//------------------------------//
// Training! 
// Story: With Blood and Swords 
// by FALG 
//------------------------------//

The next day I went back to the farm, around the same hour as before.

I went with Applebloom to the same place to start practicing:
"Let's get tis over with, okay?" she said.
"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure you'd like to do this after some time." I said.

"Let's start with something easy, how much time can you stand on your hind legs?" I asked.
"Ah don' really know..." she replied.
"Well, let's do this: you stand on your hind legs for as long as you can; when you stand on all fours again, try again and stand for longer, understood?"
She nodded, and stood up, she was able to maintain herself for almost ten seconds.
"How will this help me anyway?" she asked after trying a few more times.
"Standing on your hind legs can make a valuable asset on a fight when mastered, you can use your front hooves easier when punching, and will be easier to block. Though you'll still have some disadvantages like needing extra focus on your balance, care to venture why?" I explained.
"Because the balance is reduced by half?" she guessed
"Exactly. Everyday I practice this, to strenghten my balance on two hooves; you could do the same. When we are not practicing, try doing what you're doing now, soon you will be able to stand as much time as me."
She shrugged, and kept trying.

I didn't teach her anything this day, we just practiced a few things to help Applebloom learn faster. I trained her to stand on two hooves for a long period of time, I trained her to dodge effectively, and we runned for a while to raise stamina.

"When will ya' teach me somethin' cool? Like a kick or a flip or somethin'?" she asked when we finished the training.
"Soon, but first you have to train your strength, so then you will be able to use those moves properly. It's of no use to know everything, when you don't know how to; I don't know if you got that." I explained.
"Yeah" she said not fully convinced "that makes sense."
"C'mon, let me accompany you home."



"So how is your apprentice, you finally got her into the dark side?" my brother welcomed me home.
"Mock what you want, but you could have an apprentice yourself, I'm sure anypony would like to paint patches like you do."
"You make a point, but I'm not having a student anyway, I don't feel like I'd be a good teacher."
"I thought the same, but it's not that hard once you start. You might at least try."
"Oh yeah absolutely! Find me somepony interested in this and then we'll talk!" Plaid gave me a sarcastic smile "Give me a bucking break dude." he turned back to his work.



"Try to stand on one leg this time." I ordered.
"Wha...? Ah can't stand on one leg! Nopony can!" Applebloom protested.

Showing her the opposite, I stood on my right leg (the dominant one), folding the left one to cover the lower part of my torso pointing upwards, and making a crossguard with my front legs.
Author's note: If you played the game "Yakuza (Ryu ga Gotoku)", the stance I describe should look like Lau Ka Long's blocking stance.

"Oh of course that nopony can! Silly me! That's just stupid!" I mocked.
"How do ya' do it?!" she asked.
"Girl, anypony can stand on one leg, maybe even you do it without noticing." I said while standing on fours again.

I don't really remember how many days we have trained until that time, but they were only a few. Applebloom was training hard and it wouldn't be long before I taught her something of combat.

"Well, now you try." I invited.
"Well, okay."
She stood on two legs, and then raised one, but was barely able to maintain balance for a few seconds before having to stand back on two.
"Let me help you with that." I said.
Now I helped her to maintain herself on one leg, while grabbing her by the hooves. And suddenly released her saying "don't fall!" encouragingly.
She was able to maintain herself for around ten seconds before falling.
"You did great in that one."
"Ah did?"
"Yeah! It was harder for me when I self-taught me this. Let's take a rest and then we continue."

We sat in a table nearby to recover energies.
"Say, how will this stance halp me if it will be harder to maintain mah balance?" she asked.
"Remember about the 'easier to block' thing I told you when standing on two?"
She nodded.
"Well, this will actually will make it a bit harder to block and stand, but will cover more areas of your body. So this will exchange balance for defense."
"Do ah have ta' know this?" she asked, a bit overwhelmed.
"Well, not that you have to, but you could; when you are learning something, you can't aim to know everything, so instead you stick in what you can make the most profit from." I explained.
"Then why are ya' teaching me everything if I won't be able to learn all of it?"
"For the same reason, I teach you everything and you catch part of it. What you catch, we try to improve to mastery."
"Ah wish school would be like that sometimes." she said.



After a week, I finally started teaching Applebloom about strikes, kicks and stuff. Though I also told her to fight her own way.
"What do ya' mean by that?" she asked
"You learn what I teach you, and do it as I say. But I also have to teach you to be creative when fighting."
"Creative?" she repeated.
"Yes, if you will do exactly like I do, you'll just copy me, and that doesn't mean you learned anything."
"Ah don't really understand that."
"You'll figure that out in time, it's not something you can actually learn."

I taught Applebloom the differences between each strike (like a jab, a cross, a hook, and others), and taught her some acrobatic stuff, we had a hard time with the latter, but she seemed to enjoy it.
Every now and then she asked me why is something different to other if they seem the same, like a hook and a haymaker. And I was always glad to explain the difference.

It was becoming something fun to be a teacher.