Hope Hollow was… quaint. That was the polite word for it. Hardly the worst place that Tempest had ever visited, even if she did restrict herself to Equestria. She couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable though.
So many bright, friendly smiles, and ponies willing to wave to strangers. It just wasn’t natural.
Tempest snorted, reminding herself that she was in Equestria. Friendly was normal, and hadn’t bothered her in Ponyville. No, she knew exactly what was making her uncomfortable about the village, and each little cottage with a happy family inside reminded her of it. It was too much like home.
A yellow ball fell from the sky and bounced off of Tempest’s head out of nowhere. She scowled and put a hoof on top of the ball when it rolled over from the fence it hit next, looking up to see where it had come from.
“Sorry lady!” One of two yellow-brown pegasus foals called down, a colt wearing a red jacket. “I hope it didn’t hurt you?”
“No, just a surprise,” Tempest replied after a deep breath to calm the biting remark she wanted to make. “Maybe try playing a little closer to the ground.”
“Hey, we’re not playing!” The colt’s sister scowled.. “We’re practicing a new trick! If we practiced lower, we’d crash into something.”
“Or somepony,” the colt added. “Could you float that back….” He trailed off as he noticed Tempest’s broken horn. “Uhm….”
Tempest rolled her eyes and sighed inwardly. She pushed down on the ball, bouncing it up a bit so she could grab it in a forehoof and throw it up above her head. Then she jumped, twisting herself into a spinning kick that sent the ball sailing up towards the two pegasus foals, where the sister caught it with wide eyes.
“Woah,” they both said with awe, watching as Tempest landed and kept walking into town.
The dark-coated mare followed Rarity’s instructions to the boutique in town, taking in the panoply of colors that were on display everywhere. When she saw the boutique window, she almost braced herself before going in.
The ponies in this town loved their bright colors.
“Howdy do!” The pony in the shop called out cheerfully when the bell on the door rang. “Welcome to Kerfuffle’s Creations! I’m Kerfuffle.” A pastel blue pony in a brightly colored wrap grinned broadly at Tempest as she stuck her head out of a back room. “I’ll be right with ya, just as soon as I get this fabric put back up.”
“I can wait,” Tempest nodded slightly, looking around at the displays. She recognized several of Rarity’s dresses, or at least very close facsimiles, with only slight variations in accessories or trim.
Very good facsimiles though. No wonder Rarity thought she’d be a good substitute.
There was a creaking from the back room, and then the sound of a wooden door slamming shut. Kerfuffle trotted up towards the front, an odd sound making Tempest’s ear twitch on every other step.
“Now, what can I do ya for?” Kerfuffle asked cheerfully. “We don’t get visitors out here that often, at least not this time of year!”
“I need a gown,” Tempest started, turning to face the seamstress. “One that I can....” The former Commander’s breath caught in her throat as she saw Kerfuffle coming out from behind the counter, and the artificial leg that had been making the faintly metallic hoofbeats she’d noticed.
“One that I can move easily in,” Tempest continued, coughing to try and cover for her lapse. She thought better of it, and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it like that.”
“Oh, don’t be.” Kerfuffle smiled and shrugged. “It catches a lot of ponies by surprise the first time they see it. I know you didn’t mean nothin’ by it.”
“Yeah,” Tempest sighed. “Well, as I was saying, I need a gown, something fit for the Grand Galloping Gala, but I need it to be one that I can fight in if something happens. I’m security for one of the dignitaries,” she added.
The blue pegasus actually seemed more put off by the request than Tempest’s rudeness just before. It was subtle, but Tempest could read the wariness behind the slight lean back, the faint flutter of wings that weren’t sure if they should be flaring out to intimidate, or spreading to take flight.
“Well whydja think I’d be the pony to come to?” Kerfuffle asked her, trying to play off her hesitance.
“I actually didn’t,” Tempest admitted. “I was referred to you by Rarity, when she wasn’t able to take the time for the job herself. She said you were the only other designer she trusted with the job,” she added
“She did?” Kerfuffle squealed, her wariness abandoned as she bounced up into the air, bringing her forehooves up to her mouth. “Oh wow! I can’t believe it!” The pastel pegasus did a spin in place, and then touched back down with a spring in her step.
“Sorry about that, I used to know some not-so-nice ponies, and they’re about the only ones who know about me designing clothes for whatcher askin’ for.”
“I’m a little surprise you’d run into ponies like that in a little town like this,” Tempest observed, taking out the note with her measurements and passing it over. “Updated from Rarity’s shop, should save us a little time.
“Oh ho, no, I don’t know ‘em from around here,” Kerfuffle laughed. “I did my apprenticeship in Whinnyappolis and… well… sometimes a pony needs a few extra bits, y’know?”
“Better than you imagine,” Tempest admitted. “On the plus side, at least you didn’t nearly conquer Equestria for a power-crazed ape obsessed with stealing magical power. So, if we’re comparing low points in ‘I needed the money,’ I probably still have you beat.”
Kerfuffle looked at her, cocking her head to the side.
“I don’t know if you’re serious or not,” she admitted. “And that worries me.”
“Storm King’s invasion, it’s… a long story,” Tempest admitted. “But I’ve been working for the Princess since then, which brings us back to the dress.”
“Right! Something that you can fight in, that’s not too hard.” Kerfuffle walked around Tempest, giving her an appraising look. “What sort of gear do you use?”
“If there’s any way to conceal my armor, I usually have plates for my haunches and shoulders,” Tempest explained. “I don’t use much in the way of weapons, but I need a lot of mobility. Hoof-fighting isn’t something that gets along with petticoats and long skirts, but I do need to be able to blend in at the gala.”
“Oh, I can do that easy,” Kerfuffle said with a shrug. “Concealing your armor might take a little more work, at least without making you look like a cow, but maybe if I built ruffles around them.. Do you have them with you?”
“I try not to bring them out in public.”
“Makes other ponies nervous, got it,” Kerfuffle nodded slightly. “Well, we wouldn’t want that. You know, the easiest way to make sure I give ya enough room would be for us to get a little sparring in so I can see how y’move. You up for it? I’ve got room in the yard.”
“You. Want to spar. With me.” Tempest chuckled lowly, shaking her head as Kerfuffle’s eyebrow went up. “I’m sorry, I don’t doubt that you know what you’re doing, but I’ve led armies bef- why are you taking your leg off?”
“Because Torque’d kill me if I scratched it up on that horn of yours,” Kerfuffle shot back, smirking slyly at the dark-furred unicorn. “You might’ve fought more royal guards, but I’ve actually been in fights. You know, with ponies who know more than how to look pretty in armor? Or are ya just worried I’ll prove that’s all you’re good at too?”
Tempest snorted and shook her head again.
“Your funeral. Ponies just don’t get what real fights are like outside Equestria.”
Kerfuffle tossed her leg onto the counter and nodded her head towards the back door.
“Prove it.” She spread her wings and flew out to the yard, keeping herself within a few hooves of the ground.
“This is going to go badly for one of us,” Tempest mused as she followed her out.
Kerfuffle was stretching herself out in the yard, her wrap sitting over the fence where it would be out of the way. The pegasus had a little pudge, but when she stretched Tempest could see the traces of lean muscle beneath it. She probably hadn’t actually had a fight in a long time, but she’d been something of a terror once.
For a pony who’d lived on the ‘mean streets’ of Whinnyappolis, at any rate.
Don’t embarrass her too badly, Tempest, she reminded herself as she took a brief stretch of her own.. For around here, she’s probably the closest they’ve got to a real fighter.
Kerfuffle pulled herself up into the air for a tight vertical roll, her hind hoof cracking against the fence as she came out of the roll into a kick, hovering a bit above the ground afterwards.
“Fences don’t hit back,” Tempest pointed out, dropping into a crouch before doing a backflip of her own. “Royal guard rules? No magic, no flying where I can’t reach you and dropping things on me, we go to three points?”
“I was thinkin’ alley style, myself,” Kerfuffle counteroffered. “Nothin’ that needs a nurse and if I fly out of reach for more than a few seconds I forfeit. Can you even use magic in a fight?” She asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Not without somepony needing a nurse. Or a mortician. I won’t do more than spark,” Tempest promised, “I can’t always stop that. Are you sure you don’t just want me to show you what I do? Without having to actually connect?”
“Psh, then I don’t get to see what you do when yer dodging!” Kerfuffle waved her off. “Don’t worry about- woah!”
The blue pegasus shot up into the air as Tempest pounced at her, planting a forehoof and spinning herself around with her momentum. She blew through the spot where Kerfuffle had been hovering, quickly rolling to plant her hooves and watch her opponent.
“Oh, so that’s how we’re doing this, eh?” Kerfuffle grinned. “Well let’s go then!”
Suddenly, she dove at Tempest, her body narrowing into a feathery missile. The unicorn jumped to the left, only to feel Kerfuffle slam into her side when she threw a wing out to the side, turning on a bit and ramming into her target. The two ponies tumbled briefly, before Tempest kicked her attacker off and back into the air, rolling back to her hooves and kicking hard for the spot she knew she should be.
The wet, yielding ‘smack’ of a pony being thrown through the air by the impact told her she’d connected before she could see the results. Kerfuffle spun out of control for a moment, but quickly caught herself and dove for Tempest again.
Huh, recovers well, Tempest thought. Adapts to the situation on the fly. Good control and reflexes, she’d hit like a freight train if she had that other leg on.
This time, the more seasoned fighter had an idea what was coming for her, and instead of jumping to the side she leaped upwards, over Kerfuffle’s flight path, and kicked down just enough to tap the pegasus between the wings.
Kerfuffle yelped at the feeling of a hoof between her shoulderblades, but spun herself up into a tight roll, one leg scraping the grass before it shot out to clip Tempest’s twisting flank.
The unicorn landed, and each fighter watched the other like a hawk, sizing their opponent up all over again.
Tempest hadn’t expected Kerfuffle to be able to move so tightly, but could tell that the seamstress was getting winded. There was a faint sheen of sweat on her fur, glistening in the sun as she bobbed up and down in the air.
Kerfuffle, on the other hoof, could still feel the spot where Tempest had just kicked her. Or stepped on her, more accurately. Her cheeks flushed as she realized what Tempest could have done, if she’d wanted to.
She’s better than me. The realization stung, but there was no way around it. She’d talked herself up, but Tempest was in another league entirely.
And she was holding back. If she hadn’t been….
“Y’sure yer not part pegasus?” Kerfuffle teased, hiding her newfound concern. She circled around the unicorn, keeping her eyes on Tempest’s joints, watching for them to bend and give her even a hint of what she was going to do next.
“I just move like one,” Tempest countered. “Come closer and I’ll show you I can hit like an earth pony too.”
She’s a brawler, not a soldier, Tempest reminded herself as she turned to keep Kerfuffle in her vision. Stay level, don’t let her irritate you.
She had to admire the pegasus though. She’d landed one solid hit, and grazed her with another. More than any of the guards had done during other sparring matches. And she fought with flexibility that the Guard would have killed for, if they had any sense.
A second set of eyes on the Princess’ other side wouldn’t hurt, you know.
Of course, Kerfuffle wasn’t wearing full ceremonial armor, and Tempest wasn’t using any weapons. If either of those were the case, this would probably be a lot more one-sided. The seamstress had potential though, if she got back in fighting shape and had a little actual training.
Well, you do need a plus one, Tempest! She chuckled briefly, relaxing her stance slightly.
“Anything else you need to see?”
“Huh?” Kerfuffle blinked, snapped out of her focus on the match.
“Before you have an idea of how to modify a gown for me? Or did you just want to watch me show off?”
“Heh… I ah… I guess I sort of got distracted with trying not to get my flank kicked.”
“You’ve been doing better than I expected you to,” Tempest offered.. “Why don’t I show you a few more moves, and then I can let you get to the design part of things? You’ll need some time to make two gala gowns.”
“Two? If I’m doing my job, you’ll only need one of ‘em,” Kerfuffle smirked.
“Oh, I know. But I was thinking my ‘plus one’ will need one too, if she’s the sort to try and keep up with me. If you’re interested?”
“Well, I certainly wouldn’t turn down a second commission, but - ooooooh!” The pegasus blushed brightly. “Are ya sure? I’m not really the Grand Galloping Gala type, ya know.”
Tempest raised an eyebrow, looking up at her horn and pointing at the scar over her eye.
“Ya know,” Kerfuffle grinned, “now that ya mention it, I think I might have some ideas that would work well with our coats after all. So why don’t you show me what you can do when you aren’t dodging, and I’ll draw up a few sketches?”
“Fly back - I can cover a lot of ground,” Tempest warned her, before starting to show off her moves, a little extra oomph in her kicks despite the bruises forming on her side.