Chapter 57
June 3rd 12 A.B.
“Strike!” I yelled, followed by the class all throwing a punch with their right hoof. “Strike!” They all threw a left hoof, yelling as they did so.
I kept yelling commands as I watched them perform them perfectly, all while standing on their hindlegs. We’d made a LOT of progress over the last five months, and that’s just with the normal students. Spark has really come into his own! Not ready for anything serious, but I’m confident he could actually defend himself.
Luckily, the shits at Wolverine Kamae have held back on their bullying, thanks to an agreement I made with Vicar. No fighting till the tournament. Honestly, I’m surprised he’s upheld his end of the deal. I haven’t seen him in person since January.
As I yelled commands, I watched my daughter hop around the edge of the mat, sniffing at random objects and jumping on other things as she enjoyed herself.
A little smile played on my face as I watched her.
“Enough!” I finally yell, causing everyone to go back to standing at attention. “Looking good, everyone! Pair up and spar!” I clapped my hooves, causing all of them to bow and begin moving towards one another as they prepared to spar.
I walked towards my daughter as she chewed on a discarded hoof mitt. “Enjoying yourself?”
She hissed at me as she made a run for it, not wanting to be bothered as she played.
Returning to my students, I watched as they all went back and forth, taking turns blocking and attacking.
Spark was the only one who was performing all kinds of movements, moving like an expert as he dodged and weaved his opponents attacks, followed by him catching them off guard and slamming them to the mat.
“Damn, Spark!” Lightening yelped as Spark helped him back up. “Those private lessons are making you a monster to fight!”
“Oh, thanks, Light,” Spark said sheepishly as he resumed his fighting stance.
The other students weren’t on his level yet, but they were catching up. I think we’ll actually be ready for this tournament at this rate!
“Ah shit! Sensei!” I heard a colt yell from behind me. Turning, I saw Shayla had him cornered as she wagged her tail as she growled at him.
“Shayla, what have I told you, no terrorizing my students because you think its funny!” I yelled as I rushed over and caught her as she jumped for the poor colt.
He sighed in relief and ran back to his sparing partner.
Shayla just looked overjoyed with herself as she giggled happily.
“You’re a little monster,” I said as I held her at eye level, my nose touching hers.
She just clamped down on my snout in response, but did not bite down hard enough to hurt me.
“Very cute,” I remarked as I pulled her off of my snout and put her back down. “Now go play, without hurting others.”
With a shake of her tail she lunged forward, tackling one of her stuffed animals and began to roll around with it, biting and clawing at it like a rabid animal.
“Fuck I love her,” I muttered with a smile on my face as I turn and resume watching over the sparring session.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“Spark, I got a favor to ask,” I say as I step up to Spark as he packed his bag with his sparing gear.
“Yes, Sensei Scamp!” he said as he jumped up and bowed to me.
“It’s not Dojo related, it’s Godfather relented,” I chuckled as he relaxed a bit. “Mallogory and I are heading out for a date night with Adry and Mr. Bleak. I was wondering if you could watch Shayla.”
He looked over at her as she shredded a poor stuffed bunny. “Um… is that a good idea?”
“Sure, she’s a hoof full,” I say, looking back at her, “but I think you can manage. Just sit her down in front of the TV while you make dinner for you two, let her enjoy some DBZ then put her to bed. Simple night. Doable?”
He thought about it for a moment, then gave a nod, “I can do it.”
“Sweet! Come to my house right after you go home to tell your parents,” I say as I walk towards my daughter and pick her up as she continues to murder the stuffed bunny.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Spark stepped up to Mallogory’s and Scamp’s house and knocked on the door. Almost instantly it opened to reveal a very well dressed Scamp as she adjusted some earrings.
“Right on time!” she said as she ushered in him.
He stepped into the house, which was a mess with destroyed toys and drawings all over the walls.
“Sorry about the mess,” Scamp said as she rushed around, picking up a few things. “Shayla is a messy filly sometimes. Just really enjoys tearing into shit, ya know?”
“Uh… yeah,” Spark said, looking around unsure if this was a good idea or not now. “Where is she?”
“Shayla?” Scamp asked as Mallogory came out of the back, equally as dressed up. “She’s around her somewhere, right, Mallo?”
“Yeah, I saw her earlier crawling around,” she said as she moved for the door quickly. “Thank you SO much, Spark! You’re a lifesaver!”
“Yes, thank you, Spark!” Scamp said, forcing him to shake her hoof. “I owe you for this.”
“Eh… no problem guys…” he said as they quickly left the house, leaving him and Shayla alone. Where ever she was.
“Erm, Shayla, where are you?” he yelled out, expecting to hear something in response, but the house was dead silent.
An eerie feeling fell over him as he walked through the house carefully, looking in each room for her. But he couldn’t find her. Then, as he walked down the dark hallway to the very end where the master bedroom was, he heard something behind him.
Turning around, he barely saw the end of her tail run into the living room.
“Hey, Shayla, it’s me, Spark! You know, your Godfather?” he yelled as he walked back into the living room, but didn’t see her. He walked into the middle of the room, a little scared at this point of being jump scared.
He heard the sounds of scratching, and turned around as he saw her zoom across the wall like a lizard as she ran around the corner of the wall and skittered along the wall down the hallway to her bedroom, the door slamming behind her.
“Oh shit…” he muttered, a bit terrified after seeing that.
Very carefully, he walked down the hall and pushed open her door, finding an absolutely destroyed room filled with shredded toys and a shredded bed. The crib was just a wreck on the floor at this point.
“Geez,” he said softly, stepping into the room. “Shayla, want dinner? I’ll turn on Dragon Ball Z for ya.”
Something moved somewhere in the room, but with the mess he couldn’t pinpoint it. His heart rate increased as he scanned the room carefully.
Then something breathed on his neck, causing him to turn around quickly, only to come face to face with Shayla as she stood on her dresser on her hindlegs, arms held out to her side like she was posing. Her mane had been colored yellow with some kind of spray paint, and she had crazy eyes.
She began screaming like a maniac, tensing up as she did so. It looked like she was reenacting her favorite character from her TV show as she screamed at a head splitting volume.
Spark held his ears as she screamed, then she stopped suddenly as she jumped forward and slammed a back leg into his face, sending him tumbling back into the mess behind him.
He landed roughly as she sprinted towards him, jumping into the air as she screamed a battle cry. Spark could only scream in response as she landed on him.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“The house is still standing, so that’s a good sign,” I said as we walked back towards the house, five hours later.
“I’m sure they got along just fine, after the initial trial by fire,” Mallogory snickered as we stepped up to the front door.
Unlocking the door, I pushed it open and stepped inside. “Have fun you two?”
Spark sat on the couch, covered in paint and glitter, holding his legs to himself as Shayla sat on the floor in front of him, wearing her little Super Saiyan outfit I made her. Somehow she colored her mane yellow, that’ll be wonderful trying to fix later.
DBZ was playing at full blast on the TV as she stared at it in awe, a bowl of oatmeal in front of her with her chewing on the spoon absentmindedly.
“Ah Spark, you used the good silverware. You gotta use the ones labeled ‘Shayla’ otherwise she’ll just eat it,” Mallogory said as she took the spoon from Shayla and went to the kitchen to get one of hers.
“I was not in control…” Spark muttered, looking shell shocked.
“Yeah, she’s a little hoof full, isn’t she?” I laughed, watching my daughter stand up and start screaming just like the character on the TV was doing. “YEP! LITTLE HOOF FULL!”
“You lied to me,” Spark said, rocking back and forth. “You said it wouldn’t be that bad. You said she WASN’T a hoof full…”
“Did I? Oops, sorry, Kid,” I chuckled, sitting down on the messy couch with him as Mallogory returned with a spoon made for Shayla and shoved it into the oatmeal.
Shayla fell back on her flank and began to messily eat the oatmeal as she kept her eyes on the TV.
“She’s a monster…” he muttered, getting a laugh out of us.
“She’s our little monster,” I chuckled, reaching out with my back hoof and rubbing her back.
Shayla turned to us and blinked a few times. “Spark!”
I sat up, eye wide in shock, then I groaned, “You’re fucking kidding me! Her first word is spark?! Not mommy?! That’s bullshit!”
Acting like she knew exactly what she did, she turned back to the TV, going back to a blank stare as she sat there unmoving.
“She’s a little asshole,” Mallogory said with a smile. “So she really is our daughter.”
“She was supposed to say mommy first,” I muttered as I sat back next to the shell-shocked Spark.
The TV show switched to commercial break, causing Shayla to jump up and slither away as she disappeared into the hallway.
“There she goes,” I chuckle as I get up and start cleaning up the food she left behind.
“Nothing good happens during a commercial break…” Spark muttered, like he’d seen some horrors.
“She just likes to play, Spark,” I say as I go to the kitchen and start washing out the bowl. “Just don’t let her out of the house.”
“She got out for an hour at one point…” he said, hugging himself harder.
“She what?!” I screamed as I ran for her bedroom.
“Spark! You weren’t supposed to let her out!” Mallogory said in a panic.
“OH MY FUCK!” I yelped as I entered her room to find at least twenty dead critters all over the floor. Squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, two ducks, and another cat.
Shayla just smiled up at me proudly as she stood in the middle of her trophies, chewing on the leg of a rabbit.
“Oh shit!” Mallogory said from behind me as she saw the mess. “That’s a lot more than usual.”
“Fluttershy is going to kill us,” I say as I reach down and try to take the leg from her, but she growls and fights me for it.
I lift the leg into the air as she holds onto it with her mouth, giving me a death glare. “What do we do here?”
“Restrain her in the living room, I’ll clean this up,” Mallogory said as I began to walk down the hall with her still hanging onto the rabbit's leg.
“Spark, get the little purple sleeping bag over there, and put her in it,” I said carefully, keeping my eyes locked to hers.
“Uh…” he said, looking lost.
“Spark, this is urgent. Your Sensei needs you,” I say as my daughter starts to look around. I give her a little shake, causing her eyes to snap back to me. “Yeah, that’s right, keep those eyes locked on mommy.”
Thankfully, Spark came up behind her and slid the sleeping bag up her and zipped it closed, leaving only her face exposed. I sat her down in front of the TV and held her nose, causing her to let go of the rabbit's leg.
She began to thrash about in the sleeping bag, but the commercial came to an end, the angry man coming back on the screen, causing her to stop fighting and return her attention to the screen.
“Is this… child abuse?” Spark asked as he watched me start cleaning up the living room.
“Spark, one day you’ll have kids and you’ll understand,” I chuckled, putting shredded toys into a trash bag. “And trust me, this is not child abuse. She’s happy right now, aren’t ya, Shayla.”
She grunted in response, a happy glazed over stare on her face as she watched her TV show.
“See? Happy foal,” I laughed as I got another trash bag.
“There’s so many dead creatures in here!” Mallogory yelled from the nursery.
I just kind of smiled at Spark as he looked a bit scared. “You good though?”
“No, I’ll never be good again,” he replied evenly. “This was the scariest night of my life, and I’ve been kidnapped before. TWICE!”
“But you did awesome!” I say, giving him a thumbs up. “Well, other than letting her run rampant around the town for an hour. But other than that, you did good!”
“I don’t think I could do this again,” he admitted as he stepped towards the door.
“Spark!” Shayla screamed, laughing as she did.
“Come on,” I groaned. “Spark is harder to say than mommy! I’d take mama! Come on, sweetie!”
“SPARK!” she squealed, laughing like a little psycho.
“Bullshit,” I muttered, then looked at Spark. “Well, you’re kind of stuck now. Can you really abandon her and never watch her again? Look at that cute little face.”
We both looked at her as she gave us a toothy grin with crazy eyes.
“... I think I’ll manage,” Spark said with a shudder as he took another step for the door.
“All jokes aside, thank you, Spark,” I say, walking over and giving him a quick hug. “I know I tricked you somewhat, but Mallo and I really needed this night out. So, I really do owe you big time, kid.”
“I’ll make sure to collect that when I need it,” he said as he opened the door, giving me a half smile. “I guess if I’m being honest, it wasn’t that bad.”
“Spark!” she yelled from behind us, followed by the most demonic laugh I’ve ever heard.
“I want you to know you have the most terrifying kid I’ve ever seen,” he said, causing me to laugh.
“Trust me, I know, and I love her for it!”
He smiles and turns to leave, taking to the air quickly.
Closing the door, I cross my legs as I look at the little hellion laying on the floor. “Did you have to torture the nice kid?”
She just giggled in response and went back to staring at the TV.
“Of course you did,” I sigh as I walk to the nursery to find Mallogory filling up another bag of animal parts.
“Do you ever wonder if we’re raising a future psychopathic murder?” she asks as she puts another squirrel's head into the bag.
“I mean, have you met her mothers?” I asked, a sly smile on my face.
She chuckles at this. “To be fair, most Kejtdra kids are a bit violent in their younger years, so this is pretty normal. To an extent. We’ll just have to keep steering her in the right direction.”
“That I can do,” I say as I hear the sound of a garbage can being knocked over.
My eye widens as I sprint down the hallway, “Shayla no!”