//------------------------------// // Self Control // Story: A City of Opportunities // by Sasha Nein //------------------------------//  It was a beautiful day in Canterlot. The sun was shining, the morning air was cool yet the breeze carried a promise of sweltering temperatures for the near future. In the city, sounds of ponies already going about their day permeated the air as they hawked their wares or clopped along the streets. Yes, it was, as they say, picturesque. So, it came as no surprise to Octavia that she wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. Currently she was twenty or so feet underground standing behind the desk of the only teacher in the Canterlot guild hall, giving an oral report about her day with Vinyl. It was frustrating that the teacher, Spardis, was continually interrupting her for pointless reasons, but she plowed through and tried to keep her temper in check. “I had to decide if I wanted to try and catch whoever was following Vinyl and I, or risk losing them and continue walking home. So, of course, I told Miss Scratch to head home without me so I could confront the stalkers without her knowledge. Then I--” “What did you tell her exactly?” Spardis interrupted, leaning forward in a chair behind his desk, putting his hooves together. “I basically told her--” “Basically?” Spardis interrupted again. “Initiate! I requested specific wording!” “Well I’m not sure I can remember the exact wording sir,” Octavia said blithely, looking everywhere but at Spardis. “However,” she emphasised, “I told her not to wait up for me and I made the excuse of wanting to see a friend.” “Alright fine, tell me how you caught the ponies unawares and incapacitated them,” Spardis said before Octavia could open her mouth to continue. “I didn’t really catch them unawares,” Octavia said evasively. “They saw me coming in enough time to react, but I defeated them nevertheless.” Spardis frowned. “Careless, you shouldn’t have engaged.” “I was confident in my ability to defeat them, Vinyl Scratch was in no danger,” Octavia retorted. The green stallion suddenly exploded, spraying spittle across at her. “She was in tremendous danger! You left her unattended and easy prey for any other agents looking to get her! You are damn lucky they weren’t smart enough to split up like that! I say again, careless!” Octavia tried to keep her face neutral as she responded, “I was observing the area for any other potential threats much longer than the required length, I had everything under control.” Spardis stood up. “Enough initiate,” he said forcefully, “Here is your schedule of sparring for today, get out of here and get to it.” He pushed a folder across the desk. Octavia picked the folder up and turned to leave, but Spardis called out before she could close the door. “I want a written report of this incident on my desk when you come in again, Octavia. And a written report of every outing until you can better control that attitude of yours,” he finished smugly. She kicked the door closed and marched down the hallway, but took a moment to gather herself at the stairs. Written reports wouldn’t be half as bad as having to speak with him orally. It was like he went looking for things he could call her out on. Nevermind what she actually got done; put new tails on Vinyl who didn’t know her habits, removed two tails who might have otherwise found Vinyl’s residence and made a move when Octavia left. Octavia wondered what happened to the ponies she incapacitated. There was usually a secondary observer keeping tabs on agents who were directly interacting with clients. However, they were trained to remain well out of noticeable range so as to not interfere with the ninja’s senses. She wasn’t sure if the two ponies got picked up or not. Either her tail was really, really good or she didn’t have one. Considering the ship Spardis ran around here, Octavia was sure she would have noticed if they had put a tail on her. Deciding to ask about the ponies’ location later, she moved off. It took her two flights of stairs before she calmed down enough to open the small folder. There were names of four ponies she didn’t know set to duel her before lunch. Afterwards there were six more, with tentative planning for what seemed like half the guild. Octavia continued down the stairs towards the training hall. It seemed that the lower levels was where most of the action was in the hideout. As she walked, she kept an eye out for a clock through the dining hall. It was ten-thirty, she had spent almost two hours giving her report. Grumbling to herself, she continued down past the library and entered the training hall. She heard the doors click shut behind her as she stood observing the chaos. At her entry half a dozen ponies lounging around the entrance jumped to their feet and trotted over. One of them looked over her shoulder at the doors before speaking. “Um, is Spardis coming?” He asked, his eyes flickering between Octavia and the door. “No,” Octavia responded. “Should he be?” The ponies didn’t answer, instead they all began whispering with each other. This went on for a few seconds before an Earth pony spoke up. “Well, we’re ready. Why are you so late anyway?” “Who's asking?” Octavia challenged. The pony, a stallion, took a step back, but remained calm. “Hey, relax, I'm Ferris, you were supposed to duel me today.” He took a glance at a large clock over Octavia above the double doors to the stairway. “I've been waiting for about an hour.” Octavia sighed. “I apologize, I was stuck giving an oral report for the past two hours.” Octavia glanced around at the other ponies standing and watching her. “Why are the rest of you standing here?” She questioned. “We're waiting for you. We all have you on our list for dueling today.” Frowning, Octavia glanced around. “Why... Never mind, is there a place I can drop my things?” She asked, gesturing at her saddlebags. The stallion pointed to Octavia's right. “Over there, in the corner.” Getting a good look for the first time around the training hall, Octavia noticed that where the colt had gestured was a small area dedicated for belongings. A few lockers were lined up along the walls and benches were aligned to create a small square out onto the fighting floor. There was a thin carpet that had been wrinkled, folded then shoved to one side of the floor, blocking the lowest row of lockers. She trotted over to the benches and pulled off her saddlebags. Stuffing the folder from Spardis into one of the pockets, she dropped them onto the floor and scooted the bags under a bench with a back hoof. Turning around, she found that all the ponies who were waiting at the door had followed her over. Rolling her eyes, she asked, “Surely some of you have other things you could be doing? The ponies muttered and shuffled their hooves, but none of them left. Octavia gave them all a flat stare. “Nopony has other training or things they could be doing?” A few more moments of muttering then Ferris spoke up again. “No, we're pretty much done. Everypony here is just waiting to watch you,” he explained. “You have quite the record I hear, it will be interesting to see what you can do.” Another pony spoke up, a mare this time. “Yea, I heard you were good, I wanna see it.” There were a few more skeptical comments before Octavia groaned, silencing them in an instant. “Fine,” Octavia growled. “But if you watch, then you take a turn at dueling, got it?” She waited for a nod from each pony before she tramped over to the nearest weapon rack. There were various types of swords and knives, but they were made with either bundles of sticks wrapped together or heavy metal bars encased in thick foam to simulate weight. They were all quite standard, much like what she used back at the fortress. Octavia selected one of the weighted swords that seemed decent and stepped away, turning to stare at the ponies until a few came forward and chose weapons. They emptied the rack of the few nice, weighted swords. It was proper etiquette at the fortress to choose the same type of sword in training so that nopony would have an unfair advantage. Octavia was pleased to see that the customs carried over here to Canterlot. However, that meant they would have to trade off swords to duel against her with since there were so few. Glancing out over the training floor, Octavia looked for an empty ring to practice in. She was about to start moving back around to the door to find a place when Ferris nudged her shoulder. He jabbed his head around the other side of the room. “This way,” he said, then began walking. It wasn't long before they found a ring towards the back of the room. They received a few stares but to Octavia's relief, nopony else began to follow them. Octavia prepared herself; removing her bow tie she had put on that morning, she used it to tie back her mane, weaving the extra slack into the folds of her hair. As she hopped into the ring and began to stretch she noticed the other ponies doing more fidgeting than getting prepared. Shrugging to herself, Octavia continued stretching, grimacing slightly as her new scar pulled uncomfortably. Thankfully it was low and ponies didn't usually notice it unless they were looking, with any luck nopony here would try to take advantage of the weakness. Octavia finished her stretches and moved to a corner of the ring, focusing her mind on the feel of her new sword. She gripped it in her mouth and gave it a few swings. Generally ninja's were taught to fight on two hooves, but she had training in using her mouth as well. Using it made judging the feel of new swords easier. Her inner ear garnering her more focus on the heavy weapon instead of balancing it on her hooves. Still, nopony stepped forward and now many were giving glances back towards the doors. As the seconds ticked by they grew more agitated till the point Octavia finally spat her sword out and faced them. “Come on, what are you ponies doing? I'm waiting to get started here,” she said. The mare who spoke earlier turned to Octavia. “We are waiting on Teacher Spardis, he usually duels new recr-- transfers first.” Octavia raised an eyebrow at her fumble, but chose to ignore it. “He isn't coming, when I left his office he made it clear he wouldn't be here to fight.” This caused the ring of ponies all to turn and face Octavia. Two of them upped and left right then while the rest of them milled around. Their words were lost to the clatter around them and Octavia guessed they were now rather nervous as they kept glancing at her. She figured that usually Spardis came and “broke” new ninja's in and then left the rest of the ponies to fight them after a thorough beating. Octavia frowned, she was irritated at the thought and wanted to get to work. It had been too long since she had last sparred. “Alright Ferris, you're first. Lets get this over with, I have a schedule to keep.” Sensing her tone, Ferris made one last glance at the door before sighing and stepping into the ring. He grasped a practice sword in his hooves and stood up, balancing on his rear legs. As he settled into a low stance, Octavia grasped her own sword in her hooves and stood up. “Rules are as follows,” Octavia began, swishing her sword in front of her. “Two hits to forearms or legs. Anywhere else is an instant out.” “Agreed,” Ferris said with a nod. Octavia continued, “I prefer to allow melee, however I'm not familiar with how you fight down here. But back at the fortress, anything goes.” Ferris hesitated, but he nodded again. “Melee is fine, I do not have a problem with it.” Octavia nodded and lowered herself into a combat ready stance. With a look at each other, they started the match. They began to circle, Octavia placing a hoof to the left, then Ferris stepping to the right. They slowly moved closer, gauging each others faces like a poker player. Octavia watched everything. Ferris wobbled, almost imperceptibly, when he was on his left hoof bringing his right around for another step. He was also very tense, his eyes slowly searching Octavia's own. As she continued to circle, she relaxed herself ever so slightly and watched as Ferris began to sweat as a result. It had been her experience that putting on a show of confidence only helped her in a fight. Her opponents either grew nervous at her relaxed state, or overconfident thinking that she was being too sure of herself, thus prone to making mistakes. She had used each situation to her advantage more than once. In this case, Ferris noticing her stance was making him nervous; The rumors already circulating around the hideout about her prowess were probably turning themselves over in his mind at that very moment. Tired with waiting, Octavia quickly closed the distance between her and Ferris. He tried to back off but she was too fast and he was forced to parry her thrust. He tried to swing his defense into an easy strike back at her but Octavia had already spun out of his reach and was coming at him again. This time, Ferris stepped forward into her swing. He tried to grab her as he knocked her sword away but she ducked under his his forearm and grabbed him at the shoulder. Before he could react Octavia had twisted his back hooves out from under him and slammed him down onto his back, knocking most of the wind out of him. She disengaged by hopping backwards as he flailed wildly with his sword as he got up, breathing hard. Octavia was stronger than he had anticipated, she could see it in his eyes and how suddenly he was keeping his distance. She gave him a moment to recuperate, engaging only in a few brief bouts of swordplay. Octavia feinted, swinging out of a thrust into his right forearm. Ferris tried to block but he was already off balance and only managed to keep her from, what would have been, slicing off his whole arm if it had been real swords. As it was, he was going to have a large bruise above his elbow. As he reeled away, trying to gain his balance, Octavia closed the distance once again and got inside his guard. Ferris dropped his sword and grabbed her own sword hoof. Instead of trying to break away she twisted into Ferris so that he was almost hugging her from behind. With a swift hit to his arm, and a simultaneous jab at his belly, he caved in on top of her. But Octavia wasn't finished and as soon as his weight started to press down on her she flipped him over her back and brought him crashing down in front of her, this time taking all the wind out of him. Octavia moved forward as he rolled over to get up. He lunged, trying to tackle her but she dodged him while swinging at his midsection. The heavy sword connected with a loud smack as he powered through it only to fall in a heap once again. He struggled to his hooves again, but remained doubled over in pain as he tried to regain his breath. Octavia gave him a questioning look and asked, “By the rules that was a killing blow, however we may continue fighting if you wish?” Ferris hesitated, glancing at her, then at his sword, then back again. “If you will allow it,” he wheezed. “I'm finished.” Octavia looked at the ponies watching her. She realized suddenly that she could refuse Ferris' offer and continue to fight him in his weakened state. It was probably something Spardis had enforced on the ponies and taken advantage of more than once. She glanced disgustedly back at Ferris, who was clutching his midsection and watching her warily. She suspected he was waiting for her to take full advantage of the situation and beat him till he couldn't stand. She turned away with a grimace. “Get out of the ring Ferris, I'm not fighting anypony who can no longer defend themselves.” Turning her head slightly, Octavia watched him shuffle off to the side as another pony entered into the ring. She hadn’t hurt Ferris bad, he would be out of breath for the next few minutes and probably wake up with a few nasty bruises, but that was it. Hopefully he, and the other ponies, wouldn’t hold her winnings against her. She had seen too much cruelty from Spardis already and she didn’t want to be spurned like he obviously was. Octavia watched the next pony limber up. It was the mare who had spoken up earlier, she was a pegasus, something Octavia hadn't noticed before. Analyzing her, Octavia decided she was pretty much average. Her agility was good, but that came with being a pegasus; her flexibility decent and the way she handled her sword was fine although it seemed a little heavy for her. She turned to fully face the mare. “Same rules. Anything goes, you may use your wings.” The mare nodded and readied herself and they began to circle. Octavia monitored the mare’s hoof work as well as her eyes. She was cautious and viewed Octavia with respect, but it was clear she expected to be better than Ferris. Her movement was more sure and she did not display nervousness. However, she was not used to the heavier sword, Octavia could tell by the way her muscles stood out when holding it up; the mare practiced with the wooden swords most of the time and her forearms were not used to holding the extra weight. The corner of Octavia's mouth twitched with a smirk, she couldn't help it. Fighting back at the fortress was hard, ponies there gave as little indication as she did. Here, Octavia felt a little sorry for how poorly trained everypony was, but on the other hoof she was confident she could win a match against any of these ponies without breaking a sweat. Octavia almost grimaced when the mare lunged forward, she had almost a whole second of warning before the mare actually started moving. Angling slightly, Octavia prepared to parry the blow and shunt the mare past her, but at the last moment the mare twisted out of the thrust and spun into a swing in midair, using her wings to stay aloft. Caught off guard, Octavia disengaged with a roll forwards, underneath the mare. It was a good move, Octavia decided. The mare must work on that quite a lot. As she came back up from her roll and spun around she saw a look of shock on the mare's face. Octavia gave her a flat stare, but said nothing, clearly this mare thought she would have gotten a hit in. The mare lunged again, but continued through with her thrust. Octavia parried the blow while stepping aside, allowing the mare to tumble forward from her momentum. Instead of pressing her attack Octavia waited for the mare to get up. They began to circle again, this time the mare had an irritated frown on her face as she decided on her next move. Octavia did not wait, instead she closed the distance quickly, baiting the mare to attack first. She did, and Octavia locked swords with her, shoving them aside and closing into a melee. Against an earth pony who had just defeated a stronger male in a melee fight, the pegasus made the right choice in trying to disengage; she tried to fly over Octavia while twisting her sword out from its trap. However, Octavia was ready. She let go of her sword and leaped up, grabbing the pegasus around her middle and pulling her to the ground. Octavia landed on her rear hooves and promptly twisted the mare around and grabbed her wings. In the instant that Octavia could have done some serious damage to her feathery appendages, she felt the pegasus tense up and try to pull away on instinct. Instead of winning the fight there Octavia instead kicked the mare in the back, shoving her to the floor roughly but leaving her wings alone. She cartwheeled to her sword and grabbed it while spinning around to face the pegasus who was just getting up herself. The mare was clearly shaken, all too aware of what could have happened to her wings. Octavia pushed her advantage on the distraught mare, the mind battles were just as important as the physical and Octavia forced her own feelings of sympathy aside as she attacked the unprepared pegasus. It was clear that ponies here did not handle melee well and she was going to use that to her advantage. That Spardis was not doing a good job here, if she could defeat ponies, both mentally and physically this fast, then there was something seriously wrong with their training. Octavia decided that these ponies needed some serious help in becoming better, and practice without beating them down was the best way she could think of. The pegasus was defeated in seconds, Octavia scoring solid hits to her shoulder and thigh as she took advantage of the mare's sluggish swordplay. The hit to her thigh knocked the mare to the ground but she quickly got back up and charged Octavia again. For her part, Octavia was slightly surprised that the mare charged her again. Assuming it was an attack spurred by frustration and anger Octavia bullied in past the mare's swing and grabbed her roughly, throwing her to the ground and trapping her beneath a knee. “Enough!” Octavia growled, looking at the mare. She watched as disbelief, confusion and then relief all flashed through the mare's eyes when she realized Octavia was done fighting. The pegasus dropped her gaze and relaxed. “I... Sorry, I didn't think you were finished.” She said, struggling to breathe with Octavia's weight on her. Removing herself, Octavia offered a hoof to the mare who hesitated before taking it. She decided it was time to make her intentions clear. “I'm here training only because I've been required by my superiors.” Octavia turned to the rest of the ponies and continued, “I'm not here to usurp any positions or take advantage of any rules. When the victory requirements are met in a duel, I will allow you to walk off the ring and would appreciate if you would do the same for me.” She stopped and waiting for responses, but all she received were blank stares. “I don't know what kind of twisted system you got going here, but where I come from, rules for a duel are to be met exactly, no modifying or extra advantages given before or after a match.” Octavia turned to the mare and gave a tiny bow. “Thank you for the duel, I hope we can chat later.” The mare gave her a wary nod before turning away. Octavia glanced around at the ponies, the silence between them was so heavy she felt like she could cut it. As she looked around for something to latch onto in the otherwise noisy room, her eyes fell on the blue pegasus colt she had met a few days ago. It looked as though he was being given a lesson in hoof to hoof combat. She watched as the trainer, a stallion, went through the motions of a move before executing it against the colt. Octavia grimaced as the colt was floored, but at least the stallion waited for the colt to get up before going through the motions again slowly. Octavia decided it was time for lunch. She turned back to the ponies who were still there, seeing another mare already in the ring and ready for combat. Octavia held up a hoof. “If you don't mind, I would like to take a break and eat. I'll be back in about an hour.” With that she turned and exited the ring. Making for the colt, she wove around two more training rings before reaching his circle. He was facing away from her, once again trying to block the move the trainer was showing him. Octavia winced as the small colt tried to defend himself from the stronger stallion, ending up being shoved to the ground once again. The stallion frowned at her as she approached. He walked over when she halted at the edge of the ring. “Are you Octavia?” he asked. “I am,” she responded, watching the colt get to his hooves and face her, his face unreadable. “Well,” the trainer said, rubbing the back of his head. “What can I do for you?” Octavia nodded at the colt. “I’d like to take him for an hour.” The stallion frowned. “Unless you’ve got permissions from Spardis... I don’t think it would be--” “I don’t need anypony’s approval for what I wish to do, sir. If you are afraid of any repercussions I’ll take responsibility.” Octavia paused, gauging his reaction before adding, “I’m sure you don’t want to be here so let me take him off your hooves.” The stallion hesitated and glanced between her and the colt. “Alright alright, but if anything happens it’s on you.” “Very well.” Octavia gestured at the colt. “Come on, I’m taking you to lunch.” “Yes ma’am,” the colt responded, hurrying after her. Taking one look at the buffet counter in the dining hall, Octavia turned on her hoof and left. Stormy hurried behind her, almost trotting to keep up with her longer strides. “Are we not eating lunch?” he asked. Octavia looked down at his confused features. “I’m taking you out to get some good food.”