Chapter 1
March 4th 24 A.B.
The wind whipped past me as I stood there on my hindlegs, my right hand hovering over the gun in my holster. Across from me stood my opponent, a blank look on their face as we stared each other down, waiting for the signal.
I narrowed my eyes, licking my lips as my right hand twitched in anticipation.
A loud ding filled the air as the timer between us went off.
We both reacted the instant it went off. My hand snatched my gun from its holster and began to lift and tilt it towards my opponent, but my opponent was faster as their gun went off, causing my head to snap back.
Stumbling back I fell to the ground, staring straight up at the sky.
My opponent approached me and stood over me, smirking.
“You’re getting faster at least,” my mother said as she held a hoof out to me.
I roll my eyes and take her hoof, allowing her to help me up, “one day I’m going to wipe that smug look right off your face, mama.”
She just smiled at me as she stood in front of me. “I know you will, honey.” Then with a little shove, she started walking back towards the path that led back to town. “But till then, enjoy losing to your mother.”
As she walked away from me, I smirked as I reached down and picked up two practice swords, and threw one at her.
Without looking back, her clawed back leg shot up and caught the wooden sword.
“We’re not done yet,” I said in a determined voice.
With a chuckle, she turned to face me, her eyebrow raised. “You really up to another loss already, sweetheart?”
“You bet,” I say back, picking up another sword and twirling both of them in my hands.
My mother just grinned as she passed the sword to her front paw and stood up on her hindlegs. “Well, let’s make this fast. Your mom is making her special tonight, and I’m starving.”
I winked at her as I dashed towards her, both swords held out to my sides.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Domitor watched the mother and daughter spar, watching as their training swords flashed and clashed, with neither one of them seeming to have the advantage over the other.
As they fought, he watched from across the clearing, hidden in the trees. He had his own training sword, and was trying to mimic the way they were fighting. He didn’t have hands like they did, but he made up for it by using a special grip on his sword, allowing him to hold it in his hooves like they do.
He weaved around fake attacks, swinging his sword like an expert. He’d spar, but none of the others at his Dojo wanted to fight with him unless they were made to. Apparently, he was ‘too aggressive’ and ‘not fun to fight’.
Jerry the gator sat on a log, watching dumbly as the young stallion fought off invisible opponents.
The dark stallion weaved around an unseen attack and stepped on a wet spot on the ground, yelping as he suddenly tripped and fell to the ground.
He didn’t get up as he just stared up at the sky above him, no emotions playing on his face.
“This sucks, Jerry,” he finally said aloud, the sounds of the mother and daughter fighting echoing in the distance. “I’m not saying you're a bad friend, but it’d be nice to have at least one other person out there that liked me.”
Jerry just blinked back, one eye at a time.
“Yeah, self pity looks bad on me,” Domitor muttered, getting back up and resuming a fighting stance. His eyes tracked a leaf as it fell from the tree above him, and with practiced ease, he sliced it out of the air. “You think my father will-”
He stopped as he looked at Jerry, seeing the little guy licking his eye.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he said with a heavy sigh. “He’s too busy loving Champion and pampering Shayla to even talk to me.”
With a growl, he went back to slicing at the air, attacking fake opponents with aggressive strikes.
“Domitor,” a voice said from above him as Champion floated down in front of him, a scowl on his face. “Your father told you to clean the Dojo.”
Domitor’s eye twitched, which Champion noticed, “I know. But I saw Shayla and her mother heading for the woods to train, so I followed to-”
“Kal told you to stop pursuing her. That’s no longer the plan, so stand down,” Champion said harshly. Then, just to add salt to the wound, he smiled, “Besides, Kal has given up on you being worth anything. You’re just lucky your mother wants you to stick around.”
“Why are you such an asshole to me,” Domitor asked, turning to face the costumed stallion. “I looked up to you once, but all you do is-”
“Shut it, kid,” Champion interrupted him, clearly not wanting to continue the conversation. “Get back to the Dojo, do as you’re told, and stay in your lane. Leave those two alone and let the adults handle this.”
“I am an adult,” Domitor muttered, which only caused Champion to chuckle as he lifted into the air and flew away.
Looking back to Jerry, he saw the little gator was staring at him with crossed eyes.
“One day, I’ll make them pay,” he said in a low tone, looking at the two sparring in the clearing. “All of them.”
ooo000<^>000ooo
“Not a fair fight,” I mumbled as I stood alone in the clearing, cleaning up the mess we created during our sparring match. Rubbing the side of my neck, where she’d landed the finishing blow, I growled.
To date, my own mother was the only one who could kick my ass. But that’ll change once I get a little more training!
Once I finished piling up all the broken tree branches and training swords, I moved to my stuff that I’d left by a tree.
“Shayla!” I heard a familiar voice yell from behind me, causing me to smirk.
“I knew someone was watching us,” I remarked as I turned around to see Domitor standing in the middle of the clearing, looking a bit worked up, as usual. Seems every time he decides to fight me, he’s always emotional. Must need to work himself up just to face me. I get it, I’m intimidating.
He stood up on his hindlegs and brandished a wooden training sword.
“Really? Come on,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Face me!” he yelled, his voice sounding a bit hoarse.
I wave him off, turning back to my stuff and resuming to pack it all back into my saddlebags. “Nah, not feeling it today. Come back when you’re ready.”
My ear twitched as I heard him move behind me. In one quick motion I shot my hands out and grabbed two training swords and spun around, catching his sword between mine. With a growl, he jumped back, keeping his sword pointed at me.
“You think you’re all that?!” He yelled, his sword shaking in his grip. “You’re not! You’re just a big bully! Just like everyone else!”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at his overly emotional outburst.
But he didn’t respond anymore as he dashed for me, his sword coming in at an awkward angle. Unluckily for him, I was extremely flexible and able to move my body and swords in just an awkward angle, blocking his attack. Then just to show off, I deflected him to the side and slammed a knee right into his throat, causing him to yelp and fly to the ground behind me.
“Domitor, come on, these fights are embarrassing,” I said as I turned to face him as he forced himself to stand back up, coughing. “We’re not kids anymore. And we’re not even on the same level anymore.”
Turning back to me, he rubbed his throat, still looking determined. “We are on the same level. My father is the only reason I’ve not been able to actually stand up to you. But I’m done with that crap! So come on, fight me for real!”
“For real?” I ask, shaking my head. “I’m not going to actually hurt you, dumbass. No matter how much you deserve it.”
“Then prepare to get hurt yourself,” he growled as he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. His body slowly relaxed as the tension seemed to leave him, causing him to look calmer than I’ve ever seen him.
“Come on, man, just-” I began to say, but my eyes went wide as I sensed something strange from him as he stood up fully and glared at me.
Before I could react properly, he exploded towards me, with nothing but his hooves. I didn’t have time to do anything other than raise the two training swords and cross them to block his incoming punch. With wide eyes, I watched as his hoof just shattered through the two wooden swords and continued towards my face.
Everything went white as his hoof struck my face, sending me flying backwards.
Just as I righted myself, I threw my right leg up just in time to deflect his next attack as he continued after me. As I deflected his hoof, I threw my own punch right over his next incoming attack, slamming into his face just before he reached mine. A perfect cross-counter.
Yet, he didn’t stop his attack and continued it right into my face yet again, snapping my head back violently from the force of the hit. But that didn’t stop me from slamming a knee up into his groin.
He yelped in pain, but continued with another punch to my gut, causing me to double over as he somehow hit me hard enough to completely wind me. With more speed than I thought he had, he jumped and spun his body, slamming a knee into my jaw and sending me straight into the ground.
What the fuck was going on here?!
I gritted my teeth as I pushed myself up and twisted my body, slamming a back foot into his face as he tried to pounce on me, catching him right under the jaw. I immediately followed this up with a punch to the gut as I twisted into him. He somehow found a way to slam a hoof into the side of my face, but I returned the favor as I wrapped my tail around his back leg and yanked him straight into the ground.
Unexpectedly, as he bounced off of the ground, he shot a hoof forward and caught me in the throat way harder than he should have been able to from that position.
I felt something strange happen as I suddenly found it hard to breathe. Staggering back, holding a hand to my throat, I began to panic a bit as I realized I wasn’t getting any air into my lungs anymore.
But he didn’t back down as he righted himself and jumped for me, eyes ablaze with hatred.
Not able to react properly, he was able to land a hard kick to my unguarded face, sending me flying across the meadow and into a large tree.
I pawed at my throat as I struggled to get air into my body, but it was like my airway was blocked.
He stomped towards me, but as he neared me, something flashed across his face as he saw me struggling to breathe. A conflicted look appeared on his face.
‘I’m dying!’ I thought to myself, eyes watering heavily as everything started to go dark.
Holding a hand up in front of myself, I flicked a claw out and tried my hardest to do what I needed to do. But I wasn’t able to as the strength left me.
Just as I was starting to lose it, someone grabbed my hand and gripped the claw. They then shoved my other hand away from my throat and I felt a sharp pain as they used my claw to make a cut. Then something was pushed into the new cut, and with great relief, I took a small breath.
Breathing hard, my vision slowly came back as I realized Domitor was standing over me, holding my claw in his hoof as he glared at me. Reaching up, I realized he’d stuck a straw or something into the cut he’d made in my windpipe, which was how I was breathing.
But I couldn't speak as he tossed my hand aside and stood up, a harsh conflicted look on his face.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, then stepped back.
I struggled to stand, holding a hand over my throat, keeping the straw in place as I struggled to breath through it. I could only stare at him in confusion and anger.
“I win though,” he stated, turning and walking away.
A ragged sound bubbled up from my throat as I tried to tell him off, but I wasn’t able to speak at all. He walked away, glancing back a few times as I stumbled after him, my eyes ablaze with fury.
I wasn’t done yet! He got a lucky hit in, that’s all!
“I’m sorry, I lost control of myself,” he mumbled, only pissing me off more as I continued after him. He suddenly galloped over to my stuff and grabbed my phone. It looked like he was texting someone, which caused me to start rushing towards him, ignoring the grinding feeling in my throat.
As I neared, he dropped my phone and jumped into the air, out of my reach. “Calypso is on her way,” he stated, looking down on me. “We’re done, Shayla.”
With that, he flew away, leaving me there glaring after him with absolute hate. He thinks he’s won?! I win since he’s running! COWARD!
ooo000<^>000ooo
“How did you perform an Emergency Tracheostomy on yourself like this?!” Calypso exclaimed as she laid me on my back, looking me over. “And why did you use this straw?! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO A EMERGENCY TRACHEOSTOMY?!”
I just rolled my eyes at her as her husband Doc the Yeti stood behind her, looking worried.
“Your mothers are going to kill you,” Calypso said with a frown as she waved Doc over and pulled the straw from my throat. I started to panic as I lost the ability to breath, but Doc placed his hands on me as they glowed. Slowly, I felt my throat repairing itself, then I finally took a breath on my own.
As he finished, I let out a sigh of relief as I sat up, rubbing my throat.
“What happened?!” she snapped at me.
Frowning, I turned to her, seeing her angry eyes glaring at me. I did not want to admit that I ‘lost’ a fight. “I hurt myself training,” I muttered, getting a groan out of her.
“I’m going to talk to Scamp about this, we can’t have you out here getting hurt like this! This injury could have killed you!” she yelled, but I just ignored her and stood up, moving towards my stuff.
“Don’t ignore me,” Calypso growled. “I’m responsible for keeping you all alive, and sometimes, you make that job very stressful and impossible!”
“Well sorry, I’ll try and be more careful in the future,” I grumbled, flipping on my Pit Viper’s and putting on my saddlebags.
“Where are you going?!” she demanded.
“Food,” was all I said as I began to walk away, still rubbing my throat.
“I swear, just like her damn mother,” I heard her say as she and Doc began to speak quietly.
But I just kept walking, trying to process what exactly just happened.
I’ve fought Domitor many times in the past, and every time I’ve come out on top. He’s always fast to act and easily predictable, usually yelling at me the entire time. This time though, he seemed focused, like he was being serious.
I just made the mistake of not taking him seriously, which is the ONLY reason he got that cheap shot in and hurt me. If I’d been treating him like a real opponent, I’d have won that easily… Wait, was he trying to kill me?
Stopping, I frowned as I rubbed the small cut over my scaled throat.
No, if he was trying to kill me, he wouldn’t of saved me… what the fuck is his problem?
ooo000<^>000ooo
“You halfwit!” Kal roared as he slammed a hoof into his son's face, sending him straight to the ground as he towered over him. “Do you realize what you’ve done?!”
“I did what you wanted me to do! You raised me to fight her!” Domitor yelled up at his father, trying to stand, but was hit again.
“I did not raise you! You just live here thanks to your damn mother! I told you to stay away from Shayla! I’ve told you over and over again to stop, yet you keep it up!” Kal screamed as he grabbed his son’s front leg in both of his hooves, flipping him onto his front and using his leg to hold him down.
“But I won! I beat her! She-”
“If you just ruined all my work, I will KILL you, cretin! I’ve put up with you this long because you had some use keeping her entertained, but today you’ve finally crossed a line!” he yelled as he began to apply pressure to his son's leg.
“Dad, wait wait wait!” Domitor yelled in panic, eyes going wide as he felt his leg muscles straining.
“Do not call me that. You’re no son of mine after today!” Kal said in a cold voice as he calmly snapped his son's leg at the elbow, erecting a scream of agony from him. He shoved his broken leg aside and stood up, staring down at his son as he curled up in the fetal position.
“Clean yourself up and go to your room. I’m going to see if you’ve ruined everything,” he said as he moved towards the door to his office, stopping in the doorway. “If she resents me, I will come back and finish this.”
Domitor cried into the carpet as he held his leg, the bone exposed as it stuck through his flesh.
“Star Chaser, get him to his room, now,” Kal ordered, finally leaving the room.
“Yes, sir,” Champion said as he stood up from his seat where he’d been the whole time, watching the entire interaction.
“Come on, peasant,” Champion said as he roughly yanked Domitor to his hooves and dragged him out of the office and down the hall, ignoring his yelps and screams of pain. As they reached his room, he tossed him in and slammed the doors, leaving him alone.
Struggling to get up, he moved to his window and propped himself up against it, staring out at the town below.
He didn’t get it; he’d finally won against Shayla, which is what everyone kept ridiculing him for. Everyone said he’d never beat her, and yet when he finally did, he gets treated like this. It made no sense to him!
His father was supposed to finally praise him and say he was proud of him! To accept him as his son and they could finally start acting like he does with Champion!
Holding back further tears, he opens the window and climbs out of it, taking to the air as he decided to head for the clinic to get his leg fixed.
But as he flew forward, a massive amount of wind blew past him as Champion suddenly appeared before him.
“Already disobeying orders?” he asked, a wide grin on his face.
“I’m just going to the clinic,” Domitor said through clenched teeth.
“Did Kal say you could?” the royal cunt asked, smiling at him. “No, he said stay in your room, so get back in there!”
With a look of happiness, Champion zoomed forward and slammed his head into Domitor’s chest, sending him flying backwards. He crashed through his window and landed on the floor of his room, now covered in cuts and having trouble breathing.
“Next time you disobey Kal, I’m breaking all of your limbs,” Champion said in a sinister voice as he floated away from the window.
Domitor, now hurt even more, just laid there, deciding the best thing to do was just wait for his fathers return and hope he allowed him to get healed.