All characters either belong to Hasbro and the Hub or to the Brony fan base as a whole, with the exception to OC ponies, who belong to their respective owners. Enjoy!
-Arts
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Chapter 2:
Trust
Vinyl woke with a start. Cold sweat coated her fur. She could see Octavia looking worried at her, apparently awoken by her friend’s dream as much as Vinyl was.
“It’s okay now, Vinyl, it’s over, you’re fine,” assured Octavia. Vinyl was still breathing heavily. “Did you have a bad dream?” asked Octavia.
“Yeah, ‘Tavi, the same one,” confirmed Vinyl. She then realized, with a blush, that the two were still embracing. “Um, ‘Tavi?” she tried.
“Yes, Vinyl?” asked Octavia.
“Uh, you’re still hugging me.”
“Oh, um, sorry.” Octavia let go and got up onto her hooves. “It was, well, warm.”
“Thanks?” giggled Vinyl in her usual hotheaded manner as she stood and stretched.
The two partners ate a breakfast of canned food and made their way down the road, costumes re-dawned. After a few minutes, they found a hill where, at the peak, they could see far into the distance. They spotted a farm and realized they were probably near a small town of some sort.
“Finally, I desperately need some contacts. I’ve been aching to get out of this hood for ages,” Octavia commented.
“You’ve only had to wear it for, like, the last two days, at best,” shot back Vinyl.
“Just because I don’t have sunglasses like you…” Octavia glared back. Her friend gave her a goofy look, and they continued on their way.
Sure enough, the two began to notice a group of straw and wood buildings on the horizon. These homes weren’t as impressive as the ancient buildings of the city they were in, of course; it was just a simple town. They reached the village and examined the homes and small offices around them. Most of these buildings never reached three stories off the ground. But there was a humble feel to the town, almost making the two travelers feel welcome.
Almost.
The feeling around the town was eerie. Sure, everypony was talking and conversing, but it was completely dull. Nothing resembling a note came from anywhere, and to ensure this, the town was watched.
Guards were still flying around, like in any city they'd ever been to, keeping an eye on the populace. 'To uphold the law' was their technical job, but what they really did was bully anypony they felt like and intimidate submission into anypony even slightly defiant. Not to mention, capture whoever they even suspect to be or to be working with somepony with colorful eyes.
A town without music is always a sad sight, even with no musical village for Vinyl to compare it to. When the clock changes hours, no bell rings its simple song. Wedding bells don't hang above the town hall. The ponies look bored no matter who they're talking to or what their talking about. Laughs feel half-hearted, smiles never wrinkle the cheeks. But the civilians themselves were unaware of their loss; the only reason Vinyl knew was because of her time with Octavia, truly laughing and talking whenever they could. These ponies unknowingly push away what very well could save them.
The two runaways wandered around, avoiding guards, and found their way into the town square. Stalls were set up, their tables full of merchandise to sell. The pair looked around for a second-hand stall, but most of the tables set up contained food items.
After wandering around, the two sat down on a bench and compared what stalls were selling what, and what they could spend their few, precious bits on. They couldn't find anything to comfort their travels (like a tarp to wrap themselves in) so no makeshift sleeping bags for awhile. They couldn't seem to find anypony selling eyewear or contacts for Octavia to wear, either, which worried the partners much more.
The tables began to pack up as the lunch rush subsided, storing their items for another day. The square quickly thinned out and became much more open, allowing the two friends a better view of the city. The ground was paved in brick in the square and dirt roads covered the areas between the houses. A tall tower, uncharacteristic for the town of hay homes, stood proud in the center of the square. A sign above the doorway proclaimed "Ponyville Town Hall".
"Looks like we'll be staying in 'Ponyville'," said Vinyl.
"Where do you think they'll need workers?" asked Octavia.
"First things first," reminded Octavia, "we have to find you your contacts."
So the two took another look around. One stall was left, the owner apparently asleep with his head laid sideways on the table. The square was nearly deserted, minus some random ponies milling about. The two got up and walked into the town hall to find a map. They actually got lucky and found a map of the land around Ponyville, too, and for free. The last map they got, which Vinyl lost while they were escaping from their most recent city, had cost them three bits. These maps were, however, just sitting on a rack by the information center. The hall was eerily quiet, though. Maybe it was closed for the day?
The two left the building and sat down with their two new maps. On the surrounding area map, they realized they were decently close to Canterlot, a city they both would want to avoid. Checking the Ponyville map, they found the Apple Tree Inn and marked its location for later. They couldn't spot any kind of general convenience store, minus the shop that apparently sold only quills and sofas. The square was completely empty at this point, all but the stallion still asleep at his stall, so there was no one to ask but him.
"Should we just... split up and look for the store?" asked Octavia hopefully, her face still covered in her hood. She was always unconfrontational with anypony but Vinyl.
"Hmm... That colt over there might know," said Vinyl, looking at the sleeping male through her tinted glasses. Octavia grimaced; she was hoping Vinyl wouldn't say that.
"We don't want to wake him up, he might be... extremely undernourished?" tried Octavia. Truthfully, he was the only other pony in the square at that point. There wasn't much choice.
"Come on, he probably fell asleep from boredom. You know stallions, they're just like that," countered Vinyl.
"Well... I suppose. And besides, if he's not supposed to be asleep, it's like we're, uh, doing him a favor, by waking him?" Octavia reasoned.
"Uh, sure. Whatever floats your boat. Let's go!" exclaimed Vinyl. She was often left wondering why Octavia had to believe everything she did was for a noble purpose, but never questioned her friend.
The pair walked up to the sleeping stall keeper. Octavia checked to make sure her hood was on right, so nopony could see her tell-tale eyes. Vinyl was more confident in her glasses, but all the same scrunched her snout to push them up her muzzle.
They stood in front of the stallion, seeing if he would wake up on his own. He was a young adult, possibly around 21, white furred and brown mane-d, with a pair of reading glasses over his closed eyes. He was snoring slightly and his head was still laid sideways across the table. His cutie mark appeared to be an equal sign, perhaps betraying his ability for math, or maybe for an obsession for perfect values. If Vinyl didn't have eyes for Octavia, she would consider this colt a plausible candidate for her attention, but that was purely based off of looks.
"Um, mister?" tried Octavia. "Can you wake up?" The white stallion didn't budge.
"You can't ask a sleeping pony to wake up, 'Tavi. You have to be louder," said Vinyl. "Here, like this: Hey! Mister!"
The stallion mumbled, but didn't wake up.
"...Wow," said Vinyl. "Heavy sleeper."
The two proceeded to shake and poke the sleeping shopkeeper in most any way the two could think of to try to get him awake. They got a few grunts, even a groggy "five more minutes", but he never actually opened his eyes.
"He's doing this on purpose, isn't he?" concluded Octavia.
Bored, the two looked at what the stallion had at his table. Believe it or not, it was actually what they had been looking for: an assortment of random nick-knacks of no particular category. They saw a sapling, a few cupcakes, a blue warm-up suit, a stack of textbooks, a few pieces of jewelry, and a bowl of apples, to name a few. But the branded box on the far right side of the table made both of their eyes fly open in surprise.
"Your contacts," Vinyl said.
Octavia trotted behind the table and stoically pushed the colt's head off of his booth. It fell to the ground and then immediately shot back up.
"Welcome to Perfect Percent’s Always Fair Merchandise!" he screamed in shock. "Where everything is fair-" he cut himself off when he realized he was shouting and looked around. Vinyl and Octavia both tried to stifle giggles at his sudden outburst.
"Oh... OH, I'm sorry, I was- I was asleep! Again! Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, I-"
"Hey, bro, no problem," said Vinyl. "We just wanted to buy something."
"Oh, uh, thank you. I'm Perfect Percent, and this is my shop. Pick anything you'd like," said the stallion. His eyes were dark brown, and Octavia could swear they were same brown as her contacts made her eyes look. She looked at Vinyl, who had noticed the artificial-ish brown too, but Vinyl's ear flick sent a message as to not to question him about it.
"Yeah, we'd like to buy that pack of contacts you have," clarified Vinyl. She was being cautious; the guards had many color-eye spies working for them. She had heard all to many stories of a supposed friend betraying a runaway's trust. So, she'd just resorted to trusting no one but Octavia.
"Oh, these?" the colt, who's name was apparently Perfect Percent, held up the slightly-worn box of eyewear. "The, uh..." He read the label. "V-17 prescription, with 086 Color?"
"We don't need the color, but yeah, that prescription," Vinyl lied.
"Sorry, this is the only box I have, so no transparent ones are available." he said. Vinyl knew for a fact those prescriptions were actually useless; it was only made for the color, back when it was secretly massed produced for the color-eyed population. "A box like this would normally go for..." Percent’s eyes took on a very excited look, regardless of their brown blandness. "It goes for an even 9 bits."
Vinyl was shocked. That was one bit higher then she was aiming to haggle it down too. She didn't know merchants to be so honest with their wears' prices.
"Plus one bit for income, and another bit for tax, and your grand total comes to 11 bits!" finished Percent. He smiled and held the box out to Vinyl. "Do we have a deal?"
"Uh, y-yeah," said Vinyl. She reached into her backpack and took out the bits, hoofing them over and receiving the box of contacts.
"Well?" said Percent.
"Well what?" said Vinyl.
"Give them to your friend to put on," explained Percent. His glasses gleamed with knowledge, his face taking on an understanding expression.
"Oh," started Octavia worriedly, "Well, you see, I'll use these when my... current pack runs out, not right-"
Percent whipped his hoof out and swiped back Octavia's hood, revealing her vibrant purple eyes. Octavia's initial reaction was to pull the hood back over hurriedly, but the stallion had already seen. He looked at Vinyl, too, almost like he could see right through her glasses and into her red eyes. Octavia didn't get the chance to cover herself back up.
Time slowed down. "Run," Vinyl got out.
The two bolted from the table and into another street. They sprinted as far away from the stall as they could, knowing to keep together due to four years of experience.
"Wait!" the stallion called out after them before giving chase. Fat chance, thought Vinyl.
The pair of runaways made it into an ally and, with some jumping and helping, both made it to the rooftops. They looked back behind them to see the 'merchant' at the bottom of the ally.
"Get down from there, they'll see you!" he yelled up.
"And why do you care?" shouted Vinyl.
"Hey, you two!" called a new voice.
Vinyl and Octavia both looked at the armored pegasus flying two blocks away. When he saw Octavia's eyes, his immediately got bigger. He called out to any other guards within earshot.
Octavia wasn't one to curse, but even she couldn't really think of anything else to say. "Flying feathers of Celestia-"
"Let's go, 'Tavi!" shouted Vinyl as she pulled her friend by the hood away from the quickly appearing force of guards. They both took off yet again, but this time across the flat slopes of wood that were used as roofs in this town.
With the aid of flight, however, the pegasi guards were catching up to the pair. They were armed with their traditional lances, along with detaining ropes for taking ponies in. Basically, they'd tie their victims up and slice them if they resisted.
They both hopped a thin gap and made their way up the slight incline. But the roof wasn't as secure as they thought, because Octavia tripped over the apex and tumbled down and over the side of the roof. Only quick thinking on Vinyl's part saved the earth pony from a dreadful drop. Vinyl was practically halfway off the building, holding onto her friends hoof with two of her own. She started to pull her friend up, but suddenly her chest was rammed into the wood. A hoof on her back held her pinned and helpless, unable to save her friend or herself.
The guard above her laughed. "You think you could get away, huh? You'd have to do better then tha- umph!" Vinyl quickly felt the weight leave her back. She looked behind her to see that the white stallion was facing off the armed guards with no weapon of his own. Six against one, as he had already knocked one unconscious.
"Vinyl, what's happening up there?" Octavia asked. Vinyl returned her attention to her friend.
"The spy... He may not be a spy after all." she said while she struggled to pull her friend up. Octavia could hear a hollow ring from the roof on her right, like something metal being struck.
"What?" shouted Octavia. "How can you be sure?"
A screaming guard suddenly fell of the building, his wings tied to his back by his own rope. "Oh," said Octavia.
When Octavia was safely over the ledge, two guards were piled in a heap out cold. The stallion pulled a spear from a guard and used the pony's own weapon to leave a nasty bruise on his temple with a smack, then noticed the two were safely up on the roof.
"Get out of here, go!" he shouted. "I'll find you later, you have to go-" he deflected a slash from a guard with his 'borrowed' spear, "NOW!"
The two didn't need any more reasons.
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Vinyl and Octavia both tried to make themselves as small as possible in the tight ally they chose to be their hiding place. They hoped beyond hope that this day wasn't some sort of elaborate trap set up by the guards, but Octavia had always thought of the policing force of Equestria as too narcissistic to let any harm come to themselves. So, they waited to get the truth out of the white stallion himself.
They sat in that ally for at least an hour and a half, waiting and watching for guards. The sky was beginning to turn orange by the time they heard anything.
A rock fell down from the roof. Startled, both girls looked up, expecting an enemy. But it was their mysterious merchant instead. He climbed down in a very agile manner, using hoof holds in ways Octavia had never imagined.
He finally dropped down, then blinked a few times to help his eyes adjust to the lower light. "Are you to alright?" he asked. "Any injuries?"
"Not here. Octavia?" said Vinyl.
"Still a little shocked, but otherwise fine," Octavia answered.
"Okay, great," the male said. "Well, might as well cut to the chase. I'm not really a merchant; I'm actually Quick Step, rhythm enthusiast, and runaway shelter... captain, I guess you could say. You two?"
The two mares were shocked even more. Runaway... hideout? Could this be what they've been looking for?
"This... That's too good to be true. How can we trust you? We barely know you!" said Vinyl angrily. Octavia could tell, in her voice, that Vinyl really wanted to believe Quick Step, but wouldn't let herself.
"I guess I can sympathize," Quick Step said. "You've had to run your whole life; it's in your nature. Still, it hurts a little."
Vinyl looked insulted. "In my nature to what?" she spat.
"To be untrusting."
Vinyl frowned and turned her head away. "...Glad you can understand," she said. "But that still doesn't change anything."
"Here, give me a second," Quick Step said. He took off his glasses, reached a hoof into each of his eyes, and pulled out his fake contacts. His eyes were naturally green, which worked much better with his coloration then dull brown. "There. Now, I want you two to look."
The two mares watched Quick Step's eyes. "I will not hurt you, or let you be hurt. You can trust me," he said. His eyes did not betray any lies.
His courage stunned the girls. They had seen the truth in his gaze and couldn't deny his honesty.
"That's a method I picked up from a friend," he smirked. "Works well, doesn't it?"
"But... Why is your cutie mark an equal sign?" Octavia asked.
"That's just a bit of unicorn magic," said Quick Step. "It's pretty handy. The girl who conjured it is amazing with spells. Another really good friend of mine."
He paused for a second. "But enough about me and my friends. I want to help you, so at least give me your names."
Vinyl and Octavia looked at each other. But Vinyl didn't pass the signal to give false names. She trusted him. And Octavia trusted him, too.
"I'm Vinyl," said Vinyl.
"I'm Octavia," said Octavia.
"Pleased to meet you both," smiled Quick Step. "I bet you really want to see my hideaway, don't you?"
"Seeing is believing," quoted Octavia.
"Then I guess I'll have to show you, won't I?" He laughed a little. "I'll have to leave town to get there and prepare accommodations, so I'll get you a safe place here to hide in as soon as the sun goes down. Until then, do you two have any questions?"
The pair bombarded him with questions, all of which were about his hideaway. To these questions about his house, he responded with "If I told you, it would ruin the surprise", so they became slightly nervous as to what this place was like. But Quick Step would smile when he recalled his home, so it must be a good place. The thing about this stallion, Octavia noticed, was that his emotions were vividly painted across his face no matter what. He was easy to read, and easy to trust as well.
But this made Octavia even more wary. Maybe he was picked to be in an elaborate scheme because he could be so trusting? But then why hadn't they been captured yet? There had been plenty of chances for Vinyl and herself to be taken in.
"Come on, girls!" said Quick Step, "Ask about anything except the hideaway, please."
"Fine," grunted Vinyl. "Is this your home town?"
"Yes, I've lived here my whole life. Never really thought of leaving." He sighed. "Although I almost did, once. But there was this girl, Fluttershy; she convinced me to stay. You'll meet her soon enough."
"What happened?" asked Octavia, truly interested.
"I was almost caught, in a really stupid manner. My contact flew out of my eye when I was laughing really hard, and if I hadn't gotten away quick enough, I could have been discovered. A silly reason, I know, but I was younger. That girl, Fluttershy, told me nopony saw and that I could still live here, more of a reassurance then anything. A few months later, we decided to open the hidden shelter, with help from a few other friends-"
"Wait, hold up... Because you were laughing?" questioned Vinyl.
"Hey, its possible!" objected Quick Step. "Only happened once so far, though."
They laughed and continued to share stories. Quick Step answered all of the girls' questions, which were about his experiences here in Ponyville. He was funny, at least funny to listen to. He laughed at many situations from his past and didn't take life as seriously as he probably should have. He was still a responsible leader, but all the same stayed light-hearted. Or, Octavia thought, he could be altering, perhaps even fabricating his stories. However, Octavia didn't think of him as that kind of stallion; he seemed honest enough.
The sun set, eventually, and as he promised, Quick Step lead the two to a small warehouse of sorts. He helped them through the window and called to them: "I'll be back as soon as can, just stay here and I'll return for you." The girls heard hoofsteps fade of into the distance and, once more, they felt alone.
"Vinyl," began Octavia after a few minutes, "should we go with him?"
"I... I don't know," responded the white mare. "We could just run. We shouldn't trust so easily, but... He's being so trusting with us. I just..."
The two sat in silence for a while. They both thought about their choice, and whether or not they should take it.
"This is going to sound stupid," said Vinyl, removing her shades, "but do you kinda feel a... I don't know, a tug, a kinda longing to find out what this shelter really is?" Vinyl was mentally cursing herself for her bad explanation.
"You know..." said Octavia, "I... I do. It's like something else, and it wants me to go."
"Maybe it's destiny," chuckled Vinyl.
"Perhaps," sighed Octavia. She looked at her friend and partner, and continued: "But... But I think we should follow it."
"'Tavi, you know I can't disagree with you," smiled Vinyl. She lowered her eyelids and continued: "Especially when you get all controlling like this..." she purred.
"That- That was uncalled for!" blushed Octavia. She looked down at her hooves, used to Vinyl's teasing and knowing that ignoring it was the best way to make it disappear. She wouldn't lie, though; a part of her did enjoy the extra attention.
"You know you love it," said Vinyl, placing a hoof around Octavia's neck and hugging her close.
Octavia grumbled, but didn't object. The two mares hugged in the dim storage building, waiting for their guide to return for them.
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OOC: 'Sup bronies?
Okay, so as you've probably noticed, my original character Quick Step was described in this chapter and played a very large part. He will be in future chapters, quite often hopefully. But when I wrote him into the plot, I thought: Well, that's not very fair. What if one of my readers got jealous? But then I thought: Well, I'm just going to have to make them un-jealous! So I decided to do this:
I can and will incorporate your OC into my story. OH YES I WENT THERE
If you want to be a part of this universe (at least in spirit), then you can send an application to me to have your character (possibly) be in a chapter! The next two chapters have been reserved for personal friends, after that though it's basically free-range.
But, you must know the rules!
1. I have the right to not be obliged to include everyone's character.
2. A picture or description of the character must be provided (The pony creator is a free and easy resource for physical character design).
3. A description of the character's personality must be provided (www.tvtropes.org is a free and easy resource for personalities and quirks).
4. The character must play an instrument or sing. If you want the character to be able to sing or rap, you should send me a sample of their voice with the character application; either you or an artist they should sound like (No grunge, hard rock, screaming, or anything insulting something/someone else please).
5. A story-line that revolves around your character must be provided. It should have to do with a problem the character has or had, and it should have something to do with why or how they came to the secret hideout.
6. The character must be yours! I don't want to get in trouble for using another person's character without their permission.
Send all applications in a private message here at FimFiction, or to my e-mail "artsofallkinds@gmail.com". Any other type of application will not count. The ones I like the most could even have a whole chapter dedicated to their OC!
Thanks!
-Arts
EDIT: Big thanks to DaMagiks for pointing out my spelling errors. Won't happen again, I promise!