Stroll

by re- Yamsmos

Out

In all her life, Octavia never would have had the consciense to wonder what the end result in flying through a dense forest while under the influence would be, with police officials on her tail and nothing but her presently dizzy memories of the distant past to keep her from colliding head-first with the lovely embrace of oak tree bark. For starters, Octavia did not have the good fortune to be born as a Pegasus, and so would never have the privilege of using wings in the first place. Second, if at any time Octavia wanted to drink, she would be doing it in the confines of her household, where she couldn't do anything necessarily dangerous like walking across a busy highway, or getting seen by vicious paparazzi and what-have-her. And third?

There weren't any forests in Canterlot, let alone any unnatural trees or plants. Even in loving Ponyville, a bustling town with lower elevation and actual access to the rest of the wide world, the only forest close enough ended up being the always-dangerous, practically-infested, horribly-mutated Everfree Forest, in all its devastatingly bare and absolutely terrifying goodness. There was never a dull, old, recurring story about the horrors that lay within the Everfree Forest, most ranging from disappearances of ponies or strange sightings of bat ponies to unidentified flying orbs floating through the burning sky and pigs that could fly through the air as easily as a bird. Yes, it was told and told and told again by individuals young and old: the Everfree Forest is dangerous, and should be avoided at all costs.

Octavia giggled.

Where do you think she and her friends had all gone as kids?

But yes, Octavia would never even dream of such woodland antics. In fact, it all seemed like something out of a south Equestrian newspaper article. Things like the three she had prior mentioned were completely beneath her as a refined, classy mare, and engaging in such activities would and could only lead to mass ridicule and embarrassing news articles. There was a reason why she tended to stay inside her abode most of the time, even though it very honestly was the sole result of her having any free time whatsoever. Then again, what really defined free time to Octavia? Maybe the essential things, like eating at restaurants or going outside, but she never really partook in any of those. It only took a few seconds for her to narrow it down. Her free time consisted of the bare necessities, like putting her bass down to get a drink of water, or simply going to the bathroom after drinking too much. If Octavia knew one thing, it was that she could go for a pretty long time without eating anything. Something to pride herself on while she worked herself to death, she supposed. Something to feel cocky about when she wasn't going off and flying through dense forests while both drunk and a fugitive.

Luckily for Octavia though, L had a very good story about such an event, right down to the exact detail she had previously mentioned! Come to think of it, Octavia hadn't thought of it herself....

Gods she was really drifting in and out now, wasn't she? She really had to go see a therapist or... whoever dealt with things like zoning out during important discussions with your fellow peers. She didn't know. She'd never been. Whatever. Okay well, maybe she could see a therapist once she got home. Though she was... mostly keeping the terrors and horrors of being trapped in a cave and almost falling to her death inside the comforts of her own mind, the fact that they were even present in the first place still served their purpose of inwardly shaking her gray body and crawling up her spinal column. She about kept on the course of these thoughts, but quickly shook her head and lifted her ears up. No reason to dwell on the fact that she almost died.

Nope.

None.

"So wait," Valkyrie's voice roused her, "what happened when your friend slipped into the river?"

Oh yes. The story. That's right. Octavia lifted a brow and turned her head, looking at L as the mare awaited her response in kind with the other griffons. It was a bit surprising to be honest, as most of the chatter between the group had regarded one of W's stories, not L's. Things like being a forest-fleeing-feathered-fuddled-fugitive definitely sounded like one of the elder griffon's stories, but she guessed that he had decided to find ample time to make up something else while one of his band members retold a story of their own. I mean, really, how could she even believe any of W's stories? She'd only known him for—according to him—a full day and a half so far, but she'd already learned how absolutely crazily his tall tales spun. The rock they had been traveling down for the past hour or two only had one major pastime, and since it was story-telling, Octavia had had a lot of time to see for herself the legitimacy of W the griffon.

And truth be told, L seemed to be a more truthful storyteller than W. Her stories didn't concern things like infiltrating Changeling camps, or fighting off waves of griffons solo in a two-sided bar fight, or finding some lost treasure of his kind to lead them back to glory. All a bunch of a made-up nonsense, like a fiction book with only a select few number of pictures. Made-up nonsense, but it sure as hay was entertaining. Not even her books could stand side-to-side with one of W's stories and not piddle in abrupt shame and embarrassment.

And this was all based on a hooful of stories told to her while she was both achingly hungry and terribly tired. You couldn't beat that even if the Gods allowed it. It was like how someone could eat anything if they were starving enough. Anything good is fantastic, and she didn't have any other choice–

Damn it she was missing out on the story while she was thinking why did she always do this.

She would have thunked her head if it weren't for the feathered elbow now poking into her furry side, courtesy of a slyly grinning L now directly speaking to her as if she were prior listening. "Can't they, Octavia?"

Good job. Can't even answer the question, since you didn't hear it, you bloody buffoon.

It took all her horribly strained might to not let her face fall flat on the spot, her revelation having cemented it way into her mind. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear you, L." Gods she felt horrible. Her gut rumbled, but she presumed the cause was more than just idle hunger.

Idle hunger. She never thought she'd say that in her life. Or think it. She could cross off one at the very least.

L snorted from her immediate right. A responding turn of her head showed a lovely viewing of rolling brown eyes as well. The griffon, thankfully obviously, didn't seem to mind repeating her earlier question. Octavia quietly thanked the Gods above.

"I asked you if ponies could swim at all." The griffon cocked her head back toward the imposing wall of pure rock further to her right, the feathers atop her scalp bending with her motion as she kindly smiled. "I mean, you saw that griffons could do pretty well even though we've got these big-ass wings back in that... God awful cave back there. You guys just have hooves and stuff."

Oh.

Octavia was... actually knowledgable on the subject at matter. She grinned.

"Oh, we have ways of swimming!" She nodded her head, believing it would further serve to confirm her delighted response. "It's mostly like a dog would, but we all aren't just restricted to the 'doggy paddle'."

"What," came Valkyrie from her left, "you swim?"

Yes, she thought. "Yes," she replied. "All the time, when I was a filly!" Her cheeks bunched up from the big stupid smile crossing her lips. Oh this was going to turn out awful wasn't it. That wasn't even a question, she instantly mused. That was stone-cold confidence in her voice just then. Well. Might as well keep going. She inwardly knew, in the split second that she took to think on what she was about to partake in, that she had no real choice in the matter. Just like with discussing the seemingly endless wonders of dogs, swimming in a luscious, vast expanse of water was something else that Octavia could find herself talking about for hours and hours on end, too enamored with her own one-sided conversation to notice the other participant's confusion. It was like filling an entire bucket with sand, capping a lid on it, then taking it off and tipping it over. There was no way to stop it, and no way to show any real concern or legitimate interest in it while it occurred.

...

Wait was that why Beauty Brass simply nodded her stupid head after every recounting of Octavia's wondrous stories, her only verbal responses being little, "Mmhm's" and nonchalant, "I see's"?

...

How inconceivably rude of her! What kind of snobbish prune would just completely fade out of someone's—especially a friend's—story after specifically asking about it and then try to pretend they had paid any amount of attention?! That's... that's like making your children a birthday cake for their birthday, all milk chocolate with sprinkles and vanilla frosting, and then flying out of town the next morning and hitchhiking to Las Pegasus! That was worse than... than...

She lifted her head to the burning sky and tilted it, taking a few ample seconds to suck on her bottom lip. Like that fuzzy yellow bear in the red shirt in her old books, she would have positively thunked her gray head to help re-engage her jumbled thought process.

That was worse than... hmm.

Ugh.

This was hard.

The ringing in her ears that surely would have caused their ensuing bleeding disappeared in an instant as Octavia was once again roused from herself.

"You ever do that, Octavia?"

Octavia blinked, a smile crossing her lips as she gazed L's way.

It suddenly seemed that the blazing sun high above turned a few degrees higher.

"Oh, of course!"

Comments

[Litihur]

Is Tavi... going insane?

[re- Yamsmos]

6955353 Well, it's very hot out, and she about died not too long ago. She may not have registered that all entirely yet, but it's working its way from the inside.