Hoof To Hoof

by MrTrieg

Chapter One: A Teacher

Hoof to Hoof
Chapter One: A Teacher

It was getting a little late in the evening and Rainbow Dash was laying down on a cloud, having taken the evening weather watch she was keeping an eye out for any errant cloud. Truthfully it was one of the most boring jobs for a weatherpony. Below her stretched out Ponyville, the town becoming sleepier as she sat there just basically waiting for her shift to end so she could go home. Celestia, sometimes I hate my job, this has got to be one of the most boring things, ever. Looking down she spied an old stallion, making his way into town off of the main road, he appeared frail and tired, wearing a straw hat, moving slowly towards the center of town. I never want to get old, to be stuck with old joints and older wings, unable to properly fly anymore, she thought to herself, seeing the way that the old stallion moved, almost meanderingly towards the town square. Thinking about the prospect of growing old she almost missed the dark alley that the old colt took a turn down. Obviously he was lost, but the situation took a turn for the worse when a pair of dogs, Diamond Dogs by the look of their clothing, stepped out from behind a corner that the old pony couldn’t have seen, Rainbow seeing this had a quick alarmed thought, oh no, that pony is completely defenseless against those dogs, I should do something. As she thought this she flew down and roosted on the roof of one of the buildings adjacent to the alleyway. I can’t and shouldn’t do anything until one of these dumb dogs does something, for all I know they could be trying to give the old coot directions. The dogs took a step forward and the bigger one extending his open paw forward gruffly demanded, “We want gem, you give us gem?” Rainbow looking down took the moment to note that the old coot had one honking big emerald attached to a necklace dangling from his neck. The stallion replied with a smile, “This emerald is a tigers-eye emerald, quite rare, and this one does not wish to part with it, would you please tell me where the inn is, for this one needs a place to sleep.” The dogs, confused by the way the pony was talking, thought to clarify, “now we not ask, you give us gem!” With this the dog extended his paw forward. Rainbow’s body arced and she prepared to pounce, I am not going to allow some old guy to get beat up on my watch. What happened next came as a complete surprise to Dash. As the dog reached for the gem the stallion caught the dog’s paw in his front left hoof, “This one will not part with it,” the old pony said as he twisted the dog’s paw, this forced the dogs elbow across the center line of his body, flipping him end over end sideways into the dirt. The other dog, visibly startled, brought his paw down to swipe at the older pony. The pony replied to this by side stepping and grasping the dog’s wrist, holding him in this manner the dog was caught off balance, his own weight working against him. The pony dragged him forward straight down to the ground. The other dog at this point had regained his footing, and proceeded to kick as hard as he could at the pony, the old stallion reared up on his hind legs and, once again using the dogs’ momentum against them, grasped the dogs leg, taking a step back forcing the dog into the splits. Rainbow, who had stopped herself as soon as the stallion began to defend himself, sat on the roof with her mouth agape, that was one of the coolest things I have ever seen! The older pony who had begun to dust himself off looked up over to the roof that Rainbow Dash was sitting on, still smiling he said, “you, rainbow pegasus, come down, this one would like to talk with you!” Surprised that she had been seen, she obliged. Swooping down over the incapacitated dogs Rainbow Dash landed next to the older pony, where she got a better look at him, the pony had a wise and weathered presence, and he seemed to have this slight smile permanently glued to his face, looking further she found that his cutie mark was a myriad of symbols, none of which she could understand. This combined with the long white beard and mustache which draped down off his face, his straw hat and beautiful emerald which hung from his neck, gave him an exotic look, he was probably dashing in his younger years. His eyes were slightly slanted, and she had already observed his strange accent and manner of speaking. Rainbow was about to ask him something when he cut her off, “This one seeks the inn, would you help me find it?” Rainbow quickly replied, “Absolutely!”

Having found the inn both the ponies were sitting and enjoying a meal, Rainbow was telling the older pony about the town and the sights, further explaining who she was and what she did, both for a living and as a sport. Rainbow who had been talking almost non-stop for a good deal of time, asked her first question to her new companion, “so who are you and where are you from?” The older pony’s reply was cryptic, “this one is from far away, and this one’s name is of no import.”
Rainbow was disappointed with these answers, and pushed another one, “alright you don’t want to talk about yourself, but can you answer me this one question, where did you learn to do what you did to those dogs?”
“This one was trained in hoof-to-hoof combat many, many years ago, it is part of this one’s special talent,”
“So your cutie mark, it means fighting?”
“No, it means balance,”
“What does balance have to do with that crazy grabbing and dragging stuff you did?”
The older pony chuckled at this statement, “balance is the cornerstone of success to anything, and a good balance is needed to do what is in your heart, knowing your center is necessary to knowing yourself.” Rainbow hadn’t expected such a deep answer, which made her next question seem all the more childish, “where can I learn to do that?” The stallion’s face grew serious and his answer came out more grave than their idle chit-chat from before, “why would you want to know these things?” Rainbow suddenly aware of how important her answer would be to this stallion’s perceptions of her mumbled out a reply that she almost immediately regretted, “because it was awesome, and you looked cool doing it!” The older stallion looked away, appearing somewhat concerned. Answering back he said, “That is not a very good reason.” Oh no what have I done? Rainbow thought to herself, noting that the stallion’s smile, which hadn’t left his face up to this point, vanished. Stumbling to correct herself Rainbow reiterated, “It would also come in handy I guess,” her voice shrinking to almost a whisper as she finished her sentence. This piqued the colt’s interest as he turned his face back to her, gazing solemnly with a stare that rivaled Fluttershy’s, “Why would these skills be useful to you?” Rainbow, shrinking under the weight of his gaze replied, “Well my friends and I repeatedly find ourselves in situations that have us in danger, some times for the princess, sometimes for the safety of the town, hay sometimes I end up just trying to save my friends, like this one time, my buddy Spike,” cutting her off the stallion made a statement, “You do these dangerous things to defend your friends, and your town, you are quite a loyal friend indeed, you asked this one’s name, you may call this one, Sensei,” Sensei then asked a question, “Are you sure you wish to learn these things?” Rainbow perked up at this question, “Yes absolutely!”
“You are one hundred percent certain? It is very difficult and the strain on your body will be great.”
“Yes Sensei I think I am up to the task,” she spat back with a smirk, slightly regretting her somewhat sarcastic tone,
“Then we begin tomorrow, do you know somewhere we can train, a big wide open place, preferably outdoors, would be ideal.”
“Sure, yeah I do, but where are you going to stay? I mean this place is kind of a dump, and since you are not a pegasus you can’t stay with me, I live on a cloud,”
“This place will do, it is fine,”
As he said this the proprietor of the inn, Berry Punch, stumbled over to their table with the check, saying somewhat drunkenly, “Here ya go, I can’t remembersh when yous got in here, I’ma go lie down now, leavemah money on tha table.” She made it maybe four steps before collapsing in front of the counter
“No, this will not do, you need a nicer place,” Alright, so he can’t stay with me, Fluttershy is too shy to have someone over, Twilight lives in a library with one and a half beds, Pinkie is renting a small one room apartment above Sugarcube Corner, and Rarity doesn’t even like having her sister over, it was at this moment that Rainbow Dash had a surprising moment of clarity, who did she know that had a spacious property, plenty of rooms, and was known for her undying hospitality, Applejack!
Standing excitedly Rainbow beckoned the older pony to follow her.
“Where are we going?”
“To my friend Applejacks!”
They raced off into the ever darkening evening.

“Gee I don’t know R. D.” Applejack stated sitting down at the table with Sensei and Rainbow Dash. “I mean I hardly know him, hay you hardly know him, for all we know he could be some psycho loony from Celestia-knows-where tryin’ to run some ole scam. You remember the last two ‘visitors’ don’tcha?” Applejack was of course referring to Flim and Flam, the two ridiculous sales ponies from last cider season, “Yeah of course I do, but does Sensei seem at all like them, I mean, you should have seen the way he handled those two Diamond Dogs,” Rainbow replied excitedly. This made Applejack even more worried, “so you’re telling me that I should accept into mah home a complete stranger who is capable of fightin off two Diamond Dogs single hoofedly? I’m sorry Rainbow but I just can’t take that risk.” As she finished her sentence a different voice rang out from up the stairs, Granny Smith had heard the group talking, and had decided to interject herself into the conversation, “Rainbow izzat you? Why I have words fer you, that last storm almost completely blew the roof off tha barn! You and yer ridiculous flyin’ and a cloudchasin’,” she cut herself off as soon as she made it down the stairs, at which point her view rested solely on Sensei. Animating in a way that Rainbow and Applejack hadn’t thought possible for someone of her advanced age she bolted to the table in a style that was usually attributed to Pinkie Pie, coming to a rest at the table she spoke to Applejack, “well now, AJ you didn’t tell me that you were expectin company! If I’da known I’da made him some pie,” “It’s okay Granny they was jus’ leavin’,”
“Oh, now that won’t do, they look ta ‘ave just got ‘ere”
“Granny, Rainbow was just asking if her friend here could stay over for a few days, I was tellin’ ‘em no,”
“Applejack, how many times I gotsta talk to ya about hospitality, Rainbow of course your, handsome friend, can stay ‘ere.” Doing her best not to snicker under her breath, Rainbow looked over to Sensei, who for the first time since meeting him seemed visibly unnerved. “Thank you Granny Smith, Sensei I will see you in the morning,” Rainbow said as she made her way out the door, “Rainbow Dash, remember first light, meet me here outside the farmhouse," Sensei stated before being dragged up the stairs by a clearly infatuated Granny Smith “Now Dearie, come this way, we’s gonna put ya in the room right next ta mine!” As they departed Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash and stated, gravely, "This better work out for the best, Rainbow." "Oh I think it will, I mean look at Granny Smith," Rainbow burst out laughing as soon as she was far enough away from the Apple family home.

The Diamond Dogs hadn't moved from the alley, Lefty, the smaller of the two was just waking up after having his face slammed into the ground, while Grumbles, the larger, was sitting on his rear trying to massage his legs, which had been injured in his impromptu splits, Grumbles noticing that Lefty had awoken stated angrily, “What that? We dogs, and we had tail kicked by old, OLD, pony,” “And we no get gem!” Lefty added in as Grumbles finished speaking. “So what we do?” Lefty asked pointedly, “We get revenge!” Was Grumbles’ reply.