“Ha-hahahahahaha!” Prince Vegeta, one of the few remaining Saiyans left in the entire universe, cackled maniacally over his victory. “It’s over, Kakarot!” he gloated, basking in the radiant glow of the Dragon Balls as their energy accumulated in massive waves, summoning the ancient wish-granting dragon himself. Shenron, the Eternal Dragon, wound in powerful coils throughout the cloudy sky above.

Atop the cliff, overlooking the sunrise – it was the dawn of a new era. The dawn of Vegeta.

His enemies crushed beneath him, the words of summoning spoken, and the potential of a multitude of wishes before him, Vegeta’s pride grew as Shenron bowed before him.

Of course, it would have been easier to make wishes were it not for the other remaining Saiyan.

“Ooh! Ooh! Vegeta!” Nappa, his relatively muscular companion danced back and forth in excitement, staring in awe up at the impressive green dragon. “Vegeta! Hey! Hey! Hey, hey Vegeta! Vegeta! Vegeta, hey! Hey, Veget-“

“What!?” the prince snapped viciously, tail curling in agitation around his waist as he turned away from Shenron long enough to deal with Nappa. “What the hell do you want now, Nappa?”

“Can we wish for a puppy?” Nappa asked hopefully, hands clasping together pleadingly.

“… Goddammit, Nappa.”

“Oh, come on!” he whined, throwing his arms out in desperation to the dragon. “I really wish I had a-“

“I swear to god, Nappa, if you deprive me of my immortality, I am going to rape that puppy in the eye socket with a crowbar.”

The larger Saiyan promptly made a zipping motion over his mouth, pinching his lips together.

“That’s better.” Vegeta grumbled, turning back to Shenron. “Now!” he, too, clapped his hands together gleefully. “About my immortality!”

“Your wish is my command, should it be within my power to grant it,” the massive dragon rumbled, and thunder crackled across the sky forebodingly.

Wonderful thoughts of his impending immortality and coinciding conquest of the entire universe settled across his mind, and Vegeta’s already wide grin grew even more. At least, until something occurred to him.

And, for a moment, Prince Vegeta hesitated.

He was silent for a long minute, both before and after he made his one wish.

“What do you mean?” he asked incredulously, but Vegeta could derive no emotion from the dragon. Even Nappa looked confused at Vegeta’s strange request.

“Precisely what I said,” Shenron replied in a booming voice.

“Uh… Vegeta?” Nappa held up a finger uncertainly, peering about at the desolate wasteland. There were sure to be somebody around, just waiting for the opportunity to catch them unaware. However, nobody was forthcoming. “Are you sure that’s what you want to wish for?”

“Of course!” he snapped, glowering at his companion. “You said you could grant my wish!” Vegeta snarled at the enormous dragon, all fear leaving him in lieu of his anger. “I don’t care about the repercussions, just do it!”

Shenron paused, as if considering simply eating the obnoxious Saiyan, and then bowed his mighty head.

“YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED.”

And with a brilliant flash of light, Vegeta was no more.

“All in attendance, say ‘aye’?” the scratchy voice of Sweetie Belle rang out through the clubhouse, and the unicorn glanced up at her friends.

“Aye!” both responses from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were instantaneous, and Sweetie Belle cleared her throat.

“All in accordance that Diamond Tiara needs to pull the stick out of her plot?” Scootaloo asked loudly, earning a couple of giggled ‘ayes’ from the other two.

“Right, then!” the unicorn rolled up her small sheet of paper, dropping it on the table in the corner. It had taken so long, and so much work to get the clubhouse put together; but now, it was in pristine condition. Applejack had even lent a helping hoof to get new floorboards put in for them. “First order of business – Cutie Mark Crusaders grand talent search begins, tomorrow!” she said enthusiastically, although Apple Bloom didn’t seem too thrilled.

“Again?” she groaned, shifting uncomfortably. “An’ here I thought we weren’t gonna try that again.”

“Aw, come on, Apple Bloom!” the brightly colored pegasus said consolingly. “Sure, it might not have turned out so great the last time-“

“By which, ya’ mean we’re never allowed near tracksuits again,” the young farm pony grumbled, but Scootaloo continued unabated.

“-And we’re way smarter than we were back then, besides.” Scootaloo said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin with the bottom of her hoof.

“You mean, last week.” Apple Bloom said dryly enough to make a desert jealous.

“Yeesh!” Sweetie Belle threw her forehooves into the air, rolling her eyes. “Since when are you so pessimistic?” she asked, slightly concerned for her friend’s odd change in attitude.

Apple Bloom shook her head, rubbing her eyes.

“I’m sorry, girls,” she apologized. “I just haven’t really been sleepin’ much, lately.” True, Apple Bloom did look awfully tired. She rubbed her itching eyes, and gave a little sigh.

“You’re not having bad dreams about Timberwolves again, are you?” Scootaloo pried, and her friend looked significantly frustrated.

She opened her mouth to reply, but instead, her head tilted slightly to the side. And then tilted some more. Her ears perked up, and Sweetie Belle caught the noise shortly afterwards.

“… Do y’all hear that?” she asked softly, scrunching up her nose as if that could improve her hearing. For a moment, she thought it really did; but instead, the noise was simply growing louder.

Or closer.

“I can’t really… no, wait!” Scootaloo said loudly, and was quickly hushed by the other two. Scrambling outside of the clubhouse, the peered about curiously for the source of the strange whistling. The faint whistle, however, steadily grew in volume until it was clearly no longer a whistle.

It was somepony… screaming?

“Uh… gals?” Apple Bloom said, perplexed. Her neck craned upwards at the source of the noise, and three sets of eyes widened expressively as they watched the falling meteor burning its way through the atmosphere. It didn’t take them long to discover the source of the screaming.

It also didn’t take them long to duck for cover when the peculiar, hairy tailed ‘meteor’ exploded with a violent and massive slam into their once-pristine clubhouse.

Author's Notes:

Beware, the VEGETANATOR.