A thick and cozy blanket of darkness covered Canterlot, with the only beacons being the lights from inside the occasional house and the bright, full moon looming above. Though even the moon, in all of its white glory, seemed a bit dark this night. Almost all of the streets sat quiet at this hour, enough to make me take a second glance at some of the alleyways I passed. You would expect me to be over a fear of darkness at my age, but I guess some things are just hardwired into pones' brains and not even many years of trying can change them.
It was indeed a dark night.
There was a bit of light however, though not a street lamp or house or stars or anything like that. This one wasn't visibly bright, though in a few ways I guess she could be, but she was more of a metaphorical bright. It was more of her demeanor that brightened things, or even just the mood she carried about her; it was like an aura of some sort.
I blinked.
I stood outside a tall building, windows dimly lit with cheap lighting that gave off the impression of flickering candle light to the average passer by. The stone that scaled the exterior of the building was colored a dim black thanks to the effects of time, but had the occasional green vine twisting out from a small crack.
The building looked a bit intimidating, as age could make many things look, but it was quite possibly my favorite place in the world. It used to be one of the only places I could relax, which led to my fondness of it, though I've since then found alternatives. Though I guess the main reason I like the building was because of the many memories of the place, some of tears and others of smiles and everything in between, but regardless of how I felt before entering; in the end I was happy.
It was my confession booth.
The only other reason I could think of that would rival my first was what the building gave to me; a gift that came in a form of neither good nor service. It was a gift that took a bit of fighting for, which I guess may not make it classify as a gift, but I just like to think of it that way.
The gift was the light I spoke of earlier..
Admittedly there was some confusion with the gift at first, whether or not I should keep it, but I guess my curiosity got the better of me. It was for the better though, as that gift had since filled a void that even I hadn't realized I had - it had been there so long that I eventually just learned to distract myself from it. But now it was different, and that was what mattered.
Now I wasn't lonely; she was my gift.
I turned around to take another peak at her, not stopping my stride up to the building, and catching her small grin that seemed ever present on her at all times while her head twisted and turned to admire the scenery.
She sure was bright.
I turned back to face a vaguely familiar stallion standing near the entrance of the building.
“So nice to see you again Miss Melody, I was beginning to think you had stopped coming to the theater.” The stallion greeted, eyes widening ever so slightly at the sight of her at my side.
“And I see you brought a guest with you?” He continued, eyeing me for a nod of confirmation, which I gave, before smiling a little.
I hoofed him over a small bag of bits for two tickets into the theater, the price escaping my mind but he didn't bother checking how much was in it; I assumed it was the weight of the bag.
"Keep the change?" The voice behind me asked both cheerfully and rhetorically.
The stallion was shaken for a moment before smiling and sliding to the side.
I'm sure he thought she was bright too.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
“Wow Tavi! It's huge in here!” She said in awe, getting a few glances from the few dozen ponies in the theater.
She had made the exact same remark when she saw the lobby of the theater, the lounging room of the theater, and even the restrooms of the theater. I had never taken notice to the size of the building and it's rooms until she had pointed them out, simply glossing over them as if they were normal.
I smirked at her amazement and chuckled as she bounced over to the isle and rushed up the stairs to one of the top seats, I didn't give a second thought in following her up; not even bothering to see if my favorite seat was even taken or not.
Now my favorite seat was an energetic, and mobile, one.
She settled on a pair of seats on the last row and patted on the seat beside her, which I took without a second thought. She was some might call a softy, which seems almost crazy when I thought about just who she was at heart.
She was something from a myth, a legend in the flesh, and was something that I always thought was just a tale to tell around a camp fire to scare others. As it turned out, her and her kind were real - very real - and they were far from the legends. They had drastically varying personalities and control over their urges and thirst.
She was a vampire.
And not only that, but she was one of the most upstanding ponies I had seen even among regular ponies; a fact which shocked me at first but I had since gotten to.
I stole a brief glance at her, taking just a moment to admire her in her glory, and I could only smile as we slowly faded into a comfortable silence.
Whether it was out of habit of what I normally did when I was in the theater, or just for one reason or another, I began to reflect on times as of late.
It had been about two months since we all settled back into our normal lives, the lack of tension being somewhat difficult to get used to, and as much as I hate to say it, it felt even a bit boring to not have anything going on. I mean, I was happy that we were finally out of harm's way, but not having it sneaking around somewhere seemed almost a bit strange. I wasn't sure if I was the only one who felt this way, but Vinyl said she 'didn't really think much of it' and I hadn't bothered to go and ask Shakes and her sister.
Speaking of the barmare and her sister, they should just be finishing up the bar's repairs around now if I knew the two well enough. That, and the local paper had announced that the bar had finally announced that it's reopening was scheduled for tomorrow.
"Maybe we could go visit them after the show, I doubt Vinyl would protests." I thought, taking a look at Vinyl, who's eyes were starting to droop slowly.
"Vinyl?" I asked quietly.
She shook a bit, as if being awoken on the inside, and looked at me.
"H-huh?" She stammered.
"Have you talked to Shakes recently? I planned on checking up with her after this."
"Nope, haven't seen her much ever since the castle." She said, her hoof going to her chin as she looked away, "Should probably drop in to pick up my stuff..." She mumbled.
I was about to ask her what she could possibly have there when the lights dimmed and aimed themselves towards the stage as the musicians made there way on stage; rendering the audience quiet.
It was time for the show to start, and look to my side showed me that Vinyl seemed surprisingly attentive.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
"Would you just make a move already? I'm starting to get grey hairs over here." My sister whined.
"Shut up Sweeps." I said curtly and calmly, taking my time to analyze my options of attack.
There were too many variables, too many unknowns, it was just too risky to make a decision with haste with these kind of possibilities. On one hoof I could take a wild guess and easily get the drop on the game, but it would take an ability to perfectly predict my own sister. On the other hoof, I could rush myself and miss entirely, leaving myself wide open to attack from any direction. I would have to take my time, regardless of how hard or many times my sister taunted me; I wouldn't fold that easily.
"Would you hurry up!" She shouted suddenly.
"Fine!" I screamed back.
I guess I folded a bit easier than I thought.
"B-7." I said calmly.
"Miss." She responded with annoyance. "See? It wasn't that hard, was it?"
I groaned and simply got up from the booth me and my sister sat in, done dealing with such a chance based mind game. My sister didn't seem to stop me from getting up and I just assumed she was done dealing with me taking my time. She began packing the game back into its small case with her magic while she got up and began following me to the bar stools.
"I still don't see how we couldn't just open tonight..." I mumbled as I slumped into the seat, my head hitting the counter with a decent thud.
"Well it is what you told the press." My sister said casually as she sat down beside my and sparked her horn up again.
A bottle and two glasses danced up from behind the counter, settling in front of us and pouring itself.
"Still, can't we just, you know, open?" I asked her, moving one of the drinks closer to myself.
"Well, we can but nobody would know. We might get one or two ponies to come in but I doubt that would suite your boredom." She said, downing her own drink before eyeing me a bit.
"You did a good job with the bar though, so I'm sure when we do reopen we'll get plenty of customers." She said with a bit of care.
I'd spent the last days putting in countless hours into fixing up my bar, which was no easy task. Do you know how hard it is to make a gaping hole in the wall look like an accident? Well, it's actually surprisingly easy when you just say "unicorns", but that isn't the point, the point was that I had put a lot of time, and not to mention money, into re-opening the bar.
But I'd be lying if I said it didn't look great.
It looked nearly the same, though we took Vinyl's old DJ booth and used the records to help add a healthy variety of music to a sort of jukebox type machine I had bought; we also ended up turning the booth itself into a "meeting" room; despite me, my sister, and the occasional Vinyl and Octavia being the only ones who would go in there.
All in all, it felt like mine now.
"Well, I did want it to feel like it was mine in the end." I said with a bit more interest.
"I just wish those two would come visit to see it too." I mumbled.
"Yeah, I agree, but you know Vinyl is fasting again and giving her drinks will only tempt her to break that." She added sagely.
"Yeah yeah, I know; I'm honestly a bit surprised she hasn't fed more off of Octavia yet. Impressed even." I snickered to myself.
"I might have to a bit of fixing about that." I added mentally, laughing a bit more louder, only to get a knock on the head from my sister.
"Fine," I said simply, understanding that she knew what I was thinking. "but if they come in on there own it's not my fault, okay?" I asked, getting a roll of the eyes as my answer.
"Whatever..." I mumbled, slouching my head onto my hoof.
Silence started to settle before I decided to ask my sister one last question.
"Wanna play Scrabble?" I asked, my face unmoved.
She sighed.
"I'll get the board." She said simply before hoisting herself up.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
When the last piece finally came to an end, I found myself feeling a bit tired, but I blamed it on the time it was. But I wasn't sleepy enough not to notice how awake Vinyl was, she seemed hooked on the music until the last note, and whether it was because of how she was more nocturnally based than it was or if she was actually that into the song was anyone's guess.
We silently got up, not even muttering a word, and making are way back down the isles and into the lobby for the second time before leaving the building.
It was about as dark outside the theater as it was inside it, the moon somewhat like the spotlight as it shone down on us so that we all could see just enough to make out the outline of objects on the sidewalk and streets.
"We are still going to the bar, right?" I asked, getting a firm nod from the white mare behind me who seemed to be mulling on something.
I let her think for awhile until I eventually couldn't stand the silence that had built up, and decided to try and strike up something to talk about on our way to the bar.
"So how did you enjoy the theater Vinyl?" I asked simply, a bit eager to hear what she thought about my confession booth.
She smiled at he question and I sighed internally.
"The place was huge! And it looked so old too!" She cheered.
I sighed again, but this time for a different reason.
"I was talking more about the performance Vinyl." I said, like a foal's teacher explaining something.
"Oh," She smiled sheepishly, "that was great too."
"Oh? So you liked the music?"
"No, the music was horrible." She replied nonchalantly, as if her answer made sense.
I blanked on that one.
"Wait, what? But you just said you liked it?"
"I said the performance, not their music." She said simply, somehow boggling me even more than before.
She must have sensed that in my tone, because she immediately elaborated.
"They were passionate about it, that's what I liked." She said again, this time with a bit of awe in her voice.
"So, the practice makes perfect?" I asked with genuine confusion. The ponies of this town that I, and most others, would call the experts of music had always bashed this idea, calling it "fluffy" and not true. They said practice made permanent, and I believed that too.
But Vinyl had shown me her rather keen ears and talent for the classic genre a couple of times before, which blew me away frankly, so I knew her word carried at least some weight. I had always been taught that playing it right was simply playing it right; you started off bad at something and then became better at it over time. I was still making strides to this day, despite not going to a real practice in a long time.
"It's more like 'passion makes perfect'. You can be the best music-y person in the world, but it doesn't matter if you don't like it." She said, throwing her hooves up in the air at the mention of "world" and leaving me in a more deeper internal conflict than she probably meant.
It lasted me the whole way to the bar, Vinyl eventually taking the lead so I wouldn't accidentally hit the local street poles, and all the way up to Vinyl opening the bar's door where something finally shook me from my thoughts. A shame since I had almost settled with my thoughts for once.
"Q-U-O-R-P is definitely not a word Shakes." Said a familiar voice.
"You'll just have to quorp with it." Shakes responded without a single spark of emotion before her bored eyes wandered over to us both and then seemed to warm up.
I had never seen Shakes as being the 'Lovey Dovey' type, but she was certainly beginning to push it when she wordlessly got up and hugged both me and Vinyl. Of course, that could very well be because of out previous isolation from one another; in fact, I had half expected her to jump up and try to tackle us both.
"It's good to see you two." She said with calmed joy.
"Same here." Vinyl smiled.
"I figured we could maybe get a sneak peak at the bar before you two opened up tomorrow." I smiled, returning the brief hug Shakes offered as she chuckled a bit.
"Speakin' of the bar..." Vinyl began, taking a look around at the scene, wandering around and glossing over most everything in sight before settling back near the Shakes, me, and Sweeps.
"It looks great!" Vinyl cheered.
Shakes just smiled some more, and it was starting to look a bit odd on her, but it stopped as a light went off in her head.
"I actually have some things for you..." She mumbled, running to the back before dragging a box back with her that was loaded to the brim with something and covered with a tarp.
She wordlessly removed the tarp to reveal numerous amounts of gadgets, many of which brought back a few memories.
"There was quite a few of these back in the closet with the phone, I was gonna ask you about them but I figured that I wouldn't and just give 'em to you." She smiled.
Vinyl hesitated before smiling and thanking Shakes, but I was almost too deep in thought to notice.
The Vampire Hunters
I was sure the small group of them I had met in the forest hadn't been all of them, and I was a bit worried about what might become of them. Shakes had been somewhat rumored, by Bigs, to be one of the said hunters and in all honesty I could see that being true. More than anything I was curious about them.
I might just have to ask her about her history, but for now I would let it rest.
But it was definitely going to be coming up later.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*