condition.

Twilight sighed as the Saiyan vanished from her sight, she wanted to screech in aggravation at being denied an opportunity to learn about an alien race but Celestia's hoof and gentle shake of her head discouraged the attempt. So she simply settled on letting her agitation cool off as she went over her notes, pausing to speak with each of her friends before they all left the hospital. Soon all that was left was Celestia, Luna and Twilight outside of the Shady Oaks Public Library. "Thank you for letting me stay in Ponyville Princess..." She began before being cut off with a gentle hoof on her nose.

"No thanks are needed Twilight, it was my pleasure to have you and your friends cleanse the darkness that was in my sister's heart so that we could be together again." Celestia explained as she nuzzled her student. "You've done more than I could ever have asked of you with good conscience... If anything it is I, who should be thanking you."

Twilight blushed a little as her teacher nuzzled her. "Thank you Princess... I will do my best, I'll make sure to send you reports on my studies of friendship as well."

"I'm sure you will... now, farewell my faithful student..." Celestia coos before her horn lights up and both of the princesses vanish in a flash of light.

In the throne room of Canterlot Castle the windows were lit from within as Celestia's teleportation spell finished bringing both of the alicorns to Canterlot Castle. Luna quickly nuzzled up against her sister's leg like a timid filly while they walked to the long-unused Lunar Tower. Celestia let out a happy hum as she opened the door to the pristine room, filled with many plush toys and other foal toys that were in near pristine condition but were worth more in sentimental value than the king's ransoms that each individual toy would be worth. Celestia began to tear up as Luna's face broke out in a grin when she dashed inside to pick up several of the toys she hadn't touched in a thousand years. Her smile faded a little as she noticed her sister's crying face and the smile that trembled at the edges. She took a few tentative steps forward. "S-sister... art thou alright...?" She asks quietly.

Celestia quickly uses her wings to wipe away her tears before walking up to her sister and gently pulling her into a hug. "Yes Luna... Everything is alright... now that you're back... It's just that, seeing your happy face when you rushed in gave me more happiness than I've experienced in a long... long time..." She hugged her sister a little tighter. "I missed you so much Luna."

"We-... I... Missed you too Celestia..." Luna replies with slight hesitation as she hugs her sister back. "I missed you too..."

Paolina let out a small groan as she got up from the straw mattress that Zecora was letting her use until she found a place of her own. "So... Zecora, know any places with a good view and plenty of space to train?" She chuckled as the zebra trotted into the hut.

With a practiced hum the zebra began mixing several ingredients with water in her cauldron, waiting till she added everything before starting a small fire. "How far do you wish to Roam? It is not easy to find a spot to place a home..."

"With how fast I can travel... I was actually kind of hoping that it wouldn't be a place too far from civilization..." Paolina replies. "Since I'm going to be staying in this world a lot longer than I had originally hoped."

The zebra nods a little. "Then speak with Mayor Mare, her place of work is just off of the main square... To find a place in town, one could simply look around."

Paolina nods a little. "I think I'll do that... Once I get set up, you're welcome any time." Zecora gives the young woman a smile as she takes off into the air. "See ya later Zecora!" Paolina calls as she soars over the tops of the trees, smiling as she angles herself towards the skies above ponyville at a relaxed pace. "...I wonder what challenges Equestria has in store..." she thinks excitedly to herself.

Upon landing in town square however, she was met with a very different sight as every pony that had been in the marketplace seemed to have disappeared only moments before she had landed. She hugged herself out of the slight nervousness that began to make itself known in the pit of her stomach now that she had begun second-guessing her intention of getting a place near ponyville to live. "Maybe it would be better to take the same route Goku-Sensei took... put my house on a mountain where I have plenty of space to train..." The suddenly-quiet atmosphere began to make eerie chills run down the Saiyan's spine. "...Come on Paolina... you've fought gods to the point where you almost died just to laugh in their face... a creepy ghost town that was bustling with life not five minutes ago isn't something to get all worked up over..." she mumbled to herself as she walked up to the door of town hall to try the knob, only to find it locked, much to her confusion.

Sure, she could have broken the door down simply by pushing it... but that wouldn't be right, and she didn't have the money on her that was used in this country in order to pay until she could figure out just how much a zenny was worth compared to equestrian bits. The better option was the one she chose; she left the door alone and took to the sky slowly as she started to have a bad feeling about just what she was getting herself into by staying in Equestria. "...Maybe Zecora wouldn't mind me staying just a little longer..." she mumbled as she began to pick up speed to put some distance between the town and her.

Spike and Twilight coughed a bit as they emerged from a shrubbery near the marketplace. "Jeez Berry... what was that all about?!" Spike asked as he rubbed his sore rump and shook the extra leaves from his scales.

The dark pink mare looked over the two with a slightly blank, and moderately confused look, before simply shrugging. "I... I really don't know. One moment I was talking to Applejack about an order of apples and the next the only thought crossing my mind was to hide because something scary was coming, I didn't even know what it was but I knew I had to hide, and then I came across you two just standing around and I acted kinda on autopilot there..."

Twilight and her dragon assistant looked back towards the marketplace and noticed that several other ponies must have had the same reaction since they were timidly making their way out of whatever hiding places that they had chosen for these brief few minutes.

If anything, Spike sorta understood how they had felt, he had managed to glimpse the marketplace just before he was grabbed roughly by the nape of his neck and the both of them had come face to face with a terrified Berry Punch. He knew that whatever landed in the marketplace was the source of whatever caused the mass fear, but... he hadn't been afraid... He was actually more curious now. A feeling deep down in hit gut made him want to find the source of that power.

The feeling began to excite him, he had read a little bit about dragon hoards and how many pony scientists compared them to a Jackdaw, but this... he could tell by instinct that it was a power he wanted to add to his own. His toes curled a little, digging tiny trenches in the dirt as his entire body felt the overwhelming urge to look for that source of power, his claws started grasping unconsciously at his sides as he began to fantasize about the power he would have if that source was part of his hoard. He was brought out of his reverie as he was lifted up by Twilight's magic and placed on her back.

"Well, as much fun as this exploration of a ponyville shrub has been Berry Punch, Spike and I still have things to do today... so... bye..." Twilight ends with a sheepish smile before quickly trotting off. She let out a sigh as she began to go through a few stalls, shopping for groceries for the week. "Spike... I think that Paolina was the cause of that power surge that spooked everypony..."

Spike, taken a little off guard by the sudden realization, quickly nods against his adopted sister's neck as he watches her pick out various fruits and vegetables among the stalls. "Where do you think she went?" He asked tentatively, although he already had an idea since his entire body seemed to be wanting to go in that direction.

"I think she went to the Everfree... she must be exhausted from trying to just survive in that horrible forest..." Twilight says with a bit of worry.

Paolina let out a happy sigh as she reclined back in the hot springs across from Zecora. "This... is exactly what I needed..." She says with a smile as she looks up at the sky through the few gaps in the canopy.

"I mean, think about it Spike, she's probably out there fighting for her life right now..."

"I wonder why the ponies really avoid this place... It's just like forests back home. Maybe it's the whole 'wild and untamed' thing that's what turns ponies off to exploring this place..." Paolina hummed as she sunk a little lower in the spring, feeling a tad sleepy because of the relaxing warmth

Spike couldn't help but feel a cold pit settle in the bottom of his belly as he continued throwing glances towards the large, imposing forest the entire time they were in the marketplace. "...yeah... I hope she's alright."

"I do too Spike, I do too..." Twilight sighed before putting on a smile as she went to make her final purchase for the day.