The almost barren bedroom in the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse was silent, save for two sets of calm breathing. An orange hoof traveled gently through a rainbow mane. The two ponies lay there peacefully in each others' loving embrace. Rainbow Dash's head rested upon the orange earth pony's chest as she slept soundly, with Applejack looking down at her sleeping lover with a fond sparkle in her eye.
She leaned over and placed a kiss on the blue pegasus's head. She stirred slightly but did not wake. Applejack could lay here and hug that pony for hours without ever getting bored. She never would have admitted that a few months ago. The farm pony always looked on love as being a sign of weakness, but now she understood. The feeling of pouring your whole heart out with someone that's willing to do the same filled her with an ecstatic glee. True love. It made her want to draw hearts everywhere, and skip through flowers, not caring what anyone thought, as long as she could be with that special somepony.
Her eyes trailed off and examined the gun that was laying on top of the night table next to her bed. The barrel was still stained with blood from last nights 'snuff'. Her smile turned into an unsure facial expression as she looked at the newspaper next to the revolver. The title on the front page read "Famous Artist Deadpon3y Has Been Murdered, No Suspects"
'That ain't even how you spell 'pony'. What idiot doesn't know how to spell 'pony'? Probably the same idiots that listen to that garbage. All that electic music sounds like nuthen' but noise.' Applejack thought to herself. She cringed every time she recalled the spelling error in the name; It's spelled P-O-N-Y, not P-O-N-E-Y.
There wouldn't be any suspect, ever. With her status in the Apple Family, she was untouchable by the law. Upon Granny Smith's death, she was to be head of the 'family'. Granny Smith had personally ordered the death of Deadpon3y, and the orange mare couldn't understand why. It wasn't unusual for things to be secrets (given the nature of the business), but it was unlike Granny Smith to order a pony killed without giving a good reason. In fact, having ponies killed at all was not common. The only time it was usually done was when that pony had drastically compromised the flow of money, or if they had killed a 'family member'. Deadpon3y was extremely famous, but he was a drug addict and an annoying pony in general. He had generated quite a bit of money for the Sweet Apple record label, as far as Applejack knew. She failed to think of a reason for his death. There was something she was not being told. And she was not going to ask any time soon. It simply wasn't her place to ask.
Her green gaze swept over the body of Rainbow Dash, snuggling tightly to her. She made a game out of attempting to not smile when she looked at the sleeping pony. She always lost. Something about that blue pegasus had a stranglehold on her heart. And she would kill anypony that tried to hurt her little special somepony.
Rainbow Dash was the hitmare for the Apple Family. Usually, if someone needed to be whacked, she would be called. However, Applejack couldn't let her go on this one. She didn't want her going on any, actually. A few months ago, every pony feared Rainbow Dash. All they ever saw was the heartless mobster that killed ponies for a living. One day, she came to Applejack, crying. She confessed to the farm mare how the murdering was affecting her, how she didn't want to take anypony's life anymore, how she was losing her grip on reality. Applejack had never dreamed of seeing the strong pegasus cry in front of anyone. Yet she humbled herself to Applejack and cried on her shoulder. That was when they fell in love; when Rainbow Dash finally opened up her darkest feelings in the most intimate way to a pony that she cared for.
Applejack remembered how they hugged tightly, feeling each others heartbeats, when Rainbow Dash needed someone so desperately just as they hugged now. She was grateful to have Rainbow Dash.
As this thought crossed her mind, a series of ear-shattering explosions that sounded like a very loud motor boat pierced the air. Rainbow Dash shot her head up in confusion; Applejack hauled it down with a hoof and she rolled out of bed, taking the blue pony with her. She tried to scream as loud as she could to tell Rainbow Dash something, but the popping noise was too loud. In a few seconds, as the ponies held each other close together in fear, the wall started to pop. In random areas, the wall would just blow into a tiny hole. Furniture got hit by the incoming bullets.
The walls were torn to pieces while bullets flew through the whole house. Applejack's only thought was 'make sure Dashie is safe'. The sound of bullets flying inches from her was like nothing she had ever heard before. They sounded somewhat like a 'wizz'. The orange mare rolled over so that she was on top of Rainbow Dash, her back facing the front of the house (where the bullets were flying in from). She felt Dash protest and try to get out from under her, but she would not submit. Applejack figured that she would act as a living shield.
Almost as soon as the attack had started, it stopped. Dead silence filled the house. Rainbow Dash looked into Applejack's eyes with a look of confusion mingled with fear. The silence felt unnatural.
Applejack immediately got off of her lover and ran to the night table to grab her pistol. With the gun in hoof, she went to the window and peered out cautiously. The attackers were nowhere to be seen. She pointed the barrel of the gun out of the window and three cracks filled the air. She was aiming at one of the apple trees. At least nopony could say that she didn't get to fire back.
"What the hay just happened?" Applejack turned to see Rainbow Dash looking at her with the same fear/confusion in her blue eyes.
"Somepony decided ta shoot up ma house!"
"Who? The Apple Family hasn't had a war in years! Why would somepony try to kill you?"
"I dunno, but Ah got a funny fellen' that it's got somethen' ta do with that DJ I had to snuff las' night. C'mon, we're gunna go to Granny 'bout this." She gestured with a hoof for her lover to follow her out of the bedroom. Rainbow Dash reluctantly followed without a word.
*****
Vinyl stared into Octavia's eyes as she talked about her work at the Arts Centre. It surprised Vinyl that the the gray mare was enjoying the lunch. She seemed too stiff to be somepony to enjoy anything. Of course, there was never a good first impression. Vinyl had asked one question ("So, you work at the Arts Centre?") and now she had been listening for ten minutes to Octavia's description of her work. Vinyl actually was interested (much to her own surprise) because she could relate to what it's like making it big in the music industry. The restaurant was extremely high-class, and the white DJ dreaded getting the food bill. She sat with a subtle grin as she listened to Octavia's calm though joyful ramblings.
"So how exactly do you even make your, uhh, what's it called? Dubhoof? I have often wondered how such futuristic sounds were made."
"It's called dubstep. And it's made with a turntable and some computers. All computer-generated sounds," she replied, pleased to talk to the pretty pony across from her.
"So, shouldn't that be easy to make?" Vinyl knew the subtle 'you-don't-have-real-talent' comment anywhere. That always annoyed her, because anyone that actually tried to make computer-generated music would find that it's a lot harder then one might think.
"Let's see you try it." Octavia obviously took the hint and did not press the matter.
"So why all this? Why the lunch?" Octavia inquired playfully. She had something on her mind, but Vinyl couldn't figure it out. Vinyl was also surprised at how bright she was now in comparison to the dull and stiff pony she imagined her to be.
"I told you. It's a 'thank you' for the nice nap."
"Is that so? So, if I asked you if you wanted to head off to my living quarters and fool around, how would you respond?" Her eyes looked challengingly at Vinyl. She smirked when she asked the question. Was she serious? Vinyl had no idea what to say in response. It caught her off guard. She stared with a gaped mouth for a few seconds. She secretly hoped that Octavia was seriously asking.
"Well," she began, recollecting herself and speaking as coolly and slickly as she usually did, "I would say, 'lets get the fuck out of here and head to your crib'," she whispered seductively across the table.
"That's nice. Because you're not going to hear me ask that anytime soon." Octavia closed her eyes in clear amusement while her lips curled into a grin. "But now I know how you truly feel."