✴✴✴ Excerpt from Trottingham Times ✴✴✴
=====SERIAL KILLER CAUGHT!=====
At early dawn this morning, another victim of the infamous serial killer was found. But surprisingly enough, so was the serial killer. Not far from the body of the seventh victim was a unicorn mare by the name of Icey Spark. And from the looks of it, she'd been in a fight. When she was found, three of her ribs were cracked, her left hind leg was crushed, her right foreleg broken and there were numerous other blows that had been dealt to her. When questioned what happened, Icey Spark told them that before she could deal the final blow, she'd been intercepted by a strange unicorn mare who'd fought like a demon and ultimately knocked her unconscious. She didn't wake up until that morning when she was found.
At her trail, Icey Spark said that her reasons for committing her heinous crimes was for the sake of a unicorn stallion whom she'd known from afar and that her victims were merely roaches she had to snuff out. According to her testimony, Icey is a very racist unicorn and only viewed other unicorns as worthy rivils. But unfortunately, the stallion she admired had no such qualms and often found mares from other tribes attractive. The Inspector in charge of the case admitted that he found it odd that the only connection he could find between the victims was this stallion, however these connections were shaky at best as only the first victim was actually dating him. The others had only actually expressed some form of interest in him.
As she was being interviewed, it became increasingly obvious that Miss Spark was not in the right mind and her sentence is the Trottingham Asylum. Her seventh victim, Octavia Philharmonic, was a young and gifted earthpony cellist who had performed at the Trottingham Music Hall that night before leaving for home. Of course when he was informed of this, the stallion in question was both horrified and grieved has decided to pay from his own pocket for a funeral for Miss Philharmonic and a memorial service for the other six.
Miss Octavia Philharmonic was born on xx\xx\xx and died xx\x\xx She was preceded by her mother, Silver Belle, her father, Brio Tempo and her sister, Melody Note. May she rest in peace.
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As the funeral proceedings went on, two cloaked forms watched from a far off hill. Any normal pony would have trouble seeing anything from this particular distance, but these were not normal ponies and they could spot every detail from where they were.
"Wow, I'm impressed at the turn out." One of the figures, a mare commented casually. "In fact, I'm actually seeing the families of the last six victims."
"Not very surprising." The taller figure, a stallion, said. "After all, she is the last victim of that mare and since she has no family to attend, they've decided to fill that role for her."
The mare seemed to frown and she was quiet for a bit. "Yeah...family."
The stallion and mare sat in silence for a moment. "You're bothered by this entire thing aren't you?" The stallion asked, though his tone made it more a statement than a question.
"Of course I'm bothered by this entire thing!!!" She exploded at him. "If I'd been there or had just been faster, I could've avoided this whole thing and they wouldn't be burying her right NOW!!! Heck, if I'd have been able to figure it out sooner, I probably could've stopped that mare before she did much!!" With her explosive reaction over, the mare turned away, slumped to the ground and fell silent.
Gently, the stallion laid a hoof on her back. "None of this is your fault you know." He said. "True, we are strong. But we aren't all powerful. Things happen. That's life. It has its ups and downs which are all very important parts of learning and growing. And remember, she isn't gone completely."
The mare flinched slightly at that and turned a head. "Do you that she'll....?" She couldn't even finish the sentence.
"I can't lie and say there won't be any rough patches." The stallion admitted and the mare wilted a little more. "But everything will turn out alright. You'll see."
"It's been years since she last saw me." The mare said quietly. "Years since we last spoke. What if she hates me?"
"She won't hate you." The stallion reassured. "For now however, we've got to go get some rest. Tonight is a big night you know."
"Right. Of course." The mare agreed and stood up. The pair then left the hill and trotted back to a house elsewhere in Trottingham for some much needed rest.
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Octavia stirred slightly and cracked open her eyes. "Mmm, what?" Was the first thing she said when she found herself surrounded by pitch black. "Where am I? And what happened?" She asked groggily as she tried to shift through her recent memory. It was all a blur, but was quickly settling into more solid shapes.
'Hey there, you're up.'
Octavia jumped in surprise at the sudden voice. "Who's there?" She demanded as she tried to scan the darkness for the new voice, but it seemed oddly solid.
'Listen, I know things are a little disorienting right now, but let it all settle in and come back to you.' The female voice told her calmly, if a little casually.
A moment after that, Octavia's most recent memories surfaced. She remembered going home that night then a crazy unicorn mare, a knife stabbing her over and over, her blood pouring out and then a rescuer and a blood red moon. It all hit her like a sack of bricks and she was able to place the voice of the pony that was currently speaking with her.
"You're the pony who helped me out that night." Octavia said. "You saved me."
'Um, yeah. I guess.' The mystery mare said and it could've been Octavia's imagination, but it sounded like there was a note of sadness in her voice.
The earthpony mare went to sit up, only for her to hit her head on something hard. A little confused, she felt around her pitch black space and found herself in a long narrow space exactly her size, lined with satin and with a cushion beneath her head. It didn't take long for Octavia to put two and two together and figure out exactly what she was in.
'So um, this isn't going to very fun and unfortunately we're supposed to be a little quiet so you're going to have to have to let it all out there.'
Octavia didn't reply as she'd then proceeded to panic about the fact that she was currently in a coffin. She screamed and panicked and hit her hoof on the lid, only to find it solidly standing its ground and instead of a hollow knocking, there was a solid thud. This of course served to raise her panic levels several notches.
"I'm in a coffin and I'm BURIED!?" She screamed. "Hello up there!?! Get me out before I suffocate down here!!!"
'Calm down. You aren't going to suffocate. You don't even need to breathe.' The mare told her. 'Heck, given how you've been carrying on and how long it's been since you were first buried, I'd say you ran out of air several minutes ago.'
Octavia paused her banging and found that the mare was right. She wasn't drawing in breath and when she tried, she found there wasn't any air to draw in. This led her to a conclusion that dropped a chunk of ice into her stomach.
"Am I dead?" She asked.
'No. You're just...changed.' Came the reply.
"Changed into what?" Octavia asked and there was silence for a short time.
'I'll tell you later. First, we need to get you out and to our place. Are you done panicking?'
"I...think." Octavia answered shakily.
'Okay, there will be questions that you want to ask and you may feel the urge to panic. Do you think you can hold it all in until we get to where we're going?'
"I think I can try." Octavia said with all the conviction she could muster, which wasn't a lot.
'Good enough for me. Just sit tight and take calming breathes while we get you out.'
"There's no air down here for me to breathe." Octavia pointed out.
'True, but you could go through the motions like there is air.'
"Alright I guess." Octavia said.
It was odd breathing without actually taking in air, but Octavia found it a little soothing given her situation. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she soon heard the sound of hooves scraping against wood and the top half of her coffin opened to reveal a cloaked mare who held out a white hoof. Octavia took the offered hoof and let herself be pulled up and out of the box. Once she was settled on her hooves, she turned to take in her surroundings.
She was definitely in a graveyard with the moon high in the sky and casting its light on the stone markers surrounding her like a forest of dead. She recognized the family plot and she recognized her grandparents and great grandparents graves not far from where she was standing. And not far from there was her mother's grave next to her father's more recent grave. And when she turned back around she could she her sister's grave right beside her own.
A hole had been dug right near the headstone and was already being filled in by a cloaked stallion but she could clearly read the inscription on it in the dark. There was her name, Octavia Philharmonic, carved in beautifully with her birth and death date right beneath it. It was her grave. She didn't say anything or move for a long while. All that existed was her and that piece of stone with her name on it. She was shaken from her stupor when something was dropped onto her back. When she turned to look she saw that a cloak had been thrown across her back and the mare was silently fastening it around her neck.
"I'm so sorry about this." She apologized. "I didn't mean for this to happen and if I could do it all over, then you wouldn't have to go through this."
Octavia didn't say anything. She just let the mare pull the hood over her head and be lead away by the two strangers. She glanced back at her grave, hole now completely filled in like nothing had happened, and kept her eyes on the headstone until it disappeared from her sight.
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By the time Octavia returned her attention to her surroundings, they'd left the graveyard a while back and they were now in a part of town Octavia hadn't been in. They passed by a few who were out on the streets at night, but none of them paid them any attention. Almost like they didn't even see the three cloaked figures. Octavia want to ask, but chose to hold her questions until later. Eventually they arrived at a fairly large, middle class house. The stallion then led the two mares up the stairs and let them in.
The door let them into a large entryway with places to hang coats and hats. The stallion pulled off his cloak to reveal a cream colored earthpony the size of a draft horse with a bright red mane and tail and an apple wrapped in leaves and vines for a cutiemark. As Octavia pulled her hood down, the stallion called out.
"We're back!" He thundered in a deep voice and a beige stallion with a brown mane trotted in. And for some reason, Octavia felt like she'd met this stallion before.
"Welcome back you two." He greeted. "Were there any problems?"
"Nah. Things went smooth as silk." The mare answered. For some odd reason, she'd kept her cloak on and her hood up. "By the time Apple Vine here was done, you couldn't tell that anything had been dug up."
The stallion, now known as Apple Vine only nodded thanks. But before anyone could say anything, there was a sudden shout that made many of the assembled ponies wince at the volume.
"WHERE IS SHE?!!?" There was a rush of wind and a bright yellow pegasus mare with a sky blue mane rushed around the corner and locked her red eyes on Octavia. Then at a speed so fast that that Octavia didn't have a chance to react, the pegasus tackled her and ended up knocking her to the floor.
"A new Coven Sister!" She squealed happily as she began to play with Octavia's face. "And now I'm not the youngest in the house! Yay!! We're going to have so much fun!"
"Um...what??" Octavia mumbled around pinched cheeks as she didn't understand anything that this mare had said. There was the sound of trotting hooves and a unicorn mare rounded the corner that the pegasus had come around, panting.
"Golden Skies, don't do that." The chocolate brown mare huffed out before pushing her pink mane out of her face. "She's a newborn, its too soon for this."
"Sorry, I was just too excited to wait." The pegasus said. "I just had to meet our new Coven Sister as soon as I could." She then turned back to Octavia and helped her back to her hooves. "Hi! You must be Octavia. We've heard a lot about you. I'm Golden Skies and this here is Strawberry Bonbon."
At that moment the unicorn mare that she'd named grabbed her tail and began dragging her back. "I am so very sorry, House Elder." She apologized to the beige stallion with a bow of her head.
"I don't blame you for this, Miss Bonbon." The stallion said. "But perhaps we could speak of this another time."
"Of course sir." Strawberry Bonbon then yanked Golden Skies off her hooves and they both vanished from the room in the blink of an eye.
Octavia stood there confused then turned to the unnamed stallion. "Uh...so what was she talking about?" Was the first question that came from her incredibly taxed mind.
The stallion placed a hoof on his face and sighed as he dragged it down to his muzzle. "Oh this isn't going to be easy." He muttered under his breath. He then addressed the other ponies in the entryway. "Perhaps we could discuss this over a calming cup of tea in the parlor."
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The group settled in seats in the parlor that they'd been led into. Apple Vine had gotten out a teapot with tea and some cups and the unnamed stallion had poured cups enough for them all. Octavia however couldn't get comfortable in the chair she sat in and the other mare had yet to remove her cloak or even sit down. Instead she stood beside Octavia's chair.
"How much cream?" The beige stallion asked.
"About a third cream." Octavia answered, thoroughly weirded out by the familiarity of this, despite this entire situation. The way she was, she felt like she could short out at any moment.
"And sugar?"
"Just two lumps."
When he was done preparing her cup, the stallion passed it to her and settled down to his own. When she was three sips into her drink, the stallion spoke.
"Let's start with introductions." He said. "My name is Steady Remedy. It's a pleasure to meet you Octavia."
"Nice to meet you too Steady Remedy." Octavia said. "I apologize for not properly greeting you, but tonight has been a bit...much."
Steady looked at her sadly. "Indeed it has young one. And I ask that you forgive me for only adding to this already stressful night." He apologized and set his cup down so he could lean forward. "Octavia Philharmonic, you are no longer a pony. You've been changed into a race that is only known in myths and rumours."
Like a curtain had been dropped, Steady Remedy and Apple Vine suddenly changed. They remained earthponies with bright red eyes, but now their pupils had narrowed noticeable, but not in a reptilian way and a pair of sharp fangs protruded from they're mouths, roughly a couple inches long. Octavia dropped her tea and backpedaled into her chair.
"V-vampires!" She cried out. She then turned to the cloaked pony in the room. "Y-you're a vampire?" She asked more like a statement than any sort of question. The mare then pulled her hood down to reveal that she was a white unicorn with a long electric and darker blue mane and red eyes and fangs like the other two. But it wasn't the eyes or fangs that drew Octavia's attention. It was the fact that she could swear she'd seen this mare somewhere before. But the memories were a little fuzzy due to time so she just stared, trying to remember.
The mare then reached over and set a hoof on Octavia's head. "It's been such a long time, Li'l Tavi."
'Li'l Tavi? Nopony's called me that since........?!?'
Octavia's brain then short circuited and crashed catastrophically. When she didn't move or say anything, Melody Note Philharmonic waved a hoof in front of her face.
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After Octavia's mind restarted, she'd gulped down several cups of tea before calming down enough to speak. "You're Melody Note?" She asked. The white unicorn nodded. While Octavia had been shut down, Melody had taken the time to take her cloak off and hang it up at the entryway. When Octavia returned to awareness and got a clear look at the entirety of her, her mental processes threatened to collapse once more. Only when Apple Vine passed her a cup of tea did she calm down a little.
"How are you here?!" Octavia demanded. "You're supposed to be dead!!"
"It's all thanks to the good doctor here." Melody nudged Steady Remedy. "With my permission, he gave me The Bite."
"And...you gave me the bite." Octavia said, connecting the puzzle pieces. It wasn't very hard. Now that she was feeling around, she could feel her own fangs. "I'm a vampire." She said solemnly. In her mind, she depressingly added, 'I'm a monster.'
"Hey! Don't think like that!" Melody Note said firmly and Octavia looked confused and a little alarmed.
"W-what?"
"Ah, first thing you should know is that vampires have some telepathic abilities." Steady Remedy interjected. "Right now you're kind of projecting your thoughts to us."
Octavia gave that a moment to let that sink in, then she screamed. "Whatever happened to privacy!?!" She screamed as she grabbed onto her head.
Melody chuckled. "Don't worry, your mind isn't an open book to everyone." She reassured. "Only your topmost thoughts and only with other vampires within your direct vicinity. Since you're only a Newborn, those topmost thoughts are being projected, but once you've trained a little those thoughts won't be projected as easily. In fact, you'll be able to direct them to specific vampires. How did you think I was talking to you while you were in your coffin? I sure as heck was shouting through six feet of dirt."
Now that Octavia was thinking back, she hadn't heard Melody with her ears. She was hearing her in her head. At that time, Steady Remedy tapped his hoof on the table a couple times to call attention.
"Alright now, that's enough for tonight." He announced. "After just being reborn, Miss. Octavia must be exhausted." When he said that, Octavia found it to be true. She suddenly felt very exhausted. "Tomorrows a very big day and she'll need all the rest she can get. Apple Vine, please lead her up to the spare room. Melody, I'd like to speak with you a moment."
"Yes sir." Melody said with a slight inclination of her head. As Steady Remedy lead Melody Note to a different room, Apple Vine helped Octavia to her hooves and let her lean on him while he took her to where she would be sleeping.
"Apple Vine? Why is tomorrow a big day?" Octavia asked tiredly as they climbed a flight of stairs.
"Tomorrow is Moving Day." Apple Vine answered. "A house of vampires only stays in a town or city for as long as we can before we have to move on to another location. This is because vampires don't age and if we stayed too long, ponies would start getting suspicious. We were considering moving to Canterlot, but since you're a Newborn, we're going to have to return the Coven's safehouse."
"I'm sorry." Octavia mumbled out her apology.
"It's okay. To be honest, I'd been thinking of returning to the safehouse to see some of my friends who're in different houses. So don't go blaming yourself."
"I don't understand why I feel so tired." Octavia said as she leaned on him more and more heavily. "I'm a vampire right? So shouldn't I be tired during the day and active at night?"
"When a pony first turns into a vampire, it takes a lot outta ya." Apple Vine explained. "Not to mention, you're internal clock still hasn't adjusted to the more nocternal hours. Give it time. It'll pass. For now, just rest."
When he said that, Apple Vine opened a door that opened up to the spare room and guided her to the bed. Octavia instantly collapsed onto the mattress and Apple Vine tucked the blankets around her.
"Apple Vine, I'm scared." Octavia whispered before the stallion could leave the room. A single sentence that meant so many things. Apple Vine turned his head to look her in the eye.
"Don't worry young one." Apple Vine said as he laid his huge powerful hoof on her head. "It's always quite the adjustment, but everything will settle into place. I promise you."
The way he said that with such conviction, I made Octavia feel like it was the truth and she quickly feel asleep. Apple Vine then turned and quietly closed the door behind him. At the bottom of the stairs, he paused and turned his head to his right.
"She just went to sleep. You can come out now." He said a little bluntly. After moment's pause, Melody Note slid out of the small alcove beneath the stairs and up to Apple Vine. She was glancing away from the tall earthpony and her mane partially shielded her face.
"How is she?" Melody asked, the statement carrying more weight and implication than one would think.
"You and I both know that the next few months or even years are going to be an adjustment for her." Apple Vine said. Melody's ears dropped and she sat down and rubbed her left foreleg. Her mane also fell forward and almost covered her face.
"I never intended for this to happen." She said quietly. "I thought that she'd grow up, find somepony to love and lead a normal life. But I just couldn't let her die there like that and I just...I just had to save her somehow. And now I've dragged her into this life."
Apple Vine laid a hoof on her shoulder. "You didn't drag her into this life." He said. "You followed our Coven's code and didn't turn her without her permission. She'll adjust just like you and I did and then everything will fall into place. Just give it time. You'll see."
Melody Note sniffed and wiped her nose. "Okay. Do you think that she'll accept me?"
"You're her sister. Of course she'll accept you." Apple Vine said. "Now let's go get ready. We still have things to pack."
Melody Note stood and pushed her mane out of her face. She was starting to feel a bit better. "Yeah okay. Thank you for that Apple."
"Any time Melody." Apple Vine answered.