"No..." Vinyl couldn't believe her eyes. Her heart beat accelerated dramatically. Her hooves were frozen to the ground, paralyzed in shock.
"No, this isn't happening. This is just a dream. A really bad nightmare."
"Vi-... Vinyl?" The white unicorn's heart leaped into her throat as she cradled the cellist in her arms. Blood pool around them on the concrete below, soaking both Vinyl's and Octavia's fur in crimson water. But that was the last thing on Vinyl's mind as she desperately tried to stop her flowing tears, her voice cracking as she hugged her beloved mare tightly.
"Yeah Octavia?"
"Could you... Tell everyone in Ponyville that I-"
"No! Don't you even think about that Tavi! You are going to be just fine, you hear me!? You are going to tell them that you are just fine, you got that?"
"Vinyl? I will always love you... Vin-" Octavia never got to finish as a crossbow bolt cut right into her throat. Her eyes momentarily shrunk into pinpricks as she gagged for a brief moment.
Then she was gone.
A numb coldness took Vinyl as her beloved vanished before her eyes. The mare that was once Octavia Staccato laid dead. Slowly however, she felt rage coarse through her veins. She looked up and snarled.
"You soulless fucking bastard." She rose to her hooves, bristling with anger, agony and sorrow, all bundle into one. Her target smirked as he reloaded, magicking another bolt to his weapon.
"All in a day's work Vinyl. You shouldn't have crossed me. Now you have paid the price." As to further mock her, he casually flipped the murder weapon and balanced it on his nose, before grabbing it with his tail.
A red veil shrouded Vinyl's vision as she released a war cry, charging her assailant. She felt her hooves turn into a storm of fury.
Then there was a loud "splurgh".
The laughing had stopped.
And slowly, Vinyl crawled back to her cellist, laid her head on Octavia's chest, and sobbed through out the night.