(This is, in fact, an alternate timeline. One in which Goku did not decide to train with Kami after killing Demon King Piccolo before the Tenkaichi Budokai. Instead, he decided to search for the Dragonballs once again.)
Son Goku awoke with a start. He had chosen refuge outside of a small village at the edge of some unkempt woods. His stomach growled, signalling a hunger that had to be troubleshot. He shot upward and sprinted as fast as he could to a nearby food cart. By the time he was done, there was not a bowl of rations left.
Now that his hunger was cured, Son decided to survey his surroundings. A grouping of small huts circled a much larger house. It seemed that someone in charge was occupying the structure. However, youthful Goku couldn't be bothered to take note of such details. He himself stood approximately four foot seven, the size of an eight year old. An orange kung-fu gi was usually donned his abnormally small body, showing that he originated from the Turtle School.
The fact that he had defeated Demon King Piccolo proved to be an honor, one that couldn't be rewarded properly because of his constant migration. He hadn't collected a single Dragonball. What an embarrassment! Now he was wishing he had asked Yamcha and Bulma (his friends that had subsequently decided to date each other) to join him on this new journey. He fished into his gi and retrieved the Dragon Radar that Bulma had given him. His finger slumped over the large button on the top of the device and it grew to a larger size. A grid and small blips indicated the precise locations of each Dragonball.
Something caught him off guard. Seven of the blips were grouped in a discreet location. He really hoped someone hadn't already collected them... Wouldn't the sky be dark and stuff? He thought to himself. I doubt someone collected them, not too many people know about 'em... but I should probably go check it out... A yell escaped his lips, "NIIIIIIIIMBUS!"
The yellow cloud zipped to his feet and pulled him off of them. His innate control of Nimbus allowed him to speed his way to the Dragonballs. He nearly fell off of the cloud when he saw where the marbles were. Kame House. The pink and red building sprang out at you with "Kame House" written in crimson on the front. An ominous feel chilled the small island, empty of the usual activity of Krillin, Launch, and Master Roshi. Son Goku hopped off and wandered the barren land. Just as he was about to call for his friends, something clasped onto his small body. He struggled, but found himself unable to break free of the cold metallic grasp that had now immobilized him.
A high-pitched, and yet mature voice shouted into the skies, "RISE, SHENRON!" The vocals reminded Son Goku of a certain villain he had defeated before, "Emperor Pilaf?" The teenager felt his tail's grip loosen before he fell to the ground. He turned over and caught sight of his assaulter. A very short blue man leered over Goku, donning a hat and robe. He wore a very cruel and evil smile that gave the young man chills. He had two minions, a dog that acted and spoke like a human wearing a ninja-like outfit, and a woman that had varying outfits. Today she donned a black, nearly skin-tight suit that accompanied black boots and gloves.
Pilaf shouted once more, but to his minions, "Hold him down, fools!" The only response was a dull, "Yes, Emperor Pilaf..." Goku felt himself be grasped tighter, the air squeezing out of his lungs. He watched in horror as the Dragonballs flew into the air and illuminated. They span and, eventually, a bolt of blinding light shot into the sky (which had now turned a dark blue hue). It twisted and contorted until it resembled a somewhat Chinese dragon with horns protruding from its head. Its eyes glowed a deep red, and it spoke in a deep bass of a voice, "You have summoned me, so you will recieve one wish... speak your wish now."
The small man spoke out to the large creature, "I wish that Goku was out of my hair for good!" It was such a vague request that Shenron, the Eternal Dragon, could interpret however he wished. Since he did not have the willingness to kill a being weaker than him unless requested, he decided Pilaf only wanted the young Saiyan off of Earth. So, he obeyed as he had been commanded. Goku began to fade, seemingly from existence. Finally he was entirely gone. The Earth was now fair game for the evils of Earth. Shenron was resealed into the seven spheres, which turned to stone. They moved into the sky and shot in their own directions. The sky turned to its original hue. But one question rose to the surface. Would Goku ever get back?
Chapter 1 - A Rough Entrance
Some heroes aren't heroes until later in life. But some become the greats they are from a young age. However, the tale of our hero Goku proved to be both. Though he would have defeated Raditz, Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu had fate been different toward him, this timeline proved to be different. Fate and Emperor Pilaf decided that he didn't belong on Earth. The assumption was made that Son Goku was dead, which was very faux.
He had been sent to a random planet in some remote quadrant of the universe. The hero had been travelling via Shenron's magic for a few moments before it came to an abrupt stop. Goku was chucked at the ground at such a high velocity, he felt an enormous pain strike out at his face, and threw water up all around him, "Owwwww!" The hero shook about, placing his hands over his face. A large bump formed over his forehead; something that could not easily be ignored.
He surveyed his surroundings, a way to cope with his pain. He seemed to be right in the middle of a town - in a fountain to be precise. Water soaked his gi and annoyed him as he took huge note of what surrounded him: PONIES. A large quantity of small horses moved about their business. Some flew with feathery wings, most trotted and did activities with their hooves or horns. What the hell is going on?! He thought to himself.
Goku stepped out of the fountain and walked up to one, "Hi! I'm Son Goku, do you know where I am?" The pony had not looked over before responding in a high-pitched tone, "Well, you're in Ponyville, silly!" A quick comedic look over at Son Goku showed all of her features; wonderful blue eyes, a pink coat, and a poofy pink mane and tail. She hopped into the air with a huge heave of a gasp before darting away, "Crap, does my breath smell or something?"
Confusion gathered as more and more ponies looked over at Goku with interest in their eyes. He was short, looked different, and most ponies beat him in size. With his silly giant spiky hair, it was difficult to not want to look at him. Tension rose before the first pony moved in to meet him. Many questions were asked and quickly replied to before it was just too much. The Saiyan yelled to the skies, "NIIIIIIIIIIMBUS!" Nothing responded to his call. All it did was attract more attention to himself.
Finally the kid decided to escape by foot. He ran several miles, lapping himself around the town. His feet finally stopped in front of a library. It wasn't exactly his favorite location due to it being full of knowledge instead of training, but it would settle for a hiding place. However, he was met with yet another voice, resonating off of the walls, "Spike? Is that you?"
Twilight Sparkle had been awaiting the arrival of her loyal dragon assistant. He had recently been sent off to get new books from outside regions of Equestria. Normally he would never be trusted with such a daring and dangerous trip, but he was accompanied by Rainbow Dash. And if anyone could protect the baby dragon, it was her. It had been a few days since they had embarked, and worry was becoming a very serious nag.
She would pace her room in the library over and over, contemplating what could have gone horribly wrong. Most consisted of worst case scenarios in which Spike and Rainbow Dash had been devoured by some gigantic mass of muscle and meat. Though these were ridiculous theories, they could indeed have happened. Every now and again she would voice her worries, her friends would tell her that it was fine. It would never make her feel better.
But, finally came the day that the door rang again, footsteps (not hoovesteps) sounded from downstairs. She assumed that her assistant, Spike, had returned! Her voice rang out to the visitor, in an eager and hoping voice, "Spike? Is that you?" Twilight set off down the stairs and hugged the visitor with tenacity. The air was squeezed out of her victim's lungs and he sounded quickly, "C-can you please let me go?"
Her grip loosened and she found herself face-to-face with a strange creature, just a bit taller than Spike. The two stared at each other for a few moments before Twilight let it slip, "Um... who and what are you?" The creature grinned happily and said, "I'm Son Goku, and I'm a human!" This Son Goku... guy was certainly very interesting. Was he an alien, or simply a race she had never heard about?
Twilight asked with curiosity, "Er... Goku, was it? Are you from here? From... Equestria?" The young 'human' thought it over before answering, "Well, I'm from Earth, of course...!" ...Earth, huh? So maybe he really wasn't from around here. Further research was going to be needed to be done, but first... questions. The lavender pony asked in an interested and very hooked tone, "How did you get here?"
Son Goku looked quizzical for a few moments before apparently getting things together, "Okay, so, on Earth, there are these things called Dragonballs. There are seven, and if you collect all of them, then you can make a wish! But a bad guy got the Dragonballs and wished for me to go away, I think. So, I ended up coming to this weird place! Other than running over here, that's it!"
Twilight's face paled, as that had not entirely answered her questions. That kind of answer will have to do, I guess, she thought to herself. It didn't seem like he knew what was going on entirely, so it was pointless to press him on it. Her hospitality took her over and she offered Son Goku a bed. What she didn't realize was that, at the time, she had been facing away from Goku. And when she turned back, she found the teen asleep on the floor, without requiring any sort of prompt to hit the hay, "Looks like someone's tired..."
She took Goku to bed and magically tucked him in before falling onto her own mattress. Her magic moved the blanket over her body, but she couldn't sleep. The mind that usually was with her now worked against her, playing over what could have happened to Goku, what he told her, and the likes. It took several hours of pondering before she could finally drift off to sleep.
Chapter 2 - The Welcome Party
While Son Goku's travel to the unknown may have been alarming and surprisingly easy for Emperor Pilaf... Krillin, Launch, and Master Roshi were entirely unaware. As it had turned out, they had gone to West City for a short time to receive groceries when the skies turned dark. From what had been experienced and recalled to the trio, they knew that somebody had gathered the Dragonballs. But, before anything else was to be done, Master Roshi had to buy a few new "adult magazines". After all, he didn't want to run dry on them.
Upon their arrival to Kame House, it had already been too late; Goku was gone and Shenlong had just disappeared back into the Dragonballs. The villains responsible for Son Goku's disappearance turned around with girth strapped onto their faces. "Hahaha! Goku's gone and now you can't stop us," bragged Emperor Pilaf. Mai and Shu were surprised by the turn of events that had proceeded them. The hero that usually deteriorated their plans was no more!
Krillin was the first to speak up, "Pffft, there's no way you got rid of Goku. He's a whole lot stronger than you after all." Pilaf merely grinned and shot back, "Then where is he, genius?"
"He's probably just somewhere getting food or something!"
"Then tell me, what's this?"
Within the dirty mitts of the 'emperor' was a torn Turtle School insignia. Collective gasps sounded from the Kame House inhabitants. Goku would never have allowed that to be stolen from him. Short and plump Emperor Pilaf began hopping from side to side, boasting to the three, "Your hero is dead! Now I can wish for rule of the world! Hahaha!" Shu and Mai looked at each other before sighing and looking to Pilaf, "Sir, didn't you just spill your whole plan?"
"Shut up and let me have my moment!"
His underlings sighed and awaited the inevitable foiling of the incompetent man's 'ingenious' plan. It started with Master Roshi kicking the Emperor square in the face and punting him far away. Next came Krillin roundhouse kicking Shu into the ocean, and last came Launch sneezing. An evil grin highlighted her face as she threw a grenade at Mai; ultimately (and comedically) blowing her away. All of the 'Pilaf Squad' were still alive and well, but they had been stopped from world domination once again.
Krillin and the gang had won again - even without Goku - but the celebrations would have to wait. Goku had to be saved from whatever fate the three villains had wished him to. The Dragonballs were on a cool-down, but there had to of been another way to see and fix it. But whatever it had been, they would have to uncover it slowly. Bit by bit there would be an answer. The question was, where to start?
Meanwhile, Son Goku had started his journey to meet the inhabitants of Ponyville. Only because of his size was he not feared as much as he would have been. Many stared at him in wonder, only to be shrugged off by the young hero. Nothing had him going after he had saved the world. There wasn't much left that could defeat him, and he knew it. Soon this would be proven false. This Saiyan still had a destiny.
Finally Goku found a bakery. Sweets galore filled the innards of the place. His tongue instinctively licked his lips and he charged in. A loud yell nearly shattered his eardrums, "WELCOME HOME!" He shook his head and looked around, surrounded by several happy ponies. A few moments passed before the realization came by that Son Goku wasn't who they were waiting for. But before anyone could react to who he was, the door opened once more.
Rainbow Dash and Spike's journey to get those strange books from that even stranger pony was over. They decided to take a shortcut. Spike had grown hungry and Dash expected Pinkie Pie to throw one of her crazy parties. Of course, this lead them to a detour; gathering up a snack for the young dragon. After a few minutes of performing the procedure, they made an astonishing discovery. It was a trap.
A net was sprung that ensnared the young pegasus. Embarrassment filled her face and a peculiar look plastered itself to Spike's. Maniacal laughter filled the forest, signaling the definite need for assistance; Spike sprinted off to get just that.
Rainbow stayed still, as still as she could manage. She anticipated a terrifying monster -- something that wasn't uncommon for the Everfree Forest -- but was greeted by an unfamiliar face. This creature was neither pony nor monster, but could easily be called one. It had a small frame but horns on either side of its head, and a strange armor-like adornment was what it was clad in. Under the uncharacteristic item was reptilian skin, and on its rear was a tail. Lastly it wore a helmet, or what looked like one, and a lipstick. If one took a single assessment of the lizard, they could assume it was a woman.
"Hello there, you little cyan beast."
At first, when the little purple dragon arrived at Sugarcube Corner, Goku didn't know what to think. He looked at him quizzically, and he received the same look back. Then, a mystified look filled the both of their eyes. But, before they could do much more, Twilight Sparkle interjected and pushed them apart. The dragon shook his head and looked up at the lavender unicorn. The next moment, his mouth sped at a million miles per hour.
"OHGOSHTWILIGHTRAINBOWGOTCAUGHTANDNOWSHE'SPROBABLYGONNABEEATENANDIDON'TKNOWWHATTODOSOICAMEHEREANDSOCANYOUHELP?!"
Everyone was then staring at the little creature quizzically. After a few moments of calming down (with help from Twilight), he gave a more understandable evaluation of the situation. Apparently somebody named "Rainbow Dash" had been captured, from what Son could gather. He was soon ready and rearing to get helping the poor "person". After all there wasn't anything that could beat him! Right? Nothing he knew of, at least.
Ponies (even ones Goku had barely or not even met) came along with him, Spike, and Twilight. One was the pink pony from earlier, -- who kept close to the "human" hero, bouncing even -- another was one with a purple curly mane, white fur, and deep blue eyes. There was also a yellow pony with light green eyes and a pink, maintained mane, and an orange colored pony with a messy mane which had been fashioned into a ponytail (along with her tail).
After minutes of Spike leading, a loud scream could be heard. A shriek, almost. At that moment, everybody broke into a run (with Son Goku far in front of the others) in the direction of the sound. Goku gasped at the sight that brought to him a chilling migraine. He knelt down and shook his head as several painful memories shot through his mind. Searing memories burned into his very soul; ones that could not be lost.
Krillin's death. The lifting of his body into the air the and the inevitable explosion that followed suit. Then he felt it. That rage... the rage that consumed his mind and body as he looked down at his fully grown torso. Then.. it happened. An explosion of power shook the planet and pushed the galactic tyrant to step back in fear. They both knew what had happened. As the now dead ------ had stated, he had become a ----- ------! Though anger was swelling up inside of him, he still had enough rational thought to direct his son from the fiery path of his power. He of course had him take the dying form of -------.
Now it was a matter of defeating Fri-
Goku shook the memory aside. He knew it wasn't him that had done that. After all, he couldn't remember chunks of that event, and he wasn't full grown at all. But, he still felt that lingering anger toward this monster. Without second thought, he rushed forward and threw a strike at the... monster. Of course, he was merely thrown away; tossed aside like a rag doll. Though the crash had immediately caused him unbelievable pain, it had also given him unbearable frustration. He leaped forward and threw another powerful strike... only to be tossed aside once again. This time, it was much worse and left him in a critically weakened state. Now he had a chance to examine the teal object ensnared behind his opponent.
It was a teal pegasus. Through obvious deduction, mostly from her rainbow mane, she was Rainbow Dash. It was quite obvious that she had been wounded and was bleeding. Though exactly where she had been hurt was not quite as explicit, but it made her friends gasp. Immediately a snapping was heard.. then Goku passed out.
The young hero awoke with a start in a bed. He looked around to find the party he had kept along with him were standing, worried. This was really strange; weren't they all keeping their distance from him, except for the pink one? Speaking of her, where was she? A few moments passed before the others gave their laments, starting with the orange pony, then the yellow one, then of course the white one, and ending with the small purple dragon.
"Ah'm real sorry y'all got hurt trying to save our friend. If it makes y'all feel better, we saved her. Oh, and uh, I'm Applejack."
"Well... um... I'm really sorry what happened... but I helped get you all patched up, and when you get out of here, you'll be all right again... oh and um.. my name is... Fluttershy."
"Darling, it was simply dreadful watching you and that creaton fight! I nearly fainted when you fell unconscious. And of course, my name is Rarity."
"Sorry you got hurt. But I think it was pretty cool even though you lost."
Everyone quickly eyed the dragon and yelled at him in harmony, "SPIKE!"
"What?! Okay, okay, it wasn't cool at all. The guy ran away. But if you couldn't tell, I'm Spike."
After introductions, a nurse rolled in and officially dismissed the teenager from the hospital. He and the rest of the gang managed their way to where the wounded Rainbow Dash lie. Her form looked up to all of them and smiled happily. She had bandages around one of her hooves, and on one of her wings. From the bruises scattered across her, it was obvious that retrieving her was quite a difficult endeavor. She let a few words vocalize themselves, "Hey guys. Thanks for the save; I don't know what I would have done without you," her expression quickly changed to smug satisfaction, "but I could have gotten out myself!"
Laughs were exchanged, even from young Son Goku.
Days later, when Rainbow was discharged from the hospital, everybody was invited to Sugarcube Corner. It was quite obvious to everybody but Son what was going on, but that didn't mean he had to know. As they entered, several ponies sprung out of their obscure hiding places. Together in an upbeat (and LOUD) tone, they yelled, "SURPRISE!" Banners were strewn all over the bakery. They mostly consisted of the phrases, "Welcome to Ponyville!" "Hope You're Feeling Better!" and of course "Thanks for Helping Our Friend!" Goku laughed successfully as he saw all of the food. He looked to Twilight and asked as politely as he could, "Can I start eating now?"
She simply giggled and nodded. But, she was surprised to see him leap forward and devour most of the food. The pink pony approached him and explained the purpose of the party, "Well, y'know, you just got to Ponyville, and you helped our friend, and you got hurt and got better, so I thought, 'Who DOESN'T want to have a party after all that?!' so I set this up! I hope you like it. Oh hey, and I'm Pinkie Pie, too!"
The only thing that Goku managed to say in reply was, "Tawk oo!" Pinkie simply smiled, giggled, and bounced away. The rest of the party was basically Goku eating, ponies socializing, and party games. Of course this continued for several hours before everyone had to leave. Though she was upset, the pink pony said goodbye to everybody as they left. Goku was the last to leave, but he received a special goodbye. Pinkie Pie embraced him in a full on hug and explained it with two words, two serious, happy, words, "Thank you."
Frieza arrived back at the headquarters as predesignated by his peers. They welcomed him and quickly jumped to the subject of the young Saiyan. He simply replied that he was as weak as they had planned, weak enough for him to simply toss him around as if he were nothing more than a child's play thing. The others simply spoke softly to one another before planning mischievously.
"Well, Frieza, I'd say that your scouting mission was a success. You'll have the first honor to try to annihilate him; you did after all suggest this plan."
"Of course I would give you this plan! It's fool-proof. There's NO way that miserable monkey can kill any of us in this timeline!"
"How can you be so sure? Couldn't Vegeta end up showing up and fuse with him again?"
"No, fool! Neither are the same height or close to the same power... they could never perform such a feat."
"I never figured they could do it to begin with, and he KILLED me using it."
The villains argued over the subject for minutes before getting back on track. They had a plan to execute so as to kill Son Goku. He would never stop their evil plans if he never made it to the age of 20, which they could assure you, he wouldn't. They sat and plotted the death of our young hero for hours before they decided on an indefinite way of obliterating him. He had fallen for their trap once before, and they knew that he would fall for it again. And maybe you're wondering: why didn't they kill him when they had a chance? Well, not only did the ponies get involved, but it was merely a scouting mission... to see how powerful he was before they killed him. Now he would not be so lucky.
Now he would die.
