This Art Has Been In My Family For Generations

“Her rump!” Rarity wailed. “I was holding her by her tail!”

“We’ll get that off your mind soon enough,” Twilight said, trying to hold back laughter. “That’s why we’re bringing that along with us to Fluttershy’s.”

The unicorns were going down the path to Fluttershy’s out of the way cottage. Rarity had a long, wrapped training sword strapped onto her back. “If all goes well, you might get a little HEMA* club going in Ponyville!

*(Historical Equine Martial Arts)

Rarity grumbled, but stood by as Twilight went to knock on the cottage door. “Hello? Fluttershy, it’s me, Twilight.”

It was only a moment before Twilight could hear hooves moving up to the door. The top half of the door inched open. “Oh hi, Twilight. Is something the matter?”

“No monsters, evil overlords, we just heard something about your family from Rainbow Dash and we wanted to learn a little more about it!”

“Uhh.” Flutteshy’s eyes darted over to Rarity’s grumpy face.

“Don’t mind her, she’s had a bit of a rough morning.”

“...Okay. I’ll, um, start the tea.”

Fluttershy placed the teapot down with her wings. Rarity and Twilight sat opposite of her, Rarity’s wrapped packaged set leaning against the couch. “So, um, what did you two want to ask about?”

“We heard from Rainbow that you had some natural skill that paired well with her?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy stared. Twilight smiled back, waiting patiently. Fluttershy glanced around, a bead of sweat dripping down her face. Rarity was still glaring at her tea.

“Um. I can sew very well.”

“...What?” Twilight said.

Rarity snorted tea out of her nose. “Bwah?”

Rarity and Twilight watched as Fluttershy put an old quilt onto a table, a small tear along the bottom corner. Her sewing kit was then brought out, well worn with regular use. Curiously she also had a large foam block with a bunch of small holes in the middle.

Once her tools were set, Fluttershy picked up the threaded needle. The unicorn mares leaned in closely. Fluttershy spread the cloth out on top of the foam block. She glanced awkwardly at the pair one more time, then ...

“Oooh,” Twilight said.

Between Fluttershy’s hooves, the needle levitated back and forth, almost like the mechanical sewing machine Rarity had at her Boutique.

Rarity’s eyebrows raised. “Your control is amazing, dear. You’ve done this often?”

“I’ve had lots of practice,” Fluttershy said. “At first it was to mend Rainbow’s bags, she got them torn so often during flight school. When I ended up in Ponyville, I ended up using my talent for stitches.” To demonstrate, she lifted a hoof and had the needle orbit her foreleg. “Electrokinesis. My dad had the ability too, but he never had much skill in it outside pushing around storm clouds from a distance.”

“Can I try?” Twilight asked, making a grabbing gesture at the needle with her horn glowing.

“Um, sure?”

Twilight’s magic wrapped around the needle and tried pulling it. To her surprise, it barely moved, it was like trying to lift a steel brick stuck to a neodymium magnet. Fluttershy started sliding across the carpet before even moving the needle. “What’s with ponies being able to completely negate my magic these days?” she muttered.

“What?”

“Oh nothing.” She stood up. “Well, thanks for sharing Fluttershy. Rarity, off to the next pony.”

“Sounds great.”

Fluttershy led the mares to the door. After giving them each a hug and a promise to see each other soon, the unicorns left the cottage. The pegasus remained standing at the doorway, staring blankly. After a minute of silence, she slowly backed away.

She wiped her forehead. “Phew, that was close.”

Rarity’s hoof kicked the door open. “Hold on, that wasn’t what we came for!”

Fluttershy groaned, slouching. “Oh, no.”

The three mares were in the field behind the cottage. Surprisingly Fluttershy still kept her practice swords buried in a closet. The pegasus sighed underneath the face mask as she wrapped the hilt’s ribbon around her foreleg.

“Are you ready?” Twilight asked, levitating a small flag.

“Yes,” Rarity said, flourishing her weapon.

“If I have to,” Fluttershy responded.

“Then ...” The flag snapped down. “Go!”

Rarity levitated her sword in a low guard, squinting over the hilt at the pegasus. Fluttershy seemed mostly resigned, her own sword held vaguely forwards position. Quickly determining that Fluttershy had zero interest in making the first move, or any move really, she shuffled around in a circle. Fluttershy simply responded by turning with her.

Rarity frowned at Fluttershy’s complete lack of aggression. Then again, this wasn’t all that surprising. She lunged, then feinted to her other side. Her blade darted in an arc around Fluttershy’s guard.

“Eep!” the pegasus meeped, a hoof rising to protect her face. To Rarity’s surprise, despite the pegasus’s self imposed blindness, she still caught her strike. Another flurry of strikes were equally parried. Frustrated, she put all her weight into a heavy overhead swing.

Fluttershy skipped backwards, wings spread. A crackling energy filled the air, making Rarity’s every hair stand on end. Fluttershy blurred. A massive impact jolted through her magical grip, making her stumble onto her face.

As she pulled herself out of the dirt trench, she found her sword buried halfway up the blade.

“Oh dear, I didn’t expect to hit you that hard,” Fluttershy said, floating down to her side. “Are you alright?”

Rarity spat dirt out of mouth. “Again.”

The second time around, Rarity advanced much more cautiously. All of Fluttershy’s moves were mostly defensive in nature. Instead of quick, darting blows, Rarity just thrusted and prodded around Fluttershy’s guard. Despite sometimes not even keeping her eyes open, every swing was parried perfectly, though every step Fluttershy took was backwards. Rarity hummed in thought. What if she ...

Rarity ducked low and swept for the legs. Fluttershy eeped and hopped up. Her wings flared, and that buzzing static surged once more. Since Rarity wasn’t as close this time, she only felt a heavy pressure against her magical grip. Instead, Fluttershy seemed to defy gravity slowly arcing backwards. Then she tripped over a small mound and tumbled head over heels.

“You’re not ... terrible,” Rarity concluded, raising her face mask. “Awfully defensive, but I can see what you can do with it, even with my inexperience with a single blade. Was that Rainbow’s only issue?”

Fluttershy sighed as she picked herself up. “I think you misunderstood, I’m not just defensive. I, um, don’t attack. Like. At all. Every pony at the youth camps quickly figured out they could just prod me out of bounds. Like what you just did. I’m hopeless.”

Twilight scratched her chin. “I can see why Rainbow Dash finds that frustrating.”

“I refuse to accept your mediocrity.” Rarity narrowed her eyes. “We’ll make you a swordsmare yet.”

“Eep!”