//------------------------------// // The Final Element! Sweetie Belle's Air Style! // Story: Ponyville's First Warrior Meet // by Wise Cracker //------------------------------// Sweetie Belle let out an impatient huff as she plopped her rump down on the training mats that Thursday. Finally, today they’d be learning Air. Today she’d find out what sort of fighting style matched her. Ash strode in with a grin on his face. “Alright, youngins. Today we learn the fine art of not fighting.” Sweetie’s right eye twitched. “What?! I waited four whole days to learn my Element, and we’re gonna not fight?” Moongazer chuckled and took over from the stallion. “What Ash means to say is: today we’ll be teaching you Air style, which is more centred around dodging than it is around punching or kicking.” “So… everypony gets to do awesome moves, except me?” Ash and Moongazer faced off on their hind hooves and bowed to each other. “It’s a little more complicated than that, Sweetie Belle. Air style, to do it properly, requires you master the other three Elements first, that’s why we put this last. You need to get the awareness of your own body, that’s Earth.” Ash threw a punch towards Moongazer’s head. She sidestepped the slower blow easily. “You need the awareness of the opponent’s body, that’s Water.” Moongazer slid one hoof over the floor and stepped forward with the other, closing the distance in a smooth motion that looked like a Water style lunge, but lighter. Ash circled around the mare, keeping his front hooves up but farther away than an Earth block. “Lastly, you need to mind your breath, and have good sense of timing, as well as proper reflexes. That’s Fire.” The two stood still for a moment. Ash nodded to Moongazer to wrap up the explanation. “You need to be light on your hooves for this style to be effective. Circular motion and spirals are what you want to focus on. Your mind must be able to jump from one option to the next, attack or defense. There are no punches or kicks in this style, only pushes and slaps, at least if you want to do it purely. You’re new at this, so you can resort to a few quick jabs every now and then.” Sweetie Belle’s mouth was agape. Apple Bloom was already thinking of how she might beat up Hammer with this style added to her repertoire. “Your main Element is Air, Sweetie Belle. One of the ways you can tell is that you have a natural reflex to try and evade conflict. In combat, that means you’re more likely to dodge on instinct than to counter-attack, like Spike would, or push it aside, like Rumble and Scootaloo, or to block it, as Apple Bloom would. Your main offense will be pushing and shoving, hardly any impact at all.” “Umm, no offense, but can’t I pick a different style, then?” “This isn’t something you pick, Sweetie Belle,” Moongazer said. “This is a natural style of fighting that fits your personality. It’s what your body is going to try to do naturally, and if you try to do something else, you’ll have to think about it, which can cost you precious time. Air fighters don’t do a lot of damage, usually, but they do specialise in one area that can take down an opponent really easily.” “What’s that?” Spike gulped, already dreading the answer. “It’s chokes, isn’t it?” The two adults stayed in their stances. Moongazer nodded. “Chokes, yes, and one or two joint locks. The way they move lets them get behind an opponent more easily. Sweetie Belle, you’re going to learn how to unbalance an opponent without using dull blows. That causes them less pain, but also makes it harder for them to realise what’s happening once you control their movement. The rest of you, the Air style is all about positioning. After today, you’ll have learned all four Elements. For most of you, today’s lesson will revolve around hoofwork and getting proper range. That’ll help put more power behind your strikes and keep you safe.” “And I’m… gonna have to practise choking?” “It’s a simple enough technique,” Ash said. “You get behind the other pony, put one arm around their neck, so your muscles bulge into their throat. Then you put your other arm behind them, and push. That’s a triangle strangle. Most of the time, you can’t do this in the heat of combat, but some ponies like it as a finisher. So you’re gonna learn how to do it and how to protect against it. In a real fight, this can kill an opponent. You do this too rough, and you’re taking a life. That’s another reason why we prefer to teach the other techniques first. This one is more dangerous in concept. Don’t abuse it.” Sweetie Belle gulped. “I won’t, I promise.” Silver Spoon was on edge. Her opponent was half a head bigger than her, and more advanced. “Okay, Silver Spoon, Starfall, go.” “Hiyah!” Silver went straight for the kill, lunging towards the unicorn with a powerful jab. Starfall sidestepped it and slapped at Silver’s arm, letting off a hiss of magic through her hoof. Stupid, stupid… Silver winced and backed up, hooves up for defense. “Easy on the positioning, Silver. Remember, slide, glide.” Starfall wasted no time applying more pressure. Silver Spoon squinted to try and see the girl’s pressure points. A slight glimmer in her opponent’s right hoof warned of an incoming attack, so she ducked and struck with the same contact magic behind it. Starfall backed away and chuckled. “One for one. Not bad.” “Keep your guard up, Starfall,” Blazing said. Silver Spoon growled and jumped before Starfall could react. “Mercurial Hoof: Seven Deadly Blows!” “Wait, what-” “One!” Silver hit the girl in the stomach, pouring her anger and pure hate into the blow. “Two! Three!” A right and a left to the lungs numbed Starfall’s arms. Something slipped inside her through Silver’s blows, she felt. Something cold and wet. “Four!” A dull blow to the chest followed, and again that cold wetness seeped in. “N-no, don’t…” “Good, Silver, good, finish it.” Starfall gasped. She couldn’t breathe. “Five! Six! Seven!” The last three blows hit her like a precision blade in the stomach. Starfall went down in a pile of agony, barely able to twitch. She panted for breath, but her lungs wouldn’t work. She wanted to crawl towards the medic, but her muscles had seized up. Silver Spoon panted. “How was that?” “Perfect, Silver Spoon, just perfect.” Blazing applauded quietly. “Good poise, good aim, perfect harmony. Starfall, get up.” “Cuh-can’t… move…” Blazing Trail rolled his eyes. “Well, we’ll consider that a good sign, then.” He nodded towards some of his other green belts to carry the groaning unicorn girl away. Silver Spoon didn’t care. She had to prove herself, assert her dominance. “Now, then, class, who wants to take on Silver Spoon next?” Blazing asked. All of them backed away. All, except one blue pegasus colt who looked a bit on the muscled side, possibly a junior swimming trunks model from the looks of it. “I’ll take her, if she promises not to do that again.” Silver Spoon arched an eyebrow at the kid. If he was willing to spar with her, maybe this was that second best rookie she’d heard about. “Okay. I’m kinda, like, spent after that anyway.” “Ah, ah,” Blazing said, holding a hoof up. “Never admit to a weakness. If anyone asks, you can keep that murdering technique up all day.” “Got it.” Blazing nodded in approval. “Okay, you practise regular fisticuffs with Whimper for a bit, I’m going to go inspect the rest.” Silver Spoon squared off against the colt, upright and eyes glaring with power. The rest of the white belts feared her, she could tell. They stole glances at her, quick little peeks just to see if she’d notice, and notice she did. They were all the same here: weaklings looking for strength. And she’d found it, by embracing the simple fact that respect isn’t earned, it’s given. It’s given by the fearful, to bargain for safety. None of these kids would have to pay her much respect. But the ones she shared a classroom with? The ones Miss Cheerilee always protected and never punished? They’d have to start paying a steep price for their safety. “Hiyah!” The colt struck, and her reverie was broken. At least she could work out some of that aggression here. And it really helped to pretend she was beating up on those wannabe ninja Crusaders. Once the lesson was over, Sweetie Belle walked home with a weary sigh. “You guys wanna do anything else today?” Scootaloo asked as they headed out. “Not me. I’m plum tuckered out again,” Apple Bloom replied. “Me too. Dodging’s a lot more exhausting than it looks,” Rumble said, before cracking his shoulder joints. Sweetie Belle pouted “Yeah, I don’t really feel like anything else today. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Spike quirked an eyebrow at the girl. “I’ll walk you home. See you tomorrow!” He waved at the others, careful to waddle quickly enough to be out of earshot. “You don’t have to, Spike. I’m going home, not to Rarity’s.” “I know. But you look kinda down,” Spike said. “Mind if I ask why?” Sweetie Belle huffed and puffed her chest out. “It’s not fair. Why does everypony else get some super special fighting technique and I only get dodging?” “Umm, because Ash said so?” “Besides that. Why don’t I get to learn how to fight like you did?” “You did, Sweetie Belle, we did that yesterday.” “But I stink at that!” The girl’s voice cracked again, making her squeak like a stuffed toy. “So?” “So, I want to fight like you, and I can’t. And the fighting that I can do is useless.” Spiked looked away and scratched the back of his head, his usual habit of trying to think of the right thing to say. “Are you sure that’s a problem?” “What do you mean?” “Not that it’s any of my business, but the way I figure it, that Shadowbolt is teaching us whatever Element fits our personality, because that’s what we don’t have to think about. We’re learning how to fight with what comes natural, right?” “Right.” He shrugged. “So, does fighting come natural to you?” “No. That’s the whole point.” “Exactly. The point is that you’re just not the type to attack anypony. You’re the type to stop a fight.” Again, Sweetie Belle huffed. “And how am I supposed to do that? All I learned today was dodging and choking. Neither one is gonna help me.” “No, but all the other stuff will. And what you learned today might help you stop a fight before it starts. None of us got that.” “What do you mean?” “Think about it. Someone tries to hit you, any one of us start hurting them back. You don’t. You can dodge, and stay out of the fight. You can talk a pony down.” “I don’t think that’s ever going to work against someone who really wants to fight, Spike.” “You never know. If I could trade with you, I would.” This came as a surprise to the little filly. “Really?” “Yeah, sure. Out of all of us, you’re the only Junior Ninja whose first instinct is gonna be to not fight. That’s not so bad, if you think about it.” While she still had a pout on her face, it was at least a smiling pout now. “Maybe. It still feels like I’m behind, though. You’ve all got these awesome punching moves and kicking and special sight and stuff.” “Don’t forget the firebreath.” He snickered. “Yeah, that too.” “Maybe you should ask Ash about it, then, we’ll be doing nothing but practising tomorrow. We did all get extra lessons out of the dojo.” “Maybe, but I doubt I’m up for that right now. Thanks for walking me home, Spike. I think I need a warm bath.” She grumbled all the way to the front door, before a thought occurred to her. Maybe I should ask Silver Spoon for some tips. Scootaloo went home, to her Aunt Vinyl’s place. She didn’t fly today. She didn’t feel like flying. “Are you sure you’re okay, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked. “You’ve been out of it the past couple of days.” “I’m fine,” Scootaloo lied. “Just got a lot to think about, is all.” “A lot, like what?” “Like...” What really happened to Whimper in that class? What did they do to my friend? And why did I want them to? "Nothing, Apple Bloom. It's nothing."