//------------------------------//
// Convergence 
// Story: Filling the Gap 
// by Ponysopher 
//------------------------------//

	Octavia awoke from a dreamless slumber. She gazed out the window and saw that it was still very dark outside. She looked to her left and checked her clock. It was three only in the morning. On any normal occasion, she would have asked herself why she had awoken so early. For that matter, she would have also asked herself why she was wide awake. She had been working all through the day before and she had calmed herself well enough through the music that her head had composed. Everything pointed to the one conclusion that she should now be sleeping peacefully like a foal.

However, she did not wonder about why she was so alert at this hour. She did not know why, but for some reason, she could not shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong. It was so weird, because there was nothing that she could think of that specifically worried her. She had finished her performance yesterday satisfactorily, so she did not have to be concerned with that. She had no other duties to perform so she was sure that she had not forgotten something that she had to do. She was on break after all! Why should she be worrying about some indefinite problem in the middle of the night?

But no matter how much she told herself that everything was perfect and there was nothing to be anxious about, she could not help but abhor an ominous feeling. She knew it was something out of her control. Maybe it was even something of which she had no foreknowledge. A stream of fragmented words went through her head when she tried to label the feeling: Danger, insecurity, flight, ensnared. She could not make sense of the words, because they would not order themselves. Though she tried to impose some sort of harmony on her thoughts, the only result was that she deepened her worry for this unknown problem. Wolves upon their prey, witch with black magic, chains entangling… evil ponies approaching. All throughout the night, Octavia lay awake, dealing with her chaotic and daunting thoughts.


♫        ♫        ♫


Vinyl sat alone in the train bound for Manehatten. With little to do, she checked her phone for the time and saw that it was three A.M. Though she had not slept in over thirty-six hours, the white unicorn was still wide awake. She was very tired, but far too nervous to fall asleep. There was no way that her nerves or her will would allow herself to nod off until she was safely behind a locked door in a non-conspicuous hotel room.

This would not be the first time that she had to run from a creditor, but it was probably the most dangerous. Given what McCullen had done in the past, she could not let her guard down for a second. He would probably pursue her all the way to Neighpon if she fled there. As for completely escaping from him and his goons, she had no clue how she would do it. Her plan now was just to stay off the radar long enough to make a better plan.

It was a scary prospect that she may have to run from him until one of them died or she was captured, as well as a tiring one. Vinyl had been city hopping for too long and settling down in one place sounded pretty great at the moment. She sighed and laid back her head. She was about to let herself fall asleep to have some relief, but caught herself quickly and jumped back up. This is crazy, she thought. I should get some sleep while I can. I don’t have anything to worry about until I get off the train. Still though, her instincts told her that she needed to remain alert. 

These worries were not foolish. Outside, a large wagon pulled by two strong and fast earth ponies moved up behind the train. Sitting inside were three equally muscular stallions, two earth ponies and a unicorn, dressed in black combat gear. The unicorn, who was seated in the middle, closed his eyes and his horn began to glow white. After a moment of silence except for the rumbling of the train and the beats of the hooves in front of them, the earth pony on the left asked the unicorn, “Do you have a fix on her, Witch?”

“Give me a moment,” said Witch; his Trottinghamian accent heavily contrasting with his inferior’s Tramplevanian. “I’m still scanning.” The two earth ponies sat patiently for a few more moments in wait as Witch’s horn continued to glow. Then, suddenly the light faded and the unicorn opened his eyes. “Alright lads, the target is in the third car from the rear.” Then shouting to the stallions pulling the wagon, he said, “Pull us alongside the second car.” They quickened their pace and brought them just behind Vinyl’s position. The three stood up and readied themselves. 

Witch spoke once more to them. “Well, for all the fuss that McCullen gave, it looks like we’ve got ourselves the easiest target in a while. Said she’d be alert, possibly guarded, but she’s in on the right side, alone, maybe about to nod off.” He looked to his inferior on the left. “Razorblade, you're going to get the door.” And to his right-hoof pony, “Windigo, restrain ’er as soon as it opens. I’ll lock the back escape route. Any questions?” They gave a simultaneous negative and the unicorn looked forward. “Lovely, let’s get it done then. Storm, Blizzard, bring us up to the third and hold steady.”


♦       ♦       ♦


At one point, Octavia tried to soothe herself with music. She rose off of the couch and brought out her cello, intending to play something calming. Unfortunately for her, like the previous night, her thoughts wove together what was on her mind and created a rather disquieting piece. Unlike last night, which had music that flowed and calmed, this music was jerky and even frightening. Without thinking, she started to play as her thoughts became ordered. 

The world that the music created was nowhere near as vivid as the last. It was full of shadows and cloaked figures. Though it was not real, she became very afraid as she watched dark events unfold before her. She was deep within a wooded area and everything was under shadow. She saw hooded ponies chasing after and falling upon a mare. They caught her after only a short chase. Then they dragged her, as she screamed inaudibly, towards a black abyss. 

Her hooves moved of their own accord as they forced the instrument which once gave her peace to produce maddening horrors. She was no longer their mistress. Her mind had made a story and she just happened to have the tools to write it down. So her mind, a strange creation in itself, took control away from her. As ponies in her life had been doing all along, it forced her into a world of terrors. 

The dark scenery of vision-like trance created by her music was daunting, but that was not what made her afraid. It was like the pony being dragged to the abyss was possibly representative of herself. Moreover, although the mare was screaming, she was not struggling to escape. It was as if she had accepted her fate to fall into the abyss and was only lamenting without trying to wriggle out of her captors’ grip. 

It was strange that she seemed to have no control over the vision. As a foal, her mother had told her that she could do whatever she wanted in her dreams, so she had nothing to fear from nightmares. Yet this vision created by her own music held the unnerving similarity with her dreams in that she was not so much the director, but only a spectator. As she saw the pitiable mare being dragged towards the pit, she wished that somepony would come to her aid and she tried to imagine that there would be a savior. Alas, nopony came, because her hooves did not change the music. The bestial captors had reached the edge of the cliff.


♦       ♦       ♦


Razorblade, grasped the latch of the outside door made for hooves and threw it open, exposing the car to the loud howl of the wind outside.  Wasting no time, Witch sealed the inside door, cutting off any chance of Vinyl’s escape. The mare looked over and had no time to react. Windigo, a burly earth pony, leapt into the train and fell upon her, forcing her onto her back. She tried to lean back and kick him with her hind legs, but he quickly caught hold of them, and bunched all of her hooves together. With a rope he bound them together and rendered her immobile.

Realizing that the worst case scenario had occurred, Vinyl screamed for help, even though she was hard to hear over the wind. Windigo moved aside and Witch, who had jumped in, placed his hoof on her chest and looked at her. Vinyl looked away and frantically tried to focus on his right shoulder (which had a tattoo of the letters “REA”) but the stallion forced her gaze to meet his eyes, which were colored like dried blood. His eyes dilated and his horn glowed once more. Instantly, the two unicorns engaged in a magical battle, the two wills fighting for a chance to cast a spell. Vinyl quickly lost consciousness.

Witch shouted, “Windigo, get ’er out of ’ere.” The stallion lifted the knocked out unicorn and tossed her out of the train into the wagon. As soon as she hit the adjacent car, the leader said, “Clear out.” The two jumped back into the wagon and Razorblade shut the door behind them. Once more to the drivers, Witch said, “Pull us away from the train.”

The ponies did so, and when the rumble of the train was not so loud, he levitated a cell phone out of one of his pouches in his vest. He dialed and waited. A moment later he said, “Punisher, this is Witch. The target is secure.” A second passed. “Copy, I’ll be there soon. Out.” Witch looked to the ponies with him and smiled. “Good work, Gents. Phase one went perfectly. I’m going to teleport back to the hotel and help Punisher with preparations.”

Razorblade asked, “Can’t you just teleport us there with you so we don’t have to make the drive?”

The unicorn responded, “The target’s under a sleeping spell now and she’ll be like that for only an indefinite period of time. It should keep ’er quiet until you get back to the room, but if I use any additional magic, it could affect the timing. We don’t want ’er to wake up until Punisher restrains ’er. She may be tied up, but the daftest assumption you can make is that a unicorn like this one won’t know how to untie herself.”

“Couldn’t you do that?” 

Witch smirked. “I can’t do everything. That’s some advanced stuff which isn’t my niche.”

The earth pony sighed. “Fair enough.”

“Right then. Switch on your comms in two minutes. Keep a good eye on the target and alert me if she wakes up.” There was a flash of light and the unicorn was gone.


♫        ♫        ♫


Vinyl heard the faint sound of a male voice with a Tramplevanian accent. “So Windigo, you ever meet this ‘Punisher’ guy?”

It was a cold, strong voice with a Stalliongradian accent that answered. “Da, some crazy ex-REG stallion.”

The mare opened her eyes and saw that she was slung over the back of somepony inside an ascending elevator. Confused, she tried to remember what had happened. She remembered that she had been riding on the train to Manehatten … and then those thugs along with that unicorn had captured her. Good Luna, She thought. This is not good.

The pony who she was on top of continued. “REG? I didn’t know that it was possible to get out of the royal guard once you got in.” 

It was good that she had not panicked upon awakening. Her stirring had not alerted them and she now had the drop. Okay, I’m not totally screwed. All I have to do is find a way out of this. She examined her options. She was tied up and in an elevator. When it stopped, she could try to break free, but as before, she wasn’t sure she could get away so easily. She was now certain these weren’t your average thugs. Not being sure of what her captors were capable of, she made the guess that she would have only time for one move. She could break her bonds or she could jerk herself off the pony’s back. After she made that choice, she would have to fight both of them to get away.

The elevator continued to rise and the pony’s continued their conversation about this “Punisher” character. She sighed. If it was just one of them, she may be able to get free. But with two, it didn’t seem possible. On top of that, she didn’t even have a clue where she was.

Razorblade asked, “Which room did Witch say we were going to again?”

“1503” 

Well that answers that. She thought. I’m in a hotel. Judging by how long this has been going up I have about twenty seconds until this opens and then the room should be right across the hall. Damn it! That’s no time at all.

Once again, her heart began to race. Despite that estimation, there was no telling how much longer it would be before the elevator opened and then she would have probably under ten seconds to react. One thing was sure: she absolutely could not allow herself to enter that room. If she passed the threshold of that door, it was all over. A few more seconds passed by as she ran the scenario that was about to ensue dozens of times over through her head, but she just couldn’t seem to make it favorable for her. It all cases, she wasn’t going to make it.

The elevator slowed down with almost no warning and came to a halt. To Vinyl’s horror, she heard the sound of the doors opening. This was it. She had to do something now. She’d escape now or go down trying. Windigo stepped out first and Razorblade followed behind him. As soon as his hooves touched the carpeted hallway, Vinyl once more channeled energy into her horn. Once an ample amount was available for use, she funneled it outwards, carefully releasing it with precision so that it was thin and sharp like a blade. Then she brought the energy over the ropes binding her hooves and the magic sliced through her bonds like a knife through butter.

Now free to move, she took the plunge, and with a loud yell, thrust herself off of Razorblade’s back. Finally having realized their captive was awake, the two earth ponies shouted that she was escaping and lunged for her. Vinyl, now on the ground, tried to turn and bolt for the stairwell on the left end of the hallway, but she only had enough time for the former action. Razorblade fell upon the unicorn and grabbed for her hooves while his comrade made his way around to secure the capture once more. Despite the enormous strength and weight of then stallion on top of her, Vinyl made to fight and squirm out from under him. Screaming again, she found her rear legs’ strength and with the fear of would could become of her fueling her body, she lifted herself up along with the heavy stallion and threw him off. Then she once more made her way for the door. Unfortunately, by this time, Windigo had made his way into the action and rammed into her right side, pinning her on the left wall and eliciting a cry of pain.

Now somewhere in the night, Octavia had found her way into dreamless slumber once more; however, the tumult coming from outside her room woke her and caused her into investigate. She made her way over to her door and threw it open to peer out. The scene was certainly unexpected for the sheltered musician despite the commotion she had heard. For a split second, she was unsure of what she was seeing, but then it became obvious. Two big thugs were trying to capture a white, female unicorn in the hotel. She had just seen the mare lift one off of her, which was amazing, followed by her being pinned to the wall.

She didn’t know what to do, but she had to do something. So she let her instincts take over and she took the first course of action that came to mind. She sprinted across the hall and turned with her rear facing Windigo. With all her might, she bucked the earth pony, knocking him away from the white mare. Vinyl, having seen all of this, couldn’t believe her luck, but didn’t have time to celebrate. Looking to Octavia, she shouted, “Run!” She then bolted for the door to the stairs. A second later, Octavia finally realized that she should move and rushed after Vinyl.

Kicking open the door, Vinyl looked back to make sure the gray mare was following behind and hadn’t been caught or hurt. She saw her just a few feet away which relieved her, but just as she was turning, the door of room 1503 burst open and she caught the quickest glimpse of a unicorn walking out. As she bounded down the stairs, a chill went down her spine as her iconic memory activated. The unicorn stallion walking out was very tall - maybe six feet - and his horn was maybe two feet long. Such a length was nearly unheard of, and it meant he was extremely powerful. She would have dwelled on this terrible realization, but the mare behind her shouted with a Germane accent, “What was that? Who were those stallions?”

Vinyl, coming back to earth, looked back and answered, “No time. We have to keep moving. We need a plan by the time we get down the stairs.”

Octavia returned, “Can’t they just take the elevator? We are going to be exhausted by the time we get to the bottom level and they will be fresh and waiting for us.”

Vinyl had already been thinking about this. The gears in her mind started to turn once more and a few memories of similar situations started to recollect. For a moment, the only sounds in her ears were the pounding of hoof steps and their heavy breathing, but not too much later, she believed she had an idea. “Just keep going.” She called back. “I know how we’re gonna get outside at least.”

They were now bounding down the seventh level. In between breathing, the gray mare continued, “And after that?”

“I’m still working on that.”

Octavia started to wonder what was happening at this point. Everything had been happening very fast all at once, but as they were repetitively running down flight after flight of stairs, she had a moment to think. Without thought, she had assaulted a pony and helped a mare escape without even giving thought to the situation. The stallion was dressed in combat gear so she could in fact have been obstructing justice. She could be assisting an escaped convict for all she knew. Then again, the situation could be exactly the reverse. Normally, she would have been worried, but the heat of the situation actually thrilled her.  

When they arrived at the second floor, Vinyl interrupted her musing. “Turn in here.” She shouted, kicking open the door and running into the corridor. Octavia followed suite.

As the two shot through the second level, the earth pony still had no idea how they would get out of the building without going through the lobby where those malicious stallions would be waiting. “Ah, how are we going to exit again?” She shouted.

“You ever do anything like this before?”

That question was easily answered. “No.”

Vinyl then realized she was going to have to deal with this mare’s safety as well as her own. Oh well, She thought. She did save my flank. I guess I owe her. “Just follow me and don’t fall behind.” At the end of the hall was a window that she galloped towards. Without stopping, she jumped and dove at it shoulder first. Her momentum easily broke through and she fell ten feet to the ground, rolling to alleviate the impact’s shock. Thankfully, she had avoided any of the broken glass.

Octavia, on the other hoof, hesitated when she came to the window. The heat of the moment almost dictated that she immediately jump, but she held back. It wasn’t very far to the ground, but she wasn’t sure that she could do it without spraining anything. Vinyl looked behind her and shouted, “Jump! Just roll when you hit the ground.” Thus, trusting the more experienced one, she sailed out of the hotel and into the warm air of the Manehatten morning. She hit the ground and landed rather smoothly as her companion had instructed.

Good. Thought Vinyl. At least I don’t have a Prima Dona on my hooves. The two now in an alleyway, she said, “All right, let’s get to the street.” So, the two bolted for the main road. Reaching their destination, the unicorn looked around. Spotting a chariot-taxi on her left, twenty yards away, she once more urged on the mare with her. Thankfully, the stallions had not taken five seconds to remove her saddlebag. Jumping into the seat of the car with Octavia close behind, she took out a few bits and tossed them to the driver. “Take us to the edge of town and step on it.” The driver obeyed and the chariot sped off.

With the two having a moment to catch their breath, Octavia seized another chance to speak. “So your plan is just to outrun those ponies. What happens when we get to the city limits?”

Vinyl pulled out her cell phone. ‘I’m working on that now.” She dialed and waited. Not two rings later, there was an answer. “Midnight, you there?”

The pony on the other end sounded more than relieved. “Vinyl, is that you? Thank Celestia. I’ve been trying to call you since five but you wouldn’t pick up.”

“Yeah, McCullen hired some contractors and they caught me on the train at three: Two big earth ponies and a unicorn, probably ex-REA. It looks like I’m in Manehatten now.”

“Yeah, I figured as much. I’ve got some friends to triangulate your position by getting a fix on your phone. It looks like you’re heading down Third Street now. There’s one of my guys waiting for you on the edge of highway ninety-five. That’s just north of your position, about ten minutes on hoof.”

This sounded like great news to Vinyl. She could always count on Midnight because he was always one step ahead of her. “Right, I’m in a taxi en route to the city’s edge with an earth pony who helped me escape. Make the ETA three minutes”.

There was a pause. Midnight suddenly sounded worried. “Wait, did you say you’re in a taxi?”

“Yeah, is that a problem?”

“Bloody ’ell Vinyl. You have an ex-REA unicorn on your tail and you’re in a vehicle without magic wards?”

At this, Vinyl swallowed hard and looked behind her. Right on cue, her three pursuers rounded a corner behind them in a wagon pulled by two large earth ponies. Witch’s horn was glowing. “Oh Luna!” Vinyl shouted.

Octavia didn’t like the sound of that. “What’s wrong? We should be able to outrun them. Their carriage is bigger than ours.”

Vinyl shoved her phone into her bag, dropped down and grabbed onto a bar on the inside of the car. “Just hold on.” She shouted.

Octavia didn’t have time to argue and she obeyed. No sooner had she done so, the right wheel of the chariot dislodged, courtesy of Witch’s magic, and the car swung violently around. The two mares shot forward and tumbled over the concrete. For a few seconds, Vinyl had to recover from the shock, but she was able to rise sooner than later. She examined herself and saw that she had sustained only a few scrapes on her shoulder and knees. Other than that, nothing else was injured or broken. She looked over to Octavia who was now on four hooves, but shaking. “Are you alright?” She asked quickly. The gray mare looked at Vinyl and nodded. “Can you still run?” 

“Yes.” She answered after a second. She had regained herself quickly.

The white unicorn looked back and saw that they had only seconds before the stallions caught up with them. She looked right and saw a narrow alleyway which led by a series of houses. Seeing her salvation, she said, “Through here.” And she fled into the pass. Octavia entered just as their pursuers sped by. They were unable to follow them through the way as they were and were forced to disembark.

Once more, while running, Vinyl yanked out her phone –now her lifeline- and said, “Midnight, are you still there?”

“Still here. What happened?”

“The unicorn took out our taxi. It’s crazy, but we’re still up. I’m heading down an alleyway now.”

Midnight groaned. “Yeah, and I’m guessing ground evac isn’t gonna work with those guys.”

Vinyl turned a corner and looked up. She saw a skyscraper and had an idea. “Midnight, I’m probably trying my luck, but you wouldn’t happen to have an airborne chariot anywhere in the city would you?”

There was an agonizing five second silence on the other end. The mares had reached the end of the alleyway and now were on another main road. She took a right and continued on down towards another building at the street’s end. Finally, Midnight answered, “Give me a second. I may just have that.”

“You’ve got about ten before this idea goes down the tubes.” Vinyl looked behind her. Octavia was surprisingly close and was showing to be able to keep up. Unfortunately, the stallions were close behind. The unicorn’s horn was glowing again. Vinyl looked to her companion again and shouted, “Keep going as fast as you can and whatever you do, don’t look back. Watch out in front.”

She did well also to heed her own words. As soon as she looked forwards, one of the street vendors' stands on her left splintered and sprayed debris in her way. Had she been a few steps closer, she would have been caught up in all of it and probably brought down. She leapt over the mess and kept vigilant. She thrust her phone to her ear again. “How’s that evac coming, Midnight?”  She yelled. The twenty-story building they were coming up on was now only fifty yards away.

“Just a few more seconds, Vinyl. I may have just made a friend.” 

Just then, a small chariot, glowing white with energy flew towards her sideways from the other side of the street. She dodged it, but only by a hair’s breadth. Wow, that was too close. She thought. She was fairly certain that it had come nowhere near the mare behind her, but she couldn’t look back to make sure. “Midnight?” She shouted.

“All right. I’ve got you an ex-REA pegasus with a warded chariot en route to Manehatten. ETA five minutes. He can meet you at-”

Vinyl, dodging yet another magically thrown projectile interrupted, “Can you have him land on the top of the Barnyard Bargain’s headquarters?”

“Uh, yes, but I’d recommend you-”

“Elevator access there has been down for months now. If we head up, we’re sure to make it.”

Midnight conceded. “If you say so. Just be there when your chariot gets there.”

“You tell him the same.” She thrust the phone back into its place and chanced to look back. To her relief, her friend was still there. After looking forward once more to check for flying objects, she said to Octavia, “I got us a ride out of the city. We just need to head up the building in front of us. Can you make it?”

Octavia was winded, to say the least; however, at some point during the chase, her adrenal glands had kicked in and not only did she feel like she could do this forever, she was enjoying the thrill of being hunted. Despite her weariness (and feeling that she probably couldn’t sprint up twenty floors) she nodded.

They had reached the door of the building and after breaking the spell that Witch had cast on the door lock, Vinyl located and headed for the stairs. On the way up, she tried her best not to knock into the many ponies who were heading upstairs to begin their workday; however, it was not always so easy. On top of that, after racing up six levels, her legs began to burn, but she knew she had to keep going. She only hoped that the mare behind her could take the punishment as well as she could. Seven, eight, nine … ten … eleven

… twelve levels. She was slowing down, but she pushed harder.

Five more floors and she was huffing as the homestretch presented itself … There were just three more painful, arduous levels between her and safety. She could hear the hoofsteps of her enemies right behind her and the fear of capture drove her onwards, pushing her towards freedom. Finally, the door to the roof was before her. Having almost no energy left, she used a spell to open the door and prayed that the pegasus was there.

With the light of day, the morning leading into the afternoon, she saw her ride near the edge of the roof. The sight of her salvation coupled with the strong, white pegasus urgently beckoning her, further fueled her and spurred her on. She took ten more, painful steps and jumped with all her remaining strength into the car. Less than a second later, Octavia landed beside her. The car was cramped, obviously being meant for just one pony, but she was thankful for it nonetheless. She shouted to the driver, who had begun to flare his wings, “We’re in. Take off.”

Then she looked back and saw her pursuers getting onto the roof. The pegasus started on the left end of the roof and ran right, pulling the chariot behind him. Vinyl held her breath as they neared the edge with their adversaries closing in. Just as they reached the end of the roof, the powerful, blue-maned pegasus used his mighty wings to propel them into the air. Witch tried to use his magic to hinder the driver, but failed. Thus, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch soared into the sky and into the realm of safety.