Chapter 3: The Seasons Change
It has been two months since Twilight first increased the weight of my wristbands so I could get stronger. It was about a week after she did that for me that I went back to ask her to weigh down my boots and my belt as well, so that I could work out other parts of my body. When I had even more weight it was worse than when it was just my wristbands, but eventually I got used to it. At first I had the two 200 pound wristbands, then I got a 200 pound belt, and each boot increased to 200 pounds as well, for a new grand total of 1000 pounds on my body. Now trying to fly felt like my very first time flying ever, being extremely difficult just to get myself off of the ground. But eventually I was used to it.
Now it was about fall, things were starting to cool down, and the leaves were beginning to change their color. I was out with Fluttershy that day to watch the annual running of the leaves. This time Applejack and Rainbow Dash were competing together rather than against each other, and Twilight had decided not to reenter despite the fact she had gotten 5th place the last time she entered. Now that I was here I decided to enter as well, and since I was wearing my weights it would be a great exercise.
"So Dako, you think you have a chance in this race against the two of us!?" Rainbow Dash asked me.
"I think I'll do fine, I don't expect to win or anything." I said, stretching my legs.
"I gotta warn ya, Rainbow Dash and I have been working hard to prepare for this years runnin' of the leaves." Applejack said.
"Oh, is that so? Well, don't be surprised if I win, what with my saiyan endurance, speed, stamina…" I said.
"Oh yeah? Well who has four legs while you only have two? We do!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Okay, so don't be surprised if I lose either, what with the weights Twilight is making wear." I said, continuing to stretch.
"Yeah, how much weight do ya got on anyhow?" Applejack asked.
"Hm, I have 1000 pounds, if I remember correctly." I said, trying to recall the exact weight.
"1000 pounds!? How are you going to run in a race with half a ton on you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, now that you mention it, I could take these weights off for the race." I said smiling. "But that would be a little unfair, since I'm used the weight by now, and I would only be doing better to run without the weights."
"On second thought, you're fine, go ahead and keep the weights on, you said it yourself, you're fine." Rainbow Dash said, nervously.
We all got ready for the race, everypony meeting at the starting line. We were all prepared and waiting.
"Go Dako! You can do it!" Fluttershy cheered softly from the crowd.
I turned to wave at her.
"Come one Dako, show them what you can do!" Twilight cheered.
"Hey, what about us?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"What, we can't cheer for all our friends, besides, I know you guys will do great." Twilight said.
"Don't worry Rainbow, we can do this." Applejack said.
"Now, Dako, are you sure you can do this with all of your weights on? Maybe you could take off, your belt, or your wristbands, or even your boots?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine. Just relax and watch the race, okay honey?" I said to her.
"Racers on your marks!" The mayor called.
"Get ready, get set, go!" The mayor shouted, waving the starting flag.
Everyone took off, including me. Everypony was a lot faster than I had imagined, but it was all good for me, I wasn't really trying just yet. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were already out ahead of me, so I caught up to them and ran up beside them.
"So, how are you guys feeling now?" I asked.
"How did you get up here?" Applejack asked.
"That's not important, see you at the finish line!" I said, slowly moving ahead of the rest of the crowd.
I kept on going, running past all the other ponies and eventually taking a lead over the entire race. When I looked back I noticed just how far ahead I was, I couldn't help but laugh just a little. I felt something during the race though, something in the air, it started to get a little bit cooler, and the sky was turning gray.
"Eh, it's just the fall sky." I said to myself.
I kept running the race, but I began to slow down, then stopped for a few seconds.
I was all alone now, everyone else was behind me. I looked around and felt a slight breeze picking up. The air felt colder now, and some of the leaves were beginning to blow around. I could hear a faint rumbling in the distance.
"What the heck? Is this some kind of, storm?" I said.
Then I felt a drop hit me on the face. I looked up to the dark clouds above. The clouds were moving around above, and thunder continued to rumble.
"Yup, definitely a storm, this could cancel the race." I thought out loud.
I started to run again, I knew the finish line wasn't very far, if I could make it before the storm started then I'd be fine. But then I'd have to get the others that were in the race and make sure nothing happened. So I continued on.
The rain started now, and began pouring down. The trail was getting a little slick and muddy, but it didn't seem like it was anything too dangerous. I was getting a little concerned at how much rain was coming down in such a short period of time. I stopped when I got to an old bridge in the woods. The creek underneath it was raging by now. I could hear the shouting of the other racers approaching behind me. I put my arms out to try and get them to stop. The sound of hoofsteps over the sound of rain slowly faded out.
I turned to look at the crowd and noticed Rainbow Dash pushing her way to the front of the crowd.
"Dako, what's the big deal? I'm cold and wet, why did you make us all stop?" She shouted at me angrily.
"Look, that creek is rising fast, in fact, just two minutes ago it was under the bridge." I said.
I could hear some murmuring from the crowd, ponies looking at each other and chattering.
"So what, can we get out of this storm now?" Rainbow Dash said.
"I don't know, can you tell me where the bridge is?" I asked her, stepping to the side.
She took a step or two forward and squinted at the creek, then her eyes widened a little.
"The bridge, it's gone!" She said surprised.
"Exactly, we have to turn around, I'm afraid no one will be finishing this years running of the leaves." I said.
"Ok, so what do we do, just head for the finish line?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know, look around us, we're currently in a valley. With the rate the creek is rising it could flood this place if it overflows its banks." I said.
"Right, we should move quickly." Applejack said, turning around with in the crowd.
The racers began walk back, they were all tired from the fact they were already running, and decided to just walk. I was following closely behind the crowd, but began cutting up to the front to walk with Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
"So guys, who was winning out of the two of you?" I asked them.
"Well, to be honest, we were pretty much neck and neck the whole time." Applejack said smiling.
"Yeah, but I was only letting you keep up with me." Rainbow Dash replied.
"That's what you think, but I wasn't even tryin' my hardest." Applejack said.
"Easy guys, it doesn't matter now, now we're just trying to make sure we can get out of here safely, which is what I really wanted to talk to you guys about." I said.
"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, let's say something goes wrong. I need you two to lead a backup plan with me. I need you guys to lead everyone out of the valley, you'll need to take them up the hill and back to the starting line." I said.
"Ok, we can do that." Applejack said.
We only walked for another couple of steps until I took one last step and began to sink into the mud. Rainbow Dash and Applejack turned to see me struggling. Both my legs were now knee deep in the mud.
"Dako, what's happening?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I'm fine, I must've stepped in a soft spot, all these weights of mine, they're making me sink into the ground." I said, trying to pull myself out ground.
"Well, just fly out, you can fly out, right?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah, I'm kinda trying to right now, but the suction gets stronger every time I pull." I said.
I looked down at my legs and saw some water run past my legs around me. I turned to see the water flowing towards us, it was rising quickly and rushing fast.
"Guys you've gotta go, I can get myself out, just take everypony to the start line!" I shouted, trying to pull my legs out, the water quickly rising to my waist.
The other ponies began running from the water, but Rainbow Dash and Applejack stayed.
"We're not leavin' you, we can't!" Appljack shouted, trying to pull me out under my arms.
"No, don't stay here, go!" I yelled trying to dig the mud out with my hands, the water now up to my chest.
"No, we're not leaving until you're out of there and can run with us!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Alright, stand back, I've got an idea!" I yelled as I stuck my hands under the water.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash took a couple of steps back as I formed an energy ball in my hands. The water around me began to boil. I fired the energy ball at the ground just in front of my legs, blasting at the soft soil. The impact and explosion sent muddy water flying high up into the air. I quickly hopped out of the crater and above the surface of the water.
"Darn it Dako, you could've warned us first!" Applejack said wiping mud off of her face.
"I told you guys to stand back, now, let's go!" I shouted, dropping back into the water and running with them.
As we started running we got to a shallow spot where the water was only ankle deep. But soon the water was rising again, rising quicker than we could outrun. We caught up to the group up ahead.
"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, take the group up the hill, I'm gonna try and stop the water." I said to them, stopping in my tracks.
"Wait, what?" Rainbow Dash said, stopping just ahead of me.
"You heard him, we gotta save these ponies!" Applejack shouted back, still running with the crowd.
Rainbow Dash stood staring at me for a couple of seconds, turned to look at the crowd of ponies, then looked back at me.
"Don't hurt yourself Dako, you know we don't want to let Fluttershy know you drowned out here, ok?" She asked me. "You know that would destroy her, so please, don't do anything stupid."
"Don't worry about me, just tell her I'm running late and that I'll be there." I said.
Rainbow Dash nodded, then turned and started running back towards the group. I stood there in the flooding valley looking around.
"Ok, so now what do I do?" I though out loud.
I had only been standing still for less than a minute, and the water was up to my waist again. I looked at the rocky, jagged mountain sides around me. I raised a hand to my side, aiming at the mountain top. I fired a small yellow energy ball at the mountain top. There was a small explosion that caused a couple of large rocks and some gravel to slide down the side and into the path in front of me.
"That could do it." I said to myself. "All I need to do is trigger a rockslide to block off the rest off the valley."
I aimed back at the mountain top and fired several more energy balls, dislodging more and more rocks, triggering a small rockslide to roll into the valley. I turned the mountain top on the opposite side, and fired several times. The rocks slid down and splashed into the water, filling the gap. The water was now up to my chest, I floated up and out of the water and to check the other side. I could see that the level was significantly lower, the wall was holding.
I was just about to take off when I heard someone calling for help behind me.
"Huh, who's there? Where are you?" I called out.
I heard the voice again, and saw someone waving for help. I quickly flew over to them. There was a mare holding on to a tree in the high water. I flew down to them and put my arm under them.
"Quickly, get on my back so I can fly us out of here!" I yelled.
The soaked mare climbed on my back and held on tight, I slowly drifted out of the water and started to fly off. There was a large explosion and bright flash just off to my side. A lighting bolt struck the tree the mare was just hanging onto. The tree broke where it was struck and fell over into the water with a large splash.
"Boy, talk about timing, huh?" I said to the shivering cold mare on my back.
"No offense, but could you just get us out of here?" She shouted in fear.
I quickly took off and began flying for the start line. I could see the trail Applejack and Rainbow Dash had made as they went up the hill, and I couldn't see anypony else, so I had hoped they all made it out all right.
I continued flying over the flooded trail, rounding a corner where the water stopped rising and flew over the top of a hill. On the other side I could see the large crowd of racers and the ponies in the audience. I flew down to see them and set the soaking wet mare down. I looked around the crowd that was starting to cheer, and saw Twilight and the others making their way towards me.
I heard them all shout my name as they crowded around me, then I fell to the ground when I was tackled by Fluttershy who jumped in my arms.
"Oh Dako, I'm so glad you're safe, I was so worried about you!" She cried.
"It's okay, I'm fine, I got out of there alright." I said.
"Dako, what happened?" Twilight asked.
"Besides the rain and flash flood, a lot of things happened. But everyone's ok, I think." I said.
"It was so nice out today, and those scary dark clouds came out of nowhere, then it started raining like crazy!" Pinkie Pie said.
"Yeah, some kind of crazy storm, I'm just glad no one got hurt and that we were able to get out of there in time." I said.
"Well, you gave us all quite a scare staying behind like that, we didn't know what to expect when Rainbow Dash told us you weren't with them." Rarity said.
"Thank goodness you're alright though, now, if we could get to some shelter, it's cold, windy, and we're all pretty soaked." Twilight said.
"Sure, I'd like to get out of this rain." I said.
We all left and headed to the library. Twilight had plenty of towels for us so we could dry off and warm up with. We were all out in the rain for at least two hours and were soaked to the bone. Now we were all sitting around talking about the day's events, and I had Fluttershy in my arms.
"Yup, that sure was crazy. The rain just started and kept coming like there was no end." I said.
"So wait, Rainbow Dash and Applejack told me you got stuck in the mud for a little while, what happened?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, well I was running right? I took one step in some really soft stuff and just sank right in. I put my other foot in front of me to keep from falling over and got it stuck too." I said.
"But how come you didn't just fly out, silly?" Pinkie Pie asked smiling.
"Well, I started to sink in up to my knees, then when I tried to fly it seemed to pull me down harder, and it felt like I was gonna rip my legs off." I said.
"I see. It was almost like being in quicksand. And I bet those weights of yours didn't help at all." Rarity added.
"Nope, 1000 pounds on just two legs in really soft mud is just asking for trouble. No support at all, like how a needle just pokes into fabric or something." I said.
"I'm just so glad you're ok." Fluttershy said, hugging me tightly to her.
Everyone "Aw'd" at us.
"It sure was a crazy day, and even though these weights almost ended me, I think I want more added." I said.
Everyone gasped, especially Twilight.
"What, but you said yourself you had on 1000 pounds!" Applejack said.
"I know, and I'm 1000 pounds stronger now. But now I think I want to be 2000 pounds stronger. In fact, why not jump up to 3000." I suggested boldly.
"Wait, let me see one of those wristbands." Rainbow Dash said.
I slipped the wristband on my right arm off and dropped it on the floor, landing with a heavy thud on the floorboards. The others gasped softly. Rainbow Dash walked over to the wristband, she took a hoof and tried to slide it across the floor. It wouldn't budge. She then put two hooves on it and pushed with all her strength with her hind legs. Finally, she began flapping her wings, almost full force, finally being enough to move the wristband about three inches. The others were astonished, and the look on Rainbow Dash's said no different.
"Dako, I think you have enough weight." Twilight said flatly.
"Well, not anymore, look." I said lifting the wristband almost effortlessly. "It feels like a feather now. I need more, no ifs ands or buts." I said.
"Dako, you're much stronger now, I seriously don't think-." I interrupted Twilight.
"The nightmares haven't stopped. I need more weight." I said.
Twilight was hesitant at first for sure, but eventually she agreed, but she only agreed to give me 2000 pounds instead of 3000. It was enough for the time being, but until then I'd have to keep getting stronger, and deal with the nightmares.
For the next couple of days afterward I struggled to get used to the new weight, but it wouldn't be long until I was used to it and ready for more weight. But for now, it was exercise almost daily.