Chapter 67
July 3rd 12 A.B.
Nighttime
I walked out of my Dojo, locking the doors, my eye twitching a bit. It’d been a long week since I’d talked with Mallogory about everything, and nothing has changed. She’s still acting distant towards me, and I’ve been getting worse and worse as the days go on.
Vicar at least has kept his distance, so that’s good.
However, my students continued to get attacked every day outside of the Dojo, but there was nothing I could do to help them now. If I tried, I could lose everything.
So that just left me feeling completely helpless and stuck. Fighting back and protecting my students could cost me my wife and daughter.
At least Shayla was going about everything like it was normal. She was the only thing keeping me sane and going right now.
[If it makes you feel better, we got yo back!]
{Yeah, thanks, guys.}
Turning, I start walking aimlessly, not really up to going home yet.
As I walked, a flash happened next to me.
“Trouble at home?” an annoying voice asked.
I kept my eyes forward, not having it in me. “What do you want now?”
Vicar chuckled as he kept pace with me. “To make a deal.”
Sighing, I picked up my pace, but he just followed.
“It’s really simple,” he continued, “convince your wife to take me to her home dimension, and that’s it. Nothing else.”
“No,” I say back. “Vicar, I’m done here. I’m ignoring you going forward. I don’t know why you want to go to her dimension, but honestly, I don’t care. Talk to her yourself.”
“I wouldn’t say no, since your daughter could also help get me there,” he said, causing me to stop and whirl around on him, eye ablaze with anger.
“You stay the fuck away from Shayla!”
He just smiled back at me. “Tsk tsk. Don’t get angry with me, I would hate to see you lose your family after all.”
My eye twitches as I turn around and continue walking away.
“This is the simplest request,” he says, walking next to me still. “Mallogory or your daughter will just have to want to take me there, and then I’m out of your hair.”
“Stop mentioning my daughter,” I grumble, shaking as I try to control myself. “Just ask my wife your fucking self. There’s no need for me to do it for you.”
“I’ve tried,” he admitted. “I suggest we do this the easy way. Don’t make me use your daughter, because you will not like the outcome. That I can promi-”
The area around us exploded as I spun and slammed a burning hoof into his face, sending him flying into a closed store next to us, completely destroying it.
I blinked as the air around me popped and hissed with the heat and energy coming off of me.
“Oh shit…”
<That’s->
[-Super fucking bad for us…]
Vicar slowly stepped out of the burning house as it collapsed around him, a wide smile on his face. “Someone can’t control their anger it seems.”
The sounds of shouting could be heard, causing his smile to widen as he suddenly collapsed.
“What happened?!” a mare screamed as she saw me standing there, still in the raging form.
A large crowd was forming as people rushed out of their homes.
“She attacked me…” Vicar yelped as he pathetically struggled to climb to his hooves, but collapsed.
All eyes snapped.
<Scamp, say something!>
I stared wide eyed back at the crowd, then to the ponies trying to help Vicar.
“He…” I started, but the words failed me as I fell out of the raging form. “He was threatening my family!”
“Scamp!” I heard the angry voice of Mallogory yell as she pushed her way through the crowd, standing tall above all of the ponies. Her eyes were locked onto me.
“No, wait, Mallo, he-”
“Stop,” she roared, now standing between myself and the ponies helping Vicar slowly stand up, his hoof holding his face dramatically like he was seriously hurt. “You promised.”
“He threatened our daughter!” I yelled, but she just growled, glancing at him.
“How?”
“He said he’d use her to get to your home dimension!” I said desperately, catching a smirk on Vicar’s face as he hid it behind his hoof.
<Scamp, you’re playing into his hand! Careful!>
“That makes zero sense,” Mallogory said with a frown, now just looking at me. “Vicar, why do you want to go to my dimension?”
He shakily stood, facing us. “I simply asked her to ask you if you would take me to your home dimension for a visit, but she became hostile.”
“No, that-” I started, but Mallogory’s hand came up, stopping me.
“She attacked me when I kept asking,” he finished, sunglasses flashing as the light hit them.
“I don’t care how this started,” she said flatly, then looked at me. “We’ll talk. Later.”
“But-”
“Not here,” she said simply, turning and leaving through the parting crowd.
“I’ll call the police,” someone offered, but Vicar shook his head.
“No, don’t. I’ll handle the cost of the damage she caused, no need to complicate her life further,” he said, getting nods of approval from the crowd, who still glared my way.
[This fucking guy!]
Backing up under their intense glares, I took my leave.
Walking away, tears fell down my face. I’d fucked up, again.
ooo000<^>000ooo
I stood in Shayla’s room, watching her sleep in her bed. I’d beaten Mallogory here somehow and sent Spark home, not wanting him here when she got here.
Tears streamed down my face as I stared at her peacefully sleeping.
The front door opened, causing my heart to skip a beat.
<You got this, Scamp.>
Stepping out of the room, I saw Mallogory standing in the hallway, arms crossed. She simply pointed to our room.
Once we were in the room, I stood by the bed while she stood by the door.
“You gave me your word,” she said evenly.
I gulped, “yes, I did. But he threatened to use our daughter to get to your home dimension if you refused.”
“Then walk away and tell me, not attack him on the spot!” She yelled, the room shaking. There was no fear of waking our daughter, as the room was magically sound proofed.
“I’m sorry!” I yelled back, tears now pouring out of my good eye. “When he threatened Shayla I just snapped!”
“You said this was over, and that you’d walk away whenever Vicar came around. You barely made it a week, and the first time he talks to you you lose control of yourself! I put my faith in you and you couldn’t even try to keep your promise!”
“No!” I yelled, stomping my hoof. “I have tried! I have been suffering this past week! You’ve barely spoken to me! Mallo, I LOVE you! I promise, I’m-”
“No more promises,” she said, no longer yelling. “Scamp, you made your choice.”
“I chose you and Shayla! I’ve never changed my choice!” I yelped, my heart pounding in my ears.
“Your actions say otherwise. Shayla can not grow up exposed to shit like this,” she said calmly.
“Wait, Mallo, no-” I started as she turned and walked out of the room.
I stood there for a moment, shaking as scenarios raced through my head.
Following after her, I found her packing Shayla's things into a bag.
“What are you doing?” I asked, voice shaking.
“Going to Adry’s for a bit,” she said simply.
“You don’t have to, I’ll stay elsewhere…” I said, not wanting her to take Shayla from our house.
She stood up and looked at me evenly. “Scamp,” she started, like she had something to say, but stopped herself. “No. We’re going to Adry’s so I know where she is when I’m at work. If you want to see her, you have to do it while at Adry’s. You can not take her anywhere.”
Something in me snapped, causing my legs to go weak as I swayed a bit as she went back to packing.
“Mallo, this isn’t necessary..” I muttered, feeling light headed. “Don’t take Shayla away from me like this.”
She looked at me, glaring, “do not fight in front of her right now. Just step back, and wait till we’re gone.”
“No listen,” I say a bit more desperately than I intended. “We can work through this on our own, there’s no need to involve her.” She didn’t respond as she kept packing. “Mallo, I’m sorry, I know I acted like an idiot by attacking him, but he threatened our daughter!”
“And there were better ways to handle that than just attacking him,” she said back, not stopping her packing as she zipped up the bag.
“I know! I know I screwed up! But please! Don’t take Shayla! Just let her sleep and live in blissful ignorance! Please!”
She leaned down and picked up Shayla, who did not wake up as Mallogory turned to face me.
“We’ll talk later, Scamp. When you’ve calmed down.” With that, she walked past me and into the hall, heading for the front door.
<Scamp, no.>
My eye twitched.
[Oh fuck! No no no! Scamp, DO NOT!]
Breathing heavily, my head spinning, I jumped out of the room and rocket past Mallo, landing in front of the front door.
“Do not block me in!” She yelled, waking Shayla.
“Do not take my fucking daughter like this!” I yelled back, eye ablaze with passion and anger.
“Are we doing this?” she said, her gaze lowering dangerously. “Are you fucking serious? We’re fucking doing this?!”
“Yeah,” I growled, squaring up with her as I lowered myself to the ground. Then my eye went wide as I stopped myself.
What am I doing?!
Trembling, I slowly stood up as she fumed above me, more angry than I’ve ever seen her.
“MOVE!” she bellowed.
“Momma?” Shayla asked in a confused voice, looking between us.
“Mallo, please don’t do this,” I begged weakly.
“You’ve made this happen!” She yelled back, causing Shayla to flinch. “Now get the fuck out of the way!”
Slowly, I moved aside, followed by her stomping past me. Stopping in the doorway, she looked at me coldly. “I don’t even know you anymore.”
This hit me harder than anything she’d said before.
“Mallo-”
“Stay, Scamp,” she commanded, walking out the door as Shayla began to scream hysterically.
“No! NO!” she wailed, fighting. “We stay!”
And this broke me as I collapsed to the ground, screaming and crying into the carpet.
ooo000<^>000ooo
After midnight
Spark flew down the street, heading for Scamp’s house. He’d just heard from his parents what had happened after class between Scamp and Vicar, and then what happened between her and Mallogory. He knew she’d gone to Adry’s with Shayla, leaving Scamp alone.
And knowing her, he knew she was not doing so good with something like this happening.
He just wished she'd said something when he was there earlier!
Reaching her house, he landed on the doorsteps and banged on the door.
“Sensei Scamp!” he roared, beating on the door. Trying the knob, he found it opened. Rushing in, he found the house a mess, worse than he’d left it earlier that night. The walls were clawed to hell and the furniture was smashed to bits.
Looking around, he found no sign of Scamp, just a few empty bottles of what appeared to be alcohol.
“Oh no…” he muttered, then flew out the door, heading for the Dojo. Hoping she’d be there at least.
But arriving, he found she was not there either. Which only left a few places.
She wouldn’t go to…
As fast as he could, he flew for Wolverine Kamae. But she wasn’t there either, the doors were all locked and there was no sign of her breaking in.
But she sprayed paint all over the building, leaving a lot of curse words and choice words for Vicar.
So where is she?!
Then he saw a smashed bottle a few feet from the door. Looking around, he saw a spray can up the road. Heading for Vicar’s mansion.
“OH NO!” he yelped, flying as fast as he could in that direction.
Luckily, he found Scamp, stumbling along the street.
“Sensei Scamp!” Spark yelled as he landed in front of her, stopping her. “What are you doing?!”
“She took my kid, Spark,” Scamp muttered, heavily intoxicated. “She took my fucking kid, and it’s Vicar’s fault… I’m killing him. I don’t care anymore, I’ve already lost it all.”
“Wait wait,” Spark said, stopping her as she tried to stumble forward again. “No, don’t kill him! If you kill him, then you’re proving Mallogory right! She’ll never let you see Shayla again!”
“FUCK!” Scamp screamed, throwing her bottle held in her wing against the building next to them. “FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!”
Spark jumped forward, wrapping his legs around her neck, holding onto her as she thrashed and kicked, screaming into the night sky. “Scamp, please!”
She couldn’t help herself, she just kept wailing into the night, screaming in deep agonizing pain.
“I can’t do anything right, Spark!” she yelled, facing a complete mess. “I just wanted to live a happy life with my wife and kid, and I couldn’t even do that right! I just had to interact with the conflict that presented itself to me!”
“It…” he stuttered, holding on as she still fought against him. “I-It’s going to be okay!”
“NO!” she yelled, then went limp as a red light flashed over her, causing her to fall onto him.
“Man, is she loud and annoying,” Poppy, one of the teachers of Wolverine Kamae, said as her horn slowly dimmed, having just hit Scamp with a paralyzing beam.
Spark crawled out from under Scamp and jumped over her, getting between her and Poppy. “Hey! Stay back!”
“Kid, get back in your lane,” Poppy laughed as Lemon Tape stepped out of an alleyway like a creepy villain.
“Don’t want to hurt you too, little guy,” he said, smirking. “Just walk away and let us take her.”
Raising up into a fighting stance, he glared at them.
They laughed, but then something heavy landed between the two.
“I highly suggest you two listen to the young man,” Mr. Bleak said calmly. “Unless you want to tussle with us.”
“Yeah, but please choose to tussle with us,” Starch, Mr. Bleak’s grandson, said as he laid on a roof top above them. “It’s been a minute since I’ve got to beat the snot out of someone.”
The two ponies looked at each other, then started backing up. “Boss said to avoid you two. For now. So consider this your lucky day.”
“Consider it a lucky day then,” Mr. Bleak laughed, eyes locked with Lemon Tape’s.
Once they’d slinked back into the shadows from which they’d come, Mr. Bleak sighed.
“Thank you,” Spark said, shaking as he returned to all fours.
“Get her home, Spark,” Mr. Bleak said as Starch jumped from the roof and took to the sky. “We’ll make sure those two stay away.”
Not needing to be told twice, Spark climbed under Scamp and lifted her up, straining heavily. She was a heavy mare!
But he managed as he slowly stomped away.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Next morning
Spark woke up as he heard the sounds of someone stumbling down the hallway.
“Sensei Scamp?”
“Yeah,” came her gruff response as she entered the living room, looking absolutely haggard.
“Um… remember last night?” he asked carefully.
“Yep,” was her only response as she looked at him with dead eyes.
“I-I…” he began, a bit nervous. “I made you breakfast…”
“Thanks, kid,” she muttered, walking along the wall to the kitchen and seeing the plate of food sitting out for her. She ate it slowly, not looking to have the energy he was used to seeing in her with.
“I-”
“Thank, Spark,” she interrupted, food still in her mouth. “I’m a burden though, so head on home. I’ll… see ya later.”
He frowned at her, “No, it’s okay, Scamp. I’m here to help.”
“You’re a good kid, Spark. But I need to be alone right now,” she said back, staring at her remaining food as she pulled out a bottle of alcohol from her pocket dimension.
“Wait, it’s morning, you can’t drink!” he called out, rushing to her side.
“I’m an adult, I get to make the rules,” she muttered, popping the cap off of the drink. “Besides, I don’t want to think right now. Shit hurts.”
“I know it hurts,” Spark said as she raised the bottle, chugging from it. “B-But, you don’t have to drink it away! We can talk about it!”
“You don’t want to hear what I have to say, kid,” she said in a low voice. “Go on, home. Your parents are probably worried.”
“They’ll understand,” he said, taking the bottle from her slowly.
But she just pulled out another and bit through the cap with her teeth, spitting it aside and drinking from it.
“Sensei Scamp!” he yelped, reaching for the new bottle.
“Spark,” she said calmly. “Please. If you want to help, go check on Shayla. She left here in a bad mood, and I’ve been worried about her.”
He looked at her, then gave a nod, “Okay, but please, stop drinking. Please.”
“Yeah,” she responded, taking another swig of the bottle. “I will after this one.”
Not believing her, he left the house, as he didn’t know what else to do for her without angering her.
ooo000<^>000ooo
“Those Viper Claw morons!” Star Chaser snarled as they all looked at the barely legible words and curses written across their Dojo’s outer walls.
“This is too far!” Blitz growled.
“Yeah! We haven’t touched their Dojo, and they just come here and do this?!” another yelled, just as angry.
Then, with a little sly smirk, Star Chaser turned to everyone. “Want to get them back?”
“Hell yeah!” they all cheered back.
“Then let’s get serious. Tonight, we put an end to Viper Claw!” Star Chaser yelled, followed by everyone else.
“We’ll need mask’s! And torches!”
“Go get it!”
“Fuck yeah!”
“Bye bye Dojo!”
Jelly Bean, who had been all in a moment ago, now looked unsure as everyone around her started to get riled up, talking about doing things she wasn’t comfortable with.