Berry seems to finally be at the end of her rope. With little more to be had by her, she goes to a bar to drown her sorrow. Only when she wakes in the morning does she find out she finally might be saved.
When Berry Punch feels as though she's lost it all she does what many would also do; go to a bar and let your sorrow be consumed by alcohol. On one night in particular however, a storm causes her to fall into serious jeopardy. With nothing more to save her a miracle seems to happen, a stallion comes out from the woodwork to take her home.
Meanwhile...
Sound Ray is a musician and ex-royal guard of many talents and a very unusual stature. When he decides to go to Ponyville to settle down he is unable to find a place to spend the night and as such chooses to spend the night having drinks and playing the piano in a local bar. Too bad he didn't know how his luck was about to change for the better so quickly.
Set Before the Luna's return by a decent amount. You will find out why in some of the later chapters.
Rain clattered on the windows of the bar, a great storm taking place outside. Of course, a very drunk red pony had that thought at the very back of her mind. She was trying to blot out all other thoughts with the alcohol that was now coursing through her body. Thoughts further clouded, she turned to the bartender.
"Oh keepbar, can ah get another glass... jus' another?" the very inebriated pony slurred from the other side of the bar.
"Sorry Berry, I think you've had plenty. Not to mention that I can't have you get lost in this storm while you're drunk." The bartender concluded.
Knowing that her usual tricks wouldn't work, she decided to move on to other thoughts. A great music was coming from the piano at the wall on the other side of the bar. Had she been sober she probably would have recognized it as a ragtime, or maybe jazz from the days of big bands, or even a classical piece. She got up to get closer to the piano and maybe even be able to see just who was playing such vibrant music.
Setting her left fore hoof down first, she didn't notice the puddle of water that had accumulated behind her stool. When she went to take another step she quickly came to that realization. Her chin now bloodied, Berry Punch sat up and put a hoof up to the gash. Nothing major, but it may still need attention.
"Jeez berry..." the bartender came up to her. "I told you that you needed to call it a night long ago." The earth pony let out a hoof and helped bandage her chin.
With her self now bandaged, she sat in a different stool, this one closer to the piano. The music was now clearer to her, but she was still to drunk to discern exactly what was being played.
It wasn't long after she was set down did she decide that the party was over and she should probably head home. Getting up and heading through the door she allowed her mind to wonder. Great... another night in that empty house. She let out a discontented sigh. That bed was so cold without another pony to share it with.
Berry opened the front door to find the storm that had engulfed the town of Ponyville. She would have to make it home though the rain of all things.
Not even twenty hoof-lengths from the bar she fell into a puddle of mud. All that drinking had certainly caused her to stumble on her own hooves. Berry finally let the sobs por from her eyes. None of this would have happened if I hadn't given up on my dream. I would be happy, sober and own my own vineyard a-and I wouldn't be in this whole mess.
Defeated she began to wail out in her sorrow, only to be drowned out by the storm that was taking place at that moment. Berry continued for several more seconds before she noticed the dark object hovering above her.
"Whoa there, are you all right?" the mysterious and deep voice questioned her from above.
Berry didn't respond. Caught at a weak moment she only looked up at the mysterious stallion above her. She might have tried to get up on her own had the stallion not beat her to it. Of course, that wasn't how she viewed it.
"Get off o' me you rapist!" she pushed off of him only to fall back into the puddle.
"Hey there... calm down, I'm only trying to help." the voice reasoned in a soothing tone.
Defeated she began to cry. Berry allowed the stallion to help her up and they began to move.
"I promise I'm only here to help you home." the stallion assured her. "Can you tell me where you live?"
"Jus' down da street, 4972... Oak wood road."
Now informed of their destination the stranger began to lead Berry down the street she had just informed him of. She felt herself begin to slip off hes side from all the rain that had been pouring on them since she left the bar. A leathery blanket-like item then draped over her, holding her next to the stallion.
She began to feel the warmth of the stranger settle over her and she nuzzled her head into his neck. His fur was soft, but it was also matted and soaked with all the rain that was pouring. Then she didn't feel the rain pelt her, but the familiar feeling and warmth of her house.
The stranger led her upstairs and past the master bedroom to the bathroom that connected with it. She was helped into the shower where the stallion turned on the water and began to help her clean off all the mud from the puddle. Now in the light she took a glance of her savior, he had a very dark blue coat, a blonde and orange mane, but that was about all she could discern.
Berry really didn't care who he was, but he had helped her and she also saw the mud the had been inadvertently smothered on his side.
"Come on in her' bigguy... ah don't bite." she ended with a sly and disorderly smile.
Tossing her legs around the back of his neck she tried to pull him in... he however wouldn't budge. However Berry wouldn't give up so easily and she brought out another trick to get him in the tub. She pushed her face into his and closing her eyes she met his lips. All resistance from him melted and he was pulled into the shower.
A few soap filled minutes later they both sat on the bathroom floor. Berry's stranger had already dried himself and was wrestling to dry her off with a separate towel. When he began to toss the towel over her back and dry her off again she used the opportunity to sneak another short kiss from him. That seemed to sate her thirst for interaction with him for the moment.
The deep blue stallion led her back into the bedroom wher he tucked her in under the blankets on the bed. Berry didn't want to spend another night in her bed alone, so she thought of the next thing to get him in it.
"Won't 'cha jus' climb in already... i's cold in dis here bed." still slurring her word she pleaded with him.
Her answer wasn't one with words but with the warmth of another body crawling in from the other side of the bed. It seemed to stay off to it's own side even as the lights turned out and she was still cold, so she turned over and began to put her arms over his torso. Giving up the stallion turned to face the mare he had helped home and put his arms around her.
Berry finally had what she had needed for some time now. With sleep in sight she kissed him one last time and nuzzled him under his chin. The last thing she felt before sleep met her was the familiar feeling of the leathery blanket-like thing wrapping around her side.
Berry Punch woke from her dream only to find her head throbbing from a hangover. Not much of the past night remained in her memory, but she did recall that a mysterious stallion helped her home. There weren't many details about him though that she could remember; only that his fur was a very dark shade of blue with a blonde mane, and some orange somewhere in it. Another thing that she remembered was his soothing, calm voice. It was almost like one of her teachers back in school that would put you to sleep just by talking long enough.
She turned over to see if the stallion was still there only to discover the impression in the bed he had left after a night of sleeping. Berry felt like crying; he was perfect and made her feel like she would be alright, but like all the others he left. After a choked sob escaped her through she resorted to just sigh and feel the still warm spot on the other side of the bed.
Unfortunately, she also didn't hear the hoofsteps echo from behind the bedroom door. Only when the door opened and she could smell the familiar scent of oatmeal did she notice the other pony at the door.
"Looks like you're awake, I made you some breakfast." came a vaguely familiar, deep voice. "There wasn't much, but I still found some oatmeal and cinnamon for you."
Rather than turn over, Berry felt a need to satisfy another need of hers.
"Why'd ya leave lover boy, I'm still tired." Berry uttered without turning to face the stallion at her door.
"I know you need rest, but you still need to eat something." the stallion paused to search for more words to convey his point. "I know for a fact that you weren't in the best of shape when I found you last night."
Berry new her attempt had failed and she decided to sit up instead of protesting further. Her head still low she began to tilt her head up and examine her savior. She began by noticing how big his hooves were as her eyes traced up his torso. Also noted, he was very tall, he must be even taller than most of the royal guards. Finally, she found his broad chin and traced it up to his mane where she finally saw the streak of orange. However, what caught her off-guard the most were his eyes.
Behind a pair of rectangular glasses, his eyes had slitted pupils and a teal or turquoise coloration to them. They looked like those creepy nightmare night decorations that ponies hung from lamp and sign posts. Caught off guard and not knowing how to react she pulled herself back into the head board of the bed and gazed at him with wide eyes.
Apparently he saw this and let his head down with a sigh, "Yeah that's what most do when they really see my eyes." He put his head up but kept his neck low and looked back at the surprised earth pony.
Berry catching herself stuck out a hoof to stop the stallion before he continued, "Sorry, it's just... I've never seen somepony like you before and you caught me off guard." She had known exactly when he arrived that it was the same stallion that had helped her home and bathed her, and even kissed her.
"If you were a bad pony like you appear to be then you probably wouldn't have helped me home." Berry now saw what esactly he had done for her.
"Sorry, but if you want me gone I'll understan-"
"NO!!"
Berry's outburst came as a surprise to the stallion and his head jolted up to fully face the mare he had helped. When Berry had shouted she immedietly realized she shouldn't have been so loud when pain began to pulse through her head at great speeds. She caught her head in her forehooves and began to press them into her temples. No sooner after that did she hear a loaded tray get put onto her bedside table and she felt the stallion climb into the bed and hold her in his hooves.
When Berry looked back up she saw the concerned look on the stallions face. Her eyes began to tear up and she felt herself finally let go of her pride and she began to cry.
"P-Please don't go... they always do and leave me with my h-hang-over a-and I don't want that any mo'." Berry now let the sobs flow freely.
"It's okay, I'm not goin' anywhere, I'll be here as long as you need." The stallion began to pick her up and put her head into his shoulder.
Her head being stroked, she felt herself feel more at ease. All of her tension was being pulled from her and she felt the familiar blanket like item stretch over her back. At that moment she realized that the blanket-like items were his bat-like wings reaching around her and hugging her. It made her feel even more at ease and she finally looked back up and into her savior's eyes.
Now no longer afraid, she saw the real beauty behind those eyes and she began to slowly push herself closer to him. When she finally met his lips she noticed that he didn't hold back nearly as much as last night. When their kiss ended she broke from the hug and fell back into the bed.
"Sorry but, I don't think I got your name last night?"
"It's Sound Ray."
"Well my name's Berry Punch if you were wondering."
It intrigued Berry enough to see exactly why he was named that and looked down at his cutie mark. It was a saxophone with a curved neck surrounded by a gray tracing of a shield. That would make an interesting conversation later if she could get him to stay around for longer.
"I think you should eat. From my experiences with others it usually helps with hangovers." Sound Ray held out the bowl of oatmeal on a try to Berry Punch.
Berry gladly accepted and ate the oatmeal in a matter of a few seconds. Turns ot she was pretty hungry after she had gone to sleep with little more than liquor to sit in her stomach. When she was done he took the tray and bowl and took them downstairs, coming back without anything else.
"I closed all the binds downstairs. Would you like to sit on the couch with me down there?" Sound Ray held ot a hoof to help Berry out of her bed.
Berry took his hoof and braced herself against him as he took her down stairs and into the living room. While on their way she thought of several questions. Why was he so kind to a drunk mare he didn't even know? Why did I have to get a house that was truly meant for a family and not just me? However, one question was looming over her that she thought she knew the answer to, but she wanted to make sure. As they sat down together on the couch, she finally let her curiosity get to her.
"Hey uh, last night did we... you know?" Berry ended her question by lightly bumping her hooves together and leaving him to imply what she meant.
"Sorry to dissapoint but no." Sound Ray broke eye contact and began rubbing a hoof on the back of his neck. "I kind of have a problem with doing that to drunk mares."
Berry now felt guilty, but above all she felt a little curious and just a little bit... horny.
"Well, if you stick around... maybe I'll let you get a real taste of my punch." Berry let the last part of her statement into his ear by a whisper.
At about that point Sound Ray felt an urge to find a way to stay. Oh well, maybe if he was lucky. He did need a place to sleep while he was in Ponyville. Ray then noticed how Berry was looking towards the door to a large and oddly shaped case that sat in the doorway of the house. He had already heard the question enough to answer it for her already.
"It's my saxophone, I usually play wherever I'm staying at and it just so happens that now I'm staying in Ponyville."
Berry looked up to Ray with a smile but it faded soon to give way to a frown when she remembered why she was drinking so much. As her questions were contaigious though, so was her feeling of dread upon her realization. Sound Ray soon caught on to that.
"Is there something wrong Berry?" He asked after several long and tense seconds.
"Well... it's just that I'm having a few troubles now and I'd offer you a place to stay while you're in Ponyville." Berry paused while she let out a sigh "But I don't think I'll have the place much longer after this week."
Sound Ray had sensed this coming and was now playing the options in his head. Of the few options that he had he chose one that he thought sounded slightly more cliched than he would have liked.
"Oh Berry... I couldn't let a mare like you go onto the streets like that." Sound Ray now felt he was overplaying it, but he felt it was worth it. "How about I take it upon myself to pay for the next little while to help you, and in exchange, I'll get a nice place to stay and a warm bed to sleep in at night."
Berry now felt a little guilty at how this all sounded. "Oh don't do that. I didn't mean to come across as though I was begging for money." Berry was the silenced by one of Sound Ray's hooves.
"Hey, I need a place to stay, and I also feel that I can at least help somepony while I'm here." He now felt like he had accomplished something.
"I don't know, I'm not-" She was cut off when Sound Ray put a hoof to her lips.
He now had a smirk upon his face. "Berry, just let me do this, it isn't often that mares will let me do something for them... let alone take me home with them." He paused to let her take it all in before continuing. "I would just like to make a mare happy for once."
"Ohthankyouthankyouthankyou." Berry leaped into his torso and began to crush him with a hug.
Ray let his smile now fully take over and pulled his front legs free from Berry's grasp. He apparently only did that however to return the hug from behind her back. Kissing the top of her head, he felt glad that he had agreed to chase down the drunken mare who the bartender was worried for. His thoughts however then drifted back to the mare who was forcing her way up his torso to meet his lips again.
For a while they just stayed there until Sound Ray began to lean her back and felt his way on top of the mare. When he realized what he was doing he paused and looked at the mare under him. She just looked back and leaned up into his ear.
"I think you should at least try my punch before you have to live with it."
With that sly remark said she began to nibble on his ear. All was said and done for that moment and the both allowed themselves to take part in each others intimacies at that moment.
Berry thought to herself, I think I'm gonna like this stallion; and by then all of her thoughts drowned out into the act that she was involved in and for once in a long while, she felt happy.
Derpy was making her way over to her neighbor Berry Punches house. She knew how Berry would sometimes bring home stallions after a night of drinking and sometimes make "noise". However, to make alot of noise doing 'that' was a bit too much for a 2:30 in the afternoon. To think that she had to have her husband, the Doctor take her baby Dinky out to town so that she wouldn't hear was a bit too much.
When the noises stopped she had decided to head over there and talk some sense into that hungover mare. Derpy knocked on the door three times, being firm but not aggressive with it, she didn't want to appear angry or anything. When the door started to crack slowly she saw Berry Punch with a rather pleased smile upon her face. Obviously she had been having a rather good time over there.
"Well good morning or day Derpy, I'm not really sure which," Berry said nonchalaltly. It was obvious she was trying to hide something... or somepony.
"And good afternoon to you Berry, it is only 2:30 after all." Derpy started in a some what frustrated tone. "I'll keep it short, I know that you are a grown mare and all and you can have stallions over, but would you please not make so much noise when you buck and try not to do it in the afternoon."
Berry was caught off guard. So off guard that she began to blush heavily in her cheeks. She would have stayed there had it not been for the presence of the other mare in front of her.
"I'm sorry Derpy, I've just had a long night, but I met somepony special and am so happy so I kind of..." Berry paused for a short length of time. "Lost control of myself."
"Listen, I understand what you've been going through, but you really shouldn't be doing that in the afternoon anyways." Derpy finally let a smile creep onto her face. "But I heard you found yourself a nice stallion, care to fill in the details?"
"Oh well... he's really, really kind and thanks to him I made it home safely last night." Berry now felt a smile come on herself. "And thanks to him, I'll be able to keep my house, well our house now, considering he'll be staying with me for the time being."
Derpy was kind of shocked by the response she got. She only moved in with the Doctor after about eight months, but Berry did it in only about a day. Talk about fast.
"Um... are you sure you aren't taking this a little fast?" Derpy inquired.
"Well I can see how this looks, but... it's kind of hard to understand." Berry sat on her haunches, holding the door open in one hoof while using the other to rub her neck. "You see, he's a little uh... not shy but..." She paused to think of the proper word. "Introverted."
"That doesn't explain this though." Derpy deadpanned.
"Well yes but, he kind of has his reasons for it, and I don't think that many of the other townsfolk are going to really take to take him in, so I figured that if I'm going to be dating then I should probably make sure that he can stay in the same time." Berry explained while pausing a few times to think of the proper point to make.
Derpy though, didn't quite get the explanation.
"Why would they not take to him so kindly. Is he disfigured or something?" Derpy tried to put two and two together.
"Oh no, he's actually pretty handsome if you can get past his um..." Berry paused and waved on hoof through the air trying to come up with the right word. "Cultural attributes."
"Wait... is he a zebra! Berry you know they practice witchcraft!" Derpy seemed to be scared of the thought of a zebra next door.
"Oh no no no, he's well-"
"Why don't you just show her," came a deep voice from behind Berry.
Derpy looked on with a sense of shock. Although she did feel somewhat relieved when she heard his voice; it didn't have an accent so it obviously wasn't zebrican. Still, she was now very curious to see what the stranger looked like.
"Okay Derpy just promise not to get scared." Berry had a solemn look on her face.
"Okay, I promise." Derpy now felt a little scared.
Berry Punch stepped out of the way of the door and towards the wall behind the door. It was dark in the house so all she saw at first was the tall and a little slender stallion standing in the hall. He began to move forward and slowly Derpy could make out his deep blue fur, his blonde and orange. As he moved closer and her eyes came into more focus she saw his broad chin his fangs... wait a minute fangs!
Derpy now saw exactly why Berry was talking the way she was. He not only had fangs but bat wings and his eyes... oh how his eyes reminded her of the terrors of nightmare night she would often come across.
"Vampony!!!" Derpy shouted as she let her fright take hold. She did what a pegasi normally feels that kind of threat, she flew as fast as she could upwards and didn't even pay attention to the light porch light hanging just above her head.
Sound Ray saw the wall-eyed mare do as so many had done before, except she didn't exactly succeed in her task and she took out the light bulb of the porch light with her head. He quickly rushed to her and began to help her up.
"I'm sorry Derpy, I probably should have been more descriptive." Sound Ray explained.
Berry was now stepping up from the floor after Derpy's scream. Still having a hangover made her very susceptible to loud noises and it was only just starting to loose it's traces when Derpy screamed.
"Ow Derpy, you do know I have a hangover, right?" Berry questioned Derpy with intent to scold her later for that.
"I'm sorry, I should have listened. I mean, when you said not to get scared..." Derpy paused in light of her head ache and couldn't think of a better way to continue."I should have listened." Derpy held her head in her hooves and rubbed them into her temples to try and make her headache go away, when she felt a warm blanket-like item wrap itself around her.
Taking a glance she saw that it was his bat-like wings wrapping around her to add to the hug she was being given. Now she really felt bad. Not only had she yelled when Berry still had a hangover, crashed and broke Berry's porch light, but also down right insulted a pony who was able to put that beside him and comfort her when she hurt herself.
I should have known better... especially since I've also been in that situation myself. Derpy's head still hurt, but now she felt better.
"No fur off my neck, and don't think that you're bad because of it." Ray now felt the smile creep back onto his face. "You definitely weren't the worst I've had to put up with."
Derpy honestly didn't know how to feel about that. She was for one, impressed by the stallions ability to forgive somepony so quickly. However, she also felt really bad for how she was never able to forgive the ponies who made fun of her for her eyes. It made her feel bad, but it also made her understand how it must have been equally, if not even harder for him than her. It made her gain a hint of a smile through her headache as she was led inside and to the couch where she sat with Berry and Sound Ray.
"I guess I should go ahead and say just how sorry I am, I know just how it feels to be outcasted like that." Derpy let out a sigh and continued. "I really shouldn't have been near as quick to judge."
"Oh and I'm sorry to you too Berry, I shouldn't have yelled like that while you had a hangover." Derpy added to the sentence.
Berry just shrugged and decided to let Sound Ray continue since he was the bigger victim in this case.
"Like my father once said, 'You can't take everything so seriously... it'll be the death of you' " Sound Ray let out a light hearted smile.
"When did your dad tell you that?" Berry questioned Sound Ray.
"Actually, he never told me that, those were his dying words." Ray then added to the statement. "He died about three months before I was born."
"Oh that's terrible, how did he die?" Derpy asked him.
"He was crushed by a falling piano, he died laughing at just how dumb it was."
Derpy and Berry felt a little confused and a little sad. Derpy felt now that she would never look at one of those famous cartoons with the movers who dropped falling safes and pianos at hilarious times. Sound Ray saw the melancholy in their face and let out a light chuckle.
"Don't worry, I felt sad when I heard it too, but when my mom began to crack up and laugh really hard I realized just how funny it actually was." Sound Ray didn't feel as though his topic came across well enough, but he figured he still got the point across.
"Well um... I guess that's alright." Berry punch was now very confused. She had never seen somepony laugh at something like that.
"Oh and before you all get the wrong idea, I am not technically a vampony... I just have to drink alot of fruit juice." Sound Ray then felt he had something else to say. "Oh and Berry, You may find that you are now having a severe lack of juice in your fridge, which I will replenish next chance I get."
Berry felt slightly hurt, but she would put him up to his word and let him refill his stock, although he probably didn't find any of her good stuff. So at least there was that.
"Um can I ask exactly what you are called then?" Derpy asked and then decided to bring up another question. "It's not a bat-pony... is it?"
"That's actually a derogatory term for what I'm called. No, we're actually called Thestral ponies." Sound Ray explained to them while holding back his prejudices just like every other time.
"Well that's good to know. At least I wont call you that anymore and I can correct others." Derpy now said with a hint of more confidence.
"Would you mind telling me a little more about yourself, I haven't really even heard muuch about you yet?" Berry Punch now questioned with a child-like curiosity.
"Well, I spent the first half of my childhood in Canterlot, the second in a small town just on the other side of the mountain so that my mom could easily fly to work. Both of my parents are thestral, although my mom usually wears the apparel to disguise herself." Sound Ray began to list off more extraneous information about himself.
"I first began to play saxophone and later discovered my talent for it about a month later. Then when I joined the guard as a musician I discovered my aptitude for marching as well. I quit about ten months ago to become a musician on the road and play music the way I feel I should." Sound Ray paused and put a hoof to his chin. "Other than that there isn't much else to know about me that you wont find out while I'm here."
The three of them began to talk for about a half hour or so.
~~~
Doctor Whooves began to walk back home after about forty five minutes or so. It gave Derpy plenty of time to go over to Berry's house and talk some sense into her and her lover. It wasn't too often that Berry brought home a stallion, but when she did she almost never made that much noise or bucked in the afternoon.
When the Doctor came home he discovered that Derpy still wasn't home. He began to wonder why she would need to spend so much time at Berry's. Dinky began to feel a little restless when she was still being carried to Berry's house instead of her house where her toys and her mommy should have been. Her restlessness didn't go unnoticed though.
"Don't worry Dinky, we'll find mommy yet." It was obvious that you could hear his accent.
The Doctor found himself at Berry's door where for some reason there were fragments of a light bulb all over the porch. Oh well, it just added to the questions that he would have later. With three quick knocks he announced his presence.
Several moments passed before the door opened and exposed Berry Punch once again to the light of day.
"Well hello there Doctor." Berry greeted him in a very cheery tone before turning to the younger unicorn laying on his back. "And hello to you too little Dinky Doo." Berry again inquired eliciting a giggle from the little foal.
"Hello there Berry, is uh, Derpy over here by any chance?" He asked Berry in a surprised way, he hadn't anticipated how happy she would be.
"Well yes actually, she's right over here... come on in." Berry invited the Doctor in and led him to the living room.
When they got to the center room in the house, he gazed upon his wife who was sitting in a chair and talking to another pony on the couch. After exchanging a glance with his wife he turned to look at the pony she was talking to. He immediately proceeded to hold Dinky as far away from the stallion as possible while jumping on a table.
"Vampony!!!" He shouted loud, causing Dinky to cringe and get scared from the yelling.
She didn't understand what was happening; all she saw was the neat looking stallion on the couch talking to mommy. Of course he was weird, but she just thought that it was really interesting and made her curious of what he was exactly.
No sooner she thought that when her mommy dived up slapping her daddy in the face and grabbing her all in the same move. It really amazed her at how her mom could be so fast and yet still have her funny eyes.
"Honey, are you mad! You cant just jump on a table while holding our daughter! That's just dangerous!!" Derpy yelled exasperatedly while holding Dinky close to her.
It was now Berry's turn to get angry at the stallion on her table. "Really, why can't people just act sane and just talk to him first."
The Doctor was now properly flustered; but that didn't mean he didn't have a thought of his own to say. "Berry, I need to speak to you." The doctor ushered her out of the room and up the stairs. "In private."
Once her bedroom door was closed he began to fully let loose his mind. "Now Berry, I know that you have a different taste in stallions... but this is ridiculous!"
Berry was now really angry at him, but he cut her off just as her mouth opened to respond. "I mean, a vampony, that is not only weird, but down right dangerous! I've traveled all over Equestria for much of my life, solving problems, but I have never, ever, seen a vampony!"
Again the furious Berry was about to respond when she was cut off not by the Doctor, but by the door.
"Will you stop yelling right now Doctor! You are not only upsetting, but scaring Dinky!" Derpy wasn't often angry, but when she was... she knew how to be scary.
"But he-"
"Don't even start with me! You have been in here for two minutes, haven't said a word too him, and yet, you just go a ahead and chew out a very nice, and sensitive stallion!!!"
The doctor was now fully hushed and felt shame run through him for being so transparent to the issue. However, something didn't sit right with him. "W-where's Dinky?"
Before Derpy could respond he dashed downstairs as fast as he could to the hall way before the living room. Only then did he hear, singing?
It was different though. It was a deep voice singing a long note that could only be discerned as saying 'hi ho'; but it wasn't what one would expect that to be said like. It didn't sound like an exclaimed yelling of it, but a very peaceful sounding song that one would hear in those spaghetti westerns, while the cowpony wandered off into the desert.
He turned to the mares behind him to get answers and met the dissapointed face of his wife.
"Sound Ray has been singing to our daughter to calm her down while you yelled at berry." Derpy explained and then looked back up at her husband. "I would apologize before you say any more."
Now the Doctor saw exactly what he had done wrong. He turned to the living room and slowly made his way in. What he saw was really crazy; the bat pony, Sound Ray, he thought his name was, was now cradling his sleeping daughter between his fore legs while he finished the song. When he entered, he was about to talk and the Sound ray put a hoof up to his lips and made a shush sound to make sure the doctor was silent.
"I'm so sorry Sound, I haven't been here for five minutes and already I've hurt your feelings and made my daughter cry." He said in a sort of pleading tone. "Could you ever forgive me?"
Sound Ray now smiled with a pleased look. "Of course, after all, you definately aren't the worst I've gotten from other ponies." He paused. "Oh, and please just call me Ray. Sound was my grandfather."
The Doctor now felt really bad, if he wasn't the worst by far, then what was. However, he still felt good that his apology was accepted. Smiling he made his way over towards Sound Ray and nuzzled his daughter.
~~~
"Alright, come by and visit again soon." Berry told their leaving guests before heading back inside to her new special somepony.
She hopped up onto the couch and snuggled under his neck. When she opened her eyes again, it was because he had kissed the top of her head.
"I think things are finally looking up for us." Sound Ray said while looking out the window towards the now dark outside. "You know, I think I'm gonna like it here."
Berry now put a leg around her stallion and continued to snuggle. "I'm glad you like it. It does get lonely when I'm all by myself in this big, dark house." Berry said the last part of her sentence in a pleading manner in order to elicit a fake sympathy from him.
Sound Ray saw this and responded by putting his head down to hers and gave her a deep and loving kiss. It went on for a while before he picked her up suddenly and causing Berry began to giggle uncontrollably. Sound Ray flew himself and her up to her, no wait, their bedroom. When they entered Berry again wouldn't stop giggling.
As he shut the door the giggling became sort of pleasured laughter and then later... some rather pleasing sounds came from Berry.
This continued for a short while, but quieter than before. Thus, not waking the neighbors again.
Two weeks had passed since Sound Ray had ended up with Berry Punch. To be honest, not much really happened past introductions with the townsfolk. For the most part, they were all very accepting to him and only the few who weren't from around town were scared or didn't like him. It made sense for the most part, small towns in Equestria were well known for accepting new people.
Despite their record of doing it twice on their first full day as a couple, they came to the conclusion that they should probably slow down. After all, they weren't gonna be wanting a foal for a long time, if ever.
He didn't find much to do around town other than play saxophone at the local venues or at a party at the local sweet-shop, Sugarcube Corner. It was actually kind of funny; the teenage, pink filly who apprenticed and worked the parties there was the most accepting of all the townsfolk. She acted surprised, but then proceeded to play with his bat wings, which in turn gave Berry the idea to annoy him in that way. His life probably wouldn't go on without that constantly happening from the two.
Being a musician that didn't travel and didn't play full time didn't bring that many bits, but he had a pretty well stocked savings account. The four years he spent as a horn man in the royal guard band and Canterlot Royal Orchestra had only added to his bank account. During the time he spent as a guard he took advantage of the free housing and food so that he would have plenty of money to travel with by the time he was done.
It had all turned out nicely, and he would have to spend a great amount of money before he would need to make it up again. All would be nice to just live that way, but he didn't want that to happen; he enjoyed working and wanted to enjoy retirement at a much later point in life. There fore, he decided to help Berry re-invest in her own talents.
That afternoon Berry and Ray were sitting in the kitchen and looking through a catalog.
"Honestly Ray, we probably should wait before you get me back to brewing." Berry was explaining to him. "After all, I'd prefer to wait 'till I'm off the sauce myself."
Sound Ray on the other hand didn't see it as she did though. "Berry, you know that I'm perfectly okay with you drinking. I mean, it is part of making liquor and spirits, right?"
"Well yes, but maybe it could wait a while. I've been drinking way too much for the past few months and I need to both give this some time so as to regain my tastes." Berry offered in explanation. "And what would happen if I got sick or something and had to lay off it for a while anyway?" Berry implied, "then I'd be even more sick."
Sound Ray saw were she was coming from with this. It was personal experience that made him take her home and was also that same experience that made him recall exactly why it wouldn't be easy to quit this.
"Well, that makes sense. I know from experience that this wont be easy for you and having all that alcohol around will probably tempt you alot." Sound Ray offered to her with a knowing look.
"Thanks honey, and I get that I should be working, so I'll probably see if ol' Mugs will let me wait tables or do something at the bar." Berry explained and immediately saw a hole in her logic. "Or if I get too tempted by the booze then I'll find something else."
Sound Ray now had a very pleased smile. "Well I'd definitely love to see you back to work after all you've been through, but you should take your time. I still have enough savings to last us for plenty of time." Sound Ray explained before feeling like she needed more reassurance. "Not to mention I can always take up more time to being a musician. Maybe even compose some more."
"Thanks for understanding honey." Berry leaned in to Ray for a quick kiss before heading in to the living room.
Alone now, Sound Ray felt himself now felt more relaxed. Only, he still felt his memories of dealing with this same kind of situation before resurface back to him. He sighed. Hopefully Berry wouldn't be like his mother. He sure new how she took to the stress of all her troubles; and it didn't really end well for him.
~~~
There was a knock at the front of Berry and Sound Ray's house. That's odd, I wasn't expecting anypony today. Berry arose from her place at the couch and headed for the door. Since Sound Ray was off playing at a gig and (even then he wasn't exactly too keen to open the door when it was knocked at) she would get the door.
Even if she knew in her heart that the door was friendly, she had adopted a tradition to answer with the door closed when she was on her drunken stints. Often she wouldn't know if it was an angered lover or a bar tender that wanted her to pay her for a particularly bad evening. However, when Sound Ray came around, she had many of her problems resolved by him. Therefore allowing her to restart opening the door and knowing it was safe. Only, it still was a surprise to see the pony at the door.
"Well hello there sister." Cherilee was at the door with her ever present smug smile on her face.
"And hello to you too Cherilee, I see you're still as smug to me as ever." Berry Punch was now showing her annoyance with her sister very openly, "Come to gloat about your teaching success I supose."
Berry and Cherilee had grown up as very competitive sisters when they were young. Most of this was due to the residual effects of their upbringing. Even when they grew up they still tried to one-up each other with the amount they earned with work, or the size of their houses and so-on. It all lasted for a long time, untill Berry had her nervous breakdown at her small brewery.
It had all started as a small expense here and there and led to her not being able to cope with the debt untill she eventually had to sell the brewery. After that the rest is history. Except for her sister coming around once a month to gloat and brag about her ability to successfully teach and make a living from it. However, since Berry was finally not hungover or dunk on this visit, she saw some humor to it.
"You know what, now that I can think clearly, I wonder if you only do this because you're on your time of the month." Berry figured this would infuriate and hopefully get her sister to leave quicker.
Cherilee would have gotten angry but she had better things to think about than her sister making fun of her, "haha, you're so very funny." Cherilee finished her sarcasm and moved on to her rebuttal, "no, I'm actually pretty happy today, I just came by to tell you how Mrs. Bright Days just retired, and I just got her job as head teacher."
"And also, I heard that you found yourself a stallion, I figured that when you finally lose everything that you are allowed to stay with me, but not your coltfriend." Cherilee laid out her offer to hopefully finally get her sister to go over the edge.
"Listen, as much as I would just 'love' to be in your company, I don't think I could stoop to such a level as to accept an offer from my horribly vain sister." Berry could stand at that porch all day, but if she mentioned Sound Ray one more time...
"Figures you wouldn't like me anymore, but dad certainly won't like you anymore when he finds out you're living with a monster." Cherilee really felt she would finally get her sister to do as she always did; which of course would be to shut the door in her face and leave her with a sense of satisfaction.
Berry on the other hoof felt a different approach was needed. One that happened to be her hoof connecting with her sister's cheek forcefully with Cherilee's cheek. "Now listen here you egotistical bitch, I may not mind if you come around and make fun of me, but when you bring my Ray into this, I will make you lose your job for having such a beaten face that it scares the kids!!!"
Cherilee was now pinned against the wall beside Berry's porch, a shocked look on her face, Berry taking a brief pause in order to continue her rant. "Aren't you supposed to be teaching these kids to be upright citizens, unlike yourself." Berry took a quick breath, "And also, shouldn't you be teaching them to be accepting of people like my Sound Ray!"
Cherilee finally understood that she had gone too far. "But..." Cherilee's cry was quickly rebutted from Berry.
"But nothing! There is no excuse for being such an intolerant bitch just because of somepony's wings or eyes." Berry wasn't going to hear any sort of argument from her sister.
Berry was furious at how her sister could be so intolerant of different ponies. Her argument caused her to think many bad and/or violent thoughts of how she should teach her sister to be more open minded. Berry moved in closer to her sister in order to gain more ability to deliver a beat-down at the first signs of provocation. Only then was her attention diverted by a gentle and yet firm hoof put between them.
"Now I know personally that familial issues are some of the worst ordeals to overcome..." Sound Ray took a disappointed look at the two mares he was now separating "But that is no excuse for solid reasoning."
Berry, recognizing Sound Ray immediately began to back down. She wasn't about to upset her lover any further. However, she knew that it probably wasn't going to be her that was going to need to explain herself.
"OK, now does somepony want to fill me in on the details of this like a sensible adult mare." He paused to let either one begin, but when neither spoke after a few seconds he began again. "Well then, I guess that I'll just start by asking both of you why I trotted up to Berry's house to find you two fighting like teenage fillies over gossip?"
Cherilee decided that she had been there long enough and she would try to make her escape, "Well I'm sorry for offending you but I have some uh, paperwork. Yeah so, I really need to get on that." Cherilee tried to evade and began to duck from Sound Ray's hoof on her chest.
"I think that your 'paperwork' can wait until we're done here." Ray was now at the end of his patience, "and if I were you, I wouldn't exactly be too keen on offending a *cough cough* Vampony!" Sound Ray pulled both mares into him with his fore legs.
Sound Ray now felt his rage climb to a peak. He had just gotten done with getting turned down by ponies most of the day to come home and find Berry and her sister fighting on their front porch. Both mares now saw the anger flash through his eyes. Obviously Cherilee's evasion hadn't done much to calm him from his now peaked bad mood.
"Now we're going to go inside and you two are going to sort this out now!" He pulled both mares even closer to his chest. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I heard the entirety of your little conversation. So if you want to have that all cleared up, then I would come inside and talk with me." Ray growled the last part of the sentence under his breath before leaving the mares and trotting inside.
Both Berry Punch and Cherilee looked into the house with wide eyes. Berry had never seen him get angry, let alone act like a father who was at the end of his rope with his kids. It made her feel ashamed. "I'm waiting." Now Berry felt really ashamed when she heard Sound Ray call from the living room. She sighed, this now really felt like one of her old fights with her sister.
~~~
Berry Punch and Cherilee entered the living room of Berry's house to find Sound Ray siting in the lounge chair across from the couch. Even if he appeared to be fuming with anger a minute ago, now he had somehow calmed down, looking as if he were a father about to discipline his kids. Berry sat down on the couch, meanwhile Cherilee decided to sit down in the chair on the other side of the couch.
"I'd prefer if you both sat on the couch." Ray told them in a very calm demeanor although there was still a trace of firmness in his voice.
Cherilee obliged and sat next to Berry and even if it was awkward, the tension between them decided to remain ingrown.
Sound Ray now looked at them with a more pleased expression. "I'm sorry that I was a little firm out there, but you must understand that ever since my childhood I've had a much smaller tolerance for those kinds of things."
Berry felt like adding to the statement, but words seemed to hold fast in her throat.
"From what I can gather Cherilee, I believe that you owe the first apology to Berry. I already know that this isn't the first time you've been here and your behavior has been completely uncalled for." Ray implied the statement, but then he saw another issue that he wanted to address, "Even if it was uncalled for, I want you to tell me what provokes you to do this to Berry?"
Cherilee was at a loss for words. She wanted to explain herself, but something inside of her was holding her tongue. When she finally felt the words come to her, she decided not to hold herself back, "I guess alot of this is to due with our very competitive childhood. Our father used to constantly be urging us not to disappoint him and, well... I guess it led to us being more competitive with each other to make ourselves feel like less of a disappointment to him."
Cherilee had finished her explanation, now she knew what she needed to do. "And for not growing out of that, I came to rub it in Berry's face. I should have helped you Berry but..." Cherilee put her head down between her legs. "I'm truly very sorry for what I've done to you Berry. I let my jealousy and my hate for the way dad raised us get to my head."
Cherilee let a few tears fall. She now knew just what she had been doing wrong all of this time. It made her feel empty, knowing that she could've helped her sister, but instead she found jealousy in her work and had let her stay in her drunken state. Berry Punch could see how her sister truly felt sorry. The revelation that she had made had also occurred to Berry as well; they would eventually have to tell their father about that. However, as of right now, they needed each other.
"Cheerie don't cry, I see what happened. We both are guilty of letting jealousy drive us to doing crazy horrible things towards each other." Berry Punch wrapped her forelegs around Cherilee and pulled her into a loving embrace. "I think that we both have let dad's influence on us go a little too far."
Cherilee looked up at her older sister and saw what the half year of drunkenness had done to her. It not only made her almost lose everything, but had made her understand so much more in life. Only, she would never had been saved from all of this had it not been for a certain stallion who helped her home that one night.
"Sound Ray... I am terribly sorry for the way I both acted towards my sister and insulting you." Cherilee gazed up from her sister's grasp, "You are really to thank for all of this. Had it not been for you then my sister would probably be on the streets and we would never have made up today."
Sound Ray gave her a pleased smile from his chair across the room. "I was only doing what was right, not to mention I could never let a drunken mare just get abandoned in the street like that."
Ray got up from his chair and calmly walked up to the couch and took a seat beside the two mares. He began to rub Berry's back as she held Cherilee in her fore legs. Eventually Berry and Cherilee broke off their embrace and turned to acknowledge the stallion behind the two of them.
"I guess you really got yourself a nice stallion this time Berry." Cherilee inquired, hoping to break the silence they had created during their time on the couch.
Berry saw this as a better opening for another joke, "I sure did, he came with an extended warranty and with few defects."
Cherilee chuckled lightly, but she didn't think the joke was as funny as Berry had implied. "I think you shouldn't treat him like an object Berry, he is another sentient pony after all." Berry didn't like how her sister had blatantly ruined her joke, but she wasn't going to end their good streak after only a few minutes.
Cherilee was still hoping to make some effort at conversation however. "I wish I could find a stallion like him though, I can't seem to get very far in the romance department."
"I'm sure you'll find somepony Cherilee, you've just got to look in the right place." Berry offered her sister and hoped it would liven the mood and decided to add another fact to her previous statement. "You know how love can be though, when you don't look, you find."
Cherilee felt a little comfort in her sister's statement. She hoped someday to find somepony of her own too, but Celestia knows how long that would take. In the meantime though, she had more pressing matters at hand. Like teaching...
"I'm sorry I have to say this, but I've got to go. There's still paperwork that I have to fill out before I can become head teacher." Cherilee left the couch and gave her sister a hug goodbye before turning towards the door.
As Cherilee left Sound Ray and Berry Punch found themselves alone again in their living room. For a while they just held each other in their arms and were perfectly content with that feeling. Sound Ray had a thought in his head however that he was going to need to discuss with her soon though. Finally breaking the embrace he turned to her.
"Listen, Berry..." Sound Ray began but his words seemed to fall short in his throat. "I have something important that I'm going to need to discuss with you if we're going to be together." He paused again to decide his next words carefully. "You think that we can have a good conversation about these things sometime this week."
Berry looked into Sound Ray's eyes. She could clearly see how he was nervous about something and it left her with a weird and unsettling feeling in her gut. "Of course honey."
Immediately Sound Ray had his pleased look on his face again. This will no doubt be a very weird conversation we're gonna have, thought Berry.
Berry was wandering through her house as she usually did on weekday afternoons. It was nearing the end of the week and still Sound Ray had not come to her about what he wanted to talk about. It hadn't really bothered her at first, but she knew how hesitant men could be about those types of issues. All of it was both exhausting and left her with a feeling of dread the more that this was going on. She had to agreed to 'make' him talk by Saturday if he hadn't told her by then... and today was Friday.
It was these types of issues that made her feel like having a drink. This would normally be a huge problem had she and Sound Ray not gotten rid of most of her alcohol and left her with only a few bottles. Most of which, she already drank and now she was in her kitchen trying to find a bottle deep inside her fridge.
Come on... I know I had a bottle somewhere in here still. She had already been through her cabinets and her pantry, therefore the fridge was her only hope of stress relief. Berry continued to look behind food containers to find something. When she was just about to give up, she felt her hoof lightly connect with a glass object. Found you.
She took the bottle out of the fridge to look at it in the light. It was relatively large and had a very dark coloration to it. Being of the industry she knew that the color was actually a dark shade of green and the amount was about... ten gills... US. Berry didn't recall ever coming into contact with the bottle so it was probably left there by Sound Ray.
"Another secret of Sound Ray's I'm guessing?" Berry smirked and uncorked the bottle. "Here's to the secrets of Stallions."
Berry put the bottle up to her lips and took a small swig, not wanting to drink all of her coltfriend's booze. However; when the liquid met her tongue she tasted a foul, metallic taste that should never have come from a bottle of alcohol. Berry quickly spat out the foul liquid and looked back at the bottle.
I didn't just find another one of his secrets. Berry put the cork back into the bottle and set it down on the table. She sat just across it, with a good view of the door; a visible bewilderment on her face. No... I just found the secret that he was going to tell me about.
~~~
As Sound Ray slowly made his way home he contemplated many things. Many of those were how to reach out to the townsfolk; but the most persistent thought was how he was going to tell Berry about his secret. Not many normal ponies knew about his secret and he wanted to keep it that way. Since he wanted to stay with Berry for the foreseeable future, he would need to tell her. Hopefully she wouldn't hate him for it.
When the door came into sight he stopped for a second. It has to be today... you know you won't tell her if it isn't today. Sound Ray kept a very slow pace up to the door, trying to compose himself for the inevitable.
He grabbed the knob and twisted it open, stepping into the dark entry hallway. Odd, Berry usually turns on some lights. With his curiosity now taking over he began to call to her.
"Berry..." No reply. "I'm home." Still no reply.
This made Sound Ray begin to worry about Berry. She was usually bounding to the hallway and welcoming him home from a day of trying to reach out to the locals. Something was obviously wrong and he needed to get to the bottom of it.
Sound Ray saw how the light in the kitchen was on and decided that was probably the best place to investigate where Berry was. Through the doorway he caught sight of the kitchen table, which still lay as it was. However, on the other side of the table was Berry Punch, sitting with her head down and concealed behind her hair. Sound Ray was about to ask her what was wrong when he saw the bottle that lay in front of her.
The bottle lay uncorked in front of Berry, with a splatter of the liquid dried across the table. Sound Ray should have known that if he put it off for this long then she would discover it for herself; but it was too late. He was absolutely speechless and could only watch as Berry looked up to address him.
"I assume that this is what you want to talk about?" Berry sounded angry, but wore a very somber expression on her face.
"That would be correct." Berry looked upon Sound Ray and waited for him to continue, but to no avail.
"So you've been lying to me this entire time, Ray?" Berry asked him, hoping for a quick response.
"It isn't lying, I simply haven't told you yet." This made Berry furious.
"Well when, huh!?" Berry was at the end of her patience. "When were you planning on telling me that you drank the blood of ponies!?"
Sound Ray dug inside himself for a way to explain himself. It was not only his secret, but that of his entire race of ponies. He hung his head in defeat.
"Berry... I came home tonight with the intent to tell you. I was afraid that this would happen, but not afraid enough." He brought his head back up. "So I tell you now, I have to drink blood and other types of citrus fruits to account for my natural inability to produce enough iron in my blood."
A tear fell from Berry's eye, visible to both of them and explaining much of her sorrow. She felt many emotions brewing inside of her; to which many escaped through the slow stream of tears falling from her eyes. Berry was very distraught, but she still had questions that needed to be answered.
"Celestia's sake Ray, who's blood is this?" Berry didn't wait for his response. "Is it... mine?"
Sound Ray's eyes opened wide when she asked that. "Oh no Berry... I would never do such a thing to you."
Sound Ray moved closer to the table and began to answer the other part of her question. "It's actually a monthly ration from a blood bank in Canterlot. Since they get a huge surplus constantly, they send some to some of my race."
Berry felt relieved. Even if she still had questions, she felt much better letting him explain himself. She now sat more relaxed in the chair opposite from Ray, who was standing at the other side of the table, ready to continue. He rubbed a hoof over one of his legs and averted his gaze.
"Berry, the process of taking blood directly from a pony is very... intimate." He paused a second and put both hooves on the ground. "It may be told as a gruesome process in horror stories, but it is actually alot more resembling towards... sex."
Berry felt a slight shock about that fact, but kept it to herself. Now she felt as though he was being a different kind of reserved towards her. After all, he hadn't drunk from her, so at least he wanted to take his time with something. A very faint smile started to creep back on her face, but not on Sound Ray's, he still had more to discuss with her.
"Now that you know that, you can imagine what forcefully taking blood from a pony resembles." Berry considered it for a moment and a look of worry came across her face.
"So... it's like." Berry tried to let the word escape from her throat."...rape?"
Sound Ray cringed at the word, and he put his head back down. "That would be correct."
Berry now needed to ask him another question. "Have you ever... done that to a pony?"
Tears began to fall openly from Sound Ray's eyes. He looked at her, letting her know the answer, but he knew he was going to have to explain further.
"B-berry I've... done many things that I am especially not proud of." He let out a sob before continuing. "When I was a guard, one of my best friends was nearly killed and the assailant fled... I saw my chance to catch whoever it was."
Berry could only look on in shock and horror. It was as if much of her safe and secure world was crashing in around her.
~~~
It was a cold and rainy night in Canterlot. Almost 11:30 at night and still the city was bustling with activity. No it wasn't the normal activity that a city might get, but that activity of a great chase of guards after an unknown assailant.
Her name was Silver Tongue, and she had just made an attempt at murdering somepony who had witnessed her murder somepony two months ago. Coincidentally, the pony she killed was also a witness to a theft she was committing. Not only had she failed, but she had alerted the guards that were stationed nearby. They had chased her relentlessly for the better half of an hour before losing track of her in the rail yard just outside of the city. Ducking behind a nearby boxcar, she halted to make sure that the guards had stopped chasing her.
Seeing no pony in sight she slowed her pace to a slow walk through two trains that were stopped for the night. Unknowingly, she happened upon a dead end. Both the trains were acting as walls on either side of her and an ending boxcar to a third was trapping her within the makeshift alleyway. Usually she would just teleport herself away, but she had no more stamina to attempt a long-distance teleport.
Silver Tongue put a hoof on the ending boxcar and gave herself a minute to breath before she would head back in the direction of home. She pulled her head back up and turned around. That was when a shadowy figure flew down quickly from atop the boxcar and tackled her. Silver tried to push the figure off, but not before it slipped something on her horn. Immediately after, the figure got off her and cornered her in the alley.
"It's been a long time Silver Tongue, I assume you've been doing well?" The figure's baritone voice asked her in a dry and sarcastic tone.
"I remember you, you're one of those guards that has been chasing me." Silver Tongue inquired and moved back from the figure.
"Why yes, yes I am." The figure walked out to show that he was one of the white Pegasi guards, wearing a darker shade of golden armor. "Not only was I nearby, but I was the guard that caught you in the act."
Silver Tongue felt a chill run up her spine. She quickly tried to pick up something in her magic to throw at him; only to feel a sharp pain jolt through her head. Her head then fell lower in reflex to the pain. She then knew that He had slipped a magic prevention ring on her horn when he tackled her.
"I wouldn't keep doing that if I were you. The pain only gets worse the more you try." The guard chuckled slightly and moved in closer to her.
Silver Tongue moved back further to get away from the guard. "Fine, you caught me." She held out her hooves for him to cuff her. "I guess you get to take me in after all."
Silver Tongue smiled slightly. No, she wasn't going to let him take her in, she was going to trick him into thinking she would. Then she would use he new close proximity to attack and escape to where she could take the ring off.
"Oh no, I'm not here to just take you in." A full smile appeared on the guards face. "I'm here to make sure you can never hurt another pony again."
He blinked and when his eyes opened again, they were different. Silver Tongue quickly scampered back to get away from those eyes, only to run into the ending boxcar. The guard now looked at her fully. He put a hoof on the insignia at the front of his armor and flipped it to reveal a teal eye with a slitted pupil, just like his eyes.
Almost instantaneously his armor changed from a dark shade of gold to a complete black with gold inlay. Then his armor shifted shape into a more sinister and intimidating look. His body changed from an authoritarian white to a very deep blue, his normal Pegasus wings turned into those of a bat and his ears grew longer with tufts of fur hanging from the top of them. By then Silver Tongue had also seen his fangs appear from under his upper lip, and she was terrified.
"Normally no pony would see me like this, but I feel you deserve to at least know this." The figure's smile was more maniacal and resembled that of a mad pony.
"Please don't hurt me." Silver Tongue begged him, still hoping that he would see reason and not do her harm. "I have money, I can pay you to just take me in and not hurt me."
The nightmare-ish guard's maniacal smile now turned into a look of great anger. "And you think that you can talk your way out of this situation! No! You are far beyond the reach of money and words!!"
Silver Tongue now slumped down and put up her front hooves to keep the guard away from her. She didn't know what he was going to do, which made it that much more frightening. He moved in closer to her and she let herself attack him. This was however, to no avail and he caught both of her front hooves and pinned them to the boxcar with his own. She was now beyond any level of scared she had ever felt before.
"When this happens, I want you to remember all of those ponies you hurt." The guard brought his mouth to the side of her face where he whispered into her ear. "And remember that if you ever try and hurt another pony... then Sound Ray will be back to handle you again."
Silver Tongue now felt a very sharp pain in the side of her neck. It didn't stop there though, it coursed through her body and wouldn't let up. As the process continued she felt the pain become much, much, worse. It caused her body to seize up and her movements to all turn into one single jerking motion that ran through her whole body. It was more pain than she had ever felt before and wasn't letting up.
Then the pain began to lessen and everything around her became the same numb image that closed in around her. Once the pain started to subside she felt something almost sexual involved in the process. That feeling quickly fell to the new hallucinations of the monster that had attached itself to her neck. The visions were altogether some of the scariest things she had ever seen.
The visions of the guard came to visions of all the ponies that she had done harm to. Nothing had been more frightening to her than the realization of just what she had done to others. She begged and pleaded it to end and as soon as it started, it all stopped. Silver Tongue was now back in the rail yard, unable to move from her comatose-like state. Everything felt cold and detached. When she felt herself falling unconscious; she welcomed it and fell to her dreams.
Now standing above the now unconscious Silver Tongue was the vilified Sound Ray. On one hoof, he had just confronted and punished a murderer and a thief. On the other hoof though, he had done something unforgivably awful. Thestrals were expected to pursue prey and get blood, but only in the worst of circumstances. A tear rolled down his face, followed by another, then another and then the floodgates opened and tears poured freely.
Sound Ray picked up Silver Tongue and flew off. Even if he had dealt her punishment, he still had a job to do and would have to turn her in to the rest of the guard. For a minute he pondered whether he should change back into his disguise, but decided to leave himself as he was naturally. Ponies had a right to know what he had done and he would let them know.
He looked back down at the pony he was carrying. She'll never be the same pony, he thought to himself. Even if recovery for what he had done was quick, she would be changed psychologically. Maybe it would help reform her, but when she got out of prison in twenty or so years, she would still probably live in fear of him. It was the opposite of what he wanted.
"Maybe if people really want to see a monster, then I'll give them a monster." Sound Ray gritted his teeth after saying that. He hated the idea of being a monster, but if it was necessary for him to be a monster then he would be a monster.
~~~
Sound Ray was now lying on Berry Punch's floor and crying his eyes out. He had told her the entire story of the night he confronted Silver Tongue and forcefully drunk her blood. It was a story he had recounted only to a few other ponies and every time ended up wanting them to just kill him on the spot. He now expected Berry to kick him out of her house or to have him chased out of town by an angry riot.
Berry Punch on the other hand sat just above him. She had very mixed feelings about what Sound Ray had just told her. It was scary to think that he could do such a thing to her, but at the same time, the only pony he had forcefully taken blood from had murdered one pony and attempted to kill another. She laid down next to Sound Ray and put a hoof over his shoulder, much to the surprise of Sound Ray.
"Berry... w-what I d-did that night... " Sound Ray put a hoof up to his mouth to keep him from making himself throw up. "W-was unforgivable."
"Don't get me wrong Ray, I also think that what you did that night was bad." Berry tightened her grip on Sound Ray. "But you know it was wrong and you understand that you shouldn't have done that."
Sound Ray didn't know how to respond to what Berry said. Berry was being understanding and open to view his side of things.
"I try and live by and expression Berry. It was once said by a wise pony that all ponies are created good, but are corrupted and made bad by society." Sound Ray looked to Berry. "That night I didn't live by that expression in the least bit."
While it was true that what he had done was bad, Berry also saw something else. If Sound Ray had been understanding towards her and her problems then she was going to be just as, if not more understanding and helpful to him.
"You know I could have just grabbed a knife one day and killed my sister?" Sound Ray shot a very confused look at Berry. "Or I could have tied you to the bed one night and had my way with you in the morning."
Now it was Sound Ray's turn to pull more out of Berry's grasp. "What does that have to do with anything."
"It means that all ponies are capable of doing horrible things to other ponies, but we don't." Berry for the first time all day had at least a trace of a smile on her face. "I think that just because you gave in to that natural ability to do harm to a pony that had already done something bad doesn't make you a monster."
Sound Ray was relieved that Berry had thought that, but that didn't mean that he thought it was okay. "Berry, It may have been a natural instinct, but I still did somthing awful to a pony and that in and of itself is terrible."
Berry was not about to let her Sound Ray ruin himself. "Ray, what you did may be frowned upon, but you genuinely changed a pony's life. And I think that when she gets out of prison, she'll thank you for showing her what she had done wrong."
"Berry-"
She interrupted him. "I understand now why you hesitated to tell me about your secret, but you don't have to worry. I still love you and to me you'll never be a monster from your past, but a loving pony from the present."
Sound Ray was beside himself. He had never bothered to see what he had done from any other point of view than to make himself out to be a monster. All his worries of telling Berry secrets had faded. He still thought what he had done was bad, but he saw why Berry had and now that he thought of it every other pony who he had told the story to as something that was forgivable.
"Now that we've got that out of the way, I want to hear about how showing up at the guard station as your normal self went over?" Berry asked Sound Ray and then thought of another question. "I also want to know what other ponies thought of what you did that night?"
Sound Ray hadn't really thought too much about it, but now that he had he saw that most ponies had come to Berry's conclusion. "When I got there most of the guards didn't recognize me, but once they did, they quickly came to terms with my looks. And I think that all the ponies, even my mother who had known about the significance of what I did came to your conclusion about what I did."
"I guess I can see where you all come from, but I still feel very, very wrong about what I did that night." Sound Ray felt then he had alot of the burden taken from him, but it all depended to what Berry thought of him in the end.
"Ray I want you to know that no matter what I will always take a second look at things because of you." Berry now kissed Sound Ray deeply.
All was beginning to feel right again to Sound Ray but he still had to know one thing. After breaking off the kiss he decided to ask her. "Berry, can you promise to keep that whole story between us? I don't mind you telling them about the fact that I drink blood, but please keep the forceful part of it out of there."
Berry felt already that she needed to keep it a secret, so it wasn't hard for her to make up her mind. "Okay Ray, I promise."
For a while after their conversation they just held each other. Sound Ray and Berry Punch had been through every challenge thrown their way and they had made it through them all so far. They both had found that they both had an uncanny ability to understand each other and felt that they were both meant for each other because of that. Sound Ray had been through so much in life before he met Berry, but now, he felt everything was going to get better for once.
