Vinyl bobbed her head as she walked, music blaring from her cellphone filling the normally silent halls all the while. An easy smile decorated her face as she scoped out her surroundings through her signature purple shades. All the while, she felt her horn tingle as her magic surged around her in response to the thin layer of poisonous energy in the air. In spite of that, the girl continued her leisurely stroll without a trace of fear. Instead, excitement ran through her as the noxious energy thickened around her.
It's finally time to put all that training to work, she thought as she rounded a corner. I wonder which of us is gonna get to her first. Probably Lightning or Rainbow if Flutters or Sunset doesn't beat them to it.
Her mind wandered to her matches with the shy girl and she chuckled. It was still hard for her to wrap her head around the idea that such a cute and timid girl could be such a major threat. If there was a word that Vinyl could use to describe her Thestral friend, it would be "soft". She was like a giant fluffy kitten, more cute than threat for the most part. Then again, even a kitten has claws and fangs. Something Vinyl became very aware of when she spared with the girl.
A faint chill shot down her spine when she remembered an especially grueling match she had with Fluttershy a couple days ago. As it turns out, losing all feeling and function in your arm can be a very distressing situation to be in.
"We should hang out more when this is over," she idly mused to herself. "See if I can help her get out of that shell of hers. Bet her girlfriend would love to see that a little."
She chuckled at that, only to let out a frustrated sigh a second later as she came across a fork in the path. Rolling her eyes, she turned off her music and closed her eyes. She channeled a small amount of her magic into her mouth then made a loud popping sound with her lips. As the sound traveled down the two paths, a near detailed map of the pathways formed in her head. When an image of a massive chamber came to her, she smiled, opened her eyes, and went down the right path as she turned her music back on. Her smile grew as the sickly energy from before grew around her the further she walked down the hall.
***
While it wasn't a common thing for a Wraith to feel, fear was a very real thing for them. It helped them know how far into another Wraith's territory they were in and if the native Wraith was strong enough to do something about it. At that moment Lily's daughters felt that as they watched one girl in particular navigate the maze. While the wide smile and casual pace of her stride was concerning to Lily, the fact that they felt no fear or anger from her was an even greater worry. In fact, she seemed to be looking forward to the coming battle as she slowly closed in on one of the maze's remaining seeds.
"M-Mom, is she a Wraith?" Scootaloo gulped from her seat next to her mother's throne. "Cuz it's getting hard to tell the more I look at her."
"No dear," she frowned, eyes locked onto Vinyl's portal as she struggled to understand her. "Though I do agree that she is a strange one."
Applebloom and Sweetie nodded, both of them sitting in their mother's lap as they stared at the girl. Not helping the group settle their nerves was the sheer lack of information they had about the girl. Aside from her name and love of music, there was nothing of any real note that any of them could share. These were always the more tedious prey options for the elder Wraith. Enemy's that showed no fear in her presence generally fell into two camps. Either they were foolishly overconfident in their abilities or they were recklessly battle crazed. While the former could be easily dealt with, the latter always added an extra level of danger. Those types were always harder if not outright impossible to predict in a direct battle.
"Zan should be able to show us what she's capable of," she mused. "Hopefully, he'll be able to do a better job than Galen did."
"Yeah," Sweetie sighed, frowning towards the ground. "I liked him. He was a really good listener."
"I know my dear," Lily sighed. "He was one of my favorites too."
"Can you bring him back?" Applebloom asked, staring up hopefully at her mother.
Lily sadly shook her head and said, "No my dears. While I can recreate him, he wouldn't have any of his previous memories or personality."
"Oh," Applebloom wilted.
It hurt to see her children so downtrodden, but there was only so much she could do. She did make it a point to tell them not to get attached to any of her seeds, but as most children will do, they ignored her guidance in the matter. While she was equally guilty of the same thing, it was more the heartbreak of seeing an art project being damaged than the loss of an ally in battle. Be that as it may, she and her daughters would still miss Galen and all of his quirks.
"I hope Zan wins," Scootaloo said evenly from her seat. "We need to get at least one win for peats sake!"
Lily tittered at that, then summoned a dark vine out of the ground near her daughter to scoop her off of her seat and into her lap. The young Wraith let out an annoyed yelp as she was pulled into a tight hug.
"Do you think Mommy won't win in the end?" she said with a playful smile.
"N-No, I know you'll win!" Scootaloo grimaced, a light gray blush coloring her cheeks as she reluctantly leaned back into the hug. "I just don't like seeing our team lose so much."
"Are we losing?" Lily asked, her smile growing a bit with a knowing glint. "It doesn't look that way to me."
"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked.
Lily just giggled and shifted her attention back towards Vinyl's portal.
"Think carefully my sweet. I'm sure the answer will come to you soon."
***
A hulking figure stood still at the heart of a flower-filled arena, the silence filling him with a light serenity as he waited. He stood at a towering six feet tall, the top half of his bulk covered by a tattered gray hooded cloak. A sheet-metal kilt and pair of heavy iron leggings decorated his lower body with matching metal boots protecting his feet. Thick iron gauntlets protected his ams and hands as they hung loosely at his sides. His face was a complete mystery to anyone that saw him, the shadow of his hood hiding that detail, save for a single glowing silver eye. Slung casually over the seed's shoulder was a hulking grey metal war hammer, the weapon's rectangular head measuring four feet long and two feet wide on its five foot long pole handle.
A small break in the silence drew the seed's attention to one of the opening leading into the chamber. It was faint at first, but it quickly grew into what the more musically cultured would call organized symphonic chaos. The seed's glowing eye narrowed as he turned to face the opening. After a few minutes of waiting, Vinyl casually stepped through the opening, hands in her pockets and cocky smile spread across her face as her phone flooded the chamber with dubstep.
She stopped two steps past the threshold, looked at the seed, and nodded her head in greeting as she said, "Sup?"
The seed continued to glare at her for a few seconds before asking in a gruff metallic voice, "What is that infernal racket?"
"Uh, dubstep?" Vinyl chuckled, tilting her head. "Why? Not a fan?"
"It sounds like someone is killing a piano with a sack full of hounds," the seed growled.
Vinyl laughed hard at that.
"Wr-Wrong genera pal," she chuckled, lifting her glasses up just enough to wipe away a tear. "That's death metal."
"More like the death of art," he grumbled, hefting his weapon off of his shoulder and assuming a battle stance. "Ending you will be a good way to end such noise."
"Yep, a classic fan," Vinyl chuckled, turning off her music. "You should've met my sister. Bet the two of you could've spent hours talking about that stuffy crap."
The seed let out a furious growl and charged, hammer raised in preparation to strike the second he was in range to do so. Vinyl's smile never left her face as she jumped into a boxing stance and charged forward. The seed wasted no time in bringing his weapon down on the girl, a massive explosion of force cratering the ground and wiping up a thick cloud of dust around Vinyl's general area. The seed felt a strange mix of satisfaction and disappointment that his task had been completed so quickly only for confusion to take its place as he heard a light chuckle come out of the dust cloud.
"Wow! I almost felt that!" the voice chuckled. "Not bad!"
A sudden blast of sound tore the dust cloud apart to reveal a smiling Vinyl standing in the heart of a massive crater. Littered around her were the shattered remains of the seed's hammer's head. The seed jumped back ten feet still griping what was left of his weapon as he kept Vinyl in his line of sight, now with a much higher level of seriousness as he watched her.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," she chuckled. "Names Vinyl Scratch. What's yours?"
"Zan," he said evenly.
"Well Zan," she smiled. "Hope you're single, cuz I'm about to rock your world!"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkCksU0jf04
"We shall see," he intoned, pointing his damaged weapon at her.
A loud grinding noise filled the air as the pieces of Zan's weapon lifted off of the ground and reassembled themselves on the end of its pole. Vinyl's grin grew at that before she charged forward, her heart pounding with excitement as she closed the distance. Zan wasted no time as he swung his weapon at her, only for the massive hammer's horizontal swing to be stopped by a jab. A thundering explosion of sound filled the arena the second the weapon made contact with her fist, both combatant's getting knocked back by the force. Zan let out an annoyed groan as he staggered to his feet while Vinyl laughed like a loon as she did the same. He barely had time to brace himself as Vinyl seemingly appeared in front of him and slammed her fist into his chest. Another blast of sound echoed through the room as an equally powerful force sent him flying back ten feet. An angry growl forced its way past his lips as he landed shakily on his feet, thankful for his armor as he charged forward again. Not willing to give his opponent a chance to cancel his attack, he flooded his hammer with power. When his weapon swung towards her, Vinyl tried to counter it with a jab only to get knocked back twenty feet by the force of it. Capitalizing on his advantage, the seed charged forward in with the intent to put an end to this battle. Vinyl just laughed were she laid as she brought herself into a sitting position and looked at the incoming seed.
"Die!" he roared as he brought his hammer down on her.
His eye widened as she leaned her head back then quickly rammed it forward into his hammer with a roughish smile. Another sound blast filled the air the second the weapon made contact, the force sending the seed staggering back five steps. Vinyl laughed as she got on her feet, not even a mark on her as she dusted her pants off and resumed her stance.
"How are you still standing?" Zan demanded, pointing his hammer at the girl with one arm. "My hammer can crush diamond as if it were glass, yet you don't even bear a bruise!"
"Oh, that," Vinyl shrugged. "It's how my magic works."
"What?" Zan asked, head tilted in intrigue.
"See, its like this," Vinyl snickered. "My magic allows me to store and release sound in my body. It kind of makes me a walking boom box."
As she said that, a faint blue flash crossed her whole body for a second. Zan noticed and leveled a sharp glare at the girl as he tightened his grip on his weapon.
"So that is how you survived. You can make sound armor. Impressive, but that will not be enough to win against me."
"Well duh!" Vinyl scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I know that much. Besides, defense isn't really my style anyway."
A wicked grin spread across her face as she added, "If I'm gonna do anything, it's always with a bang!"
As she said that, she channeled some of her magic into her fists and threw a flurry of punches in Zan's direction. A second later, bright red fist-sized balls of light flew towards him from her hands in a tight swarm. The seed put up his weapon up n a feeble attempt to guard against the incoming assault, a long series of explosions filling the chamber as each of them hammered into him. As soon as the last ball hit him, he let out a furious growl as he rushed towards her. She smiled as she charged more magic into her hands, ready to counter his hammer again. Her smile switched places with a look of shock as she felt a heavy metallic fist slamming into her side. While her sound armor took the brunt of it, the force of the attack was enough to knock the wind out of her. Taking advantage of the moment, Zan grabbed her by the head, ran forward, and slammed her into a wall. A pained gasp made its way past her lips as more damage slipped past her armor, dazing her further. Zan let out a battle cry as he poured more power into his hammer and slammed the weapon into the pinned girl. A thunderous explosion once again filled the room as Zan's hammer left a massive crater in the wall, Vinyl's still form trapped under it at its heart. Zan let out a satisfied grunt as he pulled his weapon free from the crater, Vinyl's limp body falling to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"Foolish child," he sighed. "None can oppose the mistress' wishes. As her hammer, I will crush all who oppose her. That is my role and yours is to be her prey. Nothing can change that."
With that, he turned and made his way back towards the center of the room. At the halfway mark, he paused as dust started to cover his hands. His confusion quickly shifted into shock as his weapon crumbled into dust in his hands. A light chuckle behind him made him turn around. Vinyl staggered to her feet, a wide smile spread across her face as she stared at him with cracked glasses.
"Sound's a funny thing, eh," she chuckled. "Runs through things like metal pretty damn easily when it gets the chance."
Zan stared at her in confusion for a moment before realization widened his eye as a light wining filled the air. A second later, the metallic parts of his body shined bright red and exploded as the sound magic running through them activated. He let out an agonized yell as he fell to the ground, his arms and legs bleeding black blood as dozens of shrapnel cuts covered them. Vinyl stared down at him with a satisfied sigh, then grimaced as she plucked her damaged glasses off of her face.
Great. Now I've got to replace these. Maybe I can talk mom into giving me an extension on my allowance to get these taken care of.
She sighed and placed the glasses into her pocket, but before she could head towards the chamber's exit, Zan staggered back to his feet. The seed let out pained gasps as he glared at her, his eye glowing a hateful red as it tried to burn a hole into her. She assumed a boxing stance as she locked her own red eyes with his. Zan reached into his cloak and pulled out a jagged back crystal, the gem pulsing in his hand with rancid energy. Not knowing what to expect, Vinyl tapped into as much magic as she could and went to work preparing her next spell. As fun as this had been up until know, she really needed to put an end to this and it looked like Zan felt the same way.
The seed rammed the crystal into his chest a sickening crunch, his glare never weakening as he let it work its magic on him. A furious roar made it past his lips as a furious tempest of dark energy consumed him. When it parted, a new horror greeted the young DJ. Zan had turned into a large obsidian skeleton, all twelve feet of him naked save for the hooded cloak that covered him. Each of his hands were covered in dark energy that flared like black fire around his skeletal fingers. His eye sockets were home to a pair of burning red flames that leaked fire and smoke past his forehead.
"Guess I was wrong," Vinyl chuckled, vibrating red magic surrounding her arms and shoulders. "You're a death metal fan after all ."
Zan let out a furious roar as he charged, the dark magic flooding his mind and dulling his senses as he threw a punch. Vinyl matched his strike, more thunder filling the room as the two fists collided. For several long minutes they two fighters traded blows, Vinyl mildly surprised by how durable her opponent was while Zan just focused on trying to crush her. Their arms were a pair of blurs as they rained blows upon each other, neither willing to drop no matter how many times they were struck. With a pair of battle cries, the two fighters pulled back and threw one mighty punch towards their opponent, one fist covered in vibrating red magic while the other was covered in black fire. A massive explosion of sound and power ripped through the air as the two fists slammed into each other, Vinyl's half of the room covered with deep cracks while all of the flowers on Zan's half was completely burned away.
"Your pretty tough," Vinyl panted, grin never leaving her face and fist still touching her Zan's as she locked eyes with him. "Wish we could do this again sometime, ya know?"
"You talk as if you will live through this," Zan growled. "This is where you will die child. I will make sure of it!"
"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever," she snorted, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, this's been fun, but I really need to move on. Tavy'll give me all kinds of crap if I take too long here."
As she said that, she gathered what was left of her magic and spread it all through out her body, a dense vibrating red magic aura surrounding her. The seed's eyes widened as he sensed a massive spike in power surround the girl, but before he could flee Vinyl tightly grabbed his arm. Her red eyes held a wicked gleam that matched her smile as she looked him in the eyes. It was then that Zan knew that his fate was sealed, that whatever was coming was going to be the last thing ever saw.
"Bass drop mother fucker. EAT IT!"
With that, a thunderous roar filled the arena as Vinyl's red magic filled it, deep cracks forming in the walls, floor, and ceiling as it ripped everything around her to shreds in an overwhelming blast of sound. Zan heard nothing as his body slowly disintergrated, the sheer destructive force of Vinyl's magic too much for him to take this close to her. He felt himself falling back as his arm slipped out of the girl's grip, a great weariness coming over him as he faded out of existence. While he hated his enemy for ending him, he couldn't deny that he felt something new from the battle with the girl. For the first time in his empty life, Zan had fun in a battle. He stared back at Vinyl with a smile that had little to do with his new form and said something he never thought he would ever say to an enemy.
"I want to fight you again."
"Yeah," Vinyl said, her smile more somber as she stared down at her fallen enemy. "Same here, pal."
Zan let out a small chuckle and laid back, the red fires in his sockets going out as the last of his body turned to ashes. Vinyl stared down at Zan's remains with a bitter smile before turning and making her way towards the arena's exit. As she did, she wondered if there were any death metal songs she could mix when this was all over.