//------------------------------// // Her Parents // Story: F.R.I.E.N.D.S of Equestria: Party Squad // by ChaseTheChangeling //------------------------------// The room lay in darkness, the basement was her home, the cold concrete ground wrapping her body in pure euphoria as she walked over it. Metal doors held back the secrets that were locked away from the prying eyes of the public. She must never know. Her long arms reached out to the dial pad, it's soft rubber buttons giving in to the pressure of her practiced fingers. She must never know. The door slid open with a hiss, the contents still hid behind yet another door. She must never know. Her legs carried her to the next door, opened by her eye, her deep violet eyes. Placing her head before the scanner, they read her shaking eyes, determining her to be their owner, and giving her access to the dark foreboding room. The secrets that lay behind the door were reviled as the metal door behind her slid shut with another hiss, it didn't bother her anymore. It was a welcoming sound, as was the humming coming from the pipes above her, the echo of her breathing, the sound of her bare feet clapping against the solid cold ground. The sudden switch of texture from the coarse concrete to the smooth metal of her lair welcomed her. Another deep breath as she flicked on a light, the room flickering to life before her. The room was a large one, mostly empty aside from the four glass containers on either side holding her four disguises, the large glass casing in front of her, and a picture on a table that lay beside her travel shuttle, a tube that led to her transport center, leading her to any part of the city she had already installed. There would need to be more stops added to her transporter. If only she could teleport like that White Unicorn, she would never need to use the blasted thing. "You love her so much..." The sweet voice whispered as she continued to move through the room, her hand running over the glass casings, the suits in them hung snugly on the silver mannequins inside. "You would love her to no end... and never know..." She whispered again as her hand pressed in another code on the dial pad beside the glass casing. "How could I ever compete with her?" The case slid open, revealing the costume folded up and clean. "How could a villain compete with your hero? I could only dream of being that amazing... how sweet it would feel to have you love me like that... to feel you love me, to see you smile knowing that I could save the day... but being good doesn't pay for our trips... it doesn't pay for our adventures and food, it doesn't pay our rent... it never will..." With a nimble grace she slipped on the suit, the only thing left was her face... to cover her face and stay hidden from the eyes of the ever growing hatred. "I love you, Vinyl... and this is the only way to show you... that you are my one and only..." the small picture that sat on a table beside her shuttle tube was of Vinyl and her, another event she cherished. A picture of her and Vinyl in front of their house, their house. It was their house to have, to live in, together. Vinyl had said after collage that she wanted them to move in together. She had said that... not Octavia, no she had no guts to say something like that. Oh no, she would have quietly let the DJ slip by, letting her go on with her life, as if they had never met, and quietly sobbed about it. "You have taught me better than that now..." Her olive hands rubbed over the picture as she let a small smile inch over her face. "We'll go to the carnival... I'll take you, and make sure you're happy... forever...." The shuttle tube roared to life as she pressed one more button, letting the picture set back on the table. As it opened, she placed her hand over a small container holding a black mist. She closed her eyes and whispered her chant, having said it hundreds of times before. She could never do this without the mist, the shadow magic in it making it so that she could go about her "job" without the fear of her dejection, without fear of being hurt or hated. It was always after the mist had left that she felt instant guilt. But she managed to keep it quite, that's what she was good at. Keeping quiet. "Oh shadow of the fallen empire... gift me with the power to slay without fear, the power to end all without remorse, and to complete my goal without hesitation..." As she finished, the ink black shadow covered her arm, inching to her face, sweeping it and shrouding it in black, leaving only her mouth and eyes free, her eyes glowing green with a misty purple magic seeping from it's sides like gravity defying tears. Her smile returned, but instead of a sweet loving smile, she bore one of a psychopathic killer, her eyes wide, and pupils the size of pinpricks as she stepped into the shuttle, her coat in hand, and her body concealed with her grey and black one piece leotard. "Oh Vinyl... I'll give you only the best...." her voice hissed as the shuttle closed and took her to the center. ------------------------------------- "Oh yeah! And then they swooped in and BAM! Knocked her right on the ass!" Vinyl shouted as she finished her story. The group around her laughing, all but one young man, his tan face frowned as he leaned into his fist. The group of four sat around a table at the Kazam Arcade, discussing other worldly things, ignored by the children who occupied the place. The four more than adults had planned to meet here, they always had since they met here several years ago. The carpets were never changed, and the pizza was still good, the creepy animatronics danced about on stage, every now and again coming down to play with children and deliver food. Although they had one that did that all the time anyway, Vinyl just guessed it was because a lot of people ordered pizza at once. "I can't believe they don't just detain the damn bitch!" the man said with a scowl. "Come on Neon! You know that they can't just catch her! It takes time to get a villain that big!" Vinyl said as she waved over the large duck animatronic to take their order. It hobbled over with it's overly large grin and dead eyes. "Yeah, and she's like, a biggy!" a pink haired girl said bouncing in her seat. "Pinky is right," Added the cross eyed blond sitting beside Vinyl, "she's pretty big, you can't really just walk up and stop her, especially with that ink ball thing she has." "And they have tried before, remember? The Party Squad got her and tried to detain her, but that black thing on her face starts to go crazy and she blows everybody away, she's too hard to stop and lock up, they'd have to get her while she's 'normal'," Vinyl explained turning to the patiently waiting duck. "We'll have two large pizzas, one with pepperoni and another with... um... what do you guys want?" Neon gave Vinyl a look of confusion. "You're eating a whole pizza by yourself?" He asked the shock growing. "Yeah man, I'm staving. Derpy, you want a muffin don't you?" Vinyl asked the blonde girl sitting to her side. Derpy nodded eagerly. "The muffin cake please, with blueberries and chocolate!" Derpy added. "I guess I'll have that pizza with rainbow sprinkles and whipped cream!" The pink haired girl shouted with her shrill voice. Neon rolled his eyes. "I'll share the pizza with Pinkie..." he said making a shooing motion with his free had, the other still supporting his head. "Thank you for your order," The animatronic said with a jerky head motion, its plastic smile still stuck in place, "I will be back in a moment to give you your food." With that it stood up straight and moved to the counter to receive the food. "Those things still creep me out." Derpy said with a small frown, her eyes looking at both Pinkie and the ceiling. "I want to be one! They look so sweet and cute! Especially that teddy bear one, Fritzo! He's my favorite!" "They look like they would kill you..." Derpy said quietly, hoping that Pinkie wouldn't respond. She didn't, and Derpy was glad for that. "So," Neon spoke up again after pushing some napkins across the table, "what do you mean they could only catch her if she were 'normal'?" "She can't have her shadow thing on," Vinyl said looking elsewhere. "But what if that's like, her power?" Neon retorted. "Neon is right, Vinyl," Pinkie chimed, "if that's her power, they would never be able to stop her!" "I'm sure she doesn't have that as a power, she lives a normal life like the rest of us and the heroes, if that was her power, they would notice and bring her in for questioning." Derpy said flicking a crayon over the pressed wood table. "Yup, there is no way someone would just be walking around with a shadowy face and nobody notice it." Vinyl agreed with a sly smile. "They just aren't trying hard enough, I bet you Bass Trip could stop her all by himself!" Neon said with a cocky grin, only to be greeted by three pairs of confused eyes. "That dupe doesn't even have any powers!" Vinyl said with a laugh, "How is he going to stop her? Grapple hook her to death? Hahahaha!" Neon sat back in his seat and forced a hard breath out through his nose. "He can do anything just as well as the others, he doesn't need super powers!" Vinyl laughed again, wiping away a small tear she had shed during her laughing fit. "Wow, you're good, but um... I'm sorry, he can only do so much." "He can invent things." Neon protested. "He should invent some super powers." Pinkie said quickly trying to hide her grin. Neon grit his teeth and and turned away from the girls. He pushed up from the table and balled his fist, storming out of the arcade with a strong frown. "He's a great hero! You'll see!" Neon shouted before running out of the arcade. The girls sat there in silence, watching as their friend left in a flurry. "We shouldn't have been so mean about it..." Derpy said quietly, "He takes not having powers so strongly, he must hate it." "I can imagine," Vinyl said as the duck returned with their food, "being super smart isn't really a super power, I can't imagine not having the ability to teleport or use my eye lasers..." "And he did build that canon for you..." Pinkie whispered. "We should apologize..." Derpy said taking her muffin cake and looking at it... and the empty seat in front of her. "Maybe another time, for now we have to be vigilant, I have a feeling that octo-bitch will be doing something soon." Vinyl said before shoving a slice of pizza into her mouth. The duck stood at the table looking at them, it's cold eyes just staring awaiting a chance to speak. "Thank you again for coming to the Kazam Arcade, feel free to call me over if there is anything I can do for you..." With that, the duck stood up straight again and walked over to the counter to await another order. The girls ignored the creepy duck and continued to eat in silence. -------------------------------- "Princess Twilight Sparkle, leader of Freedom Ready Inspectors Enforcers and National Diplomacy Security, how may I help you?" "Princess, we have a break in at our local bank!" The voice on the other end of the phone shouted with fear. It was a simple bank teller, his back to the counter he worked at, the sounds of breaking walls and bending metal reached the receiver, as did the sound of petrified people screaming. "I will send my top people over as soon as I can." with a click the woman was off the phone, and the man dropped it, covering his head as he saw an ink black tentacle reach over and land before him, leaving a hole where it stormed down with powerful force. "YOU WILL OBEY ME! I WANT EVERY DAMN PENNY YOU HAVE IN THE SAFE!" The hissing demonic voice shouted as the woman towered over them, carried by the inky tentacles. The man whimpered and turned, reaching for the safe and opening it, producing all of his cash. "P-p-please... d-don't hurt m-me..." The man cried as he handed her the money. The woman came down from her immense height, the tentacles still lifting her just above the ground. "Now what reason would I have to hurt you?" she hissed with an evil grin. "You're helping me out, I think I might just owe you one... I've never been caught, so you have no worries about me being upset with you..." "OH NO YOU DON'T!" came the loud shout of an all too familiar voice. Mistress Stings balled up her fist, turning around to see the White Unicorn and her team, Bass Trip, Filly Second, and Muffin Head, all standing in the hole she had created crashing into the building. "WHITE UNICORN YOU HEFFER! WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME BE!" Mistress shouted before raising a tentacle and slapping the woman to her side. White Unicorn recovered quickly, making a quick hand motion to signal her team to move. Bass Trip nodded reluctantly, grabbing his grappling hook and aiming for the ceiling, as Muffin Head jumped into the air flying to the evil woman's left, leaving Filly Second to dash between a few tentacles, grabbing them as she moved. White Unicorn ran to the right, ignoring her friends as they attempted to tangle Mistress in her own tentacles. "THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO GIVE UP MISTRESS!" White Unicorn shouted before stopping beside the woman as she struggled. Filly Second had grabbed the tentacles and tied them, leaving up to Muffin Head to drag her outside, Bass Trip already having reached the roof. "YOU'LL NEVER STOP ME!" Mistress shouted, a heavy hiss escaping her throat. "That's on you babe..." White Unicorn said with a cocky grin as the woman was dragged out to the street. Bass Trip stood at the roof, his net gun loaded and ready with three separate nets. "READY!" He called from his spot. "FIRE!" White Unicorn shouted as she ran outside. Bass Trip gave an evil smirk. "As you wish... Vinyl..." He whispered. He shot the gun, the three nets zeroing in on Muffin Head, Filly Second, and White Unicorn, leaving Mistress Strings to free herself from her tangled tentacles. "For shadow, these are a real pain in the ass..." Mistress whispered to herself as the magical appendages undid themselves. As she lifted herself on the freed tentacles, she noticed the heroes laying on the ground, struggling with binds holding them in place. "Oh! Did I do that?" Bass Trip asked in mock innocence, "Guess I'll have to stop the Mistress Strings myself!" Bass Trip jumped from the roof and grappled the building behind the Mistress, swinging and aiming his legs to hit her in the face. Mistress Strings laughed and disappeared in a liquid like poof of smoke, appearing behind him and pushing him with a tentacle until he crashed full force into the building. His body hurt, all over, the feeling of sharp pain spiked through his body as he began to fall. White Unicorn grunted as she tried her best to undo her bindings. Soon wriggling enough to loosen the net and sit up. Grabbing her head she looked down at the net and growled. "That stupid good for nothing," She mutter as she focused on the net, no sooner zapping it with a laser of pure red. The net came loose and fell limply at her sides. Standing, and ignoring the rest of her struggling friends, she ran up to Mistress Strings, who was currently leaving with bags of money in hand. "STOP! I'M WARNING YOU! I DON'T WANT TO BE FORCED TO HURT YOU!" White Unicorn hollered after the girl. "Oh! But you won't..." Mistress hissed again, turning slowly to the hero. "What makes you say that?" "Because I've already gotten away clean..." Mistress reached in her coat pocket with a free tentacle and retrieved a small black ball. White Unicorn scowled. This was the part where she would throw the ball, the smoke would appear, and Mistress would be gone. "WHY DON'T YOU FIGHT ME LIKE A REAL WOMAN?!" White Unicorn shouted with sheer anger. "I wouldn't want to hurt you too badly my dear..." "LIKELY STORY, YOU'RE JUST A COWARD!" White Unicorn retorted crossing her arms. Without a chance to react, a tentacle grabbed the hero and lifted her to Mistress Strings' face withing mere seconds, her arms bound to her sides and unable to move. The Party Squad gasped as they watched their friend being grabbed by the evil woman. White Unicorn frowned as she was brought face to face with her enemy. Her eyes glowing green, the seeping purple magic now obvious to the hero. Mistress' smile fell as she grew near, her eyes holding a look of death. "I am no coward... what I do is an act of love..." Mistress whispered to the White Unicorn, "I doubt you even know just how much I even envy you... I wouldn't dare put a scratch on your face lest I cause your fanbase to crumble into tears...." White Unicorn growled, her eyes leaking their ever present luminescent red glow, a sign that she was building her laser powers. "If you envy me so much, why don't you just become a hero?" White Unicorn hissed back between gritted teeth. "It's a little late for that now, isn't it? Besides... Being good doesn't pay the rent...." With that Mistress flung the woman down the street, knowing full well that she would just teleport to safety as she normally did, however, that would have to wait, as White Unicorn unleashed a powerful laser beam to scorch the woman. Mistress had barely begun to turn around to leave when she saw the beam and hardly dodged it. Her right hand catching the aggressive shot, burning her and causing her to scream in a blood curdling tone. She threw the ink ball down and shrouded the area in smoke once more. White Unicorn teleported to the spot she was thrown from and looked around, her friends having undone themselves from the nets finally and walking to their friend. "What was that all about?" Muffin head asked floating over. Filly Second zoomed over as well, about to speak before seeing that White Unicorn was looking down at something on the ground. "What's that?" Filly second finally asked as White Unicorn knelt down to pick it up. "Looks like the shell of the ink ball she threw down... and a playing bow, she must have dropped it when she was hit." White Unicorn looked over the bow closely, it was red wood, with blonde horse hair. The engraving on the back said: "Courtesy of the Philharmonics Company" "What does that mean?" Muffin Head asked running her hand over the bow. "I don't know.. but this looks like a job for a detective..." White Unicorn nodded to her friends in the direction of the collapsed Bass Trip. His body laying limply on a pile of ruble. "And we're gonna have to talk to our buddy over there during our next hero summit." ------------------- Octavia's whimpering cries echoed through the hollow hallways leading to her lab. The metal walls providing little comfort to her pain. The shadow fell from her face as tears ran down it, the magic leaving her to her pain. The money fell from the shuttle onto the floor, she kicked it out and let her coat drop to the ground. She would put it away later, but now was not the time. She cried again, the sobs only growing as she held her now bleeding hand, the blood cooling the burn. There was no feeling, it was numb, her hand was gone for her now, nothing could be done but to wrap it and place ice on it. How would she explain this burn to Vinyl? Would she believe her? Octavia only prayed that she could hide it. "I could tell her I put my hand on the stove." Octavia reasoned as the tears continued to roll down her dusty clothes. "I need to shower, then I can run it under water, and I'll out ointment on it... it will be just fine... I'll tell her I visited my parents... and it will be fine... just... just fine...."