A Change of Pace

by Discord_Nations

Rolling with the Punches

As I readied my shield to defend myself against this rainbow maned pony, I felt pain shoot through my shoulder. 'So the tea doesn't help when it got agitated or I use the muscles.' Looking at what happened, the couch is knocked over, pillows got thrown and fluttershy is sitting there scared.

"So," she the blue pegasus began, "That wasn't enough to keep you down, huh?" She took off at me again. I got my shield in the way and managed to brace for impact. She didn't send me flying this time. But it still made pain surge through my shoulder.

“Please, stop!” I tried to say, “I wasn’t going to do anything to hurt Fluttershy! She helped me, this was all a misunderstanding.” She stayed in the air and continued the assault. Blow after blow to my shield.

“Will you not try to reason with me?” I pleaded, “This is going to get ugly really fast if you don’t stop and listen to me! I don’t want it to come down to that, but if I have to I will retaliate!”

She stops in midair for just a second, only to respond with another strike and says, “How is this a misunderstanding!? You are in my friend’s house, have a weapon drawn and she is scared! How do you explain that!? And for your information, I’m not scared if you retaliate. All you’ve done til now is hide behind that metal!” The fury of blows kept coming, each one sending renewed pain through my shoulder. At least I could keep blocking the blows. I needed to get her to calm down before I end up in worse condition. She stopped for a second and dropped below the top of my shield out of sight, thinking she finally let up on the attacks. As I brought down my shield to keep her in my sight, I saw something I didn't want to see. She was turned around, flanks in the air and coiled up to buck. "Shit..." was all I could get out before the massive blow to my stomach. Now if not for my armor that would have made me topple right there. But all actions have an equal and opposite reaction. In short I got pissed.

“ENOUGH!” I screamed with intense malice, “This ends NOW!” I threw my longsword behind me in my last moment of clarity so I wouldn’t use it. I landed a round house right on her right flank, she let a pained grunt come out. I didn’t care much at this point. I bashed my shield hard into the closest wing, impairing any flight. At this strike she yelled in pain, it might as well have been music to my ears at this point. I landed a swift blow to her ribs knocking the air out of her and I threw my shield to the side, “I won’t even need that now,” I spat, “You chose the wrong day to fuck with me.” I said the last part as I brought a heavy blow to the middle of her shoulders, right in between the wings, she cried out in pain. I let a knee fly right into her lower back, making her back legs crumple beneath her. A strong strike to the face, a blow to the knee joint in the front leg. I landed my final blow, a spartan style kick straight to the side of the ribs.

Only after my final attacks I let my eye look over my beaten opponent as she tried to right herself up after the kick. Her back legs were trembling, right wing wasn’t completely folded, much like how a human would hold a pained arm. There are bruises on her back, ribs and face. Front right leg was being held up to relieve any pain the pressure of walking on it might cause. I looked to the ground, there was blood, but not mine. I looked at the pegasus and saw that there was a solid stream of blood coming from her mouth and a cut on her ribs, most likely from my gauntlets. They were designed to be effective in hand to hand without being out right lethal. Hand to hand was only used among us to subdue an opponent, or impair while we retrieved our weapon. We never killed with our hands if we could help it. We had our own sense of honor, each village has different views. But we never let our enemy suffer the feeling of being killed by a hand. It, to us, was viewed as a humiliating way to die. We always let our blades finish them off for a swift kill.

I stood there, shocked I had gone so far over something so little. I completely forgot about how my gauntlets were fashioned. I slowly walked over to her standing over her.

“Please… No more… I give up, don’t hurt me anymore,” She pleaded, tears rolling down her face and dripping off, mixing with the blood on the ground. I bent down and reached out, she cringed back. She relaxed instantly when my hand didn’t cause her pain, but rather, it was laid on her neck gently.

“Hold still, please.” I said calmly. I slowly checked her ribs to see if anything was broken, she winced from the pain at my touch. They had no signs of being broken, maybe a couple of fractures. I stood up and went over to the couch and tipped it back up and gathered the pillows. I looked over where Fluttershy was and she was sitting there with a face of shock and horror. I couldn’t blame her after that little display.

“Fluttershy” I said with no response, “Fluttershy!” I said a little louder. She still stood there as if trying to comprehend what just happened still. “FLUTTERSHY!” I yelled, this seemed to get her attention, as she looked over to me. “Get more cloth, bandages and medicine. I…. I went a little too far.” I said guiltily. I never had to deal with the fact that I fought someone so much more vulnerable than me. I didn’t really get into many life or death fights. Just having to fight off the occasional small group of a dozen or so bandits that roamed the wastes from time to time. I walked back over to the still trembling pegasus.

“I’m sorry I went at you like that” I said, “I normally don’t do that, but it’s my last resort if talking is out of the question or my reasoning goes unheard... Or if I get bucked so hard in the stomach by a small pony that I think rainbows will come out my mouth.” I said with a small grin. She started to gently laugh at this, but quickly stopped and had a pained look on her face. “Now hold still and stay calm, I’m going to move you onto the couch.” I slowly wrapped my arms around her front and back, much like carrying a dog. I lifted her as gently as I could, she let out a small pained sound. I walked over to the couch and gently set her on her side that I didn’t land multiple blows on.

Fluttershy got back shortly after I set the other pegasus down and quietly set everything down and got some ointment out. “Fluttershy, could you tell me what is meant ointment is meant for what injury? I think I would like to start learning how to help, instead of just how to hurt.” I said while averting my eyes from hers. I was being honest with myself. Coming from a world with nothing but war, and always having someone to look after my injuries, left me with very few helpful skills. My main knowledge was fighting, not medicine, and I don’t think that my survival skills would do me much good in a world that is so drastically different from mine. Fluttershy stopped for a second and gave me a surprised look. But she slowly put several containers in front of me.

“This one goes on the bruising to help reduce color and swelling” She pointed to one, and she held her hoof over the other, “This one goes over he cuts to help stop any minor bleeding and keep it clean,” she tapped the last one, “This one is for any sore spots to get rid of the pain.” She showed no sign of the happy smile or caring demeanor towards me, but rather just concern. She walked to the kitchen in silence.

“So my I know the name of the pony who knocked me for a loop?” I asked with a slight bow, “Not everyday I meet someone who can deal out punishment like that against me. Even if I am not at my best right now. You certainly hit hard and fast.”

“Name’s Rainbow Dash,” The blue pegasus replied, “Fastest flier in all of Equestria and made of 100% coolness.” She ended with a little grin. “And what about your name?”

I slowly stood and started to undo some of the straps that held my armor together, “My name’s Alex. One of the best warriors in my village. And you, miss rainbow, are one hell of a fighter.” I gently took off the armor revealing some heavily reddened bandages on my shoulder. “Damn, they opened again.” I let out a heavy sigh and started to undo the bandages. ‘Yep, started to bleed again. Can’t afford for this to happened everyday.’ When the bandages were off and revealing the deep punctures that had a slight tearing, on my shoulder, Rainbow Dash got a look of surprise.

“You mean to tell me that you beat me with that kind of injury!?” She stated in slight disbelief. “And isn’t that the side you were holding that weird round metal thing? That must have sent pain through there every time I hit the thing!”

I chuckled at the reaction. “I’ve had worse than this.” I replied, “But yes, pain shot through my shoulder every time you hit my shield. The adrenaline helps with that. But after that wears off, well let’s just say that I’m really starting to feel it.”

“I didn’t know ‘Shy had helped you or that you had any kind of injuries.” Rainbow replied with a hint of guilt in her voice, “But you looked like some big brute, sword drawn in some wacky metal outfit. I’ll be honest, you don’t exactly look the most friendly.”

“Come on, I can’t be that bad.” I scoff a little bit, “But it has been an undetermined time of how long since I’ve seen what I look like. But first thing’s first. Let’s get you patched up Rainbow Dash. I can only imagine what kind of pain I put you through.” I sat there and thought for a bit, “Wait, no, I can. This kind of stuff has happened to me before, if not, worse.” Rainbow Dash laughed a bit, but still had a pained look from it. “You can just call me Rainbow. No need for dash or silly Ms.”

“Ok, Rainbow, let’s get the cuts done first.” I said before picking up the cuts ointment that Fluttershy had pointed out earlier. I took a bit and applied it to the small cut on her side. She seemed to wince a bit in pain, but she held still for the most part. The gash wasn’t too deep, but looked like it had a steady flow of blood coming from it before. The brilliant sky blue coat now a muddied red color in a small area. I applied the ointment to her face as well for the little cut that came from my strike. I explained to her in this time what she has flown in on and what was really happening. As I was starting to get the next ointment ready, Fluttershy walked in with a tray that held a pot of tea, several cups, and a small dish of sugar on her back.

“I made you some tea to help you relax after…” She trailed off not looking at either one of us, “Your little argument.” She finished. Seemed she didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that both of us got kind of beat on. There was definitely a bruise starting to form on my forearm and an aching in my stomach where I got bucked.

“Thank you Fluttershy,” I said, “I think both me and Rainbow here could use it.” She took the tray from her back and set it on the table directly behind me. “But first,” I continued, “We should finish getting you patched up first. No need to cause anymore stress on your injuries right now.” I said as I picked up the small container for bruises. A half dozen bruises and some complaints later, I was ready to use the last ointment. After covering whatever sore spots there were, I put a bandage over the two cuts she had and stood up. My shoulder had bled some more since I last checked it.

“Will this ever stop bleeding?” I replied with some annoyance. I picked up the ointment and started to apply some to the area and found out something. This shit burns like hell. It feels like a small flame was put onto the wound. “Damn it…” I said through clenched teeth. But it stopped the bleeding and with a small bandage wrap from Fluttershy I was ready to go. I slipped on a new shirt, put on my armor and started for the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Said Rainbow surprisingly. “I don’t think you’re in any condition to travel. You got bruises and injuries same as me. You are so not allowed to leave and look tougher than me.”

I laughed, “Yes I am allowed, and I will,” I said with a little grin. “You may be the fastest flyer, but you are not the toughest. I think that title can belong to me.”

Rainbow laughed at this, stronger than before too. “I think there may be a few ponies who could beat you.” She replied, “But it’s starting to get dark out. We’ve been here a while. Just stay for tonight. I know I’m going to be. You pretty much stopped me from flying right now.” She said the last part a little bitterly, and barely extended her wing. I could see from where I was that she was right. I did a lot of damage to her wings, more than I thought. ‘Great, now I’m starting to feel guilty. This won’t do my conscious much good if I just leave now.’ I thought. I walked over to the table in front of the couch, took off my armor, and sat down.

“Well tell you what,” I said, “You tell me about this strange land I find myself in, and I’ll stay here and assist you in getting better.” I offered.

Rainbow seemed to take it into consideration for a bit. “What do you think Fluttershy? Think that sounds like a fair deal?”

Fluttershy for the most part looked a little shocked. “I...I don’t know for sure.” She replied with a severe amount of fear in her eyes.

‘Oh, so she’s really scared of me now,’ I thought bitterly, ‘Well I gotta try to make amends. I don’t need any enemies in a strange land.’

“Listen, Fluttershy,” I started, “I can tell you’re scared of me right now after seeing me fight Rainbow here. But I really am sorry for it. I did go overboard and I know it. You don’t have to worry about me doing that again. I was torn away from my world for no reason, where I would have died anyway for the most part, the first thing I run into here tried to kill me, you help me, and some crazy pegasus tries to stomp my head in before even listening to me. Kind of a stressful day if you ask me.” I finished with a sigh. This seemed to calm her a bit.

“Well, I’m no Applejack,” Fluttershy says, “But I can tell you’re being honest. I think you here to help Rainbow recover in the next couple days would be nice. I still have all my little critters to take care of after all.” She gave me a warm smile that seemed to dispel most of the fear I saw before.

“Yea that’s wonderful,” Rainbow interjected, “But I got my flank handed to me today, so I think I’m going to call it a night.” Rainbow got off the couch, with a little difficulty, and headed up a flight of stairs to the upper floor. Only then did I realize the strange mark she had on her flanks. A small white cloud with a lightning bolt made of red, yellow, and blue lightning bolts.

‘Ok, strange. Not gonna bother with it right now though. She needs her rest as do I’

“Well I think I’m going to agree with Rainbow on this one and head to bed. I’m sorry, but I only have one spare room.” Fluttershy said as her ears bent back a little. “Y-you’ll have to sleep on the couch. I’m sorry.”

“Think nothing of it.” I said, “This couch is more comfortable than my own bed back in my home. I think I’ll get a good night’s sleep on it.” I laid on the couch and felt that I was right. This thing was more comfortable than my own bed. Beds aren’t really known to be extravagant where I was. But then again, any post-modern civilization would have a hard time keeping such things in good shape.
Fluttershy headed up to her room. I looked just to see if she had any similar markings on her, and what do you know. ‘She does have a mark, three pink butterflies, right in the same place as Rainbow. Interesting. I’m definitely going to have to ask about that tomorrow when I can ask about this crazy world. But I’m keeping it together. Right?’ And with that final thought sleep overtook my weary mind and sore body.

Author's Note:

Got this out after a couple days. But I'm concerned and need some input. Am I making things progress too slowly? I feel that I might be taking too long on one issue and not being able to move on to the next. Greatly appreciate what you guys think. Also any criticism is welcome! I know I need to improve on my writing and what better time than now?