Music of the Night

by Bakmah Genesis

A Late Dinner

The Medical Wing in Haven was one of the worst places Octavia had ever stepped foot in. It wasn't because of how it worked or looked, but because of the smell. The sanitary smell of hospitals were bad enough for a pony, but worse when you are a Vampony with powerful scent intake.

Fluttershy had a look of disgust on her face as she scrunched up her muzzle. The two Vamponies and Berry sat outside one of the hospital rooms, listening as Vinyl's screams echoed through the halls.

"Is turning into a werewolf that painful?" Asked Octavia, her ears flicking in annoyance. Berry nodded with a sigh.

"It is. So is turning into a Vampony." said the mare as she fondled with the stock of her shotgun.

"It is? I didn't feel a thing."

"Thats because you were nearly dead when I turned you. Trust me when I say it hurts." said Fluttershy with a grimace. "But getting ripped apart hurts more, so you have the bigger balls than all of us."

"Glad to know almost getting killed got me some recognition." deadpanned the earth pony. Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

"It's a good thing to be popular when you start out, because if you grow up to the expectation, you have more people willing to fight for you."

"I'm not fond of ponies throwing their lives away to for me." said Octavia, squirming in her seat. Fluttershy sighed.

"Ponies always have thrown away their lives for you. And not just Haven." Fluttershy put her head against the wall. "Everyone dies for someone, we just die in different ways. Some die in battle, some die by doing what they believe they is right. Some do the equivalent of dying to protect someone. It is what we do, even Vamponies if we have loved ones still alive. We may reside in the dark and drink blood, but we still have a heart in the metaphorical and physical senses."

"Do you have someone to die for, Flutters?" Asked Octavia curiously. Fluttershy froze before shaking her head and smiling at her.

"Of course I do. I'm not some lonely low life, Tavi. I have friends and my parents are still alive, same with my sister."

"You have a sister?" Octavia asked, not really having known that much about the mare who had saved her life.

"I do. She is more well known than I am even though I'm older." She shook her head. "Poor girl still wants to be a Wonderbolt even though she has an extreme advantage now that I changed her. She always says she is 'too cool' to cheat and would slow down. She obviously forgot how much she loves to push herself." Fluttershy sighed. "Rainbow Dash can be such an idiot sometimes. You have any family, Tavi? Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, Grandmother, Grandfather, Brother, Sister?"

Octavia shifted. "No, not really. I am an only child and my parents died when I was young. I had a cousin but I lost contact a long time ago.

"I see." Fluttershy stretched. "Well, come on, Tavi. I need to get you acquainted with that gun there so you don't think anything is dead when it isn't." Fluttershy waved for Octavia to follow her as she stood up and started walking down the hall. Octavia waved goodbye to Berry before running after her master.

"Shouldn't we have stayed and comfort Berry? I don't think she is taking her marefriend becoming a werewolf well." said Octavia as she came up next to the Pegasus.

Fluttershy shook her head. "Berry is a strong one, and she knows that she has to stay strong for her marefriend." The Vampony looked back to the mulberry earth pony, the mare rubbing her temples as she waited. "It's something she has to do." She shook her head. "Now come on, let's get you shooting shit."

The two mares stood in one of the stalls of the large shooting range. Octavia sat back and fiddled with the gun in her hands as she watched Fluttershy put up a pony shaped target on the track. Once it was secure, she hit the button on the side and sent it out, putting on her earmuffs as she walked over to Octavia.

"Alright," started the mare as she grabbed her by the shoulder, bring her closer to the shelf in the stall. "The idea is simple, there are three vital spots on all underworld creatures. The head, the heart, and the neck if you are a good sharp shooter. Thing is, neck doesn't work half the time, so stick with head and heart.

"Vamponies are durable to head shots. It will slow them down, but won't kill them. For werewolves, anything goes." Fluttershy pointed out to the target. "Try to shoot it mostly in the area of the heart and head. Shoot till the clip is out."

Octavia looked at the gun in her hands uncertainly before lifting it and pointing it at her target. she gulped before steadying her breathing, focusing her aim at the head of her target before thinking better of it and aiming for it’s chest.

Pulling the trigger rapidly, firing a barrage of shots at the cardboard target. Each shot shook her whole body. Within a few seconds, the sound of metallic clicking reached her ears, telling her that it was empty. She blinked before slowly setting down the gun on the counter.

Fluttershy shook her head before slamming her palm on the button, causing the target to come back. "Your pose was good, so was your breathing... when you started," said the mare as the target came to a stop before them. Examining it, Octavia found that she hit major points only twice, the rest of her shots seemed far over on the chest or a few on the abdomen. "It's like after the first few shots, you gave up aiming."

"It's not my fault that thing is so difficult to use." Octavia crossed her arms with a pout. Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

‘It’s not my fault you act as though the damn thing will bite you in the ass if you pull the trigger.” She took the gun away from the younger mare, replacing the clip. “This time, don’t focus on the gun, but rather you target. Imagine something or someone nasty that you would love doing away with. From there, it is all about pulling the trigger, but not breaking that concentration.

Taking the gun in her hands, Octavia watched a new target traverse down the range. Once it came to a halt, the vampony took a deep breath as she steadied her aim. The target quickly became the figure of Fredric. Taking her aim, Octavia pulled the trigger. With each pull, she hit her mark, four in head and four in the heart cavity.

“Someone took my advice.” commented Fluttershy, bring back the target. “Of course, there won’t be time to pause in an actual fight, but you’ll adapt as you go. Now come on, I think we have a long overdue dinner to get to.

Of all the places that Octavia thought her master would bring her for patrol, a fancy, upper-class restaurant was not one of them.

Fluttershy had brought them to one of the tables next to a window, giving them a view of the streets and the gorgeous interior of the restaurant. The ponies around them seemed to be dressed in high fashion as if they just got back from a gala, Octavia felt odd sitting there in shorts and tank top with her master in her red trench coat.

“Master,” said Octavia, blushing at all the looks they were getting. “Are you sure that a restaurant in upper Canterlot is the right place to look for underworld creatures?”

Fluttershy put down her menu with a sigh, looking around for the waiter. “You’ll soon figure this out that vamponies and werewolves love to hide in places where they are less liking to be found, as ponies no one would expect would want to bite your head off.” The vampony chuckled. “I’m pretending to be on vacation right now, but I actually run a small vet in the outskirts of Ponyville. Put on the nice shy and kind routine.”

“So, kinda like Fredric?” asked Octavia.

“Eeyup. Would you believe that your highclass friend and fello musician actually tears apart helpless ponies at night for fun? Course not. Most ponies think that you’ll find more vamponies and werewolves in the slums than in condos, but it is the opposite.”

“For example, three out of our nine nobles of the Equestrian Board are actually Vamponies. Those three make up the four members of Haven’s Board of Leadership, Princess Luna being the fourth and high ruling member. Now, who would expect that our very country is ran by a vampony? Hell, they started the blood drive just to feed us vamponies who know better.”

“Wait, blood drives only started within the last three decades, even then they were cruel and barely passed saftey laws. How could the princesses create the blood drive if she was banished the last thousands of years?” Fluttershy laughed as she saw the waiter on his way to their table.

“Who said Celestia was a pony?” The vampony turned just as the waiter approached them. After placing their orders, the two lapsed back into silence.

“You mean, we’ve been ruled by a vampony the entire time?” asked Octavia, still trying to grasp what she was being told.

“A werewolf variant, actually.” said Fluttershy, taking a sip from the wine the waiter brought over. “There are two kinds of werewolves. There are your common creeps like Fredric and what Vinyl turned into, and then we have the Alphas.

“Alpha’s are larger than your average werewolf by twice the size. You usually turn into an Alpha after showing your dominance over your pack at the time. Rumor has it, that Celestia turned into an Alpha shortly after the defeat of Sombra. Their powers are stronger and they are not to be messed with unless you got some serious balls.”

“But the point still stands that we are ruled by the underworld. Has it really grown that large?” asked Octavia, glancing around. Almost half of the restaurant was either a werewolf or vampony. She also noticed that the werewolves ate meat heavy meals while she could smell the overwhelming scent of blood coming from the tables which seated vamponies.

“The underworld is massive, and the populations of both vamponies and werewolves are larger than any other race on this planet. So, in reality, you are a member of a secret superpower.” said Fluttershy, calmly drinking her wine. “But in all respects, it’s pretty bad ass.”