Octavia smiled as Stormy’s eyes widened in realization. They were going out into Canterlot for a meal. Octavia was just as excited with the freedom she had as he seemed to go outside. If it hadn’t been for Vinyl she probably would have been eating in the dining hall herself. But that mare had opened Octavia’s eyes to realize that there was good food always available out in Canterlot.
When they finally reached the top, or ground, floor and headed for the receptionist desk, Stormy began to slow down. He glanced nervously at the desk, then the door, and then back at Octavia. She raised an eyebrow and did not slow down, heading up to the receptionist desk. Signing herself and the colt out, she turned and made for the door, noticing the look of anxiety deepening on the colt’s face.
“Hey kid, come on.” Octavia felt the receptionist’s eyes on her as the colt scampered out of the office doors behind her.
Stormy Sky squinted and covered his eyes with a hoof. Octavia noted he didn’t even try to use one of his wings, although she wasn’t sure if they were long enough. She reminded herself again to talk to somepony about wings; get the young pegasus to talk with somepony who knew what they were doing with them.
It didn’t take them long to reach a small market area nearby. Octavia watched as Stormy, despite his squinting and hobbling on three legs, tried to look at everything.
“Hey, Stormy, how long has it been since you’ve been outside?”
“I dunno,” Stormy said absently, peering at a market stall selling fur hats. “I’ve only ever been outside to run around the block of the office building with a trainer, that is usually every other day. But I don’t ever remember being out this far.”
Octavia looked askance. “You’ve never even been taken on any shopping runs or errands?”
“I... Nope.”
It took Octavia a moment to process his response. If he had not been out for... a long time, then he probably didn't have a clue to how things worked in the real world. She was angry that the ninjas in Canterlot did nothing to acclimate him to his environment. Even in her secluded lifestyle she had been taken out on excursions on a regular basis her whole life. If it was her, she would have--
A voice interrupted her train of thought. “Octavia?” Stormy nudged her and pointed. “What are those?”
She looked to see him still staring at the fur hats. Deciding to indulge his curiosity, and her own, she led him to the stand. Each hat had a unique look and every one was made from the fur of a different animal. They were each labeled, with a rather large amount of detail, into what each was comprised of and how much they were being sold for.
“Good afternoon, miss!” The stallion behind the counter gave them both a wide smile. “I would like to point out that this fur was collected with the utmost care from each animal and is nothing but the finest quality!”
Octavia nodded and smiled, but her attention was focused on Stormy who had already moved up close on the hats. He had put one on was and staring at himself in the complementary mirror. After a moment, he pulled the hat off and tossed it haphazardly back onto it's display hook before grabbing another hat and repeating the process.
As she absently straightened the hat on the hook, Octavia noticed it's price: Ninety-five bits. Blown away by the price, she took a closer look at the details of the hat. It seemed to be made entirely from a single squirrel's tail hair and was sewn together quite expertly. It had a small note that made up most of the label:
Guaranteed by the Element of Harmony, Miss Fluttershy, to have been produced without harming a single animal. All natural squirrel tail hair, compliments of Mr. Timmy. A fifteen year collection from brushing.
Every other hat Octavia looked at had Fluttershy's name and cutie mark on the label. Each was unique in how the hair or fur had been collected, but all of them seemed to have been collected with an extravegant amount of care and intimacy with the animal. The only time Octavia had seen Fluttershy had been at that disaster of a Gala and she was anything but gentle and close with the animals there.
“Are you sure the furs were supplied by this Fluttershy?” Octavia asked the stallion.
“Well of course,” he replied, frowning at her.
Octavia put on a surprised face. “Really? Do you know her? I've never met her before but I keep hearing good things.”
The stallion leaned in over the counter. “Most certainly! I've not had the pleasure of meeting her myself since, Violet, my partner, does all the interaction with the mare. But I keep hearing how good the little pegasus is with animals. She and Violet are great friends, she gets all the fur from Fluttershy at a great price... especially for its amazing quality.”
The stallion would have continued, but Octavia cut in when he drew breath. “Gosh it must be fantastic to be business partners with an Element of Harmony,” she praised. “Although I heard she had a less than reputable encounter at the Grand Galloping Gala a while back, I read that her relations weren't that good with the palace wildlife and made quite a--”
“Well I wouldn't know about that,” the stallion interrupted loftily. “Sounds like to me your sources are a little misinformed. I've heard nothing but good reports from my Violet.” The stallion stopped with his mouth open before continuing in a milder tone. “But, well, you never know, I don't know much about the pegasus myself.
Octavia made a duck face and turned to Stormy, pretending to contemplate the new information. The young colt had been through all but one of the hats, which he was now trying on. He had tossed each hat back onto its stand lazily leaving the display much worse for wear.
“Stormy, I need you to straighten those back up nicely, please.” Octavia commanded, her tone emulating a mother's, ‘do as you're told’, voice.
The pegasus raised an eyebrow at her before glancing at the hats, stallion, then back at her. Turning her back on the vendor, she gave Stormy a look that said, “I'm going to kick your ass if you don't do what I say”. He immediately began to straighten up the stand as she turned back and gave the stallion a smile.
“Thank you for your time and letting Stormy look at the hats.” She stepped away and helped Stormy straighten the last few before they both left the stand.
They walked in silence down the busy street for a few minutes. Octavia kept an eye out for promising restaurants for them to stop at. However, she had no idea what to choose. It would have been much easier if Vinyl had been with them; that crazy mare knew more about food than Octavia would in her whole lifetime. She turned to see Stormy lagging behind, almost disappearing into the crowd of ponies on the street.
She stopped and waited for him to catch up, he would have kept on walking but Octavia put out a hoof and stopped him.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?” She asked.
Stormy stared at her, his eyes boring into her own. “What you did, you reminded me of... of my mother.” He said hesitantly. “I remember she would... Why did you act like that?”
Octavia looked at him for a long minute. “Stormy I know you've not had any chance to be an owner of any special or meaningful items, but I want you to imagine that you did.” Octavia pulled Stormy to a nearby bench and sat him down. “Imagine if you had your own room within the guild hall. Imagine you had your own weapons and armor, soft sheets, an extra pillow, a picture of your family and your very own shelf of awards you had won. Say I come into that room and start messing around with those hard earned trophy cups, mess up your bed and take your pillow. Would that make you mad?”
Stormy said nothing, but Octavia watched him glance back at the hat stand before continuing.
“This isn't exactly the same situation, but that pony was being nice to let us look at the hats and perhaps buy one. If you want others to treat your things with care and respect, then you have to do the same with theirs.” Octavia paused as Stormy frowned. “Hey,” she said, demanding his attention. “This is serious stuff you've got to learn, especially being a ninja. A lot of times you are hiding out in the open and have to fit in... And to fit in you need to know how to socialize, alright?”
Stormy nodded as he faced her. “Yes, ma'am.”
“Good, now enough of this. We are out here to have fun and eat food.” Octavia got up, and dragged Stormy with her, making sure he didn't fall behind. “Also, if you call me ma'am again I'll throw you down one of these sewer drains.”
Stormy couldn't help but laugh a little at that, he picked up his hooves and followed Octavia with renewed vigor. She eventually decided on a small, sit down, salad buffet she had seen before they reached the hat salespony. It was an outside diner, a rather commonplace setting in Canterlot. It's positioning on the side of a mountain afforded a spectacular view for buildings in the right spots.
They took their seats at a table next to a low wall which afforded them a view out over a small corner of the city before the lush landscape beyond. They were near some of the lowest parts in Canterlot at the moment, among the common and middle-class areas that made up most of the city. There was not a terrible amount of higher up city, but there was enough to house plenty of expensive homes as well as a few small market areas, very much like the one with the club Vinyl worked at.
But it was impossible to see those parts now, the giant mountain cliffs hiding all but the peaks of the houses near the edge in the next tier of the city. It did not matter anyway, Stormy only had eyes for the grand view below his hooves. Octavia smiled to herself, realizing he most likely couldn’t ever remember seeing a view this good. She knew how breathtaking it was the first time she was in Canterlot, and she let him continue to stare without interruption.
Octavia picked up a menu as Stormy continued to ogle the sights. She only had her experience with Vinyl to go on for dining out, but the fifteen bits per meal here seemed reasonable. Indeed, half the price per meal than the night with Vinyl seemed to be an excellent deal. She was aware that the food might not be as good since it was cheaper, but this place had plenty of ponies at it so it couldn’t be all that bad.
“What would you like to eat Stormy?”
The colt tore his eyes away from the scenery and glanced at the menu in her hooves before picking up his own. “What is this?” he asked, opening it up.
“That is your menu. It lists everything this restaurant will make for you.” Octavia leaned over the table and pointed to an item inside. “See? It even gives you a small description of what each thing is as well as how much it costs.”
Stormy was silent for a moment as he made use of his newfound knowledge. But a moment later he laid his menu down. “I don’t have any bits. That means I can’t get anything, right?”
It took Octavia a moment to respond. “Well, yes. But you don’t need to worry about it, I have enough to pay for the both of us.”
“Oh, okay.” Stormy hesitantly picked his menu back up. He browsed the menu for the next few minutes until a waitress arrived with water.
“Are we ready to order?” she asked brightly.
“I think--” Octavia hesitated, looking at Stormy who was glancing between her and the waitress. “Have you chosen something yet?”
Stormy looked back at his menu. “No, I don’t know what to choose. What is Teriyaki sauce?”
“I don’t think you would like that hon,” the waitress cut in before Octavia could answer. “That caters to our more, carnivorous clientele.” She glanced at Octavia as she asked, “Would you like me to choose something for you?” Octavia returned the glance with a small smile.
“Yea, sure,” Stormy said slowly.
She turned to Octavia. “And what would you like ma’am?”
“Your Green Salad will do just fine.”
“Alrighty then, It’ll be a few minutes. Thank you!” The waitress smiled and continued her rounds of the tables.
They watched her leave, at a loss for what to do. Octavia fiddled with her glass as Stormy’s attention became riveted by the pepper grinder. She watched as ponies milled about the open cafe. The tables were filling up quickly, the lunch hour was singing its siren song it seemed. She spotted a pickpocket getting very rich as he lifted a few fat wallets from some unsecured saddlebags. She did nothing about it however, she was on her lunch break after all.
“What is an Element of Harmony?” Stormy asked suddenly.
Octavia looked at him in surprise. “The Elements?” she asked. Stormy stared blankly at her. “Nobody ever told you about them?” Stormy shook his head mutely. She frowned and sighed, crossing her hooves on the table.
“Okay, the elements are ponies, six of them to be exact.” She had his attention, and as she continued his eyes began to widen. “They are bearers of a certain magic. Not your typical unicorn manipulation stuff you see all the time. No, it’s more like... like a powerful force that can do anything. It’s rather hard to describe, I’ve never seen it myself but from what I know there hasn’t been a task that they couldn’t complete. There are six facets to this power: Loyalty, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity and Magic, pure Magic. Once again, not the simple stuff most all unicorns can do. Each pony embodies one of these elements and together they form perfect Harmony which probably surpasses the power of even Celestia herself.
“Now, I’m sure you have heard that Princess Luna has returned?” she questioned, pulling Stormy out of his silence.
“Y-yea, it was big talk in the guild about a year ago. I only remember because we had no training that day and night since we celebrated instead.”
Octavia leaned in as she responded, “Well, it was the Elements of Harmony who brought her back from a thousand years on the moon. I’ve heard different stories from a number of different ponies on how, but the Elements were in each one.” Octavia sat back in her chair. “Apparently they are all living in Ponyville right now, a small town south of here.”
“Wow,” was all Stormy could say. He remained silent as he digested the information. Octavia was beginning to like him for that. Stormy was still young... very young. But he displayed a level of comprehension and understanding that belied his age. She had been around enough foals to know that they wouldn’t have cared or paid attention to a conversation like this as well as Stormy was; and he didn’t ask stupid questions. But then again... none of those colts or fillies had it as hard as Stormy did.
She frowned, even she hadn’t been pushed as hard as Stormy was... is. Sure she had worked hard, but she could remember times when she was allowed to play or do whatever she wanted. Stormy’s life though? It was just like all the other adults in the guild, a rigid lifestyle filled with brutal training and a stringent calendar.
That had been a long time ago though. Octavia’s thoughts wandered to more recent events. Hanging out with Vinyl had been one of her first chances at “playtime” in the past five or six years. She had thoroughly enjoyed it too... Well, Vinyl was a little tough to enjoy being with, but she had a good taste in food and was willing to just relax and talk about nothing important. That was something she had not done in ages.
Octavia sighed, wishing she could drop everything and relax again. Maybe learn more about how Vinyl partied. From what she had described, it seemed enjoyable. But she wasn’t sure she was ready to trust Scratch’s judgement on more than food.
“Octavia?” A voice called, pulling her out of her thoughts.
“Hmm, Yes?”
Stormy was frowning, seemingly struggling with his next words. “I... you... when you were talking to that stallion at the hat stand, you sure seemed awful nice to him.”
Octavia snorted and smirked. “Remember what I was telling you earlier about socializing and being nice?” She waited for his nod before speaking again. “Well, being nice to him made him like me, and since he liked me then he was willing to answer questions I had for him.
“Ponies don’t just tell you everything because you ask kid. You have to get on their good side or garner some kind of leverage over them. Getting on that stallion’s good side was the easiest and fastest way, in that situation, to get what I wanted.”
“And did you get what you wanted?” Stormy asked.
Octavia gave him a smug smile. “Of course.”
Finally their lunches came. Octavia took the time to begin instructing him on ideas she had put together for his private training. She told him, “Physically, you are being pushed to your limits, you aren’t going to get any stronger except with age.”
Instead, she would show him a yoga type regimen which would assist in his balance, reaction time and flexibility. Strength wasn’t everything, there were more ways to improve the body other than pounding it to a pulp in the ring or on the track.
Then, when he had time, he would go to the library and read a few books she had picked out. The more knowledge one could soak up on tactics, logic and reasoning, quick thinking and different combat styles, the smarter they would become in fighting other ponies.
But, of course, nothing trained better than cold, hard and grueling practice. But he was already getting plenty of that. Octavia assured him that as long as he stayed strong and kept his head, he would get better. Learning from his losses, watching what his opponents did required him to remain calm and calculating.
She continued instructing him on various things as they walked back to the guild. Octavia made it a point to hurry as they were already overdue on their lunch break, but she made the most of the little time they had. It wasn’t long before they were walking through the office doors and nodding to the half asleep receptionist in the lobby.
As they walked down the stairs to the main floors of the guild, a thought struck her.
“Hey, Stormy, what do you know about the gangs and criminals around Canterlot? Do you ever hear about shady organizations that the guild has to deal with?”
The colt said nothing for a moment. “I hear some of the ninjas who come in from assignments talk about criminals sometimes. I know there are a couple of large gangs, but I don’t know much else about it, sorry.”
“Hey, no problem, thanks though. Would you mind keeping your ears open for anything else you might hear about them?” Octavia asked.
“Sure!” Stormy exclaimed, hopping excitedly at the prospect of getting to return a service to Octavia.
As they reached the next landing on the stairwell, Octavia saw Spardis; he was standing at the door to his office, watching them. She urged Stormy forward and down the stairs before he noticed. She glanced at Spardis again, both of them exchanging glares.
They split at the library as Stormy had lessons there. Octavia continued back into the training hall where she met up with the ponies who were waiting for her. Most of them were sparring lazily, but a few others had drinks from the mess hall, which she assumed were from their own recent lunches.
It didn’t take her long to get back to sparring. It seemed she had plenty of candidates and she quickly fell into a groove. A lot of the ponies weren’t the best that the guild hall had to offer, but now and again she would fight a tougher opponent. However, each and every one of them fell under her training blade.
She wasn’t sure how many hours she fought. Now and again she would get a break and refresh herself. But it seemed Spardis had set up quite the grind for her. Normally she would have had half a dozen fights spaced throughout the day back at the fortress, but at this rate she would be through each pony at the guild within the week.
Eventually she noticed that quite a ring of observers had accumulated around her. It must have been getting late as Stormy had appeared and was at the front. Spardis had shown up as well and he did not look pleased.
Octavia wiped her sweat soaked mane back behind her ears, she had long since abandoned her hair tie as it kept slipping and settled herself for her next contestant. An Earth Pony, standard build, male. He was probably stronger than her, but he did not look as athletic or flexible. His attitude was defensive, and his stance reflected it.
They began to circle, slowly closing the distance between them. Octavia waited patiently, she was tired and had been taking advantage of any passiveness she could to recuperate. Eventually he lunged forward and tried to feint. His maneuver was clear as day to Octavia and she slid around him smoothly. She tangled their swords together and disarmed him before tripping him. By the time he realized what had happened, he was in a headlock on the ground.
A few hours before, she had made it clear to all the ponies facing her that she was willing to let them walk once they had been bested once. Once they acknowledged defeat she would let them off without any backstabbing or cheap hits. Most all the ponies were taking the offer, they seemed relieved at the easy back out. She wondered if many of them were losing on purpose but Spardis’ presence made her realize that most of the ponies had been giving it their all from the start.
As the stallion retreated she yawned and turned her back to Spardis. “I was always told a student is only as good as the teacher. A saying I hold in high respect.”
One could have heard a pin drop after that statement. Not a word was said for the longest time until Octavia cleared her throat. “Anypony else ready?” she asked, turning to stare at Spardis. The question wasn’t directed to anypony else, and they all knew it.
Spardis stared at her for a long moment before turning to the ponies waiting to duel her. “I want the next four of you in there now,” was all he said.
Two of the ponies hesitantly stepped into the ring.
“Um, sir, isn’t that--”
Spardis interrupted the stallion cooly, “If all of you don’t get in there now, I will duel each one of you separately until I decide you’ve learned not to disobey me.”
The other two ponies promptly stepped in and picked up training swords. As they prepared themselves, Spardis spoke again. “This is no longer a sparring match,” he glanced at Octavia and gave her a malicious grin. “This will be a straight up brawl. Nopony leaves the ring until one side or the other can no longer fight.”
Octavia gave Spardis a long look. No words were said but the tension in the air was palpable. He had just broken all the unspoken rules of respect, honor and chivalry in the ninja order. But, if she walked, that would unfortunately reflect rather badly on her; especially after beating a third of the guild in one on one combat.
The four ponies advanced on her together, splitting up and trying to surround. Octavia crouched and moved to her right, forcing the ponies to adjust their own movements. The pony on her right, the only mare, backed off as Octavia approached, unwilling to be the first to engage. They all knew what would happen if they failed, none of them wanted to be the first to go down.
Now was the time for unorthodox tactics. Spardis had made this a brawl; so Octavia was certainly going to take advantage of that opportunity. Many ponies had a chance to see her fight, she needed to change it up and keep her opponents on the back hoof.
She took the initiative and lunged to her left, tackling the surprised stallion and bringing him to the ground. But she had no time to inflict a hit on him before the other ponies were on top of her. Sensing their approach even as she had begun her lunge, she rolled over the stallion and landed on her hooves with her sword ready.
They came in fast, the two standing stallions engaged her in a flurry of swordplay as the mare circled behind. Octavia tried to push one of them back but their swordplay held her at bay. She watched as the downed stallion got to his hooves and moved to rejoin the fight. Watching her opponents eyes, she waited for the mare who was behind her to make her move.
The mare came in with a swing of her sword. Octavia watched the eyes of two stallions move with the swing and ducked just in time. She spun around and swung at the unsuspecting mare. At least, Octavia thought she was unsuspecting. The mare was ready, it seemed she had expected to miss and she quickly rolled inside Octavia’s swing, dropping her own sword and uppercutting Octavia.
She reeled and was grabbed by the mare as the stallions advanced. Her forelegs trapped at her sides, Octavia pushed up as hard as she could, sending her over the mare who barely managed to hold on. Both mares narrowly avoided being clobbered by two brutal swings from the stallions and landed heavily, Octavia landing on top and knocking the wind from the mare.
Freed from the grab, Octavia rolled away, narrowly avoiding another swing from one of the stallions. She rolled back on the sword and snapped it before it could be withdrawn. The splintered end scraped across her side as the stallion retreated.
The other two stallions were now upon her and she took a heavy blow to her back as she rolled into the legs of one of them. Ignoring the pain she grappled with the hooves of the stallion as he kicked her forcefully in the face. She was able to shove him away, but there were still two stallions above her and she was on the ground.
She used her hooves to blunt most of their blows and swings, but she was unable to trip them up or get her legs under her. Octavia could see the mare staggering to her feet, still struggling to breathe as she fumbled for her own sword. The stallion she had downed moments before was scurrying to pick up the sword the mare had ripped from Octavia.
With a growl, almost a yell, Octavia coiled her body and lunged up, trying to ignore the stinging blows to her neck and middle. Luckily, she was not thrown off balance and was primed to tackle her aggressors. They continued to press their attack and Octavia took the opportunity to slide around the swings and grab one of the stallions from behind. She grabbed one of his hooves and twisted it behind him, causing him to cry out in pain. Unfortunately this meant he dropped his sword and all she had was a meat shield.
She kicked him between his legs and dropped him as he went limp with a strangled groan. The remaining three ponies surrounded her. Octavia panted heavily, one of her eyes had started to swell closed and she was bleeding from the shallow cuts in her side. The two stallions, however, looked quite fresh. It was only the mare who was having a hard time breathing, but she still held her sword steady.
Octavia advanced and the mare fell back. “Clever girl,” she thought. The three ponies maintained their distance from Octavia, which was fine with her. She was running out of energy and the moment of respite gave her a chance to control her breathing.
Once again she noticed one of the stallions glance behind her, but any reasons for the action skipped her mind as she planned what to do next. Then, she was grabbed roughly from behind and received a kick between her own legs; it probably wasn’t as damaging as what she had done to the stallion, but it still hurt. Then she was thrown over the head of her attacker and slammed into the ground behind him. It was the stallion she thought she had incapacitated. He was breathing heavily and standing a little awkwardly, but he was still very much alive. He kicked her again in the stomach and she curled around his leg, grabbing it and twisting, bringing him to the ground. The other ponies fell on her and disentangled them, roughly shoving her away and taking a few more hits at her, striking near her exposed scar until she lay still.
The only sounds that could be heard throughout the whole training floor was the heavy breathing of the combatting ponies and weak coughing from Octavia. Spardis turned and pushed his way through the large ring of ponies. Octavia watched him go, following his retreat with her good eye. Her gaze swept past Stormy who was standing at the front, starting at her in disbelief.
As the four ponies limped their way out of the ring, Octavia turned away from the diminishing crowd and pushed herself up. Gritting back a groan, she gathered her hooves together and headed towards the exit and locker rooms. All the ponies avoided looking at her or getting in the way. When she reached the entrance to the back rooms, there was a mass exodus of ponies, all trying to get out without touching her.
She ignored them for the most part, there was a shower in here that had her name on it. A cold shower... it might just quench the rage she was feeling right then. The pain was nothing, she had learned a long time ago to deal with the burning and keep it locked away from her rational mind.
No, what was really eating away at her was how much Spardis was getting away with here. She could not fathom what he was trying to achieve. He was certainly not winning any medals with the rest of the guild. Rage at how nopony stood up to him burned more than her black eye.
She entered the large, public shower room. It was the only one in the whole guild and was just a large room with almost two dozen shower heads sticking out of the walls. Privacy was never something prized within the guild, but Octavia was grateful for its emptiness as she dragged her body underneath a shower head and fumbled with the valve knob.
Her breath caught as a rain of icy water hit her face and bruises. Maneuvering the spray towards the wall, she leaned against it and closed her eyes as the cold water washed over her. It soothed her burning side and swollen face, but her thoughts continued to smolder.
Octavia did not know how long she stood underneath the deluge, but when she opened her eyes she found Stormy watching her from the large doorway of the showers. She sighed and turned away, exhausted and.... humiliated? “Certainly not!” she thought vehemently. New rage at her situation boiled to the top.
No, she was not humiliated. That was an emotion for a pony who could do nothing about their situation. She was angry, and that anger was going to be put to good use. Spardis was going down, that was where her feelings would go... into revenge.
“Hey kid,” she croaked. Stormy looked away quickly and Octavia knew that look. It was one of disappointment, one she had seen many times back at the fortress. It burned, to see it from the young colt. Clearing her throat, she continued, “I bet that was pretty shocking to see huh? Did you think I would win?”
Stormy said nothing. It was easy to tell what he had been, at least, hoping for.
“You know, another thing I was taught at the fortress was to never give up fighting until you were dead, but also to pick your battles wisely.” Octavia shifted, wincing as she did so. Beginning to shiver she placed a hoof on the knob and twisted, warming the water. “It was easier for me to take a beating out there physically than to walk away and lose the respect of everypony instantly.
“Take tonight’s lesson to your grave kid. I will continue fighting, Spardis isn’t going to break me that easily and ponies are going to see it. In a weeks time I’ll have more respect and support from members here than if I had walked out of the training hall tonight.” Octavia’s voice became dark, almost too quiet for Stormy to hear. He pricked his ears forward to catch her muttering. “If that bastard thinks I’m just going to put on blinders and do what he says he’s got another thing coming.”
She pounded the shower wall with a hoof, startling Stormy into retreating. His hoof steps pulled her out of her dark reverie and she began to clean herself up. She had things to do, standing in the shower was not one of them.