Lateral Movement

by Alzrius


438 - Natural Talent

Clad in her armor, her friend’s magic, and her own protective spell, Applejack bellowed a wordless battle cry as she charged toward the stone monstrosity.

The armor was Twilight’s doing, teleporting the enchanted chain shirt that Applejack had originally acquired back on Everglow, and had since left back at Sweet Apple Acres, right onto her once they’d exited the portal that Discord had made. For her part, Applejack had supplemented that with one of the spells she’d learned, wrapping herself in a thin shield of force. Finally, Pinkie had cast a spell that made all of them faster than normal, allowing Applejack to cross the distance between herself and the lhaksharut – as she'd overheard Willow call it – in the blink of an eye, reaching its side just after Twilight’s lightning bolt struck it dead-center.

Neither Twilight’s spell nor her headlong rush earned the creature’s notice, however. The lightning impacted its titanic body to no effect, tendrils of electricity crawling over it before flickering into nothing without leaving so much as a scorch mark. Her loud roar, designed to draw the thing’s attention away from Discord – and hopefully away from where Fluttershy was trying to slip in to pull the draconequus out of there – was likewise ignored, the gigantic thing instead peering at the dust-shrouded impact crater it had made, apparently concerned only with confirming that it had downed its enemy and not what was going on around it.

That’s a mistake it ain’t gonna make twice, smirked Applejack as she spun around and shifted her weight forward, winding up with both of her hind legs.

Her most recent sojourn to Everglow, taken with Twilight and Rainbow Dash, hadn’t been the same sort of adventure as her last few expeditions there. Having used magic to let Pinkie Pie know that she should head to Viljatown once she located Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Twilight had recommended that they make for the city in question and wait to meet up with them there. Although Applejack hadn’t been happy at the passive approach – and Rainbow Dash had complained bitterly about it – she knew that Twilight had been right. With no idea where to even start looking, it was better to stay in one place and let Pinkie come to them. So the three of them had settled in at Viljatown, limiting their searching to patrolling the city to see if their missing friend had arrived yet.

It had been on one such outing that Applejack had met Burly Brawl.

With muscles that made Bulk Biceps look like Pipsqueak, the mercenary had been just about the rudest pony she’d ever met in her life. That he’d flipped up her skirt (everypony wore clothes in Viljatown) for his own amusement had been bad enough. That he’d gotten a look at her cutie mark and laughed that he’d “love to stuff your tight little apple pie with my cream filling” had been worse. But the most humiliating part of the exchange had been how she hadn’t been able to make him eat his words. Despite being the strongest pony she knew, and having studied magic with Twilight’s friends at the Seekers guild, Applejack hadn’t been able to do more than give the brawny earth stallion a bloody nose during their subsequent fight, something which had only made him grin wider before he’d knocked her through a building. The last thing she’d heard before she’d lost consciousness had been him wandering away, chuckling about how she’d been “cheaper than a whore and lasted almost as long.”

Twilight had been horrified when she’d heard what had happened, and Rainbow Dash had been furious. But while the former had pleaded with her to report what had happened to the city guards, and the latter had suggested that the three of him track the offending stallion down and beat him within an inch of his life, Applejack had made them Pinkie Promise not to do anything. This was her fight, and she wouldn’t let anyone else handle it for her.

The next day – after a trip to a nearby temple to have her wounds magically healed – she’d asked around, finally managing to locate Burly at a basement tavern so filthy and decrepit that the entire place looked like it should have been condemned. Casting every battle spell she knew on herself beforehoof, she’d called him out right in the middle of the place, letting him finish his drink and get to his hooves before she’d charged him. This time her blows had at least gotten a grunt out of him – though that might have been indigestion from that foul-smelling brew he’d been drinking – before he’d pummeled her into submission, ending the fight by bucking her upward so hard that she’d exited through the roof of the two-story building above the place.

At least the new skylight had improved the décor.

Still, Applejack had refused to take her defeat lying down, making another trip to the temple to heal up and going to fight Burly again the next day, despite how Twilight and Rainbow Dash had both pleaded with her not to. She’d ended up losing that fight too, as well as the one after that. And the one after that. And the one after that.

She still wasn’t exactly sure when their daily fights had turned into training, but by the end of the first week Burly had already started giving her tips. By the end of the second she’d been grudgingly asking for pointers. By the end of the third she’d already started making noticeable improvement, being able to buck hard enough to pulverize rocks into dust, a feat that she'd never been able to do before and had been quite proud of before she’d seen Burly do the same thing to a diamond at a shady-looking wizard’s request.

Of course, none of that changed her opinion of the musclebound stallion. If anything, it got worse over time. Burly couldn’t get two sentences out without making some disgusting comment about her body, his prowess, or some other repulsive remark. But he knew how to fight, making it no surprise when she found out that his cutie mark (or “brand of destiny,” as they called them on Everglow) was two hooves slamming against each other.

What had been a surprise was his take on the spellcasting she’d been using to supplement her fighting style.

“You’re doing it wrong,” he’d said bluntly.

“I’m doin’ it just fine!” she’d snapped back at him, barely having managed to finish casting her force shield spell while avoiding his punches. She knew from experience that it wouldn’t be enough to stop him from landing any blows on her, but it would at least add another layer of protection that he’d have to get through, cushioning the impact a little. “I got my spell off without you stoppin’ me, didn’t I?”

He’d given her that infuriating smirk then, the one that she’d sworn to wipe off his face before going back to Equestria, but never had. “Oh, I’d never stop you from getting off, Applesnatch.” That was his favorite nickname for her, despite – or probably because of – how much she hated it. “But you’re an earth pony. You should be using that magic, not crooning and waving your hooves around like some pansy-ass wizard.”

“I am usin’ my earth pony magic!” Ducking under a left hook that she knew would have rattled her brain if it had connected, Applejack put two jabs into Burly’s chest, though she suspected that doing so hurt her hooves more than it did his ribs. “I’ve been usin’ it every day since I first bucked a tree back when I was a filly! And don’t call me that!”

Burly had snorted at that, darting forward and planting a hoof in her gut that left her doubled over. “You see? If you were really using your earth pony magic, you’d have shrugged that off instead of bending over like a bitch in heat.”

Struggling not to throw up, Applejack had only been able to glare up at the larger pony, trying to figure out what he was talking about. “How?” she’d croaked. “What’s that got to do with earth pony magic?”

Instead of answering, Burly had wandered over to a marble bench that was nearby (they’d been fighting in a park this time), casually lifting it and swinging it down hard towards Applejack’s head. Alarmed, the mare had forced herself to straighten up, punching upward with a hoof before Burly’s swing was completed. Fortunately she’d been successful, her hoof shattering the stone furniture before it could impact her skull. “You see? When we’d first met that would have knocked your head in. Earth pony magic.”

Wary of another attack, Applejack had stumbled backward, shaking her head. “That…that’s ‘cuz I’ve gotten stronger.”

Burly had rolled his eyes then, making no move to go after her. “Stronger how? All you’ve done is get your juicy ass kicked over and over again. You really think that builds strength?”

Applejack could still remember how confused she’d felt right then, realizing that Burly had been right. She’d gotten a lot stronger in the short time she’d been training with him, but now that she thought about it there was no real reason for it. It made sense that she’d gotten more skilled at fighting, but why could she suddenly smash rocks now when she’d never been able to before?

“Earth pony magic,” Burly had continued, seeing her confusion, “is physical. It’s in your muscles. Your bones. Your cooch. It’s not some spell that you memorize or whatever wizards and priests do. You use it the same way you use your body. You can build it up, train it, strengthen it, and make it do a lot more than you think.”

“But…” Applejack hadn’t been sure what to make of that, struggling to come to terms with what Burly was telling her. Everypony in Equestria knew that, in addition to the magic of their cutie mark, each of the three tribes had their own magic, and for earth ponies that was being strong and durable. But that magic was passive, serving as a supplement to whatever strength they had from simple muscle power and that was it. If some ponies were stronger than others, it was because they were simply bigger or worked out more, like Big Mac, or had cutie marks that also offered a physical boost, like Maud.

But if Burly was right and that wasn’t the case…

“So that’s why you should quit with that other kind of magic,” Burly had continued, apparently oblivious to his having overturned one of the most fundamental aspects of what Applejack thought she knew. “You don’t want to be crooning and waving your hooves when someone’s right up in your face anyway. I mean unless they’re sticking it to you,” he added with a leer. “Now, let’s go again…”

It had taken some time for her to get the hang of it after that, but Applejack had eventually figured out how to consciously invoke her earth pony magic. Just like Burly had said, it could be used to incredible effect, allowing for remarkable feats of physical prowess to be performed. But against his advice, she’d also continued studying the magic that Twilight had helped teach her; earth pony magic could push your physical limits in all sorts of ways, but beyond that it was extremely limited in what it could do. And unlike the spellcasting Twilight had taught her, it was tiring to use, putting a strain on your body that could leave you depleted in short order, unlike the chant-and-gesture magic that you memorized from a spellbook.

And if you could use both of them together, the way she could? Smartly relying on book-learned spellcasting where it was most useful, while also relying on consciously-directed earth pony magic to do what it was best at?

The results of that were something that this monster attacking them now was about to experience firsthoof.

Grinning, Applejack kicked out with her back legs, striking the creature with everything she had.