A City of Opportunities

by Sasha Nein

At the Canterlot Guild Hall

Octavia looked up at the large false front of the Canterlot guild hall. It was a small, mundane office building; perfect for stowing away ponies for days at a time inconspicuously. She really didn’t want to go in and subject herself to the hours upon hours of pointless training that she already understood. Especially here, in Canterlot of all places. The one place she had never desired to visit the local guildhall in.

It had barely been a month ago when she had met a pony who had been transferred from Canterlot to the main fortress. The horror stories he had told did little to help her trepidation, yet she forced herself to walk forward and open the door.

She carefully made her way inside, taking smaller than normal steps to avoid aggravating her healing wound. Being released on the weekend allowed her a couple of extra days to sit at home, which she was grateful for. It allowed her a chance to take a little time on figuring out her schedule as well as healing a little more. She did not want it breaking open during combat training today.

Upon entering, there was a small lobby which branched off into three large hallways which were all studded with office doors. There was a receptionist desk angled diagonally in one of the corners. The pony sitting there looked bored out of their mind. She was idly swiping a pencil back and forth across a scribbled piece of paper with her gaze fixated on a clock against the far wall.

Walking over to the mare, Octavia gave a polite cough. The mare blinked and sat back, taking a deep breath while focusing her gaze on Octavia.

“Yes?” She asked. “How may I help you?”

“My name is Octavia, I’m a newly transferred initiate.”

The mare frowned slightly and opened one of her desk drawers to pull out a file. With a tired sigh she removed a rather thin one and plopped it onto the desk. Octavia watched as she flipped through it.

“Ah, I’m not sure if I’m in there or not,” Octavia said. “I’m on assignment you see. I was supplied with this paper to give you.” Octavia pulled a sheet out of her saddlebags and laid it on the desk.

Sighing, the mare took it and gave it a once over. “Alright, this will do. You will need to go to office eight sixty-seven down the left hall there. The keycode to get to the lower floors is five three zero nine.”

Octavia raised an eyebrow as she walked off. If this was the ground floor, yet had eight hundred numbers on all the doors, it made there being a basement rather obvious. At least, that was what she thought. It has remained a secret this long so maybe the system worked just fine.

Entering room eight hundred sixty-seven she realized that it was not an office, but a conference room. There was a janitorial closet on the wall opposite her, yet it had a keypad lock on it. Octavia rolled her eyes, secured broom closets were certainly not conspicuous. She skirted the large desk that took up most of the room and ignored a few half erased scribbles on a marker board. Reaching the closet she punched in the four digit code and opened the door.

“They really need to add a spring or something to that.” Octavia grumbled silently, thinking of how many more times she would have to deal with the door.

The stairs ended one floor down where they opened up to a large atrium. It looked like a general living area with little circles of couches or pillows and a small snack bar in one corner. On the opposite wall were more stairs.

This room was empty, so she continued to move deeper into the building. The next two floors were dormitories. They were empty as well. Walking down to the four hundreds level she finally encountered some life in the hideout, it was the dining hall.

There were some cooks going about their duties, although they were much quieter than they were back at En Reach. There were also a dozen or so ponies eating quietly at separate tables. Octavia squared her shoulders and moved to the nearest pony.

The mare watched her approach, a look of trepidation becoming apparent the closer Octavia got. When she was close enough to speak, Octavia cleared her throat as the mare all but sank into her chair avoiding Octavia’s gaze.

“Um, hello?” Octavia ventured.

The mare took a deep breath and finally turned her gaze towards Octavia when she did not leave. But she was still refusing to look her in the eye. Octavia gave an exasperated sigh.

“Listen, I just need to find the head teacher, do you know where he is?” As soon as the words left her mouth the mare flinched and pointed at the stairs.

“He’s in the training hall,” she said quietly.

“Thank you very much,” Octavia responded.

Octavia headed back for the stairs and made her way further down. She came upon the library on the next floor. However, once she reached the floor below it the doors on the landing were closed. She peeked inside and immediately realized it was the training hall. The ponies inside were all sparring or honing their athletic skills in apparent silence.

Opening the door she was met with a wave of sound. Octavia flattened her ears at the sudden rush of noise. The clattering of hooves on concrete floors as well as the smacking of training swords filled the air. This must be the reason for the doors, all this noise was sure to be distracting for the open library goers above. Judging from how silent things had been on the other side, the doors were most likely enchanted with sound dampeners of some sort.

As she walked inside she noticed that there was also a healthy dose of yelling. This was normal at En Reach, what with all the trainers banging new recruits into shape. But there was one voice that was obnoxiously loud and it permeated throughout the entire chamber. Octavia could not pick up all the words over the clatter, but what she did understand was not encouraging. She made her way towards it, guessing that her worst nightmares were probably true.

As she moved around the chalked out training rings she began to notice how all the ponies became more quiet and subdued the closer they were to the shouting. When she finally got a clear view of where the loud trainer was, her jaw dropped in shock. It was quickly replaced with outrage and she felt her face heat in anger.

Who she assumed to be the notorious head of the guild here was a large, pale green stallion. While he was a unicorn, his muscles stood out on his body to what seemed almost a painful degree. But that wasn’t what was bothering or shocking to her. He was currently dueling a small, sky blue pegasus colt in a ring, shouting at him the whole time.

While he was yelling instructions to the colt, they were almost so fast even Octavia could barely pick them up. But they were also laced with condescending comments and insults as the stallion continually broke past the pegasus’ defense and gave him unmercifully brutal hits. It made Octavia’s blood boil to see the colt on the verge of tears yet unable to pause even for an instant for fear of not being able to get back up.

All of the ponies surrounding the ring were doing their best not to watch; Octavia noted a fair number of them had a healthy amount of bruises as well. She guessed they were probably required, or forced to observe the match since they looked as though they would rather be anywhere but here.

As Octavia stepped up to the edge of the ring, the ponies around her shied away leaving her standing alone in view of the trainer. He noticed her at once and stopped shouting. He backed off a moment on the colt as he turned to face her.

Octavia straightened to the perfect “at attention” stance as he walked over. Her side burned slightly, but she ignored it and remained straight as the teacher stepped towards her. He stood almost a head taller than her, but she stood her ground and kept her eyes fixed on his chest. He began to circle her, probably judging her physique but she thought he was spending a little too much time on her rear half for that.

“So,” he finally said, “I’ve heard all kinds of things about you Octavia. To be honest I was rather impressed with everything ponies were saying.” He stopped circling her and stood on her left, just inside her peripheral vision. He continued, “I must say I was rather disappointed when the first thing you do on your own is get stabbed.”

Irritating, to say the least, that the first he said to her was derogatory. But Octavia knew he was looking to get a rise out of her, so she gave no reaction. She allowed the irritation of the jibe to simmer away, instead opting to glance at the young pegasus who was now slumping on his hooves.

The stallion noticed her glance and he turned his attention back to the colt.

“Hey!” He barked. “I did not give you leave to relax your stance, straighten up!”

He magicked up his sword and gave the young colt a blow to his black legs, causing him to collapse and pitch forward with a cry. The surrounding ponies all flinched and averted their gazes from the colt, Octavia, and the teacher. Octavia could feel her body heating in anger, but she remained still. However, she could not help the slight frown that crept onto her features.

“Where are the papers Bret had you fill out?” The stallion asked harshly.

“In my saddlebags, sir,” Octavia responded, opting for true military fashion.

“Why didn’t you take them straight to my office?” He took a step closer to her.

Octavia didn’t miss a beat. “I was instructed to present them to you, sir.”

The stallion blinked and remained silent for a moment. “Octavia - 1, musclewad - 0.” Octavia crowed to herself.

“Do you like my teaching methods initiate?” He asked, abruptly changing to a contemplative tone.

Octavia floundered for a moment, but he continued before she could compile an answer.

“I find that it hardens the body and mind very efficiently. Of course, it doesn’t have a one hundred percent success rate, but the ninja’s I turn out are the best when it does. It is quite the art to push ponies as far as they can go without ruining them. Sometimes there are regrettable losses, but I think that this young colt will do well, don’t you?”

“I do not believe it works any better than the training at the fortress, sir.” Octavia said.

The stallion sneered. “And how do you know that?” He asked.

“I have bested five of the masters, Sir, and they have all beaten any initiates you have sent.”

There was a quiet wave of whispers that ran through the listening ponies, but it stopped at the first shift of a muscle from the large stallion. He raised an eyebrow at Octavia before responding.

“I always did find mares to have more arrogance and harder to crack, it’s little wonder they don’t make good ninja’s,” he said coolly.

Octavia was sure even the deafest pony could hear a pin drop right then in the training room. She did not grace the silence with her voice, instead she focused on not grinding her teeth.

The stallion grunted, giving her a triumphant smirk. “Take the papers to my office and run back home girl. It would be a shame if you reinjured that flank in combat today.”

Octavia narrowed her eyes, and stuck her jaw forward, but she turned abruptly and stomped out. She kept marching as she heard his shouting pick back up, ordering in a new trainee for a beating. The deafening clatter of fighting started back up almost instantaneously. But she could feel all eyes were on her as she made her way to the stairs. “Well, he is certainly living up to his reputation,” she thought sourly.

When the doors finally closed behind her and cut out the sound, she flipped around and drove her back hooves into the wall. It made a loud ringing which bounced off the walls and most likely disturbing everypony in the library, but she didn’t care. The action felt good and relieved her irritation almost instantly. She looked at the wall, the two dents she had made were hardly noticeable on the already pockmarked cement.

Taking a deep breath, she was pleased to notice her wound was no worse for wear. Snorting at the jibe the stallion made at her flank, she placed a hoof on the stairs when she realized that she had no idea where his office was. She wondered who to ask, not about to return to the training room. She decided on checking the library since the ponies in the dining hall had been rather skittish.

She was about to begin moving up the stairs when the doors behind her opened and the small, blue, pegasus colt who the trainer had been “training” hurried out. He shut the door hurriedly and leaned against it, beginning to heave heavy sobs as he sank to the floor.

Octavia’s heart almost broke, almost. Her life as a ninja didn’t allow for such weaknesses. Yet, she hesitated on the first stair, unsure of what to do as he had yet to notice her. She carefully placed a hoof on the next step, but even as quiet as she was, the stairwell made the slight sound echo painfully. Despite the noise the colt was making, he still heard it and instantly opened his eyes and stared at her.

Neither of them moved for a moment, then the colt looked away. He quickly dried his eyes and stood up, his legs shaking slightly.

“I’m not weak you know,” he rasped.

“Of course not,” Octavia responded.

He glanced at her. “You know, most ponies don’t stand up to him like that. Any that do he quickly beats up and they don’t do it again.”

“We’ll see,” Octavia growled.

“It was pretty stupid of you to do that, he is harder on mares I think. He doesn’t like them much.” the colt said, glancing at her again.

Octavia glowered, but said nothing. She had certainly noticed that in his attitude.

The colt finally looked at her, his eyes were still wet and she could already see bruises forming on top of half healed ones.

“Did you really beat five masters?” he asked.

Octavia stepped off the stair. “Well, yes, but to be honest they weren’t the best combat ninjas. The ones I bested spend most of their time in books and not fighting.”

“Are you staying here long?”

Octavia nodded. The colt glanced away as tears began to leak out of his eyes again.

“Hey kid,” Octavia began, walking towards the colt, “are you--”

“Hey, back off filly!” He snarled, backing against the wall.

“Woah woah! I’m not gonna hurt you kid.” Octavia said, stepping back.

The colt stared at her a moment before glancing away. “I can’t beat anypony here,” he said quietly. Even in the stairwell Octavia had to strain to hear his words. “I’m the youngest here, yet Teacher Spardis keeps saying that is no excuse.” He paused, sniffing loudly. “I try... I try and try and try, but he pushes all the other ponies just as hard. I can’t ever get a one up on anypony. Now I’m going to have to fight you, and I’ll lose.”

“Woah slow down there, you can’t be sure about that ye--”

“But he will!” The colt cried, interrupting her again. “He always does, and then when I fail he... he--” the colt sobbed again, breaking down against the wall.

Octavia moved to his side and he did not resist her putting a foreleg around him.

“Hey there, it’ll be alright,” she cooed awkwardly. “What’s your name?”

“Stormy, Stormy Sky,” he said, his voice cracking.

“How long have you been here Stormy?”

“Almost three years now, I was five when I wandered in the office doors in the middle of winter as an orphan. Before I knew it they took me downstairs and... and--” he stopped, unable to continue.

“And they never let you go,” Octavia finished. The colt nodded.

“I tried running once...” the colt trailed off with a shudder. Octavia ground her teeth.

“They said I was really sick when they took me in.” The colt said quickly, seeing the look in her eyes. “I don’t remember much of it but I do know that I’m not as strong as other pegasi my age even though I don’t look it; and that I would probably have died if they hadn’t done something.”

Octavia said nothing, instead sitting there thinking about her own fantasies of running away... To not have a care in the world or a single obligation. The colt glanced down at her hoof around his shoulders. His eyes widened and he quickly pushed her off and got up.

“Um, listen, thanks a lot, but please don’t tell anypony about this,” he begged. “I know you don’t owe me anything but if anypony finds out I--”

“Relax Stormy,” Octavia said firmly. “How about we both hold each other accountable. I won’t tell anypony about you if you don’t tell anypony about me?”

“I-- Okay,” he said with a nervous grin.

They stood there in silence for a moment before Octavia moved for the stairs. She placed a hoof on the first step, but hesitated.

“Hey, where is Teacher Spardis’ office?” she asked.

“Oh, um.. It’s on the dormitory floors next to-- I’ll just take you, I’m heading that way anyway,” Stormy said, beginning to struggle up the stairs.

Octavia walked beside him, observing his progress and watching him grimace with every other step. He deliberately ignored her and moved a little faster each time he did see her staring at him. Once they reached the dormitories floor he set off with a slight limp.

They made a few turns down the halls before he stopped at the end of one of the hallways at a larger than normal room.

“Hey,” she began, but paused. Stormy stopped and looked at her questioningly. “I know this will just be more work and pain for you, but I can help you. I can teach you proper combat unlike that sloppy lout of a teacher, Spardis.”

The colt flinched at the name and gave a fearful glance at the closed door. But when he turned back his eyes were guarded. “You would teach me?” He asked doubtfully.

Octavia nodded. “Listen, Stormy, I’m not gonna say this will be easy, but it is a far cry from getting beat up by him. I can teach you a number of techniques that you can practice on your own to enhance your strength as well as your focus and combat skills.”

The colt glanced back at the door before looking at her again, this time with wide eyes. “Do you think it would help?” He asked hopefully. “I want more than anything to stop being beaten all the time.”

“Listen kid, if these techniques that I use -which helped me beat five of the best ninja’s in Equestria- don’t help, nothing will,” she said confidently.

The colt stood still for a moment, glancing at her then back at the door. But soon enough he looked at her and set his jaw. “Alright, I...” he took a deep breath, “I’ll try, I’ll try my best to learn what you can teach me.”

Octavia gave him a level look. “No, Stormy, there is no try, there is only do, or do not. Trying gets you nowhere, it gives you reason to fail. But if you will learn, then you will become faster, stronger and better.”

With that she turned and opened the door, walking into the room and leaving the colt in the hall.

Comments

[reader238]

yoda said it best

[Sasha Nein]

2256706

haha, I had to decide if I was going to have Octavia say exactly what Yoda did, blatantly turning it into a quote just because... or if it was something Octavia had come up with on her own/was something she learned.

I opted for the reference obviously... Only Yoda is allowed to be Yoda.

[zomborg]

Octavia will make a great mother someday I can tale.

[kochamara]

Wow, oops, I have so many things in my read it later list, I forgot to check to see if this has been updated. Which is weird...I could have sworn I followed you, too. Gomen, Mr. Sasha Nein.

Going to start reading this again and gonna give my feedback. Like the new characters introduced. Stormy is cute, and Spardis shows some promise too. My only issue with this chapter is that sometimes you use "ninja's" instead of "ninjas". All in all pretty rad work. Can't wait to keep it up.