Filling the Gap

by Ponysopher

Rendezvous

On the one hoof, the last couple of days had been rough for Vinyl, to say the least. The night before last she had nearly burnt herself out partying and she spent last night running from McCullen’s goons. This had continued until this morning and it had completely exhausted her. It was true that she had been technically asleep for a few hours after that unicorn had knocked her out, but magically induced (and forced) sleep is hardly ever recuperative. She may as well have been awake all the while. Now, as she and Octavia flew out of Manehatten, Vinyl was still breathing hard, her muscles ached from running up those stairs, and she noticed that she was sweating profusely. On that note, not having bathed wasn’t too fun either. She wanted nothing more than to shower and sleep for a century.

However, of course, the recent events were also mentally taxing. Vinyl was safe for the moment, but who was to say how much longer? She could end up being ambushed right after arriving at wherever they were going and, to make matters worse, she couldn’t say that she had felt completely safe in quite a while. Only a week before, she had spent a day trying to make enough bits to pay off another creditor. She couldn’t recall the last time that she had three days in a row which any normal pony could call quiet. Such a prospect was mentally exhausting beyond belief so that she would have gladly given everything that she owned for just one week when nopony would be out to harass or capture her. It occurred to her that the ongoing and ever-continuous stress should have made her burn out a while ago, but for now she was too tired to give any logical thought to the situation. Yet despite this unending cycle of partying and running away, for now she was safe. Knowing that the chance of the chariot being attacked in broad daylight while travelling over major highways was slim, she was glad that she had finally claimed a moment of peace.

On the other hoof, things were quite different for Octavia. With the exception of losing a little sleep recently and not being able to do her job exactly the way she wanted to, up until this morning, everything had been going smoothly for the gray mare. The experience of helping Vinyl escape had been a new one for her entirely. Surprisingly, while it had been going on, she felt as if she was having the time of her life. Although nothing was going wrong for her before, nothing had been out of the ordinary. Her life had been not only ordered, but orderly.

From the day that she became a musician for hire, a plan had been devised for her. Since then, most of her days had adhered to a strict schedule. Today would have been a break from that schedule had nothing unusual happened, but if it were any other day, she would spend a half of an hour listening to her manager’s assistant tell her exactly where she would be and what she would be doing from the time that she awoke to the time that she lay down for sleep. Though a degree of leeway was given to her, failure to follow this schedule would result in the loss of her job. Yet as harsh as this way of life may have seemed, she was not resentful of this order because nothing evil would befall her. When she stuck to the plan, good things happened, but when she deviated in the slightest, bad things happened. This had been tested several times and proved to be a consistent law.

These rules that dominated her life may have been constricting, but they were also there for her safety. Thus she had lived a life of the most rigid order from that day until just this morning. As result, she was not her own. She did not choose for herself any path that she would take, but instead she blindly followed closely behind her boss, hoping that he would not lead her astray. In addition to the surrender of her liberty, this blind obedience had also relinquished any purpose she may have had. Octavia was not living for any reason, but only existing to aimlessly and permanently to serve others no greater than herself. She may have desired to be loved and respected by the upper classes, but this was only a wish. Such a prize was not promised to her.

This miserly way of life had been only apparent to her and she was almost numb to it, but then she struck that stallion and began to run, causing a rift in the law. She knew that it was not wrong to save another pony from a bad situation. She had done nothing to break the terms of her contract, but by doing this, she had broken the unwritten law. By making the choice to use physical force against another pony, she had given up her right to security. The gray mare could have remained on the path and turned a blind eye to the situation before her as her decision to help was not compulsory. In fact, she thought that her manager might have called it ill advised. Knowing him, he would have had her stay out of the fight and call the city guard. As much as Octavia was certain that she had done the right and just thing, by choosing to help the mare, she had sacrificed her safety to gamble for Vinyl’s.

Hence, for a brief moment when it began, she believed in her heart that this was the worst tragedy that could ever befall her. The great prison of security that she had enjoyed for so long, which was held up through her mindless obedience, suddenly and unexpectedly disintegrated. Then she was left exposed to the dark powers of the world and the harbingers of misfortune, having no clue whether or not she would come out of the ordeal alive or not. On top of that, she wasn’t even sure she should have been helping the unicorn escape in the first place.

Yet only moments later, a light sprang out of the darkest hour of her life. The walls around her had fallen down, but now she was gazing at the full glory of the sun, which the prison had veiled. By remaining under the terms of the law of security, she gave up liberty and received order and therefore safety in return. Yet now that she had broken the terms of that agreement, the reverse had occurred. Order was lost, but liberty, which she had deemed worthless before, was returned to her. And liberty, the license to do what one pleases, is always followed by freedom, the ownership of oneself to do as one sees fit.

It was when she had realized this that she truly felt a great sense of happiness. For the first time in her life, she was her own mare. It was true that the escapee that she was following was directing her every move, but all during that time, it was her choice whether to obey or not. Vinyl was not her boss. Octavia was choosing to follow her because she had judged that it was the best course of action in her own mind, by her own logic, and for her own benefit. Moreover, being free, she now had a purpose: to protect herself. This may have been a base purpose, but it was a purpose nonetheless, a reason to exist. Therefore, in that brief time, she had enjoyed the happiness of freedom and purpose.

Yet unfortunately for the earth pony, unlike joy, happiness is fleeting. Now that her purpose had been accomplished for the time being and the heat of the moment had passed, the other side of the sword presented itself. She was free, but unlike her companion, worry started to well up inside of her. The implications of losing order were slowly entering her mind. Furthermore, all of the unanswered questions that had to be put off before were now demanding an answer. So she said to Vinyl, “Well, this morning was quite…” She paused to find the proper word. “…different.”

Vinyl, who was just seconds from drifting off into dreamland, was brought back to consciousness. Annoyed, she gave a short, “Yeah.”

Octavia continued, “I expected today to be very quiet, but chance had other plans. I’m travelling in a chariot after running, like I never have before, away from some very muscular ponies. If I may ask, where exactly are we going?”

The white mare, who realized that she wasn’t sure about this herself, called to their driver. “Hey, where are we going?”

The pegasus looked back and answered, “We’re heading to Midnight’s safe house in the forest just outside of Fillydelphia.”

Vinyl opened her eyes and lifted her head. “Safe house? It sounds like Midnight’s moving up in the world. Where’d he get one of those?”

He just laughed and responded, “How should I know? I just met him not twenty minutes ago.”

“I guess I’ll ask him when we get there then.”

This exchange did nothing to alleviate Octavia’s worries so she pressed on. To Vinyl she said, “Ah, please don’t take this the wrong way, but something has been on my mind that is making me anxious. Could I ask you a few questions?”

The unicorn had already lay (or rather fell) down again and was hoping to sleep. She asked, “Can it wait? I’m pretty beat right now.”

“I really need to talk to you now.”

Vinyl sighed. “All right, just keep in mind that everything I say might not be entirely thought out.”

Having broken the ice, Octavia proceeded deliberately. “I have to say that the situation we were in was a bit vague. Those ponies that we were running from were dressed in combat gear after all –and once again please don’t take this the wrong way– but the thought crossed my mind that you might be…” She paused for a moment.

The white mare saw where she was going with this and saved her the trouble. “I’m not running from the law, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

This relieved the cellist greatly and she sighed. “Ah, that is good to hear.” She paused for another moment and asked, “Please don’t answer this if it makes you uncomfortable, but do you know why they were trying to capture you?”

Vinyl didn’t hesitate. “I owe some lender a few bits and I can’t pay him back, so he hired some stallions to come for me.”

“All right, if it’s a matter of money, could you tell me how much you owe him? Perhaps I could help you with your debt.”

“That’s nice of you, but it’s not about the money to this guy. I owe this guy enough that he’s chased me out of half the cities east of Stalliongrad.” Stalliongrad was the third most western city in Equestria after Canterlot and Ponyville.

Octavia was taken aback by this. “Oh, I see. That’s … um …”

The unicorn continued, “I guess I should mention to that those stallions after us weren’t your average thugs. At least one of them had an REA tattoo and one who you didn’t probably see is ex-REG.”

The earth pony gave a nervous laugh. “I apologize, but I’m not familiar with those abbreviations.”

Vinyl finally sat up and was evidently surprised. “Really? Wow, you really must be a noob. ‘REA’ means ‘Royal Equestrian Army.’ I guess I can’t blame you for not hearing about them since they haven’t seen too much action. The crown usually stations them in cities where there looks like there might be a crime outbreak, but most of the cities are pretty safe most of the time - nothing the city guard can’t handle. Those two earth ponies and the unicorn are mercenaries that used to be in the REA. Thankfully for us, it looks like they haven’t had too much experience, so we were able to get out.” She lay back down.

This made sense to Octavia. Equestria was without a doubt the safest country in the world. “So, then I’m assuming that REG stands for Royal Equestrian Guard.”

“Yep.”

This made her shudder. The REA may have been a mystery to her, but the Royal Equestrian Guard, the faithful and strong protectors of the crown were certainly not. It was common knowledge (due to the Nightmare Moon incident) that the two princesses were immortal and possessed divine powers; however, rumors had been surfacing that there were some in the Guard who had existed for a similar longevity. Almost every one that she had seen who bore the golden armor of the sun was practically eugenic. Therefore, Octavia saw Vinyl’s point: If this moneylender was so adamant on spending the small fortune necessary to recruit ponies with with that kind of reputation, then that meant two things. First, this pony had money, and a ton of it. Second, he would not spare any expense to meet his goals. Feeling like she was now on the side swimming upstream, she asked, “So what now then? This situation seems hopeless for you, and now I am included.”

“I don’t know what we’re going to do. When we get to Midnight’s place, I’m sure he’ll have some advice, but for now, just take a breather. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t slept in two days and I should have passed out by now.”

Seeing that her companion was about to do just that, she decided to steal herself. “Please, before you do, I just have two more questions.”

Groaning, she answered, “Well, let’s get them out of the way then.”

“I don’t want to sound like I’m what you might call ‘high maintenance,’ but I left all of my things back at my hotel room. Most of them can be easily replaced, but there’s one item in particular that I really need to get back soon. The fact that I am parted from it now makes me more uneasy than I was nervous about you possibly being a criminal.”

One last time, Vinyl pulled out her phone. “I’ll send Midnight a text to have some guys bring your stuff to the safe house. Don’t worry about whatever you left behind. This happens to me on a regular basis and I haven’t lost anything important yet. My computer that has my life on it got left behind on the train bound for Manehatten, but I’m sure Midnight’ll get that back.”

Though this did nothing to relieve Octavia’s fears, she realized she couldn’t very well turn around now. With that she said, “One last thing: We haven’t introduced ourselves yet. I am Octavia von Weber. May I ask your name?”

“Vinyl Scratch.”

♦ ♦ ♦

McCullen stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hallway of the hotel’s fifteenth floor. When he had reached the room that they designated, he knocked on the door three times. After a moment, the door opened to reveal a rather tall unicorn with a strikingly long horn, and dressed in black leather armor. He gazed on McCullen with pale eyes and said, “Ah, come in person have you? I suppose I am in no position to deny you entrance.”

McCullen replied, “Not if you’re hoping to get paid, ye won’t.” The unicorn stepped aside and admitted him. The earth pony strode over to the couch, sat down, and looked up. “So I heard what ye said over the phone, but I just want to hear this one more time and get everythin’ straight. Four of the most well trained and well paid stallions in the world couldn’t get a good hold of a single filly –who was tied up– because of another crazy filly came outta nowhere and bucked one o’ your mates. Do I got that right, Punisher?”

The white-maned unicorn answered without hesitation. “That is right, but in my defense, I would like to remind you that it was not my job to bring her inside in the first place. Secondly, from what the three tell me, she has quite the skill with running. If she applied for a position in the Canterlot Intelligence Agency, she’d be rolling in bits and the griffon high command wouldn’t be able to scratch their noses without the crown knowing about it. Third and lastly, we are very certain that she has allies that are protecting her at the time.”

“You bet your flank she’s good at running. I told ye all that, but ye underestimated ’er. She’s been slipping through me hooves since she was fifteen. As for her making some friends, that ain’t no surprise either. What does surprise me is that this was the reason I hired ye all in the first place. She’s good at gettin’ away but you’re supposed to be the best at catching fillies that run away. ”

Punisher smirked, “Strictly speaking sir, I don’t catch ponies. I make them so that they don’t want to run anymore.”

McCullen sighed and slapped his hooves to his face. Then he stared at the ground while talking in a tired voice. “All right, I should be ravin' mad right now, but I don’t have time to sit here and assign blame. Just answer me this: Did ye at least find something that’ll tell me where they’ve gone?”

“The others are tracking her through civilian sightings as we speak. They should have her location in no more than a half hour. As for finding any evidence, the mare that owned this room didn’t leave much behind: just a few toiletries, some dress clothes, and a violin, but nothing that tells us anything more than her occupation.”

McCullen looked up and looked like he had heard something very important. “A violin ye say?”

“Yes.” The white unicorn disappeared for a moment into the bedroom and brought back a black case. He placed in on the table and said, “There’s nothing too special about it. It has a plate on the back with an inscription on it, but like I said, not too much to it.”

McCullen looked at the case as though it were a pile of gold ingots and tenderly opened it. Taking the instrument out of the case, he turned it over and set it gently back down to read the engraving written into gold. “To Octavia from Mom and Dad. May this instrument always be a reminder of our overwhelming pride for you. Let it be the world’s eternal earpiece to your heart.” There was a pause and then McCullen looked up with a look on his face that was halfway between astonishment and frustration as if to ask, “Are ye blind?”

Punisher blinked. “What is it?”

“By Luna, are ye completely daft, lad? Did all those years o’ studying magic erase any sense o’ intuition that ye had?”

The long maned unicorn replied shamelessly, “I admit that years of seclusion within the heart of an asylum will do that to you. Since I appear to be missing something very important, do tell me, what have you found?”

“First o’ all. This is a cello, not a violin. Second, from what I see here and what isn’t in this room, I think it doesn’t take a bloody detective to figure out that this is the most important thing the lass has to ’er name. I assume that you at least know the name that this room was under?”

“The name was Classy Shobis.”

The earth pony looked inside the cello case. Octavia’s full name was printed in purple, stylized letters. “Then that’ll be her manager. I want ye to call that pony and get me a contact number. If this one’s like any other filly today, she’ll have a cell phone.”

The unicorn smirked. “Well you are right about one thing. The earth pony does have a phone. The problem is…” He held up a phone. “She left it behind in the rush to get out.”

Again McCullen facehoofed. “Is there anything else that she left behind that ye didn’t mention?”

“No, that concludes the inventory.”

“All right then, this is a problem.” With that, the two sat in silence for about five minutes. Punisher patiently waited there. He was going to be paid either way. After five minutes had passed, he sighed again and said, “Oh Luna, why does it have to come to this?”

Punisher took the hint that he was supposed to ask. “What?”

“You know, just because I’m making money by spending it doesn’t mean I like to take advantage of ponies. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all me years of hard work, it’s that ye quit while you’re ahead, or ye’ll be diggin’ your own grave. I told dear ol’ Vinyl that if she didn’t cooperate that I’d sell her to that stallion in Germaney, but after he found out how much I was paying ye, he jumped ship and gave the offer to Trixie. Now I don’t see any other way to do this other than to spend more money, and I don’t want to lose her like I did him.” He paused and seemed like he was about to go back on his decision, but then finally said, “All right there’s no other way to do this. Punisher, get Shadow on the phone and tell him that I require his services.”

Punisher smiled. “You’re the boss.”

♫ ♫ ♫

It was nighttime when Vinyl finally awoke. From the sound of the wind around the chariot, she assumed that she was still on the way to the safe house. She opened her eyes and caught a very nice view of the clear night sky before sitting up. Her companion noticed her asked, “Are you rested enough now, Vinyl?”

Rubbing her eyes, she replied, “Enough that I won’t pass out if we get chased again. How long was I out?”

“Judging by the position of the moon, I’d say it is around nine o’ clock.” Such was not difficult to tell as the sun consistently rose at six in the evening and set at six in the morning.

“Yeah, I’d say that twelve hours will last me until three then.” Vinyl looked over the side and saw that they were approaching a large forest.

Not much later, the driver said, “I was instructed to land at the forest’s edge and take you along the paved road to the safe house. Do either of you see an opening in the tree-line?”

The two looked down and scanned the forest below. After a moment, Vinyl spotted a tiny break in the trees forty degrees to her right. She indicated this and the pegasus descended in that direction. He touched down near the edge and entered on hoof into the woods. The density of the trees caused the light from the moon and stars to completely vanish inside, making it difficult to see the way. Yet the sound of stallion’s hoofs galloping over the stone told the mares that they were probably going the right direction. Every now and then, the path snaked to the left or right and the two wondered how the pegasus knew the way.

After what seemed like half an hour, the two saw a faint light ahead of them which brightened as they came closer. Eventually, they saw that it was the entrance to a clearing. They passed through the threshold of the forest and once more the bluish-silver light returned their vision. This time though, both were amazed to see that they approached a massive estate surrounded by a long and tall iron fence. Towards the edge of the clearing was a huge chateauesque mansion that towered above the trees. The pegasus took them to the gates and said, “Well, this is it. Send Midnight my regards.”

Vinyl, who was very surprised to see that they had been brought here, asked, “Are you sure? This looks more like a mansion than a safe house to me.”

“I’m sure. He also told me that the intercom is right at the fence’s gates.” While Vinyl didn’t know what to think, Octavia was quite surprised that her friend apparently had wealth of this level, and was the first to step out of the chariot. The unicorn assumed that she should just play with the cards she had and left the pegasus too after thanking him for his services.

The two walked up to the gate and looked at the fat iron columns that separated the gates from the rest of the fence. On the right column, they saw a box with a button. Vinyl shrugged and pressed the button for a second and then waited. Midnight’s voice came out of the intercom. “Who is this?”

Vinyl, recognizing her friend, answered, “Midnight, it’s Vinyl.”

There was a short pause. “Lovely, it’s great to hear that you got here safely. Come on in and I’ll meet you in the foyer.” There was a loud buzzing sound a second later and the gates swung open. So the two mares made their way over the expansive yard of the estate to the mansion. After a few minutes, they reached the front doors which, though graced with a beautiful design carved into the iron, looked like a fortified barrier. As they approached, the doors opened and they walked down a hallway.

At the edge of the hallway, they stepped into the foyer, a big room which impressed the two just as much as the exterior. Glancing around, they saw many rich and stately looking unicorns through the dim candlelight. They all were whispering to one another so that the room was full of an air of secrecy. Yet their appearances made the room sophisticated. Most of the mares were dressed in black silken strapless dresses and reclined on cushioned sofas, drinking fancy wine out of heavily ornamented glasses. The stallions were dressed with equal elegance, being adorned with black suites and sleek, combed hair. All had a large crest emblazoned upon their breasts. As Vinyl and Octavia walked in, commonly dressed, the occupants glanced several times at them and then to each other. When they had entered, the unicorn’s faces had been prideful, though now their faces were full of discontent; as though they were now asking who let the riffraff into the house.

The mood of vanity caused both mares to become uneasy, especially in the case of Octavia, who had to deal with this sort of treatment more regularly. Her mind may have abhorred many hateful and dissatisfied thoughts against the exclusiveness of the nobles, had not soon the door at the top of a staircase at the back of the room to reveal Midnight, a dark blue unicorn with a black mane and a crescent moon for a cutie mark. Spotting them amongst the others, he made a beeline for Vinyl and spoke in a low but excited tone that seemed to be like he was yelling in the quiet room. “Come this way.”

Eager to escape the gaze of the vain unicorns, the two followed him up the staircase and stepped into a long hallway. Midnight gestured for them to follow down it and he closed the door behind them. The door shut audibly and he said in a normal volume, “Right then, now at least we can talk without having to lower our voices to an unreasonable volume.”

Vinyl was the one to ask, “Yeah, so what was up with that?”

Midnight smirked and started walking down the corridor with them. “Why not ask me one of the bigger questions that are nibbling at your tongue?”

“Okay, what’s up with all this?” She asked while looking at the numerous doors lining the walls.

“A week after we met last June, believe it or not, I just happened to come across a unicorn who was in a nasty scuffle with some foalnappers. So I did what any good pony would have done and saved his flank. It would just so happen though that this particular unicorn was Prince Blueblood Ulrich Machiavelli. When I brought him back to Stalliongrad, his father, the city’s prince gave me a nice job as a financial controller for a reward.”

They reached the end of the hallway and he turned to open the last door on the right. “After you,” He said, ushering them in. Vinyl and Octavia went into the room and saw three couches facing each other opposite a window. “Have a seat, girls.” He said, while flopping down on the sofa on the right. Octavia chose the seat opposite Midnight and Vinyl took the middlemost spot. The stallion raised a bottle of wine from a table beside him. “Either of you want a drink?”

Octavia quickly declined, but Vinyl said, “Yeah, I could use some flavor about now with all the crazy stuff going on.”

Midnight chuckled and poured two glasses. Giving one to Vinyl, he asked, “Before I go any further, Vinyl, I have to ask you, who’s your friend?”

The white mare answered, “This is Octavia. If she hadn’t bucked the crap out of one of those stallions who have me pinned to a wall, I’d probably be halfway to Germaney now.”

Though he had seemed very casual all the while, Midnight became serious for a moment. “Do you trust her?”

Vinyl didn’t hesitate. “Well she risked her neck for me and got herself in a crazy mess for nothing. I’d say that she deserves my trust, at least.” She looked at Octavia apologetically. “I’m grateful for what you did, but you should realize that you just put yourself in a lot of danger. As much as I hate it, that lender, McCullen is going to be after you now because you saved me.”

The cellist was silent for a moment. She indeed was not completely aware of the gravity of what she had done when she did it. Yet despite that she was now in above her head, she decided it was best to remain brave. She replied, “I suppose there is no going back now. I don’t regret kicking that stallion even though it seems hopeless.”

Midnight smirked. “Don’t go getting ahead of yourself.” He looked at Vinyl. “Things are a little better now than they might seem. Like I was saying, after a couple of months, Blueblood’s dad, Prince Lucian realized that I’m a natural at running a business. So he took a chance and gave me a job of a more discrete nature. Now it turns out that the Machievelli clan can throw around all the money they want too because they have so much that they couldn’t ever spend it all. Know why that is?”

The white mare suggested, “Because they don’t play by the rules?”

“That’s the half of it. Before they had me, they had two ways of making money: owning a ton of large businesses and commanding a literal army of thieves all around Equestria that operate just like a business. The problem with the latter asset though is that the clan can’t do a whole lot of direct business with these thieves, otherwise it would risk dirtying its name and it’d lose power and standing with the crown. Yeah they can use corruption to their advantage, but corruption, especially under Luna’s watch, can only take you so far.

“So like I said, Lucian gave me a new job. He wanted me to find a way to help him bring in more money for the clan without bringing in too much heat. I’ll spare you the details, but simply put, I found a completely legitimate and legal way for him to make loads of bits. The only catch is that it takes advantage of some loopholes in the system that he didn’t want publicized. If those methods were brought to the crown, regulators would be all over it. Regardless, Lucian pretty much about busted an artery when they told him how much money that third type of business was bringing him, so he adopted me into the family.

At this, Octavia finally found her voice. “Oh please hold on for a moment. You mean to say that you are royalty?”

“I mean to say that I just got into the family that is most closely related to the crown and holds the most sway among all the nobles in Equestria.”

The gray mare made an effort to hold a reserved expression, but both Midnight and Vinyl could tell that she was astonished. “Then that would explain how you were able to recruit a pegasus to drive us here on the spot.”

“That’s part of the reason. The clan does have a lot of power, but the real reason that I was able to get you both out of that situation so fast is a little more related to my current line of work. I should point out that the legit type of business I created doesn’t require a lot of oversight –by me anyway– so Lucian sent me here to see if I could revolutionize the system of thievery. This mansion doubles as the gathering place for the Ulrich family, as well as a giant base for black market operations. All those unicorns in the foyer are part of the Machiavelli clan’s Ulrich family, but they’re also the best underground operators that Equestria has to offer. Below the ground floor is a system of bunkers and well developed tunnels that leads all over Fillydelphia. Inside we’ve got armories, tech and alchemy labs, and teams of professional thieves and geeks getting ready for the next big job. Those unicorns outside and the guys downstairs have contacts all over Equestria that can do just about anything you’d like, such as pluck you both out of the frying pan.”

Once again, Octavia seemed a little shocked. She looked at Midnight and then to Vinyl and said, “Oh, so you are apart from the law then.”

Midnight glared. “Well, this is actually the first Vinyl’s heard of any of this. By your manner of speech, I assumed that you were the sort that disapproved of ponies that get their hooves dirty. If it’s any condolence, I don’t plan on getting either of you involved in my business, but I’d appreciate it if you’d keep quiet about it. That’s why I asked if you could be trusted first. I don’t particularly like the idea of breaking the law, but I saw it as a way to get the resources and contacts I need.”

The gray mare was unsure of what to think at this moment, so she remained silent. Midnight continued, “Also, keep in mind that, like it or not, by choosing to help Vinyl, you’ve made some enemies. And one of those particular enemies is unimaginably well supplied and is not one to let things go. Like me, he is a fraternizer with criminals, but the difference between me and McCullen is that he’s a hardened stallion. I don’t want to scare you onto my side, but he doesn’t have too many standards. McCullen doesn’t flinch at murder, torture, or equine trafficking and he won’t hesitate to do anything he needs to catch Vinyl. And the worse thing is that he’s managed to earn this reputation only in the underground. He hasn’t been prosecuted or even accused once in his life. The crown doesn’t even know he exists.”

At this Octavia simply responded, “I’ll take your side then.”

Midnight gave both mares a few minutes to think everything over and then said, “All of that said, this house is probably the safest place in Equestria. It’d take an army of unicorns to break the enchantments on the tempered glass windows and the iron gates. If such an event were to occur though, we could all just retreat to the tunnels.”

The earth pony objected, “But I can’t stay here forever. I am a cellist and I have to play at certain events. In fact, the Grand Galloping Gala is approaching and I will most likely be required to attend.”

Vinyl reassured her. “Don’t worry about that. McCullen doesn’t have the power to kidnap you in a public place. The more gigs you play, the safer you’ll be, especially in the case of the Gala where the entire REG is watching. The only thing we have to worry about is getting you to and from those gigs.”

Octavia went on, “Couldn’t we ask for help? I’ve met Princess Celestia and Luna once before and I’m fairly certain she would assist me.”

Vinyl shook her head. “I’ve met the princesses a few times before too when they needed a DJ for their less stuffy parties than the Gala. The problem is that Celestia would ask why, and the last thing that we want to do is tell the sun princess that I’m in debt. She’s nice, but she’s not the one to bail ponies out of responsibility.”

Midnight spoke up. “The mode of transportation is an object of our concern; however, we can deal with that later. Now a more pressing issue is gathering intel on McCullen. The problem is that he knows everything he needs to know except for the security measures we have in place. This is a down point for us because we know we very little about his current capability. I’ll admit to you now that I’ve known he was chasing you for about two months. You hadn’t stayed in a single city for more than a week at a time, but then when you got to Mane, he just stopped moving for a while. I saw him pick up a few tough thugs there, but nothing too unusual. Then suddenly on the night that he makes his move, he has ex-REA agents after you. So, I don’t know how many ponies he’s recruited or what kind of skillsets they have. So, I want to ask, Vinyl, is there anything that I don’t know about this situation that you haven’t told me?”

“He’s got a blank check and wants throw me into the trade. The buyer would give him double what he spent chasing me.”

“That much I was able to figure out. Anything else?”

Vinyl thought back. Then the most obvious memory hit her. “When I was getting out of the hotel, I caught a brief glimpse of a tall unicorn with a horn that must have been two feet long. I’m pretty sure he’s working for McCullen.”

Midnight had taken a sip of wine and was now choking on it. He quickly recovered and said, looking surprised, “What? Are you sure that you saw that?”

She paused. “Yes, I’m pretty sure.”

The blue unicorn facehoofed and rubbed his face. “Oh this is just lovely. Oh Celestia, just great.”

“What? Is this guy some crazy-powerful mage?”

He sighed and asked, “Was this unicorn about the size of Celestia?”

“I’d say he was almost her height.”

“Damn.” He said, throwing his hooves up. “I had heard rumors about this, but I would have never thought they were true. McCullen must really be taking that blank check seriously, because no one other than the richest ponies in the world could afford to recruit one of them. I’m almost certain that the unicorn you saw was one of the Sapientes Nigri.”

“Who?”

“The Black Sages, the most elite handpicked mages in the whole world and the founders of the dragon cult. They were disbanded a few years ago, after the crown discovered their existence, but only two of the ten were ever captured. Now it seems like they might be done laying low.”

Octavia then asked, “So what does this mean?”

Midnight continued to rub his face and groan. “It means that things might get a little more heated than I was hoping for.” He paused and then rose from his seat. “Okay, this is a lot to think about now, and it’s getting late. I’m going to go downstairs and see what we can do about this guy. It’s really a miracle that Octavia got to you when she did or your brain would be mush now.”

Vinyl rose with him. “So what are we supposed to do?”

“I suggest you choose a bedroom from the two hundred we have and sleep through the night. If Octavia’s job is anything like I think it is, we may have to move soon, and I don’t want to even think about evading professional soldiers on four hours of sleep.”

Before Midnight reached the door though, Octavia stopped him and asked, “Please, before you go, there is one other matter to which I must attend.”

“And that is?”

“Did your ponies happen to recover all of my things from my hotel? Specifically, I’m worried about my cello.”

“I did get Vinyl’s text. I had some of mine collect all of your things, and they said that they collected everything that was there, but I regret to say they told me nothing in particular about what they secured. By tomorrow morning, they will be delivered to your room, but until then, you’ll just have to wait and hope, because they are likely unreachable at this point.”

“Oh,” She looked down. “Then I suppose the only thing I can do is hope that it was among those items.” Saying this, both mares retired, though neither fell asleep for a good while.

Comments

[DaMagiks]

Such intrigue!
I thought this story was on hold or something but then it appeared in my updates with another thrilling chapter and I was all
Anyways I really like the new information about the whole elaborate black market setup with the corrupt nobles and of course the luxurious mansion with its somewhat unsettling occupations. All perfectly set updl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png
But furthermore, the plot point with the cello has me anxious to know what McCullen is planning and what trouble they'll run into next.

Don't leave me hanging so long this time for the next part now

[Ponysopher]

1058642
Yeah, sorry for the long wait. A lot of things came up, and in case you haven't been following my blog posts, the rough draft for this was done a month ago. I don't usually like to keep projects up for this long. Magic Kindergarten didn't take me nearly this long, so really want to post chapters more often. Thanks for reading though, and I'll see if I can't get the next chapter up soon.

[Tenderheart]

1058901

Again sorry for taking so long on the preread....

DaMagiks... you can rage at me for the delay... it was my fault...

[OoooyVeeeeey]

Nigga, did I just catch you bein' a search result for Punisher? *smacks you*

[Fury of the Tempest]

Well, I wasn't left wondering about the REA for long, and we learn significantly more about Midnight and what he's been up to... but not who June is. Nor, do we learn why the loan-shark is so desperate to take out Vinyl, is it a matter of pride for him? And who is Dash, another of those dragon cult? That is a fascinating entrance, and I can't wait to see if more will come to play. Octavia's emotions are well done as well always.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Alright, that explains the massive amount of help in the last chapter.

~Skeeter The Lurker