Stroll

by re- Yamsmos

Bad

Octavia had never really been in a boring old wagon before. Though she obviously made use of carriages with the rest of the Symphony to move their instruments around, their transportation was always at the highest level of luxurious as far as carriages went. They weren't exactly filled with champagne bottles and larger than others, but they still had nice, comfortable seats with plenty of room to rest your legs after a short walk from the train station.

There they would greet the usual carriage driver, who would smile at them and thank them for performing that night and then politely take their bags in his magic and plop them into the back behind him. The door would open and Octavia and the rest of the heavy lifters would go in first as per a gentlecolt's rule, and then it would close once everypony was in and it was on its way to the lucky theater for the night.

There were no nice, comfortable seats. There was no room to rest her legs, thanks to the collection of bits, food, and drinks filling the bed of the wagon. Octavia groaned. This wagon simply sucked. Pursing her lips, she blew a few raspberries as a hoof tapped against the wooden floor next to her. An empty juice box sat by said hoof, completely drained of its essence a couple of minutes back out of sheer experimentation and boredom. Octavia was bored.

The road had been quiet all night, mostly broken by idle banter from Deputy Beagle to Sheriff Water, and very rarely from Sheriff Water to Deputy Beagle, though the former usually concerned such things as how fast ice fell from glaciers, or how long it took the moon to rise if Princess Luna was in a horrid mood. Water didn't necessarily have a clue, so he pulled something out of his rear and handed it to the Deputy, who would accept it since he was the Deputy and Water was the Sheriff.

Octavia rolled her eyes.

Just like high school.

The mare felt herself lunge forward, and she grit her teeth as the wagon stopped. Rubbing her forehooves down her cheeks, she got up and leaned over the side of the wagon to see what the holdup was. To her absolute horror, she found Sheriff Water and Deputy Beagle unhooking themselves from the carriage's harnesses. Tossing them to the ground where they previously stood, the two lawponies began to head toward something that Octavia could barely see in the distance.

Holding a hoof above her forehead, she strained her lavender irises and murmured a collection of wonderment to herself. Through the dark branches and the moonlight of the lunar satellite, she peered down the road at an angle that she was fixated in and finally spotted a small wooden structure nestled in the shadows. Its wooden door came to her not a moment later, then was followed by the shattered windows and the creaky floor as Sheriff Water stepped onto it.

A sound came to her ears, one that reminded her of beasts that roamed fantasy worlds in her books.

Biting her bottom lip, Octavia swallowed a lump down her throat and took a wide-eyed, daring glance to the dirt trail behind them. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she let out a long breath and quickly got up from her seat. Brushing a few patches of dust off her forelegs with disgust, she turned to her left, took half a dozen steps, and jumped off the wagon's bed. Landing in the dirt, she cleared her throat and walked around the carriage, wondering why the lawponies were looking the obviously abandoned shack up like they were in a post-apocalyptic disaster.

A groan escaped her lips, and she stalked down the road with as much stomping in her steps as she could successfully muster. She had to make it obvious that she wanted to get home. Sheriff Water's stubborn ignorance wasn't getting in her way this time. She seriously had to get home, she remembered, a yawn following her previous groan with no resistance. Rubbing her left eye with a hoof, she finally found her way across the dirt road and joined the law-ponies in investigating the shack.

Standing a little ways away from Beagle—the most she could take—Octavia gave a deep frown and thought one simple thought to herself.

"Buck this."

Beagle immediately nodded.

Oh. She must've actually spoke it as well.

She shook her head. No matter. Looking at Beagle, she spoke, "What's Sheriff Water doing, exactly? If you don't mind my asking, that is." She gave a raised brow to further accentuate her curiosity. Beagle shrugged with a pouted lip.

"Beats me, Ms. Chell. To be honest, I was actually about ta ask him."

Octavia rolled her eyes, thankfully out of sight of the Deputy. "That sounds brilliant, Deputy Beagle. Do you believe that Sheriff Water would like me to stay with the wagon?" Another shrug. Octavia suppressed a sigh that she knew would try its hardest to emerge. She was victorious. Deputy Beagle took a single step to walk toward the Sheriff, but was suddenly interrupted by him as he shouted in a low, gruff hush.

"Deputy Beagle! Chell! C'mere, I'm gonna need your guys' help fer a second!"

Octavia blinked, a frown on her face.

From the front door of the shack, Water waved at them expectantly, whispering what the mare assumed to be repeats of his most recent broadcast. Deputy Beagle murmured a quick, "All right," and stepped past the barely noticeable picket fence that surrounded the shack. Mouthing complete disbelief, Octavia stuttered with her gasps of horror and thereafter clamped her mouth shut, bringing a hoof up and stamping it onto the ground in a huff. Grumbling under her breath, she lowered her head and began the trudge to assist the Sheriff in whatever ridiculous attempt he was attempting.

Instead, Octavia was greeted to a slightly understandable task, finding Sheriff Water leaning against a large collection of wooden planks that barred the door shut. Octavia's eyes mimicked Morse code. She looked at the stallion as Deputy Beagle finally stood by her side. Lightly stepping an inch or so away, she continued her code. Water stared at her, and did not involve himself in her game made for deaf ponies. Waving a hoof at the planks, he spoke.

"Gonna need your help in getting these outta the way here."

Slightly understandable task, she repeated, as in it was normal for ponies to ask unless they were like Sheriff Water. And by that, she meant that he was a Unicorn... asking for help with moving something. A grown Unicorn at that, with what she assumed to be average schooling and a nice home. Probably with a brother or two. Maybe a dog, oh Gods if he had a dog the smile on her face was just gonna keep spreading...

Sheriff Water cleared his throat. Octavia immediately downgraded to a simple, blank expression. Raising a hoof to her chest, she coughed and stuttered, "Uh, s-sorry. I just... remembered that joke." Water raised his brow. Octavia furrowed hers. Sighing, the Unicorn waved a hoof at the planks again and resumed.

"I've been keeping that hearin' spell up for a little over a half hour now and I'm a might bit tired. If you guys don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you could clear these out for me."

He looked at Deputy Beagle, then stayed his expression as he glanced at Octavia. She glowered at him in silence, then found her eyes dart to the left as Beagle stepped forward, his hooves clacking against the old wood and causing it to creak like a newly bought door in a cheesy horror flick. Thank the Gods for Alabaster Aphids. Octavia gave a very, very small smile in her mind. She really had to get back to watching that once she returned home. Straightening herself, she raised her head up and adjusted her bowtie.

Deputy Beagle brought a hoof up to the timber, lightly running the appendage down them in an odd-looking way. Octavia began to wonder if he was suddenly going through puberty, but stowed this thought as he gave a quick punch to it. Though Beagle looked to be a puny young adult, Octavia expected his stallion status to show in him bursting the door open and knocking the wooden planks to the floor in bits and pieces.

He instead backed up, teeth grit as he flailed his hoof wildly. Octavia rolled her eyes again, this time taking notice of the moon's current elevation in the sky. Finding it directly above them, she groaned and realized that the night wasn't going to end anytime soon. Flattening her ears, she watched as Beagle finished shaking his hoof to speak.

"Dang wood ain't shovin', Sheriff."

Octavia blinked.

Walking past the Deputy, Octavia stood in front of the lawponies for two seconds before she whirled about, pressed into her forelegs, and shot her hindlegs out like a spring. Feeling them connect with the wood, she was rewarded with a low crunching sound and a betraying, loud whoop from Sheriff Water. Chuckling breathlessly to herself, she looked over her shoulder and mouthed a stammer of awe. The middle of the planks was now caved in, allowing the lawponies to begin pawing at the surface like adorable dogs. The barriers gave way like melted butter.

"Whoa..." Octavia whispered. She didn't know she could do that. That was simply... amazing. Feeling a smile cross her lips, she stepped onto the front patio of the shack and joined Beagle and Water as they walked inside. Though the age of the floor made itself noticed with every step they took, they paid it no mind and trotted around the rotten interior of the house. The Deputy veered left, shambling along a row of bookcases. The Sheriff went right, peering up at shelves that previously housed plates and utensils. Octavia walked down the middle, her eyes looking left and right to take in the whole house.

It was small, probably built by and for a single pony, with a surprisingly high roof that bent more leftward than it did down the middle. Dismissing it as old age, Octavia returned her gaze to the floor to look for something, anything of note. At least, that's what she assumed the trio were in there for. They wouldn't simply be in here just to have a small rush of breaking and entering a century-old shack, would they? She shook her head. She doubted that the lawponies were like that, even if Beagle was a conniving little–

Her eyes shone on something, getting in line behind the moonlight that was peering down from a crack above her. They both reflected on a blue book, sitting near an almost-bare feather on the top of a rotten nightstand. Walking up to it, she raised a hoof to pick it up, then about jumped out of her skin as another hoof joined hers and snatched it out of her soon-to-be grasp. Breathing in heavily, she held a hoof to her heart and looked at Beagle, who waved the book around and called, "Sheriff Water, look what I found!"

Octavia tilted her head, completely dumbfounded. Narrowing her eyes, she bore her teeth and hissed to nopony but herself. Hearing Water congratulate Beagle on the find, Octavia grumbled sweet curses to herself and began to head back to the front door. Maybe if she went back in the wagon, the lawponies would notice and hurry up with whatever they were doing, and then they could take Octavia home and she could finally go back to practicing her music.

And the oven. Yeah. That too.

About to cross the threshold, Octavia's eyes flew upward and toward what she considered her salvation.

She froze, and her eyes dwarfed the dinner plates in her house.

Her heart stopped.

Her salvation stood proudly in the moonlight by the side of the road.

Next to her salvation, were a trio of ponies armed with crossbows, their laughs echoing across the landscapes of her skull.

"Well look at what we have here boys! Looks like some poor suckers left their cart out here!" The one in the front began to round the corner, and his sight landed on the shack. Octavia saw his eyes squint, and he raised a hoof and shouted, "Hey, somepony broke our front door! River, check the wagon, I'm gonna get whoever's still in there!"

Octavia gulped.

Oh no.

Comments

[Ice Star]

Okay, I'm liking the subtle nerd vibes that Octavia has. She's usually written as an entirely one note high society pony, but here she's not an overwhelmingly posh caricature.