Rainbow Dash stood in the middle of an ancient temple. She had never seen anything like it in her life, the detailed wooden carvings on the houses, and everything else, it all seemed new to her. Even Celestia doesn’t have rooms with such intricate carvings, and this is a normal civilian’s house. Her Shifu, Pu Yi, was first teaching her about the way of his ancestors. “Kung fu has been in my family for over five hundred year” Shifu told her “It is an ancient way that has been passed through the generations.” Rainbow Dash listened with interest and memorized every word he said. “Kung fu was introduced to China by an Indian monk named Ta Mo. He came here at the beginning of the sixth century to spread the teachings of the Buddha. While wandering in the mountains of Northern China, he stopped at a monastery called Shaolin. There he encouraged the monks to meditate and seek enlightenment. But the monks often fell asleep as they meditated, so the wise teacher gave them exercises to keep them awake. These became a meditation in themselves, but also very powerful fighting moves.” Dash looked at her Shifu, silently waiting for her to continue. “The moves Ta Mo taught helped them defend themselves as they travelled between monasteries, this martial art is called Tai Chi, the first form of martial arts I’m going to teach you” As he got up, signalling for Dash to get up as well. He gave her a wave of his hoof, indicating for her to follow him.

Twilight and the remains of the Mane six collapsed onto the ground. For one day they had searched all over Equestria, but have failed to find her. “She could be anywhere by now” panted Rarity. It was true; she obviously was no longer in Equestria “Well, then where could she be?” This took everypony to think about it “The world is huge, in one day, she could be anywhere by now” Pinkie said. But everyone already knew there was no hope in finding her, unless some miracle she returned

.

“This movement is called the pushing hoof” said Yi Shifu, shaping Dash’s hoof into a painful pose. “It is the basis of the kung fu exercise’s Ta Mo taught to the Shaolin ancestors” The next day was the same, and the day after that. Dash gradually learned to do the moves without the help of her Shifu. Tai Chi was now part of her daily routine. Every day she would go into that courtyard, and practice. “The way of the kung fu is much more than physical strength and fighting moves” Shifu one day explained “At the heart of martial arts is the chi. This is the life force we believe is within everyone and everything. To master kung fu is to harness the chi; through it you will become extremely powerful” She positioned Dash into a Tai Chi pose “Now focus on your breathing” he instructed sternly “This time focus on the chi within you” Dash didn’t know what he meant, but she tried focusing on her breathing. And with that, Yi walked away to leave Dash standing motionless for what seemed like an age.

One day after the Tai Chi exercises, Yi brought out a bucket of sand and put it down in front of Dash. What’s that for? Dash thought. Shifu punched his hoof into the sand to demonstrate what she has to do. “Your turn” Dash obediently used her hoof and punched into the sand, her Shifu looked at her, his eyes clearly saying “Again”. Dash made a second attempt and punched into the sand, but Shifu looked down at her, and he did another demonstration to show her what he wanted. He punched his hoof down into the sand, sending a shower of sand into Dash’s face. Again Dash punched it, as hard as she dared, but Yi didn’t look impressed at all. He walked away and commanded “Continue!” Dash opened her mouth, but knew better than to argue. This was a completely different world, with much more discipline required. And judging from his tone, he wouldn’t be in the mood to argue, he would probably just scrape her hoof into the sand until they bled. All she could do now was thrust her hoof into the sand again and again until they were numb. Only another day at the temple, I guess. She thought bitterly to herself, as she repeated the process.

Like the Tai Chi routine, this was done over and over again each day. But as the days progressed, her hoof were becoming stronger and stronger and her punches were finally spraying some sand up, which was definitely progress. The cuts from punching sand were healing over and rough callused were replacing soft skin. Shifu nodded slowly as he ran his hoof over Dash’s hoof “To be raised in the way of kung fu is a great honour” Shifu told her sternly “For you will be strong and self-disciplined and able to take great pain. And you will eventually be the master of your own body” As he finished speaking Yi emptied the bucket of sand away. Dash breathed a sigh of relief, but not loud enough for him to hear. But then, to her horror, the sand was replaced with gravel and the exercise continued.

Within a couple of weeks she found herself plunging her hoofs into both gravel and sharp rock. She was growing to hate the old pony, and that was good, it made her throw all the more energy into the punch. She didn’t know that her Shifu’s wasn’t primarily focused on helping her get revenge on the Long Clan, but it was also partly to gain his disciple’s respect. Although she doesn’t know right now, she will know one day. Each night she fell into bed exhausted, she was too tired to even think about the pain on her hoof and body. She hoped this would end soon, and she can have her revenge on those that killed Applejack. She spent hours staring up at the empty ceiling, but eventually she fell into an occasionally troubled sleep.