Chapter 14
Brawler looked down at Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. They looked back up at him, their eyes sparkling. He blew air out the side of his mouth and shook his head.
Holy shit, I'm actually going through with this.
He gave his head another shake and refocused.
"Okay, we'll go out back and have lunch while we wait for Dust to get here. After that I'll go over ground rules and our weekly routine. Then we'll spent some time in the gym's library while our stomachs settle down," said Brawler.
"I thought this place was a dojo," said Applebloom, cocking her head.
"Well I'm in charge of it now and since I'm a boxer, this place is a gym," said Brawler.
"Who cares this place is called! I came here to learn to be a Fighter, not read books!" cried Scootaloo.
Brawler grunted, Scootaloo closed her mouth.
"First off, reading books is a good way to get inspiration. How do I know? Reading old newspapers, is how I got into boxing. By the time I was a year old boxing was already illegal. I only learned about it a few days after I'd gotten my Mark. The Cloudsdale dojo kicked me out so I went looking for anything that could teach me to be a better Fighter. Old newspapers with blow for blow accounts of old boxing matches were the best I had," he said.
He leaned over Scootaloo and looked her straight in the eye.
"Yes, flipping through old, dusty, and occasionally crumpling pages helped me become the Fighter I am today. I can deal with it, you can deal with it. Clear?"
Scootaloo nodded.
"Good." Brawler backed off and returned his attention to all three of the fillies.
"Second. Any athlete could tell you that exercising right after a meal, even a light one, isn't a good idea. I don't know exactly how long we should wait, but forty-five minutes to an hour should be enough, since it is just a light meal.” He took a second to calm down, before turning to face the other pegasus in the room, “And Scoot, if reading for that long is really that much torture, you can talk strategy with me or your friends, okay?"
"Okay, sorry," said Scootaloo, rubbing the back of her head.
"Don't sweat it, let's have lunch," said Brawler. "You three head out back, I'll be with you in a sec."
The fillies walked back out the door and Brawler headed further into the gym. Along the way he couldn't help but admire the work the construction ponies had done on the place. Every room now had a few ceiling lights, and a light switch by every exit. The floorboards in the sparring room no longer creaked. The library had new shelves and a carpet. Best of all, his living space had been transformed from cold concrete storage room to a miniature apartment. There was a fridge on the left wall, a bathroom with a curtain on the right, his couch in the middle and they'd even thrown in a rug.
A rug that Scar was currently eating a dead rat on.
Brawler groaned. He had already tried to move Scar's bloody meal off the new rug, while Scar was getting ready to eat it. Several very unpleasant scratches later, and Scar had effectively reminded Brawler that, while she lived under his roof, he was NOT her master.
Good thing they were only scratches, and my fur's good at hiding small cuts.
Pushing his latest unpleasant memory to the back of his mind, Brawler trotted over to the fridge and opened it. He took five halves of chicken breasts and put them on a platter on the bottom shelf of the fridge. He carried out the platter with his mouth, paused, then grabbed his barbecue sauce from the fridge door and tossed it onto the platter. Satisfied that he had everything, Brawler trotted back out of the gym and to the back.
All his students were sitting by the grill, waiting for him, including Shadow Dust. Surprisingly, the Lunar Guard wasn't wearing any of his armor, and Brawler saw that his mane and tail were light purple. When Brawler had still been in prison, Lunar Guards had of course patrolled at night. Brawler had seen through his cell window that all of them had dark blue tails with lighter blue highlights.
I guess the armor's enchanted. He still has the light gray fur, I wonder if that's common among thestrals.
Shadow Dust saw him approaching and snapped to attention. Brawler rolled his eyes, the fillies snickered. Shadow Dust blinked, then his shoulders slumped.
"Sorry, Sir," he sat back down. "Force of habit."
Brawler trotted next to the grill and placed the platter on the ground.
"Not a big deal. Just work on it, okay?" he asked.
"I'll try, Sir," said Shadow Dust. Brawler nodded, turned on the grill, took off its lid, then tossed the chicken onto it.
"Okay, five minutes," said Brawler, he put the lid back on the grill then turned back to his students.
"Now, I don't know if the girls have told you, but after we eat we'll spend an hour in the library before we start training," he said.
Shadow Dust nodded.
"As for the actual training itself, I'd like to start with a traditional boxing workout schedule and modify it as you discover your own personal styles, but that's not entirely possible at the moment. First of all it's a Wednesday, and for newbies this would normally be one of your two break days," Brawler informed the four.
"Do we really gotta start with the light workout?" asked Applebloom. "I mean, we ain't exactly athletes but we ain't slouches either."
"The full workout includes several exercises designed to be as punishing as yesterday's death hover," said Brawler.
All the girls' eyes widened. After a moment, Sweetie Belle shook her head.
"Yeah, we're not ready for that, yet," she said.
"You'll get there eventually. Anyway, the second issue is that we don't have all the equipment we need," said Brawler.
"Sir? I thought you told Princess Luna that Rarity supplied everything you needed," said Shadow Dust.
"Rares gave me all the things I needed to make the gym a livable place. As for equipment, well excuse me for not having a list of everything I would need for a job I thought I would never do. Especially when two Princesses and a Royal Guard decide to drop in on my conversation with my friend," said Brawler.
Shadow Dust started tapping his hoof and avoiding Brawler's gaze. Brawler rolled his eyes.
"Dust, would you please relax? If I was mad at you I would've punched you by now," he said.
To his credit, Shadow Dust did seem to relax a little.
"Not entirely comforting, but noted," he said.
"What stuff are we missing?" asked Scootaloo.
"We need jumping rope and speed bags, and an actual boxing ring would be nice," said Brawler.
"We're gonna play jump rope?" asked Scootaloo, raising an eyebrow.
Brawler glared at her.
"I'm pretty sure his version of jump rope is a lot tougher than ours," said Sweetie Belle. "But what's a speed bag?"
"A speed bag is a small air-filled bag that's suspended in front of a Fighter's head, when you hit it it rocks back and forth quickly. They come in different sizes for training different things. Smaller bags are for improving fore hoof speed, timing and coordination. Larger bags are for building strength and endurance," said Brawler.
The three fillies blinked. Shadow Dust just nodded.
"They do sound helpful. Should I send a request to the Princess?" he asked.
"No need, I'll do it after lunch," said Brawler. "Now, since it's clear most of you want to get to actually throwing punches today, this will be our schedule: Wednesdays, we'll shadow box, use the heavy punching bags, and do a little sparring. On Thursdays we'll do weight training. Friday will be one of our rest days. On Saturday we'll do jump rope, use the speed bag, and finish with sparring. Sunday will be another weight training day. Monday will be our second rest day. And finally on Tuesdays we'll do running, and maybe something of your choice afterwards if you feel up to it."
Shadow Dust nodded again, the three fillies' eyes had widened.
"I thought ya said ya hadn't thought about doin' this job," said Applebloom with a hint of confusion.
"I haven't, that's just a beginners’ boxing workout I read about with the days out of order," said Brawler. "And five minutes are up... Now."
Brawler trotted back to the grill, took off the cover, grabbed the grill spatula in his teeth, then tossed the chicken back onto the platter. He brought the platter back over to his students and set it down. He went back to the grill, grabbed his barbecue sauce then returned to the platter of food. His students had gathered around it, waiting for the meat to cool. He sat down between Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. Sweetie Belle turned to him.
"Hey Brawler? How do you always know when five minutes have passed?" she asked.
Brawler grit his teeth.
"My Dad," he said.
"Oh." Sweetie Belle became fixated on the chicken in front of her, so did Applebloom and Scootaloo. Shadow Dust glanced at them, then looked at Brawler.
"I take it you have a difficult relationship with your father?" he asked.
"He tried to kill me when I was eleven."
"Oh." Shadow Dust became fixated with his chicken as well.
Brawler glanced around the circle.
Great job Brawler, what a bucking great way to start training.
"My old stallion was a bit of a weirdo," he said. Everypony looked at him, surprised.
"When he wasn't working at the weather station he was doing weird experiments nopony else would even think of. Like trying to make a rainbow hail storm," Brawler chuckled. "He had to use golfball-sized hail on order to see the colors, and as it turns out, the rainbow coloring made it harder for the clouds to hold the hail. So while he's under his rainbow hail cloud, it all of a sudden dumps cart load of hail on his head!"
Brawler laughed. Shadow Dust, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle chuckled a little.
"I still remember my ma holding an icepack on his head and asking him what the hay he was thinking. He just looked like his hoof had been caught in the cookie jar, and says that it seemed like a good idea at the time."
Everypony chuckled.
"One thing he was never good with was watches. He didn't like wearing any clothes, ever, so hoof and pocket watches were out, and he couldn't exactly haul a wall clock around on Cloudsdale for his experiments, so what does he do? Get a buddy to carry carry the watch for him? Do his experiments near a public clock? NOPE! He trains his inner clock to be accurate to the minute. And since it was such an amazing party trick, I made him teach me. Took me a few months to get it right, but now my inner clock's accurate to within a few minutes."
"Heh, cool," said Scootaloo.
"Yeah, now let's eat before the food gets any cooler," said Brawler.
They all dug in, the previous tension all but gone.
Sweetie Belle wasn't sure where to start when they'd entered the library. The wall was full of various books on different Fighters. Scootaloo had grabbed A Thousand Tales from Karate Masters before anypony else could get close. Applebloom and Shadow Dust were sharing a book about actual Crusaders called Silver Virtue's Crusade for the Moon. But Sweetie Belle wasn't sure where to start. Did she want to read about the exploits of a particular Fighter, how a certain type of Fighter fought, or did she want to read something fictional?
She felt a pony tap her shoulder. She turned and saw Brawler, holding a book in front of her.
"If you're having trouble, try this," he said.
Sweetie Belle levitated the book in front of her.
"Equestrian Psychos: A History of Violence and Insanity," she read aloud.
She bit her lip.
"Um, I don't know. I want to be a Fighter but, a psychopath? I-I don't want to be that, that's not me," she said.
"How do you think the guards looked at me when they dragged me to my cell?" asked Brawler.
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened.
"I-I didn't-"
"I know you weren't implying anything," said Brawler, calming the filly down. He sat down and looked her in the eye. "Here's the thing Sweetie Belle. Most ponies in Equestria have bought into Sunshine's bullshit philosophy, i.e., if a pony enjoys violence, they're a monster. Not all ponies believe this, but a lot do. Your sister thinks that when Ponyville finds out you're a Fighter everything will be fine. I'm not so sure, and even if she is right, a lot of ponies will still call you a psychopath. I want you, Applebloom and Scoot to be prepared for that. This book paints Fighters to be as bad as they can be, a few really are bad, but a lot are just Fighters who didn't hide who they were. You read this, and you'll get a glimpse of how the peace-obsessed ponies look at Fighters."
Sweetie Belle looked at Brawler, then back at the book.
And eventually, how they'll look at me.
Sweetie Belle nodded.
"Okay."
"One final warning," said Brawler. "That book does not gloss over any gory details, and there several throughout, can you handle that?"
Sweetie Belle gulped, then nodded.
"Alright, I'm gonna go send a letter to Luna to order the stuff we need. You can come to me if you want my perspective on anything." With that Brawler trotted out the door.
Sweetie Belle walked over to a wall, sat against it, and opened the book to the table of contents.
Let's see. Burning Might... Deadly Blitz... Cackling Lightning... Fire Cracker... who do I read about?
She ran a hoof up and down the list of names, closed her eyes, and stopped her hoof. She opened her eyes and saw that she had landed on a pony named Smoking Bow. Sweetie Belle flipped to the chapter, on the left page there was a portrait of Smoking Bow. He had been a gray unicorn stallion with a dark grey mane that had small red streaks. Sweetie Belle turned to the right page and began reading.
Smoking Bow
Smoking Bow was born in Dodge Junction in 734 A.N.. His exact birthdate is unknown, as he was left on the doorstep of the town's orphanage when he was just a few months old. The caretaker of the orphanage gave him the name Little Ember, but for the sake of consistency we'll continue to call him Smoking Bow. Records from this orphanage tell us that Smoking Bow had been getting into fights when he was as young as five years old. Though perhaps 'fight' is the wrong word. Bow was a coward for his entire life, in his orphanage days he demonstrated this by ambushing his target before they had a chance to defend themselves.
Sweetie Belle frowned. While she didn't exactly like the idea of ambushing an opponent, she knew that it didn't make a pony a coward. One could argue that Brawler's first attack against Shadow Dust had been an ambush. He had concealed that fact that he was still in attack mode before attacking, but Brawler was anything but a coward.
She continued reading. Apparently Smoking Bow would ambush several colts at a time, and attack single targets from a distance. The author was quick to label this as more cowardice, but Sweetie Belle could understand wanting to turn the odds in your favor before a fight against multiple opponents, and fighting at a distance was fighting at a distance, not running and hiding. The fact that Smoking Bow had been fighting in an orphanage didn't really bother her. Scootaloo had told her that, while things like fighting or even pushing never happened, excessive teasing was pretty common, and the adults couldn't always comfort whichever pony was hurt. When Diamond Tiara first started making fun of her, Sweetie Belle had shoved her away and stormed off. Both of her parents were swift to tell her that that sort of behavior was unacceptable, and then they'd comforted her as best they could, and done their best to put a stop to the bullying. (It hadn't worked, but Sweetie Belle was still grateful.) Smoking Bow didn't have a pony like that, if bullies making fun of him made him mad enough to attack, there wasn't anypony to convince him it was wrong. The caretaker would tell him it was wrong, but they wouldn't be able to make him feel guilty about it.
It was of course possible that Smoking Bow really had been attacking randomly, the author didn't give enough information either way. But the author's excessive labeling of cowardice irritated Sweetie Belle, and she found herself siding with Smoking Bow more and more as the story went on.
If Bow's such a freaking coward why does he repeatedly get into fights with two to three ponies at a time? Yeah, he ambushes them, but he sticks around to finish the fight!
Sweetie Belle shook her head and went back to reading.
Smoking Bow was twelve when he earned his Cutie Mark. The orphanage had taken a trip into the desert for their annual vacation. While they were traveling they ran into a wandering herd of bison. The chief of the herd was kind enough to teach them about bison culture, and eventually the topic of bows came up. Due to their size and strength, bison rarely use bows, but occasionally they have conflict with other herds. These conflicts can sometimes become desperate enough for the chief to employ calves in the fight. Since calves would most likely be killed in a stampede, they are trained with bows in order to keep their distance. When the children of the orphanage heard about how a bow could allow a child to participate in combat, they were understandably disgusted,—
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.
—but respectfully stayed quiet because bows were clearly important to bison culture. Smoking Bow on the other hoof, stood up and asked to try a bow himself. The caretaker was swift to admonish him, but the chief just chuckled and gave him the weapon. Smoking Bow grabbed the weapon with telekinesis and ran as fast as he could from the caretaker. As he ran, he continually shot arrows at various objects, including flying birds. He never missed. He shot the arrows so quickly that by the time he ran out, his horn was smoking from the effort. He had also earned his Cutie Mark, a drawn bow, with the arrow smoking at the tip.
Everypony was in shock, but the chief laughed, and declared that this pony would be known to his herd as Smoking Bow, the warrior. The caretaker was understandably terrified and demanded that Smoking Bow return the bow and come back to the orphanage. Smoking Bow refused, and became a member of the bison tribe. A cow from the herd offered to adopt the colt, to avoid any legal trouble, and Smoking Bow disappeared from pony contact for a decade.
When he was next seen, he had returned to the orphanage of Dodge Junction. He was in full herd garb: war paint, eagle weathers, etc., and carrying his bow and arrows on his back. He gave the caretaker a pile of bits, saying it was his tribe's philosophy to return all favors, and that the orphanage had done him one by raising him, even if he hadn't enjoyed it.
When the caretaker asked where he had gotten all the bits. Smoking Bow had laughed, and said, quote:
"For all you ponies cry foul at hunting, you sure pay a ton for good pelts."
Then he left, only occasionally returning to town to sell animal pelts so he could go to the local tavern and drink. (More than once participating in and starting bar fights.)
This is one of the few psychopaths who I hate a little less. He was just as violent as any other psycho in this book, but at least he had the decency to leave us in peace.
Sweetie Belle grit her teeth. Nothing the author had wrote about Smoking Bow had convinced her he was a psychopath. There wasn't enough information one way or the other about his orphanage days, but becoming a hunter wasn't a sign of being evil, it just meant he ate meat and sold what he didn't eat to ponies who actually wanted it. And since Rarity had more than a couple fur coats, Sweetie Belle knew there were plenty of ponies who wanted pelts.
"It piss you off?"
Sweetie Belle looked up and saw Brawler standing in front of her. She nodded.
"Yeah. There's not enough information to label him as good or bad, but the author just keeps going on about what a psychopath this guy was," she said, then she sighed.
"Will some ponies really label me like this?" she asked.
Brawler nodded.
"My father tried to kill me, my mother's afraid of me, and Sunshine gave me a life sentence when I was thirteen," he said. "Even if Ponyville accepts you, there will be some ponies who will always see you as a monster."
Sweetie Belle looked back at the book.
"How did you stand it?" she asked.
She heard Brawler take a large sigh.
"You've got two friends who are going through the same thing you are, lean on them when you need it, and let them lean on you when they need it." Brawler stood up, and started to move away.
"But how did you stand it?" asked Sweetie Belle, looking up from the book. "I know you must have been short on friends back in Cloudsdale, so how-"
"Stop," said Brawler, he was facing away from her, and she wasn't sure she wanted to see his expression. "My past is my business, not yours. If you want to know that badly, earn it."
He walked away before Sweetie Belle could say anything. She leaned back against the wall and sighed.
I'm your student, Brawler. I need to know what I could face out there. If I need to earn your trust first, so be it.
Applebloom was having an amazing afternoon. Reading about Silver Virtue with Shadow Dust had been a lot more informative than she'd thought it'd be. Silver Virtue had been a Lunar Guard, and was twenty years old when Nightmare Moon was banished. He had spent the rest of his life trying to bring the true Princess of the moon back. It was a quest doomed for failure, Silver had known that from the start, but he had sworn an oath to the Lunar Guard. He would fulfill his duty, or die trying. He didn't want an award, he had barely even seen Princess Luna's face. By the time he became a member of the Guard, she was already largely withdrawn from the world, but it didn't matter. The Lunar Guard had taken him in when he had nowhere else to go, and he would carry out their duty until his last breath.
The story consisted of Silver Virtue journeying throughout Equis, pursuing any lead he could find to free Luna from her prison and the demon possessing her. Often times, the leads led him nowhere, or if he was unlucky, a powerful mage. Invariably, they would send him on a near impossible quest in exchange for simply attempting to free Luna. All, of course, failed.
As depressing as the book was, Applebloom still enjoyed hearing about Silver Virtue. He was seemingly unbreakable. He never let any failure crush his spirit, and he always moved forward. Shadow Dust also greatly admired the knight, and hoped that he would fulfill his duty with just as much unshakable courage if his time ever came.
A call from Brawler signaled that their hour was up, and Shadow Dust closed the book.
"We'll read more tomorrow, right?" asked Applebloom.
Shadow Dust stood up and reshelved the book.
"Of course," he said.
Applebloom smiled, then they both trotted into the workout area of the gym, where Brawler was calling them. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were already there, and two punching bags were hanging from the ceiling.
"Right, Scoot, and Dust wait here. I'm going to teach Applebloom and Sweetie Belle how to shadow box," he said.
Scootaloo and Shadow Dust nodded, then Brawler led Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to the sparring room, and positioned them in front of a wall where their shadows were.
"Now the idea behind shadow boxing is fairly straight forward," said Brawler. He got into his stance and faced his shadow. "My shadow is my opponent, I attack," his hoof shot toward his shadow's head. "And he'll do the exact same thing. So for every attack I throw," he threw a few more punches, this time moving around as he did. "I need to dodge as well. This'll help you train yourselves to always be prepared to move, even if you're attacking. Got it?"
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle nodded.
"Alright, step up then."
The two of them moved up until they were facing their shadows against the wall. They stood up and raised their fore legs.
Brawler nodded.
"Good, now I'm going to have you take a standard boxing stance for now, but we'll change it as you discover your own styles," he said. "Move your hind hooves shoulder width apart, then step forward with your left hind leg so that your legs are about at a forty-five degree angle."
Applebloom moved her hind legs as instructed. It felt natural to her, despite her slight imbalance from standing on her hind legs.
"Now keep your weight on the front part of your hoof, not the edge, but just behind it. Bend your knees, and make sure your weight is equally distributed to both hooves."
Applebloom again, shifted as instructed. It felt like she was slipping on a sock, thus far it fit perfectly.
"Okay, tuck your elbows at your sides, place your fore hooves at about cheek level, place your chin down while looking up, and roll your shoulders forward."
Now it wasn't so perfect. Applebloom couldn't help but feel that her fore hooves were in the wrong place.
"I know it might feel a little off. You can experiment with changing the stance if you want, but fall back on this if it doesn't work, okay?" asked Brawler.
"Okay."
"Gotcha."
Applebloom moved her fore hooves in front of her chin and her elbows in front of her stomach. It felt better, not by much, but enough to notice.
"Okay, the four punches I want you to throw are jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts. Jabs are quick punches thrown with the lead hoof, turn your hips and waist slightly then follow with a straight punch. Crosses are punches thrown with the back hoof, basically the same movement but keep the lead hoof tucked against your jaw for protection. Hooks are half circle punches that can be thrown from either hoof, aim for your opponent's head, and keep your other hoof tucked against your jaw. Finally, uppercuts are vertical punches aimed at your opponent's chin, again, they can be thrown from either hoof. You got all that?" asked Brawler.
Applebloom took a deep breath.
Jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts. I can do this.
"Got it," she said.
"Yeah, no problem," said Sweetie Belle.
"Alright, I'll check on you in a few minutes. GO!" shouted Brawler.
Applebloom launched an uppercut at her shadow's chin. The shadow mirrored her movements, had it been a real opponent, Applebloom would've been reeling. She grit her teeth, and threw a left jab. This time, she moved her head out of the way. Gaining confidence she threw another uppercut, but she didn't move her head out of the way in time.
This might be a little harder than I thought.
After about ten minutes, Brawler switched them to the heavy punching bags. He gave them the same instructions as before, but said to go at the bag harder than they went at their shadow. Applebloom complied, pounding the bag with everything she had, then immediately regretting it. Punching a solid object stung, a lot. She wasn't prepared for it and cried out when she felt the pain.
"You'll get used to it." Was the only advice Brawler offered.
After shaking off the pain, Applebloom returned to the bag. Starting a little more cautiously, but building up power as time went on. By the end of the session, she had already begun to build a slight tolerance for the pain in her hooves.
After he called them off Brawler led them back to the sparring room. He told Scootaloo and Shadow Dust to stop shadow boxing, then he dropped a bomb.
"Rest up for a few minutes. Get water from the sink in my room if you need it. After that we're sparring. First up is Applebloom against Scootaloo.
The two fillies looked at each other in shock.
Hoo, boy.
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Gonna be a awkward first spar, can't wait for it. Another great chapter can't wait for the next one, keep up the great work!
The calm before the storm... I seriously can't wait for Celestia to show her face
I had the same problem, and we only got one week breaks. You get up on Monday look at the todo list, look at the calendar, and think to yourself "I got time". ...And then it's Sunday night.
Always liked the Fall breaks better. A day off here and there, enough to get ahead on things but not enough to get cocky, sit back and chill for 90% of the break.
---
You want us to hold off on corrections until your pre-reader can get get a pass done so that we don't clutter the comments with editing notes?
I REALLY anxious to see Brawler and Sunshine's eventual reunion, which I hope ends with her picking her teeth off the ground
7083594 yes please
One day, there will be much fighting in the land of the magic ponies, and thus much kick-assery within the square ring once more.
(Just replace the people with ponys and we are golden
)
I have to admit, in the beginning the story was pretty cringe, but I'm glad I stuck it out, as it kept getting better with every chapter.
good going so far, any more exerts from sweeties book?
7084876 Each member of the CMC will read from that book.
7085015 sweet
I wonder what celestia will do probably attack them, the most I hate about celestia in this is she is trying to take away a part of life its not the prettiest but its a part of it so It came back as brawler but good job on the story keep it up I find nothing wrong about it at all and it's amazing keep up the good work
I finally figured out what bugs me about this story, Brawler's fighting style. His style is flat and without that particular viciousness that will take anyone's fighting up a notch.
7087102 On it, sorry
7087824 Every fight Brawler has been in since he fought Tirek has been a friendly fight. Even when he and the Mane six first met up, the conditions Luna set for him prevented him from hurting them in any extreme way. (Yes, I know getting knocked out in the real world does a lot of damage, but I can't think of many action stories on any medium that acknowledge that fact.) Why would Brawler be vicious towards the closest then he has to fighting friends? If he hurt them too much, they wouldn't be able to fight as often and might get scared away. Brawler doesn't want that.
I won't spoil anything but a fight is coming up where Brawler doesn't hold anything back and ends up seriously hurting his opponent. (No not Celestia, but he'll be equally pissed when he sees her.)
If you're here to read about ribs being broken or characters spitting out broken teeth, well I'm afraid that's not going to happen very often.
If you have a suggestion to make friendly fights more 'vicious' while staying friendly, I'd love to hear it.
7088042 I wasn't talking about Brawler's motivations for fighting. I was saying that his fighting style was both fairly weak and a odd one for him to use. Ponies for all their strengths...? Have short limbs, and thus have almost no reach. A punch from somebody like Brawler would have much less power because of this, as whatever punch they throw has less time to build power.
A more effective form of attack might even be doing a wide swing with a hoof and hitting others with the sharper edge of the hoof.
However, if you do want a suggestion for more vicious while staying friendly, then I suggest grappling. Nothing can be more accidentally more damaging than a unsuccessful grapple attempt.
Well... except for a successful vicious grappling.
7088308 Well, most of Brawler's attacks have been hooks and uppercuts, and Brawler's a boxer not a wrestler. As for the sharp end of the hoof idea, well I might use it for a different pony's fighting style but I just don't think it fits for Brawler. The sharp end of the hoof idea is a good way to inflict pain, the flat of the hoof (in my mind) is better for pushing areas of an opponent back, and since a big part of Brawler's strategy is headshots, more pushback means the target is more disoriented from the blow.
If you can't believe that a punch from a pony will do much damage, well there's not a lot I can do. Sorry.
One of these "carry" is too much.
One of these "what" is too much.
7088657 Thanks again pal
7088596 Its not that I can't believe that a pony punch could hurt, It's that I Don't. These ponies simply don't have the reach required to inflicted much damage. Pain? Sure, but that'll mainly come from being hit by some bony protrusion.
Ponies don't even have a body type that they could twist into a blow to deliver more force.
7088671 Well it's your opinion, I'm sorry if that detail prevents you from enjoying the story.
Thank you for giving me advice on how you might've enjoyed the story more, and I'm sorry that it didn't click for me.
I hope if I ever publish a different story on this site you'll enjoy that one more than this one. (Though that's a pretty big if)
jabs and crosses can be thrown with either hand... err... hoof...
A jab is merely a quick, nearly unpredictable punch that goes straight forward then back, whereas a cross starts from either side and goes across the target...
7088685 It doesn't prevent me from enjoying this story. The fighting style only bugs me, I do enjoy this story for the characters, and the new dialog I haven't read before.
The funny thing is, this is the only time in any story I've read on this site or even the main show, that I have actually liked Celestia's character. Or, you know... Seen a personality from her.
7089980 When I was doing my research I only saw a cross as a punch thrown from the back hand. It crosses over the fighter's lead hand, hence it's name. A cross is also commonly called a straight, because it is a straight punch with a little more power than a jab.
Very nice chapter, good work.
7091140
We're both thinking of different punches then. For me, a cross is somewhere between a jab and a hook. It's got some of the power of a hook, and due to the nature of our hips, it needs to curve slightly, going across the target, but it maintains a lot of the speed and unpredictably of a jab.
Well, no wonder the buffalo herd in Over a Barrel came to blows with ponies. Even beyond planting an apple orchard, obviously a lot of ponies think of buffalo/bison as savages the writer's views on the buffalo and of Smoking Bow who ended up joining the herd.
7088671
Look at Maud, She turned a giant bolder into pebbles by rapidly punching it like it was nothing. They can do PLENTY of damage.
7121076 one, that was a equestrian rock and thus susceptible to whatever the plot wants to happen to it. Two, Maud can apperntly chew and eat equestrian rocks when no one thought she could, meaning it is likely only her and any others with similar cutie marks able to do this. Three, all of Maud's abilltys seem to only effect rocks. Four, Maud is pinke pie's sister.
ANy update coming soon?
7183109 Soon yes. I'm a little more than 2,100 words into the next chapter. I've been delayed by summer job hunting and AP tests. The next chapter will be out by the end of Sunday.
noooo i was so in to it i hit the next button and it diddent work then i looked and saw there was no next button. its like coke i just want more
coka cola i mean
Only one more chapter left...
Damn... this is addicting I've been reading all day.
Nicely written man, loving this so far, so keep it up!