The Tempest Before The Storm
“This isn’t over, Vinyl! You’ve not heard the last of us!”
That statement couldn’t have been any more blatant of a threat. That stallion practically said that he was behind the attack on Vinyl. Octavia had made it a point the next time she was free from training at the guild hall to track him down.
That free time came sooner than she expected. She had practically been forced out of the guild hall by Spardis on account of her being, ‘not fit for training.’ While she knew he was doing it only to dig at her, since she was perfectly capable of fighting as she was, she still couldn’t shake her anger at his blatant disrespect. It was frustrating, but at least it gave her time to pursue this stallion instead.
She was now sitting in her apartment on the only piece of furniture in her small living room, a small couch. There were a few small piles of papers on Moonchaser, who the stallion, apparently, worked for. Octavia rifled through them, trying to ascertain any hostile intentions or motives from the mare.
It seemed Moonchaser was a fairly popular musician in the classical world of Canterlot, which, Octavia was quickly coming to realize, was a big deal. The sheer amount of ponies pursuing any kind of artistic career here was overwhelming. So, when somepony started making a name for themselves here, they must be phenomenal.
It was no secret that Vinyl was certainly causing a ripple, but Octavia had not realized the extent of that until she had been out inquiring after that stallion. Every pony she had been directed to had something or another to say about the intrusive, and abrasive, white unicorn. She found that a little odd, Vinyl was anything but abrasive around her.
Even so, when she had finally gotten to a few ponies who were close friends with Moonchaser, there was no more tension there than she had seen anywhere else. Yes, Vinyl was a problem, her new style of music had potential to upset the entire monopolization that classical music concerts had over the population in Canterlot. It was a big cause for alarm to be sure, but so far nopony had expressed any intentions of physical harm or detriment.
Octavia sighed and leaned back on the couch. She had gotten her hooves on records of Moonchaser’s past achievements. Some of them certainly seemed impressive enough, but she still wasn’t any more of a sensation than a dozen other names. There was nothing there to suggest murderous intent. No, Octavia was pretty sure she had just wasted an entire day on a red herring.
But then, what if it wasn’t? After all, she hadn’t been through any private documents belonging to Moonchaser. She could be connected to a larger plot and not tell her friends. It was perfectly feasible, if she was running a large operation from the shadows, the less paperwork and knowledgeable ponies, the better.
Sighing again, Octavia rubbed her eyes and got up from her couch. Moving to her kitchen and opening the refrigerator she stared at its vacant insides. How long had she been living here and hadn’t stocked it yet? With a roll of her eyes she retreated to her bedside and retrieved her saddlebags. Food was on her mind, and the nearest place to get it was Vinyl’s apartment... she hoped.
In no time at all she was outside Vinyl’s door. She pounded on the door for almost a whole minute before she got a response from the other side.
“-OFF! I’m coming!” A muffled voice shouted. A few more minutes of banging and an eyeball appeared at the peephole. Octavia raised an eyebrow.
The door opened. Vinyl looked bedraggled, Octavia winced inwardly for not thinking of the time, it was barely lunch time. The DJ had probably been up all night.
Still, Vinyl beamed at her. “Tavi!”
Octavia grimaced.
“Oh, Octavia, right.” Vinyl rolled her eyes before pulling Octavia inside. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m hungry,” she stated simply.
They both stood there silently for a moment before Octavia’s stomach made its displeased presence known.
Vinyl rolled her eyes again. “You don’t have food? Don’t tell me you’ve never ordered in before.”
Octavia frowned. “Ordered in?”
The unicorn laughed and shook her head. “Whatever, don’t worry about it. I’m not sure I got much more than you. But, you can have at whatever you find.”
“Did I wake you up?”
“Na...” Vinyl glanced away from Octavia, but then grinned sheepishly and rubbed her mane. “Well yea, but I should probably be up anyway. Don’t worry about it, go get some food. I wanna show you something when you’re ready.”
She pushed Octavia into the kitchen then scampered down her only hallway into a room. It didn’t take but a minute before sound began emanating from down the hall. While probably not loud enough to be disturbing during the day, it was certainly enough for Octavia to hear clearly only a few rooms away.
With a shake of her head, the gray mare began rooting around for edibles. Like Vinyl had said, there was very little to eat in her own refrigerator. Instead, it was filled with three full gallons of milk. As she continued to search, the sounds cut out from the back room and were suddenly replaced with something resembling a song.
It was nothing like she had ever heard before. She had never heard any instrument that made sounds like it. She was snapped out of her reverie as her stomach once again grumbled its displeasure. Finally, Octavia stumbled across a cupboard packed with cereal boxes.
That would do. Rummaging around till she found the required utensils, she pulled one of the jugs of milk out and poured herself a bowl of the least sugary cereal she could find. Then, carefully picking up the bowl in one hoof, she stood up and carried it down the hallway.
As she got closer she began to feel the floor vibrating softly. But she barely noticed as she was intent on finding out how Vinyl was making that... unique... noise. Coming around the corner, she found Vinyl standing in front of a large electronic device, packed with sliders, buttons and dials. The crazy unicorn was wearing a set of... Well, she couldn't recall their name, but she knew they emitted recorded sound through speakers. She was wearing them cocked so that only one of the small cups was over one ear while the other was folded behind in a way that Octavia knew would drive her mad. But, it didn't seem to bother Vinyl, her hooves flew across the panel of the strange instrument in a manner born of practice.
The sound was coming out of, everywhere in the small room. As she glanced about she spotted half a dozen fairly large speakers packed around the walls. Vinyl must be doing something digitally with whatever it was she was using, to produce sound out of the speakers. If Octavia was honest with herself, it was fascinating.
Scanning the room further revealed a plethora of instruments crammed everywhere. They ranged from brass to stringed to even a mini grand in the corner. That must have been a pain to get in here. But, as her gaze swept back to Vinyl she was distracted by the large grin on the unicorn’s face as she played blissfully away.
Octavia sat entranced, barely remembering to eat her food as she watched Vinyl dive into the finale of the song. Her hooves flew across the board while her magic controlled even more dials. But, she didn’t stop as she came off the climax of the song. Instead, opting to fiddle around for a minute longer as she drew Octavia along into a wind down. As the song came to a close, Octavia grinned at how smoothly it faded out, giving her a good feeling of completion.
She finished her last bite of food and set the bowl aside. “That was pretty good, Vinyl. It sounded so, unique. What is that instrument you used called? How does it work?”
“Slow up there, Tavi,” Vinyl laughed. “This piece is called a synthesizer,” she gestured at the panel with all the sliders and dials with the keyboard below them. “But there is a lot more that goes into making all those sounds than just this.”
Vinyl stepped out from around her equipment and approached some of her instruments. “But, before that, you told me you could play. So, I wanna hear you before I do any more.”
Octavia hesitated and blinked. “I... Okay. Well, it’s been a few we.. days since I last last played.”
That was a bit of an understatement, if she was honest. Ever since arriving in Canterlot she had been too busy to play at all. It had been a few weeks at this point, she was probably rusty beyond repair. Thankfully, Vinyl was too busy trying to extricate a bow from a mess of others to notice her nervousness.
With a gulp of apprehension she took a proffered instrument from Vinyl. It was a bass, very much like her own, although as soon as it touched her hooves she could tell it was of lower quality. No, it wasn’t trash, far from it, but clearly the unicorn didn’t have the same love, or taste, for the instrument as she did.
“Sorry about the mess, yours is probably nicer, but a mare’s gotta draw the line somewhere,” Vinyl said. “These were expensive enough!”
Octavia said nothing, instead focusing on tuning the instrument. Leaning the instrument against the wall, she deftly turned the knobs with her hoof as she plucked the strings with the other. It took her a moment to recall the correct pitch to mind, but with a note from Vinyl’s keyboard she picked up the sounds.
“Do you have anything for me to play?” she asked.
“Yea... Sure,” Vinyl said.
But, as Octavia maneuvered the instrument so that she could stand behind it on her back hooves and play it, Vinyl simply sat staring.
Octavia quirked an eyebrow, breaking Vinyl out of her reverie. “S-sorry! I’ve never seen an Earth Pony play before!” she said quickly, turning to shuffle through a few music books in embarrassment. “It’s actually rather fascinating. I can’t wait to see how well you play.”
She quickly grabbed an old music book filled with classic classical pieces and pulled it open to a random page. Then she put it on a pedestal so that Octavia could read it.
“Vinyl,” Octavia began, frowning disapprovingly. “At least let me start at the beginning. It’s bad form to begin in the middle, not to mention putting a strain on my already underused skills.”
Octavia laid the bow to the strings as Vinyl flipped back to the beginning of the piece. It was Beethooven, of course. It would be fairly rude of Vinyl to try and have her play something from somepony she had never heard of, or practiced for. Thankfully, this way, she easily recognized the music and could play more from memory than having to actually read the music.
She pushed the bow across the strings to begin and cringed when it gave off an uncelestial screech. Octavia cleared her throat sheepishly, repositioning her forelegs before trying again.
The sound flowed smoothly from the bass this time, bathing Vinyl’s cluttered studio with pure, unadulterated music. Octavia grinned as she quickly picked up the beginning of the song, recalling the lines with ease. Vinyl, for her part, sat entranced at the jaw dropping performance of an Earth pony actually playing such a complicated instrument.
Octavia closed her eyes, reveling in the peaceful calm that washed over her. It had been too long since she had last played, she had forgotten how soothing it was. Playing helped her relax, to cleanse herself of the stress from her physical life. She needed to do this more often, perhaps then going back to the guild hall would be easier.
She faltered, the sound from her instrument going dead, as she forgot the next notes from the piece. Octavia glanced down at the sheets, looking to see where she left off.
“Why did you stop?” Vinyl queried. “That was really good!”
“I- um. I lost my place,” Octavia mumbled, her eyes flicking through the lines. “Oh, here... Sorry, let me start again.”
Adjusting herself, Octavia restarted, this time focusing more on playing. She felt awkward, having Vinyl watch and not having a bow in her hooves since before saving the DJ in the alley. Still, the music fell away easily before her strings and she soon forgot Vinyl.
As the piece progressed, the notes came faster and the playing became harder. It was only a matter of time before she slipped and hit a note much flatter than it should have been. At the jarring sound Vinyl opened her eyes and lifted her head from where she had laid down on the floor.
“Sorry,” Octavia mumbled again, continuing to play. “It’s been a while.”
She missed another note and she closed her mouth while slowing down, focusing her gaze back on the sheets before her. Thankfully, Vinyl didn’t say a word, she sat there silently, simply staring as Octavia worked through the complicated climax of the song.
Octavia played through the whole piece. Even as she came to the end of the finale, she still felt unsatisfied. Turning the page to the next song she laid her bow to the strings and began playing once again.
This new song, Octavia realized, was more of a cadenza than an orchestral piece. There were many allegros and reprises that didn’t really sound great while cutting in and out of a simple beat before picking up another melody.
Deciding to take it in stride, Octavia focused less on the sheet music and instead began improvising what felt right to her. She didn’t notice Vinyl, who had sat up and was now watching her intently as she played to a rhythm only she could hear.
She lost track of how long she played. It could have been a few minutes, or a number of hours. The world seemed to fall away leaving only the music and notes in her head waiting to be played. Closing her eyes, she let the notes on the sheet dissipate while continuing to play. Allegros, adagios, sonatinas, tempos, melodies, tremolos and much more came and were conquered by her strings.
Eventually, Octavia brought her song to a close, ending her impromptu recital with a flourish. She smiled as Vinyl stamped her hooves in approval. It had been too long since she had played, now she felt able to conquer anything.
“That was brilliant!” the unicorn praised. “I mean, I’m not that big of a classical fan, but I know how much skill it takes to be that good! Can you play any other instruments that well?”
Octavia dropped to all four hooves and carefully laid the instrument down. “I’ve dabbled. I can play quite a few, although strings are my preferred choice,” she said demurely. Quite honestly, it hadn’t ever been hard for her to pick up and play any instrument, but she never had the time.
“Wow... wow.” Vinyl gaped, but then gathered herself and retreated to her synthesizer. Rummaging through a cupboard beneath it, she continued in a muffled voice, “This gives me a totally awesome idea. I gotta talk to Reeves about this.”
Vinyl popped out of the cupboard to look at Octavia, who was perusing the rest of the instruments in the room. “Do you think you could-” Vinyl stopped and Octavia turned to stare at her questioningly.
After a few blinks, Vinyl started again. “I mean, I’m not sure about your schedule, but would you be willing to come play some segments sometime? I think I could put together some stuff that’s really cool, if, you’re up for it?”
Octavia shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” she replied after a moment. “It would certainly be nice to start playing regularly again.”
Vinyl narrowed her eyes as she contemplated what the gray mare said. Octavia, for her part, quickly interjected on the unicorn’s musings. “I-It’s just, I spend so much time teaching now,” she said quickly. “I’m watching and teaching ponies to play more often than not. It leaves little time for myself. But I’m sure I could make time for whatever you need.”
“Okay,” Vinyl said, after a pause. “Sure, we’ll see how this fits in for you.” She turned back to her cupboard and pulled out a few disks and records. “Get back to me on that, okay?”
“Of course,” Octavia responded.
Still fiddling with her music, Vinyl missed Octavia picking up and trying a number of other instruments. It wasn’t until a watch hanging from a string on one of her speakers started beeping that Vinyl finally returned to reality.
Shutting the watch off she turned to see Octavia fiddling with a guitar. How that mare was playing it with her hooves was beyond her, but she had constructed a tune that was quite pleasing to the ear. Vinyl would never admit it to anypony, but now and again it was nice to sit back and enjoy a simple acoustic piece. Of course, promptly afterwards she would try to remix it into something better, but she made sure that was the only thing ponies knew about.
Moving to stand next to the gray mare she gave her a slight nudge, pulling the earth pony out of her reverie. “Hey, look, I gotta get moving. I have work soon and I’d like to talk with a couple of ponies about our idea on working together.”
It took Vinyl only a few moments to gather her things and then usher Octavia out of her apartment and lock it up. “Do you have things you need to do this evening?” she asked as they walked.
Octavia nodded. “Indeed I do. There are things I need to prepare for tomorrow so I had best get back home. I should probably look into shopping as well I suppose.” After a pause she added, “Thank you, by the way, for letting me use your instruments.”
“No problem. And I’ll have to teach you about ordering food,” Vinyl snickered.
“I’m sure it will be an enlightening experience.”
Harsh fluorescent lighting accentuated the uncomfortable looking furniture in the Canterlot Guild Hall’s dormitory lounge. The pristine condition of the chairs and tables seemed to express their disuse through the lack of ponies. It looked like a dentist, or bank, lobby. If Octavia didn’t know better, she would have imagined that’s what she’d walked into.
Yet, the stairs in the back kept her imagination at bay. Below were plenty of floors filled with life, and not all of it friendly. Still, she wasn’t worried, today she was ready. At least, she would be after getting some something to eat. The last thing she had eaten had been a bowl of cereal at Vinyl’s; not exactly the healthiest of meals.
That problem was quickly rectified however, and before long Octavia walked into the training hall. Supposedly Spardis had a locker reserved for her and was supposed to be putting her schedule inside it. However, it came as little surprise that when she found and opened the locker, there was no folder inside.
“Good, you’re here,” a voice from behind her said.
Turning around, she found Spardis holding her folder in his magic as he smirked at her. “I made some modifications to your folder,” he continued. “I figure we start with the group sparring today, might as well start where you left off.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Very well. Shall I get started then?” she asked, holding a hoof out for the folder.
“Of course. I’ve reserved you a ring and have ponies ready, follow me.” Spardis turned away, ignoring her hoof and not dropping his smirk. If she didn’t already have such a bad opinion of the stallion, she probably would have been rather put out at his smug attitude.
As they approached the ring Octavia noticed a few ponies she didn’t recognize huddled together whispering to each other. They kept glancing at over at her and Spardis as they approached, making the topic of their discussion clear.
Paying them no mind, Octavia approached one of the weapon racks and began choosing herself a weapon. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the group of ponies finally pushing a reluctant pegasus towards Spardis. He walked towards the large unicorn hesitantly, clearly wishing he was anywhere else in the world. Keeping her attention on the rack in front of her, Octavia strained her peripherals to catch what he said.
“E-excuse me, Sir,” The young stallion began, “I- we, uh. We don’t think it’s a good idea for us to fight her. Octavia I mean.”
Spardis turned to stare at the stallion, who began to visibly wilt. “I mean, she’s beaten everypony that’s better than us...” The stallion gulped. “It’s just that, we may as well...”
He trailed off as Spardis continued to stare at him. As he began to walk away, Spardis halted him with his words.
“You will be fighting her whether you like it or not. I am well aware of your, disappointing, skill level. But that is why there are five of you and one of her. I suggest you use that to your advantage,” he said coldly before turning to Octavia. “Enter the ring, I don’t have all day.”
“Don’t you have more important things to be doing than watch me, sir?” Octavia queried contemptuously.
Spardis smirked again. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
At his insistence, the five ponies she was facing reluctantly entered the ring and faced Octavia. “If any of you hold back in the slightest, I will personally see to your punishment immediately following this match,” Spardis added as he signaled the start of the match.
With that statement, the attention of the five ponies snapped towards Octavia. She gave them little time to contemplate their position, advancing on them with sure, relaxed steps. They weren’t slow, but she certainly wasn’t charging. They were merely a confident stride as she approached them, locking eyes with the pony in the center.
There were two stallions and three mares. Two pegasi, two earth ponies and one unicorn. At a glance, it seemed the earth pony stallion was the most inexperienced of them all. His stance was too rigid, his focus set too much on Octavia. He would be her first target, it wasn’t the skill levels of her opponents that were her concern, it was the numbers. She needed to whittle down their ability to surround her before they formed a plan to do just that.
As she expected, the ponies grew nervous and split, leaving the inexperienced one in the middle as a target for Octavia. She swung her sword at him and he deflected more out of instinct than actually realizing she was attacking him. His face betrayed his shock at parrying her first blow, but it was short lived as she moved in close and hoofed him in the gut. As he doubled over, she brought her sword down across his back, hard, forcing him to the ground and clearly marking him ‘out’.
Spinning around, she faced the remaining four, who were just now realizing they had missed their chance to attack. But, they had little time to gather their wits as Octavia advanced once again, using the same, sure stride. It wasn’t so fast as to force them to commit to a defensive action, yet not slow enough to give them time to think about what was happening.
The walk wasn’t something she had been taught, but rather an action she had settled on through her intuition. From what she had gathered, these ponies had less skill than any of the ponies she had already faced. While that wasn’t saying much in her opinion, they still realized that she was better than any of them by a long shot, which put her ahead psychologically from the start.
At Octavia’s advance, instead of splitting apart, the four ponies grouped together in a line and waited for her to attack. Breaking out of her advance, she moved quickly to the left of their line and closed with the pony on the end. The ponies scrambled to adjust for her move, the mare on the end retreating from confronting her as the rest moved to reform the line facing Octavia.
But, their moves were imperfect, unpracticed, and unsure as they came together. It didn’t take a genius to see that. Octavia continued to analyze her opponents, continually summing them up as they moved. The earth pony mare seemed the most relaxed. It wasn’t a confident stance that she had, but one that spoke of hours of practice. That mare would have to be last.
However, the remaining stallion, a pegasus, was becoming increasingly agitated. He was getting careless in his footwork and was focusing too much on observing Octavia. No, what all the ponies should have been doing was putting a plan together. They needed to surround her, force her attention in one direction and not let her wriggle out. But, they were ignoring each other, and Octavia was taking advantage of it.
Octavia began to play on their lack of teamwork as she poked and prodded at every point of their defense. Their fighting style and personalities becoming evident to her as she noticed how each of them reacted. It took time, weeks or even months, for the different races to learn how to cooperate in a fight. So, it was no surprise that they couldn’t predict each other’s movements. For Octavia, it was just another tick on her failure list for Spardis.
The remaining stallion was becoming frustrated. She could tell he wanted to charge, his aggressive nature was playing havoc in their passive defense. It wouldn’t be long before he initiated an attack and lost the support of his team mates, all she had to do was keep prodding him.
One of the mares, the unicorn, was simply terrified. Octavia felt sorry for her. She probably had watched the fights from a few days ago and had not expected to be pulled into this one. Not to mention the repercussions from Spardis, who was probably going to ‘punish’ these ponies afterwards merely for failing. It made Octavia grind her teeth, but she remained focused on the fight.
Her confident demeanor and decisive action were tools, she didn’t need them wasted by thinking about the troll standing just outside the ring. Octavia pushed forward again, this time instigating an attack on the stallion before dancing away as the others tried to surround her. The stallion tried to pursue her, but quickly fell back when none of the mares followed.
Octavia caught his gaze and smirked, causing his features to darken. One of the mares caught his reaction and gave him a quick shove. She seemed to realize what Octavia was doing to the stallion and tried to calm him down, but Octavia gave them no time, this time charging in and attacking the terrified mare straight on.
A flurry of blows were exchanged and Octavia scored a hit on the mare before backing off. They had not tried to surround her that time, as two of them had been distracted. As she retreated, they realized their error and the stallion charged her while the mares looked on in surprise.
It was over in seconds, Octavia met the stallion head on and turned his blade while delivering a hoof to his muzzle. As he tottered past her from his momentum she turned and laid into his backside with her sword before pushing him out of the ring, where he fell heavily.
Foolish pegasus, he would be fine in a few minutes, and would have a few things to think about. Maybe it would be good to talk to him later about keeping himself under control. It didn’t matter if he was a stallion fighting a mare, charging an earth pony like that was foolish. Even without the testosterone advantage, an earth pony mare was no pushover, especially one of Octavia’s caliber.
Returning her attention to the three remaining mares, Octavia focused on the mare who had tried to keep the stallion in check. She seemed to be the smartest and most level headed of them all. Her form was good, she was confident in herself although it was apparent on her features she expected to lose.
That was her mistake right there. Octavia locked eyes with the mare and advanced. She watched as the mare steeled herself visibly and stepped forward to meet her. The two remaining mares quickly gave her space and began to circle Octavia.
Giving them no time to get farther than a couple paces, Octavia lunged at the mare and engaged her in a bout of swordplay. The two flanking mares immediately moved to overwhelm Octavia, but she broke off from engaging the more confident mare and pushed towards the scared unicorn. Locking their swords between their bodies, she quickly rolled around the mare so she was behind her and held her sword up to her neck.
It was a clear sign of victory. The mare quickly dropped her sword and raised her hooves crying, “Yield! Please, yield!”
Octava pushed her to the side as she kept an eye on the remaining two mares. “Exit the ring, now!” she said, keeping the clamoring unicorn in her peripherals until she exited the ring.
The confident mare, an earth pony, kept her focus on Octavia. The other one, the last pegasus, was glancing worriedly at Spardis. Probably considering her options of giving up now and facing his wrath, or the pounding she expected to receive from Octavia’s blade.
Observing them for a moment, Octavia ran through her assessments of them. The earth pony was still going to be last. She needed to keep the pegasus at the front of the fight somehow, and finish her off quickly. Her best option, that she could see, was to simply use their mismatched footwork against them. With that in mind, she took a step forwards.
Whatever idle thoughts were perusing their way through the heads of the onlookers was silenced as Octavia strode forward. Both mares facing her stepped forward to meet her, but she sidestepped and focused her attack on the pegasus. She was able to parry the blows Octavia sent her way before her partner adjusted and moved to engage.
However, Octavia continued to rotate, forcing the pegasus in between both earth ponies. She did not relent in her attack, continually thwarting their attempts to reposition. Within moments, Octavia saw her chance and darted in past the pegasus' defense and struck a strong blow to her right shoulder, knocking her to the ground.
The earth pony, now with a clear path, lunged forward in frustration, and maybe a little desperation, straight towards Octavia. She cleared the gap quickly, tangling both their swords between them as she drove Octavia to the ground.
If by luck or design, she was on top and already pinning Octavia’s back legs down. However, the mare failed to realize her advantage, focusing instead on fighting Octavia’s front hooves. With a heave, Octavia displaced the grappling mare and scrambled upright. She then tackled her aggressor before she could get her own hooves under her, thus forcing the mare over onto her stomach.
Grabbing one of the mare’s forelegs, Octavia bent it backwards as she placed a knee in the small of the mare’s back to keep her down. The earth pony pushed hard, trying to give her back legs leverage and turn her body around, but Octavia did not budge. Instead, she twisted harder on the mare’s leg, forcing it back farther than it was meant to go. The mare stilled, not wishing to injure herself further.
They sat panting for a moment before Octavia gasped, “Yield, or I will push harder.”
It took the mare a moment to gather her breath. “Alright, I yield,” she gasped.
Octavia released the mare’s leg gently, knowing it would probably need an ice pack later.
There was dead silence apart from their heavy panting. Nopony moved except for Octavia who stood up and turned to face Spardis. The silence continued as they stared each other down. There was a slight shuffling as the downed earth pony rolled to her hooves and limped away. Octavia ignored her however, instead daring Spardis to make the first move.
What was he going to do? She knew he had it in for her, and he was probably seething after seeing her win. Actually, the more pressing question was: What could he do? Octavia hadn’t seen him fight, or been in Canterlot long enough to know anything about any assets he might have.
Quite honestly, it didn’t matter to her. Right here, and now, was the concern. She was fairly certain she could take him in a fight, she was on par with the best back at the fortress. But, he had this guild locked under his iron hoof. Maybe he could force them to subdue her and then he could... No, that was getting ridiculous. Octavia forced her mind to still as she continued to gaze into his stoic features.
Finally he shifted. He turned, and without a word, walked out of the training hall. Ponies parted like a wave as he passed through them, each with their eyes locked on the ground. It wasn’t until the doors swung shut that whispers began to erupt throughout the hall.
Octavia blinked, finally turning away from where Spardis had left and moved to the edge of the ring. While she could certainly tell there were quiet conversations all around her, most of the ponies she could see were still silently staring. It was a little unnerving, but she gathered her things and left for the showers as calmly as she could.
There wasn’t much else to do after Spardis had run off. Octavia hadn’t seen him once since he had left the training hall. Unfortunately he still had a hoof on her folder, so she had no list of sparring partners. She also didn’t feel it was wise to walk up and ask any of the ponies staring if they wished to practice.
Instead, she simply whiled away her time on an exercise mat. She would have left, as she could be spending her time more productively elsewhere. But, that might give Spardis fodder for the fire.
So, she stayed, exercising and meditating. The quiet time always helped her think; it cleared her unruly thoughts and helped her focus on more pressing problems. Problems like Vinyl, or Cloudy Skies.
The more time she spent in this place, the more she was convinced it was no place for a young colt like Cloudy. Octavia grimaced as she flowed through balancing stances, it was frustrating to no end that she was powerless to make changes here.
Then there was Vinyl Scratch. The crazy DJ who actually was rather enjoyable to be around. Octavia was so convinced she’d hate the mare she almost didn’t even give her a chance to prove herself. Now she was on call to perform for the producer slash DJ, something she had never done in her life.
Another new thing was that she felt nervous. Nervous about performing. Yes, she got good at playing various instruments; but it had been a vice, nothing more. All young students at the castle were required to find some activity they enjoyed to practice in their down time, Octavia was no different. She had settled on the instruments when her cutie mark appeared while trying them out. Many of the ninjas did this, as the main portion of their lives were dedicated to serving the Order.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she felt a pony shuffling nearby. Keeping her eyes closed as if she was still meditating, she listened. The pony was watching her, that much was easy to tell. Nopony had approached her since Spardis had left, that fact in tandem with their proximity led her to believe they wished to speak with her. Yet, as they had not yet fully approached, he, or she, must be nervous about disturbing her.
At least, that was what she concluded. Still listening, she observed more shuffling. Her observer was clearly agitated, but whether it was nervousness, irritation or uncertainty, she couldn’t tell. Octavia was leaning towards nervousness; their constant, soft hoof-falls betrayed their anxiety. The soft vibrations in the floor implied a pony of small stature, or they were very light hoofed. A small gust of air tickled her fur. It didn’t carry the odor of somepony’s mouth, but rather the sweaty stench of the training room air.
Octavia allowed herself a small smile of triumph. “Hello, Stormy,” she said before opening her eyes.
The young colt immediately stopped his indecisive dancing and his wings flared in shock, blasting Octavia with another rush of air. He ogled in disbelief for a moment before stuttering, “H-how did you know it was me?”
“Magic!” Octavia smirked.
The colt’s eyes narrowed. “Really?” he asked skeptically.
“It has to be if you can’t explain it, right?” Octavia countered, challenging the colt’s intellect.
Stormy thought for a moment before responding slowly, “Of course not! There’s lots of things I don’t understand but aren’t magic!”
“You sound pretty sure,” Octavia said, tilting her head with a small smile. “Can you name a few of these things?”
“I- uh.” Stormy floundered for a moment, then perked up. “Like today when you beat all those ponies! I’m pretty sure you didn’t use any magic, but I still don’t know how you did it.”
Octavia raised an eyebrow, letting her unasked question sink in. Stormy’s countenance clouded once again as he realized that his once sure conclusions didn’t seem so solid anymore.
“At least, I don’t think you did...” he trailed off lamely, scuffing at the ground and suddenly looking like he wanted to disappear.
“Hey, come on now,” Octavia said as brightly as she could. “Think about it. Surely there is some reason why you thought I didn’t use magic? Some logical explanation?”
Stormy looked back up at her, but he still looked skeptical. “I don’t think that you used magic, but maybe somepony else was helping you be faster and stronger?”
“That is a good guess,” Octavia encouraged. “But you’re missing a few key signs.”
Standing upright, Octavia led Stormy to a nearby bench as she continued to coach him. “If I had been given magical help, then somepony would have noticed the magic being used. It’s not hard to tell when a unicorn is applying effects to something or somepony.
“No, the only way I could have used magic in that fight was if I had an object imbued with it before hoof, which I didn’t. We were only using practice swords. As for my speed and strength, realize that I am an earth pony who has trained hard. It’s not so hard to believe that I could hold my own against unicorns and pegasi.”
She paused for a moment, admiring the way Stormy seemed to absorb the information. “Anyway, as for how I knew it was you. You made a lot of noise,” she concluded with a grin.
“Wow, really?” he breathed.
Octavia merely nodded. She reached under the bench and pulled out her saddlebags. Reaching inside she pulled out a book and handed it to the colt. “Here, this is a book on wings and how to take care of them. I suggest you read it carefully cover to cover and apply what it tells you.”
Cloudy all but snatched it out of her hooves, his hooves already flinging the cover back before he stopped and glanced hesitantly back at her. “I- Is this for me? Can I keep it?”
“Most certainly,” Octavia responded with a nod. She tapped the cover of the book. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you much about your wings, but this should help you a lot if you dedicate some time to it.”
She then gave Stormy a piercing look, causing him to shrink a little. “You are a pegasus, Stormy. I may not know much about feathers, but I do know that they are what make you special and strong. If you take care of them, they will take care of you, trust me.”
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4262013
Thank you very much sir for your input!
It seems those videos have been removed or hidden... I'll look into finding something different, thanks for bringing that up though.
Also, my narrative: Thank you so much for providing feedback, I'm no professional, and while sometimes it's hard to admit you aren't doing that well... I'm very thankful for the input on how to be better!
You may want to look over the point in the five-on-one match when Octavia just had two opponents left. At first you describe them as a pegasus and an earth pony, but after that the pegasus becomes a unicorn. Shortly afterward, there's this:
Wasn't his name Stormy Sky?
Though I had some critical things to say about the alley fight, I think the lack of description fits here. Octavia is facing off against a group of combatants who are more fellow students then opponents. The characters are all challenging one another's knowledge of the same discipline, so it makes sense that the moves, counterattacks, and tactics merit exclusive focus from any spectacular visuals or sensations. The clinical, straightforward feel of the fight fits the classroom setting. Next time, though, if such a lengthy fight scene takes place somewhere more exotic like a warehouse or the Manehattan rooftops, you will definitely want to write with more atmospheric details!
I paused Ronald Jenkees on Pandora so I could be linked to... more Ronald Jenkees. You, sir, have fine taste in music!