Off-Balance
Trigger Warning: Mentions of Rape
Octavia awoke to a strange mix of sensations. She felt something like a pair of hands shifting along her back. Gripping her tight around her waist and then pulling her closer to something warm; another body that felt incredibly soft and pleasant. And if it wasn't for the cold chill running up her spine, Octavia wouldn't mind staying like this. "Did I leave the window cracked or something?" She wondered, as she started to shift, trying to get closer to the heat source.
"Oh good, you're finally awake." Octavia's eyes shot open. Her vision was blurred from the sleep, and she felt insanely groggy. But through it all she was able to make out the form of her mistress hovering above her.
"V-vinyl, what happened?" Her mistress' stone faced expression, mere inches away from hers and framed against a black sky, refused to answer.
"I-I remember a fairy and you bursting into my room, and there was something about Twilight being hurt," she rambled.
Vinyl's expression finally softened at the mention of Twilight, her eyes darting to look anywhere but at Octavia's. "You fainted," she whispered in a hushed tone.
"F-fainted?" Octavia asked incredulously. She'd never fainted in her life . . . except for that time when they'd first met, but that was from hypnosis not actual fear.
"Yes," Vinyl answered, trying to avoid direct eye-contact with her servant. "It happened when I picked you up, or maybe swooped down and grabbed you is a better assessment of what happened."
"S-swooped? What are you talking about, and where are we?" Octavia started to squirm in Vinyl's grasp, but the vampire just held onto her tighter. Moving one of her hands from Octavia's back so that it was gripping the back of her head. Effectively, trapping her in place so that she was staring her mistress dead in the eyes.
"You're the monster maniac. You put the pieces together," she spat, starting to become annoyed with her
Octavia blinked, as her still groggy mind started to slowly put everything together. The draft. The night sky. Vinyl's use of the word swooped as well as her current feeling of weightlessness, she probably should have noticed earlier. "We're flying aren't we?" She squeaked. Vinyl nodded, and Octavia’s eyes widened as a bright smile started to overtake her face.
Her gaze slowly started to shift downward trying to confirm her beliefs, but Vinyl wouldn’t let her. “Be still,” she barked, “The last thing I need is you freaking out in mid-air and falling to your death.”
“Sorry,” Octavia whimpered, a tinge of red starting to seep into her face. “How exactly did I—”
“Faint? Well you might have been slightly startled when I suddenly grew a pair of wings, snatched you out of bed, and then went smashing through a window you’re going to have to fix later.” For all her faults, the vampire at least had the decency to look the least bit embarrassed by her behavior. “Right now though, we’re headed to the local hospital. Twilight is being held there, and that dammed pixie didn’t have the full story for me. Some messenger,” she grumbled.
“Wings?” Octavia asked. Vinyl shot her a look that asked, “Is that all you heard?”.
“If I shake you, will you snap out of it already?” Octavia shook her head and Vinyl groaned. “Yes, wings, big ones, sprouting from my back right now. It’s the only reason we’re in the air.” Vinyl released one hand from her hold on Octavia, pointing toward the gigantic black masses attached to her just below the shoulder blades.
Framed against the night sky, they weren’t easy to see. But they looked a bit odd to Octavia. Stretching past Vinyl’s head, her hand reached out to brush against one of them. She pulled her hand away in surprise. “Feathers?” she asked curious about her mistress new attachment.
Vinyl smirked, honestly this time with no attempts to cover it up. “Not what you were expecting, huh?” Octavia shook her head. “Well, any amateur with fangs can make a pair of bat wings, but it takes some real skill to make a proper pair of bird wings. Everything from the primary to secondary feathers is in peak condition.”
Vinyl's face was unnaturally smug. But for once Octavia had to give her credit where get was due. The wings she had made were beautiful. Jet black they seemed to meld into the night sky. Moon beams bouncing off the individual feathers gave the illusion that she'd somehow trapped stars in her wings.
Octavia blinked. "Beautiful," she whispered. "Vinyl can I-uhm," she jerked her head toward the ground, trying to indicate she'd like a better view of the world below.
Vinyl groaned, "Fine but if you fall-"
"I won't," Octavia shot back. The next few moments were spent mostly shifting around in mid-air, as Octavia tried to twist her body around and Vinyl tried to keep from dropping her. After a slight struggle and a stray elbow connecting with her head, Vinyl had managed to swivel her servant around. Giving Octavia the perfect view of the roof of the local hospital.
Since her new position didn't exactly afford her the best position to scold the vampire with her eyes or physically, Octavia had to make due with voicing her annoyance verbally. "Really?" She shouted. Vinyl couldn't have let her get one good look at Ponyville from above.
"What?" Vinyl responded. Octavia's arms waved frantically, indicating the piss poor view in front of her. “In case you've forgotten we're here because of an emergency! I'm not going to stop flying just because you want to go sightseeing."
Octavia stopped flailing. In all her excitement about flying she'd completely forgotten about Twilight. While she was flying high above the town and complaining about not getting a better view, her friend was hurt lying in a hospital bed. A profound feeling of shame suddenly washed over Octavia. She had never felt such an overwhelming need to be inside of a hospital. "I don't even know how badly she's hurt. For all I know she could be half dead."
She didn't have to wait very long though. True to her word, Vinyl wasn’t stopping for anything. During their conversation, Vinyl had slowly been descending, and it wasn’t long before Octavia felt her bare feet hitting solid concrete in front of the hospital.
Apparently, her legs had decided to fall asleep during their flight. She felt them beginning to tremble and the ground slowly becoming closer and farther away as she tried to keep her balance. Just when it looked like gravity wasn’t going to give her much choice in the matter, a pair of familiar arms grabbed her and swept her off her feet.
Vinyl glared at her, her wings slowly beginning to snap, and recede into her back. Almost as if they were made out of paper instead of flesh. “We don’t exactly have time for you to be committed here.”
“Sorry,” Octavia squeaked, a blush forming on her cheeks as Vinyl carried her bridal style into the emergency section of the hospital. A blush that only increased the pair got several strange looks as they entered. Octavia wasn't exactly a fan of hospitals to begin with, and this wasn't helping. No matter how warm and helpful the staff tried to be, they couldn't wash away this unmistakable chill she got any time she entered one.
None of this fazed Vinyl though as walked right up to the front desk and greeted the receptionist, who Octavia had to admit was kind of cute. “Can I help you?” She chirped much more cheerily than anyone working in a hospital should.
“Yes,” Vinyl responded, “We’re here to see Twilight Sparkle.” The receptionist raised an eyebrow. “She should be in the VIP section,” Vinyl insisted.
Understanding dawned on the young woman, “Ah, if that’s the case, I just need to check both of you.” She pulled a small device that looked like a phone, tapping a few buttons and then holding it out to them with a smile. “Madam Scratch, you’re already cleared to head in, but if you could just have your friend place her finger inside that little hole at the top, I can escort you both towards the back.
Vinyl let out a growl, surprising, both Octavia and the receptionist who sat up straight in her chair. “What, is my word not good enough?”
The receptionist shook her head, “N-no Madam, it’s just policy, no guests are allowed back without being tested for magical resonance.” Vinyl still didn’t seem happy with the explanation, but after a moment she gave Octavia the go-ahead to place one of her fingers inside the device.
Hesitantly, Octavia placed her finger inside the little scanner, and immediately regretted that decision as she felt a brief shock was sent coursing through her entire body. “Yowch,” she yelped, ripping her hand away from machine and clutching it close to her. No one seemed to notice or care very much for that matter, as the receptionist was paying more attention to the display screen and Vinyl was too busy shaking her head in disapproval.
“I swear, I have no idea what I was thinking of bringing you here.” Her assistant put on a pout, which had the side effect of making her look even more childish than she already acted. And Vinyl thought to herself that, that wasn’t entirely true. She’d brought Octavia along with a very important purpose. If Twilight was still angry than she could act as a buffer and if that failed she could be a human shie—
“God dammit,” she thought. “Twilight was right. Maybe I really have taken things a bit to far this time.” She cast a glance down at the bundle of awkwardness that had dropped into her lap and grimaced, a small sense of guilt was fluttering around in her chest.
Octavia took a slight break from her self-pity to take a look at her mistress, who had been abnormally quiet. Normally if something was taking this long Vinyl would have bitten its head off. She looked shaken, more so than Octavia had ever seen her. She tried to hide it behind her usual stoic face, but Octavia could feel it. With every breath she took, she was shuddering and gripping Octavia a bit tighter to her chest.
Octavia reached up and placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on her mistress’ shoulder. “It’s alright Vinyl,” she said. “I’m sure Twilight is fine.” For the second time that night Vinyl smiled at her, not because of her or something she did, but actually at her, and it seemed to lift the dismal mood that was starting to surround them both.
“No,” thought Vinyl, “I haven't gone too far. If anything I haven't gone far enough. But as long as we're stuck together like this, I can at least try and carry her.”
This truly sweet moment was naturally interrupted by the receptionist, who had placed the scanner back under the counter with a cheerful, “I’m done" startling both girls. The receptionist either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because she stood up from her chair silently offering a smile that no one should be wearing this late at night in the emergency ward of a hospital. “If you’ll follow me.” She said and started walking to a nearby elevator.
Vinyl trailed right behind her, Octavia still firmly in her grip. An image that was just now crossing their would-be guide’s mental landscape. “Oh, does your friend need any attention?” She asked as she pushed the both the “up” and “down” buttons to call the elevator.
Vinyl’s eyes narrowed “Isn’t that something you should have asked us earlier? Like—I don’t know—when we first got here!” The young, slightly ditzy, receptionist just shrugged, jamming her fingers back onto the buttons as if that would make it come quicker. Vinyl scoffed, “I know we didn’t exactly say anything, but really? Nothing about this scene disturbed her? Random girl in my arms, haven’t set her down since I came in, shouldn’t that have rung a few bells?”
Thankfully, the doors to the elevator swung open before Vinyl could make any cutting remarks fly over the girls head. The trio stepped onto the elevator, and the young girl started pressing random numbers in a pattern that can only be described as “button mashing”.
Whatever she did worked though, as everything around them started to shake. Octavia wrapped her arms around Vinyl, pressing herself even closer to the other girl. “Vinyl,” she screamed.
“Just hang on and stop panicking, we’ll be done in a moment.” The vampire replied, completely unfazed by what was happening. Instead she glared daggers down at her young charge, “Also, if you scream again, I swear I'll—” Vinyl never got to finish that sentence, because just then the elevator stopped shaking only for the floor underneath them to disappear. Dropping them down into a pitch black hole.
To Octavia’s credit she didn’t scream (Even if the eerie silence of her companions wasn’t exactly helping the atmosphere). She didn’t want to run the risk of Vinyl fulfilling whatever twisted punishment her mind had cooked up. “The fact that one of my fingernails is probably buried in her jugular right now, might just bring on something equally bad though . . . good thing we’re in a hospital.” Octavia's eyebrows furrowed, "Or at least I think we are."
Against her better judgement she gazed down to reveal absolutely nothing. No sign of life; No incoming landmasses; not even a light at the end of the tunnel. “What is this Alice in wonderland? How far down does this go?”
Octavia’s question was answered when she blinked and found herself in another hospital lobby. Not quite, what she was expecting, but it seemed right nonetheless. It had the same white tile, achingly silent tone, and a small hint of sterilization in the air.The one big difference from the one upstairs and this one however was the people upstairs were alive, and these were, well, dead. Surrounding her were a vast assortment of the undead, all with their own set of problems. A zombie whose arms were about to fall off, a mummy whose wrapping was coming undone revealing the rotten flesh underneath, or worse yet, the other side of him.
None of that was quite as unnerving as the person standing in front of them though. The person—who Octavia assumed was a nurse, was fixing them with such a hard stare, that if she’d been trying any harder her cherry red hair might have burst them into flames. “Are you the pair for Mrs. Sparkle?”
Vinyl nodded grimly, “Good, try not to be as disruptive as everyone else that’s come to visit her.”
“Everyone else?” questioned Vinyl
The Nurse groaned and began counting off the incidents on her hand. “Well, first off we have the Sun Witch and her proxy bursting in here demanding that we treat her student. Meanwhile, she’s about five seconds away from burning this place to the ground. Then we have a group of her supposed friends come storming through here demanding to see her. One of which gave me probably the dirtiest look I’ve ever gotten in my life when I didn’t move fast enough, while the others probably wanted to stab, mutilate, or arrest me if I didn’t take them back to see her."
And now we have you two,” she said pointing at the pair. “Now don’t get me wrong you’re probably the calmest pair of people I’ve had come down here all day, but you also brought her down here.” She said pointing an accusing finger at her co-worker who was just standing off to the side, smiling off into space. “And that is unforgivable in my book.” She turned to the receptionist. “You can go now, Dolly.”
“Okay, Redheart” she chirped skipping over to an open elevator.
The Nurse, Redheart-shook her head, “God, how I hate her.”
“I can see why,” grumbled Octavia.
“Eh," Redheart shrugged, "She's strangely good at her job, so what can you do? Now, if you’ll follow me, Madam Scratch, we can grab a wheelchair for your friend and then proceed back to the waiting room so you can meet up with the rest of Mrs. Sparkle’s visitors.”
Octavia waved her off, “Oh no, that won’t be necessary. I can probably walk on my own now." She looked at Vinyl expectantly, "You can put me down now Mistress.”
Vinyl eyed her suspiciously, “Are you sure, you haven’t exactly been yourself since you woke up?”
“Look,” She said as she tried to wiggle her way out of Vinyl’s arms. Stretching to place a foot on the ground. “I know I haven’t exactly been myself tonight, but I’m fine now. And I won’t have you carrying me around all night, it’s embarrassing!” With one big push, Octavia managed to free herself, landing feet first on the ground, but almost toppling over in the process.
“See,” she said as she stood up straight, “I’m fine.”
If Octavia was going to be truthful she would have admitted that, that was in fact a lie. She was in no way, shape, or form, felt alright at the moment. She was in a secret underground hospital, at night, in a very loose and somewhat skimpy nightgown. She was surrounded by dead people, and one of the few actual friends she had in this world was lying in a hospital bed in who knows what condition.
And that was only her surroundings, inside she felt like a train wreck. And that was the strange part inside, not on her sleeve like it would usually be. Most people would be afraid, or angry, maybe even calm under fire like Vinyl. But all Octavia had done since she got here was act like a complete and total goofball, and manage to get in the way. And it wasn’t like the turmoil wasn’t there, it was just locked away just underneath her skin.
No, Octavia was far from alright, but she still gave Vinyl a heartfelt smile like she was. “Don’t worry about me,” she reached out placing a tender hand to Vinyl’s shoulder. “Worry about Twilight, she’s the one who needs it at the moment.” Vinyl’s calm exterior wavered for a moment, before returning to her usual strictness.
“Um, if you’re both done we can head on back to the waiting room.” Both Octavia and Vinyl glanced at the nurse who was giving both of them an evaluating glance. “If I’d known you could stir up that much melodrama just by asking for a wheelchair, I never would have asked.” And with a click of her tongue she turned and walked away. “Follow me, please?” A slightly unnerved Octavia and Vinyl did just that, trailing behind Redheart, through a set of double doors, and into an open hall
“By the way," Said Vinyl, breaking the silence as they turned a corner. "I have no idea what you mean by ‘melodrama’. What you saw back there was simply a servant consoling their master.”
“Uhm, no offense, Madam, but I’m an empath. So even if I can’t exactly hand you a general diagnoses. I can tell that the both of you are currently an emotional roller coaster just waiting to jump off the tracks and injure innocent civilians. Honestly, if I wasn’t feeling sorry for the other of you at the moment I’d recommend you’d both seek some psychiatric help.”
“Hey!”
“Well, this is your stop,” She announced, cutting Vinyl off and gesturing to an open door. “Right now we're still working on Mrs. Sparkle. If you could just wait patiently inside with everyone else, a doctor will be out shortly to inform you on the situation.
The pair thanked her and then stepped inside. But from the moment they did they regretted it. The inside of the room looked like a battlefield completely with opposing fronts and a no-mans of broken chairs, overturned tables, and what was unmistakably a vending machine dividing it.
On one side of the room was Principal Celestia along with her sister/vice principal, Luna, though Octavia had to a double take when she saw them. The usually pristine and controlled leaders of Canterlot High were in no short measure, coming undone. Luna didn’t look so bad. At first glance, the vice principal was her usual calm and collected self, leaning up against the wall and observing everything that was going on. But if you studied her more closely you could see the signs of her cracking. Like the fact her usual dark blue jacket was surprisingly undone. Besides Octavia, Vice Principal Luna was the only one to really put any stock in the old dress code rule. Taking pride in the dark blue power suit, she’d wear as she patrolled the halls.
There was also the fact that she was currently leaning on her sister for support. Anyone who saw them would probably think she was just placing a comforting hand on her sister’s shoulder during this dark time. But no, Octavia could see the shift in weight, and the added strain of her vice principal’s weight on her sister’s shoulder. “She’s as shaken by this as the rest of us, she’s just trying not to show it. Though I’m not sure how safe it is to be leaning on the the Principal like that, she looks a bit . . . unstable.
Unstable was an understatement, Canterlot High's shining light looked absolutely shattered by what was going on. Unlike her sister, who’d presumably found time to work on her appearance before coming here, Celestia looked like a she could barely function. She was currently in a pair of yellow pajamas with little orange suns on them. No socks; no shoes to protect against the debris, but that didn’t matter seeing as she was currently curled up in the fetal position on her chair. Her mess of hair hiding most of her face, but not to the extent where it could disguise the remnants of tears that had strolled down her face blurring her make-up.
On the other side of the room were Twilight's friends from school. And while most of them were huddled together, trying to console one girl who would not stop crying. One of them, was sitting over in one of the corners, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.
Each group was so consumed by their own drama that they hadn’t even noticed the duo’s entrance. "Dammit," said Vinyl. "We'll never get an explanation out of anyone like this?" Vinyl hummed to herself as she silently thought things over. "Alright then, I'll deal with the duel mid-life crisis, and you'll talk to the fountain of teenage angst. We need to find out as much about what happened to Twilight as possible.
“Deal.” Said Octavia. And the two of them headed towards their respective problems.
Vinyl fell into the chair next to Celestia with an oomph. She came down a little harder then she’d planned, which got her a critical look from the walking brick Celestia called a bodyguard. “So,” she said slipping into a more comfortable persona. In pain or not, either of the woman next to her could snap her in half with ease. There was no point in pretending to be something she wasn’t. “Exactly how bad is she?”
“She-" Luna started, but was cut off by Celestia’s head snapping up to glare at Vinyl.
“I don’t know Mrs. Scratch. Would you define severe head force trauma as bad. Or what about a large amount of blood loss. I know, how about several bite and claw marks that will probably leave scars even magic can’t fix.
Vinyl flinched under the weight of each and every comment. She had known her friend was in bad condition; she’d have to be for Celestia to even consider calling for her. But as each and every one of her friend’s ailments was revealed to her, she felt herself shrinking farther and farther into her chair. The well of guilt that had been building up ever since she’d been summoned was slowly threatening to break.
She was saved though, by Celestia breaking down into another bout of tears. Luna inched closer to Celestia, rubbing soothing circles into her sisters back. “Her-her friends don’t even know the half of what’s wrong with her.” She sobbed.
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
Even though the question was directed towards Celestia, Luna didn't waste any time stepping in to answer Vinyl's question. “Once the physicians are done tending to Ms. Sparkle's more serious wounds, they've prepared a-a rape kit to try and identify the perpetrator of this crime.”
She'd stumbled over the wording a bit, but Vinyl had heard her loud and clear. Twilight had been raped, defiled, and there was a silent rage taking over her mind because of it. "What did this?" she asked.
“Werewolf," answered Luna, "I've dealt with enough of them over the years to recognize the types of claw-marks on Twilight. Though I can’t think of any reason for one to be all the way out here.” Vinyl didn’t really have an answer either, werewolves hadn’t been seen in this part of the country for a couple of decades. She supposed it could have been a stray though. No pack, no family, just aimlessly wandering wherever it pleased.
She hesitantly laid a hand across Celestia's. “You have the full support of myself clan in finding the person who did this.”
Celestia sniffed, sending Vinyl a teary eyed glare. “Thank you, Ms. Scratch, but we both know that doesn’t really amount to much. Does it?”
Vinyl shrunk back again. She was just trying to help, and the old witch was still throwing barbs at her, even if they did have quite a bit of truth to them. “Look," she said tightening her grip on Celestia’s hand, “Twilight is my friend. I don’t expect you to understand, but I want to help her in any way possible.” Celestia let out a low grunt in response and Vinyl bit into her lip, she was losing her.
“The Apples are conducting the investigation correct?” She asked.
Luna nodded hesitantly, “Ms. Applejack will be headed to the site of the incident as soon as she’s finished consoling the rest of your friends, and is sure Twilight is safe.”
“Then my servant will go with her. I have business to attend to at the moment, but she can help out instead. I know she doesn’t look like much, but she comes in handy more often than you think.”
Celestia chuckled, “If you’re talking about that slave over there, I would think she’d be more of a hindrance than anything. Based on the deal she’s made, and what’s more, who she made it with, I have to question her intelligence. Which is a shame, I’d heard great things about Ms. Harmonica.”
Vinyl wasn’t going to dignify that with a response. Instead she looked to Luna again, who seemed to be the more reasonable of the two. The blue haired woman, understanding what she was doing let out a sigh. “If you truly wish to have your servant join this investigation, then we will not stop you. But warn her first. Whoever was behind this attack had been planning this for who knows how long.”
Vinyl motioned for her to elaborate. “Twilight was attacked within my sister’s classroom. Admittedly, it isn’t as heavily guarded as it could be, my sister has always insisted that her name alone was security enough. After all, who would dare mess with the Sun Goddess in her domain?” The last bit was said with a sharp glare and hint of sarcasm. Obviously this was a conversation they’d had before.
Celestia shot back a glare of equal force, but Luna just scoffed. “To my sister’s credit though, the wards on the classroom are fairly strong, getting inside without alerting her is no easy task. Which means this plan was premeditated, not just some random act of Lycan madness. We’re dealing with someone either very cunning or with enough resources to outmaneuver a thousand year old sorceress. I’d tread lightly if I were you.”
Vinyl nodded, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Octavia nervously approached the group of girls. Although she went to the same school as them, she barely knew any of them except for Applejack, who at the moment, was paying more attention to her crying friend than the cellist.
“It’s okay, Fluttershy. Twilight is tough she’ll make it through this just fine.” Applejack's kind words seemed to help at least a little bit, because the pink-haired girl she’d called Fluttershy stopped crying long enough to look at Applejack with a teary eyed smile.”
“Uhm, Applejack?” said Octavia. Four sets of eyes—two of which were still blurry—were immediately trained on her.
“Oh hey, Sugar cube.” Applejack stood up out of her seat, wrapping Octavia in what she probably thought was a comforting hug. And it would have been if it wasn’t painfully obvious how off kilter she was. “What are you doing here?”
“I-I was with Vinyl when she got the message, and she-I mean she really didn't give me a choice in the matter she just grew wings and flew out the window with me because I was unconscious.” Realizing how that sounded, she immediately backpedaled, “That isn’t to say I didn’t want to come, Twilight’s my friend too and I want to be here for her-“
Octavia's rambling was silenced by another hug from Applejack. “It’s okay, Octavia. Twilight wasn’t the type of person to turn away any friends when they needed help, so I’m sure she would want you here when she needs it."
Despite the terrible situation, Applejack gave her a genuine infectious smile when she let her go. “Here, let me introduce you to the rest of the girls. That’s Rarity,” she said pointing towards a purple haired girl who was obviously on of the few people here who’d actually had time to change into clothes before coming her. Though the seemingly all black outfit was in somewhat bad taste.
Rarity offered up her hand to shake, “I loved your last concert, darling. I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances though.”
Octavia took it and shook, “Oh it’s fine. I’m sorry we had to meet like this too.” Rarity offered her another smile before redirecting her attention back to soothing Fluttershy, who’s tears were just starting to dry.
“This is Fluttershy.” The teary-eyed girl waved giving her a brief “Hello” but not much else. “And you probably already know Pinkie Pie.” She pointed at at girl who was leaning on Fluttershy, most of her hair combed down to cover her face.
It took Octavia a second, but she realized she actually did know the girl in question, she'd just never seen her hair down before. She worked at the local bakery, Sugar Cube Corner, and what’s more, she had thrown Octavia a birthday party last year. How she knew when Octavia’s birthday was, was still up in the air, but it had been a great party nonetheless.
Unlike the other girls though, Pinkie seemed completely off in her own world, and didn’t even bother with a hello. Octavia said hello to the girl anyways, and then directed her attention to the girl sitting in the corner. Who Octavia didn’t have any trouble identifying as Rainbow Dash, their school’s local soccer champ, who was doing her best impression of Principal Celestia at the moment minus the tears. “What’s wrong with her, I mean I can guess, but she seems a bit more down than the rest of you?”
Applejack waved it off, “Oh, she’s just . . . upset about a few things.”
Rarity huffed, “With good reason,” she snapped. “Twilight warned us this would happen when she found out and now look at her.” Applejack looked mollified by her friend’s comments, but Octavia was just confused.
“Found out, what?” She asked.
This obviously touchy subject mixed with Octavia’s prodding, produced a fresh bout of tears streaming down Fluttershy’s face. Rarity shook her head, “ I don’t have time to explain your mistakes Ms. Order-member. Just take her over there and deal with it.” She said shooing them both away from the scene in front of them.
A frowning Applejack grabbed a hold of Octavia, pulling her out into the hallway. “Alright,” she said as she closed the door behind them, and started looked both ways, “I think the coast is clear.”
“Good, now can you please tell me what’s going on?” Octavia pleaded.
Applejack groaned, she really didn’t want to have to go into this right now, but like always, Rarity had forced her hand. She looked Octavia over, wondering if she could really be trusted. But after a good minute of Octavia looking at her with those big innocent eyes she consented. “Alright. first thing you gotta know is that in that room everyone has ties to the supernatural-”
“Well, duh.” Said Octavia. She may ask a lot of questions but she wasn't dumb. Applejack had told her what happened to normal people that found out about this secret world.
Applejack's eyes narrowed, “You didn’t let me finish," she growled, which was followed by a nervous apology from Octavia. "Every person in that room is tied to the supernatural, except for Rainbow Dash.”
Octavia’s eyes widened, “Then what the hell is she doing down here?” she nearly screamed, which prompted Applejack to start shushing her.
“She was with us when we got the summon, alright. Applejack explained. "She’d seen the pixie, heard the message, we didn’t really have any other choice but to bring her along.”
Octavia’s eyes widened even further, “You mean she never knew?” she whispered.
“Of course she didn’t.” Applejack hissed. “I love Rainbow Dash like a sister. She’s one of my oldest friends. But I also have a job I have to uphold, and it says that I’m legally not allowed to say anything to anyone who isn’t tied into our world. And neither is anyone else for that matter.”
“Well . . . have you tried telling her that?”
“Of course I have! But Dash is probably one of the most stubborn bulls you’ll ever meet. And with Twilight the way she is, she’s not thinking clearly.” Applejack’s frown dropped as it was replaced with a slightly guiltier one. “It also doesn’t help that Rarity is technically a normal human too.”
“But you just said—“
“I know what I said! But trust me, Rarity could talk her way in and out of Fort Knox. When our people came to get her she cut us a deal. We let her keep her memories and allow her access to our world, and in exchange she helps us out in her own special way.”
“Explain?” Octavia was fishing for clues, but one look from Applejack told her she wasn't getting any
Applejack ran a hand across her forehead. “The short end of it is that Rainbow is pissed off at all of us for not telling her anything. Heck, the only reason we’re doing it now is because we had too."
“And I take it Twilight was against that fact.” Applejack nodded, and Octavia’s lips thinned into a straight line. Honestly, if she was in the same position as Applejack, she couldn’t say she wouldn’t have done the same thing. Stuck between her duty and her friends, she’d chosen the former and the weight of it was pretty evident on her face right now.
Applejack was starting to ramble, “I’m not sure what to do really. Rarity wouldn’t talk to me for a month after she found out. And that was only after she’d cleared up that mess with people trying to mind wipe her. Rainbow’s a completely different monster though. She’s not as forgiving as Rare is, and Twilight’s not here to talk her down, and I just—“
It was Octavia’s turn to comfort Applejack. Sweeping the taller girl up into a bone crushing hug. “It’s alright,” she whispered. “Just give her some time and she’ll settle down.” Applejack, gradually began to relax into the hug, and when she felt this Octavia slowly began to let her go.
“There now, feel better?”
Applejack nodded, wiping away a wayward tear from face. “Yeah,” and she let out a chuckle to show it. “I’m gonna be honest with you. When I decided to spill the beans about all of this. I thought you’d have way more questions.”
Octavia joined her letting out a chuckle of her own. “I know, but I just haven’t felt very inquisitive tonight. With everything that’s happened with Twilight, and Vinyl being all out of sorts. I’ve just been too worried about my mistress to really ask about all the things going on around me.”
Applejack blinked. Had Octavia just called Vinyl her mistress. And the normally neurotic girl, seemed generally unfazed by everything around her. Zombies, a secret underground hospital; it was enough to send Octavia into a fit, but right now she was calm and smiling. “Hey Octavia could move a little closer please?”
“What, why?”
“I just need the check something, come here.” Octavia wasn’t really sure what was happening, but it was evident she wasn’t getting a choice in the matter as Applejack grabbed her by the cheeks and pulled her in close. If Octavia could have actually moved the facial muscles required to speak, she would have commented on how uncomfortable this was instead of spouting a bunch of gibberish. Instead, she just had to stay still while Applejack inspected her for, whatever she was looking for.
Just when Applejack had apparently found what she was looking for and was about to open her mouth to say something, Vinyl appeared. “Applejack, I need to speak with you.”
Applejack relinquished her hold on Octavia, fixing a hard stare on the vampire standing in the doorway. And it might have just been Octavia’s imagination, but Applejack was suddenly standing up a lot straighter than before. “Well that’s good, because I’ve got a bit of a bone to pick with you.”
Both Octavia and Vinyl stared at her for a moment. Not really sure what she was going on about, willing to play along for the moment. Vinyl turned to her servant, “Octavia, if you could leave us alone for a moment that would be lovely?”
“Uhm, sure,” said Octavia, her eyes still focused on her friend who was acting strangely. Slowly, she walked back into the waiting room, making sure to close the door behind her.
As soon as she was gone, Applejack turned on Vinyl. “You, bitch.” She hissed.
Vinyl rolled her eyes, “Oh, what did I do this time?”
“Oh, don’t even try and act innocent.” Applejack said grabbing the vampire by the shoulders and pushing her against a nearby wall. “Octavia’s acting all out of sorts, and it’s because you hypnotized her.”
“I did not,” Vinyl simply brushed her off, but Applejack was determined to get the truth.
“I saw her eyes, Scratch. There’s a flicker of magic right behind them. So unless Octavia suddenly learned a huge amount of magic in the last couple weeks, someones messing with her and my money is on you."
Vinyl stared hard at her frenemy, she could have gone on denying the allegations, but eventually her shoulders sagged, and she confessed. “I just couldn’t deal with her right now, alright? I feel guilty enough as it is about Twilight, The last thing I need is Octavia being her usual self; asking me questions, looking at me like I’m some sort of god when she thinks I’m not looking. So I hypnotized her and told her to just be calm and look after me tonight so I don’t do anything stupid.”
“Well how do you think she feels?” Applejack spat.
And Vinyl, truly had to think it over for a moment. She’d just assumed Octavia would be her usual, “I can do it” self. But now that she was actually putting some thought into it that probably wasn’t the case. She ran a hand through her hair, “She’s probably scared, worried, nervous—maybe even a bit lonely.”
It was an honest confession, but the vampire said it in such a nonchalant way, that it only made Applejack madder. “Oh, you think?”
Vinyl growled at the young order member. “Well that’s why I sent her over to you and your friends. You didn’t just send her packing did you.”
“Of course not!” she exclaimed. “But that doesn’t change the fact that, that girl knows you a lot better than she knows me. She’s not going to be looking to me for someone to hold onto, she’s going to be looking towards you.” Vinyl blinked. Octavia didn’t rely on her that much.
“And besides she’s hypnotized. On the outside she might be alright, but that's only because she's set to autopilot. On the inside she's probably terrified. Hell, this is practically torture you're putting her through."
Vinyl ran a hand through her hair again, smoothing out her normally spiky hair. This was crazy, she didn’t have to listen to any of this. Legally speaking, Octavia was hers to command however she wished. But Twilight’s words from earlier were still rattling around in the back of her head. “I can . . . fix this. Just tell her to come out and I’ll release her from the trance.”
Applejack scoffed releasing her, “You’d better do a lot more than more than that.”
Vinyl snarled at her, “Go,” she commanded. And for a second it didn’t look like Applejack was going to follow the order. But after a second she turned and then walked back inside the room.
With her gone, Vinyl’s shoulders could finally sag. This night was starting to wear on her in more ways than one. She was tired, emotionally battered, and her bank of lies was officially bankrupt at the moment. “Maybe that’s a good thing" she thought.
Twilight said that she didn’t have a soul because of what she was doing with Octavia. But she couldn’t stop now. Earlier she’d promised to take care of the girl, but how she supposed to do that exactly. “I said I’d carry her, how am I supposed to do that when I’m about to march neck deep into mud myself?”
Vinyl’s thoughts were cut off by the appearance of Octavia. “Applejack said you wanted me?” The girl asked.
Vinyl examined her assistant. Her hypnosis hadn’t been perfect; she’d been in a rush and the results were sloppy at best. Although she was trying to exude some air of calm, her assistant was tense. The small nervous smile on her face was frayed with the occasional twitch shining through, unnoticeable if you weren’t looking. Most telling of all though was the look in her assistant’s eyes. There was still the usual curiosity, a desire for knowledge about what was going on, but that was overshadowed by presence of magic; her magic that was the cause of all this.
Vinyl sighed. A lot of other vampires liked using some complicated catchphrase or a specific set of events that needed to happen before their victim was freed from their trance. She'd always been partial to a snap of her fingers though. And that’s the first sound Octavia’s newly freed mind began to register as she started to break away from her trance.
“Vinyl what-ow.” Octavia clutched at her head as the full weight of her emotions came crashing down on her. Tears started to spring from her eyes her teeth clenched as she could feel herself start to shake. “What’s wrong with me?”
Vinyl blinked at the scene in front of her. She had gone this far, there was only one way to move forward. Silently composing herself she’d began to explain. “You’ve just awoken from a hypnotic state, Octavia. It was done poorly so your body is experiencing a sort of backlash from the pent up emotions you’ve been keeping in for the past hour or so.”
Her servant looked at her, “But why I-“
“I did it,” confessed Vinyl, watching as Octavia’s mind began to piece things together. Not waiting for her to respond, Vinyl continued. “For completely selfish reasons I hypnotized you before you left the house.”
Octavia was shivering, whether out of fear or fury, Vinyl couldn’t tell. What she could tell was that she was holding herself trying to stop. “W-why.” She muttered.
“I. . .” Vinyl wasn’t sure what to say. It was one thing saying something to get Applejack off her back, but now that the problem itself was right in front of her she was drawing a blank. Why had she hypnotized Octavia? Now that she thought about it, she’d done it more on impulse than anything back at the house. As soon as she’d heard the message Octavia had started to panic, and then Vinyl was just on top of her, telling her to look into her eyes and calm down. But if she really had to think about it, it mostly boiled down to one major point really.
“I don’t trust you,” she said.
“What!” Octavia shouted incredulously. How could Vinyl not trust her after everything she'd done for her? “If anyone shouldn’t be trusted it’s you—you shyster, you cruel and wicked woman! You suckered me into this shitty deal, you’ve treated me like I don’t exist and have completely stabbed me in the back. Whereas I," she said jabbing a finger at herself, "Have been the model servant, following every single last one of your commands to the letter. No matter how insane or in the dark I was, I did it. I had enough faith in you to do that, so please Ms. I’m-so-much-more-important-than-anyone-else, explain why you don't trust me.”
No matter how good it felt to get all of that out in the air, Octavia’s rant was ill timed. Vinyl was in no mood to deal with this sort of thing tonight. And she was starting to remember; this was the reason that Vinyl didn’t trust her. She trusted her to follow orders alright. The girl wouldn’t dare risk putting her soul or her dream at stake. But did she trust her to shut-up, or leave her in peace, or to stop trying to pick her way into her brain chunk after chunk, so that she can do who the hell knows with it. She’d gotten enough of that earlier tonight from Twilight, she didn’t need any more of it from her annoying servant.
Even though they were practically the same height, Octavia suddenly felt an overwhelming presence towering over her. “Oh, model servant are you?” Vinyl asked, every word laced with a held back fury that made Octavia’s look like childish. “Tell me, Octavia, does a model servant go behind their masters back so they can try and pry into their personal life?”
Octavia bit her lip. Maybe she had been a bit too nosy, looking into things she probably shouldn’t have. Or at the very least Vinyl would have told her at one point . . . but still it didn’t seem fair. From the sound of it, Rainbow Dash had just learned today, (albeit under strenuous circumstances) but she already knew information it had taken Octavia weeks to gather.
“Oh yeah,” she said, gathering up the remainder of her courage. “Maybe if you’d actually let me in, I wouldn’t have to resort to those kind of measures.”
Vinyl groaned, “I already told you. There are things in this world that you don’t need to know about yet, dangerous things.” she persisted.
“Yes, but if you haven’t noticed, those “things” you were talking about, yeah—they’re already here!” she screamed and Vinyl took a step back from shock.
“You-you keep sending me to do all these things, and I do." She shrugged, "But you send me out completely blind, and suddenly there are witches and secret police, and Nosferatu knocking at the door.” She was crying again, Octavia didn’t want to, especially with Vinyl right in front of her, but her body wasn’t giving her any choice in the matter. “And it scares me," she shook her head, "It really does. If you keep sending me out like this, how long until I bump into something like Twilight did. What happens then, huh?” She demanded.
Vinyl wasn’t really sure what to say to that. What could she say to that? That in the most twisted way possible she was helping her? Using her, but helping her? So instead, she wrapped the sobbing girl up in a hug, letting her cry into her shoulder. As painful as it was though, there was really only one way to fix this.
“I’m afraid too you know,” she whispered.
Octavia immediately stopped shaking. “You already know part of it, about my responsibilities to my clan, but not all of it. I wasn’t lying to you when I said there are dangerous things in this world. The more you know, the more you end up being sucked into the darker side of it and you end up tainted." Vinyl said it with such certainty that Octavia was sure she was referring to something specific. "I’ve tried to protect you from most of that, but evidently you believe you’re ready for more."
Vinyl took a deep breath before continuing with the next part. “Twilight wasn’t just attacked Octavia, she was raped.” A sharp gasp filed the air, and Vinyl paused to let what she'd just said sink in. “This wasn’t some random incident, this was a carefully planned attack by a werewolf. More than likely trying to rattle the old buzzard Celestia." she sighed, "And for the most part they've succeeded."
Vinyl grabbed Octavia by her shoulders, prying her off of her so that she could look her in her tear-streaked face. “Octavia, I’ll say this one more time, so listen up. This is the world you want to enter. It’s not like your school girl fantasies. As pretty as it can be, it can also destroy you. Now” she said very matter-of-factually, “Are you ready?”
Octavia nodded and chuckled, wiping the tears from her eyes with her sleeve. “You act like I didn’t already give you my answer.” She smiled, “You told me exactly what I was getting into when you first made me your servant. To expect anything else would be foolish, wouldn’t it?” Vinyl nodded, this was good. This was the Octavia she was used to, this was the Octavia she could talk to.
“Alright then, if that’s the case, you’ll be joining Applejack and the rest of the Apple family in their investigation.”
Octavia gawked at the vampire, “You can’t be serious?”
Vinyl looked at her strangely, “Of course I am, besides obvious political reasons—I need to put my best foot forward to deal with this incident—this also helps you.” Before Octavia could open her mouth to ask how this could possibly help her, Vinyl cut her off. “Applejack is an expert in combat. I’m hoping you can learn a thing or two from her. You’ve no doubt noticed your new abilities.” Octavia nodded and explained how her new speed and endurance had come in handy earlier.
“Good, I’m hoping Applejack can provide you proper training in them. This is my first time actually having a Knock and I’m not sure on exactly what I’ve given you, or your limits. The Order keeps detailed information about this sort of thing though. While you’re out in the field you can bug her with as many questions about your position as you like.” Vinyl sniggered. And if Applejack just happened to pull her hair out because of that, well who could blame her.
Octavia was slowly starting to see Vinyl’s logic. But if she was going to be putting her neck on the line to go find this incredibly dangerous criminal, she was going to get something out of it. “Alright,” she smiled at her Mistress, “But only if you do something for me.”
Vinyl glared at the girl, “I’m not giving you a raise, Octavia.”
“Well, yes,” Octavia waved away the statement. “But that’s mostly a necessary evil on your part so that my mother doesn’t get involved in things.” She pointed out. “What I’m thinking is more along the lines of . . . motivation.”
Octavia was giving her a playful smirk, but Vinyl had absolutely zero intention of returning it. “Fine,” she growled, “What do you want?”
"Piano lessons.” She spat out without even a moment’s hesitation. “You uhm-offered to teach me, but you never followed through.” Octavia was vaguely aware of the fact she was blushing. She didn’t want to be, but, once again, her body wasn’t giving her any choice.
Vinyl blinked, and then let out a smile. “Alright then, you have a deal.” She held out her hand for Octavia to shake, but was interrupted by someone clearing their throat.
Both girls turned their heads, only to Nurse Redheart standing in the middle of the hall, looking extremely uncomfortable. “I’ve been sent back to inform you that, the operation was a success. She’s still unconscious though, and we have no idea when or if she’ll wake up.” Redheart could feel the disappointment coursing off the two girls.
“With that said, she’s in her room at the moment. Normally, we’d let her rest, but since we’re not exactly sure our sprinklers could survive another sun witch rampage, we’ll be allowing visitors back to see her two at a time. So if you could tell everyone else here to see her that, that would be wonderful.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
903 users online
1,290,706 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Please no curious cats...
*thumbs up of epicness raised*
Let's see...
Twilight Sparkle - Witch - Wounded
Octavia Philharmonica(?) - Human/Servant - OK (Post-Hypnotized)
Vinyl Scratch - Vampire - Healthy
Applejack - [ERROR] - Healthy
Rarity - Human/[ERROR] - Healthy
Pinkie Pie - [ERROR] - OK (Pinkamena mode)
Rainbow Dash - Human/Witness - Healthy
Fluttershy - [ERROR] - Healthy
Celestia - Sun Witch - OK (Near-Rampage Alert/Worried)
Luna - Moon(?) Witch - OK (Worried)
And... that's all.
This was good. Great, actually. There were a few errors here and there, like
"a bit... odd" or even just "a bit odd" would work better here.
Needless capitalization on sister and vice.
I saw a few other typos but couldn't find them. Some other people will (hopefully) point them out.
Anyway, great chapter. This is getting better the longer on it goes. Please don't be one to just forget about his/her stories. People like that but the piss out of me. Well enough of my comment rambling, great chapter and I hope to see more soon.
man i watch 10 storys and this one is tho only one still going at a good clip the others r slow to put out
I told you I'd help you out with editing when I could, and I'm here to deliver! This was a great chapter, but there were a few things I spotted:
Should be 'your'. You also mixed up your 'too' and 'to's a few times. But still, a good chapter, as usual!
Oh, and you should use 'Ms.' rather than 'Mrs.'. 'Mrs.' is for a married woman, where 'Ms.' is for a single lady. Keep up the good work!
Great chapter, glad to know that Vinyl is finally going to commit on having a Knock (I mean seriously, for a leader, she is pretty indecisive). I just hope that you spread the information out; a lot of writers in this position tend to place a massive info-dump all at once.
Few corrections I found:
6221412
6221956
6221969
Thanks for the quick edits you guys!
6221470
Yow, those ones must be super slow. Especially since I've just been putting out monthly so far.
6222302 i can link them in so u know what ones i'm watchinghttp://www.fimfiction.net/story/35583/a-jewel-of-a-problem http://www.fimfiction.net/story/107649/my-littlest-pet-shop-escape-from-equestria http://www.fimfiction.net/story/232467/what-the-frick http://www.fimfiction.net/story/198966/applejacks-vampire-sibling http://www.fimfiction.net/story/161705/my-little-pony-kaiju-rumble http://www.fimfiction.net/story/121836/the-bridge-a-godzilla-mlp-crossover http://www.fimfiction.net/story/207497/spike-x-bloom-a-new-life http://www.fimfiction.net/story/239832/kingdom-hearts-princess-twilight-sparkle
it was nice when tavi snaped at her hehe
nice chap cant wait for more cause things are heating up on every point
6222302 No problem! Happy to help~
The mystery deepens
6222743
6250486 Thanks for all the help, though I could have sworn I'd fixed some of those already. Probably just forgot to hit save afterwards or something.
By the by, "By the By" is just another way of saying "By the way". But "By the By" is older and sounds a bit stuffier. Which works perfectly for this story.
Gaaaah! I can't wait for the next chapter! Hopefully going back to school with make the days go by faster. xD
The story is pretty good actually to be honest I was expecting a romantic comedy of some sort (octascratch) but I have to say you made a very compelling story I'd love to see how it ends
Still waiting for more...
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
22:12_11/26/2015
We need more
No! I caught up! I want more now!!
6222743 dude.....no.....just f#cking......no.....
6920858 no that comment is disgusting. Plz that isn't even funny.
6921035 well its a subject best avoided for some. BTW note to author good job with the story.
A fighter Octavia....
7087649 combine that, with how peter parker saw things in slow motion from the original spider man films.