//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Mare-anormal Activity // by Sound Blast //------------------------------// Mare-anormal Activity By: Sound Blast A semi-loud knock awoke Vinyl from her slumber. She rose off the sofa shakily, her signature purple glasses sliding down her muzzle slightly. Sighing, she pushed them up and walked over to the door, opening it with her magic. Outside stood a brown stallion in a light blue uniform. "Are you Vinyl Scratch?" the mailpony asked, looking at a checklist quickly, then at her. She simply nodded, not in the mood to really say anything at the moment. "Good." he turned the pad toward her, pointing at an X'ed line with a pen. "I need your signature here." The DJ sighed again, taking the pen in her magic and scrawling out her name on the line. The stallion looked at it momentarily before nodding, reaching into his saddlebag for a decently sized package in a plain brown box. As she took it in her magic, he turned to leave. "You have a good day, now." Vinyl nodded again, walking back into the house and closing the door, setting the package on the living room table. She already knew what it was, so she didn't bother with it at first, but eventually, she opened it, revealing that it was, indeed, her camera that she had ordered a week earlier. Turning it on, she only had to wait a few seconds before she could see through the lens, and was surprised by the clarity. With a small tendril of magic, she turned on the camera's light, then turned off the light in the room, leaving her in near perfect darkness. Even now, she could see amazingly well. With the same speed as before, she turned on the light and turned off the camera, gently setting it on the glass table that adorned her living room. With another sigh, she laid back on the couch she had been on, but didn't go to sleep this time. Instead, she was deep in thought, about her predicament. For the last few weeks, odd things have been happening... Occasionally, there would be hoofsteps downstairs, when nopony was down there, or something would be moved when she woke up the next morning. Vinyl didn't necessarily believe in the occult, but her housemate, Octavia, sure did, for being such a high class mare. The gray cellist was convinced that something was following her, and had practically begged Vinyl to help her, so she did... That's what the camera was for. She grunted as she got up, using her magic to hover the camera in front of her, walking upstairs to their shared room. Setting the camera on her bedside table, she looked at the mess of wires attached to a laptop, microphone, and EKG recorder. Personally, she felt that the EKG recorder was useless, as all it had done the two times she's used it was drone endlessly. It didn't seem to do anything but that. She sighed for the fourth time, bending down and reaching under her bed, coming up a few moments later with a tripod. Without a word, she set it up next to the laptop, facing the door. She then turned to the laptop, absentmindedly going over to a folder that was simply labeled 'Vinyl's Music'. She played the first song in the folder, and she instantly broke into a smile. She turned the music up to an unimaginable level, and her smile simply grew wider as she danced to her own beats. After the song ended, she went downstairs into the kitchen, making herself a daisy sandwich. As she ate, she lazily looked around. Her gaze led her to the microwave clock, which read 7:29. She grinned. Octavia should be home in a few minutes. The clock hit 7:30, and, as if on cue, the door opened, the cellist stepping through it with a large case on her back, closing the door with a tap from her hoof. The gray mare sighed in relief as she set the case on the floor gingerly, then rolled her shoulders, sighing again as they popped, obviously releasing her from a lot of pain. Vinyl walked over to her and rubbed her shoulder gently. "You alright, Tavi?" she asked, looking at her housemate in worry. The earth pony chuckled, shrugging off Vinyl's hoof. "I'm quite alright, Vinyl. This is nothing a hot bath won't fix." And with that, Octavia walked upstairs, starting up a bath for herself. Vinyl followed shortly after, levitating the case with her, walking into their room. She rested the case against the far wall, then, using her magic, she hovered the camera over to the tripod, fastening the machine to it, pointing it at the door. After getting it positioned correctly, she flopped onto their bed, turning on the TV with her magic, flipping to a random channel. A few minutes later, Octavia walked out of the bathroom in her white bathrobe, a content look upon her face. Vinyl chuckled as the gray mare walked into the bedroom. "You feeling better?" she asked, propping herself on one arm, the cellist jumping at her voice. "I-I'm sorry, dear... What was that?" she asked apologetically, sitting down on the bed, grabbing her brush from the nightstand. As Octavia started brushing her mane, Vinyl leaned back down, her question answered. Tavi looked around the room as she brushed her mane, noticing the rather expensive looking camera on the tripod. "Vinyl?" she asked, stopping momentarily. "Why do we have a camera?" She stood up and walked behind it, looking at where it was aimed. "And why is it pointing at the guest bedroom? Oh, Vinyl... Don't tell me you're-" "Recording each night?" Vinyl finished, interrupting her housemate unceremoniously. She took off her glasses and put them on her nightstand, then looked at the earth pony with a look of stern resolve. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this, Tavi..." Octavia sighed, knowing there was no way to change her housemates course-of-action. "Just promise me you won't get out of hoof, Vinyl..." "Out of- How would I get out of hoof?" "Oh, I don't know... Just don't, please?" Vinyl nodded, laying her head back on her pillow, staring at the ceiling. "I promise, Octy..." the DJ said, which elicited a groan of annoyance from the cellist. "Honestly, Vinyl... How many nicknames do you have for me?" The mare-in-question shrugged, trying to hide a smile. "I dunno, at least three... Why?" Octavia continued brushing her mane as she replied. "Can you please just stick with one?" Vinyl shook her head, smiling broadly. "But where's the fun in that, Treble Clef?" she asked, propping herself on an arm again, looking at the annoyed mare. "And there's the third..." Octavia muttered under her breath, setting her brush back on the nightstand. In an effort to change the subject, she brought up the camera. "So, what were you planning to do with that thing?" she asked, pointing a hoof at the tripod-mounted camera. "Ah!" Vinyl uttered suddenly, jumping off of the bed, walking over to the mess of wires. After a few moments of messing around with her magic, she had the camera attached to the laptop, and the microphone wired to the camera. She left the EKG recorder alone. "Well, it's a rather simple plan, but hopefully as effective as I hope..." She pointed to the camera, then the laptop. "During the night, I'll have this recording. In the morning, I'll check the video on the computer to see, or hear, as the case may be, if anything happened the night before. By the way, thanks for reminding me about it... I almost forgot to hook it up." Octavia nodded curtly. "You're welcome, but...is it on now?" "Nah... I figured I'd wait to turn it on until we were about to go to sleep. Otherwise, I'd be wasting the battery." "Well, look at you..." Octavia chuckled. "You're actually planning this out..." "Duh..." Vinyl stated, nodding and walking back over to her bed. "Nothing, and nopony messes with us and gets away with it. I'll make sure of that." Suddenly, she turned around and walked over to the door. She flipped up a panel, and entered a four digit code. After a few seconds, the panel beeped, signifying that the alarm system was activated. Octavia looked at her housemate in curiosity. She'd never activated the alarm system before... Vinyl noticed the look and chuckled. "Just in case, y'know? Gotta keep those perverted colts away from you, what with your amazing flank, and all." The cellist blushed deeply, easily visible against her ashen gray coat, and Vinyl laughed again. "I'm just messin' with ya, Octy..." she said as she looked at the bedside clock. It was already 9:23 and the lateness was made apparent by Octavia yawning, which Vinyl took into account, striding over to the camera and turning it on. She quickly set it to 'Record', and walked back over to her bed. Octavia gave her another thanks before turning out her bedside lamp, falling asleep fairly quickly. Vinyl, who usually didn't go to sleep in the 'early' hours of the night, stayed up until well past midnight, watching random TV shows. It was only when her body practically forced her to lie down did she go to sleep. Night One June 30 Both Vinyl and Octavia are sound asleep in their separate beds, not a sound coming from either of them other than the occasional rustling of sheets as one of them turned in their sleep. At around 1:28 A.M. the house creaked, settling, and Vinyl stirred as a result. Soon after, though, there were odd sounds coming from downstairs. Hoofsteps, it sounded like, but at the same time, they weren't. These lasted for only about ten seconds before stopping, and nothing else happened until 4:09 A.M. when something downstairs hits the floor. A few moments pass, and the sound repeats twice more before stopping altogether.