Chapter 58
June 10th 12 A.B.
“With Summer Vacation starting in ten days, that means your time to sign up for summer programs is coming to a close! Come to the library during free period to sign up for a few before it’s too late!” the office clerk said over the school's P.A. system, sounding way too excited, as usual.
Spark flipped the page in his book, staying focused on his reading while everyone else ran around the classroom laughing and forming groups, talking about what they’re going to do during the summer.
“What about you Spark?!” one of his classmates asked as three of them stopped by his desk. “Next year is our last year of highschool! So this is the last summer for all of us, doing anything special?!”
With a sheepish smile, he looks at the three kids propped up on his desk as they stare at him expectantly. “Well, probably spend time at Viper Claw training for the tournament in December.”
“Boring!” one of them laughed as they moved onto another kid, asking them the same question.
He just shrugged as he went back to reading.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“Free period, come to the library guys!” the clerk exclaimed over the intercom as the bell rang for the period to start.
Spark walked down the hallway, ignoring all the kids around him as he headed for the gym, his favorite place to go be alone as the kids in there always ignore him as they play their sports games.
As he walked by a classroom, he saw fifteen colts and fillies sitting on desks laughing loudly, all of them wearing Wolverine Kamea jackets.
He quickly walked by, not wanting to be noticed by them right now. They’d made it most of the school year without clashing, so he didn’t want to ruin it now.
Making his way quickly towards the gym, he pushed open the double doors. A frown appeared on his face as he saw the bleachers were mostly packed, which was new, since most kids went outside during free periods.
The sound of lightning, perfectly timed for that moment, gave him his answer as to why they were here and not outside.
Sighing loudly, he walked to one of the bleachers and climbed up to the middle, finding an empty spot to set up camp to finish enjoying his book.
About five minutes of peace passed as he read and the kids in the gym went about their normal activities.
But the sounds of the doors blowing open loudly got everyone's attention as a colt ran into the middle of the gym in a panic, yelling for help as five colts chased after him. They were all wearing the jackets of Wolverine Kamae, bringing a frown to Spark’s face.
As the colt, who was one of the younger members of Viper Claw named Ezeria, ran for the other side of the gym, another Wolverine Kamae colt jumped from the bleachers and ran out to intercept him, knocking him down as he slammed into him.
The six colts surrounded him, yelling insults at him as they advanced inward on Ezeria as he curled up in a ball on the ground.
“Hey!” Spark yelled suddenly, startling everyone around him as he propelled himself from his seat and landed in the middle of the group, standing over Ezeria. “What are you guys doing?! He’s a middle schooler, you’re highschoolers!”
“Spark,” one of them scowled. “Step back, this little asshole insulted my mother.”
“How?” Spark asked, glaring back at the colt.
“I heard him laugh when I told the guys about my Mom's drinking problem!” he growled, the others agreeing with him.
“I told you, I was laughing at a joke Mango Loco told, not your Mom. I didn’t even hear you guys!” Ezeria exclaimed out from under Spark.
“Shut up!” one of the colts snapped.
“Move Spark, this has nothing to do with your little Dojo, this is between us and that runt,” the lead colt growled.
“Yeah, not going to do that,” Spark said evenly as he flared his wings and stood on his hindlegs.
“Oh no guys! He’s doing the thing!” one of them yelled in fake terror as they all started laughing.
“Back down,” Spark said calmly, heart pounding.
“No,” the lead colt said as one of them dashed towards Spark.
With amazing speed, Spark spun on the approaching kid and slammed a back leg forward, hitting the kid under the jaw and dropping him immediately.
The others all rushed forward at once after seeing this.
Dodging and weaving, he somewhat easily evaded all of their attacks as he danced through them, not attacking as he focused on defense. As he reached the outside of the group, he grabbed one of them by the tail and twisted his body hard, sending the kid flying away as Spark continued his spin and slammed a hoof into another colt's face.
One of them bucked him in the chest, but all he did was stagger back as he blocked another hit from a different kid. He threw an upper cut at one, but they blocked it as he used his wings to dive over the kid and land behind another, slamming his head into his back hard as he sent that kid flying into two others.
The lead colt ran into him and the two began to throw punches and kicks at each other, but neither landed a blow as they both blocked and deflected each other's attacks.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw one sprinting at him, so instead of blocking he grabbed the hoof of the lead colt and jerked him hard to the side, sending him tumbling into the charging colt.
While they where busy trying to get untangled, Spark propelled himself forward and slid under one of the other colts as he tried to move in on Ezeria. With a buck, he sent the kid high into the air.
Twisting his body and rolling hard to the side, he grabbed another kid as he tried to react to Spark’s sporadic movements, and with a roar, threw him upwards as hard as he could. This caused the two kids he’d knocked into the air to collide with a loud thud, causing both of them to fly a bit higher.
“Whoa…” one of the colts muttered as he looked up, not seeing Spark slam into his side and grab hold of him by his mane and tail. With a scream, he too was thrown up after the two now falling colts.
The third one slammed into them, sending all three flying away from each other like a bowling ball hitting pits. As they fell to the ground, he rushed forward and jumped into the air, slamming a knee into the lead colt as he slowly stood, knocking him out as he landed on the other side of them.
The last colt, who was now trapped under the lead colt, looked around in a panic, then went limp, playing dead.
Breathing heavily, Spark looked around, seeing he’d taken out all six of them.
“Holy Celestia, Spark…” Ezeria said in amazement as he sat there on the ground, eyes wide.
Spark just smiled sheepishly as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. His eyes and everyone else's in the gym snapped to the double doors where Mr. Bleak stood, a cup of coffee in his hoof as he stared wide eyed at the scene before him.
He looked like he was in shock as he blinked, then he shook his head and took a sip of coffee, “Erm, yes, good coffee.”
The gym doors burst open on the other side of the room as twenty Wolverine Kamae kids ran in, all yelling in anger.
“Enough!” Mr. Bleak roared, causing everyone to come to a stop. “Every single pony not wearing a Martial Arts jacket or not associated with a Dojo, leave now.”
As all the kids got up and quickly left from the bleachers, a few more teachers ran into the gym, having heard there was a fight. All they saw was Spark standing there with six groaning kids around him.
“Oh boy,” Spark muttered, already knowing his Mom would be called for this one.
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“Fighting in school?!” Twilight yelled as she paced in front of Spark as he sat there, twiddling his hooves. “Scamp promised me you would only partake in your Martial Arts in her Dojo! Not in school! SPARK, you have to think of your future! You can NOT be kicked out of school!”
“I know, Mom,” Spark said softly, looking at his Dad, who stood off to the side with an awkward look on his face. Kara the phoenix was hiding behind him as they watched Twilight yell at the poor kid.
She rubbed her face in annoyance as she paced in front of him, “that’s it. I told you I had a zero tolerance policy for this! No more Viper Claw!”
“No, Mom!” Spark yelled in a panic as he jumped up, eyes wide. “I was defending Ezeria! They were going to hurt him!”
“He’s in Viper Claw too!” She yelled back at him, “he should be able to defend himself! He shouldn’t need you to throw away your future for him!”
“Mom!” Spark yelled, but she cut him off.
“You’re lucky Mr. Bleak is the principal, otherwise you’d be expelled! In school suspension is a blessing to what you could have gotten!”
“Mom please!” He begged loudly, looking to his Dad for support, but Lance just grimaced in response. “Please! Sensei Scamp has helped me so much! I’m able to focus better at school, and I’m not as worried about getting hurt!”
She growled a bit as she stomped around some more, “Spark, you got into a FIGHT! At SCHOOL! I’m not going to let that slide! I do not want you anywhere near Viper Claw anymore!”
“Twilight,” Lance finally said, getting her glare directed to him. “This is the one and only fight he’s been in since he was a young colt, and from what Mr. Bleak told us, the other kids started it. Can’t we cut him some slack?”
“Cutting him some slack is exactly what causes this kind of behavior!” she roared, causing him to flinch away and Kara to fly to another room.
“I’m just saying, Scamp has been a good influence on him, somehow. Do you really want to take that away?”
She paced some more, mumbling to herself. After a Moment, she turned to Spark, “if I find out you got into another fight in school, then that’s it! Do you hear me?!”
“Yes, Mom,” he replied carefully. “Does this mean I can stay in Viper Claw?”
“For now!” she snapped, walking out of the room. “Just be safe!”
With Twilight gone, Lance and Spark let out sighs of relief and looked at each other.
“Six kids?” Lance asked, a proud look on his face.
“Yeah,” Spark said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
“By yourself, with no injuries? Spark, that’s amazing!” Lance said, beaming with pride.
Spark perked up, a wide smile on his face, “Thanks, Dad!”
Lance walked over to the door leading out of his room, glancing back at him, “tell Scamp thank you for me next time you see her.”
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“Come on, ya little fucker!” I growled as I tried to open the plastic case holding my food. I couldn’t seem to get my claw under the stupid lid to pop it open. With an annoyed groan, I slammed it down on my desk. “Screw it, I’ll starve!”
Shayla, who was currently climbing all over the walls of my office, suddenly jumped onto the desk and attacked the plastic container with her teeth. With a crunch and a pop, she ripped the lid free and jumped away with the top in her teeth, leaving the container for me.
“Shit, thanks, sweetie,” I chuckled as I pulled out a spoon and began to eat the contents as Shayla enjoyed her new toy while it lasted.
“Such a cute kid,” I heard a voice say from the doorway.
My head snapped up as I saw Vicar stepping into the room, a wide smile on his face.
I frowned as Shayla rolled onto all fours and growled up at him. “What do you want?”
He smiled at me as the pony named Psalm walked in, holding a squirming foal the same age as Shayla. “Two things, I think it's time you two meet my son, Domitor.”
This caused me to raise an eyebrow, “What? She was at least six months behind me with her pregnancy, how the hell is that kid that big?”
“Magic,” Vicar smirked. “Progressed the pregnancy along so that he was born the same day as your kid. So now they’re on par, as intended. Psalm, let Domitor down, now.”
The tired mare put the colt down and he stood up and pounced towards Shayla, the two squaring up as they growled at each other angrily.
“Bad idea,” I say as I get up and go around my desk, grabbing my daughter as she fights to get at the little colt. “My daughter is dangerous, she’ll shred that kid alive.”
“No she won’t,” Vicar chuckled as he gave the kid a kick, knocking him over, causing me to reach for the little colt. But the little guy just jumped back up and continued to growl at Shayla in my grasp. “Domitor is just as sturdy as her now. Isn't the magic of this land amazing?”
I frowned at him with a bit of anger behind my eye, “you’re kidding me, right? You did NOT pump this kid full of magic just to make them a rival to my daughter!”
“That’s exactly what I did,” Vicar said calmly as he reached out with a leg and dragged the small colt back to the mare. “Take him, now.”
She reached down and picked up the fighting colt as she left the room, leaving Vicar smiling at me.
“You’re sick and twisted,” I growled. “How could you do that to a foal!”
“He’s not hurt,” he laughed, “if anything, he’s better than he’d ever of been otherwise! Pony magic is just amazing!”
“Get out,” I snapped as my daughter hissed at him.
“Not yet, I still have more business with you, Dojo business,” he said, his smile never leaving his face. “Your student Spark just hurt six of my students, in school.”
“What’d your students do to provoke him?” I asked, my glare only intensifying.
“That doesn’t matter, but what does matter is your student broke the deal we made. No violence till the tournament. That deal is now off, I will no longer hold my students back. If they want to use your students as practice dummies, then I’m not going to stand in their way.”
“You act like my students are helpless,” I retort as Shayla fights against me hard, eyes locked on the tall stallion.
“I guess we’ll just find out, won’t we?” he chuckled as he stepped for the doorway. “We’ll have a rematch soon, ‘Sensei’ Scamp.”
I just cocked an eyebrow at him as he left, laughing like an asshole.
Shayla let out a scream of annoyance as she fought even harder against me, but I held on to her. Vicar was mine to deal with, even though my daughter could easily take him in my opinion.
As I heard the door slam shut, I dropped my daughter, allowing her to run through the office door and slam into the front door, screaming like a little psycho as she scratched at the magically reinforced window of the front door.
I let out a yell of my own, the frustration of the situation pissing me off more and more. Who does that to a kid?!
Returning to my desk, I plop down as I rub my face.
Shayla ran back in the room jumping into my lap and burying her head into my neck as she yawned. “Tired yourself out, huh?” I asked, relieved as it usually took her a lot longer to get sleepy.
Holding her with my paw and hoof, I rocked her to sleep as she snuggled into me.
My mind wondered as I sat there rocking my daughter to sleep.
Vicar was willing to do almost anything to one up me. What was his fucking problem?