The Strength of Friendship

Chapter 2 "Know Your Enemy"

"Then at Hoovamania Five, 'Macho Pony' Ranch Savage put his championship title on the line against Bull Hogan. Bull Hogan won back his title, which was cool, but not as cool as when he defended his title back at Hoovamania Three against Anadolu the Colossus. Now that was an awesome match," Rainbow Dash shared as she flew a few feet off the ground as she and her friends walked through town. "And then at--"

"Okay Rainbow Dash, we get it," Rarity cut off the blue pegasus with an annoyed tone. "You really like this wrestling sport."

"Sorry, but besides flying competitions and the Wonderbolts, wrestling is one my favorite sports," the pegasus proclaimed.

"This sport sounds really dangerous," Fluttershy quietly spoke to her fellow pegasus she walked alongside with.

"Only if you aren't prepared for it. You have to be in great shape to perform some of the incredible moves they do in the ring," said Rainbow Dash as she began flying and performing aerobatics just above her friends.

Rainbow Dash's constant chatter about professional wrestling was getting to Rarity more and more. "Are we going to hear all about this for the entire two weeks?" the unicorn asked.

"Don't worry about it, Rarity," Twilight assured her. "Once something takes Rainbow Dash's interest, she'll go on about it for hours."

While riding on Twilight's back, Spike looked back to see Rarity not having a good time listening to Rainbow Dash's obsession with the combat sport. The discussion also brought Applejack's involvement in telling more about her cousin and what she likes about wrestling. The little purple dragon turned himself around and said to the unicorn he was now facing, "Rarity, if it makes you feel better, I can tell you some of the things I love."

All Rarity could do in response was roll her eyes and say, "Fine. As long as it doesn't involve wrestling."

Spike immediately began telling her all about some of his favorite variety of odds and ends from gems to places he'd like to visit. Twilight could hear everything Spike was saying, though it was all boring to her as she had heard his stories before.

The herd of friends found themselves walking into the town center of Ponyville. While usually a quiet part of town, the seven friends saw many ponies descending on the area and grouping around by the town hall.

"What in tarnation is going on?" Applejack asked.

"I have no idea," Twilight responded to the orange earth pony. None of Twilight's friends had a clue what was going on.

As the crowd of ponies, including fully-grown and youngsters, began to spread out, the source of the gathering was revealed to the onlookers. Six mare ponies were greeting the residents of the small Equestrian town. Autographs were being signed and photographs flashing. One noticeable feature these six ponies shared was they were sporting black matching shirts with pink wording on the fronts that read "p.W.o.: Pony World Order".

"Who are they?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"It's the P.W.O.!" Rainbow Dash spoke with a slight shake of excitement. Loving wrestling was one thing to the pegasus; meeting actual wrestlers was like her joys in meeting any of the Wonderbolts.

"The who?" Twilight asked.

"The Pony World Order. They're a stable of heel ponies. They like to play it tough and fight with other P.W.F. groups," Applejack explained.

Despite being heels, bad guys to be precise, this wasn't stopping the townsponies in approaching them for signings. The stable consisted of three earth ponies, two pegasi, and a lone unicorn. One of the earth ponies greeted a young filly by crossing her front legs together like a 'x' and said, "Remember little one, P.W.O. forever." The little pony nodded in agreement as the blue earth pony wrote a signature for her.

Beside her sat one of the pegasi, posing for a photo with two colts. With the flash photography completed, she leaned over to her companion and mentioned, "It's pretty easy to do this with these ponies, isn't it?"

"Ha, it's like being celebrities; they'll love you no matter what you do or act," the earth pony laughed.

"It's no big deal out here," said one of the other earth ponies. "Country ponies aren't as fanatic and a little more laid back. Ah should know so, Ah was raised in the country."

The lone unicorn of the herd noticed the other six ponies and the baby dragon on the edge of the town square. She motioned to her team members of her sighting. She told the crowd of ponies that autographs and meetings were over and to go about their business. A few ponies frowned in disappointment, though moved on in their own directions. The unicorn motioned again to the other P.W.O. mares and they began walking towards Twilight Sparkle and her friends. As they approached the six residents of Ponyville, the dark red unicorn proclaimed, "Well, the six ponies we have been looking for since we trotted into this town."

Twilight Sparkle and her friends had no idea what to make of the situation. The Pony World Order had been searching for them? What was the reason? Twilight was the first to speak up. "I don't believe we've met. I'm--"

"Twilight Sparkle," the unicorn standing in front of her answered. "The leader of ponies that saved Equestria."

"Okay, you have heard of me," Twilight spoke with a little bit of surprise.

"We know who you are. You and your friends save Equestria twice. Once from Night Mare Moon and that dragon creep, Discord," the blue-coated earth pony disclosed.

"Well, that's not something we go around bragging about," said Rarity.

"And you are?" Twilight asked.

"Violet Velvet, ringleader of the P.W.O., the Pony World Order. These are the other members of our stable: Ice Cold, Stormer, Whiplash, Sky Chaser, and Honeycrisp."

Applejack immediately recognized her cousin, Honeycrisp, upon hearing her name. The apple farmer approached the honey-colored earth pony with a warm smile. "Howdy cuz, haven't seen you since the Apple Family reunion last year. How's it going?"

Honeycrisp's eyes narrowed a little at Applejack. "Fine with me," she replied. "How's life on a stinkin' apple farm going fer ya?"

"Stinkin' apple farm? That's a little rude thing to say about our family business," Applejack responded. Hearing a family member say something negative about the Apple Family was something Applejack hadn't expected.

"Ah have no interest in the family business. Not anymore. Ah'm glad Ah got out of the whole applebucking family. It was doing nothing but keeping me back from what Ah wanted to do in life," Honeycrisp told the orange pony.

"How can you say that about your own family? This is one of your cousins you're talking to," Applejack said back with a tone of anger in her voice. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Right in front of her was her cousin speaking ill of their own family and voicing proudness of it. Family was important to the Ponyville farmer and the vocals of disrespect wasn't sitting well with her.

"Ah don't need the Apples anymore. The P.W.O. is a much better family for me," Honeycrisp snapped back to Applejack.

"You have any idea what you just said?" Applejack fired back.

"That's enough, Applejack," Twilight quickly intervened.

"And who's this cute little pegasus?" the pegasus named Whiplash asked towards Fluttershy. Fluttershy backed away a bit while also cowering slightly. "Are we a little scary for this shy little pony?" Whiplash gave a grin to Fluttershy; a grin that more or less was a little frightening to a timid pony such as Fluttershy.

"Oh--my," Fluttershy quietly spoke. She backed away further. Her friend and other pegasus, Rainbow Dash, moved in front of her. The rainbow pegasus wasn't giving in to the bullying tan-colored flyer in front.

"I think it's best you don't bully Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said defending her friend.

"Why? Cause she can't speak for herself and needs another pony to defend her?" Whiplash asked.

"She's got a real tough side and wrestles bears in her spare time," Rainbow Dash revealed.

"Really? She's a bear wrestler?" Whiplash asked with no surprised in her voice.

"That's right. Bears three times her size and every time, she's won," the blue pegasus furthered the defence of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy tapped her hoof on Rainbow Dash's flank and said, "Rainbow Dash, that's not--"

"Come on, Fluttershy. Stand up for yourself. Tell her," Dash looking back to Fluttershy still cowering close to the street.

Fluttershy slowly stood up, but still kept her distance from the opposing pegasus facing her. "Um--I have wrestled bears--and--I have--won--every time," Fluttershy stuttered in her speech.

If Fluttershy's statement was to sound threatening, Whiplash wasn't showing any sign of fear from her. "Oh I'm so scared," the tan pegasus spoke sarcastically.

The second pegasus, Sky Chaser, approached beside Whiplash. Her eyes were fixated on the rainbow pegasus. "I take it you're Rainbow Dash. The pegasus who won the Best Flyers Competition last year and dreams of becoming a Wonderbolt," she guessed.

"Yeah, that's me," Rainbow Dash answered.

"Why don't I save you some time. Don't bother joining the Wonderbolts. I'm a former Wonderbolt and I'm glad I left them," said Sky Chaser like she was proud of her statement.

"The Wonderbolts are the best flyers out of Cloudsdale. Why would you leave them?" Rainbow Dash asked. Rainbow Dash was more confused than angry to hear what this ex-Wonderbolt had to say.

"Simple reason. I was tired of taking some much horseapples from them, especially from that fiery leader of theirs. If she goes down in battle, I'm not going to miss her," Sky Chaser explained to Dash.

The response from Sky Chaser now got Rainbow Dash a little mad. She had personality met the Wonderbolts a couple of times already. Among them, she had met Spitfire, the fiery leader Sky Chaser was referring to. The Wonderbolts were Rainbow Dash's idols, the role models she looks up to and wanted to be someday. Standing before her was a pegasus who use to be one and is now telling a fan of the aerobatic flyers to not pursue her dream to join their ranks.

"That's enough!" Twilight demanded. She looked straight at Violet and asked, "What do you want from us?"

"For starters, you six saved Equestria those two times by using the Elements of Harmony. A power where you didn't even have to lift a hoof in battle. You two unicorns most likely just used your magic to defend yourselves. You pegasi used your wings to your advantage and fly to avoid fighting on the ground leaving you two earth ponies as the only ones to hoof wrestle," Violet Velvet told to Twilight. Twilight only rose an eyebrow in return.

"What we are trying to say is you can't fight without using your magic, wings or the Elements of Harmony," Ice Cold made clear to the six ponies.

"And what exactly do you want?" Twilight still confused by the whole thing.

"Prove it to us that you can duel it out without those factors. Prove it in the ring. The P.W.F. event, Hoovamania, is in a couple weeks. Why don't you meet us there and show us if you can deliver skills with no aid from magic or those elemental things," the P.W.O. ringleader suggested.

"Are you challenging us to one of those wrestling matches?" Rarity asked.

"Precisely," the earth pony, Stormer, replied.

A challenge had been made. The seven residents of Ponyville were standing in front of half a dozen ponies who had just asked them to step inside a wrestling ring to do battle. Twilight and her friends looked at each other undecided at the moment on what to make of the situation. Finally, Twilight was first to speak on the behalf of her friends, "Sorry, but we'll have to decline. The whole idea of us just trying to prove a point to bullies like you sounds ridiculous. Let alone, we aren't wrestlers."

"And I am a pony of elegance and will not rough it up in a sport that's more like a saloon brawl," the white unicorn, Rarity, reacted in agreement with Twilight.

"If we were in the P.W.F., we'd certainly accept your challenge. But since we ain't, you're just wasting your time," Applejack commented as well.

"Now if you excuse us, we have to get back to our day," Twilight responded as she began walking past the wrestling ponies. Her friends began to follow suit.

Stormer looked back at the purple unicorn walking in the opposite direction and spoke out, "We thought you were the saviours of Equestria. Guess we were wrong. Just a bunch of cowardly, yellow-belly ponies."

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted. Unlike her friends, Rainbow Dash hadn't join them in leaving the confrontation. "The others might not fight you, but I will."

"By yourself?" Ice Cold giggled.

"Why not, Ice Cold? This Rainbow wants to be a Wonderbolt and if she's not going to take my advice, she's going to learn the hard way that it's a mistake to join the Wonderbusts," Sky Chaser continued her insults towards the blue pegasus' idols.

Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed with a strong hint of anger growing. "You know what? Why should we wait till Hoovamania? Let's just get this on now!" Rainbow Dash bolted forward in an attempt to attack Sky Chaser in front of her. The pegasus was suddenly stopped in her place by a tug at her tail. She looked behind herself and saw Applejack gripping the rainbow tail in her teeth.

"Hold on, Rainbow," the orange pony told her friend after she dropped the tail out of her mouth. Applejack walked up beside Rainbow Dash. "Ah'm not going to let you struggle against them alone." She then turned her focus onto the bullying ponies. "You pick a fight with one of us, then you deal with another."

Applejack stepping up alongside Rainbow Dash brought a smile to her cousin, Honeycrisp. "Glad you're onboard, Applejack, cause Ah'll be looking forward to knocking them apples out of you. Then you'll know why Ah decided to be with a stronger family," Honeycrisp furthered to insult her cousin.

Twilight and Rarity stopped due to the other ponies continuation to argue and conflict with the P.W.O. team. Rarity was already at the point of frustration. "Rainbow Dash, Applejack, please, you are acting so childish. Accepting a challenge that is so plainly stupid and not worth the time of some ponies like myself," Rarity spoke back lifting her nose to the air.

"Oh, what's wrong Ms. Elegance? Worried that you'll get that mane of yours all messy and dirty and throw a fit the second you lose a hair? Or maybe you don't want to scratch or chip a hoof," Stormer tossed at Rarity.

Rarity's eyes widened at the sound of the insult and then quickly turned to anger. She rushed to the side of Applejack and Rainbow Dash; a sudden change of attitude for the classy pony. "It may be just the three of us, but we'll beat you so hard that your wounds won't heal for months," Rarity threatened.

Always full of surprises, Pinkie Pie sprung up in between the Pony World Order wrestlers sprouting a big cheerful smile. To the shock of her friends, she was also wearing a P.W.O. shirt. "Yes! Yes! The P.W.O. is going to be victorious and then we can party! Ha ha!" Pinkie laughed and smiled brightly while wrapping her front legs around the necks of Violet Velvet and Ice Cold. They weren't quite amused nor was Pinkie's own friends.

"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash shouted at her pink earth pony friend.

Pinkie saw everypony glaring at her. She only smiled and declared, "Oopsy. Wrong team. Ha ha." She then sprinted back to the ponies on the other side.

"What about that bear wrestler? Is she going to help you girls out or hide like a frightened little filly?" Whiplash pointed to Fluttershy, still cowering and hiding close to Rainbow Dash.

"She'll be there and you'll see what Fluttershy is capable of. Right Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked to her pegasus friend.

Fluttershy stood up, though still a little scared, but trying to be like her friends. "Um--right," she quietly responded.

"Five of you accept our challenge," Violet smiled. She and her teammates convinced five ponies to fight them in a wrestling match. But one was missing: Twilight Sparkle. Violet saw the purple unicorn standing behind them with her back facing in their direction. "What about you, Twilight Sparkle?"

"Sorry. I said no," Twilight responded without looking back at them.

"Why not? Worried that you'll lose and be humiliated in front of the Princess?" Violet asked with a grin. The question opened Twilight's eyes with revelation. "We know that you are her protégé; her student. You have a strong bond with her; a teacher's pet to say. Am I correct? You want to look your best for her and be her perfect little student. You fail and she'll see that you aren't so perfect. That's why you won't accept our challenge, but your friends will. They have nothing to lose, but you do. You get defeated by us, you'll be seen as a loser in the Princess' eyes."

Every word from Violet's accusation traveled through Twilight's head. Twilight could only shut her eyes. She had known Princess Celestia most of her life. The Princess had taught her many things. She was Twilight's teacher and sometimes seen as a second mother to her. Twilight sat silently as Violet awaited for a response.

"Don't you dare say things like that to Twilight. She worked hard to get where she is today and no bully is going to put her down like that," the little dragon, Spike, spoke towards Violet Velvet. Spike had known Twilight since she hatched him from his egg. She was like a big sister to him.

Violet looked down at Spike. "And what are you going to do about it, baby dragon?" The unicorn swiped her front leg forward and contacted it with the purple dragon's belly. Even with little force, Spike was knocked onto his scaly back. The wrestlers laughed at their leader's bullying of the small dragon.

Spike was helped to his feet by Rarity. "Now stop that! You six are nothing but bullies. Twilight's relationship with Princess Celestia means a lot to her," Rarity snapped at the P.W.O..

"Why? Because she is so special?" Ice Cold asked.

"If it wasn't for Twilight, we wouldn't have defeated Night Mare Moon and Discord. So we think you should back off on the attacks on her," Rainbow Dash stepped up.

"So she needs you to stand up for her? Just shows us further how weak she is. The Princess really thought this unicorn was worth her time to take under her wing and teach. I think it more shows that the Princess is a bigger fool than her student," Violet further accused.

"Why you--," Spike spoke sternly while clinching his claws.

"But if she doesn't want to be a failure to the Princess, then I guess we'll just have to leave it at that. Six against five is better odds for us. Unless this tiny dragon wants to take her place," Violet spoke again while placing her hoof on the top of Spike's head.

Smack! A sudden pain brushed across Violet's face. A slap from the hoof of Twilight Sparkle. Twilight had joined beside her friends. Her eyes were full of anger with little drips of tears forming underneath. Her teeth gripped together. Violet only gave a small laugh as a response to the assault against her.

"You just shut up!" Twilight shouted at Violet Velvet. "I'm not going to stand by and let you insult me, my friends, or the Princess. You want to fight us? You got it! We accept your challenge. We'll see you at Hoovamania. And you can count on us to be there."

"Good," the red unicorn smiled at the acceptance from Twilight. "We look forward to facing off against the six of you. We will show all of Equestria what losers you really are and that without those powers, you are just weak, little ponies."

"You know we're going to hurt you," Ice Cold affirmed to their opponents.

Neither Twilight, her friends, or even Spike flinched at Ice Cold's statement.

"Bring it on," said Applejack.

"It will be the Elements of Harmony verses the P.W.O.. Sounds like a match worth waiting for," said Twilight. The rest of her friends nodded in agreement, though Fluttershy only nodded slowly.

"It does," Violet agreed. "We'll see you there. Be sure to be ready cause we'll make short work of you. Let's go girls and leave these little ponies so that they can get prepared for defeat." The P.W.O. ponies laughed and trotted off in the other direction.

Twilight and her friends stood in silence as they watched the enemy ponies leave the vicinity. The thought went through all their minds about what had just happened.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Fluttershy asked.

"A fight that we must win," Applejack responded back.

"You're right, AJ," Twilight matched with Applejack's response. "Let's get to the library. This is something we have to plan for."

The six ponies and the little dragon galloped across the town square in the direction of the library.