Living The Dream

by Kickass222urmom

Infiltrate

“No!” I yelp as I shift and wake myself up, trying to set up as I awake from a nightmare. But I find myself unable to move too much, like I was restrained.

“Let me out!” I growled, eye shooting open as I fought against whatever was holding me down, panic taking over as I fought as hard as I could.

“Ma’am, calm down!” a mare yelled as she rushed to me, putting something cold and wet on my face. Which only caused me to panic and fight more.

“SCAMP!” I heard the most wonderful voice ever call out as Mallogory appeared over me, looking down with relief filled eyes.

“Mallo,” I said, seizing my thrashing as I stared into her eyes.

“That’s better,” the mare muttered as she ran her hooves over me.

“Where am I?” I asked her as she reached down and stroked my cheek gently.

“The hospital. You were stupid last night and got hurt attacking Wolverine Kamae,” she said, frowning a bit.

“I did?” I asked, thinking hard, but coming up with nothing. “I don’t remember doing that…” 

“What is the last thing you remember?” the mare who I now know is a nurse asked.

“Uh…” I began, thinking hard. “I just got home from taking the kids to the movies to talk about the school fight yesterday. I laid down and now I’m here.”

“No, that was three days ago,” Mallogory said with worry as she looked at the nurse.

“She’s suffered some serious head injuries. So short term memory loss is actually not that unexpected. It could have been worse. So much worse,” the nurse said as she swapped my IV’s around a bit. “The Doctor was sure she’d be in a coma for a bit, so her waking up right now is a miracle.”

“Scamp’s a tough mare,” Mallogory said, continuing to stroke my face, bringing great comfort to me.

“I attacked Wolverine Kamae?” I asked, not sure why I’d do that.

“Yes,” she answered as the nurse left the room. “I spoke with Spark to get the full story. Apparently they attacked two of your students and you went after them. And for some reason, you threw reason out the window and attacked them!”

I winced as she snapped at me, but she composed herself. “I’m sorry. I’m just… stressed. I haven’t told Shayla yet, and I don’t know if I can.”

“Don’t, let Doc get here and heal me, then we’ll act like this didn’t happen,” I say, but she just frowned at me.

“We can’t act like this never happened. Doc said you should wait a day or more to make sure everything is in place before he heals you. That way you don’t walk away with permanent damage from this. And,” she leans down, glaring, “this rivalry is over. You’ve proven you can’t keep a calm head with them, so we’re done. Vicar has filed a restraining order against you, meaning you can’t go near his Dojo or him.”

“But-” I began, but she cut me off.

“Just please say you agree, for me. For Shayla,” she says, giving me a sad pleading look.

I slump in bed, only able to nod in agreement. She smiles sadly and sits down next to the bed.

All I could do now was stare at the ceiling, confused. This made no sense. I’d never just attack them like she said I did. I’d go talk to them, but not attack them. I’m not that stupid and hot headed! Aren’t I?

First things first though, I need to get better and see if I can recover my lost memories. I have to see them before I can believe I’d do something like that.

Looking at Mallogory, I frowned. She had her eyes closed and was sitting there, looking upset. But as I stared at her, I could faintly see something trailing up from her head. Like black smoke that was so faint, I couldn’t tell if it was actually there.

Something’s going on here. I can feel it. My instincts are usually right on things like this, and right now they were telling me Mallogory was lying to me. But, she wouldn’t do that…

Unless…

Staring at the barely visible black smoke, I gritted my teeth.

Someone did something to her, and something happened to me. Now I just had to figure this out, and I knew where to start.

Vicar.

“I got you, Sensei Scamp!” Spark exclaimed as he helped me stand up from the wheelchair.

“Stop, Spark,” I said as I stood up on my own, my body stiff and still in intense pain. Doc had, against his own wishes, healed me to full. But since I wasn’t apparently ready to be healed, my brain didn’t heal back to normal. So my memories did not recover like I’d hoped they would. Doc confirmed it was due to slight brain damage and not magical interference.

Other than that, I should be good to go.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You’re wincing as you walk,” he said in concern.

“Yeah, Doc warned me I’d be in pain still after what he did. I should've waited another day, but we don’t have time for that,” I say as I force myself to walk down the street, leaving the hospital behind.

“What’d Mallogory say about this?” he asked as he followed after me.

“She doesn’t know right now,” I say, causing him to groan. “Did you get Nose Ring like I asked?”

“Yeah, she’s at the Dojo,” he said, frowning at me.

“Prefect,” I mutter, wincing as I pull out my phone and check my text, seeing that Moxxie had indeed done what I’d requested. “It’s all coming together.”

“Holy fuck, Scamp,” Moxxie exclaimed as she saw me. Even though Doc healed my broken body, he left the bruises and cuts, as he said those should heal on their own since healing too much at once could hurt me. I don’t know how, but he’s the magical Yeti with healing magic, so I’ll just listen to him.

“I know, I look terrible,” I say as I see Nose Ring and Kelmoon standing behind her in the middle of the Dojo.

Kelmoon caught me by surprise, as she had changed her mane style. By a lot. She used to have her mane brushed down to hide her birthmark, but now she’d dyed it purple and shaved the sides down pretty short. The rest of her mane was swept back into a messy mullet style. Her birthmark was now on display as a prominent feature of her face, but her confident smile showed her true feelings.

Honestly, she looked bad ass. 

“Yeah, that’s my girl!” I exclaimed, getting a blush out of her as she stood tall.

“Sensei Scamp?” Nose Ring asked, looking confused. “Why did you want me to be here?”

“I need a big favor,” I say, taking the device that Moxxie held and stepping up to her.

“Eh, I can try and help,” she said slowly.

“I need to get into Wolverine Kamae myself and find out what happened, but I can’t just walk in there,” I say, holding up the device. “I had Moxxie go to the Eternal Plains and get this item. Its a body swapper.”

Nose Ring’s eyes widened.

“If you’ll agree to it, I need to swap bodies with you so I can infiltrate them. What do you say?”

She blinked dumbly at me, then grimaced, “I don’t know…”

“Nose Ring,” I say as I kneel in front of her. “It has to be you. You’re the oldest filly, and there’s no way I’m swapping bodies with any of the colts.”

She still looked unsure, causing me to sigh.

“Please. Something bad has happened, I think. And I have to find out what. The only way to do that is to go to the place it happened and talk with the witnesses,” I say, begging her.

“Sensei Scamp…” she says, looking at Spark, then back to me. “Okay.”

“Thank you, Lilly,” I say, causing her to smile. Turning to Moxxie, I smile, “got that pain killing bracelet thing you told me about?”

“Yep,” she said as she tossed it to me. I caught the little bracelet with a rune on it. Sliding it up my leg, the pain in my body fell away instantly. 

“Oh that’s amazing… I should wear this all the time,” I mumble, relieved the pain was gone.

“Eh, yeah, there’s a drawback. If you wear it more than twenty four hours it’ll cause you to become addicted to it, so we should only wear it for now,” she warned as she crossed her arms.

I frown, but shrug. I just need this so Nose Ring doesn’t feel all this shitty pain while in my body. 

“Fair warning, Nose Ring, being me is weird, so don’t freak out,” I say, causing her smile to waver a bit.

I flicked the nose ring as I walked, frowning a bit. I remember when I was young and all about jewelry like this. Nowadays it seems like it’d just get in the way of everything.

Looking forward, I couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle; I’d forgotten what it was like to have two eyes and four natural legs. 

The Wolverine Kamae Dojo was just ahead and I could tell they were open. Ever since the school fight they’ve been holding classes from mid afternoon to late at night.

Upon reaching the door, I took a deep breath, not sure if I’m actually capable of pulling this off. But pushing those doubts aside, I stepped through the door.

The sight that greeted me was not what I expected; some of the walls had large holes in them and a lot of the equipment was smashed. All the teachers were walking around covered in injuries, some more severe than others.  

I guess I at least did a real number on all of them.

“Viper Claw!” A student yelled out, causing all their heads to snap to me.

I knew this would happen and I still don’t know how to react. “Eh…”

“Hold the hostilities,” Vicar called out as he walked out of one of the ground floor offices. “I told you all we’d start seeing Viper Claw members showing up after what happened to their Sensei.

“Uh… yeah, that’s why I’m here,” I said slowly, all eyes staring daggers at me. “I want to join your Dojo.”

He laughs loudly at this followed by everyone else.

“Did you Sensei not live up to your expectations?” One of the teachers asked with a sneering laugh.

“Erm, no, I want to be on the winning team,” I say lamely.

“We’ll see,” Vicar said evenly. “Everyone, give her a chance. If she’s Wolverine Kamae material, then she’ll prove it.”

I forced myself to bow with respect towards him.

“Excellent. Ollie, this newcomer is joining your group today. Don’t go easy on her.”

The mare smiled through broken teeth, “on it, sir.”

As we were dismissed to take a break, I was the only one not out of breath. I’ll give Nose Ring this, she’s kept up her cardio outside of class. She’s in almost as good of shape as I am, and that’s just downright impressive.

As I stepped over to a water fountain and took a few large gulps, a few fillies stepped up to me. Shit.

I turned to them, ready for anything.

“I’m so happy you finally joined us, Lilly!” The lead filly said, a wide smile on her face. “We can all be friends again!”

I however did not expect this.

“Oh, er… you know me,” I say, watching their reactions. “Just took me some time to realize I was in the wrong Dojo.”

“You gotta show us how to fight on our hindlegs!” One of them exclaimed, looking excited.

“I can try,” I say as I look around. These fillies might be my best bet. “So… what actually happened here?”

“You mean when that crazy mare was here?” The lead filly asked, getting a nod from me. The filly smiles and leaned forward, whispering, “we’re not supposed to talk about it, but it was the most epic fight I’ve ever seen!”

“Yeah!” Another one whispered, “that other Sensei came in here and demanded we stop attacking them, but our Head Sensei put his hoof down and had the teachers attack her!”

“It was amazing!” A different filly exclaimed in a low tone, “Sensei Scamp was fighting everyone at once and was winning! But then the Head Sensei joined the fight and had one of the other teachers start using some kind of magic that allowed him to teleport! She didn’t stand a chance after that!”

“What do you mean teleport?” I pressed.

“Sensei Bombee, the Earth pony over there, she has an awesome special talent apparently! She can teleport or help others teleport! It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Do the other teachers have talents like that?” I asked, causing all of them to beam with wide smiles.

“That’s a lot of specific questions you got there,” one of the teachers, Ulystee, suddenly said from behind the fillies. They immediately walked away, leaving just the two of us. “Come on.”

He led me to Vicar’s office, pointing for me to wait outside it. 

I frowned as I stood there. There’s a possibility I’ve already been caught or at least got suspicion cast onto myself more than it already was.

But those fillies said an Earth pony was able to use magic that allowed others to teleport. That sounds like Ego, not pony magic…

“Enter,” Ulystee said as he left the office and went down the stairs.

Stepping in, I was greeted by Vicar as he stood looking out one of his windows overlooking the Training Hall.

“I heard you’re asking questions about the attack on my Dojo,” he said without looking at me.

“Yeah, I’m curious,” I said simply, trying not to have an attitude with him.

“As one would be,” he said, turning to me. “I’m assuming you’ve been told the truth by my students, so I’m not going to hide it. The police believe your old Sensei attacked us, but it was the opposite.”

My eye twitched, which he noticed.

“Ah, that angers you? Are you really here to join us? Or has Scamp sent you as a spy?”

“A spy,” I say suddenly, catching him off guard. “That was her intention at least, but all my friends are here, and your teachers actually work us to do better.”

He looked me over, trying to read me. “Hmmm.”

“Look, believe me or not, that’s just the simple truth,” I state.

“Okay then,” he said, stepping up to me. “Then tell me what she hoped to gain by sending you here?”

“She’s lost her memory of the last few days so she wanted me to find out what actually happened,” I reply, causing him to rub his chin.

“Well, you want to prove yourself?” He asked, getting a nod from me. “Then take this video to her and convince her it’s the true events.”

He produced a flash drive and held it out to me.

“What is the video?” I asked.

He smirked at me, “one of my men can shapeshift. So we did a little reenactment for the police.” 

This caused my eyes to widen. 

“Deliver this and convince her it’s true, and you’ll be a true Wolverine Kamae member,” he said, a charming smile on his face.

I slowly took it from him, “alright, I will.”

“Good girl. Now get to it,” he said, spiny back to his desk.

Bowing, I quickly left the office and then the Dojo itself. Once outside I took off galloping towards my Dojo.

He just revealed that all to me? What is his game here?!

“Was that really wise? Revealing that to her?” Bombee said as she appeared next to Vicar.

“I have this handled, Ghala. Now stay in your lane,” he growled, taking off his sunglasses and rubbing his eyes.

“Sir,” she replied and flashed away.

Vicar stepped up to his window, his reflection staring back at him. “This form is tiring…”

Pressing a button, the windows dimmed as they became one way mirrors and the door locked.

Pulling out a rune, he spoke a few words and his body flashed as he returned to his normal form.

I frowned as the video ended, as it showed exactly what they said. If they hadn’t revealed the truth to me, I’d have probably believed this. My movements looked off, but it was convincing enough.

Nose Ring and Spark looked at me, wide eyed.

“Okay, things are about to get rough,” I say to them. “Nose Ring, you’re staying in Wolverine Kamae for now.”

“What?!” She yelped.

“It’s the only way,” I say as I tap my head. “We’re going inside my mind later so we can review what happened today so you are convincing when you’re there on your own.”

“But I don’t want to go there!” She exclaimed, looking panicked.

“I know,” I said solemnly. “But I can’t do it myself. Vicar is smart, he’ll probably realize it’s me inside of your body. So it has to be you. This is asking a lot, and you can say no, but I’m begging you.”

She bit her lip, but nodded slowly, “I’ll try.”

I sighed in relief, “thank you.”

Spark also looked unsure as he rubbed his neck, “is this really a good idea?”

“No, but it’s the best I can do. I can go to the police but it’ll be my word against his. Plus memories aren’t accepted as evidence in most cases as it can be manipulated with magic.”

“I don’t like this,” he muttered.

“Me neither,” I say, slapping his back. “But buck up, kid. As long as your Mom doesn’t find out about you helping at the Dojo, and Nose Ring here keeps her cover, everything will be alright.”

“Hmm,” he frowned at me.

“Yeah…” I said back, also frowning.