My Roommate is a Vampire

by Dennis the Menace


Not Quite So Black and White

"Vodka, on the rocks."

"Ahem," Vinyl cleared her throat, elbowing me rather hard.

I sighed. "Just a soda."

"She's trying to stay sober," she explained to the bartender. "Ay, I gotta get back to the stand. My audience awaits."

I smiled. "Alright." I scowled as she trotted away.

Try to get a drink in this town...

I cracked the can open with a hiss and pop, sipping at the froth and swallowing the zingy flavor. As I set the can down I became aware that somepony was staring.

She had the eyes of a hawk. Or maybe a killer. They were cold. Dull, jaded, silver. Everything about the mare was silver. Her hair was short and professional, bleached silver. Her coat was much like the rest of her. Gunmetal gray. She wasn't like the others. Maybe just as robotic as the ponies on the dance floor, writhing to the electronic music, shallow and hollow. But there was something different about this one. There was something more to her. The way she moved, the way she spoke. Her calculating gaze never wavered, not once. I felt uncomfortable.

"Nice to meet you." Her voice was smooth and velvety. She stuck a hoof out. "Silver Streak," she said without even waiting.

I shook it carefully. "Octavia."

Her horn glowed and I found an envelope being pushed into my hooves.

"I'd recommend opening that later someplace more...private."

Maybe it was just the hangover getting to me, but I decided to humor the mare for a bit.

"Of course," I nodded, smirking. "Confidential. You have my word."

Silver Streak smirked, her face twisted in an expression that I recognized as patronizing. "Keep an eye out. By tomorrow you'll see your face all over the papers."

And with that, she drifted off, disappearing into the nightclub.

What was that supposed to mean? And who was she? It was all too mysterious.

Never mind that.

"Another soda, please?"


"Have fun?"

"Absolutely," I giggled, skipping along with Vinyl.

It was two hours till the crack of dawn. Up the stairs we went, laughing and giggling like fillies.

"What do you got there Octy?"

"Oh, this?" I held up the envelope I'd stuffed into my saddlebag. "Somepony handed this to me. Told me to open it later."

You could feel the atmosphere change around Vinyl. It was almost as if the air had been sucked out of the world. That warm, fuzzy feeling I'd had standing next to her faded into something more sinister. That other side of Vinyl was back with a vengeance, methodical and ruthless in her dealings. By any means necessary, Vinyl would protect me. That feeling in my gut; it was back.

Fear.

My mouth went dry as I saw who was striking a pose in the picture. There was a vile canine hunched over in Canterlot Park, baring its teeth at the camera, blood and saliva dripping from its muzzle. Say cheese. Stamped on its rear was a familiar symbol, a purple treble clef. A gorgeous mane ruined with leaves and twigs.

"At least she got your good side," Vinyl said humorlessly.

On the back of the photograph were two words that made our hearts stop:

"We know."


The impromptu visit was met with slight irritation on part of Princess Luna, who had just gone to bed. Though when Vinyl explained the situation, Luna immediately snapped to attention. I watched them pace back and forth together in a circle. If the situation wasn't so serious I might have actually laughed.

"Can somepony please tell me what's going on?"

"Shh!"

I huffed.

"At least—"

"Octy, not now!"

"But—"

"Octavia, please."

I screamed, enraged, Without thinking, I let my frustration take hold. The beast inside of me awakened. Feral thoughts of aggression filled my mind as I growled, snorting. My legs were bent. I was crouched, ready to lunge.

"Tell me!"

Vinyl and Luna flinched back slightly. I shook my head, looking down at my claws and feeling a bit furrier. I squeaked, whimpering as I let myself change back.

"I'm...sorry."

For a while I sat, ashamed. After a while, I spoke up.

"If it helps, the pony who handed this to me said her name was erm, Silver? Silver Stripes?"

Luna and Vinyl stared.

"What? You look like you've seen a ghost." I clopped my hooves together. "Wait, I've got it. Silver Streak!"

"Goddamnit!" Vinyl roared, slamming her hoof into the table, hard enough to leave a dent. "Not these guys again."

"Wait, what? Slow down! New to all of this! Anypony care to explain?"

"The Silver Horseshoes, an organization—"

Was this some new trend?

I groaned. "Where in Equestria do ponies find time to join secret societies? Don't they have day jobs? A life?"

The princess furrowed her brow. "As I was saying, the Silver Horseshoes are seemingly hellbent on making our lives a living Tartaurus."

"So basically, they don't like vampires. Or lycans. Okay. Any reason? Motive?"

"If there is any reason to targeting us, we are unaware. And they seem to target most supernaturals."

"And?"

She shrugged. "That is it, Octavia."

"You're telling me that you don't know anything about these ponies?"

"Watch your tone."

"Sorry."

"There is a point to being a secret organization, Octavia. Even as Princess of the Night, I am not privy to everything that goes on in Equestria, and I do not know everypony either. It is my job to do the best that I can." She sighed. "Their origin dates back at least two centuries, perhaps even more. Their activities were much more bloody in the past. Now they resort through financial and political means to expose any of us."

Somehow, in less than the blink of an eye, our day out had turned into something of a nightmare. I could barely think. Life seemed to enjoy throwing me curveballs every second. It was too fast, too quick. One second I'm having a drink and the next I'm embroiled in some sort of war. There's nothing quite like the feeling of having your dirty laundry aired out for everypony to see to make you more alert. Much like being caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar, I felt trapped. It dawned on me that these ponies, whoever they were, had me in their clutches. I could scarcely imagine what would happen. It was horrifying to think about it.

"Have they ever outed anypony?"

"In the past, yes. And we've tried our best to relocate them to someplace safer, place them in a protection program. Most of the victims of the Silver Horseshoes end up in the Everfree. But this, this new generation has largely remained underground."

"They've been quiet for a while now," Vinyl muttered. "Silver Streak. What a jackass."

"You know her?"

"She is the head of the entire organization," Luna explained. "This is not the first time she has attacked us like this."

"Just burn it, plain and simple," I suggested.

"This is just a copy. You think they'd be dumb enough to hand over the real thing over to you?" Vinyl spat. "They have to have it archived somewhere. She said she would go public with the information, right?"

"And I quote, 'By tomorrow you'll see your face all over the papers.'"

She stomped a hoof. "Equestria Daily. That has to be where they've sent the story."

"Can't you do something about this, Princess?"

Luna shook her head. "We are afraid not. We are not allowed to interfere with the media and press."

"I've got this, Princess."

"You have my permission to do what is necessary."

"Don't worry. I'll handle everythi—"

"No!" I yelled. "Vinyl, I can't keep having you clean up after me!"

"I am not taking you along! And this is not up for discussion!"

I stared her down, my expression earnest. Luna silently watched us stare each other down.

"Princess, c'mon, tell her—"

"It is her choice. She deserves to know."

She growled. "Fine. Just don't get in the way. You're not going to like what you see."

I didn't sleep well.


She grabbed the janitor by his mane, slamming his head into the glass. I shrieked, recoiling as shards splashed over the floor. Vinyl dangled him by his collar out the window, her hoof and magic the only standing in the way of him and the long trip down.

Equestria Daily's headquarters was basically your basic run-of-the-mill printing press and newspaper agency rolled into one, though it was a bit of a stretch to say that they were a reputable source. It was supposed to be empty, seeing as it was past closing hours.

I realized that night how good Vinyl was at breaking things. Breaking into Equestria Daily was a breeze for her, and now, it seemed, she was cracking skulls and breaking windows. Did you know she kept masks around? She even had a special set of dyes to blot out our cutie marks.

"Where is it?!"

Throw the rules out the window, odds are you'll go that way too.

"What are you DOING?" I screeched.

The poor stallion screamed at the top of his lungs, about to wet himself as his legs dangled precariously in the air. "FILING CABINET, TOP SHELF!"

Vinyl dragged him back inside, dropping him unceremoniously on the ground, sweating and pale. She let him scream his head off and run down the hall, probably to hightail it out of there.

"You didn't have to do that."

"No loose ends."

"It was unnecessary."

"Will you shut up and help me?"

Harsh.

I pulled open the filing cabinet, searching through the files before it was promptly knocked over. The cabinet tipped over and fell with a crash.

"Vinyl!"

"We're not going to search for it."

"Then what are we doing?"

"Burning it."

She lowered her head, her horn glowing and sparking. I pushed her away.

"If we don't find it, this'll all be for nothing!"

I sifted through the packets and folders most recent.

"Found it."

"Good. Put it in the trashcan."

"Vinyl, I think we should shred it or something."

"Put it in," she demanded.

I tossed it into the bin, watching as she set fire to the contents. I gasped, pulling back, watching the embers rise and glow, the smell of paper. She was burning it all right. Along with just about everything else in the room. Smoke filled the room quickly.

"Vinyl, this is insane! We're committing arson!" I screamed, coughing.

"And you're an accomplice. What's your point?"

"We could have just taken the real photo!"

"You think that was the real one?" A bitter laugh. "That was another copy! This doesn't end here! This!" She dropped her saddlebags onto the floor. The contents of her bag fell with a solid thud. "This is about sending a message!"

I gasped as I watched her levitate a detonator. Her bags, they had...

"Time to bail."

She shoved me through a window that led to a fire escape. My mind was numb as I held onto her, following her down the iron staircase and back onto the streets, gazing at her.

Take it or leave it was the only choice given. It makes you think. Think about free will. Had our choices been made for us because of who we were? My options had narrowed to a singular path on that road.

"The royal guards are here," I hissed as we ran down the street in the opposite direction, ditching our masks in a storm drain.

"Good."

Click.

BOOM!

I cringed, flattening my ears and dropping to the ground as a horrifying boom ripped through the night, and also through the floor we had just been on, destroying any evidence. The explosion had started a fire, burning bright. The flames raged, with black smoke rising from the building. Red, orange, yellow, hot to the touch, incinerating everything in its path. Yet the flames couldn't burn away our crimes. They only made the shadows behind me leap higher. I watched numbly as the building was engulfed in flames, the smell of misery and smoke filling my nostrils.

I can't say I wasn't warned.

"Still breathing? Come on!"

She grabbed my hoof, dragging me along. And we kept running through the streets, blending into the shadows. Her domain. Our clops echoed through the night. I ran out of steam in a dead end alleyway with steam boiling out of the sewer grates, like all the fires of hell were burning high beneath us. We caught our breaths. Or rather, I caught my breath, while Vinyl scoped the corner, pressed up against the wall. I narrowed my eyes.

They say you only know how much you love somepony when you know what you're willing to sacrifice. How far would you go to save the ones you love? How much would you sacrifice to protect them? Sometimes it's better not to know. Despite all of the lies, the secrecy, everything, I know that everything she did, she did out of love.

Did that make it right?