*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
"What do you mean, 'aren't the only ones'? Who else would be after her?" I asked.
It was, of course, logical that anyone could be after her for the exact same reasons we were, but the least they could have done is been clean about it. Barging into the city to kill monsters was one thing, but beating down the ones who defend that city to do so is another. Not to mention that it was apparently another vampire that was doing it, which to seemingly all of us was something borderline unheard of.
"No idea. The fact it's a vampire makes it even more odd." Flint mumbled, her moment of rage finally simmering down.
"A rouge?" Stone suggested.
"Possibly. Maybe Vinyl Scratch's audience wasn't too specific when it came to whatever it was she did to get so much attention from us." Flint mused.
"Not that I think it, but it coulda been a rouge hunter as well. I know of some arrows of other Orders that have tips shaped like crescent moons that could look like fang marks if you stabbed someone with 'em. I believe that it was the Manehatten section who was fond of 'em." Stone added in, thinking of all possibilities.
I had never seen, heard or even thought about Vampires hunting each other. I had heard of them having scuffles over whether the prey they caught was their's or not but never something as extreme as 'hunting' one another. I assumed that the way this worked was something along the lines of teams; it was us, The Order, versus them, the Vampires. Though I guess every team has its traitors, but from what Stone and Flint were saying they were guessing that this was more of a wild and individual hunter. And based off of what it did to a few trained Canterlot guards, it could spell trouble for both us and Vinyl Scratch.
Whoever it was, it was clear that they really wanted to get Vinyl. Almost as much as we did.
"Anyways," Stone continued. "find anything else while you were at it?"
"Yep." Flint seemed to cheer up a little.
"I did a bit of digging around in the guard station when they weren't looking and went through this section of Canterlot's event history. Found a report filed on the destruction of a bar not too far away from here which just happens to have what I'm looking for."
"What you're looking for?" I asked, wishing for some elaboration.
"Yep, turns out Shakes' bar recently got beat up pretty bad and she had to fix it up. Also looks like the bar had a change of management recently, but I couldn't find anything on the previous owner though." She said, a bit depressed on the last part. I was a bit curious about it.
"I can probably meet up with her tomorrow night before it closes down, but sleep should come as a first priority to us right now." She was sage in her tone and got the nod of Stone's approval.
I didn't really have much of a choice in the decision but I would've agreed anyways.
As it turns out, they hadn't really thought much about sleeping inside the apartment and, as a result, we only had two beds and the couch. None of us seemed to keen on using it and they both were definitely getting a bed.
"I'd offer ya a place in mine, nothing personal of course, but my size doesn't seem to like the idea of sharing beds." Stone said with a small chuckle, though I could tell his offer was genuine.
We both looked over to Flint.
Silence.
"What?" She asked, oblivious to what we were expecting. I didn't plan on taking it any further than that and just settling on the couch for the night, but it looked like Stone had other plans.
"Care to offer our team mate a place to rest that ain't the floor?" Stone asked.
"You mean you want me to share beds with her?" Flint asked. I couldn't quite make out whether her tone was insulting or genuine, but I decided to let it pass.
"Aye." Stone nodded.
She was silent for a while, but soon enough a big smile formed on her face.
"Sure! I haven't shared a bed since academy days!" The way she worded it made it sound like she was doing this more so for the memories of academy days than she was for me having a comfortable place to sleep at night, but I didn't care. All I knew was that I wasn't on the couch tonight and that she was okay with that.
We walked back down a rather narrow hallway, though that may have just been because Stone was ahead of us and his sides would brush the sides of the hallway if her moved too far in a single direction. Mean while me and Flint walked side by side behind him and I couldn't help myself from glancing over and looking at the excited look on her face while she dreamed about something.
We eventually split into the two doors opposite from each other in the narrow hallway; Stone going into the left one while me and Flint turned right into our own.
The room was nothing special, about as standard as I could imagine them coming, but the important thing I looked at was the bed. Though I found myself waiting for Flint to lay down first for some reason. I guess it was mostly out of both respect and manners that she got to lay down first, since it was technically her room.
She looked around the room a little, poking around at smaller things like wood carvings on the night stand and the sheet colors of the bed before finally managing to lay down. I think it was about 15 minutes she spent just prodding at things.
Either way, I found myself laying down on the bed beside her - keeping as much distance between me and her - and curling up underneath the covers.
It wasn't long until blinking became a task, one that kept getting harder the long I persevered. My eyes eventually closed up for the last time for the next few hours.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
My eyes jolted open and I vaguely made out the sound of my own breath catching.
I was slow to look up, a horrid crick in my neck making itself known to me as my eyes began to focus. My surroundings were unfamiliar to me and I found myself scanning around, only to find out I was actually in my living room. I guess I had fallen asleep on the couch.
I looked around a bit more, my eyes drifting to a pair of closed curtains that had a dim orange light shining through them. The sun must just now be rising, which meant that I had only gotten a few hours of sleep. Though I guess that didn't matter, I still had nothing else to do today except worry about the upcoming dinner tonight.
Hoofsteps shook me from my thoughts and my head turned to the left to see Vinyl emerging from the bathroom. She gave a glance my way before smiling and trotting over.
"Morning Vinyl." I greeted, though I could hardly say it sounded the way I wanted it to.
"Hey Tavi." She said curtly, a small yawn breaking the warmth of her smile before it returned once more. She lifted a hoof up and rubbed her eyes as well.
I guess she was on her way to bed.
"You look a bit tired Vinyl." Was all I said, mechanically, though she didn't pick up on it.
"Yeah, just a little. I was gonna sleep in your room if that's okay." She said. It sounded like she actually wanted my permission to sleep.
"Of course." I nodded, watching as she turned an began to make her way back.
Normally she would slip onto the couch and use me as a pillow or blanket when she slept, but she made no signal of doing so. I guess it was because of the feeding frenzy she had done and that she was now "scolding" herself by sleeping separate from me. Of course, she could be doing this as insurance that she doesn't feed on me as well; by distancing herself from me, waiting until I was awake to go to sleep - it was all rather thoughtful of her, but not normal of her.
I could hear her hoofsteps as she made her way to my room before the door shutting gently cut off the extent of my morning hearing.
After that it was dead silent.
Believe it or not, but Vinyl was probably the cause for most of the drama in my apartment; a fact that I have many takes on. The biggest thing that she has done is brought "color" in this house in the form of action. Whether or not it be good or bad action, it was still a good break from what I had become accustomed to during my years living in this very apartment. However, this was also the downside to the same point. The action she brought was never guaranteed to be good and in fact almost never was. Regardless of what it was, I had a sort of respect for the change in atmosphere she would bring to places when she got there.
That same atmosphere might very well make my parent's night go wrong.
My day seemed to tick on at the speed of paint drying, though I guess literally it would have been even slower than that. The biggest event of it had consisted of using the bathroom and making some tea. Both of which I tried to drag out for longer than what they would normally taken, but I always found myself realizing it was pointless.
Though, slow as it went, the day did indeed go.
The sun made its way upwards, hung there, then came back down which is where I currently was; about sun-down as the last bit of light began to disappear from view..
Vinyl would be getting up soon, which also meant we would be leaving for my parents house soon.
During my day I had found my inner self arguing about the hole 'dinner' predicament, one side saying that lying to my parents would have been better than showing them a potentially disappointing truth while the other side said the opposite. In the end, I took an aspirin.
I heard a bit of a shuffle come from the hall, and figured it was Vinyl finally awake.
"Hey Tavi!" The sound behind her voice proved that a good night's rest was all it took to reset her.
"Good evening Vinyl, did you sleep well?" That question was odd for a number of reasons that I thought to be pretty obvious. Then again, most things would sound odd out of context.
"Great!" She said excitedly, her smile wide. I got a glimpse of her small canines when she did it, but it was easily out-shadowed by her smile.
She let out a small yawn to show her discomfort of getting up so late. Or was this early for her? I had no clue what her sleep schedule was now that I thought about it. She seemed to sleep through the night just as much as she would sleep through the day with the curtains drawn. Sometimes I'd even have to draw them for her or risk her going in the sunlight, which I still had no more idea of what would happen other than what she had told me.
This wasn't the time for that however, I had other things to attend to. Specifically, one dinner with my parents.
"Vinyl...are you sure you wish to accompany me to meet my parents? I'm sure they would understand if I just told them that whole dating thing was a rumor." It seemed desperate to try and squirm my way out of it now, but I found myself doing it.
"But...we're dating right?" She sounded on the verge of tears. She sounded confused by my question. She sounded like she was hurt by it.
I guess everyone has feelings.
"I - Y-yes, but - they don't quite think that you are who I'm dating." I stammered. I really didn't want her to be sad or upset with me just before this.
"Well, then how else will they learn that it is me?" She had a fairly good point and I found myself struggling to come up with an answer.
She didn't seem to quite wrap her head around the point I was making about my parents now knowing that I was a filly fooler, but it also seemed pointless to attempt and explain anything to her as it would only result in her feelings being hurt.
I sighed.
"I guess we'll need to leave soon..."
Her face lit up at my words, her ears even going to the extent to stand at attention. She smiled childishly at me, though she seemed to have a comment.
"No need to rush, I can just teleport us there, Tavi." She offered.
'Could she teleport us there without actually knowing where it is?' I found myself thinking before shaking the thought away.
"I'd rather walk." That way I could think of a plan.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
It seemed like the nights had been even colder recently, the temperature of the pavement and the fact my breath visualized itself before me after I left my apartment was more than enough proof of that. I sort of hunched myself into myself in an attempt to keep warm, finding my shoulders reaching up to my jaw line and my face clinching tightly.
Vinyl apparent found that quite amusing and let out a giggle.
I shot her a glance and she only stifled her laughter before letting out a bit more.
She showed that she cared though, walking a bit closer to me so that at least one of my sides was warmed. I found that she was a rather good source of heat, and I ended up unconsciously etching a bit closer to her in an attempt to keep warm on the walk to my parents home. She didn't seem to mind it, and the few times I looked over at her she seemed to be swaying her head back in forth to a rhythm I couldn't hear with a dopey grin on her face.
Before I knew it I found myself at the gate of my parents home, the darkness serving to only make the lights off in the distant building make the home look rather large.
"Wow." Was all Vinyl could mutter as she looked at the home.
I found myself nervous yet calm, smiling at Vinyl's awe as I cast a glance to the buzzer for the gate. The last bit of reluctance fled from my body at that moment, giving me more room to worry, and I broke free from Vinyl's presence and made over to the gate. The buzzer crackled to life as I pressed a small button and then let go.
"Octavia? Is that you?" I could make out my mothers voice through the loud crackles.
I pressed once more. "Yes Mother."
"Oh! Come in, come in!" She said joyously before a loud crackle came through the speaker and I heard the latch of the gate unlock.
I trotted back over to Vinyl and stood at her side, catching a brief glance of her curious face as she studied the gate while it opened. I nudged her forwards and she began to slowly pedal forwards, through the gate and up the winding path to my parent's door.
The walk to the door seemed oddly calm for me, I didn't feel scared as I had earlier. I found myself smiling as I thought back on the memories of Vinyl, a mare that I had only met a few months ago, and just how she had changed my life so drastically. It was similar to how ponies had described what happens before death - how memories of their life flash through their eyes. Though mine was much slower.
I felt a nudge from Vinyl and shook the thoughts from my head and looked to her. She nodded forwards.
We were at the door.
She had stopped just before the light of the windows hit her directly, about twenty feet or so if I had to guess. I gave her another brief glance, in which she gave me a warm and reassuring smile, before walking forwards and placing my hoof up to the door. I hesitated, gulped, then gave the door a solid three knocks.
I only got about two in before my mother whipped open the door, a spark of anxiousness and joy in her eyes.
"Octavia!" She cried joyously before moving wrapping me up in a hug that knocked the breath out of me.
She held the hug for about five seconds before releasing me and looking into my eyes deeply, her smile wide enough to make me question if she was sane or not.
"Sooo..." She began.
"Where is he at?" She asked.
I turned my head about halfway backwards, about half of it facing my mother while the rest was looking back at where Vinyl had sort of slinked away into the shadow; hiding behind a small pillar that was at the start of the stairs up to the door. Was she nervous?
I finally saw Vinyl emerge enough to be seen, giving an enthusiastic wave, putting her entire body into the greeting, and putting on her best smile.
I felt a sheepish smile creep across my face as I turned my gaze back to my mother, the look on her face turning from excited to confused and then a bit sheepish herself.
"Oh my..." She whispered.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
My mother let us into our home's lounge, she made sure to hold the door and eye Vinyl heavily once she passed by her. She didn't make a comment - not to me or even herself under her breath - but it was fair to say that she was making plenty of internal comments. Her face didn't suggest it either, she even managed a small smile, but I could see through that just as well as she could see through my own stoic gazes.
She shut the door silently just as Wilfred walked into the room humming softly with clothes folded over his back.
"Ms. Melody, a pleasure to see you as always." He smiled, using the way of talking he used around my mother to show his professionalism. I noticed he was taking note of Vinyl.
"And you brought a guest as well." He smiled. There was no bitterness in his tone and I appreciated him for that.
The room went silent, save for a gentle tune from Wilfred as trotted off into the dining room and began to set out the silver ware and napkins in a sort of rhythm.
My mother still stared at Vinyl intently while the mare she was watching obliviously let her gaze wander around the room in amazement, her mouth actually agape as she took in just the lounge of my parent's home. My mother then cast her gaze over to me and jerked her head in a "come here" fashion.
I obliged and began to walk over, until I was saved by the sound of Wilfred ringing the dinner bell.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
I stood at the bar, clinking a few glasses together as I cleared them off of the counter. There had a been a few more customers than usual and I blamed it on Vinyl's agreement to work here, but I couldn't risk her working here right now. I had to let her little "spell" pass before I could even think of letting her get a job interacting with a lot of ponies in rapid succession.
I heard the front door to the bar open up behind me and and the sound of hoofsteps coming in.
"Bar's closed. May as well head home." I said curtly.
"Is that how you greet your old friends?"
I felt my body freeze up and my eyes go wide.
I looked up slowly to see an ash colored mare with a distinct mane about her, she had a smug smile on her face as she walked further into the bar. She had a small cowl surrounding her body, the hood folded backwards but the rest of her body was covered from neck to just above her hoof.
"W-Why..." I was at a lack of words at her sudden appearance in my bar, my stomach was twisting in knots to the point where it felt like someone had just punched me in the gut.
General Flint Steel; heavily renown field solider and the general of offensive tactics. She gained her reputation through the use of magically induced fire used to bake the enemy alive, resulting in a bunch of horrible nicknames centered around fire, though there were a few good ones. She had a tendency to get worked up about things, which resulted in her burning almost all of them to nothing more than ash - which she would also burn for awhile. Her history involving me is one that I would rather forget, and have tried to for a while.
But why the hell was she here?
"Well, I just came to pop in and say hello, see what you were up to." She chuckled, leaning onto the bar counter to look me in the eyes with no reluctance.
"Get out." I said firmly.
She put her hoofs up in the air.
"Woah, woah. No need for the hostility." She said, coming back down to lean in close to me. "I think we both know why I am here."
The only reason I could think she was in Canterlot was that there was a contract; and a big one. Most contracts get settled by grunts and sometimes captains, only the biggest threats even get to have a general look into them. The reason I'm guessing is to cut back on property damage; the generals weren't too big of fans of "leading by example" of what most Hunters get trained to act like.
"I've got a contract. Well; Me, Stone, and some other mare do at least."
My eyes widened again.
Stone as well? Last time I heard, sending more than one general on a mission was overkill. Her voice called me back to her statement.
"And I need some help finding them."
I remained silent, glaring daggers at her.
"I need help finding Vinyl Scratch." She said slowly.
I couldn't help my eyes from widening, something that she picked up on instantly thanks to the fact she'd been looking into the for the duration of the conversation to pick up on things like this..
"You know something." She said quickly.
"I know she's trouble." I said curtly, determined not to say more.
We stared hard at each other for a few moments before she closed her eyes and chuckled lightly.
"Alright, alright. I can see that you need some time to think about my offer."
The word 'offer' wasn't quiet what I'd call this.
She got up from the bar and turned, making it only a few steps before stopping and turning to me again with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"Almost forgot to tell you the offer." Her fake, playful tone was lined with intention.
"You can either help me and Stone bring in this 'Vinyl Scratch' together and she can live and be a prisoner." Her eyes narrowed into slits.
"Or you can watch me drag the body out of town."
Shivers went down my spine as I knew that she could probably make good on that promise. I knew that Vinyl was nothing to mess with, but the spot of general wasn't simply hoofed out to just any soldier. Flint was a debatable case to call fit for the spot so it'd be understandable to send her on this kind of thing, but if Stone was working on it as well then it meant that this was serious.
Her voice shook me back to reality.
"I expect an answer by tomorrow. That's when we make the first move."
And with that she walked out, leaving me with a horrible decision to make.