"Ever since then, I've been a fighter. Day in and day out. I've had my trash handed to me so many times that I can't even count. But even so, I just simply refused to be nothing." I decided to end my story here. Because I didn't feel the need to explain the rest of the training that transpired in those next few months to Fluttershy. I had gotten to the moment when I finally pushed myself to become a fighter, and that's all she needed to know. "But you have to admit, I was pretty ballsy to go horseshoe to horseshoe with that mare, right?" I chuckled, recalling how horribly I lost in those days. Remembering them fondly enough. Fluttershy, however, didn't. She was acting kind of strange from her usual girly self. Her expression reflecting disappointment as she stared off to the side.
She wasn't even a little bit excited.
"You okay?" I asked, and Fluttershy returned to earth so to speak.
"Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking," she said.
"In thinking about what?" I asked. Fluttershy was acting hesitant to answer as if she didn't want to offend me. I understood if that were the case, but this was weird, even for her. So I asked again. "What is it?"
"You wanted to become a fighter; because you lost?" she confirmed with me.
"Yeah, I wanted to become better so that I wouldn't lose again, like any real fighter."
"But you lost all the time. Doesn't that bother you?"
"Not really," I said. "When you've been through as much as I have, you just start to laugh it off."
"But you were forced into fighting from the start," she was starting to get a little quiet with her voice.
"It's nothing to cry about, Flutters," I said, falling back into my seat carefree. Fluttershy was looking off to the side again, thinking. "Don't forget, you're the one to wanted to hear the story."
"I know," Fluttershy said, regret in her voice. "So, in the end, you just accepted all that hardship and fought?"
"Yup!" I said.
"And you were just treated like some common brawler by everyone? Even by your friends?"
"I use the word 'friend' very loosely. They're more like good acquaintances if anything. Fighters don't have friends, really," Fluttershy just glared at me. "What?"
"You don't act at all like back then, according to your story. You always blamed others for your choices, you were arrogant with a capital A, and yet you're here, a complete conflict embodied in a mare. About the only thing I can clearly say that connects your old self to you now is your reckless behavior," Fluttershy criticized. Pointing out faults in my character like a scolding parent.
"Way to hit the nail on the head 'princess peaceable'," I quipped, she continued to act angry. "Why do you care so much anyway?" I asked. "You wanted to know how I became a fighter, so I told you. This isn't the kind of thing you can correct, what do you want from me? Do you want me to say that I won more? I don't lie, sure, it's bitter, but I only told you the truth." I could easily tell that she was still trying to dig more out of my story. But I had already told her enough.
"You were a weakling, and now you're not? I can't believe you got to this level in only a few months time," she was starting to talk like a pony who'd been in a fight before. Like someone, you'd find at knuckle brick corner. A well-versed combatant.
"Level?" I asked. That word must've slipped her tongue, judging by how her stern eyes avoided mine. "I'm a fighter now," I stated, "I'm not some; spineless coward that eats dirt anymore!"
"Is that what Tiberius told you?" her sudden mention of Vinyl's middle name struck me as odd. I stopped relaxing and sat up, being very watchful of her now. She was just sitting in front of me, hooves crossed and strict in her demeanor. Who is Fluttershy, really? All this time she'd been asking the questions, and I just knew her by what I saw. A defenseless Pegasus.
"Who are you?" I asked. My muscles tensing up as she frowned. Fluttershy leaned over and looked up at me.
"My full name is Fiona Fluttershy, and I'm a fighter, just like Vinyl," the way she talked sounded like she towered over me, vastly. Trixie had described herself as something similar, a pony that was both great and powerful. But to use Vinyl as a marker for who she was tugged at my heart.
"What do you mean, 'like Vinyl'?"
"No, I answered your question, now you answer mine," Fiona said, stopping my investigation on herself. "Why did you really become a fighter?" That question needed no further explanation than I had already given her. I stayed silent. "You're not telling me everything, Phoenix," I continued to give her the silent treatment. I wanted to know more before I talked. Fluttershy was a kind pony that I thought I could trust, now I didn't know what to believe. "I need to know where Tiberius is, Phoenix," Fiona stood over me like her words as the passing lights of the Transit mountain station reflected off her red eyes like an animal in the dark. "And I'll know by the time we reach Ponyville, so help me, Celestia, even if it means beating it out of you."
I took in a deep breath, the train whistle blew, and as our convoy stretched to halt, I jumped just before the momentum that still held Fiona took me. Allowing me the element of surprise, gripping her jacket collar to drag her head to the ground. The crafty Pegasus braced her front hooves close to her head and stopped my attack before her chin touched the floor.
And without being in our proper seating, the jolt that came next tossed us forward into the next train car as we crashed through the doors. We had locked hooves around each other, rolling our weight with the other's until I lost the bet that I'd end up on top. Granting Fiona the time to bring both her clasped hooves down on top of me. My block hardly defended me as my own limbs slammed against my face, holding back the full force of her attack while still leaving me hurt. I could tell she was going to repeat her attack, so with one hoof anchoring her hooves, I reached under them with my free hoof to hit her head. She dodged as I knew she would, rearing her head back, only to connect with my kick behind her, causing her to roll over me. Freeing herself from my grip and freeing myself of her advantage.
Our next movements were almost in sync. We lunged at each other, fists knocking against each other, hard hits deflected with each attack acting as a defense from the other. I wasn't so much on the offensive, I was barely keeping track of her movements. It was as if she was rushing to knock me down and keep me there. Like doing me a kindness by ending this fight as soon as possible. But my strategy was prolonging this more than to her liking, altering her attacks to combat my stances with harder hits and strange patterns, making this fight harder to predict.
Again she raised her hooves above her head and slammed them down onto me. I blocked and held them for a time until I realized her force was still pushing me to the ground. Any longer and I'd just continue to waste my strength. I pulled her close, my right back hoof positioned in between me and her, I kicked her away, and when she landed back, she stood low to the ground, one hoof in front imitating that she held a knife. The tip of her other hoof was barely in sight from where I readied.
That back hoof must be the real 'knife'.
I stood in my usual stance, one hoof in front of the other, just as Vinyl had taught me. We paused like this for a moment, our breath catching up to us. This fight felt more like a training session than it did an actual fight. I still had no way of knowing who Fiona actually was but after this next bout, I'm getting answers.
"This ends now," Fiona said for certain, bolting forward fast with the aid of her wings, her positioning remained the same as we exchanged blows, her one hoof behind her back, only blocking my attacks with the other. I couldn't believe just how skilled she was with just one hoof, holding me off as I gave her all I had. I eased up a bit to give her time to jab at me a bit, and with a few openings left to trap her, that other hoof came out, shooting through the air like a bullet. But if I could see it, there was nothing I couldn't redirect. I leaned back, high kicking her punch upwards quickly, leading my leg to rejoin the floor as I swung my right hoof around. Fiona was right, this was going to end, but with me as the victor.
I stared into those fearless eyes of her's, my strength poured into this attack, there was no time for her to react. But in that moment, I saw her glance to the side, deep in thought like before. Disappointed as she looked back at me. She side stepped my attack at the last possible second. I tripped forward, my punch passing through the air like a shot in the dark.
What on Equestria was I trying to hit?
Then, time caught up with me all at once as Fiona got low again and struck me right in the gut. I coughed as my air came spewing out all at once. The pain combined with the disgust of spit falling from my mouth forced an instinct reaction for me to hold my stomach and I puked. My eyes shut, my head hit the ground hard.
"What happened...?" I rasped, my mind blacking out as I heard Fiona Fluttershy speak to me in words that became mute to me.
I stirred awake. The whistle of the train hit my eardrums relentlessly. I slowly lifted my head from the car seat I laid on, my head thumped from hitting the ground and following that was the gut punch I took. It felt like my skin was twisting on itself around my belly. Nausea swept through my body like an ocean wave I couldn't force back.
Don't barf, please, don't barf! I strained to hold back the urge, my mind finally resting after the rush of hurt passed. I started to breathe easily as I sat up. I was back in the car Fluttershy and I was first in. My attention searched for the mare, finding her at the back railing of the train.
Fluttershy turned and walked back into the train. Spotting me, surprised that I was awake. It already looked to be noonish, the sun beginning to approach the later hours of the day. The whistle sounded again, giving me one sharp headache before the train moved forward again. Next stop, Ponyville.
"How are you feeling?" Fiona Fluttershy asked. Her confident voice speaking with concern. I almost didn't feel like answering that, but one look over at her and I couldn't help but laugh.
"I'm okay," I answered, chuckling through my teeth quietly.
"Goodness, you really do laugh off everything," Fiona said, sounding disturbed. But my laughing mood cut short as I thought of a time that I couldn't laugh my through. My face turned to the ground as I frowned. Fiona's shadow draped over me as she stood before me.
"I know what you're going to ask," I said, "But can I ask you how you know first? How do you know Vinyl?" Fiona saw hurt in my eyes. She was looking down at a broken mess of a mare. Wanting just one answer for another. She nodded.
"I'm a close friend of her's," Fiona confessed, "Tiberius and I were once considered to be the strongest fighters in all of the world, along with one other."
"Who was the other?"
"Don't make me repeat myself," Fiona reminded me.
Right, a question for a question, I thought. Remembering back to the last time I had seen Vinyl. My voice began to trip as I started.
"You asked where Vinyl is? She's dead..." I answered, and the train was now moving under the cover of dark clouds, ironically. Fiona stared at me in silence. She didn't believe it. But maybe the tears streaming down my face would convince her otherwise.
"Is that why you are who you are?" she asked. I smiled weakly to that. "I would like to hear the rest of your story. Um... Only if you want to, that is..." Despite the hurtful truth, Fluttershy wasn't as innocent as I first thought, but I still found her to be kind somehow.
"I do," I told her as she sat down next to me with open ears. "There is something else I didn't tell you. Do you remember that I told you that fighters don't have friends?" she nodded in recall, "Well, I lied, fighters do have friends. And mine are called, Dash, Abby, Rare, Pinkie, and Vinyl."