“Wait!” said Octavia, holding a hoof up slowly. She glared at Vinyl for not taking the situation more seriously before continuing. “You can’t kill us,” she said, thinking quickly.
Two of the guards hesitated, but another merely cocked his crossbow. “Oh yeah?” he asked. “Why not?” The crossbow was aimed directly at Octavia, ready to fire at an instant’s notice.
“Because…”
===============================
“…killing is wrong,” said Octavia, rather lamely. She looked at Vinyl for follow-up, but the unicorn was silent. She did, however, raise her eyebrows questioningly at Octavia. At least my last words were memorable, her look seemed to say.
To Octavia’s surprise, however, the guard lowered his crossbow. “Judo Strike?” he asked the captain hesitantly. “Is she right? Is killing wrong?”
“I don’t know, to be honest,” the captain said. “Let’s look it up!” From somewhere in his uniform he obtained a small book. “Let’s see,” he said, flipping through the pages for a few moments. “Killing: wrong,” he read out. “Huh. How about that!”
“Are you sure?” another guard asked. “I could have sworn that it was right. That’s what the boss said.”
“He did, but according to the book it’s wrong,” said the captain. “And you know the squad’s motto: When in doubt, go by The Big Book of Black and White Morality. I think we need to go back to quarters and have a serious think about what we’ve been doing with our lives.” With a tip of his cap to Vinyl and Octavia and an apology, he and the rest of the guards left the room.
“Well,” said Octavia, somewhat stunned, “that went rather well.”
“Damn straight!” agreed Vinyl. “Now get over here and start kissing me!”
“With pleasure!” said Octavia. Then she frowned. “No, wait, this would never work.”
===============================
“…Vinyl is pregnant!” Octavia declared.
“With Octavia’s baby!” said Vinyl, nodding enthusiastically.
“You wouldn’t kill a pregnant mare, would you?” Octavia asked. “Or leave her a widow trying to raise a child on her own?”
There was a moment of contemplation, and then several crossbow bolts shot through the air, directly into the two mares. They, and Vinyl’s unborn child, died instantly.
“Who are Vinyl and Octavia?” asked one of the guards.
===============================
“…if you do, our heartbeats will stop, thus activating the micro-bombs embedded within our skulls,” Octavia explained.
“The entire island would be destroyed so completely that there’d be nothing to show it even existed,” Vinyl added. “All life would be scorched to ashes without warning, obliterating it completely.”
“Wha – seriously?!” the guard aiming his crossbow asked. He quickly pointed it elsewhere.
“What do we do then?” another guard asked. “We can’t kill them – can we capture them?”
“If we get out the tear gas, we can – hey, wait a second! If they’re micro-bombs, they can’t be powerful enough to destroy the whole island!” a third guard realised. “They’re bluffing!”
“Wait- !”
A volley of crossbow bolts shot through the air. Yet another stupid death.
===============================
“…if you do, our heartbeats will stop, thus activating the macro-bombs embedded within our skulls,” Octavia explained.
The guard aiming his crossbow scoffed. “Please. If you had macro-bombs embedded in your heads, we’d be able to see the shape of them. We’re not idiots, you know.”
“And besides,” added another guard, “if your micro-bomb idea didn’t work in the previous scenario, what makes you think a macro-bomb would?”
“It made you hesitate last time!” said Octavia defensively. “I thought that if we –”
A volley of crossbow bolts shot through the air.
===============================
“…we’re more valuable to your boss alive?” Octavia suggested. She flinched, ready to be shot by crossbow bolts, but to her surprise, the pain never came. The guard was looking at her, waiting to see what she’d say next.
“I mean… wouldn’t he like to know how we got here?” Octavia said, choosing her words carefully. “The Omega Zone is hardly an easy location to get to…doesn’t he want to know why we’re here?”
“Of course, you could just go ahead and kill us,” Vinyl added. Octavia wanted to berate her, but then Vinyl continued with, “Then there’d be no way of telling how many other ponies are here, or whether any more will be arriving later. I’m sure Darkhoof will be fine with that.”
The guard, already hesitant, lowered his crossbow. “I think they’ve got a point, guys,” he said. “We’d better knock them out and take them to – hay! You did it!” he said to Octavia. “You managed to come up with a scenario in your head where we didn’t kill you guys!”
“Three cheers for Octavia!” said another guard.
“Please, no need for praise,” said Octavia, secretly wishing for more praise. “All that it took was some quick thinking, and –”
“No time for that!” said another guard. “Stop thinking of these scenarios and go talk to the real versions of us!”
“Don’t forget to kiss meeeeeeee…” said Vinyl, her voice fading away.
===============================
Octavia shook her head slightly, hoping that her rapid brainstorming hadn’t been for naught.
“Well?” asked the guard. “Any last words?”
Octavia held her breath. Was this going to work? “Surely we’re more valuable to your boss alive?” she tentatively said.
The guard hesitated. Octavia could hardly believe it, but she continued.
“I mean, wouldn’t he like to know how we got here?” Octavia said. “The Omega Zone is hardly an easy location to get to…doesn’t he want to know why we’re here?”
The guard scoffed. “Sorry, but our orders are to shoot on sight,” he said, not sounding very sympathetic.
Crap, thought Octavia. This didn’t go as I-
“Well, you could go ahead and kill us,” said Vinyl, unexpectedly. Everypony was silent, waiting to hear what she had to say next.
Everypony continued to wait.
“Well?” said one of the guards, finally.
“Well what?” asked Vinyl.
“Well, what’s next? Why shouldn’t we go ahead and kill you?” To emphasise the threat, he aimed his own crossbow at Vinyl.
“Hmm?” asked Vinyl. “Oh, I dunno; I didn’t really have anything else to follow that up with,” she admitted. “Maybe ask Octavia for ideas? She’s real smart; I bet she’s thought of some.”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” said Octavia. “Surely we’re more valuable to your boss alive?”
“Alright, that’s it,” growled the guard pointing his crossbow at Octavia, “now I really am going to-”
“Wait a minute,” said the captain. Everypony looked at him, surprised at the interruption. Had Octavia’s logic convinced him?
“What is it, captain?” grunted one of the guards. “Are we shooting them, or not? We’ve wasted enough time already.”
“Yeah, what’s wrong now?” asked another. “My trigger hoof is getting itchy.”
“You’re both acting too hastily,” said the captain. “She’s got a good point. How did they get here? What are they doing here?” Trotting over, he snatched the crossbow from the leg of the guard pointing it at Octavia. “Try to think before acting, you idiot,” he said, smacking the guard on the head.
“So wait, we – ” began Vinyl before being given a stern look from the captain.
“You two will lie down on the ground and allow us to take you to the boss if you don’t want bolts in your skulls,” said the captain. “But don’t think of this as a reprieve – if anything, you should be more worried. Our leader can do much, much worse than kill you.”
Vinyl was smart enough to do as he said, and lay down on the ground, Octavia following suit. “Smart choice,” grunted the captain as one of the guards brought over bags to cover the ponies’ heads. “And don’t even think of trying any magic or your friend will be dead before you can say ‘hoofball’”.
“Wait, what does hoofball have to do with – argh!” Vinyl was cut off as a bag was thrown over her head. A nudge to the ribs instructed her to stand up once more, and soon, she was being blindly led by the guards.
For several minutes, there was no talk. The guards seemed professional enough to not speak in front of the prisoners, and Vinyl wasn’t sure what she should say to Octavia. But then –
“Psst! Vinyl!”
“Bag?!” Vinyl gasped. “You can talk?”
“Vinyl, it’s me.”
“Oh, right. That makes sense, Octavia,” said Vinyl quietly. Wherever the two were – it felt like they were going down stairs– she could feel Octavia next to her as she walked. If the guards noticed them talking, they didn’t say anything about it.
“Do you think that if we feel the time is right, you would be able to telekinetically remove these bags and we can escape for the moment?” Octavia asked. “I believe that if we were able to stay out of sight from the guards for, say, ninety seconds or so, they will probably give up the chase and resume their usual patrol.”
“Uhh, yeah, so about that,” Vinyl began awkwardly, “I um, wouldn’t really count on my magic at the moment.” She waited for a reply from Octavia, but didn’t hear one. Perhaps the Earth pony had instinctively nodded. “When I tried to open the door – the door to the office – my magic…it kinda, I dunno…slipped. It was like it just…turned itself off.”
“That doesn’t sound like a major reason to be concerned,” said Octavia. It felt like the two of them were walking down a corridor now. “In the heat of the moment, your concentration must have slipped, and –”
“But it’s never happened before!” Vinyl insisted. “I know what magic feels like when I release it, and this wasn’t the same, even if it had been from surprise. It was like…it was like my body just didn’t want to do magic anymore.”
Octavia scoffed. “How in Equestria would that happen?” she asked. Now, it felt as though they were travelling down a water slide; their voices echoing as they talked to each other.
“I know it sounds stupid, but I was thinking about it, and I…” Vinyl bit her lip. Was she really about to say what she was? Octavia would probably laugh at her and tell her that she was wrong, but still… “Octavia, I just about blacked out while we were in that big tank. Do you…do you think that I could have gotten some minor brain damage? And it’s affecting my ability to cast magic?”
Octavia was silent, and for several moments, there was nothing but the sound of rushing water echoing around the two, with a distant, “wheeeeeee!” from a guard somewhere up ahead reflecting back. Finally, Octavia answered, saying, “So, you think you have brain damage?”
“Yes.”
“So, nothing new then?”
Both ponies laughed at that; Vinyl surprised at herself for being able to appreciate the joke. Before their chuckles had subsided, Octavia added, “But honestly, I don’t think it’s something to worry about. If your magic is acting up, we can get it looked at when we’re back home, whether it’s because of brain damage or not.”
“What about while we’re here?” Vinyl asked. “What if I can’t do magic at some critical point and it screws things up, or – or kills –”
“Don’t be silly,” said Octavia with an optimism which filled Vinyl with warmth. “We haven’t screwed anything up irreparably yet, and I doubt that you can’t adapt to having weaker magic. Though I won’t deny that it wouldn’t have hurt if we could have found some way to jump over or otherwise avoid the shark tank.”
“Jumped the sharks?” Vinyl repeated. By now, the two ponies were climbing up some sort of ladder, and she had to project her voice upwards. “I mean, we kinda did? Metaphorically? We escaped them, at least.”
“That’s dumb,” said Octavia. “You’re dumb.” After a moment, she added, “I love you.”
Beneath her bag, Vinyl grinned, feeling a lot more positive thanks to Octavia. Who the hay cared if her magic was a little screwy? They were Vinyl and Octavia, dammit – they were going to get out of this, no matter who was in their path.
“Alright, ladies,” said one of the guards. Vinyl bumped into the guard in front of her, and realised that they had reached their destination. “Time to meet the boss.” With that, the bag was removed from Vinyl’s head, and what she saw made her gasp.
The ponies had been lead to a dimly-lit room, reminiscent of a basement. The fireflies in the lamp of it must have been exhausted, as they flickered every few seconds. Standing in the shadows before Vinyl and Octavia was somepony vaguely familiar to both Vinyl and Octavia, but that wasn’t what had made Vinyl gasp.
Strapped to a chair before the mysterious pony was Stumblefeather, his coat as dark a blue as the last time Vinyl and Octavia had encountered him. How long ago was that – three, four years? From somewhere on his body a trail of blood lead to a drain on the floor. It was impossible to tell how much he had lost, but judging by the dazed look on his blindfolded face, it was more than enough.
They were Vinyl and Octavia, dammit, and they were not going to get out of this.
“Have fun, ladies,” said one of the guards with a mock bow as he left the room, the lock audibly clicking behind him as he closed it.
“So. It’s you two,” said the mysterious pony in the shadows. His voice had a strange, mechanical tone to it, and there was something strange about the way he looked. It was hard to see more than a vague silhouette, between the shadows and the flickering fireflies, but even just from that Vinyl and Octavia could see that whilst he fit the basic definition of a pony shape, there were strange anomalies here and there which they instinctively found off-putting. “You know, when that idiot Neon Lights said that we should name ourselves The Vinyl and Octavia Revenge Squad, I thought it was stupid, even if Darkhoof’s plan would lead to us indirectly getting revenge on you. But this? This is priceless.”
“Darkhoof’s – then you’re not him?” Octavia asked, fearing what the response would be. “You’re not the boss?”
“Ha!” The stranger threw back his head and laughed. “That’s a good one. Well, I am the leader of the guards, but to you two, I am somepony much more important. But enough talk: my appearance should refresh your memories.” With that, the pony turned around and stepped out of the shadows.
Half a metallic skull, with pistons and gears whirring within. A mechanical leg, all of the axles and joints visible. A glowing red eye, visible even had the room been pitch-black. Whomever this pony was, he was –
“A terminator!” exclaimed Octavia.
“A what?” asked Vinyl.
“Well, he’s going to terminate us – or at least try to – so therefore he’s a terminator,” Octavia explained. She looked to the cyborg. “You are going to attempt to terminate us, aren’t you?”
“A termina – is that all you have to say?!” the cyborg erupted. “No, ‘Wow, it’s Second Round,’ or, ‘Oh crap, Second Round!’. I’d even have settled for, ‘Hey, it’s Second Round! Let’s see how we can ruin his life this time!’”
Vinyl and Octavia looked to each other in confusion, then to Second Round. “Sorry, have we met?” Octavia asked, offering a hoof. “My name is Octavia – pleased to meet you.”
“Argh!” screamed Second Round. “Why do you mock me so?! You know perfectly well who I am – the stallion whose life you keep ruining!”
Vinyl shrugged in response. “Maybe a description of some kind…?” she suggested.
“Second Round! The stallion whom you two torment repeatedly!” Seeing no reaction from the two ponies, he sighed quietly before adding, “Former bartender of The Grey Mare!”
“Oh!” said Vinyl. “I think I had a drink there once. How’s it holding up these days?”
“How would I know?” snarled The Bartender. “That bar – my former bar, I should say – hasn’t been a part of my life for years! As to be expected, it’s all thanks to you two!”
”Sorry, what did we do, exactly?” Octavia asked. Looking to Vinyl, she asked, “What did you do to this stallion, Vinyl?”
“Nothing!” claimed Vinyl.
“How could you not remember it – the two of you destroyed my priceless bottle of Moonshine!” The Bartender roared. “That was the beginning of the path of ruin you two were determined to place me on!”
“We wrecked a bottle of something?” asked Vinyl.
“I went into a bar?” Octavia added.
“Afterwards, I tried tracking you down – all I wanted was some replacement bits for it! I even would have been glad to wait for them to be paid off in instalments!” The Bartender continued. “Tracking you two down led me to Baron von Darkhoof and his plot to drown you two at sea – surely you recall that?”
“Oh yeah, that was fun!” said Vinyl.
“Our first kiss…” said Octavia, a dreamy look on her face.
“Your first – that’s what comes to mind?!” The Bartender exploded. “Not how you wrecked my body and left me in this – this mockery of flesh?!”
“Hey, now that I’m pretty sure we would have remembered! We didn’t even encounter you on Darkhoof’s ship!” Vinyl protested. Leaning to Octavia, she whispered, “We didn’t encounter him on Darkhoof’s ship, right?” Octavia nodded in confirmation.
The Bartender scoffed. “Yes you did! After we briefly fought, you two escaped the ship and called the Coast Guard on we pirates – and in my haste to escape, I leaped overboard!”
“I fell off that boat briefly too,” said Octavia, frowning. “What makes you doing it so special?”
“We were in shark-infested waters by the time the Coast Guard arrived!” The Bartender shouted. “It was a miracle that I survived the experience and was able to be saved through this experimental treatment!”
“I fail to see how it is our fault that you jumped off the boat,” commented Octavia.
“With this body, do you think ponies treated me like normal?!” continued The Bartender. “No! Of course not! I tried to get over my grudge, I tried to be grateful for the fact that I was alive, but society spat in my face!
“So when I heard that you two had been imprisoned aboard The Fort, I used my last few bits to bribe a guard to let me onboard! I planned to enact my vengeance upon you two, but then –”
“Ooh, let me guess!” Vinyl said, putting a hoof up excitedly. “We escaped from prison before you could find us!”
“The very same!” agreed The Bartender. “The guards found me and thought I was an escaped inmate from the solitary block, and locked me up there!” He paused briefly. When he spoke again, his voice was soft for the first time since he had revealed his body. “How long I spent in there…it might have been months, or – or even years? I’m not sure any more…Being surrounded by all of that darkness, it – it did something…” The Bartender’s cybernetic eye’s glow changed to that of a neon green, and he looked away for a moment.
Vinyl and Octavia glanced at each other, unsure what to do. Before they could make a decision, however, The Bartender was looking back at them, his eye red once more.
“But never mind all of that,” he said, “the guards have brought you two to me, and now I can begin my revenge in earnest. I gave up hope that I would experience this catharsis, but now that the opportunity is here, I can’t say I’m disappointed.” He stared contemplatively at his cyborg hoof. “You know, they say there’s six million bits of machinery inside me now…But I won’t need even six to destroy you two!”
“There’s just one problem with that,” said Octavia, smiling unexpectedly.
“Your guards may have brought us to you, but they forgot to tie us up!” said Vinyl, grinning broadly. “In other words: en garde, Bartender!”
“Second Round! The name is – oof!” The Bartender was cut off by Vinyl running up to him, kicking him in the face, and then rolling to the side before he could react.
“Yeah, whatever,” said Vinyl cheekily. “So tell me, The Bartender, how this sounds: We beat you up, grab Stumblefeather, then continue the rest of our mission?”
“Over my dead body!” growled The Bartender. “I’d rather die than let you two escape without getting revenge!” He moved towards Vinyl and reared onto his hind legs, intending to stomp her with his front two hooves, but the canny unicorn took advantage of the situation and used a small amount of telekinesis to give him a push so that he fell backwards.
The Bartender picked himself up, this time making a move for Octavia. “Why?!” he shouted as he attempted to punch her with a hoof. “Why are you two always showing up to ruin everything?!” A small blade retracted from his cybernetic leg, and he swung his leg sideways at Octavia, attempting to slash her with it. “What are you going to do this time?!” On the second swing, he managed to catch her with the blade, nicking her leg enough for her to stumble to the ground. “Rip out my cybernetic parts?” Turning to Vinyl, who had been attempting to sneak up behind him, The Bartender charged forwards, strong enough to resist her weakened telekinesis. “Throw me off the island, and into the freezing waters of the ocean?” He slammed into Vinyl, knocking her to the ground. “Or will you just stop our plans on the eve of their completion?”
“Eve of their completion?” Octavia asked. She had gotten to her hooves – the cut was bleeding, but not as badly as it might have been – and went to take a swing at The Bartender, but he grabbed her hoof and threw her back into the ground. As she pulled herself back up, she coughed, “Are you saying –” before being kicked in the head by The Bartender, ending her speech.
“Please! You think I would give away our plans to you?!” The Bartender asked. “You think that I would risk you stopping them?!” He turned to Vinyl, who had picked herself up, and whose horn was glowing slightly. “Why do that, when I can instead kill you two?!”
Although she was in pain, Vinyl nevertheless grinned. “Bring it, baby!”
The Bartender grinned in turn. “If you insist!” He swung his cybernetic hoof out dramatically, as if trying to point to something. Then, when it was pointed straight at Vinyl, some gears and levers clicked within it, and a claw shot out of it, flying towards Vinyl with a cable trailing behind it.
Vinyl hadn’t been expecting a grappling claw exactly, but she had been anticipating The Bartender’s next attack, which was why she had prepared her telekinesis beforehoof. She mentally extended out her telekinesis, ready to grab the claw in it and then throw it aside…
…but as had happened previously, Vinyl’s telekinesis simply stopped, as though Vinyl herself had mentally stopped the spell.
“What?!” Vinyl gasped as she realised the sensation of casting magic was gone.
“Ha!” laughed the Bartender as his claw reached Vinyl. It grabbed a clawful of Vinyl’s flesh, digging into the skin slightly, and then with a mental command from The Bartender, it retracted, bringing Vinyl to his outstretched hoof. “Vengeance is mine!”
“Vinyl…” Octavia groaned weakly from the floor. She tried to stand up, but it was so hard with her head spinning as it currently was… She could see Vinyl’s horn flickering blue every few seconds as The Bartender repeatedly hit her, but it seemed as though no matter how much effort Vinyl mustered, she simply couldn’t reactivate her telekinesis.
“And now,” declared The Bartender, “for the coup de grâce!” Effortlessly, he lifted up the drain cover in the centre of the room, the one that Stumblefeather’s blood had been silently draining into the entire time, and threw it aside. He slammed Vinyl Scratch’s body to the ground beside it, and then kicked it into the now-exposed hole. Vinyl showed no signs of resistance as gravity dragged her down into the unknown darkness.
“No!” Octavia had found the strength within her to stand up, even though her body was in pain.
“That was for ruining my life,” sneered The Bartender. “And now that she’s dead, I –”
Everything turned red for Octavia.
And then, everything was back to normal, Octavia finding herself panting for some reason. What had happened just then? Where had The Bartender disappeared to? Dazed, Octavia looked at her hooves, which were aching a bit.
They were covered in blood.
Looking past her hooves, Octavia saw what had happened to The Bartender – he was lying on the ground, with the cybernetics that had been in his head missing, somehow ripped out and cast aside. No, realised Octavia, not lying there. The Bartender was dead.
Octavia felt weak, and allowed herself to fall to her haunches. Had…had she done that? She hadn’t intended to…or had she? She didn’t mean to do it, but when The Bartender said that he had killed Vinyl, she –
Vinyl. Octavia closed her eyes, as though that would wipe away the event that had happened scant minutes ago. She was…gone. Just like that. Was it better or worse that she had seen it happen? Hesitantly, Octavia got up and walked to the hole in floor, consciously avoiding the corpse of The Bartender as she did so. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that yet, but it wasn’t her priority right now. Vinyl was.
Octavia looked into the hole, hoping that Vinyl would miraculously be standing in some water, calling up and asking for a hoof, or hanging off something or…just…something that would mean her wife was alive. But of course, the universe couldn’t grant Octavia that. Looking into the hole, all that Octavia could see was darkness. Where did this hole lead? What was it even there for? Octavia had no idea where she was in the Omega Zone; she could have been on the top floor, the basement, or even some place not on the map she had seen what felt like weeks ago.
“Urghhh…” A groan interrupted Octavia’s speculation. Looking over to the source of it, Octavia saw Stumblefeather; she had completely forgotten about him. Octavia grimaced, and looked from him to the hole in the floor. She stared at it for a while. Between Stumblefeather and the hole, Octavia knew which one she would rather go to.
Octavia sighed. She was being stupid, she knew. Why should her emotions – her dulled, stupid emotions which she didn’t want to exist anymore – factor into the remainder of the mission? After a moment more of contemplation, Octavia walked over to Stumblefeather.
“Don’t worry, Stumblefeather,” Octavia said dully, “I’ll have you out of there in a moment.” Thankfully, he was only tied up with ropes, so all Octavia would have to do would be untie them.
“Wha – who is that?” Stumblefeather asked. “Help! Somepony’s trying to kidnap me!”
“You can drop the act,” said Octavia, “I already know that you’re a double agent.”
“A…double agent?” Stumblefeather asked, his voice sounding slightly less shaky than it normally did. Then, with a slightly deeper voice, he said, “Ah, yes, you’ve heard about my working for CHIELD then? Good timing; I don’t think I could have feigned unconsciousness for much longer.”
“Yes, perfect timing,” Octavia answered as she finished untying the final knot. A moment later, Stumblefeather was out of the chair he had been bound up in, stretching his legs and giving his wings a quick flap or two.
Stumblefeather gave a sharp intake of air as he took off his blindfold and surveyed the scene. “Well…crap,” he said. It felt odd to Octavia’s ears to hear him say it – she hadn’t seen the pegasus for years, true, but she’d had a certain mental image of him in the few times she had thought of him. Knowing now that that mental image had all been based on a cover…it was as though she was meeting Stumblefeather for the first time.
In response to Stumblefeather, Octavia nodded. “Yes,” she answered dumbly. She took a few steps forwards, ahead of Stumblefeather, to once more stare into the hole in the floor.
As such, Octavia was taken completely by surprise when Stumblefeather hit her over the head, knocking her out instantly.
===============================
Below the Omega Zone, a pony was struggling against the rapid currents of the water she was in. She was grateful that the water hadn’t been too far to fall into, nor had it been shallow.
Finally, in her flailing and struggling, she managed to find a rock to hold onto, and pulled herself up onto it. She blinked a few times to adjust to the darkness. Looking around, she could see that she was in some sort of underground cavern. She had no idea where she was aside from that, but she did know what her next move was – if she could move upwards, she could return to the Omega Zone.
“Alright, sucker – you’ve taken your best shot!” Vinyl Scratch declared. “Now it’s my turn!”