Location: Ponyville

Kaika Mountainflower POV

"Are you serious?!" Rarity asked in shock.
"Kaoru idolized my father!"

After a long and very throughout discussing about my schedule, pay and other boring details that I've heard a million times before. Rarity decided that as a way to establish a friendly start of our professional relationship, she would invite me and Kaoru to a place called Sugarcube Corner. I think I saw it on a brochure for Ponyville down in Manehattan.

"That's right," I say with a nod, "Kaoru was born with muscle hypertrophy, which made it so that despite him being a tiny foal when he was born, he was much heavier and stronger than other foals his age. Thanks to Mr. Magnum's achievements in hoofball, Kaoru didn't feel so alien as he first thought he was. Oh, and when I say he was tiny, I'm talking 'wittle cutie wootie' tiny. As my herdsister described him."

"Wow." Rarity said in amazement before shooting a quick glance at Kaoru, who was walking behind us, and whispered.
"He doesn't suffer any from it, does he?"

I could see the clear worry in her eyes as she asked that question. I'll admit, I might have overreacted when Rarity kissed Kaoru on the hoof. She's proven to me today that she is just being a classy gentlemare and is being polite while showing some interest in single stallions. Who knows? If she proves just to be what she has shown so far, I might just give her a chance with Kaoru... Maybe.

"There's nothing to worry about, Kaoru's completely healthy." I said to her reassuringly.
"The only suffering his strength has ever caused him was that he had difficulty controlling it when he was younger. He would always crush or break any toys we gave him and most parents that witnessed his strength didn't want their foals anywhere near him."

'She doesn't need to know that he crushed his father's hoof when he was born.'

"Aww, that poor dear. He must've been so lonely back then." Rarity said teary eyed.

"Not really, he would still hang around and play with fillies around his age, since they were all so much braver than most colts and were into lots of physical activity. That might actuelly be the reason why Kaoru has never really been bothered when it comes to mares. Except for his father, all other interactions he's had throughout his life has been with fillies and mares."

'But that is exactly why I'm so worried about what type of mares he ends up with, he's just too approachable. Not because he isn't careful, but because he doesn't care enough!'

"Oh! I just remembered what I was going to ask earlier." Rarity suddenly announced, breaking my previous thoughts.
"You didn't happen to meet a pink mare that smelled of cupcakes and looks like she's on a constant sugarrush?"

Both me and Kaoru pause midstep and shoot eachother a glance, a sudden feeling of dread shooting up both our spines as we return our gazes to my new boss.

"We did," I said with slight worry.
"Why do you ask?"

"Well," Rarity says as she smiles sheepishly, "you might want to prepare yourself then, just in case."

Well, that's not reasuring at all. With nothing else to say, we continued our walk through town, but I began to notice something very unsettling. There are no ponies out on the streets, non at all. As if the entire town had been abandoned and turned into a ghost town. Rarity didn't seem bothered however so maybe this was just a thing that happened in town from time to time. Maybe it was a special day were all shops closed early and everypony went back home?
We continued our walk and after some time, finally made it to the Sugarcube Corner, which looks like a gingerbread house with white frosting and a cupcake sign to the side.

It's the towns most popular local bakery and confectionery, it's apparently owned by a married couple named Mr. Carrot Cake and Mrs. Cup Cake. A really interesting fact about those two is that apparently their relationship is monogamous, rather than polygamous. Or in other words, they don't have a herd. Which is really rare and frowned upon for obvious reasons.
I'm not sure why, but the building suddenly feels more and more ominous the closer we get to it. It kinda reminds me of that one time we nearly ran into an Ursa Major, had Kaoru not pulled me into a nearby bush just in time. Luckily, we manage to avoid it and I found a new species of monkey faced orchids I named 'Staring Smiles', because of the way the flower looks like it was smiling at you... Yeah, I didn't sleep well that night.
I quickly look towards my son to see if he's reacting, but he just keeps that perfect pokerface of his like always.

'Seriously, which side of the family did he get that from?'

When we finally stood in front of the door of the towns local bakery, Rarity opened the door and went inside without a word. But me and Kaoru were hesitent because of the fact that it was pitch black inside. Was this place even open for business?

"Well," I began unsure, "let's go inside. I suppose?"

3rd Person POV

Kaika and Kaoru stepped hoof into Sugarcube Corner with slight hesitation. Like previously mentioned, the inside was completely shrouded in darkness, making it impossible for the Mountainflowers to take in their surrounding.

"Rarity, are you sure this place is open?" Kaika asked as she tried to look past the darkness.
"Where's the light switch?"

As if she said the magic word, the lights turn on and both Kaika and Kaoru only have a second to take in their surrounding. Sugarcube Corner was filled to the brim with ponies. In fact, there were so many ponies around them, that it looked like Sugarcube Corner was bigger on the inside than the outside. The walls and ceiling were covered in obvious party decorations, with party streamers and confetti everywhere in a almost childlike manner, and a huge banner hanging from the ceiling, were it read: "Welcome to Ponyville."
Barely a second later after the lights were turned on, party poppers exploded around them and a giant confetti ball opened above Kaika before-

SURPRISE-!!!

*Crash*

All ponies at once yelled out, but quickly flinch as a loud crashing sound followed by everypony looking upwards, and then a heavy *thud* behind Kaika. Turning around quickly after her jump of surprise, Kaika sees Kaoru crouched down slightly and rubbing his head with a hoof as his previously well-combed mane is now covered in splinters and sawdust. She looks up and sees a hole in Sugarcube Corner's ceiling, and quickly put two and two together.
Apparently, Kaoru had gotten so surprised that he put too much force into his jump and decided to give the bakery a new skylight.

"Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!" Pinkie Pie panics.
"Areyouokay!?Ididn'tthinkthatwouldhappen!Pleasebeokay!"

Kaika was starting to get extremely ticked off at the mares constant jabbering, to the point were left eye started twitching. Not only was she talking too fast for her to follow, she was also all over Kaoru dusting him off and even climbing onto his back. But, just as Kaika was about to give the mare a piece of her mind, the pink party pony was stopped in her tracks by Kaoru gently placing his hoof on top of her head, causing her to stand still in front of him and look up timidly.
Pinkie was expecting to get scolded for getting a stallion injured, her mane had even started to flatten and hang down slightly, but what she got instead was a gently smile and Kaoru looking at her directly in her eyes.

"Thanks." was all he said with his smooth and deep voice.

All was quiet, Kaoru's smile and voice working as flame that lit the fuse and causing all the mares, and a few stallions, to blush brightly. All giving the mental image of a ticking time bomb before Pinkie's mane return to it's poofy cotton candy appearance, and the pink party mare smiling so brightly that it makes one shield their eyes.

"You're super duper welcome!" She shouts in excitement, with a hint of arousal.
"Now let's get this party started!"

After the quick little new renovation job in Sugar Cube Corners ceiling, the party was back in full swing. Where Pinkie Pie was quick to inform both Kaoru and his mother about the snacks and drinks that were at the party, somehow the pink party mare had manage to find out that Kaoru's favorite desert is Baileys ice cream from the country of Chapaillín, so she and the Cakes had made an Baileys Ice Cream Cake. After taking a slice each on a plate, Pinkie proceeded to give each of them a quick introduction to everypony in town, EVERY SINGLE PONY. Safe to say, they are probably not going to remember all of them but the townsfolk are certainly going to remember them.

Afterwards, Pinkie Pie reunited with Rarity and they proceeded to form a circle with their other friends to discuss something “important”, while Kaoru and Kaika split up to mingle with some of the ponies on their own. Kaoru was pulled into a gathering of stallions, while Kaika ran into the familiar faces of Ivory Scroll and Raven Inkwell, along with a two new middle aged mares. The first was an earth mare with a moderate cerise coat and two toned light rose mane; named Cheerilee, the towns school teacher, and the second was another earth pony mare but with a rounder build, a light cerulean coat and two toned light crimson mane. She happens to be one of the owners of Sugar Cube Corner, Mrs. Cup Cake; though her friends call her by her birth name, Chiffon Swirl.

“Pleasure to meet you in a more official manner Mrs. Cup Cake, you as well Miss Cheerilee.” Kaika said in a polite manner.

“Oh please, call me Chiffon,” Chiffon Swirl said with a mature motherly chuckle, “it’s nice to have another mother in town around my age. I hope we’ll become good friends.”

“Same here with me.” Cheerilee followed up.

“With pleasure.” Kaika said with a smile.
“Honestly, I was a bit worried that Ivory and Raven would be the only mares around my age here.”

“Haha, there are plenty of more adults here.” Ivory Scroll chuckled.

“Erm, I’m actuelly 27.” Raven mumble but was not heard.

“I’ve got to say, you certaintly raised one shire of a stallion.” Chiffon commented while looking towards the group of stallions Kaoru was a part of and just so happen to also include the baker mares husband, Carrot Cake.

Other stallions amongs the group that had formed around Kaoru, that Kaika could recall the names of at least, were Caramel, Thunderlane, Davenport, Time Turner, Filthy Rich and Lucky Clover. However, the two that stood out were the stallions that right now stood face to face with Kaoru. Those being the above average in height earth stallion with a radical red coat, orange mane, and sap green eyes; named Big McIntosh (aka. Big Mac), and the other was an extraordinarily muscular pegasus with a white coat, a dirty-blond mane, and intense red eyes; named Bulk Biceps.
Though some say his name is actuelly Snowflake.

Kaika was honestly shocked to find out that there lived at least two other large and muscular stallions in town, especially a pegasus since they tend to have a bit more lean build. The reason why muscular stallions were so rare, and I mean really really rare, was because of two reasons. One being that stallions are naturally weaker than mares and tend to have a hard time building muscles; and number two being that stallions have horrible stamina and cannot train long enough to properly gain any muscles from workouts like weight lifting. This of course just makes their forms all the more impressive. Big McIntosh’s build is obviously a result from a hard working lifestyle on his family’s farm, but Bulk Biceps form clearly shows that he has dedicated a large amount of time in his life to gain the body he has now. Apparently he’s related to the famous body builder; Mama Biceps, which would explain a lot since she is well-known for not discriminating towards anypony who wants to build muscles.

Of course, neither of the two were close to Kaoru in height. But that didn’t take away the impressive musculature of the other two stallions. Who, as previously mentioned, seem to be having a staring contest with Kaoru.

“What are they doing?” Cheerilee questioned in a worried tone.

Kaika did notice that the mare was looking at Big Mac more than Kaoru, which did fill her with some relief that not all the mares were after her son. Kaika gaze went back to the stallions to see that Kaoru now held out his right hoof towards Big Mac in an inviting manner of sorts. The red stallion looks at it curiously before lifting his own right hoof and delivers a gentle hoof bump towards Kaoru’s, only to suddenly look like he’s straining.

Kaika noticed that her son had begun lightly pushing towards Big Mac while also twisting his hoof clockwise. Big Mac seem to finally register the challenge and began pushing back while twisting his hoof in the opposite direction. He seemed to be doing pretty good, until Kaoru lightly smirked and started using more strength. Now it seemed almost unfair as Big Mac started to sweat, gritt his teeth and even use his other hoofs to push off the ground. It was now that Kaika recognised Kaoru’s little party trick and knew exactly what was coming next.
Without any warning, Kaoru proceeded to twist his hoof counter clockwise at the same time as he lifted it slightly upwards. The combined force of this; along with the farm stallions own strength, resulted in Big Mac to be lifted into the air and spin around rapidly.

“Wowowowow~!” Big Mac yelped out in surprise, which also caught the attention of everypony else in the building, who looked on it wide eyed shock. Some mares, especially Cheerilee, gasp in worry as it looked like Big Mac was going to hit the ground hard.
But the show was not over; as Kaoru grabbed one of Big Mac’s hooves and followed with it gently to slow him down, before gently stopping and placing the red stallion back on the ground as if he was handling a foal. The farm stallion was shocked and for some reason did not feel dizzy at all thanks to the way Kaoru had stopped him. He looked up to Kaoru in what Kaika could only describe bewilderment mixed with admiration. Kaoru gave a gentle smile and said with his deep gentle voice.

“You’re pretty strong.” Big Mac could not help but smile with a slight hint of bashfullness, as it felt like he just managed to impress sompony amazing.

“YEAH!” Bulk Biceps shouted suddenly.

Kaoru slowly turned to face the snow white pegasus, as the tiny winged janefilly held out his hoof over a table in a challenging manner. It was now that practically everypony’s attention was focused towards the muscle stallions and some even started taking bets, whistling and chanting “Hot Colt Hoof Wrestling”.

The scarfaced stallion smoothly and in a lazy fashion placed his knee on the table while grabbing Bulk’s hoof with a clap. A rainbow maned pegasus mare with a sky blue coat came up and placed her hoof on top the two stallion and began the countdown. The moment she said “GO!”, Bulk’s muscles seem to bulge in such a manner that Kaika was honestly worried that they might explode. The white pegasus seemed to be using all of his strength and was slowly making progress as Kaoru’s hoof was getting closer to the table. But one look towards the extra large earth stallion made it clear that he was only taking this lightly seriously as to test just how strong the physically weaker tribe was.

Seemingly thinking he had enough, Kaoru’s hoof stopped moving while being a centimeter above the table. The crowd went wild and kept chanting for Bulk over how close he is and that he only needed one more push.
Well, one push was indeed all that was needed but it wasn’t Bulk that pushed. Without warning and almost looking like he dislocated his opponents joints, Kaoru slammed Bulk’s hoof towards the wooden table with so much force that it practically exploded. With splinter flying through the air together with a roided out pegasus, the crowd was speechless over what they were seeing as the world seemed to slow. Bulk managed to land on his back hooves, only to slip and plummet towards the ground. He closed his eyes, expecting pain in the back of his head, only to feel sompony locking hooves with him and stopping his fall. He opens one eye and sees Kaoru holding him a milimeter from the ground and smiling towards Bulk with what could only be described as slight astonishment.

“You’re pretty good too.” He said before lifting Bulk back up without breaking a sweat. The white pegasus smiled like a colt that achieved something amazing and got praised by his parents.

“YEAH-HE!” He shouts while flexing his muscles as the crowd cheers.

“Aw, that’s sweet. In a weird janefilly way.” Chiffon Swirl said as she smiled at the three bonding stallions.

“Sweet indeed.” Kaika said, happy that her son was making friends.

“Though I feel like I should ask what most likely everypony’s thinking.” Cheerilee said with a tone that Kaika wasn’t sure of.
“How did Kaoru end up with those scars? Especially the one that’s left him half-blind.”

She wasn’t sure why, but for some reason Kaika felt slightly threatend by Cheerilee’s tone. Almost like she was accusing her of a crime. At first, Kaika was about to reply with an equally threatening tone, until she remembered what she’d learned from Pinkie Pie’s rapid fire introduction to everypony in town. Cheerilee is a teacher, a teacher for foals of varying ages, and she most likely feels especially protective over foals and judgemental towards parents that might be mistreating or even abusing them. That’s not even mentioning the idéa of it being a colt.
While this would usually piss her off, that somepony would accuse her of abusing Kaoru, her son, Kaika felt an odd sense of familiarity and respect towards the educated mare.

“I would rather fight the daemons of Tartarus before abusing Kaoru or forcing him to do something that he doesn’t want.” Kaika growled with a glare that sent a shiver down the backs of the three spectating mares.

“Then explain why he looks like that.” Cheerilee challenged.

One could practicly feel the temperature drop and see sparks between the mature mares. They were in a stand off that would make the sheriff of Appleloosa shiver and hide herself in a barrel. If the staredown had lasted any longer, ponies would expect them to actuelly start throwing hooves.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Since Kaika took a deep breath and sighed, and then she let out a sentence that would become the talk of the town for months to come.

“He was attacked by an Ursa Minor.”

*Record Scratch*

It suddenly got very quiet withing Sugar Cube Corner, the bopping party music that was being performed by the towns own famous DJ PON3, was quite literally and ironically silenced by her name sake.

Author's Note

Last update was back in November 2021... Well, s**t.
I am so sorry that I kept you all waiting for this long. Been so busy, tired and generally just worried about life that I didn’t realise how fast time has been passing. That, and I’ve been enjoying some of the fics made by others on this site as well, but more than anything, I’ve just been too tired.

Though I would like to tell you all that I have also been thinking and planing on some of my other fics and if you read my blog post, you’ll notice that I made a final decision that you’ll hopefully see an update of soon.

As for the chapter, I was actuelly planning on revealing some stuff regarding Kaoru’s foalhood, but instead of having it be something that was told, I decided to just save it for the next chapter so that we’ll have an entire chapter dedicated to what will be a very important reveal regarding Kaoru’s past.

Though, what Kaika said might already be a big enough hint as to why this story has the alt. universe tag.

Also, I would like to point out some things that might not be well-known.
First of all, some of you have wondered what happened to Kaoru’s father and the answer is simple. He’s fine and is with the rest of Kaika’s herd. Horse hooves, or in this case pony hooves, grow back. In fact, domesticated horses will grow a new hoof almost every year, making it easier to care for and trim.

Kaoru’s favorite desert is “Baileys ice cream from the country of Chapaillín”. Baileys is an alcoholic beverage from ireland that can be made into ice cream. Chapaillín is the irish word for pony.
In Baki, Kaoru is known for his love for alcohol and is seen drinking Bourbon Whiskey directly from the bottle without being affected on numerous occasions.

Man loves his alcohol.

Chiffon Swirl calls Kaoru a shire, this is a horse term that mention a specific breed that are well-known for being the largest horse breed in the world and typically being calm, docile, and eager to please.
Take that last one however you want.

The term “janefilly” is an RGRE term that is the equivalent of a tomboy. But with the roles being reversed, instead of it being a girl acting like a boy, it’s a stallion acting like a mare.

The Party Trick that Kaoru performed on Big Mac was a refrence to what Yujiro did to Pickle when they first met and how he wanted to test the caveman’s strength.



Of course, the roles were a bit reversed here, with Kaoru being bigger than Big Mac, but I thought it would be a fun way for the two strong stallions to play with eachother.

During the hoof wrestling, I said that that Kaoru placed his knee on the table, not his elbow. This is because the elbow on an equine is located higher up on the front leg and not in the same place as us humans.

Of course, this is MLP, but anatomically speaking, what I wrote is correct. Even though it might not seem that logical or comfortable.

Another thing I want to mention is that the reason why I had so much trouble with completing this chapter was because I couldn’t think of how Kaoru would interact with the Main 6 during the party. So I decided to save that for a later chapter that will play out once Kaoru has settled down in town.

Now to get you guys excited for the next chapter, here’s the name.

Next time: 種馬立ち (the Standing Stallion)