It was late in the evening when Vinyl roamed the outskirts of Ponyville. It had been hours since she had seen her Octavia making out with that cursed Noteworthy. For that very reason had she become angry. It felt like the worst kind of betrayal to her. It felt to Vinyl that she was betrayed by the one other mare that she had ever dared to love in her life.
Roaming the outskirts of town, it had been close to impossible for the unicorn to not open up all the channels of her magic and go on a rampage. It was maybe a good thing that her shades hid her eyes, since she had been crying for hours on end. The pain that soared through her heart, the fires of hatred that were burning for Octavia alone, were both dreadful. Just that one shared kiss had changed the entire mare’s perspective on life. The stains of her tears were clearly visible, though nopony dared to even talk to the near rampaging Vinyl.
Each step that she made was powerful, almost shattering the ground underneath her hoof. So filled with emotions had she never been, not negative at least. Animalistic growls came from her every so often. Her eyes glanced to the skies above and the moon that crept in all silence through the skies. Her mouth began to twitch, wanting to curse the entire thing to Tartarus and even further.
But not a single word left her mouth. Hate and regret were filling her body while she turned her attention to the woods of Everfree. How easily she could have just galloped in them and never be seen again by anypony. Of course was living her life as a wild beast not something she had planned to do. Instead Vinyl had made a promise with herself: she would figure out the truth behind the matter.
A powerful stomp was given on the ground when she had reached the end of Ponyville. All of her feelings had to be vented. The very meadow that stretched out in front her was maybe the best place to do that. Her horn coated itself in the blue aura and was pointed straight up. Mere seconds later was the beam shot in the air.
The massive discharge of energy that went through her and the outside world was mesmerizing. Even though Vinyl did it to feel better about herself, it still seemed like heavy, electronic notes of music went even through the arcane power. The song of sadness was released to the world in the only way that she knew how. Sadness and devastation played heavy on her mind, which in turn made her magic do the same. The sheer intense power would have left ponies guessing who had released the charge.
But it wasn’t over for Vinyl yet, far from it. She still had to confront Octavia about the entire matter. The only way to do that, was to head home and see what she had to say for herself.
~~~~
The door fell back in its lock and Vinyl took off her shades. The stains of her tears were wiped away the best that she could. Only than she scanned the home for Octavia. Who she found rather easily, just sitting by the fireplace with a cup of steaming tea. The time was there. The aura appeared again around her horn and the cup was taken out of the earth pony’s hooves.
Octavia glanced to Vinyl with a questioning gaze, only to see her cup being flung to the wall. The gray mare huffed annoyed and stood up from her sofa. “Vinyl, have you just lost your mind here?! That was a perfectly good cup of tea, that you just went and smashed against the wall. Explain yourself this instant!”
Without a word and just making gestures to Octavia, Vinyl made her point clear. The gray mare was the one who had some explaining to do first.
Again was there was huff that went through her nostrils. “And just why should I explain myself to you? What’s such earth-shattering news for you that you deem that a worthy opposition?”
The purple eyes of the gray mare had a great and stern stare in them when Vinyl began to explain what she had seen that afternoon. It was again without any sounds from her mouth, indeed confirming that she was a mute, or really wasn’t a mare of the word. Though the further she went on with her tale, even calling in her magic to show an arcane version of Noteworthy kissing her.
Horrified wasn’t even going to cover the feeling that went through Octavia when her friend was done with it. She stared at the DJ with an open mouth and a glance in her eyes spoke more than a thousand words. She wanted to hug Vinyl, saying that it wasn’t her and comfort the mare of her life. Just when the gray mare came closer, Vinyl pushed her away with her magic.
“W-What? V-Vinyl? I-It wasn’t me who did that! I was at home all day, practicing for the event in a week’s time! I didn’t have time to leave the house. Somepony else must, you must have been blinded by the sun, thought it was me!” Octavia tried it with all her might to come up with some form of an excuse about the matter. No matter what she said seemed to calm the DJ down though. Heartbreaking it was for them both.
One lived in a lie, while the other refused to hear the truth. But if that was how their future had decided to play out, so it be. Octavia let out a deep sigh and gave a nod to herself. “Okay, if that’s how you decide to play it, you ignorant foal, than it is going to be better if we stay out of each other’s way for a while. Write me a letter when you’re ready to listen to my side of the story for a change and don’t jump too quickly to conclusions.”
Vinyl nodded firm and was about to do the same. The two mares would leave their house eventually, nearing the dead of night to visit relatives that lived elsewhere in the land. A plan that could have gone both ways, for the pair of them.
It was perhaps an hour later that the pair of them stood by the front door, glancing each other deep in the eyes with a never before seen hatred. Vinyl and Octavia were about to call it quits together. Yet the both of them still had this little shimmer, this tiny ember of hope left within them that maybe one day, their differences could be set aside. A hopeful thought, for a terrible timing.
~~~~
The scent of the red flow had awoken Chara in the dead of night. The sudden increase of the stuff had caused her to leave the bed. With a haste unseen had she galloped out of the pension and followed the trail. Her nose sniffed and inhaled, like a warm apple pie that stood atop the sill somewhere. The sweet scent of deliciousness made her hungry for more, and she was ready.
With a galloped in her hooves had Chara reached the outskirts of town, following the scent. Only to see the two musicians leave in opposing directions. It meant that the disguised changeling had missed the actual event, but maybe she wasn’t too late for the aftermath. She had been with Vinyl before, meaning that it was now Octavia’s time to be taken by her.
The lustful taste of the red flow went through her entire body, letting it fire on all cylinders with unseen force. It felt again just as marvelous as before. If ponies would pay for a quality dinner at a five-star-restaurant, this was her equivalent. Chara licked her tongue at the taste she filtered out of the air. The feelings that tingled her body, wanting to change back to her true and primal form.
Not yet though, not yet. First had the final nail in their coffin to be given. A smirk appeared when she noticed how Octavia came in her direction. With the saddlebags strapped around her was she ready to just leave. It rose questions to which she knew the answer already. So like a good spy, Chara took a few steps back and then assumed a walking position.
She turned straight into the street Octavia was in and the two almost crashed into one another. They passed the other without a word or a sound, Chara shifted her gaze to the mare and just spoke the name.
Octavia didn’t react.
Chara blinked, making her reaction even more believable and then turned around. Her hooves were kicked into gear and she then wanted to reach Octavia. With a quick spring had she reached the visually depressed mare. The other pony had a gander to her side. “Oh, hey Rusty,” she said in a defeated tone.
It immediately changed the entire attitude that Chara had against the mare. This was serious, this was for real, this was perfect. Her face was turned to one of concern and curiosity. “Octavia, what’s wrong with you? You don’t seem like your normal self on this fine night.”
The gray mare huffed and rolled her eyes. She wasn’t in the mood to answer the question, but Chara at least required some form of explanation. “Look, Rusty, it’s complicated and let’s leave it at that. Vinyl and I both need some time alone and we’ll see where it goes from there. But please Rusty, leave me alone with my thoughts for the moment, that’s all I require, just to be alone.”
Chara understood what she wanted and didn’t even feel the need to ask through. A warm smile came to her face with a nod. “If you ever need a place to vent yourself, you know where to find me.”
That managed to crack a smile across the lips on the gray mare. She nodded back and then shook her head. “The offer is much appreciated, but I do think that speaking this situation to family is a bit better than to, excuse my terminology here, near complete strangers.”
“Of course, of course!” Chara returned. She would rise up and spread her legs to hold the cello mare in a firm hug. Who accepted it without any form of hesitation. Just the fact that Octavia could hold somepony that could have lighten the load for her was marvelous to feel.
She let out a deep sigh and shut her eyes for the moment.
“If you ever need help, you know where to find me,” the disguised changeling added. But while they were hugging one another just that firm, Chara did the near impossible. While they held their hug tight, she had begun to filter the air around Octavia for the red flow that sustained her. Even though the gray mare never wanted to admit the facts as they were, she was angry at Vinyl for not believing her. The disparity of feeling betrayed was nothing in comparison to what Vinyl felt of course, but the situation of this mare was just so tasty!
Not soon after that was their hug broken. Chara had to place some effort in the fact to not show any sign of high that she was experiencing. The two of them said their farewells and hoped to see the other again in a better situation. The mood was joyful yet sad, just as Chara had predicted it would have been. Just the way, she preferred it.
~~~~
That very same Chara wandered through the outskirts of town, still riding the high that she received from the red flow that hung around Octavia. The classy mare held so much anger in her, it was near impossible to tell that she was in fact that sweet and loving mare Chara come to know her as.
A massive smirk had come to her face of course, she had driven the two apart from one another, the exact thing that she wanted to do more than anything else. A chuckle would fill the dark streets while she left the town. Chara had to find a place where she could ride out this high, a place where she could stay for the moment and think about the next, crucial step in her insane plan.
Wandering just outside of town, near the border of the feared Everfree Forest, Chara walked down one of the many creeks when she saw it just across. The entrance of a cavern just laid there, hidden a bit by the bush and safe from the water. Her eyebrows rose as she hadn’t expected to find such a thing there. It was worth a shot for checking out though, which she did with pleasure.
The creek wasn’t too deep and the changeling crossed it without hesitation. It was strange though, to feel the water running past her legs like it did. She didn’t gave it too much attention furthermore and instead went straight into the cavern.
It felt cozy, warm and empty. Why? Tartarus if she knew. Chara knew that she could make it her base of operations as there was a curve that led deeper and off to the right, nopony could have found her in that place. Everything was slowly falling in the right places for her, everything was working out the way she intended it to be.
The red flames had begun to consume the mare that was Rusty Bucket. It took a few precious seconds before the horrifying, panting, saliva dripping, female changeling stood there again. The fangs were clearly visible and the horn still brightly lit as a candle. The cavern was vast, probably used by changelings in the past to travel in and out of Ponyville. Chara could have stumbled on an abandoned hive for all she knew. Not that it mattered much, she was closer to achieving her goal.
It would have been in that very cavern that she came up with the idea to use one of the elements in her advantage. One element whom had to accept her as a friend and from there, time would be the judge. The answer all laid in one pink pony.
~~~~
With the sun to the back, a strange pony wandered into town wearing no particular clothing whatsoever. Every step made was powerful, strong and confident. The glance in the eyes was kind, peaceful and above all, curious. What had wandered into town was an orange pegasus. A broken white colored mane shone, a stallion to boot. It was strange to see a being like that wandering into town. He didn’t seem to truly belong there, far too handsome.
Ponies all across Ponyville began to talk about it of course and it wasn’t too long before all hell would break loose. The arrival of the new pony had come to the ears of one particular pony who rushed away from whatever she was doing. Galloping and hopping through the streets, the mare looked for this new and strange pony. It wouldn’t have been too much later that the pony was found on the town’s square.
The market was going on full force and the stallion was just looking around for something to buy. The pink mare giggled a bit and she eventually stood before the stallion, who blinked for a moment, hoping that the mare would have left just as quick as she had arrived. “Uhm, can I help you?” the stallion asked to the pony.
The pink mare giggled again. She then began to shake the stallion’s hooves.
“O-Okay, what’s all this form?” he asked her in all confusion.
“You’re new to town, don’t know how long you plan to stay, but we should throw you a party! Tell me, do you plan to stay long? By the way, my name’s Pinkie Pie, hai!”
The stallion had to swallow the words that were stuck in his mind, this mare was weird yet the name rung so many bells. It couldn’t have been this easy, right? The stallion took a step back and nodded once. “Right, okay, how about we slow down here for a moment and start on good grounds with each other,” the stallion said.
Pinkie Pie nodded, waggling her tail like a curious dog, for some reason.
“Pinkie Pie, was it, right? I, do admit that it’s something to already throw a party for me, but I do plan to move to Ponyville. It’s so rustic and scenic,” he said in a soothing, charming voice. Not much later had the stallion let out a gentle laughter. “I do apologize, where are my manners?”
“Not in this tree!” Pinkie replied, looking through the branches of a nearby tree.
“What?!” The stallion didn’t even knew how she did it. His attention shifted to another pony that stood next to him.
“Don’t question her,” another stallion with a brown coat and a bowtie replied. He checked his pocket-watch and his eyes went big in surprise. “I’m terribly sorry, good sir, but I’m running late! Geronimo!”
“...This town gets crazier by the minute...” the stallion mumbled to himself. He shook his head and had a gander at the departing stallion. Pinkie Pie had come back in the meantime, wanting to hear what the stallion had to say before her little thing.
“You were saying?”
The throat of the stallion was cleared for a moment and he gave a nod. How could he have ever rescued himself from this situation? A deep inhale was taken and the eyes were shut for a moment. “Right, before that little interruption, what I wanted to say, was that my name is Chara, I’m pleased to meet you, Pinkie Pie.”
That alone was about the biggest lie that the disguised changeling must have ever told. The tolerance level around Pinkie Pie always had been a bit low for some. But for a changeling that lived on the negative emotions, living around Pinkie Pie was the worst that could happen.
Pinkie shook the hoof of Chara again and again, more rapidly than the time before. “Pleased to meet you, Chara! Weird name, but you look like a colorful character! The party will be thrown within an hour for you! You plan to stay in Ponyville? Leave it to Pinkie Pie to give the definitive answer to it. After this party, you never want to leave!”
In what kind of horror tale had Chara ended up this time? This mare, this hyperactive hunk of untamed energy, was just terrifying to be around with! And yet, she was one of the bearers of the Elements. Whatever Chara did, she had to keep Pinkie Pie as a friend of hers. She would be the only clue to the others. Tough times were ahead of the changeling indeed.