Dragonball Super: Rise of The Super Alicorn God

by UltraInstinctGoku

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Other, Starlight Glimmer, Romance, Adventure, My Little Pony: The Movie, Crossover, Dragon Ball Z, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, Gore
Length: 127614

What would have happened if Lord Beerus was actually able to defeat Son Goku and destroy the Earth? What if the Super Saiyan God, just like his father Bardock, was sent to another world instead of dying a blazing death?

Lord Beerus, God of Destruction of Universe 7, woke up after several years to face a warrior that his Prophetic Dream says will be his ultimate rival, The Super Saiyan God, Son Goku. During the fierce battle between the 2 deities that is able to shake the very Universe, Beerus's Blast Attack is able both to destroy Earth and send our Hero to another world.

Son Goku finds himself in a land called Equestria as an Alicorn and must adapt to his new home and get stronger in order to protect it from any threats. Will Goku surpass the power of the Super Saiyan God with the help of his new friends or will he fail once again to protect the ones he cares?

Set after the events of the Battle of Gods Saga of Dragon Ball Super and from the beginning of the 4th Season of MLP FIM onwards.

1) Battle of Gods Saga

2) Lord Tirek Saga

3) Resurrection of "F" Saga

4) The Dazzlings Saga

5) Starlight Glimmer Saga

6) Tournament of Destroyers Saga

7) Revenge of Starlight Saga

8) The Dragon Lord Saga

9) Goku Black Saga

10) Wrath of Chrysalis Saga

11) Tournament of Power Saga

12) Broly Saga

13) Rebirth of Daybreaker Saga

14) Return of the Pillars Saga

15) The Storm King Saga

Published 2018-04-28 00:40:11 UTC
Last updated 2024-07-14 20:18:14 UTC

Battle of Gods Saga: Welcome to Equestria, Son Goku! - Edited

Author's Note

Alright, here is the second chapter. I hope you like it.

Battle of Gods Saga: Welcome to Equestria, Son Goku! - Edited

[Canterlot Castle, Infirmary]

"Hi, my name's Son Goku,” started the Saiyan, “But you can just call me 'Goku', it’s easier that way," finishing off with his trademark smile. The mares and baby dragon were caught off guard. Normally, one would expect some confidentiality or at least questions like 'Who are you', 'Where am I?' or 'What's happened to me?'. But here, this alicorn was telling them his name with a bright, innocent, and carefree smile, as if he was greeting some new ponies as if nothing happened.

"Hi Goku, I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie, but my friends just call me 'Pinkie Pie' or 'Pinkie' in short too," started the pink Earth Pony, anticipating her friends, full of joy, "I'm always happy to meet new friends because we are friends now, aren't we? Do you like parties? I love parties! Speaking of parties, I have to organize your Welcome Party and -" her mouth was closed by Applejack's hoof who laughed in embarrassment.

"Ehehe yep, this is our Pinkie Pie," the apple farmer started, "Always hyperactive and organizing parties. Anyways, the name's Applejack."

"My name is Rarity, nice to make your acquaintance, Goku," greeted the alabaster Unicorn Pony.

"Rainbow Dash, Fastest Flyer in all of Equestria," proudly said the cyan Pegasus Pony, quickly adding, "And don't get me wrong but your name is pretty weird."

"RAINBOW DASH!" yelled Rarity because of her friend's rude comment.

"What?"

Rarity just shook her head and said, "We apologize for our friend's rudeness, but we guarantee she's not a bad pony."

"Ehehe," laughed Goku a little bit embarrassed as he was rubbing his mane with his hoof, "It's fine, she reminded me of a friend of mine when we first met: she said the same words." He was referring to Bulma.

"Ehm.. m-my name is Fluttershy," said the yellow pegasus with a shy tone. Goku smiled at her and then turned his head to the last 3 who have still yet to introduce themselves.

"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle and this is my number one assistant, Spike," said the lavender alicorn as she was motioning towards the purple dragon.

"Wow! You're a princess? That must be so cool!" exclaimed the Saiyan God with a bright and honest smile. Even though he met another princess before and married her, he didn't really know what kind of life the royalty led, apart from what Chi-Chi told him about it. His wife always said that to live as a princess was one of the most marvelous things on Earth.

Twilight blushed, not much because of the comment itself, but because of the sincerity in his words and smile. Was being a princess that impressive for him?

"Ehm... Twilight, are you alright?" Goku asked worriedly.

"Uh... Y-yes, why do you ask?" answered Twilight, not noticing her blushing.

"Your face turned red suddenly, have you got a fever?" he said, still worried about her.

Twilight just shook her head to regain her composure and said, "I'm fine Goku, you don't need to worry about it." Goku just tilted his head in confusion as everypony giggled because of this scene, much to the oblivious stallion. Goku never understood the strange behavior of girls before and probably never will, so he decided to let it go.

"I am Princess Celestia, it’s nice to meet you, Son Goku," said the last mare. Even though she thought that he most likely knew her, she still introduced herself out of politeness.

"It’s nice to meet you all," smiled Goku.

"Now that introductions are over, you don't mind telling us who the hay you are, and why you fell from the sky like that?" asked an impatient Rainbow Dash, barely able to contain her curiosity.

"And where do you come from, and why have we never heard of you, even though you're an Alicorn?" added Twilight. Just like Rainbow, she too wanted to know about the mysterious stallion

"An 'Alicorn'?" asked Goku as he started to check his body. He saw that he had hooves instead of hands on his arms or forelegs, he turned his head from left to right to see his flanks and saw that he had a pair of wings. Lastly, he checked his forehead and felt a horn. Goku never realized this change of body until now, even after he left the bed to meet his newfound friends, "W-what happened to me?!" he added surprised by his radical change.

"We don't know partner, it is you who must tell us," said Applejack.

Goku then started to remember what happened. He was fighting against Beerus the Destroyer, who wanted to destroy Earth. He was trying to stop his massive ball of destruction from reaching the planet, but everything turned black all of a sudden. The fact he was surrounded by talking ponies, and that he turned into one proved that he was in another world, perhaps another dimension. “But if it that was true, it meant that the Earth, along with my family and friends were…”, he gritted his teeth at this thought as his expression turned to one of fury and rage, his gaze staring at nothing in particular.

The mares and the dragon around him were now worried, concern sketching their faces because of this sudden change of behavior. They were about to ask what was the matter, but they stopped once the floor started to shake slightly and sparks of lightning appeared around him. His mane began to flow upwards as the sparks around him intensified. Suddenly, his once wild, black mane turned spiky and golden, and his once dark irises turned into a sea green color. A yellow aura formed around him, with bolts of lightning spurring on occasion. As all of this was going on, the Elements of Harmony, Spike, and even Princess Celestia were backing away in fear, especially Fluttershy. All of them were shocked, some were even downright scared by what they were witnessing.

Unbeknownst to them, Goku had turned into a Super Saiyan.

The Sun Goddess tried to hide her fear in an attempt to not appear weak in front of her subjects, regardless if they were her friends. “Such power...” Celestia thought, “Wild and full of wrath, he could easily outmatch King Sombra or even Discord!" Who was this Alicorn? How is it possible that he can store such power? He could easily be the greatest threat Equestria had ever faced! She then stared at the eyes of the stallion and was surprised to see the emotions in them. There wasn't just anger, but also sorrow, sadness, and guilt. She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt compassion for him, maybe he wasn't a threat after all.

After a while, Goku’s display of raw power began to subside, with the sparks ceasing to be. She approached the enraged Alicorn and placed a hoof on his shoulder, a motherly smile on her face. He stared at her and began to calm down. After some time, he turned back to his base form, or normal state, much to the relief of everypony there. "Sorry," he said solemnly.

"Why don't you tell us what happened from the beginning?" Celestia asked gently, as everypony started to approach him.

Goku nodded and began to tell his tale.

“It all started when I was visiting King Kai's planet. It was just like any other day of the week, I was doing my training routine on his world, while King Kai and his companions, Bubbles, and Gregory, were minding their own business. If my memory serves correctly, they were renovating their house, though they seem to have trouble doing it,” Goku stated, scratching his head when he thought about why they kept on failing to do their job.

Twilight wanted to ask Goku about this King Kai, the world he lived in, and a whole multitude of other things. She was about to, but Celestia as if she was expecting it, placed her hoof on her shoulder, and shook her head while looking at her. She knew Twilight would ask questions to satisfy her curiosity and acquire more knowledge about the world around her. For the time being, however, it was best if they didn’t interrupt, and let Goku speak his tale on how he arrived here. The others saw this and got the message immediately, much to the dismay of Twilight.

“But that all changed when Lord Beerus, the God of Destruction, alongside his assistant, Whis, arrived on the planet,” Goku said in a somewhat angry tone

“G-god of De-destruction?” Fluttershy said in a whisper, wide-eyed and scared to no end at the prospect of a being whose sole purpose was to destroy. The others had reactions not too dissimilar to Fluttershy’s.

“He came to King Kai’s place in search of something called the Super Saiyan God. At first, I didn’t know what that was, and Beerus was left disappointed in not finding what he was looking for. Regardless though, I challenged him to a fight and fought him with everything I got. But even then, I did next to no damage as he toyed around me as if I was nothing,” Goku stated, with the final part said sadly.

“Beerus and Whis left after our first encounter, no doubt to Earth, my home planet, in search of the Super Saiyan God. I was left to recuperate and wondered how to achieve the Super Saiyan God. That’s when I realized that the answer lies within the Dragon Balls.”

“Dragon Balls?..... Oh boy, I hope it’s not what I think it is” Rainbow Dash thought, blushing a little in embarrassment. She may not be able to read her friends' minds, but she wouldn’t be surprised if they mistook it as THAT subject. She also hoped that Spike didn’t interpret Goku’s message the wrong way.

“After recovering from my injuries, I quickly left in search of my friends, as I was sure they had some if not all of the Dragon Balls. I didn’t know what happened on Earth exactly, but when I got there, Beerus appeared to have been angry. I informed the others about who Beerus was and begged him to give us more time to search for a way to become a Super Saiyan God. He agreed to the idea, leaving us to summon the wish-granting dragon Shenron from the Dragon Balls brought for Bulma’s birthday party.”

Pinkie Pie snapped to attention when Goku mentioned his friend’s birthday party. The fact that somepony had, from what looked to be, wish-granting orbs for their birthday present of some sort left her amazed. “The endless opportunities I would wish for,” she thought happily. She, along with the others, was becoming more invested in the story.

“We asked Shenron about the Super Saiyan God, and how to achieve it. According to him, the Super Saiyan God was a legend about a warrior who transformed into a God to defeat the evil Saiyans but failed due to the form’s time limit. He also stated that in order to achieve it, five righteous Saiyans were required to pour their hearts into the sixth Saiyan and that Saiyan would become a Super Saiyan God. Once that was done, I, along with my sons, Gohan and Goten, Vegeta, along with his son Trunks, and Videl, performed the ritual. All of them poured their energy into me, and I suddenly felt the divine power of the legendary form”.

By now, all of the mares and the baby dragon had their full-blown attention, due to the story sounding more and more fascinating as it went by.

“Beerus was finally satisfied he found what he was looking for, and we were getting ready for round two. I had to admit, at first, I was sloppy, as I was not used to this new form. But as the battle went on, the better I got in controlling it. We fought everywhere, trading powerful blows while at it. It reached the point that Beerus had had enough and decided to end the fight with a devastating attack, intending to destroy the planet alongside myself.”

The others gasped in shock, speechless at how one could be so heartless to decide to destroy an entire planet with all sorts of life and ponies on it.

“I put everything I had into stopping the attack. Even after I lost my God form, I was determined to save my home and family!” Goku said in frustration, “But even then, I was unable to stop it, and I was knocked out cold. I didn't know what happened next, but then I woke up here and…. you know the rest.” Goku ended in a sad and defeated manner, hanging his head down in shame and guilt.

The Elements of Harmony and Spike were astonished by what they had heard. Was he really an alien? And if that wasn't enough, he became a God and fought a deity! They wanted to believe this new pony, they really did, but some parts of them clung to skepticism due to it sounding over the top and even ridiculous to be real. However, their skepticism and doubt were washed away when their friend, Applejack, spoke up solemnly, "He's telling the truth."

Everypony but Celestia was left stunned by that statement. "A-are you sure?" asked Twilight, with the farmer nodding sadly in response. If Applejack, the Element of Honesty, said that what Goku told them was true, it must be.

"So this Beerus guy destroyed your world, and you somehow arrived here?" asked Rainbow Dash still surprised.

"Yeah," admitted Goku, "That's what happened... I think." He wasn't totally sure yet of what happened after the fight.

The others were now left to their own, thinking about what they had heard. While Twilight, Celestia, Rainbow, Applejack, and Spike all had sad and sympathetic looks, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy were expressing deep sorrow for the recently arrived stallion.

“That must’ve been… horrifying. I can’t imagine failing and losing everypony I cared for and loved… especially at the moment they needed me the most,” Rarity internally said, on the verge of tears. Pinkie and Fluttershy were no different from Rarity, with the party pony having lost all of her poofy hair as she was imagining herself in Goku’s position.

"Oh... We're so sorry for you, Goku. It must have been... horrible to lose your home, family, and friends in such an awful way," said a sorrow-ridden Fluttershy, as the others nodded in agreement.

"Ah don't worry for me guys, I'll be fine," said Goku with a sad smile, but then added. "By the way, where am I?"

In an attempt to lighten up the dull mood in the room, Twilight spoke up, "Well… um… Welcome to Equestria, Goku. You are currently in Canterlot Castle's infirmary," answered Twilight with a smile.

"Twilight brought you here after you crashed," added Spike.

"Really? Thanks, Twilight, for saving me," thanked Goku with his trademark smile.

"Oh I didn't do it alone, there were my friends too!"

After getting herself together, Rarity said, "Yes darling, but it was your idea to bring him here. If we had taken him to the hospital, we would not have had time to save his life" and later added, "The Castle was much closer."

"Yes but-"

"Anyways, I would like to say thank you to all of you, as well as the others for taking care of me!" exclaimed Goku.

An awkward silence took over, as nopony knew what to say or were left to their own devices. Spike decided to bring up something important.

"Well, now that his story is settled, where will he live? He can't return home for obvious reasons," asked the dragon. He did have a point, Earth was destroyed so there wasn't anypony who was waiting for his return. However, there was a problem, most of the Element's Bearers didn't have enough space for a guest at the moment.

“I’m sorry Goku, but the current guest room in my home is currently occupied by my good friend Mr. Bear. I’m also not sure how the other critters in my home would react to you,” Fluttershy said softly.

“My only guest room is being occupied by my dear little sister, Sweetie Belle. I don’t think I can be able to arrange a room for you darling,” Rarity said.

“I mean, I live on a farm with my family, and have plenty of space in the barn that we don’t mind sharing with you,” Applejack added, “But you got some pretty big wounds there and I don’t want to risk you getting an infection.”

“My house only has one room so there isn’t enough space for two ponies,” Rainbow Dash said. Though what she said was just a mere excuse, the real reason was that she didn't feel comfortable sharing her house with a stranger, let alone an alien.

Pinkie Pie put her hoof on his chin as she was thinking about where their new friend could live and suddenly a lamp literally popped up from nowhere over the mare's head when she found the solution. "What about Golden Oak Library?" said the party pony enthusiastically.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed the lavender alicorn.

"Yeah, he will be a super-duper guest for you. He's an alien from another world. You could study him whenever you want if he lives with you. Not only that, he can assist Spike with his library duties after your study sessions."

"Study?" said Goku confused.

“But couldn’t you provide him with living arrangements Pinkie?” Spike said

“Of course not, silly. My home is all the way in Rockville. And besides, I’m currently living under the Cakes, so they decide whether or not Goku stays with me. I doubt they have more room as they already have me and the twins to take care of,” Pinkie responded.

Twilight thought about this. She wasn’t wrong. In fact, it wasn't a bad idea, having an alien within the reach of a hoof was not something you get to experience. Plus, Spike sometimes needs some help to clean up after her studies so she made her decision. "Very well, if you don't mind Goku, you can live with me and Spike," she said with a smile.

"Thank you, Twilight. First, you saved my life and now you are offering me a place to stay, I'll have to repay you in some way in the future," answered the Saiyan-turned-Alicorn, rubbing the back of his head with his hoof as he was smiling.

"Don't worry, Goku, it's a pleasure to help a friend in need. Because now we’re friends, right?"

"Yeah, sure!"

"I'll make sure to organize your Welcome-to-Ponyville/Equestria Party when you get there!" exclaimed a joyous Pinkie Pie. There was something she loved more than sweets and parties, and that was to meet new friends and to organize their Welcome Party.

"It’s not really necessary to have a party just for me, Pinkie," said Goku still rubbing the back of his head with his hoof.

"Oh don't be silly, Goku, it is a pleasure for me to do it."

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia was very silent throughout the conversation after Goku's story, especially after hearing the name, Lord Beerus. She’d heard of the Kais, the Angel assistant Whis, but it was Beerus that caused her to stop and think. After her long contemplation, she decided to speak up, "I'm sorry for what happened to you, Son Goku, no pony deserves such a tragic destiny. But if you want, you can give Equestria a chance to call home," offered the Sun Goddess with a smile.

Goku would have sworn he felt a hint of guilt in her words but decided to let it go, and smiled innocently at her offer, "Thank you, Princess."

[Supreme Kai's Planet]

Two beings were currently watching over the universe. The wise and old Supreme Kai and his attendant Kibito Kai have been looking for Goku since his battle against Lord Beerus, an event that occurred two and a half months ago. The friends and family of the Saiyan have been hosted by King Kai on his planet ever since Earth's destruction. As far as they know, Goku didn't appear in the afterlife, so it meant that he was still alive. The question was... Where is he now? They searched in every angle of the Earth's Solar System and beyond, trying to sense his Ki but they weren't able to find him.

Maybe the reason why they couldn't sense him was that he was heavily wounded after that struggle to stop Beerus's giant destructive orb, leaving his Ki near zero. But where could he be right now? He can’t be in space, otherwise, he would have arrived in Other World. They had looked around, trying to sense his energy for more than two months. How was that possible? He couldn't vanish like a ghost unless...

"What if he fell into another dimension?" asked Supreme Kai to no one in particular.

"Another dimension, Supreme Kai?" asked a confused Kibito Kai.

"The power of Lord Beerus' attack was strong enough to break through the dimensional wall of the universe. What if Goku fell into a portal that was opened by his struggle to stop Beerus’ destructive orb? It is possible he fell into a Pocket Dimension," theorized the deity.

"A Pocket Dimension?"

The Old Kai just shook his head and sighed as he said, "You don't even know what a Pocket Dimension is, right?" Kibito Kai nodded slowly, leaving Supreme Kai to yell at him, “You need to study more!” He was very disappointed with his student.

"Ehehe," laughed the fusion in embarrassment.

"Anyways, a Pocket Dimension is a place where time flows slower or faster than here and has its own laws of physics. Despite the changes from the main universe, it is still part of it. In simple words, it's a place that isn't synchronized with the rest of the universe, where anything can happen." explained the elder one and added, "So wherever Goku is now, several years have already passed or just hours or minutes."

"So there is a possibility that Goku fell into one of those dimensions, but which one?"

"It's what we will find out soon," said the Old Kai as he materialized a Crystal Ball.

[Canterlot Castle, Equestria]

It was late afternoon. Twilight, Goku, and Spike were walking, or trotting, through the hallways of the castle, as the lavender Alicorn and her assistant were checking and double-checking the list of things to do in preparation for the Summer Sun Celebration. The rest of the mares had returned to Ponyville to help the town with their own preparations for that special day, much to Twilight's displeasure.

So, Goku, despite not having fully recovered from his wounds and still having bandages on his body, kept her and Spike company and helped them with their duties. It was also an opportunity to get to know each other better and to show the Castle to their new friend.

"Checked, checked aaand checked," Spike said happily, "Hey, we've finished earlier than expected, Twilight! All credit is due to your number one assistant. Oh, and Goku helped too."

"You’re right, Spike," agreed Twilight and added, "You two were very helpful, especially Goku. By the way, what was that teleportation spell? You didn't even use your horn." The black-maned alicorn teleported them several times all across Canterlot to check the festivities' arrangements, making the work for Twilight and Spike faster to finish.

"You mean, Instant Transmission? It's not magic, it's just a technique I learned years ago," he answered with a smile.

"A technique?" she asked intrigued by his statement.

"Yeah, but you can learn it only if you know how to control and sense Ki Energy."

"What's Ki Energy"? asked Spike.

"It's the energy that resides in every living being, Spike, and if you control it, you can do a lot of things like teleporting, shooting blasts, or even fly!"

"Wow, seriously?!" asked the purple dragon with stars in his eyes.

"Yeah" nodded Goku with his trademark smile.

Spike started to imagine himself as a muscled and handsome dragon wearing a red cape and armor as he defeated with ease the Changelings Army, shooting energy blasts and throwing punches. He was approaching the Changelings Castle, where Lady Rarity was locked up by the evil Queen Chrysalis.

The Changeling Queen ordered her drones to keep attacking the Dragon Knight as more of them came out from the fortress, but Spike used Instant Transmission to appear right behind the queen and kick her flank, sending her deep into the badlands. Then he teleported in front of the door of the room where the alabaster mare was jailed. He unhinged it with one mighty claw and entered.

"Lady Rarity, fear no more, your indomitable Knight is here to save you!" exclaimed Spike with a cocky smile.

"Oh, Spike, my hero!" said the alabaster mare, dressed as a princess, as the armored dragon was carrying her bridal style and flew away, even if he hadn't wings.

Meanwhile, Goku was waving his hoof in front of the baby dragon, who had hearts in his eyes and an infatuated expression. "Ehm, Spike? Are you alright?" he asked in worry.

Twilight just rolled her eyes in annoyance at her assistant's behavior, "Forget it, he's just being carried away by his imagination."

"Okay, if you say so..." said the white alicorn, totally not sure about what his new friend had told him. Obviously, he wasn't aware of Spike's crush.

"Hey, Goku."

"Yes?"

"What was that thing you did back in the infirmary? You know, that yellow spiked mane thing," asked Twilight. Since that moment, she was wondering what kind of magic he used to do that.

"Oh, that? it was my transformation into a Super Saiyan."

"Super Saiyan? But I thought you became the legendary Super Saiyan God?" Twilight said confusedly

"Yeah, but you see-" he couldn't finish the sentence because of a sudden noise that came from his belly. Goku hadn't eaten anything since his training on King Kai's planet, and he was able to resist hunger thanks to Celestia's healing spell. Now he was pretty famished. "Ehehehe, isn't there something to eat around here? I'm starving," he asked rubbing the back of his head and laughing in embarrassment.

"Ehm, of course. We were about to have dinner anyways."

"Great! Can we go to Pony Joe?" asked Spike, finally returning to reality.

"Sure, Spike. Hey, Goku, do you like donuts?"

"Sure. I like anything that can be eaten."

"You will like it, Goku! There you can eat all the donuts you want," said the little dragon.

"Really?! I can't wait!" Goku said as his mouth was watering.

"Alright then, let's go," Twilight said as they were now going out of the castle to the Donut Shop of Pony Joe, the same shop where she went with her friends after the disaster of the Grand Galloping Gala, as well as where Spike probably stayed throughout the party. What Twilight and Spike didn't know was that when you say 'you can eat all you want' to Goku… let’s just say it isn't exactly a good idea. They would figure it out sooner rather than later.

[Pony Joe’s Donut Shop, somewhere near the Canterlot's Castle]

Twilight, Spike, and Joe were stunned by the ferocious appetite of the white Alicorn. There were 10 dishes piled up next to him. Calculating that there were ten donuts per dish, meant Goku had already eaten a hundred donuts and, like it wasn't enough, he wanted more. Luckily she was a princess, and ponies usually didn't ask her to pay for their products or services, much to her reluctance. Plus, Joe was an old acquaintance of the two. If he wasn't, then she would be in quite some trouble.

"Ehm, Goku?" started Spike, "How can you eat that much and still be hungry? I thought that the only one who could eat like that was Pinkie!"

"Also, you could have the risk of indigestion," warned Twilight.

"Oh, don't worry guys," started Goku as he was finishing the 15th dish, "*Munch* I usually eat more than this *Munch* I have had this appetite since I was a kid".

"'Kid'?" asked Spike with a raised eyebrow. The last time he heard that word was when he and Twilight went to the Human World to catch Sunset Shimmer and get the Element of Magic back.

"Yeah, or should I say 'colt', now?" asked the Martial Artist to no pony in particular after he finished the seventeenth dish.

"Wait… You are not an alien pony?" asked Twilight. Goku never explained he wasn't a pony in his story and she thought that the 'Super Saiyan God' and the 'Super Saiyan' were the names of transformations. She also thought the term ‘Saiyan’ was used to describe some sort of nationality, culture, or even a new equine group.

"No, I'm a Saiyan raised on Earth. You do know what Humans are, right?"

"Yeah, Twilight and I traveled to another world where these Humans lived. It happened some time ago," Spike responded.

"Well, the Saiyans were a warrior race that looked similar in appearance to Humans. In fact, the only difference between Saiyans and Humans is that we Saiyans are born with a tail and tend to have spiky hair," explained Goku.

"Oooh," they said, understanding the true nature of their new friend

“Wait. Were?” Twilight thought internally. She would have to ask him about his heritage sometime in the future.

"Heh, you got used to your new body almost instantly unlike somepony else," said Spike with a mocking tone, much to Twilight's annoyance.

"HEY!" protested the lavender mare.

They both laughed as Twilight was annoyed by Spike’s teasing. They then broke off and Spike said, "Hey, Goku, do you think you can... teach me how to control my Ki? Please!"

"But I'm not good at such things as teaching. I mean, yeah I trained Gohan, but he already knew the basics."

"Oh come on, Goku! I don't need to learn everything, just the necessary to be able to fly or at least know how to fire blasts!" pleaded the purple dragon.

"Hmmm,” Goku pondered, “Alright, I'll teach you," he said in defeat, but with a bright smile. Gohan taught Videl how to fly so it shouldn't be so difficult, right?

"Awesome!"

Twilight didn't believe that. Flying without wings or magic? Ridiculous. Even though she knew Ki Energy allowed somepony to teleport just like magic, the possibility that it would allow flying, shooting blasts, and Celestia knew what else, left her in doubt. She wanted to see it before believing it.

"By the way, Twilight, I saw you got some problems flying. I can help you if you want," offered the black-maned alicorn.

"Really?" She asked a little surprised.

"Yeah, consider it as a 'thank you' for everything you've done for me," he said with his innocent smile.

"L-like I said, Goku, it was a pleasure to help a friend in need," answered the lavender alicorn, who was unconsciously blushing.

"Somepony got a crush," teased Spike. After those words were spoken, Twilight's eyes opened wide.

"What are you talking about?!" she said angrily as she turned her head to the dragon.

"Oh right, you like that Flash guy," he continued.

"Spike!" she exclaimed in a warning tone.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop," said in defeat but still giggling, much to the princess's annoyance.

Goku tilted his head in confusion because of this scene. Crush? Flash? What were they talking about? And why did Twilight's face turn red again? He just shrugged and continued to eat as the two were still arguing. As stated previously, Goku will never understand the strange behavior of girls.

[Canterlot's Castle Hallways]

Princess Celestia was walking through the hallways to her bedroom after a tiring day, letting in her sister in charge for the night. However, she couldn't help but think about what Son Goku told in his story, especially that name, Lord Beerus. Several years have passed since her last meeting with him and his assistant, the Angel Whis, and even more since their first encounter.

The God of Destruction... he wasn't somepony or 'somebody' you easily forget, especially if he decided to destroy your world. But that wasn't the only reason why she remembered him. She also thought about what Son Goku said about his battle against the deity. If he was strong enough to force the purple cat to use one of his strongest attacks in order to defeat him, Equestria could just have gained a very powerful ally. The power she felt earlier in the infirmary confirmed the stallion's might. If he and the Elements of Harmony teamed up, they could be the kingdom's ultimate defense.

While she was thinking happily about this, she didn't notice the sound of something breaking through the floor behind her. The thing looked like some sort of black-spined root that approached and captured her. All the Sun Goddess could do was yell a little bit but, somehow, no pony heard her, not even the Royal guards. However, Celestia wasn't the only prey the strange root wanted to catch.

Battle of Gods Saga: Shattered Nature - Edited

[Sacred World of the Kais]

The Grand Supreme Kai and Kibito Kai watched the Crystal Ball, looking for the lost Saiyan in every known pocket dimension of the universe. Three and a half months have passed since they started their search but they still haven't found Goku yet. One would ask, why should two Gods waste their time trying to find a mere mortal? Well, after what this particular mortal did for the universe's sake, helped them out, and many others along the way, this was the least they could do for him.

"Grand Supreme Kai, how long will it take? We have already checked ten pocket dimensions, but we still have no trace of Goku at all," asked Kibito Kai.

"Be patient, no one said it was going to be easy. I'm sure Goku is in one of these dimensions, so all we can do now is to keep looking for him and hope that we’ll find him,” Supreme Kai said before returning to his search for the missing Saiyan.

"Yes, but-"

"Eureka!" yelled the Old Kai all of a sudden, as he was still watching the crystal orb.

"What?! Did you find Goku?!" asked his assistant enthusiastically.

"Yes! He is in Pocket Dimension 7, on the Green Planet number 7671 which the locals call 'Equus'. It's a world where magic is the main energy source and equines are the dominant species," started to explain the Elder Supreme Kai.

"Equines?"

"Yes, most of them are Ponies, and they are divided into four categories: Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns, and Alicorns." he answered, and added, "The first three sub-groups make up 99% of their population and live in a land called 'Equestria', however, it’s the Alicorns who rule them. The Alicorns are deities just like us, but they have more might."

"What does this have to do with Goku?"

"It seems that Goku transformed into an Alicorn, so he's a deity in that world," simply answered the Old Kai.

"Well, how is he?"

"He's doing alright now. And from the looks of things, he's sleeping at the moment."

"Shouldn’t we tell the others that we finally found Goku?" said Kibito Kai with a smile.

"Yes, I think that after six months of waiting they will be happy to hear the good news. Kibito Kai, Let's inform King Kai about our discovery."

[Lord Beerus' World]

Somewhere deep in the universe stood the Temple of Lord Beerus, where he lived with his assistant, Whis. The temple was a tree-like construction, similar to Golden Oak Library, but with massive differences, figuratively and literally. While Twilight's house was modest and seemed to be welcoming in both the interior and exterior, Beerus’s temple was foreboding and massive, roughly 200 meters ( ~656.17 feet ) in height.

The purple cat was sitting on his chair in the lunchroom as he ate his favorite ice cream. While enjoying the cold treat, he thought about the Super Saiyan God. He was the mightiest opponent he ever faced and the fact that he was such an adversary, even though he hadn't mastered his power, confirmed that, with the right training and practice, he could reach his level... someday.

Now, however, Son Goku was on Equus, most likely healing from wounds or trying to get used to his new equine body. The God of Destruction wanted to see how much stronger he grew, especially after Whis informed him about this Zenkai Boost thing that all Saiyans seem to possess. “An evolutionary trait used to their advantage, no wonder they were so powerful compared to the other mortals,” Beerus thought, "But no matter, Goku's full recovery will come eventually." Lord Beerus knew that not even one day had passed in Equestria, but here, the Main Dimension of Universe 7, six months had already passed, and he was growing impatient because of this.

"Whis!" yelled the deity.

Whis appeared almost instantly next to him and asked, "Yes, Lord Beerus?"

"Check if Goku is in any condition to fight," ordered the God of Destruction.

"Let's see," said the Angel before watching his scepter to check the Saiyan's conditions, and smiled at what he saw, "It seems that most of Goku's wounds are fully healed, Lord Beerus, but I don't think he can fight properly yet: we have to wait a little longer."

"I've waited long enough!" growled Beerus and added, "You can heal him completely when we get there, so he will be able to fight against me properly. I want to see how much this 'Zenkai Boost' improved him. And besides, there is somebody or 'somepony' I want to meet."

"Lord Beerus, I understand you are impatient to meet Son Goku and Celestia but, at the moment, Equestria is in danger, so it's not a good time to go there yet," warned Whis.

The God of Destruction's eyes opened, "What?" asked a little surprised, and added in a serious tone, "What kind of danger are you talking about?"

[Equestria, Canterlot Castle]

Goku was sleeping in one of the castle's guest rooms, next to Twilight's room specifically. To say he didn't seem to have a nice dream was an understatement. He was sweating as he gritted his teeth and moved on the bed like he wanted to dodge something. The black-maned Alicorn was having a nightmare about his battle against Lord Beerus, as he was reliving his defeat and was left powerless in his dream.

“How could you Kakarot, you had one chance and you blew it!” Vegeta's voice yelled in rage.

“Looks like your carefree and confident attitude didn’t help you this time. Now the Earth and everyone on it is dead!” Piccolo’s angry voice can be heard.

“Please Goku, wish us back!” Bulma's voice pleaded.

“Dad, please help us, I don’t like it here,” Goten can be heard in a sad voice.

“GOKU!!!!!” Krillin shouted as he and the others were vaporized, alongside the planet they were on. Their screams and pleas for help reverberated over and over. But all he could do was helplessly watch his friends and family be annihilated into nothing. He wanted to move, do something, anything to stop this madness, but he was unable to.

The dream reached its climax when he saw the Earth becoming a massive fireball, all the while hearing the God of Destruction laughing devilishly. His sinister laugh echoed into his mind until he couldn't take it any longer.

Goku woke up all of a sudden, out of breath, and sweating as he had just run 1000 kilometers (~621.37 miles). He looked around him to make sure where he was. He sighed in relief when he figured out that he was in his room and that was just a nightmare... Yeah, a nightmare... if only it was actually true. He got out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

He looked at himself in the mirror, contemplating what just happened in his dream, and proceeded to refresh himself. “It’s just a nightmare, there’s nothing to worry about. I’m sure they’re doing fine in the Other World,” Goku reassured himself. It was difficult at first because of his new body. He still had to get used to grabbing things with his forehooves, but then he remembered Twilight using her horn to levitate things.

He started to concentrate on finding the magic inside him and began to channel it in his horn which started to glow light blue. He focused his magic on the bar of soap, which started to levitate. Taking a shower was far easier than he expected, all credit due to his innate ability to copy others' skills by just seeing how they were performed. He performed his first Kamehameha when he was a kid after seeing Master Roshi perform it to extinguish a fire, so copying a mere levitation spell was nothing special to him.

Ten minutes later, Goku finally came out of the bathroom, totally refreshed, with a smile. He felt better now and was ready to start the day with a quick training session to learn how to properly use his new body in combat. But first, he wanted to have breakfast. Having a hefty meal was important for the Saiyan or else he would run out of energy completely.

"Twilight said that I had to wait for her and Spike to have breakfast together but I'm hungry now," complained the black-maned Alicorn, "Maybe I can find a forest to take and eat some fruits, maybe grass, train a little, and then return just in time to meet them here," Goku pondered with a hoof on his chin. He knew that now that he was a Pony or Alicorn, he couldn't eat meat anymore, so fruits and vegetables would have been his new diet.

The Saiyan-turned-Pony opened the door of the balcony to take a look at the view. He wanted to see if he could find a forest in the distance. What he saw instead was something strange. There, high in the sky, both the Sun and the Moon were in the sky, as it was divided into 2 parts. On the left side, where the Sun was, it was day, while on the right part, where the Moon was, it was night.

"W-what the...? Now I'm confused, is it day or night?" he asked nopony in particular as he was rubbing the back of his head with his hoof. He had never seen this kind of event before and was wondering if it was common in Equestria. He looked down at the streets of the city and saw several Ponies looking at the sky, no doubt confused like him. So it meant that it was a strange occurrence, even for them, and that something wasn’t right.

"Maybe Twilight knows what's happening," said Goku. He then used Instant Transmission to teleport himself to the lavender Alicorn's room.

[Twilight's Room]

Twilight was sleeping at the desk while Spike was snoring on his golden little bed next to hers. Before going to sleep, they made sure to check at least four additional times the list of the Summer Sun Celebration Day preparations. This was because of the Element of Magic's excessive caution and need to make sure everything was on track. The purple dragon still had a pencil in his claw and the princess was asleep, her head lying on a scroll.

Suddenly, Goku appeared in the room and saw the scene in front of him. He just smiled at seeing his new friends sleep so peacefully and felt almost guilty for having to wake them up. He just hoped that Twilight wouldn't get angry for waking her up as he was approaching her, the last thing he wanted was to annoy or anger his new friend.

"Hey, Twilight." called the white Alicorn with a low tone in order to not wake her up abruptly.

"Mmm," just said the lavender princess still asleep.

"Twilight, wake up," Goku called again, still with a low tone.

Twilight started to open her eyes slowly, finally waking up. She began to rub her eyes to clear her blurry vision, "What's the matter, Spike? I was-" she broke her sentence off when she noticed that the caller wasn't her number one assistant but rather Goku.

"Good morning Twilight!" said the stallion with his trademark smile and added, "Did you sleep well?"

"AAAAH!" yelled Twilight, jumping from her chair and falling from it. It would have been a painful experience if not for Goku catching her in time with his levitation spell.

"Mmm, yeah, Twilight... I already checked the list..." said Spike, who turned around on his bed while sleeping as Goku softly put the lavender princess on the ground.

"Sorry for scaring you Twilight. Are you alright?" he apologized with a worried tone and rubbing his head.

After calming herself down from what happened, she responded to his question, "Yes, I'm fine, but you could at least knock on the door, Goku!" she complained, "By the way, how long have you been here?!" she asked immediately afterward, in an angry and suspicious tone, as she was blushing a little bit.

"I just arrived," he simply answered and added, "Besides, I wanted to ask you about something. What's going on out there?"

Twilight just raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Check the sky out," said Goku as he was motioning towards the window.

The Element of Magic turned his head to see through the window to check what he was talking about and gasped because of what she saw. How was that possible? Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would never let this happen so... how?

"Oh... What time is it?" asked Spike, who woke up because of the noise.

"It's morning..." answered Goku, still not totally sure of what he said, "Or should I say evening?" he then asked nopony in particular as he was rubbing the back of his head.

"We don't know, Spike. Check it out," added Twilight motioning the sky.

Spike saw the sky split in day and night, as the Sun and the Moon were in their respective parts, and said in a marveled tone, "Woah!” He got up from his bed and looked out from the balcony, “Now THAT’s weird."

"Come on, guys, let's figure out what's going on," said the lavender mare as she left the room quickly. Goku followed her soon, but the purple dragon was not as willing as the other two.

“Aw come on! I just woke up!” Spike complained as he followed the two out of the door. “At least give me some time to have breakfast… or dinner, whatever it is!” His voice can be heard down the hallway.

[Canterlot Castle's Secondary Entrance]

The three came out of the castle when a crowd of nobles surrounded them, asking a whole slew of questions to one of their Princesses. Twilight was taken aback by this as Spike and Goku were wondering where the hay they came from. The Element of Magic didn't know what to answer to the nobles because she didn’t know what was going on either.

“Your Highness, do you know what’s happening out there?"

“Is this part of the Summer Sun Celebration?”

“Did the Princesses retire all of a sudden?”

Twilight was taken aback by the questions being asked, trying her hardest to come up with a good answer, but instead, her mind went blank, “Uhhhhh…” Goku and Spike looked at her, confused by her long drawl.

Fortunately, the Solar Guards arrived on time to save her from further embarrassment.

"Your majesty, you have to come with us," said one of them in a worried expression. While most of them held back the group of nobles who were continuously asking questions, one of them led the way. With the path cleared from any Ponies, the guard led the way to the castle's main gate as Twilight, Spike, and Goku followed him.

The trio entered the castle and the Solar Guards closed the gates behind them. They seemed to be very worried and a little mortified for some reason. Neither the lavender princess, her assistant nor the white Alicorn knew. They would find out soon though.

"It's about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," started the first royal guard.

"They have disappeared!" exclaimed the second guard in a worried tone.

"WHAAAT?!" Spike and Twilight yelled at the same time.

Goku's eyes opened wide at this. Celestia and Luna had disappeared? Maybe he could help find them by sensing their Ki. Twilight told him that Luna was Celestia's little sister, so her Ki had to be similar to her big sister's. The day before, when he met the Sun Princess at the infirmary, he sensed a very strong Ki within her. It was somehow similar to Beerus's but was far weaker than the Hakaishin's, so it wouldn't be so difficult to sense.

Meanwhile, Twilight was talking to the guards, who explained to her that because of the disappearance of the Royal Sisters and the fact that the Goddess of Love, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence for short, was ruling the Crystal Empire at the moment, the Royal Guard would have to be taking orders from her.

The princess, without a clear title yet, was caught off completely by this. At first, she didn't know what to order to the guards who were bowing and waiting for her orders but then she was able to regain her composure and said, "I want you to keep looking for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna: We must find them before the panic breaks out." She was trying to act like royalty as she was spreading her wings in a regal way and continued, "There has to be some clue that tells us what’s happened to them. If you find out something, anything, refer it to me immediately."

The guards just saluted and started to execute Princess Twilight's orders as she sighed in relief, thinking she did a good job. Spike gave a playful slap on her shoulder and congratulated her, "Good job, Twilight! This is how the command is assumed!"

"Hey, Twilight," finally said Goku, "I have an easier way to figure out where the princesses are."

"Really? Which one?!" she asked enthusiastically.

"I could try to sense Celestia's Ki. Once locked onto her, we could teleport to wherever she and her sister are," he answered with a confident smile.

"Great! Then do it!" exclaimed the lavender mare, full of joy and relief. She remembered the whole Ki sensing thing that Goku explained to her and, right now, was very grateful to have made a friend with this kind of ability. She was also interested in this particular skill and wanted to learn it. That had to wait for now.

Goku was about to start tracking the Sun Princess' Ki signature when suddenly, the gates opened, revealing a solar guard who said in a worried tone, "Your Majesty! We received news from Ponyville: the Everfree Forest is out of control!"

"What?!" yelled Twilight in surprise. First Princess Celestia and Princess Luna vanished, and now this? What in Equestria was going on? She just hoped that her friends were not harmed in any way.

[Fluttershy's Cottage, Ponyville-Everfree Forest Border]

Meanwhile, Fluttershy's pets and animal friends were hiding inside the Pegasus' home, as they were trembling with fear of what was happening outside. The yellow mare was trying to calm down her little and big companions. She had never seen them so afraid, especially Angel, her pet bunny, who was usually the bravest of them all but, right now, even his courage had subsided. Something serious must have happened to leave them in such a state.

"Good heavens! What is it that has upset you so much?" she asked them. The Element of Kindness had the ability to understand the language of almost any kind of animal, so she hoped for an answer. But almost all of her friends were too afraid to 'speak'. Mr. Bear just motioned the door to tell her that there was something outside.

"Calm down: whatever it is, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about," Fluttershy reassured as she approached the door. It was ironic given the shy nature of the Pegasus who, at one point in her life, was afraid of her own shadow.

She opened the door and what she saw horrified her beyond belief: Her garden was being invaded by weird root-like spiny things that were growing at an impressive speed and approaching her cottage more and more. Fluttershy couldn't help but yell in fear as she closed the door as fast as she could and said, "You have the right to be worried! VERY VERY WORRIED!"

She was wondering what in Equestria was going on, but her main thought was to save her friends from those thorny, black things… somehow.

[Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville's Outskirt]

Meanwhile, those black-spined roots were assaulting the Apple Family's farm, growing from the ground at incredible speed. Granny Smith, Applebloom, Big McIntosh, or 'Big Mac' for short, and Applejack were trying to eradicate the abnormal roots. But it was not as easy as they thought. Earth Ponies had the innate ability to work the land in order to make it fruitful and to eliminate weeds and other threats to the land. So, they were not worried at first. Now, however, these things were giving them a run for their money.

"Come on everypony, give everything you got! Do your best!" encouraged Granny Smith as she was trying to eradicate a root in vain.

Applebloom was trying to eradicate a root but with the same results as her Granny. Big Mac was trying to catch up to at least one of them... but that too was in vain. By then, the barn was completely invaded by the roots as they kept growing and growing, though the efforts of the Apple Family kept them under control… for now.

"By the Apples! We've never had this kind of problem with the weeds!" exclaimed the Element of Honesty. How was it possible that mere roots were so resistant? But then she noticed something, "Wait a moment, I'd never seen this kind of weeds before," and asked her family, "Have ya?"

"Nope," Big Mac answered grimly.

“Nu-uh,” Applebloom said.

“Got nothin’ from me, youngin,” Granny Smith answered.

"Where did they come from?" she asked again but this time to nopony in particular and added, "And what in tarnation is happenin' to the sky??" referring to the weird conditions of the day (or night?) as strange clouds started to fill the sky. They were dark and spiney, just like the roots she and her family were currently fighting against.

[Ponyville, Above Downtown]

Rainbow Dash was soaring through the sky as she was trying to destroy the weird clouds. The Pegasi had the ability to touch them to control the weather, but these dark-spined ones didn't want to collaborate. The Element of Loyalty was tackling some of them but they seemed to be unbreakable and kept advancing through the skies of the quaint town.

"Do I have to use heavy artillery?" asked in a warning tone to nopony in particular, even though she seemed to be talking to the clouds. But after those words were spoken, the dark spiney clouds started to shoot thunderbolts at her and, in response, she started to dodge the incoming threats, "What in Equestria is going on?!"

[Carousel Boutique]

Rarity still wasn't aware of what was happening to the town, somehow. In fact, the only thing she noticed was that the sky had something wrong, but she did not give too much importance to it and went to have breakfast instead. Meanwhile, the dark-spined roots arrived at her house, revealing they had mystical abilities, which the Element of Generosity would have to deal with soon.

The chaotic plant emanated a cloud of mystical flying dust that messed up with the magic of the white Unicorn, who lost her control over the levitation spell that she was performing to levitate the teapot. The object started to pour tea over the mare's last creations and Opalescence, otherwise known as Opal, who was her pet cat. The feline started to run away as the thing kept following her.

"Opalescence, I am so sorry! I assure you I am not doing it on purpose!" apologized Rarity as she literally turned her horn off with her hoof as if there was a fire on it. The levitation spell ceased to be and the teapot fell to the ground, breaking into a thousand pieces.

"It was not me, I swear!" said the mare as her pet growled in annoyance and went away. What was going on? She never lost control over her levitation spell, especially if it was the most used spell because of her job as a seamstress. In her opinion, something or somepony messed up with it and she thought she knew who could be behind it.

"Sweetie Belle!" called in an angry tone, "If this is one of your or your friends' pranks, then it isn’t funny!"

Sweetie Belle was forced downstairs by her horn, which was glowing light blue because of the roots' mystical dust, and said, "Rarity, you have to help me! There's something wrong with my horn!"

After those words were spoken, her horn turned off but a curtain started to glow light blue and attacked Sweetie Belle first, who escaped in fear. Rarity didn't notice that her horn was performing the levitation spell once again, and escaped with her sister when the curtain started to attack her too.

[Canterlot Castle]

Twilight was going downstairs, bringing the Element of Magic with her to meet Goku and Spike at the castle's entrance hall. She thought that she might need it, given the circumstances, even though she didn't know if all of this was done by somepony. She reached the hall where the two were waiting for her.

"Alright guys," started Twilight, "let's go to Ponyville and find out what the guard meant about the Everfree Forest being out of control."

"'Everfree Forest?'" asked Goku, "What's so special about that forest?"

"The Everfree Forest is not a forest like any other, Goku, it’s unnatural." explained Spike and added, "Plants grow up by themselves, the clouds move without the help of anypony and animals take care of themselves, not to mention that there are carnivores in that place!"

"Really? But it seems very natural to me. On Earth, the forests were all like the Everfree Forest."

"What?!" said Spike, astonished and scared. In his opinion, the Everfree Forest was the scariest place in Equestria or, most likely, the entire planet! Now Goku was telling him that there was a world where every single forest was like the Everfree Forest? “What kind of world was he living in!?” Spike internally said.

"We don't have time for this. We have to go to Ponyville right now!" broke off Twilight. She knew she had still to explain a lot of things to Goku about Equestria, but this was neither the time nor the place.

"But Twilight, what about the princesses?" asked the black-maned Alicorn.

"We will probably need the Elements of Harmony, Goku," she started, "So, we go to Ponyville to call our friends, check what's the problem with the Everfree, and then we can start looking for the princesses."

Goku didn't know what these 'Elements of Harmony' she was talking about were but decided to let it go. Besides, he would see them and how they worked when they got there. He just hoped that there was somepony to fight with and learn how to use his new body in combat properly, as well as help out the Pony who was kind enough to save his life and offer him a place to stay.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go" said Twilight, getting Goku out of his thoughts. She started to leave the castle, followed by Spike.

"Wait a minute Twilight," said suddenly Goku.

"What is it now, Goku?" she asked as she stopped.

"I can teleport us to Ponyville by sensing our friends' Ki, remember?" he answered with a smile.

"Oh yeah…, I remember."

"You have to cling to me just like you did yesterday."

Twilight and Spike approached Goku and placed their hoof and claw on him, with the former asking, "Are you sure this will work? I mean, there's a difference between teleporting short distances around the castle and teleporting from here to Ponyville, all while carrying two passengers."

Goku just smiled and said, "You'll see," and then vanished, along with the other two.

[Ponyville, Downtown]

The once peaceful and wonderful town of Ponyville was now besieged by black-spined roots and dark-spined clouds that shot thunderbolts to anypony who attempted to approach them. Ponies were running away, trying to escape from the abnormal weeds that were growing more and more around the buildings and the streets. In simple words, chaos reigned supreme.

Rarity was trotting down the street to the town hall as she was witnessing what those things were doing to the town, "A lot of strange things are happening," she said in a worried tone and galloped to the entrance of the town hall. Once she arrived, she added loudly, with a hint of annoyance, "And I would like to receive an explanation right now!"

Rainbow Dash flew to her friend and said, "All I know is that the sky is split in half and that those weird clouds are not from here!"

"Neither are these crazy plants!" said Applejack, joining the two and their conversation, "They came from the Everfree Forest and unfortunately, we can't do anythin' about it." Applejack then asked Rarity a question, “Do you know any sort of spell that could fix all of this hooey.”

"Alas! It seems like all this 'forest unleashed' thing has knocked out my horn," said the fashionista.

“We have to think of something else,” said Fluttershy, who arrived a few seconds earlier and added, “I don't think Ponyville can resist any longer.”

After those words were spoken, a root grabbed onto the yellow mare's left hind leg, pulling on her and causing her to yelp in surprise. Rainbow Dash quickly kicked the weed away from her. The yellow pegasus retreated to her friends, starting to panic, "I don't think I can resist any longer!"

"The forest is expandin' and, judgin' by its speed, I don't think it'll stop in Ponyville," said the apple farmer as she was trampling a root, "I think that soon, the whole Equestria will be covered."

Author's Note

Here we go with another chapter. How will Goku deal with this kind of threat? And what about Beerus and the Z-Fighters? We will see it in the next one.

Battle of Gods Saga: The Z-Fighters's Choice - Edited

[King Kai's Planet]

King Kai, ruler of the Northern Quadrant of Universe 7, looked at the sky as the Dragon Team was relaxing, meditating, training, or just having a good time. He was worried about Goku, who seemed to have disappeared after his battle against Lord Beerus six months ago. He was helping Supreme Kai look out for traces of the missing Saiyan.

"Where are you, Goku?" he asked no one in particular as he was trying to sense his Ki. It was like he just disappeared from existence. It wasn't possible, right? Someone with enough power to resist threats like Frieza, Cell, and the evil Majin Buu couldn't be eliminated like that, even if his opponent was nothing less than the God of Destruction himself. All these thoughts stormed into his head when he suddenly received a call from someone.

"King Kai," called the firstborn of the Son Family, Son Gohan, as he approached him, interrupting the deity's thoughts.

"Oh, Gohan, What can I do for you?" King Kai asked.

"I just wanted to thank you for hosting us after... well, you know."

"Don’t even mention it, kid. It was the least I could do, especially for your father," said King Kai with a smile and added, "You two helped a lot of people so you all deserved it."

"Speaking of Dad, did you find him?" the half-Saiyan asked.

King Kai just sighed as he was shaking his head and answered, "Unfortunately no, and I have no idea where he could be."

Gohan's good mood vanished instantly when he heard those words, and now adopted an expression of sadness. He missed his father, but he wasn't the only one. His little brother, Son Goten, and his mother, Chi-Chi, were worried about him too and wished to know where Goku was and if he was alright, as well as many of his friends.

"Where could he be?" he asked no one in particular and added, "He cannot have vanished into thin air."

"Don't worry, Gohan, I'll keep looking for him for eternity if I had to," reassured King Kai. Goku could be a troublemaker sometimes, but the deity considered him a good friend who always cares for the sake of others. Besides, the Saiyan had yet to keep his promise to resurrect him, his pet monkey, Bubbles, and his cricket butler, Gregory, after their involuntary sacrifice to defeat Perfect Cell. All thanks to the teleportation done by Goku, who brought the self-destructing android onto their world as he was about to explode.

Gohan was about to say something when, suddenly, King Kai received a telepathic call, "Yes?... Oh, Grand Supreme Kai, what do I owe the honor of your call?... Yes, all of Goku's friends and family are here, why?... WHAT?!? DID YOU FIND HIM?! That’s great news!... What?... Oh, I understand, I'll tell them."

Gohan was listening to North Kai's conversation with the Supreme Kai and wondered what they were talking about. They found who? Maybe his dad? If that’s so, this would certainly be good news, but he had to be sure of his assumption so he asked right after King Kai's call ended, "King Kai, what happened? Who did the Old Kai find?"

The low-class deity just smiled and answered, "The Grand Supreme Kai was able to find Goku, Gohan, and asked you all to go to his planet."

A bright smile appeared on the half-Saiyan's face at this. After six months, he and the others could finally see his dad again, and know if he was fine.

“Haha, that’s great! Finally, we can see him after being left in the dark for months!” Gohan happily said.

King Kai quickly added, "Let's hurry up and warn the others. They will be as happy as you are to receive the long-awaited news,” as the two started to get the others, who were scattered all across the tiny planet.

[Ponyville, Downtown]

The Mane 5 were near the town hall and thought about what to do as the black-spined weeds were growing even more and the dark-spined clouds kept on filling the skies. Suddenly Applejack spoke, "Let's go to the library, maybe we can find the solution in a book."

Rainbow Dash giggled and said, "Ehehe, Twilight would say the same words. Maybe you two are starting to be alike."

"I'd prefer she was here," wished the farmer and added, "She always knows what to do in these situations."

Before anypony could say anything else, Goku, Spike, and Twilight appeared out of nowhere right in front of them. The eyes of the Mane 5 wide opened at this unexpected arrival. None of them saw them coming, not even Pinkie Pie. They were wondering where those three came from but decided to let it go for now, and started to approach the trio.

"Howdy, y'all! Thank Celestia you're here!" greeted a relieved Applejack, who was happy to see them, especially Twilight, but she said it with a hint of worry in her tone.

"Applejack! Girls! You're all fine!" said Twilight as she ran to her best friends. They all proceeded to do a group hug.

After ending the hug, Rarity inquired, "Perhaps you know the reason why all these calamities are happening, and Princess Celestia sent you here to solve the problem?" she said with a hopeful expression.

"Ehm... not really..." answered the lavender mare and added hesitantly, "You see, Princess Celestia is... how can I put this? She and Princess Luna are... um.."

"They disappeared!" Goku completed her sentence as he and Spike reached the group.

The Mane 5 gasped at this. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna disappeared? How? Ponyville had been invaded by some weird, invasive plants and aggressive, pointy dark clouds. The sky was split in half, so no pony could say if it was day or night, and now the Rulers of Equestria had vanished. “This 'day' just keeps on getting better and better,” Rainbow internally said, her tone laced with sarcasm. Her thoughts were not too different from what the other girls were thinking at the moment. But then, Rainbow Dash stared at Goku suspiciously and flew towards him.

"You know, a lot of weird things have happened since you arrived," said cyan Pegasus, as her muzzle nearly touched Goku's. She then accused him, with her forelimbs motioning the surroundings, "How do we know all of this is not your own doing?" She said, eyeing the stallion suspiciously.

The black-maned alicorn was taken aback by this, "Eh?!"

"We all saw that Magic of yours back in the infirmary, maybe you were casting a spell on Equestria back then!"

"But why should I do that? I can't control plants, and the only spell I know is the levitation one," he retorted and added, "Besides, that thing I did back in the infirmary wasn't a spell, it was a transformation."

"He's telling the truth, Rainbow. He was with me and Spike throughout our time in Canterlot," defended Twilight.

"Yeah, he even helped us with our duties, he's a good pony," added Spike.

The Element of Loyalty was still suspicious and was about to say something when a vine grabbed her hind legs and lifted her into the sky as she started to scream in fear. However, Rainbow Dash wasn't the only one who the vines had plans with.

“RAINBO-AAAH!” Pinkie attempted to shout but was suddenly picked up by an unexpected vine.

“GAAAAAH!” Rarity followed soon.

“WOAH NEL-AAAH!” Applejack said as she was snatched from out of nowhere

“AHHHH!” Fluttershy screamed, as she too met the same fate as her friends

“NO, NO!, NO! HEEEELP!!” Spike yelled as he was being dragged from behind, trying to latch onto something. He was then later brought into the air with the other mares.

“SPIKE! GIRLS! HOLD ON, WE’LL GET YOU DO-” Twilight said, but was cut short as she dodged a vine attempting to grab onto her.

While the roots were able to capture the Mane 5 and Spike, the same can’t be said about the two alicorns.

They weren't so lucky with Goku, who dodged the incoming threat. Several weeds started to attack the white alicorn from all directions, but he was able to dodge them by simply jumping and avoiding them. However, the black-spined roots didn't give up and resumed their attack on the Saiyan-turned-pony, even if he was in the air. Goku threw punches and kicks at all the vines that were trying to get close to him, destroying them, and then flew to the captured mares in an attempt to free them.

The crazed plants tried to stop him by resuming their attack again, but this time, the dark clouds added to the game. Now the warrior was dodging thunderbolts and destroying vines by throwing punches at them, all the while flying towards the Girls and Spike. Ultimately, however, he was overwhelmed by the repeated and synchronized attacks of the combined roots and clouds. Goku was now locked up in some kind of chrysalis made of creepers.

Meanwhile, Twilight was trying to cast an Attack Spell against the roots, but her Magic had been disabled, just like Rarity's. Fluttershy was screaming in fear and the others were struggling to free themselves but to no avail. Suddenly, the Mane 6 and Spike saw lights coming from the weird chrysalis in the air. It later exploded, revealing Goku engulfed in a white aura that faded immediately after.

"Let's finish this!" exclaimed the alicorn stallion, as he started to shoot Ki blasts to the nearest weeds and clouds. All of them dissolved when the energy spheres touched them. He noticed this and said with a confident smile, "Ki is the weakness of these things, huh?"

After those words were spoken, some dark clouds fired powerful thunderbolts against Goku who simply deflected them and started to cup his forehooves as he was chanting something.

"KA-ME-HA-ME..."

A light blue orb of energy appeared between his hooves as the mares and dragon were listening to the strange chant, all the while seeing a sphere of energy forming. What kind of magic was that? He wasn't even using his horn but his hooves! And why and what was he chanting? Twilight and Spike then remembered what their new friend said about Ki Energy.

[Flashback to Yesterday]

"It's the energy that resides in every living being, Spike, and if you control it, you can do all sorts of things, like teleporting, shooting blasts, or even fly!"

“I guess what he said about Ki was true after all…” Twilight thought in wonder, with the lavender mare suddenly feeling interested in learning about this new type of energy that was so similar to magic.

"HAAAA!!!" shouted Goku, thrusting forward his forehooves to shoot out a streaming, powerful, blue beam of energy against the clouds in front of him. All of them were instantly erased from existence. Now, half of the sky was cleared and there weren't vines that could attack him, leaving him to fly towards his friends and free them from the vines. The Elements of Harmony and Spike were astonished by the fact that he wasn't using his wings to fly.

The stallion performed Destructo Disc to cut the weeds that captured the Mane 5 and the dragon, however, he forgot that most of them weren't able to fly, so Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike began to fall to the ground. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and the newbie flyer, Twilight, caught the three flightless mares in time, but Spike kept falling as he was screaming in fear.

"SPIKE!!" the Mane 6 yelled at what they were witnessing, powerless, the fall of their friend, and the possibility of him getting very, very hurt or worse. The princess's assistant just closed his eyes waiting for his cruel destiny to come. But it never came. He opened his eyes and saw that he was riding Son Goku, who landed immediately afterward, followed by the mares.

Spike simply got off him and started to kiss the ground, "Sweet earth," he said and kissed it three more times, "Sweet, adored, and wonderful earth!" he added as he was stroking the ground.

His savior giggled at this as he was rubbing the back of his head, while the mares approached them. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak, "What was that??"

"What was.. what?" asked Goku in confusion.

"Don't play games. I'm talking about that crazy spell you just performed to disintegrate those clouds!" she answered with a hint of excitement in her tone.

"Yeah! You were all like 'Kame-hame' and then 'boom', you unleashed a mighty crazy, powerful spell using your hooves!" said Pinkie Pie, as she was mimicking what the white stallion did earlier, with a tone full of joy.

"That wasn’t magic," Twilight started to explain, "It was something Goku referred to as 'Ki', the energy that resides in every living being, so it wasn't a spell but a 'technique'."

The male alicorn was just rubbing the back of his head as he smiled and answered, "Well, what you saw before was the Kamehameha."

"Speaking of which, what does 'Kamehameha' mean? You were chanting the name of this spell or 'technique' while you were performing it," asked Rarity.

"I think Master Roshi said it means 'Turtle Wave of Destruction'," he answered.

"Who's Master Roshi?" asked Applejack.

"My second martial arts master," he answered with pride, "He trained me when I was a ki... ehm... a colt."

"Oh... Wait, 'second'?"

"Yeah, the first one was my grandfather."

"Anyways," broke off Rainbow, "I think I understood why your master called it like that: It is slow to charge but it is unstoppable," and added with a proud tone, "Just like my Tank."

"Who's Tank?" Goku asked.

"He's my turtle pet."

"Tortoise," broke off Fluttershy, annoyed by this mistake everypony seemed to make.

"Whatever," answered the Element of Loyalty and then said with a hint of shame, "Anyways, I think I have to apologize for blaming you for what's going on. You're not a bad pony, and the fact that you've just saved us from those vines just proves it." Then she smiled sheepishly, "Thanks from everypony here."

"Don't worry, these things happen, but the most important thing is that all is settled and we're still good friends," Goku answered with his trademark smile.

He pronounced very honest words and his innocent smile was sincere. This was the ultimate proof that the white alicorn was somepony who inspired trust and had no bad intentions. At that moment, the Mane 6 and Spike realized that they had made a very precious friend and smiled at this, however, this wasn't the time nor the place for this.

“Uhm, sorry to ruin the moment, but we do have to fix the whole 'nature unleashed' situation and find the princesses,” Goku said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

After realizing this, they all got back to their senses. "Alright everypony, let's go to the Library and get the rest of the Elements of Harmony," said Twilight. Everypony nodded in response and left for her house.

[Sacred World of the Kais]

The Old Kai and Kibito Kai were watching the events happening in Equestria as they waited for King Kai and the Dragon Team. They watched Goku fight against some strange creepers and clouds, while also assisting some of the locals that were captured. They were wondering why was there always trouble wherever that Saiyan went. Maybe it was his destiny, to be wherever there was need of help. Perhaps that's the reason why he arrived in that world in the first place.

"He just arrived and has already made some new friends," said Kibito Kai, "Maybe we should wait until he settled that problem before asking the Namekians for the Dragon Balls needed to get him back here."

"I don't think that is a good idea," answered the Elder Kai and added, "If Lord Beerus finds out that he's still alive, he will return to finish the job. Both of us know that Goku still isn’t in any condition to engage in a high-intensity fight due to his wounds and new body, let alone the God of Destruction."

"So what should we do?" Kibito Kai asked, confused by his master's statement.

"Let's wait for the others, and then I shall explain everything."

After those words were spoken, King Kai appeared on the grass field, a few meters from the Grand Supreme Kai and Kibito Kai, with the Z-Fighters. All of the so-called 'Dragon Team' members and former members, Tien Shinhan, Krillin, his wife Android 18 and their daughter Marron, Piccolo, Son Gohan and his wife Videl, Master Roshi, Yamcha, Vegeta, his wife Bulma and their son Trunks, Son Goten, his mother and Goku’s wife Chi-Chi, Puar, Oolong, Videl's father Mr. Satan, and Majin Buu were present, wondering where and how Goku is doing.

King Kai stepped forward and said, "Here we are, Grand Supreme Kai, and I have to say that it is an honor to finally meet you."

"It is a pleasure for me as well," he answered.

"Well?" started Vegeta, "You called us here. Tell us where the hell is Kakarot."

"Is he alright?" asked Gohan.

"Can we see him?" asked Goten innocently.

The God of Creation simply raised a hand as he closed his eyes to tell them to keep calm and motioned them to approach him. The Z-Fighters and King Kai started to approach the table where the Grand Supreme Kai, Kibito Kai, and also the Crystal Orb were, as the group was wondering why they had to do so. They would figure it out soon. When they finally arrived, the Old Kai spoke.

"Now, take a look at the Crystal Ball."

Goku's friends and family surrounded the table to allow every one of them to watch what the mystical orb was 'broadcasting', however, some of them couldn't do it at first because Majin Buu took up too much space. They saw a black-maned, white Winged Unicorn that was throwing a blue wave of energy against some weird clouds. Their eyes wide-opened at this. What was this? A stupid joke or something? They came there to know where and how Goku was and the Old Kai just showed them this horse!

"What kind of joke is this?!" Chi-Chi exclaimed, just 'slightly' angry, "You said that you found Goku, so why are you showing us this Alicorn!?"

"What's an Alicorn?" asked Trunks.

"It's basically a Winged Unicorn, just like the one we are seeing now," answered his mom.

"What's the meaning of this, Old Kai?" asked Vegeta losing a bit of his patience.

"Let's all calm down," broke off Piccolo, "I'm sure the Grand Supreme Kai will explain to us what's going on."

"The creature that you all are seeing now is nothing less than Goku, who has transformed into an Alicorn due to his accidental travel to a Pocket Dimension."

"WHAT?" the Z-Fighters yelled.

"So are you saying that the winged horse there is Kakarot?" asked Vegeta and then started to laugh, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Vegeta broke off with euphoria. The others were looking at him in shock and surprise. The Prince usually wasn’t like this. He then spoke up, wiping a tear from his excessive laughter “I have to admit, his new look does suit him well!"

"You said 'Pocket Dimension' Supreme Kai, what does that mean?" asked Piccolo, ignoring Vegeta's comment.

"Goku fell into a dimension where time flows slower than here, but it's still part of this universe." the Old Kai started to explain, "Lord Beerus's blast attack broke the dimensional wall of the main universe and Goku's body, when he was falling into the portal, was modified to fit into this new reality to not perturb the balance of this new world. Now, as it seems, he's dealing with some problems that have endangered that land."

"Well, this looks simple enough. All we have to do is summon Porunga and ask for-" started Krillin but was interrupted by the Old Kai.

"No, we can't."

Most of the Dragon Team was taken aback by this. Why not? They just could call the Namekians, ask them to summon Porunga, and state the 3 wishes that would have settled everything, so where and what was the problem?

"But Supreme Kai-" said Gohan, but he couldn't finish the sentence.

"If Lord Beerus finds out that Goku is still alive, he will come again to destroy him and, perhaps this time, he won't destroy just Earth, but the whole galaxy or worse!"

Everyone's eyes wide-opened at this. He had a point: if Lord Beerus returned to Earth he probably would destroy it again and not even Goku would have been able to stop him. Did it mean that they had to stay in the Otherworld forever?

"However, there's another solution." said the Elder Kai, igniting a dim light of hope in the Z-Fighters, "And it is that you have to join Goku and live in that world with him."

"What?" they all said.

"Of course, this also means that you will live in new bodies from now onwards, most likely that of a pony."

They all started to think about this. Videl, Gohan, and Mr. Satan didn't care to become ponies or whatever, as long as they stayed together. Besides, they wanted her unborn daughter to know his grandfather. Goten and Trunks thought that it may be cool to change their bodies. Master Roshi didn't really have a reason to stay or go to that world, but he preferred the latter option as he did not want to stay alone in the afterlife. Majin Buu would have gone to wherever Mr. Satan would have decided to go.

Tien Shinhan, however, didn't want to leave Chiaotzu alone in the afterlife so he decided to stay. Piccolo, on the other hand, never really cared about his appearance, so being in a new body wasn't an issue. Yamcha wanted to join the team in this 'new adventure' and Puar would have followed him wherever he wanted to go. Oolong, however, wasn't interested in becoming a pony and decided to stay.

Android 18 wasn't sure about all of this. All she needed was her daughter, her husband... and maybe some money. She suddenly realized that she couldn't earn money in the Otherworld so she insisted on joining the others, with Krillin obviously accepting. Vegeta was torn about this, on the one hand, he didn't want to humiliate himself by becoming such a girly thing like a pony. But on the other hand, if he stayed in the Otherworld, that would mean that he would admit for once and for all that his eternal rival was the strongest Saiyan alive. The Prince of all Saiyans would never let that happen, it didn't matter if his body would have been modified, he could still become stronger and try to surpass Kakarot.

Bulma didn't bother becoming a pony. In fact, years before the whole adventure to find the Dragon Balls, she thought of wishing to be some sort of pony princess and now she could be one. She was the wife of a prince, so technically she was a princess, “Though I’m technically a Princess-consort, but hey, it still counts!” Bulma mentally argued.

However, Chi-Chi was the one who surprised them all when she said, "I won't come back to life."

"What?!" Gohan and Goten yelled at the same time.

"B-but... Mom, why not?" asked Gohan very confused. Why didn't his mother want to join the rest of the family?

"Don't misunderstand me, darling, I love your father and all but... have you heard? Even in this new world, we have to fight again and we haven’t even arrived there. I'm tired of all this fighting."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. I also think that this decision will help your father grow up and learn about responsibility," she answered to Gohan and then she stared Goten and said to him, "I have a task for you, Goten."

"For me?"

"Yes. I want you to make sure your father doesn't get hurt," said with a smile as she knelt down and put her hands on her son's shoulders, "And do not neglect your studies, okay sweetie?"

"Okay, Mom," answered Goten with the same innocent smile of his father and hugged her mother who gladly accepted it and hugged him too.

"Wait a moment," said Piccolo, "We have to resurrect Dende too. We might need the Dragon Balls."

"I can take care of that," said King Kai, "I'll bring Dende here and then you can contact the Namekians."

The Grand Supreme Kai nodded and said, "Great. Let's proceed with the plan."

[Ponyville, Golden Oak Library]

The Mane 6, Spike and Goku reached Ponyville's library and started to look for the rest of Elements. The magical gems were located inside a crystal box. The white stallion sensed great power within those jewels, but it was completely different from any kind of energy he had sensed before. The only one that was somewhat similar was Babidi's magic, but this one, unlike Babidi’s dark magic, was full of positive emotions and was as calm as the water of a lake.

"So, are these the famous Elements of Harmony you were talking about, Twilight?" he asked

"Yes, Goku. They are respectively the elements of Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter, Honesty, and Magic," she answered as she motioned each one of the jewels when they were named and added, "Each one represents an element of friendship."

"We represent the Elements as well. I am the Element of Honesty, for example," said Applejack.

"I am the Element of Loyalty," proudly said Rainbow Dash then she added, "Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness, Pinkie is the Element of Laughter, Rarity is the Element of Generosity, and Twilight is the Element of Magic."

"Ohhh, I get it, it means that you girls are loyal, kind, generous, honest and joyful no matter what!" said Goku impressed but then she added, "But I don't understand why Magic is an Element."

“The Element of Magic is made of all of the other elements, that's why it's the strongest of them all,” answered Twilight.

"So does that mean you’re loyal, kind, generous, honest and joyful, not to mention the strongest?"

"W-well, don't exaggerate, Goku. The Elements don't work if separated so we are stronger together," said Twilight as she blushed a bit and tried to be modest.

Spike and Rarity noticed this. The first started to giggle and the second looked suspiciously at the former Unicorn, as she put a hoof on her chin in deep thought. Goku, on the other hoof, was trying to figure out why Twilight's face turned red again but decided to let it go and stated, "I can't wait to see your power in action, girls."

Twilight regained her composure and levitated the Elements to their bearers. Once everypony wore theirs, Applejack said to the princess, "See? I told you that we're always united thanks to the Elements," and added, "Now we just have to figure out who to aim these 'bad boys', take back the princesses and avoid Equestria from becoming fertilizer for plants. Any ideas on who might be behind this ruckus?"

Twilight started to think. It was half-day and half night, weird plants and clouds were out of control. So whoever was behind all this had to be powerful in magic. There was only one being beside Celestia, Luna, and Cadence that was powerful enough to cause all these damages. "I think I figured out who's the troublemaker here," she said.

"Who?" asked Goku in excitement, "Is it somebod... somepony strong?" he couldn't wait to finally fight a bit and train his new body, even though he still had bandages on his hind leg and wing.

"Pretty powerful," she answered and added with a hint of anger, "He's the God of Chaos and Spirit of Disharmony, Discord!"

"Seriously?! Oh boy! I can't wait to see how strong he is!" he stated even more excited than before. In his opinion, this was his lucky day... or night.. because now he had the possibility to fight against another God.

"You can't be serious, right?" said Rainbow Dash as she raised an eyebrow, "No pony can beat him without the Elements of Harmony, not even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna combined! They had to use the Elements to turn him into stone."

Her statement just excited the Saiyan-turned-pony even more, judging from the look on his face. The ponies around him thought he was crazy because he wanted to fight Discord, but that was somewhat understandable since they didn't know the reach of the power of the white alicorn. However, it won’t remain hidden for long, as they were about to have front-row seats to witness the might of their new friend.

Author's Note

Here we go with another chapter. Sorry for being late but this is an exams' period so I might publish the next chapters a bit later than usual. Anyways, what do you think? The next one is when Goku meets Discord. There will be a fight? or not? And if they fight, who will win? Let's find out in the next chapter.

Battle of Gods Saga: Son Goku vs Discord! The Return of the Super Saiyan God! - Edited

Author's Note

Here's the next chapter. Sorry for the delay but I wrote the longest chapter so far to apologize. Hope you like it.

Battle of Gods Saga: Son Goku vs Discord! The Return of the Super Saiyan God! - Edited

[Ponyville, Somewhere ]

The Mane 6, Spike and Son Goku were going to a place where the mares could summon the Draconequus known as Discord, the Personification of Chaos and Spirit of Disharmony, without any hindrance or risk of collateral damage. The odd deity was once a powerful villain who ruled over Equestria a long time ago, but his reign of terror was ended by Celestia and Luna, thanks in part to the Elements of Harmony. His brief return from imprisonment was nearly successful, had he not been thwarted by the Mane 6, who used the Elements of Harmony like their predecessors.

After some consultation and heavy discussion, he was decided to be released from his stone prison, in hopes of him learning the values of friendship. The kind-hearted Pegasus, Fluttershy, volunteered to teach him the importance of making and having friends, and it was effective enough that the former ruler of Equestria eventually gave up his evil ways. However, although he turned good, the Element of Kindness was the only one who interacted with him, while the others were somewhat reluctant about it.

On the other hand, Goku had not yet expressed an opinion about him. The mares and the drake told him what the Draconequus had done before his 'redemption', but those things weren't that bad for the Saiyan-turned-Pony. He fought villains who killed those who didn't want to obey their orders like the Red Ribbon Army and Frieza, villains who killed just because they could do it like King Piccolo and his minions, and villains who just wanted to destroy everything like Evil Majin Buu. So, if the worst this Discord had done so far was just to let chocolate milk rain, turn houses upside down, and make sure that day and night lasted for only five minutes, he didn't seem as bad by comparison.

“The things he did sound like something a mischievous child would do, rather than a deity bent on spreading chaos,” Goku thought.

The mares also told him that Discord cast a spell on them that turned them into the complete opposites of themselves to make the Elements of Harmony completely useless and make sure that nopony couldn’t stop him. This was also the major reason why most of the Mane 6 held an unspoken grudge against the God of Chaos, even though he changed... a bit. That spell could have broken their friendship forever.

Goku was astonished: that meant this guy could turn even the most honest person, or pony, into a liar, the bravest into a coward, the kindest into a jerk, and more! He started to understand why, at first, they decided to petrify him for eternity. This also reminded him of the time he fought a demon-like creature who used a technique, similar to Discord’s spell, against him but had no effect. Nonetheless, these statements just fueled the flame of his will to fight against this god.

The group finally arrived at the town square. The Mane 6 gathered in a circle and started to summon the Draconequus using the Elements of Harmony. Goku sensed that their power was skyrocketing and smiled at this. The girls were just summoning the God of Chaos, but the power they were using could match Goten's in his Super Saiyan form. Surely these Elements were very powerful if they allowed somebo... somepony to stand up to a god who could bend reality at will.

Rainbows started to appear and connect the Elements as the mares began to levitate. When the rainbows reached Twilight's crown, a rainbow vortex appeared and faded away a few seconds later, revealing Discord taking a shower.

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up..." he was singing but stopped instantly when he noticed he was in Ponyville, surrounded by his new friends. "Oh, Ahahah," he laughed because of the situation as he wore a towel and said, "Listen, Twilight, Princess Celestia made it clear you have to provide a warning before summoning me with that little spell she gave you." The mares were staring at him with angry eyes as he continued, "If you hadn't noticed it yet, I was in the middle of a particularly invigorating shower."

"So this is Discord," thought Goku as he was looking at him, "There's no doubt he's strong, but what exactly is he? It looks like he’s composed of parts from different animals... That reminds me of Cell in a way."

"E-nough!" Twilight exclaimed with an angry tone as she pushed the Draconequus back, and added while she was forcing him to back off, "Free Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and stop the invasion of the Everfree Forest!"

Suddenly, a vine wrapped Twilight's body and transformed into Discord, who said, "Sorry dear, but what in Tartarus are you talking about?"

"Don't you play dumb with us, Discord," said Applejack approaching them and adding while pointing to the Draconequus, "We know you're the one behind all of this."

Discord just disappeared and appeared on the roof of a house with a camera, and started taking pictures, "Oh don't get me wrong: I absolutely love the new changes applied to the panorama!" Then he teleported right next to Fluttershy and added, "However, I cannot claim them as my own: I'm reformed, don't you remember?"

Rainbow Dash flew to him and said sarcastically, "Yeah, right," and added, "All of this has got your deformed hoofprints all over it!"

"I remind you that I have just ONE deformed hoof," he answered as his leg separated from his body and 'weakly' kicked the pegasus's flank. He then teleported in the middle of the group and started to walk for a couple of feet as he said in a 'sad' tone, "Such accusations... And here I thought we were friends!"

"Stop your farce, buster!" said surprisingly Pinkie Pie as she was staring at the Draconequus and added, "We're onto you!"

"Ladies, Ladies, I'm innocent! Could I ever lie to you?"

"YES!" answered the Mane 5.

"Um... Maybe?" said Fluttershy, who wasn't sure of what to answer.

Discord just sighed and said, "Well then, it looks like we've reached an impasse: I'm telling the truth, but you don't believe me." He then approached Twilight and added, "What could good friends like us do in a situation like this, Princess Twilight? By the way, congrats on your promotion: you totally deserved it."

"Wait a moment, girls." suddenly said Goku, attracting attention, "If he's changed and you're his friends, why don't you believe him? I don't think he's lying."

"Believe him? Hah! You heard the bad things he did, right?" asked Rainbow Dash and added motioning to the sky and the invading vines, "Besides, who else but he can do this?"

"I don't know, but what he did in the past shouldn't be a reason to blame him for what's happening right now,” he answered and added, "I think you owe him the benefit of the doubt."

Fluttershy nodded and said with a smile, "I agree with you, Goku."

The Mane 5 and Spike were speechless because of this statement. The deity happily approached and hugged both the white Alicorn and the yellow Pegasus, and said, "Finally! Somepony who's on my side!" but he then added, letting them go, "By the way, who are you? I don't think I’ve ever seen an Alicorn stallion before-" he was interrupted by another Discord wearing a postman's uniform.

"You forgot this," he said as he snapped his fingers and a script appeared in his claw. The first one took the text as he was wearing reading glasses that appeared from nowhere and started to read. Then he said as the script and the glasses disappeared, "Oh right, this is a Dragon Ball Super - My Little Pony crossover!"

Goku just rubbed the back of his head in confusion, "Huh, what?"

"We forgot to tell you that he's like Pinkie Pie: always talking nonsense," said Rainbow Dash.

"Hey!" protested the pink pony.

"Anyways," started Discord as the second one disappeared, "You must be Son Goku."

"Yeah, but.. how do you know that?" he asked with a very surprised tone.

"I know many things, my friend. For example, I know that you're a long way from home."

"Well... Yes and no." said Goku, taking Discord aback, "My home has been destroyed and Princess Celestia offered me to stay here."

"Oh, I get it: Equestria is your new home now," the deity said and added, "Well, it will be a delight to have you around here, especially if you're something out of the box like an Alicorn stallion from another world!" Then the god realized something and said, giving Goku his business card, "Oh I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself, even though I think the fillies over there already told you about me: I'm Discord, the God of Chaos, and Spirit of Disharmony, at your service."

"Yeah, I know that," he answered with a smile, "But I have a question, Lord Discord."

"'Lord Discord'? Ehehe, I think I could get used to this. What's your question?"

"What exactly are you?"

"I'm a Draconequus, a being with a ponyesque head and the rest of the body composed of parts from other animals."

"I see. Ehehe, you know? You remind me of an enemy I fought long ago, in a way." he said and added, "He was composed of different beings as well."

"Hmm, but I bet he wasn't even close to my beauty and might," answered Discord. All the mares but Fluttershy rolled their eyes at this.

"By the way, I have a request to make."

"Which one?"

"Would you like to spar with me?" asked Goku with an excited expression. Discord's eyes wide-opened at this. Spar? Did he want to fight against him? Why? It's not like he was afraid, but he couldn't find the reason for this request. The mares and the dragon were confused as well. They already told Goku that Discord was in a different league. So, why did he want to fight him?

"Why would you ask for something like that?" asked Rarity.

"Discord is too powerful for anypony," stated Spike.

"That's why we've got the Elements, partner." continued Applejack

"Yeah, let us deal with him," said Rainbow Dash.

"You could get hurt," said Fluttershy with a worried tone

"Besides, we still have to find the Princesses!" exclaimed Twilight.

"Oh come on, girls" started Pinkie, "Goku already dealt with a God: he'll be fine."

That was true: Goku told them he had fought a deity before coming to Equestria and the orange Earth Pony confirmed he was telling the truth, yet it was still hard to believe. He could just hurt himself trying to hit Discord and the fact he had already lost against a divine being worried the other 5 mares even more.

"Yes, Pinkie," started the lavender alicorn, "But he was defeated, and I'm pretty sure you remember in what condition we found him yesterday."

"Oh... right."

"Don't worry girls, Saiyans become stronger after being healed from grave wounds. Besides, it won't take too long," reassured Goku. That's a piece of new information about his race Twilight wanted to note somewhere, but she hadn't a quill pen nor a scroll right now. That also reminded her that the rest of her friends didn't know about Goku's true appearance and background. Before the white Alicorn explained it to her when they were having dinner yesterday, they all thought Goku was an alien pony, and the term 'Super Saiyan God' was the name of his transformation.

The rest of the Elements just looked at each other, wondering if it was a good idea to let this happen. Goku looked at Discord and said, "So... do you accept, Lord Discord?"

"Why do you want to fight me, Son Goku?"

"They said that you're really strong and I want to see it on my own."

"Oh, you want to test me," guessed Discord as other Discords tested his reflexes, heartbeat, and blood pressure.

"Exactly."

"Well, I'm sure Twilight and the others already told you that not even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna combined can keep up with me,'' the other Discords disappeared as he continued, "So, what makes you think that you'll do any better than the mightiest ponies in the universe?"

"You'll see," Goku simply said with a confident smile.

After some contemplation, witnessing Goku’s facial expression, he finally relented, "Very well then." Discord snapped his claws, and a giant ring magically appeared beneath them. The white stallion was staring at his opponent, while the latter was wearing boxing gloves. The Mane 6 and Spike just looked at each other in worry before sitting on the benches near the fighting stage in order to see the battle. Fluttershy was the most reluctant about this since she was the one who hated violence of any kind the most. She just wanted to make sure that nopony gets hurt and for the fight to end soon.

Goku got into his trademark fighting stance but, due to his new body, his stance was a little bit uncomfortable for him. He couldn't focus on that at the moment, though. Discord got into a boxer stance as another one appeared in the middle of the fighting stage wearing a referee uniform.

"Ladies and Dragon, it's about to start the fight of the century between Son Goku, a Saiyan-turned-Pony raised on Earth," started the referee as 5 clones of the Draconequus were booing the Saiyan from the other side of the ring, "And Discord, God of Chaos and Spirit of Disharmony," he ended as the clones acclaimed him like fans in a stadium.

"What d'ya mean with 'Saiyan-turned-Pony'?" asked Applejack.

"Exactly that, Applejack," Twilight replied, "Goku hasn't always been a pony: I think he transformed into one when he arrived here in Equestria."

"Whatever!" Rainbow exclaimed, "Do you want this fight to begin or not?!"

"Sure," the referee said, "Just wait a moment, please. I have to explain the rules."

"Rules?" the white stallion asked in confusion.

"Yes. First off, the first fighter who falls from the stage loses. Second, the fight will be time-limited." The Discord referee clone snapped his claws and an hourglass materialized. "When the last grain of sand reaches the lower part of this hourglass, the fight will end."

"How long will it last?"

"Given that Equestria is in danger, the fight will not last more than 5 minutes."

"5 minutes is more than enough for me."

"Good. The fight starts... now," the referee said as he turned the hourglass and teleported out of the stage.

Son Goku and Discord stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, then the two fighters finally attacked. They clashed in the middle of the stage and started attacking with a barrage of kicks and punches. Goku got the upper hand by throwing Discord in the air with a kick on his chin, then he flew at the speed of sound, overtaking the deity, and hit him using both of his forehooves like a hammer, throwing the Draconequus to the ground.

However, the God of Chaos landed on his hind legs and dodged an incoming punch from Goku, then he counterattacked by hitting him right on the muzzle with a punch and threw him in the air with a kick. Goku quickly stopped in midair and shot 2 Ki blasts against his opponent, who just materialized a tennis racket and deflected them with ease. Though, that was a distraction. The white alicorn landed a punch on Discord's stomach, then moved behind him and elbowed his back throwing him to the other side of the stage.

Goku wasn’t finished yet. He teleported to the opposite side of the ring and threw a kick on Discord's midsection, sending him in the air, then he teleported again and intercepted his opponent's flight by sending him to the ground with a roundhouse kick. However, the Spirit of Disharmony landed once again on his hind legs as Goku landed on the stage.

The mares and Spike were astonished by Goku's performance, especially Rainbow Dash: only a handful of Pegasi could match his speed, not to mention his awesome moves! "That was cool!" she exclaimed with an excited tone.

"He's very fast! I think you've met ya match, Rainbow," commented Applejack.

The Element of Loyalty's eyes opened wide at this and said, "Hey! I'm sure I can beat him in a race!"

"I'm more impressed by the fact he's giving Discord a run for his money, all while doing so without the aid of the Elements," stated Twilight.

"Yeah!" yelled Rarity, "Come on, Goku! Teach that ruffian a lesson and show him who's the-" she suddenly stopped when she noticed everypony looking at her. "What? I'm just cheering for him."

Meanwhile, Goku was staring at Discord and said, "Stop holding back, Discord, show me your true power!" After those words were spoken, Goku cupped his forehooves as a blue orb of energy appeared between them and started to chant, "KA-ME-HA-ME-" Discord teleported right in front of him, and aborted the white alicorn's blast right before it was fully unleashed. Then, he teleported behind him and kicked his back, sending the black-maned stallion where the deity was before. Goku quickly got himself under control and landed on his hooves.

"You first must show me the power to which it's worth the bother," replied the Draconequus.

Goku flew towards him and Discord did the same. Their fists clashed in the center of the fighting stage. They flew back two meters and attacked again with the same result. Goku threw a kick that was intercepted by the deity's, and the latter counterattacked by throwing a kick to Goku, who intercepted it in the same way. Both fighters teleported back to their previous position and attacked once again, but this time, the Spirit of Disharmony got the upper hand by landing a kick on the stallion's belly, sending him to the edge of the stage. The god teleported there and intercepted his opponent's flight by throwing him a punch to his back.

Goku stopped in midair and counterattacked with a Ki blast. Discord just materialized a glass that absorbed the Ki orb and proceeded to drink the glass. He later threw away the content that exploded somewhere else. The black-maned alicorn teleported right behind him and punched his back, sending the Draconequus to the opposite side of the stage. He teleported again to throw him another punch.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Goku as he threw the punch. However, Discord dodged the oncoming threat, appeared on his opponent's head, and danced on it, then he teleported five meters away with a helmet on his head.

"I don't think so!" replied the Spirit of Chaos as his wings started to flap at very high speeds. Discord then hit Goku three times from different directions at the speed of sound and landed three meters from him. "Bring it on!"

Goku was very excited. The girls and Spike weren't kidding when they said this guy was strong, but he was holding back and if the male alicorn wanted to know how strong his opponent was, he had to try harder. "Try this!" exclaimed the stallion as he charged Discord and the latter did the same. The two clashed in the middle of the ring and started to throw a barrage of kicks and punches at each other but each one of their strikes was dodged or blocked by the other.

They were moving so fast that they were appearing and disappearing in different parts of the fighting stage as they kept sending a barrage of strikes at each other. Goku threw a punch toward Discord but he dodged it and they both disappeared again, then the fighters appeared in midair, two meters away from each other. The god tried to land a punch on the alicorn, but the latter was able to dodge it by moving to a higher position and hitting him using both his forehooves like a hammer, sending the Draconequus back to the stage.

Discord cast a spell on the Ring, making it elastic. He bounced off it, heading towards Goku, and threw a kick on his chin, then he landed on the stage. Goku landed on it as well.

"Wow..." said the Mane 6 and Spike all together in amazement. Fluttershy started to think, “Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought. Seems like nopony is getting hurt so far, and both Goku and Discord are enjoying this. Their little fight reminds me of baby tigers when they play together, in a way.”

The Saiyan-turned-Pony was getting used to his new body in combat, and now he could move to the next level. "HAAAA!" yelled Goku as his body was engulfed by a white aura.

"Oh, looks like you increased your power," commented the Spirit of Disharmony. The black-maned stallion charged him so fast he caught the deity off guard. "What?!" he said, right before being hit on the belly by his opponent's punch. Goku threw Discord to the opposite side of the ring by elbowing him on his back. He wasn’t done just yet. The Saiyan raised on Earth teleported to the other side of the stage and interrupted the deity's flight by landing a kick on his stomach, then he started to overwhelm him with a barrage of kicks and punches. However, the Draconequus was able to teleport three meters away from his opponent to catch some breath.

"Sorry, but warming up is over," said Goku with an overconfident smile.

"Warming up?!?" said the Elements' bearers and Spike all together. So, all that fighting wasn’t done seriously, right up until this point?

"Well, I just wanted to get used to my new body during a battle before using my true strength," Goku explained as he was rubbing the back of his head with a smile.

"Your true strength?" interrupted Discord, drawing Goku's attention, "If this is all you got, you're way weaker than Princess Cadence. She is the weakest princess IF we don't count Twilight."

"There's another princess?" asked Goku in amazement, "How many princesses does this kingdom have?"

"Four," simply said the God of Chaos right before hitting him six times from different directions, at hypersonic speed. He hit him one more time with a kick on his belly, making Goku spit saliva and sending him to the other side of the stage. The alicorn was lying on the ring but quickly stood up.

"That was a cheap shot!" protested Goku.

"You let your guard down, don't blame me for your mistakes," answered Discord as he ate some popcorn.

"Goku, maybe you should give up," said Twilight, "Discord is not even trying!"

"Sorry, Twilight, but giving up is not my style!" replied the male alicorn as he transformed into a Super Saiyan with a burst of aura that scared Fluttershy, who hid behind Rainbow. The Mane 6 and Spike saw once again the transformation that shook Canterlot's Royal Castle and, even though they weren't able to sense Ki, they felt the pressure of their friend's power.

"Interesting… " commented Discord, "Your power is fifty times higher than before."

"What?! Fifty times?!" exclaimed the lavender mare.

"This is the Super Saiyan form," said Goku before rushing against the God of Chaos at incredible speed and hitting him with a powerful punch on the midsection and a kick on his chin that sent the deity into the air. Then, the stallion changed the Draconequus's flight direction with a kick and overwhelmed him with a barrage of kicks and punches while he was still soaring through the sky. Finally, he slammed Discord onto the fighting stage, hitting him with both his forehooves, and landed.

The mares and the drake couldn't believe it. The 'almighty' Discord, the one who once ruled over Equestria, was stronger than Princess Celestia herself and nearly destroyed their friendship, had been overpowered by somepony without the Elements of Harmony!

"Oh yeah!" suddenly exclaimed the Element of Loyalty, "Way to go, Goku!"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie as well in a happy way, "Teach that meanie a lesson he'll never forget!"

“Go get 'em, partner!” Applejack joined in.

“Make him pay!” Rarity spoke up.

Rarity and Applejack were as excited as Rainbow because Discord finally got what he deserved. Twilight was trying to figure out how Goku could be that powerful.

“It can’t be magic because I’m not sensing any being emitted from him. Perhaps it could be… No, that couldn’t make sense!” Twilight thought internally.

Spike was left speechless from what he was witnessing and Fluttershy was feeling sorry for the Spirit of Disharmony.

“I hope he doesn’t get badly hurt… ” she said in a voice just above a whisper.

Suddenly, a giant spatula magically appeared above the deity, it scraped him from the ring's floor and magically disappeared as the Draconequus inflated himself in order to restore his three-dimensional shape. He stood up as he was massaging his head and said, "Good shot... I see you're starting to bring out the big guns."

"Don't you think it's time to show me all your power?"

Discord took this as a challenge and said, "Okay then, playtime is over." After those words were spoken, his red pupils started to shine as his body suffered muscular hypertrophy and his shape was shining green. Then, he wore black sunglasses and a black t-shirt with the inscription 'I love Chaos' and a picture of the nonexistent 'Elements of Disharmony' on it.

The Mane 6 and Spike's eyes opened wide at this as the Spirit of Disharmony was staring at Goku, who just smirked and got into his fighting stance. The stallion didn't know why his opponent wore those clothes and sunglasses, but he was more focused on his increasing power. "Amazing, Discord! I didn't know you had all this power. Is this your strongest form?"

"Yes, it is. Now, you'll feel the power of the Lord of Chaos!" answered Discord and, in the blink of an eye, he landed a kick on his opponent's stomach and overwhelmed him with a barrage of punches. Then, he sent Goku in the air with a roundhouse kick. He wasn’t finished yet. He created four small dimensional portals around him, then punched three of them and kicked the last one. Meanwhile, the black-maned alicorn was still soaring in the sky, when four portals appeared around him. Three punches and a kick landed on the Saiyan, all of them coming out from the portals.

The Draconequus teleported above him and hit him with a stretched punch, sending him to the stage. Goku was able to land on his hooves, cracking the ring beneath, but the god appeared in front of him almost at the same time. "What?!" he exclaimed, and tried to land a punch on him, but the opponent teleported behind him and elbowed his back. Discord did not even let Goku fly because he quickly teleported in front of him and punched his belly, making him spit saliva, and threw him to the opposite side of the stage with a chaos magic blast.

The deity teleported to the stallion's destination to punch him again, but the latter was able to react and his punch landed on Discord's, producing a small shockwave. However, the chimera-like creature was able to land a kick on Goku's belly and hit him again with another one against his chin. The alicorn stallion counterattacked with a kick that was dodged by his opponent, who teleported behind him and elbowed his back.

Son Goku unleashed his Super Saiyan aura to send Discord away and rushed him. He tried to overwhelm his opponent sending a barrage of kicks and punches, but the deity dodged every attack with ease. Then, they both teleported on the ring, four meters away from each other.

The mares and the drake had worried looks after witnessing Discord overpowering Goku and the latter not being able to effectively counterattack. "That's enough, Goku," said Twilight, trying to keep her friend from getting hurt… again, "You already proved to be a very powerful pony, plus you saw Discord's full power. Now just give up before you get hurt again!"

The rest of the group agreed with her and the God of Chaos said, "You know? You should listen to her. Only the Elements of Harmony can take me down. It's simply ridiculous that somepony could ever defeat me without them, even if that somepony is an alien."

The white stallion looked at Twilight's eyes and, for some reason, they were similar to Chi-Chi's when he was ill due to heart disease. That meant that she was really worried as well as the rest of his new friends. He smiled and reassured them, "Don't worry guys, I haven't reached my full power yet."

"What??" they all said, including Discord.

"If you're talking about your Super Saiyan God transformation, didn't you say that it has 'expired'?" asked Spike.

"I'm not talking about that. You'll see what I mean."

"You still want to defeat me? Well, I won't stop you from trying," commented Discord with a cocky smile.

"Let's see how you deal with this," thought Goku, who started to clone himself and surround his opponent.

"What?!" exclaimed Discord. Now there were ten Gokus around him.

"He cloned himself??!" asked an amazed Rainbow Dash. The rest of the mares and Spike were amazed as well and were wondering how in Equestria he did that. This also reminded Pinkie of the time she cloned herself.

Discord shot a chaos magic blast against one of the opponents, but the attack kept its path as Goku's clone just vanished. The Draconequus was taken aback by this and lowered his guard just to be hit by Goku on the back with a kick. When the deity turned to see who attacked him, he only saw the rest of the clones. He attacked one of them the same way as before, but the clone just vanished like the others. Then, he was hit again by Goku, who landed two punches on him.

Twilight was analyzing the situation. Clones didn't vanish if touched by something or somepony. So, they were not clones but something else. She was carefully paying attention to the 'clones' as the God of Chaos was trying to figure out who was the true Goku by destroying them one by one. It was like they were remaining images instead of real clones... that's right! He was moving so fast, that he left behind his own image! "But that's impossible!" she said, "No pony can move that fast! Not even Rainbow Dash!"

"You know what's going on, Twilight?" asked her number one assistant.

"Yes, those are afterimages instead of clones."

"'Afterimages'?" asked Spike as he raised an eyebrow.

"It's like an optical illusion, Spike. He's moving so fast, he leaves a remaining image of himself behind."

"So... he's faster than Rainbow Dash?" asked in an amazed tone.

"Not a chance!" exclaimed the rainbow-maned pegasus hearing the conversation.

Meanwhile, Discord snapped his claws and five giant hammers appeared above Goku's afterimages and crushed them all. Suddenly, the Spirit of Disharmony was hit by Goku on the stomach, making him spit saliva and producing a small shockwave that forced the mares and Spike to cover their faces. Then, the white alicorn sent a barrage of kicks and punches to his opponent and a Ki blast that pushed the god back.

The chimera-like creature stopped his flight and deflected the Ki orb that was pushing him back. He teleported right in front of Goku, who crossed his forelegs to defend himself. The god hit Goku with a kick to break his guard, then he hit him with an uppercut that sent the stallion in the air. The black-maned alicorn stopped his flight but above him, there was a giant hammer that slammed him onto the fighting stage, creating a small crater.

"Goku!" yelled the Mane 6 and Spike in a worried tone.

"That was almost too easy," said Discord with a smile and the conviction that he had already won as he landed on the stage. Suddenly, his overconfident expression vanished as the stage began to tremble and a yellow dome of energy generated where Goku crashed. A few seconds later, the tremor stopped and the cupola faded, revealing the white alicorn with a different look.

His spiked mane almost reached his flank and took on a darker and more yellow shade of gold compared to his previous form, the feathers of his wings were yellow as well, and his body was engulfed in a yellow aura that was generating bio-electricity. Goku went Super Saiyan 3.

Everypony was amazed by this, especially Rarity. She was impressed mainly by Goku's ability to change the color of his mane, feathers, irises, and tail and also his mane style, even though she wasn't a fan of the 'spiked mane' style. New ideas for new clothes stormed into her head as she was looking at the stallion carefully.

Meanwhile, Discord was sensing a large amount of energy emitted by his opponent, and it was still increasing. He was a little frightened but he would have never admitted it, especially after his 'almost invincible' speech. He saw the hourglass floating behind his referee-clone, who was behind the Mane 6 and saw that there was just a minute left. If he wanted to win this fight and remain 'undefeated', he had to throw Goku off the stage as fast as he could.

"So, this is your true power," said the Draconequus, "I'll admit it: I'm impressed."

"If I have to tell you the truth, I didn't want to use this form," replied Goku and added with a smile, "However, when I fight strong opponents, I get excited and my will to win the battle becomes stronger and stronger. "

"Well, what if we resume the fight and figure out who's the best here."

"Let's finish this then."

Before Discord could even react, Goku landed a punch on his cheek but the deity retaliated immediately. The white stallion threw a punch and the God of Chaos did the same, making them collide and generating a powerful shock wave. Luckily Twilight erected a magic dome-shield to protect her friends from the stormy winds caused by the clash of the two fighting beings. Meanwhile, the fighters engaged in a lightspeed battle.

Discord and Goku were so fast that almost everypony saw colored trails clashing in the air. Rainbow Dash was the only one who could somewhat follow the combat, but it was very difficult. Meanwhile, several powerful shock waves were generated from every clash of the two battling opponents, clearing the sky from the dark-spined clouds. Their fists clashed again, generating a shock wave that drove them back.

Goku stopped in midair and cupped his hooves, "KA...ME...HA...ME..."

Discord summoned a giant Bazooka that started to charge a powerful energy attack.

"HAAAAAA!!!" yelled the alicorn as he unleashed the signature attack of the Turtle School. The Spirit of Disharmony unleashed his energy attack as well and both collided, starting a beam struggle. Hurricane-like winds stormed all over Ponyville as both attacks were struggling to get the upper hand over the other.

"They're going to destroy the town if they keep fighting like that!" exclaimed Twilight as she and the others were seeing the beam struggle with worried and scared looks. The ground began to tremble because of the intensity of the attacks. Fluttershy just hugged Rainbow in fear and Spike was praying Faust for letting him and the others survive.

Meanwhile, the Kamehameha and Discord's attack had the same power level: none of them could overpower the other. So, to put an end to this struggle, Discord summoned another giant Bazooka that shot another energy attack that merged with the ongoing one, doubling its size. His attack began to overpower his opponent's.

Son Goku tried to resist, but his efforts were useless: his blue energy wave was losing the struggle as he felt an unbearable limit in his current power. The Spirit of Disharmony's attack was about to reach the stallion's hooves when suddenly his super beam of energy started to be repelled by the alicorn's Kamehameha.

"What?!" exclaimed the Draconequus. How was it possible? He was about to defeat his opponent and now, somehow, he was repelling his attack!

Goku felt like a wildfire was burning within him. Suddenly, the limit he felt before was fading as his sea-green irises turned red. A scarlet aura that resembled a raging fire began to engulf his body, while the turtle wave was overpowering Discord's attack. When the Draconequus was hit hard by the Kamehameha, a strong red light radiated from Goku.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the tremor and the wild winds stopped, and the Elements of Harmony bearers and Twilight's number-one assistant calmed down a bit as the lavender mare's magic shield vanished. "Horse Apples!" exclaimed Applejack, "I thought that-" she was interrupted by a dazzling red light in the sky and asked as she covered her eyes, "What's going on??"

The light grew dim, revealing Son Goku with a different look: his mane was red and his mane style returned to normal, his eyebrows, irises, tail, and feathers were red as well. He also looked a bit younger than before. The black-maned alicorn became the Super Saiyan God again.

"Woah!" was the only word pronounced by the mares and the little dragon when they saw their friend. Meanwhile, the Lord of Chaos returned to his normal state due to the damages suffered by the Ki wave and was out of breath. He wasn't badly wounded but did have scratch marks and wounds all over his body. He couldn't stand his transformation anymore since he wasn't used to going full power for a long time. The last time he used his full strength was during the first (and only) battle against the Royal Sisters more than 1000 years ago, but he was the one who would rather want to outsmart his foes instead of overpowering them.

However, those weren't the only reasons why he powered down. He used a lot of magic trying to defeat Goku in that struggle and this contributed a lot to depleting his power. He had been outmatched by somepony who did not use the Elements of Harmony and that had been able to hurt his virtually invulnerable body. It was the second time that it happened. Now, he was sensing a godly power coming from his opponent and he knew that, even if he had been able to avoid being gravely wounded by that attack, he wouldn't be able to beat him anymore.

"That's enough," said Goku with a smile.

"Huh?" said Discord in confusion.

Goku landed and the Draconequus did the same. Then, Goku approached him and said with a smile, "You're really strong Discord. Twilight and the others weren't kidding at all."

Before Discord could reply, Rainbow Dash flew to the two fighters as the others followed her, and said in a very excited tone, "That was so cool! It was the most awesome fight I ever saw!"

"Ehehe," laughed Goku because of the compliment.

"But we were almost swept away by the shock waves generated by your battle," said Twilight with an upset look.

"Eheheh, sorry about that," he apologized as he rubbed the back of his head.

"However, you WERE really amazing," complimented the lavender mare.

"It was so fun!" exclaimed Pinkie as she started to jump everywhere, "Feeling the ground tremble, the stormy winds and the lights in the sky. It was just like a Luna park!"

"I still can't believe what ya did," said Applejack with an impressed tone, "If somepony would have told me that there was a pony that could stand a chance against Discord without the Elements of Harmony, I would have thought a barrel of cider hit his head or something. But after what I saw, I can say that anything is possible."

"You were quite impressive, Darling," said Rarity and added, "Especially because you changed mane style and colors during your little... contest. I don't really like the mane styles you showed, buuut I love the choice of colors, especially this magenta red, it makes you look younger in some way."

"Red?" asked Goku in confusion.

"Yeah," said Spike, "Your mane, your feathers, your tail, and even your eyes are red."

Pinkie popped out of nowhere and grabbed a hoof mirror that was, somehow, in her mane and gave it to Goku, who looked in it. "I turned into the Super Saiyan God again??" he asked in a surprised tone but then he remembered something.

[Above Earth, Yesterday]

"It seems like your body learned from the experience of being a deity," explained Lord Beerus, "So when you dropped to the first level of the Super Saiyan, your strength didn't fall too much, allowing you to still keep up with me. Soon you'll find out that scarlet blaze still burns within you... if you survive this of course."

"So this is what he meant."

"Can you tell us how many transformations you got?" asked Discord.

"Four, if I count this one. The one you saw before was the Super Saiyan 3."

"Why did you stop the fight? You could have won."

"Because I just wanted to see how strong you are and if I'm able to beat you. You depleted your energy reserves so the fight was already over. I'm not that kind of pers.. ehm.. pony who would humiliate his opponents."

Discord was about to say something when Fluttershy spoke, "Oh my, you're alright, Discord?" she asked in a worried tone as she noticed his wounds.

"I’m fine dear, these are just a few scratches: nothing that a spell can't fix," he reassured, then he snapped his claws to cast a healing spell over himself. "See? Good as new."

"Speaking of wounds," said Spike who was talking to Goku, "You're healing."

"What?" asked the stallion as he turned his head to see his wounded wing and hind leg. His bandages had been destroyed during the battle so the injuries were visible, and everypony could see a blazing power heal them all completely.

"Wow. So this is the power of the Super Saiyan God?" asked the young drake.

"Well, yeah, I think... this is something new, even for me."

"Oooh, why didn't I bring some scrolls and a quill pen!?" cursed herself Twilight.

"Why do you need those things?" asked Goku in confusion.

The lavender mare just sighed and said, "Nevermind, I'll tell you later. Now, we must focus on stopping the invasion of the Everfree Forest and finding the princesses!" Then she looked at the Draconequus and said, "If you're not the one responsible, then help us figure out who is."

"I suppose I could," he replied, "But after all the hoof-pointing and besmirching my good name, I just don't know if I'm up to do it." He grabbed a dark-spined root that was wrapping a house and started to weave with it as he said, "Besides, I'm pretty tired because of the battle."

"Grrr!" grunted Twilight.

"Come on, Discord," intervened Goku, "Don't be like that."

"Alright, fine. I think I can at least put you on the right track. But I'm doing it all for you and Fluttershy, the only ponies that believed me." The Draconequus wove a signage arrow that indicated to go down the street and said with his usual smile, "Why don't you ask your Zebra friend if she knows anything?"

The group saw a Zebra carrying a cart and a sack full of many things, coming out from the forest. Almost everypony recognized her. "Zecora!" happily exclaimed Twilight.

The wise and mysterious Zecora, a Zebra from a distant land, once was avoided by Ponyville's inhabitants because of silly stories about her. She was known to have the answer for almost any kind of problem: if there was a pony, or Zebra in this case, who could know how to stop the Everfree from invading, it was her.

The Mane 6 went to help her as Goku asked Spike, "Hey, Spike, who's she?"

"She's Zecora" answered the purple dragon, "She lives in the Everfree Forest. She knows a lot of things about plants, potions, diseases, and so on. Hey, maybe she knows why the forest has gone crazy."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," said the stallion as he returned to his base form and started walking. Spike followed him.

Meanwhile, the mares helped their Zebra friend by taking away the stuff she was carrying to let her catch her breath. Once the Zebra was set free from her belongings, she said, "From my home, I've had to flee: the forest has grown too wild even for me."

"Any idea why all of this is happening?" asked Applejack as a dark-spined vine stole her stetson.

"I'm afraid I have no explanation," she answered and added, as she was looking for something in her cart, "But I may have something that if combined with a conjuration..." A few seconds later she finally found what she was looking for as Goku and Spike joined the group. The object was a conical flask made of glass and gold with a purple liquid in it. Zecora took it and placed it on the ground, right in front of Twilight, and said, "I do not dare to use it myself: the result would be tragic. It only responds to Alicorn magic."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you," whispered Spike to Goku, "She always talks in rhymes."

"Princess Twilight," continued the Zebra, "And...". She was looking at the stallion, now.

"Oh, I'm Son Goku, but you can just call me 'Goku'."

"I'm Zecora, it's a pleasure to meet you as well. Maybe you can help Twilight with this little spell."

"What spell?"

"You have to turn the potion from purple to white. After a sip, you may see why the sky is day and night."

"Well, I'm quite the beginner regarding magic, so it's better if Twilight does it."

Twilight nodded in response and started channeling dark magic into her horn. Goku instantly sensed evil energy coming from Twilight and began to wonder what was going on. He saw her struggling as her horn glowed purple and green. The energy was almost identical to Babidi's. What kind of spell she was about to cast? And, more importantly, why was a dark one required?

Twilight finally cast a dark spell on the conical flask, turning the liquid from purple to white. The rest of the mares looked in awe at the effect of the conjuration as the lavender alicorn levitated the flask. "So, we have to drink it now?" asked the black-maned alicorn and Zecora nodded in response. His grandfather once told him to avoid drinking weird beverages but, for some reason, he trusted the Zebra. Besides, she was a friend of the girls and Twilight would have drunk that thing too.

The lavender princess took a sip of the potion before giving it to Goku, who took a sip of it as well. A few seconds passed but it didn't seem to be working. "When is something supposed to happen?" asked the Saiyan raised on Earth, but right then, his and Twilight's eyes glowed white.

[Unknown Castle]

Twilight and Son Goku found themselves in what seemed to be a throne room that was lighted by two torches. There was a large red carpet with the golden symbols of the sun and the moon in the middle and, behind them, were two thrones. The first one, on the left, was night blue and the second one, on the right, was golden yellow. There were two royal banners, one night blue, and the other one golden yellow, hanging above the thrones.

The Element of Magic was looking around the room trying to figure out where they were. "Where are we?" she asked.

"I was about to ask the same thing," replied Goku.

"Not. Another. Step." suddenly said a voice. The two alicorns turned around and saw a dark blue mare coming out from behind the night-blue throne. She was bigger than any of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony but smaller than Celestia, her wavy mane and tail were star-studded night blue, and she was wearing a black necklace with a waxing moon on it and a black crown. Her Cutie Mark was a waning moon in a black sky. She was the Goddess of the Moon and Princess of the Night, Selena, better known as 'Luna' and she looked pretty upset.

"Princess Luna!" exclaimed Twilight, who instantly recognized the alicorn, as she approached her.

"So, this is Celestia's little sister," thought Goku, "She looks strong but... Why can't I sense her Ki?" When he met the Sun Goddess, he sensed a very strong energy within her, so why couldn't he do the same with her sister? Was she a Goddess just like Lord Beerus and Discord? Even If that was the case, he still would have been able to sense her Ki. It was like she wasn't there but his eyes weren't lying. What was exactly going on?

Meanwhile, Twilight was asking for explanations from the night mare, "I don't understand, where are we? Why did you and Celestia disappear?"

The younger of the Royal Sisters was apparently staring at the lavender alicorn when she said, "Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your 'precious' light?"

"'Precious light'?" asked Twilight in confusion as Goku approached her.

"Is she always like this, Twilight?" he asked.

"What? No, she is-" she couldn't finish the sentence because Luna proceeded with her speech.

"There can only be ONE princess in Equestria! And that princess... will be ME!" she stated as she destroyed part of the throne room by slamming her hooves against the floor. The force of the blow was enough to crack and destroy the wall behind her, revealing a sunny day. She then eclipsed the sun by raising the moon. Dark magic radiated from it and started to engulf the Princess of the Night in an evil sphere-like aura as the room trembled.

Goku got into his fighting stance as Twilight retreated a bit in fear. He couldn't sense her Ki, but it was crystal clear that Celestia's sister was transforming. A few seconds later, the aura faded, revealing a completely different mare. She was about the size of Celestia and her coat was black, her wavy tail and mane were smoke-like, but the color was the same as before, her eyes were feline-like, and her teeth and feathery wings were sharper than before. Her necklace changed its style and was night blue, but still with the waxing moon on it. She was wearing a night blue helmet instead of a black tiara.

Twilight's fear was growing as the dark Alicorn started laughing diabolically. She was seeing it, yet she couldn't believe it. She was more than sure that the Elements of Harmony defeated her once and for all. The Mare in the Moon, also known as... Nightmare Moon.

Battle of Gods Saga: Time Travel

[Unknown Castle, Throne Room]

Twilight retreated a bit as Nightmare Moon was laughing. Goku was ready to fight, but he was taken aback when the night mare shot a magic beam against the ceiling instead of them. The ceiling collapsed and some rubble almost crashed down on Twilight, but the white stallion jumped, pushing himself and her out of the way, just in time. "Thanks," said the lavender mare.

"What's going on, Twilight?" asked Goku, "If she's Celestia's sister, why is she attacking us? Did we do something wrong?"

"I-I don't know," she answered, "But let me talk to her, maybe I can calm her down." Twilight was about to do so, but at that very moment, Princess Celestia appeared. The Sun Bringer wasn't very pleased with what she was witnessing. Son Goku wondered why he couldn't sense her presence too, but chose to let it go and, as well as Twilight, approached the Princess of the Day.

"Princess," started the stallion, "Why is your sister destroying everything?" The Goddess of the Sun didn't answer. Her gaze was upon the cloud of dust generated by the rubble previously fallen, from which Nightmare Moon came out. Goku was confused because of the Princesses' strange behavior. There was something wrong there, but he couldn't figure out what.

Celestia stepped forward, but the corrupted Alicorn shot a magic beam against her sister, who dodged by flying. All the while, Goku and Twilight jumped to the sidelines, not wanting to get in the way of their confrontation. Nightmare Moon attacked again, but the magic beam was dodged with ease by Twilight's former teacher. The Goddess of the Sun landed 6 meters away from the dark mare, staring at her when the lavender princess put herself in front of Celestia and said to the evil princess, "Luna! Think of how long you were banished to the moon! You'll give us no choice but to send you back there if you don't stop!"

"Banished to the moon?" thought the white stallion, "What the...?"

"Luna, I will not fight you!" stated Celestia, "You must lower the moon! That's your duty!"

"'Luna'? I'm not Luna." she answered, "I am... Nightmare Moon! And I have but one duty at the moment: to destroy you!"

Nightmare Moon shot a powerful blue magic beam against her sister right after finishing her sentence. Goku teleported in front of the princess and tried to deflect the attack, but something weird happened: the magic beam just went through him, like a ghost would do if it met with any solid object. Celestia was able to dodge it, anyways, and flew out the castle. "Where do you think you're going?" said the evil princess as she began to chase her.

Meanwhile, Goku was wondering what in the world just happened. He didn't feel pain so the magic beam didn't break through his body just like Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon did during the battle against Raditz. “That beam felt... no, I didn't feel any of it at all! It was like that attack wasn't real, but rather just an illusion. However, how could it deal damage to this place if that was the case? Maybe there was a spell that causes damage to things that are not alive? But why use it against the princess if that was the case?” Goku pondered.

"Come on, Goku!" exclaimed Twilight, breaking his thoughts, "We must help Princess Celestia!"

"W-wait! There's something weird in this place, Twilight. What if all of this is not real?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Did you see what happened? Her magic just went through me and almost hit Celestia."

"Nightmare Moon is a powerful being, who probably knows many kinds of spells. Maybe she cast one that can pass through anything that isn't its target."

"That's not the only weird thing, Twilight. Every time we tried to talk to them, they ignored us, just as if they weren't able to see or hear us."

"Well, maybe..."

Before she could say anything else, the duo heard the noise of the explosions caused by what they thought was the battle between the Royal Sisters, and felt the castle tremble.

"If all of this isn’t real, why can we feel the ground shaking, huh?" asked Twilight, now skeptical about Goku's assumption.

"Okay, okay. We’ll help out Princess Celestia, but I still think this is some sort of illusion."

[Castle's airspace]

Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia were still in midair, one in front of the other. The dark mare's will to defeat the Sun Goddess and take over the kingdom was firm. On the other hoof, the elder alicorn didn't want to fight against her beloved little sister, but she had to do something if she wanted to stop this from going any further. Unfortunately, Luna didn't want to cooperate and she had nopony to call for help. She was alone. There was only an option left: try to calm her down by fighting her. It was like Celestia's worst nightmare came true.

"Luna," tried Celestia one last time, "I beg you, come to your senses and stop this madness!"

"As I told you... I AM NIGHTMARE MOON!" she answered right before rushing her. Celestia cast a yellow magic shield around her in order to stop her sister's attack. The evil alicorn shot a night blue magic beam to the shield, weakening the point of contact, as she was flying toward it with no intentions of slowing down. The Sun Goddess was caught off guard when Nightmare Moon broke through the shield with ease by piercing the weakened spot with her horn. However, she was able to dodge the incoming threat by teleporting behind the dark princess just in time. The Princess of the Day couldn't believe it: her beloved little sister just tried to impale her.

The corrupted mare engulfed herself with a black magic aura and flew high in the sky at the speed of sound, readying herself for a second assault. Celestia was forced to counterattack using a similar spell: a yellow magic aura engulfed her as she flew toward her opponent. The Royal Sisters clashed, producing a burst of magic and a powerful shock wave.

Goku and Twilight were above the castle, witnessing the battle between the goddesses of the 2 most important celestial bodies of Equus. "We must stop this from escalating even further!" exclaimed Twilight, "Goku, teleport us there!"

"I can't," Goku said, shocking Twilight, "Instant Transmission works only if I can sense the Ki of someone wherever I want to appear, but since we ended up here, I can't sense the Ki of anyone but yours."

The mare quickly thought of another solution, "You're the best and fastest flyer here: go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Fine," said Goku, then he turned on his aura and flew to the battlefield, despite his doubts about all of this being real. Twilight followed him.

Meanwhile, a black and a yellow trail were soaring through the skies, clashing one against the other whenever they got the possibility to do it. Suddenly, Nightmare Moon teleported to an unknown location right before clashing with Celestia, who was caught off guard. She stopped moving and wondered where her sister go. As if to answer, the Goddess of the Night appeared far above the sky while flying toward her foe at incredible speed, still engulfed in her black magic aura. The white alicorn didn't notice the incoming threat until it was too late: she was hit hard on her midsection. The blow sent the Day Princess through 3 towers before crashing to the ground.

Goku and Twilight stopped as they witnessed Celestia's forced landing, so they flew back to the castle as fast as the could. Celestia was in a small crater as she was a bit stunned. Her chest was bruised and she also had some other injuries on her wings and across her back. She was trying to stand up, without succeeding, as Goku and Twilight reached her. Twilight, horrified by her former teacher's injuries, ran to help her but as soon as she touched her, she just went through her like she was a ghost.

"What the...?!" her eyes wide opened. Before Goku could even reply, Nightmare Moon appeared right in front of Celestia.

"Say 'goodnight' sister!" she said as her horn was glowing, ready to give the final blow, "Any last words?"

"Y-yes" replied Celestia as she was slowly standing up, "Solar Burst!" The wounded princess engulfed herself in a fire-like aura that produced a solar shock wave that sent Nightmare Moon through the walls of the castle. This surprise attack gave her some time to heal some of her wounds. Then, she charged her sister.

"I-I still don't understand... w-what just happened? Why I couldn't touch Princess Celestia? And why do they act like there is nopony but themselves here?" said Twilight, who was still in shock.

"I don't know, that's why I think this is an illusion of some sort."

"B-but even so, it doesn't make sense!"

"Look, let's see their battle. Maybe we will figure out something by witnessing the event."

"F-fine," she answered and followed him.

[Inside the Castle]

Meanwhile, the evil alicorn buried her hind legs into the floor to stop her foe's charge after being pushed through several walls. Then, she tried to land a punch on her, but the Goddess of the Sun sidestepped the blow and tried to elbow her back. However, Nightmare Moon teleported 4 meters behind her before being hit. She charged her black aura and sped off to her enemy. Celestia noticed this and sidestepped again before teleporting some meters away to keep distance, then she attacked as well. The white alicorn tried to land some punches on her sister, who dodged them with ease and counterattacked. But Celestia was able to dodge her blows, eventually leaving her to jump back to her former position.

Both of them charged up their magic auras and sped off through the castle. They were clashing one with the other as they were tearing apart the left side of the building. Shock waves echoed across the battlefield as the ground beneath the castle was shaking. Celestia and Nightmare Moon were about to clash again, but the latter teleported 4 meters away behind her foe. The white alicorn stopped her flight and turned, knowing where her sister was.

"Finally you're taking this fight more seriously. But with those wounds, let's see how many seconds you last" said the corrupted alicorn with a smirk.

Celestia wasn't in a talking mood and rushed her sister, who just dodged by jumping. The black alicorn teleported, right before touching the ground, to the right of her enemy and tried to land a punch on her face, but her target was able to dodge the attack. The elder sister counterattacked, but the younger one blocked her punch with a magic shield. She tried to hit her with an uppercut, but Celestia teleported 2 meters back in order to dodge it. Nightmare Moon was growing more irritated because of the persistence of her opponent. “Why can’t she just give up and die already! I’m in the right to rule Equestria!” she thought while gritting her teeth in frustration.

The black alicorn teleported to her foe's left side but Celestia attacked first, landing a punch on her cheek. Nightmare Moon punched her in the same spot as well. The Sun Goddess tried to punch her again, but her sister ducked to avoid her strike and then tackled her, making her foe to lose balance. The white alicorn managed to not fall and attempted to attack again, but her sister just teleported away. The elder princess was on alert, looking at the surroundings, in order to not be caught off guard. Five seconds later, she sensed a great source of magic behind her, and when she turned her head, she saw her sister engulfed in her black aura while quickly approaching. The Princess of the Day ignited her yellow magic aura and collided with Nightmare Moon, resuming the high-speed battle.

Goku and Twilight were witnessing the battle between the universe's mightiest ponies. The Element of Magic was deeply worried about Celestia and hoped for the good ending at the end of this all. She was also wondering when her former teacher learned to fight so well: she never told her she was a skilled fighter. The male alicorn wasn't very happy as well, but he was also amazed by both Celestia and Luna's performance, despite the fact that he wasn't able to sense their Ki. He just wanted to know their power better and to see how powerful they were during this battle.

Meanwhile, the yellow trail and the black trails were clashing with each other all across the rooms of the castle. They kept on fighting like this for several seconds, then they both were pushed back by the shock wave produced by their last collision. Celestia crashed into a wall as Nightmare Moon broke through another one that was on the opposite side. The first one was a bit stunned, pretty tired and rather hurt. She hoped to have knocked out her sister with the last blow, to finally stop this foolish fight and try to talk some sense into her. Only then would her sister be calmer than before.

However, fate was a capricious mare: Nightmare Moon suddenly appeared in front of her, unscratched. She laughed and said, "Already tired? I am just getting started," then she added, "However if you want to rest in peace, I shall grant your desire!"

The Goddess of the Moon turned into a nigh blue mist and merged with the remains of the left side of the castle. The only things left from their duel were just the perimetrical walls and a very high ceiling. Everything else was destroyed, so the place looked like a very big room with tons of debris and rubble in it, with the walls looking quite damaged. The room started trembling as the ceiling and the walls began to collapse upon the white alicorn.

"Let's get out of here!" exclaimed Twilight.

"What? why? The environment cannot hurt us," replied the Goku.

"Yeah, but I still don't feel comfortable watching a building collapse upon me or my friends!" she stated. Goku nodded in agreement and they both flew outside as the room was collapsing.

Celestia managed to stand up and looked for an exit. She saw a big hole in the wall dozens of meters in front of her and flew toward it. She was dodging the debris with great agility and speed as everything around her was falling apart. However, several pieces of rubble fell in front of the wall, blocking the path to go outside. Her stamina was depleting, but she still had enough power to cast one last spell: she charged her horn with magic, then she shot a powerful yellow magic beam at the 'barricade', making it explode outwards. The Princess of the Day escaped from the castle right before its left zone totally collapsed.

The Goddess was lying on the grass field, panting. A few seconds later, Nightmare Moon appeared some meters away from the exhausted alicorn as Goku and Twilight were watching the scene. The Saiyan-raised-on-Earth gritted his teeth. Even though he believed this wasn't real, he felt powerless witnessing someone hurt his new friend like that, all the while not being able to do anything to help her.

Tears began to flow across Twilight's face. Just like Goku, she felt powerless witnessing the fall of Celestia, who was like a second mother for her. Why was this happening? She still thought that what she was seeing was real for some reason, despite the fact neither her nor Goku could interact with the princesses. It just felt so real, she didn't know why. The male Alicorn saw her cry. The more he saw her tears flowing, the more he was convinced that her watching this battle wasn't a good idea. Maybe Twilight was not used to seeing these kinds of things.

Meanwhile, the dark mare was laughing devilishly as her foe struggled to stand up."AHAHAHAH! You shall yield to the power of the new and only ruler of Equestria! The sun will be forgotten and the night shall last forever!"

"W-Why?" asked Celestia as she managed to stand up, "Why are you doing this, Luna??!"

"Why? You tried to retain our subjects for yourself by making them love your day and hide them from my night. And for that, you shall perish!" she answered before teleporting right in front of the Princess of the Day and throw an uppercut, sending her into the air. Nightmare Moon teleported above the castle and charged her horn before shooting a magic beam that sent Celestia to the castle's throne room.

"CELESTIA!" cried Twilight as she flew as fast as she could to where her former mentor had been thrown and Goku followed her. They reached the throne room as they heard the evil laughter of the dark princess, and saw the elder of the Royal Sister lying on the ground, apparently dead. They both landed in front of the fallen Alicorn, then the lavender mare said in tears, "No... Why would Luna do this? Why now?"

"Don't cry, Twilight," said Goku in a kind tone.

"W-why not?" she said looking at him as her tears kept on flowing.

"She's still alive," he continued with a smile, "Take a better look."

Twilight turned her head to see the Sun Princess more carefully and found out she was still breathing. A smile appeared on the Element of Magic's face as she dried her tears. She was about to say something when Celestia stood up suddenly. "You're alright!" said the lavender Alicorn, happy to see that the princess was still able to rise, "You're alright!"

Celestia was badly hurt, though she didn't care. She was staring at Nightmare Moon, who was laughing because she thought she eliminated her, which is why she believed that no pony could stop her from bringing the everlasting night. Then, the white alicorn said, "Oh, dear sister," her tone was full of sadness, "I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these." She turned her head and, using her magic, she revealed the hiding place of something Twilight didn't see since her arrival in Ponyville.

There were 5 colored gemstones floating on 5 pedestals connected to a giant structure. On top of it, there was a big spherical stone. "What are those?" asked Goku.

"The Elements of Harmony," she answered, "But that's how they looked in... the past."

"Huh? You mean they can change form?"

"Kind of. Anyway, I just figured out why they can't hear us and why we can't touch them: this is a projection of what happened more than a thousand years ago. This is the night when Celestia banished Luna to the moon."

"I heard you saying that to Luna. But you told me she was the Princess of the Night, so isn’t that like sending her back home? Couldn’t she just fly or teleport back here?"

"The power of the Elements prevented that from happening. It worked for a millennium, but then the stars helped her escape. That's when I and my friends found the Elements of Harmony, and with them, we were able to purify Luna's heart."

"Wow, Good job Twilight! I bet Celestia was very happy to see her sister again, thanks to you," he said with his trademark smile.

Twilight blushed a bit and answered with a smile, "Yes, she was, in a way."

Suddenly, a light came from where the Equestria's mightiest weapon was placed. They both turned their heads and saw 6 gemstones swirling around Celestia, who was engulfed in a multicolored light as her wounds were healing quickly. The reinvigorated Alicorn took off to face once again her sister and finish this once and for all.

Nightmare Moon noticed the light and saw that the Day Bringer was still alive and completely healed. She instantly figured out that she was using the power of the Elements of Harmony. While still caught up in her own hubris, she thought that not even the gemstones themselves would be able to beat her, so she charged her horn using all her magic. Celestia began to cry silently as she was activating the rainbow power. The dark Alicorn cast her mightiest magic beam upon her foe, who counterattacked by unleashing a rainbow-colored magic beam radiated from the Elements. Both attacks collided, but the rainbow-colored one instantly got the upper hand.

"NOOOOOO!!" cried Nightmare Moon as she was blasted into the moon, on which appeared the black shape of a unicorn immediately afterward.

[Ponyville-Everfree Forest border]

Twilight and Goku finally woke up from their trance and looked around to confirm they weren't in that castle anymore. They then saw their friends looking at them with a worried expression. "Why are you guys looking at us like that?" asked Goku with a puzzled look.

Applejack spoke first, "It's just that... you were mumblin' to yourself..."

Pinkie Pie followed, "Ooh! Let's not forget Twilight's uncontrollable sobbing!"

Spike was the third, "And Goku's angry expression!"

Fluttershy was the last, "We were really worried about you."

Discord appeared on a black-spined root and said, "I for one found it delightful. Sort of a two-ponies theater piece, if you will." He then approached the alicorn duo and unrolled a scroll with an animated photo of a crying Twilight and an angry-looking Goku on it. He added as he showed it to them, "You should really consider taking it on the road."

The lavender princess felt a bit embarrassed about it and the Saiyan just giggled a bit as he rubbed the back of his head. Then Rainbow asked, "Did you find out whose rump we need to kick and where we can find them?"

Goku answered, "Well, we saw the battle between Celestia and Luna but..."

"But it didn't explain what's happening now." completed Twilight.

Zecora approached them and said as she offered the conical flask again, "Perhaps going farther back are the answers you seek. Another sip of the potion will give you another peek."

Twilight took it with her magic as Spike approached them and said, "You guys are sure about this?" The baby dragon wasn't trying to doubt them, he just didn't want them to have more painful experiences, especially the lavender Alicorn.

Twilight saw the worried expression of the rest of the Elements of Harmony: they thought that that wasn't a good idea too. At least that was what she guessed by their looks. She began drinking the potion and decided to have a bit more than last time, then she gave the flask to Goku, who did the same. As soon as they both drank the magical beverage, Discord appeared with a black big-format still camera, dressing like a film director and said, "Oh, I do hope they break into a song this time!"

Once again, the Alicorns eyes glowed white as their pupils were no more.

[Somewhere in Equestria]

The lavender princess and the black-maned Alicorn found themselves in a bizarre place: the ground seemed like a blue and purple colored chessboard, there were fish swimming in the air, the houses were old and almost primitive, there were also floating rocks with houses on them and the sky was completely purple. In the middle of this chaotic scenario, there was a tiny hill with a wooden throne on it. The duo saw a wounded Celestia and a bruised Luna approaching the throne with angry looks.

Once the Royal Sisters were close enough, they stopped as the throne turned, revealing Discord sitting on it. "Oh my, this is going to be so much fun. How about a game of 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'?" asked the God of Chaos as he held on his lion paw Celestia's tail. The Sun Princess gasped as she looked at her back, confirming that that was actually her tail.

"Playtime is over for you, Discord." she then stated.

Discord just took a pack of seeds and began to eat them as he said, "Oh I doubt that." he then ate some more seeds and offered, "Hungry?" but the princesses weren't in the mood for jokes, "Suit yourselves," he then said and kept on eating. Celestia and Luna pulled out of their bag 6 certain gemstones drawing Discord's attention, "Oh! What have you got there?"

"Just the Elements of Harmony," answered the Sun Goddess as the gemstones started swirling around her and her sister.

"With which we shall defeat you!" stated Luna as the energy of the Elements created a purple cupola around them.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Goku were witnessing the event. "So where or when are we, Twilight?" asked the stallion.

"This must be when the princesses vanquished Discord and turned him into stone."

They heard Discord laughing at the princesses as they were staring at him while the power of the Elements was about to be unleashed. "AHAHA-OHOH!! You should see yourselves right now: The expressions on your faces. So intense. So sure of yourselves, especially considering the outcome the last time we fought, AHAHAHAHA!" Then the Royal Sisters finally unleashed the rainbow power and interrupted the Draconequus' laughter by turning him into stone.

[Everfree Forest, Somewhere]

The 'time travelers', Goku and Twilight, suddenly found themselves in a cave in which there was a crystal bright tree with 5 familiar gemstones on its branches, one gem per branch, and it was at least 10 meters tall. They saw Celestia and Luna approaching it and noticed they were injured, just like when they were defeating Discord. The black-maned Alicorn noticed they didn’t have their bags anymore, which he found confusing: a few seconds earlier, they were turning into stone the God of Chaos, and now they had neither their equipment nor the Elements. He was also wondering how in the world they ended up in a cave in the first place. All this 'time-traveling' thing was starting to be too much to handle for his mind. “So this is what Trunks from that future must’ve felt like when he came back in time. It’s confusing. But then again, he got used to it,” Goku thought. Ultimately, he decided to let it go and he, as well as the lavender princess, followed the Royal Sisters.

After a few moments, they stopped in front of the crystalized plant. The Princess of the Night gasped and said "The Tree of Harmony."

"'The Tree of Harmony'?" repeated Goku in confusion. This tree was certainly beautiful and all, though he was wondering why it was called like that, and why it wasn't made out of wood. Meanwhile, the lavender mare was taking a better look at the crystal tree. She saw the Cutie Marks of Celestia and Luna on the lower part of the trunk and then she saw hers right in the middle of it.

"My Cutie Mark!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Eh? What's a Cutie Mark?" asked the stallion.

"That’s a Cutie Mark," she answered as she pointed out Goku's flank.

The Saiyan-raised-on-Earth saw the Yin Yang symbol on it and said, "Ah, I see. Since yesterday, I wonder what it was. And why did everybo... I mean, everypony gets one?"

"The Cutie Marks represent the special talent of a pony, and they appear when said pony finds out what his or her talent is," she explained, "For example, my Cutie Mark represents my talent in Magic, or Mystic Arts if you like."

Goku took another look at his Cutie Mark. He already saw that symbol somewhere during his training with Master Roshi when he was a kid, and he was fully aware of its meaning: The Turtle Hermit said it was basically the representation of Balance and Harmony, which were the central principle of the Martial Arts. That meant just one thing, "So, my special talent is Martial Arts."

Before Twilight could reply, the light coming from the tree caught their attention. They saw the Sun Goddess flying in front of the giant, crystal, six-pointed star on the tree, which was the source of the light. "Are you sure?" asked Luna to her sister in a worried tone. She understood Celestia's intentions: to deprive the magical plant of the Elements of Harmony in order to use them against Discord, but she couldn't help but think that it wasn't a good idea. What if the tree couldn't survive without them?

The Princess of the Day tried to reassure her, "We have managed to discover the only means by which we can defeat Discord and free the citizens of Equestria." She then began to remove the Elements from their slots using her magic and added, "Even without these elements, the Tree of Harmony possesses powerful magic. As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here."

Once the sixth Element was removed, the ground underneath the Tree of Harmony began to shine. Goku and Twilight, as well as the Princesses, looked at it, wondering what was going on. The light was drawing a circle, about 7 meters in diameter, around the crystallized plant, then an S-shaped line split it in half and finally, a small circle appeared in each of the two parts as the light faded. Now the Tree was at the center of this symbol.

"Sister, what does this symbol mean?" asked Luna.

"I don't know," she simply answered, “Whatever that symbol means, it was probably done for the sake of the kingdom, but for now, they are more important things to deal with. Discord must be vanquished once and for all.”

Meanwhile, the lavender mare was speechless. The Cutie Mark of somepony who wasn't even Equestrian just appeared beneath the tree where the Elements were born. After what seemed hours, she asked, "W-why did your Cutie Mark appear on the ground?"

Goku rubbed the back of his head and said, "I was about to ask you the same thing since I'm not from here." He barely knew what a Cutie Mark was and he was still wondering why there was Twilight's Cutie Mark on a tree. How could he know the reason why his mark appeared on the ground? If compared to him, she was the expert.

Twilight knew it was a silly question: of course, he didn't know why since he arrived in Equestria just yesterday, not to mention that she heard her former teacher say that not even she knew what it meant. However, before anything else could be said, their eyes glowed white again.

[Ponyville-Everfree Forest border]

The Alicorn duo found themselves back in Ponyville, as they shook their heads to properly wake up from their 'trance'. Spike quickly approached them, "So, what did you find out?"

Twilight just sighed, "We still don't know what happened to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia."

"But I think I have an idea of why the forest is growing," said Goku and added, "The Tree of Harmony is in danger."

The Mane 5 and Zecora looked at each other in confusion, then Rainbow Dash said, "The Tree of what now?"

"It's where the Princesses found the Elements. And I agree with Goku: I think something happened to it that caused the Everfree to expand uncontrollably."

Applejack approached Twilight and said, "All right then! Let's go save the... tree. Uh... where's it exactly?"

"Well," the princess replied as she pointed the forest, "I think it is in... there."

The Mane 5 and Spike got scared at the thought of even go near the Everfree Forest, let alone go into it. That place was dangerous enough before and now was even worse. Did they really have to go there? On the other hand... or hoof, Goku didn't see what the big deal was: it was just a forest with some crazy vines, it was not like they were facing the likes of Cell or Majin Buu. Discord just laughed and thought he might need some more popcorn. He was probably the only one enjoying the whole situation.

Realizing that there was no other choice, and in order to save Equestria, the Mane 6, followed by Spike and Goku, approached the entrance of the feared forest. "Seems like yesterday we were heading into these woods to find the Elements of Harmony," commented Rarity.

"Seems like yesterday I was foolish enough to think I should go after them on my own," replied Twilight with a hint of awkwardness, as she remembered the days when she thought that friendship wasn't worth the effort, as well as her first Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. "I don't know what we're going to face in there." she said with a hint of worry, then she added with a determined look, "But whatever it is, I know we need to face it together." Everyone agreed as they entered into the unleashed forest.

[Lord Beerus's World]

The God of Destruction was standing on the balcony with his gaze upon the sky, looking at nothing in particular. He wanted to fight the Super Saiyan God again, but due to some problems that recently occurred in Equestria, he had to wait for now. He would be rather angry if he would have been forced to wait 6 more additional months... or a single day for that matter. Fortunately, Whis synchronized the Temple's flow of time with Equus's. Now, he just had to wait some days at worst... which was still too much for him, but it was certainly better than the previous situation. Speaking of the Angel...

"Whis!"

His assistant appeared right next to the purple cat, "Yes, Lord Beerus?"

"Give me an update on Equestria's events."

Whis activated his scepter and watched the recent events that happened in the Pony Kingdom, "Hmm, it seems that the situation in Equestria is pretty much the same, but a group of ponies known as 'Bearers of the Element of Harmony', along with Goku, found out that the Tree of Harmony is in danger. They’re now going into the Everfree Forest to save it."

Lord Beerus just growled a bit and said, "They would be better if hurried up: I'm sick of all of this waiting."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, the Super Saiyan God is completely healed, so his Zenkai Boost is finally active and did what it was designed for."

The God of Destruction's mood improved a bit, "Good, it means that he will be able to fight at his best." But then he asked, "How did he manage to heal completely so fast, anyway?"

"It seems like his godly powers healed his injuries right after battling Discord."

"Oh, so that idiot managed to escape from his stone prison. I won't be surprised if he is the one behind all of this."

"Well, Lord Beerus, it also seems that the Spirit of Chaos has somewhat reformed."

"Reformed, huh? We'll see about that." He didn't believe in Discord's redemption, or at the very least had doubts that his reformation will last very long. He was the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, after all, so he will eventually betray anyone if someone offered him the chance to do everything he liked. He decided to forget about that topic and asked, "Can we go to Equestria, now?"

"Yes. With the help of Son Goku, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony will be able to save Equestria before our arrival," answered his assistant. He already figured out what should be done to restore the kingdom's peace, and luckily, for now, the problem wasn't coming from a mighty foe, so it shouldn't take too long.

"Excellent!" exclaimed the god, "Let's not waste time further." He moved behind his assistant and sat mid-air while putting a hand on Whis' left shoulder.

"Wouldn't you like to bring some food for the trip, my lord?" asked the Angel before the departure.

"If there's nothing but Planet Watrin's fried salmon and Nebula 65's chicken in tartare sauce again, I’ll pass," stated the God. He was sick of eating the same things over and over... even though he ate those dishes just 2 times in this millennium alone, with the last time he ate it was a mere 6 months ago. He was regretting destroying Earth at this point: he had to admit, human cuisine was very exotic, tasty and, more importantly, completely new.

"I'll open the portal to the Pocket Dimension 7 here, but the trip will last 29 minutes and 31 seconds: Are you sure you can wait that long, Lord Beerus?" said Whis. It was not like he was really worried about his lord's hunger, less than half an hour wasn't too much time at all, but he was perfectly aware of the deity's impatience when it comes to 'long' trips. For the purple cat, a journey that lasted more than 5 minutes was too long and bringing along some food always helped him calm down... which was a relief for the Angel.

"About 30 minutes?! I didn't remember Equus was that far!"

"Of course you don't: the last time we paid a visit to Celestia and Luna was 300,000 years ago, which is equal to 1666 years in Equestria."

The god's eyes widened a bit, "Oh… Freaky how time flies when one is busy."

"Busy sleeping, I might add," teased the Angel much for his lord's annoyance.

"Let's just go to Equus, Whis!"

Whis began to open the portal to the Pocket Dimension 7 using his scepter. A hole in space-time appeared above the temple, while a godly white light formed beneath the white-haired being and the purple cat. After a few moments, they both flew through the portal, engulfed in a pillar of light. The dimensional gate closed immediately afterward.

[Pocket Dimension 7's Space]

As they were traveling to Equus, Lord Beerus said, "Hey, Whis, you mentioned something about the 'Bearers of the Elements of Harmony' earlier, right?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Weren't Celestia and Luna supposed to be the chosen ones to use the power of those items?"

"Yes, they were, but they aren't anymore. Actually, the Elements of Harmony have chosen 6 different mares to use their power."

"Why is that?" he asked in a surprised tone. Certainly, things have changed quite a bit in Equestria since his last visit there.

"It's a long story, but I can tell you about it to pass the time."

"Go on, then."

"Well, about a thousand years ago in Equestria..."

Author's Note

Alright, here's another completed chapter, hope you liked it. I think that if Twilight would have tried to touch Celestia or Luna/Nightmare Moon on the TV show, what happened here would have most likely happened. What about Goku's Cutie Mark appearing beneath the tree? Well, you'll see the point of that at the end. In the next chapter, we'll see the Z-fighters again but that's all I'll say for now. Thanks for reading and see you next time.

Battle of Gods Saga: Looking for the Tree of Harmony

[The Sacred World of the Kais]

The Grand Supreme Kai, Kibito Kai, and the Dragon Team were watching the battle between Goku and the odd creature known as Discord. Many of them were amazed by the fact that, in a world of colored ponies, there was someone strong enough to keep up with the ponified Saiyan, even if he hasn’t fully recovered yet and was in a completely different body.

"Wow, there's actually someone powerful enough to stand up to Goku in that world," said Yamcha in surprise.

"I wonder what kind of creature is that," said Master Roshi, "Seems like some crazy scientist ran out of parts to assemble his creation and began to randomly use any kind of animal he found to complete it with."

"It doesn't matter what it is: there's no way that Kakarot is going to lose to that freak," stated Vegeta, "I bet that clown is just testing his new body in combat and he found someone with a decent amount of power to do it by chance."

"He’ll never change," said Chi-Chi, slowly shaking her head, "He just arrived in another world and the only thing he can think about is fighting."

"Well," said the Old Kai, "Just to let you know, he’s fighting the God of Chaos, Discord."

The divinity caught the Z-Fighters off guard with this statement. Was it really a god? And more importantly, were there really gods in a world where everything was probably like a fairy tale? "N-no way!" exclaimed Yamcha.

"So, you're telling us that that thing is a deity?" asked Piccolo.

"Indeed," answered the elder Kai, "He's capable of many feats. The most impressive ones are the ability to bend reality and literally break apart the dimensional fabric with extreme ease."

Most of the group gasped at this. Was there no end in threats in this universe? They already faced the God of Destruction, which not even the power of the legendary Super Saiyan God could vanquish and now there was another god whose power is enough to warp reality. In a world of Ponies nonetheless!

"Wait a second," started Vegeta, "Lord Beerus stated he's the strongest being in the universe. If that’s so, how is it possible there's someone with the power of modifying reality?"

The Prince of all Saiyans did prove a point: by what the Old Kai just said, this Discord could easily be stronger than the God of Destruction himself. "Yeah, Vegeta is right," realized Gohan, "Can you explain it to us in more detail, Supreme Kai?"

The elder deity cleared his throat and said, "Lord Beerus IS the strongest being in the universe. Discord is a pretty powerful deity, but his combat level is not so high if compared with his abilities. He can increase his Ki using his Chaos Magic to the point he can be around the level of Goku when he goes Super Saiyan 3. He can also grant himself combat skills, but that's the limit of his strength as a warrior."

"So, he's just a god who’s powerful in magic, but lacks any natural combat skills," observed Piccolo.

"More or less," replied the Supreme Kai, "But underestimating the chaotic deity could be a big mistake."

"Why is that, Supreme Kai?" asked Yamcha.

"Discord is also the Spirit of Disharmony and is known for outsmarting his foes. He doesn't bother to fight: he uses tactics such as deception, mind games, magic tricks, and other unconventional methods to defeat or make any opponent harmless, all the while trying to spread... well, discord."

"So, he's evil," concluded Goten.

"He was evil. Now it seems he's changed."

"There's nothing to worry, then," happily said Yamcha, "If he's a good guy now, then we don't have to worry about fighting another almighty god, right?"

"I just want to know something," started Piccolo, ignoring what the former bandit said, "How do you know so many things about this Discord guy? I know you said that Equus belongs to this universe, but you were locked up in the Z-Sword for a long time."

"That's simple. Long before my imprisonment, I was observing that planet during the period when Discord ruled over it and, since he got free from his stone prison, he usually travels through dimensions just for fun, including this one. A troublesome being like him is always to be kept under surveillance."

"Hey, look!" suddenly exclaimed Trunks as he pointed the crystal orb, "Goku's form is changing!"

Everyone looked at the orb and saw Goku in his Super Saiyan 3 form, losing a beam struggle to Discord, but something weird was happening: they saw their friend's yellow aura turning blazing red as his Kamehameha started gaining ground. As the blue Ki wave reached its target, the Saiyan-turned-Pony was engulfed in a dazzling red light. When the light faded, the Dragon Team saw Goku's new appearance, which was very familiar to them, despite it being a ponified version.

"I-is that what I think it is?" asked Krillin, making sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Super Saiyan God!" exclaimed Gohan in an incredulous tone.

"I thought its power was gone. How is it possible??" wondered Piccolo.

Vegeta thumped his fist on the table in anger and a bit of jealousy. "Dammit!" he thought. His rival didn't lose the power of the gods after all. Now, he was thousands of leagues above his current level. That clown was always a step beyond him, but that didn't mean he'll always be the 'Eternal Second-Ranked'. "I swear I'll surpass you Kakarot!"

Yamcha and Puar got scared of Vegeta's sudden reaction, since they were right next to him, while the others were either nervously smiling or just didn't care at all. Bulma was used to her husband's antics: he was probably just jealous of Goku's power so she didn't even bother to look at him. Android 18 just ignored him: there weren't many things that could scare her and Vegeta wasn't one of them. It probably helped the fact she mopped the floor with him years ago. Majin Buu didn't even notice it and Piccolo just looked at him for a few moments before looking back at the crystal ball.

Right after that, the Dragon Team heard a weird sound behind them and a familiar voice that said, "Hey guys, why are you all gathered around there?" Everyone turned his head to see who just spoke. All the Z-Fighters but Vegeta, Android 18, and Majin Buu happily smiled when they confirmed the source of the voice.

"Dende!" They exclaimed as the Namekian Guardian of Earth returned the smile. King Kai was next to him and seemed a bit tired... well, really tired.

"You guys don't have any idea how many problems I had to deal with just to find them. Trying to convince King Yemma to give priority among all the souls that are still in queue after Earth's destruction was nothing short of exhausting," he complained as he let himself fall on the ground in a sitting position, "He's rather upset right now."

"Well, if I had to sort out 7 billions of souls by myself all of a sudden, I would be stressed too," commented Bulma in a sympathetic tone.

"Wait a moment, King Kai," said Gohan, realizing something, "You said 'them'?"

"Uh? Oh yes, when I was looking for Dende, I found a rather interesting guy who may help you in your new adventure. He was also interested in restarting his life again, so I decided to bring him with me."

"An interesting guy, you say? Who is he?"

"He's coming," replied the low-class divinity and, right after those words were spoken, a new figure appeared behind him and Dende. He was a young and handsome man with penetrating ice-blue eyes and shoulder-length black hair. He was wearing a white shirt with 'MIR' imprinted on it, with green sleeves and blue jeans. He had black shoes and was wearing a tan-colored belt. On his left sleeve was an orange armband that said 'RANGER'.

Some of the fighters looked in shock at the new presence, others looked in fear at him because of bad memories, while some weren’t bothered by it. "There are many familiar faces here," the man commented as he looked at the Z-Fighters with a neutral expression.

"Tch," reacted Vegeta in annoyance. "What is he doing here?" he thought.

"A-A-Android 17??!" stammered Krilin.

"Darling," whispered Videl to Gohan, "Do you know him?"

"Yeah," he answered, "He's Android 17: Android 18's twin brother."

"Twin brother?" she asked before taking a better look at the man, then she said, "Hmm, I can see how there's a resemblance, actually."

Android 18 started walking to her brother, with her daughter in her arms, as he was doing the same, both with neutral expressions. "It's about time you decided to show yourself," said the female modified human.

"I was a bit busy, lately," he replied. Then, they both stopped one in front of the other. Android 17 laid his gaze upon the little girl his twin sister was carrying in her arms and smiled, "My niece I suppose... Maron, right?"

"Marron!" she corrected with an annoyed tone and continued with an intimidating look, "Say it incorrectly again and I'll kill you."

The male modified human didn't seem scared by his sister's threat as he stroked his niece's head with a smile. Marron giggled and those sounds of joy made her mother smile. Krillin and most of the others who already met Android 17 were surprised by this scene. They didn't know he had changed this much... they just remembered the killer android who was hunting Goku down, but if his sister turned good, it's possible he turned good too.

The trio approached the group as Krillin was staring at his brother-in-law, still not sure what to think. 17 noticed it and stared at him as well, making Krillin laugh nervously. "H-hi, 17, h-how are you doing?" he tried to start a conversation.

"Fine," he answered with an uninterested tone as he broke the eye-contact. Krillin just sighed because of the failed attempt to get along with the Android. His wife just shook his head in disappointment: for her, a conversation had to be natural instead of forced. Something the ex-martial artist clearly had to learn.

"Good," started the Grand Supreme Kai, drawing attention, "Now that the group is complete, we can call the Namekians to see if they can summon Porunga and send all you to Equus."

[Everfree Forest, Somewhere]

While the Z-fighters were preparing to be sent to the land of Equestria and, unbeknownst to anyone, the God of Destruction, Lord Beerus, and Whis were making their way to Equus as well, the Mane 6, Spike and Son Goku were walking in the 'scariest and most dangerous place in Equestria' as Applejack named it. As they were walking, the group was talking about the battle previously witnessed... well it was mainly Rainbow Dash.

"... And then you shot that huge Ki wave thing and boom, you defeated Discord!" she finished to resume the fight in excitement.

"Yes, we know that Rainbow, in case you didn't happen to notice, we were all there," replied Twilight.

"So, tell me, Goku," said the cyan pegasus as she was flying next to him, ignoring the lavender alicorn, "Did you always do that back on... 'Earth', was it?"

"Yeah, I've fought very strong guys throughout my life," he answered with a smile, remembering his first fights during his childhood and the enemies he fought after Raditz's arrival, "Every fight was harder than the previous one and if it weren't for my friends, I wouldn't be able to defeat most of the opponents I faced." He lowered slightly his head in sadness, remembering his last fight and the fact he was unable to protect his family, friends and the planet he was raised on. This time the Dragon Balls weren't available to fix everything. This time, everything was lost... permanently.

This didn't go unnoticed by the speedster and the rest of the group, "Oh, sorry. I didn't want to..." she tried to apologize for what she said. Goku just lost his home-planet, family, and friends. Talking about his life back on Earth certainly didn't help him to feel any better.

The low-class Saiyan interrupted her, "Don't worry, Rainbow. I'm sure they're fine in the Afterlife." He smiled and continued, "Maybe they're living with King Kai, or maybe even the Supreme Kais."

"Supreme Kais?" asked Twilight in confusion. She heard that name again, King Kai. Not only that, it seems there are Kais of other levels as well. Maybe now he can explain who or what they are.

"They’re the Gods of Creation." he answered, "At least that's what they said to me when I met them."

"G-gods of Creation?" she repeated in awe, "You mean, they're the ponies who created the macrocosm?!"

"Uh, yeah?" nervously answered Goku, both because he wasn't sure of what 'macrocosm' was supposed to mean and because neither Shin and Kibito, now merged into 'Kibito Kai', nor the Elder Kai ever told him that they created it... and also the fact that he never bothered to ask.

"Well, it makes sense in a way," she said, trying to keep her cool, "If there's a God of Destruction, there should be a God of Creation." In her mind, she was very excited, “He just arrived yesterday, yet he's bringing new knowledge that is massively expanding my horizons. Ki Energy, life on other planets, Gods and Celestia knows what!” But she was also reminded of how he got there and started to feel very sorry for him,“I don’t even know what I would have done if my homeworld, as well as all of the ponies I loved, got destroyed by some powerful villain. That made me realize, how in Equestria could he keep that smile and positive outlook on life, even after such a catastrophic event like that?”

"Hey, Rainbow," whispered the Saiyan, drawing her attention, "What does 'Macrocosm' mean?"

"I have no idea, dude. That egghead-y word probably doesn’t mean anything," she replied, "You better get used to her academic way to speaking since you're gonna live with her," she then pointed at the princess and continued, "And guess how I know the word 'academic'..."

Goku just giggled at this. He thought Twilight and Bulma would have been good friends since both are smart and both like science. As he was thinking about it, the group stopped in front of a swamp. The area was filled with bubbling green water, some black roots were emerging from the emerald creek, but unlike before, those vines didn't have any intention to attack. There were some stones that were acting like some sort of bridge to cross the mass of water in front of them.

Twilight then spoke up, getting the attention of the others, "We can use those stones to cross and make our way over there." She then proceeded to jump onto the first stone, but something unexpected happened: a huge crocodile-like creature emerged from the water, revealing that the lavender princess was on its tail. The others gasped in shock at the revelation, as the creature flung Twilight towards the group by violently shaking its hindmost part. Goku cast the levitation spell on her, stopping her flight and screaming. He then laid the shocked mare on the ground before looking back to the swamp monster.

"A Cragadile!" shouted Rarity as the beast was approaching them, "Run for your lives!"

Everyone but Goku began to run to different directions as the Saiyan's gaze was upon the oncoming creature. The Elements and Spike, who reached a relatively safer spot, watched in horror as the monster was charging at their friend with its fearful, gaping maw. They all closed their eyes, not wanting to witness a loathsome scene, as they were praying not to hear his screams. But all they heard was the noise of something shattering.

Applejack, who was behind a bush, was braver than her friends and opened an eye to see what happened. She gasped as her eyes wide opened for what she saw. "W-what happened, Applejack?" asked Rarity as she was covering her eyes.

"Ya won't believe me if I tell ya."

Rarity hesitantly opened her eyes and moved the leaves to know what her friend meant with that. "Oh, my, Celestia..."

The rest of the Elements and Spike came out their hiding spot to see what happened to their friend and why everything was so quiet all of a sudden. Their jaws dropped to the ground when they saw something that, if they weren't seeing it, they wouldn't have ever believed it.

Goku was in a sitting position as his head was inside the toothless mouth of the Cragadile. The Mane 6 saw the shreds of what once were teeth on the ground. Everyone was so still that if it wasn't for the moving vines on the trees, it would have seemed a picture. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the Cragadile opened its mouth to roar in pain as he disappeared into the thickets.

Son Goku just rubbed the back of his head and commented, "Man, that crocodile was even grumpier than Icarus when he's famished." He turned his head and saw the mares and Spike looking at him, flabbergasted. "What?" he asked in confusion.

"How?!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

"How... what?"

"Oh, come on! That! You just got bitten by a Cragadile! And not only that: you're still alive and you're not even hurt!"

"Ah, that? Ehehe, it was nothing. My body is as hard as steel: it will take something more than just a bite to hurt me. Besides, if Sharks or Saber-Toothed Tigers couldn't hurt me when I was a kid, a Crocodile won't do any difference now."

"Kid?" asked Rarity in confusion.

"He means 'colt'," explained Spike.

"That was a Cragadile, not a Crocodile, anyways," corrected Applejack.

"Whatever! That was so awesome!" exclaimed Rainbow.

"What are Saber-Toothed Tigers and who’s Icarus?" asked Fluttershy with a happy smile, quickly approaching the Saiyan, "Are they animals of your world?? Oh, if you don't mind me asking.."

"Girls, stay focused," said Twilight, "I'm as curious as you all, but we still haven’t found the Tree of Harmony yet, and these vines won't stop to invade Equestria if we don't do something. We'll have enough time to talk with Goku about this later."

They all nodded and resumed their quest by taking another path to avoid the creek. The group walked through the infested forest for about 15 minutes until they found themselves into a clearing. The orientation became better, despite the dark-spined roots that modified the look of the surroundings, making them less familiar to the Mane 6 and Spike, but not to the point to be unrecognizable.

Rainbow Dash wasn't exactly the most patient pony on Equus. In fact, while others were just a few minutes, for her it was hours or even days. She was used to flying at very high speeds and moving all across Ponyville, Canterlot, Cloudsdale or wherever location she was in and reach in an instant. Any place she wanted, she just had to fly there and that’s it. However, she was forced to fly at the same speed as her friends because she didn't know the position of the so-called 'Tree of Harmony'. This impatience led the cyan pegasus to pronounce the following words.

"Anypony else is starting to think this is a lost cause? We're almost at Celestia and Luna's old castle."

"You're not giving up, aren't ya?" asked Applejack with a smirk. She perfectly knew her rival/friend, so she knew what she needed to be more motivated.

"What? No! I mean, I just don't want to be in this forest for Celestia knows how long, just to look for a tree that has been seen only by Goku and Twilight after taking that crazy potion," replied the speedster and continued, "What if it isn't even real?"

At that moment, Goku stopped. The group stopped as well, wondering why the warrior stopped moving. His eyes were closed like he was focusing on something. "Uh, is there something wrong, Goku?" asked Spike. Goku didn't answer right away: he was focusing on a familiar Ki he just sensed, trying to locate its exact position. It was weak so it was a bit difficult at first, but, after a few seconds, he finally located the source of that energy.

"Guys," started the Saiyan opening his eyes, "I think I've found Celestia."

Everyone's eyes opened wide at this, as countless questions were storming in the heads of everyone. Twilight and Spike didn’t share the same confusion as the others since they already knew about Goku's ability to sense Ki.

“How in tarnation did you find her!?” Applejack asked loudly.

“More importantly, how in Equestria did she end up in the Everfree?” Rarity joined in.

“Is that another super duper cool trick of yours?” Pinkie eagerly asked.

“Is she alright?” Fluttershy said worriedly.

“Girls! Girls! Calm down, one after ano-” Goku couldn’t finish his sentence as he was interrupted by Twilight.

After getting over her shock on her mentor's discovery, she didn't waste time and, as fast as lightning, she approached the white alicorn and grabbed onto his shoulders, "Where is she?!" she asked in trepidancy.

"I'll teleport everyone there to make things quicker. You and Spike already know the drill," he answered with a calm and serious expression. Celestia's Ki was weak and that could have meant two things: either she was seriously wounded or she was suppressing her Ki. But the latter was very unlikely, so she needed help as soon as possible.

Spike and Twilight proceeded to place their claws and hoof on him. Pinkie Pie happily complied, but the others were a bit doubtful about it. "What are you waiting for?" asked Twilight.

"Uh, I don't know, Twilight. I've seen the side-effects of a teleportation spell on Spike," Rainbow answered, remembering a roasted baby dragon appearing from nowhere, back when the former unicorn was escaping from the crowd that wanted her to give them an extra ticket for the Grand Galloping Gala.

"Exactly. I'm really surprised he isn't trying to escape or at least suggesting something else to avoid it," replied the Fashionista, remembering that it could also cause sickness.

"Talking about spells, didn't you say that you only know how to levitate things?" added Rainbow, talking with Goku.

"This is not a spell, girls, it's a technique," he answered, "How do you think me, Twilight and Spike managed to appear right in front of you all, earlier?"

"And the best thing of that technique is that it doesn't cause burns or sickness," supported Spike, "Thanks to him and his teleportation, we managed to finish Canterlot's preparations for the festivities early."

"Well, I say that we give it a try," said Applejack while she was doing the same thing like Twilight, Spike and Pinkie.

Rainbow and Rarity looked up at each other doubtfully but in the end, they proceeded to lay their hooves on Goku. Fluttershy was the last one. It wasn't like she didn't trust Spike or Goku, but she was scared to be a victim of those afflictions. She heard what Spike just said, but what if Goku's teleportation caused one of those undesirable effects this time?

"Come on, Fluttershy," encouraged Pinkie with her bright smile, "Spike just said it's safe!"

"O-Okay," she replied hesitantly while approaching the group. She was about to touch Goku but she hesitated, still scared of the side-effects that teleportation could cause. Why couldn't they just run to wherever Celestia was?

For some reason, her gaze met Goku's, almost if she wanted some guarantee that everything would be alright and, as if to answer, the Saiyan just smiled at her. She didn't know why but that smile gave her a feeling of security, the same feeling she felt when she was with her pets and animals. So, without a second thought, she touched the white alicorn.

Once everyone was ready, Goku closed his eyes and they all disappeared.

[New Namek]

New Namek, the planet discovered by King Kai one year after the destruction of the original homeworld. After the titanic battle between the evil emperor, Frieza, and the legendary Super Saiyan, Son Goku, the faraway world was the new home of the Namekian People. New Namek was almost identical to the previous one, the only difference being that it was bigger. The atmosphere, green skies, emerald oceans, and bluegrass fields were just like those of the old Namek.

The Namekians spoke to the newer generations of the deeds of the Earthling heroes, who fought Frieza's Forces and how a Saiyan defeated the Galactic tyrant, having no fear in giving up his life on the dying planet. The young Namekians got inspired by the saviors of their race and wanted to become just like them. Not only that, should any threat come to their people, they want to be able to protect their loved ones and their homeworld. They were also ready to help Earth whenever they needed it, especially with the Dragon Balls, as a token of gratitude.

The 7 magical spheres were all gathered in the village of the Grand Elder Moori, chief of the Namekians, in case the Defenders of Earth needed them. In the meantime, they lived in peace and harmony, focusing on whatever the Namekian society did during peace-time.

The chief was telling the children of his village about their time on Earth after the destruction of their original home-planet... again. They really liked those stories and were never tired of hearing them over and over. 15 minutes later, the children finally left, making the Grand Elder sighed in relief. It was good that the new generations were interested in their race's history, but sometimes it was really overwhelming. Right when he was about to go to rest, he received a call from somebody he knew pretty well.

"Grand Elder Moori, can you hear me?" asked the voice.

The Namekian was surprised at the call but quickly answered, "Yes, King Kai, I can hear you. Long-time no see."

"It was a while actually," replied the North Kai, "But I'm not calling you for this."

"What happened? Is the Earth in danger?"

"Well, not exactly. Let's say that Earth is no more right now."

"What?! That’s terrible!" exclaimed the Namekian chief. Who was responsible for this? Who was strong enough to defeat the heroes who thwarted Frieza and his minions? The Namekian decided to put those thoughts aside and said, "I think I know what you need: you need the Dragon Balls to restore Earth and resurrect its population."

"We cannot restore Earth at the moment, for the one who destroyed it can just return and blow the planet up again."

"I understand."

"But we need the Dragon Balls for something else."

"Huh?"

[Pocket Dimension 7's Space, Equus's Planetary System]

Meanwhile, Lord Beerus and Whis were traveling across the Planetary System of Equus as the Angel was telling the God of Destruction what happened in Equestria since their last visit. "... In the end, the sixth element was revealed to be Celestia's star student, Twilight Sparkle, and with her newfound friends, she activated the Rainbow Power and saved Luna from her evil, corrupted side."

Beerus just sighed and said, "Seriously, Luna didn't learn anything from what happened between Dawn and Celestia?"

"Well, that is the past, after all. It doesn't matter now."

"How much time is left on our arrival?"

"A few minutes," answered the Angel as he suddenly stopped.

"Hey, why did you stop?" asked in confusion the purple cat.

"I just wanted to see the peculiarity of this Dimension," replied the Angel. "In any other place in the Cosmos, stars stay at the center of space and planets orbit around them. But the same cannot be said here is."

"We already know this place is odd. Just hurry up!" exclaimed the deity.

The Angel obeyed the order and resumed their journey. As they were approaching their destination, a cocky smile appeared on Beerus's face and said, "I expect you to put up a better fight this time, Super Saiyan God."

Author's Note

Here's the new chapter. Sorry for the long wait, guys, but I don't have as much free time as I used to have during the summer holidays. I'll try to publish the chapters faster. Anyways, Goku and Beerus's second battle is about to begin. How will the ponies and the Z-fighters react to the God of Destruction's arrival in Equestria? You'll see that in the next chapters.

Battle of Gods Saga: The Return of the God of Destruction (Part 1)

Author's Note

Hello everyone. First of all, I want to say thanks to MachoManRandySavage for suggesting me the App to correct most of my errors. I usually don't see them, so it is quite helpful. However, if you see more of them, please be patient since English isn't my mother language.
That said, I hope you like the first part of this chapter. Good reading.

Battle of Gods Saga: The Return of the God of Destruction (Part 1)

[Everfree Forest, Tree of Harmony's Cave]

Meanwhile, Goku, Spike, and the Mane 6 appeared in a cave. As Goku promised, they weren't sick, weren’t experiencing any headaches, and didn’t have any sort of burns whatsoever.

"Hey, I'm alright!" exclaimed Rainbow.

"Me too!" Pinkie added.

“I concur,” confirmed Rarity.

"See? It's safe. There’s nothing to worry about," commented the baby dragon.

"Why isn't your teleportation like Goku's, Twilight?" asked the Element of Loyalty in a mocking tone.

The lavender Alicorn frowned at her and said, "Well, excuse me if mine is not fitted for everypony!"

"If you like, I can help you improve it, Twilight," offered the Saiyan-turned-pony and added, "Or I can teach you this technique. Your choice."

Stars appeared in the princess's eyes, "Really?!"

"Yes, right after we fix that," he answered in a serious tone while pointing something in front of him. The mares and the dragon turned their heads and saw the thing they were looking for: a crystal tree with Twilight's Cutie Mark on the trunk. The Tree of Harmony, as expected, wasn't in good condition. Dark-spined roots were wrapping the now dull grey magical plant while also infesting the cave.

"Well, at least we've found the Tree," commented Applejack, "But where are the Princesses?"

"She's right there," answered Goku as he pointed a chrysalis made of roots to the right of the dying plant. Twilight didn't waste time and tried to reach Celestia's prison and free her, but the black vines didn't agree with her plans and attacked her. She stopped when she saw the charging roots but, suddenly, a blast destroyed them all. She turned her head and saw the white Alicorn approaching her. "Those vines look like they’re even more aggressive than those in Ponyville," he stated in a serious tone and suggested, "Be careful."

"Thanks, Goku."

"I can sense another presence here. It is similar to Celestia's."

The Element of Magic gasped and said, "It must be Princess Luna's!"

"I bet she is in the other chrysalis," he said, looking at the mass of roots to the left of the tree, as the rest of the group approached them.

"Can you free them?" asked Spike

"No, I can't. I could hurt them in the process: those roots are too close to their bodies."

"Oh no, this is bad," commented Fluttershy in a worried tone.

"What do we do, then?" asked Pinkie.

Twilight was trying to figure out how to free the princesses. Goku couldn't help her this time, but certainly, there was a way to fix this mess. She looked at the Cutie Mark on the Tree of Harmony and, for some reason, she tried to reach it. However, a vine grabbed one of her legs. Instinctively, she cast an Attack Spell on the vine, destroying it, and flew back a bit.

She noticed the roots were strengthening their grab around the giant six-pointed star and, for some reason, she remembered what her ex-mentor said during her vision of the past.

[Tree of Harmony's Cave, 2000 years ago]

"Even without these elements, the Tree of Harmony will possess powerful magic. As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here."

[Present]

Twilight's expression turned serious as she landed and said, "I know how we can save the tree and maybe the princesses too: We have to give it the Elements of Harmony."

Everypony but Goku gasped. Give away the Elements of Harmony? That was basically giving away the country’s line of defense against any upstart villain who wanted to conquer it. This also meant giving away the items that started their friendship. "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa," stopped Rainbow as she flew right in front of her and landed. Then she asked, "If we do that, how are we supposed to protect Equestria?"

"How are we meant to rein Discord in if we can't use the Elements to turn him back to stone?" supported Rarity.

"Twilight..." started the Element of Honesty as she approached the princess, "The Elements of Harmony... They're what kept us connected, no matter what."

Twilight noticed Applejack's sad expression and answered, "You're right about one thing, Applejack: The Elements of Harmony did bring us together. But it isn't the Elements that will keep us connected: It's our friendship. And it's more important and more powerful than any magic. My new role in Equestria may mean I have to take on new responsibilities, and our friendships may be tested, but it will never, ever be broken."

The Mane 5 and even Spike's morale was strengthened by that speech. Goku smiled because everything she said was true. However, he didn't expect what the lavender mare would have said right after that, "And to answer your questions, Rarity, Rainbow, don't you remember that we just befriended somepony strong enough to defeat Discord?"

"Right!" exclaimed the speedster realizing that there was Goku on their side, "Equestria has nothing to fear with the strongest pony ever on its side."

"It's kinda weird. I just ended up here, and they already need me as some sort of shield." thought Goku as he was nervously smiling.

"Well, there's no time to lose," said Twilight in order to return to their task, "Everypony ready?"

"Ready!" the Mane 5 answered as the lavender Alicorn took off. She stopped her flight once she was 4 meters away from the ground and took the Elements of Harmony from her friends using her magic. Once the 5 gemstones were around her, she extracted the Element of Magic from her crown and made them swirl around her body. However, the vines reacted to Twilight's actions as if they were well aware of what she was trying to do.

The dark-spined roots quickly attacked the lavender mare but, before they could reach her, they were destroyed by a Ki blast. Twilight turned her head and saw Goku who had a serious expression while his left forehoof was pointed towards where the roots were attacking from. The white Alicorn nodded to say she could proceed, and the princess nodded back in response. She made the Elements fly toward the dying tree: 5 gemstones flew to the branches while the last one flew to the tree's trunk.

The Elements of Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, Kindness, and Honesty were set into their respective branches while the Element of Magic was placed into the six-pointed star drawn on the trunk. Once all the gemstones were in their place, they started glowing. Goku sensed a calm yet powerful energy coming from the Tree of Harmony that glowed as well. The power ignited by the Elements produced a magical shockwave that disintegrated every dark root and spiked cloud in the Everfree Forest and beyond, which was something that Discord didn't really like.

The light coming from the tree grew dim and fade. The group watched in relief and happiness that its health was restored. However, the good news wasn't ended yet, for the 2 chrysalises on the tree's sides were disintegrated by its rainbow magic, releasing Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Twilight, relieved they were safe, landed and ran toward the Royal Sisters and happily embraced them, while the others approach and watched from some distance.

Celestia and Luna gladly accepted and returned the embrace. "We know how difficult it must have been for you to give up the Elements," the Sun Goddess said and added, "It took great courage to relinquish them." Twilight did listen to her mentor's words, but she was more focused on the hug. The relief and happiness she was feeling because of the Royal Sisters' newfound safeness were immense.

The Mane 5, Spike, and Goku were witnessing the scene with joy. The mares and the young dragon already knew how much Twilight cared about Luna and Celestia, especially the latter. Goku perfectly understood that feeling: if Master Roshi had been kidnapped, he would have been as happy as Twilight right now once he was safe.

Princess Luna turned her head and saw that all of Twilight's friends were there, but there was somepony else, a complete stranger for her. She assumed that he should be a new friend of the Elements, but what drew her attention was the fact he was an Alicorn, something that had never been seen in Equestrian history. "Uh, Sister? Do you see what I am seeing now?"

At first, Celestia was confused by her sister's question but, once she saw Goku, she immediately understood the situation and said, "His name is Son Goku. I, Twilight, and her friends met him yesterday after... quite an explosive incident."

"Huh?" said Luna in confusion.

"I'll explain to you later."

The Saiyan-turned-Pony began to approach the Princesses to introduce himself to Luna. However, once he stepped into the area of the colorless Yin Yang symbol drawn around the magical tree, his Cutie Mark began to shine. Goku noticed this and stopped as he was wondering what was going on. Everyone saw his Cutie Mark shining and were wondering why it was doing so. Twilight turned her head to see what the princesses were staring at and noticed this as well.

A spark appeared for an instant in her eyes. She immediately turned her head to see the Tree of Harmony. The Elements into the branches were blinking while the Element of Magic was shining brightly. Magic from the blinking Elements was channeled into the six-pointed star drawn on the magical plant. The magic of the 6 Elements flowed through the trunk, reaching Celestia's and Luna's Cutie Marks that were drawn on the lower part of the tree's crystal stem.

The ground beneath the tree began to glow as well. The colorless Yin Yang symbol started to be colored by the flowing magic. Half of it turned white with a black circle in it, and the other half turned black with a white circle in it. Everyone was looking in awe at what was happening in front of them.

Finally, popped up a big flower from a root, but it didn't bloom yet. Twilight approached the flower and touched it, making the pink plant bloom, revealing a crystal casket in it. The casket had a hexagonal shape and there were 6 locks on it, 1 per side, and, on the top of the crystal object, there was a colorless Yin Yang symbol. The Royal Sisters reached Twilight and took a better look at the 'gift' given by the Tree of Harmony.

"6 locks, 6 keys," commented the Princess of the Night. Then, she noticed the Cutie Mark of the new Alicorn on the object and thought, "What is this supposed to mean?"

"What's inside it? How am I supposed to open it?" asked Twilight to Celestia.

"I do not know where or how to open it," answered the Sun Goddess, "But I do know that it is a mystery you will not be solving alone." She stepped aside, letting her former student see her friends, implying that the lavender Alicorn had somepony, or someponies, to rely on.

"What a touching moment," said an unknown voice, “it’s a shame that I have to ruin it.'' For the Mane 6 and Spike, it belonged to someone or something completely new, but for Celestia, Luna and Goku, it was a voice they knew all too well. All of them turned their heads and saw 2 bipedal beings standing at the entrance of the cave. The first one was an anthropomorphic purple cat with large pointed ears, golden-yellow eyes, no irises, and dark pupils. His form was hairless and, while overall defined in built, he was very thin and bony.

The second one was a being unknown for most of the group. Twilight and Spike noticed that he was, appearance-wise, similar to the Humans they saw back in Canterlot High. The only different things were his weird clothes, the scepter, and the azure halo around his neck. For the Mane 5, he was a tall bipedal thing with pale blue skin, white mane, pale violet eyes, and rather effeminate features. Only Fluttershy was more than sure he was male, while the others found difficult to say if the thing was female or not.

The Royal Sisters and Son Goku immediately recognized them, all of their eyes going wide. While the sisters were still shocked, surprised, and a little afraid to see them, the Saiyan, after getting out of his temporary shock, glared at the God of Destruction. The destruction of Earth and the death of his family and friends were still fresh in his mind and, since he didn't know the reason why they were here, his first thought was that Lord Beerus was here to finish him off or worst... to destroy the planet he was on.

The rest of the group, minus Pinkie, saw the reactions from the Princesses and Goku. Surely, the new arrivals must be beings of significant importance and strength if they were able to send the Princesses into a paralyzed state. They were starting to get worried by the tense atmosphere, that was until one of them decided to speak up.

"Uh, Who and what the hay are you?" asked Rainbow, with a hint of fear in her voice.

The God of Destruction couldn't even open his mouth as Pinkie popped out of nowhere above his head. While she was upside down in mid-air, defying physics, with her muzzle near Beerus', she said, "Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?"

Goku was impressed by Pinkie: he didn't see her moving. In the blink of an eye, she was right in front of the deity and he didn't even notice it until she was actually there. Did she know Teleportation or Instant Transmission too? That was something he wanted to ask later... if he ever survives a Round 2 against the purple cat.

Meanwhile, Lord Beerus just used his telekinesis to bring the pink pony back to the ground and said, "I already know who you are, Element of Laughter."

"Ooooh! How do you know I'm the Element of Laughter? Are you a fortune-teller?!" she asked with a bright smile and stars in her eyes, then she added, "Can you tell me if Gummy will like his birthday party I'm planning for next month?!"

The Mane 4 and Spike facehoofed/faceclawed, while Celestia, Luna, and Whis were amused by this scene. On the other hoof, Goku and Fluttershy were confused by Pinkie's questions. The God of Destruction was losing his patience, but his assistant quickly spoke, "Ohohoh. Of course not, Miss Pie, Lord Beerus isn't a fortune-teller. He is a Hakaishin. In other words, a God of Destruction."

The Mane 5 and Spike gasped. They can’t believe it, this was the being who destroyed their friend’s world and who knows how many more. And he was standing there, right in front of them, menacingly. "Oooh, a God of..." said the pink Earth Pony in awe, but then she realized who she was talking to, "*GASP* You're the meanie who destroyed Goku's home!" She quickly retreated, reaching her friends.

"Speaking of Goku," he started as he laid his gaze upon the ponified Saiyan, "You were very lucky to survive that attack, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, I was," Goku answered with a serious expression, "If Twilight and her friends hadn't saved me in time, I wouldn't be alive right now."

"I just happen to know you Saiyans possess an ability called 'Zenkai', that allows you to greatly increase your power after the complete healing of a deadly wound."

"So, what are you saying?"

"I think you already know what I'm getting at."

"You want to resume that fight we had, don’t you?"

"Precisely."

The Mane 6, Spike, and the Royal Sisters didn't like what was about to begin. The Mane 6 and Spike were worried... no, scared of the quite likely destruction of Equestria and the world. Their previous fight annihilated countless lives and a planet. If they fought again, that would probably seal the fate of Equus. Celestia was sure that Beerus wasn't going to destroy the planet for 2 reasons: the food and his friendship with her and her sister. However, she was worried about the destruction their fight would have caused all across the land and the possibility of innocent ponies being caught in the crossfire.

Luna was well aware of the God of Destruction's power. So, she didn't understand why he was so interested in fighting a pony, even if he was an Alicorn. He already proved his total superiority over the mightiest beings of Equus when he first arrived in the Kingdom. What made this pony any different from the others? She liked to watch a friendly fight between 2 warriors, but this one wouldn't be anything but a complete massacre. “That poor foal,” Luna thought in worry, “being challenged by Beerus himself is nothing but a death sentence. Though, I am curious about what he said about Goku being a 'Saiyan' and this ‘Zenkai’ ability he has.”

"I'll warn you: if you refuse to accept, I will destroy this planet," stated the purple cat. His blunt and direct comment caught everypony, including the Royal Sisters, off guard.

“*Gulp* H-he ain’t ly-ying there,” Applejack stammered out to the others, confirming the honesty of his statement. The farmer’s confirmation added further fear to the Mane 6 and the little dragon, scaring them even more.

“It can’t be true. It can’t be, the Princesses would never allow such a thing,” Twilight looked at her former mentor for any sort of defiance, but was taken aback by Celestia’s and Luna’s complacency. She met eyes with Celestia, the lavender mare looking for any form of retaliation, but all she saw was the Princess looking down in shame, her ears folded against her head. Twilight was left stunned by this, and looked down at the ground. A sense of dread and hopelessness started to take over her until she realized something. She quickly turned around to see Goku, realizing that they still have one last layer of defense. “He’s our last and only hope for our survival,” she stated in shock.

Goku gritted his teeth because of that statement. He'll be damned if he let this guy do to Equestria what he did to Earth. So, for the sake of his new friends and the will for a rematch with the God of Destruction, he answered, "I accept."

[New Namek]

The Grand Elder Moori was in the square of the village, standing in front of the Dragon Balls. The Namekians were all gathered around Grand Elder to see the awakening of the wish-granting dragon Porunga. Eons passed since his last awakening and they all were curious, especially the new generation, to see the mystical being. "Takkaraputo popurunga pupirittoparo!" exclaimed the Chief of the Namekians.

After the pronunciation of the Namekian password, the Dragon Balls began to blink. The sky turned dark as the mystical orbs were shining brightly. Suddenly, a pillar of golden light was generated by the 7 spheres as the Namekians were looking in awe at the event. The pillar of light began to take shape and finally faded, revealing a titanic and bulky red-eyed green dragon.

Porunga was much more brutal-looking than his Earthling counterpart, Shenron, with a heavily muscled upper body: large pectoral muscles, shoulders, arms, and a well-defined four-pack. Instead of looking snake-like in appearance, like Shenron did, Porunga appeared to be more alligator-like. He had a long green slithery tail instead of legs, a large fin down the center of his back, and large spikes on his shoulders and head, as well as two antennae on his forehead, similar to the Namekian people.

Everyone present was more than impressed by the gigantic creature standing in front of them. The Dragon of Love was bigger than how they actually believed it was, and his threatening look made them feel a bit of fear and respect toward him.

"YOU HAVE COLLECTED ALL 7 DRAGON BALLS. AND NOW THAT I HAVE BEEN AWAKENED, THINK WISELY AND I SHALL GRANT YOU 3 WISHES WITHIN MY POWER!" stated the Eternal Dragon with a deep voice.

[Supreme Kai's Planet]

King Kai, the Dragon Team, Chi-Chi, Videl, Yamcha, Puar, Oolong, Chiaotzu, Dende, Android 17, Elder Kai, and Kibito Kai watched the awakening of Porunga using the crystal ball. Gohan, Krillin, Dende, and Vegeta had flashbacks of their quest on Namek. Gohan, Krillin, and Dende remembered when they summon Porunga in order to resurrect Piccolo, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, and Chiaotzu but, in the end, they just resurrected their Namekian friend and wished him to be on Namek before the passing of the Dragon. Vegeta remembered the time he wanted the Dragon Balls to be immortal and defeat Frieza by himself, but he just tossed those memories aside.

The others were amazed by the look of that Dragon. "Wow, that Dragon is way different from Shenron," said Goten in awe.

“He looks cooler as well,” Trunks added.

"His name is Porunga," said Gohan, "And yes, he's very different from Shenron. I was as impressed as you are when I first saw him."

"Yeah, that sure was something," commented Krillin, remembering how titanic that dragon was.

"Alright, everyone, be ready, because the Grand Elder is about to state the wish," suggested King Kai. Everyone but Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Oolong, and Chi-Chi nodded in response.

"Mom..." started Gohan with a hint of sorrow, "Is this a goodbye forever?"

"No, Gohan," she answered with a sad smile as she hugged him, "We'll meet again someday. This is just a 'see you later'." Gohan accepted the embrace and Goten joined them. A few seconds later, they broke the embrace and the offsprings of Son Goku looked at the Old Kai and nodded, indicating that they were ready.

[New Namek, Grand Elder Moori's Village]

The Dragon of Love was growing impatient because no one stated a single wish yet. He was good-hearted, but being that he was a dragon, he was a bit grumpy. "LOOK, I'M ENJOYING THE FRESH AIR, BUT I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY. IF YOU CAN'T DECIDE, JUST WISH FOR NOTHING 3 TIMES SO I CAN GO HOME."

[Supreme Kai's Planet]

A giant drop appeared on the back of everyone's head after the dragon's words. "Ehehe, that's what he said to us back then," said Krillin with a nervous smile.

King Kai decided to let it go and proceeded to communicate with the Namekian Chief, "We are ready. You can state the wish, now."

[Grand Elder Moori's Village]

After hearing from King Kai confirmation, he raised his hands as he laid his gaze upon the Eternal Dragon and exclaimed, "PLEASE, MIGHTY DRAGON PORUNGA, RESTORE THE LIVES OF THE BEINGS KNOWN AS VEGETA, BULMA, KRILLIN, ANDROID 18, MARRON, ANDROID 17, SON GOHAN, SON GOTEN, VIDEL, HERCULE SATAN, MAJIN BUU, YAMCHA, PUAR, PICCOLO, DENDE, AND MUTEN ROSHI!"

The dragon was in silence for a few seconds. The Grand Elder feared that the wish was beyond Porunga's power, but then, the dragon's eyes glowed for a moment. "YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED. STATE THE SECOND WISH."

The Namekian sighed in relief and exclaimed, "PLEASE, SEND THE RESURRECTED BEINGS TO THE LAND CALLED 'EQUESTRIA'!"

The dragon was in silence for a few moments, then he said, "YOUR WISH IS A BIT COMPLICATED TO GRANT, FOR THE LAND YOU WANT THEM TO BE IN IS A PLACE WHERE TIME FLOWS DIFFERENTLY. IN ORDER TO GRANT IT, I MUST SYNCHRONIZE ITS FLOW OF TIME WITH OURS. HOWEVER, IT WILL COUNT AS 2 WISHES INSTEAD OF 1."

"DO IT!" exclaimed Moori, and Porunga obeyed as his eyes started shining.

[Everfree Forest, Tree of Harmony's Cave]

"Excellent," said Lord Beerus with a smile after hearing Goku's answer. "However, this is not a suitable place to resume our battle. Let's go outside, I’ll be waiting for you," he added as he levitated himself and went outside followed by his angel.

Before Goku could even begin to trot, Rainbow Dash reached him as fast as lightning and said, "You MUST win!"

Rarity intervened and said with a smile that reflected fear, even though she was trying to hide it, "What she wanted to say is that we'll be cheering for you and... good luck."

Goku noticed that the Fashionista was really scared, but was trying her hardest to not show it. Then, he took a better look at everyone present. The Mane 6 were scared, with Fluttershy shaking in fear by the implications. Spike too was shaking in fear, Luna had a gaze of worry, and Celestia had a serious expression. However, the Sun Goddess was just hiding her true feelings about all of this. The Saiyan-turned-Pony got serious and left toward the exit of the cave while releasing a short burst of aura. That fleeting peak of power surprised Luna, whose questions increased even more.

They decided to follow the black-maned alicorn to see the battle that was about to begin and to act as moral support: that was the only thing they could do for him. Once outside, Goku flew toward the God of Destruction, who was waiting for him above the forest canopy. Whis was sitting on a rock near the entrance of the cave while observing the 2 fighters. The Elements of Harmony, Spike, and the Royal Sisters noticed him, with the first ones being a bit scared of him, since he was an ally of Lord Beerus.

However, they didn't expect what he said when he noticed them, "Long time no see, Celestia and Luna."

The eyes of the Elements and Spike widened, with Twilight asking, "You… you know them?!"

Celestia sighed and answered, "Yes, we do. It's quite a long story."

"Can you explain to us what exactly he is?" asked Rainbow.

"He's an Angel, Rainbow Dash," replied Luna, "And he's Beerus' assistant."

"So, you help that Beerus guy destroy entire worlds?!" asked Spike in fear.

"Ohohoh. Absolutely not, young dragon. Destroying is the God of Destruction's duty. Mine is just to merely advise him, gather information, help him travel across the universe and, if needed, stop him from accidentally destroying it."

"D-destroy the universe??!" exclaimed the baby dragon, "H-he can really do that?!"

"Yes, he can. But don't be scared: a God of Destruction cannot destroy his own universe, for it is forbidden."

Spike sighed in relief while Twilight spoke, "Wait, you said that one of your duties is to prevent him from accidentally destroying the universe. That means that you're strong enough to stop him, right? Why don't you stop this fight?"

"It doesn't work like that, Twilight," said Celestia, "An Angel cannot stop his God of Destruction from doing something that won't endanger the universe. They can suggest it, but the deity is the one who will make the final decision."

"Their previous fight destroyed Goku's world. That means that we're doomed, right?" asked Applejack in worry.

"I don't know. We'll have to see the outcome of this second round to know the fate of Equus," he calmly answered as he laid his gaze upon the 2 fighters.

Meanwhile, Lord Beerus and Son Goku were flying above the forest. They were one in front of the other, with only 4 or 5 meters separating between the two juggernauts. Goku wasn't using his wings to fly yet, but his Ki, while he got into his fighting stance. He tried to remember the feeling of the power of his God form: it was different from the one of his mortal forms. If Super Saiyan and its enhancements, Super Saiyan 2, and Super Saiyan 3 were forms ignited by rage, Super Saiyan God was a form ignited by positive emotions.

He closed his eyes and remembered his friends and all of his adventures with them. From the time he lived with Grandpa Gohan to when he defeated Kid Buu with the help of Vegeta and Mr. Satan. A smile appeared on Goku's face as a blazing aura began to engulf him. His mane turned red, as well as his tail, irises, and feathers. He opened his scarlet eyes with a confident smile and said, "I'm ready."

Battle of Gods Saga: The Return of the God of Destruction (Part 2)

[Entrance of the Tree of Harmony's Cave]

Celestia was talking with Twilight regarding the hierarchy of deities, but then she and her sister sensed a massive amount of divine energy near them. However, what they found strange was that this new power didn't belong to Beerus. They turned their heads to see the source of the power and were amazed to realize that the owner was Goku. His appearance was different: his mane, tail, and the feathers of his wings were as red as a ruby. He also was engulfed in a scarlet aura that looked like a raging fire.

"Such power..." simply commented Luna in awe while her sister was in silence, but marveled as well. Celestia remembered the golden form which was filled with furious anger. This form, however, was emitting positive emotions.

"Super Saiyan God," said Twilight, "That's his strongest transformation."

"Transformation? So, this is why Beerus is interested in fighting that stallion," realized Luna, "This changes everything: he has a chance of defeating him after all."

"No, princess, he hasn't," said Twilight in a worried tone, "Even with that power, he was defeated and his home was obliterated."

"You mean that Son Goku already fought Beerus and lost?" Luna inquired

"...Yes," Twilight answered in a sad tone.

"Oh come on, Twilight," intervened Spike, "We must have faith in him. I'm sure he'll come up with something... I think."

"I hope you're right, Spike," she answered with a hint of sorrow as she laid her gaze upon the two divine beings above the forest canopy.

[Above the Everfree Forest]

Lord Beerus watched the ponified Saiyan activating his God form and got into his fighting stance as well, "You understood how to unleash that form in less than a day: I'm impressed."

"This time I'll be the winner, Lord Beerus!" stated the scarlet-maned Alicorn.

"Let's see if that Zenkai of yours actually made you stronger!" exclaimed the purple cat as he rushed toward Goku, who did the same. The clash of their fists generated an explosion and a shock wave that bent all the trees within a mile of distance. Whis created a shield to protect the ponies who, just like him, were watching the clash.

Both fighters were sending a barrage of punches and kicks to each other, but each blow was dodged or blocked by the opponent. Goku got the upper hand, as he buried a kick on Beerus' stomach that sent him into the forest. However, the God of Destruction performed a somersault to avoid crashing on the ground. Despite Beerus' quick reaction, the blow was so strong that he was still traveling backward through the forest as his feet were digging trenches.

"I see. You're way stronger, now," he commented with a confident smile. Goku dashed through the forest to keep on pressing the deity, but the purple cat counterattacked. A scarlet trail and a purple one clashed in the middle of the Everfree Forest, making the two auras vanish as well as the trees that were within 500 m of the battle zone. Lord Beerus hit Goku on the belly with his left knee, making him spit saliva, and landed a punch on his right cheek, sending the alicorn some meters away. Right after, the purple cat forced the stallion to retreat with an implacable barrage of punches and kicks.

They were traveling through the forest, destroying any trees on their path, as Goku was trying to defend himself from Beerus' heavy attacks. He gritted his teeth as he was trying to come up with something, then he remembered Twilight performing that Attack Spell back in the cave. He concentrated on his magic and, as a result, his horn began to shine brightly. Beerus noticed it, but before he could do something, a powerful scarlet magic beam hit him on the head, making the deity fly some meters away from the Saiyan God.

"Are you a magic user..." tried to ask the God of Destruction, but Goku buried his left hoof in his stomach before he could finish the sentence, charged a Ki blast with his right hoof, and hit him on the midsection. Lord Beerus flew toward the sky because of that blow, but he quickly stopped and noticed that his foe was charging him. The deity charged him as well and both fighters clashed in midair, generating another tremendous shock wave that was heard from anyone within 5 km of their position. They resumed sending a barrage of punches and kicks to each other, but with the same results as earlier.

The might of their blows was so high, that the planet itself was shaking and thunderbolts were bombarding the forest beneath them. The Royal Sisters, the Mane 6, Spike, and Whis were watching the battle thanks to the angel's scepter that was projecting the images of it. The ponies and the young dragon were both amazed and terrified. “This… this is just insane,” Rarity thought as she was witnessing the battle being projected and the tremors produced from it.

Fluttershy, on the other hoof, was scared because of the earthquake and the possibility of some animals being hurt because of their battle. She was also concerned about her new friend, who was forced to fight. “Please let this end without any harm to any pony or creature,” she pleaded worriedly.

The Royal Sisters, especially Luna, were amazed by Goku's power. They never saw Beerus put much of an effort during a duel, yet it seemed like Goku was actually forcing him to use all of his strength. “Looks like Beerus finally found his match. Thank heavens that I’m able to witness this clash of the titans,” Luna thought. Suddenly, they heard a noise and everyone but Whis turned to see the source of it. Their eyes widened when they discovered that it was Discord who just teleported there. "What's all of this chaos? Not that I don't appreciate it, of course."

"I-it's because of their battle!" exclaimed Spike as he pointed the fight broadcasted by Whis' scepter. Discord took a look at the fighting beings and noticed one of them was Son Goku transformed into that scarlet form. However, an expression of terror appeared on his face when he recognized who the stallion was fighting with.

"L-Lord B-Beerus?!" he exclaimed in fear. The Elements of Harmony were surprised that Discord already knew him. "If he ever asks, tell him I wasn't here... or in this dimension for that matter!" he exclaimed as he disappeared.

Meanwhile, Goku and Lord Beerus were exchanging kicks and punches while traveling across the area. Goku tried to hit Beerus with a punch, but Beerus hit him first with a knee on the midsection, making him short of breath, and a punch on the muzzle, sending him dozens of meters away. The alicorn stallion recovered from those blows and partially blocked a second punch from the purple cat. Once the God of Destruction removed his punch, he saw that he hurt Goku on the left cheek as it was bleeding.

A confident smile appeared on Beerus' face as he said, "Don't tell me this is all you got, Super Saiyan God. This is just warming up."

"Don't worry," he answered as he removed the blood on his cheek with his foreleg and his regenerative power healed the wound, "That wasn't even a tenth of my power."

"I really hope it wasn't," replied the deity as he flew backward a bit and got into his fighting stance, "I don't want this fight ending this soon."

Goku got into his fighting stance as well and thought, "I can't lose this time: I can't allow him to destroy this place. I have to avenge my friends and everyone on Earth."

Beerus attacked first by dashing at hypersonic speed toward Goku, who was caught off guard. The God of Destruction 'appeared' behind the scarlet-maned Alicorn, who quickly turned just to meet a fist buried in his belly and a Ki blast on the midsection. The attack propelled the ponified Saiyan to a mountain, making him crash onto it. The deity continued the assault by creating several violet atom-like Ki blasts above him and sending them all to his foe.

Meanwhile, Goku was slowly recovering from the surprise attack when several purple Ki blasts hit him. He had been stunned by the first wave, but the Alicorn was able to block the second one. However, the last one made Goku break through the mountain and fall on the ground, digging a trench in the process. He needed a few seconds to recover, and once he did, he stood up and flew toward the god at incredible speed.

Goku caught Beerus off guard by punching him in the face, generating a powerful shockwave. The deity was sent 100 meters away, but the Saiyan hadn't finished yet. He overtook the purple cat and kicked him on the back, sending him to the sky, but the Alicorn appeared above him and sent him back to the ground with an ax kick. However, he didn't allow the cat to fall any further since he intercepted him with another kick that sent his opponent to a mountain.

The Saiyan flew toward the traveling deity and attacked him again with a barrage of punches and kicks. Finally, he elbowed his foe, making him violently crash onto the rocky landform. Then, he propelled the cat through the said mountain with a kick, destroying it in the process. Lord Beerus, however, landed on his feet and traveled backward a bit, but Goku didn't give him the time to react, and hit him again with a fist on his muzzle, sending the God of Destruction 200 meters away.

Knowing that the Saiyan wouldn't give him time to react, Lord Beerus increased his power and blocked an oncoming punch with his left hand. The shockwave generated by the blow created a crater over 50 meters wide beneath them. The purple cat tossed Goku aside, but the Saiyan God stopped in midair and wanted to land a punch on him. However, the God of Destruction punched him first. The blow was so powerful that it sent Goku dozens of miles away.

[Dodge Junction, Outskirts]

The alicorn stallion landed in a desert, on his 4 hooves, but kept on going backward for a bit before stopping. Right after, Lord Beerus appeared in front of him and tried to hit him with a punch, but Goku teleported behind him and counterattacked with a kick. However, the purple cat dodged the strike by ducking himself. The God of Destruction teleported behind the scarlet-maned Alicorn and hit him on the back with a kick, then he shot 3 purple atom-like Ki Blasts.

Goku stopped in midair, turned, and destroyed the first Ki blast with his left punch, the second one with a kick, and the last one with his right punch. Then, he charged up his fire-like aura with a mighty yell and flew toward Beerus who charged him as well. The Saiyan raised on Earth attacked first with his right fist, but it was blocked by his opponent who counterattacked by hitting him on the belly with a left punch.

Son Goku retaliated with a kick on the deity's midsection. He attacked again with a roundhouse kick, but Lord Beerus did the same and they both blocked the attack of the other. The force of the colliding roundhouse kicks shook the ground and created a crater 20 meters wide beneath them.

Meanwhile, Ponies inside the nearby town were scared because of the sudden thunder-like noises and the earthquake around them. They all stopped whatever they were doing and went down the street to see if there was somepony who knew what was going on. "Look!" suddenly shouted one of them, as she was pointing something outside the village. Everypony turned and saw several shockwaves blasting in the distance.

Meanwhile, the two fighters were sending a barrage of punches and kicks to each other. Suddenly, they both flew backward a bit as they were charging a Ki-based attack. Goku was charging his Kamehameha while Beerus was charging a small magma-like sphere. They unleashed their attacks from a very close distance, so the explosion generated by the collision of those strikes sent both of them to opposite directions.

Goku was sent towards the town while Beerus was sent deep into the desert. However, the Alicorn was able to stop himself from crashing into a building. The crowd of Ponies saw him and the first thing they noticed was that he was flying without using his wings. Just then, they noticed he was an Alicorn. Some of them were about to ask him something, but the noise of an explosion stopped them from doing so.

The scarlet-maned stallion noticed that Beerus was approaching the town at hypersonic speed but had little time to react. Instinctively, he created a magic shield around the town that blocked the God of Destruction's assault. The shield almost collapsed because of the impact, but ultimately, it worked. Goku didn't waste any time and propelled the purple cat away from the town.

They both traveled for several miles before Lord Beerus decided it was enough. He hit his opponent on the back with both his hands like a hammer, sending him to the ground, but the god wasn't finished with him yet. He intercepted him with a kick, sending him back to the sky, then he intercepted his flight with a punch that sent the ponified Saiyan diagonally toward the ground. Finally, he teleported to his opponent's destination and kicked his back again with both his legs, sending him deep into the sky, just to teleport again, grab the head of his foe with his right hand, and diagonally propel him toward the ground. From a distance, both fighters looked like an asteroid entering the planet's atmosphere.

"What's the matter, Super Saiyan God?" asked Beerus in a serious yet sarcastic tone, "Will you let yourself fall like this without reacting?"

Goku was trying to free himself from the god's hold but he couldn't, both because of the blows from earlier and the fact that it was difficult to grab things with hooves instead of hands. So, he couldn't properly grab Beerus' arm.

[Crystal Empire, Throne Room of the Crystal Palace]

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, better known as Cadence, was doing her royal duties with a smile. She was coordinating the preparations for the Crystal Empire's Summer Sun Celebration. However, that smile was hiding her worry she has regarding the sky being split in half. Something must have happened to her aunties if both the Sun and the Moon were sharing the firmament. In order to calm her subjects, she told them that it was just a ritual. Most of them believed her, while others were still scared by the implications.

Once she was alone, she sighed. "At least I know that Twilight and her friends will solve whatever the problem is," she thought with a smile. Suddenly, she heard a weird noise in the distance. She went out to the balcony to see where that noise was coming from and noticed a spark moving in the sky. "A shooting star?" she wondered, but the answer came as fast as lightning. The 'shooting star' pierced a mountain in the distance from the city-state, making it explode. The explosion violently shook the ground and blinded Cadence for a moment. Once the explosion subsided, she looked to see what had happened, only to find her jaw dropping and her eyes widening. The entire mountain had disintegrated, with only the base of it left behind. “What in Equestria was that!” she thought.

[Frozen North, near the Crystal Empire]

Lord Beerus and Son Goku crashed onto the frozen landscape, creating a crater 950 meters wide and 90 meters deep. A few minutes later, the massive curtain of snow and dust dissipated, revealing the two fighters. The scarlet-maned Alicorn was laying on the ground with several wounds and bruises all over his body while the God of Destruction was in midair in a sitting position. He was waiting for the suffering Super Saiyan God to stand up and fight again.

Goku was breathing heavily as the pain was punishing his body. His opponent just dealt a massive blow that would have killed him if he hadn’t acquired the power of the Super Saiyan God. He just hoped to be healed by the form and to keep on fighting. However, he was scared that, most likely, Beerus wouldn't have allowed him the chance to do so.

"Huh? already tired?" asked the God as he was almost reclining in the air, "Come on, let's resume our fight!"

The white stallion tried to stand up as the aura of his divine form began to heal his wounds. The God of Destruction noticed this and smiled as he switched to a standing position. Once Goku stood up, he said, "I won't be defeated so easily, not this time."

"I'm glad to hear that," replied Beerus, "I didn't wait six months just for a warming up."

"Six months? What are you talking about?"

"Oh right, you don't know anything about this place. You see, we are currently in a Pocket Dimension: a place separated from the Universe's main macrocosm where time flows differently."

"I don't understand anything."

"*Sigh* Mortals..." whispered the purple cat, then he said, "Let's pretend that the Universe is a big house. The living room is the main space while the other rooms are secondary spaces. We are in one of those secondary spaces."

"That doesn't explain the six months thing."

"In some rooms of the house, time is faster or slower than that of the living room."

Goku's eyes widened, "You mean like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber?"

"Excuse me?"

"It is... or was a room located in the Guardian of Earth's Lookout. One year in that chamber was equal to one day on Earth."

"Exactly, we are in a place where time is slower than ours, just like Earth's compared with that of that time chamber. That's the reason why I waited six months, while here, not even a day has gone yet."

Goku frowned and asked, "How did you find me?"

"Whis already knew where you ended up after our previous battle," he answered and added, "But enough talking. Let's battle."

After those words were spoken, the alicorn got into his fighting stance as the blazing aura of the Super Saiyan God completely healed him. They both stared at each other for a few seconds before vanishing. Shortly after they left, Crystal Guards from the city not too far away arrived near the massive crater. Shining Armor was leading the platoon and wondered in awe, as he saw the gigantic hole in the ground. "What in Celestia’s name was able to do this?"

[Somewhere in the skies]

The God of Destruction and the Super Saiyan God were sending a barrage of kicks and punches again. They were appearing and disappearing as their fight was raging on. Several shockwaves generated by each and every blow could be seen in the sky. The planet, the sun, and the moon were shaking because of the might of the two warriors. Suddenly, Goku executed 5 backward somersaults to gain distance and charged up his aura to increase the power he was utilizing from 20% to 50%.

Lord Beerus didn't have the time to react, as Goku buried his left hoof in his belly, making his opponent spit saliva, then he hit him with an uppercut, sending the God to one of the highest layers of the atmosphere. However, the white Alicorn wasn't finished with him yet. He intercepted the flight of the purple cat with an ax kick, throwing his opponent back to the ground, then he intercepted him again with a punch, making the deity change direction again, but he didn't even let him go since he teleported in front of him and punched his muzzle.

Right after, Goku teleported above him while charging his Kamehameha and unleashed it, making his foe crash onto the ground. A mighty explosion was generated by the attack.

[Western Equestria, near Rockville]

Beerus quickly stood up, but his opponent appeared in front of him and hit him with a roundhouse kick that sent him to the air. The Saiyan-raised-on-Earth appeared in front of him again, and punched the cat's midsection, throwing him to the nearby rocky mountains. He continued his assault with a storm of punches and kicks as they were traveling across the landscape. He ended his assault with a flying kick right on the stomach, propelling the God through a mountain.

The deity crashed onto the ground as Goku was flying above the curtain of dust generated by the demolition of that large landform. A few seconds passed before everything began to shake. The curtain of dust was dissipated in an instant by Beerus, who was engulfed in a purple aura and had a serious expression. Goku guessed that warming up was over, so he got into his fighting stance.

Both deities charged at each other. A scarlet trail and a purple one were violently clashing in the skies at the speed of light. At each clash, a shockwave made the ground shake and small craters appear. The mountainous landscape was quickly being destroyed by the furious battle that was unfolding.

Both warriors appeared on top of a mountain as the purple cat was sending a barrage of punches to Goku, who was covering himself with his forelegs. The force of the punches demolished the mountain. They disappeared and reappeared onto another one, but this time, it was the Saiyan who was sending a storm of blows to his opponent. However, Lord Beerus was effectively defending himself.

They disappeared and reappeared above a hill. Lord Beerus threw a punch but Goku dodged it. They vanished again and appeared on a plateau as the alicorn tried to hit the purple cat with a kick, but the latter ducked. They disappeared once more and all that could be seen was several powerful shockwaves above the landscape. Ultimately, Beerus got the upper hand and began to hit Goku with a storm of punches and kicks. With a powerful punch, the God of Destruction sent Goku towards the horizon. Beerus quickly followed his opponent to continue the assault.

The deity reached him and resumed hitting him with punches and kicks as they were traveling across the land. Then, he elbowed the scarlet-maned alicorn, sending him to the ground.

[Tenochtitlan Basin, Somewhere in the Jungle]

The Saiyan warrior was able to stop himself before crashing. However, Beerus teleported behind him and elbowed him on his back, then he teleported in front of him and punched him right on the cheek, sending his opponent toward a nearby ancient building.

Meanwhile, a pegasus mare, very similar to Rainbow Dash both in looks and personality, was hiding in the bushes as she observed the base camp of one of her enemies: an archaeologist and trader named Dr. Caballeron. The camp was set in front of the entrance of the place where the Ring of Destiny was guarded in. All she needed was a distraction in order to enter and take the golden artifact before the evil archaeologist did. Luckily, that distraction she needed fell from the sky.

Something pierced the highest part of the ancient building and violently landed hundreds of meters away. This alerted Caballeron and his goons, who escaped to avoid the falling rubble, abandoning the camp. The pegasus mare, known as Daring Do, was about to take advantage of the situation when the Ring of Destiny fell in front of her. Most likely, it was placed in the highest room of the temple and whatever destroyed it, served her the giant ring on a plate. Without further questions, she took the artifact and quickly withdrew from the place.

Meanwhile, Goku slowly stood up as the God of Destruction appeared before him. Goku ignited his scarlet aura and increased his power from 50% to 60%. Beerus powered up too and both of them resumed their lightspeed battle. The explosions generated by the clash of the two gods were devastating the area until their battle began to move to another place. Equestria wasn't big enough to be their fighting stage, so their showdown began to unfold beyond the borders of the Pony Kingdom.

[Everfree Forest, Entrance of the Tree of Harmony's Cave]

The Mane 6, Spike, and the Royal Sisters couldn't believe what they were witnessing. They were destroying entire mountains and landscapes with the might of the blows they were throwing at each other. Not to mention that their battle was causing earthquakes all across the land... no, all across the planet and beyond. Both Celestia and Luna felt the Sun and the Moon shake violently, but the Moon Goddess was sure that the entire planetary system was trembling as well.

“Goku has been holding out this long against Beerus. Dear Faust, I hope he has what takes this time to stop our extinction,” Celestia internally said in worry.

“I wouldn’t even be surprised if the entire universe felt the power of these two. Truly, it is a Battle of Gods,” Luna thought internally.

The rest of the group were more than worrying about the overall situation. Twilight feared the destruction of Equus, Fluttershy was praying Faust for a happy ending, and Rainbow thought the fight was both awesome and scary at the same time. Applejack was hoping that Goku will prevail at the end as the clear victor, Rarity was dreading about the collateral damage done by the two titans duking it out, Spike was wishing for the end of the fight as he didn’t like the earthquakes happening all over, and Pinkie, though appreciating the earth-shaking, was hoping that none of them get hurt or worse, as she wanted to give both of them their Welcoming parties.

The only one calm was Whis, who didn't seem to pay much attention to the shaking ground. He was more focused on the Super Saiyan God's power and the battle in general. However, he sensed several Ki's appearing out of thin air near the forest. Those spiritual forces were very familiar to him, and a part of him was wondering how it was possible that they arrived here, but decided to let it go, as a small smile appeared on his face. If the Saiyan known as Son Goku is able to survive, a nice surprise was surely waiting for him.

Battle of Gods Saga: The Return of the God of Destruction (Part 3)

[Ponyville's Outskirts]

As the greatest battle in Equestrian history was unfolding, the Z-Fighters found themselves in front of the entrance of a forest. The trees seemed to be higher than usual, but that was because they were smaller than before. The first thing they all did was to look at their new bodies.

Android 18 and Android 17 were both light gray-coated Earth Ponies with azure eyes and had a similar tail and mane style. However, 18’s was blonde and 17's mane and tail were black. Their Cutie Marks were almost the same: a light blue energy sphere with the symbol of infinity in it and surrounded by two crossing yellow rings, making it look like an atom. However, 18's Cutie Mark had the number '18' under the azure orb while 17's Cutie Mark had the number '17' in the same place.

Marron was a light gray-coated Earth Pony with dark irises, a mushroom-style blonde mane-cut, a blonde tail, and no Cutie Mark. Krillin was an Earth Pony with gray fur, a very short black mane and tail, and dark irises. His Cutie Mark was a knight sword with a green snake wrapped around the blade. He was also a bit smaller than the others.

Videl was a light pink Pegasus Pony with azure eyes and a black tail. Her black mane reached her shoulders with bang front. She was wearing a red headband and a red dress with a devil face mark on the chest. Her Cutie Mark was two red boxing gloves in a golden star.

Gohan was a white Unicorn with a black short mane that stood on end in a spiky formation. He had dark irises and a spiky black tail. He was wearing reading glasses and a blue vest with a long white undershirt. His Cutie Mark was three books of science, a scroll, and a quill pen. Goten was basically a colt version of his father. The main differences were the lack of a Cutie Mark and the fact he was a Unicorn instead of an Alicorn.

Mr. Satan was a red Earth Pony, about the size of Big Mac, with a black curly afro, black mustache, dark irises, short tail, and well-trimmed sideburns. His Cutie Mark was the comedy and tragedy masks.

Yamcha was a light blue Pegasus Pony. His mane was almost the same style as the one he had during the arrival of Nappa and Vegeta on Earth and the events of Namek, with the long sideburns he had during the events that led to the defeat of Emperor Pilaf. It was black just like his spiky tail and dark irises. His Cutie Mark was a baseball and a baseball bat.

For some reason, neither Puar nor Majin Buu turned into ponies.

Master Roshi was a bald, old, and light green-coated Earth Pony with dark irises, a short and white tail, and a long and white beard. He was still wearing his carapace and his trademark sunglasses as he was holding his hermit's cane in his left hoof. His Cutie Mark was two turtles, one in front of the other, getting into a fighting stance, as one of them was holding the yin symbol and the other one was holding the yang symbol.

Piccolo was a bald and green Unicorn, about the size of Mr. Satan, with dark irises and a very short black tail. He was wearing a white turban, a purple gi that covered his upper body, just like Goku and his gi, a blue waistband and a white cape along with it. His Cutie Mark was a feeding bottle near a pacifier. Dende was almost identical to Piccolo, but he was way smaller and he didn't wear a cape or a turban, but rather his usual attire. The Cutie Mark of the Guardian of Earth was a red cross. He noticed that the 7 Dragon Balls were floating around him.

Bulma was a white-coated Unicorn with sapphire blue irises, a sky blue bowl-cut mane-style, and a sky blue long tail. Her Cutie Mark was five test tubes filled with colored liquids, a wrench, and a screwdriver. Her son, Trunks, was a white-coated Pegasus Pony with a light purple mane, the same eyes of his mother, a tail with the same color of his mane, and no Cutie Mark.

Her husband, Vegeta, was a white Pegasus Pony as well. His black mane was spiky, as well as his tail, and it firmly stood upward. He was wearing a dark blue, full-bodied jumpsuit with a Saiyan armor on top, so his Cutie Mark was hidden.

"Hey, Goten, look! I have wings!" happily exclaimed Trunks as he was spreading them.

"And I have just a stupid horn..." replied the youngest of the Son family with a sad expression.

"Come on, Goten," Gohan intervened, "That just means you're a unicorn and unicorns can use magic."

"Magic? Do you mean I can use magic like Shenron?" he asked hopefully.

"Well, I'm not sure but..." he couldn't finish the sentence because he was interrupted by someone's shout.

It was Vegeta. The prideful Prince of the Saiyan Race was on his knees as he hit the ground with his right forehoof creating a small crater. This was the ultimate humiliation for him. “Among all the possible creatures I could become, I became a vulgar and girlish pony!! All because Kakarot couldn't defeat Lord Beerus, even after borrowing my power!” Vegeta internally seethed. And as if it weren't bad enough, his rival was far beyond his current level now. "Curse you, Kakarot!" he exclaimed with anger.

Bulma noticed this and said, "Come on, Vegeta, it isn't that bad. You're still beautiful to me."

"Shut up, woman!" answered the grumpy Saiyan as he turned and pointed her with his right forehoof, "It is humiliating enough without you trying to pity me!"

Bulma frowned in response and replied, "Well, this is where we'll stay from now onwards, so, my dear 'Prince of all Saiyans', be a man and suck it up!"

Vegeta growled in frustration and defeat. There were times in which he could win an argument with Bulma, but this wasn't one of those. "Honestly," continued the CEO, mind, and owner of the destroyed Capsule Corporation, "And I thought the childish one was Goku." She wanted to step forward, "I mean, it's not that bad...." but fell right on that spot. "What the..??" she said and tried to stand up again as the others were watching her.

She awkwardly stood up and tried to walk again but the result was the same. "What's with these paws or hooves or whatever?! I can't walk!"

"Hah! What were you saying about this being 'not that bad'?" mocked Vegeta gaining a glare from Bulma.

"But it's super easy," happily commented Trunks as he was performing a few somersaults in front of his mother, Goten was walking casually, and Marron was jumping around. The Earth's richest woman felt a bit humiliated because of that. She couldn't walk, yet some toddlers were jumping and moving like it was the easiest thing ever.

Piccolo had a suspicion but he said anyway, "Alright, let's see who can walk and who can't."

Gohan, Vegeta, Trunks, Goten, Marron, A-18, A-17, and Piccolo could walk normally but the others not so much. Master Roshi and Dende were close but they were still moving awkwardly. Yamcha, Videl, Mister Satan, and Krillin were in the same situation of Bulma. At least Gohan and Android 18 prevented their respective partners from falling, Yamcha was helped by Puar, and Buu did the same with Mr. Satan.

"Thanks, buddy," said Yamcha to his best friend, but then he noticed he and Buu weren't ponies, "Hey, how is that you guys are not ponies like us?"

Everyone noticed it as well, but Piccolo spoke first, "We can figure it out later. Now, we have a bigger problem to solve. Looks like we have to teach you guys how to properly move again."

Before someone could reply, the group felt the ground shaking. Those who could sense energy noticed that the air was heavier than usual. Almost like a slight pressure. "What's going on?" asked Krillin in confusion and worry. Dende was about to answer but, suddenly, they all vanished.

[Everfree Forest, Entrance of the Tree of Harmony's Cave]

The Dragon Team and its allies found themselves in a rocky area within a forest. "What happened?" asked Bulma, "Where are we? And how did we end up here?"

"You find yourselves in the mystical Everfree Forest," answered a rather familiar voice. The group turned to see the source of the voice and noticed Lord Beerus' assistant looking at them with a calm smile. All of them, with the exception of Android 17 and Majin Buu were horrified, even though Vegeta and Android 18 tried to hide it. If he was here, the God of Destruction wasn't too far. How? How could they know this place? "And to answer your second question," continued Beerus' Assistant, "I teleported you all here, as I thought you wanted to see this."

The Angel pointed towards the images his scepter was projecting. They all took a look at that and saw Goku fighting Lord Beerus again. They were in shock. They just arrived in this place and they already were on the verge of facing destruction once more. The only thing they could do now was waiting for a miracle and watch the battle.

Spike and the Princesses noticed the new ponies and the two weird creatures they had never seen before. "Hey, who are them?" asked Spike in confusion. After hearing him, the Mane 6 turned their heads and saw the new arrivals as well.

"They are Goku's friends and family. Although it’s common courtesy to introduce yourselves, now isn’t exactly the best time. Let's postpone the greetings for later," answered the Angel, much for the dragon and ponies' surprise, "Well, depending on the fate of this planet, of course."

[Celestial Sea, Somewhere]

Son Goku and Beerus the Destroyer were overflying the ocean named after Princess Celestia. The scarlet-maned Alicorn was flying near the water as he was heading to a nearby archipelago and the purple cat was following him. The first fighter reached the biggest island and entered into the jungle, while the second one decided to keep on following him.

Goku was very focused on this battle. Usually, he would be feeling great in fighting a strong opponent, but this wasn't the case this time. The battles in which he wasn't excited were very few: The Red Ribbon Army, The Mercenary Tao, King Piccolo, Raditz, and Frieza were the only opponents that Goku didn't find satisfaction in fighting with... until now. Beerus did something unforgivable: he annihilated his family and friends, along with the rest of the population and the planet itself. It happened once, but this time the Dragon Balls wouldn't be available to restore Earth and resurrect them all.

And now, this same god had the audacity to threaten his new friends and their planet. "In honor of my family and old friends..." he thought as he began to fly backward and laid his gaze upon his foe, "And to protect the new ones... I won't lose!"

Master Roshi's star student sped off toward the God of Destruction to land a fist on his face, but it was blocked by Beerus' crossed arms. Though, the force of the blow generated a massive shockwave that blasted away every single tree within a mile of the battlefield. The divine being counterattacked, but his attack was blocked in the same way. This time, the might of the punch created a crater a mile wide.

Goku tried to land a kick on his foe's stomach, but it was blocked again. Both fighters began to throw a rain of punches and kicks to each other without effectively hitting their respective opponent. However, Goku was slightly losing ground since Lord Beerus' blows were a bit heavier than his ones. Suddenly, they both disappeared. The alicorn stallion appeared on a rock while in his fighting stance, but there was no sign of his foe.

Suddenly, the ponified Saiyan thrust forward his left foreleg and blocked an oncoming punch from the deity. Then, they both attacked with a kick at the same time, but both attacks blocked each other. However, Beerus was able to elbow him in the chest and kick him in the chin. The God of Destruction was about to hit him again while his foe was stunned, but Goku was able to recover and stop the oncoming punch by crossing his forelegs.

Then, they started an aerial lightspeed battle in which only the shockwaves generated by their blows could be seen. They traveled across the island as they were trying to hit each other. Then, they landed on a rocky field, and Goku began to shoot several blue Ki Blasts toward Beerus consecutively. The god responded by increasing his power and blocked each attack with a finger. Then, he counterattacked by throwing a yellow Ki blast to his foe.

Goku crossed his forelegs and blocked the attack, but it was a distraction to let the God of Destruction make a surprise attack. However, the scarlet-maned Alicorn predicted such a move, but let him approach anyways. Once Beerus was close enough, he placed his hooves close to the center of his face and exclaimed, "Solar Flare!"

Taken by surprise, Lord Beerus was temporarily blinded by one of Tien Shinhan's signature techniques. "This is for Chi-Chi!" he thought as he got into a peculiar stance. He was standing on his right hind leg while the other one was bent, his right foreleg was pointing upwards as the other one was pointing towards the purple cat. Then, a scarlet dragon made of ki appeared around him. Right after, he rushed towards the blinded god and hit him in the chin with an upward kick, which was engulfed by the scarlet dragon, sending the god to the air. When Beerus came back, Goku hit him in the chest with his right punch, then he hit him in the belly with a roundhouse kick and finished the attack by landing his right punch on his belly, making the deity spit saliva. Each consecutive blow was engulfed by the scarlet dragon.

[Everfree Forest, Entrance of the Tree of Harmony's Cave]

The Mane 6, the Dragon Team, Videl, Mr. Satan, Dende, and Android 18, along with the Royal Sisters, Whis, and Spike watched in awe the scene. Twilight's friends were wondering what kind of magic was that while the youngest princess was amazed by Goku's Ki manipulation's abilities. Spike had stars in his eyes after seeing Goku summoning a Dragon with that Ki thing. All of Goku's old friends were amazed as well, mainly because it was the first time they saw the Saiyan performing that technique. Android 17 had a neutral face while the Royal Sisters were astonished.

However, Goten immediately recognized that technique and said in a happy tone, "Haha! That's mom's Dragon Attack!"

Everyone looked at the young Saiyan hybrid, having found out the name and creator of the technique. "Dragon Attack?" asked Bulma and Spike at the same time.

"That's the only technique mom can do. She showed it to me once when she was training me," he answered with a smile, "But I don't remember any dragon?"

"It may be an improved version," deduced Gohan, “it’s nice to see dad using some of mom’s techniques for once,'' he finished off with a smile, as he and everyone else went back to watching the duel.

[Celestial Sea, Unnamed Archipelago]

Lord Beerus was sent to several, massive rocks by Goku's Dragon Attack and went through them, generating a curtain of dust. The god quickly stood up and ignited his lavender aura, meaning he was powering up. Suddenly, an orange thin energy beam coiled around a straight one went through the floating dust, dissipating it, and proceeded in the direction of the purple cat. It was Piccolo's signature attack: the Special Beam Cannon. However, this one was way more powerful and faster than its original version.

Despite the might of the technique, the God of Destruction just erased the attack by using his right hand. Then, he created hundreds of atom-like Ki blasts from his left hand and directed them toward the Saiyan.

"For Gohan!" thought Goku as he placed both forehooves above the head. Then, he thrust them forward and shouted, "MASENKO!!"

Son Goku's counterattack destroyed all the oncoming Ki blasts and proceeded toward Beerus, who crossed his arms and tried to withstand the energy wave primarily used by Gohan. However, the Ki-based attack propelled the deity to the ocean. The scarlet-maned Alicorn didn't waste time and dashed to his foe's position while the deity was deflecting the attack. Once the divine being noticed the oncoming Saiyan, he flew toward him at the speed of light.

The white stallion's punch connected with the Beerus one, making the ocean beneath them split in half and destroying the Archipelago in the process. The impact also generated several shockwaves that began to shake the entire Pocket Dimension 7. Right after, they resumed the exchange of punches and kicks while traveling across the Celestial Sea.

While fighting, Lord Beerus sidestepped one of Goku's punches, and buried his right punch in his belly, making the Super Saiyan God spit blood. Then, he kicked his chin, making him losing balance, and punched him in the chest, throwing him toward the horizon.

[Saddle Arabia, Somewhere]

Deep in the mountains of this sandy region of the world, more specifically in a cave, there was a legendary creature which existence was told only in a pony tale: the mythical Sphinx. She was a low-class goddess whose magic abilities surpassed those of Celestia and were second only to those of Discord. The divine creature had the body and the teeth of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the head of a pony. She had golden eyes and purple fur, and her size was at least 10 times that of an ordinary mare.

Since the withdrawal from her Pyramid thousands of years ago, she lived in that cave. At first, she was angry because that Pegasus was able to give an answer to her riddle. Consequently, she saved the son of the Pharaoh, and no one would have given their crops without fighting. She was more than able to destroy them all, but that would have been a pretty bad decision. Mainly because she didn't know how to work the land, but also because, deep inside, she didn't want to hurt anyone.

But then, she understood that what she did wasn't right. However, her pride as a divine being didn't let her return to that land to apologize. Now, she was just bored: For her, Saddle Arabia wasn't exactly the most exciting place in Equestria. Deserts weren't known to be the heart of civilization. She didn't even know why she chose this place as her new home in the first place, all she knew was that she wanted something exciting to happen... right now.

And, as if to answer, something happened. She felt the ground shaking and sensed a massive amount of power coming to her position. She quickly stood up as she sensed the energy too close and teleported away. The approaching energy was Goku, who was going through the mountains because of Beerus' punch. He destroyed the Sphinx's cave, along with the entire mountain and landed violently on the ground. The four-legged divine creature left the cave she was in and flew towards a hill, hundreds of meters away, and used her eagle eyes to look at the crater, noticing the Alicorn. "A pony?" she asked in confusion.

Meanwhile, the scarlet-maned Alicorn was slowly standing up as his head and other parts of his body were bleeding. He breathed deeply as his scarlet aura began to heal his wounds. Lord Beerus appeared in front of him with his arms behind his back and said, "That regeneration of yours is really useful, isn't it?"

"It comes in handy, yeah," answered Goku with a serious expression.

"It doesn't matter if you keep on regenerating. You won't win if you can't hurt me," stated the God and continued, "Your divine power will deplete eventually, just like then. I recognize your strength but it's better for you to surrender."

"Never, not even in a billion years," replied the Saiyan God as he got into his fighting stance.

"As you wish," simply said the God as he got into his fighting stance too.

Goku knew that Beerus was right. it was obvious that his opponent wasn't using his full strength as well and, so far, he couldn't land an effective blow on him. So, he wouldn't be able to defeat the God of Destruction using just brute force: he needed a strategy. He needed some time to come up with something and, fortunately, he knew the perfect technique for that. He breathed deeply again, but instead of air, Goku expired several white masses of an unknown material. Beerus was confused by this. What was he doing?

The masses started to take shape, resembling a ghost with Goku's face. There were 15 ghosts in total, all of them in line in front of their creator but with their gaze upon the purple cat. The divine being was both confused and surprised by those things: it was the first time he witnessed such a weird technique. To summon ghosts? That wasn't something one could see every day.

[Everfree Forest, Entrance of the Tree of Harmony's Cave]

Meanwhile, Goku's old and new friends were astonished by what they saw, especially the new ones. Ghosts were just a myth. A silly pony tale meant to scare foals. Yet, their new friend just summoned 15 of them. "Are you seein' what I'm seein'?" asked Applejack thinking she went crazy.

"He can summon ghosts?!" asked an impressed Rainbow Dash, "Is there anything he can't do?!"

"Hahaha! They have such funny expressions!" commented Pinkie.

"Hah! I knew they existed, Twilight!" exclaimed Spike with joy.

"B-but... that's against any logic... What kind of technique is he using?" asked Twilight, who couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"The Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack!" answered Goten and Trunks at the same time as they high-fived, or high-hoofed now.

"The Super Ghost what now?" asked Rainbow in confusion.

"Dad is using our technique. You'll see what it can do, hehe," said Goten with a bright smile.

[Saddle Arabia, Sphinx's Home]

"Okay, guys," said the Saiyan raised on Earth, "Attack!"

The ghosts obeyed their master and rushed towards the God of Destruction, who took off to avoid them. However, the ghosts began to fly as well and continued their assault. Lord Beerus punched one of them in the face, but as soon as his fist collided with the ghost, it generated a massive explosion that made the purple cat crash into a nearby mountain. The rest of the kamikaze phantoms laughed and went to their target's position.

"This won't keep him busy for so long," said Goku as he began to fly, "I need to figure out how to defeat him, but how?"

The alicorn stallion was trying to think of a strategy as he was taking a look at the surroundings for some reason. He heard more explosions coming from the mountain in front of him, meaning that he was running out of time. Then, he spotted a hole in the ground, tens of meters away from his position. It was near a rocky hill on which there was a giant boulder. An idea stormed his mind and soon it evolved into a plan. A confident smile appeared on his face as he laid his gaze upon the God of Destruction, who was dealing with the remaining spirits.

Beerus was tired of those childish yet explosive things. He pointed the palm of his hand toward the remaining 5 ghosts and said, "Hakai."

After that word was spoken, the kamikaze ghosts began to turn into purple particles and disappear into nothingness, all the while screaming from being erased out of existence. This was noticed by the Super Saiyan God, who saw it as an indicator that time had run out. Then, the God of Destruction rushed toward Goku, who attacked as well. They both resumed their exchange of blows, shaking the ground beneath and creating small craters across the battlefield.

Suddenly, Lord Beerus got the upper hand by inflicting to his opponent a powerful elbow in the chest. The blow was strong enough to let Goku defenseless for a moment, allowing the anthropomorphic cat to hit him with his right punch, grab his face with his left hand and use it to remodel the mountain he previously crashed onto. After the destruction of the large steep hill, the scarlet-maned Alicorn was thrown to the other side of it, crashing on the ground.

Goku was standing up when his opponent appeared behind him and elbowed him in the back. Beerus the Destroyer proceeded the assault with a kick in his left cheek and a punch in the other one, sending the ponified Saiyan to the sky. The deity continued attacking by hitting him from several directions and finished the raid with a hammer punch in Goku's head, making him crash into the ground violently. The impact generated a small crater beneath the stallion.

Lord Beerus was heading to the crater to continue the assault, but his foe was faster than him. Goku flew as fast as lightning toward the purple cat and hit him with Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist in the chin, then he performed a somersault in mid-air to change his flight course and attack him again. However, his opponent was able to dodge the oncoming punch quite easily by sidestepping and kicking him on the back, sending him diagonally to the ground.

The purple cat teleported to Goku's destination and intercepted him with a punch in the back, making him go through the remainings of the previous mountain. Then, he appeared behind him again and sent him to the ruined landform, just to intercept his flight with a hammer punch and an upward kick, making him spit blood. Goku reacted with an elbow in Beerus' chest, but he retaliated with a powerful kick in his muzzle, making him crash onto a nearby rocky hill.

A curtain of dust and sand was generated by the crash as Lord Beerus landed in front of it with a confident smile. He was sure his combo attacks would have forced the Saiyan to surrender, even though he didn't want the fight to end that soon. Suddenly, the curtain of dust and sand dissipated revealing Goku, who was standing on his hind hooves with both his forelegs at his sides as his shape began to glitter green.

Lord Beerus saw the Saiyan smile. Not an ordinary one, but a ‘you-have-fallen-into-my-trap’ smile. Did he plan this? Was he pretending to be at a disadvantage so far? But if that was so, what did he want to do? Those and other questions stormed the deity's mind. The answer was coming, but it wouldn't be pleasant.

"This is for Master Roshi!" thought Goku as he thrust forward his forelegs and shouted, "EVIL CONTAINMENT WAVE!"

Battle of Gods Saga: A New Beginning

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Filler Chapter 1: Castle Mania

Author's Note

Here's the first filler chapter, guys. Hope you like it. Also, this is more like an experiment. I wanted to see how long a filler would have been if compared to a Saga's chapter to decide how many of them I'll write.

Good reading.

Filler Chapter 1: Castle Mania

[Planet Vegeta, 40 years ago]

In a Saiyan house, inside a highly advanced incubator, there was a semi-dormant monkey-tailed baby with a peculiar hairstyle. The newborn was embraced by a warm liquid that filled up the enclosed apparatus and was useful for his growth. The room was silent: only the low noise of the incubator could be heard. However, the sound of steps broke that silence.

The baby felt that something gently touched the incubator and heard a harmonious voice that made him feel protected, even more than whatever he was immersed in. It was a female voice, and it could be compared to a lullaby in terms of beauty. He heard that voice frequently. He felt exposed when it left, but safe when it returned.

"How are you today, my little Kakarot?" asked that heavenly voice in a caring tone.

[Ponyville, Golden Oak Library, today]

Son Goku woke up all of a sudden after hearing those words. He looked around to confirm that he was still in the guest room of Twilight's home and sighed in relief right after. "What was that?" he wondered. Then he looked at the bed next to him, on which Goten was supposed to sleep, but he wasn't there. He was about to track down his Ki signature, but a groan along with the sound of something thrown against a wall stopped him from doing so.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" asked Spike's voice.

"Ugh, I've gone through every book in Ponyville, Spike," she answered, "and there isn't a single mention of the mysterious chest that came from the Tree of Harmony, nor anything about the keys needed to unlock it!

The Alicorn stallion left the room to see what was going on down there. His and Goten's room was located on the top floor of the library, and their voices were coming from the second floor, so he decided to go to that place. Once he arrived, he could see how much of a total mess that part of the library was. There were several books scattered everywhere on the ground, what remained of a duster, and some scrolls here and there.

"Uh, what happened here?" he asked in confusion.

Hearing the voice of their friend, Spike, who was wearing a pink apron decorated with a dark pink heart, and Twilight turned to see him standing at the base of the stairs that led to the upper floor. "Oh, hi Goku," greeted the dragon, "And to answer your question, this is how the library usually looks when Twilight needs to do one of her research projects. You'll get used to it."

"What research project?" asked the ponified Saiyan in confusion.

"I'm looking for information about the chest in the Tree of Harmony's cave," answered the lavender Alicorn, "Something tells me that opening it will be of huge significance and importance."

"Oh, so that's why you were reading all those books during this week?" he asked, remembering that the mare was reading books all the time, even when she was outside.

"Yes, and the most frustrating thing is that I didn't find anything!" she exclaimed with an annoyed expression.

"Well, we can still check in Canterlot," tried to cheer up Spike, "I'm sure we'll find something there. I mean, it has one of the biggest libraries in Equestria after all."

"You're right Spike," confirmed the princess, "But If the library in Canterlot doesn't have anything, I don't know where else to look!"

There were a few seconds of awkward silence, then Goku spoke, "Changing the subject, do you guys happen to know where Goten is?"

"He left this morning," answered the lavender princess, "It's his first day of school, remember?"

"Oh, right," he replied, but then he realized, "Wait, you said he left this morning?"

"Yes, it's afternoon right now," said Spike, "You slept a lot, you know? I thought that martial artists always woke up early."

"Hehehe," he sheepishly laughed as he rubbed the back of his head with his left hoof, "To be honest, this is the first time it happened to me."

"Don't worry, Goku," replied the princess, "Maybe you were just tired. You were training your mind for the whole week, so it doesn't surprise me. Mental training can be as demanding as physical training."

"Yeah, besides..." tried to support Spike, but he suddenly felt something coming from his belly, almost like he wanted to vomit. Goku noticed it and was about to ask him if he was alright, but he stopped as the dragon burped and a scroll materialized from the emerald flames he had cast. Twilight used her magic to grab the said object and started reading the message written in it.

Goku was confused and asked, "Uh, Spike? Were you eating paper recently or something?"

"Hahaha," laughed Twilight's assistant at his question and answered, "No, Goku, this is how Princess Celestia and Twilight communicate most of the time. Years ago, the princess had cast a spell on me that made my fire able to teleport scrolls. When she sends a message, it materializes through my flames; and when Twilight needs to send a message, I just cast my fire at the scroll, and it goes wherever Princess Celestia is."

Goku thought that it was a curious way of communicating. However, he couldn't say anything because Twilight spoke first, "Change of plans, it seems that we don't need to go to Canterlot after all, but to the old castle in the Everfree Forest instead."

"And here we go again," commented her assistant in annoyance. They were going to that forest too much and too often in his opinion. He was frankly sick of that place.

"Do you want to come with us, Goku?" asked Twilight, ignoring her assistant's comment.

"Sure, it’s not like I have a lot to do right now," answered the ponified Saiyan, "But after that, I'll teach you both how to use your Ki, as I promised."

Stars appeared in their eyes after his statement. Spike couldn't wait to be able to fly and fire energy spheres to impress Rarity, while Twilight was excited to learn everything about that mysterious energy. “Who knows, maybe I can even write a book about it,” Twilight thought happily. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go," said the lavender Alicorn as she was about to leave the room with Spike.

"Wait," stopped the black-maned Alicorn, "Is there anything to eat first?" he then asked with a nervous smile while rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, don't worry about that," answered the purple dragon, much to Goku's confusion.

[Everfree Forest, near the Castle of the Two Sisters]

Half an hour later, the trio reached the wooden bridge located 30 meters away from the ruins of the castle that once belonged to the Royal Sisters. Goku was carrying a cart half-full of apples as he was eating one of them with the help of his magic. Fortunately, Twilight and Spike foresaw he would have been famished once awakened or else he would be starving right now.

Once they entered the castle, the stallion spoke, "So, Princess Celestia told you that you might find a book here that will help us open that chest, right?"

"Correct," confirmed the princess, "We just have to find the library in the old castle."

While they were exploring the ancient building, Goku recognized some places he saw with Twilight after drinking that potion and remembered the fight that led to the destruction of the castle. Ten minutes later, they finally found the place they were looking for: the library. It was a dusty corridor-like room full of spiderwebs, debris, and rubble, which was partially illuminated. There were three desks, two of them were on the right side of the room and seemed to be in good conditions, while the third one was on the left side, but it was wrecked.

Twilight didn't seem to care to all of that since she was more focused on the vast quantity of books stored there. She gasped happily and said as she flew toward the mine of knowledge, "Wow! Look at all these ancient books! It's a veritable goldmine of information! I can't believe it! Woo-hoo!"

"Hehehe," giggled Goku, "She really loves books, huh?"

"You have no idea," answered Spike as he started approaching the lavender mare along with the stallion, "Her family and friends aside, books are the things she loves the most."

"That means she loves books as much as I like fighting," he replied with a smile.

"I guess you can say that," said the little dragon, who was still unaware of the stallion's obsession for battles. Suddenly, he ran into a spiderweb and fell near the remainings of a statue on which there were some rather big spiders. He yelped when he saw it and said in a nervous tone, "Uh, heh-heh. So, uh, guys. Uh, ready to head home?" The place had become too creepy for his standards, so he wanted to go away from there as soon as possible.

"Are you kidding?" happily asked Twilight, then she said as she literally submerged herself into a heap made of books and scrolls, "This place is perfect!"

"Hehe," giggled Goku at her cute actions, then a Star Spider came down from the roof and stopped near his face. "Wow, I don’t I think I ever saw a spider this big before," he commented while looking at the arachnid.

"Oh, you know," said Spike as his teeth were chattering in fear, "They're just spiders, nothing to worry about."

Goku noticed that the dragon was afraid, so he grabbed him with his magic and put him on his back as he walked toward Twilight. Her number one assistant thanked him as they reached the mare and started helping her with the research.

[Ponyville Schoolhouse]

Meanwhile, Son Goten was listening to what his new teacher, Miss Cheerilee, was talking about. The topic in mind was an event called the Equestria Games. The young unicorn found that here, classes were way easier than those of Earth, and it was something that he liked. That meant he could spend more time with his dad and finally start to train and become as strong as him. Another thing he liked was that all of his new classmates were very friendly toward him. Well... almost all of them.

Two fillies, well known for bullying those who didn't possess a Cutie Mark, the so-called 'blank flanks', appeared to be friendly at first. But once he saw how they were behaving toward three fillies, he tried to stop them. As a result, the fillies known as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon revealed their true colors, and now he was their target just like the fillies he defended. Their names were Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom, and after that event, they befriended the ponified Saiyan hybrid.

"... So, any questions?" asked the cerise-coated Earth Pony with a smile.

"I have a question, Miss Cheerilee," said Goten as he raised his right hoof, drawing everypony's attention.

"Yes, Goten?" replied the teacher, giving him the floor.

"Are martial arts among the athletic pursuits in the Equestria Games?" asked the black-maned unicorn.

"Yes, they are," she answered with a smile, "Why do you ask?"

"Huh," snorted Diamond Tiara, "You're telling us that you want to be a martial artist, don't you? You can't even use your magic, let alone fight."

"Yeah," supported Silver Spoon, "You're a weakling."

Goten frowned at this, but before he could reply Scootaloo spoke, "And? Even if that was the case, what he wants to be is none of your business."

"Girls!" exclaimed Cheerilee a bit loudly to make them stop, then she gave the floor to the white-coated unicorn.

"I asked because my dad could be interested in participating if I tell him this," he answered with a smile.

The cerise-coated mare was about to ask him something else, but the school bell rang, marking the end of the lessons. The class began to leave the classroom as the teacher was saying goodbye. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom, also known as 'Cutie Mark Crusaders', met Goten near the exit and started talking.

"We are sorry for that, Goten," apologized Sweetie Belle.

"Yeah," supported Applebloom, "it's just your first day of school and you already have to deal with those two."

"And it's all our fault," concluded Scootaloo in a sad tone, remembering that all started because he defended them.

"It's not your fault, girls, it's theirs," replied the Saiyan hybrid, much for their happiness, "But do you know why they're like that?"

"Because they think they're better than us just because they have a cutie mark," answered Apple Bloom.

"And they flaunt them, sometimes," continued Sweetie Belle, "They even threw a party in honor of Diamond Tiara's Cutie Mark once, do you believe it?"

"Yeah, and..." wanted to support Scootaloo, but the continuous noise of the school bell prevented that from happening, "Hey, why is the bell still ringing?"

The trio and Goten noticed that their classmates were looking at something on the roof, so they went to check it out as well. Once they reached the crowd of foals, they directed their gaze toward the source of the noise and found out why the bell didn't cease to ring. A pink earth pony was under the said object and was using her head to make it ring. The mare wasn't unknown to them: she was Pinkie Pie, the best party planner in Ponyville.

"Miss Pie?" said the black-maned unicorn, wondering what she was doing.

"What's she doing?" asked Apple Bloom in confusion, but the answer to her question came pretty fast.

"That's good enough, Pinkie Pie," shouted Cheerilee, who went out to see why the bell didn't stop ringing.

The energetic mare stopped what she was doing, looked at her, and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, you can stop now," answered the teacher with a smile.

"Okey-dokey!" happily exclaimed the Element of Laughter as she jumped down the roof, reaching the ground on her four legs. Then, she noticed Goten and the Cutie Mark Crusaders and sped off toward them, while the crowd was leaving the place, and greeted, "Hi guys," then she asked, "Hey Goten, do you want to come with me to the Everfree Forest?"

The colt was a bit caught off guard by the sudden question, but he answered, "Yes, Miss Pie, but why do ask?" he said in an unsure way.

"Hihihi," giggled Pinkie, "There's no need to be so formal with me silly, we’re friends: call me Pinkie Pie or just Pinkie," she then replied with one of her grins.

"Okay, Pinkie," he nodded, then he tried to repeat his question, but the pink mare spoke first.

"I wanna throw a 'Finish ringing the school bell' party," she began to explain, "But I don't have any bluebells, so I need your help to pick some."

Goten was laughing nervously because of her statement. “Does she really want to throw a party just for that?” He thought, “Pinkie loves parties as much as dad loves fighting, that’s for sure.'' The Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't find it weird coming from Pinkie, she always threw a party, even for the most simple things.

Naturally, they were present during the 'Welcome to Ponyville/Equestria' party she threw after the Summer Sun Celebration, but that was the only time they saw those two interacting. In fact, they didn't recall having seen the young colt in the town until today. "Uh, since when did you two become good friends?" asked Scootaloo, wanting to get their questions answered.

“We only saw you two together during the party the last week,” Sweetie Belle joined in

"Yeah, an’ after that, we'd not seen ya anymore until today," supported Applebloom.

"That's because I went to visit my best friend in Manehattan afterwards," he explained.

"Oh," said the Crusaders, meaning that they understood the reason why they didn't see him around.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" encouraged the colt as he turned to see Pinkie, "Let's pick those flowers!"

"Let's go, then!" exclaimed the Element of Laughter as she sped off toward the Everfree.

"See you later, girls," said Goten before flying away to reach the pink mare, much to the fillies' amazement. At first, they thought that they were seeing things since unicorns weren't supposed to fly, but all of them witnessed that he took off and soared through the sky, so it wasn't an optical illusion or something. They looked at each other for a few seconds, still with their jaws wide open, then they smiled in excitement, realizing that they befriended somepony that could fly without wings nor magic. They were sure about that since he still didn't know how to use his magic, so they had many questions that they wanted to be answered.

[Everfree Forest, Castle of the Two Sisters]

Goku, Twilight, and Spike were still in the dusty library of the castle. The princess was still searching for information about that mysterious chest, but her assistant and the ponified Saiyan were doing something else. They really wanted to help, but the stallion still needed to learn Ponish to understand what was written on those books, while the dragon was too scared of all the creepy noises that could be heard in that place.

Spike asked the black-maned Alicorn something about his past, both in order to know him better and to ignore the fact that he was in a creepy old castle full of big spiders, scary statues, and who knows what else. Goku smiled and started telling him about the time he lived with his grandpa, Son Gohan, in the Mount Paozu. He continued his story, telling him when he met Bulma and the beginning of their adventure to find the Dragon Balls.

The more he talked, the more the baby dragon wanted to know. His story was getting better and better, especially when the stallion started telling his story with the Red Ribbon Army. It was so interesting that it even drew Twilight's attention, making her unconsciously stop reading her book. His story was comparable to Daring Do, but it wasn't fiction, making the story even more amazing.

The princess paid particular attention to the fact that one of Goku's friends, Yamcha, was his enemy once. It confirmed once more that the magic of friendship was something present even in other worlds. It also made her understand why the stallion defended Discord a week ago.

"And what happened next?" asked Spike in excitement.

The ponified Saiyan was about to answer, but the lavender Alicorn spoke first, "Wait, before that, what if I get some candles? It's getting dark."

Both Goku and Spike looked around and noticed that it was true, but the latter noticed that Twilight wasn't reading that book and asked, "Wait, were you listening to him all this time?"

The Element of Magic closed the book in her hooves, and replied a bit sheepishly, "Well, I couldn't help but listen to his story, it's just so... amazing."

"And the information about the keys to open that chest?" asked her assistant a bit in confusion. It was the first time that something could draw her attention in the middle of one of her research, especially if it was as important as this one.

"Well, we looked for information all week," she answered, "I think a little break won't hurt anypony."

"Let's get those candles, then," happily replied Spike, "I want to know how Goku defeated this Major Metallitron guy!"

[Entrance Lobby of the Castle]

Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Rarity were standing in the room, admiring the ancient tapestries of the destroyed building. Well... Rarity was admiring them. The yellow pegasus was more concerned about finding her little bunny, Angel. The reason why they were there was that the Fashionista asked the shy mare's assistance to borrow one or two of those textile fabrics to restore them. Although she revealed it just when they already reached the ruined castle, Fluttershy already agreed to help her.

Fluttershy was looking around to find out where Angel was. “That reckless bunny... he shouldn't be hanging around alone in such a dangerous place,” she thought in frustration. Then, she finally spotted him... or it would be better to say that he showed up. The Pegasus pony quickly approached her pet and kindly lectured him in a worried tone, warning the little creature about the hazards hiding in a spooky place like an abandoned castle.

Angel didn't even listen to her as he and Rarity just walked away. He really cared about Fluttershy, but she was too overprotective most of the time. If only she wasn't so afraid of pretty much everything...
The yellow-coated mare noticed that there was no pony in the room and ran toward her friends to not be left alone in that scary place.

Right after that, Applejack and Rainbow Dash arrived in the place. They were competing for the title of 'Most Daring Pony' and, since the Bee Stare challenge just evened up the score, the earth pony suggested to go to the Castle of the Two Sisters. The speedster was wondering why she chose this place for their next challenge, "Uh, what's so daring about this place? This is where we got the Elements of Harmony."

Applejack smirked and answered as she reached the stairs in front of them, "When I was just a filly, Granny Smith told me of an ancient legend." She then turned to see her friend and continued, "When Nightmare Moon was banished, not every last bit of her dark magic went with her. Granny used to say, when night falls on the castle, that magic takes the form of... the Pony of Shadows!"

"You mean like a ghost?" asked Rainbow with a hint of fear in her tone.

The apple farmer spookily replied, "Nopony knows!"

"Ugh," was the speedster's reaction. If she wanted to scare her, she needed to try harder than that.

[Unknown Room of the Castle]

Meanwhile, Rarity found a tapestry with the picture of Princess Luna in a perfect state, considering how old it was. Then, she kindly asked Fluttershy to remove it from the wall in order to bring it back to her boutique and restore it. The shy pegasus tried to remove the fabric, but she couldn't even move it. Noticing this, the Fashionista suggested her to try from below, something that annoyed a bit the Element of Kindness. “She could at least help me with her magic!” She thought.

Fluttershy just tried to forget it and listened to her friend's instruction. However, the shy mare accidentally activated a mechanism that made the wall rotate of 180 degrees, much for Rarity and Angel's surprise.

On the other side of the wall, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were talking about that legend, but it seemed like they didn't notice the wall turning around. Maybe because they just arrived after it happened.

"I don't see what's so daring about an old legend," commented the cyan pegasus, "Plus, I don't believe in ghosts."

"Oh yeah? Did you forget that Goku can summon them?" asked the Element of Honesty with a smirk. The speedster remembered that he called upon fifteen ghosts during his battle against Lord Beerus, so they did really exist.

"We-well, he isn't here, so there are no spirits in this place," she replied, trying to keep her cool.

While she was speaking, Applejack noticed that the tapestry next to them was moving. She raised her head to see that something was behind the fabric and quickly warned her friend in a scared tone as she slowly pointed her left hoof toward the thing, "You might wanna rethink your position on that."

Whatever was under that arras started to yell in a spooky tone, scaring the earth pony and the pegasus. As if the forest wanted to make it worse, a storm was about to begin, and a bolt of lightning and its consequent crash of thunder made the moment even scarier for both mares, who started running in fear. The Element of Loyalty quickly understood why her friend brought her here: only the most daring pony of all could stay in this castle all night without being scared off. So, she accepted the challenge.

[Library of the Castle]

While Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity were going through a spooky time, Goku, Spike, and Twilight already got a candelabrum and returned to the library. The baby dragon and the princess couldn't wait to hear more of their friend's story.

The Element of Magic also wanted to ask him many things, as well as to tell him her adventures with her friends, but she couldn't find the time to do it because of what happened right before the Summer Sun Celebration and her research to unlock the mysterious chest. Goku was about to restart telling what happened in the Muscle Tower, but a white bunny jumped up onto the table all of a sudden. "Huh?"

Twilight immediately recognized the little pet and said in confusion, "Angel?"

"Angel? I didn't know you had a bunny, Twilight," commented the ponified Saiyan.

"He's not my pet, he's Fluttershy's," she replied, "And I wonder why he's here, she will be worried about him."

"Oh, I can use Instant Transmission to bring him back," suggested Goku as he began petting the bunny, who was enjoying it.

"Good, Fluttershy will be glad to see he's alright," said Twilight with a smile. The black-maned Alicorn closed his eyes and started tracking down the pegasus' Ki signature only to discover that she was in the castle as well, and she wasn't alone.

"Weird," he commented as he opened his eyes, "Fluttershy is here in the castle, and she isn't the only one."

"What?" asked Twilight in a surprised tone.

"Yeah, I sense the presence of Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and Goten too."

"But why are they here?" asked Spike in confusion.

"I don't know, but they're not together," he replied, "They're moving in pairs... Well, Applejack and Rainbow, as well as Pinkie and Goten, are moving. Fluttershy and Rarity aren't."

"If Pinkie is involved, it must be a sort of party or game."

"Without inviting us? I don't think so," replied Twilight.

"Well, why else they should be here?" asked Spike in confusion.

"I don't know, but it's something we'll find out," answered the princess as she started leaving the library followed by her assistant. Goku followed her too as Angel jumped up onto his back. Usually, the little bunny would distrust unknown ponies, but that stallion had something that made him worthy of his trust, just like Fluttershy.

[Somewhere in the castle]

While Goku, Spike, Twilight, and Angel were leaving the library, Fluttershy and Rarity found themselves trapped in a dark place. They ended up there after the yellow pegasus' struggle under that hanging fabric. One of them probably activated a trap while they were walking away from that wall or at least that was what they thought. In fact, Angel activated the trap and then left the place.

The Element of Generosity was frustrated by the fact that she couldn't achieve her goal as fast as she wanted, and now she had to deal with the hidden hazards of that ruined castle. "I'm starting to wonder if maybe this castle doesn't want my expertise!" she exclaimed as she cleared the area with an Illumination Spell, revealing that they were in a small, closed room.

As soon as Fluttershy could see again, she noticed that Angel wasn't there and started to be worried about him, "Oh dear. Angel? Rarity, have you seen him?" she asked as she was checking every spot in the room, hoping to find her little bunny.

"I'm not sure he made the trip down with us, dear."

Her statement made the pegasus worry even more and said, "Oh, goodness! We have to find him. An ancient castle is no place for a bunny. He could get hit by falling debris, or the floor could give out under him! Oh! He could be trapped in a dark place with no way out!"

Rarity flatly replied, "I can only imagine how that might feel." It wasn't like they weren't in a similar situation, right? Then, she looked around, and noticed a hole, big enough for a foreleg to pass through it, in the wall next to her, "Hmm..."

Meanwhile, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were walking through the Hall of Hooves: a corridor adorned with tens of stone hooves across the walls, holding a torch. Rainbow Dash was leading the way, and Applejack was two meters behind her. Both of them were scared, but their will to be the most daring pony didn't allow them to admit it. Suddenly, the speedster felt somepony's hoof around her neck and immediately thought that it was Applejack.

“Um, AJ, I felt a hoof touching my neck. If that was you, then give up and admit that you're scared,” she said while looking and pointing forward her torch, trying to light up the dark hallway ahead.

“Uh, Dash, it wasn’t me who touched you,” she said in a confused and scared tone.

Hearing that, Rainbow turned her head and brought the torch closer, just to see that the hoof around her neck was coming from the wall next to her, something that scared both her and Applejack. They both fled the scene, screaming in fear.

The hoof belonged to Rarity, who gasped and quickly retracted it after touching something beyond the wall. Her action scared Fluttershy, who asked in a frightened tone, "Rarity! What is it?"

"I felt something... alive!" she exclaimed in fear. However, that answer didn't scare the Element of Kindness. In fact, it restored her hope to find Angel.

"*gasp* Angel!" she happily exclaimed as she put her hoof in that hole to touch her beloved bunny and tell him that everything was alright. However, the only thing she touched was the nearby stone hoof, activating the secret door that moved them to the Hall of Hooves.

This just ended the patience of Rarity, who exclaimed in frustration, "Well, tapestries or not, I have had just about enough of secret passages, mysterious presences, and unappreciative castles!"

She was about to leave, but Fluttershy stopped her, "But we can't leave now," she said in a worried tone, "Not with Angel lost somewhere in this dangerous old castle!" Then, she started to panic as she said, "He could be trapped under a crumbling statue, or stuck high in a tower without food or water or any friends at all!" The poor pegasus didn't know, however, that her beloved bunny was in the safest place in Equestria: Goku's back.

Talking about him and his group, they were going toward the Hall of Hooves, when suddenly the sound of an organ started echoing across the castle. "What was that?" asked Goku in confusion.

"You mean, the creepy sound of a haunted pipe organ?" asked Spike with a scared expression.

"Organ?"

"It's a large musical instrument," started to explain Twilight, "Having rows of tuned pipes sounded by compressed air, and played using one or more keyboards to produce a wide range of musical effects. You really don't know what an organ is?"

Goku was a bit confused by her explanation, but he surprisingly understood most of it. "You'll be surprised at how many things I don't know," he replied with a nervous smile as the sound of that instrument could be heard again, scaring Spike.

"Well, let's keep looking for our friends. Do you know where they are?"

The black-maned Alicorn closed his eyes and tracked down everypony's Ki in the castle. Then he spoke as the organ's sound echoed again, "They are in different parts of the castle, and some of them just changed positions rather quickly."

"What do you mean?" asked the princess in confusion.

"I don't know, a few seconds ago, I sensed Rarity and Applejack's Ki inside the castle, and now they're outside."

"That ability of yours is very useful," praised Twilight, "I'd like to learn it."

"Hehe, your and Spike's training will start tomorrow, so don't worry about that," he replied, "But let's look for Fluttershy, we still need to bring Angel back to her."

What they didn't know was that it wouldn't be as easy as they thought: In fact, each and every time they were near the yellow pegasus, she moved to a totally different spot of the castle somehow. They could even hear screams coming from some of their friends, something that worried the trio. They tried to reach them, but the result was the same as with Fluttershy. All of that while the organ was still playing in the background.

Things kept going like this for fifteen minutes. They were all going to different parts of the ancient building by passing through a room that connected several corridors. While fleeing, the pairs switched companions, without even noticing it, over and over again. Fluttershy was flying scared with Rainbow Dash, Rarity was running next to Applejack, who entered a different corridor. Spike and Angel ran toward another one as Twilight and Goku directed to the one in front of it.

Fluttershy went out from that same corridor while carrying Angel on her back, not even noticing it, and entered the one in front of it. Goku was running to the second corridor on the right, and Rarity was right behind him. Twilight was flying alone to another one, but she stopped as she saw Rainbow Dash dashing toward the third corridor on the left, and quickly followed her. Spike came out from a hidden passage in the floor, only to be turned into a living tornado by Applejack's charge. The little dragon eventually stopped but was grabbed by Twilight's magic as she entered another corridor.

In the end, Goku, Twilight, Spike, and Angel were standing on a corridor that overlooks a room that connected six other passages, three on the left and three on the right. The lavender princess was a bit frustrated by the situation. It was like the castle itself was preventing them from reaching their friends. "Ugh, it's no use," she said, "How can we reach them with all these secret passages?"

"Hehe, all this running around in a place like this reminds me of when I, Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong assaulted Pilaf's base," commented Goku with a grin.

Spike was about to say something, but the screams of five well-known mares prevented him from doing so. They all turned their heads to see that their friends were in the room below, either running or flying screaming in fear all around. Rainbow Dash was flying around and had no clue where she was going. She accidentally hit a tapestry, which fell on the crying fashionista, who said, "I just wanted to restore ancient art!"

The speedster's random flying scared Applejack as well, who was trying to escape from what she thought was the Pony of Shadows. By doing that, she went on a fallen pillar that Fluttershy was trying to lift because she thought that Angel was being crushed by it. Somehow, the Pegasus, as well as her friends, didn't notice the others' presence as her only thought was her little bunny who was trapped under the rubble.

"ANGEL!" she cried as Rainbow and Applejack were trying to escape from nopony and Rarity was crying while covered by the previously fallen tapestry.

Twilight had enough of it and shouted as she cast an Immobilization Spell, "Alright, everypony, STOP!"

The Mane 4 stopped moving, screaming or crying, and everything became silent again. Applejack swore she heard Twilight's voice so, she opened her eyes, and said, "Twilight?"

By hearing the apple farmer, the other mares understood that their sudden immobilization was due to the librarian's magic and calmed down a bit. However, Fluttershy was still worried about her pet, "Must... Save... Angel," she struggled to say as she was trying to lift the fallen pillar, but the said bunny showed up, making her realize that she was crying for nothing. "Oh," she said as she blushed in embarrassment.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, noticing the yellow pegasus below, "Fluttershy? What are you doing here?"

"She's with me..." answered for her Rarity. Twilight dispelled the enchantment as she, Goku, Spike, and Angel reached their friends. The ponified Saiyan was amazed by her technique and wondered if he could learn spells like this one to improve as a martial artist. To immobilize the opponent could be very useful if he ever needed to use the Spirit Bomb again. Maybe he could ask Twilight if she can teach him how to use his own magic.

"Goku, you're here too?" commented the speedster as the lavender princess freed Rarity from that thick textile fabric.

"Yeah, I wanted to help Twilight with something," he answered with his trademark smile, "But I do have to say, why were you running around like that...?"

"Scaring each other?" completed Twilight.

"Well, that depends," answered Applejack.

"On what?" asked Spike.

"On whether or not you guys are the Pony of Shadows," replied Rainbow Dash as she pointed her left hoof toward them.

"The Pony of Shadows?" asked Goku in confusion, "Who is he? Is he strong?"

"Oh, that's just an old ponies' tale," stated the princess with a smile.

"Yeah, just like ghosts and resurrection," sarcastically replied the baby dragon.

"Touché," admitted Twilight, "But even if that legend was true, I doubt he would be a match for you, Goku."

The black-maned Alicorn was about to say something, but the sound of the organ restarted echoing across the castle, scaring the Mane 4 and Spike. They all embraced Twilight and Goku while trembling in fear as the baby dragon asked, "If all of you are here, who's playing... that?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out," stated Twilight as she and the ponified Saiyan directed toward the source of that sound while carrying their scared friends. They walked for ten minutes before reaching the instrument's room. It was a medium-sized space with a staircase in the middle, on which there was the instrument that bothered the Mane 4 and Spike for so long. They saw that two dark figures were playing it and everyone but Goku and Twilight hid.

"The Ponies of Shadows," whispered in fear Spike as the white-coated alicorn was approaching the unknown ponies along with the lavender princess. The figures didn't seem to notice their presence as they kept on playing the organ. Once reached them, Twilight used her magic to remove the cloak from one of the ponies, and Goku did the same with the other one, revealing that they were Pinkie Pie and Goten.

"Hi, you guys!" greeted the pink Earth Pony.

"Hi, dad! Did you know we can totally play the organ?" asked the young Saiyan hybrid, "Because we didn't!"

"Pinkie?! Goten?!" exclaimed the Mane 5 in unison as they were coming out of their hiding spot. They didn't expect the duo to be the ones who were playing that thing the whole time. Or to be in the castle for that matter. Spike and Twilight weren't that surprised since Goku told them that they were there.

"Check it out!" exclaimed Pinkie as she and Goten began to play the 'Charge!' theme.

"Wait," said Rainbow as she flew toward her, "You guys are the Pony of Shadows?"

"The pony of what?" asked the Element of Laughter as she kept on playing the organ, and barely paying attention.

"Who's the Pony of Shadows?" asked Goten in confusion.

"See? What'd I tell ya?" rhetorically asked Twilight while pointing her left hoof towards the flying cyan pegasus. There was no Pony of Shadows on the loose as she predicted. Her friends just let fear get the better of them.

"Hey, Goten, how was your first day of school?" asked Goku.

"Great!" he answered with a smile, "I made lots of friends and the lessons are not too difficult."

"I'm glad to hear that. It means you won't need to study too much and you'll have some time to train with me." This statement made the black-maned Unicorn smile broadly. "But I am curious, what are you doing here?" he then asked in confusion.

"Oh, Pinkie asked my help to pick some flowers."

"Flowers?" intervened Applejack, "I thought she went to ring the school bell all week!"

"Oh, yeah!" Pinkie replied as she stopped playing the organ and turned to see her friend, "I only had to ring it for, like, five minutes! They said that was good enough!" Then she restarted playing the instrument, "Eh, can't imagine why..."

A drop appeared on the back of Goten's head as he remembered how she was ringing that bell. He still wasn't used to Pinkie's weird behavior.

"So then, I decided to throw a 'Finish ringing the school bell' party!" continued the mare as Twilight and Rainbow just rolled their eyes, "But I didn't have any bluebells, and you CAN'T throw a 'Finish ringing the school bell' party without bluebells. So, I asked Goten for some help, and we went to the Everfree Forest to pick some, but it started to get so chilly." Then she started playing happy organ music as she kept on talking, "We had to wrap ourselves up in the tarps we were gonna use to gather flowers, and then we saw Fluttershy and Rarity. But they went into the castle before I could invite them to my party. Luckily, Goten told me that all of you were here, so we entered the castle to help you all with your party!"

"What party is that?" asked Rarity.

"Uh, the 'Everypony come to the scary old castle and hide from each other while we play the organ' party?" she replied as she played a note, activating a trap right beneath Spike, who was thrown in the air. Luckily, Goku stopped him from falling with his magic. "Duh!" she exclaimed as she jumped away, and the rest of the group was looking at her with confused expressions. Not even the rest of the Elements were always used to her antics, that was for sure.

[Library of the Castle]

Fifteen minutes later, they reached the library as Spike was telling the Mane 5 what he, Twilight, and Goku were doing in the castle. When the lavender princess heard that Goku didn't understand Ponish, she immediately remembered that he wasn't from their world, so it was something to be expected. She immediately told him that she could teach him and Goten how to read and write. The stallion wasn't sure whether to accept or not at first. However, he remembered that reading and writing were part of Master Roshi's training when he was a kid, so he, just like Goten, accepted.

Twilight was happy: it meant that she could be both a teacher and a student. She would have taught them Ponish, and maybe even Magic, while she would have learned everything about Ki and their world! Cultural exchange at its finest!

"So," intervened Rainbow, "You weren't scared of this place at all? Not even a bit?"

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared," admitted Spike.

"And I was too busy reading to even care about it," stated Twilight.

"Why should I be scared of this place?" asked Goku in confusion, "When I was just a colt, I was in places similar to this castle in which there were way more dangerous traps and other things."

"You were using past experiences to deal with something like this in the present," concluded the princess. This statement made her think about something, "I've just thought of a great idea! Why don't we keep a journal?"

"A journal?" asked Goten in confusion.

"Yes! That way we can learn from each other and maybe someday, other ponies will read it and learn something, too!"

"What a splendid idea!" exclaimed Rarity as she was fixing the tapestry that previously fell on her.

"I know what my first entry will be," commented Applejack, "'Dear Diary, I'm glad Granny Smith's legend wasn't true'."

"Me too," said Rainbow, who was flying near the apple farmer.

"Me three!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, popping out from a nearby chair, "Because that means you two are still tied for 'Most Daring Pony'!" Right after she finished her sentence, she accidentally pushed the back of the chair, activating a mechanism that opened a secret door next to them. Everyone noticed this and wanted to take a look at the revealed room, so Twilight took the candelabrum with her magic to illuminate it.

They saw an almost perfectly conserved room with shelves of books on the right, two big windows representing a starry night and the break of dawn, a chaise longue with three pillows on the left, two cushions near the windows, and a little square table with a book on it.

The lavender princess approached the book as the rest of the group followed her. Then, she proceeded with reading the title, "'The Journal of the Two Sisters'."

"You can read it later, Twilight," commented her Number One Assistant, "I want to know what happened in the Muscle Tower."

"What's the Muscle Tower?" asked Fluttershy in confusion.

"Goku was telling us his adventures on Earth when he was a 'colt'," answered the Dragon, "And they are pretty cool: they totally can match those of Daring Do."

"What?!" intervened Rainbow, "I mean, I know how awesome Goku is, but that's something I'll judge."

"Well, now that I'm thinking about it, we don't know almost anything about you, darling," said Rarity to Goku.

"Yeah, what if you start telling your story from the beginning?" asked Applejack.

"I want to hear it too, dad," supported Goten with a smile.

The black-maned Alicorn just smiled and said, "Okay, I'll start again, telling it from the beginning, but I warn you all, my story is pretty long, so it's better if we take a seat. Thankfully, we have a cozy room that’s perfect for storytelling." Rarity, Angel, and Fluttershy sat on the cushions, Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat next to them, Twilight sat on the chaise longue, and Spike and Goten sat next to her. Once everyone was ready, Goku began telling his past, "Well, many years ago in the Mount Paozu region..."

Filler Chapter 2: Training Island

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Filler Chapter 3: Fashion Week

Author's Note

Hi, guys! Sorry for the long wait, but some problems kept me from writing. I hope you're not too mad at me, hehe. Anyway, here's the new chapter, the longest one. I hope you like it and good reading.

Filler Chapter 3: Fashion Week

[Manehattan's outskirts, Capsule Corporation - Equestrian Division]

Twenty-nine days have passed since Bulma's arrival in Equus. The capsules she asked Shenron had helped her family to settle in without any complications, but they would eventually need money, as their supplies are finite. There was enough food for one hundred people, or ponies in this case, for an entire year. However, having a Saiyan husband and part Saiyan son reduced the amount of time said food would have lasted. So, she wanted to expand her company's empire in this new world before they ran out of food.

Taking advantage of the fact that, in Equestria, there was no competition in the technological sector, Bulma wanted to manufacture the firm's trademark product, the capsules. However, her new body was an issue: hooves weren't that useful when it came to using tools like a screwdriver or a welder, let alone for something as tricky as nanotechnology.

She tried to come up with something until she remembered Goku using magic. Not only that, but she also remembered the fact that she was a unicorn herself. She tried her hardest to use it to levitate objects but failed miserably. The scientist needed somepony who could teach her how to harness her magical powers. So, who would have been better than her best friend, Son Goku?

With Trunks' help, she summoned the black-maned Alicorn and asked him to be her master for a while. It took her three days to learn the levitation spell and the rest of the week to master it. After that, she began the capsules' production and wanted to use an upcoming event in the city to advertise them, the Fashion Week. It was a tournament-like competition in which the most skilled dressmakers from all over Equestria would have showcased their best dresses to the most influential figures in fashion.

Now, she was wondering what would have been the best option to advertise her father's invention. Considering that technology in Equestria, as well as the entire planet most likely, was somewhat basic compared to Earth’s technology, she needed to prove how useful the capsules could be. She sighed and said, "Now I know what dad's been through when he started the company."

She was in her laboratory, sitting at the desk as she was playing with a capsule, making it spin over and over. The room featured metallic walls and ceiling, as well as several advanced machines. Suddenly, she heard the automatic door opening, followed by a well-known voice, "Mom, I'm home."

Bulma turned her head to see her son walking toward her and said with a smile, "Trunks, darling, how was your day?"

"Boring as usual," answered the blue-maned colt, who didn't like going to school, but then he said with a smile, "But I've made some friends, so I think it wasn't that bad after all." Then, he asked, "So, do you know how to sell those capsules?"

"Still working on it," she answered, "But don't worry, I'll figure it out sooner than later."

"I wonder how all of this works if we're no longer on Earth," commented the young pegasus as he was looking at all the machinery in the room.

"There's an antimatter reactor under our house, meaning that energy won't be a problem for us," proudly stated Bulma.

"Woah, really? That’s cool!" Trunks exclaimed.

Bulma looked around the room for a while, still thinking on how to start her operations in Equestria, then she said, "You know what? I need a break." she began to walk toward the exit and continued, "Besides, I have to make lunch."

"You mean, me teaching you how to prepare sandwiches, again?" he giggled, but he stopped when he saw his mother looking at him with a kind gaze that was hiding anger.

"Can you repeat that, please?" she asked with a kind yet aggressive tone.

The young pegasus got scared and quickly waved his hooves to calm her down as he said, "I didn't say anything! I didn't say anything!"

"It will be better for you," she replied with a slightly aggressive tone as she walked away, followed by her scared son.

[Training Island, Earth, three days later]

While Bulma was struggling to find ideas to start operations in Equestria, Goku and Twilight were about to complete today's workout. She and Spike delivered milk all across the island, worked the land, and swam in a small-seized lake with a shark in it, for two weeks. Goku also included coordination exercises, meditation, balance exercises, technique, and occasional sparring matches. To make it more effective, the princess wore Goku's old wristbands and carried a turtle carapace, with each wristband and carapace weighing 22.67 kilograms, or 50 pounds.

Spike skipped today's training to help Rarity pack her bags for Manehattan's Fashion Week, something that Twilight didn't like somewhat; the main reason being that the Fashionista seemed to take advantage of his crush on her.

However, Twilight put those thoughts aside momentarily since she was about to start the last exercise, or at least that was what she thought. After finishing working the land of a farmer, she saw the scarlet-eyed Saiyan putting three bowls on a square table. One of them was filled with something she never saw before, so she asked as she pointed at it, "Hey, Goku, what are those?"

"These are dumplings, Twilight, and I bet you're gonna like ‘em," he answered as he was setting a pair of chopsticks on each side of the dish, "It's the farmer's way of saying thank you for helping him plow the fields."

"Oh, I see…"

"Why you don't set down the carapace, so you can eat with me?" suggested the Saiyan, "Also, this counts as an exercise, as you’re trying to master your control over your hands."

After setting down the heavy object she was carrying on her back, she sighed in relief as she felt her body lighter than before. Then, she sat at the table and grabbed the chopsticks on the right side of the bowl. "You still remember how to hold those, right?" asked Goku as he grabbed his ones.

Twilight used them sometimes after the morning's training, so she somewhat knew how to hold those sticks, but she still needed to get used to them. "Yes, more or less," answered the princess with a smile.

Son Goku smiled back and said, "Enjoy."

The princess had a dumpling, but before she could eat it, it disappeared. She was confused at first. She looked around to see if it fell somewhere near her, but she didn't find it. Then, she looked at Goku, almost as if she wanted to ask him what had happened, but he was too busy eating one of those things. Twilight decided to let it go and grabbed another one, but as soon as she took it, the scarlet-eyed Saiyan stole it and ate it in front of her.

She was surprised at first, but then she figured out that the vanished dumpling was eaten by him as well. Noticing this, Goku sharpened his gaze and gave her a confident smile, dissolving any doubts of hers. In response, Twilight sharpened her gaze too and said, "You know? I can be pretty grumpy if I'm hungry, and somepony is stopping me from eating."

"Oh, is that so? Well, I don't think I'll let you eat any of these," he replied in a challenging tone, "What are you gonna do, Twilight?"

"This," she said, before slamming down her fist, charged with magic, on the table. The small shockwave generated by the impact sent the dumplings to the sky, but it was a bad move. Goku jumped and ate all of them but one. As it was falling, Twilight used the table to jump on the nearby tree, which was used as a higher platform to reach it. However, mere nanoseconds before she could grab it with her chopsticks, the scarlet-eyed Saiyan used the levitation spell to attract it to his position.

The princess saw that her master was about to eat it, so she used her teleportation spell to appear where she was before. Then, she tried to stop him using her chopsticks, making the dumpling fall into the bowl in front of them. Twilight quickly tried to grab it first, but Goku was faster and didn't allow her to do it. He was using his chopsticks to block hers or to move the contended food from one side of the bowl to another to prevent her from taking it.

He even started to use the bowl itself to block any of his disciple's attempts. To confuse her, Goku overturned it as well as the other ones, hiding the dumpling under one of them. Then, he began to mix them up using his chopsticks. At first, he was moving them slowly, but then he increased the speed to the point it was pretty difficult to tell which bowl was the right one.

Twilight, however, was able to keep up with that speed, and with a quick move, she picked one of the bowls, revealing it was the right one. "Yes!" she exclaimed as she was trying to take the dumpling, but her master was still stopping her from achieving that goal.

Understanding that she wouldn't pass through Goku's solid defense, she hit the side of the bowl, with her left hand, to remove it from the boulder. Then, she quickly kicked the bottom of it, making the dumpling to stay in mid-air, and used her magic to take it. However, Goku stopped her by throwing one of his chopsticks, piercing the dumpling, and sending it to the nearby tree. The scarlet-eyed Saiyan used enough force to make it stick into the wooden trunk.

Goku jumped over Twilight to take it first, but the princess grabbed one of his ankles and forced him to the ground. Her master quickly stood up and engaged her in hand-to-hand combat. He performed a roundhouse kick, but it was blocked by the princess's left arm. So, he attacked by throwing his left punch at her, but the goddess deviated it with her left hand and used her momentum to perform a roundhouse kick. However, Goku dodged it by doing two backward somersaults, reaching the nearby tree.

The dumpling was sliding down the chopstick stuck into the tree, something that Goku noticed. After it fell, he was waiting for it with his mouth wide-opened, forgetting for a moment that Twilight was a few meters in front of him. Before he could eat the falling food, the princess used her chopsticks to close his mouth, making the dumpling to bounce off his face and slide down them.

Her master quickly reacted by hitting her chopsticks upward, making the dumpling go in the air, and tried to make her lose balance by kicking her ankles. However, Twilight dodged his kick by jumping. While in the air, she kicked away the dumpling and used her teleportation spell to go after it. Goku followed her using Instant Transmission.

They appeared right under the falling dumpling and sent it to the sky once more as they restarted their duel. Goku threw a punch, but it was dodged by the princess, who counterattacked with an upward kick. The scarlet-eyed Saiyan sidestepped to avoid it and retaliated with two punches. However, Twilight deviated both of them using her arms and attacked with a punch as well, but her master dodged it with no problem at all.

Twilight kept on attacking by doing a roundhouse kick, but Goku dodged it by ducking and counterattacked with the same move. However, the princess was able to avoid it by jumping backward. The Saiyan attacked with a flying kick, but Twilight avoided it with a rotating motion, placing herself behind him. Using her momentum, she wanted to hit him with her right arm, but her master ducked and counterattacked with another roundhouse kick.

However, Twilight dodged it, performing a backward somersault, or at least that was what it seemed, because instead of using her momentum to complete that move, she pushed herself forward, catching Goku off guard and hitting him with both her feet. The blow was strong enough to push him back for at least three meters, but he quickly recovered with a somersault. However, he saw that his student was approaching him fast, so he tried to punch her, but she used his extended arm as a foothold to jump over him while somersaulting.

She landed a few meters away from him and stabbed the falling dumpling with one of her chopsticks, much to her master's surprise. She trained for just seventeen days, yet her performance was outstanding. He was suppressing his might and was under constant meditation, so his focus in battle wasn't at its best, but the fact that she could counterattack at the right time and exploit that chance was still impressive.

Meanwhile, Twilight ate the food she fought for and said with a smile, "Yummy."

"Hehe," giggled Goku, drawing his student's attention, "Nicely done, Twilight! I'll have to start Ki manipulation lessons soon at this rate."

The princess was happy to have successfully passed this little test, something that could be seen by the sparks in her eyes and her smile. But suddenly, she inflated one of her cheeks and did a cute grunt before saying, "But you could at least avoid eating them all."

"Oh, don't worry about that," he said as he used his magic to move Twilight's backpack to their position. "I knew you would have liked them, so..." he explained as he opened it, and pulled out a pack of dumplings.

She smiled in response, but then she remembered something and gasped, "We are late! We should have met Rarity and the others at the Ponyville Station!"

"Calm down, Twilight," said Goku, "We can reach them in the blink of an eye, even if we miss the train."

"That's no excuse," replied the princess, "When it comes to appointments, being punctual is a duty!"

She hated being late. That was one of the things Goku learned about her during this month, so he didn't want to argue any further and said, "Okay then. Quick, take my hand." Twilight gave him her hand as she grabbed her backpack, then the scarlet-eyed Saiyan used Instant Transmission to teleport back to Ponyville.

[Ponyville Station, Equestria]

The Mane 5, Goten, and Spike were waiting for both Goku and Twilight, but the train was about to leave, and there was still no sign of them. The mares were wondering why they were taking this long, especially Twilight. They knew how much she hated being late at anything. They didn't know it yet, but she was spending her time training with Goku, so they thought they still were at the Golden Oak Library.

However, before somepony could say something, they saw the missing ones appear in front of them out of nowhere, meaning that they used teleportation to arrive there. "Finally!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "The train is about to leave! What were you two doing?"

"Hehe, we'll explain once on board," answered Goku with a nervous smile. The group boarded the Friendship Express, which mere seconds later, left the station, and headed for Manehattan, Equestria's biggest and most populous city. Once they reached their seats and settled, the Mane 5 looked at the alicorn duo, meaning they were ready to hear their explanation.

"Well," started Twilight, "We were training on Earth and..."

However, she couldn't finish the sentence because of somepony's laughter. It was Rainbow Dash. The speedster thought that her friend was kidding and couldn't help but laugh at it. “Twilight, of all ponies, doing exercise? That’s the funniest thing I ever heard from her since that time she wanted to attend the Running of the Leaves marathon,” she thought as she was laughing and giggling like a hyena.

Applejack was giggling as well until she also gave into laughter. The only times she saw her friend doing some physical activity was when they had to help out the Crystal Empire in preparing for the arrival of the games inspector, during the Winter Wrap-up event, and the Running of the Leaves marathon. So, just three times in four years, if she didn't count lifting and carrying Tom from Canterlot to Ponyville.

The rest of the group was looking at them while the athletic duo was laughing. "Hahaha! Good one, Twilight!" exclaimed the cyan pegasus as she wiped a tear from one of her eyes.

The lavender Alicorn glared at both mares; once again, they thought that just because she rarely did some exercise and preferred reading and studying over doing sport, she wouldn't be able to do anything related to it. "As I was saying," she continued with her eyes closed and had a very displeased expression, she used her magic to open her bag and pull out the pack of dumplings, "Our training on Earth took more time than expected."

"She's not kidding," supported Spike, "I'm training with Goku too."

"Yeah," confirmed the scarlet-eyed Alicorn with his trademark smile, "And they're good at it."

The speedster stopped laughing and asked in a marveled tone, "Really?"

Goku nodded in response and said, "They're learning fast, especially Twilight."

Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were surprised by his statement, but then the cyan pegasus replied, "If that's true, I want to see it. What about a challenge, Twilight?"

The princess swallowed what she was eating and asked, "What kind of challenge?"

"Next month, Ponyville's Aerial Team will be at the Rainbow Falls for the Aerial Relay event's tryouts," she began explaining, "I'll challenge you to a race there."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, I want to be the referee!" intervened Pinkie with a broad smile and a raised hoof.

"Uh, sure," answered Twilight, then she looked at the speedster and asked, "But why do you want to wait so long?"

"Our team needs to train and is still looking for a third member," she replied, "An Aerial Team must be composed of three flyers, or it can't participate in the Equestria Games," she then looked at Goku and asked, "Hey Goku, are you interested in joining us?"

"Sure, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do," he answered.

"Yes!" she exulted, then she replied, "Oh, and don't worry: I'll show you once we start practicing."

"Well," intervened Goten, "It's a good thing that the rules of the Equestria Games now allow athletes to attend more than just one athletic pursuit this time." He told his father about the martial arts tournament of the said event a week ago and, of course, he wanted to participate. So, if the rules weren't changed, he would have been forced to choose between the Aerial Relay and Martial Arts.

"Changing the subject," spoke Rarity, "I couldn't help but notice your new dress, Twilight."

The lavender alicorn swallowed another dumpling and asked, "Oh, you mean my gi?"

"It's a gi?" asked the fashionista in a surprised tone, "Well, it's certainly an exotic one. I mean, it's simple but sophisticated at the same time. And it even goes with the dresses I want to show during Fashion Week. Where did you find it?"

"Well, it kinda came out of nowhere when I went to Earth," answered the princess, much to her friend’s disbelief, "But, Goku said that it's a traditional gi for mares, or 'women', in the Fire Mountain Kingdom."

"So, it's a traditional Earthling dress? They have pretty good tastes, then," she complimented before looking at Goku, "I would love to see your world's fashion!"

"Hehe," giggled Goku, "One day, we can all go and visit Earth, if you want."

After eating another dumpling, Twilight spoke, "So, Rarity, how do you feel about this event?"

The unicorn squealed and answered, "I can't begin to tell you how excited I am, especially if you'll all be there with me!" Then, she opened the only suitcase she could bring with her in the passenger car and pulled out nine purple tickets as she said, "However... Perhaps I can show you..."

"What's that?" asked Goku in confusion.

"Those are tickets, Dad," answered Goten.

"These," she began to explain, "Are tickets to the hottest musical on Bridleway!"

While this revelation excited the mares, the scarlet-eyed alicorn was confused since he had never heard of a musical before. On the other hoof, Goten and Spike were surprised, but the former didn't find anything exciting about it. As the trio of males had its thoughts about the topic, Twilight said, "You couldn't mean Hinny of the Hills... because it's been sold out for months! Or could you?!"

"I could," answered Rarity, "I do."

The princess gasped and replied, "Oh, Rarity, you didn't have to do that, but... since you did..."

"Yahoo!" cheered the Mane 5 in excitement as Goku was still wondering what a musical was supposed to be.

[Maneway Station, Manehattan, one day later]

After a long trip from Ponyville, the group of friends finally arrived at their destination, Manehattan. However, they couldn't leave the station right away because of the number of suitcases and bags Rarity brought up with her; there was even a big trunk among all of them. Goku and Goten helped Spike to take them out of the train, but the former told the baby dragon that he should carry all of the luggage alone since he skipped training. Spike wasn't happy at first, but then he remembered why he was training and nodded in response.

The group proceeded to leave the station as Rarity was leading the way. They walked to the Bridleway Theater District and were marveled by its beauty. The district featured several buildings along a long street that was divided into two different sections, by an island of shops and skyscrapers. One of which had three billboards displaying apple juice advertisement, a Wonderbolts' recruiting poster, and a pair of eyes in a black background. On the right side of the road, there was the Theater itself, a perfume shop, and a fast-food restaurant.

They all noticed a pretty long queue of ponies waiting in front of the theater. Maybe they wanted to get the good seats before somepony else. However, they didn't need to worry since Rarity also managed to book some of the best ones. "You weren't kiddin' when you said the show was already sold out, Twilight," commented Applejack as the group kept on walking to their hotel.

"Uh, girls," intervened Goku, drawing their attention, "I know you all are excited about this musical, but I'm still wondering what's that."

In normal circumstances, the mares and Spike would be surprised by something like that. Who in the world didn't know what a musical was, after all? But they knew that Goku was different. He grew up alone in the woods and fought bad guys for most of his childhood, meaning he developed little knowledge about things that didn't involve fighting. They could see it as comparable to the day they met Daring Do and when Fluttershy turned into a Vampire Fruit Bat hybrid. They were even wondering why none of his old friends helped him in this. However, they all, but mainly Twilight, were trying to fill that vacuum of knowledge any time they could.

"A musical," began to explain Twilight with a smile, "Is a play in which singing and dancing play an essential part. Musicals developed from light opera in the early 20th century."

Goku wasn't sure what light opera was, but he understood the first part of her explanation and answered, "Oh, I get it, so we'll watch a group of ponies acting on a stage while they sing and dance, right?"

"Exactly!" exclaimed all of his friends and Goten with a smile. The scarlet-eyed Saiyan smiled back as the group kept on walking.

While they were heading for the hotel, the youngest member of the Son family approached his dad and talked with him, "Hey, Dad, what do you think about this musical? I mean, I appreciate that they invited me, but I think that watching somebody that burst into a song is kind of boring."

Son Goku looked at his son as he started thinking about it. Sure, he was more into action rather than something as static as staying in a place for hours, just to see someone else doing something. However, spending time with his friends was part of the cure to his obsession for battles; and if he really wanted to change, he had to start from things like this one. "I think we should give it a try," he replied, much to his son's surprise, "We already saw Twilight and the others bursting into a song for no reason when those apple-eating bats stormed Applejack's orchard. And they weren't bad at all, to be honest."

Goten was astonished. His father was serious when he told him that he wanted to change. That aside, he was right: Ms. Sparkle and the others, but also the Cutie Mark Crusaders, often began singing apparently for no reason. However, they all were pretty good at it. “Maybe the musical wouldn't be so bad after all,” Goten thought. But, before he could say something, Rarity started to sing all of a sudden, catching him, his father, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack off guard.

Goku and Goten had a giant drop behind their heads as the Mane 6 finished singing. They had beautiful voices, yeah, but they sang for at least two hours. Well, it was mostly Rarity, but the point still stood. "Was all of that necessary?" asked the colt as he was looking at the group of mares.

"Hehehe," nervously giggled the alicorn stallion in response.

After that, the group resumed walking until they reached a dress-shop in front of which they stopped. The reason was that the fashionista appeared to be interested in one of the dresses exposed in the shop window.

However, she wasn't. She was thinking about the competition she would attend soon and the opportunities a victory would bring to her. "To think my dresses could soon be displayed in the most glamorous shopping thoroughfare of the most glamorous city in Equestria!" she sighed, "Oh, it would be my dream come true!"

"Is there anything left to do we can help you with?" asked Twilight with a smile.

Rarity thought about it for a second before answering, "Nothing I can think of; the dresses are all finished, all made from a fabulous new fabric I've been developing for months. Stretchy, but not clingy. Shimmery, but not showy."

Her description of this new fabric confused Goku, who looked at his son to see if he understood something. However, Goten raised his forelegs to say that he didn't get anything as well. The rest of the group but Spike seemed to understand what she meant, but the truth was that none of them was sure of that either. Fluttershy, however, commented, "Sounds amazing."

"There's nothing left for me to do but check-in at the runway with my dresses by two this afternoon," explained Rarity.

"Oh, that's funny," said Pinkie as she approached the fashionista, "Because that clock over there makes it seem like it's only ten minutes from now!" She was pointing at the city's Tower Clock in the distance, as a rumble of thunder echoed across the sky, meaning it was about to rain.

"Oh, my ribbons and threads!" panicked Rarity, "The ballroom is all the way across town! If I don't get there, I'm disqualified!" Then, she desperately started running as she shouted, "TAAAAXIII!"

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Fluttershy in a worried tone, "We've gotta help her find a cab, now!"

"I'm on it!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she sped off toward a cab that was 20 meters away from them. Then, she landed on it and asked the driver, "Hey, buddy! Is this cab taken?"

"The line ends back there, 'buddy'!" suddenly answered the passenger, who went unnoticed by Rainbow until he spoke. The speedster looked at where the brown-coated earth pony was pointing and noticed a quite long queue of ponies waiting for a taxi. She couldn't believe it; she swore there was nothing right there a few seconds ago. Even Goku and Goten were confused.

"What? Does everypony in this town want a cab all of a sudden?" she commented in disbelief as she jumped off the cab.

"I'm afraid that getting a taxi at this time could prove almost impossible!" stated Rarity in a worried tone as she was using a newspaper to cover herself from the rain.

"I can take you there if you want," proposed Goten as he began levitating.

"Are you sure?" asked the fashionista in hesitation. Goten was Goku's son, sure, but that didn't mean he was strong enough to carry her and fast enough to arrive there in time. Those were her thoughts; how wrong she was.

"Don't worry," answered the little Saiyan-hybrid with a smile, "As long as you tell me where to go, we'll be there in the blink of an eye!" After those words were spoken, Goten cast the levitation spell on Rarity, making her fly, as he put himself next to her, something that surprised Rarity. "So, which direction should we head?"

The fashionista shook her head to recover from her surprised expression and said, "Follow this street, for now!" Then she turned her head to see the rest of the group and said, "Ta-ta!" After that, she and Goten left at high speed.

"Whew," sighed Spike in relief as he approached Pinkie while holding a carrot dog, "That was close. Good thing you taught him the levitation spell, Twilight." Everyone agreed with him. Both Goten and Goku still had some problems holding things with their hooves, so knowing that spell could bypass that issue. However, something crossed Spike's mind, "Anypony else got a sneaking suspicion we forgot something?"

At first, nobody could tell what he meant, but then everypony but Goku realized what he was talking about, "THE DRESSES!"

They had to reach their hotel, take Rarity's dresses, and go to the Ballroom within nine minutes, a nearly impossible feat even for Rainbow Dash, considering that they didn't know Manehattan very well and the fashionista was their guide. They knew how to reach the hotel, but they weren't sure where the competition would have taken place; they would have gone with Rarity to see the event after all.

However, Twilight realized something, "Wait! Goku, you're the only one who can make it in time!"

The scarlet-eyed alicorn was confused at first, but then he understood what she meant with that, "I get it! You want me to use Instant Transmission to give Rarity her clothes before two o'clock. Let's hurry, then!" After that, the group started heading for the hotel as fast as they could.

[Fashion Week's Theater, Social District, two minutes later]

Meanwhile, Goten and Rarity landed in front of the building in which she would have showcased her dresses. Then, they entered and headed for the reception, a quite modern-looking room. Once there, Rarity quickly announced herself to the receptionist, "Good afternoon, I'm here for Fashion Week!"

The receptionist, a purple-coated mare, was doing some paperwork with an emotionless expression. Despite seeming like she wasn't listening at all, she answered, "Everypony's gathered in front of the runway and about to start, so you'll just have to bring your dresses along with you and store them backstage later."

Her words, however, caused Rarity to panic, "My– My dresses!" she exclaimed, "How could I possibly forget them?!" Then, she gasped three times with the same emphasis of a drama queen and kneeled as she shouted before covering her face with the floor, "I'M DOOOOOMED!"

Goten was standing next to her with a worried expression. He looked at a nearby clock and saw that there were five minutes left; maybe he could go to the hotel, take her dresses, and come back in time. He was about to tell her, but suddenly his father appeared out of thin air with the said objects.

"Hey, Rarity, I think you forgot these," said the scarlet-eyed alicorn, something that drew the fashionista's attention.

Once she saw all of her dresses there, she quickly got up with a huge smile and said as she hugged him, "Thank you!" Then, she headed for the runway as she was carrying her dresses using her magic. Both father and son saw this with a smile before leaving the hotel reception with Instant Transmission.

[Theater District, Manefair Hotel's Entrance]

Goku and Goten appeared in front of the Mane 5 and Spike, then the black-maned stallion said with a broad smile, "Problem solved!"

The mares and Spike sighed in relief; their friend wouldn't have been disqualified anymore. Now that everything was under control, they began talking about the places they wanted to visit. Rarity showed them the most interesting ones in the area, so it was almost an embarrassment of riches.

Goku let them pick the place, for he had no idea where he wanted to go. The stallion, however, was about to say something, but before he could speak, he sensed Trunks and Bulma's Ki approaching fast.

He turned his head and saw a yellow and white Hover-Truck with the unmistakable Capsule Corporation's symbol on its bonnet. Goku was confused, to say the least; driving was difficult with hands, let alone with hooves. He didn't know, however, that the vehicle was designed without pedals, but with pressure sensors in the steering wheel to accelerate or decelerate instead. The brake was replaced by a mechanism that activated if the driver pulled the steering wheel, making it easier to drive, even with a ponified body.

Goku shrugged it off and raised one of his forelegs to both greet her and draw her attention, something that worked. The Mane 6, Spike, and Goten noticed the vehicle as well, though it was something weird for the former. Once the Hover-Truck was close enough, it stopped and landed. Then, the door of the driver opened, revealing the azure-maned scientist, who got out of the vehicle and said with a smile, "Goku! Guys! What a coincidence! What are you doing here?"

Goku, his son, and his friends approached her as he answered, "Hi, Bulma! We're here to support Rarity in a dress-showing tournament and to visit this city. Also, you and Trunks live here, so I thought, 'Why don't I bring Goten with me?'"

His answer caught her off guard, but before she could say anything, the sound of things falling came from the Hover-Truck, something that made a drop appear behind the scientist's head. Nanoseconds later, the back door opened, and Bulma's son got out of the vehicle. Trunks wanted to go out the moment he heard 'Goten.' As soon as he came in sight, Goten approached him fast to greet him.

Bulma let them talk to each other and focused on her conversation, "I thought you would be training somewhere for who knows how much time. I was surprised when Trunks found you so quickly, to be honest. And to meet you here..."

"Actually," intervened Twilight, "He was training me and Spike on Earth."

The owner of the Capsule Corporation widened her eyes in astonishment, "Wait. So, you're spending time with Goten, you're visiting a city with some friends just for fun, you'll watch a fashion event, and now you're telling me that you didn't train for an entire month to have some students? Who are you, and what have you done to the real Goku?"

"Hehehe," he giggled nervously, but before he could answer, his stomach started growling. Bulma slowly shook her head with a small smile in response; some things never changed.

[Fast Food Restaurant, Bridleway, Theater District]

Goku was finally filling his empty stomach with a small mountain of hay-burgers. Twilight chose that place because it was the only restaurant that could provide a large quantity of food in a short time, not to mention that it was also cheap. While he was eating, Rainbow Dash and Applejack asked Bulma about the weird thing she was driving before and how it could fit in that small capsule. At first, they thought it was magic, but Twilight confirmed that it wasn't, saying that Goku's world was more technologically advanced than theirs.

"You see," started to explain Bulma, "My father invented the capsules to move and store heavy objects easier. You can store everything in one of those, even an entire building." Then she said, "That thing I was driving in is the Earth's equivalent of a wagon."

The Mane 5 were amazed by the properties of that item. Applejack was thinking that having one or two of those capsules would come in handy on the farm. Twilight and Spike were interested in acquiring a few of them as well, but before they could ask, Goku finished eating and said, "By the way, Bulma, where were you going earlier?"

"I was heading for the Social District," she answered, "I wanted to see if any of the stylists attending the Fashion Week would be interested in buying my capsules."

"Shouldn't you try with a shop first?" asked Applejack in confusion, "I mean, they would need those things more than the stylists."

Bulma sighed and answered, "That's what I wanted to do at first, but I soon learned that Shopping Centers don't exist here in Equestria. So I tried to sell my Capsules to any shop I found, but some of them weren't interested in it, and others didn't even let me show them its properties." Then, she started spinning the Capsule containing the Hover-Truck with her magic, "The Fashion Week is a notorious event, so it may be the only chance I have to promote and sell them."

"Well, Rarity is attendin' the Fashion Week," replied the orange Earth Pony, "She would be more than interested in buyin' your capsules."

"Really?" asked the scientist with hope in her eyes.

"Yeah," answered Rainbow Dash, "She definitely needs them."

"More like I definitely need them," commented Spike, recalling that he was the one who did all the hard work, even though it was training, making the mares but Bulma, giggle. The scientist, of course, didn't know why he said that.

"I would need some of your capsules too," said Twilight, "My library is reaching its maximum capacity, and I would need some extra space. They will also make Spike's work easier."

"Those things would be useful in Sweet Apple Acres," said Applejack, "I want to buy some too."

Bulma's smile grew after hearing that: Capsule Corporation was about to start its operations after all! She quickly shook her head and said, "Thank you! I'll make sure to go to Ponyville so I can give you the capsules and show you how to install and operate them."

"Rarity will come back at 5 o'clock," explained Twilight, "And we're going to visit some places in the meantime. Do you want to join us?"

"Why not? I have to wait for Rarity anyways."

Everyone cheered at this, and the Mane 5 showed Bulma the map of the area to choose their next destination. They were also wondering how Rarity was doing at the Fashion Week, but they had to wait to know that answer.

[Fashion Week's Ballroom, Social District]

Meanwhile, Rarity was talking with Suri Polomare, an ex-member of the Ponyville Knitters League, after a quick briefing they and the other participants had with the host of the event, Prim Hemline. She was a light-pink coated Earth Pony with grayish-brown eyes, a grayish-violet mane, and a tail of the same color. She was wearing a two-tone blue crossed scarf and a headband holding up her mane in the back. Her Cutie Mark featured three colored buttons in a triangular formation.

"Ooh, it's so good to see you!" exclaimed the Earth Pony with a soft, but distinct, upper-class Manehattan accent as she warmly hugged the Fashionista. "And now here we are, competing!" she added, briefly laughing right after, "You okay?"

Rarity was caught off guard by that sudden hug, but once it finished, she said as she turned around to take her clothes back to the backstage, "Yes, yes. Well, good luck!"

"Oh, I don't need luck," Suri replied, "Would you like a hoof with your things?"

"Why thank you so much!" she said, accepting her offer with a smile.

After that, they reached the room assigned to Rarity for the final touch-ups of the clothes she wants to exhibit in the actual competition. It was a small space with green walls, grayish-blue ceiling, and a dark tiled floor. It featured three ceiling lights, two dark-gray work tables with rolls of fabric on them, and a long desk with two seats and two mirrors, just like those of a theater's dressing room. No surprise, though, as the event was taking place in a theater after all.

Once there, Suri laid her gaze upon the Unicorn's trump card: a collection of five purple dresses made of that unique material she was talking about earlier with her friends. The designs were fancy, as Applejack would put it, but what made them special was the fabric itself, something that the Earth Pony noticed. "My, your collection is gorgeous!" she praised as she was taking a better look at it.

"Oh, now," she said with a modest tone as she was moving a roll of blue fabric somewhere else, "I'm sure your collection is equally lovely, if not more so!"

"It's alright, but nothing like THIS!" she admitted as she kept on admiring her collection's crowning jewel. "Take my culottes, for example," she began to explain, "They are simply crying out for just the right accent, but I haven't the slightest notion where I-" She couldn't finish her sentence when she saw Rarity moving a roll of that purple fabric, gasping as she finally got what her collection needed to be perfect, "Actually... A touch of this fabric could be perfect with it; hey, would you mind if I took a swatch?"

"Oh, not at all!" answered the Unicorn as she gave her an entire roll of it, "Here, I have loads extra."

"You're sure?" asked Suri in astonishment. They were competing in a prestigious event after all, and that made them rivals.

"Positive!" exclaimed Rarity, sure of her decision, "Oh, well, it's been wonderful getting caught up, and I don't wish to be rude, but I must finish my preparations, and I am a bit late as it... is?" She could barely finish her phrase before noticing that Suri wasn't there anymore. Rarity was puzzled, for she didn't hear hoof steps or anything. However, she let it go, for she needed to get ready for the competition.

A pair of hours later, Rarity was once again in the reception of the theater, but this time she was half an hour early for her appointment. All of the participants were in line, waiting for their turn to show their work to Prim Hemline. So, all she had to do was to announce herself to the receptionist and join the queue. However, when she was getting in line, she heard a known voice saying a quite familiar phrase.

"It's stretchy, but not clingy. Shimmery, but not showy," said that voice, something that ignited Rarity's curiosity. It was the same description of her new fabric, so she wanted to investigate, especially because she recognized that voice. She went to the stage to see what was going on and found out something she never thought could be possible. Suri Polomare, the mare that seemed so kind, was displaying to Prime Hemline, dresses that were heavily modified with her new fabric. And on top of that, she was taking credit for it.

"Oh, Bravo!" applauded the host of the event, as Rarity was still processing what just happened before her, "I've never seen anything like it!"

The light-pink Earth Pony was proud and happy of hearing those words. However, the smile on her face would have soon disappeared because of a certain unamused, and pretty annoyed Fashionista, "You stole my fabric!!"

Suri was caught off guard by Rarity's sudden appearance, but she quickly turned her surprised expression into an almost amused one, then she laughed a bit and replied, "I didn't steal it, okay? You gave it to me, 'member?"

She was right, so Rarity tried to elaborate, as the Earth Pony was leaving the stage with her assistant, "I gave you the fabric for ACCENTS! Not for your entire line!" Then she wondered, "And how could you possibly make all of those outfits out of it so fast?!"

That last word made Suri stop, "Fast? Hah!" Then, she pointed at the off-white coated Earth Pony that was carrying her dresses, "Coco Pommel here took practically forever. Nearly got me completely disqualified."

Those words made the two-tone, cyan-maned mare feel bad, but she quickly tried to justify herself, "Well, I wanted to make sure you'd win, so I took the extra time to -"

However, she couldn't finish the sentence, as she was rudely silenced by Suri, who said, "I pay an assistant to sew and get coffee, not talk. 'Kay?"

How degradant; she was nothing more than a two-purposed machine that had no right to speak. However, that was how Manehattan worked, and if she wanted to be, one day, a freelance dressmaker, she had to endure all of her whims. At least, that was what Suri told her.

Rarity, though, was more concerned about the fact that now she couldn't show her dresses anymore since they could be labeled as Suri's line rip-offs. "How could this happen?" she wondered in a worried tone as she was trying to think about a solution.

Suri noticed it, and in mockery, she said, "Aw, sweetie, don't blame yourself. It takes some small-town fillies a while to learn it's everypony for herself in the big city, m'kay?" This act revealed her true intentions. Suri knew that she couldn't win as long as Rarity was competing in the Fashion Week, so she planned to see her work and modify her dresses to even up the score. However, she didn't think that she would have given away her trump card just like that, so she took advantage of it.

Rarity felt like a naive filly, who was easily tricked, and to be kicked out of the competition by another contestant like that was a humiliating defeat for a dressmaker. She couldn't help but cry in despair, as she left the building, galloping.

After getting rid of the most dangerous opponent in the Fashion Week, Suri Polomare proudly approached her assistant and said, "Hope you realize how fortunate you are to have me as a mentor." Coco wasn't sure about those words. She considered this kind of behavior anti-sportive and immoral, but she couldn't think about anything else as she heard her boss' order, "Now get me some coffee!"

[Room 67, Manefair Hotel, Theater District, 4:20 p.m.]

The Mane 5, Spike, Bulma, Trunks, Goku, and Goten were engaging in conversation as they returned from their tour of the city. They visited the park, the Flea Market, the Ice-skating rink, Bulma's house, and other places. Of course, Spike had to carry everything his friends bought, but Goten helped him out, so he could enjoy the trip as much as the others.

Some were talking about how fun the afternoon was, while the others about how weird Earth's houses were. However, the Mane 5 were more excited about the fact that the enjoyment wasn't over yet. A salon appointment, a fancy dinner, and, most importantly, Hinny of the Hills, still awaited for them. They just had to wait for Rarity, something that the azure-maned scientist was already doing.

Twilight looked at the clock and noticed that they still had forty minutes before Rarity's arrival, so she wanted to take a shower in the meantime. She couldn't take it earlier because she was late, but now she had plenty of time for it. She removed her wristband first and asked, "Hey, Rainbow, can you hold these for a moment, please?"

Rainbow Dash, flying next to her, nodded with a smile and extended one of her forelegs to grab the wristbands. However, once the princess gave her the objects, the pegasus fell all of a sudden, due to their weight. The speedster was caught off guard as she never thought that a piece of clothing could be so heavy. Those things had to weigh at least 50 kilograms, yet Twilight was wearing them as if they were ordinary wristbands.

While the Element of Loyalty was recovering from that little surprise, Twilight took off her gi and went to the bathroom. Right after, Rainbow stood up, then she said, as she held the wristbands with a bit of effort, "What the hay?!"

"What's the matter?" asked Applejack, who didn't notice what just happened since she was talking with Fluttershy. The rest of her friends began to pay attention, for they wanted to know it as well.

"What's with these things and the weight?" she asked, still shocked.

"Weight?" asked Applejack in confusion as she was looking at the wristbands. She grabbed them to see what she was talking about and felt like she was lifting iron ingots instead of fabric. Unlike her friend, she had no problem holding them, but they sure weighed too much to be ordinary clothing. "These are the heaviest pieces of fabric I ever held in my life, that's for sure."

"And guess what?" replied Rainbow, "Twilight wore those all day!"

The apple farmer realized this fact, but before she could say or think something, Pinkie Pie grabbed the wristbands from her hoof and commented, "Oh, you're not kidding! These things are as heavy as the MMMM!"

"The what?" both Bulma and Trunks asked in confusion.

"The Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness cake!" she joyfully said as she hoofed the wristbands to Spike, who was holding Twilight's gi. A drop appeared behind Bulma and Trunks' heads because of her enthusiasm and the long and weird name.

"Is she always like that?" asked Bulma. Pinkie Pie's hyper activeness and more than joyful and childish personality was something impossible to go unnoticed, especially if she spent the afternoon with her and her friends.

"You have no idea!" answered Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spike, Goten, and Goku all at once.

They laughed a bit immediately after, but Goku's son heard hoof-steps behind him, so he turned his head and saw Rarity. She was standing near the room's door and was on the verge of break-in tears. To see somebody that sad was something new for him; his mother was the only one he ever saw crying, but that was just her overreacting as always. Rarity's expression showed real sadness, and he was feeling uneasy because of it, so he asked, "Is... everything okay, Ms. Rarity?"

Upon hearing that, everyone noticed the Fashionista and her current emotional state, something that made the laughter fade away. Pinkie Pie, however, tried to ease the situation with her joyful personality; she happily approached Rarity and asked, "You got the dresses Goku brought you and everything, right?

Rarity didn't answer and just walked toward the nearest bed, much for Pinkie's worry. The Fashionista jumped on the said bed and started crying. Everyone approached her in worry as they wondered what could have happened for her to be like that. Bulma, Trunks, and Goten had no idea while Spike and the Mane 4 believed that it had something to do with the dresses. Goku, on the other hoof, thought that somepony hurt her, for it was the only thing in his mind that could make someone cry like that.

Meanwhile, Twilight left the bathroom and noticed that everyone was gathered near one of the beds; she saw that Rarity arrived, but she was crying, something that worried her and made her approach the group fast.

"Did someone hurt you, Rarity?" asked Goku with a serious expression.

"No," she answered in tears.

"Is it because of the dresses?" asked Rainbow Dash, "But we're sure Goku brought them in time."

"I can confirm that," supported Goten.

"Yes! And then Suri COPIED them!" she exclaimed right before starting to breathe fast, then she explained, "I let one of the other contestants use some of my one-of-a-kind fabric and then she turned it into a wardrobe just like mine, only now it looks like I AM the one copying HER! My generosity has ruined me, I tell you, RUINED!"

She started bawling after that explanation as her friends were processing the said information. "So," said Bulma, "You created a new and special fabric for your best dresses?"

"Yes," answered Rarity.

"And you shared it with one of your rivals?" continued Bulma.

"Yes."

"You were kind of naive, you know?"

"Bulma!" exclaimed Goku, much to the scientist's surprise. Someone telling her what she did wrong was the last thing Rarity needed at the moment.

"What?" she said, trying to defend herself, "Everyone knows that one shouldn't share his secrets with other contestants during a tournament, a contest, or whatever. And since when you have common sense?"

"Common what?" asked Goku in confusion, something that made appear a drop behind Bulma's head. The scarlet-eyed alicorn, however, turned his head to see Rarity and said, "Don't cry, Rarity, it isn't the end of the world-"

The stallion couldn't finish his sentence because of the Fashionista, who grabbed Goku's head and shook it as she said with an angry but sad tone, "What do you mean by 'it isn't the end of the world'?!"

The ponified Saiyan felt a bit dizzy, but he quickly recovered himself, removed Rarity's hooves from his head, and explained, "What I want to say is that this is just an opportunity to improve yourself."

"Eh?" was the only thing Rarity could say. “What do you mean by that?”

"This Suri copied your best work ever using your best fabric, right?"

"Yes."

"Think of it as a chance to do something even better than that," he said with a confident smile, "Twilight said that you always want to improve as a 'Fashion designer' and there's no better way to do it than trying to top your best work. Just break your limits!"

"Hehe," giggled Rarity, "What a darling little catchphrase." He was right; this was just an opportunity to grow. Goku's way of thinking certainly put things in perspective.

"Come on, Rarity, buck up!" supported Applejack, "All we need is some fabric, and you'll be back in business!"

"Exactly," joined Rainbow, "If this Suri could make an entire wardrobe in an afternoon, you can do it as well."

"And we're all here to help you get through it," said Twilight, "No matter what it takes."

"And I just happen to know a thing or two about fashion," said Bulma, "I can help you to redesign your original work."

With her friends' support, Rarity began to look at the curtains, carpet, and even the blankets as if she was analyzing what she could do with them until the enlightenment crossed her mind. Bulma noticed it and had the same idea as the fashionista, "That's daring."

Rarity looked at Bulma and asked in surprise, "Did you think what I've thought?"

"As I said: I know one thing or two about fashion and yours is a daring idea," she replied with a smile, but then she asked, "But, are you sure we can take all of that from the hotel?"

The Element of Generosity smiled and said, "Oh, don't worry about that."

After that, they turned the bedroom into a temporary Carousel Boutique. Rarity had no problems with the owner of the hotel in that regard; he owed her a favor after all. Both Rarity and Bulma worked together to redesign the original dresses and make them compatible with their new theme. They were like old friends, doing something they both liked.

The scientist talked about the capsules and their purpose, something that impressed Rarity, especially after the demonstration. She asked if they could install them in this new line to improve the practical department and, as a favor, explaining that she intended to use said item as a source of income. Rarity accepted as she wanted to help her new friend. Not to mention that easily transportable dresses were something innovative in Equestria, and that could make her earn more points.

Once they finished the new designs on paper, the rest of the group started working. Twilight and Fluttershy were sewing, Goku, Spike, and Pinkie Pie were extracting sewing threads from the curtains, while Applejack, Goten, and Trunks were rolling and folding pieces of fabric, and Rainbow Dash was working with a spinning wheel. They worked for hours as Rarity was looking after them all, and Bulma was preparing the capsules in her Hover-Van.

Goku, Goten, and Trunks wondered when they could stop and have dinner, something that crossed everyone's mind. They were supposed to have dinner at the Far-Afield Tavern, but Rarity said she would have ordered a meal for them if they kept working. However, the dinner was taking forever to arrive. "Hey, Rarity," said Goku, "When is dinner supposed to be here? I'm hungry!"

"We too!" exclaimed both Goten and Trunks. The Mane 5 and Spike turned their heads to see the fashionista, meaning they were hungry too and wanted an answer.

"Don't fret," replied Rarity with an unusual expression, almost as if she was annoyed by the question, "It'll be here in an hour. After all, I ordered enough food to feed an adult dragon. That's not going to be a problem, is it?"

"Well," said Rainbow Dash with a tone of hesitation, "We're supposed to be watching 'Hinny of the Hills' by then..."

"Forget the show, food is more important," stated Goku with a sad expression as he was looking at his empty belly.

Rarity, however, seemed to be offended by Rainbow's statement, "Oh! I see! I go out of my way to get you tickets for a show, and this is how you repay me? By abandoning me in my hour of need?"

"But we aren't abandoning you," stated Trunks, "We're just saying that we were here sewing and dealing with fabric for four consecutive hours."

"You said that the qualifications for the next stage of the Fashion Week are tomorrow afternoon, Ms. Rarity," intervened Goten, "I don't think this musical will last that long: we could go there, maybe eat something, watch the show, and then restart working."

The Mane 5, Goku, Trunks, and Spike agreed with him, but Rarity saw this, as if they didn't care about her and her problem, "Oh, oh, oh! FINE! Go and see 'Hinny of the Hills' tonight! And then tomorrow morning when you come to see my fashion show without any fashion to show, you can have more entertainment!" Then, she approached Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash from behind, put her forelegs around her necks as if she was hugging them, and pretended to be her friends witnessing her defeat, "Oh, why look, there's our friend Rarity going down in flames! ISN'T FRIENDSHIP JUST MAGIC?!" She said the last part with anger as she was looking at Pinkie Pie, who just smiled nervously.

"Rarity," intervened Twilight as she approached her, "Calm down. What's gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into YOU?!" she retorted, still convinced that they didn't care about her, "Oh, go ahead! See your little show and eat whatever you want! Congratu-pony-lations, my friends! Sounds like, you've all figured out already that it's 'everypony for herself' IN THIS CITY!" After that outburst, she ran away from the room, frustrated that her friends didn't want to help her. She left the hotel and headed somewhere else to calm herself down.

The room was silent. The group of friends was still processing what just happened. But then, they looked at each other and silently agreed to keep working. They wouldn't enjoy the show anyway, knowing that their friend was mad at them. However, that didn't mean they weren't sad that they would miss the musical and have to wait for dinner for one hour.

The adults worked all night until they finished all the dresses in the morning, and Bulma installed the capsules in them to complete the work. Said action was all what the Fashionista waited for, as she took her new wardrobe and headed towards the host theater of the Fashion Week, "Finally!"

Twilight, however, didn't like it at all, for it was almost like she didn't care that they didn't even sleep to make those dresses. She at least owed them a 'thank you' at least, "You're welcome!" she exclaimed with a slightly mad expression. Then, she sighed and closed the door, but when she turned herself, she saw that everyone fell asleep, so she decided to join them.

[Fashion Week's Ballroom, Social District]

Meanwhile, Rarity arrived at the Ballroom and showed Prim Hemline her brand new line. To say that the host of the event was impressed was an understatement. The hotel-themed designs alone were unconventional but outstanding, to say the least. However, what really blew her mind was that the said dresses were easily transportable in small capsules. It was something totally new in all of Equestria, and it assured Rarity's qualification for the next stage of the event.

Some hours later, the single-elimination phase of the Fashion Week started. All of the top fashion designers of Equestria were present, as the judges were choosing the winner among the novices and select those who would compete with them later. All of the contestants' wardrobes were amazing, but Suri Polomare's line was the frontrunner. Rarity's one-of-a-kind fabric was the main reason for that, and she was proud of it. Coco, however, wasn't that happy of showing a copied piece of work in such an event, but what could she do?

After another round of applause, Suri started leaving the catwalk, followed by Coco Pommel. The pink-coated earth pony saw that Rarity was waiting for her turn, so once close enough, she mocked her again, "Well, look who's here. Here to show off your copycat collection, hm?"

The Fashionista just glared at her and waited for her summon. "And now," announced Prim Hemline, "Rarity from Ponyville with her brand new line, and I mean 'brand new' Hotel Chic."

The models that wore Rarity's dresses came out of the backstage and were almost immediately met by a round of applause. However, the judges and the rest of the spectators applauded even more once they saw them removing their dresses with a mere touch, and getting dressed again after activating a small item. That was the capsules' new settings that Bulma created.

Witnessing this, Rarity was getting excited to the point she wanted to celebrate with her friends. She was the frontrunner now! However, she realized that they didn't even come to see the Fashion Week event. Just then, she remembered what had happened the previous night and understood why they didn't even bother to come, "What have I done?"

Only when she realized her mistake and knew what she had to do, her irises turned rainbow-colored for a moment. She quickly left the building, much to Prime Hemline disbelief, and headed toward the hotel to apologize to her friends. Fortunately, the Taxi driver she helped saw her and transported her for free to the Manefair Hotel as an act of gratitude.

Once there, she asked the porter if she saw her friends leave, and he answered that they left a while ago. Rarity was sure that they probably used Goku's Instant Transmission to go back to Ponyville, so she had to talk with Prim Hemline first and then take the first train to go back home. But before she left, she thanked the porter with a ruby and an amethyst.

After a while, she arrived at the theater again and talked with the receptionist, " I need a moment with Prim Hemline. I have to rush back to Ponyville, but I just wanted to thank her first for-"

She couldn't finish the sentence because of Suri, who entered the reception with her assistant, "Uh-uh-uh, you'd best steer clear of Prim for a while. She's pretty furious." Then, she wanted support from Coco and asked, "Isn't that right?"

"Um... yes," she answered with a guilty tone, something that went unnoticed by the Fashionista.

Suddenly, all of her friends, including Bulma and Trunks, entered the reception as well, much to the Element of Generosity's surprise. "There you are!" she exclaimed with a hint of happiness, "I can't believe it, I thought you went back home!"

"No, we just overslept," said Goku with a neutral tone. The Mane 5 and Spike, however, had sad expressions because of that.

"And Suri told us you lost," added Twilight with a sad tone and expression, "I'm really sorry."

"I lost?" Rarity asked in a sad tone, but then she said, "You know what? I don't even care. I'm just happy you're all still here after how I treated you. Taking advantage of your friendship the way I did. How could you ever see past it?"

"Last night, we may not have seen you at your best," explained Twilight, "But we know you. And we would never let one thing like that change how we feel about you." After that, the Mane 5 and Spike hugged her to prove that there was no grudge. Then, they saw Goku, Goten, Bulma, and Trunks smiling at them, and they smiled back.

"Maybe I can make it up to you all," said Rarity, who still felt that she needed to apologize somehow. They all left the building while Suri was laughing. Unbeknownst to them: her plan was a success. Her assistant, however, felt like the worst being in Equestria; first, copying and now sabotage. But she saw the bond Rarity had with her friends, so she started to think that another way was possible.

[Bridleway Theater, Theater District]

Rarity was able to make the actors and actresses of 'Hinny of the Hills' do an extra performance in exchange for making all of the costumes for her costume designer friend's next show in Manehattan. That would have kept her away from Ponyville for a while, but she still wanted to do it for her friends.

The show was amazing for the Mane 6 and Bulma, but Trunks didn't know what to think. They started commenting on the performance, and Twilight wanted to ask Goku if he liked it. However, she noticed that he fell asleep, and Goten was trying to wake him up. Bulma noticed it too and just shook her head as she thought, "Goku..." The others saw it as well, and started laughing, but not in a malicious way.

After that, they heard the doors opening and a voice saying, "Mind if I join you?"

They turned their heads and saw that it was Coco Pommel, Suri's assistant. "Sure. Come on down," answered Rarity. She was wondering why she was there. Coco approached Rarity and pulled out of her bag a well-known trophy. "This is the first place trophy for Fashion Week," commented Rarity with a surprised tone, then she gasped and said, "With my name on it! But I thought I lost!"

"You didn't," she answered as she gave her the item, "You won!" Then, she explained, "Suri was hoping that, if you didn't claim your prize, the judges would consider it a forfeit and first place would go to her. So, she lied to make you, and your friends to make them go away, and, well, I lied too." Then she added, "I've worked for Suri for so long, I started to believe that it really is 'everypony for herself' in this city. Until I saw how generous you are with your friends and how generous they were with you. It made me start believing there was something better for me out there. So, I– I quit." After that, she pulled out of her bag a gift, "I brought you something to say thank you."

Rarity accepted the gift with a smile, but then she immediately realized that she was jobless now. But suddenly, an idea crossed her mind, "I suppose you'll need a job now that you're no longer with Suri. How would you like to work for my friend, making all the costumes for his next show?"

Coco was surprised at first, but then she joyfully smiled. She was offering her a job and a new beginning, one without lies and where generosity reigned unmatched? She gladly accepted the offer.

"So, you're going back to Ponyville in the end," said Bulma, putting herself next to Rarity.

"Yes, darling," she answered, "But I want to tell you that it was fun working with you last night. You have talent: you should be a fashion designer."

"Oh, no, hehe," replied Bulma with a smile, "I mean, I love fashion, but I'm a scientist at the core."

"It's a shame, though. You would’ve been amazing."

"That doesn't mean we can't work together again, you know," said the scientist with a smile, something that made Rarity smile as well.

"I'll be looking forward to it!"

After that, Goku finally woke up, noticed that the show had already ended, and saw everyone gathered two meters away from him, "Eh? Did I miss something?"

All of his friends just laughed at this, much to Goku's confusion.

[Manehattan's Outskirts, Capsule Corporation - Equestrian Division]

A week later, Bulma woke up and did her usual routine before starting her work in the laboratory. However, someone rang the bell of her house, so she had to interrupt what she was doing. When she opened the door, she saw a pony with a bag full of mail; he probably was the postman or post-pony. "Good morning, Ma’am. Is this Capsule Corporation?"

"Yes, it is," answered Bulma. Once she confirmed it, the Post-pony gave her a lot of mail. Fortunately, she could use her magic or else she would be in trouble.

"Have a nice day, Ms. Bulma."

The scientist wondered why she received so much mail, so she opened up one, and started to read it. It was a local company that was interested in her capsules, much to her surprise. Then, she read another one, and it was the same thing. All of them were companies that heard about the capsules, thanks to the Fashion Week event and wanted to do business with Capsule Corporation. A huge smile appeared on her face: finally, the company was starting its operations!

[Carousel Boutique, Ponyville]

Meanwhile, Rarity was writing what she learned during Fashion Week on the Friendship Book. She learned that one should never let others abandon his or her generous spirit, even if they took advantage of it, and that nothing felt worse than taking advantage of the giving nature of one's friends.

Once she finished, she opened Coco's gift, revealing it to be a rainbow thread. She smiled and put it among other threads on a shelf as a reminder of the last week. Then, she went away, but once she did it, the rainbow thread mysteriously shined for a moment.

Filler Chapter 4: Rainbow Falls

[Ponyville's outskirts, Somewhere]

Twilight and Spike were standing on a grassy field, patiently waiting for Goku to tell them what they would have done on that day. The first month of their training served as an introduction to martial arts, while the second one was used to make them both adapt to Goku's teachings in their original bodies. So, the preparation stage was over.

Now, the two pupils were ready for the next stage of the training: Ki manipulation. Goku was thinking about how to proceed since both Twilight and Spike had different goals. The lavender princess wanted to study Ki in depth, while her assistant just wanted to learn Ki for basic practices, such as flying or launching Ki blasts.

The drake wasn't a problem since he just needed to expel his Ki and learn how to control it. Twilight's case, however, was a bit difficult, as she didn't want just that. Fortunately, Goku remembered a technique that served as the perfect stepping stone before Ki Perception. It would have been a good start for Twilight.

"Okay, guys," he said, drawing their attention, "You've trained for two months already, and now I think you're both ready to learn how to harness your Spiritual Energy."

The sudden news made them happy: they were about to learn some of Goku's abilities after two months of hard work. "We're ready!" they both exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"That's the spirit!" he exclaimed with his trademark smile, then he said, "Now, pay attention, Spike."

The baby dragon nodded in response as his master sat right where he was. Goku closed his eyes as he put his hooves in front of each other, letting a space of 20 centimeters in between. He began to control his breath as he started concentrating and relaxing his muscles.

A few moments later, an ethereal light ignited in that space and started to form a tiny orb. At first, the small sphere was white, but then it turned red. It wasn't an ordinary Ki sphere, as it seemed to be alive: the energy inside it was moving with the calmness of a river and was generating a pleasant heat. It was Divine Ki, or more precisely, Super Saiyan God's Ki.

Twilight and Spike marveled at the energy orb's look and the sensation it was radiating. They felt like they were safe from any danger and that nothing would ever happen to them. It was the same sensation Twilight felt whenever she and her friends activated the Elements of Harmony, and that sparked her curiosity even more. Pun intended.

The orb, however, faded away, snapping Twilight and Spike's trance off as he opened his eyes and said, "What you saw before was a common way practitioners can summon Ki energy. And in case you’re wondering, the red orb I just summoned was Divine Ki. "

"Wait," said Twilight as she grabbed a scroll and a quill, "So you’re telling me that there are different types of Ki?"

"Yes," he answered, "You see, everyone's Ki, including that of the animals and plants, is unique. But there are two ways to classify Ki: Good and Evil; Mortal and Divine." The princess wrote everything he said in her notes as the scarlet-eyed alicorn continued, "Mortal Ki is the most common one and is wilder and more intense than Divine Ki; these are some of the differences I've found so far."

"And what makes Ki mortal or divine?" asked the lavender alicorn.

"Well, I don't know," answered Goku as he rubbed the back of his head, "What I can say, though, is that Divine Ki is the main thing that differentiates a god from a mortal."

"So, does that make you a god?" asked Spike in awe.

Goku now started to feel that being a martial arts master was going to be too difficult; his students began and were asking too many complicated questions. However, he didn't want to give up and thought for a minute how to answer the drake's question. So, he replied, "I can use both mortal and divine Ki, so I think that I'm a demigod at best. But the Supreme Kais can do it too, and they're gods, so I'm not sure."

"Oh," said the baby dragon, remembering that the whole Divine Ki matter was still relatively new for him.

Twilight finished noting everything Goku said and asked, "So, we have Mortal Ki, I presume. I mean, I don't recall us being gods, and you said that it is the most common type of Ki."

"Well," said Goku with a smile, "That's true in Spike's case. But you, on the other hoof..."

The princess's eyes wide opened following that sentence; she was so shocked by it that she wanted a confirmation, so she asked in a surprised tone, "What are you implying, Goku?"

Her assistant, who understood what Goku wanted to say with that, replied, "The real question is, what are you inferring?"

"So, you're saying that I'm a goddess? But when? How?!" she freaked out.

"Relax, Twilight," intervened Spike, "Princess Celestia accepted you in her School for Gifted Unicorns and made you the Fourth Princess of Equestria. After all, you’re kind of like a prodigy to her. She probably saw something special in you, and it might be this."

The lavender alicorn didn't know what to think as this revelation was as unexpected as a bolt of lightning on a sunny day. “If what he said was true, then why didn't Princess Celestia tell me this earlier? Were there other deities among my family? What would my friends think about it?” she thought in worry. Other questions were storming her head, but she steadily calmed herself down a bit and asked Goku, "Are you completely sure about it?"

"You're gonna see it by yourself," answered the scarlet-eyed stallion with a smile, "Your first lesson will be Ki Perception."

Twilight smiled broadly as part of her doubts would have dissipated soon. Spike smiled as well, seeing his big sister happy again, but he still had a question, "If that's our lesson, why did I have to pay attention to what you did before?"

"Because that's what you have to do today," answered Goku, "You said that you wanted to fly or use Ki, and what you've seen is the first step in achieving your goal. The meditation on Earth served to prepare you both for this moment, so you know what to do now."

Spike nodded in response and sat on the grass field as he started to concentrate and try to expel his spiritual force. Now that the baby dragon was busy, Goku could focus on teaching Twilight how to sense Ki, and he knew the perfect technique to introduce her in that art. "Well, are you ready?"

"Yes," she answered, ready to take notes.

Goku smiled and began to explain, "During my training with Mr. Popo in the Lookout, I learned a form called the ‘Traveling among the Spirits Art’: a technique that allows the user to see everyone and everything's spiritual energy. It was the first step before learning how to sense energy without the need of that technique."

"’Traveling among the Spirits Art’?" asked Twilight as she wrote everything he said.

"I call it Spirit Sight," said Goku as he rubbed the back of his head, "It's shorter, hehe."

"How can I use it?" she asked.

"I'll show you," he said as he closed his eyes. He started to clear his mind, just like during meditation, then he focused on his eyes. Meanwhile, Twilight was carefully analyzing what Goku was doing, in order to repeat it and be able to perform the technique. He was meditating, and it also seemed like he was focusing on his eyes, but she couldn't think of anything else as her master opened his eyes all of a sudden.

Smaller, almost ethereal, blizzard-blue eyes replaced the scarlet ones. They were so crystalline that it seemed that the Crystal Empire's magic was infusing them with its power. It was fascinating to observe. A few seconds later, however, his eyes returned to be scarlet-colored, making her connect with reality again.

"There," said Goku with a smile, "That was the Spirit Sight. Unlike Spike, you have to focus on your eyes instead of your hooves if you want to achieve it."

"Okay, I'll give it a try," said Twilight before mimicking her master. Fortunately, she was used to meditation due to Goku's training, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

"Don't worry if you can't do it at the first try: it took me several days to learn-" stated Goku, but he couldn't finish the phrase as he saw Twilight opening her eyes all of a sudden. Blizzard-blue eyes replaced her usual lavender ones as they were slightly glowing. The black-maned alicorn was surprised, for he didn't think she could do it right away. However, he smiles broadly as this confirmed his assumptions: Twilight had great potential.

Meanwhile, the princess was exploring with her sight the new world she found herself in. A sea of flowing light-green energy replaced the grass field she was sitting on, several tiny light-blue orbs were flying above it, and wondering around tree-shaped light-green pillars. A black sky replaced the azure-colored one, in which she could spot several light-blue spheres gathered in the distance. She could finally understand why this technique's inventor called it 'Traveling among the Spirits Art.' The environment was mythic, that was the only adjective to describe it in Twilight's opinion.

She also saw countless tiny orange-colored orbs gathered in a circle, almost resembling the sun. Twilight wondered what could it be, but chose to ignore it for now as she turned her head to see Spike. The princess saw a pony-sized light-blue sphere next to her. It was static, and the light it was radiating was slightly brighter than that of the other orbs, but it was different from the Ki sphere Goku showed them earlier.

Then, she laid her gaze upon Goku and saw something completely different: a minotaur-sized, scarlet-colored Ki sphere was standing in front of her. It featured tiny ascending particles inside and a constant flow of energy, almost like dancing flames. She also spotted a small blue core in it and thought it was probably Goku's mortal Ki.

"How is it?" asked Goku's voice.

"It's... It's..." she stuttered, trying to formulate an answer, but Goku helped her.

"It's overwhelming, right?" he asked, referring to the environment she was seeing.

"Yes!"

"Hehe, I had a similar reaction," he commented, then he said, "Now, try to see your own Ki and compare it with mine."

Twilight obeyed and watched herself, seeing her own Ki for the first time. Unlike Goku's, her Ki was the same color as her coat, and instead of flowing like dancing flames, its energy was flowing like the sea's waves. She also noticed that there were tiny ascending particles in her Ki as well. However, she saw something weird in the center: a pretty small magma-orange sphere featuring the same characteristics as Goku's Divine Ki.

"What's this?," she wondered as she stopped using the Spirit Sight. She was a goddess indeed, although she didn't know what to think about it. Instead, several questions arose like Philomena from her ashes, the very first one being if Princess Celestia knew it already.

"Do not overthink it, Twilight," suggested Goku with his trademark smile, "You're still you: that's all that matters."

Twilight just sighed in said, "You're so carefree sometimes, aren't you?" He was like Pinkie Pie in that aspect. Goku was right, but that didn't mean she shouldn't ask herself questions and/or investigate.

"And you worry about things too much," he replied with a smile, "Maybe we can learn from each other." The princess was surprised by his answer, but before she could say something else, he changed the subject, "Alright, let's continue with the training."

Twilight nodded in response as she tried to forget the previous questions that arose in her mind for now. The lesson wasn't over yet, and it was getting more interesting, so she got ready to take notes as her Master started explaining how to analyze Ki energy.

[Badlands, Somewhere]

Meanwhile, in the wild and dusty territories of the badlands, the Prince of all Saiyans, Vegeta, was training his body and mind by letting the uncontrolled weather of the place to wear them out. For two months, he withstood sand storms, torrential rains, thunderstorms, and, most importantly, Celestia's scorching sun. Now, he was standing on a rocky hill as the celestial body's rays turned the area into a furnace.

His Saiyan armor and jumpsuit showed signs of the Badland's unstable weather and were turning into a sauna because of the high temperatures. The sweat flowing down his face was proof that the heat was affecting him, and the angry expression showed that he couldn't take it for much longer.

"HAAAAAAAH!!!" he shouted as he turned into a Super Saiyan, destroying the hill underneath almost completely. Only a pillar of rocks was left as the cloudy weather replaced the scorching, sunny day in a matter of seconds. Vegeta powered down, returning to his base form, as he finally stopped to feel all of that heat. However, that action just made him angrier as he was sure that he could do better than that.

The black-maned pegasus flew to another hill, as he thought, "I'll surpass Lord Beerus, I swear! And to do that, I have to surpass Kakarot and his Super Saiyan God form first." When he landed, he continued, "I'll do it using just my power; I'll surpass any existent level." And with these goals in mind, Vegeta resumed his training.

[Rainbow Falls, Aerial Relay Training Camp]

After their training session, Twilight, Spike, and Goku met with Rainbow Dash for a quick briefing of what the Ponyville Aerial Relay Team should do to qualify for the Equestria Games. Unfortunately, the second member of the team, Helia, joined the Air Sprinters a few days earlier as they needed more flyers, letting the Relay Team with just two members, Rainbow Dash and Son Goku. The speedster struggled to find somepony that could replace the yellow-maned mare since then, and they were supposed to go to the Rainbow Falls that day.

Thunderlane was already a Ponyville Air Sprinters Team's member; Bulk Biceps wasn't exactly a flyer; Derpy wasn't available, and she knew that Fluttershy didn't like attending such events unless she was part of the audience. Rainbow Dash was about to ask her anyway, but Goku suggested Twilight as the third member, catching the princess off guard. The cyan pegasus thought about it for a moment until she remembered that she was going to race her at the Rainbow Falls. If she was fast enough to accept a challenge from her, she could be a good flyer after all.

So, Rainbow Dash asked her if she wanted to join the team. Twilight wasn't sure at first, but then she accepted as she wanted to help her friend in need. With the Relay Team now complete, the speedster exulted: they prevented disqualification, and, with such teammates, Ponyville could compete with the Wonderbolts and maybe even win. Although she still needed to see Twilight's performance.

After that, they headed to Rainbow Falls as the tryouts would have begun in three days. The team's friends joined them to support them during the event, to be their voluntary staff, and to witness Twilight and Rainbow's race. Of course, Spike and Pinkie Pie would have been the referees and commentators, just like that time during the Running of the Leaves.

Now, they were standing in front of the camp's entrance, as they saw that the other cities' teams were already training. Pegasi from Canterlot, Manehattan, and Fillydelphia, as well as Griffons from Baltimare, were doing some warm-ups as other Pegasi from Equestria's west coast cities were flying around, checking their speed and readiness. To see so many Ponies, and Griffons, being so focused on their training, reminded Goku the old days of the Budokai Tenkaichi. A big smile appeared on his face because of that.

The group made its way into the camp, as they could see that everything was already set up for the competition. They just had to find a free place where Ponyville's team could start training. As they were looking for the said spot, some flyers recognized Rainbow Dash and started talking about her. Her Sonic Rainboom during the Young Flyers Competition in Cloudsdale and her flying skills shown at the Wonderbolt Academy increased her fame among the kingdom's best flyers.

Once they found a free spot and started setting up the stand, however, a sonic boom drew everyone's attention to the sky. Cloudsdale's trump card and the Equestrian Kingdom's aces, the Wonderbolts, just arrived at the camp. Soarin, Fleetfoot, and their captain, Spitfire, started performing aerobatic maneuvers at almost the speed of sound as a first warm-up.

"The Wonderbolts!" exclaimed one of the Fillydelphia's flyers.

"I heard they're flying for Cloudsdale," commented another one.

"Then Cloudsdale will qualify for sure," stated the last one, "They're the best flyers ever."

Meanwhile, Goku was analyzing the Equestrian Air Force spearhead's performance and power. Rainbow Dash told him how awesome they were and that they were the best flyers in history. He noticed that they weren't breaking a sweat, meaning that they were far from doing their best, and their Ki confirmed his thoughts. They were as strong as him during the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament with his weighted clothes at worst. The black-maned alicorn smiled because they would be worthy opponents during the Equestria Games, at least in terms of speed.

He could reach incredible speeds with his various forms, but he wouldn't have used any of them during the relay, making things more interesting. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, marveled at the moves of her heroes and thought that the contest would have been challenging. However, she couldn't think of anything else as the trio was approaching her.

"And the game is on!" exclaimed Spitfire as she and the rest of her team landed in front of the rainbow-maned pegasus.

"Hah," said the light blue-coated stallion, Soarin, next to her as he removed his goggles, "Nice to see there's some real competition here!"

"Oh, yeah, there is," replied Rainbow with a smile, "And I'm not saying it just because of me: Ponyville got its hooves on two pretty strong flyers."

"If Rainbow Dash herself is saying so, they must be aces for sure," stated the orange-maned mare, Spitfire, in an impressed tone. "Who are they?" she asked, "Did they attend the Academy?"

"Not exactly," answered Rainbow as she turned to see Goku and Twilight a few meters away, implying she was talking about them.

The Wonderbolts marveled at the revelation as Fleetfoot asked, "Princess Twilight? Didn't you mention something about her being just a newbie? And where in Equestria did you find an alicorn stallion?!"

"He literally fell from the sky," replied the rainbow-maned pegasus with a nervous smile, but then she said, "But his skills are indisputable. As for Princess Twilight, she trained for two months with him. I'm not sure how effective that training was, but I'm going to know it soon."

"Well, there are two days of practice left," replied Fleetfoot as she approached her, "Then we'll see your team's performance in the air, Rainbow Dash!" After that, she trotted away with her teammates as she added with sincerity, "I'm looking forward to it."

Once they left, she sighed as both Goku and Twilight approached her. "The Wonderbolts know a winner when they see one," she said with a smile, before adding with enthusiasm, "And we'll be winners just as soon as we practice! Right team?"

"You bet it!" answered the scarlet-eyed Saiyan.

"Um, yeah!" somewhat supported Twilight. She knew about the spirit of competition that reigned unmatched in the Sports realm, but she wasn't into it as much as Rainbow Dash, Applejack, or Goku. At least not when it came to athletic pursuits.

"Hooray!" suddenly exclaimed Pinkie Pie, appearing behind them dressed as a cheerleader. She was enjoying very much cheering for Ponyville, and blowing a party hooter was a way to show it. "So, when are you going to start the race?" she asked with enthusiasm, "I really want to see how much Twilight has improved her flight skills!"

"Yup," said Applejack, who heard the whole conversation, "I want to see it too, although I think that a race against Rainbow may be a bit unfair. I mean, she just trained for two months while Rainbow trains every day since, well, ever!"

Twilight was about to say something, but Spike spoke first, "Oh, come on, have some faith in Twilight. She might surprise all of you if underestimated."

"I always say that one never knows how strong somepony truly is until you challenge him or her," supported Goku with a smile, "And Twilight is no exception."

"Well," replied the speedster, "What are we waiting for, then? The sooner we race, the faster we'll find out."

Twilight sighed, but she was right: the sooner, the better. So, she smiled and asked about the route of the race, "From where to where?"

Rainbow started thinking about a suitable route for a race that could be either one of the most exciting ones in her life or just a warm-up. During every Winter Wrap-Up, Ponyville's weather team had to travel south to retrieve the birds that migrated there for the winter. All of that in less than a morning. Three years ago, she could reach southern Equestria in one hour or so at cruising speed, but now she could do it in two minutes flat. Most of the team, however, needed forty minutes to reach that place while a few could do the same in half the time.

The cyan-coated pegasus thought that, despite her training with Goku, Twilight could have become as fast as Ponyville's fastest flyers at best. Not because she was a nerdy princess, but because of the amount of time she spent training. How much could somepony increase her speed in two months? And not only that, but she was still a beginner in the art of flying. So, Rainbow had to choose a not-too-long route with little obstacles for this race, and she knew the perfect one.

"What about from here to the Crystal Empire and back?"

"Well, it isn't too far from here anyway," answered Twilight with a smile, something that surprised the rest of the Mane 6. Yes, the Crystal Empire was technically right ahead from Rainbow Falls, but it was too far for ordinary pegasi, or other ponies, to try to reach it without the train. Their friend had to improve quite a lot if she was okay with the chosen route, and that made them wonder what kind of training she had to go through.

"Awesome!" exclaimed the speedster, "Let's get ready, then!"

"WAIT!" shouted Pinkie before reaching one of her bags and turn it into a hot-air balloon, much to everyone's surprise. "Just give me a second to get the balloon ready!" she said with her usual broad smile. Her action made everyone laugh a bit as both Rainbow and Twilight agreed to wait for Pinkie to be ready.

[Capsule Corporation - Equestrian Division, Manehattan's Outskirts]

Meanwhile, Vegeta returned home after spending his 57th night in the Badlands. Even though he wouldn't admit it, he was tired, thirsty, and hungry, so he came back to at least drink and eat something before restarting training. He landed on the house's backyard and headed towards the garden tap.

As he was cooling himself and drinking, a familiar voice said, "Oh, you're here." The black-maned pegasus turned to see his wife standing a couple of meters away from him. She was wearing a pony version of her usual lab coat, and her expression was something between neutral and annoyed. He knew that she was probably going to nag about something: she always did it every time she had that expression. "Look at all of that dust and dirt," she started, "You'll smear the whole house with it! I hope you weren’t planning to go inside with those clothes; the last time you did, my dress got ruined!"

Vegeta, however, was too tired to deal with her, so he ignored what she said and walked past her, something that the scientist considered rude. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" she exclaimed, making him stop, "Listen, you finally have the decency to come back, and you act like this?! Sometimes I wonder where you even learn those manners!"

Right after that, Trunks entered the garden, looking for Bulma. When he turned his head right, he saw not just his mother but also his father, something that puts a smile on his face. He happily approached them as he greeted, "Hi, Mom. Dad, you're back!"

"Trunks!" exclaimed Bulma in a happy tone while Vegeta didn't say anything, "What's up?"

"At first, nothing," he answered, "But since Dad is here..." He opened his bag using one of his wings and grabbed a rolled poster. Then, he unrolled it, showing that it was about the Equestria Games.

"The Equestria Games?" read Bulma in confusion.

Trunks nodded and said, "It's the biggest sporting event to take place in Equestria, in which people from all over the land compete for glory, representing their hometown."

"Oh, I see," replied Bulma as she was reading the whole poster, "It's like the Olympic Games on Earth!"

"Yes, and there's an event that may be of Dad's interest."

The scientist was reading the various events scheduled for the games: Archery, Aerial Athletics, Athletics, Acrobatic Gymnastics, Fencing, Figure Skating, Speed Skating, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Artistic Gymnastics, Triathlon, and more. However, what drew her attention was the last one, "Martial Arts!"

Those words drew Vegeta's attention as well, but he acted as if he wasn't listening. "Yeah!" confirmed Trunks, "Goten told me that his dad is going to join Ponyville's Martial Arts Team."

"Kakarot!" thought Vegeta, as he realized what his son said. He wondered why Goku would have attended the Martial Arts event of this Ponyland. Of course, Ponies were overall stronger than Humans, and there were also other creatures even stronger, but he doubted there was someone that could at least serve as a warm-up to them. Unless that freak, Discord, was among the Martial Artists that would have been in the Equestria Games. However, he put those thoughts aside as he didn't care about the other opponents: he wanted to fight against Goku to see if his training was worth the effort, and these Equestria Games were the perfect opportunity to do it.

"Trunks," he said as he turned to lay his gaze upon his son, "When is this event going to start?"

"In four months," he answered, "Right now, the Aerial Relay's qualification tryouts are taking place in Rainbow Falls. Those for the Martial Arts will take place in Baltimare in one week, so if you want to join Manehattan's team, it's better if you do it now."

The prince analyzed the information and said, "It means I still have four months to get stronger." He then smirked and asked, "Where does this city's team gather?"

As Trunks was telling him where he had to go to be part of Manehattan's Martial Arts Team, Bulma sighed as she knew that those two would exaggerate as always. "I just hope it isn't going to be like the 23rd Budokai Tenkaichi," she thought as she remembered how Goku and Piccolo's battle destroyed the whole stadium. She had to warn Vegeta about that to avoid such incidents in the future.

[Rainbow Falls, Aerial Relay Training Camp]

As Vegeta was figuring out how to attend the Equestria Games, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were standing on two rocky pillars, ready to start the race. Spike and Pinkie Pie were already in position on their hot-air balloon with binoculars to better observe the race from long distance. The rest of the group was sitting near Ponyville Team's stand while most of them wondered what would have been the result of this event.

Pinkie grabbed her megaphone and said, "Okay! Greetings Fillies and Colts, here's Pinkie Pie and Spike in another Race of the Century event!"

Twilight smiled at this as she rolled her eyes. "Pinkie Pie," she thought. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, giggled as she had flashbacks of her race against Applejack during the Running of the Leaves. What they didn't notice, though, was that most of the athletes in the camp heard Pinkie's amplified voice and stopped their training to hear what she was saying.

"Three years ago," the party planner continued, "We witnessed a ground race between Rainbow Dash and Applejack that ended in a tie!"

"I won that, actually!" exclaimed the speedster.

"Not even in your dreams, Rainbow!" shouted the apple farmer.

"But now," continued Pinkie, "Rainbow has an opponent ready to challenge her in the skies: Princess Twilight Sparkle! So, Spike, what are your thoughts on both flyers?"

The baby dragon grabbed the megaphone and answered, "Rainbow Dash is a skilled flyer known for her mythical speed, acrobatic performances, and her greatest achievement: the Sonic Rainboom. Most, if not all, of the kingdom's flyers, would say she's the clear favorite to win this race. However, I wouldn't jump to conclusions yet, as Princess Twilight could be the real surprise of the event."

Pinkie took the megaphone and spoke, "Yeah, Princess Twilight may not be as experienced as Rainbow Dash, but there are two things on her side: two months of intensive training with a god-like being, Son Goku, and the route of the race itself. The path between Rainbow Falls and the Crystal Empire has hardly any obstacles, and Princess Celestia's sun is shining all across the land today, so there won't be visibility issues."

The party planner gave the megaphone to Spike, who continued, "The conditions of victory are simple: the first one that made it from here to the Crystal Empire and back wins. Now then, on your marks."

Twilight and Rainbow moved their sight ahead as they focused on Spike's voice to know when they should go. "Get set," he continued as both mares slightly bent the knees of their forelegs and spread their wings. "GO!" shouted Pinkie and Spike in unison as both Twilight and Rainbow Dash left the place in a burst of speed.

The only thing their friends could see in the distance was a rainbow trail and a starry, dark-sapphire blue one with purple streaks. Rainbow Dash was going at subsonic speed as she wanted to test Twilight's initial velocity, but she marveled at the sight of her friend flying a few meters next to her. Was she Twilight? The same Twilight who learned how to fly just two months ago? They were going at the top speed of her three-years-ago self, and she didn't seem to be going all out! That was crazy!

"Hey, Twilight!" she called, drawing her friend's attention, "You weren't kidding when you said you trained!"

"I told you," she answered.

"I'm impressed, really," she replied with a smile, "You improved a lot in such a short time, but I'm afraid that even with such speed, you can't hope to beat me!" After that, she increased her speed, breaking the sound barrier, letting Twilight behind. The lavender princess just smiled at that. She didn't want to beat her at all: she just wanted to show her that even a bookworm like herself could be athletic if she wanted to. So, with a mighty flap of her wings, she broke the sound barrier as well.

Rainbow reached the mountainous area and was following the railroad that led to the Crystal Empire. She was sure of her victory, believing that Twilight couldn't possibly reach the speed needed to overtake her. However, she had to take that back as she witnessed how the lavender Alicorn outstripped her. "What?! Oh, it's on, now!" she exclaimed right before accelerating and reaching her.

[Crystal Mountains, Somewhere]

Both mares were going at 2400 km/h (1491 mph) as they were overflying the snowy Crystal Mountains. It looked like they were equals, but Rainbow exponentially increased her speed, putting herself in first place again and catching off guard Twilight. The princess's surprise, however, didn't last much as she mimicked her friend's action and reached her, much to Rainbow's disbelief.

Now going at hypersonic speed, the cyan pegasus confirmed that Twilight just became a valuable member of Ponyville's Aerial Relay Team, but she still wanted to finish the race. She didn't have any decent rival, in terms of speed, since Lightning Dust, and Twilight just ignited her competitiveness.

[Crystal Empire]

It didn't take too long for The Crystal Empire to appear on the horizon, meaning that, at this rate, the race would be over soon with no clear winner. Rainbow tried to be ahead of Twilight, but the princess always managed to reach her. They entered the city's airspace and were about to use the Crystal Castle as the big pillar that indicated the point where they had to make a U-turn to go back to Rainbow Falls.

Rainbow Dash made it first. Due to her being doing aerial acrobatics for a lifetime, she made a perfect U-turn without losing speed. After that, she quadruplicated her speed, reaching the impressive velocity of Mach 20. Twilight, on the other hoof, used one of the castle's towers to turn, resulting in her rise through the air and miss the curve as she twirled a bit. Fate wanted her to stabilize her flight right when her sight set in the right direction, resulting in her witnessing her friend flying away.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was already halfway. She was laughing due to the adrenaline and the fact that victory was hers for sure now, "Hahaha! Now, if she wants to win, she should do a Sonic Rainboom!" Her laughter, however, didn't last: for a brief moment, she saw Twilight outstripping her as she created a familiar colored shockwave followed by a crystal clear trail, almost as if it was energy. "Impossible!" exclaimed Rainbow in disbelief, "A Sonic Rainboom?!" There was no doubt: that was a Sonic Rainboom, but it was a starry, dark-sapphire blue one with purple streaks instead of the usual rainbow-colored one.

The speedster, though, quickly recovered from that surprise and performed a Sonic Rainboom as well. She could barely catch up with Twilight before seeing Rainbow Falls on the horizon. She looked at her friend for a brief moment, only to notice something strange: her eyes. They weren't purple anymore, but as red as ruby instead. Not only her irises but also her pupils were red. For some reason, those eyes scared her a bit, but she wanted to know if she was okay, "Twilight?" She didn't answer, so she tried again, louder, "Twilight!"

The princess blinked for a second as her eyes turned purple again, and answered, "Uh, yes? What is it?"

"Is everything okay there?" asked the speedster.

"Yeah," she answered, "Why do you ask?"

"Uh, nothing," she replied as she started to believe that it was just her imagination.

[Rainbow Falls, Aerial Relay Training Camp]

Meanwhile, Pinkie and Spike didn't even have time to use the binoculars as both racers were so fast that they didn't even need them at all to see the two approach the town. Pinkie tried to announce their arrival with the megaphone, but before she could even grab it, both Rainbow and Twilight entered Rainbow Falls's airspace and landed ten meters away from the training camp. Their arrival, though, didn't go unnoticed as the trails of their respective Sonic Rainbooms decorated the skies above, and the shockwaves generated by them filled the area with bright and dark colors, as the sound of a distant crash of thunder marked the end of the race.

Everyone marveled at the sight of such a colorful sky, even the Wonderbolts. Unfortunately, it distracted Soarin, who was speeding through the rainbow rings that marked the circular route for the Aerial Relay. He was about to hit one of the rings but corrected his flight direction almost in time. His right wing hit the circle anyway, something that made him lose altitude and ultimately made him fall due to the suffered injury.

As Fleetfoot took off to help him, the Mane 4, Goku, and Spike reached the place where both Rainbow and Twilight landed. They saw them standing on a small crater, as they were cheering and laughing due to the adrenaline they felt at that moment. Most of them marveled at that, the princess showed that kind of behavior only with things that had to do with books, libraries, or studying. Soon, they smiled, forgetting about her favorite subjects. It meant she enjoyed the race, and there was nothing wrong with it.

Twilight, on the other hoof, was praying Celestia that her mother, Twilight Velvet, didn't find out that she enjoyed such an extreme Sport or else she would ask her to join her in one her 'breathtaking' activities. Her thoughts, though, were interrupted by Rainbow's words, "That was AWESOME! Probably the best race ever! And I won!"

"Well," intervened Applejack as she approached them along with the others, "I think it's a tie: I couldn't see who landed first."

"Me neither," stated Pinkie with a smile, "But that was the fastest, most colorful, and super-duper exciting race I've ever seen!"

"And horse apples, what a performance, Twilight!" congratulated the apple farmer, "Your training with Goku paid off for sure!"

"See?" replied Goku with a smile, "No one will underestimate her again."

"I liked your Sonic Rainbooms," said Fluttershy with a smile, "And I'm also happy that no one lost."

"Actually," began explaining Twilight, "She landed first. I slowed down at the last second."

"What? Why?" asked the speedster in a surprised tone.

"I didn't want to win in the first place," she answered with a smile, "I raced with you to show you that I trained. Besides, I know how much you love to win."

"Oh, thanks, Twi."

"Now that the race is over," Goku said, "What about if we train in this Aerial Relay thing?"

"Right!" Rainbow agreed, "Now that I've seen Twilight's improvement first hoof, Ponyville has a chance of winning first place! But we need to start practicing if we want that to happen!"

When they came out of the crater, however, they saw an ambulance carrying one of the Wonderbolts to the hospital. Worried about one of her heroes, she quickly approached Fleetfoot and Spitfire, and asked, "What happened to Soarin?"

"The Sonic Rainbooms distracted him," answered Spitfire, "And he was flying through the rings. You can imagine the rest."

"Oh, I'm sorry," apologized Rainbow, feeling guilty for her actions.

"Don't worry, it's no pony's fault," answered Fleetfoot with a smile.

"But it's still a tough break to lose a teammate right before the tryouts," pointed out the speedster.

She was right, and it wasn't even the only problem. The rest of the Wonderbolts were flying with their hometown's teams, and they didn't have a valid replacement in case one of them suffered an unforeseen injury. However, both Fleetfoot and Spitfire remembered something that could fix the problem: Rainbow Dash was from Cloudsdale. So, even if she lived in Ponyville, she could technically join their team.

They offered her the possibility to practice with them, even though their real intention was to persuade her to join Cloudsdale's Aerial Relay Team permanently. At first, Rainbow didn't know what to answer and was afraid of how her team would feel about her training with the competition. However, that was her chance to fly with her heroes, and, as Fleetfoot said, they didn't need to know. Moreover, it wasn't like she was going to leave Ponyville's team, right? So, she gladly accepted their offer.

That was how the speedster trained with both Ponyville and Cloudsdale's teams for the current day and the next one. Twilight and Son Goku followed her suggestions, but they trained alone most of the time, as the cyan pegasus always had 'something to do.' It didn't go unnoticed by the duo, but Goku, naive as he was, believed each of her excuses for not being with them. Twilight, on the other hoof, understood that there was something off, but she needed confirmation.

The rest of the crew, meanwhile, were supporting the team in their own way. Rarity was making the uniforms; Applejack brought tons of Apple Brown Bettys with her to feed the team while Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy acted as the moral support. All of them, however, were aliens to the whole situation.

Twilight had her suspicions confirmed the day before the tryouts, for she saw her flying with the Wonderbolts. She just needed to confront her, so she waited for her to take a break. Fortunately, it didn't take too long for that to happen: she saw the speedster directing toward the pond while making sure that no one was seeing her. The princess approached her as she was drinking, and asked with a serious expression, "It's not easy practicing with two teams, is it?"

Rainbow was caught off guard as she didn't expect anypony to be there, especially one of her teammates, "You... know? Goku knows it too?"

"No," she answered with a smile, "If there's something I learned about him is that he has complete trust in who he considers one of his friends, so he really thinks you are doing 'something important' as you put it."

"So, he trusts everypony basically," she concluded with a raised eyebrow. The ponified Saiyan was able to make friends with everyone, wherever he went due to his kind nature and joyful personality. He was like Pinkie Pie in that sense, but not even she had Goku's same level of trust toward ponies or any other creature she just met. Discord was the most blatant example, but there were also improbable ponies like Lyra Heartstrings, Vinyl Scratch, Derpy, Octavia Melody, and others.

"Maybe, but that's not the point."

"Oh, come on!" she complained, "This is my chance to work out with the Wonderbolts! Besides, Ponyville will still qualify."

Twilight was about to respond, but a familiar voice interrupted the conversation. "Rainbow Dash," called out Spitfire, who was standing ten meters away from the pond, and there was also Fleetfoot with her, "You got a minute?"

"Uh, sure," answered the speedster as she approached them.

"You could really be an asset to our team," said the white-maned pegasus, "So... we want you to join the Cloudsdale team. Permanently."

Rainbow Dash gasped at this: the Wonderbolts were asking HER to fly with them, and her excited expression showed how did she feel at the moment. "It looks like Soarin's wing won't heal in time for the trials," explained Spitfire, "So, we want you to fly with us."

"Of course, this means you won't be able to fly for Ponyville," Fleetfoot pointed out with a serious expression, which softened as she said, "But don't worry about it, it still is a tough team with two alicorns among its ranks. They'll qualify for sure."

"So, what's it gonna be?" asked Spitfire with an excited smile. Rainbow realized that what Fleetfoot said was true: to fly with the Wonderbolts meant to leave the Ponyville team. As a result, her excitement vanished and was replaced by indecision. The Wonderbolts's Captain noticed it and quickly said, "Take some time to think about it."

When both aces left, her indecision seemed to fade away as she joyfully flew toward Twilight and exclaimed, "They want ME to fly with THEM!" Then, she reclined on the grass field and happily stated, "It's like a dream come true!"

The lavender princess, however, didn't seem to agree, "If you fly for Cloudsdale, Pinkie Pie won't have anypony to cheer for. Rarity's uniforms will never be seen. And Applejack will have slaved over those Apple Brown Bettys for nothing."

"Of course Pinkie will have somepony to cheer for," retorted the speedster, "You and Goku are strong flyers! And I wouldn't worry about Applejack's cakes since we've got two food-eating black holes."

"But we joined the team just to help you," replied the princess, "Besides, without a third member, we're disqualified. We could ask Fluttershy to join, but you know it's not guaranteed she'll accept."

"Oh, but I really wanna fly with my heroes! What would you do?"

"I think this is a decision you have to make on your own," Twilight answered as she began to leave with a slightly sad expression, "The race is tomorrow, so you'd better make it soon."

Rainbow was left alone with her thoughts and passed the rest of the day trying to figure out what team she should choose. However, it was too difficult as she didn't want to disappoint anypony, so she thought about the easiest way to escape from that situation: to not choose.

The next day, every team was getting ready for the tryouts that would begin in the afternoon. Twilight was teaching Goku how to hold the horseshoe as it was the only thing yet to master. Their training, though, was suddenly interrupted by somepony's groaning. It was Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus was in a wheelchair, and each part of her body was bandaged as she groaned louder, making everyone present to chatter in concern.

When a worried Fluttershy asked her what happened, she explained or tried to explain that she stripped on a foam hoof and landed on something that wounded her like that. Goku and Twilight, however, understood that there was something off. The former was sensing her Ki, and it wasn't as weak as it should be for her to be that injured, while the latter thought that it was just too convenient to be true.

[Rainbow Falls Hospital]

Rainbow Dash was brought to the town's hospital where the doctors took a look at her wounds, but she seemed perfectly fine to them, so they didn't know why she was groaning so much. They thought that maybe she just needed some rest and allowed her friends to see her.

Once in her room, they saw her on the bed with all of her hooves lifted and held by leg slings. Most of the crew had concerned expressions, but Goku had a confused one, while Twilight had a skeptical one. As they gathered around her, the lavender alicorn said, "So, the medic pony isn't sure what's wrong with you."

"Everything!" exclaimed Rainbow with a slight tone of pain, "Absolutely everything!"

"Nothing says 'get better' like a little medical pizazz!" exclaimed Rarity as she pulled out a piece of glittering fabric and wrapped it around one of the speedster's legs.

"That might help," Rainbow said.

"This'll cure everythin' that ails ya!" stated Applejack, as she put an Apple Brown Betty in her mouth.

"Thank you," she munched, "I couldn't have done that on my own."

Twilight just sighed in frustration as she already had enough of this farce, but she didn't want to talk about it with the others around. As she was trying her best to not express her thoughts, Fluttershy spoke, "We just wanted to let you know that we're so sorry you're hurt, but you shouldn't worry a bit about not being able to be in the tryouts. I will join the Ponyville team, so it won't be disqualified. And we promise that, if we qualify, make it to the Equestria Games, and all win gold medals, you can have ours because we know how much a gold medal means to you."

"Yeah," confirmed Goku with a smile, "You can have mine. I never competed for prizes anyway."

Rainbow Dash was touched by those words, and all she could say was, "Thanks..."

The moment, however, was interrupted by Twilight, who cleared her throat to draw attention and said, "I think Rainbow Dash might need to rest some more." Spike and the Mane 4 left the room as they wished her a good rest. Goku was about to express his doubts regarding Rainbow's wounds, but Twilight raised her wing to say that she would have taken care of the matter. Goku nodded in response and exited the room. Once they were alone, she said in a low tone, "You know, choosing not to choose isn't really a decision."

After those words were spoken, the princess left the room. However, Rainbow didn't have time to think about what she said as Soarin, who just happened to be her roommate, suddenly commented, "You sure have nice friends." Then he added in a sad tone, "Nopony's been by to visit me. Eh, too busy practicing, I guess."

"Well, hopefully, your wing will be better soon," she reassured.

"Oh, it's fine," he replied, "I-I'm just keeping it warm in case my team wants me back."

The speedster found that answer weird and asked, "What do you mean, 'wants you back'? Spitfire and Fleetfoot told me that you were still too injured to fly!"

"And they told me that they were worried I wouldn't be one hundred percent by the tryouts," he realized, "So they were going with somepony else!"

"That somepony else was me!" she exclaimed, but then she realized what she said and added with a nervous smile, "Until, uh, well, until I got hurt, that is."

Soarin just sighed and reclined on the bed as he said, "Well, at least Ponyville found a replacement, unlike my team. Too bad..."

Rainbow had a sad expression as she was thinking about the whole situation. Spitfire and Fleetfoot lied to have a better flyer among their ranks, meaning that they never really needed her help. So, this farce was for nothing. She was about to leave her team for nothing. She wondered what to do now, and as if to answer, the rays of Celestia's sun hit the nearby pitcher, creating a small rainbow that reached the Ponyville flag that was left on the floor by Spike. Her irises turned rainbow-colored for a moment as all of her doubts magically faded away.

[Aerial Relay Training Camp]

As Spike, the Mane 5, and Goku were having lunch, Rainbow Dash showed up and walked toward the Wonderbolts with a serious expression. Of course, she didn't go unnoticed by her friends that were surprised to see her there. However, she wasn't alone: Soarin was right behind her and had the same expression as her. Once they were close to Wonderbolts enough, they stopped, as both Fleetfoot and Spitfire had surprised expressions to see them there.

The speedster showed and admitted that she faked being hurt, much to everyone's surprise. Even her friends heard and saw that. She explained the reasons behind the farce, but then she accused her heroes of deception as they lied to her to acquire a stronger flyer. A team able to willingly put aside one of their members just for the sake of victory wasn't the one she wanted to be part of.

Both Spitfire and Fleetfoot were surprised by her statements, but then they agreed with her and praised her, for she just taught them a valuable lesson. Again. The first time was in the Wonderbolts Academy with Lightning Dust, and now she was doing the same with Soarin. They apologized to the latter and quickly resumed their training.

After that, the cyan pegasus stated that she wanted to resume training too, as the tryouts would have begun in a couple of hours. Twilight and Goku agreed with her and quickly restarted training, as a real team this time. When the tryouts finally concluded, Ponyville's Aerial Relay Team had the best timing among all of the present teams, winning the gold medal. There was no need to mention how Goku's speed impressed the competition: they could swear he was as fast as lightning.

At the end of the medal ceremony, Spitfire gave Rainbow the golden Wonderbolts Insignia as a 'thank you' and to show how much she respected her as a flyer. The whole ceremony concluded with a photo of each team that qualified for the Equestria Games. Ponyville Team's photo was then used to fill one of the pages of the Book of Friendship as Rainbow wrote right below how much she loved to be loyal to her friends over winning. The golden Insignia mysteriously turned rainbow-colored for a moment when the speedster, or anyone else, wasn't around.

[Manehattan, Taekwondo Dojo, Sports District]

Meanwhile, Manehattan's Martial Arts Team was training for the qualifications that would have begun in a week. The three stallions were confident that Manehattan would qualify, for their team was the strongest in all of Equestria, and their victories in the previous editions of the Equestria Games were proof of that. The only unknown opponent was the Crystal Empire team, as it was the first time they attended the games, but they were sure that they could defeat them.

Suddenly, the door of the dojo was opened, revealing a spiky-maned pegasus with what seemed like a mad expression. Though, it was just his usual face. Vegeta entered and silently directed toward the martial artists and their master, as he was looking around, almost as if he was analyzing the place. Once close enough, he stopped as he looked at them with his trademark stern look.

"What's your business in my dojo, mister?" asked their master.

"I heard that the Equestria Games also have a Martial Arts event," explained Vegeta, "So I came here to join Manehattan's team."

They were all surprised by his statement, but then the members of the team started laughing as one of them asked, "You really think it's that easy?"

"Martial Arts are a serious thing," mocked another, "You can't just improvise and hope to win."

The ponified Saiyan understood that these worms were thinking he was a weakling and thus not deserving to be part of the team, but he smirked and stated, "Of course. Clowns like you should stay among the spectators, watching real fighters deal with martial arts."

The three stallions were taken aback by his statement, but one of them shook his head and approached him with a mad expression, "Don't be so full of yourself. You wouldn't last ten seconds against any of us!"

"At first, I called you clown," said Vegeta with the same smirk, "I was wrong. You're the entire circus!"

His teammates were about to reply, but their master stopped them from doing so and said, "Well, mister..."

"Vegeta."

"What about a little demonstration of your skills against one of my disciples?"

The black-maned pegasus smirked at this, for those fools were about to behold the might of the prince of all Saiyans. He just hoped they were good enough to serve him, at least as a warm-up.

Filler Chapter 5: The Tatzlwurm

[Ponyville's Outskirts, Somewhere]

Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom were walking in the nearby grass fields, not too far from Ponyville. The first two were wondering, curious about why the farm filly wanted all of them to follow her. “Maybe Apple Bloom found something new that could lead to us obtaining our Cutie Marks?” Sweetie Belle pondered. Usually, they would first meet at the Cutie Mark Crusaders HQ, otherwise known as the treehouse within Sweet Apple Acres, to choose their new activity together. What was it that makes this case so different?

"Hey, Apple Bloom," called Rarity's little sister, "Why are we here again?"

"Yeah," supported Rainbow Dash's number one fan, "You were acting pretty weird before!"

Not too long ago, Sweetie Belle was busy fixing Rarity's creative room, while Scootaloo was going around Ponyville with her scooter. This all changed when Apple Bloom summoned both of them for something she deemed important. "Don’t worry girls, y’all gonna see it sooner than later," The yellow-coated filly responded, trotting towards a bunch of bushes in the distance.

The orange pegasus and the alabaster unicorn looked at each other for a moment as they followed their friend. "What do you think it could be?" asked the latter, receiving a shrug of the shoulders from the former as an answer.

A few minutes later, the Crusaders reached the bushes and, as their friend instructed, hid inside them. Once there, Scootaloo asked, "So, where's this 'important thing' you wanted to show us?" Apple Bloom, however, couldn't answer because of the sound of a nearby explosion. Instinctively, they moved the leaves to see what caused it and saw the ones responsible for the loud noise.

They saw Spike and their friend, Son Goten, practicing Martial Arts with his father. The movements and techniques done by the two of them left the Crusaders amazed, marveled at the skills showcased by both father and son. Spike, on the other hoof, was sitting on a rock with his eyes closed, meditating in peace. "Is this what you wanted to show us, Apple Bloom?" whispered Scootaloo with an excited tone.

"Yeah," she answered, "Ah discovered their place of trainin' by chance a week ago. Though Spike wasn't here the last time I checked."

"Do you think he's taking lessons from Goten's dad?" wondered Sweetie Belle.

"If practicing Martial Arts means teaching me how to fly like Goten, then sign me up! I want to be one of his disciples too!" exclaimed the orange-coated filly with stars in her eyes. Since Goten's arrival, she learned that there was another way to soar through the skies: one that didn't involve wings nor magic. The young hybrid told the Crusaders that he learned how to fly thanks to his big brother, Gohan. Not only that, his flying ability was actually a 'technique’. In order to master the secrets of Bukujutsu, or ‘Dancing in the Skies Art’, one had to know at least the basics of Martial Arts.

Meanwhile, Goku was exchanging some blows with his son, while also introducing him to the Turtle Style of Martial Arts. Goten was first trained by Chi-Chi, then Gohan, and was briefly trained by Piccolo. Nowadays, however, he was more influenced by Trunks' fighting form, who obviously based his style from his father. Goku wanted to fix that, as fighting wasn't just about using raw power and strength, but also tactics and strategy, especially against stronger foes.

The Turtle School's fighting style was, as its name suggested, inspired by the sea turtle's mechanisms of offense and defense. The style's defensive stage, the carapace, consisted of letting the opponent attack first to make him uncover all or part of his secrets, as the fighter saved energy defending himself thanks to his vigor and reflexes. On the other hoof, the offensive stage, the bite, was meant to take advantage of the foe's disregarded defenses to counterattack with unspeakable speed and strength, ending the battle as soon as possible.

Goku realized for a moment that his obsession for battles got in the way of the principles of that style. It was ineffective in prolonged battles against stronger foes, and he tended to let his fights last for too long because of his excitement for battle. As a result, he rarely used 'the bite' and overused its defensive stage. Instead, he mainly relied on a somewhat Vegeta-esque approach when it came to attacking. After his first fight with the prince, he never used the Turtle Style in the same way as before, and that was even more evident from the Cell Games onwards.

"Dad," Goten snapped his father from his thoughts, "Are you okay? You turned thoughtful all of a sudden."

The scarlet-eyed alicorn blinked for a moment before answering with laughter, "It's nothing Goten, I just understood a few things. There’s nothing to worry about."

The young unicorn smiled and replied as he got into the Turtle Style's fighting stance, "Okay, then. Can we resume our training?"

"Yeah," he nodded as he got into the same fighting stance as his son. Of course, they wouldn't have used their power, due to there being no need for it when learning a fighting style. Moreover, Goku didn't want to disturb Spike, who was focusing on his Ki to unleash it. However, before they could resume their training, they were interrupted by the sudden sound of a branch breaking.

They both turned their heads and noticed three fillies hidden in the nearby bushes. This alerted the Crusaders, who had surprised expressions on her faces, but before they could say or do anything, Goten spoke, "Apple Bloom? Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo? What are you doing here?"

The three fillies came out of the bushes, finding it pointless to stay hidden by now. Once they were all out of there, Apple Bloom tried to answer, "Well, we were-"

However, she was interrupted by Scootaloo, who said with a smile, "We were watching you practicing Martial Arts. You told us you wanted to be a Martial Artist like your dad, but you didn't tell us you were that good already!"

"I was just practicing a new style," replied Goten as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, you mean like Karate instead of Kung Fu or something?" asked Sweetie Belle.

Goten was confused by her question, "Karate? Kung Fu? I never heard of those."

Goku noticed it and explained, "Twilight has a book about Equestrian Martial Arts. I'm still learning how to read in Ponish, but that book mentioned both Karate and Kung Fu. I think those are fighting styles from here."

Goten's doubts dissipated thanks to his father's explanation, but he would take a look at that book later anyway. Unlike Goku, the young unicorn was educated enough to write and read in English, Earth's equivalent of Ponish, so he wouldn't have difficulties in reading it.

On the other hoof, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were left confused. It seemed that they both never heard about Karate or Kung Fu, despite practicing Martial Arts, and they found it weird that Goten's father didn't know how to read Ponish. They decided not to touch the last topic as it could be embarrassing for their friend and his dad. So, they choose to clarify the first one.

"You never heard about Kung Fu or Karate?" asked Apple Bloom with intrigue, "What kind of martial art were you practicin' then?"

"The Turtle School's fighting style," Goten answered with a smile.

"Turtle School?" asked Scootaloo in confusion.

"Yep, the one and only," intervened Goku, "On Earth, there are multiple Martial Arts Schools that teach a specific fighting style. I don't know all of them, but I do know some, such as the Turtle School, the Crane School, the Chin-Star School, the Panther-Fang School, the Orin Temple, and King Chappa's Temple."

"Oooh," understood the Crusaders in awe. Goten already told them that he and his dad used to live in a world called 'Earth’, and now they just learned a piece of information regarding their home.

However, Scootaloo snapped from her awe and asked, "Mr. Goku, does one of those schools teach flight? I mean, Goten said it was a technique or something, instead of magic."

"Yeah," answered the scarlet-eyed alicorn with his trademark smile, "Flight is the Crane School's signature technique. It makes sense since theirs is called the 'Crane Style' and cranes can fly!"

The orange-coated filly broadly smiled at this: she had a chance to learn how to fly right before her! She tried to ask Goten if he could teach her before, especially after Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's mockery on her inability to fly during their flag-carrying routine. However, the young unicorn had no idea on how to teach a technique to somepony that couldn't use Ki, and it wasn't something one could learn in two days either.

But now, things were different, as she wasn't in such a hurry, and Goten's father was surely capable of teaching her that technique. "Girls," she called as she turned away and nudged them into a group huddle to have a 'private' discussion, catching them off guard, "I have an idea: why don't we practice Martial Arts? Maybe we'll obtain our Cutie Marks by doing it!"

"Ah don't know Scoots," said Apple Bloom, "Tried Karate with Rainbow Dash once, and it didn't work out so well."

"Rarity practiced Judo once, but I don't know if I can do it too," replied Sweetie Belle.

"But these aren't ordinary Martial Arts," justified Scootaloo, "I mean, what school teaches you how to fly without the need of wings? And Celestia knows what else! Even Spike is trying."

The trio took a quick look at Spike, who was still meditating on that boulder. Then, Apple Bloom resumed the conversation, "Well, now that Ah actually think of it, it's not that bad of an idea. And Ah don't know what to do to obtain our Cutie Marks anyway."

"We tried many things," commented Sweetie Belle with a smile, "And I think this is in the less extreme, yet most interesting one so far. I'm in!"

"Awesome!" exclaimed the orange-coated pegasus with joy.

The trio broke the circle and was about to talk with Goku about the topic, but said alicorn spoke first, "We heard everything, you know."

"What?!" they exclaimed in shock.

"I told you guys that it doesn't work, especially if you do it right in front of ponies," supported Goten with a drop behind his head.

The Crusaders smiled sheepishly for a moment, but then Scootaloo asked with a hopeful smile, "So, do you accept?"

Son Goku began thinking about it as he was looking upon them. "What should I do? I would need to bring them to Earth first, and I don't know if Rarity and Applejack will let their little sisters go to another world, let alone allow them to train martial arts. Besides, I don't even know if I'll be able to train them properly."

Before he could come up with a conclusion, Rainbow Dash landed next to them all of a sudden and said, "Phew, that was close."

"Hey, Rainbow, what's up?" greeted the stallion.

The speedster noticed she wasn't alone and greeted as well, "Hey, guys! What are you doing here?"

"Just training," answered Goten with a smile.

"And we were watching them," said Sweetie Belle.

"I thought you were at the train station with the others to wish goodbye and safe travels to Fluttershy," commented the scarlet-eyed alicorn.

"I was," she replied, "But then, Discord appeared out of nowhere, asking for personal nursemaids."

"Nursemaids?" wondered Scootaloo.

"Is he ill or something?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Yeah," confirmed the speedster, "And since Fluttershy is out to see the Breezies, he wanted all of us to replace her. Can you believe it?"

"But if he's sick, why did he go to the train station instead of staying at home?" asked Goku in confusion.

"That's what I thought!" Rainbow exclaimed, finally having somepony sharing her viewpoint.

"Well, It isn't something to be worried about since he can still go around," stated Goten, "I'm sure he'll be fine in no time."

"Now," said Scootaloo, changing the subject, "Did you make a decision, Goku?"

"Huh? What decision?" asked Rainbow in confusion.

"They want me to teach them Martial Arts."

"What!? Really?" asked Rainbow in a surprised tone.

"Yes!" exclaimed the trio in unison.

Goku thought about it again. With his mind clear on an answer, he spoke up again, "Alright, I’ll train you lot."

His answer made the Crusaders jump in joy, with Scootaloo being the happiest out of all of them. Then, they approached Goten, who understood what they wanted to do, and together exclaimed as they high-hoofed, "Cutie Mark Crusaders Martial Artists!"

"Hehe, yeah, but we won't start right away," explained the stallion, "I'm already training Twilight, Spike, and Goten, and I'll have to ask some things first."

"Speaking of asking," intervened Rainbow, drawing Goku's attention, "Do you think there's some room left for another student?"

"Who?" asked Goku in confusion.

"Me, of course!" exclaimed the rainbow-maned mare with a smile, "I'm still impressed by Twilight's performance back in Rainbow Falls, and I don't want to be outclassed that easily, so... can you train me, please?"

A drop appeared behind the alicorn's head as he thought, "At this rate, I'll have to open a Martial Arts School." But then, he answered, "Okay, I'll train you too, but you'll have to wait just like the Crusaders."

"Awesome!" exclaimed the speedster in excitement.

Right after that, they all heard a groan, something that made them turn around to see Spike, who was looking at them with an annoyed expression. "You guys, it's not easy to concentrate with all that talking."

The group laughed nervously in response. Goku forgot they were too close to him, so their rather loud conversation was getting in the way of his training. "Sorry, Spike," he apologized, "We're done here anyway, so you can restart and try using your Ki." The drake nodded and resumed his effort in creating a Ki orb between his claws. On the other hoof, Goku returned back to teaching Goten the Turtle Style, with Rainbow Dash and the fillies watched them all from a reasonable distance.

[Ponyville, Star Swirl the Bearded Traveling Museum]

Meanwhile, Twilight was walking around the stands and tents that were showing several items that once belonged to one of the most skilled wizards in Equestrian history with her sister-in-law, Cadence. The lavender princess wanted to spend some time with her and bond as sisters, instead of having to deal with state affairs and the fate of Equestria, something that tended to happen almost every time they met. So, a relaxing activity such as visiting a museum was ideal for the two mares, where they could observe, chat, and overall just enjoy the opportunity given to them.

For half an hour, both mares beheld some of the ancient artifacts showcased in the place and were about to enjoy more of the Star Swirl's belongings at the main tent. "So, Twilight," Cadence said, breaking the ice as they were heading for the big tent, "Did you do anything exciting recently?"

The question confused the lavender mare as she asked, "Anything exciting? What do you mean?"

"I don't know," answered her sister-in-law with a calm smile, "Maybe it was just my imagination when I saw you flying away from the Crystal Empire a few days ago."

"Oh, THAT," nervously giggled Twilight, "Hehe, it was just a silly race with Rainbow Dash. Nothing special."

The crystal princess's eyes wide opened and answered, "You were racing? I thought athletics and sports wasn't your thing."

"Well..." she tried to explain.

Cadence, however, continued, "Which reminds me... The Aerial Relay tryouts were taking place in Rainbow Falls that day." Then, she realized in awe, "You and Rainbow Dash went from Rainbow Falls to the Crystal Empire and back?"

"To be honest, she was the one who chose the route," justified Twilight.

"No, no," she tried to elaborate, "I mean, you had problems with your flight skills some time ago, and now you can fly fast enough to reach the Crystal Empire in no time. How did you manage to improve that quickly?"

"I just went through the most exhausting training I've ever done in my life," she answered as she felt a cold running down her spine when she remembered her first week at Training Island.

"I thought so," replied the Goddess of Love, "But no pony can improve that much in such a short time, at least not with ordinary training."

"That's because Goku is teaching me martial arts," she replied with a smile, "And his training method is quite unorthodox and a bit reckless at times, but it's effective and does produce results overall."

The pink princess was aware of a certain Son Goku since her sister-in-law mentioned something about him being a new friend in one of her letters, but what caught her off guard was that he was teaching Twilight the art of fighting. Expectedly, her statement left the mare perplexed. Unlike her brother, Shining Armor, she never expressed interest in that field. As far as she knew, Twilight loved science, studying, reading, and the mystic arts, so it didn't make sense for her to practice martial arts all of a sudden from her point of view. Unless...

A smirk appeared on Cadence's face as she was looking at Twilight, who didn't notice it all. “So this new stallion is teaching her? Could it be?” she pondered. She first needed confirmation, though, so she tried to gather more info. She didn’t get her specialty in love and romance without a reason. "Interesting. And you get to see him every day, I presume? I mean, if he's teaching you martial arts."

"Yes," she answered with a smile, "He's living with me, and Spike, currently. So-" She, however, abruptly stopped, realizing what she just said and with who she was talking. She turned her head and saw her former foal-sitter looking at her with that 'I caught you' face of hers.

"Well, well, well," she smirked, "Looks like we got a filly with a very special somepony."

"What?!" exclaimed Twilight as she blushed a bit, "No! We're just friends!"

"Uh-huh… ," Cadence said, unconvinced, "It's quite suspicious that prior to meeting this stallion, you were never interested in sports. Now, however, you're actively practicing it, training in martial arts nonetheless! Furthermore, you even let this stallion live with you," she said as she was circling Twilight like a hungry shark.

"T-that's because he had no other place to go," justified the lavender mare, who was blushing profusely and getting even more nervous, "And it's the only way I could learn about Ki."

The crystal princess's smirk vanished as she asked, "Wait, you said 'Ki'?"

"Yes, you know what it is?" asked Twilight with intrigue.

"Celestia told me something about it a long time ago," she answered, "But it isn't exactly something known to everypony. Which makes me wonder, how does your friend know about it, enough to a point where he teaches others how to use it?"

"It's a looong story," she replied as they finally reached the museum's biggest tent and entered. As they admired the ancient items, Twilight explained to her the events that unfolded two months earlier. To say that the Goddess of Love was shocked by the tale her sister-in-law told would be an understatement. The unusual events that happened not so long ago then started to make sense.

"That explains the shooting star that destroyed a mountain near the Crystal Empire, and why the sun and the moon were sharing the same sky," commented the pink alicorn as they left the tent, "Not to mention the almost everlasting earthquakes. But seriously, alien ponies and a God of Destruction? That seems more like the plot of some sort of action comic."

"Yeah, you’re right to assume that. To be honest with you, I was skeptical when I first heard his story, but it's all true," stated Twilight as the duo headed for another stand, "And the weirdest part is that Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were friends with Lord Beerus. I'm surprised you didn't know about him until now."

"I'm relatively new when it comes to being a princess after all," replied Cadence with a smile, "If both my aunties befriended him, it means he visited Equestria long before the Nightmare Moon incident. It's not that weird if you think about it."

"I think you're right about that," agreed the lavender alicorn with a smile.

"But that isn't going to stop Shining Armor from thinking what I thought earlier. And I'm not completely sure that you’re having him for purely academic reasons," Cadence commented as her smirk appeared again.

Twilight blushed again and shouted, "WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!" This action, though, drew the nearby ponies' attention, making the moment more embarrassing for her. But then, she was hugged by one of Cadence's wings, calming her down.

"I was just teasing you, Twilight," she kindly said, "But I'm serious about Shining."

Twilight sighed and said, "I'll deal with him when the time comes." Then, she smiles with enthusiasm, they were just a few meters away from their destination, and gasped at the sight of an artifact inside a glass box, "The candlestick Star Swirl used to light the way when he was exploring the caverns of Maretania!"

Cadence saw it as well and commented in awe, "It is! I can't believe I'm getting to see it in real life!"

After those words were spoken, however, the item started rattling until it suddenly became a mini, cerulean-colored Discord, something that made both princesses yelp. The little creature sneezed once, casting a spell that made some wizard hats to fly away by themselves. Then, he got out of the glass box as blue foam and re-assembled himself once he reached the ground.

The sudden appearance of the God of Chaos would have annoyed Twilight if it wasn't for Goku's training. The difficulties she went through during that month on Earth far outweighed those she had in not seeing Discord as a nuisance. As a result, she had a surprised expression instead of the usual irked one that was present whenever the Spirit of Disharmony showed up. On the other hoof, Cadence was on guard as she wasn't sure if the chimera-like creature would have tried something or not. After all, she had no interactions with him, but only known him from what he did to Equestria two years ago, as well as the stories the Princesses told about him.

"Discord? What are you doing here?" asked Twilight with intrigue.

"Oh, dear, dear Princesses," he said with a theatrical tone and added with a serious one, "I'm sorry to say that I'm sick." After that, he coughed, making both alicorns to turn their heads as they covered them with either a hoof or a wing, and said, "Blue flu."

"Blue flu?" asked Cadence in a skeptical tone as she never heard of this disease before.

"Ah, I fear I've already given it to poor Applejack and Rarity," stated the Draconequus, right before sneezing.

However, the crystal princess was able to cast an invisible Magic Health Bubble around her and her sister-in-law before he could unleash the sneeze upon them. "Good thinking," praised Twilight.

"Indeed," Discord agreed as he rested his head on the magic bubble, and added, "How would Twilight nurse me back to health if she was sick too? You will be letting me stay at your place until I'm all better, won't you?"

"There's no room for a fifth pony at my place," she calmly answered, "Though, I'm sure you already knew that."

"But taking in the sick and the desperate - isn't that what Fluttershy would do?" he asked in a dramatic tone, but then he started with the mind games, "Isn't 'helping' something that friends do for friends? Unless, of course, you're saying that you're NOT my friend." After that, he turned and crossed his arms with a sulky expression.

"You're right," Twilight agreed, "But, as far as I know, if a pony is so sick, he or she doesn't go around Ponyville choosing nurses." Then, she stared at him and asked, "Are you sure you're as sick as you claim to be?"

Discord turned to see her staring at him. For a mere second, he thought that Fluttershy was in front of him, but he then he shrugged it off and answered, "Of course! I thought the blue skin and all of the sneezing was enough to notice it."

"If you have the strength to go from...? Where do you live again?"

"Oh, it's quite a nice place," he answered as he showed them his home with a spell, "It stands between the pocket dimensions. I call it 'Chaosville.'"

"As I was saying," continued Twilight, "If you have the strength to go from there to here, you don't need somepony to take care of you. The only thing you need is either some rest or finding the cure to this blue flu, a task that shouldn't be that hard for the Lord of Chaos."

"Well, now that you mention it," said Discord as he dispelled the enchantment, "I already know the cure for my disease."

"And you didn't use it because...?" asked Cadence with a raised eyebrow.

Discord wrapped himself around Cadence's Health Shield and answered with a grin, "Because its most important ingredient can be found in a place too far away from here. I can't travel that far in my condition."

"Yet you made it from outside our dimension to here," Twilight thought as she rolled her eyes.

"You see," began to explain the Draconequus as he used a spell to illustrate what he was about to say, "On a hill at the very edge of Equestria, there grows an exquisite magic flower. Pick the flower as it drops its petals at sunset. Then you can make a magical soothing elixir to cure the blue flu. Beware, though, for its guardian: the Tatzlwurm."

"The Tatzlwurm?" asked both Cadence and Twilight in confusion as the illustration disappeared.

"Yes," replied the Lord of Chaos as he stood in front of them, "It's another reason for me to not go there in such a weakened state." Right after that, he made appear some blankets around his body and a thermometer in his mouth to emphasize how weak he said he was.

The lavender alicorn sighed at his antics, but at least this one was a more believable excuse. Though, she thought there was still something off about all of that: Discord looked in good enough shape to defeat whatever this Tatzlwurm was, despite the blue skin and the sneezing. But, she would have given him the benefit of the doubt, "So, where exactly are Cadance and I heading to?"

"Well," said Discord as he appeared next to them with a lollipop in his mouth, a fisherman hat, sunglasses, a Hawaiian black shirt, and holding a map of Equestria, "You'll want to head north, turn left, then— Oh you know what, it'd be much easier if I took you there myself."

"I thought you were in no condition to travel," pointed out Cadence as the Draconequus used the map to make a paper hat and put it on Twilight's head.

"I'm not," confirmed Discord as he appeared between the princess, then he chuckled as he put his arms around their necks, "We'll need to make some arrangements."

[Ponyville Outskirts, Somewhere]

Meanwhile, Goku and Goten were in the middle of a battle, both using or trying to use the Turtle Style, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Rainbow Dash were watching them, with Spike still meditating from afar. Both father and son were standing four meters away from each other while in their fighting stances.

The young unicorn attacked first by jumping and firing several Ki blasts at his father. Goku stood still, waiting for the attack, but just when the first Ki orb was about to touch him, he disappeared. The alicorn reappeared on a nearby tree, something that Goten noticed. The Saiyan hybrid resumed the attack, trying to catch his father off guard by jumping and throwing a punch, but Goku just jumped on another tree before he reached his position.

Goten was frustrated because each of his strikes failed to hit his father, but he resumed the assault anyway. He tried again to punch Goku, but he began to jump on other trees to keep the distance. However, the little unicorn followed him. His first strike came from above but missed, breaking the tree's branch; the second one came from beneath, missing again with catastrophic consequences for the poor tree, and the third one came from behind but failed to hit its target.

The unicorn stopped following his father and started charging a Kamehameha as his sight was set on him. "HAAAAAA!!" shouted Goten as the light-blue energy beam headed at the elusive alicorn. However, Goku stopped moving and began to spin until he vanished from sight, letting his son's attack to destroy the tree he was on. This move caught Goten off guard, something that the alicorn wanted to capitalize on.

Son Goku reappeared several meters behind him, in mid-air, and fired several Ki blasts at his son, who couldn't react in time. Goten was hit by the Ki barrage and sent several meters away, but quickly recovered and fell on all fours. However, his father was already attacking as he saw a medium-sized blue Ki orb directing toward him, so he quickly fired a Ki blast to counter it. Unfortunately, Goku's Ki orb was stronger than Goten's, so the former broke through the latter and hit the young unicorn. Despite the blow, he performed three backflips to stand on all four legs again.

Rainbow Dash and the Crusaders marveled at the display of power, especially the fillies. Unlike the speedster that already witnessed the battle between Lord Beerus and Goku, they didn't know that Goten was that strong, fast, and also capable of firing magic from his hooves. The same impressions were also given to his father.

Meanwhile, Goten started charging another Kamehameha, but he was quickly surrounded by several afterimages of his father. However, it wasn't the usual Afterimage Technique as the clones weren't standing still, but moving to several directions, something that confused the colt. Little did he know that it was the most advanced stage of that technique: the Afterimage Strike.

Goten stopped charging the Kamehameha and got into his fighting stance as he tried to figure out where his dad was going to attack. However, his Ki sensing abilities didn't help him this time as Goku's technique seemed to have multiplied his spiritual presence. In other words, he was at his mercy. Goku took advantage of Goten's confusion and punched him on the cheek, sending him toward a tree that was six meters away from his position.

Goten crashed into the said tree, ending up in a sitting position. "Oww!" grunted in pain Goten as he was massaging his left cheek, "That hurts."

Goku approached him with a smile and said, "That’s how 'the bite' works, Goten. You either have to wait for the right moment or create the conditions to catch your opponent off guard."

"Now I get what you mean dad," nodded Goten as he stood up, then he asked with curiosity, "By the way, what kind of moves were those?"

"The first one is a little trick I used to defeat Krillin a long time ago," answered Goku with a grin as he remembered the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, "And the thing I did earlier was the evolution of the Afterimage Technique. I used it on Tambourine when I was a kid."

"Who's Tambourine?" asked Goten in confusion.

"Hehe, I forgot that I still have to tell you the rest of my adventures," he nervously said.

Before Goten could say anything else, the Crusaders and Rainbow reached the two fighters, amazement and wonder plastered over their faces of the fillies.

“That was so cool, Goten! Ah never knew you were such an amazin’ fighter,” Apple Bloom said with a smile.

“Yeah, you’re skills and techniques were just mesmerizing to look at it,” Sweetie Belle added.

“Not only that, you were jumping around and firing blasts, going so fast in the air and throwing punches like they were nothing! Then you fired that even bigger blast from your hooves instead of your horn, and then they were explosions, but you scratched it off like they were nothing and-” Scootaloo couldn’t even finish her sentence as a noticeable, high pitched squeal came from her, due to the absolute thrill she had from watching the captivating battle.

Rainbow Dash landed next to her number one fan, placing a hoof on her shoulder to calm the filly down. She then added: “Gotta say Goten, I was quite impressed by your little display before. You’re definitely the work of your dad,” she said with an approving smile on her face.

“Hehehe, it’s fine guys. But that wasn’t really anything special” Goten nervously said, looking at the ground while rubbing the back of his head. A faint blush appeared on his face.

“What are you talking about?! That was awesome!” Scootaloo exclaimed with a smile on her face.

“Yeah! It’s not like the average pony can do what ya just did!” Apple Bloom said, supporting Scootaloo’s claim.

“If this is what you can show us now, then I can’t wait to see what else is in store from you,” Sweetie Belle complimented.

Although he was quite overwhelmed from the compliments, Goten shook his head and looked at the fillies in front of him: “Thanks guys, I really appreciate the praise you gave to me, it means a lot,” he ended it with a smile that reflects the appreciation he had from his friends.

Goku was silent throughout the whole situation, his trademark smile adorning his face from the praise given to his second son. He felt a sense of pride, coming from the fact that he, as well as the others, trained the colt to the point that he could stand on his own. Not only that, he was quite the formidable fighter for his age. Although he still had some rough edges, he just had to work with Goten even more and train him well enough to overcome his problems, something he felt that he could do in no time.

“Still though, I just can’t wait to be able to fly like that! Did you see how fast he went?” Scootaloo asked the other Crusaders in excitement.

“Yep, and don’t forget those stances and movements that Mr. Goku and Goten did. They stood on their hindlegs with ease,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Not to mention dem punches they were throwin’. Bet you those could knock off a whole tree!” Apple Bloom added.

Rainbow Dash then decided to speak up, “I mean, the moves and stances are cool and all, but is nopony going to mention the blasts that came from those two?”

“Now that you mention it, Ah’m just wonderin’ how big sis is going to react to me flyin’ around and shootin’ blasts from me hooves,” Apple Bloom commented.

“Don’t think Rarity would like the idea of me flying around in general,” Sweetie Belle said, later adorning a mischievous smirk, ”Hehehe, the amount of pranks I could do to her would be astounding.”

“Girls, you think that, once we get our Martial Arts Cutie Marks, we will be going around, saving ponies while beating up bad guys? Like in those comics?” Scootaloo asked in fascination.

“Who knows Scoots, only time will tell if we will get our Cutie Mark or not,” Apple Boom said with a shrug of her shoulders.

While all of them were fawning over the prospect of gaining new abilities, Goku felt his belly grumble. Despite his hunger and need for food, he wanted to check Spike before calling in a break. He left the group to their own devices and approached the baby dragon, who was still trying to create a Ki orb. He was about to tell him that he could stop for now, but a small spark between the dragon's claws prevented it.

The spark became bigger, turning into a small Ki sphere, something that surprised Goku. His surprised expression turned into a happy one as he said, "Spike, you can open your eyes now."

The purple dragon obeyed, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he noticed the green Ki orb he just created. With a joyful expression and tone, he shouted, "I did it!"

"Good job, Spike," praised Goku, "You're a step closer to learning how to fly!"

Immediately after, Rainbow Dash and the Crusaders, including Goten, reached them and marveled at the orb of magic held by Twilight's number one assistant. The speedster flew toward him and commented, "So, this is what you were trying to do all this time, huh?"

Suddenly, the orb vanished as the drake started panting slightly, then he replied, "Yeah, but I didn't think it would have been so tiresome."

"It's because it's your first time using Ki," answered Goku, "Now, you just need to get used to it."

"Awesome!" exclaimed Scootaloo, "Still can’t wait to learn all of those Martial Art things!"

"Hehe," giggled the alicorn, "We'll talk about that later. For now, I wanna get something to eat."

Spike stood up and said, "Let's see if Applejack can help us with that."

[Ponyville's Market]

After that, they left the area and headed for Sweet Apple Acres. When they reached the town's market, they spotted both Rarity and Applejack. However, there was something wrong with them: they were light-blue and seemed ill. They were sneezing and crashing into things because of it, something that worried the group. The Crusaders, Goku, and Rainbow quickly approached them to help.

Rainbow Dash helped Applejack to stand up as Goku stopped Rarity from accidentally demolishing Cherry Berry's fruit stand. "Geez, Applejack," said the speedster, "What's with the blue coat and the sneezing?"

"It's cerulean, not blue," pointed out Rarity, who was standing up with Spike's help.

"Whatever," replied Rainbow, "Why are you both like this anyways?"

"Discord!" exclaimed both mares in unison.

"So, he infected the both of you," concluded the rainbow-maned mare, "Hah! I made the right decision when I got out of there."

"It ain't funny, Dash," replied the apple farmer with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Well, I believe he made it on purpose," commented the fashionista as she was about to sneeze, but Sweetie Belle prevented that by putting her hoof on her nose. "Thank you, darling," she said with a smile.

"You betcha," agreed Applejack, "I think he wanted to ruin Twilight and Princess Cadence's hootenanny as soon as Fluttershy told him about it in her letter. The illness is just an excuse!"

"Hootenanny?" asked Goku in confusion.

"Informal gathering," answered Apple Bloom, "Ya know, when ya meet a friend and the both of ya do something together."

"Oh, right, Twilight told us about it," he replied, "And that also explains why I sense her and Discord along with somepony else getting further and further."

"What?!" exclaimed the mares in unison.

"We need to-" Applejack tried to say, but she wanted to sneeze. Fortunately, Apple Bloom helped her by putting one of her hooves on her sister's nose. "Thank ya," she said, then she continued, "We need to help them. Who knows what Discord is plannin’!"

"I think we need to help you both first," said Spike, much to their surprise.

"He's right," supported Goku, "Discord will be the one in danger if he makes Twilight angry, hehe." He said that mainly because of the experiences he had with angry women, especially Bulma, Chi-Chi, and Blonde Launch. They were scarier than any foe he faced down before, in his opinion. He thought Twilight was no exception, despite the fact she was the most patient female he ever met, except for Fluttershy and blue-haired Launch. Though, the rest of the crew but Goten and Spike didn't understand what he meant by that.

"Well, somepony knows how to cure them, right?" asked Scootaloo with intrigue.

"Zecora!" exclaimed Apple Bloom, "She can help us!"

"Right, let's head for the Everfree Forest," supported Rainbow as they all headed towards the border with the fearsome forest.

[Equestrian Southern Borders, Somewhere in the Sky]

Twilight and Cadence were pulling a massive, golden carriage on which Discord was happily resting as they flew toward the end of the kingdom. “How did Cadence and I convinced ourselves into doing this?” the lavender alicorn was asking herself, but then shrugged it off. The sooner she got the flower, the faster the Draconequus would have left. Not to mention that she was used to Goku's training, meaning that pulling heavy objects was no longer an issue for her.

The same, however, couldn't be said about the Goddess of Love, who wasn't in her top physical condition, especially when it came to flying. The calm life in the Crystal Empire and her duties as a princess made her neglect her physical exercises to stay fit, and all the sweating was proof of that. Despite that, though, she was still able to keep up with Twilight, so she wasn't THAT out of practice, right?

They soon arrived at their destination: a rocky desert environment was right ahead of them. The border was delimited by the grass field as there was a sharp, straight line between it and the sandy ecosystem. There were countless rocky pillars, hills, and small mountains on the other side, making it even more desolate than it already seemed. Once they landed, Discord pointed at one direction as it looked like he was in a bad state, and said, "It's just at the top of that hill."

Twilight and Cadence turned their heads to see the hill he was pointing at. It was a tall, grassy hill, meaning it was still within the borders of the Kingdom, but they had to climb it if they wanted to find that flower. Not to mention, it was protected by a creature named 'Tatzlwurm,' so it wouldn't even be as quick as the former unicorn wished to. As they were heading for its top, Twilight apologized to her sister-in-law, "I'm really sorry about this. All I wanted was to have some peaceful quality time together."

"I know," she answered as she gave her a reassuring look, "I was looking forward to it too."

Once they reached the top, they were surprised by what they saw. A few meters away from them, a tree-sized flower with pink petals was decorating the otherwise empty grass field. They expected normal-seized flowers, not a tree disguised as one of them. However, there was something off. "Well, here's the flower," said Twilight, "But where is this Tatzlwurm?"

As if to answer, the ground began to shake violently. "What in Equestria?!" exclaimed Cadence, who was taken aback by the sudden earthquake. A few seconds later, a gigantic worm-like creature came out of the ground, much to the alicorns' surprise. Its scaled-body was grayish violet and had a red mane-like structure behind its fuchsia head. The creature roared, revealing its tripartite jaw and the three black tentacles contained in its maw.

"AAAAH!" they both screamed as Cadence sidestepped to avoid the worm's bite and took off to not be in range. On the other hoof, Twilight backflipped twice to do the same and got into the Turtle School's fighting stance, much to the pink alicorn's confusion. When the Tatzlwurm arose again, the lavender mare attacked by rushing toward it and hit it with an uppercut, making the creature to scream in pain. Then, Twilight flew backward and charged at the worm-like being's midsection with her knee, sending the Tatzlwurm to the other side of the hill.

The librarian's actions surprised the crystal princess, who couldn't believe what she just saw. She told her she was practicing martial arts, but she just kicked away a 50-meter long creature. What kind of training she had to do to gain such strength? As she was wondering, though, Twilight continued her assault with an attack spell from above to finish the creature off. However, something unexpected happened: the Tatzlwurm created a magic shield around itself, nullifying her attack.

Right after that, the giant worm opened its maw and fired a green magic beam at Twilight, who dodged it. Though, it was a distraction as the creature jumped high enough to reach and hit her with its tail, sending the alicorn to the ground. She, however, was able to land on her four legs as the impact created a small crater underneath her. Immediately afterward, the Tatzlwurm went under the ground to take advantage of the surprise factor.

Twilight knew this and closed her eyes as the ground beneath was shaking. When she opened them, they were blizzard-blue and smaller than usual, meaning she activated the Spirit Sight. She quickly set her sight on the ground, spotting the worm's Ki signature, and jumped backward as her foe just came out from there with her maw wide-opened. The failed attack made it vulnerable, so she approached the creature as fast as lightning and punched it with her left hoof, making him go out of the hole.

Then, she used the ground to increase her thrust and punched it on the midsection with her left hoof. The blow bent the giant worm, who roared in pain, but it wasn't over yet. Twilight used her momentum to kick the creature's jaw and punched again its midsection with a perfect dual combo that made it retreat a few meters. With a jump, the alicorn was about to hit the top of the Tatzlwurm's head, but the creature created again a magic shield around it, something that stopped her attack.

Once Twilight touched the ground, the creature rotated upon itself to hit her with its tail again. However, the lavender alicorn blocked the blow with her left foreleg. The attack was so strong that it generated a shockwave that swept away all the grass in the area, creating a small crater where Twilight was standing. The lavender princess took advantage of the situation and grabbed the worm's tail, then with a rotating movement, she lifted the creature and smashed it onto the ground so hard it created a trench.

The Tatzlwurm stopped moving after that, meaning she defeated it. It was just unconscious as she could still see the creature's Ki with Spirit Sight. She stopped using the technique as Cadence approached her, "Twilight… is that really you?"

"Uh, hehe, yeah?" Twilight said with a raised brow.

The crystal princess giggled and said, "Imagine Shining's face if he was here."

Twilight imagined her brother with his jaw touching the ground and giggled at it. However, that brief moment of calm didn't last as the ground began to shake again. They turned their heads and saw the Tatzlwurm rising again as a green magic aura engulfed it. The creature emitted a ghostly whisper as four thin, creepy, almost skeletal arms with long, thin claws grew out of its midsection. Its tripartite jaw wide-opened as a big eye with a red pupil emerged from its throat; all of that as the giant worm doubled its size.

"What in Equestria is that?!" asked Cadence as she back-stepped once.

Twilight was intimidated as well by the looks of that thing, but then she closed her eyes and started to calm her mind as Goku taught her to do on Earth. Once she had her emotions under control, she opened her eyes again and got into her fighting stance, much to the crystal princess' surprise. Suddenly, the lavender mare teleported in mid-air, at the same height as the eye of the creature, and cast an attack spell.

However, the Tatzlwurm shattered the magic beam with a mere punch. Then, it stared at Twilight as its eye glowed and fired several magic beams at her like a machine gun. The princess evaded all of them, but then teleported back to the ground to catch the monster off guard. Unfortunately, it spotted her in an instant and hit her with a magic beam. The attack was strong enough to generate a small explosion, much to Cadence's worry.

A few seconds later, the curtain of dust generated by the explosion vanished, revealing Twilight with her forelegs crossed. That blow hurt her a bit, but it wasn't something to be worried about. She quickly dashed toward the creature to punch it, but the monster protected itself by crossing its arms. Then, it caught her off guard by grabbing her, using its tentacles and violently threw her to the ground, making her dig a trench in the process.

While she was on the ground, the Tatzlwurm attacked again with a barrage of magic beams, but a light-blue magic shield appeared around the downed alicorn and deflected them all. When Twilight recovered from that blow, she saw that Cadence was protecting her. Before she could say anything, the crystal princess charged at the monster, who attacked her with another storm of magic beams.

The pink alicorn evaded some and deflected the rest using her wings as shields. Then, with a quick burst of speed, she appeared above the giant worm as her light-purple eyes were glowing. She dashed toward the creature to punch it, but the Tatzlwurm counterattacked with the same move. The clash between both blows generated a powerful shockwave that cut the nearby rocky pillars in half, but the monster got the upper hand. Cadence was sent near Twilight but landed on her four legs.

"You know how to fight?" asked Twilight in a marveled tone.

"After what happened with Chrysalis, I took a lesson or two with auntie Luna," she answered with a smile.

Suddenly, the giant monster buried its four claws into the ground, making countless black spikes to grow out of it. Both Alicorns looked at each other for an instant and nodded, then they flew low on the ground, taking opposite routes. The spikes kept on growing as they followed both mares, who were flying around the titanic beast. Once they met, both princesses rose to the sky as the spikes created a pointy wall around the monster.

After that, Cadence stopped in mid-air as both her eyes and horn glowed and said, "Blizzard!"

A giant dome-like shield appeared around them as a snowstorm unleashed, decreasing visibility. It only affected the monster, though, as Twilight used the Spirit Sight technique, and Cadence could see through the fog thanks to the spell she just cast. Then, she backflipped as she started falling, and created a vertical arc of crystalline light with her horn. Once she touched the ground, she performed a roundhouse kick, creating a horizontal arc of magic that crossed with the vertical one. Finally, she used her momentum to punch the intersection, "Crystal Spear!"

A beam of crystal light unleashed from the crossed bows and directed toward the Tatzlwurm, who was still dealing with the weather. However, it noticed the oncoming magic-based attack as it was breaking through the fog and shining brightly, so the monster rose all of its arms as they glowed green and tried to smash it onto the ground. Cadence's spell, though, was quite powerful, so it took the monster a lot of effort to nullify it, but it was able to succeed.

Unfortunately for the worm, it was just a distraction, for Twilight appeared from the curtain of dust that hammer-like blow generated, catching the Tatzlwurm off guard. Unbeknownst to Cadence and herself, her irises and pupils turned red as she had a serious expression. The lavender alicorn hit the creature with an ax-kick first, hurting its head. Then, she dealt a combo of punches and kicks to its eye, making the mutated worm to roar in pain. The Tatzlwurm tried to stop her with its tentacles, but she used them to increase her momentum, hitting its midsection hard with her knee, propelling the creature toward the top of the dome-like shield.

Each of her blows seriously injured the creature, who just fell motionless onto the ground. After that, the snowstorm ceased to be as well as the shield, while Twilight's eyes returned to normal. They both were panting as the downed creature returned to its previous form. Then, Twilight and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she panted, then added with a smile, "Better than okay, actually."

Before Twilight could reply, they felt the ground shaking again and saw that the Tatzlwurm began to move again. "What?! Again?!" exclaimed the lavender princess, who couldn't believe that it was still able to fight. Though, she sighed in relief when she saw that the creature was going into the ground.

"Discord had a good reason to not go here alone after all," commented Twilight with a smile, happy to see that he could be trusted after all.

"Speaking of which, let's take the flower and make him that elixir," replied Cadence.

Twilight nodded in response as they both reached it, took it, and left the hill. Once they reached the place where they left Discord, they saw that he was dancing and singing, not to mention that his skin wasn't blue anymore. "To the ends of Equestria!" he was chanting, "To face such great danger! And she did it for me! She did it all for me, for me, for me!"

He was laughing before he saw both princesses looking at him with angry expressions, but their irritated looks didn't make his grin disappear. Twilight dropped the giant flower she was carrying and faced Discord, "You... were... FAKING IT?!" Her previous doubts dissipated because of the Tatzlwurm, so finding out that she was right since the beginning felt like a slap to her face. Even Cadence wasn't happy at all.

"I was," he replied as he placed her on the ground again, "But I had a very good reason."

"We're listening," she said in an angry tone.

"Well, I was in my thinking tree," he started to explain as he made appear a tree beneath himself, "That's where I do most of my really deep thinking - I was there, and I said to myself, I said, 'Discord, your friend Twilight says that she's your pal, but she never writes and she never pops in for a visit.'" Then, he made the tree disappear and approached the duo, "'Now that she's a princess, maybe she's decided that she's too good for you. But how was I supposed to know for sure that I'm truly still friends with one of the most important ponies around?'" He then grabbed Twilight with his tail and ended, "By seeing if you would go to the ends of Equestria for me, of course. Which you did, literally. Congratulations, Twilight, you passed my friendship test!" After that, he gave her a golden necklace with half a heart featuring Discord and proceeded to complete the heart with his necklace that featured his thumbs up covering most of Twilight.

She looked at the necklace for a moment, then she stared at Discord with a calm yet angry look as the Draconequus was playing with a flag as if nothing happened. He noticed it and said, "Why the angry eyes? You love passing tests. It's not because my little exam put a damper on your visit with Princess Cadance, is it? Made it so that there was no time for you two to focus on your friendship?"

To add further salt to her injury, he was openly mocking her. His pleased grin and the innuendos just made her even more pissed off, activating her red eyes again as she gritted her teeth. For a fleeting moment, her coat turned pale-orange, something that worried Cadence and scared Discord a bit. However, before anything else could happen, the ground shook again, and the Tatzlwurm went out of the ground again. "Does this thing know when to surrender?" asked Twilight in an angry tone.

"I don't know," said the Lord of Chaos, "I thought I've already dispelled the power boost spell I cast on him."

"You what?!"

"It was all part of the test," he justified. But before the librarian could kick his flank, the Tatzlwurm sneezed at him before returning under the ground. Right after that, Discord turned green, and several green points appeared all over his body. Fortunately, Twilight and Cadence were still protected by the Health Bubble, so they wouldn't have been infected.

When Discord started sneezing, Twilight's eyes returned to normal as Cadence asked, "Are you okay, Twilight?"

"My anger disappeared all of a sudden," she said with a satisfied smile as she looked at Discord, who was sick for real now.

"No. I mean, your coat changed color for a second," she elaborated, "Are you sure everything is okay?"

Twilight didn't know what she meant with that, but answered with a smile, "Yes, why should there be something wrong?"

Cadence started thinking that maybe it was just her imagination, so she let it go and changed the subject, "Anyway, I want to tell you that Discord didn't put a damper on our visit at all."

"Really?" asked Twilight in a surprised tone.

"You see, life in the Crystal Empire is wonderful, but it's become a little predictable," she explained, "So, relaxation is the last thing I need. I enjoy a little excitement now and then." She then hugged Twilight and continued, "And facing that Tatzlwurm with you just made me realize even more how lucky I am to have somepony like you as a friend. We may not see each other very often, but I know you'll always be there when I need you."

"Sorry to interrupt your moment," said Discord, who couldn't stop sneezing and didn't feel good at all, "But can you help me, please?" Both mares ended the hug and proceeded to help the sick Draconequus and carried him back to Ponyville.

[Ponyville, Nightfall]

Fortunately, Fluttershy returned from her travel to see the Breezies and was able to host the Draconequus in her cottage. Cadence and Twilight created a magic health bubble around Discord so that he could be cured without being accidentally infected. After that, the crystal princess had to go, so Twilight accompanied her until their arrival at the train station.

“So, this is a goodbye for now,” Twilight sadly said.

“Yes, though I have to admit, my time here was definitely worth it,” Cadence said while putting a hoof on Twilight’s chin, making her look into her eyes, “And I can’t wait to go back again to meet you,” she said with a sincere smile.

Twilight then hugged her former foal-sitter, who returned the favor. Their moment was interrupted by the sound of the crystal train whistling, indicating that it was ready to leave. Cadence then ended the hug, and went towards the front carriage, with Twilight adding, “Send Shining my regards!”

Cadence then turned around, and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I will!” Once she boarded the train, it started to leave the station. Twilight looked at it gaining momentum as the locomotive leaving the station, with her eventually leaving herself.

On her way back to Fluttershy's Cottage, she ran into Goku, Spike, Goten, the Crusaders, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack, who just returned from Zecora's home after both mares were cured of the Blue Flu, a fake disease as the Zebra stated. "Girls! Guys! How was your day?"

"The real question is how was yours with Discord around," replied Applejack with a worried yet annoyed tone.

"He ruined your day with Cadence, didn't he?" asked Rarity with an annoyed tone.

"Hehe," giggled the lavender alicorn, much to the mares' surprise, "Quite a lot happened today, maybe even too much, in my opinion. For instance, fighting a magic-powered gigantic worm."

"Wow!" exclaimed Rainbow, Goku, Goten, and the fillies in awe, "Really?!"

"Mmhm,” she said with a nod, “Let's go to Fluttershy's place, I'll tell you what happened in the meantime," she replied with a smile as they all headed for the yellow pegasus' house.

Filler Chapter 6: Qualifications

[Seaddle, Two months ago]

Seaddle - a beautiful coastal city on the West Coast of Equestria - was the place chosen by the ex-Wolf Desert Bandit, Yamcha, and his best friend, Puar, to start their new lives in the pony kingdom. After receiving bits from Princess Celestia herself, the dynamic duo wandered across the city, looking for jobs or any sort of employment. Having a source of income was important for anyone looking to provide themselves.

For weeks, however, they have found nothing, for the only things Yamcha was capable of were martial arts and playing baseball. Furthermore, his ponified body vastly limited him in many things he took for granted when he was a human, and this influenced him in his quest and everyday life. With no other option, they resorted to the plan they used to do back on Earth whenever they were running low on money: have Puar attract children and adults alike and make them pay to see him use his shape-shifting ability.

They went to one of the city's parks next to the sea, and once having reached their destination, they put themselves near a group of ponies that were conversing, playing, or just relaxing from the stresses of life.

"Alright, Puar," said the light-blue pegasus, "You know the drill."

"Hai, Yamcha-Sama!" exclaimed the cat-like shapeshifter as he began to fly around the area, performing aerial stunts to draw the attention of some ponies. The plan worked as a few colts and fillies saw the tiny blue creature flying just above a nearby field of flowers. Seeing this, the group ran towards him, drawing the attention of the other foals as well. Having caught their attention, Puar slowly flew away with the foals following him.

The ex-bandit of the Diablo Desert noticed that everything was working as planned and prepared himself for the next phase. A few seconds later, Puar reached his best friend, followed by the group of foals, and landed on his head with a happy face. The joyful crowd of fillies and colts stopped in front of the black-maned pegasus, all the while looking at the magical creature.

"Hey there guys," greeted Yamcha with a smile, "I see that my little friend here drew your attention."

"It's so cute!" stated one of the fillies.

"What is it though?" asked a colt with a curious tone.

“How can it fly?” asked another colt.

"What's its name?" asked another filly.

"Hehehe," giggled the azure pegasus, "His name is Puar, and he's a Shapeshifter."

"A Shapeshifter?" one of the foals asked with intrigue.

Yamcha used one of his wings to cover half of his face as Puar flew next to his head, and told, "Cute and rare animals that can be found only in the Southern Transformation Kindergarten. It is where they live, befriend young fillies and colts, and where we teach them the Art of Shapeshifting." Then, Yamcha removed his wing from his face and used it to shield his voice from unwanted ears as he stooped his head down towards them and almost whispered, "But it's a secret, okay?"

All of them nodded with a smile, then one of them asked, "Does it mean that we can make him change form?"

"Yep," he answered with a smile, "You name it, he turns into it."

"Even a spoon?" asked a filly.

Puar immediately turned into a spoon, surprising them all. After that, they started naming things to see the blue-furred Shapeshifter transform into them.

“Okay Puar! I dare you to change into a boat!” said a colt in a confident tone.

In just a blink of an eye, Puar had turned himself into a long rowing boat. The colts and fillies were surprised to see him change into something so big so quickly.

“Oh, I’ve got it! Puar, change yourself into a house!” said an excited filly with a blue bow.

And just like that, Puar had turned himself into a two-story, brightly colored house with a porch. The crowd gawked at the sudden change that Puar had done, with his actions even attracting other nearby bystanders to his show.

“Can you change yourself into a tower?” asked a curious filly with glasses.

Puar instantly changed his form into a mighty castle tower made from red bricks, becoming as tall as some of the nearby buildings. The fillies, colts and even the adult ponies bystanding in the side were left mesmerized by the form the Shapeshifter had turned into.

“How about something small this time. Puar, change yourself into a hedgehog,” asked a colt that was smaller than the others.

The once mighty, red-bricked tower vanished, leaving some of the ponies from far away bewildered over the sudden disappearance. In the wake of the change was a tiny rolled-up furry ball that suddenly sprung up, revealing a small brown and white hedgehog.

The gathered ponies came closer to see the tiny creature, their hearts melting at how adorable it looked.

“Okay, now for something bigger. I dare you to change into a bear!” said a colt in an excited tone.

The once tiny hedgehog turned itself into a giant bear, who stood on its hind legs and roared at the gathered crowd of foals and adult ponies.

“Uhh… how about a sunflower this time?” asked a nervous filly.

Puar did as told and changed himself into a sunflower, standing tall and proud as it was blooming with color.

With the surrounding ponies viewing the majestic sunflower, one curious filly decided to speak up: “Oh, I know! Puar, can you change yourself into Princess Celestia?”

The Sunflower that once stood tall and proud turned itself into the Sun Princess herself, who wore a calm and motherly gaze. The crowd of ponies was left aghast at how detailed and accurate the Shapeshifter mimicked their ruler’s appearance. They all marveled at the fact that he could even become the princess herself.

Not too long ago, the parents, who were looking to where their foals had gone, saw them gathered near a pegasus. Once there, they all witnessed how they were enjoying themselves in seeing a small creature changing its shape. They too began to enjoy the event and found it interesting, including how the unknown stallion commanded the cat-like being.

Yamcha noticed the gathering of adult ponies nearby and smirked, preparing for the final act. He gave instructions to Puar to turn into a pony and told him to speak with a wave of one of his hooves. With ease, the Shapeshifter did as instructed: "Hi!" he greeted, "I'm Puar! Nice to meet you!"

The crowd gaped at the fact that the little creature was able to mimic a pony and soon started cheering and applauding.

The ex Wolf Desert Bandit bowed down while Puar turned into a hat and turned upside-down, something that made the parents and bystanders believe he was a sort of street artist. So, they happily placed some bits in it and left with their children, satisfied by the show they had witnessed. The bystanders too added their bits in, feeling happy to have witnessed quite the spectacle. After that, Yamcha left as well with a sensation of victory as he looked at the almost full hat.

As he was walking down the city's streets, Puar restored his original form, but kept the lower part of his body with a bowl shape to store the golden coins they just earned. "That was a bit tiresome," commented the Shapeshifter, "But it worked as always."

"The old 'Street Artist' trick never fails," proudly assured Yamcha, then he asked, "How about we go get something to eat? You must be hungry after using the 72 Heavenly Transformations Technique so much."

Right after that, Puar's belly grumbled a bit, confirming what his friend just said. "Hehehe," they both giggled as they searched for a restaurant.

As they were looking for it, Puar noticed a medium-sized blue building with a signboard featuring two ponies fighting on its roof. Next to the door, there was another one with the words 'Seaddle Martial Arts Training Center' written on it. Through the windows, one could see some ponies practicing martial arts.

"Yamcha-Sama," he called out, drawing the warrior's attention.

"What is it Puar?" he said as he stopped. The Shapeshifter pointed at the said building, and Yamcha turned his head to see it. He noticed that it was a martial arts school and watched the ponies fighting for a moment.

"I think we've found some employment," commented Puar with a smile that his friend returned.

[Equestria Express, Now]

"Yamcha-Sama!" shouted Puar, snapping his friend from his dreams.

"Woah!" he exclaimed as he suddenly awakened and almost fell from his seat, "What's the matter? Are we already in Baltimare?"

"No, but we're almost there," he answered as the azure pegasus yawned, then he continued, "Our team will be in trouble if you end up somewhere else while sleeping."

"Hehe, don't worry, Puar, I just took a quick nap."

Suddenly, a grayish-blue coated mare with a long silver tail and pale-amber colored eyes entered the passenger car. She was wearing a mane-pin with a waning crescent moon to hold her short messy ponytail in place as her silver mane was hanging on the left of his face with sidebangs, almost covering her left eye. She was also using a mane-tie - with the same lunar symbol - on her tail and had two cute little fangs coming out of her mouth.

"Hey guys," said the female unicorn as she approached them, "Are you two ready? Cause we'll be shortly arriving soon."

"Of course we are, Moonlight," answered the ponified human, "Seaddle will make it to the games, with the qualifications being nothing short of an easy walk."

His teammate smiled and replied as she sat on the seat in front of him, "We're about to face the most skilled warriors of the kingdom; I'm thrilled!"

"Hey, where's Apple Cobbler?" wondered Yamcha.

"Right here!" exclaimed the pale-yellow maned mare from above, as she stood on her seat, "Ready to kick some flanks like apple trees!"

"I like your enthusiasm," praised the ex Wolf Desert Bandit, "Motivation is everything in Martial Arts. Those guys from Manehattan you told me about won't stand a chance against our team, but we should keep an eye on the others too."

"Looking at the previous editions of the Equestria Games," intervened Moonlight, "Baltimare and Whinnyapolis are strong teams as well. Although the Crystal Empire might catch us off guard. This is their first time attending the games after all."

"Well, all we can do now is sit back and relax. We'll find out once we get there shortly," replied Apple Cobbler with a smile as the others agreed with her.

[Vanhoover Express]

Meanwhile, the Vanhoover Combat Team was eating some food before their arrival at Baltimare. Well, mostly one of its members. The ancient demon-like creature known as Majin Buu was happily devouring everything edible on the table as Mr. Satan was talking with the third member of the crew.

"Are you sure he's going to be okay on the ring?" asked Soundwave - a light-gray coated, black-maned pegasus mare with a side braid mane-style and three black sound waves as a Cutie Mark - as she was looking at the chubby pink monster, "Eating that much before a fight doesn't end well most of the time."

"Don't worry," he replied with a grin, "Buu is going to be alright. Indigestion was never an issue for him."

"If you say so," she commented as she witnessed her teammate eating an entire cake with a single bite. "I just don't want our trump card to be out of commission," she then said with a smile.

"We probably won't even need him," he proudly stated, "Vanhoover already has the great Mr. Satan on its side! I doubt there's a pony in this kingdom that can match my strength and speed." He then laughed a bit as he thought, "At least if I don't count Goku, Vegeta, and the others. I need to qualify and win at the Equestria Games if I want to be famous again. Not to mention that Buu is bankrupting me."

"Manehattan has the strongest team yet," Soundwave pointed out, "So, I hope you're right because a team needs at least two members still standing to qualify."

"That battle royale will be a piece of cake, don't worry about it," assured the brown-coated pony with a confident smile.

[Baltimare, 5:00 p.m.]

Baltimare, a sizable harbor city on Equestria's East Coast, was ready to host the Martial Arts event qualifications for the Equestria Games. The Pegasi were finishing their removal of clouds from the sky, the Earth Ponies cleaned the city's streets, and the Unicorns prepared the Rising Sun Arena for the fighters. The city's mayor wanted to make an impression on the ponies coming from all over Equestria; the town needed to look good, and the stadium had to be safe. Luckily enough for him, the Pegasi hadn't scheduled a cloudy or rainy evening, so everything was perfect.

The trains transporting the teams of their respective cities arrived at the station, with their passengers disembarking at the platforms. A thick crowd of ponies filled the place as the teams' delegations tried to form groups before going to the Athletes Village, the location where the fighters would have passed the night after the end of the event.

Seaddle's group gathered near the exit of the station and gazed at the beauty of the city's traditional houses and buildings, not to mention the clean streets. "Hey, this place looks nice, doesn't it?" commented Yamcha with a smile.

"It's a bit rustic if I were to compare it with Nocturnia," replied Moonlight, "But it's lovely indeed."

"Gotta say, I’m appreciating the aesthetics so far," intervened Apple Cobbler, "It reminds me of Ponyville, but bigger!"

Puar was beholding the town as well until he turned his head and saw Vanhoover's group standing six meters away from them. Of course, he had to tell his friends what was going on, "Yamcha-Sama, guys."

"What's the matter Puar?" asked Yamcha with a smile as both Moonlight and Apple Cobbler turned their heads as well.

"I think that winning won't be that easy, after all," he said in a worried tone as he pointed at the group in front of him.

Confused by his words, Yamcha looked at what his friend was pointing and gasped, "What in the world is Buu doing here?!" he thought, then he noticed the brown Earth Pony, "And there's Mr. Satan too."

"What's that creature?" asked Moonlight in awe, "I've never seen anything like that before."

"Seems like a monster made of bubblegum to me," commented Apple Cobbler with a raised eyebrow.

"His name is Majin Buu," stated the ex Desert Bandit, "And it's better not to underestimate him because of his looks."

"He's an acquaintance of yours, I presume," inferred the silver-maned unicorn with a soft smile.

"Yeah, he and the brown pony are friends, actually," he answered as he started walking toward the rival group, "Just give me a second."

Meanwhile, another tough team gathered near the train station's exit. Manehattan's fighters were waiting for all the delegations to be ready as their chaperones were looking at the city with marveled eyes. Vegeta, one of the combatants, had his eyes closed and his forelegs crossed as he rested his back against a nearby column. He became the leader of the team after proving himself far superior to the former squad combined.

He was thinking about testing Goku and letting the others take care of the rest of the fighters, as he believed that they were just a bunch of weaklings, unworthy to fight against the Prince of All Saiyans. He was there only to know how much he increased his strength, how big the gap was between him and Kakarot, and how much he needed to train to close it.

Bulma and Trunks, part of Manehattan's group, were looking at the surroundings, admiring the retro-looking houses. At least from the Earthlings' point of view. However, their gazes happened to fall upon the fat demon standing 11 meters on the left. "Hey, look," said the azure-maned scientist, "It's Majin Buu."

“Yeah, it’s him alright.” Added Trunks.

Right after she pronounced that name, Vegeta suddenly opened his eyes and turned his head to see that the ancient creature was there indeed. "What? What is he doing here?" Then he noticed that there were also Yamcha and Mr. Satan. "Hmpf, they're attending the Games too," he inferred, then he added with a confident smile, "Maybe this evening won't be as boring as I thought." Of course, the presence of Majin Buu was what drove those words.

"You know that thing?" asked Speed Wagon, one of Vegeta's teammates.

"That 'thing' can blast you off to space," answered the black-maned pegasus with his usual stern expression, scaring a bit the dark purple-coated Earth Pony, "It's best if you fools don't dare to challenge him."

Before anyone could say anything else, a familiar voice spoke, "Bulma! Vegeta!" The couple turned their heads and saw Goku approaching them with that cheerful smile of his, along with Goten, Princess Twilight, and their friends from Ponyville.

"Goku! Guys!" greeted back Bulma with a smile as her old friend's group reached them, "Long time no see!"

"Yeah, but it's weird to see you all here," he said as Goten and Trunks started talking with each other, "Don't tell me Vegeta is going to fight in the games too."

"Hmpf," grunted the said pegasus, "Of course. I'll take any chance to beat you in public."

"Hehehe," giggled the alicorn stallion, "Good, at least I know for sure that there will be somebody strong in the games!"

"Buu!" suddenly exclaimed Pinkie as she sped off towards him. Her friends turned their heads and saw that the pink creature was there too. Goku and Goten also noticed Yamcha, Puar, and Mr. Satan, much to their surprise.

"Pink Pony!" exclaimed Buu with a huge smile as he grabbed the party planner and lifted her above his head. As their laughter echoed, their friends were watching the scene with a smile marked on their faces.

[Rising Sun Arena, Porta Triumphalis, 6:20 p.m.]

Once settled in their lodgings, the martial artists gathered in the Colosseum-like stadium as about 80'000 ponies were ready to witness the best fighters of the kingdom fight to qualify for the Equestria Games. The combatants were waiting behind the gates of the arena like legionaries as the mayor was making a speech. They all were wearing armbands with the colors of the flag and the flag of their respective cities, done with the intent to make them recognizable for the public.

"This is interesting," said Twilight as she was reading a book about Baltimare, "The Rising Sun Arena was formerly used to train Princess Celestia's Royal Guards and for martial games. Over time, however, it became accessible to the populace and is mainly used for local events."

"Hehe, this just reminds me of the old times of the World Tournaments back on Earth," commented Goku with a grin and a tone of excitement. "Also, thank you for joining us at the last moment, Rainbow," he said as he looked at the rainbow-maned mare.

"No problem, Goku," she answered with a smile, "You guys helped me with the Aerial Relay, this is the least I could do for you. Besides, how could I say no to kicking some flank for fun?"

Twilight closed her book and said, "But some of Goku's other friends are among the competing teams. Aren't you a bit nervous? Because I am."

"I'm pretty sure their presence alone is enough to avoid them, hehe," nervously replied Rainbow.

"Don't you worry girls, I'll take care of Vegeta and Majin Buu if necessary," assured Goku, making both mares smile in relief.

Meanwhile, not too far away, Yamcha's team was in the middle of a briefing. "These are just the qualifications, so we should focus on keeping us whole and intact while gathering information about the rest of the fighters," explained Moonlight with calmness in her tone.

"Yeah, you’re right, but with Goku, Majin Buu, and Vegeta on the playground, it won't be that easy," sighed Yamcha. Despite being happy to see his friends again, he didn't expect them to attend the games and thus making things way more complicated. “Have to be careful when going against them, but I recommend just avoiding those three at all costs.”

"Are they that strong?" asked Apple Cobbler with curiosity.

"Strong would be an understatement," he stated as he was looking nervously at the ground.

"It doesn't matter really," replied Moonlight, much to the Yamcha's confusion.

"What do you mean? They’re leagues ahead of us!" stated Yamcha, who tried to warn his friend about the might of his old friends.

"Oh, Yamcha," she answered as she slowly shook her head with a small smile, "If you know your opponent and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."

This sentence caught him off guard as he didn't expect such a reply, but it made him start to think about the situation. “She’s right,” Yamcha thought, “maybe things are not as bad I think it would be.”

On the other hoof, Apple Cobbler was giggling, "Hehe, you went Old Wise mode again, huh?"

"Just doing my part," she replied with a smile.

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan's team was silent, though the self-proclaimed savior of Earth was thoughtful as well, "I didn't know Goku, Vegeta, and Yamcha would have attended the games too. Majin Buu is strong, but after what happened on the cruise ship, I don't think he will be enough to win. I hope we won't have to fight them today."

Vegeta's team was in a similar state to Hercule’s team. They were silent as the prince of all Saiyans had only two things in mind: to qualify and meet Kakarot in the Equestria Games to defeat him. As much as his blood was boiling for a fight with the clown himself, he had to remind himself that this event was only the qualifications and that the real prize would be in the actual tournament itself.

The presence of Majin Buu did complicate things just a bit, while Yamcha and Mr. Satan weren't even worth mentioning, at least for him. But he knew that Yamcha was too much for the fools he had as teammates. So, he still needed to be careful, something that pissed him off a bit as he was essentially forced to look after weaklings.

Suddenly, the gates opened, and the roar of the excited public echoed through the corridor as the light of the sunset bathed the warriors. Equestria's best martial artists entered the arena, marveling at the incredible amount of ponies gathered to see them and at the size of the sandy field itself.

[Rising Sun Arena]

The arena was 200 meters long and wide, with a 10 meters tall wall separating the spectators' area from it, having once served for security measures. In the eastern wing of the structure was a medium-sized terrace with balustrades and a golden ring resembling Princess Celestia's Cutie Mark on it, meaning that it was the royal seat. On each side of the arena, there was a scoreboard that featured 49 flags, each containing the number '3' beneath each of them.

"Damn, this stadium is packed!" exclaimed Yamcha in awe.

"It’s incredible that it is still able to hold so many ponies inside, despite its old age," agreed Moonlight as she was fascinated by the ancient architecture. Suddenly, several royal guards appeared in the spectator area, near the 10 meters tall wall. Surrounding the arena, they cast a spell that created an invisible, cylindrical-shaped, 60 meters tall magic shield meant to protect the public from the fighters' attacks. Another enchantment was cast, this time by ordinary unicorns, to create a border 10 meters away from the magic shield.

After that, a royal guard entered the arena from an opening point and flew in front of the warriors. As she was in the air, the cheering crowd went silent as she removed her helmet, preparing to speak: "Martial Artists!" her voice was heard throughout the entire stadium. Seeing one of the rulers among the participants below, she courteously bowed, "And Princess Twilight, welcome to the Rising Sun Arena!" The crowd cheered wildly when she said the last part of the sentence. With her oratory skills being put to work, she patiently waited for the cheering to die down.

Once silent again, she raised her head and continued, "I'm not into long explanations, so I'll be quick: the battle will last 30 minutes, within which your teams will fight for supremacy. To qualify for the Equestria Games, you need at least two fighters within the red perimeter. Magic and any other special abilities are allowed, but to wield weapons or magical artifacts will result in immediate disqualification.” After eyeing the combatants below, she added, “The match will start as soon as the unicorns turn the hourglass behind you upside down. Good luck and may the best of you prevail!” After saying that, she left the arena as the magic shield closed itself completely.

They all turned to see, as right above the gates they came out was a giant hourglass being held by two unicorns, standing on each side. Realizing this, all of the forty-nine teams scattered across the arena to not be attacked from behind or the flanks at the very beginning. As they all were on guard, with a few exceptions, the unicorns holding the hourglass turned it upside down, marking the start of the battle.

All of the 49 teams stared at each other until most of them began to engage. The clash of the fists or magic attacks shook the battlefield as a curtain of sand momentarily covered the area. Goku was happy to see that the opponents were stronger than he thought, and went into the battle with an excited smile. Rainbow and Twilight expected that, but they couldn't say anything as the former was attacked by a Griffon from the Baltimare Team. However, Dash was able to dodge her in time and took off. The griffon noticed it and took off as well, starting an aerial battle with the kingdom's fastest pegasus.

At first, it seemed that Rainbow was fleeing from her opponent, but she then suddenly did a complete U-turn and tried to use her speed to increase the force of her punch. The griffon counterattacked with a punch too, making it clash with the azure pegasus's. Immediately after, they started exchanging blows until Dash got the upper hoof thanks to her speed. She landed several hits on the griffon by dashing from several directions, stunning her for a moment. However, the Baltimarian fighter recovered quickly and counterattacked by matching her foe's speed. Only clashing trails could be seen by the public until they stopped engaging and started flying in a circle while keeping eye contact with each other. Their flight in circle ended with them head-butting the other while still staring at each other's eyes with confident and excited smiles.

Meanwhile, Yamcha was fighting against a fighter from the Whinnyapolis Team, as he was thinking about his squad's overall strategy. He had to hide his real abilities during this match to make it work, so no techniques and Ki manipulation unless forced to use them.

The warrior from Seaddle put those thoughts aside and hit his opponent with a punch, breaking his stance. Then, he kneed the unicorn upward, lifting him from the ground, and ended the assault with a straight, pony-style, double-kick, sending him diagonally to the sky. Much to Yamcha's surprise, the pony from Whinnyapolis stopped in midair as if he was able to fly. The truth, however, was that the unicorn was using his magic to levitate himself and mimic the ability of flight. "Wait, magic can do that?!" he thought surprisingly. However, he couldn't process the information because his opponent counterattacked with a kick, using his higher position to increase the impact force. Such a strike forced Yamcha to the ground, but he quickly stood up and got into his fighting stance with a confident smile. "This is just like the old days of the World Tournaments."

As Yamcha was busy, Vegeta was standing in the middle of the battlefield, looking for somebody worth fighting with. Suddenly, a pegasus from New Horseleans charged at him from above, but the prince sent him against the magic shield with a mere wave of his hoof. "Hmph, worthless insect," he said with his usual stern look.

"Pathfinder from New Horseleans is out," announced the referee as a pegasus pony updated the scoreboard by replacing the number 3 under the city's flag with the number 2.

"Tsk, I'm just wasting my time here," commented the black-maned pegasus with his eyes closed as he was contemplating the idea of fighting either Majin Buu or Kakarot to not die of boredom. However, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Don't be so full of yourself, Manehattan," said that voice with a slight French accent.

Vegeta opened his eyes and turned his head to see a unicorn approaching him. She was a pale-gray mare with a long, undulated tail colored three shades of light-blue, and an undulated, cornflower-blue ponytail-style mane, with two lighter shades of blue streaks, which was covering the left side of her face. Her eyes were sapphire blue, and she had a setting sun with a fading palm in front of it as a Cutie Mark. He sensed her energy and was a bit surprised to find out that she was stronger than most of the fighters there, so he asked, "Who are you?"

"You may call me 'Mirage' during this little encounter," answered the fighter from Monacolt with a smile, "Who do I have the privilege to fight with?"

The pegasus smirked and said proudly, "Vegeta. Try to not forget it." After that, the black-maned pegasus tried to catch her off guard with a quick punch. Vegeta wanted to test her reflexes to see if she could handle hand-to-hand combat with him at least for a bit, but he didn't expect what came next. Mirage dissolved like smoke as soon as his punch touched her, something that took him by surprise, but his state of shock increased when he sensed her energy behind him.

"Wow, you pegasi are truly the definition of speed," she commented, "I almost didn't see that coming."

Vegeta snapped from his shock and exclaimed, "Hmph, don't be so confident just because you dodged one of my attacks!" Right after that, they both disappeared and started throwing punches and kicks to each other, but each blow was dodged or blocked by the other, as they moved all across the arena. The Saiyan prince was surprised by the fact that the mare could keep up with him, but then he smiled confidently upon realizing that the Equestria Games would be more entertaining than expected.

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan was fighting against an earth pony from Foaledo as Majin Buu was watching, and Soundwave was battling a Trottingham fighter. The brown-coated earth pony blocked a flying kick from his opponent with his right foreleg. Then, he grabbed his leg and started spinning him around until he threw him at Majin Buu, whose belly made his foe bounce on it, sending him against the magic shield along with three other ponies in the process.

"Flint Match, Skyline, River Song, and Crimson Rose from Foaledo, Salt Lick City, Horsolulu, and Chicoltgo are out," announced the referee.

"Hahaha!" laughed Mr. Satan, "This is what happens when you dare to challenge the Great and Powerful Mr. Satan!"

[Trottingham, Outskirts]

Approaching the town of Trottingham, there was an azure-coated, pale cerulean-maned unicorn with a magic wand as a Cutie Mark, who was pulling her mobile stage. She stopped abruptly for some reason and started looking around with suspicion in her eyes. "Somepony is trying to steal the title of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Then, she shouted, "WHOEVER YOU ARE, THAT TITLE IS TRADEMARKED!"

[Rising Sun Arena, Spectators Area, Baltimare]

Meanwhile, the Mane 4, Spike, Puar, Bulma, Trunks, and Goten were watching the battle below. They couldn't see anything but Rainbow fighting with a griffon at first because of the sand curtain generated by the clash of the martial artists. As soon as the dust dissipated, they could notice that Goku was fighting random ponies here and there, something that made a drop appear behind Goten's head. "Dad sure did miss fighting, Hehe," he commented with a nervous smile.

"Rainbow Dash seems excited too," said Applejack as she was watching her fight.

"Yeah, she's having fun with that super-duper fast griffon," commented Pinkie with joy, "Who would've thought that the martial arts event could be so fun?" Right after that, a pegasus slammed against the magic shield making a funny face, something that caused Pinkie to laugh.

“Morning Glide from Stratusburg is out!” announced the referee.

"Twilight doesn't seem to be into it, though," noticed Rarity as she saw the princess standing still and looking around.

"Maybe she's scared or she doesn't want to fight," guessed Fluttershy in a slightly worried tone as she was petting Puar.

"I don't think she's scared," replied Spike as he was looking at the princess, "I think she's feeling like a fish out of water right now. She's not a fighter nor an athlete after all."

"But she did fine durin' the Runnin' of the Leaves and the Aerial Relay tryouts," pointed out Applejack, "What's the matter now?"

"Yeah, but those were races, essentially," replied Spike, "This, however, is fighting. The times she fought was because the situation forced her to do so."

"Oh, I hope she'll be okay," said Fluttershy as she could just imagine how uneasy her friend was feeling right now. She would hate to be in her hooves.

Spike turned his head to see the yellow pegasus and said with a smile, "Don't worry Fluttershy, I'm sure she'll be alright. It's nothing she can't handle. "

"Hey, look," said Trunks, "That lady is fighting with dad!"

Bulma couldn't see them until they stopped, then she commented, "You're right, Trunks! I didn't think there could be anybod - I mean, anypony - that could match your father apart from Buu and Goku."

Rarity looked at the mare they were talking about: “I swear I have seen her from somewhere, but where?” That was until she realized who the unicorn was and gasped, "It can't be! She's Mirage of Monacolt!"

"Who?" asked the rest of the group in confusion.

"Mirage," she sighed, "She's the daughter of the Duchess of Monacolt, as well as one of the icons of fashion in Prance! I didn't know she was interested in martial arts; this is quite the gossip!"

"So, a prince versus a future duchess? Quite interesting, but the result is obvious," commented Bulma as if titles mattered in combat.

[The Arena]

Meanwhile, Vegeta and Mirage restarted their exchange of blows. The prince threw a punch, but it was blocked by hers; he then tried to deliver a kick, but the unicorn vanished. She instantly appeared behind and double-kicked him, sending him a few meters away. However, Vegeta used his momentum to perform a few somersaults and land on his hooves. Then, he turned, and with a cocky smile, he stated, "Playtime is over."

The black-maned pegasus unleashed his white aura as he was increasing his power. The sudden burst of energy caused a shockwave that sent several ponies against the magic shield while shaking the ground beneath. “Steel Hooves, Autumn Harvest and Rainstorm from Dodge Junction, San Franciscolt and Las Pegasus are out!” the referee announced.

Mirage protected herself from the mighty wind with a magic shield as she was looking at his opponent in awe. “A pegasus using magic?” she internally said, "What kind of sorcery is this?"

After he finished powering up, Vegeta looked at his opponent and said with a cocky smile, "I hope I didn't scare you with my power."

"Oh, no, au contraire, mon ami (Oh, no, on the contrary, my friend)," she answered with a confident smile, "I'm just impressed, that's all."

"Let's see if you can still keep up with me, mare," said Vegeta, right before rushing to her with tremendous speed.

Yamcha, in the meantime, blocked a punch coming from his opponent and counterattacked, but the unicorn from Whinnyapolis nullified the strike with his magic shield. He was growing frustrated because of that: it was true that he was able to block or dodge his attacks, but, at the same time, he couldn't get through that shield, resulting in a protracted stalemate.

The fighter from Seaddle jumped high in the sky all of a sudden and used gravity to increase the impact force of his punch. To defend himself, his opponent activated his green magic shield again, protecting himself from Yamcha's hoof. The blow made the dome-shaped shield sink a few centimeters into the sandy field while generating a small shockwave and moderate winds, but it failed in its attempt to shatter it.

Then, the warrior put his hind legs on the shield and used them to acquire momentum and perform three backward somersaults, landing on his hooves six meters away from his foe. “That damned shield. I need to bypass it if I want to get rid of him, but how?" But then, his opponent charged at him as he dropped the shield, making Yamcha realize something, "Wait, he has to deactivate the shield before attacking which means... of course! How could I not notice it before?"

Yamcha prepared himself and, as soon as the unnamed unicorn threw his punch, he grabbed it and pulled his foreleg to himself, forcing his foe to get closer. An instant later, Yamcha used his free foreleg to land a heavy blow on his opponent's belly, sending him several meters away from him. "He can't activate the shield if I'm too close," he thought with a cocky smile.

Suddenly, a charging buffalo from Appleloosa appeared and rammed Yamcha, propelling him toward the border of the arena. The azure-coated pegasus buried his hind legs into the sandy ground to try to stop the colossal beast from pushing him out of the red area, but it was futile. So, he unleashed his white aura to increase his power, slowing him down. However, Apple Cobbler freed Yamcha from the attacking bison by kicking him on his side, sending the warrior from Appleloosa several meters away.

"Don't worry, Yamcha," she said as she gave him a quick smile before going after the stunned buffalo, "I got him!"

The pegasus sighed in relief and said, "I didn't see that tank coming at all." But suddenly, the unicorn he was battling before appeared out of nowhere as he was performing a flying kick to send him beyond the red line. Unfortunately for him, Yamcha quickly reacted by grabbing his hind leg and threw him out of the red area with ease.

"Glistening Shield from Whinnyapolis is out!" announced the referee.

"I wonder how Moonlight is doing," he thought as he walked to the center of the arena, looking for another opponent.

Son Goku was desperately looking for a strong opponent to fight with, so he battled dozens of fighters hoping to find one, but they couldn't withstand a single strike from him. Therefore, he thought he could fight with Majin Buu, Vegeta, or even Yamcha to have some fun. However, both Vegeta and Majin Buu were already busy while Yamcha was nowhere to be seen. He sighed, but before he did anything else, Twilight approached him and said, "Hey Goku, something wrong?"

"Still looking for a fight," he answered in a slightly sad tone, then he turned his head toward her and asked, "What about you? Already fought somepony?"

The lavender princess was a bit hesitant, but then she replied, "Well, not exactly. I'm not so eager to start a fight for no reason. I know this is supposed to be a sort of test, but it's just stronger than me. Besides, everyone here just avoids me, possibly because I'm a princess."

The black-maned alicorn looked at her for a moment, then he smiled and said, "Don't worry, there are still the Equestria Games for that. Just make sure to be ready by then."

"Thank you," she sighed in relief, then she said, "I wonder how Rainbow Dash is doing."

As if to answer, a flash of lightning-bolt blinded them both for one second, after which the referee announced, "Goldstone from Baltimare is out!"

They raised their heads and saw their Rainbow-maned friend in the sky with a victory smile, meaning that she was the one who eliminated the griffon. She was still looking at her downed opponent as she thought, "Who knew that an old trick like the Buccaneer Blaze would have been so useful one day?"

"She's fine," both Twilight and Goku said in unison. Once they lowered their heads, they noticed that a pony was flying toward them. Not because he was attacking, but because he was thrown away by somepony else. The alicorn duo quickly sidestepped, letting the unfortunate pony keep his path toward the magic shield. Then, they saw a unicorn mare with little fangs approaching them.

"Greetings, alicorn warrior and Princess Twilight Sparkle, fourth ruler of Equestria," she said, as she stopped once she was six meters away from them.

Goku noticed that the energy of the mare in front of them was higher than most of the fighters in the arena, and even her Ki's nature was different. Of course, this sparked the stallion's curiosity, "Who are you?"

"I am Moonlight, Knight of the Lunar Guards," she answered, then she pointed at Goku and exclaimed, "I challenge you to a duel!"

"Lunar Guards?" wondered Twilight with both confusion and curiosity.

"Do you know them?" asked Goku.

The princess shook her head and replied, "It's the first time I ever heard of them."

"What shall it be?" asked Moonlight, waiting for an answer, "Will you abandon your honor and flee?"

The black-maned alicorn smiled in excitement and stated, "I never flee an opponent; I accept your challenge!"

Moonlight smiled a bit and asked, "May I have your name, alicorn warrior?"

The scarlet-eyed stallion got into his fighting stance and answered, "I'm Son Goku, but you can call me Goku."

"Very well, then!" she exclaimed, mimicking her opponent's action, "Brace yourself, Son Goku!"

Son Goku attacked first by rushing at her and trying to connect his punch with her cheek. However, Moonlight ducked and moved her head 10 degrees upward, then she cast an attack spell on the alicorn's belly, forcing him to retreat. The ponified Saiyan was caught off guard by that attack, and the pain he was feeling was proof that he wasn't dealing with a pushover. He smiled in excitement and attacked again, but this time his opponent mimicked his action.

Goku threw another punch, but it was blocked by the mare, who crossed her forelegs. Moonlight counterattacked with a fake fist that the black-maned alicorn dodged, believing it was a real attack. Then, Goku tried to exploit the apparent aperture, but his opponent turned her ongoing strike into a defensive maneuver, deflecting the route of his blow five degrees left. As a result, the scarlet-eyed stallion missed his target, thus allowing the silver-maned unicorn to land a roundhouse kick on his cheek.

The black-maned alicorn was sent six meters away, but he performed three sideways somersaults to recover from that blow, and, with a smile, he rushed toward his opponent. Moonlight attacked as well, and they started throwing and dodging each other blows at high speed. During the blow exchange, Goku noticed that he was faster than her, but her fighting style was so efficient it could convert attacks into defensive movements and vice-versa. That was why he couldn't break her defense while she could land some blows on him.

Goku tried to land a punch on her, but Moonlight did a 180-degree spin, dodging the attack, and elbowed him on the chest, letting him out of breath. The blow was strong enough to force the alicorn to retreat several meters away. The stallion was catching his breath as he was thinking about the moves of his opponent: it was the first time he encountered a fighting style that integrated both defense and offense at the same time. However, that didn't stop him from smiling at the challenge in front of him.

Not too far, another battle was unfolding. Vegeta was struggling with Mirage despite using all his power in base form, not because she was stronger, but because he couldn't lay a hoof on her. Each time he touched her, the future duchess dissipated like smoke, just to reappear somewhere else as if anything happened. Of course, this advantage allowed the unicorn to land a few blows, much to the prince's irritation.

"Stop fleeing, you coward!" he shouted in anger, then he calmed himself a bit and mocked, "Are you truly a fighter? Or are you just a buffoon that likes to pull out tricks to hide their weakness?"

"Oh là là," she said as she appeared a few meters away from him, "We're getting impatient, aren't we? I'll be a fool if I take you on frontally, that's why I use strategy instead; this is the most basic lesson about Martial Arts, mon ami. If your idea of fighting is just showcasing power and strength, it means that you're merely a vulgar brawler and not a martial artist."

"What?!" Vegeta growled at her remark.

However, before he could retort, he felt Kakarot's power increasing. He glanced to the side and saw the black-maned alicorn unleashing his aura as he set his sights on a dark blue-coated, silver-maned unicorn that was ready to fight.

“Well then, monsieur, shall we resume our fight?” Mirage confidently said as she got into a fighting stance.

“You’re damn right about that,” Vegeta said as the two fighters charged at each other.

Yamcha sensed Goku's ki increasing too, so he got closer to see what was going on. Once he was close enough, he noticed that his teammate, Moonlight, was the one fighting against him. He was impressed and surprised as he didn't think she could force Goku to power up, although he never figured out how strong she truly was; for some reason, he couldn't sense her ki very well, especially at night as it disappeared completely.

"But her opponent is Goku, I don't know how much time she'll resist."

Meanwhile, Moonlight was looking at her opponent, who was showcasing a confident yet excited smile as he bathed himself into that white aura. He had the same ability as Yamcha, meaning that he just increased speed and strength along with his power. She braced herself for his next attack, something that didn't take too long to happen.

Goku rushed toward her, but instead of going for a frontal attack, he performed the Afterimage Technique and evolved it into the Afterimage Strike. His action caught the unicorn off guard as she expected a direct blow and not such a technique. She was surrounded by at least eight moving Goku's, so she was a bit confused, but kept her guard up anyway. The black-maned alicorn began the assault, attacking her from all directions.

Initially, Moonlight held on, thanks to her unique fighting style. However, the attacks increased in frequency and became more random, something that allowed her foe to land some blows on her. She couldn't track the real Goku as every afterimage radiated energy, making her believe they were real clones. From outside the pressing area, it seemed like she was being attacked from all directions at once.

The stallion finished the attack by landing a kick on her belly, making her bend as she was on two legs. Then, he kicked her chin, forcing her to the air, and used his momentum to perform a somersault and jumped high to reach her. The assault ended with a roundhouse kick that sent her 15 meters away. Moonlight landed on her back and laid on the ground for a few seconds as a bit of blood could be seen running down her mouth.

The silver-maned mare was heavily breathing as she cleaned her mouth with her left hoof and looked at the stain of blood on it. She proceeded with cleaning it with magic as she looked at the sky, noticing that the sunset was about to end, but it still needed some time. "I still can't ask the Moon for its grace, as the eternal star is yet to set," she thought as she slowly started to stand up again.

"This fight is already over," stated Goku, much to the mare's surprise, "You're strong, but you can't beat me; there's no point in continuing this duel."

"He thinks he already achieved victory," analyzed Moonlight as she got into her fighting stance again, "Which is perfect."

Goku just shook his head at her action and tried to end it with a fast-draw attack, but he didn't expect his opponent to dodge it. "What?! She can still react to my speed despite being weaker??" he thought, surprised as he landed behind her, "Well, another Afterimage attack should get the job done then."

The alicorn stallion performed the Afterimage Strike once more, surrounding her again as she was seemingly doing nothing. Moonlight, unexpectedly, broke her stance and closed her eyes as she started breathing. Those who were watching the duel couldn't understand what she was doing, for she was wide opened for an attack. The amber-eyed unicorn inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth as if she was doing breathing exercises.

"I can feel it," she thought as she kept on breathing, "Through my horn, through my head, through my legs, down my body, into the ground...I can feel the pulse of life." As a golden aura engulfed her body, she chanted, "My heart is burning...with the heat of a raging fire!" She then opened her eyes and said as she raised her right hoof, "I have you now, Son Goku! I'll send this energy through the ground!" Instants later, she punched the ground, making it glow golden, "SENDO HAMON OVERDRIVE!"

A golden vortex of energy filled the ground and all of the moving images of Goku were destroyed by what seemed like golden electricity coming from the sand. All of them but one, who was sent tens of meters away. The stallion laid on the ground while a bit of that gold-colored electricity was still punishing his body. Twilight ran to help him as he seemed semi-paralyzed while Yamcha couldn't believe what just happened.

"I'm sure her power didn't increase at all, yet she just turned the tables around somehow!" thought the ex-Desert Wolf Bandit in awe.

"Are you alright?" asked Twilight in worry as she helped him to stand up again.

"I don't know," he answered as his body felt like if he was just electrocuted, "My body feels a bit rigid."

"That is the side-effect of my technique," said Moonlight as she approached the alicorns, "I put a bit of that energy into you to slow down your movements. Right now, you are slower than me."

"What?!" he said.

"This is what happens when one makes bold statements based on excessive confidence. It makes you careless and vulnerable."

Goku opened his eyes wide at her statement, realizing what he just did. He was doing the same action that led to his defeat and the destruction of Earth, along with his old friends at the hands of Beerus. These were just qualifications for a mere game, but what if she was a villain? What if the paralysis was stronger? His expression changed all of a sudden and said, "Twilight, get back."

The lavender alicorn was a bit worried about her friend, but she obeyed and let him finish his fight. The stallion increased his base power to the max and flew toward Moonlight to end the duel once and for all. That weird energy in his body, however, reduced his speed, enough to put him on the same level as her. So, she was in perfect control of the situation. Moonlight noticed that her opponent's mood and behavior changed, meaning he was upset. If he was upset, then it was likely he was acting through impulse, making his next move predictable: he probably wanted to end the fight with a single blow.

"It's too late for that," she thought as she extended one of her forelegs, blocking a powerful punch coming from Goku. However, something weird was happening: a blue ripple was going through her extended foreleg, her midsection, and through her other foreleg which was charging a punch. "COUNTER!" she exclaimed as she landed that punch on the stallion's cheek, sending him against the magic shield. The kinetic energy of Goku's punch was transferred to Moonlight's, meaning that she hit him back with his strength and not hers.

All of Goku's friends in the spectators' area couldn't believe what they saw, until the referee said it, "Son Goku from Ponyville is out!"

“Dad lost?” Goten said in shock.

“Wait, Kakarot got beaten?” Vegeta thought in bewilderment.

“WHAT! Goku lost?!” Rainbow said as she saw her teammate laying outside the red line.

“No way, Moonlight actually defeated Goku!” Yamcha said out loud.

“Now THAT was something that I did not expect,” Mr. Satan internally said as he was fighting against a Fillydelphia team member.

Right after that, the sun hid beyond the horizon and the moon arose. Goku was slowly standing up when he, Yamcha, Twilight, Vegeta, Mirage and the ponies nearby saw a delicate gleam coming from Moonlight. Her silver mane glowed like the moon, her pupils turned more similar to those of a cat, and a pair of bat wings appeared out of dim light.

A whistle could be heard as the last grains of sand reached the bottom half of the hourglass, marking the end of the 30 minutes. “Fillies and Gentlecolts! The qualification round is over!” announced the royal guard pegasus from before. The public roared at the news, stomping and cheering in joy and excitement after witnessing the intense match.

Twilight marveled at what she was seeing. “She resembles Flutterbat, but way less spooky and more… regal, almost divine, in a way.” However, she put those thoughts aside and ran towards Goku to help him out. Some of the other ponies approached the bat-winged 'alicorn' in awe, and with a few asking her questions, much to her annoyance. Fortunately, Apple Cobbler saved her from the crowd.

After counting the scoreboards underneath the flags of each city, the Royal Guards, specifically the pegasus royal guard, made another announcement, “From the results, we have gathered, seven teams have made it to the Equestria Games! In alphabetical order, the successful teams are as follows: Canterlot, Fillydelphia, Manehattan, Monacolt, Ponyville, Seaddle, and Vanhoover. The winners will meet the Crystal Empire, meaning that there would be eight teams in total in the Martial Arts Event! Congratulations to the victors of this match, we look forward to your performance in the Equestria Games!”

Roaring applause and cheering were made by the spectators, as the final words were spoken over the results of the qualifications. During the announcement itself, Applejack noticed that one of her cousins was among the fighters all of this time, much to her surprise. “Well shoot, it’s Apple Cobbler!”

Goku was still thinking about what happened earlier, something that both Rainbow and Twilight noticed. "Hey, is everything alright, Goku?" asked Rainbow.

He snapped from his thoughts, and with a burst of nervous laughter, he answered, "Y-yeah, I'm fine. I was thinking about that weird golden energy, that's all."

"Oh, but you can ask her later, we all are going to the same place after all," Twilight added.

"Y-you're right, hehe," he replied with a nervous smile. Twilight, on the other hoof, wasn't convinced of what he said but decided to let it go, as it could be just her imagination.

Mr. Satan, Majin Buu, and Soundwave were happy to have qualified for the games, but the former knew that his road to fame was an uphill battle, as his team would face Goku, Vegeta, Yamcha and even that mare that defeated the former. He just hoped that Majin Buu was strong enough for them.

Vegeta was glad to have his team, as well as Kakarot’s, qualified for the Equestria Games, where he would go all out and not hold back. “I will make sure not to make the same mistake as that clown today,” he internally assessed. His match with Mirage, however, did make him consider new strategies and tactics to deal with magical opponents such as her.

Meanwhile, Yamcha was thinking about Moonlight and Goku's fight. For a long time, he thought that only the strongest could win a battle, especially when the Saiyans came to be. But his teammate just proved him wrong; anyone could indeed defeat stronger foes, with the right technique, style, strategy and more. "We still have a few months before the games itself," he thought with a confident smile, "I'll use the time to develop a new technique or something, and not even a Super Saiyan will keep my team away from victory!"

Filler Chapter 7: Equestria Games - Part 1 (Edited)

[Aurora Ring, Equestria Games - Day 1 - Opening Ceremony]

The Crystal Empire, Equestria's coldest region and the last city before entering the Frozen North, hosted the kingdom's biggest athletic competition in the Aurora Ring. The Empire's architects designed the stadium to be comparable in size and shape to the Rising Sun Arena, but with a more modern design that fused with crystal architecture, thus keeping the city's legacy and heritage. It was truly an impressive sight of engineering, especially considering the isolation they experienced from the rest of Equestria for 3000 years.

At least 100'000 ponies and other beings from all over the kingdom filled the seats, while the stadium's staff and the Crystal Guards were finishing the last preparations for the upcoming event. The athletic delegations waited in the stadium's tunnel for Shining Armor's signal to start the parade. "Places for the procession, everypony!" shouted the Captain of the Royal Guards as he stood in front of the flag-bearers of the Crystal Empire and Manehattan, "Two minutes!"

At the Royal Podium, the princesses of Equestria, the nobles, mayors, and delegates from across the Kingdom were happily waiting for the beginning of the opening ceremony. However, Princess Twilight's seat was still empty and Princess Celestia was a bit worried about her. Before she could ask about her, an old acquaintance of hers spoke in a Prench accent, "Long time no see, Celestia."

Upon hearing that voice, the Goddess of the Sun turned her head and saw Duchess Diamond Waves of Monacolt standing next to Twilight's seat. She was a yellow-coated unicorn with a long mane colored with three different shades of blue - just like her daughter - and a long tail having the same scheme of colors. She was wearing a golden diadem, and her Cutie Mark was a big seashell. "Diamond Waves!" she exclaimed, happy to see her friend again as she approached her, "It's so nice to see you again. It has been quite some time I must say."

"Eons!" joked the unicorn, "But yes, it is nice to finally meet each other after all this time.”

It was then that Celestia realized that somepony was missing. “Where’s Mirage? Isn’t she supposed to be with you?”

“Oh my, Celestia mon ami, it seems your memory has become hazier than last time,” Diamond Waves said in feigned shock. A faint blush appeared on Celestia’s cheeks, feeling quite embarrassed at that dramatic yet truthful statement.

“But on a more amicable note, Mirage will be representing Monacolt in the field of Martial Arts,” she said with a hint of pride in her voice, feeling proud of her daughter’s prowess in not only martial arts but in magic as well.

Celestia was quite surprised by the unexpected news. She knew that Monocolt had qualified for the Equestria Games and knew of the martial training Mirage took part as part of her royal duties, but she didn’t expect the heir of the Duchess to partake in the tournament herself.

“I must say, Diamond, I wasn’t aware of your daughter’s participation in the games,” Celestia said honestly.

“Well, you can say that her entrance will be more enthralling than the last time we met. As much as I want to continue our chat, the games are about to start. I’m sure we'll have the chance to talk later, Adieu."

After that quick conversation, the noble unicorn went to her seat, which was just below those of the princesses. Celestia went back to her seat as she looked at Twilight's empty one, asking, "Cadence, did you happen to see Twilight anywhere?"

"Oh, you'll see her soon, don't worry," she answered with a smile, much to her auntie's confusion.

Right after that, the flag-bearers, along with their respective delegations, began to enter the grassy arena one by one. The formers planted their cities' flag in the center as the athletes gathered in front of the terrace with a giant and sophisticated cauldron that, once lighted, would start the games officially. When the Ponyville Delegation revealed its composition, many marveled at the fact that there was a princess among them. Princess Celestia was surprised by this revelation, as the reason behind Twilight’s absence from the Royal Podium was finally revealed. Another pony more surprised than Celestia was Shining Armor, who could not believe what he was seeing.

Cadence already told him some time ago that his little sister would attend the Equestria Games, but it was still shocking to see it. He always thought of her as more the intellectual type, so seeing her participating as an athlete in a sports event was more than just unusual. His wife also told him that a certain Son Goku trained her so far and, upon noticing an alicorn stallion among the Ponyville Team, he found out who he might be.

Once all of the delegations stood in front of the cauldron, Spike, who had the honor of taking part in the ceremony, lit the cauldron up, marking the official start of the Equestria Games.

[Equestria Games - Day 5 - Aerial Relay]

The first event, Aerial Sprint, ended with no surprises as the favorites, the Wonderbolts of Cloudsdale, won the gold medal; the Griffons of Baltimare acquired silver while Ponyville acquired bronze. The second event, Aerial Acrobatics, was another gold medal for Cloudsdale, with Ponyville reaching second place while the Crystal Empire earned third. With two gold medals, Cloudsdale was already leading the games, but Rainbow Dash was determined to stop their charge in the next event, the Aerial Relay.

The Aerial Relay was a round-robin tournament that lasted a few days, depending on the number of participants. During this period, Ponyville faced and defeated Canterlot, Baltimare, the Crystal Empire, and Las Pegasus. Now, they had to face Cloudsdale, who evened up the score after defeating Canterlot.

The route was an ascending 200 meter-wide spiral marked by flying rings. There were no rings in two specific points as those served as the checkpoints where the racers would pass the horseshoe to their teammates. Goku and Soarin would be the first ones to race, followed by Twilight and Fleetfoot, and Rainbow Dash and Spitfire finishing the race at the final third of the race. All of the participants wore jackets with the colors of their team's flag, as a way for them to be recognizable to the spectators.

"Hey dude, good luck," wished Soarin to Goku as he pointed his hoof toward him, "and may the best team win!"

The black-maned alicorn understood that it was an invitation for a fistbump, so he accepted it and replied, "Let's give it our all!"

After that, confident smiles appeared on their faces as they grabbed their respective horseshoe. One of the referees approached them and stood at the side of the track. "Alrighty then, gentlecolts, on your marks!" he said as he pulled out an air horn, with the competitors setting themselves in crouching positions, ready to blast their way onto the track, "Get set! …” silence took over the arena as everyone waited in trepidation. Suddenly, the loud sound of the air horn was heard throughout the area, marking the start of the race.

Both flyers blasted off, creating a small shockwave in the process. Like racing planes, Goku and Soarin were speeding through the rings as the public cheered in excitement. They were racing neck-and-neck, something that surprised the black-maned alicorn as he didn't recall any of the Wonderbolts being so fast. "Hey, you improved since the last time," he commented.

Soarin smiled in confidence and said, "After witnessing your performance back at Rainbow Falls, we decided to train harder than usual. We didn't want to go down without putting up a fight!" After that, he increased his speed and put himself ahead of Goku by a noticeable distance, catching him off guard.

The alicorn, however, smiled at this and started flapping his wings harder. Goku had little experience in flying with wings, however, due to his strength, he excelled in sheer wingpower. His opponent, on the other hoof, was a veteran flyer and, despite having inferior wingpower, he knew how to exploit aerodynamics to their full potential. The ponified Saiyan struggled to reach Soarin, not only because of his veteran experience but also due to the size of the rings, which made the passage of two high-speed ponies difficult. To touch one of them meant five more seconds added to the overall timing of the squad.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Fleetfoot were waiting at the end of the third curve as they watched their teammates racing. "Woohoo!" exclaimed the light arctic blue-coated pegasus, "There you go, Soarin!"

"You can do it, Goku!" cheered the Princess in a bit of worry as the racing stallions hit the second curve.

As the stallions dashed through the rings, Goku noticed that his opponent left enough space on his right for him to catch up. With his strong wingpower, he started flapping his wings as soon as he found himself between the rings, reducing and nullifying Soarin's advantage. The Wonderbolt was impressed that his rival could reach him with sheer wingpower, but he still had the upper hoof. Due to his inexperience in races and flight skills, Goku didn't know that he picked the external side of the curve, which meant that Soarin would come out of the spiral of rings first.

Both flyers hit the third curve at supersonic speed, but Goku and Soarin were still tied. The scarlet-eyed alicorn tried to fly faster, but the pegasus changed his head and wings' angulation to be more aerodynamic, making him penetrate the air better. At that point, Goku understood that he was racing against an ace, so he had to come up with something as sheer speed wasn't enough. He had to use his battle experience in this, or else Twilight wouldn't have it easy against Fleetfoot, so he started thinking about a solution.

Usually, he used Ki to outpace a foe, but it would be like cheating in this contest, so he dismissed this option. He thought about many things until he remembered that race he had with Piccolo when Chi-Chi forced them to get a driving license. He smiled, and, with a flap of his wings, he followed the circumference of one of the rings counterclockwise and placed himself above Soarin.

Instinctively, Soarin went to the right, allowing Goku to take over his previous position. Now, it was the scarlet-eyed alicorn who had the edge as his opponent lost his strategic advantage and lacked the sheer wingpower to catch up with him. "Oh no!" Soarin internally exclaimed, as he blamed himself for that mistake.

"It's over, Soarin!" exclaimed Goku as he flew faster, putting himself ahead by a sizable distance right before reaching Twilight and Fleetfoot. The scarlet-eyed alicorn passed the horseshoe to the lavender princess, who sped off immediately afterward. However, the fastest member of the Wonderbolts was just behind her as she received the horseshoe half a second later than her.

"That was a good race," commented Soarin as he was catching his breath, "Nice move, by the way. You caught me off guard there."

"Hehehe," giggled Goku as he rubbed the back of his head.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Fleetfoot were speeding through rings bigger in size than those of the first three curves, meaning both mares had an easier time outstripping each other. Only the fastest mare would win the second phase of the relay. The light gray-maned pegasus was the ace of the Wonderbolts in terms of speed and overall experience, giving her a significant advantage over the princess.

Twilight, on the other hoof, had nothing more than her quick start and slightly superior wingpower over her opponent as she wouldn't use Ki, due to her training being focused on fighting rather than flying. She could perform a Sonic Rainboom, but she didn't remember how she did it back at Rainbow Falls and feared to hurt Fleetfoot with the shockwave. Moreover, using the technique could potentially see her miss the curve as a result of its excessive speed, costing her valuable time. She did, however, know the secrets of flight on a theoretical level, so she could use her intellect to even up things, that is if she was able to put them into practice.

Fleetfoot exploited some favorable winds to outpace the lavender alicorn without effort, putting herself ahead by a sizable distance. Upon seeing this, Twilight accelerated to close the gap, partially succeeding as the azure-coated pegasus increased her speed as well.

The situation didn't change until they hit the fifth curve when Twilight started to analyze it. From her point of view, using algebraic, geometric, and trigonometric calculations to determine the distance between her and Fleetfoot, more speed was needed to surpass her, as wind velocity, direction, and air resistance could be seen.

She discovered that Fleetfoot was using air currents from the north and the south to increase her speed during the first and last phases of the curves. However, there was a gap right in the middle with no wind whatsoever, so that was her only possibility to close the distance between them. "But it will be futile if I don't stop her from using those air currents," she thought while looking for a solution. But then, an idea formed in her head, followed by a smirk appearing on her face.

Fleetfoot was about to hit the sixth curve while also focusing on the environment and her opponent. Her opponent was still behind, so her victory was almost assured, but she wouldn't relax yet. She was racing a princess, so it would be an insult to the crown if she underestimated her or mocked her by not putting in actual effort. Moreover, it wouldn't be fair behavior in general.

When the pegasus entered the ascensional phase of the curve, she didn't feel the wind flowing through her feathers or touching her body. Instead, she could hear a sound resembling that of a tornado nearby. Turning her head, she saw something she didn't expect. Twilight was spinning on her axis so fast it created a small tornado around her.

Her maneuver captured the winds used by Fleetfoot to increase her speed while creating a small vacuum in the middle that drastically reduced air resistance in front of her. In this way, Twilight nullified her opponent's advantage while increasing her speed with little effort. In the blink of an eye, the lavender princess surpassed the light silver-maned pegasus and hit the sixth curve first.

Rainbow Dash and Spitfire were watching the whole thing and marveled at such a maneuver. However, the former shook her head and cheered, "Way to go Twilight! Keep it up, you can do it!"

"Come on, Fleetfoot!" shouted Spitfire as soon as she recovered, "Cloudsdale's counting on you!"

Once Twilight stopped spinning, she felt sick from her daring performance and began to lose speed, giving Fleetfoot the chance to close in the relatively big gap. Upon noticing this, the lavender alicorn tried to accelerate again, but she was still feeling the effects of her aileron roll. The pegasus mare reached the princess, with the latter being ahead by just a few centimeters.

Eventually, Twilight's sickness disappeared, leading her to use her wingpower to increase the distance between her and her rival. However, Fleetfoot countered it by assuming an aerodynamically better position. Nothing changed until they reached the end of the curve, in which the azure-coated mare used the air current once more to increase her speed.

The Element of Magic tried to exploit that wind too, but the Wonderbolt member had a better flying stance. Twilight didn't perform the tornado maneuver again as she could hurt Fleetfoot, who was too close for her liking. Finally, they reached both Rainbow Dash and Spitfire, with the latter receiving the horseshoe a second before the former.

[Royal Podium]

At the Royal Podium, both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were astonished by not only Twilight’s technique but her overall improvement in flying.

“I must say, I’m quite impressed by Twilight’s aerial abilities, especially that maneuver she employed to overtake Cloudsdale,” Commented Luna, observing the race with excitement.

“Indeed, I too felt the same way when I visited her in Ponyville,” Cadence said, reminiscing the adventure she had with her sister-in-law.

“To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if she gave Rainbow Dash a run for her bits,” Shining Armor stated, still having difficulty processing his sister’s drastic improvements in athletics.

“Regardless of her speed or techniques, I’m glad to see her adapt to her new alicorn form so quickly,” Celestia said with a smile. Despite losing the advantage, Twilight showed great progress in the art of flying, and it made the Sun Goddess feel proud of her. Cadence noticed her auntie's reaction and smiled as well, but she knew that this was just the beginning.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Spitfire dashed through the rings of the seventh curve. Unlike the previous ones, the last sections' rings had different sizes; some were even too small for two ponies to pass through. The key to winning the race now was to reach those small rings first.

However, the rainbow-maned pegasus was already leading the race, thanks to Goku's training. Unlike Twilight, she focused on speed and stamina, so her wingpower, with the absence of Ki, was the greatest among the three. Considering her experience in flying and aerial acrobat training in the Wonderbolts Academy, she was by no means inferior in anything to Spitfire.

As they flew at supersonic speed, this was growing more evident to the Captain of the Wonderbolts. However, she didn't want to give up and tried to reach Rainbow Dash, with her attempts ending in futility. The cyan-coated pegasus was already hitting the eighth curve while Spitfire had yet to complete the seventh. "Shoot, when did she become that fast?!" she wondered in both awe and frustration. They trained to counter Goku's speed, but she never expected to be outpaced like that by a cadet, regardless of her training and talent.

[Spectators Area]

The Mane 4, Goten, and Spike were watching in awe as their friends raced against the Wonderbolts ace team. However, they marveled even more at how easy Rainbow Dash was winning against Spitfire. They recovered soon after and began cheering for their friend and the Ponyville Team as a whole.

"KEEP IT UP, RAINBOW DASH!" shouted Pinkie Pie, speaking for the others as well.

Spitfire couldn't close the gap between her and Rainbow Dash, but she was able to stop it from becoming wider. About 30 meters separated them, and such distance remained until the rainbow-maned mare reached the goal. The entire stadium burst into a loud cacophony of noise, as Rainbow Dash cheered in joy for her team's victory over Cloudsdale, for they have just won their first gold medal for Ponyville in the Equestria Games.

"Congrats for your victory, Rainbow Dash," she suddenly heard. When she turned her head, she saw Spitfire flying toward her.

"Good race we had there," she answered enthusiastically as she was still thrilled for the victory.

"It seems that Cloudsdale has a new rival in the Equestria Games," said Spitfire with a confident smile as she stopped in front of her and crossed her forelegs, "Let's see which team wins more gold medals."

"I was about to tell you that," replied the rainbow-maned pegasus as she smiled back.

[Equestria Games - Day 10 - Martial Arts Event]

For the past five days, the competing delegations battled for supremacy in numerous events. Saddle Arabia dominated Athletics, The Crystal Empire showed its superiority in winter-related sports followed by Vanhoover and Whinnyapolis, Cloudsdale reigned over Aerial Athletics, and Canterlot and Monacolt owned the martial sports such as Fencing, Ice Archery, and Javelin Throw.

Overall speaking, Ponyville was doing well as they won 16 Gold Medals, 12 Silver Medals, and 22 Bronze Medals so far, excelling in teamwork-oriented sports. However, that medal haul wasn't enough to top that of Saddle Arabia, Cloudsdale, Canterlot, Monacolt, and The Crystal Empire. There were nine days left to the end of the Equestria Games, so the small town still had enough time to climb the ranking and this was the right place to start.

The Martial Arts event was an Elimination Tournament that would last three days, during which the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and finals for both winning and losing teams would unfold. Each of the eight teams would field all of its three fighters during a match, making teamwork the key for victory.

The Crystal Guards built a square-shaped fighting stage, 80 meters wide and 1 meter tall, with their magic while others activated a cylinder-shaped magic shield, 100 meters in height, all around the arena to protect the spectators. Right after that, the fighters approached the stage from opposing directions, with half of the martial artists facing the other half. They were wearing the same armbands they wore during the qualifications in Baltimare.

While the referee was informing the martial artists on their team’s assignments and their opponents, Vegeta had his eyes closed as he crossed his forelegs. Then, he opened his eyes when sensing the Ki of that mare, Mirage, on the opposite side of the stage. He then turned his head to see the unicorn that defeated Kakarot standing a few meters on Mirage's right, while Majin Buu and his team were next to hers. The prince smiled in confidence as he thought, "Once the weaklings are gone, you and this entire kingdom will witness my might, especially you, Kakarot."

Meanwhile, Yamcha was talking with his teammates. "We're finally here, girls," he said with enthusiasm, "Let's give 'em all we got!"

"No need to mention it," answered Apple Cobbler with an amused tone, "We trained for this after all."

"Especially you guys," replied Moonlight with a smile, "However, do not underestimate your opponents because of your new techniques. It may cost us victory."

"Don't worry Moonlight. We already know that we shouldn’t lower our guard," assured the stallion as he faced onwards, looking at Vegeta.

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan and Soundwave were performing stretching exercises as Majin Buu watched them. "What do you think about the other teams, Mark? Especially those of your friends?" asked the gray-coated pegasus as she tried to reach her hind-hooves while in a sitting position.

"All I know is that we must be careful," answered the brown stallion as he performed a seated side-stretch, "I hope the little trick you taught me will work."

"It's a team match, so it will work as long as we cooperate," she replied with a smile as she kept on doing her exercises.

"She's right, but Buu is what will make the difference against Goku and the others," he thought with a bit of worry.

Nearby, the Ponyville Team was getting ready for the fight. Goku looked at the rest of the fighters with a competitive smile while his teammates and students were doing the same exercises as Mr. Satan's team. "This is going to be fun," he thought, but then his gaze fell upon Moonlight. His smile vanished for a moment as he remembered his battle with her in Baltimare, but then his smile came back and thought, "This time it will end differently."

Twilight, on the other hoof, was preparing herself mentally as she was stretching her legs. "Calm down, Twilight, this is just a friendly competition," said the princess to herself, "And a martial arts' test. I just have to put into practice what I've learned so far, without hurting anyone that is."

Her thoughts, however, were interrupted by Goku, who asked, "Hey, Twilight, are you ready?"

"I think I can handle it," she answered with a bit of nervousness in her tone.

Rainbow Dash put one of her forelegs around the lavender alicorn's neck and cheered, "Oh c’mon, relax, you'll be okay. We're gonna fight together, after all, so you won't be alone." This fact reassured Twilight as she remembered that her friends would help her if something went wrong.

Right after that, the referee finished establishing the matches, which appeared on the stadium's scoreboards. Apart from the princesses and the martial artists, the umpires were the only ones authorized to use magic during the Equestria Games.

Once the matches were established, a stallion wearing a purple suit and pair of sunglasses entered the fighting stage and announced to the spectators, "Mares and Gentlecolts, the Single-Elimination Martial Arts Tournament is about to begin!" The roar of the excited public echoed across the stadium in response, then he continued, "The rules are simple: each team must eliminate at least two members of the opposing side to win. The winners qualify for the Elite 4 while the losers qualify for the Bottom 4! The fighters can use their natural abilities, including magic, but weapons and magical items are not allowed."

[Royal Podium]

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were taken aback by Twilight's presence among the fighters, while Princess Cadence giggled at her aunties’ reactions.

“It’s one thing to see her compete in the Aerial Relay, but to see her partake in the Martial Arts event is another,” Celestia said internally. She looked at a certain alicorn standing beside her, “What did you teach her, Son Goku?"

“It seems dear Twilight has finally adopted martial arts,” Luna thought with interest, looking at Twilight in both surprise and intrigue, “I wonder what she has in store for us to see.”

However, their thoughts were interrupted by Monacolt's Duchess, Diamond Waves, who said, "Intéressant (Interesting), one of the princesses is attending this event; Winning will not be as easy as my daughter expected after all."

"Although surprising, the presence of Twilight Sparkle isn't what shall make this martial event challenging," stated Luna, much to the unicorn's surprise, "Other warriors will shine on that stage as well."

"Indeed," supported the Sun Goddess, "There are ponies with… peculiar abilities among them, it wouldn't be a surprise if either Ponyville or Manehattan rise victorious. From my understanding, even the pink creature competing for Vanhoover is a tough warrior."

"I was also thinking about somepony else when I said that," said Luna as her gaze fell upon the Seaddle Team, much to her sister's confusion.

"Well, shall we make a bet?" asked the Duchess as she turned her head to see the princesses.

"What kind of bet?" asked Celestia with intrigue.

"Oh, it's nothing special," she answered, "Just a little game between friends: Let's choose a team and see who's the winner."

"Hmm, interesting," commented Luna with a confident smile, "Do you want to join us, Cadence?"

"Why not? It looks like fun," answered the crystal princess with a smile.

[Fighting Stage]

"...And now, without further delay, it's time for the first match to begin," stated the referee, "Monacolt versus Manehattan!" Both teams jumped onto the stage, standing in line-formation 7 meters away from their respective opponents, as the sound of cheering drowned all other sounds in the arena. Once the announcer left the stage, the magic shield was established. Right after that, all of the six warriors got into their fighting stances while staring at the rival team. Vegeta was looking fiercely at Mirage, who wasn't bothered at all, but before either could speak, the referee exclaimed, "Begin!"

"Minima, Massima," called out Mirage as she locked her gaze on Vegeta, "Just as planned: their leader is mine; you get rid of the others."

Both sisters nodded in response. Seconds later, Mirage and Vegeta disappeared while their teammates engaged their respective opponents. The light gray-coated mare and the stallion were exchanging blows at high speed as they traveled across the stage. Vegeta was forcing her to retreat due to the might of his blows, much to Mirage's surprise. She already knew he was stronger than her, but it was clear that he improved his physical condition during the previous four months.

"What's the matter, mare?" mocked the pegasus, "No more vanishing tricks?"

The future duchess smiled confidently at that and vanished as soon as one of Vegeta's blows landed on her. Her action caught the ponified Saiyan off guard, but what truly surprised him was the fact that he was near the edge of the stage. At that point, Mirage reappeared behind him and double-kicked his back, forcing Vegeta out of the arena. "Just waiting for the right moment," she replied in a mocking tone.

However, before reaching the ground, Vegeta used his wings to fly back to the stage. Once he landed, he said with a cocky smile, "Don't tell me you expected that to work; it will take more than a petty kick to get rid of me."

"Bien sûr que non (Of course not), we are just getting started," she replied, right before resuming her battle against him. While Mirage was calm due to her special spell, Vegeta was struggling to figure out how to bypass such an annoying technique. He spent the past four months training, but he couldn't develop a countermeasure to something he didn't understand yet.

Something was at least different from the situation in Baltimare: Mirage's sneak attacks weren't working as he was capable of blocking them all; this, however, resulted in the same stalemate that Vegeta wanted to get rid of immediately. So, he retreated several meters, stood in midair, and started firing Ki blasts, much to the spectators and his opponent's surprise.

The rain of Ki orbs hit Mirage, who vanished, and bombarded the area, creating small craters and a curtain of dust and smoke on the stage. A pair of seconds later, Vegeta stopped attacking and waited for the cloud of smoke to dissipate. Suddenly, he noticed a dome-shaped, blue shield shining in the fog, and confidently smiled as it meant that his attack was enough to nullify her technique.

However, Mirage caught him off guard by appearing behind him all of a sudden. "What the...?!" said Vegeta as he blocked his opponent's punch by using one of his wings. He quickly took a look back at the shield and saw it disappear as soon as the dust settled. "What the hell is happening here?" he thought, "That shield was just a distraction? No. Although she can vanish upon contact, she has to reappear somewhere, so my attack would have hit her at least once."

"Interesting," said the unicorn as she was engulfed in a magical aura, meaning that she was using the levitation spell to fly, "I never heard about Pegasi using magic like that, not even in the Grande Bibliothèque ( Great Library ) of Monacolt." Then, she asked, "Are you a prodigy or something?"

"Exactly," Vegeta said as he repelled her with the wing he used to block her punch, then he replied, "At least I know I'm not battling a fool."

"I have to be careful with that ability of his," thought the Duchess of Monacolt's daughter as she landed, "He almost discovered me earlier. Despite his arrogance, it's crystal clear that he has a lot of fighting experience to back it up; the way he adapted to my surprise attacks proves it. My spell's secret might not stay as such for long."

Meanwhile, Minima and Massima De Spell were pushing back both Speed Wagon and Lionheart. Vegeta's teammates were stronger and younger, but the sister duo had a superior combat style and more experience. Monacolt's Martial Arts Academy style consisted of deceitful movements and false vulnerability, relying on the opponent's confidence or confusion to drive him to his downfall. In short, it was similar to Master Roshi's Drunken Boxing Style.

Manehattan's style emphasized the use of the hindlegs as they were more powerful than the forelegs, which were used only for close quarters. However, it was ineffective against the traditional fighting style of Monacolt, which was too unpredictable for both stallions. The coastal city changed its fighters and techniques to nullify Manehattan's domain in the sport while remaining a step ahead of its real rival, Canterlot.

Speed Wagon tried to hit Minima with a roundhouse kick, but the old mare dodged it with a seemingly clumsy move and counterattacked with an uppercut that looked like it wasn't even an attack, but a gesture instead. The blow, however, was strong enough to lift him for a few meters before falling near his teammate, who was panting after unsuccessfully trying to land a blow on Massima.

"I don't remember… Monacolt's… fighters be this good," Lionheart panted as Speed Wagon slowly stood up.

"Their fighting style was always this irritating," replied the purple-coated stallion while massaging his chin, then he looked at their opponents and smiled confidently, "But it always fails against our technique."

Massima giggled at his statement and said, "Sorella, sembra che affronteremo la loro invincibile tecnica (Sister, it seems that we're about to face their unbeatable technique)."

Minima giggled too and replied, "Vediamo che sanno fare questi pivelli, allora (Let's see what these beginners can do, then)."

Suddenly, both stallions rushed toward the old mares, who jumped backward to avoid the attack. However, in doing so, they separated from one another, which was what their opponents were looking for. Speed Wagon and Lionheart started running at incredible speed in two concentric circles around Minima and Massima, creating two spinning walls of wind and dust. The wind generated by that combined technique was strong enough to draw Vegeta and Mirage's attention and to force most of the combatants near the stage to cover their faces.

"It seems that Manehattan's Team is beginning to use the technique that assured them the victory for 12 years!" exclaimed the announcer, "The Perfect Press Zone!" The spectators roared in excitement while Manehattan's mayor and fans were proudly expecting their city to defeat Monacolt as usual.

Meanwhile, the unicorn sisters found themselves divided. Minima was trapped inside the internal circle while Massima stood between the external and internal walls. The spinning dust stopped them from seeing each other or their running foes while also slightly reducing their visibility. All they could see was a nine-meter high wall getting closer as the seconds ticked.

Both mares tried to activate a magic shield around them, but flying stones hit their horns, stopping them from doing so. Speed Wagon and Lionheart were cracking the stage with the might of their hooves, thus creating small rocks to throw at their opponents' horns with stunning precision. Normally, poking the horn wouldn't be nearly enough to stop a skilled unicorn from using magic, but the psychological impact caused by the technique made it possible.

"So, this is Manehattan's famous technique that makes you panic," thought Massima as she was trying to cover her head from the dust, wind, and stones while retreating. Her sister was in a similar situation and felt like she was about to be crushed by those closing walls.

Meanwhile, Vegeta, who was still looking at his teammates' technique, said, "They stopped goofing around I see." Then, he smiled confidently, looked at Mirage, and stated, "It looks like those grannies lost, so even if I can't touch you, I won."

The future Duchess looked at the wall of wind and dust for a moment, seemingly with a worried expression. But then, she looked back at pegasus and replied with a small, confident smile, "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, mon ami (my friend)."

"What are you babbling about?" asked Vegeta as he kept his confident smile, "Those two idiots are far stronger than them. That match is over."

"Well then, observe," she replied as she pointed at the tornado in front of them.

As the grasp of the Perfect Press Zone was getting tighter, the old mares understood why their predecessors failed in defeating Manehattan's Martial Arts Team at the Equestria Games. This technique was able to make them lose their cool, despite being seasoned fighters. So, they could only imagine how those young ponies felt staying where they were right now. However, they were far from done; they weren't the former Ducal Guards of Monacolt for nothing. So, to counter their technique's psychological impact, they closed their eyes and started concentrating.

They pointed at the ground with one of their forehooves as an azure flowing aura engulfed their bodies. Suddenly, both old mares started to rejuvenate until they looked like they were in their 20s. Then, a small light-blue orb formed on the tip of their forehoof pointing at the ground. Once it was ready, the young unicorns fired it at the ground, generating two dome-shaped explosions that disrupted the stallions' technique.

As a result, Manehattan's fighters flew in opposite directions while both mares teleported away before being hit by their technique. Lionheart tried to stop himself with a backflip, but as soon as his hooves touched the ground, Minima kicked him in the face so hard that she sent him against the magic shield around the arena in an instant.

"Lionheart from Manehattan is out!" exclaimed the announcer.

This shocked Vegeta. Not just because of the elimination of one of his teammates, but also because those mares used spiritual energy. However, he had no time to process what just happened as Massima was about to eliminate Speed Wagon with the same flying kick used by her sister. So, he disappeared from Mirage's sight and reappeared in front of his teammate, blocking the mare's powerful attack with his left foreleg. He then repelled her with a gesture.

"Thanks, Ve..." tried to say Speed Wagon, but the ponified prince interrupted him.

"Hmph, if it weren’t for that stupid rule of total elimination, I wouldn't have helped you." Right after that, they both looked at their foes again. That was when they noticed that the old mares were now young, much to their surprise. Even Goku, Twilight, and the others watching the match marveled at it. "What’s the meaning of this? Do your tricks have no end?"

"We're just getting started, amico mio (my friend)," said Minima as her sister put herself on their right side and Mirage on the left one.

Vegeta attacked to get rid of the two nuisances, knowing that, unlike their leader, they weren't intangible. However, before he could land a blow on Minima, the three unicorn mares activated a multi-user spell that trapped them all inside a gigantic, purple cube. It was 12 meters tall and exceeded the arena's zone of elimination. After that, Minima dodged Vegeta's blow with little effort and reunited with her teammates.

The prince was caught off guard by this as he thought he was faster than his opponent. As Speed Wagon approached him, he turned to see Monacolt's team standing a few meters in front of them. Then, they saw those two mares becoming old again, much to everyone's confusion. "This is getting weird," thought Vegeta's teammate.

The pegasus, however, had enough of their tricks and decided to end it now. He powered up, unleashing his white aura, and rushed toward the mares, but something unbelievable happened: they dodged him with ease. "What the...?!" he exclaimed in shock. However, he put those thoughts aside, powered up again, and engaged Mirage, who was the nearest foe. They both exchanged kicks and punches at high speed while dodging each other blows, much to Vegeta's surprise.

Mirage, on the other hoof, was surprised as well, something that didn't go unnoticed by the ponified prince. However, before he could say something, the unicorn buried a kick on his belly, making him spit saliva and sending him to the edge of the stage. Speed Wagon tried to intervene, but Minima stopped him from reaching his teammate. As Vegeta was getting up, he asked, "What in the world is happening? You weren't that strong a few moments ago! What's this trick, mare?!"

Mirage was looking at his hooves in awe when he asked that, "Who's this pegasus? I feel like I can split a mountain in half with a punch right now!"

"Answer me, you insect!" exclaimed Vegeta, demanding an explanation.

She moved her gaze toward him and answered with a serious tone, "C'est simple (it's simple), we all are under a high-class spell. An enchantment that switches the strength of all the fighters within this cube."

"What?!" asked Vegeta in surprise.

"The strong becomes weak and vice-versa," she continued, "It's the Ducal Guards' ultimate spell. Welcome to the 'Trick Room'."

Filler Chapter 8: Equestria Games - Part 2 (Edited)

[Outside the Cube]

Twilight was impressed and excited to see a rare spell being cast by multiple ponies in action. She was also flabbergasted by the fact that two earth ponies could create what was essentially a tornado by merely running. Similarly, Rainbow Dash marveled at it as well, for she thought that only pegasi could perform such a feat.

Goku, on the other hoof, had a smile that reflected his readiness for a challenge. His reaction was caused by the Trick Room spell rather than the Perfect Press Zone technique, as the latter looked like a mere whirlwind he could easily overcome.

[Royal Podium]

Duchess Diamond Waves smirked in confidence, "My my, it's not often I see that spell. I guess my former guards and my daughter want to end the match already." Upon hearing this, Manehattan's Mayor, who was sitting in the seats immediately below, started biting his hooves frenetically.

The princesses had different reactions: Cadence was impressed by the spells performed by Monacolt's Team, Luna held a face of indifference, while Celestia had a thoughtful expression as she was understanding the effectiveness of Monocolt’s guards. The Moon Goddess, after taking a quick look at her, comprehended her sister's thoughts behind her slightly surprised face, something that didn't go unnoticed by the Sun Goddess.

"What is it sister?" asked the multicolor-maned alicorn, curious as to why she looked at her like that.

"Oh, nothing, sister, just nothing," she calmly answered with a smile. The effectiveness of the Royal Guards was a sensitive topic between the two for a long time now, so she was amused by the fact that her sister had just found out on her own that reforms had to be applied on her own forces. There were even reports of nobles who had more effective guards than their own, a finding she finds completely unacceptable for the Kingdom of Equestria. Celestia quickly understood the reason behind that smile, looking back at the stage as she rolled her eyes, much to Luna's amusement.

[Fighting Stage]

As Vegeta was shocked, Mirage spoke, "Before resuming our little contest, I have to ask you something first. How did you acquire all this strength?"

Vegeta placed his thoughts aside and looked at her with a confident smile, "My power is the result of a lifetime of training and battle, mare. While you were wasting time playing magical wizard, I was fighting against powerful foes and training to beat them all. And I'll tell you something: that power you stole from me is just a fraction of my real strength."

"I know," Mirage thought, as she remembered him powering up back at Baltimare.

"Now, behold!" exclaimed the prince as he started powering up. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he shouted with a mighty, continuous yell, and a white aura flaring intensely in an upward direction, engulfing his entire body. Once he surpassed Speed Wagon's power, however, the Trick Room spell exchanged his power with that of his teammate while doing the same with Mirage and her allies.

Vegeta kept on powering up as he assumed that he could shatter the purple cube with his might, but all he managed to do was shake the stage and continuously switch both teams' power to the point that all of them reached roughly the same level.

"Impossible!" he realized in shock, having just stopped his increase in strength after noticing what was happening to the power levels of the other fighters.

The rest of the ponies on the fighting stage were shocked by the sudden power they felt within. Minima and Massima returned young once more, revealing their spiritual energy to unspeakable heights.

"What's this?" thought Speed Wagon as he felt an overflowing power in his body, "I feel like I can lift the entire city of Manehattan with my tail! Is this Vegeta's power?!"

Mirage was speechless, with her wide-opened eyes and semi-opened mouth showcasing her expression. She now understood why he was so cocky and arrogant, to the point that he based his fighting style on brute force. "He may be as powerful as a highly trained unicorn... or even higher," she internally said.

"Tch," said Vegeta, right before rushing toward the future duchess. He tried to land a punch on her, but the mare, although almost caught off guard, sidestepped clumsily. Upon seeing that action, the prince thought that her guard was wide open, so he attacked again. However, Mirage clumsily dodged the oncoming strike and counterattacked with an uppercut that looked like an amateur punch.

The blow forced Vegeta back by a few steps. While massaging his chin in pain, he thought to himself, “Those were premeditated movements. How can they be this effective?” Right after that, he resumed the assault with more aggressiveness. He wanted to overwhelm her fighting style with non-stop attacks, but little did he know that its purpose was to deal with that kind of strategy.

The unicorn ducked down to avoid a punch, jumped backward to dodge another one, and sidestepped a flying kick, all in a seemingly goofy and sloppy manner. Upon seeing this, Vegeta jumped a few meters backward, pointed his right hoof at her as he condensed his Ki on it, and exclaimed, "BIG BANG ATTACK!"

A light-blue, almost white, sphere of condensed energy appeared on his hoof, firing directly at Mirage. However, this was a mistake as the technique increased Vegeta's power temporarily, making the Trick Room Spell switch it with Mirage's. The mare counterattacked the attack with a magic beam that went through the Ki blast, making it explode. The destruction of the Big Bang Attack caused Mirage's power to decrease, thus switching it again with Vegeta.

The attack spell kept on going until it hit the ponified Saiyan and started pushing him back. Vegeta was struggling to stop the magic beam as it was propelling him toward the edge of the stage. He managed to stop it, but suddenly, it disappeared, much to his surprise. Immediately after, he was almost caught off guard by his opponent's flying kick, barely able to block the attack by crossing his forelegs. The force of the strike generated a small crater beneath them.

Realizing the opportunity that had risen, a grin appeared on Vegeta’s face upon knowing that his foe had fallen right into a trap. The moment he grabbed onto her leg, three yellow energy rings appeared around Mirage and trapped her like an anaconda with its prey, much to the mare's surprise. It was the same technique he used on Kakarot during Majin Buu's awakening, though a much improved and refined version compared to before.

"Nice try, mare," he continued with a cocky smile, "But it seems that you'll be the one getting eliminated."

"What the...?!" she exclaimed in disbelief. She couldn't finish her sentence because, almost instantly, she was slammed out of the fighting stage, causing a small crater in the process.

"Mirage from Monacolt is out!" announced the referee, much to the concern of the Duchess, and much to the surprise of Manehattan’s Mayor.

"You fool," mocked Vegeta with a triumphant smirk, "Did you really think you could beat the Prince of all Saiyans?"

Once the yellow rings that were holding her vanished, Mirage stood up, smiled confidently, and said, "Oh là là, so you're a prince? That would explain many things. However, aren't you forgetting something? Rather, somepony?"

"What are you blabbering on about?" asked the Pegasus in confusion, but his doubts vanished when the announcer spoke.

"Speed Wagon from Manehattan is out!" he heard, "Victory goes to Monacolt!"

The spectators roared in excitement as the Trick Room vanished. Once the purple cube disappeared, the powers of both teams returned to their original owners and levels. Minima, Massima, Speed Wagon, and Lionheart felt extremely weak and tired after the battle, while Vegeta could finally feel his power return back to normal.

"Damn it!" he gritted his teeth in anger and frustration after realizing the fact that he just lost.

"You committed two fatal errors," said Mirage, who was now sitting down due to fatigue while also trying to catch her breath, "You over-relied on power… and you fought alone in a team match."

"Tch," the prince responded in annoyance, but what she said next shocked him slightly.

"I observed you for a while...before challenging you in Baltimare," she explained, "And I noticed that you're a lone wolf...in the battlefield." She then continued, "Upon studying your strength and fighting style, I understood that… we couldn't defeat you with a direct approach. So, if Monacolt wanted to win, we had to exploit your weaknesses: lack of teamwork and predictable way of fighting."

Vegeta looked away, seemingly annoyed, but those words forced him to rethink all his previous battles. In all of them, from his arrival at Earth to the Majin Buu Crisis, he was technically part of a team. Yet he always dismissed teamwork as a thing for mere weaklings, and the times he fought together with somebody was more out of necessity rather than will. Moreover, his fighting style was trumped many times by numerous foes, resulting in numerous humiliations.

However, he shook his head and said in an irritated tone, "Spare me your lectures, mare." After that, he left the fighting stage. Mirage frowned a bit: she just wanted to help him. But, upon fighting him, she understood that he was the prideful type, so her expression softened. She was too tired to be mad at somepony anyway.

[Royal Podium]

Meanwhile, the princesses looked at the events unfolding in suspense, which was later replaced with surprise by the outcome of the match.

“Oh my, it’s quite the shock to see Manehattan be defeated so early on. Most of the time they dominate the martial arts” Celestia said.

“What's even more of an upset was the fact that they had just evened out the field mere moments ago,” Luna added.

“Then again, there were instances where there was little to no chemistry between members of the Manehattan team, particularly with one of them,” Cadence said after observing the battle.

Duchess Diamond Waves had a worried look upon seeing her daughter getting slammed on the ground like that, but she sighed in relief when she saw her standing up seemingly okay. "Let's see now, which team favored by the princesses shall compete with Monacolt," she then thought with a smile after the announcement of her city's victory.

After seeing the smile appear on the Duchess’s face, Celestia turned to Diamond Waves: “Congratulations to your team’s victory. I can see their hard work and training has paid off rather beautifully.”

“Merci Celestia, mon ami. With the rate Monacolt is going right now, I believe they will reach the final.”

“Quite the bold statement, Duchess. Remember, there are still some other teams that pose a threat to your team’s success,” Cadence chided in.

“Indeed, if I were you I would not bet against Ponyville,” Luna said confidently.

Diamond cocked her eyebrow at that claim “A supporter of the Ponyville team, eh? Even if they have a princess in their ranks, what makes you think that will stop Monocolt from achieving victory?” she added with a slightly smug tone.

“Believe me, after what I’ve seen from the members of the Ponyville team, I’m sure they would get the gold medal,” Luna said, fully convinced that she would be proven correct later on.

While all of this was going on, none of them realized that the Mayor of Manehatten had just fainted after witnessing the defeat of his city.

[Spectators Area]

Bulma and Trunks were shocked by the outcome of the battle. Winning the preliminary matches shouldn't have been a problem for Vegeta as they thought that only Goku and Majin Buu could compete with him. However, the blue-maned scientist quickly understood the reason behind it.

"Oh come on!" complained Trunks, "If it wasn't for that stupid cube, dad would have won!"

"What do you mean?" asked his mother in confusion.

"That cube absorbed dad's power and then transferred it to the other fighters," he answered, still a bit annoyed.

"I see," she understood, "But if he wasn't so hostile about teamwork, things could have gone differently."

"...I still think it's the cube."

Bulma sighed at this comment and thought, "I guess the saying is true: like father, like son."

[Arena]

"No way, Vegeta's Team is already out?!" thought Yamcha in shock, his mouth slightly agape after the announcement was made.

"Outstanding showcase of magic and tactics," praised Moonlight, thrilled to know that such formidable fighters were attending the games, "We have to be careful against Monacolt. There’s still a chance where we will encounter them."

"This is going to be a lot more difficult than before," commented Apple Cobbler with a hint of worry.

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan had Yamcha's same reaction at first, but it was quickly replaced with excitement, as a smile appeared on his face, "With Vegeta out of the way, I have more chances to win and be famous again!" After a sudden realization, his initial excitement was replaced with worry, "But it also means that we may have to deal with Monacolt."

Son Goku was surprised by the outcome too, and quickly started to think about ways to counter those dangerous abilities, but with little success. "Alright Fillies and Gentlecolts, let us proceed with the second match!" he heard from the announcer, who snapped him from his thoughts, "The fighters from Ponyville and Fillydelphia are up next!"

"Well, it's our turn now girls," he said as he headed for the ring. Rainbow Dash and Twilight followed, with the latter being a bit nervous.

Once the fighters were all on the fighting stage and the safety measures were put in place, the referee ushered in the match. Goku and Rainbow enthusiastically engaged, but the lavender alicorn did not move as she was trying to calm herself first. Fillydelphia's third fighter, Emerald Pond, noticed that the princess was standing still with her eyes closed. The pink-maned, green-coated unicorn assumed that the alicorn was strategizing or waiting for the right moment to intervene. She's a princess, after all, so she was most likely Ponyville's mastermind.

Emerald Pond hesitated to attack Twilight at first since she technically was one of her subjects, but then she shook her head, "We're in the Equestria Games, after all, I think I can see her as just a rival athlete for now." Right after that, she rushed toward the lavender mare, whose eyes were still closed.

Once Twilight calmed herself down, she opened her eyes and was surprised by the oncoming attack. Instinctively, she dodged one of her punches and retreated as her opponent kept on attacking her. Emerald Pond threw several punches and roundhouse kicks, forcing the princess to approach the stage's edge, even though none of her attacks landed hits on her.

Twilight retreated until she felt one of her hooves step on nothing. She quickly understood that she couldn't retreat anymore, something that made her panic a bit. So far, the unicorn was confused by the princess' behavior: she expected a challenging battle by fighting an alicorn, but all she got was a passive opponent. "Why doesn't she fight back?" she wondered.

Celestia's former star pupil was still unsure of what to do and couldn't think clearly due to panic. However, she unconsciously looked at Goku in the distance, who was fighting a silver-maned mare. Twilight understood that she was alone and thought that it was part of the test. She didn't know why she was so nervous, but she couldn't allow herself to fail because of it.

"Is she afraid?" realized pink-maned unicorn. After that, she tried to take advantage of it and attacked her, but Twilight teleported behind her, forcing the green-coated mare to stop right on the stage's edge and try to keep her balance. However, the princess kicked her with her hind legs, making her fall out of the ring.

"Emerald Pond from Fillydelphia is out!" announced the referee.

Immediately after the announcement, Twilight looked at Goku, who was looking at her as well, probably because of the referee's words. He proudly smiled at her, something that made her feel validated. However, it didn't last as Silver Star, the mare he was fighting against, almost caught him off guard. Then, she checked Rainbow Dash out to see how she was doing.

"Hah! What’s the matter, pal? Not in your A-game anymore?" shouted the rainbow-maned pegasus as she dodged magic attacks by flying around. Her opponent, Stone Cleaver, gritted his teeth in frustration.

Twilight chuckled at this before walking toward the edge and asking Emerald Pond, "Hey, are you alright?"

The green-coated mare stood up and sighed, "Yeah, I’m fine, if you don’t count my dignity that is." She turned and with a smile said, "But I have to say, to make me think you were afraid to attack just to have me act recklessly was a pretty clever move, princess."

"W-well..." she tried to explain with a nervous tone, but the mare didn't let her continue.

"But regardless of what happened, it’s over now. Time to let her majesty finish the match," she said as she started going, "Besides, I have to cheer for my teammates."

Twilight just sighed as she couldn't explain herself, but she was right: she had to finish the match with her friends. So, she began approaching the stage's center, where the battle was still unfolding.

As she was heading towards the battle, she stopped to take a look at the battle in front of her. Goku was defending himself rather well from Silver Star’s punches and kicks. As for Rainbow, she was still flying around, taunting the stallion, with the pegasus doing some occasional dives to knock her opponent down.

Feeling as though her master could handle himself quite well, Twilight decided to aid Rainbow Dash, heading towards the two fighters. When Stone Cleaver saw the lavender alicorn approach towards his direction, he diverted his attention away from the rainbow pegasus and towards the princess, adopting a defensive stance while doing so.

Seeing as how they were at the advantage, Twilight wasted no time in wanting to finish the match here and now, as she powered up her horn. Once reaching her intended power, she then blasted the rather large beam towards the stallion.

Stone Cleaver, quickly deducing a spell of that size could easily knock him out of the ring, dodged to his left and shot multiple projectiles towards the princess, with her forming a shield to deflect the incoming attacks.

As the stallion was about to launch another barrage of projectiles, he saw, in the corner of his right eye, a rainbow-shaped missile flying straight towards him. With quick reflexes, he ducked towards the floor, the pegasus being mere inches away from him. Quickly getting up, the speedster quickly flew back and proceeded to engage him, throwing multiple punches and kicks.

Cleaver responded by dodging and blocking her jabs and kicks, with the stallion throwing some of his own attacks towards the Wonderbolt Cadet.

As the two were throwing a flurry of attacks at one another, Twilight was preparing another powerful beam, her focus set right onto the stallion. Once she had powered up her attack, she shouted, “Out of the way Rainbow!”

Both fighters stopped themselves from doing further attacks and turned towards the voice, only to see the princess in a crouching position, her horn glowing to the point that it started to spark.

After quickly deducing what her friend was going to do, the rainbow-maned pegasus quickly flew away from the scene, leaving the stallion alone to stare in shock, his eyes being mere pinpricks as he prepared on what was going to happen.

As she saw her friend out of harm's way, she blasted away her attack, the beam having much more speed and power compared to the one before.

Knowing that dodging would not work this time, Stone Cleaver instinctively conjured up his shield as the offensive spell crashed against his defensive shield, generating a large shockwave from the collision of both magical sources, which saw chunks of the stage floor being ripped away.

Despite his efforts, the stallion was pushed further and further towards the edge, causing him to create scratches on the floor from his scraping hooves. Not wanting to be thrown out of the ring, he added even more power from his already depleting power towards his magical shield. He managed to slow the beam down to the point that it nearly halted, as his body continued to shake from his continued use of magic.

As the two continued in their struggle, Twilight, realizing that she could not sustain the spell even further, canceled the beam from any more use. She was quite exhausted from having used so much energy in her attack, panting to cool herself down.

Cleaver, meanwhile, was standing near the edge of the stage, his mind exhausted than ever before after using magic to such an extent he never thought he would use in his time of fighting. His body was covered in sweat and aching from excessive use of his magic, as he tried to maintain himself from falling. Knowing he could not continue out on his own, he attempted to retreat back to his fellow teammate Silver Star and try to aid her as much as he possibly could.

But before he could move, he saw the rainbow pegasus swoop down towards him, her form adopting a dive-kick position as she raised her right hindleg towards the stallion. In one last attempt to defend himself, he tried to raise his forelegs and interlock them, but only managed to get his forelegs halfway. His final defense, as expected, ended in vain, as Rainbow’s kick connected with his left cheek, propelling the stallion into the air and out of the stage. His form crashed onto the floor as he laid there in both exhaustion and pain.

“Stone Cleaver of Fillydelphia is out! Ponyville wins the match!” The referee announced as the crowd exploded into a loud cacophony of noise as they were thrilled from having witnessed their princess in action.

Rainbow, turning away from the passed out form of the defeated stallion, looked back at Twilight and winked at her, with the pegasus adopting a small smile. Twilight, who was still recovering from her excessive use of magic, responded with a smile and nod of her own.

Goku, after hearing the announcement of his team’s victory, bowed his head to Silver Star as a sign of respect to his valiant opponent. Silver Star was shocked by this sudden and unsuspected action, but after regaining her composure, she responded with a smile and a bow.

[Stadium's Tunnel, Equestria Games - Day 11 - Martial Arts Event: Semi-Finals]

A day had passed after their flawless victory against Fillydelphia, as the Ponyville Team were returning back towards the arena. After grabbing some food to eat, they talked about the next match, "So, you're going to fight with Mirage while we take care of the other two," summarised Rainbow Dash, "Uh, who are they called again?"

"Minima De Spell and Massima De Spell," answered Twilight for the fifth time.

"Yeah, those two," she dismissed.

"I thought about it," she answered as they reached the tunnel's exit, "But I’m still not quite sure. Mirage seems to be quite the talented mare herself. Seeing how she handled Manehatten’s team, who knows what other spells and techniques she has up her hooves."

Goku, meanwhile, was behind both of them as he brought some extra food along with him. He did this in order to satiate his hunger, as well as to enjoy the matches by eating some snacks.

The lavender princess was about to say something, but the roar of the spectators interrupted their conversation. The battle between Seaddle and Vanhoover's teams was the reason behind their excitement. The Ponyville's warriors looked at the fighting stage, which was not the same one they fought in before. It had a small lake in the center, a few hills, and a rainbow-colored waterfall on its northern side, while the river next to the pond flowed onto the ground.

"No way, it's Winsome Falls?!" wondered Rainbow in awe.

"Winsome Falls? What’s that?" asked Goku in confusion.

"It's a beautiful place located two days away from Ponyville," answered Twilight with a smile.

"Yeah, exactly what Twilight said! Me, Rarity, Applejack, and the Crusaders camped there once," continued the pegasus, "You should go there one day, it’s totally worth it."

The ponified Saiyan looked at the stage again, smiled, and answered, "It looks like an amazing place to be in. I want to see the real thing one day." Then, he looked at the fight unfolding as they walked through the magic shield isolating the arena from the spectators and approached the stage, heading towards the seating boxes designated for the fighters, "But, right now, let's focus on what's going on there," he said right before stuffing himself with the many fruits he brought along the way.

[Fighting Stage - Winsome Falls]

Majin Buu was fighting with Yamcha, who was surprisingly holding his ground against the primordial creature. The azure-coated pegasus was no match for him in terms of speed, endurance, and strength; however, the new technique he learned thanks to Moonlight helped him balance out the battle.

The pink-skinned creature dashed toward Yamcha and threw a punch to his muzzle. The ex-Wolf Desert Bandit couldn't see the attack, but it didn't affect him as much as he expected. Goku, who was not far from Yamcha, was surprised by this. He then took advantage of the fact that Buu was close and used his Wolf Fang Fist against him. Essentially, it was ineffective against the demon-like being, but it was strong enough to push him tens of meters away from him.

Although Buu was mainly playing, he wondered why his attacks suddenly felt weaker than usual. However, he tossed that thought aside and increased his power. Then, he rushed once more toward Yamcha, who couldn't keep up with his speed. The spectators couldn't see the weird creature either, but they knew that he was attacking the pegasus from Seaddle. Yamcha couldn't block nor see the incoming kicks and punches from every direction, but they were dealing less damage than they should.

Nonetheless, they were still somewhat affecting him, so Yamcha had to do something fast. Taking advantage of the fact that he could withstand so many blows, he whispered, "Lunar Veil: Act II!" Right after that, his wings glowed, and hundreds of little stars appeared around him for an instant, apparently doing nothing.

[Royal Podium]

Yamcha's technique didn't go unnoticed by Princess Celestia, who gave Luna a quick look as she asked, "Is that what I think it is?"

The Princess of the Night merely answered with a small smile, "Probably."

[Fighting Stage - Winsome Falls]

Yamcha still couldn’t react to Buu's attacks, but he was taking even less damage than before, something that allowed the ex-Wolf Desert Bandit to plan a counterattack. "Damn, so this is how fighting Buu feels like," he thought as the pink creature punished his body, "I can't see him nor track his movements. I have to do something before the effects of this spell run out."

Right after that, he closed his eyes and tried to think about possible solutions. Since Ki-tracking, sight, and hearing were useless, the only option left was his sense of touch. He focused on the feeling of every blow Majin Buu was throwing at him, but they were all too fast to be distinguishable. It was like there was a lightspeed train continuously ramming his body from all directions.

His technique's time limit eventually ran out, however, so he received a devastating punch on his face that made him crash against one of the stage's hills. Yamcha's nose and mouth bled as he was stunned. How lucky he was that he was using his maximum power while Buu was still holding back, or else that blow could have been potentially fatal. "D-damn," he said in pain, "N-now I have to wait before fighting Buu again."

[Seaddle's Outskirts, 110 days ago, evening]

Both Apple Cobbler and Yamcha stood on the grass field, focused on what Moonlight was about to explain to them. "The enchantments I shall you teach are called Lunar Veil and Lunar Shield in modern Ponish."

"Wait a moment," interrupted Applejack's cousin, "But we're not unicorns: we don't have magic."

"Incorrect," answered the silver-maned mare, "All things, including this grass field, have magic. The difference stands on how they manifest it."

"Really?" Yamcha said in confusion.

Moonlight nodded in response and continued, "Pegasi manifests their magic through weather control and cloud-walking while Earth Ponies' magical affinity with the earth is theirs to wield."

"Wait, that means I can control the weather?!" thought Yamcha in amazement.

"Yeah, but we can't use spells as unicorns do," retorted Apple Cobbler.

"Incorrect, again," she replied, much to the Earth Pony's surprise, "You may not be able to use spells in the same manner or with the same variety as unicorns, but, with the right training, you can perform some enchantments as well."

"Okay. So, what do those spells do?" asked Yamcha with intrigue.

"I shall show you," she said as she jumped a few meters backward, "Try to attack me with all of your strength."

Apple Cobbler and Yamcha were hesitant at first, but then they attacked together. As they approached her, Moonlight channeled her magic through her horn and made her body shine like the moon for an instant. Right after that, Yamcha landed a kick on her face while Apple Cobbler threw a punch at her. Their blows didn't affect her, something that surprised them both.

"What the...?!" exclaimed Yamcha in awe.

"How did you...?" wanted to ask Apple Cobbler, but she was interrupted.

"This is Lunar Veil's power," she dissipated their doubts with a smile, "It reduces the kinetic energy of physical attacks' and the power of offensive magical spells."

"Kinetic energy?" he asked in confusion.

"You know, it's the energy that’s within a moving object," answered Apple Cobbler as she threw a punch to the air to illustrate it, "The faster it moves and the heavier it is, the harder it hits."

"How do you know that?"

"I may be a farmer and a confectioner, but I still went to school, silly," she replied with a raised eyebrow and an amused tone.

The ex-Wolf Desert Bandit nervously laughed at that, still having difficulty grasping the concepts of physics. Then he realized, "Wait, doesn’t that mean the spell will make you invincible?"

"It depends on which version of the spell you're casting," said Moonlight, much to his surprise.

"What do you mean?" Yamcha inquired

"The spell contains three evolutions: Act I, Act II, and Act III. I cast the last evolution, which makes me completely invulnerable, but it also lasts for 66% less time than the first one, which reduces the damage by only 33%."

"It’ll be the longest minute ever," he groaned as he looked at Buu.

Meanwhile, Apple Cobbler was looking at Soundwave, who was approaching her. The gray-coated pegasus walked toward her as her body vibrated in such a fashion that it seemed like she was about to clone herself. Apple Cobbler was confused by this and thought for a moment that she was looking at an illusion, and her confusion grew even more when she saw her opponent slowly taking off, almost as if she was levitating.

Soundwave was at least two meters above the ground when she began to point her hind legs at Apple Cobbler, who was still wondering what she was actually doing. As soon as she assumed a flying kick-like stance, the pegasus slowly approached the earth pony, who asked with a raised eyebrow, "What is that supposed to be?" Right after that, she tried to grab her legs in order to toss her out of the stage.

However, that was what Soundwave was waiting for; she used her hind legs to split Apple Cobbler's forelegs. Now, the earth pony had her forehooves, holding the pegasus' weight. "You fell for it you fool!" exclaimed the silver-maned mare, "SONIC BOOM!"

Her words echoed as a crash of thunder as they generated a shockwave that swept away the dark orange-coated mare. Apple Cobbler dug a small trench as she approached the pond in the stage's center. She stopped right at the shore as her ears felt like they were about to explode. As a result, her sense of hearing was temporarily disabled, something that put her at a significant disadvantage.

The pale yellow-maned mare slowly stood up and started looking for her opponent. However, Soundwave used her Sonic Boom technique to raise a thick curtain of dust around her, something that forced Apple Cobbler to cover her eyes. Now, she was both deaf and blind, meaning she was at the complete mercy of her opponent. The light-gray coated pegasus used her superior speed to attack her from multiple directions, confusing Apple Cobbler's senses even further.

She tried to counterattack, but it was futile, for she couldn't hear nor see her opponent. “I have to use it or else I will be in more trouble than I'm already into,” she thought as her legs started shining in a silverish light. "Rise, Lunar Shield!" exclaimed Apple Cobbler as a white circle resembling the moon appeared beneath her, and a spherical-shaped shield arose from it.

Soundwave was about to hit the earth pony when that happened, so her punch landed on the shield's walls instead of its intended target. Upon contact, however, her body shone in a night-bluish light for an instant, something that didn't go unnoticed. "What the...?!" she exclaimed as she retreated while checking up her body.

Right after that, the curtain of dust dissipated as Apple Cobbler's shield deactivated. The earth pony's sight was restored, and her sense of hearing was slowly recovering. However, she didn't attack her opponent right away as she still needed some time to heal from using that technique.

The black-maned mare stopped checking up her body as she didn't notice anything abnormal, focusing her attention back on her opponent. "What was that?" Soundwave asked with intrigue. Applejack's cousin just looked at her as she remembered Moonlight's explanation.

[Seaddle's Outskirts, 110 days ago, evening]

"What about the other one?" asked Apple Cobbler with curiosity.

"It is similar," she answered, "But, unlike the first one, it directly affects the attacker."

"What do you mean?" asked the earth pony in confusion.

Moonlight's horn was engulfed by a magic bluish aura, as a 2 and a half meter wide, white circle resembling the moon appeared beneath her, "Try to attack me again." Both Apple Cobbler and Yamcha obeyed and tried to hit her. However, a force field matching the circle's perimeter stopped them from doing so. At the same time, their bodies shone in a night-blue light for an instant, much to their surprise.

"Wait, what was that?" asked Yamcha in both confusion and awe.

"Attack me again, and you shall find out," she answered as she dropped the spell. They obeyed and tried to strike once more, but this time, Moonlight stopped their punches with her hooves with no effort, much to their surprise. "Did you notice anything different?" she asked as she let them go.

"Yeah," answered Yamcha in shock, "I felt my punch being weaker this time."

"Yep, same here" confirmed Apple Cobbler.

"This enchantment protects its user and, at the same time, reduces the opponent's attack potency upon contact," explained the unicorn, much to her teammates' disbelief. "But its effectiveness depends on whether or not it's nighttime."

"What do you mean?" asked the earth pony in confusion.

"As a lunar spell, it's more effective at night than during the day," she answered with a smile, "So, at noon, its efficacy is at its lowest while at midnight it's at its peak, especially on full moon nights."

Apple Cobbler wanted to know more, "How does it work?"

"At noon, it reduces 5% of your foe's attack potency," she explained, "At midnight, that number increases up to 50%. On a full moon night, it completely nullifies the opponent's attack power."

"Woah, those are some useful techniques," commented Yamcha in excitement. However, there was something that bothered him, "But you said something about lunar magic. I don't know about Apple Cobbler, but I don't think I have it."

"Indeed, you don't possess lunar magic," she answered, "But that's not an issue at all." Right after that, the sun hid under the horizon, and the moon arose. Her silver mane and tail shone in a silverish yet dim light, akin to the moon, with her eyes turning feline-like, and a pair of bat wings appeared on her sides. "I shall share a bit of mine with you," she stated with a smile.

"You'll find out soon," answered Apple Cobbler as she got into her fighting stance.

Soundwave flapped her wings to take off and dashed toward her opponent. Applejack's cousin dodged the oncoming punch and counterattacked with an upward punch to her belly. However, the pegasus used her superior speed to avoid it. Then, she placed herself behind the dark orange-coated mare and did a roundhouse kick, sending her a few meters away, but the gray-coated pegasus noticed that her blow was less powerful than intended, "Wait... what? I'm sure I used all my strength on that blow, yet it felt like I held back," she internally said as confusion was present on her face.

Apple Cobbler somersaulted to land on her hooves. She then turned to face her opponent, and, after a quick look at the sky, she thought, "I reduced her attack potency by about 25%, but she's still faster than me. I have to be careful."

Meanwhile, Moonlight was standing in front of Mr. Satan, who was afraid to fight against the one who defeated Goku back in Baltimare. The mare noticed it during their brief skirmish a few seconds ago, but she didn't let it bother her as it could be just a strategy to make her feel too confident. The Earth's most famous fighter, however, wasn't bluffing at all. "Damn, why do I have to fight her of all people?" he thought with nervousness, "If Goku couldn't win, what am I supposed to do against her?"

His legs started to tremble as he tried to get into his fighting stance, something that the silver-maned unicorn didn't overlook, "So, he's not trying to deceive me, he's indeed afraid of me."

Mr. Satan tried to shrug it off and thought, "I can't run, or else everyone here will laugh at me, and I will never be famous again. Besides, Soundwave taught me one of her tricks; maybe I'm not that done after all." After that, his expression of fear turned into a mixture of nervousness and confidence, and proceeded to attack.

The brown-coated earth pony threw a punch at her, but Moonlight grabbed it, did a 180° degree turn, and used his thrust to lift him and smash him onto the ground. Mr. Satan's eyes were spiraling, but he slowly recovered and stood up again. His opponent's counterattack was enough to intimidate him even more, but he tried to calm himself as he still had a trick under his sleeve.

"If I want to have a chance, I have to use it," he thought as he prepared himself. He got into his fighting stance first. Then, he thrust his right foreleg backward, generating a wind whirl around it.

Upon seeing this, his opponent didn't lower her guard for an instant as she waited for it, "Here it comes!"

"SONIC WIND!" exclaimed Mr. Satan as he thrust forward his foreleg, generating a supersonic beam of wind. It created a shockwave that damaged the ground beneath as it directed toward its target.

Moonlight was close, too close for anypony to react or dodge such an attack in time; Nonetheless, she was able to sidestep, allowing the beam of wind to follow its trajectory undisturbed, much to the earth pony's surprise. "Nice shot," she praised as she looked at the damages caused by his attack, then she said, "But I'm afraid our duel has reached its epilogue." Soon after that, she used her magic to levitate Mr. Satan to throw him out of the stage, much to the earth pony's fear. "It is not my desire to cause any harm to a defenseless warrior," she said, "Therefore, I am going to put you out of the battle stage."

"Wa-wait!" exclaimed the Earth's most famous fighter, drawing the unicorn's attention.

"Excuse me?"

"Ca-can we make a deal?" he begged, hoping to escape from his dire situation, just like he did during the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament when he 'fought' against the fiery Android 18. After all, winning in the Equestria Games was, in his eyes, the only method to become a famous fighter again and overcome his financial crisis. Moonlight frowned at this, but what really pissed her off were the following words, "If you let my team win, I'll give you the gold medal at the end of the games. What do you think?"

Moonlight gave him a stern look, one that could freeze the hottest of the deserts, scaring the earth pony in front of her, and asked in an irritated whisper, "How dare you… " Mr. Satan couldn't utter a word as he felt like he did something he shouldn't have to, with him now forced to pay the consequences of his actions.

"How dare you?!" she repeated, then she shouted in anger as she approached him, "Pursuing victory through bribery is an insult to Knighthood, Warriorcraft, and the Equestria Games themselves!" Right after that, she stopped using the levitation spell on him, making him fall. When she walked past him, she coldly said, "If there is at least a drop of dignity in you, you'll leave the arena yourself." The Earth's Champion became pale upon hearing those words, then he sat on the place, showing his crumbled morale.

Meanwhile, Yamcha recovered from his beating and was about to face Majin Buu once more. "I don't know if I can keep him busy any longer," he thought with a bit of worry, "I wonder when we'll kick into the next phase of the plan."

"Yamcha, Apple Cobbler, regroup!" shouted a voice, much to Buu's confusion and Yamcha's joy; It was Moonlight, who wanted her teammates to disengage for a debriefing. Confused by this, Soundwave lowered her guard, something that Applejack's cousin took advantage of to leave the battle. The ex-Wolf Desert Bandit did the same and, soon, they gathered on one of the hills near the rainbow waterfall.

"So, it's time, huh?" said Apple Cobbler.

The silver-maned unicorn nodded and asked, "So, found anything new about our opponents?"

Filler Chapter 9: Equestria Games - Part 3 (Edited)

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Filler Chapter 10: Equestria Games - Part 4

[Near the stage]

As Ponyville and Monacolt got ready, the Royal Guards reshaped the fighting stage. It no longer featured the relaxing Winsome Falls but the desolation of crumbled statues, ruined pillars, roofless basements, and a dusty square with a waterless fountain in the middle.

"Horsalus?" said Twilight as her eyes wide-opened.

"Huh?" asked both Rainbow and Goku in confusion.

"An ancient city that once prospered near Trottingham," she said as she smiled, "The Crystal Empire and Griffonstone fought there during the piracy period."

"Egghead."

Twilight was about to protest upon hearing that, but Rainbow's soft smile stopped her from doing so. She gazed back at the stage with a relaxed expression, for she understood that her friend was trying to soften her nerves. She sighed and said, "I still wonder how we're going to deal with Monacolt's spells."

"Well, if we can't counter the cube directly, we can prevent them from casting it by eliminating one of their fighters," suggested Goku.

"Yeah, but I think they know this. Besides, that would only work with that spell; what about Mirage?"

"Uh... I'll think about it when I'm fighting her," he replied as he rubbed the back of his head, "I'm at my best when I'm improvising, hehe."

"That didn't help you with Moonlight, though."

"Hey, she caught me off guard with that move, but it won't happen this time," he nervously giggled. But then, he turned serious, much to his friends' confusion, as he remembered what the silver-maned mare told him back then. "I won't make the same mistake twice.", he thought as he smiled competitively.

"Hmm," Twilight started pondering as she was trying to come up with a strategy to deal with fighters that were hard or virtually impossible to hit. She had her eyes closed as her mind looked for a solution. Then, she opened her eyes widely as a smile decored her face, "I have an idea! Hear me out."

Meanwhile, Monacolt's team members were warming up as they waited for the match to start. Or it would be better to say that Minima and Massima were exercising as their leader, Mirage, was looking at their next adversaries. More precisely, at the young princess and the one-of-a-kind male alicorn.

"What's the matter?" asked Minima as she was stretching her hind legs.

She didn't answer at first as she kept staring at the alicorn duo. Then, she looked at the ground for half a second before turning around and saying with her usual prench accent, "What do we know about the Ponyville Team?"

"Not much," answered Massima as she did some push-ups, "Only the obvious fact that the youngest among the princesses is one of their members."

"Yeah, we were too busy studying Manehattan to care about a Team that never participated in the Martial Arts Event before," added her sister.

"So, we're fighting two alicorns blindfolded..." concluded the Duchess' daughter as she looked at the ground with one of her hooves on her chin.

Seeing this, the old sisters stopped doing exercises and approached their teammate. Then, Minima spoke, "Well, if it helps, Princess Twilight Sparkle is too young to be anywhere near the magical level of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, let alone that of Princess Luna or even Princess Celestia herself."

"And that other alicorn fellow was defeated by that fighter from Seaddle," added Massima with a smile, "So, we can win."

"Hmm... peut être (maybe). But let's not rest on our laurels," she said as she looked back at their adversaries. Then, she looked back at her teammates and explained, "Our tactic will be..."

A few minutes later, the referee called the semifinalists, "Now, we shall proceed with the second semifinal match of the Top 4! Ponyville and Monacolt are kindly requested to enter the stage!" Both teams met at the fountain in the center of the stage in line formation and got into their fighting stances. Silence loomed across the area as everypony waited for the umpire to usher the match...

"Begin!"

Upon hearing this, Monacolt's fighters dashed toward their opponents as the crowd ended the atmospheric silence. Mirage wanted to attack Twilight, as she thought she was the strongest of her team, but Goku blocked her path and threw a punch which she instinctively countered with one of her own, generating a small shockwave.

As they were in a deadlock, Goku said, "I'll be your opponent."

The light-gray mare wide-opened her eyes in surprise at first, but then they sharpened as she smiled and said, "Très bien (very well)."

Right after that, both fighters disappeared from their teammates' sight and started to exchange punches and kicks as they traveled across the stage. As they approached a pillar, Goku threw a punch, but Mirage sidestepped, grabbed him and used the blow's momentum to lift him and try to smash him onto the ground. However, the scarlet-eyed alicorn landed on his hind legs and took advantage of the gained momentum to lift his opponent and do the same.

However, the pale azure-maned unicorn did not fall victim to it and let Goku's foreleg go before it was too late. She landed on her four and immediately threw a kick toward his face, but the alicorn dodged it. She instantly moved her leg to try to hit him anyway, but Goku stepped back and avoided it.

Then, the black-maned alicorn charged at her in a traditional pony fashion, but Mirage backflipped, placing herself above the ponified Saiyan, and tried to double-kick his back. However, Goku disappeared from her sight, much to her surprise, and reappeared above her, ready to hit her with a punch. Once he hit her, however, she vanished in mist just to reappear a pair of meters next to the alicorn.

"Nice move, there," said the mare with a sharp look and a smirk.

Goku turned toward her with a similar expression and said, "I hoped to catch you off guard, but it seems like your...spell is meant just for that."

"That's a way to put it," she replied, "But tell me, how do you plan to win against somepony you can't touch?"

"Well, what about this?" he replied with a smirk as multiple clones of himself surrounded the mare.

"What the...?" she said with her eyes wide-opened, "A clone spell?!"

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash plunge-attacked Minima, but the old unicorn jumped away, avoiding the attack. The speedster soon resumed her attack and tried to deliver a double kick at supersonic speed, but her opponent backflipped at the last instant and kicked her back, sending her toward the sky.

Rainbow stopped herself, however, and massaged her back as she said, "How could you dodge my kick like that?"

"You're not the first fast pegasus I met, youngster," she answered with a competitive smile.

"Hmph, but this is the first time you meet Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed before flying around her. The rainbow-maned pegasus flew in eight orbits around the old mare, who was in her fighting stance, tracing eight rainbow-colored trails.

Minima kept her stance as she cast a yellow magic shield around her. Now, any attack would crash against it, thus eliminating her opponent's speed advantage and surprise factor. However, attacking her was never Rainbow Dash's intention; instead, she was performing a variant of her Fantastic Filly Flash mixed with her Super-Speed Strut; moves of old with which the Element of Loyalty wanted to impress the Wonderbolts in the Grand Galloping Gala.

Of course, this eventually puzzled the retired Ducal Guard, who expected her opponent to try to break her shield. Instead, she was flying around it while showing off, as if she was in the middle of the Best Young Flyer competition, without even attempting to smash it. This could not continue further as maintaining a shield for too long was tiresome for an old unicorn, and she had to preserve her magic.

Time was on Rainbow's side.

Minima deactivated her shield, ready to attack, but the cyan-coated pegasus caught her off guard with a flash of lightning that forced her to close her eyes, leaving an opening. Rainbow Dash exploited it and hit her with a flying kick, sending her near some broken pillars standing ten meters away from the edge.

"The old school moves never fail," she commented with a smirk as she directed toward her opponent.

The old unicorn stopped herself from crashing against the pillars by backflipping and using her four legs, destroying some basements in the process. Once she raised her head, she saw the rainbow-maned mare hovering a few meters in front of her, and then said, "Nice move, youngster."

"That isn't the first magic shield I stumble across," she answered with a smirk, but then she thought with her eyes wide-opened, "Wait... I think I spent too much time with Twilight, recently. Now I'm speaking like her!"

Meanwhile, Massima, who couldn't brawl with Twilight as the latter avoided confrontation outright, witnessed what happened to her sister. She ran toward her, leaving the battle with the princess. Upon seeing this, Twilight also ran in the same direction to intercept her.

Once there, Massima looked at her sister, who looked back at her, and both got into their fighting stance. Likewise, Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other before facing their opponents. After that, the princess cast a spell on her friend, making her body shine briefly. Then, they attacked first, much to their opponent's delight as their fighting style shone the most in a defensive stance.

However, they did not attack them hoof-to-hoof: Twilight stopped three meters from Massima and began shooting magic beams, whereas Rainbow flew around Minima.

Massima could not dodge in her usual manner as the princess' intense rapid fire didn't allow it. Instead, she performed a series of jumps, backflips, and sidesteps to avoid getting hit. She jumped on a nearby pillar, which she used to propel herself into the air before it got destroyed by a purple magic beam.

Twilight fired again at what looked like a sitting duck hovering four meters above the ground, but her opponent defended herself with a blue, sphere-shaped magic shield. Once Massima returned to the ground, she changed the shape of her shield into a circle. Then, she charged at Twilight, whose magic beams could not pierce through her defenses.

Once she got close enough, the old unicorn turned young as she dropped her shield and threw a punch. However, Twilight denied battle and teleported on top of a ruined wall, resuming her ranged attacks. Massima swiftly enabled her shield and charged, but the princess warped to the top of another ruin's wall.

Massima demolished the wall on which the princess was. Then, she turned to face her as her shield protected her from the storm of magic beams. She needed considerable mana to keep withstanding them, yet a smirk decorated her face. She resumed her attack and, although Twilight teleported away, she tore that wall apart as well.

The lavender alicorn, meanwhile, reappeared on top of the nearest wall. She made sure to keep the fight this way and not move it too far away from Rainbow Dash. She was using the ruins to keep the distance between her and her opponent. Twilight was still unsure if she had to use her newly learned martial prowess at all, so, in a way, her opponent gave her time to think it through as her way of fighting discouraged direct combat.

However...

"I'll have to do it eventually," she worryingly thought as she jumped away, watching as Massima smashed the wall she was standing on previously. She landed on the crumbled wall a few meters away from there.

This time, however, Massima did not charge her. Instead, she ran toward the remaining damaged walls that the princess was not using yet and started smashing them one by one under magic fire. This would completely ruin Twilight's delaying tactic as she would be forced to engage her directly. However, the lavender alicorn did not move from where she was, much to her surprise.

"It doesn't matter," thought the unicorn, as she destroyed every last bit of the ruins before charging at the one from which the princess was firing at her.

Twilight teleported away as her final hoof-hold on high ground was smashed by her opponent. She reappeared three meters next to the place where Rainbow's battle was unfolding as she stopped firing her magic beams. The lavender alicorn looked at the approaching unicorn, who deactivated her frontal shield. Then, she activated her horn, engulfing her body with a thin magic aura, and charged at her opponent in a flash.

Massima dodged it with a shocked expression. However, that shocked face soon turned into a smile as she immediately shifted to her signature fighting style and dodged all of the princess' attacks.

[Royal Podium]

Princess Celestia was pleased to see that her former student was able to hold her own. However, she couldn't help but notice the flaws in her way of fighting.

Princess Luna did not wait to express her thoughts, "In my humble apprehension, she's relying too much on her magic and thus she's wasting energies."

"Agree, but perhaps it's deliberate," suggested the Sun Goddess, drawing her sister's attention, "I don't think she would make such a mistake unknowingly. To save mana is one of the first lessons taught at the School for Gifted Unicorns."

"But why would she do that?" asked Princess Cadence in confusion.

None of her fellow princesses answered at first. The Moon Goddess, in particular, closed her eyes, indicating that she was processing a possible explanation. Initially, she thought wasting magic like that against a more experienced opponent was senseless. However, when she looked at the broader picture, Luna smiled, opened her eyes, and said, much for Cadence's intrigue, "Commendable, young Twilight Sparkle."

Meanwhile, Duchess Diamond Waves was more concerned with the battle between her daughter and that mysterious stallion. "So, this is what Celestia meant with 'peculiar abilities,'" she thought upon seeing what looked like a Cloning Spell.

[Fighting Stage - Ruins of Horsalus]

Meanwhile, Mirage tried to punch one of Goku's clones but was surprised to see her hoof phase through it. However, she had no time to process it as the scarlet-eyed alicorn appeared behind her and attacked. Nonetheless, his punch phased through Mirage, who turned into mist at contact. Right after that, the gray-coated mare appeared on Goku's left side and delivered a kick to his head. However, Goku used the Afterimage Technique to dodge it.

She found herself surrounded once more.

"It's not a clone spell. They're Optic Illusions made with sheer speed," she thought before smiling. After that, she ignited her horn, generating rippling waves of magic from it and covering the area for a second. As soon as the waves disappeared, all afterimages vanished.

Goku abruptly stopped as he rubbed his forehead. He had a brief sensory disturbance, but he quickly recovered. "What was that?" he thought. However, as soon as he focused again on the fight, he saw a dangerously close Mirage, who was about to deliver a punch. The black-maned alicorn blocked it with one of his forelegs and threw one of his own.

Mirage vanished on contact, so Goku tried to counter it with the Afterimage Technique. However, this time he was hit and sent a few meters away. "What the...?!" he said as he recovered from that blow. He set his sight to his opponent and saw her standing where he previously was.

She walked towards him, across the ruined basements and the few columns still standing. Goku got into his fighting stance and waited. When Mirage attacked, Goku tried to block her punch. However, she phased through him and vanished, much to his confusion. Suddenly, he was sent back a couple of meters, grinding his hooves against the ground. He looked back to where he was and saw her standing on one of her hind legs, while the other was extended horizontally towards him.

"I see you're confused," said Mirage. "You impressed me with your illusory technique, and, as an illusion specialist, I wanted to show you one of my spells. I'm curious to see if you'll be able to counter it."

As soon as she said that, she charged at Goku, who was ready to counterattack. However, when Mirage delivered her punch, the scarlet-eyed alicorn did not feel it until one second later, much to his surprise. The blow was strong enough to send him a few meters away. He recovered quickly and got into his fighting stance as he thought, "Illusions, huh? Then I can't trust my senses." Then, he smiled, "But that's hardly a problem." After that, he closed his eyes.

"Clever, but using your ears won't work!" exclaimed the pale-gray mare as she prepared to attack.

It looked like none of them would move for a few seconds. Suddenly, Mirage attacked but Goku didn't move. Once more, the gray-coated Unicorn phased through him and vanished. Then, Goku threw a punch at seemingly nothing, generating a shockwave that dug a moat right in front of him. Almost immediately, Mirage reappeared in front of him, their punches struggling for dominance as she showed a surprised face.

Goku smiled as he opened his eyes and said, "What do ya think?"

The blue-eyed mare smiled back and answered, "Not bad."

Immediately after that, the ponyfied Saiyan moved his right forehoof to the right, and another shockwave happened. This time, he blocked a kick effortlessly, much to Mirage's surprise as her figure vanished from her previous position.

"Now I understand," said Goku, "Your spell tricks both sight and hearing, making somepony think that you are moving sooner than you actually do."

"Correct," she answered, "Tempus Fugit (Time Flies) is a spell that acts on all 5 senses. Which begs the question, how can you react to my attacks?"

"I lock on your energy signature. So, even if I can't see nor hear you, I still know where you are and when you are going to attack."

Surprised, Mirage thought, "Détection d'énergie? (Detection of Energy?) Of course, if I can do that, so can he. He's an Alicorn, after all. But it's evident his skill is on a different level if he can use it to track me in a fight."

Goku repulsed her with a wave of his hoof, sending her a few meters away. Mirage instantly recovered as she saw her opponent dropping his fighting stance to face her with a confident smile. "That spell of yours is interesting, but it is useless against somepony that has a sixth sense."

"I'll keep that in mind," she answered before smirking. Then, she said, "But, unfortunately, this battle has come to an end."

"What?" said Goku in confusion before seeing her vanishing.

Mirage appeared right between Minima and Massima and activated her horn. She fired two lightning-fast blue magic beams at her teammates. A shockwave blasted from their horns and repulsed Twilight and Rainbow Dash, allowing them to disengage.

The three unicorns quickly flared up their horns and cast the Trick Room spell. A giant purple cube enclosed half of the fighting stage, trapping Twilight and Rainbow inside and leaving Goku outside. The effects of the cube immediately swapped Massima's power with Twilight's and Rainbow's with Mirage's, leaving Minima as the only one with her original power.

Team Monacolt's plan had worked as expected, although the original task was to leave the pegasus outside the Trick Room. By trapping the two alicorns within the cube, they expected to make short work of them. Although Goku's skills and Rainbow Dash's way of fighting prevented that from happening, they successfully trapped two members of Team Ponyville. Now, with one of the princesses' power in Team Monacolt's possession and its numerical superiority, victory was on a silver plate.

This plan was Mirage's magnum opus.

[Royal Podium]

Diamond Waves was delighted, to say the least. The Martial Arts Team representing her city trained hard for this day, and the results were outstanding. They defeated their long-standing rival, Manehattan, and now they cornered Ponyville - who fielded a princess and another alicorn - and denied them any possibility of retaliation.

"Bien, bien, bien (well, well, well), it seems as though the battle has reached its epilogue," said the Duchess with a smug face, "And I don't see Ponyville as the winner."

Princess Cadence had a worried expression, while Celestia and Luna had serious-looking faces. However, the Royal Sisters refrained from talking as they wanted to see the development of such a situation.

[Fighting Stage - Ruins of Horsalus]

Twilight was standing still, staring at the whole Team Monacolt in front of her. A drop of sweat ran down her face as she tried to figure out her and Rainbow's next move. "This happened sooner than foreseen," she thought in nervousness. She started to panic, which didn't allow her to think clearly. Furthermore, the knowledge lingering in the back of her mind that the entire tournament was a test didn't help as she began thinking that she was about to fail it.

Rainbow Dash noticed it and said, "Twilight." Her friend didn't react. "Twilight," she called once more but to no avail. Rainbow wanted to shout her name but was interrupted by the sudden attack of Mirage, who dashed toward them. The cyan-coated pegasus reacted quickly and placed herself in front of Twilight, using her tail to create a shockwave and a wall of dust.

She succeeded at repelling Mirage's attack but knew the unicorn's teammates were on their way. Rainbow knew this thanks to her hidden talent, which allowed her to make a note of everything she saw and heard while flying.

"Twilight!" she exclaimed, finally drawing the princess back to reality.

Twilight noticed that Rainbow Dash was in front of her. Nanoseconds later, she saw Minima and Massima in mid-air, just above the wall of dust, about to deliver a flying kick to them both. Unconsciously, Twilight touched Rainbow and teleported away with her, much to the unicorn sisters' surprise.

They reappeared twenty meters away near the Trick Room's eastern wall, meaning they were now at the furthest point from the stage's edge. Twilight sighed in relief but noticed how her spell affected her friend, who was on the ground and had part of her mane burnt.

"Sorry," she said as she helped her stunned friend to stand up.

Rainbow shook her head to recover and said, "I'm more worried about you."

"Huh?"

"I saw you frozen like a Snowpony. What happened?"

"W-well," she said as she massaged one of her forelegs, "I think we needed more time to decrease our power."

"It's that so? I think we played with them for ages, but if you're not sure, why didn't you teleport us out of this cube?"

"I tried to do just that, but this spell blocked me here."

Rainbow noticed Team Monacolt approaching and said, "Are you sure we need more time?"

Twilight thought about it for a second and closed her eyes. Then, she opened her eyes, which now were of ethereal light blue, and looked at the approaching opponents.

This action alerted Monacolt's athletes, who thought the princess was casting some advanced spell. They got into their fighting stances, ready to take it on. However, nothing happened as Twilight's eyes returned to normal, much to their confusion.

Meanwhile, Twilight looked at Rainbow with a relieved expression and said, "I saw their Ki. They're stronger than us but not by much." She smiled slightly and continued, "I think we can stall them up for a little while." After that, they looked at their opponents and prepared themselves.

Noticing Princess Twilight and her associate would not attack, Team Monacolt took the initiative. Mirage ordered Massima and Minima to attack them from the flanks. The goal was to leave gaps between her and her teammates that could be used as corridors by Team Ponyville; that way, their opponents would move away from the wall, and it would be easier to take them out of the stage.

The plan worked, as Rainbow and Twilight exploited said gaps to break the encirclement. After that, they turned to see them and dashed forward.

The cyan-coated pegasus put herself in front of Twilight and swept the ground with her tail, unleashing a small dust storm against them. However, Minima and Massima easily braved it thanks to their magic shields, and reached Rainbow Dash. The speedster was able to react in time and crossed her forelegs to protect herself from the unicorns' punches. However, their punches propelled her several meters back, forcing Twilight to get out of the way.

Mirage stepped out of the settling dust, drawing Twilight's attention. They stared at each other for a second; then, the unicorn attacked. Mirage tried to punch the lavender alicorn, but the latter dodged it by jumping a meter back. The unicorn dashed forward almost immediately, almost catching Twilight off guard, and delivered a punch to her face. The princess avoided it by ducking. Then, she somersaulted to avoid Mirage's attempt to ram her from her right flank and raised her left foreleg to block an ax kick.

The gray-coated unicorn smiled at this and used the Princess' foreleg to perform a somersault in mid-air and land. Then, she did a roundhouse kick, which Twilight dodged by ducking. However, Mirage used her momentum to perform another roundhouse kick. Twilight ducked, but that was Mirage's plan as she attacked with a downward punch. However, she miscalculated the reaction time of the princess, who dodged it with a somersault.

Twilight tried to make distance by doing three backward somersaults, but Mirage instantly closed the distance, taking her by surprise. The lavender mare crossed her forelegs immediately to protect herself from the incoming strike, which sent her fifteen meters away. Twilight ground her hind legs against the ground for half that distance and rolled across the stage for the other half until she stopped while standing.

The princess looked at her right foreleg and saw a bruise on it. It hurt a bit, but she couldn't focus on it for long as the noise of the battle between her friend and the unicorn sisters drew her attention. The speedster, although outnumbered, could hold her ground thanks to her speed. However, she could not watch them any further as Mirage reached her and stood a pair of meters in front of her.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," she called, "Forgive my boldness, but did you start practicing Martial Arts recently, perchance?"

Twilight opened her eyes slightly in surprise and asked, "How can you tell?"

"Hesitation," she replied, "Or, more precisely, the fear of hurting others. Your strictly defensive stance shows it. I can tell: I went through a similar thing in the past." Twilight didn't say anything as she sighed, "What a disappointment. I would help you fix that, but this is a competition." After that, she got into her fighting stance.

"...at least she hasn't noticed yet," thought Twilight as she got into the Turtle School fighting stance, something that drew Mirage's attention as it was the same stance as the other alicorn.

After that, Mirage dashed forward, preparing to deliver a punch. Twilight thrust forward her right foreleg and blocked the attack, generating a small shockwave. However, the unicorn pointed her horn at the lavender mare to fire a magic beam point-blank. The princess reacted quickly and teleported behind her opponent before the spell could hit her. The magic beam dug a ten-meter-long moat in the process.

Upon noticing this, the gray-coated mare back-kicked, but Twilight jumped backward to avoid the attack. Mirage performed three backward somersaults, ending the last one with a double kick aimed at the lavender alicorn's head. However, her attack did not land as Twilight vanished upon contact, much to Mirage's surprise as she recognized that technique.

Twilight reappeared a pair of meters behind her, standing on her hind legs. "With this, she'll think I'm going serious. Let's hope I can execute this properly," she thought as she remembered her training and the battle between Goku and Lord Beerus. She closed her eyes as she began moving her forelegs graciously yet quick and firm, almost as if they were following a wave. As they moved, it gave the impression that her forelegs were about to multiply, much to Mirage's intrigue.

When Twilight opened her eyes, she revealed the ethereal azure color of the Spirit Sight Technique and grew up six more forelegs, flawlessly executing the Eight-Arms Technique. The princess quickly noticed that Mirage's Ki was roughly the same size as hers and braced herself. She only had to decrease its size for the plan to succeed.

Meanwhile, Mirage's composure was almost split asunder upon looking at the princess. She even back-stepped out of instinct as the lavender alicorn looked intimidating.

"So, this is a princess going serious?" she wondered, but then realized, "Wait, I cannot sense her mana, but mine has not increased; she did not become stronger. Is she going to go on the offensive?" However, all Twilight did was get into her fighting stance, which discarded that possibility, "So, she still insists on standing on the defensive. What is she trying to accomplish?"

As she thought those words, she also got into her fighting stance and prepared to attack, for the only way to discover what the princess planned was to play along. Then, she rushed forward.

Twilight blocked the first punch and then flew backward as her opponent pursued. Soon, both mares were exchanging punches and kicks, or, more precisely, Twilight was blocking and dodging while Mirage was the one attacking as they traveled across the stage. Thanks to King Chappa's technique, Twilight could easily repel any attack as the multiple forelegs were a source of distraction for the opponent.

Mirage threw a more powerful punch to break the princess' stalwart defense, but Twilight blocked it with one of her own. The clash generated a shockwave that repulsed the gray-coated unicorn, who backflipped a few times before landing ten meters away.

Surprised, Mirage quickly understood what was happening, "So, this is why she never attacked." Then, she realized, "Wait, that means..!"

She quickly turned her head and saw her teammates cornered by Rainbow Dash, who counterattacked as soon as she heard the shockwave's sound. The rainbow-maned pegasus grabbed the unicorn sisters by their tail, swirled on her axis to gain momentum, and then threw them towards the edge.

Upon seeing this, Mirage teleported near the edge and used her magic to stop them. After putting them back on the ground and dissipating the magic aura of the Levitation Spell, she sighed, "Just in time."

Minima stood up first and said, "That was close, grazie (thank you) Mirage."

"We got a problem," she said with a serious tone.

"What happened?" asked Massima in confusion.

"We were playing their game this whole time," she explained, "The way each of them has fought so far, the techniques used... They were biding their time, waiting for us to deplete our energies as they saved theirs."

"Impossible! We would have noticed."

Minima intervened and said, "No, it makes sense. We can't sense an alicorn's energy, but didn't you notice that we couldn't sense that Pegasus' energy?"

"... It's true... But how?" said Massima in surprise, but then she realized, "Wait, it was when we were fighting them. The princess cast a spell on her. This means...?"

Mirage nodded and said, "We have to end the Trick Room spell."

"But that would allow the other alicorn to join the battle," Minima pointed out.

"Oui (yes), but I can take care of him; you will be stronger than Princess Twilight Sparkle and her chaperon, which means we will turn the tables around."

Suddenly, Twilight and Rainbow reached them. They quickly braced themselves and ignited their horns, seemingly forcing Twilight to cast a purple dome-shaped magic shield around her and her friend. They took advantage of this and dissolved the purple cube around them; its effects soon vanished, which resulted in the exchange of powers between the parties. Mirage didn't lose time and went to intercept Goku, who was approaching them.

Massima and Minima, meanwhile, attacked Twilight's shield using magic beams, and although their attacks inflicted some damage, the shield withstood them all. As they kept firing and more cracks formed on the shield, Rainbow panted with a slightly worried tone, "Uh... Twilight? This isn't working!"

The princess remained silent but quickly reacted to the situation. Her horn shone brighter, repairing the shield and making it thicker. This action took by surprise the unicorn sisters, as they believed Twilight was too tired to do something like that due to the Trick Room's side effects. As Rainbow and Twilight were the ones who had their power reduced by the Trick Room spell's end, it was natural to think that.

Indeed, Rainbow Dash was affected by it, but Twilight was another story. Unlike the Element of Loyalty, which focused on speed and technique, the lavender alicorn had a balanced Training that improved all aspects, including fatigue resistance. Not to mention that, unlike Rainbow, Twilight was holding back all the time, which meant she had the energy to spare.

The unicorn sisters stopped firing, seeing that it was futile. Then, they jumped on each side of the dome-shaped shield and closed their eyes as they pointed their right foreleg toward it. An azure-flowing aura engulfed their bodies as a blue orb formed on their forehoof's tip. They used the same technique to disrupt Manehattan's Perfect Press Zone; they hoped to break the shield with it and end the battle.

They unleashed their blasts against the shield, generating an explosion huge enough to envelop it. A cloud of smoke and dust littered the area as the sisters waited for it to dissipate. Surprise struck their minds when they saw the shield still standing, undeterred and unscathed.

Twilight was sitting there with a smug face, showing she expected such a result. Rainbow also smiled as she looked at their expressions.

"How?" both unicorns wondered in surprise.

"Checkmate," suddenly said Twilight, snapping them from their thoughts. At that very moment, Son Goku appeared in front of them and, before they could react, pushed them out of the arena with a wind beam.

Mirage was still processing what happened with Goku, as the alicorn simply vanished as soon as she was about to touch him. But then, she heard, "Minima and Massima from Monacolt are out! The winner is Ponyville!" Her eyes wide-opened both in surprise and disbelief. Immediately after, the spectators unleashed a roar of exultation, especially the area full of ponies from Ponyville.

[Spectator Area]

"GO, PONYVILLE!" exulted Pinkie, as she jumped for joy and waved a Ponyville flag.

"Keep goin' like that, guys!" exclaimed Applejack.

"Now they only need to win the finals and Ponyville will have another Gold Medal," said Rarity with enthusiasm.

"Speaking of which, when is it?" asked Goten.

"It's in 4 days," said Fluttershy.

"Nice! It means we'll have more time to visit the local shops!" said Rarity with a smile and a thrilled tone.

[Royal Podium]

Meanwhile, the princesses were visibly satisfied with the conclusion, as smiles decored their faces. Luna had her eyes closed, as she thought about the tactic employed by the young alicorn to overcome a crafty foe. She was impressed and her confident smile showed it. Celestia was satisfied knowing that she guessed the situation correctly and that her pupil had the situation under control, and Cadence was just happy that Twilight's team had won.

On the other hoof, Diamond Waves made a short, slightly sad sigh for the defeat of her city; after all, they trained intending to win, this year. However, she was everything but a bad loser and soon her expression changed, and with a smile, she said with her typical prench accent, "It seems I lost the bet."

"It was a close battle," said Celestia, "It could have gone either way."

"No need to console me," said the Duchess as she looked at her friend, "Monacolt lost to the power and genius of a princess and another alicorn. I couldn't imagine a more honorable way of losing. I'm sure they're thinking the same."

"So, now, it's between Ponyville and Seaddle," commented Cadence, "I wonder if Twilight and her friends will be able to win that one too."

Luna opened her eyes and said, "I hope to see more of Twilight Sparkle's martial abilities in the finals. I couldn't help but notice that she's been hesitant throughout the tournament and has not shown what she's truly capable of."

"It's only natural," replied Celestia, "This is the first time she has participated in a martial competition, so I'm not surprised about her hesitation. She's probably fearful of hurting the other competitors."

"I see. Let's hope she overcomes that fear, then."

[Fighting Stage - Ruins of Horsalus]

Twilight deactivated her shield and sighed in relief, as Rainbow Dash was celebrated for the victory. The Pegasus swirled barely above ground to express her joy, as she shouted, "YES!"

Goku approached them with his usual smile and said, "Good job, you two."

"Thanks," replied Twilight with a smile, "Fortunately, the plan worked."

"Only one match left for the Gold Medal," said Rainbow enthusiastically, as she approached the two.

"You sure are more fired up than Goku."

"Of course! Winning this will get Ponyville closer to beating Cloudsdale at the Medal Table. Plus, this event is so much fun! I will sign up for this one too in the next Games."

"Hehe," chuckled Goku, "I agree. There may not be strong opponents but the spells and techniques used by the warriors here are interesting. I'm learning a lot."

"Well, at least you two are having fun," commented Twilight more to herself than to them.

Twilight wanted to say something more but was interrupted by Mirage who approached them with a smile and said, "Félicitations (Congratulations), Ponyville. A well-deserved victory."

"Thanks," replied the scarlet-eyed alicorn with a smile, "You guys fought well too."

"The tactic you adopted to neutralize the Trick Room Spell is nothing short of spectacular. I will keep it in mind in the future."

"That was all Twilight's plan," replied Rainbow with a confident smile.

"Yeah, I had no clue how to deal with that spell," confirmed Goku, "But she came up with an idea on the fly."

A bit nervous at the compliments, Twilight said, "I did nothing special, really. You have more experience than me in this, so I'm sure you'll have come up with something too."

"Hehe, maybe, but you still did it before me."

"Anyway, I wish you good luck for the finals," said Mirage as she smiled. "Though, I'm sure you won't need it," she added as she left.

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Goku began heading towards the Arena's exit soon after, as the stage was magically removed to allow for the next events to start.

[Stadium's Stands]

Meanwhile, the Seaddle Team, watching from the seats nearest to the arena, was satisfied with the battle they witnessed and their smiles reflected that. "So, Ponyville is our final opponent," said Moonlight as she closed her eyes.

Yamcha had his sight on Goku as he remembered the Martial Arts Tournaments back on Earth. He never got the chance to face him in them, making this the first time he would fight him since his days as the Wolf Desert Bandit. He could not hope to defeat him in a one-on-one now, but the rules of this tournament allowed him to circumvent the need to defeat him directly. The defeat of Vegeta's Team proved that.

He smiled confidently and commented, "It will be fun to fight you again, Goku. I can't wait for the finals."

Author's Note

Hi, everyone! Long time no see.

I hope you liked the new chapter. The next one will be the final chapter of the Equestria Games mini-arc, and we'll finally enter the next saga.

The next chapter should be released next month.

Have a good Saturday!

Battle of Gods Saga: The Fall of a God - Edited

[Above the Earth's Atmosphere, Universe 7]

Beyond the atmosphere of the planet Earth, the legendary Super Saiyan God revealed to be Son Goku was fighting against the mightiest being of Universe 7 known as Lord Beerus, the God of Destruction.

The deity had risen from a deep slumber to fight his supposedly ultimate rival, whom his prophetic dream identified as the 'Super Saiyan God'. Now, however, he was almost regretting to have summoned him.

Goku was delivering a barrage of kicks and punches to Lord Beerus as the god was overwhelmed and surprised by the power of the Saiyan warrior. All of this, mere moments after Goku reverted to a mere Super Saiyan from his divine form. But the purple cat was able to take some distance and launched a counterattack.

"Did you like using blasts against me?!" yelled Goku as he was trying to hit Beerus, "I got one for you!"

"Go on then," said the God as he was dodging the Saiyan's punches, "Do it."

After those words were spoken, Goku started teleporting in different directions around Lord Beerus, with the latter trying to see where he would reappear. Goku suddenly appeared 10 meters under the God of Destruction with his charging signature attack, the Kamehameha, and unleashed it with a mighty roar, "HAAAAAA!!!!"

"AAAAAAAH!!" yelled Lord Beerus as he was overwhelmed by the blue wave of energy and engulfed in a huge explosion visible from the planet's surface. The blast produced hurricane-like winds where the Z-Fighters were located. However, despite the reach of that powerful attack, the deity remained unharmed as the cloud of smoke generated by the explosion was dispersing by itself.

"Now it's my turn," Beerus said sinisterly while charging between his hands a sun-like sphere. In an instant, he enlarged the sphere to the size of the moon, placed it over his head, and was getting ready to let it loose on the helpless world below.

[On Earth]

The Z-Fighters were astonished by the power of Goku who, even though he was not the Super Saiyan God anymore, was able to fight toe to toe with the God of Destruction. Everyone was silent, not daring to say anything. They witnessed what seemed to be another sun above the planet, much to the worry of some of the spectators.

“What is that thing? It looks like the Sun!” said Tien, furthering the dread of the others around him.

“It’s a blast attack from Beerus, this is not good!” Vegeta exclaimed

Whis, the assistant of Lord Beerus, was projecting the images of the fight between the two warriors with the aid of his scepter. This was done to make the battle more accessible to untrained eyes. "Oh my," he said after seeing what kind of attack his master was about to perform, "I haven't seen Lord Beerus look so excited in a fight in a long time."

[Above Earth]

Goku was not so surprised to see his opponent unharmed by his attack, he somewhat knew that Lord Beerus wasn't using his full strength. But his eyes opened wide when he saw that giant sun-like orb that the god was about to throw. He was panting, tired and exhausted. The Kamehameha drained a lot of his energy and now his Super Saiyan aura had all but gone out.

"That blast was not bad, now let's see how you handle this!" exclaimed the God of Destruction as he threw the massive orange orb against the Super Saiyan.

"If that thing keeps its path it will destroy the Planet!" Goku mentally stated as he powered up his Super Saiyan aura, "I can’t let that blast hit the Earth!"

Goku put his hands in front of him in an attempt to stop the Blast Attack of Lord Beerus and, much to the god's surprise, was able to stop the gigantic ball from its path toward planetary annihilation. As time went on, his power further decreased from his already low energy supply, meaning he would not last much longer.

"Impressive," said the God of Destruction.

"W-what?" struggled Goku, trying to push back or at least deflect the giant sphere.

"When your God Ki ran out, I thought you would not be much of an opponent anymore. I'm quite impressed by how long you’ve lasted against me."

"W-what are you t-talking about?"

"If you haven't noticed it yet, you regressed to a mere Super Saiyan some time ago."

"What?! How?!"

"It seems like your body learned from the experience of being a deity, so when you dropped to the first level of the Super Saiyan, your strength didn't fall too much, allowing you to still keep up with me. Soon you'll find out whether or not the red blaze still burns within you. That is if you survive this of course."

"Yeah, but I've just reached my limit! I don't think I'll be able to stop this thing from destroying the Earth!"

"Then accept the fate of your planet!" as those words were spoken, Lord Beerus aimed with his left hand and shot an orange energy wave similar in size to the orb, furthering the power of the destructive ball.

Goku was fighting to live as he was engulfed by the sphere and dropped to his normal form. The clash between the Saiyan's powers to resist and the God of Destruction’s attack, combined with its latest move, was so powerful that it cracked the dimensional wall of Universe 7. Our hero fell into the aperture as Beerus’s combo attack destroyed the planet below.

Suddenly, the Angel known as Whis appeared next to the purple cat with a bag of food cooked for them previously and said "Was that really necessary, Lord Beerus? I don't think there is another planet in the universe that could match Earth's food."

"I’m aware of that,” Beerus admitted, “But you better got some for me too!"

"Oh don't worry, my Lord, I assured myself to get enough food for both of us."

"Excellent."

"Now, what about the Super Saiyan God, Son Goku?" inquired Whis

"What do you mean? He just turned into cosmic dust."

"Uh… No, he didn't."

"What!? Are you telling me that he's still alive, Whis?"

"Mmhm, it seems that your attack combined with his resistance opened a portal to a pocket dimension of this universe. And Son Goku fell right into it."

"Interesting," said Beerus while putting a hand on his chin, "It seems like he's the hard-to-kill type, but tell me, do you know where he fell in?"

Whis just smiled at this question because the place where Goku was now wasn't unknown to them, especially to the God of Destruction.

[Equestria, Canterlot's Suburbs, Pocket Dimension of Universe 7]

Ponies all over were decorating the city for the Summer Sun Celebration, the longest day of the year and the day Princess Celestia, Goddess of the Sun and co-ruler of Equestria, demonstrated to her subjects her rising of the Sun. The Mane 6 and Spike were there as well, but instead of helping the other ponies in decorating the capital, five of them were watching Rainbow Dash, the self-proclaimed 'Fastest Flyer in Equestria', train the new alicorn princess, Twilight Sparkle, the mechanisms of flight.

Since the lavender alicorn was formerly a unicorn, learning to use her new wings proved to be very difficult; more difficult than she expected. She was flapping her wings in mid-air, trying to go higher as Rainbow Dash approached her and stated, "You just have to flap your wings as hard as you can!" Twilight nodded and tried to follow her friend's advice, but during the ascension, she lost stability and crashed against a nearby tree.

"Hehehe," the princess blushed, embarrassed by her poor performance as Rainbow flew next to her.

"Maybe not that hard," said the pegasus in a worried tone.

As Twilight started to fly again, the pink Earth Pony known as Pinkie Pie began to shake wildly.

"Ehm... Pinkie what's wrong? If you don't mind me asking," asked Fluttershy in a voice just above a whisper.

"Wowwee! I never ever had a doozy like this before!" exclaimed the joyful pink mare.

"Doozy?" said Fluttershy confused.

As those words were spoken, Spike ran to a hiding spot under a bench: "W-what's about to happen, Pinkie?" he asked with worry.

"I dunno. But it's about to happen right..."

Meanwhile, Twilight was flying worse than before because of her unsynchronized flight pattern. Suddenly, something was coming at high speed against her. The object seemed to be a meteor falling from the sky and the alicorn princess was in its trajectory. Spike and the Mane 6 minus Twilight noticed this and everypony but Pinkie tried to warn their friend.

“Move outta the way, Twi!” yelled Applejack

“Look behind you dear!” exclaimed Rarity

"Twilight! Watch out!" exclaimed Rainbow as she sped off to move her friend from the fireball’s path.

The lavender mare was able to see the incoming threat before being saved just in time by her rainbow-maned friend. The others moved away quickly as the meteor crashed with a furious thunderclap, raising a dense cloud of dust and dirt and digging a trench 50 meters (~55 yards) in length. The noise of the crash was heard by everypony within the range of 1 kilometer (~0.6 miles) and those that were near the crash site escaped in fear for their lives.

"... Now," Pinkie simply said as the cloud of dust and dirt was dispersing itself.

"Sweet Celestia! Is everypony alright?!" asked Twilight worriedly as she landed near her friends with Rainbow Dash.

"We’re fine, Princess Twilight, none of us got hurt," said Applejack cleaning up her stetson from dust.

The lavender alicorn sighed in relief but then she added, "Applejack, you know it's not necessary to call me by that title."

"And why shouldn't she? You already renounced your willingness to wear your crown, at least accept your new status," supported Rarity

"Fillies, can we talk about this later? If you haven't noticed it yet, a fireball fell from the sky and almost turned all of us into burned pancakes!" broke off Rainbow with an annoyed tone.

"You’re right," said Twilight as she was looking around, "But where are Spike and Fluttershy?"

"H-here," said a familiar voice as everypony turned around to see Fluttershy hidden in a bush, shaking with fear. Next to her was Spike, in the same state as her, but underneath a bench that was next to the bush Fluttershy was in.

"W-what in Equestria was t-that?!" asked the baby dragon.

"I don't know, Spike, but we'll have to find out sooner than later. Let's see where that thing crashed," answered Twilight.

"A-are you sure? Can't we for once let the Royal Guards deal with the problem?"

"Oh come on, Spike, it is probably nothing more than a meteor. Why do we have to annoy the guards with something that we can handle by ourselves?"

"What's a m-meteor?" asked Fluttershy, who was still shaken by the sudden event.

"It's basically space debris so there is nothing to worry about," said Twilight with a calming smile.

"O-okay," said the yellow pegasus, a little bit reassured by Twilight's words.

After getting them out of their hiding spots, the group was heading towards the crash site. The meteor left behind a trench, which they were following along, leading the way to where the fireball landed. Twilight was somewhat excited about this, she always observed the stars and asteroids with her telescope in the Canterlot Observatory and now from her own home in Ponyville, but to have the opportunity to see one this close and study it? To her, it was priceless.

The group finally reached the end of the trench and tried to see what was inside the crater, but what they saw was beyond their expectations. At the bottom of the crater was an unconscious white Alicorn, scorched, wounded, and bruised, about the size of Twilight with a black and spiky tail and a wild black mane. His cutie mark was a black and white swirling orb of equal proportion to each other, otherwise known as a Yin Yang symbol. He wore just the superior part of a torn and scorched orange gi with a blue undershirt and wristbands on his forehooves.

The mares and Spike were taken aback by what they saw, some of them gasped loudly, while others were left speechless.

"What in tarnation?" asked a shocked Applejack.

"Oh, dear Celestia! He looks really hurt!" exclaimed Fluttershy as she sped off to see if the stallion was still alive. Even though he was a complete stranger to her or her friends, that was no excuse to leave behind a wounded pony in need of help.

"A-another alicorn??" spoke Twilight, shocked like Applejack, "And as if it isn't weird enough already, he's a male alicorn! " she internally yelled.

"Come on, let's see if he's alright," said Rainbow after she regained her composure and reached Fluttershy, the others following soon after.

"Fluttershy, darling, is he..?" asked Rarity in worry, dreading to finish the sentence.

Fluttershy just shook her head. "No, his heart and pulse are still beating, but he needs medical attention as soon as possible,'' she said in a concerned tone.

"Let's bring him to the castle," said the princess.

"Ehm, Twilight, you do know he needs emergency service and not a meeting with Princess Celestia, right?" asked a skeptical Spike.

"I know that Spike, but we can't just bring with us another alicorn that nopony has ever seen before as if it were a mundane thing to do, let alone a male Alicorn!"

"What's the big deal with his gender?"

"You don't understand, don't you? Never in the history of Equestria was there a male alicorn! Ponies will start asking for answers and that could unleash a revolution!"

"Now you’re just overreacting, Twi," Spike said flatly.

"Maybe, but we can't take the risk. Let's bring him to the castle, so I can call Princess Celestia, and tell her about this incident. I'm sure she'll be able to heal him, and once that's done, he can give us the answers we want to know.” With that said Twilight started to channel her magic in her horn to levitate the unconscious stallion and quickly get to the Canterlot Castle, with her friends following behind.

[Canterlot Castle]

Princess Celestia was sitting on the balcony of her bedroom as she saw the city being decorated for the Summer Sun Celebration in a few days. There was a time when she hated the holiday due to it reminding her of the day she was forced to seal off her little sister, Princess Luna, on the moon for 1000 years. However, her negative opinion of the day has lifted now because nearly three years ago her prized pupil, Twilight Sparkle, with the aid of her friends purified the heart of the Moon Goddess. In Celestia’s opinion, this holiday was mainly to celebrate the return of Luna from her imprisonment, with all the standard rising sun ceremony procedures falling into the background.

Speaking of the lavender pony, Celestia thought this was her anniversary too because the Summer Sun Celebration was the day she learned the importance of friendship. She remembered how distant she was from other ponies before the return of Nightmare Moon. Now, she wasn't her student anymore but a princess with a lot of friends who cared about her and vice versa. A reason why Celestia was so proud of her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by somepony knocking on the bedroom's door. She stood up and answered "Yes?" as she was approaching the door.

Princess Celestia opened the door to see a royal guard right in front of her, "Your Majesty," said a royal guard pony, who saluted her, "Princess Twilight requires an audience with you for something she deems important."

"Something important?"

"Yes, she is waiting for you in the throne room."

"I wonder what could it be about," Celestia said as she left her quarters and used her magic to close the door behind her.

[Throne Room]

Twilight was sitting before the empty thrones of the hall, waiting for her former teacher. Her friends decided to stay and keep an eye out for the mysterious alicorn in the infirmary of the castle, as the nurses were healing him. Who was that handsome stallion? Wait, 'handsome'? Anyways, where did he come from? And what led him to fall from the sky like that? The way he looks now it seems as though he was in the middle of a battlefield, and the state of his orange gi somewhat supported her theory, even though the fall could also explain his current state too. Questions were storming in Twilight's head as she was trying to figure out the enigma.

"Princess Twilight," said a familiar voice that interrupted her thoughts.

"Princess Celestia!" happily said the younger alicorn, approaching her former teacher, "I'm so glad to see you!"

"Me too, Twilight. So, why did you want to see me? Did something happen?"

"W-well," Twilight started with a little tone of worry, "Y-yes but first I have a question, Princess. Is it possible for a stallion to be born as an alicorn or become one?"

This question caught Celestia off guard. Why was her former pupil asking this of all things? "Why do you ask this?" she said after regaining her composure.

"W-well, it happened that... an alicorn stallion fell from the sky a-and now he's here in the castle receiving medical attention," said a nervous Twilight, not knowing what kind of reaction Celestia would have.

Celestia’s eyes wide opened. Was she telling her the truth? Of course, she had total faith in Twilight and she would never lie to her, but how is it possible? After regaining her senses, she pushed these thoughts aside and said in a serious tone "Bring me to him."

[Castle's Infirmary]

The Mane 5 and Spike were around the bed where the mysterious Alicorn lay motionless. The nurses did a good job bandaging his wounds and also marveled at how he actually survived such injuries. Certainly, those wounds would be deadly for the average pony. They also praised the mares and little dragon for bringing the stallion to the infirmary in time or he wouldn't be alive right now.

Even though they were relieved that his life wasn't in danger anymore and glad to have helped somepony in need, they couldn't help but wonder about the identity of the fallen Alicorn.

"Who do y'all think he could be?" said Applejack

"I have no idea, darling, but whoever he is, he needs to visit the mane-dresser. His mane is simply horrible but at least he has a little bit of taste in clothes," stated Rarity and added, "It's a pity his gi was totally ruined by the crash." she said while checking his battered orange gi.

"Whatever," said Rainbow Dash rolling her eyes in annoyance but then her eyes opened and said, "Wait, gi?"

"Yes, that's a gi."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, as a fashionista, I'm able to recognize any type of clothes, no matter how battered and ruined they are. Besides, I'm a former Martial Artist and Karate Black Belt."

Rainbow's eyes wide opened "What?!"

"Well, how do you explain those moves I performed when we were fighting the Changeling Army?" said Rarity with a smirk.

"Right... But I thought you weren’t a fan of things like sport, let alone Martial Arts."

"I practiced Martial Arts mainly because they tone the body and because a Lady must know how to defend herself if there isn't a Knight ready to protect her. I simply did it out of necessity rather than actual interest."

"And they worked," said Spike with hearts in his eyes. The mares started to laugh at the baby dragon's behavior, so he quickly regained his composure after the embarrassment and tried to return to the main topic, "A-anyways I don't know why Twilight is so worried, he's just somepony in need who by chance is an Alicorn. Maybe he's a family member of Princess Celestia?"

"Ehehehe yeah. It's not like he's an alien from the main dimension of Universe 7, who fell here after a fierce battle against a God of Destruction," Pinkie casually blurted out with a bright smile. The others were looking at her confused, "What?" she said after noticing this.

"You have a wild imagination, you know Pinkie?" said Rainbow with a raised eyebrow.

"I agree with Spike, he doesn't seem so bad. Maybe he's nice and kind-hearted just like the Princess," said Fluttershy with a little smile.

"If Spike is correct, that means this stallion is a Prince!" exclaimed Rarity with stars in her eyes, but then added with a hint of anger, "Hopefully more polite than that Blueblood character."

The doors opened suddenly to reveal Twilight and Celestia. The mares and dragon bowed before them. "There's no need, my little ponies, we are all friends here," said Celestia as the Mane 5 and Spike stood up.

Celestia and Twilight trotted to the wounded alicorn lying on the bed, the former looking at him carefully. Her former student wasn't lying as she expected, but who could this stranger be? And how is it possible that she never heard about a new Alicorn? She wanted answers, but the only one who could give them to her and the others wasn't in any condition to speak.

"Can you heal him, Princess?" asked Twilight with a worried tone. For both of them, just like the others, it's kind of heartbreaking to see somepony in this state: they wanted answers, yes, but they were worried for him, despite his life not being in danger anymore and the lack of knowledge they had on the stallion.

"I'll do my best," nodded Celestia, and started to channel her magic in her horn which started to glow a light yellow. She fired a magic beam at the unconscious stallion, and most of his wounds started to heal. After about a minute, around eighty percent of his wounds were fully healed, and the princess stopped channeling her magic when she saw a reaction from the downed alicorn.

"What happened?" asked Twilight, curious as everypony else.

"I saw a reaction from him. I think he's about to wake up," answered Celestia. The Elements of Harmony's Bearers plus Spike started to give some space for the waking stallion.

The black-maned alicorn's eyes started to open slowly as his blurry vision started to become clearer. He saw seven mares and what seemed to be a baby dragon staring at him. With an awkward silence, neither side knew what to do. Not knowing what was happening, where he was, or why there were six ponies, a horse, and a baby dragon looking at him, he simply did what he always did when he met new people, "Hi" he started with his trademark smile, "My name's Goku.”

Author's Note

Hey guys, after having read some stories I get inspired and wanted to try writing one by my own. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this MLP-DBS Crossover and thanks for reading.

Battle of Gods Saga: The Return of the God of Destruction (Part 4)

[Saddle Arabia, Sphinx Home]

An emerald, horizontal vortex of energy engulfed the God of Destruction, who was caught off guard by this sudden attack. He felt his body being aspirated by the vortex as he began to scream. "W-what kind of technique is this?!" asked the god as his body began to turn into energy.

"It's Master Roshi's ultimate technique! It was designed to seal away dangerous opponents like you!" answered the Saiyan as he was directing the energy flow toward the hole in front of him. Finally, Lord Beerus was sucked into the hole, with Goku teleporting behind the giant boulder on the nearby hill and throwing it onto the hole with a roundhouse kick.

The scarlet-maned Alicorn appeared near the boulder and sat down as he sighed in relief. Now, Equus was safe, and his friends were avenged. He didn't like to end fights like this, but it was necessary. He couldn't let this planet be destroyed like Earth and lose his new friends. He could barely accept the death of those who he cared for the most, and to lose other friends would have been too much for him. Now, he was regretting he didn't spend some more time with all of them instead of training.

“I guess the old saying was true: you don't really know what you've got until it's all gone,” Goku internally assessed as he was breathing heavily, staring towards the horizon in front of him.

Meanwhile, the Sphinx watched in awe by what just happened before her eyes. At first, she was scared, no, terrified by the mere presence of the one who was fighting with the pony, Lord Beerus. She learned to not make him angry the hard way in their first and only encounter. She was just a naive yet prideful teen back then. Her magic was useless against the God of Destruction, and her strength was nothing when compared with his might.

Now, she couldn't believe what she just witnessed. A pony, a mere pony, defeated the one who made the most powerful beings on Equus kneel before him. The Sirens, the Wendigos, the Centaurs, the Gargoyles, the Dragon Lord, and even Discord, all of them were just ants compared with the God of Destruction, yet a member of what she classified as 'the weakest sentient race' succeeded in vanquishing him.

However, she noticed something different in that pony: he had a pair of wings and a horn, something she had never seen before. Also, she sensed a massive amount of divine power radiating from him, meaning he was a divine being just like her, and his power far surpassed almost anything she ever saw in her long life. “What kind of pony is he? Does he come from a new species? Are all of these winged unicorns this powerful?” the Sphinx pondered, as a whole slew of questions were storming in her head as she was looking at the strongest pony ever.

[Everfree Forest, Entrance of the Tree of Harmony's Cave]

The Mane 6 and Spike were jubilant over their friend's victory over the mighty god. They were jumping, cheering or flying around in joy as they thought their home was finally safe from harm’s way. All of the Z-Fighters, with the exception of Master Roshi and Piccolo, had joyful expressions as well because of the God of Destruction's defeat. On the other hand, Whis was surprised, to say the least. He didn't think the Saiyan would have been actually able to defeat Lord Beerus, let alone seal him away.

The Princesses were amazed by Goku's achievement. Luna was impressed over Goku’s victory, “Lord Beerus, God of Destruction, finally defeated in combat? Now I can say that I have seen everything.”

However, Celestia was more interested in what Goku said before trapping Beerus in that hole. The name 'Evil Containment Wave' echoed in her head, especially the first word. She was asking herself if Beerus was actually evil. “He can be grumpy and arrogant at times, but then again, if he was evil he would have destroyed the planet long ago,” Celestia questioned.

"It ain't over yet," said Master Roshi, much to the confusion of the others.

"What do you mean, Master Roshi?" asked Krillin, "Goku sealed away Lord Beerus. There's no chance for him to escape."

"I mean that Goku forgot the most important thing about that technique," answered the turtle hermit with a serious expression.

"And what is that?" asked Twilight with a worried tone.

"The Evil Containment Wave doesn't seal away your opponent by itself: it needs help from a magical talisman to be effective," he answered, "Without it, the technique is basically useless. It's only a matter of time before Lord Beerus breaks free."

"What?!" exclaimed the Mane 6, as the Z-Fighters and even the Princesses had shocked expressions. Most of the Dragon Team didn't know about it, just like the rest, and those who knew about the technique, developed by Master Mutaito, either forgot it or didn't know anything about it. Only Piccolo was aware that the Demon Seal was the crucial part of the sealing wave. Master Roshi was worried about his most talented student: the Evil Containment Wave could potentially kill the user. He hoped that his divine powers would have protected him from that deadly side effect.

[Saddle Arabia, Sphinx Home]

Meanwhile, the powers of the Super Saiyan God weren't just healing Goku's injuries but it was also slowly restoring his energy. The Alicorn stallion was surprised by the new ability and was wondering why it revealed itself just now. How many secrets does this transformation still hide? However, he couldn't think of anything else because the terrain started to shake violently.

The boulder in front of him began to violently shake as well, something that was noticed by the Saiyan raised on Earth, who jumped several meters backward and got into his fighting stance. "No! It can't be!" he thought with a worried yet serious expression, realizing what was going on, "I perfectly performed the Evil Containment Wave. How is it possible he can escape from there?!"

A few nanoseconds later, a pillar of light that was coming from the hole destroyed the boulder and reached the sky. Then, the light faded, revealing Lord Beerus, who was standing in the air with an angry expression. "Damned Saiyan! You will pay for that!!" exclaimed the God of Destruction in anger as he was increasing his power while a purple aura engulfed his body. The entire planetary system was shaking because of his power.

Goku crossed his forelegs to protect himself from the hurricane-like winds generated by his opponent. The ground began to crack while the rocks and stones all around began to float in the air. Instinctively, the scarlet-maned alicorn created a red magic shield around him, allowing him to stand on his 4 legs.

Suddenly, Lord Beerus sped off toward him, broke through the shield like if it was made of mere glass, and hit him in the muzzle with a punch, propelling the ponified Saiyan through every single landform in their path. From a distance, it could be seen as a giant purple trail breaking through the mountains in the direction of the desert. However, a big fire-like trail appeared out of nowhere and tried to counter the purple one.

The clashing forces generated a pressure that created a crater almost as big as the one in the Frozen North. Both fighters were exchanging kicks and punches as they were rising through the air. Then, only shockwaves generated by their blows could be seen in the distance.

Goku was able to bury both his hind hooves in Beerus' belly. Then, he kicked his chin to stun the purple cat and teleported behind him to hit his head with an ax-kick, sending him to the ground. However, the ponified Saiyan intercepted the God of Destruction by hitting him in the belly with a punch, redirecting him to the horizon, and continued the assault by attacking his opponent from different directions.

During the assault, Lord Beerus was able to predict Goku's next move and blocked an oncoming punch by crossing his arms. Then, they disappeared, and more shockwaves could be seen in the skies. After a few seconds, they appeared one in front of the other and looked at each other for 2 seconds before resuming their aerial battle. A red trail and a purple one were traveling around the planet, clashing several times in different locations.

All over the world, many bare witnessed to the massive clash in the skies. The Kingdom of the Yaks, Yakyakistan, The Changelings' Hive, The Ruined City of the Griffons, Griffonstone, The Dragon Lands, The Republic of Minotauria, The Zebras' Tribes, The Sirens' Bay, The United Kingdom of the Centaurs and Gargoyles, The Kingdom of Abyssinia, The Storm King Empire, the Badlands, and even an inhabitant of the hidden kingdom of Seaquestria saw the trails in the sky and heard the noises generated by their clashes. The sound was similar to that of a crash of thunder but louder.

The shockwaves generated by each clash destroyed woods, demolished entire mountains, created craters in the deserts and plateaus, and generated tidal waves that flooded entire islands. It was like the world was collapsing under the might of their blows.

[Dragon Lands, Equestria]

Son Goku was using all of his strength to counter Lord Beerus' previously incremented power. They clashed once more above the Dragons domains, creating a crater 400 meters wide and 20 meters deep, and engaged each other in hand-to-hand combat. Several shockwaves storming in the air as the dragons on the nearby volcanoes watched in awe.

"AAAAH!!" shouted the scarlet-maned alicorn as he tried to land his right hoof on Beerus' face. However, the God of Destruction blocked the attack with his left arm and counterattacked with his right punch, which was blocked by Goku's crossed forelegs, but the blow was powerful enough to make him retreat several meters. Then, the purple cat created several magma-like Ki blasts around himself and directed three of them toward his opponent.

Catching Goku off guard, the three orbs surrounded him. The first one hit his back, the second one impacted his chest, and the third one exploded on his head, making him crash into the crater underneath. Then, the God of Destruction arranged the remaining Ki blasts above him in a circle and snapped his fingers to create others in the middle of the formation. From the point of view of someone standing on the ground, it was like many little suns shining over the place.

Lord Beerus pointed the palm of his right hand toward his foe and closed his hand. After that, each and every orb started shooting energy beams at the crater. Goku was slowly standing up when he saw the oncoming rain of attacks. His eyes widened at the sight of such a massive quantity of energy beams.

The ponified Saiyan gritted his teeth as he executed the Afterimage Technique, generating hundreds of 'clones' in the area. The deity didn't care at all of his foe's countermeasures: it was impossible for him to escape from his Meteor Cage Technique. It was meant to block any path to escape while bombarding a specific area. Each and every afterimage was blown away by his attack, so he surely hit him at least once.

The mighty god stopped the assault to see if he finally defeated the Saiyan, but his eyes widened a bit when he sensed his energy above him. He turned to see a fuchsia-colored Ki beam directing toward him. It was Vegeta's Galick Gun used by Goku, who tricked the God of Destruction with the Afterimage Technique in order to teleport in a safer position and counterattack.

Lord Beerus rushed through the energy beam, reaching his foe, and tried to punch him in the face, but the Super Saiyan God avoided the attack thanks to the Rapid Movement Technique. The divine being turned and blocked an oncoming punch from behind with his left hand. The might of the blow made the entire area shake. Suddenly, both fighters disappeared from the sight of the dragons and resumed their hand-to-hand combat.

[Somewhere in the Skies]

While fighting in the air, none of them could land a single blow on the other. However, Goku was losing ground because of his foe's heavy attacks. The scarlet-maned Alicorn noticed that Beerus was still increasing his power while on the other hand, he was at the peak of his one already. He was progressively forced to defend himself as they were traveling across the land.

To avoid being cornered, the alicorn stallion performed King Chappa's Eight-Arm Technique. It was a variation of the Afterimage Technique that produced the illusion he had eight forelegs and, unlike the technique it is based on, the illusionary legs appeared solid, making it hard to tell which ones were real. The move was developed to allow the user to attack and defend more effectively.

The attack of one of Goku's opponents during the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament allowed him to counter Beerus' might. Despite being stronger, the God of Destruction couldn't focus on so many arms from a single being. As a result, the battle returned to be more balanced.

Eventually, Goku was able to hit the purple cat in the chest, making him retreat several meters away. However, Lord Beerus counterattacked with an atom-like Ki blast that was bigger than usual. Goku dodged it by teleporting in front of his foe, then he hit him with an uppercut, sending the God of Destruction deep in the sky. He quickly reached him and tried to punch him again, but his opponent was faster and hit him with a kick in the face.

[Everfree Forest, 120 meters away from the Tree of Harmony]

Goku violently crashed into the ground, but it wasn't over yet. His opponent landed both his feet on his stomach, making him spit blood, and propelled him for tens of meters through the ground until they reached an underground cavern. Beerus let his foe crash into the submerged ground of the large cave as he was standing in the air.

The Saiyan raised on Earth was lying on the ground, covered by several wounds and bruises, as he was suffering intense pain, especially because of the stomach ache caused by his opponent. Despite being badly injured, he was slowly trying to stand up. He almost fell because of his damaged body, but ultimately he was able to do it. Blood was flowing on his face as he was looking upon the Destroyer.

"You're the persistent type, I see," commented the God of Destruction as he was reaching the ground, "Why do you keep on fighting, even though I just proved that you're no match for me? Is it because of your Saiyan pride or something?"

"N-not even close," answered Goku as his blazing aura turned on and began to heal him, "This isn't even about me."

"Huh?"

"I don't want my new friends to have the same fate as the old ones," he explained with a serious expression, "And..."

"And you want to avenge those who have fallen after our previous battle, I suppose," inferred the God of Destruction.

"Yeah, that's why I won't give up," he stated as he got into his fighting stance, "I'll find a way to beat you, no matter what!"

"Alright, then. Let's see how far your determination will get you!" exclaimed Lord Beerus before running toward the alicorn.

The purple cat tried to elbow his foe, but the blow was dodged. He kept on pressing the Saiyan raised on Earth by hitting him with a kick in the face and a punch in the chest. Goku retaliated with a kick in his belly and a punch in his chest, making his foe to lose his balance. However, Lord Beerus used his momentum to execute a somersault to regain the lost balance and counterattacked by hitting him in the muzzle with his right knee.

The scarlet-maned Alicorn buried his four hooves in the flooded soil of the cavern. The divine being continued the assault and exchanged some blows with the ponified Saiyan. He deliberately decreased a bit his power to see if his opponent would have shown something more interesting. He was doing well so far: despite being weaker, he still found a way to keep up with him. Maybe all that willpower would have led to the battle he was looking for, finally.

Beerus performed three backward somersaults to put some distance between him and Goku, saying in a mocking way, "Come on. Is that all can do??"

"You're about to find out!" exclaimed the white-coated Alicorn as he was rushing to his opponent. However, his transformation vanished, making his mane, tail, and eyes to lose their ruby-like color and return to be black, while his feathers returned to be white. Goku, just like then, didn't notice it.

"AAAAH!!" shouted the God of Destruction before elbowing his opponent in the face. The Saiyan was sent several meters away, but he was able to stand up and withstand Beerus' assault. The purple cat punched Goku in the right cheek and wanted to hit him with a kick, but his foe was able to block it. The black-maned Alicorn counterattacked with a punch that was blocked by his opponent, but it was strong enough to push him some meters backward.

Son Goku rushed toward the purple cat and punched him again and, even though the blow was blocked by the God of Destruction, it made him lose his balance. However, he was able to use his momentum to perform another somersault while kicking the alicorn's chin in the process.

The Saiyan raised on Earth was sent to the air, but he used the gained momentum to do a somersault and prevent the collision between him and the cavern's ceiling. Beerus quickly rushed toward him, but the stallion teleported behind him and hit him with a kick. Then, he teleported behind the divine being again and tried to hit him, but Beerus disappeared from the place right before it could happen.

The God of Destruction appeared some meters away from him and began to shoot several Ki blasts toward the Saiyan. Goku was dodging all the oncoming Ki spheres as the cavern's structure was suffering damage because of the explosions generated by them. The black-maned alicorn used Krillin's Destructo Disc to distract the purple cat, who intercepted the attack with a Ki blast.

The explosion generated by both attacks concealed the Saiyan's movements for an instant, allowing him to teleport several meters behind his opponent and rush toward him. The deity was caught off guard by the sudden attack and was hit by a traveling punch of Goku, who kept on his path like a combat jet after hitting his target. The blow hurt Beerus a bit and that made him angry.

"GRRRAAAAH!!" roared the purple cat as his body was engulfed in a purple aura and began to fire Ki blasts at anything in range. Several blows hit critical spots of the cavern, but it really began to collapse when the ceiling started to be bombarded. Large rocks began to fall from above as the entire subterranean structure was being destroyed by Beerus' attacks.

Goku found himself trapped by the rain of large rocks and was trying to break free by destroying them with his bare hooves. The Stallion punched a rock in front of him, elbowed another one behind him, punched an oncoming rock from above, and so on. However, the gigantic stones were too much for him, and one was able to hit hard his head. The spot where the rock hit was exactly the same where he suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was just an infant.

As a result, Goku had a fleeting flashback of a woman and a man, who was similar, if not identical, to him; and of the explosion of a distant planet. A female voice echoed in his head as the explosion of that world reminded him of the destruction of Earth, and it was shouting his Saiyan name. Suddenly, his irises and pupils turned rainbow-colored while turning into a Super Saiyan God, then he roared while trapped in the rocks, "GRAAAH!! I WILL NOT LET YOU DESTROY MY WOOOOOOOORLD!!!"

The blazing aura of his God Form destroyed the rocks around him then he began to speed off through the ground like a crazy drill as he was roaring throughout its race to the surface. "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" was what everyone in the Everfree Forest could hear as the ground was ripped apart by Goku's rush, chills running down their backs due to the emotion put into that scream. Lord Beerus was following him with a smirk: he could sense that the power of his opponent skyrocketed. Finally, his long-awaited battle could begin.

The Mane 6, Spike, the Royal Sisters, the Dragon Team and its allies, and Whis saw a scarlet trail and a purple one coming from the ground and directing to the sky. As soon as the scarlet trail appeared, the Mane 6's Cutie Marks started blinking as well as the Elements of Harmony. Right after, six magical trails were generated by the Tree of Harmony, and they all sped off toward the ascending Saiyan.

The trails swirled around Goku and merged with him, turning the feathers of his wings rainbow-colored. Once reached the desired height, the scarlet-maned alicorn spread his wings, revealing that the feathers were made of energy. "W-what's going on?" asked Twilight both amazed and confused.

"The Elements, no, the Tree of Harmony itself is helping Son Goku in his battle," hypothesized Celestia, who was as amazed as her former student.

Meanwhile, Lord Beerus was reaching the Super Saiyan God as he was shouting, "AAAAAAH!!"

They both clashed in midair, but the force generated by the clash was able to repulse both fighters. After a few nanoseconds, they rushed toward each other once more with the same result. Then, they did it again, but this time they were trying to push each other backward until Beerus tried to punch the Saiyan God, who dodged the attack with the Wild Sense technique, allowing him to hit the God of Destruction in the belly.

The force of the blow made the deity spit saliva and sent him several meters away. The purple cat quickly recovered and began rising through the air, but he was reached by Goku, who started to throw him countless punches and kicks. The divine being could counter some blows, but ultimately he was being overwhelmed by his opponent. Goku punches Beerus in the muzzle, sending him tens of meters away, then he hit the purple cat with a flying kick, redirecting his flight toward the clouds formations in the sky.

The scarlet-maned alicorn redirected his flight with a flying kick again, but Beerus quickly recovered and began to counter Goku's rush. As a result, both fighters engaged each other in a spectacular hypersonic aerial battle between the clouds formations. After a few seconds, the battle moved to higher places as the clouds above covered the battling yet ascending combatants.

"Wow, so fast," commented Pinkie while rubbing his eyes, then she asked, "Are you following this, Rainbow?"

"Nope, totally lost," answered the speedster, much to her friends' astonishment.

"WHAT?!" asked the rest of the Mane 6 and Spike in awe.

[Above Equus, Near the Stardust Speedway]

Meanwhile, Goku was throwing a storm of punches to Beerus while propelling him near the Stardust Speedway, the path that connected the Moon to Equus which was made and used by Luna to reach to her castle faster once she left the planet's atmosphere. Then, the Saiyan hit the purple cat in his right cheek with a kick, sending his foe hundreds of meters away.

The scarlet-maned Alicorn didn't want to lose time and sped off toward the deity, who quickly recovered and flew toward the oncoming Saiyan. The God of Destruction wanted to punch his opponent, but the latter was faster and hit him first in the belly, making the divine being to spit a bit of blood. Despite the effectiveness of the blow, Lord Beerus reacted and tried to land a kick on Goku's head. However, he blocked it and retaliated with a storm of punches all over his body and sent him deep in space with a roundhouse kick.

"So, this is the strength of the Super Saiyan God combined with the Elements of Harmony's power," commented the Beerus right before being reached by Goku and hit in the chin. The stallion used his momentum to perform a roundhouse kick that impacted the deity's belly, then he hit his head with a hammer punch, sending the purple cat towards a planet. The crash was so violent that it created a crater thousands of kilometers wide and hundreds of kilometers deep.

After a few seconds, Lord Beerus stood up and powered up, igniting his purple aura, making several Pocket Dimensions to shake and destroying the planet underneath, then he sped off toward the Saiyan. The God of Destruction and Son Goku began to throw punches and kicks to each other while traveling in space. However, none of them could land a single blow on the opponent.

The rainbow-winged alicorn tried to punch his opponent with little success. However, the force of the blow was able to destroy part of a planet in the distance. Beerus counterattacked with a kick that was dodged, but it was able to split a distant planet in half.

Both fighters resumed the exchange of blows as they were approaching Equus. Goku used the Wild Sense technique again to dodge an oncoming strike and hit his opponent's head with a kick, sending him toward the planet. However, he wasn’t done with him yet: he overtook the traveling cat and cupped his hooves, while drawing them to his right side, generating a multicolored Ki orb, then he thrusts forward his forelegs to shoot a huge and powerful beam of energy.

Lord Beerus tried to stop the magically improved Ki beam with his bare hands. He was succeeding at first, but then the stallion increased the power of the Rainbow Kamehameha while shouting, totally engulfing the God of Destruction and propelling him deep in space. After a few seconds, a mighty explosion could be seen in the distance. Then, the ponified Saiyan dissipated his aura and lowered his forelegs.

"Did I win?" thought the Saiyan as he was looking at where Lord Beerus was pushed by his attack.

As if to answer, the purple cat appeared before him, slightly hurt. That alerted the Saiyan, who couldn't believe that his attack barely affected his opponent. On the other hand, Beerus was satisfied. The Super Saiyan God was still way too far from his maximum power, but he proved to be a worthy opponent. He just needed proper training. Though, he was surprised that a Saiyan could access the power of something as pure as the Elements of Harmony. Especially if all of the bearers have been chosen already. Good thing that their magic was effective against evil only or else who knew what that attack could have done to him.

However, the battle needed to come to an end. "That attack wasn't half bad," commented the God of Destruction, "Now, let's see how you handle this." The purple cat pointed a finger upward and created above it the same gigantic sun-like Ki orb that destroyed Earth, but way bigger. "This is the attack that defeated you, remember?" asked the deity, "If you're able to stop it, I won't destroy Equus!"

Beerus threw the massive fire orb toward the Saiyan, who was more determined than before after hearing the god's statement. Unconsciously, he drew his right foreleg back, generating a blue orb of Ki surrounded by two rainbow-colored rings, making it look like a giant atom. Then, he brought his hoof forward and fired a blue Ki beam surrounded by several multicolored rings. Goku didn't know, but he was performing the Final Spirit Cannon, the technique used by his father, Bardock, to counter Frieza's Nova during Planet Vegeta’s destruction.

However, just like it happened with the tyrant's technique, Beerus' blast attack was winning the struggle quite easily. While the blazing sphere was approaching his hoof, he thought about what would have happened if that attack was able to break through. His new friends along with the entire planet would have been blown away just like Earth. "AAAAAAH!!" yelled the Saiyan as he started giving his all, the divine power along with the magic of the elements, to his technique, resulting in him losing his transformation in the process. As a result, the Ki beam quadrupled in size and began to break through the sun-like orb, much to the deity's amazement.

The second sun exploded as the Ki beam vanished in space. Due to the fact that he returned to his base form, the explosion heavily damaged Goku and violently pushed him back to Equus. The Destroyer quickly got rid of the energy generated by the blast to prevent it from destroying the nearby planet and the Moon. Then, he went to Equus to reach the falling stallion before he could touch the ground.

[Everfree Forest]

Everyone there witnessed the battle in space with amazement. The damage done to the distant planet, the blows traded between the two, and when Beerus withstood the power of the Elements were all breathtaking and astounding to witness. However, all of that changed when Beerus created the Giant Sun-like Destructive Orb. The expressions of wonder and amazement had turned into one of dread and concern.

For the Dragon Team, it was the same attack that defeated Goku before during their battle on Earth, and memories of Earth’s destruction flooded their minds. For the Mane 6, Spike, and the Royal Sisters, it was the moment that decided whether their world and everypony on it will live or perish. All of their hopes were on Goku to stop the attack. Although the beam struggle lasted for seconds, it felt like an eternity for them, as they saw their friend resist the fate of planetary annihilation. A sense of relief and joy spread to all of their faces when Goku finally destroyed the planet-destroying ball and a giant blue wave of Ki flew through the vacuum of space.

“Looks like he finally did it, ”Piccolo internally said, a smirk spreading over his face as he saw the ball dissipate and break apart due to the counterblast launched by Goku.

Suddenly, they saw Goku falling towards Equus like a meteor entering the planet’s atmosphere. They were now terrified because their friend was falling from such a high altitude. The Mane 6 and Spike remembered how badly injured he was yesterday, after falling from a similar height. Rainbow Dash was ready to save him or at least try, but the God of Destruction arrived first and grabbed one of Goku's hooves before she could even take off.

[Saddle Arabia, unknown Hill]

Meanwhile, the Sphinx watched the battle thanks to a spell that broadcasted it, just like Whis' scepter. At first, she was scared because Lord Beerus was able to escape from his prison and was furious about what his opponent did, but then she was amazed by the fact that the winged unicorn was still able to put up a good fight. They even battled each other beyond the skies, something mesmerizing in her eyes. That stallion may have lost the battle, but he saved Equus from assured destruction by stopping that second sun.

Still impressed, she said while smiling and closing her eyes, "So, that's how a real Battle of Gods looks like." Then, she opened her eyes and restored the destroyed environment with a spell. She began to fly to her home, "I hope we'll meet someday, winged unicorn."