//------------------------------// // Sarrarocco Stories X // Story: Rainbow Dash Around the World // by MagicS //------------------------------// Back in the dojo, Rainbow Dash found herself facing off against a familiar opponent. Alonzo was one of the newest recruits among the warriors of the Order. Rainbow Dash had spent much of her training on the island alongside him. Not that that meant a whole lot, she had never gotten more than a single sentence out of him at a time, and knew nothing more besides him originally coming from Green Kelp Island. The warriors weren’t actively secretive and never refused to speak to her, but they clearly tried to distance themselves from their past lives and attempted to be as stoic and restrained as possible. No one was up for small talk here, they were busy forging themselves into weapons for the High Priestess. It was the second time she’d actually be fighting Alonzo in a sparring match. Which was fine by her, Alonzo was a tough customer. He was fairly thin but still muscular, there wasn’t a single heavy pony on this entire island that Rainbow Dash could see, as a result of the meager diet of rice and the training they all went through. Alonzo had deep blue eyes on a light blue face with a very short grey mane that was tied back similarly to Master Wasabi’s but with an even shorter tail. He and Rainbow Dash both wore the same white robe as they faced off in the middle of the sparring room. A ring in the floor made by a simple circle of yarn was where they would fight and they were not to leave it or it would be considered a loss. Rainbow Dash took a single deep breath to center herself and blankly stared back at the warrior-in-training. She would let him make the first move. Naturally even if it wasn’t for the robe she wasn’t going to be using her wings either. They were already the best they could get. Alonzo’s front legs slid across the mat as he lowered himself into a fighting stance and got ready to pounce once he saw that Rainbow Dash would not come to him first. Around them were several dozen others, including Master Wasabi, all watching quietly. There was a squeak from the mat as Alonzo inched forward slightly, and another, and another, he slowly got in range so that when he attacked for real he would only barely have to move his coiled body. Rainbow Dash appeared completely still, but to the trained eye she was just as tense and ready for anything he did. He inched forward once more to be within striking distance and still Rainbow Dash stood her ground. Intentionally, Rainbow Dash blinked. Alonzo exhaled as his body sprung forth at lightning speed, his right hoof going for the side of Rainbow Dash’s face in an attempt to end the fight in one blow. She knew it was coming, she heard it coming. She sensed it coming. It would’ve been easy to duck under it or dodge back in the split second it took for her eyes to open back up. That’s what she would normally do, as the agile fighter she was. But it wasn’t the time to do what she would normally do. It was the time to see how strong she was. A loud crack of thunder rang out as Alonzo’s hoof was blocked by Rainbow Dash making a cross with her hooves right where he was punching. Both of their limbs trembled from the force of the clash before Rainbow Dash pushed him away and Alonzo skidded back. Rainbow Dash grinned. “Before I came here, that would’ve actually hurt a little bit.” Alonzo of course was not one for words, taunting or otherwise, in the middle of a fight. He regarded her coolly and walked around to her side while she kept her eyes on him. Without any further notice, he ran at her and lashed out with a jumping kick. Rainbow Dash did dodge this time, jumping to the side and letting Alonzo land before he pressed the attack against her. His hooves came at her in a dizzying flurry, going for her head, neck, and chest all at once. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and brought up her hooves to block and turn aside all of his blows, but he was still pushing her to the edge of the ring. So Rainbow Dash planted her back hooves into the mat and anchored herself there before knocking aside one more punch from Alonzo and sending one of her own straight to his chest. Alonzo brought up his free limb and blocked it but the force of the blow was still enough to make him stumble back. She didn’t just have otherworldly speed on her side anymore. The light muscles she had added to her lithe body allowed her to deliver far stronger blows and block attacks that would normally knock her to the ground. She wanted to toughen up until she had the kind of strength and fortitude that Applejack had. Well—that might have been a little much to hope for, but it was still her goal. If Rainbow Dash was going to dream she was going to dream big. Alonzo came at her again and made a low sweep to try and take out Rainbow’s legs. She jumped over it but that was pretty much what he expected—now in the air she was vulnerable. Alonzo jumped up and ducked his head down, coming at her with a headbutt. Rainbow didn’t block it. She matched it. Tucking her head in she met crown with crown. It would’ve been bad if she was just slightly too slow and he got her forehead but instead the sparring room was filled with the sound of two rocks bashing together. The skulls of both ponies ached as they bounced away from each other and as Alonzo hopped back to get some distance he showed the first bit of emotion on his face so far—a slight wince of pain. Rainbow didn’t exactly feel good after that either but she avoided rubbing the top of her head and just stared back at her opponent. “Okay. I’ll start now,” Rainbow took in another deep breath and ran at Alonzo. She darted from side to side to keep him off-balance, his eyes tracking her back and forth. Her right hoof came flashing up to his face—and was just as quickly pulled back as her left hoof smashed into his chin. Alonzo blinked in surprise. He hadn’t even seen that coming. His brain was rattled and his chin hurt something fierce, but he wasn’t here for nothing, he was a pony seeking to become one of the vaunted warriors of the Sarraroccon Order. Quickly regaining his wits he backstepped and threw a punch of his own at Rainbow Dash. She didn’t dodge it. She took it on the face and rolled with the punch while sending another punch to his chest. Alonzo brought up his other hoof to block it and their limbs met in yet another fierce clash. To Alonzo’s surprise once more, his hoof trembled and buckled under her punch. She was overpowering him. Rainbow Dash grunted and put more of her strength into the punch, knocking his hoof away. It caused her to turn to the side slightly though so she couldn’t keep her punch going straight and hit him, but she was able to keep rushing forward and slam her shoulder into his body. There was a slight throbbing pain in the side of the face where he had hit her, but it was nothing that would slow her down. Alonzo stumbled backwards once again and coughed from her shoulder charge, bringing up a hoof to rub his bruised ribs. It was a mistake. He was leaving himself open to further attacks from her. While you of course weren’t using deadly force in a spar like this, you still had to treat it like a real fight, and Rainbow wasn’t going to sit back just because he needed a second to catch his breath. Rainbow Dash jumped up at him and punched down at his shoulder, putting her weight and momentum behind the blow. Alonzo brought his hooves up to block it but still grunted from the exertion and had to step back. Landing back on all fours, Rainbow made a few more punches at Alonzo that he all blocked. On the last one, the stallion turned her hoof to the side and punched into Rainbow’s chest. She took the blow and went skidding backwards while letting the air out of her lungs. Something like that would’ve caused a lot more damage before the training she had gone through. Now all she needed to do was suck in another sharp breath and prepare for more. If she couldn’t take punches like that without buckling then how was she going to stand after a haymaker from Godfrey? Alonzo followed the same line of thought that Rainbow had earlier and came to attack her when she was still vulnerable. Again, Rainbow Dash decided that instead of dodging she’d test her own resilience. She curled up and tucked in her head as Alonzo started to rain blows on her. The heavy hits struck her head, back, limbs, ribs, without any sign of stopping. Alonzo was trying to break her down but Rainbow Dash was weathering everything he threw at her. The others watching saw a maddening blur of hooves striking a pegasus barely defending herself at all from them. Feeling she had gotten enough of a workout as Alonzo’s punching bag, Rainbow’s hooves darted out lightning quick once more and grabbed both of his, stopping them cold. He was trapped and unable to pull himself loose or away from her. Rainbow had planted her back legs down and was straining her muscles to act like an unmovable statue. Slamming her head forward she headbutted him right in his already bruised ribs. This elicited a pained gasp from the warrior and Rainbow Dash let go of his hooves at the same time. Alonzo fell over backwards and wheezed on the ring’s mat while Rainbow stood over him. If Master Wasabi gave the word she would stop and the spar would end. He didn’t give the word. “Haa…” Rainbow Dash drew in a breath and pulled back her hoof before slamming it down at full force into Alonzo’s stomach. A strangled gasp came from the stallion and his head fell back against the mat while his eyes rolled into his skull. Rainbow slowly pulled her hood back up, there was practically an indent in his robes from the punch. She could already picture how bruised his skin was going to be under there. “That is enough,” Master Wasabi said. Rainbow Dash brought her hoof up and wiped her nose. “I could’ve told you that.” Master Wasabi stepped into the ring and stopped beside Rainbow Dash and Alonzo. He blinked down at the stallion before looking back up at Rainbow Dash. “You have improved. You are much tougher than before.” “Thanks to you guys,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. She then raised an eyebrow down at the unconscious Alonzo. “Uh, we going to help him up?” Master Wasabi turned his head and whistled to the other warriors. Two of them came into the ring and picked up Alonzo, swiftly moving to take him out of the room. “They will take him to the doctor.” Rainbow Dash flexed her muscles and stretched her limbs to see if anything was still sore or beat up, but in general she felt good. And she straight up won too—even better. All the brutal training she had gone through had really worked out well so far, just a bit over two weeks and she already knew she had greatly improved. Not many ponies could probably claim the same. She had really thrown her entire mind, body, and soul into the training on Black Sand Island though. It was worth it. “So what now? Should I spar with anyone else or get back to the waterfall?” Rainbow asked Wasabi. “A spar. But I have something special in mind for this one. Something only for advanced spars,” Wasabi said and pulled a black rag out from his robe, hoofing it over to Rainbow Dash. “Uhhh?” Rainbow Dash stared at it in confusion. “It’s a blindfold,” Wasabi explained. “Do you think you can win a spar with another warrior while wearing that?” Rainbow Dash blinked at the piece of cloth and then slowly grinned before reaching up and tying it around her face. “Only one way to find out.” The darkness didn’t scare her. Neither did the sound of Master Wasabi stepping out of the ring and another pony stepping in. A fresh sparring partner who was well-rested and just saw exactly what she could do. There were many disadvantages that Rainbow Dash was going to have to deal with now. Fine by her. Godfrey had greater reach, he fought with a sword, his claws could eviscerate her, she already was used to fighting with disadvantages. Let this warrior do whatever he wanted, she’d overcome it. Even if she was black and blue—a different sort of blue—at the end of the day. The swishing sound of something cutting through the air made her ears flick up and Rainbow Dash felt a powerful punch collide with her chin. It made her stumble to the side, and she might’ve been bleeding from her lip, but otherwise she was okay. More pain was about to be incoming and Rainbow Dash was happy to take it and see how tough she truly was now.