//------------------------------//
// Bright Lights 
// Story: My Roommate is a Vampire 
// by Dennis the Menace 
//------------------------------//

There's just something about our brain that takes a few seconds to fully process things. By the time I'd read the note and fully understood its meaning I was already in a state of panic. I liked to think of it as our head giving us some time to sort things out before things really hit home. Vinyl was gone. I was alone. 

"Wait a minute! I'm part wolf!" I cried triumphantly, dropping the note. "I can just sniff her out!" Bending down to pick up the note I realized there was a back side to it:

"P.S. Don't try to sniff me out 'cause I masked my scent with Victoria's Secret fragrance." 





"What do you think, Princess?" 

"If you will excuse me for a moment, Octavia," Luna said. 

Thud, thud, thud. 

Her head solidly connected to her bedroom wall. 

"Princess..." 

She held up a hoof to silence me.

THUD, THUD, THUD.

It was actually starting to look like it hurt. 

"I think I'm done," she said finally, rubbing her head. "Wait, no." She slammed her head a few more times before there was a visible bump on her head. "Vinyl Scratch, you imbecile..." 

"What should we do?" 

"What can we do?" 

"What if she blows up the castle?" 

"Then we shall increase security." 

"Vinyl is out there, on the loose, intent on murder, Princess! And I still can't figure out what she even has against this Silver Streak mare." 

"Perhaps you do not feel the same way as she does because you fail to see things from her perspective." 

"How can I?! She hasn't said a word. She's an enigma, Princess. Even when we promised that there would be no more secrets..." 

Vinyl may have been doing this to protect me, but I thought I'd made it clear that I didn't need protecting. This couldn't go on. This relationship we had felt fake. The attraction was there, but the communication was lacking. 

"I am the wrong pony to speak to about this. Although what I can say is that what Silver Streak did to Vinyl Scratch is unforgivable." 

That made no sense. 

"Octavia, it is midnight and I am tired and so are you. Vinyl Scratch does what she usually does, and We still cannot figure how her brain functions, so in the meantime, perhaps we should both catch up on some sleep. "

I nodded. 

"The files you requested are over there." 

"Thank you."





On my way through the street I caught a glimpse of Club Canterlot. It still was in one piece, somehow, and looked on its way to being back in tip-top shape to service a club lifestyle. I didn't go home. I took that bundle of papers and went to the nearest bar I could find. It was the only place I could think. Back at home, things felt empty. At least at night, the city could keep me company, with its bright lights.

I'd been at the bar until the crack of dawn, I suspect, drinking away my sorrows with some sparkling water. I was just on my way out the door, the folders hidden in my saddlebags before I passed a certain pony. 

"Hello, Octavia." 

I wasn't even a menacing kind of introduction. That was the problem. All this time I'd imagined some kind of confrontation with Silver Streak to play out in some dramatic fashion with Latin chanting and opera music in the background with lots of slow motion. Instead, what I got was some mare that I just happened to bump into the street saying hello. Her velvet voice was enough to send a chill up my spine. Only this mare had all the evidence she needed to ruin my life. That made things personal. I'd already broken the cardinal rule of going after somepony with malevolent intentions. You never make things personal. 

She sat down and ordered a drink, some cocktail some some sort. I didn't care. 

"Hello," I said was icily as I could, slowly taking a seat as far away as possible yet still within earshot. The bar was empty, save for the bartender, who'd decided that it was a good time as any to take a smoke break out in the back. 

And there she was, in all of her silver glory. I hated that dull color with a passion. But more than just her color, I hated her face. She smiled pleasantly. It wasn't even a remotely malevolent smile. It was a calm, amiable smile that still betrayed a superiority complex behind it. I wanted to wring her neck and smash a hoof into that smirk. 

"Are you stalking me?" 

Rip her throat out! Tear her to pieces!

Shut up...

"Perhaps." 

I smiled back a little toothily, my eyes flashing. "You know, you should probably bomb the place before telling me about it." 

"Oh, I think you'll understand if I hadn't intended to kill her." Silver Streak smirked. "Think of it as...sending a message." 

So this was payback for what happened at Equestria Daily. 

"Though I have a feeling Club Canterlot will be up and running before you know it," she said. 

"Quite. It's amazing what taxpayer bits go to nowadays." 

"They certainly didn't account for this, now did they?" 

"A shame about Silver Stone," I said casually. 

"A loss." 

Fraternizing with the enemy. I'd stepped over the edge. More appropriately, I'd slipped. But that was alright. I'd probably jumped over the edge more times than Vinyl had crossed the line, which was saying something, seeing as Vinyl liked to cross the line twice and do a little tap dance on top of it just to make sure she'd done it with style. 

"So why all this?" 

"Pardon?" 

"Why all the trouble? Why all the effort to spy on us, hunt us down and out us?" 

She said nothing, taking a sip. 

"You've clearly got some stock in the situation," I remarked wryly. "I can't imagine a mare who'd go through all this trouble of trying to ruin my life to have no reason for doing so." 

"We all have our reasons," she said with a sniff. 

"Could it be because of what happened to your parents?" 

And just like that, her little facade of stoicism faltered, almost as if I had scratched that glass wall separating me and her. It was a long, jagged scratch, and with my words I suddenly made something that was "just business" into something personal. 

You never make things personal. 

She seemed to stumble even in a sitting position as she whipped her head toward me, her eyes ablaze with fury. 

"I read your records. It certainly can't be a coincidence, can it? Your parents are murdered by what appears to be a wolf." 

"You know nothing." 

"I read the autopsy files. A timberwolf clearly attacked your parents. It was an unfortunate accident and now you blame us." 

"Do not dare speak of my parents, you filthy mutt. You believe that lie? I didn't. I know who to blame." 

"You surely can't blame all of us for what happened." 

"Wouldn't you?" she spat.

"You've blaming an entire species for the act of one. Does that not sound illogical?" 

"And that is exactly where you are wrong, Octavia. It is not simply the act of one. How many times has a foal come home to find their parents slaughtered?" 

"I'm sure you can give me an estimate," I said callously. 

"You are all monsters. Beasts. Look at you!" Silver Streak snapped, pointing an accusing hoof. "You, of all ponies, could barely contain herself from hunting down a poor little bunny. Imagine if that were some innocent pony." 

My lip twitched. I didn't even want to consider the possibility that I could have injured another pony. What if and maybe? I don't think I could live with myself if I kept thinking like that. But she was right. The possibility was still there. And there was no doubt in my mind that ponies had gotten hurt along the way. As much as we all liked to pretend, Equestria wasn't La-La-Land. Even so, she was a hypocrite. Who was innocent and who was guilty? Could she distinguish which one of us had done wrong? According to her, all of us were evil. And we'd all be going down. 

"You're dangerous. And I'm going to show the world." 

"It must give you some sort of satisfaction, yes? Ruining another pony's life, that certainly embodies the Elements of Harmony." 

"There is no other way to deal with your kind." 

"So you must stoop to the level of an animal to deal with us. How appropriate." 

"It is the only way." 

"Right, of course," I said sarcastically. I was mocking her. "I'm sure you have Vinyl in your clutches..." 

"What?" 

Curses.

"Oho..." Her eyes lit with amusement and mockery. "It looks like Luna's right-hand mare has gone rogue. How interesting. Did she leave you as well?" 

"I don't know what you're talking about." I turned away with a huff. 

"You'll find out, sooner or later what kind of mare she is," Silver Streak said ruefully.  

"Either she'll get to you first or I will." I shrugged.

It was mostly a bluff. A desperate grasp at anything to tip the odds back in my favor. 

"Big talk." 

"Look who's talking," I shot back. 

"You still think you've got the upper hoof," she snapped, a little annoyed. 

"That's because I do," I said, tilting my glasses down. "That's because you've got nothing." 

"I'm the one who decides whether or not you wake up in chains tomorrow and thrown into the Everfree Forest, dog." 

"You still think I care about one candid picture? Even if you were to go to another newspaper agency Princess Luna would simply intercept it!" 

"...You're lying." 

I was. 

"Face it, Silver Streak. You've lost your own bargaining chip."

"Buck you."

"Buck me, yes. I'm irresistible. Look at these juicy flanks," I laughed, sashaying as I trotted away first. "Though I suspect you're not into mares..." 

"We'll see who gets the last laugh!" she shouted after me. 

"Ha!" I laughed. 

"HAH!"