//------------------------------// // CHAPTER 18: Apprentice - Part II // Story: One Pony Death Punch // by Sol Nemesis //------------------------------// Applejack's anger faded only slightly when she noticed Rocky's condition, but it wasn't enough to stop what was coming. Before anypony could react, Applejack leapt up off the blanket they had been using for their picnic and launched herself at the dirty stallion. Rocky didn't even flinch as Applejack gave him a verbal lashing so intense it made all the other mares wince. Rocky wasn't entirely sure what a "Consarnit" was, and he wasn't sure what the mare would accomplish by calling him "dumber than a stack o' hay," what he was sure of was the character of the mare that stood before him. Not once did Rocky break eye contact with Applejack. He made sure to drink in all of the mare that stood before him. Not once did he respond or react at all from the verbal abuse either. If Applejack was intimidated by the stare down, she didn't show it. The fuming mare took advantage of his silence to unleash even more insults, absurd accusations and demands for an apology to Octavia. Rocky let her vent. He knew her now. A pony of honor, intense love for her family and friends, a mare overflowing with earth pony magic, a stubbornness that would rival even his. Rocky decided that he liked this pony. She would have made his old master proud. "WELL!?" Applejack asked, breathing heavily to recoup the air she expended tearing Rocky a new one. "What do you have to say for yerself!?" Rocky spent all of two seconds before he gave his response. "Miss Applejack." He started, voice just as raspy from disuse and dehydration as Octavia's. "I would never..." Rocky coughed. He dryly cleared his throat and continued. "...never ask Octavia to do something I wouldn't do or haven't already done." Applejack instantly knew that the stallion was telling the truth. But she wasn't satisfied. "Tough guy huh?" She growled. "What you just did was get lost in the depths of a dangerous cave filled with Celestia knows what. What if ya'll got lost? What if either of you broke yer leg? What you did was downright dangerous, reckless and unnecessary!" Rocky just stared before giving the absolute worst possible response he could have given at the moment. He grinned. Satisfied with the increasingly angry look on Applejack's face, He brushed past her. Of course, Applejack would not let him just walk away from the discussion they were having. She placed a firm hoof on his chest to prevent him from moving. "Now just wait a gosh darn minute..." She started but realized that her hoof was having no affect. Applejack pressed with both hooves as she realized that she couldn't physically restrain the stallion as he stepped out of the darkness of the cave and into the light. Even after using the ground as leverage and using both forehooves to stop movement. Rocky just pressed on, pushing past Applejack and leaving her in the cave. Normally this would be comical to the Tei-Rah-Do Master and in any other situation he probably would have used this moment in time to show off and make a point. But there was no time. His apprentice's training was too important for these types of shenanigans. "What good is all that strength if you don't know how to wield it." He muttered without sparing a glance at the fuming Apple farmer. "Apprentice. We must finish the training while the conditioning is still fresh. Have you restored yourself?" His apprentice, Octavia, shakily rose to stand on all four hooves, much to the worry of Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy. "Yes master." She said obediently and followed Rocky a short distance away into a nearby grassy field. Applejack moved next to her friends still fuming. "You just gonna lay there? You ain't gonna stop em?! Twilight? Rarity? Fluttershy?" She pleaded with her friends. "I don't know if we should." Rarity said quietly looking after Octavia with awe and admiration. Fluttershy nodded slowly before muttering quietly. "She's endured so much. If we stop her now, I don't think she would ever forgive us." After a moment. Rarity nodded in Finality. "She needs this. She needs closure." "She needs a hospital Rarity!" Applejack exclaimed and looked to Twilight. When she saw the Unicorn scribbling furiously on a scroll watching Octavia and Rocky intensely. Applejack collapsed on the grass. She could only lay there, watch and pray for Octavia's safety. ---- Octavia and Rocky stood opposite each other in stillness. Rocky appraised her with a long glance before approaching slowly. "Octavia. I am going to touch you. Is that okay?" Octavia fidgeted on her hooves but nodded her ascent. Rocky closed his eyes and reached up with his hoof to touch her shoulder, all the while doing his best to ignore the four pairs of eyes watching him from only a few feet away. His hoof made light contact. After a moment he smiled. The magic had been tapped. Now it was a simple matter of forming the gate. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped back. He assumed the stance of his first gate. He stood on his hind hooves, knees slightly bent. presenting his side to Octavia with both forehooves spread wide as if trying to hold back two crushing walls. "Do your best to mirror this stance. It will help with what comes next." Without a word Octavia stood, she stumbled a bit, but after a few tries she was steady. Rocky took a deep breath. Octavia did so as well. "Now Octavia, close your eyes." Octavia did as she was told. Rocky spoke ever so quietly. "Now...BE the cave." Octavia scrunched her nose in confusion. She didn't really understand but decided to just picture herself back in that dark cave. For a few moments there was nothing and then... Octavia gasped in awe. "Master...How is this... How is this even possible?" Octavia's voice rose in equal parts alarm and excitement. Octavia made sure that her eyes were firmly shut. She could see the grass under her hooves. The ants that crawled. The Trees swaying nearby. The leaves fluttering and falling. In the distance she could feel the wings of flying pegasi racing through the clouds. The sun was an oppressive heat bombarding her and her surroundings with constant pellets and waves. She opened her eyes and shut them again. In complete and utter awe that she could see more with her eyes closed than with them open. She felt five heartbeats and the strings of various sizes that attached them together. She heard the increasingly annoying scratch of a quill. She felt and saw pressure approaching her alarmingly fast. Octavia jerked to the side and felt the oppressive something fly past, the air tickling her sensitive ears. A second pressure was coming. She blocked it with her hooves and opened her eyes. Rocky stood there before her, nodding his approval. A Hoof outstretched toward her with Octavia clumsily blocking it with her own hoof. "Keep your eyes closed Octavia." "Yes master." She said and closed her eyes. "Now my dear apprentice." Rocky whispered fondly. "Let's dance." Rocky launched himself into the air backwards and Octavia stumbled back surprised by the sudden surge of power that wracked her new senses. She felt him land and launch himself at her at frightening speeds. Octavia did not think. She only reacted. Rocky's hoof strikes seemingly came from every angle. Octavia, followed the only training she knew, her self-defense classes in college. She was no slouch, easily the best fighter in her class. Her old teacher was a pegasus former Guards pony and taught her all the moves of hoof boxing and grappling. She wondered if it was enough. Of course not. They were enough for the changelings, but Rocky Road, no, her master, was a class all on his own. One of Rocky's hoof strikes slipped her guard and stopped an inch from her muzzle. Octavia batted it away and attacked with a hoof strike of her own. To her surprise, she connected with the side of Rocky's head. She felt the impact reverberate through his entire body and into the soil below. She realized that it felt good to hit him. All the emotions of the past few days culminating in a single blow. The cathartic effect was lessened somewhat after Rocky gave a hearty laugh. "You have good form, but you lack power. Don't worry we can fix that in time." Rocky jabbed her in the side and sent her sprawling on the ground. Every impact illuminated her senses more and more as she saw more of her surroundings. Including what lay beneath her. "WHAT THE HAY ARE YOU DOIN!?" Came a voice amplified to a thousand. Rocking Octavia to her core and causing her to shudder in pain. "Beruhige dich!" Octavia shouted kicking a pebble at the offender. There was a sudden rush of motion all around Octavia as her opponent put himself between her and the offending voice. "Octavia. That's enough. Open your eyes." Came Rocky's gentle voice. Octavia's eyes fluttered open and was surprised to find herself standing on the edge of a small crater. Her eyes rose from the crater to Rocky who was standing over the picnic blanket in protective stance, the remains of a shattered boulder scattered all around. Rarity and Fluttershy were huddled together in an scared embrace. Applejack lay there as if trying to merge with the ground eyes wide and in shock. Twilight had finally stopped scribbling and instead stared wide-eyed, and slack jawed at Octavia. Rocky let out a sigh of relief. "Gotta work on your casting reaction time Twilight." Rocky muttered shaking his hooves to clear away dust from the boulder he just pulverized. Octavia's eyes widened in horror, as she connected the dots. The pebble. It was a pebble, right? She thought it was at the time. When Rocky attacked her, he was all she thought about. Rocky warned her against tunnel vision during a fight in one of his many lectures before this training started. But how did she mistake a pebble for a boulder, and how in the hay did she even launch it as far as she had. Octavia suddenly felt very sick. Mix that with the exertion and the horror of what could have happened, she doubled over and threw up all over the newly formed crater. "When an earth pony is denied all of his senses." Rocky began, turning to Twilight. "The body reacts by clinging onto what it has left." Rocky stood in front of Twilight and manually closed her jaw with his hoof. "At their core, an earth pony is a creature imbued with magic. Just like unicorns. Just like pegasi. The first gate is simply tapping into that innate magic and turning off the natural safeties that regulate our magic so to speak. That's why we call forms we use to shape that magic; gates." Twilight looked up at Rocky Road who looked amused. "You might want to write that down." "Oh...Right." Twilight replied and scribbled the words down on her scroll. Rocky Road nodded and moved quickly to Octavia who was still heaving. When Octavia noticed Rocky approach, she shuddered and turned away. "Master. I'm sorry, I didn't mean too..." "Octavia. I'm not angry at you. You have done better than I could have hoped." Rocky said in complete honesty and with more than a little concern. "The training is over. We can stop now." Octavia turned to Rocky, wide eyed and in disbelief. The stallion that had caused her so much joy and misery in the past few weeks of her life presented himself. Hooves down and face presented. Rocky braced himself for what he knew was coming. *Smack* There it was. Octavia struck him with all the force of Tartarus. Tears in her eyes. The blow stung for Rocky, and not just physically. "That's for dragging me through that dark twisted cave you uncivilized barbarian!" She shouted with a hoarse voice, not caring if her own volume hurt her ears. Rocky shrank just a little bit and bowed his head, taking Octavia's chastisement with much more humility than he did with Applejack's. Rocky braced himself for a follow up strike, but it never came. What hit him instead almost knocked him off his hooves and was much more effective. The embrace Octavia gave him had all the pressure of a crushing waterfall. Desperation and Hurt. Rocky dared not move and Octavia dared not let go. "Thank you Rock. Thank you for not leaving me alone..." Rocky grimaced as he felt a pang of regret pierce his heart. Witout another moments hesitation he returned the embrace with equal intensity, uncaring for anything else except the mare in his hooves.