//------------------------------// // The Mare In Grey // Story: The Mare In Grey // by ChaseTheChangeling //------------------------------// Vinyl's eyes were wide, her mouth trying to touch the ground bellow it. The cab mare who had sold the house however, was just nodding as she looked over the home. "Does this normally happen?" Vinyl asked quietly. "I never saw it, but I wouldn't be surprised, this house is really weird like that." The floors were spotless, the ground having been scrubbed and the kitchen cleaned. Vinyl had even woken up to a worn but comfortable blanket over her body. Upon the discovery of the freshly cleaned house, Vinyl had jumped up and ran out to her neighbor/cab driver/land lord, of whom she learned the name of. Her name was Chisel. Vinyl looked up to the strong brown mare who just sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "This is your place now, you're going to have to deal with it." She said before walking off. Vinyl turned quickly and grabbed her shoulder before she could make it all the way out the threshold. "Wait! Can't you give me a tour of the town?" Vinyl asked desperate, "S-so I don't have to stay in this house all day?" Chisel stopped and tapped her hoof repeatedly, only to turn and smile. "Sure! I don't care, I have nothing else going on today!" The happy tone was quickly cut short with a frown. It was obvious she was being sarcastic. Vinyl only gave a half smile in response. The brown mare simply rolled her eyes and lead Vinyl from the house into town. As the door slammed shut and the two mares went on their way, the sounds of hooves crept across the floor and into the kitchen. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So do you think it's haunted?" Vinyl asked as they trotted through the market place. Chisel simply shrugged and kept going. "Like, what if it is haunted? Could you imagine how cool that would be?!" "You want to live in a house with a ghost you don't know is evil or not?" Chisel asked dismissively. Vinyl gulped and gave a halfhearted chuckle. "You don't really think it's a mean ghost.... do you?" With a simple divisive shrug, Chisel continued to walk. As the town square come into focus past a few homes, Vinyl was quickly distracted by the colours.... before becoming instantly bored by the lack of fun places to visit. There seemed to be almost nothing to do! There were no bar signs, no clubs, just a few little corner shoppes, and a large bakery. There was a candy shoppe on the road up, but that was closed. Vinyl simply sighed, deciding simply to look over her landlord. Chisel was a well built mare, with rather rare fetlocks, she must have been one of the Clydesdale variety. With those powerful hooves, she balanced a powerful body, her toned muscle working under taught skin, and a posterior to boast a large hammer as a cutie mark. Vinyl's eyes wandered up to her tail, a short but lightly curly light brown colour, and her mane of the same shade, but cut in an forwards mohawk. Her mane and tail bounced with more life than her stone face, that, in itself, bore a few piercings on the snout and eyebrow. Her ears also had a piercing on each, one ear had two. As Vinyl grew bored with the plain look on her landlord's face, her eyes decided wot wander down to a more interesting place. 'Maybe I missed a detail on her cutie mark... was it a silver hammer, or was it gold?' Vinyl deviously wondered as she gawked at the mare's tail end, only to get an even better view.... after Chisel had stopped and Vinyl went head first into the earth pony's read end. "Oof!" Chisel hardly moved from the impact, although Vinyl had fallen back onto her rump. "You planning on buying me dinner or what?!" Vinyl simply blushed and stood up before her landlord who was pointing to the door of the bakery they had been walking towards. "Get in there, I'll tell you what I know about the house." Vinyl waited a second before shuffling in and plopping down on a seat in the cozy dinning area. As Chisel sat down with the unicorn and waved a hoof to get service, Vinyl raised her own hoof. When Chisel gave her a confused look, Vinyl simply smiled and gave a light chuckle. "I think I owe you dinner?" "It's eleven in the morning...." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So it's haunted then?" Vinyl asked leaning over the table. Chisel simply bit into her burger and looked up at the unicorn with a flat look on her face; as usual. "We haven't said anything yet, and you're already going to assume it's haunted. Do you want it to be haunted?" "No, but I'm just curious..." Vinyl mumbled leaning back into her seat. Chisel wiped her mouth casually before tapping her back hoof on the ground out of habit. "Weeeellllll, there was this story I heard awhile back about the house...." Chisel began. Vinyl leaned forward again, her mouth open in anticipation. "Relax, girly, it's only a story, it's called the 'Legend of the Mare in Grey'. They say it happened about ten years ago...." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~10 Years Earlier~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A young grey earth pony mare stood before a large construction site, the large mounds of dirt and plowed mud had since become a nice little cottage. She didn't want anything huge, even though her father had offered enough to build a mansion. The little amount it cost to have the nice little home made left plenty of bits for a comfortable life of just enjoying herself. She could manage what she had to just enjoy herself for another year. They called this lovely mystery mare, The Mare in Grey. Her long jet black mane fell like silk over her shoulders, and her back carried a large cello case that hardly hindered her mobility, as it had been her companion for many years. On her ever so graceful neck hung a small bow tie, pink in colour. A little gift from her mother that was given to her as she left her Canterlot home. The Mare in Grey stood before the freshly built home with a sigh, and trotted in, placing her things away, and stashing her bits in the floor boards. The days went by as she lived happily in her home, until one day, a stallion came to her home with a bundle of flowers. She was flattered, and took them, but she did not return his feelings. Days went by again, and the strange stallion continued to give her extravagant gifts, bigger and more impressive than the last. The Mare in Grey would take them to make him feel better, but would quickly throw them out in fear of the stallion's actions. But one day, something strange happened! She was coming home from the market, a basket of goods in her mouth, but as she walked home, there was a shadow following her. She hadn't noticed, but it crept up behind her as she opened the door, and he shoved her in. There was the sound of screams and fighting, things being knocked over, and a splash of blood over the walls. Soon the noises died down, and the stallion staggered out sobbing, his hooves covered in blood and his body weak. The guards came to look over the home, but only found a mess of blood, torn clothing, hair, and fur thrown about the home. Her body was nowhere to be found.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Present Day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "-They just guessed it was buried somewhere, and didn't bother to go look for it. Respecting the dead and all that jazz." Chisel finished her story with another bite from her burger. Vinyl sat, her eyes wide behind glasses and mouth agape. "So she can't be a mean ghost if she was so shy! Can she?" "I don't know, my cousins say ghosts can get really mean if you move into their house and bother them. But I've never dealt with much outside of weird sounds from there." "What kind of sounds?" "Sometimes I'll go in to do routine checks and if I get near some parts of the house, I'll hear a shriek, or sometimes a ghost sound, like 'Oooooooooo' or scurrying." Chisel began to tap her hoof again. Although her face was flat, Vinyl began to think Chisel was tapping her hoof out of nervous habit. Vinyl suddenly felt like a detective, solving a case! "So what would happen if I found her body?" Vinyl asked as she scratched her chin. "Eew, why would you want to?" Chisel asked, her hoof had stopped tapping. Vinyl quickly tried to reel her landlord back in with a more reasonable question. "Are her parents alive? Aren't they looking for her?" "Well, this grey unicorn stallion with a jet black mane gave me the key to the house and told me to sell it. I think it was her father, his name was Vito Philharmonica. He just sort of gave me the key and left. But I could imagine them wanting their daughter's remains so they can bury her. But after ten years? It wouldn't be a pretty sight I'm sure..." Chisel stopped her tapping and went back to eating. Vinyl nodded and scratched her chin again. "What if I caught her ghost?" Vinyl asked shooting up from her seat with new enthusiasm. Chisel just looked up with a smirk. "Are you serious?" "As serious as horn herpes." Vinyl stated with a cross of her heart. Chisel chuckled at Vinyl's words, only to receive a dark glare from her. "Horn herpes aren't funny!" "Sorry, girly, I'm not a unicorn, I can't share that sentiment." Chisel added with a tap of her forehead. She leaned back again and tapped her foot lightly and more slowly. "Well, if you captured her ghost, I guess we could sell it to her parents, or use it as a side show attraction!" Chisel laughed heartily as she thought about her trying to sell a glass jar with nothing in it as a ghost. "Yeah, yeah! I'll get you a glass jar, and you can put it in there!" Chisel laughed a little harder before she sat back up and straightened her face again. Vinyl looked on in confusion as the stoic mare fell from a fit of giggles to the face of a hardened soldier in mere seconds. "Are you serious? You'd give me a jar to capture her ghost?" Vinyl asked with a serious expression. Chisel turned and gave Vinyl an exasperated look. "Whatever gets you to pay the rent and leave me alone, I don't care." Chisel pushed her self from the seat and began to trot to the door. Vinyl was put off by the sudden change in demeanor, but left it alone. As Vinyl walked from the tiny shoppe, she turned and looked to the sky with a new determination in her heart. "With Celestia as my witness; I will capture the soul of The Mare in Grey!" "You keep yelling to the skies like that and you'll have to find your own way home..." Chisel called as she continued to trot home. Vinyl quickly caught up to her landlord, the vow still fresh in her mind.