*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Octavia...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
"What do you mean changes?!" I all but screamed at Vinyl's mother.
She held her hooves over her ears as I did so, but that wasn't going to stop me. My head was struggling to pick which I should do first, look over my body to see just what had changed about me, or shout and confront Vinyl's mother further. As a result, I kind of just muddled the two together and screamed about half of a word while patting various places on my lower body.
She looked up at me with a sort of sheepish look on her face, which didn't help me calm down.
"D-Dear, if I may-" She began.
"May what?! Do something else to me?!" I shouted.
Some may call this kind of reaction a bit rash and random considering my demeanor just a few seconds prior to her speaking a sentence into my ear. I mean, most would say I was happy; what could cause me to shift so quickly to shouting?
Well, I'll just go ahead and say that I can put up with a lot, and that's not to sound prideful in thick-skin or flaunting that fact, it's just what I've been told by both my parents and friends.
But this was a new line.
Vinyl's mother had told me something simple, that after she had bitten me, I had changed.
The implications were, obviously, vampiric in nature. I had already checked my teeth for fangs growing in and ran over to a mirror to see if my eyes were turning red. Vinyl's mother had mentioned that red eye color wasn't a transformative result of vampirism, and I responded by throwing a bottle of wine at her from off my father's shelf he kept in his study.
"Dear, if you would-"
"No!"
I was mad of course. She had, after I offered her an act of compassion and trust, taken something that was most precious to me. I didn't want to talk to a thief right now.
What had she stolen from me? Well, that was just it. She had stolen part of me.
The change she had mentioned, whatever it may be, was her fault and that change - by definition - means something that just simply isn't who I am.
I propped my self on my father's desk, breathing heavy after shouting at her, and noticed that my mane had begun to get stringy with a bit of sweat. Not to mention how disheveled it must've looked. Going along with the scared look bound to be in my eye, I must've looked like I had just witnessed a murder.
And in a way, I did.
A murder of a part of myself, by a mare that I had trusted and been nothing but kind and understanding to. It was enough to anger me to the point where I failed to notice the gentle knocks coming from the door, but the voice that came after I knew well. And it was enough for me to cock my head back up and widen my eyes a little.
"Ah, Octavia dear, pardon me for knocking but I thought I heard screaming." It was the voice of my father, muffled by the door.
"Wilfred you'd call that screaming, correct?" I heard him ask, clearly not wanting for us to hear it but failing miserably.
"Yes sir." Wilfred agreed.
"Yes, screaming. Ah, are you two alright in there?"
How was I going to tell my father about this? What would happen to Vinyl's mom, and more importantly Vinyl, if they found out that I was becoming a vampire because of Vinyl's mom? They'd do something, though it would probably be something rational like stopping me from seeing Vinyl.
I turned my eyes to the mare who had her's closed, a glare of hatred in my own and an oblivious look on her face. I suppose she couldn't feel emotions.
"Dear, please don't look at me like that. I know what you're thinking and-"
Point proven.
"Be quiet."
I spoke simply and calmly, getting just that out of her.
I raised from my father's desk and walked towards her, my teeth gritting as I looked at her more. This was the first time I had ever been angry enough to grit teeth, and arguably the only time I had ever been truly mad at someone. Even the crazed vampire out in the woods who tried to abuse me to get him Vinyl didn't compare to how angry I was.
I stopped just a few inches from in front of her, being sure to take a good few seconds to stare heavily at her before speaking.
"If you cause my parent's to forbid me from seeing Vinyl..." I began, ending at the part where I was supposed to issue a "if you do this" threat to Vinyl's mom.
But what could I say? That I'd fight her? What could I do to possibly hurt her. I was me, well partially at least, and she was her -- a vampiric, age old mare without a care in the world that wasn't about her daughter.
My eyes widened at the thought, then narrowed at Vinyl's mother.
"I'm telling on you." I said, my voice no more than a whisper at this point.
"W-What?" She stammered, lifting a hoof and recoiling a little bit.
"Hello? Octavia? I can hear you in there, is everything okay?" My father chimed in again, doing nothing to disrupt my stare down with Vinyl's mother.
"Sir, if I may suggest-" Wilfred began, though he cut himself short about as quickly as he began.
"Honey, please. It's a mare thing." I heard my mother say, followed by a barrage of hoof steps and "ouches" walking away, suggesting that my mother had grabbed my father by his ear and physically pulled him away.
After that, the sound of a single set of hooves coming closer was all that was heard.
"It's alright dear! I got your father, you two take as much time as you'd like!" My mother chimed happily, going off of what I could only imagine was some 'just mare things' idea that said that the shouting I had done was okay.
With the sound of my mother's hooves softening as she walked away from the door, me and Vinyl's mother got back to the matter at hoof.
"I'm telling on you." I repeated to Vinyl's mother.
"Telling on me? To who?" She asked, confused as ever.
I squinted at her.
"Vinyl."
Her white face somehow paled at the mention of that idea, and an open mouthed frown came about. She was stuck like that for maybe five or so seconds before she shook her head and began to stammer for an excuse of some sort.
"O-Octavia, you never let me explain what kind of 'changes' I was talking about." She said, this time pausing for my permission before continuing to explain to me. Perhaps it was to see if I was willing to listen with reason or if I was going to stay submerged in my angered ignorance.
I was really considering doing the latter, since I'd much rather not know what the changes were and pretend as if they weren't there, but I decided to let her talk.
"Go on." I said with a venomous sound in my voice that even I hadn't heard before.
"L-Look, the changes I were talking about aren't about you anymore. The ones I referred to - which I now see how you might have misunderstood - were during the night after my... er, feeding." She said, feverishly going about her explanation as if to prove something to me.
"Explain."
"The change was not in you physically - well, technically speaking it was, but that's not what I'm getting at. The change was simply in your personality. It...shifted from something not like yourself dear." She said.
"And quite honestly it scared me." She said, genuine in her tone.
"To the point where I felt like holding you down was necessary, so you wouldn't do something you regret." She added.
I felt my gaze soften at her admitting to being scared and that she had thought of what I might've done last night - whatever that might be. Though now my attitude was just a mix of mild anger and intrigue.
"Why? What happened?" I asked, curious about what would force her to feel like restraining me was necessary.
"You...you started acting odd. It looked odd on you thanks to your usual attitude, but this personality also suited you in a weird, twisted sort of way." She said again, doing nothing but saying what was already known in a new way.
I began to get a bit agitated thanks to her reluctance to give me a straight answer.
"How did I act? What did I do?" I asked.
"I assume you have, but have you ever seen Vinyl when she was hungry?" She asked.
My eyes widened at the mention of Vinyl's 'hungry' mood. Was that what she was saying I looked like? And if so, how in god's name did she take me seriously? She was clearly stronger than me; enough to detain me in my sleep with only a single hoof!
"I...I have." I said, letting her go on to explain it more before jumping to a conclusion.
"Well...it was arguably similar to it, though with your personal twist." She said vaguely.
"And what was this...'twist'?" I asked.
"Well, you just didn't have the playfulness that Vinyl has when she hungers -- the reason behind that being that it is just who she is, and even shifting to an almost other person entirely isn't able to get through that playfulness that's concreted into her personality. The only change when a vampire feeds is the...er, promiscuous attitude that they gain." She explained.
"So regular personality determines the 'hungry' personality of a vampire?" I asked, for clarification.
"Indeed." She nodded.
I thought about that for a moment, thinking about what Vinyl's mother would be like when she was hungry -- considering she was the one who fed off me. The only thing that I could think that was "concreted" into her personality was her overwhelming amount of motherly intuition and approach to people.
I shivered when I combined that with the lustful mood that came with feeding.
She let out a sudden sigh of relief.
"At least you don't look as angry anymore. Telling my daughter would ruin me..." She said with both a nervous and happy tone.
My eyes widened as I realized she was right. My interest in vampires and her information on them was able to overrule my anger with her; even though I was technically right about her invasive feeding and her changing me. I considered putting on an act of anger, but knew my acting skills couldn't fool a mare as versed as her. Instead, I went to the one thing I still had on her.
I began a happy looking trot, moving past her as she had her closed-eyes glued to me with suspicion.
"Don't worry..." I said, opening the door and turning around to her with what must have been the smuggest smile I had ever had.
"...I'll still tell Vinyl." I said, quickly shutting the door so she couldn't protest.
I pressed my ear up against the door to listen to her reaction, though was a bit disappointed when I didn't hear anything. Though, that disappointment quickly turned into glee as I heard her start feverishly stumbling towards the door in order to catch up with me. She was even speaking in a tone like someone wanting to bargain their way out of having someone tell on them to their mother, ironic considering she was the mother of the person I was going to tell.
I felt a burst of childishness come over me as I found myself racing down the hall, away from Vinyl's mom so that she couldn't bargain with me.
I even giggled a little.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Flint...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
"Feeling better now?" Silver asked with a small chuckle, pushing the left hind leg of Whitey out to full extension and getting a groan out of her.
She had been hitting all of Vinyl's vital spots with precision and speed I hadn't ever seen before. Though, despite the speed at which she moved her hooves, she still had the deliberateness as if she had thought of the motion an hour ago. It looked like she had planned what both she and Vinyl were doing, and it irked me in all honesty.
But then again, that was Silver for you.
"Y-Yeah." Whitey responded shakily.
Whitey had been turned to pretty much putty at the hooves of Silver at this point.
Meanwhile, I was sat off to the side of them near a wall but not quite on it. I had propped my head up a hoof as I watched the two. I had came here for a fight, yet her I was on the side watching nothing even close to a fight happen.
'Why is she doing this?' I asked, looking at her with a deadpanned and bored look on the outside, but annoyance on the inside.
I felt a theoretical - and probably literal - vein about to pop until I finally just out and shouted to the two.
"Can we please fight now!" I screamed.
For roughly thirty minutes or so now these two jokes of supposedly strong fighters had been doing goddamn yoga because Vinyl had said something about being tense. And Silver, being the weirdo she was, had offered stretching out Vinyl's joints for her. And Vinyl, being the weirdo she was, accepted gladly.
I was to shocked to object to it, and when I had recovered it was already too late since they were already doing a one-on-one class with one another on how to stretch. It had eventually gotten to the point where I just decided to go sit on the side of the room, about seventy or so feet from them so that they couldn't hear my grumbling. Why'd I even do that? They should hear my grumbling so they might stop sooner.
The two of them paid me no mind, Silver finally getting off of Vinyl and both of them rising to full extension and smiling at each other.
"Finally, took you two long enough. Stupid mares..." I said, closing my eyes and pursing my lips before blowing out a sigh so that it would gently levitate the longer half of my mane.
"Say again?"
My eyes went wide as I whipped my head around toward the voice that I had unmistakably heard behind me, only to find nothing but the wall there to greet me.
"What the-" I said, only to have a hoof tap me on the shoulder.
I turned around to see a white mare with an eager smile and wide, red eyes filled with glee as she arched a hoof back while keeping her other hoof on my shoulder so I couldn't move. She used her body weight to rock me into the ground, making pinning me down an easier task while also giving her hoof some extra momentum for a heavier hit.
I only had enough time to gasp before her hoof came hammering forwards, going right past my head with a few inches between the impact on the ground and my head. My mane brushed gently to the opposite side of where her hoof had hit, just the speed of her hoof and impact of the hit was enough to make a breeze.
I was still stunned, mouth slightly agape and eyes wide.
"Heh, guess I missed." She said, giggling a little before un-straddling me.
She knew damn well she hit just what she wanted.
I heard the attentive hooves of Silver coming over to me, a bit of concern in them but overall still fairly lax. Soon enough she was peering down at me with concern, though it seemed to disappear when she realized I hadn't been hurt.
"Well, seems that she found your weakness to surprises." She said, offering a smile.
"Come on, no more beating around the bush." She said, offering a hoof and pulling me up to my hooves before we turned and faced the white mare who had taken the time of my recovery to put some space between us.
What the hell was going on anymore? Now Silver was telling me to stop horsing around.
'Heh...horsing.' I chuckled to myself.
"So, we know two things. She's fast and strong, but if you excel at one thing then you fail at others." Silver said, clearly trying to sympathize me.
"Everything can burn." I said simply, horn igniting again with the flare from before that I had lost while waiting for Silver and Whitey to finish their stretches.
"Remember thought," Silver said, her wings extending a little. "she's handicapped in this fight. She has no magic. If we struggle to much during this, we'll need all four generals to even hope of taking her down if that ring ever gets pulled off."
I narrowed my eyes and furrowed my brows at the mention of that.
How did we ever allow this vampire to get this far? You'd think the best strategy for beating vampires would be too beat them before they have a chance to get to their primes. Assuming this was even her prime. To think that in a couple hundred years she could be exponentially stronger and still growing. Even if she were to begin indulging in feeding like the reports suggested she abstained from, she'd be a threat much greater than now.
Yet she chose the solitary and humbled life over the one of tyranny. She could have, if she wanted too, built her own vampiric following and launched an assault on the castle with a fifty-fifty chance of winning.
But she fasted. A vampire, trying not to drink blood. What the hell was wrong with her?
"You keep her busy up close. I'll hit her from back here with fire." I said.
"Think she heard that?" Silver asked, the look on her face going from confusion to focus within an instant as she jumped behind me and extended one of her wings, covering me.
The sound of something light hitting the back of Silver's wing made itself known and was followed by the sound of hooves hitting the ground.
"I worked as a DJ, what good would I be if I couldn't hear stuff really good?" The voice of Whitey spoke up from behind the metal clad wings of Silver.
Silver's look stiffened again as she quickly retracted her wings and moved in front of me just in time to catch a white hoof just inches from my face, the sound of flesh hitting flesh resonated through the expansive training room.
Vinyl chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof, clearly not expecting Silver to catch the hoof.
Silver's looked darkened as she gave her wings a strong flap before lifting Vinyl off the ground and carrying her towards the wall farthest away at breakneck speeds.
I tilted my head up and began putting as much heat into a concentrated ball as fast as possible, resulting in a superheated ball hot enough to somewhat sear the ground it was hovering over.
I had seen Silver do this a few times sparring partners who weren't pegasi.
I watched her tilt upwards near the wall, letting go of Vinyl enough to where she was essentially riding the force she had put into Vinyl. After getting up to the point where she deemed it high enough, she used Vinyl's body as a sort of stool by speeding up until she was able to 'land' and placed both her hoof on Vinyl's abdomen.
The force was what I had assumed had kept Whitey from using her limbs to stop Silver, and even though now would've been the only time to do it, Silver was three steps ahead of that.
Silver's previously coiled legs extended out in a powerful buck that was only fueled more by the downward flapping of her wings, sending the white form of Vinyl blurring down to the floor.
The impact was enough to kick up a pit of dust, the perfect way to hide what I was about to throw at her.
I strained forwards and sent the hefty mass of condensed flames hurdling towards the cloud of dust. It didn't matter if I hit her directly, though that would hurt a lot more, but the blast radius was more than enough to encompass the clouse.
Almost as quickly as the bright ball went into the dust cloud, I felt the ball rupture and begin to explode.
Concerned not to blow up the whole room, and to concentrate the heat even more on Vinyl, I strained and stopped the explosion from going out too far. It ended up looking like how the sun did in the sky, a perfectly rounded and grossly incandescent bright ball of pure heat.
I felt my knees give out after the explosion subsided, releasing my hold on the heat and allowing a cloud of ash to bellow from the crater.
Silver landed beside me and placed a hoof over my shoulder and helped me straighten my back out.
"Well, pretty good looking for two blocks and two attacks." She commented.
"Y-Yeah..." I said shakily, breathing deeply. I could feel myself steadying out with the passing seconds.
The heat I had used in the explosion wasn't anything too special for me, though the concentration and speed I had put into forming it was much more intense than what I usually did. Though the concentration was necessary for the explosion effect since I knew I wasn't going to be able to hit her directly with her kind of speed.
"You think she's hurt enough?" I asked.
"Maybe. Like I said, she might've been fast and strong, but that would usually mean she isn't too durable. Kind of like how Stone is strong and durable, but not fast." She said again in a form of assurance.
Silver began trotting over to the rubble of our little combo of attacks, only to stop half way. Her ears seemed to perk up and I thought I saw the hairs on her mane stand up a little bit.
"Silver?" I asked, still breathing a little heavy.
She turned back to me suddenly with a look of mild panic on her face, beginning to move at me as fast as she could. Though I didn't know why at first, I soon found out.
I felt something wrap around my hooves, and after looking down saw another pair of white hooves clasping on mine. I had enough time to breath in to shout before the white hooves gave a mighty tug and pulled my own two downwards into the ground, embedding them there. It wasn't too long until the back two followed suit.
Silver stopped moving after that, instead choosing to give her wings a few flaps and hover in the air for a moment.
And after that moment passed, the ground a couple meters beside me erupted and a white mare popped through with sudden gasps for air. A shaggy blue mane shook violently to knock the rubble off, finally steadying and revealing the cheeky grin of Whitey.
She had figured there wasn't much escape from me and Silver in terms of during our attack, so must have used the momentum of Silver's throw to knock into the ground well enough that she could go deep enough and far enough so that my fire couldn't hit her thanks to my choice to restrain the explosion on both top and bottom.
"Heh, close one." She said, almost mocking us that she was alive.
That grin was getting seriously sickening to me.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*