6 - Baptism of Fire
Sherbert - 3rd of Chillfrost, 25 AoE
Kōmoriakademī, Neighdo - Neighpone
I never thought it would take six months to get to basic hoof to hoof training. But it did, and now I could actually see why it did. Because with how little of it I got to do every day we were only just now at seven hundred and fifty hours of training!
I’d only got one month and one week of combat training this whole time because how how my schedule broke down.
Ignoring the basic survival, stealth, and disguise training, as well as Rojā’s crash courses in history, I had maybe five hours a day to do actual combat training. I’d have more if school didn’t take up too gods damned much time!
Seriously, eight and a half hours for the actual school, about three more hours required for homework (Thank Luna Rina helped me with that!), and that’s a full third of the day gone right there. Factor in the hour long commute and that’s twelve and a half hours a day just for school.
A massive timesink which frankly I didn’t care about. It’s not like school taught you how to find a job, do taxes, maintain your home, or other actually useful real world things. Just mathematics, history, science, basic magic… Okay sure basic magic is useful assuming you can cast it. But seriously I would rather learn something of value to everyone like, oh, I don’t know WHAT LAWS THERE ARE!
Ugh. The less I thought about that hell the better.
With the amount of time School ate up, and the six hours consumed by non-combat ninjutsu training, I had ONE hour left to myself if I didn’t want to skip sleep. And holy crap did I not want to skip sleep.
“Sherbert? Are you paying attention?” Master Rojā asked calmly, ripping me from my thoughts.
Ugh… I was wasting very limited time!
I sighed, ears drooping shamefully. “I’m sorry, Master. I’m just… I’m stressed out about how little time I have for this. School in Equestria was only six hours a day, and there was far less homework to do. I was hoping we would have more time for well, this.”
Rojā nodded and left his position on the raised section of the floor to trot over to me. “Well, we can see about getting you on a potion regimen to reduce your need for sleep. That’s still an avenue of possibility,” he offered with an understanding nod.
I bit my lip. “Um, well… Do you have to keep taking the potions? I mean, you can stop drinking them and go back to normal, right?”
He shook his head slowly. “No. Once you finish the regimine the reduction is permanent. Nor can I tell you how much it will reduce your need for sleep. I only gained an extra two hours, while Tamiko no longer sleeps at all.”
Wait, she DIDN’T sleep? That explained everything! And also made me more than a little jealous.
“I- I’ll think about it,” I decided, nodding slowly.
I didn’t like using drugs… But at this point, I could see how my schedule was holding me back, and I couldn’t cut anything else.
“You know what… It’s not like I can skip school, and I’m not giving up what little free time I have, and I can’t just NOT sleep. Or even just make myself wake up a few hours earlier without potions.”
Rojā laughed. I glared at him angrily. “You said you’d forget about that!”
“I’m sorry,” Rojā laughed, grinning ear to ear. “But I can not. Though I agree with your assessment that you shouldn’t get less than eight hours sleep as you are right now.”
The dojo’s living quarters shared a common bathroom. Sometimes, when sleepy, I forget how to read Neighponese. And most Neighponese hygiene gels, creams, and pastes are sold in plain white tubes with black text only due to plain packaging laws.
You wake up and brush your teeth with Preparation H one time…
“Look… I need more time. Let’s do the potions,” I decided not wanting to be a laughing stock for a week again.
“Good,” Rojā said giving me an understanding smile. “We’ll schedule an appointment with a doctor next week. Would you like to see Kazumi? I imagine with your schedules it’s hard to see your marefriend often.”
I blushed and flicked my tail slightly as he made that little mistake. “Um, we’re not marefriends, but I do like her. I just have no idea how the hay to get close to her!” I explained with a confused shrug.
Rojā nodded. “I know, I was making a joke. It seems to have misfired,” he said shaking his head slowly. “I’ll set up the appointment. You should probably think of a good way to break through that RX-Seventy-eight-oh-two she calls emotional armor.”
I frowned for a moment, unsure what he was talking about until the name finally clicked as an outmoded mech type I’d learned about in history class.
“Heh, yeah. Maybe I should call up my Uncle and ask if he can make me a conversational glaive beam,” I joked back with a grin.
Rojā beamed me a huge grin, clearly happy I’d gotten his joke. “I’m pretty sure he actually could… At any rate, are you too stressed out to finish our warm up? I could push the match back to tomorrow.”
Push back my first freeform sparring match!? BUCK THE HAY NO!
I opened my mouth to say that I was not going to push that back even five minutes, but Rojā cut me off with a nod. “I like that look in your eye. Tell you what, if you pull off the kick flawlessly, I’ll give you the ten minutes till the match to relax.”
I nodded and took a deep breath to focus myself. “Okay! I can do that,” I said as I squared myself back up with the training dummy.
This was a Yottsu no hidzume (Four Hooves) stance kick. You start from a crouching position, as if you got halfway up from sitting on your plot, and launch into a roundhouse kick. The Rising Roundhouse. The kick was generally used to start fights from a sitting position. Most famously by an unnamed ninja during the assassination of Shogun Nakamura.
I slid myself into position, locking eyes on the wooden training dummy. I was aiming for the head, or neck. I didn’t want to miss and clip an ear again, that hurt like tartarus. The neck would do.
I launched myself upwards onto my left forehoof, keeping everything else in the air until I felt my body twist perpendicular to the ground. I smashed my left hind leg into the ground, using it as a support while I snapped my right hind leg out to strike as I twisted, using my left hooves as the pivot points.
My right pastern smashed into the dummy with a solid crack, the slight tingle of pain in my hoof letting me know I’d hit it correctly. I kept spinning, drawing my right hooves back down, landing on all fours, ready to run.
I’d managed to knock the weighted training dummy over! I just kicked over three hundred kilos! SWEET!
Rojā’s impressed clapping drew my attention away from the toppled dummy.
“Excellent! You have the form down, now it’s just a matter of practicing until you can break the dummy instead of merely throwing it,” he praised, walking over to the dummy and pushing it back upright with a grunt of effort.
I raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I um, I don’t think I can snap a solid six centimeters of hardwood.”
“Not now, no,” Rojā agreed with a nod before dropping down and launching himself into the same kick I’d performed.
His hoof smashed into the dummy right at the joint between the head and neck, the sound of splintering wood. The second his first hoof hit, he twisted, landing a second kick beneath the dummy’s chin with his rear left leg, and rolling underneath the dummy’s head to smash his right hoof into it a second time, this time on the opposite side of the first strike.
Continuing the fluid motion, he sparing up onto his rear hooves, and mashed his left rear hoof down on the back of the dummy’s head with a savage axe kick. The dummy splintered again, then cracked, the head falling off, trailing a mess of splintered wood.
Four strikes, one and a half seconds, one decapitated ironwood dummy.
“HOLY CRAP!” I yelped, ears perked in awe and fear.
“I never said you had to break it with just that kick. Or even one kick,” Rojā finished as I stared open mouthed.
There was a steel rod that had held the head in place along with the wood… And he’d just snapped it.
“Go ahead and rest up until the match starts. I’m sure that Nahrina is eager to have his first sparring match too,” Rojā said as he walked out of the training hall. “Remember! The match is a museum event, so we’ll be having it in the arena. But no showboating. This is still training, and they paid to see real fighting. Not movie magic.”
I nodded and gave the broken dummy one last look before leaving the small training hall myself.
I was looking forward to this match. The way Bat’s did their training is that for combat every disciple trained under one master one on one for the first year. I hadn’t gotten to see any of Rina’s progress at all, and it would be super fun to see what he’d learned!
I mean, he’d learned how to fight before getting here, so he had to be better than me at this style. I’d like to see roughly where I’d be one day soonish.
The Academy was rather packed with guests today, but that made sense. It wasn’t just Rina and I fighting. We were sort of a warm up act for a proper tournament between all second year students. The third and fourth years had a tournament for them tomorrow, and after that was another one for the masters.
The Academy made about six percent of its income from this three day event, and well… Yeah! It certainly looked like that.
Every single place I wanted to go was totally packed! Ponies everywhere! The dojo had transformed into pickpocket’s wet dream. The training halls had to have some kind of silence spell cast on them because the chattering crowd became a total roar!
I did my best to make my way to the central arena, but it just wasn't happening. Even with my gi on ponies refused to move if asked, and trying to move through the crowd resulted in little more than smacking my barrel into others flanks and plots followed shortly by an insult.
“Oh to hay with this!” I grumbled before jumping up, using a random bench as a springboard to jump up onto the armory’s wall.
A quick focusing of my aura to strengthen my grip and I was able to scramble up the wall onto the roof and-
Run face first into a batpony’s plot.
“Uuf! HEY! Watch your land-” The mare snapped before blinking in surprise. “Oh! Uh, hey. Pretty cool that a unicorn managed to get up here.”
Right… Same instincts as pegasi. Sitting higher up is better.
“Sorry, I got to get to the ring before the tournaments start,” I explained as I shouldered past her and across the roof.
I only had one more roof to clear, but the jump was just a little bit further than I knew I could reach. Unless… Maybe… I was in much better control of my body now. Maybe I could direct my magic to my legs in general and get some more strength?
Why not? Worst comes to worst I hit arena’s wall halfway up and climb up it.
“Hey!” Somepony yelled at me.
“I live here! I’m allowed to run across the roof. Encouraged even,” I replied as I turned to look at the speaker.
And paused.
A yellow furred pegasi mare with a bright red mane and tail. Sort of thickly built. Not fat, not buff, just, well, large skeletal frame. Probably from some earth pony or distant horse ancestry. Why did she look so familiar?
“Yeah,” she growled glaring at me angrily. “I know. You live here because my grandfather kicked you out. But that’s still no excuse not to call me! I gave you my number, abazure!”
Abazure? I raised an eyebrow as I quickly checked my list of insults and-
Wait, she called me a bitch for not calling her? I would have called ANYONE who gave me their number back the same damn day! Why the heck would I ever turn down sex!?
I couldn’t possibly have ever gotten anypony’s numb-
Oh! Holy crap! She was the mare who was handing out hotel pamphlets. But she never gave me her numb-
“Oh! Yeah, come to think of it the numbers in those directions do make a comm number,” I said allowed in sudden realization.
If she’d given me that note now I’d have totally recognised that after realizing the numbers were useless, but fresh off the airship-
She stamped a hoof angrily, shattering one of the roof tiles. “You will NOT get out of this by playing stupid!” She growled. “I am going to kick your teeth in the SECOND I’m done scoping out the students here who are worth a damn. Hmm, who's that again, oh yeah! Everypony except you, first year!”
I rolled my eyes. “Sure you are,” I said mockingly. “You’ll never catch me even if you aren't talking out your plot right now. Later!”
I spun on my rear legs, did my best to push my magic into my legs, and then raced across the rooftop. I reached the edge in a heartbeat, gathered my legs, and jumped! The packed garden below me soared by and for a moment I felt like I was flying. Then my hooves thunked down against the arena roof.
YES! I’d just pulled off a twenty meter jump! New record! Old one was fifteen. Training is so paying off!
The mare I’d pissed off yelled something after me but I didn't catch it as I was too busy lowering myself down the other side of the wall and dropping onto the top row of the bleachers.
Or whatever you call the seats around an arena. I mean are bleachers when it’s just strait row, or does a circle count too?
Because the arena had a full five levels of seats around the central circular granite slab arena. Between the actual arena and the stands you had a normally dry dirt trench, but for the ocasion it had been flooded to make a moat, and two bamboo slat bridges had been set up to allow entrance from the hallways beneath the bleachers on both sides.
I had no idea which one I was supposed to be in… And running across the arena would make me look like a jackass.
Time for a little practical application of stealth!
Contrary to what I’d thought until four months ago, there are two kinds of stealth. Combat Stealth, for when you’re in a hostile area and are unobserved, and Public Stealth for when you’re in a crowded area and being observed by dozens from all sides.
Public Stealth is cake. You literally just act like you belong and project an aura of confidence. Master Rojā demonstrated just how powerful that simple tip is by walking right into a bank vault and just starting to look around. Security guard didn’t even blink after Rojā had simply said “Morning,” and walked in with a folder held under one wing.
I had to do the same thing here-
No. No I didn’t. Because I was actually supposed to be here. No need to go full derp.
Twilight’s Logic by Mail classes were actually working. Huh. Who knew! I should have said something absurd with sincerity within earshot of her years ago.
She could have just been a bit more polite about making me take them though…
“Sherbert,” Twilight had said with a distressed sigh. “Your ideas on the relationship of friendship and magic were very very bad. So bad that I was forced to invent a new word to describe them. Idiostupirific. Your idea that low magical ability equates low ability to have friends was idiostupirific.
“But that’s okay. I looked into your school records. Mathematics, History, and social studies, all Cs and Ds. But Woodshop, PE, Alchemy, and Geography? All As and Bs! You’re not dumb, you just value practical skills and dismiss any skill you cant see the practicality of as useless and then dont pay attention to it.
“The problem is we use mathematics to help teach things like logic and problem solving. Because that’s what math really is. Using logic within a system of rules to solve problems. Because you never payed attention in math class, and your parents evidently didn’t help with your education outside of school, you never learned proper logic.
“Since you’re Rainbow’s grandfilly, and she and I are in negotiations to form a herd with her, AJ, and Megan, you are also my grandfilly, pending legalwork. As such, it’s my responsibility to help you learn how to think. It’s called Twilight Time. I did it for your mom too, so don’t feel bad.
“I’ve mailed you a work packet to go through. When you’re finished mail it back to me. If you fail, I’ll mail it back again and again until you get every answer right. When you finish, we will move onto more advanced logic problems. Within a year, we’ll make sure you no longer come to idiostupirific conclusions.”
I’d be more mad about that… But well, can’t argue with results.
Sticking to the back of the bleachers I walked around the arena to my left, able to slip through the crowd here thanks to them finding seats rather than just sort of standing in a line. After a minute I reached the area above the left side entryway and made my way down to the top of the entryway, where I hopped up onto the railings, hooked my rear legs under them, and quickly leaned down by bending backwards to check inside.
Sure enough, Master Cho was there, in her full gi, and fully armed again. I recalled she was going to do a weapons demonstration after the day’s matches. Despite how I met her it was weird seeing her armed. Especially after watching her crush stones bare hooved after casting a transformation spell and hulking out.
“Momie! Look what she’s doing!” Some young filly called, probably pointing at me.
Not wanting to get yelled at by a mom, and since I had the wrong entrance anyways, I popped back up, turned and smiled at the earth pony filly.
“Sorry, kid. It’s a ninjas only window,” I informed playfully before pulling myself back up and doing my best to vanish into the crowd.
I wasn’t sure how well I did. After all I was in my gi.
”You’ve made it through a full month, Sherbert. You’ve won the right to wear our gi if you like,” Master Rojā said informatively as he looked at me from across the table.”We have four styles available.
“You may choose from: Traditional ninja attire namly older Neighponese peasant clothing, more modern karate gi with hidden pockets, plain business wear with internal pockets and hidden gussets for greater flexibility, and by Tamiko’s request, Samurai patterned kimonos.
“All of them will feature the Academy's crest embroidered on the collar, and all but the business suit have it embroidered on the back as well. The embroidery is done in the same color making it a texture only symbol.”
I raised an eyebrow suspiciously. His tone was off… My master was concealing information from me.
“What’s the catch?” I asked.
“Well, you’re my disciple and will be wearing my gi. For as long as that’s true, there’s one rule you must follow. Even I adhere to it,” Rojā said, steepeling his hooves and leaning forwards seriously.
“What's that?” I asked, a bit annoyed that he was making me play the guessing game.
“Whatever you choose to wear, it only comes in black,” he answered.
Black was a common color for clothing in Neighpone, so the color wasn’t a problem. But most ponies were in casual clothing. Hats, vests, simple shirts, skirts…
Very few of them were in a silk-kevlar weave karate uniform with tightly wrapped legs. It’s sort of hard to crowd blend when you’re not dressed like the others.
Fortunately no angry mom screamed after me as I zipped across the other side of the bleachers and over to the other entrance. Unsure if I could get into the ready-room-thingie from the other side thanks to the crowds, I decided to enter through the arena side.
I made my way to the railing, pulled myself down into the same reverse curl I did last time, channeled my magic into my forehooves to grip the ceiling as hard as I could, and let go with my rear legs, almost gracefully flipping through the entrance. I say almost because I didn’t know where to go from dangling from the ceiling other than to drop.
Especially since I could feel my grip diminishing with every millisecond. I never really thought to practice sustained hanging with an enhanced grip before. I should try that someday during free training.
“What took you so long?” Rojā asked, the batpony materializing from the cluttered ready room the second my rear hooves touched down.
“The crowds are NUTS!” I answered with a wince. “I had to take a rooftop route to get here.”
He nodded once. “I understand. Unfortunately, you’ve missed the three minutes of briefing I was supposed to give you. The match starts in twenty seconds. All I can say is you should go for a quick takedown. Cho trains her disciples to outlast others in one on one combat.
“If it becomes a war of attrition, you will lose. Especially if anyone told Nahrina that using your natural magic isn’t cheating so long as it’s not actual wizardry. Meaning he can shape change to work around injuries.
“But don’t worry! He’s never fed enough to properly regenerate, and he never learned how to use shapeshifting to heal either. Wounds persist on a form he takes if he changes out of it and then back into it in the same day.
“Remember: no lethal moves, no full strength hits, and no weapons. If you win, you get an extra snack tonight. Good luck!”
I had time to bow, but not say the traditional pre-match ‘Yes, master!’ before the PA system outside crackled to life.
“Ladies and Gentlecolts, welcome to the Twenty Seventh bi-annual Academy Tournament Week! Today’s pre-event show will be a sparring match between the academy's current first year students, Orange Sherbert and Nahrina Uchinuku!”
Uchinuku!? My eyes widened in alarm. Rina had never mentioned his family name to me before. It literally translated as ‘punch out’! That meant his name was something like ‘The Lava River that Punches You’ in Equish.
This did not bode we-
AAAAA! Cho means Butterfly. He was being trained by a huge mare named ‘Knock Out the Butterfly’! Her name basically means no mercy for the weak!
I took a deep breath to calm myself. I wouldn’t loose. That’s all this meant. I simply would not loose.
On second thought, I suppose Master Chos’ name could also translate as ‘The Butterfly that Strikes’. Hummm… That’s still really painful sounding.
“Um, Master?” I asked looking over my shoulder at Rojā. “Does Cho have a middle name? I’m trying to figure out how her name translates-”
“She goes by a literal translation of her name in the native Amarezonian,” he answered. “You’d have to look at other meanings of the kanji to get her name’s proper meaning from the Neighponese. In Equish it would be ‘Graceful Devastation’. Why do you ask?”
I felt my ass clench hard enough to make diamonds.
“No reason,” I squeaked.
“Guests,” The PA announced. “You have ten minutes to make it to the stands to see the main event. But for those of you already seated, it’s time for the pre-show entertainment. Disciple Nahrina, take your position in the arena.”
I watched as Rina trotted out of his ready room. He’d chosen the traditional peasant clothing for his gi. Once again, the clothing did not suit him. The stallion belonged in a metal band’s get up, not a rice-picker hat and a ice blue loose long sleeved tunic-shirt-thing, and a darker blue sash.
The crowd didn’t seem very interested as he walked out. A few ponies clapped, but that’s it. He trotted out to the black line on the arena and waited. But hey, we were the warm up. What did you expect?
The PA crackled again. “Orange Sherbert, take your position in the arena.”
I took another deep breath and walked out into the arena. My hooves clicked against the bamboo bridge as I walked forwards, matching the rapid beat of my heart. I was used to being watched while training, but even still, this was a LOT of eyes.
And I stood a good chance of getting my plot kicked.
I reached the white line, and stopped. I stood maybe three meters from Rina. That’s two extended steps, or one quick-step. I needed to go for a fast takedown. I should use the kick I just learned! Go for the head-
No! That was a killing blow. Can’t use it. Against the rules. What if I-
“Opponents! Show respect for your peer,” the PA announced overly dramatic.
Shit, no more time to plan!
RIna bowed. I bowed.
“Disciples… FIGHT!” The PA barked.
Rina jumped the second the round began. For a split second I thought he’d been spooked, then his jump turned into a quickstep, pushing him up against my left side where he immediately spun around and hit me in the left temple with an elbow strike.
The world flashed red. I dropped like a sack of bricks. Rojā said that strike was like getting hit with a carpenter’s hammer. Now I had a reference for that pain.
I rolled out of the way in time to avoid Rina’s downwards jab. His hoof cracked against the granite arena, sending a small chip of stone flying past me.
He was in a four hoof stance, I couldn’t knock him off balance. I had to directly attack!
Keeping my back on the ground, I pivoted on my shoulders, bringing my rear hooves into line to kick. Rina saw it coming and back stepped to avoid the strike. Advantage, me! Arching my back I flipped up onto my rear hooves, spreading them out slightly to keep my balance, and pulled my forelegs inwards, hooves pointing up to use my cannons as shields.
Two steps forwards-
Rina sidestepped and threw a low jab with his left leg. I sidestepped, nearly walking into the kick his jab had hid from me. A chance! I reached out with both forelegs and grabbed his hind leg!
CRAP! That was total instinct, what do I do now!?
Rina pulled his leg in, throwing me off balance. I fell forwards, he threw a punch that connected with my chin. I fell backwards, slamming into the arena floor with a crunch.
I grit my teeth and growled. Enough! Enough being thrown around like a ragdoll!
I rolled over, getting up onto all four legs and spread my weight out as broadly as I could. I needed to take whatever hit he gave me next and roll with it!
Rina frowned, seeing me brace for impact, but rushed in anyways, hitting me in the left shoulder with a flurry of jabs. I leaned into the blows, bracing myself so I wouldn’t budge an inch. My shoulder screamed under the abuse. I needed the perfect sho-
NOW!
I smashed my forehead into Rina’s temple. He staggered back, stunned. I reared up, then snapped my right hind leg up to land an axe kick, hitting Rina under the chin. He stumbled backwards as my kick snapped back down, missing his muzzle by a hair.
I stepped forwards and threw a strait karate punch, connecting with his left cheek. He took that hit, stepped into it, grabbed my shoulders, then pulled me downwards while slamming his rear left knee into my chest.
Stars exploded in my eyes as I fell over. That hurt. I could feel my ribs flex back into place. Nothing felt broken, but every nerve in my chest and barrel screamed at me to not do that again.
I couldn’t hit him. Not hard enough. Rina was just way tougher than me…
I couldn’t forfeit the match. Not yet. I could still fight. This was to knock out or surrender. I wouldn’t lose by surr-
No! Buck that! I wasn’t going to be eaten! I had a way to deal with this predator.
I stood back up, eyes narrowing. Maybe I was concussed, but I knew exactly what to do. Just like how a newborn filly knows how to walk, breath, and cry for her mother.
I reached for my magic as if to use my telekinesis, but pushed the energy downwards through my core to my forehooves. I felt my aura flicker slightly around them, casting an inconsistent blue light. Irrelevant. ATTACK!
The predator blinked, frowning. “Wait-”
I lunged forward, slamming bouth hooves squarely into the predator's chest and roared, “DIE!”
The telekinetic charge exploded in a flash of blue light, throwing him backwards plot over head to the edge of the arena.
I blinked, jaw dropping as I realized what I just did. And that I couldn’t remember exactly how I did it! How the buck did I channel magic like that!? HELP ME BRAIN! THAT WAS AWESOME!
Oh shit! Is Rina okay?
I looked over at his crumpled body as he stirred, standing shakily upright.
“I thought advanced techniques were banned,” he moaned. “But hey, if they arn’t...”
Rina inhaled, shifting his body into a stance I didn’t recognise at all. It looked alot more seasoned and practiced than his previous form had been. Oh… He was changing from Ninjitsu to the battlemage arts he’d learned as a nymph.
BUCK!
Rina’s horn glowed a bright green as he charged a spell. My eyes widened in fear. I couldn’t take a battlemage. I couldn’t block an attack spell. I had to dodge!
Rina’s horn flashed brightly, his spell cabout to go off-
“AAAAAAGH!” He screamed as his entire body erupted in orange flames.
He slumped over, smoking, fur singged, crashing limply to the arena floor.
“Oooo! Thats gotta hurt!” The PA announcer winced. “Ladies and gentleman, don’t worry we have first aid personnel on standby-”
I ran forwards. “Oh my gosh!” I yelped, bending down to check and see if he was breathing. “Are you okay!? I can’t believe you flopped a spell like that!”
Rina lept upwards, grabbing my shoulder with one hoof, the smoke and singe marks vanishing in a few sparks of magic.
ILLUSION! SHIT!
“Not quite!” He roared, eyes narrowed in focus. “FIRE!”
I was thrown backwards by a thunderclap and a flash of orange. My shoulder burned with a dull spiky pain that stabbed upwards through my skin. Was I lying on my back? I think I was laying on my back...
“Match over!” I heard Rojā shout loudly.
“You heard the Elder, everyone, the fight is being called here. Don’t worry, she’ll have that burn fixed up in no time,” the PA announcer informed everypony as I shifted my weight to try and stand back up. “Don’t feel too sorry for her, folks. Use of wizardry is against this match’s rules. Your winner by disqualification is Orange Sherbert.”
Wait, then should I be disqualified for what I did? That was a spell right?
Rina was suddenly in my field of view. “I’m so sorry! I was really mad, that punch like, really really hurt! I wasn’t thinking straight, are you okay? I’m so happy I didn’t fully charge that!” He babbled.
“It’s fine,” I said with a shaky smile. “I kinda weren't crazy too… Why wasn’t I disqualified? That was magic.”
Master Rojā gently pushed Rina aside and extended a hoof to help me to my hooves.
“That was Sorcery, not Wizardry. Roughly formed mostly instinctual, zero-finesse magic. It’s a part of ninjutsu, and thus does not disqualify you,” he said soothingly. “Can you stand?”
I nodded and stood up, rocking slightly before finding my balance.
“Rojā,” Master Cho’s voice barked angrily. “Why did you teach a first year aurajitsu?!”
“I did not,” Rojā replied simply.
She glared at him with a wrath that cut deep into my heart.
“I just sort of did that! Can't remember how,” I squeaked fearfully.
“Is this true?” She asked, looking at me with that same accusatory, enraged glare.
I nodded rapidly. “Y-yes! I sort of just pushed my magic into helping me punch. I’ve been doing that for years, um, but with my legs and my grip. I use it while free running.”
Cho’s wrathful gaze softened. “I see… Do not use that in your sparring again. You could have killed Nahrina. Easily.”
“Definitely felt like she nearly did,” Rina agreed with an apologetic frown. “Uh, not to make you feel worse or anything…”
I slumped slightly. “I’m sorry… I um, I thought you were going to beat me to death. I wasn’t thinking. I just did it. I’ll learn to control myself better in the future.”
Rojā nodded once. “Good. That was the main goal of this match. Getting you to refine yourselves. We’ve set up an emergency clinic in the lecture room attached to the cafeteria. Can you two make it on your own? Cho and I have duties here. I’ll walk you if you need me too, because you need to get that burn treated, and you’ll probably want a potation to regrow the fur.”
I looked down at my still prickling shoulder. I could see that the fur had been scorched off, leaving a light red burn on my light orange skin. I flinched and nodded.
“I’m a bit wobbly, but that’s not far. I can walk there,” I decided.
I didn’t feel too hurt. Definitely like I could use some basic care and some aspirin but not like, wounded.
Rojā nodded in relief. “Good. I was worried with the beating you took you’d be concussed. But you dont show any signs of it… Have the medic check anyways. We have volunteers from local care centers. Make sure we get our rental fee’s worth.”
I nodded and turned to trot out of the arena, Rina walking by my side. To my amazement the audience didn’t really react much as we left. I guess we really were just a pregame show to ignore…
We limped our way out of the arena into the now ghost-town like Academy grounds. It was really weird to see them so empty when just a few minutes ago they had been so full. I guess everypony packed themselves into the arena during our match. That or went into the main museum building for the special exhibit Tamiko was putting on.
I should see if I could catch any of her weapon demos after getting patched up. Those sounded cool.
“Hey, want to watch Tamiko’s demos after this?” I asked, as we rounded a corner of the building we were headed towards, the entrance coming into view.
Rina smiled. “Yeah! That sounds-”
Rina’s statement ended in a “URHK!” as a flash of red and gold slammed into his back from above.
I had just enough time to make out the shape of a yellow pegasi dressed in the Flying Horse’s silken gi before she lept off Rina’s back and tackled me full force into the ground.
For the third time today, my vision exploded into stars. As I moaned i noticed Rina laying limp, breathing, but not moving. The mare jammed her rear knee into my spine, pressing down on me in an expert hold.
“Told you I was going to punch your teeth in!” She snapped angrily. “Nopony stands up Mai Xii!”
Fuck… I should have reported her! AHHHHHHRRRGH! THOSE LOGIC CLASSES ARE FOR NOTHING!
“Just get this over with,” I grumbled. Far too used to being bullied to really care that I was going to get hurt.
Hay, I was already physically hurt. And realizing I failed to do the smart thing hurt worse than this was going to.
Mai snickered. “You’re lucky this is your home turf. I’d prefer to drag this out, but well, I’d rather not get caught. So your wish is my command.”
She drew back one hoof, angling it so she’d strike with the point. A bone breaking strike.
She was going to LITERALLY punch my teeth out. Dad was going to be so mad at me...
“OYE!” Somepony shouted angrily. “Cut that bullshit out, before I MAKE you!”
Mai turned her head to look at who yelled, and laughed. Which made me look, see a pissed of Kazumi standing a few meters away, and lose all hope of someone stopping this.
What was she going to do against a trained martial artist? She was tiny and took daily medicine for joint problems...
“HA! And what exactly are you going to do to stop me? I’ve taken shits that were bigger than you,” Mai mocked, giving Kaz a dismissive smirk. “Unless you can learn a decade of martial arts in two seconds, you don’t even have a prayer of standing up to me. Tell you what, if you’re gone by the time I’m done with this manko, I won’t stomp your skull flat.”
I felt my heart fall. There was no way Kazumi could get away from her. She was just too damn fast!
“Just run! I’ll be fine!” I pleaded, giving Kazumi a worried look, begging her to go with my eyes.
Kazumi nodded at Mai matter of factly. Completely ignoring me
“Yeah. You’re right. It would take me decades to catch up to you at martial arts,” she agreed, seemingly completely uninsulted by my attacker’s remark.
“Damn strait, yariman. Now get lost!” The yellow mare ordered.
Okay, that insult didn’t even work. I’d never even seen Kazumi do anything remotely slutty. Outside of that one dream… Wait, had she seen my dream somehow? No, no that’s just the concussion talking.
Cuz if I wasn’t before, I was now… Luna’s tits my head was killing me…
“You know what, here’s an extra for getting me spotted,” Mai said decisively.
She grabbed my right foreleg and twisted it sharply. I heard something crack and screamed.
“I thought we agreed you couldn’t beat me in a fight, bakka,” Mai said to Kazumi as she let me now broken leg drop.
“Yes. We did,” Kazumi agreed with another nod.
Mai rolled her eyes and turned back to me, razing her hoof for that bone breaker punch again. “Guess you want to die the-”
“That’s why I bought this gun,” Kazumi added as she reached for her saddelbag’s left side and pulled a large hoofcannon from a concealed holster.
Mai’s head snapped around to face Kazumi once more. “Wait wha-”
The twin barreled weapon rumbled. Less boom, more punch to the gut. My whole body twisted as Mai was thrown off me, slamming into the concrete walkway with a crunch lost to the sound of Kazumi’s second shot, which sent her sliding down the walkway a few centimeters.
Kazumi trotted towards me, keeping her gun leveled on Mai, the hoof engulfing gauntlet attached to the weapon ensuring it wouldn’t slip from her grip. Or ever. And also definitely prevented the recoil from blowing her leg clean off....
“Technology outmodes biology, dumbass! I don’t need to be big and strong to kick your ass. Or kill you,” Kazumi laughed. “This is a M-Six Carnifax. From Ayna Co’s Functional Replicas series. It’s set to fire concussion rounds. No, not stun. Concuss. You’ll want to go to a hospital when you can stand again.”
Kazumi’s recommendation was delivered in the same tone of voice she used to diagnose patients who had obviously injured themselves through sheer stupidity.
Condescending superiority.
“And you’d better not choose mine. If I see you in my clinic, I’m going to ensure you have a month of constant pain, indigestion, and nightmares so bad you’d have to have nightmares about having them to even come close to what you'll be having,” Kazumi growled, glaring down her sights at Mai with a look that made it clear she wished she had used letal ordinance with her first shot. “You stand up before I leave, I’ll flip the switch to lethal rounds and never think of you again after winning the self defense case. Disabled people never lose those.”
Mai didn’t make a sound. Or even twitch. She was definitely out cold.
“Is Rina okay?” I asked, too dizzy to stand up.
Kazumi trotted over to him and placed a wing tip on his neck for a few moments, refusing to lower her weapon. She waited for a count of three then nodded. “He’s okay. Out cold, but okay. I can’t move him, we’ll go inside and get somepony to help bring him in… Actually, you will. I’ll keep this bitch at gunpoint till an authority arrives.”
I raised an eyebrow, deciding to be a bit condescending myself. “Oh yeah, I’ll just hobble in there on a broken leg and ask for a stretcher so I can carry him in myself,” I said as sarcastic as I could.
Kazumi paused, her lips pursing in a ‘oh yeah,’ expression before she trotted over to me and placed her free forehoof on my broken arm, ending shooting pain all throughout my side.
“AHH!” I hissed.
“Fun fact,” Kazumi said in a kind voice. “Batponies can work stone like pegasi work clouds.”
“How is that relevant?” I whimpered.
“Bone’s just a bunch of collagen held together by a calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate matrix. And those are minerals. You know, stone,” she replied, giving my leg a gentle tug right over the broken section.
I felt the bone stick back together.
I FELT THE BONES STICK BACK TOGETHER!
My leg still hurt like all tartarus but I could move it again!
“How did you do that!?” I yelped.
Kazumi rolled her eyes. “I already told you, Bakka. It’s not totally fixed. You’ll need a healing potion for the muscle and the collagen, but you’ll be able to walk on that… It will hurt a lot though.”
“C-can any bat pony do that?” I asked with a curious but confused frown.
“Yeah, if they realize that bone is a mineral deposit just like any other. But only a doctor would be able to put the bone back together right… Any one of us could buck up a skeleton like silly putty if we wanted to. Can you stand? I think I set that right. I normally use two hooves, but I want to keep that bitch at gunpoint,” Kaz said grimly.
“Would you really have never thought of her again?” I asked Kazumi with a concerned frown.
The tiny mare sighed. “I would have sometimes. Rarely. But it wouldn’t impact me much. I’m completely numb to death. You never really forget people you see die, but after a while, it’s just a thing that happens. You don’t care anymore. Same goes for remembering them. It happens, and over time, you just don't care about it. I’d probably only remember her as ‘Oh yeah, that one was my fault but I didn’t fail I succeeded. A rare turn of normal circumstances. Neat.’”
“That’s pretty grim,” I said standing up and hissing in pain as my injured leg took some of my body’s weight.
Ahhhh, buck… I could walk on that but seriously, OW!
“I’ve had at least twenty patients die under my care,” Kazumi sighed. “After the little colt who’d had his lungs shredded by a feral dog bled out in my hooves, well… I guess that was the last straw. I needed to become jaded about the whole thing. Ever since that, death’s just been a thing that happens like anything else. Gore too. Doesn't bother me at all now.”
I flinched. “Sooo you would really have had no problems blowing her brains out?” I asked.
“To save you? Not remotely,” Kazumi said with genuine sincerity. “Now get in there! Rin needs help.”
“Rin?” I asked with a head tilt.
“You want to know why I call you Bakka?” Kazumi asked redundantly. “You’re Sky Trigger’s niece, and you want to be a hero. Instead of just asking him for power armor, you’re here learning to be a ninja. He’d have made you a full suit, you know. You didn’t go for the solution given to you on a golden platter. Hence, you’re a bakka in general.
“But you also totally spaced our friend Nahrina asking you to call him Rin instead of Rina, about nineteen different times that I’m aware of, because he finds Rina to be feminine. That’s honestly the kind of friendly teasing I like, but I know you’re not doing it intentionally. Likewise you probably won't get the subtext of my entire spiel here. Which weirdly enough is adorable, and why you’re my Bakka."
I nodded. "Yeah... I can be a bit of a bakka," I agreed. "I'm working on that. Thanks for the head up, I'll start calling him Rin now."
I can't believe it took her telling me that to notice! Ugh... Changing who you are is hard.
Kazumi's left eye twitched oddly. “JUST ATTEND TO THE MEDICAL EMERGENCY!”
ACK! That’s right!
I nodded and rushed off into the cafeteria, ignoring the pain in my leg.
Rin would be fine. And I had a feeling that Mai was going to wish that Kaz had killed her.
████████████████ - 9th of Plantation, 29 AE
███████████ - ████████, Neighpone
“So that’s their side of that little fiasco,” the mare said with a smirk, her teeth glinting in the dim room’s light. “Maybe I should have let you assassinate Xii… He was definitely training his students as goons. Well, water under the bridge.”
Master Rojā paused the recording, and nodded once. “Yes… I would have greatly appreciated that chance. As it is, the arrangement we came to was likely for the best.”
“Nahrina was fine, I presume?” the shadowed mare asked Rojā casually.
The shinobi nodded. “Yes. He was perfectly alright. Just knocked unconscious. Nothing a quality potion, some rest, and a little love couldn’t fix.”
“Good. Now, onto Sherbert. You showed me this to show me her use of sorcery in the match. Correct?” The mare asked, seeking confirmation.
Rojā nodded. “Yes. But more than that… Her mentality while she did it.”
“She stopped thinking of her friend as a friend, and thought of him as a predator,” the mare said, letting the other pony know she understood.
“Then you realize that Sherbert’s unusual bloodline includes instinctive behaviors relating to self defense,” Rojā stated firmly. “That her instincts can overwhelm her conscious mind under stress, and that her reactions are no that of a typical unicorn.”
“I do. And this does have a large impact on my thoughts. But I need to see more. She’s naturally talented with sorcery… Is that one reason why you took her on as a disciple?”
Rojā nodded once more. “Yes, Ma’am. It was obvious she had a talent for aura channeling when I saw her scale that wall.”
“I see… I need to see more. Keep going… Oh! Um, did she and Kazumi start going out after that little admission of love Kazumi gave her?” The mare asked curiously, the hint of a smile barely penetrating the darkness which hid her face.
Rojā sighed and shook his head. “Like Kazumi said… Sherbert was sort of a bakka back then,” he laughed.
“Damnit!” The mare swore. “I see why you used surveillance footage to help teach her! She’s dense enough to use as A.L.I.C.O.R.N. armoring!”
“I thought they would get together around then too, but they didn’t,” Rojā chuckled. “She got a lot smarter over the years. Those lessons Twilight sent her helped a lot. Let’s not get too distracted with unimportant parts of the story. I have an idea of what you’ll want to see next.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.053 seconds
Total duration
1,050 users online
1,730,411 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Interesting chapter only logic lessons. Sherbet be thankful Twilight is taking it easy on you. I wonder what Nyota thinks about Twilight forming a herd
8314616 She can, but only after Nye dies. Which since the other involved will live longer than her, isn't a problem for them.
8314623 Glad you will finish this story.. So the herd thing is in the future. Glad Twilight is preparing for th future better than she did with Flash
Ohhh the more you leArn about ancient unicorns the more you want to know.
The fight was very well written ad was her parkour.
So that pegasus b**** likes Sherbert? but now wants to punch her out? Pegasus are confusing.
I get the feeling Roja intended for SHerbert to use her free running skills to get to the arena in the first place, but she derped and took to long to come to that conclusion.
Lilly, did you leave anything out? cuz it seems like you might have left something out before, I guess we'll just come back to that.
Hey Sky, since Sherbert didn't want to get awesome power armor of win, can I have it? [wow Sherbert can really be a derp, must run in the famially]
Yep, that she is.
If it makes you feel any better, courts have ruled that it's not an illegal stop for an officer to pull somebody over for breaking a law that doesn't exist because police can't be expected to know the laws they are enforcing.
8314914 They would if "What laws there are" was a required class for everyone to take.
8314911 Mai dosn't like Sherbert. Mai has a fetish for foreigners, and her eyecandy refused to fuck her. Obviously it must be exterminated as punishment. That's the logic your dealing with there.
In terms of Kazumi "Oh gods the poor girl... She needs somepony now. Has to. Okay, you know what? We'll open up a bit, let ourselves feel a little and offer her a line and- And she's too dence. DAMN IT ALL TO HELL, YOU BAKKA!"
8314923
It's a required course for police training.
8314923
Dunno about the US, but here in Brazil you spend four years in college to know law. And only really know somewhat deeply part of it. It's NOT something that any school could realistically teach with any degree of depth. That's why moral guidelines have to be enough - else you wouldn't get to work before thirty.
Also, unless you have weird laws where you live, you don't need to know then specifically. If "Stealing is a crime" is not enough knowing how long is the sentence won't help for shit.
Do remember commandments are primitive laws, in essence.
On doing taxes (is it the IRSS to you? Can't remember how you call if), we have it digital and self-explanatory. How is it there?
I would criticize Sherbet's dismissal of school, but Twilight did it already. Also, if she's studying in pony Japan she should have Home Economy classes, teaching useful everyday skills. Doesn't she?
Oh, so taijutsu is primaveral Unicorn magic. Nice!
Kasumi uses boomstick! It's super effective!
Bitch has fainted!
Bat pony warriors in the old days must have been quite terrifying
8314930
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so Sherbert is just her angry sex toy, now that makes a lot more sence.
Oh the comedy between Sherbert and Kazumi that is to come
8314914 I'd ask where because I know at least in Ohio the police have gotten in trouble for stopping people for what they thought the law was..
8315026 Guaranteed if you dig deeply enough almost everywhere has laws that are odd if not to most people to someone. Though alot of them aren't enforced and they were never repealed from long ago.
8314911 As pointed out in another story Sherbert is defiantly Applejack's grand-daughter and Lily's daughter stubborn as a mule and a world class derp at times
8314930
Oh, so Mai is a Yandere, if i'm right with my personality terms ?
Also, Aurajitsu ? So Sherbert is a Lucario ? *get hit with a frying pan*
So... Serbert just unleashed a Biotic Charge all over Rin? Sounds legit.
Sherbert not words properly?
Great chapter, liking the little bits from the future
Adds a whole level of intrigue.
8315026
That would be nice. Here I'm pritty sure that some people dont know that theft is illegal, they likly just think it's unethical... For evidence to back my claim look up the many many tumbler blogs which are people showing off their shoplifting hawls, offering tips on how to get away with it, and being proud of their "achievements".
Wrong! Extreemly wrong! Without knowing what the laws are you will have no idea what your own legal rights are. FOr example in many cases your landlord may set policies which are in fact illegal and therefore things you can "violate" without them being able to evict you since they are not allowed to forbid you from having gusts over at all, for example.
American Taxes are a nightmare and our agency literally dosn't have enough people to fully operate... Here have a reliable news source on the matter. it's like a trainwreck, horrific but you can't look away.
I would criticize Sherbet's dismissal of school, but Twilight did it already.
Yeah, and she likes those classes, but you notice how she focuses on negatives a lot? She wont mention the parts of school she likes because she sees it as a negative as a whole.
THey still are...
8315372 Not quite? As I understand it Yandare actually love their victims but are just realy twisted and will kill others who get close to their lover, or possibly kill their object of desire so nothing else can have them. Mai feels nothing for the person, she just wanted a sexobject, couldn't get it, and is now murderously angry about it because she's a phycopath. No love involved, just lust.
8315820 I'm glad you're enjoying things ^^
Huh. Ok, I've got to concede on that point. A comprehensive and accessible FAQ of Law by subject should be available. Like "what are your rights and duties as a rentee". Easier (as in actually doable) than navigating the patchwork nightmare that some legal codes become through the years.
They (bats) might still be, but they getting near becomes less terrifying when rifles can kill you way before that. Or kill them. Of course, assassinations are always horrifying, but then you're too busy dying to care about the horror.
I'm with Kazumi. Death happens. Everyone dies. Get over it. Don't let someone's death ruin your life.
I've just never seen the point in mourning. You would think the dead one would not want you to cry because he died, because he got away from a pretty messed up world.
8316087
OH! I can field this one!
They know it's illegal, which is part of why they do it. They see society as a system which is cruel and unfair, and consider themselves its victims. Theft enriches them while punishing 'society'. Flaunting their acts serves as a means to demonstrate that the system is broken. It's an act of rebellion.
The psychology is quite interesting.
8316402 Or at the very least, would feel sad that they had upset you unintentionally.
8316526 I see... I wonder if they understand that the system is the reason anything besides them laying naked and dead in a ditch having been killed by a random lion while trying to understand what that hot, orange, flickering stuff on that log was? Probably not... The system may be unfair in some way, but the alternative is to be animals living in the dirt and dying after only a few short, miserable, way worse years than you expirance now.
The little bits at the end kind of remind me of Alpha Protocol but not quite the same. Enjoying the story.
I'm amused at seeing both of these opinions expressed in the same chapter.
Nice.
Considering her natural abilities, Sherbert is going to be a pretty impressive fighter when she gets to the point where she has more conscious over her magic than where she is now. That was a pretty impressive move and it was only instinct.
Mai is going to be a big problem in the long term, isn't she.
Thanks, Anya.
Ooooo, bone knitting powers, very nice. Could be a really horrifying offensive move, too.
8316568
Which leads to the living being sad because the dead one is sad and the dead one is sad because the living ones are sad.
And it just keeps going. Until the oceans rise because of tears.
8317459
I like having characters of diverse opinions in my stories. I'm not here to sell a message or make a statment. I'm here to bring a world to life, and in real worlds people hold diffrent ideas in their heads.
That's one of the reasons Rojā decided to train her. WHen you can see an untrained person expertly using a higher level technique in the art you teach, that's when you know somone has talent.
Reoccurring problem, sure. Big problem? Most certainly. Biggest problem? No.
"You're welcome. They're 853 bits each in Equestria, counting import taxes. No shipping to human occupied dimentions, Zebrica, or Eagleland."
It's rather terrifying what earth benders could do in a universe which rune son logic and physics. In short, there's a reason why Batponies were thought of as abominations back in the ancient past, but are still around. No one beats a batpony in melee combat if they can touch you. Fortuantly, the fact that they can just bend bone since it's basically stone with some meat strung through it has been largly lost to time as the ended for mass hoof to hoof combat diminished. It's basically only used in Estoneigha, and by doctors to reset bones these days.
That said Mai is super lucky Kazumi didn't grab her hip and yank down, giving her a permanent limp. Well not exactly lucky. Kaz will kill to protect those she loves but maim? No. That's crule. Ending a life is one thing, fucking one up is another.
8317948 Agreed, you can respect the memory of those who returned to the void without being sad. You can miss them without being sad. My grandmother died earlier this year. Was I sad? Not realy. In fact I'm happy she died.
Why? Because she died from cancer at 83 and was a stubborn old woman who could have given Applejack a run for her money in a stubborn off. She also through most modern technology was evil and refused to get proper treatment for her cancer, or stop smoking. She spent her last three years in extreme pain, powering through it all, still working her ranch literally until she collapsed and my granddad final dragged her into a hospital.
She wouldn't have cured herself of her own free will, so I am glad she's dead now as that's the only way her suffering could end.
Oh, fun fact, she was a full blooded native American and could have gotten cancer treatments for free via native healthcare ><
This is the best name. Ever.
Funny how I have a personal relationship with that kinda thing. Had a fever dream involving butterflies, strength, and weakness when I was real young. Shaped my morals and who I would become, permanently.
Also sorry for being so late.
If that's what Mai is like then Sherbet dodged a bullet not asking her out. She is just awful.
Power given versus power earned. Honestly I respect Sherbet more for not just walking into Emerald Hive and getting super powers for no effort.
9807262 IMO that's one of the 2 things that make her not a Mary Sue character.
Really enjoying this one, awesome story so far. I wonder if biomancy could alter the size of a dwarf pony and or fix the health issues. More than likely but still an interesting thought
9861029
More then likely. Of course, Azur couldn't cure Flash from a genetic disease sooo....
Also just because one can do something doesn't mean one should. To swole yon munchkin is to cast a shadow, and who knows what terror Azur could unleash
10859905
It was a genetic disease expressly designed by the god of life to be incurable.