Canterlot Academy Trials

At the edge of Abyssinia lied a forest that contained a small outpost and a dojo studio where many catfolk would attend to train and better themselves in the art of combat. The studio instructor, a tiger man, was the owner of this red and gold-colored building that sat on a small hill in the middle of the forest. And who was in charge of the current class?

A tigress named Sha’Beel. Within a room of dull brown wood floors and a giant tiger statue made of bronze at the center, holding various, currently-unlit candles against a backdrop of turquoise wallpaper with cherry blossoms, this would set the stage for our next arc.

Inside of the dojo, Sha’Beel was training a group of catfolk who were around high-school aged and a few years beneath her. She currently wore a traditional, white martial arts gi with a black belt around her waist. The class she was training was a group of blue-belt students. Today’s task was a simple one; organized drills consisting of punches in unison. The objective was to keep up with the rest of the class in an organized set routine for a warmup.

The tiger man and owner of the dojo, was walking around the room, wearing a jet-black gi of his own and a red belt around his waist--which indicated a rank even higher than that of black belt. He was busy observing each of the students that Sha’Beel was instructing as they copied her movements. Tabbies, calicos, shorthairs, and coons were all present within the class alongside other mixed breeds of catfolk.

“Ha! Hu! He!” they all called out with each punch.

But all of a sudden, the tiger man raised his hand and shouted, “Stop!”

The entire room froze and every student stood with their hands at their sides and their eyes open wide. It became so quiet that one could almost hear the collective heartbeats of every feline student as they stood in fear of whatever he was about to say next.

“This is what upsets me,” he began with a cold tone as he walked through the group of students who began to shiver from his foreboding presence, “We have an undisciplined practitioner in here. Someone isn’t following the proper warm-up routine. Would they care to identify themselves?”

Everyone was silent.

“No?” he asked with a shrug of one of his shoulders, “Guess I’ll have to figure it out myself then.” Eventually, he stopped at the rearmost set of students and stared at the final row of three which consisted of a calico, bobtail, and a lynx. “They’re here.”

The lynx student in particular darted his eyes around as he heard his instructor’s voice, which immediately tipped off the tiger man.

“It’s you,” he said with a rather ominous smile on his face that caused the lynx boy to shiver.

“M-me? N-no sir Mr. Eran!” he mewled nervously as he tugged the collar of his gi.

The tiger man, whose full name was Odu Eransa, approached the student with a patronizing smile. “Laurent…do you think you’re off-pace?”

The lynx boy, Laurent, was unable to respond properly as he started to sweat and further dart his eyes. “...W-well, that is to say--”

Odu leaned in, towering above the younger abyssinian as he lowered his voice to a more stoic, almost commanding tone. “Do you think you’re off-pace? Yes or no?”

With no other option, the student came clean. “...Y-yes?”

“Of course…” Odu shook his head and stood upright before walking away to the front of the room, “Dishonesty towards oneself is unbecoming of any warrior. Only filthy mutts are dishonest. Think about that for the future.”

His master’s relaxed response put the lynx boy at ease. “...oh, whew. So….uh…I’m not in trouble am--?”

Odu cut Laurent off as he spoke, “Everyone drop and give me fifty. Let this be a lesson in honesty to you all.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

There were side glances and glares at the nervous Laurent's direction, but everyone knew that saying anything else would only make the situation worse. Instead, everyone simply dropped down and started to execute fifty push-ups.

Next to Sha’Beel, Odu would mutter, “This is the future of our generation. I won’t allow them to become soft like our king and queen have.”

“...are you certain that hatred towards the diamond dogs is still justified?” Sha’Beel asked, “After all, many of them don’t want to fight us.”

“I don’t recall asking you for your opinion, Sha’Beel,” he replied bluntly, “Their ancestors terrorized ours and don’t deserve any quarter. Reparations are to be made for what they’ve done and I will not allow them to ignore history.”

“Master Eransa…” she muttered regrettably under her breath, only for Odu to give a backhanded reply.

“You want to become a true warrior, do you not? Do you remember who raised and took care of you when no one else would?”

Sha’Beel feel silent, knowing that her paws were tied and that she no longer had any room to speak. “...of course I do. My apologies for distrusting your word, Master.”

Odu cupped one of his hands under her chin, causing the tigress to twitch, as if she had been taught to accept her place. “Good. I expect nothing less of you. Now finish out this class and come see me later.”

“...yes, master,” she replied with a nod as he let go and walked off. ‘...Why does…no, he’s the one who took care of me. He has to be right.’

Once the students finished their push-ups, she called out, “Alright. Everyone get ready for the next drill.”