Kyoshi wasn’t making them do basic chores in their second session with him. However, he made up for this by making them run laps around the dojo building. With twenty-pound weights on their backs. At noon, when the sun was at the apex of its daily route. As Swirling and Summer, along with a few other ponies who’d signed up for lessons, ran around the dojo, Kyoshi sat by the koi pond, quietly sipping some tea and occasionally tossing pieces of bread into the pond for the fish and birds.
Although she’d done her fair share of heavy-lifting as the Raven, she’d always had Nevermore’s shadow magic on her side, boosting her strength for that kind of stuff. Running in circles with what might as well have been a bag of bricks on her spine would’ve been simple if she’d had that upgrade right now, but she didn’t dare risk anypony discovering her secret.
Oh… and the sunlight would’ve killed her if she changed now. That was also a powerful deterrent.
Once she and the rest of the class had worked up a sweat and were breathing heavily in near exhaustion, Kyoshi called for them to gather. As the class sat around the koi pond, the wizened, gruff, old stallion stood to look up at clear sky above.
“Many of you have come seeking my teachings so that you can improve yourselves for your daily lives. Others have come because they wish to be able to defend themselves from aggressors they might face on a daily basis.” He looked back to the assembled students. “But now I ask you all this simple question: what is it that you truly know of karate?”
One of the other students lifted a hoof. “It’s a martial art, isn’t it?”
The old stallion gave a flat stare before continuing. “Karate is not a simple martial art. It is a way of viewing the world from a very different perspective.” He motioned around with a wing. “What is it you see here today?”
Swirling looked around, as did the other students, many of whom had confused expressions on their faces. All Swirling saw was the cherry blossom tree, the other ponies, the koi pond, some shrubs, the odd building, and a cranky, old stallion who liked to use his wooden sword far too often.
“I see a beautiful yard, Mr. Kyoshi,” Summer Streams said after a long, awkward silence.
“Mm.” He nodded. “You see only that which your eyes can see, child, but in truth, there is so much more. All that is around us radiates an aura that we can’t see, feel, or hear. Everything has it’s own aura. From the trees, to the water, to the stones, to the fish…” He paused. “Even ponies themselves give off their own aura.”
“You mean, like magic?” Swirling asked, sharing a quick glance with Summer.
He shook his head. “No. Magic is something of an entirely different nature. The aura I speak of is, in and of itself, everything. Those with true understanding can harness this aura. Bend it, manipulate it, and perform feats that magic users would typically be incapable of without their magic.”
“Soooo… it’s not magic?” Swirling asked, earning a wince from Summer.
Rather than resort to the wooden sword, Kyoshi shot her a disapproving glare. “You still have much to learn, child. When one controls their own aura, and uses it to influence the aura of other things, physical boundaries are but an illusion. Stone becomes paper, grass becomes iron, water becomes glass. It is told in legend that masters of aura can even break the the supposed laws of physics, defying gravity itself.”
Swirling hummed in thought for a moment, taking in Kyoshi’s words.‘One’s own aura…’
“That’s crazy,” one other student, an earth pony, claimed. “Nopony without wings can fly. And you can’t just turn rocks into paper.”
Kyoshi murmured something in Neighponese before replying. “You are taking my words much too seriously. I do not mean that you will be able to literally turn one thing into another. Such things would fall under the rule of alchemy, and I assure you, I am no alchemist. What I mean is that stone may as well be paper to one who has mastered their aura. Grass can become a shield as strong as any metal. Water can be tread upon as if it were solid. These are the things that a master of one’s aura can do.”
“Prove it,” another pony said.
There was a moment of silence as Kyoshi apparently considered the challenge. He sighed out of his nose before turning to the koi pond and walking towards it, stopping at the water’s edge. The old stallion stood there for a second, looking as if he was gathering his thoughts. Eventually, he stepped forward, setting hoof into the pond. And another. And another. And then another. He walked until he was at the center of the pond.
He was standing atop the water as if it were dry ground.
There was an awed silence amongst Swirling, Summer, and their fellow students, all staring in shock with mouths agape as Kyoshi sat down in a meditative position on the water’s surface, stroking his beard casually. Could ponies really do that, or was he just using some kind of smoke-and-mirrors trick? Earth ponies might be able to, Swirling thought, if they focused that weird form of magic that they have well enough. Unicorns definitely could. Just a wave of their horn, and they could probably cast some kind of spell. Pegasi? There was no way. And yet, here was an old pegasus sitting on the surface of a pond as if it were perfectly normal.
Kyoshi finally opened his eyes, sighing slowly. He looked at the pony who doubted him and lifted his head. “Do you now see? This is but one of many things a master of aura is capable of,” he said. “Many of you will never reach such a point, however. Do not let that discourage you, though, for by the time you complete your training here, few outside the walls of this dojo will match you.”
Swirling reminded herself that her jaw was hanging open when Summer spoke up. “S-so… you’re using your aura to sit on the water?”
He turned his gaze to her. “Not entirely, child. I simply bring my aura into balance with that of the water’s. It is not about forcing your aura upon something else’s, but working with or against, depending on what it is you wish to do.”
“But isn’t working against another aura for—” Swirling snapped her mouth shut as Kyoshi glared at her.
“The point is that this awareness and understanding of auras will open a pony’s mind to possibilities that they never even dreamed possible.” Flapping his wings he flew back to his spot beside the pond. “Always remember that there is more to this world that what we experience with our senses.”
‘He’s wiser than I expected him to be.’
‘So this isn’t just a load of bull?’ Nevermore scoffed skeptically.
‘...If only I had a wooden sword.’
‘Wouldn’t do much good against an entity that has no body of its own.’
Swirling scowled at how right Nevermore was at that moment. Nopony seemed to notice, thankfully, as Kyoshi had them all go through several steps for different stances. The whole time, his speech about auras and one’s abilities kept running through her head. Something about how he said it made it feel as though he was talking directly to her alone.
Maybe she could actually learn something from this…
-o-
A bottle crashed over the head of the tavern patron, sending glass flying everywhere. The struck pony now lay sprawled across the floor as the burly earth pony wearing a red bandana stood over him.
“Ha! You ain’t nothin’!” the bandana-wearing stallion sneered. “Now get the hell outta here before we get real mad!”
The patron’s friends collected their babbling friend, shooting narrow glares at the Red and his buddies behind him. The burly stallion returned to the cheers of his friends, triumphant. “Ain’t no one messes with the Reds, boys! Nopony!”
They gave a resounding cheer as a bored-looking waitress brought them a tray of hard cider before fetching a broom to clean up the mess. “Nopony but the Raven,” she muttered with disdain towards the thugs. Unfortunately, she wasn’t unheard.
“What’s that?” one of the goons growled at the waitress, who froze when she realized he was talking to her. She said nothing and continued with her cleaning, hoping that they’d just ignore her. She had no such luck, however, as the stallion who’d spoken to her stomped over, grabbing her by the mane. “You answer me, nag! What’d you say?”
The waitress whimpered as the stallion came close to tearing her hair out.
“Sounded to me like she’s a fan o’ that wacko who’s been flyin’ around at night these past few months,” another Red snarled as the others began to circle the mare. “Maybe we should show her what happens to ponies who like that freak?”
“N-no,” the mare murmured. “Please, I’m sorry…”
“Sorry don’t cut it,” the thug holding her mane said with a sneer. “We’re gonna need to teach you a lesson!” He drew back his hoof, preparing to strike the trembling waitress.
“What kinda Reds beat on a mare who can’t fight back?”
Everything stopped at that question from a new arrival, and the Reds faced the speaker. The gray-coated, white-maned earth stallion scowled as he entered the bar, approaching the thugs and shoving them away from the mare. He glared at her and barked at her, “Get out.” She was quick to comply, and fled the bar.
Before long, the Reds present recognized the stallion before them, immediately stepping back. “J-Jolt,” one of them stammered. “You’re… outta jail. When’d that happen?”
“Not long ago,” Jolt stated flatly. “But that’s not what I’m here about. The guy who bailed me out gave me a job that I couldn’t say no to, but I’m gonna need some help. There’s a big payout if we manage this.”
“What’s the job?” one of the Reds asked.
Jolt smirked. “We’re gonna kill the Raven.” The others looked at him as if he’d grown a second head. “What?”
“Er, well…” one of them mumbled. “It’s just… no one’s even come close yet. Ponies say she’s not even alive. Some kinda ghost or somethin’.”
“I heard she’s a monster from Tartarus,” another Red spoke up. “Sent up here to beat the crap outta guys like us.”
With a groan and a roll of his eyes, Jolt said, “Oh, you gotta be kidding me! She’s just some filly using smoke and mirrors! She’s no ghost, she’s no monster, and she’s certainly no living shadow or whatever the buck ponies call her!” He slammed a hoof onto the bar, his gauntlet sending a powerful electrical current across it, causing all the bottles along its top to explode. “She’s been a thorn in our side for too damn long, and it’s time someone put her in her place! You pansy-ass bucks are either with me on this, or you’re dead! Any other dumbass remarks you wanna make?”
He was met only with silent compliance.
“Good.” He turned to leave the bar. “Now come on. I know exactly where we’re gonna start looking for that birdbrained freak.”
-o-
Bright Day hummed a light tune to herself as she went through her inventory of ingredients and sweets, checking off several things on her list. She’d have to remember to get some more sugar the next time she went grocery shopping, if only to keep up with Swirling Line’s love of the stuff. It never ceased to surprise her how much the pegasus could put away, yet never put on a single pound.
‘Must be a pegasus thing,’ she mused with a silent chuckle.
“Sunny!” she called. “Did you finish your chores?”
The little filly answered from outside the storage room, “Yes, Mom!”
“What about your homework?”
“I finished it a few minutes ago!”
Bright smiled as she left the storage room, finding her daughter at the counter nabbing some candy. “Sunny…” she warned. The filly perked up, looking at her mother in surprise. Bright shook her head with a small laugh. “Only one piece of candy, then go take a bath and get ready for bed.”
The filly’s ears flattened back against her head. “Aww, but, Mom, I’m not even tired!”
“Doesn’t matter, sweetie. It’s a school night, and you need your sleep.” She gave Sunny a hug and a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll be up to tuck you in shortly. I just need to close up shop.”
Sunny moaned and trudged up the stairs, and Bright couldn’t keep a chuckle to herself. She remembered herself doing the same thing when she was a little filly living with her mother, though she wondered if she drove her mother to the edge of sanity like Sunny did on occasion.
Her ears flicked as she heard the entry bell chime, and she smiled. “Welcome to Daytime Daylights, where every treat is sweet as sunshine!” She then beamed at the all-too familiar pegasus. “Swirling! Great to see you! You’re here a bit later than usual.”
The white-striped mare sighed, sounding almost exhausted. “Karate lessons dragged on today,” she explained. She motioned to a tan-coated unicorn with a verdant mane. “Summer and I were hoping you’d have some kind of pick-me-up. Got anything sweet enough to create a guilty conscience?”
She smiled wider. “Of course I do.” She turned to the unicorn. “Hello there. You’re one of Swirling’s friends?”
A wide smile cut across Summer’s face. “I’m her best friend. We’ve known each other since she moved to Manehatten.”
Swirling chuckled. “Summer and I both work at Lou’s Diner. For better or worse,” she muttered.
“Oh, my.” Bright said with a chuckle. “I’ll bet you can tell me a few stories about Swirling’s first few days in town, can’t you?”
Summer’s grin turned wicked. “Remind me to tell you about what we now call the Great Kitchen Fiasco.”
“Summer!” Swirling exclaimed, her face going red. “For the last time, it’s really hard to tell spoons and sporks apart when the lights go out like that! I didn’t mean for that poor old mare to go to the hospital!”
Bright blinked in confusion. “Wait… what do spoons and sporks have to do with an old mare going to the hospital?”
“Oh, you’re gonna wanna sit down for this one,” Summer recommended, ignoring Swirling’s pleas for her to stay silent on the matter. “Trust me, it’s a real doozy.” With a nod, Bright went into the back room to fetch some snacks for her two visitors, an eager smile on her face.
“Summer… I beg of you, don’t,” Swirling pleaded.
‘Okay, even I’m curious,’ Nevermore spoke up.
‘No!’
Summer shook her head, looking rather smug. “Oh, I just have to tell the story now.”
If there was ever a time Swirling could have used a distraction, it was now. And, for better or worse, her prayers were answered just as Bright came back carrying a box of candy. A brick flew through the display window, hitting a small stand and spilling sweets all over the floor, startling the mares in the room.
Outside, there was chaos. Numerous ponies wearing various red accessories were ransacking the streets, throwing bricks, rocks, and small chunks of metal through windows and attacking any pedestrians unfortunate enough to cross their paths. Some of the aggressors were vandalizing parked carts, mailboxes, newspaper stands, and anything else they could swing a blunt instrument into. Among them was a gray-coated, white-maned stallion wearing gauntlets that launched bolts of lightning with every punch.
“It’s the Reds!” Summer shouted. “B-but it’s almost night! They never come out at night, not since the Raven came! What do they want?”
“Best guess?” Swirling said, looking over at Jolt, who blasted a cart into a building. “They want the Raven to come out.”
As if to prove her theory, Jolt yelled, “Bird freak! Come out and fight us, you cowardly nag!” He struck out with his gauntlets again and blasted apart another cart. His fellow Reds cheered and redoubled their vandalizing efforts. “You don’t, and my boys and I’ll tear this neighborhood apart piece by piece!”
This was not good. There was no way she’d be able to just slip away and change unnoticed, not with the street being as wild as it was, and especially not without rousing suspicion in her friends. She’d need to—
“Let’s go!” Summer hollered, heading for the door.
“Whoa, wait, what!?” Swirling had to dash in front of Summer to stop her. “Are you crazy? What do you think you’re gonna do out there?”
Summer rolled her eyes. “Come on, Swirl! We know karate! We can take them!”
“We’ve only had two days of training at most!” she countered.
“It’s more than those guys probably have.”
“Please, listen to her.” The two turned to see Bright holding Sunny as the little filly whimpered in her mother’s embrace. “They’re thugs who’ll hurt you.”
Summer shook her head adamantly. “We can’t just sit back and let them do whatever they want! Someone needs to teach them a lesson!” She looked the filly in the eye before she continued. “They’re bullies, and bullies don’t stop unless you stand up for yourself. And I’m gonna make sure they learn not to mess with ponies anymore!” And with that, she galloped out of the store.
“Summer!” Swirling shouted after her. She cursed under her breath and looked back to Bright and Sunny. “I-I… I’ll go get help. Bright, you take Sunny upstairs and stay safe, all right? I’ll be back, I promise!” She heard Sunny calling out to her as she took off, zipping into the air to find a good place to change without getting spotted by anypony.
On the ground, Summer caught a Red off guard with a punch to his face, staggering him. A confident smirk crossed her face as she saw another Red charging at her. She took her stance and leaped inside his swing. Remembering to keep her hoof straight, she slugged the thug twice across the face before whirling and bucking him away.
As the Red groaned, Summer stood triumphantly. “These lessons do work!”
“They ain’t gonna save ya.”
She spun and found four burly Reds leering at her, each one bouncing a blunt instrument in their hooves.
Gulping, she backed away, her legs shaking. “S-Swirling?” she asked, her eyes darting around.
One of the thugs chuckled. “Ha! Not so tough now are ya? We’ll show ya what we do to heroes in this town. The same thing we’re gonna do to that freak!”
When the first thug charged in, she got her hoof up to block his attack, but was too slow to react in time to stop his second swing. She landed on the pavement, holding her sore face as he stood over her. “I always did like me a mare who thinks she can fight like a stallion.”
Her eyes widened and she scooted away from him. “Swirling! Help me!”
“Get away from her!” the distorted voice of the Raven called. Before the thug could react, he was blasted away by a fierce punch that sent him flying into a cart.
The other three thugs’ eyes widened and they snarled at the sight of the shadow-covered mare. “About time you showed up, you coward!”
“Says the gang who picks on mares and foals.” The Raven took her own stance. “Time to put the trash back where it belongs!”
As the force of Reds charged her, she slipped away, diving into the shadows.She surfaced to pounce on her opponents, landing a punch into a thug’s jaw before spin kicking another goon in the face, sending him flying into two of his cohorts. Then she dived into the shadows again just in time to avoid two more Reds, who ended up tackling each other and rolling down on the ground in a heap.
She spun around at the angered roar of another burly ruffian as he hefted a street sign over his head. Her eyes widened and she dove to the side as the sign dented into the pavement.
“I see someone ate his wheaties when he was little.” She slipped through the shadows and landed an uppercut on the thug’s jaw. Expecting him to be sent flying away, she didn’t react in time when he swung the sign again—thankfully only hitting her with the pole, rather than the sign itself.
“You’re goin’ down, freak!” he bellowed as he swung the sign again.
‘Use a bit more power on this one, Line.’
‘You don’t say,’ she grumbled at Nevermore before flying over the swing. Spinning around once, the thug took her kick to the face, and he bounced away like a rubber ball, grunting in pain as he crashed into a newsstand, sending papers scattering on the ground.
She really didn’t have time to savor her victory, as more and more Reds came rushing a her.
“Geez! How many of you grunts are there?” She flapped her wings to get away from the assault, but found herself assaulted by the pegasi of the gang. Swirling struck out against one of them with a kick, sending him flying into a nearby window, while another was met with a hoof to the face.
As the Raven fought off the goons, Jolt grinned viciously as he watched her begin to struggle. Taking aim, he readied his gauntlets. Without a care for his fellow Reds, he threw a punch forward, launching a bolt of lightning at his sworn enemy. The shot missed, the Raven diving at the last minute as she ducked under a pegasus Red’s punch. The Red’s eyes went wide as Jolt’s attack hit him in the chest. Screaming in pain, his body locked up, and he hit the pavement with a sickening crack.
Another Red whirled on Jolt. “What the hell, Jolt!? That was one of our guys you just fried!”
Jolt shrugged and held his crackling hoof in the upstart’s face. “Your point?” he snarled. The Red backed off as the white-maned stallion returned his focus to the Raven. “Hold still you stupid bird!” He unleashed a flurry of lightning shots at her, eager to bring her down to the ground and finish her properly.
While dodging the stallion’s attacks, the Raven said, “Why does anyone even work for you!? You just killed one of your own cronies!”
“Fear is a hell of a motivator!” was Jolt’s only response as he continued firing off electrical blasts. “Hell, I don’t even need these idiots! With these gauntlets, I’m unstoppable!” As if to prove his point, he sent out yet another blast, which Swirling just barely managed to evade.
The shot struck a building, however, sending large chunks of debris falling to the ground, some heading for bystanders just watching the fight. Cursing under her breath, Swirling dashed towards the civilians, four in all, pushing them out of the way barely a second before the rubble came crashing down. They stared at her, dumbfounded, as she shouted, “Get out of here! It’s too dangerous!” The four ponies scrambled away at that, no longer holding any desire to stay.
Her ears flicked when she heard more shouting.
“Buck you, Jolt! We ain’t stayin’ if that’s how you is!” one Red shouted at the bristling Jolt as he found his fellow Reds all glaring at him. Before he had a chance to say anything, they all turned tail and galloped off.
The gray-coated earth pony growled. “Fine! To hell with the lot of you bucks!” He turned his scowl to the Raven. “I can kill this bird on my own.” He pulled back a hoof, preparing to send out another shot.
‘Whatever you’re doing now, it’s not working,’ said Nevermore as she dodged another bolt.
“What do you think I’m doing? I can’t get close enough with him trying to cook me!”
“Quit yammering to yourself and die already, you feathered freak!”
“Okay, now you’re just being racist!” Swirling called out, only angering her opponent further. ‘I need an idea here, Nevermore! Tell me you have… something…’
She eyed Jolt as he fired off his blasts. Her mind took a moment to process some vague semblance of an idea.
“With these gauntlets, I’m unstoppable!”
‘Nevermore, you wouldn’t happen to have been paying attention to what Kyoshi said during the karate lesson today, were you?’
‘Hard to say. I was a little distracted after he started walking on water. Seriously, what the hell was that all about? It’s like something out of a bad, fan-made story about some dumb product for younglings.’
The pegasus shook her head. ‘He said something about using your own abilities.’ She grinned under her shadowy mask as her idea steadily morphed into a plan. ‘I think it’s time to mix it up just a bit.’
She swooped down close to the ground, but still far out of Jolt’s reach. “You want me, tough guy? Try to keep up, then!” At that, she took off, heading towards Central Park.
“Get back here, freak!” Jolt shouted as he gave chase.
With Nevermore’s speed boost, Swirling made it to the park in good time. It’d be little while before Jolt could catch up with her. Plenty of time to get everything ready.
-o-
Jolt grunted as he arrived in Central Park, growling as he looked around for his rival. The park was quiet and dark tonight. Almost bizarrely so, he’d think if he weren’t so dead set on finding the Raven and ending her as brutally as equinely possible. He glanced around, watching the ground, trees, and shadows carefully, waiting for her to leap out at any moment.
“Where are you, freak?” he muttered as he wandered through the grounds. “Show yourself, you stupid chicken-horse!”
“Wow, rude,” came the voice of the Raven, hailing from above. Looking up, Jolt saw her standing atop a cloud, looking down at him as if she were superior. “I mean, really, didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s not nice to call pegasi ‘chicken-horses?’ That’s just slightly more racist than ‘feathered freak.’”
“My mother didn’t teach me nothin’,” he snarled and crashed his hooves together, sending another burst of sparks. “Now, you gonna fight me or hide in the clouds like a coward?”
“Only if you say please, Mister Double Negative,” the mare taunted.
His ‘please’ was another burst of electricity that singed off the ends of her mane.
She yelped, hopping into the air in surprise before glaring down at Jolt again. “I’m getting this sneaking suspicion that you don’t like me very much.”
“SHUT UP!” Jolt screamed as he launched another lightning blast.
‘Perfect,’ Swirling thought as she kicked her cloud as hard as she could, summoning a bolt of lightning of her own. The bolt tore through Jolt’s shot and struck him square in the barrel, making him scream as the electricity shot through his system, his gauntlets sparking uncontrollably and smoking like fire.
“T-the hell did you do?” he managed past chattering teeth.
She lifted her head at him, since she knew he couldn’t see her smug grin. “Why, I’m fighting fire with fire… well, lightning in this case.”
He growled and pushed himself up, his gauntlets still sparking wildly. “You stupid nag! I won’t go down so easy!”
Standing on his hind legs, he punched out with both forehooves. Just as he did, Swirling gave her cloud another kick, and two bolts of lightning lashed out. Their two attacks struck, and once again, the blast rebounded back at Jolt.
He barely managed a gasp before the shock and resulting force sent him bouncing away—his gauntlets falling apart into ruined scrap. Somehow, he managed to get back on his hooves, staggering limply and pulling back a hoof as if to attack again. All he managed to do was flop onto the ground with a groan.
“And that, my friend,” Swirling quipped, “is why you never fight a pegasus with lightning.”
-o-
The next day, Swirling and Summer found themselves trotting down the street for Kyoshi’s dojo. Despite being tired from the fighting—and finally taking down Jolt—Swirling couldn’t help but beam with pride. Not only did she save ponies’ lives, but she actually did it with a lesson she’d learned from the cranky old stallion. A feat to be truly proud of, she told herself.
She smiled as her friend practically bounced down the road, Summer’s mouth running a mile a minute. “And then I blocked his swing and punched him right in the nose!” She paused to dramatically recreate the punch. “And he fell on his flank and ran off crying! It was great!”
Swirling laughed, clearly remembering something else, but commenting so would have brought questions on how she knew that when Swirling Line hadn’t been there. “Did he cry for his mom, too?”
“Mm-hm!” Summer nodded vigorously. “You should’ve seen it, Swirling, but I suppose you had your own hooves full trying to keep the candy store safe.”
“Uh, yeah. I couldn’t let Sunny or Bright get hurt, right?” She rubbed at the back of her head, wincing at a sore spot she had earned from the fight.
“But even so, the way the Raven took down all those Reds was amazing!” Summer smiled all the wider. “Not only is she really strong, she’s also fast, and amazing! The whole shadow thing just makes her so awesome!”
‘She really knows how to flatter a spirit, doesn’t she?’
‘She’s talking about me, Nevermore. You were just there… sort of.’
Swirling’s amusement was cut short as she felt her hoof slip out from under her, causing her to land on her front with a grunt.
Summer was by her side in an instant. “Swirling? Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, dusting her coat off. “Just slipped.” She growled inwardly at her inner inhabitant. ‘I hate you, Nevermore.’
‘The feeling is, oh, so mutual, Line.’
Shutting the irritating spirit away, she followed after her friend until they arrived at the doors to Kyoshi’s dojo. When they got there, they found it oddly quiet, with none of the other students present.
“Huh… I wonder where everyone is?” Swirling said as she looked around.
A small frown formed on Summer’s face. “Did Master Kyoshi cancel class today?”
Before Swirling could answer a curt shout came from inside the dojo. “Swirling Line! Summer Streams! Inside, now!”
Her instinct to run had never been stronger, Swirling thought as both she and Summer hunkered down at the shout. It really sounded like Kyoshi was angry.
“Should we make a run for it?” Swirling asked her friend, giving her a quick glance.
Summer shook her head, her own eyes wide with worry. “N-No, we should see what he wants.” She stood straighter and forced a smile on her face. “Maybe he wants to praise us for fighting the Reds?”
Swirling gave her a flat look. “Did that even sound like he was happy?”
“Inside!”
Resigning themselves, the two mares walked into the dojo, heads hung low in fear of whatever awaited them. Peering up, they found their master sitting on his haunches in the middle of the training floor, his gaze stern as he regarded them, that dreaded wooden sword resting ominously on his shoulder.
“G-good evening, Master Kyoshi,” Summer said. Swirling could feel her friend shaking beside her.
“Sit down, Summer Streams. We have much to discuss.” He turned his gaze to Swirling. “You as well, Swirling Line.”
“Fantastic,” Swirling muttered to herself as she sat beside Summer and across from Kyoshi.
The old pegasus sat there, staring at them for a long, uncomfortable moment that seemed to last forever. The longer Swirling sat under that stern, stone-like gaze, the more she fidgeted. As much as she wanted to just bluntly ask him what was up, she knew that doing so would earn her a whack on the head with that nightmare of a stick in his hooves.
Finally, when he spoke, his voice sounded so much like a father scolding a foal that Swirling was briefly reminded of the lectures her own father would give her. “Just what in Equestria where the two of you thinking?”
She heard Summer gulp beside her, but Swirling was quick to speak. “What do you mean?”
His gaze settled on her and he shifted his shoulders, the wooden sword moving threateningly. “What did you say, Swirling Line?”
She felt the blood drain from her face. “I mean, well… we were only trying to help.”
“The Reds were everywhere, Master Kyoshi,” Summer explained in as calm a tone as she could muster. “They were destroying everything and hurting anypony they could get their hooves on.”
Her statement was met with a whack on the head. “What you did was foolish!” the old pegasus growled. “You are barely apprentices! Your first action should have been to find the proper authorities! You are fortunate that you were not killed!”
“But, Master Kyoshi, they were attacking bystanders! We couldn’t just stand there,” Swirling said, and flinched, expecting a swat from the sword.
Instead, Kyoshi just glared at her. “As honorable as that is, rushing blindly into any fight, especially with criminals like the Reds, would only see you among to the injured!” He looked at the two of them in turn, Summer rubbing at her sore noggin, and Swirling staring right back. “I did not take you two under my wing so that you could get yourselves killed thinking you can use my teachings to do the job of this city’s law enforcement.”
Swirling blinked, turning her head away nervously in a way she hoped didn’t look suspicious. She silently cleared her throat to try and calm her nerves a little, which didn’t do much to help.
“As punishment for being so rash and lacking in forethought,” Kyoshi said, “the two of you are to do twice the work of your fellow students. Twice as many laps around the dojo and twice as many exercises until further notice. Am I understood?”
Both mares visibly paled at that. Kyoshi was enough of a slave driver as it was. Doing twice the work of the others would be borderline torture. They looked to each other anxiously. Neither wanted to quit without the other quitting first, though, which left them with only one option.
“Am I understood?” Kyoshi repeated even more sternly.
“Yes, sir,” the two mares replied, knowing full well how exhausting the next few days were going to be.
-o-
When Jolt opened his eyes, he was greeted with a dark room. A groan escaped him as he rose off the ground and onto his haunches, glancing around to try and figure out where he was. He had no such luck, however, only seeing a door ahead of him.
Just as he thought to try and knock the door down, it opened, and in walked a familiar earth stallion with a bandaged face. Jolt frowned, having expected a cop or maybe even that bird-crazed nag.
“Where am I?” the white-maned stallion demanded more than he asked.
The Benefactor shook his head. “Impatient, are we? Fine. You’re in a warehouse outside of Manehatten. You’re lucky I had one of my… ‘employees’ got to you before the police did.” He trotted closer to Jolt. “You did better than I expected.”
A sneer crossed Jolt’s face. “The nag beat me. Again.” He practically spit out that last word.
“I didn’t expect you to beat her,” the face-wrapped stallion confessed, earning a confused look from Jolt. “I wanted to see you in action. And you proved to me that you can hold your own fairly well. For a Red. Which brings me to my main point…” He stood tall, looming over Jolt like a titan. “I can give you the payback you want. But only if you’re willing to leave that bunch of idiots and help on a little… project of mine.” He offered a hoof.
Jolt stared at the masked pony for several moments, his eyes flicking between his face and his proffered hoof. Slowly, he lifted his own hoof to meet the Benefactor’s… only to see it sparking with electricity. The gray stallion pulled his hoof away, raising his other one and staring at them, then down at his body. Little trails of electricity darted across his body like quick flies zipping through the air. Morbidly curious, his moved his front hooves closer together, a grin gradually forming on his face as a trail of lightning linked his forelegs together.
Looking up at the Benefactor, who’d lowered his hoof, Jolt said, “You’ve got yourself a deal.”