Funeral
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Shakes...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
Care sighed with annoyance, rubbing his face wit his hooves before reaching lazily back up and plopping his hoof on the button and speaking again.
"Fire again." He said, signaling the tennis ball launcher to shoot once more.
He was annoyed, and as much as I hate to say it, it was for a good reason. Vinyl had, so far, done effectively nothing to give any test results for Care worth mentioning. She had, so far, actually just been hit with a bunch of tennis balls. She refused to dodge for some reason, and instead would just roll back and whine in pain about the impact.
I knew she wasn't being hurt by it, and so did everyone else inside the room, but we couldn't just go down and force her to do something at the fear of her actually doing something worth taking notes on.
Care sighed, sounding on the verge of tears, as another ball hit Vinyl square between the eyes for the twentieth or so time in a row.
"Anybody have any ideas?" He asked, looking up from rubbing his temples in desperation.
I stayed silent, though the other two mares of the room started brainstorming with him.
"Give her access to blood?" The mare who's name I didn't know.
"No, no. We need notes on the progress of her strength in response to the addition of blood. Giving her blood would be counter productive." He sighed, looking back down to the floor.
"Though, right now it looks like a decline in ability, but I refuse to believe it."
Maple suddenly spoke up, suggesting something that caught my attention. And for good reason at that.
"What about that mare she was supposed to be in a relationship with? Seems like she's pretty valuable to Vinyl. Could we use her to, I don't know, black mail her?" She suggested.
I felt my ears raise and my heart sink at the idea. It was cruel and evil. Octavia had been through enough suffering for probably a life time or two within less than just a year. She deserved a break.
"I...think that might work. And, from what Shakes here tells us, she's on her way now to see Miss Vinyl down there anyways." Care nodded.
"But what should we do with the actual marefriend to get Vinyl to comply?" The unknown mare asked.
"Any ideas on that? Maple?" Care questioned.
"I guess we could threaten to harm her. That ought to get her movi-"
A sudden crash interrupted her mid-speech, sounding kinda similar to when a bird hits a window, but if the bird were made of led.
We all turned to the sound of the location, the mirror just in front of us, and found that a medicine ball had made its way up to the glass and hit it with enough force to send a set of cracks through. Thanks to the cracks, I now realized just how thick the glass was after I walked a little to one side and saw the clear streak running easily three feet in length.
We all met looks before we all looked back down to the testing floor, finding a terrifying sight down there as well.
Vinyl's hoof was still hovering in the air from where it had landed after she threw the medicine ball, her chest heaving in and out. Though her breaths weren't of fatigue, more like contained anger.
Another thing was the freshly broken set of dangling chains around her hooves.
We all kept silent for a while, Maple and the other mare moving up to the glass to join me and Care in looking down on Vinyl. We all, from what I could tell, were thinking about the strength that that maybe twenty pound medicine ball must have been thrown at to crack the glass. Well, until Care decided to break it.
"I guess we've found our angle to work at." He said simply, moving to a sheet of paper nearby and beginning to rapidly scribble words onto the paper.
Maple and the other mare looked to Care and watched him take his notes, though I looked a bit closer at Vinyl, and found another rather scary sight.
Her eyes.
They were filled with something I had never seen in the before. Something that looked like just the most primal form of rage I could ever think to imagine. It was feral, no, more than feral. It was the most basic, yet concentrated emotion I had ever witnessed. Vinyl was never one to suppress her feelings, but this was just a bit... much.
I also saw that they were looking at someone.
It was a bit hard to follow her line of sight from the height I was at, though, from what I could tell, she was looking at Maple with those emotions of bitterness.
If looks could cut, Vinyl's would've went through that three foot glass and into Maple like a hot knife into butter. Heck, the look she's got on her face probably could cut up to the surface from this dungeon underground.
Probably with room to cut more.
"Ah," Care suddenly sounded, catching the attention of everyone in the room. "Maple."
"Hm?"
"Before I forget, go meet with Flint to be shown to your room while you're here. We're just about done here, so-" He said, just before the door to the observation room rang out with heavy knocks.
Flint entered without hesitation from outside, no regard for being let in. She looked tired, like, really tired. Bags were under her eyes and her hair was slightly frizzed, not to mention the aura of pure exhaustion she was putting out.
"Come on. I want some sleep." She said simply before turning and trotting back out of the door without another word.
We all looked to each other, before all looking to Maple.
She seemed to get the idea, and quickly trotted out the door to catch up with Flint.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*...Maple...*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
Flint kicked down the door to a small room that was pitch black inside, trotting in and flipping the lights on to reveal roughly a grid of beds. Each one had the same generic looking blue sheets and pillows that looked starched to the point that I was scared they might break if I laid down on them too quickly.
I noticed they were all filled with ponies, though they all seemed to still be sleeping despite the entry Flint had made. Though, when I looked a bit closer at them, I noticed that they all had earplugs in.
Apparently this must've been a common occurrence.
"This is where you'll be sleeping, case you didn't figure that out yet." She said curtly, turning and raising her hoof to a single empty bed near in the right corner of the room near the light switch she had flipped when she came in.
"That's yours." She said, turning back to me.
"Anything else?" She asked, as if I had been the one to drag her here to show me my bed.
I shook my head.
"Good." She said, turning and walking back out the door and shutting the door behind her without care, making another loud bang as it closed.
I was a bit reluctant to get into the bed, the starching statement from earlier was a huge understatement. When I had thought to have been sheets made of cotton turned out to have the texture of sandpaper. Who in the name of Celestia had the good idea to starch bed sheets?
As I settled into the sheets, resting my head on a brick for a pillow, I reach my hoof up to the light switch and turned it off.
'At least that is convenient.' I mumbled internally, shutting my eyes and attempting to get to sleep.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
It had been about two or so hours now since I had first started to fall asleep, only to find myself in the exact same position as when I had tried to first get to sleep. At first, I blamed it on the sheets and pillow for my inability to get a decent spot to rest, but I soon began to think differently as I realized a new feeling that I had been feeling for awhile now, but failed to notice it.
I felt watched.
I sat up.
I rubbed my eyes, trying to rub them clear as I began to take a look around the room, though that idea was scrapped pretty quickly as I realized I was in an underground room with no source of light at all.
Though, in my sleep deprived mind, I kept looking around.
I turned my head from side to side, scanning across the room in search of maybe one of the other hunters who was suffering a similar problem as me. I had done some pony-watching as well when I couldn't get sleep when I was patrolling with my brother, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone else was looking at others sleep.
Finally, as my I faced what I would have deemed the opposite corner of the room from where I was, I found them.
A pair of eyes, looking dead at me in the pitch blackness of the room, visible through the darkness as if they were made of lights themselves.
At first I was relieved, though that quickly turned to a feeling of goosebumps as I took a second look.
These eyes were different. They were special. They were familiar.
The whites of them were pristine like snow, and with how wide the eyes were, it was looking at two miniature moons. Though what shook me so hard was there irises.
A hellish crimson color.
The pupils were narrow, going against the nature of pupils, that would open up to let more light in as to see better at night.
As I looked at the eyes longer, a face came to mind. And with that face, came the scenario from the holding cells earlier that shook me to the bone.
Though, with that horrible memory, came the memory that when I blinked, the eyes disappeared.
Hoping that the same would occur this time, and that this was just a fear manifesting itself, I blinked.
The eyes still sat there, drilling into me with their gaze.
Now I began to panic a bit.
It seemed like something out of nightmare, my new biggest fear sitting just at the opposite end of a pitch black room with no one else awake in it but me and the fear itself. I felt my heart begin to speed up, the urge to scream and hide building up higher and higher the longer I held eye contact with the apparition.
Though, I feared that if I stopped looking for too long, she would get me.
I felt like a child again, but not in the excitement and exploration sense. More in the "boogie-mare in my closet" kind of sense.
Finally, I had to blink again.
My eyes shut, the single dots of white disappearing from the darkness of the room and the darkness of my eyelids taking over.
The sound of chains rustling slightly alarmed me.
When I opened them again, I found that it still remained completely dark, the white and red eyes now gone from sight. I felt sweet relief come over me as I figured the sound of those chains rustling must have been her making her exit.
Until I looked just slightly beside where the eyes had been before.
They were there again, only a little bit closer than before.
I began to move backwards against the wall that my bed was pressed up against in a vain attempt to separate myself and her gaze. This actually worked against me, as I unintentionally blinked again as I backed up, only to open my eyes again quickly as I heard the shackles move again and see that her eyes had moved forwards and sideways by a little bit once more.
If I had to guess, she was moving up row by row.
There was only five rows of beds in the room.
She had already moved up by three rows.
There was two rows left until she was on my row.
I felt scared.
From the moment I felt as though this pattern checked out, I knew I was destined for her to encounter me. Though, in a futile attempt, I reached my hoof out to the door handle from my bed, not daring to break eye contact with her eyes that stayed glued to me.
I jiggled the handle.
Locked.
I blinked again, listening to the sound of her chains shake only once, then opened my eyes again to find the eyes one more row closer to meeting me.
This was going to be my last blink.
I was going to die.
I felt a strange feeling of calm come over me, my hoof dropping from the handle as I positioned myself back into my bed, my eyes shutting at a steady pace as I collected my thoughts.
I heard her shackles move, the sound coming from afar for the first half second, then directly in front of my for the last half of the second it took her to move.
As I opened my eyes, I found that the eyes were right in front of my own. A cryptic crimson staring not only at me, but through me as well. I felt like I had been pierced by these eyes, and I wanted to scream.
In fact, that's what I tried to do.
I opened my mouth and got maybe a fraction of a second of sound out before a shackled hoof came crashing down over my mouth, pressing my into the starchy covers and silencing me all in one motion.
I felt her hoof press a bit harder into my face, the sound of the hinges of the legs bending making itself known as she tested the integrity of the bed I was laid in.
Is this what they meant by death bed.
In a last ditch effort to save myself, my hoof bolted on its own towards the light switch in an attempt to turn it on. I held a gaze with her as I did it, and her eyes made no move to look away from my own.
It was a good attempt.
Until her hoof beat my own hoof to the light switch, the chain of her shackles crashing into the switch with enough force to break the framing of the switch and cause sparks to fly. Despite the sound of the crash it must've made, no one in the room seemed to even begin to stir from their slumber.
'Damn their high quality ear plugs.' I cursed inwardly.
One of those sparks managed to hit the sheets of the bed, which despite being starched so thoroughly, caught flame with ease and dimly lit up the room and her with it.
She wasn't wearing the smile I was so used to seeing. Instead, there was only a grimace there as her eyelids slowly lowered down to a half lidded position that made her crimson eyes go from looking crazed to predatory. Not that much of an improvement if you ask me.
Though, she did move the burning blanket off of my body and down to the front of the bed, so I guess she didn't want to hurt me.
Yet.
She climbed onto the bed slowly, throwing one of her hind legs over my body while the other stayed put, effectively straddling my own body while keeping her hoof firmly on top of my mouth.
She suddenly took on an alarmed look.
"You....You are Maple right?" She asked, her voice a whisper.
Despite the odd nature of the question, I wasn't exactly feeling up to the challenge of questioning her despite how genuine her question sounded and how easy it would have been to shake my head no.
Instead, I nodded truthfully, sealing my death wish.
She took on a look of relief.
"Thank Luna, I was real worried I had the wrong pony." She said, sheepishly chuckling with her eyes closed as she rubbed the back of her neck.
Though, this was quick to fade as her eyes opened again with a more predatory look in them as she began to progress.
I felt a jolt run through my body as a soft hoof rested itself on my stomach, making me instinctively begin to squirm about on the bed in an attempt to get out of her hold. Though her grip was like iron, and I only found myself getting worn out as she looked at me with mild amusement in her half lidded eyes.
She didn't bother attempting to actively restrain me while I struggled, more content just letting me tire myself out and then move in on me while I was exhausted.
"Done?" She asked as I finally stopped squirming.
I glared at her with a mix of fear and hate.
"Good." She said, moving her hoof from my stomach up to my upper chest and letting her body lower until it was pressed against my own.
She looked deep into my eyes with her own, though hers were somewhat glassy and her breathing a little bit ragged. She seemed to shine with what had to have been a coat of sweat, suggesting that she wasn't exactly in control of herself. Though, despite all of these signs to support it, the calm and steady sound of her voice suggested she was completely sober.
"You were in that little tower that was looking at me in that white room, weren't you?" She asked in a gentle, sultry tone that sent a shiver down my spine.
I nodded.
"Hm." She grunted in acknowledgement, moving her lips close to my ears so that her breathing would tickle ever so slightly.
"I heard what you said about Tavi." She said.
Her tone had changed. Drastically.
My eyes widened.
'This isn't good. Not at all.' I thought to myself, taking into account her tone.
It had gone from soothing and almost seductive to toxic and hateful. I noticed forcefully that the pressure from her hoof had redoubled its efforts to attempt and smother me. It hurt, needless to say, but what I was more worried about was the feeling that the vampire on top of me was about to snap and kill me.
"I want you to know something, before you think of hurting Tavi. Care to listen?" She asked, obviously rhetorical.
Her tone took on one of sudden and pristine clarity. A reflective tone..
"I haven't been with the light in all of my life. Tavi's the closest I've got to some kind of replacement for that light." She said, her tone resonating. It sounded like an old veteran from war reflecting on his past experiences.
Though, I stopped focusing on that as the pressure redoubled once more, my face now beginning to lose feeling. The flames from the sheets began to dim down, making the visibility of her face fade from a full view of all the details of her shift down to nothing but her mouth and her eyes.
"Try and take my light, and I will take a few things of my own." She said, the air turning cold as she finished her sentence.
I had no response. This wasn't a death threat, it was a death promise.
Just the feel that I was getting from her combined with the look I had seen in her eyes made me finally began to realize just how this relationship worked for Vinyl Scratch. In her eyes, this 'Tavi' was everything to her, she was her every breath of air and even her very pulse. And it was with this that I now realized that by taking away her 'Tavi', would also be freeing Vinyl Scratch of something in the same action.
Her restraint.
That same restraint exercised on the entire trip over here that kept us all alive. She did it to protect her "Tavi", and now that she was realizing that it might have been for nothing and she might still be harmed, she was beginning to realize there was no need for restraint.
Simply put, if Tavi goes, so does her capacity to not kill us.
Her hoof lifted from my mouth and I felt circulation begin to return to my face, though by the time I was shaken from thought and began to look around the room for Vinyl Scratch, she had already left. Though it wouldn't have mattered if she was still here or not, her point was made with perfect clarity.
We hadn't face what she really was like. None of us had yet. Heck, I'm doubtful even Captain Shakes has.
Though, with the current way things were looking, we were all going to see the actual reason why she had amassed such a legend.
*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*
Stats
Page generated in 0.046 seconds
Total duration
743 users online
783,603 hits today, 2,561,572 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.®
Now it's starting to fit together...
yeah maple should probably mention that to somepony that harming Tavi is a very bad ideaand the reason why, especially since this is vinyl without blood imagine how strong she would be with it, because without tavi it would take the combined power of all the princesses to neutralize her
7199166 well... That probably wouldn't work to well either, all things considered
7199310 true because harming an innocent would put the princesses on vinyls side
All caught up and ready to read more :333
Do you need an editor? You're missing a LOT of misspelled words, words missing letters, there, they're and their's being incorrect, and a lot of uncapitalized 'i''s. You know me and if I you want to see some things I've edited you can find me in the experts tab of the proofreader group.
And if not all good, good luck!
7204041 Your profile pic is so fucking ADORABLE!!!!
Yeah there is a thin line left there preventing her complete murderess on all of you.