Secrets of the Past
Story 6
Prologue: A Fighting Spirit
By: FluttersIsAwesome

The thick forests and luscious oak trees of Kimahri Village were beautiful during this time of the year. Everything was in full bloom, and the sun, although partially blocked by the treetops, still shined through small openings in the canopy. It was always fun to run through here, unless you were being chased; this is why I was running for dear life. I used my wings to push myself forward, which gave me a little burst in speed, but I eventually got tired and stopped. Looking around, I thought I was safe. “Whew, I lost her.”

“Nope!” A hoof to the back of the head is such an unpleasant experience. When I came to, a light red unicorn sporting a yellow mane and tail was holding her hoof out to help me up. “Come on, Dust. How can you expect to win against Keaton if you can’t even fight against me?”

Rainey had been my best friend for a long while. She was always there when I needed support, and vice versa. She could be scary at times, though, so I tried my best to avoid making her mad. I grabbed her hoof so she could help me up and dusted myself off. “I don’t get it, why do I have to fight Keaton anyway?” It was really a pointless question, the answer had been burned into my brain already. Keaton was a bully and he loved to beat on other ponies in the village, so one day two of my other friends, Ginger Snap and Stone, and I decided to play a prank on him. We rigged the door in the feast hall to drop a bucket of brown dye on him when he walked through it.

He was an idiot, so he fell for it. Our group had been found accountable for multiple shaving-cream sleeping pranks, various fake present deliveries, and even two pitfall traps, so he automatically knew it was us. I don’t know why he chose to fight me, but I had no choice but to accept. It was like a code of honor the villagers followed: accept all challenges issued to you by another villager.

Rainey answered me with a loud “Ugh!” She began tapping her hoof as she got up in my face. I had to suppress a laugh as her ponytail fell in front of her face, forcing her to move it. “Sometimes I wonder what goes on in your head, y’know that?”

My grin was probably enough to make her hit me, but luckily she loved me too much. “And the rest of the time, you realize you probably don’t want to know?” I hardly ever had dirty thoughts, and she knew that, but sometimes I thought of the most random things at the most random times.

“Whatever. As for why he wants to fight you in particular, it’s probably because your dad owns the dojo.”

My dad was a pegasus like I was, but my mother was an Earth Pony. Rather than leave her just to return home, my father did the noble thing and decided to stay here in the village. The tall trees made it extremely difficult to fly, so my father decided to build a dojo and teach ponies to defend themselves to earn his living. As for mom, she was the head chef in the feast hall. I learned how to fight as a young foal and was always well fed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

She grinned. “Anyway, let’s get to the feast hall; Stone and Ginger are probably reserving seats for us.”

I nodded happily. “Right.”

We made our way toward the feast hall, and I took this time to practice using my wings to balance myself while on two legs. My father taught me to fight with a shield and bracer blade, which is a large katar-esque blade that can retract into an arm gauntlet. It was much easier to use while I was on my back legs, so I practiced and tried to get used to the position.

Rainey turned to me looking as if she was about to pout. “I still want you to teach me how to do that.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Maybe one day, Rainey, maybe one day.”

When we finally got to the hall, Ginger and Stone were sitting at the end of one of the long tables beside two empty seats with plates before them. Rainey and I both eagerly headed towards our two friends and sat down.

Rainey looked at the spread: hot spaghetti with green beans and mashed potatoes, and for every four seats there was a saucer for gravy. Not only that, but there were rolls beside the gravy, as well. There was a bright light in her eyes as she turned to me and squealed softly. “Your mom never ceases to amaze, does she?”

That made me proud. If there was one thing people talked about regarding me more than anything, it was that I came out of the best chef in Kimahri.

From my left I heard a loud “MMM” from the silver coated colt with the blue mane, Stone had just taken a bite out of his gravy-covered mashed potatoes and was making overly dramatic eating noises. “Delicious! Amazing! Scrumptious! How does your mom do it?!”

I shrugged with a smile. “Dunno, she’s just that amazing.”

The ruby red mare sporting a mane that was more golden than yellow chimed in. “If that’s the case, then why can’t you cook like this?” Ginger Snap giggled as I held my own mouth shut. She was Rainey’s sister, so I had to be careful not to upset her. Rainey was like a sister to me, but the kind of sister that nagged you constantly about staying out of trouble.

We all started laughing, but our moment was interrupted by a rather rude comment from the bulky, blaze-orange colt with the overly spiky red mane. “Flankface!” Keaton rose and approached me. “It’s time.”
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The fight took place on a long plank serving as a bridge between two local tree huts. It looked to be about 30 feet in the air, and being the only pegasus in the village besides my father, I promised not to use my wings if I fell. The objective was to knock your opponent off the plank, but they only lost when they touched the ground.

Keaton used a wooden sword that he held in his mouth, while I used a 2x4 plank fashioned into a blade with a harness for my right arm. We were each using the weapons we specialized in, so it was considered a fair fight. Looking down, I saw nearly everypony from the village watching. Rainey, Ginger, Stone, mom, and dad were there. Braveheart, the village chief stood in front of everypony to referee. Of course, a bunch of Keaton’s friends had front row seats too.

As I turned back to Keaton, the colt was staring at me with a rather menacing look on his face. “Get ready, punk.”

I returned his aggressive gaze. “That prank isn’t the only reason you hate me, is it?”

Without responding, he charged at me with surprising speed for such a big guy. He was stocky, though, and easy to jump over. I thought I had an edge on him until I turned around and was greeted by a hoof to the face. As I flew backwards, I could hear stone being dumb down below.

“He’s doin better, huh guys?”

I was slammed into the hut behind me, and ended up breaking two pots. However, I noticed that there were about six pots that remained undamaged.

A heavy pot between the eyes is definitely an effective way of at least slowing down an opponent. Keaton fell to the ground in a daze, giving me the perfect opening. He didn't even have time to react before he was sent into the air by my swift kick. I jumped to his height for a follow up move, but he used the momentum to his advantage. All I saw was his somewhat impressive front-flip before a tremendous force hit my head and sent me rocketing downward.

Now I was helpless. As I held on to the plank trying to pull myself up, Keaton landed right in front of me and pressed down on my hooves with his own.

A few murmurs could be heard from down below, and they only helped make me even more nervous. I closed my eyes as Keaton tried to push me off, and a sudden flash came into my head.

I was no longer in Kimahri Village. In fact, I wasn't even myself. I was overlooking a snowy mountain valley, with various scattered trees and a long rope bridge connecting a rather decrepid looking castle to one of the mountains. Standing on this bridge was a griffin, clad head to toe in black armor with red trim. On his chestpiece were two crimson wings extending from the blade of a sword.

Not only that, but hanging off of the bridge before him was a colt. His hood hid most of his facial features, but I did notice his horn and muzzle, both of which were only a few shades darker than my own blue coat. I could see dirty blonde banges protruding from under his hood as well, which I found a bit odd since my mane had the same style, but was completely blonde. He wore a greyish-brown fur cloak that only covered his shoulders, and his body was covered in leather wrappings. His legs were wrapped in a mesh of chainmail that was tucked into his long, black boots. On his left arm was a triangular shield with a design that I couldn't recognize for the life of me, and on his right he had a bracer blade somewhat similar to my own.

As the griffin approached him, he kicked one of the colt's hooves off, leaving him with only one arm to support himself. However, the force of the kick caused the colt to swing, and he used this momentum against his foe. It happened so quickly I couldn't even catch it all. The colt was now in the air and the griffin was falling to his imminent death.

Before I could see what happened next, I was pulled back into reality as Keaton kicked one of my hooves off the plank. I didn't know how it happened, but somehow I managed to use the momentum of the swing he had sent me in to turn the tables. As my body flew toward the plank, I pushed up on the hoof that was still holding on and sent myself into the air with a spin.

The outcome of the fight had been decided. Keaton was on the ground, the wind knocked out of him, and I was kneeling on the plank with my arm out to the side. As I turned to look at my arm, I saw that my wooden blade was firmly broken in half. I stared at the blade for a moment trying to figure out what just happened.

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