Berry was wandering through her house as she usually did on weekday afternoons. It was nearing the end of the week and still Sound Ray had not come to her about what he wanted to talk about. It hadn't really bothered her at first, but she knew how hesitant men could be about those types of issues. All of it was both exhausting and left her with a feeling of dread the more that this was going on. She had to agreed to 'make' him talk by Saturday if he hadn't told her by then... and today was Friday.
It was these types of issues that made her feel like having a drink. This would normally be a huge problem had she and Sound Ray not gotten rid of most of her alcohol and left her with only a few bottles. Most of which, she already drank and now she was in her kitchen trying to find a bottle deep inside her fridge.
Come on... I know I had a bottle somewhere in here still. She had already been through her cabinets and her pantry, therefore the fridge was her only hope of stress relief. Berry continued to look behind food containers to find something. When she was just about to give up, she felt her hoof lightly connect with a glass object. Found you.
She took the bottle out of the fridge to look at it in the light. It was relatively large and had a very dark coloration to it. Being of the industry she knew that the color was actually a dark shade of green and the amount was about... ten gills... US. Berry didn't recall ever coming into contact with the bottle so it was probably left there by Sound Ray.
"Another secret of Sound Ray's I'm guessing?" Berry smirked and uncorked the bottle. "Here's to the secrets of Stallions."
Berry put the bottle up to her lips and took a small swig, not wanting to drink all of her coltfriend's booze. However; when the liquid met her tongue she tasted a foul, metallic taste that should never have come from a bottle of alcohol. Berry quickly spat out the foul liquid and looked back at the bottle.
I didn't just find another one of his secrets. Berry put the cork back into the bottle and set it down on the table. She sat just across it, with a good view of the door; a visible bewilderment on her face. No... I just found the secret that he was going to tell me about.
~~~
As Sound Ray slowly made his way home he contemplated many things. Many of those were how to reach out to the townsfolk; but the most persistent thought was how he was going to tell Berry about his secret. Not many normal ponies knew about his secret and he wanted to keep it that way. Since he wanted to stay with Berry for the foreseeable future, he would need to tell her. Hopefully she wouldn't hate him for it.
When the door came into sight he stopped for a second. It has to be today... you know you won't tell her if it isn't today. Sound Ray kept a very slow pace up to the door, trying to compose himself for the inevitable.
He grabbed the knob and twisted it open, stepping into the dark entry hallway. Odd, Berry usually turns on some lights. With his curiosity now taking over he began to call to her.
"Berry..." No reply. "I'm home." Still no reply.
This made Sound Ray begin to worry about Berry. She was usually bounding to the hallway and welcoming him home from a day of trying to reach out to the locals. Something was obviously wrong and he needed to get to the bottom of it.
Sound Ray saw how the light in the kitchen was on and decided that was probably the best place to investigate where Berry was. Through the doorway he caught sight of the kitchen table, which still lay as it was. However, on the other side of the table was Berry Punch, sitting with her head down and concealed behind her hair. Sound Ray was about to ask her what was wrong when he saw the bottle that lay in front of her.
The bottle lay uncorked in front of Berry, with a splatter of the liquid dried across the table. Sound Ray should have known that if he put it off for this long then she would discover it for herself; but it was too late. He was absolutely speechless and could only watch as Berry looked up to address him.
"I assume that this is what you want to talk about?" Berry sounded angry, but wore a very somber expression on her face.
"That would be correct." Berry looked upon Sound Ray and waited for him to continue, but to no avail.
"So you've been lying to me this entire time, Ray?" Berry asked him, hoping for a quick response.
"It isn't lying, I simply haven't told you yet." This made Berry furious.
"Well when, huh!?" Berry was at the end of her patience. "When were you planning on telling me that you drank the blood of ponies!?"
Sound Ray dug inside himself for a way to explain himself. It was not only his secret, but that of his entire race of ponies. He hung his head in defeat.
"Berry... I came home tonight with the intent to tell you. I was afraid that this would happen, but not afraid enough." He brought his head back up. "So I tell you now, I have to drink blood and other types of citrus fruits to account for my natural inability to produce enough iron in my blood."
A tear fell from Berry's eye, visible to both of them and explaining much of her sorrow. She felt many emotions brewing inside of her; to which many escaped through the slow stream of tears falling from her eyes. Berry was very distraught, but she still had questions that needed to be answered.
"Celestia's sake Ray, who's blood is this?" Berry didn't wait for his response. "Is it... mine?"
Sound Ray's eyes opened wide when she asked that. "Oh no Berry... I would never do such a thing to you."
Sound Ray moved closer to the table and began to answer the other part of her question. "It's actually a monthly ration from a blood bank in Canterlot. Since they get a huge surplus constantly, they send some to some of my race."
Berry felt relieved. Even if she still had questions, she felt much better letting him explain himself. She now sat more relaxed in the chair opposite from Ray, who was standing at the other side of the table, ready to continue. He rubbed a hoof over one of his legs and averted his gaze.
"Berry, the process of taking blood directly from a pony is very... intimate." He paused a second and put both hooves on the ground. "It may be told as a gruesome process in horror stories, but it is actually alot more resembling towards... sex."
Berry felt a slight shock about that fact, but kept it to herself. Now she felt as though he was being a different kind of reserved towards her. After all, he hadn't drunk from her, so at least he wanted to take his time with something. A very faint smile started to creep back on her face, but not on Sound Ray's, he still had more to discuss with her.
"Now that you know that, you can imagine what forcefully taking blood from a pony resembles." Berry considered it for a moment and a look of worry came across her face.
"So... it's like." Berry tried to let the word escape from her throat."...rape?"
Sound Ray cringed at the word, and he put his head back down. "That would be correct."
Berry now needed to ask him another question. "Have you ever... done that to a pony?"
Tears began to fall openly from Sound Ray's eyes. He looked at her, letting her know the answer, but he knew he was going to have to explain further.
"B-berry I've... done many things that I am especially not proud of." He let out a sob before continuing. "When I was a guard, one of my best friends was nearly killed and the assailant fled... I saw my chance to catch whoever it was."
Berry could only look on in shock and horror. It was as if much of her safe and secure world was crashing in around her.
~~~
It was a cold and rainy night in Canterlot. Almost 11:30 at night and still the city was bustling with activity. No it wasn't the normal activity that a city might get, but that activity of a great chase of guards after an unknown assailant.
Her name was Silver Tongue, and she had just made an attempt at murdering somepony who had witnessed her murder somepony two months ago. Coincidentally, the pony she killed was also a witness to a theft she was committing. Not only had she failed, but she had alerted the guards that were stationed nearby. They had chased her relentlessly for the better half of an hour before losing track of her in the rail yard just outside of the city. Ducking behind a nearby boxcar, she halted to make sure that the guards had stopped chasing her.
Seeing no pony in sight she slowed her pace to a slow walk through two trains that were stopped for the night. Unknowingly, she happened upon a dead end. Both the trains were acting as walls on either side of her and an ending boxcar to a third was trapping her within the makeshift alleyway. Usually she would just teleport herself away, but she had no more stamina to attempt a long-distance teleport.
Silver Tongue put a hoof on the ending boxcar and gave herself a minute to breath before she would head back in the direction of home. She pulled her head back up and turned around. That was when a shadowy figure flew down quickly from atop the boxcar and tackled her. Silver tried to push the figure off, but not before it slipped something on her horn. Immediately after, the figure got off her and cornered her in the alley.
"It's been a long time Silver Tongue, I assume you've been doing well?" The figure's baritone voice asked her in a dry and sarcastic tone.
"I remember you, you're one of those guards that has been chasing me." Silver Tongue inquired and moved back from the figure.
"Why yes, yes I am." The figure walked out to show that he was one of the white Pegasi guards, wearing a darker shade of golden armor. "Not only was I nearby, but I was the guard that caught you in the act."
Silver Tongue felt a chill run up her spine. She quickly tried to pick up something in her magic to throw at him; only to feel a sharp pain jolt through her head. Her head then fell lower in reflex to the pain. She then knew that He had slipped a magic prevention ring on her horn when he tackled her.
"I wouldn't keep doing that if I were you. The pain only gets worse the more you try." The guard chuckled slightly and moved in closer to her.
Silver Tongue moved back further to get away from the guard. "Fine, you caught me." She held out her hooves for him to cuff her. "I guess you get to take me in after all."
Silver Tongue smiled slightly. No, she wasn't going to let him take her in, she was going to trick him into thinking she would. Then she would use he new close proximity to attack and escape to where she could take the ring off.
"Oh no, I'm not here to just take you in." A full smile appeared on the guards face. "I'm here to make sure you can never hurt another pony again."
He blinked and when his eyes opened again, they were different. Silver Tongue quickly scampered back to get away from those eyes, only to run into the ending boxcar. The guard now looked at her fully. He put a hoof on the insignia at the front of his armor and flipped it to reveal a teal eye with a slitted pupil, just like his eyes.
Almost instantaneously his armor changed from a dark shade of gold to a complete black with gold inlay. Then his armor shifted shape into a more sinister and intimidating look. His body changed from an authoritarian white to a very deep blue, his normal Pegasus wings turned into those of a bat and his ears grew longer with tufts of fur hanging from the top of them. By then Silver Tongue had also seen his fangs appear from under his upper lip, and she was terrified.
"Normally no pony would see me like this, but I feel you deserve to at least know this." The figure's smile was more maniacal and resembled that of a mad pony.
"Please don't hurt me." Silver Tongue begged him, still hoping that he would see reason and not do her harm. "I have money, I can pay you to just take me in and not hurt me."
The nightmare-ish guard's maniacal smile now turned into a look of great anger. "And you think that you can talk your way out of this situation! No! You are far beyond the reach of money and words!!"
Silver Tongue now slumped down and put up her front hooves to keep the guard away from her. She didn't know what he was going to do, which made it that much more frightening. He moved in closer to her and she let herself attack him. This was however, to no avail and he caught both of her front hooves and pinned them to the boxcar with his own. She was now beyond any level of scared she had ever felt before.
"When this happens, I want you to remember all of those ponies you hurt." The guard brought his mouth to the side of her face where he whispered into her ear. "And remember that if you ever try and hurt another pony... then Sound Ray will be back to handle you again."
Silver Tongue now felt a very sharp pain in the side of her neck. It didn't stop there though, it coursed through her body and wouldn't let up. As the process continued she felt the pain become much, much, worse. It caused her body to seize up and her movements to all turn into one single jerking motion that ran through her whole body. It was more pain than she had ever felt before and wasn't letting up.
Then the pain began to lessen and everything around her became the same numb image that closed in around her. Once the pain started to subside she felt something almost sexual involved in the process. That feeling quickly fell to the new hallucinations of the monster that had attached itself to her neck. The visions were altogether some of the scariest things she had ever seen.
The visions of the guard came to visions of all the ponies that she had done harm to. Nothing had been more frightening to her than the realization of just what she had done to others. She begged and pleaded it to end and as soon as it started, it all stopped. Silver Tongue was now back in the rail yard, unable to move from her comatose-like state. Everything felt cold and detached. When she felt herself falling unconscious; she welcomed it and fell to her dreams.
Now standing above the now unconscious Silver Tongue was the vilified Sound Ray. On one hoof, he had just confronted and punished a murderer and a thief. On the other hoof though, he had done something unforgivably awful. Thestrals were expected to pursue prey and get blood, but only in the worst of circumstances. A tear rolled down his face, followed by another, then another and then the floodgates opened and tears poured freely.
Sound Ray picked up Silver Tongue and flew off. Even if he had dealt her punishment, he still had a job to do and would have to turn her in to the rest of the guard. For a minute he pondered whether he should change back into his disguise, but decided to leave himself as he was naturally. Ponies had a right to know what he had done and he would let them know.
He looked back down at the pony he was carrying. She'll never be the same pony, he thought to himself. Even if recovery for what he had done was quick, she would be changed psychologically. Maybe it would help reform her, but when she got out of prison in twenty or so years, she would still probably live in fear of him. It was the opposite of what he wanted.
"Maybe if people really want to see a monster, then I'll give them a monster." Sound Ray gritted his teeth after saying that. He hated the idea of being a monster, but if it was necessary for him to be a monster then he would be a monster.
~~~
Sound Ray was now lying on Berry Punch's floor and crying his eyes out. He had told her the entire story of the night he confronted Silver Tongue and forcefully drunk her blood. It was a story he had recounted only to a few other ponies and every time ended up wanting them to just kill him on the spot. He now expected Berry to kick him out of her house or to have him chased out of town by an angry riot.
Berry Punch on the other hand sat just above him. She had very mixed feelings about what Sound Ray had just told her. It was scary to think that he could do such a thing to her, but at the same time, the only pony he had forcefully taken blood from had murdered one pony and attempted to kill another. She laid down next to Sound Ray and put a hoof over his shoulder, much to the surprise of Sound Ray.
"Berry... w-what I d-did that night... " Sound Ray put a hoof up to his mouth to keep him from making himself throw up. "W-was unforgivable."
"Don't get me wrong Ray, I also think that what you did that night was bad." Berry tightened her grip on Sound Ray. "But you know it was wrong and you understand that you shouldn't have done that."
Sound Ray didn't know how to respond to what Berry said. Berry was being understanding and open to view his side of things.
"I try and live by and expression Berry. It was once said by a wise pony that all ponies are created good, but are corrupted and made bad by society." Sound Ray looked to Berry. "That night I didn't live by that expression in the least bit."
While it was true that what he had done was bad, Berry also saw something else. If Sound Ray had been understanding towards her and her problems then she was going to be just as, if not more understanding and helpful to him.
"You know I could have just grabbed a knife one day and killed my sister?" Sound Ray shot a very confused look at Berry. "Or I could have tied you to the bed one night and had my way with you in the morning."
Now it was Sound Ray's turn to pull more out of Berry's grasp. "What does that have to do with anything."
"It means that all ponies are capable of doing horrible things to other ponies, but we don't." Berry for the first time all day had at least a trace of a smile on her face. "I think that just because you gave in to that natural ability to do harm to a pony that had already done something bad doesn't make you a monster."
Sound Ray was relieved that Berry had thought that, but that didn't mean that he thought it was okay. "Berry, It may have been a natural instinct, but I still did somthing awful to a pony and that in and of itself is terrible."
Berry was not about to let her Sound Ray ruin himself. "Ray, what you did may be frowned upon, but you genuinely changed a pony's life. And I think that when she gets out of prison, she'll thank you for showing her what she had done wrong."
"Berry-"
She interrupted him. "I understand now why you hesitated to tell me about your secret, but you don't have to worry. I still love you and to me you'll never be a monster from your past, but a loving pony from the present."
Sound Ray was beside himself. He had never bothered to see what he had done from any other point of view than to make himself out to be a monster. All his worries of telling Berry secrets had faded. He still thought what he had done was bad, but he saw why Berry had and now that he thought of it every other pony who he had told the story to as something that was forgivable.
"Now that we've got that out of the way, I want to hear about how showing up at the guard station as your normal self went over?" Berry asked Sound Ray and then thought of another question. "I also want to know what other ponies thought of what you did that night?"
Sound Ray hadn't really thought too much about it, but now that he had he saw that most ponies had come to Berry's conclusion. "When I got there most of the guards didn't recognize me, but once they did, they quickly came to terms with my looks. And I think that all the ponies, even my mother who had known about the significance of what I did came to your conclusion about what I did."
"I guess I can see where you all come from, but I still feel very, very wrong about what I did that night." Sound Ray felt then he had alot of the burden taken from him, but it all depended to what Berry thought of him in the end.
"Ray I want you to know that no matter what I will always take a second look at things because of you." Berry now kissed Sound Ray deeply.
All was beginning to feel right again to Sound Ray but he still had to know one thing. After breaking off the kiss he decided to ask her. "Berry, can you promise to keep that whole story between us? I don't mind you telling them about the fact that I drink blood, but please keep the forceful part of it out of there."
Berry felt already that she needed to keep it a secret, so it wasn't hard for her to make up her mind. "Okay Ray, I promise."
For a while after their conversation they just held each other. Sound Ray and Berry Punch had been through every challenge thrown their way and they had made it through them all so far. They both had found that they both had an uncanny ability to understand each other and felt that they were both meant for each other because of that. Sound Ray had been through so much in life before he met Berry, but now, he felt everything was going to get better for once.