Bloodlines

by Zeck

Have Fun Storming the Castle

“Tell me then. Tell me what I have to do. Whatever the cost.”

—Keket, speaking to her new ally

Vinyl’s head felt like it had been stuck inside a bell that somepony had with a hammer. It wasn’t just her ears that were ringing; it was her entire skull. Groaning, she tried to raise her hooves to cradle her head against the agony, but she quickly found that her hooves were bound together. She tumbled to the freezing floor, which only served to intensify the ringing.

Slowly, the Unicorn opened her eyes. The first thing that greeted her was the version of her forelegs chained together, just above the hoof. “Not again,” she mumbled. How many times had this happened to her now? Sure, Octavia liked tying her up, but when she did it, it usually involved a lot more pleasure and a lot less pain.

Octavia!

The mare’s name snapped everything back into Vinyl’s head. She stood up as fast as she could, careful not to fall a second time, and looked around. She had expected to find herself in a cell of some sort, but instead she was looking around a rather plush—by comparison to everything else she had seen recently anyway—room.

A couch and a loveseat framed a small coffee table in the middle of the room. Two cups of hot liquid—Vinyl couldn’t tell what it was and she dared not taste it—sat on the table, their steam wafting into the air in twin pillars. A single plate sat next to them with a few cookies resting on it.

Off the right, against a wall, a roaring fire was going in the fireplace. While it was far from warm in the room, its heat was at least making the place bearable when combined with the winter coat Vinyl was still wearing.

A massive window, many of its panes smashed and since covered by wood, stood at the far end of the room. At its base was a door, which apparently led out to a balcony that appeared to be mostly intact. Vinyl couldn’t be sure from the distance, but it looked like the edge of it had broken away and crumbled, and no pony had bothered to repair it. She found that odd, since the room seemed to belong to somepony of importance.

In fact, the whole room showed signs similar to the balcony. The walls were made from some sort of fancy stone, but parts of it were cracked or scorched. A few pieces of art still hung in high places, but many of them were ripped, while others were just empty frames at this point. Even the brick fireplace was missing bricks here and there.

The room gave off the impression of elegance, but that elegance was now buried under a storm of destruction and anger.

“Comfortable?” asked a voice and Vinyl’s gaze shot to the side of room. A door was open and a lone pony was walking through it. “I guessed Fracture’s spell would be wearing off about now.”

Fracture. Vinyl vaguely remembered the name. It was the name of the Unicorn that had blasted her just before Vinyl had—

“How’s Crystalize?” the DJ asked. She didn’t need to pretend about being smug. Her tone said it all.

“I commend you on that,” the strange pony said. She hadn’t moved from the door, and the now-familiar hood she was wearing was keeping her face hidden from Vinyl. “While at the same time, I would chastise him, were he still breathing. Apparently, we have spent so much time fighting Earth ponies that we have forgotten how a Unicorn can fight.”

Vinyl tucked that little bit of information away in her brain for later. “So I’m guessing you’re…what was it? Cluck Cluck?”

“Charming,” the Unicorn said. “I am Keket, yes. And you are Vinyl Scratch, a musical pony of some renown, if I remember correctly.”

“My fame reaches all the way out here, huh?” Vinyl looked around the room and gestured with her bound hooves. “I knew I was good, but wow. I had no idea. You know, if you had wanted me to come give you a private show, you could have just asked.”

“Hm…” Keket cocked her head to the side and said nothing for a long time. Vinyl began to grow uneasy as she watched the hooded pony. Apparently, the idea of doing exactly what Vinyl had just said had hit some sort of nerve or something. “Now that you mention it, that may have been easier.”

“Uh…really?” Vinyl asked. “Because I was just joking, but if you really want a show, I guess I could try. But, uh, first?” Vinyl held up her hooves and shook the shackles binding them. “Kind of hard to work with these.”

“But of course,” Keket said. There was a flash of red light under Keket’s hood—Vinyl assumed it was her magic—and a second later, the shackles came loose and fell to the floor.

Vinyl stood still and bit her lip. She stared at her freed hooves, and then looked up at the rebel leader who had still not moved from the door. What game was she playing at?

If Octy were here, she’d know, the Unicorn thought. But Vinyl wasn’t Octavia. She was just a simple DJ who had gotten involved in something way over her head, and it had cost her everything except her life now.

And if she wasn’t careful, Vinyl got the feeling that her life would be next.

“Would you like something to drink? Or perhaps to eat?” Keket offered. Without waiting for a response, she finally began to move from the door. Vinyl tensed, but Keket made no threatening moves or tried anything fishy. She simply walked over to the couch in front of Vinyl, sat down, and levitated one of the two drinks up to her mouth. For some reason, even though the light from the fire was at the right angle, her face remained cloaked in shadow as she took a sip from the cup.

“What’s going on?” Vinyl finally asked. She refused to sit down or take one of the cups or the cookies. She had not been expecting Keket to be so…so this. She had expected to wake up in a cell, chained to the wall, and beaten for information, or just beaten for fun. In fact, she hadn’t really expected to wake up at all.

“Right now?” Keket asked. Her hooded head tilted to the side and she shrugged under her cloak. “You are being rather rude. I am offering you some refreshments, and you are flatly refusing them.”

“I don’t want your damn food!” Vinyl shouted. She was stunned by her own voice, but the seal on her emotions was already cracked, so she decided to let loose. “I’m talking about me! I’m talking about Octavia! What do you want with her? Why did you hire Shadow Walker to steal that bow? Why did you have your goons kill him, and all those other ponies? What happened to my friend in the alley? Why am I here? Why are you treating me like this instead of…whatever! WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON?!”

Vinyl’s body shook as she screamed the last question at the top of her lungs. It felt like her soul had finally given out from all the weight. The fights with Octavia, the constant battles and escapes, the execution of the Earth pony in the rebels’ cave, the slaughter of the bar patrons back at the city; all of it came crashing down on her at that moment. She sank to the ground, too tired to even cry, and lay there, struggling to breathe.

“You really should eat something, Miss Scratch,” Keket said. She floated a cookie up to her lips and took a small bite before continuing. “You seem rather tired.”

“Shut up,” Vinyl whispered without lifting her head.

“Very well,” Keket said. “First and foremost, I must apologize. Had I known how important you are, things may have gone smoother.”

“What?”

“I will spare you the grand speech that I gave my slaves, about bringing a new order and such. I doubt you would believe me, considering where you come from.”

“You know about Equestria?” Vinyl asked.

“Of course I do,” Keket replied. “I was there, along with Crystalize. Did you think hiring Shadow Walker was something I would leave up to a random slave?”

“So then why—?”

“I told you I would spare you the speech, and I shall,” Keket cut in. “The short answers to your questions: Your friend from the alley is fine. Bruised, perhaps, but I made sure my slaves left her alive and in good health. I needed her to deliver a message, you see. A message about you, and that I have you.

“As for Shadow Walker’s death, he had served his purpose. Once he decided to betray me, his fate was sealed. And the ponies at the bar? Mere casualties, nothing more. Besides, they were Earth ponies, so it is no great loss.”

Vinyl wanted to stand up and spit in Keket’s hooded face, but decided against it. “Why do you want Octavia to know you have me? Why do you want her so badly?”

“Because I need her!” Keket’s voice seemed to change as she spoke. It grew deeper, dropping several octaves until it boomed from her throat. She coughed a few times and then continued, her voice returning to normal. “It took nearly every resource I had to find Octavia, and when I did, it took everything else simply to hire Shadow Walker.”

Keket shook her hooded head and chuckled to herself. “But I knew I should have waited. I should have studied her, even for a bit. But I was blinded by my goal. It was within my hooves, and without thinking, I reached out to take it.

“So I had Shadow Walker steal the bow, fully believing Octavia would come after it. It was a prized family treasure, after all. But imagine my surprise when Octavia did not raise a hoof to reclaim her family’s treasure. No, it was some random musical pony that came after it. And then Octavia came after her.”

Keket threw her head back and laughed, her voice once again dropping into that deep sound and echoing off the spacious walls in the room. “That was when I realized my mistake. The bow meant nothing to Octavia. But you, Miss Scratch, you mean everything to her. I should have taken you instead. Octavia will go to the end of the world for you, and now that I have you, I simply have to wait for her to come.”

Panic rose in Vinyl’s heart and forced her to her hooves. She took several deep breaths, twisting her face into a sneer that she hoped would convince Keket of her words as faced the rebel leader. “Hate to disappoint you, but you’re wrong about her. Maybe there was a time when that was true, but not anymore. I hate her, and she never cared about me. The only thing I was good for was screwing.” Tears began to fall from Vinyl’s eyes as she spoke. “Told me so herself. So…so if you’re expecting her to come save last month’s whore, forget it.”

“Interesting,” Keket said, and her casual tone caused Vinyl’s sneer to crack. “I got a rather different impression from her when I spoke to her before coming to see you.”

“She’s here?” Vinyl shouted.

“Yes, of course,” Keket said as she popped another cookie into her mouth. “She is down in the dungeon. Right now, the guards are taking turns with her, if you know what I mean. She is rather—”

Vinyl was across the table and in Keket’s hooded face before the mare could finish speaking. She wanted to choke the life out of her, smash her face in, and tear her eyes out. She wanted to drive her horn into the mare’s neck, just like the rebels had murdered that mare in the caves. She wanted to feel Keket’s blood seep down her horn and cover her head as her body flailed its last dying spasms on her.

The only thing that stopped Vinyl was the fact that Keket didn’t so much as flinch when Vinyl lunged at her. Instead, a white smile appeared beneath her hood.

“You hate her, do you?” Keket whispered, her smile twisting into a sneer that outclassed the one Vinyl had been wearing before. “Oh yes, you clearly do. And she hates you too, I am certain.”

Vinyl stumbled back, tripping over the table, spilling the two drinks, and knocking the cookies onto the floor. She rolled across the table and landed on the floor.

“You…she’s not…” Vinyl stammered.

“No, Octavia Melody is not here,” Keket said. “But she will be soon, I imagine.” As if her words were a signal, a muffled explosion filled the air and the room seemed to rumble under Vinyl. “In fact, I believe that is her now. Which leaves the question of what we should do now.”

Vinyl picked herself up and glared at Keket’s hooded form. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“Well, you see, you have a choice. We, or rather you, can sit here in comfort. I will stay for as long as I can, but my services will probably be needed to subdue her. We can be civil about this, and you can walk away without any more injuries. Or—”

Vinyl didn’t wait. She fired a blast of magic that caught Keket square in the chest. The rebel tumbled over the back of the couch, knocking the furniture over as she did.

“I won’t let you anywhere near Octy!” Vinyl hissed, but the rage she was feeling was quickly quelled when Keket’s laughter floated up from behind the overturned couch.

Keket slowly stood up. She pulled her hood back with her hoof and Vinyl’s blood went cold. The mare’s eyes were two blood red jewels floating in a see of neon green. Purple smoke seemed to be creeping out of the edges of them, and her entire face was cracked and blistered, the wounds pulsing with dark magic. Her mane, a rich midnight shade of blue, was flowing behind her despite the lack of wind, and around her neck she wore a necklace with a single red shard. Where the shard touched her white chest, it looked as if spider webs of purple and red magic were shooting outward over her body.

“I will be honest with you, Miss Scratch,” Keket said as her horrifying face burned its image into Vinyl’s brain. “I was hoping you would choose this option. It will make Octavia far easier to persuade.”

A blast of blood red magic slammed into Vinyl and launched her across the room.

* * *

Bon Bon wanted to go home. She was tired of being cold all the time, even with top of the line winter gear. She was tired of eating food that barely had any taste, despite her best efforts. She was tired of the hateful looks her wife kept getting. She was tired of the loathing that blanketed the entire region.

She was just tired. She wanted to sleep in her own bed again, get back to running her sweet shop in Ponyville, listening to Lyra’s crazy theories, and just being a normal pony again.

When she, along with Lyra, had been given an assignment in the Frozen North, it was supposed to be simple. Scout the area for a few days and then report back. It was supposed to be quick and simple, but then halfway through their investigation, Princess Luna had contacted them in a dream and reassigned them to chasing down Vinyl and Octavia. Bon Bon and Lyra were close friends with the mares, so they had immediately rushed to their aid, but if Bon Bon had known what doing so entailed, she would have knocked both the musicians out back at that rebel cave and had Lyra help her drag them home.

Too late now, the Earth pony thought as she stood on a small snow bank, looking at a crumbling castle.

It hadn’t taken much pressure from Octavia for Snow Drift, the pony Bon Bon had brought back, to reveal where Vinyl had been taken. The Unicorn had been extremely forthcoming, even without the threat of harm. After all, she had said, Keket wanted Octavia to come.

“You’re sure that’s the place?” Bon Bon mumbled through her scarf.

Snow Drift looked back at her and nodded. “Yes. That is Princess Platinum’s castle. It was the last stronghold of the Unicorns before the Earth ponies signed them into slavery. Master Keket felt it would be a prime place for out base, seeing as it’s kind of taboo for Earth ponies to approach it.”

“How do we enter?” Octavia asked. The cellist hadn’t been the same since Vinyl had stormed out of the room. She had been broken at that point, but when Bon Bon had brought news of her capture, the Earth pony had become something else. A razor-sharp air hung about her now, and when she spoke, everypony in the group twitched a little.

“For you? You can just walk in, most likely,” Snow Drift said. She then gestured to Bon Bon, Lyra, and Ice Air. “Them? Not sure.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lyra asked.

“It means Keket is probably expecting Octavia to either be alone, or under guard,” Snow Drift said, her sky blue eyes twinkling. “And before you try it, Master Keket already knows she’s betrayed us.”

Ice Air scowled. “Keket sold me out first. And don’t be surprised if she doesn’t hesitate to wipe you out once she has Octavia.”

“Why would she do that?” Snow Drift shot back, an air of superiority surrounding her despite the fact that she was still bound and had a magic collar on her horn. “I am doing exactly what she ordered. I’ve brought Octavia here. If she will just let me escort her down, I’m sure—”

“Not happening,” Bon Bon said. “If you think we’re going to let our friend—hey! Octavia, wait!”

Bon Bon watched in disbelief as Octavia began to march down the small hill toward the castle. The rest of the party stared at her for a moment, and then rushed to catch up.

Bon Bon caught up to her first. “Octavia, listen. I know you’re worried about Vinyl, but shouldn’t we have some sort of plan? This is their home base. Just a few of them managed to decimate a bar. And the only reason we had the upper hoof in that cave is because Lyra and I had the element of surprise.”

“I do not care,” Octavia whispered. “I have caused Vinyl no end of trouble simply because I was too afraid to speak to her. I will have her back, and not Keket, or her army, will stand in my way.”

Bon Bon swallowed. “And you really think trotting right up to the front door is the best way in?”

Octavia’s purple eyes shifted to Bon Bon and the mare suddenly felt even colder. “You have a way to breach that door, I assume?”

Bon Bon curled her bottom lip. Octavia knew her too well it seemed. “I do, but it’s the last one. I already used up most of my stock springing you and Vinyl, and Earth didn’t have a lot I could use. Lyra and I weren’t exactly expecting to be out here this long, much less fighting a small army.”

“Then we shall have to make every piece count.” With that, Octavia increased her speed and Bon Bon fell back behind her.

“If Vinyl ever breaks up wit her, we might need to put her in protective custody,” Lyra whispered as she walked up next to Bon Bon, the snow crunching beneath her hooves. “I mean, you’re scary, but Octavia’s downright frightening when she’s like this.”

“Thanks,” Bon Bon said as she rolled her eyes.

“So…loud then?” the Unicorn asked.

“Loud,” Bon Bon replied. “Very loud.”

“What’s that mean?”

Bon Bon and Lyra turned around and saw Ice Air following close behind. Bon Bon still didn’t like the idea of the Unicorn staying so close to them, but Octavia had made her a promise, and Bon Bon was in no position to overrule it.

“It means things are going to get really complicated, really fast,” Bon Bon said. “So you better make sure you know which side you’re on right now, because if you try anything, I’ll make sure you’re buried in this wasteland.”

Ice Air’s green eyes looked down for a moment, but then they met Bon Bon’s hard gaze with their own. “For better or worse, I’m with you. Or at least her.” She nodded toward Octavia. “She’s the only one who hasn’t tried to kill me yet.”

Bon Bon decided that was good enough for now. “And you?”

“Not much I can do for either side like this,” Snow Drift said with a shrug, indicating her shackles.

“Should have just left her back at the room,” Lyra mumbled, but everypony had agreed that doing so was tantamount to signing Snow Drift’s execution order. There were doubtless some survivors from the bar attack, and they would most likely recognize her.

And even if that didn’t end up happening, they knew what awaited a rogue Unicorn back in the city.

“Here we go,” Lyra whispered, and Bon Bon looked forward once again. The castle of Princess Platinum, no doubt once a testament to Unicorns’ vanity but now scarred from battles and crumbling in dozens of places, stood tall and imposing before them. It was a black obelisk jutting out of the snowy landscape, and Bon Bon felt even colder standing before it.

A half dozen Unicorns stood at the main gate of the castle. Octavia had stopped just in front of them, easily within striking distance, Bon Bon noticed. They were all clad in the same white cloak that so many other rebels wore, and each one had their hood up, casting a shadow over their faces.

But Bon Bon could make out two faint green orbs under their hoods. The Unicorns that had attacked back in Earth had had the same type of eyes, but these ones were brighter. They almost seemed to be on fire under the hoods.

“Master has been expecting you, Lady Octavia,” one of the hooded ponies said. His voice was less gravelly and more like it was being dragged over rocks. Bon Bon got the impression that something was seriously wrong with these ponies. She glanced back at Ice Air and saw that the mare had gone stiff, her eyes wide with shock. Even Snow Drift, who had been completely calm before, looked a little shaken.

“We have been instructed to take you to her,” another pony added. “But your companions are…unwelcomed.”

“Wait a second!” Snow Drift stepped forward, muscling her way past Lyra and Bon Bon and stepping in front of Octavia. “I brought her here. I’m not going to let you take all—”

“Unwelcomed,” all six ponies said in unison, their voices all cracking in unnatural ways.

“Back away, Snow Drift,” Octavia said darkly. “These ponies are no longer their own masters. They have been too close to him for too long.”

“What are you talking about?” Snow Drift asked, but Bon Bon noticed that she was slowly following Octavia’s advice. “I know these ponies. I was just here last—”

“Snow Drift,” one of the ponies said. He pulled his hood back and Bon Bon’s breath caught in her throat.

The stallion’s eyes were nothing but glowing green orbs now. Purple smoke crept out of their edges, but there were not signs of a pupil. Veins that looked like they were made of crystal crawled out from his eyes and covered his face. They varied in color, from jet black to blood red, and they all seemed to pulse every other second.

“What…?” Snow Drift took a step back too fast and tripped. “What happened…?”

“You have served your purpose,” the stallion said. His horn glowed with magic and the ground began to shake. A second later, it split open beneath Snow Drift and a single crystal spire shot up under the mare. Bon Bon immediately recognized it as the same type of magic that the rebels had been using back in the city, and she got a sinking feeling in her gut. Could they all use crystal magic?

Bon Bon was too slow to save Snow Drift, but Octavia was not. The cellist jumped forward and clamped down on the mare’s mane with her teeth. She planted her right hooves and spun her body with all her might, dragging Snow Drift across the ground as she did. The spire caught the rebel’s tail, shredding it, but the rest of her was unharmed as Octavia threw her to the side.

“Bon Bon!” the grey pony yelled as she completed her spin and launched into an attack. She had already taken out two of the rebels before Bon Bon even had a chance to react.

“Down!” Bon Bon shouted as she reached under her coat. She pulled out a small bottle and threw it toward the door. It shattered against the wood, coating it in a sticky substance. A second later, working in perfect harmony, Lyra’s magic shot forth and slammed into door. It mixed with the substance for less than a second, and then—

BOOM!

The giant wooden gate to Princess Platinum’s ruined castle exploded inward in a thousand pieces of wood.

“We’re in!” Bon Bon shouted as she, Lyra, and Ice Air rushed through the remains of the gate. “Octavia, what’s the—Octavia!”

“Hold them!” Octavia shouted as she raced across the courtyard, two bodies already behind her as she tackled a third rebel and stomped on his stomach without missing a beat. “I am going to save Vinyl!”

Bon Bon wanted to follow her, wanted to yell at her that splitting up without some sort of plan was suicide, but she quickly realized that doing so was no longer an option. Dozens of rebels were pouring into the courtyard now, cutting off the path to Octavia and deeper into the castle.

“Ugh,” Lyra groaned as she blasted one of the rebels with her magic. “Could they have at least let us get inside and out of this storm?”

“What do we do?” Ice Air asked. Bon Bon found herself surprised that the Unicorn was still with them.

“Without Octavia here, I doubt we mean anything to them,” Bon Bon said as she looked at the corrupted rebels slowly encircling them. “So, step one. Try not to die.”

“We’ve been pretty good at that so far,” Lyra said as she ducked a magic attack and returned with her own. “Two?”

“Ice Air, if you know anything about this castle, anything that can help us, now’s the time.”

“Um…” Ice Air raised a magic shield that blocked both magic attacks and several crystal spears. She lowered it and Bon Bon chucked another of her remaining potions, covering a section of the battlefield in a thick purple smoke. “That way! Some of the hallways are kind of narrow, so we can bottleneck them.”

“Step two, follow Ice Air,” Bon Bon said and all three ponies charged into the fray, attacking and defending as they made their way into the castle.

* * *

Killing a pony was a simple matter. Ponies of all three races had plenty of ways to carry out the act. Unicorns had their magic, which opened a world of possibilities. Pegasus ponies, at the very least, could carry a pony up into the skies and drop them. Earth ponies could crush organs and break bones with their strength if they so wished.

For Octavia, it was no different. If anything, it was easier for her. Her mother had insisted when she was young that she learned some form of self defense, because “a Lady must know how to defend herself”. Octavia had chosen martial arts, and combined with her rigid upbringing of grace and balance in Canterlot, she had excelled at it.

While she had found herself in a few scraps—mostly when Vinyl got a little too tipsy and started something that Octavia had to save her from—the Earth pony had very rarely been forced to go to her full extent, but even in those times, she had never ended the life of her opponent.

Every pony—and a few griffons—she had fought in her attempt to help, and now rescue, Vinyl was still alive. Some of them would certainly be walking oddly for a few days, or maybe even forever, and she had come close to squashing Left-Eye’s head in when she had rescued Vinyl from him, but she had never crossed that line.

Now though, Octavia was not certain if she could continue to hold back. When Bon Bon’s little potion had blown open the gate, she had tossed Snow Drift aside not to save her life, but because she was in the way. Once that was done, she had torn through the few rebels between her and the castle without hesitation or mercy. While she did not think she had killed any of them, she was not certain. She had stomped on the stomach of one of them with more force than she normally used.

Octavia shoved the disquieting thought out of her mind as she rounded a corner in Princess Platinum’s ruined castle and began running down another hallway. She had lost count of how many rebels she had encountered, leaving behind a trail of broken bodies that Lyra and Bon Bon could follow if they managed to evade the rest of the rebels.

If they could not, if they were captured, then Octavia would rescue them after she took care of Vinyl.

Two rebels appeared before her, both with glowing green eyes, but they had not been expecting to find their prey so suddenly. As such, they skidded to a stop for half a moment, and that proved to be their undoing.

Octavia closed the distance between them and herself in that half moment, effectively negating their magic advantage, and before either rebel realized what was happening, Octavia spun on her front hooves and kicked her hind legs straight into the head of one of the rebels. He slammed into the castle wall with a sickening thud while his companion let out a startled yell, but that was all she was able to do.

Hind hooves still raised from the kick, Octavia twisted her body so that her back legs wrapped around the other rebel’s neck. With barely any effort, the Earth pony pulled her body forward as if she were doing a flip, bringing the rebel over her body as she did. The rebel flew through the air, caught in Octavia’s legs, and then her body slammed onto the stone floor.

Octavia rolled out of the throw and was back on her hooves and running in a heartbeat. The entire encounter had taken less than twelve seconds. Twelve more seconds that put Vinyl in danger.

The Earth pony gritted her teeth and pushed herself harder. She reached the end of the hall and turned another corner. Stone stairs were before her, and without thinking, she tore up them. She could feel her injuries from Ice Air’s attack starting to rear their heads once more, but Bon Bon’s potion and Octavia’s own stubbornness pushed the pain back down even as she cursed it.

The stairs kept going up in a spiral, and despite her best efforts, Octavia was forced to slow her pace. She wanted to find Vinyl as fast as possible, but she also knew that she needed to conserve her strength. She doubted that this Keket character would simply let her take the Unicorn and leave.

And if she is in possession of what I suspect, I will need to be careful.

Octavia reached the top of the stairs, her legs just starting to burn from the climb, and stopped for a moment to recover. Judging by the layout of the hallway before her, she suspected she was in the castle’s royal wing, probably the bedchambers. She scowled. She had been trying to find the throne room or the audience hall. She doubted that she would find Keket napping, and it was even more doubtful that she would find Vinyl simply resting on a bed.

Octavia turned and was about to go back down the stairs when the ground in front of her exploded. She jumped back, watching as the stairs were swallowed in a mass of crystal. Before she landed, the entire stairwell was blocked off behind a wall of pale green crystal. Octavia suspected she could smash through it, but she decided that she should deal with the pony that had caused it first.

The cellist turned around, her muscles tense and ready to dodge, and looked back down the hall. Four ponies had walked out of a few rooms and now stood shoulder to shoulder, taking up the width of the hall, but these ponies were not like the other rebels. Each was lacking the familiar white cloak. Instead, they were all clad in black armor. Two spikes protruded from the shoulder plates, and several more ran along the ponies’ spines. They all wore plated leg guards on each leg, and in the dim light, their outfits seemed to swim in the shadows around them.

“Master would be displeased if we let you leave,” one of the ponies said, his voice now sounding like shards breaking with every single syllable.

“So she is here?” Octavia asked. She noticed that the purple smoke was practically pouring out of these ponies’ eyes, instead of just seeping out like the rebels at the gate. “Or do you mean another when you say Master?”

“Come quietly,” another pony said.

“Master prefers you unharmed, but as long as you are still breathing, it is acceptable.”

“Is Vinyl with her?” Octavia held her breath as she waited for the answer. If her Unicorn was just beyond these last four ponies, then…

“Yes.”

Octavia shot forward so fast that she surprised herself. These Unicorns were different from the others she had fought up to this point, because their horns were already glowing as she closed the distance, and one of them even managed to fire off a blast of magic before the Earth pony was within striking distance. She dodged it, and immediately fell on the four armored ponies.

The first thing Octavia noticed was that hitting the armor hurt. She jumped into the air and launched a kick with a hind leg that caught one of the rebels in the side. He staggered backward and tumbled into another rebel, but the impact on her hoof stung. As she landed, she made a note to aim for unprotected areas, such as their faces or the backs of their legs.

No sooner had she landed than she rolled to the side, remembering that her training had taught her to never stand still. She came out of the roll and sprung up, dropping back into a fighting stance and looking for her next target.

A Unicorn fired another blast of magic—Octavia noticed that they were not using the more deadly crystal spears, probably because they needed her alive—and Octavia ducked just in time. The energy scorched her black mane and she felt its heat on her scalp. She heard the blast hit the wall behind her, and she had to fight the urge to turn and look. Instead, she lunged toward her attacker, but before she could get close enough to attack, crystals shot up from the ground, blocking her path. She stopped suddenly, surprised by the block, but then the makeshift barrier exploded toward her as the Unicorn behind it blasted it with magic.

Octavia flew backward and countless crystal shards shredded her winter coat and cut into body. She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hooves. She felt an extra large piece cut into her cheek, and then she hit the ground. She rolled a few times, not entirely under her own power, until she hit what she thought was a pillar. She opened her eyes and looked up just in time to see a hoof coming down toward her face.

Moving solely on reflex, Octavia’s front hooves shot up. She caught the Unicorn’s hoof just before it stomped on her muzzle. The Unicorn scowled and tried to force his hoof down, but he did not have an Earth pony’s strength. Octavia easily pushed the hoof back up, but she did not release it from her hold. Instead, after she raised it up a bit, she yanked it back down. As the Unicorn lost his balance, Octavia kicked her hind legs up, catching the stallion squarely in the gut. His green eyes went wide and Octavia felt spit splatter her face as his mouth fell open. All the strength left his body, but Octavia was not going to take any chances. She kicked again, harder, and this time the Unicorn went completely limp. The green glow from his eyes vanished, and Octavia found herself staring at pupils that were almost nonexistent.

She tossed the armored Unicorn aside and his body clattered to the ground. The cellist began to stand back up, but before she could straighten her legs, something hard smashed against the back of her head. She stumbled forward, struggling to stay standing and not pass out, but she found doing both to be impossible. So she fell onto the floor again and put all of her will into not blacking out.

When her vision finally seemed to stabilize, she slowly reached up and felt the back of her head. Doing so sent a sharp pain through her skull, and when she pulled her hoof back and looked at it, it was covered in dark red blood.

Octavia swallowed and forced herself to stand, her hoof slipping a little from the blood, and turned to face the three remaining Unicorns. One of them was still levitating what appeared to be the remains of a crystal club. The handle was still intact, but the floor beneath it was covered in bloodiy shards from being smashed against her head.

Octavia’s head was swimming now, and she realized she needed to end this fight quick. These ponies had said they would not kill her, but it was clear that they were not above pushing her right to death’s brink. She doubted she’d survive another full blow like that, so she would not need to worry about it happening a second time, but there were plenty of other ways these Unicorns could hurt her and keep her alive.

She bit her lip, a stubborn habit that her mother had tried to break her of. She glared at her opponents, but remained silent. Talking was wasted energy, both mentally and physically, and she was struggling to just keep her vision clear. What she was about to do was going to take a lot out of her because of the gash in her head, so she needed every ounce of strength she could summon.

“Surrender and—”

Octavia did not allow the pony to finish talking. She charged forward and reared up on her hind legs when she was in front of the ponies. Their green eyes went wide as they readied their magic, instinctively taking a few small steps back.

Octavia struck out with her right front hoof and landed a solid blow on the pony in the middle of the trio. Blood from her hoof smeared across the rebel’s face as his head spun to the side. He spit and began to turn his head back, but no sooner had Octavia’s first blow ended than her second hoof came up from below and caught his chin. His head snapped up and the front half of his body followed. For a brief moment, it looked as though he was trying to match Octavia’s rearing stance, but as his front hooves left the ground, Octavia pulled both of her hooves back in and slammed them as hard as she could into the stallion’s exposed chest. He flew backward and tumbled down the hall until he came to rest in a jumbled heap.

The two remaining rebels didn’t seem to even notice as their comrade fell. Instead, their horns glowered brighter as they aimed for the spot where Octavia would land once she went back to all fours.

But the cellist never went back down on her front hooves. She spun like a top on her back legs, and held out her forelegs as she approached the second rebel. Because they were fighting in a hallway, the distance between all of them was nonexistent, and Octavia’s twirl turned into a quick succession of muzzle blows before the second rebel had time to wonder how she was still only on two legs.

Octavia caught a glimpse of the second rebel’s face and realized she was dazed, but she doubted she had time to finish her off. She stopped her spin and leaned back until her front hooves touched the ground. Her back arched with her stomach facing the castle’s ceiling, she saw the third rebel behind her. A second later, she pulled her stomach in and lowered her body a little as the rebel fired a blast of magic that, if she had remained standing, would have caught her square in the back.

Instead, the magical attack exploded against the wall and Octavia pushed off the ground with her hind legs and swung her body up. She balanced on her front hooves for only a heartbeat, her onyx hair spilling down around her head and the uneasy feeling of blood rushing through her skull filled her senses, and then she allowed gravity to take over.

Her hind legs came down and she staggered their descent, so that one of her back hooves smacked the top of the rebel’s head followed immediately by the other. The blow stunned the rebel enough that his next magical attack fizzled on his horn, but Octavia was not finished. Now back on all fours, she pushed off her front hooves again and spun around to face him. As she did, she reached out with her foreleg and caught the stallion in the neck. The clothesline blow, a favorite of her private tutor, knocked the air from the rebel and pulled him from his hooves. She continued to use momentum and spun both herself and the rebel one hundred and eighty degrees so that they were facing the last remaining rebel.

Octavia halted her turn and allowed the rebel whose windpipe she had likely just cracked to continue forward. He crashed into the other rebel, who was just starting to come out of her daze. She struggled to hold up her companion, but Octavia was not going to allow it. She jumped straight up and kicked both her hind legs out. The double blow slammed into the stallion’s side and launched him like a barrel into the last rebel. The two smashed against the hallway’s wall and then sank to the floor.

Octavia landed and slowly lowered herself back to all fours. Never before had she been so satisfied that her mother had forced her to learn a martial art, and that her instructor had insisted she learn how to stand and fight on her hind legs.

The moment of pride quickly faded as adrenaline left her body and she quickly became aware of her injuries. Countless tiny cuts littered her body, and as she tensed, they felt like a million needles pricking her. The hoof she had used to strike the first rebel’s armor was starting to pulse with pain and she winced as she put weight on it. The gash in the back of her head was throbbing in a way that suggested immediate medical attention, and she could feel the weight in her mane from where the blood had soaked in.

Octavia looked at her winter coat, now a tattered mess clinging to her body, and gripped a part of its sleeve with her teeth. She tugged until she tore off a long strip. She wrapped it around her head, and then tore off two more strips and did the same. She knew it was not a good solution, but she suspected it would at least stop the bleeding long enough for her to find Vinyl and get out of here. After all, if these four ponies had been waiting for her here, then surely—

A door at the end of the hall blew off its hinges and crashed into the opposite wall. It immediately exploded into pieces as a massive blast of magic hit it.

“YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!” a voice screamed as the hallway shook under Octavia’s hooves.

“Vinyl!”

Octavia’s pain vanished as she ran to the end of the hall and rushed into the room.

* * *

Vinyl’s body felt like it was falling apart. The muscles that she used to stay standing were stretched to their limits. Her flesh was torn in countless places, burned in others. Her horn felt like it had somehow separated from her skull, and she swore she could feel her brain oozing out of her ears. Her chest ached with every breath, and each time air rushed into her lungs, it felt like it started a new inferno deep inside her.

Despite all of her pain though, she was smiling, because Keket looked no better than she did.

The rebel leader, for all her fearsome appearance, was struggling to stay standing. Her breathing was ragged, and her dark blue mane was matted against her head and neck from blood and sweat. The magical cracks in her face were growing, but the energy that had been seeping out of them had dimmed considerably. Her pupils were still blood red, but the green pools they floated in had faded to a more murky shade.

“Guess Crystalize…isn’t the only one…not used to fighting…Unicorns,” Vinyl stammered. “You’re not…looking so hot…” She tried to put as much bravado into her voice as she could, but the way her head was swimming was making it difficult. “That burn…looks painful…”

Keket’s red eyes glanced down at her chest, where Vinyl’s original attack had landed. Her fur was singed black just below her necklace, and the DJ was pretty sure she could make out signs of charred skin underneath.

“Indeed,” Keket replied. “I imagine you know how it feels.”

Vinyl grimaced as she was reminded of the raw burn on her own chest. Both Unicorns had landed solid opening blows on each other, but that had been all. The rest of the fight had been one of endurance and a hundred little cuts adding up until both cold barely stand. Things were clearly not going the way Keket had planned, because despite her combat experience, Vinyl was finding it easier and easier to keep up with her.

At first, the DJ had had to put everything she had into dodging and raising shields just to stay in the fight. The thought of attacking had seemed impossible under Keket’s relentless barrage, but as it had continued, Vinyl had started to see cracks in the offensive, and she had exploited them. The look of shock on Keket’s face when one of Vinyl’s attacks had clipped her flank was something Vinyl was going to remember for the rest of her life.

“This…is over, Miss Scratch,” Keket heaved. “Octavia is almost…here, and then—”

Something in Vinyl snapped when she saw the cruel smile on Keket’s broken face. She screamed and before she realized it, her aching legs had carried her to within hoof-striking distance of Keket. The sudden rush surprised the other Unicorn, for her eyes went wide a second before Vinyl slammed her front hoof into her face. Keket reeled back, but as she did, Vinyl blasted her exposed chest with magic, sending her skidding across the floor.

Keket tried to pick herself up, but Vinyl didn’t relent. She was on top of Keket in an instant, striking out with her front hooves with blind rage. Several blows caught the rebel in the face and neck before she managed to get her forelegs up to block, but still Vinyl didn’t stop.

Her hooves now blocked, Vinyl lunged down with her head, the tip of her horn aiming for Keket’s neck. The Unicorn managed to turn her head to the side just before Vinyl’s horn dug into her flesh, but a moment later she let out a grunt as Vinyl twisted her head and cut the rebel’s cheek open with her horn.

“Enough!” Keket focused and fired a blast of magic into Vinyl’s lower chest. Under normal circumstances, the blast would have punched a hole clean through her, but Keket was wounded, so the attack only flung Vinyl up and backward.

Vinyl landed on her back and the impact sent all of her energy fleeing from her body. Her brain screamed at her to stop, to just lie still on the floor and go to sleep, but she refused. She groaned as she rolled onto her side. The fire that had been burning inside her now felt like it was outside as well, and when she managed to tilt her head to look at her chest, she almost choked at the sight of burned fur and flesh.

Her four legs feeling a pain beyond imagination, Vinyl forced herself to stand and face the direction she thought Keket was. She did not have the strength to raise her head, instead allowing it to droop toward the floor, giving her a clear view of her chest. For some reason, she was keenly aware of her blue mane sagging around her face, and how it felt like a thousand spiders crawling across her scalp.

“It…appears…” Keket began from somewhere in front of Vinyl, but the Unicorn still couldn’t summon the strength to raise her head. Instead, she began drumming as much energy as she could into her horn. “…Octavia has—”

“YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!” Vinyl screeched as she fired the magical attack she had been channeling. She had no idea if it hit Keket. All she knew was that it hit something, because when the beam impacted against it, the shockwave knocked Vinyl backward. She heard something explode, and as she flew through the air, she hoped that Keket had been caught in the blast.

The Unicorn hit the ground and blacked out as pain swallowed her mind. She didn’t know how long she was unconscious, but she slowly crawled back to reality when she felt something shaking her, sending rippling waves of pain through her.

“Vinyl?” a voice asked. “Vinyl!”

A moment later, Vinyl’s eyes shot open as something wrapped around her neck, sending new definitions of pain to her brain. She screamed and tried to pull away, but the restraint gave way immediately and she dropped back onto the floor.

“I am sorry!” the voice said, and Vinyl’s eyes finally focused enough to see a grey blob hovering over her. “I thought….never mind. Can you stand? We must leave.”

“T-Tavi?” Vinyl asked as she slowly made out the familiar facial features of the grey pony cellist. “It’s…you?”

“Who else would tolerate that nickname?”

Vinyl’s vision had cleared enough that she could see the tears falling from the mare’s dashing purple eyes now. “Hey…” she said with a weak smile.

“Hey yourself,” Octavia whispered. “Vinyl, I know it hurts, but you must stand. If you cannot, I will carry you, but we must leave—”

“But you…just got here,” another voice, strained to the point of breaking, chimed in. Vinyl recognized it, and a word that Octavia often chewed her out for escaped her mouth as she forced herself to sit up. “Which means…you beat my four best.”

“Bitch…won’t stay…down,” Vinyl said as she glared at the battered form of Keket standing near what Vinyl assumed had once been the door.

“Stand aside,” Octavia said, turning to face the rebel leader and planting herself firmly between her and Vinyl. “I assume you are Keket. I do not know why you have gone to all this trouble, but—”

“Yes you do,” Keket hissed. She started to laugh, but the effort made her lose her balance and she almost collapsed on the floor. “Still…trying to deny it…even at the end.”

“It’s over…freak,” Vinyl said. Despite her better judgment, and the horrified look from Octavia, Vinyl forced herself to stand. She immediately regretted the decision and leaned against the grey pony for support as she continued. “You’re spent. There’s no way…you can take both of us.”

Keket started laughing. It was subtle at first, but it slowly grew until Vinyl wondered if she had lost her mind. She felt Octavia tense next to her, but the rebel leader did nothing else.

“You’re right, Miss Scratch,” Keket laughed. “In order for our guest of honor to be here, it means that the four guards I had posted outside are done. And while it looks like they gave you some difficulty, Miss Melody, I can tell you are still a pony to be reckoned with.”

Vinyl finally noticed the bandage around Octavia’s head and the countless cuts and bruises on her body. “Octy, you okay?”

“All of that is true, Keket,” Octavia said, ignoring Vinyl’s question. “Stand down, allow me to take Vinyl, and this need not grow worse for you.”

The rebel leader started laughing once again, the crazed look in her eye frightening Vinyl more than she cared to admit. If Vinyl was certain the Unicorn wouldn’t blast them both, she would have turned around and left the room right then.

”You wanted to know why I didn’t just stay in Equestria?” Keket suddenly asked, her laughter ceasing so quickly that it stunned Vinyl. “Right, Miss Scratch? I had just stumbled across a land where our kind weren’t beaten, enslaved, raped, and sacrificed daily. Unicorns were treated the same as everypony else. Even better, in some places. So why didn’t I stay there? Why would I come back to this pit?”

“Keket, whatever you are planning…” Octavia warned slowly.

“It’s because of this!” Keket ripped the red jewel necklace from her body with her magic and levitated it in front of her. “He made me see! How could I abandon my fellow Unicorns to their fate? How could I be so cruel, when I had the power to save them? He told me to find you, and that with your help, I could save all the Unicorns here. We could all go to Equestria.”

“You still can,” Octavia said, but Vinyl caught the hint of fear in her voice.

“How?” Keket shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks as a twisted smile crossed her face. “You think the Earth ponies will simply release all of their slaves if I ask them? No! I need power to do it. His power. Your power.” Keket’s eyes grew sad, and the smile on her lips broke into a quivering mess. “He said you wouldn’t help willingly. He said I’d have to train the others, prepare them to capture you. I didn’t want to believe it. How could a pony who lived alongside the other tribes, happily, be so willing to let others suffer?”

“Keket, we saved Ice Air!” Octavia protested. “I saved her. She is under my care now. As is Snow Drift. Once—”

“Under your care?” Keket spat the words from her mouth. “You mean they’re your slaves now!”

“No!” Octavia shouted, and Vinyl saw a tear fall from her eye. “Once we get back to Equestria, they can—”

“He was right,” Keket whispered as she ripped the chain from the red jewel and slowly floated it to her forehead. “You were never going to willingly help me; help us. So now, I’m going to make you!”

“NO!” Octavia screamed, but there was nothing she or Vinyl could do.

Keket plunged the red jewel into her forehead. She screamed as her horn exploded in a shower of bone. The long red jewel instantly took its place, forming a new red horn. Her white coat burned away in an instant, replaced with charcoal ash fur that was a shade darker than Octavia’s. Her midnight blue mane twisted and writhed around her head as darkness began to creep across it, starting at the base of her skull. As the onyx coloring slowly expanded, the wild mane seemed to die, until the farthest ends were coated in black. and the mane hung limp for a moment, before it began to flow, much like the Princesses’.

The tattered white cloak caught fire, black flames eating at it until it was burned away, replaced with a blood red mantle that matched the color of Keket’s new horn. Her eyes were back to their fierce green-red mix, only now, purple flames burned out of their sides.

“What the—”

Before Vinyl could finish her sentence, she felt a powerful magic encase her body. She was instantly yanked away from Octavia and toward Keket. She heard Octavia scream—whether her name or just a scream, Vinyl couldn’t tell—a heartbeat before she was in front of Keket. She had only a moment to look into the Unicorn’s twisted visage before Keket punched her in stomach.

Vinyl doubled over in pain as something threatened to spill from her mouth. She had heard something crack, and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew it was one of her bones, but the thought was struck from her as another blow landed squarely on the back of her head. Her vision went dark from the impact, and she was vaguely aware of the fact Keket’s magic had let her go a split second before her face smacked into the floor. She tired to stay there, her head now nothing more than a jumbled mess, but she felt her body being lifted into the air again.

Vinyl wasn’t sure how many blows she took. She tried to count them, but the first one to her burned chest knocked all sensible thought from her. It wasn’t until she felt a fierce pain in her lower jaw, as Keket delivered an uppercut that flung her toward the ceiling, that her thoughts were able to drift above the blinding pain.

She flew up, but before she could hit it, gravity took over and she began to fall. The pain dulled her sense of time, making the fall last for a lifetime, until she felt the familiar magic close around her again. She tried to brace herself for another beating, but all she managed to do was cough and make her body twitch a few times as Keket held her there.

Then a pain unlike anything Vinyl had felt so far exploded in her stomach. Somehow, she managed to scream, and she thought she heard another scream join hers. Her body began to shiver as her hind legs went numb. She made eye contact with Keket for a moment; saw her twisted evil smile in a face that wasn’t hers anymore, and then she looked down.

A crystal spear was plunged into her stomach. She could see her blood running down it, dripping off it’s jagged edges and collecting on the floor beneath her. Horrified, she tried to reach down for it with her hooves, but Keket twisted the spear and laughed as Vinyl let out a sound that she didn’t know living creatures could make.

The last thing Vinyl felt was the sensation of Keket casually tossing her through the air, the spear still firmly lodged in her body.

Author's Note:

What do you think happens when a pony of Octavia's skill loses her mind?

Comments

[Sphinx_Herald]

The first thing that greeted her was the version of her forelegs chained together, just above the hoof.

Vision?

Master Keket felt it would be a prime place for out base, seeing as it’s kind of taboo for Earth ponies to approach it.

Our

If Vinyl ever breaks up wit her, we might need to put her in protective custody,

With

Purple smoke crept out of their edges, but there were not signs of a pupil.

No

No, Vinyl! But, yay, new chapter! A great one at that, as always certainly worth the wait. And I am looking forward to the next one, because, while I have absolutely no idea what happens when somepony of Octy's skill loses their mind, I'm fairly certain you'll answer that. Anyways, awesome chapter! Until next time,
-Sphinx

Ps. Probably going to read the Shattered chapters tomorrow.

[Zeck]

7475444
I will have to fix those in the next few days. Oops.

Vinyl is in pain now (or dead?), so she'll have to call you back. Apparently her fate has angered some pony, for there are now two whole down votes! The shame! Anyway, glad you enjoyed this chapter. Hope you enjoy the Shattered ones too. Others seem to have liked them very much. Plus, no one gets stabbed through the gut.

[Raven Flight]

Zeck, I hate you...so very much do I hate you.
Now, with that out of the way, very nice chapter! I can't wait to see what happens to stupid pony that apparently kills Octavia's lover and only love.

[Zeck]

7484374 That's not nice. Just because I ended the chapter with Vinyl getting impaled and tossed aside like a doll...

The next chapter won't take several months this time, I promise. So you won't have to wait forever this time.