Chapter Two: New Friends
Things were pretty quite after Fluttershy entered the portal, Twilight was resting while Spike was doing some tidying up. The mare was still amazed that she could create a portal at all. It was a feat that even the princesses themselves couldn't do... at least she hadn't heard of them being able to do so, she would have to ask them about that. She also made a note to practice this new spell some more. There was no telling how useful it could be to travel to other worlds, and not just for the sake of studying them.
The purple dragon was also impressed, that was the first time he had seen anypony creating a gateway to another world. It was something straight out of a comic book! He was beginning to think Twilight would become one of the most powerful alicorns in Equestria.
A couple hours have passed and Twilight was ready to make another one to bring her home, she opened the book and flipped to the page with the spell. She did the same thing as before and another portal opened up, and soon their friend would come out the other side... that was the plan at least. The two waited for a bit, but nopony was coming out. They began to wonder what was taking her so long.
"Do you think Fluttershy is still... you know a-alive?" The drake asked nervously as they continued to wait for her return.
"I'm sure she's fine Spike, just give her time." She told him, trying to clear her mind of any negative thoughts.
After another few moments the shy pegasus walked out of the return portal.
"Fluttershy you're okay!" Her two friends shouted as they ran over and gave her a hug. They were so preoccupied with their friend returning they didn't notice that somepony else had gone through the portal as well.
The purple alicorn had so many questions, and she couldn't wait to learn all about her friend's trip. "So what was it like on the other side?"
"Oh it was wonderful, it was sort of like Equestria." Fluttershy explained... even though she only really explored a small part of it. Sure she didn't know if the rest of the world was like that, but she always had Gohan as a reference.
While they were talking Spike had finally noticed the strange creature. He looked at the creature with fear, the only creature he knew that walked on two legs was a dragon... and technically Discord. Despite seeing the creature smiling Spike was still a little afraid. "Uh... Twilight..." He poked the mare's leg.
"Really, that's incredible!" The alicorn exclaimed.
"Twilight..." The dragon poked her leg again, successfully getting her attention this time.
The alicorn looked over to see what her assistant was looking at. A look of confusion came onto her face as she studied the creature. It reminded her a lot of a human, as evidenced by the pale skin, the hair on top of it's head, and that it walked on two legs. At some point she would ask it what kind of creature it was exactly.
Gohan was too busy marveling at how many books there were to notice the stares he was receiving. 'There sure are a lot of books in here.' He thought at some point he should read some of these. His did promise his mother that he would do some studying while he was in Equestria.
Fluttershy laughed lightly at her friends' confusion/fear, she had forgotten that nopony else had met her new friend yet. "Oh right, this is my new friend Gohan. I met him when I exited the first portal."
There was a moment of silence in the room. The purple alicorn and Spike looked over to each other with confused looks. "Um... hello." The baby dragon greeted nervously as he waved to the stranger.
"Hi nice to meet you." Gohan bowed to the two of them. He then walked over to the dragon and began petting him, much to his dismay. "Wow a dragon, you remind me of Icarus."
Everypony stared at him puzzled, not knowing who this 'Icarus' was. "Icarus?" The mare questioned.
"Icarus was my pet dragon, except he was a lot bigger than him." He explained while looking at the small dragon.
"Well this is Spike, he is my assistant/friend." The blue maned pony explained.
He turned his attention to the purple pony. "So you must be Twilight Sparkle?" The half-Saiyan walked over to her.
"That's correct, it's nice to meet you Gohan." She smiled. "So why did you go through the portal?" She asked while still being a little bit confused about this.
"Well... I wanted to visit Fluttershy's world and meet her friends."
She gave him a confused look before smiling, he just wanted to make some friends. And if he wanted to make friends then she was just the pony to help. "Alright... how about a tour of Ponyville then?" She received a quick nod. She then began walking out of the library, leaving her friend, and Gohan to follow. As the alicorn reached the door she turned around, noticing that her assistant wasn't following them. "Aren't you coming Spike?"
"Nah, I need a nap. All of this organizing made me tired, plus I'm still sore from falling off the ladder." He explained before heading on up to his bed.
Twilight merely nodded before exiting the library.
As soon as they stepped outside the Saiyan glanced around with wide eyes, he had never seen anything like this before. Obviously the town itself wasn't anything out of the ordinary, no, it was all the ponies. He could see so many different ponies, each one a different color. There were some ponies with horns, some with wings, and others had neither. He remembered hearing that the ones with horns were unicorns, the ones with wings were pegasi, and the other ones were called earth ponies. A smile crept onto his face as his eyes wandered around the town, soaking all of it in.
The trio then began walking around the town. As the journey started Twilight smiled as she looked over to her new friend. "This is Ponyville, this is where me and my friends live." The purple pony smiled brighter upon seeing his wondrous expression. She had a feeling she would get along with him just fine.
"Wow this place is big." He noted. More often than not he would receive stares from the other ponies, but he was mostly paying attention to Ponyville rather than the ponies within it. He could also hear them whispering and muttering among themselves, but again he didn't really pay them any mind.
"I suppose it is, but there are other cities and towns that are much bigger than Ponyville." Twilight stated.
In response the young Saiyan smiled. He made a mental note to explore all of Equestria at some point.
They continued walking until they arrived at the Carousel Boutique. "This is the Carousel Boutique, our friend Rarity lives here." Fluttershy explained as she knocked on the door.
Moments later a white unicorn with a curly purple mane opened the door. "Oh hello Twi..." The mare couldn't finish her greeting, she was too confused by the 'thing' standing on two legs. "Who... is this?" Rarity asked trying not to freak out. It wasn't everyday that a strange two legged creature knocked on the front door.
"This is my new friend Gohan, he's from another planet." The shy pony explained happily. "We're giving him a tour of Ponyville."
Hearing that almost made the generous mare faint, but she was able to compose herself and say hello. If he was a friend of Fluttershy's than he couldn't be too bad. "It's nice to meet you darling... what's with the clothes?" She questioned.
"What do you mean?" He asked, feeling confusion. In all his life the Saiyan never had anyone make comments about his clothes. Plus that kind of stuff seemed trivial to him.
"I mean that orange with that blue, it just doesn't work." Rarity was a fashion expert and could make almost any color combination work... but something about that orange and blue was off.
"My father wears an outfit like this, and he doesn't seem to mind."
"Well it's obvious your father has no fashion sense, but don't worry I shall make you both new outfits! Now if you could tell me his measurements." She said with a smile on her face, not realizing what she had just done.
Gohan was starting to feel a little angry because he was thinking about his father, still haunted by the fact that it was his fault he died. His left fist clenched as he turned towards the unicorn. "Well I don't see how a dead person can have a sense of fashion."
It took Rarity a few moments to realize what he meant, and she started to regret saying that. Her face quickly went blank, and she noticed everypony else glancing around nervously. And without realizing it they all concluded that... that was one of the most awkward moments in Ponyville history. "Oh... I'm so sorry darling... forget I said anything."
The half-Saiyan continued to clench his fist but took a few deep breathes and calmed down, the last thing he wanted would to have become a Super Saiyan... ascending to the level after that would have been even worse. Despite still feeling anger deep down he didn't want his new friends to see him totally lose it. So he did his best to suppress his anger and his power.
Twilight cleared her throat trying to clear up the awkwardness in the air. "Why don't we go visit Pinkie Pie?" She asked, hoping that a visit to Pinkie would make things better. Which was usually the case, keyword usually.
"What a great idea." The shy mare noted.
Since he was trying to calm himself he had no objections, and the nod he gave confirmed that. So he followed his friends to the next destination.
"Just let me lock up." The purple maned pony locked up her boutique and joined them. Along the way to see their friend Rarity was still feeling guilty about what she said. At some point she was going to have to make it up to him, but that would have to wait for later.
As the group journeyed to go see Pinkie Pie Gohan was noticing how peaceful this world was, almost everypony he passed by had smiles on their faces. He was beginning to wonder how evil could even show up in a place like this. One thing was for sure this place was very different from his home. 'If only my world could be this peaceful.' A frown appeared on his face as this new thought entered his mind. Yet he quickly shook his head, this was no time to have negative thoughts. Besides, he had recently saved his world from evil, and he was also strong enough now to protect it.
The four of them continued walking only for a short time before arriving at a strange building. Judging by all the sweets and pastries inside Gohan could only assume it was a bakery. As soon as they walked into the bakery they were greeted by an energetic pink pony, with a darker pink mane. Said pony nearly tackled her friends right as they walked in. "Hey girls how's it going?" She was really excited to see her friends, but then her eyes drifted over to the stranger wearing orange. She walked up to him and stared him down, making him nervous.
"Pinkie this is our new friend Gohan, Gohan this Pinkie Pie." Twilight stated, trying to get her to back up.
She still gave him the stink eye for a few moments, but her face soon turned into a smile. "Hi it's so nice to meet you, hey your mane is really funny it's all pointy."
"Yeah I guess it is." The two of them shared a laugh about his hair, perhaps it was a little strange. Although he really thought about his hair that much.
Pinkie Pie was starting to warm up to him, but she felt she needed to apologize for not welcoming him right away. "You can have this cupcake," She reached over to the shelf and grabbed a cupcake with vanilla frosting. "A special gift for a new friend."
"Wow thanks Pinkie." He said as he consumed the cupcake in one bite. "So do you own this store?" He asked.
"No silly... the Cakes own this store, but they are in the back working." She stated as she pointed to the back room.
"I guess I'll have to come back and visit them sometime when they aren't busy." He smiled.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they won't mind taking a break to meet you." She turned towards the back. "Hey Mr. and Mrs. Cake come meet our new friend!"
The two earth ponies walked out of the back, and upon doing so they caught sight of a weird creature, most likely the new friend Pinkie was talking about. They stared at the spiky haired boy for a few moments before the stallion spoke up. "Hello there."
"I'm Gohan, it's nice to meet you two."
"So what brings you to Ponyville Gohan?" Mrs. Cake questioned.
"It's kind of a long story." He proceeded to tell the two ponies everything that happened. From meeting Fluttershy to now. Of course, he neglected to mention anything about his past, but that would have taken even longer to explain.
To say the Cakes were shocked would have been an understatement. This was the first time they had heard of anypony being able to create inter-dimensional portals. Never the less they shook off their shock and smiled. "I think that's wonderful." The male baker noted.
"Ahem." The generous mare cleared her throat, getting everypony's attention. "As much as I love sharing stories I believe we have a tour going on."
Gohan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and grinned. "Oh yeah, the tour. I almost forgot."
"Well it looks like you have a big day ahead of you, so you might want to get a move on." Mr. Cake said.
The saiyan bowed before he and the others began leaving. "I'll be sure to visit you again." He told them.
Pinkie then threw herself pleadingly at the Cakes. "Can I go with them, can I can I can I can I, please?"
The two of them shared a laugh. "Of course Pinkie, we can run things here." Mrs. Cake told her. "Have fun!"
Applejack was currently hard at work bucking apple trees. She had been at it for hours, and even though she was beginning to feel tired she kept on going. The farm pony was used to having to do a lot of work, it came with living on an orchard. Most ponies would have complained about having to do all the work themselves, but not Applejack, she loved it. Her family would have been outside helping but Big Mac was resting. And Apple Bloom and Granny Smith were inside preparing some lunch.
"Hey Applejack come meet our new friend!" Pinkie shouted as she bounced her way towards the orange earth pony.
Said pony recognized that voice and turned towards the source. She watched as her friends(minus Rainbow Dash) and some strange looking creature walked over to her. The mare had no idea what it was, it looked like a hairless monkey... except a lot bigger than a normal monkey.
The rest of them caught up with the pink mare and once they were all gathered the Saiyan turned to face the pony. "Hi I'm Gohan, it's nice to meet you." He held out his hand, all the while observing all of the trees. There must have been hundreds of them.
She raised her hoof and shook his... whatever it was. "The name's Applejack... say what kind of creature ar' you?"
Without realizing it everypony was relieved that somepony finally asked that question. They would have asked earlier but decided to wait until after all of their friends were present. It would be less trouble to ask it once instead of multiple times.
"I'm a human, well actually only half-human. I'm also half-Saiyan."
Everypony gave him a weird look, they didn't know what a Saiyan was... except for Fluttershy. They knew what humans were because of Twilight. The honest earth pony just stared at him for a few seconds before smiling. "Well it's dang fine ta meet ya, ah was jus' finishing up my chores." She explained.
"Do you need any help?" Gohan offered.
"Nah, there are only a few trees left ta buck. Shouldn't take me long." With the introduction out of the way she went right back to work, kicking the remaining trees that had apples in them.
The half-Saiyan was impressed by her strength. One good kick was all it took to make all the apples fall from the trees. Of course he could easily do that too, but for a pony it was impressive. As she bucked the Saiyan admired her work ethic. It looked like there were a lot of apple trees out there, and if it was just her bucking by herself than it would probably take a while. Now a little curious he leaned over to Twilight. "Does she have to do all the work herself?"
"No, her whole family helps out with the chores." She answered.
"So where are they?"
The mare blinked twice, now realizing the rest of the Apple family wasn't present. "You know, I'm not sure. Maybe they're inside preparing lunch?"
Gohan nodded, accepting the answer. He then continued to watch the yellow maned pony work. "She sure has a lot of stamina." He noted.
After a minute or two of waiting around the honest earth pony walked over to her friends. "That's all of em." She said while wiping sweat from her brow.
"Ooh we should go find Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly.
"Good idea Pinkie." Twilight noted as they all started walking... although they didn't make it very far as a cyan pegasus came crashing into them them, knocking them all down... except for Gohan, who had reacted quick enough to duck underneath the flying pony.
They all got up and gave her the stink eye.
"Sorry Everypony." She apologized sheepishly. She was practicing a new trick and ended up losing control, resulting in the previous crash.
"It's all right." The Saiyan told her. All the while he was staring at her rainbow mane, it was very beautiful.
Rainbow Dash turned her head and noticed the stranger, she wasn't sure who he was... or what he was for that matter. "Who are you?"
The young Saiyan smiled brightly. "My name is Gohan," He quickly realized that this pony had to be Rainbow Dash. "and you must be Rainbow Dash."
"That's right." She smirked. "So, um... what are you?"
"I'm half-human and half-Saiyan." He explained.
"He's from another planet." Fluttershy added.
"That's cool I... wait what in the hay is a Saiyan?" She asked.
Luckily all of the shy pony's friends were present so he would only need to explain it once. Of course if somepony else asked he would explain it to them. "The Saiyans were an alien race of warriors, they were the toughest in the galaxy." He explained, noticing the confused looks he was receiving.
Everypony looked over towards each other, no pony had heard of space aliens before. It was then that Rainbow spoke up. "Wait so you're a warrior?" She asked sarcastically.
"Yes I am." Gohan stated with enthusiasm.
After a brief pause the cyan mare started laughing. Sure, she achieved greatness at a young age, but there was no way that some kid could actually fight. "No offense but you seem a little too small and young to be a warrior."
Fluttershy had seen him preform several amazing abilities, she had no problem believing him.
Everypony else though was having a hard time believing his claim. While he looked pretty physically fit for his age that wasn't enough to convince them he was a fearsome warrior. "How old ar' you anyway?" Applejack asked.
"Eleven."
Rainbow was now laughing even harder than before. "There's no way a child could be a warrior."
"How can I prove to you that I'm a warrior?"
The ponies thought for a second, and the loyal mare soon got an idea. "How about we fight?" She suggested, making her friends fall backwards comically.
His eyes went wide. "You want to fight me?"
The cyan pony nodded. "Yep, unless you're scared."
Gohan didn't think there was a way out of it now. So he merely bowed before assuming his fighting stance. Before the fight could begin he lowered his power level so he wouldn't hurt her. There was no reason for him to go all out on her, this wasn't a life or death battle or anything. Plus he could sense that she didn't have much power, so if he did use his maximum base strength he would win in a second. "Ready when you are!" He proclaimed.
The pink maned mare covered her eyes, not wanting to watch her friends fight. "Tell me when it's over."
The rainbow maned pony flew towards him, she extended her front left hoof and was about to punch her opponent in the face... but to her surprise her hoof had been caught. The cyan pony tried to get free but couldn't. "How did you do that?!" She asked as she brought her other front hoof up but that one was caught too. Rainbow was trapped and couldn't free herself. An idea popped into her head, one that was sure to work. She brought her hind legs together and sent them full force at her opponent, but her legs only hit the air.
The half-Saiyan had quickly moved out of the way of her attempted strike.
Rainbow floated in mid air for a few moments before falling flat on her back. She stood up and narrowed her eyes, she then flew high up into the air. As she flew she changed her course, and was now heading straight for the young Saiyan. With a karate yell the pegasus extended one of her hind legs outwards, preparing to kick her opponent in the face. Right before her hoof could make contact it was easily grabbed, leaving her in shock.
The half-Saiyan grinned before lightly tapping her on the head with his fist, sending her crashing into the ground. "Are you okay?" Gohan asked, a little worried that he used too much power.
After a few seconds the mare pulled herself together. She stood on her front hooves and tried to buck her foe but he moved out of the way. Another idea popped into her head. Rainbow flew up on top of a cloud, she then jumped up and down on it trying to zap her opponent with lightning. To her and her friends' shock he dodged each lightning strike sent at him. When that didn't work she charged him head on, hoping a frontal assault would work. Each hit she threw missed entirely.
Everypony looked on wide eyed, Rainbow Dash was losing. Their loyal friend prided herself on her karate skills, and yet she was unable to land a single blow. "Maybe he really is a warrior." Pinkie said.
The others only nodded in agreement.
Her last attempt ended with her opponent jumping into the air, and they were shocked once again when he didn't come back down. "Hey how can you do that without wings?!" She was confused, and slightly angry, but shook it off, she then charged the Saiyan once more. Rainbow Dash was once again trying to hit him, she used her front and back hooves but he was dodging every hit.
As he was avoiding her attacks he thought it would be good to let her get a hit in, maybe she was hiding her real strength from him. Although he didn't think that was the case. Still, it didn't hurt to see.
"Stand Still!" Rainbow shouted as she punched him in the face. She expected him to go flying backwards and hit the ground hard, instead he was in the same place, seemingly un-affected by her attack. Her hoof started hurting shortly after, as if she punched a brick wall.
"My turn." Gohan said as he lightly hit Rainbow Dash in the face sending her flying to the ground.
The spectators walked over to check on Rainbow Dash, who was dazed and in slight pain. "Ar' ya alright Rainbow?" Applejack asked.
Gohan also flew down to check on her. "Gosh I'm sorry, I guess I over did it."
Rainbow Dash finally got up and was still amazed he was able to fly, and that he beat her in a fight. "I'm impressed, I guess you are a warrior. Sorry I made fun of you earlier." She apologized nervously.
"It's all right." He smiled, anticipating the questions about to be asked by the ponies.
"So how did you learn to fight like that anyway?" Twilight asked.
"I've been fighting since I was a little kid, and I've trained hard with my dad and best friends."
Their jaws felt like they hit the floor. None of them could believe that he had been fighting for so long. "When exactly did you start training dear?" Rarity asked unsure how a kid could be that skilled.
"Ever since I was four."
If their jaws didn't hit the floor before, they did now. None of them would have been able to handle fighting at such a young age, even just learning how to fight would have been difficult for them. They were in shock but still had more questions for him. "How can you fly, you don't have any wings?" Pinkie Pie asked as she walked around Gohan trying to find hidden wings on his body.
That made him laugh. "I just concentrate my energy and it allows me to fly."
"What in tarnation is energy?"
"Energy is something that's inside all living things, and I can call upon that energy to fly and to use for my attacks."
"Attacks?" The alicorn questioned.
He once again thought a demonstration would work best. He started shouting, causing a white flame to burst from his head to his toes. Following this aura was a huge gust of wind, blowing his new friends away. He could see all of their eyes going wide as his aura increased in size. The whole ground began to shake as he continued to power up. His friends could barely keep their eyes open to look. Cracks slowly appeared within the earth where he stood, and rock chunks began floating upwards, only to be instantly destroyed. He then opened his hands and balls of energy began forming within them. Moments later he thrust his arms towards the sky, firing two beams of energy.
They stared at the twin beams in awe as they traveled deep into space. "Woah." Was all they could say in response.
Moments later everything seemed to die down, and his aura slowly faded out of existence.
"That was... awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"That white flame and beams were my energy, any more questions?"
The ponies shook their heads no, all the while still having surprised looks on their faces. The shocking would only continue when a rumbling sound was heard, although rumbling wasn't quite the right word, it was more like a monster growling.
"Say, you wouldn't happen to have any food around here that I could eat?" Gohan asked while clutching his stomach.
"Well... we could head back ta Sweet Apple Acres, it's not too far and ah have all kinds of food there." The farmpony told him.
"Great." He smiled as he followed her back to her home.
The others decided to go with the two of them back to Sweet Apple Acres. Since their search for Rainbow didn't take them far it only took a few minutes to get there. Once they got there Applejack went inside her house as Gohan and the rest of her friends sat down at a nearby picnic table. The orange earth pony came out of her house a few minutes later with a couple trays full of apple themed pastries, she was feeling pretty generous today. "Here ya ar'."
Right after she finished talking Gohan began eating, and showed no signs of stopping.
Everypony looked on in horror at the amount of food that Gohan was consuming, it was as if his stomach was bottomless. In only a few minutes he had eaten a meal fit for four or five ponies.
"Thanks for the food Applejack, it was delicious!"
Everypony was still in shock at what they had just witnessed.
It took the orange pony a few moments to compose herself. "Uh... no problem sugarcube."
"He can eat just as much as you can Pinkie." Rainbow Dash added, giving Pinkie Pie excitement at the idea of somepony eating as much as her.
"Maybe we should have an eating contest sometime Gohan, it would be totally fun!" The pink mare started bouncing up and down, until Twilight put a hoof on her to calm her down.
"Well ah guess we should call it a day." Applejack said.
The others nodded. "Wait, where's Gohan going to stay?" Rarity asked.
It was a few seconds before somepony spoke up. "He can stay with me... you know if he wants to." Fluttershy offered, and since it seemed like the most logical choice her friends had no objections.
"That sounds great!" The Saiyan smiled.
With that the ponies went their separate ways. Gohan and Fluttershy took to the skies, with the shy pony leading him towards her home. The duo arrived at her cottage after a few minutes of flying. Once they got there she led him inside. "You can sleep in the guest bed, I hope you don't mind animals?"
The Saiyan shook his head no, he liked animals. He took a look around and noticed how nice it was, her house reminded him of his own home on earth. "Thank you Fluttershy, you're the best." He told her with a smile on his face.
She blushed. "You're welcome." She was excited about all the fun adventures her friends and Gohan would have together.
The half-Saiyan was also excited. This was certainly going to be quite the experience. He headed towards the guest bed and once he got there he laid down. He continued thinking about the new adventures he was sure to have before drifting off into sleep.
Thanks to Saiyanfoeva for the "I don't see how a dead person can have a sense of fashion" line. I changed some of the dialogue and added in some more lines/detail, I'm trying to add more detail because I didn't add a lot the first time I wrote this. And I also went back again to add in more, and also put in those line breaker things. R and R and have a nice day!
FutureShock