//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: A History of Long Nights and Blood // by Balancer //------------------------------// Twilight watched as the last traces of Vincenza’s teleport faded away, her mind was racing as fast as it could, though her demeanour didn’t betray a hint of her thoughts. She quickly but calmly trotted over to the door to the basement, glad she had sent Spike on fool’s errand giving her the alone time she needed. She walked down the stairs and into the basement lab, ignoring the machinery Twilight walked to a bookcase and pulled out all the books and the shelves with her magic. The wall facing her was blank and unremarkable, normally. Twilight smiled at how ingenious she was sometimes. She lit her horn and with a practised eye inscribed a sun with a pair of wings surrounding it in purple flame into the wall, the wall flashed white then disappeared revealing a room. As Twilight walked in to the room the wall behind her flashed back into existence and the books and shelves returned to their previous positions. The room itself was shaped like a rectangle, a larger version of the symbol she had inscribed into the wall was laid out in tiles on the floor, the walls and roof were covered in white tiles. The room contained a large mirror, a mannequin like the ones in Rarity’s store. The mannequin sat in the corner, but unlike the mannequins in Rarity’s boutique this one was not being used to hold a dress. Instead, hanging off the mannequin was a white robe; an armoured pauldron sat on the right shoulder, on it in contrasting black was the same insignia. Hanging on the wall behind the robe were two swords, each were as long as her legs and their blades glowed with a purple light. She knew in that instance the identities of the ponies Vincenza had killed and she walked to the mirror, touching her horn to it. The reflection faded away, the image being replaced with an orange stallion at a desk. The stallion was facing away from her focused on the work in front of him. Twilight cleared her throat, prompting the stallion to raise his head. “Sister Twilight, while it is a pleasure to receive a private message from you, I have my doubts that you are contacting me for an exchange of pleasantries.” Twilight looked at him, “Correct Mr Orange, I have to things I wish to discuss, first being why is there a dead hit team in my sector without my knowledge.” Mr Orange raised an eyebrow at the last point. “I assume that they failed their task?” he asked, raising his hooves in an arch in front of his muzzle. “That brings me to my next point. Their target is friend of mine who happened to show up in my house this morning, and happens to be one of our main targets.” Twilight looked at Orange, traces of annoyance flittered across her features. “I am aware of that already. Is there anything else you wish to discuss? I do have quite a lot of work I need to do here.” Orange said making a sweeping gesture with his hoof indicating the paperwork on his desk. Twilight ignored his dismissal. “Why then, if you were aware of her, would you not tell me? Or at least send a more experienced team, as not one of the members had a pauldron.” Frowning, Orange said “Because I worried that your friendship with it would have prevented you from properly doing your job. As for the team…let’s just say that I made a mistake about the quality of my men.” Twilight raised an eyebrow “I find it extremely unlikely that even you are that dense not to send an elite team against a vamp of that strength, especially given this one’s history.” Orange gritted his teeth at the insult, Twilight eyes widened “Unless those troops were the best you had.” Orange gritted his teeth together. “Yes.” He spat. “Those were my best men. Frankly we haven’t had much action in these parts, only a few neophytes here and there but nothing on a major scale, I hadn’t had anypony skilled enough to warrant a pauldron in years.” Twilight was shocked “Then why did you send them, surely you must have known that they would have been killed by a being of her calibre.” Orange looked guiltily at his desk “Because I had hoped they would have been enough, that the legends about her weren’t true.” “And now you have just gone and ruined the only advantage we may have had over her.” Twilight looked at him with something akin to disgust “A chance to bring her down and you threw it away on half flanked gamble.” Orange slammed his hooves onto his desk “Do you think I don’t know that.” He gritted his teeth. “But none of that is important now.” He slumped back into his chair, a defeated look on his face. “What is important now is what we are going to do about her.” Twilight closed her eyes and let out a breath, calming her thoughts “The best course of action that you can do is inform the other leaders in the region that we have found her, put them on alert in case I fail.” “I will…wait. You can’t possibly be contemplating taking her on yourself? You’ll be torn to pieces!” Orange looked at Twilight like the mare had just declared she would fly to the moon. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do, I am in a unique position, she trusts me. I can use this to strike her down when she isn’t looking.” Twilight looked Orange in the eyes, a serious expression on her face. “Very well sister, I will inform the others of your sacrifice.” Orange bowed his head towards Twilight. Twilight gave a chuckle devoid of mirth, “Don’t be so quick to count me out Orange, there is good reason for my pauldron.” Orange smiled “I wish you luck then, please keep my niece safe during your fight. She can be very…hard-headed. And seeing you under attack would likely urge her to come to your aid.” Orange’s face darkened. “We both know what would happen should that occur.” Twilight tilted her head in acknowledgement “I fully assure you Orange that I will not let anything happen to Applejack, I can only hope that should I fall you will take measures to keep her and my friends safe.” “She is family Twilight, even though the Apples and Oranges have had their differences in the past, family looks out for family. As for your friends, I will make sure they are protected to the best of the Orders’ abilities.” Twilight gave Orange a grateful look. “Thank you, I have to go now. I have preparations to make.” Orange simply returned his gaze to the paperwork in front of him as the mirror regained its reflection. Twilight took a step backwards and looked at the robe and the swords hanging behind it. I hope I’m up to the task, for all our sakes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Octavia and Vincenza appeared in a clearing of the Whitetail forest. Octavia blinked as her eyes adjusted to the change in light. The air was crisp and filled with the sound of bird song as the birds greeted the morning. Octavia took a look around her surroundings “Where are we?” she asked the mare at her side. “The Whitetail forest, roughly an hour and a half from Ponyville, there’s a path about five minutes east of us that will take us back.” Vincenza replied, she looked up at the sky, and with a smile started walking “Venire Octavia, the morning is sereno. Let’s not waste it.” Octavia gave her a queer look and followed her. The pair found the path and set a slow leisurely pace for home, Octavia walked along in silence whilst Vincenza hummed a melody, a grin set on her face. ‘What is it about jher, last night she was in a fight, this morning she was making heartfelt confessions now she’s humming along with that grin on her face like nothing’s wrong.’ “Something bugging you Octavia, you’ve got that faraway look.” Vincenza asked, stopping on the path as a mother duck lead her ducklings across. Octavia shook her head, dispelling her thoughts “Hmmm, did you say something Vincenza?” “You spaced out for bit back there, just wanting to know what was going on in that bello head of yours.” The last duckling crossed the path and the pair resumed their leisurely pace. “Did you just say my head was a bell?” Octavia asked, slightly confused. Vincenza let out a chuckle “Bello not bell, it translates to…” Vincenza said as she cocks her head to one side, a frown on her face. “It is kind of annoying to nail down, it sort of means attractive, good-looking, pretty, charming and lovely all at the same time.” Octavia blushed “Oh…thanks, you aren’t too bad yourself.” “What’s this, warming up to me already, knew you couldn’t resist me for long.” Vincenza had a smug grin on face as she walked along. It was Octavia’s turn to chuckle as she playfully gave Vincenza a small shove, “Don’t think you’re out of the dog box just yet, I still have yet to hear you play remember?” “Let me get this straight, you hear me play and I get some nookie?” Vincenza gave Octavia a mischievous grin. “Maybe, do your performances come with pancakes and maple syrup?” Octavia retorted. Vincenza raised an eyebrow “The best pancakes ever.” “Well then….maybe.” Octavia winked. “Oh, you tease.” Vincenza smiled. Octavia shrugged and gave the unicorn a smug grin of her own, causing Vincenza to breakout into a fit of laughter. Octavia watched on for a few seconds before she too succumbed. As the fits of laughter faded the pair resumed their walk in a comfortable silence, each being content to enjoy the company of the other. “Vincenza?” Octavia asked hesitantly. “Yes Octavia?” “Can you tell me about yourself? We didn’t get to talk much about you before Twilight interrupted us.” “Sure I would love to tell you my story. In fact I think that’s what I was originally going to do anyway…but about Twilight. I don’t think we can trust her.” Vincenza replied. “Why not? She’s our friend, it’s not like she would do anything to harm us.” Octavia was confused by her partner’s lack of faith in her friends. “It’s just that in my experience, when you revel to a pony that you are actually a three thousand year old vampony, conversation tends to suffer a catastrophic malfunction of the screaming kind.” “Maybe she is just really accepting of her friends. After all she is friends with Pinkie Pie. If that doesn’t prepare you for random, I don’t what will.” “Vero, but it’s just that something about her demeanour put me off. She took the revel a little too well.” “I am sure she has her reasons, now stop with the evading and tell me about yourself.” Vincenza smiles “Fine then, I was born in 7871DR (Dual Reign) in a medium sized fishing town called Palmareo. My Papa was Mario Uva, his family owned a vineyard outside of Palmareo but he joined the guard for a chance at immunity for his wife and new born daughter, me. Mamma was Aida Dove. She had the most amazing voice but never sung professionally, it wasn’t that she couldn’t it was she didn’t want to. So she made and maintained nets on the docks with her telekinesis. Mamma was a unicorn; my father was an earth pony.” Her eyes lose their focus as she is caught up in her memories. “When Papa had leave he would take Mamma and I to visit Nonna. Nonno had passed before I was born, and Mamma’s parents had been killed in a bandit raid years before my parents had even met. Nonna always baked the best animelle and always made sure to have some ready for when we arrived.” A little white filly excitedly runs down a dirt path, small legs work furiously as her light brown mane whipped behind her, racing into the waiting fore legs of an elderly looking chestnut brown mare. Behind her a brown stallion with a black mane and orange eyes and a white unicorn mare with a sky blue mane and violet eyes greeted the elderly mare and were ushered inside. “Nonna! Nonna!” The little filly’s hazel eyes sparkle with delight “Is that smell what I think it is?” The father sniffs the air “Mama, is that the sweet scent of your animelle that my nose detects.” He looks down at the bundle of energy at his mother’s hooves, his mouth in big smile. “Come my little one; let us find the bread before the old one hides it away.” The two ran from the lounge into kitchen, leaving the two mares by themselves, sharing a smile. “It is good to see you again Aida, Mario doesn’t bring you around nearly enough.” Sounds of crashing and a cry of victory can be heard from the kitchen, the pair moves to recline on some cushions around a prepared pot of coffee and plate of biscuits. “She is growing up so fast. How is her magic progressing?” “Very well Eva. Grazie for asking.” The unicorn takes a sip of the coffee “Mmmm. This is an excellent brew Eva…” she is cut off by the entrance of two very full and sticky ponies. “Mamma I have to say that was one of the best batches I have tasted. Don’t you agree little one?” he said, turning to the filly next to him, her mouth plastered with a yellow sticky substance. “Si Papa, maybe the best ever!” The little filly squealed, jumping around on a sugar high. Eva chuckled “It appears you have eaten my entire batch of sweetbread.” The filly stops her jumping as the thought of no more sweetbread enters her head “How you like to help make some more?” The little filly’s eyes lit up and she shot straight up into the air. “Really!? Maybe I can get my cutie mark for baking.” The filly sprints off into the kitchen. “I think that was a si.” The elderly mare walked into the kitchen, a smile on her face. The two adults give each other a look that says Here-we-go, as the filly’s father sat down. “Some of my best memories were at Nonna’s. I loved being able to run around in the sun, eat fresh grapes, smell the baking bread, with the feeling of dirt in my coat, and the sunset, the way it lit up the sky red.” She closed her eyes and smiled. “Even now I can feel the warmth of the sun baked dirt, the smell of her kitchen thyme, basil, tomato and mozzarella cheese, and I can hear the crickets playing their music for all to hear.” She opens her eyes. Octavia noticed that they were wet. “And now it’s gone, only in my memories. It’s been years since I last saw my Nonna’s farm, probably should go visit. Oh you would love it Octavia. The sunset, the people, the food. We would drink good wine, eat good food and dance away under the stars, the perfect getaway.” Octavia looks at Vincenza, “A holiday does sound nice, we have been meaning to go on one for a while now anyway.” Vincenza stamped her hoof, a look of determination in her face “Then it’s settled. As soon as this business in Ponyvill has been worked out, I’m going to take you on a trip round Istalia of good wine, good food and dancing.” Vincenza seemed excited to be returning home, evident by the skip in her step. “Wow Vincenza you seem really excited to be going home.” Octavia remarked, trotting to keep up. Vincenza noted the speed and slowed down to the slow pace they had going earlier. “Oh sorry, it’s just that I haven’t been home in five hundred years. I miss the sounds and smells sometimes. I’ll be walking through the market in Ponyvill and see ponies buying without bartering and market itself is very quiet. The only sounds are the sounds of coins changing hoof, or sitting in a café and noticing how quite it is. The waiters never want to talk, the customers are focused on getting their food down and getting back to work. And walking through the park and noticing a lack of music. The only ponies that play are Lyra and you.” Vincenza let out a sigh “I miss the crowds, the haggling, the friendly conversation, how you can be having a heated argument with a stall vendor one day and then be laughing at good joke at the same stall the next. I miss the sound of ponies playing their instruments in the parks because they can, and I miss the smell of food you get when you walk into a restaurant or the smell of spices in the market.” Octavia was stunned “Wow Vincenza I had no idea that you missed your home that much. From what you have been describing it sounds like a nice place. I can’t wait to go. Though you should know something about me before we go.” Vincenza raised an eye brow “What’s that?” “I don’t know how to dance.” Octavia said sheepishly. “That’s all? Trust me you will pick up the moves pretty quickly.” Vincenza grinned. Octavia and Vincenza walked along the path side by side, the sun filtering down through the trees flickering around them. Octavia turned her head and looked at the mare next to her, the sun sometimes striking her, illuminating her mane. “You know what, I think I prefer you as a brunette Vincenza.” Octavia remarked. “Why thank you Octavia. It is a very nice colour, I get it from my father’s side.” Vincenza responded proudly “My coat and original eyes were from my mother’s.” She added. “Original eyes, you mean these aren’t yours?” Octavia gave her a weird look. “Original eye colour. My eyes were originally hazel, when I became a vampony they turned red. If you want I could show you.” “How? It’s not like you can stop being a vampony.” Vincenza rolled her eyes, “No nothing that fancy, it’s simply an illusion to change my eye colour. It’s not hard.” “Then why don’t you do that all the time?” Octavia asked. “Because any unicorn would know that I have an illusion on my eyes unless I concealed it. Which would take constant renewing, and I really cannot be bothered when I can explain it away saying it’s a birth defect.” “Wow that is…really lazy.” “Do you want to see it or not?” Vincenza snapped, giving Octavia an annoyed look. “Yes, sorry.” Vincenza stopped walking and closed her eyes. Her horn flashed white, and she opened her eyes. Octavia drew in her breath; instead of the ruby red eyes she was used to she found she was looking into the most wonderful hazel eyes she had ever seen, their colour only being enhanced by the light brown mane framing them. Before she could help herself she leapt forward wrapped her forelegs around Vincenza and pulled her in for a kiss. Vincenza was shocked but didn’t fight back as she returned the kiss. They held it for what seemed like hours, but was truly only seconds before Octavia pulled herself away, a deep blush on her cheeks. “I ahhh….like your eyes.” She said, sheepishly scuffing the ground with a hoof. Vincenza had a content smile on her face “Grazie, you’re quite bello when you’re embarrassed yourself,” she decided to go out on a limb “Octy.” She braced herself for the tirade she had received earlier that morning and to her pleasant surprise, none came. “Thanks Vincenza, you can change your eyes back now, if you want to that is.” “I think I will. It would be weird if anypony saw me like this, they might think you were having an affair.” She joked as she lit her horn, restoring her eye colour “You know what I can’t fathom about you, it’s that this morning you were planning to go cold turkey on me but now your back to being frisky, not that I’m complaining.” Octavia let out a sigh “We have been together for a year Vincenza. We love each other. I was being foalish when I thought I could ignore that just because you changed slightly. But I couldn’t. You are so much like you used to be that I can’t ignore it, you are so much more than what I thought you were. There is so much more to you for me to discover and that only means there is more for me to love.” Vincenza’s heart gave a flutter, as those were the words she had been hoping to hear. She was so overwhelmed by emotion that she did the only thing she could think of, and kissed her. Octavia returned the kiss with full passion and when they broke it, no words were spoken, only a smile shared as they resumed their walk to Ponyville. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When the pair was ten minutes from Ponyville, Vincenza spoke up. “I think it’s about time I put my mane back to normal.” “Actually I was hoping that you could leave it like it is. I prefer this colour on you. It suits better, and if anypony asks we could just say you are trying something new.” “Really? Well I suppose we could do that. It wouldn’t be too hard.” Vincenza looked down the path “We’re coming to the end of the forest, so we shouldn’t be too far from Ponyville. What I think we should do is make our way to the town hall and give Mayor Mare our little version of events, from there we should go find our friends to let them know we’re okay.” “Sounds like a plan to me.” Octavia nodded her head in agreement. It wasn’t long before the pair was strolling through the streets of Ponyville, making a beeline for the town hall. As they made their way, ponies in the street would give them weird looks and talk with a hoof over their mouths in hushed tones to the pony next to them. Oddly enough, most of those looks were directed at Octavia. “Do you think that their talking about me being with you or that our house is a mess?” Octavia whispered into Vincenza’s ear. Vincenza cocked an ear in the direction of the ponies giving them strange glances and concentrated “Their wondering if you’re having an affair. Seriously! Change the style and colour of your mane and tail and they think you’re a whole new pony.” She said rolling her eyes. “Really how do you know?” Vincenza waggled her ears. “My hearing is a lot better than the average pony. In fact one time I was standing next to Luna when she used the Royal Canterlot voice. Exploded my eardrums, deaf for month.” She winced and chuckled at the memory. “You knew Luna before she you know…” “Went all pazzo? Si, we were pretty good friends to.” “What was she like before she lost it?” “Hmmmm, very introverted and violent, she would always be at the frontline of every major conflict Equestria was in. She wanted ponies to respect her and love her like they her sister, so she tried to win it by protecting them. But she didn’t want friends because they would always end up dying of old age. So she never made the effort to connect with her subjects on a personal level. In the end this gave her a cold and aloof image in the eyes of her public, which when combined with her tendency to be out on the front lines gave her a very large social stigma to fight against. Ponies respected her, but they feared her. I just hope she can learn from her mistakes this time around.” Octavia blinked “Wow you must have been pretty close to her to know all that.” “Si, I was her only friend. I tried to comfort her, but in the end I wasn’t enough…” Vincenza trails of as her vision loses focus. It was cold, but the night was clear and the moon shone brightly. Vincenza paced on the spot, worried about why Luna had called her. She floats up the scroll Luna had sent her to read it again. Dearest friend I need to meet you in our usual spot to discuss something of great importance. It will change everything Your eternal friend Luna With a loud bang, a cloud of blue-black smoke appeared and quickly coalesced into the form of Luna. She was as tall her sister, her dark blue coat shinning under the moonlight, her mane made of starlight blending so perfectly into the sky above so that Vincenza could barely tell where she ended and the sky began. Vincenza started to step forward, and then stopped, something was wrong. Luna was wearing her amour. She never wore her amour unless there was an emergency. “Is everything okay Luna?” Luna beamed “I am fine Vincenza, my truest and only friend, just fine. Do you recall the topic of our last discussion?” “Si, you were wondering how to get Ponies to appreciate your night and all the hard work you do for Equestria. As I recall we couldn’t think of anything and left it for another night.” Vincenza was becoming disturbed as Luna’s grin grew wider. “Yes, I was wondering, “How do I get Ponies to love my precious night as much as they do the day?” Then it hit me. Ponies are sleeping during the night, so they don’t see it. How can I expect them to love something they can’t see?” Luna’s grin was now as wide as it could be. “So that’s how I came up with the perfect plan…make the night last forever.” “What!” Vincenza was shocked. “That’s mad! You’ll kill everypony! The world cannot survive eternal night! Luna you do not have to do this!." Luna’s grin turned to a mask of rage “What do I care if a few thousands die, the world will survive. Don’t be a drama queen. Anyway, as a creature of night I would have thought that you would have jumped at the opportunity for eternal night. I would have thought that as my friend, you would support me.” Her eyes narrowed. “Or has my sister got to you to like she has the rest of my subjects.” “What are you on about Luna?” Vincenza was tensing up getting ready to run; she knew that she was no match for the living goddess. “Oh like you don’t know. How she encourages the rumours, how she makes our subjects fear me. I was hoping that you would be above her poisonous whispers, but even you are afraid of me.” “I am not afraid of you Luna.” “Ha! I can see it in your body language. If you aren’t afraid of me, then why are you getting ready to run? It’s funny, that even you, a blood thirsty monster, are afraid of me.” Vincenza winces at the insult coming from her best friend “Oh what’s this? Does the truth hurt? Well then let me tell you something, you are monster. You have to kill to stay alive, you integrate yourself into society perfectly, you look like them, you sound like them you even act like them. But you aren’t one of them. No, all you do is bring pain and suffering to those around you. Join me, help me bring in eternal night and together we will rule the world.” Vincenza looked at her friend with a gaze somewhere between anger and sorrow. “You know I don’t want that Luna, and I know you don’t either. What would Celestia say.” Luna’s anger flared at the mention of her sister. “My sister would want me to stop. My sister would want me to continue as I am, alone and feared so that she doesn’t have to share her subjects love with me. I was wrong about you. You’re weak, just like she is.” Luna turned away from Vincenza “Well if she wants her subjects to fear me then so be it. Too long have I been pushed aside by ponies, they see me as a nightmare then a nightmare I will be. From this night onwards I will no longer stand aside as my sister turns my people against me.” She takes off into the air, her outline framed by the moon. “From this point on wards I will be known as Night Mare Moon, AND THE NIGHT WILL LAST FOREVER.” As soon as she finished, the darkness around her seemed to explode, being drawn into her. Her coat turned black, her starlight mane darkens and her eyes changed colour, becoming turquoise, as her pupils reformed into slits like a dragons. Vincenza was horrified. She tried to move, but for the first time in her life since she became a vampony she feels something she thought she would never feel again, true fear. It rooted her to the spot and forces her to watch as what was once Luna lands in front of her and in a new voice, one that is deeper, stronger and more confident, said. “Well? How do you like the new me? Hmmm? Do you think that my sister will try to fight back as I burn her kingdom to the ground? As crush her neck and usher in an age of eternal night? Do you think my subjects will run in fear as I declare myself Queen?” The alicorn stamped her right forehoof into the ground. “After all have I not done more for them than Celestia ever has? Was not I who protected them from Dragons, Griffins, Diamond dogs and things that go bump in the night? Was it not I who crafted their laws and gave them the concept of justice.” She smirked as Vincenza began to quake in fear and turned in the direction of the Everfree forest. “It is of no matter, when Celestia is dead and night eternal; they will have all the time in the world to learn love and respect.” With a beat of her wings she rises into the air and flies straight for the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. “And the rest, as they say, is history.” Vincenza hung her head. “Oh Vincenza that must have been awful for you. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” Octavia nuzzles the unicorn, drawing more disapproving looks from ponies on the street. Vincenza smiled and looked up, seeing the looks Octavia was getting and smiled mischievously. “Octy, what do you say about starting a rumour?” Octavia raises an eyebrow as they emerge out into the town square “What did you have in m-“She was cut off as Vincenza kissed her. When Vincenza pulls away Octavia giggled “That’s defiantly going to spark some speculation. I can see the headlines now in E magazine: ‘Cheating cellist has affair with mystery brunette beauty.’ “ The pair started laughing as they strolled through the square when an angry voice shouted out from behind them “Octavia how dare you!” “Huh?” Octavia turned around to find herself snout to snout with a very angry Lyra and Bon Bon. “Bonny and I have been worried sick about you two all morning and it turns out that you’ve been spending time with another mare. How long has this been going on Octavia, a month, two?” Lyra was furious. “Lyra, listen. I can explain everything, it’s not what it looks like.” Octavia began but she was cut off by an equally furious Bon Bon. “You had better have a good excuse for making out with another mare in public Octavia, because I don’t think Vinyl’s going buy the excuse that you were cleaning her teeth.” Octavia facehoofed “Could you sort this out please.” She turns to Vincenza a pleading look on her face. Vincenza chuckles “Sicuro che nulla per te Octy.” Octavia scowls “You couldn’t resist could you?” She mutters under her breath as Lyra explodes again, knowing full well that Vincenza can hear her. “She’s a foreigner as well?! And she uses Vinyl’s nickname for you?! This is just great! Vinyl is going to be crushed when she find out about this Octavia.” “Actually I think I’m quite okay with this.” Vincenza speaks with a slight accent and watches as Lyra and Bon Bon do a double take at her and laughs as their jaws hit the ground. “Vinyl, is that you?” a very confused Lyra asks. “Si, how many other mares do you know with red eyes?” “But… but your hair… and your voice…” Bon Bon slowly recovered from the shock. “Do you like it? I’m trying a new look, and si, I do speak Istallion. Seriously why is everypony so surprised that I speak two languages?” “Umm it just that we didn’t peg you as the kind of pony to… you know… enjoy cultural pursuits, like learning another language. That’s all.” “We do like your new look by the way, though what is up with the accent?” “Well it would be weird if I didn’t speak with an accent language, since Equestrian is my second tongue. Though seriously, it’s probably because I’ve been slipping back into my native tongue” Lyra and Bon Bon made bug eyes as Vincenza and Octavia both started giggling at their friends’ expressions. “Well that went down better than expected don’t you think Octy.” “Well I don’t know about better, but I definitely wasn’t expecting this.” The couple quickly regained their composure and Bon Bon coughed and nudged Lyra. Lyra stepped forward with a thoroughly embarrassed expression on her face “Octavia I would like apologise for suggesting that you were having an affair, as your friend I should have trusted you better. I’m sorry.” Bon Bon steps forward with an equally embarrassed expression “Me too.” Octavia opens her mouth to reply but I cut off when a familiar voice calls out to them. “Octavia? Vinyl? Is that you darlings?” The group turns as Rarity followed by a very shy Pegasus that could be none other than Fluttershy, said “Octavia Vinyl, it’s good to see you! Fluttershy and I are going for our weekly spa for a day of pampering and luxury. You must join us and tell us about what happened to your house.” Lyra snapped straight “Oh your house, Octavia I have no idea what happened. I went to go see if you wanted to have breakfast with Bonny and myself but when I got to the door, it was already open so I went inside… and that’s when I saw the bodies.” She gives a shudder as the memory resurfaced and Bon Bon nuzzled her, calming her down. “What happened last night?” Octavia looks to Vincenza who responded, “We were going to tell Mayor Mare so that we wouldn’t have to repeat ourselves, but we can make an exception for you girls. Octy and I woke up last night to some noises downstairs, and we went down the hall to find that a group of ponies and griffons had broken in and were turning the place inside out. They saw us and I panicked. My magic lost control and teleported myself and Octy somewhere in the Whitetail forest, we’ve only just made it back.” Rarity gave Vincenza a peculiar look. “Darling are you okay? Your voice sounds like those foreign ponies at the new coffee shop.” “New coffee shop?” Vincenza returned Rarity’s look. It was Fluttershy who spoke up. “Umm yes it’s quite nice, they umm make really good coffee….if you like coffee that is.” She ducked behind Rarity as Vincenza suddenly turned to Octavia. “Octy change of plan, we are getting a coffee from this new place.” She turns back to Rarity “Where is this new place?” Rarity points with her hoof at one of the buildings in the square “That one there-” Before she could continue, Vincenza shot off like a rocket leaving the five mares to watch as she ran towards the coffee shop. Octavia gave the group an apologetic smile “Sorry she’s a little home sick at the moment, um if isn’t too much of a bother, Rarity could you gather the rest of your friends? There is something that you need to hear from Vinyl and would be best if she only needed to repeat it once.” Lyra gives her a concerned look “Sounds serious. Are you okay?” “It’s not for me to say, Vinyl needs to be the one to say it. All I can tell you is that it is very important.” Rarity turns to Fluttershy “Well dearie, it looks we may have to postpone our spa day. I’ll go get Pinkie Pie and Twilight, would you be okay with getting Applejack and Rainbow Dash?” she turns back to Octavia, Lyra and Bon Bon “What do say we meet back here this afternoon around one.” The group nodded in agreement. Rarity headed off to Sugar cube corner whilst Fluttershy made her way out to Sweet Apple Acres. Lyra and Bon Bon both gave their goodbyes and left, promising to meet back at the square at one to hear Vinyl’s announcement. Octavia turned to the building Rarity had pointed out. It had big windows at the front with a few tales outside. Above the doorframe was a big sign that, in gold and brown letters, read ‘House of Caffe’. Octavia walked over and froze, inside was Vincenza nose to nose with an elderly mare having a heated argument. And judging by the confused expressions on the customers faces, it wasn’t in Equestrian. She dashed inside just as the two took a step back and gave each other a long look staring at each other. After what felt like an eternity the pair stated laughing, the elderly mare turned to the young mare behind the counter and shouted something in Istallion. When the mare didn’t move she frowned and repeated her sentence in Equestrian. “I said put on a pot of coffee, the good stuff. Didn’t your mother teach you anything.” The elderly mare snapped as the younger mare hurried to the back of the store. “Youngsters.” She huffed “Don’t know anything about their history these days.” She noticed Octavia in the doorway “May I help you with anything dearie?” Vincenza turned around “Oh Octavia good to see you how did your talk with Rarity go?” The elderly mare turned to Vincenza “You know her?” “Si, this is my marefriend Octavia.” “Oh well then welcome, welcome. I take it you’re here to try some authentic Istallion style coffee then.” “Ahhh yes?” Octavia was slightly overwhelmed, Vincenza gave her a slight shove as she directed her to a little booth. Vincenza addressed the elderly mare “Si she’ll take an espresso, if it’s not too much trouble can we take them to go?” “Certamente.” “Grazie Bianca.” As Vincenza sat down Octavia look around “What just happened?” she asked. “You walked into a coffee shop and are now getting coffee, that’s what happened.” “No, earlier you and that old mare were going at it, then all of a sudden your acting like your best of friends.” “That? That was battering, no big deal.” “Battering? You two were shouting at each other.” Vincenza tilted her head to one side and gave Octavia an odd look “And?” Octavia didn’t respond, but simply slammed her face into the table. Vincenza reached over and poked Octavia on the forehead. Octavia looked up into the beaming face her marefriend and slammed her head back onto the table. “Sooo, how did your talk with the girls go Octy?” Octavia picked herself up off the table “Good we’re going to meet the whole gang at one for a little talk.” Vincenza grimaced “This is going to be interesting.” “Relax I am sure things will go fine, they’ll understand they are our friends after all.” “You’re my marefriend of one year and you didn’t take the news to well.” “Well in my defence you didn’t reveal it in the friendliest way possible.” Octavia said with a scowl. Vincenza didn’t reply, instead suddenly finding something incredibly fascinating about the table top. Octavia grinned, it wasn’t often she had something over her marefriend but now that she did she was going to use it. “You know there are things you could do to make to up to me.” The cellist said with a coy wink. Something in her voice made the vampony perk up “Like what?” Octavia leaned over and whispered in to her ear. “Really? Whipped cream, strawberries and a Prench maid outfit, do I have to?” “Did you have to kick that pony through the wall?” “Point taken.” Vincenza replied glumly. Octavia reclined back into her seat with a smile on her face just as Bianca returned with the coffee. “Here you go, would you like anything else?” “No grazie.” “Very well then six bits per favore.” Vincenza smiled as Octavia reached for her bit pouch before realizing that she didn’t have it on her. “Relax I’ve got this one Octy.” Her horn glowed dimly as six bits appeared on the table, Bianca smiled and swept them into her apron and deposited the coffee on the table with a smile before walking over to service another customer. The coffee was in Styrofoam cups, one of the cups had a large ring made out of some cardboard like material attached to it. The ring was manufactured with enchantments to constrict around whatever entered it, and to allow the cup to swivel, thus allowing non unicorns, or ones that were lazy, to hold their drinks whilst on the go. Vincenza levitated her cup and Octavia slipped her hoof into the ring, the runes glowed dimly for brief moment as the ring readjusted its size to comfortably fit the earth pony’s hoof. The pair exited the coffee shop and stopped at a bench to drink their coffee before going into see the mayor. Vincenza quietly sipped on her coffee observing the town energetically thriving around them as various ponies went about their morning business. She cocked her ear to one side “Well this was a good coffee while it lasted.” She sighed. Octavia was raising the cup to her lips when a grey blur came from nowhere and rammed her side on sending her and Vincenza sprawling, their coffee flying away. The three ponies were in a tangled heap on the ground Octavia’s eyes were spinning around as she tried to comprehend how she came to be on the ground. Vincenza quickly untangled herself from the sprawl; she stood up brushing herself off “Hello Ditzy.” She addressed the wall eyed mail mare. The pegasus recovered quickly from her crash. “Good morning…..umm do I know you?” Vincenza simply rolled her eyes “It’s me Vinyl, I’m trying out a new look. By the way nice to hear your voice is back to normal.” Ditzy blinked and fixed one eye ball on in Vincenza, the other was looking at the statue on the fountain. “Hmmm.” She looked her up and down before smiling “It’s nice makes you look like a whole new pony. I won’t ask about the accent you probably have your reasons just like Applejack. Thanks though, Dinky brought home some poison joke that she found, had to wait for Zecora to come through town for a resupply before I could get my voice back to normal…and Dinky to stop glowing blue.” She smiled as she thought about the little unicorn filly running around the house, her coat a very bright neon blue. “Grazie Ditzy, did you have a particular reason to barrel into us or did you stop to say hi?” Vincenza asked not unkindly. Ditzy stared into space for a few seconds whilst she remembered what she was doing, her left eye drifted before snapping back into more or less focus. “That’s right.” She reached into the mail bags she was wearing and pulled out a letter “This was meant to be delivered to your house but I saw you here and decided to personally deliver.” Vincenza took the letter with her magic and gave the mail mare a smile. “Grazie have a good morning Ditzy.” “You to Vinyl, hope Octavia recovers soon.” She flashed Vincenza a smile and shot off into the sky. Vincenza looked over at her prostrate lover. “You okay there?” The mare in question was still lying on the ground, eyes spinning and mumbling something about treble clefs, double notes and metronomes. “Awww your cute when you don’t make sense, you know that Octy.” The unicorn examined the disorientated cellist. Chuckling she leaned down, brought her face close to the mumbling mare…and slapped her across the face. Octavia’s eyes stopped spinning as she glared at the smug unicorn. Standing up, she rubbed her face with her hoof. “Owww… that hurt. What was that for?” Vincenza simply smiled “Got you up didn’t it?” Octavia glared at the mare some more before turning her attention to the letter. “Who’s that for?” Vincenza turned it around in her magic, examining it from all angles. “It’s addressed to me…that’s odd there’s no return address.” She opened the letter and read it, her mouth quickly turned into a frown. “What’s wrong?” Vincenza didn’t reply but simply stared at the paper; Octavia leaned over and read the note. I am coming for you Nightingale Your immortal paramour D “Who’s D Vinyl…Vinyl?” Octavia was being careful to use her partner’s fake name in public as she waved her hoof in front her lovers face to no response. Vincenza just stared at the letter. The edges suddenly started smoking, and soon the whole thing lit on fire, quickly being reduced to ash. Ponies around them backed away or made sure to put some distance between themselves and the unicorn as they made their way past. Vincenza didn’t even reply to Octavia but simply turned in the direction of town hall and started walking.