Chapter 53
December 26th, 11 A.B.
“Good!” I yelled out as Spark performed an almost perfect kick and sweep, all from his hindlegs. The others were also making very similar progress, catching on faster than I thought they would.
“Thank you, Sensei!” Spark yelled out as he dripped with sweat as he kept repeating the same technique over and over again, trying to get it perfect.
I nod as I walk around the room, watching them all slowly go from sloppy to decent. Give them another month or two, and they could be ready to actually spar with one another.
“Ten more minutes, and then we’re moving to cardio!” I announced, getting hai’s from everyone as they pushed themselves harder.
A smile graced my face, I couldn’t say it out loud, but I was proud of this little shits. They’d really taken to learning recently. Could have something to do with some of their friends joining Wolverine Kamae, but I’m not sure.
As I stepped around a few colts who were trying to learn how to roll, I saw someone step into the Dojo.
“Welcome to Viper Claw!” I yelled as I weaved through the kids and stepped up in front of the newcomer. “Can I help you?”
The pony before me was a well dressed stallion with a well kept mane. He didn’t look like one of Vicar’s lackeys, so I didn’t come off as hostile right off the bat.
“Are you Sensei Scamp, owner of Viper Claw?” he asked, looking at a clipboard.
“That is me,” I said with a grin on my face.
“I am Long Haul, a representative of the Equestria Martial Arts Association,” he said as I nodded and held out a hoof, offering it for him to shake. He gave it a quick shake before continuing. “Are you aware you were supposed to contact us to register your Dojo before opening?”
My smile faded away at this, “oh, eh, no… I did not know that.”
“Ignorance of the rules is no excuse,” he said as he made a few notes. “Luckily for you, we’re a bit lenient when it comes to things like this. We just need all the paperwork filled out and then your Dojo’s mission statement. We’ll also need you to come to Fillydelphia to demonstrate your Martial Arts knowledge to the council. Then, we’ll give your Dojo an approval or disapproval.”
“That’s fucking dumb,” I say despite myself, but I go wide eyed as he frowned at me. “I mean, no problem! I’ll get right on it!” Then a thought hit me, “by the way, there’s another Dojo here in town, the-”
“Wolverine Kamae, yes, he’s the one who informed us of your unsanctioned Dojo. He did it the proper way and was approved before opening his doors,” Long Haul said as he stepped aside to reveal a large box of paper work. “Start with this, and bring it all with you when you come to Fillydelphia. The address is on the top sheet.”
“Yep, can do,” I said through gritted teeth as I stared at the large box of paper work.
“Till then, I’ll ask that you close your doors to students. Otherwise, we’ll have to take action against your Dojo,” he stated.
I narrowed my eye at him, “look here, you-”
“Sensei Scamp!” Spark yelled from behind me.
Taking a step back, I took a deep breath. “Alright. How long will this take?”
“It depends on you, as soon as you get the paperwork filled out and come to Fillydelphia, the sooner you can open your doors,” he said, frowning at my actions, but not commenting on them.
“Sweet, I’ll have this done in a day or so,” I say calmly, my twitching eye giving away my true feelings at this moment.
He seemed to want to say something, but chose not to as he put a sign up on the door and walked away.
Glancing at the sign, I saw it read ‘CLOSE TILL FURTHER NOTICE!’. “Prick,” I muttered, turning to the kids, who were all staring at me.
Looking at their faces, I relaxed my shoulders a bit. “Alright, here’s the plan. We’re closing for two days. In the meantime, I’m going to teach you all a few techniques I want you to practice over that time. Okay?”
“Hai!” they all shout, getting a smile out of me.
“Perfect! Line up, let’s do this quickly before the suit realizes we’re still training!”
ooo000<^>000ooo
I groaned as I sat at my desk in my study, paper work all around me. I’d spent the better part of the last eight hours filling it out as fast as I could, but there was just so much! I had to actually describe ALL of my credentials and experience that makes me capable of teaching Martial Art’s.
This is super fucking stupid!
“How goes it?” Mallogory asked as she leaned into my study.
“It goes,” I sighed as I put aside one of the papers and put another in front of me. “I’ll be done in the morning, and I’ll take a train to Fillydelphia. Then I’ll be back the next day and back to business.”
“That’s a lot to do in just two days… with no sleep,” she warned.
“I’ll sleep on the train ride to and from,” I assured her, writing furiously.
She made a sound of annoyance behind me, causing me to turn to look at her.
“Scamp, we’re supposed to give birth around January ninth! That’s barely two weeks away! You can’t be doing all this fighting and traveling!” she exploded, catching me off guard.
“Mallo,” I said carefully, racking my brain for the perfect response. “I’m going to be okay, the baby is fine. I just need to do this, for me. Please.”
Mallogory let out a ragged sigh and gave a single nod, “fine. But don’t forget you have to look out for not only yourself, but also our kid. Don’t do anything stupid… what am I saying, you’re going to do something stupid.”
She slammed her hand into her face, groaning.
I jumped up and flew to her, wrapping my legs around her chest. “I promise, I will not do anything stupid. Straight there and back, simple as that.”
“With you it’s never simple,” she remarked, but returned the hug, holding me tight.
“Isn’t that like the main draw of being with me?” I asked, snickering a bit.
She just nibbled on my ear in response as we swayed in the doorway, soothing music playing in my head.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“Ma’am? Your stop?” I heard someone above me say as they kicked at my back leg.
“Uh?” I asked as I sat up slowly, blinking around in confusion, momentarily forgetting where I was.
“Fillydelphia station, is this your stop?” the Ticketmaster said as he frowned at me.
Looking around, I realized I was the only one still in the train car. “Ah, yes, I kind of sleep hard sometimes…”
“Mhm,” he mumbled as he moved on, leaving me by myself.
Sliding out of my makeshift bed, I quickly repacked all my stuff into my duffel bag and slung it over my shoulder, laying it across my back. Pulling the straps down to secure it in place, I quickly walked for the exit.
Stepping off of the train, I found myself in an overly dull city. Nothing like Manehatten, and definitely nothing like New Ponyville.
Pulling out the slip of paper, I looked around, seeing a few taxi’s waiting by the train station.
With a bit of work, navigating the large crowd while both pregnant and carrying a heavy bag, I made my way to the nearest taxi.
Sliding into the back seat I held up the address for the driver, who just gave a nod and put the car in drive.
As we pulled out into traffic, I pulled my phone out, seeing I had a text from Lance. He was asking how the trip was going. I shot back a simple text saying good, then saw I had a missed call from an unknown number.
Eyeing it suspiciously, I hit it and placed the phone to my ear.
It rang twice before someone picked up.
“How’s Fillydelphia?” a familiar suave voice asked, his smile clear through the phone.
“Vicar,” I simply said back, frowning. “I don’t know what the point of snitching on me was, but it’s not going to shut down my Dojo. This is just an inconvenience, nothing more.”
“The point wasn’t to shut you down,” he chuckled. “I’m trying to help you. There is a tournament coming up at the end of next year, the Equine Championship Tournament. It’s only open to sanctioned Dojo’s, and you wouldn’t have been allowed to join in your current state.”
I laughed a bit at this. “If you think I’d put any of my students in a tournament after only a year of training, you’re sorely mistaken. The point of Viper Claw is to learn to defend oneself, not win tournaments under strict rules.”
“Sounds like you’re just afraid of your students facing a real challenge,” he replied in a snarky tone.
“That’s not going to convince me, just so you know,” I chuckled as I started to hang up.
“Want to make it interesting then?” he suddenly said, a smug tone to his voice.
“Nope,” I said as I hit the off button and blocked his number.
A content smirk fell on my face as I relaxed back and looked out the window.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“Ah! Mrs. Scamp! We weren’t expecting to see you for at least a week!” a well dressed pony exclaimed as he walked towards me as I stood at reception.
“Oh, yeah, I kinda work fast,” I chuckled nervously as I held out my hoof for him.
He took my hoof and shook it hard, smiling widely at me. “Not to sound weird, but we all actually have been excited to meet you!”
“You have?” I asked, an anxious smile on my face.
“Yes! Ever since the Princesses made the announcement regarding that whole Watcher event, you and your friends have become kind of local heroes here at the Equestrian Martial Arts Association! We have all the news reports and interviews in our main conference room!”
“I’m… honored?” I said, very caught off guard by this sudden reveal.
I knew I should have turned down that interview with that magazine…
At least Lance didn’t write a book this time.
… I should probably make sure he’s not currently writing a book.
The stallion quickly began to wave for me to follow him, clearly excited.
He led me to a rather large room with a crescent shaped table on one side with all kinds of ponies sitting around it.
Upon stepping into the room, they all stood and stared at me, excited looks on their faces.
“One of the hero’s of Equestria!” a mare exclaimed, looking like a filly meeting her hero despite being decently old herself.
“Did Greg come with you?” one asked expectantly.
As they laid their questions and praise on me, I just kind of awkwardly smiled at them as I stepped into the middle of the room, standing before the long table.
Once they finally stopped pelting me with questions, I cleared my throat.
“I’m sorry, I’m not really up to… talking about any of that,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. “I kind of just want to get my Dojo back up and running.”
“Of course! That is why you traveled all the way here!” the one at the center of the table said as he sat down, followed by a few others. “Did you bring the paper work?”
“Yep!” I exclaimed as I walked forward and opened my pocket dimension. I then began to pull out stacks up on stacks of paper, placing it down on their table. Once I finished, I returned to my previous position.
“Excellent!” the head pony laughed as he nodded to the stacks of paper, causing a few other ponies to move forward and start picking it up.
As they worked, he smiled at me. “Now, if you don’t mind, could you explain your Dojo to us? And show us a little bit of what you teach?”
I let out a sigh, as this was the hard part. “Sure…”
ooo000<^>000ooo
I stood up shakily, sweat dripping down my face as I stared at the table of ponies as they leaned towards each other, speaking quietly about the display of skill I’d just demonstrated.
They’d seemed impressed, also confused as I explained everything and showed off a few techniques I’d come up with.
The way they kept looking at me didn’t help how I was feeling either.
Finally, the head pony looked at me, clearing his throat, “Mrs. Scamp, exactly what style of Martial Arts are you using? Because we do not recognize it as any of the current styles in Equestria.”
“It’s Viper Claw,” I state firmly. “It’s my own style. I created it myself by combining everything I’ve learned into one fighting style.”
“Creating a new Martial Art usually ends in disaster,” one of them said. “Does yours have enough substance to hold up to other, more thought out, styles?”
I took a deep breath, trying not to go off on them. “I stand behind my style with my entire being. It’s been developed over the years through both war and many fights. Without it, I would have died during my first fight on the Eternal Plains.”
“But can it be taught to others?”
“Yes!” I snap loudly, but reel myself in quickly. “Viper Claw is a style you need to see in action. Nothing I do here will be enough to satisfy you or your questions.”
They all seemed to consider this as they went back to talking amongst themselves.
“Okay, Mrs. Scamp, we have a proposal,” the head pony began. “You’ve missed this year's event unfortunately, but that just gives you time to prepare. Every year, we host a nationwide event called ‘Equine Championship Tournament’. It allows all the Dojo’s of this great land to come together and demonstrate their knowledge of the Martial Arts.” He smiles proudly as he continues, “so here’s the proposal; we will allow your Dojo to stay open, as long as you enter the tournament at the end of this next year. We aren’t asking you to win, just impress us. After that, we’ll give your Dojo our seal of approval and recognize Viper Claw as its own unique style.”
An annoyed scowl played across my face, “If I disagree?”
He raised an eyebrow, looking a bit confused, “then we’ll have to close this topic and revisit it after a year. Meaning you’ll have to wait till then before trying to get your Dojo open again.”
“Alright,” I say, rubbing my face. “I’ll agree to these terms.”
“Excellent!” he said as he stood up and walked around the long table, coming up to me and hold out a hoof. “We look forward to seeing what Viper Claw can do!”
“Thank you,” I replied, shaking his hoof roughly. “So I can open it up as soon as I get back?”
“Yes, ma’am!” he exclaimed, a wide smile on his face.
I gave a nod and spun on my hooves, heading for the door, not up to engaging in anymore conversations.
As I exited the building, my phone dinged as I got a text. Pulling it out, I frowned.
From an unknown number; ‘Good work on getting reinstated, be seeing you at the tournament!’.
That can only be from one pony. Prick.
Putting the phone away, I looked around for a taxi, ready to just get home at this point.