I look nervously at the two star-ponies, in time to see Galeam get caught by a vicious hit from Gladius’ hoof. I can see a puff of smoke or gas rise from the helmeted constellation’s mouth as the blow strikes him in the jaw.

Without even pausing to acknowledge the blow, Galeam pulls back a hoof and drives it to the ground with an earth-shattering, final-sounding whud.

There’s absolute silence as Galeam stands, the stars in his pelt fading back to normal shadow as he looks around, though the starfield remains in the shadows of his helmet and face. He’s not even breathing hard.

I startle slightly as I realize that there’s a ring of curious and confused townsponies trying to figure out what just happened. Galeam, with only his muzzle visible, nods at me. Then, he scoops up Gladius’ body -it moves so bonelessly! There’s red-and-white gas leaking from dozens of wounds! From her mouth! holy shit- and suddenly vanishes in a flash of golden light. I don’t mean ‘golden’ as in ‘kinda yellow’, but rather ‘like the light bouncing off a bar of polished gold’ gold.

I turn to the gaping ponies and think of what to say. I decide to give it my best. “Just a bit of stellar being business, doesn’t concern you, nothing to see, just... carry on.”

Apparently, as the local star-being, my word is absolute in this matter, because they all appear to lose interest and wander off. Except for four little filles, each standing close to each other as they stare at me in awe. A certain orange pegasus is once more doing a koosh-ball impression.

“Heh, uh... hi. You need something?”

“That was so cool!” Scootaloo shouts, jumping in the air. Her wings buzz, and her look of idolatry actually puts me slightly on edge. The four Cutie Mark Crusaders all charge towards me and grapple my legs, babbling about how awesome it is that I have star-buddies to kick the stuffing out of things while I’m sick.

Also, how did they know I’m down? I never mentioned being de-powered.

“I’m not sick, I just lost my powers. I’m still the toughest guy in town.”

“Nuh-uh!” Scootaloo says, her poofiness going away for a moment. “Rainbow Dash is the toughest and coolest around!”

I grin. “Hmm... looks like I need to prove it. You know where Rainbow is right now?”

“Uh, I think so. Come on guys! This is gonna be epic!” Scootaloo hops on her scooter and leads me and the other crusaders to a little field where I can see Rainbow Dash sleeping on a cloud.

“Hey Dash!” She just rolls over, so I decide to get her attention another way. I pick up a small rock and toss it into the cloud.

“Ow! Hey, what’s the big idea!?” I can see her rubbing her side.

“Sorry! I was aiming for your head!” I call up. “Get down here, we got a plan!”

The multichromatic pegasus grumbles loudly as she rolls off her cloud, lazily flapping to land normally on the ground with us. “What’s up, Anthony? You’re kinda interrupting my noontime nap.” She pauses for a moment. “Oh, unless you’re here about more dating advice! I still think you need to muscle up if you’re gonna impress Myrna.”

“And that’s where we differ in opinion. You see, some of the ponies think you’re tougher than I am. So in an effort to help them get over their delusions, how about a little competition?” I cross my arms and grin. “Winner is the strongest pony or person in Ponyville.”

“Pfft, I hate to break to you, Anthony, but I would break you. You’re so flimsy, I bet I could beat you in ten seconds flat!” Rainbow boasts. “Actually, just to make it an even fight, I won’t use my wings! Not even for martial arts.”

Wait, hasty Rainbow Dash knows martial arts? Didn’t know that. How’d it even work for quadrupeds... eh, whatever.

“Alright. No flying, no star-powers which should be pretty easy for me, and no weird cloud tricks. Just fisticuffs.” I raise my fists in front of me. “First one to cry or give up loses.”

Rainbow motions to Applebloom and Scootaloo, and borrows AB’s ribbon to hold her wings down. “Alright, let’s do this.” And with that, she stands up, perfectly holding the position with a cocky smile. Holy crap, she actually does know martial arts. this might not go as well as I’d hoped, I guess I’ll just have to fight dirty. That wasn’t against the rules, after all.

On top of that, her being in a taller stance makes it easier for me to hit her. “Go!” I yell and give a quick jab to her chest, hoping I can at least knock her over. If she ends up on her back, I’ve practically won already. Unfortunately I she has some really good balance and delivers quite a few hoof-punches to my gut.

Okay, no more mister nice guy. We continue our fight, neither of us pulling punches, bruises easily showing where each hit has made impact. I’ve probably got a black eye. I’m still not gonna give up. I can take a pony.

The blow trading continues and she is remarkably fast, even without her wings, she can even jump and such... on her hind legs. Damn she’s good. But I’m better, I know I am. Just as I finish thinking that, she delivers a rather strong roundhouse kick straight to my cheek and I feel a large surge of pain. I turn and spit out some blood and... a tooth?

I look down at the little white piece of enamel on the ground and exploring my bleeding mouth with my tongue confirms my suspicions. I can’t believe it.

“Holy shit, man...” I look over at Rainbow incredulously.

“Woah, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, you wanna quit?”

“Dude... that was my last baby tooth! I’ve been trying to get rid of that thing for ever!” I give Dash a bloody grin. “Thanks!” I accent my happiness with a swift uppercut to her jaw.

The battle continues, and we actually both start getting slightly bloody, but nothing enough to keep us from going. In the end though, she gets behind me and twists my arm around, her superior ‘upper’ body strength making it hurt and I’m afraid it’ll break. Relenting, I tap out. “I g-” I spit out another wad of blood. “I give, you win...”

“There, see? Now, let’s give it a rest. It’ll be an hour or two till all this heals up.” Dash says, letting me go. Scootaloo looks likes she’s somewhere between disappointed and elated, while the other three just look impressed.

“Two!? How fast do you guys -ow- heal!?”

“What? I’m actually a pretty slow healer, Anthony. If pegasus bones didn’t bend the way they do, I’d be crippled. Just sit down, wait it off. And I’m still sorry about the tooth, that must’ve hurt.” Dash pats me on the back.

“Nah, really, that little thing has been stuck with me for ever. But I’m a human, I don’t heal like that.” I feel the soreness in all my muscles. “I’d say that if we stop now, I’m down for the rest of today and tomorrow...”

I wipe more blood from my mouth. “This has gotta end or continue now. I- I still got... some juice left in me.” Though that energy is quickly running out. “Let’s go!” I return to my original stance, but my legs are visibly shaky.

RD rolls her eyes, and tugs the ribbon off her wings. She flaps her wings, sending a delightfully cool breeze towards me. It quickly builds up enough that I topple.

“Dude, that was, like, a type-two breeze. You’re not ready to do anything more anyways. If you really heal that slow, and Twilight mentioned you got poisoned or whatever, you need to rest.” Rainbow stops for a moment. “Wait, does Twilight know how slow you get better?”

“No idea...” The adrenaline rush is finally subsiding and I am so sore I can hardly move, the most motion I’m getting is the rising and falling of my chest from my heavy breathing. That is one tough pony.

“‘Cuz when Fluttershy asked on the train, Twi said you’d be better in a week... but if you don’t get better so quickly...”

“Most humans... unless we have weapons or tools... we usually only have one or two good fights... urk... in us a day...”

“How did you ever survive? Man, your heroes must’ve been real impressive to make up for everyone else.” RD shakes her head and noses my arm. “Hey, you aren’t gonna die or anything over there, are you? Or do you just need some help getting back to the library?”

“Nah, ya di- didn’t break anything. Just, gimme a minute...” I try to get myself into a sitting up position but despite my success, the motion makes my back hurt. A lot. “See? F- fine.”

“Yeah... you’re making that ‘this is not cool’ face you do about moving. I think I’m gonna take you to the hospital.”

“Sure... Rainbow Dash wins... Fatality...” I’m so tired I just go to sleep. I feel myself getting lifted, but then, nothing. Next Chapter: Chapter 105 Estimated time remaining: 20 Hours, 28 Minutes