Octavia woke that morning feeling better than she had in a remarkably long time. Her dreadful mother came to her room in the afternoon. She told Octavia that she would be leaving for business across the city and she would most certainly be gone for a few days. Because of this her and Lydia were able to stay up late into the night. They talked. Well, mostly Octavia talked. She spoke of Vinyl, of the orchestra, of anything really. It was just great for her to be able to talk to somepony again. Somepony other than one of her mother's drones. Lydia even let her sleep in a bit late. And she woke up to a glorious start to the day. Or so she had thought. By the time she had gotten downstairs, she would find that her entire world was about to come crashing down.
"Velvet," Octavia barely breathed out, stunned. "What happened to you?"
Velvet stood in the doorway. His chest heaved with heavy breaths from running. The icy chill from the late morning winds coated his mane in a layer of frost. Snow fell from the sky and stuck to his coat. He shivered under the weight of the chill, but didn't let it bother him. Various small cuts and scrapes stood out in the cold weather. A small gash on his brow and a split lip seemed to be the worst of it. His eyes, normally so full of kindness, now only displayed a worrisome gaze, as if begging Octavia for forgiveness.
"Octavia," He stammered through clattering teeth and split lip. "They took her. She's gone."
Octavia had no idea what was going on as she lead her friend inside. She sat him down next to the fireplace as Lydia fetched him a warm cup of tea. His body seemed to relax ever so slightly next to the warmth of the fire and yet, his eyes never lost that worry.
"What happened," Octavia asked him again. "Who was taken?"
"Vinyl," Was all he said.
"What," Octavia questioned. "Vinyl? You mean, you know Vinyl?"
"I'm so sorry, Octavia," Velvet pleaded. "Please, forgive me. I should have told you sooner."
"Just tell me now," Octavia pushed him onward. "Tell me everything."
Velvet and Vinyl sat together. It had been a few days since he had brought Vinyl back to his home. Most of her time was spent in bed resting and healing. On that day she was feeling good enough that she was able to walk out into the dining room for breakfast. She winced with a couple of the steps, but the pain was negligible.
"Good morning," Velvet said as she climbed into a chair. He finished making the latest batch of pancakes and joined her at the table. She happily filled her plate and slathered it all with syrup. She took bite after bite, savoring each one. She hadn't eaten pancakes in years. She had already eaten two before realizing that Velvet was staring at her. She smiled bashfully and put her fork down.
"Sorry, didn't mean to stare," Velvet joked. "I was just wondering something."
Vinyl tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. She was curious. What was he wondering about?
"When did you and Octavia meet," Velvet asked her. "It must've been a pretty special meeting."
Vinyl nodded fiercely at that statement. It was indeed special. She remembered everything about that night. She looked down at her pancakes and an idea came to mind. Velvet had set aside a small bowl of blueberries in case she wanted some with her pancakes. She magically floated some over to her plate and arranged them in a very specific way. When she was does showed off her work to Velvet.
"6 and 'M'," He guessed. "Six months? You met her six months ago."
Again, Vinyl nodded heartily, and then she took a large bite of her now blueberried pancakes. She couldn't help but smile at how wonderful they tasted.
"That's about the same time Octavia started behaving oddly," Velvet stated. "If you don't mind me asking, Vinyl, what happened between you?"
Vinyl gulped down one last bite before responding. She closed her eyes and let some of her magic flow out of her. She took it in front of her and molded it into the shape she wanted. She rounded the edges and added a point at the bottom. It took only a moment and she help up a heart to Velvet, and as he observed this heart she rapidly tore in two pieces and threw them to opposite sides.
"Oh, I see," Velvet mumbled. "You needn't say any more, Vinyl."
"She really said that," Octavia muttered the question.
"I saw it with my own eyes," Velvet answered.
By this point Lydia had come back with that warm cup of tea. She had only just set it down before Octavia was on top of her. She was bouncing around the room and giggling with glee like a little filly.
"Lydia, did you hear that," She asked gleefully. "Did you hear what he said. Vinyl said, or showed it actually. It doesn't matter because she said it! She loves me."
Lydia stood next to Velvet. "Come now, dearie. Settle down."
"I can't," Octavia replied. "She loves me. I knew it. I always knew it. The only thing better is if I could see her one more time. To see her tell me herself." As if realizing that she could Octavia rushed back over to Velvet. She looked at Velvet with her eyes pleading with him to continue.
The two of them sat together in silence for a few moments. Until a knock on the door broke the silence. Velvet nodded at Vinyl to keep eating. He would get it. And so he stepped away from the table and moved for his front door.
Something had Vinyl feeling uneasy. She followed a few seconds behind him. The knocking had increased in the short time it had taken him to get to the door. By the time he reached his hoof out to open the door whoever it was on the other side was practically pounding on it.
He had barely twisted the handle before it all started. The door was forcefully pushed in. The door swung in so hard it sent Velvet crashing into the wall with an audible thud. He slumped to the floor gasping for breath as the visitors came in.
Vinyl didn't want to stay any longer than she had to. She felt bad but she wanted to leave, to run away, but some part of her stayed. Until she saw the pony who barged in. A stallion, tall with a large frame. Fear began creeping up into Vinyl as this pony walked in. It was the same Earth pony managet of that rave club, and he wasn't alone. Her mouth hung open in stunned silence. She shook her head every so slightly. With eyes wide she moved to run for the guest room, if only her body would have let her. She moved too fast, to soon and pain forced her to the ground.
"Looks like that beating I gave you is still hurtin'," He sneered. "Good. Makes this lots easier."
"No," Velvet coughed, "Leave her alone."
The stallion chuckled over his shoulder. "What are ya gonna do to stop me?"
The question itself was rhetorical. Velvet knew he didn't have an answer. So did the stallion. He chuckled again as he signaled for the two other ponies he was with. They both came in, one a pegasus and the other another Earth pony. They gave Velvet a few hits that sent him back down the floor. Meanwhile, the stallion moved to scoop of Vinyl.
"I told ya, Vinyl," He hissed into her ear as he stepped on her body, "That I would find ya. Now yer done for."
He pressed his hoof into her ribs. She did everything she could to not cry out in pain. Through tear filled eyes she could see Velvet, bleeding on the floor. There was no relief when he finally removed his hoof. He just unceremoniously tossed her limp body over his back and carried her out. There was nothing that could be done to stop him. She couldn't move. Velvet was barely conscious.
"When I woke shortly after that I ran straight here."
"Who were these ponies," Lydia asked. Octavia was much to stricken to even speak. She stared off, her mind filled with every horrible possibility as to what was happening to Vinyl right now.
"I don't know," Velvet answered. "The only other time I saw them was when I first met Vinyl. She was in a rather poor state and I reckon it was because of that brute of a stallion."
"Where is she?" Octavia's intense gaze sent a small shudder through Velvet. "Where did you see him? Where can I find him?! Tell me!"
"Octavia," He breathed.
"Why did you even come here if not to help," She yelled angrily.
Velvet straightened in his chair. "I never said I wasn't going to help. I was just going to say you might want to bring a few more ponies along. You haven't seen this stallion."
"It doesn't matter," Octavia vowed. "I'm going to get Vinyl back."