//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: The Evil Inside // by LoveNote //------------------------------// Why does my head hurt so badly? Oh yeah, last night. I smile at my ceiling. That perfectly strange stallion, Beat. I sit up slowly. Man does my head hurt really bad. I glance at the clock. 3:00 pm. Strange, usually I would have been awoken by Vinyl's music by now. I slowly get out of my bed. My head is throbbing. I need some milk. I walk into the kitchen and see Tavi cleaning up. The air smells of bread. I walk over and sit at the table. Fresh baked bread lays on the counter, cooling. I flinch at the sharp sound of Tavi hitting a glass on another as she grabs it out. She pours milk into it and hands it over to me. I look up at her. "Just thought you would need this, the state you were in last night." I flinch again, only this time at her harsh words. Was I really that drunk? How much alcohol is in a Black Cat? I sigh. "I swear that's not a usual thing. I just got carried away." I look at the milk and sip at it. I hear Tavi sit down next to me. "What were you doing last night, Love Note? You can tell me." I glance at her, the worry in her eyes like a knife in my soul. "I work at the club.." I mutter to her. Tavi stands up and walks into the kitchen. She must be so disappointed in me right now. Tavi walks back up to me and places a piece of buttered toast in front of me. "You did not want me to know? I don't care where you work, as long as you are safe. You might not care," Frustration comes into her soft voice, "But I do care about you." I look up at her, she is looking at me like a mother would a daughter. I hug her. "I'm sorry Tavi. I would have told you sooner but I though you would not be happy with it." Tavi pushes me away from her slightly so she can look me in the eye. "Love, I would be happy with anything you chose to do." She hugs me close again. We both jump as the door slams open. "IM HOME BABY!" Vinyl trots in, her purple glasses shining. Tavi lets me go and walks up to Vinyl. She kisses her and asks how her day at the studio went. I finish my milk and toast, feeling better already. Tavi is not upset that I work at the club. I smile to myself. "Hey, i'm going for a walk, ill be back soon." I say and head for the door. Tavi and Vinyl look at me. "At 3?" Vinyl asks. I know what they both are thinking. I never leave the home till after dark. But today I feel different. Today i'm going to go to the center and pic up something nice. Maybe something for my next gig. "Yes Vinyl, at 3. Ill be back soon." I leave them with that. The sun is warm on my back as I make my way towards the center. There are other ponies around and they stop to stare at me. I just try to ignore them but I feel the darkness and pain rise up in me again. I just need to make it to the center, and then I can go home. Slowly me head drops down and I find myself staring at the ground, avoiding eye contact. I make it to the center and look up. Every pony is staring at me. I feel myself start to shake. Why do they do this to me? I turn and run away. I feel tears start to form in my eyes. I run into something and yelp, falling on my side. There is a big black and yellow stallion in front of me. He glares at me and puts his face right in front of me. "Watch. Where. You. Are. Going!" He yells in my face. I smell alcohol on his breath. There are two other stallions and a mare with him. We are all alone. I don't even recognize where I am. The stallion chuckles. "Look at this pathetic mare. She looks like a mouse that just got caught by a cat." He throws his head back and laughs. The others laugh with him. I start to stand back up but he quickly shoves me back over. There is a sharp pain in my side again. I try to scoot away but he grabs me by my tail and pulls me towards his friends. I feel fear rise up in me. "LET ME GO!" I scream and start to kick at him. The other ponies don't wait a second and pounce on me. I yelp as they grab me roughly. They grab my saddle bag and rip it off and one of the stallions start to go threw it. I whimper. "What should we do with her?" The mare asks the black and yellow stallion. I am shaking with fear. "I don't know, boys, what her?" He calls over to the stallion going threw my bag and the one holding me down. They smile wickedly and both hoot with joy. I struggle more. The mare hits me in the gut hard, taking my breath away and leaving me curled up in a tight, painful ball. Tears are flowing from my eyes. The mare starts to make out with the black and yellow stallion as the two other stallions walk up to me. One of them, the blue and light yellow one, puts his noes in my mane and smells me. "Mhmm she smells good, Rex." He says to the orange and white one, Rex. The blue and yellow one licks my neck. I feel a shiver go up my spine. "You're freaking her out, Bright Sky." Rex chuckles and puts his hoof on my cheek, pushing my face into the ground. I scream again and push away. My screaming is cut short though, as Rex hits me. I curl up again and whimper. Bright sky grabs a piece of cloth and puts it in my mouth. "No screaming, babe. We wouldn't want any trouble, would we?" He puts his hoof on my cheek softly. I push it off and glare at him. laughs again and grabs his beer bottle. Rex walks behind me and I kick out, hitting him in his chest. He growls and hits my gut. "You little brat! Made me spill my beer." He hits me again. I cry out, barely audible threw the cloth. "You wanna play? Lets play, Sky, have at her." I watch sky walk up to me, lust in his eyes. I start to shake. I'm not going down without a fight. Sky strokes down my side towards my rump. I growl at him and jump up. My side screams with pain as I turn tail and run. My wings shoot out and I take to the sky. Something raps around my left wing and I get tugged back. I hit the ground hard and lay panting. Rex walks up to me with a rope in his mouth. I look at my wing and see a rope around it. "You're dead now." He lifts his hoof up to hit me and I curl up to protect myself. I hear a thump next to me. The sound of a beer bottle breaking. Yells and growls. I crack my eyes open and look over. Rex is laying next to me, passed out. Sky is a little further back in no better condition. The mare runs past me. A purple and grey stallion chases after her till he reaches me and stops. I tuck my head under my wings and whimper. A hoof touches me softly. "Its ok, your safe now." That voice, full of kindness. I look up at the familiar pony. Beat. He quickly takes the cloth from my mouth and helps me up. Relief rushes over me like a flood. Beat pulls me to him and gives me a gentle hug. "Thank you." I whisper. "I was so scared." I start to cry again, from the relief. He looks at me worriedly. "Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" He looks me up and down. "Here, can you fly? No of coarse not." He takes the rope from my sore wing and looks at it carefully. "Its not broken. Let me walk you home." He helps me walk back towards the center. "I'm ok, really. I can walk myself home." I start to pull away from him. Beat stops me. "There is no way I am letting you walk home alone." He looks me in the eye. I look right back. His eyes are magical. "Ok. You can walk me home." He smiles at me. We turn and start to walk away. As soon as we reach the center ponies stop to stare. They look horrified. Probably wondering why this stallion was helping me, a freak. I look down. Beat pulls me closer. "Its ok." I look up at him. He gives me a reassuring smile. He knows who I am? "Why are you helping me?" I whisper, looking back down at the ground. Hes risking the view that the ponies here have on him by helping me. No pony else would have. He stops me and faces me. "Because you needed help. Does not matter who you are or what you have done, if you need help, you should get it." He places his hoof on my cheek gently, not anything like how Sky or Rex did. "And I don't believe in ghost stories." We walk the rest of the way home in silence. Beat is the first pony other then Vinyl and Tavi to treat me like a real pony, not a monster. I stop at my door and look at him. We look into each others eyes. I don't want him to leave. "Is some pony home?" Beat asks me, bringing me back from my thoughts. "I want to make sure you are safe and get help for you injuries." Both Vinyl and Tavi should be home, but I really don't want Beat to leave just yet. "Um, I don't know. You can come in if you want." I say as casually as I can. He chuckles and I feel heat come to my face. "You can leave if they are home after." I quickly add. "Inviting me in already? And on the second date?" He teases me. I blush even more. "This is not a date. I just want to treat my rescuer to a drink." He shifts his weight. I feel myself hoping he says yes. "I can come in for a couple minutes, but the drink will have to wait." I cant help but smile as I open the door to my house and let him in. Vinyl looks up from her place on the couch. I was hoping from the lack of music I heard from outside that she would have been with Tavi in their room. Vinyl looks Beat up and down and then me and jumps up. "What happened?" She questions. "Who is this hunk?" Tavi walks out of her room and freezes. She sees the state I am in and runs to me. "Love Note! What happened to you?" She completely ignores Beat and pulls me to the couch. "Vinyl, go get the first aid box." Vinyl stops eyeing Beat and runs off towards the bathroom. "I ran into some trouble in the center, and Beat here helped me out." Tavi looks at Beat, and then hugs him. Beat looks shocked. "Thank you for helping my Love Note." She comes back to me. "Ok, now tell me everything that happened."