Canterlot Academy Trials

The next day, during the afternoon…

Everyone had gathered back in the buckball stadium in Canterlot where the first set of finals would begin for the tournament bracket. In particular, one of the participants was lagging behind everyone else since his family had stopped to speak with him.

“Fang!” the large spotted diamond dog called out to her son, “We can’t wait to see you out there!”

Jun Fang stopped and turned to see his mother standing next to another, similarly sized diamond dog dalmatian woman who wore a pair of overalls that was covered in dirt and oil. Near them, a handful of adolescent-aged pups could be seen smiling at Fang.

“C’mon, give your auntie a hug!” Fang’s mother squealed as her sister stepped forward.

“Hey big guy!” Fang’s aunt approached him, then looked down at herself, “Ah, don’t worry about all that. Work’s been kicking my ass lately.”

“Not in front of the kids!” Fang’s mother scolded her sister, who waved a paw dimissively.

“Meh, it’s whatever--not like they’re gonna say that shit around me anyway,” Fang’s aunt replied with a snicker as his mother sighed in defeat.

One of Fang’s cousins, a young dalmatian girl, ran over and gave him a hug. “You better beat ‘em up good or we’re not gonna love you anymore!”

“...are you serious?” Fang asked while patting her on the head.

The pup nuzzled against his paw. “...I’m joking, ‘cuz! Whatever happens, we’ll still love you no matter what.”

“She’s right,” one of the older male pups added, “We wanna get strong just like you when we get older, Fang. You’re easily the most skilled guy in our family. Not to mention the smartest.”

All the praise caused Fang’s tail to wag uncontrollably from nerves. While he was happy to have the support of his extended family, part of him was nervous--nervous over whether or not his battle would be a success and whether or not he’d let everyone down as a result.

‘...can I do this? They’re all counting on me, but…can I really…?’

But before long, they’d hear an announcement over the intercom from Flash Sentry.

“Our next fight is about to start!”

“That’s my cue,” Fang explained to his family as he looked up at the speakers, “I need to get going as it’s my turn next. And you all should get back to your seats.”

“You got this, Fang!” the female pup squealed with her tail wagging.

“You’re the man!” the male pup added.

“Come on everyone,” Fang’s mother hurried them along as his aunt followed her. “You’ll do great, son. And don’t worry, I haven’t had any reactions. You go out there and have fun, okay?” With a quick kiss to his forehead, his mother left along with the rest of his family. The rest of the dalmatian pups waved to their eldest cousin as they left to follow their mother and aunt.

Which left Fang in a state of a newfound determination.

‘No…I can’t let this sway me. I have to do what I can for the sake of my mother. I’ll make enough money to rid her of her condition somehow. Even if it kills me.’

The pressure was on for Jun Fang. The diamond dog man knew that the exams would serve as a launching platform for everyone’s future as mercenaries and knights of Equestria. As such, his intent was to take on as many jobs as he needed in order to make enough money to find treatment for his mother. That was his entire motivation not just for these exams, but for attending this Academy in the first place.

“...it’s time to act.”

In the stands…

The rest of Dorm Block Sigma was sitting in excitement as they awaited Fang’s name to be called.

“He’s up next, yeah?” Rufus asked, “Can’t wait to see him in action with the finals on the line.”

“Stop it, you,” Spearklip lectured him with a nudge of her hoof, “Putting all that extra pressure on him won’t help.”

Since Leelee couldn’t participate, she simply observed next to her new teammates. “So…spotted dogman needs to win this fight to come out on top in the tourney?”

Spearklip nodded, “Mm-hmm, exactly. You catch on pretty quick Ms. Lee.”

The monkey woman smiled, “We have tourneys at my hometown quite often.”

The audience was silenced as Flash Sentry would introduce the first fight of the finals. “Alright, everycreature. Here we go! For our first finals match, we’d like to re-introduce a diamond dog dalmatian who’s fighting for his family here today. Weighing in at a solid 125 pounds, it’s Jun Fang!”

For the second time this week, the dalmatian diamond dog would run into the stadium, and perform a flip before landing upon his two feet with his arms crossed, awaiting his opponent as the crowd cheered for him.

And then Flash would announce his opponent… “And on this end, weighing in at 200 pounds, a highly skilled martial artist from Abyssinia who smoked it in the first round, give it up for Sha’Beel!”

In a flash of orange and black, a young Abyssinian woman appeared from the other side of the field and jumped into the stadium. She stood at around six feet tall compared to Fang’s five-foot-nine inches, and wore a pair of black, rather baggy black jeans with nothing on her feet, leaving her large lower paws exposed.

Up top, her overall appearance was rather well-built with a toned abdomen, and rather buff arms with beefy biceps while also being well-endowed with large breasts that were covered by what appeared to be white sports tape that wrapped all the way around from the front of her chest to the back, keeping her breasts firmly in place even as they jiggled.

She also stood with her arms folded, eyes shut as she prepared herself mentally. The tigress was merely waiting for the announcement of the fight to start.

Fang took a deep breath and thought to himself, ‘...very stony expression. Hard to get a read on what she’s thinking at the moment.’

“Good luck to you,” said the tigress in a mature, womanly voice.

“...you as well,” the dalmatian replied.

Neither would have much more time to think, as Flash gave the signal.

“Ready? BEGIN!”