Vinyl closed the book, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding. She inhaled deeply, taking in the cool library air, trying to calm her heart. The intensity of the book had already given her an idea, but she had nothing to work with. In her mind, the gears were turning. Ideas were being formulated and prepped for experimentation at home, where her sound system was.
She reached the librarian's desk in her meditative state, her library card floating in her grasp. She expected the same question-less checkout process as usual, not having to do anything or be jarred from her thoughts. But that expectation was… faulty.
"If you want to check that copy out, you'll have to sign this," the librarian croaked, slapping down a rather thick pad of paper stained black by massive blocks of four-point font legal disclaimers. Vinyl stared at it, attempting to read it through her sunglasses. She failed miserably and lifted her sunglasses for but a moment to see if the removal of her signature shades would make a difference, which it did not. She shrugged and took a quill in her grasp, signing her name in the fifteen places the brick of a legal document required. Upon completion of the legal process of checking out the old book, the librarian filed the document away on a filing cabinet that was the home of a black widow because of its infrequent use.
She trotted out of the library, the old book tucked away in her saddlebags before she could be seen with it. She meandered through the busy Canterlot streets, taking special care to not be seen by the press. She passed all sorts of ponies, from guards to shopkeepers to snobbish nobles to humble construction workers. The white noise of the streets affected her little, her mind locking out everything but the possible melodies and bass-lines she could use for the song she wished to make. It wouldn't be a bright or happy tune like some of her previous tracks, like Flight.
Time flew like a Wonderbolt, only slowing down when Vinyl found herself at her apartment, trying to remember where she'd put her keys. The DJ first checked her saddlebags, then under the doormat, then on top of the lantern. She then remembered where the keys were, and was soon in her modest apartment, which was a scene of organized chaos carefully crafted by her cello-playing roommate. Vinyl sighed upon closing the door.
"OCTY! CLEAN UP YOUR SHEET!" she hollered loudly. There was no response.
After a quick sigh, Vinyl cleared the room by throwing all of the spread out sheet music into a disorganized pile in the corner, leaving the rest of the room relatively decent. She made her way to her own room, which was especially organized, tidy, and overall spotless.
"Thank you for cleaning up, Vinyl," a voice behind the unicorn said through a mouthful of Pop Tarts. "I meant to do that an hour ago--"
"Aaaand you lost that train of thought rather quickly," Vinyl chuckled. She turned around and hugged her roommate and best friend of over a decade, Octavia. The brown earth pony cellist hugged back, careful not to crush or drop her precious, unhealthy toaster pastries.
"Find anything good?" Octavia inquired.
"I think so. I still got a lot of reading to do for it," Vinyl sighed, shooting a look towards her friend that translated to something along the lines of please for the love of the sun just go clean up your mess so I can read.
"Can I read wi--"
"No."
"But I--"
"Nope. Go clean up your mess."
"I'll give you a Pop Tart if you let me read with you," the cellist bribed with a smirk. She waved the toaster pastries in front of Vinyl's nose. "It's even your favorite flavor~!"
"No fair. You know I can't say no to brown sugar cinnamon. If you clean your mess so I don't go OCD on you, and give me a Pop Tart, I'll let you read with me."
"Ugh… Hard bargain… Deal."
The DJ let the cellist go, and got into a comfortable position on her bed, fixing a sheet of paper that had gotten out of line with the rest of the stack with her magic. She set her saddlebags in the small box at the foot of her perfectly square bed, and removed the ancient tome from it. No sooner did she open it, did Octavia jump into the bed and curl up next to Vinyl.
--
The air raid never came that night, though the shrieks and screams above our heads filled everyone's heads with dread and the most severe anxiety our medics had ever seen. A few ponies had collapsed from pre-existing anxiety disorders that had long been dormant before that night. I myself had nightmares when my turn to sleep rolled around.
It was the same the next four nights. Shrieks in the sky, everyone out of their tents and ready for battle, no fight. Terrorism at its finest. Nothing we'd seen had been quite as effective at draining our morale than that scare tactic. But that was the calm before the storm. For upon the sixth night, they attacked with no warning.
I remember it clear as day, the beginning of that dreaded battle. The first death was within my tent. Tic, my wingpony, was hit with a falling halberd, right in the neck. At first, I lunged towards him to assist him. But by the time I got there, too much of his blood was on the tent floor, and he had already lost consciousness. After processing that I could do nothing to help him, I ran out of the tent and into the fray. The damned Loonies were everywhere like a swarm of locusts. Their weapons glowed in the darkness from the magic streaming through them. No doubt, many had exacerbation spells woven into their weapons to make tiny flesh wounds become lethal. So entranced by the shock of the assault was I that I almost died before joining my brothers. An arrow that would have hit me if my halberd were but an inch to the left bounced off my weapon, snapping me back to attention.
Four Loonies approached me from the air, aiming to kill me, as I too had an enchanted weapon. I lifted my weapon and spun it around with my wings and hooves, nailing a Loonie in the nose with the blunt end of my halberd. While he was stunned, I jabbed the sharp end away from him, poking a sizable hole in his buddy's chest. Seeing a pair of hind hooves approaching uncomfortably fast, I ducked beneath them, and then jumped, knocking the attacker on his face. I quickly dispatched him with a strong swing of my halberd. The fourth attacker, who was most likely far too young to have enlisted, attacked with far more anger and hatred towards myself and the army I served in than anypony I'd ever faced. He wielded a sword, shaped and luminous as the moon. I could tell that one scratch from that weapon could easily kill me.
"Wow, Vinyl. This is definitely… something. What exactly are you planning out of this…?" Octavia interrupted.
"I don't know yet. I have to keep reading until I know for sure. But I'm thinking something solemn," the DJ replied.
But I'd forgotten about the pony I'd only stunned. He managed to sweep my hooves out from under me, knocking me to the dusty and bloody ground. The point of the young one's sword rushed towards my snout, but missed when I rolled to my right.
"RAIKI!" I hollered as I swung my halberd as hard as I could at the Loonie who tripped me. The blade sliced through his wing, sending an intense electric charge through his body. He spasmed a few times, and fell to the ground lifeless and slightly charred. Left with only the youngling to fight, I brought my halberd back to a defensive stance.
He dropped his weapon, cackling like a madpony. He laughed as though he'd been told a very funny joke, and couldn't control himself. And to make it creepier, he stood upon his hind hooves. With a bit of blood that had splattered onto him, he drew a cross on his forehead, and from it grew a wicked horn. And like the unicorns I'd fought with, it glowed with a unique emerald aura. His weapon arose from the ground, and split in two.
"You've killed my father and my brothers before me," the youngling growled spitefully. "I will drain you of blood in ten seconds flat!"
He lunged forwards, bringing forth a flurry of attacks with two swords. I blocked right, parried left, ducked and countered as best I could, but I was tired and slowing down. I felt a bit of my mane get clipped by a sword I'd barely dodged. There was a loud clink from my armor as it managed to deflect a sword just enough to keep me alive. I backed off as he pushed forwards, showing no sign of fatigue.
"THESTRICORN! FIRE! FIRE!" I heard to my left.
An volley of arrows rained down from one of our sniper's nests and clipped his wing, distracting him just enough for me to find an opening. A threw my halberd like a javelin, and called out the spell locked within it, "RAIKI!"
As Vinyl turned the page, a small fragment of paper dropped from it. Curious, she lifted it.
"What is that?" Octavia asked, turning to see what it was as Vinyl brought it closer.
"It's… music?" Vinyl answered upon first glance. And to an extent, she was right. Upon the small fragment of paper, there was a bit of music written. It was a very basic single line of melody, designed for a voice. "Octy, you mind going for a bit? I need to work with this."