With Good Intentions

by Hustlin Tom

Chapter 7

“I have a haaaaard time believing you were that socially awkward as a colt,” Trixie declared as she followed after her host back to the kitchen, “and I still can’t quite wrap my head around you being a student of Princess Celestia.”

Bunsen Burner glanced back at her for a moment before looking forward again, “Time, amongst other things, can produce a great deal of change in any stallion or mare.” He then turned to open the pantry to his right and began to browse through it, grabbing every other foodstuff that he seemed to lay eyes on.

“What happened to that mare you went to see?”

He then grabbed hold of two picnic blankets from the pantry corner and a wooden rod, then brought the whole ensemble to the counter area just next to the sink, where he began to place the food items into the blanket, “We went to the restaurant she’d reserved for, and we had our first date there. After a few months we were married. It was a small affair, though the Princess did attend. Punnett Square was my Best Stallion.”

Trixie momentarily opened her mouth in a manner that seemed like she was about to ask a question, but then she closed her mouth again.

Sensing the question hanging in the air without even seeing what she had done, Bunsen Burner simply said, “We’re no longer together.” He then continued on, “Around eight months later Punnett and Bolera had a daughter. When they asked us to be the child’s godparents there wasn’t any force in the world that could have made us say no.” Bunsen Burner finally tied a knot around each bundle with some force, “We were close enough friends to be almost family to each other.”

“What was the filly’s name?” Trixie asked.

“Cadence,” he replied.

Trixie blinked for a second in bewilderment, then dismissed her confusion with a waving her hoof, “Oh I see; they wanted to name her after the Princess.”

“Something like that, yes,” the old stallion replied almost under his breath.

His task accomplished, he took the double knapsack into his mouth, then turned and put it on the floor, offering it to Trixie. The showmare for her part was initially confused, but realized what he was doing when he finally declared, “For your journey.” She then picked up the arrangement with her magic.

Before she could say anything else, Bunsen Burner walked past her and out of the room, saying over his shoulder as he left, “Now I’m sure I’ve taken up enough of your time with my constant blathering, so why don’t you run along and seek your vengeance on Twilight Sparkle and all that.”

It took Trixie a few seconds to truly think about what he had said, during which she blinked a few times in confusion. As she finally understood what he had meant her temper boiled back to the surface once again; where did he get off with his self-righteous attitude, to just flippantly throw what had happened to her back in her face? Dropping the knapsacks on the floor, she stormed after the stallion with a growl, her mind clouded by anger, yet also a still lingering sense of confusion. She meant to search the house from top to bottom, tear the whole place down if she had to get to him that way, but as she turned into a large hall area she found him standing in the front hallway of the manor, seemingly waiting for her by the door.

As she strode purposefully towards him, taking a quick, furious snort, she snapped at him, “What in Tartarus do you mean ‘run along and seek your vengeance’, especially after what you said last night; revenge is a sucker’s game?”

Bunsen Burner looked at her passively as he spoke, as if she were talking to a brick wall, “Take a good look at what you’ve become over the last few months; beaten down, yes, but not broken. You have a strong spirit within you, but your goal of petty revenge is absolutely futile; it will bring you no solace for what has been taken from you.”

“Stop with the psycho-analysis bull!” Trixie yelled at him, as he imperiously gazed back at her, “I don’t know how anypony could stand you; you and the way you try to look down on others! You’re not some high and mighty pony who can just examine us mortals at your leisure then toss us aside! It’s no wonder your wife left you!”

A burning spark of light seemed to appear in the stallion’s eyes as they narrowed, and the mare’s anger faltered somewhat as she began to wonder what he would do. Still, she did not back down, and she stared defiantly right back at him. After a few moments of very full silence, the stallion calmed down and finally spoke in an even but tense tone, “I will dispense with my judgments of your character. I offer you a choice. Option One: take what I gave you and leave; go on your way, cursing everything and everypony under the sun for what has happened to you: a mare willing to play the victim to assuage her own pride and sense of arrogant self-pity. Option Two: stay here, and I can teach you how to take the power and might you claim to have and direct it, if you are willing to admit to yourself that you need help.”

“Direct it how?” she asked sharply.

“However you want.”

In this moment Trixie was faced with a decision that seemed to eat away at her from the inside. She could leave this damn stallion behind and never have to see him again, but what would she do afterward? Move to the next town? Continue wandering through the lands of Equestria trying to eke out some kind of meager living? Her hatred burned again for that awful unicorn in Ponyville who had ruined her life. Then a thought occurred to her: one student of Princess Celestia had destroyed her life, and another was offering to rebuild it. What sort of irony of chance was this? It couldn’t be coincidence.

“What are you getting out of this,” she asked abruptly in the same sharp tone as before, “Nopony really does anything out of a spirit of charity. How do you benefit from helping me?”

The stallion himself seemed to pause for a moment to think on this. “I suppose,” he finally said at long last, “I don’t like to see things remain broken.”

Trixie scoffed to herself before she leaned back on her rump and crossed her forelegs, then continued to glare at him, “Let’s say I did choose to stay here and satisfy your noble sense of altruism; what would you really be teaching me; the magic of friendship perhaps?”

“The first thing I’d teach you would be some proper self-defense,” he declared, then slowly shook his head a little, “the stars know you need it. After that, perhaps I could help by giving you a real education in magic.”

She couldn’t argue with the first one for sure; she didn’t want to be helpless again should she ever encounter anymore Diamond Dogs, and the tome she had seen before was bound to have some very powerful magicks within. She pushed further, “No psycho-analysis? No moralizing?”

“No assessments or expectations,” he shook his head as he replied, “We’ll simply see what we can do with what potential you have.”

Trixie visibly struggled with her decision, but then a thought crossed her mind: was her pride really going to hold her back from getting at least a few nights’ rest in a real home instead of the open skies? If she stayed, humored this stallion for a little while, and took his knowledge from him, she could become more powerful than she had ever been. Yes, after that there was no doubt that Trixie would most definitely become in actuality as great and powerful as she had always claimed. No town would run her out again. She would return to Ponyville, and show that arrogant Twilight Sparkle who really was the highest powered unicorn in all of Equestria.

Finally she declared, “Very well, I’m staying. When do we start?”

Bunsen Burner nodded quickly, “We already did. Full disclosure I suppose, but my last judgment of you had me postulating that given this test you’d walk out that door.”

“I still can,” she replied angrily, as she shook a hoof at him.

“I did promise no more of that if you stayed,” he replied with a small smirk, and then he walked past her back into the large hall, “Now then Ms. Lulamoon, let’s start with the basics of hoof-to-hoof combat: proper stance and center of balance.”

Trixie sighed heavily, “Very well,” and trotted after him with heavy hooves.

Striding into the large room with wider than normal steps, Bunsen Burner stop when he had reached the center, turned on the spot to face his new pupil, and reared onto his back legs, then held the stance, albeit with a little straining due to his wounds.

“Our species, while still able to buck with our legs, fly with wings, or use magic, is not a predatory one. In our natural state we lean closer to flight when our fight or flight response kicks in. It doesn’t have to remain this way however. Like iron, when the equine body is forged and treated in the right manner, it becomes stronger than before, and you can hold your own against your opponent, no matter who they are.” He then motioned with his right forehoof to his student, “Stand up like me.”

Trixie mirrored him as best as she could, rearing up on her back legs, then balancing on her back legs.

“Very good,” he said with a small smile, as he returned to four legs and approached her, “This is typically the part that gives beginners the most trouble!”

“I practiced a lot when I was a filly,” she said with a smirk, “The audience loves a good bow out at the show’s end.”

“The basic technique is good, but we need to adjust your form a bit,” he declared, “Put your hooves flat to the floor; you don’t need to impress anyone by standing on the tips of your walls.”

Trixie automatically adjusted her bearing.

“Now move your back hooves further apart to just beneath your shoulders; it provides you a wider platform and makes you more stable.”

After Trixie had moved herself into the right position the old stallion circled her, minutely tapping her back legs into just the right spot with his right hoof, then returned to his place in front of her.

“Remember this stance, but not only with your mind. Memorize how your muscles feel, and internalize it.” He then returned to his own combat stance, his right hooves to the back and left up front, “Strike me.”

Momentarily shocked, Trixie nervously looked to her right, then brought up a hoof to her face which she coughed into before looking at him again, “What?”

“Strike me, come on,” he exclaimed.

She shook her forehooves in frustration, emphasizing with each word, “But I don’t know even how to fight!”

“There’s no better way to learn than from your mistakes. Strike me!”

Trixie looked down at her legs worriedly for a moment, then she began to take wavery steps towards him. Walking on two legs felt like she was walking on clumsy, wobbling stilts, but she struggled on in spite of her difficulty. Bunsen Burner waited patiently where he stood, not budging an inch to get closer: she needed to struggle if she was truly going to learn. Finally she stood in front of him; she wouldn’t say it aloud but she was half surprised she had managed that. Standing in front of him now she was unsure how to proceed; which hoof did she even try to hit him with? For that matter where should she even aim? She steeled herself and acted on her instinct. She threw her right hoof, swinging it towards the stallion’s head. He responded by simply stepping backward out of the arc her reach was traveling through. Trixie stumbled forward two steps but managed to right herself.

“Stop,” he said as he put up a hoof, “Explain to me why you failed.”

“You moved,” she said in a deadpan tone, which definitely left the afterhint of a large, snide “Duh” in the air.

Bunsen Burner shook his head, “Your failure was not caused by me: failure occurred because of you and you alone.”

Trixie let out a silent exclamation, “You didn’t tell me you were going to move!”

Bunsen Burner breathed in and sighed heavily, “You will not meet an enemy who is gracious enough to tell you how to beat them. Ever.”

Trixie waved her hooves up in the air, “But this is training; I’m just starting out!”

“Not an excuse,” he replied before he unexpectedly rushed her. He leaned to his left and brought his left hoof right next to the now Surprised and Intimidated Trixie’s side, “My dominant hoof here sends you off balance, you teeter over, leaving your defenses open wide.” He then straightened up, wrapped his foreleg around her right one, then stepped behind her, placing his left hoof on her back, “Or I could seize control of your dominant foreleg. With the proper amount of pressure and leverage I can pop it out of socket, or do catastrophic damage to the foreleg itself.” Trixie’s eyes were wide with fear, and she nervously gulped to herself. Bunsen Burner let go of her foreleg, returned to all fours, and walked back in front of her once again, “Your training will be simple, not soft: pass or failure, and you will fail very often. Once we are done, though, you might just be able to save your own life with these skills, and at a moment’s notice. Until that time, you will treat me as your trainer and opponent.” He paused to let the information sink in; needless to say he had Trixie’s full attention at this point. “Now then,” he exclaimed, “What caused you to fail?”

“I-“ she began quietly, then she cleared her throat and spoke more loudly, “I didn’t maintain my balance?”

Bunsen Burner briskly nodded, “Correct, this being the result of overextending your reach. Because your first action was faulty, the consequences of that action could result in your life being endangered.” He paused, then turned and began to walk to the opposite doorway at the end of the hall, “Continue working on your balance for now: I’m going to make us a brief lunch.”

Trixie watched him slowly leave, and as soon as he was out of sight she let out a nervous breath, one which she didn’t realize she had been holding in, then went back to all fours for a moment to let her muscles unwind. After a few moments just breathing she murmured, “What have I gotten myself into?”

Comments

[Alan Smithee]

you will treat me as your trainer and opponent

So does that mean Bunsen is going to sneak into Trixie's room while she's sleeping like Cato in The Pink Panther?

[Hustlin Tom]

6149195
Wooh, that comment had me worried at the start! Sneaking into ponies' rooms while they're sleeping...'shudder'

Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't, I'm not sure at the moment.