Tales from the Equestrian Others- The Fallen Angel of Ponyville

by Scarlet Raven Thorn

Serpent I (9)

Author's Note:

This chapter has been split into two for an easier reading, but I will bet my soul to Discord that it is well worth the read. So please, enjoy.

A little less action- and a lot less gore- in the beginning, followed by a noticeable lack of Sound-Off and Zecora.

*Major Spoiler warning:

• I'm doing this because I am introducing Vinyl Scratch as a permanent character in the story, and ultimately in the series.
• Yes, she will be getting her own story. It will be titled,
  "Broken Record" and will feature a more monstrous Vinyl than the one we know. And no, she won't be a vampire.

Minor detail spoiler:

• Zirnitra: a black Slavic dragon, and goddess (sometimes god) of sorcery. I am making this the dragons' deity.
• Pacific Glow is from the episode "Saddle Row & Rec", she is believed- and is hinted at here- to be an escaped Pinkie Pie clone from the episode "Too Many Pinkies".

Warning:

• Split reading
• Feelings
• Allusions to Disturbing Imagery
• Mutilation of a fan favorite character

Scarlet Thorn slowly opened her eyes with a groan. Her head throbbed painfully, causing her to wince as she pushed herself up.

She blinked, and stepped forward before slipping and nearly hitting the ground. Somepony, or something, had placed her on a bed of hay. The pegasus mare glanced around the room. There wasn't a lot to see. The cavern was lit by crystal growths, and very small. At least it was warmer here than any other place she had been; she could, regrettably, feel her limbs again. The silver-maned mare tried to remember how she had gotten there. She was with Zecora and Sound-Off, and then-

"The Vanished!" She suddenly cried out, the memories flooding back to her. "I- I fell, but then- but then how did I end up here?"

She fell back onto her rump, and put a foreleg against her belly. The wound on her abdomen had been patched up with a long strip of blood stained orchid fur wrapped thrice around her middle, and held fast by a piece of rib bone pushed through a slit in the skin. The skin itself had been tanned, cleaned, and slightly-hardened. Despite this, Scarlet still gagged.

However, she managed to force down the stale water in her throat. She glanced around for Zecora or Sound-Off, but there was no sign of her fellow agents. The pegasus stood, and limped forward.

"Sound-Off? Zecora?" She called out, albeit quietly.

There was no response but the slow dripping of water from somewhere in the cavern.

She stumbled over to the cavern wall, brushing a wing against the moist stone. Eventually, her feathers found an empty space in the rock. The passageway in front of her was incredibly narrow, she wouldn't be able to easily squeeze through without scraping her body against the jagged sides. And there was no telling what lurked in the darkness ahead, not without the petty light of her Luminous Gem at least.

The mare fell back to her hay pile, and weighed her options. On one hoof somepony had cared enough to clean and dress her wound, and to see her comfortable. But on the other hoof, her friends were more than likely in trouble and said pony that had helped her was nowhere to be seen. And on her metaphorical other hoof, it came to her attention that her scythe was no longer in her possession and without it she was completely defenseless. As she pondered her choices there was the sudden sound of approaching hoofsteps.

Scarlet squeaked in fear. She hastily made her way over to the chamber's entrance, grabbing a heavy rock along the way. She raised the rock into the air, waiting for whatever it was to crawl out of the tunnel. The hoofsteps approached gradually, and her leg began to grow tired from upholding the weight. Just as she was about to drop the rock, the thing in the tunnel stepped out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The unicorn cried out, flinching as she gripped the rock in her magic. "It's cool! It's cool!"

Scarlet Thorn squinted at the mare. "DJ Pon-3, is that you?"

"Uh yeah, I think so." The unicorn answered. "But call me Vinyl. DJ Pon-3 is just my stage name, my friends call me Vinyl. Hey, how are you feeling? You were pretty beaten up."

The pegasus slowly shifted her limbs. The pain was bad, really bad, but not anything that would actually hinder her too greatly. "I don't think anything else got broken thankfully. It hurts, but it's not completely unbearable. DJ- I mean, Vinyl, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

If Scarlet was beaten, Vinyl was absolutely thrashed. Her white coat was caked in blood and scabbed over in other places. One of her ears had been completely ripped off, leaving behind a blood crusted stump. Her horn had a long and jagged crack running through it, while her cutiemark-now unrecognizable- had been slashed over by claw marks on both sides of her flank. A long gash ran from the bridge of her muzzle almost all the way down to her barrel; blood also had stiffened the fur from her nose and a majority of her neck. Her two-toned blue mane had been sliced unevenly to the point of where one side of her head- sporting a large cut- had been practically shaven off, and her tail meanwhile was almost completely torn off. And one of her crimson eyes held to it a grey film; she was blind. Still, she managed a smile. She was missing teeth.

"Well I can earnestly say that I've never felt more alive." Vinyl Scratch admitted. "Hey, what's your name?"

"I'm Scarlet Thorn." She introduced herself with a wing salute against her chest. "I wish we could have met under better circumstances."

Vinyl eyed her suspiciously. "Hey, haven't I seen you before? Yeah, you live in that big cloud mansion above Saddle Row. I remember seeing you on the cover of Wheeling Stonework Magazine with Cobra Strike! So is he like your coltfriend or something?"

"Um, I guess that would be the correct term for it. Yes, I am his marefriend. We try really hard to keep his public life separate from our private lives, most ponies don't even know that we have a son." Scarlet explained.

"Oh what? I never would have guessed! How wild is that?!" Vinyl exclaimed. "He's like, what, twenty-six or twenty-eight? And you look like you're twenty-five?"

"I am twenty-five, and he's twenty-seven actually. We had our son young." Scarlet clarified. "I was almost twenty when I found out, and he had just turned twenty-two. But that's not important right now. How did you manage to survive down here for almost an entire week?"

Vinyl blinked in surprise. "A week? You're joshing me! It hasn't been that long, has it?"

"Vinyl," Scarlet began, unsure how to break it to her. "you've been missing for a week."

The unicorn mare plopped down onto the hay pile. "Oh Faust. It's really been a week hasn't it?"

Scarlet settled herself next to the unicorn, and nodded her head. "Almost a little over, if you count today. Vinyl, just how exactly have you been making it in these catacombs? I mean, what have you been eating?"

Vinyl's face turned green, and she choked back a sob. "I- I've had to resort to eating- to eating other p- ponies. I tried to-to eat those r- roots growing everywhere, but they just made me sick."

The pegasus gasped in shock and horror, and quickly put an empathetic hoof around the other mare's trembling shoulders. After a few moments, she piped up. "And for water?"

"Th- there's a river near here." Vinyl stuttered out. "It's not bad tasting, a little metallic if anything, but its the only water that I know of."

"And how have you managed to escape the Vanished?" Scarlet asked.

"The what?" The scarred mare raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Did- did you call those things Vanished?"

Scarlet bit her tongue, but she knew it couldn't be helped now. "I did. They're called the Vanished, that's their name."

"What the-" Vinyl shook her head. "How do you know this? Why do you know this?"

"I can't tell you that." Scarlet stated, beginning to sweat and not from the warmth.

"Hey, I've been down here a week according to you. And, I saved your life. I think I deserve an explanation, and I won't take no or I can't for an answer. So stop beating around the bush and just tell me already." Vinyl instigated.

Again, Scarlet weighed her options. Vinyl was right. She had saved her life, and she had obviously managed to procure and prolong her own. But on the opposite side of the spectrum, Princess Luna could have the pegasus on a pike for leaking such valuable information. It was also quite possible that the unicorn had been possessed by an Eidolon, although she saw no tell-tale signs of this; boils and blemishes on the skin, a rotting meat smell, twitchy and jerky movements, sharpened teeth, overactive saliva glands, bleeding from all orifices. Eventually, she decided that the other mare had not been possessed. But that still didn't help with the over looming question; should she tell Vinyl about Z.O.D.I.A.C. and Luna, or should she lie about it? Could she even make up such a well-thought out lie on the the spot like this?

"I'm waiting." Vinyl impatiently tapped a hoof against the floor, staring the mare down with her half-blind leer.

Scarlet bit her lip, but figured she had little choice in the matter. Vinyl wouldn't trust her unless she got the truth- or at least what was assumed to be the truth- from the pegasus. And in order to make up such a sophisticated lie with no plot holes- Scarlet wasn't a good liar anyways- would have taken more time and consideration.

"I- I know because- because- um-" The pegasus's eyes rolled upward.

Vinyl leaned closer, her vulture's eye prosecuting the mare. "Because?"

Scarlet gulped and breathlessly spat out, "Because I'm a secret agent of an organization ran by Princess Luna to fight against these monsters and their leader!"

"Oh, is that all?" Vinyl drew back and loosened herself.

"Y- you're not surprised?" Scarlet asked in astonishment.

"Nah. Why should I be? It's Equestria, we're getting attacked by another conquerer almost twice a year. And we live in Ponyville, ponies come from all over just to visit and see a monster attack up close and personal." Vinyl said with a small shrug. "I had my magic stolen from me by a motherbucking power-hungry centaur for Faust's sake! I'm pretty sure not a lot can surprise me, you know? So, secret government agent huh? How's that working out for you?"

"It's, working." Scarlet unconvincingly reported. "So you don't have any questions whatsoever? None at all? Nada? Zilch? Zero? Nothing?"

"Eh, well I guess I do have one." Vinyl calmly stated.

"Then what is it?" The pegasus inquired.

Vinyl smiled a broken, but honest, grin. "Where do I sign up?"

***

Sound-Off huffed and puffed as she ran on. She jumped over another large root blocking her path. Her legs had never burned so much in her life. The dragoness slid underneath a root arching upwards. The roars, growls, and hisses of the Vanished from somewhere in the darkness behind her was beyond terrifying. Every so often she could hear them getting closer, and she- for the very first time- thanked the great dragon goddess Zirnitra for her unnaturally small height for a dragon of her age.

She suddenly caught sight of a speck of white among the black and purple. The reptile ran towards it without really thinking too much into it. In the infinite darkness, the white light was something new- something that clearly didn't belong in this nightmarish landscape- and thus was a beacon hope.

The black and white dragoness made it into the light's soft and familiar glow, it was a Luminous Gem. At first she was confused, until she saw another a good distance away. Then she remembered Zecora's words; follow the trail that is glowing. If she followed the trail of shards, then she would without a doubt find the assassin at the end of it. That is, if the Vanished didn't find her first.

Sound-Off heard the monsters getting closer again. She hastily picked up the Luminous Gem and dropped it into her quiver, so that the trail couldn't be followed. It wasn't as if, Sound-Off gasped out a small cry, Scarlet would need it. She had seen her friend plummet to her death. Or at least, Sound-Off thought so. She had seen the mare fall, but she hadn't watched it happen. She couldn't. She had looked away before she could. But then again, the chances of the pegasus surviving a fall from that height was just unheard of. The reptile wiped her nose as she ran.

There was a numbness in her heart and a hollow pit in her soul. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to collapse and let the regret take her. Her throat was raw from a withheld wail of pain and hurt. It wasn't fair! Scarlet shouldn't have died. She shouldn't have left the dragoness all alone. Why? Why? The question nagged at the back of the reptile's mind, picking at her like a vulture does a carcass. Why did she have to die? And why did she feel as is she had died alongside the mare?

Sound-Off shook her head, she couldn't afford to mourn right now. The price would be her life. Another Vanished screeched from right behind her. She continued to run in a zigzag pattern, sliding under and jumping over roots in an attempt to shake the Vanished off of her trail. Whether she was succeeding or only making it more difficult on herself, there was no way to tell.

She picked up the next gem without even stopping, and let it go into her leather bag. As she ran, she couldn't help but to think that perhaps the pegasus had been right about Princess Luna. Where was the lunar sister? But Luna, Luna simply hadn't been there when Sound-Off had needed her most. And that infuriated the little dragoness to her very core.

The dragoness had always, always, trusted Luna. She, Gallant, and Luna had always been particularly close; the three of them were practically a family. Luna had personally adopted Gallant after seeing in him what had helped make her into Nightmare Moon, Gallant had hatched her from an egg as part of his exam to see if he had what it took to be the princess's personal protegee, and Sound-Off herself had been raised practically as his daughter. So she knew Luna better than to just write her off as being impassionate and corrupt. But that didn't mean Sound-Off couldn't feel betrayed, because she also knew first hand just how powerful Princess Luna was.

It was nothing short of a miracle that Celestia had managed to defeat Nightmare Moon. Sound-Off had no doubt that without the Elements of Harmony and Alicorn Amulet- which Luna revealed in the up-most secrecy that her beloved sister had worn during their fight for control of the skies- Celestia would have lost. If anything, Luna was the stronger of the two and always had been. The sun practically moved on its own as the world rotated around it; it just needed that little extra nudge. But the moon, the moon was constantly moving away from Equis little by little and it was up to Luna to stop that. She tirelessly pooled her magic into preventing her namesake from drifting away, even while the sun shone brightly in the sky above some part of her was focused on keeping the moon in its proper place. So if she was so powerful, where was she?

She picked up another glowing shard. The snarls behind her had begun to fade; hopefully they had lost interest when they lost sight of her. Still, the reptile kept her guard up. She had already failed her promise to Luna to keep her and Scarlet safe on this mission into the depths of Tartarus. She had already failed Gallant's honor code of never leaving a friend behind. She had already failed Zecora with her lack of the ability to fight in actual combat. But, no matter what, she would not fail to deliver Scarlet Thorn's last words. No way, no how, not for any reason. Alone and practically defenseless- with the exception of her crossbow and approximately twenty-two to nineteen bolts left, and a flame feeding off of a low battery- she absolutely refused to die before she could.

Sound-Off followed the trail deeper into the labyrinth, and further away from the Tree of Chaos. Immediately, she began to feel less on edge and more at peace as she continued to grow further and further from the blight. Not even bothering to look back, the dragoness continued into the darkness and towards the next light.

***

Cobra Strike held open the door of Sugarcube Corner for the mare and two foals.

After spending much of the day at the bakery, Cobra had finally payed for the foals' treats- in Ink Token's stead- and for Scarlet's cake before leaving the little shop as it prepared to close. It was late in the afternoon now, almost evening, the sun was beginning to set and cast a beautiful red-orange glow over the sleepy town. Almost nopony was out other than them, most had taken to staying indoors and abiding by the curfew Mayor Mare and Princess Twilight had agreed upon.

He turned to face Florina Tart. "Will you be alright getting home?"

The delicate mare smiled. "Don't worry too much about me. I may not look like it, but I am actually a red belt in Bitzilian jiu-jitsu. And I'm currently taking lessons in boxing. A mare needs to know how to defend herself, you know?"

"Daaaaad!" Black Dawn suddenly whined. "You promised! Let's hurry before they close!"

"Okay, just give me a minute." The older pegasus told the impatient colt. He gave Florina an apologetic glance. "I'll have to come back to Sugarcube Corner the next chance I get while you're on shift, and this time I'll bring the whole band!"

"I look forward to meeting them!" Florina exclaimed, genuinely meaning it. She then turned to the little colt and filly. "And hopefully I'll see you two cuties around too."

Ink Token giggled. "Yeah, I can show you my drawings!"

"I'm not cute." Black Dawn simultaneously muttered under his breath. Then he received a glare from his father. "I- um- Take care Miss Tart."

Florina smiled at them. "I would love to see your drawings Ink Token! And you take care yourself Black Dawn. Either of you feel free to stop by Sugarcube Corner anytime in the next week, and your shakes are on me. Good night everypony, do be careful out there!"

The earth pony mare cantered away, and the three ponies started in the opposite direction.

"Ugh, come on!" Black Dawn groaned, galloping ahead of his father. "You're so slow!"

Cobra Strike smiled mischievously. "Slow, huh?"

"The slowest in the whole world!" The colt claimed.

"We'll see about that!" Cobra Strike suddenly picked up the foals and swept them up onto his back with a swoop of his wings, and took off.

He rocketed through the empty streets of Ponyville like a bullet, effortlessly turning and weaving around lampposts and the occasional statue. A certain rainbow-maned cyan pegasus was leisurely flying next to a butter-yellow pink-maned mare through the park as they rapidly approached.

"So, you coming or what Flutters?" The first mare inquired.

"Oh, I don't know." The second mare quietly answered. "I want to, but I promised Doctor Fauna that I would help her in the clinic. I'm sorry Rainbow. I want to see your show, I really do, but I just can't make it. Please don't be angry!"

"I'm not angry. Why would I be angry? I get it, you're busy. Don't sweat it Fluttershy, you can just make it to my next- Whoa!" Rainbow was interrupted by a blur rushing between them.

"Eep!" Fluttershy was knocked back into the park fountain, and crashed against the top-most concrete basin. She moaned in pain, and hung limply over the stone platform.

"HEY!" Rainbow yelled. "THAT WAS MY FRIEND YOU HURT!"

"Rainbow, I'm fine really. You don't need to cause a-" Too late. Her friend was already dashing off after the blur.

Rainbow pumped her wings, but the blur remained a good few yards in front of her. The pegasus raised an eyebrow. This blur might have been fast, almost Wonderbolt fast in fact, but she was faster. She flapped her wings harder, beginning to gain ground. The mare tackled the blur.

"What the buck?!" The blur cursed as it collided with the ground.

"Hey you! How dare you-" Rainbow stopped when she saw the two foals push themselves up from the dirt, covered now in scrapes and bruises.

"Ow, my leg!" The purple filly cried out, tears leaking from her eyes as she held her hoof against her foreleg. "It hurts!"

The pegasus colt shook his head and pushed himself up. "Dad? Dad! Get off of him!"

Rainbow looked down at the pony she had pinned against the ground. The other pegasus's eyes rolled around in a daze, until he blinked a few times.

The cyan mare gasped and immediately jumped off of him. "You're- you're Cobra Strike!"

Cobra groaned and leapt up; his glasses had been cracked so he couldn't see his attacker. "Who's there?! Stay back kids! I'm warning you, I know Wing Chun Kung Fu!"

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I am so, so, so sorry!" Rainbow exclaimed as the colt rushed up to the other pony. "I didn't know you had foals with you, and I didn't know it was you Mr. Cobra Strike sir!"

"Hang on, who goes there?!" Cobra Strike demanded, squinting as he removed his glasses only to see a multi-colored blur. "Topsy Turvy? Is that you? You sound different, are you sick?"

"No, it's me! Rainbow Dash!" The pony introduced herself.

"Rainbow Dash? Now where have I-" Cobra Strike's memory clicked. "Oh! You're that Rainbow Dash! The Element of Harmony and fledgling Wonderbolt! I'm sorry, I can't see a thing without my glasses. Wait, why in Luna's name did you tackle me?!"

"You knocked my friend over!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Look, I'm sorry about that, but you could have hurt my son and his friend!" Cobra angrily retorted. He trot over to the crying filly. "Are you okay Ink Token? Alright, let me see. It's just a little scrape, you'll be fine."

Rainbow blinked. "You have a son?"

"That's not important right now!" The gold-maned pegasus growled. "Dawn? Dawn where are you? Are you hurt?"

The colt glared at the mare as he slunk by. "I'm fine dad! It doesn't hurt that much!"

"That's a relief." Cobra let out a sigh, and flexed out a wing which was slightly mangled. "It feels like I took the brunt of the impact thankfully."

"Rainbow! What do you think you're doing?!" A kind, yet stern, voice suddenly yelled. Another pegasus mare trot over to them, and gasped upon seeing the crying filly and two slightly bruised pegasi. She swooped past them at the speed of light and swooped Ink Token into her arms. "Oh you poor dear! What happened to you?"

Ink Token pointed an accusing hoof at Rainbow Dash. "Sh- she attacked us!"

Fluttershy's jaw dropped and she turned to her friend with a roar. "RAINBOW!"

The cyan mare froze before squeaking out, "I- I didn't mean to! It was an accident! I didn't know that-"

Fluttershy was suddenly inches away from the other mare's muzzle. "How many times have I told you not to be so rash?!"

"Um," Rainbow's ears flattened guiltily against her head. "a lot?"

"Seven hundred and twenty-one in the time I've known you!" A voice screamed out from the direction of Sugarcube Corner.

"Yeah, that many times!" The mare nodded her head rapidly.

"Apologize." Fluttershy demanded.

"Come on Fluttershy, it's no big deal." Rainbow began. "I'm sure Cobra Strike has better things to do then-"

"APOLOGIZE!" The usually quiet mare yelled, easily putting Princess Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice to shame.

"Agh!" Rainbow cried out, stumbling back and then racing forward only to suddenly brake in front of the other ponies. "I'm sorry that I tackled you alright?!"

"Apology accepted." Cobra Strike said with a small nod.

Fluttershy flew over to them, Ink Token still in her arms and now huddled against her chest. "I'm so sorry about that, Rainbow does things without thinking. Are you okay?"

Cobra smiled, finally somepony- other than Florina- was treating him like a normal pony! "I'm fine, just a little worse for the wear but nothing serious. But the thing is, I can't see my own hoof in front of my face without my glasses."

Upon seeing his badly broken glasses, Fluttershy put a hoof over her mouth before turning to her friend. "Rainbow, give him the bits for new ones!"

"What?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Come on Flutters, I'm barely making enough money to pay off my Wonderbolt training fee! And with all the traveling we've done this past year alone because of the Cutie Map, I'm practically broke!"

"Do it now!" Fluttershy snarled.

"Um it's okay really, I could-" Cobra started.

"No, she insists." Fluttershy dictated.

The white-coated pegasus decided it was best not to argue with her. "Well, thanks."

"Yeah, don't mention it." Rainbow grumbled, hoofing over her pitifully small bit bag.

"Aw, the toy store has closed by now." Black Dawn suddenly piped, kicking at a pebble.

Fluttershy looked at the colt with sympathy. "Were you going to buy anything specific?"

"Oh come on!" Rainbow shouted. "Don't tell me you're going to make me pay for that too?!"

The yellow mare ignored her. "Go ahead, you can tell me."

"We were supposed to go buy Dragon Pits, and then play it when we got home." Black Dawn mumbled, looking at her with big sad eyes.

"If I remember correctly, I saw Starlight enter the toy store earlier today and come out with a copy." Fluttershy recalled. "I'm sure if you ask her she wouldn't mind lending it to you."

"Really?!" Black Dawn immediately perked up. He ran over to his father. "Did you hear that? Can we go to the castle and go see if we can borrow it? Please, please, please, pleeeaaase?"

"I'm sorry Black Dawn, but not today." Cobra apologized. "We still need to take Ink Token home, and I can't see. It would be better if we just went home and I find my spare glasses to wear until I can order a new pair."

"Actually," Fluttershy trilled. "I can take her home. If it's alright with you and her of course."

Cobra didn't see the harm in it; Fluttershy was the Element of Kindness after all, and a heroine of Equestria. "I'm okay with it. Ink Token?"

"Y- yeah." Ink Token sniffled. "Bye Black Dawn, bye Mr. Strike."

"Oh. Bye Ink Token." Black Dawn remorsefully responded, feeling guilty for being too selfish to comfort her. "I'll see you at school?"

"Well duh." Ink Token giggled.

"Come visit us sometime, aye?" Cobra smiled.

"I will!" Ink Token promised, before turning to Fluttershy as she flew them away. "I live on Stirrup Street, in the house with the big stained glass window!"

As soon as their voices faded away, the white-coated pegasus turned to the rainbow blur and gave her back her bit bag. "Here, I don't need this. I can buy my own pair. Okay Black Dawn, let's head home."

"Hey, I'll take you there. And we can stop at Twilight's to pick up that game along the way." Rainbow offered. "It's the least I could do."

"Well, I usually don't let other ponies into my personal life, but I guess I could make an exception. And it would give me a chance to spend some quality time with Dawn." Cobra looked around for his son. "Black Dawn, where are you?"

"Right here dad!" The colt piped from his side, rolling his eyes.

"So," Rainbow began as they trotted along after Black Dawn. "a son huh? Who's the lucky mare?"

Cobra Strike beamed in joy. "My marefriend, just wait until you meet her! Would you like to stay for dinner actually? Mmm, I hope she's making that Romane Pizza she promised."

***

Scarlet's stomach vociferously voiced its complaint, and the mare couldn't help but to moan from the hunger. She deeply regretted not eating much that morning and even more so not taking Zecora's offer on that sandwich. While it might have been small, it was at least something. If anything, she could really go for some Romane Pizza at the moment.

The two white-coated mares had yet to leave Vinyl's hidey-hole, and had taken to resting a little longer before they ventured out. In the meantime, Scarlet had explained to the damaged unicorn the bare bones of being a Z.O.D.I.A.C. agent and what she did as a member of the organization. To quiet her rumbling belly the mare slipped some of the hay underneath of her into her mouth. It was bland, and probably incredibly unsanitary, but it quelled her hunger just enough.

"So I fell unconscious just after you rescued me?" The pegasus inquired, attempting to ignore the hunger pangs in her belly.

"Yeah. You were out out faster than a jac-o-lantern's flame at the end of Nightmare Night." Vinyl Scratch answered. "You were muttering a name I think. Black Swan?"

"Black Dawn." Scarlet clarified. "My son's name."

"Huh, that's an interesting name." Vinyl noted.

"What do you mean?" Scarlet couldn't help but to take offense with her comment.

"Hey, I like it, don't get me wrong." The unicorn began. "It's just, unusual, is all. I mean, most ponies' names mirror a specific trait, you know? Like Rainbow Dash? She has a rainbow mane, so why not? Other times it's almost as if our names influence our cutiemarks, or maybe its the other way around. My pal Neon Lights has a cutiemark that's three stars, it kind of reflects his name I guess. So why Black Dawn anyways?"

Scarlet Thorn actually had to ponder on her question for a moment; it was difficult for her to put it into words. "Well, I guess at that point in both Cobra and I's lives it was a huge turning point. A new dawn for us both. And our futures had yet to be written, a blank chapter ahead of us in a story still being written even now. It was, black. So we decided to name our son Black Dawn, our new beginning. Even then, it wasn't easy. There were many conflicts in our emerging chapters."

"Really? How so?" Vinyl asked, stretching out her hind legs.

"Well, it was hard on us. And it was especially strenuous on Cobra Strike. We managed to keep my pregnancy under wraps; like I said before, he tries really hard to keep his public life separate from our personal one." Scarlet reminded before continuing. "For the first month it seemed as if his old manager, I think his name was Svengallop, understood. But it wasn't long before he was pressuring Cobra back into the limelight. He was at the peek of his popularity then, having just been discovered, and Svengallop saw an opportunity which was his for the taking. I was left alone with a newborn foal, in a big lonely house all by myself. Of course I had friends who were more than willing to help, but they had their own lives and helping me was just simply going out of their way."

"Oh yeah, I had that guy as my manager for a while too. But he was kind of a donkey's plot so I ended up dropping him and turning to self-management a few weeks after I took his offer, and that's still going strong." Vinyl stated. "So what happened?"

"Cobra's hours steadily grew longer and longer, and I saw him less and less. Eventually I got fed up with it after one night of many he came home in the twilight hours of morning so I snapped. I was beyond livid." Scarlet explained. "For the past six months I had only seen him in passing, and when he was home he was sleeping. I took care of Black Dawn, the house, and the bills all by myself. He was shocked to learn just how badly all of it had affected me. He went immediately to his manager and begged him to give him a break or at least less time out in public. When Svengallop refused, Cobra fired him and hooked up with his bandmate's brother and made him their manager instead. Looking Glass has been their manager ever since."

Vinyl gave her an impressed whistle. "Wow that's intense. I've never even thought about having foals, heck I don't like foals, but that just sounds like it was a lot of work on your part."

The pegasus smiled. "It was. I was always tired, and the stress was overwhelming. But after I confronted Cobra he put a lot of time back into our relationship and even more time into bonding with Black Dawn. Still, his fame is our paycheck and he slowly fell back into long hours out in public. Even now, he's not at home as much as I'd like and I know that he's not home anywhere near enough for our son. But we need to eat, and we need a roof over our heads. I've thought about putting myself back out there and finding a job, but it just never came to fruition. And as an active member of Z.O.D.I.A.C. I'm fine with that."

"Z.O.D.I.A.C. huh?" Vinyl closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I can't wait to join. I'm going to get revenge on these creeps for all of this."

The unicorn gestured to her mutilated body.

"So you never really told me." Scarlet recalled, shifting closer to Vinyl. "How have you managed to avoid being captured or killed by the Vanished?"

"It wasn't easy. The first time I encountered one was in the Everfree. But I think I should start from the beginning." Vinyl thought back to where it had all began before continuing. "I think it started almost a year ago. Whenever I was alone I'd get the weirdest feeling that I was being followed, but there was never anypony around. And then I began to wake up throughout the night and that feeling was only amplified. I pushed it all off as too many drinks and late nights, so I stopped drinking for a while and went to sleep earlier. It didn't help."

"So what helped you figure out that you were in danger?" The pegasus inquired. She was more than interested, and probably more than she should have been, but never since the creation of Z.O.D.I.A.C. had she nor any of the other agents had such a detailed source into the lives of Grim Noise's minions.

Vinyl shrugged. "I'm not actually sure. There were a few things really. First of all, I began to have these really bizarre nightmares. No, not even nightmares. It was more like images were being implanted into my head, but in a random sequence. I saw things, things I couldn't explain. The most reoccurring image was of this twisted glowing tree growing from a pit. It stood out to me the most, and just freaked me out for some reason."

"And then what?" The mare pressed, not wanting to bring it to the unicorn's attention that the exact tree from her nightmares was in these very caverns.

"Second, I began to notice things I wouldn't have noticed before. A vase would have been moved a centimeter out of place. A shadow on the wall that wasn't there before. The ticking of the clock in my room being a little louder than usual." Vinyl continued. "After that even my own house just seemed so alien to me. Things that I had for years just felt so out of place. It felt, menacing almost. It wasn't long before I avoided going home all together, for a while I even stayed in Manehattan with Neon. But eventually, I did have to come home."

"And it got worse?" Scarlet guessed by the unicorn mare's grimace.

"Yeah, a lot worse." Vinyl confirmed. "I began to hear this whispering, but it wasn't whispering at the same time. It was sorta like there was a bunch of ponies speaking to me at once, but not actually speaking words. I began to hear it almost all the time, even during the day when I was out surrounded by other ponies. Finally I lost it and told my roomie Octavia about everything but she just told me, all that scandalous noise you call music is causing your brain to turn into mush Vinyl."

The pegasus couldn't help but to chuckle at Vinyl's poor imitation of a pish-posh voice. "So she didn't believe you?"

"No! She couldn't even hear the whisperings!" Vinyl exclaimed, and then stopped and looked down in shame. "I- I got mad with her when she wouldn't listen. I started yelling at her, and calling her names. And then- and then I left for a while. I went back to Manehattan and stayed with some friends that I had made while working there, I knew Octy would have already sent out a letter to Neon Lights and he'd just send me right back to Ponyville. When we get out of here, you'll have to meet my pals. Azure Velour is just hilarious, and she can out-drink a minotaur! And Pacific Glow is just the weirdest. I actually invited them over a few times but P.G. just won't come to Ponyville for some reason, like, she's scared to. You know, she actually looks a lot like Pinkie Pie. Maybe they're twins and had a bad falling out or something?"

"So what made you come back to Ponyville then?" Scarlet asked.

"Well that's the weird part. I didn't want to come back to Ponyville. In fact, I was seriously contemplating just staying in Manehattan." Vinyl answered. "I didn't hear any of the whisperings or feel as if I was being watched while living with P.G. and Azure. I don't even really know what made me come back. My pals had already agreed that I could live with them for however long I wanted, and I had already sent off a letter to Octavia explaining that. But out of nowhere I suddenly dropped all the plans that I had made and left. I didn't even say good bye to P.G. and Azure. It was like I wasn't in control of my body. Before I had even realized it I was back out in front of mine and Octy's house with the letter I had sent her shredded on the ground by my hooves. And after that, I just didn't travel anymore. I couldn't even get within ten feet of the borders of the town without suddenly getting dizzy and light-headed."

Scarlet cocked her head. "That's just strange. It's almost as if something didn't want you to leave."

"I know right?!" Vinyl snorted. "And then after that, I started noticing something always in the corner of my eye. Like a shadow almost. No, that's not quite right. More like, when you drip ink into a glass of water. It was like that. I knew it was there, I just couldn't really see it unless I wasn't looking directly at it. It started off small, almost unnoticeable. But by the next two and a half seasons it had grown huge! This giant dark blot swimming just outside of my vision. It wasn't long after that I found out the whisperings I had heard had been coming from it. Finally I had enough, and I ran over to Twilight's and checked out a book of offensive and defensive spells."

"And then you were attacked by the Vanished?" Scarlet concluded.

"Yeah, that's exactly what happened! I was actually on my way to return the spell book to Twilight and check out a more adept one when I somehow ended up in the Everfree forest. I saw one of my pals, Lyra Heartstrings, standing there. I mean, we weren't huge pals, more like musical acquaintances, but it was still somepony that I knew. So of course I trot over to her, but I immediately noticed something was off." Vinyl Scratch paused and shuddered. "She wasn't moving, and didn't turn around when I called her name. She also had blood dripping down her legs, I thought maybe she was hurt. But as soon as I put a hoof on her shoulder she suddenly spun around and begun to snap at me like a rapid timberwolf! All I remember was that she was just absolutely covered in blood. I mean, it was pouring from her mouth, ears, nose, and eyes. And her eyes themselves had these creepy red spirals in them. She was foaming at the mouth, and her teeth were all pointy. And oh Faust did she stink! I haven't smelled anything that bad since my fillyhood cat choked to death while my family and I were on vacation and we came home to find her body half rotted in the parlour!"

Scarlet's face twisted up in fear and despair. It sounded to her as if Lyra had been in the early possession stage and had become an Obscure; she prayed it wasn't too late for the mint-green mare. "When did the Vanished come into play?"

"Not long after. I should have sensed something was up right off the bat." Vinyl continued. "Lyra wasn't aiming to kill, more like herding me deeper into the forest. Eventually she had chased me so far into the Everfree that I was completely lost. Then she suddenly stopped, and smiled at me. There was just something wrong with her smile, like it was too big for her face and didn't belong there. Then, out of the forest, came this- this monster. A Vanished as you called it. It moved so fast, I barely had time to react and fire off a fireball spell. But it just slithered out of the way, and I mean it literally got down on its belly and slid like a snake. I didn't even have enough time to react before it did this to me."

Vinyl pointed at the long two-stroke gashes running down the length of her flank, and then to her blind eye.

"The last thing I remember, I had been thrown face-first against a tree and my glasses had been smashed off. Then I woke up here in a small cavern and managed to feel my way out. Eventually, I came across the river and then to this place. I figured that the passageway here was too narrow for those monsters to fit through." The unicorn lightly tapped her damaged horn. "Then with a sound-proofing spell cast over the area and a sound-muffling spell for when I did leave, I was fine. But it hasn't been easy with this crack in my horn."

"Wait," Scarlet stopped the mare. "How are you able to use your magic? This cavern disables all forms of magic, unless its linked to an outside source."

"I'm not sure." Vinyl answered. "All I know is that after I ate those disgusting roots, I could use my magic again. But those roots really messed me up, and I mean messed me up. I was vomiting almost nonstop for at least the next few hours and I kept doing the number three, if you know what I mean. What about you, how'd you get here?"

"I was actually looking for you! Well, my friends and I were." The silver-maned pegasus replied, grimacing at the unicorn's last comment. "We were assigned by Princess Luna to find and rescue you, Lyra, and another unicorn mare named Lily Lace. And on our way here we saw a Vanished carrying two more unicorn mares, Sunshine Smiles and Amethyst Star. But while we were searching for you and the others, my friends and I were attacked and separated. And, we- we were too late to save Lily Lace."

"Oh no!" Vinyl exclaimed. "She- she's dead?"

"No." Scarlet quietly cried out, squeezing her eyes shut. "She's one of them now. A Vanished."

"Whoa, whoa, wait!" Vinyl suddenly stood up and confronted the mare. "What do you mean she's a Vanished?! You mean a pony turned into one of those things?!"

"Yes." Scarlet whispered. "A pony, and from what else I've seen, a gryphon and perhaps even other creatures, can become a Vanished if they have been possessed by an Eidolon long enough. Like your friend Lyra. She had been possessed, making her into an Obscure."

"Hang on, you mean to tell me that Lyra is going to transform into a monster?!" Vinyl Scratch threw a hoof into the air. "Vanished? Eidolon? Obscure? Just what the buck is going on here?! How much have you not told me?!"

The pegasus mare chewed her tongue. "Vinyl, listen to me. This, all of this, it goes back longer than the princesses themselves. The threat that we're up against, it's practically unstoppable. It's more destructive than Tirek. More dangerous than Queen Chrysalis. It's even quite possibly more chaotic than Discord. If we get out of here, go home. Forget about everything I told you about Z.O.D.I.A.C. and everything you've experienced since you first saw Lyra in the Everfree. Don't mention it to anypony under any circumstances. Pretend none of this ever happened, and go back to your old life."

"Um, excuse me?! My old life?!" Vinyl yelled. "This. Is. My. Life. If you think I'm going to just act like none of this happened then you're wrong! You might be able to go back to playing house, and you might be okay with forgetting about what happened here, but I'm not! Just look at me for Faust's sake! Do you honestly think I can just ignore all of this?! I'm going to get my revenge on these damn sons of hellions that did this to me. I'm going to become a member of Z.O.D.I.A.C. even if I have to shove my horn up Luna's royal plot-hole! I bucking ate other ponies Scarlet! I ate their rotting flesh, and you know the worst part?! After a while, I didn't even begin to mind it! I actually began to enjoy it! Looked forward to it even!"

The white-coated unicorn mare suddenly collapsed onto her forelegs and began to cry. Scarlet scooted over to the mare, and put a comforting wing over her new friend.

She tried to think of something to say, but the only adequate thing that came to mind was the truth she had put off for so many years. "Look, I've had death inside of me too. I- I lost a foal. It was my fault. There was this big mission assigned to the other agents, and I followed behind them without permission. I was pregnant at the time. But I ended up only getting in the way. And because of that, I lost my daughter. I know it sounds unlikely, but I just know that's why. It was all my fault. Not only did I screw up the mission, but I cost my daughter her life. And I carried her for the following six months, but she was born dead. And according to the doctor, she had been for some time. That was the start of it all. My unborn foal, Phoenix Feather. No pain is greater than that. It's the silent kind of pain, the kind that makes you scream out in agony in voiceless torment. The kind that has kept me up at night, and from getting out of bed in the morning. The kind that leaves me feeling dead inside; numb to the outside world. The kind that leaves a constant cry in my throat, a wail of anguish and anger. And there's nothing I can do about it."

This time, it was Vinyl who put a hoof over her. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Scarlet apologized, not for herself but for what the mare next to her had been through.

Vinyl suddenly laughed. "Look at us. We're down here in the pits of Tartarus and we're feeling sorry for ourselves. We've lost. We've learned. It is what it is, you know?"

"Keep moving forward." The pegasus mare agreed.

"Yeah, so let's keep moving forward!" Vinyl picked herself off of the floor and wiped her tears away with a blood crusted hoof. "You said you have friends that are down here right? Well let's find them, rescue the other unicorns, and kick some monster flank!"

Invigorated by the unicorn mare's tenacity and noble attitude, Scarlet picked herself up with a firm hoof from Vinyl Scratch. "I think we're going to get along just fine."

"Are you kidding me?" Vinyl slammed a hoof into her back. "We're going to be the best of friends."

The two trot over to the chamber's entrance, and Vinyl lit her horn with a small purple illumination spell. It wasn't bright, but it did give them a better view of their surroundings than Scarlet's Luminous Gem.

"Are you sure you can keep up the spell without draining your energy?" The pegasus asked after noticing the unicorn wince upon casting the spell.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." Vinyl grunted as she brightened the spell slightly. "It only hurts at first. But its necessary. I learned sometime in the first day that any color other than purple attracts the Vanished like moths to a flame, so you might want to do something about that crystal around your neck."

Scarlet frowned, but took off the necklace and smashed the shard underneath of her hoof. "How's that?"

"That, well that works." Vinyl stated. "Okay, hold still. I'm going to cast that sound-muffling spell that I was telling you about on us. I've never cast it on more than just myself before, so it may take a minute."

Vinyl's horn glowed brighter for a few moments, and she ground her teeth in pain. Eventually she exhaled loudly, and began to pant heavily.

"Vinyl are you okay?! You shouldn't push yourself like that!" Scarlet scolded.

"I'm fine." Vinyl groaned out. "Go ahead and walk around a bit. Let's see if the spell worked."

Scarlet circled around, her hoofsteps were padded as if she were walking on pillows. "Oh wow, that's an amazing spell! Hey Vinyl, does it work on objects too? Like maybe a bed or a table?"

"Well yeah, I guess. I mostly use it when recording, but I have used it on chip bags before so Octy doesn't know I'm eating outside of the dining room because she's super big on that for some reason. So I guess theoretically you could use it on your bed for whatever-" Vinyl abruptly halted and blinked a few times before blushing. "Oh. Oh!"

Scarlet's own coat gained a shade of red, and she quickly cleared her throat. "Um. Yeah. Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah. No problem." The unicorn quickly said. "Just to be clear, I am not coming to your place to cast that spell."

"I don't expect you to. I'll just have to find away to have it cast myself." Scarlet hastily responded.

The two mares shuffled awkwardly before Vinyl started down the tunnel. "We should- we should, um, get going. Find your friends."

"We should." Scarlet squeaked out, squeezing in after the blue-maned mare.

After a little bit, Vinyl spoke again; a grin on her face. "So the table huh?"

"Oh my Faust." Scarlet muttered in embarrassment and regret.

Comments

[DanyRock]

The new chapter is great so far!
Very dark though.
I like it!
Half way so far. It's pretty epic.
Good work!