The Shadowbolt led the way towards the forest closest to Ponyville. At least, the closest forest without monsters.
“So this is White Tail Woods, is it?” He flew up to scan the size of the area. “Yup, this’ll do nicely. Right, then, unless anypony else shows up for lessons-”
Right on cue, an anypony else showed up. A white anypony else, with a horn and a loud voice, as well as an incomparable sense of fashion, despite being naked at the moment. “Sweetie Belle! I’ve been looking all over for you! Oh, you’ve met dear Mister Hur-”
“Ashen Blizzard, yes, Miss Rarity, she has,” Ash interrupted. “Ah, and there’s Rainbow Dash, too.”
Rainbow Dash landed right next to Applejack. “Sorry I’m late, guys, had to clear some fog on the main road.” She nodded towards the five kids. “They ask you for lessons?”
“Yup. I don’t suppose you know if anypony else might show up?”
“No one who knows what they’d be getting into, no.” Rainbow looked to the forest before her. “Oh, great, you’re doing this again, aren’t you?”
“Yes, we are. Youngins, listen up, ‘coz Master Ash is only gonna explain this once.” The Shadowbolt curled his wings to reach into a chest pocket and fetched five gems, which he held up for all to see. “What we’re gonna do right now is a little test to see who among you has what it takes to be a genuine, bona fide ninja. And we’re gonna do this using these ninja gems here.”
Rarity quirked an eyebrow. “Ninja gems? How are they different from regular gems, then?”
“They are carried and used by ninja, so we put the word ‘ninja’ in front of them,” Moongazer explained.
“Ah. Like what space ponies like to do?”
“They stole that gimmick from us,” Moongazer replied coldly. “Our revenge will be swift.”
“Quite right,” Ash said. “The rules of the Ninja Gem Hunt are simple: y’all run into the forest, and I chase you. If I catch you, I incapacitate you, by whatever means I find appropriate. I could tie you up, make you pass out, or paralyse you.”
“Don’t forget the tree sap,” Rainbow Dash said. “There’s plenty of trees that are ripe for glue harvesting. If you get knocked into one of those, it’s game over.”
“Really, now? Oh, I gotta try that one.” Ash chuckled.
“And where do the gems come in?” Spike asked.
“The game is simple: if you have a gem, you are in the clear. I will not attack you, I will not take the gem, you may exit the forest. If you manage to leave the forest with your gem, you win. If I find you without one, well… then it’s all a matter of how much of a fight you can put up before I decide to knock you out.”
“Excuse me, but that sounds like child abuse,” Applejack said.
Ash shrugged. “If it does, your little sister is more than welcome to give up right here and now. If you want to learn from me, you have to be able to operate under the threat of real violence.”
“But you’re a full grown stallion, for pity’s sake!”
Rarity nodded. “I’m afraid I must agree with Applejack there. Sweetie Belle is too young and too fragile to be chased by someone of your intimidating stature. Can’t your colleague do it?”
“Crescent Death? No, not as such. Unless it’s her the kids want lessons from, of course. If that’s the case, then I can go right back to my little ninja nap.”
Scootaloo looked up at Rainbow Dash, pondering. “Did you used to do this with Ash when he taught you?”
“All the time,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I started doing this when I was… about two years younger than you, I think. It’s scary, but it’s fun, so I’m not gonna stop you.”
“And what does Thunderlane think about this? Where’s Twilight?” Applejack asked.
“Twilight said I could pick anyone I wanted for a teacher,” Spike replied.
“And Thunderlane told me to practise on my own,” Rumble added.
Rarity let out a yelp as one lock of hair sprung up. She quickly rubbed it down. “What in Equestria was that?”
“Hair actin’ up?”
“I’m not sure, Applejack.” She squinted as she pressed the hairs back into proper form. “That lock doesn’t usually give me any trouble.”
Ash shivered and looked out at the distance, into Ponyville. He glanced at Moongazer, who’d apparently felt the same presence, but she merely responded with a knowing grin, and neither said anything on the matter.
“Right, then, whosoever wishes to take this test and be proven worthy or unworthy of ninja training, please step forward,” Ash said.
As one, the Cutie Mark Crusaders took a step forward, followed by the baby dragon – a baby only by dragon standards – and the local loner jock.
Ash held up the gems. “Okay, five contestants, five gems. Now I just gotta hide’em and…”
The stallion tensed up his wings, and next thing anyone knew a whistling sound could be heard. The kids turned around just in time to see the gems hurtling through the air and landing scattered over White Tail Woods. “Time to bolt, kids. You won’t know when I’ve started until you see me.”
They didn’t need to be told twice. The two pegasi flew off into the forest, the Earth pony and unicorn galloped, and the dragon ran in an awkward, almost waddling fashion.
Ash smirked as they fanned out. “Well, well, that’s interesting.”
Applejack frowned. “What is?”
Moondancer smiled. “They’re all heading in different directions, trying to get a different gem, each.”
Rarity and Applejack exchanged a puzzled glance. Rarity felt that one rebellious lock of hair acting up again, so she stroked it down, even resorting to magic to keep it in place. “And what, pray tell, is so interesting about that?”
“It means, among other things, that they’re givin’ up strength in numbers. Rookie mistake.”
Sweetie Belle ran as fast as she could. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were nowhere to be seen, and Rumble and Spike were off somewhere, too. She was alone, looking for a gem.
She stopped and turned around. She couldn’t tell how long she’d been running.
How’s anyone supposed to find any gems in a forest this big?
A rustling in the bushes caught her attention.
“Ready or not, here I come…”
She bolted. Even if the Ashen Blizzard wasn’t going to hurt her, he scared her, right to her core.
“Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide…”
Sweetie Belle panted. She’d bolted too far, she could see the rocky outcroppings of the Falling Leaves trail.
Think, Sweetie Belle, think.
Her head hurt, her horn throbbed.
Her horn.
Rarity had tried to teach her the gem hunting spell before, as a way to give the girl some hobby they both liked, but it hadn’t ended too well. Where Sweetie Belle was more than content to get dirty, Rarity needed someone to do the digging for her, and carefully, lest her perfect coat be besmirched. Still, the magic lessons had stuck, if only because sensory magic was a lot easier than trying to grab things with magic.
Sweetie Belle focused. Even with her eyes closed, she could see the light flooding out of her horn and into her eyes.
Barumpbarumpbarump. The sound of heavy galloping hooves drew closer. The air went colder, and a sense of dread snuck up on her.
She ran again, just to stay ahead of the galloping. The stallion was playing with her, she knew, merely trying to scare her, but he was good at it. Still, she forced herself to concentrate on the spell.
A left turn here, a duck to the right there, she had to keep her concentration on her task.
With a dull thump, the Shadowbolt dropped out of the sky. “Time’s up, Sweetie Belle.”
“Please don’t!” She curled up into a ball, her magic already lashing out at random.
“Ah, well done, little filly.” He tousled her hair.
“What?”
Sweetie Belle opened her eyes. There was a gem, glowing in response to her detection spell, right in front of her hooves.
“You got the gem. You are hereby excused from the rest of the trials.”
With a mere woosh, he vanished.
Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her chest. Her heart pounded, her lungs burned. How long had she been running?
And if Ash scared her that much just by standing there, what was he going to do to her friends?”
Apple Bloom was the fastest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, at least without wheels or wings, and until Sweetie Belle learned how to teleport. But she was the fastest now, and that’s all that mattered. She was smack dab in the middle of White Tail Woods when she heard the Shadowbolt approaching her.
She didn’t have a gem, and she didn’t see how she was going to find one. So she did the only thing she could do: stand up on her hind hooves and brace herself.
She heard him coming towards her. The swooshing sound of his wings, along with the cold and the terror of his killer intent, grew with every breath she took.
“Hayah!” She leaped toward the shadow as it approached her.
Apple Bloom barely had time to flail around as she found herself jump kicking a black rag. “What the?”
Ash appeared behind her, chuckling. “Ninja decoy. You sure you wanna try and take me head-on, little girl?” He spread his wings to add even more to his already imposing stature.
“I ain’t afraid of you,” Apple Bloom lied as she kicked off the decoy rag. “You’re just playin’ around.”
“If you say so. Go on, then. Hit me with your best shot.” He stood up on his hind hooves and beckoned her forward.
Again, Apple Bloom jumped to kick at the guy.
It felt like landing on the ground, only not. She had her hind right hoof on his left front hoof, while he kept the other on his back. Her whole body shook with the impact, then dropped unceremoniously as he withdrew his guard.
“Wrong answer. Try again.”
She jumped up and rose to her hind hooves again, then swung her right leg at his thigh. Again, he blocked it without so much as a wince. “Still doin’ it wrong, little filly. You sure you’re a real Apple? I thought your family was supposed to be strong.”
Grandmaster or no, this was too much for the girl. “Ayah!”
She tried a snap kick to his groin, he stepped to the side. She did a spinning kick to his face, he blocked. She tried to jump and do a hammer blow on his face, and that’s when Ash decided he’d had enough fun. With one flap of the wings, he sent out a gust of wind that flung her into a tree.
Apple Bloom got the wind knocked out of her, but she wasn’t unconscious. In fact, she was conscious enough to register the wet stickiness on her back. “Oh, you did not just…” She wriggled and squirmed against the bark she was now glued to, even as he approached her.
“Sorry, Apple Bloom. You do not have a gem, and I have caught you. You lose.”
“Get back here, I ain’t done yet!” She called out as he turned his back on her.
“Oh, yes, yes you are. If I were a real enemy, there’d be nothing stopping me from taking you away, or knocking you senseless, or even choking you. You lost to a superior opponent. Now, if’n you’ll excuse me, there’s four more kids I need to test.”
With that, he was off. Apple Bloom gritted her teeth. Her legs hurt from all the kicking, and the running. And it was all for nothing. She couldn’t land a kick, she couldn’t even touch the guy.
In a real fight, she was toast.
Scootaloo hovered over the ground, wings buzzing as she ducked and weaved between the trees. The gem she was after had landed close by, she was sure of it.
She landed in a clearing, one with plenty of trees around. Perfect to dart in and out and remain unseen.
“Hey there, squirt. Lookin’ for this?” Ash had beaten her to it. He held up one gem in his right wing.
Scootaloo took a step back, then scanned the area for any escape paths. She had plenty of options to hide, but would any of those work against a grandmaster?
“You know, Rainbow Dash told me you try to be like her all the time. Did she ever tell you what she used to do on her ninja tests?” Ash smirked.
“No, sir.” Scootaloo took another step back as Ash approached her. “She doesn’t really talk to me that much.”
“Ah, the old ‘let them find their own path’ schtick, I see. Well, she, err, she didn’t bother tryin’ to get a gem. Never had the patience for it. That girl, when she was your age, always went for the direct approach, even if it meant attacking a ninja master. So, that begs the question, what are you gonna do, now that you’re in the same spot she was?”
Scootaloo crouched on all fours, tensing up for a leap. “Guess I have to do the same thing she did.”
Even beneath his visor, it was obvious Ash raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that, little girl?”
Without a word, the filly vanished in a blur. Ash yanked his wing back and clutched the gem to his chest as something wooshed mere millimetres away from his suit before disappearing into the bushes. He chuckled. “Ohohoho, super speed, niiiiice. That’s wu ju speed you’re goin’ at, Wonderbolt speed, very nice. Not too common at your age, either. Well, not in places like Ponyville, at least. Now, Bogsdown, that town’s got a good amount speedsters your age. Crazy folk, swamp ponies. Brutal lot, too. Make the best waffles, though, for some bizarre reason. Anyway, you weren’t countin’ on me bein’ surprised by that kind of speed, I hope?”
Scootaloo didn’t answer. The only sound around was the sound of buzzing wings and rustling shrubbery.
Ash grinned and turned around. “It appears you have me at a tactical disadvantage, Scootaloo. You have the capacity of outrunning me, at least for a little while. But still, you gotta get a gem sooner or later. I got a gem, right here in my wing, but you’re gonna have to come get it if you want it. So what’s it gonna be, kiddo? You wanna hide or do you wanna try your luck?”
An orange blur came rushing towards him again. He ducked beneath it and let it bolt harmlessly into the woods. Another rush came from the side, then another from behind.
The last one was a last-ditch effort to land a hit on him. She went straight for his chest, but ended up hitting thin air and whizzing past him.
Snap!
She hung perfectly still in the air for a split second. Then she went down with an unceremonial ‘thud’. “What the…”
“Ninja rope jutsu,” Ash said. “You’re fast, but not on the short range.”
Scootaloo didn’t even realise what had happened until she felt a hard yank on her right hind hoof. She was launched into the air, then something tight wrapped around her legs and wings before she smacked into the forest floor again.
Ash walked over and gave her a gentle nudge on the muzzle. “Chin up, kid. You really are talented, and you do have some of Rainbow’s speed, I’ll give you that.” He leaned in closer and sighed. “But really, just some of her speed doesn’t cut it in a fight. Better luck next time.”
“Wait, give me another chance, I can do this.” Scootaloo wriggled and squirmed against the rope, to no avail.
“You don’t get second chances in a real fight, Scootaloo. You either win or lose, and combat can have higher stakes than you know. I’ll be back for ya, don’t worry. And try not to squirm too hard; you’ll chafe.” Ash waved as he took off to find his next potential student.
Spike had always been deceptively good at running long distances. While the baby dragon didn’t have the largest stride, or the fastest legs, he was, as Twilight had once put it, ‘indefatigable’. He sniffed the air, looking for the gem that would secure his place as a ninja student.
He found it, alright, in the middle of a clearing. It was a wide open space with dark loamy soil and rocks strewn around, possibly the site of some magic duel in antiquity that had left the land scarred for centuries. The gem lay in the dead center of the clearing, gleaming temptingly at him.
And right beside it stood the Shadowbolt.
“Master Dragon,” the stallion said, “I hope you don’t mind me takin’ the liberty of moving our duelling grounds somewhere with a slightly higher fire safety?”
Spike would have tried to hide, but this guy was a ninja grandmaster, and probably capable of tracking him. The little dragon decided to play along for now and walked into the open area. “Why would you do that?”
“Oh, no real reason. It’s just that I’ve gone up against plenty of dragons in my time, it’s kind of boring, to tell you the truth. A dragon raised by ponies, though, that’s new, should be interesting.”
Spike stopped. “You want me to use my fire breath.”
Ash chuckled and drew a line in the dirt. “I want to see you use your abilities to the fullest. You’re not like the other kids, after all; you’re a dragon. You’ve got tougher skin, sharp claws, and a ranged attack even unicorns would dream of.” Ash picked up the gem in his right wing and let it catch the light just so, enough for it to shine in the dragon’s eyes. “Go on, attack me. I assure you, you won’t harm me in any way. I’ve taken fire breath from bigger dragons than you.”
“Wait a second. You mean to tell me you know dragons?” Spike asked.
“You mean to tell me you don’t? Oh, that seems like a grievous oversight on Celestia’s part. Do you really know nothing about where you come from? Did our fair Princess at least tell you what your race of dragon is called?”
Spike growled as the light from the gem kept hitting his eyes. “What are you trying to do here? Get me angry?”
“Depends.” Ash cocked his head coyly. “Is it working?”
Spike snarled, then launched himself at the Shadowbolt. The stallion sidestepped the lunge, then slapped the boy in the back of the head before flying off to land a good ten paces away. “You missed. Come on, try a little harder.”
Spike’s growl turned into a snarl. “What do you know about dragons? What do you know about my kind?”
“Attack me, properly, and I might tell you. Fight like a ninja. Fight like a dragon.”
Spike didn’t even realise he went down to all fours, but he rushed in like a dog nonetheless. Ash didn’t sidestep or avoid him this time. He batted away a swipe of Spike’s claw, jumped over the little dragon’s sweeping tail, then blew him back with a gale from his right wing.
Spike groaned and rubbed his head. His back scales had practically turned him into a plow, judging by the mark on the ground.
“Gettin’ tired yet?” Ash called out from a safe distance.
“Not even getting started!” Spike rushed in headlong again.
“Hayah! Hayah! Hayah!” The dragon was unleashed. He swiped, he punched, he kicked, he spun his tail, he even tried to use the arrowhead to stab, but Ash was too fast. Every blow Spike tried to land met with that lightning fast left hoof. Every time Spike got up close and personal, close enough to make a grab for the wing that carried the gem, Ash flew up and created a gap between them, forcing the dragon to run.
“Come on, Spike,” Ash said. “Don’t tell me Twilight Sparkle and Celestia have kept you dumb all these years?”
“They didn’t,” Spike said, not even panting after his attempted onslaught. “I’m not dumb. You keep flying back to make me run. You want me to tire out. Well, I’ve got news for you: you may be some big shot ninja grandmaster, but I’m a dragon. I don’t run out of breath that easily.”
“Oh, you don’t need to remind me, Spike. Like I said, I’ve had enough dealings with your kind to know how long you can fight. But still, you are only a baby dragon. Are ya sure you can keep this up? Your breath may be strong enough for endurance, but your muscles ain’t. You’re starting to shake, boy.”
Spike clenched his admittedly shaking fists and growled again. “You’re not even trying to knock me out, and you don’t want me to get exhausted, not really. You’re just making excuses for me to use my fire.”
“So what if I am? Are ya chicken?”
“What kind of crazy pony are you?! I could start a forest fire! I could burn down White Tail Woods and hurt my friends! Of course I’m chicken, that’s why I want to learn from you in the first place! But if you just want me to show off and act like I’m better than ponies, no thanks. I’m keeping my fire to myself, and you can keep your lessons.”
“Suit yourself.”
Pain.
That’s all Spike noticed: pain.
A blunt jab in the gut, followed by three sharp cuts along his shoulders and ribcage. As he went down, he wondered just how this guy managed to cut at all with nothing but his hooves covered in spandex.
“You tried, Spike, and were this a real fight, you would be dying with honour right about now. Not that dying with honour leaves you any less dead than dying without it, but… you know… meditate on it.”
Spike whimpered and curled up into a little ball of agony.
“Or just lie there and wait for the blinding pain to pass. Whatever works for you.”
Rumble sighed in relief when he got the gem. The clearing wasn’t too big, but it was close to the finish line of the Running of the Leaves. Close to home. Ash had chucked this one nearly clear over the forest. Looking around, he carefully trotted over to the thing. No obvious traps, no ambushes being launched.
“Congratulations,” a voice said.
Rumble clasped the thing in his hooves. “This is too easy. You let me have this.”
“Did I?” Ash strode towards the boy.
“You’ve been following me for at least five minutes. You said you’d attack me, so why didn’t you?”
“Maybe I wanted you to pass just like that.”
Rumble growled. “No, you wouldn’t. You know I’ve read your book. You were checking if I could sense you, weren’t you?”
“Maybe. At any rate, you did sense my presence when I pursued you. That’s good enough for me. Come on, let’s go pick up the rest. I left a few of’em a little battered.” Ash turned his back on the boy, walking towards the treeline.
“No.”
Ash stopped. “Come again?”
Rumble tossed the gem away. “I don’t want any special treatment just because I’m more advanced. If you fought the others, you fight me.”
Ash didn’t turn back. “Really? That… that sounds like a challenge, little boy, and not one you ought to make. Are you absolutely sure you want to measure yourself against me, against an adult? And the strongest one there is, at that?”
Rumble lowered his body so he’d be ready to pounce. “I’m sure.”
“As you wish.”
“So, where are my accommodations, Hammer?” Fleur asked.
“Right down here.” The boy in the alicorn armour led the way down the street, then stopped as a shiver ran up his spine.
“What’s the matter?”
He looked out towards White Tail Woods. “I’m not sure.”
Fleur looked the same way. “Ah, yes, that would be him. The Ashen Blizzard is here. Do you want to go say hello now, or wait until you challenge him?”
“I think I’d rather wait. I’m getting the weirdest sense of déjà vu.”
Ash furrowed his brow and sniffed the air, as if something had shifted in the weather ahead of schedule. “There it is again. Strange…”
Rumble’s ears perked. “What?”
Ash chuckled. “Oh, nothin’. This old theatre pony’s got a bad habit of foreshadowing, is all. Now, where were we? Oh, right, you were planning to prove yourself by fighting me, right? Go ahead, I promise I’ll go easy on you.”
Rumble braced himself. “I’m a little stronger than the others. I’m not gonna go easy on you.”
Ash smiled and rose to stand on his hind hooves. One hoof slid over the ground to leave him in a deep stance, and his front hooves went up: one arm stretched out, the other bent to leave the hoof resting on the other arm’s shoulder. His elbows were up high, and his whole body seemed to take on a lightness.
Phoenix Stance. He’s just gonna block and dodge, then.
Like a bolt out of a crossbow, Rumble went off.
“Spike? Spike, wake up.”
“Oh… my stomach…” Spike groaned and doubled over from pain. He clutched his sore gut with his claws and rubbed it to try and soothe the agony, but it didn’t do much.
“You really had us worried there.”
“Apple Bloom? What are you doing here?” Spike sat up. Or rather, he didn’t, but something pulled him up. Something soft, that then started rubbing his belly along with his claws, and which did a far better job at it than he had.
“Sweetie Belle got us out of the stuff Ash caught us in,” Scootaloo said.
“So you all lost, too?”
“Sweetie Belle got her gem,” Apple Bloom said. “She used magic.”
Sweetie Belle sniffed loud enough for Spike to hear she was almost crying. “I didn’t mean to cheat, okay? It just happened.”
“Yeah, well, we can’t do anything about it now. Let’s just hope Rumble’s had more luck.”
The world was white. The world was pain.
“Now, then, Rumble, let me be the first to commend you on your posture. You got your hind hooves in perfect position, and your front hooves were always up where they needed to be. Perfect Bear Posture, really, and good technique, too. Good punchin’, good hoofwork, good sense of rhythm in offense and defense.”
“Oww…”
“However, you need to seriously work on your energy skills, boy. I gave you plenty of chances to strike at any pressure point you liked, which really is what that posture is for, and yet you didn’t so much as tickle any of’em. And, if you don’t mind my sayin’ so, you’re kind of a glass cannon when it comes to pressure points and nerves.”
Rumble felt a tear run down his cheek. “What did you…”
“Oh, that? That’s just a little ninja torture trick, it’s not lethal. If I can hit any nerve point on your body, I can paralyse you with pain, but it’s not the most reliable of techniques. Didn’t think that would work on a tough kid like you, come to think of it. Then again, maybe I overdid it. Ninjas usually dodge that, anyway, but I’m guessin’ you read that already. So, now that you’ve thrown away your gem and willingly let me incapacitate you, do you want to go find the rest?”
“Can’t… move…”
Ash tapped him on the back of the head. Just like that, the pain was gone, like popping a balloon.
“Huh, fancy that. There they are already.”
The girls winced when they saw the colt lying there. Rumble got back on his hooves with a painful groan.
Ash cocked his head towards the entrance of the forest. “Come on, then, youngins, let’s get back.”
The slow trek of shame back to where they’d started was wordless. The girls were too shaken to say anything, Spike was still reeling because of what Ash had said, and Rumble had taken a blow to his pride.
Applejack rushed over to Apple Bloom, checking the girl’s hair. “You landed in the sap again, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Rarity winced, before that one lock of hair sprung up again. She quickly pressed it down. “What is with this… Sweetie Belle, are you hurt at all?”
“No, Rarity, I got the gem. I managed to use that spell you showed me.”
Rarity smiled. “Oh, well, that’s convenient.”
“Yeah, sure is,” Applejack remarked with an edge in her voice.
Rainbow Dash inspected Scootaloo and the boys. “Let’s see… Scootaloo got the rope?”
Ash nodded solemnly.
“And you tried to talk Spike into hurting you?”
Again, the Shadowbolt nodded.
“And Rumble?”
“I threw away my gem,” Rumble admitted. “He was going easy on me.”
Ash chuckled. “Heheh. Right then, some feedback. I asked you to find a gem before I caught you. As you can see, Sweetie Belle here has a gem. You passed the test.”
“Thank you, sir, but I don’t think I really deserve it,” Sweetie said.
“No, you misunderstand me, child: you all passed my test.”
Aside from Ash, Rainbow Dash, and Moongazer, everyone’s jaws dropped.
“What? I thought you said only the ones with a gem would pass,” Apple Bloom said.
“No, I said we were gonna do a little test to see who among you had what it takes to be a ninja. I had a hunch y’all might qualify, but you can’t be too careful nowadays.”
The children all sat flabbergasted.
“Rumble, you’re the most experienced one of the bunch. You’ve got the outer forms down, but not the inner forms, not the right ones, at least. You have a little, and a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Your posture was good, your movements were good, and I suspect you might even know one or two of the internal techniques, but your heart just ain’t in it, not yet, and that’s makin’ you a lot weaker than you ought to be. Besides that, you’re foolhardy and you decided to take on a challenge you knew you’d lose, for no good reason.”
Rumble looked away in shame.
“Spike, you’ve got a very long breath, and great stamina on your lungs. That’s good. However, you don’t have the same luxury with your muscles, so you don’t release power at the right rhythm. You also have no control over your dragon side, your anger, all you do is bottle it up. You’re too darn scared of what you are to actually use it.”
“But that’s exactly why I wanted to try this: to learn,” Spike objected.
“You can try to learn not to be scared all you want, Spike, but at the end of the day you are the one who has to actually do it,” Ash retorted. “You can’t teach a pony how to dive if they’re afraid of the water. They have to get over that fear first. You can help, but it’s still on them to get over it. Just like it is on you.”
To that, Spike had no real answer.
“As for you three: Scootaloo, you’re fast, but you’re oblivious to your surroundings. Apple Bloom, you’re strong, but you lack stability, and Sweetie Belle…”
Sweetie Belle perked up.
“Sweetie Belle, you managed to cast the correct spell while in a state of total panic. That takes strength of heart.”
“It’s still cheating,” Sweetie said.
“Is it? Do y’all think so?” Ash asked the kids, and their sisters.
Applejack frowned. “Of course it’s cheatin’. None of the other kids can use spells, it’s not fair to them.”
Ash nodded. “Right. Tell me, Applejack, you were in Canterlot when the changelings attacked, no? You fought them?”
“Sure did. Nailed a good lot of’em, too.”
“Uhuh. Big, strong farm girl like you, I’ll bet you dropped’em like flies, right?”
“Eeyup,” Applejack smiled proudly.
“That doesn’t sound very fair to the changelings.”
Applejack shook her head, but that didn’t make the statement any more sensible. “Excuse me?”
“You are, by nature, strong, because you’re an Earth pony. What you are born with, pegasi and unicorns must work hard to develop. So, if you think it’s unfair for a unicorn to use magic, I’d say it’s unfair for you to use your Earth pony strength in a fight against changelings.”
“But that’s totally different! Earth ponies can’t use spells, no matter hard they practise!”
“Oh, really? I know plenty of Earth ponies who use what you call ‘not magic’ to train animals to fight for them. Maybe you don’t know, but if you ask a soldier from any other country what in Equestria scares him most, he’ll never say it’s the ponies. If he’s had any inkling of military info on us, he’ll say he’s scared of the pets you Earth ponies keep. From the griphon lands to the dragon lands all the way to the Panda Isles, there is no war cry as terrifying, no growl as intimidating, no whispered or hissed spell that inspires as unadulterated a terror as the sound of an Earth pony yelling ‘Release the hounds.’ Anyhow, even if that weren’t the case, you’re still arguing that little Sweetie Belle is a cheater, just because she used something she was born with. Whereas, when Apple Bloom or Scootaloo use what they are born with, they’re playing fairly. Sounds a mite hypocritical, don’t it?”
It was only now Applejack realised that Ash, or Hue, must have heard about the time Applejack forced Rainbow Dash to do the Running of the Leaves with a rope tying her wings down, as well as cutting off her breath.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
“Let me tell you a little something about what I teach. Shinobi, or ninja, are a tiny blip on our history. Back in their day, secrecy was everything, and as a result no one really knows how they did things, even the Princesses have their doubts. The postures are universal, but the motions differ, and so do the inner teachings. My school, the Nine Dragons Style, is based on what I managed to learn from my own experience, as well as what the Royal Library could tell me. I’ll get to the specifics later, but for now you just need to know this, kids: ninja is a way of life, not death.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“What he means is: in a real fight, ninja do not do fair, because real fights aren’t fair. For a ninja, a real ninja, you have to accept that opponents will be stronger than you, carrying weapons, using magic, and outnumbering you,” Moongazer explained. “Or, in your case: bullies are going to be bigger and stronger than you. That is why they are able to bully you in the first place. To overcome odds like that, you need every tool at your disposal.”
“So I passed, even though I cheated?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“No, you passed, period,” Ash replied. “And anyone who claims you cheated doesn’t know what sort of unfair things they can do themselves.”
“But what about us, then?” Apple Bloom asked. “We lost.”
“Yes, you all lost to a superior opponent, which is the whole point of an opponent being superior. None of you were ever going to beat me. But you all showed potential, and that counts for something. You also showed something else, something I’m rather curious about, actually. Y’all could have given up right before the test, but you didn’t. Why?”
“Because ninja fighting sounded like something we wanted to do,” Apple Bloom replied.
“None of you surrendered. Some of you cowered or whimpered, but none of you up and quit the game when it got tough. You could have surrendered when I showed my face and you didn’t have a gem. You could have spared yourself the pain and the embarrassment, but you didn’t. Why?”
“It wouldn’t have felt right,” Spike said.
Ash nodded. “Uhuh. Last question, then. Why did y’all fan out?”
The kids had no answer to that.
“Tell me, the five of you, how close friends are you?”
“Oh, everypony knows the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” Spike said. “And Rumble’s kind of around sometimes, but… yeah, those three are close, the two of us just mind our own business.”
“So you three don’t really know these boys that well?” Ash pointed from the girls to the boys.
“Not that well. We know them a little, obviously,” Sweetie Belle said. “And we don’t hate them.”
“See, that’s interesting to me,” Ash said with a chuckle. “I threw five gems into the forest. Y’all went five different directions, without even talkin’ to each other about it. And only one of you went to the one closest by. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
“No?” Sweetie Belle said. “Just made sense, I guess.”
“What are you getting at?” Applejack asked.
“Every time I train little kids, the same thing happens: a unicorn uses a spell to find the gem, or some pony with a strong nose searches one. And if nopony finds a gem, they all turn on each other to distract me or to increase their odds. Even Rainbow Dash used to do that from time to time. You didn’t.”
Silence fell.
“Not a single one of you even considered trying to take out a competitor first, even when the opportunity presented itself.” He nodded towards Sweetie Belle. “Any one of y’all could have tried to force or cajole Sweetie Belle into finding another gem after you lost yours, but none of you did. Any one of you could have tried taking Sweetie’s gem, or fighting each other over it. I never specified that wasn’t allowed. But even if you just didn’t realise the rules allowed for that kind thing, any one of you could have decided to keep chasing for more gems after you got out of my trap. None of you did. Y’all have good hearts, and when you’re learning how to use force and how to deal with violence, a good heart goes a long way. So meet up at the dojo at nine tomorrow mornin’, ‘coz the Ashen Blizzard’s gonna make genuine, bona fide ninjas outta you.”
Rarity stifled a laugh. “I’ll go lock up the cutlery, then.”